Light

by Adrienne Woods

  Mr. Dingle was speaking softly to Max and Margot. I could still hear today’s events getting passed from teacher to sub-teachers but what they said specifically I didn’t quite make out.

  They each picked up a paper and took their seats.

  “Good morning everyone.” Mr. Dingle greeted the class. “I hope you had a good night’s rest as today you will be spending time with Leigh.”

  “We will?” I looked at Nat who had this huge grin plastered on her face, she didn’t reply.

  “Yay us!”

  We broke and walked over to another room at the back of the class. It reminded me so much of the one in the compound, the only difference was that this one had a gazillion tables and chairs.

  We all took a seat and Mr. Dingle left the room.

  Nobody made a peep and Natalie lay back in her chair with eyes closed as if she was going to take a nap.

  I started to think about Dingle again and what Fox had said. Had he really wanted to be a Shadow Caster and if so, why hadn’t Leigh told me about this? He had warned me about everything else so far. Having a Shadow Caster for a professor fell in the danger category, sort of.

  As I lay there, I yawned and my eyes started to close for no reason.

  Bright light woke me and I found myself with the rest of the class inside a ruin structure. Part of the roof was still intact with lights seeping through the holes where the ceiling used to be. The floor was cement and the walls were partially dilapidated.

  Birds made nests on the beams and some of them were cooing.

  I looked around and found the entire class sleeping. I bumped Natalie softly and her eyes flew open.

  “We’re here!” she yelled and everyone stirred awake.

  We all got up and followed Max outside.

  “I was wondering where you were,” Max said, and I knew who Max was speaking to. My heart beat a bit faster.

  All the guys greeted Leigh with a slap shake, and most of the girls just smiled at him.

  Margot actually gave him a hug, which I could tell was awkward for him as he tapped her slightly on the back and waited for her to let him go.

  “Welcome to the Virtual world, Chastity.” Leigh winked at me slightly which made me suck in my lips.

  “What the hell is that about?” Nat spoke through gritted teeth.

  I scrunched up my nose and shook my head as Leigh spoke about our lecture today.

  “Today, we are going to go over taking your oaths. It will be a spiritual oath, so you all know what that means, right?” Leigh started.

  “Oath day?” I asked.

  “Oh yay us.” Natalie didn’t sound so ecstatic about this anymore.

  “What is it?” I had to know.

  “I’ve heard about these sorts of oaths. He’s going to spring something on us, which will be huge and we’re going to have to take an oath, which means that we won’t be able to tell anyone about this, ever.”

  “What?!”

  “Better listen up Chas.”

  The scenery changed while Leigh spoke and we found ourselves inside a museum. A guide was giving a tour to a group and we sort of mingled in.

  “What is this?” Nat asked.

  “I know,” Max said. “It’s the Basilisk Orb.” He looked at Margot and then at Leigh. “What are we doing here?”

  Leigh flicked his fingers together and the entire picture froze. The tour guide had his mouth still open as his sentence stopped in mid-air. The kids and adults around him froze like statues. We were the only ones that weren’t frozen.

  “A memory from a lie,” Leigh carried on. “A lie that Selene thought was best at the time to keep from everyone.”

  “What do you mean, from a lie?”

  “Easy Max. We’re in front of the Basilisk Orb, what could it be? You’re smarter than that, or has Chas finally found a way to beat you?”

  “Haha” Max said sarcastically. “She wishes.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Think.” Leigh said again.

  “I remember something like this,” Natalie said and looked at Leigh. “The tour guide told us that the Basilisk Orb isn’t needed anymore, that Selene is strong enough and doesn’t need its powers to help sustain everything in Revera.” She gasped and cupped her mouth. “That is the lie!”

  Everyone gasped. I had no idea what they were talking about, just that it had something to do with that mother of a giant pearl-like object that was protected inside a glass box.

  “It’s not the real one, by the way,” Leigh carried on. “The real Basilisk Orb is hidden inside the bell of the Cathedral on Wezington Avenue.”

  “That’s the reason it doesn’t ring anymore.”

  “Right you are, Isis.”

  “Why would they lie to us?” Andrea asked, with a slight hysteria in her voice.

  “Because of exactly that.” Leigh gestured toward Andrea’s reaction. “To prevent Chaos.”

  “Do the Shadow Casters know about this?” Max sounded concerned too.

  “They do,” Leigh answered, “but they have no idea where it’s hidden.”

  “What is it the Basilisk Orb does?” I had to know and I could hear a couple of bodies inflating as they were going to have to relive this history lesson again.

  “Guys, Chas is new, she needs to know about everything you do, so please, a bit of patience isn’t going to kill anyone.” Leigh spoke again. “Just listen Chas. It’s why I thought it would be better to bring everyone here, to refresh their memories.”

  He snapped his fingers again and the picture unfroze.

  “…the Basilisk Orb. Now I can see from all your curious little faces that you’ve heard of the Basilisk Orb but you have absolutely no idea what it does or did, a long, long, long time ago.” The tour guide looked at the kids who were watching with huge eyes, like me, at the orb. “Selene and Darius Faline and Magdelena Sodivic used to live in the Domain, just like any regular Nomad. One day, they played a game in their garden and saw a trinket that was completely out of this world. All three of them picked it up, dusted it off and were sucked into another realm called Revera. Sand started to flow freely from their palms. They obviously had no idea what was happening to them, or how to stop it, and went back through the portal to their world on this trinket. But curiosity made them go back after a while.

  The sand would appear again. Darius was the first to discover that it wasn’t any ordinary sand, he could create anything he wanted. Coke, even food, would come from his sand.” The kids laughed at the word Coke as I was sure they didn’t had Coke back then.

  “They went back to the Domain each and every night and after a while, Darius’ sand followed him to the Domain. He wielded himself riches upon riches. They lived a wealthy life, but realized the more wealth he wielded, the faster his sand disappeared. So they had to return to Revera to get Darius his refill.” The kids laughed with me.

  “Each time they left with the next couple of months’ quota, but the Nomads in the Domain started to investigate Darius and his wealth, and when the authorities couldn’t find the answers of where it came from, they started to follow him and witnessed how he wielded it from his sand. They ruled it out as some sort of witchcraft and wanted to burn him alive.

  Magdalena and Seline helped him to escape and discovered that the sand they wield put Nomads to sleep. They fled back into the trinket, destroyed it, and had no choice but to live inside the Revera forever.

  They started to explore this new world and found the Inkas who already lived here and some of the Anitules that bore a huge resemblance to the animals back home, but when Darius start hearing what the animals said, he knew they weren’t just ordinary animals. He learned plenty from them and passed the knowledge of this world on to his sister Selene and to Magdalena since they couldn’t hear a peep coming from the Animals.

  Through the Anitules, they discovered the Orb’s existence, how it empowers this realm and that without it, Revera would not exist anymore.

  On their first visit to the Orb,
they felt more powerful than what they had ever been and they started to create bigger things from their dust, but they soon discovered that when they were a certain distance from the Orb, they would lose this extra power and could no longer create bigger things. So they built the Manor right next to the Orb, the same building we know now as The Starlington where Selene still resides today.

  They started to create more, built cities in a matter of months and areas where they could roam free. They created everything inside of Revera.

  As the world and their magic grew, so did the Orb’s power, pulsating with the new creations.

  One day, a Basilisk appeared and tried to take away the Orb. Sensing its power and connection to the magic of Revera, Darius fought the hulking beast. During the battle the Basilisk’s fang pierced the Orb and it disappeared into the Orb’s milky depths. The snake has never been seen again Hence the name, Basilisk Orb. They say when the three of them picked up the Orb, small pieces of the light of the Orb started to fade and all that power transferred into them, becoming what we know as Somniums.

  The three of them used this extra power and discovered that they could create a different kind of object, turning their dreams into a reality, but only they could explore their own dreams.

  For centuries it was all they did. Each day enjoying a new dream. It was then that they realized that time didn’t exist for them, that they didn’t age like they used to.

  They started changing more and more. They’re dreams could be shared with one another and for the next few centuries, they did just that. They took turns in creating worlds and dreams to explore together.

  Darius was the first to sense special beings back in the Domain and started recruiting them to come live in Revera. Selene and Magdalene helped.

  Revera grew and grew, but not one single day passed when the three of them needed to go back to the Basilisk Orb, to regain more power.

  It was said that after a long, long time, Magdalena wanted all the power and she became greedy. She tried to trick Darius and Selena, tried to kill them so that their power can come to her, but that her plan didn’t work and the color of her sand changed.

  Revera started to change too. Parts of the world exploded and the two siblings had no choice but to combine their power together, which cost Darius his life, which was how Selene gained the power to cast out Magdalena.

  The Casters that shared Magdalena’s traits witnessed their sand changing color as well. Selene was forced to cast them all out.

  Because of Magdalena’s act, she lost her immortality, but spent many years trying to get back into Revera. When she realized it was no use, that she was old and busy dying, she created her own world for her people, what we know now as the Oblivion, a world where all Shadow Casters belong.”

  A little boy put up his hand and the entire picture started to disappear until all of us were back in the field.

  “You get what the Orb is, Chas?” Leigh asked.

  “It empowered Selene and the other two a long time ago before it lost its power?”

  “And that is the lie.”

  “All gasped.”

  “Selene is powerful, and yes, they did gain extra power the night the Basilisk disappeared into the milky depths of the Orb, but the Orb didn’t lose its power.

  “It became stronger, making them stronger but at a cost.

  “They realized after a couple of years that their powers started to lose strength and the three of them went back to the Orb that had started to lose its light too. When pieces of Revera started to disappear, they decided to sacrifice themselves to empower the Orb, and because of that, the Orb gained its strength back and so did they.

  “They did this once a month and as the years went by, they realized the Orb could go on much longer without their empowerment. Once a month became once every three months, every three months turned into every six months and now Selene only has to do it once a year.

  “It was then that Magdalena has this bright idea and wanted more. She tried to trick Darius and Selene in order to gain all the power, but because of the dark in her, her sand changed. She tried changing the Orb to darkness with her sand and nearly destroyed Revera.

  “Darius and Selene combined their abilities to destroy Magdalena, but instead of destroying Magdalena, it destroyed Darius and Selene got her brother’s power, gaining more power to cast Magdalena out of Revera.

  “So the Orb is still alive and it is still the main thing that keeps Revera sustained, but only through Selene, nobody else.

  “If the Orb dies, her ability and Revera as we know it will die too. If a very powerful Shadow Caster, like Crane, got their hands on the Orb, they could change the Orb to darkness and Revera will become like the Oblivion. Shadow Casters will be able to live in Revera. As of now, Shadow Casters are only allowed a certain amount of time to live in Revera, before they disintegrate. The longest was seven days.”

  I stared at Leigh, but he didn’t look at me. Was I going to disintegrate too?

  “Why can only Selene—”

  “Because of the power, Isis,” Andrea cut her off knowing exactly where she was going with this. “They were the only three that got this power from the Orb. It’s only their bloodlines that can become Somniums. The only ones we know are all Shadow Casters, and if they get the Orb, they have the ability to reverse light to dark, meaning that Revera will change to the Oblivion.” Leigh said, “And that is why Selene is so important to us, that is why we chose to become Guardians. Not just to protect Revera but Selene as well. Without Selene there is no Revera.”

  “And no Orb too,” Max added.

  “I know it sucks,” Leigh said. “But Selene thought it was best to try and throw the Shadow Casters off and it worked. Selene tried to protect the innocents from more worry. And for that, we had to tell a little lie, to make Selene sound indestructible. Through that we didn’t only protect Revera and its people but the Orb too.”

  “So now we’re going to take an oath?” Nat still looked worried.

  “I won’t lie to you, it’s painful, but it’s more painful if you try to tell anyone about it.”

  “I don’t keep secrets from Charlie.”

  “Anitules are clever. I’m sure Charlie already knows and that he’s kept it from you. You can’t discuss any of this, though. Or you will experience horrible pain, some even say that it can lead to death.”

  Everyone gasped again and started to look at one another.

  “It’s pretty serious, so do not mess with trying to break an oath.”

  The rundown structure with the trees started to ripple, I couldn’t stop staring at it and didn’t even pay attention to the procedure of taking the oath Leigh was speaking about. I was still worried about the seven day thing.

  Everything around us rippled more and started to move around. It became a big blur, except for the class who’d just received the truth about the Orb.

  I closed my eyes when the spinning around me got worse and when Natalie touched my arm softly we were inside a stone room.

  Everything was made of stone; the walls, the benches, even the door. In the middle of the room was a huge stone altar with a stone bowl.

  Leigh lit it with a blue spark that came from his hand.

  The blue flame ran down the altar in a thin line, on both sides, across the floor to the walls of the room. It ran up the walls and shot out in a huge web pattern on the ceiling; it lit up everything.

  I looked at Max who went up to the altar first and held out his hand.

  Leigh grabbed something that looked like prayer beads and pressed them inside Max’s palm. He grunted and clenched his jaw tight. His eyes were closed and from the pain on his face, I knew that it was real.

  Leigh spoke in a language I’d never heard before and when the thirty second chant was over, Max dropped the beads.

  He shook his palm a couple of times, probably trying to dispel the pain. A faint golden glow emanated from his palm where the blazing hot beads had left their mark and then i
t just disappeared.

  Margot was next and the same happened with her, we each had to do this and I so didn’t look forward to my turn.

  “Chastity,” Leigh spoke my name softly.

  I looked up at him, his eyes were soft, begging me to go through with this insanity.

  The few steps I took toward him I didn’t even realize, I just saw the altar coming closer to me and then I was standing opposite Leigh with my palm stretched open toward him.

  “It’s going to hurt…a lot.” He’d barely said those last few words when a scorching pain burned the skin on my hand. Leigh closed my hand and I ground on my teeth as he said his little mantra.

  I tried to block the words out, block the pain out, but nothing happened. It was still there and it became hotter each second I held the beads. I could feel the pain running up my arm, through my entire body and I became as warm as the beads that were inside my palm.

  “Chastity, drop it,” Leigh shouted. It felt as if I was about to pass out and automatically my hand dropped the beads. They fell on the altar and I stared at my hand. The ache was worse than a second ago when I was still holding the beads and I now had a burn mark that glowed a bright golden color. It started to disappear slightly and then it was gone. In its place was a completely different mark. It wasn’t the print of the beads, it wasn’t even blisters upon blisters as it should have been. The only thing that was on my palm was a black sign that resembled a three-leaf clover with sharp ends.

  I couldn’t stop looking at it.

  “It’s the mark of the oath. All guardians carry it and you’ll see that none of those guardians have revealed the truth about the Orb for the past nine hundred years.” Leigh looked at each and every one of us as he spoke.

  “Nobody?” I asked again.

  “Nobody, Chas,” he said in a tone that had a double meaning. I squinted and he raised his eyes slightly at me, like he wanted to tell me something and then looked back to the others.

  It was probably just my imagination, why would he want to tell me anything that he wouldn’t tell the entire class? I guess I really wanted Leigh to desperately share something with just me, I wanted to be that special to him.