Chapter One: The Necklace
It was one of those bitterly cold and snowy days. The days when you just want to stay inside all day. Now, normally, on those days it is a snow day. So every school in New York had closed. Except for one school. That school was called Preston Middle School. It was probably the most boring school in the country. Every time you would go to the school, you would take one look and feel like all the joy has been crushed by that plain, old, and dull building. Now, enough about the outside of the school. Let’s move inside.
In classroom 686, also known as Mr. Cruns’ math room, detention was being held. Now, for detention, the teachers would make the kids do a twenty page long essay on why they got held for detention. Now, in the far corner was a thirteen-year-old boy named George. He was staring out of the filthy window, watching the snowflakes falling towards the ground. He had long, black hair that he liked having cover one eye. It didn’t itch or anything, and he thought it looked cool. Aside from that, he had dark blue eyes that were always dark, no matter what. He didn’t mind having detention. After detention, there was nothing to look forward to. Plus, he was a kid with ADHD. He did not want to abuse that fact, but on the other hand, he did have ADHD. There was no denying it.
During class he just had not really been paying attention to when all the other kids were leaving since he had fallen asleep, and some bulky eighth grader woke him up. So then as a punishment for falling asleep, he had to be held in detention. After an hour of detention, he went home. Well, he did not really have a home. He lived in a foster home. An old lady called Mrs. Sanders took charge. She was under a lot of stress lately and now the foster home, which had about twenty kids, was a total madhouse.
Right before George pushed the door open, the security guard stopped him. “Hey, George,” he shouted. “This has been in the lost and found for days, come and take it.”
George moved a bit closer to see what he was holding. Then he saw that the security guard was holding a necklace. The necklace was a silver triangle and on the bottom in tiny letters, was engraved “George P”. He had no idea what his last name was, but there was no other George in the school so he took it. He put it in his backpack and said bye to the security guard.
When he got home he went into the bathroom and took the necklace along. When he went inside the bathroom, he put on the necklace in front of the mirror. As soon as he put the necklace on, in the next couple minutes, some really weird stuff happened. First, the air opened. Or, more like a hole opened in the air. But this was a strange hole. It was big enough for anyone to fit through. And it looked pretty much endless from where he was standing. He walked through the tunnel. After his body was fully in the hole the entrance closed.
He walked in the hole for a few minutes and eventually saw light at the end of the tunnel. He broke into a sprint. Finally, he got out of the tunnel. It was already night when he came out. He was in a deserted looking forest. But how was that possible? He checked his watch. It was 3:15. Maybe he was in some other country, where the time zone was different. Maybe he was in Bulgaria? Or maybe Nepal? Or Sweden? He continued to list possible places he could be.
Then suddenly he noticed something moving in the trees. “Who is there?” he yelled.
Out came a blue jay behind a huge tree.
“Oh, just some little blue jay,” he said, relieved. But he didn’t really know what he expected. Something suspicious probably. Nothing could be suspicious here… or could there? After all, he could be anywhere. And he only knew about half of his identity. Anything could happen here.
Chapter Two: Almer Smith
He continued walking in the forest for a few minutes and then stopped. He realized he was being trailed by the bird. And the bird was flying with unusual stealth. This was quite peculiar. After five minutes of walking aimlessly, he realized about ten animals had joined the blue jay. Now he was being tailed by fifty animals. Some did not even belong in the forest. Like a komodo dragon. And also a koala. There was no explanation for this.
Then a small voice in his head said something like Run. Get out of here. This is insane.
So then he obeyed his mind and aimlessly ran. As soon as he ran, the earth started to shake. He looked back. All the animals had now become humans. The trees were somehow moving apart as they walked (the people, not the trees). Then there was a rustling from the side of the trees.
Then out came a white rattlesnake. It was HUGE. It leapt towards the men as they ran for their lives.
“Th-thanks,” said George.
“Annny timmmme,” hissed the rattlesnake.
“You can talk?” said George.
“Sssnakes don’t have a language.”
“Then how am I talking to you?” asked George.
“You are reading my mind as if I were talking,” it replied. “Wellllllll, hop on you nitwit!” it said.
“I have to ride you?” George asked.
“Why do you think I was here?” he asked.
“T … help me?” George said.
“Exxxxxxxactly,” he said.
George carefully climbed on his scaly back as the snake lifted off the ground. The snake was flying!
Once they were high in the air, George asked, “What is your name?”
“Applo,” he said. “Whaaaaaat issssssss yourrrrrrs?”
“George,” replied George.
“Hmmmm…you look like a Charlie to me,” he replied.
Suddenly another flying snake swooped in.
A man riding it had pulled on some goggles.
“That’s my snake you’re riding.”
“Oh! This guy? Apolo?” replied George. “Should I give him to you?”
“Nah, It’s fine… keep him if you like.”
“Ok,” said George.
Applo moved closer to the man.
“What is your name?” George asked.
“Almer Smith,” he replied. “What’s yours?”
“George,” he replied.
“George what?” asked Almer.
He shrugged.“Don’t know, never will.”
He nodded as if he didn’t really care.
Chapter Three: Erca Kingdom
“Hey kid,” Almer asked. “Where are you from?”
“Me? New York,” George replied. “Where are we going?”
“To the Erca kingdom,” Almer said.
“Is that your home?” he asked.
“It is home to many,” Almer replied. “And what is ‘New York?’” he asked.
“It is my home,” replied George.
“How did you get here, boy?”
“Well, I was in the bathroom, putting on a necklace,” George said. “As soon as I put it on, a passageway opened, and I went in. Once I came out of this hole some people started chasing me. I have no idea who they were. Then Apolo came along and saved me.”
“Insras,” muttered Almer under his breath.
“Excuse me, but what are ‘Insras’?” George asked.
“Insras are the people of another Kingdom called Insra.”
“And what would they want with me?” he asked.
“They want the necklace,” he said. “If they get the necklace they will colonize your world and then use your people to colonize my world.”
After two hours of riding they finally got to Erca kingdom. It was awe at first sight. The kingdom was made up of what looked like a bunch of Houses all in one. There were flying rattlesnakes flying in all directions. There were parts of houses shifting all the time. You could go on for pages and pages about how beautiful the city was, but we don’t have time for that now. As they got closer, you could make out about twenty connected archways, surrounding the city. There, stood guards around the city holding swords, at the ready. Once we came towards the guards, Almer held out his hand. There was a symbol that looked like § on his hand.
“You may pass,” said the guard. “How about the child?”
This was bad. The only thing he could think of doing was to put his out hand in hopes that the guard would not notice.
“Pass,” said the guard.
Confused, George passed the guard.
He looked at his hand. There was no mark on his hand.
“How did I get passed?” he asked.
“He got tricked by fautigeness,” Almer said.
“Don’t they get breaks?” asked George.
“Yes,” replied Almer. “But they are three days long. And the guards are quite lousy.”
“How good are they?” he asked.
“Some are good, the others, lousy.”
“How come?”
“Well, there was a big assault on the kingdom the other day,”
“How come?”
“There is a war between all of the kingdoms under the rule of Arlo.”
“Arlo?” George asked.
“Oh, us eight kingdoms believe that we are all under the rule of Arlo.”
“But who is he?”
“The god of the eight kingdoms.”
“But then what are the eight kingdoms?” he asked
“The eight kingdoms are Erca, Insra, Umeririth, Gleaw, Sevardowien, Elaed, Eowawien, and the kingdom of Lothoabaen,” he said. “Each kingdom has a person born with a special gift. They have the ability to tell the future. And we call them futuraes. And lately, every futurae has been noticed that some time soon, someone will have opened the route to another world. And now it has. But they do not know that. So now other kingdoms are trying to get in other kingdoms to raid them and see if that kingdom has opened another route.”
“Are you going to turn me in?” George asked.
“Of course not,” he said. “If the authorities find out… News travels fast, and every other kingdom will target us. Except for the Gelaws. We are allied with them, so now we fight with their support.”
“But then you two kingdoms must be the most powerful out of the eight kingdoms.”
“Actually, we are the poorest of the eight kingdoms. So us two kingdoms together make us just as powerful as any of the other kingdoms. Except for the Insras. Everyone used to be a part of the Insra Kingdom, until the population got out of hand. Half of the kingdom is left. And then we split into seven other Kingdoms, so now we are just a seventh of the Insra kingdom.”
George, bored from that long history lecture, said, “When are we getting home?”
Almer gestured to a two foot tall building. It looked tiny compared to all the other five foot tall buildings. “Here we are.”
Chapter Four: The Shallow
“Welcome to The Shallow,” said Almer.
“Is this your home?” George asked.
“Yep,” said Almer.
“I have a spare room for you. But we will need to set it up,” Almer said.
George checked his watch. It was four in the afternoon. They had time to set it up. “Where is it?” he asked.
“Come with me,” Almer said. “But first, take off your shoes.”
George took off his shoes. Then they went down the hallway and took a left. There was a wooden door that said GUEST ROOM.
“This is supposed to be for guests, but I guess you are a guest, and I haven’t had guests in a while, so feel free to use it.”
George opened the door. The room looked fairly large and had two beds. George didn’t know why the room needed to be set up. It looked fine for a guest room. But then, he realized that he didn’t know how long he would be here, so he might as well make it his own room. “Almer,” he asked, “how long will I be here?”
He shrugged. “For as long as you stay in this world.”
George figured that when adults said stuff like that, it meant that they had absolutely no idea.
“I also have some spare PJ’s from when I was a kid,” he said.
George went into the bathroom to test the pajamas. They were a bit too big but they fit for the most part.
“Good night,” said Almer, and he shut the door.
Suddenly he got an idea. What if Almer was a spy from another kingdom? He was too tired to think about how to tell if he was a spy or not. His arms were sore from riding on Apolo.
He woke up the next day. The sun was already setting in the west. He ran downstairs. “I’m awake!” he shouted. “I’m awake.”
But when he got downstairs, Almer was still in what appeared to be his pajamas, reading a newspaper with one hand and drinking a cup of coffee with the other.
“Oh, good morning,” he said.
“Look! It’s already noon!” shouted George.
“In your world maybe, here the sun rises in the west.”
Relieved, George sat down at the table. He noticed that Almer had a golden ring on his finger with a star on it. “Have you ever been married?” he asked.
“Never,” said Almer.
“Then why do you have a ring with a star on it?”
“It’s the symbol for the Church Of Satan,” he said. “I have joined it recently.”
George nearly spat out the water he had in his mouth. “You WHAT?”
“I have joined the Church Of Satan,” he said.
“Why?” asked George.
“In the war, some of us suspect that the Insras are getting help from the gods,” he said.
“How come?” George asked.
“Because it looks like they have absolutely no support, and somehow even by doing pretty much nothing, they are winning the war,” he said.
“But I thought that we were the only kingdom that was allied with another kingdom,” said George.
“True, but the other countries have support from monsters, spirits, and creatures,” he said. “And whenever they attack other Kingdoms, nobody seems to lead them. And yet they still act as if someone is leading them. The only people capable of doing that, would be gods. They could talk to people through their minds.”
“Ok,” George said. “But then shouldn’t you try to ask Satan to help you?”
“That has been our main goal for years now,” Almer said. “But today, you have a very important task. Our world’s time is 26 hours behind yours. So you must go to your world and put the necklace in the lost and found at your school.”
“But how do you know about this?” George asked. He reached into his pocket for the necklace that carried his name. But it was gone. “MY NECKLACE!” he shouted. “It’s gone!”
“I have a story to tell you,” he said.
Chapter Five: The Percivals
“From an early age, I have known your father,” said Almer. “He was a orbis terrarumologist.”
“A WHAT?” asked George.
“Someone who studies other worlds,” replied Almer. “Anyway, he was one of the four billion people who was trying to find out how to travel between worlds. And one day, around when you were born, he managed to find out how to travel through the worlds, using the necklace you have. But shortly after he found out how to travel through the worlds, he regretted it. He wasn’t careful enough in hiding the information, and he hadn’t signed a pemmdant. And then he knew what was going to happen next. He knew he would be killed. He asked your mother to take you and run, but it was too late. Over fifty thousand people had come to his house to get the necklace. There was not one survivor, except for the necklace. I was not in the battle myself, but I tried to get to your parents house to get the necklace. By the time I was there, everyone was dead, everyone except for you. I picked up the necklace, and I took it with me, knowing it needed an owner. I knew I wasn’t the right person. And I knew that you would be too young for the responsibility of having the necklace. Before I knew it, every orbis terrarumologist who was after your father, was after you, thinking that you had the necklace. So then I had to do the only other option. Together, we went into your world, searching for a home for you. I finally got you a home. The one that you have lived in for most of your life. But now, here you are, twelve years later. Maybe now, you are worthy of having the necklace. But you must go and give yourself this necklace, or you will never get here in the first place.”
“Alright,” said George.
To be Continued…