Grandelyn

by Dionne Lee Nelson

  Chapter 11

  Amazing

  A mere week had passed but the escaped slaves had already become accustomed to Grandelyn. They wanted to erase all memory of the torture they had all endured at the hands of the Savage Kingdom. This wasn’t easy; they were still wearing the ragged beige pants and tattered sleeveless shirts from their enslavement. But they were determined to move on. Though they loved being on the beach mainland with all the white sand, purple water, palm trees, and zebralings; the dark city behind the waters was calling to be explored. They decided the time had come to do just that.

  It was quite a bit of distance from the beach mainland. Mr. Crowesh, Vanka, Sheevar, Orraco, and Ariyah lead the way, traveling with the zebralings. As they traveled toward the dark city, they were able to see more of Grandelyn’s majestic beauty. There were clusters of palm trees aligned on the trails of the land like a leafy runway. Unusual insects flew around their heads. Orraco caught one. It was a spider-butterfly.

  “Wow look at this, Ariyah” Orraco called out, throwing the insect on her. She screamed and chased after him.

  White and yellow scorpions roamed the sand of the earth. Big spiders, nearly the size of the children’s feet, were found next to the forests of Grandelyn. There were rhinoceroses living there. They had inhabited the grasslands on the other side of the waters. They hid when they saw the foreigners passing by. Knowing that rhinos can also be very territorial, Vanka advised that everyone keep their distance.

  This land was filled with all kinds of creatures. The albino Siamese twin dragons gate and the zebralings were some of the more fantastic. But there were also green frogs and white frogs hopping around, white and black alligators going in and out of the purple waters, and many tropical birds flying around the bright golden sky. This place was truly unique.

  When the group arrived at the dark city, they discovered that the place had been abandoned. This was the part of Grandelyn that was not so majestic. The air was thick, gray and cruddy. The brick roads were dirtied with tar and black ash. The small houses and buildings leading into the city were covered in black ash as well. The group felt that the place was creepy. There was no sign of life anywhere; at least not human life. They found a baby zebraling lying in what looked like a park. It was struggling to breathe. Ariyah, concerned, ran to it. She wiped the dust away from its eyes.

  “Please help it. Get it down to the mainland.” she begged out loud. One of the elders took the young zebraling away. The trees that held the fafuras were withered away, only branches stuck out. Old fafuras that had shriveled up and rotted down to their blue core were scattered in the streets. The escapees were afraid to enter the buildings they found. The air was humid, and the more they walked the harder it became to breathe. Through the grayness of this part of the land, they could still see the rocky cliff pouring the pretty purple waterfall from it. And behind that, the gray mountains that held those two buildings were also ash and tar covered.

  “I wonder what happened here.” Mr. Crowesh said, making a smiley face in the ground with the dust covered streets.

  “I don’t know but whatever it was, it was reckless.” A voice behind in the dust said. It was very depressing in that part of the land and they decided that was enough for the day. Each day after that, they would break up into several groups and travel around the massive land, seeing what else was there to discover. Since this was the place that they were going to live they needed to find resources in order to begin rebuilding life there. They didn’t know or understand what could’ve possibly happened to the people that were there before them. To have an entire city covered in tar and ash was puzzling to them.

  Since this city had become deserted, it was time for renovations. The men went about to seek other fruits and vegetables; anything besides the fafuras. The children went to explore insects, amphibians, and other living creatures. In the process of searching through Grandelyn, a unique rock was discovered by Dr. Henry O'Crey and Mr. Demi. While on a trip with one of the groups Mr. Demi stumbled upon a gray sparkly rock lodged in one of the mountains. He brought it down to Dr. Henry, who studied it. Dr. Henry and his wife Mary O'Crey, practiced medicine and some science in the Land of Livian before moving to Mandune. They fell on hard times and had to live in the lower burrells with the poor. After studying it, he discovered that this rock was covered in a strong element called Zitheranium. He let Mr. Demi, who was a blacksmith and craftsman before the seize, know that the rock could be melted down into a form of metal. Zitheranium, when broken down, is as strong as the likes of steel and maybe even stronger than titanium. It was very solid and the escapees would come to use it in many ways later on. The Zitheranium rock was brought down to the beach mainland with the rest of the discoveries.

  Dr. Henry O'Crey and Dr. George Malloy also did studies on the purple water, which they now called the Sea of Amethyst, and they discovered why Ariyah had become weak after stepping into it. The doctors had each person touch, taste, and stand completely in the water. The experiments showed that they all experienced the same reaction. They would feel the energy leave their body and they would become tired, sluggish, and a little weak. After the studies and experiments were conducted, Dr. Malloy, Dr. Henry and Dr. Mary O'Crey made the discovery that the Sea of Amethyst was used to slow down the effects of the fafura. Though eating the fafuras made them strong, and energetic, the side effects were that they'd keep getting bigger in size. The Sea of Amethyst was needed to balance out the effects of the fafura. Dr. Malloy said that it was not safe to drink. The water would slow down their functioning organs and eventually bring them to stop completely. Because it was healthy to eat fafura, they kept it as a part of their daily diet. But in order to use the water without digesting it, they only needed to be in it. Too much exposure to the water would prevent the effects of the fafura, so the doctors decided that they would bathe in the Sea of Amethyst once a month just to balance everything out. For awhile they got their drinking water from a very small village that allowed them to get water and milk from their land. They were very generous to the uniquely big people and they befriended them.

  Grandelyn offered more traditional food as well. There was a field that offered fruits and vegetables; corn, beets, lettuce, carrots, and all the healthy things.

  The group had fun with their discoveries. They found the sites to be fascinating soon they began fixing the abandoned city. The group of 352 took comfort in each other again. They all slept in huddles and protected each other from the unknown. There were no more worries. They peacefully took each day at a time and enjoyed whatever they found.