The Year of the Lumin

by Andrew Ryan Henke

  With the beam from his flashlight now above the door, he noticed an odd light emanating from somewhere on the door. He turned off the light and darkness filled the room except for a very pale, bluish glow. The light was coming from that spherical marble stone in the middle of the door. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the blue glow became more apparent.

  Noir was just about to call out again to his uncle and tell him what he had found when he felt an indescribable feeling. It was like a throb within him. He could not tell if it came from him or something else, but it happened again a moment later. The pulses felt strangely warm in the core of his being. For a moment, if felt like there was something within him that he had never been aware of before. He looked up at the blue orb again.

  “What is this feeling,” Noir said to himself. “That stone in the door.... What in the world?” Another throb passed through his body and it made him shudder. “What is happening to me?”

  As he said those words, another throb, bigger than the others, went through him. It felt as though the energy went from him into the door. The marble in the door suddenly glowed brightly, filling the cave with blue light. Then the door parted; the top half went up, and the bottom half went down. They moved slowly with a loud grating noise. Noir stood in awe as the door revealed the chamber beyond.

  It was a sharp contrast to the rocky, aged walls of the cave. The chamber was a circular room with spiral patterns carved in the smooth floor and ceiling. He could not tell what the room was made of; it looked to be a reflective marble or metal. From somewhere inside, gently falling water could be heard. The walls were in shadows so the actual size of the room was hard to tell. In the center was a chest-high pillar with beautifully intertwined pieces of metal that held a slightly glowing white orb. It filled the center of the room with purple light. The orb had a gray cloudy texture to it that swirled and danced around the outside. It cast shadows around the room that danced in slow, random patterns.

  Noir could not help but step forward into the chamber. The floor felt slick under his sneakers. He slowly approached the pedestal in the center of the chamber. Another throb went through his body, and in response, the purple light in the room increased for a moment. “This throbbing feeling and the object must be connected somehow,” Noir thought. His own braveness surprised him as he walked up to the orb and tentatively brought his hands toward it. His hands cast dark shadows about the room.

  Noir felt another throb start inside of him. This time, he grasped at it internally. He could not describe how he was doing it, but he had the surge of internal power harnessed. It felt warm inside his gut and grew rapidly more intense. It felt like it would burst if he did not do something with it. Without knowing what he was doing, Noir looked deeply into the orb, grabbed it with both of his hands, and forced the power into it.

  The orb suddenly blazed with blinding light. He turned his eyes downwards and withdrew his hands. At that same moment, a ring of purple energy rushed down the pedestal from the orb. It hit the ground with a low, earth shattering thud. Noir took a frantic step back when he saw the ring of energy skidding across the ground away from the place where it hit. In an instant it rushed out under his feet, throwing him into the air and away from the center of the room. Everything went black as he landed and skid across the floor.

  Chapter 4

  Somewhere else

  Noir awoke on the floor on his back. He sat up and looked at the pedestal. It looked peaceful and calm, as if nothing had just happened. However, the orb was no longer there. It hadn’t been destroyed from what he saw, so he was perplexed as to where it went. The bigger question was what in the world had just happened.

  The chamber was now dimly lit from the door. Noir stood up, looked around one last time, and, feeling a bit stiff, limped toward the dor that he had entered from. Somehow, a lot more normal light was filling the cave than before. As he passed between the large stone entrance, he looked at the stairs of the cave. They were the same, but they looked less time-worn. His name was still there above the door. The scratches looked as fresh as though they’d been made yesterday. However, there was more below his name that he somehow had not noticed before. It said, “Noir. The catalyst didn't work.”

  Noir didn't have time to think over what that could mean before he heard, “Noir!” It was his uncle’s voice. He heard the rapid footsteps coming down toward him. “Noir!”

  “Yeah Uncle. I’m here!”

  “Good.” He arrived into view rushing down the steps. “Noir,” he stopped in front of his nephew, talking quickly and breathlessly. “You have to come out and see this. After that… thing happened, everything changed. The opening to the cave is larger; that’s how I got in. The land isn’t dry like it was; it’s now completely green with trees. And there’s this stone shrine with a pool of water outside the cave entrance. Then there…”

  Noir cut him off. “Wait, what?! What are you talking about?”

  “Come on, I’ll show you!” Steven raced back up the stairs leaving the slow-moving Noir behind. He climbed up the stone stairs. The light got brighter as he went around the bend and rose into the cave. When he got to the top of the stairs, he noticed that all of the carvings were no longer there.

  Noir exited the cave and squinted in the light. As his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, he saw what his uncle was telling him about. Steven was standing with his back to Noir staring at the view. There was a large stone pool of perfectly clear water on flat ground where the side of Medicine Mountain had been. An ornately carved stone structure stood over the pool. It was like the framework of a building with the walls and ceiling open. Dozens of pillars of smoothed stone held up other carved stones high above them. Every stone fit together perfectly, seemingly carved by a master artisan’s hands.

  Noir looked out beyond the temple. Grasslands and forests stretched before him where before the land was dray and had only sparse trees. Tall blue mountains were on the horizon that had not been there before he entered the cave. Noir said with wonder, “This can’t be real.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Steven held out his hand toward the sight. “But there it is!” Steven turned to Noir. “Take a picture, this is unreal.”

  Noir reached for the camera which had been around his neck but he quickly realized it wasn't there. “It must have fallen--“

  A woman’s scream rose over Noir’s sentence. After a brief moment of silent confusion, Noir and Steven both yelled at sudden realization, “Aimee!” The cry had come from the direction that they had left Aimee sitting on the hill. Steven and Noir climbed over part of the stone temple and, with Noir lagging behind, ran around the side of the now much smaller hill.

  As they rounded the curve of the hill, they saw two men in leather armor. They were large men with broad shoulders. They wore red bands of cloth around their left bicep. Birds... no hawks seemed to be etched into the designs of their leather armor.

  The men saw Noir and Steven at the same time. “Stop you heretics!” One of the men yelled. They both drew swords from sheaths on their backs and started toward the two.

  “Whoa whoa!” said Steven. “We don’t want any trouble. We just….”

  The second soldier interrupted him, “You should have thought of that before setting foot on sacred ground!” Noir realized they had a strange accent that he'd never heard before, but they were speaking English. They were walking steadily closer.

  Noir thought quickly and said, “Please sir. We heard a girl scream and were merely coming to help her.”

  “Do not play me for a fool, boy! With clothes like that, you have to be with the girl we found.” They drew in close to Steven and Noir, slowing their pace. “Now if you come nice and easy, we might let you see her.” One warrior came right up to Steven pointing the sword at his neck. Steven took a few steps backwards. The second warrior pulled a bag from his back and pulled out some rope. “Now, put your hands behind your back unless you want to see our skill with our blades.” The tone of his voice was not t
hat of anger or viciousness. He acted like it was just a matter-of-fact. Noir and Steven exchanged hopeless and confused glances.

  First, he pulled Steven’s arms behind him and tied them up with a part of the rope. Steven again said how they were just lost and meant no harm, but the men ignored him. The armored man then moved to Noir and tied his arms behind him like he did Steven’s. He then pulled out his sword again and moved behind them. The other turned and said “Follow me. If you do too slowly, you might feel a small poke.” He then chuckled and started to walk in the direction that the men came from.

  They walked for a short way until they saw a larger group of men dressed similarly to the two men escorting them. Why in the world were these people dressed this way? The soldiers called to the other men, “Life without freedom is death!”

  They called back, “Life without freedom is death!” Then one out of the group wearing a red and yellow sash over his shoulder said, “What have you found, Ryojek? More heretics?”

  “Yes, captain. We found them coming from the shrine itself.”

  The captain walked slowly forwards and looked them over. He was a large man with a short beard and brown curly hair. His eyes looked fierce and yet kind at the same time. He turned and motioned to one of the men. Then he turned back, speaking to Steven. “Are you with this girl?” The warrior moved aside and Aimee came into view tied up in the same way that they were, except she had a gag in her mouth. Oddly, Aimee was glaring at Noir.

  Steven spoke. “Yes, that is my daughter.”

  “She has quite the spirit. She actually managed to bite one of my men.” One soldier in the back grunted in angry agreement.

  The captain looked Steven squarely into the eyes. “What is your business here? Are you more beggars looking for the Lumin for handouts? If so, he has not yet arrived.”

  Noir spoke out very hesitantly, “Sir, if I may speak.” The captain turned to him and grunted. “We do not know where we are or how we got here. We….”

  He was cut off by the laughter of the warriors around him. After the laughter died down, the captain said, “So you are fools. I see. With clothes like those, even a Tierian would be embarrassed to be with you.” Some of the men laughed while others made jokingly disagreeing sounds. “Now walk, and do not speak or I will not be so kind as to leave you with all of your appendages.”

  The guards pushed Noir away from his uncle. There were three men between him and Steven, so they couldn’t talk. The captain was walking beside Steven talking quietly to him. He seemed to be asking him questions, but Noir couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  Noir walked and watched all that was around him. His mind raced trying to make sense of it all. “What the heck was in that cave?! I don’t know of any place on the planet where the people dress and act like this and speak English. Also, that cave seemed newer than it was before everything changed. What could that mean?” He kept asking himself questions and puzzling on what was going on as they walked, but nothing made sense or even seemed possible.

  “Captain Grandel.” One of the soldiers came up close to the captain and walked beside him. “I need to show you something.” From his cloak, the man produced a small ornate device that was glowing white very brightly. “The luxsyedin has been reacting like this ever since we were at the Lumin shrine. I figured it was from something at the shrine itself, but it hasn’t gone away.”

  “Let me see, Cairn.” Grandel took the glowing white device from the other man and held it. “This can’t be right. It never glows this much, even around Adeel or Kit. Plus it's white. Do you think….” He cut off his sentence and looked at the three prisoners. He then grabbed the shoulder of the man who brought the device and walked away.

  “What the heck does that mean?” Noir thought. “None of this makes sense.”

  Suddenly a voice was heard from ahead of the group. “Halt, friends!” it called out. Noir hadn’t noticed anyone ahead of them before. All of the men that were walking stopped and looked forward. Noir leaned aside so he could see the newcomer. He was dressed exactly like the men he was walking with. He again said, “Halt. You have travelers with you that we do not recognize. We must scan all of you for sye control.”

  One of the men from the group yelled out, “Yeah Halat. We know the procedures. You don’t have to bark them at us.” All of the men laughed except Halat.

  Captain Grandel called to Halat, “Scan well. We have at least one sye user here.” Halat ordered two men forward. Each held a blue object in their right hand. The object had ornate metal workings designed to look like it was flowing around their hands. The two men went to each person in the group, one by one, pressing the odd devices to each person's forehead. When one of the men came to Noir and held up the device in front of him, he got a closer look at it. The metal that looked like it was flowing actually was! It slowly moved in sinuous lines over the man's hand. The metal shined and caught reflections as it crawled on his skin.

  “All clean!” called one of the men with a blue device.

  “Blindfold our guests,” Captain Grandel said.

  Noir asked incredulously, “What? Why?” A man approached him with a dirty cloth.

  “Because we can’t have you telling either Tier or Chiron where our town is.” Noir allowed the piece of cloth to cover his eyes. He had no other option. Before the blindfold went on, he saw men doing the same to Steven and Aimee nearby.

  The group walked for a while with Noir stumbling over rocks, sticks, and uneven ground. An unseen hand would catch him when he started to fall.

  The guards talked while they walked. Noir could only understand some of what they said. They used words that were completely unfamiliar to him. They talked about Tier and Chiron, which Noir could only guess were cities or countries of some sort. Also, they said something about there being more tension since the “year of the Lumin” was upon them. Nothing made sense.

  Noir began to feel lost and insecure. Was it his fault that his uncle and cousin were now in this situation? How long would it take for them to get home? Could they even get home? Despite his resignation to the fact that it was his fault that they were there, Noir was glad that his older cousin and uncle were with him. He didn’t think he would be able to deal with any of this if he was alone.

  As that thought passed through Noir’s mind, someone near him shouted, “We’re under attack!” He heard the metal sound of swords sliding from their scabbards as he was pushed to the ground.

  Chapter 5

  Destinies split

  Noir fell to the ground on his side. He fell on his left arm which was still tied to his right behind his back. A man’s voice said very close to his ear, “Remain still unless you want to be considered an enemy. We will defend you, just do not move.”

  What choice did Noir have but to listen to the man’s advice? Besides the boulder a year before, Noir had never had his life in danger before, and the idea of one of those armored warriors protecting him sounded like his best option. Noir wished that he could at least see what was going on.

  Noir heard someone call out, “Arrows! Shields up!” Almost immediately, many metal clangs rang out from around him. Someone to Noir’s left cried out in pain. The sound made Noir’s stomach twist in a knot.

  Noir then heard a group of men yelling up ahead. Their voices approached and trampling footsteps could be heard.

  Metal rang out against metal. The sound was mixed with aggressive shouts, orders being called about by the captain, and cries of men in pain.

  Noir could not stand not knowing what was going on any longer. He brushed the blindfold against the ground, scraping it up his forehead. It took him a few tries, and he could feel the dirt scraping the side of his face, but soon he could see grass with one eye. As soon as he raised his head to peek at the scene around him, a hand pulled the blindfold back down on his face. Nothing was said to him, but Noir knew he should not try it again.

  Within a matter of minutes, the sound of fighting had stopped. Noir still had no idea w
ho had attacked them, why, or what the outcome was. He had no idea if Aimee and Steven were all right.

  Suddenly, Noir felt himself roughly jerked up to his feet. The rough motion shot pain through his damaged leg. Hands grabbed his arms with an iron grip. He heard an unknown voice scream passionately right into his face, “What do you know of this attack, boy!? Huh? What do you know!? My friend lays dead because of you and your family!” Noir had no idea how to react. He was blind during the battle and couldn’t even see this man’s face. Noir opened his mouth but no words came out.

  “Stand down!” yelled the captain’s voice. After a moment, the hold on Noir’s arms released. “At present, we have no way of knowing if he was responsible for this attack.” The Captain’s voice came closer as he spoke. “Son. Do you have any idea why bandits would have wanted to take your family?”

  Noir’s brain reeled. They were taken? Why in the world would someone want anything with them? They had no clue about anything that was going on.

  Noir said in a quivering voice, “I have no idea. What happened to them?”

  Noir heard Grandel’s voice turn muffled as though his back was to him. “I don't think he's lying. I would rather something evil to not come to those two if they are indeed innocent. However, we cannot spare the men right now to hunt down the bandits.”

  Captain Grandel’s voice trailed off. He called out orders as he went. Soon, Noir was nudged from behind and told to walk.

  Noir gave in to despair. He had no idea what to do. His family had been taken by, what, bandits? The severity of his situation was truly sinking in as he blindly stumbled forward. He wanted to go home.

  ~~~

  Noir walked on with the group of warriors for hours. His damaged leg ached more and more as they went and he couldn't help but slow down. As he walked, he thought about his uncle and cousin. Where were they being taken? What would bandits want with them? Where was this place that there even were bandits? Noir also thought about his home. He missed his parents and wished that he really had gone fishing that day instead of investigating the cave. How long would it take for the rest of the family to start searching for the three of them? If they went to the cave, would they get… sucked into this world as well?