by Chris Miller
“Silence? Is that all you want?”
“Yesss…that issss it. Do not sssspeak of the Author; don’t carry the Writ…and don’t ever…ever…tell anyone about Sssssolandria. Do all thisssss, and I will give you the life you have alwaysssss wanted in Desssstiny. You will be popular in sssschool, get good gradessss and your family…your family will be whole again and the Shadow will leave you alone. It’ssss everything you alwaysss wanted…with no downsssside.”
The request seemed simple enough. After all, speaking of Solandria usually got me in trouble in the Veil. My friends thought I was weird because of it. I could keep it a secret, couldn’t I? But then, I would be living a lie. I wouldn’t be who I really was.
“I don’t know,” I said at last. “It doesn’t seem right.”
“Then your father will die like the rest of the doomed souls in the lake.”
Out of nowhere a pair of white-fleshed water banshees lifted themselves from the green lake and slid across the stone floor on their bellies like seals with arms. They were the ugliest things I had ever seen. Long pointed noses, large yellow eyes and the teeth of a shark. Behind them they pulled a black chain, which they latched onto my father’s ankle, using it to pull him back toward the water’s edge.
“Wait!” I shouted, causing the banshees to stop short of the final pull. Sceleris smiled at my sudden willingness to listen.
“Let me get this straight. All I have to do is stop talking about Solandria. I can still believe in it and come here whenever I want?”
“Yesssss…all you want, but you mussst keep it hidden. A ssssecret world that only you know exissssts.”
“What about Trista and the others in Destiny who already know?”
“You cannot talk about it with them,” Sceleris said.
“But what if I accidentally say something…?”
“You won’t. I will ssssteal the wordsss from your lipsss.”
I pondered the options that had been set before me. It sure would be nice to be popular at school, and I certainly wouldn’t miss the Shadow causing trouble in my life anymore. I’d have a family again and a father. It was my chance at a new beginning. But how could I keep the truth about the Author a secret—a secret of the Shadow?
“Sssso, do we have a deal?” Sceleris asked.
For the briefest of moments I thought I’d say “yes,” but even as I opened my mouth, I changed my mind. My father meant a lot to me, but Solandria and the Author meant so much more.
“Wait a minute. What am I thinking?” I said aloud. “I cannot accept your deal and return to your bondage now that I am free. I am a son of the Author…and you have no power over me. I can’t stop talking about Solandria any more than I can stop talking about myself. Solandria is a part of me; it’s my home…where my family is. It’s where Aviad has called me.”
Upon the sound of the name, Sceleris coiled so tightly around his throne it began to crack under the squeezing pressure of his muscular tail. His eyes lit with fire and he bellowed out his final orders with an intensity that rattled the room.
“Pull him in!”
“Please, no!” Dad begged, but even if they heard him, the water banshees paid no attention. With a horrid splash my father’s body slipped over the edge and sank below the surface.
“And to think, your father thought you were hissss hero,” Sceleris laughed. “You are nothing but a zero—a nobody with nowhere to go.”
“No, it doesn’t end here…not like this,” I said, eyeing the water with determination.
How far are you willing to go to save your father?
Without a second thought I dove into the green abyss. The shadowed form of my sinking father was directly below me, being pulled to his watery grave by the weight of the chain that clasped his ankles. His was not the only form here; thousands of bodies floated in the water, all of them chained to an invisible anchor beneath the shadow of the deep, but I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off of my father for fear of losing him.
The wailing and moaning of the dead seemed to drown every good thought from my mind. I focused my sights on Dad and dove further and further down until the water darkened around us from green to grey. It was tougher to keep swimming; the bodies of the dead were everywhere and their arms and legs kept grabbing at me.
My lungs began to burn, nearly bursting in need of a breath of air. If I didn’t head back to the surface soon, I would die. Still, I forced myself to dive further; I had come too far to let him slip away now. With the weight of the chain pulling him down, Dad was just out of reach when the water banshees began to attack, encircling me. Their razor-sharp claws tore through my skin. I did my best to avoid them, and in all the commotion, I forgot and inhaled the horrid, green water into my lungs. Surprisingly, I found this water had the same effect as air. I could breathe here. The waters of death had no effect on me.
The screaming banshees came around for another attack, but this time I felt my strength return. I caught them both by their hair and tied them together in a knot so they couldn’t swim straight. They struggled, screaming like little girls on a playground.
I searched for my father and headed down to where he was chained.
“Dad,” I said, my voice gurgling under the water.
His face looked lifeless, but I didn’t lose hope. I found the chain that had been shackled to his leg and pulled at it, hoping to break it off. I pulled and pulled but it was no use.
Then, a pair of arms reached past me and took hold of the chain. Hope was here. I didn’t know how she got here, but I was grateful she had. She made a ball of fire in her palm and melted the chain from my father’s leg. When his leg was freed, I started pulling him up toward the surface once more.
Hope shook her head and pointed downward into the deep blackness. Unsure of where she was going, I followed. Together, we pulled my father down with us. Eventually, the murky water began to lighten again. Somewhere overhead, the flickering of the water’s surface beckoned us closer. My lungs began to burn, begging for air…real air. As we approached the surface, I spotted the underbelly of a small row boat. We headed for it and broke through the surface of the water, gasping for breath.
“Grab the rope!” a familiar voice shouted. Faldyn was in the boat and anxious to pull us in. Hope and I sprawled out on the floor of the boat while Faldyn tended to my father.
“You’re crazy, you know that?” Hope finally said once she had caught enough breath. I chuckled, still trying to catch my own.
“What were you thinking?” she asked. “Raiding the Void is…well, it’s not supposed to happen.”
“I guess I just thought if Aviad was willing to give his life for me, I wouldn’t be his son if I wasn’t willing to do the same for someone else.”
“That’s a pretty good excuse, I guess.” Hope elbowed me in the arm. I pretended to complain, but I didn’t mind. Unfortunately, when Faldyn turned around, his expression wasn’t as cheerful as ours.
“Faldyn, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Your father…” he said grimly, “he didn’t make it.”
“What?” I asked, unwilling to believe it. “After all of that? But I thought he’d….”
“I’m sorry, Hunter,” Faldyn said.
Hope put her arm around my shoulders. “It’s not your fault; you did everything you could…and more.”
“We need to see Aviad,” I said boldly. “He can fix this.”
Faldyn nodded and started rowing us back to shore in silence.
We carried my father’s body through the woods to the portal of the twisting trees. We arrived at Sanctuary in the midst of a grand celebration. The entire town had been rebuilt; it was alive again and looked as good as the first time I had seen it.
The entire Resistance seemed to be there, celebrating the defeat of the Shadow and the return of the Living Tree. While singing, dancing and fireworks wer
e happening all around me, I carried my father’s limp body though the cheerful chaos to the Temple where Aviad and the captains of the Resistance sat at a long table, overlooking the festivities.
Trista was showing Emily her bow and how she had learned to use it. Mom was listening to Gabby’s latest story about her grandson, Cranton, and how kids these days need to use their imaginations more. Xaul and Stoney were sitting at a table to the side, sharing stories from the battle. The Bungle family took up an entire table by themselves, and Evan and Vogler stood behind the table of captains, watching…. The Thordin brothers and Samryee were slapping each other on the back and laughing extra loud. Even Boojum was scurrying about, followed by a family of baby snarks as he stuffed his face with all kinds of food. The atmosphere was alive and full of joy; it was so surreal I almost thought it was a dream.
But the crowd began to hush as we moved through the activity toward the head table. The whispers and murmurs turned into an uproar as we laid my father’s body down before Aviad and knelt in reverence before the man I had come to know as the Author’s son.
“See here, what is the meaning of this?” one of the Codebearer captains complained.
“Indeed, this is highly irregular. Most uncalled for,” another declared.
Aviad raised his hands and the crowd began to calm.
“Hunter, you’ve returned.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “I’ve brought you my father.”
“So I see,” Aviad said calmly.
“He’s…he’s dead.”
“Yes, I know,” Aviad said, his eyes pooling with tears as he spoke. It was the first time I had seen him cry. Suddenly, I began to wonder if I had been mistaken. Perhaps Aviad couldn’t save my father now…maybe it really was too late.
“You asked me how far I would be willing to go to save him…” I said. “I’ve gone as far as I could go…. I need you to heal him like you did me.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Hunter,” Aviad said.
“What do you mean? I thought you sent me to find him.”
“I did.”
“I risked my life to save him because I thought that you could…make him live again.”
Aviad peered over my father’s lifeless form and shook his head. He closed his eyes and began to weep. The tears that fell were genuine tears for a man he clearly cared for.
“Oh, Caleb,” he sighed, speaking directly to my father as if he could still hear. “Why was it so hard for you to trust me? I could have saved you from yourself a thousand times over if only you had been willing…but you would not let me. You were so zealous for independence, so driven to know what would be you passed over the one gift that would have given you the freedom you sought. And yet…even this was written so that you might serve a higher purpose.”
A tear dropped from the eyelashes of Aviad and fell onto my father’s face. The tear held more power than all the forces of Sceleris combined. It was the tear of the Author falling on his own story. A final tear dropped on the Bloodstone buried in my father’s chest. I watched in awe as slowly the Bloodstone began to glow again. Dad’s lungs filled with the breath of life reborn and his eyes opened with sudden awareness of his surroundings.
The crowd gasped and my family gathered around the table. Mom, Emily and even Trista stood by my side, watching as my father awakened before Aviad, who had restored him.
“Well, Caleb, do you trust me now?”
“I do,” Caleb said, oblivious to anyone but Aviad.
“Then there is something I must take back—something you’ve been keeping from me.”
Caleb looked down at his chest. The Bloodstone was shining through, throbbing to the beat of his heart. He knew what Aviad wanted—his heart. The Bloodstone WAS his heart.
“Yes, but if you do, won’t I…die again?”
Aviad nodded.
“Isn’t there any other way?” he asked.
“No, but if you trust me, I have a new story where a hero like you is needed.”
“Me? I’m no hero; I ruined everything,” my father said solemnly, remembering the destruction he caused when united with Tonomis.
“Yes,” Aviad replied softly, “you did. But if you trust me, things can be different this time.” I could tell my father was thrilled with the idea of an adventure all his own, but when he looked at the faces of his family around him, his excitement waned.
“But what about my family, will they be able to come too?” Dad asked.
“Someday,” Aviad said plainly, “but not yet.”
Emily threw her arms around our father in a giant hug. “Oh Daddy, please don’t go. We’ve missed you so much.”
“I have to, Em,” Dad said. “If I don’t go, this…this thing in me will kill me just the same and we’ll never be together. Be strong…you’ll always be my princess.”
Mom was next in line to approach Dad. The years of tension between them left so much to be said, but there wasn’t much time to heal the rift. “Caleb, I’m sorry I never trusted you with all of this. I guess I just never knew how real it was.”
“It’s okay, honey. I didn’t really trust it myself until just now. I never meant for it to end like this. I only wanted to help save our family….”
“You did, sweetie,” Mom said. It was the first time I had heard her call him that in a very long time. “You gave us something to believe in.”
Without another word, she leaned in and gave him a kiss, a simple kiss filled with baggage from many years of misunderstandings. But it was also a hopeful kiss, the start of something new, a bridge between hearts that had been torn apart.
When she was finished, Mom stepped back and let me and Dad have the final word.
“Hunter, my boy, what’s left to say?” Dad asked. “I’m sorry I can’t be there for you.”
“It’s okay, Dad,” I replied. “We’ve had a pretty good adventure.”
“We have…haven’t we?” Dad smiled.
“Yeah, not many kids get to beat their dads in a wrestling match in the sky.”
We shared a teary smile at the memory. I knew that wasn’t exactly how it had been, but it was how I would choose to remember it.
“And not many dads have a son as brave as you. Thanks for believing in me…even when I didn’t believe in myself.”
I hugged my dad for the last time and squeezed harder than ever before, so that I would remember it for a lifetime. If I had my way, I never would have let go.
Dad broke the embrace and looked me in the eyes.
“I’m a bit scared,” he admitted.
“It’s going to be okay, Dad,” I said. “We’re never alone.”
“No…no, we’re not,” Dad said, looking back to Aviad.
“It’s time,” Aviad said, nodding to my father.
Dad closed his eyes and let Aviad do the rest. With a careful hand, Aviad reached into my father’s chest to remove the Bloodstone. My father arched his back and drew in a deep painful breath. Aviad took hold of the Bloodstone and pulled it free. All at once, my father’s form fell limp and he began to fade like a ghost. He couldn’t move, but in his eyes I thought I saw a smile. Then he was gone.
A moment of solemn silence hung in the air. With a heavy heart I stared at the empty space where my father had once lain. The crowd was hushed. The only thing that stirred was the faintest breeze, which rustled the leaves in the trees around Sanctuary.
Then, with a sudden gasp, the crowd began to come alive with excitement. I overheard one of the men mumble to those around him, “Do you see what I’m seeing?”
The murmuring grew quickly, though I had no clue why. I spun around to see what all the commotion was about and spotted a movement in the sky. Something was happening overhead…something big.
Like a paper being torn in two, the clouds pulled apart, revealing a crack of light that stretched across the
sky. The rift in the sky grew wider until it was evident there was something hidden behind it…something lost in the blinding light. It looked as though it were a portal to another world entirely.
I saw my father standing beside Petrov and Gerwyn, waving at us and smiling down from the beginning of his new adventure. I waved back and watched as my father turned around and faced the city of light that rose before him. As we watched him climb a stairway, Hope captured the moment in song as she repeated the second half of the refrain I had come to cherish:
Death is not the end, dear one.
Another chapter has begun.
So be not sad, oh heart of mine,
Find the joy that’s hid behind.
Through darkness light will find its way,
While we await the dawn of day.
Mom put her arms around Emily and me, squeezing us closely as we watched the window between worlds close. With a loud cheer from the crowd, the festivities resumed as a double celebration—a celebration of victory and a celebration of life—the new life of my father.
When the celebration was over, Aviad led my family and Trista back into the Temple where he presented us with a gift, my father’s Writ and key, the ones Desi had stolen from me.
“But I don’t understand,” I said. “How did you find it? I thought Desi….”
“I have my ways,” Aviad smiled. “Let’s just say that being the Author’s son has its privileges.”
He motioned for me to open the book. I placed the key in the lock and gave it a quarter-turn to the right. Just like magic, the book came alive with an unworldly light. The pages flipped open to a passage near the end of the book. The passage was about Destiny and would lead us home once more. Led by Trista, Mom and Emily touched the words first and vanished from Solandria.
Before I joined them, I had to ask Aviad one last question that had been bothering me. Even before I spoke, he sensed I was going to ask.
“What is it, Hunter?”
“Before I go…I just have to know….” I started.
“Of course, what is it, Hunter?”
“What happened to the Eye of Ends?” I asked.