Lost Worlds (Keeper of the Emerald Book 1)

by B. C. Harris

  “Where are we going to go?” I frantically ask as the sethaurus shrieks above us.

  “I am going to take you to my underwater world,” Capurni says calmly, but assertively.

  “Excuse me,” I say, “but I don’t see any underwater world.”

  The cry from the sethaurus looms closer even though I realize it’s unlikely to attack me while I’m still in the water.

  I’m kicking my legs and arms like crazy as I continue to tread water. I’m not sure how much longer I can continue to do this.

  Underwater world? Is this really a possibility?

  “You will have to trust me to protect you.”

  “How can I trust you to take me somewhere that I can’t see? How do I know that your world exists? Maybe this is a trick. Maybe you’re trying to drown me.”

  In a voice that’s more like a command than a casual response, the creature says, “I need you to take a very big breath. We’re going to swim underwater to my home.”

  “You want me to swim underwater with you?” I ask, my voice displaying my concern.

  “Exactly.”

  “But I can’t swim very far underwater,” I say with dismay.

  “There are many things that you can do that you think you cannot. Sometimes, you need to give yourself permission to do them.”

  I’m puzzled by his comment. My mind is far more concerned with the sethaurus waiting for me to leave the water than it is trying to do something that I know I can’t do. I know I can’t swim very far underwater. I have never been able to do this.

  “Take a deep breath.”

  I begin to panic at the thought of diving beneath the surface of the lake.

  “You need to listen to me. I can help you. I can save you from the sethaurus. I can even teach you more about your mother’s emerald.”

  “My mother’s emerald?” I reply frantically. “How do you know about my mother’s emerald?”

  Capurni ignores my question and firmly says, “When I reach ten, dive! One, two, three…”

  I almost pass out as I see the fierce glare of the sethaurus who continues to circle above me.”

  “Five, six…”

  I look hysterically around me trying to find some way to escape the terror I am facing. Seeing no other choice, I take a big breath.

  “Nine. Ten. Dive!”

  With all my might, I dive.

  As I anxiously look around underwater, I find Capurni a little below me. He’s waving at me to continue to swim downwards. I don’t know how much longer I can hold my breath. What if I keep following him and run out of air?

  Just as I’m about to turn back to the surface, a huge sphere appears before me.

  My mind is transfixed on what I’m seeing. I continue to swim after Capurni, now with more enthusiasm. As I look in wonder at the inconceivable object before me, I have no concept of how far or for how long I’ve been swimming below the surface of the lake. The sphere is constantly changing colors. It reminds me of the huge colorful ball that’s dropped each New Year’s in Time’s Square although it’s so big it could probably hold all of downtown New York City inside of it.

  Light reflects off the walls of the sphere creating an endless array of rainbows in the water.

  At the moment when I think I’m completely out of air, a door opens on the side of the sphere. I follow Capurni into the opening.

  In the same instant that the door shuts, there’s a noise like a toilet flushing as the water is forced out of the small compartment where we are standing.

  ln front of me there is another wall, but this one is transparent. I almost collapse with astonishment when I realize that there is a huge underwater city sprawling before me.

  I open my mouth and take a gigantic breath of air.

  “Now you are safe,” Capurni says.

  My gaze is darting everywhere as I take in the amazing sight. It’s like some fantastic modernistic world has been built in a sphere under the water.

  “Is this Shinti?” I ask Capurni who is standing beside me. I notice that he’s a little shorter than me. I also notice that although his face looks like a dog, his body is more like a fish except that he has hands and legs instead of fins.

  “No,” Capurni replies. “This is Lattisan.”

  I’m bewildered by his answer.

  “Shinti is an ancient world hidden in the Red Mountains. The people who live in this underwater city are all descendants from the people who once lived in Shinti.

  “Does anyone still live in Shinti?”

  “No. Shinti was abandoned approximately one-thousand years ago.”

  I’m confused by Capurni’s answer. Why did the people who lived in Shinti abandon their world?

  “There is so much to tell you. I will answer your questions later. Would that be okay with you?”

  I nod. This is overwhelming.

  I begin to explore my surroundings. I realize that the sphere has two walls: an outer opaque wall that I first saw as we approached it and an inner transparent wall that I can look through to see a sprawling underwater city. In between the two walls is an open space. Capurni and I are in a small compartment that is sandwiched between the two walls.

  When I look behind me, the outer wall is pulsating with a multitude of colors. When I look in front of me, there is a modern city that has been built inside the sphere.

  I look closer at the wall behind me. I think there is something moving in it. As I examine it more carefully, the wall looks like it’s pulsating, sort of like a jellyfish swimming. As I turn and look at the wall in front of me, although I have to look closer, it appears that the wall has some movement within it as well. It looks like the walls are breathing.

  “The walls are alive?”

  “Yes,” Capurni replies.

  I gaze in awe at the walls, glancing back and forth between the outer wall of the huge sphere and the inner wall.

  “Are the walls made of jellyfish?”

  “No, the walls are made of celleria.”

  “Celleria? What are celleria?” I ask, as I reach out to touch the wall.

  “Celleria are the building blocks of my world,” Capurni replies.

  As my fingers touch the wall, its surface feels something like jelly except that it’s a little firmer. Running my fingers over the wall, the celleria tickle me making me smile for the first time in awhile.

  I try to poke my finger into the wall but it resists me.

  “It’s like super-jelly,” I say.

  “Well, it certainly is super,” Capurni laughs. “Without an unbelievable number of celleria, this underwater world would not exist.”

  “Is the wall breathing?” I ask as I move my face closer to it.

  “Yes, the celleria constantly provide fresh air for all the inhabitants of Lattisan. In addition, the outer wall of the sphere prevents water from entering.”

  My mind is racing as it attempts to comprehend what Capurni said to me.

  “So you’re saying that the celleria provide oxygen for everyone who lives inside the sphere?”

  “Yes,” Capurni replies. “You have understood exactly what I told you.”

  He touches what appears to be a symbol on the wall.

  We start to descend as though we’re in an elevator that is located in between the outer and inner walls of the sphere.

  When we finally stop, there is a door in the inner wall.

  Capurni presses something on the wall, and the door slides open.

  - 13 -

  AN AMAZING NEW WORLD

  As we walk into the massive sphere, I scan the tall colorful buildings stretching in front of me. I’m awed by the skyline. It reminds me of a smaller version of the New York City skyline, except that all these buildings are in a sphere underwater. As I stare at the incredible scene, I realize that the buildings are pulsating.

  “Capurni, are the buildings also made from celleria?”

  “Yes.”

  There’s something that looks like a car hovering in front of us, alth
ough maybe it’s really a small airplane. It’s bright red, although the more I look at it, the less I’m sure of its actual color. Similar to the colors of almost everything else in this underwater world, it is constantly changing providing an endless range of shades. The object has no wheels.

  The vehicle, if that’s what it is, is about the size of a small car but narrower. It has no roof or windows. There are only two seats in it, both side by side. The front of the object is smooth and pointed, almost like that of a jet airplane. As I think about the airplane analogy, I observe that the object has a tail like an airplane.

  Capurni opens a door on the strange object and gestures for me to sit down inside it. As I do this, he walks around to the other side of the vehicle and enters.

  Although Capurni is now sitting in what might be considered the driver’s seat, there’s no steering wheel.

  He touches a control panel. I notice that his narrow fingers looks like mine except that they are a little longer and have more joints. As he touches a light on the control panel in front of him, wings appear on the sides of the object that is looking more and more like an airplane. The streamlined object begins to move upwards. It quickly levels off in a course that is heading directly towards the tall buildings.

  “What is this called?” I ask, enjoying the ride as we shoot upwards.

  “It’s a zelan,” Capurni replies.

  Before I can ask another question and I have a lot of them, the zelan speeds forward.

  “How are you steering? There’s no steering wheel.”

  The zelan abruptly turns upwards again. I hold my breath. As we speed higher into the large sphere, I can see much further than before. The underwater city is incredible.

  “Watch this,” Capurni laughs.

  Before I can react, we dive straight down the side of a large building. This is amazing. Every turn that we take is pure fun. This is definitely the best ride I have ever been on in my life. With adrenalin surging through me, I begin to laugh.

  As we reach what could be described as street level, the zelan somersaults. I shriek in delight as I find myself upside down. I can’t wait to tell Jasmin about this exhilarating experience.

  The zelan turns upright again. I notice a multitude of zelans everywhere I look. Although they’re slightly different in size and shape, and even in color, they remind me of cars on a busy street back home, except that they’re floating in the air. Instead of waiting in a line like the traffic in my city, the zelans zip above or below each other, none of them ever touching.

  “How are you able to steer this?” I ask once again.

  “I think where I want to go and the zelan takes us there.”

  “How can that be?” I gasp, completely baffled by his answer. “Can it read your thoughts?”

  “Yes.”

  “What if I think of going in a different direction than you’re thinking? What would happen then?”

  “The celleria only respond to the person sitting in the control chair,” Capurni replies.

  “This is amazing,” I say.

  I look at the street below us. In addition to dozens and dozens of zelans flying in what appears to be a haphazard fashion, the streets are lined with creatures that are walking.

  Astonished, I stare at the animals. Some of their faces look like different kinds of dogs or cats while their bodies are more like various creatures from the ocean. Some have one head and some have more than one head. From a distance, it looks like they have fur, although I suspect they are covered with the same skin as Capurni which, as I look at it more closely, appears to be more like a soft rubber than skin. What a bizarre world.

  “Bizarre?” Capurni says.

  Just like Radwin, I think. He is using sensergy to listen to my thoughts.

  As we drop downwards approaching what looks like an intersection, there’s a long creature that resembles a big eel. It’s yellow, well sort of yellow. Its color keeps changing although it’s always some shade of yellow. Even though it looks like an eel and has fins like an eel, its face resembles a raccoon. As we pass the creature, it waves at us.

  Suddenly our zelan turns upside down, twists to the left, shoots upwards, spins around a few times and then stops at the top of one of the higher buildings. The view of the city is breathtaking.

  “Everything is so different here,” I say. “Nothing is the same as the world where I live.”

  “Every world is unique in its own way,” Capurni says.

  “Where I live most people think that we’re the only world where life exists.”

  Capurni laughs. “Very primitive indeed,” he says.

  - 14 -

  KEEPER OF THE EMERALD

  “Once we are inside this building, I will explain more about your mother’s emerald.”

  As we fly through an open window, my mind is already beginning to form questions about the emerald.

  Entering the room, I notice it is barren. There is no furniture of any sort.

  “Let’s sit over here as we talk,” Capurni says as he steps off the zelan.

  “Over where?” I say. “There is nowhere to sit.”

  Capurni doesn’t respond to me. He walks over to one of the walls and places his hands on it.

  What in the world is he doing?

  After maybe a minute or so, Capurni turns away from the wall. It looks like he has something in his hands. If I’m not mistaken I think he has a handful of celleria that he took from the wall.

  Capurni kneels on the floor and holds his hands before him.

  It’s now obvious that he has some celleria in his hands.

  He closes his eyes.

  This is starting to get a little creepy.

  There appears to be some movement in his hands. It’s as though the celleria are expanding. It looks like he has a handful of jelly that is pulsating with various colors.

  The amount of the celleria quickly doubles in size and keeps expanding at a phenomenal rate. Not only are the celleria rapidly increasing, but they appear to be forming some kind of object.

  Before I can comprehend what’s happening, a couch forms in front of Capurni. It’s absolutely amazing. He has taken a handful of celleria and created a couch.

  “How did you do that? Are you a magician or a wizard?”

  Capurni grins.

  “Can you teach me how to make things out of celleria?” I ask excitedly.

  “When you are ready, you will discover that you too will be able to construct objects from celleria.”

  “Have a seat,” Capurni smiles.

  As I sit down, I immediately feel a vibration from the couch.

  “The celleria are tickling me,” I say.

  “Yes. Sit back on the couch and soon you will be experiencing a wonderful massage.”

  I follow Capurni’s instructions. As I sink into the couch, it feels terrific.

  After all the stress I’ve experienced so far today, this is a welcome surprise. It feels like a thousand tiny fingers are expertly massaging me.

  Capurni sits beside me. The smile on his face tells me that he’s enjoying the massage as well.

  After a few minutes of relaxation, Capurni begins, “Let me first of all tell you a little about the history of this underwater world. This might help you to understand more about your mother’s emerald.”

  I lean forward to demonstrate my interest in what Capurni is going to say.

  “About two-thousand years ago, my ancestors lived on a planet named Drapesia.”

  Another planet, I think. Up until a few days ago, I thought Earth was the only planet with life on it.

  “How is it possible that you live on Tamor, but you said that your ancestors lived on Drapesia? That doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Emily, it is quite common for people from one planet to move to another planet.”

  “It is?” I say. I think of the current talk on my planet about establishing a civilization on Mars. I guess that we’re behind the technological capabilities of the inhabitants of some
other planets.

  “There was a time when the planet Drapesia was a wonderful place with many different countries living together in peace. There was food and fresh water for all. Poverty, hunger and wars were unknown on Drapesia.”

  “Sounds like a paradise,” I reply, “but I don’t understand. If Drapesia was such a wonderful place, why did your ancestors move here to Tamor?”

  “I’m getting to that,” Capurni says as he pushes deeper into the couch as though he loves the massaging action of the celleria. I copy his actions.

  “One day, a beautiful emerald was found on Drapesia. As emeralds were very rare on this planet, this particular emerald was considered to be a priceless treasure.”

  I look directly into Capurni’s eyes, not wanting to miss whatever he’s going to say next. My mind is already considering the possibility that this emerald might have something to do with my mother’s emerald.

  “The exquisite emerald was placed in a museum where people often came to view its beauty. One day, one of the Drapesian leaders was visiting the museum when he noticed an unusual green light flowing out of the emerald.”

  “The green light!” I exclaim. “My mother’s emerald has a green light that flows from it. I think this is the light that brought me to Tamor and then took me back home again.”

  Capurni stares at me, almost as though he thinks I’m a famous person. He seems to be looking at me in awe before he continues. “Some of my ancestors discovered that the emerald had amazing powers.”

  Amazing powers? Does my mother’s emerald also have amazing powers?

  Capurni looks carefully at me. I wonder if he’s listening to my thoughts.

  “Our historical records tell us that one of the great leaders of Drapesia, a man named Kienda, discovered that the emerald could release a great surge of energy that could cause untold destruction, or could be used to create new marvels. Over time, Kienda became the most powerful person in Drapesia. He became known as the Keeper of the Emerald.”

  Capurni pauses as he shifts his position once again.