Golden leaves float past a fallen birch. It is chinked by black rectangular scars, its tissue paper bark silver. She kneels by a pond, its water black and mesmerizing. Dying maple tree leaves make art on the dark surface, where her face is reflected. It is angular with sharp cheekbones and a straight nose, draped behind a curtain of outrageously red short hair. She looks up. A dark wall of spruce, balsam fir, beech and hemlock faces her threateningly. All around her, the forest is rich in autumn colors: blistering reds, rich greens, the enfolding mountains blighted by yellow and quarantined away by rivers.

The chlorophyll in the lake plants fades and the underlying pigments burn through. Rainbows shimmer within fantastical shore vegetation bending in the breeze. Minutes melt and the air becomes freezing cold and white suddenly roars. Am I going crazy? Zoem thinks to herself as she clutches her arms in a tight knot as a feeble attempt to keep warm. But no, the summits are clad in snow and the shadows become icy. The wind is cold and rich and deadly flakes descend in dizzying flurries.

She believes she is going to have hypothermia when the atmosphere becomes pleasantly warm and balmy in another moment. The valleys are dotted with flowers. Small leaves have budded. Spring, she realizes and gazed upward at the sky.

The sun is setting and rising in an alarmingly fast arc, day and night interblending quicker and quicker as the seconds fly by, until an indistinguishable twilight emerges. Storms let out split rains then disappear. The forest alters once more and the unbroken green of summer landscape rolls. Everywhere is the tantalizing prospect of another view, another beaded chain of perspectives. The palette of the seasons shifts once more and Zoem knows straight on that this is no ordinary dream.

Her name sighs in the breeze.

She jumps in terror and leaps to run but

She is stunned beyond imagination, dazed beyond thinking. She runs through the moss-draped rainforest where towering cedars live a thousand years and black bears are born with pale fur. Bridges constructed from slender fallen trees breath under a carpet of green adorned with ferns. Trees still standing bend, grazed by flashes of morning light. The canopy is soft and muted, and lichen drips from hemlock and yew branches. Zoem trips in the spongy ground as she dashes toward the river.

Egg-heavy fish clog the waterway, while rocks drown in algae. Even the misty fog can't mask the funky rot of salmon carcasses lying tangled in stands of tidal Sedge. Day activity will emerge as dawn settles in: wolves swimming after black-tailed deer, bears fishing snout first for fish in shallow creeks and consuming seals and scavenging herring eggs, and eagles with ginger heads. At least, these are the scenes which scouts described to the rest of them. None of these animals appear to Zoem but there are signs all over. Here, a tuft of fur snagged onto an alder branch and over there, chewed bark. Though she doesn't know what their diet is exactly, there are little tart fruits throughout the forested bank, and mussles in the river, and lupines whose roots are edible.

Zoem is utterly confused. So all these planets, all of these worlds and dimensions are only accessible to people because of some pact between Earth's humans and the Affinas? And what is an Affina, anyway? The first dream, vision, whatever, had taken place in the dark place. And she was sure she didn't want to go there again.

She sat on a cold boulder and watched the reddish sun of her world slowly creep out into the green sky. And the fact she had gone into Earth in the pathway had been no accident. The Affinas had put her into some trance. She had been intentially been set up to visit the planet of her ancestors. Why? Why her? Why her and not billions of others? A stupid creepy dream, a destiny put upon her shoulders and poof! Zoem kicked her shoes into the ground with frustration. She wanted answers.

She knew she always had lousy luck. But all of this was pure insanity. No it was all just insanity. The Affinas, whatever they were, just couldn't exist. Zoem repeated this mentally over and over again. Doesn't exist. Doesn't exist. Doesn't exist.

A small earthquake shocked the ground for a brief second as an explosion blasted the air from the direction of camp, and she knew her luck was about to get a lot worse.

Echo Journey {1}

This is the first part of Chapter One, of a new book that I'm writing. I'm planning on having two more books: Flaming Trail and Spirit Quest. If you have any questions or suggestions, comment or email me at jadefireeyes@gmail.com. My thanks in advance. Jadefireeyes

She braced herself and jumped into the unknown.

Five centuries ago, humans denounced technology in favor of the newly found mechanism Magic. The humans also left Earth.

They were pressured to do so by overpopulation and a global war that threatened to destroy all of them. Wars back on Earth did not have as few deaths as on the planets she knew. They disposed of their weapons, annihilated the internet (which by now had become the world's only database), and lay waste to everything they had discovered in the past three centuries.

Wind whipped viscously in her ears and her hair flew wildly as she fell.

They of course would not have accomplished any of this were it not for a mysterious leader, Ascenair, who had given them magic in the first place.

A shadow suddenly hid the sun as an eagle scythed through the sky.

The force of free-falling opened up her thin jacket, and, too late, the string with the peridot amulet flew off her neck. “No!” she screamed.

Nothing remains of Earth's past but the books and sparse relics, which the humans had taken with them on their arduous journey to settle new planets. But it is enough. The Language of the Elites has been passed down, the language in which all magical rites and ceremonies are said in. So has the secret of the peridot.

The eagle swooped through the air with a flash of tawny wings. She caught sight of fierce orange eyes and a curved cruel beak before its talons closed over the magical amulet. “Come back!” she yelled hopelessly as it took off again.

From these documents we know much of our history on Old Earth, but many inventions are lost such as computers and radios, and plenty of weapons. After she read a handful of newspaper article copies originally published on Earth in History class, and shifted through the many wars that had occurred, that seemed like a good thing.

Panic drowned her as she fell far enough to see the looming world beneath. She had planned on using the peridot to conjure a charm to slow her down. Her death was rushing up to meet her. She closed her eyes as fear made her chest hurt.

Each separate country colonized a different planet, or moon, often light-years apart  from one another. Even with technology the humans could not have possibly stayed in contact.

The bird was coming for another round. The eagle swelled from a pinprick in the glaring blue sky to a feathered menace catapulting towards her with outstretched claws, the stringed stone still dangling in its grip. Up close the eagle was enormous, its wingspan reaching about fifteen feet, three times longer than her height. Its harsh head seemed to focus on her leather glove for a second before launching onto it.

Salvation came in the form of Stargate, an interconnectable pathway buried deep inside a star, Earth's sun. The reason this proved to be so useful to our ancestors was the fact a community half a universe away was possible to visit within minutes. We still use the Pathway today.

Its massive wings beat twice before she realized she was hanging midair. She always wore those gloves for as long as she could remember, thick and indestructible, with short black metal poles attached to the side of the wrist opposite the palm. They were thick in diameter, easily three to four inches, but hollow and light. The eagle’s front three claws awkwardly grasped the pole on her right glove.  Up close she could see those ebony talons could measure a foot long when spread flat.

No one understands what the chant means, for it is a fragment of the Language of the Elites, but each syllable rings with power. It is a mystery, as well as many of the magical rites and banes we have inherited. Our entire society is built upon technology compromising with magic.

Her eyes swept the landscape, taking in a mass of emerald fuzz, a carpet of green unwavering trees that reached out into the horizon. It was some kind of forest. Every second she anticipated her outstretched arm to separate with the leather garment. It didn’t. It was like it had become a second skin. In fact, she couldn’t feel the glove at all. It was like it wasn’t even there.

But the most absurd thing was her dangling in the sky with her arm held far above her head, where the bird – so big that it blocked the sun – cast its shadow over her like a tent. The eagle flew with certainty over forest to the east until a mountain range gradually appeared. Her arm ached. There was nothing to think about but her hair blowing into her eyes, a giant wing occasionally clipping her body – which hurt – and the brief but intelligent glares from her captor. Its eyes were twice the size of a human’s and just as calculating. In vain she gazed up at the amulet tangled in the pole. She couldn’t reach it.

Some say Stargate was Ascenair's gift to the people. Others say it was the leader's sacrifice.

By the sound of the monotonous beating she made up her mind to act. She needed that amulet. As long as she had it she had a chance of surviving. And if that eagle had to be killed in the process, so be it.

Her eyes snapped open. Now she had a living opponent, all her worry dissolved into rage. Don’t ever show your fear to your enemy, her mentor had told her. You can be afraid, but don’t ever show it. Better yet, don’t be. Have resolve in combat.  She unsheathed the knife with her right hand, which was always kept in her pocket. If she was going down, that eagle was going down with her.

She stabbed at its massive neck and opened up a red wound. It let out a shrill high-pitched twittering in outrage.

She at first felt satisfaction at its pain but froze when realization struck that she could understand it. Do not harm me, was what the cry loosely translated into. Put away talon.

She obliged, sheathing the weapon into its case as fragments of memories of this creature settled in. There was a time when she was a young child and  she had leaned precariously out of an open window. It had been a windy day and the crimson curtains had been billowing when a pair of eaglets came gliding in out of nowhere, startling her, making her jump back in. One of them had dropped gloves onto her head, then small to fit her tiny fingers. Even then they had the poles but they were only the size of charcoal pencils.

Where is your brother? She mentally thought in eagle screeches, directing the telepathic message at the shadowy creature above her.

The fiery eyes seemed to go sad and solemn. The confident wing beats faltered. We were Summoned. Human waiting for us, the one whose name means lion-in-the-stars. Attacked by his Guardians. Great fight. Brother hurt badly, falls to the One. Trapped. I fly away.

Now that she noticed, there were ragged scars running down his neat rows of feathers as though from a previous battle. Her throat tightened.

I need to go down. I need stone, she answered, refusing to think that Fury was captured.

The eagle shrilled in defiance. Stone bad. Sick. But stone strong. Make me strong. Help me carry Master. Master too heavy for five Guardians. Must keep away evil stone. A pause, then, Will fly down into forest.

She needed that amulet. Without it, she couldn’t do magic. She would be stranded in this strange world, maybe permanently. To take her mind off the incoming tide of worry, she asked, My Guardian, do you come when I am troubled?

Yes. Now much trouble, much storms coming for Master.

Suddenly, the eagle went into a sharp descent, one that left her flinging through the sky like a real pendulum, the amulet swinging crazily and mocking her attempts to grab it. As he soared towards the earth, her legs flailed towards the sky, body resisting the new direction of motion. The brunt of the cold wind slapped her in the face.

His long broad wings, effective for soaring, had tapered feathers at the end that helped with bumps of turbulence. The talons, made of keratin, were lethal. The eagle had a magnitude of precision when flying. This Guardian, who seemed to be her servant, would be a great ally.

The woods hurtled towards them until the jumble of trees became sharper. Distinct branches became visible as the ground came up to annihilate them. Suddenly the eagle launched into a horizontal path between forest and atmosphere and she was being carried awkwardly once more. The ground was two feet from her feet when her Guardian let go of the pole. She jumped onto the soil and crashed onto a log, knocking it over and exposing the underside. Grubs could be so disgusting.

The world was green. The damp forest was teeming with life; lush stalks of foreign ferns crowded the russet soil, and mist lingered in the air, silvery and pretty. Light filtered through the leaf canopy, melting dancing shadows within the undergrowth.

She faced her Guardian directly for the first time. He had a blackish-brown back and breast, the tail and head subtly white. Even with wings folded back – they were tawny with a few bright red feathers – he was remarkably massive: five feet long. The peridot was gripped securely by his yellow beak.

I must go now. Must rescue brother, he screeched one more time before dissolving into a burst of fire. The amulet vaporized with the smoke.

“Farewell, Estun.” It came out in a whisper. She had no idea how she knew his name, but she was sure in another language it translated into flame.

This planet, so far, was peaceful. There were no beasts, no immediate dangers prowling around, nothing except for birdsong. She sighed with relief. So those stories Irena was telling her of travelers being constantly killed by viscous wild animals. She placed a palm near one of the trunks and was relieved that the air surrounding it wasn’t chilling, which meant it did not host ghosts inside their sap.

This planet even seemed to be in the correct dimension, a miracle. She had slurred the Access Chant in her haste to fly into Stargate, a star. It didn’t burn her, but instead delivered her into the Pathway. If you altered the smallest words in the entire elaborate ritual, you would still be able to access the portals, but that world would be… changed.

On New Year's Day, many colonies celebrate the creation of Stargate, which is traditionally thought to be on January First, the beginning of Earth's calendar. Because each colony has a different year length, some take part in the Festival of Ascenair more often than others. The more barbaric colonies don't recognize the holiday at all.

Once she fumbled and as a result all the colors were inverted. The sun had burned midnight black. The grass had been crimson. Later a thunderstorm had arrived, signaling it was about to release a torrent of rain by the stark white clouds. Over the years, people realized that if you knew what exact phrase to alter, you would reach the dimension you desired no matter what. A popular thing nowadays was the Shadow Dimension, where all the living things you brought back to your own plane could change from being a two-dimensional shadow to a solid animal at will.

It was believed the dimensions were breaches into parallel universes bordering this one, which contained worlds almost identical to the ones here, but for a few perplexing variations. Meanwhile if you completely messed up the chant and went into Stargate you would no longer be immune to its wrath. You would be engulfed by the nuclear reactions.

She paused on what to do now, and then decided to go in the direction where it was lighter.

Neighboring pines were coated in trembling droplets. A dead tree added brown to the green elegant mass, a group of slender silhouettes. She brushed her hand tenderly over its empty husk, before walking swiftly out of the forest. Perhaps the tree was struck by a fatal bolt of lightning, shattering its life force. It did not matter now; delicate ivy had long since crept up the deceased trunk, spreading tendrils through the branches that would grow leaves no more. For now the ivy had blossomed small white flowers. She could imagine rich berries beading through its foliage instead come summer, promising a new generation of seeds.

The trees gave way to a yawning chasm, opening between two rock formations. They allowed various vegetation to span the length of their weathered faces; a frothing spring flowed gracefully from the hurtling cliffs, spraying a cool, vernal cloud of arched rainbows, and providing the moisture for the chain of verdant meadows below. Carpets of brilliantly hued wildflowers flourished, vividly contrasting against the granite profile of the mountains. A dramatic sunset domed above, tinting the skies with a muddy violet.

She always had a fierce devotion to forests, but this one was the most pristine yet. There was a tantalizing quality of having a beautiful landscape coupled with untouched woods. The spraying natural fountain springs cheerfully to kiss the land and that pale, feathery green canopy of trees mingles with the aching color of this exotic blue sky. She was used to an emerald sky.

Meadows sprawled like jewel-capped eyes dotted with violet, pink, yellow and white wildflowers. Dainty grasses swayed idly in the breeze. A shifting patchwork of clouds weaved through the sky, framing a brook hosting hordes of frogs and other aquatic life. Fish darted through the rippling water like darts of silver, providing the sufficient entertainment for a cub playing in the rapids. He kept obediently close to his mother bear.

They glanced curiously as she passed but quickly lost interest in the human in their midst. This ran a shiver down her back. A person had never stepped here before, because they were unafraid.

That meant this planet wasn’t frequently visited, if at all. No one to help her. She smacked her forehead in frustration.

To check, she rummaged through her small backpack and took out her book, "The Coherent Guide and Map to the Universe" and searched for this planet's identification code (which had emerged on her palm in enchanted ink) in the index of registered planets. Not there.

She hadn't been allowed on the Pathway. No one was permitted to open the vortex into Stargate except for certified officers. But they taught the Chant in school as part of the curriculum. Anyone could access it, really. If you could get past security.

This morning she had woken up feeling confident that she could do it. Looking back, that certainly seemed insane. And yet somehow, that feeling proved to be correct. No magical detectors picked up that an unauthorized person was entering.

The Godly Wars {1::2}

My sword split with a thousand colors and hues. A gaping line appeared at its middle point, then widened, and the former surface shattered. A glorious blade appeared from within, cackling with energy. I grasped it with trembling fingers, then steadied.

I handled it eagerly, swinging it toward the black floor beneath me. The impact was great: the tiles broke apart at first contact, and a fiery flame lit the length of the blade. A pure weapon of destruction. It danced with warmth, for it was forged in the light. It would only serve me when I destroyed the evilest of the shadows. Yet it would obey me to the end of all eternity, I knew.

I approached my enemy warily and kissed the helm of her cloak. We linked swords, and brilliance jarred through the metal, penetrating and illuminating the night. A billion stars flickered, falling from the sky and swirling around us, creating their own dance.

She pointed the tip of her weapon on my forehead, and when steel and flesh should have met, infinite power and might embraced. Lightning swept through the air, and touched me in an iron grip. My rival began her blessing.

“Be a light in the universe.

Yield your power when there is none.

Remember your strengths and heed your weaknesses.

Be a forever burning beacon of goodness.

Rule one with humanity.

Reign with strength.”

The stars swept among our spirits, whisking away all feeling, taking a part of me to shine in the galaxy. My rival struck with the hilt of her sword, the concluding rite of my ceremony. The stars marred the canvas of the night one last time, then faded into the shadows. She too melted from this living world, scattering but a chink of herself to forever embed into my memory. It was silent for a long time.

**~::|::~**

A perpetual twilight ruled the atmosphere mercilessly, tentatively linking the evening to day for eons to come. Nothing stirred but I, who was on my quest to discover my rival and ally, who fled this earth many years ago.

I roamed this world, alone, utterly alienated. In my darkest days I retreated to the very core of my existence, refusing to feel any longer. Walking within the spanning bridges and corridors of my barely conscious mind, I grasped ancient secrets built inside the center, so old they were a part of the youthful universe itself, interwoven among the deceitful architecture. They were given to me when I joined this realm as a god, so I may keep them until the very end of the eldest celestial bodies, when the last suns shed their final radiance. It froze me with the density of the massive volumes of knowledge, crushing me when I attempted to pry open the smallest memories. Kept, not read. It was to be buried there till the closing of all times.

The absolute void of insanity penetrated through every hallway, and I was faced with the unloving truth that even the secrets of the universe could not hide me from its hold. That was why I set out to find my enemy, to seek out the only thing to tether me to this still world.

When I rose from my slumber, I was weak. If I was to lose the will to stay a god, I would cease to exist. My body had nearly evaporated, leaving only a ghoulish cloud of vapor to act as the mesh barricade of my fragile mind. It took me a long time to reform into a sustainable life force. When it did, I began my journey.

The Godly Wars {1::1}

I stared chillingly into the hostile eyes of my enemy. “You cannot have a duel unless the authority challenges you,” she breathed.

“I am the authority,” I declared, and clashed my sword against hers.

“No. I am the authority. I am a god, you are a mere human.”

I heaved for breath, and then answered, “I am a god too. And I am superior over you.”

She swung her weapon away from mine, and pointed it at my face. “Lies. You are a human, and because of your foolishness, you are no longer eligible to cease being one.” She jabbed her hilt with threat, her eyes cold and full of power. “I can chain you to the very core of this earth. I can turn you to a creature that only breathes pure shadows, which shall terrorize all. And I will be your slayer.”

I brandished my blade next to hers, taking life from the steel clang. I paused, then answered, “Yet when you kill me, I shall be born again, sprung from your ashes. I will reincarnate to be your worst rival, and will seep into your mind, and steal the secret that hitters you to this life. I will use it to destroy you.”

She faced me, burning with anger and rage. “I will knock you to the ground with my chariot. I will commend you to walk forever on this world. Your soul will wither in agony; your blood will dry to ashes.”

“I may crawl after you, but when you slaughter me, when you believe your greatest enemy has fallen, I’ll rise again,” I spoke, my words full of competent. “Your greatest flaw will in the end, destroy you. And I, who was biding her time to strike when you were the weakest, will dissemble your thrown beneath you. Then I shall rule.”

She turned slowly to look at me, her gaze echoing the smallest fragments of her full power, vibrating around me. Yet I did not hesitate and struck a blow with my blade. “Fight me,” I said with longing. “Fight me, and truly show me you are a god.”

She deflected my lunge with one clear movement, my sword clattering to the ebony floor. I stared with a look of sheer horror.

“I have answered your challenge, and you lost the duel. You cannot fight a god.” My rival circled around me, picking up my sword. “You squandered your symbol of power. Do you deny this?”

“No.”

She threw me my blade, as though it was not worthy of her touch. I gazed enviously at her fearsome weapon, gleaming in the black night. “We shall meet again.”

**~::|::~**

“Do you promise to withhold your leadership free of darkness?”  

I hesitated. This was the last part of the oath to make me a god. Yet I was freer as a human.

I looked at the ice–fringed sky, revealing billions of glittering stars. My ancestors. Should I die like them? No. Then I would take the code to be immortal, to rule every meaningless thing in this vast galaxy. I would make them proud.

“I do.”

A high-voltage shock seared through my body, every inch of flesh. And indescribable pain raged through my mind, an endless fire, leaving ice wherever it touched.

“Behold. The next ruler of the universe.” My enemy stepped back, gazing at me as if attempting to understand if she made the correct decision. To break her word and make me immortal, and rule as a joint leader with me.

I was not longer human. I was all-powerful. I was a god.

Short Story: The Legend of Antarcticus

This is an epic made of mythology, which was inspired by a dream I had about a warrior woman named Antarcticus, a tower, and a king. Jadefireeyes

Once a king constructed a tower to the stars, and he decided to resurrect Antarcticus. No one knows what she is, or how she was born, but the force of her birth caused Pangaea to arise out of ocean water. Millions of years later, she slew the dinosaurs and other monsters unknown to the human imagination. But her greatest fiend was Erescedence, the mother of all beasts. Erescedence was enraged that Antarcticus was killing all her immortal children, so she trapped her in Polaris, the North Star for all eternity.

Antarcticus was a legend to all beings. When she fought monsters, she was a terrible monster herself, and killed them with tooth and claw. She was an earthly child, and that made her strong. Erescedence, however had the essence of something else. She had star dust in her spine and the night in her jaw, and scaly skin too radiant for mortals to look at. Her name became the basis of a word we use: iridescent. When humans became numerous on this world, they sheltered inside caves for fear of venturing outside where they would disappear into her gaping maw. At this time Antarcticus had taken the form of an intelligent woman with spears and other weapons, and this gave them inspiration to make tools of their own. They called her “Warrior-woman”.

As monsters slowly disappeared from the planet and people became more populous, Antarcticus ceased warfare for the first time in eons and focused on civilization. She dwelled into the useful battle tactics of stationary forts and other such architecture. The humans mimicked her, and settled down in their now secure communities and started to farm. They revered her as a goddess. She represented revolution, progression. Victory in war.

Erescedence was the first and the last of the pure race of monsters, and so as all her kin reproduced, the fierce blood of the beast lessened its intensity. Soon enough even the most primitive humans could fend them off. But Erescedence remained as invincible as she was millions of years ago, back when the universe met the masculine spirit of Chaos and thus Erescedence was created. She did not originate on Earth. Her roots traced back to the very substance of Unknown, which made her unmovable, unbreakable and therefore undefeatable. Her heart was a tsunami. Her life was violence, unhonorable murder.

She always detested Antarcticus, the Child of Earth. The mother of monsters could not to this point seek out a way to destroy her, for she was more resourceful and adaptable than ever in her human form. So she froze her in a star, her pulsing blood in the sky.

When Antarcticus in all her prowess left the world, a great desolation fell upon the humans. Instead of fighting as one against the monsters and raging outside hardships, they fought amongst themselves. They turned away from the great and beautiful Antarcticus to other gods and idols. The female warrior could only watch the only race she ever loved with a cold gaze, only guide lost travelers by Polaris because of the laws of the zenith and celestial dome. Their creations became imperfect, their knowledge diminished. But the loss had implanted them a sense of emptiness in descending generations, a desire to discover something hidden. The people created science. But without the guidance of Antarcticus it was impractical.

The king knew the tower was possible. Science had covered the world a need to doubt everything and believe nothing. To reach the stars he only needed a right way of looking. The construction took many years and workers.

bgb

Antarcticus emerged in the form of a small child, grasping a knife with diamonds on its hilt. She knew the old king wanted to use her for his own benefit so she plunged the weapon into his throat and left him dead on the floor of the tower. She raced down the stairs and entered into the world.

She at first crushed ants with her foot who were acting uncivil as practice to make fairness. The girl had no memories of being Antarcticus. Instead, she “lived each day like for the first time, and learned how to do this thing called justice”.

The day she turned thirty she ceased aging, because the only way to fight well was to stay immortally young. She kept her body in well shape but now had senior experience. At this time Erescedence did not yet know that her enemy had evaded her, and caused no more harm than usual. She bordered the world by lying in a loop and every time she breathed, she created the tides. Each time she stirred she woke up a tsunami.

On learning Antarcticus had escaped she vowed to drown every last of the woman’s beloved race, so she stormed in Oceana and created storms like never witnessed before. The woman knew it was time. Time to kill the great monster.

So she sought the giant snake, and she lead her to a great expanse of snow where the native semi-monsters ate ice and birds swam like fish. They fought for many days and nights. The sky thundered endlessly, the lightning vowed never to stop flickering. The shorelines were engulfed by the sea, and it rained, rained, rained, until deserts became fertile enough for forests and forests were flooded past revival. Months passed and Erescedence still lived, while Antarcticus quickly tired. It was now or never.

“Tell me, O Snake, mother of all monsters and evil things, what will it take to slaughter you?”

The she-demon gave a hiss that rattled the monsters. “Nothing can kill me. I am inviccccible. You may have sssslewn my children, but not me. You can try for the resssst of Time! Antarcticussss, you will never desssstroy me.” She opened up her jaws in a grin.

The sword of Antarcticus flashed like the lightning overhead as it sought a weak spot. “Then maybe invincibility also makes you wise. Who are you, and what am I?” She wanted desperately some information. The legends about her birth were inaccurate. She needed to fully know herself, and know her rival if she was to succeed.

The snake paused for the first time in weeks, as though thinking this request over. “I am Eresssscedencccce, the offsssspring of Chaossss and the Universssse. Assss for you, Antarcticussss, you are the daughter of Earth, which makessss you weak.” Her mighty tail flicked mockingly. “I am the sssspawn of sssstars.”

She gestured with her gruesome head at the night sky. “You ssssee them? Eyessss, watching, protecting me. Loving me, if you wissssh to usssse that foolissssh human emottttion.”

Echo Journey {1::1}

This is the first part of Chapter One, of a new book that I'm writing. I'm planning on having two more books: Flaming Trail and Spirit Quest. If you have any questions or suggestions, comment or email me at jadefireeyesblogger@gmail.com. My thanks in advance. Jadefireeyes

There was elegance in the blackest night,
Loveliness in the cruelest flame,
Charm in the loneliest sea,
Beauty in the evilest game.

Colors had refracted endlessly and brilliance flared, revealing the vibrancy within the great emptiness of galaxies. Portals had races by her, rimmed by a bluish luminance, the entrances to inhospitable places being permanently sealed: planets where the temperature was so hot that her bones would leap from her sockets from in shock, cold so supreme her blood would freeze in mid-circulation. The stars were but bright pieces of candy in various stages in their lives. The rays they emitted were from countless light years away, and some were florescent violet, others tinged with scarlet, still others gleamed white. A glittering dust had showered into the relentless pitch-black night of the universe, and their blinding faces shielded systems with conditions too harsh to harbor any secrets, all relics there destroyed.

Her hand tightened on her sheathed knife, the one on which she had put on a charm so it would remain undetected. No weapons were allowed inside the Pathway. And yet going without a blade was unthinkable, where it would help her in a number of tricky situations.

But just now in the dark she had felt a presence with her in the Pathway, when she knew she had entered it alone. Either someone had sneaked in with her – which she was sure hadn’t happened – or a creature had broken free from one of the other worlds. She foolishly hoped that the remnant of the magic could somehow protect her.

She thought of lions with retractable claws that ripped through flesh without ever touching the skin, birds that could kill her by just uttering a cry. She thought of hideous monsters past the human imagination that could be standing here, right behind her, creatures she could never fight against. The woman reached out to take her knife but in that initial moment the thing shoved her through a portal that came whizzing past. She fell into the unknown.

A silver bubble encased her as she descended slowly, a shimmering iridescent mass that floated through the sky, which gleamed blue and seemed to be oxygenated. This was more than she could have hoped for. She could have been suffocating in noxious atmospheric gases once the bubble broke.

Silently she traveled down, skimming amongst an updraft that blew past a mass of emerald fuzz that reached out into the horizon, clutching mounds of great rocks in the east. It was some kind of forest. The woman sailed down, down, past dappling crowns, the craft gracefully maneuvering precarious branches before settling on the foreign ground. The contraption sensed the slight shudder and shattered into spokes of now useless glass since its duty of protecting her on the journey here was finished.

The world was green. And since the harshest aspects of nature were considered beautiful, then this place was too. The damp forests were teeming with life; lush stalks of foreign ferns crowded the russet soil, and mist lingered in the air, silvery and pretty. Light filtered through the leaf canopy, melting dancing shadows within the undergrowth.

This planet, so far, was too good to be true. She warily glanced around the trees, searching for eyes glaring at hers from bark, or for limbs that oddly twitched, a dead sign that these woody beings moved. No, these trees seemed normal. She placed a palm near one of the trunks and was relieved that the air surrounding it wasn’t chilling, which meant they did not host ghosts inside their sap.

This planet even seemed to be in the correct dimension, a miracle. The woman had slurred the Chant in her haste to fly into Stargate, a star. It didn’t burn her, but instead delivered her into the Pathway. If you altered the smallest words in the entire elaborate ritual, you would still be able to access the portals, but that world would be… changed.

Once she fumbled and as a result all the colors were inverted. The sun had burned midnight black. The grass had been crimson. Later a thunderstorm had arrived, signaling it was about to release a torrent of rain by the stark white clouds. Over the years, people realized that if you knew what exact phrase to alter, you would reach the dimension you desired no matter what. A popular thing nowadays was the Shadow Dimension, where all the living things you brought back to your own plane could change from being a two-dimensional shadow to a solid, though jet-black animal at will. It was believed the dimensions were breaches into parallel universes bordering this one, which contained worlds almost identical to the ones here, but for a few perplexing variations.

If you completely messed up the chant, and went into Stargate you would no longer be immune to its wrath. You would be engulfed by the nuclear reactions. No one understood what the chant meant, for it was a fragment of an ancient language, but each syllable ringed with power. It was a mystery, as well as many of the magical rites and banes they had inherited. Their entire society was built upon the art of technology compromising with magic.

But other things could be waiting out here. And that thing could have somehow gotten into this world, which was absurd because it wouldn't be allowed a bubble if it was not a human. The fall would have certainly killed it. Still, she decided to watch out.

Something crunched twigs in the distance. She jumped, and tore out of there, towards the direction where it was lighter.

Neighboring pines were coated in trembling droplets. A dead tree added brown to the green elegant mass, a group of slender silhouettes. She brushed her hand tenderly and briefly over its empty husk, before sprinting out of the forest to escape from possible danger. Perhaps the tree was struck by a fatal bolt of lightning, shattering its life force. It did not matter now; delicate ivy had long since crept up the deceased trunk, spreading tendrils through the branches that would grow leaves no more. For now the ivy had blossomed small white flowers. The woman could imagine rich berries beading through its foliage instead come summer, promising a new generation of seeds.

The trees gave way to a yawning chasm, opening between two rock formations. They allowed various vegetation to span the length of their weathered faces; a frothing spring flowed gracefully from the hurtling cliffs, spraying a cool, vernal cloud of arched rainbows, and providing the moisture for the chain of verdant meadows below. Carpets of brilliantly hued wildflowers flourished, vividly contrasting against the granite profile of the mountains. A dramatic sunset domed above, tinting the skies with a muddy violet.

She always had a fierce devotion to forests, but this one was the most pristine yet. There was a tantalizing quality of having a beautiful landscape coupled with untouched woods. The spraying natural fountain springs cheerfully to kiss the land and that pale, feathery green canopy of trees mingles with the harsh color of this exotic blue sky. She was used to an emerald sky.

It was an ideal place. Her loving gaze swept the landscape once more, stretching to the brink of the horizon: Meadows sprawled like jewel-capped eyes dotted with violet, pink, yellow and white wildflowers. Dainty grasses swayed idly in the breeze. A shifting patchwork of clouds weaved through the sky, framing a brook hosting hordes of frogs and other aquatic life. Fish darted through the rippling water like darts of silver, providing the sufficient entertainment for a cub playing in the rapids. He kept obediently close to his mother bear.

They glanced curiously as she passed, and quickly lost interest in the human in their midst. This ran a shiver down her back. A person had never stepped here before, because they were unafraid.