Journey to Rainbow Island (8 page)

“What are those flying things, anyway?” said Yu-ning, still upset about nearly being run over herself.

“They are whirlicons. They are powered by brillantium—gems that we mine here on Gracia, which produce their own source of propulsive energy,” said the banker.

“Well, they are very dangerous,” Yu-ning retorted, unimpressed by magic rocks that can cause discs to fly into people.

As the elderly man dusted himself off, all those gathered looked at one another and then at a sea of pink light flowing beneath their feet. Everyone gazed in amazement at the path, which was emanating a spectacular pink glow in all directions through their once dark and dismal city.

They saw a beam of light in the distance shooting up to the sky. “That is the Tower of Light; you can all see it now!” Yu-ning called out as they continued on the pink path. “You failed to see that the light in your city has been blocked because you forgot what the light looks like. Now you all see, because you believe!”

There was a sense of reverence, humility, and peace as the growing crowd reflected on Yu-ning's words. Many were sharing the same insights with one another:

“We didn't see each other. We didn't see ourselves.”

“It's within us. It has always been within us.”

Some were waiting to see more—waiting for some kind of proof that this magical light could impact their lives in a positive way. As the crowd moved closer to the center and turned a corner in the direction of the tower, a sacred silence filled the air.

The crowd was in awe as they looked at the spectacular sight before them. They had reached the Tower of Light, its grandeur thrusting upward into the dark clouds above, bathed in the most heavenly light they had ever seen. Other people, who either refused to see or were not able to see, looked at the mesmerized crowd as if they were crazy. For most people in the city, the tower was void of any light.

Yu-ning's legs were tired and her left shoulder ached, but she was relieved to have reached the base of the tower. As she gazed heavenward, it seemed as if the tower was growing higher by the second. The entrance had a large archway with massive, thick doors made of frosted glass. The massive doors swung outward, and a guard stepped forward.

At that moment, a man's voice bellowed down from the sky. Yu-ning looked away from the guard upward to the top
of the tower and saw a man's head—a small speck extending from a balcony thousands of feet up, it seemed. But how could she hear him when he was so far away? Or see him, for that matter?

His upper body leaned out to wave to her. “Come up!” he shouted to Yu-ning from the balcony.

Yu-ning was thrilled. “Me?” she replied, pointing to herself, still not comprehending how she could see him and hear him from what must be thousands of feet above her.

“Yes, are you Yu-ning?” It was as if he was right next to her, his voice clear and strong.

“Yes, I am Yu-ning!”

“Then come on up, we're waiting for you! And bring your new friends with you.”

It was the kindest greeting she had received since arriving in the Grey City.

“A
LL RIGHT
! I'
M COMING
,” she shouted up at the man peering down from thousands of feet above her.

As people looked on, most of them were smiling, but others looked confused, defensive, and even scared. Yu-ning and the crowd stood outside the great tower, just staring up at its beauty. “Everyone,” Yu-ning yelled out to the crowd, “I am going inside, and once there, I am traveling to the top to meet the man who lives there. You are all free to join me—it is your choice.”

Yu-ning turned toward the entryway below the front gate, ready to approach the guard who stood stock-still next to the main entrance. Before she could approach the guard, however, she noticed a teenage boy crouching next to the entrance of the tower. His face and clothes were dirty, and in his hands was a wooden bowl containing a few copper coins.

“Are you all right?” she asked tenderly.

“Spare some coins?” he replied feebly, looking depressed and sickly.

“Coins?” she asked curiously.

“Money,” the teenage boy repeated. “Spare any coins,” he said, without looking up.

“I don't have any money, but I have an apple from my island. Here,” she said, extending the apple toward him. It was her last apple. “Where do you live?” She put the apple in his hand. He looked confused, not knowing whether to accept it or not.

“I don't have a home,” he said, taking the apple and biting into it. It was the first thing he had eaten in two days. As he chewed, he looked at her with a vacant stare.

“Then you can come with me back to my home. I live on Rainbow Island. It is the most beautiful place in the world. I'll take you there, but first I'm going inside this tower.”

“That is the tallest tower in the world,” the boy said in a monotone.

“It is the anteroom of heaven!” said Yu-ning, with great enthusiasm. “Look at all the brilliant lights above us,” she exclaimed as she continued to hold her pink crystal in front of her, the pink colors now shooting skyward.

“What lights?” said the boy in a dejected and forlorn manner. “I don't see any bright lights. It just looks like any ordinary tower, only taller.”

Yu-ning looked at him with sorrowful eyes. “My name is Yu-ning,” she said. “This is a lonely place. I can be your friend if you need a friend.”

The boy just stared at her sadly. “My name is Julian.”

Yu-ning smiled. “Julian, can you see the light?”

“I told you I don't see any lights,” Julian replied dryly.

“No, if you look with your heart, you will see them.” He looked at her as if she was speaking nonsense, but she continued, “I'm going all the way to the top of the tower. An important man is waiting for me there. He has wisdom to share—he is a great teacher. Come with me, Julian,” she said persuasively.

Julian shrugged her off. “I don't know what light you are talking about. Many people live and work in this tower, but from what I know, no one lives at the top, because it keeps growing higher. Why don't you go back home to your parents? And stop bothering me with this nonsense,” Julian snapped, looking very weary.

“Then you will come when you are ready,” said Yu-ning. “The door is always open. Finish your apple and then you will see.” She walked back toward the main gate, turning back one last time to smile at Julian. He was staring down at the apple. Quietly, most of the crowd followed behind her at a distance. She didn't notice that Julian had risen slowly and had also followed her, staying at the back of the crowd.

“Hello.” Yu-ning smiled at the gate guard, who ignored her. She walked through the massive glass doors and entered an enormous atrium in the center of the tower. The glass rose hundreds of feet, forming a vast hall with the next floor of the tower perched far overhead. The color inside was bright, in stark contrast to the grey outside. The light was shining into the clear windows through intricate designs etched into the glass. It illuminated the entire space with textured shadows, as the colors danced and refracted off every surface.

“Oh, my goodness,” her tiny voice squealed with glee. “It's so very tall, bright, and lovely! It's so magical.”

She noticed a sentry with bushy brown hair and a black robe sitting behind an old dark desk on the left. He held a large scroll and was examining it with a furrowed brow.

“Do you work in this beautiful tower?” she asked with reverence.

“Yes, I work here; what is it you want?” he said curtly.

“This tower, it is so bright and beautiful,” Yu-ning continued.

The guard looked up from his parchment. “I don't know what you are talking about. What's your name?” he asked impatiently.

“My name is Yu-ning,” she said confidentally.

“Oh, yes, I see your name here. What part of the tower are you going to?” he asked.

“I'm going to the top floor,” she said matter-of-factly.

“The top floor? You can't get up there; no one can get up there,” he said rudely.

“Oh, we can all get up there. There's a very powerful man up there, and I'm going to meet him,” she said.

“There's no one on the top floor,” he responded in a curt manner. “I have served in this tower for twenty years; no one can get up there. This tower has hundreds of floors, with many businesses and private dwellings, and it keeps growing higher. But it's impossible to get to the top, because the top floor is always changing,” he said in a tired tone.

“Yes, it is possible. There's a powerful man at the top of the tower. Anything is possible; we can all get up there.
I'm
going up there,” Yu-ning said with determination.

“You can't go. Even if there
was
a man up there, the large sky conveyor does not work—hasn't worked for years, ever since the water stopped flowing through the millrace.”

“Millrace? And what's a sky conveyor?”

“The conveyor is powered by a pulley system that operates like a mill,” the sentry said, at the edge of his patience, sighing loudly. “If you must know, the water flows in through a small stream, or millrace, which forces the wheel to turn.” As he spoke he made an exaggerated circular motion in the air with his finger, right in front of Yu-ning's face. “That, in turn, causes the conveyor platform to rise. But as I said, the water spring that fed the millrace dried up years ago. There are smaller sky conveyors through that arch over there,” said the sentry, pointing in the opposite direction toward the far side of the atrium.

“They will take you to the first 400 floors,” added the mirthless sentry. “The millraces that power them are smaller and not strong enough to get you to the top floor. The only pulley that was ever made to go to the top is the one over there,” he said, pointing with his thumb back toward the broken sky conveyor. “But even when it
did
work, it wasn't always dependable, because the top floors kept growing! Do you get it, little girl?” He said this last sentence in a high, shrill voice, his face turning a fascinating shade of tomato red.

Yu-ning left the sentry and walked in the direction of the broken conveyor platform. The crowd followed dutifully. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Julian had joined them, which made her smile to herself. Just as the not-so-polite sentry said, there the large mill wheel stood silent, with dust and debris covering the floor and the guardrails of a wooden platform adjacent to it. Yu-ning walked onto the center of the platform and looked up. As far as she could see, the shaft for the conveyor went up and up. Next to the platform were four enormous, thick ropes, attached to each
corner of the platform—some sort of pulley system, she surmised.

Yu-ning walked to the far side of the platform and placed her hand on the huge water wheel. Large buckets were spaced about a foot apart, encircling the entire wheel, to catch the water. The buckets were full of dust and debris, and they were dry. The millrace was about five feet deep and six feet wide and ran under the wheel. It was expertly built, with fine, smooth river stones lining the bottom and the sides. Not a drop of water could be seen.

Then Yu-ning had an idea. “Excuse me,” she said in a loud voice, in the direction of the crowd that had followed her inside the tower. “Where is the man who has that blue gem—the one that powers the flying disc?”

“You mean brillantium, like this?” said the man with the gem, holding up the robin's-egg-size crystal between his thumb and index finger.

“Yes!” said Yu-ning. “Can't we just use that magic gem to power the platform upward?” she said with expectation in her voice. Several of the adults sniggered, and others looked embarrassed for Yu-ning.

Julian spoke up and said, “Brillantium can only move small amounts of weight, Yu-ning. It's strong enough to power a whirlicon with a few riders, but all the brillantium in the world wouldn't be able to lift that huge platform all the way up there.” Julian raised his head and pointed up toward the top of the tower, thousands of feet above.

“Use your crystal heart, Yu-ning.” She heard the voice, which seemed to be just behind her left ear. Yu-ning turned around to answer the person who had spoken to her. No one was there, and the crowd of people was a good twenty feet
behind her. She realized it was One, and lifted up her crystal heart necklace, thrusting it toward the platform.

As she raised the pink crystal above her head, brilliant bright lights from within the tower began showering down like gossamer waterfalls from above. The lights of the tower descended and raced directly toward the center of the pink crystal heart, and struck the crystal with a loud
thwoop!
—causing Yu-ning to stagger backward several steps. The crowd of adults around her gasped, but no one said a word.

Yu-ning regained her balance and was amazed to see that a new pink beam was flowing outward from her necklace. It was just like the one that had led her through the city in the form of the pink pathway. The pink beam moved toward the corner of the platform, down into the stone-lined millrace, and into a dark tunnel that led under the foundations of the tower—and disappeared into the darkness.