The Dream Sanctum: Beyond The End (4 page)

“Did you do this?” Kai asked in amazement.

“Yep! Took me a month to get this right,” Alastor replied without looking
up. “Let’s see… this here is the border.
 
If I’ve done my calculations right, ‘The End’ is about eighty or ninety
miles away from shore. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but I based it on
measurements of the rest of the map.”

“Is that all?” Kwin asked, looking puzzled. “That’s the farthest that
anyone has ever gotten?”

“Well, you have to understand, once you get out ninety miles and still
see nothing but open water, you don’t really have much motivation to keep
going, do you?” Alastor said. “At some point you start to wonder if the
Creators only focused on the land mass and didn’t bother with anything else.”

“That makes me curious… does that mean that the Sanctum has boundaries?
Or is it round, like the Earth, and if we go far enough we’ll simply reach the
other side?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Alastor said, looking quite
thrilled. “Now, I’m thinking that the best place to depart would have to be
from this area.” He pointed to a small “x” he had scrawled in blue pen on the
shoreline north of the Golden Capital. “Here the land stretches out the
farthest, so the distance between there and the border is shortest. That and
the water is pretty calm.”

“I have a question…” Lindsay said quietly, as though unsure whether she
was allowed to ask. “How are we going to get there? Are we going to fly or
something?”

“For a voyage at sea? Hardly,” Alastor replied. “We’ll be taking a ship!
Not anything like Kwin’s, though. Ours will be meant for sailing. Sturdy enough
to stand the currents, light enough to travel with speed, and with enough
furnishings to make us comfortable on the way.”

“Will you be creating it, then?” Kai asked, trying to imagine what sort
of craft a man like Alastor could create with his mind.

“Nope! We’ll be getting one built,” Alastor said.

“Built? How will we do that?” Lindsay asked, looking very interested now.

“I know a guy in Golden who does great work. Everyone calls him ‘The
Carpenter.’ He’s a bit off his rocker but his work is fantastic. We can meet
him this week; I’ll be taking the specs to him once I finish anyway.”

Kai was already feeling excited. He hadn’t expected their journey to take
place so soon, and he was relieved to have people like Kwin and Alastor on his
side.

“Why are we getting a ship built instead of creating one ourselves?” Kai
asked.

“Well, you know that when we wake up, anything we create vanishes. This
trip is more than likely going to take at least a few days, so we want to have
something stable that we can return to every night. That makes it easier to
keep track of everything. Plus, I’m getting some special directional equipment,
so if the boat vanished it would just sink into the ocean.”

Kai nodded, thinking about how strange and possibly terrifying it would
be to appear in the middle of the ocean without a boat or any way to tell where
they were.

“What are all the books for?” Lindsay asked curiously.

“Ah, these are just some books on psychology and dreams and stuff,”
Alastor said. “Kwin and I have been doing some research on the effects of the
Sanctum on the brain. Boring stuff, really. I was actually thinking that you two
could go explore while she and I talk it over.”

Kwin coughed.

“If your implication is that I would rather discuss facts and theory
rather than, say, making use of your unnecessarily large swimming pool, I am
disappointed.”

Alastor looked slightly taken aback, but chuckled.

“You really have changed,” he said, ruffling her hair and ignoring her
icy glare. “No longer my little bookworm. All right then! Who’s up for
swimming?”

“Only if we don’t get dropped in against our will again,” Kai said with a
grin.

“Well, I was thinking of throwing Lindsay off the diving board, but I
suppose we can do without,” Alastor said, ducking an attempt by Lindsay to push
him over.

The rest of the weekend passed quickly. Kai never thought that he could
have so much fun indoors. As it happened, Alastor had two pools: one outside
and the other inside. Both were very large and decorated with waterfalls and
rock formations; the one indoors even had a slide. As none of the other three
had pools at home, they spent as much time as they could in the water, and
Alastor was more than happy to join them.

Sunday evening soon came around, and everyone packed their things to
return home. When they were ready they started to head down to the entrance
hall, though some were a little more reluctant than others.

“I don’t want to go! Don’t make me! Anyone but Fredrick!” Lindsay cried,
holding on to the doorframe of her guest room while Kwin attempted to pull her
toward the front hall. Alastor looked at her with a mixture of pity and
amusement.

As the sun began to set and the four friends stood near the front door,
Alastor looked around impatiently.

“Fred should be here any minute, and I’ve got to go take care of some
things before the night is over so I’ll say goodbye here. But listen, it was
great seeing you guys, and you’re more than welcome to come back whenever
you’ve got free time!”

“Thanks for having us,” Kai said, shaking Alastor’s hand politely.

“No problem! I see you soon, probably tomorrow or the next night, then we
can meet Carpenter and get started on our ship.”

Lindsay gave him a hug, though Kai was sure some of that was out of
fright. Kwin did the same, and she in contrast looked as though she simply
didn’t want to leave.

Alastor jogged back upstairs and out of sight, leaving the others alone
in the empty, quiet hall.

A few minutes passed and Frederick still hadn’t come, so Kai began to
wander around and look at the photos on the walls. For the most part they
appeared to be old paintings of nature, famous buildings or old family members.
Quickly becoming bored, Kai was about to head back to the door when he noticed
another painting in a dark area of the room. As he walked closer he realized
that it had been flipped over so that the painting itself was facing the wall.

His curiosity getting the better of him, he gently pulled the frame away
from the wall and turned it around. He saw that it was not a painting, but a
family portrait. He immediately recognized Alastor standing between a
middle-aged man and woman. The Alastor in the photo was a young boy with a wide
smile on his face. His parents also had smiles on their faces, though Kai
thought they looked forced.

But there was also another person in the photo. Kai tilted it toward the
light to get a better look and drew in a sharp breath. The fourth person was a
girl who appeared to be a few years older than Alastor, sitting on a chair in
front of him. There was no mistaking who it was.

A voice from behind startled him, and he turned around to see Kwin
standing a few feet away.

“Frederick is here. We should leave while Lindsay isn’t fighting tooth
and nail to stay.”

Kai said nothing, but Kwin took another step toward him, looking suddenly
concerned.

“Are you all right? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

In response, he pointed to the family portrait on the wall. Kwin peered
at the picture in the dim light, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“This is… most unusual. Alastor never told me…”

“You kids come along!” Frederick called from the front door, waving to
get their attention.

Kwin and Kai looked at each other in silence for a few moments before Kai
turned the photo back around. They walked slowly toward the door, speaking in
low tones.

“You didn’t know about this?” Kai asked.

“No,” Kwin replied softly. “There are many things Alastor has chosen not
to reveal, but I did not believe this would be one of them.”

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence?” Kai suggested, but Kwin shook her head.

“The resemblance is too close to be a coincidence. No, we’ve all seen
that girl before, every one of us. How she and Alastor are related is anyone’s
guess, but that’s immaterial. What’s important right now is finding out why
Elvia is in Alastor’s family photo.”

T
he early days of the week
passed uneventfully, and every morning Kai awoke from the Sanctum feeling
slightly disappointed. Alastor had told them that they would be going to visit
Carpenter to discuss the creation of the vessel that would take them across the
sea, but by the time Kai awoke on Wednesday morning, he still hadn’t heard a
word from Alastor.

In a way, Kai was glad for the extra time. Ever since he found the
photograph, his mind had been buzzing nonstop. Because there was no way to find
out more information without asking Alastor himself, he was left with pure
speculation – and he wasn’t the only one.

Later that morning, Kai took a walk to Kwin’s house. Kwin had invited him
over to talk, and he couldn’t refuse. Lindsay was busy that day, having been
forced to accompany her sister to an appointment, so Kai didn’t have to explain
anything yet. He felt the nagging guilt he always did whenever he kept
something from her, but he wanted to be sure of what was going on before he
said anything.

As he walked up to the house, he noticed Kawamari’s truck still absent
from the driveway. He knew that the professor would be busy attempting to get
everything back on track, but he didn’t think that he would be away for this
long. The inner city was only an hour away in good traffic, so he wasn’t sure
what would keep him from returning home for so long.

Kwin opened the door before Kai could knock, and she beckoned him inside.
As soon as he stepped in, he was met with the smell of something burning, and
he coughed before he could stop himself.

“I know, and I apologize,” Kwin said, thoroughly embarrassed. Kai noticed
that nearly all the windows in the front room were open. “I had hoped the odor
would dissipate before you arrived. I was
trying
to bake cookies for us, but the batter appears to have fused itself with the
oven tray.”

Kai looked over at the sink and saw the oven’s removable tray soaking in
water, covered in multiple charred, black mounds.

“I do not understand. The temperature was correct and I set the timer as specified.
Perhaps the recipe was faulty.”

Kai shrugged, not wanting to say anything for or against her theory in
case it invoked her wrath. Instead he chose to take a seat on one of the sofas
farthest from the kitchen, and he found he could breathe a little easier
already.

“I’ll take care of that later,” Kwin said as she walked over to sit next
to him, gesturing lazily at the tray in the sink. “Let’s talk.”

“You must already have some idea what’s going on, right?” Kai asked
hopefully, and Kwin sighed.

“To some extent, anyway. I have two theories that could explain the
situation. One, Alastor has modeled his imaginative creation around the
likeness of what I am assuming is his elder sister. This, I think, is the most
probable explanation.”

Kai nodded. “That’s the one guess I had. I mean, it’s a little strange,
but what else
could
there be?”

Kwin hesitated, appearing unsure how to phrase what to say next.

“You have spent time around the two of them together, yes? You’ve noticed
how realistic Elvia appears to be, and how little effort it appears to take
Alastor to control her. Many people have suspected that she isn’t his creation,
but in fact a real person. Some posit this in jest, but I believe they may be
onto something.”

“Wait…” Kai said, attempting to understand what he had just heard. “Are
you saying that she might actually be real?”

“It is a possibility, if only because I cannot immediately negate it as
such. Normally there would be some undeniable proof that one is a creation of
another, but in this case they appear so much like unique individuals that it
is hard to tell.”

“Who do you think would do something like that, though?” Kai asked. “And
why would Alastor be in on it?”

“I don’t know,” Kwin said. “I will tell you this: in the back of my mind,
I feel a lingering suspicion that this girl is not just a stranger. If in fact
she is a real person, which I still doubt, we may be looking at Alastor’s real
sister.”

Kai ran the thought through his mind over and over again. He didn’t want
to believe that something like that was true, but Kwin was right: the problem
with this theory was that it could not immediately be discounted, and that made
him distinctly uncomfortable.

Kwin sighed, running a hand through her hair, and Kai suddenly noticed
that she looked very tired.

“Hey, are you all right?” Kai asked, and she nodded, sitting back up
straight.

“I have had trouble sleeping the last few nights. There has been much on
my mind. That and…” she broke off, looking slightly embarrassed. “I am
uncomfortable when I’m alone in the dark.”

Kai stared at her, then chuckled.

“You’re afraid of the dark, aren’t you?”

“I would not put it so simply,” Kwin retorted, but averted her eyes all
the same as her face turned slightly pink. “Now, we should move on to more
important things. Alastor has informed me that we are meeting the Carpenter
tonight. I have not personally met the man, but I have heard many stories about
him. He is said to be both a master of architecture and very unusual, even by
Sanctum standards.”

At first Kai felt a rush of excitement at the prospect of meeting the man
who would be creating their ship, but then he realized that it would be the
first time he had seen Alastor since discovering the photo.

Kwin seemed to sense his apprehension, and she spoke in a quiet, calming
voice.

“This is our friend we are dealing with, and he has never given me any
reason not to trust him. If he is simply hiding his family ties from us then he
cannot be at fault, and we have no justification for prying, especially with
the way he described his parents. Let us assume that is the case until we are
given reason to believe otherwise.”

Kai nodded, thankful for her perspective. He knew that otherwise he would
be at a loss as to how to act around Alastor. He almost felt ashamed at himself,
thinking that after everything they had been through, he could have been more
generous with his trust.

“Do you want to take a walk, get some fresh air?” Kai asked, but Kwin
shook her head.

“Normally I would agree, but I’m too sore to go any distance farther than
the front door at present.”

“Sore? What happened?” Kai asked, concerned.

“Nothing to worry about. I’ve been in physical therapy and it is taking
its toll on me.” At Kai’s questioning look, she continued, “I won’t pretend I
was in any great shape before my incident, but after eleven months spent hardly
moving at all, I lost a great deal of strength. I thought my recovery would end
after I left the hospital, but as it turns out, that was only the beginning.”

They spent the next few hours watching television and discussing random
events in the Sanctum. However, Kai decided to call it a day early when he
noticed that Kwin was falling asleep mid-sentence.

“You need to go get some rest,” he said sternly as he followed Kwin to
the kitchen. “You really don’t look so good.”

“I will, but only for a short while,” Kwin agreed. “I need to make sure I
can still fall asleep tonight for our meeting. I’ll at least get this cleaned
up before I go.”

“Just don’t forget a night light, yeah?” Kai suggested innocently, then
ducked out of the room as Kwin flung a burnt cookie in his direction.

As the afternoon turned to night, Kai headed upstairs to his bedroom. Per
instructions from Kwin, they were all to meet at the front gates of the Golden
Capital. Kai had called Lindsay earlier and gotten her up to speed, and she
happily told Kai that she was very tired and would definitely be able to make
it on time. Kai hung up with a sigh, though he couldn’t help but grin. Lindsay
frequently had trouble getting to sleep, and would deprive herself of sleep
before important events to make sure she wouldn’t late.

Kai fell asleep faster than he thought he would, and decided to use the
extra time to take the airship to the capital instead of flying there himself.
Just as the Sanctum’s clock hit noon, the Golden Capital came into view,
glittering brilliantly in the sunlight. Despite having being there many times,
it was a sight that almost always took his breath away.

Not surprisingly, Lindsay was already outside the gate as he jogged up to
it, talking animatedly to Kwin. As he approached, she gave him a smile, then
turned back to continue her conversation.

“You know, I talked to a few people about this Carpenter guy… they say he
has a thousand tools, but never uses his hands. How does that work?”

“The Carpenter is supposedly a strange man indeed, which is probably why
Alastor knows him,” Kwin replied. “I have heard rumors about him, but have yet
to meet him. Alastor will hopefully arrive soon.”

Sure enough, Alastor and Elvia appeared simultaneously nearby. Kai
couldn’t help but study Elvia, as though hoping that her appearance would
reveal something that it hadn’t before, but he was forced to look away as she
met his gaze.

“Sorry I’m late, folks. I ran into a crowd who wanted me to give them
directions. Somehow they seemed to miss the gigantic city map on the bulletin
board right behind them, but they wouldn’t take it from anyone but me,” Alastor
said, sighing heavily. “Oh well. I managed to direct them to the opposite side
of the city, so we should be safe. Let’s head out!”

“Ah, Alastor, where
are
we
heading out to?” Kwin interrupted.

“Oh, right. Well, the guy said he’d meet us at his garage. That’s just a
few miles thataway,” he said, pointing in a direction that Kai assumed lead to
the ocean. “He likes setting up close to the capital, says it gets him plenty
of business, but we’re his exclusive customers today. We’ll be flying there, so
get your wings out and let’s go!”

Lindsay was the only one among them who actually used wings on a normal
basis. Today, however, Elvia unfurled her sleek black wings and flew beside
her, no doubt wanting to prevent Lindsay from feeling left out.

They made their way swiftly across the skies, and after a few minutes
touched down on the smooth white shores of Golden Capital’s beach. The clear
waves were small and lapped gently up on the shore, the sand drying almost
immediately after the water faded. There was only one small building situated
near the water, and a long wooden bridge stretched from the building’s door out
into the water. At first Kai couldn’t see anyone there, but as he looked around
he noticed a figure hurrying toward them from across the beach.

“Ah, there’s our guy,” Alastor said, giving the man a wave.

The figure waved back. At first he appeared to be alone, but after a few
moments, Kai noticed a number of small shapes in hot pursuit.

“Is he being chased?” Lindsay asked, standing on tip-toe to get a better
look.

“No, those are just his… how do you say… his co-workers,” Alastor replied
with a grin.

The man slowed down as he approached, coming to a stop a few yard in
front of them. He was sturdily-built with a muscular torso and labor-worn
hands. He had short, unkempt black hair, and black stubble lined his chin. A
simple brown tunic and cargo shorts hung loosely on his body, and he wore a set
of workman’s boots with stained socks rising unevenly toward his knees. To
complete the image, a large utility belt hung around his waist, though it was
completely empty.

“Welcome! Great to meet you, great to meet you,” the man said, gripping
each of their hands tightly in his own. “Glad you could make it!”

However, most of the group seemed more focused on what was behind him.
The small shapes that at first appeared to be chasing the man now stood in a
neat line behind him. Much to his amazement, Kai realized he was looking at a
set of tools that were moving completely on their own.

A hammer and a handsaw looked with fascination at the newcomers while a
wrench and measuring tape wrestled over possession of a large shell they had
found in the sand. A nail gun faced the ocean, looking complacently at the
waves, and a sanding machine twitched with boredom as it faced its master.

“Oh, right. Allow me to introduce you to my employees!” the man
exclaimed. “As you might have guessed, I am Carpenter – you can call me
Carpenter, by the way – but I’m nothing without these guys. I’ve got the
brains, they do the work, and it all turns out… oh don’t you get offended, you
know it’s true,” the man shot at a socket wrench that responded by making a
rude clicking sound. “Don’t mind them; they’re annoyed because I made them look
for materials for your ship today. Have you got the plans?”

“Sure do!” Alastor replied jovially, pulling a few sheets of rolled-up
paper out of his robes. As he and the Carpenter looked over them with interest,
Kai turned to Kwin.

“I’m assuming this is the unusual part?” Kai asked quietly, and Kwin
nodded. Even she looked surprised.

Lindsay, on the other hand, watched the tools with fascination. She
reached out to touch one of them, but Carpenter shook his head.