The Two Worlds (7 page)

“
All of the children left
tried to re-build, but could not. Their power had been stripped by
the attackers, and they were left defenseless. The oldest child,
Benads Gen, was devastated. His parents were killed, and many of
his siblings had died as well. Consumed by rage and hatred, Benads
left the destroyed kingdom in search of power. He traveled for many
years, stealing powers from small magical creatures, who were not
strong enough to fight him. One day, however, as he was trying to
steal power off of a local oracle, she offered him a
deal.

“
Please, spare my life so
that I may tell of your future,
” she begged.

“
Benads was interested, and
the deal was struck. The oracle closed her eyes and began to tell
his fortune. Benads Gen was to find a secret island off the
mid-eastern shore of the Balbaci Lake. On the island lived an old
creator by the name of Geshi. Geshi was important because she had
created the Death Walkers. She had the ultimate power to control
Death Walkers and Death on Turgor itself.

“
The oracle continued,
saying that Benads would find this creator and kill her,
successfully transferring the creator’s power to himself. Once
done, he would be unstoppable and would harness the Death walker
power. Because he would be able to cheat death, he would be
immortal. Benads thanked the Oracle and then killed her. After
absorbing her powers, he began his quest to find the mystical
island. Bloodshed followed him. Benads soul was lost, and his
respect for others’ lives was gone. He killed effortlessly and
without a thought. As time passed, he became obsessed with the
island, seeking every oracle he could find to help him get to it.
He was feared throughout eastern Turgor, and his name was whispered
among children who wished to scare their peers.

“
Eventually, he found the
secret island and confronted the Death Creator. The woman was old
and wise and was not afraid of Benads. He challenged her and they
fought, but he had stolen enough powers over the year to defeat
her. After killing her, the transfer power began. Unfortunately for
Benads, the original oracle, who had told him of this fortune, had
left out an important part. As the power transferred to him, Benads
began to grow frail and his body racked with pain. He gnashed his
teeth until they crumbled to dust and clawed at his skin until huge
wounds formed.

“
The power ripped through
him, and Benads began to grow mad, wailing every night for a
fortnight. Finally, after the power had transferred, the pain
subsided. Benads went to a nearby well and looked into the water,
horrified by what he saw. The oracle failed to mention that in
order for Benads to cheat death, he would have to become the
ultimate Death Walker. Sentenced by who he now was to an eternity
of walking with Death, Benads was forced to carry out the Death
Walker purpose of ferrying souls who enter Turgor. He was indeed
the most powerful, but not powerful enough to escape his fate.
Benads now only emerges once every thousand years, in hope of
finding power that is strong enough to break him from his curse. So
far, he has been unsuccessful.”

I looked up from the papers and found
Nia staring at me. For some reason, chills had started running up
and down my spine. I took a shaky breath and laughed. “Grandpa had
quite an imagination, huh?”

“
Kay, do you honestly think
Grandpa made that up?” Nia pointed out. “He’s an historian on the
planet. I think these stories are real.”

I shrugged. “Okay, but so what? These
stories are from history. They don’t have anything to do with us
right now.” Nia nodded her heard in agreement, but still looked
troubled. Ignoring her, I stood up and stretched. It had gotten
dark. “We better get a move on. I’ve got more homework to do back
at Dia.” Nia nodded her head again, and we both kissed Grandpa on
the forehead before heading home.

***

“
Rena! Wake up!” I cried,
shaking Rena violently. The girl slept like she wasn’t going to
ever get up. We had tons of homework to do before our next Awakener
meeting, and we still had to figure out a way to get Giza
Graveyard, I didn’t even know where it was. Rena moaned a loud
protest and turned over.

I sighed and looked up. “Dia? A little
help her?” My house chuckled and gave a sudden lurch. Things went
toppling to the floor, along with Rena, who gave a shriek and sat
back up quickly.

“
What is wrong? What did I
miss?” she yelled.

I laughed and stood up, too. “Get up,”
I ordered. “We’ve got plans today.” Rena moaned and fell backwards
back on to the floor. I grinned. Nia promised us that she would
take us for a day out on the town as a reward for the hard work
we’d been doing with our basic spells and I was more than
ready.

CHAPTER SIX

A golden bell tinkered above us as we
walked in. I took a deep breath in surprise. The whole store seemed
to be made of solid gold. Our footsteps made a hollow tap with each
step we took. I looked around and noticed that we were the only
ones in the store.

“
Where are all the
customers?” I asked Nia.

She shrugged. “It’s not a place for
bargain shopping,” she said, picking up a golden rod with symbols
etched into it. “It’s pretty exclusive in here.” Once again, I felt
more privileged than I wanted to. What made us so special to shop
here?

“
Good morning, my dears!”
cried a musical voice from behind us. We whirled around to find a
beautiful light red woman standing there smiling. She had two large
wings coming out of her back, but that was where her magical
appearance ended. She was wearing blue jeans and a shirt that read
I’m not bossy. I just know who should be in
charge.

“
Good morning, Mimi,” Nia
answered for us. “Ladies, this is Mimi LaFaye. Mimi this is my
sister, Kathleena, and our friend, Rena.”

Mimi smiled. “I know who you are.” She
looked at us for a moment and then clapped her hands together. “So!
What brings you here today?”

“
We were just looking to see
if something caught our eye,” Nia informed her. My mouth was still
hanging open, and Rena was far too shy to speak to someone like
Mimi. “Kay’s never been here before.”

Mimi nodded, and her wings fluttered a
bit. “Come, let me give you the grand tour.” We followed her around
as she pointed out different items, such as pots and pans that
would cook for you and a bookshelf that would materialize any book
wanted. Nia kept oohing and aaahing over that one. I sighed and
broke away from the group, finding a little cabinet tucked away
behind cloaks. There was a thin layer of dust on it. Coughing, I
brushed it off and read
For Those Who Have Trouble Finding Their
Waye
.

Hmmm, that’s odd,
I thought to
myself. Why was “way” spelled like that? I frowned and opened the
cabinet door. Although the store was lit very brightly, the
cabinet’s insides were dark. My heart began to beat faster, but I
didn’t know why. Turning around, I saw Rena and Nia asking the
bookshelf to produce a variety of different magical books. Mimi had
moved on to something else. Turning my attention back to the
cabinet, I reached in and immediately felt something pinch my
finger hard.

“
Ow!” I cried out, sticking
my throbbing finger in my mouth. I stood up and started to close
the cabinet when I noticed something gold glinting from the tip of
my nose. Pulling my finger away from my mouth, I stared at a small
golden ring that had found its way there.

“
Huh,” I said to myself,
inspecting the ring. There was nothing unusual about it, and it was
actually kind of cute. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to buy it. I
tried to take it off and found it wouldn’t budge. Panicking, I
tugged at my finger and didn’t even notice that Mimi had walked up
behind me.

“
Fascinating little ring,
isn’t it?” she remarked. I jumped and turned around to face her.
She laughed at my expression. “It has been said that the magical
ring of Emoro would find it’s next wearer; looks like it
did.”

“
Emoro?” I echoed. Rena and
Nia had walked over to where we were talking.

Mimi nodded. “Emoro was a powerful
emperor in the ancient days on the planet Lombe. He was an evil
man, and his greed consumed him. During his final decades of reign,
Emoro wanted to find a mythical island that was said to contain all
the treasures of the galaxies. But no matter how hard he searched,
he could not find it. One of his servants found this ring tucked
away in the palace’s kitchen and brought it before Emperor Emoro.
He put it on, and like you, could not take it off.”

“
So this ring is evil?” I
squeaked.

Mimi held up her hands to reassure me.
“No, no. The ring finds those who are powerful enough to call for
it. The ring wearers want something that they cannot find, and the
ring helps them find it.”

Nia frowned. “What do you want so bad
you called the ring, Kay?” I shrugged.

“
I don’t know! I was just
checking out the cabinet!”

Mimi smiled. “Do not worry, Kathleena.
You will be fine. As a gift to you, a first time customer, I will
give it to you for free.”

Nia thanked her, and we left the
shop.

“
Is it me, or did it seem
very suspicious that Mimi LaFaye gave me the ring for free?” I
asked. We had found a small restaurant to eat lunch in. Rena
munched on a pickled chip and nodded.

“
Well...yeah,” Nia admitted
reluctantly. “But Mimi has a great reputation with the Counsel, and
she’s always been known to be a little...eccentric.” I wasn’t
convinced. On Earth, no one gave gifts for free. “Come on,” Nia
said, pouring a good helping of gravy on what appeared to be
potatoes. “Don’t worry about it. You didn’t combust or anything
when the ring came on.”

“
Yeah, but I can’t take it
off!” I pointed out to her. Nia rolled her eyes.

“
Must have chosen you for a
purpose, Kay,” Rena spoke up.

“
I agree, Kay. There is much
purpose on this planet.”

“
Yeah, yeah,” I muttered and
poked at my snoki, which was a type of sausage-like sandwich. I
still wasn’t satisfied, but I had another pressing question. “How
does this work?”

“
Excuse me?” Nia asked,
taking another forkful of potatoes in her mouth. Where did the girl
put all of that food?

“
How does this work?” I
repeated, looking at both Nia and Rena. “I mean, we’re here on
Turgor, right? But our bodies are back on Earth. How do I know this
isn’t just a complicated dream?”

Nia looked at me as if I had sprouted a
second head. “Obviously not, Kay. For starters, I know what’s going
on when we get back to Earth, remember? And you carried your DiGi
and your Evrode with you, didn’t you?”

“
That’s my point! I found
this place by dreaming, which means that I’m still dreaming. I
could just be going crazy...or worse, be in a coma like Grandpa.”
Nia opened her mouth to protest, but Rena beat her to
it.

“
All worlds and planets
exist on different planes.” Rena glowed a warm orange. “Remember
our astral projection chapter we had to read the other day?” I
nodded. Our homework on Turgor was everything but boring. “Well,
when you fall asleep, so to speak, you astral project here to
Turgor, which is on a different astral plane. The mind is
incredibly powerful, Kay. It’s unfortunate that many Earthians like
yourself don’t use it.” I started to correct her on
Earthians
, but thought better of it. She continued, “When
your mind transports you to this planet, you are transported into
yourself on this plane. It was your power that Awakened your body
and soul on this planet. But your mind brought you
here.”

“
So, how do I bring stuff
back then?” I argued.

“
Again, the mind is a very
powerful tool,” Nia answered. “When you wake up on Earth, you are
able to materialize your DiGi on the Earthly plane. It’s always
been there, Kay. You just never looked for it because you didn’t
know to.”

I nodded, starting to understand, but
still disturbed. “So, does it work the same way on Earth as it does
on Turgor?”

“
Yes,” Rena nodded. “Once
you have brought it to materialization on the plane you want it, it
is Awakened. Its purpose can now start to be fulfilled.”

My head was starting to hurt. “So, I’m
not crazy?”

“
No one said that,” Nia
chuckled. I stuck out my tongue at her. “We’re just saying that on
the whole Turgor/Earth front, you’re asking valid
questions.”

I took a deep breath. It seemed like
wherever I went, science class was never far behind me.

“
What are we going to do
now?” I asked. It was getting darker outside, and I wanted to
continued shopping. Rena and I, however, had homework to
do.

Nia must have read my mind. “Go home,
sis. I’ve got a lot of work to do before going back to Earth.
Aren’t you guys supposed to be figuring out how to Awaken the Death
Walker?”