Elevarsi
Mirvandel looked out the window as his heart began to fill with emotions he had never felt before. It was a strange mixture of incomprehensible emotions. He grasped at the swirl of emotions that raged inside of him. He grappled with each one, trying desperately to control them and discover out how he felt. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make sense of the mass of emotions that he felt.
After a few moments of intense struggle and concentration, Mirvandel sighed and looked out the window. Through the slight glare caused by the setting sun Mirvandel could see his beautiful city, or at least, what was left of it.
Mirvandel, now 84 years of age still vividly remembered what his beautiful city, Ceder, looked like before everything fell apart.
It was a vibrant, beautiful, glowing city, with all variety of homes and stores. Every street had buildings of all sizes, shapes, colors, and design. There was even a house down on 7th street that was a perfect sphere. This sphere was decorated like a disco ball, and it shone for all to see on every sunny day. Next to it was a bright purple skyscraper, with gold tinted windows that was 143 stories tall. To the left of the spherical home was a quaint and homely tree that served its purpose as an animal shelter joyfully.
Ceder epitomized self-expression. It was the perfect utopia. Everyone had enough food, money and resources. Thus, everyone could live how they chose. Each home was a unique portrayal of the owner’s true personality. The city itself seemed alive simply because the city was a true representation of its citizens.
Mirvandel had a wonderful childhood in the city of Ceder. Every moment was glorious.
Every day brought new adventures. One day he had been out riding his bicycle, enjoying the breeze as the sun set behind him when he discovered a new plant he had never seen before. It was a flower, with purple petals. These purple petals had a mirror like quality, and Mirvandel could see himself in the petals of this beautiful flower. As he sniffed it, he found that that the flower’s smell was hard to discern. After sniffing it a second time, he decided that the flower smelled like home. The smell comforted him and filled him with a desire to return home. He turned his bike around and went straight to his wonderfully unique and creative home. Upon returning, he discovered that his mother had cooked his family chicken and rice; his favorite dish.
This and many more magical memories filled his childhood memory of Ceder, at least until the day it had all fallen apart.
Mirvandel remembered the day clearly, and vividly, it was a day that he would never forget.
It was September 17th, 1895, his twelfth birthday, they had been preparing to celebrate when they looked out the window and saw troops marching down the streets.
The planets government had experienced much opposition during the past year due to its fairness to everyone on the planet. Many believed that the government was too giving and allowed too much expression for its citizens. Many people had become more rambunctious, expressing themselves in ‘dark ways.’ Unfortunately for the planet of Trefton, the people still feared the differences between them, and Trefton fell quickly into strife.
Their utopian style government made them fall into human vices more quickly than normal. They simply were not prepared to handle their differences effectively because their society had never taught them too. Thus, when differences began to divide the people of Trefton, the rift opened far too wide for it to ever be closed again.
Many factions of the military in Trefton turned on the government, believing that conformity was better than expression.
On September 17th the soldiers marched down the street with many citizens with signs trumpeting different messages such as
“Differences divide us”
“Conformity creates comfort”
and
“Down with self-expression”
And thus, small changes were made throughout the planet. The first thing that they took were their pets. They viewed differences between which pets each person liked as one of the most harmful.
Mirvandel remembered that the soldiers stopped at the house next door where his friend Shawn had an adorable little Corgie.
His friend had not wanted to give up his precious pet. When the soldiers demanded that he hand his dog over his friend had begun to cry, for he and his Corgie had a special bond. They had both saved each other’s lives on more than one occasion, and Shawn had a big heart.
When Shawn began to cry the soldiers face softened, possibly out of pity, but most likely to appeal to the young man. “Look son, does one of your friends have a pet?”
Shawn wiped his tears, his curiosity piqued. “Yeah, my friend next door has a cat.”
“And do you and your friend ever argue about whether cats or dogs are better?”
Puzzled, Shawn replied, “Yes, quite often actually.”
The soldiers smirked softly at his success, “And how did you feel when you two fought about who’s pet was better?”
Shawn scrunched up his face, “Crummy, like when you eat moldy food and it makes your tummy feel yucky.”
The soldier chuckled, “I see. Well sonny, if we get rid of everyone’s pets, they won’t fight over which one is better anymore. Then you won’t ever feel that yucky feeling in your tummy again. Doesn’t that sound like a good idea?”
Shawn thought for a moment, “I guess. But won’t missing Shaggy make me feel all crummy inside too?”
“No, because you’ll be giving your dog up for a good cause, and you’ll be able to visit her anytime that you want.” Seeing Shawn’s frown persist the soldier continued with a soft smile, “Plus, if you give her to me, everyone will be able to see her, and she will make everyone in the city just as happy as you.”
Shawn’s face lit up at this comment, and he stood on his tippy toes. “Really?”
“Yep!” The soldier exclaimed with a smile.
Shawn knelt down and looked Shaggy in the eye, “I’m going to miss you girl, but you are going to make everyone in the city happy.”
He picked Shaggy up and handed her to the soldier, a tear slid down his cheek as Shaggy began to whine, “It’s ok Shaggy, he’s going to take good care of you, and I’ll come visit you every day.”
Grinning the soldier nodded, “Yes, we will take very good care of you Shaggy.”
At Shawn’s comforting words, Shaggy stopped whining and went with the soldier calmly as they placed her in a truck with multiple other animals. Inside the truck, in cages, were dogs, cats, frogs, fish, and any other animal, from exotic to ordinary, that you could imagine.
Mirvandel was pulled from his reverie as a hand touched his shoulder. He turned around and saw his friend Shawn, dressed in white robes, standing before him.
“What are you thinking about?”
“The day they took Shaggy and Sacajawea away.”
Shawn frowned slightly as he remembered the day that his favorite pet had been taken away. Then he fell into silence and let Mirvandel continue his reverie.
Shortly after Shaggy had been taken away Mirvandel’s cat Sacajawea had been taken from him too. She was gray with odd spots of brown and white scattered throughout her fur. She had beautiful and sparkling gray eyes. Every time she played outside, she seemed one with the wild and anyone could see in her eyes that there was a fire in her soul. It had been hard to give her up, but after seeing what had happened to Shaggy, he knew he would have to give her to the soldiers.
After that day, Mirvandel and Shawn never saw Sacajawea and Shaggy again.
Mirvandel turned towards Shawn, “We’re going to have to leave very soon. It won’t be easy to leave the planet in a few hours. Every moment that we stay here makes it harder to leave. We’re lucky that they haven’t found us yet.”
Shawn sighed, “I know. I just wished we could have restored Trefton to its former glory. It was once the most beautiful planet in the entire universe, and we let it crumble to pieces.”
Mirvandel’s eyes softened, “It wasn’t our fault Shawn. We did everything we could.”
Shawn clenched his fists, “You remember the battle of Moore?”
Mirvandel frowned, and his face darkened with dread, fear, and despair, “How could I forget? That day was the day we lost everything. We lost our ability to fight that day because we lost our last chance to push the militia out of power.”
Shawn frowned, “Exactly, because we couldn’t defeat the militia that day, we let Trefton fall to pieces, and to think that if we had simply not left the Mayor’s house undefended, we…we would have won.”
Mirvandel rested a hand on Shawn’s shoulder, “It wasn’t your fault.”
“But we planned it!”
“Yes, but we weren’t the ones who abandoned that stronghold. We weren’t the ones who abandoned our most defendable building in the whole city!”
Mirvandel sighed, “I know that you believe it is your fault but remember that even if you refuse to forgive yourself, we are still working to make it right. That is why we are helping so many people escape this place.”
Shawn hung his head, “I know, but if we mess up this time, we won’t have another chance to fix it. This plan is sketchy and risky as it is. There will never be another opportunity to pull something like this off again. If we get caught, if one thing goes wrong, they will restrict our lives even more. We’ve had to remain outstanding, high-quality, brain-washed citizens for decades just to gain enough leeway to create this opportunity. It will never come again.”
“Then we won’t mess up.”
Shawn’s head still hung downward, facing the floor, so Mirvandel continued to encourage him. “We aren’t going to stop until we get all of the people who want to leave off of this planet. It’s going to work because we have the help of people from other planets who are in the same predicament as us. Even if we don’t make it ourselves, they will make sure that everyone else makes it off. And many of the people who are helping us have magical abilities.”
Shawn scowled, thinking of the people that they had partnered with in their endeavor to get the refugees of Trefton to safety, “I don’t trust a single one of them. No person should have that much power Mirvandel. I don’t like it. What if they betray us?”
Mirvandel rested his hand underneath Shawn’s chin and lifted up his head, “Look, you’re right Shawn, we don’t know if they will betray us, but they are our best option. We must have hope because they are the only reason, we have a chance of pulling this off.”
Shawn searched Mirvandel’s eyes for confidence and comfort. When he found it, he sighed, “Ok. You’re right.”
Mirvandel nodded firmly, confirming that he was right. Shawn’s disapproval and concern began to dissipate. After many days of Shawn’s continual negative attitude, Mirvandel had become adept at dispelling Shawn’s fears regarding the upcoming mission. It was natural, of course, to fear the possible outcomes, but if Shawn continued to dwell on it, it would distract him during their upcoming task.
“Would you feel better if we ran through the plan one more time Shawn.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“Ok,” Mirvandel moved towards a map of Trefton and the surrounding air space. “It’s really very simple. We just have to bring all the refugees to the edge of Trefton, and then our magical friends from Crall will do their part. The Rilevatori will use their skills to detect the location and intentions of any one around us, as well as the location of enemy troops. Next the Tattico and Difensori troops will use their stun, block, heal, and shield style techniques to defend us as we leave the planet on our flying boats. And finally, the Attaccanti magicians will attack anyone who gets past our defenses. With the Rilevatori checking for enemies around us we should be able to easily avoid detection. It shouldn’t be very hard at all. We can easily do this Shawn. The hardest part will be getting to the boats, but we will have a vanguard to protect us as we make our way to the port. The Attaccanti will take out the ports guards, and we will be able to get all the refugees safely off Trefton for good.”
In reality, both Mirvandel and Shawn knew that everything would end up more complicated than how it was described, but it gave them both hope to pretend that it would be that easy. It had become a nightly ritual that they used to feel more at ease for their upcoming escape.
Just then Shawn looked at the clock on the wall, “Crap, Mirvandel, the nightly watchman will be here any second. Quick, flip over the map.”
Shawn and Mirvandel, quickly flipped over the map, which appeared to be a tablecloth on the other side, just as they finished, the door opened, and the nightly watchman walked in. Before they had been named outstanding citizens by Trefton’s ‘mayor’ the guards had come in at random. Now, they came in at specific times each day, and there were rarely surprise room checks. Mirvandel and Shawn had even become friendly with their morning and night watch guards. Tonight, it appeared to be Garrets turn.
Garret sauntered in, his blue eyes sparkling, his blond hair unkempt, and his ever-constant toothpick sticking out of his mouth.
With a twinkle in his eyes he grinned, “I’ll bet you two have been up to no good.” This started their almost nightly routine with Garret.
Shawn smiled, “You’ve definitely caught us in the act of wrong-doing, Mirvandel’s been planning to take over Ceder city again.”
“Oh, have you now, Mirvandel? I’d best lock you up and turn you in then.”
Mirvandel grinned and held out his wrists, “Take me away Garret, you’ve got me.”
Garret chuckled, “You two haven’t changed a bit.” He frowned for a moment, “Well, you have. You’ve finally learned to realize that the Mayor’s ideals are helping improve the quality of life for all our citizens.”
Mirvandel and Shawn both nodded, “We were just a little afraid of change, but we soon realized that the Mayor’s changes were for the better. We discovered that his changes benefitted all the people of Trefton.
Mirvandel didn’t enjoy lying to Garret, especially as Garret was so amiable and friendly. Shawn had no qualms with lying to Garret or pretending to be his friend. For Mirvandel, their deception was harder because he was friends with Garret.
After briefly and ineffectively searching the room Garret left them to eat the dinner provided for them each day. Eating the same old soup and rolls for dinner got old very quickly. As they dug in Shawn grinned, “I won’t miss eating this for dinner every day. I can’t wait to...”
Mirvandel put a hand over Shawn’s mouth, and sent him a warning glare. Garret may not have left yet. Proving his suspicion, Mirvandel heard one of the floorboards outside creak. A moment Garret peaked in the door, “Sorry, I couldn’t help but hear Shawn mention something suspicious.”
“Oh,” Mirvandel explained, “Do you remember that rumor going around that the Mayor is planning on adding boiled carrots to the dinners?”
Garret scratched his chin for a moment, and then his eyes lit up, “Yes, I do remember that. Why does that matter?”
Mirvandel chuckled, “Shawn is convinced that the rumor is true, and he raves about having those carrots with dinner every night.”
Garret laughed, going into hysterics. Mirvandel and Shawn watched as he laughed so hard that he began to cry. After calming down and wiping his tears away Garret spoke, “Carrots with dinner. That’s hilarious.” Then he paused, “I’ll let hoping for carrots slide this once since that rumor has been going around the planet, but don’t speak of them again. You know rumors aren’t supposed to be spread or discussed.”
Shawn bowed his head, “My apologies Garret. It won’t happen again.”
“Good.” Garret then turned and walked out the door.
Shawn and Mirvandel sat in silence for the remainder of dinner, and then turned in early without ever speaking to each other again. Both of them were distraught at Shawn’s simple mistake and felt that it would be better to avoid another mistake by not talking for the rest of the night. After a good night’s sleep, they would finally be leaving Trefton anyways.
<<<*>>>
The next day, Shawn and Mirvandel woke early in the morning, far before breakfast would be served. As they dressed in dark clothes the tension in the room was almost tactile. Every single sound filled them with fear. Even the sound of their own breath made them assume that guards would be there any moment to inquire about what they were doing up so early. As they dressed it was clear how much nervous energy had built up inside of them, considering that Shawn had to try three or four times just to get one pant leg on. After seeing Shawn struggle to put his pants on, Mirvandel struggled to keep from laughing. Shawn shot Mirvandel a warning glance as he shook with silent laughter. After a few more moments of shuddering, Mirvandel was able to contain his laughter and continue getting dressed for their escape from Trefton.
Then they grabbed their rope and snuck quickly out of the window in their tower. It was crucial to ensure that no one saw the rope so they had covered it black tar that would be much harder to see in the dark. This way they would hopefully escape detection. When they made it to the bottom of the tower, many of the magicians would be waiting for them to start the escort to the flying boats at the edge of the flat planet, Trefton.
When they arrived at the bottom, they were met by the leader of the magicians from Crall.
“Hello Rendo,” Mirvandel greeted with a wave of his hand. “Are all the refugees ready?”
Rendo simply nodded and held one finger up to his lips. Mirvandel bowed his head in apology and used his hand to gesture that they would follow Rendo.
Rendo led them carefully down the street, his back against the wall, until they reached an empty clearing where all the refugees were waiting, or at least that’s what Rendo told them.
“I thought all the refugees were here,” Shawn said, breaking the silence as he and Mirvandel stared at the empty field.
Rendo let out a deep chuckle as they stared out at the fields. “Our Difensori magicians can perform any form of defensive magic as long as it’s only defensive. Of course, to do this high level of defense magic also takes years, sometimes even decades of practice.”
Mirvandel raised a questioning eyebrow, “What magic?”
Rendo grinned, “The Difensori turned all of the refugees invisible. We should have no problem getting of this blasted planet now.”
Mirvandel scratched his chin, “Hmm, that is very clever. What about the creation of a new planet for all of us to live on? Do we have enough materials? Have the other races found a place with an atmosphere to build it?”
Rendo rested a hand on Mirvandel’s shoulder, “Yes, everything is in order. You two need to stop worrying. We know what we are doing.”
Shawn bumped into Mirvandel, “Yeah, come on, don’t worry. Everything will work out perfectly fine.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Mirvandel said as he playfully shoved Shawn back.
“Ok, playtimes over, let’s get a move on,” Rendo clapped his hands together and there was a loud rushing sound in the grass as thousands of refugees began to walk towards the edge of Trefton.
Surrounding the refugees, also invisible were multiple Attaccanti in case any guard hear their movements. As the refugees reached the cobble stone path leading to the ports you could hear their footsteps.
Mirvandel moved closer to Rendo, “Is there anyway that your magicians could silence the sound of my people’s footprints. The night watchmen are sure to hear us walking through the city.”
“No, we don’t have anyone with us who is experience enough to perform a task that large and complicated. All of our most experienced magicians are waiting for us at the site of the new planet we will be building.”
“How is it that turning them invisible is easy, but none of your magicians can make their footsteps silent?”
“Well, turning them invisible isn’t easy. Even with the many Difensori we brought, it was a hard task and wore out many of our magicians. Now, to answer your question, the different is in how complicated the task is. To turn someone invisible you just have to manipulate the light around them to reflect rather than absorb. Thus, the light reflects the surrounding air, and you no longer see a person.”
Shawn snorted at this ‘easy’ task. Rendo ignored him and continued. “However, there are multiple sounds that come from walking. The rushing air around your feet and body, and the sound that comes from your feet hitting the cobblestones. Our magicians would have to freeze all the air molecules around you friends and silence or freeze the sound waves coming from their feet touching the cobblestones. It wouldn’t work very well.”
As Shawn opened his mouth to reply Mirvandel reached out and covered his mouth, putting one finger up against his lips. Once they all fell silent, and the man in the lead had been signaled to have the refugees stop their march, they could hear hoofs pounding in the distance.
“Everyone who’s visible, hide!” Mirvandel commanded in a harsh whisper, “I’ll handle this.”
Rendo, Shawn, and the few others who were still visible quickly disappeared into the shadows. Mirvandel was left to face the coming guards all by himself.
Hidden deep in the shadows Rendo asked Shawn, “Why doesn’t he simply hide too?”
“The guards around here inspect every little noise, and when they do, they inspect the entire area. If they found no one here but knew there was a noise complaint, they would have searched in and around every single building within a mile radius. They obviously would have found us or bumped into an invisible refugee. He has to face them, so they don’t find the thousands hiding right under their noses.”
“I can see why you all want to leave.”
Shawn nodded and they both fell silent as they heard the horses pounding hooves grow closer to them and then stop suddenly.
“Mirvandel!” the first man on horse back shouted, “What on earth are you doing here? You’re not supposed to ever leave your tower, let alone break curfew! What on earth are you thinking? When the mayor hears of this, he will throw a fit! You and Shawn will lose all privileges!”
“Should we have the Attaccanti help him? They could take out the guards.”
“No, he has a trick up his sleeve.”
Mirvandel reached his hands up in the air to show he meant no harm to the guards. “I can explain everything, if you just let me reach something out of my pocket really fast.”
The guard pulled out a sword and pointed it at Mirvandel’s throat, just in case. “Make it quick Mirvandel.”
Mirvandel pulled out a note signed (technically forged) by the Mayor of Trefton. “The Mayor ordered me to keep an eye on Shawn. He’s been saying and doing a few questionable things lately, but they weren’t quite breaking the law. He’s been having me watch him to make sure that Shawn doesn’t do anything that he will regret. Tonight, Shawn snuck out, and I followed him so that I could retrieve him and bring him back to the tower before he got into any trouble.”
The guard’s eyes scanned the page, and then grew wide as he realized Mirvandel was telling the truth. “Well, all this seems to be in order. Do you need any help tracking him down?”
“No, it will be better if I am the one who finds him. I’ll be able to convince him to come back and follow the Mayor’s orders. We are best friends after all.”
“What about all the noise that was being made on the path up here? One person couldn’t have possible made that much noise.”
“Oh, I was skipping rocks on the cobblestones. Shawn and I used to do it all the time when we were kids. I was hoping that if I did, he would recognize that I was trying to find him and would meet me here. I gave up just a few moments ago, and that when I heard you approaching.”
“Ah, that explains it. You must be adept at skipping stones.”
Mirvandel bowed slightly in gratitude, “Well, I spent many decades of my life practicing, so I’d hope I’m decent at least.”
The guard tipped his hat with a smile, “Well, best of luck finding Shawn, Mirvandel.”
Soon the guards left and Shawn and Rendo came back in from in between the houses. “Let’s get out of here before any more guards come back. We’re very close.” Mirvandel commented.
Rendo nodded, “I’ll send the Attaccanti ahead to detain the guards at the port and then we will be on our way to our new home.”
Shawn and Mirvandel both smiled. “Yes, we should send them ahead.”
Rendo sent out the signals to start the refugees moving towards the edge of Trefton. They began to move to the ports, and soon they had arrived. Unfortunately, when they arrived, the alarm was blaring. One of the guards had been able to sound the alarm before the Attaccanti could disable him.
“Shoot, we will have to hurry,” Mirvandel exclaimed, “They will be here within minutes. Get everyone on the boats as soon as possible. Rendo, get the Attaccanti in front and make sure these refugees get on the boats safe. I also need the Difensori to protect the boats from enemy fire. The militia will have fire arrows.”
Rendo nodded and got the magicians ready to protect the refugees. Mirvandel overheard him addressing his troops. He was explaining that he needed volunteers for the front lines. He continued to explain that those who volunteered may never make it off Trefton.
Soon, the volunteers had assembled, and the militia arrived. The Attaccanti protected the refugees as they, along with Mirvandel, Rendo, and Shawn began to board the flying ships. The Attaccanti held their ground until everyone was on the ships, and then, with the Difensori protecting them from the incoming fire arrows, the Attaccanti boarded the flying ships, and the refugees safely escaped Trefton.
All things considered, it hadn’t been as hard as Shawn and Mirvandel expected. Everyone had escaped, although, it was clear that if Crall hadn’t helped them, not one of them would have made it off Trefton.
Mirvandel moved towards Rendo who was sitting at the other end of the boat. When he reached him, he sat down next to him, put a hand on his shoulder. “Thank Rendo, we couldn’t have done this without you. Now, let’s make a better world for all these people, and all your people too. They deserve it.”
Rendo nodded, “We must find a way to ensure that our planet does not fall into disrepair. I wish we could ensure that every citizen would be actively working to make the world a better place, while at the same time, ensuring that one group never rose to power over the other. I wish we could make sure that the world has a perfect balance in all things.”
Mirvandel rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “True, we can’t ensure that everyone works to make the planet better without inevitably falling into the same dystopia that Trefton will never escape.”
Both fell into deep silence as they pondered the best way to achieve their goals.
After a while, Mirvandel opened his mouth uncertainly, “What if…” he put one finger against his lip thoughtfully, “No, that won’t work.”
“What is it? Maybe it would work.”
“I wondered if we could make ourselves immortal, but I believe that would be too hard for any magicians to pull off. Plus, there isn’t any guarantee that the new generations of citizens would listen to us.”
“Fair,” Rendo commented before falling back into deep silence.
This time, that silence extended across the entire boat. The people of Trefton and Crall had fallen into silence as they rose up into the stars, protected from the vacuum around them by the Difensori, who had created a pocket of air around them. This pocket of air wouldn’t last forever, but the people of Crall had packed oxygen tanks solely for that purpose.
In this deep silence Mirvandel and Rendo continued to ponder their situation. During this time, oxygen tanks were handed out to each person on the boat. Rendo, and Mirvandel gratefully put on the masks and began to breath fresh air. Well, fresh for Rendo. The air on Crall was slightly different smelling than the air on Trefton, and Mirvandel didn’t appreciate that at all. He could easily tell that he was breathing someone else’s air.
Just then, Mirvandel had a thought, “What if ask Shawn? Maybe he will have a good idea.”
Rendo nodded and called Shawn over to them and explained their predicament. “Do you have any idea on how we could achieve our goal?”
“Hmm,” Shawn paused for a moment, “Your magicians are putting the planet together using magic correct, from raw materials?”
Rendo nodded, “Could we put a spell that is woven into the planet itself that will force the people to follow set rules?”
Before Rendo could speak, Mirvandel broke in, “Well, for one, that would get rid of self-expression. They should have a choice about what they want to do, but there should be a consequence if they make the wrong choice.”
Rendo interrupted Mirvandel to add his two cents, “Besides, we wouldn’t be able to put enough power in the planet to ensure that it could be used to control all the citizens for an indefinite amount of time.”
“True,” Shawn responded as they all fell into silence once more.
After many more minutes of silence Mirvandel suddenly had an idea, “Ok, this might sound a little crazy, but what if we do the same thing that Shawn suggested? However, instead of controlling the people, the planet would be imbued with power over itself. Then, if the people became complacent, didn’t benefit the planet, or if a dictator took control, the planet would begin to crumble. It would be a physical manifestation of how the people are allowing their planet to fall into disrepair.”
Rendo closed his eyes and thought deeply for a moment. Then he began to smile as Mirvandel and Shawn waited impatiently for his response. Finally, Rendo spoke, his smile widening, “You know, that might just work.”
“Let’s try it then.” Shawn said, “It’s the best idea that we’ve got.”
<<<*>>>
Many hours later they arrived at the place they were going to build their new home. The top magicians from Crall were waiting for them with all the supplies needed to build an entire new planet. Floating within the atmosphere were trees, rocks, metal, animals, and much more.
One of the refugees noticed that they could breath easily in this area, and also weren’t floating off into space. This person locked eyes with Rendo, “How is there an atmosphere here when there is no planet?”
Rendo gladly explained, “There are planets that move from galaxy to galaxy their whole existence. What you are seeing here is the consequence of one of these planets getting stuck in one of the galaxies centers of gravity, creating an atmosphere that is breathable with it’s plant life, and then growing large enough that it can move out of the center of gravity. Simply put, it’s caused by a moving planet that left it’s atmosphere behind when it moved on.”
The person nodded, seeming satisfied and then turned to watch as their new home was created right before their eyes.
“Let’s go tell the magicians you plan,” Rendo commented as he pushed Mirvandel and Shawn towards the magicians who were near the center of the atmosphere.
When they met with the magicians, they explained their plan. “Can you do that?” Mirvandel asked as his eyes shown with eagerness.
The oldest magician frowned for a moment, and Mirvandel’s heart began to pound with anticipation. Soon his fears of failure were abating as the magician began to speak, “We should be able to do that.”
“Thank you,” Mirvandel said as they grinned and shook the magicians’ hands.
After thanking them and sharing hugs, Mirvandel and Shawn retreated back to the boats to watch the creation of their new planet.
As the magicians began to weave the world together the mass of materials began to swirl in a rainbow of vibrant colors. The swirl consisted of all the colors anyone could imagine, from magenta, to plain old brown dirt. It was magnificent, and everyone there knew in their hearts that their new planet would be beautiful. Mirvandel could feel the excitement and anticipation in the air as they all waited for the planet to be finished. As it swirled the magicians moved back to the edge of the atmosphere, where the people were watching.
Soon, the swirling spectacle ended, and a large and beautiful new planet floated in front of them.
“What should we call it?” one of the magicians inquired.
“What about Elevarsi?” Mirvandel asked, “That means to rise because on this planet we will rise to greater heights than we ever have before, and we will never stop rising.”
The crowd cheered, giving Mirvandel their consent. “Elevarsi it is,” he said, grinning, “Welcome to our new home!”
<<<*>>>
That night, on Elevarsi, Mirvandel grabbed a quill from one of the many supply boats. Then he grabbed a notebook, titled it ‘The Hidden Plague,’ and began to compile a book of poetry. His first entry was simple:
‘I know that we aren’t supposed to play God
But the world we lived on was flawed
Because of that we had to leave, we had no choice
For our leaders were taking away our voice’
Mirvandel lifted up his quill and spoke to himself out loud, “I sure hope that our choice will benefit generations to come, and that our efforts were not in vain.”
Comments