A Dance of Two Worlds

The Amulet of Transition

Chapter Two

The Amulet of Transition

Surviving a certain death is a miracle and a miracle is what this world is waiting for

Aden.

The Fifth Loop, Year 491, 1st January (5L/491/01/01)

Wow, that's how you'd imagined celebrating your adulthood.

I didn't plan for this.

Yeah, but someone screwed you. You'll be cutting your cake in hell.

Moses's echo was irritating him again. He ignored him and scanned the glum faces of the prisoners locked with him inside the wooden cage. None of them looked like serious criminals, yet they all were bound in heavy iron chains and were about to be thrown into the Eye of Tenebra.

Moses still couldn't come to terms with the fact that he was sentenced to the biggest punishment in Aden. Even the biggest of criminals got a fair trial and a chance to appeal the verdict if found guilty, but no such protocol was followed in his case.

A week ago, some officers of the regime picked him up from his house and charged him with the murder of a retired soldier. The judges then fast-tracked his closed-door trial and promptly sentenced him to Banishment. Furthermore, he was tried as an adult despite being a few days shy of his twentieth birthday. Every aspect of his banishment reeked of some deep conspiracy, but he couldn't understand why an all-powerful regime was hell-bent on destroying the life of a poor boy.

Moses's twentieth birthday was about to become the worst day of his life. However, he temporarily forgot his dismal situation to watch the Celebrations of Freedom from the confines of his cage.

During every Crossing, thousands of recruits departed to Elisium to replace the existing troops. Moses looked, with a hint of admiration, as company after company of soldiers came forward on the Deck of the Nineteen Martyrs. Then at the blast of a canon, they saluted the flag of Aden and jumped into the Eye of Tenebra in a perfectly choreographed manner. The giant whirlpool sucked them in the moment they hit the water.

Fifty companies of soldiers leaped into the dark world to guard Aden's entry point and protect Adeners from the invasion of its savage inhabitants. Hundreds of people braved the thunderstorms and flocked to the riverfront to cheer these brave men. The King, all the nobles, and every minister attended this ceremony.

In the last few decades, a cloud of resentment had marred these Celebrations. Soldiers returning from Tenebra had spread rumors about Aden's atrocities over the helpless people of that world. Many Adeners correlated these stories with their own plight. Sympathy for the oppressed began to take root in their hearts and minds. The cries to stop exploitation in that world grew louder. The thinning crowds at these celebrations were a warning sign but the regime chose to look away.

Once the celebrations were done, hundreds of large iron containers were dropped into the giant swirl. Finally, after the sunset, the wooden cage with Moses and eleven other convicts was lowered into the Eye of Tenebra.

Say goodbye to this world and your life.

We are not getting murdered, just being sent to Tenebra.

Tell me, how many banished have ever returned from that world?

Moses had one last glance at Aden and closed his eyes. He tightly clutched the amulet his mother had quietly put around his neck when the soldiers had come to abduct him. She had told him that this precious amulet was a family heirloom and it protected its bearer from every kind of evil.