The Upbringing

Chapter 4) Aurora

Chapter 4) Aurora

He couldn't see, couldn't even hear anything in the darkness. He had expected pain in that brief second before death washed over him, instead something had cushioned his fall. Surely this was the end he thought. There just wasn't any other explanation, the darkness was overwhelming, crippling his very soul. Was this hell? Where was the light at the end of the tunnel? He stopped fighting, stopped questioning. It is what it is he thought, and finally, for the first time he didn't resist the darkness, instead, he embraced it, pushing into himself.

New strength flowed through his viens. NO! he thought, this wasn't the end, he wasn't going to let it be. Standing up he ignored all pain, all soreness and discomfort. Instead he looked up, eyes piercing through the viel of darkness. It took him a while, but he finally distinguished a brighter part of the ceiling, were the moonlight from outside was trying to penetrate the chasm. Smiling he ignored the pair of red eyes that looked down from above, and instead focused on using the darkness. It took all his concentration, but he eventually was able to bend it to his will, slowly he started to arise.

"Eon, come to me"

It wasn't a statement, instead it carried the direct authority of a command, expected to be followed.

"Eon, become one with me"

The command vibrated with tremendous intensity through the chasm, until Eon realized the voice wasn't talking from out side, it was coming from within his head.

"Eon" IT called, its voice seeming to be as old as the land itself, full of knowledge, of power.

"Eon....EON!"

"Eon, Eon, EON, get up!" yelled the man, giving Eon a rough shove as he lay on the floor.

Eon awoke with a start, momentarily blinded by the intensity of light that shown into his opened eyes. He didn't hide his surprise as he saw the man standing over him, holding his arm out. Scowling, Eon slapped it aside, preferring to stand up by himself.

The man chuckled, "My,my aren't we feisty." he commented, with laughter threatening to escape him.

Eon just stared at him, fighting the desire to voice all his questions to this man. He was surprised that he was still breathing, and that this man was being nice to him, despite what had transpired before. That surprise quickly turned to terror though, as he started to take in his surroundings.

It was like being in a sci-fi movie. They were at the edge of a large clearing, lush with grass and wild plants. This wouldn't had bothered Eon to much, except that the trees surrounding them weren't ordinary. To begin with, as far as Eon could see, the smallest among them easily towered over any tree he had ever seen, and their bark, it wasn't any shade of brown, or grey, instead it was a dark purple. As Eon studied the trees more intently, he saw other, more subtle differences. The sap that spilled out from minute holes was a rich red, and the leaves were in the shape of ornate spear heads. Walking up to the closest one behind him, he touched it's bark. It wasn't rough, or even flaky, instead his hand easily moved on top of it. He walked around the trunk, and was shocked to see that seven people holding hands, would still have trouble circling the whole trunk.

Remembering that the man, whose name he didn't know yet, was behind him, he spun around. The man, who was still hooded, watched Eon, waiting to see his reaction. However that wasn't what caught Eon's attention, instead his gaze was fixed on the robes the man was wearing, and his staff.

Eon knew that when the man had first appeared, he had been wearing all white, and that despite it's deadly transformation, his staff had been plain white. Now though, he noticed that a gold design, which started at the top of the hood, and ended at the lowest portion of the robes, had appeared. It resembled a lot the falling of grains of sand, and the design itself seemed to constantly be swirling. The effect was more then hypnotic, luckily though, Eon's attention was also drawn to the staff. The blades that once stuck out had shrunk, even though they didn't disappear completely, but like the man's robes, a golden design had also appeared on the staff. Starting with the bottom of the staff, Eon worked his way upward. At the buttom of the staff, a point had petruded, resembling a cross between a sword's point and an over grown arrow head. The point was completely gold, even though Eon couldnt be certain that it was made of gold, because as far as he knew, gold couldn't have a razor sharp edge. Eyes sweeping upward, Eon studied the once simple rod.The staff was still completely white, with pinpricks of gold moving along....or inside it, Eon couldn't tell, forming shapes, swirls, and designs to only break apart again. The middle of each blade was outlined with gold, and as Eon stared more closely, he saw that the area inside the gold outline had disappeared, leaving a hole on each blade. To top it all of, something that vaguely resembled a golden clock sat in the space between the two blades.

He stood their, wondering about this change, surely it couldnt be for no reason.

"Who are you?" he asked the man, fear once again threatening to overwhelm him.

Stepping forward while simultaneously lowering his hood the man replied Eon.

" I don't have a name, at least not one known to man, I am simply called" here he paused, appearing to enjoy the moment, "the Timekeeper,"

Eon watched the man, surprise sketched all over his face. Before him stood an old man, probably somewhere around his 70s. His hair was white, and flowed backward in waves, reaching backwards towards his neck. His skin was white, but not pale, and his face was bright with energy. Eon couldn't believe that this man had been able to keep up with him, he expected him to collapse at any moment, yet the man's eyes betrayed his deceptive appearance. They were a golden hue, and shown with immense power and wisdom. Here before Eon, stood a man whose power,and knowledge was close to limitless. Smiling the Timekeeper extended his arm, and bowed to Eon.

"at your service." he finished.

"Wh, where have you brought me?" Eon asked, his brain trying to process everything that had happened.

The Timekeeper smiled, "Welcome" his voice boomed, "to the land of Aurora."

The name sounded strangely familiar. It nagged at the back of his conscious, he was almost sure he had never heard it before, so why did it make him feel like this?

"In what country is that?"

The Timekeeper looked amused, "Boy don't you get it? Aura is the country, it is the land you are standing on, and shall stand on, wherever you go, that is Aura."

"I never knew Earth had a country called Aurora."

With a smug look, the Timekeeper pointed towards the sky. There, through the canopy of the immense trees, three suns were in almost perfect alignment.

"That's because....this isn't Earth." the Timekeeper slowly said.