Emerald Green

Chapter 4

Melanie knew that Emerald Green was magic, but this was not what she was expecting.  Inside the compartment was a small vortex the size of the face of her watch.  For a second she just stared into its swirling shades of green light, not believing what she was seeing.  Inside of it she could hear the whispering that she had heard on the way out of her house.  How am I supposed to use this?  Melanie thought I can’t fit through that!  She absent-mindedly stuck her pointer finger through the vortex and swirled it around in a perfect circle.  Before she realized what she was doing the vortex had expanded right before her eyes.  “Did I do that?”  Melanie thought out-loud, very amazed.  But, she didn’t waste any time to try to figure it out before she jumped right in, knowing that some of this could possibly be real and not a dream.  If it were a dream she had never dreamt one this physical.

          “Wow, you’re here late!”  A strange voice inquired as she jumped through.  Melanie’s eyes were blinded with light when she heard the voice that was coming from right in front of her. 

While she tried to focus her fuzzy eyes, she said in a very groggy voice, “Who are you?”  Vortex travel was not her thing.

“Didn’t you get my note from the emerald?  I clearly put The Sorcerer smack down on the paper, or at least, I think that I did...you see I’m often very forgetful, you’ll have to excuse me!” 

Melanie smiled; He could be Sarah’s twin!  Then she thought about Sarah and how she would never believe any of this if she told her.  The thought made her eyes water, Will I ever get to see her again if any of this is real? How will I ever get back home? 

When her sight came back to her, she saw that she was lying on the floor of a giant room that seemed to be made from green wood, but maybe it was just her eyes playing tricks on her.  There were jars of peanut-butter sprawled everywhere. 

          “Where am I?  Why did you take me here?  And, what’s with all of the peanut-butter,” she asked the tanned young man wildly.

The last thought slipped off of her tongue without her thinking and she quickly put her hand over her mouth apologetically. 

The Sorcerer just nodded, waved his head to the side, and said, “As for the peanut-butter, I just love it, I’m addicted to it.  For the rest, follow me, and I’ll explain what I can remember.”

          He led her to a small sitting room with a fireplace, bookshelf, coffee table, and two giant fluffy couches, all of them were green.  First, he led her over to one of the couches and motioned her to sit down; she did what she was told.  Next, he walked over to the bookshelf and picked out a big book from the very top that had a thin layer of dust on it. 

He dusted it off with his hand gently before walking back to the couch.  Then, he took a seat on the giant, green couch next to me that faced the green fireplace with the abnormally green fire.  That fire cast strange green shadows across the walls, making the scene much less than cozy.  The Sorcerer picked up some tea that was on the table and poured a glass for her, and got a jar of peanut-butter for him. 

“Now we are ready, aren’t we?” 

“I g-g-guess...”  Melanie replied, her nervous side suddenly showing.

He set the book down next to him and dust flew off.  She sneezed loudly.  Then, it was time.  Melanie’s heart felt like it was about beat out of her chest.  She knew something was up. 

          “Before we start, do you have any questions?” 

Melanie answered, “Yeah, a lot actually.  First of all, what was that whispering in the vortex and at home?  Second of all, where am I?  Third, who were those people that I heard before I came here inside the vortex?”

    “Well, that whispering was me trying to signal you to be careful and to come soon, but I kind of forgot how to clarify my voice.  You are in one of the three magical realms that are hidden from your world. They are interlocked in your time and invisible to any of your senses.  You are in Emerald Green, but there is also Dark Night and New Tyme.  As for the last question, I rigged the map light to make it bring you to the mayor’s basement in the Dark Night realm.  I did that just for fun!”  He laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

“Ok, but, they were talking about me in there; I need to know who they are!” 

Melanie suddenly felt very alone in all of this, The Sorcerer acted as if there was no problem at all.  But, she knew from the edge on his voice that there was a very big problem and she wanted to know what it was. 

“Ok, to explain all of this, we have to start from the beginning, and no interruptions.”

          The Sorcerer took a deep breath in and out before he began, “This may be a shock to you, and very confusing at that, but here it goes,” he said. Stuffing a glob of peanut butter into his mouth, he began again, “I’m 10,021 years old and counting.  I sent you that letter when I just became the main Sorcerer of Emerald Green, the Queen’s assistant.  That was when I was twenty-one.  I became immortal that year too, as all do.  That makes the letter 10,000 years old exactly.

“The three realms that I told you about earlier were created before Earth, a mistake, you might say.  We were kicked out and replaced by Earth, but that doesn’t mean that we were forgotten all together.  Our realms and people lived and prospered in the shadow of Earth. We weren’t all nice to each other, especially Dark Night.  They tried to pick a fight with everybody...”  He trailed off, deeply immersed in thought.

By now, Melanie thought the guy was crazy, but she gestured for him to go on, and she listened.  She was sure that she was dreaming by now, but even so, she wanted to listen more to this unknown man explanation about his “realms.”

          “Where was I?  Oh, right, Dark Night first decided to pick on New Tyme because they were the last ones to be created.  But, they found out soon enough, after trying many times to battle them, that they were peacekeepers.  They were neutral in every battle and refused to pick sides even when Dark Night moved on to battle Emerald Green, their former alliance.  That was when Don Inncartra was born and… chosen to live on the Dark Night.  He eventually became the King and immortal became immortal at twenty-one.  People who are born into great prophesy, like you, are born on Earth, so we take them in to learn magic and save our realm from the others for this decade.  Then it starts all over again.  Don was a powerful wizard, and Emerald Green almost lost one decade.  That was when New Tyme broke their neutrality and sided with us.”

He went on, “That battle has gone on ever since then.  Magicians, Wizards, and even other Sorcerers from all over Emerald Green came to me, the head Sorcerer, and told me great prophesies that they had come up with.  I’m the one that can tell which ones are real or not,” He stopped and winked at Melanie, “This is where you come in. One day, a Magician came in and told me that there would be a girl from Earth who would have bright green eyes and dark red hair, she would come and end the battles between all of realms and bring peace here forever.  He said that we had to make sure that she got here.  That’s when I had that tickled feeling in my stomach that told me that he was telling the truth.  We planned and planned, and I’m pretty sure that you know the rest from there.  So, do you have any questions now?” 

Melanie had thousands of questions that she wanted to ask, but before she could even open her mouth a loud trumpet sounded in the room. 

“It’s time, your training will begin soon,” The Sorcerer said.  She knew that her many questions would not be answered for a while.