The Dark Eye Chronicles: Silverstone

Luminous Discoveries

Chapter 4

The air was calm and still as the three kids walked down a narrow and steep valley. Tall curved mountains blocked almost any view of the sky and the place was so silent you could hear a pin drop. It was as if nothing else existed. Everything around them was of opaque and dark shades of brown and dark grays and there were no plants, or any living things in fact, to be seen. This was no man's land.

The three kids were silent the whole way through, trying to take in the environment, along with the awkwardness of not really knowing each other.

"So, since we haven't introduced ourselves very well yet, I might as well commence." Lazaro started, breaking the ice. He spoke with a very subtle British accent that Leena hadn't noticed when she first spoke to him. He cleared his throat. "My name is Lazaro Taft , or Kye, that's what everyone calls me. It's actually spelled K-Y-E, not K-A-I. Trust me, everyone pronounces it "kee" or "kee-ay" and I seriously hate it. I don't know, I've always been picky about it. Um, I like to learn about things and I've always liked animals."

No one spoke.

"Well...my favorite animals are dolphins." He stopped to think for a moment "Wait, but I like giraffes too. Seahorses are great also!" He stopped talking for a while once again.  "I like fruits."

The silence stayed.

"Blackberries especially..."

More silence

"Guys seriously stop talking so much! You're giving me a headache!"

"Well I'm sorry Kye I don't have the slightest idea as to where my am!"  Derek finally snapped. "And--oh!--did I mention I'm an orphan?"

Leena turned around and stopped Derek. "Just don't..."

"And you know what, frankly, I don't even know if this is real life. I just saw my mother get killed by some monsters that cough up black blood or whatever that was and nothing so far has made sense! And of course I see you here so relaxed and layed-back..."

"Oh so now you think you're the only one affected here? You think..." Leena paused. "...that we don't miss home? Derek, none of us know where we are and none of us know how to get back, but let me tell you something, I may seem "layed-back" and I may look "relaxed", but I am nervous and I am terrified because I, just like you, can't tell if any of this is actually real. So I suggest you think before you open that mouth of yours because, unless I'm blind, I don't see any of our parents here with us. Do you?"

"Uh...um...no" Derek stuttered. He was surprised at how tough she had been. He had basically just met her not too long ago, but he didn't know she was that type of person. He stood there, speechless and avoiding eye contact while at the same time trying not to look wrong or immature. It really wasn't working, but he tried.

"Oh yeah that's what I thought." Leena was happy because she knew she was right and she knew that Derek knew it too.

Meanwhile, Kye stood there with an awkward look on his face,  not really knowing what to make out of the situation. "So guys, are we introducing ourselves or..."

"Hello! My name is Leena Rayn Macko!" Leena's quick change in mood and face expression surprised Kye, but not Derek.

There's the Leena I met! Derek thought.

"So um how do I start...let's see...oh! So my family drives a small red car that we call Rose, because she's red, and we have a pet dog called Daisy and a cat named Tulip and I have a baby sister named Chrysanthemum! Boy is that a hard name to spell! We just ended up calling her Chrys for short and, well you know to not torture her for her whole life. My parents are Iris and Stanley Macko and I love them very much..." Leena's vision quickly became foggy as tear droplets surrounded her eyes like a the shattering of the brittle crystal wall that kept hidden her melancholy "...and I know they love me back. And they love me a bunch, I know they do, but not as much as I do. That Chrys is just a little ball of joy and fun and all things happy." Leena couldn't hold it in anymore and sobbed. Both Derek and Kye went over to her to provide comfort as she sat on the ground. "You know life--and all that is your life--can end, and you just can't do anything about it...so is it even worth crying over? If we know it's coming we shouldn't cry, should we?" She looked down. "I see life as a mirror. For a long time we see ourselves in it and we just ignore it. Then once it's shattered, we're, of course, disappointed but it still doesn't lose its identity, and it leaves behind little pieces that we can choose to keep or get rid of. Oh and be careful around broken glass because clinging on to that past life can end up hurting you. And just like a mirror, life can be just so fragile. That's why you need to be careful with how you handle it, because one wrong move or unexpected turn..." she looked down again, a tear hitting the cold ground, "...and it's over. No warning. No re-do's. No mercy. It's just tough luck."