Journey

Elijah: Cambaar

I wake up slowly. The sun still burns bright. It has only set once in the five hundred years we've lived on this planet. It set for one hundred years. We believe that it will set soon. I look around at my room. Same as always. Adobe walls. Sand in corners. That's all place is it seems. Sand. We've sent explorers to see if they could find something more. They've come back with little news to tell. Once they came back with news of an oasis. The Princeps built his castle there. Their family has lived there ever since. My family lives about twenty minutes away from the castle walls. My dad is the Princeps'

Advisor. He has worked for the royal family for years. I go to the castle everyday. To visit the Princeps' daughter, my best friend, Alaina. Alaina and I have been friends since we were kids and I can't imagine life without her. I get up out of my bed and get dressed. I walk through the streets. Clean and manicured to perfection. I've seen the other neighborhoods and they don't look like this. I walk to the castle's gate. They let me in with a smile. I walk through the many hallways and into Alaina's room. Alaina looks up and smiles.

"It's so good to see you again Elijah," Said Alaina.

"Missed me already?"

"You know it," she laughed.

Alaina's face didn't have its usual smile.

"Hey what's wrong?" I asked.

"My Dad is planning something," She says

Alaina hates her parents for one reason and one reason only. They are apart of the monarchy. She especially hates her dad because he's the head of the whole world. She always hates it when he's away doing things he has to do as Princeps.

"What's he doing now?" I asked.

"He's always down on the basement level of the castle," She frowns.

"The navigation level?"

She nods.

"What do you think he's doing?" I ask.

"I can only think of one reason and it's highly unlikely," She says.

"What?"

"Planning a trip back to Sol Earth," She says morbidly.

Planning a trip back to Sol Earth? Is that even possible? The shuttle we used to get here is way too old to be used. Even then if by some incredible miracle that we get it working we wouldn't even fit in it any more. I don't think the space jumps would work for it anymore.

"Would that work?" I ask.

"I don't know. I don't want to know. I want to stay here on Cambaar."

I look at Alaina. She doesn't want to leave Cambaar. She doesn't want to leave the planet of only light. She doesn't want to leave the comfort of the sand. She's scared of the unknown. I wonder if the astronauts of Sol Earth were afraid to leave their home.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks.

"Do you think that the people of Earth were afraid to leave their home?" I ask.

"Eli, of course they were scared to leave their home. They just did it so they could feel free. Sometimes I feel trapped on this planet," She tells me.

I nod.

"Come on let's go," I told her.

She smiles.

We sneak out of the castle. Our parents hate it when we leave the city walls. We both love to push our limits. We run. Faster and Faster. Then I see something in the horizon. I run faster. Alaina sees my sudden change of pace and takes it as a challenge. She speeds ahead and I rush to keep up with her. She suddenly stops in front of what I had seen. The weight of what we discovered hit me like a tidal wave. In front of me is something I have never seen before in person. A group of trees. I gasp at the sight. I look over at Alaina and she is wide eyed. Tears start streaming down her face.

"We found it. We found it Eli!" She exclaims.

She takes off into the trees. I race after her. It was so close. We come across a lake. The water is so clear and blue. I feel like it is a pool of the sky. The lake in the city is brown and has to be filtered before it is drinkable. That's the way it's always been. Then I notice the flowers. The colors are so vibrant. They were so beautiful. I reach and pick one. I gently place it in Alaina's hair. She smiles up at me.

"You want to go in?" She asks with a secretive smile.

I gape at her.

"What?" I gasp.

I happily oblige though. I have never really gone swimming. It was heavily frowned upon to swim in the lake full of stuff that you could hardly call water.

She ran to the water and jumped in.

"Come in! The water is cool," She exclaimed.

Cool! That was unheard of. I jumped in. The water felt magical. It was a completely new experience.

"Woah!" I exclaim in shock.

This tropical paradise is exactly what I needed. The world really does extended farther than the city walls. I look up. The trees hiding the bright white sun that beats warmth to the planet that never rests. This new experience is so strange and new to me that I can hardly breathe. Shade. Provided by real trees. We have a few plants in the desert that provide us with oxygen. They are hardly what you would call beautiful though. They are a dirty green color. The mostly make the desert look even more dead.

"I wonder if your father knows about this place," I tell her.

"Knowing my father he probably has known about this place his whole life," Alaina sighs.

I lay back in the shallow water and let it engulf me and fill me with a sense of peace that I haven't felt in a long time. Alaina sighs contently.