The Crossing (Book 1)

Chapter 5

     Brae's eyes shot open just as he fell out of his bed onto the cold floor, landing with a loud smack on his back. Gasping for air he leaned on his elbows and began crawling toward the window. His eye's felt gritty and burned from the bright light he had seen in his dream. Fighting with all his strength he dragged himself across the floor, pulling at the ground like he was being held away from the air against his will. Pushing himself to his knees, Brae heaved his body toward the window. Holding onto the edge of the windowsill he rammed the closed shutters with his shoulder, breaking through what had kept the crisp night air out of his room and the invisible barrier that trapped his lungs. Breathing in as much as his lungs could take, he started to cough as he swiped his hands across his neck and chest to make sure nothing was blocking him from getting the air that he desperately needed.

     As Brae's breathing slowly returned to normal, he found he couldn't stand up without help. The shaking in his arms mirrored the rest of his body as he held onto his window. He let his head fall to his arms and rubbed his forehead against them to clear the sweat from his brow, but it was no use. A sheen of sweat had covered the rest of his body and hands, making his grip slippery. Holding tight to the windowsill he put all his weight on his arms and pushed himself up, bracing his feet beneath him. Brae was standing precariously at the window, drenched from head to toe when he began to feel like passing out. A tingling sensation ran through him and his vision began to slowly turn black from his peripherals until it looked as if he was getting farther and farther away from the opening of a tunnel. Squeezing the windowsill until his knuckles turned white, Brae gulped the air and closed his eyes until the feeling left his body.

     Brae had dreamt it again, the story he had been told since he was a small child. This so-called legend spread throughout the lands; a truth for some, a myth to others, and a prophecy to a few, but to him, it was just a story that had been told to everyone since before anyone can remember. A girl from another world with magical powers would cross over into his world and help restore peace and balance to Lauvallaria. Sure. Right! Brae couldn't understand why he had been dreaming about it for weeks nonstop. The story had never been one of his favorites and the more his mother had told it to him and his brother and sister when they were younger made him get that much more tired of hearing it. Now that Brae had begun dreaming about the story it had changed for him, become more real and lucid in his mind.

     As a child, he would listen without trying to imagine what he was being told. His mother would tell it to them before bedtime so Brae was always too tired to try and imagine it, or at least that's what he told himself the first time he dreamt it.

     Now Brae was a young man and the persistence of this dream had let the story unfurl in his mind in vivid detail. Every night before this one the dream was always the same, but unlike when he was a child Brae had begun to look forward to his nightly tale. Before, this girl had nothing that made him think there was anything particularly special about her, but this time he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her. She had pulled him to her like a moth to a flame. She was taking her time to explore and look at every inch of the cave and the tree that was set away from the entrance. He watched as she walked through a secret passage in a cave when she stumbled and became stuck in a hidden chamber far below. She unknowingly opened the portal that was meant for her alone and somehow wound up in the cave hidden in the valley of mist not too far from his home. Except that on this night, the dream had finally been different. Brae had never seen her face which was why he had thought there was nothing special about her. The girl had been blurry, out of focus, or faceless every night, but this time he saw her. He had reached out to touch her and knew that she was special the moment his hand made contact with her cheek. He felt it through to his core that she was meant for him as he was meant for her. Brae smiled as he remembered every curve and angle of her face. He had stared at her small hand as he fitted it into his and took her from under the willow tree, guiding her to an unknown destination. Without knowing he could, he had thrust her along a dangerous path and shown her the way to his homeland. Before he could blink everything went so bright he was blinded and he couldn't breathe anymore.