Adventures in Moonlit Valley: Book One--The Protector of the Realm

The Chosen Ones

As Harold walked around he saw that the strange land he was in wasn't a large mass like the world he knows but floating island like masses, some smaller than football stadiums and others the size of cities. In this strange land the sky consisted of every color you can imagine, the grass was so green, the color itself wouldn't explain it if it could and in the way distance he saw nothing but darkness.

Harold walks over to the ledge of the island he was on and looked down. To his amazement he saw that more and more floating islands went down as far as his eyes can see. Harold lost his footing and fell off the ledge. His terror filled screams filled the air, but as he was falling he heard a voice in his head.

"Calm down my friend, if you think of happy thoughts your fall would come to a stop."

Harold closed his eyes and thought of his dream. The dream of the girl...then it hit him, he was in the place in his dreams. Then the falling stopped. He opened his eyes to see that he was now slowly floating down to another island. As his feet touched the ground he felt an unusual warmness embrace his body.

He then hears the sound of metal clashing and grunts of struggle in the distance. He runs to the source to find a girl with another golden sword fighting a monster. He rushes over to her aid and stabs the beast in the back. The Realmling turned around, took the sword out of its back and punched Harold in the face. While the Realmling was distracted the girl put the sword through the back of the monster's head, coming out through his face.

"I had that." She said angrily in a thick accent as she pulled the sword out of it's face.

"Didn't look like it from my perspective." Harold replied.

"Whatever." She said. "Where did you get that sword?"

"It might sound crazy but it came from a colorful portal thing in the sky."

She looked at him with a weird look. "Same." She said. "Is this a dream?"

"Getting punched in the face hurt like a son of a mother."

"So?" If you feel pain it's not a dream." Harold replied.

"Well that thing never touched me."

Harold then punched the girl in the face. She fell to the ground holding her jaw.

"Ow!" She yelled. "I could've pinched myself asshole!"

"Sorry." Harold said.

They begin to walk in silence. During they're walk they both silently admire the view, the green grass, the colorful sky and in the distance lied a barrier between day and night (an actual line that separates day and night that rotates, indicating which is which.)

"What's your name?" Harold asked.

"Star." She replied.

"You look familiar, have we met before?" He asked.

"I don't think so." She replied. "Do you live in Dublin?"

"No, I live half a word away in New Jersey."

"You do look familiar. So you neve-"

She was cut off by a voice yelling to them in the distance. They look down off the ledge to see an old man yelling to them on an island way down.

"Let's go." Harold said.

"How do we get down there?" She asked, squinting due to the sun being in their face.

"We jump."

Her face lit up with confusion mixed with fright. "Are you fucking crazy?"

"No, just adventurous," he replied. "And if you think happy thoughts you'd float down nice and easy."

"Like Peter Pan?"

"Precisely, except you don't fly."

She held out her hand. Harold then saw that all of her toughness was a ploy to hide her true self. He gave a slight smile as he grabbed her hand.

They jumped off the ledge and gently floated down to the island down below. They reach the old man.

"Hello." He said all out of breath.

"Are you in trouble old one?" The mysterious girl asked.

"Not just me, but all of the people in Moonlit Valley."

"Moonlit Valley?" Harold asked.

"The place you're in now, now let's get moving Haragold and Star."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How do you know our names?" Star asked.

"Because, I knew your parents."