Chapter
1
The Chosen
On the other side of the golden-hued barrier, a roar erupts from the seamless quartz palace. It emerges from the winged Royal Lions guarding the massive iron gates. The thunderous sound sweeps over a large, lush green island called Grandel Isle. It thunders down the colossal mountain in the center of the landmass. A white golden antlered stag raises his grand head as the sound rolls past one of the many drinking holes which riddle the mountainsides. The mighty roar blasts through the thick forest, circling the bottom of the immense mountain and outward past the surrounding desert. It rolls out over the encircling blood-red sea until it reaches the three smaller islands to the north, southeast, and east of Grandel Isle. A fog bank to the west swirls and shifts as the sound travels through it.
The roar announces the beginning of the Protector Tournament, and the contestants should start their long journey to the Outer-lands. Three of the five regions on the large island have one male chosen. Parents from these regions are to prepare their sons from birth for this possible choosing. The challenges are unique every time. The single thing known is they must be intelligent, reliable, and courageous. Three mysterious mystics watch over these three regions. As they watch the boys grow, they decide which one will best represent their province.
The new Queen’s Protector must retrieve the new queen from the world called Earth.
Around two thousand years ago, from another dimension, the Darkness sensed an abundance of negative energy on Earth. In the middle of this shameful period on Earth, hope found a hold and began flowing through the humans like water through baren ground. Even though the Darkness had plenty of its food, greed urged it to thrust its plan forward and strike before this seed of hope could swell and destroy its bounty.
A few days before the attack, three secretive, black-robed Mystics arrived on Earth.
To protect the Earth, the three Mystics found two unique human twin sisters. Whose life energy possessed the ability to establish a barrier around the island which held the portal to Earth. The Darkness could not break through, though its corrupted Enchained could. Along with the two sisters, the mystics gathered others from Earth to help them survive in their new home.
In the realm between Earth and the Darkness’ world, the Mystics formed Grandel Isle under the portal the Darkness needs to use to claim its prize. They gave everyone an essential responsibility which would help sustain the island. Since then, Grandel Isle has been the battleground for Earth.
Brandon, being from the Low-lands, arrives at the meeting place first. When he gets there, waiting for him is a large quartz stone. The Naming Stone always stands here, but most times, nothing blemishes it. Today, etched into the stone are three symbols. Under each symbol is a name. The first symbol is a spear, sword, and an arrow they overlap one another in a star pattern for the Highlanders, representing the military. The second symbol looks like an open book for the Midlanders. This emblem symbolizes the palace workers, healers, and the many other jobs the Midlanders have to help support the island. The final one is in a starburst pattern with the various tools the Lowlanders use. Farmers, miners, builders, and crafters fill the Low-lands. The names under the symbols are Steven the Highlander, William the Midlander, and Brandon the Lowlander.
A boiling breeze sweeps around Brandon as he looks out across the barren sandy Outer-lands. Many Highlanders have died here due to the numerous battles played out on the sandy soil. The Highlanders are the ones who keep the Enchained from getting to the portal to Earth. Long before he was born, the bound servants pushed the Highlanders back to the Low-lands. It was the second time the Darkness’ bound ones were able to get passed the border of the Outer-lands. The Low-land’s elders talk of the battle in which the Highlanders and Lowlanders stood side by side as brothers and fought for their home. Unfortunately, time changes everything, and the ties which developed during the battle crumbled long ago. Hope remains by some that one day those bonds can be recovered. Brandon has serious doubts this will ever happen. The Highlanders today consider themselves too important to lower themselves in the dirt with a Lowlander.
Brandon looks out across the Outer-lands at the enormous rock formations. At one time, this land was full of many animals and plants, not anymore. Armed with a vile of poison the Darkness gave them, the Enchained contaminated the sea. Once mixed with the seawater, the poison spread swiftly and damaged it all. It surrounded the island, killing almost everything in the Outer-lands. The sandy soil of the Outer-lands slowed the poison down and filtered most of it out before it reached where the humans lived. The Lowlanders filtered out the remaining poison with a system the Midlanders designed.
All but two unique species of plants thrived in the Outer-lands sandy soil became extinct. At the battle sites scattered across the Outer-lands, both surviving plants grow. They also line the shores of tainted streams. They drain the small ones dry.
One tree, the yew, survives here. At one time, this tree had stood tall with green needles and bright red fruit that resembled berries. When the poison from the sea reached its roots, it did not perish, but it shrank into a bush. Its needles turned black, and its fruit turned a dark blood red. They also became poisonous.
A single black rose survived the poisoning, but now it flourishes in the Outer-lands. After the sounds of battle have silenced and the completion of memorials are done, the black rose appears. In a few short days, they embrace all the monuments. Gradually, the saplings of the yew tree begin to grow and shade the area. Grandelites believe these plants protect these sites from evil beings and spirits. None of the Darkness’ Enchained or creations have ever been able to defile these holy places.
Forced, countless animals migrated to the center of the island. A couple adapted to the deadly environment like the cressorn. The cressorn is an enormous snake with a horn over each eye. It lives and moves within the sand. The cressorn’s horns detect poison. Therefore, they can avoid the infected areas.
One particular bird found it unnecessary to change. The orizons are one of three light-bearing birds on Grandel. The Outer-lands shoreline to the southeast has high sandstone cliffs. These fowls make their homes in the caves riddling the rock face. Deep inside the caves, the birds find gold and silver; they feed upon these metals. Orizons resemble hawks in size and shape, but the resemblance ends there. They have a mixture of gold and silver feathers which are as hard as metal. Their eyes give off a warm golden glow day or night, but their feathers only shine at night. These magnificent birds fly into battle with the Highlanders, lighting nighttime battles and using their iron claws to tear at the enemy.
As Brandon waits for the others, he thinks about his family. Life in the Low-lands is hard. Most of them have large cattle farms to take care of and fields to tend. Others work in the mines harvesting minerals, gems, and metals. A group of builders take care of small building jobs. When a large project comes up, like the Low-lands’ waterfalls and the Mid-lands’ homes, all Lowlanders help.
Brandon’s family has a large farm he and his father run. They tend a herd of cattle and a few horses. They also have two extensive fields and a small garden for their use. If Brandon becomes the next Protector, their lives will change forever. He will move to the palace at the top of the mountain. His parents and his sister Toney will come and live with him. They will receive jobs his weak, ill mother and disabled sister can perform.
Brandon hears a noise behind him and pushes his unmanageable, wavy, shoulder-length golden hair from his dark, vibrant brown eyes. The person he sees is short and stocky, with short, chestnut brown hair, and watery blue eyes.
“Typical Midlander, soft,” Brandon murmurs to himself.
The new arrival offers his hand. Brandon stands to his full height, six feet two inches. His large hand engulfs the stranger’s small one.
“Hi,” the stranger says as he quickly pulls his hand away at the feel of Brandon’s skin. His hands are dark and rough from the hard labor of his people. “I am William.”
William’s hand is soft, pale, and weak from working inside the palace, definitely a Midlander. Steven will be lean. Unlike Brandon his strength will come from a lifetime of training, not from demanding work. He will have, like all his people, very short raven-black hair and stormy gray eyes.
Also, a Highlander would never degrade himself to speak to a Lowlander, much less touch one. Because of their training, the Highlanders feel one of them should always be the Queen’s Protector. For two hundred years, it has been this way, and they desire to keep it as thus.
A pounding noise brings Brandon out of his thoughts. He and William both look up. Their golden sun sits on the horizon behind them to the north, and Himber sits in front of them. Himber is a large red crystal caught in their planet’s gravity. Its phases cycles weekly. Today it sits to the south near a jagged wound which defiles their red sky. A dark cloud sits inside it. The Darkness is there, just waiting. The Queen is growing weak, and so is the golden barrier between their worlds. This Queen has lived longer than most. She has held the unyielding Darkness back for a miraculous eighteen years. When she dies, their glorious barrier will die with her unless someone retrieves the new queen first. They must unearth the Protector today.
“He is here,” William states flatly.
Steven does not speak. He walks past them without even glancing their way. The Highlander stops and gazes at a large rock formation called the Dragon. When Brandon and William catch up to him, he peers straight ahead and marches onward. None of them speak. All their thoughts stay on what lies ahead of them.
The blistering heat from the sand bores through the animal hide shoes after about twenty minutes, and the searing sun beats on them from above. Brandon looks at the differences in their clothing and is grateful to be in his Lowlander clothes. His pants and shirt are thin and loose for working outside. Lowlanders make their clothes in light, earthy colors. The dying of the Midlander’s clothes happens in accordance to their duties in the palace or where they work in their community. William’s light gray attire marks him as working in the Hall of Records. They make them thicker because the palace stays cool. Brandon notices the Midlander’s pale skin is already turning scarlet.
Brandon glances over at Steven and feels a twinge of pity for him. The Highlanders uniform is heavy to help them in battle. The first layer is black cotton. Then pulled over the chest, back, arms, and legs are thick pieces of leather and metal plates. Even though Steven’s face has become flushed from the heat, he shows no signs of slowing.
After about an hour, they come to the end of their journey through the Outer-lands. Finally, all they have to confront is the contest itself.
