Teruvisa: Two Kingdoms Read online

  Chapter 2

  Under the Lake

  Jared sprinted through the maze of dimly lit hallways without knowing where he would end up. He sensed something or someone lurking in the shadows, following him, and desperately wanted to get away.

  With his next step, a force propelled Jared into space. Then, as quickly as he was rocketed into the heavens, he fell back down to Earth.

  He landed on his feet in a dark and silent jungle. An icy chill ran through him.

  He looked around for an escape route and saw a crack of light ahead in the trees. He tried to run toward it, but his feet were stuck.

  A robed figure came out from behind a tree, grabbed Jared by the shirt, and pulled him closer. He felt the menacing stranger’s breath on his face, but there was only darkness where the person’s face should’ve been.

  Jared was jarred awake from his nightmare. His eyes burst open, and he gasped. To his surprise, he discovered that his feet were dangling above his bed. He felt two big hands holding him up by his armpits, and, as his eyes started adjusting to the dark, he saw that those big hands were attached to two strong, hairy arms, which were connected to a rather large person wearing a hooded robe.

  Jared’s nightmare had become real!

  The dark figure growled in a low, resonating tone as he moved Jared closer to him. Jared cringed from the stench of the putrid breath entering his nostrils.

  The stranger’s facial features were no longer shadowed by the hood of the robe he was wearing, and Jared could see the man’s flared nostrils and pointed teeth. He seemed like more of a beast than a man.

  Jared tried unsuccessfully to jerk himself free.

  Jared’s grandpa, wearing a hooded robe, burst in, fracturing the door jamb where the bolt of the doorknob broke through and almost knocked the door off its hinges.

  The man-beast dropped Jared onto the bed, turned, and then leapt out the second-story window, his black robe fluttering behind him.

  What the...? Jared looked from the window, to his grandpa, to the broken door, back to his grandpa, and then back at the window.

  Jared wondered why the window was open. He was sure it was shut when he went to bed.

  He guessed that his attacker had opened the window when he entered the room. But why?

  Jared sat up and tried to collect his thoughts, but he wasn’t sure he could make sense of what took place. The whole thing had happened so fast. It was like a blur.

  Jared’s grandpa walked over to the window and paused briefly, looking into the night, before shutting it.

  He stepped toward Jared and put a hand on Jared’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  Jared didn’t know what to say, so he just nodded. Also, he noticed that his grandpa didn’t seem worried or upset about the startling break-in.

  Jared heard the front door downstairs open, and his heart started racing again. He’s back!

  Jared’s grandpa turned and stepped slightly to the side. Jared scrambled out of his bed and stood half-hidden behind his grandpa.

  A few seconds later, a man in a hooded robe entered the room.

  Jared felt some relief when he realized that it wasn’t the man-beast that attacked him. Who is that? Did he chase away the other one or capture him?

  Jared’s grandpa spoke to the man. “It got away?”

  “Yes.” The stranger took a couple of steps toward Jared and his grandpa.

  The man was wearing a hooded, brownish-green robe made of a lightweight material that hung down to his calves. The robe was open in the front, and he wore black pants and a white shirt.

  Jared then noticed that his grandpa was wearing a robe similar to the other man’s in style and material. The only apparent difference was that his grandpa’s was light brown. Are they in some kind of robe-wearing, criminal-fighting club together? Jared also wondered how long his grandpa had had that robe because he had never seen it around the house before.

  Jared’s grandfather said, “No sense in worrying about it too much, Gromagan.”

  Jared looked up at the tall, well-built man, who had a prominent nose, deep set, brown eyes, angular jaw and cheek bones, and strong facial features that had the appearance of being chiseled out of stone. Gromagan? He scrunched his forehead. That’s a weird name. “Gromagan?”

  Gromagan nodded, acknowledging his name.

  Jared’s grandpa added, “But, it’ll be back. And with help.”

  Jared was stunned to learn that the man-beast would come back. He stepped forward and looked up at his grandpa. “What?”

  “It’s okay. Calm down, Jared.” His grandpa patted his shoulder.

  Jared wasn’t entirely sure what had happened in his room, but he was sure it was nothing to stay calm about. “How can I be calm after what just happened? That... that thing attacked me! And, it’ll come back?!”

  “Jared.” Jared’s grandpa turned, put both hands on Jared’s shoulders, and then gave him one of his serious looks. “I’d love to spend some time explaining to you what’s going on right now, but we need to leave immediately.”

  “Leave?” Jared’s voice cracked.

  “Yes, leave. Right after I contact the other guardians.” Jared’s grandpa closed his eyes as if he was concentrating.

  Guardians? Jared furrowed his brow. Is that the name of his club?

  “Dorn. Prienna. This is Hilcar.” Jared’s grandpa spoke as if he was talking to someone in the room, but he wasn’t wearing the wireless earpiece to his cell phone. “We’ve been discovered. Get to the rendezvous point as soon as possible.” He opened his eyes.

  What was that? Telepathy? And why did he call himself Hilcar? Jared’s frustration and curiosity slipped out. “What’s going on?” He looked at both men. “Who are you?”

  Without answering, Gromagan and Jared’s grandpa ushered the reluctant Jared out of the bedroom.

  After a few nudges from his grandpa, Jared threw up his arms in defeat, “Fine,” and went downstairs without resisting. I’ll go along with them, for now. As they entered the garage, Jared also decided that he would keep his thoughts and his questions to himself for the time being because he figured he’d just be wasting his breath.

  Jared got into the front passenger seat of his grandfather’s white Acura Legend, and Gromagan got in the back seat.

  When Jared’s grandpa got in the driver’s seat, he said, “Sorry to drag you off so suddenly. I thought we’d have more time.”

  Whatever. But, I better get some answers soon. As they sped away from the house, Jared wondered where he was being taken and when, or even if, he’d be back. It didn’t even dawn on him, until they were already well on their way, that he was leaving the house in just the shorts and T-shirt he wore to bed.

  After they were on the road for a while, Jared noticed a traffic sign with “San Bernardino” on it and, later on, another with “Mountain Resorts.” He wondered if they were going to the mountains—they seemed to be headed in that direction.

  Jared’s observation turned out to be correct. They were soon winding their way up the San Bernardino Mountains. Through the breaks in the trees and between the boulders that lined the road, Jared caught glimpses of flickering lights glowing from the dark, smog-filled valley below.

  Jared noticed that his grandpa was driving aggressively (more uncharacteristic behavior from his grandpa). He seemed to be in a hurry, taking some of the turns a little fast.

  Jared wanted to ask why he was in such a rush, but, when he glanced over at his grandpa, he decided it would be better not to distract him. His grandpa seemed so focused on his driving. He had an intense look on his face, was gripping the steering wheel tightly, and checked his mirrors frequently.

  Jared tried reading road signs to keep himself from dwelling on the uncertainty he felt about his situation and his grandpa, who seemed like a different person—one with a second, secret life.

  After passing the next few signs, it seemed evident that they were going toward Lake Arrowhead, and Jared asked himself, Why the
mountains? Is there something up here that has to do with the explanation grandpa said he had for my nightmares and that “vision”?

  The silent drive on the winding roads up into the mountains and around Lake Arrowhead finally ended when Jared’s grandfather pulled the car over onto a shoulder. “This is it.”

  Jared looked around as he got out of the car. Most of the houses in the area were hidden in the pines. He wondered if they were going into one of those secluded homes or somewhere else.

  Jared followed his grandpa and Gromagan to a cement slab. He took the few steps across the gravelly shoulder carefully because it was uncomfortable walking on the rocks with bare feet.

  “This way.” Jared’s grandpa pointed down a concrete staircase between two houses.

  As he turned to go, Gromagan gestured for Jared to go ahead of him, so Jared stepped over to the stairs, placed a hand on top of the metal rail that lined one side, and began descending.

  On the way down, Jared’s grandfather, a few steps ahead of Jared, said, “Things are different now, Jared. There’ll be many new things for you—some things that might even be hard for you to understand, at first, but you’ll understand them in time.”

  What’s that supposed to mean? Jared furrowed his brow and just kept following silently, looking at his surroundings and wondering where they were going.

  At the bottom of the steps, there was a chain-link fence with a locked gate. On the other side was Lake Arrowhead. Moonlight glimmered across the surface of the water.

  “Gromagan, open this, please.” Jared’s grandpa pointed at the padlock.

  Gromagan stepped forward, grabbed the lock in one hand, pulled on it until it snapped, and then threw it aside. He held the gate open for Jared and his grandfather, so they could pass.

  Jared glanced at the broken padlock on the ground as he walked by Gromagan. How did he do that? Gromagan seemed to possess superhuman strength.

  They continued another few feet on a concrete walkway until they came to a dock. Jared’s grandfather led Jared and Gromagan out onto the wooden pier, which was about 15 feet long. They had walked almost to the end when Jared’s grandpa signaled for them to stop.

  Jared and Gromagan waited as Jared’s grandpa continued to the edge and then looked down at the water. “Jared, come here, please.” He gestured, without looking up, for Jared to approach the end of the dock.

  Jared was resistant to do anything. “Wait. You’ve dragged me out here to jump off a pier? What’s going on? Who are you?”

  His grandpa turned sideways and looked at Jared. “There isn’t time for this right now.”

  Jared could sense his grandfather’s frustration, but he didn’t budge. He just stood where he was with his arms folded across his chest in defiance. He wanted answers, and he was going to get them. After all, his grandpa—or Hilcar or whoever he was—promised he would explain what was going on. No time like the present.

  His grandfather softened slightly. “Okay. As you overheard at home, my name is Hilcar. But, I’m still your grandfather. So, listen to me. Right now, we need to get you to Teruvisa.”

  Teruvisa? Jared didn’t move. “What are you talking about?”

  “Fine.” Hilcar lay down on the pier, put his finger in the water, and swirled it around in a pattern like he was writing something. When he finished, he rose to his feet and wiped his finger on his robe. He pointed to the water past the end of the pier. “There. Now, will you look, please?”

  Jared approached, eyeing Hilcar curiously. He was still upset that he didn’t know what was going on but was interested to see what his grandpa did to the water.

  Once at the edge, Jared leaned forward and looked down. Instead of water at the end of the pier, there was a square, transparent platform slightly bigger than the width of the pier.

  “Go ahead. Get on.” His grandfather motioned for Jared to get on the platform. “It’s okay. It’ll hold you. It’s safe.” Something reassuring in his grandpa’s voice urged Jared to trust him.

  So, Jared took a deep breath and stepped down. The platform was sturdy—not at all like it was floating.

  When he placed his other foot down on the platform, Jared instantly found himself in a transparent chamber. He touched one of the sides. It was smooth and cold. Water surrounded the glass-like compartment on all four sides and above.

  He looked down at his feet. Through the platform on which he was standing, he could see the night sky. At that point, he realized that he was standing upside down under the surface of the lake!

  But, he didn’t feel upside down. What? How? He couldn’t make sense of it. Weird.

  Suddenly, Gromagan appeared in the small chamber and then Hilcar a few seconds after that. There wasn’t much breathing room in that compartment, and Gromagan elbowed Jared in the ribs.

  “Hey,” Jared complained.

  Gromagan apologized and then pulled something out from inside his robe.

  The object, which fit in the palm of his hand, looked kind of like a credit card, except silver in color, and a faint glow emanated from the side facing up.

  Jared asked, “What’s that?”

  “A treyo,” Gromagan replied.

  “A treyo, huh?” Jared shrugged. He liked to keep up on the latest technological toys, but he couldn’t recall ever hearing about anything called a treyo or about any small, illuminated cards being developed.

  Gromagan pointed the handheld device at the wall that faced back toward the shore. The wall turned into a non-transparent, metallic panel, and then promptly disappeared.

  Jared blinked hard. He wasn’t expecting the treyo to do anything like that. Is it some kind of ultra-thin remote control?

  “Okay. Let’s go.” Hilcar stepped out of the chamber.

  Gromagan ushered Jared through the opening onto a pier that was about 50 feet long and appeared to be made of wood, but the surface was in perfect condition—not worn, cracked, or faded.

  Jared took a tentative step onto the pier (yet, at the same time, he felt adventurous). The wood—if that’s what the material was—was smooth to the touch.

  As Jared followed his grandpa, he glanced up at the sky a few times. He couldn’t see a sun, any stars, or even a moon. Yet, it wasn’t dark outside. He wondered why.

  Jared looked around, intrigued and wide-eyed, at his new surroundings. When they were about halfway down the pier, he noticed that they were walking toward a cave in the towering rock wall ahead of them. “Are we going in there?” He pointed around Hilcar’s shoulder at the cave as they proceeded along the pier.

  “Yes,” Hilcar stated.

  Oh great. He’s still doing that whole not talking very much thing. I wish he’d stop it. It’s annoying. Jared just wanted his grandpa to tell him what was going on. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

  Jared’s frustration vanished when the murky water attracted his attention. It looked as smooth as glass and had what appeared to be fire burning just below the surface.

  After a dozen more steps, Jared and Hilcar reached the end of the pier. Jared stepped down onto the shore. The fine sand underfoot was warm. As he looked to both sides, he couldn’t see an end to the wall of brownish rock marbled with off-white.

  Continuing a couple more steps, Jared and Hilcar entered the cave. The inside of the shallow cavity was shaped like a dome cut in half vertically.

  Hilcar turned around to face the outside. Jared figured he should do the same.

  Gromagan, with his back to Hilcar and Jared, was still standing at the other end of the pier, looking out over the water. The chamber from which they had emerged was gone.

  Jared continued to survey his surroundings. The lake—or vast river—was probably a mile wide and was situated in a deep canyon.

  Jared looked to the left and right. Off in the distance, to both sides of him, there were bends in the canyon, so he had no way of knowing how far the water reached in either direction.

  Jared’s focus went back to Gromagan. “What’s he doing?” he ask
ed his grandpa, without looking at him.

  Even though Jared had said the name Gromagan before and heard his grandpa say it, that name still sounded strange. Of course, the name Hilcar seemed just as foreign.

  Hilcar stated, “Waiting for the others.”

  What kind of answer is that? “What others?” Jared was getting more impatient and wanted the awkward moments of silence and short answers to end. His grandpa wasn’t usually a talkative person, but his lack of explaining things had gotten to be ridiculous.

  “Others like you.” Hilcar turned to Jared and tried to offer what Jared interpreted as comfort. “Don’t worry. Soon, all your questions will be answered.”

  That’s what you keep saying. Despite his grandpa’s attempt to appease him, Jared was still tired of not knowing what was going on. He didn’t like the lack of control he felt. He wanted to grab his grandpa by the shoulders and shake the answers out of him.

  “What did you say this place was again?” Jared didn’t care that he sounded impatient.

  Hilcar glanced over at Jared. “Teruvisa.”

  Jared wanted to find out more. “So, how did we get here? I mean, I know we came through that chamber thing.” He pointed at the other end of the pier, where Gromagan was. “But, what makes it work?”

  “Our technology.” Hilcar piqued Jared’s interest with one of his favorite words—technology.

  Jared definitely wanted to learn about Teruvisa’s technology.

  Hilcar started to say something else but then pointed toward Gromagan. “Ah, there they are.”

  A metal panel appeared at the end of the pier. It promptly disappeared and exposed the inside of the chamber Hilcar, Jared, and Gromagan had been in.

  A boy and a man stepped out onto the pier. Gromagan shook the boy’s hand as he was introduced by the other man. After Gromagan directed them to walk down the pier, the two newcomers walked over to the cave.

  The boy, who was about the same age as Jared, had a slightly olive complexion, brown eyes, and curly, jet black hair. He was wearing pajama bottoms with vertical white and blue stripes, a white T-shirt, and leather sandals.

  The man accompanying the boy looked a lot like Hilcar—so much so, they could’ve been brothers. He was also wearing a robe like Hilcar’s.

  Hilcar smiled as he stepped forward to greet them. “Hello, Dorn.” He put his hand on the man’s shoulder.

  Dorn shook hands vigorously with Hilcar. “Hello, Hilcar. Good to see you again.”

  Hilcar turned to the boy. “Hello, Paul. I’m Hilcar.” He pointed to Jared. “And, this is Jared.”

  Just as the pleasantries were over, a woman and a girl appeared from the portal chamber at the end of the pier. The girl, who seemed to be about the same age as the boys, acted like she knew Gromagan as she greeted him.

  Without waiting to be told where to go, she turned, looked at Jared and the group in the cave, and began walking down the pier toward them with a spring in her step.

  The girl had straight, shoulder-length, auburn hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a two-piece, pink pajama set with big, yellow flowers printed on them and had on fuzzy, pink slippers.

  She grinned from ear to ear as she stepped off the pier. “Hello. It’s good to finally be here.”

  The woman following behind the girl appeared younger than Hilcar and Dorn. She had dark brown hair and big, brown eyes. Such dark features contrasted sharply with her fair complexion. She too was wearing a light brown, hooded robe.

  Hilcar made the introductions. “Danielle. I’m Hilcar.” He pointed to Dorn. “This is Dorn.” Hilcar gestured toward Gromagan, who was stepping off the pier. “Gromagan you’ve already met, of course.” Then, he looked at Paul and Jared. “Paul. Jared.” He pointed to the girl, who was looking around like she was taking in scenery on a vacation. “This is Danielle.” Finally, pointing to the woman, he said, “And, this is Prienna.”

  Jared was confused by Danielle. She talked like coming to Teruvisa was like coming home but acted like she had never seen Teruvisa before.

  Out of curiosity, Jared asked her, “Do you know what’s going on or something?”

  Danielle smiled smugly at Jared, “Maybe,” and then turned away to face the water.

  Not knowing what to make of her response, Jared scrunched his brow and looked around at the adults, but they all just smiled. What? Did I miss something? It was like they were part of an inside joke that they weren’t letting him in on.

  “Well, we better get going.” Hilcar waved for everyone to join him in the cave as he took a few steps back.

  Once they were all huddled in the shallow cavern, Gromagan did something with his treyo, and the ceiling and walls turned into loose sand that shifted toward the opening of the cave. Within moments, the entrance became completely sealed, and the interior surface of the cave began to glow a soft, green color.

  Immediately, Jared felt the sensation of going up, like in an elevator. The earth started flowing all around them—from the top of the dome-shaped cavity to below their feet.

  After a few seconds, a spot of daylight appeared above them. The area of light grew larger until they were standing on solid ground in a small clearing at the top of the cliff.

  Jared was amazed. They had just been lifted up through the earth, in a dome-shaped bubble, like it was some sort of reverse quicksand!

  Jared looked down at the ground around his feet and let a, “Wow!” slip out. He couldn’t believe that he had just come up through the earth he was standing on—the very dirt that was now solid ground.

  He wondered what other surprises Teruvisa had in store for him.