The farther Zara
travelled down the dark depths of the tunnel, the thicker the air became making it harder and harder to carry on, the passage
seemingly descended forever. Had it not been for the angelic memories of Orien's precious face stoking the flames of hope and faith, she
would most certainly have given up, perished along the way already, it was so hard to keep going in
such an ominous direction as this.
"Mighty
Medel... Help me..." She begged, thirsty again, determined to keep going, knowing she would never find her way to the Promised Land if she gave up.
Then, just as she was about to give up, her hand slipped into a slimy patch, she could feel a cool mist on her face ahead, she could hear more than a drip this time, there was a spring somewhere... She could feel it getting closer... Soon enough she could feel the shock of icy cold water running over her fingers, so numb
from the cold already the shock felt like relief, this was another helping hand from
Medel, just as she thought she was about to die of thirst again. She
cupped her hands and paused for a moment of gratitude for all that she had. "Thank
You, Medel, Oh, Thank You!"
As
she sipped the cool, clear water, so refreshing and so good, it filled her full
of life again, and just as she feared she would be descending forever, the path
flattened out, a fresh draft blew in from the passage ahead and she
found herself climbing upwards!
The upward climb filled her with even more hope, it was easier to navigate than the downward path, but it was more exhausting, too. She was having to push herself harder and harder and at the same time her body was getting weaker and weaker from lack of nutrition. Still, hope was stronger than fear now, the chance of finding the Promised Land seemed more realistic on higher ground, and soon enough, a glimmer of light beaconed in the distance.... She paused for a moment to face her reality, was it really Hellias this time?
As
she stopped to catch her breath she pondered the light ahead with an open mind.
The truth was, she was so tired, thirsty and hungry it could be just a
hallucination. The truth was, Hellias was known for it's Eternal Darkness,
this didn't fit the description... Was she in fact approaching Eternal Flames? It
wasn't flickering, or pulsing... She raised her nose to smell for smoke... There was nothing other than the smell of damp earth. The reality of her destination was
instilling very real fears as she neared the light, how long would she
survive in Hellias? Would she even stand a chance of escaping it?
Potential
scenarios began darting through her mind as she clambered up the slope. Would
there be a hungry pack of dogons awaiting her arrival? Had they smelled the
blood on her wafting out of the tunnel already?
She
paused to re-assess her approach as the entrance to the light appeared to be near... She took a deep breath... The air
smelled sweet, it wasn't the burning smell she expected… She held her
breath and listened for signs of Aquilla or the guards following,
but still the tunnel was quiet behind her, it seemed she really had managed to escape
the torture of the Earth Goddess. The sooner she faced Hellias the sooner she
could seek refuge, or escape if it was even possible.
Pushing forward once
again, she approached the entrance with great caution so as not to startle the dogons
in case they were indeed waiting for her... Memories of the old orange tree in Culloom flashed before her now as she climbed higher to
the light, it was blinding her. Images of the bloody white rabbit had prepared
her for what she faced. Images of the white rabbit were followed by the gory
remains in the school... Yet she kept moving forward. Was
she kidding herself? Could this really all just have been
a really bad dream? Was she, in fact, already dead?
A dot of blue appeared ahead as
the tunnel entrance finally came into view. Zara gasped with surprise, it was the sky? As she moved
forward she knew it couldn't be a hallucination, the blue dot grew
into a big cloudy sky as she crept her way up the last few yards of the tunnel,
the steepest part so far.
Suddenly,
a bird launched from a bush outside, squawking, startled by her approach. She
froze... Then a flock of birds fluttered out of the bushes... There were birds surviving in
Hellias? It was a good sign! Perhaps Hellias wasn't so bad after all! The
sun was so bright outside, the air smelled so sweet she couldn't wait to see Hellias now. As she neared
the opening, the light almost blinding her induced tears, they streamed down
her cheeks, now she understood why the Panthers wore the sunglasses!
She
stopped to listen for growls, sniffed the air for the telltale scent of animal, but there was nothing... Perhaps the dogons hadn't been alerted to her arrival...
Disbelief set in. What was the catch? A strong gust of
ocean air blew into the tunnel, filling her senses with fresh organic scents of the
earth. The pretty bird song continued to coax her out with magical sounds of
paradise. As her vision cleared, she peered out from the opening to see... She was
up high on a mountainside... There no barren wastelands at all... No Eternal Flames... There were no houses made of bones and there certainly wasn't
an Eternal Darkness or Winter thing going on... It
certainly wasn't Hellias... What was this place? Where was she?
Zara took a deep breath of the air and scanned the
countryside in wonder... Before her lay the most beautiful and magical valley
she had ever seen, straight out of her textbooks it was nestled beneath a snowy
peak sparkling in the distance, carpeted with miles and miles of colour, woven
together by an aqua blue river, meandering through the beautiful tapestry like
a string of blue diamonds in the sun... Suddenly, she realized where she was
and fell to her knees in utter relief. "This is the
Promised Land..."
~ End of Book 1~
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