Sol Ra Kouu 002

“The path to sanctity is narrow and lonely. Those before me had stopped and those beside me had turned. They gaze at the scars upon my face, flesh battered from the winds that wished to thrust me over. And slothfully they ask, “Why do you walk?” “Why do you move against the prickly draft?” To them I say, where else should I go? Shall I stand idle and allow the tailwinds to mock me? Shall I leap from the ledges and fall to despair? Or perhaps, you infer… that I should retreat on this path…in the company of the indolent. Nay, the path may be narrow, but it is solid. The path may be lonely, but it is sacred. The path…this path… must be walked.” 

~L.L. Sparks

Dawn, Mr Sacclin’s Inn

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Sacclin expressed with a worried face.

He stood on his porch in front of Kai who was dressed in fresh clothes and held his school bag in his right hand. He wore a green tee-shirt with gold trimmings and a brown jean to accompany it.

“I never wanted things to turn out like this but…” his sentence was cut short. Kai leaned in to him and embraced him.

“Thank you for everything...Saccy.” Kai responded. Mr. Sacclin’s eyes widened in surprise as Kai released him. Kai watched him and smiled with a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sure you had your reasons for not telling me what you know, So I don’t blame you. If I truly must go with these people then I will. That’s all there is to it.” He assured him.

Mr. Sacclin’s eyes closed slightly and he smiled.

“You really are something else, you know that kid?”

Kai chuckled and turned around. He faced the boy with the afro leaning against the column by the porch stairs and the twins in the front yard. He walked towards the afro boy.

“Ready?” The afro boy asked him. The twins stopped talking and approached the porch as well.

“Just one thing before we go, I don’t know any of your names …” Kai asked him

The afro boy paused momentarily, then began to speak.

“My name is Archamed*. My friends call me Arch, so feel free to use either.”

*Pronounced “Ar-car-med.*

“Archamed huh… that’s not a name I’ve heard before. Is it of eastern origin?” 

“That’s… not relevant.” The boy stated, averting his gaze.

Everyone is silent for a second and then Kai sighed.

“Well what about you too, I’m assuming Jack and Jane weren’t your actual names.”

The blonde boy grinned. 

“My name is Lardrick but everyone calls me La! Starting from today I’m your big bro.” He stated while he slapped him on the back. The blow nearly caused Kai to fall over.

The blonde girl cleared her throat and La started scratching his head while grinning nervously.

“Oh yeah! I’m sorry about earlier in the school! I didn’t mean to scare you or nothin’... It’s just…”

“Don’t worry about it…” Kai said calmly.

La chuckled.

“Anyways,” the blonde girl started,

“I’m Mina. Pleasure to meet you!” She said, smiling brightly at him.

“Mina…” Kai echoed.

“We should go now. We need to vanish before the enemy makes their move.” Archamed stated. He eases off the column and turns to La.

“The others have already departed to follow up on that lead. What will you do from here?”

“Me and Mina will leave from here to go and cut ties with Solace. Then we’ll await your orders from there.” La responds.

“In that case we’ll wait on the others to take further action.” Archamed informed him.

“Understood.”

From the front yard Mina waved her hand at Kai and La raised his fist. They then walked around the back of the inn. Archamed turned to Sacclin.

“You shouldn’t stay here much longer either. They’re sure to send someone to scout for us eventually.” Archamed warned him.

“Yeah, Yeah even I know that,” Sacclin responded, scratching his shoulder.

“We should get going as well, Kai.” He said while walking down the stairs.

“Right…” Kai said hesitantly.

Kai followed Archamed behind the inn and onto the beach. They walked across the shoreline for several minutes before coming upon a cave at the opposite bend. Archamed entered the cave and Kai followed him inside.

The cave was not very large inside nor was there much to see. Inside was filled with coarse rocks and a small pool of water. In the midst of the water were some tiny aquatic plants that danced back and forth from the wind that invaded the cave.

“This place…”Kai remarked.

“You're familiar?” Archamed asked him.

“I used to come here when life just became too much for one person. Days when I got bullied, days when school weighed me down…Days when I thought about my mom. I would sit and watch those tiny plants wave for hours. They felt homey for some reason.” 

“I see.”

Archamed stood in front of the pool and stared for a second. He then stepped back and stuck out his right hand as his irises began to glow orange. The change in eye color made Kai’s eyes widen in shock.  Suddenly, the water started to ripple in the small pool beneath them. The plants stopped waving and started to grow in size and twisted upwards like vines. They continued to grow until they were above the height of a man and started to bend and join into an archway. Kai stood before the archway dumbfounded at what he just witnessed.

“What sorcery…” Kai began to exclaim with evident shock on his face.

“Not sorcery. This part is just science.” Archamed responded, facing the arch with his usual dull expression.

The hollow space between the gate flashed with a bright golden energy momentarily and suddenly a wooden door filled the space.

“Let’s go, Kai.” Archamed stated as he walked forward and twisted the door knob. 

He pushed the door open and walked inside. Kai followed closely behind him. 

Through the door, Kai’s eyes had to adjust to the light. When they did, he looked forward and was instantly amazed. None of the surprises he witnessed through the past few days could compare to what was currently in front of him.

The two boys stepped into a circular room large enough to fit a crowd of people.The size of the room was impressive, but most of all was the design. The entire area was completely made of wood. The floor, the walls, the archways and the doors were all entirely wooden. It wasn’t crudely designed either. The meshes of numerous types and tones of wood made it so that it wasn’t visually overwhelming.

The interior was also beautifully decorated with accompanying leaves and flowers of different sizes, colors and types. Perhaps most beautifully of all were the several thousand tiny yellow lights that floated around the room like fireflies.

One of the lights floated upwards and Kai traced it with his eyes.  As he tilted his head upward and looked up he became even more starstruck.

“HOW TALL IS THIS PLACE?!” he yelled.

The height of the space was at least that of an Astian skyscraper by Kai’s estimation … maybe even more. That was just his guess though, he had only ever seen skyscrapers in picture books and while surfing the AllWeb on his Fass tablet.

The area was so tall that trying to focus on what was at the very top made him feel dizzy. He also noticed after a certain height there were hundreds if not thousands more tunnels similar to the one he and Archamed had just come through. 

“I-Incredible,” he stuttered, “ are we in a tree?” 

Archamed began to answer his question when another voice interrupted them.

“Correct. This lifeform is a tree… as well as something else.” The voice answered.

The two of them turned to face another boy. He had light brown skin and curly hair with a faded trim on the sides. He was dressed in a white lab coat that covered a light blue shirt that said “Facts Over Feelings” in bright yellow. He also wore a black dress pants and blue slides. Finally, he had circular rimmed glasses on his face, completing his look.

“Hey Arch,” The boy greeted. 

“Hey Alex. It’s been a whi…” Archamed was interrupted by the boy who ran at him and punched across the face.

Kai was alarmed as Archamed stumbled backwards and the boy in the lab coat shook his hand, seeming that he hurt it after punching.

“Two years! You left for two years and didn’t say anything! You could’ve at least told me you were leaving!” The boy yelled angrily.

Archamed’s head was still turned from the punch and his face was darkened as if it was shadowed under his hair. He looked up slowly, and bore the same emotionless expression as always with a slightly bruised cheek. He simply remained silent.

The boy with the lab coat sucked his teeth*, then he sighed. 

*Suck teeth - An expression similar to scoffing*

“Is that who I think it is?” The boy asked, pointing at Kai without even in his direction.

“It is.” Archamed answered plainly.

The boy lowered his hand and finally turned towards Kai.

“My name is Alexander Yehison Corrington. You can call me Alex. Welcome to the Sanctuary.”

“Thanks…” Kai responded, still feeling unsure of what was going on.

“Excuse me! Sorry to interrupt! Mr. Archamed, the court requests your attendance.” 

The three looked back to the main counter of what appeared to be the reception area to see a lady who relayed the message to them. Kai stared at her and immediately noticed that she was taller than most women. She was caucasian and had long black flowing hair with dyed pink streaks running through it. She also wore a lab coat and glasses but instead wore a pink shirt that read “One truth to Rule us All” in golden text. Most of all, she was beautiful…almost as pretty as the blue haired girl who was a part of the Saints.

“Thank you Rachel,” Alexander responded, still holding his wrist from the pain. The three turned back to face each other. 

“Well you heard her… The Chaperone will show you out.”

Alexander turns toward Kai and smiles genuinely.

“Sorry about all of this, but you have to go with him as well. Please bear with this for now.”

“The past two days have been crazy so going with the flow is all I know at this point,” Kai responded, shrugging his shoulders.

Alexander chuckled and nodded. He then turned and flapped his coat as he walked over to the main counter. When he reached the counter he leaned over the table and smiled at Rachel briefly and she smiled back at him. 

Wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

Kai looked upwards to identify the noise. Over their heads a gigantic leaf the size of a car floated downwards slowly. The two boys moved out of the way and the leaf landed. On the face of the leaf stood an elderly man holding on to a tall wooden staff. The man appeared very feeble and his eyes were barely open. To Kai it was almost as if he was sleeping.

“Good Day, Master Arch. Where will it be today?”

“Hello Chaperone. Site E104.”

“Very well, Sir.”

The Chaperone ushered for them to join him on the leaf and they did. He then shifted his hands slightly and gripped his staff tighter. Suddenly, the top of the staff began to expand until it took the shape of a bulb. Then some of the firefly-like lights from the surrounding area gathered into the bulb and it glowed brightly. 

“Don’t panic,” Archamed told Kai calmly.

“Huh? Why would I…” 

Shoooooooom!

The leaf platform shot upwards at rapid speed. Everything around Kai became a blur.

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOAH” Kai exclaimed, terrified. He began to breathe heavy in fear that he might fall.

After five seconds of constant travel the platform began to slow down until it eventually stopped in front of a tunnel. Kai clutched his mouth and fell to his knees, about to vomit. Archamed rested his hand on his shoulder. His eyes widened sharply and he lowered his hand realizing he lost the need to puke. He turned his head quickly towards Archamed and stared at him.

“That again…what did you do?” He asked Arch.

“We’re here sirs,” The Chaperone informed them while walking down the hallway.

Archamed ignored Kai’s question and proceeded down the hall. Kai quickly followed behind him. The Chaperone’s staff lit the tunnel and they proceeded until they came upon a door similar to the one they had seen before.

“Well then, excuse me sirs,” The Chaperone said walking back down the hallway until his light was merely a faint glow in the distance. 

Archamed twisted the door handle and pushed the door in to reveal another glowing gate. They both walked inside.