The Endërland Chronicles: Book of Serena Read online

  The moon was high up in the middle of the sky, as Serena watched it from her bedroom window. She loved looking at the moon every night; it was big and round and it always shone so bright. It made her feel like she could reach up, climb on it and ride in the sky all through the night, looking at the world below. But she knew that wasn’t possible. She envied Élena, daughter of Summer, who had taken over her mother’s job after the Dark Winter.

  When she was little, she would ask her mom to tell her all about it; what it was like to be among the stars and shine down all over Endërland, when it used to be her up there. And her mom would talk for hours and hours, until she’d fall asleep. Sometimes her dad would sit down with them and join in the stories, telling her how the two of them had met and how they had fought in the Great War and won. She used to love listening to those stories.

  She was too old now to waste time with that stuff; tomorrow would be the nineteenth autumn since she had been born. She did not want to spend her life indoors; she wanted to get out there, experience the whole world and travel to the farthest reaches of the kingdom. But everyone kept telling her that there was nowhere to go.

  There had to be something beyond the ocean, or on the other side of the Northern Mountains; the world did not just end there, did it?

  Moving away from the window and leaving it open so she could watch the moon from her bed, she got ready for sleep. Her parents had already turned in for the night.

  She wasn’t really looking forward to tomorrow. Yes, her dad had surely prepared some special surprise for her, like he always did, but other than that, she knew it would be just another day in Endërland. And she felt like something was really missing, like she had yet to uncover her purpose in life.

  Determined to do something about it, she slipped into bed and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be a new day; she would make sure of it. It took her a while, but eventually her body relaxed and she fell asleep.

  When next she opened her eyes, she had to close and open them again, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. She did that a few more times, but every time she opened them, she saw the exact same thing; a cloudy sky above her, instead of the familiar ceiling of her bedroom. She felt a chill run through her body and realized she was lying down on a very cold and hard surface. She stood up, barefoot as she was, and looked around. She did not recognize this place.

  She appeared to be standing on top of a very tall house, built with large flat stones and mirrors. She almost felt dizzy from being so high up. All around her she saw many other similar buildings, but most of them were smaller, pretty much like usual houses. There were so many streets between them, with so many weird coaches that moved really fast and without any horses dragging them. Pillars of smoke rose up from everywhere in the city, while up in the sky, giant metallic birds flew higher than the eagles themselves.

  Fear gripped her now, not knowing where she was or how she got here. How would she go back home? What would mom and dad think when they would not find her in her room in the morning?

  Stepping back from the edge of the terrace she was on, she heard a door creak open behind her, and a voice calling her name.

  ‘Serena?’

  She turned around and saw a young man approaching with careful steps. He had short brown wavy hair, wore strange clothes and was looking at her with a silly smile on his face. He was slightly taller than her, with broad shoulders and an athletic body, and didn’t seem to be much older than she was.

  He stopped halfway from the door to her and said.

  ‘Hi. I’m Freddie. I’m here to help you.’

  The ocean lay wide and endless before him, covering in its glorious blue all that the eye could see. Far in the horizon where it met the sky, it took on a purple hue, thanks to the sun that had just crossed over to the other side for the day. Closer to him, below the cliff and right under his feet, Tálas still buzzed with the noise and movement of its numerous habitants, the majority fair-skinned and red-haired. The city had grown even bigger since the first time Daniel had seen it. A long time had passed since then, almost twenty years by human reckoning, though it did feel considerably longer in Endërland. And yet, no matter how often Daniel visited, he always remained awestruck by its splendour.

  Today, however, he wasn’t quite concerned with his surroundings. Clutching in his hands a small wooden box with a red ribbon tied around it, Daniel seemed deeply lost in troubled thoughts. He’d been living in this wonderful world for almost twenty earth years now, twenty blissful and happy years that had felt like at least two long lifetimes.

  After the Great War, the kingdom had rebuilt itself anew; life picking up where it had left off, as if nothing had really changed. But, of course, plenty had. The sky-people and the mermaids both had kings now, instead of their former queens. The Lord of winter had also been replaced, as had the Lightbringers. And most importantly, the Great Lord was finally back and the whole kingdom felt all the safer and happier for it. Peace and joy were once again the norm in Endërland, made even more precious by the gloomy memory of the Dark Winter. But to the good people and its rulers that’s all it was, a memory and a lesson of how to live and appreciate life even more.

  These had been the best years of his life, and Daniel would not have changed anything, or done anything differently. He’d cherished every single day like it was a gift, which he was convinced it was, and had rejoiced in the new peace and freedom that the kingdom had enjoyed ever since. He’d even allowed himself to be cautiously optimistic, hoping that history would not somehow repeat itself. Deep inside, however, he’d known that as long as people lived, evil would always find a way in, and that his dreamworld would not be safe forever.

  And now, he was sure of it.

  Serena had been missing for three days; three long days of anguish and torment during which he’d had no news of her whatsoever and no clue as to what might have happened. Old memories and wounds of his older brother being kidnapped had resurfaced all over again, and he dreaded what would follow. He sensed nothing but dark days ahead and he hoped with all his might that he was wrong. He did not want history repeated and Endërland going through another turmoil; not after all they had been through.

  But maybe he was getting ahead of himself. For all he knew, Serena was just hiding somewhere, or had chosen to run off in one of those adventures she always dreamed of going. She’d probably come back soon and they’d all laugh about this, sitting down by the fire again and listening to her new fictional tales.

  But if that was true, then why had she not left them a note or something so that they would not worry? It wasn’t like her to be irresponsible; they had raised her better than that. And more importantly, why couldn’t he sense her presence anymore? He’d always been able to feel her there, ever since the first day she came into their wonderful, renewed world; just like he could feel his mother’s, or Damien’s. As much as he hated it, this could only mean one thing, she was no longer in Endërland.

  By which means she’d left though, he had no way of knowing. Élios and Élena – their current sun and moon - constantly guarded Endërland from the sky, and they had witnessed nothing suspicious in the few days leading to, or following her disappearance. Had she run off somewhere on her own, they would have been able to see her. Plus, even if she had, where would she have gone? How would she have left the kingdom? The only way he knew someone could leave Endërland was through a Visitor’s portal, but he knew of no other Visitor apart from his brother. The fact that Damien continued to visit them daily ruled that theory out. And if there were any other Visitors who had come to Endërland recently, he had no knowledge of them.

  No, he suspected something else was happening here. It was unprecedented, and he had no way of confirming this theory, but he didn’t think it a coincidence that Serena disappeared on the night of what would have been her 19th birthday. Just like anyone else in Endërland, she had never been able to dream. Since this had always been the case in this world, Daniel had never t
hought anything of it. But what if she was like him? What if she was also a Dreamer, and on that night she’d had her first dream and gone off somewhere else? He knew by now there were other worlds out there and Dreamers could always create their own, completely new in most cases.

  But even if that was what had happened to her, that still did not explain her body missing. He’d always left his body behind whenever he’d visited Endërland in his dreams. But Serena had actually, physically left this world, and he had no idea how or where she might have gone.

  After the first couple of days worrying and waiting for her to return, Daniel had finally decided to come and consult the oracle. He was the only person who knew more than anyone at this point, and Daniel desperately needed help in finding his baby girl.

  He’d been sitting outside the little house on the cliff for a while now, waiting for the oracle to come back home. Hëna had left him alone, choosing instead to stay inside with Veronica and help with the dinner preparations. It was just too painful for the two of them to be alone right now and she could really use the distraction.

  The sky eventually turned a darker shade of grey and the lights below in Tálas began to light up one after the other, quietly transforming the landscape before him. Daniel wanted to appreciate the view, but his ever growing anxiety allowed him to do nothing else but worry about his only daughter.

  From the moment she was born Serena had never left his sight. His heart ached as he thought back at all the times he had taken her in his arms and held her tight to him, all the times he’d wiped her tears whenever she would fall down and graze her knees. Or her wide little eyes as she intently listened to him repeat the war stories over and over again, every time enchanted just like the first time. Even now that she was all grown up and had turned into a beautiful young woman, the spitting image of her mother, in his eyes she was still just his little girl and he missed her so terribly.

  He now understood unequivocally what his parents had been through with Damien and him; the past choices of his mother and the overprotective behaviour of his father. In just these past few days he’d earned a newfound love and respect for both of them. For the first time in his life he really knew what it was like to fear for the loss of a child and he decided there was no worse feeling. He wished so desperately that he had them close now, even though he knew there was little, if anything at all they could do to help. It had been a very long time since he had felt so helpless and desperate and he really hated the feeling. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.

  He was relieved when the oracle finally returned home, not long after sundown. He joined Daniel outside the house and they sat together overlooking the city on the sea, like they often did.

  Alfie had not changed one bit in all these years, looking exactly the same as the first time Daniel had met him; an unassuming small man, who once was lord and creator of this entire world.

  Daniel himself had changed little for that matter. Even though twenty years had passed in the real world, he barely looked a couple of years older than he was when he first came to Endërland. He could now at least pass for a young man in his early twenties. Hëna would often tease him about that, saying that at this rate, his great-grandchildren would definitely look older than him. Daniel would agree and then laugh along with her, but he was still proud of looking a bit older. He liked to attribute that little maturation to the fact that he had to play father to a spirited and challenging daughter like Serena.

  Beside him, the oracle shifted in place, arranging himself into a better sitting position.

  ‘How’re you holding up?’ he asked, a simple enough question that somehow never heralded an easy answer.

  ‘How do you think?’ Daniel replied without looking at him. ‘I’m scared, Alfie, scared as I’ve never been in my entire life. I’m trying not to come apart in front of Hëna, but I can barely hold it together anymore. I don’t know what to do; please tell me you got something for us, you’re our last hope.’

  He now fixed his eyes on the oracle, desperate and begging for some good news.

  ‘I’m surprised you did not come to me right away,’ the oracle said, more as a way of buying time.

  ‘Well, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to. I was hoping this was just a bad dream we would wake up from any day now. Besides, it’s not like you live next door to us, and I can hardly appear wherever I want, whenever I want to; I’m not like you.’

  The oracle smiled apologetically.

  ‘You know I can only do that from one world to another, never in here. Anyway, I’m afraid I will have to disappoint you, Daniel; I have nothing to share with you but suppositions and theories, and even those are premature and unfounded at this point.’

  Daniel looked on with dread practically sculpted on his still young looking face.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  The oracle continued, seemingly uneasy to share what he was about to.

  ‘You know I work for the Order of the Guardians, yes?’

  Daniel nodded with his head.

  ‘I know I haven’t told you much about it in the past, but if you bear with me for a second, I’ll try to make this brief. My role in the Order is pretty much to keep an accurate and up to date record of all existing and new dreamworlds and Dreamers. And that is only made possible because of an ability I have to sense when a new world is created and added to the pantheon of all the existing ones. Each one of them has a distinct feel or scent to it - call it a mark or a signature if you will - that is unique to that world alone and its creator. I don’t know how to explain it properly, but I can sense this signature, and that is how I manage to match the Dreamer with the world they have created.

  ‘Sometimes, several Dreamers can share the same signature; this usually tends to happen when descendants of the same bloodline are connected to the same world, like everyone from our bloodline and Endërland. But as you know, there can be exceptions. It’s rare, but sometimes, someone not of the bloodline can bear the signature that connects them to a world, thus allowing them to gain entry into it. And sometimes, someone from the bloodline can alter their signature and create their own world, so that their connection to their initial world is severed and a new one is created instead. This is what happened with Sam and New Endërland, as you well know.’

  The oracle stopped for a moment to make sure Daniel was following. Daniel felt a bit confused. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand what he was hearing, he just couldn’t see where Alfie was going with this and what it all had to do with Serena. The oracle guessed as much, so he continued to explain.

  ‘Recently, there have been some very unusual developments in what we call “the Dream Realm”. Several new worlds have been created just in the past few seasons, only they seem to belong to no one I know. They all bear the same signature, which means that they were created by the same person, something that doesn’t usually happen, only we don’t know who that person might be.

  ‘As you well know, Dreamers come from long bloodlines that are well known to the Order, so I’ve only had to keep an eye on a handful of people really. Ours is one of those bloodlines, but I thought Endërland had seen the last of the Visitors with you and Damien. He and Sam never became parents, and Serena is a child of this world, so I never thought…, until now. Being a Dreamer, is about the only explanation for Serena’s disappearance that makes sense.’

  ‘So, she’s a Dreamer, so what? Stranger things have happened, Alfie.’

  ‘You don’t understand, Daniel. This has never happened before; no child born of this world or any other world in this realm can ever dream, let alone travel to another world.’

  ‘So what does this mean, then?’ Daniel asked, confused.

  The oracle took a deep breath, before speaking again.

  ‘There is a prophecy, very old and spoken long before my time, one that very few still believe it might come true. It tells of the arrival of a Dreamer so powerful, that he or she will be able to change even the real worl
d. No one has ever been able to do that, Daniel; whatever power Dreamers have, it is confined to their own dreamworld, the one they have created. But the real world?’

  ‘And you think this all-powerful Dreamer is Serena? Why?’

  ‘When you first came of age and started to dream, I thought it might actually be you, Daniel. You come from the greatest bloodline after all, with a Dreamer in every generation, two, if we count Damien as well. And the way you broke through the restrictions I put in place to keep you out of Endërland, the way you changed and affected life here and made it your creation and your world, taking over from me; I’d never seen it before. But all that just meant that you and I were much more alike than I’d thought possible, and that you and Endërland were meant for each other.

  ‘But what Serena has achieved, to actually, physically leave the dreamworld she was born in; that is beyond what any Dreamer has ever done. She is not supposed to have that kind of power, Daniel, and unless there is some other explanation for it, then my money is on the prophecy.’

  Daniel fixed his gaze on the horizon before him, his eyes following a pair of seagulls flying far above the sea.

  ‘Alright, let’s suppose you’re right for a moment. Let’s suppose Serena is this great Dreamer of the prophecy; what now? Where do I go from here, Alfie? How do I find her?’

  ‘This is uncharted territory for us both, Daniel, and what I know is very little. Even less is what I can do or advise you to do.’

  ‘Is there anything at all you can tell me?’ Daniel sounded frustrated, but the oracle took no offence. He knew all too well the anguish Daniel was dealing with.

  ‘I have no way of knowing that my theory is valid; it’s just the most logical conclusion I can come to. But if you’re convinced that Serena is not here and there has been no sign of her leaving the kingdom by any other means, then I believe I am right.’

  ‘Then the question is, where would she have gone? Where is she now?’

  With sadness in his eyes, sure that he would have to disappoint his friend once again, the oracle replied.

  ‘That, I do not have the answer to. She could be in any one of the hundreds of worlds out there, Daniel, and I have no way of knowing which one.’

  ‘That doesn’t help me much, Alfie.’

  ‘I know, my friend, but I got nothing else for you right now. I need you to be patient and give me some more time. I will get in touch with all the Dreamers I know if I have to and inquire about her. Maybe someone knows, or has seen something.’

  ‘And what am I supposed to do in the meantime, just sit and wait? Do you have any idea what’s it like for us to sit here and do nothing while our daughter might be in danger?’

  ‘I could tell you that I do, but you might not believe me,’ the oracle replied, still speaking gently, despite Daniel’s frustration and raised voice. ‘I could also tell you that there’s nothing you can do right now, but you don’t want to hear that either. So, against my better judgment, I'm gonna tell you about the only other option I can think of, but I will have to strongly advise against it, Daniel.’

  ‘Whatever it is, we’ll do it.’

  The voice came from behind them, and it made them both jump and turn around at once. Hëna had approached silently and was now standing above her husband. Like Daniel, she had changed very little and time had left no visible marks on her. She was still breathtakingly beautiful, with her big black eyes and pure white skin still radiating youth and light as if she’d never stopped being a lightbringer. Even after all this time, Daniel's heart never failed to skip a bit at the sight of her approaching.

  ‘Hëna,’ the oracle stood up. Daniel followed. ‘I haven’t even told you what is it you’d have to do yet and what you risk.’

  ‘Would you stop and think of the risks if it was your child, Alfie?’ she asked. Her long black hair was let loose to breathe in the wind.

  ‘I guess not,’ the oracle answered. ‘Still, it is my responsibility to inform you properly of everything that is involved if you are to do this.’

  ‘Then inform us,’ she said again, as Daniel put one arm over her shoulder, drawing her to him.

  The oracle looked at the both of them and saw the determination in their eyes. He knew then they would not be dissuaded and wished he hadn’t said anything in the first place, but now it was too late.

  ‘There is something I haven’t told you before,’ he began, ‘something that very few Dreamers and even fewer members of the Order are aware of. I learned a while back that some dreamworlds can be connected to each other when their creators are in some way related in the real world, more than by just blood. I mean that in a geographical sense. I don’t know how, or why that is, but when two Dreamers have a strong connection to each other, sometimes that connection extends beyond the borders of the real world and brings their two dreamworlds together, so that they physically interconnect. Don’t ask me how, but I know for a fact that Endërland is connected to at least two other worlds. I believe that if you were to travel far enough in the right direction, you might be able to cross into either one of them.’

  ‘But how can that be? We’re talking about jumping from world to world here and you’re making it sound like interstate travel.’

  ‘Daniel, very few dreamworlds are as big and as populated as Endërland; most of them are quite small and confined. The Dreamer’s mind usually limits itself greatly when it comes to creating the dreamworld.’

  ‘Are you saying that we can actually leave Endërland and cross into another world if we wanted to?’ asked Hëna.

  ‘I’m saying it’s a possibility, yes. If your connection to Serena is strong enough, and if these new worlds out there are her creation, you might be able to visit them yourself. But you would have to find the crossing point, that place where Endërland and these other worlds meet.’

  ‘Then what are we waiting for?’ Daniel asked, hope suddenly lighting up a fire inside of him. ‘We need to get moving.’

  ‘It is not as simple as that, Daniel,’ the oracle stopped him. ‘There are so many reasons for me to strongly advise against this, that I don’t even know where to start. First, we have no way of knowing if these new worlds were created by Serena or not. I’ve never claimed to have knowledge of all the living Dreamers; anyone could be behind this. In the best-case scenario, it is Serena who created them and your connection is strong enough to lead you to her. But you would still need to travel blind, for who-knows how long, hoping you’d find the crossing point without getting lost and that might take an entire season, or an eternity. There’s no guarantee that you would ever find it.

  ‘And in a not-so-good-case scenario, you might end up crossing into a world which is not Serena’s, and I cannot even imagine the dangers you might face if that happens. Worse yet, you might get lost in some long forgotten world that might still be connected to this one, with possibly no way of sustaining life and unable to find your way back. The possibilities are endless and one scarier than the other, Daniel. I cannot allow you to do this; it’s as good as suicide.’

  ‘You’ve made your point loud and clear, Alfie, and I appreciate that. But now allow me to make my point just as clear. Sitting here, doing nothing and waiting for this nightmare to end, while our baby is somewhere out there, most likely in danger and in need of her parents, is simply out of the question. What kind of a father would I be if I didn’t try every way possible to get my daughter back?’

  ‘And what would happen if she were to suddenly return, only to find that you two are gone and might never find your way back home?’

  ‘Well, I’m hoping she will find at least one of us here, if she returns,’ Daniel turned now to face Hëna, hoping against hope that she would agree. But, of course, he knew her better than that. That strange and beautiful light in her eyes, the one he had fallen in love with from the very first day, was still there, as bright and stubborn as always.

  ‘I love you, Dan, but if you think that I’m gonna sit here all by myself, while you’re
out there searching for our baby; and she’s who-knows where, all alone and afraid, then you don’t know me as well as you think you do.’

  Daniel smiled and kissed her on the tip of her nose. His bright green eyes always lit up when he smiled at her like that, full of adoration and love.

  ‘Actually, I think I know you pretty good, which is how I knew you’d say that. But you can’t blame me for trying, can you?

  ‘Well then,’ he turned to the oracle again, ‘it’s settled. We’re both going. And if Serena returns while we’re away, then at least she’ll be safe, and she’ll know that her parents love her so much that they didn’t sit back and left her at the hands of the Fates.’

  The oracle shook his head in dismay.

  ‘All this time and you are both still as stubborn and reckless as the first day I met you. I guess there is nothing I can say to make you change your mind?’

  ‘You would do the same if you were in our shoes, Alfie.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess I would,’ the oracle surrendered. ‘Alright then, I will do my best to help set you on your way, but I really hope you understand what you’re getting yourself into. You might never return from this.’

  ‘If there’s even a slight chance that we might get our baby back, it will all be worth it, Alfie.’

  The oracle shook his head again, completely resigned to the fact that they had made up their minds and there was no stopping them. The only thing he could do was to help prepare them for what lay ahead and lead them in the best direction possible. He didn’t have much hope that they would find Serena; in fact, he had none, but he kept that little fact to himself. Hopeless as this quest may be, they needed to believe that there was a chance they would succeed and he would not take that from them.

  Now, if only he knew which way they should go.

  Drake’s first sounds into the world came inside a small filthy shack barely standing among similar constructions in the eighteenth century Whitechapel. He immediately became only one amongst thousands of other souls trying to survive another night in the overcrowded streets of the East London slums. No one heard his feeble voice as he drew his first breath, drowned out as it was by the gut wrenching screams of his dying mother as she gave him life.

  A poor Jewish girl, who had immigrated to London in the hopeful search of a better life, she had been forced into prostitution practically the day she had arrived in the big and merciless city. She’d gone through everything life had thrown at her, everything but mercy and kindness, and was now quite unceremoniously meeting her end, far from where or when she had ever dreamed or thought she would.

  As the scissors in the hands of the charlatan doctor cut the umbilical cord no longer needed to supply life to her new-born, both the crying and the screaming stopped as if on cue. Baby in hand, the doctor looked at the poor girl whose wide tortured eyes had frozen somewhere in the distance. She’d stopped moving and breathing altogether, her sight the stuff of nightmares.

  Indifferent, the doctor gave the infant a quick superficial wash and tucked it inside an old blanket. He then made to give it to a tall and inappropriately dressed lady with chestnut brown hair and a feathery hat on. A similarly immaculately dressed gentleman stood by her side, horrified at the look of the dead woman in front of him.

  The lady withdrew back repulsively and recoiled from the baby, refusing to take him.

  ‘Bessie, darling,’ she turned to the servant behind her, her voice slightly raspy, yet slippery as a serpent.

  Bessie, a small black woman with the girth of two fifty-year-old rich men put side by side, stepped forward and took the child, holding him in her arms as if one would a parcel. The baby made no sound.

  The other three adults turned now to the dead mother.

  ‘Well,’ the doctor spoke first. ‘It would seem you are no longer required to pay for her services, Mr. and Mrs. Bagley.’ He wiped his hands clean with a towel and threw it on the bed, next to the deceased.

  ‘So it would seem,’ Mr. Bagley replied, looking as if he preferred to run away from that place the sooner possible.

  ‘Hugh Alistair Bagley,’ Mrs. Bagley exclaimed, trying to look as appalled as she sounded, a look that she just didn’t quite manage to pull off. ‘Now that is just not right. I mean, poor woman, she gave us her child, after all. We simply must do something for her.’

  ‘What would you suggest, m’dear?’ Mr. Bagley asked, totally clueless. The bemused doctor eagerly waited to hear the answer to that very same question. Mrs. Bagley looked confused for a moment and then opened up her pink little purse, taking a single coin out of it and putting it in the good doctor’s hand.

  ‘Please, see to it that she has a decent dress to be buried in, doctor, would you?’

  ‘A most kind gesture, mam,’ the doctor bowed, smiling at her with the most approving and flattering smile he could conjure. ‘I shall see to it myself,’ he continued, pocketing the coin. It would later be used for a number of things, neither of which would even remotely resemble a dress.

  ‘Thank you, doctor,’ Mrs. Bagley said, now completely at peace. ‘Let’s go home, darling,’ she turned to her husband, ‘this place is not appropriate for our baby.’

  ‘Right you are, m’dear,’ Mr. Bagley replied and then turned to the doctor. ‘Thank you very much, my good doctor. I believe you have everything under control here?’

  ‘Not to worry, Mr. Bagley, sir. You were never here. Congratulations on your new baby boy, sir. You know where to find me should you require my services again.’

  ‘Indeed, I do. Good night to you, doctor.’

  Mr. and Mrs. Bagley headed outside the shack, with faithful Bessie trailing behind them, the new-born child comfy in her meaty arms. The good doctor bowed once more and remained behind to deal with the dead girl.

  The sound of heavy rain was once again the only thing that could be heard in the cold dead of night as the world welcomed its newest member. Drake would never remember his first moments on earth, nor would he ever hear of it, but that same silence and chill would accompany him for the rest of his ill-fated existence.

  The sun had already sunk into the Southern Sea, leaving behind its orange signature and the promise of another warm night. The Queen of Endër and her two sons observed from the terrace of the small castle, where a small banquet had been prepared for them. Below them the big city grew quieter as the evening light dimmed and the moon began to crown over the Northern Mountains.

  Daniel had always loved sitting on this terrace, looking up at the moon. He still did, only, now he reserved most of his time and affection for his own lightbringer. Twenty cycles of seasons together and he felt the same for her today as the first day he’d seen her. She still captured his heart and took his breath away every moment they spent together and he could not imagine being separated from her even for a day. But they had to find Serena; she was the most important thing to both of them right now and they would have twice the chance to succeed if they went in separate directions.

  They had talked about it with Alfie in great detail. There were two possible directions for them to go, the obvious ones really, the ocean and the Northern Mountains. Daniel still loved the sea very much and this was his chance to find out what lay far beyond it, so they agreed he would head into the ocean. He had no doubt Nemo would also go with him; his best friend would not let him do this without him and that suited Daniel just fine. Besides Hëna, Nemo was the only other person he could imagine going beyond the end of the world with.

  As for Hëna, she would try to find a way to cross the Northern Mountains, something which had never before been attempted. Even the wingmen of the Northern Tribe, who knew those mountains like the back of their hand, swore that there was no way above their crest, nor any hidden passages underneath their belly. But they didn’t know about the tunnels under the Great Lord’s castle. Hëna had discovered them by chance the first time she’d been there, but only a small number of people was aware of their existence. The problem was that there were hund
reds of them, all seeming to lead nowhere, so Hëna had some real digging to do.

  It was, for all intents and purposes, a futile mission, a doomed expedition that Daniel was secretly hoping she would not succeed at. He wanted to do all that was possible to find Serena and a part of him hoped that Hëna would find her way beyond those mountains and into the next dreamworld, if there indeed was one. But he also feared losing her and part of him much preferred that she stayed back home, safe and waiting for him and Serena to return. He would not be able to cope if he lost either one of them, or worse, both. The horror of not knowing anything about Serena was almost too much to bear, but what if he lost Hëna too?

  Unfortunately for him and fortunately for their daughter, Hëna had no intention of staying behind. She was just as decided when it came to this mission. She wasn’t without fear either, she worried about losing Daniel just as much as he worried about losing her, but she wasn’t going to let this get in the way. If there was anything to be done in order to find Serena, she would do it, and let the Fates decide the rest. Besides, she would not be going alone either.

  Once he’d heard of this new quest, Séraphin had insisted on being a part of it. Ever since the Great War, the King of the Skies had grown quite close to Daniel and Hëna and he considered himself part of the gang, a sentiment which was of course reciprocated. He’d also become very good friends with Nemo, who had as well grown quite fond of the wingman. They often got together and reminisce of the old days, when they travelled through the kingdom, looking for the Great Lord. So, naturally, when Séraphin heard about this new mission, he was not about to let his friends go without him.

  It was decided thus that Séraphin would join Hëna, and together they would make their way towards the castle in the Northern Mountains first. Hëna was hoping that one of the tunnels underneath would lead them unto the other side. It was a long shot, but the only one they had.

  ‘I still don’t think I understand,’ Diane's voice recalled Daniel’s attention back to the conversation at hand. She sat beside him on a wooden but comfortable armchair, a warm shawl wrapped around her delicate shoulders, and a goblet of aromatic punch cooling down in her hands. ‘Even if you manage to find a way into whatever world might be connected to ours, what makes you think Serena would be there? This is like stepping with your eyes closed, through a door that you have no idea where it leads, son.’

  ‘I told you, mom,’ Daniel tried to explain again something which he wasn’t entirely sure he understood himself. ‘Because Serena has physically left this world, there’s a good chance she’s done it in this exact way. If she had travelled through her dreams, her body would still be here and she most likely would have returned.’

  ‘But how would she have known where to go? You’ve never left her out of your sight and none of us even knew about any of this until today. How would she have found out?’

  ‘I don’t know, mom,’ Daniel answered for the umpteenth time, growing ever more frustrated. ‘Anything is possible at this point. Maybe she is smarter than any or all of us together, maybe she had a revelation, or maybe there was someone else involved. I DON’T KNOW. All I know is that this is the only plan we have to go on by and we’re doing it.’

  ‘But what if you’re wrong?’ Diane did not relent. ‘What if you get lost, or worse, hurt during your search? What if these other worlds are dangerous? What if she’s not even there?”

  ‘And what if you had never made it to Endërland all that time ago, mom? What if Damien had been killed instead of being kept a prisoner? What if I had been kidnapped as well as a little kid, while you lived here like a queen, leaving me and dad behind?’

  ‘Daniel.’

  Damien's condemning tone of voice stopped him before he said something worse in his anger. Daniel turned and met the rebuke in his older brother’s face. He shifted his gaze back to his mother, immediately regretting letting his frustration get the best of him. He was such an idiot. He walked over to the Queen of Endër and kneeled with his head on her lap.

  ‘I’m so sorry, mom; I did not mean that. I’m sorry.’

  He’d been trying so hard to appear strong for Hëna’s sake for days now, but suddenly it all came crumbling down and he could no longer keep his emotions in check. He began to cry like a little child, unable to help himself.

  ‘I’m so scared, mom. I’m scared I’ll never see her again; I’m scared I might lose Hëna, too. And I’m scared I’ll never find my way back here, to you. But I don’t know what else to do.’

  The Queen of Endër took her son’s head in her hands and spoke to him with a voice that belongs to mothers alone.

  ‘I know you are, sweetheart; believe me, no one knows that better than me.’ She leaned over to kiss the back of his head as it lay on her lap, and gently caressed his hair. ‘But I’m scared too. Even though you’re both grown men, you’re still my babies and I still worry about you as if you were little children. A mother cannot help herself.’

  ‘And neither can a father,’ Daniel looked up at her, eyes pleading through his tears. ‘Don’t you see mom? I have to do this; she needs me.’

  ‘I know, Danny, I know. This is very difficult for me, but you have my blessing. Go, and bring my granddaughter back home with you.’

  Daniel reached up and kissed her cheek, holding her into his embrace for a good while.

  ‘Thanks, mom. I won’t rest until we’re all back together, I promise.’

  The queen said no more. She sat there with her two sons, hoping and praying that history would have some new acts to deliver and forget about old reruns. She’d lost them both in the past, and it was after too much heartache and bloodshed that she’d gotten them back. Yet, here they were again, with Daniel seemingly in the same position she had once been. Not only was there a chance that she might never see her granddaughter again, but she also risked losing him too, for a second time. She thought this world was their paradise, happy and safe for all eternity. But now, for a second time in a long time she was not so sure about it. Maybe there was no such thing as a paradise.

  Chapter 2

  Beyond