Eden-South (7 page)

Taking a deep breath, he tried
unsuccessfully to wipe the smile off his face. “You don’t expect me
to believe this, do you?”

“I realize you are only of the age of
fifteen, but you must understand that there are things in this
world bigger than the one you know. Within our worlds we coexist,
in separate dimensions, but always side by side. It is very rare
for anyone from Eden to cross over here, and almost unheard of for
someone from here to come over to Eden, but now is the time for
precedence to change. You must come with me—our world depends on
it.” Her voice seemed to echo in the silence around them, and with
each word Aiden grew more and more serious.
She must be a local
crazy,
he thought,
probably drunk or on drugs.
Taking
another step back toward the house, he started to get his father.
He would know how to get rid of her.

“Right, well, it is cold out here, so I’m
just going to go inside and get a sweater, and then I’ll be right
back out,” he lied, turning toward the doors.

Aiden walked around to the back, where the
patio door remained open. As he got closer, he could hear the woman
speaking words that he couldn’t quite make out. He looked back at
her, wondering what she was saying, and realized she was no longer
speaking English. The language was foreign to him, but seemed to
have a hypnotic effect. He stood rigid, and his mind started to
feel blurry. Reaching out for the wall, he braced himself against
it, feeling the sudden urge to throw up. He fell suddenly to his
knees as the dizziness in his head became overpowering. All the
while, the woman stood in the same spot, repeating the same chant
over and over. Aiden tried to call out to her, but his words came
out in a jumble. As the heaviness in his head increased, his eyes
began to close, and darkness overtook him.

The dream that followed was even more
confusing. It felt like he was floating at first, and then almost
flying. The feeling was so real, almost like the breeze flying by
him was really there. He called out to someone, but heard only
echoes. The world around him was a blur of colours, any distinction
completely obscured. When he woke up he wondered what was going on
with him. First, the dream with the strange lady in it, and then
the flying dream.

“I need to stop going on the computer before
bed,” he said out loud. It must have been something he had seen or
read before falling asleep that brought them on. The light in the
room was dim. He wondered what time it was, or why his mom hadn’t
been calling for him to wake up yet. The sun was clearly up, so it
had to be mid-morning. Perhaps his mother had let him sleep in for
once, forgetting that he was supposed to go back to school that
day, he thought optimistically.

Turning over to see what time it was, he
found himself almost falling right off. The bed he lay on was much
smaller than his, and there was no clock beside it like he had
expected. Sitting straight up, he looked around in alarm at his
surroundings. He wasn’t in his room. Panic began to set in, sweat
building at his brow. The room he was in was small, and packed full
of things. Plants hung from everywhere on the ceiling, and a large
wood stove sat in the middle of the room. There was old,
beat-up-looking furniture in one corner, and a small kitchen in the
other, while the bed he sat on was situated way in the back. It
must have been a small house, consisting of only this one room. He
looked around for someone else, but it looked like he was
alone.

Slowly getting up, he went over to the front
of the house, and peeked out the window that was beside the front
door. His panic increased. He was in the middle of a forest. What
forests were around his house that he could have gotten himself to?
The trees were huge, blocking out most of the sunlight, except for
a single ray that filled the tiny window. The grass outside was
overgrown with wild flowers and weeds. It looked like the place was
abandoned, except for himself. Trying to work up some courage, he
opened the front door and walked outside. The air was mild, the sun
high in the clear sky, with not one cloud in it. He took a deep
breath in, trying to calm his nerves. There had to be a reasonable
explanation as to how he had made his way there.

“Good morning,” he heard a woman say. He
turned to the right. The woman from his dreams came walking out of
the darkness of the woods. “I wondered when you were finally going
to wake up,” she commented, smiling.

“Wh … Where am I?” he asked, backing up.
Looking down, he realized he wore only his boxers and a T-shirt,
making his face heat up in embarrassment.

“You are in my home, in Eden.”
I must
still be dreaming,
he thought to himself. He lifted his hand
and smacked his face as hard as he could. The woman watched him
curiously, but didn’t say a word while he tried to wake up. Nothing
worked. He looked around again, not knowing what to make of his
situation.

“Are you finished?” the woman asked, finally
breaking the painful silence.

“Diana, was it?”

“Yes,” she replied, smiling.

“Well, Diana, I just woke up in some
stranger’s house, which appears to be located in the middle of some
godforsaken forest, not to mention that I’m now standing here in
front of you in only my underwear, and I am fifteen years old with
no idea where my family is. So, no, I’m not finished yet. I am
clearly dreaming, and I need to find a way to wake myself up before
I go completely insane.”

All the while the witch stood watching him
silently. He began to circle the clearing, cursing and kicking at
the ground. “Aiden, please be still,” she yelled out finally. “Your
behaviour is completely undignified. If you would just come inside
my cabin, I will explain everything to you, although this time you
must listen to me!”

Aiden stopped where he was, and turned to
look at her. He didn’t want to go back inside there with this crazy
lady, but the forest around them scared him even more. He wasn’t
good with directions, and would almost inevitably get lost. “Fine,”
he said stubbornly.

The ground was littered with large rocks,
half buried in the earth, and half sticking out, so he kept finding
himself tripping over them and almost falling on his face. As he
stumbled back toward her, he heard a sound behind him that sounded
almost like an animal. He turned to look, and fell back on his ass
in fright. His throat tightened up so much that he couldn’t even
scream out loud. There was a massive-looking warthog just outside
of the clearing. Its hair was dark, matted looking, and his eyes
were large and yellow. He was baring his teeth as his breath came
out in short, loud puffs. They were large and sharp-looking, and
Aiden could only but imagine what it would feel like to be bitten
by them. He tried to back away from the animal by crawling backward
toward the house.

“Don’t worry,” Diana called out calmly. “He
cannot enter.”

Aiden stopped where he was and looked over
his shoulder at her. She stood by the front door, looking at the
thing as if it were a mere bird. “What do you mean, it cannot
enter?” he asked in a high-pitched tone.

“He cannot enter the clearing—it is
protected by my magic. It is only spying on us.”

“Sp … spying on us?” Before she spoke again,
Aiden watched as she held out her hand and said a few words. Then a
beam of light shot out of her palm and struck the beast before it
could take off. The animal was dead instantly. Aiden still sat on
the ground in shock, as he looked over at the animal, waiting to
see if it would get up again.

“You killed it!” he accused.

“I’m sorry—I didn’t realize you felt
sentimental toward the creature. Shall I bring it back, so that it
can run off to the north and tell them that I have brought you
here?”

A chill ran up his spine. He looked back at
her to see if she was joking. She stood by the door, her mouth
tight in anger. Not a joke, he concluded. Spinning around, she
walked into the house, leaving him outside alone with the dead
animal. Looking around the clearing, he knew this was not Ontario
anymore. Nowhere that he knew looked like this, and they certainly
did not have animals like that where he was from. The idea of a
separate universe was completely ridiculous—he was smarter than
that—but if that were really true, how did one explain all this?
The trees were real, as were the smells, the sounds, the rocks
where he sat. How could something seem so real, but be a dream?
Could it all mean that there was some truth to what this woman
said? All the arguments went back and forth in his head. This was a
dream … She was a figment of his imagination … Nothing like this
could exist. There were always mysterious things about their lives,
and everything here undoubtedly felt real, so maybe it was. His own
mind couldn’t make a decision. Would he be a fool to believe it
all? Perhaps if he knew more, Aiden concluded, maybe that would
help him decide. He quickly got up and followed her in.

“Please explain to me what is happening,” he
said desperately.

“I’ve been trying to do that all morning.
Sit down while I make you some food; then I will explain
everything.”

Aiden sat on the old sofa as Diana worked
quickly in the kitchen, making him something to eat. He was
somewhat afraid to see what it was going to be, imagining that it
would be boiled frogs, or baked rats. The cabin was weird, and
after witnessing what she just did, he could only but believe that
Diana really was some sort of witch. It was odd to think that,
since he didn’t actually believe in witches, but any other
explanation escaped him at that moment.

“Here you go,” she said, bringing over a
small plate that had steam rising from it. He braced himself,
anticipating the contents. “Scrambled eggs and bacon.” He let out a
sigh of relief, which immediately made her chuckle. “What did you
think I was making for you?”

He smiled sheepishly before stuffing his
face with the food. His stomach was completely empty, and the warm
food was welcoming.

He could see Diana watching him eat. She
seemed pleased to see him relax for the first time since they met.
“I’ll explain everything to you while you eat,” she started. He
nodded his head in response, and continued to eat.

“Some years ago there was a High King named
Elrond, who was loved by everyone in Eden. He was a just King, and
very compassionate. Under his rule there was peace in the land of
Eden.”

“He was the King of this whole place?” Aiden
asked between bites.

Shaking her head, she corrected him. “No,
the High King rules the Capital, located in central Eden. There are
some smaller villages outside of the city walls that are also under
his authority, but that is as far as it extends. Parts beyond the
borders are ruled by the leaders located in those areas. There are
the Riders in the west. The Chief of that tribe is named Hawk, and
their lands are separated by the Glacier River and thick forests.
That river runs all around central Eden, separating it from the
other regions. The north is ruled by a man named Brutus the Red.
His authority extends throughout the mountains and the villages on
the base. The Glacier River runs down from his mountain. The Sand
People in the east are separated by the Giants’ Hills.”

“Why are they called that?” he interrupted
again.

“There is folklore in Eden that suggests
there are giants buried under the hills. Apparently, they did not
exist before, until the giants became extinct, so many believe they
were buried there, and thus the hills were created.”

Aiden choked on the mouthful of food he had
been swallowing. “Giants? Like, real
giants
?”

Diana laughed at him. “There are many
creatures here, which you probably thought to be found only in
stories. As I said, they no longer roam our lands.”

“That’s comforting,” he mumbled.

“Shall I continue?” He nodded. “The lands on
the other side of the hills are, as you might have guessed, all
sand. The city there is made of low mud homes, and heavily guarded.
Not many people go there, finding the conditions hard to sustain.
The people there are very talented swordsmen, and they excel in
their knowledge of poisons and magic. A great sorcerer who once
ruled their land is named Aziz; he now resides in the mountains
with Brutus. The man who rules the Sand People now is named Hakim,
a very wise man. The river runs in front of the hills and continues
down to the sea to the south. The sea there is called the Sea of
Truth. Many people who seek our God and Goddess go there, and
stories tell of the two coming to people who give themselves to the
waves.”

Aiden had stopped eating momentarily,
finding himself interested in the tales she spun. “So what you’re
suggesting is that people go there to kill themselves?”

“I suppose, but here in Eden we don’t fear
death quite like the people in your land. Death is just another
journey for us—it is where we are finally with our God and
Goddess.”

“Right,” he said sceptically.

“I’ll continue.” She smiled, ignoring his
cynicism. “In the sea is an island. The people there are called the
Sun People. They worship the God of wine, a figure not recognized
throughout the rest of Eden. They are a wild group of individuals,
their people filling their lives with drink, love, and
recklessness. The leader there is named Markus, a man devoted to
overindulgence. Although each region in Eden has its own leader,
they all look up to the High King of the Capital, and therefore
followed Elrond’s authority to an extent. It was a sad time in Eden
when he passed, leaving every region in Eden mourning for his loss.
Not only had we all lost a great leader amongst us, but now the
lands were open to war, the hand that had held our peace now taken
away from us.”

Aiden finished eating, wondering when she
was going to explain where he fit into all this. It surprised him
how easily he found himself believing her, but there was something
about Diana that made him trust her. In addition to the fact that
he was clearly somewhere besides home, the information she was
explaining to him seemed too complex for her to just make up. She
also didn’t seem quite so crazy now—not like she had the night
before. His mind was still in shock, but he found it slowly bending
toward acceptance. Maybe it was just that he
wanted
to
believe her. Was it wrong to want to believe there was actually
more to this world, than one’s own boring life?