By Neev Aradhana Suresh
Our land has fallen. I have failed everybody but most of all I have failed my grandma, Luxia. Words may not express my sorrow. The only home I’ve ever known along with all my family is burning up. I will never see it again. Never. Terra has fallen forever. I am alone.
Aldric Silverstone
Chapter 1: A New Darkness Falls
Aldric and Aurelia were on their front porch when She came. A great and perilous evil overcame the land of Terra. For fifteen years Aldric had lived in peace and joy in Denaville. But it was all over when the darkness fell over his beloved homeland again. This time it was not The Darkness himself; it was worse. It was Incendium herself. She was feared by both man and beast. Where she touched, no love or kindness or hope would ever exist again. The place would be consumed completely.
Aldric knew her story. Everybody knew her story. Incendium had been but a little girl left in the wild wilderness by her parents. She grew up in the care of a shepherd who happened to stumble upon that poor, crying baby. He took her in and cared for her. She lived in happiness for sixteen years until the shepherd was wounded severely in a forest fire that had burnt his house. He fought heroically to save his daughter but it was too late.
In despair, the girl had thrown herself into the fire too. All hope, gladness, and peace had been ripped off her soul. Nobody loved her anymore. Her parents hadn’t wanted her. The girl’s anger and hurting spirit drove her to overlook the love her father had when he did all in his power, unto death, to save her. The girl hadn’t died. Something nobody could explain had happened and out from the fire arose Incendium. Incendium looked exactly like a woman but of fire. She burned constantly and traveled with two great wings folded up and hidden behind her fiery brown hair.
Aldric along with his thirteen-year old sister watched as the evening sky lit up with fire. In the very center of the fire’s large expanse, Aldric spotted the figure of a woman.
“Incendium,” he whispered in horror.
“Incendium!” Aurelia screamed, “No, no. This cannot be! Help!”
Incendium saw the effect her appearance had on Denaville and she laughed. The sky was filled with her. Stinky little humans, she thought, I will knock them over one by one. Or maybe, altogether! She roared with laughter again.
Aldric heard her and his jaw clenched down tight.
“Aura, don’t panic. Go get mom and dad,” he said with as much confidence as he could muster.
Then he added, “We’re going to be okay.”
This second part was a lie. Aldric knew they weren’t going to be okay. Wherever Incendium struck, she made sure never to leave a survivor. She enjoyed extinguishing every single human life she found. Many great warriors, both men and women, had tried to fight her in vain. They had all burned to the ground.
Aura nodded obediently and went into the house. Aldric took one last look at Incendium and turned to go back into his house. It was that moment that Aldric never forgot. He heard a crash and then a terrifying scream. He froze in his path and turned around. The Frosts’ house was burning.
Aldric could bear it no longer. He took off at full speed towards the burning house. Scenes flashed in his memory… fifteen-year old Josh, his best friend, and him playing chess, wrestling, and studying together…a clear picture of fourteen-year old Sally Frost, beautiful as ever with her long wavy hair, waving to him as he had left their house the evening before. In his mind, he could see the little Frost baby, Jack, with whom Aura played with every day.
“NO!” Aldric screamed, “This cannot be. God, please help them.”
Aldric reached the Frost house to see it burning ferociously. Its roof was gone
. Through the fire’s roar, he thought he heard the baby crying. A tear slid down Aldric’s face as he tried to pump water from a water pump nearby the house. No water came. Aldric was left with no option. He had to go into the house and save any he could. He realized that this might be the last thing he ever did, but he was ready to do it for those he loved.
Aldric tore a little rag off his shirt and covered his nose with it. Then he dove into the fire.
Chapter 2: Fire and Pain
Aldric felt his skin on fire. He was burning. He ignored the pain and kept plodding through the house.
“Josh! Sally! Mr. and Mrs. Frost! Jack!” Aldric called through the rag over and over again till he was hoarse. Nobody answered. Most of the furniture in the house was burning and many things had fallen onto the ground. Aldric lifted the lightest things but heavier things he was unable to lift. His mind throbbed to think that under any of those things, one of his friends could be stuck and burning.
Aldric eventually forced himself to understand that he had to leave. His own family might be in grave danger right then. He gave one last look around the room and then he spotted Josh on a sofa close to him. The sofa had not caught fire yet, but all around it the fire raged.
“Josh!” Aldric cried, rushing over to his friend, “Josh, speak to me. Josh.” He shook him by the shoulders.
Josh’s lips moved slowly and faintly.
“What?” Aldric asked, moving closer.
“Aldric, mom and dad are not at home. They took the baby with them. Get Sally and go! You can only carry one of us.”
“No, no, no,” Aldric cried, “Josh, stay right here. Where is Sally? I’ll get her and then come back for you.”
Josh shook his head, then exhaled deeply. “Aldric, you have to choose between three lives lost or two gained. You have been a good friend, Aldric. Get Sally. She is in her room. Promise me you will take care of her.”
“Yes, I promise you with my own life. I will.”
Josh smiled weakly. “Good,” he whispered and then he closed his eyes.
A heavy weight dropped on Aldric’s heart and tears welled up in his eyes. He quickly got up and ran towards Sally’s room. He pushed the door open and scanned it. The room was filled with thicker smoke than the rest of the house and it was very difficult to breathe.
“Sally!” he called, praying for an answer.
There was none. Aldric searched the room for some sign of life and was rewarded. He spotted Sally on the floor next to the bed. She was pale and the fire was closing in on her. Aldric noticed that she didn’t move at all and urged himself to believe that she had only fainted. He pulled the rag off his face and rushed towards Sally. He stuffed the cloth over her face and with some difficulty picked her up. Sally was not heavy but she was only a year younger than Aldric and nearly as tall as him. Struggling under her weight, Aldric made his way as quickly as possible out of the house. As he passed the living room, he resisted the pull to take one last look at his best friend.
“I promised him I’d take care of Sally,” he told himself sternly.
When at last he reached the front door, he stumbled through it and quickly jumped down the porch. The air around him was cooler than inside the house but still it was hot and stuffy. He collapsed to the ground.
He looked up and saw the Michaels’ and the Cornacs’ houses going up in flames. He breathed in deep breaths of hot air to soothe his aching lungs and beating heart. Then he looked down at Sally. With a sigh of relief, he saw her chest slowly rising up and down. She was ALIVE! In all the chaos of the day, that was the ray of light.
He shook her and softly said, “Sally, you must get up. Come on, Sally.”
He gently brushed back her long black hair from her hot face and prayed she would awaken soon.
“Aldric?” Her voice was faint but steady. “What’s happening?”
“It’s Incendium. She has come. But we’re going to be all right. Come with me,” Aldric urged.
“No,” she shook her head.
“Sally, we don’t have much time. Please come with me,” Aldric pleaded.
“No,” she repeated, “Aldric, go on. You were meant for this. Don’t let me stop you. Look, they need you. I will be fine.”
Aldric looked up and understood what Sally had been talking about.
“No,” he whispered.
Chapter 3: Death
A ball of fire from Incendium above was hurtling towards his house across the street. Aldric left Sally’s side and hurtled across the street. Before he got closer the fire hit his house with such great force that the house smashed to the ground. The explosion this caused threw Aldric backwards and onto the ground.
“No,” he cried, “I can’t lose my family and best friend on the same day.”
Aldric could not move. Grief and anger weighed him to the ground. There was no way his family could have survived that impact, but he wasn’t going to give up anyway. He ran the rest of the distance towards where his house’s remains were. The house’s roof had caved in. His porch was going up in flames and his lungs were already screaming at him to stop going into fire. Aldric knew he had to choose between living or his whole family dying along with him. That was the most difficult decision Aldric had ever made. Many years later, Aldric wrote in his journal…
Everything was flames. My mind was on
fire and there was little in me left to
hope for anything good. It was later that
I realized this was probably how
Incedium felt when her last piece of
happiness was savagely ripped away
from her. It was at this moment that
we shared the most similarities. I
thought of no one but myself. What was
I going to do? The will to live left my
heart. All I wanted to do was lie down
and never wake up again. To forget
all this had ever happened. To not exist.
Very few fifteen-year olds could have exactly understood what Aldric felt that day. It was almost unbelievable. Imagine fifteen years filled with only joy and peace and happiness. Then one day, everything brought to scrap. Filled with the mire of sadness. It is incomprehensible. Aldric couldn’t comprehend it.
He looked one last time at his house and then turned away. It was then that he heard a voice. He didn’t know if he was imagining it or whether it was real. It sounded like Aura’s voice. Hope flickered deep within his heart.
“Aldric, please help me!” It called this over and over.
Aldric turned once again towards his burning house and ran towards one of its windows. He put his hands on the glass but quickly pulled away because of their rising temperature. Inside he saw Aura. She was huddled close to the window and somehow, her lips weakly moved to the exact pace of the words playing in Aldric’s head.
Aldric furiously pummeled the window pane, ignoring the hot sensation racing up his spine. Eventually it gave way. He reached down and gave a tug at his sister’s arm. She didn’t move. She was suffocating from the lack of oxygen. Aldric could lift Aura out from the house alone. The angle she was in made it nearly impossible. He couldn’t go inside because he would suffocate too. But if Aura didn't get out quickly, she would die. Aldric was left with no better options than die with Aura or live without her. All was lost. All was death.
Chapter 4: Help and Hope
When Aldric ran off towards his house to possibly save his family, Sally lay on the grass beside her burning house. Somehow she knew her brother was dead. It was the only logical possibility. Her parents might be burning somewhere too but she wasn’t going to let more sadness fill her. Sally was a strong-willed girl. She told herself everything was going to be okay as Aldric had told her. She was extremely weak from the unconsciousness that had just passed over her but she knew her body wasn’t going to give up so easily. She was going to make it out of this horrible mess alive. Yes, alive.
Sally found strength in the fact that Aldric had nearly given up his life to rescue her from the flames. She found courage, mingled with sorrow, at the great sacrifice Josh had made so she could make it out of the fire alive. She steadied herself and rose to her feet. Her head spun with dizziness and black spots danced before her eyes but she pushed them all away. She owed her very life to her friend and brother.
Some instinct told Sally that Aldric was in trouble. She needed to help him no matter the cost. Just like he had done for her. She raced down the familiar path toward his house.
Aldric stood by the window looking at his sister and sorrowfully wondering what could be done to save her. He had made up his mind to go inside and at least try to rescue Aura. It was his duty. He couldn’t just stand around and watch his sister burn to death. Aldric swung his leg over the window sill and hoisted himself up. He was just about to dive into the flames when he heard a voice cry, “Stop, Aldric!”
He looked up to see Sally sprinting towards him. He saw a determined look in her eyes. She had come to help. With her help, they could pull Aura out from the burning house and possibly it wouldn't be too late. They might be able to save his little sister.
Sally reached Aldric and helped him down the window sill and onto the ground outside the house once again.
“What were you thinking?” she questioned worriedly, “How could you go into a burning house?”
“My sister is in there. She is going to die if she is not brought out soon,” Aldric said urgently.
A look of fear passed over Sally’s face. “Quickly,” she said, “what do you want me to do?”
Within minutes, Aldric and Sally with some difficulty had pulled Aura out from the house. Aura was motionless. She looked awful. Her hair was badly scorched and she was terribly hot all over. Her pulse was so slow and soft that at first Aldric’s heart stopped with the worry that he had lost his sister.
“Sally, please stay with Aura. I’m going inside to find mom and dad,” Aldric told her.
Sally shook her head. “There is no use, Aldric. People can only survive for two to ten minutes inside a fire before they suffocate. The door is blocked and the roof has badly caved in. You must be brave.”
Aldric shook his head and looked away. “I’m going to try anyway,” he replied.
From the ground, Aura stirred. Her lips moved faintly.
“What?” Aldric whispered and leaned closer.
“They’re gone,” Aura whispered with effort.
“Who?” Aldric asked, even though he knew the answer.
“Mom and dad. Please don’t go inside; there is no use,” she replied quietly but sorrowfully.
Tears stung Aldric’s eyes but he knew what was right. He had to be brave and protect Aura and Sally.
“Come on,” Aldric said in a shaky voice, “We need to get out of Denaville. We might even need to get out of Terra itself.”
Chapter 5: More Fire
Aldric saw fire all around him. Everybody he knew and held dear was burning up. People ran across the streets in a daze from the pain that they saw all around them. No water could quench this fire. Incendium above was having loads of fun. She shot two fireballs at a house and poof it went up in flames. One by one she was knocking life from Denaville and nothing could be done. Aldric’s heart ached bitterly from the thought that neither of the three of them could do anything at all to help their friends and family.
Aura couldn’t focus on anything except the next step in front of her. Everything felt hazy and terribly wrong, like a bad nightmare. Her lungs begged for more oxygen and everything inside of her throbbed more from the thought of her parents than from the fire around. Her hands were slung around Aldric’s and Sally’s shoulders and she hobbled along with great difficulty.
Sally kept calling out her parents' names and scanning the faces of the people that passed her. She kept hoping that one of them would run up to her and hug her and say, “Sally, it’s me, your mom.” But no one did that. Those children felt like there was something terribly wrong with Terra. The last disaster over Atlantis had been The Darkness but this was way worse.
Aldric, Sally, and Aurelia kept moving and moving towards the gate out of Denaville. They crossed through Whimsical Avenue and there the Dickson’s house was going up in flames. They passed the Drive 101 and there the Peterson's house was burning ferociously. There was now no house or shop or any building that Incendium hadn’t messed with. Every citizen of Denaville had been scarred with fire. There was no other option than to try to escape the fire and make for the exit and towards the Lake right outside Denaville.
When they turned out from Drive 101 and out onto Street Boulevard, there was no way out but back. The street was up in flames and so were all the shops that lined its sides. Slowly, the three turned around and made their way back up Drive 101 and back out onto Whimsical Avenue. But there was no way out there either. Their only two paths of escape were blocked with thick walls of fire. The fire inched closer and closer to them until they could see both Whimsical Avenue’s fire and Drive 101’s fire raging out onto the road and fast towards them. They felt trapped. They were trapped.
Chapter 6: The Fall of Terra
Aldric, Aura, and Sally were stuck. The fire inched closer and closer. Incendium laughed louder and louder. The skies quaked and thundered. Rain began to pour ferociously from above Incendium but that by no means stopped her. She laughed louder and sent more and more balls of fire into Denaville.
Suddenly a whirring sound came from above and a small space rover capsule descended from above. Aura spotted it first and said, “Look, what’s that?”
“It looks like a helicopter and it's making its way towards us!” cried Sally.
The space capsule dove straight towards Aurelia, Aldric, and Sally. It landed on the tiny space between them and the fire inching upon them from Whimsical Avenue. Mechanisms clicked and a small door opened on its side. A silhouette of a teenage boy shone against the door. Looking at the sight around, he gasped and motioned towards the three kids.
“Come in, quick!” he beckoned. Without hesitation Aura and Sally rushed towards the capsule, but Aldric wasn’t too happy.
“We can’t just go after any capsule that opens up in front of us,” he called after the girls.
Sally turned around and shouted over the noise of the flames, “Aldric, it’s either this or death by fire.”
Aldric nodded slowly and ran towards the door. He entered and immediately a burst of coolness filled him. His lungs greatly thanked him and he gulped in huge breathes of the cool fresh air conditioner. The teenage boy was near a big control panel and he was pushing buttons as fast as his fingers could move. Click, the door banged shut. Click, click, the capsules engines flared. Click, bang, bang, the machine bounced off the ground and took off towards the sky.
The capsule turbulated severely as they passed through Incendium and then sped off up, up, and up and away from Terra.
Aldric walked over to a window in the rover and looked down. He saw fire, fire, and more fire. There was nothing to be seen but fire. A tear slid down Aldric’s face, but he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“You alright, mate?” the teenage boy said soberly.
“No, I’m not,” Aldric replied.
“It’s fine. You’re safe now,” he said.
“I’m fine. FINE! There is no such thing as fine. My family, my friends, everybody on my planet is burning and you ask if I’m fine?” Aldric rudely pushed the boy away and rushed to a doorway he saw on the other side of the capsule.
The boy looked hurt but Sally comforted him. “It’s okay. He needs time. I will explain it all.”
“What’s your name?” Aura asked the boy.
“Oh, forgive me. I didn’t introduce myself. I am Ivan. I have come from Earth….”
A sound like two huge boulders being smashed together sounded out, interrupting Ivan, and the three children rushed to the window. Aldric ran out of the room. They looked out of the window and saw Terra split in half. Fire ran along its peripheral and then it exploded. The only home Aldric had ever known was falling. It was over. Terra had fallen. Aldric, Aura, and Sally were homeless children in a wide, wide universe.
“No,” Aldric, Aura, and Sally screamed together. It was too much for them to bear. They sank to the floor and wept and wept and wept…
Chapter 7: To Earth
For days, Aldric refused to take any food. Sally and Aura tried and tried to make him talk or eat or do anything, but he wouldn’t budge. He pushed everybody away, especially Ivan. Ivan went to talk to Aldric every day. He was a cheerful and considerate boy, and he understood partly how Aldric felt. Of course, he couldn’t fully understand his plight of losing his entire planet, but he did understand how it was to lose people he loved. He talked to Aldric every morning and told him all about himself. He also patiently asked Aldric many questions even though he knew he wouldn’t respond.
Aura and Sally had made good friends with Ivan. He comforted them and helped them get over the sadness of losing their planet and families. This did not mean they weren’t sad about losing Terra. Every now and again an image of one or more of their friends and family passed through the girls’ minds, and they had to fight back uncontrollable tears.
Once the space capsule had passed the many layers of Terra, they were out in open space. This meant there was no gravity. The good thing was that the capsule was instituted with a special mechanism that stopped the people inside from floating around. It also had plenty of oxygen which really refreshed the kids after the hot suffocation of the fire.
Aura and Sally filled Ivan in with the whole story of Incendium. Ivan was an attentive listener and took in all they said. Aura also told Ivan of her grand-mother, Luxia, and The Darkness. Aldric knew the story better but he refused to tell any of it.
In turn, Ivan shared his tale with the girls and even with Aldric. His mother had died ten years after his birth. His father was a space engineer. Ivan wanted to be a space engineer just like his father but he hadn’t wanted to wait. He had used his sneaking skills to creep into the space capsule just before it had left Earth. His father’s life dream had been to find life elsewhere than Earth. This space rover was called Capsule 327 (representing the number of attempts Ivan’s father had tried before he found something that could go beyond the Milky Way). Ivan told the girls that it had taken him three months to reach Terra and it would take them three months back. The living space had been meant for the life that climbed into the space rover but Ivan had taken advantage of it and used a quarter of the supplies for himself!
Every morning, Ivan brought out from a little knapsack a Bible. Then the three of them made their way over to where Aldric sat. `Ivan opened the Bible and read a passage from it. Then Aura, Sally, and he took a turn to pray. They each prayed for Terra and themselves and for safety back to Earth. Every day Ivan encouraged Aldric to pray but he shook his head sadly.
One day, Ivan and the girls went to Aldric for their daily tradition. Ivan read out a passage and this is what it said:
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,
and he was angry.
And he prayed to the Lord and said,
“O Lord, is not this what I said when I was still in my country?
That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish;
for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from disaster.
Therefore, now, O Lord, please take my life from me,
for it is better for me to die than to live.”
And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
“Gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love? Relenting from disaster? Why would he do such a thing to Terra if he were all those things?” Aldric spoke for the first time in weeks. He was done holding his anger in. He wanted answers. He wanted to be normal again. Tears slid down his cheeks and wet the floor around him.
Ivan smiled sadly and clasped both of Aldric’s hands in his. This time Aldric didn’t shake him off. He looked up into Ivan’s compassionate eyes and Ivan said, “Aldric, God is good. He is always good. His will is beyond comparison. Even in the hardest of times, He makes a way for people to know His goodness and kindness. There are many things beyond our control and understanding but God has a purpose for everything. His question to you is ‘Do you do well to be angry?’”
“No, I do not do well to be angry,” Aldric replied softly. Before he could say anything, he felt Aura run towards him and throw her arms around him. Her tears ran fast and so did his. Sally wiped some tears of her own off her face and smiled. Then she too ran towards Aldric and threw her arms around him. The children embraced and Ivan joined them in their joy!
Chapter 8: Onward
They continued onward towards Earth. The journey became a lot more enjoyable with Aldric in a good mood. Aldric and Ivan became good friends, and Ivan showed Aldric all the cool controls around Capsule 327. Sally, being more of a tech-girl, also enjoyed these tours. They all got to know each other a lot more and became very close to each other indeed.
The days seemed to tick off as the capsule made its way past many stars, planets, and galaxies. Three months turned to two months then one. Finally, the day came when Ivan announced to his crew that they would reach Earth in exactly three days. Excitement buzzed, especially amongst the Terraians (people from Terra). Ivan found it hard to concentrate on controlling the capsule because questions rained him from all around.
“What is Earth like?” Aura questioned.
Ivan pushed a button and hurriedly said, “Well…it’s a planet with humans exactly like you on it and…”
“Hey, does Earth have stuff like Incendium and The Darkness?” Sally interrupted.
“Uhh, no but we do have other stuff like…”
“So will your father be waiting for us? Where will we land on Earth?”
“Do you think we will actually make it in three days?”
“Does Earth have fifteen continents too?”
Many such questions were poured on Ivan. So much so that Ivan had to shoo his friends away so he could concentrate. On the second last day, they passed into the Milky Way at last! They saw Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and big Jupiter. After this Aldric took over the controls and Ivan and the girls went to bed.
All alone in the night, Aldric saw a shooting star and remembered his grand-mother, Luxia. He tip-toed into the room where his friends slept and got out his journal. This is what he wrote:
April the 20th
Dear grand-ma,
Our land has fallen. I have failed everybody but most of all I have failed you. Words may not express my sorrow. The only home I’ve ever known along with all my family is burning up. I will never see it again. Never. Terra has fallen forever. I am alone.
I was for a time lost in the mire of sadness but Ivan pulled me out again. I rejected his help for a long time but grand-ma, I remembered you. And he read me the passage of Jonah when he rejected God’s help. God asked him, “Do you do well to be angry?” Ivan asked me the same thing. I had to say ‘no.’
Grand-ma, before you died you told me something I will never forget. “No matter what God loves you. He will never leave or forsake you.” Thank you. We are now nearing a new planet, Earth. I don’t know what awaits me. But I know that I want to be a young man after God’s own heart. I want to choose to do what’s right. No matter what. I hope I’m living my life in a way that would make you proud.
With love,
Aldric Silverstone
Aldric looked up from his diary and sighed. He retraced his name on the letter. He looked up again and saw a shooting star fly in front of the capsule. He smiled. He liked to think that the shooting star was in some way his grand-ma and her response to what he had written to her.
~~~ ⊹⊹⊹ ~~~
“Aldric?” Aldric shook himself awake and looked around. The light of the sun was brighter than it had been the night before. In the distance, Mars was visible. Aldric spun his seat around and looked to the voice that had called him.
It was Sally.
“Good morning, Sally,” Aldric smiled.
“Hi, Aldric,” she smiled back, “You should get some rest. Today’s a big day. I can manage the controls for a while.”
“Thanks, Sal. But I’d rather not sleep. I have a lot on my mind right now,” Aldric replied.
She nodded understandingly. “Aldric, you know, I never got a chance to say thank you.”
Aldric looked up at her. “Thank you?”
“Yes, you know, for saving my life that night. It cost you your family and your best friend,” she said.
Aldric looked away. Sally touched his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Aldric.”
“Thank you, Sally. You’re my friend too and I promised Josh that I’d take care of you,” Aldric replied softly.
“You’re doing just that.” She looked up and ahead, “Aldric, what's Earth going to be like?”
“I don’t know,” Aldric answered truthfully.
Sally's face clouded with worry.
“But we’re going to be just fine,” Aldric added quickly, “I promise.”
Chapter 9: A New Home
When morning dawned on the last day, Mars passed and finally Earth came into view. Ivan grew more and more tense. He had never been good at smooth landing. As a child, he had always crash landed his toy planes. Vague memories of his father trying to teach him how to fly raced through his mind. If only I had paid more attention to him, he thought.
The others were confident in Ivan’s skills. They had seen the way he had flown through many a perilous sky. Ivan fussed over the controls for hours whilst Earth got bigger and bigger in the window. About 4 in the afternoon after Aldric had awoken from a small nap, he offered to take over the controls but Ivan refused.
“Hey, we’re going to be fine,” Aldric encouraged Ivan, “You are SO good at driving this thing.”
Ivan sighed. “Ya, I know. But it’s not just that. My father will be super worried about me. He will have thought me dead. I’m afraid of his reaction. I’ve been away for a whole six months.”
Aldric nodded. “He will hug you like a long lost son. He will welcome you back. He might scold you but all in love. Plus, you’ll have us to back you up. If you wouldn’t have been driving this thing, we would all have been dead by now.”
Ivan seemed to take comfort in those words. “Okay,” he said, “you and Sally can take over for a bit. I’ll go over and check out what Aura is doing.”
Aldric shook his head in agreement. Ivan walked over to Aura and began to help her with a map she was drawing of Terra to show Ivan’s dad when they got to Earth.
Soon Earth was really huge in the window. At one-point Sally pointed out the Moon to Aldric in the far distance. After a while, Ivan came back and took over the controls once again.
“Okay, my crew members. Listen up!” he announced, “We’re going to be landing on Earth shortly. Here are some life jackets which you will all need to put on. This capsule will drop into the Pacific Ocean and from there it is a six-hour cruise to Los Angeles on the coast of the USA. I have tried to notify my father of our arrival but I do not think he has received my message. Nevertheless, I am sure you will all be warmly welcomed into my house until further arrangements can be made.”
Aura, Sally, and Aldric fastened their life jackets on and joined Ivan near the controls. He was clicking buttons and pulling levers like lightning. Click, click, click! Capsule 327 plunged with full speed towards planet Earth.
“Gravity is pulling us at this speed,” Ivan yelled over the roar of the machine.
A screen dropped down at the center of the capsule and indicated the number of feet they were away from the Earth. It was plummeting rapidly. 100, 000 feet..50, 000..40, 000 then finally 10, 00 feet. The Terraians could see the Pacific Ocean now. Clear blue and outshining in radiance. They were so very close to the ocean that they could see its ripples and its beautiful shades against the setting sun. Aura screamed with joy when she spotted three bottlenose dolphins doing a little “jump dance” just for her!
The capsule thudded into the water with a splash and then boinged right back up to the surface. Ivan pushed a button and pulled two levers and the capsule shot forward like a water jet over the ocean’s surface.
Aura, Sally, and Aldric enjoyed every minute of the cruise. The ocean sparkled gorgeously and every once in a while a Californian flying fish or a bottlenose dolphin jumped up into the air and seemed to greet the children. The children waved back and laughed at the sight. Finally, after six hours Capsule 327 bumped into the shore of Santa Monica Beach.
It was the 23rd of April. Those four teenagers had made Earth’s history. Ivan had been the very first human from Earth to travel to another galaxy and planet and even bring back humans from there! Little did those kids know, they were going to be famous. But even if they had known, I doubt they would have cared. They were happy and thankful to have arrived back at Ivan's home.
“Welcome,” Ivan suddenly announced, “to planet Earth. This will be your home for the years to come.”
Chapter 10: The Age to Come
At 1 am in the morning, Mr. Duncan was awoken by a soft knock on his house door. On normal days, he wouldn’t have been aroused by this but in the recent past, he had become a restless man and his jolly face had wrinkled with worry.
Six months ago, he had secretly launched his coolest invention, Capsule 327. Coincidentally, his fifteen-year old son had also disappeared that day. He looked sadly at the picture on his bed and sighed. He had searched everywhere but to no avail. His thoughts wandered to his wife, sweet Jane, who had died in a car crash five years ago.
“Oh, Jane,” he whispered sorrowfully, putting his head into his palms, “Why did you leave me? You would have known what to do. I wish you were here.”
As if in response to his heart’s desire, the knock sounded again on the door. Mr. Duncan was not used to visitors at 1 am so he kept his guard. He slowly peeked out the window to see if he could catch a glimpse of the people at the door but he couldn’t see them. The knock sounded again. A little louder this time. Something inside Mr. Duncan told him to open the door. He looked back at the picture of his wife and she seemed to nod her approval.
Wordlessly, Jane looked like she was saying, “Go on, honey, there’s a surprise for you behind that door.”
Mr. Duncan nodded and slowly eased his front door open. Outside was a sight he did not expect to see. There were four teenagers around the age of his son. One looked very familiar but he could not make out who he was. It was like a distant memory from another planet that lingered in the back of his mind.
Then something clicked. “Ivan?” he asked.
“Dad?” the boy replied, throwing his arms around him.
“Oh, son!” Mr. Duncan exclaimed with tears flowing down his cheeks.
“Dad, I’m sorry…”
Mr. Duncan interrupted Ivan quickly. “No, no, no. I’m just glad you are safe and sound. Explanations later.”
Mr. Duncan hurriedly wiped his face and beckoned his son to follow him into the house.
Then suddenly the three other forgotten kids entered his mind. He pointed at them questioningly.
“Dad, they are friends of mine. May they come? I will explain inside,” Ivan assured him.
“Of course, Ivan. Friends of yours are friends of mine; come on in,” he replied, smiling kindly.
The four kids entered the house. It wasn’t too tidy but neither was it too bad. Mr. Duncan took a stack of books off the couch to free space for the kids to sit.
“Please have a seat. Make yourselves at home, kidos!” he said and disappeared to the kitchen.
He soon came out with a tray filled with hot coffee. It was the best coffee Ivan had ever tasted.
“Dad, I never knew you could make such good coffee,” he exclaimed in surprise.
Mr. Duncan smiled widely and winked. “Of course, now it's time for that tale. If you’re not too tired, of course.”
With many interruptions, Ivan slowly told the grand and sorrowful tale of how Terra fell and how he had stowed away on Capsule 327. Mr. Duncan listened without interrupting and his eyes grew wider and wider. Finally, when the tale was over he got up and went into his bedroom. When he came out again, he was holding the picture of his wife, son, and himself. He turned the picture so the kids could see it and asked his wife, “What do you think, sweetie?” His wife seemed to smile brighter than ever and everybody’s eyes filled with tears of sadness and joy.
Aldric looked at Mr. Duncan, Ivan, Sally, and his little sister, Aura and smiled broadly. Yes, Terra had fallen. Yes, he had gone through many pains and hardships along the way, but there was something new that had arisen. A friendship. A joy. A new age where he would have a family again. Aldric stopped looking at his past and began to embrace the future and the age to come.
Epilogue
In a bedroom, painted all blue, there lay a sweet little girl named Luxia. She was getting ready for bed…
“Daddy, that story just one more time, pleeeease!” begged Luxia.
“Honey,” her dad, Aldric, laughed sympathetically, “You’ve already heard about your great-grandmother, Luxia, so many times. How about we listen to something else?”
“Aldric, you should get some rest, darling.” His wife, Sally, slipped into the bed beside him.
“Luxia, here, won’t let me,” Aldric jokingly complained, tweeking Luxia’s nose, “She wants another story about her grand-ma, Luxia.”
“Instead, how about we tell her about the Fall of Terra and The Age to Come?” Sally suggested.
“I think that's a great idea!” Aldric exclaimed.
~~~ ⊹⊹⊹ ~~~
In another house across the street, two children, Linda and Darian, urgently begged their parents to tell them a story. Ivan and Aura, for those were the parents’ names, agreed. They decided to tell of the same.
This was how Aura, Sally, Aldric, and Ivan kept the story of Tera fresh in the minds of their children. They made sure they would never ever forget their homeland. They made sure that their hearts burned inside them to one day avenge their people and restore their planet.
But for the moment all that's left to say is that they had homes with people they loved and they lived happily ever after!
⊷ THE END ⊶
By Neev Aradhana Suresh
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