Unknown Voice: “Charo.”
I sluggishly opened my eyes to darkness.
Charo: “Mmm… Mom?”
「It’s unusual for Mom to wake me up because we usually wake up around the same time.」
I looked around, but I didn’t see anyone. In fact, I didn’t see anything. I was surrounded by complete darkness, I couldn’t even see my bed.
I sat up and shook my head while rubbing my eyes.
Charo: “Hello?”
Unknown Voice: “Charo.”
Now that I was awake I could tell that the voice didn’t belong to my mom. The voice lingered, sweet as honey, and soft as the wind on wheat before harvest.
Charo: “Who’s there?”
I stood where I was, yet the ground didn’t feel like my bed. It was solid even though I couldn’t see it. I reached out a hand to feel my surroundings, but again there was nothing there.
I looked around, being careful not to step forward.
「Not being able to see what you’re standing on or what’s in front of you is pretty unsettling.」
Suddenly I felt something touch my right shoulder and turned around. I instinctively took a step back but there was nothing for my foot to stand on. With the momentum of my step I lost my footing and fell backwards. I should have landed on the surface of whatever I had been standing on but I continued falling.
Charo: “What the hell?!”
I couldn’t help but panic and started to flail about. Entirely by chance I flipped my body and was now falling facing forward. I could see a small speck of light that was getting bigger.
The wind from falling was getting stronger and was causing my eyes to start tearing up. I closed my eyes and tried to take a few deep breaths through my nose to calm down. The sound of the wind was getting stronger and stronger and I could see the light getting brighter through my eyelids.
Suddenly the noise and wind stopped. I opened my eyes and was blinded by the light.
I closed them immediately and slowly opened them to adjust from the pure darkness I had just been in.
「What?… 」
I had no idea what I was looking at.
Far below, at a much further distance than one could travel by horse in a day, maybe even a week, was what I could only describe as a ball. It was spinning, slowly. The surface of the ball was green and blue, with wisps of white. In some parts the green faded in to beige, and half of the ball was lit, the other fell in darkness.
Charo: “What a beautiful view…”
Unknown Voice: “To your right, Charo.”
Charo: “Who?”
I couldn’t help myself from looking to my right as I heard the voice, it’s a natural reaction when being told to look somewhere.
As I did so I spotted what appeared to be an island, floating like I was. On top of the island was a building so grand it would put the Royal Castle to shame. It was composed of 3 wings joined to a tower spire in the center. If you were draw a straight line from the tip of each wing it would have formed a triangle.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash, so I turned back to the ball.
I noticed that the spinning was slowing down, and eventually stopped. Suddenly a fissure erupted in the center that spread from one side of the ball to the other, and where had previously been green and blue was a giant red gash. Black smoke appeared to rise from the wound and the white wisps disappeared.
There was no sound to be heard from where I was.
Charo: “What is this? What am I looking at?”
Unknown Voice: “Lyra…”
「Lyra? The world? I was looking at the world? 」
There was another flash, but this time it was blinding. I shut my eyes and brought my arms in front of my face, not that it would have protected me from whatever could have caused such a flash.
I opened my eyes and could see the ceiling of my room through my arms. The morning had a slight chill, but there was no bite to it. The sun still hadn’t risen, so the room was mostly in darkness, but it was nothing compared to the darkness from earlier.
Charo: “A dream?”
I brought my left arm down to my side and covered my eyes with my right arm.
「I’ve never had a dream like that before, it was so vivid, it felt so real. Was I more nervous about leaving than I thought?」
I could hear the faint crow of a rooster.
Lost in my thoughts about the dream I didn’t notice my mom enter my room.
Mom: “You’re still in bed? Normally you’re already up by now.”
Charo: “Yeah… I’m awake.”
My mom noticed my arm covering my eyes and sat down on the edge of my bed.
Mom: “Are you alright?”
She gently took my hand and lifted my arm from my face.
Mom: “Oh, honey, you’re crying. Does going on a trip bother you that much?”
Grabbing a handkerchief from her pack and she wiped my tears. I hadn’t even noticed that I was crying.
Charo: “No, that’s not it.”
I explained the dream that I had.
Mom: “That seems a little ominous before leaving on a trip, but it was just a dream. You’ll be okay, Falkr will be with you. Come here.”
I was pulled up from my laying position and she hugged me close.
Mom: “We’ll be waiting for you to return.”
Charo: “Yeah, I know.”
She let me go and stood up.
Mom: “Breakfast is already ready, that’s why I checked in on you.”
Charo: “I’ll be there in a bit.”
My mom left my room as I got off my bed and stretched. I had already set aside my clothes for the day so I changed. I put on the new vest my parents had given me and put two pieces of wood that I had sitting on my windowsill into the pockets. I checked the belt sheath for my knife and grabbed my duffel bag.
Taking one last look around my room I confirmed that I had everything I needed for the trip and walked into the kitchen. My mom was right, I was definitely later than normal if my dad was already sitting at the table.
Dad: “The vest looks great! You almost look like an adventurer.”
My dad had a stupid grin on his face as he sat with his arms crossed.
Charo: “Yeah, yeah Dad.”
I put down my bag and walked over to my mom. She’d already put my dad’s portion on the table and was walking over to the table with two more.
Charo: “I can carry that for you.”
I took the bowls from her and placed them on the table. She took her seat next to my dad as I moved around to my seat.
While we were in the middle of breakfast there was some noise from downstairs followed by steps coming up the stairs.
Falkr: “You should really lock your doors.”
Dad: “We were expecting you, so we left it unlocked.”
Falkr: “Smells good up here.”
Mom: “Did you want some?”
Falkr: “I’ve already eaten, but if there’s extra I’d be happy to have some of your cooking.”
Dad: “Hey! She’s my wife, no sweet-talking her!”
My mom smacked my dad’s head again as she went back to the counter to grab some food for my uncle. Meanwhile my uncle walked over to the table and pulled up the chair beside me.
Falkr: “Oh, that’s a good-lookin’ vest there, Charo.”
Dad: “It was our surprise gift. I thought it might make him feel like an adventurer, give him some motivation to get out there and have fun.”
My uncle smirked as my mom set a bowl in front of him.
Mom: “You can have this if you keep him safe, no need to listen to this fool.”
Falkr: “Of course. Road to the capital’s safe, especially this time of year. We won’t be takin’ any detours or big risks. I’ve got to get my wool there safe ‘n sound too.”
I still couldn’t get the dream I had out of my head.
Charo: “Hey, Uncle Falkr, do you know what the world looks like?”
Dad: “See! The vest is already workin’! Charo’s got a new interest!”
He got a quick smack to the side of his head again. I don’t know why he always does that to himself.
Falkr took a break from eating to look at me.
Falkr: “Well, I’ve been here and there. What do you mean?”
Charo: “I don’t mean cities or roads. I mean the whole world.”
My uncle furrowed his brow as he thought. He’d been an adventurer at one point, so I figured he might know.
Falkr: “Well, I remember hearing from a drinking buddy that the world is round. Like a ball. That’s why you can only see so far into the distance. Don’t know where he heard that from, though.”
「Just like in my dream… but I had never heard that before. How could I have known that?」
Falkr: “Why’d ya ask?”
His brow was still scrunched up, but he’d put his spoon down on the table.
Charo: “Ah, I was just wondering. Just had a dream is all.”
Falkr: “Hmm…”
Dad: “Maybe our little Charo’s gettin’ curious about the world! This is good!”
He earned himself another smack. I hadn’t seen him get this many, so quickly.
Mom: “Enough dear, leave him be. Besides, he’s not little, he’s already taller than you.”
Dad: “Is not.”
She gave my dad a stern look.
Dad: “Alright, alright. I got it, I got it.”
We moved on to other topics and quickly finished breakfast. I help my mom bring the dishes to the sink, but she told me she’ll do them later.
Falkr: “Ready boy?”
My uncle stood up and stretched while stifling a yawn. He’d probably been up for quite a while double-checking everything was ready.
Charo: “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
I looked around as I went downstairs and out the front door. My parents and uncle were right behind me, but only my mom and uncle came out the door. Dad came out soon after holding a small pouch.
Dad: “Here, a little bit of allowance so you can treat yourself in the capital.”
Mom: “And here’s the lunch I told you I’d pack.”
I put the pouch in one of my vest pockets that wasn’t already holding something and the lunch in the corner of the cart near where I’d be sitting up front.
Charo: “Thanks Dad. And Mom”
My dad put his arm around my mom.
Dad: “Take care Charo, we’ll see you when you get back.”
I got into the seat in the front of the cart next to Uncle Falkr and gave my parents a wave.
Charo: “See you guys.”
Uncle Falkr grabbed the reins and clicked his tongue to get the horses started. The cart started moving forward down the road and I looked over my shoulder for a final wave to my parents.
