Chapter Twenty Five: Of Waking Memories
(Note: This is not official version and may be removed in the near future. This do not reflect what is read in the podcast version, nor any other version you may encounter. I have preserved the rough form for posterity — or something like that. This novel has since been rewritten.) James awoke into a world of light so bright that he had to squint just to be able to see anything at all. All around him was a vast nothingness that led nowhere. There were no walls, no ground, and no sky. He wondered for a moment if he were in heaven and if he had died. The pain that he had been expecting wasn’t there and when he brought his hands to his face he could clearly see that no gashes or scars were there. It was as if he were completely untouched, further adding to his fear that he had in fact died and gone to heaven. Then someone appeared as a faded shade of gray. The figure walked leisurely, only fully becoming visible when the two of them were mere feet apart. The face of the man before him smiled warmly beneath a sandy blonde beard that hung at his neckline. Two faded green eyes looked down, further adding to the warmth of the smile. Then a hand extended. James took it and stood. No sensations came to him. No lightheadedness; no pain or weakness. When he looked into the eyes of the man before him, though, sensation came in short waves, exposing warmth and cold, chills and shivers. The man only grinned wider and then spoke softly. “This is a rather bizarre occasion.” James recognized the voice immediately. “Dulien?” Dulien nodded. “You’re not dead by the way. And I can still hear your thoughts, though they are more muffled when they are thoughts within thoughts.” “Thoughts within thoughts?” “Seeing how you are not dead, but you aren’t exactly dreaming either, you are capable of thinking even though your mind is thinking this right now.” “That doesn’t make much sense.” Dulien shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. But not a whole lot about you makes sense.” There was a long pause. Then Dulien continued, “When you return to the real world you’ll be in quite a lot of pain I imagine.” “What happened?” “You lost control.” “But, how did I lose control. Where did all of that energy come from?” “It came from you. Sometimes,” Dulien came forward and knelt down to look at him eye to eye, “magic comes at such speeds and in such quantities that the user cannot comprehend it. It simply tears its way through, just as it happened to you. I suspect that it came from your world. As you said, it is a world without magic, yet magic exists everywhere. With magic forgotten in your world it is no small wonder that it would try to use you as a vessel to escape its confines. Magic is alive in some ways.” “Alive?” “It doesn’t think if that is what you are implying. But it certainly has desires that it must fulfill. Being cooped up is no way for magic to live.” “So, it just tore itself out of me.” James shifted his position. “Yes, unfortunately. This is, to say the least, new and disturbing for me. You should be dead. Magic like that would kill most anyone. I’ve faced powerful magic before…this is something entirely new. Your soul should have been destroyed.” He nodded, remembering how Dulien and defied Luthien so long ago, too long ago. “I’m well known for that, yes, but unfortunately I think people have forgotten that it was I who invented the Fearl. Some more ambitious fellow capitalized on the idea.” It came as a shock to James, and at the same time there was a sense of wonder and fascination. He couldn’t help being slightly overjoyed at knowing that the Fearl he owned was the same one with the imprint of its original inventor. Something about that made him feel lucky, though ‘special’ likely would have been the term used by everyone else. Dulien put a firm hand on his shoulder. “I don’t understand how the magic of your world works, nor do I understand how this magic can simply cross worlds so easily, as if there were no barrier. Magic can’t really do that.” “But it is doing that.” “Yes. Listen, many have tried and many have wasted away their lives trying to find ways to access other magic. The only ones that ever succeeded were those that managed to connect our worlds, but even then they were limited to what the magic of this world was capable of. They could never touch the magic of Earth. You are the only one that I have known to do such a thing. And…” “Let me guess,” he interrupted with a hint of sarcasm, “that makes me special.” Dulien curled his lip in a soft smile. “Exactly.” The light suddenly faded. There was something strange about it all, like it was all a magnificently elaborate and very lucid dream. As the light dissipated, he had the sensation of falling nowhere, and then sleep. James woke up into a world of agonizing pain. He couldn’t pinpoint it to any one place because every single part of his body ached, even where he thought it shouldn’t. He couldn’t open his eyes. Instead, he grunted and groaned and protested to whoever would hear him. Flashes of light flickered in his eyelids, mostly white, but some like little red pixels from an old video game. New bursts of pain ran through him as someone touched his legs. He cried out, but he couldn’t move his mouth much at all, so the sound came as a muffle even to his ears. Then a pair of fingers pried his left eye open and more pain stabbed him. His vision was blurred and he desperately tried to focus in on the face
Book Review: Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
After reading this book I know exactly why it was nominated for an award, however I start to wonder why it didn’t win the award it was nominated for. I haven’t read everything from my list yet, but this novel is fantastic. It is as gripping as it is emotional, as enthralling as it is thoughtful.The story takes place in a tomorrow that very well could exist. It’s a world exactly like our own. Miranda is a sixteen year old High School student and the world is suddenly buzzing with activity because scientists have found out that an asteroid is going to strike the moon. It’s excitement for the research and the amazing opportunities this might present, not fear. But something goes terribly wrong. The asteroid pushed the moon into a closer orbit, throwing of the tides causing mass floods across the world, destroying entire cities. The sudden change of gravity ignites active volcanoes like never before, reignites dormant volcanoes, and opens up entirely new ones. Earthquakes and storms strike the Earth everywhere. Miranda and her family–her Mother and two brothers Jon and Matt–must fight to survive and hang on to what little hope they have of living through the worst catastrophe in human history.The novel is told in diary entries, as if Miranda were a real person, and this were a real event. It adds delicate reality to the already realistic world Pfeffer has created. Miranda narrates the events as they take place–the cold, the snow, the ash, and the deaths and chaos. Despair seems to creep in everywhere. You get a clear picture immediately of just how terrifying this experience must be and then an idea of just how strong a family relationship must be to allow them to survive.It’s a rich tale, very rich, and one that I am so happy to have read. It’s not even really SF. It very well could be a reality. Tomorrow this could happen to our world. Who knows. There isn’t some grand scale of technology here. It’s reality in a fictional sense. This is a must read novel of suspense, danger, and the power of hope. Pick it up. You won’t be disappointed!