'Ahead at first, then behind ... no, I can't say.'

Vennoss nodded slowly. 'I will think on it. I will tell you my thoughts four nights from now.'

Jaden bowed as Vennoss went inside and closed the door.

In the past, there was nothing he couldn't ask his grandfather and get an answer to. He had hoped it would be the same now, but knew that this was not as simple as his other problems had been. No one had ever told of feeling awake while sleeping in all Callibra's past. It was pointless to go to one who studied medicines. Even the elders would have no knowledge of what the cause might be. Vennoss was his only hope.

Jaden breathed out, trying to forget what it could all mean. Alyssa would be back soon. He could meet with her at the stables as she arrived. It would be the perfect distraction from an otherwise clouded day. But as he neared the stables, even this was soured. Ardim had got there before him, and Alyssa was already back. Ardim had his arm firmly around her shoulders. All Jaden could do was stare in disbelief. As fate had dictated so many times in the past, his chance would be lost for yet another day, week or even month.

He sighed inwardly.

Maybe his grandfather was right. Maybe today was as good a day as any to meditate on all there was, to be alone and in tune with one's own thoughts and no one else's for a change.

There was nothing else to be done.

With a sinking feeling in his chest from watching Ardim with Alyssa, Jaden forced himself to turn around, and then walk slowly home.

Chapter Five.

When the end comes, to whom will they call?

January 14, 997 R.E.

Jaden was restless. He needed answers, but there was no way of getting them, not while his grandfather was taking time to recover. As a distraction from the waiting, he had tried to speak with Alyssa many times, but had so far been unsuccessful. Ardim was continuing his usual prevention methods of starting fights with Jaden at every meeting, while her father did his best to keep her occupied, preventing any possible time with the boys in the village. Jaden's friends offered a minor deterrent from the boredom, but they all seemed to be busy with their families too. It had all become so frustrating that Jaden found sleep almost unbearable. He wanted to take action, to learn more about the sharp movements in the ground, but he knew he couldn't. He was left in solitude, away from the only one that seemed to understand what he was feeling, away from the guiding wisdom of his grandfather, and away from the friends who, while not understanding, would make light of the situation and make him laugh. It seemed his only companion was the dark-haired boy, the one that came in the haunting dream, making the little sleep he had uneasy.

He had been losing sleep nightly, most of his hours spent in thought. It felt as though he had been awake all his life; no longer able to remember a night in which his sleep was undisturbed, the memories strangely erased from a past he was no longer sure he had.

Things were changing all around him. There were only slight differences at first, then greater as time went on. It seemed each time he woke, he had become someone else. He would feel as if he were decades older, wise and experienced, able to converse with the elders as if they were children, only to feel like a newborn the next day, brought into an alien world of uncertainty. His health was fluctuating just as rapidly, various illnesses coming and going in no particular fashion. One morning he had sat up in bed coughing badly, all of his limbs aching so much that he wasn't able to move any further. Yet minutes later he emerged feeling in perfect health. This morning he had woken feeling drowsy to the point he had to go back to sleep. His mother, Sayva, woke him in the afternoon so that he could have some soup she had made for him, but as he got up, the drowsiness had gone and he felt full of energy. He wanted to tell her that he was not hungry, but didn't like to refuse when he knew his mother had worked hard to help him.

He ate in silence at the dark wooden table, ignorant to all else as he tried to analyse everything that had happened. By the time he had finished, he had decided that to find the answers he needed he had to return to the waterfall, where he had first felt the strange motions that seemed to fuel the dreams. Thanking his mother, he left the house and made his way to the elevated flat piece of land that had been lost in the game of tennagen. He was not sure if they would stop him from going there in the future, perhaps when they wanted to build there, but for now he could still claim it as his own.

As he sat on the edge, he crossed his legs and took a shoot of grass with which he could fidget, then closed his eyes and searched all around him. After several intense minutes of concentration with no reward, he turned his attention to the air, where only a soft breeze existed. It calmed his breath as it gently drifted about him, while the wind that it came from pushed bands of cloud in front of the sun, leaving him in a cooled shadow.

The change in light didn't deter him. Whatever it was must have been here, somewhere. He could feel that it hadn't left him, but he was unable to call for its presence to surface. He wasn't sure why he wanted to have it come to him. The curiosity could easily have led to his death. But there was a void in him now; a longing that needed something to fill it, a feeling, a piece of knowledge, something that would reveal to him what had happened.

I can't let this go, he repeated to himself. He had to find it, no matter what the consequence.

'Those who search beyond here know greatness can be found out there,' came a husky yet warm voice. 'But where will one search first, when out there is beyond all they know?'

Jaden kept his eyes closed. He recognised the voice. It was Vennoss, finally returning to him.

'One can dream,' he replied, still in his meditative position.

'Yes, it is thought dreams are limitless, but how can one know of what they can dream if they have not seen?'

'They can't. It is not the dream that counts, but that they are moving forward. As long as they push their limits, there will always be growth.'

'And so it is left to luck and faith, in hope that they by chance grow in the necessary way to survive.'

The cloud that blocked the sun moved on, allowing light to the land again. Jaden's closed eyes twitched at the change, while Vennoss remained unhindered. The next moments were silent as each found their way into faraway places, thoughts of the unknown and visions of the future filling their minds. Together they would wander across vast and desolate planes in the realms of consciousness, free of the other's inner ramblings, but aware of the outer presence. Vennoss had taught Jaden to do this from an early age, and now continued the practice so that they could reflect ideas off one another as they wished.

There was little that Jaden could tell his grandfather, but Vennoss seemed to appreciate the different viewpoint from time to time. He had always been interested in the thoughts of the youth, a caretaker to all in the village. He was their guiding force above even the elders. While the elders roamed the village with superior expressions engraved upon their faces, Vennoss would participate in small games and laugh with the children, answering questions as they came, and always making light of situations that the elders would have frowned upon. He was their greatest source of knowledge, and Jaden was thankful he had been given as much time as he had over the years.

'Tell me about the Forgotten Years,' said Jaden suddenly.

Vennoss looked down at Jaden as if surprised by the request. It almost seemed as if he were about to walk away without answering, offended, but then had thought better of it and made himself comfortable, sitting next to Jaden in the same meditative pose.

'They were times no one should ever have had to witness,' he said, now also with his eyes closed. 'What do you wish to know of them?'

'I want to know what happened.'

'A fair desire. None can truly say, but there are fragments. Wars were constant. We know that. Waged between the living and dying, the talented and the damned. Those that could control their world were few, and even fewer were those able to command it at will. Jealousy was rampant, and soon those that could have been saviours were hunted as the enemy. There was much confusion with blame being thrown from all directions at the rift made of irrational logic.'

'But what of the creatures?' Jaden asked. 'The ones still in Ukota that were born of those years.'

'The beasts ...' said Vennoss thoughtfully. 'A sad and unfortunate side effect, they were. Many of them perished.'

'What were they?'

Vennoss paused a moment. 'It is not known ... hybrids perhaps, or mutations. They say the very thing that was giving the living their power was also keeping the dying from death. Many claimed that the gods had forsaken us when they saw the horrors of those years. Indeed, evil had come of age. It did seem all morality had been lost, but who is to say what really happened?'

Jaden bowed his head slightly, satisfied with the answer.

'How did the continents change?' he asked, but opened his eyes when a reply had failed to come.

Vennoss was examining him with interest. 'How do you know of the change?' he asked.

'A traveller showed us maps.'

'I see,' said Vennoss. 'Who was this traveller?'

'I don't know her name.'

'It is a woman, then?'

Jaden nodded. 'She came to us the same day you returned. I didn't believe her. I wanted to know what you thought.'

Vennoss smiled. 'You wanted an argument to put to her that would prove her wrong.'

Jaden's sudden smirk told Vennoss everything he needed to know.

'I see. Well, unfortunately, and fortunately, she is right. There was a change that saw the continents reshaped and the ground purified, so I cannot help you in defeating her. Sometimes it is wise to let go of the challenge, child; always remain on the side of truth, no matter how deep the longing is to do battle with another.'

Jaden's smirk left him and he looked back down to the ground. 'Yes, Grandfather,' he said.

'Do not feel disappointed,' Vennoss comforted. 'You will not be able to win every debate. Learn from each one and then look to the next. There will always be someone with whom to disagree, and someday you will rarely be wrong, but until then, you must learn as much as you can.'

'Yes, Grandfather,' said Jaden, his eyes still set firmly on the ground.

'But enough of such things. How are you feeling today?'

Jaden breathed deeply and looked to horizon where the sky met the mountains ahead. 'The same-living the perfect life on the outside, still lost on the inside,' he said.

'Ah, the troubles have remained, then?'

Jaden nodded. 'Have you thought of anything?'

'I have-many things, in fact.'

'What can I do?'

'I will tell you shortly. First, do you remember the golden wristlet I gave you years ago?'

'The loh-korah.'

'Yes,' said Vennoss. 'I need you find it and bring it to me at the Gates. I fear dark times await us, so I must tell you of its true nature.'

'What is it?' asked Jaden.

'I will explain at the Gates. Go now and meet me there as soon as you can.'

Before Jaden could protest, Vennoss had stood up and hurried away. It was the most abrupt ending Vennoss had ever made to one of their sittings, and it took Jaden a moment to realise what he was meant to do. After deciding the matter's nature was serious, Jaden did the same as Vennoss, but in the opposite direction toward his home. He had never thought of the loh-korah as anything more than jewellery, a prized possession at that, but for decoration and little more. He couldn't imagine a different purpose for it. All he knew was that it had come from another nation he had not heard of before.

As he reached his home, he noticed his mother standing at the door, speaking with another woman wearing strange, yet pleasantly coloured clothing. She wore a robe of autumn design, warm greys mixed with dark browns in leaf-like patterns, seeming to compliment the bushiness of her greyed hair.

'I was wondering if you could tell me how one becomes a resident here,' she asked, and Jaden immediately recognised her voice. It was the traveller who had told him of the Forgotten Years.

'The elders must be consulted,' said Sayva. 'You will need to ask them and show that you are able to become part of our community.'

'You will need a skill of a sort,' interrupted Jaden. 'Storytellers are allowed only several days' stay.'

The woman's eyes brightened as she turned to him. 'And this must be your eldest, Jaden.'

'No, I have an older brother, Ryan,' Jaden corrected her and then turned to Sayva. 'Mother, Grandfather has asked for the loh-korah.'

Sayva nodded and went inside at once.

'And what might be a loh-korah?' asked the woman.

'A wristlet,' Jaden answered simply.

'Ah, indeed,' said the woman. 'You know, we didn't quite get a chance to finish our conversation. I would very much like to continue it.'

'I don't have time today.'

'Perhaps tomorrow?'

Jaden nodded as Sayva returned to the door, holding the loh-korah, a wristlet seven inches in length that wrapped around and covered only the part of the wrist closest to the hand. Jaden took it and put it on his right wrist at once, then bowed to his mother in gratitude.

'What did you call that?' asked the woman before Jaden could sprint away.

'A loh-korah,' he said.

'What is your grandfather's name?' the woman asked abruptly.

Jaden looked to his mother for assurance, unsure of the woman's intention.

'Vennoss.'

'Indeed. Might I come with you? Just to meet him,' she added, noticing Jaden's expression turn sour. 'I will not stay with him very long.'

After several moments of contemplation, Jaden reluctantly agreed. He wanted to make the most of his time with Vennoss, but he saw little harm in allowing her simply to meet him.

As the woman bade Sayva goodbye, they left for the Gates of Callibra in the far west. They had to walk almost the entire width of the village, and although it took close to an hour, Jaden allowed little conversation between them on the way. He had been troubled by the tone in which Vennoss had spoken. It made him afraid to think of what he might soon learn. It was a tone he had heard only once before, when talks had not gone well with the neighbouring nations. Those fears had proved false at the time, but there was always the possibility things could turn against their favour and leave them defenceless.

Jaden's nerves calmed a little as he saw Vennoss standing on a hill, looking to the west. There, five enormous pillars of rock could be seen, each two hundred feet in height and fifty in width, marking the only entrance to the valley. These were the Gates of Callibra. Jaden always felt insignificant as he walked near these great structures of earth, but admired them for their natural beauty. Evidently they impressed the woman, as she had failed to notice Jaden run up ahead to meet with Vennoss without her.

'I have it,' said Jaden, but Vennoss gave no reply, now staring at the woman who was walking toward them with mouth agape and eyes set on the very tops of the Gates. 'She said she wanted to meet you. She won't stay,' Jaden explained.

Vennoss raised a hand for Jaden to say no more, and his and the woman's eyes soon met.

'Noviahn,' said the woman.

'Tarsha,' said Vennoss in acknowledgement.

'I thought I recognised that wristlet. So this is where you have been hiding away?'

Vennoss nodded. 'Jaden, I would like you to meet a dear old friend of mine, Tarsha Esgra of Raikanon. Tarsha, you have no doubt met Jaden?'

'Yes, we've spoken,' said Tarsha with a grin. 'What are you doing here?'

'I feel I should be asking you the same.'

'Raikanon is ruled by the Alliance. I've been on the run for as long as I can remember.'

'Yes, I've heard. I had wondered if you made it out alive.'

Tarsha chuckled and then sighed. 'Ah, you know me, always in the wrong place at the right time and the right place at the wrong time. It would take more than an army to change my luck.'

Vennoss smiled knowingly.