It was the dying fire, not the elfish man who was leaning curiously over me, which woke me in
the end. The coldness chilled me to the bone as I lay there shivering with my eyes closed. I got up
off the ground and stretched stiffly, taking in the darkness which surrounded me like a blanket. By
the time I had come to my senses, the light from the fire had all but faded into the night. Now and
again there were flickers of light, whenever the glowing embers blazed with new fire and died as
quickly as they had begun to burn. I threw some pieces of wood onto the already dead fire and
stumbled over to my pack. I pulled out the matches and with a trembling hand, lit the fire. I
shuffled through the shadows to where I had lain sleeping and it was then I first noticed the elfish
old man who stood next to where I had been.
"Who are you?" I demanded, coming immediately to full attention.
"Who I am is irrelevant. It does not matter who I am, only who you are and whether or not you
are going to be who you are in the days to come." he replied, his voice dreamy and soft.
"What do you want then?" I snapped.
"I have a message for you, my dear."
"From whom? No one knows that I am here."
"Of that you are very much mistaken. They know you are here. The message I have for you is
from Them. They know all, the Wise Ones."
"Who? Who’s Them?"
"Someone you have lost. Someone who still cares." A fleeting image of you, my first and only
true love crossed my mind as his voice trailed off into the night. I looked at the old man’s face for
the first time and saw that despite his wrinkled and aged face, his eyes still shined with youthful-
ness. He reminded me of the Wise Men who had brought the baby Jesus presents of riches. He
was old, but was wise beyond his many years.
"What is the message?" I asked quietly.
"Come, you will see." he turned and walked quickly into the bush. I followed, stumbling over
loose rocks and tree roots. Unlike me, the old man moved smoothly over the rough ground, never
missing a step and never falling over or walking into hidden trees. It was like he was walking on
air instead of dirt, guided by his vast knowledge. We travelled as quickly as I dared, not wanting
to lose sight of this man who had taken me away from safety and brought me into the cold,
desolate forest.
We kept on walking for what seemed like hours to me, but in reality was only about half an hour,
not stopping until we reached the edge of the forest. He moved out into the open, making his way
towards the middle of the clearing. I broke into a sprint to keep up with him, feeling the uneven
ground pulling and stretching each and every muscle in my ankles and legs. When he finally
stopped walking, I managed to catch up with him.
"What? What’s here?" I yelled over the rising winds.
"Not here. There." he pointed towards the edge of the land, towards the water, something that I
had not noticed before. The water rippled peacefully, as if contradicting the old man’s words.
The only strange thing about the water was that it was too peaceful for this wild wind storm. I
was confused at first ad when the old man saw my puzzled expression, he tugged gently on my
rossed arms.
"Come, there isn’t much time." I followed him as if in a trance, a shadow of doubt running
through my vacant mind, but still believing him. I reached the water’s edge a few moments after
him and joined him as he gazed out into the dark emptiness. We stood there together on the edge
of nowhere, two silent figures lost in our own worlds. I was shivering from the cold despite our
vigorous walk but this seemed to go unnoticed by this man who appeared so wise.
As I stood there in the freezing wind, millions of fleeting thoughts of you ran through my
mind. There were the memories of our short but intense time together. What had happened that
had left me standing in the cold with this old man? Why was it that I was here while you were
back there, surrounded by warmth and happiness?
"There! There!" the old man cried triumphantly, interrupting my thoughts. As the last image of
you left my mind, I looked up and saw what he was pointing at. I tried to find whatever it was that
he was gesturing at, but as I searched the darkness I could see nothing. For one brief instant, all
faith in this man vaporised into thin air, leaving me turning against this old man for dragging me
away from the warmth of the fire and into the cold, windy night.
"What is it? What’s there?" I shouted. It was now hard to hear anything but the howling wind
and the crashing waves.
"Just one more second," he said patiently. I waited for a minute and then there was a sudden and
blinding flash of light. After the light flash had disappeared into the night, it was replaced by a
circular beam of light coming from the sky. My eyes began to adjust to the light, leaving spots of
red and green blurring my vision. I could now see the vague outline of a large vessel in the direct
path of the light.
"What’s that?" I asked.
"Voyager 39. Obviously they haven’t worked out that the other Voyagers haven’t returned home
yet." He laughed heartily and continued his commentary. "The Voyager is set to dock in the
Bermuda Quay, but, as you can tell, there are some unforeseen delays."
"What’s happening? What’s going on?" I demanded.
"Just watch. You will see for yourself."
I watched incredulously as the ship began to pick up speed across the water. I could image the
panic and mayhem taking place on board Voyager 39, people screaming and yelling orders, all of
which would be ignored or lost against the wind. As the Voyager cruised desperately across the
vast and empty sea, the light followed it with amazing precision. The ship was now going at full
speed, but it didn’t look like it was actually going anywhere to me. It seemed that the light was
somehow preventing the ship from moving further across the sea.
"What’s going on?" I asked for the millionth time. I could feel the Voyager’s desperation as
the ship tried valiantly to escape the light’s grasp.
"The ship can not move. It’s stuck." The man explained. "You see, that light is known as the
Zyburd Illumination. It hunts the Bermuda Triangle by night and takes all the crafts that pass into
its region. Planes, boats, UFO, you name it, Zyburd takes it. Just watch if you don’t believe me."
My eyes were transfixed on the bright light which was now directly above the Voyager 39. The
boat was going round in circles, like a compass that was underneath a magnet. I could see the
light fading and glowing again, each time it brightened it blinded me momentarily. The ship left
the water and began to hover a metre or two above the water’s surface. The light became brighter
than it had ever been before and I shielded my eyes against the light. From what little vision I had
untainted, I could see the faint outline of the ship, now high in the night sky. For a second, I was
unable to look away, this tremendous and horrific even sustaining my attention, appealing to my
morbid fascination. The ship was spinning around faster than the naked eye could trace, leaving a
blurry image in the lit sky. I watched as the ship vanished into thin air and the light dissolved
away.
I could see the dots of blue, green and orange imprinted onto my vision, but through the colours
I realised that I could no longer see the ship. My mind was spinning as fast as the ship had been
and I began to wonder if it had all been a dream.
I stood there dazed and confused, still half-blind from the light, still dazzled by what I had just
witnessed. Everything was too strange for my mind to comprehend and as a result it was refusing
to believe what I knew I had seen. As the night became as dark and as still as it had been before,
I started to piece together the little bits of information I knew about the so-called Zyburd
Illumination.
"So what exactly is that thing?" I asked.
"Zyburd? It’s one of the three dorrways ." He responded, his voice quiet and steady.
"Dorrway? What’s a dorrway?"
"The three dorrways known to man at this point in time are Zyburd Illumination, GBH,
otherwise known as the Great Black Hole in Zaire and Dorrway, the first of the dorrways.
Dorrway is not anything like Zyburd though, it’s only an entrance to the molten core of the Earth.
You see there are only three dorrways so far. One going into the Earth, one that transports objects
to places in the Earth and the third is the mightiest of all. The third dorrway is Zyburd and it’s
the entrance into another dimension. Only a few know of it, I am one, of course, and now you are
one as well."
"But what exactly does Zyburd do?" he had managed to get my full attention and now I wanted
to know everything he could tell me about Zyburd.
"Do you not see it? It takes all crafts, planes, boats, whatever, and it transports them up, past
the Earth’s atmosphere, past the Heavens and into the Fourth Dimension. This dimension is called
Zyburd, hence the name Zyburd Illumination. The ancient tribe of Zy believed that this holy and
sacred place was where the Earth had begun and as a price, the God of the Earth could take the
chosen ones into the Fourth Dimension. The tribe members of Zy believed that nothing could
vanish without a trace and being as religious as they were they believed this story. It was on a
cold and windy night when they saw what you saw tonight. This lead them to believe the God’s
story."
"So Zy is like an entrance, to Zyburd, the Fourth Dimension." I said cautiously.
"Exactly right. But it’s not an entrance, it’s a dorrway. Be careful what you say, they can
hear you everywhere you go." He looked up nervously as if he expected someone or something to
descend from the sky and take him away. I followed his gaze and saw that the clouds were
gathering again.
When I looked back at him, he was trembling, but not from fear. I could have sworn that this
old man was shivering from an adrenalin rush, something that someone of his age should not
experience. I watched the clouds as they cluttered together faster than I had ever seen clouds
move before, until there was a mass of cloud blocking out the entire night sky. When I looked
straight up into the sky, I could tell that something was in the clouds, waiting.
As we stood there, it was like we were frozen into place. As much as I wanted to move, I knew
that I couldn’t and even if I could I knew that I wouldn’t. My mind racing with hyperactive
thoughts, none of which were being registered to my body, which remained still. The most
desperate of my thoughts were the ones that told me to run away from whatever it was that was
coming onto me now. Although this seemed like a reasonable thing to ask of myself, but at that
place in time, it just seemed foolish and cowardly. So I stood there as the wind howled around
me, feeling the elements push me about indecisively.
The old man who had brought me here had long since disappeared. I gathered that he had left
long before the clouds had started to clutter above us. I was now as completely alone as I had
ever been in my life, deserted in a place that has only seen the desperate and the running. Now
all that remained in the darkness was me and the raging force that was beginning to surround my
body. It felt as if it was taking little pieces of me and tearing me apart.
I watched as the clouds began to split in the middle of the perfect circle they had formed,
revealing a tiny speck of the dark night sky. As I stood there transfixed, the speck of blackness
started to glow an eerie whitish colour. I strained my neck to see what was happening as the sky
brightened with unbelievable intensity, my eyes unshielded against the vicious attack that the light
brought upon them. I could feel myself rising up into the air, my body weight turning into
weightlessness as I progressed higher and higher.
As I rose up into the sky, I could see the water below me where the light reflected off the
surface and bounced into the night, making shadows appear on the land where they had not been
before. I tried to look around me and found that I was frozen in place again, unable to move or
restrain the forces that were taking me away.
The rise up was over in less than a minute. Ascending into the sky, I found myself without
thoughts or worries. For once, I was unburdened by the problems of life on Earth, left in a state of
pure thought, where I could be anything and I could do anything. As I rose above even the clouds
themselves, I could feel the cold air against my skin, but I could not feel the cold in my bones.
Whatever it was that was taking me, it was also protecting me from everything that wanted to
harm me. When I was above the clouds, I could see the Heavens, or so they were called. Little
miniature angels pranced through the clouds, laughing and smiling at me as I passed. I could
vaguely hear them whispering, talking about me, a chosen one.
I try to wave at them as I ascend into a New World, but find that I am still frozen into place. I
look around this New World as I rise up to ground level. All around me are people working hard
in gardens. This new place is not very populated and the few people that are here are as happy
and joyful as the angels in the Heavens. I find that I can move as my feet touch the ground. As I
begin to walk through the lush green grass, I realise that not only can I move, I can feel again.
I walk for what seems like ages, but I never seem to get tired.
As I walk, I feel happy again, and engulfed in joy and warmth. These are the people I have
never met, yet they make me feel so welcome anyway. As I approach a small town at the bottom
of a small, green hill, I can see people lining the street to greet me. They look at me in awe
as I come closer.
I stand in the middle of the street not knowing what to say and an old man who greatly
resembles the old man I met on Earth comes to me and takes my hand. He leads me through the
winding pathways and sits me on a rock next to him. The people have followed us and we sit in
the middle of their human circle. The old man looks at me as if he is examining me and speaks
strange words which I can not understand. He straightens his back and sits as tall as an old
man can and begins to speak
"You have made it. You had a good journey, yes?"
"I guess so," I reply.
"Very good. Well, it is time you know my name. I am Zy, leader of the ancient tribe of Zy."
He left me to ponder over this last confession and stood to join the circle. One by one, they
approach me, their smiles full of joy and hope. I sit there and wait for them to come to me
and to serve me. One by one, they take my hand and offer words of gratitude and wish me luck
for my new life here. And one by one, they repeat the same words as they move away to some
greater and better place. Welcome to Zy...
With the darkness engulfing me, I crept towards the empty campsite. With my torch in one hand,
the other guiding the way, I squirmed under the low, thorny bushes, my skin feeling like it was
being scratched and clawed from the bone. I finally slithered out from the undergrowth with a sigh
of relief, feeling the cool night air soothing my aggravated, filthy skin.
Keeping low, I moved stealthily towards what had been the campfire. Even in the darkness of
the night, I could see the remnants of burned wood and ash which had been hurriedly swept away.
I knew that someone had been here recently, the only results from my extensive watch of this
place and I wondered how long it would be before they returned.
I gathered some cut firewood and placed them in a pile where the old fire had been. Using one
of my few matches, I lit the wood and sat back to soak in the warmth and brightness of the fire. I
had been on the run for a week now and this was the first time I had felt remotely safe. After a
short while, I reluctantly rose from my resting place and walked back towards the bush to retrieve
my tattered back pack. Inside my pack, I had some water, survival equipment and some scraps of
food. I pulled out some of the food and sat back down next the fire again. I ate ravenously, it was
the first meal that I’d had all day. After I had finished, I regretted yet again that I had declined
those offers of food.
As I began to realise just how alone I am in this world, I also began to wonder what had
happened to the people that had set their camp here. What terrible abnormality had overcome
these unknown, yet familiar people so that that they were not able to return to their camp tonight?
All material which appears on this page is written by Maelyn Koo.
Copyright by Maelyn Koo - Monday March 23, 1998
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