From Light to Dark - By Irene L. Pynn Page 0,1

heart aching, Eref stared at Balor's face, searching for an expression he recognized. A frown, a tear, even a grin. But Balor's familiar black features and soft, clear eyes had contorted into the face of a brainwashed madman. The real Balor was already dead.

The executioner was almost upon him, groaning under the weight of the boulder. This was it. A shock of fear coursed through Eref's broken body. Nothing in Light World had prepared him for dying.

Taking a shallow, shaky breath, he closed his eyes and tried to imagine he was somewhere else.

In his mind, Eref pictured the familiar, blue walls of the Learning, imagining he was back at school. He was in class right now, not at the End. Soon it would be time for lunch. He would sneak out with Balor and explore the dusty lowlands.

The vision seemed so real. On the chalkboard in his mind, letters appeared as if by magic, but they didn't spell anything. A faraway voice came to his ears - no, they were only in his mind - and they recited the sounds.

Euni wpn jgexim fim snw wpn Dfyheg wpgexjp we f inz zegsm. Euni wpn jgexim, fim snw pht dfyn xd fss oget wpn Nyhs Ohyn. Wphd hd wpn sfdw eo tb dwgnijwp. Wphd hd tb sfdw dunss.

The crowd chanted, drowning out the strange voice in his head. From a distance, their excitement could have been mistaken for a surprise birthday celebration. "Three! Two! One!"

The executioner let go. Eref braced himself. Goodbye.

But the boulder didn't crush his skull or crack his neck. It didn't even fall.

With a gurgled sound of shock, the executioner jumped backward. The crowd's cheers turned to confused gasps and awed murmurings.

The ground beneath Eref felt strange. It almost felt alive.

Eref opened his eyes and looked down.

Beneath him, a round, black hole had opened up, darker than the deepest shadow he had ever seen. It had started off as small as a pin, but it expanded rapidly. Within seconds, Eref's legs dangled down into the cool darkness, and he gripped the edges of the hole, struggling to stay above ground.

What was happening?

The teachings of Light World said that all shadows and darkness were evil. He had never seen anything so dark as this hole before. But it didn't look evil. Strangely, it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

A hideous howl came from someone in the crowd, and Eref looked up at Balor's twisted face.

Several stones crashed into Eref's eyes, and Balor shouted, "Kill him! He's going to get away! Kill him now!"

People rushed toward Eref. The executioner adjusted the boulder in his arms.

Eref's heart pounded. There was no escape. Unless....

He peered below. He tried to see what lurked in that evil, beautiful blackness.

He returned his gaze to the crowd. Certain death, rushing forward with eager faces.

Eref held his breath. He let go and dropped into the unknown.

Above, the crowd at the End grew smaller as he plummeted downward, quickly becoming just a pinpoint of light far in the distance. Even as the terror of falling flooded him, he was glad. He was out of their reach.

For a long time Eref fell in a silent panic, reaching out for something to hold onto. Everywhere, he saw nothing but blackness.

Instinct urged him to stretch his legs to stand, to grab at the air for walls, but there was nothing. Only the helpless sensation of falling.

No sound or scent reached him, either. It seemed he had dropped into a place where nothing existed. Not a barren wasteland, for there was no land. Not an empty sky, for there was no sky.

Minutes passed.

Maybe an hour.

He kept falling. He'd endured such horror already that his energy had run out. Eventually, Eref gave up fighting and let his body hang limp in the air, as a humid breeze rushed past him. The fall took on a strange, dreamlike slow-motion. It was like death: terrifying, but unchangeable.

Eref had meant for his life to be so different. What did his classmates think of him now? What about his teachers? They'd probably all expected it, he thought. He'd always been such an "unpredictable Light Boy," as his headmaster used to complain.

"You'll amount to no good," Headmaster Lesur would say. "And poor impressionable Balor. The two of you are evidence enough that the Eighteener Entrance should be performed earlier, if you ask me."

The Eighteener Entrance. Eref's goal had been to change the world, and by that he meant abolish the Eighteener Entrance. He