From Light to Dark - By Irene L. Pynn Page 0,2

didn't know how. It had been just a kid's dream. He used to imagine he'd find a better way. He'd announce his plans to the Governors. He'd be heralded as a prophet. And Balor wouldn't have to be afraid anymore.

Balor had feared the Eighteener Entrance for as long as Eref could remember. They had been raised together in the same compound by the same shepherds. From the cradle, children learned about the process.

"Young minds are fragile and give in easily to figments that overtake the soul. The Eighteener Entrance will be your passage into adulthood, when you will no longer be plagued by ideas or confusion or the desire for change," the shepherds had told them over and over.

But the years went by, and Balor and Eref watched as their friends returned from the Eighteener Entrance. They found it hard to believe this procedure was a good thing. Not one person had come back the same. In fact, no one who had been to the ceremony even remembered his own best friend.

The transformation had always horrified Balor. Eref had put his own fears on the back burner, dreaming they'd find a way to stop it. Secretly, the two of them had plotted to change the world....

The fall continued in this seemingly endless place of darkness. Maybe this was death. Perhaps the stones had killed him, after all.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he was on his way to Heaven. That was a nice thought: Heaven should be dark and quiet, just like this. If only he could stop falling.

But all at once, the soft sound of chirping met his ears.

Then something sulfuric, mingled with the sweet smell of grass and trees, trailed toward him. He sensed that solid ground might lie down there somewhere, which suddenly frightened him even more than the falling. Would he be crushed when he finally hit the bottom? If he survived the fall, what would he find at the end? New light? Creatures? People?

Danger?

Without warning, Eref crashed into what was almost definitely a treetop and tumbled downward through rough branches and twiggy bird nests. His broken bones splintered even more, and he cried out.

Though he'd clearly passed through the dark tunnel, the light never returned. He squeezed his eyes but still saw nothing. A blow from a stone must have made him blind.

The horror of that hummed through him for a second, but he couldn't let that ruin this moment. He had been given a miracle.

He was alive.

And then, all at once, it was over. Choirs of crickets and birds welcomed him to the soft ground. Eref felt wet grass beneath him, and he sobbed as he inched his fingers over it. He smelled its fragrance and imagined its bright color.

He inhaled deeply. A sharp pain shot through his chest.

Now that he had stopped dropping through open space, Eref tried to assess his injuries. It didn't feel good. He was badly hurt, worse than he'd realized.

Blood still seeped from his chest and head and legs. At least two of his ribs were smashed. His wrist felt grotesquely swollen.

He definitely hadn't landed in Heaven.

But he had ended up somewhere else. Eref laughed through his tears and pain. Somehow, he had escaped Light World.

"Hey." A quiet female voice spoke a few feet to the left of him. "Are you all right?"

"I fell," he said, staring blindly ahead. He struggled to sit upright and tried to determine where she might be standing. "I can't see."

"You're hurt." Soft fingers brushed against his chest, and Eref remembered at once that he was naked.

He reached to cover up and felt another sharp pain in his side.

"Stay still," the girl whispered. "Here. Take my cloak."

A small garment that felt as if it were made from moss and leaves fell over Eref, and with his good hand he tried to wrap it around his waist. He felt something else tickle his skin - something soft and light like thousands of silk strands blowing in the breeze. Before he could register what they were, they were gone.

"Where am I?"

"Near the Pyre," she said. "But...."

"What?"

"You can't be.... You look.... Where do you come from?" A tiny, cold hand touched his throbbing shoulder. "You aren't from here - from Dark World, are you?"

"This is Dark World?" Eref squeezed his eyes again and strained, but he couldn't see the girl. It was impossible to count the lessons he'd had in the Learning about the dangers of darkness and the savage people of Dark World.