Chapter 1 - The Grand Festival

The Grand Festival

 

 

 “Even the faintest light illuminates brightly in darkest of times.” A piercing whisper came through the thick layer of darkness.

            Taeryn’s eyes flashed open.

She was standing.

She tried to see where she was but she was surrounded by complete darkness. Panic started to overwhelm her. Even in the darkest of nights she had never witnessed such darkness.

            She tried to feel around with her hands, “Help! I can’t see anything!”

The whisper continued, “Try to create light.”

Taeryn did not know what the eerie whisper meant yet she frantically began to search around for anything that could create light. She continued searching for a few minutes then, once she could not bare the darkness anymore, fell to her knees and began crying.

Suddenly the darkness around her melted and fell to the floor.

She was in an endless room, which was so white that it hurt her eyes.

Taeryn decided to find an exit but when she took a step forward she felt a strange oily substance beneath her.

The darkness had taken a physical form and slowly began to climb onto her foot.

Again the whisper said, “Try to create light!”

“I can’t.” She whimpered as she felt the cold of the corporeal darkness.

It climbed onto her legs.

“But you must.” The whisper said.

“I don’t know what to do!” Taeryn said through sobs, breathing heavily. The darkness had engulfed her up to her stomach now.

“The only way to vanquish lightlessness is to believe and have a tiny flicker of pure light. With true faith that tiny flicker of light will burn brightly and shine for the whole world to see.” The whisper explained.

The darkness had made its way up to her neck and was making its way towards her face. Taeryn started to breathe erratically, her eyes opened wide and she tried to focus on the source of the whisper, but it seemed to be coming from all around her.

The darkness had now covered her completely.

Taeryn’s muffled screams could be heard from beneath the thick oily substance that had once been untouchable darkness.

            “Be prepared! They will come for you today!” The sharp whisper said loudly.

            Taeryn quickly sat up in her bed. The sunlight seeped in through her bedroom window. She was very happy to see light again.

Faint music could be heard in the distance.

When she placed her hands on her cheeks she felt the tears. Taeryn realized that she had actually been crying because of the strange dream.

She wiped away her tears.

Her attention went to the music in the distance and she remembered that the Grand Festival had begun in the Kingdom of Voanir.

            “Taeryn!” Tefenet, her mother, called out from the kitchen.

            Taeryn ran down the stairs and greeted her mother with a big, excited smile.

            Tefenet smiled back and said, “Happy Birthday, Taeryn.”

            Taeryn’s smile grew even wider, as if she was expecting to see a gift.

“Could you please peel all the potatoes in the backyard and bring them in?” Tefenet requested.

            Taeryn was confused, “Potatoes? Are we not celebrating my birthday at the Grand…are we not going to the Grand Festival?”

            “The Grand Festival?” Tefenet said, “No, the Grand Festival is not as exciting as people will make you believe. Anyway, we do not have money to pay for the entry fee…”

            Tefenet stopped talking when she saw her daughter’s sad face, “I understand you’re excited that you just turned eight and an eight year old girl should be enjoying the Grand Festival, but I really need you here.”

            She knelt in front of Taeryn and gently squeezed her arms, “I promise to take you to the next Grand Festival.”

            “The next one? The Grand Festival only happens every ten years!” Taeryn protested.

            “I know, but before you know it you will wonder where those ten years went.” Tefenet smiled.

            Taeryn frowned as her mother kissed her on the forehead, “I’m sorry, but I really need your help at home. Can you promise me that you will not go to the Grand Festival today?”

            Taeryn smiled, “So I could go tomorrow?”

            “No…I’m sorry. I need you at home all week.” Tefenet replied.

            “But the Grand Festival is done in a week.” Taeryn whined.

            “I will take you next time…” She looked at Taeryn’s face and continued, “Can you promise me that you will not go to the Grand Festival at all this week and stay home with me?”

            Taeryn hesitated and finally said, “…I promise.”

            “I have your word?” Tefenet asked sternly.

            “Yes.” Taeryn replied.

            “Good.” She kissed Taeryn again and said, “Now, I will be preparing all your favorite meals, and I got you a big cake…you can invite those mischievous friends of yours.”

            Taeryn walked away and grumbled, “What’s the point when I can’t even go to the Grand Festival?”

            Taeryn went into the backyard and saw the mountain of potatoes that were waiting for her. She grumbled some more then sat down and began to peel the potatoes.

            Taeryn had been peeling potatoes for a very long time but had only managed to get halfway through the mountain of potatoes that her mother had left for her. The music from the Grand Festival continued to play and was gradually getting louder. Taeryn thought that this was probably the worst torture anyone could give an eight year old.

            She angrily threw the freshly peeled potato into the overflowing bucket and began to peel another one.

A few more agonizing minutes passed until a tiny pebble hit her in the head. Taeryn let out a yell and looked up.

Kosey and Olam were hanging from her backyard wall and looking at her.

            Taeryn’s frown quickly changed when she saw her friends.

            “Hey, Happy Birthday…what are you doing?” Olam asked her. Olam was a chubby, four year old boy and always followed Kosey around. Kosey was ten and was much taller and stronger for a boy his age. He was also very handsome, according to Taeryn, and she had a secret crush on him. Kosey was an orphan with no living relatives, yet he managed to survive fairly well.

“What does it look like? Peeling potatoes.” Taeryn replied.

            “Peeling potatoes…looks interesting…alright, lets go.” Kosey said.

            “Let’s go? Where are we going?” Taeryn asked.

            “Where do you think? The Grand Festival!” Olam shouted excitedly.

            “Quiet… I’m not allowed to go.” Taeryn told them.

            “Not allowed to go? Why not?” Olam asked as he lowered his voice.

            “My mother doesn’t want me to go…at all. She said I could go next time.” She explained to them.

            “Next time? You do know that the next one happens in ten years?” Kosey asked her.

            “Of course I know that.” She replied.

            “Oh alright then, see you later.” Olam said and began to struggle off the wall until he noticed that Kosey had not moved at all.

            “So? Let’s go.” Kosey said to her again.

            “But I’m not allowed.” She repeated.

            “Like I said. So? Just sneak out.” Kosey told her.

            “But her mother told her not to go.” Olam spoke on Taeryn’s behalf.

            “Yes, and she doesn’t want me to go to the festival for the whole week.” Taeryn explained.

            “So basically until the Grand Festival ends?” Kosey asked with a smirk.

            “Yes.” Taeryn replied.

            “This festival only happens once in ten years. It’s a huge thing, and you must go so you don’t regret it later in life… also it’s not like you turn eight everyday.” Kosey rationalized.

            “I know, but I can not, mother is guarding the front door.” She said, peeking at her mother, who was humming while she set the table with all kinds of delicious meals.

            Kosey looked at Olam and smiled, then he put his hand towards Taeryn and said, “Come on then.”

            Taeryn contemplated for a moment as she looked at Kosey’s extended arm. Before she could say anything he asked her, “What is she going to do? Kill you? What’s the worst that could happen? The Grand Festival only happens once in ten years. Trust me, its amazing and well worth it, a few hours of your mother’s lecture is nothing compared to the amazing and wonderful sights you will witness tonight.”

            Another reason why Taeryn had a secret crush on Kosey was because of his power of convincing. She took a hold of his hand and was quickly pulled over the wall.

 

            The three children made their way to the main streets of the City of Tenorac. The streets looked moderately empty. Taeryn assumed that the streets were probably empty because everyone was at the Grand Festival, and she was right. She thought that the only people not wanting to go to the festival would be ones with major issues… people like her mother.

            “I have a bad feeling…” Taeryn mumbled.

            “Bad feeling? Why?” Olam asked.

            “Like I shouldn’t be going to the Grand Festival.” Taeryn replied.

            “Not go to the Grand Festival? Don’t be silly.” Kosey turned around to look Taeryn in the eyes.

            Taeryn returned his gaze and was about to reply when an animal’s call startled her. Not far from them stood a noym. It was chewing grass and nonchalantly looking at Taeryn.

            “That over there, my friends, is a four-humped Noym.” Kosey said with a smile.

            “Well yes, we can see that.” Olam replied.

            “That Noym is your special birthday ride and our transport to the Grand Festival.” Kosey’s smile grew wider.

            “It is?” Taeryn asked excitedly.

            “Yes it is.” Kosey affirmed.

            “How can you afford that?” Taeryn asked.

            “Don’t you worry your little head about that? Come on, you get to sit first.” Kosey replied and gently pushed Taeryn onto the unenthusiastic noym.

            Olam knew exactly how Kosey had acquired the noym. The two boys had stolen it, from the sleeping merchant at the local market place in Tenorac, just a few minutes ago.

 

            Taeryn tried to suppress the guilty feeling of disobeying her mother so she could enjoy the Grand Festival as the noym left the gates of Tenorac. She was tired of looking at the same boring clay houses piled on top of each other; she thought that the houses looked like a badly constructed stairway. The poor citizens of Tenorac, which were many, lived in houses that were attached to each other, the city kept making new houses on top of the old ones every time a new lower class family emerged, and the city gave each house a huge terrace so that the poor could look at the richer part of Tenorac in awe or gaze at Voanir, the magnificent kingdom of the Evalinierr. If looking at these two wonderful sights got too depressing for the poor they could always look at the view in the other direction, which was where the never-ending desert resided.

            The desert was so vast that it almost covered one-third of their world, Eoj. The other lands and races of Eoj had begun to refer to the desert as ‘The Endless Desert’.

            This desert was so immense and so very dangerous that many races did not venture into it. 

            Taeryn’s city, Tenorac, was so close to the desert that the other races called it ‘The Edge of the Desert’. Actually the only race that called this city Tenorac was its citizens. Tenorac was almost entirely populated by the Umanthi race. 

            Taeryn and her friends sometimes wandered into the middle and the upper class districts of the city, usually to dream about the life they never had and hoped to someday be successful enough to make it their life.

            “Alright, I would suggest that you two hold on because this is going to be a bumpy ride.” Kosey warned before he pulled on the noym’s leash to make it go faster.

            After about twenty-five minutes of traveling the three children arrived at the magnificent Kingdom of Voanir.

            Kosey jumped off the noym and helped Taeryn off.

            “Olam, what are you doing?” Kosey shouted to him, Olam had stayed on the noym thinking he was going to be helped off the noym as well.

            “Nothing.” Olam said sheepishly and struggled to get off the animal.

            Kosey and Taeryn started to walk towards the gates of Voanir. The huge gates were so intricately designed that they put the city gates of Tenorac to shame.

            “What about the noym?” Olam called out.

            “What about the noym?” Kosey asked.

            “Well, we can’t just leave it here. We have to return it to the merchant we stole….” Olam said, who quickly regretted opening his mouth.

            “Stole? What do you mean?” Taeryn asked Olam, who’s gaze fell to the ground.

            She then looked at Kosey who said, “We ‘borrowed’ it from the merchant.”

            “Borrowed? Did you steal it?” Taeryn asked loudly.

            “No! Borrowed. We were going to give it back!” Kosey shouted defensively.

            “Borrowing without asking is considered stealing.” Taeryn continued in her loud tone.

            “Shut up. You‘re such a goody-two-shoes.” Kosey grumbled, giving Olam a dirty look, and went to tie the noym’s leash to a pole next to the wall.

            “Someone could steal it for here! It’s not right to leave it here!” Taeryn yelled.

            “You should not be talking about what’s right or not. You just disobeyed your mother’s direct order… Anyway, why would anyone steal it when there are so many better animals tied next to it? Now, come on.” Kosey said and ran towards the gate.

Olam followed and Taeryn grudgingly ran behind the two boys.

“Alright, before you yell at us again let me just tell you that we don’t have tickets for the Grand Festival.” Kosey told Taeryn as she approached them.

“What?” Taeryn said.

“Relax! We have a way of getting in though.” Kosey explained.

Taeryn folded her arms and began to tap her feet impatiently.

“We have a plan. Olam is going to get us in since he is the cutest one in our group.” Kosey smiled and pointed at Olam.

On cue, Olam began to cry out loudly and started calling for his mother. Kosey placed his arm around Olam then grabbed Taeryn’s wrist and walked towards the two Evalinierr soldiers that were guarding the gates of Voanir.

The Evalinierr soldiers wore shiny, golden armor with red markings.

“Please let us through, he has lost his mother! She is inside!” Kosey said to the guards.

“Where are your tickets?” The guard on the left asked Olam.

In response Olam began to cry louder.

“Our mothers have the tickets, and they are inside!” Kosey said with his best impersonation of a panicked young boy.

“How did you get out…?” The guard was about to finish asking when the Evalinierr on the right interjected and said, “Your mothers are inside?”

“Yes.” Kosey, Olam and Taeryn said in unison.

“Then go quickly little children. Go and be with your mothers!” The guard on the right said dramatically

The three of them ran through the gate without wasting another minute.

“Why did you let them through? Now they think that they are very clever for fooling us.” The guard on the left frowned.

“They are only children… look like poor children, let them enjoy the festival. And you have to give them credit for thinking that they could try to fool Evalinierr soldiers.” The other said smiling.

“I do not think children need help thinking that they are smarter than adults. Especially Umanthi children, who think they are smarter than everyone.” The guard on the left replied.

The guard on the right simply sighed in response.

 

Taeryn was welcomed by tumultuous celebration as she entered through the gates. A large crowd was bustling around the entrance. Many Evalinierr gave the three children a big, warm smile. Some tipped their hats to them.

Taeryn saw Evalinierr that were not wearing armor and saw how elegant and attractive the race was. She noticed the beautiful eyes of the race. Their irises were not round like the Umanthi’s, and the Evalinierrs’ irises had two slits, one at the top and one at the bottom. The Evalinierr had many different colored eyes; red, yellow, green, purple, blue.

Hundreds of lights were decorated beautifully all around the area and many Evalinierr were dancing. The happiness in this place was contagious and Taeryn began to smile widely.

“The festival looks amazing.” Taeryn said to her friends.

“The festival?” Kosey said.

“We haven’t even got to the festival yet.” Olam laughed, “The festival grounds are beyond the bridge.”

Taeryn looked at a bridge that extended over a huge river, which flowed through the Evalinierr kingdom. It was a very large and spacious bridge with a roof, which was intricately designed, just like the Evalinierr gate. The soft, blue lights inside and on top of the bridge made it look very magical, just like everything else in the Kingdom of Voanir.

“It’s so beautiful, and it gets even more beautiful as you get closer and closer.” Olam said aloud.

“It is, isn’t it?” Taeryn responded and looked at the boys with a smile on her face. The smile quickly vanished when she realized that they were not talking about the same thing.

            Further away from the bridge was an enormous sculpture of a beautiful female Evalinierr; the female was almost naked. The sculpture stood over the river, right at the edge where the river connected to the ocean. The Sculpture’s legs were slightly apart under which ships sailed. Her arms were stretched forward and floating atop her hands was a ball of energy, which was glowing brightly.

            Taeryn angrily looked at the boys. They simply stood there with their mouths opened.

            “It is truly beautiful.” Kosey said to Olam.

            Standing beside Taeryn was an older Evalinierr, he was also looking at the two boys and he said angrily, “The nakedness of that female Evalinierr represents freedom and the glowing sphere in her hands represents purity. So you Umanthi should show some respect and move on.”

            Taeryn grabbed both the boys’ arms and pulled them towards the bridge, “What is wrong with you two? Don’t you get enough ogling when you see her from your houses everyday? You guys are always embarrassing me.”

            “They should not put a giant naked lady in the middle of their city if they are so easily offended.” Kosey laughed.

            Olam continued to look at the sculpture until Taeryn smacked him on the back of his head.

            Taeryn, Olam and Kosey walked through the amazingly crafted bridge. She appreciated every small detail the bridge constructors had spent to create.

Six bearded creatures were walking towards them, they where only a few inches taller than Taeryn. They had strange skin complexions; some of them were different shades of orange and some were different shades of green. Their eyes were similar to the Evalinierr.

            Olam grabbed Kosey and Taeryn and pushed them out of the creatures’ way.

            “What?” Kosey shouted.

            “Shhh! They’re the Tejrek…they’re a very angry race and my father has always told me to never anger them.” Olam explained when the Tejrek were further away from them.

            Taeryn did notice the deep wrinkles the Tejrek had on their forehead from frowning so much, which did not even seem to go away even when they where smiling or laughing, and that they did rarely.

            “They don’t look so scary, look at them. They’re so short.” Kosey said.

            “Don’t let their height fool you. They are very strong.” Olam said as they continued to walk.

            The music was a lot more comprehensible now that they had entered the kingdom. Taeryn had never witnessed such a large gathering. The three children had to force their way through the tightly accumulated crowd. It was very difficult for them to see anything because there were so many tall races blocking their way. Taeryn theorized that this was how the Tejrek must feel and wondered if that was the reason they were angry all the time.

            Kosey was leading in the front; trying to find an opening so that they could see the festivities. One good thing about being a small child was that you could easily walk all the way to the front of a crowd without getting anybody annoyed.

            They finally pushed through the crowd and where amazed to see the sights before them.

The first thing that Taeryn noticed was a stage with six female Evalinierr dressed in beautiful clothing, and they were dancing gracefully. Taeryn thought that it was the most beautiful dance she had ever seen. She had never witnessed dancing being done this way, the Umanthi simply hopped up and down while they moved their hands and legs in different positions, and their hopping did not stop until the music stopped.

Taeryn was enjoying the performance when Kosey grabbed her arm and said, “This is so boring, let’s go.”

They soon came across some strange bird-like creatures that were performing amazing tricks with fire, as well as illusionary and mental trickery. They were basically fooling people to give away their money. The other races did not mind since the Oon did not charge much to perform tricks and it was all in good fun. The Oons had games that no one had a chance of winning unless they wanted you to win. Simply participating in the games was fun for the crowd rather than winning. The Oons dressed in colorful clothings, which were very badly color coordinated. Taeryn would have thought that they looked like cute birds if they were not so tall.

            She walked past an Oon’s booth and the owner excitedly said, “Hey, what are you good-looking Umanthi up to? Come here and try you luck!”

“We don’t have any money.” Kosey said in an annoyed tone.

“Sure you do, tell you what, I usually give one ball for one Shigil but I could give you two for the price of one. All you have to do is knock down the bottles.” The Oon offered.

 “Don’t bother. We really don’t have any money. We are from the poor district in Tenorac.” Olam quickly said in an equally annoyed tone as Kosey’s.

“Poor District?” The Oon looked shocked. He then turned to his side and ignored the three children as if they did not exist anymore.

All the other Oons in their booths had begun to completely ignore them as well. Taeryn realized that these must be the greedy Oons that Kosey and Olam always talked about.

“Stupid Oons.” Kosey said angrily once they had walked away from the booths. As he was looking at the Oons angrily he failed to watch where he was walking and bumped into a large tree. The tree was shaped like a person.

            “Oh hey, watch where you are going. You could get hurt.” The tree said with a big smile.

            Even though the tree was smiling, the three children were scared and quickly took a few steps back. As they stepped back they noticed that an Evalinierr walked up to the tree and said “Six Vayas, please.”

            The tree looked at the Evalinierr for a second and then the money somehow appeared through the tree’s arm and into his hand. He then gave the exact amount to the Evalinierr. The Evalinierr thanked him and went on his way.

            The three children looked at each, confused.

Just then a group of Tejrek walked up to the tree and the first one turned to his companion and said, “How much do we need?”

The companion said to the tree, “Give me two Vayas and seven Shigils.”

The tree looked at the Tejrek for a few seconds and then gave the money she had asked for.

 “That thing is just giving away money.” Kosey said with a smile.

            “I don’t think so.” Taeryn replied.

            “Yes, just watch.” Kosey said. He walked up to the tree and said, “Twenty Vayas.”

            The tree looked at Kosey and got confused, “Are you giving?”

            “…No.” Kosey said.

            “How can you receive without giving anything?” The tree asked.

            “Huh?” Kosey scratched him head.

            Taeryn walked up to the tree and said, “I’m sorry but we saw you giving money to the others and thought we would ask you for some also.”

            At hearing this the tree laughed out loud, “I do not just give money away.”

            “I told you this tree person didn’t just give money away.” Taeryn told Kosey.

            “We are called Ushrianos, and my name is Wavybark Rootthumber. If you give us your treasures and money we take care of it for you, so you do not have to carry huge amounts of money with you when you travel, or if you just want us to keep your money safe. Let’s say you give me money to keep safe for you, then when you travel to another part of the world you could go to any Ushriano and get your money.” Wavybark explained to her.

            “How would that tree know how much money I gave the other…Ushriano?” Taeryn asked.

“Young lady, we Ushrianos have great memory and remember all of our clients, and the Ushriano in the other part of the world will know who you are or how much money is yours because we are all connected to each other through the earth. We are connected through every part of Eoj.” Wavybark explained further.

            “Why would anyone want to give their money to these things? They could steal it.” Kosey mumbled to Olam.

            “That is because we are very trustworthy, and the common treasures of all the races in Eoj do not appeal to us…plus we are very, very strong and one Ushriano can secure someone’s money better that fifty armed soldiers.” Wavybark said angrily.

            “I apologize for him…” Taeryn quickly said and inquired, “So anyone can use this great deed the Ushrianos provide?” Taeryn inquired.

            “Yes.” He answered.

            “Well then, how come I have never seen any near our houses?” Taeryn asked.

            “That’s because no one near our houses have any money.” Kosey laughed.

            “Yes, but what about the rich district?” Taeryn asked Wavybark who was starting to get a little irritated with all the questions.

            “It’s because rich Umanthi are greedy and do not want to part with their money. They would rather get buried with their treasures than help out the poor.” Kosey replied.

            “That’s true, but they are not as greedy as the Oons.” Olam said as he pointed at a couple of Oons standing not far from them.

            “Yes, that is true.” Kosey replied.

            The boys started to walk away from Wavybark Rootthumber. Taeryn thanked the Ushriano and ran behind Kosey and Olam. As she was running she noticed that many Ushrianos surrounded the Grand Festival area, she figured that was so it would be convenient for the races to access their money. Ushrianos only looked tree-like from up close but from far away they looked like a race that had the same body structure as the Umanthi, except for the fact that their hair was made of leaves and that they were almost twenty feet tall.

            Taeryn finally caught up to the boys and Kosey asked her, “Why were you asking that thing so many questions? It’s not like you are going to ever need them… because you’re never going to have any money. Ha, ha, ha, ha.”

Olam began to laugh as well and Taeryn simply rolled her eyes. As she was glancing through the crowd she saw a glimpse of a beautiful little child, she had pretty yellow fur and was dressed in a beautiful white dress. The child was skipping for a little while then stopped and smiled at Taeryn. Then in an instant, she disappeared into the crowd.

A strange feeling overcame Taeryn and she asked, “What race was that girl?”

“Which girl?” Olam questioned.

“The beautiful cat-like creature.” Taeryn explained.

“I don’t know. It sounds like your talking about the race of the cat goddess, Kismet.” Olam told her.

 “Kismet? What is her race called?” Taeryn asked.

“I don’t know. Why?” Olam inquired.

“I just saw a little child that looked like a cat.” Taeryn explained and suddenly a thought came to her, “What color is the goddess Kismet?”

“I don’t know, but if you have any more questions regarding gods and goddesses you should ask at the temple in Voanir.” Olam said.

Kosey was simply looking at the two of them.

“Do you know anything about them?” She asked Kosey.

“No, but I do know where the temple is.” He answered.

She waited and he pointed to a building in the distance.

“That is an enormous temple!” Taeryn was astounded.

“The Evalinierr made the temple in honor of all the gods and goddesses.” Olam said to her, “It is the only temple in all of Eoj to have all the gods and goddesses under one roof.”

 “My mother used to say that it is the safest place in all of Eoj.” Kosey told them.

Kosey and Olam walked away to continue their tour of the Grand Festival.

Taeryn was filled with a strange feeling. Staring at the temple made her genuinely happy, she ran to the two boys and grabbed their arms, “Let’s go to the temple!”

They both rejected the idea until they noticed the pleading look on Taeryn’s face. They sighed and took her to the big temple.

 

The walk to the temple took them further from the Grand Festival. It was not a very long walk but it did take them ten minutes of pushing and shoving. Once they got to the temple stairs they heard a voice from the top of the stairways, “Are you Umanthi lost?”

“No.” Kosey shouted back to an Evalinierr guard, “Our friend wanted to see the temple.”

Kosey pushed Taeryn forward, “It’s a very beautiful temple and I just wanted to look at it from the inside.”

“Sorry Umanthi, but the Hall of Pantheons is closed now, come in the morning.” The guard shouted back.

Taeryn was heartbroken and knew that after she went home she would never be allowed to go to Voanir again. She turned around and walked towards the festival grounds.

“Cheer up we will come tomorrow morning.” Kosey said to her.

“I won’t be able to. Once I go home my mother will kill me.” She replied sadly.