Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The Shortcut
Azad woke with a start.
"That dream again.." he cursed
He'd been having the same dream from time to time for as long as he could remember. The dream always seemed so vivid, like he had actually been there. The emotions; fear, helplessness, it all seemed so real like a bunch of forgotten feelings roused up once more.
He looked at his bedside clock, 7:20.
He was running late.
Azad jumped out of bed and ran for the bathroom. Five minutes later he was half running half jumping down the stairs. He made a sharp turn left even before he properly touched down on the landing.
"Easy Azad, don't injure yourself trying to make haste" a woman's voice called out.
"I've got to hurry mom, I'll miss the bus" Azad replied as he rushed for the front door.
"But it's already gone, I thought you wanted to walk to school today too"
"Lord no, my legs are all cramped up from yesterday's walk" he fumed as he now casually walked to the kitchen "Guess I've got no choice".
His mother was by the cooker turning sausages. Her pale blonde hair looked golden as it was caressed by the morning light coming in through the large windows. She was a tall woman slender woman who seemed to be in her late thirties. She was humming a tune that Azad had become quite familiar with growing up. He had once asked her what it was but her reply left him confused.
"The trumpet of beginnings and ends, time eternal".
'What could that even mean?' He remembered asking but she did not reply beyond that.
"Well it's a healthy choice anyway" his mother interrupted his thoughts, "You did say you want to buff up didn't you?"
"Yes, yes.." Azad sighed "but it seems so stressful now"
"No pain, no gain baby" she passed him a brown lunch bag and pecked him on the cheek.
"Now hurry child, I don't want anymore complaints from the principal about young master Azad Wilder"
Azad chuckled picking up his backpack then out the door he went. He crossed through the Iverson's' yard which is really a 1 acre piece of land and it never seemed fair to call it a yard; more like a field. The Iversons were an old couple in their sixties who were only around during holidays which meant the place was empty for most of the year. This 10 bedroom mansion with sprawling estate was their vacation house. Azad couldn't begin to imagine how rich they must be, though his mother was doing pretty well for herself too to be able to afford a house in the neighbourhood.
She once told him things were not this good before, but to be honest he never remembered those times. He only remembered the good part, he must have been too young to remember.
Azad walked down the Iversons' yard towards the Kreed woods. There was a shortcut through the woods that led to his school. A lot of people were usually too scared to use the woods as it is always dark and quiet even in the middle of the day. Azad walked through the woods for about ten minutes before he heard some mechanical noises. He stopped in his tracks, wondering what was happening in this usually quiet forest. He followed the sound a little off the foot path till he came across a large clearing.
He was shocked because the last time he had been to this side of the forest, there were trees and shrubs scattered all over the place but now there were only stumps and upturned roots. Men were all over the clearing, with cranes, tractors and all sorts of construction implements. Trenches had been dug up all over the work site.
Azad wondered about what was going to be built there, so he decided to get a closer look. He walked ahead marvelling so much at all the big and rare machines that he didn't see a trench ahead of him till it was too late. Azad yelled as he tripped and fell into the hole with a slight thump.
"Ouch" he exclaimed as he sat up holding his shoulder.
He placed his hand on the ground to support himself standing up but then he felt something under his right palm. It felt cold and when he moved his hands it seemed cylindrical. Most of it was under the dirt.
Azad dug it up with his bare hands pushing away the dirt and dusting it up. It looked like a long hand bracelet with a large gem at the upper section. The gem had two different colors in the form of red and purple stripes. It was obvious this was no ordinary gem, it was beautiful and the bracelet was no washover. The bracelet looked to be made up of a black metal with dull lustre, a slim gold chain hung loose from the middle of the bracelet.
'Maybe it'll fit me' he thought as he tried it on his right hand.
Suddenly bright light burst forth from the gem and everything turned white.