Starfall

  Starfall

  by

  R.M. Anderson

  Starfall: Starfall Chronicles Book One

  Copyright ©2018 R.M. Anderson / Rhonda Mix Anderson

  All rights reserved. The author guarantees all contents are original and do not infringe upon the legal rights of any other person or work. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author.

  Cover design and artwork by Bythos: www.bythos.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, and events are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or entities, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.

  Dedicated to Arielle.

  May you always find the beauty and light in life, and especially, within yourself.

  Contents

  1 - Star Fall

  2 - Discovery

  3 - Questions

  4 - Leaving

  5 - Another Unprecedented Meeting

  6 - A Strange New World

  7 - Eustasia

  8 - The Center

  9 - Snorg Territory

  10 - Sandalia

  11 - Confessions

  12 - In The Jungle

  13 - The Floppersnogs

  14 - Into The Desert

  15 - Where Scorpions Dwell

  16 - Desert Dogs

  17 - Sand Trap

  18 - Into The Darkness

  19 - Abandoned

  20 - Escape

  21 - Between Worlds

  22 - Last Hope

  23 - Reflections

  24 - Until We Meet Again

  25 - Home

  Part I

  -1-

  Star Fall

  O

  n one fateful evening, two young stars named Wink and Blink chased each other around the vast night sky, spinning around in circles amid thousands of twinkling bodies of bright and radiant light.

  The Man In The Moon sat and nonchalantly watched them all, lost in his scattered thoughts about time and space. After awhile, he yawned and pulled a blanket of stardust tightly around his shoulders, curling up inside a deep crater. His eyes grew heavy and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep, completely unaware of what would come to pass during the next few moments.

  Wink was a bully. It thrilled him to pick on the younger and smaller stars. On this particular night, he chose Blink as his next victim. Glancing out of the corner of one eye, Wink noted that his mother was oblivious to his misdeeds, as usual. She was chattering on about something nonsensical to Blink's mother, so he thought the timing was perfect. Smiling mischievously to himself, he turned his attention back to Blink.

  “Take that!” He shoved the young star.

  Blink frowned. “Leave me alone. I don't want to fight with you.” He zoomed back a few paces.

  Wink laughed with delight at Blink's cowardice. “What a little starlet you are,” he sneered, proceeding to hurl himself full force once more in Blink's direction. As he crashed into Blink's shimmering body, rays of light radiated out and scattered. Blink screamed in pain, and, for a brief moment, all stars in the vicinity stopped talking and stared with both wonder and horror at the pulsing, radiating light that suddenly surrounded them.

  A terrible event then followed.

  Due to a strange force spiraling out of his control, Blink felt himself being torn – violently – from the sky.

  “Help! Help!”

  His shouts rang out loud and clear as he fell, the frantic words echoing through the galaxy. His energy faded as he spun crazily out of control. As Blink descended rapidly into the inky blackness and void below, he gazed up helplessly and watched as his twinkling brethren completely disappeared from his line of vision.

  While Blink fell into territory unknown, Wink watched with a mixture of horror and a surprising sudden, newfound sense of shame. He hung his head. For the first time in his life, he felt terrible.

  “I've caused a falling star,” he moaned, and – to add to his disgrace – his mother stared at him with disbelief and disappointment as tears streamed down her face.

  A few stars moved in to console her as she wept. The others began to whisper and dart dirty, fiery looks in Wink's direction.

  Amid all the commotion, The Man In The Moon woke up. “And what is the meaning of this?” he bellowed, rubbing the sleep from his yellowed eyes. “Why has my slumber been disturbed?!”

  All stars halted conversation and accusingly flicked their eyes over to Wink, who darted behind his mother and waited for the judgment to come.

  She nudged him forward. “It's time to pay for your crime,” she whispered harshly, forcing him out into the open to own up to what he'd done.

  Gazing up at The Man In The Moon with wide eyes, Wink cleared his throat and confessed. “I have caused a falling star,” he mumbled. “Blink is no longer with us. I'm sorry.”

  The Man In The Moon scratched his graying bearded chin and pondered the unfortunate and unexpected tragic turn of events. It was not good news. Fallen star children rarely returned. Such a thing had not happened in this corner of The Outer Space for a long time.

  After what seemed like an eternity, he shed a large golden tear. The shimmering orb trailed down his cheek and sparkled as it fell noiselessly into the black abyss below.

  “Ahhh, the sorrow of it,” he sighed. “Another of my star children, gone forever.”

  Glancing at Blink's tearful mother, he shook his head sadly. “There is only a very small hope of his return,” he said. “Another shooting star, this one gone all too soon. Too soon before his time.”

  Sighing once more, The Man In The Moon turned his attention back to the perpetrator of the crime.

  “Come now, young Wink,” he said, stretching out a long and luminous arm toward the assailant. “Come sit in a crater for an age, and think about what you have done.”

  Plucking up the star, The Man In The Moon carried Wink across a great expanse of moonscape, setting him on a lonesome crater somewhere out of sight on the dark side. There, Wink would remain to ponder his rash actions.

  As the bully star's mother turned away in embarrassment, Blink's mother wailed, her sobs echoing through the galaxy. “Not again,” she said, her heart breaking. She thought of another star she had once loved who'd been taken from her in a similar manner.

  But the Man In The Moon could offer no comfort.

  “I believe it is too late,” he said again, sadly. “Nothing can be done now.”

  With those final words, the stars joined together and formed a vast constellation of dimmed lights, bowing their heads in grief.

  -2-

  Discovery

  B

  elow the world of the mourning stars, the land of Eugladia, in the world of Veildom, was silent. Most of its inhabitants were fast asleep.

  The land was an enchanted place full of creatures humans in the Other World – also known as Earth – had never seen, and probably will never see. Eugladia was one of those places people often feel but can never quite reach – one of those worlds that exists just beyond the veiled curtain; a land people in the Other World can only dream about.

  It was a land graced with soft, undulating green hills and lush emerald valleys flowing with plants in hues all the colors of the rainbow. It was a place of clear rivers and magnificent, wondrous creatures – creatures such as the Thunderfeet – the blue skinned elephants who protected Eugladia from all intruders and harm.

  Rich, wild vegetation dotted Eugladia's hills. The hills were home to fairies and elves and gnome-like beings.

  The air in Eugladia was pure, the purest air that has ever been or ever will be – at least o
utside of Heaven. Beings much like humans inhabited Eugladia, though they had a slight resemblance to a combination of humans and giant, human-sized elves. The Eugladians were also different than humans in the sense that they tended to live completely off the land, and had never seen nor heard of a good amount of material things and matters that cause a great deal of stress in our world today. They survived solely on whatever natural resources they had – as they believed nature and The Creator intended them to live.

  The Eugladians appreciated music, art, and even had their own form of literature. They were very fond of books. They also worked and had businesses of sorts, but their jobs were simple in nature and they exchanged goods and services instead of paper money.

  Their clothing was made from natural fibers; their diet consisted mostly of fruit, nuts, vegetables, mushrooms, and fish (though some Eugladians disliked to eat fish, since the fish in that land could talk. It was, as would be expected, very difficult for one to eat a talking fish).

  As previously mentioned, on the night of Blink’s unfortunate descent, all beings and creatures below the world of the stars were fast asleep.

  Save one.

  Eugladian Radianne Timblebrooke tossed and turned in bed in her family's tree dwelling (an enormous, magnificent house carved into a massive tree) and grew frustrated with her restlessness. Not able to stand lying down any longer, she quietly crept to her window and climbed down the giant vine that waited there, easing past the winding outdoor staircase.

  When her feet hit the soft grass, she made her way through the darkness and headed to her favorite spot to do some serious thinking.

  Radianne was at an age, eighteen to be exact, when she was ready to forge her own path and find her own way. She wanted freedom. She yearned for freedom. She was tired of her mundane existence. She wanted adventure. She wanted to explore the worlds beyond Eugladia – worlds such as the Nether Lands – those mysterious places she'd heard about in tales as a child.

  Her parents and older brother often told her she should be content with where she was in life and be happy with all she had. They would spout off tedious lectures about how wonderful life was in Eugladia and how Radianne should appreciate the simpler things in life and not want to search for more.

  “Chasing the wind is foolish,” her mother would often warn her. “You need to find your happiness right here, right where you were born, with your feet firmly planted on this solid ground.”

  And yet – when her mother said such things, Radianne had the feeling she could see a far-away longing in the older woman's eyes. As if, once upon a time, her mother too had wanted to chase the wind. And had never taken the chance.

  Radianne told herself she wasn't about to let such a tragedy happen to her.

  “Well I'll sure have the chance.” She said the words out loud and matter-of-factly, narrowing her green eyes as she walked, vowing she would one day leave life as she knew it behind and explore all that lay out there beyond Eugladia's borders.

  Chasing the wind sounded very exciting, she thought. She would not be afraid to take the chance her mother had never taken.

  As she crossed the swaying bridge that hung precariously over the laughing river, she sucked in a breath, waiting for the giggling to start. Thankfully, the noisy waters seemed to be asleep at the moment. She was glad. She didn't feel like dealing with the river's obnoxious laughter on an already restless and irritable night.

  Once she was safely on the other side of the bridge, she followed the uneven stone path to her special spot.

  The tiny pond was hidden in the middle of tall golden grasses, grasses that were at that moment cast in a glowing hue in the shadow of moonlight. The spot was always a welcome retreat when Radianne wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

  Something which had been happening more frequently as of late…

  She brushed her long, light brown hair away from her eyes and sat down on the comfortably well-worn large gray thinking boulder. Tilting her head back, her eyes looked to the sky as they usually did, admiring the stars.

  “How peculiar,” she said out loud, noting that something about them seemed different that night. “They seem a bit dimmer somehow.”

  The wind picked up as she said the words, and she shivered in the darkness. The night was silent. It became too silent after awhile.

  For eighteen years she had lived the same monotonous life. A mundane life, in the same village, doing the same things, seeing the same people, having the same friends. There had to be more out there.

  She supposed she should be grateful. Her parents owned a Wimbly fruit tree orchard and business (a pear like nothing you've ever tasted) and they provided the best and most delicious fruit around. It really was something to be proud of. And her brother Leiden was very happy to do nothing more with his life than help out with the fruit tree farm. She wished she could be more like him. But she couldn't. There was no getting around it. She needed something more.

  Her eyes continued to search the stars and she thought about the world above, its vastness and mystery. She wondered what secrets the stars held, what they knew that she didn't. They were so beautiful, scattered up there like holes punched through the blackness – as if revealing a diamond light within.

  “How lovely it would be to be a star,” she whispered. “To see far past Eugladia and to look down at all the other worlds… to shine light into the darkness. To be something beautiful and hopeful for people to look up to and admire. To see all the worlds beyond and below…”

  Sighing again, she kicked at a pebble near her foot and continued to brood over the lack of intrigue and adventure in her life.

  Just the same boring routine, year after year…

  “It is who I am becoming,” she muttered, with an air of despair. “I am also growing boring and uninspired.”

  Though, she thought suddenly, she would never admit it to anyone, but there was the occasional excitement when the Snorgs attempted to raid Eugladia.

  The tribe of giant, evil trolls loved to attack villages at night. But their attempts to take over Eugladia always failed. Though their raids in other lands were rumored to be growing more violent, the infrequent raids in Eugladia never lasted long because the Thunderfeet would come stomping along and chase the Snorgs away, scattering them instantly. The Snorgs deeply feared elephants.

  Radianne despised the foul trolls, who smelled even worse than the stink melons they sometimes threw. There were talks of late that the trolls were growing in power and utilizing new and dangerous weaponry, but Radianne found such tales hard to believe. If the whispers were true, however, it would be something to stay on alert for… remembering the last Snorg attack, she became so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the rustling at first.

  A crunching sound in the bush behind her startled her out of her thinking. Eyes opened wide, she stood up and turned toward the sound. She stared at the shaking shrub, wondering what evil would emerge. Would it be a fiendish Snorg? Clenching her fists, she prepared to fight.

  “Who's there?!” she demanded.

  A little blonde head popped out. Tiny red lips broke into a huge grin. “What are you doing up and about at this hour?”

  Radianne relaxed. It was only her friend, Piri. The fairy jumped out of the bush and she returned the smile.

  “Are you doing that dangerous thing you call 'thinking' again?” Piri asked, fluttering a few feet in front of Radianne's nose.

  Radianne sheepishly smiled. “More or less,” she said, as Piri came to a rest on her knee. The pixie knew her too well.

  The fairy's little blue dress sparkled in the moonlight as her translucent blue wings fluttered softly behind her. “Is there any way I can help?”

  Radianne smiled again and shook her head slowly. No one could help her but herself, and she wasn't even remotely capable of understanding herself at the moment. "I think I just need some adventure in my life.”

  The fairy laughed. “An adventure? Don't you have enough adventure every da
y? Just the other day, Frink chased you around non-stop, declaring his undying devotion to you. Isn't that enough adventure in itself?”

  Radianne waved her hand dismissively. Frink was arrogant and thought he was much wiser than his eighteen years. He claimed he had visited many lands, lands beyond her “wildest dreams.”

  He said he would be more than happy to show them to her. If she'd be his forever.

  As if that would happen, Radianne thought.

  Though he chased her around all day, every day, Radianne desperately tried to avoid Frink. He was a tall, dark Eugladian whom other women her age found very handsome and charming, but she found quite annoying. She wanted to explore other lands all right, but on her own.

  All on her own.

  “Frink thinks he knows it all,” she sniffed. “But I find him quite obnoxious, actually.”

  Piri sighed. “I wish I could get Maiz to chase me around like that.”

  Maiz was Piri's love interest – a handsome, red-headed fairy that she'd long ago developed romantic feelings for. Unfortunately, Maiz was also very wild at heart and not looking to be tamed by any one fairy anytime soon.

  Radianne was just about to tell Piri what a great couple she thought she and Maiz would make, if only she could tame his fiery spirit, when a sudden flash of white light exploded in the near distance.

  “I wonder what that is?” She pointed to the blinding light pulsating on the ground through a clearing in the trees up ahead.

  Piri shrugged, squinting her eyes. “Hard to say.”

  “Let's go see. Come on.” Radianne stood up and ran off into a thicket of brush.

  Piri fluttered quickly behind.

  The two soon came to a stop at the site of where the blinding light had fallen, in the meadow grasses of the clearing. There, on a bed of smoldering grass, lay a brightly glowing thing.

  Radianne nervously walked toward the strange object as Piri lingered cautiously behind her. Crouching low, Radianne took a closer look. As she examined the glowing thing, she couldn't believe her eyes. A memory flared to life. Recalling a picture book she'd seen as a child, she knew without a doubt that what was there on the grass before her was a star.