The World Without: Last Days of the Koonung

By Glenn Ric

Last Days of the Koonung is a rip roaring, fast paced adventure characterized by evocative imagery, positive values and original themes.
Appealing to the imagination of readers aged 8 to 12, the story is set on Melbourne’s urban fringe where nature and city collide. It is here that Adam and Tom are persuaded by Adam’s older brother to climb the gigantic tree that grows in Edgars Valley. Unknowingly they cross the Gateway into the fourth dimension, ‘The World Without’, a beautiful land where the power of
life is richer and greater than anything that exists in our world.
However, a decade’s long conflict rages between the long suffering Marou and tormented Fras who were recreated as lesser beings during the Diminishing; a catastrophic event brought on by Adam’s father when he was a boy. The Diminishing has left the Fras deformed and the Marou lessened in power and stature.
The boys soon learn that the Fras have found one of the lost Life Elements which imbue extraordinary powers upon the holder. While the Marou seek the Elements in the hope of being restored, the Fras are filled with hate, intent on regaining the Elements and taking their revenge on the boy’s father, his family and the Marou.

‘For young readers, the rapidly evolving story and energetic writing is designed to sustain the narrative, from daring beginning to climactic end.'

‘Last days of the Koonung is about the adventurous spirit of pre-adolescence when reality and fantasy overlap, as make-believe games, exploring and climbing trees become extraordinary.’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glenn Ric
• Release date: May 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9780994299710

Glenn Ric

Glenn Schaube (Pen name Glenn Ric) is an established writer and author of corporate and government documents and publications. He is the proprietor of GRS Communications a boutique multi-award winning public relations and marketing communications agency.‘The World Without—Last Days of the Koonung’ was inspired by the games of his children, and events of his own childhood while playing by the local Koonung Creek in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Glenn set out to write one book involving activities, games and events that occupied the lives of his children in the hope of inspiring them to read.‘Last Days of the Koonung’ is part 1 of the ‘World Without’ trilogy involving:‘The World Without—Last days of the Koonung’‘The World Without—A world in peril’‘The World Without—Rise of the Fras’

Book preview

Paperback available through GRS Communications/publishing www.grscom.com.au

Contents

Introduction

About the Author

Preface

Chapter 1 Half way or all the way

Chapter 2 Riddles and hints

Chapter 3 Dragons and boulders

Chapter 4 One way in and no way out

Chapter 5 The Little Big Man

Chapter 6 A promise and a threat

Chapter 7 Boys will be boys

Chapter 8 The best laid plans

Chapter 9 Ambushed

Chapter 10 Revenge of Septus

Chapter 11 The substitute

Chapter 12 Vandals and neighbours

Chapter 13 Answers and more questions

Chapter 14 Lessons and urgent errands

Chapter 15 Sods, spuds and spouts

Chapter 16 Cracks in the facades

Chapter 17 Spies in the dark

Chapter 18 The secrets of the Sassafras

Chapter 19 With the benefit of foresight

Chapter 20 Silver storm

Chapter 21 Flight into darkness

Chapter 22 Teeth and claws

Chapter 23 A safe place to hide

Chapter 24 A piece of weathered glass

Other books by Glenn Ric

A snippet of ‘The World Without-A land in Peril’

Other books published by GRS Communications

Connect with Glenn Ric

Introduction

Persuaded by Adam’s older brother Mason, Adam and Tom climb the gigantic tree that grows in the bush of Edgars Valley. Unknowingly they cross the Gateway into the fourth dimension, ‘The World Without’, a beautiful place where the power of life is richer and greater than anything that exists in our world.

However, a decade’s long conflict rages between the long-suffering Marou and the tormented Fras who were recreated as lesser beings during the Diminishing, a catastrophic event brought on by Adam and Mason’s father when he was a boy. The Fras see him as the Destroyers of their world because the Diminishing destroyed their home and altered all life in the ‘World Without’ leaving the Fras deformed and the Marou barren of children. The Marou are steadfast and face their fate in the hope of being restored to their former selves. The Fras are filled with hate and seek revenge against the Marou, the boys and their father.

In Part 1, ‘Last Days of the Koonung’, Adam and Tom discover the power of this new world and learn that the Fras have found one of the Seven Life Elements lost in the Diminishing. The Elements imbue extraordinary power upon the holder. Although some of their power has remained with the Marou and Fras, it too has been diminished. The Marou seek the Elements in the hope of being restored. However, the Fras are intent on regaining the Elements to exact their revenge against the Destroyer and his family. Through fate and circumstance, the boys discover their power and help the Marou in their quest to overcome the Fras before they use the power of the Element to destroy their world.

About the Author

Glenn Schaube (Pen name Glenn Ric) is an established writer and author of corporate and government documents and publications. He is the proprietor of GRS Communications boutique a multi-award winning public relations and marketing communications agency.

‘The World Without—Last Days of the Koonung’ was inspired by the games of his children, and events of his own childhood while playing by the local Koonung Creek in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Glenn set out to write one book involving activities, games and events that occupied the lives of his children in the hope of inspiring them to read.

‘Last Days of the Koonung’ is part 1 of the ‘World Without’ trilogy involving:

‘The World Without—Last days of the Koonung’

‘The World Without—A world in peril’

‘The World Without—Rise of the Fras’

Preface

If your kids are like ours, the only thing they want to do is play. Play outside; play with each other, play online or on their phones and game consoles.

And if you’re a typical parent like us you desperately want them to do well and be happy, so combined with jobs, mortgages, relationships, and looking after kids it’s a double time, hectic life. Like many parents we spent every night reading to the kids or encouraging them to read for themselves. We read them stories by great authors like C.S. Lewis, ‘Chronicles of Narnia’; Emily Rhoda’s ‘Deltora Quests’ (the box set), J. R. R Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit, The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling and a host of others.

Bottom line, it seemed to make little difference. They just were not readers. They just wanted to run, play, eat and sleep. Typical boys! But here is the kicker. Our boys loved fantasy. They played a game they called Mixed-up Made-up. Basically, it’s a game of pretend. They talked about the plots, scenes and roles at school, and when they got home they made costumes and props and played out their make believe adventures for hours.

So we got involved; not so far as playing, but in talking about the stories and the people in them. Under the instruction of our boys, my wife made an array of costumes from Greek mythology, space heroes, wizards, and monsters. I helped then make swords, light sabres and staffs, bows and arrows and sling shots, which we were told were crucial to a particular game we honestly didn’t quite understand.

Now you are probably thinking how did all this get them to read? Well it inspired me to write a fantasy adventure novel. Maybe I was influenced by all the books we read to the kids, but I tried to write something totally unique, with new characters and Australian themes.

I wrote a book about boys, their adventures, and the things in their lives they were interested in. I printed two pages per sheet on the home printer, which incorporated the kid’s illustrations throughout the chapters. Then I guillotined them into single pages and bound the whole thing with glue. And guess what? They read it! And, not only did they read it; they went outside and re-enacted the stories, even quoting the characters in the book word for word.

That was in 2006. Since then I’ve written two sequels, which bring the whole series of adventures to their final conclusion. But let me say this. Kids can be brutally honest, and it can be very confronting to have kids as critics, especially if you write for a living as I do. I’m a corporate writer, but writing a novel, a kid’s novel, is nothing like writing press releases, marketing documents or ministerial briefings.

Here we are, nine years and twenty edits later, it’s now 2015 and I’m launching the first one of the three novels, ‘The World Without—Last Days of the Koonung’ a book by Glenn Ric.

So if you have kids between the ages of 8 and 14, ‘The World Without – Last Days of the Koonung’ may capture their interest. It’s written for them, so I hope it encourages them to keep reading, imagining and developing their own creativity.

Chapter 1 Half way or all the way

'Come on you two,' calls Mason.

'In a minute!' replies Adam, peering up at his brother.

'If he can do it, so can we,’ says Tom, as he puts his foot in a large knot of the tree, leans forward and jumps. Grabbing the lowest branch, he swings his legs up, hooks them over behind the knee, and then pulls his body up into a sitting position. He smiles at Adam, his bright green eyes shining with nervous excitement.

Adam kicks the dried seedpods that lie around the base of the big tree. He gazes up at Tom. 'Imagine if you fell!'

'Adam, you’d be dead.'

The boys giggle nervously.

No-one could blame Adam for being scared; calling this tree big is an understatement. When it comes to trees, imagine the tallest tree you have ever seen; I mean, think ginormous. Think gigantic and enormous at the same time, and you will begin to understand just how big the tree is. Across the base, the trunk is as wide as three cars parked side-by-side and it towers over every other tree that grows in Edgars Valley.

Adam watches Mason climb even higher and tries very hard to imagine himself doing it too. The December sun shines brightly. Wattlebirds squawk in the nearby wattle trees where the last remnants of bright yellow spring flowers still cling to the foliage. Adam looks up at Tom again, 'Okay, this time I’m doing it.' He grabs the lowest branch, swings his legs up, and joins Tom. Then, with butterflies in their stomachs, the boys are on their way to the top. Mason is already out of sight. He calls to them. 'Are you coming or not?'

'In a minute!' Adam replies. Big brothers, what a pain he thinks, but keeps climbing after Mason. Neither Adam nor Tom speaks. The next handhold or foothold is their only thought. Tom sees Mason through the leaves above: 'Gee, look how high he is already. He’s not scared at all.'

An image of falling through the branches appears in Adam’s head. He feels sick. 'He’s just a show off.' he says, but keeps climbing doggedly. Grabbing another branch, he pulls himself higher, conquering one branch after another.

Tom follows along behind. 'Mason told me he’s not afraid of anything when he wears that cloak. He said if we wore our old cloaks we wouldn’t be afraid either.'

'Well it’s not working on me.'

The cloaks are part of costumes they used to wear when they played a game called 'Mixed-up Made-up' years before. In Mixed-up Made-up you could pretend to be anything you wanted. Mason’s cloak is cut in the shape of a lion’s skin. The mane drapes over his shoulders and the cloak hangs down his back. Mason loves his cloak and even now that he has grown out of playing the game, he will not let Adam wear it. Mason had grown taller, but strangely it still falls to his ankles.

'What kind of tree is this anyway?' asks Tom as he struggles to find the next foothold.

'Mum says it’s a Bunya Bunya pine from New South Wales.'

'They should call it a prickly prickly pine.'

As far as tree climbing goes, Bunya Bunya pines are difficult and not just anyone can do it. The rough bark and prickly leaves stick into you, scratch your hands, and snag your clothes. Why and how it came to grow in Victoria is anyone’s guess, but for some reason it is thriving here. To the boys it is just ‘the BIG tree’.

Mason disappears again, hidden by the thick foliage. They climb after him.

'We might feel like him when we get to the top,' says Tom.

'What like a show off?' says Adam.

They laugh. 'No, I’m serious. He has done it so many times; it must be easy for him.'

'Where are you?' calls Mason.

Adam looks up and sees his brother. 'Here! Where are you?'

'Waiting up here—like forever!'

'Very funny.'

As best friends, Adam and Tom do everything together. People often think they are brothers. Some people even mistake them as non-identical twins. When this happens they think it fun to play along. Both are a little bigger than the average eleven-year-old. Adam is slightly heavier than Tom. He has a big round chest and strong legs. His dad says he could be a rugby player. Tom has a slighter build. When Tom smiles his broad mouth takes up half his face, which makes his chiseled chin stick out. At school, their teacher often sits them on opposite sides of the room because their jokes have the class in an uproar. They are not laughing now though.

When they reach Mason, he is crouching on a branch like a bird. Shortly after he turned twelve, Mason grew and grew. His hazel green eyes, dark brown hair and strong chin give him a manly face. Mason is also uncommonly confident for his age and people think he must be closer to fifteen than thirteen. He smiles at his younger brother who sits beside him. Adam holds a branch above his head and says, 'This is as far as I’ve ever climbed'.

Mason smiles again. 'Just don’t look down and you’ll be alright.'

'How will that stop us from falling?' asks Tom who is resting on a lower rung of branches with his head level with Adam’s feet.

'You can’t fall through that,' says Mason pointing through the branches. They see that the branches radiate around the trunk and nearly block any direct view to the ground. It really does give them the feeling that they cannot fall far without landing on another branch. For a moment, Adam feels safe and glances further down, catching a glimpse of the ground. That is a mistake. They are already much higher than he expects. The roof of the house is far below them now. He feels a jolt of fear, and clutches the branch desperately. Adam’s heart pumps faster and his stomach churns. Adam is afraid of heights. 'Mason, I’m not going any higher,' he blurts.

'It’s alright,' says Mason reassuringly. 'There is no way you can fall though the branches.'

'How do you know, have you ever fallen?'

'No, but I’ve climbed to the top hundreds of times.'

'Oh, big deal!'

'Adam, it’s not that hard and my hideout is at the top.'

'Don’t lie.'

'I’m not lying,' says Mason, but he does not want to argue. He and Adam often argue, as brothers do, and he knows that if Adam gets really angry, he will refuse to go any further and nothing will change his mind.

'Come on Tom, let’s go back,' says Adam.

'Okay, if you really want to.'

'Wait,' says Mason. 'I know you can’t see the hideout from the ground, but it’s up there. I built it and made it safe. I promise.'

Adam does not reply. He looks at his brother. Mason already has some of the gawky features that teenagers get when their noses grow, and their faces get longer. He remembers Mason borrowing their dad’s hammer. Mason said he was building a hideout in the tree and took some old planks and beams to use. That was the great thing about growing up by the bush. The boys had freedom to do things you could not do living in the suburbs or playing a computer game. Things like exploring the bush and creek in Edgars Valley. Their dad had said that Edgars Creek is like the Koonung Creek where he grew up before the bulldozers came and built a freeway from the city.

'Come on Adam. You made it half way; you may as well go all the way.'

'Just leave me alone Mason!'

'Think of how good you will feel when you get to the top.'

'Just be quiet.' Adam is almost shouting. Mason bites his tongue and keeps quiet. Adam really is scared but he does not want to give up, especially if Tom is going to do it. They sit in silence for some time, until Mason says, 'Are you coming or not?'

'Yes, just shut up or I’m going back,' says Adam but clenching his teeth, he grabs the next branch with trembling hands, and cautiously follows Mason.

If you have ever climbed a tree below someone else, you would know that the climber above you loosens bark and dirt which falls into your eyes when you look up. The only way to avoid dirt getting in your eyes is to keep your face turned down. That means you can only take a quick glance for a secure handhold followed by a blind grab and step up to the next branch. For Adam and Tom below, it is like climbing with their eyes closed. Every move is uncertain and they feel as if they might fall at any moment. 'This is harder than I thought,' says Tom. Climbing below Adam and Mason, small bits of bark are falling on him constantly.

'Didn’t I tell you,' says Adam.

'How are we ever going to get down?'

'Don’t ask!'

On and up they climb. Tom glances at the ground through the foliage; his hand shoots out to clutch the nearest branch. Adam sees the fright on his face. He is not sure why, but knowing that Tom is scared too makes him feel better about his own fears. He keeps following Mason, trying not to look at the ground again. He is breathing heavily and his heart pounds in his chest. His hands and arms ache and his knees bleed where the bark scrapes the skin through his long pants. Tom is in a similar state and calls for Mason to stop. Adam settles on a branch and, of course, he cannot help but glance at the ground again. Wow! He feels dizzy. The fear of falling comes over him again and his hands and knees shake. He hangs on as tightly as he can and the whites of his knuckles show. 'Mason, I’m going back!' he shouts.

'Adam, it’s alright. We’re nearly at the top,' replies Mason.

Adam’s eyes well up in tears. 'Look how high we are! Why did I ever let you talk me into climbing this tree? I don’t want to see the top. I just want to get down NOW!'

'It’s alright,' repeats Mason.

'That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t fall off the back veranda. You didn’t go to hospital with a fractured skull, I did!' shouts Adam. Cautiously, he turns to climb back down. Mason tries to stop him, but his foot slips in the attempt and, with a gasp, he falls.

'Mason!' screams Adam in sheer terror. Mason falls fast. Adam sees the horror on Mason’s face. Their eyes meet. All sound stops. He is level with Tom. Then Mason stops falling. He has grabbed a branch with one hand. His weight pulls on his arm and he swings wildly, but hanging on for dear life he does not let go. He dangles in the air, high above the ground, kicking his legs desperately, trying to get a foothold, but the nearest branch is just out of reach. 'Help me Adam!' he yells.

Adam is too high and too frightened to move. An image of his own fall from the verandah flashes into his mind. He was lucky, but if Mason fell to the ground from up here! Wide-eyed, Tom stares at Mason. Their eyes meet. Mason speaks calmly now, all sound of panic or desperation is gone from his voice. 'Tom, grab my foot, help me get a hold.'

'Tom, help him!' cries Adam.

Trembling all over, Tom leans out unsteadily with one arm extended. He takes hold of Mason’s foot and steers it to a solid branch. With just a toehold, Mason lurches towards the trunk and at the same time lets go of the branch he is hanging on to. He falls forward, into the trunk and into safety. 'Thanks,' he says, relieved. Then seeing the fright on the faces of Tom and Adam, he forces a smile and says: 'See! I told you! You can’t fall if you are wearing these cloaks.'

'Sure Mason! You are so lucky,' replies Adam.

Mason climbs back up and sits next to Adam.

'This is for monkeys. We should go back,' says Tom.

Mason stands up while hanging on with one hand. 'We should have worn monkey suits for climbing.' He jumps up and down like some crazy chimpanzee on television. He pulls a ridiculous face, bares his teeth, and at the top of his voice, makes stupid monkey sounds. 'OO OO AH AH EE EE EEE'. It looks so funny and dangerous at the same time that they start laughing. The spell of fear is broken. Their laughter fades and they sit there, high up in the branches, with smiles on their faces, looking out across the valley.

After a while Adam says, 'Can you really see the city?'

'Yes and the whole valley too.'

'How much further is it?'

'Not very; but then there is one difficult spot.'

'How difficult?'