On Gryphon's Wings: Kings of the Magical Realm

By T. C. Portier

A trip to Egypt turns fatal for Cody and Alex. After spending thirty years in London, fleeing their homeland, a secret that was kept for years is revealed to their son Titus. Strange events occur that fill their simple lives with danger, and dark forces rally to strike against them. But hope is kindled as they reunite with old friends. However, their reunion is greeted with tragic news from home surrounding Codys family.

Cody and Alex are forced to leave behind their lives in London and embark of a new journey to embrace a new destinyone filled with many changes and challenges. Their first challenge: the defeat of Persiam, the demon of fear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Oct 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781452575896

T. C. Portier

T. C. has loved fantasy since he was young. He grew up reading books, watching television shows and movies that revolved around this genre. At West Coast Baptist College, he took writing courses while majoring in biblical studies.  He lives in Columbus, Georgia, working as a drama and music teacher for a local performance school and is involved with the music ministry of Grace Baptist Church of Columbus, Georgia.

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On Gryphon’s

Wings

Kings of the Magical Realm

T. C. Portier

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Copyright © 2013 T. C. Portier.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-7588-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-7590-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-7589-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013910354

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/25/2013

CONTENTS

Chapter One: Alex’s Insomnia

Chapter Two: Alex’s First Dream

Chapter Three: The Head Of Research

Chapter Four: Busy Day In London

Chapter Five: The Camelot Exhibit

Chapter Six: The Truth Of The Magical Realm

Chapter Seven: The Leader Of The North

Chapter Eight: Life As We Know It

Chapter Nine: The Reoccurring Dream

Chapter Ten: Diggers Or Divers

Chapter Eleven: Flight To Alexandria

Chapter Twelve: Mishap At Sea

Chapter Thirteen: The Pyramids Of El Kurru

Chapter Fourteen: The Conduct Of War

Chapter Fifteen: The Sounding Of The Charge

Chapter Sixteen: The Guardians

Chapter Seventeen: Tobias Returns

Chapter Eighteen: Battle In El-Kurru

Chapter Nineteen: The Heir Of Gittaria

Chapter Twenty: Going Home

Chapter Twenty-One: The Secrets Of The Griffin Family

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Gittarian Banquet

Chapter Twenty-Three: Understanding

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Wizard’s Fear

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Journey To The Karsadan

Chapter Twenty-Six: Discussion Of The Treaty

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Deception Of Lastan

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Capture Of Darius

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Mystery Revealed

Chapter Thirty: The Elder’s Foresight

Chapter Thirty-One: Attack On The Manor

Chapter Thirty-Two: Persiam’s Hand

Chapter Thirty-Three: Destruction Of The Manor

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Might Of Elyon

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Gateway To Kalgenia

Acknowledgement

For my mom who allowed me to explore my imagination,

Linda McDonald who has been my encourager in the writing process,

Bessie Barrick my amazing editor,

Mr. McCormick my high school history and science teacher who thought me to think,

Dr. Jeffery Amsbaugh my former pastor who thought me how to think,

And Pastor Jeremy Rands, my current pastor, for believing this could happen.

JUDE 1:25 (KJV)

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

CHAPTER ONE

ALEX’S INSOMNIA

W hy does a king take up his sword against his enemies? When blood is spilled and shields are shattered, is there a cause? Does purpose ever exist in the heat of battle? Can peace only be brought about with the piercing of armor? Is there any meaning to all this? What is the purpose of a life that ends, drowning in a sea of war? And if there is, then why do men go through with it? What makes an evil man evil? How did this evil in their heart come to be? Was there reason?

These questions plagued the Griffin house in the early hours of the morning. It was October 14, 1998. On this chilly autumn night the crescent moon peeped through the clouds, looking out over the tall oak trees of the hillside. A long narrow road ran up the hill to the front of one of London’s historic manor houses, a house that had not been occupied since the dark ages until the late 1960’s. It still stood there in the hills, perfectly preserved and modified, over the past decade. And on this night, all the lights in the manor were out, except the light in the study. There on the third floor of this Victorian estate, light shone through the cracked curtains.

The study on the third floor was lined wall to wall with bookshelves. Each shelf was a myriad assortment of books ranging from fiction to nonfiction—books about everything from biographies of famous leaders to the classical works of Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens. Maps rolled into scrolls stood in tall boxes. Even a globe stood tall next to the large desk near the window.

There at that desk, dressed in her nightgown and wrapped in her robe, stood a beautiful brunette of average height named Alex. Alex, though she appeared to be in her twenties, was fifty years of age. Alex lived there in the manor with her husband Cody for twenty-seven years. Cody had inherited the manor and house from a close friend, after they were married. The house, which once stood as a historical monument for all of London, quickly became a home to Alex and Cody. And of all the rooms in the house, the study was used the most. At any hour of the day, either Alex or Cody could be found there at the desk researching the history of their latest find.

As archaeologists, they were a part of a section of a large researching team from the London Museum. Over the years, Alex and Cody had completed a number of excursions. They had traveled all over the globe, seeing a number of different places from the Mayan temples to down deep in the heart of Madagascar. To see the world in this light brought thrill and excitement to both Alex and Cody. The chance to take one more excursion together was probably the one thing that kept their marriage stable.

Perhaps it was the thrill of adventure that kept Alex awake on this night. She could not sleep. And she did not know why. A warm cup of her favorite tea sat on a polished wooden coaster close to her on the desk. The top of the desk was covered with books, printed copies of document from the internet, and roll after roll of maps. Books that the desk couldn’t hold were stacked on each side of the desk with pages bent and bookmark ribbons hanging from them.

There was such excitement within Alex that she couldn’t even sit down. She paced back and forth behind the chair of the desk with a book in her hands, scanning through a few pages. Every once in a while, she would stop her pacing, pick up her tea, take a sip, and then continue. This went on for a couple hours. Every twenty minutes or so, Alex would leave the study to either get another cup of tea or run to the bathroom.

She read feverishly the history of the great Cleopatra. She read of her as the pharaoh of Egypt. She read of her love story with Anthony, both in the historical documents and even Shakespeare’s play. Alex saw Cleopatra as a woman of power and importance to the Egyptians and as a woman men feared, primarily the Romans. And the more she read the more she was intrigued by Cleopatra’s story.

Over the years of her young adult life, Alex grew to love history. She loved it mainly because history was like a study of people. No matter what time period she studied, she found that people are just as fickle then as now. She found that the lust for dominance, power, fame, and wealth was true of every century. Though many professors had tried to tell her throughout her years in college that people were naturally good-natured and were only corrupted by a materialistic abundance, Alex knew the truth. Materials cannot corrupt a man’s soul, unless the soul itself was already corrupted. Money was not the root of all evil, the love of it was. The desire to have more was the evil. And every page of human history was the basis of her argument.

After reading for several hours, Alex arrived at to one conclusion: the Roman feared Cleopatra primarily because she was the one woman who could contend with their proud empire.

Alex believed, just as she was taught her whole life, that there is a basic truth to everything in this life. She was taught that every time the sun rises and sets, there was a reason. There is a reason why the flower blooms in the spring and fade in the winter, why a clear blue sky stands behind a cloud of rain during the storm. There is a reason and a purpose. And behind these reasons was a lesson to be learned.

Alex remembered one powerful lesson from history: those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it. She saw history as a broken record—how it constantly repeated itself over and over, how brothers killed one another for power, how fathers were betrayed and beguiled by their children. The corruption and destruction of their families were only a precursor to their fallen empires. At least that was true of the Romans.

As Alex turned in her pacing, she caught a glimpse of the mantle clock out of the corner of her eye. She stopped her pacing and looked up at the old clock that hung above the door of the study. It was three o’clock in the morning. The sun was not even awake yet. But Alex was. In fact every night at this exact hour, Alex found her mind awake. Her eyes were bloodshot and had bags under them. The lack of sleep was clearly seen all over her face. But Alex dared not sleep a wink; she kept her mind and body busy.

She reached to pick up her cup of tea. As she lifted the mug from the coaster, she soon realized it was empty again. And once more, Alex placed her ring finger between the pages of her book to hold her place and left for the kitchen.

The hallway was dark that night, but she didn’t want to turn the hall light on for fear that she would awaken her husband, who was fast asleep in their bedroom. She was careful not to make any noise in the hallway, where many wooden statues stood, all placed for decorative reasons by request of Cody. Alex was lucky enough not to stub her toe on any of those accursed statues, as she walked down the hall slowly making it to the stairs which plunged three flights to a hall leading to the kitchen on the first floor. She hurried down them so she can make her tea and return to her studies as quickly as possible.

Despite her insomnia, a lot needed to be done before tomorrow morning. She could have completed most of it earlier that day, but due to the fact that her husband procrastinated on some last-minute details, she was delayed in her work. Alex wondered how her husband was ever going to complete a dig excursion in the heat of the deserts with no diggers. No boarding passes had been obtained. No flights to Egypt had been arranged. Alex discovered trying to get all that done in one afternoon was a complete nightmare.

These thoughts lingered in her head as she entered the kitchen. She was at least thankful that she did get it all squared away and no cancellation had to occur, much to Alex’s chagrin.

She went back upstairs with her hot tea in one hand and book in the other. She walked down the hallway on the third floor, on her way back to the study. As she did, she passed by her bedroom and saw that the door was open. She looked inside and found her husband was gone. She figured maybe he had gotten up to go to the bathroom and would return to bed in a moment. She hoped that, with all her moving about during the night, she hadn’t awakened him.

As Alex got closer to the study, she heard the rustling of paper and the flipping of pages. Alex knew right off that someone was in the study. She peeked inside the door and saw Cody standing there in his pajama pants and gray t-shirt.

With his back to the door Alex noticed how the light in the study reflected off his light brown hair so beautifully. He was flipping through the books and skimming over the papers on the desk, trying to get an idea of what his wife was doing. And to his trained, analytical eye, it appeared that she had been doing research all night.

Did I wake you? she finally asked.

Cody turned away from the desk and looked toward the door. In height, Cody was only a couple of inches taller than Alex. And just as his wife, Cody had a youthful appeal to his dashing good looks, despite his age of fifty-two. No, he said, I was just wondering if my wife was coming back to bed.

Alex walked briskly back over to the desk. I can’t just yet.

And why can’t you?

Well, there’s so much to do before tomorrow. A lot of research still needs to be done.

The diggers are in place. The flight plans have been made. What else needs to be done? All we’re doing is digging and poking our noses around inside some old pyramids, right?

The diggers are in place and the flight plans are made. But how do you know where to start looking for those pyramids, if I don’t find out where they are?

Fair enough, Cody held up his hands in surrender.

Alex placed the book she was holding on the desk and sat down in the chair, pulling it closer to the desk. She took a sip of her tea and went back to reading.

Cody took a seat in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk and sat there and watched Alex for a moment. He saw that her eyes were red and tired, that her face had no trace of makeup, and that she looked as if she had not slept in days. And she hadn’t. For the past several weeks, Alex had started waking up in the middle of the night and wandering through the house. And she had become unbelievably touchy. Cody remembered that he had forgotten about the diggers’ flight arrangements, and that, when he told Alex, she screamed her head off at him. He had never seen her like that before. Something had to be wrong, though he didn’t know exactly what. What was keeping her from sleep? What was making her so restless?

Cody thought it might have to do with all the stress she was under. Alex had recently been put in charge of heading up the research for a brand new exhibit in the museum in London where they worked. It was an exhibit depicting the times of Ancient Egypt. Alex had thought that Cleopatra would be perfect to start with, but she needed to take a research team to Egypt to explore the tombs of Cleopatra. Naturally, she chose her husband and his team.

This was the first time Alex had done anything like this—she was in charge of something. Normally, she would sit back and let her husband take the lead, but this time was different. She chose the subject. She chose the location. This was her project. This was a task that she was not naturally adept to.

Alex was always the type of person who always did things because they needed to be done. She acted like a servant would. She would be given an order and she would follow through with it to until it was done. Alex made it her mission to never let anyone down. She never thought of herself as anything of importance. Now a much bigger weight was on her shoulders, and she wanted desperately to do the best job she could.

Cody continued to watch her from the chair. He watched as she pressed her fingers against the sides of her head, and as her face grew even more tired. Alex, I’m sorry about the diggers. My mind slipped, he said, hoping to bring some comfort to her already conflicted mind.

Don’t worry about it, she said sighing. She looked up at him finally, and got up from the desk and went over to him and sat in his lap. She wrapped her arms gently around him and leaned her head against his. She felt her husband embrace her in those strong arms he used to dig with. Whenever she felt that embrace, a sense of stability came to her mind. In the arms of her husband, Alex felt that she can finally think rationally. It’s not about the diggers. It’s this whole project.

I know, Cody said gently, rubbing her arms.

If this thing fails, I’ll be the one to blame. And that’s the whole reason why I yelled at you today. I just want this exhibit to be my best work. This may be the only life we have left.

Wait a second, since when have you ever let anyone down?

I’m just saying, Cody.

No. You have never and you will never do a bad job. I know because you care too much about…everything.

Alex giggled a bit. Cody loved making her laugh. Anything he could do to take all the stress away from her, he’d do it, especially if he had a small role in bringing it about. The one thing that made Cody’s life worthwhile was seeing that his wife was happy, and seeing that he kept her happy, even if it meant doing silly things from time to time to bring a smile to her face. And Alex loved it when Cody made her laugh.

Alex knew it was true. Behind her will to do the best job she could was a fear that whatever she did may not be good enough. Are you sure I haven’t let anyone down? she said to Cody.

You never let me down. he said smiling. He saw Alex sigh and turn her face away toward the window. Was he just saying this to make her feel better? Just then he pulled her face back toward him. His stunning blue eyes looked straight into her beautiful hazel eyes as he said, And you have never let your son down. You were the best mother to him. Without you, that boy would not be who he is today. That much I do know.

Tears started to form in Alex’s eyes, as she thought of her son Titus. She remembered his days as a young boy. He was so full of imagination, so full of youth. The one thing he loved more than anything during his childhood were the stories Alex told him before he went to bed. It seems like only yesterday that we watched him graduate from high school, she said. And thankfully that era of his life is over.

Alex promised to do her best for Titus. She did not want him growing up with the same childhood she had. She made sure she taught him right from wrong and that there were consequences to every choice he made. A lesson not many his age would learn. But Titus did. And he witnessed an object lesson every time he walked through the doors of his school.

The poor boy suffered many harsh words in school. He was ridiculed for how he thought, mocked for his innovation, and beaten up for not being able to see eye to eye with his peers.

I remember, all right, Cody said, his face beginning to steam a little. Do you think that principal still has a restraining order against me?

The one he threatened to get, after you pinned him against his desk? Alex recalled that day.

Titus was called into the office for fighting with another boy in the hall. The other boy had pushed a girl with a handicap out of her wheelchair. When Titus saw this, he helped the girl back into her chair and chased the boy down the hall. Once Titus got hold of him, the two quarreled in the middle of the hall. Students gathered all around, egging the boys on. The ruckus caught the attention of a few faculty members. The gym teacher ran down the hall and broke up the fight, sending the two boys to the office, and Titus was sent home that day with a heavier suspension than the other boy for starting the fight.

That same night Cody returned from a long meeting with his team. Alex had already told him what happened, so Cody just wanted to congratulate his son for standing up for someone who could not defend herself. Cody went up to his son’s room, just as Titus finished showering. The boy’s back was turned to his father as Cody entered his room, and it wasn’t hard for Cody to see the bite mark on his son’s back. Not a single word was said. Titus turned around just as his father stormed out of his room.

The next thing he heard was Cody yelling downstairs. It was hard to make out what was being said, but it was obvious Cody was not happy. He went to the school the next morning and demanded to know why Titus was more severely punished for standing up for someone else, even when he was bitten by the other boy. The principal talked himself into a circle, fearful of Cody, no doubt. Full of fury, Cody grabbed the principal and slammed him on the desk. The secretary outside the office saw what was going on and called security, and in only a few minutes, security rushed in and removed Cody from the school.

As much as I wouldn’t blame him for it, I don’t think he ever got one. Alex said.

Cheeky little codger, Cody said under his breath, making Alex laugh again. He watched as her face lit up a bit more. Alex, is everything okay? I mean, really?

She looked up a bit confused. What do you mean?

Well, you haven’t been sleeping well for over month. I mean, since June you’ve gotten average of twenty-five hours of sleep a week. And that was before you got this assignment. What’s going on?

She sat there for a moment in silence and considered if she should tell him. She stood up and walked over to the window and stared out into the night sky. Her eyes locked on the moon, as a cloud rolled by unveiling it and hiding the stars. I see things in my sleep, Cody.

Like dreams? Cody asked. He arose from the chair and walked over to where Alex stood by the window and watched her face reflected in the glass.

More like nightmares, she said. I see things terrible things. Things so real and I wonder sometimes if they are.

Cody drew closer to his wife and placed his hands on her shoulders. Alex, you don’t have to be afraid of dreams.

But what if they aren’t dreams, Cody? What if they’re something more than that?

No, Alex, you can’t assume that there is some definitive reason to everything. Sometimes these things just happen. Just come back to bed.

Alex turned to him and looked into his eyes. She heard the slight bit of hesitation in his voice. He eyes danced around, hardly keeping contact with hers. What is it you are hiding?

Cody’s eyebrows arched. He was now confused. What?

I feel like you’re hiding something from me. What is it?

What could I possibly hide from you? You know I have no secrets, Alex.

She turned and walked across the room from Cody and stood near the bookshelves. On a coffee table in the center of the room, a small painting sat on a metal display painted gold. The painting was a picture of Alex leaning against a tree. That picture was painted by Cody when they went to visit one of their favorite spots—a lake in the countryside, but it was nowhere in London, nor anywhere in all of Europe. It was a place where Alex and Cody grew up as children—a place they both had to leave rather quickly, for a reason neither of them knew.

Do you know why we had to leave our homes and come to this place? Alex asked, picking up the painting and examining it carefully.

Cody sighed, No, Alex. It’s like I told you before, I don’t know. I was too young back then to understand. He grew tired every time he answered this question.

It just seems odd to me that we can never go back there, Alex said, putting down the painting back on the coffee table. We both spent so much of our lives living in a world that is completely foreign to us. Do you remember the orphanage?

Do I remember St. Andrew’s? Yes. It was a dark time for both of us, Cody said, as he thought back to those dreadful days. Never before had he endured such cruelty. He was ostracized by the other children, forced to be alone many nights, and frightened knowing that he could never see his family again. He did his best over the years to suppress the disdain he had for the place.

Alex saw the tears as they began to form in her husband’s eyes. She walked over slowly to where he stood and held him as he wept in her arms. The feeling of loss that took them both to St. Andrew’s never left Cody completely. He wept as Alex held him, soaking her robe with tears, before finally lifting his head up.

I’m sorry, he said. I’ve tried, Alex. I’ve really tried, but I can’t get over it. I’ve spent the last thirty years of my life not knowing where my family is or what became of them. The only thing I have ever tried to hide from you was the pain I feel in losing them.

I know, love, Alex said gently. I’ve heard you crying silently many times at night and I wanted to ask you what was bothering you. But I knew because it is same pain I feel. And how could I console you and give you strength, when I had none myself.

Cody sighed, looked at the clock above the door and saw that it was getting much too late. Soon it would be morning and there was so much to do before their flight to Egypt tomorrow afternoon. Just promise me one thing. Promise me you’ll put all your thoughts about these dreams behind you and come to bed, please?

Alex smiled a little and nodded. It was enough to convince Cody that she would be okay for the rest of the night, but it was not enough to convince her. As Cody left her alone in the study, Alex turned back to the window and looked out over the hillside. She listened to the sounds of the night and heard the crickets sing their song. She watched and listened as the midnight breeze blew through the trees, making an eerie sound. All seemed peaceful until a more familiar noise broke the peace. It was the hoot of an owl.

The noise startled Alex at first and it seemed to be coming from her left. She turned in that direction to see a moon owl perch itself on a branch just outside the study window.

That owl had perched on that same branch for the past three months now. Every night Alex was in the study, she had seen it there, watching her all through the night. A strange thing it was. There was no nest, no sign of any young owls being nurtured. In Alex’s mind there was no reason for the owl to be there. Why then was this owl always there? And why was it always watching her?

Alex had finally reached the point of complete exhaustion. No matter how badly she felt like she needed to stay up, her body did not have the stamina to go on. She returned each book to its proper place on the shelves, and placed the maps back in the storage box for she never wanted to leave a room untidy. Once the books were back in place and the maps were put away, she went back to bed at last.

She entered the bedroom, removing her robe and placing it on a chair near the bed and then lay down on the bed beside Cody, who was stretched out nearly covering both sides. She pulled up the covers and gently lifted his arm, laying it across her waist. She laid there on the bed and closed her eyes.

Cody felt the silk of her gown and curled up next to her, laying his head against her arm and looked up at her, relieved that she was finally getting some sleep. He hoped she stayed that way for at least the next four hours.

CHAPTER TWO

ALEX’S FIRST DREAM

D uring the night, the owl made its way to another branch on the tree and perched outside Alex’s window. It watched Alex, just as it had done every night for the past several weeks. Some nights, prior to two months ago, when Alex saw the owl following her from the study to the bedroom, she went off to sleep thinking nothing of it. But as weeks went on and she saw the same owl in the exact same place, her mind became restless, until all she could think about was the owl.

Nights of insomnia crept over Alex. Many nights were spent tossing and turning beneath her silk sheet, with her mind doing the same. Thoughts of what tomorrow might bring and thoughts of how future events might unfold looped around in her mind. Even thoughts of home could not be silenced.

Alex began thinking about home more frequently than she used to. It was the place of her childhood. It was the place where she met her husband and fell madly in love with him. She remembered the beauty and the magic of it. The place where she lived as a child was nothing like the world she lived in now. When the stress of life took hold of Alex, she remembered her home and soon an unquenchable desire to return there would come back to her—a desire she told to no one, not even her husband.

The more she thought of home, the more she dreamed of walking along the lake where she and Cody would run to in secret. She dreamed about having picnics there again by the stream and watching the robins flutter in the trees. She dreamed of the flowers and lilies growing on the bank. Those thoughts put here her at ease for a moment, but the next thing that came to Alex’s mind was full of darkness.

While she dreamed of the lake, her thoughts took her to a place beyond the reach of time and space, and shadows clouded her thoughts. The thunder rang like the smiting of a great hammer, while lightning flashed before her eyes. Then she felt her body being caught up and taken away, while she was pulled through the sky leaving the beautiful scene she often dreamt of.

Alex was taken to a large, long corridor made of stone, where the torches along the wall brought little light. The corridor ran for several feet into a cathedral as tall as an oak tree. Thick pillars towered from the entrance to the end of the corridor. Looking down, Alex saw that the floor she stood on was made of thick glass layered beneath with obscure shadows. At the end of the corridor was a tall door made of silver with unique markings on them.

Those markings spoke to Alex in a familiar way. She approached the door slowly attempting to get a better look at them. As she drew closer, she began to see the markings as a form of language. Her heart leaped in her throat when she realized what her eyes had seen—it was the language she was taught as a child, the language of her people. It was the language of her home.

Tears fell from her eyes. For thirty years Alex had been away from the place she loved. And now, here in her dream, a vivid image of what she had left behind was right in front of her. She longed to go closer and touch the door and run her fingers over the marks that were carved into it.

Midway down the corridor, Alex’s steps came to a halt. Out of her left ear, she heard the sound of a small child crying. She turned to her left and saw the child behind one of the pillars. It was a little girl about the age of seven or eight sitting against the marble pillar in a fetal position. It was obvious that fear gripped the child greatly for tears wetted her entire face and her entire body shook from the cold temperature of the room.

Alex walked slowly over the child and knelt down beside her, What’s wrong, my dear? Alex asked.

At first she thought it very odd that a child would randomly appear in a place like this, although Alex could tell the child was not lost. And even though Alex knew this was a dream, there had to be a reason for this little girl’s presence.

The little girl looked at Alex, wiping the tears from her fear filled eyes. He’s coming, she said in a whisper. For years he waited, but now he is coming. Everything you once knew, everything you once believed in, all will be threatened when he appears.

The words of the little girl were cold to the core. They sent chills up and down Alex’s spine. She stood up quickly and backed away from the little girl. What would possess a young child to say such things? The words were too mysterious to be understood and too dark for any child to utter. Alex wondered if this was all the result of her endless hours of study.

Alex felt the room grow colder, until her breath materialized in mist before her eyes. The fire that blazed from the torches suddenly died and darkness penetrated the corridor. The only reliable senses were what Alex could hear and touch. Senses are deceptive in dreams, yet Alex’s bare feet could feel the icy chill from the glass floor like standing on a frozen pond.

Alex tried to wake up from this dream. She blinked her eyes rapidly and shook her head. These had to be fabrications of some fear looming deep inside her. What fear mirrored these images? She thought for a moment and recalled none.

A rapid thumping sound came from the other end of the corridor. Alex turned her ears to the sound and listened carefully, while her heart was beating like a drum inside her chest. The thumping gradually grew louder and then became a sound Alex had not heard in years—the galloping of horses. The sound filled the corridor and was followed by the sound of crumbling stone.

Alex’s eyes were growing accustomed to the dark. As she turned her eyes toward the sound, she dimly saw a corner of the corridor crumbling. A battle axe soon poked through the stone allowing a faint glow of moonlight inside the hall. The hole grew larger as the battle axe