Dorie Daydream In the Land of Idoj - Book Three: Sphera

By Glenn Murdock

After the horrifying events of her last trip to Idoj, Dorie-Lynn is determined to be more vigilant than ever in her thoughts and actions. However, she soon realizes that in order to carry on with her mission to save the land, she must make an unimaginable personal sacrifice. It is a critical decision that she is not sure she is ready for. With surprising support from an unexpected new friend, Dorie starts to come to terms with her past and seeks to embrace her destiny. But it isn’t easy for someone who has done the unthinkable. Emerging from the deepest waters and venturing to the highest peaks of Idoj, Dorie faces an ongoing battle between her head and her heart. Uncovering more shocking truths about the evil Queen Aneleh and the world around her, Dorie's journey becomes an unending test of both her physical and mental strength. An unceasing barrage of emotions, twists and turns follow Dorie on her never-ending pursuit to unite a once peaceful and noble land...THE LAND OF IDOJ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781329959897

Book preview

Dorie Daydream

In the Land of Idoj

Book Three:  Sphera

For my family,

Jodi, Tayner, Keslen and Dorie-Lynn:

As always, you are my whole world.

And for Dan:

Your next adventure has begun.

© 2016 Glenn P. Murdock 

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-329-95989-7

Chapter 1

Reflection

As she looked at herself in the mirror, Dorie-Lynn Rothesay watched a tear steal away from her eye and roll down her cheek.  She continued staring.  Another came, and then another.  Soon, her face was lined with them, yet she didn’t break her gaze from the person staring back at her. 

After a few minutes of solemn eye contact with her own image, she slowly and thoughtfully put her hands to her face.  She drew in a deep breath and moved them away, hoping the image would change.  It didn’t.  A girl she almost didn’t recognize continued to stare back at her. 

Dorie’s reflection was something she had been trying hard to deal with since returning from Idoj.  Not only had she aged a couple of years, but every time she looked at herself, she faced the truth about her actions there.  The regret showed through her eyes and consumed her every thought.  It ate away at her soul.  Without thinking, she had single-handedly and naively destroyed so many innocent people.  As the mental burden became unbearable again, she turned away and flopped down on the bed near her.  At least she was away from it all—she was home.

Home.

Not really.

Dorie’s eyes looked around the same room she had woken up in every morning since her return.  It wasn’t home, it was Mr. Ominousa’s house.  Oliver Ominousa.  The old man who was first her custodian at St. Marguerite’s, then her link to Idoj, and now held the lonesome position of being her only friend.

Oliver Ominousa.  How she wished she’d been more prudent and talked to him before she jumped through the portal.  It might have saved her and countless others.  She knew now that he had been to Idoj, that he knew what returning would mean, and most importantly of all, that he had tried to warn her.  But being careless and impatient, she chose to rush into uncertainty, and her hastiness came at an enormous cost.  Dorie told herself that she wouldn’t let that happen again, ever.

As she lay on her bed, she let herself take comfort in it.  For the first few months after returning, her bed was all she knew because she was confined to it.  Not by force, but by circumstance.  Mr. O.—no, Mr. Ominousa—no, he was Oliver to her now—came in to take care of her until she was able to move again.  As he fed and nurtured her back to health, he told her all the things he had tried to tell her before she left the last time.  Things she should have been careful enough to find out before leaving, but deep down, she knew they wouldn’t have made a difference. 

Dorie let out a long sigh and rolled over.  Unconsciously, she smiled.  Simple things like rolling over were impossible for her during the first few weeks after returning.  Now she did them with ease, and after weeks of struggling, she could draw happiness from being able to do the things that she once took for granted.  Thinking back, the past few months still seemed so surreal to her and had been an enormous physical, emotional and mental challenge.  Accepting the reasons behind it all, as Oliver had told her, was one of the hardest things to manage.  However, his explanation was the only thing that made sense of what she had been through—the journey to Idoj, her sudden departure, discovering that she was instantly almost two years older, and being practically paralyzed.  Her emotions started to take over again.  How she wished she had listened to him earlier.  How she wished she could do it all over again.  How she wished she wasn’t responsible for so many lost lives.  Psychologically beating herself up again, she closed her eyes and started to cry softly.

There was a knock at the door.  She sat up and pulled her sleeves over her hands to wipe her eyes.  Come in, she said in a forced, even tone.  She didn’t want him to know she had been crying again.  He would think she was weak, and after everything he had been through, that was the last thing she wanted.

As he came through the door, she saw he was using a cane today, which made him seem so much older.  Time had not been kind to him, and it made Dorie sad.  Without speaking, he looked at her for a moment and studied her face.  Dorie knew that he could tell she’d been crying.  She felt ashamed.  To her, his story was far worse than hers was, even in its simplest form.  She mustered enough emotional strength to give him a smile, and he took it as an invitation to stay.  Slowly, he lowered himself to sit on the foot of her bed.

How are you? he asked.

Okay, Dorie replied, but her tone and tear-laden face said otherwise.

He smiled.  You continue to be very brave, he said thoughtfully.

Dorie flopped herself back down and sighed again.  He had told her this repeatedly since her return, but she still didn’t believe it.  She wasn’t brave—she was foolish, irresponsible and stupid.  Many other words filled her mind too, but none of them meant brave.  Brave meant you were a hero, not a murderer.  And that’s what she was—a murderer.

I know you keep telling me that, but I just don’t believe it, she said in frustration.

Oliver only smiled.  You will learn in time, he said, that being brave doesn’t always mean you’ve done the right thing.  Part of being brave means that you accept your mistakes, face their consequences, and learn from them to keep moving on.

There was an awkward silence that followed.  As he continued to stare at her with compassion, Dorie thought about the people she’d betrayed.  She thought about Nelsek, one of the two princes of Idoj.  He had trusted her to help him and the group of rebels called the ‘Dissidents’ work together to free Idoj from the reign of his mother, Queen Aneleh.  She thought of Nyleve and Kram, two of his friends in Idoj who were not only part of the Dissidents, but had come to believe that Dorie was a person who was integral to their success. 

Now what would they think of her?  She thought of Tenaj and Sardnek, the mother and daughter from Juna who had taken them in.  Was this how she repaid their generosity—by killing them both?  She grew even more solemn thinking about how she assumed she could take Sardnek with her as Juna crumbled, but when she woke back here, Sardnek was gone. She hadn’t saved her.

The silence grew more uncomfortable as Dorie closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to come.  She snapped at Oliver, asking if he had come to see her for a reason.  Although he should have been hurt by her attitude, he remained calm and simply told her he had come to check on her and make sure she was okay.

He did this every day, but today he was a little more solemn, and his eyes felt like they were piercing her soul.  He was hoping—expecting—something and she knew what it was: a decision.  She rolled away from him and put her pillow over her head.  I’m not ready yet! she told him. 

He didn’t respond at first, and Dorie moved her pillow to look at him.  He simply smiled, then cleared his throat and replied, No, you are not ready yet.  With that, he got up again and went to the door.  Looking back over his shoulder, he added softly, "But you will need to be soon…one way or another."  It was said with a sadness and resignation that Dorie hadn’t heard in his voice before.  It made her gut wrench with guilt.  He left the room as quietly as he had entered.

Dorie buried her head in her pillow and screamed in frustration.  Why was he always so understanding and presumptuous at the same time?  It was both comforting and infuriating to her, and she hated the mixed emotions that came with it.  After all, everything she had been through was his doing.  He was the one who led her to the school’s boiler room and the magic portal that brought her to Idoj—not once, but twice.  If it hadn’t been for him, she would still just be going to school and dealing daily with Felicia Vito and her gang of bullies.  If it hadn’t been for him, she would still be returning home each evening, not to her absentee parents, but her uncaring babysitter, Enise.  If it hadn’t been for him, she would never have gone to Idoj at all, and she wouldn’t have experienced the events she had.  And if it hadn’t been for him, she would be…even more miserable than she was.

For the first time since her return, Dorie admitted that even though she was devastated, she would rather have gone through what she did than have missed out on knowing Idoj and everyone she met there. That thought gave her some strength, and she sat up.  Unconsciously, she smiled again.  She was able to sit up.  A few months ago, she couldn’t even do that.   

She thought about Oliver in a nicer way now, her frustration dissolving quickly.  He’d been watching out for her, and once he found her, he nursed her back to health.  He had also given her a place to stay as she regained control of her body.  Her return from Juna wreaked unthinkable havoc on her body this time.

Time.

It was the first thing he told her about when she was laying on the boiler room floor of St. Marguerite’s.  That’s why he’d held up a mirror and forced her to look into it.  To show her the proof in her own face.  As she lay in agonizing pain and looked in the mirror, he’d explained to her that she was now almost two years older than she’d been moments ago in Idoj. He told her that was what he’d tried to tell her before she left so hastily last time.  Time in Idoj was different than time on Earth.  For every day she spent in Idoj, a couple of months passed here. 

When she returned from Idoj, her body aged to catch up with the time lost on Earth.  She aged nearly two years in a few seconds.  Her bones and body grew instantly, and her ability to use her new, older body was non-existent.  The pain from her body growing so rapidly in such a short period of time rendered her temporarily paralyzed as her brain adjusted to coping with the change.

  She had to spend months strengthening her body and re-learning to do the simplest of things.  Oliver warned her that over-exerting the newly grown muscles and bones—basically all of her body—would certainly cause permanent damage. 

After telling her about the time change, he had her look in the mirror once again.  Once he believed she understood, he moved her to his house.  Daily, he had done exercises with her—starting with moving just her fingers right up to full-body movement.  Each step had been cautious to build up her strength and make sure she didn’t hurt herself.  Eventually, under his care, she regained full control of her body.  She also became his friend.

During her recovery, she had gone through a whole range of emotions—anger, happiness, excitement, sadness, frustration, and more.  Through it all, he had been there to comfort her, help her and motivate her to succeed.  He was the parent she never really had, and even though part of her thought she should be going home, she never questioned her intrinsic need to stay with him.

Perhaps it was because his demeanour had changed from nasty custodian to caring person.  Maybe it was because he seemed to know exactly what to do in each step of her recovery.  Possibly, it was because he was the only one who wouldn’t question where she’d been or what she’d done.  But overall, Dorie knew it was because they now shared a special bond.  He was the only one ever to have been through exactly what she had.  He had been to Idoj, too.  Knowing this made Dorie’s physical and mental recovery easier, and even though their experiences were similar in many ways, she knew that Oliver’s story was far worse than hers.  She had lost a couple of years.  He had lost his whole life.

Chapter 2

Oliver’s Story

Dorie knew that she had acted inappropriately with Oliver.  He had only been checking on her, and she’d acted like a child.  She was older now, and although she didn’t feel it, she knew she would need to adjust the way she acted to match her body’s age.

She opened the door and went down the narrow hallway to the kitchen, where she found him sitting at the table reading a newspaper.  For a moment, she contemplated going back to her room and not disturbing him, but she needed to talk to him.  She needed to make things right. 

If he heard her enter, he didn’t acknowledge it.  He calmly took a sip of his tea—Earl Grey, black—and kept reading.  Dorie studied him for a moment.  His body was thin and almost frail, but his composure was a contrast to that.  It was that of a confident man who had been through hell and survived.  Dorie marveled that for so many years, she had just dismissed him as the old, creepy custodian at St. Marguerite’s when, inside, he held a story that was amazing and sad at the same time.  Dorie made a promise to herself to never judge a book by its cover again.

Stepping further into the kitchen, Dorie cleared her throat.  Ummm… she said, breaking the silence.

Oliver looked up from his paper and met her eyes.  He said nothing but looked intently at her.  She didn’t know what he was thinking, but she knew that at the very least, she owed him an apology.

Sorry for my behaviour before, Dorie started.  I know you were just trying to help.

Oliver lowered his paper and folded it neatly on the table in front of him before responding.  Apology accepted, he said.  Then he gave her a sympathetic smile and she felt the heaviness inside her heart lift a little.

I’m still trying to understand all of it, she said, and sometimes I just get so frustrated.  Dorie sat down at the table across from him.  He reached out his hand and placed it on top of hers, patting it gently.  It’s hard to adjust to, she continued.  "Sometimes I just want to go back to the way things were.  You know, before all