Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2015 00:35:43 +0000 (UTC)
From: Ckskb Lfb <ckskb1@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Chronicles of Valana I: Shadowlands Chapter 1 Manhattan Latchkeys

The chronicles of valana Volume 1: Shadowlands

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This story is 100% fictional (DUH!! :P).

This story will feature sexual scenes between boys and boys, boys and girls
of various ages so if it's something you don't like/agree with or it is not
legal in your area/country or are not as of yet of legal age to be reading
this sort of stuff then don't read any further.

I welcome feedback emails with healthy criticism, suggestions etc. or just
plain correspondence, but flames will be ignored and those email addresses
will be added to the block sender's list.

Send your feedback emails to: ckskb1@yahoo.com and add "BCC list" along
with your comments/feedback if you want me to add you to the list of people
I will be emailing with updates and release dates of new chapters/stories.

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Chapter One: Manhattan Latchkeys

* * *

Evil's will ancient beyond aeons, first of all, it wills after aeons.
An offspring of the Fairfolk, of high descent amongst the Fairfolk.
An offspring of the speakers, highest and first amongst the speakers.
Together they shall be born, under a pale moon on the last of summer's days
they shall be born. 

* * *

It was one of those days when the glorious sun was shining on the towering
urban jungle of midtown Manhattan preventing the sunlight from touching the
floor, much like it does on the canopy of the equatorial jungle
rainforests.

Marco and Lucas were avoiding the tall buildings of the great city and had
wandered into Central Park to find a nice little vendor that served iced
fruit flavoured drinks. Ever since Lucas first kissed his best friend on
the lips and tasted the sweet fruit juice of strawberry, it had been his
flavour of choice from that time on.

Marco chose grape and lemongrass ever since then, which made Lucas wonder
if the flavour meant anything to him in a deeper sense. They chatted about
school and the weekend, including the trophy Marco had won for completely
outclassing his opponents in every class of Archery. Lucas, on the other
hand, had no real extracurricular hobbies. He would often watch his best
friend win every archery award that stood in his way.  Lucas preferred to
read books on science and chemistry or he would just wander the city trying
to find new nooks and surprises he hadn't noticed before.

Marco drank his grape-lemongrass slushy and looked over at his best friend
as he drunk his and they talked about any subject they could think of. He
thought Lucas was so cute and he loved when they kissed and played
together, but even though as pronounced yet he had started seeing girls a
different way of late.  When in younger days all girls were "yucky", now
his twelve year old mind found some of them, an increasing amount of them,
"cute" and he would feel all tingly inside.  They had grown up together
ever since Lucas had arrived at NYC at the age of four. They had befriended
each other instantly. Marco had dared and made the first sexual exploration
move when they were ten and Lucas had responded in kind and he still
remembered that first kiss when they were almost ten.

Lucas' mind was on the old Artifacts Museum that was recently demolished
not far from where they were drinking their cold refreshments. One of their
teachers from their school was outraged that the demolition had no respect
for the artifacts housed in the museum that they actually started to tear
the place down before they had even finished taking out all the exhibits.
Such carelessness was beyond understanding and not all the items were
accounted for.  They agreed to go search through the ruins of the museum
before they would be all cleared out for the new construction during the
weekend.

That night, Marco sat on his window ledge in his pajamas as he had done for
the last few months now. He would sit at the end of the ledge and dream of
fantasy lands, of exploration, of mighty battles and faraway people with
exotic cultures, of all the things that boys dream about at that age but of
late, his dreams, awake or asleep, were being plagued by something
inconceivable to his young mind. It had been building for some time now,
that urge, uncontrollable and unstoppable, like something was beckoning
him, was calling out for him. Something he had to do, to achieve and it was
vexing him intensely.  Lucas had also been feeling similarly, but his mind
worked differently. Less emotion, more logic so he was better equipped to
set it aside for prolonged periods of time.

As they lay in their beds sleeping, in their dreams, something they could
not understand appeared. A form of a human but not quite human. He was
inside a dark place. Some light was penetrating the darkness, but not
enough so that they could make out its features. He looked to be no taller
than a child, but he carried himself as far more than a child.  The he-form
of a child walked outside of a tent, large, much, much larger than what was
used by boy scouts on Earth. The rising golden red sun hid its features
from them as it rose from within the sea giving it a red hue.  He carried
himself with an air of a King. Someone learned in authority yet not
corrupted by it.  They would only see what he was wearing, but not with
great detail. He was wearing pants made from leather, but it seemed to be
some kind of refined leather. On top of his pants, he had various armour
protections surrounding the knees, ankles and around the femoral joints. On
top he wore what looked like silk-woven shirt that was painted red by the
blurry dream sun. Again on the joints of the arms and hands he had armour
protection as well as some covering his torso. He stood in front of what
looked to be a huge army. He looked tall and proud. Then without any
hesitation he spoke as everyone fell silent.  "It begins as the lightest of
breezes. It dances above the death cries of men and elves. It is moved by
need unconquerable and uncontrollable...." The voice fainted and they woke
up.

It was the weekend so the construction crew's work had been suspended until
Monday. Marco met Lucas on the doorsteps of his house and they set out to
go exploring the demolished museum. After all, how often do two twelve year
old boys get to go treasure hunting on forbidden ground right on their
doorstep?  The metal lattice fence wasn't locked up very securely and Lucas
was able to find a way in.  The place was just a mass of rubble with
concrete reinforcement bars sticking out the jutting piles of building but
to Lucas, he felt like Indiana Jones and in there somewhere was a jewel he
needed to rescue without being seen by the evil-doers of his fantasy plot.
They entered the ruins of the demolished museum, turning over the rubble
thinking they will find a treasure from some fantasy land or maybe a king's
crown or some other thing.  They messed about at the rubble, turning over
what they could and tossing away what artifacts they didn't like and
keeping those they liked. Soon enough their pockets were full.  "Bow before
your king!" Marco said, wearing a very old looking gold medallion, changing
his voice to try and imitate one of the king voices he had heard in one
movie or another.

Lucas looked around to him and poked his tongue out at his best friend.
"Stop messing around and let's go before someone finds us," he said and
went to Marco.  He touched the medallion to remove it from his friend's
neck. Logic said they should not be seen wearing this in public but the
moment his fingertips made contact with the medallion, he felt something
like a "tag" like vertigo. The demolished building and NYC was pushed out
of his field of view. Darkness replaced it and a variety of different
colours.  Marco could only see Lucas as they passed through a "tube" of
ever-changing colours.

Lucas felt a thud in his chest. `That wasn't normal, right?' A fleeting
thought in his mind. then he was suddenly pulled, or pushed, he couldn't
tell, so fast that everything seemed to slip away effortlessly into a
psychedelic tube with colours splashing faster than the eye could make out
any shapes. It didn't last long. Their feet touched a solid surface. Some
ground covered with leaves.  "Marco?" he said, searching for his best
friend as he saw tall pine trees shake outwards from their location as if
struck by a shock wave.

Marco felt his feet touch the ground and then a multitude of sensations all
at once. He felt pain above all else.  Such intense pain as he had never
felt before, he felt as if his bones, his muscles, his skin, his very soul
was being split open and then reforged back into a unified piece. He could
hear someone screaming, but it took him a second to recognise that it was
actually him who was screaming at the top of his lungs from the pain. If he
could have removed the pain, he would have understood that there were an
array of other sensations as well. Like longing satiated, like need
fulfilled, like a sense of belonging, like so much new potential at his
fingertips.  Marco felt himself slip away as his eyes darkened and he fell
out of consciousness.

Lucas scrambled to his side and did the first thing any person with some
first-aid basic knowledge might do. He poked him in the head.  "Marco? You
awake?"  There was no answer.  "Marco?" he asked again then frowned as
concern drifted over him. His friend might actually be hurt. He reached for
his phone but realised he must have lost it on the journey somewhere. Okay
he could do this. He breathed a sigh of relief when he pushed his ear on
the boy's nose and felt the boy breathing as a faint exhale of breath
tickled him.  If he was breathing, that meant his heart was still
beating. He also knew that he shouldn't move him in case he had a spinal
injury, but it didn't look like anything was sticking out at a funny
angle. A head injury would be bad. What if his eyesight was damaged and he
couldn't take part in any more archery competitions or he was brain damaged
and had amnesia?!

Lucas pushed the negative thoughts aside and cradled the boy's head and
brushed his blond hair out of his eyes. There was a bit of blood but he
might be okay once he woke up and once he woke up they could figure out why
they are in a forest.

Marco's eyes opened and looked into Lucas's.  "We had a little tumble,"
Lucas explained.

Marco's eyes focused. He got up on his knees and kissed Lucas on his lips
as he hugged him close.  "That hurt!! What happened? Where are we? Forest?
There are no forests in Manhattan!" he spoke and looked around as he got up
and dusted himself. He helped Lucas up.

They started looking around dazed. Marco was about to say something when he
heard someone yell behind him.  He turned on his feet and saw a towering
bull of a man in chainmail armour...wait CHAINMAIL ARMOUR? Come against
them with a hand raised above his head.  Marco raised his eyes and saw a
sword clutched on that raised hand. Something deep inside Marco told him
that this was no toy, that this was a very much real and very much lethal
sword and that this man for whatever reason wanted to kill him or them. He
heard Lucas whimper next to him and the man speak some unknown language.
He didn't allow a moment for thought. He had no weapon. He had nothing with
which to defend himself and Lucas. He placed a hand on Lucas' shoulder and
brought him behind him protectively. He didn't know why or how he knew what
to do or even what he did, but he extended his hand and thought of one
word.  "SALATH!!" he screamed a word without any meaning to him and a
powerful gust of wind came out of his hand. His t-shirt, shorts and hair
flapped in the wind as the man was thrown backwards violently and hit the
trunk of a huge tree. The man fell unconscious. The sword flew from his
hand, falling a few meters away.  He looked at his hand, amazed and scared
at what had just happened and then at Lucas' face.  He grabbed his friend's
hand and started running. They ran until they could no longer run and
stopped to catch their breath. Marco looked around, hearing for noises on
the forest and looking for any more men.  "What the fuck just happened!!"
he asked Lucas.

Lucas breathed deeply, regaining his breath.  "Well, a man in chainmail
walked up to us asked us what evil magic we practice, you shouted something
about wind, he went flying backwards and hit the tree which said 'ouch',"
Lucas recounted the last few moments.

"Trees don't say ouch, or even talk, do they?" He thought he might be going
slightly mad and rubbing at his sides which were starting to sting a bit.
He tried to recount their actions. Slushie, sleep, breakfast, meet with
Marco, go to museum, Medallion, poof, forest, trees, man in armour trying
to kill them, running. Yes, he thought. He had gone completely mad yet this
place smelled real and it even felt real. The place felt alive like it was
seeping into him, his thoughts untangling and some sense was coming into
him.  He told himself to accept the reality no matter how strange it
was. He was in a forest, an unknown forest with no obvious sign of
exit. The sun was low in the sky so it was either late afternoon or
morning, hard to tell without a compass, he never even wore a watch since
his phone always told him the time. No good going back for that now as the
place was probably swarming with chain mailed men but the most alarming
thing was Marco's sudden use of his superpowers.  As far as Lucas was
aware, Marco didn't have superpowers. He knew this because they didn't
exist. Not until now anyway.  "So go on?" he asked his friend. "Explain you
going all mysterious and blowing that guy into that tree."

Marco was speechless. His mouth opened and closed several times but no
intelligible sound came from it and It took him a few minutes to gather his
thoughts and make sense of what was going on. He could feel knowledge of
unknown origins and use flood his mind and enhance his senses.  He shook
his head and rubbed his eyes before talking to Lucas who looked scared of
him as well as of everything that had happened.  "I have no idea what just
happened...I mean one moment we are in Manhattan and then
next...here....Where is here? Are we even on Earth? Who was that man? What
language did he speak? I didn't understand a word of it! Superpowers? I
don't have superpowers!! I don't know what I did! That word just popped in
my mind but I have no bloody idea of what it means or what happens.... I am
the same Marco you knew back home...I think...WAIT!!!" It just clicked to
him just then. "How can you understand that man? You have never so far had
any other foreign language at school or outside it!!!! And what is that
about the tree speaking!! Trees don't speak do they??!?!?! What is going on
here?!" He was scared himself.  All through Marco's understandably anxious
mumblings, Lucas thought about what this might mean for him. Sure he was
probably miles away from home and maybe he would never get home. It was
possible that they had gone back in time, but if they had they would have
to change location as Manhattan Island in the Middle Ages was just forest,
which matched the scene here, but there were certainly no knights about as
knights were all from Europe. America was all natives back then.  He
wondered if he could actually live in the medieval times, assuming he
couldn't go back to modern day times. He practically lived outdoors and the
only thing that would be a pain would be to grow his own food and do the
laundry.  He could make a living. He could even show them a thing or two
about chemistry.  He only had the thought of a bloke in chainmail to
reinforce his theory. He might have just been a part of a re-enactment
group and Marco had just... just what? Pushed him across the ground
telekinetically?  Marco looked about the forest around them.  "The birds
are tweeting, waking up. The forest's sounds are increased and there are
fewer predatory animal sounds and the flowers all smell more from the
morning sun...It just dawned...Wait how do I know all that!?!?! How can I
smell all that and hear the birds like they are next to me?!" he thought,
his young mind overwhelmed by all the new and sudden information.  His skin
looked...different somehow to him but not by much. He ignored it.  He
looked from Lucas' face to everywhere around him as if the forest would
surrender to him clues of what was happening to them.  "Anyways we can
figure all that out once we find some civilization...." He took his cell
phone out of his pocket and some of the artifacts he had gathered fell to
the ground with clinging noises. "Bloody hell it is broken...just bought
that!!!"  He threw the phone on the ground frustrated.  "We better start
walking until we find a road or city or something," Marco said, looking at
the tree-covered horizon.

He started walking the other way from where they had come, leaving the
rising sun behind them.  They walked in silence for the most part until the
sun started setting in front of them. They were still inside the forest.
Marco found a huge tree that was hollow on the inside.  "We better sleep
here tonight...we don't know what meat eating animals there are in the
forest." He gathered some fallen, dried branches from around the hollow
tree and placed them on the entrance with them inside the tree but they had
nothing with which to light a fire.  "What if...," he mumbled.  He circled
his hands around the pile of the branches, closed his eyes and tried to
concentrate. After a few moments a word formed deep in his mind.  "Vorag,"
he whispered. Some sparks appeared from his hands, but nothing more
happened. He repeated the word with increasing concentration until the
branches flared up aflame.  He looked at Lucas who was sitting cross-legged
near him. He curled up into a ball and was asleep almost instantly.  He was
exhausted.

Lucas was deep in thoughts. Some things didn't make sense, like why Marco
was chanting 'ignite' at a pile of twigs.  The eerie thing about it was
that Marco wasn't actually saying 'ignite', but he just knew it. Like when
his French teacher comes up to him and says Bonjour, he knows she is saying
'hello' or more accurately, 'Good Day'.  When the fire crackled into life,
Lucas, for some reason wasn't surprised which surprised him. Why did this
feel so normal? He wondered.  If they were staying here for the night they
would need some water at least. He looked about the tree hollow as Marco
drifted off to sleep. Marco seemed to be affected more by being here than
he did so it was up to him to make their life comfortable. He climbed out
of the tree hollow and took a look about in the fading light. He closed his
eyes and saw if he could recall the tree positions. He could. He picked up
a small rock with a pointy end in it and smacked it against a nearby tree,
knocking the bark off it. Good, he could mark his route with this.  He
started walking, etching his route into the trees. The last thing he wanted
right now was to lose their campground.

An hour later it was nearly fully dark and he was starting to get a bit
jumpy at the completely unfamiliar and downright strange sounds of the
forest.  "That's the wrong way child," a female voice spoke to him.  After
having the fright of his life, he looked about and saw no one. He was
scared now, the voice felt so near.  "You need to go down the hill a bit
more," the voice said.  Lucas spun around, trying to seek the origin of the
voice.  "Who said that?" he said aloud.

"Me dear," the voice said, "right in front of you."

"Behind the tree?" he asked.

It chuckled. "I am the tree, my child."  The voice was soft, and then he
realised that there was no voice, just a speech in his head.
 "The tree?" he confirmed.

"Yes, dear," Came the response.

"Oh." He nodded. "I thought I was going mad then."

"Not many can speak to us, but you seem quite nice. I could tell you were a
speaker," the tree said.

Lucas chuckled slightly. "Oh right, yeah, a speaker. What's that?"

The tree simpered. "Oh, innocent child. You have the gift of
life-speech. You can talk to the creatures and the wilds."

"Oh cool," he said passively.

"Do you need warmth?"

He realised his own words were perhaps strange to a talking tree.  "Sorry,
slang expression it means 'very good'. I was actually after a water source
and perhaps some food. We're sleeping in a hollow tree up that way." He
pointed back the way they came.

"Yes the trees have mentioned you were hitting them with rocks." She said
softly.

He dropped the stones. "Uh...," he faltered. "Sorry, I wasn't aware trees
have feelings."

The tree was silent for a moment.  "We understand. We weren't aware you
could hear us until I spoke to you."

He nodded. "I'll take more care, but what about things I eat, will they be
talking to me?" He imagined himself eating carrot soup and the carrots all
screaming in their juices drowning and pleading for their lives.

"We also understand that we provide nourishment to all the people and
creatures of the Valana," the tree said.  "To give one's life to save
another is what we do. But you should speak with Nohbard. He can help you
with what you need."

"Who...." He was about to ask who Nohbard was but a tree tapped him on the
shoulder. He turned and saw what looked like a huge oak tree staring down
at him.

"Hello there little one," the oak tree said. Actually said. This time the
tree spoke out loud, not into his head.

"Hello, Nohbard," he replied politely, but felt like he was about to faint.

"I've been watching you; you have set up camp inside my cousin." The voice
was old and wizened. "Your friend will be safe there; I have placed fresh
water at the entrance together with some berries and Elven wildgrass. The
wildlife will not touch your food, they will respect it."

They walked in almost silence as they got back to the Nohbard's deceased
cousin where Marco was sleeping. It was a bit morbid sleeping inside a dead
creature, but Nohbard said it was just wood, like a house. A spiritless
husk, perfect for shelter and Whitbard would have liked being useful even
after his death.  Nohbard sunk his roots into the floor outside the tree
hollow and Lucas crawled into the tree hollow and curled up next to his
best friend and drifted off to sleep.

Marco woke up and for a single second he thought he was about to get ready
to go to school but then it hit him, all the events of the previous day and
night. It wasn't a dream!  He groaned softly and got up. His stomach
rumbled and he realised that he had not eaten since the previous breakfast.
He got out of the hollow and looked around. It was still very early. The
sun had barely gone off the horizon.  He stretched and looked at the
sleeping form of Lucas. He felt famished but he also
felt...hot...horny...hornier than usual which was difficult as he was
entering puberty. He looked Lucas up and down feeling like he wanted to
kiss and lick him up and down. That was not unusual either but...but...he
looked away and re-arranged his cloth-covered package.  "What to eat?" he
said aloud as he scratched his hair.

"There is Elven wildgrass and berries in front of you young Nailal."

Marco jumped with a start. It wasn't Lucas' voice but an older sounding
voice. It was as if he had listened to leaves being blown by air. Peaceful
and ancient.  "Who...who said that?"

"In front of you young Nailal! I am Nohbard. I am the tree in front of
you."

Marco looked at the tree and saw something resembling a face at the center
of the trunk with lips-like moving as the...tree spoke. Somehow it didn't
surprise him all that much. He had been startled more than surprised.
"Ehmmm....hi...hello...I am Marco and...and...thank you, I will eat
that...wish I had cereal with milk..."

"What is cereal young Nailal?"

"Something we eat where I come from...what is a Nailal?"

"What you are."

"Uhhh...okay...I guess...." Marco frowned at the tree. `Maybe it is the
word "Human" in tree language....' He thought.  He sat down and ate some of
the berries and Elven wildgrass.  "That tastes great! It is so sweet!"
Marco said to the tree as he ate the wildgrass.

He heard Lucas groan in his sleep and clutch his sides. It only lasted a
second or two, but Marco was worried for his friend. Maybe he had broken a
rib last day when he fell from the tree.  He rushed to Lucas and raised his
t-shirt some. He saw some weird looking tattoos there but then he saw Lucas
look up at him and smile.  "Hey, hullo, didn't know you had tattoos done on
your sides mate! Did you know that here...wherever here is the trees talk
and wildgrass tastes like...like grapes? You look great!!" He looked over
at Lucas wanting to kiss him tongue and all but he did not yet, didn't know
if Lucas was in a mood for that yet.

Lucas heard Marco speak to him as he woke up.  "Huh?" he replied and then
realised his shirt was open. He had a number of stripes and designs on his
skin that looked almost Celtic in design. "Okay, what else is going to
happen...?" he said with a sigh. What else is this strange place going to
throw at him? If it's not talking trees or his best friend blowing wind
from his hands or setting fire to things, it's stripes on his body and
pointy ears on his friend.  Pointy ears. That was new.  "Your ears are
pointy," he said looking at Marco's head.

"Pointy ears?" he said out loud and his hands went for his ears. They were
indeed longer and pointier than back on Earth.  He looked outside at the
place where Nohbard had rooted.  "Oh you met Nohbard. He gave us food and I
think there is a stream nearby, too. He sleeps during the day so best leave
him alone while he sleeps," he said, standing up. "Sheesh, sleeping on the
ground is tough work," he added, massaging the crick out of his neck.

So it was clear enough that they were not in Manhattan anymore. Or maybe
even on Earth. Both boys were changing into...  something. Logic should
dictate that the boys would turn into the same thing, but for some reason
they were getting a different set of skills. Why? Who knew?  Lucas hoped
there were not just trees and bushes to talk to, but wanted some real
people to converse with. Sure Marco was great, but he needed more
people. People who lived here and he could get a map from, or find out
where this medallion or pendant came from and how they might be able to use
it to get back.  He stooped down and ate some of the sweet grass. It wasn't
bad, but he could murder a round of toast right now. At least there was a
high chance of finding grain and making flour. He could still enjoy toast
if they had to settle down here for a while. Perhaps, even use some of his
chemistry skills to make a living with some of the locals if they ever
found any. Excluding the guy in armour who seemed a bit pissed that he had
seen them mysteriously appear in the woods.  He felt sorry for him in a
way. The guy must have been freaked out seeing two kids drop out of
nothing.  The problem then was if the man had been from the local
town. There might now be a lynch mob after them. Not good. If he was from
an army invading the local town then they might be stuck in the middle of a
bloody war. Either way, they would need to set themselves a peaceful
foundation with the native people.  "Shouldn't we be moving? Finding some
locals or someone who can get us back home?" he asked.

Marco was deep in thought for a while when he heard Lucas asking him if
they should move on.  "Yeah we should...let us continue going westwards."
He got up and extended his hand to Lucas to help him up, but the boy got on
his knees and hands and got up on his own.

"How do you know where is west?" Lucas asked almost irritated.

"Opposite way of the sun's rise," Marco answered and started walking.

Since when do you speak like that?" Lucas asked as he started walking.

Marco didn't even hear him as he listened for the forest, the creatures
living here and there, and all the other sounds and smells as he
subconsciously explored his sensations. They had definitely become more
acute, heightened since their arrival to this place.

They walked for hours until it was dark again. They slept, woke up and
continued walking until they found a lake. They were tired and exhausted
and they needed to find some signs of civilization soon enough or water and
wildgrass would not be entirely sufficient as a diet and they had no
weapons or tools with which to hunt animals or defend themselves if needed.
The sun was high on top of them. It was midday.

He drank some water from the lake and looked over to its opposite
end. There was something there, but he couldn't make out what it was
exactly. He squinted his eyes and tried to focus to that object not because
he knew what he was doing or what the result would be, but more like when
you can't see something clearly and you try to squint your eyes and focus
on it thinking it might help out.  He saw a few buildings and some
smoke. He looked at Lucas.  "There is a small settlement over there." He
pointed towards the other edge of the lake's shore.

"I can't see anything...," Lucas said with a tired look on his face.

"What you mean?" He looked over and he saw the lake but no buildings,
"But...but...." Then he focused without realising it and he understood it.

"Oh...my senses are being enhanced as well...what else is going to happen
to me...us in this place??" he mumbled.

They walked to the settlement. They reached it as the sun set over the
horizon. To say they were exhausted would be an understatement of epic
proportions.  "Lucas...you seem to understand the languages of this
place...lead the way we need a hotel and a place to eat."

"Yes," Lucas said, also very tired.

They entered the settlement. Lucas started talking to whatever people he
could find. People talked to him cautiously.  It was strange, he thought,
even in this land for two unknown children to be about without their
parents. Lucas seemed to be struggling with understanding the language but
he made sense of what they said and he was getting better with each new
person he talked to. Everyone they saw seemed to look at him strangely for
a few seconds which seemed strange to Marco as he was a human boy...wasn't
he?

Eventually they reached a building with a large glass as a sign. `A
restaurant or whatever they call it here,' Marco thought.  They entered,
sat at a table by themselves and Lucas spoke to a man and a few minutes'
later two dishes with food arrived along with some water.  They wolfed down
the food quicker than it had arrived at their table and burped. They
giggled.  "Come with me," Lucas said and got up from the table. Marco
followed him. They climbed some stairs and entered a room with two beds and
a night stand. Marco locked the door.

"Tomorrow morning we...you need to find out where we are...what year it
is...and what is happening to us...what is this stuff I can do...."  Lucas
gave him a meek smile and removed his clothes except his underwear, got
under the covers and was asleep in seconds.  Marco sighed and got undressed
as well and lie on the bed.  He felt alone not just because Lucas seemed to
be distant but because...he couldn't explain it exactly but the nights he
slept in the forest it felt like...home, the forest noises, the trees, the
starry sky...it felt good, here it felt...empty...  void...he couldn't
understand any of it, what was happening to him, to them. If he was human,
why were the villagers looking weird at him and he was feeling like he was
now? He drifted off to sleep lost in thoughts.



End of chapter 1. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed
writing it and that you felt what I felt while writing it.

This is more like a prologue of sorts setting the stage for what is to
come, stay with me and our characters as we embark upon this new journey.

Send your comments, critique, feedback and correspondence to the email addy
at the beginning. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed
writing it and that you felt what I felt while writing it.

Link to Valana Map:

http://imgur.com/YdJSD9y,SX11Aim#1
http://imgur.com/YdJSD9y,SX11Aim