Excerpt: Beyond the Door

Melody stared around the landscape she found herself in. At first glance, it was exactly like the woods surrounding her home. When she glanced back, however, she found that the strange and wondrous doorway had turned into an archway in the solid rock of a cliff.

There were strange carvings on the cliff, ones she couldn’t make out. She traced one of them, wondering if there was any significance to them.

Melody turned at the sounds of crunching feet and saw a stranger. He was tall, with blonde hair and brown eyes. When their eyes met, he lifted one eyebrow. “Who might you be, little girl?” he asked, his voice oddly booming.

“Uh… I’m Melody,” Mel replied nervously. Her mother had drilled it into her not to give out her whole name to strangers, but first names should be okay. “Who are you?” she asked, ignoring her fear.

“I am the Gatekeeper. This is the first time in years that someone has come through the archway. Welcome to the Realms of Cinara. You are in the Kingdom of Lariana. You are free to explore our world, but be warned. You hold a key,” the man told her, pointing at the old-fashioned key hanging around her neck. “There are dangers in this world for people who have a key and then lose it.”

The Gatekeeper said no more, but turned and walked away. Melody stared after him, questions starting to come forth. She glanced at the archway that she knew would lead back home. She decided she had to explore this world and tell her brother.

With grin, Melody started to skip off into the woods. She thanked God for her extremely good sense of direction, since otherwise she would have never dared to leave the archway. If she hadn’t, she might become permanently lost in this world.

The woods proved to take much less time leaving them than Melody had thought. She had thought it would take an hour or more to leave them. Instead, she was out of them in half-an-hour, tops. She grinned as she entered the town that stood on the edge of the forest.

“Oh, who are you?” a young girl, about Melody’s age, asked excitedly. The girl’s mother looked over to eye Melody.

“I’m Melody,” Mel replied, smiling at the other girl. “Who are you?”

“I’m Dienna!” the girl grinned. “You look strange. What happened to your ears?”

“Huh? Nothing! My ears are normal!” Melody protested.

“Dienna, dear, she’s from another world,” the girl’s mother scolded her child. “You see, Melody, we all have the same shaped ear.” The woman pushed back her hair for Melody to see. It looked rather like a sliver of the moon transformed into an ear. “That was my first clue to your origins. However, it was not the most convincing.”

“Mommy’s a seer! She’s the most powerful in the village!” Dienna chirped cheerfully. “Mommy is amazing! She said I’d make a friend today! And look, Mommy, I did!”

“So you did,” the woman smiled, ruffling her child’s hair. “I’m Dilana. Seers are not extremely common, but we’re not extremely rare, either. And only women can see the future. I was told by my mother that it has to do with the fact that most men cannot understand how complex the future is, and if they see themselves getting into trouble, then they get mad. Of course, that was my mother’s opinion, and she was very biased. Now, are you hungry? You are welcome to join us for our meal. I’m sure my husband would enjoy hearing about your world.”

“Daddy’s a scholar!” Dienna proclaimed happily.

“He studies other countries. He’d be very interested in your world simply on a scholarly basis,” Dilana told Melody with a smile.

Melody bit her lip, not sure if she should go or not. Her mother would be very upset if she went with a complete stranger anywhere, and if she ate with complete strangers…. Her mother would go into meltdown mode. On the other hand, these two people seemed really, really nice.

“Please?” Dienna begged. “I never make friends! Mommy said I would today and now I have! Please? Pretty please?”

“She’s not sure if she should, Dienna. It is like I told you. Don’t take anything from strangers,” Dilana told her child calmly.

“But we’re not going to poison her! Or kidnap her! Melody is my friend!” Dienna pouted.

“I know that, sweetie,” Dilana replied. “But Melody is being a good daughter and is listening to what her mother told her even though she isn’t here.”

“Oh….” Dienna sighed sadly. “You aren’t gonna come, are you?” she pouted at Melody.

“No, I will,” Melody decided. “I think I can trust you. And I think my Momma would like you,” she added thoughtfully. “I know I do.”

“Yeah! We’re going to have an awesome klinatia for dessert tonight! Mom promised me!” Dienna cheered, grabbing Melody’s hand and dragging her off towards their home.

Dilana smiled as she started to follow her daughter, but then stopped. There was an unnatural darkness in the shadows. Dilana bit her lip, shut her eyes, and accepted the future.