The Summer Vacation
Chapter 12
Written by rachel76m
Edited by Don Kaufman

As we approach the arena, we see the sea dragons swimming toward it. We also see everyone else arriving as well from the First Ones and all of the other kingdoms.

We land outside the Sea Gala Arena in a blink of an eye. We disconnect from the wizards and sorceresses. We see everyone walking and flying in. We walk inside the arena. We see the sea dragons swimming in, but no sign of Eingana yet.

I turn around and look for the unicorns. I see them walking in with fairies flying around them, the centaurs and representatives from the Dwarf Under Kingdoms.

King Dryden steps up to the main stage and begins to speak. “Please sit in your sections. We need to begin this as soon as possible.” King Dryden turns around and faces the sea dragons. “Chelen, is Eingana coming?”

“Yes, King Dryden. She will be here soon. This must be very important for her to be here.”

“It is, Chelen. We finally know who is the real enemy this time. Just be prepared to calm her down if her rage is like what we witnessed the last time here.”

“If that's true, we all might be angry.”

“I know, Chelen. It will be explained when she gets here.”

“Thank you for the warning, King Dryden.”

“You're welcome, Chelen.”

I sit in our section in the arena. Soon, all of the representatives for Thryson Kingdom joins us as well. I have never seen this type of meeting before. The closest was when I was here the first time.

Avel comes near me. I hug his neck. He looks at me and sees a concerned face on me.

“What's wrong, Richard?”

“You'll know what it is soon. It's an old problem that has reared its ugly head again. It's an old enemy that we both know.”

“An old enemy? Who is it?”

I look at the fairies, “Do your best to keep him calm.”

“We'll try, Richard.”

“Avel, look at me. I won't say the name now. I'll put a picture there for you to see.”

Avel looks at me, he sees the image in my head and hears the name. Avel whispers to me, “Are you kidding me, Richard? Them?”

“I'm not kidding, Avel. There are two of them on the star ship. There are probably more in the galaxy here.”

“Eingana is not going to like this one bit.”

“I can only imagine her anger. It will be nothing compared to what we witnessed here last time.”

“Thanks for the warning, Richard.”

“You're welcome, Avel.”

We smile at each other. I hug his neck again. “We'll beat them, Avel. The Maker showed one of your descendants after the Great Flood how to do it.”

“He did?”

“Yes.”

“That's great, Richard.”

Then we all hear the water bubbling and boiling upwards near the arena. The mass of water is churning. It gets bigger and bigger. The water breaks apart. We see Eingana's head appear as she rises up.

She swims toward to the stage area. Anybody who is sitting down, stands up. We all bow toward her. She bows her head in response.

“Welcome, Eingana. We're sorry to disturb your rest.”

“Thank you, Twainor, for your respect. I have been trying to enjoy my rest, but this star ship who wants to destroy us has my full attention. Is there something new to tell me?”

Everyone sits down who can.

“There is, Eingana. We finally know who is the real enemy. We need to tell a story from what we learned when we interviewed the last crewman.”

“Go ahead; tell it.”

King Dryden begins the story, “There was a world that was dying a long time ago. The people designed and built a very large star ship. They traveled through the black space among the stars, looking for a world to start over. After many years, they encountered a small craft floating adrift. They found inside the craft, two people. The people on the star ship showed mercy to repair the craft. While repairing the space craft, the two survivors with their mind power over took and controlled the people's minds on the star ship.”

“They have mind powers?” Her eyes narrow a bit.

“Yes, the two survivors are called the General and Supreme. They are the ones who destroyed star system after star system, seeking a cure for the Supreme. Because on one world they visited, they encountered a very bad sickness. Many people died on the star ship, except ten people. The Supreme grew very big like a giant, but he could not leave his own space craft.”

“A giant, King Dryden?” Her interest suddenly gets peaked. She starts to recall some memories.

“Yes, Eingana. Then last night the Maker gave all of Twainor a dream from Earth's past.”

“He did? What was the dream?”

King Dryden turns to me, “Richard, please continue from here.”

I stand up and walk forward and step up to the stage. “Yes, King Dryden. The Maker gave us a story that was about one thousand two hundred years after the Great Flood. It is a well-written story. A boy is practicing using his sling to hurl a small river stone at a small boulder on top of a large one. He misses it a few times before he is called by his father. His father wants him to deliver some food and water to his elder brothers who are on the war front with a neighboring enemy.”

“When he arrives in the camp, he hears a booming voice shouting curses at the army and the Maker himself. When he gets into the clearing, he sees a very large man at least two to three times as big as everyone else.”

“What?! The giants survived the Great Flood, Richard?”

“Apparently one did, Eingana. I just read an ancient book two moons ago back on Earth. This was for a history reading that I was asked to do. The writer mentioned that Og of Bashan is the one who survived the Great Flood.”

“Og? I remember him! I also remember Lechstar! They and their kind killed many of my children!” She roars with anger. So do the other dragons. “Roooarr!” “Roooarrrr!”

“Eingana, please calm down! In time all of the giants were killed on Earth. None survive to this day!”

Eingana and the rest of the dragons calm down.

“How did they die, Richard?”

“That's interesting part of the story Eingana. The boy found his weakness when he looked at his helmet. There was no protection for his forehead.” I point to my own forehead.

“I remember seeing that strange head gear on them.”

“The boy was able to sling a river stone to the giant's forehead. He fell to the ground and the ground shook. The boy ran up and took the giant's own sword and killed him with it before he awoke fully.”

Then everyone cheers, claps, roars, stomps their hooves when they hear the conclusion.

King Dryden and I raise our hands to quiet everyone down again, which they do.

I continue with the story. “So, this morning we interviewed the last crewman. We discovered he is one of the original crew members on the star ship. He told us the ancient name of these two. They are the Nefelim.”

“The Nefelim?!” Then Eingana, the unicorns roar and neigh in anger. The fairies and the rest of us try to calm them down. The other dragons roar and shoot flames and water into the air as well in anger. We put our hands to our ears to muffle the noise.

After a while, all of the dragons and unicorns calm down on their own. They see everyone else staying where they are and have not left the arena. They slowly catch their breath.

“You must bring them here, King Dryden! We'll send them to cold depths for perpetuating the horror!”

King Dryden turns around and looks toward the Kings and Queens for an answer. They all stand up and say “Yes! Let Eingana have them!!”

King Dryden turns around to face Eingana. “We will, Eingana. Because we learned also they want to return to Earth and get revenge for what happened to them long ago.”

“Apparently they have not learned their lesson, King Dryden.”

“Apparently they did not, Eingana. We are making plans to bring the fight to them. But we are also aware that they could send air fighters to our skies.”

“We'll bring them down if they do. Just have enough wizards for us. We'll do the rest.”

“We plan to have one hundred and twenty wizards for you. That is ten for each upper kingdom.”

“That should be plenty for us. Thank you, King Dryden and Twainor.'

“You're welcome, Eingana. The dragons can start practicing tomorrow morning in their own kingdoms with the wizards. We're planning to send a message to the star ship so they come directly here first. We think they will be here in about two to the three days from now.”

“That sounds like a good plan, King Dryden.”

“Oh and one more thing, Eingana. We think there will be a second scout ship here soon. Hopefully we can get hold of it before they learn anything more about Twainor.”

“Yes, let's hope they don't learn anything more.”

“We hope so too, Eingana.”

“Thank you, King Dryden and Richard for the story. Apparently we need to send them a lesson they won't forget.”

“Yes, let's send them a message. Take care Eingana and Sea Dragons of Twainor.”

“Yes, take care King Dryden and Twainor. Come, Chelen. We must get ourselves ready for a fight to defend Twainor.”

“Yes, Eingana. Come my sea brethren. Let us return and get our rest. We need to practice what we can do to help the land dragons to defend our skies.”

The sea dragons all dive into the water and swim away.

Marcon turns to us and speaks. “Who are these Nefelim, Richard?”

“We need to let Avel and the other unicorns speak. They saw them first hand.”

King Dryden turns to the crowd. “Come, six unicorns. Tell us some stories about the Nefelim.”

The six unicorns walk forward. They each have a group of fairies hovering around them. They walk up to the stage to speak to us. I move aside to make room for them.

Avel speaks first, “My mother and father told me their scout ships were there before they left the Maker’s special garden. The rest of the Nefelim showed up on Earth not too long after my brother killed me in my old body. To us they appeared as heavenly beings from the Maker. They start to intermingle with us. Then that is when things changed. They lived among us for hundreds of years. Their offspring became very powerful leaders. What we didn't know is that they started to rule us with fear. I was able to withstand their fear tactic in this unicorn body.”

Silverwind speaks next, “Some grew very large, literally giants. Some were two to four times as tall as the rest of the general population. When some people rose up against them, they broke down the will of the people.”

Athena speaks, “The Nefelim caused the people to do horrible things with their mind power. We tried to kill them before it was too late.”

Einhorn speaks, “But the people's army could not defeat them. There was no one strong enough to do it.”

Makaela speaks, “So, the Maker told us, the unicorns, the fairies, dwarves, centaurs and dragons that he will flood the Earth where the Nefelim gathered to start over. They gathered around a large inland sea between two continents.”

Star Dancer speaks, “The Maker found a family that listened to his voice. Noach and his family built the ark to save as much life as possible in our region.”

Avel speaks, “Then the Maker picked us up and brought us here long before you showed up King Dryden.”

King Dryden speaks, “When Richard heard the ancient name this morning, he remembered reading it before he came here. That confirms they were on Earth before.”

“This means there could be more of them out there, Avel and King Dryden.”

“I think you're right, Richard.”

“So what can we do to get their attention, King Dryden?”

“Well, let's not worry about that for now, King Thranton. Perhaps the Maker will reveal an answer to us when the time comes or with another dream.”

“Perhaps, King Dryden. Thank you.”

“Let us all thank the Maker, because we have a chance to preserve our lives here.”

Then everyone begins to cheer, clap, roar, neigh, stomp their feet and fairies flying and dancing in the air praising the Maker of the Universe. The dragons shoot flames into the air as well. Ryujin shoots some lightning bolts into the air. After a while King Dryden raises his hands to quiet everyone down.

“Thank you for that round of applause. We must be confident that we can do this. Right now, we need to bring Richard and Brin to the scout ship to set the bait. I would like some Legion Commanders to witness the exchange.”

The Legion Commanders nod their heads up and down.

'The rest of us can now return back to our kingdoms. Make sure everything is in place in your kingdoms. We expect to sense the second scout ship soon. If the Maker sends the scout ship to our surface, we'll need to split the crew up like before.

“Have them put in the Western Kingdoms this time. We'll need to remove the mind control implants that are located on the back part of the neck. Put them in the magical sealed cells to keep them safe.”

All of the Kings and Queens nod their heads up and down in agreement.

“All right, let's get ready for the next step. Richard, please step down from the stage. You'll be going with Wizards Thaygard, Eldwin and Renard. I recommend one Legion Commander from each Region to be with them.”

“Go to the Grand Castle and pick up Brin. Then fly to the cave where the scout ship is located. Return Brin back to the Grand Castle for safe keeping. Then from there you can return to your own kingdom.”

Everyone agrees to the plan. They all shout out loud, “Yes, King Dryden.”

Everyone gets up from the arena and gets ready to leave and go back to their kingdoms.

All of the unicorns come near to me like before. I hug their necks again. After that, the Dwarf Kings and Queens come near. I put my hands on the Kings shoulder and nod my head. I also get hugs from the Queens.

“Good luck, Richard.”

“Thank you, Kings and Queens of the Under Kingdom.”

“Take care. You’re very valuable to us.”

“I know, Queen Rosina. We are making the best plans possible.”

We smile at each other. The centaurs come up next. Some put their hands onto my shoulders with a smile. Some of the female centaurs put their arms around me carefully.

“See you again soon, Richard.”

“See you later, Caltron and Serena.”

We smile at each other.

I turn to the dragons. “Take care, dragons. This will be your biggest test ever. You finally get to do something new if the air fighters are in the skies.”

“Yes, Richard. We'll practice hard. We’ll be ready.”

King Thranton comes near Ryujin. “The special saddle will be ready tomorrow morning. We'll be at the back entrance of the Rainbow Falls Caverns.”

“Thank you, King Thranton. My brethren have been helping me with my target practice very well.”

“That's good, Ryujin. See you then.”

They nod their heads up and down to each other with a smile.

The group that is going to Grand Castle gathers together. The four Legion Commanders are Sir Dolen, Sir Trenton, Sir Braxton and Sir Elion. We connect to the wizards. They recite the transport spell. We disappear in a blink of an eye.

As we fly to the Grand Castle, we see the other kingdoms flying toward it as well. Apparently they changed their minds. They want to see us return.

We land in the courtyard in a blink of an eye. We disconnect and walk to the Grand Castle. The knights snap to attention and open the doors for us.

Once we enter the foyer, we turn left. We walk to the same door where it leads down to the holding cells. A knight standing guard, unlocks the door and opens it for us.

We walk down the hallways and ramps to where Brin is kept. We see two guards standing there. They snap to attention when they see us.

“At ease, men. It is time to retrieve Brin.”

“Yes, Sir Braxton.” They turn around. One of them recites the spell for the contact crystal on the small stone ledge. An image from inside the cell appears above the crystal.

They see Brin sitting on the mattress.

“Brin, can you hear me? This is Sir Braxton.”

“Yes, I can hear you, Sir Braxton. I heard a bunch of dragons roaring with anger. I felt it all the way here.”

“Yes we know. We finally learned who is the real enemy on the star ship. It is the Supreme and the General.”

“They are? I'm not surprised. Is it time to set the bait?”

“It is, Brin. Are you ready?”

“I am, Sir Braxton.”

“A wizard and a guard are coming in to get you out.”

“All right, Sir Braxton.”

Wizard Eldwin steps forward. A guard puts his left hand onto his right shoulder. Eldwin recites the transport spell. They disappear in a blink of an eye. Then they appear in the cell in a blink of an eye.

“That's amazing to see that.”

“Well, you're about to experience it a few more times. Put your right hand on my left shoulder.”

Brin stands and walks over. He puts his right hand on Eldwin's left shoulder. The guard keeps his left hand on Eldwin's right shoulder. Eldwin recites the transport spell, they all disappear in a blink of an eye and reappear in the hallway just as quickly.

“That's incredible. What happened?”

“That's a little hard to explain right now. We need to get outside and fly to the scout ship.”

“We're going to fly?”

“Yes, you'll see, Brin. Guards, you'll be coming with us just in case. When we get done there, we'll fly back here.”

“Yes, Sir Braxton.”

We all walk together back up the ramps and hallways. The knight unlocks the door for us. We enter the foyer and exit through the front doors. We walk out to the courtyard.

Brin quickly looks around, “This world is beautiful.”

“We know, Brin. We're working hard to keep it that way.”

“Hand to shoulder please.”

Sir Trenton and I connect to Renard. Brin and Sir Braxton connect to Eldwin. Sir Elion and a guard connect to Thaygard. Sir Dolen connects to Renard. The other guard connects to Thaygard.

The wizards recite the transport spell. We disappear in a blink of an eye. We start flying westward.

“This is incredible. We're flying in the air?”

“That's right, Brin. But we can't be seen by others who are not doing this.”

“I have never seen anything like it.”

We fly higher and higher to get over the Correllianne Mountains. Once we fly past the highest peaks, we see the land slope down and away from us. We see the land of Correlle Kingdom.

Thaygard takes the lead and starts making his descent. We follow him into the cave. As we make our descent, we see the dragons flying in the air around the cave.

When we get to the mouth of the cave and land, we appear in a blink of an eye. We look around as we walk to the cave entrance. We see several dragons on watch there.

We all bow toward them. They bow their heads as well.

“Welcome back, my friends. Are you here to get inside the strange craft?”

“Greetings, Belgaron and Dragar. We are here to set the bait.”

“Excellent. You may go inside.”

“Thank you, honorable dragons.”

We walk inside the cave. After walking a bit, we see the scout ship down a branch from the main branch. We see the scout ship is still in one piece.

Thaygard puts his fingers together. He recites the spell to generate the four tone key codes. The door opens. Eldwin makes a hole in the sealing spell.

“Knights, stay on guard out here just in case.”

“Yes, Sir Braxton.”

We walk inside the scout ship.

“Brin, is there anything you need to send the distress signal?”

“Yes, it will require my authorization. It detects my voice. But it also needs a verification signal that identifies me. It is on us all the time.”

“I think I know what it is. Eldwin, do you have Brin's implant?”

“Yes I do, Richard.”

“Put it back together with the battery. It sends a signal to them.”

“Yes, it lets them know if they're still alive. It's strange, I know we put the implants in others, but I didn’t know I had one in me. That is strange programming.”

Eldwin takes out the implant device and puts the battery into it. He sees a little green light flashing. Then Eldwin puts the device into the shell. We all see a light come on a console panel.

I take out the crystal card from my satchel. “Brin, this is the distress signal I found, it is ready to send.”

“All right, Richard.” Brin sits down at commander’s console. Brin takes the crystal card and puts on the console. Brin turns on the console at his station. All the lights come on. A light shines through the crystal card. Brin breathes in and closes his eyes. He opens them and breathes out. “No one must speak at all.”

We all nod our heads up and down. “Remove the containment shield you put on the scout ship.”

Eldwin recites the spell to remove the sealing spell. He nods his head and down.

Brin pushes a symbol on the control panel and types a code sequence and hits a green symbol on the glass panel.

~~~000~~~

“General, I'm receiving a distress signal from the first scout ship.”

“Does it meet authorization specs?”

“Yes, General. It is from Brin. I'm also detecting his imprint signal.”

“Open a channel, Tek.” A signal from Brin? He should be dead.

“Yes sir.” He pushes a series of symbols on the glass panel.

~~~000~~~

“Get into the next room. He can see me.”

We all walk quietly into the next room. We try to be quiet and not make any noise.

When Brin sees that is safe, he pushes a symbol on the panel.

“Brin here. This is Distress Code #2. Please respond.”

“I received your signal Brin. I’m switching you to the General.”

“I confirm, Tek.”

~~~000~~~

“Brin, what happened? You disappeared in a big energy spike. In addition, we received three fail safe signals.”

“I'm still trying to figure it out. Somehow, we're on the surface in a cave.”

“On the surface and in a cave? What of the crew? How are they?”

“I'm sorry to report. They were dispatched. They did not survive too long in exploring the surrounding area. I recovered the bodies.”

“I'm sorry to hear that. Their lives are a sacrifice to the Supreme.”

“Yes, sir. I have no capability to get off the surface. I'm on emergency power.”

“I understand, Brin. We have sent a second scout ship to finish the comm-logs and any resistance. Put the crew members on ice. We'll pick you up in a few planet spins.”

“Sir, I want to report an unusual condition here.”

“What is it, Brin?”

“This world is magical.”

“Magical? What do you mean?”

“When we appeared inside the cave, some local people appeared and disappeared in a blink of an eye. I extend my sensor range as far as possible. From sensor analysis, there are no comm-signals on all wave lengths. That means this is an archaic world.”

“I understand, Brin. Well done.”

“There is another verification, General.”

“What is it?”

“I opened the sealed folder and compared the scan of the artifacts. The reading is hot here. This is the source of the artifacts.”

“Excellent, Brin. I'll report to the Supreme. Sit tight, we'll pick you up.”

“Yes ,General.”

“General out.”

“Brin out.”

~~~000~~~

“Tek, it looks like we found the source for the artifacts.”

“Yes, General, this looks like this is the home world for the artifacts.”

“I'm going to the Supreme and give the report.”

“Yes sir.”

“Dar-re, you have the bridge.”

“Yes, General.”

The General steps down and walks to the circle. He disappears in a flash of light. Dar-re walks up and sits in the command chair.

“Tek, how is it going in getting the storage areas ready?”

“They will be complete in six clicks, sir.”

“That's very good, Tek. Keep monitoring the second scout ship.”

“Yes sir.” Let me look at that distress signal again. Tek makes an adjustment on the console and looks at the read out. That's odd, I thought that signal was bigger. Now it is at the normal size. Where did the rest of it go to? I wonder, let me check the file logs. I type some commands to check the file logs and entries. What's this folder called 'T-net'? It appears to be harmless. I see it is loaded in the environment file and accepted. But that is not enough. Where did the rest of it go? It must have come from Brin as a separate analysis of the atmosphere. Well, let's continue scanning the telemetry readings from the second scout ship. Why do I get the feeling I know someone who knows computer systems? Ouch . . . There is that pain again. Well let's back to work . . . Yes, the pain is gone now.

~~~000~~~

Brin gives a big sigh of relief, “Whew! I didn't think I could pull it off. It is done.”

We all walk inside to the control room.

“Well done, Brin. That was an excellent performance.”

“Thanks, they won't be contacting me again until they are here. That should be about two or three days from now if they take the bait.”

“That's great, Brin.”

“Brin, you spoke to somebody on the bridge named Tek?”

“Yes, his station is on the bridge.”

“That voice sound like Tek, Thaygard.”

“Yes it did, Richard.”

“If that's true, we know where one of our Outside Helpers is commander.”

They smile in agreement.

“Is Tek one of your Outside Helpers?”

Everybody responds in one voice. “Yes.”

I walk over to the console and pick up the crystal card and put it in my satchel.

“You can go ahead and deactivate that implant. They will think I'm dead when they don't sense it next time.”

Eldwin takes the implant apart and removes the battery. The green light stops flashing. He puts the pieces into his pocket.

“I guess the shielding for your emergency power is low enough. The Ethereal Space is not attracting to it. It is dampening that effect.”

“That's right, Richard. So if the shielding is turned off, the rest of the electrical systems would get hit by lightning.”

“Our storms here are very powerful, Brin. Our castles have very strong and thick metal rods on the spires. That includes the wire from the metal rods to the end that is buried deep into the ground.”

“Now I see why you're confident you can save your world.”

“That's right, Brin. The other problem is this, Brin. If this star ship reaches Earth for its revenge, more than likely my world's forces would find a way to destroy it.”

“Then all would be lost and forgotten.”

“Yes, Brin. We must believe that Twainor will succeed. Are you ready to return to the cell?”

“I'm ready, commanders.”

Brin turns off the consoles and powers down the ship. All lights are off except for the emergency lights. Brin opens the door. Eldwin makes a hole in the sealing spell. We walk outside to rejoin the guards out there. Thaygard closes the door with the sound spell. Eldwin recites the sealing spell to reseal the scout ship. We walk out of the cave and see Belgaron and Dragar still standing there.

“Greetings, Belgaron and Dragar. The bait has been sent and received.”

“Excellent, commanders. Can we destroy the strange craft now?”

Brin looks at us with a worried face. We see it.

“That is not needed. I'm sorry. You will have plenty to do when the air fighters appear in the skies in two or three days.”

Their faces fall down for a moment, then brightens up when they hear of the possible air fight that will come.

“Very well. We'll keep it safe for now. If Twainor wins, we suggest you get this craft out of here.”

“We will, Dragons of the Correllianne Mountains. We heard there is another space craft attached onto the main star ship. It belongs to the General and the Supreme.”

“Yes, that would be better to destroy so that they can't leave in a hurry.”

“Take care, Richard. It is good to see you again. Be safe.”

“Take care, dragons. It is good to see you again. I'll be in Thryson Kingdom the next two days at least.”

“Very good, see you later.”

We put our hands to shoulder to the wizards. They recite the transport spell. We disappear in a blink of an eye. We fly eastward and over the Correllianne Mountains. Soon we see the landscape for Angathorn Kingdom. We fly over the hills and valleys. We see castles, towns and villages scattered about. Soon we see the forest edge and the plains. Then we see the Grand Castle coming into view.

As we make our descent, we see a lot of people standing there, including some First Ones. When we touch down, we appear in a blink of an eye. We disconnect from the wizards and walk toward them. We see the rest of the Legion Commanders, wizards, sorceresses, kings and queens standing there. I see Avel and the fairies, King Thranton and Queen Rosina, Caltron and Serena as well. This includes the other First Ones in attendance.

They stop their talking as we approach them.

King Dryden walks up to greet us. “How did it go? Is the bait set?”

“It is, King Dryden. Brin put on a great performance. The distress signal is sent and received on the star ship.”

Everybody claps their hands and cheer. Some come to hug me or put a hand to my shoulder.

We all laugh and smile at each other. Brin looks at us as if trying to figure us out.

“Is there something going on here? I see huge dragons being friendly to Richard. Who are these other people that are half your size? They don't look like you, King Dryden, but like Richard. Then I see this four-legged animal with a single horn and small winged people flying around it. They all talk. Then I see this half man and half horse as well. I've never seen such diversity on such a world.”

King Dryden speaks first. “There is a reason, Brin. There is a history connection between Twainor and Earth, which is Richard's home world.” King Dryden looks at me to continue the story.

“A long time ago, about six thousand years ago. Life on Earth was very different. We had dragons, centaurs, dwarves, unicorns and fairies.” I point to each one in turn. “Besides men and women who look like me.”

Avel speaks, “Yes Brin, that is our home world.”

“What? You can speak?”

“All unicorns can speak, except horses. They talk differently. After a hundred years or so on Earth I was killed in my former body by my brother.”

“Are you telling me you used to be like Richard?”

“Yes, I was a man. I was the first man killed in hate on Earth after my parents left a special garden designed by the Maker. The Maker had mercy on me and allowed me to be a witness to his Creation. Makaela is the first woman killed in hate on Earth. We were a peace loving population on Earth until the Nefelim showed up.”

“This is too much.”

“I know it is a lot to take in. After I was killed, some more people came from the stars and showed up on Earth. It didn't take long for them to take control of the people.”

Silverwind speaks, “They controlled the people with fear. They intermingled with the population. Their children grew up to be giants, at least three to four times as tall as the rest of the normal people.”

“The giants caused the people to do horrible things when they conquered them.”

“Then the Maker of the Universe decided to start over. He found a family that would listen to His Voice. The Maker decided to flood the world where the Nefelim was gathered. They were all located around an inland sea between two continents. The family built a very large boat to save as much life as possible.”

“All of the people drowned, including the giants in our region. Before the Great Flood came, the Maker picked up some of us and brought us here to Twainor long before the people of Twainor showed up. We're called the First Ones here.”

“The family survived the Great Flood and started over. I'm a descendant from that family after five thousand years or so. There were some First Ones who begged to be on the boat. Some did get on and tried to survive afterwards. The only ones who are left are the fairies. I met some of them not too long ago.”

They fly in front of Brin. They smile at him while they laugh and giggle. Then they fly back to their unicorns.

“The other source of refuge is our deep and vast oceans like here. They contain many sea fish, sea mammals and ancient sea life. There is a good chance that sea dragons are there as well. But, that has not been proven yet.”

“Earth is like Twainor with its oceans. The dwarves here are like me. There is still the dwarf marker in us on Earth. Right now, they’re about three billion people on Earth with about 150 nations or kingdoms. We have only explored our star system. We have yet to discover interstellar travel like that star ship that is coming here.”

“How did you get here, Richard?”

King Dryden speaks up, “Several years ago we were visited by a group that call themselves the Emissaries. These Emissaries are representatives from the Maker. They invited us to be part of the Local Group.”

“I know that group. We encountered two medallions within that group. We had to flee or be destroyed. We located the medallions quickly and took their bearers only. I don't know where they are on the star ship.”

“That's all right, Brin. We'll find them and rescue the crew from the Supreme and the General.”

“It took about two years to come to an agreement. Our only war we had was about 150 years ago. We had to make peace. If we did, we would be accepted in the Local Group. We would accept Outside Helpers from other worlds in the Local Group. They would help us in our time of need.”

“We had to put complete trust in the Maker when we sent out the call. We didn't know who was going to come.”

“That's incredible. I wish my world had Outside Helpers. They would have saved our world.”

“The problem with that, is that all war must cease Brin. Even the secret factions had to cease functioning.”

“When the Outside Helpers were here last year. They found two secret factions that we did not know about. They had taken root. The Outside Helpers helped us put them down. We now finally have true peace here.”

“Then we had a surprise when one of them showed up. He has helped us more than you will ever know.”

Brin looks at me, “You came.”

“That's right, Brin. The Maker could have chosen anyone else on Earth with my abilities. There are others there like me with the knowledge I have. I have accepted the honor with humbleness. I may not know everything, but I seek to learn the world around me. It intrigues me to find those interesting clues to make sense of it all.”

“That's right Brin. Richard and the other Outside Helpers have helped us to learn more about Twainor and how we fit in the Maker's Universe.”

“Is there peace on Earth, Richard?”

I look down momentarily, so do everyone else. Then we look back up.

“There is no true peace there yet. We've had wars on Earth every year it seems like. One country experiences peace while two neighboring kingdoms are at war. There is blood shed even in the streets of the cities, towns and villages in my so called peaceful nation.”

“We are illness prone. Fortunately for myself and others like me, we know what it takes to be healthy and eat right. I live in a good country and there are other countries who want peace very much.”

“There is no magic there. It was probably removed when some of the people abused it for power and control a long time ago. Probably long before the Great Flood. I think it lingered for another thousand years before it finally disappeared afterwards.”

“About sixty years ago, my time. We had a population of seven billion people with two hundred nations. Then in a space of thirty years we experienced a huge outbreak of disasters, disease and war. It did get the attention of many nations and kingdoms. That number is now reduced to three billion people and 150 nations.”

Avel continues with my thought, “If the bad choices continue, I think the Maker will have no choice but to reduce their population numbers again. He can make the land animals more numerous than the people if He wants to.”

“Either way our hatred and killing ways will end. Perhaps when I go back this time, the Maker will find a way to get their attention.”

“We can only hope.”

Brin then breaks down and cries. His knees buckle from the emotional burst. Some knights help him down easy. After awhile, he recovers to speak.

“Why? Why did my world have to die? I think I know the answer to my own question. My world suffered wars as well. We had several strong kingdoms and factions. However, they could not trust each other. They were always suspicious of the secret plots by them. Only two of the kingdoms had the weapons to defend the world, but it was not enough.”

“Your world died because of that mistrust.”

“Yes, King Dryden. Maybe after this fight and we are still here, there is a way to start over.”

“Yes, there is always hope, Brin. We know of two groups on the star ship are enemies. They cannot be in the presence of either one. That is going to be a separate problem to solve also.”

“Yes, I see what you mean, King Dryden.” Brin stands up with the knights help. “Thank you for telling me the bigger picture. Good luck in the days ahead.” Brin turns to the Legion Commanders, “I'm ready to return to my cell. Thank you for allowing to take a small part to redeem myself and my people.”

“You're welcome, Brin.” Sir Braxton addresses the guards, “Knights and Wizard Eldwin, please take Brin back to his cell.”

“Yes, Sir Braxton.”

“Guards, when the fighting is underway, you can show him some images to him if he wants to.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Thank you for the offer, Sir Braxton. “I'll watch it for a short time period. I've seen enough wars already from my view point.”

“We understand, let the guards know if you need anything else like different kinds of food.”

“Yes, King Dryden. Thank you for your hospitality and compassion.”

“You're welcome.”

Then King Dryden and Queen Lorinor walk up and hug Brin and put a hand to his shoulder. Brin smiles weakly. He turns around and walks toward to the two knights and Master Wizard Eldwin. He is led inside the Grand Castle and returns to his cell.

“Well, all is set, Twainor. Tomorrow morning begins the training sessions on our sea ships and more training on the field layouts we just built.”

“Yes, King Dryden. The one hundred will be chosen this evening from each of the kingdoms.”

“Very good, Sir Braxton. Commanders, Kings and Queens, First Ones, get a good night’s rest.”

“Yes, King Dryden.”

“Are there any last words or comments, Richard?”

“Hmm . . . It might be obvious. If general power is off on the star ship, the hallways will probably have emergency lighting. It will be dimmer in the hallways.”

“Yes, we suspect that as well, Richard. Thanks for everything in providing us hope.”

I smile at them, “You're welcome, my friends.”

“Can you be here on the third morning, Richard? This will be for a morale speech for the forces on our sea ships.”

I look to King Tierion and smile.

King Tierion smiles as well, “Yes, Richard will be here to give it.”

“Very good, King Tierion.”

“We can be here too, King Dryden.”

“That is your choice, Kings and Queens. I just thought it might be safe for everyone to be in their own kingdoms when the fighting begins.”

“Yes, I see what you mean, King Dryden.”

“Farewell my friends, take care. I hope to see you all again when this is over.”

I get a hug from each of the ladies and hands to the shoulder from the men. I hug the unicorns while the fairies fly around us singing songs. The centaurs come up and put their hands to my shoulder. I grasp their arm while they do that. We all smile at each other.

The wizards and sorceresses all line up. We then connect to them hand to shoulder. A queen puts her hand to the shoulder of a sorceress while the other is on the shoulder of a unicorn. The fairies sit on their unicorn's back and hold onto his or her mane.

“Are all eleven kingdoms ready?”

“Yes, King Dryden. We're ready.”

“Go with best speed from the Maker. Keep in contact if anything new develops, especially the second scout ship.”

The wizards and sorceresses recite the transport spell. We all disappear in a flash of light. We all fly back to our respective kingdoms.