Shalleny

Chapter 1

Matony woke up in a daze, eyes blurred. He was lying in a bed of white sheets, softer than a dove's wings and whiter than the clouds above echoing the sun in the bright blue sky. There were yellow-golden drapes falling gently around the perimeter of the bed. He walked to the window to the left and looked outside. A slim river flowed through the city beneath him. He was set on an emerald green mountain top overlooking the radiant scenery. The trees frolicked alongside the winding river and clinging to them were the most beautiful baby blue summer leaves mirroring the diamond sky. Engulfed in the trees were pink, yellow, red, and orange prairie houses. Golden shimmer seemed to fly like debris in the wind, giving the city a constant glow, and incorporated into the gold, a faint scent of green you could never really depict but felt it there. On the other side, by the river's mouth, there was a gigantic mountain barricading any outside world and all you could see was a small opening through which water entered.

Matony walked back and sat on his bed. A young woman walked into his room and surprised, dropped the tray of food she was holding.
"Oh my goodness! I am so sorry, I had no idea you were awake."
He nodded and she quickly walked out. He assumed she was going to get another tray.
He went to the window again and below saw some people skating on the water, beautiful capintaners gliding through the glimmering air with their elongated wings and squirrel-like body, their pink bellies noticeable from a mile away.

His father was going to kill him for sure. Kabriel and he had gone to the distant mountain again to read from the red brick wall. Though many much wiser before them had tried to unravel its secrets, the two boys were determined to go beyond this blockade, or so they assumed it was blocking something.

Tomorrow. What was tomorrow? What did it mean? It was the only word they were able to decipher. He'd never heard of such an absurd sounding word, maybe they had missed a letter, or misspelled it altogether. What was tomorrow, or better yet who?
His father walked in. "How often do I have to tell you?"

Matony nodded. He knew he wasn't to venture toward the unknown. He had known nothing of this place of Shalleny his whole life so what was there for him to wonder about? It was that old man he had seen across the way. The man mentioned time but didn't dare speak anything of it.
"What is it going to take for you to listen to me??" His father stared at him.
Matony shrugged, too preoccupied to pay attention to another droning lecture. Time - tomorrow - what, who, why? His father stormed out of the room slamming the door.

He got up, walked to the door and put his ear to it. His father's footsteps faded down the stairs and when they were completely out of earshot he backed away from the door. He went over to the chestnut-brown chest and opened it, undoing the gold star clasp. Reaching inside he pulled out a dark blue sweater and a pair of jet-black pants to put over his shorts.

Then he walked to the door again and listened through its pale wood or anything audible. Nothing. As he walked across the room he tripped over a slipper but caught himself, preventing what was almost inevitable commotion. Cringing in fear he may have made a larger thump than he thought, Matony waited, frozen, intently listening for any stir from outside his room. When he didn't hear a thing, he relaxed his shoulders and made his way to the window.

Green and brown vines crawled up the side of this monstrous palace from which his window hung. Sinking their teeth into the walls, the vines made their way from the ground to right next to his window, a convenient escape route. He latched his foot onto the oversized thorns from the vines and pushed his body through the window. Descending slowly and silently, Matony made his way down the palace wall.

Kabriel was waiting when he reached the bottom. Kabriel had short brown hair that always seemed to be in a ruffle. He was taller than Matony, but not by much, maybe an inch. The two had always been friends, they were perfectly spontaneous together and never seemed to disagree when there was an adventure to undertake.

They walked behind the palace, where the shadows always fell, and there was a stable where the centors were kept. They are the most beautiful beasts. Their wings are outrageously wide, covering an entire tree in their expanse. They have hooves decorated with white lovely fur and their eyes are a silent yellow. Matony and Kabriel unleashed Bulser and Basil, two of their own centors. Basil is a soft, cream color, Bulser chocolate brown. Much more ferocious than Basil, Bulser is constantly authoritative with Kabriel but also has what seems to be a dependence on his owner. Basil is completely her own independent self, gorgeously stubborn - a deadly attribute. Being with Matony is all she knows and anyone or anything that threatens that wholesome feeling is quickly informed of where it stands when it comes to this centor. But however protective she is of her home, Basil is generally the kindest centor and has the most tremendous silver-gray mane in streamers down her neck and back.

The boys walked up to the centors, calming their eager nays. Bulser nearly knocked Kabriel over in all his excitement. Once they removed the harnesses the boys took Basil and Bulser out from the shadows and readied them for flight.

"Ice and sand, boy." Kabriel muttered to Bulser; there came a twinkle in the beast's eye. Kabriel had strange beliefs, and although Matony never really understood them he respected them. Kabriel had explained to him that nothing is cooler than ice and nothing is smoother than sand. Whenever he flew with Bulser he believed in wishing for a cool breeze and a smooth ride, it made sense to him. He tried to tell Matony that a cool breeze will always help them find their way and a smooth ride will ensure their safety. Matony understood but didn't necessarily believe, regardless, he always smiled when Kabe said it.

Matony brushed Basil's mane through with his fingers and smiled at her. He always swore he could see her smiling back. He looked over at Kabriel and nodded. They mounted their centors and with one wave and a "sh" motion from Matony, they took off into the air. The brick wall was about thirteen miles away and calling them ever-so-longingly.

Through the glimmer they flew, passing the trees and people and houses beneath them with amazing speed and swiftness. As they flew over the last baby blue coated treetop, the brick wall emerged before them. Enormous it stood, falling back into the mountain which reached so high it just simply faded into the sky from their view. The centors set the two boys down gently and as Kabriel and Matony looked up a shocked look of terror swept their faces.

Matony shot a look at Kabriel of semi-jealousy semi-betrayal. Had Kabriel recovered more letters on his own, had he somehow gotten away from his father's guards and stayed here? Kabriel could read his intent.

"Oh don't give me that look Matony, you know I didn't do it, I was with you."
It was true, Matony knew it, but it seemed the only explanation. They both looked back to the wall where another word, or part of a word, had been decrypted. But by whom? When? They had just been here! How?? They were sure nobody but those guards had followed them here before and they certainly would have no interest in these inscriptions. Their minds raced back and forth just as their eyes did to one another...the wall now read TOMORROW IS.
"Who - " Matony's voice was lost. He couldn't begin to guess what had happened here. "Well it's only more help to us," Kabriel replied, "one less word to figure out. Besides maybe they wanted to help us, maybe we're not the only ones who wonder."

"But who could it possibly be?" Matony said out loud, meaning for it to be more of a rhetorical question to Kabriel allowing him to think, but of course Kabriel answered anyway.
"Who cares? They're not here now and we are, so come on."
Matony hesitated, his curiosity getting the best of him.

There was a rustle in the bushes, they turned. Mint green leaves shivered, nervously hanging on to the bushes' branches like they themselves were afraid of what Matony and Kabriel might do. Matony made his way over to the bush, Kabriel stood still, eyes attentive on Matony's every move. Matony reached out with his right hand and strangled the trembling leaves as he pulled back a few branches to reveal a black bird. As soon as his position was discovered, the bird went chaotic and smacked Matony in the face with his wing as he shot toward the sky with overwhelming speed.

Kabriel couldn't stop himself from laughing, he curled over onto the ground, gripping his stomach, laughing so hard it hurt. Matony turned around to yell but smiled when he saw how distraught with laughter his best friend really was, and started to giggle a bit to himself.

"Oh shut up, Kabe." He finally blurted out, half laughing himself.
"What's that matter, embarrassed?" Kabriel sneered back.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, no one saw. Let's go."
"Whatever you say, my brave leader." Kabriel's sarcasm bothered Matony but he couldn't help but chuckle a little at the comment as well as himself.
The boys made their way closer to the wall.
"So what do you think is behind that thing anyway?" Kabriel said while following closely behind Matony. Matony paused, he hadn't considered this a possibility.
"What makes you think there's anything behind it?" he responded.

"Well," Kabriel explained, "I figure there's gotta be. I mean who, or what for that matter, built it and made the encryptions? Because it obviously wasn't anyone in Shalleny or they woul have deciphered it already." He paused to let Matony put his two sense in, but Matony said nothing. Kabriel started again, "Besides, it's nice to think there might be some huge mystery behind all this, you know, bigger than just an old message carved into brick."
They stopped five feet from the wall, brushing off the pieces of leaves that had fallen and attached to their clothing as they made their way closer.

"I guess that would be nice," Matony said, soft hope in his voice. Kabriel nodded and shrugged his shoulders. He was always so hopeful and eager. Matony thought about it wished there was some bigger world out there somewhere because Shalleny just didn't seem big enough for Kabe. He needed so much more, he always had this crazy imagination and Matony never understood how he thought up some of the things he did, where did it all come from? Wherever he got it from, Matony was glad his friend had it, after all, it was what got them to discover anything thus far.

The boys had tried everything the first time they came to the wall, they tried throwing rocks at it, climbing up it, looking through the cracks in it, but it seemed to be nothing but an ordinary wall; that is, until Kabriel started drawing on it.

Chapter 2

The city of Shalleny is unfamiliar to almost all who don't live there. It is located in the Western coast of the island of Magatzu. Magatzu was, and always has been, the only land on Elvet. The planet of Elvet is located between the two biggest stars in O'Ryan's belt; it is a planet covered mostly by water except for Magatzu. The human race there is similar to that on Earth, they are a highly developed species, the only difference is that no technology exists there.

On Magatzu are located many cities, Shalleny known only to the oldest and the wisest and to the people who live there. About seventy years ago there came about a disturbance in the land.
All the cities, Marquel, Romant, Verstige, Lactis, Sulner, Tellmer, and Shalleny, had leaders who kept order. However, that was all the leaders did, order was kept by the smartest and the least selfish person, but no exceptional behavior was given to them or special protection. "Leader" meant to help maintain order and order alone. Once the leader of a city grew old and incapable of performing or passed away any person could be appointed by the people. The title was not passed on by heir or other means, it was simply the person most fit for the position.

Seventy years ago the people of Shalleny lost their leader and in turn voted as a people on a new one. Unfortunately, the person they picked was not who he seemed to be. His name was Martin Vicker and he was a cunning, good looking young man. For the first four years he was elected, the city of Shalleny prospered and had few problems. However, Martin got greedy and the role of leadership went to his head. He started to make rules and if his rules weren't followed people would be punished severely. A streak of violence broke out in the city of Shalleny. Martin Vicker was ultimately killed by a mob, but so much disorder had broken out that there was no hope for an organized election of another leader. The violence and corruption spread to the other cities. All the children were killed and any window of hope for survival on Magatzu was quickly fading. The leaders of the other six cities organized a meeting to take place in Verstige to figure out some way to save the land.

When the leaders met they turned to the Gods for help. They prayed to Apollo for guidance, and he answered with a vengeance. All agreed that the city of Shalleny be shunned and punished for the sins it brought on this world. In three days time, corruption was wiped out by (the Gods) and any remaining survivors or Shalleny were closed into the city and cursed for the rest of their lives. The first fourteen years were slow, any chance to salvage the city was almost false hope but somehow the people managed to get through it. However, it was after fourteen years that the curse went into effect and any memory of the epic battles or any outside world was erased from the minds of all the people there. Time stopped in Shalleny and a fake sun was put in place over the city. For the rest of time the people of that city would be immortal and pay for their sins forever, stuck in the same place and time.