“A new chapter” by Kylie Knobloch (Updated) (I’m proud of this one)

“Janner? Janner!”

It was dark. Voices from all around sounded miles away. Yet they weren’t shouting. They were softly calling.

“Janner?” the voices called again. Closer this time.

All at once a soft light arose.

Janner slowly opened his eyes. He was in a forest. The light was green and warm. The sun was streaming through the trees and all was silent.

“Janner? Can you hear me? said a sweet voice of a woman. It was his mother.

“Mmmhmm.”

Quiet exclamations of “Janner!” and “Praise the Maker” arose from all around him and suddenly everyone in the group came around him, hugging him and crying.

When the crying had stopped, Janner spoke up.

“Where am I?”

“We’re at the first well!” Chimed in Kalmar. “After you…you know, died.” Nia clenched her jaw and closed her eyes trying to hold back tears. “We were trying to figure out what to do. Until we had the idea to bring you here and try The Well out…”

Kalmar kept explaining what had happened after Janner had sacrificed himself, and how they got to the First Well.

But Janner only heard half of it. He looked around.

An older, rounder man stood a little while off with a big smile on his face. He exclamed “As Philiperan Vonshwana wrote in his classic novel “The wind sings sweetly”, “I am so glad your alive!”

A young girl with blonde hair, a sweet smile, and a crutch under her arm was lovingly stroking his hair.

A strange man with birdlike features stood a little ways off. He had fierce, yet kind eyes that stared at him. They had tears in them and the words “I’m proud of you.”.

Kalmar was the most changed. His light brown hair was back. No more fur. His teeth weren’t involuntarily sticking out of his mouth. He was free. Janner realized he hadn’t seen the real Kalmar in quite a while.

He then turned to his mother. She was beautifully plain. Just as he had always known her.

Kalmar’s voice faded back in, “And Sara’s here!”

Janner sat up strait. His eyes darted to Kalmar and then all around, looking for her. She stepped into view. Their eyes met. His soft green eyes with her dazzling blue ones. His filled with tears. Here was the girl he had met in the Fork Factory. Here was the girl that kept him sane while he was in the Coffin. Here was the girl whom he was in love with.

The tears rolled down his cheeks, and a faint smile appeared there too. She too, had tears.

“Are you able to walk?” Nia asked after a minute.

“I don’t know. I’ll try.” Janner said. He firmly places his hands in the water.

“I’ll help you!” Leeli cried.

With help from others as well as Leeli, he finally stood.

“Let’s go home.”

They walked through the woods for a while. Stopping every once in a while to give Janner a break. Even though he was being helped by his uncle, he was still very weak.

Then all of the sudden the trees cleared and before them lay shining blue expanse of water.

Janners eyes lit up. “We’re sailing!?” Sara smiled “Not exactly…”

Just then, three huge sea dragons rose out from the water wheeling and moaning beautifully, low notes. Their colorful scales shone in the sun; blinding the onlookers if they looked strait at them. Janner’s eyes got wide.

They each partnered up and got on the sea dragons.

Arthum with Kalmar, Nia with Leeli and Oskar, and Janner with Sara. “I’m sure everyone will be happy with this arrangement!” Kalmar said with a mischievous glance at Janner. Janner simply rolled his eyes, but in truth, he was happy with the arrangement.

The dragons moved. Janner was expecting a sudden lurch. He expected this so much so that when they had been moving for a few moments, he hadn’t noticed.

He and Sara rode in silence for a piece. This silence tormented Sara. She wondered what Janner was thinking. Was he thinking about home? The weather? …Her? She was wondering if she should tell him how she felt when he died. If she was to tell the truth she would tell him she felt numb; sort of dead herself. Janner, on the other hand, was content with the silence. He was happy to just watch the water fly past beneath him. He started to think of all the things that had changed. They had won, he set fanged people free, and they now had a new home. Then his thoughts darkened. Podo was gone. There was nothing they could do about it. But then he realized he now had to accept things were different. And that’s fine. The sun was starting to set. The silence was broken by Sara. “There it is.” What Janner saw made him start to cry.

The Castle Rysen. Tall and beautiful. The sun setting majestically behind it.

“Home.”