10

The next morning Rebecca woke early, impatient to embark on her first day in the new world to which she had been brought. After a quick shower she put on her Orizon uniform and forced herself to eat some breakfast, despite the fact that all she actually wanted was to get outside to start the great adventure.

When she finally stepped out of the house, the birds exploded into song, accompanied by spectacular aerobatic-reminiscent displays as they swooped and soared around her head, as if they, too, had been waiting impatiently for this moment. They had come to welcome the new young resident of the house and impress her with their skills. She paused for a moment, staring up at them, entranced, trying to see and to hear each one separately.

Marvelling at the spectacular concert that was circling around her in the air, she flung her arms wide as if wanting to embrace them all. The newly awakened sun shone with happiness at the glorious sight of the beautiful young girl in white. Guessing its thoughts, she enfolded it in her arms and hugged it tightly to her chest.

Feeling like she might explode with excitement, she ran to the stables and found her grandparents waiting for her. Lisa looked on as Tony passed her the reins of the saddled white horse.

“Have a great first day!” he said.

Rebecca grinned as she leapt onto the horse in one graceful movement.

“Enjoy yourself, dear!” Lisa added.

“Oh, I definitely will,” she laughed, tossing her long hair back from her face and sending the horse cantering out of the stables. “Bye!” she called out, with a backward wave.

A few minutes later she was galloping through the Great Gate towards the school building.

Leaving her perspiring, snorting horse to rest at the school’s stable, she ran to the auditorium, where many of the other newcomers were already waiting at the doors, all wearing Orizon blue and carrying crystal swords. The room was abuzz with excited chatter.

Suddenly, the double doors swung open, silencing them all, and Doctor Afterland ceremoniously ushered them into the auditorium, where they took their seats.

“Good morning everyone,” he said once they were settled. “Here is where we begin the journey to prepare you for your role in the war against Evil! You can ask questions at any time.”

The rows of rapt faces looked up at him, focussed and eager to learn.

“I will teach you how to survive even the most extreme hardship completely on your own. When I’ve finished, you’ll be able to face any challenge.”

Bill raised his hand. Afterland nodded in his direction.

“Sir, my parents told me that one of our main goals is to fight the spread of drugs on Earth. Will this help us in that battle?”

“Drugs on Earth are a plague,” Afterland said. “They are controlled by the most violent criminals, called the Sartani, who also use terrorism as part of their arsenal. They are the secret dark rulers of Earth - the ones who actually control it and cause all the misery, the financial disasters and the wars. So, for those of you who will be living on Earth, one of our aims is to make you strong enough to be of real help combating the Sartani and their plans.”

Afterland scanned the room. Tamina raised her hand.

“Yes, young lady?”

“What is the role of the Sphinxes?”

“Our Sphinx’s name is Glory. The powers of Evil have one called Calphie. The Sphinxes are the strongest creatures in our land, but they never participate in the Lomani. Glory’s job is to guard the Flame. Calphie guards Turgoth’s Palace.”

“What about the Gorgons in the forest?” asked Rebecca.

“Stheno and Euryale are the Gorgon sisters of Medusa. They don’t belong to either camp and live alone in Domus Forest. Be warned! Anyone who looks into their eyes will instantly be turned to stone, so try to avoid them. But if you do encounter them, don’t look into their eyes!”

Afterland’s class lasted for an hour and then the newcomers were taken to meet the Amazon leader, General Claudia, who stood waiting for them with a bow in her hand.

Once she was sure she had their attention, the powerful Amazon took a stance and pulled back her bowstring, every muscle tense and concentrated on the distant target. The arrow streaked from the bow, straight and true, piercing the dead centre of the bull’s eye. Claudia stood back, looking satisfied by the awed gasps from her students.

“Regardless of what you already know,” she said, “today we will be beginning from scratch. I am going to be showing you how to hold the bow, how to notch an arrow and how to pull back the bowstring.”

This class also lasted for an hour, after which the young Orizons moved on to meet General Hunter.

Before the roomful of hushed students, the Centaur elegantly raised a spear with his muscular arm and leaned back in preparation to throw. Perfectly balanced, he paused.

“Control, meditation, foresight, aim - all are needed for mastery over the spear and javelin. You must be able to throw both on foot and - if you’re not blessed like me - on horseback,” he joked and everyone laughed.

An hour later they were in front of Field Marshal Foster, who beckoned Samantha to step out and face him.

“Draw your sword,” he ordered, taking a classic stance with his own sword unsheathed and ready.

Samantha, who was a fencing champion on Earth, realised that he was expecting her to defend herself and mirrored his movements. She started to dance around his stern, zen-like defence. Like a cat, she pounced. There was a flash of crystal and a crashing of blades. Foster parried with incredible speed, catching her off guard and sending her sword flying from her hand. Despite her skill, he had disarmed her in one simple movement. She hung her head, her sword lying beside her.

“Don’t feel bad, child,” he said. “Soon you will become so good that even I will find it difficult to face you.”

Everyone clapped and Samantha graciously bowed before picking up her fallen sword.

“Now, again! En garde!”

Foster raised his sword in the classic sign of homage and the air kissed his blade. Samantha had a steely glint in her eye as she readied herself once more. This time it took him two moves to disarm her.

Several of the other trainees took their turns during the next hour, none with any more success than Samantha.

Something about Foster’s lesson was bothering Rebecca. She was completely certain that if she hadn’t wanted him to, Foster wouldn’t have been able to disarm her. She had been ninth in line. She knew that she could have kept her sword and given him a fight but, in a split-second judgement, she decided to let her sword fall, because the Field Marshal had already disarmed the eight children before her. She didn’t want to stand out too much from the others.

Of course, she didn’t believe that she would have actually defeated Foster, but she was certain that she could have made things more difficult for him than she actually had. She said nothing to anyone about these thoughts.

Following Foster’s lesson, they were led to the beautiful lake of Domus Forest, where Princess Felicia was waiting for them beside the clear water, standing beneath a grove of palm trees.

“I’m going to teach you something that is both enjoyable and relaxing, but is also very useful,” she told them. “We’ve come here for a special reason. Here in the second parallel, gravity makes it possible to - fly!”

Her words were greeted with a ripple of excited gasps.

“But you must remember, it’s critical to have water beneath you whenever you try this. And keep in mind that even Orizons can’t fly on Earth because gravity is different there.”

Felicia told them to sit around her on the grass.

“For the first few days of training you will attach palm leaves to your arms and legs to help you. They’ll make it easier to learn but gradually you’ll be able to shed them. You have to believe that you can do this. Having faith in your own abilities is the most important thing when trying to reach any difficult goal. You need self-confidence! Understand that we all have enormous powers sleeping within us; unimaginable skills that we don’t even know about and don’t make the slightest use of. You can achieve incredible things. The Flame will help you to concentrate these powers and make the most of them. That’s why Orizons are different. The same goes for this. With the power of the Flame and with self-belief you can truly overcome gravity in the Land of the White Sun and fly. But don’t worry about falling; the lake is very deep here so you won’t be hurt.”

She instructed them to line up in a row and then stood in front of them. She took off her boots and readied herself.

“Just watch me now,” she said, “without doing anything. First, we bend our knees and crouch down close to the ground. We raise our arms in the air. Then we straighten our legs sharply and bring our raised arms down to our sides, as if they were the wings of birds. While doing this you must firmly believe that you are going to fly.

“As you lift off the ground, don’t try to go up vertically, but lean forward, as I am doing now, and gain altitude gradually. Vertical take-off is extremely difficult, no matter how experienced you are.

“I’ll fly a little so that you can see how I move my arms and legs. Move your legs the same way you do when you swim with flippers and flap your arms like birds flap their wings. In due course you’ll learn to move your arms in other ways too, like doing the breaststroke when swimming, rather than the crawl.”

She bent her knees and rose off the ground, flying with slow, graceful movements. The children watched in astonishment. What they were faced with - what was taking place right before their eyes - was unlike anything they’d ever seen or imagined. A human being was actually flying! She was like a beautiful angel. Felicia made slow movements so that they could see what they should do. She didn’t go far or fly very high and soon returned to them. As she touched down, she bent her legs and was back in more or less the same stance as when she took off.

“Don’t try to land on the ground yet,” she said as she straightened up. “It’s too difficult for your first attempt. Fall into the water and then swim to the edge. Don’t expect to get it right straight away and don’t get disheartened. You will have improved by tomorrow and you’ll see how many important and difficult achievements you can succeed at, if you only dare try. Now, who wants to try first?”

Samantha stepped forward. “I’ll have a go.”

Felicia walked with her to the edge of the water and showed her precisely how much to bend her knees and where exactly to put her arms. She moved the girl’s arms a few times until she understood what it should feel like.

“Okay, Samantha. Only believe! Believe deep inside yourself that you will fly! And off you go!”

Samantha straightened her legs and sprang up into the air. She was an excellent swimmer and a very talented diver. But divers have a springboard to give them a push, whereas Samantha left the ground under her own steam. She inclined her body slightly and managed to fly, if only for a few seconds, before splashing into the lake. Felicia and the others cheered and clapped enthusiastically.

With a few strokes, Samantha reached the side of the lake and Sergei put out a hand to help her. She was ecstatically happy, tears of joy mingling with the water of the lake. “Guys, it was fantastic! Fantastic! I can’t believe it,” she said over and over again, skipping around like a little child.

“Who’s next?” asked Felicia.

Rebecca’s hand was one of the first to go up and the rest of the day was happily filled with their attempts. They were taking it seriously, but it was also fun - a combination of training and playing. They felt like they were living a dream. Even when it started to grow dark they were all reluctant to leave. It was the best experience of their lives so far - one of the most important and most enjoyable things that had ever happened to them.