Sunday 10 May 2009

A Parallel Universe - CHAPTER II

On the other side it was day time and what they thought looked like clouds were clouds. The boys looked behind and there was a black hole with some lights, which must have been the town lights in the distance, getting smaller. Alvaro the dragon kept on flying and the boys noticed that it was a hot day on this side of the hole.
“Where are we?” Asked Alvaro, “The
Sahara desert?”
There was nothing but sand all around. The sand dunes reached all the way to the horizon and the sun burned their eyes.
“No. This desert is called The Sea Of Sand. At least it is what we call it. Other people have other names for it.”
“Does anyone live here?” Asked Alberto.
“Not really, but some humans are quite good at crossing it. They understand it very well.”
“They talk to it?” Asked Alberto wandering how someone could understand a desert.
“You simply have to know the best way to cross it with the least amount of danger. That's what understand it means.”
“So you understand it very well. We are not in any danger.”
Alvaro the dragon though about this and said “I simply try to cross it as fast as I can or at night time if possible. I don't think that count as understanding it. People that understand it can cross it any time.”
Alvaro, who had been quiet during the conversation, wandered where they were going.
“We are going to the town of Middleway. There's someone
there who wants to meet you .” Obviously Alvaro the dragon had read Alvaro's mind so this time he said aloud, “someone wants to meet us? Who is it?”
“His name is
Merlin...”
“Merlin!!” The two boys said at the same time.
“The one from King Arthur?” Asked Alvaro.
“Or it is the one from The Sword In The Stone?” Asked Alberto.
“It's the same one you silly,” said his brother.
“Well I don't know about that king or about a sword in a stone. I just know that Merlin told me how to find you and that he and his dragon have been around for a long long time. Before I was born.”
“And Merlin knows about us?” asked Alberto.
“Yes. He seems to know you and your side of the universe quite well.”
“Great!” said Alberto. He was looking forward to meeting this Merlin. He was also getting quite nervous about something but wasn't quite sure what. He just knew that something was about to happen.

Alvaro noticed his brother getting fidgety and nervous. He was going to tell him to relax a bit when he saw some mountains in the distance. Just then he felt a tingling sensation on his back and the feeling of danger. For some reason he didn't quite know he looked to the north, towards the sun. Alvaro the dragon was also looking that way. Near the sun he could sometimes see a small yellow light, like a star, but in the middle of the day. Alberto was really exited now, talking away about Merlin and dragons and how great everything was.
“We have company,” said Alvaro the dragon.
“Who, where?” Asked Alberto.
“It's over there. To the north. Flying next to the sun.” said Alvaro simply knowing that the speck of light was alive and coming towards them. Alberto had seen it too and went dead quiet.
“It's a dragon,” said Alvaro.
“Correct and it's flying very fast towards us. I may have to land so that you can get off. If we get into a fight I can't defend you if you are on my back.” Saying this he started flying lower and lower in circles.
Just before they got to the ground the other dragon had caught them. They just saw this golden bright streak of light flying on top of them and over shooting past them. They looked and saw it was a smaller dragon that was simply trying to stop which he managed by closing it's wings and crashing on top of a dune. There was a loud thump and sand flew everywhere.
By then, they had reached the ground and waited. Alvaro the dragon wasn't worried any more and Alvaro, feeling this, was also relaxing. If the other dragon had wanted to attack them he would have done so by now. Alberto on the other hand though it was really funny and was laughing out loud.
“Ha ha ha ha! It doesn't know how to land at fast speeds and thought the sand would slow him down.”
“How do you know that?” Alvaro asked his brother.
“Mmmmm. I'm not sure,” said Alberto, looking puzzled.
Just then, from under the settling pile of sand, a dragon head appeared. Bright golden and smaller than Alvaro the dragon. The new dragon looked them and smiled. His smile was also full of sharp teeth but to Alberto it looked like a nice friendly smile. “Hi there!” it shouted while it stood up and shook the sand off a bit like a dog shaking
off water. “I finally found you. I felt you the moment you crossed over to this side.” He started walking closer looking ever so happy with himself. “I still don't know how to open interdimensional doors, so I couldn't go and collect you.”
“Thanks” said Alvaro “But I already had someone collect me.”
Just then the other dragon who was getting some sand out of his eyes, stopped and looked at Alvaro. “I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to...”
“Me!!” shouted Alberto. Who, without anyone noticing, had climbed down from Alvaro the dragon and was running up the dune towards the golden dragon.
“Your name is Alberto, isn't it? And you are my dragon birth brother!”
“Yes” answered Alberto the dragon “And I've been looking forward to this day for a long time”.
Just then Alberto had reached the golden dragon and had his arms wide open so as to give him a hug, which obviously he couldn't because his arms weren't long enough but when the dragon lowered his body and Alberto reached his head it felt like the biggest hug ever. The two Alvaros were very aware of how emotional the meeting was. Just then Alberto said “OK” and climbed on the golden dragon's back. The moment Alberto was holding on, the dragon soared into the sky.
Alvaro simply stared. After a while he said to his dragon.”How come Alberto can hear your thoughts and I can't hear Alberto the dragon's thoughts?”
“I was also wandering that!” he said and Alvaro felt that his dragon was puzzled and impressed.
“Is not normal then?” he asked.
“No. Usually just the birth brothers can hear each others thoughts.” He answered while looking at the golden dragon doing some crazy stunts and Alberto screaming and laughing.
Alvaro wished he could be closer and straight away his dragon jumped to the air and flew near Alberto.
“Stop doing that!” Alvaro shouted at his little brother. “You could fall down!”
“What like this?” shouted Alberto and fell off the dragon.
Alvaro's heart missed a beat seeing his brother fall, but in less than a second the golden dragon had dropped below the falling Alberto and caught him.
“You brother is some crazy dude Alvaro. Although there's real synchronization between them.”
Alvaro felt his dragon think aloud the words “Come on. Merlin is waiting for us and we still have over an hour fight”. The golden dragon and Alberto flew next to them and together they flew West towards the mountains.


Alberto could see the mountains getting bigger and bigger although they were still far. The dessert was changing too. There were bushes and trees and rocky areas with grass. He felt everything around him in detail. He knew that in some places there were people looking at them, even though he hadn't seen them. He was so happy. It was like when Santa brought him his Nintendo DS. He felt his dragon and it was like they had known each other all their lives. They trusted each other with soul, heart and body.
He looked at his brother with his dragon and they looked impressive. The dragon a dark purple and his brother sitting on top looking like he'd been there all his life. He felt Alvaro the dragon looking at him and knew that he was very happy for him. He knew then how his brother felt and realised that even though he could hear the other dragon's thoughts the connection was nothing like what he felt with his dragon birth brother. He looked at his brother Alvaro and realised Alvaro was a bit worried about him. “I'm OK!” He shouted and his brother smiled. “This is brilliant!”.

Alberto could now see a city in the distance. Below, there were fields and small creeks that were too straight to be natural. They flew past a small village of no more than ten houses. Some people stared at them and they were apprehensive. Alberto realised that dragons were not a welcomed sight to everybody. Some people were even scared.

The city of Middleway lay between the mountains and the dessert, which was probably why it was called Middle-way. The city looked a bit medieval and a bit like a town out of The lord Of The Rings. That is, with houses that looked old and normal and some big buildings here and there that were too big for a normal town. They flew to the centre of the town and Alberto noticed it had a big square with a fountain in the middle. They landed and, although the dragons were big, there was plenty of room in the square. Alberto realised that apart from being the square it was also a dragon's airport, somewhere they could land with ease.
The two boys slid down their dragons and Alberto's went to the fountain and started drinking. They had been flying through the desert for ages and he was very thirsty. Around the square there were other people who looked at them for a while and then carried on with their business.
Alvaro the dragon turned to the boys and said “That house behind you is were Merlin lives. Go there. He's waiting for you.”
The boys turned and and saw that the so called house was one of the big buildings. It had a large door that looked like a tall garage door with a smaller people door in the middle of it. It had normal windows and large round windows higher up.
The boys crossed the square and knocked on the door. No one opened. They were about to knock again when Alvaro the dragon told them to just walk in. The door wasn't locked, so they walked in.

Inside the building, there was a large room with a very high ceiling and a number of doors on the sides. In the middle there was a large table and a man with white hair with his back turned to them was quietly moving his head up and down.
“Hello” said Alvaro. No reply.
“Hello there!” he said louder. Still no reply.
“Hey there!!” shouted Alberto.
The man stopped nodding, took something out of his ears and turned smiling at them. “The brothers have arrived! Welcome to Middleway! You are a bit early.”
Alvaro remember something and said “No we are not. Dragon birth brothers arrive exactly when they are meant to arrive.”
Alberto turned and said “Hey. That's what Gandalf said.” and Alvaro winked at him.
Merlin smiled and said “Quite right. I like that answer. A wizard's answer.”
“Come closer please,” he said as he put something on the table.
The boys walked closer and Alberto looking at the table said “Look!! He was listening to an iPod!”

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