Happy Friday, fantasy readers! Here’s Chapter 6 Part 2 of Saving ForeverLand.

If you didn’t get a chance to read the previous chapters, remember to check those out. This week I decided to include links to all the previous chapters:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2 Part 2

Chapter 3 Part 1

Chapter 3 Part 2

Chapter 4 Part 1

Chapter 4 Part 2

Chapter 5

Chapter 6 Part 1

The estimated reading time for this part of Chapter 6 is 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

Before he could think any longer, Josh decided to just act on his instinct. He had to find Elozar. So, setting off at a sprint, which soon turned into a blur like the wind, Josh made his way up the mountain to The Office - that was where Elozar spent his days, now that he was a sole messenger for ForeverLand.

In the time it would take a non-bender to blink, Josh was inside The Office entryway, knocking on Elozar’s door - the only door that was locked in the whole building.

Josh knew Elozar was always working, so he felt pretty confident that the lead SpaceBender would be sitting at attention at his desk. He always anticipated disaster to strike - he was always prepared - and today, that would serve Elozar well.

Josh had only knocked once when the door swung open and Elozar appeared, looking down at the boy, who had a sense of urgency about him.

“She did it, didn’t she?” Elozar asked expectantly.

“What?” Josh asked, confused. Then he realized. “Oooh…you knew? Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“I wasn’t 100% sure, but I did have my suspicions, and your face says it all. Do you have any idea where she went?”

“I have a hunch,” Josh responded, “probably the same thing you’re thinking…”

“Leisata.” They said in unison. Elozar smiled.

“Smart boy. You do remember your history,” he laughed.

“Well, don’t just stand there - we need to find her and bring her back,” Elozar instructed, suddenly all business. “We know what is at stake.”

“I’m coming with you?” Josh asked, surprised. “ I thought you were going to SpaceBend to Leisata and bring her back. What can I do to help?”

“You,” Elozar said gently, placing his hand on Josh’s shoulder, “are more helpful than you realize. I know you don’t understand now, but in time, I will explain it all.”

“Explain what?! You keep telling me to have patience with you, but how can I do that if you keep relying on me to take on these tasks blindly?” Josh yelled, his sky blue eyes tearing up.

Elozar frowned, disappointed. “You knew when I brought you here that there was more to ForeverLand than I initially explained. You knew that in time, more and more information would be revealed. You said that you agreed to my terms. Have you changed your mind?” His eyebrows were raised, his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for Josh to say something.

But the boy just stumbled over his words. “I…well…this— ”

Elozar placed his giant hand in front of Josh’s face, stopping him. “You don’t need to answer me now. Right now, we just need to find Sarah, but when we return, I want you to think about our agreement when you arrived in ForeverLand, and decide if you want to continue your job.”

Before Josh could respond, Elozar gracefully exited the room, turning to the large empty wall in The Office entryway - the portal wall - and took a second to concentrate. Other SpaceBenders needed time to produce a fully-formed portal, but Elozar needed only to blink, and then the power was there. The swirling rainbow light appeared on the portal wall, and without another word, Elozar stepped through, disappearing immediately, like he was sucked in by a vacuum.

Josh couldn’t help it - he hesitated. Standing at the edge of the portal, he contemplated staying in ForeverLand. He thought about going back on his word and living an average life here, rather than following the path that Elozar had set forth for him.

But in the end, Josh knew what he had to do. He could see Sarah’s face when he closed his eyes. He could hear her voice, her laugh as if she were standing right next to him. He hadn’t known her long, but at this point, he couldn’t imagine staying in ForeverLand without Sarah. He couldn’t even entertain the idea of leaving her in Leisata, risking her getting hurt by the Chiefs. No - he had to go. Before he could look back at the empty Office behind him, he lunged through the portal, which he realized was slowly closing up.

Diving through the small hole that was left, Josh exited ForeverLand, passed into the familiar burning environment that was the edge of space, and appeared in Leisata. Elozar was standing a foot away, waiting patiently. He seemed to know that Josh would appear when he did. He nodded to Josh, and Josh knew that was his way of thanking him - for sticking with him, for not giving up. Josh returned the nod and then waited for Elozar to give him instructions.

Now that they were here, Josh had no idea how they were going to find Sarah. In fact, where were they? He wondered.

“We’re on The Edge of Leisata,” Elozar answered, though Josh didn’t think he asked the question aloud. “Just like ForeverLand has The Edge, so too does Leisata - a product of Hadoo’s impulsive rage. Neither the Chiefs nor the citizens of Leisata know about this place. We are safe here, for now…”

Josh looked left, right, up, down, for some sort of landmark or a trace of civilization, but he could find nothing. It was as if they were in the middle of a desert. The ground was flat and there were no trees. There was a clear, blue sky, but no clouds, no water around them, no houses, no buildings - just empty land. Moreover, what intrigued Josh the most was the ground. It was like a mirror, reflecting the light, which was coming from no apparent source, back into the boy’s eyes.

“We don’t have too much time to look around,” Elozar said. “I took us here because there are two other people who know about this place, and I expect they have arrived,” he sniffed the air, and closed his eyes, “yesterday, I believe based on their energy.” He opened his eyes. “They are the key to finding Sarah, the key to saving her. We need to find Frank and Amanda.”

“Who are Frank and Amanda?” Josh asked immediately.

“Sarah’s parents,” he replied. “I left them with a tool that would allow them to get here if there was trouble in Leisata after we took Sarah.”

“A tool?”

“My wand,” Elozar stated. “I transferred some of my SpaceBending powers into a wand, and I brought it to Sarah’s parents when I first came to deliver the message about their daughter. I offered the wand as proof of the existence of our kind. I don’t know that they believed me back then, but I am sure that I felt them use the wand last night, meaning there is trouble in Leisata. And if Sarah is back here somewhere, The Chiefs are going to be out searching for her by now. They will have the alarms installed around the city again, ready to announce the presence of any magical powers.”

Josh knew of the wrath of the Chiefs, and he didn’t have to ask Elozar anything else to understand. Sarah was in danger, which meant the fate of ForeverLand was as well.

Elozar stood up a little taller, puffed out his chest, and blew out what seemed to be a gust of wind, maybe even the start of a tornado, which left his lips and began to move across the mirrored floor of The Edge.

The tornado grew, and it moved faster and faster across The Edge as if it were searching for something - and perhaps, that’s exactly what it was doing. Elozar didn’t explain to Josh what was happening, and Josh didn’t ask. He gathered that the magical tornado was looking for Sarah’s parents, though he didn’t understand why they would need this form of magic to detect their presence - wouldn’t they just see Sarah’s parents? However, Josh soon realized that The Edge was much more vast than it seemed. The tornado disappeared from his sight in a few minutes, as it moved further and further into the distance, across space that seemed to be appearing out of nowhere.

Elozar turned to the boy and decided it was time to quickly explain. “The Whirl will detect any forms of life in this space. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, The edge was designed as a never-ending space. Meaning, that if you keep moving, more space will appear. When the Whirl finds Sarah’s parents, it will bring them back to us, and I expect that will be quite soon…ahh, there they are now.” Elozar pointed just behind Josh.

The boy turned around quickly, just in time to see the Whirl return, and then all of a sudden, it disappeared, and in its place were two adults, who Josh assumed were Sarah’s mom and dad.

“Frank, Amanda, what has happened?” Elozar asked.

“The Chiefs,” Amanda stammered. “They captured us soon after you left with Sarah. We were in prison for a day, before we managed to convince Chief Luis that we’d help him find ForeverLand.”

“Of course, that was just a way of getting out of the cell,” Frank added. “We used his Xmachina to trap him and we knew that this was the right time to use the wand. We hoped, prayed, that you would find us here.”

“But Elozar, who is this boy? And where is Sarah?” Amanda asked nervously.

“There has been a situation,” Elozar began. Then he told them about Sarah’s new bending ability and her disappearance from ForeverLand. “We believe she portaled back to Leisata, and we have to find her before the Chiefs do,” he finished.

“I’m assuming you can take us there?” Frank asked. “Transport us from…this place…where are we by the way?”

“No time to explain now,” Elozar said. “But yes, I will get us out of here and back to Leisata. But first, you have to listen to my instructions. I have a plan, and we need to stick to it.”

Frank, Amanda, and Josh stood around Elozar, waiting for his instructions, a small triangle formed around their leader.

“When we get back,” Elozar began, “I need to make several portals around Leisata, portals that only we will know about, and portals that we will use to get Sarah and escape…” He continued to explain the logistics as the three others listened in silence, hanging on his every word.

And then it was settled. Each of them knew their role, and what they needed to d. They were ready when Elozar created the portal that would take them back to Leisata. The swirl of light appeared in mid-air and Elozar stepped through first. Josh, Amanda, and Frank followed closely behind, and then the portal disappeared. The Edge was empty once again, but Leisata had just gained four new residents, none of whom were currently welcome there.

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