Chapter Excerpt: Deja Vu

As they sat up, they became more aware of their surroundings. The stone bridge they were sitting on wasn’t stone at all. It was half rock, half molten magma. They had bubbles around them to protect them from the heat. The bubbles were in the shape of their outlines and seemed to move with them. Not only that, the walkway was floating in space. It was black, with stars everywhere, in every direction. The infinite expanse of space was so beautiful, it was hard to describe. They could see the Milky Way, and they could see Mercury, Venus, and Earth. And, of course, they could see the infinitely huge sun stretching out before them.

Sunspots seemed to stare at them like huge, beaded, black eyes. Arcs of gas leaped up and settled down again.The gas seemed to envelope them as if it were mist made of fire. They walked towards the sun slowly, surely, but in awe. As they approached the wall of fire that was the sun, the gas pulled back, revealing a tunnel made out of what seemed to be an arc of fire. They stepped into the tunnel, and the gas wall closed behind them like a door. They walked through the tunnel for what seemed like forever. Then, they approached this podlike thing that was a disk with a semi-circle of swirling ice on top, kind of like a Bosu ball.

“I think we’re supposed to jump on it,”  said Jack with anticipation.

They held hands and stepped in it. Power surged through them like nothing had ever done before. Arrows made of ice that appeared on the walkway pointed them down the tunnel, and they knew exactly what to do. They ran. Because of the energy, they ran at over 10 billion miles per hour, speeding along the tunnel so fast, they basically flew. Then, after a few minutes, an invisible force told them to slow down. They came to a halt at a gateway made of ice, broken in half down the middle. All that energy drained out of them, like water in a spilled cup.

They seemed to be standing in the ruins of a castle. There seemed to be an invisible bubble of force that made a sphere-shaped hole in the sun, and that hole is where the castle was. Shards of white stone were everywhere. However, the path to the main part of the castle was still intact, with little chunks floating around it. They walked slowly up the path to the front gates of the castle. An entire half of the castle had been blown apart, and bricks of solid ice as hard as stone littered the ice-white hallways inside. They came to a staircase. Liquid nitrogen was foaming and dripping from two bowls, one on each side of the door. They walked down the spiral staircase. Down, down, down. They went so deep into the castle that it became very cold, and they could feel ice-cold power trying to take over the heat that was the sun. They emerged in a room that was completely blown up. It was supposed to be a smooth field of ice, with walls surrounding it and a ceiling on top. Instead, the walls and the ceiling were completely blown apart, and where they were supposed to be had holes looking out at the sphere of gas that surrounded the castle. The only thing intact was the floor, but it was covered in rubble.

“Wait,” Ben said. “Look at that, in the center of the room!”

They gathered around a circle carved into the field with a mini circle at the center. Both of the circles’ outlines were glowing. Then, a line appeared, cutting both circles down the middle. The mini-circle split apart at the line, and out rose a ball of light, so filled with energy and heat that it blinded them for a second.

Then, light from the ball poured into Jack, turning his hair red, blazing with heat and fire. His pupils in his eyes had little fire balls, and his entire body seemed to emit smoke. Light from the ball then poured into Ben. His hair turned blue, and it coursed with electricity. The electricity ran down his entire body and into his hands, which sizzled with power. When the light finally poured into Daniel, his hair turned into the color of wheat, with strands of hair turning into leaves. Markings like vines engraved themselves into his arms, neck, and legs, and a wave of dim light burst from him, healing injuries, and making everyone feel wonderful. They all knew instantly what this was.

“The Eternal Flame,” said Jack with awe.