A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

'Thank you' Smiled Daniel as the children made their way into the hole beneath the pot, Daniel was last in as he took one last look up at Lydia and in a hopeful voice said.

'I'll do my best to help'.

And down the children descended, one by one into the darkness as the pot was pushed back into place just as crashing and the cracking of wood could be heard from up above them,

'I hopes she's going to be ok' Lillie said as she reached the bottom first followed by Harvey who still had the small torch in his pocket which he turned on to reveal the path ahead,

'I'm sure she will be fine sis' Daniel tried his best to reassure his sister as they all started off into the unknown,

'Now come on let's go, we've got a bit of a journey ahead and I want to find Bucksy before it gets too late' Daniel seemingly more confident now as they all made their way along the path towards the unknown.

Chapter Eight

The Search For The Town

As the group finally emerged from the tunnel, they were met by the sight of the most brilliant bluey white light cutting through the forest from up above them, everything glistened and sparkled as the light shone off every tree and through the bushes within the woods, Harvey turned off his torch and stared straight up from where it was coming from only to be met by something he wasn't expecting to see,

'Now that's amazing!!, stop guys' he said pointing up at the sky

As the trio stopped dead in their tracks they all took in the beauty surrounding them which was bathed in the glow from the gleaming light high up in the sky,

'Look guys, two moons!!!, now I know we aren't at home!!', Harvey exclaimed as they made their way slowly along the darkened path which stretched off into the blackness of the night,

'Shhhh Harv. We need to keep quiet from here, I don't fancy being caught by whatever those things are back there!!' Daniel gestured to his friend to keep a low profile as they made their way deeper into the forest and further into unknown territory,

The trio had been walking most of the night now and slowly the noises they had been hearing within the forest had quietened down which meant that they must be somewhat safe for now so Lillie stopped walking to rest against a tree as she called out to her brother,

'Daniel...We must stop, I need to rest'

'Yeah come on mate let's stop for a bit!! My legs are gonna fall off if we walk any more' Harvey panted as he collapsed against the nearest tree rubbing his tired legs,

'Ok, but not for too long, we need to reach the town before it gets too late!!', Daniel replied while searching the area around them for somewhere hidden to rest and recuperate.

'That'll do there!!' he pointed to a cluster of trees which together looked like a high enough hideout for them to rest.

So they started to climb the branches which led to a fairly flat part of the tree high up and good enough for them to rest.

They all slumped down, tired and starting to feel hungry as Harvey kept reminding anyone who would listen to him,

'I need food!!!...my stomach is talking, think it's going to eat me from the inside out' Harvey was holding his stomach tight to try and stop the pain he was feeling,

'Hmmphh, I'll go then!!' Lillie stood up seeing as no one wanted to leave the safety of the tree, 'But this is the only time I'll do it, oh by the way do we know what’s food and what isn't here??'.

'Not a clue, it's a bit dark to see, durrr!!' Laughed Daniel as in that instant he felt a stinging pain as Lillie had swung an arm at her brother and connected with his head.

'OWWW what did you do that for??' He said rubbing his head as Lillie laughed the sort of laugh that echoed through the trees like the chatter of a primate as it swings from vine to vine.

'That's for being a smart ar……..alec!!, I'm going back into the woods to look for food seeing as you two are too scared!!' As Lillie slowly descended the tree Daniel called down to her from the safety of the tree,

'See if you can find some fruit, oh and Lils….Please be careful, I need you safe'

'Don't worry I'll do my best, just stay hidden you two', she smiled at Daniel, Then with that Lillie tentatively stepped off the tree and scurried off into the darkness of the undergrowth to search for some food for them all.

Daniel sat back down and huffed as he had time to think about where they were and why they were here.

'I really miss home Harv, I wish we could just go home but it's looking like that's a long way off, plus I'm missing Bucksy, I just hope he's safe Harv, he's my best friend and I'm worried he's out here somewhere all alone and scared'.

'I know mate I'm sure he will turn up, that stupid dog always does and then it will all be ok, but let's just get through tonight and see where we get to, If you ‘Dad’ is who that crazy old woman says he is then we should be ok, maybe he can get us out of here and back home' Harvey reassured his friend,

'Come on Dan let's get some rest, I'm sure Lillie will be back soon'.

So the boy's drifted off for a while when their sleep, was interrupted by the sound of crashing branches and shouting in the distance,

All of a sudden Lillie appeared from the undergrowth clutching some sort of strange food looking things. She almost launched herself up into the tree she was looking that scared.

'Li….' Daniel mouthed, but he was cut short by his sister jumping on top of him and Harvey and telling them to be quiet as the forest lit up with the sound of something not seeming that human making its way towards where they were hiding out,

'ARRWWOOOO' came the screeching cry from something deep within the forest.

Lillie whispered to the boy's to keep their heads down as the creature crashed through the woodland and could be heard scratching and gnawing at the base of the tree, Lillie peered just over the edge of the tree branch only to be met by the sight of a dark skinned creature with huge powerful claws grappling away at the base of the tree, snarling as it could sense something was close to it, the beast was about the size of an elephant, had two huge rear muscular legs while it's front legs seemed to be much more human like in their appearance which helped it to climb large objects, its tail was long and spiky at the end but it suffered with poor eyesight otherwise they would have been found earlier, its screeching cry caused the trio to cover their ears as it constantly called out its location.

'What the heck is that!!' Harvey quietly mouthed as the creature kept calling out to whoever was with it,

'Shhhh...We need to be quiet, I don't fancy being that things tea!! Look at it, it's nearly as bloomin’ ugly as you Lillie. Ha-ha' Daniel had joined Lillie at the edge of the tree branch where she took offence to the insult from her brother and wrapped her hands around his mouth to stop him talking,

The next thing the children saw was a huge figure crash its way through the bushes and straight to where the beast was now circling the base of their hideout. The beasts handler was just as ugly as it's pet standing well over eight feet tall, the darkness of the forest hid it's features but the stench from it was so foul that plants instantly died away whenever they roamed through the forest in search of prey.

It clapped eyes on the hiding place of the children high up in the treetops and started to climb up, the children scuttled to the back of the treetop where they were hiding,

'Oh god it's coming!!..What are we going to do?' Harvey whimpered as he felt the tree shudder with every step the beast took up it,

'I don't know….there’s no way out…..Daniel I….' Lillie turned to see her brother stand over them both, they were frozen by some kind of force chanting the same thing he had done back at the school over and over again,

'Eramosa...Vin Sarmo Eramosa….' He chanted as the beast was now standing right in front of them looking right at the space where they all were gathered, it was staring long and hard all around the tree, but…….. nothing happened, the beast looked around some more, snorted in a sort of annoyed way then descended the tree back down towards the ground, the strange dark skinned creature was still snarling at the tree as it's handler slapped it on its head as it walked past and beckoned it to its side, the beast just stood there for a few seconds before it's handler muttered in it's strange language and stomped back over to the creature and dragged it by its neck away and off they stalked into the bushes, the handlers odd voice becoming more muffled as they made their way further and further into the distance.

Lillie and Harvey managed to break free from whatever had a hold over them and Harvey smiled as he patted Daniel on the back smiling as he said,

'Nice one mate, see you done it again!!, Blooming lucky I'd say!!'

'Wh...What just happened Daniel??, What did you do to us??' Lillie stared deep at her brother as she tried to make sense of what just happened,

'I...I think I might have some kind of weird power...It happened at school the day we went to sneak out' Daniel replied.

'Blimey mate, that was way too close, worked better than the last time!, what's next?, are you going to sprout wings and fly?, ha-ha' Harvey seemed less fazed by his friend's seemingly new type of power as he scouted the forest floor for any sign of the beast or its handler.

Lillie on the other hand was slightly worried about what she had just witnessed,

'B.but how did you get it??, how long have you been able to do that??, you were chanting the same thing over and over again, how on earth did that thing not see us??'.

So you remember that day we left school, Harv and me I mean, well we hid in a small hiding place in the wall just as Mr Proctor and Mr Lint walked towards us, then the next thing I remember Harvey was asking me what I had just been chanting, seems the teachers stopped right by us but we were both sort of invisible to them, That was the first time I felt a bit weird' Daniel still didn't know how he had come across this kind of power he was experiencing.

'The first time???...' Harvey laughed, 'You've always been a bit weird Dan.haha'

'Shut up Maximus!!' Daniel laughed as he recalled his friend's funny middle name causing Harvey to snap a twig off the tree and throw it straight at Daniel which bounced off his head and dropped to the floor below.

'Yeah yeah laugh it up Dan!!, I'll get you back don't you worry', Lillie sat back against the tree still wondering what was going on and her mind began to wander,

'So, if you can do that, I wonder what us two will be able to do, It must be something good seeing as I'm the older one of us'

'Well with your scary looks people will probably turn to stone or something!!' Harvey said as he scarpered down the tree laughing and being chased by an angry looking Lillie who seemed rather speedy descending the tree compared to Harvey who was huffing and puffing his way