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

to let everyone who didn't belong up there not to enter this area, at the base of it stood a small rectangular plaque, Daniel moved closer to it and squinted his eyes as the lettering was slightly faded and rather small, it read ‘THOSE WHO SEEK TO ENTER HERE MUST FIRST BELONG AND SHOW NO FEAR, FOR WHAT AWAITS ABOVE THIS LAND IS SOMETHING SPECIAL SOMETHING GRAND’

'So what does this mean then?' asked Daniel as he read it over and over again,

'It's just something the King has put on every block, a saying to excite the children as they climb the stairs to the top' Tobias replied as he started the climb up the stairs,

'But what does it mean ‘those who must first belong and show no fear’' asked Daniel who was having to step up the pace a bit to keep up with Tobias,

'All it means is that....as I look at it….you must be part of the class named on the plaque and...well I think the second part just means that as we are so high up don't get scared maybe?, I never really looked that deep into what it meant really' Tobias said as they kept climbing what seemed to Daniel like a never ending staircase, they were pushing past the other children who were making their way up also,

'Excuse me please…'Tobias said as he squeezed past a couple of slow coaches 'we must get to the top..' he continued as he could now feel the breeze on his face meaning they were almost there.

'Wait for me!!' shouted Daniel as he was puffing heavily 'I'm not as fast as you, you've had more practice at this climbing lark!!' but Tobias was slightly out of sight at the top of the stairs as Daniel eventually caught up with him,

 

'Why...huuuu...didn't...huuu...you...huuu...wait!!' wheezed Daniel as he collapsed on the floor gasping for breath, Tobias was showing no signs of tiredness as he whooped and clapped as loud as anyone,

'Come on Daniel…' he screeched 'there's room at the front for us!!' and off he went descending the wooden steps in front of him, Daniel was slowly pulling himself up off the dusty floor when he saw Tobias gesturing to him to follow,

'Oh great!!! Look at the state of my clothes!!' he said angrily as he slapped his clothes to get the dust off, causing him to splutter as it got into his mouth, 'PAH..' he groaned as he spat out dust 'that's disgusting!!', Tobias was now standing on the chair shouting up to him,

'DANIEL...THIS WAY..YOU'RE GOING TO MISS IT!!'

'Oh yippee!!' he muttered under his breath 'can't wait to see this rubbish, it's not like I wanted to be here anyway!!' he said as he started the descent down the steps towards where Tobias was now waving at him to hurry up,

'Quickly!!' he said to Daniel 'you're going to miss the address'

'I won't miss this ‘dress’ at all' Daniel sniggered to himself but loud enough for Tobias to hear,

'What are you talking about?, I'm talking about the Kings address, he gives a speech before every Tri-Year tournament to wish everyone entering good luck and safe viewing' Tobias gripped hold of the wooden rail in front of him excitedly as he took a look over the edge and down onto the Arena floor, 'where is he??' he asked the boy sitting next to him, 'I haven't seen him yet' the boy replied 'but I'm sure we will get to see him soon', Daniel leaned forward so his head was over the rail and was greeted with the sight of the Arena floor looking like a barely visible area from their lofty position,

'I can't see a thing!!' he said to Tobias 'why does it look so far away? Is this an arena for ants?' he laughed out loud,

'What's an ‘ant’??' asked Tobias quizzically,

'It's a very small creature from where I used to live, as small as a pebble but as strong as an Ox' Daniel said, doing his best to explain

'Oh right…' replied Tobias 'what's an ‘Ox??’,

'Another creature from where I was raised, it looks like a cow' Daniel replied in his own descriptive way,

'Ahhhh ok...what's a ‘cow’??' replied Tobias now looking even more confused at things he had never heard of, Daniel then realised that he had no clue what he was talking about,

'Oh a cow...it's a...err...huge three headed beast, with wings as wide as the moon, sharp horns on each of its heads and teeth as razor sharp as the sharpest axe, it also tastes pretty good too!!' laughed Daniel at seeing the look on Tobias’ face,

'Gosh I hope I don't run into one of those!! I'd probably cry or something!!' he replied looking visibly scared at the image he was given,

'Yes they do ‘mooove’ rather fast for such a big creature' Daniel was in fits of laughter as he knew Tobias had no idea why he was laughing when he felt a whack on his arm,

'Shhh Daniel' Tobias said as he turned Daniel around to where everyone was now looking 'the King has just entered, he's going to make his speech!!', the excited chatter and mutterings were slowly dying away as all around the Arena people were shushing each other as their King was present. The whole Arena fell deathly silent as the King stood at the edge of his box and looked around at every part of the ground with a huge smile spreading on his face, Daniel was the only one still looking around as everyone else had their eyes fixed on where the King was standing. Just the creaking and groaning of the Arena doors could be heard from the other end of the ground. From their lofty position all the spectators could see the participants moving into place in front of the Kings stand, they formed row after row of people until it looked like a small army had entered the Arena, each one laid down whatever it was they were holding and stood totally still, eyes transfixed on the King who stood above them.

It was so silent you could hear a pin drop, just the lightest of breezes whipped across the Arena floor taking with it the loose dust that was sitting on top, then it fell silent again until the King cleared his throat gently, and with a voice so deep and bellowy he began his pre prepared speech as per usual,

'My dearest Vaymians…' he started 'once again I would like to thank you all for your continued support in these darker times...to see so many of you still turning up to support these games has not gone unnoticed by myself and my son, Lord Casborn. Now as it stands we seem to have a lot of new entrants this year, that's three hundred up on the last games, which just goes to show you how important and how well received these games have become' a huge cheer spread around the Arena as the King stopped to take it all in before taking a deep breath and carrying on,

'Now these games, as we all know, are set over seven days of competition and each task is just as tough as the previous one. Now as you are also aware that this Tri-Year once again represents the chance for the winner of the games to become a member of ‘The Circle’ which would mean a lifetime of dedicated training and protection, and most important of all….learning the magical teachings of ‘The Wise’ a prize so great that it has attracted people from far and wide, all with one goal in mind, But with this Tri-Year being possibly the most important for a long time I must point out that even though I have done my very best to protect us from harm there will still be evil lurking around every corner, And it just shows that no matter what evil we may be faced with here...we will always be united, this land will never be conquered, THIS LAND SHALL NOT FALL!!!' the King raised his hands high which brought everyone in the Arena to its feet, chanting could be heard in every part of the ground, the noise was totally deafening which caused Daniel to put his hands over his ears to try and shut it out. Finally the King gestured to the Arena to hush, even more shushing was now taking place as row after row fell silent again,

'Now my friend's..' the King said as if he was speaking to every person individually 'these games have shown me that together we can overcome anything, they have given me some much pleasure over many years so it's with extreme happiness and excitement that I now declare the Tri-Yearly-Night-Games open!!' and with that a huge fireworks display filled the Arena sky bringing with it plenty of ‘Oohhs and Ahhhhs’ from the children as each one exploded overhead, the most beautiful colours filled the Arena, bathing the entire area in a cool warm glow,

'Wow…' said Daniel 'I've never seen anything quite like this before!!' he stood there open mouthed as each one fizzed around the stands coming close to where they were standing 'Whoa!, that one nearly hit me' he said as a shiny gold firework shot past them, Tobias laughed at seeing Daniel flinch,

'It's ok Daniel, they can't hurt you!!' Tobias putting his hand on Daniel's shoulder to turn him towards where the King was standing,

'Yes they blooming well can hurt you!!' added Daniel just before he noticed the King standing right next to the rail and was orchestrating the fireworks, his hands were moving all over the place as if guiding them,

'See!!' laughed Tobias 'they aren't even real, you see ever since we had a small accident in one of the stands a while back the King decided that all fireworks would be fake'

'What happened then?' asked Daniel

'Well what actually happened was, one of the Kings trusted guards was put in charge of the ‘Welcome Display’, he was practicing in the Arena one day, luckily when it was empty, and he lit this real firework which shot off towards one of the stands, it wedged itself between the beams and the whole thing set alight, it caused a lot of damage not just to that stand but about three others close by',

'Oh right, bet that was a sight to see!!' laughed Daniel

'Well not really, as it was in the Arena he was practicing the dome was in place and shielded the whole thing from the castle, so no one knew anything about it' Tobias said as he recalled the amount of damage it had caused,

'I bet he got in serious trouble though didn't he?' Daniel knew a thing or two about causing untold amounts of damage, especially around his old school,

'Well the King eventually found out about it but only when the gates were opened ready to host the last Games, the smell of burning wood and fabric filled the air around them, as far as anyone knows the Guard was banished to the ‘Valley of the Lost Souls’, and was never heard of again' Tobias loved telling a good story to anyone who would listen and Daniel was now his captive audience,

'Sounds like he deserved it though I guess, so what's ‘The Valley of the Lost Souls’ then?' he asked, Daniel was hearing about so many new places every minute and felt he needed to know about each and every one in detail,

'Well…' started Tobias 'It's a Valley...that holds...the Lost Souls, quite simple to understand I'd say!!' he laughed at Daniel's reaction,

'Oh that's it take the mickey out of the new kid!!, I thought there was more to it than that!!' snarled Daniel,

'It's basically a part of Vaymia where no one dares to go any more, you see the legend has it that anyone who dares step even one single foot inside the Valley will be forever hunted by whatever evil is lurking there, anyone who has ever been there has never come back!!' Tobias always shuddered