As the light brightened their shining faces, the air around them began resonating with a deep hum.
“Here we go,” Jacob whispered.
Standing between them, Kaya joined hands with Andrew and Jacob.
“Here we go,” she said.
Jacob pointed due south at what use to be the open desert, and they marveled at the transformation.
The desert sands had been replaced by rolling hills of green, and the ocean shore was now just miles away. As they stared in amazement, the humming grew louder.
When the sun cleared the horizon, the spire began to glow. The stone blocks beneath their feet transformed into transparent crystal and each one channeled the blue-white Light of the Kingdom until it erupted from the top of the platform. Soaring into the early morning sky the endless tower of Light was brighter than the sun.
With a hopefulness equal to the brightness of the Light, Andrew thought to Kaya and Jacob, “The Beacon is lit!”
With the sound and splendor of the Light engulfing them, Jacob thought back, “I never thought I would live to see the day.”
The humming unexpectedly fell away and in the silence, the spire pulled the Light out of the sky, back down through the clear blocks and into the ground. The spire returned to its stone-like appearance and the ground rippled with the energy of the Light. The ripple of energy traveled across the landscape like a pebble hitting a quiet pool and a “BOOM!” shook them to their core.
As quickly as the Light had faded, it returned with its deep resonating hum and exploded from the spire, illuminating the sky above. It flowed around them, and they watched as a second ripple of energy traveled across the land. With nervous excitement, they felt another “Boom!” calling out to the world.
While the Beacon thundered its deafening rhythm and rippled its powerful flowing energy throughout the Valley of the Crescent Moon, Andrew, Kaya and Jacob watched as two parallel lines of Light appeared in the distance.
Andrew pointed, tracing the lines from the southern border all the way to the Spire Mountains in the west.
With each resonating pulse of the Beacon, the lines of Light grew from the ground.
“It’s the walls of the Kingdom! It’s got to be,” Jacob thought aloud.
“They’re growing right out of the ground?!” Andrew thought back.
“With every pulse of the Beacon they’re growing,” Kaya responded.
“Wow!” Jacob said in awe.
They were transfixed on the scene below as it rippled in rhythm with Kaya’s heartbeat. Jacob cheered when the archways of the inner and outer wall started taking form.
“This is incredible,” Kaya thought, squeezing both of their hands.
“Amazing,” Andrew yelled over the hum of the Light.
When the walls were half of their final height, the Light pulsing into the ground began to illuminate the outline of buildings.
Jacob let go of Kaya’s hand and stepped over to Andrew.
“It’s just like the map on the floor of the Defender’s Portal,” he said, placing his hand on Andrew’s shoulder.
“Did you ever imagine we’d be seeing the real thing?”
“I’m still in shock,” Jacob said, dropping his hand to his side.
Back in the village, the three Wanderers stood like statues looking at Kaya’s family. They had arrived without Shadow Cloaks or even their backpacks, and as they struggled with what had just happened, the sound of rushing water filled the air.
The Wanderers looked at each other through the darkness, then looked back at the horses that arrived with them.
Finally, as though she couldn’t take it anymore, one of them said to the other two, “Am I dreaming?”
“Not unless we’re all having the same dream,” Kaya’s grandmother said, rushing over to meet them.
“Grandmother Elbe is that you?”
“Solita, Adhara, Khepri, it’s me, my darlings. You’re back in the village, you’re safe.”
Gathering them to her, she hugged them all at once.
“But how Grandmother? How are we here?” Solita asked.
The roar of the water became deafening, and the village looked up to see a wave of water obscuring the stars. Crashing against an unseen barrier, the water flowed over and around the village.
The children screamed, and the people panicked as the water arched over the entire village, but Grandmother Elbe stood tall.
“Do not panic my friends,” she called out above the chaos. “We are safe from the water. We are all safe here tonight.” She kept repeating the message until the crashing sounds quieted to that of a moving river.
The endless flow of water pulled the heat of the desert into it, cooling the air and slowly, the truth of her words was accepted.
Grandmother gathered the three Wanderers back to her, and when they were close, she said, “Kaya has fulfilled the Promise!”
Even in the darkness, she could see the looks of disbelief on their faces. She waited patiently as they each worked the words through their minds.
When the looks of disbelief melted into surprise, she said, “Go now. Find your families and tell the village we must all gather to watch the sunrise.”
None of them moved.
“Look up,” she said, pointing to the wall of water over their heads. “When the water is gone, we must all gather to watch the sunrise. Now go and tell your families you’re safe.”
Solita, Adhara, and Khepri each hugged Grandmother Elbe and ran toward their homes.
Within minutes, everyone had left their houses and gathered in the heart of the village. Throughout the night, with the help of her family, Grandmother Elbe spread the message of the Wanderer’s Promise and told them the coming sunrise was not to be missed.
The water flowed over the barrier throughout the night until it had finally run itself dry, just before first light. With Grandmother Elbe and Kaya’s entire family at the head of the crowd, the entire village walked out from within the steep walls of the surrounding mountainside to watch the sunrise. As they came to the edge of the village, they stopped.
The sand filled streets no longer flowed out into an open desert. The desert had been washed away, and the border of the village was now a steep slope of sand.
“It’s perfect,” Marco said to his mother, looking down the hill. “We can all sit here and watch the sun come up. There’s room enough for everyone.”
As the people of the village comfortably settled into position, they watched the landscape before them transition from shadows of gray to shades of green.
At first, the people thought the new landscape, this new world before them, was what they were all waiting to see. Then the sun peeked over the horizon.
With the first rays of light flickering across their faces, silence fell over the people. No one spoke. No one moved an inch until everyone had seen everything from both Kaya and Andrew’s point of view. When they had seen and felt all that had transpired at the Kingdom over the past twenty-four hours, they slowly came out of what seemed like a dream.
With tears running down his face Marco turned to Erynn, and whispered, “She did it.”
Before Erynn could respond a blinding white Light shot into the sky.