screamed.
Domino picked her up and threw her at the portal in the tree.
As Emma disappeared into the light, time seemed to slow down. She saw Minotaur raise a fist into the air to strike down her father.
Behind the monster, inside the forest, there was lightning.
15 The Wizard and the Lightning
Emma was floating in light.
She was in a space without bounds. There was new knowledge inside her and she didn’t know how it had gotten there.
One of the things Emma knew was that she was inside of the tree, and inside every tree, and that this was the place where every creature had come from.
Another thing Emma knew was a song, but she did not know its purpose.
A third thing she knew was the tree’s real name, and Emma realized that being told this was something very special and that she was privileged to hear it. The tree’s name was a song that was impossible to sing, but he was known as Life, and Yggdrasil, and Iusaaset, and more.
A fourth thing she knew was that the tree had once been greater, but it had waned as all things, even the trees, someday must.
A fifth she knew was that the tree’s twin was Knowledge.
Emma was not able to measure the passage of time in any manner. She tried to look at her watch but she was only able to see the things that were shown to her. It was peaceful there, where she was, and she became content to just float alone with her new knowledge.
A sixth thing she knew was that she would be betrayed, but not by whom.
The seventh thing she learned was a big thing that could not come to her all at once because it would drown her. It had to be given to her a little bit at a time.
Emma saw the world like it had been long ago, before any animal ever crawled or walked upon it. There were forests everywhere and they stretched from sea to sea. The planet was all green and blue and it seemed to ripple as the wind brushed the tops of the trees and made them sway.
For a very long time the world was like this and so it would have remained but for the Lord of Light.
It began on a day when a concept appeared. It was a new thing unlike any that the trees had ever imagined. Among their forests, there came a creature who could move about by his own will, one that could affect the world in the ways of his choosing. The creature was the Lord of Light.
The trees saw the concept and they were curious about him and imagined more like him. In the light of the void they sang the new concepts, and they gave life to them, to the imitations of the original walker.
It was in this way that the elves came to be, and the dwarves, and the unicorns, centaurs and minotaurs, gnomes and goblins, and dragons and all the beasts and creatures that ever walked the earth. They all came from the trees. They were birthed by their magic. They all came from the music.
The Lord of Light was the first and he ruled over all the creatures of the world.
A long time passed, and then everything changed with the arrival of a creature unlike any that had existed before it. In an unprecedented, impossible event, both Life and Knowledge defined a concept and contributed equal parts into it. The creature that came from this union was different. It was not as strong nor as fast as many of the others but it was cunning and it had a freedom to devise its own destiny in a manner that would prove devastating. While the rest of creation, save the Lord of Light, had to abide by the will of the trees, these new creatures, human beings, could choose to follow their own ways.
The reason for their independence was that no other intelligent creature could procreate like they could, in the manner of the animals. The rest relied on the trees to replenish their number but the humans could multiply among themselves. They soon spread throughout the world.
In time, the Lord of Light came upon a human woman that he took as his wife. The woman became the night and she gained power over it. She was called the Queen of Darkness.
For millenia, the Lord of Light and his Queen of Darkness ruled over the creatures of the world and all was in harmony.
But there came a day when the Queen of Darkness fell in love with a human being and took him to her bed. The Lord of Light, heartbroken, fled the Earth and went to a new place that he created. The new place was called the World of Light.
When they saw that the Lord of Light had gone, the humans ran amok. They found themselves unrestrained by his power. They could do as they would with the world. They brought down trees and they built houses. They killed the creatures that inhabited the forests and they ate them, and they wore their furs and made trinkets from their bones.
The Queen of Darkness saw the destruction and she tried to interfere. The humans killed her and celebrated as they burned her body in a great pyre.
As the humans went on with their mad conquest, many of the world’s creatures ran away or went into hiding. The majority of them followed the Lord of Light into his world and they were not remembered on Earth but for the myths and the legends that remained behind.
In his world, the Lord of Light waited. He waited for the day when his heart would be mended, and the day when he would return and retake the earth, and punish the humans who had raped it.
Emma was sitting on a bench. She was looking out into the night where the light spilled out into a bare field. She was on a porch in front of an old house. The bench and the porch creaked and groaned when she swung her feet.
She looked down at her lap and saw that she was holding a flute. On her shoulder there hung a strap of blue cloth that was attached to the handles of a yellow lunchbox. She was sweaty and dirty and she didn’t know how she had gotten there or what she had been doing.
“Hello, Emma,” said a voice.
She looked to her right and there was a man sitting there on a big rocking chair. He was reading a tattered old book.
“Hello, Mister,” Emma said. “Do you know how I got here?”
“Yes, I do,” he said.
“Can you tell me?”
“You just appeared there,” he said and snapped his fingers. “Just like that. It’s an old trick. Old as the world.”
He stood up and the porch creaked loudly.
“Come on inside, Emma,” he said. “You look a mess.”
The man went inside and Emma could think of nothing else to do but to follow. He led her to a kitchen and sat her down at an old rickety table. He poured her a glass of water and put it down in front of her.
“Drink this,” he said. “It’ll help you remember.”
Emma looked at the glass suspiciously. It was old and chipped, but she picked it up and started to drink. She was thirstier than she remembered. She chugged the entire glass down.
When she was finished she said, “More please, Mr Clarence.”
His eyes twinkled.
“Mr Clarence!” Emma said and her memory returned. She looked all around and stood up, alarmed.
“Settle down, Emma,” he said. “You’re very far away from the forest now.”
She sat back down. “Why am I here?”
“The trees take you where you need to go, remember?”
“Why do I need to be here? I don’t understand.”
“Oh, probably just to talk to me,” he said. “Would you like some pie? I have some leftover apple pie in the fridge.”
“No, thank you, Mr Clarence,” Emma said.
“Alright, mind if I grab a piece?”
“No, Mr Clarence.”
The old man went to the fridge and took a great pie out of it. He pulled a plate out of the cupboard and cut a giant slice and sat down with it.
“Are you sure you don’t want any? It’s delicious.”
Emma’s stomach rumbled at the thought but she refused politely.
“Have you read this book, Emma?” he said and passed the old, tattered volume across the table.
Emma picked it up and looked at it. Her eyes widened. She knew the book well.
“This is my favourite book!” she said and tapped her lunchbox. “I have my copy right here bu
t it’s not as beat up as yours.”
The old man laughed. “Well,” he said. “My copy is incredibly old so I have a good excuse.”
He stood up and went back to the fridge and poured himself a glass of milk. “Would you like some?”
“No, thank you,” Emma said. “I’m lactose intolerant.”
“Yes, yes,” he said. “I’m trying to give up the stuff myself.”
“What?”
“Never mind,” he said and sat back down. “Now, listen to me, the reason you’re here is because you’ve let all these people get into your head and made you think that there is nothing you can do.”
“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?”
“See,” Mr Clarence said. “There you go believing it. They all say that it’s all hopeless and that he’s too strong, and because they’re adults you believe them. But adults don’t always know what they’re talking about. They just try to sound that way to you so you don’t question them.”
“I’ve been figuring that out,” Emma said.
“So let me tell you,” Mr Clarence said. “They all have different reasons for saying there’s nothing you can do. Some of them may believe it, some might be trying to protect you, and some others might be doing it because they have secrets. But the point is, what I’m trying to get at is— hey, why is that your favourite book?”
“I— well, I’m not sure,” she said. “I just like it, is all. I mean, he’s so little and almost no one believes in him and then he proves them all wrong.”
The old man winked.
“Well,” he said. “That didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it should. You’re much more than even I think you are, it seems. Come now, time