From Light to Dark

  FROM LIGHT TO DARK

  by Irene L. Pynn

  Kindle Edition

  Copyright © 2011 by Irene L. Pynn

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  For my mother, who teaches me magic.

  For my father, who is my Safety.

  For my brother, who makes everything “extraordinary.”

  For my husband, who is my light in the dark.

  And for my entire family, with love.

  “Her voice was like flower petals falling on wet grass.”

  (artist: Justin Togail, 2011)

  Eref is about to die. He sits at the End of Light World, accepting his stoning execution one rock at a time, until the impossible happens: the ground opens up beneath him, and he drops down into the unknown.

  There, he meets Caer, a kind-hearted girl from Dark World who saves his life. Together, the pair forms an unlikely and illegal bond that not even the strongest hatred can break. But can their connection bring down the evil institution that has kept Light World and Dark World at odds for hundreds of years?

  Praise for From Light to Dark

  “Irene Pynn has crafted an incredible world in From Light to Dark, a young adult fantasy with a Yin/Yang feel, mythological elements, and a “truth despite the cost” theme—you won’t be able to stop reading!” Meg Mims, award-winning author of Double Crossing

  “This is romance at its most poignant, fantasy at its most thrilling. Caer and Eref are a heroine and hero with all the tragic nobility of Romeo and Juliet, and their struggle to survive the many dangers of their exotic worlds is emotional, exciting and ultimately inspiring. It’s a book you’ll remember long after it’s over, as you dream of Liber Flowers and the soft blue glow of Moonstone.” Kathleen O’Brien, author of The Cost of Silenceand The Vineyard of Hopes and Dreams.

  “From the moment Eref drops through Dark World’s portal in a last-ditch attempt to escape his execution in Light World, readers are immersed in dichotomous realms that mirror our world, and the human condition. Pynn’s narrative is engrossing and well-crafted. A must read.” Lori Pollard-Johnson, author of The Lie, Toxic Torte, The Truth Test and Recipe For a Rebel

  Praise for Irene L. Pynn

  “Irene L. Pynn is a phenomenal storyteller who immerses the reader in the thick tapestry of her extraordinary worlds. Again, we are introduced to a fantasy author who plunges our senses into stories that spirit us away from the daily grind and transport us into realms where honor builds heroes, beauty is birthed from dignity, and magic solves our problems. Reading Pynn isn’t a pastime, it’s a life choice.” Ron Gavalik, author of the Grit City emotobook series.

  Chapter One

  From Light to Dark

  Getting stoned to death wasn’t the worst thing that could happen—or so Eref told himself when the first rock cracked over his head.

  But it hurt. Blood trickled down his forehead and into his eyes, blocking the sharp rays of the sun overhead.

  All around him, forty or fifty men dressed in long tunics shouted curses and flung stones at his naked body.

  “Blasphemer!”

  “Devil!”

  “Treasoner!”

  The bright power of the Governors’ Moonstone from its hidden place in Light World made certain each rock hit its target.

  So many people had come to this hidden corner to watch him die. Far from the rigid roads of Light World’s city, each face glared at him. Each mouth snarled. Eref blinked the blood away. He thought for a minute that he saw Balor among the crowd. No…it couldn’t be. But it was true. His best friend pushed his way to the front, holding several large stones in his fist.

  Eref tried to meet Balor’s eyes. He tried to find something familiar in them….

  As if to answer, Balor growled like an animal and hurtled one of his rocks into Eref’s stomach, creating a lightning bolt of pain and knocking the wind out of him.

  After that blow, Eref barely felt anything else, though a hundred stones crashed onto his skin and broke his bones. Only Balor’s throws hurt, because they bruised his heart.

  “Balor,” Eref shouted, trying to be heard through the curses. For the first time throughout this ordeal, he let himself cry. “How can you do this?”

  The crowd fell silent, and many faces turned to Balor, whose eyes blazed with something that looked like madness. He gripped another stone in his hand, holding it so hard that the dark skin on his knuckles whitened.

  Eref wiped blood and tears from his face. “Balor. You’re my best friend.”

  Balor glanced around at the crowd and then stared blankly at Eref. “You tried to destroy our way of life,” he said in a monotone, quoting the morning’s headlines. His fingers rubbed the stone in his right hand.

  “But it was your idea, remember? You’re the one who suggested I turn off the light—”

  Balor reared his arm back like a pitcher and let loose. This rock knocked Eref to the ground. It smashed into his bare chest and crushed his ribs. He scrambled backward, gasping for breath.

  More stones sailed. Eref curled into a ball and lay still, feeling each rock pummel his life out of him.

  His life. His dreams. Once, he had hoped to become someone. Someone who could change things.

  Now the people of Light World seemed determined to watch him die.

  But it could have been worse, Eref reminded himself, feeling everything from pebbles to boulders pounding his limbs and back. Soon he would be free. He would never have to reach eighteen—the Age of Enlightenment. The age of brainwashed blindness.

  How could he have endured going to the Eighteener Entrance, where his mind would have been stripped and his sanity exterminated?

  The magistrate had taken Balor to the ceremony the day after the prank.

  And now look at him.

  Blood slid again from Eref’s forehead into his eyes. He caught another rock in the jaw.

  A week ago, Eref and Balor had basked in the bright, healthy rays that came from the Center. They had worshipped at the Light. They’d studied at the Learning.

  But that was before Balor had suggested they shut off the power. Just for a moment, he’d said. The Learning could be so dull.

  They’d had no idea….

  Now Eref lay crouched in the End, the ugliest corner of Light World, miles from the Center and the Learning, accepting death one stone at a time.

  An executioner stepped forward, and the crowd grew still as a reverent hush fell over their voices. The round, dark man balanced an enormous boulder in his stubby arms. Eref looked at the bloodstains on its jagged edges, where the heads of albinos, thieves, and rebels had….

  Splattered.

  Everything had become still and silent around the End. The only sound was the stomping of the executioner’s feet drawing closer. Around the executioner’s neck hung a ring on a chain. The Moonstone. The source of all Light World’s power. He had the special blessing of the Governors’ most precious gem. His would be the final blow.

  Instinctively Eref looked for his friend, not for help, but to say goodbye. Balor still stood at the front of the crowd. He tossed several smaller stones up and down in his right hand, apparently itching to finish Eref himself.

  His heart aching, Eref stared at Balor’s face, searching for an expression he recognized. A frown, a tear, even a grin. But Balor’s familiar black features and soft, clear eyes had contorted into the
face of a brainwashed madman. The real Balor was already dead.

  The executioner was almost upon him, groaning under the weight of the boulder. This was it. A shock of fear coursed through Eref’s broken body. Nothing in Light World had prepared him for dying.

  Taking a shallow, shaky breath, he closed his eyes and tried to imagine he was somewhere else.

  In his mind, Eref pictured the familiar, blue walls of the Learning, imagining he was back at school. He was in class right now, not at the End. Soon it would be time for lunch. He would sneak out with Balor and explore the dusty lowlands.

  The vision seemed so real. On the chalkboard in his mind, letters appeared as if by magic, but they didn’t spell anything. A faraway voice came to his ears – no, they were only in his mind – and they recited the sounds.

  Euni wpn jgexim fim snw wpn Dfyheg wpgexjp we f inz zegsm. Euni wpn jgexim, fim snw pht dfyn xd fss oget wpn Nyhs Ohyn. Wphd hd wpn sfdw eo tb dwgnijwp. Wphd hd tb sfdw dunss.

  The crowd chanted, drowning out the strange voice in his head. From a distance, their excitement could have been mistaken for a surprise birthday celebration. “Three! Two! One!”

  The executioner let go. Eref braced himself. Goodbye.

  But the boulder didn’t crush his skull or crack his neck. It didn’t even fall.

  With a gurgled sound of shock, the executioner jumped backward. The crowd’s cheers turned to confused gasps and awed murmurings.

  The ground beneath Eref felt strange. It almost felt alive.

  Eref opened his eyes and looked down.

  Beneath him, a round, black hole had opened up, darker than the deepest shadow he had ever seen. It had started off as small as a pin, but it expanded rapidly. Within seconds, Eref’s legs dangled down into the cool darkness, and he gripped the edges of the hole, struggling to stay above ground.

  What was happening?

  The teachings of Light World said that all shadows and darkness were evil. He had never seen anything so dark as this hole before. But it didn’t look evil. Strangely, it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

  A hideous howl came from someone in the crowd, and Eref looked up at Balor’s twisted face.

  Several stones crashed into Eref’s eyes, and Balor shouted, “Kill him! He’s going to get away! Kill him now!”

  People rushed toward Eref. The executioner adjusted the boulder in his arms.

  Eref’s heart pounded. There was no escape. Unless….

  He peered below. He tried to see what lurked in that evil, beautiful blackness.

  He returned his gaze to the crowd. Certain death, rushing forward with eager faces.

  Eref held his breath. He let go and dropped into the unknown.

  Above, the crowd at the End grew smaller as he plummeted downward, quickly becoming just a pinpoint of light far in the distance. Even as the terror of falling flooded him, he was glad. He was out of their reach.

  For a long time Eref fell in a silent panic, reaching out for something to hold onto. Everywhere, he saw nothing but blackness.

  Instinct urged him to stretch his legs to stand, to grab at the air for walls, but there was nothing. Only the helpless sensation of falling.

  No sound or scent reached him, either. It seemed he had dropped into a place where nothing existed. Not a barren wasteland, for there was no land. Not an empty sky, for there was no sky.

  Minutes passed.

  Maybe an hour.

  He kept falling. He’d endured such horror already that his energy had run out. Eventually, Eref gave up fighting and let his body hang limp in the air, as a humid breeze rushed past him. The fall took on a strange, dreamlike slow-motion. It was like death: terrifying, but unchangeable.

  Eref had meant for his life to be so different. What did his classmates think of him now? What about his teachers? They’d probably all expected it, he thought. He’d always been such an “unpredictable Light Boy,” as his headmaster used to complain.

  “You’ll amount to no good,” Headmaster Lesur would say. “And poor impressionable Balor. The two of you are evidence enough that the Eighteener Entrance should be performed earlier, if you ask me.”

  The Eighteener Entrance. Eref’s goal had been to change the world, and by that he meant abolish the Eighteener Entrance. He didn’t know how. It had been just a kid’s dream. He used to imagine he’d find a better way. He’d announce his plans to the Governors. He’d be heralded as a prophet. And Balor wouldn’t have to be afraid anymore.

  Balor had feared the Eighteener Entrance for as long as Eref could remember. They had been raised together in the same compound by the same shepherds. From the cradle, children learned about the process.

  “Young minds are fragile and give in easily to figments that overtake the soul. The Eighteener Entrance will be your passage into adulthood, when you will no longer be plagued by ideas or confusion or the desire for change,” the shepherds had told them over and over.

  But the years went by, and Balor and Eref watched as their friends returned from the Eighteener Entrance. They found it hard to believe this procedure was a good thing. Not one person had come back the same. In fact, no one who had been to the ceremony even remembered his own best friend.

  The transformation had always horrified Balor. Eref had put his own fears on the back burner, dreaming they’d find a way to stop it. Secretly, the two of them had plotted to change the world….

  The fall continued in this seemingly endless place of darkness. Maybe this was death. Perhaps the stones had killed him, after all.

  Maybe, if he was lucky, he was on his way to Heaven. That was a nice thought: Heaven should be dark and quiet, just like this. If only he could stop falling.

  But all at once, the soft sound of chirping met his ears.

  Then something sulfuric, mingled with the sweet smell of grass and trees, trailed toward him. He sensed that solid ground might lie down there somewhere, which suddenly frightened him even more than the falling. Would he be crushed when he finally hit the bottom? If he survived the fall, what would he find at the end? New light? Creatures? People?

  Danger?

  Without warning, Eref crashed into what was almost definitely a treetop and tumbled downward through rough branches and twiggy bird nests. His broken bones splintered even more, and he cried out.

  Though he’d clearly passed through the dark tunnel, the light never returned. He squeezed his eyes but still saw nothing. A blow from a stone must have made him blind.

  The horror of that hummed through him for a second, but he couldn’t let that ruin this moment. He had been given a miracle.

  He was alive.

  And then, all at once, it was over. Choirs of crickets and birds welcomed him to the soft ground. Eref felt wet grass beneath him, and he sobbed as he inched his fingers over it. He smelled its fragrance and imagined its bright color.

  He inhaled deeply. A sharp pain shot through his chest.

  Now that he had stopped dropping through open space, Eref tried to assess his injuries. It didn’t feel good. He was badly hurt, worse than he’d realized.

  Blood still seeped from his chest and head and legs. At least two of his ribs were smashed. His wrist felt grotesquely swollen.

  He definitely hadn’t landed in Heaven.

  But he had ended up somewhere else. Eref laughed through his tears and pain. Somehow, he had escaped Light World.

  “Hey.” A quiet female voice spoke a few feet to the left of him. “Are you all right?”

  “I fell,” he said, staring blindly ahead. He struggled to sit upright and tried to determine where she might be standing. “I can’t see.”

  “You’re hurt.” Soft fingers brushed against his chest, and Eref remembered at once that he was naked.

  He reached to cover up and felt another sharp pain in his side.

  “Stay still,” the girl whispered. “Here. Take my cloak.”

  A small garment that felt as if it were made from moss and leaves fell over Eref, and with his g
ood hand he tried to wrap it around his waist. He felt something else tickle his skin – something soft and light like thousands of silk strands blowing in the breeze. Before he could register what they were, they were gone.

  “Where am I?”

  “Near the Pyre,” she said. “But….”

  “What?”

  “You can’t be…. You look…. Where do you come from?” A tiny, cold hand touched his throbbing shoulder. “You aren’t from here – from Dark World, are you?”

  “This is Dark World?” Eref squeezed his eyes again and strained, but he couldn’t see the girl. It was impossible to count the lessons he’d had in the Learning about the dangers of darkness and the savage people of Dark World. Had he somehow fallen into that land of evil?

  Was this girl evil, too?

  He smelled a sour scent, like ointment, and something cool and wet rubbed into one of the gashes in his leg. It tingled, and the pain in that spot vanished.

  “Yes,” she said. Then she tapped his chest and ran her fingers along his broken ribs. “You’re so badly hurt. The fall from the tree didn’t do all of this to you. Did someone attack you?”

  “My people. In Light World,” he muttered.

  The girl gasped. Her fingers retracted.

  For a moment, Eref thought she had slipped away. He couldn’t hear anything. Then she spoke again, her voice a few inches farther back.

  “I wondered…but I couldn’t believe. You’re really from the cursed place?”

  Eref coughed, and something in his chest gave a painful spasm. “There’s no curse on Light World. Unless you count the curse of ignorance.”

  The girl didn’t move or make a sound for several seconds. Finally, she said, “You aren’t safe here. These wounds are nothing compared to what Dark People will do if they find you. Come on, drag yourself over here and lie down. I’ll move you soon.”