The moon was high up in the middle of the sky, as Serena watched it from her bedroom window. She loved looking at the moon every night; it was big and round and it always shone so bright. It made her feel like she could reach up, climb on it and ride in the sky all through the night, looking at the world below. But she knew that wasn’t possible. She envied Élena, daughter of Summer, who had taken over the job after the Dark Winter.
When she was little, she would ask her mom to tell her all about it; what it was like to be among the stars and shine down all over Endërland, when it used to be her up there. And her mom would talk for hours and hours, until she’d fall asleep. Sometimes her dad would sit down with them and join in the stories, telling her how the two of them had met and how they had fought in the Big War and won. She used to love listening to those stories.
She was too old now to waste time with that stuff; tomorrow would be the eighteenth autumn since she had been born. She did not want to spend her life indoors; she wanted to get out there, experience the whole world and travel to the farthest reaches of the kingdom. But everyone kept telling her that there was nowhere to go. There had to be something beyond the ocean, or on the other side of the Northern Mountains; the world did not just end there, did it?
Moving away from the window and leaving it open so she could watch the moon from her bed, she got ready for sleep. Her parents had already turned in for the night.
She wasn’t really looking forward to tomorrow. Yes, her dad was sure to have prepared some special surprise for her, like he always did, but other than that, she knew it would be just another day in Endërland. And she felt like something was really missing, like she had yet to uncover her purpose in life.
Determined to do something about it, she slipped into bed and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be a new day; she would make sure of it. It took her a while, but eventually her body relaxed and she fell asleep.
When next she opened her eyes, she had to close and open them again, unable to believe what she saw. She did that a few more times, but every time she opened them, she saw the same thing; a cloudy sky above her, instead of the familiar ceiling of her bedroom. She felt a chill run through her body and realized she was lying down on a very cold and hard surface. She stood up, barefoot as she was, and looked around. She did not recognize this place.
She appeared to be standing on top of a very tall house, built with large flat stones and mirrors. She almost felt dizzy from being so high up. All around her she saw many other similar buildings, but most of them were smaller, pretty much like usual houses. There were so many streets between them, with so many weird coaches that moved really fast and without any horses dragging them. Pillars of smoke rose up from everywhere in the city, while in the sky, giant metallic birds flew very high.
Fear gripped her now, not knowing where she was or how she got here. How would she go back home? What would mom and dad think when they would not find her in her room in the morning?
Stepping back from the edge of the terrace she was on, she heard a door creak open behind her, and a voice calling her name.
‘Serena?’
She turned around and saw a young man approaching with careful steps. He had short brown wavy hair, and wore strange clothes as well as a silly smile on his face. He was slightly taller than her, with broad shoulders and an athletic body, and didn’t seem to be much older than she was. He stopped halfway from the door to her and said.
‘I’m Freddie. I’m here to help you.’
###
About the Author
Ed Marishta was born in the winter of 1976, in the small town of Gramsh, Albania. Like most of his fellow countrymen in that time period, he grew up in a country with challenging economic conditions. A renowned geologist in his area, his father was away with work much of the time, therefore the task of raising, educating and caring for their five children fell mostly upon his mother.
Ed’s writing inclinations manifested at a very young age. As early as 10 years old, he tried to write his first “masterpiece”, a story about a little boy with psychic powers, which he titled “The Adventures of Ren”. Sadly, that manuscript was lost and he never got to show the world his “genius” until many years later, when he picked up writing again.
The changing of the political climate in the 1990s, followed by the mass immigration of Albanian people in search of a better life, also prompted Ed and his siblings to immigrate to neighboring Greece for several years, and later on to the UK and USA. With his twenties and early-thirties spread between Greece, Albania and the UK, Ed constantly worked on projects and ideas for novels, as well as translation works which helped with his language skills, up to the point where he felt confident enough to write in English.
In January 2014, he finally self-published his first novel, “The Endërland Chronicles: Book of Daniel”, with the second revised edition published a year later. He has planned two more books in the series, with the second one titled “Book of Serena”, which comes out in 30 November 2016, but can be already pre-ordered in the usual channels.
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