Pyrus Read online

  Pyrus

  Book One of

  The Kreydur Chronicles

  By

  Sean W. Watman

  Strategic Book Group

  Copyright 2009

  All rights reserved – Sean Watman

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission, in writing, from the publisher.

  Strategic Book Group

  P.O. Box 333

  Durham, CT 06422

  www.StrategicBookClub.com

  ISBN: 978-1-61204-008-0

  Printed in the United States of America

  E-Book Design: Roger Hayes

  Contents

  Chapter 1: The Beginning

  Chapter 2: The Choice

  Chapter 3: The Forests of Pyrus

  Chapter 4: The Inner Grove

  Chapter 5: The Awakening

  Chapter 6: The Chase

  Chapter 7: The Realization

  Chapter 8: The Training

  Chapter 9: The Test

  Chapter 10: The Transformation

  Chapter 11: The Conflict

  Chapter 12: The Exploration

  Chapter 13: The Lessons

  Chapter 14: The Pursuit

  Chapter 15: The Plan

  Chapter 16: The Journey

  Chapter 17: The History

  Chapter 18: The Advancement

  Chapter 19: The Bait

  Chapter 20: The Hunt

  Chapter 21: The Race

  Chapter 22: The Fury

  Chapter 23: The Job

  Chapter 24: The Castle

  Chapter 25: The Ending

  It was cold when I woke up this morning, which is an odd thing in a land of eternal summer. Usually the trees and birds are happily singing and gallivanting around the forests, trying to find friends and live the lives of carefree animals. Usually I would join in, laughing and running around like a maniac, but, today I couldn't. My name is Jack, and I am lost in a world unlike my own.

  I had a home on earth; at least I think I did. The pictures that were once so clear are becoming cloudy and vague over time. Heck, for all I know time moves at a different speed here than on Earth. Oh, by the way, here would be Pyrus—the country of fire on the planet of Tereer. The year is 1026, which, if my math is right, would be two months after I left earth, but like I said; time may move at a different pace.

  When I say left, I mean forced to either live here in the country of Pyrus or die on Earth—great choice of options. I suppose I should remember how this entire journey happened. It all began when I made an incredibly stupid choice; a choice that I will regret for the rest of my life. This whole sequence of maddening events began when I made the choice to go out to a movie. And what a day it was. …

  Chapter 1: The Beginning

  It was a Friday morning and I awoke to the typical alarm clock screaming in my ears. Shutting it off with a slammed fist, my second alarm clock on the other side of the room began to ring. I knew myself too well, so I had to leave my bed in order to go and turn this one off.

  Once up, I headed off to the bathroom I shared with my sister, Jessie. I got up earlier than she did, since she was still in public school, so I had the bathroom all to myself. I brushed my teeth and looked at myself in the mirror. My brown eyes were hidden by long strands of my brown hair. I brush it to the side, showing my face to the world. I quickly showered, dressed, fixed up my hair, and went downstairs.

  My parents leave for work early, so the only person I had to fight with was Jessie, but thank god she was in bed.

  “What are you doing? Did you forget about me?” Jessie called out to me.

  Okay, so I was wrong. I turned and saw her standing at the entrance in her pink pajamas and her hands on her hips. All of my friends say we look almost identical, but I don't see it.

  “How can I forget about my only sister? You're already too much of a pain in the butt for me to even try.” I called back. I really wasn't in the mood for this, but she persisted.

  “Today is my assembly for grade eight graduation, and since mom and dad aren't here, you have to take me there.”

  “I don't have to do anything,” I yelled back at her. “There's something called public transit and something known as walking. Find your own way there. I've already got plans tonight to see a new movie with the guys.”

  She stomped off, and I felt a little guilty about being so mean. She was probably one of the closest people to me, but that didn't mean we had to get along all the time. It was mostly because we were so similar that we fought all the time; neither of us got our way. Glancing at the clock I noticed the time.

  “Great! Now I'm late for school! Thanks a lot, Jessie!” I yelled back upstairs. Grabbing my bag, a bottle of apple juice, and a banana I rushed out the door and began to jog towards the school. I took the usual shortcut along the back alley of the movie theatre to get close to the school. That was the only advantage of living in this dumb town; the theatre was not even five minutes away and I could easily sneak through the alleys to school. I made it before the bell, but not before I had finished my banana.

  I sat through the lecture about school safety policies and whizzed through my computer course the next period. When the bell for third period finally rang, I grabbed my bag and was out of there in a flash. I made it to the usual spot—a small corner of the school—and placed my bag on the floor.

  She usually got out of class before me, so why wasn't she here yet? Lily was never late, and if she was, you wouldn't even care. She was stunning, intelligent, witty, a major athlete, and an artist. She was truly, close to perfect. She was slender but strong and had dirty blonde curls and emerald green eyes that always lit up whenever she laughed. To top it off, she chose me out of everyone, to be her boyfriend.

  “There you are! I was beginning to wonder if you were sick today. How come you're so late?” I asked her as I saw her walking towards me. Her face was down, but I could tell from her body language that something was bugging her.

  “We need to talk.”

  My heart stopped. Those four words are the ones people always hear in break-ups. Did I do something wrong? Was it my hair? I thought she liked it long. My mind was going into a frenzied panic as I wondered what it was that had caused this.

  “What about?” I asked her cautiously.

  She continued to stare at the floor as she spoke. Her voice was barely audible, but the words had great strength. “About us …, we've been dating for two years now, and we've just grown too distant. You never answer your cell phone when I want to talk to you. You always fight with everyone who tries to prove you wrong. I've tried to pretend that I'm not hurt by it but it's just piling up too much. I want to be just friends. I'm tired of this endless drama with you.”

  I stretched out my hand to raise her face, for her to look at me, but she backed away from my hand. I was left speechless as she walked away from me; tears forming in both of our eyes.

  “Hey, Jackie-boy!” Fred, the local bully called out to me from behind. “Tough luck about you and your girl, eh?”

  “Leave me alone, Fred,” I replied coldly. He didn't mean a word he said; he just wanted to rub it in and piss me off.

  “How about I go in and take her off of your hands? She wouldn't mind a little comfort from yours truly,” he said as he pushed back his short black hair into a spike.

  That was the turning point. Fred was going to get it, and he was going to get it hard and painfully. Without even turning around to look at him, I punched him straight in the face. He staggered back, but I continued to beat on him, dropping him to the ground—punch after punch into his bony chin and cheeks. He tried to push me off,
but he could barely defend himself.

  The next worst thing was that a crowd had begun to form. Even the teachers were silently watching the spectacle. It was their job to stop the fight, but I knew that they wanted me to do this for everyone's sake. Fred was the leader of the local gang and truly thought he was the next Alexander the Great. He disrespected everyone except for those in power. Only the principle tried to intervene, and succeeded when he threatened me with expulsion if I didn't get off Fred. Giving him one last blow to the mouth, I stepped off of the giant. I caught the disapproving glare from Lily, as I was forcefully marched to the office to call my parents.

  I'd been grounded, suspended, and pretty much kicked off every school team, but it didn't matter. I would deal with the grief on Monday. That day was my sixteenth birthday, and there should be no sorrows on one's birthday. When I got home, I texted my friends to find out what homework I had from my other courses and then got it done as fast as I could.

  I heard my sister come in Oh God, if you exist please help me through this, I thought.

  “I can't believe you got into another fight! Another fight! Everyone in the entire school knows about it. Do you know how this will ruin my reputation?” She was hysterical.

  I tuned her out with thoughts of the movie tonight. Right now, her reputation and mine were not at the top of my priority list. I finally got up and walked over to the kitchen to grab a pen and paper.

  “Look, just shut up, Jessie. I'm the one who got in trouble, so stop worrying about your future career.”

  She stared back at me in shock. I'd never actually spoken to her in such an emotionless tone before, and she didn't like it at all.

  “What are you doing?” She asked me, trying to peek under my arm at what I was writing.

  “I'm writing a note to Mom telling her I'll be at the theatre later.”

  “You can't go, though. Mom grounded you for life and I'll tell on you. “

  She hadn't used that move on me since she was nine. It didn't really matter. Although Jessie was strong; I was stronger and taller.

  “Go ahead,” I replied. “Mom can punish me all she wants, later. She isn't here right now, and there's nothing you can do to stop me from walking out that door.”

  She knew I was right, and retreated to her room wordlessly and defeated. I finished my homework, listened to some music, watched some TV, and finally left for the theatre; cutting through the back alley as always.

  I met up with some friends, and we went together to the movie. It was a good movie but I was too emotionally distracted to pay attention and actually watch it. I saw the parts that appealed to my mood, but nothing more. My brain was worrying, calculating, wondering. I didn't feel like myself until we had exited the theatre. Waving good-bye to my group, I cut through the back alley once again, only to be met by Fred. This is the problem with karma, it always comes back to haunt you later on in life; but in my case it was a couple of hours.

  Knowing the situation was hopeless, I called out to the bruised-faced brute rather lightly; almost jokingly. “That's a nice look you got there. It really suits you.”

  He must have recognized my sarcasm. His black eye and bruised lips and cheeks bulged; he was truly a sight for sore eyes. Fred laughed at my remark. He then reached down into his shirt and pulled out a pistol; still laughing as he pointed it at my head. The rest of his gang emerged from the shadows, and boxed me in the alley. I was unable to escape.

  “Hey, Loser!” Fred called out to me. “Time for your payback for what you did earlier.”

  I didn't respond. How could I? I had brought the wrath of Fred upon myself and now I had to face it. Now, under normal circumstances I would be able to take these guys; I wasn't well-built like a jock, but I could easily overpower them with my self-defence training. However, Fred had a gun, I was alone, and I was freaking terrified. My first idea was to run … but where to? I was boxed in. The second idea I had was to get the gun, but six on one didn't seem like very good odds to me, and Fred could easily fire whenever he pleased. I was running out of options and gradually beginning to have a panic attack. I took a deep breath, calmed down, and started taking a closer look at my opponents. Most of them were about my height, with Fred towering a whopping six feet. I then looked at my environment, but all that I could use were trash cans, and a lot of good that would do against a bullet.

  The gang started to circle me, daring me to strike or intimidating me; maybe both. The guy to my right began to charge—big mistake. I simply sidestepped around him and he collided with one of his buddies. Two down, four to go. The next guy tried to get me in a headlock but I was able to duck and weave out of the way, smashing him into the pile. As the numbers began to diminish, I started to feel more confident. Unfortunately, while I was busy gloating over my victory I was grabbed and pinned down by the two guys behind me that I'd forgotten to watch for. Fred then started unloading punches at me, while I was struggling to hang onto my consciousness. He then started stomping on my face and chest; my vision blackening as I tried to hold on. Turns out, Fred didn't need to use the gun; they beat me by playing on my pride.

  The last thing I heard before I zoned out was a voice saying to me, “Guess you're not so tough after all.” And then all went black.

  Chapter 2: The Choice

  I awoke in a daze. My head and my stomach were throbbing from the beating I'd taken the previous night. Was it even morning? I couldn't see any sunlight or the moon. All that was there was a dull gray. At first I panicked, thinking that I was going to be stuck in this dumb gray scene for the rest of my life, which when I think about it, was really short. But then I realized something. Something seemed … off. When I glanced at a certain portion of my boring gray scene, it seemed as if it lost a part of its opacity. It appeared as if I had a choice—either follow the somewhat translucent portion of the fog or stay and wait to wake up from this crazy dream. Either way, I thought I would wake up so why not take the path of adventure?

  Things changed from weird to creepy as I followed the foggy trail, and to tell you the truth, at first I thought, This is probably the MOST confusing and realistic dream I have ever had. Now that I look back on it my statement remains the same except for the fact that all the events that occurred were not a dream. The scene was dull, just grey for miles and miles, but at the same time it was comforting and calm. I felt a certain inner peace that I hadn't felt in a long time. But as beautiful as the scene was, I knew I had to keep going or risk losing myself in this odd mental paradise.

  After walking for what felt like forever, I saw something that I never realized had mattered so much to me—color. I saw green meadows, a blue sky, and flowers as far as the eye could see. My first thought was that there was no way I could still be on earth; mainly because it didn't look like man had urbanized this peaceful place into a bustling city. The other thing that I noticed was the noise, or lack of noise. The only sound I heard was the wind blowing through the meadows. Then I heard a voice in the wind; it was as if the voice was coming from the wind itself, but no more than a whisper. “Choose to stay; you will live free. Go back to your home; your death it will be.”

  It seemed as if I had made a new friend. I had only been in this strange place for ten minutes when someone had already sent me death threats. What a wonderful dream this was turning out to be. I wondered what the voice meant by, “Going back home”? I still do.

  I looked behind me and searched for the incredibly boring fog, but it was gone and looked as if it had never been there. How's that for creepy? To make matters worse, the place where the fog had been was now a dark depressing forest. Well, at least it had color, even if the only colors I could see were black, green, brown, darker green, and black.

  I heard the sound of a car behind me and I turned to find myself staring into the city. I took a few steps into the city. The buildings towered over me as rain began to pour on me; drenching me. Making sure that the meadow was still in sight, I turned around to make sure that I was still there.
The sun was shining brightly on that side, while rain continued to fall on me. I stared at the floor and noticed that I was in between the two places; one foot in the city, and one foot in the meadow. Was this a sign of the choice that I had to make, or was I reading way too much into this? I didn't want to think about it, but it was just too convenient.

  Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of shadows moving to my side. The whispering wind turned silent and abnormally quiet as the rain began to cease. Maybe these shadows were friends. Then again, if they were my friends, why would they go to the trouble to silently surround me? The forest on the meadow side looked scary, but at least I could hide in there until I either learned more about my potential enemies, or they left. Then again, the city was probably bigger in size, and I could use the buildings as cover. I was caught in another decision, and it was annoying me.

  I didn't have a coin, so I was forced to do an Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Moe selection in order to choose which way to go. As subtly as possible, I set my stance ready to run, counted to five in my head, and sprinted as fast as I could towards the forest. I had made poor decisions so far, but they paled in comparison to what happened next.

  Chapter 3: The Forests of Pyrus

  As I dove into the safety of the trees, one thought that crossed my mind once again was, Am I doing the right thing? I pushed it out of my head, telling myself that being in the forest was definitely better than taking on my mysterious opponents out in the meadow. The forest looked menacing, even when you glanced around inside it. But as terrifying as it looked, it had a certain beauty to it. The branches of the trees were all intertwined, and the varying shades of green and brown made every tree look unique. When you looked at the ground, flowers bloomed everywhere in all the colors of the rainbow. As beautiful as this scene was, there was darkness everywhere. The only light in the forest was coming off the yellow flowers on the forest floor. There were no animals; to be more specific, there was no sign of life apart from my own shallow breathing.