Chapter 5

                  It was a clear, cold early spring day.  Goldfinches and other winter songbirds chirped in the crisp air, while a doe and her fawn grazed on low hanging branches clustered around the clearing.  It was a peaceful place, one that had never seen the footsteps of human beings. 

                  Until now.

                  Suddenly, a spot appeared in the middle of the clearing startling the doe and her fawn into running toward the cover of thicker woods.  It glowed a faint blue at first, but after a second or two the blue grew brighter as the spot expanded.  As the spot began to grow, flecks of white began to appear swirling around the center of growing spot like a whirlpool, and the spot grew to nearly seven feet in diameter.  It hung there for several seconds, and then, without warning, four beings emerged from the spot.  The first was a young man who looked slightly lost, and he was followed quickly by a slightly older woman, a large man, and after a second or two, a strangely dressed woman who looked very sad.

                  At first, the quartet merely examined their surroundings, but then the first out of the portal fell to the ground clutching his head.  At that point, the first woman rushed over to the man.

                  “Jonathan, Jonathan!” cried Hope, “What’s wrong?”

                  Jonathan picked up his head, and looked at who had called his name.  “Who are you?” he said, “Where am I?”

                  “Jonathan?”  Hope started to move closer to him, but Jonathan stepped back quickly.

                  “Who are you?” Jonathan demanded.

                  “Jonathan, what are you talking about?  I’m Hope, and this,” she said indicating the others in the clearing, “is Jagal and Kamama.”

                  “Where am I?  Where’s my house?”

                  “Jonathan,” Hope began, “Do you truly not remember us?  Or what has happened?”

                  “I don’t know who you are.”

                  “Jonathan, what is the last thing you remember?” Jagal tried to calm him down.

                  “I was walking home from school.  I knew that I was going to be in trouble, because I’d gotten in an argument with this speaker at school about labor relations.  I was reaching for the front door…and now I’m here.  Now someone had better tell me what is going on.”

                  “Jonathan, that was several months ago…you don’t remember your hospital stay?  Your running away?  What has happened with Earth?”

                  “I don’t know what you are talking about…”

                  Hope looked around, and then started to concentrate.

                  “Hope,” Jagal started, “what are you…”

                  “Silence!” Kamama cut him off, “She’s doing something extremely dangerous…she’s attempting to touch the Heart here.  It has to be done very carefully, to access the power and the Heart’s reaction.  Now be quiet.”

                  For several minutes, they sat in nervous anticipation as Hope attempted to access Druidic magic on this new, strange world.  For what seemed an hour, though it was probably closer to five minutes, Hope poked and prodded the Heart to see its reaction.  Then, with no warning from Hope, four red apples appeared on the ground in front of them.

                  “Well, Druidic magic works just fine.  In fact, it works exactly the way it did on Earth, but requires less power than it used to.  I believe that we are more powerful here than we were at home…er on Earth.”

                  “Hope, you keep saying ‘here’ and ‘on Earth.’  If we aren’t on Earth, where are we?”

                  “Jonathan,” Hope hesitated, wondering how best to explain their current situation, “let us say that we have left the planet Earth and traveled to another realm.  Once we stop for the night, I will tell you all that has happened, and try to discover the cause of your lost memory.  Perhaps, if I can find what happened to your memory, I can restore it.  I’m afraid that before your amnesia, you were the only one that knew anything about this new realm.

                  “But for now,” Hope turned to Jagal, “can you find us a good campground, and once we’re there, you can see if your magic works here.”

                  Several hours later, three of the four travelers were sitting around a small campfire.  Kamama said when they arrived at the campsite that she would keep the first watch, and promptly changed into an owl and took off into the night.  Jonathan nearly had a heart attack at the sight of her changing, and it took several moments for Jagal and Hope to calm him down.

                  After they had calmed him down, they sat around the fire, and Hope began to tell him about the last few months that he had apparently missed.  As the time went on, the story began to get stranger and stranger.  His running away, the bear attack, everything up to the point where she started talking about magic he could believe.  But magic, gods, and demons?  Things like that only existed in bedtime stories and childrens’ tales.

                  “I’m sorry, but this is too much to believe.  Gods and Demons?  C’mon!”

                  “Jonathan, it’s the truth.  I don’t know that I can prove it yet, as I haven’t tried my powers.  And I will not, at least, not yet,” Jagal began.

                  “Why not?  I mean, Hope’s and Kamama’s magic seems to work alright.”

                  “It’s a question of ethics, Jonathan.  You see, Hope and Kamama’s powers are based on nature, and the creator God of this realm.  My powers, on the other hand, are not.  Mine are given to me from a Raised God.  Since my God is not from this universe, I don’t know if it will work, and I don’t want to offend the Gods of this Universe.  We need to find out more about this world before I try my power.”

                  “Ok.”

                  “Cheer up Jonathan, tomorrow we’ll try to find some civilization of some kind and figure out what is going on.  Don’t worry,” Hope said, “Try to get some sleep.”

                  Jonathan curled up near the fire, and thanks to a short spell from Hope, fell into a deep sleep quickly.  For several minutes, Hope and Jagal merely sat there.  Then Kamama returned.

                  “See anything?”

                  “Nothing sentient.  There are quite a few wild animals though.  There appears to be a village about five miles from here.  To the south,” she said, gesturing in that direction, “or at least what I assume is south.”

                  “Wonderful.  We will head that direction tomorrow.  Now,” she started seriously, “to more important matters.  Jonathan seems to have lost all memory since before his hospital stay, when I was first sent to him.”

                  “Have you scanned him?  What happened to the memories?”

                  “I don’t know.  My magic cannot find them, but I have a feeling that they’re still in there.  But I simply don’t know.  I dearly hope not.”

                  “Why is that?” Jagal asked curiously.

                  “Because before we came here, Jonathan knew more about druidic magic and the nature of Earth than anyone, ever.  Breanna taught him everything she knew about druidic magic.  That portal was one example.  I’ve never felt anything like that.”

                  Kamama looked pensive for a moment, and then said, “I remember the song.  It was beautiful, but something about it amplified the spell.  I don’t know what it was, but it touched me here,” she said, putting her hand between her breasts, “in my adanvdo.”

                  Jagal looked very confused and said, “Your what?”

                  “My heart.  Sometimes I slip back into my native tongue…two hundred years of habit is hard to break,” she smiled.

                  “But the question remains,” interrupted Hope, “What do we do now that Jonathan has no memory?”

                  “I think,” Jagal started, “the best idea is to find some civilization.  That village Kamama mentioned sounds like a good place to start.  From what Jonathan said before he lost his memory, this place is very magically active.  I haven’t tried my powers yet, but since yours work, I have to assume that mine work.”

                  “Tomorrow, give them a try.  I wouldn’t try anything major at first, but maybe a simple scrying spell or something of that nature,” Hope suggested.  “We need to know the situation in that village before we get there.  Kamama or I can do that fairly easily, but it would be a good idea to try your powers, in case we need them.”

                  Suddenly there was a sound out at the edge of the ring of light made by the campfire.  The three companions that were still awake were immediately on edge, gazing out into the darkness trying to find out what had made the noise.  Jagal silently drew his sword, and Hope and Kamama made a deeper connection with the Heart of this world, getting ready to draw the power they would need to cast a spell.

                  Then they heard the sound again, but at the other side of the firelight.  They swiftly turned to meet the new direction, only have the sound occur on yet again another side of the firelight.

                  “Hope, more than one?” Jagal asked.

                  “Either that or something that can move silently.”

                  Just as she finished her sentence, something lumbered into the firelight directly behind them.  As they spun to face it, something crashed down right on top of the fire, sending sparks and embers everywhere, and killing the light.  By the slightly glowing embers, they could see a large, lumbering hulk emerge from the shadows.  The trio had to dive to the side as something was hurled across the campground toward them, landing where they had been standing.  When Hope regained her feet, she saw that it was a large rock, nearly the size of a goat.  Looking around the clearing, she couldn’t find the creature that had thrown it, and she noticed that Jagal and Kamama had regained their feet.

                  “Kamama, we need light.  We have to be able to see what we’re fighting,” Jagal commanded, falling into a leadership position.  “Hope, where’s Jonathan?”

                  Almost as soon as he finished speaking a small orb of light appeared over the campsite, illuminating the whole area.  Jonathan had disappeared from beside the campfire.

                  “Jonathan!  Where are you?” Hope called.

                  At that moment, the creature rose up from the ground directly in front of Jagal.  Only lightning fast reflexes let him jump out of the way, as a massive boulder was smashed in the space he used to occupy.  The creature was now directly under the light, and the trio got a fairly good look at it.  It was nearly ten feet tall and made mostly of what appeared to be small stones.  Green and brown moss covered large portions of its body, which was vaguely humanoid in shape.  Where its head should have been, there was only a lump with no apparent eyes or facial features.  Yet it seemed to have no problem zeroing in on Jagal, who stood with his sword raised in defense against the monster.

                  “Jagal, it’s an rock golem!  You sword won’t hurt it!” screamed Hope.

                  “Great, what do I do about it then?”

                  Jagal jumped out of the way as a large arm slammed down on the ground, only inches from Jagal.  Jagal lightly stabbed at the arm, but the creature only reared back and flung him across the clearing and into a large oak tree.  He slumped to the ground, and the creature then turned on Hope and Kamama.  Hope took a few steps back, and seemed to collect herself.  Her hands started glowing as she cast her spell.  Pointing at the golem, she released her spell, and dim blue light shot from her hands and touched it.  The golem charged right through the spell, and continued to lumber toward the pair of women.

                  “Look out!”

                  Kamama jumped one way, and Hope dove the other way, making the golem choose between the two of them.  The monster stopped and turned toward Hope, a boulder in its hands.  Raising it over its head, it hurled the boulder at Hope.  Hope, in the act of running away, didn’t see it in time.  The throw was too far, however, and merely glanced off her head.  It was enough to knock her out though, and she crumbled to the ground.

                  Turning toward Kamama, who was backing away in fear, the creature summoned another boulder from the ground, and moved steadily forward on Kamama.  Kamama backed away hastily, her mind too panicked to come up with any effective spells.  She wasn’t watching where she was going, however, and tripped over a tree root.  As she lay there on the ground, the creature advanced slowly on Kamama, intent on finishing her off.  It stopped right in front of her and raised the boulder over its head.  It brought its arms sharply down to smash Kamama into oblivion…only to crumble into dust.

                  Standing behind where the golem used to be with a slightly glowing blue axe was Jonathan.

                  “Jonathan, what did you do?”

                  “I just hit it.  I saw Hope and Jagal lying on the ground and that thing about to kill you, so I decided that I needed to do something.  I found this axe near where I was, so I grabbed it and hit it in the head.”

                  “Well, it seems like it worked,” Kamama hesitated for a moment before continuing.  “I…thank you.  This is the second time you’ve saved my life, and the first time I wasn’t very nice to you.  But I thank you for this.  I will repay you some way.”

                  “Umm…thanks, I guess.  Can you do anything for Hope and Jagal?”

                  “Jonathan, where were you?  That golem attacked, and you were gone.”

                  It was the next day, and the four travelers were headed south toward the small village that Kamama had seen from the air the day before.  The morning was warmer than the day before had been, but there were some storm clouds approaching from the southwest.  It had taken only moments to revive Hope and Jagal.  The rock golem had only stunned them, and it merely took shaking them to wake them up and a minor healing spell to heal minor cuts and bruises.  After a short discussion it was decided that they should keep a watch in addition to increased magical protections.  So for the rest of the night, Hope, Jagal, and Kamama took two-hour shifts watching over the camp.  Jonathan was quite amazed watching Hope and Kamama change into an owl to watch the camp, but drifted off to sleep after about a half an hour.  The night passed with no further complications, though the sound of wolves howling got closer as the night progressed.  They were up before the dawn and moving at sunrise.  It was now midmorning, and last night’s events were being re-discussed.

                  “I don’t know.  I was asleep by the fire, and the next thing I know I was up in a tree.  When that thing knocked you and Jagal out, I had to do something.”

                  “Well, it’s a good thing that you did.  I fear that I made a grave error last night,” Hope said, somewhat sheepishly.  “I guess in this realm a frost spell won’t affect a rock golem.  It would seem that we all have a lot to learn.”

                  “Indeed you do.”

                  Instantly, the entire party was on alert.  The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, with no discernable direction for its source.  Jagal started to draw his sword when the voice spoke again.

                  “Please, be at ease.  If I meant you harm, you would already be dead.”

                  “Who’s there?” Jagal called out, his sword still partly out of its scabbard.

                  “You foolish human.  Your sword will do nothing but annoy me.”

                  A slight rustling sound behind them caused the entire group to turn around.  Facing them was an average height man with long grey hair.  He was very muscular and carried scars all over his body.  They could see every scar on the front part of his body, as he was standing there naked.

                  “Who are you?  How did you sneak up on us like that?”  Jagal demanded.

                  “Who I am is not important, human.  I have come to see him,” the man said as he pointed at Jonathan.  Jonathan was staring very hard at the man, but it was evident that he wasn’t staring at the fact he was naked.  “Please,” the man started, “I mean you no harm.  I can feel you drawing magic from somewhere,” he explained, “I merely wished to meet you.”

                  Jonathan visibly relaxed, then shook his head.  “Who are you?” he asked.

                  “My name is Lynard,” he said with a deep bow.  “My pack and I would like to welcome you to Dolaria.”

                  Jonathan nodded slightly, and began looking around where they were standing.  Every couple of seconds he would stop looking around, and from the spot he looked another being would stand.  When he resumed looking at Lynard, fourteen beings had shown themselves.  Sometimes a man or a woman would rise up, but sometimes it would be a weird looking being.  The weird looking ones were all between seven and ten feet tall with dark gray hair covering the majority of their body.  Their faces were curiously elongated, a slight snout revealing elongated canine teeth.  Their yellow, vertically slitted eyes regarded Jonathan intensely, but not hostilely.  Hope gasped as the significance of this hit her.  Standing before her was a race she thought extinct.  She had personally seen the last one only days before a Hunter got him.

                  “Forgive me, master Werewolf.  I had thought your race extinct,” Hope said.

                  Lynard chuckled slightly.  “Madam druid, you aren’t on Earth any more.  This is Dolaria, and a lot of the genocides that happened in your home realm did not happen here.  My cousins were smarter than our brethren on Earth.”

                  “How so?” Jonathan asked.  He’d heard of werewolves, of course, but nothing like these.

                  “Jonathan,” Hope began, “You must understand that on Earth, werewolves and other were beings were hunted into extinction over two hundred years ago.  I knew the last before he was killed.  The Hunters tracked him down and tortured him for weeks before they finally killed him.  I could do nothing to save him.”

                  “We also had a period of time in our history where humans decided to attack and try to kills us.  We were smarter here though,” Lynard said.

                  “How so?” Jonathan asked.

                  “We started hunting back,” Lynard grinned, and then turned to his comrades.  They melted back into the forest.  “We smelled you coming through the forest, and I wished to stop and meet you.  Be careful, Jonathan of Earth.  You are hunted here as you were on Earth.  I cannot say more than this, my pack protects our territory.  Once you are in human lands, I can no longer help you.  Good luck, we will meet again.”

                  And with that, Lynard melted into the forest with his comrades.

                  “Well, that was…unexpected,” Jagal said, letting his sword fall back into his scabbard.  “I can say one thing about traveling with you Hope,” he grinned at her, “it certainly hasn’t lost its excitement.”

                  The entire group started laughing at that.

                  “Jagal, please don’t start,” Hope said.

                  “I remember this one time, about a hundred years ago,” Jagal started, “We were going through Bavaria, and Hope…”

                  “Hope what?” Kamama asked after a few seconds.  “Jagal?” she asked again, after Jagal didn’t answer.

                  A few seconds later, Jagal regained his voice.  Hope was looking darkly at Jagal when he responded.  “That’s dirty pool, Hope.”

                  “What did she do?” Jonathan asked.

                  “She cast a silence spell on me.”

                  Jonathan looked at Hope, who was starting to blush slightly, and then back at Jagal, and then at Kamama.  Kamama and Jonathan burst with laughter at that point, basically losing it.  Jagal and Hope both looked a little embarrassed, but then started laughing themselves.

                  When they had regained control of themselves, they started walking again toward the village.  The warning that Lynard had given them was mostly forgotten, and they continued on their journey.

                  “Elder, why warn them?” One of the werewolves asked Lynard.

                  “It is time.”

                  “Elder, time for what?”

                  “It is time.  That is all you need know.  Come, we must watch over him until he leaves the forest.  After that, he must find his own way.”

                  “As you say, Elder.”

                  And with that, the werewolf pack melted into the forest, discretely following the travelers on their journey.

                  “Hello!  Anyone on the gate?” Jagal called later in the day.  They had traveled all day without any further incident, and had reached the small village that Kamama had seen before.  When they got there around midafternoon, they found the gates barred and loud noises coming from the inside of the village.

                  Shortly, a guard approached the top of the gate wearing a chain mail coif and hauberk.  He shouted down something unintelligible.  The group looked confused for a moment, and the guard called down again, this time in a different language.  The group still didn’t realize what the guard was saying, and merely looked confused.  The guard held up a finger motioning them to stay there for a moment.

                  “Well, this could be interesting,” Kamama said to chuckles from the group, “If I can touch one of them, I know a spell that will teach us their language, but it requires touch.”

                  “Well, let’s just see what happens.  Maybe they have a solution.”

                  A few minutes later, a man came to the gate and slipped out through the front.  He was slightly below average height, with short black hard and green eyes.  He was wearing buckskin trousers, a green tunic, and a long black cloak.  He regarded them for a moment, his gaze pausing a little longer on Jonathan, then addressed the group.

                  “Can you hear this?”

                  The entire group was startled for a moment because they had heard him, yet he did not appear to speak.  Jagal spoke up, “Yes…how did you do that?”

                  “Please, think your answer to me.  I don’t speak your tongue, but I will hear your thoughts.  And please,” he started as the entire group started thinking to him, “one at a time.  It’s just a jumble otherwise.”

                  The group looked at Hope, and she nodded her head.  “How are you able to do this?”

                  Now it was the man’s turn to be shocked.  “You have never heard of a psionic?”

                  “Where we come from, there are none.  We,” she hesitated, “aren’t from this realm.”

                  The man pondered that for a moment, then said, “I see.  A psionic is gifted with powers of the mind.  Telepathy is one of my skills,” he explained.  “Let me welcome you to Appledawn.  I don’t know where you are from, but you are welcome here.”

                  “We thank you, friend.  My colleague,” she said, indicating Kamama, “knows a spell that will lift the knowledge of a language from someone and implant it in another.  Would you allow us to use your knowledge and give ourselves your language?”

                  “With regret, I cannot allow that.   I am forbidden from voluntarily allowing access to my mind in that fashion.  It is the rule of my order.

                  “However,” he said, putting the tips of his first and second fingers to his temple and lowering his head, “I can do this.”

                  With that, the members of the party suddenly felt very dizzy, and Jonathan actually fell flat on his rear.  The psionic at the gate chuckled wryly as the party regained their balance.

                  “Sorry about that,” the man said aloud, “Your brain is trying to sort out the knowledge that I just gave it.”

                  “Hey, you speak English!” Jonathan said, his head still swimming slightly.

                  “No,” the man chuckled, “You’re speaking Dolarian.  Your brain is having a problem differentiating what language you’re speaking from the language you’re thinking.”

                  “It would seem,” Hope began, “That he implanted the local language directly into our minds.”

                  “Well, one of the languages of this realm.  Dolarian is something of a common language for this region.  If you go too far east, you will find the realm of Hertha, where the language is different.  However, I doubt you’ll be going that far east for a while.  It would take you over three months to reach the coast, and another six months to sail to the realm of the Herthans.”

                  “I thank you.  What else can you tell us of this place?”

                  “Not a whole lot, I’m afraid.  I don’t travel much.  My family is from this village, and I serve here as best I can.  I’ve been to the capital city for training, but that was several years ago.  I prefer a quiet life.  However, I can tell you about what is going on in the village tonight.

                  “Tomorrow is Chiva…the day of equal day and night.  Among my people, it is celebrated as the day that the light finally overcomes the long darkness of winter.  By extension, it is the celebrated as the day that good overcomes evil.  I don’t know about that, but a lot of people enjoy the celebration.  It is also the marking of the rainy seasons, which is the more important reason.  From tomorrow, there will be a period of three weeks to plant, then about four weeks of rain.  But tonight, the Eve of Chiva is celebrated.  It’s something of a huge party,” he said with a grin, “And I would like to invite you all to be my guests.  You are new here, and some of our customs may seem strange to you.  Don’t worry.  This village is on the edge of what we consider civilization, and is very open to outsiders.  We have a pack of werewolves that lives not far from here, and occasionally a werebear or the odd dryad will come into town to trade.  Village law says that we have to treat strangers as neighbors, so you will be welcome.”

                  “Thank you for the invitation.  We have had an adventuresome few days, and so a respite would be quite welcome.  But,” Hope said, “what is your name?”

                  “My apologies,” the man said, “My name is Midaen, Grand Order of Psionics, Ninth Class.”

                  “Ninth Class?” Jonathan asked.

                  Midaen smiled, then said, “My order is divided into different classes by power and skill.  I cannot tell you the exact qualifications for the different classes, but I can tell you that they range from Class One, which is the highest, to Class Twelve, the lowest.”

                  “We understand,” Hope began, “My name is Hope, formerly the Grand Mistress of Druids of Earth.  This is Kamama, formerly Keeper of Our Lady’s Grove.  Jagal, High Priest and Grand Champion of Ares, the God of War is on my left.  And our young companion is Jonathan Ashton.  Jonathan is the soul-child of the Creator God and Patroness of my order, though since coming to this realm he has been suffering amnesia for an unknown reason.  It was foretold through Jonathan that our realm, Earth, would be destroyed.  He was granted the knowledge to enact our escape, but when we fled he lost all his gained memories.  Indeed, he had forgotten his last few months.”

                  “Very curious.  I am nowhere near the strongest of my order, however, I might be able to help.  But first, you look tired.  Please, come in, and be welcome.”

                  The four were shown to a small cottage on the edge of town.  It was a humble affair with only two rooms, but it was neat and well kept.  When they got about ten feet from the front door, it swung open in front of them.  Midaen just smiled at them, then walked into the cottage.

                  “It isn’t much, but it is home,” he said, taking off his cloak and hanging it on a hook near the door.  “Please, make yourself at home.”  There was a small fire burning in the fireplace, and a teakettle floated over to the hearth and hung itself on a hook.  The group was visibly shocked at the kettle flying across the room.  Midaen noticed their shock and said, “Please forgive me.  I forgot that you are new to my power.  The people of the village are used to me by now.  I also possess telekinesis, the ability to move things with my mind.  When I’m doing basic chores, I tend to do it without even thinking about it.  I thought some tea would be nice, and my powers responded by putting the kettle on.”

                  “Well, I’ve heard of something pleasing to the mind,” Jonathan said, “but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of the mind pleasing back.”

                  The group started chuckling at that, and the mood was suitably diffused.  The travelers were bidden to make themselves at home, the men sitting on the floor and the women taking the only chairs in the small cottage.  The tea, which seemed to pour itself, was surprisingly good.  There were small honey cakes to go with the tea, and conversation was fairly pleasant.

                  “So how did you come to us in Appledawn?” Midaen asked.

                  “Well,” Jagal began, “That’s a long story, and it has several beginnings.

                  “The most important thing is we were warned that Earth was going to be destroyed.  We were given the choice of staying, going to a random dimension, or traveling with Jonathan.  We all chose to come with Jonathan, but we didn’t know he would lose his memory.”

                  “I might be able to help with that,” Midaen said. “But I don’t know if you trust me enough to do that or not,” he said, looking at Jonathan.

                  “Well,” Jonathan said, “I don’t know exactly what is going on, but something tells me that I can trust you.  A feeling, I guess you would say, but something that I know is true.”

                  “To do this, you will need to lie down,” Midaen began, “Are you sure?”

                  “Well, something tells me that my memories are important here, so yes; let’s do this.”

                  Jonathan leaned back on the floor and closed his eyes.  Midaen rose from his seat, and knelt at Jonathan’s head.

                  “You might feel a little dizzy while I’m doing this, and you might feel a slight pressure behind your eyes.  Don’t fight it.  It might be uncomfortable, but the more you try to fight it, the harder this will be for me.”

                  “Ok.  I’m ready.”

                  Midaen placed his hands on either side of Jonathan’s head and closed his eyes.  Jonathan distinctly felt a slight pressure behind his eyes, and then he felt it start to move.  He concentrated inward, and suddenly he was standing in a humongous white space looking at the back of Midaen’s head.

                  “Midaen, what happened?”

                  Midaen spun around, and stared at Jonathan intently and with not a little fear.  “How did you do that?”

                  “Do what?” Jonathan asked.

                  “Bring us here.  You’ve completely locked off your mind from me, and sealed us in here.”

                  “I didn’t mean to do that.  I felt you moving around in my mind, and I just concentrated on that feeling.  Then I was here.”

                  “I’ve never heard of this before.  I am unsure how to proceed.  Can you open your mind?”

                  “I…I don’t know how.”

                  “Hmm…it’s different for everyone, but for now try this: Imagine a door leading out of here.”

                  Jonathan closed his eyes, and felt something within him shift.  He opened his eyes, and saw that a large set of double doors had appeared in the space they were occupying.  Midaen looked at him, and motioned for him to go ahead.  Jonathan reached out, and opened the door.  On the far side was a lushly appointed hallway with doors about every six feet.  Jonathan stepped through the door followed quickly by Midaen.  As the door shut, Jonathan felt another shift within his mind, and turning around, he saw that the hall continued the other was as far as he could see.

                  “Well, now what?”

                  “First, we need to see if we can find your memories of the past few months.  Then, we’ll see if we can see why you can’t get to them.”

                  “How do we do that?”

                  “Well, let’s see if we can find out where we are first, then we can go from there.”

                  Jonathan walked over to the closest door while Midaen looked at a tapestry on the wall.  It was a walnut door, highly polished and lacquered with a bright brass knob on the left side.  As he looked at the door, a brass door plaque appeared at eye level.

                  “Midaen, something just happened.”

                  “What is it?”

                  “I was looking at this door when a label appeared on it.”

                  “What does the label say?” Midaen asked as he came over to Jonathan.

                  “It says ‘Sight.’”

                  “Hmm.  Open the door, let’s see what’s inside.”

                  Jonathan turned the knob and pushed the door open.  Inside was a large bank of knobs and screens, and two large screens that dominated the wall above the control center.  Jonathan walked into the small room and started looking at the various indicators.  One said “Eyelids,” and the selector and indicator below it indicated “closed.”  Jonathan turned the knob until it pointed to “Open.”  The two large screens above the panel then came alive, and in them was an image of the ceiling of the cottage where Midaen was staying with them.  Hope’s face appeared on the screens, and Jonathan realized with some astonishment that he was seeing Hope through his own eyes.  Hope started trying to talk to him, and he quickly moved the control back to “Closed.”

                  Next to the indicator for his eyelids were indicators for other things: Color, Sensitivity to Light, Acuity, Range of Light Reception, Wavelength Sensitivity, etc.  Jonathan thought, “What could it hurt?”  He reached out and turned the Acuity and Range of Light Reception knobs all the way to full.  Immediately, he could see much more detail around the room, and it seemed a little brighter to him.

                  Backing out of the small room, he closed the door and looked at Midaen.  “Well,” Midaen asked, “What was it?”
                  “It was a control room for my sense of sight.”

                  “A control room?  I’ve never heard of that before.  What is it?”

                  “It’s a room where something is controlled.  Haven’t you ever heard of something like that?”

                  “No.  What was the light that was in there?”

                  “It was a couple of large monitors, like a plasma TV.  It looked like they were linked to my eyes, because I moved a control in there and they came on.  I saw Hope, and she looked like she was trying to talk to me—at least her mouth was moving.  I moved the control back where it was, and the monitor turned off.”

                  “I have never heard of several of those things.  What are they?”

                  “Things that we have…that we had on Earth.”

                  “I understand.  We don’t have anything like that here.  Technology like that just isn’t as important.  With all the magic on this planet, we just don’t need it.  But more importantly, we’ve found out something about the way your mind works.  Every one of these doors is some aspect of your mind.  We need to find the one that leads to your memories from the last few months.”

                  “Ok…how do we do that?  There must be hundreds of doors here.”

                  “Well, I’ve never seen anyone’s mind structure like this, but maybe if you concentrate on finding where your memories are stored we’ll find something that will point us in the right direction.”

                  Jonathan closed his eyes and concentrated on finding his lost memories.  Again, he felt the now familiar shift in his mind, and opened his eyes.  In front of Midaen and Jonathan was a door that said “Memories.”  Midaen reached out and tried to open the door, but as soon as he touched the handle to the door an electric shock coursed through his body and threw him across the room.  Jonathan ran over to Midaen’s side and knelt down.

                  “It would seem,” Midaen said after he sat up, “That your memories are protected against someone accessing them.”

                  “Let me try,” Jonathan said.  He walked over to the door and opened it without any problems.

                  Midaen chuckled wryly and said, “I’ll let you open doors from now on.”

                  They walked into the door, and found another hallway stretching off into the distance.  “Great, another dead end.”

                  “Not so fast, let’s inspect these doors for clues,” Midaen suggested.

                  They went to the first door on Jonathan’s right and saw that there was indeed a plaque on the door.  It read “December 21, 1988.”

                  “Hey, that’s my birthday!” Jonathan exclaimed.

                  “Let’s look at the next door.”

                  Across the hall the plaque on the door read “December 22, 1988.”

                  “It would seem,” Midaen said, “that you’ve organized your mind into rooms.  Each room has a date attached to it.  If we follow this hall, we should be able to find the last memory.”

                  “We’ll be walking for a while.  Wait, let me try something.”  Jonathan closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment.  Again, he felt that shift in his mind.  When he opened them, they were standing in front of a door that read “Eve of Chiva.”

                  “That’s today,” Midaes said.

                  “Yes, I thought it would be easier to work backwards from my most recent memories than it would be to go through the sixty-five hundred or so doors we would have had to go through to get here,” Jonathan smiled.

                  Looking further down the hallway, they saw no further doors or tapestries.  Blank, wooden walls and carpeted floors extending to the horizon was all they saw.  However, there were doors on the other side, and they started walking backward.  The day before had been the day they arrived in Dolaria, and Jonathan could remember everything quite well.  The next door, marked “August 13, 2006,” was closed tightly.  Jonathan took a breath, clasped the doorknob, and pushed.