"At First Glance: Ch. 1-2" by Melanie J. Teichroeb

~Chapter One~

At first glance, Li DeClour seemed like a normal boy. He felt himself rather plain, actually, with wavy blonde hair that reached his ears and hid the sparking green orbs that were his eyes, and a slightly muscular frame underneath his baggy clothing. Being 14 years old at the time, girls at school thought he was mysterious yet cute, and liked to giggle behind their hands as he passed them in the halls. But he was oblivious to their childish attraction to him, and merely ignored the swooning females as he proceeded out to the school grounds to read underneath his favorite maple tree. The other boys thought he was just some creep that wanted to steal the girls’ eyes away from their own charm, so they made it a point to make him feel terrible whenever humanly possible (which was away from their professor’s prying eyes). They did so by calling him things like ‘pretty boy’ and ‘girlie man.’ They also enjoyed throwing their trash at Li as he sauntered by, lost in his own dream world.

Li often liked to imagine that he was in the past; back in the days before school when his entire family was together in their cozy shack nestled deep in the Everglade Forest. That was not really the forest’s name, but that was what he liked to call it. Everglade had such a nice ring to it. And he wanted to happily remember the vast span of trees whenever he thought of home…he sighed deeply, not wanting to dwell on this again. This town, Camidor he thought it was called, was his home now. Whether he liked it or not, he was stuck here in his grandmother’s house, forced to whittle away the days putting up with the schoolboys’ daily torment and cramming lessons into his tired brain.

Despite this, he enjoyed where he sat in class, right next to the open window where he could often feel the breeze play across his smooth face. He daydreamed about what was going on in the world beyond the transparent glass, for he knew that the planet was full of magic and the like. It was just that no one knew it yet, and seemed to laugh at Li whenever he expressed his thoughts. (‘Right, girlie man believes in wizards!’) To which he would often reply, ‘not necessarily wizards…’ but he knew no matter how hard he tried, he would never get a rise out of anyone. He had no one to confide in about anything, not even his frail grandmother Abigail. She was just too old to share Li’s view on the world. So the only warm body with ears he had to chat with was his German Shepard named Blue. Blue were the color of her eyes, the most beautiful blue Li had ever seen, so that was how her name came to be. On weekends, or just whenever the boy felt particularly distant and lonely, he would sit out on the scruffy grass in his front yard under the shade of an ancient peach tree and talk to Blue while he scratched her behind the ears. She seemed to listen, her wet eyes focused intently on her master. (‘Some days I wish you could talk, old girl…’)

***

On this day Li was sitting in his usual hard chair near the window, groaning inwardly at the intense heat of the tiny room. The window was latched shut, and he could not open it for fear that he would catch Professor Grong’s roving eye. Professor Grong was a stuffy old man of 64 who was set to retire but everyone knew he never would. He always wore the same outfit, a tightly knit olive-green cardigan sweater over a horrible yellow polo shirt, along with olive trousers that ended somewhere just below the knees and highly scuffed leather moccasins. People snickered about his fashion sense behind his back, but never did it to his face. His wispy white hair swept over his tired gray eyes, but it never stopped him from wearing a permanently stern look that seemed to spread over his entire face. He spoke with a voice that wavered slightly, but was always sharp as a tack. His classes were very long and just as boring, but if you were caught dozing off it was never put past him to whack your desk (or your fingers) with the yardstick he carried around. So the pupils were forced to pay attention to his lessons or zone out when he wasn’t watching you like a hawk. Which was why Li couldn’t open the window.

As the Professor droned on about the history of France, Li was shifting uncomfortably in his desk, sweat dotting his brow. He was aware that the girls in the room kept throwing glances at his gyrations in the chair, silently giggling all the while. The boys were glowering and cracking their knuckles at this. Li was growing angrier with the lot of them. When am I going to get out of here? he thought bitterly, wishing the classroom had a clock. It was their final lesson of the day, World History, and it also happened to be the most boring. The Professor made the class as dull as it could possibly be with his monotonous voice and long lessons. Li was growing desperate to get out into the fresh air. The temperature in the class was steadily rising, causing more sweat to bead on his forehead. It didn’t help that he was dangerously close to telling off the girls for laughing behind their hands at him. Suddenly the boy seated next to him (Peter was his name) was going ‘psst!’ and trying to hand Li a note. Throwing a nervous glance at Grong, whose back was turned to the room as he wrote on the blackboard, Li grabbed the note out of Peter’s extended hand and settled back in his seat to read it. But he had barely opened it when he heard,

‘Mister DeClour, what have you there?” It was Grong’s cutting voice, and you could tell he was especially angry when he accented the mister. And seeing that note passing was one of his pet peeves, Li knew he was really in for it. His face flushed as the class softly sniggered. The professor stormed down the aisle and snatched the neatly folded paper out of Li’s trembling fingers. ‘Shall I have a read then?’ he snarled, shaking the note open with one hand and glancing at the neat writing. His eyes moved over the paper as he read aloud, ‘Professor Grong is a stuffy old prune with seeds for brains.’ The students stuffed their fists in their mouths to keep from laughing out loud, and then collectively faked a huge gasp. Grong’s face purpled and a vein began to throb at his temple, so that he sort of ironically resembled a prune. He was breathing deeply, his teeth bared. Li’s heart began to pound furiously in his chest. He knew he was in huge trouble.

‘Is this some kind of joke, mister DeClour?’ Professor Grong demanded, trembling himself. But that was out of pure fury. The offending note was clenched in his gnarled fist.

‘No…no joke, Professor,’ Li mumbled, trying to ignore the fact that the volume of the laughter was slowly rising. Grong slapped the paper down on the desk.

‘This is no joke? Then I really am a prune?’ His face was contorted with rage, and his ears must have been ringing because he was oblivious to the snorts and outburst of mirth.

‘I didn’t mean that, Professor!’ Li cried. ‘I mean, this is no joke because I didn’t write the note!’

‘Then, pray tell, who did?’ Grong snarled, tearing up the note as he spoke. Come to think of it, Li had no idea who did. Peter might have just been passing it on from someone else. And besides, Li was no snitch.

‘I-I really don’t know, Professor,’ he stammered, the flush in his cheeks glowing more brilliantly. Grong threw the shredded bits of paper in Li’s face. Oddly enough, the anger coursing through the boy’s veins was getting more intense, and his own ears were ringing.

‘I guess this note just magically wrote itself,’ Grong sneered, clearly building up to something judging by his tone of voice. He turned to face the rest of the class, who were all watching with eager eyes. ‘But then, I guess our young friend here can perform spells. He produced this note by magic!’ He smirked at the teen as the class roared openly with laughter. Li felt his heart pound out of pure wrath this time.

‘Magic is real,’ he muttered under his breath.

‘What did you say?’ Grong asked, eyebrows raised. ‘I didn’t catch that.’ Gritting his teeth, Li repeated himself louder.

‘I said…magic is REAL!’ By then, his classmates practically had tears in their eyes and were laughing so hard they couldn’t sit properly. Spite made Li toss in, ‘And maybe I could use it to make you disappear.’

The class grew genuinely silent at this statement. Professor Grong stopped mocking his pupil. Li knew as soon as he uttered the words that he was in deeper trouble than he had ever been before. Grong began to quake again. His face was the color of eggplant. His jowls wobbled and his eyes flashed. He rose his yardstick and proceeded to bring it crashing down on Li’s hand, but the boy jerked it back just in time. The result was that the wood hit the desk with a bang that resonated throughout the room, a deep scratch appeared on the desk’s polished surface, and the stick was snapped in two. Li never knew what strength lay in that old man’s body, but here it was out in the open. The evidence was grasped between Grong’s fingers. He began to pace up and down the aisle, waving the broken stick as he yelled.

‘Did you think,’ he began, ‘that I would really put up with your nonsense any longer? You are the father of all my headaches, DeClour! I have put up with you for far too long! It is just one antic after another! I have a right mind to kick you out of this school!’

‘Wouldn’t be such a bad thing,’ Li muttered bitterly. He felt really strange now, his head swimming and his temples pounding with the drum of his pulse.

‘Good! Then how about I rid of you right now? Your filthy parents could care less, I’m sure. How about I call them up in their shack right…’ But Grong’s sentence was cut off short when Li’s hand closed around his throat. The class gasped for real this time, partly because no one ever mentioned his parents, and partly because there was a student choking the professor. Li had the old man’s throat in one hand, and the other was in a fist a few inches from his nose.

‘Don’t…you…ever…talk…about…my…parents…that…way!’ Li growled through gritted teeth. He tightened his grip on Grong’s neck. The professor’s eyes were bulging considerably.

‘Un-unhand me!’ he choked out, struggling with all his might. More of his forgotten strength shone through, as he got out of the hold and threw Li into his desk. ‘Do not step foot in this school again, DeClour! You are expelled!’ he gasped, pointing one crooked finger at the doorway. Bag slung over his shoulder, Li glared at Grong and tore out the door, ignoring the eyes of the entire class following his every move.

The teenager ran all the way home, houses and autumn trees a blur in his vision. He did not stop until he was on his front yard, where Blue was waiting for him. Plopping down on the grass underneath the peach tree, Li pulled his companion close and sobbed into her soft fur. ‘What have I done? Why did I lose control like that?’ he wailed. She did not answer. Instead, the dog whimpered and trotted away, towards the rundown shack that was his house. She seemed to pause at the front door, although it was open, and gazed pleadingly at Li.

‘What is it, girl?’ he asked miserably, hauling himself off the lawn and heading over to the door. As soon as he reached the entrance, he felt a chill as if something weren’t right. Then he noticed; the house was empty. Abigail didn’t seem to be home. Cautious, Li stepped inside and began scanning the small rooms. As shabby as the tiny place was, his grandmother kept it fairly tidy. Now the entire place was in shambles. His grandmother’s easy chair was broken in two, lying in the corner. A kerosene lamp was smashed in pieces on the floor, the glass scattered everywhere. The threadbare rug that covered the wooden floor was torn to bits. The tiny icebox was lying open on its side, its contents spilled. And it was very, very silent….

‘Grandma?’ Li called hesitantly. Then more forcefully, ‘Grandma!’ But no answer. With Blue at his heels, Li marched into his room and grabbed his sword from underneath his bed. It was his father’s weapon from back in his days as a foot soldier. It was a short sword with a curved blade, the simple hilt carved out of solid brass. His father had left it for Li’s use, but the boy had just used it to play with. Now he really felt he had to protect his life with it. Pulling the sword out of its scabbard, Li crept out of his room and through the house, out to the backyard.

What he saw outside made him start in surprise. The sun had dropped below the horizon, and the brilliantly glowing orb of the moon had lifted to take its place in the sky. But it had still been mid-afternoon when Li arrived at home! Now it was as dark as if it were midnight. Come to think of it, Li had never seen a night like this. The usual fireflies that fluttered placidly in the air were absent, and the moon was more enormous than one could ever imagine, shining the color of blood. The lonely willow tree that resided in the yard was bending ferociously, as if in a high wind, yet Li felt no breeze touch his skin. The grass had receded into the ground, and left behind black mud. No star shone in the endless black dome of sky to throw relief on the shadows in the corners of the yard. Li shivered uncontrollably. What was going on here? He took his first step forward onto the mud, and gasped. The rickety wooden fence once surrounding his house, all the houses around, the entire world seemed to morph into one endless plain of scattered trees, dark mud, and scruffy crab grass, all washed with bloody moonlight. It appeared as if Li stepping down had completed this new world.

Maybe I’m just dreaming, he thought nervously, pinching himself hard and producing a stinging pain. Or not…

~Chapter Two~

There he was, standing in the desolate world that had once been his backyard. Clutching his sword tightly, Li began to tread with vigilance over the landscape. The mud was surprisingly tough and springy, as opposed to normal mud. If this had been ordinary mud, he would surely be up to his knees in filth. His feet crunched over small twigs on the ground, while a slight breeze lifted his golden locks. Tall, crooked trees were silhouetted against the sky, but there was no sign of any other living thing present. The pale red moonlight was unnerving, as it gave the entire world a feel of a nightmare. Li explored for a while, hiking down an imaginary path. But the plain seemed to stretch on forever, and it was impossible to judge distances because there was little light to travel by. Then for the first time, Li noticed his best friend was no longer at his heels.

‘Blue?’ he called, his voice echoing aimlessly before swept away by the draft. The dog was nowhere to be seen. Sighing grudgingly, the boy began picking his way again, hoping to run into any living thing. His gloved hand never left the sword’s hilt. Wait a minute. Gloved hand? He didn’t even own a pair of woolen mitts for winter. And now he was wearing a fine pair of leather gloves! Starting at this, Li decided to give himself a once-over and was shocked to see he now wore an entirely new outfit, in a style he had never seen before.

Instead of the baggy green t-shirt over faded denim jeans, he was wearing a tight black muscle shirt over black jeans that bagged slightly at the knees. Actually, the pants were very loose but various belts wrapped around his legs and waist held them on. His feet were inside huge combat boots covered in buckles. He realized that his sword wasn’t the simple cutlass it had once been, for now it was nearly the size of a long sword, with small stones set in its elaborate hilt. It could be held in a leather strap that went over his shoulder and hung down his back. Hm, fashionable AND sensible Li thought to himself. He flexed his arm, amused at the amount of muscle he had. Never before had he worn a shirt like this, so he never really had a chance to expose his muscles.

‘I guess this is all part of the magic here…’ he murmured, knowing for a fact what was really going on. It could only be magic. Under normal circumstances, you did not step out your back door into a completely different world, wearing an outfit that would be suitable for fighting but unacceptable in society.  But he was desperate to find something, anything living out here. Even the trees seemed pretty lifeless as they were whipped about in the wind. He trudged on, emerald eyes set on a hair trigger for any creatures. But there was nothing to be seen, just low sands sweeping over the dark ground. And the dim, bloody light was driving Li crazy. In fact, it almost prevented him from seeing the building directly in front of his nose.

‘Yah!’ he yelped in alarm, stopping abruptly in his tracks. Backing up a few feet, Li set himself to see what this was. Then he felt his heart leap. This building looked awfully familiar, with its sun-faded bricks and chipped cement. Li had almost walked headlong into the side of his school. Finally, something he recognized in this damned world. But even as he gazed at it, he could tell something was horribly wrong with it. There was no sound but the eerie whistle of the wind, and papers were floating gently out of the open double doors. Li snatched one out of the air and brought it close to his face in order to read what was written on it. His heart pounded like a drum in his ribs when he came to the realization that it was a piece of homework written that very year.

‘But it was not written this year,’ an ethereal voice murmured from behind. Turning on one foot so fast it made his head spin, Li faced the source of the voice. Standing 10 feet away was the most beautiful girl Li had ever seen. She looked no older than 16, with jet- black hair flowing like a cape down her back. Flecks of moonlight twinkled in her mane, giving off the appearance of red stars in a black void. She gazed at him with huge sapphire eyes set in a smooth, rounded face. Her skin was creamy, and she looked rather pale in contrast with her hair. She wore a soft, gauzy white robe that hung down to her dainty little feet. Li noticed her feet were bare and wondered if they hurt as the girl walked on the harsh ground.

‘No, I have very tough feet,’ she replied, smiling and showing off perfectly straight, white teeth. Li yelped in alarm.

‘You read my thoughts?’ he gasped, moving away from her until his back hit the wall. The girl continued to beam at him.

‘Not really. I have known you long enough to guess what you are thinking.’ She suddenly gazed up at the sky, worry clouding her face but leaving her gorgeous nonetheless. ‘Li, what is this place?’ Li’s eyes bulged out his head, his hand instinctively tightening its grip on the hilt of his sword.

‘Who are you? How do you know my name?’ he demanded. The brunette shifted her gaze to his once more, looking slightly hurt.

‘You honestly do not know who I am?’ she asked, stepping closer. Li shook his head. The girl sighed slightly at this and murmured, ‘I am Blumir Gastoff. Known to you as Blue.’ Li was completely taken aback.

‘You can’t be…’

‘Look into my eyes, Li. Do you not recognize them?’ Trembling all over, the boy peered into those same eyes he had been admiring for 14 years.

‘Blue…it’s really you! But…you’re human!’ he spluttered. His friend smiled once more.

‘I have always been this way, my friend.’ Li shook his head.

‘You can’t be. I have known you since I was born. And you’ve always been a German Shepard!’ It was Blumir’s turn to shake her head, causing her mane to shiver.

‘Ah, Li, you are foolish. You’ve only been around for just over a decade. I had a life before you, you know. I merely took on the form of that creature to comfort you and…’

But exactly her reasons for being in the shape of a dog were lost as the ground began to tremor violently, knocking the pair off their feet. Thunder seemed to fill the air.

‘Li, what is happening?!’ Blumir cried in panic, trying in vain to get to her feet.

‘I don’t know!’ he yelled, his alarm matching hers. The quake only lasted a few moments, because without warning the ground suddenly exploded upwards like an erupting volcano. Dirt showered the pair like shrapnel. To end it, the thing that had burst out of the earth settled down with a thud that knocked Li and Blumir off their feet again. Muttering under his breath, Li clumsily got to his feet once more and helped his companion up. Only then did he get a clear look at the beast that had emerged.

The monster was at least 20 feet in length, with plum scales running down its body. It glared malevolently at them with glowing yellow eyes. It was like a giant snake with small, mole-like claws Li figured were for digging. The snake rose up off the ground and opened its mouth wide, showing off long teeth and emitting a powerful hiss.

‘It is going to eat us!’ Blumir screamed frantically. Shaking, Li pulled his weapon out if its strap and brandished it at the fiend.

‘D-don’t come any closer!’ he yelled, knees knocking together. But apparently it was not afraid of this threat. The snake swung its head down, jaws open wide. With Blumir’s screams filling his ears, the boy swung the sword with all his might, the blade just grazing the monster’s scales. It stopped in mid-decent and seemed to shudder. Pulling its head back, it bellowed.

“OW!”