Boy's story part V...

Jonah’s bed traveled faster than ever. Through galaxies and constellations and gaseous planets and planet’s rings. Through meteor fields, comet fields, around moons and through suns. Tristan spoke and said, “Listen.” Madeline spoke and said, “This is important.” And Jonah listened while the two stars, his new friends, told him what he must do.

“When you land,” they said, “it will be cold and dark. You will hear strange voices that you will not understand. Don’t try to listen to them. Just walk. Walk until you reach the sea. It won’t be far. Once you reach the shore you must walk North, so that the water is on your right. Walk and keep walking. It will be very far but you will not grow weary. If you hear voices to the left of you do not be afraid. There are creatures in the trees and behind the rocks that will mean you harm but as long as you stay on the shore, on the sand, you will be safe.” Tristan and Madeline were speaking at the same time, their voices mingling with one another to form a sort of music and Jonah listened, the sound filling him with peace and courage and goodness.

“When do I stop walking?” he asked.

“Listen and we will tell you,” they said to him. “As you walk through the night you will see a light ahead of you as if a great sun is rising to the North. The light will grow and grow and it will become brighter, but not bright like the day. It will be a reddish light. The light comes from a crystal, which is set in a great tree. This crystal’s light is the bad will of Jude, the red star. He is the rebel and the deceiver and is slowly killing those that live on his planet.”

As the stars told Jonah this, he saw a small red speck far, far in the distance, directly ahead of him. He knew that the speck was Jude and he began to be afraid for the first time since his journey began.

As if the stars knew what he was feeling they said, in unison, “Jonah, everything will be fine. You have a strength in you that you do not yet see.” And the fear in Jonah shrunk until it was merely a tiny thing in the back of the young boy’s mind.

The two stars went on: “The shore will take you up a large hill and the ground will begin to drop off to your right. The hill will become very steep and, once you reach the top, you will be at the edge of a cliff to your right, a forest to your left. There will be a tree in that forest that is so large it can be seen rising above all the other trees. You will see it from the cliff. It holds the crystal and that is where you must go next.”

Jonah watched as the red speck in the distance grew and grew while the stars spoke and filled him with their strength and direction. “When you reach the cliff Jonah, you must wait and make sure no voices can be heard. If there are no voices it means that it is safe to enter the forest. You must walk to the tree, find the crystal, and destroy it.”

“How do I destroy it?” Jonah asked, the red star had grown large in front of him and he was afraid that he was almost there.

“We cannot tell you that Jonah because we haven’t been told. You must trust that you will find a way. You are almost at your journey’s end Jonah and we must stop speaking. We have carried you far, through many eons and many ages, but now it is up to you.”

“Have courage,” Tristan said in his strong, sad voice.

“You have strength,” said Madeline in her sweet, musical voice.

And, with that said, they gave him one last push and he was flung, alone and spinning into Jude’s domain.