Azalea grabbed an arrow from the quiver behind her back and neatly place it on her bow. Her attention didn't falter. It was all about the target and precision. Bullseye! Without taking her eyes off the target, she shot the same spot over and over again. Satisfaction riddled her face. She smiled. Azalea found pleasure in futility. Even though her arrows shot back at her, she found pride and delight knowing she hit the same spot always.
Azalea was almost obsessed with the great dunes. It was the biggest and most mysterious phenomenon she had ever seen in her entire life. She wanted to know more and decipher anything at all about the spectacle. It angered her so much why the people of her tribe, the Zordans didn't share her plight. They cared less about it and its mysteries. Her father, the ruler prided in farming and raising an army.
She had awakened at dawn from one of her hunting dreams. The dunes was always her escape yet her nemesis. In her dreams, It was always the strange people around the dunes and the young man who would appear to be fixing something on sand, then suddenly he'd turn around and shoot her a death look. Though she struggled to decipher her dreams, she never shared them with anyone.
The dunes had always been there as long as anyone could remember. No one knew who made them or how they came to be. The sands, as mysterious as they were couldn't be moved by water nor wind. They were just carved there. The history of the Zordans as they knew it, didn't go back more than fifty years. There was a long missing link in history between the old and new generation.
While Azalea pondered about how the dunes came to be and why they are there. Her people were only bothered about how to make a living after the great plague that hit their tribe during the old generation of hundreds of years ago. The elders of the land began transitioning beyond. One after the other they left. The keeper transitioned before he could even transfer the secrets of the land to his successor. This meant that the history, essence and knowledge of the zordans died with him.
“Azalea! You leave the dunes at once before your father gets hold of you. Have you no fear of the old generation? For what we know, our ancestors left them there. Their spirits still live on”. Azalea’s mother the queen, flanked by two guards stood above the hills that overlooked the dunes.
Azalea gathered her weapons and ran towards her mother. She kissed the queen on her cheek, rounded her waist with her arms, and smiled. “Would you like your favorite ginger tea mother?” Her ocean eyes lit up like white flames.
“One more of your escapades Azalea. One more and you'd be at your father's mercy. Now make that two cups”. The Queen smiled softly and squeezed Azalea’s shoulders.
That night, Azalea woke up sweating profusely, she was roused by her usual dream but only this time, the dune was starting to split in the middle. Exactly the same spot she targeted everyday. Azalea became restless. She felt her dreams had to mean something. She changed from her sleeping robe into the archery cloth. Azalea being headstrong and full of adventure had joined her father’s archery team when she was only twelve years old.
She wore her quiver over her head, picked up her bow and passed through her window. She managed to escape the palace guards without stepping on their empty bottles of wine while they slept.
Soon, she was standing in front of the dune at the vast field only beside the palace. For the first time, Azalea felt small in that expanse of land. She quickly shrugged the feeling off and set her arrow. Without any more hesitation, she fired three shots straight. Instantly, she felt as though she was the arrow moving in precise calculated speed. Her body jerked and she fell face down. For a moment, she was dazed.
When she lifted her head up, she was stunned. She found herself standing in the same vast field but not exactly. She rose from the ground slowly and it felt as if she the earth beneath her feet spinned round. The palace had been replaced with a building more sophisticated than she had ever seen. It shone a different kind of luster and the material were unknown to her. Smaller units of this building were scattered across the field. It was dark but the sky was bronze.
In front of her was the dunes and a girl draped in green muslin backing her. She turned and parted her Jet black hair to reveal her face. Azalea was shocked. She staggered two steps backwards. She was looking at the exact image of herself. Just then, a figure emerged from behind the dunes. “So you finally made it here”.He clapped his hands as he brought out a brown substance and rubbed it on the dune. The same spot Azalea shots. “Hi. I am the fixer and I keep fixing your mess”. He groaned. It was the young man from her dreams.
“Oh finally! We meet one of their own. I was going crazy keeping the secrets of two worlds. Now I can relieve my self of this burden”. A man that looked exactly like Azalea’s father came to stand in front of her. He came from one of the buildings. Shaking his arm, he removed a blue bracelet and placed them in Azalea’s palm. A shine emanating from his hands transferred to Azalea’s.it was electrifying and she began to have several visions of her people from different eras.“Now your people have a new keeper. He turned around and returned to where he came from.
“Who are you and what is this place? Have I left the real world or am I dreaming?” The questions came pouring out of Azalea’s mouth faster than she could process them.
The girl in front of the dune smiled. “I am Nakia and you aren't dreaming. I am not you, you aren't me and that is not your father. You have just been catapulted into another plane of existence. Alternate, you many call it but everything as you know it exist here too. There is no real world. There are worlds.
“Ever since the plague, it became our responsibility to keep and protect the secrets and history of your people. Only the keepers could travel through different planes of existence through the dunes. You found your way here. You must be the chosen”. Nakia led Azalea to a clearing. “Come! Rest now, you have a bigger task ahead of you”.
“Aye! No more shooting dunes okay?” all you have to do is touch it and summon. Like this. Easy. The fixer dabbed the sand. Azalea and Nakia giggled. Azalea hadn't quite taken in everything that happened before her eyes. She was still stunned and confused, but she knew it was only the beginning of her many great adventures and revelations.