So I’ve started writing a story. The Land Between Here and There is a story never told before, but nevertheless a story that in one way or another everyone knows. It is an adventure that all boys and girls would love to be a part of, and in many ways they are already living in it. In this land dreams come to life and life actually may be more real in dreams. There is a delightful mixture of mystery and wonder hidden in every chapter. I’m definitely no author, but it’s fun for me. I hope you enjoy…
It was a cold and dreary day as usual in the Province of Trucen, and one without calm. The winds were gusting about and back, and back and about. The winds often played this game, especially at this time of year. The colorless leaves that had fallen from the many strong Oaks of Trucen were swirling and swirling and swirling all around. At second glance, I guess there was some calm, due to the fact that nobody was out. Everybody was inside on this night. In fact Trucen seemed virtually lifeless, without any sort of a pulse. “This is a bit strange,” Kinsey thought to himself as he ran to his home in the middle of town as fast as his legs would allow him. He was so excited that he barely had time to put his thoughts together as related to the nothingness in town, and how it was the colorless leaves that were the only things giving life to the town that evening besides himself.
His excitement stemmed from his desire to get home to the library in his house and open the book that had been keeping his attention now for well over a year. How can anyone get excited about a book you might ask? Well this was no ordinary book!
What drew him to the book initially was that it had a wooden cover with a picture of tree carved into it. The carving of the tree actually protruded out from the cover, and he would run his hand over the image and imagine who it was exactly that had intricately designed the carving on the cover of this book. He also wondered about the tree as it looked more interesting than any tree he’d ever seen. It looked larger than life even on the cover of the book, although the book was larger than any normal book. As a matter of fact, the book barely fit from bottom to top on any shelf in the library. His interest intensified after he opened the book and found it had a riddle on every page. This book was full of riddles mostly in words and rarely in shapes. There were riddles in puzzles, interactive riddles, riddles in poems, riddles in questions, and sometimes in stories, all with meaning behind them of course, and all with a conclusion or a structured answer that brought the words, interaction, or pictures to life. Kinsey loved to solve riddles, and he loved this book because of it. If Kinsey found the riddles no meaning, though all did have meaning, then he would create an imaginary meaning for the story or riddle or poem or picture, before moving on. It was evident that the book was made by hand, and penned by unknown author. There were also carvings on the back cover of the book. These included the initials “IA”, the Roman numeral “VII”, and also what looked like the image of a seed. These also protruded from the cover of the book. On the first page of this book was the most important riddle of all. What would seem mere words to most, Kinsey found to be a profound conglomeration carefully pieced together.
And so the riddle read:
Some have come and some have gone
Lost forever, not for long
Here between the past and truth
You dwell inside the answer’s root
The answer’s root, the mystery great
No one has tried, nor patience wait
From cover to cover the mystery be
From tree to seed this book doth lead
And with each page find surfaced truth
Of land lost gone, and colors few
Of one Lost King and Virtuam seek
Where one unspoken forest speaks
This book doth tell more of this Land
Between Here and There the stories friend
One land Here and another land There
This book in the Land between Here and There
Where here is There and not be seen
In dreams allow There here to be
Here also is in dreams distinct
When the Great Light sets and people sleep
Read further on lest Darkness creep
And solve this book of riddles deep
Or lost forever will colors be
And Love and Light no more be seen
