The Wall
by
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"Good evening, sir. It certainly was--"
John did not hear the rest of the guard's greeting. The strange world around him suddenly lost all color. He saw everything in a very stark black and white. In the first instant, John attributed that to the coming of the darkness. But then the stranger realized that the twilight was not to blame.
"The food here must have affected my eyes. I'll never be the same."
But now there was something in this completely black and white world that caught his attention. A bright object was blazing through the darkness, and descending from the sky above him. He saw that the trajectory of the object would bring it down upon the newly arrived Council member. John lunged forward and pushed him out of the way. He fell on him, while the Council member's companion looked on with a shocked expression on his gray face.
"What are you doing?" the guard shouted as he moved towards them.
The explosion that occurred when the object hit the Council member's companion silenced the guard. The victim collapsed immediately. Blood poured from his chest as he hit the ground. The guard finally wrestled John off the other Drusbanian and subdued him, while two others did the same to Simon and Kate. The three strangers were tied hand and foot, and then unceremoniously dragged away. The citizens that had been walking back to the inn now gathered around the scene.
"Blood! Blood has been spilled in Drusba!" a man shouted.
"Don't take him! He saved the Leader!" a woman cried out.
But neither the guards, nor the prisoner, could hear her. The Drusbanians were too intent on removing the strangers from the scene. They were taken outside the central city and thrown in the back of a cart. John tried to comprehend what had happened as it carried them down the uneven road.
He would never forget his first glimpse of that strange land. The most striking feature was the sky above him. For all the days of his life, a clear daytime sky had been blue. But that was not true in this world. A brilliant orange canopy stretched out overhead. John stared at it for quite some time before finally believing his eyes.
The land around the stone building was barren. The hard ground was gray in color. There were wide expanses of flat land with rock formations of all shapes and sizes that appeared intermittently. Some stood singularly, like monuments, while others were in groups. They reminded him of ruins, though these were apparently natural. Hills dotted the areas in between them. Most were gently sloping and as lifeless as the rest of the terrain. John heard a sound like the wind, then realized it was something else that was equally familiar.
"The sea!" he exclaimed.
"Isn't this amazing?" Kate ran up behind him.
"Do I hear the ocean?"
"Yes. I walked along the beach yesterday. Let's take a look."
As they reached the top of a nearby hill a vast ocean came into view. The water was a faint lime color, which was speckled by the white tips of the waves as they came crashing down on the rocky shore. To Kate and John, the color of the water made it seem unclean. They initially thought that the inhabitants of this world had polluted it somehow. But then they caught the scent that was being carried by the ocean breeze, and they knew that this was not true. This ocean did not possess the tangy salt aroma they remembered from the ones they knew in their world. Instead a sweeter smell, like the fragrance of honey, was carried through the air.
"This is so strange," John remarked.
"This will not be the last time you say that while you are here, John Christian."
They turned around and found the Keeper standing behind them.
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About the Book
While driving through Kansas a very ordinary man named John Christian encounters an extraordinary being called “The Keeper”. He tells John that an age-old conflict between the inhabitants in his world is about to result in unthinkable death and destruction. This strange being believes that John can help prevent this tragedy. John is taken to the Keeper’s world, where he meets Kate Fleur and Simon Platt. The Keeper has brought them there as well.
One group of the inhabitants has built a magnificent wall to keep their enemy out. John observes that the wall has been equally effective in confining its builders. The prejudices of the beings in the Keeper’s world are familiar to the three strangers. And the politics practiced there mimics the all too familiar political chicanery in this world.
Kate gives the people new hope for life. Simon exposes the cruelty of their traditions. John overcomes his self-doubt and discovers that he has the ability to lead. But the inhabitants of this world must ultimately make the decision to opt for peace themselves. Fortunately the hope for a better life can be found in the hearts of the inhabitants of that world, as well as our own.
About the Author
J.E. Hall is a native of Long Island, New York. He is a graduate of the New York Institute of Technology. His interest in history and politics was very instrumental in shaping his first novel. He enjoys traveling to the unspoiled places that can still be found in this world. But this author has discovered that a person’s most fascinating journeys are often the ones that are made with their minds alone. J.E. Hall is currently working on his second novel.