Gate World

• Diego Garcia, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2012

I look at the boiling, bubbling mess that is my chest and grimace. Having been a Swapper for 238 years, I have saved many Veterans’ lives. Every injury that they sustain, I touch with my fingers and transport it to my own body, leaving them as good as new. Glancing, up I perceive my robotic ship, the Slayer. It extends a hydraulic arm with a hiss and lifts me into the pod at the back where my chest is healed by modified UV light. The wound vanishes, leaving me with a pain that will never disappear, my companion for all eternity. It is true, what they say about the battlefields of Reth. You have to give way more than just your life. You must give your sanity and your reason, your logic and your soul. In the never-ending war, nothing is too much of a sacrifice. Reth is the Gateworld, the planet between the warring factions of Aon and Es. On it, in a secret place, the Great One is located, an ancient being with unlimited knowledge. Both the Aon and Es empires believe the Prophecy has selected them as the rightful custodians of such knowledge, and have set out to destroy each other. I’m startled out of my reverie by the wailing red crisis light of my ship. I hear a huge screech and smell something burning, but before I can react, my spacecraft ejects me. Blinded by the tertiary sunlight of the outside world, I close my eyes and plummet down to the ground, landing with a soft whoosh as the anti-gravity system of my emergency seat kicks in. I open my eyes to dappled shadows cast by trees. Smiling, I think; I am finally back home. I breathe in, expecting the earthy scent of my birth planet, the forest haven, but am snapped out of my fantasy by the sickly sweet scent of the Rethan woodland. I hear footsteps approach, and a little girl steps out of the trees. She is much too young to be a Swapper, and I’ve never seen a child on Reth. She frowns, and then runs towards me, catching me by surprise with a fierce embrace. Instantly, my pain is gone. I gasp as a warm sensation flows through me, and I pass out, pain free. When I wake, I’m in a giant natural cavern with glowing blue markings on the sides and ceiling. I get up and glance around the place, and I see that the markings get brighter the deeper they go into the seemingly endless underground chamber. Having an unexpected urge to run, I do, and sprinting into the chamber, I laugh and skip for what feels like hours, seconds, years and centuries in a moment. Suddenly, it stops, the markings cease to glow and there is complete darkness. Forgetting all, I remember everything. I have a feeling of complete and utter knowing, and am aware of who I am: the Great One.