Chronicles of the Kiridians
Chapter 1

For it is written in the Chronicles of the Kiridians:

There is a great protector who watches over the realm

He has the best interest of the people of his planet

And a heart that expands beyond all possible understanding

He is Alpha

The school bus bounces along the rocky gravel road. Sleeping is absolutely out of the question. The likelihood of getting a concussion as my head bounces up and down against the glass is almost 100%. Not to mention the fact that a high school bus is never quiet, and the heat on this lovely Texas morning is at an all-time high.

“Kara, I think we are almost at the caves,” says Joey as he looks out the window and smiles. “This is going to be so cool! Did you ever think something like this could happen?!”

Joey has been my best friend since the sandbox days. He is as loyal as they come, and also one of the biggest scaredy-cats I have ever met - which is why I am so surprised that he wanted to go on this caving field trip in the first place. Often as a child, it would be me getting in trouble because of my adventurous spirit while Joey remained too scared to move. I chuckle to myself as I picture him gripping on to my backpack as we maneuver through the dark cave.

“Kara?” he asks me again, prompting a response.

“Sorry,” blinking and coming back into reality. “Was dozing off... yes, I think we’re almost there, too. They said it would be about two hours.”

Every year at my school, each class goes on a special trip designed for their grade level. Sophomore year we visit a cave deep in the heart of Texas. Sanora, or I suppose we can call it by its proper name, prison, is deep in the heart of Texas. No pun intended. It’s a population of almost 3000 people. Nothing exciting ever happens here, and most everyone who is born here is often still found to be here after high school graduation.

That is my biggest fear.

The bus pulls to a harsh stop and the Caverns of Sanora come into view. We quickly get off the bus as our teacher, Mr. Birdsong, counts our heads so he knows how many of us are going on the tour with him. There is a tour guide standing at the front of the cave and he waves us over as we get off the bus. When everyone is ready, Mr. Birdsong leads us over to the entrance of the cave where the overly enthusiastic tour guide waits.

The cave entrance is a small hole in the wall. If I were walking by it, chances are I probably wouldn’t know that a vast rocky maze lies just beneath the ground. As we line up in front of the hole, our tour guide smiles at us from ear to ear.

“My name is Tom! You can call me anything: Thomas, Tom, Tommy, Tommy Boy, or even Mr! I really don’t mind!” he gives us a cheesy grin that makes me chuckle. I wonder if he’s really this peppy or just good at his job. “We are going to go into the heart of the cave this morning. For those of you who are scared, it’s probably for good reason. We nearly hesitated in letting you come out today after the crash that happened last night,” he begins.

“Funny how he just gently mentions the crash as we are about to go into the cave,” whispers Madison Mayweather to her group of girls as they snicker. You know the type, money, make-up, boyfriends. From a young age, that is all those girls cared about. Instead of writing them off, they became royalty in our small-town. Funny how that works, right?

“Excuse me,” asks Joey as he raises his hand. “What crash are you talking about?”

“You seriously don’t know?” gasps Mr. Birdsong as he looks at him in surprise. I, myself, had no idea what anyone in the group was talking about, so I was glad when Joey piped up and asked the question.

“I seriously don’t know,” Joey whispers not as confidently as his first question. “Should we not be doing the cave tour?” There’s a hint of disappointment in his voice as I see the nerves starting to build up from his body language. I give his arm a quick squeeze of reassurance and he looks at me appreciatively.

“Last night there was a weird light that flashed through the sky,” says Tom with a dramatic tone. It’s easy to tell that Joey asking him the question had played right into what he had wanted to happen. “We thought it was just a shooting star until we realized that the object was getting closer and closer to us. We scattered throughout the field to get out of it’s way and it looked like whatever it was landed just behind the cave,” assures Tom. “We looked all night and we weren’t able to replace anything, but we were worried the cave might be unstable. We’ve been going in and out of it all day, though, so we feel it’s still safe to travel through.”

I’m half expecting him to bow after his dramatic interpretation of what happened, but instead, he clears his throat and returns his smile to his face. “Now, if you’d follow me, why don’t we get started?” He ushers us behind him as he turns around and begins to crawl into the entrance of the cave. Right when you crawl down in the cave, there is a small opening where multiple people can stand. Tom goes to a little green tote and opens it to reveal a bunch of helmets with headlights for traveling through the cave.

“Now, these are to stay on at all times,” he says. “No funny business from any of you. My only rules are to stay with the group and keep this helmet on your head.”

We each walk up to the tote and grab a headset. As we place them on our heads, Tom smiles and clicks his light on. “Well, I guess we better get started!” he says as he turns and begins to walk deeper into the cave.

“Kara, I’m so excited!” whispers Joey in an excited panic. “This is going to be so much fun!”

“Yeah, this is going to be fun!” I say with a genuine smile.

Tom leads us to a tiny corridor in the cave. It’s a small opening that requires turning sideways to get through. Before Tom steps into the crack in the wall, he turns to us reassuringly, “Not all the caverns will be like this. Once we get through this area we will be in a large cave room.”

Joey and I get in line with the rest of our class as we begin to maneuver through the opening. When I get about halfway through, an overwhelming feeling of urgency takes over my body. It makes me freeze as I try to figure out what is happening.

“Would you like to go?” says Madison snarkily from behind me. “I don’t want to be stuck in this area all day.”

“Oh, yeah,” I say, blinking hard as I begin to move through the crack again.

When I get into the room, Joey walks over to me with a concerned look on his face. “Kara, are you okay?” he asks. “If you need to go back I can take you.”

“No, I’m fine,” I whisper not wanting to draw more attention to myself. “I honestly don’t know what that was about.”

As Tom continues to babble on about the history of the cave, I begin to look around the cavern room. The moist rocks that form the shape of the cave look cracked through certain areas of the ceiling and wall. They’re small, perfect size for a bat or other weird small cave creatures to hide. As Tom continues to lead us through the cave, I slow down to the back of the group and after a bit, Joey realizes I’m not there with him. He slows down to see what’s up.

“What’s wrong?” he asks me as the group continues to travel ahead. His eyes continue to shift back and forth between the group and where we are.

“Turn your light off,” I say as I click mine off.

“What?!” he says urgently. “Are you crazy?!”

“I need to talk to you, and I don’t want someone to turn around and listen,” I say as I reach up and turn his off. Our group is stopped not too far away from us as some of the boys attempt to climb to the top of a ledge. I bet Mr. Birdsong is having a fit.

“I feel like there is something here,” I explain. “Something...something important. I can’t explain it. I’m just overwhelmed by this urgent feeling... like I need to do something.”

“Why do I feel like you’re about to get me in serious trouble here?” Joey whines as he begins to bounce up and down. “Can’t you feel urgent with the rest of the group?” He turns his light on in hopes of me giving in, but I can’t do that right now.

I reach up and turn his light off again. He turns around and looks back at the group as they walk further away. “Kara, they’re going to leave us!”

“I just really feel like we should be looking around here,” I urge, becoming frustrated. “I’ve never felt a more desperate need to replace something. I don’t even know what I’m looking for, but I can’t ignore it. Joey, I need you right now.”

“I’m not comfortable with this,” he whines, “Hey, guys!” he screams loudly. We see the group’s lights turn around and shine towards us. “Wait for us! We got stuck on a rock!”

“Hurry along now!” calls Tom. “I don’t have many rules, but staying with this group is certainly one of them,” he reminds us..

I roll my eyes and click my light on. I take a step in the direction of the group, giving Joey a side glare when the rock that I step on suddenly gives way and a giant hole opens up underneath me. Joey and I scream as we fall towards the earth below and land with a loud thud deeper into the cave.

“Are you okay?!” I call to Joey.

“I’m fine. I think,” he assures me, breathing heavily. “What about you?”

“I think I’m okay too,” I stand up and dust myself off.

Tom appears at the top of the hole and peers down toward us. His light hits my face as I squint up at him and one by one the kids from our group appear overhead. Mr. Birdsong’s worried expression is the first thing I notice, other than Tom. If I wasn’t stuck in this situation, I’d probably replace it humorous.

“You kids okay?!” shouts Mr. Birdsong. “Oh my gosh, I can just smell a lawsuit and job termination from this!”

“You kids stay right where you are!” demands Tom, interrupting our panicking teacher. “We are going to get the rescue team and we will be back in a jiffy!”

All the lights disappear one by one as the group disperses towards the front of the cave. I take a seat on the floor when the feeling of urgency returns with a vengeance. I’m almost light-headed as I sense whatever it is I need to do is down here in this cave. I get up and walk around the hole when I see a smaller hole in the bottom of one of the walls. I begin to crouch down in order to crawl through it when Joey grabs my arm.

“Kara, they said don’t move,” he quips.

“I know what they said, I just feel...Joey. I have to do this. I can’t explain it.”

I’m honestly not sure what is coming over me. Some adventure seemed to be calling, and if I listened hard enough I could almost hear it calling me by name.

I squat down again and crawl through the opening. Joey quickly follows behind me, “I can’t believe we are doing this. We are going to get lost and have to pull a Lord of the Flies down here!”

“You can be the one we eat,” I say as I look around the new cavern room. I walk forward when something catches my eye. A piece of metal, painted royal blue, is buried underneath a bunch of rocks on the ground under us. I begin to move the rocks aside to reveal a lion with a huge mane painted into the metal. The lion is decorated with multiple lines going through its face of different sizes and thicknesses. I keep digging, and once the rocks get to be too heavy to move on my own I turn to look at Joey.

“I think I found what I was meant to be looking for! I need your help,” I beg as I turn and begin to grab a rock. Joey doesn’t come right away and I turn to him with raised eyebrows. “Are you going to help?”

He pouts and stomps over to where I’m standing and begins to help me move the rocks. After about 10 minutes of digging we come face to face with some sort of glass, at least, I think it’s glass -- some kind of window. It has dust all over it, and when I rub my hand on it I gasp as the glass begins to rise.

Smoke fills the cavern as a burst of light shoots upwards. The light cuts through the rocks on top of the ceiling and I have to look away as it fills the once dark cavern. As the smoke clears we begin to hear coughing and someone taking deep breaths. When we are finally able to see again, a girl is sitting in the machine that is under the rocks, looking at us in complete confusion as she glances around the cave.

“Where am I?”

“How the heck did you get down here?!” questions Joey as he reaches out to touch her face. She swats his hand away and stands in the machine. The light that is filling the cavern is starting to dim as she looks at us.

“Don’t touch me!” she squeals in an authoritative tone. “I know I’m not on Kiridia anymore, but what planet is this?”

“Earth?” I look at Joey confused and scrunch my eyebrows together.

“Oh my gosh, it’s hideous,” she gags, looking horrified. “How do you people live like this? It’s so dark and murky.”

“I mean, typically people don’t live in caves,” I respond. “Want to tell me how you got down here?”

“Or better yet, what Kirida is?” asks Joey.

“I don’t even know where I am!” she shouts. “Earth is such a big wasteful planet. Kiridia has always learned not to follow in the ways that your ancestors have laid out. If you don’t mind,” she says as she holds her hand out to Joey. “I need help getting out.”

He looks at me, confused, as she clears her throat and shakes her hand in his direction. “Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me?”

“You said not to touch you,” says Joey quietly.

“That was before I needed help!” she demands.

It’s only now that I notice what the girl is wearing. She is in a purple dress, lined with lighter purple lace all around the top half. Her eyebrows are thick, and her smooth porcelain skin practically glows with no blemishes in sight. Her eyes are a grey color that is the most striking color I’ve ever seen, and her jawline is crazy sharp. She’s truly beautiful.

I stick my hand out and she grabs hold of it to jump out onto the rocks. “Thank you,” she nods, looking at me and then glaring at Joey. She is in a pair of flats, thank God, and begins to walk around the cave. “I’m going to kill Edwin,” she mutters to herself as she looks around, “This is so dank.”

She turns to us and then sucks in her cheeks. “What are your names, Earthlings?”

“Confused,” says Joey as he raises his hand. “Why do you keep talking like you’re not from Earth?”

She straightens up her back and squares her shoulders. “My name is Raina. I’m Princess and fourth heir to King Delmund of Kiridia.”

“Kiridia?” I ask again.

“You Earthlings are vastly under civilized when it comes to travel via space. I wouldn’t expect a couple of commoners like you to understand in the least. Now, take me to your King and Queen so I can explain my situation. Surely, we can arrange some kind of travel and I can get back to my home planet.”

“King and Queen?” I ask curiously at her. “We live in America? I mean, I guess you could count the President, but he seems a little busy with the rest of the country right now.”

“What kind of a kingdom doesn’t have a king?!” She whispers in outrage, “Very well, get me out of here. That is, if you can get out of here.”

“Kids?!” yells a voice from the other side of the cavern. “Oh my gosh, they’ve been eaten!”

“Is that your ruler?”

“More like our tour guide?” says Joey, still very taken aback by the situation.

Raina rolls her eyes and walks towards the sound of Tom’s voice. When she gets to the wall she looks at it and then turns back to us with a look of confusion, “How do I get through this?”

I chuckle as Joey clears his throat and points towards the bottom of the wall. “You… uh… gotta climb under.”

“I have to what?!” she shrieks, surprised. “Not in this dress I don’t. Do you know how long it took the palace seamstress to make this?”

I shrug my shoulders, getting annoyed at the situation as I walk past her and squat down to crawl through the opening. Tom is still calling for us and not answering him, no matter how weird this situation is, is not going to help us. Joey quickly follows me under, which gets a yelp from the supposed “princess” as she also follows us through.

“Ew. Ew. Ew,” she whines as she stands up and begins to jump up and down in disgust. “Never have I EVER done something so degrading in all my years! If the girls back home saw that they’d make a mockery out of me!”

“Kids!” screams Tom excitedly as he sees us come into view. “And uh, new kid?” he says, looking at Raina.

“Oh good, an adult,” she cries. “Have you seen another blonde girl or two brunette boys? They probably have looks of shame on their faces for betraying their home and their Father, but that’s completely besides the point,” she mentions nonchalantly in a way that makes me think it’s very much the point. “I need to speak to someone in charge immediately.”

“Uh, I see you, and the two kids that I knew were down here,” says Tom. “Should we be looking for other children?”

“No,” she says quickly, which causes me to give her a strange look. “No, I think I might just be confused.”

Tom lowers a rope ladder and 10 minutes later all three of us are up out of the hole. Raina seems to be more and more distressed as time goes by and every time we have to climb something or crawl underneath an opening she only gets more upset. When we finally reach the outside of the cave, the sun is shining bright in the sky.

“Oh my gosh, you have light!” she says excitedly as she runs forward through our crowd of classmates and begins to twirl in the sun. “I was beginning to become scared that you live like mole people,” she continues to dance for a minute, and then turns to us in horror. “Why is it so hot on this Alpha forsaken planet?”

“Alpha?” asks Madison Mayweather.

“Oh my gosh, you’re blasphemous. You stop this instant!” she says, surprised.

“Uh, who are you?” says Mr. Birdsong, confused.

Raina sticks her shoulders and chin up again. “Right,” she says as she’s reminding herself that it’s proper to introduce herself. “My name is Princess Raina of the planet Kirida. I’m the fourth heir to the Kiridian throne. My siblings and I came to your planet, well, they came to your planet, I was kidnapped by them, in an attempt to escape our Father, King Delmund of Kiridia.” she says. “Now, if you don’t mind, please take me to your ruler. It’s been a long day, and I just want to be accommodated.”

“I have no idea what she’s talking about.” says a boy from the back. “She’s smokin’ hot, though.”

“Try not to drool,” says Madison, angry that the attention is no longer on her.

“Excuse me?” says Raina. “Can we not talk about me like I’m not here? And please, get this, uh, President, I think you called him, on the phone. I’m in a state of distress and I would like to get back into contact with my father.”

The group sits and stares at her in confusion as she stomps her foot on the ground. “I’m getting really tired of repeating myself.”