The Wonders Of Vast Emptiness

Chapter Three: Tlio

The next morning, Sam was madly tired. He still had school though, so he got up in order to go to Spanish. Mack, who liked to wake up earlier, was already gone. As Sam got dressed, he noticed something on his desk drawer. A note. It was from Edna. How Edna could get in for the 5 hours that Sam was sleeping, he didn't know. He took a closer look at the note and saw that there was the same transportation device that they had used to get to the castle the day before, although this one was much newer.

The note read: Dear Sam, I hope you are doing well. If you need to contact me or my husband, you can use this. There is a dial that goes directly to our castle, and you can also set it to any place nearby you would like. And one more thing: don't let that foolish PC see this. I doubt he would approve of it. If anybody asks, just say it is for a job. Regards - Edna

After Sam had finished reading this, he looked at the glowing thing. He decided to leave it in his metal thermos that he wasn't using, and it had been cleaned out and hadn't been used since a week ago. And then he went off to Spanish class.

After Spanish, he decided to try out the transportation device. It took him a while to figure out how to set different locations, but perhaps that could have been because he secretly did not want to burn his eyebrows off because he didn't know how to use this particular object. He set one of the locations for the market, because it was really quite far away. The first time he used it, things could have gone quite badly for him, as he set the location not to the street, and he was just millimeters away from being crushed by the heavy concrete wall. After he had gotten what he had needed from the market, he returned back to the street of the college, having very well learnt his lesson.

The next nine days after that one, were, to put it in a simple way, dull. Sam felt bored out of his mind 90 percent of the time. And then the day finally came. The day when he would start his mission. He packed up his things, said good-bye to Mack, who was the only one he had told, and then left the grounds. As he saw Edna waving to him, he began walking towards her. But then, a boy named Otto Hill came up to him. "Hey, Nightun? Where are you going? Yeah, that's right. I saw you a while back, popping off to somewhere you probably shouldn't be." Just then, a teacher nearby happened to notice what was happening between the two boys. "No, no, no! Otto, I forgot to inform you that Samuel will be leaving for a while. Strict orders from the head of this school." Otto looked perplexed and angry by this statement, and he stormed away.

Sam went to join Edna, and the two left. Edna made sure that nobody was watching the transport device, and then Sam felt that familiar fast feeling. They arrived at the building, and then they entered. This time they did not head to the same room Sam had been in before. Instead, they headed for a different room, a bit to the right. Inside was a large structure, which was filled with the same transparent blue color that Sam had seen. Next to it was Dr. Twolson, beaming, as he always was. "So glad you made it alright!" he said. "Keeps malfunctioning. That's why we have given you a new one. We didn't want you to end up in the desert!"

Dr. Twolson cleared his throat. "The good thing is that this has worked exactly the way I have intended. I have hooked up the place switcher, and switched it to Tlio. Now, are you ready?" Sam gulped, and nodded. "Good man! Now, I assume that you want this tested on someone else, yes?" Sam nodded. "Ok, off I go!" He ran through the gateway, and he disappeared. He was gone for around 3 minutes, and for a second, Sam thought Dr. Twolson had quite literally died. His worries were dismissed, however, when Dr. Twolson popped through, smiling bigger than ever. "Amazing! Just quite frankly amazing! I saw the gate of Tlio, and nothing more. Didn't want to explore it alone! No, that wouldn't do! Come here, my dear boy! We'll go through together!" Before Sam could take a breath, blink, or react in any possible way, his arm was being taken by Dr. Twolson through the gateway.

A sudden rush of fear mixed with confidence surged all the way through the body of Sam. They were spinning around and around, like a teacup ride at a county fair, but much faster. The colors were changing rapidly, or perhaps that was the spinning. After what had seemed for quite a long time, they landed safely on the ground, like a feather. Sam saw the gate that had been described by Dr. Twolson. "Alright there?" asked Dr. Twolson. "Yeah," replied Sam.

The two of them entered the gates of Tlio. The scenery was nothing short of beauty. Tall and wide mountains spread the area, with crystal clear waterfalls coming out of all of them. The houses were quite normal, in fact. On one side, Sam noticed a volcano. He at first seemed alarmed that an active volcano would be allowed by an entire town filled with people, but not even a trace of danger was found. Dr. Twolson was also admiring the scenery. "We should go there, I think it'll be quite nice. What is your name again? I'm sorry, I can't remember," said Dr. Twolson. "Sam." "Oh, good, Sam! As I was saying, I have some money, and if it isn't the same as theirs, I guess I'll have to find an ATM!" He chuckled at this, and he and Sam walked down to the hotel.