Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series by Vaiya Books

wasteland instead
that was covered with barren trees and laced with sharp desert
thorns. At least then, he would feel fully justified in wallowing
in self-pity.
    Eyes glazed with anger, he restrained himself
from breaking down into tears. None of this was fair. This world
seemed bent on his destruction, and what was worse, he couldn’t do
anything to prevent it. Countless times, he’d closed his eyes and
wished himself back at Hazel’s party, but all he’d gotten for that
was a near collision with a tree and evil smirks from Azadar. Since
then, he’d given up on such futile attempts as a grim reality
settled upon him--he was likely never going back home. He’d just
have to make the best of whatever lay ahead of him.
    Trudging forward with rugged tenacity,
determined not to let himself be dragged down anymore by his
emotions, Ian lifted up his eyes from the lush grass he trod upon
and glanced around him.
    The first thing that captured his attention
was several crystal clear rivers that meandered gently through the
peaceful woods and vanished into a dark canopy. Shifting his gaze
to the right, he stared at dozens of ponds, which dotted the
vicinity and lapped up against the tall gray-brown grass with their
calm azure blue waters. The ponds around him spread out about the
landscape like polka dots on a t-shirt, sported giant lily pads of
various shapes and colors that floated calmly on the water.
    Though each lily pad boasted intricate
designs, his current favorite was a black star-shaped lily pad,
streaked with neon blue veins running through it, that teemed with
gold, green, and black salamanders spotted with carrot orange,
scarlet, or turquoise. Even though he’d never been a nature lover
before, if everything looked as cool as these lily pads and
salamanders, he’d be forced to change his mind.
    Tearing his eyes off the salamander-infested
lily pads after some effort, he swept over the rest of the
landscape with his dark brown eyes, centering in on a large vine in
front of him that tangled around a silver statue of a fair elven
princess, whose stone eyes seemed to regard him with sympathy. From
the vine hung oval-shaped black-purple berries that dripped with
dew. Though he’d just eaten at home not too long ago, he somehow
felt very hungry. Must be from all the walking.
    Moving past the berries, not daring to test
the elves’ generosity, he soon arrived at a patch of blue
wildflowers. Their sweet aromas, reminiscent of that of roses, only
much more fragrant, flooded his mind with blissful images of
serenity and solitude--but he wasn’t deceived by them and quickly
thrust them from his mind. There was no peace where he was
going.
    With a return to his sober outlook, he passed
by the flowers and went around the frothy, bubbling waterfalls
without so much as one happy thought. After doing so, he noticed a
shiny bronze gate way off in the distance that towered high into
the air and then vanished behind a tall patch of trees that swarmed
with tropical birds of light sky blue, emerald green, sunlight
yellow, and neon orange hues.
    Eyes glued to the shimmering bronze gate, he
barely heard the chirping birds singing sweet melodies high above
him in the trees, as he continued to follow the elves silently.
    His thoughts were anything but quiet, though.
He wondered what the elves would do to him in the dungeon; he
wondered if he’d ever get out of there; he wondered if he’d ever
see Eddy and Darien again.
    Pondering over these things, while trying to
avoid becoming too discouraged, Ian traipsed under the gate’s
shadow and instinctively looked up to the top of the gate where
five gatekeepers, all dressed in rustic brown cloaks, stared down
coldly at him and locked eyes with him.
    Ian cringed, shocked by their rudeness, and
sunk his head down in shame mixed with raw anger. Why did his
entrance into this kingdom have to begin this way? Why couldn’t he
have been received like the party from Lord of the Rings coming out
of