THE PORTAL

Ring, ring! It was the last day of June and summer vacation had begun. The five friends left the schoolyard for the last time until September. They didn't want to go straight to their homes; instead they wanted to find something fun to do on their first afternoon of summertime freedom.

"Hey guys, want to go over to Krunberry Lake?" said Mark. "I'm ready for an adventure. We can look for frogs and check out the beaver dam."

"I don't want to do that," said Jason. "It sounds boring. I've been there a million times. Nothing ever happens over there. It's just a dumb lake with a bunch of trees. There must be something more exciting we can do."

"What do you expect?" said Lucy. "Lightning to come out of the sky?"

"Yeah—that would be cool!" replied Jason.

"I wouldn't mind going over there," said Tom. "Maybe we can build a fort out of rocks and stuff."

"You always want to play in the mud!" ribbed Lucy. "I'd rather we make a kite and see how high we can make it fly."

"Okay, you guys," interjected Sarah. "It's only the very first day of vacation. We've got all summer to do whatever we want. Let's just all agree to walk over to the lake and see what's going on over there. Maybe we can get a boat. I think that it would be fun to row across the water."

"Not without our parents," cautioned Tom.

"Then it's decided," announced Mark. "Let's check out the lake. No boats. If it's boring we'll go somewhere else."

"As long as we're home by five-thirty," said Tom.

While they walked over to the lake they talked about what activities their parents had planned for them during the school break.

"Our family is going to Niagara Falls," Sarah said.

"I'm going to go to Disneyland, which seems pretty cool," said Mark.

"My mom and dad want to take me to explore the caves," said Tom. "There's a word for it. Speel—"

"Spelunking," offered Lucy. "It means to explore caves. Did you know that the air in deep caves is the same temperature all year 'round?

"Caves are dark," said Jason. "I don't like the dark."

"Just carry a blazing torch, like they do in the monster movies on television," said Mark.

"Some caves have big underground pools and rivers," said Sarah. "And in the water live all sorts of interesting creatures. Some of them never see the light of day. They don't even have eyes."

"How do they know where they're going?" asked Mark.

"They just sort of feel their way along," replied Sarah.

"It's like being in a whole different world," added Lucy.

Once they reached the lake they lay down on the soft grass. A cool breeze stirred the leaves of the trees. The sky was a brilliant blue.

"Okay," announced Jason. "I'm bored. Let's find something to do."

"Jason's right," said Lucy. "There's nothing to do around here. I wish something exciting would happen!"

All of a sudden they saw a bright flash of lightning.

"Hey," said Mark, "How could there be lightning? There's not a cloud in the sky."

"There must be a storm somewhere," said Tom. "Maybe we should go home."

"Do you feel the wind?" said Lucy. "It's really picking up."

"I feel drops of rain," added Sarah.

From all directions at once it seemed that dark clouds grew in the sky. The air grew chill and the brightness of the green grass was replaced by dull shade. As the sky quickly darkened, the kids felt a sense of fear.

"What's that?" shouted Sarah, pointing towards a dark purple vortex descending from the turbulent sky.

"It looks like some kind of portal!" exclaimed Mark. "Why is it coming towards us?" He had no time to finish before he was sucked into the whirling purple twister.

One by one the kids were taken up into the vortex. Sarah was the last; she tried to hang onto Jason's foot as he was sucked in, but instead of pulling him out, she was sucked in too.

TRIFUS

As if awakening from a dream, the five kids found themselves lying on the ground under the branches of an enormous tree. The kids blinked, sat up, and looked around them.

"Hey," said Jason. "What is this stuff?"

He ran his fingers through the bed of pink grass.

"I don't know," replied Mark. He stood up. "What happened to the storm and the twister?"

They all stood up and looked around. Above them stretched a curved green sky in which flew tangerine-colored birds, and the air was filled with an aroma of magnificence. Surrounding them were great fields of blue and red flowers, and at the ends of the fields were rows of tall spiky blue trees. From the distance came the sound of a gurgling creek.

They were astounded at the event that just occurred.

"What happened?" said Lucy.

"We all got sucked into a twister," said Mark, "and we landed here."

"Yeah, but where is here?" asked Sarah. "It looks normal—sort of—except for the weird colors. Like someone messed with the color control on the TV set."

"Okay," said Jason. "This is stupid. I'm going home!"

"Which way is home?" asked Sarah. "And anyway, there's more going on here than just some weird colored trees. Look at what you're wearing!"

"What do you mean?" retorted Jason. "You should talk—you look pretty strange yourself!"

"Lucy, look at yourself!" said Mark.

"Why?" asked Lucy. Looking down, she saw that instead of the jeans and t-shirt she had worn at school, she was wearing a chest plate closed in a leather dress, almost like a warrior girl with a grey skirt.

Each of the kids looked at themselves and their new costumes. They each had a chest plate bound to a brown leather dress. On their feet were shiny black boots.

Mark was wearing a red crimson chest plate that had a fire emblem on his back, a red helmet like the Roman warriors, and red leggings.

Sarah had a blue sapphire chest plate and a sky blue skirt. Jason had a yellow and blue chest plate and similar helmet and leggings. Tom had a greenish brown chest plate and a similar helmet and leggings.

"Wow—these are cool outfits!" exclaimed Jason.

"I don't know if I like them," said Tom. "Do they have pockets?" He started patting his leggings.

"This fabric is super soft," said Lucy. "Must be expensive."

"And they're color-coded too," added Mark.

"I wonder where our normal clothes are?" said Tom. "I had a quarter in my pocket. I don't want to lose it." He walked around the base of the big tree, but didn't find any of their clothing.

"All right!" yelled Jason. "Whoever pulled this joke on us better come out!"

"Yeah," added Tom. "We're gonna kick your butt!"

"I don't think anybody is going to come out and tell us that this is a joke," said Sarah.

"I'm getting hungry," said Mark. He looked up into the dense branches that overhung them. "Hey—this is an apple tree!"

Sure enough, hanging from the branches high overhead were dozens of succulent apples.

"Boost me up," said Mark.

They tried to help Mark onto the tree, but no matter how high they raised him, the lowest branch was always just out of reach. It was almost as if the tree were pulling its branches upwards so that the kids couldn't reach them.

All of a sudden the apple tree shook and they saw that it had a mouth and a pair of eyes.

"Art thou the five sacred warriors of Restoria, the descendants of Sendar?" the tree said in a deep and booming voice.

"Rest-to-what?" replied Jason. "And how is a tree able to talk, and who are the five sacred warriors? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You are the five heroes we have been waiting for," said the tree. "It is a great day for Restoria. You are the descendants of Sendar, who have come to fulfill his destiny!"

"Who?" said Sarah. "I don't have any relatives named Sendar."

"Neither do I," said Mark.

"All will be answered soon," said the tree. "But first I shall introduce myself. My name is Trifus, and this is Restoria, which you have entered through the portal. It is a world parallel to Earth, from where you came."

"Wait a second," asked Mark. "If we got here through a portal, then how do we get back to Earth?"

"Alas," said the tree, "Since the witch Renalta cast her curse on me, my powers have been diminished. I brought you here but I cannot send you back. If you want to go home, you must destroy the witch Renalta and free me from her curse."

"That's crazy," said Jason. "There must be some other way to get home!"

"Yeah—maybe a reverse twister?" said Lucy.

"No," said the tree in a solemn voice. "The only way you can return home is to destroy the witch Renalta. But be quick, for I can only last a few more days. My time is running out. Hurry!—follow the path to the Desert Resort."

"A resort?" Lucy questioned.

The kids looked at each other and understood that they did not have any choice. It was also part of what they wished for to happen.

"Fine—we'll go on this quest of yours but you better not be lying," Sarah warned.

"All will be revealed," said Trifus. "Now go! Hurry!"

"I'm all for an adventure!" said Mark. "Count me in!"

Before they started on their way, from the great tree an apple dropped for each of the five kids.

"Don't eat your apple, but save it to remember, At the right time, you will know in your heart how to use it!" said Trifus.

Each of the kids put their apple in the leather pouch they found tied around the waists and started to walk to the Desert Resort.

THE GREEN TWISTER

As they walked along the path that Trifus had set them on, they saw many strange trees. These were not apple trees like Trifus, but tall pointed trees with blue leaves and long spiky branches. From the strongest branches hung large pods, and each pod held something really big, almost as big as they were, and wriggling too. They wondered what these things were but they had no time to lose. They felt a strange sensation—something weird—like someone was watching them, and it was almost like the ground could feel them walking.

"This place gives me the creeps," said Jason. "I wanna get out of here!"

"Do you know what time it is?" asked Tom. "We need to get home by five-thirty."

"I think you can forget about that," said Sarah. "Let's just each call our parents and tell them we'll be late."

"What should we say to them?" asked Mark. "That we're very sorry but we've all been transported to a different planet where the trees can talk?"

"Hah!" said Jason. "Talking trees! That would really go well with my dad!"

"I know my phone must be in here somewhere," said Tom as he patted the various areas of his costume. "I had it with me when we came to the lake."

"You're not going to find your phone," said Mark. "And we're not going home—at least not until we do whatever it is we're supposed to do here."

"Do you mean that we were brought here for a special mission?" said Sarah. "Cool!"

"Yeah!" agreed Lucy. "It's about time something exciting happened to us!"

"What was that name mentioned by Trifus—Renalta?" asked Jason.

"Yeah, Renalta," said Lucy. "She's a witch. We're supposed to destroy her."

"How are we supposed to destroy a witch?" asked Tom.

"Maybe if we just dump a pail of water on her we can go home," offered Sarah.

"Somehow, I don't think it's going to be that easy," said Mark.

As they walked and talked about what was happening to them, they came to a huge barren land with strangely colored sand, and it was definitely starting to feel hotter already. They all walked into the desert and the colors of the sand almost became like what they had on Earth.

"Are we dreaming, or is this for real?" asked Sarah.

"I'm not really sure," replied Mark as he pinched Sarah.

"Oww—what was that for?" demanded Sarah.

"Okay, it is for real!"

"I think I'm going to die! Water, I need water!" said Lucy. "And I'm hungry. I'm going to eat my apple."

"No!" said Sarah. "Remember what Trifus said—we have to save it till the time is right."

Lucy and Jason were dubious about their mission, but Sarah and Tom kept saying that it was the beginning of an adventure. They also had the five apples with them that seemed to have a golden shine around them. Trifus had given them the apples for a reason, and this knowledge gave them confidence.

"Come on guys," shouted Tom. "The tree dude said an oasis or vacation place was nearby. Hurry up!" He rushed ahead out of sight of the others.

The four kids crossed over a low hill and saw not a resort but a humongous green twister that looked like a whirlpool in the sky. Tom stood staring at it, dumbfounded.

"Hey, what's that?" said Jason.

"Looks like another twister," replied Lucy.

"I've had enough of twister's!" said Sarah.

"Don't let it catch us," said Mark. "Quick—let's run!"

They ran, but the twister was aiming at them however they changed their direction. It was as if it was following them. This twister didn't seem normal; it had a mind of its own. There seemed to be no escape.

Tom was the first to be sucked up in the vortex and then flung across the sky. "Help me!" he yelled. His expression was a mix of terror and complete "Wow-I-can't-believe-this-is-happening."

"No! Tom!" cried Mark.

He wasn't the only one—the next to get pulled into the vortex was Sarah.

"Come on—does it have to be Sarah?" said Mark.

"It can't end like this—!" shouted Sarah. Before she could finish she was flung to who knows where.

Next were Jason and Lucy.

"I'm too young to die!" exclaimed Jason.

Once Jason and Lucy were flung into the sky, the twister suddenly paused.

Mark was dumbfounded. He alone had been spared. Why?

"I can't just stand here all alone—I need to go find them!" he said as he got up, dusted the sand off his leggings, and ran after the twister.

THE PYRAMID

"I'm going to die!" said Mark as he ran after the twister. "I can see the light—grandma, is that you?" Mark was hallucinating and was losing himself as the twister suddenly took him in its violent grasp.

The next thing he knew he found himself splashing in a lake.

"What? How is there water here?" he sputtered as he spat out a mouthful of water. When he climbed onto dry land he saw he was at an oasis. "Well, I've got plenty of water," he said to himself. "All I need now is food."

He walked around but could not make out any of the plants and the sounds in this place. He saw a grove of the tall trees with the blue leaves and long spiky branches. As he approached the nearest tree, suddenly from one of the pods in the tree a fully grown deer popped out. It was almost like the tree gave birth to the deer. "Oh my gosh, how is that even possible?" thought Mark. "Thank goodness it was a deer and not a lion." Even though the deer did not have any wings it seemed to create a whirlwind as it bounded into the forest.

As he stood beside the tree, thinking about what to do next, something very hard fell from the tree and hit him on the head.

"Ow!" Mark said. He looked at the object. "Wow! It's a coconut. Thank you, grandma!"

Mark split the coconut apart and ate some of the white flesh. It tasted good.

"Okay," he mused to himself, "Let's figure this out. My friends were all flung off in basically the same direction. So if I find one of them I'm most likely going to find the rest of them. But I don't see any shadows; how can I even make out what is north or south?"

But he noticed that on the ground, the pink grass had been flattened where the twister had passed over it. There was a definite trail of squashed grass that led over a low hill. Leaving the oasis, he walked for a few minutes, following the trail left by the twister. He came over the hill and then he saw a huge structure.

"Wow, who knew they had pyramids in this Restoria place?" he thought. The pyramid was taller than any house he had seen and the sides were as smooth as a mirror. Mark walked around the pyramid, and he came upon the faint outline of a door. There was no door handle, just smooth polished stone.

"Maybe there's a secret way to open it," thought Mark. Looking carefully at the edges of the door, he saw that one of the polished panels was slightly loose. He pushed on it and it swiveled open to reveal a gold handle. With a firm grasp Mark grabbed the handle and pulled.

With a creak and a groan the door slowly swung open. He went inside, and then the pyramid door closed behind him.

"What pyramids have doors that shut themselves?" he thought. "Is this like some kind of haunted house?"

Above his head he saw a strange inscription carved into the solid rock. He couldn't read the writing, so he shrugged and began to walk down the cold and gloomy corridor that looked as if it led deep into the pyramid.

Then he heard the faint echo of screams and yells. "That has to be my friends, and they sound like they're in trouble! I gotta go help them." He hurried down the long hall to where the screams were coming from.