Mirrorworlds The witche's Castle E-Book

Rolf Glöckner

• Herausgeber: neobooks
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Deutsch

Seitenzahl: 247

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Carolyn, Tom, her uncle Hans with his trolls, her parents and many strange creatures suddenly find themselves caught up in a conflict between black and white magicians. The witch queen wants revenge on those who once banished her from Earth. So she launched a campaign against the inhabitants of the small continent of Mu, which she sank into the sea. But humanity is also under threat. The friends, supported by Elisabeth and Betty, take up the fight, and once again science is on their side. An exciting adventure unfolds.

Leseprobe

Mirror worlds The Witche's Castle

Mirror worlds

The witches' castle

A fantasy novel by

Rolf Glöckner

© Rolf Glöckner

Cover photos:              © Fotolia

Geoff Chester (Hale Bopp)

© NASA/JPL-Caltech (Vesta)

                            © Rolf Glöckner private

Creator:              © Tom Jay Rolf Glöckner                            

 About the writer

Rolf Glöckner, born in Georgsmarienhütte in 1945, lives in Oldenburg. He is enjoying his well-earned retirement and now devotes his time to astronomy, astrophysics, photography and, of course and above all, writing. He is married and has a son. "Mirror worlds The witches castle" is Glöckner's third fantasy novel after "Mirrorworlds The twelve books" and "Mirrorworlds The Crystal War".

 Chapter 1

 Review

After the family repeatedly had to report on their adventures to the press, on the radio and on worldwide television, she retreated to her old manor house on the south coast of England to catch her breath and get away from the hustle and bustle. In between the individual appearances, there were always events that she had to attend. After all, all the family members were now public figures. The private lives of the children, their parents June and Marc and their uncle Hans with his troll and their bearish friend Sulass of the Rucks people had more or less fallen by the wayside.

At public appearances, Lanudas, Hans' troll, always caused storms of enthusiasm and Sulass had also become better known than he would have liked. Almost seven months had passed since they had defeated the last crystal monster and saved their home world from a great danger.

A number of remarkable things had happened on Earth in those months. Various countries had realized what joint action had achieved and were making long-term plans to join forces. It was as if the efforts of the family and their friends had triggered an avalanche of understanding. They were also prepared to give the space vagabonds a home. Many countries would gladly take them in, as they hoped to learn something from them.

This prompted Tom, who now seemed very mature as a result of his experience, to comment to the group: "People will probably never change, as they only hope to benefit from adopting the technical knowledge of the vagabonds."

Hans - of course Lanudas the troll had stayed with him - nodded in confirmation. "We can call Tahona and talk to her about it," Marc said. "Children, she gave you a communication device like this, why don't you call her?" Carolyn jumped up and stormed up the stairs to her room. A little later, she came back down with the little box in her hand.

"Tom," she shouted, "you do that!"

Tom took the device from her hand as a matter of course and pressed the call button deep into the housing. A buzzing sounded and a small rod, similar to an antenna, pushed out of the box. A shining blue ring formed at the tip, in the middle of which the face of a woman appeared after a very short time. Tahona!

Her voice was clearly audible: "Hello, Tom, why are you calling me? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Excitedly, Tom reported what had happened on his home planet over the past four months and that a large number of states had agreed to give the space vagabonds a place on the world they had once come from. Tahona was thrilled by this news and exclaimed: "I'll tell my spaceship commanders right away, no matter where they are. It will certainly be some time before we can arrive. We'll have to disband our base and bring all the material back to Earth. Thank goodness it's not that far!"

Marc was taken aback. "Not that far? Yes, where is your base?" Tahona smiled at Marc and then said: "In the asteroid belt of this solar system. We hollowed out one of the largest rocks there and set up a base when we had to leave Earth."

Tom shot up and shouted: "Now I realize a lot of things, it was you with the UFOs that kept appearing over the earth and gave rise to all kinds of speculation." Tahona smiled. "Yes, that was us, we've been observing your development for a long time." The siblings looked at each other in amazement and the adults also looked puzzled. Tahona, who was still looking out of the shimmering blue ring, suddenly turned away and spoke to someone standing behind her. Then she looked forward and her face no longer looked happy at all.

 "I've just received a report about a strange occurrence that our observation station has just discovered. Something is happening out there. Should an old enemy we encountered in our distant past and who was involved in the sinking of our island continent have reappeared? In a system with a small red sun orbited by six planets, a world has broken free from its orbit and is now flying out into space. According to calculations, the planet, which is moving at an abnormally high speed, will cross your home system in the not too distant future. We should see what we can do to prevent this before then, but there's still plenty of time."

Excitement spread and Tom called out, "Tahona, we should meet to talk about this further, best come and join us." Tahona smiled at him and then said: "I was planning to come anyway. I wanted to have a look around to see who would like to take us in and I have a suggestion to make. So I'll be with you in about two days." The face disappeared and the blue ring went out.

Carolyn, who was sitting motionless and lost in thought in one of the old leather armchairs, suddenly said, as if to herself: "I think maybe this has something to do with a dream that has been tormenting me for a few nights. Listen, everyone, I will try to tell you about this dream. But I can't yet say for sure whether it has anything to do with what Tahona just told us." Her parents and friends turned their faces towards her with excitement, and even Lanudas crawled out of Hans' jacket pocket and sat on his shoulder so that he wouldn't miss anything.

 Chapter 2

 Carolyn's dream

Carolyn hesitantly began to speak. "I dreamt - and this dream has been haunting me for several nights - that I was in a place I had never seen before. There was a castle or palace in the background, surrounded by a mysterious, shimmering reddish light. To the sides were some kind of flat building and suddenly I was in one of these halls. I flew through the darkness, yes, I flew! Machines were rattling everywhere, spitting out strange parts that were being transported away by figures I couldn't recognize. I try to describe these figures, but the only thing I remember from the dream was the long black robes they were wrapped in, held together by glittering chains. And that it was almost dark in the hall. They wore pointed black hats on their heads. It was very creepy to look at and I had the feeling that this strange factory and the castle could be very dangerous. I also heard voices mumbling strange phrases and after a long time floating freely under the roof of the hall, I was thrown out into the open air, saw that spooky glowing tower again and heard gloating laughter that wouldn't stop. I can't remember what happened next, because I woke up suddenly and was covered in cold sweat. Every night that this dream haunted me, it always ended in this exact spot. What could that possibly mean? And why was it always interrupted at exactly the same point? I've never dreamed so clearly before!"

Her mother stood up and took her daughter in her arms to calm her down. "We'll try to find out together what this dream is all about," she said to Carolyn, and Tom added: "You must have eaten something heavy the night before, that's how you dream like that!" - "Every evening?" Carolyn replied snappishly. "I'm not you!"

Lanudas, who was still perched on Hans' shoulder, rubbed his long pointed nose and whispered softly so that it was almost inaudible: "I will ask my friends and perhaps our elders about the meaning of the dream, bear with me for a moment." He stretched out his thin index finger and a light formed on his pointed fingernail and rose to the ceiling. There was a loud bang and the troll was gone. Immediately afterwards he reappeared with an equally loud bang, but he was not alone. He had Ladina and Lakuno in tow! What did he want with the two trolls? Could the troll friends help solve the riddle of the dream?

Hans, who knew his companion well, smiled and thought: "The little dwarf is hiding something from me again. But I'm always amazed at what skills he has and what he has hidden from me over the years!

Lanudas tells

The troll, now surrounded by his two friends, sat down in a pose. His eyes flashed with excitement and he began to talk. "I was in our homeland for about two days and experienced all sorts of things there. There has been someone in the past who was tormented by such dreams, and it has been written down. It has something to do with a witch world that is supposed to be out there somewhere. As you know, there are both black - evil - witches and the white witches who have dedicated their lives to doing good and helping people. We do not know the exact location of the witches' world, but it is said that these halls from the dream, where something is produced, harbor a terrible secret. Whenever something is produced there, great dangers can befall humanity or one of the other worlds. We must warn all peoples. Something is brewing out there." He fell silent.

Lakuno, his friend and relative, added succinctly: "There is someone in your circle, yes, actually two people who are no strangers to witchcraft, and these two must set out to find the witch world." The children and parents looked at each other perplexed. Who was meant by that? The troll Ladina solved the puzzling clue. "There was a white witch in your family, our old trolls know about it. She has always been with you in past adventures to help. It should be the same this time. And the second person?"

With these words, she looked at Carolyn and she felt the hairs on her arms stand up and she suddenly got goose bumps all over her body.

Tom looked up thoughtfully and said: "That can only mean Betty, our mysterious ancestor. How are we supposed to get in touch with her? She lives in another time and how are we supposed to reach her there?"

Elisabeth

A door clanged at the top of the house, footsteps were heard on the stairs and a woman in her prime stepped into the living room. She was wearing a pointed blue hat and a long dark blue cloak trimmed with gold stars. In her hand she carried an elongated silver box. Everyone looked puzzled, only Marc smiled cautiously. He guessed who had come, a resemblance to his wife June was unmistakable. "Hello, Elisabeth," he addressed the newcomer, and the woman replied: "Hello, June, hello Marc. I see Hans is here too, along with his trolls. Greetings, Carolyn and Tom. Carolyn, who had probably interpreted her father's smile correctly, jumped up and called out questioningly: "Are you Betty? And why do you almost look like my mother now?"

The woman turned to her and looked at her for a long time. "You've grown up. Here, take this," and she handed Carolyn the silver box. "Open it!" she said, "You'll find something very important inside. You will need it urgently as your new tool of the trade for what we want to do together now ."

Amazed, Carolyn turned the box in her hands and then flipped open the lid. A shimmering green-silver rod with a finely chiseled key hanging from it was revealed. "What's that?" she turned to Betty.

"This is your magic wand. And the key belongs to a cupboard in an ancient building in a faraway place. We will now visit this place together and you will learn all sorts of things there. Don't be afraid, no time will be lost. Just as you will go with me, you will return only a little later, although all sorts of things will happen in the meantime. As a traveler between worlds - I gave you the ability - we must complete your training together. Pack yourself a few things and then come, we should leave soon, time is running out." Betty looked around, gave June a reassuring look and said, "Don't worry, we'll be back soon."

Meanwhile, Carolyn had hastily packed her rucksack and looked at Betty. "What now?" she asked, and Betty, who looked like a grown woman about her mother's age, replied: "For the first time you will use this wand, it will take us to a school together. A school where you will learn the secrets of white witchcraft. And since we'll be back soon, the others can stay put for a while."

Tom jumped up. "I want to go too, maybe I'll become a famous magician one day!" He hesitated for a moment and then mumbled: "Oh no, I'd rather study astrophysics, I want to discover new things and explore the secrets of the universe, just like my great role model, the American astrophysicist Ralph Charles Bell."

Betty, or rather Elisabeth, just shook her head and said to Tom: "No, that won't work, you and your friends will be needed when we get back. Now, that's enough. Come on, Carolyn, pick up the staff!" Carolyn took the utensil, which nestled in her hand as if of its own accord, out of its sheath and looked at her ancestor questioningly. She simply said: "Lift it up, swing it back and forth and then say the word "ALUSHI" loud and clear

Carolyn followed her instructions, a light formed from the tip of the wand and a large, glittering vortex suddenly appeared on the ceiling, rotating around a small black center. A bright light shot out from this center point, shone down on the two people and they began to float. Slowly they approached the strange structure and with a jerk they were sucked up and disappeared into the vortex of light. The ceiling of the large living room looked as if nothing had happened.

 Chapter 3

 In the witch school

Carolyn whirled through a dark tunnel. After a while it became lighter until she finally landed on a rain-soaked lawn in front of a large old house. She looked down at herself. What had happened to her? She had emerged from the swirling transition dressed completely differently. A long white cloak with a high collar, a scratchy sweater underneath, bloomers, mid-height boots and a pointed hat now adorned her. She still carried the silver box in her hand. Where had Betty or Elisabeth, as she called herself at the time, gone?

Carolyn looked around and decided to walk over to the house after she couldn't see Betty anywhere. After a few steps, she stood in front of a large oak gate. She took the heavy brass door knocker between her hands, lifted it up and let it fall back against the wood. A dull thud sounded and the large door slowly began to open.

A large hall became visible, and in the middle stood - let's stick with the short form: Betty - and she looked at Carolyn long and seriously. "This will now be the place where you will learn all kinds of secrets for some time. Now follow me."

She didn't wait for Carolyn's reaction, turned around and walked towards the end of the great hall. Carolyn followed her, with many question marks in her eyes. She couldn't imagine what would happen to her in this strange school.

A narrow, very high, silver-studded door opened, they stepped through and found themselves in a room furnished with old furniture and many books and strange objects. In the corner, only half concealed by a curtain, stood a chaise longue, next to it a wardrobe and an ancient chair. Through an open curtain, Carolyn's gaze fell on a small bathroom with a glass washbasin and a bathtub standing on baroque feet. In the middle of the room was a large round table with a glass globe hovering above it, which emitted a soft light and illuminated the room without casting a shadow.

"This will be your classroom. Just stay here. Everything you need will be brought to you and someone will come to be your teacher. He will initiate you into the secrets of witchcraft that you do not yet know. Just as you have become my successor as a traveler, you will also have to acquire my skills as a white witch. You will then use these skills to overcome a great threat that will come to the worlds of the mirrors and to your world. Your friends and family will stand by your side." She fell silent and looked at Carolyn with a scrutinizing gaze. "You are chosen!"

 Carolyn shuddered. She would much rather have stayed in the old house with her parents and friends, and now she had to learn something she didn't know what it would be and what it would ultimately be used for. She shook her head thoughtfully and turned to her ancestor: "Please, what's coming? And what is this threat that affects all the worlds we have come to know?"

It was as if dark clouds were passing over Betty's face. Her brow furrowed and she replied: "Since time immemorial there has been a battle between good and evil, between black and white, between the circle of witches to which I belong and the others, the evil ones. The fact is that they have now set out from the exile to which we sent them back then to take revenge on those who banished them and their witches' castle to infinite expanses after we defeated them together. They are on their way here, and soon their harbingers will arrive on one of the worlds to begin their evil work again. I can't say where that will be at the moment.

The dangerous thing is that some of the blacks can move in time just like me. It would be possible for them to wreak havoc in the past, which could then affect the present where we are now. Think of Tahona, who once lived with her people on a continent that lay between North and South America and the Asian landmass. This continent was destroyed by evil and sank into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. No, this is not Atlantis, it was a small continent called Mu. We, the white magicians and the ancestors of Tahona, together with many friends, managed to prevent the destruction of the earth and beat back the black witches and wizards with their minions. We banished them along with their witches' castle, which they inhabited on Earth, and sent them into the depths of space.

The vagabonds - that's the name you know them by - managed to escape to safety. But the home of Tahona's people was destroyed and disappeared from the surface of our world. You now know where they settled after that. But now I will have to leave, you still have a lot to learn. Soon, however, I will return to complete your training, and then it will be back to Earth. There we will have to face the danger together with our friends." She stroked Carolyn's head, looked at her for a long time and then said, as if to herself: "I think she'll make it, she has received so much from me and has also taken on some things from her mother without knowing it yet, but she will definitely make it."

She reached into her cloak, pulled out a silver staff, pointed it at the ceiling of the room and said: "ALUSHI".

Light flashed, something reflective appeared above her and sucked her in with a snapping sound. Carolyn was suddenly all alone in the cozy room.

 Chapter 4

 The lesson begins.

While Carolyn was still looking in amazement at the extinguishing light, part of the wood-paneled wall opened and a strange-looking figure entered. She was wearing a cloak that was no longer quite white, a pointed white cap, bloomers and ancient boots that made a creaking sound when she walked. She apparently opened her mouth, or rather, a gap opened in her long gray beard, and a beautiful voice that didn't seem to fit the strange creature at all said: "Hello, Carolyn, I'm Maltus, your teacher. I'm sure you'll get to know other colleagues during your stay, but under my guidance, the skills that have lain dormant in you so far will be awakened. So let us now begin. May I see your arm? Elisabeth, who enjoys an outstanding reputation among us, left something there - she told us about it. She transferred some of her powers to you, and you should learn to master these powers and be able to use them again and again."

Carolyn couldn't stand it any longer and exclaimed: "I can create my own mirrors and use them to travel back and forth between worlds. I have now been given a staff as an aid that can do something similar, but do I really need it? I have the trolls with me, who also have strange powers and would always be at my side. Then there are dragons, sponges, trogos, water creatures and of course my Uncle Hans, my parents and many other friends. Oh, I still have a myriad of questions."

"Go on," her teacher replied, "everything will become clear in the course of the days you will be here. Right now, though, I need your arm." Carolyn remembered and pulled up her sleeve. Maltus pulled out a silver staff that looked very similar to Carolyn's and stroked her arm with it. Strange marks became visible.

Carolyn saw them and said to her teacher: "An old woman who helped us on our adventures transferred them to my arm. She made strange comments about it, which I didn't understand at the time." Maltus took a large magnifying glass from one of the cupboards and looked through it, scratched his head and then said: "I can't decipher everything, I'll get our best sign readers." He took a bell from the table and rang it. In an instant, the room was filled with various witches and wizards, who gathered around her and looked excitedly at Carolyn's arm.

A lively discussion began until a tall woman dressed in a long silver robe, who had been standing motionless in the background, spoke up: "Stop!"

She stepped forward and looked at the marks on Carolyn's arm for a long time. She frowned and said in a voice as bright as a bell: "Yes, that's her, she will bring salvation to us all. We should now make sure that she finds out why she is here and what powers reside within her. But I can also clearly see that she can't do it without her friends and especially without a very special young man. Let us now concentrate our powers and bring the marks on her arm to life. She must also be able to travel consciously in time, a simple mirror is no longer enough to avert the threat.

Carolyn, stand in the middle of us and the rest of you form a circle around her, take your silver wands and repeat the following words after me "ALSAHUMR EDA FOGA"

In the meantime

Carolyn and the mysterious Elisabeth had disappeared. A barely measurable amount of time had passed when Tom - cheeky as ever - exclaimed: "Where are they, they should have returned long ago. She said they would be back immediately." -

"I'm worried too," his mother replied. "What story are we slipping into right now?"

Hans looked at him, and the three trolls also looked at Tom eagerly. "Take it easy, dear Tom, we've already experienced all sorts of things together, I think we'll wait for Carolyn and Elisabeth here too. And I think your sister will have all sorts of things to report."

The phone interrupted him with a shrill ring. Marc picked up, listened for a moment and then said: "Tom, it's for you!"

Tom picked up the phone, talked to his interlocutor for a while and said as he ended the call: "That was the well-known astrophysicist Ralph Charles Bell, he's asking me to assist him with an investigation. A helicopter is already on its way, it will come and get me in a moment, take me to the nearest airfield and then it's off across the pond!" He turned to his mother and said: "You can let the school know that I won't be coming for a few days, maybe I'll have to help save the world again. I have a bad feeling about that. I'm off to pack up a few little things."

The troll Lanudas, who was squatting in Hans' jacket pocket as usual, poked his head out and fistelled: "Be careful, there's something going on again. First Carolyn disappears with a wand in her hand and now you're leaving too, I don't know what that means." Hans stroked his head reassuringly. "When you're famous, things like that happen, but I'd also like it if things stayed a bit quieter. I also feel a strange tingling in my stomach." The parents - June and Marc - looked at each other in astonishment and said in unison: "This is starting well again."

At school

It became bright and a dazzling light shone up from Carolyn's arm, in which black letters tumbled like swirling leaves in the autumn wind. They danced and grouped themselves into a line. The tall woman stepped forward, studied the signs, entered them carefully into a small booklet and then did something very strange. She pulled out her wand and stroked it through the lines of characters, which then retracted back into Carolyn's arm and immediately became invisible. As soon as this had happened, the girl felt something like a short sharp pain, which immediately faded and left a pleasantly warm feeling in her body. Her form changed into different ages, she appeared as a child, a woman and an old woman, until she finally found herself in her body as she knew it.

Her teacher Maltus pushed his way through the crowd, which was still arguing fiercely, and took her by the hand. They left the room together. They found themselves in a large hall. He turned to her and said: "A great gathering will soon take place here in this hall, and you will be the main character. All attention will be focused on you, because you have been chosen. No, not you alone, a young man who may one day be close to you will also be at your side later and will support you. If you think it's your brother Tom, you're wrong. It is not him. You will only get to know this young man I see in your future in the near future. I also notice other figures who will be with you. Let's go to your room now, I think the others have finally disappeared. I still have a few things to tell you." They withdrew.

 Chapter 5

 Explanations

A little confused, because so much had come at her, Carolyn followed him, closed the door behind her and sat down in a large leather armchair in front of the old fireplace. Lively flames suddenly flickered in it, radiating a cozy warmth. She looked at her teacher intently. Many questions pressed against her lips, and finally it came out of her: "What were the transformations that happened to me? Sometimes I was almost a baby, sometimes I felt old and weak and then I was a grown woman again. How did that happen?" The big beard opened his mouth and she heard the following words: "You can now travel through time just like Elisabeth. But these are your personal times that you will experience in your life. Once as a child, then again as a teenager, as you are now, or as an adult woman. Not many of us have this ability, and if we try together to master the threat that will come our way, this ability will be of decisive importance."

Her teacher pressed a button embedded in the wall paneling next to the fireplace and a buzzing sound was heard. A short time later, a drawer in the big old cupboard opened and lovely smells came out. "Something to eat at last," Carolyn groaned, "I'm half starved already!" She ate, and after a while, during which her teacher had also fortified himself, he stood up again and began to speak. "You've already learned a few things: about the attack on your Earth and the sinking of the small continent of Mu.

You have already had contact with the descendants of the humans who now roam the universe as vagabonds. But why this attack happened and who is responsible for it, you should find out now - before we continue with your training.