Naytnal - The legacy (english version) E-Book

Elias J. Connor

• Herausgeber: FINN Books Edition FireFly
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

The situation in Naytnal seems hopeless for Kitty and Jojo. The two fighters, who always fight for good, are transformed into vampires. Her friend Sydney and Kitty's boyfriend Dennis try to do everything in their power to save them. With the vampires of the night, a group of bat-creatures, Kitty and Jojo finally seem to get help - from a person they didn't think they would see again. Transformed back into humans, Kitty and Jojo must take on the fight against the worst and most destructive force that has ever plagued Naytnal. As if that wasn't enough, Kitty learns of a very big secret that is to be confided to her. But the fact that she knows may mean the end for Naytnal... The sixth volume of the fantasy series NAYTNAL takes Kitty and Jojo and their friends to unimaginable, dark and dangerous places and tells of a gripping, bitter fight between good and evil.

Leseprobe

Elias J. Connor

Naytnal - The legacy (english version)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Dedication

Chapter 1 - The world of Kayalin

Chapter 2 - Uncertain destination

Chapter 3 - The vampires of the night

Chapter 4 - The second mysterious book

Chapter 5 - Lisa's dream

Chapter 6 - The temples of Tayalon

Chapter 7 - Tayalon's spirits

Chapter 8 - The seventh sign

Chapter 9 - The truth about Rome Malumba

Chapter 10 - Farewell

About the author Elias J. Connor

Impressum

Dedication

For Jana.

My friend and companion.

Thank you for opening worlds and paths to me that I can see with eyes like no one has ever seen before.

Chapter 1 - The world of Kayalin

The damp air tickled Sydney's nose. Tentatively but reflexively, she crawled her fingers over her face. Then she took a firm breath, letting out a small sigh. When she opened her mouth, she felt the air taste salty. Would it be by the sea or something like that?

She still had her eyes closed. She probably wasn't strong enough to open it yet. Of course, because all the hardships that she had to endure and endure recently - especially during the relatively short time that she was here in Naytnal - had really gotten on her nerves. Without opening her eyes, Sydney imagined herself lying on some beautiful beach, perhaps somewhere in the Caribbean.

She licked her lips. The taste of salt hit her tongue and reinforced her dreams of a stand. Then Sydney turned over and snuggled up in a blanket. Where did it come from now? Sydney felt herself down. She was wrapped in a soft blanket. That must be why she was so warm. With a few deft movements of her hand, she pulled the blanket off of her, still without opening her eyes. Then she felt over her body again. Sydney was wearing a nightgown, or something very close to it. Who gave it to her? When did she put it on? When had she taken off her pants and her t-shirt and her jacket? She still had them on last time. Strange, all of this, she thought to herself.

Sydney then laid on her back again and then opened her eyes. Sydney looked at a wall. She had to be in a bed or something like that that was right against a wall. A torch flickered with a soft yellow light, far too dark to see anything else. Sydney looked up. She had to be lying in a room because there was a ceiling. It looked strange, twisted, odd - like the ceiling of a cave or something.

Could it be? Was Sydney in a cave? Where were the others who were with her last?

Sydney looked around. She saw Dennis, Leonie and Sarah lying next to her. Further down in their beds lay Lisa, the first, second and third.

Where were Kitty and Jojo? They had been with her too, Sydney could remember that clearly. What happened?

Suddenly Sydney spotted two cages next to Dennis' bed. Imprisoned inside were two strange animals that looked similar to oversized bats. They hung upside down on the bars and their wings waved gently and calmly back and forth.

Sydney sat up and looked more closely at the cages.

Suddenly the scales fell from her eyes.

“Kitty,” she breathed quietly. "Jojo..."

The bats were Kitty and Jojo. Shortly before Sydney's arrival, they were bitten by a flock of bat monsters and turned into vampires. Now it dawned on her again.

Sydney slowly got out of bed and walked towards the cages. It was difficult because she really saw almost nothing. The torch gave off only the bare minimum of light, less bright than a typical emergency exit sign. Without thinking about whether this might be dangerous, she reached through the bars and tried to touch Kitty and Jojo.

“Sydney, don’t,” she heard Dennis suddenly say. “We don’t yet know whether this could be dangerous. They were bitten by very, very vicious creatures.”

“Dennis, they haven’t had anything to eat since we arrived,” Sydney pointed out. “We have to feed them.”

“To eat,” said Dennis ironically. “Sydney, you are talking about the Empress of Naytnal and her deputy.” Dennis struggled up and felt his way along the wall until he was near Sydney.

“Dennis, where are we?”

“I don’t know,” Dennis replied. “Apparently in a cave. I’ve been awake for minutes, but I haven’t dared wake you up yet.”

Sydney grabbed his shoulder. “How long do you think we’ve been here?”

“What’s more important,” Dennis reflected, “is the question of how we got here. Someone must have brought us here. While we were sleeping.”

“What do you remember?” What was the last thing you saw?” Sydney looked hopefully into his eyes.

“Anshalyn... Everyone fled... We fled... The land was full of fire,” Dennis mused. “And Jabule and the Prophet disappeared. After he told us..."

“Seven signs will occur,” said Sydney. "Seven signs of evil." She rested her head on Dennis' shoulder. And Dennis stroked her hair.

"And we locked up Kitty and Jojo..." Dennis breathed.

“I’m sure everything will be okay,” Sydney said as comfortingly as she could. She slowly felt her neck. There it hung, the chain with the miraculous medallion. The mysterious key of power, once fused with the Stone of Truth. Sydney now even bore its power. It was a very big responsibility that she had to bear. And she wanted to do everything she could to live up to it.

“You are now Empress of Naytnal,” Dennis said quietly.

“But only temporarily,” replied Sydney. "At least I hope so."

Leonie then woke up. She stretched while yawning, and as soon as she recognized the situation, she got up extremely quickly.

"Kitty?" she breathed. “Jojo? Is everything okay?” Leonie looked around. "Where are Kitty and Jojo?" Dennis, Sydney... what happened here?” Leonie then discovered the others who were still sleeping.

“Kitty and Jojo are sleeping,” Dennis said.

Leonie then discovered the two vampire monsters in the cages. “What kind of pets did you collect?”

“But Leonie,” Sydney said then. “That’s Kitty and Jojo. Don't you know anymore? You were transformed last..."

“It’s okay,” said Leonie. “Now just keep calm. So..."

She looked around nervously. When she found something to wear, she changed. Dennis and Sydney also put on their everyday clothes again.

“What do we do now?” Dennis wanted to know.

“We should first find out where we are.” Leonie lightly nudged the other passengers and woke them up. “This is obviously a cave. We'll search them straight away and then try to find an exit." She turned to Sydney, who was now Naytnal's temporary empress. “Or what do you think, Sydney?”

“Sounds okay to me,” Sydney confirmed.

“Hey, guys,” Lisa called out sleepily. “I slept well. Where are we?” Then she spotted Kitty and Jojo in the cages. “Oh, God, what is that?”

“That’s Kitty and Jojo,” complained Dennis.

“Aha,” said Lisa.

One by one the travelers got up and got dressed. Shortly afterwards they began to search the cave. It was still very dark, and Sydney gave her friends torches that she got from Kitty and Jojo's magic bags.

They found that they were in a large, semicircular hall. Several corridors, which also resembled the interior of a grotto, led out of the room.

“The best thing is we form groups of two and go into the hallways,” Sydney then mused. “We really need to find out where we are and how long we’ve been here.”

Sydney and Leonie made up the first team. Dennis set off with Sarah, Lisa with the second, and the first and third stayed with Kitty and Jojo.

As soon as Sydney and Leonie walked into one hallway, they heard the second one calling from another hallway.

“Hey!” she called loudly. “Guess who’s back.”

Then they heard a deep, dark voice. "Hey, what's going on?" she said. “What’s going on?” asked another, even darker voice. “Shut up,” said the first voice again.

“That’s Yak-Yerrek,” Sydney said. She had to laugh because Leonie looked so surprised. “Don’t worry, Leonie, he’s a calm, gentle pterodactyl. Our taxi, so to speak. Kitty and Jojo told me a lot about him.”

“He survived the catastrophe,” shouted the second person from the other aisle. “Man, I’m glad.”

Sydney and Leonie went deeper into the hallway. At one corner it widened again and a strange light shimmered from the ceiling. Sydney and Leonie looked around. But they couldn't see a torch on the ceiling. The entire ceiling shimmered green, as if it had been painted with a phosphorus-based paint.

“What’s that glowing?” asked Sydney.

Leonie took a closer look. She craned her neck as high as she could. “There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of small crystals that all glow so strangely,” she noted. She tried to scrape off some of the crystals, but she didn't quite reach them.

“Leonie, look over here,” Sydney said suddenly.

Sydney spotted a crack that obviously had something in it. She carefully crawled around with her hands, then pulled something out - a vase. The excited girl held it carefully in her hands. She didn't know why, but she was shaking.

“Don’t drop them,” shouted Leonie, who rushed over. Leonie then gently picked up the vase.

“There are strange characters on it,” Sydney realized.

“Yes,” said Leonie. She examined the decorations and images that appeared on the vase.

The characters were in black color. The light reflected them very well, so they absolutely stood out. It looked like hieroglyphs, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. And suddenly Leonie knew where she had seen such signs before.

“They look exactly like the book in the secret library,” she noted. Leonie quickly took the book that she had brought with her out of her bag. She turned a few pages, then saw a chart that looked exactly like the characters on the vase. "See?" she said to Sydney as she showed her the book.

"And what does that mean?"

“I think it's about... a village in a desert,” Leonie said thoughtfully. “It got iced over.”

“Just like the Prophet told us,” Sydney stated.

Leonie put the vase back in its place. She preferred not to change anything in here because she knew from her work that she always had to be very careful with artifacts that she found.

Sydney and Leonie then continued searching the hallway. In another room they came across, Sydney and Leonie discovered wall paintings. There were real cave drawings, like those known from the Australian aborigines. The images always showed the same thing: a crescent moon that lay over a valley and was noticeably dark. Underneath they recognized strange characters again.

“This describes the lunar eclipse that shouldn’t be,” Leonie explained after a few minutes.

“There must be more here,” Sydney then mused. “Come on, let’s go back to the others, let’s see what they found.”

"Agreed."

Sydney and Leonie then trudged back through the corridors, through the damp cave floor, until they arrived back in the large room where they woke up.

"Leonie! Sydney!” called Dennis, who arrived back at the same time as Sarah. “We found artifacts. And lots of cave paintings.”

“Yes,” Sydney confirmed. "Us too."

“Aren’t Lisa and the second one here yet?” asked Sarah the first, who stayed with Kitty and Jojo together with the third.

“No,” she said. “Maybe they found an exit.”

“Let’s hope so,” said Dennis.

Leonie sat down on her bed and ran her fingers through her hair. Meanwhile, she continued to leaf through the mysterious book from Lantyan. “There’s still so much that I can’t understand,” she said.

Suddenly they heard footsteps. But they sounded like more than two people. And it sounded like someone was walking around wearing wooden shoes and was taller.

Everyone looked attentively in the direction from which the noise came.

“Sydney?” a voice suddenly asked. It was Lisa. As soon as she said that, she came out of one of the aisles. And behind her came the second one. And behind them suddenly three strange-looking creatures appeared. They were about six feet tall. They wore brown robes and hid their faces almost completely under a hood.

“Lisa! Second!” shouted Dennis. "Behind you!"

Lisa nodded. “I know,” she said. “They met us in one of the corridors.” Together with the creatures, Lisa and the second sat down on one of the beds.

“They don’t talk,” explained the second. “Apparently they are the ones who brought us here. They seem to live down here.”

Sydney stood up. She bowed politely to the three beings. “My name is Sydney Loona. I am from Lantyan, Colorado and am currently the Empress of the Star of Realms,” she introduced herself.

The one being then, without looking, carefully took Sydney's mysterious key of power, which hung around her neck, into her hand. After a few seconds he let go and nodded. Then he pushed down his hood, revealing the ugliest face Sydney had ever seen. It was gray, had countless folds of skin and appeared to be rough. Two large, googly eyes stood out and the mouth looked as if it were covered with calluses. It looked sadly into Sydney's eyes.

Sydney was frightened by the creature's ugliness. The other two also lifted their hoods. They looked just as ugly as the one creature. Sydney and the others looked stunned at their faces, but they tried hard not to show their shock.

“I don’t know who you are,” Sydney said. “But you obviously saved us. We would like to thank you very much for that.”

The creatures nodded.

“Say, do you know what was going on outside?” Leonie then wanted to know. “How long have we been down here?”

The one creature raised its hand. It showed a three with its fingers. The other creature shrugged.

“A great danger threatens us,” explained Sydney. “Do you know about this?”

The creatures nodded.

“The two vampires here in the cages,” Dennis began, “they are my friend Kitty and her sister Jojo. Kitty is usually Empress Naytnal. They were bitten. Is there anything we can do about it?”

“Yes,” said Lisa. “Is there any way we can change her back?”

The creatures shrugged their shoulders again.

Suddenly one of them got up and ran back to the hallway he had just come out of with Lisa and the second one. The travelers watched him, curious but unable to act.

After a few minutes, several beings arrived, all like the three of them. There must have been seventeen or eighteen. They lined up in front of the travelers and formed a semicircle.

And suddenly another creature of this kind emerged from behind them and ran towards Sydney. He gently stroked her hair, briefly looked at the medallion she wore around her neck, and then bowed.

“Empress,” it spoke in a gentle voice.

“You can talk?” said Sydney, taken aback.

“Yes,” the creature replied. “And only I am able to do that. All my friends fell silent.”

“What happened?” Sydney wanted to know. She looked at the creature thoughtfully and with pity.

“We don’t know,” he said. “We found you outside three days and three nights ago, exhausted and sleeping. You must have been through a lot of bad things. So we thought we would bring you here, you would be safer there.”

“I thank you on behalf of my friends,” Sydney thanked.

“How long did you say we were here?” Dennis asked again.

“You slept down here in our caves for three days and three nights,” the creature replied.

“Are you the inhabitants of these caves?” asked Leonie. “Did you do the paintings on the walls? Are you the ones who hoarded the strange artifacts, collected them and labeled them?”

“We are the Kayalin,” the creature began to report. “We have been living down here in our caves for years and days. We feel comfortable here underground, where no one can see us. Only very rarely, when it is very dark and no one is upstairs, do we come out now and then to stock up on food. It’s better if they don’t see us and if we don’t have to scare anyone.”

“You think people get scared when they see you?” Sydney asked.

“Look at us,” said the Kayalin. "The ugliness would describe our appearance only too vaguely." He lowered his head. “We weren't always like this. But for many years - no one knows how long - we have been the way we are. Since then we have been hiding down here in the caves of sadness. They all stopped speaking. They could no longer hear their voices. Only I, the chief among them, have retained my voice and my language. You are the first beings I have spoken to in years.”

“Why aren’t you talking anymore?” Sydney looked at the Kayalin with pity.

“I don’t know,” he said. "I do not know anything anymore. Just that we sit there and cry day in and day out. A whole stream emerged from our tears. A lake maybe.”

“If only I could help you in some way,” Sydney breathed quietly.

“You can’t do that,” said the Kayalin.

Sydney stroked the Kayalin's face. “Can you maybe help us? You know, a prophet predicted seven signs that would soon come to pass. Seven signs of evil. And once the seventh sign has arrived, absolute evil gains access to the worlds. It will destroy us all.”

“Anshalyn was destroyed. And Kitty and Jojo, our friends, have become vampires,” Dennis reported as he pointed to the cages. “The Empress Naytnal and her deputy are now creatures of evil. What can we do?"

“I don’t know,” said the Kayalin calmly. “I am unable to help you. Only if Kitty and Jojo get their power back, have their magic back, then maybe I could help you.”

“But how are we supposed to do that?” asked Sydney angrily.

“Unfortunately I don’t know,” said the Kayalin. “We are too sad to know this.”

Sydney breathed heavily and pushed her hair back from her forehead.

“We have to help them before they can help us,” Dennis summarized thoughtfully. “It really is a tangled situation.”

“And if we just look for an exit?” Sarah asked quietly.

“We can’t just leave her hanging,” Sydney snapped.

“We’re sorry we can’t do anything for you,” said the Kayalin.

“No,” replied Sydney. “We're sorry we can't help you. I may be Empress now, but my power is limited. It is really necessary that Kitty and Jojo get their magic back and that they are transformed back again.”

Leonie got up and ran to the cages. She gently stroked Kitty and Jojo's paws, then their heads. “They are my children,” she whispered sadly. “I would love to know what they are feeling, right now. There is so much good in them. You can’t have become completely evil.”

They could hear a little beeping sound. It came from the mouths of the vampires Kitty and Jojo. It sounded fearful on the one hand, but there was also a hint of hope in it.

“We have to be able to do something.” Leonie almost cried.

Driven by hopelessness, Sydney finally took out the Book of a Thousand Spells from Kitty's bag. She leafed through it. But the pages were blank.

“Please,” she breathed quietly.

Suddenly characters appeared in the book. At first the letters circled back and forth randomly on the paper, but suddenly they formed a paragraph.

“Look,” Sydney said then. And she read aloud:

“The Kayalin have lived in deep sadness for years and days. You don't know why. Her looks are gone, and so is her joy. Only if Kitty and Jojo can regain their magical power can they be helped. And only then can you be helped. You must solve the Kayalin's mystery. If you can do this, Kitty and Jojo will be able to do magic again. Good magic. And it starts with a picture.”

The paragraph ended here. With a questioning look, Sydney closed the book again. She shook her head. “It starts with a picture,” she whispered.

“A picture,” Dennis said quietly. And not two seconds later he ran to his backpack. He got out his easel and set it up.

“That’s it,” Lisa said. “Dennis needs to paint a new picture. Maybe that will get us further.”

“It certainly will,” Sarah said with renewed hope.

And then Dennis started painting.

Those present followed his brushstrokes with excitement. Dennis first painted a very light background. Then he painted in shades. Little by little they recognized an eye, then another eye. Hair emerged. And then a head appeared. At the end they recognized a smile. The image became very blurry. Nobody, not even Dennis, could tell who was in the picture.

“It’s a girl,” Dennis said quietly. “Or a woman. I have no idea who she is. Or what it means.”

“I don’t know her either,” Sydney mused. Suddenly her eyes became more intense. It was as if a light struck her right in the heart, a light that emanated from the eyes of the girl in the picture. “I don’t know her,” Sydney repeated quietly. “Why does my heart still feel so warm? I don’t know who she is, but I feel like I’ve known her for years.”

“I feel the same way,” Leonie said quietly.

“The cry for help,” Dennis said. “We still don’t know who sent the call for help to us. This picture – this creature that I painted here – it could be related to that.”

“Do you think she sent out the call for help?” Sydney wanted to know.

"I don't know... it's possible..." Dennis took a closer look at the picture. “I realize something,” he suddenly said. “Whoever I painted, she is the only person who can really help us. She must be the one who called us for help. She is the key to everything.”

“What do you mean?” Leonie looked at Dennis questioningly.

“She will be able to save us,” Dennis said. “One day she will be able to save us.”

“What happens next?” Sydney first looked questioningly at Dennis, then at the speaking Kayalin. But the Kayalin just shrugged his shoulders.

“It doesn’t matter how,” Lisa suddenly said. “We absolutely have to find Lina. I've had the feeling all along that it's absolutely necessary for Lina to come here. Here to us in Naytnal. We have to try to get in touch with her somehow.”

“If Kitty were Kitty now, she could call her through her dreams,” Leonie mused.

“We don’t know if Kitty can dream,” replied the second. “It could be dangerous. We don't know what she would dream either. There has to be another way.”

“I need a mirror or something,” Lisa then said. “And I need all my will. Yes...then I might be able to contact her.”

“Well,” said the Kayalin. “Perhaps you will find something resembling a mirror in our treasury.”

“You have a treasury?” Sydney asked curiously.

“Oh, yes,” said the Kayalin, not without pride. “Our treasures have been accumulating all this time. They are of great value.” And it was almost as if you saw a small smile flicker across Kayalin’s otherwise sad lips.

This gave Sydney and the other passengers renewed hope. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go and look for a mirror in the treasury. We’ll bring Lina here to us.”

“Bravo,” said Dennis.

While the Kayalin remained in the hall, looked after Kitty and Jojo and dismantled the beds, and while Yak-Yerrek was deeply and deeply pursuing his favorite hobby, sleeping, in another grotto, Sydney, Dennis, Lisa, Sarah, Leonie and the three Tajunas search for the Kayalin treasury. Their path ran through endless corridors, seemingly going further and further downwards. They were now all driven by the desire to get in touch with Lina, one of the most mysterious beings to ever set foot in Naytnal. A being from the outside world, Lisa's home.

And seemingly after hours, they finally found a large hall that was full of valuable chests, pictures, artifacts, statues and silver and gold coins. They had found the Kayalin's great treasury.

“That must be it,” Sydney said.

“Is that a dream for a researcher,” remarked Leonie with wide eyes.

Lisa immediately began to rummage through the treasures, which the others followed suit. Lisa found a chest in a corner. She opened it carefully.

“Look,” she said. In the chest there were lots of small statues, just as big as a child's hand. Lisa pulled one out. It looked beautiful, showing creatures with long robes and beautiful faces. “That’s what they must have looked like before,” she added pitifully. “These must be images of the Kayalin as they once were.”

Sarah found a series of pictures that looked very valuable. She looked at them for a while, then continued searching.

Dennis found a box full of gold coins. They were square. He picked one up. Many decorations could be seen on the coins. They looked dusty even though they looked new.

Leonie took a closer look at the large statues in the middle of the room.

Sydney then suddenly found a large table in another corner. On it was a coin larger than any other coin she had ever seen. It was almost the same size as the table and was mounted at an angle on a bracket. It was so smooth that it looked like a real mirror.

“Lisa, come here,” Sydney called. "I think I found something."

Everyone immediately came running and looked impressed at the large coin, the shimmer of which was reflected in the room. Even the light from the torches was reflected back from her.

“A coin,” said Lisa. “A coin like a mirror.”

Everyone else now watched what Lisa was doing. Lisa looked deeply into the coin. Hopeful. Filled with the only desire to see Lina.

Nothing happened.

“I can’t do it,” said Lisa.

“Lina is in another dimension,” the first one suddenly noticed.

“First,” Lisa breathed. "Please help me. You are a jumper who can see and travel through dimensions. Help me."

“We won’t do this alone,” explained the first. “Sydney, you must do magic with all your might. Use the Book of a Thousand Spells to help you.

Sydney did what she could. She quickly grabbed one of the magic books. She leafed through it. But there were no signs.

Lisa looked intently into the mirror, trying to spot every little hint of change.

Sydney suddenly saw characters. When they formed a sentence, she began to read aloud: “Yoledeco lavender may tay la lunar.”

Nothing happened.

Sydney read again: “Yoledeco lavender may tay la lunar.”

Again nothing happened. The coin was still smooth and nothing could be seen in it except the characters that were engraved.

"Come on. “It has to work,” Sydney said hopefully. “Yoledeco lavender may tay la lunar,” she then spoke a third time...

Suddenly something became visible in the mirror. A white smoke circled back and forth within the coin.

“That’s good,” praised Lisa.

“I feel it,” said the first excitedly. “I feel the power of dimensions.”

“I can see something,” Lisa said. She excitedly brought her hand to the coin and stroked it. Suddenly she realized that she could fit her hand properly into the coin. She put her entire arm through it... and suddenly she felt someone on the other side touch her fingers very briefly.

The first one tried very, very hard. She gathered all her strength.

The smoke disappeared.

Lisa then suddenly looked into the face of a girl. She was dark blonde, about 17 years old and was wearing a summer dress. Lisa smiled heartbreakingly from the other side of the mirror.

“Lina?” Lisa asked quietly.

“Finally!” breathed the other girl, visibly relieved.

“Lina,” Lisa said joyfully. "It's you! Lina, the secret. Finally."

“Hello, Lisa, my friend,” Lina greeted her close friend Lisa. “You look beautiful as ever.”

“You too,” Lisa returned the compliment.

“I’ve been trying to come to you for a long time,” Lina explained. "I tried through dreams, but what I saw couldn't bring me to you yet." Lina looked around questioningly. “Where are Kitty and Jojo?”

“Something terrible has happened,” Lisa said excitedly. “Kitty and Jojo were bitten by vampires. They have now become vampires themselves. We had to put them in two large cages for their protection and ours. We are desperate. We don't know how dangerous the power that Kitty and Jojo might have gained from the bite is. Your magic is gone. Sydney is currently Empress Naytnal. Lina, please, you absolutely have to come to us.”

“It's hard when Kitty doesn't carry her full faith. She must have the inner conviction that I and she are one. She must want me to come.” Lina’s voice sounded desperate, but not hopeless.

“Sydney currently has Kitty’s mysterious Key of Power,” Lisa said. “She can believe for them, with all her strength. And I firmly believe in it too. Please, Lina..."

Suddenly Lina stretched her hand through the mirror. Lisa got hold of her. She pulled Lina's arm gently but firmly... and then the mysterious girl jumped through the coin, through the mirror and arrived at Lisa, Sydney, Leonie, Dennis, Sarah and the Tajunas.

“You did it,” Lisa said happily and hugged her long-time friend Lina.

Lisa then hugged the first one and showed her how grateful she was for her help in bringing Lina here. After Lina introduced herself to everyone and greeted those she already knew, she first had to sit down. Such a dimensional jump was still extremely tiring, especially for a girl like Lina.

“It’s a good thing you brought me here,” she said, visibly relieved. “Like I said, strange things have happened in our world too. People who had loved each other for years suddenly fell apart. There was also a lunar eclipse. And much more bad things happened. I don’t know how to interpret these signs, but I knew that they originated here in Naytnal.”

“Oh dear,” said Leonie.

“We have to fight it,” said Lisa. “I had no idea that it had already hit our world, Lina.”

“We have to act quickly,” affirmed the second.

And Sarah looks thoughtful and sad.

“Lina,” Dennis began. “There is a very serious problem. You've already heard this about Kitty and Jojo. They have lost their magic and are now vampires. In order for the Kayalin - those who live here - to help us, Kitty and Jojo have to regain their magic. Can you change them back to what they were before?”

Lina looked pitiful. “As much as I would like to, I can’t,” she replied. “I can only give them back a part of their magical power. Take me to them and I will touch them.”

Sydney jumped up excitedly and clapped her hands. “Will they be able to do magic again then? Will Kitty be able to be Empress of Naytnal again?”

“I don’t know what will happen if I touch her,” Lina said, stroking Sydney’s hair. “I will do everything in my power. In the meantime, you must continue to be Naytnal’s empress, even if the demands seem very high to you.”

“Let’s go,” Leonie then said.

Sydney, Lina, Lisa and the others then followed Leonie back up into the cave where Kitty and Jojo were sitting in their cages. You could really see Leonie's thirst for research coming through - after all, she was a world-famous anthropologist for years, famous and feared as the hunter of dinosaurs. In any case, she already knew the Caves of Sadness, the home of the Kayalin, like the back of her hand, even though she had only walked through the caves once.

When they arrived at the hall where they spent the night, the Kayalin were no longer in the room. They had apparently hidden from the newcomer Lina.

“They are very shy,” Lisa said, apologizing for the underground beings’ behavior. “You don’t like to be seen.”

“They will come if we can give Kitty and Jojo their magic back.”

Lina saw the cages. She looked sadly at Kitty and Jojo who were sitting there. She saw Kitty and Jojo flapping their wings sadly, very calmly and slowly, almost laboriously.

“What’s wrong with them,” Leonie worried.

“Your strength is dwindling,” said Lina. “They have to get their magic back as quickly as possible, otherwise they will come to an end.”

“Oh, no,” Leonie and Dennis breathed in unison.

Lina very carefully opened the door to Kitty's cage. Then she reached in and gently touched Kitty on her head. And in the same second it suddenly began to glow delicately. Whether it came from Kitty's eyes, whether it was some other glimmer, no one knew.

Lina left Kitty's cage door open and then opened the door of Jojo's cage. When she touched her head, it also began to glow delicately, with a wonderful bluish-red shimmer.

“Kitty,” Lina said. “Jojo. Can you hear me? I'll give you back as much of your magic as I can. Please talk to me.”

Kitty and Jojo reared up. It was like they were stretching. Her eyes seemed to shine. But suddenly there was no longer a dangerous red glow. It seemed to be a gentle, good-natured glow.

Everyone watched excitedly. No one took their eyes off Kitty and Jojo. And each of the hearts beat wildly, full of curiosity and excitement about what was about to happen.

Suddenly you heard Kitty cheeping. And if you listened closer you could see that she was actually saying something.

“Spell,” she spoke very slowly. "Power. “Magic power” Kitty tilted her almost cute looking bat head and looked Lina in the eyes. No, she no longer looked dangerous at all. Was she still there? Was she ever?

“Li-na,” Kitty stammered. "Thanks."

“Kitty?” asked Lina. “Kitty. Are you in there?”

"I...Kitty," Kitty breathed. "I have... magic power."

“Lina... thank you,” Jojo suddenly spoke.

“Mom-my,” Kitty breathed when she saw Leonie.

“Mom is... here,” Jojo stammered.

“Kitty! Jojo!” Leonie then said excitedly. “It's you. It really is you. Children, I am with you. Your mom is here with you. Don’t be afraid.” Leonie almost cried.

“Jojo,” said Lina. “Kitty. It worked. It did, right?” Lina looked at Kitty and Jojo happily and hopefully.

“We have strength again,” Kitty said slowly and quietly. “Good magic.”

“We’re lonely,” Jojo then said.

“But we are with you,” said Dennis.

“Den-nis,” Kitty breathed. "My friend."

“Yes, Kitty,” Dennis said, smiling. “I still am. And I always will be.”

“Don’t let us go,” Kitty then breathed. "Too dangerous."

“But you’re good beings again now,” Sarah interjected. "Or not?"

“We’re vampires,” Kitty said.

“Sleep during the day, wake up at night,” Jojo explained. “Can be dangerous.”

Sarah looked sad. She was obviously pondering something specific. And she looked so desperate.

Suddenly, after a few minutes, some of the Kayalin came back into the large hall. They carefully went to Lina and looked at her. They didn't dare go really close to them. They always maintained a safe distance. But they showed themselves to her.

“That’s them,” Lisa introduced the Kayalin to Lina.

“It’s an honor,” said Lina. “You saved my friends. I found the way to them through your treasury. I thank you very much for that.” Lina nodded, then straightened her hair, but she didn’t get too close to Kayalin either. After all, she knew how shy they were.

The cage doors of Kitty and Jojo's current location were still open. Sydney looked over at Kitty and Jojo. She noticed that the Kayalin were not at all shy about them.

Kitty and Jojo looked curious. Her paws felt their way up the open doors. Her wings hung limply. Suddenly Kitty jumped and jumped out of her cage. Just seconds later, Jojo hopped out too.

“My God…” breathed the second. “You… won’t hurt us now?”

“I don’t think so,” said Dennis thoughtfully.

Everyone looked excitedly at Kitty and Jojo.

And Sarah still looked very sad.

Kitty went to Sarah. She stood in front of them. Very carefully - almost as if Kitty was trying not to hurt Sarah - she stroked her hair over it. Sarah almost stopped breathing. But her sadness was greater than her fear. And deep down she knew she didn't have to be afraid of Kitty.

"Sarah..." Kitty breathed. "You are thinking. You're sad..."

“Yes,” Sarah admitted. Her gaze dropped as she brushed a strand of hair from her wet forehead.

“What’s wrong with Sarah?” Kitty asked slowly.

"Anshalyn..." Sarah whispered. “I don’t know what will happen to my brothers and sisters.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---