Chapter 4

The border of the city, which had been built hundreds of years ago, was a huge wall around the whole of Edinburgh. At each corner, there was a letter. N, S, E and W. They all stood for the compass points. The portal was supposed to be at north, but no one had the guts to go there, as there were rumours that the borders were we’re all the dangerous people hang out. But this was much more important than them, so the lion and Duhan continued to make their way toward the north corner.

The moon was breath-taking, and there were sounds that Duhan had never heard. The lion struggled, as he was still wounded. He would rest every so often. Suddenly, they approached the portal.

As they stood in front of the portal, someone started to yell. The game was up. Struggling, the lion continued to make its way up to the portal. A metal stand hung off the wall, shadowed the portal. Duhan, who was still worrying about the yells, could feel himself getting dragged into the portal. A shining sun, which was like reliving summer camp, glowed on the other side.  Then, it disappeared; the blue sky turned into stars; the butterflies turned into fire-flies; the shining sun turned into the magnificent moon.

In a blink of an eye, there were several special agents swarming around, shouting threats at them. Suddenly, they all stopped and stared right at the lion. They seemed to be hypnotised. The lion had his eyes closed but Duhan could feel the lion was working more magic.

“The time has come,” whispered the lion, turning to face Duhan, still with his eyes closed. The portal had changed, instead of the beautiful night sky, it was a universe, it had different galaxies and countless planets. “I will be back, when I am better,” sighed the lion. And out of the blue, he took a giant leap and went through the portal…

…and then floated in the endless universe, swimming elegantly through the giant jacuzzi full of stars. Every movement, there seemed to be more and more stars. There was darkness and light and energy and excitement… and happiness. Eventually, his beautiful body started to disappear and turn into little tiny sparks that turned into stars. Once all that was done, he was gone.

Duhan turned his head, shocked after what he had just witnessed. The agents were all gone, they had ran away like cowards. The sun awoke from its might slumber, and illuminated the beautiful city of Edinburgh. It was a warm summers morning, the sky was blue, the sun was up and the birds started to sing.

The lion would always be in his mind. Duhan felt like a changed person. He felt more confident and stronger. He made his way back to the check point. Duhan held his breath as he went through. He was allowed through and he kept his head down. It felt different.