Beyond - Chapter 1

Have you ever wondered how some writers can come up with their stories? For example, how did J. R. R. Tolkien create Middle Earth? How did C. S. Lewis tell the tales of Narnia? How did G. R. R. Martin express so much emotion in Westeros? And how were J. K. Rowling's characters so real? What if they were all real and these writers were retelling their real adventures but we, being so naïve, believe them to be fiction? This is what we now realize at least. After all, we had an adventure like theirs as well. And I will attempt to retell this story to encourage you to tell yours, no matter how unbelievable it may seem.

In our story, our heroes travel to a new world in turmoil where the threats are genuine and they will have to discover their inner strengths and weaknesses, attributes that they may not be aware they have. They will experience love, friendship, and victory. Heartbreak, betrayal, and loss. But at the beginning, all they knew was that they were on vacation after finishing their first year of college. This adventure began in the southern regions of the American continent when this group of friends decided their time off was for travel and adventure in ways they never had before.

“We are really doing this. Like actually, really, truly doing this. No school or work for weeks, no drama, no responsibilities... except making sure J.C. didn’t forget to pack our tent!” Rylie playfully said, trying to start her usual banter with her boyfriend. “The wind in our faces, sailing into the sunset, is the very feeling of freedom!” The breeze dancing with her almond-brown silky hair seemed to agree. Rylie was a slim girl, whose raw athleticism and competitive nature had earned her medals in every sport she participated in, from track and field, all the way to tennis nationals when she was in high school.

J.C. took in a big breath, trying to savor the moment. “Back in the motherland. Back home. And it is GOOD to be back, isn’t it, bro?” J.C. said, looking at his best friend since he was three.

“That it is, brother. That it is.” Alex replied back. Alex and J.C. had moved to the US to study abroad three years ago and hadn’t been able to visit since, until this trip. They were sailing on the Argentine Lake, near the Perito Moreno glaciers, south of Patagonia in Argentina. He, J.C., and Rylie had planned this camping trip for months, along with their two other traveling companions, James and Sophie. They were on a boat as part of the tour of the Argentine Lake that would eventually drop them at the port they could hike towards the campsite.

“Aren’t you two from Buenos Aires, like 1800 miles north of here?” Sophie stated in a very matter-of-fact tone. “This TECHNICALLY wouldn’t be the same air, seeing as you’re from the city and this is pure unpolluted glacial air. And…”

“And we really don’t care that you think you know everything.” J.C. confidently interjected. “The point is precisely that it doesn’t matter, we don’t have to worry about anything.” J.C. was definitely the fittest member of the group. He was part of the basketball team in college, absolute ladies' man (which girls on campus would say it’s a shame he has a girlfriend) but, contrary to his outside meat-head appearance, he was top of his class in every class he was in… except in Biology, where he was battling for that spot with Sophie Arlington.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little fun fact!” James gallantly commented to protect Sophie’s honor.

“Awww, there’s the knight in shining armor trying to protect his princess,” teased Rylie, knowing full well they weren’t dating. Sophie’s petite and elvish demeanor certainly gave her an animated princess look to her. James Rocke blushed, which was precisely the reaction Rylie Jones was searching for. James wasn’t one to get caught off guard, he was usually a very poised and firm person, built like a runner, but his new “embarrassing” crush on Sophie betrayed his appearance. “The rich girl and the commoner. You guys are a Disney movie in the making!”

“Guys, look!” Alex interrupted. They all ran as close to the boat railing on the side Alex was on to see. From the boat, the Perito Moreno glacier looked like an imposing wall of white and grayish-blue with rough ends, making it look like an unfinished marble sculpture. Where Alex was pointing, a large chunk of the glacier began to fall into the water, creating a ripple large enough it reached their boat, even though they were more than a safe distance away. The break echoed through the lake, almost like a cannon, in such a way that demanded everyone’s silence.

After a few seconds, all they could muster to say was “wooooow” in perfect unison.

“It is fate.” Said J.C. “Our land is giving you guys a warm welcome and its seal of approval to this getaway.” Seeing a piece of the glacier fall was a fairly rare occurrence.

“That’s a very metaphorical ‘warm’, babe. We are in 27-degree weather.” Rylie shivered as she zipped up her jacket. “How much longer till we get there? Hiking HAS to warm me up.”

“Just like 15 more minutes,” Alex said. He had been talking with the captain moments ago. “Gracias, jefe!” He said back in Spanish at the man going back in the boat. “From there it’s just about a twenty-minute hike through the forest trail to get to the main camping grounds.”

“But we’re not going to the main camping grounds, now, are we?” James whispered to the group with a subtle shine in his eyes. “We are going to see how close we can get to the ice caves and explore a little, right? That’s still the plan?

“You know it is, my guy.” Alex beamed back. They had read that the glacier had so many ice caves that had never been explored, and they wanted to be the first ones to explore some of them.

“I didn’t know you liked camping and hiking that much, Alex, seeing how you love to read and stay at home.” Remarked Sophie.

“Well-”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Arlington. My guy has a secret dangerous side. You guys just haven’t seen it yet.” J.C. interjected playfully.

“Yup. Exactly.” Alex tended to agree with most things his childhood friend would say, even things he wasn’t even sure were true. But Sophie wasn’t wrong, camping really wasn’t his style. If given a choice between going out to socialize or staying at home, the real question would be ‘what movie are we watching?’ However, having grown up with a social butterfly like J.C. had given him a similar reputation to that of his friend: Confident joker, great with women, and the life of the party. Really, he just had some of his friend’s popularity rub off on him. Collateral popularity is what Alex like telling himself. Alex was a good-looking guy, with brown curly hair and green-blue eyes, but he definitely didn’t have the fitness his friend had or the presence he manifested. He definitely would never talk to a girl he fancied if J.C. wasn’t there. But he enjoyed being with his friends so much, he tended not to voice what he really wanted to do in order to be with them. Even if it did mean camping in the middle of a forest next to the frozen south.

“See? These 7 days we have will have us back to our roots, living off the land, being one with nature.” J.C. closed his eyes as if creating the image he was describing in his mind.

“Remind me - do Coca-Cola and hot dogs count as living off the land?” Rylie said, taking a sip of her boyfriend's coke can. Everyone burst into laughter.

The boat dropped them at the port near the south of the lake and they took their gear and hiked the trail through the mountainous forest. It took them around thirty minutes to get to the campsite and another few minutes to get as far as possible within the possible campgrounds. It was 7 pm so the sun had already set by the time they finished setting up the tents. So as to not make anyone uncomfortable, they had a tent for the girls and one for the guys, facing each other. Though they were technically within the camping grounds, you couldn’t see any other tents or people, which was the isolation they were looking for.

The first couple of nights they used to enjoy nature to its fullest. They drank a traditional argentine drink Alex and J.C. introduced to them called mate (although Alex argued that it was more of an experience than just a simple drink), played card games, and would go rest by the lake. They would hike around the area, especially further up the mountains, to get a better feel of where the glacier was so that they knew which direction to head when their spelunking adventures were to be.

On the fourth night, the night before they were going to pick up their things and secretly head to the caves, J.C. woke up hearing a familiar melancholic tune playing on the harmonica. He saw Alex up on a higher spot on a rock that gave clear view of the valley.

“You have gotten seriously good at the harmonica, especially considering you started playing it as a joke,” remarked J.C. Alex just kept playing, only barely acknowledging his friend. “Hey, man, you ok?”

“Yeah, dude, I’m fine.” he said and got back to playing his harmonica. J.C. remained silent, giving his friend space to speak if he wanted to.

Alex stopped playing the melodious tune and sighed. “I don’t know, dude. You guys all have experience hiking and rock climbing. Except maybe Sophie, but James will be practically holding her hand the entire time. I’m not as athletic or adventurous as you. Maybe I should just stay back and have you guys do your couples thing.”

“Nuh-uh. No way. You are not backing out now. I need you! You’re my best friend, I want to do stuff like this with you, not have you wait back. Where’s this all coming from?” J.C. looked for words to understand what was happening.

“I always mess up, man. Look back on any trip, like two years ago in high school, how I got confused on our road trip trying to drive across the state to get you to surprise Rylie. It was a 3 hour trip through Colorado and somehow got us lost. I ruined the whole thing, you barely got to see her and we drove right back. I always mess up.”

“Dude, all I remember from that trip was having a good time with you and telling Rylie I loved her, how is that messing up?”

“It’s more than that. I’m helpless alone, I wasn’t even able to ask out Caroline without you walking me through it and basically ruining my date with her because I was so lost. I’m now the worst date she ever had. Everything I am a part of… I make things worst just by being there…”

“Dude, I promise you -” but J.C. abruptly stopped speaking. They heard a roar coming from the not-so-distant shore opposite where they had camped that removed any trace of sentimental talk from their minds.

“Um… J.C. are there bears in this region?” Alex asked with controlled shock.

“Nope. pumas, maybe, though they are rare… There are mostly llamas.” J.C. responded in just as much shock as Alex.

“ I know I failed biology in high school but… llamas don’t roar.”

They heard the roar again, but this time it sounded closer. In an attempt that they believed to be very courageous, they moved a little higher and carefully walked across the rocky mount to where they heard the roar. They walked for about 5 minutes until they reached the origin of the roar. And what they saw, made no sense.

A large brown behemoth was feasting on its prey by the shore next to the glacier. It was bear-like, but what they saw wasn’t a bear. Instead of fur on its back, it looked like it had an armored carapace, like a turtle but suited for medieval war. Its hind legs were normal but its paws were exposed muscles covered by a translucent layer of skin. And its head was more coyote than bear. Whatever this monster was, it was enjoying its meal, eating what looked to be a shark.

“J. C.” Whispered Alex,

“Uh huh,” J. C. whispered back.

“Are there sharks in Lake Argentino?”

“Nope. Different types of trout.”

“I know I failed biology in high school but… trout aren’t sharks.” Stated Alex, his shock now slowly creeping into the scared feeling territory.

“This literally makes no sense! What in the pokemon world is that?!” J.C.’s shock betrayed him and he spoke louder than he had anticipated.

The monstrous bear/turtle/coyote paused. It slowly turned around until it met the gaze of the two students. With the realization that his meal had been interrupted, the beast roared louder than ever before. And, with what some might consider a less-than-manly scream, the two friends began to run.

“We can’t run back to the campsite, our friends are there!!” Alexander pointed out.

“Then where do we run to?!” J.C. replied, never slowing down.

“Ok, you go warn everyone, I’ll lead this mutant thing away and circle back to the campsite.”

“Ok, sounds... YOU WILL DO WHAT?! DUDE, COME BACK!” Before J.C. could process what Alex had just said, Alex ran in a different direction, closer to the glacier instead of towards the camp. By some unknown choice, the beast decided to follow Alex.

Alex had never been more grateful for the cardio workout his ruthless soccer coach had made him do because even with this much training, he was barely keeping his distance from the monster. He had no idea what drove him to become human bait, but he kept running, with the roars of a hungry demon behind him. He was looking for a way to turn around and circle back to the campgrounds, but it seemed like he had been so worried about running away that Alex didn’t realize he ran uphill straight to the glacier. So circling back meant he would have to run down a very rocky, dangerous, and unstable hill. Not a great idea. Luckily, he saw what seemed to be a cave he could hide in!

He ran in and quickly became wrapped in the frigid darkness of the cave. He checked his pockets for his phone, but he only had his harmonica there. Panic started to set in. For a second, he considered turning back, but the bear/coyote/turtle beast’s roar echoed behind him as if challenging his thoughts. He kept running, not knowing where to step, his feet never taking a proper step trying not to slip on the frozen floor. His eyes were finally starting to adjust to the darkness only to bump his head straight into a stalactite, knocking him off his feet. His vision started to blur, which was a funny feeling considering things were still almost pitch dark, so blurry darkness just made things more confusing. As a reminder of his imminent danger, the monster roared again behind him, only closer. The heavy steps sounded behind him, announcing its presence. Unable to stand up because of how dizzy he felt, he crawled forward only to fall through a hole in the ground! It felt like a creepy and dark water slide that just didn’t end, twisting and turning, which didn’t help his growing headache.

After what seemed an eternity, Alex saw a light approaching! He closed his eyes tight to not be blinded by the light, but to no avail. The sudden change of scenery was too extreme, his senses got disoriented even worse. Not to mention that what he saw made no sense. He was at the edge of a dense forest with what seemed to be the midday sun shining in the sky. This was not the wintery Argentino Lake.

To add to his panic and disorientation, he once again heard the terrifying roar of the monster. ‘HOW IS THE MONSTER STILL FOLLOWING ME’ is all he could think. Alex risked a quick look behind him. The risk was not worth the reward. The bear was right behind him, with its claws already winded up to slash him. Alex sidestepped which helped evade the claws, but not its massive paw. The sheer force knocked the wind out of him as he flew back. He didn’t even have enough strength to muster a proper cry of pain, so Alex just whined on the ground. He tried to get up and, through his blurry vision, he could see blood dripping to the ground from his head and nose. His head throbbed in pain so hard that he couldn’t focus even on the ground. His ribs felt like mulch and he could taste the metallic flavor of his own blood in his mouth. But instead of giving up, he felt enraged. Angry at everything that was happening to him. Every emotion boiling within him. He couldn’t take feeling helpless again.

Not sure what to expect, he took up all his energy and centered it on getting up. He stared down at the giant brown blur in front of him, not sure what he would do. And then he just yelled. But this wasn’t a normal cry for help type of scream. It was a guttural sound, almost like a roar, that came from somewhere within him. His vision began to fade away as he slipped into unconsciousness due to pain and exhaustion, but he was determined to at least scare the wild animal away. He felt something snap within him right as his vision disappeared completely and fell to the ground completely drained. He didn’t know what happened, but he felt a strong heat wave smacking his body seemingly out of nowhere as if somebody had blasted him and the monster with a meteor. The last thing he heard was an agonizing whine of pain coming from the animal as he burnt away, scorched by the fire of his unknown savior.