Gaea’s Reach: Beyond (V 2.0)

Hello everyone,

I did not get to write anything for a while due to some stuff such as looking for a job and doing some design tests for several game companies. With all that, I have decided to go and revise “Beyond” which was the second story I ever put down on paper and wrote back in March 2017 (about a year ago. Wow! Time flies!).

This one is a longer version (previous version HERE) and one that fits better into my world of Gaea’s Reach. While the first version ended in a somewhat optimistic way (and played in my head like something from a Walt Disney short film), this one gives a better view of how I shaped this universe and a glimpse into what is lurking out there, far beyond what we are capable of seeing with our technology.

Although I didn’t get to edit it much, I hope you will enjoy reading it. As usual, feel free to leave comments, criticism, and thoughts. Those are always welcome.

/Thumbs up

Beyond (V 2.0)

In my opinion, dreams are often doors to another life. Our consciousness will travel through time and space, resuming our other life. What if these lives can become intertwined with one another while both individuals sharing them are still fully aware of their surroundings? When we are experiencing an event such as daydreaming, even if for a short time, are we thinning the veil between this life and another?
The idea came to my mind after an event that happened to me several months back.
Sitting in my bedroom, I began to meditate as it relieved me from stress and calmed my mind before the upcoming day.
Clearing my thoughts was smoother than usual. I felt a sensation that I could not explain.
There was a child’s laughter right outside the bedroom’s door. It quickly changed into soft giggles. The laughter did not bother me until a moment later: I have dropped the kids at school, my wife was working out of the house that day. I was supposed to be alone.
I tried to open my eyes but felt paralyzed. The soft and shy laughter came from about three to four feet away. An image of kids at play when they see someone new but not sure how to approach them came to my mind.
My eyes began to itch, and a moment later, with my eyes still shut, I could see again. It was a blur at first, but slowly my eyes adjusted to the vibrant colors and shapes around me. It was still my bedroom, but it was different. I could not point at the reason why.
I began to see waves of color when a low humming sound filled my ears. The sound tingled my skin. It slowly faded away as my senses were calibrating to this new sensation.
The soft laughter reached my ears. I turned my head slowly towards the door. A bright white light caught my eye. It became brighter and took the form of an outline of three beings. They had no physical form but were childlike in appearance by their silhouettes.
One was barely peeking in while the other two, who were much braver than the first, looked inside and had their hands on the door frame, their fingers long and slim.
They were laughing, looking at me, looking at each other as to verify a question that was probably along the lines of what are we looking at or who is that weird creature? Or perhaps these were my thoughts?
One of the light beings pointed at something behind me and gestured to me to turn around. I pushed myself into the chair and spun it around towards the window that was behind me. The parking lot was gone. Instead, I have witnessed the most breathtaking, beautiful, and unimaginable sight: Skyscrapers, domes, pyramids, and monoliths grew out of the earth. Bridges made of ever-changing lights connected the buildings. The atmosphere had an aura and magnificent colors as the sun poured bright white light that created even more colors as it bounced from the great constructs.
The city was full of life such as I have never seen before. From the smallest creatures to the largest; they all shared the same streets, homes, space, and life.
The beings walked passed me and to the window. They looked at me once, then one by one, they climbed down and out to the city. I hesitated at first, but then got up and followed them. I leaned against the edge of the window and looked outside; the city stretched as far as the eye could see. It took me a moment to understand that my window had no wall on its other side, and was hovering in mid-air.
I climbed down the window that was about four feet above the ground. A static sensation surrounded me. I took the first step, and the light produced ripples when my foot came in contact with the surface. Walking on the bridge made me feel like I was levitating; it was not physical, yet supported my weight.
A warm feeling formed on my hand. When I looked down, one of the light beings who brought me here had embarrassed my hand in its own. They led me through the streets in what seemed like a guided tour. We crossed bridges, plazas, and boulevards.
The trio who brought me to this place were not kids. These beings were short and curious by nature. We reached a large plaza surrounded by skyscrapers and a beautiful crystal dome. Behind us were others who followed us. They were standing around me, scanning me head to toe.
Images of with symbols of friendship and acceptance filled my mind. The light beings accepted me as one of their own. “Where do you want to go next”? The words formed in my mind. Surprised at first, I looked around and saw a pyramid. “There”! I pointed and headed towards it, almost dragging my guide behind me due to its short legs.
We were almost at the pyramid when my guide pulled my hand and brought me to a halt. “What is wrong”? I asked and looked down. All of the beings had their eyes set on the sky above. A dark shadow slowly covered the sun and I looked up.
A dark cloud grew above us. The air became humid, almost to the point of suffocation. The guide’s grip on my hand tightened. It pushed itself against me; it was scared.
A violent thunder shattered a nearby crystal dome. A skyscraper had lost its light and became brown and lifeless. Its walls slowly crumbled and I watched it collapse in slow motion.
There was a thunder followed by an outer-worldly ear deafening roar. The roar became louder, extinguishing the light from the streets and stripping it away from the light beings. Without their bright light around them, I could see their physical form; Bluish rubbery skin, slim body, enlarged head with small black eyes and a thin slit for a mouth. I could not notice any distinction between male and female, and they might have been androgynous altogether.
A wave of destruction wrecked havoc through the streets, shattering many of the crystal structures. The light being that stood in its wake collapsed and lay motionless on the ground. My guide was holding on to my hand with their last ounce of strength. It fought to stay up on their feet.
It looked at me with tired eyes. Voiceless words traveled through my mind in a song of fear and sadness.
There was a build of electricity in the air, and a flash of purple and silver slashed the clouds above. The ones who were still able to move were holding the side of their heads, covering tiny hear halls as they lacked defined ears. Another roar ravaged the landscape, followed by the sound of shattered glass. The ground trembled when another skyscraper came crashing down.
I was the only one still standing. The city was in ruins. I didn’t know what to do. I was thinking of hiding, but I didn’t want to leave my guide, my friend alone. I picked them up, cradling them like a newborn and ran to a corner of a building that was still up. I hid behind several odd plants that were bright and vibrant before, now brown and showing signs of prolonged decay.
A crackling purple and silver lightning hit the center of the plaza. The shockwave was intense and fell flat on my back. I looked to my side and saw my guide; It was motionless with a blank look in its eyes. It died from the impact.
I sat up and looked past the dead bush. At the center of the plaza was a crater. A dark and tall human figure was standing in the center of it.
The man’s skin was black like the night sky. There was something about him, an aura perhaps, that reeked of pure evil. The man’s very presence made me feel ill. He began walking towards the pyramid, but then stopped. Its head turned to my direction, its gaze landing on the bush I was hiding in. How did it know that I was there?
A moment later, before I could blink and another lightning strike the ground, the man was few feet away from me. Then he moved with blinding speed and towered over me. He scanned me with blackened eyes that were devoid of any emotion.
The shadow that covered the sun grew and was everywhere. The man’s gaze slowly shifted to the sky. Through the darkened clouds, a massive tentacle swooped down, flattening an entire section of the city with one blow.
The descending shadow was a creature of massive proportions. A single sliver of purple mist was in its center. The sliver widened, revealing rows of sharp jagged teeth. The maw spewed yellow gas that filled the atmosphere, coloring it with a sickly shade of mustard.
The gas smelled rancid and reminded me of death and decay. It burnt my nose and lungs. I kept watching with horror as the beast roared again, this time a yellow eye appeared from the center of the maw.
It scanned the area and landed on me. I felt a dark and cold tendril growing around my heart. The man looked at me. His black eyes locked with mine. He approached me slowly with calculated steps. I could not shake the feeling that he was of royalty; something in his facial features reminded me of a Renaissance statue. IT was the way he carried himself and his posture.
I couldn’t breathe. I thought that this was just a dream; it couldn’t be real. I liked the light beings. They were all dead now. I wanted out and back to reality.
The man reached out to catch me but stopped and pulled back. I felt a spark deep within my heart that pushed the shadow away. There was something different about the man’s face. His mouth curved into a frown and I could feel hatred and deep anger pulsing out from him.
It was not directed at me but to something behind me. I felt long and gentle fingers on my shoulder. “You should not be here, human.” a soft but stern voice of a woman filled my mind. I wanted to turn around and look at her, but she stopped me. “You are not ready to lay your eyes upon me, human,” she said calmly. “One glance and your mind will shatter as you cannot yet grasp my existence.”
I did as she asked and did not look at her. I was not sure what could have been more mind-shattering after what I have been through, but I took her word for it. “It is time for you to go home.” The words echoed in my head.
I felt my body being torn apart by a massive force. A loud roar filled my ears, but this was not the beast. “What is your problem?” I heard a human voice shouting at me, then a honk of a car’s horn.
I opened my eyes and looked around me. I was in the public parking lot about a hundred yards from my house. A young man in a white convertible yelled at me, peeking his head out the window, angrily waving his hand at me.
I instinctively reached to my shoulder, then looked around me for the woman who saved me. There was no one there.
“Get out of the way!” The driver yelled again and honked repeatedly. I was confused but moved to the sidewalk. He floored the gas pedal, the tires screamed, leaving the scent of burnt rubber behind. “Asshole!” he yelled at me as the white car disappeared down the street and around the corner.
I stood there for a moment staring at my house. Was I here? Am I back? What happened? How did I get to the parking lot?
Was it all just a dream? Were all the light beings dead? The sight of destruction, that odd man, and the eye, will forever be carved in my mind.

For more stories and information: The World of Gaea’s Reach

Thoughts about my crowdfunding campaign (five days in).

Hi all!

By now you probably know that I have started a crowdfunding campaign for my book “Gaea’s Reach: short stories collection, Vol.1”.

When you go to Indiegogo or Kickstarter and browse the pages of numerous individuals, companies, and business, who are asking for funds for a new tech gadget, an apron that cleans itself, or a book (like in my case), you probably never give much thought to the process that brought the campaigns to life.

Let me tell you that so far it has been a rough and tough journey! If you ever thought to yourself that crowdfunding is easy… Well, guess again! It is not easy at all actually. It is not hard either…

To be honest, few days into the campaign, I see things that were missed while doing my research and planning it. Obviously, if this campaign is not going to hit the end mark I will try again and again because I am not a quitter. This is still the first week and only now, at the end of it, things are starting to shape and move.

• I should have probably “shouted” more about the campaign before it went live.

I don’t think that this is a bad thing and with another month to go, I believe that I will get the funds that I need to proceed. Especially now with every update, I upload here or on the campaign page.

 

What I am trying to say is that if you ever thought to yourself about crowdfunding your ideas, and you think that you have it all down and got all that you need for a successful campaign, then go for another round of research and planning before you hit that “Launch” button.

• Also, running a crowdfunding campaign by yourself can be a bit hard and nerve wrecking at some points.

I have been sitting every day trying to think what and where to post. Twitter? Facebook? How about LinkedIn? And obviously on my WordPress blog.

I opened a Twitter account just for this. So far, my posts are spreading around pretty fast.

• Much faster than on Facebook where I have friends and supposedly better connections (which is something that I do not quite understand).

 

This post is not a rant, or a cry, or nothing negative really. This is just me sharing my experience so far with my crowdfunding campaign.

The status of the campaign right now is somewhat of a downer as I have gained only one backer so far. But believe me that when my phone notification went off and it said “Congratulations! Someone just backed your campaign”, I screamed with joy!

It is the small and little things in life, such as the first backer of your campaign, that make you smile and say “Let’s do this”!

I will keep posting about my experience and the crowdfunding campaign until it is over and then I will continue bugging you about my creation, stories short and long, ideas, and experiences.

Why? Because it is my dream and I am not letting myself down (and neither should you).

So thumbs up to all who are reading this, to my followers here, on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

 

And some promotion because I do need your support (like, share, spread the word, and if you feel good about it, contribute).

Check Gaea’s Reach: short stories collection, Vol.1 page (WordPress):   https://yakirgar.wordpress.com/the-world-of-gaeas-reach/

Check my campaign page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GaeasReach/

Check the crowdfunding campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gaea-s-reach-short-stories-collection-vol-1#/

Twitter (if anyone is interested): @YaksterX

 

Thank you, and Laters!

Gaea’s Reach Crowdfunding campaign is LIVE!

Hello all!

To all the people who viewed, shared, and followed me, I am excited to announce that the crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for editorial services is now live!

 

Gaea’s Reach – Crowdfunding Campaign

I wanted to get this done months ago but as time past I came to an understanding that I am probably not going to be able to do this by myself.

Luckily there are crowdfunding communities such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. I chose Indiegogo after much research and a very long time of wondering what and how to do this.

Finally, I am somewhat of a step closer to publish my first short stories collection. I know that this is just the first day but I am excited about it more than I have ever been in my life (actually that is reserved for the moment my daughter was born but you get the idea).

I know that this is a short post but I hope to get as much attention as possible. Please go and share my work and campaign. Spread the word as much as you can.

 

Thank you all!

 

For more information about the world of Gaea’s Reach:

Short Story – Beyond

Gaea’s Reach; Appendix

Update: Gaea’s Reach, Story Collection Vol.1

Update: Gaea’s Reach, Story Collection Vol.1

Hello everyone!

I promised an update and I am a man of my word.

The book that I am working on which is a collection of short stories and two novelettes (I got carried away what can I say?), has a name! I am happy to introduce “Gaea’s Reach, Story Collection Vol.1”

As if that was not an exciting update, I am also very excited to let you all know that I have finished the first draft of the manuscript! After formatting it into a 6×9 inch book, New Times Roman font at 14pts, it now has 340 pages with an average of 260 words per page.

To be honest I am happy and relieved, scared and stressed out of what is going to happen next as I have never actually published a book before. I keep telling myself “Hey, you got so far, nothing to be scared of”.

I will do some editing and upload several short parts of the book so everyone can enjoy and get the idea for the atmosphere and direction that the stories are shrouded with.

Until then I would like to thank all of you (even if there are only a handful of you reading my posts every week, thank you!). Also to my wife who is somehow able to take my shit on a daily basis, and to friends and family who have supported me mentally through the past nine months.

I am going to give the manuscript a week of resting in my Hard Drive, and then phase two will start which will be me reading it all over again and making sure it is all good, fixing what needs to be fixed, leave the good and toss the bad.

So until next time, Thank you!

 

 

What have I done in the past nine months?

Hello everyone (all of my two and a half followers – cheers to you!)!

Just as the topic of this post suggests, I am going to talk about what I have done in the past nine months since June 2016.

One fairly hot and dry morning (I live in South California), I have decided that after 34 years of writing stories, making stories, and telling stories mostly to a small crowd of friends and family, I should post my stories.

I had no idea which story to post as most of them were in my head and not on paper. I thought what a great idea it would be to bring them out of my head so more people could read them.

I wrote a story that I called “Ruins”. Ruins is set somewhere in the 1920’s or so after WWI. It is not about the war although the name might suggest so. It is actually about an archaeologist who finds a hidden city. Unfortunately, things are not going well for him and well he ends up being suspended between dream and reality – or is he?

I really enjoyed writing Ruins and left it as is – raw and unedited, the same way I wrote it in its original draft. I let my wife read it and she said; “Did you write this”? I said yeah and she was surprised. 

I wrote another shorter story the next day and let her read it. She did not like it as much as the former one but said it was quite good and completely different in tone and vibe. She then proposed a challenge; write a story that is a horror story but not supernatural.

I quickly sat down and thought of a story which was harder than I thought until three days later I came up with a short story that had nothing to do with supernatural beings such in the previous two.

This story was called She-Devil, and again, unlike the title, had nothing to do with the devil but with how the main character saw another character in his head and the rest… well, I am not going to spoil that part.

By the end of August I had five stories that I felt were good enough to show others and so I did; sent one to a friend, showed my wife, and even my aunt got to read several of them. I encountered mostly positive reactions and was surprised (to be honest).

That night in bed, while looking at the dusty ceiling fan I have decided to make a collection of stories and publish them as a book! 

It was a great idea but I had no clue on how to do that since I have never tried such a bold thing before and so I went into a research frenzy using Dr. Google who obviously knows everything. In the end, I figured I should go with an ebook which seemed like a fairly good idea at the time and still is.

The months have passed and with each story that I wrote I breadth life into more and more characters and a unique world. Each story can be read as a self-published story but they are all connected in a way; either a character or a name, an event or details here and there that shed light on each other.

I wanted to create a piece that will show a universe that I have created that is connected and not alienated – and although there is a chronological order to the stories, I chose to edit them in a not so chronological order within the book itself.

I found myself writing the end of a story and moving on to a different story just to come back later and write the beginning with the middle part having to do with another story. Yet with all that, it all made perfect sense and I was happy with the results.

I am also very happy to announce that although I have no name for the book (not yet although I am playing with some names in my big fat head), I am a few pages away from finishing it. More than that I also looked into editing services to fix grammar and sentence formation because first of all, I am not that great with grammar, and second, English is not my first language although I choose to use it because I live in the US as I have stated at the beginning of this post.

I hope that the process of editing and publishing would be fast and I am currently looking at several forms of getting the funds needed for the book to be published.

I have many more stories in my head that I would like and love to bring out and share. I think the fact that I have chosen short story for the medium of telling my stories helped me a lot with character creation and world building. My next project might be a chapter book, but I have to say that these last nine months were fantastic and offered me a great experience within the world of writing.

I will update the progress of my work and meanwhile post a new short story every now and then (would be great if I could post a story once a week).

P.S.

I have just noticed that it has been nine months since I first started the book. It is indeed a fruit of labor and feels like a baby is brought to life. How exciting is that?

Until next time,

thank you for reading.

Short Story – Beyond

Beyond

By Yakir Garavelas

I frequently wonder what dreams are and if we will ever be able to understand what is the purpose of a phenomenon that is so normal to everyday life yet we have no clue about it.

I tend to believe that dreams are often doors to our other lives. They allow us to be able to break free of our life and peek at another, whether the other life is in the past or in the distant future, or perhaps now in a different dimension, or even as a different life form that shares our existence at a different point of time and space.

I also believe that the other lives, if I can call them that, occasionally become intertwined with one another while all are still fully aware of their surroundings. What I am trying to say is this: what if when we enter a phase of daydreaming, even if for a short time, we are actually experiencing an out of body event that brings us closer to one of these other lives?

And so it happens that one of the most beautiful, breathtaking, awe-inspiring sights that I have ever witnessed happened while trying (and I say trying because I find it hard to do) to meditate.

The event was so farfetched even to me that other people including close friends or family would look at me head to toe as if to figure out whether I hit my head or if maybe my body language is hiding the fact that I was trying to trick them.

In the middle of my bedroom, in a room overly cluttered with an incredibly large bed that is constantly reminding you that it is thereby you either hitting your toe or it jabbing one of its large wooden pillars it is using for legs right into your knee or thigh, there is MY spot in the house.

A computer that I have purchased in separate parts and build by myself is my pride and joy, although lately, it has been collecting dust as it seems that I have lost interest in it. Right next to it is my throne –  an extremely large black office chair that blocks the entire room and is working hand in hand with that large bed as if they were two cyclopean structures in an otherwise fairly mundane bedroom.

I promise you that there is nothing special about that chair other than its size and the fact that it is really comfortable. But this is where that event I mentioned earlier took place one day as I was alone in the house, on a not so special mid-week morning day in Southern California where every day looks exactly like the previous or next day so I could not recall the season.

Sitting in that chair, I began breathing slowly but with more attention to every breath as it went in and came out. Meditating always made me feel different, perhaps because of the varied amount of oxygen levels in the brain as I changed the breathing patterns. Perhaps it is because it always made me feel partially away, calm, overly relaxed, and very joyful in a way that is hard to explain.

Usually, though, my meditation has no real highs and lows and is very straightforward from beginning to end for a period of about ten to twenty minutes at a time per session.

I closed my eyes about three deep breaths in and began to clear out my mind. I heard children’s laughter and told myself that other than being a bit annoying it was not going to bother me and that the kids would soon go away and it everything will all go back to be quiet and relaxing.

The laughter got closer though, and ever so slowly I heard it turn into giggles that came from my left. Most of the time, this would not bother me, the fact that children laugh or giggle, but what did bother me was the fact that the window was to my right. To my left was my bedroom door, then the small hallway that leads either downstairs, the bathroom, or to the two rooms that belong to my daughters.

This fact did not bother me either until a fraction of a moment later when I recalled that I was alone at home. More than that, it was morning and I had personally dropped the younger kids at school, my wife was working out of the house that day, and my oldest was at school as well.

I wanted to open my eyes but they were shut. I could not even move and honestly, I do not remember breathing at that moment.

The giggles, very soft, childish and very shy in a way, came from just about three to four feet away, just outside the door. It was the soft laughter of kids at play when they see someone new but not sure how to approach them. My eyesight came back to me although I knew that my eyes were indeed closed. At first, everything was blurry but slowly my eyes got used to the vibrant colors and shapes.

I was in my bedroom, but it was not my bedroom. It was different and I could not point at the exact reason why, not yet, but I felt light, I felt alive – more alive than ever.

As my eyes began to see things such as waves of color and sound, I have noticed that my ears were not working at all as there was no sound for a while now, but I could see and feel the sound in the air around me. As it moved in shapes and different colors, I was able to start hearing again. It was as if it took some time for my sense of hearing to calibrate itself with a new type of sensory sensitivity.

The giggles were back and I could hear them clearly now and nothing else. It had seemed that the only thing in the world was that soft sound of kids playing.

My head turned slowly to the left although I was not moving it, it had its own agenda and I did not try to stop it as the curiosity of who or what was in there with me grew although in a way there was some anxiety involved, I did not feel fear but the opposite, I felt as like a great moment in my life was about to unfold.

As my head turned slowly to the left, my eyes caught the glimpse of white bright light that got stronger until eventually, my gaze came upon not one, not even two, but three figures.

The figures were made of colorful light with white and golden aura outlining their form that was indeed childlike, slim, and perhaps not more than four feet from head to toe.

I could not make out their faces or expressions as they had none – other than the outlined shape the rest of their body was made of light with lack of skin or actual physical form on that matter.

One was hiding most of his body behind the left part of the doorway, merely peeking in while the other two, who were much braver than the first, looked inside and had their hands on the doorway so I could see their long but slim and tiny fingers.

They were laughing, looking at me, looking at each other as to verify a question that was probably along the lines of what are we looking at or who is that weird creature? Or perhaps these were my own thoughts? I still do not know the answer to that.

An inner fire sparked to life deep down in my stomach and the feeling of euphoria grew with every moment.

I do not recall why, perhaps one of the creatures pointed it out, but I leaned back deep into my chair and then pushed with my feet to lean on the one side of the chair so that it will turn to the right with the weight of my body.

As the chair was turning, I expected to see that boring wall with that boring window with that boring view of that boring parking lot outside my house. But it was not boring anymore.  I witnessed the most breathtaking, beautiful, unimaginable sight that I have ever witnessed.

It was too bright for my eyes at first but quickly they adjusted to it and from that window I was no longer looking at a parking lot but at a large city of light and colors that I cannot even name. A sight so awesome in lack of any better words that I was just sitting there for what seemed to be hours just watching. I was mesmerized by the sight.

Skyscrapers shaped as domes and pyramids and monoliths were made of crystals and part of the earth itself as if they were grown out of it and the bridges that connected them were made of light that was changing its color as if it was a living being. The atmosphere itself had an aura and magnificent colors as the star poured white and bright light that created even more colors as it reflected from the great constructs.

The city was full of life such as I have never seen before. Everything was together as one of the smallest creatures to the largest; they all shared the same streets, homes, space, and life.

It was magnificent, it was great, and then it was over.

The roar of vehicles from the nearby road with the sound of horns from one side and the yelling responds from the other replaced the soft and shy giggles of the childlike creatures.

I was back in my bedroom, on my overly large chair, looking out of that boring window, down onto that boring parking lot, in my boring city and I realized that I was back home.

Or was I?