In the dead of winter, late at night, Cade stares out his blue glass window in his room when he’s supposed to be asleep. It’s one of his favorite things to do, to watch for the lights of Dascade Iris. The Kingdom of Dascade Iris is far to the north of Cashes Dade, yet somehow, mysteriously, bright colourful lights appear high in the sky over the mountains. They look like they are right there over the mountains. Sometimes the lights just dance around in the sky, but other times different letters appear in various colours, yet they are random. The dancing lights form different shapes in various colours, but also are random, yet Cade believes they are trying to send some kind of secret message to the world.
The City of Camdaysiah in Dascade Iris is called the city of lights. Fireplaces are everywhere and people constantly have fires going in every room since it’s really cold for most of the year. Bridges run throughout the city crossing eachother in a massive web connecting to different levels of the city towers. They strung blue and red bulb lights in heavy curtains from every bridge so the city is practically covered in lights that shine during the day and glow brightly and flash at night. The higher the winds, the faster they flash. They’re made from a special powder found in the mountains that create light. They also have pools everywhere heated by fires under the floors. Every home and business actually has pools that take up entire rooms, even the entire home sometimes. Would you want your room to be like that? Sometimes they wade through and other times they float on small rafts through their home. The city also has numerous pools that drop waterfalls throughout the city, down from the bridges. Most of them freeze part way as they fall and turn bright blue shining brightly during the days and even glowing at night reflecting the light curtains.
One of the best things they do in Dascade Iris is hold races. They have some awesome events holding races in the ice bluffs. They all get pretty crazy, but the best one they hold is the slide races. They make slides down and through the bluffs to race either on some kind of rafts or just by themselves. Sometimes they try to see how long or crazy they can make the slides. One time a citizen made a slide through a tunnel that shot you out from one bluff to another into another tunnel going down fast. That citizen, by the way, was Austin Candor.
Just like Cade, Austin also watches from his window late at night when he’s supposed to be going to sleep and be rested for school so he doesn’t fall asleep in class but that rarely happens. He watches the same dancing lights Cade does, but he watches something else as well. In the distance way up north is a massive cylinder shaped tower shining neon green built by the aliens. Eerie lights dance above the tower making bizarre shapes like it’s some kind of show. Some citizens have explored that area where the tower stands between three tall ice bluffs looking like giant waves of ice. They report seeing a single alien wandering through the ice fields but when they get close he seems to disappear and they never find him.
The most intriguing part of Dascade Iris is the playhouse. It’s a massive complex built high on the top bluff that inside and out glows bright blue. There are many twisted halls inside that rise high with windows overlooking the complex. In the center is a really large auditorium with high upper decks. The place is lit up with elaborate crystal chandeliers that shine bright gold. They actually move along the walls. What’s intriguing about this place is it’s haunted, not by dark spirits, but by a lady who sings opera. But she only shows up when the playhouse is closed and the lights are off.
Austin and his friends like to sneak into the playhouse after it’s been closed and check out the auditorium in the darkness. It gets strangely cold with waves of dark blue mist rolling through. Some of the chandeliers stay lit and float along the walls up high. It’s only at this time that the lady sings opera. She sings a mysterious song that sounds tragic, yet with some kind of hope hidden within. They can never see her or figure out where she is. Many times they try climbing the ledges along the walls to reach the high balconies fast where they think she is or they race through the halls where her singing seems to go, but they never catch her.
What do you think about Dascade Iris? Would you want to live there or visit there? What do you like about it? Leave a comment below.
Who is the opera singer? Why does she show up after hours and sing opera? Is she trying to send someone a secret message? What is she hiding? Then again, what might she be trying to reveal?
When the far distant blue star lights dance
The trail-blazing student will take his chance
