“Last night, I was playing around in my room, studying for my test, when I took my seventh break. I had been studying for a good thirty minutes. I went back outside and looked up at a dark orange October sky. Dead leaves started falling, spiraling around me when I heard the insanely loud thunder boom. It shot like a single, but massive cannon rippling across the sky. The dark orange clouds split apart like curtains. Some kind of intensely bright light shined from behind the curtains. It was kind of white and gold at the same time. I heard this low humming coming from the fast-vibrating light, but it was strange because it sounded really close while being so far away. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The dark orange clouds kept passing by fast across the sky, fading as they passed into the light. I just kept staring directly at it. I stared for a really long time until all the sudden I heard a sonic rush. I looked up and saw three slim triangular blue alien ships blaze across the dark sky to the left away from the pulsating light. I tracked them fading out over the horizon. Then I turned back to the pulsating light, but it was gone. It was like a door was opened and closed in the sky. I had no idea what it meant or that I was right…
We can’t really see their faces. They’re blurry, kind of dark flashing. We can kind of see their eyes, especially when they’re watching us. They’re sunken and blank. They don’t have much of a nose. I see lines for a mouth, sort of, but there’s something else, something really mysterious. They don’t show any emotion. They don’t smile but they don’t frown either. No, I’m not talking about the teachers, well, maybe some of them. I’m talking about those who rule our school. But if you look deep into their eyes, you can see something. It’s not emptiness. In fact, there is a deep emotion, a deep desire, greater and more mysterious than any you see otherwise.
My school is really dark. We sit in the shadows. They don’t allow much light, only small dark orange candle clusters in the corners, but never too close, never too bright. They watch us all the time, but I don’t know how they see us. The shadows are everywhere and they’re all really long. They have to be to hide so many secrets. Our school is different. Is your school really dark? I’ll bet other schools have cool, bright lights everywhere. They make ours overpowering dark, all the time, in every room. Our school is run by ghosts. Most of them are almost as tall as us. Some of them wear black robes and some wear black suits. We see them go to our teachers many times, whispering to them, or watching us and whispering to each other from dark corners of the class. There are secret whispers in every corner of this school, and they always go quiet the minute you begin to hear them…”
The DadeStar Revolution continues. In fact, it’s about to really heat up. There are all kinds of alien activities happening. They seem to be planning something, something big. It all starts here. It’s time for the next mystery challenge. Something incredibly bizarre is going to happen in this school. Can you figure out what it will be? Follow the clues. Leave a comment below if you have a guess. Do you think you’ll figure it out? Or will you be shocked?
“My name is Mason Doorvas. I like going from place to place just to see what’s happening, what’s starting up, and I like starting things. Some say I like starting trouble, but I don’t call it that. I call it fun. When your school is as dark as ours, you need some fun at least to light it up. I’m from the Kingdom of Daymardon, City of Heyvas Cadamar. It’s on the map right in the center, where the massive river comes to an end, also right in the center but not the exact same place as our city. Our city is built all together, mostly one massive curved black tower that glows dark orange. It’s like a castle. You can’t see out our dark orange glass windows, but the candles flash to the rhythm of the storms and the alien ships that always pass slowly by. When they fly close you can feel the vibrations through the black marble floor. Our castle stretches between a bunch of wide flat bluffs where we have gardens and pools with waterfalls that fall down our walls into pools inside. The pools reflect the dark orange lights that flash when the dark ghosts move fast. We are known for having wide open floors inside that reflect the dark orange stringed lights we have all over the walls. Sometimes you barely see the ghosts fly by, then quickly disappear. Then they hide. I know because I try to follow them, see where they are going so urgently. One time I followed a ghost, and it led to seeing something I still can’t explain…
It was another dark, dreary day in class, listening to our teacher drone on about graph charts and pairs of rams or something like that when it happened. I don’t know what any of that has to do with math or why should I care, but whatever. As the rains poured on outside and the dark orange lights danced into the cascading shadows, I kept drifting off. I decided I needed to stay awake for more important things, so I brought out my game. It’s a really simple game. I have a wide open board, and flick a small ball around, and the goal is to try the best trick shots-off the four corners, hit the ceiling and back down, off the back of the student in front of me…anyway, I was playing that when I saw the student in front of me suddenly get up and leave. I was worried he was going to report me for hitting him with my ball a few times but he walked straight for the stairs. That’s when I saw the flash…
I slipped away and followed the fast-moving shadow. Down below some well-dressed students kept passing by fast across the hall, fading as they passed into the dark orange falling lights. I saw a black flash disappear down the staircase. I sprinted after it. Dark orange lights flickered fast all around. The lights blurred past me blending in dark orange streaks on both sides as I took the steps the usual way, surfing down the side railing. I’ve actually never taken the actual steps down. I heard ghosts singing from the upper balconies. They sang a high-pitched bouncing melody that kept rising slightly but falling sharply. I saw a dark flash down to the left on the third floor. I sprinted down the wide dark gold shimmering steps. The ghosts kept singing a fast-paced slow falling melody, drifting, searching on and on and on, but fading into the heavy darkness. I reached down to the second floor. A heavy cluster of dark orange lights set on one of the round tables in the study area. It was a wide-open floor with tables set around a dark blue pool reflecting the dancing dark orange lights. That’s when I saw him…
Coby Dooray was sitting at the table with all the candles. He was studying a book really intensely. I walked down the last steps toward him. He was just staring at it, with a deep, empty gaze. Dark candle clusters reflected in the still dark pool from the balcony above. The massive black clock on the wall ticked slowly. The hour hand dragged across the clockface hidden in the shadows reaching, groaning as it dragged across the clockface. A bright light flashed past the grand dark orange crystal window just above the balcony. I saw two ghosts standing there, gazing over the edge with slow searching dead eyes surrounded by clusters of dark orange candles with dead shine. The ghosts’ singing suddenly dropped to a low tone, sounding more hollow and distant. As I reached the study area, I saw Coby suddenly get up. I followed him. He walked straight toward the high rising dark orange shimmering wall directly under the balcony. I glanced up. The two ghosts stood completely still among clusters of dark orange candles. I called after Coby, but he didn’t answer. He just walked slowly toward the wall, like he was marching down the aisle in a wedding, gazing directly ahead. I gazed around at the empty dark orange wall under falling shadows, trying to see what he was looking at. I got past the tables and began to see Coby’s reflection in the marble wall. He just stared directly ahead with a deep, empty gaze. I saw a tear stream down his face. I started to say something, but I stopped. He just kept walking, straight toward the wall. I stood there and watched, searching over the glossy dark orange marble. But I couldn’t see whatever he was seeing. Then, I couldn’t see him. He walked into the wall, and disappeared…“
