Frog and the Sandspiders of Aridian (18 page)

Epilogue

The Third Dimension …

A steamy rainforest; the air reverberates with a wild chorus of nature echoing down from the tropical canopy and up from the lush damp undergrowth. Trees and plants glisten, dew-dropped and moist with the humid environment. Shafts of light streak through tall, long-limbed trees to reflect from broad leaves and invade patches of shaded groves.

Rising up in the distance is the snow-capped peak of a dormant volcano. There is the laughter of children, playing somewhere in the vegetation. This is a strange paradise where bright colours merge everywhere. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet. Every colour of the rainbow. Every colour is definite and bold.

The sun is a purple-blue disc in the sky. When day arrives, it is immediate, as if a light is switched on and the sun appears in the same place every day. The sky turns white and orange clouds appear and drift lazily by.

When night comes, it is instant. A solitary silver
moon and constellations of bright flickering stars replace the sun.

This is Tropal, the Third Dimension, and something is coming.

Something unwanted.

Something evil.