D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

The future isnt what it used to be.

I know that makes no sense. What else is new? There isnt a whole lot that has made sense since I left home three years ago to try and stop a shape-shifting demon who is bent on destroying all humanity. At least I think it was three years ago. Its hard to tell when youre out of your mind. And space. And time. My name is Bobby Pendragon. Im a Traveler. The lead Traveler, in fact. The Travelers job is to stop this guy named Saint Dane from changing the natural destiny of the ten territories of Halla and plunging them into chaos.

Do I have your attention yet? Stick around. It gets worse.

The Travelers mission is to protect Halla. Halla is everything. The normal and the exceptional, the common and the impossible. Halla is all that ever was and all that will be. I know, sounds like a bad sci-fi movie. Id think so too if I werent living it. Every day. When I left home I was an ordinary fourteen-year-old guy whose biggest worry was whether or not Courtney Chetwynde liked me and if shed notice the zit that erupted in the middle of my forehead like some third freakin eye. Now Im seventeen and the leader of a group that must protect the well-being of eternity. The future is in my hands. The past is in my hands. Theres nobody else who can stop Saint Dane.

Kind of makes the whole zit-on-the-forehead thing seem kind of lame, doesnt it?

Why Saint Dane calls himself Saint is a mystery to me. He is anything but. He isnt even human. At first I thought he was pure evil, just for evils sake. But the more I learn about him, the more I realize theres something else that drives him. Its hard to explain because I dont understand it myself, but Ive come to think that for some twisted reason. Saint Dane believes what hes doing is right. I know, how can a guy who is pushing societies toward cataclysmic disaster possibly believe what hes doing could be justified? When I find that answer, Ill unravel the entire mystery of what has happened to me. Why was I chosen to be a Traveler? What happened to my family? Where did Saint Dane come from? Why does he have these incredible shape-shifting powers? What did he mean when he said all the Travelers were illusions? (Ive lost sleep over that one.) What is this all leading to?

Saint Dane talks about something called the Convergence. I have no idea what it is, and Im not entirely sure I want to. But I have to. Is it something Saint Dane is creating or was it destined to happen anyway? No clue. The only thing I know is that its up to the Travelers to make sure whatever the Convergence is, it wont come out the way Saint Dane wants it to. Its the only way to be sure that Halla will continue to exist the way we know it. The way it was supposed to be.

I write these journals for two reasons. One is to document what has happened to me for the ages. You know, history and all that. A thousand-no, a million years from now I believe it will be important for people to know what happened. The other reason is to let my best friends from back home know whats going on with me. Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde are the only people from Second Earth who know the truth.

But things have changed. Mark is missing. Worse, Im afraid he started a chain reaction that caused serious damage throughout Halla. The cultures of the territories are not supposed to be mixed. Ive learned that the hard way more than once. Okay, a lot more than once. Territories have their own distinct destinies that must be played out. Mixing the territories creates havoc. Saint Dane likes havoc. Hes mixed the territories at every opportunity, and I believe he has gotten Mark to unwittingly help him do it again. At least I hope its been unwitting. The alternative is unthinkable. I wish I had never gotten my friend involved in all this by sending him my journals.

As for Courtney Chetwynde, shes with me now. Together weve got to find Mark and try to undo the damage. Courtney and I have come a long way since we were childhood rivals. She is my acolyte and she is one of my best friends. Same as with Mark, I wish she werent involved in any of this. Shes been through hell. But we cant look back. Weve got to keep moving ahead, which in some ways means looking back. Dont worry, that will make sense as you keep reading. I think.

With Mark missing and Courtney with me, I have no one to send these journals to. But I have to keep writing. For historys sake, as well as my own. Yes, theres a third reason why I write them. They help keep me sane. They allow me to look back and try to make sense of it all. The whole making sense part hasnt worked so well, but the keeping me sane part is a good thing.

I dont know who you are, reader, or how my journal ended up in your hands. I hope that youve already seen my earlier journals, because Im not going to repeat everything that has happened. Those early journals, starting with #1 (duh), contain the whole story. If you havent seen them, go to the National Bank of Stony Brook in Stony Brook, Connecticut. Second Earth. My hometown. Theres a safe-deposit box there registered to Bobby Pendragon. Thats where my journals are kept. Find a way to get them and guard them with your life. They contain a story that, when complete, will tell of the events leading up to the destruction or the salvation of all that exists. Of Halla. Its a real page-turner, if I do say so myself.

As I write this, Courtney and I have traveled to Third Earth. Our home world in the year 5010. Thats three thousand years in the future from the time when we were born. This is where we hope to find answers. This is where we hope to find Mark. After being here for only a short time, weve quickly discovered a scary fact.

The future isnt what it used to be.

This is where the next chapter in my adventure begins.

And so we go.

(CONTINUED)

I hope I havent made a huge mistake by leaving Second Earth with Courtney Chetwynde.

She isnt a Traveler. Only Travelers are supposed to use the flumes-the highways between territories. I learned that lesson when Mark and Courtney traveled to Eelong on their own. The flume there collapsed, trapping the Travelers Spader and Gunny and killing the Traveler Kasha. Since then I learned that as long as someone uses the flume with a Traveler, nothing bad will happen. At least, nothing bad to the flume. What happens to the future of a territory once a non-Traveler gets there is a whole nother issue. Like I wrote, territories are not supposed to be mixed.

Which is exactly why Saint Dane has been doing it.

Hes deliberately brought people and technology and even animals from one territory to another. I dont know if that has been his plan all along, but hes definitely going for it now, and things are getting whacked. When he won Quillan, Im afraid he tipped the balance of the war for Halla. Hes winning. I feel it. Its not that Im getting desperate, but its time to level the playing field. Maybe Ive waited too long already. Why do the good guys always have to play by the rules while the bad guy does whatever he wants? Where is that written? Its not like I want to start messing with the territories randomly. No way. But if I can gain an advantage over Saint Dane by bringing an element from one territory to another, Im going to do it.

Right now, that element is Courtney Chetwynde.

Things have gone strange on Second Earth. History has changed. Technology has changed. Whatever caused it has something to do with Saint Danes plan for our home territory. Courtney is the one person who can help unravel the mystery of what happened. Together were going to learn the truth and try to make things right. The future of Halla is at stake. The future of Second Earth is at stake.

The future of Mark Dimond is at stake.