A Fantasy Story Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Teams to the Laboratory!

            My luck continued to prove its worth as I lay outside under the stars. There were so many stars that night and I even saw a couple of shooting stars zoom by. I didn’t even care about the fact that I was taken hostage, tied up like a bandit, stolen from, threatened, roughed up by a fourteen year old girl and then left out here to brave whatever elements the sea would offer me; my luck gave me a beautiful night sky with a warm breeze that soothed the soul. Curiosity caught my attention again though, as I wondered about my escape plan.

“I could try to swim away when we get close to a well-populated port” I thought.

“No I can’t do that, not with my arms tied up like this, and who knows what swimming around in that water” I said while I looked down to see a huge shark fin beak the water for a moment, then submerge back below.

“I could wait until they cut the ropes off, and then make a run for it. But if they have me in chains before I can run away, it would be pointless”

            The leather belt sat on the deck from when Bunny took the map out of it and showed everyone else. I played with it with my feet, trying to look through the other pouches for something I could use to cut myself free, but found nothing but five gold coins, a letter about the magika serum that didn’t work, and some very important pocket lint that, I’m sure, will be very crucial for later adventures. Fighting gravity, I stumbled about trying to stand up to look around for something more useful. The magic serum lingered in my mind as I searched for a freeing myself kit.

“What a waste” I thought to myself, for if I had saved it for someone who could actually use magic; then they would have been better and maybe I could have helped them a lot.

“Although, now that I think about it, if someone evil got their hands on it and decided to kill me and everyone within a square mile. That would be terrible”

            Finally I found a glass bottle on top of one of the wooden crates they had on the back of the boat. Victory poses had to be postponed while I made sure that no one was within ear shot before I broke the bottle carefully on a crate. The bottle shattered into a few more pieces than I would have liked, but I held onto the bottle neck so I didn’t have to fumble with broken glass behind my back. Gently I began to stab the ropes with what little leverage I had. My plan was to get the ropes off of me, get my belt, sword, and that power chain from Bunny before making a break for it to shore. I felt that I could pull it if I had my gear because in one of my games, the character could use his sword underwater to fight off monsters, so how hard could it really be?

            At first I knew I had all the time in the world to get the ropes off, but as time progressed on I started to become impatient and tick off at the broken bottle. My hands started to rub the ropes faster and faster as I grew frustrated that it wasn’t working as well as I wanted it to. Then a piece of the bottle broke and stabbed my hand. With clenched teeth I held back any cursing that would have alerted the girls who probably through me in a cage after seeing me trying so hard to escape. That made me worry even more for my wellbeing. Panicking, I discarded the bottle and jaunted to the front of the boat where they had left me. The shard of glass stung as I pulled it out of my hand and hit the deck with a “tink”, letting see the two inch blood smeared glass that had been in my hand; it felt cold and tingled as the blood flowed out of my hand. I quickly concealed my hand in my back pocket so a trail didn’t form all around me, and I patently waited for it to heal.

            Seconds later Kat comes join me along with Bunny.

“Hey Van, here let me put this back on you. You’ll be better off with it, trust me” Bunny said skipping over to me.

“Wha-Why are you giving me this back again? I thought I was the bad guy”

“Well at first when we didn’t know who you were, you were bad. But then after you told me who you are and gave us the map we’ve been looking for, Forever; we started to think that maybe you’re not all bad. Right Kat?” Bunny said looking back at Kat.

“Yeah, but it’s not like your apart of the gang now. You still might be trouble” Kat said frowning at me trying to hide a smirk.

“That’s right he needs goggles in order to be a part of the team right?”

“Goggles?” I asked intrigued at their requirements to join the gang.

“Yup, defiantly got to have goggles. Everyone has them” Kat pointed to hers on her head, bunny had them around her neck.

“I like goggles, can I join?” I asked with excitement.

“I don’t know, It’s pretty hard to get in; what do you think Bunny?”

            Bunny hummed and walked around me as if inspecting a used car for damages and worth. She walked away back to Kat and then turned back to take another look at me.

“Yeah I think he would be cool to have around” I felt happiness flow into my soul for this is the first time that I someone else allowed me to join them, without them being forced to out of pity or guilt.

“You really wouldn’t mind me hanging out with you guys?” I asked reinsuring that I understood what they were saying.

 “Yes, I think he will be very helpful with our missions” Vivian said as she sat on the railing of the edge of the ship smoking a cigarette.

“We think it would be good too” Joy said standing next to Molly from the doorway.

“Besides, Joy thinks he’s kinda cute”

“I do not! Don’t say such things out loud” Joy exclaimed at Molly while covering her mouth.

            I could hardly believe what was going on right in front of me. Other people wanted me to join them and said that they wouldn’t mind having me around. In all my life back home, I never had such a joyous privilege bestow its glory onto my life. As long as I could remember the other kids would always form groups and play games all the time, but when I would come to join them they would run away to leave me behind and alone. Other times they would trick me to play games meant to hurt me specifically. Many times the other kids would go out of their way to bother me and remind me that the reason no one wants me around is because I am stupid and annoying as hell. But now there are five girls standing right in front of me, like no one has ever before, and said to me they want me around. I almost started to tear up right then and there but I held back so I didn’t seem pathetic.

“Thank you, just. Thank you, I’ve never been on a team before, but I won’t let you down, I promise”

            Kat quickly walked up to me and whispered in my ear.

“You better not, because if you give me one reason to regret letting you in our group; I’ll end your life before you can say. I’m sorry” she said as she put wicked awesome goggles on my head. My body was frozen with paralysis as I understood the seriousness of the situation.

“Damn it, now I’ve done it. It’s gonna take everything I’ve got just to keep them from killing me!” I thought questioning whether or not I’ve made the right decision.

            The boat started to slow down and came to a stop soon after.

“Hey we made it here already!” Bunny said looking over the side.

“It was closer than I thought, but it makes senses” Molly added.

“I’m assuming you’re talking about what was on the map, right?”

“That’s right” Kat answered.

“Oh, Oh! Allow me” Bunny perked up “The map lead us to this underwater lab that Von Ravenblood made for submarines and other underwater experiments. Molly caught wind of a special combat airship that was built here and never left. If we could retrieve it, our colony would have the technology to make leaps and bounds that would help protect us and help out others who are being harassed by the king’s army and other rebels trying to fight them”

“The Kings? There hasn’t been a king for centuries, and what’s this about rebels?”

“What are you talking about? Have you been living under a rock or something? There has been a war raging on all over dynasty for fifty years. All because someone convinced the kings that there has to only be one true ruler” Molly explained.

“Oh, that sucks. . . Wait! Did you say Dynasty?”

“Yeah, you know Dynasty; the name of the land, the sky and all things around you. Hit your head pretty hard huh?”

            Van could hardly believe his fate. He had gone through the portal and ended up in a whole new world. A shining shimmering splendid, if you will. And it was right there and then that our hero had a decision to make. Does he find his way back home with the help of his new team mates, or does he stick around and see how much fun this adventure could be. Tick tock Van, time is running out faster than you think.

“Yeah, must have” I said rubbing my head as if it still hurt. Then I realized that I wasn’t tied up anymore. Vivian walked by me casually putting her dagger back in its holster.

“Oh, you’re good” I said as I watched Vivian turn and give a little smirk as if to say “yeah I know”

“OK” I said clapping my hands together. “What’s the plan?”

            Kat was surprised with my enthusiasm at first, but then she saw the fire in my eyes and knew that I was ready for anything.

“Alright, you want to help that badly? Then you’ll accompany me down there to find the airship and bring it back up here”

“You got it! So what gear do we need? Scuba tanks, wet suits, masks” I started to list off everything one would need to dive underwater back on earth. However this wasn’t earth and things here were done differently.

“Scuba tanks? What’s that?” Molly asked. All I could do was stare blankly while thinking of a way to explain how things work in another dimension.

“Does it matter?” Vivian interrupted. “All you need for diving far underwater is an enchanted ring”

            She pulled out a ring from her back pocket that was silver with a blue gem placed on top.

“This ring is enchanted with the power of the sea serpent. That means the wearer of the ring is granted the ability to breathe the air underwater and not drown”

“That. Is. Awesome!” I said as I equipped the ring onto my finger.

“Now then, shall we go?” Kat said from the side of the boat holding my sword.

            I paused for only a moment before running over to the edge and jumping up on the railing.

“You know it!” and I jumped off, letting Kat toss the sword to me in mid-air.  I had to flip backwards to grab it before diving down into the water. Kat followed soon after.

            Van entered the depths below and took a moment to look around at the hidden world beneath the reflective glass surface of the sea. The world was vast and it continued on far beyond what he could see from the surface, driving his curiosity wild with fiery passion. Kat didn’t take long before his sightseeing was interrupted and he had to get back to work. Using hand signals Kat instructed Van to follow her down to the lab closely. He gave thumbs up to show that he understood what to do. There was only one high powered flash light to show them where they were going so they had to swim right beside each other and not get lost. They were so close that they bumped into each other a couple of times, which scared Van a little thinking that Kat would get upset. However it seemed to bother her at all.

            Finally the both of them reach a giant round steel front door to the lab. Normally it would take a code from a submarine to open the door; however this door hasn’t met the likes of Kat before. She quickly swam over to the control panel and started to work her hacky magic, while Van held the light. Seconds later the door powered up and began to open for them. Then suddenly the doors screeched with rust and fried the hydraulics causing them to stop a mere foot apart. Kat frantically tried to get them to open up more but her efforts were in vain. Van looked at the door way while Kat tried to smack some sense into the control panel, and came up with an idea. Handing the light back to Kat he swam to the doors and wedged his hands in the middle, squeezing the steel in his grip. With a deep breath he reefed on the doors and moved them open just enough for them to enter. The doors had a lot of resistance and Van knew that they would soon close after he let go. His grip was getting shaky after Kat had entered inside and it was his turn to fling himself inside before the doors slammed closed, crushing whatever is in its path. Ca-Clang went the door sending Vans body into the room, almost into Kat. They were inches away before he stopped in fear of repeating what happened when they first met. Luckily for him, she didn’t seem to care and instead just kept moving.

“Why is she being so nice to me now?” I wondered to myself as we made our way to the purge room.

            The waterproof doors close behind us and Kat turned on the drain, letting all the water out of the room. When the other doors finally opened it was too dark to see without a flashlight, and once again they had to stay close together so they didn’t get lost in the labyrinth that was the laboratory. The atmosphere reminded Van of one of the many horror based games he had played about zombie monsters and demons in damp, dark and abandoned labs just like this one.

“One step at a time buddy. I can do this” I said to myself with clenched fists and shaky knees.

“What we need now is a map of this place. That way we can go directly to the airship, instead of wondering around for hours” Kat said, voice echoing in the halls.

            We wondered down the dark hallway and came upon a big desk; the kind you would find when you walk into a high class business building.

“Hey Kat, let’s check that desk. If it’s what I think it is, there should be a map near it”

            She checked the right side while I looked at the left. We checked the drawers for some sort of folded up printed map. My memory conflicted with my actions because I knew that the map I was talking about wasn’t on paper, it was posted on a wall. I looked all around on the walls and then noticed something strange on the wall behind me. It looked like there was a pane of glass with metal tubing around it. Upon closer inspection I saw a control panel in the bottom right corner with a button that said “ON”. I flipped the switch and the screen lit up with a short animation that said “welcome” followed by a selection screen.

“Now we’re on to something” Kat said looking at my discovery.

“Ah! There’s the map right here” I said poking the bubble that said “directory”.

            The turquoise glow of the map illuminated the desk brightly enough that the flashlight could be turned off, to save power.

“It looks like there are five levels to this place” I pointed out.

“The hanger is on the bottom level. We’ll have to take the stairs, or find a way to power this whole lab up for the elevators”

            Oh great another decision, I have never been good at making decisions like this.

“Uh, I don’t know. What would be faster?” I asked pushing the responsibility back to her.

“Well it would be easier to take a working elevator but if we take the stairs now then we should be there in the same amount of time anyway, if not faster”

“Then it’s agreed, we take the stairs” I said with a smile and took the lead.

            Van and Kat left for the stairs leaving the information screen on. What they have failed to acknowledge was what was displayed after the information hub updated. It described the damage the lower levels suffered from and the specimen security breach on level four.