Chapter Ten
Island of New Beginnings
Hello there listeners and welcome
back to our late night radio broadcast. We welcome back our guest, Van, who has
recently got knocked out by a real live dragon. Now the last time we had Van
here, he had fallen through a kitchen wall of a castle made of solid marble.
“Gezz;
my mind has the strangest thoughts sometimes” I thought to myself.
Indeed I have been properly knocked
out cold again and once again I am exhausted to the point where I can’t even
move. My arms and legs feel as if they have been bound to one hundred pounds of
concrete, which made me wonder why I didn’t sink down into the water I floated
in as if I was a piece of driftwood. The oceanic sounds calmed my nerves
immensely and helped me gather my scattered thoughts.
First things first; I need to open
my dreary eyes so I could see where the hell I was. Slowly, I squinted them
open and saw a few clouds high above that glowed pink and orange as the sun
rose up over the horizon. They looked lovely as ever before while they painted
a picture of another fantasy story in my mind; one of them looked like a boat
which reminded me of Kat and her crew.
“No
way, I got separated from them when that dragon whipped my ass. Are they
alright?” I asked myself trying to look for their ship, hoping they would be
close.
Struggling to see what’s around me,
I saw that the boat disappeared and in its place there was an island with two
big mountains.
“This
is just great. Lost again and separated from the only people who might have
been able to help me out. Perfect” I said relaxing back down into the water,
tired and exasperated.
With closed eyes, I wondered about
the next thing on my mind; why did I get visions of death, so vivid and extreme
that I would actually believe that I had died. At first I couldn’t make any
sense of it, but as time went on I began to unexpectedly understand what
happened. Video clips of my life flashed before my eyes, showing me the time I
drank that weird blue serum in the Ravenblood castle along with what I remembered
from when I learned about Nostradamus and fortune tellers.
“Could
that serum have given me the power to see the future? And if so, what else
could it have done to me? Why fortune telling? Didn’t it say something like
magic booster or magika rather?” I questioned myself trying to make heads or
tails of it all.
I clenched my hands and started to
move my legs around in hopes that I would be able to move around soon.
“Oh
yeah, that reminds me” I remembered that I had cut up my hand in a half-witted
escape plan.
Those hands were heavy at first so I
took my time bringing them in front of my face. However as I inspected them I
could not find any cut marks on them at all; just the silver and blue ring I
got from Kat. Once again I was baffled to come up with an explanation and once
again the answer was given to me by an assisted source through a flash back of
a biology class, teaching me about how organic cells can heal themselves; I
also saw the same vial of blue serum that I had drank.
“I
see a pattern here. That blue stuff must have boosted all my natural magic that
earthlings have. Just like when a mother can turn superhuman when her child’s
trapped under a car or when there is a human as smart as Stephen Hawking. So
that means I could be super strong, intelligent and with some martial arts
training I could… I’m Batman!”
This
epiphany through me into a wondrous world, where I fought crime in a black cape
and spoke with a raspy voice. I was in the middle of taking down the Joker with
some awesome batarangs when I was interrupted by the memories of my life back
on earth; who I had left behind in a selfish act so I could look for an
adventure on my own.
“My
parents must be so worried about me. And all my friends” I said, scoffing at
myself.
The truth being that there wasn’t
many people that I’d considered to be a friend. There were many people whom I
knew about and who I would talk to at school, but when school ended and
everyone else got together to hang out or go to a house party, I remained
alone. So many times I have sat at home, working on my homework, wondering what
the other kids my age did outside. However I can’t blame them too much when it
was I who had the most homework to take home at the end of the day; spending
hours each evening, trying my best to complete the assignments on time and with
a good enough grade to make my parents happy.
“That’s
right! I do have physics homework that needed to be done for tomorrow… Balls”
Under water currents began to carry
me towards the island now and as I drifted there I began to hear something
unusually familiar; someone was playing a ukulele nearby. My body had rested
long enough now that I could move with ease and allowed me to look around for
the musician. What I saw was a wooden canoe floating towards me and someone
inside with his legs hanging over the side allowing his feet to be in the
water. We got closer and closer to each other and then he noticed me floating
alongside him.
“Hello there! What you think of this beautiful
mornin? It’s nice yeah?” I heard him say with a Caribbean accent.
“Yeah
it is pretty nice today”
“Eh?
You sound like you’re not from around here my friend. What you doin in these
waters like that anyway?”
“Oh
you know, just thought I’d take a morning swim to clear my mind after last night”
“Ah
yes, must have been a pretty wild night then. I mean if you resort to swimming
in shark infested water”
“Well
when you spend all night fighting a dragon with a night sky shark, everything
else just seems trivial, ya know?” I said in a clam, mono tone voice.
“Mmm,
I hear what you’re saying. But you can relax now because it’s a new day with
new beginnings” He had said taking a brief moment from playing his ukulele.
He wasn’t wrong about the day being
new, but I still worried about Kat’s team and whether or not they got away
safely.
“Say,
what’s your name anyway? My friend” he sang along with his tune.
“I’m
Van; you?”
“What!
You don’t know?” He replied sharply ending his song.
Great; more people who I have to
learn about.
“Sorry,
but I really don’t know”
He leaned over the boat to take a
better look at me. His black hair spiked up over his blue bandana and he looked
over his awesome shades at me as if that would jog my memory.
“My
name is Ace Lovely, and I am the star player for the Bowakka Blues”
Ace paused for a moment to let it
sink in that I’m in the presents of a celebrity, but his efforts were in vain
as I was from a completely different dimension. Ace groaned and leaned back
into his canoe in disappointment.
“Hey
listen, I’m sorry I don’t know you, I really am. But you see I’m not exactly
from around here” I said trying to sound sympathetic.
“I
can see that you’re not from around here. The question is; where are you from?”
Ace suddenly put me on the spot and
I couldn’t decide whether or not I should tell him the whole truth or lie. I
didn’t know how well people would react to a person from another dimension and
I didn’t feel like chancing it.
“Who
me? I… I am from... Coronach?” I said hoping he would take it and leave it.
“Hmm,
sounds like a chill place. I might have to swing by there and show them what a
Z-G player looks like” Ace chuckles light heartedly.
His laugh must have been contagious because soon I too was laughing with
him.
“Hey
Ace, can I ask ya something?”
“Shoot”
“Can
ya drag me to the nearest land mass so I can dry off? My limbs are a bit numb”
“Haha
I’ll do you one better, I’ll take you to my place and give you a good homemade
meal! How’s that sound?”
“Dude, you got a deal”
Now I know what you’re thinking;
you’re thinking that Ace let me onto his canoe and we paddled back to the dock
where everything is good and wonderful and amazing. If that’s what you thought,
well then you are wrong. What really happened was Ace’s canoe was too small for
two grown men to ride inside, so I hanged off the side of the it and he paddled
to the sandy shoreline where a rouge cod tried to mug me for all I had. Welcome
to Bowakka, the friendliest island in the southern hemisphere.
“I
told you to watch out for those fish man, they’ll charge you like a torusdillo”
“I
don’t even know what a torusdillo is!”
“What?...
Never mind, let’s just leave the fish alone in the water and it will leave us
alone on the land where we’ll move on”
“Fine,
maybe I’ll even dry off a little on the way to your place. Awe what is this?!”
I said looking at the state of my clothing.
My leather jacket had been shredded
by something clawed, barley hanging together by a few threads just like my
pants and even my runners where missing their souls. The only thing that wasn’t
damaged was the sword strapped to my back, which I’m pretty sure saved my body
from suffering too much damage when that dragon slammed me into those rocks.
Peculiar that I can’t remember putting it back in its scabbard before taking a
few swipes at its tale. I took a breath of relief however when I found the
goggles still in one piece, hanging around my neck. I was still apart of Kat’s
team.
“Damn
that’s poor luck. But no need to worry, I can lend you some of my old stuff for
the time bein”
“Thanks,
I’d appreciate that”
“Ain’t
no problem, now let’s get going. I can hardly wait to show you my village” Ace
said jaunting excitedly to a walking path that led further inland.
He seemed to be pretty happy to have
found me and tell me all about his village on Bowakka. He told me about all the
people that lived there; from the fishermen to the clothing and rug store that
offered Ace his own brand of clothing, and the temple where he and many others
pray to those who offer them guidance and strength when in need. Ace prays to
the warrior who invented the earliest form of Z-G; a sport that Ace has devoted
himself to be the best at since he and his brothers were little kids.
I followed Ace’s lead through the
forest that we had to go through in order to get to the village. He continued
on with his stories about the village but there was something that kept
distracting me. Noises like a kid giggling came from the trees and I kept
looking around to see who it was.
“Do
you hear something Ace?” I asked looking around at the trees.
“I
hear lots of things out in these trees. There are birds, dogs, bugs, lizards,
frogs. You know all sorts of things”
“Hmm
I suppose so” I said trying to convince myself I wasn’t being followed.
As we exit the brush a mysterious
creature laid fast asleep right in the middle of the road, almost blocking our
path. The creature looked like a super-sized wolf to me, with red and black
fur.
“Awwe!
Isn’t he cute?” I said as I watched the dog sleep peacefully in the sun.
Ace tried to tell Van not to get too
close to the beast for he did not know what it was. Despite his efforts Van had
awoken the mysterious dog and started to, what appears to be. Babying it. With
slurred jargon he spoke to the beast, asking it “who’s a good boy” and “who
wants to play”. Soon after Van had found a reasonable sized fetching stick for
the game they were about to commence.
“Van!
What are you doing?!”
“I-I
just wanted to play with this dog for a little bit” I said thinking that
perhaps I did something wrong.
“That’s
no dog I’ve ever seen before. I don’t even think it is a dog”
“What?!
But just look at him. He acts just like a dog and his tails wagging all over
the place. Come on”
I looked back and the dog, wolf,
beast thing suddenly stopped and stood still, almost as if it was a robot that
suddenly turned on. Remembering what I learned from horror movies that involved
monster that turn, I drew my sword in preparation to the battle we were about
to get into. The dog’s eyes began to glow red and smoke seeped out as it looked
at me with the intent to kill.
“Ace! Be careful, I don’t know what this dog
can do… Ace?” I asked looking around for my friend.
“Just
leave him Van and run!” I heard him yell from a distance behind me.
Van couldn’t believe that Ace would
just run away, leaving him to fight the hellhound on his own. However once van
saw it grow another two heads and spewed into combustion, he too took Ace’s
lead and ran away like a little girl who just spotted a spider.
“Shut
up! That thing isn’t natural!”
“I
didn’t say anything!” Ace said.
“I
know! Just keep running, it’s catching up to us!” I yelled back seeing the dog,
who moments ago was a friendly husky with a love of fetch, clawing closer and
closer as we ran down the forest path.
“We
should split up!” Ace suggested.
“What!?”
“That
way it will confuse it and might leave us be”
He didn’t give me much time to
really think about my options, but when there is a monster hot on your heels,
options tend to be limited.
“Ahhh-Alright!”
I said before diving into a fine shrubbery.
Soon after, I realized that Ace’s
idea was stupid. Not only did I not know what was in the forest or how to
navigate through it, but the dog decided my cuts of meat were more appealing as
we ran hysterically through the flora. Goggles protected my eyes from the
branches that reached out and smacked my face while I ran away from my patent
pending doom.
“If
only I had some open room to properly fight this thing” I said to myself.
Van soon got his wish.
“Really?”
After tripping over the log that was
right before a rather daunting cliff side.
“Wait-Wha?”
Van tripped and tumbled what seemed
like miles to him, down the hillside with the hellhound hot in pursuit. He
slammed into trees, bashed into boulders, and at one point was bludgeoned with
a cactus. His anger began to build up pressure within himself until Van decided
to regain his balance and footing, gracefully grinding to a halt right before
the ground. The hellhound collided into Van with such extreme force that the
ground shook. Fortunately for our hero he was able to get his sword out right
before the hit and he tossed the giant beast up and over his head, sending it
flying into the meadows which lay at the foot of the hill. Van casually walked
down and towards the battle ground, watching the beast tumble and thrash about
the grass covered land.
Confused and hurt the hellhound
arose to its feet looking for his prey. Van stood vigilant and cantankerous
right before its face, looking down upon it as if it was a disgusting insect
ruining a picnic. Once the hellhound recognized him it let out a loud roar as red
hot fire spewed forth into the cool air. Van just stood there focused solely on
the one objective he saw in front of him. It was up to him to stop the beast
right here before anyone else got hurt and before the entire island went up in
flames.