A Fantasy Story Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

A Hero’s Legacy

            Van and Mayhew froze in place as the Anubis mummy slowly emerged from the darkness. Its heavy breathing filled the silence of the room with a suspense which weighed heavily upon Van, for Van was the one who it shot its intimidating gaze to. Mayhew tried to warn Van about the dangers of the Anubis, but was too scared to speak a single word.

            Now this Anubis is standing right in front of me and is staring directly into my eyes. It’s as if I was supposed to know who this was and say something. Nothing comes to mind as I struggled to figure out what I can do. Suddenly I could hear a deep mystic voice echoing in the room.

“Who are you? You wear my master’s armor and yet you are not him.” Said the Voice.

            I looked back to Mayhew for something to say but he was frozen in place, leaving me on my own. With hesitation and uncertainty, I tried to answer the question as honestly as I could.

“My name is Van. I was trying to find my way back to the village. Along the way I found this armor and decided to wear it because my clothing was destroyed.”

“Unacceptable! Bowakka was a mighty warrior and no one should be allowed to wear his armor. I’ll dispose of this imposter immediately for the people he fights for. Die” the Anubis said raising his spear high above his head.

            He quickly trusted his spear towards my chest, but unfortunately he only hit the stone floor.

“Impossible. How are you so quick? You move just like him” I heard him say as I retuned the Bowakka blade to its sheath.

“I sorry to say, I don’t know. But one person said to me that I am a hero.”

“I see. Well then, I guess I can allow on hero take another hero’s legacy. I really haven’t much choice anyway. Just promise me one thing. If you make it to the Blue Temple, give them the armor so that hope will be given to his people.”

 “I promise” I said as he took his last breath before falling in two.

            Van and Mayhew took a moment of silence in honor of the fallen guardian of the ancient temple before they inspected the open door.

“Look! There’s the tunnel” Mayhew said pointing the way

“Oh, that’s convenient. What’s next, cake?” Van jokingly asked.

“Hold on, what is that?!”

            Alright now, just give me a second here to gather my thoughts. Van and Mayhew come across a pink cake, sitting on a plate in the middle of the tunnel. Yeah right, no I refuse to believe that this exists. Nobody would have left cake in this place; this is too ridiculous, take this away.

“Can we eat it?”

“No Mayhew, we cannot eat the mystery cake in the abandoned tunnel. It’s too suspicious.”

            Oh alright fine, I’ll take the cake out of the story.

“Thank you” Van said looking up to the celling.

            Mayhew and Van make their way through the dark tunnel. The stench of old cake lingered through the air. Eventually they find the end of the tunnel where it appears that part of the roof caved in.

“Hey look over here” Said Van crouched down beside some fallen rocks.

            A skeleton of a small kid, whose legs are under a heavy boulder, lies on the ground reaching for a section of wall made of brick. It wore a brown poncho that looked fairly similar to what Mayhew’s is wearing.

“Do you know what happened here?” I asked Mayhew

“Yeah unfortunately, his legs were crushed under that rock. Nobody came to save him, no matter how much he yelled or screamed.”

“Do you know who this is?” I asked, with a hunch.

“Not a clue. I wonder if his parents miss him”

            I thought about calling Mayhew out on his obvious lie. However I also thought about the consequences of doing that and decided not to. Instead I looked at where the skeleton was reaching at the wall and I discovered a door.

“Well there’s the door, but how does it open? I could smash it open, but if there’s someone behind on the other side they could get hurt.”

“Or we could use this key here and open the door safely” said Mayhew standing beside a pedestal, similar to the one in the ancient temple.

“Alright, but let me take the armor off before I make a scene. Wait!” I said trying to stop him from opening the door, but it was too late. Mayhew set the idol in place activating the door mechanism, making the entire wall shake and rumble.

            On the other side of the wall, villagers are praying to the statue of Bowakka when all of the sudden they heard a series of gears activate in order to open the door. Everyone’s attention was upon the statue as it was raised up, reviling an unknown person standing on top of a platform.

            Back on Van’s side of the wall, he sees a platform behind the brick wall. Suddenly the platform hovered out from the room and made Van jump on top of it. Before Van could take any logical action, he was carried back into the room and up a shaft where the base of a statue was rising up, sending him into another room.

            After the dust settled I found myself standing on a lit up, hovering platform, wearing holy armor of an ancient hero in a temple full of very faithful locals who just witnessed an indescribable event. I knew that the next action I took would have to be carefully considered before the villagers either started to praise me or chase me after realising I’m an imposter just wearing Bowakka’s armor for kicks. The silence finally broke when an old man in a big hat came rushing through the doors yelling for help.

“Help! Help! A monster is attacking the village! Help! Help!” the old man cried out.

            Supernaturally I sprang into action against my own will. Before I knew it I had ran outside, still wearing mystical armor, and started to look for this monster that big hat old man proclaimed to be attacking the village. Then I saw it; a gigantic red bird with dragon spikes and four bird legs. The bird circled around the village, looking for its next target when it saw me standing in the middle of the road wearing my digs. Without hesitation it lunged towards me at full speed, giving me only a few seconds to draw my sword, realize that the bird was holding ace in its claws, rethink about cutting the bird in half and instead jump out of the way before it could fly into me.

“Just my luck! Why did you have to get caught?!?” I yelled at ace after the bird flew back into the sky.

            I had to think of something to save Ace and do away with the bird so that the village will be safe.

“But what in the world could I do?”

            The narrator clears his throat as he puts down his ham sandwich and finds his place in the story. Van was indeed in a predicament as his newly found friend Ace hangs on for dear life to the talons of the monstrous dragon bird. Just then an idea came to his steam powered head of his.

“I have to get on top of the bird and make it let go of Ace when it’s close to the ground” Van thought.

“Hold on! I have to ride that thing? Are you crazy?! Just look how high it goes, and even if I get on it how do I make it let go of Ace safely, instead of five hundred feet up?”

            Van then saw a catapult that was set up and ready to fire. Without wasting time he jumped in and launched himself through the air.

“I Hate You So Much!” Van said as he collided with the dragon bird, tackling it towards the mountain side.

            I soon realized that even though I had caught the bird, I still had to get Ace free of its clutches and make sure that it didn’t bite my freaking head off as it snapped its beak at all my vital parts. All three of us landed on the rocky cliff side rather pleasantly allowing us to roll to our feet and eye each other up before making our next move. Ace was standing right there beside me sporting some heavy chains around his chest and waist.

“Ace, are you alright?” I asked making sure he was still all there.

“By the gods, you know my name great Bowakka!”

“Really? Ace it’s me, Van” I said removing the mask and helmet.

“Van. Why are you wearing that armor?” Said Ace in a very serious tone, even making the bird flinch.

“Woah Ace, I’m sorry. I didn’t know who this belonged to when I found it. I didn’t think much of it then, but I learned that it belongs to the people of this island and took the responsibility of returning it” I said holding back the bird’s beak from chomping on my head.

            Unexpectedly Ace removed his chains and used them like a whip to one hit knock out the bird I was having so much trouble with. He then approached me in an angry demeanor to give me a bro hug. It was awkward.

“This is great! Woah!” Ace yelled with delight as he danced around the mountain side.

“Let’s get back to the village! They’re going to be so happy! Come on!” Ace continued as he ran to a path leading down the mountain.

            I was about to leave behind him with relief knowing that they are not going to hang me for stealing their hero’s armor, when I noticed that the bird started to burn bright red just like the hellhound before bursting into the million tiny lights and shooting off to unknown-land.

“Hey Ace! Did you see that?”

“No, see what? Is there another one around here?”

            He didn’t see the million lights just above his head exploding and then shooting off like a firework? I guess not.

“Oh no nothing like that, it’s just some light I saw in the sky. Probably nothing” I said trying not to make Ace worry too much. Mainly because I couldn’t tell for sure whether or not it was just me seeing things again or not, but I didn’t want to act out the role as the paranoid guy.

 

            We made our way down safely to the village where everyone was waiting for our return. They were cheering and celebrating for the return of their hero Bowakka, but they quite down after they saw who was really under the mask. For a brief moment, as I stood in front of all these people, I felt like I shouldn’t have even bothered making my way down the mountain and that I should have perished along with the dragon bird. Just as I contemplated turning back, I felt a hand reach out and grab my shoulder; it was big hat old man from the temple earlier. He looked at me with a big smile full of pride stretching his wrinkly face making me feel better and less doubtful.

“People of Bowakka” big hat old man began “Our savior Bowakka has long since passed leaving us his memory and what he taught us in our darkest time. But now, when we needed a savior the most, our prayers are answered! This young man has slain the monster that has plagued our village for months and he has done it wearing the protection of Bowakka! Which means that he has Bowakka’s blessing to go forth as a hero to help others like us all over Dynasty just like he once did” The old man said causing the crowd to once again cheer and rejoice.

“Thanks for that mister. I owe you one” Van said confidentially to the priest.

“Oh that’s quite alright my boy, but since you’re in such a giving mood, meet me in the temple later. There is something very important I would like you to do for me”

“Popsicles! Why did I say I owe him one? Oh well I guess it can’t be that bad, it’s not like it’s going to be the start of another adventure. Because I’ll tell ya, it feels like I’ve been on three to four of them already” Van naively thought to himself.