Discovery- III

Not particularly my favorite either but some decent action in here. Enjoy.

Part 3- Water

Chapter 16: A Police Chase in a Fantasy Book

We left the monks, but we now had to figure out how to get to Argentina. We couldn’t do anything like what we did to Ahmed. I felt kind of guilty doing that to people. It wasn’t fair to them. We asked the monks what to do about it, but they gave us money. It turns out that being mostly self-sufficient monks, they could support themselves. They were a bit glad that there was no ominous presence in their sanctuary, but the problem of stray wolves irked them a bit. We headed to the airport (that’s right, the town of Kendari was that small. We could walk to the airport.) and made it all the way to customs. Kaylee appeared, and right after that, our odd group started ringing some bells with security.

“mungkin saya melihat identifikasi Anda?” “Huh?” “Penterjemah!” A portly looking man ran over to the tall, thin security guard who was asking us questions. “What?” I asked. The portly man looked at me and said in a strange accent, “He wants to see your identification.” Being a dwarf, I suspected that Daniel had no ID, but amazingly, he produced a passport identifying himself. The security guard next asked for proof that Daniel was the guardian of Misty, Kaylee and I. He floundered but came up with nothing. The security guard was tapping his foot and fingering the rather large club that he was carrying. I gulped. Daniel shrugged and turned around to escort us out, but quick as a snake, the security guard grabbed Daniel’s shoulder and spun him to face him.

“We need to see proof that you are the guardian of these three children” The security guard said.  

“I heard you the first time” Daniel slowly bent over then yelled “Run!!” 

We then went into an unnecessary game of chase with the security guard, but we managed to stop him by slamming the door in his face. As we ran, the translator was already calling the Indonesian version of 911 on his phone. We ran into the nearest alleyway, but they were gaining on us. I rummaged through my backpack, found the hammer while still running, and sent a gust of wind toward the cops. One of the police fired a warning shot that was way too accurate. I stopped, gritted my teeth, and blew the bullet that was racing straight towards Kaylee’s heart. She glanced at me in admiration. We then seemed to remember that the cops were chasing us, and started sprinting away, out of the town of Kendari.

I sprinted as fast as I could and made a break for an abandoned windmill. I darted into the windmill and closed the door behind me. My friends all obviously didn’t have the same idea as me because the all kept running down the road. “Hey Guys,” I yelled after them, “Come in here! Guys, c’mon!” They paused for a second, and then ran toward me. The police stormed into the windmill after us. We ascended the stairs up to a solitary window, where the windmill’s blades were spinning in front of us. I blew out the window with the hammer, and grabbed on of the spinning blades and held on tight. As I dipped toward the ground, I leaped toward the wall and slid down it. The others followed my strategy, with minor edits, and we kept running.Then I noticed that Kaylee wasn’t with us. She swung onto one of the blades, up into the air, gave me a wink, and vanished.  The police stood near the broken window, dumbfounded, as we ran. 

We ran back into the confusing streets of Kendari, and I had noticed that even in this small town there were taxis. We called one, and the police didn’t notice because they were way behind. We ordered the cab, in English, to drive us to the nearest airport that wasn’t the one we had been to. The taxi sped away, and as we fled, we noticed that the cops ran right past our taxi. We were safe. 

We approached Pomala Airport (the nearest one) and we immediately ran to the door of the airport. 

“Admissions Fee” the person at the desk said to us in a low voice. We all looked at a sign over the desk. It said that the admission to the airport was $20.00. A very begrudged Misty put a ten dollar bill in front of the woman’s face. She turned her nose up to it and said, “20 dollars, ma'am. Misty looked at the woman and gave her an icy stare. Her hair was in a mess, her eyes were red and she really didn’t look like she wanted to bothered by $10.00 short of an admission fee. Daniel looked at Misty,”I think I have ten dollars in-” “Shut UP!” Misty interrupted Daniel. 

The lady at the desk did not  look too happy. “It’s either you pay me ten dollars, or you and your little friends (she said looking especially at Daniel) should move your little behind right out of line.” Misty spat a glob of spit out of her mouth onto the red carpet causing people behind her to step back, grossed out.  “Look, miss-”  “SHUTUP!!!” Misty went into a rage. “I DIDN'T JUST BATTLE OFF THE COPS, FIGHT A WOLF MAN, AND GET ALL THE LIMELIGHT STOLEN BY A FRIGGIN’ SPY FOR YOU TO JUST STOP ALL OF THIS RIGHT HERE FOR TEN DOLLARS SHORT!” The Admissions lady looked outraged. “How dare you talk to me like that! Respect your ELDERS, young lady.” “OH SHUT UP WOMAN!” Me and Daniel looked at each other and smirked like “Oh my gosh, this is awesome.” 

Misty turned around and we managed to keep a straight face for fear that she might harm us. “Give me the hammer.” she whispered to me. I lifted the satchel and turned away for fear of what was about to happen. She drew it, swung like she was hitting a homer in the general direction of the woman, and watched in satisfaction as her chair tipped over and she crashed to the floor. “Thank you.” She turned away and flounced toward security, who watched in shock. Daniel and I glanced at each other like we were kids in a candy store. Forget the weapons in my backpack, we had an even better one on our team. We hurried after her, grinning wildly. “That’s one way to board a plane” I whispered to Daniel as we descended to our flight to Argentina.

Chapter Seventeen: Plane Wreck, the Sequel

Our plane flight had just left Pomala Airport. Daniel beat me in rock-paper-scissors, so I had to sit next to Misty on the plane ride to Argentina. “Hey!” Misty exclaimed. “Somebody left a macbook in here!” 

She took a slim computer out of the compartment to her right. She opened it up and her face lit up. Luckily, Misty had that to occupy her (or maybe stop her from hurting me) while I was thinking some different thoughts like, Kaylee’s been gone for a while. Is she okay? When will she come back? Daniel on the other hand was snoring quite soundly next to me. 

“We will be coming around and serving refreshments” the voice in the monitor said. Misty’s eyes lit up and I realized I hadn’t eaten or drunk all day. The lady with the cart came around and handed out little cups filled with guava-tomato-lime juice. Me and Misty politely pushed the cups away and secretly eyed it with disgust. The passenger across the aisle was completely opposite, she ate the cup and asked for 2 more after that. She was a portly, elderly lady with puffy white hair and bloodshot eyes. The staff wasn’t used to all that praise from passengers about their drinks so they gladly handed the woman two more cups. 

A little while after that the lady started acting strange. She continually coughed and burped. Her eyes seemed to get a little more bloodshot each time. As she crunched through another cup, Misty rudely asked her to open her mouth. She complied, and as she did, a knife shot from it. I pulled Misty out of the way, and the knife embedded itself in the wall next to Daniel’s head. The woman got up, smirked at us, and ripped the chair straight out of the floor. She held it above her head, and I thought, “DARN! I forgot we were flying in a recycled American Airlines plane!” Passengers around me started to scream along with the untrained flight crew. Daniel woke up immediately and snapped to attention surprisingly fast. Daniel, Misty and I all stood up and ran over to the crazy old lady. That’s when I saw the metal dagger loaded and ready in her mouth, but it was too late. I yelled duck a second too late as the dagger shot itself straight at Misty’s heart. She leapt to one side but the knife still grazed her shoulder causing her to fall backwards from the impact onto a cowering flight attendant. The woman cackled evilly and, suddenly, I noticed that she didn’t have any legs. Where her legs should have been was a gigantic tail. Her arms snapped against her torso and melded into what was rapidly becoming snakelike. Her snakeskin was entirely covered in what looked like a shifting mass of knives. She turned around, and her neck bulged out. The passengers sitting next to her had climbed over the seats in front of them. The woman turned back to us, and a gigantic head of a cobra hissed at us. It said in a raspy voice, “I AM MORLORDGHAST!!!” Several of the members of the quaking mass near the front of the plane screamed. 

The pilot peared his head out from behind the cockpit and let out a pitiful shriek. The head of the cobra on the woman changed throughout the body until the woman formed into an enormous snake. Then, I noticed small daggers hanging around the body a little like armor. Passengers all around screamed and toppled over one another to try and break through the plane windows, as if. 

The giant snake is more what our little group was all worried about. “DANIEL” I shrieked. He turned his head and faced up to me. “WHAT IS IT!” “GO TO THE COCKPIT AND TRY TO FLY THIS THING!.” He looked at me like I wanted him to jump of a bridge. “AND HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?” I DON’T KNOW, YOU FLY THOSE THINGS!” Daniel nodded his headed a little solemnly and hurried over to keep the plane from plummeting to the Pacific Ocean below. 

I looked up at the beast and drew my weapon. Morlordghast gave me a strange smile and struck. Fast as lightning she made an aim straight at me but I parried it with a blow of the hammer which sent Morlordghast flying against the wall of the plane (still unable to actually break a hole in the wall).

Misty was still on the ground recovering from a protruding knife lodged in her shoulder. She got up with tears in her eyes, then fell back onto the seat behind her. 

I swung the hammer again, but to no avail. The blow didn’t even faze the beast, let alone harm it in any sort of way. Morlordghast took this time to strike at me with great force. She didn’t bite me or stab me, more like... rammed me. Anyway, I was sent back against the plane wall and cried out in pain. 

The snake was approaching toward me ominously, its head cocking back and forth like a pendulum. The hammer had dropped out of my hands when I was hit and I was basically powerless against Morlordghast. I closed my eyes, expecting for  the worst, when all I heard was a little tapping sound. 

Misty, threw a rock right at Morlordghast’ head, getting it’s attention. 

“Hey” Misty struggled to speak. “Hey, hey, freak of nature!” The serpent turned it’s head around and made a hissing noise at Misty. “Misty, STOP!” I yelled out, but it was no use. “So, let me get this straight, your mom was a giant flying snake, and your pa  was a dagger. Now that is just UNNATURAL.” Misty slowly got to her feet as the snake advanced toward her. “Who even sends a henchman like you after weapons of power? You don’t even have friggin hands!” The snake hissed at her, now only two feet away. I yelled at her, pleaded her to stop now, but she was stubborn old Misty. Her voice became louder. “NOW THAT RIGHT THERE” She threw her macbook, hitting Morlordghast right in the nose. “NOW THAT RIGHT THERE IS A FACE NOT EVEN A MOTHER COULD LOVE.” The serpent shot a dagger at her  with poor aim, although still hitting her in the left calf. She stumbled back and cried out in pain. I tried to get up, but my ribcage surely did not agree with me.  “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT, NOT AFRAID OF SOME GIRL ARE YOU?!” Misty taunted. The snake, at this lunged at her. She yelled out “DANIEL!!” And then something amazing happened. 

The plane swerved right when Morlordghast was about to get to Misty, causing the giant snake to slam against the overhead baggage compartments with a loud thud! Morlordghast fell to the floor covered in piles of suitcases and laptop containers all equaling roughly 550 pounds. I would be crushed. Literally. 

Morlordghast let out a hiss as the plane swerved again, causing the snake to hit the ceiling of the plane and then back to the floor again in a loud crack. This happened two to three more times causing the snake to let out roars of pain. 

I then got the strength to get to my feet, pick up the hammer, and deliver the finishing blow. One problem, the impacts actually sent the snake through the wall, making a gaping hole in the plane. “Oops.” Our plane started plummeting, but then I realized we were only a hundred or so feet of the ground. Daniel flew the plane to a landing in Hawaii safely. I got up and Misty collapsed in my arms, passed out. I couldn’t blame her, I was still amazed at Daniel and Misty for their bravery against Morlordghast. Daniel walked out of the cockpit, a wide grin on his face and his brow covered with sweat. 

We then heard clapping, all the passengers and all the flight crew around us were clapping, for us. They had realized some way or another that we had saved them from Morlordghast and had saved all of their lives in the process. I carried Misty in my arms out of the plane while Daniel tagged along behind me looking quite proud of himself. We saw an audience awaiting us when we came out of the plane but we walked right past them and out the airport. Someone caught up with us from the crowd and I almost dropped Misty (which made her groan). That’s right, Kaylee had finally shown up! 

 Chapter Eighteen: Ocean Monsters in an Ocean City, (Part One)

“Oh, care to show” Daniel said cockily to Kaylee. “Yeah,” I added, “What was that all about, leaving us to face the giant snake while you're off somewhere on your own?!” Kaylee stepped back and put her hands up. “Guys, it’s not like I control when I go to Soul Prophet, I would have loved to be on that plane with you guys.” Me and Daniel looked at each other a little strangely then looked back at Kaylee. “And, I booked reservations at the Marriott down the street for you guys to stay while your getting back to tip top shape.” I shrugged and Daniel nodded. “Unfortunately,” You guys don’t have enough money to afford a decent hospital, but the room at the Marriott is very exquisite and you guys can rest their also.” Kaylee looked very excited at this. “Also, I got us four tickets to the Hawaii water show tomorrow at 6 pm.” “Kaylee.” I said very softly. “Why couldn’t you afford a hospital here, but you could afford at suite at the Marriott and tickets to a water show?” She looked a little disconcerted by this. “Um- the hospitals here are pretty expensive.” She said smiling nervously. 

“Here,” she said leading us down the street, Misty still collapsed in my arms with two knives in her body. “Here is the Marriott.” She said gesturing to a gaudy hotel literally right down the street. We walked inside and a mustachioed bellboy hurried up to us. “Excuse me, I’ll take your bags up to your rooms.” I glared at Kaylee while she delivered her bags. “Our room is on floor twenty.” The bellboy gasped. He gathered all of our bags and rushed to the elevator. I strolled around, and winced a bit . My ribs hurt. The affectionate person working at the bar asked me sweetly, “Need help, sweety?” “Um, yeah. My rib kind of hurts.” She rushed over and placed her hand on my ribs. “Oh my gosh, you broke one!” “Um... there’s something else I need you to help out with.” I brought Misty over and the woman gasped. “How did this happen?” “We were mugged... snakes on a plane... never mind.” She nodded as if she understood everything. “I’ll help you out with that” she said understandingly and brought out a first aid kit.

The night was relatively relaxing for me. I can’t speak for the rest of my team, Misty still seemed to be having trouble sleeping even though the lady cleaned her up pretty well. It was now time for the water show and everything was just peachy in Kaylee’s exact words. We were making our way to the water show in Northern Oahu. Misty ached and groaned as she stepped slowly toward the theatre. Kaylee on the other hand was bright and seemed almost mischievously excited. “Why do we have to go to this?” Daniel said. “You guys just have to lighten up and take a little break from mythical weapon hunting. We rolled our eyes at her. Something fishy was going on.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we figured out that Kaylee had somehow managed to give us front row seats. The crowd was chatting and laughing happily. The show started, and the water animals were first. The crowd cheered, and Kaylee smiled. Then I noticed that she was spooning something into the water. “Kaylee, what are you DOING???” She dropped the container in the water. “Oops, uh... uh...” The container had the letters WPA on it. “I’m just giving the animals food! The Whale Protection Agency!” People behind the curtains screamed and ran in all directions. The audience chatted nervously. Then, the narwhal that was swimming around grew much larger, and swam straight towards the audience. They screamed as a ten-foot long tusk speared through the air and into section C. People ran in all directions as the rest of the sea animals burst loose and into the water. I had forgot to bring the mystical weapons with me at the hotel. I screamed at Kaylee, “What did you do???” Her eyes widened, and she started to turn clear which meant she was disappearing. Misty skipped the rows two at a time. “Not this time!” she yelled as she latched onto Kaylee and they both disappeared into thin air.  and I looked around. The animals were gone. They had escaped into nearby canal that was connected to the pool of water. Kaylee had poured some powder in the water which had apparently turned all of the animals into their prehistoric ancestors. The crowd around us was gone, they screamed and ran to the nearest exit. But they weren’t safe. The animals had escaped through the canal and were running all across the city. Now we had monsters all over the city. Misty was gone, and Daniel and I were alone. Facing a horde of angry prehistoric sea creatures.

It was all my fault.

 Chapter Nineteen: A Whale Pitches In 

Misty teleported through what looked like a giant blob of white out. She was still latched onto Kaylee while she was traveling through  the white space. She clawed at Kaylee’s face but Kaylee yelled back at her. They spilled out of the blob and onto the floor, kicking and screaming at each other. I pulled them apart, with the help of Daniel. They had teleported onto the beach, me and Daniel had already gone to the hotel room and got the weapons. I let him handle it. He screamed at Misty first. “What are you DOING?” “She’s a spy, Danny! She’s plotting with Soul Prophet and the WPA to kill us all!” Daniel swiveled to face Kaylee. “Is this true?” She winked and batted her eyelashes at him, but he yelled, “STOP TRYING TO FLIRT WITH ME AND ANSWER THE QUESTION!” “Um... Er...” I reached into my backpack and drew the sword. “Do you want to meet this guy? He will become your friend if you lie to us.” I hefted it on my shoulder. She stared at her shoes. “Yes.” She said quietly. I turned on my heel, and, with Misty and Daniel following me, walked away.

 I heard a few splashes behind me. All of us turned around and saw a giant creature that looked like a manatee. It was 100 feet wide and at least 150 feet tall. It’s bone structure was the same except for a large jaw that stuck out far. It lunged about to crush Kaylee. It smashed the manatee to the side with the sword, sending a wave of water into it. It flew backwards and landed in the ocean with a plop. I was crushed. How could I hurt something so cute? Then I remembered that cuteness doesn’t always equal goodness. 

The whole city had prehistoric animals running all around. From where we were on the shoreline, I could see a giant hermit crab terrorizing innocent people on the beach. I could see the narwhal that had attacked the stadium swimming down a bay into the heart of the city. Further on, I could see a killer whale attacking the harbor. People screamed and ran in all directions trying to make it to who knows where. Nowhere was safe, because there was a sewage system running everywhere in this city. A narwhal leapt from the harbor and speared several people.

 I started running. The gang came with me, all except for Kaylee, who was left behind. She looked a bit crestfallen, but sprinted after us anyway. I didn’t really mind if we had a tag along, but I really hated when someone who betrayed us followed us. As we were running, she drew alongside us. Misty cocked her fist and slammed Kaylee in the face, and she fell down into the water. She scrambled out, hastily, and the trashing tentacles of a gigantic jellyfish made sure that she didn’t stay out of the water for long. She got pulled back inside the water screamed. I went forward to try to help her, but Misty held me back. “She’s the friggin Soul Prophet, she can help herself.” Just at that exact same moment, she appeared next to us soaked and a little disheveled. “Look,” she began, “Can I tag along?” “No,” I said. “You could even keep me as prisoner! Come on!” We turned away, and Misty pointed the pike at her. That was when she started turning up the flirt works so that I might let her go, but Misty punched her again and told her to keep quiet and not even LOOK at me, so she stopped and trudged along in silence. We came to a huge orca whale and readied ourselves for battle. Then it leaped out of the water, almost crushed me, and flopped back in. “We have to be way more cautious around the city.”

We then heard something that none of us were very excited to hear. A large boom sounded from behind us. The sound was towards the harbor. “We better be there!” I shouted and we raced toward it. The harbor was a long way away, and we sprinted towards the harbor and stopped dead in our tracks. There was a colossal crab making its way over to an array of screaming people. I swung the sword at it, but it seemed to have no effect. It extended a giant claw towards my chest and jabbed, but Kaylee pushed me out of the way. We all stood dumbfounded for a second, and then Misty hit the crab in its underbelly with a rock causing it to back off a little. Kaylee stood there, looking like she achieved something with, her shoulder was bleeding like crazy but she still managed to say, “how about now?” Before she collapsed in the sand. Then,suddenly,  the water started rolling. Something big was coming.

. Then, something that I had never seen before burst out of the water. It was like a blue whale, but it was covered in red swirls and stripes. Misty jabbed at it, but with a flipper, it deflected the rock, and before I could react, swept me into the ocean. I frantically pushed water away from me with the sword to make an air bubble so that I wouldn’t drown, and faced the creature. But instead of attacking me, like I thought that it would, it reached out and gently touched my forehead with a flipper. Then, I couldn’t see. I was standing in blackness. I had a feeling I was inside the creature’s mind. Something seemed to loom around me. “Nathaniel....” echoed a voice around me. “What?” I asked. “I am not one of their kind....” it was deep, ancient, and mystical. “Who are you?” “I am Mystis Arcanus Musculus... a creation gone wrong.” I noticed that it didn’t try to attack me like the other evil animals. “I was created by the WPA... to kill you and your friends. I found it morally... wrong... I could not. So... I offer my help... ride me, Nathaniel... set me free.” I nodded. Our minds seemed to bind together. I nodded slowly, Mystis seemed to understand. 

It was strange what happened next. Mystis opened his bloodshot eyes and looked meaningfully at Nathaniel. Mystis opened a portal next to me and I saw a strange scenery appeared. There were men with WPA’s on their shirts. They were holding Daniel, Kaylee and Misty hostage. The portal closed. “This is what is happening outside.” Mystis said. “Lets go and save them” I said. Mystis looked at me for a while then said “get on my back, we will save them.” I climbed on the beasts back which was smooth and cold. He then started suddenly to swim up to ground level. I almost lost balance, for he was very slippery. 

We burst out of the water and everything next happened so suddenly. I jumped off him and toppled two WPA thug which sent Daniel free. A large sea snail came toward us but Mystis shot a boiling wave of water, causing the snail to shrink about 20 feet to its original size. Daniel kicked another WPA thug in the stomach causing him to bend over and fall on the ground. Misty tried to get loose but failed. A man put a knife to her throat. “P-put any more of my men in harms way, and she dies!” We all stood back in shock. Mystis suddenly sprayed a jet of water straight at the mans face causing him to disintegrate immediately leaving Misty unharmed. 

A huge beluga whale tried to rush me and attack me, but with an easy stroke, I scored a long slash across its back. The beluga whale retreated and disappeared back into the ocean. Mystis dealt with the rest of the WPA men while Daniel, Misty and I helped Kaylee to her feet. “W-what happened” she said. “You saved my life” I said. “Like I don’t know that” she said, “but how does my fleshwound look.” She had a large gash in her shoulder where the colossal hermit crab had struck her. It wasn’t fatal, but she probably needed some medical attention. “We should get her to a hospital quickly.” A islander that was listening to us said, “There’s a hospital, the Straub Clinic and Hospital not too far from here. I can take you.” She had watched the carnage and felt obliged to repay us in some way. I looked back at Mystis. He had swam under the water, and in a flash of blue light, was gone. “Oh, darn. I wanted a giant whale thing on my side.”

 The islander quickly drove us to the clinic, and had everyone near the dock who had watched pitch in to help pay the hospital bill and get us on a plane flight to Argentina. The ocean monsters were gone, but the ocean city remained. It was fun coming to Hawaii, and I’ll have to come back.

Chapter Twenty: What We’re Fighting For (And How it Can Be Flawed)

I sat next to Kaylee on the plane ride. I still had her under hostage, but I was a bit more lenient because she had saved my life. “Kaylee...” I spoke up halfway through the plane ride. “Why would you betray us like that?” She looked really guilty, but still really beautiful. “Money.” I probably looked shocked. “WHY FOR THE MONEY?” I nearly shouted, and some people glanced over at us. “For my brother. My lazy parents don’t even look for jobs and can’t pay the rent, so I work for the WPA to pay it for my brother, so he can survive.” I winced. “Still, why would you do that against us? And what about Soul Prophet?” Kaylee looked sad. “Sadly, the Soul Prophet part is true. As a way to make sure that I didn’t betray them, they put Soul Prophet inside of me. And here,” she drew out a picture from her pocket, “Is a picture of my brother.”  He seemed to be about five, and he was kind of cute. He had a mischievous gleam in his eye, and you could tell that he wasn’t someone that you could trust around sharp objects. He probably wasn’t worth betraying us for unless you were his family. If you were in his family, you would probably love him a lot. I could tell that Kaylee would do anything for him. “Why isn’t Soul Prophet reporting on you?” “Well, I found a way to control her. See, there’s a specific way that she goes in and out of the body. She tries to leave out of my eyes. Windows to the soul, you know? Well, anyway, it takes her a long time to try to escape, and about a minute for her to leave my eyes. I can feel her around my eyes, and once I do, and I always have, I close my eyelids tight until I feel her give up. She’s chained to me, and when I’m in control, it’s hard for her to get out. And vice versa. When she’s in control, I have very little power. So don’t worry, you’re safe. She looked into my eyes, and I could tell that she was telling the truth. Then she closed her eyes for a while, and I wondered what the heck was going on. Then she opened them again. “Sorry, just another attempt by Soul Prophet to escape.” She reached under the seat and grabbed my hand. For a second, I thought that she was injecting me with poison or putting my hand in some sort of death grip. Then she relaxed. I wondered what was going on, and then almost facepalmed. I realized that she was holding hands with me. It was... kind of nice, actually, knowing that more than two people in the world care about you. It didn’t hurt that Kaylee was a knockout either. 

We left the plane, and airport, holding hands, and I instantly felt a pull in the air. It seemed to lead me in a certain direction. My backpack shifted on my back to be as close to the spot as possible. I took out the sword, and my backpack relaxed. The sword pointed straight toward where the pull was coming from, and I walked that way, crossing streets, avoiding cars, and dodging pedestrians. I soon made my way towards the ocean. “Don’t” Misty said softly pointing towards the bay area. There, were two men dressed all in black who seemed to be eyeing us suspiciously. I turned the other way but Daniel tapped me on the shoulder lightly. “There’s guys over there too.” We turned behind us but there was people behind us too. “Were surrounded!” Kaylee said urgently. “Really?!” Misty said sarcastically. There were people all around us. 

Then, one man stepped up, 5 or 4 feet away from us. He had long dreadlocks reaching down to his shoulders. He had pearly white teeth and sickly white skin. He was wearing a long coat that dragged down to the ground. He must have been wearing contacts or something because his eyes glowed yellow like cats. “Hello Nathaniel” He said, giving me a million dollar smile. “Can I talk to Nathaniel?” He moved his hand around in small circles as he talked to us. “No” Daniel, Misty, and Kaylee all said in unison. “Are we sure” the man said. He was talking to us like we were small children, and apparently Misty didn't like that. “No is right” she said “bug off!” “Feisty!” He said. He then pulled me forcefully by my shirt collar. I instinctively drew my sword but it had no power on this man. He merely brushed off the hit. He pulled me over to a nearby rock and slammed me against it. 

I struggled but realized I was powerless against this man. “Okay” he started, “you and your friends are in way too deep.” I looked at him with hate. “At least now that I’m in this whole thing. I am here warning you to hand over the weapons now or hope for the worst.” “Who are you?” I said. He smiled at me: “Why, my friend, I am me, and that’s it. Now, what about that offer?” I looked at him long and hard. “No!” I spat at him. “Worst Mistake of your life kid.” he said. I turned around and my friends were gone, everybody was. It was just me and him.

We were anywhere, and yet nowhere. The scenery changed every couple of seconds. Once it was the Fire temple, once it was what looked like Venice. He came up to me. I was surprising he hadn’t lost his composure yet, or even his smile. “I can break your limbs one by one” he said smiling. “I can break your friends trust in you until it brings TEARS TO YOUR EYES” His voice got progressively louder as he talked. He calmed down a little and stepped backwards.

“How does that sound?” he said softly. “Or,” he said.”I can have you duel to the death with those closest to you.” I was almost in tears by now. “Or! Or Or Or!” He spun around on his heel. He started whirling his hand around furiously. I then realized he was making a portal. It opened. There was a little boy swinging on a tire. I then realized he was Kaylee’s little brother. He looked so peaceful, so quiet and so unlike the picture Kaylee showed me. Then there was a sudden flash that made me cringe. The boy was on the ground while men in black suits. Picked him up and brought him into a large black van. A couple of men held back his mother who was screaming “NO!” I lept at the portal like I could actually prevent what happened next. The man next to Kaylee’s mom put a gun to her head. I couldn’t watch.  The portal closed and I found myself on the ground crying. The tears turned to anger and I lunged at the man who had taken Kaylee’s only reason to drag on. He just punched me hard in the head and sent me flying. “You think you should have changed your mind?” he said slowly. “Well” he said drawing a lighter from his coat pocket. “It, is, too late!” The words delivered a crushing blow to me. “And now!” He said “I am going to make it even worse.” He snapped his fingers and Kaylee appeared on the ground next to me. “To the death!”

NO!” Me and Kaylee said in unison. “Too bad!” the man said. The pike was in Kaylee’s hand and the sword was in mine. We were puppets to this terrible man. I went in close to Kaylee and whispered. “Plan A. Let’s each hit him at once at my count. We stepped back and I counted briskly “One, Two, Three!” We each swung at the man but he deflected it easily and sent us flying with a gust of wind. “Fight,” he said slowly, “Or I'll make you!” Me and Kaylee stood up slowly. “I’m not fighting her,” I said. “And I’m not fighting him,” she said to the man. The man frowned, not a “I’m sad” frown, more of a “Oh you didn’t do what I wanted now I’ll have to hurt you” frown. He walked toward me and was about to touch me when I spoke up. “No.” He stopped. “No what?” “NO.” He sneered and tried to touch me. I concentrated my full willpower into stopping him with my mind. His finger hit an invisible barrier. “TELEPATHY!” I shouted. Kaylee shrugged, then a crease appeared between her brows and the man spun and fell down like he had been struck. I used my full concentration to imagine a force striking him in the gut. He tumbled a little bit, and then groaned. Then he smiled. “Well done.Well done my boy. I didn’t think you had it in you.” I looked at him solemnly, “you’d be surprised.” The man just looked more and more amused, which was getting on my nerves. “In this world here, anything is possible. This world here is a world that I always live in, even when it looks like I am outside, where you are. This state that all of us are in is very powerful. And you managed to control a smidgen of that power.” He yawned a little and then regained his former composure. “Well, I’m off. You seemed to have worn me out.” We looked at him incredulously. “You’re not going anywhere, anytime,” Kaylee said. The man seemed taken aback on this. “I can go wherever I would like to. Maybe I’m here, maybe I’m not. Maybe I’m just a figment of your imagination...” and with that,he smiled and snapped his fingers. He seemed to float off and dissolve into thin air.                              

Chapter Twenty-One: Switcheroo How About You?

I crashed onto the floor of the temple as the imaginary world faded from around me. Daniel and Misty looked surprised. “Where did they go?” Misty asked me. “Who?” I asked. “Those guys that had us pinned and were about to kill us!” “Um... I think they vanished. We’re pretty safe now.” I grimaced and walked toward an open hallway. “Uh... I don’t know what’s here... but just to be safe, I’ll go first.” I cautiously walked forward. “Hello?” I called. “HELLO!” shouted a voice back at me. I sent a wave crashing toward it. “Who’s there?” “WHO’S THERE?” I realized that the voice was an echo of me. I was a bit surprised at first, but I got used to it whenever I talked to my friends. It was weird, but I adapted. There were no surprises for the first few hundred yards. That was surprising, because usually in these temples it was trap heaven. Misty walked with me on the way there. “What happened to you and Kaylee. The man with the dreadlocks took you with him and all the rest of us didn’t know what happened to you. And then Kaylee disappeared and me and Daniel were freaking out. “The man..” I started. “The man killed Kaylee’s family.” Misty gasped and I put a hand over her mouth. “She can’t know. Kaylee, thats her whole reason for fighting.” Misty looked in shock, “t-that man!” I nodded, “he’s a pretty bad guy.”

Daniel and Kaylee were talking slowly behind us. They managed to catch up with me and Misty’s swift pace. “What’s going on?” Daniel asked. “Nothing much.” I answered. “There’s no traps, nothing here, piece of cake!”We walked down the path for a little while, then we began to get tired. “I don’t even know what time it is here!” Kaylee remarked. “I’m still tired” Daniel said. We then began to lay down on a piece of flat land. “We need our strength for- whenever.” We couldn’t even tell what time of day it was. I stayed awake for a long while, but then I drifted off to sleep slowly but surely. 

                                                                        ****

I seemed to wake up in an instant. I heard a loud sound, it sounded like an alarm- but a distorted one. I stood up, along with Misty, Daniel, and Kaylee. “WHAT IS THAT?!” Misty yelled. We had to yell to speak over the loud sound just to hear each other. “I DON’T KNOW!” I answered. Kaylee then fell on the floor.  I started walking over to her “WHAT’S WRON- GET BACK!” She interrupted. Her back arched and she started gagging. I looked at her closely and she was trying to keep her eyes shut. “OH GOD!”  Soul Prophet was coming out, and she was coming out soon. 

Misty and Daniel ran together to the back of the room and tried to find a way out. Large rocks had appeared on either side of us, sealing us in with Soul Prophet. Large red lights started flashing all around us. “KAYLEE!” I yelled. Then she was on us. 

A purple mist surrounded us, I couldn’t see anything at all. I heard a Kaylee screaming somewhere behind us. This was like a scene from a horror movie. I ran to where Kaylee was on the ground. I couldn’t see anything except her, 2 feet from me. She looked worse for wear. She stared at me, “She’s angry!” “WHAT?” I said. “She’s angry!”Kaylee gestured to the back of me. I trembled with fear. Behind me was Soul Prophet, and Kaylee was right. A large purple robe floated behind me. What I could see of the body was television fuzz, and glowing red eyes. A screeching noise was heard. I fell on the ground, stunned from the loud noise. It seemed to be solely in my head, and my head only. I looked up with tears in my eyes. Soul Prophet seemed to peel in half until each half of her was on either side of my vision. Soul Prophet seemed to come right at me, then everything went black. 

I saw my regular vision in an instant, but one problem, it wasn’t my vision. It was magnified and blurred by the edges. One more problem with it, I wasn’t in control. My body moved on its own and I saw Misty, Daniel, and Kaylee. I tried to scream, tried to stop, but I was powerless. Soul Prophet was in control. Everything went black for minute and a half. I collapsed on the ground, no longer Soul Prophet. I looked up wearily and saw my friends scattered all across the room. Blood was stained on the walls. I inhaled sharply, then I heard Daniel groan on the other side of the room. “You're alive I exclaimed. The boulders on either side of us had toppled over and were laying horizontally on the ground, allowing a clear path. “No thanks to you” I heard him answer. We all stood up gradually and walked over to each other like zombies. 

Kaylee ran over to me and gave me a giant bear hug. “You're alive!” She remarked. “What happened to Soul Prophet?” I asked nonchalantly. At this Kaylee took a step back and knitted her eyebrows. “What happened?” she asked rhetorically. All of us looked around in bewilderment, then a voice came out of the blue. “I, in fact have the answer to that!” Out of nowhere stepped a man. He looked around 25 with white-blond hair and a gleaming smile. He had a british accent and pale skin. 

“Who are you?” said Misty, smirking. “Why I,” the man said gesturing to himself “am the Genie of Golden Shackles. Though I prefer the name Christopher.” He had a slight bounce to his step and his eyebrows raised with every word he said. I didn’t like him. 

“W-where are your shackles?” Daniel asked. “Why there right here,” he snapped his fingers and his form changed swiftly. He shimmered for a split second then golden handcuffs formed around his wrists, but other than that, his form didn’t change. “That’s it?” I said. “That’s it.” He confirmed. “Where did you put Soul Prophet?” Kaylee asked. He perked up (if he could anymore) and fumbled through his coat pocket as his handcuffs dissolved. He brought out a small bottle with a cross on the cork. Inside the glass bottle was purple smoke and a black figure. It was Soul Prophet all right. 

“H-how did you do that?!” Kaylee said in amazement. He sat down on a horizontal border and sighed. “I was sentenced to death by the Catholic monks 95 years in Pre-Soviet Russia. Finding that I am pretty tough to kill they put me in these.” The handcuffs reappeared on his skinny wrists. “They also put me in the bottle you see here. The bottle has been passed on for a while, then I’ve been used as a regular bottle.” Daniel gagged. “So you were in my Guinness?” Daniel asked. “Afraid so.” Daniel walked over and sat on the ground, his head between his knees. He continued his story. “The spell that Soul Prophet used to get out of a mortal’s body also releases all magical beings in the area. But she didn’t know that.” He tapped on the glass bottle, taunting the beast inside. “When I was released out of captivity, Soul Prophet had already taken over your body. I then used my brilliant powers to get her out of you and seal her in this bottle as my place.”

I raised a hand, he smirked and pointed at me.”So, what do the handcuffs do anyways?” “Nothing really.” He shrugged. “They’re main purpose was to keep the bottle occupied. But Soul Prophet is pretty powerful. With her magic, I was let out of the bottle for a matter of minutes. I took that time to replace Soul Prophet with me. Therefore fooling those 20th century monks.” 

We stared at him awkwardly. “I’m done” he smiled obnoxiously. “So now Soul Prophet’s in my Guinness.” Daniel sputtered. Christopher chuckled. I am going to call him Christopher. Genie of Golden Shackles is a pain to write down.

“Can I perhaps come with you?” He asked shyly. Everybody spoke at once. Misty, Kaylee, and Daniel all said yes. And I couldn’t agree with them on that subject. “3 to 1” Christopher said, testing the water. “3 to 1” Misty conformed and dragged him by his shirt collar over to the exit despite my complaints. Christopher was relatively skinny. I don't see how he could have as much power as he boasted. But despite my protests, I followed the rest of the group and made my way down the path. 

Chapter Twenty-Two: Self-Doubt Strikes Again

We traveled on, weary from our long adventure. The path got skinnier and skinnier as we continued, we had to walk in a single file line like grade schoolers. The walls pressed in on us as we walked slowly down the path, our feet crunching in the rocks under us. “This is rather uncomfortable” Christopher remarked. “What did you do that ticked the monks off so much, that they would lock you in a bottle?” I asked. Christopher stopped dead in his tracks, causing Daniel, Misty, and Kaylee to stop with him.  “S-stole a magic artifact from the tomb of Rasputin.” We all gasped, “The Rasputin?” Daniel asked. Christopher nodded and kept on along the trail. He sighed “Yes, the Rasputin, the Russian tyrant. But of course I still have the artifact.” We all stopped, causing him to stop too. “What is it?” I asked “Can you show us?” Christopher sighed “If the path wasn’t too dang skinny I could. But it’s nothing really, wouldn’t be worth showing to you.” “I disagree” Daniel spoke up. “Just keep walking” Kaylee urged “We have only gained  about five steps in this last ten minutes we were talking to the Genie.” “I prefer the name Christopher” He piped up “It’s a normal human name right?” “Yes it is” I said. I felt like I was talking to a kindergartener. 

We continued along our trail, our legs ached and our eyes were sore of darkness. We came to a halt at a large steel door, blocking our path. “Should we go?” I said. “We have nowhere else to go.” Kaylee answered. I pushed open the door and found a large circular room. There were painted figures of elements all across the walls in miscellaneous order. There was no door and a high roof, revealing a stained glass ceiling, with light seeping in. There was a small hole in the floor. Christopher walked up and peered inside. “Oh, dear.” The hole seemed to grab him and suck him in. “This shouldn’t be that much of a problem,” we heard his voice say. In an explosion of tile and earth, he burst out of the floor. The hole started rapidly expanding. Christopher snapped his fingers and the hole stopped growing. He flashed his pearly whites. “I think this is the entrance to where we’re looking for.” We all made our way over to the hole in the ground. “You don’t say,” I said sarcastically. 

There were steps descending into the murky darkness. My heart skipped a beat, while Christopher skipped down into the darkness nonchalantly. “What do you think is down there?” I heard Daniel ask. “A water diamond about a mile down” Christopher said. “What?” How could you know that!” I fumed. He looked at me and patted my shoulder, “I’m brilliant.” I was not liking the new member of our team. 

We kept heading down until the stairs stopped beneath us and Misty tripped over the waxed tile. The room was ancient. I could tell from the dust clinging to the walls and the dusty chandelier that hung from the damp ceiling. “Wow” Kaylee said. “It’s a paradox” I heard Christopher mumble. “How” I said, overhearing him. “How is the floor waxed and polished while the rest of the room is filthy?” I thought of this and realized he was right, that was very odd. The room was very dark though, we couldn’t be sure that the floor was as clean as we sought it was to be. “So where is that diamond you were mentioning?” Daniel asked. “Down the hall to the left.” Christopher said, gesturing his head towards a musty door on the opposite side of the room. I sighed, you can’t win with some people.

Christopher suddenly tensed up. “Give me a lighter” he demanded. “I only have one match left” Daniel said. “Give. Me. It.” He said through clenched teeth. Daniel handed him the single match and the matchbox. Christopher struck the match and shed light on the room. “What’s different?” I asked. “Look up” he instructed. We all looked up and I gasped. Kaylee tried to scream but Christopher clamped a hand over her mouth. On the ceiling was a giant blob of gelatinous substance stuck to all corners of the ceiling. The substance was clear and had two yellow eyes, plastered shut by cobwebs. The goo on the the ceiling dripped onto the tile giving it the appearance of polished tile. I wanted to scream but knew better. “It’s sleeping,” He whispered. “How could you not see that?” I said. He shrugged. “Be very quiet.” We tiptoed across the room and I opened the door. A tiny squeak came from the hinge, and the monster’s eyes flashed open. I jumped through the doorway and the rest of the gang leaped through. I slammed the door shut and something hit it. The door shook and Christopher held it closed. Then the door broke off of its hinges and Misty screamed. There were faceless figures peeling off the goo on the ceiling and landing on the floor. They were like wax men. They trudged along after us as we made our way down the hall and to the left. Daniel jumped to the right instead of left. “That’s the trapped room!” Christopher yelled at him. “The left, you idiot!” Daniel sidestepped and trailed after the rest of the gang. We came to the door and we leapt inside. 

In this room, everything was waxed. The floor, ceiling, and walls were polished to perfection. The room was at least a mile long, with pillars stretching to the tall ceiling. In the center of the room stood a large podium with a beautiful blue diamond in the center. Between us and the podium stood a man in a robe. He was bald and had grey skin that looked like it could fall off. His eyes were clear and lifeless. The mans mouth stretched across his baggy skin like a long slash. The man looked right at me and it was almost as if I could hear his thoughts. “Kill, kill, kill.” We stood panting around the edges of the room. The door burst open and wax men marched in, making an army-like formation. The man smiled, but it looked more like teeth jutting out of his face than his mouth opening. They circled us, and then stepped forward. I hefted the sword. “I’m not scared of you!” I shouted. 

The man grinned again, as if to say, “You soon will be.” I yelled in defiance and chopped off the head of one of the wax men. It bounced to the floor and rolled away. As if on cue, one man picked it up and lobbed it towards my head. I slashed it out of the air and another wax man threw it at me, nailing me in the gut. They, with a marching noise, advanced on me and I chopped off a few more heads. The rest of the gang (except for Christopher) had acquired a weapon and was standing back to back in the center of the circle of men. They, in a synchronized motion, raised their leg up and kicked at us. I blocked it and they threw a punch. I screamed in rage and swept the sword through them with a huge wave. Some were washed away, but most withstood it.  They closed in on us and tried to suffocate me. I struggled to breathe and was about to pass out. 

Then an explosion rocked the room. Not a literal one, with flames and blood, but one that pushed us against the walls and away from Christopher. The only one who wasn’t affected was the standing man in the center. A soft sound echoed throughout the room. I realized it was the man in the center clapping. I peeled myself off of the wall, and the man smiled. He stepped off of the podium, and our eyes met.

Everything went black, but I was still awake. Something seemed different, like I was sharing a mind with someone. Kind of like Soul Prophet. A tiny voice whispered, “You’re not good enough.” I opened my eyes and it was just me and him. Nobody else, I had been in this kind of situation before and I was not very happy. “Your quest” the man said. “It benefits you, mastering all the weapons. Defeating the evil doers that are after you.” I was confused. “You’re so focused on yourself that you have no idea what is going on in the world around you.” I looked at him dumbly “what do you mean?” The man closed his eyes and put his hands to his temples. I fell to the floor, visions running through my head. I saw the revolutionary war, blood flew everywhere. I saw World War II, women and children were being killed by men with swastikas on their sleeves. I saw hurricane Katrina, and the amount of chaos being caused from all that devastation. The man was right, what I did didn’t benefit the people around me. The honest civilians and the hardworking men and women across the world. I was being selfish, my actions meant nothing. The visions stopped and I stood back up slowly. The man smiled at me grimly. “Do you see that your quest means nothing? What you’re doing here and now is causing chaos.”

 I scrunched my eyebrows “Chaos, how?” The man put his hands to his temples again and I was better prepared. I stayed on my feet as a vision came into view. I saw me and my friends’ faces on billboards all across America. I saw people at a headstone labeled Nathaniel. I could not explain this, for I was alive and well. I saw a news reporter saying “Local boy Nathaniel disappears after his guardian, Ethel was found dead in her house.” I saw people running across the streets of a city screaming “HE’S DEAD! THEN WERE ALL DEAD!” I also didn’t understand this.  Then I saw my grandfather, he was surrounded by two men in black suits. “It’s you, or the kid.” I heard the men say. “Give your life, and another of the WPA’s most wanted are dead. Or give your kid’s life and we’ll take the weapons with him. We know they’re at your house.” I saw my grandfather’s sea blue eyes, his distinguished features and his furrowed brow. “Take me” he said. “I’ll die for the boy.” I screamed in anguish as the next vision came on. It was my parents. They were driving in their car when they were pulled over by a man in a black hood. He pointed a gun at their window. His jacket read WPA. “Hand the kid over” he said. “No!” my mother screamed at the man. “Hand the kid over or you both die!” He said. My parents looked at each other. The man took out a syringe. “Inject you with this, blame it on a car crash.” He had a boston accent. My parents glared at the man. “We would rather die then put our son in harm’s way.” The man bit his thumb, “that’s two off the WPA wanted list.” He then advanced with the syringe. I next saw a cold tile floor, the vision was gone. I found myself crying, sobbing actually. The man just smiled, “you see how much people have put on stake for you. Do you see how much chaos you have caused.” I stood up and wiped tears from my eyes. I concentrated in my minds eye to get back to the real world and out of this twisted dementia.

I remembered what the man with the dreadlocks said about controlling what happens in your life. If I could only focus. I then heard something plop, it was sword and wax! I opened my eyes and the war around us, between my friends and the waxmen was going on. I had done it! The man in the center of the room looked confused and disoriented. 

Christopher came up to me and said “Hey, distract the men for a second. I’m going to do something marvelous!” I did what he said and sent a wave of air towards a waxman, sending him tumbling through the doorway and crashing into the trap room. I heard wax melting after that. Christopher straightened his form and punched thin air. White light blinded all of us and I toppled to the floor in confusion. My vision went clear and I saw all of the waxmen melted on the floor in puddles of wax. Christopher smiled and literally patted himself on the back. The man however was also on the floor, his eyes sealed shut with wax. I noticed my clothes were also covered with wax. Everything was. I stood up and looked at the man, glued to the floor. Christopher snapped his finger and the man dissolved into thin air. All the wax on us disappeared too. “Nice job, Genie” Misty said. He smiled, “touch the crystal and we’re out of here.” We all slowly walked over to the crystal and placed our hands on it. We were gone in a flash.