The Journey

by Arnav Koppala

  It headed straight towards me with the hissing sound that made me jerk my head again. The fangs that I saw nearly knocked what little breath I had left clear out of me. The last thing I needed was to be bitten by a venomous snake and I would surely not even be thinking about looking down. Where were my friends when I needed them? How come they were not here when I needed them? Where did this flying snake come from?

  As if it already was not dangerous enough it has poison. Now, this creature can poison anyone anywhere. I kept trying to look at it to tell what kind of snake it was. The hissing sound alone made me think it was some sort of python. I kept watch on it because it was shooting venom and then here came the hiss sound again. I just wanted my feet to touch solid ground, so I could get out of the air far away from this hideous creature. Would I make it in time?

  I descend quickly to the ground to replenish my energy and to hide from the beast. I grabbed the back of my neck and tried to rub it to get some of the soreness from the strain out of it. I almost jump back into the air when a hand squeezes my hand. I dodged the snake’s venom when I did jump because it was swooping lower towards the ground and then back up higher. I shout in horror, only to find Alex with a finger on his lips and everyone else right behind him staying in camouflage. “Be quiet everyone. Make no sudden noises.” Alex said. As Alex led the way, we all follow each other in a clump and advance into the depths of the forest.

  “What is wrong with your neck?” Amelia asked. As I began to tell her, Alex reminded us to be quiet. The sound of our footsteps following each other to the crunching branches and twigs under our feet made enough noise. The forest had so many trees that it made our visual acuity hard to see. I hope everyone knew what they were doing.

  The forest resembled that of a wooded park but there were no signs. I wanted to see something that said beware of danger or turn back now. The forest was lifeless because the trees had all kinds of branches just hanging from them. We stumbled upon a huge circular opening and started walking in. What we find is a cave with no dwellers and decide to rest there for the time being.

  It was a hollow opening that went back far but it was pitch black dark. I plopped down close to the opening because I had no idea what lurked back there. I did not want to be the one to venture on and find myself stuck without a way back out. As I tried to make myself comfortable, the pain returned to my neck. I tried to stretch it out and noticed some writings on the cave’s entrance. The language I could not make out.

  Glancing up, I see more writing. I got up from where I was sitting and started to trace my hands along the cave where the indentions were. Alex makes his rounds to be sure everyone arrived inside of the cave. Alex motions me to go help Amelia. Alex was still telling us to be as quiet as possible. I picked up a few branches and twigs that were nearby to help with the fire.

  Amelia gathers some wood and I light it up. I grabbed a few more just so we would have extra just in case we needed it. We all sit close to each other and Alex gives us a nice thick forcefield of water to use as a barrier. We needed all the protection that we could get. I heat up some of the water to create some internal heat. I could sense within me that I was not the only one that was tired. I grab a few leaves from fallen branches and make myself a place for my head to rest. I knew I wanted to tell Amelia all about what happened but I didn’t want to upset Alex.

  I kept turning in different positions to try to adjust my head and neck. I was so tired and really needed sleep. I just kept tossing and turning. I closed my eyes and started to doze off and then I saw that huge snake with its fangs. It startled me awake. I readjusted myself and decided to just turn over on my back. I lie on the ground in exhaustion and I look up to the ceiling and see vines and leaves all covering the ceiling. They were all intermingled and intertwined together.

  I did not think much of it. I started to fall asleep. Abruptly, as soon as my eyes closed there was the snake appearing closer than before but this time the venom came pouring out of its mouth. I opened my eyes and it was gone. I just wanted sleep. I was sleep deprived and insomnia could have set in at any time.

  One of the vines slithered a couple of centimeters. Uhhh! Is it just me or is there something off about this cave? It could not have been the writing on the walls that I saw earlier. I keep staring until I notice the billions of eyes staring at me each one of them perplexed to fact that this would be called an invasion. I motion for everybody to be silent. Alex did not have to be the one this time. I had to do it. Then I point up and wriggle my arm back and forth to motion that there are snakes on the ceiling. We had all better hoped that it was not the one that I had just escaped earlier.

  We all slowly moved and the forcefield moved along with us. Good thing we had the protection around us because we sure would have made their dinner. There were so many just slithering all over each other. At least the there was no way for an intrusion to happen. The snakes on the ceiling became agitated. They turned into a bright red which outlined all the details about them especially those tiny…little…red…wings!

  Oh no! We are smack dab in the middle of the—I did not even finish because the flying snake came down from the sky and slithered its way into the cave. I still wanted to tell Amelia what happened. I knew that I should have told her while I had the chance. We knew we were stuck in that cave entrance, so we pressed our backs onto the cave walls and breathed in and out for the calmness to come back to us. The look and panic on everyones’ faces was nothing but fear.

  I could not fight them. I had just had this awful experience alone in the sky and was almost attacked. I should have warned them in advance. We say nothing. We speak nothing. We do nothing as if naive to the fact that we were humans and always thought we were statues.

  The snakes slithered into the cave and the ceiling started shifting and moving until the baby snake started moving off of the ceiling and onto the body. Once every baby snake went onto the body, the snake disappeared and went away from our sight. We thought we were safe. Notice carefully, how I used the word thought. I knew that I should have rebelled against Alex and started speaking when he told us not to make a sound.

  Now, we had the attention of every single animal in the forest because one decided to bite Amelia. I had so much guilt because she asked me what happened earlier, and I was too selfishly involved in trying to obey Alex commands to not cause a disturbance. If I would have obeyed my own instincts, then this could have possibly been avoided.

  She screamed in agony as I winced just looking at the snake biting her. She started to lose her balance. Her breathing became heavy in an instant. I shoot a flamethrower out of my palms and incinerate the little monster as I stare at the snake bit. The snake did not seem to respond so I turned the pressure up on the flamethrower. A purple hue seemed to overlay the skin near the dark red dots. There was swelling that started to take place around the bite. I walked closer to her ankle and thump!

  All of this was my fault. If anything happened to Amelia, I would get the blame for the rest of my life. She asked me and I withheld the information from her. If only—she started swaying back and forth and lost her balance completely. Amelia fell onto the floor with a thud. Her breathing worsened and it looks like she was starting to hyperventilate.

  I quicken my pace as I prop her up on the cave wall and start to examine her ankle. The veins on her ankle turned indigo and the arteries violet. Amelia started taking longer pauses in between her breaths. She was slowly dying. Her eyes started to roll back into her head. She slid down the wall shaking. I know if I would have said something earlier then we would have been able to determine from the type of snakes which ones were venomous and nonvenomous.

  I tried to feel for her pulse and could not find one. Aunt Glalie was frantically searching her phone for some remedy and she gave us the bad news. Her eyes started bulging out of the sockets as Aunt Glalie’s hands shook while she was reading. She looked like she did not want to inform us of what she discovered. After a moment of intense silence, she blurte
d it out.

  The snake was called the Merifurus Corious also known as The Snake of Izarde. This was the most poisonous snake in the whole universe because its venom can convert a spirit into dark or light energy depending on the victim’s balance. That was not the worst of it. Was this really supposed to had happened to me instead of her? It did not help that the snake was poisonous, but now we had the attention of every single creature, critter, and monster all feasting their eyes on us because Amelia yelled.

  All I could think about was; who would become one of these beasts next victims? Aunt Glalie searched her phone as if she was reading a thousand emails per second. She paused for a couple moments, pondered, and her eyes widened. By this time, Amelia was losing consciousness. She was sweating so much. Her ankle looked like it needed to be amputated it had swollen so much.

  If Amelia had any chance of survival, it would be what we did next in these critical moments. We were losing her. Was it me or was Aunt Glalie moving in slow motion here. She then showed to us that there was a cure that consisted of sundrip, moonwater, and terraspice. Finally, I let out a sigh of relief. It was more like a sign of desperation. Amelia was going to pull through.

  All of these ingredients would cure a person that is bitten by the snake of Izarde. I wanted to ask around and see if anyone knew if Ameila had any allergic reactions to anything, but I decided against it. The time was sensitive because her breathing was still faint. Her body temperature was cold. I wanted to see if there was some type of way to get that fire back going to keep her warm.

  Aunt Glalie pulled up a map of each of the three locations that we would find sundrip, moonwater, and terraspice. She stayed to help protect and preserve Amelia while Jack, Alex, and I went to search for the ingredients. We exited the cave with precaution zing! I looked back and took one glance at Amelia and I didn’t know if she would make it for that amount of time. A small creature flung past me and almost sucked the life out of me. At least, Aunt Glalie was there to provide some degree of comfort.

  My main thought process was if she was going to survive in time for us to make it back. No sooner than that thought came to my cerebrum did Alex, as if he had read my thoughts, immediately realized he needed to go back over to Amelia. We were still not out of the rough patch yet. We were losing her. He rushed back over to her and placed his hands on her ankle. He forced his healing power into her ankle and created a blockade of immunity around the areas of infection. She started to regain some coloration back to her body.

  He then ran back out and created a water barrier that was 360 degrees, which even though kept my shoes constantly wet, it still protected me from the things that lurked in the forest. Everything in the forest seemed to be staring right at us as if with eyes that knew something lay in wait the further we went in it. I wanted to know Alex’s plan. Did he want us all to stay together to avoid any other calamity?

  I walked along further up a head and Alex finally caught up to us. Soon we were at the base of a tall temple. We walk over to it and read the inscriptions. I then see that the inscriptions were Kalamanian. This temple was meant to manufacture sundrip. We walked inside and looked around to see if anything happened. Nothing. Everything was dimly lit so Jack did a little bit of his light magic and turned up the brightness of the room.

  There were mechanisms and gears and levers all twisting and turning theses magnifying-like glasses into different sections of this container with some kind of semi-solid and semi-liquid. The sundrip glowed as the magnifying glasses magnifies this single beam of light and concentrated it in one small center focal point. It was at this time that the sundrip was glowing more intense when the solar eclipse cast a shadow over the sun.

  This caused the corona to be brighter and caused it to be more extreme. It all reminded me of the invention room in Willy Wonka and how awesome it was. And how everyone was a machine and the machine seemed to show that the sundrip is the ingredient to make the remedy for Amelia. We take a cup and start to fill it up with sundrip and we could have been on the easy way. If it was not for the fact that the sundrip burned through the cup and onto the floor. Surprisingly, it did not burn through the ground. I got onto the floor and put my hand near it. The floor was not even warm.

  We all looked at each other and with silent communication. We split up to search for each of the other two ingredients. Alex goes for moonwater. Jack goes for terraspice. I go off and I search high and low for anything to hold the sundrip. I hurry off into a tangent as I start to closely inspect the machinery by focusing my eyes on the machinery and its gears. The gears were all turning clockwise on my left but the gears on my right were turning counter clockwise.

  I look up. I see that the sundrip drips in a diagonal line as if there was some imaginary force pulling on the sundrip. I look in the direction it was moving towards. I see this small dim light peering in the darkness. I walk towards it like a mindless zombie with the power of curiosity. I walk down the corridor as the grow old and musty as the dry air nauseates my head.

  With each step I took, I felt as if I was travelling through time. Through a small portion of ancient history long forgotten. In an instant, the dim light grew in brightness until I could see it sprawled across the floor just right underneath the doorway. I walk closer and closer as each step echoes in my brain. Thump! Thump!

  What lied behind that door? I crouched down and tried to peer to see if I could ascertain what was going on in there. To my own failure, I could not see anything. I got back up because I did not want to take the chance of the light blinding me.

  In one swift motion, I reach the handle, open the door, and let the light wash over me as my body bathed in a halo glow. In the center stood some kind of relic with millions of ancient scriptures that were engraved into the wall. I stood with awe as my brain was moving at the speed of light.

  “Guardian,” a voice echoed in my head.

  “Who’s there?” I questioned.

  “Guardian of the Eternal Flame, step forward on to the platform.” The voice spoke back. Where was the pla—oh, wait. Never mind. The ground rumbled as the tiles shifted in different directions as some molded themselves to finally make some kind of marble platform. I step onto it and the door slams shut behind me.

  The chamber illuminates as the scriptures begin to shift. Each letter and symbol moves and glows as if the whole writing was an archaic code. The chamber dimmed along with the relic, too. I started walking off the platform but some invisible force stopped me from walking. The voice came back and tried to tell me something. “This is your test and you have to make it out alive with the relic. This is your only chance of saving your friend.”

  Wait. How did this voice know about Amelia getting bit by a snake? This relic was something else. Something important and something that—

  “Hello?” Wait. I know that voice. It sounded familiar.

  “Terako?” I said.

  “Justin.” Terako replied.

  “Hey, Terako, long time no see. In fact, a lot has happened. Can you help me solve this puzzle because this relic wo—”

  “Hold on, Justin. Did you just say the relic?” Terako asked.

  “Yeah. Isn’t that thing over there, the relic thing because I really do not care what it is because as long just as it can carry sundrip.” I said.

  “Justin, do you realize what you just found? That ‘relic’ you see over there is one of the seven most powerful relics in the whole universe. The Relics of Cypress Dementia.” Terako interrogated.

  “You mean, that relic right there is that powerful?” I asked.

  “Yes. Justin, it is that powerful. It is so powerful that it can hear and speak to anyone, but this relic was only in legends.” Terako said.

  “But then who is cypre—” I stuttered.

  “Beep. Beep. Beep. That is enough questions. All will be revealed later and whatever you do, DO NOT EVER MENTION THIS TO JACK. You have to tell everyone else BUT JACK! Do I make myself clear?” Terako questioned.

  “Yes. Y
es. Dial it down a bit. Your voice is going to cause my ears to bleed if you continue speaking.” I proclaimed.

  “Sorry, Justin, but I have to go and make some preparation and contact my fellow guardians about this. Gtg!” Terako murmured.

  “Wait. Where are you going, Terako?” I asked hesitantly.

  “You still have to complete the challenge ahead of you guardian.” The relic said.

  Ugh. The whole room was going to collapsed and I did not know what to do. I stared at the relic, as it stared right back at me. It was a full out stare down, but I kept staring when I found something unusual about the relic. It was glowing under the sunlight. At the ceiling, a small peep hole let in a warm glow of sunlight and bathed the relic in a fuzzy glow. Then at the bottom of the relic, another glow appeared. At that second, I realized that this relic wasn’t just any relic. It does not hold sundrip. It creates sundrip.

  I use my flames. I blast the barrier to pieces, grab the relic, and run out of there. I run outside the temple, and I see Jack and Alex outside waiting for me along with Amelia. Right where there was a puddle of moonwater and a mound of terraspice plopped onto the ground. I remember the voice reminding me not to say anything about this to Jack.

  I run up to them as their faces turn from happy into shock as I look down to see the sundrip spilled all over my arm. I stare in horror but quickly regain my state of balance to find out that the sundrip burned my arm. I quickly shove the liquid off my arm and onto the ground. Aunt Glalie picks up a stick and mixes it quickly before the sundrip melts through the ground.

  Then the mixture turns black and picks up an apple and drops it into the mixture. Then she takes it out. She cuts a piece and gives it to Amelia. She weakly bites into the apple and almost instantly she opens her eyes, gets back onto her feet and screams. “Aah, that is the worst tasting apple in the world.” Amelia shouts. I turn around to see that the temple did not collapse.