by H.L. Nguyen
Chapter 10
So Grandpa is not in San Diego
Traveler struggled to open his eyes. He found himself underneath his soft white sheets covered by his thick periodic table of elements bedcover. He expected different surroundings because the last thing he remembered was his adventurous journey through the forest. He raised his arms giving out a loud yawn, but found it not that liberating. He could feel his muscle throbbing in parts of his body that have never hurt before.
“That was one crazy dream I had. It felt so real,” Traveler said.
He heard the patter of footsteps and soft whispers outside his door.
“Mom, Dad, is that you?” He yelled.
He anticipated his parents to answer, but the footsteps continued pass the door. Traveler was just about to flip the sheets and head out the door when a man with green eyes and long black hair, wearing a bright white robe with a hood entered the room without using the door. The walls of the room slid open like shower curtains. He grabbed the chart that was at the end of his bed and flipped the page.
“I guess you’re up, we had a bit of a scare, but looks like you are all better,” The man with green eyes said in a soothing voice.
“Where – how – what are you doing in my room?” Traveler panicked.
“Whoa, settle down there. Relax, you are in the healing wing. There is nothing to be worried about.”
“If this is a hospital then how come you’re in my room?”
“Traveler, these are charmeleon curtains. They help with the healing process,” He continued to explain, “People with positive attitudes heal faster and these curtains put you in a familiar area.” He went over to the curtains to prove his point. “See.”
Traveler was flabbergasted. The entire wall wave side to side like window curtains on a windy day. Even though it was the most remarkable thing he has ever seen, he preferred to be in his real bed with real walls and his mother in the kitchen cooking the most wonderful homemade chicken soup ever. Besides his current symptoms, homesickness should have been on the charts.
“Wait, my parents must be worried sick about me. I haven’t been home in hours... I have to go home!” Traveler said.
“Traveler, don’t worry. You mustn’t worry so much. The time in your world stops when you are here,” The green-eyes man said.
“It does?” Traveler said with a mystified look.
“Yes, many of our Electus go on a journey for days, weeks, or sometimes months. So not to raise any suspicions, the mirror stops your time. You’ll learn more about it when you go to Academy.”
“Academy?”
“Traveler, the important thing now is you need your rest.”
“Are you my doctor?”
“Well, I am one of the Visorist here.”
“Umm, can you tell me your name?”
“Caleb...”
Just as he said that, Jelly came charging through the curtains.
“Traveler, Young Master, you are up,” Jelly said
“Well, it looks like you have a visitor.” Caleb turned to Traveler. “Whenever you feel like it, you can get out of this bed.”
“Thanks Caleb.”
As Caleb headed out of the room, a series of clicking noises followed afterwards.
Traveler noticed the uncommon appendages sticking out of the white robe. Whoa, a centaur. Traveler thought.
“Young Master, you are going to miss your party. Everyone is waiting for you. Hurry and get dressed,” Jelly said.
Traveler saw the new clothes sitting on a chair and in a short instant, he was dressed and walked through the curtains finding Jelly sitting on the bed and chewing on his nails.
“You know that’s a bad habit.” Traveler said with an appalling look.
Jelly wiped his slobbery fingers on his clothes.
“Young Master, another bad habit is being late for a king’s party. You could get hung,” Jelly replied.
“Well then let’s get a move on,” Traveler said.
They both ran out of the hospital wing almost knocking Caleb down in the process. They reached the entrance to the great mess hall. Traveler stared in awe at the humongous double doors that were tall enough to fit two basketball players that stood on top of each other. The doors did not have any knobs to open them; the only things available were these large brass circles.
The doors had a decorative plane in the shape of a half circle covering both doors. They grabbed a door handle and pulled with all their might. As the door opened, Traveler saw large amount of people sitting at round wooden tables. The main table was the only table that had a white tablecloth.
Suddenly, a sparkling light came trickling down from the top of the doorframe. Traveler was hesitant to walk through it. Jelly explained to him that it cleans people before they eat. Traveler felt the sparkling light touch his body. It was a little ticklish, but the sensation felt rejuvenating. Traveler smelled the lemony zestness after walking through it. The king signaled for the both for them to sit at the head table. On the way up, the other guests kept staring and pointing as if Traveler was some big movie star walking down the red carpet.
“Jelly, why are they staring at me?” Traveler said tapping Jelly on the shoulder.
“Because they think you are the one to end this war, The Savior.”
“I don’t think I could get used to this.”
“Well Young Master, you should not say those words. Electus are confident and being you is the best thing that could happen to this place.”
When they both reached their chairs, the king stood up and made his announcement.
“Now that our guest of honor is here,” the king said pointing towards Traveler with all five of his fingers. “Let us begin the party.” After an arousing cheer, the king raised his hand quieting the crowd. “I hear that our chef Krispen Culinare has design a wondrous meal for this occasion. Let’s eat and be merry!”
The king pulled down on the rope that was near him and the top of the ceiling opened. A glitter of light came raining down. When the sparklets of light hit the plates and goblets, it materialized into a gorgeous meal and tasty drinks.
Traveler knew only one person sitting at the main table, but that did not stop him from enjoying the celebration. After settling in, each movement he made seemed like an inner struggle with himself. His mind and body were not on the same wavelength. The day filled with uncommon activities meant Traveler’s muscles still ached, and the food was nowhere near enough to replenish his strength to recover from soreness. However, when he concentrated hard at the food in front of him, or the lack of it, the scarcity of the meal bothered him. He inched his eyebrows closely together and shifted his eyes up to the left. Jelly noticed his different demeanor.
“Traveler, is there something bothering you? Are you not hungry?” Jelly asked.
As it was he was starving, nevertheless, he did not want to be rude and complain about the measly portions. He felt cheated which caused him to search for answers. Using his heightened senses, he looked across the room. He found it relieving that everyone had the same portion.
Traveler tried to savor each bite of his succulent chicken and sighed with relief after every sip of his drink. When he finished with the small portion he had, he frantically looked around the table as if he was a dog looking for that extra piece of meat to satisfy his animal urges. Then, a tiny particle of light came down ever so softly. It swayed a little to the left and right like a snowflake would do. When it reached the plate, it expanded to the size of the plate and shrank back down to nothing, leaving behind another delicious meal. His eyes widened with amazement. He realized he was wrong, which was something that he was not accustomed to feeling. He grabbed the food and shoved it in his face. Something so small never felt so great. The goblets too had the same experience. They would also refill themselves when a tiny particle of light engulfed the cup, leaving behind this flavorful honey drink the locals call Ebok. The endless food and the bottomless drink kept the party going.
As the celebration continued, different accents and laughters rumbled throughout the mess hall. No matter what level of volume the voices were or how much spilled wine people wore, nobody complained. Most of the guests had a story or joke to tell, which gave people reasons to laugh and cheer their way off their chairs. The celebration went well into the night. He looked around to watch the other people enjoying the party. He noticed the absence of Jelly. He searched around vigorously for his green feather cap. He managed to get a glimpse of him leaving out the side of the door. He excused himself from the table and pursued his newfound friend.
As Traveler walked out the door, he was taken back by the striking colors. It looked like a Jackson Pollok painting, but more organized. He never realized how a certain arrangement of the flowers’ colors could be so beautiful. He noticed Jelly sitting underneath a rainbow of flowers. He walked along the stone path and sat next to him. For the first couple of minutes, not one word was spoken.
“So...” Jelly raised his hand, cutting off Traveler’s words.
“Young Master,” Jelly began. “My heart filled with joy when my beacon illuminated after ten years. I never thought I would be able to see Master Sands again.”
He paused. Traveler did not know if he needed to say anything. Jelly reached inside his pockets and pulled out a necklace. It was made from a long thin leathery string and in the middle was what appeared to be a large tooth.
“Your grandfather, my master, gave this to me on our first journey. We fought a two-headed dog and I recognized a weakness in the dog’s neck- something overlooked by him. He flung his body and stabbed the weak point and the dog fell. He grabbed two teeth from the dog’s mouth and he told me that I deserved one of them.”
“So my Grandpa was some warrior,” Traveler said.
“Yes, he was an Electus, one of the best.”
“So you knew him before he went catatonic.”
“Well, I was the reason he went lost.”
Traveler filled his body with confusion and anger.
“Jelly, you need to tell me what happened.”
“Yes.” Jelly took a deep breath in. “I spoke to him in a dream and told him I knew where Terrorene was. He had not fought in a longtime, but he insisted on going. I told him where the source was and he entered the mind within minutes.”
“You mean with the mirror?”
“Yes that is the key to Kapricia.”
“Oh, so Kapricia is the place of people’s minds.”
“Yes,” Jelly said. “We entered this mind that was very heavily guarded. It takes on the form of Alzheimer's disease in your world. Master Sands knew the risks and prepared as best as he could. We walked for days, in a mind filled with traps and Tecks. We fought each of them with extreme precision, not wasting an ounce of energy. He was not rusty one bit. It was not until we reached Terrorene fortress that we started to weaken ourselves. He suggested that we alert the other Electus, but I insisted we move quickly before Terrorene moved to a different mind. We searched the large fortress. We almost gave up until we found him. Terrorene was a hard person to pursue and every Electus’ sole purpose is to find and kill him. He is the main source to ending the war. Master Sands quickly lunged forward and tried to attack him. But Terrorene seemed to expect our visit and blocked his attack.”
“Who is this Terrarnene?”
“No Traveler, it is pronounced Tear-a-nee,” Jelly said. “Terrorene is the leader of the Darthinia.” Traveler received the information with a perplexed look. “Jacob had almost captured Terrorene, but Terrorene’s pet red dragon busted through the wall and tried to eat him.”
Traveler gasped, “So my Grandpa is dead.”
“No Young Master, Terrorene’s dragon was a prison. He struggled in the mouth of the dragon. I saw fear on his face before the dragon closed his mouth and swallowed him whole. I tried to give him his Smoke Ryder but Terrorene grabbed it in midair. There was nothing I could do, once Jacob was in the belly, I disappeared from Kapricia.” Jelly stopped talking and hung his head in shame. “I told Master Sands that I would keep his Smoke Ryder safe with me. If he still had it, we would have been able to escape. It was my fault we pursued Terrorene without help; it was my fault he was without his Smoke Ryder; it was my fault he got caught.”
The story stopped and Jelly’s eyes seemed drained. “I thought he had somehow escaped when you enter Kapricia. But you probably had the same energy as your grandfather and the beacon got confused.”
“Wait a minute. My Grandpa is in San Diego, not in some red dragon’s stomach prison.”
“No Young Master. In the Kapricia world, if you die, then you die in your world. If you get captured, you lose your control of your mind, body, and spirit.”
“I thought time stopped in my world.”
“It does, but when you die or get captured, your body returns and time continues.”
“So if time continues here, then do I get older when I go back?”
“Oh my young one, you have many questions. You’ll know more once you attend the academy. However, the easy answer is the body in your world doesn’t change but you grow much wiser and stronger in your mind.”
“I see.”
Jelly lifted the necklace over his head and began to slip it on, but stopped.
“Traveler, I think this belongs to you more than it belongs to me. Do not worry I have another one.”
Jelly slowly reached over Traveler’s head and laid the necklace down on his collar.
“Thanks Jelly.”
“I think it is time we go back to the celebration.”
They both got up feeling a little better. As they walked back to the party, Traveler asked, “So Jelly, are you going to be my helper?”
“I don’t know Young Master. That is not up to me to decide and it is not helper, it is Calic.”
