Forced Magic

by Jerod Lollar

  A lot more of these green nightmares had come through the ball portal. Running back and forth, going in and out of the store, running with everything from 'Top Ramen' to toilet paper. It was total chaos. It amazed me that no one had been hurt. There was still one dummy standing by the front of the store, filming on his camera phone. A green guy stopped in front of him and spat at him. The guy jumped back just in time. The spit hit the sidewalk and started sizzling. At the sight of this, the guy took off. Seeing the smoke coming from the sidewalk, I realized why Booger wanted to spit in my face. These creatures' spit must have some kind acid in it.

  I was being kept away from the front of the store as green guy after green guy jumped on me and tried to beat me down. I had no idea where the strength was coming from, but I continued to fight them off. After knocking one over a car trying to leave the parking lot, I had a moment to rest. I jumped into the back of a truck and watched the whole scene.

  The dragon was fantastic. Swooping down it bowled them over. It seemed to be everywhere at once. Any time one of the nightmares got close to a panicky person trying to get away, the dragon was there, protecting them, sending the little beasts one way or another. But more and more kept appearing and it was becoming clear that we were fighting a losing battle. I heard a baby cry and a scream and I saw a woman with a stroller backed up against the side of the building. Two creatures had them trapped. I jumped up to help them when Booger came out of nowhere, grabbed my head, and pulled me back down into the truck. We rolled around with neither of us getting the upper hand. I heard the baby crying as the mother screamed for help. The strange pulling sensation from my stomach had returned. I kicked at Booger and must have hit a tender spot. He rolled off of me groaning in pain. I stood up in the back of the truck ready to help as the two beasts moved closer to the young mother and baby.

  Booger jumped on my back tearing his claws into my flesh. As Booger continued to scratch at my back, I saw the dragon flying straight toward me. It didn’t see the cornered mother. The pain was intense and the pressure grew inside of me. It was some sort of strange buzzing energy. My breath came out in short gasps. As the buzzing grew inside of me, I reached behind me and pulled Booger off my back and flipped him over my head, smashing him into the ground. I looked at the dragon and pointed toward the mother and baby.

  “FETCH!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

  The dragon turned its head and saw the problem. With a roar, it dove down toward the creatures. Picking them both up by its tail, the dragon flung them into the air. They landed at least twenty feet away. The dragon was between the mother and baby, and the two green things. The creatures screeched and made a strange gargling sound in their throats. More and more green beasts ran to join the two who were now beginning to charge the dragon. It looked like there were at least twenty running at it. I jumped out of the truck and started running through the parking lot to help. I didn’t know how I could help, but I had to try. But, before I could take two steps, a hand shot out and grabbed my ankle sending me sprawling on the pavement. It was my old friend Booger.

  A fresh pain hit my chest as I slid across the asphalt. I could hear Booger running at me from behind as I skidded down the parking lot. My chest was now a raw mess and the wind had been knocked out of me. I lay there waiting for the next attack from Booger, when the dragon roared. I looked up to see the most amazing thing.

  The dragon had raised its head back as a jet of red flame left its mouth. It sprayed the flame at the charging green things like a stream of water shooting out of a fireman’s hose. The entire hoard of beasts that had charged the dragon caught fire. They squealed and screamed running into each other. At first they ran around trying to beat the flames out, running in all different directions. But then something pulsed from the portal and, as one, they ran for it, jumping into it and disappearing. There was a strange high pitched humming sound as they disappeared. When all of the ones the dragon had caught on fire had gone in, the humming stopped. I lay there in stunned silence. Spots were in front of my eyes from the fire the dragon had created. To my right I heard a voice.

  “Whoa,” said Booger.

  He was standing next to me amazed too. I looked over at him, he looked up at me, and with a growl, he jumped on top of me, his feet twisted into freakish claws. I kicked at Booger knocking him off of me. I managed to get a good punch at his face and my hand went into his mouth. I felt a few sharp teeth break and when I pulled my fist back. I could see smoke coming off of my hand. The skin on my knuckles started to burn as I watched the flesh of my hand bubble and melt away. Booger knocked me down and barked a command at the remaining beasts left in the parking lot. Through the haze of pain I could see them all charging in my direction. I kicked at Booger, hitting him in the face where the cigar burn was. He let go of me and leaped back, holding his face and glaring at me.

  I scrambled to my feet and faced my attackers. Behind them, flying low, was the dragon coming at them, hopefully coming to my rescue. Its flight looked a little wobbly. That burst of fire must have taken a lot out of it. It reared its head back ready to let out another fire burst. The red flame shot out of the dragon's mouth. It shot over the heads of the creatures, heading straight for my face. I threw up my hands to cover my face. I knew this wasn’t the healing fire of before. This was an angry fire of battle. This was going to hurt.

  I had closed my eyes waiting for the worst. I could hear the roar of the fire as it hit me. But there was no feeling of burning. Maybe he missed me. Opening my eyes, I was taken by surprise by what I saw. The fire had engulfed my hands. I felt the heat from the fire, but I could see that my hands were unburned. My hands were protected from the fire. The flame was red and had a weight to it. I was dumbfounded by the flame burning on my hands without damaging them. Just like the fire in the tunnel, this had healing qualities as well. I could see my hands healing from the damage of Booger's acid spit. It was like watching a burning candle in reverse. Within seconds my hand was healed, the damage from Booger's spit was gone. I opened and shut my hands, totally marveling at this incredible miracle. I looked up to see the dragon hovering in the air with an astonished look on its face. I looked at the remaining creatures. They were all staring at me with looks of shock and disbelief on their faces.

  The flames began to burn brighter. I yelled and started to wave my hands around wildly, frantically trying to put the fire out. Small balls of flame began to fly off of my hands in all directions hitting the now panicky little green monsters. They scattered and ran away. They all ran toward the blue orb as it pulsed.

  I finally got control of myself and stopped shaking my hands. The dragon had flown toward the creatures roaring in rage. It was trying to herd them all toward the blue light. There was a scattered fire throughout the parking lot. I watched the dragon swooping down at the snot brigade as they ran for the ball of light. It was busy keeping all of the things running. So busy that it didn’t see the one creature with the wicked looking spear. It was Booger. I’m not sure where he had gotten the weapon. He had a twisted smile on his face as he pulled his powerful arm back aiming the spear at the dragon. I yelled out trying to warn it, but there was no way I could be heard over the screams and roars. The spear was going to hit the dragon and there was no way to stop it.

  In a moment of mad inspiration, I raised my still burning hands over my head and flung them like I was throwing a heavy object. The fire shot away from my hands like a rock from a sling shot. It flew like a ball through the air and hit the spear, knocking it away from the dragon. It landed through the roof of a car and hit the horn. I didn’t have a chance to be surprised at what I had just done. The dragon had looked back at me with a confused look on its face.

  Not missing a beat, Booger began to bark a ruff growling shout. He was standing next to the blue ball of light. How did he get there so fast? All of the remaining creatures ran toward him, then they turned in a line to face me. The dragon had landed by my side. I was surprised that it would do this. I guess we h
ad a common enemy. Whatever it felt about me, it wanted to stop these monsters from causing more destruction.

  With a whooping sound, they charged us. The dragon crouched, ready to attack. The fire had finally burned itself out on my hands, so I had no idea how to fight off so many of them. I didn’t want another fire burst from the dragon. Too many people still running through the parking lot could get hurt. Another burst of flame and our luck of no one seriously getting hurt would end. They were getting closer. I was at a loss as to what to do. I was too tired to attack like I did before, and I was sure I had lost the element of surprise, so I doubted that I would be able to do what I did before. They all stopped short of us, sneering and growling, waiting for us to make the first move. I could smell them. They really smelled bad.

  The buzzing feeling I had this whole time intensified. It seemed to be feeding off my frustration and anger. It was the most uncomfortable feeling I had ever had. I started twitching and shaking my head trying to get the feeling away. The green things were about twenty feet from us now.

  “Uh oh,” I said, as a man, who was trying to escape from this nightmare, ran in between us and the creatures. He tripped over his own feet and fell flat on his face. As he struggled to get up, I could see the wicked smiles across the snot brigade's ugly faces. I could hear the dragon gather its breath, readying itself for another blast of fire. I had to get that guy out of the way before he got fried. If it let it loose, there was a good chance this guy would get hurt. The green things moved in closer as he covered his head and started yelling for help. The buzz took over my whole body. I couldn’t see straight. All I could hear was the hum of this force, which had built up inside me, get louder. I had to get rid of this feeling. I closed my eyes, not even caring if this made me an easy target or not.

  “Get out!” I shouted. I had to get this buzzing feeling out of my body. It was going to drive me crazy. For all I knew it would kill me. I focused on pushing it away, just relieving it, and somehow, without truly understanding what I did, I felt this buzzing force push itself away from my body. I felt like I was a piece of paper being torn in two. As the buzzing feeling escaped my body, it shimmered. I opened my eyes and yelled. It was an arch that passed over the head of the man on the ground and then it hit the green things. They all flew backwards, smashing into cars and crashing into each other. The arch, still flowing out of my chest, picked them all up, and pushed them toward the blue ball. I could see Booger trying to run away from it. He was knocked down by the wave then picked up, spinning around and around. He was the last one to be pushed through the blue ball. As he disappeared inside, the orb grew a little bigger, glowing brighter. With a loud pop, it collapsed in on itself and winked out of existence. I could have sworn I saw Booger pointing at me, giving me a rude gesture as he fell through.

  The parking lot was full of panicked people running out of it or toward their cars. I heard sirens blaring down the street. I realized that the fight must not have been very long. I felt a rush of excitement as I realized that I had performed some kind of magic. Whatever had happened to me today had changed me. I could do magic! My legs gave out on me as all the energy in my body drained away. The dragon moved under me as I began to fall. I looked at it, allowing myself to see it as the magnificent creature it was, and not as the parasite that almost killed me. It turned its head and looked at me with concern.

  “Dude," I said groggily, “You were incredible."

  It looked at me and rolled its eyes. Unfolding its wings it knocked me off of its back. I hit the parking lot with a grunt and a dizzy giggle. I felt like I was drunk. I could hear the dragon sigh with frustration as it grabbed the remains of my shirt with its mouth and took off into the air with me dangling from its mouth. I could hear the remaining people in the parking lot gasp as we circled the lot. My feet dragged the ground, tearing off one of the mismatched flip flops, as the dragon hauled me toward my duffel bag. It grabbed it by its back claws and swooped clumsily up into the air. In my giddy exhausted state, I marveled at the strength of this beast as we took off in the air. I made a silent prayer of thanks for the strength of the now torn T-shirt I was wearing. Looking down, I could see the lights of the police and ambulances as they pulled into the parking lot.

  “Hey dragon,” I said with another giddy giggle, ”looks like we're famous.”

  Then I passed out.

  Chapter 12

  I woke up to a strange, but familiar, sound I couldn’t place. Then it hit me. Ducks. It was the sound of quacking ducks. I sat up.

  The dragon had flown us to the pond at Reid Park. It was still dark. I looked at the pond and I could see the faint outline of ducks as they lazily floated. I found comfort in that sight and sound. They were normal ducks. After all I had just been through, It was nice to hear something as normal as ducks. At least, I thought they were normal. Remembering the bobcats and the laughing squirrel, I had no idea what animals might be tied to the magical world. I stood up, shivering as a cool breeze blew through my torn T-shirt and hit my skin. Looking down I could still see the letters that spelled out ‘It’s All Good’ across the front.

  “Yeah Right,” I said softly to myself.

  I heard a sound of paper being crumpled behind me and I quickly turned around, crouching, ready for another attack. It was the dragon. It was sitting on the duffel bag. It had another paper bag, full of tacos, it smelled like. I walked over to the dragon as he unwrapped one and began to eat. As it munched on the taco, the dragon reached into the bag again and tossed a taco at me. My stomach growled loudly as I unwrapped the taco. I ate it in a few bites, then a burrito was tossed at me.

  “Thanks,” I said in a scratchy voice.

  My throat was dry. I walked over to a nearby water fountain. After I drank what felt like a gallon of water, I walked back toward the dragon. I surprised myself at the thought that I was so calm and accepting of the dragon now. I sat down on the bench next to it.

  “Hey, uh, thanks for helping me out.”

  The dragon stopped chewing and looked up at me. Its eyes were green again. It turned its head away from me, almost snubbing me. I got the feeling it was upset at me still.

  “Hey are you still mad about that hat? I would have never thrown it at you if you hadn’t laughed at me. Besides, you burnt some of the money and flew off.”

  The dragon continued to ignore me.

  “You don’t have to get so mad.”

  I was beginning to get upset again. This stupid lizard had a knack for making me angry. The dragon reached down and picked up the end of its tail, then looked at me with its narrowed eyes glaring at me.

  “You’re mad because I bit your tail? You kept on smacking me with it! I told you to stop but you wouldn’t listen.”

  The dragon pushed the tail at my face.

  “I’m sorry,” I said through gritted teeth.

  At first the dragon stared, its tail still in my face. It was obvious that my halfhearted apology wasn’t completely sincere, but after a few moments it put the tail down. It turned away, reaching into the bag, slamming a taco down on top of the uneaten burrito still in my hands. I was too hungry to be upset. “Thanks,” I said again. I inhaled the food and sat there staring at the dragon.

  Here I was, sitting next to this magnificent creature, while we munched on tacos and burritos. How did it get the food? If the food had been unwrapped, then I would have thought that the dragon just crashed into a restaurant, terrifying everyone in sight, as it scooped up burgers and tacos. But the food was wrapped. It was prepared. I had a sudden image of the dragon flying through the drive through, ordering food, paying for it with a twenty, and flying off as the drive through person shouts, “Thank you!” The absolute ridiculousness of this image started me laughing. Once I started laughing, I couldn’t stop. It grew into hefty guffaws. I was breathless and lightheaded. I looked over to see a puzzled expression on the dragon's face. Its nostrils flared. This started me laughing again. My whole body was shaking and tears were streaming out of my
eyes. As I finally started to calm down, I looked over at it. It had an enormous smile on its face. It opened its large mouth and let out a loud “HUH” sound followed by the rumbling growl of laughter. This started me up all over again. I fell off the bench I was laughing so hard.

  The dragon stood there looking at me. A strange grumbling sound was coming from its throat. It grew louder, until finally, it opened its mouth and a loud “huh" came out. The grumbling continued. Short bursts of different colored smoke shot out of its nose, like party favors at a New Year’s Eve party. I finally closed my eyes and, by breathing deeply, I began to calm down. The laughter was just what I needed. The dragon continued to laugh. Now puffs of colored smoke came out of its nose. It looked down at me and shook its head.

  I thought back to the battle and felt a rush of pride at how well I did. My heart began to beat and I felt the adrenalin pumping through my body. I felt great. What an adventure. I felt like I could take on the world and win. Nothing could go wrong. I even felt like I could take on whoever wanted to kill me. After all, I had taken care of Booger and the snot brigade. If they were the best that could be thrown at me, then I would be fine. I and the dragon could handle them, no problem. If only my brother had been there to see. He left too soon. At the thought of my brother I stopped. My brother didn’t know who I was. It wasn’t that he didn’t recognize me. He said that he didn’t have a brother. The seriousness of the whole situation came rushing back to me. There were forces working here that I had no control over. I needed answers. Where was this wizard?