Max Blizzard and The Scroll of Fate

by Patrick Hatt

  Max’s face filled with dread while Trudesile cackled. His attention went to King Arthur as she pointed at him. Max stood stunned as King Arthur faded from existence while everyone else acted as if he was never even there.

  “What did you do? Lester, crush her!”

  “Suck me pot of gold.” Lester used his imagination power and a huge pot of gold appeared over Trudesile’s head. He tried to release it on her head, but it just hung in the air. “What is going on? How did she get power?”

  “She doesn’t, but I do.” Vlad appeared at the entrance, his hair and skin darker than it ever was before, and Trudesile ran to his side, wrapping her arms around him and cackling.

  “How did he get out? This is nuts.” Lester tried pushing his pot of gold their way, but failed to do so. He hoped that Max had answers, finding him watching as most of the crowd vanished from existence.

  “Dearies, what is going on?” Bandaid could sense their distress but failed to notice anything that was happening. He then vanished from existence before their eyes.

  “Lester, get those remaining out of here! I’ll handle them.” Max’s fear of his power faded after his mother and sister disappeared. He got ready to attack when an army of Sevesties clouded the sky.

  “Max!” Lester pointed to those they considered friends marching across the drawbridge. They both watched them turn into Freleoms and freeze on the spot. “Go Dregg and Brozen.”

  “Lester, enough gawking. Let’s go.” Max summoned forth a Gem of Camelot twice as large as any he had before. He flung the bright orange ball into the air and vanquished every Sevestie that swirled above Camelot.

  “Sorry, fairies. But you got to go.” Lester awaited a response but found Oberon and Titania frozen while the Freleoms began to move. “Not so nice job, Brozen.” Lester rolled his eyes and quickly made a portal appear back to Avalon. He then shoved Oberon, Titania, and Brozen through it. He jumped back as sand creatures rose up around him and a familiar cackling filled the air.

  “I will have my revenge.” Eve clicked her golden shoes together and ran her hand through her long golden hair while her golden eyes glared at Max.

  “You were supposed to wait. I wanted my revenge.” Puck floated in the air above Eve, his beady eyes glaring down at her, full of hate, as he scrunched up his pale green face.

  “Calm down. They won’t get anywhere. This will be our story.” Sir Dreadvent pushed his way through Vlad, Trudesile, and Eve, leading the other Sons of Dreadvent while the Freleoms cackled and jumped up and down.

  “This can’t be. How are you here?” Max shouted while Sir Dreadvent eyed Merlin and Bazooka.

  Sir Dreadvent prepared to strike down the remaining rulers in his presence. He grinned wider, holding his blood red trident while his red body shimmered under his black robe, as Max cringed at the sight of him.

  “Who cares how, Max? Kill him again.” Lester plopped pots of gold on each sand monster and ran to Max’s side. He then flung the pot of gold hovering over them toward Bazooka. “Sorry, buddy.” Lester finally got that pot to drop and it crushed Bazooka.

  “Wise little leprechaun. You’ll die first. Then that pet of mine. As to the how…” Sir Dreadvent tossed Trudesile’s reformed Gem of Heaven at Lester’s feet, laughing as Lester snatched it up. “Thanks for the visit. Now to make all of our wishes come true.”

  “Don’t you touch them!” Max shouted. He then released the hold he had on his imagination and let whatever being that came into his mind flow.

  The area glowed around them as all but Sir Dreadvent feared the extent of Max’s power.

  “Making you watch as I destroy everyone you love is going to be more of a joy than the look on Death’s face when I found my trident he thought he hid so well.” Sir Dreadvent waited for events that he knew would occur to unfold, secure in the knowledge that Max had no idea about his true plan.

  Chapter 3

  Time Out

  Dina crawled on her hands across the grass while realizing that she had landed in a new plot of land. She feared it, but the sight of an elephant before her captured her attention far more than any fear. She gasped as the elephant turned into Luna and then transformed into Trudesile.

  “How? This can’t be real.”

  Trudesile used her imagination to make a fresh robe appear over herself. She then made one appear over Dina, having torn hers in their escape.

  “I’m sorry I deceived you, Dina. I had no other choice. I promise I will explain later, but right now we have to save Max and Lester.”

  “This can’t be real. The test must have had a malfunction. That is why I didn’t pass. It got screwed up and somehow merged with my brain.” Dina grasped for a theory to explain everything.

  “Dina, I can’t do it without you. I can’t force you to open a portal there. I need you to do it.”

  “What? I don’t know how. This is craziness.”

  “Dina, I’m sorry. But you don’t have my fate, so we have to do this the hard way.” Trudesile made her hand turn into a cat paw and cut her other hand. She then jumped on Dina, held her down, and cut her hand. She slapped her hand against Dina’s and the bodies of the pair both flopped down in the grass.

  “What is this?” Dina asked.

  “Just watch.” Trudesile pointed to her past self, Bandaid, and her father while the pair floated in darkness and watched.

  “Dad, did it work?” Trudesile stared up at God standing over her, finding the bright yellow glow surrounding his head brighter than she had ever seen it. The wings he had for feet fluttered while his white attire glowed for a few seconds before splitting in two and covering her in a robe.

  “Daughter, you are now as you should be.” God extended his hand and helped her to her feet, hugging her.

  “Almost. Don’t lie to her, dearie.”

  “What does he mean?” Trudesile asked.

  “It was as we feared. We couldn’t get rid of her completely or you’d never know despair and anger. A being needs all emotions to be true to themselves. So we left a little of her in you and took a little of you, putting it in her.”

  “So she’s still alive and a thing?” Trudesile curled her nose up over the thought.

  “Don’t worry, dearie. Merlin made sure she can never use her imagination power and Max’s body worked perfectly. She’ll live out her days in the dungeon,” Bandaid assured her.

  “That is good. I wouldn’t want to see Max go through what he already did. I know he fears what that sweet girl will become.” Trudesile scanned the area, taking notice of the surrounding darkness. “Why haven’t we returned to Camelot?”

  “My daughter, I fear I have a matter of great importance to bestow upon you. It isn’t going to be easy to accept, but it is the only way we could think of to stop Sir Dreadvent’s plan. Everyone must think you died.”

  “Died? Dad, I can’t let Max and Lester think that.”

  “You must, dearie. If you don’t, none of us will exist.”

  “What do you mean? Sir Dreadvent is in the bottom half of that sandwich thing.”

  “I fear he won’t be for long and, like your mother, that is only part of him.”

  “Mom? Dad, I want you to tell me about her. Stop treating me like a child.”

  “All will be revealed in time, my daughter. For now you must...”

  Trudesile and Dina both snapped awake, finding two Momentus guards standing over them, their rainbow beams strangling the pair.

  “Dina, you must believe me. You must believe in yourself. Their restrictions aren’t real. You can do all anyone can do as long as you believe.” Trudesile gasped for breath as the guard strangled her tighter. She knew she could turn into another animal and break free, but she wanted Dina to save herself.

  “I can’t.”

  “You can. Anyone can be a hero. You just have to believe. You were right, everything else here is wrong. You saw it. Think of your parents.”

  “Shut up.” The guard’s beam split in two, the second strand smacking
Trudesile across the face and knocking her unconscious.

  “Now we’ll end this filth.”

  “No!” Dina let the questions in her mind go and focused on the area behind the guards. Her head glowed and opened two portals. A rainbow beam sprang from her head and smacked each guard so hard that their beam retracted and they each went flying backwards into a portal.

  “Luna...I mean Trudesile. Are you okay?”

  “You did it. I knew you could.” Trudesile smiled as she opened her eyes.

  “How?”

  “Later. We need to save my friends. Concentrate.”

  “Save them? When? Where? How?”

  “Here and now. We’re all dead if you don’t.” Trudesile stressed how vital it was, unsure that she spoke the truth, but she knew she had to spur Dina into action.

  Dina concentrated on Max’s true fate. A beam shot from her head and opened a portal. She and Trudesile both stared through it, seeing the battle just beginning between Max, Lester, and all their enemies. Dina reached her beam through and grabbed them both. She yanked them back but as they entered the portal her rainbow beam had a slight darkness to it. She lost hold of it and it vanished. The portal closed, and Max and Lester were nowhere to be found.

  “What happened?” Dina asked.

  “I don’t know. This isn’t how it was supposed to go down. They were supposed to be here. Dad said they’d come and we’d...” Trudesile gasped as ten more portals opened up around them.

  “I want to know everything.” Dina grabbed Trudesile by the hand and the pair nodded to each other. Dina then made a portal appear and they stepped through it before any guards came through theirs.

  ******************************

  Max and Lester both opened their eyes, scanning themselves over and their surroundings. Each were unsure what had wrapped around their bodies, thinking it had to do with Sir Dreadvent. The rainbow bars surrounding them left them unsettled. Their thoughts soon turned to confusion at the sound of Sir Dreadvent’s voice.

  “This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I am Sir Dreadvent. I make my own path. I am not to be here.” Sir Dreadvent’s red eyes glowed brightly while he reached out his hands for them. “At least I can choke the life out of you two before I make my escape.”

  Max and Lester got ready to strike, fully trying to use their imagination but failing to do so. Sir Dreadvent also found himself unable to use any power and grew just as confused as the pair.

  “By me pot of gold, he’s as powerless as us.” Lester thought it would be the perfect time to strike, but he also feared what kind of power could do that to Sir Dreadvent.

  “What did you do?” Max glared at Sir Dreadvent.

  “I hitched a ride to where I will start to erase you all from existence. I know what you’re thinking, didn’t I already do that? Isn’t time confusing? It must be this place. I thought I’d appear right before it, but I guess I still have some work to do. Now for you two.”

  “Not today, chap. Today you die for a second time.” Bazooka appeared beside the pair with Sir Dreadvent’s trident. He jabbed it into Sir Dreadvent’s stomach, smiling as he dropped to the ground in pain.

  “This can’t be. I shall rule...”

  “Nothing.” Bazooka jabbed the trident through Sir Dreadvent’s head, leaving him lifeless on the ground.

  “I thought you let that go?” Lester whispered.

  “I did, chap. I just showed him how to go back to the sandwich. That’s all.”

  “Lester, do you think we somehow got back to Shangri-La? This isn’t a bubble, but they could have updated their cells to block our imagination power,” Max theorized.

  “By me pot of gold, how’d they get us?” Lester believed it to be true, but both became unsure as Bazooka stood tapping his foot before them. “What?”

  “As you know, I’ve been honing myself to each realm. They each have a slightly different frequency and this one is nothing like any I have ever felt. It is like its frequency is a hundred times slower than any I’ve been to.” Bazooka hated not knowing where they were, but he was glad that he and his kids had explored and used his gift to sense each realm so should he ever die, he could choose where to return.

  “Then how’d you get here?” Max asked.

  “I hitched a ride with you two and Sir Dreadvent when my energy began to reform. He made my kids disappear. He had to be stopped.” Bazooka glared hatefully at Sir Dreadvent’s body.

  “We’ll get them back, Bazooka,” Max said.

  “I believe you, chap. I know better than to bet against you.”

  Their focus shifted to Sir Dreadvent’s body as it turned into tiny black particles and went straight through the cellblock wall. They swung around as the door to the cellblock creaked, each fearing who their captors may be.

  Max and Lester both stood on either side of Bazooka while he held up Sir Dreadvent’s trident. They got ready for a fight, growing confused when Mr. Lions got shoved into the cellblock by two guards.

  The guards used their rainbow beams to recede the bars on the cell across from them and threw him inside, reforming the bars. They left as quickly as they came in, not even glancing toward Max and the others.

  “By me pot of gold, am I having a seizure?”

  “If you are, I am too.”

  “Chaps, where in the heck are we?”

  The three stared at Mr. Lions, baffled, as every few seconds his form shifted between the same being, older or younger, and sometimes a brand-new being. They gasped as he became beings that they had never seen or had a name for.

  “Mr. Blizzard? Lester? Bazooka? How can this be? How are you here? Why are you here? This isn’t your fate.” Mr. Lions’ voice sounded the same as it came from each being, leaving the trio even more confused.

  “You’re asking us?” Bazooka blurted out, finding it the only thing he could say, still in awe over Mr. Lions.

  “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Do you think we want to be here?” Lester questioned. “Wherever here is.”

  “Sir, Ma’am, umm, you, we were brought here by an evil being known as Sir Dreadvent. We didn’t want to come here. Can you please tell us where here is and how we can get home? My father and our other friends are in danger from his cohorts.” Max tried his best to explain things.

  “Sir Dreadvent? But how? He doesn’t have that power. He was supposed to kill you on Camelot and rule there. That was how fate was supposed to go.”

  “This chap is really bonkers,” Bazooka mumbled.

  “He got free from Ra and Death, so I’m sure he could get to some realm,” Lester added.

  “Not this realm. Momentus was cut off from all the other realms ages ago. It would take more than power to get here and even then, no one outside our realm knows we exist.”

  “Dad banished you from the Pedestal of Realms?” Max asked, growing wary over as to why.

  “No. Merlin had nothing to do with it. We came far before Merlin.”

  “Excuse me, but what are you?” Lester tried to remain polite as he feared upsetting Mr. Lions.

  “We have no name. We are all and see all. We just are.”

  “That clarified things.” Bazooka tapped his foot, staring at the trident and the bars while wondering if he should use it on them.

  “That is what we are. We live here and just be.”

  “Here we go again.” Lester mumbled, recalling what Max had told him about Ra.

  “Do you know Ra? Is he here too?”

  “Ra is a being whose power is great, but he has no place here. None of you do. You must go before…” Mr. Lions turned to the door as Trinny flung it open before stepping through.

  The group each stared at her, finding her small stature rather menacing due to her grin and the rainbow beam in the shape of a whip extending from her head. Her gaze remained on Mr. Lions until she heard Bazooka’s mumbling.

  “Chaps, does she remind you of anyone?” Bazooka looked to the pair as they shrugged at him. “Add some hair
and a cheery smile and you may have Trudesile. The good version, not the vampire version we have back on Camelot.”

  “I don’t see it.”

  “Maybe a tiny bit,” Max said, gazing at her.

  Bazooka knew he was right. He figured adulthood and having kids gave him a different perspective than the others. He thought it odd, finding little of Trudesile in her, other than facial features, when she spoke.

  “Who are you? I demand you stop taking the form of those three. Go back to your true form.”

  “Lady, we are who we are,” Lester stated.

  “Don’t give me that. No humans or leprechauns can get to Momentus since we dissolved it from the Pedestal of Realms.”

  “But here we are,” Bazooka replied.

  “Miss, we came here because of Sir Dreadvent. I promise we mean no harm.”

  “Max, somehow I don’t think our diplomatic ways are going to work here. Wherever here is,” Lester whispered, still trying to decipher where they were. “If only I hadn’t sent Brozen away with those elves. I bet that know it all would have the answers.”

  “Is this true? Did you bring them here with the other one? Did you let Sir Dreadvent loose on our society?” Trinny glared at Mr. Lions. The whip from her head then extended out, going right through the bars, whacking him multiple times before he could answer.

  “No. I swear it. I’d never.” Mr. Lions fell to the floor in pain, still changing form, but unable to stand.

  “Sir Dreadvent is dead, chap. And I’ve had enough of this.” Bazooka jabbed the trident into the rainbow bars and it, along with him, disintegrated upon contact.

  “That takes care of one intruder.”

  “Lester, I think you’re right. Screw diplomacy.”

  “That’s what I was waiting to hear. Any ideas?”

  “Did I forget to mention the bars have no tolerance for outsiders? Nothing works inside of them and nothing can escape.”

  “This is like that bubble, Puck’s crap, and the ten times our minds got screwed with,” Lester said.