Max Blizzard and The Scroll of Fate

by Patrick Hatt

  “I’m so proud of you,” Evienne whispered.

  “So, my boy, what do you say we hear this plan of yours?” Merlin asked.

  “Like I said in my speech, that may or may not be part of this fate, anyone can be a hero and to be one it takes many. Today it is going to take every single one of us to save our very existence.” Max quickly explained his plan to everyone and they all found it completely crazy, but they knew it was their only chance.

  “Where these young minds come up with this stuff is beyond me,” Oberon whispered.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t be so secluded, elf.” Lester smirked.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t,” Oberon stated.

  “Today will be a victory remembered forever. Hero or villain, young or old, everyone is equal on this day. Let’s go save fate.” King Arthur held Excalibur in the air and everyone rallied around him.

  Lester and Allison each began opening portals to every realm near each ruler and they stepped through. The other heroes and beings went to their home realms until all that remained were a small group and the first beings.

  “Good luck, chicken legs. I hope your wacky plan works for all our sakes.” Tru kissed Max on the cheek and then she led her family through a portal to Earth.

  “You three are wiser than I ever was. I’m sorry for this and vow to spend the rest of my existence making up for it.” God hugged Trudesile and then stepped through a portal to Earth.

  “Your father is such a drama queen.” Eve laughed as she hugged Trudesile. “Be safe.”

  “Always am, Mom. See you soon.” Trudesile grasped Eve a little tighter before letting go.

  “Dina, let’s go beat this thing and be done with that realm once and for all.” Eve took Dina’s hand and waved to everyone as they stepped through a portal to Momentus.

  “Chaps…” Bazooka stood before the three trying to find the words he wanted to say.

  “We know, rabbit. Us too,” Lester whispered.

  “We couldn’t have done any of this without you, Baz…Roy. Thank you for everything,” Trudesile stated.

  “Many see it as just the three of us. Never was and never will be the case, my friend.” Max shook Bazooka’s paw.

  “Go, you stupid rabbit.” Lester tried to hide his tears as Bazooka grinned at him.

  “I’ll go. But you better save everything. I don’t want to be the last living thing ever.” Bazooka laughed and stepped toward a portal to Camelot. He vanished as he neared it, leaving the trio to assume that he had stepped through.

  “Max, I still can’t open a portal to the Observer Realm by myself.”

  “Here, Lester.” Max placed his hand on Lester’s shoulder and Lester opened one up with ease.

  “By me pot of gold, this ruler stuff has a perk or two.”

  “Be careful.” Trudesile wrapped her arms around Max and kissed him.

  “Now that’s how fate should be.” Lester snickered while standing before the pair. “Enough of this. The earth is already moving.”

  “Lester!” Max shouted as he shoved Max through the portal.

  “Max is going to make you pay for that one,” Trudesile stated.

  “I got lots of pots of gold to pay with.” Lester snickered and hugged her. “Be safe. If Lucifer tries anything, let me know and I’ll send his winged backside to Atlantis.”

  “Thanks, Lester. See you soon.” Trudesile waved to him as she stepped backwards into a portal for Heaven’s realm.

  Lester began closing every portal and then noticed the ground shifting toward the one for the Observer Realm. He shrugged and shut the portal, thinking it the realm ending that caused it. He stared at the final portal, took a deep breath, and then stepped through to Momentus, leaving only the frozen in place first beings behind on Olympus.

  ******************************

  Max placed his hands over the panel in the Observer Realm and concentrated on Camelot. He cleared his mind of every other thought and then gasped for air. He tried to relax his tense muscles and attempted it again, once again failing.

  “How did Bandaid do this?” Max grew discouraged for a few seconds and then cracked his knuckles. “Okay, we’ll do this my way.”

  Max stepped to the center of the dome and used his imagination power. Screens began to pop up around him and hang in midair, each one showing a realm. He smiled as the last popped up and he spotted Trudesile standing on her device that Lester had sent through from Atlantis. He took in the sight of all the other rulers as they did the same.

  “I hope this works.” Max took a deep breath and stepped on his device.

  A glow encased him and every other ruler. He could sense the actual Observer Realm shifting. He lost himself in the power of the realm until he heard clapping. His eyes sprung open and the glow retracted as a hologram of Adam stood before him.

  “In all my years I have never seen such a nuisance. For such a fragile thing, you sure know how to get in the way.”

  “How are you here?” Max yelled, noticing how he received no response.

  “If you are hearing this then by some crazy fluke you beat me. I’m sure this will never come to pass, but I like to cover all the angles. It also means that you are trying to shift the realms back in sync with the link. A wise thought, but I already thought of that. Anything you can think of I have already thought of and worked into the Scroll of Fate. There is no way to win.” Adam grinned. “Okay, I lied. There is one way. Use the Scroll of Fate to bring me to this moment and I will restore everything. You have my word.”

  “Never,” Max mumbled, knowing that it was a recorded message.

  “The choice is yours. But trust me, Mr. Blizzard, it is your only option.”

  “Does that chap ever shut the heck up?” Bazooka sighed and stepped through the hologram. “Even when he’s dead he’s still yapping away. Worse than a leprechaun.”

  “How are you here?” Max eyed the area, trying to figure out where Bazooka came from.

  “Scallywag, did you think I’d let you have all the fun?” Davy Jones appeared before Max and tossed his fate device on the ground. “Amazing what a few tweaks from a giant with a brain can do. I could get many a bounty being able to go invisible.”

  “It failed. We can’t stop it.” Max glared hatefully at Adam’s hologram.

  “That’s why I’m here, land lubber. A pirate always knows that things never go as planned. Why we hide our treasure. Now what’s plan b?”

  “He said he…”

  “Forget him, chap. He never blocked every angle or he’d be here and we’d be dead.” Bazooka placed his paws on Max’s shoulders. “If there is one being that can do this, it’s you. Think.”

  “Okay, he knows that we want to shift them back. He couldn’t have known about Atlantis. At least I don’t think so. He just knew we would attempt to move them back. He didn’t have tons of room on the Scroll of Fate pieces to write, so he couldn’t have covered every angle.” Max paced in front of them while trying to ignore the rulers attempts to save their realm.

  “Scallywag, you better hurry.”

  “He’d know we’d try to move the connection back. He’d know we’d try to move a few back. He’d know anything about moving, but he wouldn’t know…” Max glared at Davy Jones.

  “What? I bend into a cat or something?”

  “I’ve got it. But I’m going to need the both of you.” Max ran back to the dashboard and opened a portal to Momentus. “Bazooka, go get Lester and collect the other rulers. I’ll leave this portal open and then bring them all back through it. Grab Dad, Mom, and Dregg too. We are going to need them.”

  “Back in a flash, chap.” Bazooka jumped through the portal.

  “Scallywag, what’s going on in that nutty head of yours?”

  “Time we go back to where we first met.”

  “No way am I going back into a Merlin suit.”

  “No need for that. Hopefully.” Max smirked at Davy Jones and then rubbed his hands together. He thought of the many realms and their d
isarray. A blue glow then appeared before him and it took the form of a key hole. “We’re going to need Davy Jones to open Davy Jones Locker one more time.”

  “If I must.” Davy Jones bent his form into the shape of a key and stood ready beside it.

  Max watched the screens and then pointed to the keyhole as portals opened under the rulers and those he requested. He smiled as they all stood bewildered before him while Davy unlocked the key and the light encompassed everyone, sucking them into it.

  “Max!” Mimi ran and latched onto him.

  “Look!” Max pointed to the quaint town surrounding them and the castle off in the distance.

  “Merlinia? Why are we back here? How did you create it again?” Trudesile asked.

  “Smart move, my son.” Merlin stroked his hand through his beard as he reminisced about first creating it.

  “Better yet, why didn’t our plan work?” Lester asked.

  “Adam. He saw it coming and blocked it. With the realms in disarray the energy and imagination needed was there for the taking to recreate this place. But even still, it won’t last long.” Max looked to the sky as four holes opened up above him. “I knew you’d find us.”

  “Max, we haven’t long. It is ending.” Dina ran to him and hugged him after Eve placed her on the ground.

  “Looks like I’ll have a lot of work to do soon.” Death sighed. “Then it will be back to none when the beings run out. Boring life again.”

  “Just be.” Max smirked. “That is what we are going to do. We are going to just be.”

  “Chicken legs, start making sense or send me back to my kids,” Tru stated.

  “We are the anchor to our realms. We have the power to create a new connection. We have to stop fixing the old and create a new fate. We can’t go back. We have to stop clinging to the past and create a new future. We are our own fate and we are going to give it one big nudge.”

  “Max, we’re with you, but how?” Oberon asked, as he and Titania stood before him.

  “First we calm our realm’s fear.”

  “I think he’s gone hippie,” Death whispered to Lester.

  “By me pot of gold.” Lester pointed to a huge shadow creature forming above the castle.

  “A realm is like anything else, it needs to know it is cared for.” Max wrapped his arm around Mimi. “Loved. The fear shall fade.” Max used his imagination and a lit Camelot Candle appeared in everyone’s hands. “Time we quelled each realm’s fear of being alone.”

  Max closed his eyes and concentrated on the shadow creature, having no need for a Camelot Candle, but wanting the others to follow his lead. He heard Mimi take a deep breath and then opened his eyes to find everyone doing the same.

  “Look,” Max whispered to Mimi.

  “It’s shrinking. Max, you did it.” Mimi cheered.

  “What’s next?” Trudesile took his hand and continued focusing on the shadow creature until it completely vanished.

  “We were so busy worrying about us that we never worried about the realms. They aren’t sentient, but they are alive. Having a connection and then suddenly losing that is a huge blow. Like a death. Max, how did you ever know?” Eve asked.

  “Through the many connections we all have here.” Max smiled at everyone and pointed behind them as a tidal wave came crashing toward land. “Lester, if you would.” Max placed his hand on Lester’s shoulder.

  “Back we go.” Lester easily created a portal to the Observer Realm.

  “Land lubber, you have a weird way of keeping us safe.” Davy Jones jumped through the portal and everyone followed.

  “The realms do seem to be at peace,” Ra said.

  “But there is still a need to be as one. I sense it,” God added.

  “I knew the boy had it in him all along,” Death stated.

  “Sure you did.” Eve rolled her eyes at him.

  “Dad, you, Mom, Dina, and Mimi need to go back to Camelot and repair the Pedestal of Realms. Can I count on you, short stuff?”

  “Sure thing. I’m stronger than you after all.” Mimi grinned.

  “Dregg, they’ll need help clearing the rubble.”

  “On it.”

  “How can we repair it if it isn’t connected?” Evienne asked.

  “You’ll know when you can. Be ready.” Max hugged his mother and then nodded to Lester.

  Lester opened a portal and the five stepped through.

  “And now if you’d create portals to the outside of this dome.” Max waited as Lester did and then everyone stepped through.

  “Time you all just be. Be the anchor to your realm and bring them here. Together we will create a new connection using the Observer Realm.”

  “Max, there is one little thing I’d like to add.” God whispered to Eve while they floated over him.

  “That should do it. Two birds, one stone.” Eve nodded and the pair both opened a hole in the air above them.

  “Where’d they go, chaps?” Bazooka asked.

  “I haven’t the foggiest,” Max replied.

  “Sounding like Merlin now.” Trudesile smiled at him. “Not a bad thing.”

  “There we go. Every realm has a first being placed on it. They will help connect them as one and take the form they choose when connected,” God declared after he and Eve appeared before them again.

  “With us, Mr. Blizzard.” Death snapped his fingers and Max floated off the ground.

  God, Ra, and Eve joined them, and he remained in the center of the group while hovering over the dome.

  “Looks like we get to watch, chap.”

  “Fine by me, scallywag.”

  Davy Jones and Bazooka watched on as every ruler concentrated and let themselves focus on only their realm. They stood in awe as beams of golden light stretched from off in the distance to the feet of the rulers.

  “It’s working,” Bazooka whispered.

  “Look out, scallywag.” Davy Jones flung Bazooka aside after a portal opened behind him and a beam shot through it. Its blow caused his body to burst to pieces, sending parts of him flying down every beam.

  “Did you think I’d forget about my revenge?”

  “Chap, you really need to get a grip.” Bazooka jumped to his feet and zapped King Yenny with a lightning bolt, causing him to drop his cannon.

  “Atlantis will not be left out in the cold. We will join the Pedestal of Realms again and watch as all bow down to our advancements.”

  “Not if we have anything to say about it,” Carter declared while he and the rest of his siblings appeared from a hole in the air around King Yenny.

  “I couldn’t resist seeing our grandkids in action,” Eve whispered.

  “Nice touch. Now stay steady. We have to force the realm connection outward as well.” God clutched Eve’s hand tighter as the four concentrated further.

  “You five can never stop me.” King Yenny grew his hand and slammed it down on Sarah.

  Sarah slung her wet hair aside and glared at him.

  “This can’t be. You should be crushed. No human can…”

  “Shut up.” Carter extended his wings and sent them through King Yenny’s face.

  “I’ll have my revenge.” King Yenny formed again and as he shouted more Atlantians and Shangri-La beings came through the portal. “I’ll take the kids. You end all the rest.”

  “Not today.” Duncan grabbed Sarah and sped around to the rulers, using her as a shield to protect them from any attack.

  “Over here. No, over here. Nope. Over here.” Mary kept waving to King Yenny as she projected herself all around him.

  “End this now.”

  “My words exactly, chap.” Bazooka zapped King Yenny with everything he had. “Time to send them packing. But to a new place.” Bazooka made a portrait of Merlinia appear before Allison. “There. Quick before they are through fixing everything.”

  Allison concentrated and caused portals to appear under every attacker. Duncan sped around and shoved the few through that tried to resist. Moments later, only Ki
ng Yenny remained as he pulled himself back together.

  “We shall thrive. Atlantians never…

  “Shut up.” Allison rolled her eyes while he fell through the final portal to Merlinia.

  “What is it?” Carter asked while Bazooka stared out over the emptiness of the realm.

  “Why’d he save me? He knew I couldn’t die. Stupid pirate,” Bazooka mumbled while secretly hoping that Davy Jones would pull himself back together beside them.

  The rulers snapped back to reality at the same time and each peered out across their golden beam with a smile. King Arthur, Max, Lester, and Trudesile joined Bazooka while Tru and Morris hugged their children.

  “The pirate was a true hero until the very end,” King Arthur declared.

  “He was one of a kind,” Lester stated.

  Max clutched Trudesile’s hand as the pair thought about their friend while the many rulers cheered their victory.

  “What will you do now?” Death asked.

  “We’ll be around. We have plenty of kids and grandkids to look in on. Maybe more to come in a few years.” God nodded to Trudesile and Max.

  “And we’ll keep the peace and maybe fill in from time to time. What are grandparents for?” Eve smiled as she and God began to float higher into the air. “Let’s let them have their moment.”

  “All can now just be,” Ra whispered.

  “Would you shut up about that already? If I have to hear just be once more I’ll ship you back to…” Death kept mumbling as Ra made a crack appear and slipped in behind him.

  “It’s time,” Eve’s voice whispered into Allison’s ear.

  Allison’s head filled with images of each realm and then she created a portal under every ruler and sent them home. Her mother nodded to her and she created one for her family. They stepped through together without saying a word to Max or the others.

  “Chap…” Bazooka rubbed the tears from his eyes. “No offense, but your realm is rather boring. What do you say we all go home?”

  “The trio nodded to Bazooka and gave one last look out upon the golden beams. Lester created a portal and they stepped through to Camelot while Bazooka lingered a moment longer.