The Geode King

by H A Tisdale

  On a bed in the room lay a pair of purple pajamas with a pair of matching sneakers. Despite my anxiety for the unknown, I figured it better to face my fears with some clothes on, so I quickly put on the wacky attire. Standing fully dressed thereafter, I returned to my dread and paced the length of the room, and as I scanned the colorful city, the glow of the cavernous ceiling seemed to be dimming like the sun fading in the twilight. As a result, darkness creeped upon the land.

  I again wondered how this could not be a dream, or more accurately how it could not be a horrid nightmare, my fear now tearing me apart. I considered whether I should break one of the windows and jump out, entertaining the idea that hitting the ground might wake me up.

  Before I could muster the willpower to act, the door to the room creaked open to reveal the shadows of the windy staircase. And out of the darkness, a red cane crossed the threshold of the doorway followed by a red panted leg. My heart raced with suspense. I thought it might even stop as the clown image swirled through my head.

  With another step, the mysterious figure emerged, and to my great relief, the person was neither a clown nor a masked individual. Instead, this large man wore a bright red suit with a matching top hat that one would expect to see at some elite casino event. The only thing that didn’t seem to coincide with his monochromatic appearance was the color of his eyes and hair that both shined with a golden hue.

  Wearing a big and friendly smile, the man walked into the room with a demanding presence. “Welcome, welcome, my new friend,” he announced as if he were the host of a talk show.

  Still unsettled from my exposure to Comedy and Tragedy, I was taken aback by the stark contrast this new figure presented. I did my best to find words in response. “Hi,” I exhaled.

  “Oh hahaha,” the red suited man laughed, still walking toward me. “I see my guards have freaked you out. But don’t worry. It’s all good, my man. You’re safe now.”

  My heart relaxed a little as I felt I could trust this jolly, clean-cut man. Just then, a pretty woman entered the room, wearing a pink dress while holding a serving tray with two drinks rested on top. I noticed her eyes looked like emeralds.

  “Perfect timing!” the jolly man belted out. “What’s better than a couple of margaritas with an amazing view of the land?” The emerald-eyed woman served us the drinks, lit some lamps in the room, and departed as quickly as she had come. “Cheers,” exclaimed the jolly man before he took a sip of the fancy cocktail. I followed suit, trying not to offend my host. “Ahhh, perfectly mixed. Is this not the best margarita you’ve ever had?”

  “Mmm, yeah! I love—“

  “Well, of course you do,” he inserted before I finished my final word. “And do you know why it’s so good, my friend?”

  I loved margaritas and could have given the jolly man many theories for why I thought the drink tasted especially good, but instead, I just sort of stared at my host blankly and shook my head.

  “Because it was made in Come Play City!” the jolly man blurted out.

  “Come Play City?” I repeated slowly.

  “That’s right, my friend! Come Play City, where we wake up and make every day extremely fun. And as its highest ranked official, I would like to officially welcome you. See what I did there? With official and officially?” the jolly man beamed with pride.

  “Yeeaahh,” I feigned a laugh, licking some salt off the rim of my glass, “I gotcha.”

  “See, you’re already getting it! Here in Come Play City, fun’s the game, and I’m the Master of Games, officially that is,” he said with a wink and a chuckle. “But you can just call me Bill. I like to be on a first name basis with all my peeps.”

  “Oh, cool,” I replied still in shock from it all. “Nice to meet you, Bill. I’m Benjamin.”

  “Benjamin, hmm, okay got it, well maybe not,” he laughed. “I can be terrible with names sometimes, so to remember you, let’s call you Rocky, no Boldy! No, these sound like dog names. Okay, I got it! Benjamin the Bold. Now I will remember a name like that for sure.”

  “The Bold?” I inquired quite confused.

  “Yeah! You know, since you came out of the Ancient Boulder? Bold and boulder! More word games!” he cheered.

  “Oh, how did you know I came out of the boulder? Did you talk to Reina or something?”

  “Reina? Oh, uhhh,” Bill murmured as his eyes looked back and forth, “no, we didn’t get a chance to talk to her. But my watchmen reported to me that a stream broke out of the Ancient Boulder and that someone had flowed out of it down Victory Hill. When I heard their report, I knew that you must be special, so I sent my guards for you as soon as I could.”

  “Hey yeah,” I asserted a little more accusatively than I would have preferred. “Why did you send those creepy guys after me?”

  Bill roared with laughter. “Not after you, for you! I had to make sure you would get here safely. There are dangerous people out there, Benjamin the Bold, so the guards were meant to scare them off for you.”

  “Dangerous people?” I asked with concern before taking another sip of the margarita.

  “Oh, no one specific. In fact, maybe no one at all. It’s just that certain people disappeared…and we…you know…but that’s all over now. I just had to be sure that’s all. I just wanted you to get here safely,” Bill tried to assure me.

  “Oh,” I replied a little unsettled, “well thanks, I guess.”

  “Don’t mention it, my main man. Sooo, how do you like this room?”

  “Oh, uh,” I fumbled, the question catching me off guard, “I must say it’s a great view.”

  “Enough said, my friend. The place is yours!”

  “Huh?”

  “You’ve got to stay somewhere, right? I’ll have my peeps change the sheets, no problem, but for now, how would you like to have a tour of the Game Room?”

  “Uhh, yeah, sure, why not!” I consented, feeling more carefree from my almost finished margarita.

  “Right answer, my friend. Now, folllllooow me!” he beckoned, swinging his cane in the air.

  Bill led me back to the windy staircase, which we walked up for a good while. This gave Bill sufficient time to boast in the greatness of the Game Room, and though I could be quite skeptical of people’s boasts, the Game Room did not disappoint when we finally arrived.

  The massive space, enclosed by a glass ceiling and glass walls, took up the entire top floor of the Master’s Mansion. The surrounding glass magnified the stunning light from above and created a dazzling array of lights throughout the radiant room. Every type of fun activity one could imagine resided in this colorful chamber, and at the center lay an enormous pool. I surveyed the auroral area before me, trying to soak it all in.

  Before I could say a word, Bill hurried over to a live band who appeared ready to perform. “From the top, boys!” Bill pointed with his finger and signaled with his feet. The percussionists opened the song with a catchy beat, which somehow caused the cavernous ceiling to flash down beams of colored light, and when the keys of the piano emerged, Bill took his cue:

  Welcome to the Game Room, where everything is fun!

  Just eat, drink, be merry, and nothing will get done!

  We were born for parties; we all exist to play!

  So suit up, get ready; it’s time to seize the day!

  First things first, quench your thirst, maybe have a beer!

  Then lay back, have a snack, this is why you’re here!

  Every sport, every court? This you can be sure!

  Feel the snore, of the bore? Board games are the cure!

  Welcome to the Game Room, where everything is fun!

  Just eat, drink, be merry, and nothing will get done!

  We were born for parties; we all exist to play!

  So suit up, get ready; it’s time to seize the day!

  Jump right now, take a bow, live out all your days!

  Turn your ear, give a cheer, when the music plays!

  Swing around, upside down, turn up on the roof! />
  Do a dance, try romance, just don’t stay aloof!

  Welcome to the Game Room, where everything is fun!

  Just eat, drink, be merry, and nothing will get done!

  We were born for parties; we all exist to play!

  So suit up, get ready; it’s time to seize the day!

  Here’s the deal, turn the wheel, run out of the gate!

  Commentate, or spectate, please participate!

  One last thing, with a bang, be sure to stay cool!

  When sweaty, and ready, don’t forget our pool!

  Welcome to the Game Room, where everything is fun!

  Just eat, drink, be merry, and nothing will get done!

  We were born for parties; we all exist to play!

  So suit up, get ready; it’s time to seize the day!

  Hundreds of Game Room participants roared with applause, and Bill reveled in the praise, bowing over and over. When the accolades subsided, Bill returned to me with two more margaritas in his grasp.

  “Pretty awesome right??” Bill shouted over the music as he handed me another margarita.

  “It’s…it’s incredible,” was all that I could say to express the awe-inspiring scene before me.

  “Yeah, everyone has some sort of ‘job’ in Come Play City, but this,” he declared, opening his arms to the Game Room with pride, “this is what we live for. We were born for this, my man.”

  “Can’t argue with that,” I assented rather inebriated, raising my glass to meet Bill’s with a satisfying clink.

  After Bill and I took a giant gulp of our drinks, the same emerald-eyed woman with the pink dress came up to the Master of Games and handed him a note. He grabbed it immediately and nervously read its contents amidst the Game Room’s rambunctious atmosphere.

  “Hey, Benjamin,” Bill began to say as he was finishing the note, “I’ve got some business to attend to—you know—that ‘job’ part of life I mentioned before. I’ll be back before you know it though, so feel free to hang out, meet some peeps, and whatever you do, have a good time!”

  After a pointing snap with his fingers, Bill left me all alone in the Game Room to enjoy myself in whatever way I saw fit. The pool looked especially satisfying to me, so I sauntered over to it, jamming to the funky beat of the music, happy that my dream had become pleasant at last. And just as I was dipping my feet in the refreshing pool, I heard a voice calling my name from behind.

  “Psst, Benjamin!”

  I whirled around to confirm the voice I recognized. “Reina! There you are!” I exclaimed, giving her a sloppy hug. “Why did you sprint off before?”

  Surprised by my eager hug, Reina looked me up and down, probably trying to assess my intoxication level. “Benjamin, you need to come with me now,” she charged me sternly. “It’s not safe here.”

  “It’s not safe here? I heard it’s not safe out there,” I rebutted, pointing to the nearest glass wall.

  “Who told you that? The Master of Games?” she pressed with apparent paranoia.

  “Bill, you mean? Yeah, he’s a really nice guy and clearly cares about his people’s wellbeing a lot. I mean, look at this place. What about this isn’t safe?”

  Reina rubbed her ruby eyes in frustration. “Look, I can’t explain it to you here. Will you please just come with me? You need to see something.”

  “Can’t it wait? I want to lounge in the pool while I listen to the music.”

  “No, it can’t wait,” she snapped. “I’m already risking a lot to be here.”

  “Ugghh, fine! I can’t even enjoy my own dreeaamm,” I slurred sassily.

  “I told you it’s not a dream,” Reina asserted in annoyance as she led me out of the Game Room and back down the windy staircase.

  Chapter 3

  Murals in the Mansion

  Reina led me down far too many flights of stairs, at least in my drunken opinion, before she finally stopped on a floor. We then walked down far too many hallways until we at last came to the colorful corridor Reina wanted me to see.

  The walls of this colorful corridor contained many murals masterfully painted with different scenes of which I knew nothing about. Had I been sober, I would have stood in awe at the larger than life images that confronted my reality. Instead, I said this, “As much as I love art, Reina, I’d really like to go back to the Game Room now.”

  “It’s not just the art I want you to see,” Reina tried to explain patiently. “It’s what the art represents.”

  “And what does the art represent exactly?” I drunkenly sneered.

  “Look, Benjamin, I can see that you think this is all a big joke, but it’s not. The Master of Games wants you to think that it’s all a joke, that life’s all one big game, but I promise you with all of my birthstone that what I’m about to tell you is very, very serious. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I relented, feeling like an unfocused child being disciplined by his mother.

  “Promise you will give me your full attention.”

  “Okay, okay, I promise! Jiminy Willers…” I muttered under my breath.

  “Alright, good. Now before I ran away earlier, you told me you’ve seen the sun. I have to know, Benjamin. Were you telling me the truth? Have you really seen the sun with your own eyes?”

  “Of course I’ve seen the sun with my own eyes,” I insisted, neglecting the fact that a person can’t really look at the sun directly. “But why is that so important?”

  Reina’s ruby eyes looked at me with solemn reverence. “Okay, Benjamin, let me explain. Long ago,” she began, pointing to a mural where a shiny figure stood in a bright field, “an alchemist lived in a beautiful land far above the Pit called the Haven.”

  “An alchemist?”

  “BENJAMIN!” Reina snapped, her ruby eyes indignant.

  “Sorryyy, I’m just not familiar with the term,” I candidly confessed.

  “I was getting to that…” she fumed, her eyes throwing me daggers.

  “Okay, I’m sorry, really! Please proceed,” I pleaded.

  Reina held her stern look for a second before continuing. “An alchemist is one who works with rocks, gems, jewels, precious stones, you name it, often for the purpose of purification.

  “Now legend says that this alchemist possessed a powerful elixir, which in case you don’t know,” she made sure to add, “an elixir is a mystical concoction usually used for medicinal purposes. But the elixir the Alchemist possessed was so powerful that it could create and sustain life itself.”

  I focused intently on the tantalizing image to which she now referred. The Alchemist, who did not look too different in form from a regular person, was somehow harnessing the luminous force of the elixir.

  “The Alchemist decided to use that elixir to make life out of his two most precious gems. So one day when the sun was shining fiercely, he placed his two gems in a pool of water and mixed in the elixir,” Reina explained as her hands brushed over a mural of the Alchemist holding two stones in a bright, sunlit puddle. “And when the wind blew, our ancestors were born out of the stones.”

  A mural farther right showed a man and a woman rising out of the water, shining brightly before the Alchemist.

  "Here we go with the birthstone thing again,” I remarked without thinking.

  "Benjamin! What did I tell you?”

  “Sorry, sorry, last time, I swear.”

  “And like I said back on the beach, you shouldn’t insult our birthstones. It’s the most sacred part of us, our very essence that shines out through our eyes.”

  “Most sacred part, shines out through your eyes. Got it. Please continue.”

  "As I was saying,” she simmered, trying to collect her thoughts. “Ah yes, so the Alchemist loved our ancestors very much. The three of them lived together in the Haven, perfectly happy and unable to die due to the life-giving elixir within them. Completely safe, they lived under the sun with no fear of harm, except for one danger that the Alchemist strictly warned them about.”

  My eyes widened in suspense.


  “He warned them that the only possible way they could ever lose their happiness and security was if they fell into the Pit, the entrance to which was all the way on top of a marked hill. He told them that if they fell into the Pit, then they would surely die. So they heeded the Alchemist’s grave warning and made sure to stay far away from the dangerous hill.

  “But then, one fateful day, a whimsical wind blew through the Haven, and our ancestors, enjoying its playful nature, thought it would be fun to race after the wind to see who could be the first to catch it.”

  With a great strain on the mind, I used every ounce of my willpower not to interrupt her in order to ask how anyone could possibly think they could catch the wind.

  “Now as the wind carried them to and fro, its direction led them toward and up the forbidden hill. And as our ancestors drew near the entrance of the Pit, they had more than enough time to cease their little game before it would be too late.

  “Alas, our ancestors did not stop running after the wind, and as soon as they reached the summit of the hill, they slipped and fell deep into the Pit. They fell, and they fell, and they fell, until finally they crashed into Lake Shale, the immense body of muddy water that lies at the center of the Pit. And according to the legend, they both died on impact, their bodies slowly decomposing over time in their murky grave.”

  Reina paused for a moment before moving on to the next mural, and I found it hard not to wonder if this could be some really edgy version of Jack and Jill.

  Her ruby eyes brightened as she started again. “But somehow, mysteriously, the ancestors were reborn from their murky grave. At first, they rejoiced in their incredibly good fortune, but it soon became clear to them that they had lost something precious. They felt that the elixir coursing through their internal birthstone had been sullied by the muddy waters of Lake Shale. In time, this inner change proved fatal as they eventually died once more, not living forever as the Alchemist had intended for them."