The Geode King

by H A Tisdale

  “Jiminy Willers, I’m not sure I thought this plan through enough,” I admitted sheepishly.

  “Well, that must be why the Domikos sent me on this sporadic adventure down the river,” Doug consoled me without hesitation. “He probably wanted you to be warned of a few things.”

  “For real,” I breathed out some stress. “Sounds like I have much more to worry about than just the Rotten Ruakia.”

  “Don’t worry, man,” Doug comforted as he rustled the crinkly hair on Kairou’s ears. “The Good Gale will keep you as he guides your steps in the right direction.”

  “Thanks Doug,” I replied, the Domikos confirming his words in my heart, “and you don’t have to take me all the way to Lake Shale by the way. I’m sure you’d rather get back to your wife.”

  “Like I said,” Doug said, “the inner wind blew me down the river for a reason, so I intend to see you to this stream’s end. And once we get to Lake Shale, I’ll even let you keep the boat.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked bewildered at the breadth of his generosity.

  “Of course, brother,” Doug smiled as he ran his hands through his long hair. “The Domikos is the only thing we can really hold onto in the Pit. Plus, I have to walk back on foot anyway, and it’ll be much easier if I’m not dragging a hunk of wood behind me.”

  “Thank you so much, Doug. I really appreciate all you’re doing for me. How can I ever repay you?” I pleaded as we neared more rushing rapids.

  “Oh, you don’t owe me anything, Benjamin. Just always remember,” he instructed with a twinkle in his emerald eyes, “if you dig it, you Doug it.”

  Chapter 15

  Hippo Critters and Leeches

  Doug steered the dingy dinghy down the rushing rapids for the rest of the daylight, and as we drew near to Lake Shale, I noticed the cavernous ceiling switch from its vibrant array of gems and jewels to a complete covering of dull, gray stone that hardly gave off any light as the still evening arrived.

  The wind and the current came to a halt when we entered the last stretch of the Dream Stream, and before the river deposited into the infamously dirty, still lake, the surrounding land grew foggy, the misty haze so thick that I had an eerie sense I might already be dead. Kairou accordingly perked up her precious head from the deck and looked around with a disapproving snarl.

  “Okay, we’re almost at our destination,” Doug whispered. “From here on out, keep your voice low. Litter Gators are attracted to noise, and Hippo Critters are light sleepers. So you and Kairou will need to retain a soft volume. Otherwise, the Litter Gators and Hippo Critters will tear you to shreds.”

  “Did you hear that, Kairou?” I muttered with a parental glance.

  Kairou stopped snarling, flipped to her belly, and gave me an upside-down look as if to say, “Who me?”

  “Good, girl,” I encouraged her, rewarding her silence with a belly rub.

  “Yes, staying silent in their territory is your best chance of staying alive. Now, let’s eat before we part ways,” Doug suggested, directing the vessel to the shore where we shared a magnificently cooked meal of fresh fish and potatoes.

  “Jiminy Willers, this is absolutely scrumptious, Doug,” I complimented him while scarfing the hot food into my belly.

  “Thanks, man,” Doug replied humbly. “I figured you would need some sustenance before you hit the lake. Bringing food out there would only serve as bait for the Hippo Critters to sniff out. So don’t stay out there too long, or you’ll surely starve to death.”

  “Great, I’ll add that to my checklist,” I stated facetiously, thinking of all the things I needed to worry about for my imminent, bleak future on the surface of Lake Shale.

  “You’ll be fine, Benjamin,” Doug affirmed with his hand on my shoulder. “Just remember what I told you about the Hippo Critters, Litter Gators, and Leeches, and you’ll make it out with your life intact. You’ve got the Good Gale in your sail, and this force behind fate doesn’t just move in our birthstones but in all things, working everything out for our good.”

  I forced myself to smile, masking the great fear I felt over the dark details I had withheld from Doug. The Pit was facing an evil outcome, and I struggled to understand how this force behind fate could work it all out for our good. But Doug perceived what I needed and embraced me strongly with a brotherly hug, patting my back a couple times as if beating a soft drum. Kairou and I then mounted the dingy dinghy so that Doug could push us back into the Dream Stream.

  “May you keep in step with the Domikos, brother, and may you bask in the breeze,” Doug murmured a slightly different version of the familiar saying before he released the wooden vessel and disappeared in the fog.

  Paddling very slowly on the foggy water, I face forwards, unlike Doug, so that I could keep a lookout out for the dangers that lurked ahead. From the front of the dingy dinghy, Kairou sat watchfully as well in a peculiar posture that made her look like a finger puppet. And far sooner than I would have preferred, the Dream Stream came to an end as the waters widened into the expanse of Lake Shale.

  Our arrival on that dead body of water riddled my senses with great displeasure. The muggy air sat heavily on my skin. The still silence seemed to cut at my ears. And the putrid smell violated my nose with a nauseating molestation. These emetic aromas were emanating from a thick layer of trash that blanketed the dirty sheet of Lake Shale’s still surface, and I thought I might puke the fish-potato mixture that now churned corrosively in my stomach.

  As I burped up Doug’s formerly delicious dish, the dingy dinghy moved steadily through the garbage while Kairou remained quiet, her little snout sniffing the foul stench around us. I wondered why so much refuse had collected on the lake, for Doug had made it sound like the Litter Gators kept the waste at bay. Whatever the reason, I was truly struggling to hold down the vomit in my throat and feared I wouldn’t last much longer surrounded by the sickening mess.

  But then I thought I might be exaggerating a little. I figured I maybe just needed some time to adjust to the altered environment, and then I could potentially adapt to this lower level of living. All conditions could be tolerated, I imagined to myself, with some positive vibes perhaps and a change in my attitude.

  And suddenly, Lake Shale didn’t seem so bad. Everything appeared rather pleasant actually. Kairou looked content with the smells, and the silence seemed less severe. I felt that I could sit out on those still waters forever, simply meditating on the miraculous marvels all around me.

  In fact, just up ahead, I saw a cute, little critter swimming up to our boat. Kairou welcomed him warmly and backed up to give the little guy room to board. I smiled as I watched the baby hippo climb up on our vessel, and I laughed as Kairou and our tiny, new friend began to play together, energetically rolling around within the bounds of the dazzling dinghy.

  While I lounged and watched the friendly scene unfold, I rubbed the back of my neck, as I’m accustomed to doing, and felt a squishy bump pulsating on my skin. Initially, I liked this squishy bump. And when I mused upon its existence, I pictured it massaging me as a mini masseuse, so I closed my eyes, completely relaxed and at peace with my circumstances.

  The most subtle of these beasts…will suck away your life without you even knowing it…gives your mind a euphoric bliss…you will be happy with what it’s given you…beware of the Leeches.

  My eyes shot back open as I realized my mind had been hypnotized by the Leech’s soothing elixir. I quickly reached my hand back and ripped off the vitalixir-sucking creature. The bloody beast instantly tore off my skin like tape tearing off wrapping paper, and I had to hold back a bloodcurdling cry as I flung the foreign menace far from the boat.

  With my mind now clear, I saw what was really taking place on the dingy dinghy. A baby Hippo Critter was pinning Kairou to the floor, trying to crunch down on her face. Kairou resisted fiercely but was struggling to escape the little monster’s clutches.

  So I sprang into action and pounced on the hungry hippopotamus in order to save
my loyal friend. The beast proved heavy, but I quickly liberated Kairou as I flung its deadweight over the front of the vessel. Before the wild animal could recover, I speedily paddled over it, but after bumping against the bottom a few times, its mouth burst through the center of the deck. With the quick reaction of my reflexes, I swung my paddle down on its jaw again and again but to no avail.

  And if the Hippo Critter had continued much longer, our dingy dinghy surely would have been doomed, so out of desperation, I grabbed some trash from the surface of the water and shoved it down the Hippo Critter’s throat. The baby beast immediately choked on the mouthful of garbage and subsequently sunk into the dark depths of the bleak lake.

  As I sat back and caught my breath with Kairou huddled next to me, I counted my many blessings atop the muddy waters. Thankfully, Doug had made the dingy dinghy sink-proof. Fortunately, the Domikos had sent Doug to properly warn me about the Leeches. And remarkably, Kairou hadn’t been eaten by the baby Hippo Critter. Truly, the Good Gale blew for me even there on the shadowy surface of Lake Shale, and I now knew for sure that the Domikos would be with me wherever I would go.

  My head felt a little woozy, however, and I wondered how much vitalixir the sneaky Leech must have sucked. The putrid stench of the water was also returning to my senses, and I did not wish to hang out on that deadly lake any longer than necessary. So I picked up the paddle which hadn’t been mutilated by the Hippo Critter and gently pushed us forward through the wretched, foul mist.

  The time passed slowly as Kairou and I watched the smelly trash float by. Doug had said the Litter Gators kept Lake Shale as clean as it could be, so in my thoughts, I suspected something must be horribly amiss in this terrible abyss: Where are the Litter Gators? How is this mess ever going to get cleaned up if their good purpose is not served? I had dreaded the prospect of seeing their sword-sharp teeth up close, but now I wish to see the noble work of these valuable beasts.

  Without spotting a single Litter Gator, I paddled on for hours until we passed a smooth rock on the surface of Lake Shale. But this time I quickly ascertained the true reality of the Hippo Critter in front of me. The mist then thinned, and my vision beheld a hundred of these muddy mounds all clumped together on this portion of the water just before the end of the lake.

  “I can see the shore, Kairou,” I whispered with a little too much excitement, causing the Hippo Critter we had just passed to open his eyes and lock his focus on our vessel. I hoped he would soon close them and fall back into a snooze, but instead he swam in our direction with his giant mouth opened wide. In a panic, I paddled as fast as I could to get away from the savage animal. But it was too late.

  Its jarring jaw snapped shut on the back end of our boat, and the big-bellied beast chomped voraciously away at the wood. I feared our lives would soon be destroyed by the Hippo Critter’s mouth, so trusting that the Good Gale guided my steps, I scooped up Kairou in a rushing refusal for us to be eaten alive by the vile creature.

  “Come on, Kairou,” I yelled with adrenaline pumping my body forward. “I have a crazy idea!”

  Doug had said the Hippo Critters were not as they appear, and I desperately hoped that meant their smooth-looking skin would actually be rough. So half-expecting to slip on the muddy mound, I jumped on a different Hippo Critter just in front of us with Kairou squeezed tightly in my arms.

  Though contrary to the facts of my former life, my hippopotamus hypothesis proved true as my foot met the surprisingly rough hide on its back. Before that Hippo Critter could throw us off, I leapt to the next one and the next one, hopping across the lake like a stone being skipped on a pond. Remarkably, the Domikos kept my foot from slipping, and I finally reached the edge of the shore completely unscathed. There, I dropped Kairou to the ground and turned to see a very angry army of Hippo Critters trudging through the shallows.

  “Run, Kairou, run,” I yelped, sprinting one way in the mist as Kairou ran in the other unbeknownst to me, though I soon picked up on her unexpected deviation. Thus, turning my head back in the fog, I observed the entire stampede of Hippo Critters galloping after my canine companion. Alarmed for her life, I chased after the horde of hippopotami without the faintest clue for how I would rescue her.

  And out of nowhere, a phantom bride materialized in the mist. Though it all happened in a flash, my eyes made out the shape of an elderly lady wearing a wedding dress, and as I ran through the foggy figure, her evil presence jolted me to the core. As this icy aura chilled every single bone, my mind also grew faint, and when I finished passing through the agonizing apparition, I collapsed to the ground, completely knocked out as my puppy partner ran for her life.

  Chapter 16

  A Worm Welcome

  When I awakened from my encounter with the phantom bride, countless rotten-lightning creatures were soaring through the surrounding electric mist. All of their faces remained hidden by the veil of fog, and the most horrifying gurgling came from their concealed mouths. Directly in front of me stood the two little star-children I had encountered in the desert, and they looked greatly distressed with the abundance of Rotten Ruakia before them. The star-children hurriedly shot beams of golden light from their hands in an attempt to ward off the advancement of the rotten-lightning armada. Meanwhile, I lay there paralyzed, gazing in terror at the battle before me.

  “There’s too many of them!” the star-boy yelled to the star-girl.

  The star-girl blasted one of the rotten-lighting creatures right in its clouded face. “You’re right,” she replied. “We need reinforcements.”

  So both of them sang the high-pitched note this time, releasing an explosion of golden light all around them, and I held my eyes shut tightly to avoid being utterly blinded. When I assumed the golden light had diminished, I opened my eyes again, expecting to see the appalling artillery of the Rotten Ruakia. Visually, nothing appeared before me, but I still sensed their evil presence.

  Scared out of my skin, I jumped up and ran in a random direction, my heart pounding in my chest as I tried to flee from the haunted atmosphere. Though I could no longer see them, I imagined the blackhole bandits still flying around me, and my legs would not carry me fast enough to escape the awful aura in the air.

  “Benjamin,” a shrill voice whispered from the haze in front of me.

  I stopped in my tracks. “Who said that?” I exhaled with much fear.

  “You know who we are, Benjamin,” a deeper voice answered from a different direction. I looked all around, trying to pinpoint the new voice’s location.

  “Come this way,” another one hissed from behind. Completely spooked, I dared not converse with the invisible beings again and tried to run away once more, but no matter which way I turned, another sinister voice would egg me to follow.

  “This way.”

  “This way.”

  “This way.”

  “This way.”

  I felt as if I were going in circles through the dense fog of ghouls and feared I would be forever lost on the shores of Lake Shale. Hopelessly, falling to the ground, I covered my ears to shield them from the multiple voices beckoning me to follow. A hand then grabbed my shoulder and flipped me over on my back where I looked up at two white-eyed figures in horror. “Oh Pit!” I gasped.

  The creepy white-eyed brothers from the windless valley hovered over me with mischievous grins. “Look, brother,” the lanky man named Wick sneered. “It’s that ComePlatian from the valley who was babbling about the sun.”

  “Ahh yes,” his bulkier brother named Devon remarked, “those ComePlatians have the most primitive beliefs, always going on about dreams and other fictions they’ve never even seen.”

  “You can mock me all you want,” I conceded, sitting up, “but at least I still have a birthstone.”

  In response to my snarky comment, Wick backhanded my face with enough force to draw some vitalixir. “Shut your mouth, you insignificant rubble,” he derided. “You know nothing of our lives, and you couldn’t begin to understand the extent of
our sacrifices.”

  “Easy, brother,” Devon calmed his erratic sibling, holding him back from unleashing another blow. “We should save the ComePlatian for Gannacleft’s arrival.”

  “His arrival?” I barked as my face burned from Wick’s strike.

  “Yes,” Devon answered with sophistication, “once the other ComePlatians finish building the beast, Gannacleft’s Flame will fuse with the vessel to become the most powerful force in the Pit.”

  “And of course,” Wick added with a devilish smile, “when the Chief Ruakia emerges, he will be quite hungry, and we think the ComePlatians will serve as an excellent feast to nourish his mighty physique.”

  I stared at the evil men deeply dismayed as I imagined the manifestation of their mysterious monster, and in that moment, so much of me desired to run away from the two villains in order to escape being Gannacleft’s breakfast. But the better part of me, the part that wanted to keep in step with the Domikos, knew I couldn’t keep abandoning those who needed me as I had abandoned Kecelia to the wrath of Hive. And after hearing Wick and Devon’s nefarious scheme, I couldn’t just forsake the ComePlatians to be eaten alive, at least not without a ray of hope.

  “Your plan will fail,” I asserted with the confidence of the inner wind in my sail. “The Domikos will frustrate your conniving efforts to wreak havoc on the Pit.”

  Wick smacked the other side of my face with a fiery fury. “Our sacrifices to the Chief Ruakia will not be in vain,” he retorted, “and I think it’s time you joined your fellow dreamers in the dungeon.”