The next day, the 2 boys went swimming and climbed some trees. I didn't truly feel like joining them, because I felt I had already done those activities the day before. So I just sat there and considered the impact this dark pearl would have on our lives.
" We need to use this for something good," I said while my good friends were sprinkling water at each other.
" But what?" Karl asked.
" I do not know. Prevent crime. Help those in need. Something like that."
" Nothing ever happens in this village anyhow."
" I know. So maybe we should just hide it away until something does."
" Sounds good to me," Karl said as he shrugged his shoulders.
" Just don't tell anyone, alright?" I said.
" Okay."
" Alex?"
" Tell what?" he asked.
" Never mind." I thought that if he didn't know, then he most likely wouldn't tell anybody.
I asked them to do something else, since watching them play in the water had become a little boring. We went to search for berries, so we just left the tent there with our gear, considering it safe enough for the moment.
We took off and began looking. Karl said he had heard of blueberries being up here, but I was eager to find some raspberries. Those were my favorite. Alex wasn't clear about what he wanted. He put a pinecone in his mouth and even tried to eat a leaf. We both sort of laughed about his silly experiments. He said he wanted to prove that you could eat leaves, which he did, but it didn't appear like he was enjoying it, and that's why we laughed out loud.
When we went up the mountain a bit more, Karl all of a sudden stopped me and said, "Don't ... move ... a muscle."
He was staring in the distance. I tried to see what he was looking at. Then I saw it. It was a bear! It was gigantic! I was as silent as I could be. This bear was brown and looking mean. But it didn't see us. What was it doing?
" It's eating our berries !!!!" Alex said as if he heard my ideas somehow.
" Silent, you idiot," Karl sneered.
But it was too late. The bear had picked up the noise of Alex's voice and was quickly moving towards us, grumbling loudly and showing its teeth.
" Run!" I said.
We all tried to run downhill, which I have to mention is really hard to do without tripping. I mean, I don't consider myself a very awkward character, but this time, I just got my foot stuck behind a tree branch and fell forward. I saw the huge bear coming at me. It was getting closer. It swung at me with its sharp claws and ...
When we went up the mountain a bit more, Karl unexpectedly stopped me and said, "Don't ... move ... a muscle."
Huh? Is this where we were? In desperation, I had just rubbed the dark pearl a little, attempting to place us back in time so we could avoid being chased after by an unsafe bear. The bear was staring at us. It was trying to find berries, but I already knew that Alex was going to be silly enough to open his mouth. So I jumped towards him and covered his mouth with my hand. I held it there and made certain he could not say anything.
When I let go, he silently said, "How did you know I was going to say something?"
" I've been telling you guys that I have gone back in time the other day. So that's what I just did."
" Wait, you returned in time tomorrow to tell me to be quiet now, which is precisely the other day for you?" he asked.
Alex was making things unnecessarily complicated.
" No," I whispered. "I just returned to the time we were watching the bear since I was nearly becoming its lunch. Now, let's get out of here before the same thing happens all over again."
" That's unusual, man," Alex said after thinking for a while.
My friends and I left and went back to the camping tent, which was a lot further away. Just to be safe, we left the mountains that day, since we didn't want the bear to find us.
Chapter 5: Back at the Town
We got back and our mom and dad welcomed us. They inquired about our experiences in the mountains and we just told them about swimming, campfires, and berries, but not about the bear, since that would trigger them to be worried. Nor did we tell them about the dark pearl with its wonderful powers. That would just confuse them. Besides, I didn't know what I wanted to do with it yet. It sounded so powerful but so bad if it would fall into the wrong hands.
I would soon find a way to use it though.
The next day, we met in school. As we were sitting there, the teacher asked everyone what they did last weekend.
" I went on a pony ride," one girl said. It sounded a little childish, but then she explained that she trained horses and that she learned a lot about assisting them by rewarding them with carrots and such.
" We dealt with the farm," another kid said. He told us how they milked the cows, stacked the hay, and gathered the water from trenches and wells in the ground.
" We went camping," I said when it was my turn. I told the class about our walking up the mountain, our campfire, and climbing trees. Karl told a similar story, just adding bits and pieces to what I was already saying, from his perspective.
Then it was Alex's turn. "We found a magical stone that turns back time," he said bluntly.
I buried my face in my hands.
" Oh, that sounds interesting," the instructor said. "Please tell us more about that."
" Well," he began. "We were attacked by a bear and after that Jace told me to stop talking because I was making way too much noise, but the bear didn't see me, so it was okay, and the stone looked purple. It was more like a pearl, a purple pearl. And at the campfire, Jace forecasted the future as I dropped my hotdog and he knew for some reason it was going to happen, so that's when we chose to not tell anyone about it, but I just did ..."
He realized what he just said.
I expected the worst.
" Whoops," he whispered.
The whole class looked at me. How was I going to talk myself out of this one? Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut about the dark pearl? I knew we couldn't trust him. He couldn't help it.
" Well?" the instructor said.
At first, I looked anxious, then sheepish, and after that positive. I was going to pretend to lie by telling part of the truth. My sarcasm had no limits; everyone knew that. So I would use it to my advantage.
" Oh, he is absolutely right," I said with an amusing tone in my voice. "We found this magical rock that helps us turn back time. We can even travel to the future and turn your nose into a pig's nose."
Everybody laughed ... everybody other than for Alex.
" It can do that too?" he asked with huge eyes.
" Yes, I just didn't want to tell you because I wanted to pull a prank on you. I was going to slip up on you in your sleep and give you a pig's nose, just for fun. But now that you found my secret ... oh, me and my big mouth. Sorry, I spoiled it. Maybe I could still do it to someone who doesn't know about that special feature."
Alex looked happy. He was probably relieved that I wasn't going to give him a pig's nose anymore. And the rest of the class didn't take me seriously at all. They thought it was all just a huge joke.
" That sounds very funny, Jace. I am sure you can make up a lot of stuff about all kinds of 'wonderful' objects, but we are attempting to have a serious discussion about what we were doing in the weekends here."
" Sorry, teacher," I said.
" It's all right. Let's hear it from someone else."
After class, I didn't even snap at Alex. Like I said, I didn't think he could help himself. He was just a little different. Karl came to me and told me what a genius I was for talking my way out of that one.
" Thanks," I said. "Have you thought of what we could do with this yet?"
" We could win the lotto," he said.
" I think so, but I don't know if that's what this was meant for. Let's think of it a little more. It's not like we frantically need cash. Besides, that would be type of unethical, would not it?"
" Only if you get caught," Karl said.
Chapter 6: Secret Opponents
I got home and listened to my mother and father having a discussion. They were pretty worried, to say the least.
" Shades will assault the village," my dad said. "They have been spotted outside the village surface and some of them were especially hostile. They attacked a number of villager, and now the whole town is anxious and upset."
" How many do you think there are?" mom asked.
" I do not know. Some have mentioned a few, others lots, and one of the villagers even said he saw tons of them, hiding in the forest."
" What are they after?"
" Oh, you know. They are uncivilized, vicious monsters. They don't have to have a reason. They just want to destroy our town, I am sure."
My mom looked frightened, and my dad noticed he went a little overboard.
" But," he said quickly, attempting to relieve my mom's mind, "I think that if we just leave them alone, they won't come any closer. Maybe they just want to perform a few easy acts of violence and after that head back to where they came from. Who knows? Besides, we reside in the town's center. They will probably assault the houses at the town borders first."
" I sure hope so," my mom said.
I couldn't sleep that night. I knew without a doubt that I had bumped into this mysterious dark pearl for a reason, and now the town seemed to be in peril. I didn't know how at the time, but maybe I could make myself helpful in some way. If I could utilize the pearl's wonderful powers, I would have the ability to save lives.
Chapter 7: Raids
They came one by one. It was hard to stop since it was so sporadic. The shades that attacked the town were vicious and ruthless. A little fight here, a little killing there ... it was unstoppable.
One of the shades that assaulted the village, was a small, tricky one. The Burges family had been residing on the town's borders for a very long time, but now they were seriously thinking about moving. When the sneaky shades snuck into their home, it damaged all the fruits in the basement and all the vegetables in the shed. After that, it came after them.
" Father! Father!" the little girl shouted. "Where are you?"
" Come on, honey," the mother told her while hanging on to their newborn. She came running out of the house, trying to secure her offspring but fearing for the life of her partner.
They left, looking back and seeing something happen on the window through the window. But they didn't have time to stay. The father would meet them at his brother's place, but he never made it.
The next day, there was a funeral service, but during the event, an entire crowd of shades made this moaning sound and attacked the attendants. Many were harmed, couple of were killed.
That exact same evening, a huge Shade, at least 15 feet tall, went into the town and began slamming walls and hitting monoliths. When the town's people resisted with pitchforks and pickaxes, they were simply smashed to the ground. People were kicked hundreds of feet away by this enormous monster; others were simply stepped on or pinned to the wall of one of their houses. It was mayhem. It was awful.
Reports from deaths by shades or losses through those assaulting opponents were all over the place. People were distressed. The village held a council meeting which my father went to. He brought me along, just to observe what was going on, and maybe because they were so desperate they could have used suggestions from anybody going to include an insight of some sort, even teens.
" Our town is dying," the mayor said. "We have come together since we cannot hold back the shades any longer. Their random riots and assassinations have become too much. This should have never happened. If we don't do something, we will all be eradicated."
" Let's burn the forest," someone suggested.
" Then they will only be forced to come out and kill more of us," another disagreed.
" Maybe we should assault them," my father suggested. "They would never see it coming."
" Sounds like an idea," the mayor said. "But even if we could kill some of them, we wouldn't have the manpower or the combating abilities to get rid of them completely. We have heard reports of hundreds of these dreadful creatures, lurking underneath the shadows. How are we ever going to match that?"
" We should discover what they want," I said.
Everybody turned to me.
" Who is this?" the mayor asked.
" Uhm ... this is my son," my dad said proudly.
Then the mayor turned to me and asked, "And how are we going to do that, young man? They don't speak our language. They don't even talk. They just come in and start pillaging our town. How do you suggest we learn about their intentions?"
I was silent.
" I don't know," I confessed. "But if we could somehow discover that, they may leave us alone after that."
" We will keep it in mind," the mayor said. "Any other ideas?"
Chapter 8: The Shady Beasts
When we got home from the meeting that night, I was miserable. I mourned just because of the families who had lost really loved ones. People who had been extremely killed by those horrible beasts ... it just wasn't fair. We didn't even know why they were assaulting us. Generally, shades would leave us alone if we didn't look them in the eyes. We always had to make sure we didn't bother them, and they wouldn't respond. But this time it was different. They were angry. They were after something.
I sat there in the middle of the night, thinking of the causes of all these unusual events.
Then I thought about the only thing I could do, the only thing that made real sense: I was going to go back in time and discover the origin of all this. If I could only get near the shades and look for a motive, I may be able to stop all these tragedies.
I decided.
I was determined to solve this.
This was the reason I found the dark pearl.
I took it out of my pocket and rubbed it. I rubbed it hard, just to ensure it would work.
Before I knew it, I was back in the living room. It wasn't night anymore, but throughout the afternoon. My mother and father had a conversation. They were pretty stressed, to say the least.
" shades are about to assault the village," my dad said. "They have been found outside the village surface and some of them were particularly hostile. They attacked a number of villagers, and now the entire town is restless and upset."
" How many do you think there are?" mother asked.
" I don't know. Some have mentioned a few, others dozens, and one of the villagers even said he saw hundreds of them, hiding in the forest."
I recognized this discussion, and it was before it actually all took place. No one had died yet, and I was going to make certain it would never happen. I told my parents I had to go outside and ran out. Then I went to Karl's house.
" Psst, Karl," I said while looking up.
He opened his bedroom window.
" What's going on?" he asked.
" Want to follow me into the forest? I have the gut feeling we can really use this unusual pearl we found."
" Sure. Give me a second and I will be right there," he said.
A little later, he stood beside me in front of his house.
" So what have you learned?" he asked.
" These shades are going to kill villagers," I said. "It already took place ... well, in the future, I guess, but I went back in time, to the present time, to stop it."
" That is so incredible!" Karl said. "So you are from the future?"
" Yes, well, I know what's going to take place. And now I want to make an effort to stop a disaster from happening. Does that make any sense?"
" Obviously. Shall we get Alex too?"
" Let's leave Alex where he is," I said with a smile. "Let's just go together, just the 2 of us. I am certain we'll get to the bottom of this."
We ventured to the forest with the dark pearl. To be sincere, it w
as sort of spooky, with the fog and the spooky noises we heard. We couldn't see much, so we stayed close to each other. The fog was so thick that we could only see about 15 feet in front of us, if that. As we gradually approached the open space in the middle of the forest, which was a place where I thought we had the biggest chance of experiencing shades, we heard the noise of feet. Like I said, we couldn't see much, but we were certain that we were being followed. We turned around but saw nothing. When we turned around again ...
" Wraaah!" Karl and I shouted.
A scary Shade was right in front of us, looking in our eyes from only 2 feet away. Where did that one originated from all of a sudden? But he wasn't the only one catching us by surprise. Before we could say another word, we were surrounded by shades. They were all coming closer and gazing at us.
Why weren't they trying to kill us?
I didn't comprehend any of this.
" Quickly," Karl whispered. "Get the dark pearl. Perhaps we could return to the time before they snuck up on us."
I took it out of my pocket, but that produced a response I didn't expect. As soon as these mean-looking shades saw the dark pearl. They all kneeled down. What was happening? Were they worshipping this item or something?
One of the shades wasn't kneeling. It looked like their leader. He came forward and made a gesture as to say, "Hand it over."
Then it clicked in my mind. Perhaps they lost this precious pearl and would begin their killing spree out of anger. Perhaps they were just searching for it in their desperate attempts to search the place. Maybe giving it back to them would stop this rubbish before it even took place.
" What are you doing?" Karl asked. "Don't give that to them. It's our only way out."
But he really missed the point. He didn't get it, so I ignored his suggestions and handed the dark pearl to the Shade. He happily accepted my gift. When he held it, he looked at it with joy. The other shades were still kneeling. Then he held it up and uttered some unusual sounds I had never heard before; it was most likely in their language, or so I figured.
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