8

Ch. 8

            I can remember a place I used to go

            Chrysanthemums of white, they seemed so beautiful

            I can remember when I first realized

            Dreams were the only place to see them

            While I waited I was wasting away

            Faith was wasting away

            I was wasting away

 

Gah! Jimmy grasps for air as he returns to the surface. The commotion from the top of the bridge sounds like pure chaos. Jimmy catches sight of the Boy in the water swimming toward the entrance of the city, directly below the bridge. The Boy goes under water as Jimmy follows close behind. Under the bridge entrance to the city lies a small opening leading to the other side of the wall. The opening is very narrow and surrounded by sharp edges created naturally from the surrounding mountain walls. Jimmy swims through with a few slits from the sharp edges but nothing extreme. As he returns to the surface for air, the Boy is standing by the end of the little pond.

            “Why are you following me?” The Boy asks with great suspicion. Jimmy slowly starts getting to his feet. “Not so fast, speak first.” The Boy points a dagger toward Jimmy.

            “It’s a lot to explain at once, but to cut to the chase, I need your help.” Jimmy explains.

            (A brief but detailed explanation later)

            “So you’re saying that you know me in an alternative universe and that I sent you to find my band mates to bring them back to your original dimension? Did I understand that correctly? You’re insane you know that? The Boy states crudely. “I don’t even know where to begin, my friends just died back there, and you come up to me directly after asking for help to rescue the very people whom I just witnessed die. It’s a lot to handle right now Jimmy.”

            “Please, I must do this for you so I can revive the love of my life who was taken away from me.” Jimmy pleads his case out of desperation.

            “Blasphemy, everybody knows you cannot revive somebody who has since passed. Perhaps their body, but never their mind and personality.” The Boy quickly retorts.

            “Even if that is true, I have to try. I have to get home.”

            “ . . . but home is nowhere. I’ve lost everything, this world is empty, and I have no place left to go. All I can do is sing the sorrows that are left in my soul.” The Boy turns away and rubs his face with utter agony.

            “Please.” Jimmy simply pleads.

            “Well at the very least I will point you in the right direction. I heard a rumor of a couple of fugitives from a foreign land were captured by the Perfecting Kingdom. But be cautious, that kingdom is nothing like the Flying kingdom. Here at least they have democratically elected officials, and they have open expression as a right. Free to critique their own government and even protest it. But at the Perfecting Kingdom, things are done much differently. They have had one leader for an extended period of time, he is a very stern and religious man. Open expression is not welcomed there, and they will even kill to send a message to their own people if they deem necessary.”

            “What message is that?
           

            “Fear. Fear is their ultimate weapon. You will find them just south of here, be careful on your journey, they have guards around every corner leading to their Kingdom.”

 

            Jimmy heads toward the Perfecting Kingdom in the darkness of the night. There are no street lights and no convenient gas stations to pick up some delicious snacks for the road. Just a lonely paved road that looks so lonely in fact, that it could even be described as being emo. Though the road adamantly detests anyone calling it emo. It prefers to be called alternative, but that is a discussion for another day.           

            The road turns from some form of pavement to simple dirt. God forbid if it was complicated dirt. The rain has eased up a little bit, but it still pours down consistently. The moody clouds glide through the sky crying out in desperation for anyone’s attention. Jimmy suddenly halts his movement, and glances menacingly over his right shoulder. His hair blows in the wind majestically as he slowly begins to turn around. To Jimmy’s dismay, a man with long flowing hair had snuck up on him. Jimmy looks him up and down, and not in a way to check him out as a life partner, but more specifically in a way to determine whether he had any noticeable weapons on him. He can’t make out his face as it is concealed by the gentleman’s flowing hair locks. His hair is black, as black as black can be; and while sporting a black leather trench coat no less. A casual breeze rolls on by and gently sways the man’s long black locks; a thick herd of fog starts strolling in as well.

            “Waha-Ha-ha,” the man starts laughing like a stereotypical villain in a film. His voice is deep and powerful, but subtle and firm as well. One of his eyes becomes visible, bloodshot with glowing maroon eyes. The reflection of the moon glistens from his piercing eyes. “I hope you’re ready to dance.” The man says while starting to laugh with a cocky attitude. “That’s all I need to get me in a good mood.”

            “What is it that you want?” Jimmy asks with curiosity.

            “Just your blood . . .  and perhaps your life too.”

            “Well you can’t have either so why don’t you go crawl back under the rock that you slithered out from. I don’t want to destroy you, but I will if need be.”

            “Empty words is all you have then? Wahaha! So be it!” The man quickly moves toward Jimmy.

            As Jimmy readies himself in defense he notices the man’s hair blowing in the wind as he sprints toward him. His face is incredibly pale and covered in scars. His eyes are empty, and show no signs of life or soul. As he rushes toward Jimmy his arm suddenly forms into a metal blade and begins to thrust it but is impeded by Jimmy’s beard! The man’s jaw unhinges like a snake, revealing large sharp daggers in his mouth. Jimmy is taken back and unable to react in time as the man bites into his arm. Jimmy kicks the man off of his arm but not before blood spits out like a high-pressure busted pipe, staining everything it lands on.

            “What the f**k?!” Jimmy yells while falling to a knee and applying pressure to the wound. “Honestly did not see that coming. F**k man.”

            The man busts through the thick fog and tackles Jimmy onto the ground. He’s spread eagle sitting on top of Jimmy, slowly unhinges his jaw again, and revealing his large daggers. Blood is still dripping from them, and a few corpulent drops land on Jimmy’s chest. He is staggered and over powered, but he has his omnipotent beard after all. The man goes in for another bite but is held up by Jimmy’s beard, which is fiercely gripping the daggers from penetrating him. The man slowly starts overpowering Jimmy’s beard! Jimmy’s expression is very unpleasing and in utter shock. The piercing daggers are centimeters away from Jimmy’s face and from out of nowhere something hits the man! It sends him flying backwards, and he crashes face first into the simple dirt. The man creature screeches a horrible scream as he frantically tears open his trench coat. The smell of burning flesh begins to manifest as the man creature screams some more while it yanks out what appears to be an arrow. The man creature tosses the arrow to the side in great anger, and flees back into the shadows of the hording fog.

            Another man appears behind Jimmy.

            “Are you hurt? Whoa, you have been bitten. I have to get you back to my place, I have the proper tools to heal you up.”

            “Gah, who are you? I’m not going anywhere until you explain some things to me . . .” As Jimmy starts protesting with questions and conundrums he starts to slur and passes out.

            The mystery man picks up Jimmy and props him over his left shoulder like a rag doll. He commences to run and as he does he feels somebody’s gaze on him. He stops on a dime and turns around to gaze back. The mystery man places Jimmy onto the ground and retracts his bow and arrow. Though the fog is thick the mystery man stares back and somehow see’s the gaze upon him. He snarls and reaches back retracting four more arrows with immaculate speed. He fires one after the other with extreme precision and accuracy. Multiple creatures scream in the near distance in the fog. Suddenly five figures in the fog burst into flame, two of the creature collapse onto the ground from the trees. Not even the light rain can save them. Their screeches pierce through the night as they disintegrate into pieces. The mystery man stares back one last time and then departs into the night.