ONE - The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

ONE – The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

 

 

 

“Brendan!!!”

Such a simple word, yet its weight is overbearing. Again and again it screeches from the halls outside and finds its way in to the peaceful room where the man Brendan lays. Chaos and anarchy reins these halls, but not this room. There is no destruction. There is no panic. Yet, there is no peace.

“BRENDAN!!” And so the painful cry awakes the Man in Black from his sleep. There he lays staring up to the ceiling as the walls begin to split.

“BRENDAN! THE EMPEROR NEEDS YOU NOW!!!”

He slowly turns his head to the source of distress, uninhibited by fear or doubt, yet he is both fearful and doubtful. His focus is distorted, still half-asleep, not being fully aware of the imminent destruction consuming him. He sits up, gives a moment to clear his thoughts, and prepares to embrace the madness.

“Where is he?” questions Brendan.

“Locked inside ‘is chambers,” replies the soldier.

He reaches under his bed and grabs his swords and follows the soldier like an innocent lamb to green pastures through rocky soil. The integrity of the palace quickly begins to falter as hordes of destructive attacks come and go. The long, narrow halls transform before their eyes into an endless labyrinth of dead end halls and locked iron doors with almost no escape, and just as they manage to find an open route to the emperor’s chambers the enemy reveals its ugly face. Brendan sternly awakens to a dark reality—a choice between life and death, revealing his deepest emotions as he converts from lamb to wolf.

Forasmuch as he often encounters them, the enemy is something he has never seen before; they stand before him as if they are robots or machines, some sort of a.i. armed with powerful weapons. The enemy is not naïve, however. In fact, they show a resounding intelligence. They stand armed waiting for Brendan or his comrade to make the first move. They appear lifeless, frozen in time, but Brendan knows better. Five enemies stay boxed around the two with their backs facing the wall. The soldier begins to fear for his life, knowing that he and Brendan must kill or be killed. However, Brendan has no plans on being a hero, nor does he have any on being a coward. He plans to survive.

He quickly becomes tired of this game of charades between us and them, and he violently rushes the enemy.

His attack form is flawless, causing the enemy to not even lay a finger upon him. His deep cuts are devastating, even for a hard shelled—human? This thought perplexes him as he watches his lethal blows rip through the enemy’s defenses and spray upon him a mist of blood.

The soldier stands completely flabbergasted, to the near point of suffocating himself from breath.

“Y-y-you—I, I, neva seen an’y’one move so fas before. ‘Ow’d you do tha?”

“With a tight a*s and a cold heart.”

“B,but ‘ow’d you stay so calm and kewl?”

“I’m not. I’m scared.”

The honesty of the answer, although desperately condescending, allows the soldier to relate to Brendan. For as much as he is considerably less powerful than Brendan, he too fears death. Brendan looks over to the soldier.

“What’s your name, soldier?”

“Jaden.”

“Jaden…we need to hurry. With the first battalion not replying to its command I’m certain they’ll quadruple the second wave.”

They rush to the master chamber glaring at the enormous doors that stand before them. Jaden attempts to open the door, but there it stands locked from the inside. Frustrated, Jaden slams his body against the door, screaming at it.

“Your Highness! You must open this door!”

“He’s not in there.”

“Wha? ‘Ow can ya be so shure?”

“Stand back.”

Brendan arms himself, attempting to slash the door open. Jaden strongly disagrees with his thinking process.

“You con’t bust tha door down with ya sword! Are you crazy!?”

As he swings his sword a large blast from behind them violently shakes the palace and throws them off balance.

“…You’re right.”

Brendan returns to his normal stance, sheaths his sword, and walks up to the door and opens it. (The blast shook open the door.)

“Ow’d you…?” Jaden begins to imagine how Brendan opened the door by charading sword movements. 

Just as he predicted, Brendan finds no emperor. Instead he comes across the princess lying unconscious in the middle of the giant, agoraphobic room. Jaden rushes to the princess’ rescue.

“Princess Kiku!”

As Jaden attends to the injured Kiku, Brendan’s blood soon thins out and rushes to his head. He becomes well aware that this is a set-up. He hurries over to the emperor’s throne and releases a hidden lever within the seat. A trap door opens behind him in the far corner, and he doesn’t second-guess his judgment. He runs for the door.

“JADEN!! GET OVER HERE NOW!!!”

The blasts to the palace become repetitious, without letup. The enemy begins storming through the palace, wave upon wave of mechanical life forms flooding the chambers, working its way to the emperor’s room.

Jaden delicately holds the beautiful Kiku in his hands and scurries towards Brendan. He hands Kiku over to Brendan, who cradles her in to the small trap door.

Just as Jaden begins to crawl inside, the brooding enemies shoot him in his legs. They charge towards him, and he consequently makes a rash decision. “Go on withou’ me!” he cries to Brendan and slams the door shut.

“YOU IDIOT!!! That was completely pointless—Open the door, Jaden! Open the DOOR!!!” He hears the tragic end of Jaden as the sound of knives smacking prime rib echoes through the door.

“Damn!”

Kiku begins to moan in pain as she slowly regains consciousness, and Brendan now turns his attention to her.

“Hold on tight.”

Brendan gently carries her down the dark corridor that leads to the sewers. He takes a step down and slips waist deep into the murky waters. The smell of excretement brings Kiku’s conscious back into focus. As soon as she realizes what the awful smell is she shows her disgust by vomiting profusely.

“Hang on, princess. We don’t have much more to go.”

As the two slowly travel towards the end of the sewer, a hideous roar comes from the starting point of their expedition. Kiku hears the roar and trembles deep with fear.

“W-w-what was that noise?”

“It sounds like gargonaut. It’s going to napalm the sewer.”

“W-w-where is…daddy.”

Brendan looks at her with deep concern but says nothing. The fact that the enemy rushed through the palace without a scratch leaves him with one looming thought about her father.

The garagonaut reminds them of its presence once again as it smashes open a hole large enough to shove its self in and torch the sewer. Its roar is greatly amplified to the point of where it is just shy of the threshold of pain. The terror brings Kiku to tears as she cries and screams uncontrollably, holding tightly to Brendan.

The exit is just ahead of them, and the gargonaut is right behind them. Brendan, with all of his might, pushes as fast as he can to escape the imminent fate that is set before them. But, just before he can get away the monster takes its deepest breath. The smell of fumes begins to cluster. Its teeth begin to snarl, and the fire escapes its breath. However, Brendan shall not die this day.

The fire barely leaves its mouth before it explodes into small, chunky pieces of lizard. Blood flies all over the sewer walls, and Brendan and Kiku barely escape the clutches of death. Despite the fact that they will live to see another day, Brendan is angry that blind luck is demonstrating its presence. The exit shoots them out of the sewer from the side of the mountain and into the moonlit lake below in the valley.

 

The touch of cool water upon Brendan’s skin is both refreshing and agitating. It feels good to get the waste off of him, but the fact that he is still immersed in some sort of fluid is not so great. He swims over to Kiku to take hold of her and brings her ashore. He takes a long look at her as she once again reawakens to a grim reality.

“Where—a…dream?” she asks.

“I wish.”

“My father—is he…?”

“No. He’s alive, but he’s better off dead.”

“What?!” Kiku angrily leans forward and gives Brendan a hard stare.

“I’m finding a pretty hard time not accusing your father for setting up this elaborate plan to have the palace destroyed by the enemy.”

“How dare you accuse my father!”

“Well, I could always accuse you, if that’s what you wanted.”

“Why you—!” A very powerful, yet sorrowful noise is heard ringing in the distance. “What was that?”

The noise grows in strength by the seconds. It seems to be led by blue eyes with glowing legs crawling out of the palace down the mountainside. They start off, just a few of them, but then dozens upon dozens of more eyes and legs begin flooding out and following them. Brendan begins to feel the rush of adrenaline fill his bloodstream. The world becomes dreadfully smaller to Kiku.

“Oh, please, no.”
         “Kiku, can you run?”

“I, I think so.” She attempts to stand up, wobbly, yet determined to keep her composure. She brushes off the mud from her legs and replies, “I’m ready.”

“Let’s go.”

They depart from the shoreline of the lake and run deep into the forest. They run with all of their might, never looking back but quickly becoming more unsettled as the eerie sounds get louder and louder and louder. Their hearts beat like an anxious snare drum ready to split. The lights begin to close the distance between them and the sound. They run, determined that they will not be stopped. But the sound of doom becomes unbearable, revealing itself as giant monsters with massive tentacles hovering over the tree line.

Kiku loses her attention to the ground and trips, knocking herself into Brendan, and they both come crashing down a hillside. The monsters catch sight of this and instantly clear away the trees to take hold of Kiku. One grabs her, holding her high above the ground, slowly suffocating and crushing her.

Brendan, more terrified by the thought of Kiku’s blood poured out on his hands, immediately gets up, unsheathes his sword and strikes with all his might at the legs of the monster. Just a hairline of a second before his sword rips through the leg of the monster comes a projectile that strikes the creature in its small head and blows up. With that, the fiend is killed and topples to the earth with great fury. As it comes crashing down, its grip is loosened, and Kiku comes falling out of its hand. Brendan, fixed intently on Kiku, carefully places himself under her to catch and break her fall, and while carrying her, he runs as fast as he can from the defeated monster.

The other monsters meantime discreetly encircled Brendan and Kiku, leaving them with nowhere to go. Brendan reaches the end of the line and sets Kiku down.

Kiku, trembling with terror as the giants close in to destroy her, falls to her knees in shock and disbelief. “Daddy…did you really do this?” she whispers to herself.

Seeing no way out, Brendan, on the other hand, prepares to embrace his fate and covers Kiku as one last act of heroism. But today is not your day to die, Brendan. Nor yours, Kiku. For this is just the beginning of your journey.

         A violent explosion comes from outside the circle, and, as the monsters turn their attention to the explosion, the ground swallows Brendan and Kiku up. As the explosion dies down the fiends turn their interest back to the two escapees, but they are nowhere to be found.

         At this point, Brendan is disgusted with the fact that Lady Luck has feelings for him. First of all, he doesn’t believe in luck. And secondly, he would prefer to be loved by a heifer instead of a w***e using luck to entice her lovers.

         “She’s mocking me.”

         “Oohs mockin’ ya?”

         That strange but familiar voice momentarily trances Brendan. Kiku is intrigued by the voice.

         “That voice…who are you?”

         “I guess it’d help if I put th’ lights on for ya.”

         As the darkness creeps away and the light flashes in, the familiar voice is placed with a familiar face.

         “Jaden?”

         “Allo, princess.”

         “Jaden?! But you died in the chambers…” replies a confused Brendan.

         “Tis true. I did die. But it wasn’t me. Bastads keeld me cyborg counterpart.”

         “You have a robot?”

         “Flippin’ sweet, ain’t it!” retorts the excited Jaden.

         “I see…so exactly how many of you exist?”

         A new voice gives an immediate answer.

         “ Many, many Jadens exist.”

         Stepping into the light is a tall man, slim but built well, bald but not old-looking. He is the wise man of this countryside, and yet he looks more like a new heir-to-the-throne than an old crippled wizard.

         “Wizard, what are you doing here?” asks Brendan.

         “It’s Elvis, you lunkhead!” Kiku comes rushing to his embrace. Elvis, with open arms, begins his conversation with princess as he hugs her.

“Kiku, I am very happy that you are alive. Are you okay?”

         “Not really. I have a lot of questions to ask.”

         “So do I,” adds Brendan.

         “Of course. Follow me.” The three of them follow Elvis down the long dirty tunnel. Brendan sees fit to begin his questioning.

         “Is Jaden a real person?”

Jaden interjects. “You don’ like th’ way I look?”

“Actually, I don’t. You look like a fake doll.”

“Bollocks!”

         “Jaden only exists as a cyborg. He was killed by the Sin.”

         “Bastads!”

         “This one’s personality seems a bit different than the other.”

         “You can thank me brotha for tha’ one.”

         “Jaden’s brother is not only responsible for personality traits slanted in different ways but also the actual creation of Jaden.”

         “How many did he make?”

         “I do not know. But I do know you will find Jaden in every major city and country around Avani.”

         “Hmm.”

         Kiku feels out of place with a long silence, but she musters enough courage to break it. “Elvis?”

         “Yes, dear?”

         “Brendan believes my father was behind the attack.”

         “What he says is true. I feared that this day would soon come, but now my role begins, and so do yours.”

         “Roles? What roles do we play in?” questions Brendan.

         “To stop the enemy, of course.”

         “The Sin, you mean? There is no way in hell I am even looking Sin in the eye,” responds Brendan with a strong, stubborn voice of opinion. “Their army may be one thing, but they…they of all things…are screaming suicide—hell no. Hell no.”

         Elvis redirects Kiku’s attention. “Do you remember the story of the Manauia?” She stops in her tracks.

         “Father used to tell me the story all the time. The Manauia—legendary heroes with the purest of hearts defeating the blackest of evils. Each had unique abilities contributing to the success of their adventure. With great endurance they found the powerful gems that the gods requested, and the darkness was wiped away. But it was only a legend.”

         The four of them come to the end of the long tunnel only to find a dead end and a chest. Elvis turns to Kiku and proposes on one knee.

         “Dearest Kiku, you are the purest of all. You have a resounding glow. You are innocent, child. You are the one who must stop the Sin. Now look!”

         Elvis turns to the chest, takes a deep breath, and opens it. The contents of the chest are glowing. Elvis pulls out an old, dusty journal, a mirror, a sword, and a necklace.

“My friends, ‘tis not a legend. It is very much real.”

They retrace their paths to the opposite end of the tunnel and end up in a very strange but comfortable home. The walls seem to be created by roots of a giant tree. The ground is pure dirt. Yet, it feels relaxing, euphoric. They enter the resting quarters and sit around a fireplace with a gentle glow. Brendan is the first to sit down as he rests his hind on the most comfortable rocking chair ever made. Kiku sits on the floor in a polite indian style with her back to the low-lit fire. Jaden courteously dismisses himself and powers down. Elvis lays down the items he retrieved in front of Kiku.

“We must petition the gods for help. Only someone as pure as you, Kiku, can do so.”

“But the story mentions a band of heroes with pure intentions.”

“Yes. And we must search for them.”

“How?”

“By using these items—the journal of a legendary Manauia, a divine sword, a priceless necklace, and a crystal mirror.”

“This is ridiculous,” mumbles Brendan. “The gods wouldn’t grant us favor even if we proved ourselves worthy.”

“Brendan, is it not redemption what you are looking for? This is why you have ended up in Media. I well know of your troubled past and the pain that you have sown. But this is what will complete you. This journey, yes, only this journey will help you find redemption, peace within.”

“You speak in frank terms, Book. But I have my reasons not to.” Brendan stands up and begins to walk towards the door, hoping that this is the exit out of this strange house.

“You think you are afraid to die, yes? But in fact you are more afraid to live.”

Brendan pauses, standing still with his back to Elvis.

“If you will not be joining us,” continues Elvis, “then at least accept my hospitality and stay the night. Besides, these woods will be filled with sentinels now that you two escaped. Give them some time to leave.”

“Can you really speak on behalf of Kiku?”

“I’m going with Elvis, Brendan,” declares Kiku.

“What? Why? You don’t even know what those items are good for.”

“You’re right. I don’t. But I trust Elvis. He always had my best interests set out for me.”

         “Yeah. And so did your father. But, oh wait, he is Sin now.”

“Well at least I still have someone to care about me.”

“……”

“Enough. Brendan, take with you the necklace and the sword. Kiku and I will take the journal and the mirror.”

“I already told you—!”

“I heard you the first time. In three weeks meet Kiku and I in a pub called ‘The Cuckoo’s Nest.’ It’s located in the City of Lazarus.”

“In the Festian country?”

“Correct. At that point you can give us your final answer. If you choose not to join us, then leave us with those items and be on your way.”

“And if I decide for it?”

“You will not regret it. We leave in the morning. There are blankets and pillows over by the front door. It will be chilly in here, so stay warm and keep the fire gently lit. Goodnight.”

Kiku, excited that she will actually be following in the footsteps of the Manauia, cannot wait for morning to come any sooner. Brendan, on the other hand, contemplates how his life will undoubtedly change. So much thought is put into it that he quickly forgets about sleep. For now he realizes that once tomorrow comes, life as he knows it will no longer be.

Reviews

[speakingcolors]

this is really sweet. i love fantasy and this is just wonderful. you really create a picture for the readers with your imagery. the characters, the feelings, the settings, they are all just awesome.

one suggestion that i have for you is about your dialogue. it is good but sometimes it can be hard to follow who is speaking. because there is more than one character involved in a conversation, you need to specify somehow who it is that is speaking. sometimes by the way people are talking, the reader can tell. but, most of the time you just have their dialogue. i know it is a pain, trust me, to say who is speaking but i think it is a necessary evil. there are more ways just than to write: and then [insert character's name] said.

i think you get the picture.

i can't wait for the next chapter.