In the Beginning
Part 3
Chris
got up and trotted off ahead of me. I looked around before I followed her and
realized I was in some sort of massively disorganized file room and I had lying
amidst tons of paper. I followed Chris out of this room into a passage and
marveled at how closely the area around me looked like a passage in some sort
of cave, replete with torches and rocky walls. I caught up to Chris, just as
she reached a door that I vaguely recognized.
"Isn't
this...?" I began.
"The
door to your room," Chris nodded.
"Yeah,"
I replied, "In all the stories I do, I enter this whole world by falling
asleep, usually in my room." I opened the door and smiled as I looked
around. Everything was there, the bed, my desk, my dresser, even my computer.
Unlike my real room, however, the room I created in my stories was more me. It
had more posters, throw covers and pillows, and a small but comfy papasan
loveseat across from the bed.
Instinctively,
I ran over to my bed and jumped on it, then reached up and hit a panel on the
ceiling twice. Out fell the thief zapper my mother had given me to protect
myself with. But this little box didn't use electrical shock to stun its
victims here.
"Hope
this works," I murmured, clicking the switch on its side upward. To my
delighted surprise, a yard of solid blue laser light shot out from the end of
the zapper like the blade of a sword. "Dude awesome," I breathed,
experimentally waving the sword about. "Kathy made this for me in the
first story I ever did with her."
"Hey,
be careful with that thing!" Chris exclaimed, ducking the deadly beam of
light.
"Sorry,
kiddo, I didn't mean to scare you. But this is the most awesome piece of
weaponry since Star Wars!" I said, turning it off. I looked around, then
jumped off the bed and walked over to the closet door. "This must be
it," I said aloud as I opened it.
Nothing
in the world could've prepared me for the shock I received.
Not
that I wasn't happy. Who could open the door to a world that they themselves
created and not be happy?
I
stood in sheer awe staring silently at the world around me. I stood on a dirt
road at the edge of the area called the Deep Forest, looking out onto the field
that separated it from the town of Corwin. In one direction was an abandoned
structure in the distance that had once been the Royal Castle.
In
the opposite direction was the Castle Eternity. Its black and white striped
stone made it the most noticeable place in Caustria, if not the most powerful.
And
ahead of me was the town of Corwin, a shabby, yet medievally romantic set of
buildings and huts.
But
all around, as far as the eye could see, was mine as far as creating went. I
was so overwhelmed by this all that I did the only thing humanly possible: an
endzone dance.
Christine
looked at me as if I were insane as I gyrated happily around the road saying,
"Oh-yes! Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes- YES!!!"
"Are
you okay?" she inquired.
"Okay?!"
I returned, grabbing her by the shoulders for a moment. "I'm better than
okay! I'm ecstatic!!! God, if Kathy could only see this all! I did all this
myself and now I finally get to see it! I made this road! I made this
tree! I made this grass! I made this air!"
"You're
making me dizzy!" added Chris, as we bounced around.
"Okay,
okay," I sighed, slowing down. "Forgive me, I'm just a little new to
this creation stuff." I looked toward the Castle Eternity thoughtfully,
then asked, "Do Robin and Target still live there?"
"They
never left," shrugged Chris.
"This
is soooo great!" I gasped. "Let's go see 'em!" No sooner than
I'd turned around than I heard Chris say,
"Hello,
Dove."
"Dove?!"
Whirling around, I was surprised to find another girl next to Chris. She was a
little older and more regal looking than Christine, but she was exactly the way
I had pictured her: a brunette with long, wavy tresses, and cold, dark eyes
that shone violet in the light. She was dressed like a swashbuckler in black
trousers, a white shirt with puffed sleeves, a cummerbund and black boots. She
was immaculately clean and incredibly frosty, but unlike the driven snow she
seemed to embody, not the least bit pure.
"Greetings,
peasants," replied the 13-year-old, gazing into Christine's steady glare
with a Mona Lisa smile. "Kneel before me or suffer the consequences."
"Consequences?"
I echoed, not sure I was ready for this.
"Dove,
just because Daina beat up your mom doesn't mean you have to go looking for
revenge for her. Your mom's a big girl," said Christine sarcastically.
"She can take care of herself."
"Mummy's
just an introductory excuse," replied Dove haughtily. "All you have
to do is be my slave forever and I'll stop bothering you both."
"When
butter flies," said Chris sarcastically.
"And
Niagra falls," I added.
Instead
of throwing a fit, Dove shrugged and looked at me. "Okay, I'll take you
instead, Daina."
"Me?"
I pointed to myself in surprise.
"Who
else?" sighed Dove, expressing her chronic boredom.
"Kid,
the North won the Civil War. There are no slaves anymore," returned
I with an annoyed smirk.
"Who?
What war? What's she talking about?" demanded Dove, turning to Christine.
"She
means you can't have her and you're a bonehead on top of that," replied
Chris sarcastically. She and I exchanged glances with a grin.
"Oh,
really?"
"In
so many words," I shrugged, wavering her hand for "so-so" and
blinking slowly. "I also meant that there are no such things as slaves
anymore."
"Oh,
really?" Dove repeated. Angrily, she snapped her fingers and a woman who
looked my age with dark skin, shoulder length hair and hazel eyes appeared
wearing adventure gear. I immediately recognized her as another character I had
created, a renegade fairy named Naomi with a quick wit and an even quicker
arsenal.
"You
rang?" she asked. She caught sight of me and raised her eyebrows.
"Ooo, company!" she added sarcastically. "Goody."
"Naomi,
I want her for my private maid," began Dove pointing to me, "and I
want the little one in the dungeon."
"Not
a problem," said Naomi, moving toward them and cracking her knuckles. Whoa,
thought I, things are happening a tad too fast for me here! I write this
stuff, not live it!
"Alright,
man, you better not come any closer or I'll..." What am I gonna
do?, I wondered. Well, if I was tough enough, I'd... "I'll hack
you into deviled fairy bits!" I threatened, turning the sword on and
thrusting it at Naomi ardently. Naomi, as if ready for such a move, dodged to
the side. We stood for a moment, guarding our ground, until Naomi dodged past
me and grabbed my free arm, pulling it behind my back.
"Drop
the sword," said Naomi in my ear.
"If
you think you can make me...ah-howww!" I gasped, as Naomi wrenched
my arm painfully.
"Skip
the heroics before you lose this arm," came the reply.
"I'm
not droppin'..." Naomi twisted my arm again and I squeaked in pain.
"O-kay, you talked me into it." I said, dropping the sword.
"Good,"
said Naomi, leaning over with me to grab it. "I had actually expected more
resistance from you, but this is do-able, too." It turned off in her grasp
and she tucked it in her vest. She grabbed the back of my collar and slammed me
into the nearest tree with considerable force.
"Boy,
are you strong!" I replied weakly. "Listen, I'm really
not...gaack!...ready for any physical contact today," I added, as she
jacked me up against the tree by the front of my shirt.
"That's
okay," replied Naomi, "all you have to do is let me do my job."
She punched me in the stomach, then let me slide gasping to the ground.
"You
big jerk!" Chris yelled, jumping Naomi from the back. "Leave her
alone!" Naomi easily tossed the little girl to the ground and drew her
energy gun on her.
"Alright,"
Naomi replied, as Chris glared defiantly at her, "I will."
"No!!!"
I yelled painfully, trying to reach out and stop her.
"Naomi!"
barked Dove. "I don't want them dead. I want them subservient."
"Aw,
mannnn!" Naomi groaned to herself. "Okay, suit yerself. But you
oughta kill 'em. They're never gonna do what you want 'em to."
"They
will, too!" Dove snapped, almost pouting.
"Like
hell we will!" I retorted. Naomi kicked me in the side and I went down
gasping again.
"See?"
said Naomi. "They'd be better off dead."
"And
you'd be better off letting me do the thinking, you insolent fairy!"
snapped Dove, who was more than 30 years her younger. "Now get them to the
castle."
Gritting
her teeth, Naomi looked at me. "You're gonna pay for this
eventually," she said, under her breath.
"Not
today," I gasped, grinning weakly as I held my stomach. Naomi fired her
gun at me and darkness dropped like a filmy curtain over my senses.