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I was standing on the edge of paradise. The cliff I stood upon overlooked the forest and beyond. All the trees were a lush green. The smell of wet foliage filled the air. Birds of vivid colors dipped on and out of the trees. Animal cries could be heard all around. I was alone. As I gazed down on the forest, a ball of light streaked down toward the trees. It crashed, sending fire over the trees, igniting them in a blaze. Soon the whole forest was on fire, surrounding me, trapping me. I had to stop it, but there seemed to be no way to. As the fire enclosed around me, I heard a horrendous laugh of pure evil.
I woke up, drenched in sweat from head to toe. As I opened my eyes, I heard music. I turned my head to look at my clock. Six thirty. Time to get up. So with the dream still ablaze in my head, I sat up and turned off the alarm. I had been getting these dreams for weeks. They always changed slightly. It was if it was telling me to do something.
I put on my clothes, and walked into the kitchen. Looks like cold oatmeal again, I thought. I got out the oatmeal and put it into a bowl. I didn't like it heated. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked horrible. My hair was a mess; there were plenty of knots and tangles. I poured some water onto my oatmeal and got out a spoon. This is what a typical school day is like for me. Plain, simple, and nothing far from boring.
I sat down at the table and started to eat my food. It was bland, and sugar never helped, so I choked it down. The other cereal was even worse, such as the healthy bran gunk I don't even dare touch.
As soon as I finished my oatmeal, I put the bowl in the sink and ran some water over it. Then I got my backpack ready and put my shoes on. I was ready for school. Just a normal day at school. Nothing more. Why did I feel like today would be different? Something new would happen. I knew it. Hopefully.
I went out the back door and looked up at the sky. Fog covered the sky as far as I could see. It was going to be a boring, nothing-unusual day. I unlocked the garage and walked my bike out. I hopped on and rode down the street. Everything seemed normal. Kids walking down the sidewalk, heading to school. I passed a few friends, some kids I didn't know, and some I had never seen. Everybody I passed seemed really gloomy. How else would you feel on a day like this?
I turned the corner and my school appeared a few blocks down, tall and shadowy. As I got near the school, I hopped off my bike and locked it up to a bike rack. I heard the bell ring. Better get to class, I thought.
As I was about to walk up the front steps to my school, my best friend John came jogging over to me.
"Hey Calvin," he said enthusiastically, "How you doin'?"
"Fine," I snapped back, annoyed of the usual mood of every morning.
Then the bell rang. I said goodbye and wandered off to my class. First period was science. Ms. James was the teacher for science. She was friendly, though she didn't always know what she was doing. A week ago, she set fire to a table when she got two chemicals mixed up. The fire department was called and the fire was put out quickly.
As I walked into the classroom, I saw Ms. James standing in front of the chalkboard, looking down at a book, as if she didn't have anything else to do.
When I came in, she looked up and said, "Good morning, Calvin," she said it like she wished she had had a good morning. "You finished the homework assignment, I hope?"
"Yes," I replied. "I finished it."
"Good. Then please put it into the turn-in basket." I walked over to the basket and dropped my homework into it.
"We will have a new student today, class," Ms. James added when everyone was seated. "Everyone, please welcome Rhyot." As soon as Ms. James finished her sentence, a girl about my size walked in. She had dark blond hair and was about as skinny as me (I was fairly skinny). She had eyes that were blue and when she glanced at you, she seemed to be able to look right through you. Those eyes gave out a message that said, "Don't mess with me."
"Rhyot just moved here to California from Oregon. Do you think you could tell us something about you, Rhyot?" asked Ms. James awkwardly, since she still was sad.
"Sure," said Rhyot, with a half smile. "I'm twelve, and my father and I came down to California because my father got a new job. And my name's spelled R H Y O T, not R I O T."
"Don't cause a riot," muttered Bob, the "Class Clown" as they call him.
As soon as Bob said that, Rhyot turned and glared at Bob menacingly. Ms. James yelled, "Bob! Say you're sorry!"
"Sorry," Said Bob again.
"Thank you Bob." Ms. James was annoyed. And when she was annoyed, she was annoying. Believe me, she is. "So, Rhyot, why don't you take a seat next to Calvin over there," She said as she pointed at me. Rhyot nodded and walked over to my table.
There were four people to table. John sat to my right and Bob sat across from me. No one sat to my left, so Rhyot sat down next to me.
"Hi," I said nervously, trying to start a conversation. "My name is Calvin. And these two are John and Bob."
"Yeah, hi," was all that she said. Throughout the rest of the class, she just sat at her seat, never looking up or saying anything, like she was much more interested in the work than us. She seemed perfectly organized. She gave you an odd feeling when you stood near her, like there was much more to her than what you could see. She seemed inhuman when you really studied her, like she could overpower you immediately.
When Ms. James dismissed the class, Rhyot got up without removing her eyes from what she was doing. She put away her work and walked out of the room quickly. I decided to see where she would go. I put away my stuff and tried to catch up with her. I soon realized there was no point trying to catch up with her. She was out of sight. She had to be outside, I thought.
Once I got outside, I looked around. How would I ever find Rhyot among hundreds of students? After about twenty seconds of looking, I turned around and saw John just coming out of the school building so I walked over to him. "Hi," I said, "Have you seen Rhyot anywhere?"
"Why would you want to know?" he asked sarcastically. "Think you found a girl you like? I'd like to see what she does during break, too. She doesn't seem like a girl who would make friends very quickly or easily."
"It's not that I like her," I tried to say, "It's just she has some kind of difference that seems very unusual. I wanted to see if she would talk to me at all."
"So you are trying to get a girlfriend, aren't you?"
"No I'm not! What's with you? You know I wouldn't go up to a new girl and see if she will be my girlfriend."
"Not in the first day, anyway!" John laughed and walked away. Then an idea struck me. She would probably be where no one else was!
Just as I was about to run off and try to find her, a light streaked across the sky towards the school.
The light, an arrow of light, came down from the sky and crashed into the field. After the smoke cleared away, a small crater appeared in the ground. As everyone crowded around to see if there was anything left in the crater, I rushed over and tried to see. I saw an orb of some sort lying at the bottom of the pit.
Suddenly, a feeling surged through me; blinding me, destroying me, and making me fall to my knees. A few kids yelled out in surprise when they saw me, and soon I could feel my body being lifted by some sort of pull. Soon, everything was black. No sound, no sight, no feeling, and no breath. I was torn apart, hurled into some other place. I was gone.
I could hear voices all around me. Everywhere. I couldn't move. Where was I? The pain was gone. I was lying on some sort of hard surface. The voices were speaking in a different language. Nothing I had ever heard of. What were they? Was I alive? I couldn't tell. I tried to open my eyes. It felt like a ton of lead had been glued to my eyelids. I tried harder. My eyes slowly opened. I could see a green light above me. As soon as my eyes were fully opened, I turned my head to look around. I was in a square, gray room with nothing of interest other than a dark window that I could see a few figures standing behind, the table I was lying on, the green lamp which gave off an eerie glow, and a door with no visible handle. As I watched, the figures turned and walked away somewhere else.
I got off the table. I still had my clothes on, which looked ragged and dirty. I needed new clothes. But where was I? I walked over to the door and looked for a way to open it. After a minute of getting frustrated, I yelled at the door, "Open, door!" To my surprise, the door slid open smoothly. I looked into the room that was now visible, and saw a wall on the other side of the room that had a window on it. All I could see through it was space. Nothing but space. Deep, black, space.
After gawking at the window for a few seconds, the door slid closed in front of my face. So I started to experiment with the door. I soon realized that it responds to thought. After I was convinced of how it worked, I walked into the other room and looked around. To my left and right was a hallway that went past several doors as far as I could see. I looked forward and stared out the window once more. I decided to go to my left. As I continued down the hall, I was continuously gazing off to my right, through the window into space. I must be inside some spaceship, I thought. Or it's one big joke. This was very odd. How far away was earth, if I wasn't on Earth?
After a minute of walking down the hallway slowly so I wouldn't miss anything important, I came across a door that had some kind of map on a piece of paper taped to it. I studied it, and figured out that I was on floor 3 of the living apartments on the ship. The name of the ship was The Marionette. A few doors down was where the main office was. I thought that was where I could find out something.
I walked down the hallway nervously. I soon reached a larger door that said in big letters across it, MAIN OFFICE. When I entered, I saw a room that closely resembled a doctor's office. The only difference was that the computer looked like something from the year 3000, black and sleek. The other difference was instead of a nice-looking woman with a big, warm, smile waiting to check you in, there was the oddest-looking creature that I had ever seen standing hunched over the computer, typing like mad. It looked like a big red bug, slightly taller than I was, with giant, shiny white blades above two small hands sticking out of it's sides. It's waist split up into four legs that each ended in one blade like it's other blade. It also had two large compound eyes, along with a set of mandibles. This creature was obviously meant for heavy combat. Then it turned towards me.
At first, I didn't know if I should run from the creature, or try to see if it was friendly. Actually, I couldn't do anything. I was frozen in place. I was too scared to move.
I watched as the thing walked over to me and began inspecting me. It had a thin waist and compound eyes, which were both the size of a baseball. It's mandibles opened and closed in a steady rhythm as if it were sizing me up to eat me.
Suddenly, it jumped at me, that big bug, and slid it's blade-hand up against my neck so fast I never realized it had moved until it had stopped moving.
"Who are you, scum? You do not smell or look like any of the other humans." When the thing talked, it talked in a voice that was hardly recognizable as English or any language at all. "Answer me! If you are an intruder, I have been given the permission to silence you permanently, if you talk at all."
"I uh... I woke up on this ship. I have no idea what to do. I was hoping I could get some help." All I could think of doing was being honest and not trying to act tough, which I wasn't.
"Perhaps I should take you to the commander's apartment. In case you don't know, human, you are aboard The Marionette. A fine ship it is, considering the size and weapons of this fine beauty. Follow me."
Without asking any questions (I was afraid he'd kill me), I followed the creature out into the hall, down a few doors, and into something like a huge elevator with a window that opened on each side, except for the fact we were going vertically as well as horizontally.
When we finally reached what must have been our destination, one of the walls opened to reveal a larger room than any of the ones I had seen before. It must have been some sort of lobby, because it sure looked like it. There was cushioned furniture, magazines, decorative plants, and other beings I had never thought could have ever existed, such as more bug creatures, and a variety of different creatures with limbs and bodies like nothing I could have ever imagined. The room was in the shape of a pentagon as well.
The direction the bug creature seemed to be going was a door in one of the five corners. We reached it and entered a dark hallway. At the end of this hall there was a door twice as big as the one to the main office. Painted in gold across the door was the word VIRTUE.
Within the doors was the biggest room of all. It was dark in here. Ahead of us was a throne turned away facing the biggest windows I had ever seen. We continued towards the throne. Once we reached the throne, the creature kneeled down in a way that must have been hard for him, considering he had four legs.
"Kneel, scum. Show respect." Once the bug creature muttered that, I quickly and gladly got down on my knees as the creature was doing. "Greetings my Lord, you have a visitor."
"Tell him to come over here," said an important voice from behind the chair, "I will talk with him."
"You heard him, scum," said the bug-creature.
I did as I was told and walked, dazed by all that had happened and the information I had collected, towards the throne facing the stars. As I approached, the being in the throne turned around to reveal a person, or I should say a teenager, that looked like he was about 18. He was dressed like any teenager would dress, except he was wearing a visor that went from one ear, across his eyes (If he had any), and to his other ear.
"Scourge, you may return to your work." The creature got up and went back through the door of Virtue. The teenager turned back to me. "I have been expecting you, Calvin."
"How do you know my name?" I said, astonished.
"Because," was all he said before he started to give me the information that would change my life from then on.
"I am the reason you are on this ship," he began. "You have been chosen."
"Chosen for what?" I asked. "Are you saying that that orb thing was some kind of transporter or something?"
"Yes, it was a transporter. Please forgive me for the pain. Your body must adapt to it."
"But that hurt!"
"I said to please forgive me. My name is Karn, which may sound odd to you, because you are human and names like that do not exist on your planet."
"But how do you know my name?"
"Like I said, you were chosen to become the Guardian. You will be trained to be the Guardian of Earth and prevent the Armageddon."
"I don't understand."
"I didn't think you would." Karn got out of his chair and walked to the giant window. "What do you think of when you gaze out of this window at the stars?"
"I don't know. I guess I think of when space ends and similar stuff like that."
"Yes, of course. I think of things like that when I gaze at the stars and deep into infinity, too."
"I have a question. Why do you have the word virtue on the door to this room?"
"I guess to remind people of hope and to never give in to their problems."
This was too much for me. "I had a dream about destruction everywhere."
"Then you are the one." Karn sounded like he could change the world without help if he needed to. "I will train you personally to become a Guardian of true virtue."
"But what about my normal life?" I was distressed. What was I going to do? This guy brings me aboard his ship and expects me to cooperate and become some Guardian.
"We will not take you away from your life. You will be able to live at home. Hopefully this will be only an after school thing. You should tell nobody but your parents, if anybody about this and make sure nobody else knows. I know it sounds odd, but you will understand more later."
"What do I do now that I'm on the ship?"
"I'll take you to the transporter bay."
Once Karn finished talking, I followed him back through the dark hall into the lobby room, and into some other door that led to a room with all these neat gizmos on the floor and ceiling.
"Go stand on a transporter, one of those things," said Karn, pointing at one of the gizmos. "I'll activate the transporter. You will be in your room. When you need to come back, jump into your closet. I know it sounds weird, but do it, anyway."
I walked over to the transporter and stepped onto it. Karn pushed some buttons and my vision got kind of hazy. Soon, I couldn't see a thing. There was a slight pain all over my body, but not much. When my vision cleared, I was standing in my room. I looked out the window and saw some police cars outside.
I didn't know what to do. What could I do? There were two police cars outside. Everybody probably thought I was dead, or captured by aliens, or some other crazy thing. How could I end up walking out of my room after I disappeared at school? I'll have to play stupid, I thought.
So I walked out of my room and looked down the hall. I didn't hear a thing. Outside, I thought. I walked out the back door and went down the stairs into my yard. Where was my mom? I heard someone talking on the other side of the house, so I walked around the house to see who was there.
Once I went around the house, I saw two policemen discussing something. I walked over and said, "Hello. Can I help you?"
"Sure," said one of the police officers. "Have you seen this boy?"
The man handed me a picture of myself. Then, when the police officer must have realized who I was, yelled, "Oh my god! You're Calvin! But how?" He stood there, along with the other officer, mouths gaping, trying to figure out how this happened.
"I... don't know. The last thing I remember was seeing some kind of orb, then waking up in my room." I tried my best to act like I didn't know a thing. "What happened to the orb?" I asked.
"The orb?" said one of the officers. "The orb dissolved into the ground before anyone dared to touch it. We all thought you were dead! How could you still be alive? You were screaming your head off, last I heard."
"I really don't know what happened. I don't want to make a big deal out of this. The point is, the orb is gone, I was in pain, but I'm here, nothing harming me, so I just want to see my mother! I'm sorry if I seem annoyed. I don't feel in the best of moods."
The two officers looked at each other, shrugged, and said, "Your mother is at the police department. Would you like a lift there?"
"Sure," I said, rather anxious. I followed the officers around the house to their car. One of them opened the door for me, and gestured for me to get in. Once I got in, the officers hopped in as well and started up the engine. Soon we were heading down the street towards my mother.
When we got to the police department, I saw my mother running out to greet me. "Calvin, what happened," she said over some small tears forming in her eyes as I stepped out of the car. "Where were you?"
"I have no idea," I said as I tried to add some confusion to my voice. "What time is it?"
"It is four o'clock. You have been missing for six hours. Anyway, do you want to go home?"
"I'd be glad to," I replied. We walked over to our car and got in. It was good to be with my mother again.
I didn't say anything to her until I got home. "I had a very unusual day today," I said, wondering what was going to happen to me for the rest of my life.
"I did too," my mother said, looking at me in an odd way.
"What do we do now, I mean, most people think I'm dead."
"I have no idea. We shouldn't make a big deal out of this."
When we went inside, I went straight into my room to check my e-mail for anything new. Once I had turned the computer on and logged onto the Internet, I opened up America Online and looked for new mail. I did have new e-mail. I opened it up to find a little surprise:
Dear Calvin,
How are you doing? Don't worry about a thing. If there is any trouble, we will be there to help you. Besides, everyone will forget about what happened by tomorrow. Trust me, they will.
We're watching you,
Karn
It was a shock to read this. It seemed like Karn knew everything. But if he said everyone would forget, everyone would forget. I could feel it in some unexplainable way.
The rest of the day went on normally. It was like my mother was already starting to forget what happened. For the first two hours after I turned off the computer, she would wander around the house, getting whatever I wanted. She would not stop asking questions until about seven o'clock, when the questions started to slow down. Then she forgot about the subject. I was relieved, though she stopped giving me treats.
Had everyone forgotten about it already? Karn must have done this, I thought.
Once I had finally gotten into bed, I turned out the lights immediately at nine o'clock without reading until nine thirty, because it felt so good to be in bed. I lay there, trying to forget what had happened earlier today. Just relax, I thought, everyone will forget by tomorrow, and you can go back to the Marionette and see Karn again. Just relax and go to sleep...
I was walking along a very old path with deep trenches from so many carriages. I gazed to my right as I walked along by a lush green forest, the scent of blooming flowers in the meadows filling my nose as I went along on this cheerful walk. The sound of singing from the wood elves filled the joyful atmosphere. Singing along merrily I walked along, thinking that a morning had never been so happy. Yet I had some kind of feeling, like there was something wrong. But what could be wrong on such a day like this?
I continued down the old road, trying to ignore the thoughts that were going through my head. The elves gay singing even had a tone of worry. No, I thought. Nothing was wrong. Nothing could be wrong.
Suddenly, without warning, the ground split open before me. I stopped just in time, and saw that in the gap in front of me there was a glow coming from somewhere deep within that hole. As I gawked at the hole, I realized that other fissures where opening everywhere and the merry singing had stopped.
What was happening? Soon, the whole sky had turned to a deep red. I could no longer see any trees or bushes, or any vegetation. The ground was separating everywhere, forming small islands among the sea of magma that had risen from within the earth. All around me, wherever I looked, there was an endless sea of islands floating among the hissing lava.
There was silence except for the hissing from the magma. Suddenly, there was a laugh of pure hatred and evil echoing through this world. As I looked up at the sky, a tremendous hand was reaching towards me. I had nowhere to run. I was going to die.
I woke up and fell out of bed. Why won't these nightmares go away? What was this evil thing? As I wondered about these questions and other things, I made my bed and put on some clean clothes (I slept in yesterday's clothes).
I wandered into the kitchen and opened the food cabinet. I looked around, trying to find something other than oatmeal. I came across some new cereal my mom had bought yesterday. It was a kind of honey-coated bran cereal. It looked much better than oatmeal, so I decided to give it a try. I poured myself a bowl and added milk. I sat down at the table and had a bite. It was better than the oatmeal stuff, but I've had better.
Once I had finally finished my cereal and was ready for school, I said goodbye to my mother and stepped onto the top step of the stairs outside. A cool breeze was blowing, and for once it was sunny this morning. Suddenly, a sensation shot through me, making me sit down. My life has changed, I thought. There was no turning back now.
I got over the sensation quickly, and continued down the stairs to get my bike. I was soon on my bike and heading up the street towards my school. Nobody seemed to remember a thing about yesterday. People glanced at me, but that was about it.
When I had finally gotten to school, I went to the bike racks to lock up my bike. It was if nothing had ever happened. To me, it was very strange that nobody mentioned anything happening yesterday. I asked a few people what they did at lunch yesterday, but nobody could remember.
My classes went normally enough. I had band today. The band teacher, Mr. Khan, was really nice. I entered the band room and sat down at the piano. I got my music sheets out and put them on the piano stand. The bell rang, and other kids I knew started to come in and take a seat with their instruments. To my surprise, Rhyot walked into the room with an instrument case in her right hand. She walked over to Mr. Khan and said something to him, and then she came and sat down at a seat close to me. She opened up her case and took out the most beautiful violin I had ever seen. She saw me looking at her violin and said, "I hand-painted it myself." It shocked me when she said that, because it was the first full sentence she had said to me.
"It's really nice," I said.
"Thank you," she answered back with a half-smile. I looked at her. She had to be hiding something. She had a dark secret, I could tell by the way she would look at you.
"Welcome class," said Mr. Khan. "We have a new musician, today. Her name is Rhyot. She plays the violin." Mr. Khan seemed to be very pleased that Rhyot played the violin. "Rhyot, I am very glad you play the violin. It shall add a new touch to all our songs." Mr. Khan turned to everyone and said, "Okay people, get out the warm-ups and lets play!" Everyone did as we were told and we all got out the warm-up sheet of music. "Ready, play." We all started to play, as well as Rhyot. Rhyot's violin made a sound that made me want to stop playing, and listen to her instrument all day. She played perfectly. Every note she played came out wonderfully.
As we continued to play the all the songs throughout band, Rhyot continued to play everything perfectly. She never made a single mistake. At the end of band, she put her violin back into its case, which had beautiful flowers and vines sketched into the front of it. She looked up at me and said, "It's break, so do you want to get something to eat?"
It startled me so much I dropped the music sheets in my hand. "Okay..." I said quietly.
"You are the shy type, aren't you?" She looked at me, waiting for a response.
"Yes..." I said, slowly nodding.
quot;Then let's go." I grabbed my backpack as she did too, and I followed her to the cafeteria. Inside, the lines had already lengthened to a considerable size. "I'll order your food if you grab a spot outside."
"Okay," I said.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Just some milk, I guess."
"Sure," she said. "Go grab a spot outside now."
Puzzled why she was doing this, I jogged outside. I went over to the benches where John and I usually eat. John was already there, waiting for me.
"Hi," he said. "Didn't you by any food?"
"Nope," I replied. "Rhyot's buying me some milk."
"Rhyot?" John asked, with a look of worry. "Why her?"
"I don't know. She asked me at the end of band if I wanted to get any food."
Just as he was about to say something, Rhyot came walking over with the food. "Here," she said as she gave me my milk. John stared at me in disbelief.
"How?" John started to say something, but didn't finish. As the rest of break went by, Rhyot told us some details about her family, such as why her father moved here. "My father wanted to be a marine biologist." She said. "We lived in Nevada, and my father really liked the sea."
When the bell rang, we packed up and walked off towards the door to the school building. I soon realized that Rhyot was in all my classes. Through every class, she would sit and ignore anyone that didn't sit at her table, and talk friendly to the people who did sit at her table. If anyone made her mad, she would glare at them until they sat down. She was a nice person, yet she was really tough if she was annoyed. She was determined to finish all her work.
The final bell rang and we left for home. As I walked to the bike racks, I saw Rhyot slowly walking down a street. I though about running over and saying hi, but I decided not to. I was itching to get back to the Marionette, where a new adventure was beginning!
When I finally reached home, I put my bike in the garage and bounced up the stairs. I ran into my room and closed the door. It was 2:45, and I was alone until 4:00 when my mom comes home.
I looked at closet. There were books and games on the shelves, and some dirty clothes at my feet in front of the closet. I stepped back. I closed my eyes and jumped at the closet. When I opened my eyes, I was in the room that held the transporters.
"Welcome," said the familiar voice of one of those bugs. I turned around to face it. "Karn is waiting for you in lobby number 7. Please follow me."
I followed the red creature through several doors marked with symbols I had never seen. I had no intention to start a conversation with it, because these "things" seemed to have a bad temper. It never looked back at me as it scurried along the floor with the constant tapping of its feet. I didn't think it was looking at me, because part of its compound eyes were visible to me, gleaming slightly from the lights overhead.
After what seemed like an hour of walking, we finally reached a door that said "lobby 7" across it. The door slid open to a room with multi-colored wallpaper everywhere and two comfy-looking couches in a "L" position in the middle. I looked around and saw a few other seats against the walls and some decorative plants in the corners. I also noticed some soft music playing in the background that would certainly drive me crazy after prolonged exposure.
"Welcome back," said the familiar voice of Karn, who I suddenly noticed was seated in one couch among three other creatures that had nothing in common with each other.
"What time is it?" I asked, unsure of anything else to say.
"Don't worry about the time," said Karn. "Time on Earth is much slower when you are on board the Marionette. One hour your time is five hours our time. Try not to worry about it to much."
I tried to think about what he had just said. Five hours for every real hour? "Why don't you sit down next to me?" said Karn. I walked over and sat down to the right of him on one couch. The three other creatures were jammed into the other couch. "This is Maro," said Karn, pointing to the biggest of the three aliens. Instinctively, Maro stood up and the two of the other aliens suddenly bounced like a spring that had been released after massive pressure had forced it to coil.
"Hello," said Maro as he reached out a giant hand to shake mine. I took his hand and shook it, with the thought that he could easily crunch my hand into a smaller form. I looked up and down Maro. Other than his fingers, his whole body appeared to be made out of spheres. He had no head; just two eyes bigger than my head and a long smiling mouth were on the center sphere, without a nose. Protruding from his smiling body smaller spheres linked in chains of four, made his two legs and two arms. On the end of his arms there was a slightly larger sphere with four white fingers. On the end of his legs there was a white oval touching the ground for feat. He had one long eyebrow on the top of his head that appeared not to be three-dimensional, but just a long line across his head.
I stared into Maro's big, thoughtful eyes that remained focused on me, never moving except to blink. After standing there for another minute, a look of concern went across his face. I realized we had not stopped shaking hands, and I was now shaking his hand. I slowed the motion of my hand and then stopped it. "Sorry," I said, slightly embarrassed in front of the small audience.
"Don't worry, you're not the first." Maro said before sitting down again and cramming himself back with the two other aliens. "I'm a fully grown Kron. You don't see much of us today."
"All Krons vary in color. Each color stands for a different element or whatever," Karn explained. "Maro is red because he is explosive. He's got hydrogen in his blood."
"Yup," confirmed Maro with a touch of pride. "That means that I can kind of blow up the outer layer of my skin, which grows back in about five or more minuets."
"Moving on," said Karn, which had a silencing effect on Maro. "This is Techron. He is an android. As you may have guessed, Maro named him when he was built."
The creature that looked robotic stood up and faced me. "Hello," it said in a voice that slightly cackled, as you would think a robot would speak. "Please call me Tech. It sounds more modern to me, and I like to fit in with the crowd, if possible.
Techron was about five inches taller than I was. His parts were painted mostly blue, orange, and white, with a few other colors here and there. Where he would have eyes, he had a visor that went around the front of his head, and reflected his surroundings. Attached to his back was an unsheathed sword that appeared to have a computer built into it. His voice was coming out of a slit above his chin. His image reminded me of some models of futuristic robots and ships I had seen at a hobby store.
Techron sat down again and said, "It is an honor to meet someone of Zenotheran blood other than Karn, who helped with the production of me."
"What?" I said, having no knowledge of what Techron just said. "I have no idea what you mean."
"You have the blood of another race of creature called a Zenotheran. That is the same kind of creature that I am. It is also the reason you are Guardian. We needed to find you before you destroyed the Earth. There was a virus that infected all of Jauln. All descendants, including ones that were interbred with other races still contained the deadly virus. Its effects were disastrous. It has the power to transform your body by the result of extreme stress or anger. We call it the Berserk Virus. You see, all Zenotherans have a great amount of mind energy, and combined with the power released by the Berserk, anyone would have massive power. But it was uncontrollable. Therefore, we need to train you to control the mind energy you will gain, while becoming something like a super hero at the same time." Karn took in a deep breath and looked at me.
"Was I supposed to understand that?" I asked, trying to fit it all together.
"Not yet," said the third creature on the couch. It stood up. "I am Allron, the engineer and navigator on the Marionette." Allron was a tall creature clothed in a black robe that touched the ground. A hood went over his head; thus only his glowing red eyes were visible. The edges of the robe had elaborate gold designs imprinted in them. His hands were the only visible part of his body, and they looked like cracked dry dirt in a shade of blue. "We will help you understand what you are fated to become and how you are to reach your goal. You will make many friends. The four of us are only a small portion of all the high-ranked workers and soldiers aboard the Marionette."
"Come with me," commanded Karn. "Let me show you your private quarters."
"And the fun and excitement begins!" said Maro as he got up again, very happily.
I followed Karn down several hallways and through several doorways. Maro, Allron, and Techron followed close behind. I could hear Techron's metal feet on the metal floor. Though Maro's feet were the biggest, they made as much sound as a pillow on the floor. I couldn't tell if Allron had any feet under his long robe.
At last, we reached the dormitories. They each had a number painted in gold on the center. We were in the five hundreds. We didn't stop walking until we had journeyed far into the dormitories. Finally, we stopped. Just my luck, I thought. Painted slightly sloppier than the other numbers, the number 666 was stuck on the door. My door, I thought.
Karn noticed I had a worried look in my eye as I stared at the door and said, "It was the only dormitory left. Besides, other Guardians have had this room, too, including me." He opened the door and we went inside. It may have looked crummy on the outside, but it was nice and roomy on the inside.
"Is that a TV?" I asked, pointing to a large screen above a desk on the wall.
"No," replied Allron. "That is your personal computer. I guess if you wanted, you could watch TV through it." As if it was listening, the screen flashed on and a humming started coming from it. "The computer is the smartest AI of the ship," then Allron added, "No offense, Tech."
"None taken," said Techron, with a tone of annoyance.
"Computer," said Karn, "Please give me a map of the ship." A detailed map appeared on the screen. "Now Calvin, if you ever need me, my quarters are right here," he said as he pointed to a place on the map that didn't seem too far away from the square that had a 666 on it. As I studied the map, I noticed that this was one of the many dormitories. There seemed to be several hallways on each floor, and the map didn't even show half of all the floors.
"So," said Karn with a sigh of relief, "I've got things to do, so why don't we leave you alone and you can explore or whatever. Just stay out of trouble. And if you need to find me, or you have a question or problem, just ask the computer. Later," he said as left through the door, followed by the other three.
The door shut and I was alone. So many questions were going through my mind and Karn had left so quickly I didn't know what I had to do or needed to do. I looked at the computer screen. "Computer?" I said expecting no answer.
To my surprise, a nice, female voice answered, "Yes, Calvin?"
I stared at the unchanged screen for a moment, then asked, "Where do I go if I'm hungry?"
On the screen, the map zoomed in a little closer to where room 666 was and a larger room down the hall started blinking. "This is the bar on this floor. Take this." A wallet-like thing popped out of a slot below the screen. I picked it up and opened it. Inside a patch that looked like some kind of sword was sown on a pouch. "That is the wallet you must take with you everywhere onboard the ship. Every one who works here has one. It shows that you are not a visitor to the Marionette and means you get free food at all the restaurants and diners except the most luxurious ones. Even at those places the bartenders may give you a discount because you are the Guardian. Later, you will acquire some clothing that will show that you are the Guardian. For now, to everyone you are just a foreign kid, so be careful. We do get bounty hunters and such around here. Don't be afraid to start a conversation. We are watching you." And before it shut of, made a quick note that "There is a fridge in the kitchen. I suggest that you use the restaurants and bars more often than the kitchen, though. And don't worry about time. It's stopped on Earth." And before I could ask how, the screen turned black.
As I stood in the hall, I had no full idea of what I was supposed to do. I felt like I had been dropped in the middle of the Sahara Desert with a small supply of water. What was I to do? As I stood there, more of those bug-things walked by, giving me suspicious looks. I've got to ask Karn what they're called, I thought.
I finally decided to walk down the hall. After I had walked several doors down, the doors stopped and the hallway opened into a large area with what looked like restaurants, shops, and a bar, similar to a mall. Many different aliens were coming in and out of the stores. I saw a few more bug-creatures, but they were in stationary locations, like they were trying to keep the place under control.
I decided to try to look like I wasn't lost and walked to a restaurant. I could see aliens dining in the windows. Suddenly, from behind me, I hear a scream. I turn around to see two aliens charging at me. "Out of the way!" yelled the taller one that looked like Allron, meaning I could only see his hands and eyes, though he was wearing armor. They appeared to be thieves or something, because they were being pursued by a bug-creature. As they came nearer, another bug-creature jumped out of the space between two stores, at the smaller creature that was covered in clothing. The bug-creature hacked at it, and the poor thing wailed as it hit the ground and stopped moving. The other, taller creature's head was turned around so he didn't see me. Why I didn't move, I don't know. Before I was able to force myself to move, he, it, crashed into me. He got up, still recovering from the crash, and pulled something out of his belt that looked distinctively like a gun as I tried to get up. Realizing what was happening, I threw a punch at his face. He dropped his gun and fell back. I quickly picked up the gun and pointed it at him. He looked around, and then shot something out of his arm like Spiderman that twisted around the gun, then pulled it back to him. Why the bug-creatures weren't attacking, I didn't know. I looked and saw that they, along with the other aliens had formed what looked like a ring around us. That really made me scared.
My first thought was, oh no, I'm going to die. The other creature raised the gun. Then a rush of something that felt like cool water started to flow through my body. My fear decreased, my vision became distorted, and I stood up strait to face the thing. I leaped at the creature and knocked him over as the gun flew into the crowd. Before I knew what had happened, the thing was unconscious. It was bleeding badly. As the rush wore off, my vision cleared and I looked around. One of the bug-creatures inched forward, looked at me awkwardly, and picked up the body and carried it away. Had I killed the thing? I never found out.
Out of the crowd, Karn walked towards me. "It's over, everyone, continue as you were." As everyone walked away, Karn looked sternly at me. "That was the beginning of the Berserk. Now you understand why we must train you to control it."
"Do I get to ask some questions I've been thinking about?" I asked.
"Sure," he said, and I followed him back to the lobby.
We were back in the lobby, sitting on an unusually comfortable couch. For some reason, the music wasn't playing and no other creature was in the room with us.
"So, what would you like to talk about?" asked Karn.
"I would like to have more information on the berserk thing, and how it will affect me," I replied.
"Okay. For starters, the berserk is a one-of-a-kind virus. There is only one. It finds a host with unusually high mind energy and turns you into a host. It then lives with you until it is either lured out, or until its host dies."
"But why me?" I exclaimed, "Don't you have stronger mind energy, or whatever it is?"
"You do not under stand. You are born with mind energy. Its not a matter of building your mind energy, it's a matter of discovering the amount of it in you. As it turns out that you are the Guardian, you have an unusually large amount of energy. Maybe even more than I, the former Guardian, ever had."
"But why?" I asked again, annoyed.
"I don't think that is something that can be answered. We may learn why, but I doubt it."
"Why did you have to change my life like this?"
"Because you were 'chosen', its not my fault. I'm not the one to decide that."
"How do you know I would want to become the Guardian?"
"I don't. But so far, you seem enthusiastic about it."
"But what do I get in return?"
"I don't know that either. Perhaps at some point, you will be forced to reveal this secret to the world. Then you would become a universal hero, if you have won some battles or something. Just to tell you, only a handful of people know about you, that's excluding my soldiers. After some time, we expect a rumor to spread a distance around this galaxy.
"In addition to you being absent from home, we will send an android to Earth designed with your characteristics. Therefore, you can spend the night here and begin your schooling in the morning. Good night. Of course, that means time on Earth will return to normal."
Karn then stood up and left the room. Off to my room, I thought, home sick already.
I woke up the next morning, with a throbbing head ache. "My life is doomed," I said to myself. I didn't think I'd be able to last the year. "Beginning of my first full day here, and I want to kill myself already to ease my brain from the sudden rush of information and confusion."
I hopped out of the "bed" I had spent the night in. how could anyone call it a bed? It was so soft and comfortable, that I fell asleep within ten minutes after I had laid down on the bed. I had slept in my clothes, although I can never even sit comfortably with my belt on.
On my way to my private bathroom, I stopped to take a look at the computer screen. It buzzed on, probably knowing that I was awake. "Good morning," said the now-familiar voice of the computer.
"Yeah, same to you," I said groggily.
"Karn would like to see you," the computer said.
"Okay. Quick question. Should I address you as a female, or an it?"
"I would prefer female. But for now I think you should go see Karn."
"Okay." I left the room and meandered down the hall, somehow knowing that Karn was in the main lobby, and not caring if he wasn't.
I walked into the lobby. Everywhere creatures were busy chattering along. I spotted Karn in the far left corner.
When I reached him, he quickly said to me, "A battle is about to start. Come with me. Please don't ask any questions yet."
We walked down countless halls and stairs (including elevators) until he stopped in front of me, at a door simply marked "WEAPONS, ECT." Karn took me inside, and I followed him far into the dark room, pass racks of familiar and unfamiliar weapons, to one of the corners.
"These are some of the special weapons. This is a unique kind of armor," Karn said handing me something that looked similar to a blue, hard back pack with a giant transparent green orb sticking out of the back.
"Doesn't look like much," I mumbled.
"Of course not. It responds to thought, just like all the doors on this ship."
As I tried telling it to activate, it suddenly felt like it was expanding (it was on my back, so I couldn't see it). It covered my whole body with a blue metal that was weightless. My fingers looked like tentacles, and I felt very energetic, as if the suit was feeding me energy. I felt unstoppable. I was unstoppable.
I looked at Karn through the dark, triangular shape of my visor. Karn looked horrible. Dark circles had surrounded his eyes, and he looked extremely worried.
"Go now and try to stop the enemy from boarding the ship. The suit you are wearing will provide a map of a path to your location."
Without hesitation, I rushed out of the room. A little map that looked as if it were showing a path somewhere appeared in the upper left corner of my visor. I followed the path down even more halls, stairs, and elevators until I reached a larger room filled with chaos. Crates, shattered and unbroken, were strewn across the floor. Those hideous creatures that were my allies were ducking behind the crates with guns attached to there blades, shooting at giant, black blobs at the other end of the room.
Instinctively, I ran over and ducked down beside one of the creatures I remembered as Scourge, the one that first brought me to Karn because of a large ominous scar across his face.
"Hello sir," he hissed, "Have you come to help?"
"Yes." Truthfully, I didn't know what I was doing in any way. "I may need a little help."
"Of course. Take this," he said as he handed me a sword that appeared to have something electrical made out of wires and such built into the blade. "This sword belongs to that suit. Use it well. We do need the help."
I took the sword and faced the battle. The sword was weightless in my hand. I swung it around. It sparked every time I slashed with it. One of the blob creatures noticed me. It came bounding over and took the shape of a large human. I hacked at its middle, and as sparks flew from the sword, the blob fell over and turned into a black, reflective puddle. The other blobs started to notice me, and it looked as if they were pondering whether I was fair game or not.
They examined me for a second longer, then several of them began to clump together into a bigger blob, while the rest stormed the bug creatures. I watched as the blobs tore apart my allies. Bluish blood flowed across the floor. I glanced back at the mass of the big blob. It had grown limbs; arms, legs, and a head. Every part of the thing was a dark, sleek black. It thundered over to me, and swung its massive arm at me. With a loud crack, I was sent flying across the room, splintering a crate rather well. I tried to stand up, but it felt like I would never move again.
Not wanting to die, I forcefully stood up to confront the blob.
I slashed at it, and as I continued to slash at the dark blob, it jiggled like gelatin, until it, like the others, fell into a giant puddle that quickly spread out across the floor. I looked around and discovered that the other blobs had been finished off as well.
"What are you standing around for?" yelled scourge. "Do you think the battle is over yet? You humans are more ignorant than I thought." I soon noticed that all the bug creatures were running out of the room. Therefore, I followed.
I hurried up to Scourge. "What should I call your race of creatures?" I asked, curiosity taking over.
"We are the Feans of the Mondeurn Hive," answered Scourge. "We decided to join Karn a long time ago. Look lively, now. We are entering the battle."
I could hear guns and screams in the distance. "in here," said Scourge. "Quickly please."
Scourge forced me into a room similar to the first, but the room was much larger, and there was a giant widow at the opposite end of the room. Puddles of blood and goo was spread all over the floor. The screams and screeches filled the air. Several of the Feans I saw were missing limbs, some sitting in corners, mumbling to themselves, waiting to die, not caring how. The blob things were everywhere. I suddenly saw a larger blob pick up Scourge and rip him in two. I spotted Karn frantically shouting orders to the Feans.
My head was spinning. My heart started beating like a drum, pounding at my chest, about to burst and end this hell. I felt my skin tighten. My vision became extremely distorted. I was changing, growing, I had to stop this slaughter. My skin turned into a marbled grayish color. I was suddenly seeing through compound eyes. Teeth meant for tearing meat of bone sprouted in my mouth. Giant, curved irregular blades grew out of the sides of my wrists. The thought of killing just because I was Larger, stronger than the other creatures in the room filled my mind... consuming... overpowering... I wanted to see death, to inflict it. I would go crazy if I didn't.
I looked at the nearest group of creatures, and began my rampage by tearing those doomed beings to pieces that I could gnaw on while I tore everyone else apart. Everything screamed as I slashed them with my massive blades.
Soon, nothing was left. There wasn't one inch of floor that wasn't stained with blood. I picked up the body of a Fean and let its blood drain into my mouth. I suddenly began to change back into myself. The visions of what had happened reentered my mind. I let out a scream that none could hear, for none were alive to hear it. My heart suddenly began to slow down. Slower... slower... until nothing.