Inertia

Author’s Note

This story is based on a dream I did have while in a coma in 2019. On February 27, 2019, I had gone into the hospital because I was given Valsartan by a doctor not knowing I was allergic to the medication. It caused my organs to shut down and I started losing my eyesight. I was released on March 9, 2019, three days before my forty-first birthday. While in the dream, the people mentioned are actual people I know who helped me through my coma dream. Chapter 14 was actually written first a month after I was released from the hospital not knowing what it was about and just continued writing it off and on until my mother passed away on April 13, 2020. I would like to dedicate this story to her first. Second, I would like to thank Ian Michael Brannon for helping me choose a title for this. I had been trying to think of one for a long time and could not think of anything except for “My Coma”. Third, this story is also dedicated to the following people: Leah Weidman, Richard and Libby Drake, Chuckie Day, Sean James Cumberland, Tom Zosa, Ricardo Villafañe, David “D-Mac” MacNamee, Tyler Zoellner, Matthew Arter, Jen Romano, Hannah Corrine Proctor, Carmen Lisa Cisneros, Joshua Benjamin Jay, Cristy De La Garza, Valerie Jane Bertolina, Tracy Fox, Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, Danny Pachay, Aaron Foley, Katie Layne Bishop, Ian Escovar, Robert Brown, Patrick Hoehn, Geoffrey Adam Brown, Bethany Yanak, William Cardona, and Lauren Rose Sanders. Without all of you, I wouldn’t have woken up that day or had survived that coma. You guys are all my heroes and I appreciate that even if I never got to tell you the full story of what I experienced. I also want to thank a few others for being there for me: Abby Schwartz-Dombrowski, Deb Ferguson, Brian Davis, Evie West, Mandy Lynn Blazjewski, Karen Lilianna Ogliastri, Vanessa Russell, Harley Wartooth, Angel Prusinowski, Stephanie Brady, Cristina Torres, Sarai Richardson, Jack and Carrie Watson, Melanie Fraiser, Mell Packard, Colby Scheff, and again Joshua Benjamin Jay for being the Archie to my Jughead (Riverdale version).

Chapter 1: The Room

He woke up in a cold dark room. He was cold and naked. He wrapped his arms around himself to keep him warm. There was no pain, just cold. He felt his body to see if he was fully intact. Legs, two of them, feet were there as well. His stomach was flat, flatter than he was used to in a long time. He touched his face. All of his teeth were there, his nose, eyes, and ears. His hair was shorter than he remembered and his face was shaven as well as his chest and stomach. The last he remembered he had a beard and his hair was longer.

This is not real, it has to be a dream, he thought. I’m not in this good of a shape but, where am I? This is not one of my normal dreams.

He got up and felt around. Five feet forward, a wall of cold stone. Five feet back, another wall. The same with the left and right. There was no furniture in the room from what he could feel. He felt around the wall, no light switch either.

If this is a dream, let’s see what I can really do in it.

He opened his hand and concentrated on it. A faint light began to form in his hand. It became stronger and stronger as he concentrated. The room was white and yes made of stone. It was a smooth stone but unknown.

If I can make this light from my hand, I can conjure clothes for myself, he deduced.

He pictured himself wearing clothes. A pair of black pants appeared; they were not jeans nor dress pants nor were they khakis. They were made of a cloth material but they were not tight on his body. A black shirt formed onto his body. It was fitting and his muscles showed through the shirt. Black boots formed on his feet. They surprisingly fit his wide feet.

I’m not used to this. I’m glad this is only a dream. Now, how do I get out of this room?

“Hello, is there anyone there?” he asked. “I’m ready to leave this room.” There was no answer. He pushed on the wall in front of him. No movement. He pushed on the other walls, no movement. He sat on the floor with his back to what he thought was the back wall.

He sat there exhausted. Creating the light from his hand wore him out. He knew it was a dream but he was still tired and realized it was mental exhaustion. The last thing he remembered was the ambulance taking him to the hospital, then it went blank, and then he woke up in this room. He closed his eyes and rested them.

I guess I’m not ready to leave yet, he thought. Okay, I’ll go along with this one. I guess I can’t be in charge of this dream, like the others.

A faint light slowly came into the room. The sound of scraping made him open his eyes. The wall in front of him began to slowly open on its own. He wasn’t hungry nor did he need to use the bathroom. He got up and felt the space where the wall opened to see if there was a barrier that would stop him from passing through, nothing. He entered the doorway and walked forward. It was a hallway with doors on both sides. He tried the first door and it was locked as was the one across from it. He kept going down the hallway checking the doors. All of the doors were locked, all of the doors wouldn’t budge. All of the doors had numbers but no names on them.

I guess I don’t have access to these doors. Something needs to be open to get me out of this weird place. I’ve had some weird dreams but this one is a doozy.

“Hello, whoever is controlling this, please let me get out of this hallway. This is boring, I don’t need to be walking down a hallway with doors I can’t open.”

He kept walking and finally saw a curtain at the end. He opened the curtain and there was a door. On the door it said one word:

Fantasyland.

Fantasyland, he thought. What an interesting name. I wonder why I have to go there but I can’t question this dream. No dream mastering this time, just go with the flow.

He turned the knob to the door and it opened.

Chapter 2: Fantasyland

There was a bright light as the door opened and he was sucked in. He felt his body fall apart and then come back together. His hands, arms, and feet hurt as if needles were entering them. He screamed but the pain was momentary. The light dissipated and he was able to see.

Above him, the sky was dark with no stars or moon but there were lights in Fantasyland. There was a white bone rollercoaster above him covered in small bulbs. The coaster tracks were made of real bone, sharp in some areas as if they were made from rib bones, tied together with what looked like dried tendons. He didn’t know if those were human bones or animals but there was no smell coming from the structure.

He was on his hands and feet as he looked around. He was confused. The smell of the circus entered his nostrils as he breathed through his nose. In this world, his septum wasn’t broken. There were the sounds of the circus but he could not see anyone there. He got up and looked around. The door was gone, vanished into thin air. He wasn’t surprised though, it was like something out of a Stephen King novel, which he had read a lot of throughout the years.

He saw a ticket booth about ten feet from where he was and walked to it. Inside there was a skeleton sitting in the booth.

“How much for one ticket,” he asked.

“For you, it is free,” said the skeleton. “You have already paid the price to enter Fantasyland. Ha ha ha ha!”

“What was the price?”

“Your warmth Marc!”

Marc, yes, that’s my name. I couldn’t remember it.

Marc took the ticket and entered. Sitting on a bench, there was a woman with dark curly hair and glasses. Her pale skin reflected the light of the bulbs under the rollercoaster. She was wearing a grey and blue type bowling shirt, black shorts, and black shoes with white socks. She looked up at Marc and smiled. Her face was familiar to Marc as he approached her. Her warmth caused him to smile.

“Marc, you’re late,” she said. “You’re never late but you’re late this time.”

“Your face, I recognize your face but I can’t remember your name,” said Marc. “We worked together, didn’t we?”

“Yes and no,” she said. “I’m what you would call the personification of a friend of yours in your mind. I’m the personification of Leah in your mind.”

“Leah, yes, I remember. You were awesome to work with, a great friend, and someone I could confide in. What are you doing here?”

“I’m your guide through Fantasyland. I’m supposed to take you to the Wise One who will advise you to the next world.”

“How far will you go with me?”

“As far as I can. I’m limited to only certain areas but I will take you as far as I can.”

“Okay, I guess we should start going then. No time like the present.”

“We must stay on the path though. If we stray, we can not only get lost, but you may be drawn into the light. If that happens, we could lose you forever.”

The path was made of dirt. It looked like it went on for miles but in this world, miles could be forever or only a few hours. They walked slowly. This land was not familiar to either but they stayed on the path. As they walked, there were tents on either side. Sounds of the circus came from them as well as the laughter of children.

“Where is everyone,” Marc asked quietly.

“They left, they're gone because you’re here. You’re only supposed to be her in dreams, but now you could be permanently stuck so they had to leave.”

“What about the sounds coming from the tents?”

“There’s no one in them.”

“But the laughter, there has to be someone in them. There has to be a circus happening in these tents.”

“No, there isn’t. They are empty. Please, don’t open the tents. You won’t like what you find,” she said in a fearful voice.

“Why? There are sounds coming from these tents, there has to be someone here.”

Marc walked to the closest tent and reached for the flap.

“Please don’t do that. You won’t like what you see,” Leah said fearfully.

Marc lifted the flap and looked inside. There were people and animals in there but not real people or animals. They were white and see-through. Not as if their skin was transparent but their whole bodies were. Marc thought it was odd. All of the animals and people had their backs to Marc when the flap opened and when Marc looked in, they all turned around. Their faces or what was left of them were either skeletal or their “skin” was falling off of them. What was once human, was dead.

They got up and started walking towards Marc with their arms out. Instinctively, Marc reached to his hip for a sword as he did in karate. This was an automatic defense mechanism from years ago when he was still in high school and in shape. There was nothing on his hip, nothing to protect him from them. He realized these were the dead and they wanted him to join him. He remembered that no sword could kill something that was already dead. He couldn’t move his feet; he was frozen there.

A hand gripped his shoulder and pulled him back. It was Leah. She had a look of fear as the flap fell and the dead returned to their seats and the circus continued.

“I…. I…. I couldn’t defend myself. I couldn’t move. What happened?”

“I told you that you wouldn’t like what you saw. They were the dead, they were going to take you with them towards the light. If one had touched you, you would have died.”

“My feet, why couldn’t I move?”

“That was them, they were pulling you in with them to their world. If it wasn’t for me, you would have gone with them and not even known it.”

They began walking again. After what felt like half an hour, they reached a building in the middle of the road. It was odd-shaped, with different kinds of windows on the building. There was a sign on the top of it emblazed in lights:

Fun House

The Fun House sign also had a picture of a clown on it. Not a normal clown but one that looked evil. Its eyes were red and its teeth were sharp. The smile was more of a sneer than a smile. It looked like it wanted to eat them than amuse them.

“Stay on the path,” asked Marc.

“Stay on the path,” said Leah. “It looks like we have to go inside.”

“What’s inside?”

“I don’t know, only what we bring with us, I guess.”

“Which is what we are wearing then.”

They entered the funhouse and the floor started moving. It knocked them off balance but they were able to grab onto each other for support. A clown’s laugh came out of nowhere. At the end, there was a tube that they had to walk through. After they entered, the tube began to spin clockwise, again to knock them off their feet. They were ready for that one and as they exited, they found themselves at a set of stairs going up. Going up the stairs was fairly easy except that air went off on each step. It was cold and surprising each time.

At the top of the stairs, it looked like there was an empty room and Marc walked into the first pane of glass.

“Hall of glass,” he said rubbing his forehead. He put his arms out and they moved through the glass maze slowly. “So, what is the Wise One look like? What kind of knowledge can he provide to me?”

Leah shrugged. “I don’t know exactly what he looks like but I know he will be able to provide you with some knowledge of what you have to do to wake up. I think he will look like someone you know but I don’t know who it will be or what he will say exactly.”

They got to a door at the end of the glass maze. The door only had three words Elpuoc Eht and Rente on it. They looked at each other and Leah shrugged again. “Don’t look at me, this is your dream,” she laughed.

“Do we knock or just go in?”

“Again, it is your dream but I think we could just walk in. Whoever or whatever the Elpuoc Eht Rente is, I guess they are expecting us or the door wouldn’t be here.”

Marc grabbed the knob and turned it. The door opened to a room with a mirror against the back wall and a man and a woman sitting at a table facing them. She had black hair about shoulder length, glasses covered her brown eyes, and a beautiful smile. She was thin but not too thin and of average height. He was tall with brown hair and bluish-green eyes. He was skinny but not emaciated. They sat at a table on swiveling stools and there was a large mirror behind them.

“Cram and Hael, emoclew. Drahcir dna Ybbil era ew. Elpuoc eht era ew. Su dnatsrednu ot yaw a dnif tsum uoy,” said the male.

“Su dnatsrednu ot yaw a dnif, sey”, said the female.

“What are they saying,” asked Leah.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure but we have to find a way to communicate with them or at least we have to be able to understand them. Do they look familiar to you?”

“Yeah, they kind of look like Richard and Libby,” she said to Marc. “Are you two Richard and Libby,” she asked them.

“Sey,” said the male who looked like Richard.

“Sey, Ybbil dna Drahcir era ew,” said the female who looked like Libby.

“We can’t understand you,” said Marc. “Is there a way for us to understand you? Will you shake your head yes or no if you understand what we are saying?”

The two sitting at the table shook their heads that they understood. “There is only a mirror, the table, and stools. Is there something with the mirror that is involved with us understanding you?” The two nodded, yes.

“Marc, mirrors reflect.”

“Yes, I know. So logically all they would be able to do is show their reflection, right?”

“True. But what does that have to do with this mirror?”

“Well, since this is a dream, what happens in them?”

“Anything.”

“Exactly, anything can happen. So, if we turn them around, won’t we be able to understand them if they are facing the mirror?” The two at the table shook their heads yes in agreeance. “I’ll turn Richard and you turn Libby. We’ll see what happens. It can’t hurt can it?”

“I can’t see why it would do any harm.” They walked over and turned the two towards the mirror.

“Thank you so much,” said the male. “You were right, we are Richard and Libby. We were cursed by the Darkness to speak backward when we are not facing the mirror.”

“You were the one who had to figure out how to understand us,” said Libby.

“I was sent here I guess for a reason. Leah and I are supposed to go to the Wise One, can you help us on our way.”

“The Wise One isn’t too far. He lives in a house on the border of Fantasyland and the next. He is the one who will allow you to go to the next land. But” said Richard.

“But what?”

“But” Libby continued, “there is another quest you must do to wake up. You must gather seven stones which will form one stone. The colors are special colors that have meaning. There is no order to which you must gather them but you must gather all seven. The colors are green for willpower, red for rage, blue for hope, orange for greed, yellow for fear, indigo for compassion, and violet for love.”

“Those sound like the Lantern Corps colors. Do all seven stones create the white stone?”

“Yes, because the white stone is life and you must stop the dark one, Death. But, to do so, you must also make a sacrifice.”

“What kind of sacrifice?”

“You must give up the one thing you love the most. You must walk away from it, no matter how much it hurts.”

“But how?”

“That, I cannot tell you. The one who gives you the violet stone will be able to do so.”

Richard smiled, “We have two gifts for you.”

As if by magic they appeared on the table. One was a katana sword. The sheath was black and made of wood and the hilt was white plastic with a dragon that had ruby-like eyes. Marc picked it up and unsheathed it. The sword was perfectly balanced as if it were made for him. The final gift was a cell phone. Marc looked at it questioningly.

“You can use that to call friends when the time is right,” said Libby. “But for now, it will just guide you to the Wise One. Go through that door and back to the road. When you leave here, this place will be abandoned and you will not be able to go back.”

“And Marc,” said Richard. “May the Force be with you.”

“And you as well.”

Marc and Leah opened the door and went through it. They turned to look at the funhouse but it was already boarded up. It looked like Libby had stated, abandoned, like it had not operated in about fifty years. The lights were broken, the colors were faded, and the bill signs on the walls were ripped and torn. There were weeds growing tall in the grass. The place reeked of rot and mildew. They turned and looked towards the road. The colors were more vibrant but still dark. The road itself was made of yellow brick but there was a split further down.

“I guess we have to follow the yellow brick road,” Marc said jokingly.

Leah smiled as if the reference meant something to her but knew that she was only a representation to help guide Marc to his destinations. “Let’s find the Wise One and see what he has to say.” They walked towards the fork in the road and to the future.

Chapter 3: The Road to the Wise One

The road to the wise one started off easy enough. Marc and Leah walked and talked. Mainly Marc talked as Leah had only the memories that Marc gave her in his mind and she was only a memory of his brought forth from his subconscious mind. They laughed at the same jokes, made references to Frozen and other Disney movies and Marc felt warm and happy. Then the sky turned dark. Marc became uncomfortable with this darkness.

The trees started to grow thicker on the sides of the road. The canopy became thicker and thicker. It was then that Marc saw the eyes within the woods itself. The eyes were red. Not a normal type of red, but feral and the color of blood. He stopped and put his hand on the hilt of his katana.

“Is everything okay,” asked Leah quietly.

“Shh,” said Marc, “there is something or somethings in the woods watching us and it isn’t friendly.” Leah became quiet and looked around. Marc took her hand and placed the cellphone into it. A moment later he drew his sword and held it in a protective stance. “Whatever happens, stay behind me at a safe distance. I don’t want you to get hurt, even if you are a part of my mind.”

He looked into the woods and tried to focus on the eyes. “Come on out, we know you’re there.” There was a rumbling in the bushes and the creatures emerged. They were medium height about five-foot-seven, hairless but their skin had black stripes on it. Their ears were huge, like giant rabbit ears but their faces had flat noses. Their mouths were gaping with giant long-pointed teeth. Their mouths were foaming and saliva dripped from their teeth. Their hands were large and their nails were sharp claws.

Marc’s grip tightened on the hilt of the sword. He grimaced in amusement. The creatures attacked and Marc made his first cut. Three of the creatures lost their heads. Green blood came out of their necks. More came out of the bushes. Like a horde of Goths on horses, they attacked. Marc kept defending himself and Leah. He sliced and cut his way through the creatures. Covered in their green goo of blood, Marc continued his attacks and defensive blocks of the creature’s claws. They fell in twos and threes, their headless bodies writhing on the ground. The influx of the creatures slowed and then ceased. Marc stood there breathing heavily, his heart racing, and sweat dripping off his face. All of which slowed and stopped almost instantly.

Marc sat down on the road and took a deep breath. He looked at Leah and smiled a little. “That was intense. Do you have a mass-towel?”

“You just killed a bunch of demonic-looking creatures and you’re asking for a towel,” Leah exclaimed. “Here’s your towel,” she said reaching into her back pocket. “Now explain how you did that.”

“You’re a part of me, you should know. Twelve and a half years of karate, watching Star Wars and Highlander, and years and years of practice. But then again, this is also all in my mind, so I should be able to do anything or almost anything, am I correct?” Marc began cleaning off the blade of the katana and then wiped his face. “I haven’t had that kind of sword fighting in a long time. Too bad it wasn’t real but I did kind of feel like a Jedi while doing it.”

Marc got up and looked around. “Well, since there aren’t any more of those creatures coming, we might as well get going again. I wonder where this Wise One’s home is and also what it looks like.”

“Okay, let’s get going,” agreed Leah. They continued down the road at a slow pace. The forest canopy began to thin and the forest became lighter. The trees even thinned out so that light showed through. It was then that they saw a house.

The house wasn’t large but it wasn’t small. It had a domed thatched red roof with white stucco walls. The door was oddly shaped as well. It wasn’t fully round but it had rounded edges and curved at the top. It was wooden with a dark oak stain. The windows were circular and had white curtains on them. There was a door knocker in the shape of a turtle and a sign on the door saying The Wise One.

Marc and Leah walked to the door and knocked using the turtle door knocker. The door opened.

Chapter 4: The Wise One

Marc and Leah walked into the house cautiously. The front entrance was quaint with a nice foyer. The floor was tiled throughout the whole first floor of the house and it seemed to be a modern setup. The walls, like the outside, were white and there was artwork hanging throughout the place of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. The furniture was contemporary. The living room consisted of a brown leather couch, a brown leather armchair, a coffee table, and some end tables. In front of the couch was a television. There was a dining room with a dining table which was wooden with a pine stain and matching chairs. The chairs had grey cushions on them. The dining room was already set up for visitors. There was an amazing smell coming from the kitchen. It smelled like spaghetti and meatballs. Marc and Leah could hear someone humming in the kitchen.

“Come in, come in,” said a male’s voice from the kitchen. He chuckled a little. “You’re just in time for lunch. I think you’ll enjoy what there is to eat.”

The man came out and again was familiar looking to Marc but dressed differently. He wore an orange beach shirt with black letters and purple triangles all over it, white shorts, and sandals. On his back was a purple turtle shell and he wore sunglasses, even though he was inside. He was bald with a Fu Manchu mustache and beard which was odd because it looked wrong on this man. He had in his right hand a walking stick.

“Well, are you going to say hello to Chuckie,” asked the old man. “I’m supposed to guide you out of Fantasyland and into Adventureland. But before I do, I think you both need something to eat. Come on kids, sit down and let’s break bread together.”

“I’m sorry, hi Chuckie. It’s just that you look so different. You look like someone else at the same time.”

“Oh, do I,” asked Chuckie. “Who do I look like exactly?”

“You look like Master Roshi, the old Turtle Hermit from the Dragon Ball series.”

“Ah, I see. That’s from your subconscious mind transmitting this image of how you saw me at Frozen. Even though I was not your trainer, you still saw me as a sensei or teacher, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I did. And you looked a little like him as well, only not perverted.”

“Did the couple tell you what your task entails?”

“Yes, they did.”

“Did they tell you how dangerous it will be for you?”

“No, they didn’t. They just said I have to gather the stones to form the final stone but I have to sacrifice one to actually complete the task.”

“Yes, that is true but you will have to go through several trials to gain these stones. Some will be trials of will, some will be for fear. But these trials will either save your life or you will die if you don’t succeed.”

“How will I know if I succeed?”

Chuckie looked at Marc and smiled. “You will know because you will be able to advance to the next stone when you earn each stone. But remember, sometimes you have to sacrifice someone you love for you to live. You’ll know when the time is right. But now is not the time for talking, it’s time for eating.”

Chuckie went into the kitchen and returned with dozens of hamburgers piled up on several plates. On the table were ketchup and pickles. He went back into the kitchen and returned again with hotdogs in the bun. He went back into the kitchen again and returned with two pitchers of water and glasses for them to drink. They all sat down and ate together. Marc ate three hamburgers and two hot dogs. He drank his water and enjoyed the meal.

After they were finished, they went into the living room. Marc and Leah sat on the couch while Chuckie sat on the large brown armchair. “Well, now it is time we talked about getting you to Adventureland. Look out the window, you will see Adventureland but you must take a boat there, kind of like a “Jungle Cruise” you would say. You must first make sure you have the willpower to get through the cruise. This will be your first test for the first stone.”

“How do I get to the river?”

“Oh, that’s simple. Just go out the back door. The dock is right behind this house and the boat is waiting for you. It won’t leave without you. I do recommend you take this though it will get you on the boat.” Chuckie tossed Marc a gold coin. The coin had heads with two faces on it and tails with a person riding a chariot. Under the chariot, it said one word in Latin: “Roma”.

“Is this payment for the ferryman Charon?”

Chuckie chuckles. “In a sense, yes but it isn’t Charon you will be riding with but with a friend. It is just payment to get on the boat but I do apologize for the bad jokes you will experience.” He handed Marc another item, a cylinder with a grip on it. Marc held it in his hand and a shield appeared out of the cylinder. The shield is gold and had the image of Medusa on it. “This will help you when fear attacks you.”

“I’m guessing it will help me get another stone.”

“Yes, the yellow. Now let’s go to the backyard so we can get you on that boat.”

They walked through the house from the living room to the dining room and then to the kitchen. There was a white door in the kitchen with six panes of glass on it. Looking through the window, a dock could be seen with a river next to it. A boat was waiting at the dock and a man was waving his hat while standing on the boat. Chuckie opened the door and they walked to the dock.

Chapter 5: A Skipper with Jokes

“Come on you,” said the Skipper. “We don’t have all day. The light is going down and I need to get you to Adventureland as soon as I can.”

As Marc walked closer to the boat, he began to recognize the Skipper. He was about five-foot-ten, average build, noticeably short hair on the top of his head, and a beard and mustache. This person always reminded Marc of Captain Boomerang from the Suicide Squad movie but with a better sense of humor. It was Sean, a friend from the Great Movie Ride who transferred to the Magic Kingdom.

Marc looked at Leah. “I guess this is where you leave me isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. I can’t go any further, the rules I guess.”

“I wish you could come with me. You were always a light in the darkness at Frozen.”

“We’ll meet again, I think. I need you to take this.” Leah handed him a paper cup with a black lid. The cup looked like a tall Starbucks cup. “It is hot chocolate like the night we went to Studios. The only difference is that it will never spill and will never get cold. You will know when to drink it. Remember, I’ll be with you, if not in person, but in spirit and I’ll always be here.” She tapped Marc on his chest where his heart is. They hugged and a tear dripped down her cheek. “Now go so you can wake up and tell the real me what happened.”

“Leah, thank you so much for everything.”

“If you want to thank me, make sure you wake up.”

“I will. Goodbye.” Marc walked towards the dock.

“Watch your step as you enter the Amazon Annie. If you’re entering from the back, come up to the front. If you’re in the front, just follow the simple instructions of your simple-minded loader. Oh, wait, there is no loader. But don’t worry, I have a million of these jokes.” Marc boarded the boat from the back and was about to sit down. “Come all the way to the front–up by me. There’s no truth to the rumor that you get a longer ride in back. Slide all the way forward now…That’s the only way we have of keeping the cushions clean! I’ll collect my payment at the end of the ride.”

Marc moved forward and smiled. He knew that the jokes were bad but knew they were in good humor. The Skipper continued to talk as the boat left the dock. “Hello, everyone. I’d like to welcome you aboard the world-famous Jungle Cruise. My name is Sean and I’ll be your skipper for as far as we get. Where are you from sir?”

“Originally Philadelphia but I’m in Clermont now.”

“Sorry?”

“Originally from Philadelphia but I’m in Clermont now,” repeated Marc.

“Oh–I heard you the first time, I was just sorry,” said Sean, and Marc laughed. “OK…before we go much further, everyone raise your right hand and repeat after me. “I hope…. we do return”. Good! Better turn and take one last look at the dock–you may never see it again!” Again, Marc laughed but he had a feeling he wouldn’t see that house or the dock again.

“We will be going through a series of tropical rivers on our way to Adventureland. First river is the Amazon. As we enter the Amazon River, please keep your hands and arms inside the boat at all times, and please refrain from flash photography since it will make me look bad in certain light. Do you see those butterflies to the left? They have a wingspan ranging from 12 inches to a whopping ONE FOOT! ONE FOOT! Can you believe it? This is the Amazon where anything can happen.”

There was a waterfall to the right of the boat. “To your right is Inspiration Falls. Do you feel inspired yet? I do for more jokes. And with that, we enter the Congo River. With this river, we will experience a party, a pygmy welcoming party.” They arrived at the area where it looked like a beach. It was empty, the canoes were empty, and the place was deserted. “I wonder what happened to the pygmies. I see that big python over there had the pygmies for lunch. Usually, they have the pygmies have the pythons over for lunch. You know, a lot of safaris camp around this area. That could be one up ahead.” Sean pointed down the river.

The Amazon Annie approached another beach and saw the remnants of what used to be a safari camp. Ah, that explains things! It looks like that safari has some uninvited house guests!” He looked at the gorillas walking around the campsite. “Hey,” he yelled at the gorillas, “Where’d you guys learn to parallel park anyway?” He turned back to Marc, “Ah, they’re not listening. I guess they’re too busy monkeying around. Up ahead, we will hit the Nile River and then it will down from there.”

The Amazon Annie entered the Nile River slowly. “We’ve turned on to the Nile river of Africa, the longest river in the world, winding across more than 4000 miles and if you don’t believe that, you must be in denial. On the left bank there-it’s a huge bull elephant. The large sloping forehead and enormous ears mark the African bull, the second most feared animal in the jungle. On the other, THE most feared animal in the jungle–his mother-in-law. On the right bank, we have Bertha. She’s a great elephant, and she obeys commands: ‘Speak!’” The elephant made a trumpet sound. “You can do louder than that!” The elephant made a louder trumpet sound. “Ok, we’d like to some pictures, so stand perfectly still.” The elephant stood perfectly still. “Let’s give her a round of applause.” Marc clapped politely.

“We’re about to enter the Africa veldt, an immense grassland home to an endless variety of wildlife–baboons, wildebeests, giraffes, gazelles, gnus, g-lions, g-zebras.” All of the g’s were pronounced hard. “Here’s a little advice. Never play poker in the jungle because there are lots of cheetahs around. If they say they’re not a cheetah, then they’re probably just a lion.” They saw some lions around a zebra. “Don’t worry about that, those lions are just keeping that zebra company while it sleeps.”

Up ahead they saw another safari group. “This group looks a little lost. Hey…look! That safari’s in a tight spot there. But that rhino seems more than willing to give them a lift. They’ll be fine, as long as they stay on the point. Well–you know what they say…safari, so good. So, I guess we’ll be moving on.”

They kept going forward and they saw another waterfall. “This is the famous Schweitzer Falls. It is named after the famous scientist Doctor Albert... Falls. Behind it is a sacred treasure. For this, I will have to take you behind it to see it.” Sean brings the boat behind the falls. “I am now going to show you the treasure of the Nile. The most majestic sight of our cruise: the backside of water. Get it???”

The boat moved forward and they saw a plane crash. “Oh, my goodness, a plane crash! You know what that means..........hippos.” And that was when they encountered them, the hippos in the river. “You’ve all probably heard that the hippos are only dangerous when wiggling their ears and blowing bubbles…but that’s not what really makes them dangerous. See it’s actually the ritual they have of placing their young in the trees to forge on leaves until they grow to 6,000 pounds, then they cannonball toward the boats, sinking them all 2 and 1/2 feet down to the bottom of the jungle floor. Oh great, one is going to charge the boat.” Sean pulled out a gun and aimed it in the air and fired. The hippos ran away. “Well, it looks like that did the trick. You could tell that they were scared by all of the blank looks on their faces. We’re safe for now, I think.”

Then they heard the sound of drums. They were distant at first and then the sound increased, louder and louder. “What’s that sound,” asked Marc.

“Shh, we’re entering headhunter country now…be very quiet. In that canoe over there,” Sean pointed at a canoe in the water, “are the remains of my last crew. They had a good time, even to the end–they’re still smiling.” The boat moved slowly into the headhunter village. Sean spoke quietly saying, “I studied their language in college. Let’s see if I can pick up a little: Put your right foot in, shake it all about, put your right foot out, shake it all about.”

It was then that they ran into the ambush. They were surrounded by headhunters, all holding their spears in hand. Sean looked a little worried. “If they hit you with a spear, just pull it out and throw it back at them. You’re not allowed to keep souvenirs. We certainly don’t want you to be stuck with it for the rest of the trip or the rest of your journey.” The headhunters then began throwing their spears. Marc ducked behind the wall of the boat as the Amazon Annie began taking on multiple spears from both sides of the boat. Sean increased the speed of the boat. “We’re almost at the Mekong River, we’ll be out of here soon enough.”

Leaving the headhunters behind, the Amazon Annie made it to the next river with a few spears sticking out of its side. Up ahead they saw ruins of an ancient civilization. The boat kept moving forward and entered the ruins. “These are the ruins of an ancient shrine, almost totally destroyed centuries ago by an earthquake. Many explorers have tried to steal that priceless ruby, but no one’s ever gotten past that poisonous spider.”

Inside the shrine, there were hundreds of baboons running around, following the boat and a red ruby the size of a watermelon. It was stuck in the wall of the shrine behind a giant spider’s web. On the web, there was a giant spider about the size of a softball. It crawled over the web slowly, its legs moving from strand to strand. Marc could see the poison dripping from its fangs. Cobras slithered below the spider’s web hissing and staring at the boat as is passed by. It was then that they heard the loud roar. It was a tiger.

“Look at that,” Sean whispered. “It’s a large Bengal Tiger. Now, Bengal Tigers are known to leap over five thousand feet in order to catch their prey. That is…when you throw them out of an airplane.” Sean increased the speed of the boat and it quickly exited the shrine. They then heard light trumpeting of elephants playing. As the boat turned around the riverbend, they encountered elephants playing in a pool of water.

“What a surprise, elephants,” exclaimed Sean. “And it looks like a whole herd has come down to bathe! Don’t scare them now…of course, the big shot gets the private shower…but I kind of like the little squirts myself.” Some of the elephants were spraying water back and forth and towards the boat itself. Sean quickly turned the boat away from the water coming from the elephants. “That was a close call, we would have ended up all wet.”

The Amazon Annie kept moving forward. “We’re almost done with our ride, Marc. Just one more place to pass and we will be in Adventureland. We just have to pass by good ole Trader Sam. Funny thing about Trader Sam. Three explorers came through here last week and Sam invited them for dinner. When he told them what the menu was, they completely lost their heads.” Marc understood why when the boat passed by. There was Sam, standing there outside his trading booth holding three heads in his hand by their hair. The heads were not of normal size either, they were smaller than normal heads. “Business has been shrinking lately, so this week only, Sam’s offering a two-for-one special: two of his, for one of yours!”

The boat kept moving forward and, in the distance, Marc saw a dock. It was an average-sized dock with no one there to tie off the boat. Sean pulled the boat to the dock slowly, jumped off, and tied it to the dock’s shoring. “This concludes our Jungle Cruise to Adventureland. If you would like to see me on Conan next month… please write him a letter and tell him you would like to see me there! Oh, and don’t forget my payment.” Sean stood there with his hand out. “That will be one gold coin.”

Marc handed him the gold coin Chuckie gave him in what felt like a millennia ago. Sean stuck it in his mouth and bit into it. He then pocketed the coin and left Marc on the dock. “Oh,” Sean called, “here’s something for the road.” He handed Marc a book. The title was 101 Jokes of the Same Joke. “This may help you somewhere in the future.”

Marc saw a road that was split into two directions with a sign pointing in two separate directions. To the left, the sign said “Pirates” and to the right, it said “Bazaar.” Where do I go? asked Marc to himself.

Chapter 6: Poseidon’s Edge

“Well, you don’t have all day to decide,” said a voice behind him. Marc turned around and saw a man about his height but stocky. He has short grey hair and wore glasses. His nose was a little sloped and pointed at the end. “If you go to the right, it will be boring, but if you go to the left, you will find adventure and maybe a treasure. Maybe something you are looking for.” His clothes were not proper for Adventureland but they fit the man. The clothing was just as Leah’s, the grey and blue top, and the black shorts. He smiled and made a gesture towards the left.

“You’re Tom, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. I’m here to help you towards your first adventure in Adventureland. I don’t know why I’m here but I was told you needed me. Let’s get to your next destination. I think you will like the pirate area.” Tom pointed to the left.

Marc looked to the right and then to left and saw a green light shining up from one of the pirate ships. He started walking towards the left and the pirate ships. The road was made of dirt and lined on the sides by grass. The smell of the ocean could be sensed from the distance. The walk wasn’t long but it was scenic. They made it to the shoreline and there were hundreds of pirate ships made up to look like a city. In the center was a huge pirate ship with the green light shining out of it.

“That’s where I have to go, isn’t it? That’s the center of willpower isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.”

“How do I get there?”

“I guess we have to go through the city. We’ll have to be careful, there are some seedy pirates in this place.”

“That’s fine, I have protection,” pulling out his katana. “Think this will make things a little easier.” They headed into the pirate city. The name of the city on the sign said, “Poseidon’s Edge”. There were hundreds of pirates walking about the city. The men were dressed in traditional pirate garb of jackets, partial shirts, breeches, stockings, and an array of hats from the traditional tricorn and bicorn pirate hats to little caps and scarves. The women were dressed the same but either allowed their hair to be long and shown, covered in scarves, or cut short to hide their sexuality. Some wore boots while others were barefoot. They had swords attached to their belts, along with knives, guns, and daggers. Some wore jewelry, while others did not. Some had earrings with jewels hanging from their ears while some just wore a nose ring. Their clothing and their jewelry did not match as was the pirate’s way. There were prostitutes of both genders outside of brothels along the streets. The prostitutes were either dressed in lingerie, dresses, or barely anything at all. The streets were docks and ships and boats were the buildings.

“I feel like a fish out of water,” whispered Marc to Tom. “I’m not wearing the right clothes but I don’t think we will be here long. Let’s try to get to that huge ship with the green light emitting from it.”

They passed several buildings. Clothing and other stores, brothels, bars, and pubs. The stores were full of different objects, from chests to dinnerware to even animals. The animals were cats, dogs, parrots, and lizards of all different breeds. Marc stopped and saw a red and white cat that looked like his deceased cat Stinky. He walked over to it and rubbed its head. The cat purred and put its paw to his face. He looked at the cat and whispered to it, “I’ll be back for you.” They continued down the street.

They passed a brothel and some of the prostitutes called out to them to come in to “play”. They ignored them and kept walking. At the end of the “block”, they turned left towards the center of the city. They continued straight for three blocks, passing different homes and stores made out of ships. It was then that they saw a kiosk in the middle of the block. It was made of a small wooden dingy and a man sat in it. He had short salt and pepper hair, a goatee and mustache, and wore glasses. He was wearing a white shirt with blue piping in the lapels. His pants were blue as well. He was on the stocky side but held his weight proportionately. The sign above the kiosk said “Towne Mappes”. Marc was curious and walked over to the kiosk.

“Hello, I be Ricardo,” said the man in a Spanish accent. “What can I do for ye? A mappe of de towne may’hap? I am de only one with the right mappes here in Poseidon’s Edge.”

“How much are the maps?”

“The mappes are free boyo. All I ask is for ye to take me wit’ ye. I can be yer guide here in Poseidon’s Edge. Where are ye headed?”

“We are heading to the center of the city where that green light is emanating from.”

“Y’er heading to de Pirate King? No’bdy seeks out de Pirate King n’ lives to tell about it. Ye’ll be killed on site if ye seek ‘im out. Dat green light is ‘is power. De green stone he wears is de wae he contains it.”

“I need to get there and speak to him. I am seeking an audience with him. Can you take me there?”

“I can take ye there butt ye must not do anyt’ing to make ‘im angry.”

“Is there a way I cannot make him angry?”

“Aye, there be. But ye need to bring ‘im some rum. Any rum’ll do.”

“Where can I get rum for free since I don’t have any money.”

“That me boyo is not a problem. We have a way but it takes a man of great skill. Have ye ever heard of a game called hockey?”

“Hockey? I used to play in high school. I was captain of my team.”

“I know not what high school is but if yer a player of the game, and a captain at that, then ye should be able to win ye some rum.”

“Take me to where we have to go and tell me what I must do to get the rum.”

“Follow me boyo,” said Ricardo. They followed him to a large boat that looked like an arena that Marc remembered from when he lived in Philadelphia. It was the old Spectrum arena where his hometown hockey team had played before they tore it down in 2009. “What ye have to do is score three shots against de goalie while dodging defending players. Ye have five minutes t’score these goals and ye will get yer rum.”

“And if I don’t.”

“Ye will be ‘anged in de gallows er stabbed by a sword,” Ricardo stated pointing to a man being hung. Marc shuddered.

“Well, I guess it’s time to party and save my neck or stomach at the same time.”

Chapter 7: Pirate Hockey

They entered the arena and it was chaos. In the stands, there were pirates yelling and screaming. They were cheering for the ones defending the goal and booing when someone made a goal. Around the rink, there was a huge cage. The bars of the cage was covered in chicken-wire fence and barbed wire. The glass that usually kept the fans safe was there but there were pieces of glass sticking into where the ice was so that if someone ran into them, they would be cut severely. There was blood on the glass pieces as well as the chicken-wire fences and the barbed wire. The ice was chipped as if it needed a Zamboni cleaning and there was blood on the ice as well. There was no referee on the ice.

The players defending the goal were dressed in hockey gear with some modifications. Their jerseys had cuts in them and the pads protecting them had metal spikes sticking out of them. Their helmets were made of soft leather with nails sticking out of the top of them. The top and center of each helmet had a giant spike about four inches high. They wore hockey skates with spikes sticking out of the front of the boots. In other words, their hockey gear wasn’t the regulation hockey gear Marc was used to.

Ricardo walked Marc over to the registration desk to register for the contest. The man at the desk looked Marc over. He was an older man, about sixty-five. His white hair was short and had small blue eyes. His beard and mustache matched the color of his hair. His name tag said David “’e looks a little out of shape for this. What’s ‘e ne’?”

“‘e ne’s rum te meet de king.”

“Rum te meet de king,” laughed the registrar. “Boyo, yer gonna ne’ a lot more den luck te be’ des guys an’ yer gonna ne’ gear.”

“I’ll use my own gear,” said Marc. Marc’s clothes changed to regulation hockey gear. Pads formed under an orange, white, and black hockey jersey. The number thirteen formed on the back. The front formed the logo for the Philadelphia Flyers, his home team. His pants turned into puffy black hockey pants big enough to contain pads under each leg. He held skates so sharp, they would be able to cut through the ice like a knife through butter. The boots were black. His hockey stick was made of black metal with a fiberglass blade at the bottom. Marc’s helmet was white with a face shield on it. It was sturdier than the helmets worn by his soon to be opponents.

The registrar laughed at Marc’s gear but signed him in as the next contender. “Ye mus’ b’ v’ry des’prate te ha’ te do dis.”

“I need the rum for a special reason that I don’t need to discuss with you.”

“Okay, okay. Yer next to play. Gud luk der boyo.”

Marc walked to the rink as the last game was finishing. The person attempting to defeat the pirate players had lost. Tom walked up beside Marc with Ricardo and said morosely, “If you lose, you die.”

Marc looked at him and smiled. “Then I won’t lose, will I?”

A horn went off in the arena and the rink cleared out as they removed the dead body of the person who had attempted to defeat the playing pirates. He had been stabbed with a sword hidden in the stick of one of the player’s hockey sticks. So that’s how they do it, mused Marc. He changed the kind of padding under his gear to a Kevlar material, stronger and thicker than the padding he had before and able to withstand the spikes of the other players.

A Zamboni entered the rink and began to clean the ice off. “So,” Marc looked at Ricardo, “do I get my own entrance music?”

Ricardo looked at Marc puzzlingly. “Mu-zik? Wha’ wou’ ye ne’ Mu-zik fer?”

“Intimidation. I’m guessing you don’t do that here. Well, we’re gonna have to change that and have a little fun.” Marc imagined a huge sound system throughout the entire arena. Attached to the sound system was a small mp3 player holding thousands of songs. The Zamboni had finished cleaning the rink and the ice was clean of everything, including the blood.

The “referee” entered the rink and announced the three pirate players as Skruv, Bloodtooth, and Three-Fingered Finnigan. All three entered the rink skating around laughing and shouting as those in the stands cheered for them. The announcer then got to Marc who was trying to psyche himself out. “Entering es de challeng’r, a non-pirate Marc.”

It was then that the music Marc thought of started to play in the Arena. From Pink Floyd’s album, The Wall played In The Flesh? The song reverberated throughout the arena and those in the stands started cheering without understanding why. Marc skated around the rink, remembering his old glory days playing hockey and having fun. It had been years since he played and he missed the feel of the ice under his skates. He raised his hands in the air holding his hockey stick above his head. It was then when Three-Fingered Finnigan tripped him and Marc tripped on the ice, falling over. Marc’s hand stopped him from falling and the gloves he wore protected him from injury. He got up and looked at each of his opponents and smiled.

“If that’s how you want to play, let’s play then,” Marc said. He threw off his gloves, grabbed Finnigan by the jersey, pulled it over his head, and started kneeing Finnigan in the face. It took the other two pirates to pull Marc off of Finnigan. Finnigan’s face was bleeding from a broken nose and he was missing more teeth than he had been missing before. Finnigan was ugly before with his bald head, chipped teeth, and beady black eyes. He was over six feet and weighed about three hundred pounds of pure muscle. “Next time I won’t just make you lose teeth and break your nose.”

Finnigan sneered at Marc, spat blood on the ice, and got into position. Marc was the only one on the ice for himself against three pirates who all outweighed him immensely. The ref got between Marc and Bloodtooth to drop the puck. Bloodtooth was even uglier than Finnigan. He had red stringy hair, scars all over his face, and two teeth. His long beard was also red and had braids and beads in it. His breath smelled like rotten meat. Bloodtooth was about six-foot-one weight close to two hundred and seventy-five pounds, give or take. As for Skurv, you could not see his face under the black beard he had or the black hair that covered his head. He looked like an eviler version of Tyler Mane at about six-foot eight and weight two hundred and ninety-five pounds. He said nothing and showed no emotions throughout the whole time.

The puck dropped and new music came on. This time the music was from Star Wars Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith, the song Anakin vs. Obi-Wan. While Bloodtooth was distracted by the music, Marc stole the puck and made a break for the pirate’s goal. He was followed by both Finnigan and Skurv who both slammed into Marc but not before the puck went into the goal. Marc felt the spikes of the pirates' press into the Kevlar padding but not piercing it. The sound of the goal rang as the puck hit home in the middle of the net. The crowd cheered as Marc got up after being crushed between the two giants with only holes in his hockey jersey.

The foul breath of Finnigan coming into Marc’s ear as he whispered, “Next time, I’ll break your knee boy.”

Marc grunted back, “It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened and I still played until the end of the game.”

They got back into starting position and Marc willed another song to start to play. This time it was The Fight Song by Marilyn Manson. The song was able to distract Skurv and Finnigan this time but Bloodtooth gave Marc a run for the puck and stole it. Marc chased after him and was able to outskate him. As Marc turned backward to face Bloodtooth, Bloodtooth made a shot into Marc’s net. Marc tried to stop the puck with his stick but missed by an eighth of an inch. The goal rang loud and long as Bloodtooth celebrated his shot.

The score was tied one-to-one with the game going either way. Marc wasn’t scared nor was he out of the game yet. They faced off again. This time the song Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails played and again Bloodtooth stole the puck at face-off. Marc was able to steal the puck back but missed the shot. It was stolen by Finnigan who scored another goal for the pirates. The pirates were up by one and only needed one more goal to win. Marc knew the risk now and fought back with the next face-off making the next goal to Metallica’s Master of Puppets. With the score tied two-to-two, this was now a sudden deathmatch.

This would be the final face-off between Marc and the pirates. The puck dropped as Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song came out of the sound system. It surprised the pirates on the and Marc stole the puck. He skated into Bloodtooth, knocking him into Finnigan, and went past Skurv who was trying to help his teammates up. They were yelling at him to go after Marc but it was too late, Marc had made the final goal.

The pirates threw their helmets off their heads in anger and skated over to Marc. Bloodtooth put his hand out and took Marc’s hand and shook it. “Ye did well boy, I didn’t expect a small thing like you to beat us.”

Marc nodded and said, “Thank you.”

Finnigan skated up to Marc next and smiled, “You have a hell of a knee kick kid. You remind me of me when I played the game in Canada.” He grabbed Marc’s forearm and Marc grabbed his hand and they shook. “About that knee comment, that was only to scare you a little. I haven’t seen a good hockey player in ages. I want you on my team next time.”

Skurv was the last to come over to Marc. Without his helmet on his head, you could see his eyes. They were green and very kindly looking. He took Marc by the hand and smiled. “Ye play’d ver’ vell there, boyo. I din’t ‘pect you ter vin. Ye rned de rum ye w’re play’n fer. Nowe, go t’ de King and get yer infermation.”

Tom could be heard clapping and chanting in the stands. “Marc won! Marc won! I knew it! I knew it! Marc won!”

Marc skated to the end of the rink and took off his jersey first. He saw a little boy sitting in the first row of the arena. “Hey kid,” the boy looked at him. “Catch,” he threw him the jersey. Marc’s clothes changed to black pants and a black t-shirt. His skates turned into black sneakers; more comfortable than the tight skates he wore moments before.

Chapter 8: The Green Stone

They went to the entrance of the arena and picked up the rum that Marc had won. It was in a bottle shaped like a skull that was seven hundred and fifty milliliters. As they left, the person who handed it to him said, “Dis is v’ry sp’cial rum. T’is only rum de King will drink. He’d toward the center of de city and ye will find ‘is ship.”

“Thank you,” Marc said and left. They headed towards the center of the town. The green light swirling in the sky was closer.

“I can’t believe you won,” exclaimed Tom. “That looked like it was hard.”

“It was harder than you think.”

“But you made it look so easy.”

“Years of experience, but also years of not playing for an exceptionally long time. But this is also a dream, so I can do anything.”

“Like a dream master?”

“Kind of.”

They passed more shops and homes towards the center of the town. The “buildings” got bigger and looked more like ships than real buildings. The green light got brighter as they got closer as well. The “streets” in this area looked more and more like canals with docks as passageways to go from one place to another.

The King’s castle ship was the biggest of all. When they arrived at the castle ship, they saw the immense size of it. It was two hundred feet long and had to be about ten to twelve decks high where the water did not cover. To gain access to the ship, one had to go either up the long gangplank or take the lift to the main deck. Only those who worked and lived on the castle ship were allowed to take the lift, all visitors had to walk the gangplank. At the entrance to the gangplank, there were two guards standing there. As the trio arrived, they were stopped by the guards.

They were burly men, about six and a half feet tall and twins. Their black hair was greased down as were their mustaches that were curled. One wore a red and white striped shirt while the other wore a blue and white striped shirt. Their pants were black. Each had a sword attached to their belt. The one with the blue and white shirt had a tattoo of an anchor on his left arm while the one with the red and white shirt had a tattoo of an anchor on his right arm. They spoke in unison to the three.

“What do you want,” they asked.

“I seek an audience with the King,” claimed Marc.

“You’re not on the list.”

“What list, you’re just standing there without holding any papers or anything.”

“Our list,” they exclaimed stepping closer to Marc to intimidate him.

“Gentlemen, I don’t know where you’re from but I’ve been threatened by far worse than the likes of you.”

The twins laughed. “’E’s not scared of us,” said red to blue.

“’E should be,” said blue to red.

“Maybe we should beat ‘im to a pulp.”

“Maybe you should look at what I’m carrying and then think about what you’re going to do next.”

The twins looked at the bottle in Marc’s hand. Their eyes widened and looked scared.

“I think my friends and I are on the list, aren’t we?”

“Er, um.”

“Aren’t we!”

“Y-y-y-ye-yes s-s-sir, y-y-y-yo-you are,” the Twins said together. They stepped out of Marc’s way and allowed the trio to walk up the gangplank.

Marc turned around and said, “The next time you try to intimidate me, I will hurt you. And just so you know, I’ve been threatened with knives, guns, and swords as well as beaten up on multiple occasions, so if you think you’re going to scare me, you have another thing coming.”

They continued up the gangplank and made it to the top. The main deck was busy. There were hands all over the deck, cleaning it, polishing the wood, and mending the sails. They were greeted at the top of the gangplank by a man. This man was the majordomo to the King. He claimed his name was Matthew. He had short blonde hair and wore thick black round-framed glasses. He was about five foot eight inches and was on the portly side. He was dressed very flamboyantly wearing a green and yellow vest over a white shirt and green velvet pants. His shows were black but shined like they were brand new.

“Welcome to the King’s castle,” he said. His voice was kind but you could hear the hint of his sexuality as he spoke with a slight lisp. “What are you here for?”

“I seek an audience with the King. I know he is remarkably busy but I brought a tribute and my need to speak with him is urgent.” Marc held up the bottle of rum for him to see.

“King Tyler is a busy king but I see your tribute is exactly what is needed to see him,” said Matthew. “Follow me.”

They walked up the steps to the quarter deck. “This ship is considered to be a Man-Of-War ship. Only the best for King Tyler. Above this deck is the Stern castle deck where the navigation room is or was and then the Poopdeck. Through these doors here, we will be visiting the King in his Captain’s quarters. There you will be announced by me and I will give him the rum. When you enter please be courteous. You don’t have to bow but at least give some acknowledgment of respect.”

Matthew opened the door and entered first. He announced Marc and his companions and they entered. The room was huge. There were curtains covering the windows, a large table covered in food with golden goblets, plates, and silverware. There were piles of gold coins, pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires throughout the room as well. There was a large grand piano in the room which all three wondered how it got in there in the first place unless the ship was built around the piano.

King Tyler sat on a wooden throne painted gold with red velvet cushions. He looked as if he were tired and being there. They could see the green glow around him. His clothes were green as was his hat. On his right hand sitting on his middle finger was a silver ring with a green stone. This is where the green glow came from, the source of the green glow’s power. His light brown hair was extremely short, almost shaven but enough to give him a sense of hair, his beard and mustache were trimmed short as well. The disinterested look on his face said it all.

“So, you have come to seek an audience with me. What can I do for you,” he asked? Almost as if he didn’t care and didn’t want to be bothered with the situation.

“I have come to ask you for your ring,” said Marc.

“To get my ring, you must defeat me in a fencing match. Then you can have the ring and blah blah blah, I don’t care.”

“How many have defeated you?”

“So far, none, and I’m tired of it. I just want to pass on the power but my willpower is too strong.”

“Well, I have shown the strength of my willpower not only in the ice rink to get your rum, but also to your guards at the bottom of the gangplank.”

“I see that. You are determined it seems. Let’s see how determined you are to defeat me.”

They both went to the middle of the throne room and were given fencing swords. These were practice swords so that neither opponent would be injured and the King would not be murdered.

“The rules are simple,” announced Matthew. “The first one to get five points on the other wins. Please remember, at the beginning of each round, you must salute with your foils to acknowledge each other out of respect.”

Marc was handed a foil as was the King. They stood six feet apart in first position and then saluted. Marc’s foil was in his left hand while the King’s was in his right. “I didn’t expect you to be left-handed,” the King said to Marc. “This puts one of us at a disadvantage doesn’t it?”

“I took twelve years of karate. I can switch to my right hand if you like. I’ve fought against both left and right-handed swordfighters with both hands.”

“I think we can go with our dominant hand. I like a challenge.”

“That’s fine with me.” Marc switched to the en-garde position while the King went into a sixte position.

That was when the bout began. The King beat Marc’s foil and began his attack with a parry. Marc deflected the attack with his foil in a counter-parry and used a compound engagement of three attacks. Each foil blade clanged off each other on numerous occasions. With each parry from one fighter, the other counter-parried. Marc feinted and the King gave him an opening to lunge forward and make a hit right on the King’s chest. The tip of the foil was flat so that it would not pierce the King’s skin. The King’s foil had the same flat tip. The touch gave Marc the first point.

Each fighter went back to first position. “You did well with that first round. I did not expect you to land the first hit. Let’s see how you do the second round.”

The bout restarted in the second round. They saluted and the King went into the seconde position while Marc went into the tierce position. The King made a thrust at Marc and Marc made a stop-thrust. The King blocked Marc’s riposte and made a remise. Marc blocked and parried. The King counter-parried and lunged at Marc. He recovered into the en-garde position. The King feinted this time and got Marc off-guard. This caused the King to get a hit from his touch and received a point.

Marc stepped back and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “Good round. You’re really giving me a workout that I haven’t had in a long time. Let’s have some fun with this. I think we need to use the whole room. What do you think?”

“I think you’re right, let’s have some fun with this. That shows you have a strong will and you’re adventurous.”

The third bout started. They went into the first position and saluted. They saluted and Marc went into the prime position while the King went into the quinte position. Marc thrusted at the King who made a stop-thrust. The King made a riposte and Marc blocked the attack. Marc stepped back a few feet to give them some room and moved around the room counterclockwise. The King followed suit but went clockwise. They both attacked each other at the same time. Each blade hitting the other, neither knowing who was attacking and who was counter-attacking. Their foils clanged against each other quickly and fast. Both moved into a feint and ended up as a corps-a-corps. Both swordsmen were so close that neither could attack with their foils. Each one’s face was close enough to feel the other’s breath. They pushed back on the other and both jumped back. Both into the en-garde position. Marc made a mischievous smile which made the King look nervous. Both attacked again at the same time and this time it was a simultaneous call of neither fighter earning a point because they both touched at the same time.

This time the King bent over to catch his breath. “This is harder than I thought it would be,” he said panting. “You are now the one giving me a run for my money.”

Marc breathing heavily as well did his best to catch his breath. Both were sweating heavily at this point. “Do you want to quit or just take a break for some water?”

“I don’t quit. You?”

“Who says I want to?”

“Water break?”

“Sure.”

Goblets and a pitcher of water were brought in. Both took a break to get some water to replenish themselves and cool off. “You really are a great fencer. One of the best I’ve ever fenced before,” exclaimed the King. “I’ve never fought this hard in my life. You have the will power that is needed to receive this ring.” The King was holding the ring between his fingers turning it around looking at it.

“Your Majesty, I want to earn it the right way. I want to earn it by beating you or showing you that my will is stronger by finishing this but I want to do it with a little more panache. How about we get some music with this?”

“How do you propose to do that?”

Marc closed his eyes and a small CD player appeared on the table with several CDs next to it. The King was extremely interested in the new device that appeared. “What is this,” he inquired.

“This is what we call in my world a compact disk player or CD player. It plays music. I brought some music that I know would make this duel more fun.”

The King looked at the player, picked it up, put his ear against it, and placed it down. He then picked up each CD case and inspected them, opening them, and looking at the weird silver disks inside each case. “These hold music. Amazing,” he laughed. “I hope that the music will make us have a good fight.”

“Oh, they will.” Marc began showing Matthew how to operate the CD player and how to put the CDs into the player. Marc picked up the first choice and told Matthew to pick track two on the disk. He told Matthew to put it on pause until after the salute and they went into starting positions.

The two fighters went into first position and saluted. Marc nodded to Matthew who started the music. It was the song Duel of the Fates by John Williams from the Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace soundtrack. The King chose the prime position and Marc took a different kind of non-fencing position. He held his foil behind him like a katana, exposing the whole right side of his body. This surprised everyone in the room, especially the King.

“That is not a normal fencing starting position, but I’ll allow it.”

“This isn’t a normal fencing match is it?”

“True. Let’s see what will do with an attack when most of your body is exposed.”

The King thrusted his sword at Marc and Marc deflected it with ease. He did not go back to the attack position that he started in but to an en-garde position. He then began thrusting at the King who blocked each thrust. The King and Marc at the same time tried to disengage their foils and both foils flew out of their hands and onto the floor. They each ran to their foils. Marc rolled and jumped up into a standing position holding his foil while the King lunged for his, grabbed it, and landed on his back as he twisted in the lunge. Marc allowed him to get up and they continued the bout.

They both went into the en-garde position and looked at each other. It was the same point in the song where the chorus sang without any music playing. It reminded Marc of the scene in the movie where the two Jedi and the Sith apprentice stopped dueling for a moment for dramatic effect. Marc and the King charged at each other, the King kept running as Marc slid under his foil and touched the King on the chest earning him a point. The King looked shocked as the flat tip of Marc’s foil touched his chest and the song ended.

“Wow, that was amazing. Who taught you that?”

“No one. I did that myself, I guess. I never did anything like that before. Do you want to try another song?”

“Let’s do it.”

The score was 2-1 in favor of Marc. Marc put another CD into the player. He set it to track seven on the CD. The two fighters got into first position and then saluted. Matthew understood this time and started the music as the two fighters went into starting positions. The song Utah Saints Take on The Theme from Mortal Kombat by the Utah Saints from the Mortal Kombat soundtrack began playing. Both fighters began in the en-garde stance. They thrust at each other at the same time. Both missed each other and the tips of each foil went by the other’s face each by a millimeter. Both jumped back into defensive positions. Marc had his foil blade angled down and the King’s foil blade was angled up. Both fencers began swinging their foils at each other, jumping back so that the other’s blade wouldn’t touch them. Marc made a daring thrust towards the King’s chest and the tip barely touched the King’s chest. The two stopped and Matthew made the decision that it was a hit.

“That was interesting,” said the King. “I did like the two songs that you picked. This has been a good workout. What else do you have?”

Marc looked at the stack of CDs and picked one up. He informed Matthew to set it to track three. The two saluted and the King went into the quinte position and Marc settled into the octave position. The music began. It was Battle of the Heroes performed by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra from the Star Wars Episode Three: The Revenge of the Sith soundtrack. Each fighter attacked each other with fury. Thrusts and parries on both sides as their foils flashed between the two fighters. The two moved around the room, jumping on top of chairs, tables, and other furniture in the room while attacking each other with their foils. Marc swiped at the King’s legs while he was on top of a table and missed as the King jumped over Marc’s foil. The King jumped and flipped over Marc and landed behind him. Marc turned and the tip of the King’s foil touched Marc right in the chest. The two stopped with Marc’s eyes wide open. This made the score 3-2, cutting Marc’s lead by one point.

“Wow, that was quite a workout,” exclaimed Marc. “You got me good on that last bout. I am still two away from winning while you are three away. It is still anyone’s game though.” Marc chose another CD. “Since our last bout was so quick, I’m going to choose a different type of song and it will be a fast one this time.”

The sixth bout started. Marc and the King saluting, Matthew preparing to play the next song. Each fighter saluted and went into the en-garde position. The music started and Marc was right, it was something faster and a much shorter song than the last few. Marilyn Manson’s Fight Song from his Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) album began playing. Both fighters began their attacks, quickly thrusting and parrying as the beat got faster and the song played. Each fighter blocking and attacking each other swiftly. Marc tripped and fell back, landing on his backside. The King tapped him on the chest with his sword. This brought the score to an even three.

“You got me,” he laughed. “If I hadn’t tripped over my foot, I would have gotten you. You got the point at least.”

“Let’s take a little break to get some water.”

They sat down and drank water to replenish themselves. The King held the ring again in his hands, twirling it in between his fingers. “I still think you have earned this ring but if you want to finish this, we will.”

“Let’s finish it. I don’t want to quit and my will is saying to finish.”

Marc picked out another song and they got into position. The two saluted and chose a starting position. They were both in the prime position. The music started, it was Main Title or Rock the Dragon from the series Dragon Ball Z by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban. This was an amazingly fast song and the two attacked each other again with ferocity. Slashing, blocking, thrusting, and parrying commenced between the two. Marc feinted and the King left himself wide open. It was then that Marc made a hit right in the center of where the King’s heart was. This made it 4-3 in favor of Marc.

Marc switched out the CD and put the new one into the player. The two saluted and they got into position. They both chose the tierce position and the music started. The song was Ballroom Blitz by Sweet. The two started attacking each other and their foils sparked as they touched. Their attacks flashed between the two. It was then that the King made a stop-thrust that Marc lunged right into. Marc’s eyes widened as the tip of the foil touched his chest. The look of shock surprised even the King. The score was tied 4-4.

“Final bout time isn’t it,” asked Marc.

“Yes, it is. This is going to be the hardest one isn’t it?”

“I think so. I think it’s time to bring it on Deadpool style.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, you’ll see.” Marc went and changed the CD’s and the two got into position. They saluted and both went into an en-garde position. Marc looked towards an imaginary camera and said, “Hit it Dolly.” The music started playing. It was Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5. The King was surprised with the song since it wasn’t something he expected. Since the King was off-guard, Marc was able to make a surprise attack. It was blocked but not as fast as it should have been. Marc missed by an eighth of an inch but remised. The King continued blocking but again could not keep up with Marc. Marc lunged at the King, was blocked, and recovered to the en-garde position. They charged at each other and ended up again in a corps-a-corps. The two pushed back onto each other and jumped back. Marc did a feint and the King expected Marc to attack after the feint and blocked. Marc didn’t attack but moved and feinted again. This time the King didn’t expect him to be attacked and went in for the final point where Marc blocked and attacked. He hit the King square in the chest and the final point was made at the moment the song ended. Marc surprisingly won the whole match.

The King knelt on his right knee and conceded. “You won my boy. You were the better of the two. Now, let’s settle up.”

They sat down in the same chairs that they sat in to drink water and replenish themselves during their match. The King took his ring off and placed it on the table. He looked at Marc. “You won this fair and square. Your will-power is stronger than you think. The closest ring is at Thunder Mountain in Frontierland. To get there, you must go to the bazaar and take the train. The train ride will be quick and you shouldn’t have any issues getting there. As for the bazaar, just walk through and don’t buy anything. Those people in the bazaar will take you for everything. But, if you can, get yourself shawarma, gyro, or falafel, I would recommend doing so. The food is exquisite. The train ride will take about ten to fifteen minutes so if you have food, eat it on the train. Here are the ring and some gold for the food and the ticket. My guys will take you by boat to the bazaar where you will have to walk to the train. The food stand is in the middle of the square and the train station is right behind it. Now, for the most important part of accepting the ring. Repeat this and accept the ring: My will is stronger than my fear, I will protect all against evil!”

Marc repeated the words by the King and accepted the ring. The ring glowed in Marc’s hand and he put it on his right middle finger. It resized into his finger size and fit perfectly on it.

Chapter 9: The Bazaar and Train Ride to Frontierland

Marc and Tom left the King’s throne and was escorted to a longboat at the edge of Poseidon’s Edge. They sat in the boat and were rowed to the bazaar. They got off the boat and saw the entrance to the bazaar. It was called The Grand Bazaar. It wasn’t anything special, a few shops here and there but Marc could smell the food in the middle of the bazaar where the food stand is and saw the train station on the other side.

They walked past a few shops where they called out to him and Tom asking if they wanted to buy anything. Both ignored the sellers and kept walking. They walked to the food stand. The prices weren’t expensive but the food smelled amazing. Marc ordered himself a gyro platter and a falafel sandwich and ordered Tom a falafel. This cost him three gold coins. Marc went to the ticket booth and paid for his train ticket which was one gold coin.

Marc sat down on the bench and looked at Tom. “So, this is where you leave me isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is. I can’t go any further so I’m going to leave you at this station. It looks like your train is arriving.”

“It was good seeing you again Tom.”

“It was good seeing you too. Good luck my friend.”

“Thank you. Where will you go?”

“I don’t know, onward I guess.”

They got up and shook hands. Marc boarded the train and sat down. He opened his gyro platter and began eating it. The conductor came, took his ticket, and left. Marc finished his gyro and then ate his falafel. He was pretty hungry. He washed them down with an iced tea.

He watched the scenery pass as he rode the train. It went from a Middle Eastern desert setting to a frontier setting. The sand went from thin and coarse like the sand in an hourglass to a prairie with some grass, tumbleweeds, cacti, and some sand and dirt. It was hot but not very hot like the bazaar. The train pulled into the station and Marc got off. He saw the Frontier town and then saw the huge mountain in the distance with an orange light coming from the top.

Chapter 10: Thunder Mountain and the Orange Stone

Marc looked around and saw two women wearing prospector outfits. Their pants were brown with blue shirts and brown suspenders. They both wore cowboy hats. One was of average height with blonde hair in a braid to the right side. She was of medium build and very pretty. The other was a little shorter, a little heavy set with brown curly hair and glasses. Both had smiles yet the blonde looked sad.

“You’re here for the orange stone, aren’t you,” asked the blonde.

“Yes, I am. I need to get to the mountain, don’t I?”

“Yes, you do,” replied the blonde. “But you need to know some things. First, you must take a train the top of the mountain. It is an extremely dangerous and fast ride with twists and turns. Second, to get the stone, you must fight off your deepest of greed. Only then will you be able to get the orange stone. Third, if you do not win against your greed, you will be absorbed into the stone itself and become a wraith of the stone. Fourth, after your trial begins, you will only have an hour to complete and gain the stone.”

“I bet your desire is something fancy,” said the one with the curly hair. “It always is something fancy.” Her eyes turned orange as she said it.

“No, it isn’t something fancy, but I have an idea of what it will be. Where is the train station?”

“It’s there,” said the blonde who pointed with two fingers towards a broken-down shack with railroad tracks next to it. A train pulled up slowly to the “station” that was just as broken-down as the shack. It was an engine, a coal car, and a small passenger car behind the two. The engine had a small light on the front of it that put out an eerie glow from it.

Marc walked to the passenger car and got in. The two women walked into the car and strapped him in. The blonde looked worried while the one with the curly hair smiled as if she enjoyed it. She looked at Marc and her eyes glowed orange again. “Get ready for the ride of your life,” she laughed.

The blonde looked at Marc and said, “I’m so sorry, please be careful.”

They left the car and the train jerked to start. It moved slowly at first and then sped up. It started moving uphill, twisting, and turning around the mountain. Marc was thrown left and right as the train moved up the mountain. The train twisted up the mountain, going through tunnels, down hills, and then back up them again. It then sped up again, going up the mountain. Boulders banged and moved as the train sped by. Marc held onto the seat in front of him.

It began to slow down as it got to the top pulling into a dark cave. It stopped in the middle of the cave. The cave itself wasn’t dark but it wasn’t bright. There was an orange glow within it. In the middle was the stone hovering over a rocky pedestal. In front of the pedestal were long white cardboard boxes.

Marc got out of the car and a voice sounded overhead. “YOU HAVE ONE HOUR TO OVERCOME YOUR GREED OR YOU WILL BE ABSORBED INTO THE STONE AND BECOME A WRAITH OF THE STONE. THIS IS YOUR GREED! OVERCOME IT!”

Marc walked over to the boxes and looked inside them. He was amazed at what he saw. It was a complete collection of every Superman comic ever made from Action Comics number 1 to the most recent of every issue to February of 2019. There was also Amazing Fantasy number 18, Amazing Spider-Man number 1, X-Men number 1, and Hulk issues 180, 181, and 182. These were all the comic books Marc ever wanted and they were all there. They were bagged and boarded, and in mint condition. Marc felt as if his life was completed with these. He thought if he could put them in the car, he would be able to take them with him.

This was the greed taking over him. He could not contain himself as he paged through each box again and again. He picked up one of the boxes and tried to put it in the car. The box increased in size. Marc became frustrated and put the box down. It went back to normal size.

Wait, he thought, this is what the voice said, this is my greed. I have to stop myself from trying to keep this stuff.

Marc began to put the box back but then tried again to put it back in the car but then stopped himself.

“YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES LEFT TO DECIDE,” yelled the voice.

“Wait, I couldn’t have wasted fifty-five minutes doing this.”

“FOUR MINUTES!”

Marc began to panic. I have to get the stone, not keep the comic books. “This is not what I am here for, I am here for the stone, not the comic books! As much as I want them, I can’t take them with me.”

“YOU HAVE CHOSEN WISELY. YOU MAY NOW TAKE THE STONE BUT BEFORE YOU MUST SAY THE OATH.”

“What is the oath?”

“THIS BELONGS TO ME!”

Marc picked up the stone and yelled, “THIS BELONGS TO ME!” The stone glowed bright orange and the light went out. The cave started shaking and Marc ran to the train and jumped in. The train started and sped forward and down the mountain. Again, there were twists and turns as it sped down the mountain, going again through mountain caves. Bats flew by as the whole mountain shook and rocks fell from the walls and ceilings of the caves.

The train kept speeding faster and faster as it descended. Marc couldn’t do anything but hold on and watch as it kept going. The train leveled out and began to slow as it approached the “station”. Marc got out slowly and almost fell to the ground from being dizzy. He looked at the two women and said, “Wow, what a rush!”

“So, you beat your greed,” said the one with the curly hair. Her eyes were no longer orange. “I guess you were right.”

“I told you he would.”

“Thank you.”

“What was it that you had to overcome,” asked the blonde.

“A whole set of Superman comic books and a few others I’ve always wanted. All in mint condition.”

“Wow,” she said. “It wasn’t fancy like you thought it would be.”

“Can we see the stone?”

Marc held it in his hand and showed them. They looked in awe as he showed it to them. Marc looked to the sky and saw a yellow light in the distance. “Is that where I have to go next? Is that the next stone?”

“It is,” claimed the blonde. “You have to go to Gracey Manor also known as the Haunted Mansion. There you wi-”

“Stop,” said the one with the curly hair. “You can’t tell him what isn’t our business to tell him. That is for the next guide to tell him.”

“Can you at least tell me how to do get there or do I have to walk like the Gunslinger?”

“Oh, that we can do. You have to take the Mansion’s carriage which is waiting for you right now.”

Chapter 11: The Haunted Mansion

It was a black carriage with black leather attachments attached to horse skeletons. The skeletons also had head coverings that covered their full faces. Their eyes were red fire and they breathed fire from their mouths. There was a figure in the driver’s seat covered in all black. The driver’s face could not be seen because of the scarf but it was wearing gloves to cover its hands. Marc couldn’t tell the gender of the driver but still got in. He was skeptical but not scared.

The carriage started moving. It began moving slowly at first and then sped up. The scenery sped past, changing from a frontier scene to a forest in just moments. The forest itself was dark and the sky was black. There were a few stars and a giant full moon in the sky. Wolves howled, crows cawed, and bats screeched. The road was made of cobblestone and as it approached the Mansion, the sounds of the hoofs sounded off the cobbles. It was eerie.

There was a gate at the end of the road which opened as the carriage approached. It rounded up the front which had a fountain in front of the Mansion. The fountain was dark almost onyx and shaped like the Grim Reaper. The inside of the fountain itself was filled with a dark liquid and Lili pads. The Mansion was huge, three stories, with two wings. It looked like it had over sixty rooms. There were no lights on in any of the windows. It was incredibly old, as if it were built in the 1800s.

The carriage stopped in front of the door which had candles burning on the sides of the door. Marc got out of the carriage slowly and walked to the door. He knocked on the door and it opened slowly. Inside was a woman with red hair and blue eyes. She was pale but unbelievably beautiful. Her body was average but she wore a green servant's dress with a white apron. She looked at Marc and brought him into the foyer.

“Welcome to Gracey Manor. I see you’re here for the stone.”

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m Leah but not the one who you met before but another one. This test will be a hard one. You have to face your biggest fears in here.”

“What is in there?”

“Only what you bring with you.”

“How will I know when I pass this test?”

“The stone will appear to you. Now I must bring you to the dining room and leave you there. Once I close the doors to the dining room, your test will begin.” Marc noticed that Leah’s face began changing. She looked older as she spoke. What was once a young woman in her twenties turned into a middle-aged woman in her forties. She began walking towards a set of doors that brought Marc to a hallway. She changed again and looked like she aged another ten years. They turned down another hallway and again, she aged another ten years. They kept walking down a long hallway.

“The dining room is at the end of this hall,” she said turning to look at Marc. She looked this time as if she were in her nineties this time. Her gait began to diminish and walked slower. They walked through another set of doors and were in the dining room. This time she was a skeleton, all of the skin was off her body, her eyes were gone, and all that remained of her original appearance was her hair. The skeleton pointed towards the center of the room where there is a lonely chair waiting for Marc.

Marc walked to the center of the room and sat on the chair. The door closed on its own since Leah’s body had turned to dust by then. I guess she was a ghost the whole time. That wasn’t so scary. Marc sat and waited for the test to begin.

Nothing happened. It felt like time kept passing but nothing continued to happen. Hours had passed because Marc watched the clock. I know I have fears but nothing is happening and I’m here alone. I hate being alone. Marc saw shadows walk by and tried to go over to them but they disappeared. He felt alone. He walked to the windows and saw that the dining room overlooked a graveyard. Marc shuddered a little. Wait a second, the test started here but nothing in the rules said I had to stay in this room, did they?

Marc got up and walked towards a set of doors at the far side of the room. He tried them and they opened. He walked down a hallway and heard the sounds of people talking behind a door. He opened it and the room was empty. He closed the door and the voices commenced again. He reopened the door and again the room was empty.

He heard steps on the second floor, ran to the stairs, and ran up them to see where the sounds were coming from. He walked down one hallway and opened a door after hearing sounds from behind it. Again, it was an empty room. He heard noises coming from the opposite side of the house and walked there. He again opened a door that he thought he heard sounds coming from and again it was empty.

Noises then came from the third floor. Marc found the stairs to the third floor and walked to a room. It was empty except for a yellow glowing glass ball in the middle of the room. Around the glass ball were instruments floating around it. The ball itself was not empty. Besides the light, there was a head inside the glass ball.

“I am Madame Leota,” the head said. “I am here to show you your fears. You will die alone. You will never find love. You will forever be alone!” She then began to cackle. It hit Marc hard. He knew that he was alone in this quest and felt like he would be alone forever. It felt to him as if all of his happiness was drained out of his heart. He sat down on the floor.

“Yes, sit there and feel sorry for yourself. You will be here forever and never wake up.” This made Marc feel worse and shake. His anxiety began to kick in. It went from a three to a fifteen in less than a moment.

The ring on Marc’s right hand began to glow a light green. It reminded Marc that he was stronger than this. He looked at the ring and then at Madame Leota and then back at his ring. He realized that this was what the house wanted. It wanted to scare him. It wanted him to feel as if he was nothing. And it wanted his soul to be part of the house. It did what it could to keep him in the house.

The ring is speaking to me, he thought. It wants me to ignore her and fight my fears. Marc made a fist with his right hand and pushed his will into the ring. The ring shined brighter as he powered the ring up more. He looked at the glass ball which was glowing more. The ball was trying to push its fear into Marc and Marc was pushing back with his will power. Marc raised the ring to the glass ball. A light from the ring shot out of it and a light from the ball shot out of it as well. They clashed. Marc pushed forward with the ball pushing back.

“I will not be alone as long as I have friends who love me,” he claimed. “I WILL NOT BE ALONE AS LONG AS I HAVE FRIENDS WHO LOVE ME! I WILL NOT BE ALONE AS LONG AS SOMEONE OR SOMETHING LOVES ME! I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU!” The light from the ring became brighter and stronger. He grabbed his wrist with his other hand to support himself even more. He stepped forward and the light became stronger.

Marc closed his eyes and stepped forward again. In his mind, a hammer formed and he opened his eyes. The light from the ring split part of it became a huge hammer while the rest was a shield holding back the yellow light. The hammer was aimed over the ball. Part of the yellow light split and was attempting to hold back the green hammer above it. He gritted his teeth and yelled. The light from the ring became stronger and pushed back the yellow light even more. The hammer went further down pushing against the yellow light holding it back. He stepped forward again and the yellow light diminished more.

He remembered his favorite anime and pulled his hand back allowing the yellow light to gain a little and then pushing back against it even harder. The yellow light began breaking and the glass ball cracked. Marc yelled again, pushing more of his willpower into the ring which expressed more light from it. The glass ball cracked even more. Madame Leota began to scream as he pushed forward breaking her ball. In his mind, he thought of all of the heroes he admired before him. Goku, Luke, Obi-Wan, Superman, Hal Jordan, and Paul Maud' Dib. Those who were stronger and always fought for those who could not fight for themselves. Those who became stronger to fight others who were stronger than they were. That was when the green light overshadowed the yellow light. The ball shattered, the yellow light shot out of the area where the ball was, and then stopped suddenly.

On the table was a yellow stone in the middle. Marc reached for it and a leathery hand stopped him. He looked up and into the face of a dead man staring back at him. In his mind, he heard the voice of the dead man. Before you can take this, you must recite the oath. You must say this: I have conquered my fears, I am stronger than fear. Nothing will make me fear them.

Marc recited the oath and put the stone in his pocket next to the orange stone of greed. He walked down the stairs and to the front door. He met Leah there who had aged back to a beautiful young woman again. “Well, I got the stone.”

“Good, I was hoping you would. The next stone is in Tomorrowland and the only way to get there is through the People Mover. It will speed you towards your next stone. Remember, in this world, the laws of time and space do not matter so it will take you there extremely fast.”

Marc walked through the door and saw the indigo light shining as a pillar in the distance. He turned back to the door and looked at Leah. “I can’t leave the house but I can tell you that the People Mover station is behind the house on the other side of the graveyard. Just make your way through there. The ghosts won’t harm you but the Hitchhiking Ghosts can be a pain in the neck. Just tell them to go away and they won’t follow you to the station. You can also use your green or yellow stones to push them away. Will power will push them away showing them you are strong while the fear stone will scare them away by showing them what scares them the most.”

“Thank you,” he said and walked towards the graveyard behind the house. As he walked thirteen of the gravestones caught his eye. The epitaphs made him shudder.

The gravestones showed these:

• Here rests Wathel R. Bender, he rode to glory on a fender. peaceful rest;

• Here lies good old Fred, a great big rock fell on his head. R.I.P.;

• Rest in peace cousin Huet, we all know you didn't do it;

• Requiescat Francies Xavier, no time off for good behavior. R.I.P.;

• Dear sweet Leota beloved by all, in regions beyond now having a ball;

• Dear departed brother Dave, he chased a bear into a cave;

• Here lies a man named Martin, the lights went out on this old spartan;

• R.I.P. good friend Gordon, now you've crossed the river Jordon;

• In memorium uncle Myall, here you'll lie for quite a while;

• R.I.P. mister Sewell, the victim of a dirty duel. peaceful rest;

• In memory of our patriarch, dear departed grandpa Marc;

• At peaceful rest lies Brother Claude, planted here beneath this sod;

• Master Gracey laid to rest, no mourning please at his request. Farewell.

Marc became cold. It was from the graveyard. The temperature felt like it had dropped to the 40s. He then remembered the cup that Leah had given him and what she said. It would always keep whatever was in there warm and there was still hot chocolate in it and it was still hot. He drank from it and it warmed him up. It made him feel good and made him feel safe. He then continued to walk through the graveyard.

There were also crypts throughout the graveyard. Ghosts rose out of the graves and looked at Marc as he passed. They didn’t bother him and he didn’t tread on their graves. He continued walking at an even pace. He could see the station at the end of the graveyard and the gate to it. He was only ten feet from the gate when he saw the three Hitchhiking Ghosts.

There they stood: Phineas the Traveler, Ezra the Skeleton, and Gus the Prisoner. In this part of the world, they haunt mortals to bring them to the mansion to fill it. Each one looked at Marc to see if he would allow them to come with him on the People Mover.

He ignored them but they kept stepping in front of him. He walked around them, and they would float right there. He looked at them and told them they could not join him and they insisted in joining him. He made it to the gate and they refused to stop following him. That was when he showed them the green ring. They began to back away but continued to follow him through the gate. Then he took out the yellow stone. That was when they ran. They saw their deepest, darkest fears in that stone. They knew what that stone meant.

Marc walked up the ramp to the People Mover. It was a series of small cars connected together. There was a small bubble over each car. It was to protect the passenger from the speeds of the People Mover going through time and space. He sat down in the middle car and it started moving at an immense speed. Marc couldn’t feel the speed because the bubble protected and stabilized the inside of the car. The scene changed from the forest location to a futuristic location. It was only in a moment's time that this happened.

Chapter 12: Compassion for an Alien

The People Mover was flying over a futuristic city. Domed glass houses sitting on pillars. Cars flying in the air and rockets taking off into the sky. The sidewalks moved and there were travel tubes throughout the city. The People Mover continued moving towards the station which was by the indigo light. It slowed as it entered the station. It stopped and Marc got out of his car.

He looked around to get his bearings. The car allowed him to keep his equilibrium but as he got out, vertigo kicked in. He bent over and placed his hands on his knees to get his balance. “Yeah, that always happens your first time on this. You won’t get it the next time,” said the attendant. He was just an average height and build male. On the top of his head was short red hair. “Just watch your step on the moving ramp on the way down. The last part can be a doozy.”

Marc went down the moving ramp. He stayed on the left side holding it. As he got to the bottom, he found a restaurant that was giving away free water. He looked into the sky and saw the indigo light again. It was above a building roughly three blocks away. He stepped onto a moving walkway. It brought him to the building that the light was shining from the top of. The name on the building said, “Alien Encounter”.

The name of the building intrigued Marc. An alien encounter would be something new for Marc to see but wanted to know what kind of encounter it would be. He walked into the building. It was a fairly sterile environment. The lobby had some robots in there guiding people to go into theaters to experience the different alien encounters. Marc let the green ring guide him to one of the theaters.

He went inside and found a seat in a circular room. The room began filling up. Men and women, boys, and girls, all filled the seats in the room. In the center of the room, there was a large cylinder. Circling the cylinder was a round computer system. There were scientists standing at the controls of the computers wearing lab coats and goggles. One had a microphone headset and turned it on. She was a tall woman with dark brown hair. Marc couldn’t see her because he was too far away but he heard her speak through the microphone.

“Welcome everyone to Alien Encounter. We will be starting shortly. What we will be doing is bringing an alien here through a portal so you can see an alien in a contained environment. We will not bring a dangerous species to this room but something cute and cuddly. Please do not use any flash photography or make loud noises. Please stay in your seats at all times as well. We do not want anyone coming up to the area where the alien will be contained and release it into the building. They may be safe but they could get scared and become dangerous.”

The lights went out in the room and lights turned on around the cylinder. The cylinder lowered and there was a glass cylinder underneath. It was empty. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, be prepared for the appearance of an alien from another world teleported directly from its homeworld right to the cylinder in this room. In 3, 2, 1…. ENGAGE!” The lights blinked off for a few moments and turned on again.

In the middle of the cylinder was a small indigo blue furry alien about two feet long. It had big black eyes and a small mouth. It looked friendly and a little mischievous but not dangerous. It crawled around the bottom of the container and then put its paws on the glass. It attached itself on the glass and began crawling around the inside of the cylinder. It went to the top of the cylinder and then jumped down to the bottom.

That was when the expression on the alien’s face changed. It opened its mouth and sharp teeth were exposed. They looked like sharp white needles. Its paws expressed sharp claws about six inches long. Its fur stood on end and large blue ridges rose out of its back. The people in the audience began to scream in panic.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is not supposed to happen,” said the female scientist. “Please don’t worry, we will send this back to his planet. It seems as if we got the wrong creature. Please stand by.”

The lights blinked on and off and the sound of glass breaking came from the glass cylinder. That’s when Marc noticed the huge hole in the glass. The creature had escaped and was running around the room.

“Seal the doors,” screamed another scientist. This was after a dozen or so audience members had already left the theater. The doors sealed. Large metal doors slid together and locked the rest inside. The creature was jumping on the chairs, tearing up the seats as its claws touched them. The creature attacked Marc, jumping at him. He dodged the attack but his shoulder was grazed by the creature’s one claw. It angered Marc. He tightened his right hand and charged his ring with his will. He aimed it at the creature and a green light shot out of it. It missed the creature by mere inches. The thing growled at him.

It jumped at him again and landed on his chest. It tried to bite his face and he pushed it off of him. The creature kept jumping to attack him. He punched it in the face and it fell to the ground. It tried to bite him again but he pinned it to the floor. He had one hand on its throat and began punching it in the chest. The creature mewled in pain. It was then that Marc saw that it wasn’t trying to be aggressive but it was scared.

“You’re not mean are you, little guy,” he asked it in a kind voice. The creature looked at him and closed its mouth. He let go of its throat slowly and backed away. “You’re scared, aren’t you? You were taken from your home and you don’t want to be here.” The scientists began walking to the creature and Marc put his hand up to stop them. The creature began to growl again at them. “Don’t come any closer, I think I’ve got it calm,” he said to the scientists. “It’s just scared.”

The creature then walked over to Marc and smelled him. “Come here little guy,” he said and put his hand out. The creature backed away at first and then came closer again. Marc put his hand on the creature’s head and rubbed its ears. “You’re just scared aren’t you little guy.” It began to purr as Marc rubbed its head gently as it purred even more. Marc sat on the ground and the creature crawled into his lap. The scientists began to approach again and the creature hissed at them. “Stay back,” Marc repeated to them. “I’m calming it down.”

Marc began scratching its head gently and it kept purring and the purring became louder and louder. It rolled on its back and let Marc rub its belly. That was when Marc found out it was a male. “So, you’re a boy, huh? What should we call you?”

It began purring louder and then licked Marc’s face with a long flat soft tongue. “Aw, you’re a little softie aren’t you buddy? I bet you’re a cuddler too. I think we need to give you a name.” The creature barked a little and rubbed its back against Marc’s body. “He’s scared because you took him from his home. Have you no compassion? Put that tranquilizer gun away,” he told the scientist holding the gun ready to shoot the creature.

The creature shrank in size to about the size of a small cat. Marc began petting him more and the creature fully calmed down. Marc stood up and held the creature in his arms. Its pink nose was like an upside-down triangle. “You really are a fuzzy little guy, aren’t you?” The creature closed an eye as Marc called him fuzzy. “Aw, you’re just a fuzzy winkins.” Again, the creature winked. “I guess that’s what I’ll call you then, ‘Fuzzy Winkins’. Do you like that?”

The creature licked Marc on the nose and rubbed its snout on Marc’s face. “Okay, Fuzzy Winkins and I are going to leave now. Unlock the doors so we can leave.” The scientists didn’t move from their spots. “Why won’t you unlock the doors?”

“We were told to give the person who could tame this creature through compassion something.”

The scientists’ clothes changed magically. Their lab coats disappeared and they were wearing loincloths and the women wore wraps around their tops. On their arms were tattoos of a mysterious symbol on their arms and legs. Then handed Marc a glowing indigo stone. He took it and they told him to repeat this phrase: My compassion makes me strong. I will always have compassion for others. Without compassion, there is nothing. Marc repeated this and pocketing the stone.

He and Fuzzy Winkins were about to leave when the female who was the head scientist was again in her disguised form. “Keep heading east towards the giant archway. That should be about ten blocks. Go through and you will see a street of shops. Follow those shops to the train station. Go under the train station to the other side where you will see a monorail. Board the monorail and it will take you to your next destination. Go in peace always.”

“You as well,” he replied and left the theater with Fuzzy Winkins following him like a dog. Marc and Fuzzy left the building and walked east towards the giant arch. He passed futuristic stores and restaurants. The restaurants were food stands where patrons sat outside and the food was cooked right in front of them. Some of the foods were of Hispanic origins while some were of Asian origin. There was a Middle Eastern restaurant and the other was an Indian restaurant. All of the food smelled really good but Marc wasn’t hungry. He did stop off at the Middle Eastern restaurant and got Fuzzy a flank steak to eat because he seemed hungry. They sat on a bench while the creature ate the steak. Ate was an understatement, the creature devoured the meat in less than three minutes. They continued towards the arch after the creature finished eating and drank water. Pedestrians saw them walking and wanted to pet Fuzzy. Fuzzy allowed them to do so because they did not threaten him and he was enjoying the affection and attention. He purred every time someone rubbed his belly or head.

They made it to the archway and walked through. It was like walking through a barrier from one world to another. This place was like walking into the early twentieth century of a small Midwestern town in the United States. People were walking around selling balloons, cotton candy, popcorn, and soda. There was an ice cream parlor that served every flavor of ice cream and all different kinds of toppings and sundaes. There was a hotdog restaurant that sold foot-long hotdogs. Further down there was a general merchandise store and a candy store. Music played throughout the street and there was even a barbershop quartet and a barbershop as well. Marc was in awe as to what he saw because it was amazing. It felt like he transported into the past.

He heard the train whistle at the end of the street and walked towards it. The people he passed didn’t pay much attention to either Marc or Fuzzy as they walked. It was like they didn’t see them or they just saw a man and his dog. They made it to the station walked under it to the other side. There they saw a huge lake with a monorail station with a train already in the station waiting.

Marc and Fuzzy walked up the ramp and up to the train waiting for them. They got into the third car and sat down. An electronic voice on the PA system said, “Please be clear of the doors” and then “Por favor esté claro de las puertas”. The doors closed and the monorail began to move. It went around the lake at an average speed and it was very relaxing. The benches inside the monorail were long so both Marc and Fuzzy laid down on separate ones.

Chapter 13: Rage in a Sphere

The ride was peaceful and relaxing. The scenery passed by slowly and there was no one to bother either passenger. Classical music played on the overhead speakers. Marc didn’t mind the music and it helped him fall asleep for a bit. In his dream, he dreamed he was in a hospital and people were talking to him. They shined a light in his eyes, took blood, and well telling him to wake up. He had several IVs in his arms and he was in severe pain. They were talking to him, telling him to stay awake and not close his eyes. His wrists and hands hurt, his left foot hurt, his throat hurt, and he was thirsty. He felt dehydrated and needed something cold in his mouth. His tongue felt like it was leather from the dehydration. He asked for water and was refused. He had to go to the bathroom and they wouldn’t let him get up to use it. They placed a urinal on him so he could relieve himself which he did. He felt delirious and then he woke up again in a start in the monorail car.

The monorail had stopped at its destination. Marc disembarked from the monorail with Fuzzy and walked down a long ramp. In front of them was a giant geodesic sphere. Above the geodesic sphere was a red light. Marc knew his next challenge was inside this sphere. This sphere was the most dangerous of the tasks and he felt it in his bones. But he was still shocked by the dream he had. Or was that reality and he was back in the dream? He was confused about it but he had to focus.

He walked towards the sphere and in front of it were two people. A man and a woman. The woman was about Marc’s height with brown curly hair. She wore glasses and had an average body. The man was also Marc’s height with short blonde hair. He was heavyset but still built but he had no neck. They were both standing there wearing silver and purple shirts and black pants. They wore name tags on their shirts on the left side of their shirts. The male’s said Josh and the female’s said, Carmen Lisa. They walked up to Marc.

“Welcome to your next task,” said Carmen Lisa. “For this task, you must face your anger.”

“You must go inside and get to the top of the inside of this sphere,” said Josh.

“There you must overcome your rage by fighting your darkest enemy,” continued Carmen Lisa. “Afterward, you will get the stone of rage.”

“What is inside there,” asked Marc.

“Only what you bring with you,” they both replied in unison.

“Your animal must stay here,” said Carmen Lisa. “I will take care of him from now on.”

Marc’s clothes changed to a white Gi and a katana attached to his black belt. Under each sleeve was a throwing knife. Marc looked at them and then headed up the ramp into the sphere. “You don’t need your weapon,” called Josh. Marc ignored him and kept the weapons on him.

The two stood there, looked down, and shook their heads. Marc entered the sphere. It was an old ride that he had worked at called Spaceship Earth. The ride was not running and the lights were on. He chose to go up the load entryway which was longer but also safer. Instead of a long almost straight climb up, Marc decided to take the scenic route where he would be able to walk through the scenes of time. This way he would be able to stop at certain levels and not wear himself out. Marc started up the walkway towards the top.

He passed through the Cro-Magnon scene looking at the ancient civilization telling stories of their past in silence. The next were the Ancient Egyptians. The Pharaoh sitting there making decisions on what his subjects must do. The Phoenicians were there creating the alphabet for the world in the future. Marc passed through Ancient Greece and saw the birth of theater and the creation of math. He saw the burning of Rome. The smell coming out of the wall used to choke him when he rode the ride.

Walking further up, he saw that the books were saved because of ancient scholars copying texts and then stopped off in the Renaissance to relax for a bit. He sat on the stage where the musicians were playing. It wasn’t uncomfortable but it wasn’t comfortable. Just a place to relax for a few minutes. He then got up and walked through the age of invention. He passed by the family watching television which always creeped him out because of the little girl and expecting her head to spin around like in The Exorcist. The head never moved but it still bothered him, it had always bothered him. He made it to the Computer Age scene and stopped again. He went to where the computers were and looked in the books. He found his name in the book that he had written in there on his first day of training. It was next to Joe’s name who he trained with. He sat down on the desk to catch his breath again for a few minutes.

He got up and began the climb again to the top of the ride. The lights were still on when he got to the top and then suddenly, the lights went out. It was pitch black in the room. The elevator doors opened and there was a person standing on the inside of the elevator that Marc could not see their face. The person stepped out and the doors closed. The lights came back on and there was a man a little shorter than Marc with almost no hair on his head. He had a short beard and goatee and was overweight. His teeth were rotted, and his long nose was pointed at the end. He was beady-eyed and had a scowling look. Marc recognized him as Wil, someone he worked with at Frozen and couldn’t stand but not hated.

The lighting of the night sky changed to daytime. The usual flooring at the top of Spaceship Earth which had drops was leveled and there was grass on the floor. The track and cars for the attraction disappeared. Wil ran at Marc with his fist pulled back as if to punch him. Marc stepped back into a back-stance as he learned in his twelve and a half years of karate. Wil swung his fist at Marc which he blocked with ease and countered with a reverse punch. The Punch struck Wil in the stomach. Wil was unarmed and Marc dropped his weapons. He would not fight someone who was unarmed while armed. The weapons disappeared.

Wil fell back and bent over as the punch drove home in his large gut. Marc continued his defense with a quick blow of his elbow to Wil’s nose. The nose didn’t break but it stunned Wil for a moment. Wil stepped back and began growling at Marc. He ran at Marc again and punched. This time it caught Marc off guard and got him in the face. Marc was stunned and then began getting angry. He started swinging wildly at Wil, most of his punches missed Wil but the few that did hit Wil in the face. Marc’s anger increased one hundredfold and he finally was able to pin Wil against a large rock. He grabbed Wil by the head and started smashing it against the rock.

Wil smiled at him and laughed. “Your anger makes me stronger.” He grabbed Marc by the shirt and threw him across the field. Marc flew and hit is back onto another rock. Pain shot up and down his back.

Anger makes him stronger. The red stone, rage. If that makes him stronger, what will not? Marc had to think about this as he defended himself. He then remembers a line from the movie The Karate Kid, the most important rule of karate; “Rule Number One: Karate is for defense only!” Marc realized that his anger was fueling Wil’s power and making him stronger without even knowing it. Rage and anger fuel rage and anger. Marc did not strike back on the next attack. He just blocked and dodged the attacks by Wil.

“What are you doing you coward? Fight me!”

“I am fighting you by not fighting you. You said it yourself, I am making you stronger by fighting you. Remember a good offense is a good defense.”

“You won’t fight me, then die!”

He attacked Marc full force, punching, kicking, clawing, and trying to sweep Marc’s legs. Marc just defended himself with blocks only. There were a few times that Wil made contact by the blows were less and less powerful each time. Wil stopped attacking while standing about ten feet away from Marc.

“You’re getting weaker. Your attacks are hurting me less and less. You don’t have to do this.”

“I don’t care what you say, I HATE you!”

“I’m sorry you hate me but you don’t know me. You never got to know me. I don’t’ hate you, I pity you.”

“I don’t want your pity; I want you to fight me. I don’t like you, I never liked you. You took my friends away from me!”

“I never took anyone away from you. They were still your friends; you just didn’t like me from the beginning. I’m sorry you felt that I took them from you but I will not fight you for something petty.”

“You won’t fight me? Then die!”

Wil charged at Marc with his fist pulled back and he punched at Marc. Marc grabbed his fist in mid-swing and stopped the punch. Wil looked stunned as that happened. Marc pulled the fist down, twisted the wrist, and bent the fist backward so that it caused pain while not fighting his opponent. Wil screamed in pain but became weaker. Marc swept the legs from under him in one sweep. Wil lay on the ground with his wrist in Marc’s hand screaming in pain.

“Do you yield?”

“No, I will never yield! You will have to kill me for me to stop.”

“I won’t kill you. You will have to learn to live with the fact that your rage is not going to control me. My anger is not your anger and my rage isn’t your rage. I can control my rage; you can’t control yours. Now yield or walk away. I will not kill you.”

Marc began to walk away slowly. Wil got up and ran at Marc to attack him. Marc turned around. “This is my dream; I am in control of it. You will not control me and you will not control my anger and rage.”

Marc raised his hand towards Wil. Wil stopped in his tracks. “I control my rage and anger. Begone monster.” Wil disappeared in a flash of light.

Good, you defeated your anger and rage, said a voice out of nowhere. A red stone appeared where Wil stood. You are now worthy of the red stone. You must repeat after me the oath to take the stone: My rage and blood is the color of crimson red, From a body of the freshly dead, Amongst the darkest of our hate, Your destruction is your fate.

Marc repeated the oath and the stone flew into his hand. It tried to go onto his finger and he stopped it and placed it in his pocket. The room became dark again and the sound of the ride began to start up. Marc ran to the nearest car and got in before the ride started moving. The car stopped at the unload area and Marc disembarked. He walked out of the ride and was met by another cast member.

She had dark brown hair with blonde highlights. Her brown eyes were covered by brown glasses. She was about five-foot-eight but had the most amazing smile. Her body wasn’t thin but wasn’t average either. She was incredibly beautiful though. Her smile made her look like a cat but in a cute way. She was someone Marc had feelings for when they worked together. The name on her nametag was Cristy.

“I’m here to take you to your next challenge,” she said with a smile. “It isn’t too far but I wanted to escort you there personally. Follow me.”

They left the building and Marc saw the pink/violet light shining in the distance. They walked together in silence at first. The park was still empty but it was getting dark. They stopped in front of the Fountain of Nations for a moment. Marc looked at her.

“You know, when we worked together, I always had a crush on you,” he said blushing. “I never told you because I was too scared to say anything and I didn’t want to get in trouble with management. That’s why I always said stupid things around you because I was always nervous around you.”

“I kind of figured that,” she replied. “It would have been better if you had told me in real life and not in this but I can understand why you are telling me now. Too bad we are so far apart now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I left Florida. I’m back home in Texas now.”

“Honestly, I’m glad I was able to tell you, even if it is in this dream.”

She kissed him on the cheek and they continued walking. They passed the Odyssey building while walking on the bridge that separated Future World and the World Showcase. At the end of the bridge was the World Showcase Lagoon. Around the lagoon were eleven countries, each representing major countries around the world. To Marc’s left was the pink/violet light shining out of the top of the Mexican pavilion’s Aztec temple.

“Is that where I have to go?” he asked.

“It is.”

“Can you come in with me?”

“No, this is something you have to do alone. I can walk with you to the entrance but after that, you must go on your own.”

“What will I experience?”

“That I can’t tell you. I just know you have to do this alone.”

“Will it hurt?”

“I don’t know, it could, it could not. I just know it is something I can’t experience with you.”

“Thank you for being honest. I guess we can head towards my next goal.”

They walked towards Mexico and the scenery changed from the normal way the area looked. It became a dense jungle but the promenade was still there. They arrived at the entrance to the Aztec temple. Marc walked towards the entrance.

Chapter 14: Trial By Love

Marc entered the Aztec temple with the violet light shining out of its peak. He was alone because this was a task he had to do on his own, no companion could join him in this part of the quest. The temple’s inside was gigantic with a great hall as Marc entered. Around the walls of the great hall were pathways that looked like separate floors going up and up for different levels. In the middle of the main floor was a throne. On the throne sat a woman. She was robed in a violet robe but her face was not seen. She wore a violet leotard. On her right middle finger was the violet stone on a ring and in her ears were violet sapphire earrings.

The woman looked up and smiled. Her face still covered she gestured Marc to move forward. “Do you know why you are here?” She had a slight English accent with a slight Southern twang.

“Yes,” Marc replied. “I’m here to beg for your ring.”

“A man cannot wear this ring but to get it, he must go through a trial.”

“I am willing to do anything to complete my quest. I will endure any pain that I must to wake up.”

“Then you are ready for this?”

“I am as ready as I will ever be.”

“The trial is simple. You must discuss your past relationships and explain why you ruined each one. You must face each person whose heart you broke even if you did not do so intentionally.”

“But I have always been the one hurt. Why am I guilty?”

“You are a man; you are always guilty. Even though you were the one hurt, you hurt them without knowing it.”

“I will go through with the trial.”

“Let the trial begin.”

The trial began immediately. A table and chair were set for Marc by robed women who moved each piece of furniture with their rings of power. A chair was also set for each witness that would testify. Marc was nervous but knew he had to fight this one way or another. His green ring on his right middle finger glowed intensely. The robed woman with the hidden face sat there and called the first witness.

The first witness was dressed like the others. She wore the violet robe but her face was not covered except for a violet mask she wore on her face and a violet tiara with a violet sapphire on its highest peak. Her hair was light brown and she had green eyes. Her height was about five foot four inches and her body was of average type. She wasn’t beautiful by far. Her nose was a little crooked and beak-like. She took the stand.

“Do you know this man?”

“I knew him as a boy. We dated as children.”

“How did he hurt you?”

“He was immature. He didn’t know anything about a relationship. I was the first girl he ever kissed. At his Bar Mitzvah, I saw his heart belonged to another.”

“So, he is guilty of loving another?”

“He is guilty of being immature when we were dating.”

“I object,” exclaimed Marc. “I was only twelve to thirteen when we dated. You were my first girlfriend.”

“You never wanted to have sex with me!”

“We were kids. You were the one who never even kissed me until my Bar Mitzvah and even then, I had to beg you to do it.”

“You were immature.”

“ENOUGH! This is not up for debate,” said the woman on the throne. She looked at Marc, “You will have a chance to defend yourself. You may step down.”

The next witness took the stand. She was five foot six inches with black hair. She wore glasses and had blue eyes. She was skinny and hunched over a little. Like the rest, she wore the same clothes as the others.

“Do you know this man?”

“Yes, we dated. I was fifteen and he was thirteen. We went on one date and kissed a few times at camp and at the movies.”

“How did he hurt you?”

“He didn’t love me. He didn’t know what love was so I went for another my age.”

“Is that all?”

“He was immature.”

“So, he is guilty of being immature and not loving you?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, next witness.”

Marc bit his tongue at this point. He knew he could not sway to state his case until he was allowed to defend himself. The next witness took the stand. She was tall, about six feet. Her hair was dark blonde and she had hazel eyes. She was beautiful but to a point. She sat down.

“Do you know this man?”

“Yes, we kissed at a party when we were teens.”

“How did he hurt you?”

“He would call me and we would talk on the phone.”

“Is that all?”

“No, my father forced me to break up with him.”

“So, your father forced you to break up with him and that is how he hurt you?”

“Yes, but it was his fault. Our phone bill was through the roof.”

“Did he call you or did you call him?”

“He called me.”

“I see. You may step down.”

The witness stepped down. A few more women took the stand and then someone very different took the stand. She was five foot four with black hair and brown eyes. She was attractive but looked sad. She sat down and her testimony began.

“Do you know this man?”

“Yes, I do. We dated in high school.”

“How did he hurt you?”

“He thought he loved me but I broke up with him.”

“Why did you break up with him?”

“I found someone new.”

“Did he respect you?”

“Yes, he did but I wanted someone new.”

“Did you hurt him?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Did you try to get back with him later on?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Did he reject you?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Why?”

“Because I hurt him.”

“Did that hurt you?”

“Yes, it did.”

“So, he is guilty of hurting you because he rejected you?”

She placed her head down. “Yes, he is guilty of hurting me because he rejected me.”

“Thank you, you may step down.”

The next witness took the stand. Her dark black hair went partially past her shoulders. Her skin was pale with freckles on her face. She had brown eyes that looked sad. Her body was athletic. Marc knew exactly who she was and his heart stopped. Shaina, he thought. Why did it have to be Shaina?

“Do you know this man?”

“Yes, he was my best friend.”

“How did he hurt you?”

“He didn’t, I hurt him.”

“How?”

“He told me he loved me and I rejected him.”

“How did he tell you he loved you?”

“We were kissing, making out. He told me how he felt. He waited six years to tell me.”

“Why did you reject him if you two were kissing?”

“I don’t know. I was scared. He never forgave me. I never forgave myself. We stopped talking even as friends.”

“What else did you do to hurt him?”

“When I started dating someone else, I shoved a picture of my boyfriend in his face. I think that was what broke him.”

“Then he did nothing to hurt you?”

“No, he just went into a shell. He disappeared and ending his friendship with me because I hurt him.”

“Was that fair?”

“No, it wasn’t fair. We should have discussed it but we were only nineteen.”

“I see. You may step down. Next witness.”

The final witness took the stand. She had mousey brown hair that was shoulder length, brown eyes covered by glasses. Her face was frog-like. Her body was thin, not athletic but thin but her hips were wide. Dressed as the others, she had a smug look on her face.

“Do you know this man?”

“Yes, I was engaged to him.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“No, I hurt him. I broke his heart, I ripped it out of his chest but he did partially hurt me.”

“How so?”

“He never fully loved me.”

“Who did he love?”

The witness pointed to Shaina and said, “Her”.

“How do you know?”

“I just do. He was too involved in making our relationship perfect but then he would fall asleep while we would lay on the couch.”

“Do you think he was tired because he was working hard for you?”

“No.”

“What did he do for you?”

“He took me to Disney World for my twenty-first birthday.”

“Anything else?”

“He was going to take me on a cruise for my twenty-second.”

“What did you do?”

“I cheated on him.”

“I see, so you hurt him for no other reason except you feel he loved someone else?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, you may step down.”

The final witness stepped down. Marc was full of anger at this point.

The judge looked at Marc and said, “You may now state your case.”

Marc took a deep breath and released it. “I am on trial, not by you, but by myself. The first witness has no merit in what she had stated. I was twelve and then thirteen. Of course, I would be immature. She was my first girlfriend. I didn’t want to have sex with you because I didn’t feel we were mature enough to have sex. You only kissed me a few times and the only time we actually French-kissed was at my Bar Mitzvah and you broke up with me two days later because I was ‘immature’? For that, I can say go to Hell! I should never have asked you out!” The body of the first witness disappear from the bench she was sitting on along with those around her who were her friends.

“As for the second witness, you broke up with me to get back with your ex from sleepaway camp. Again, that doesn’t count as me being immature. I wrote to you every single day and I get a letter telling me you want to break up because you got back with your ex. Your whole testimony was a joke. In real life, we are still friends so I say begone to you shadow of the past!” Like the other, this witness also disappeared with those around her.

“The third witness has no merit because we made out at a Bar Mitzvah and you broke up with me after that. We never had one date. Your testimony is ridiculous and should be stricken from the record.” She disappeared.

“The fourth witness was too immature to be in a relationship. Yes, you hurt me but it doesn’t matter anymore. Begone!” She disappeared with those around her.

“Now, I will go back to the fifth witness and go to the last. You! You did so much to hurt me. You were a cruel woman. I could not date for so long because of you. The fourth witness may have hurt me, but you went far beyond anything she did. I tried to make us work but you lied to me. You cheated on me. You got yourself pregnant by another knowing that we stopped sleeping together for two months. You broke up with me when you were a month pregnant by someone else. I trusted you. You made my life miserable for so long after. I wanted to make a real life with you and you didn’t care that you hurt me. I hurt you, HA! You are nothing more than my own guilt playing with my head. You have no more power over me.” This witness did not disappear but she screamed. Her body turning to a pillar of ash and then falling apart, disintegrating to nothing.

“As for the fifth witness or should I say, Shaina, you did me wrong but I am tired of the pain you gave me. To you, I say goodbye and release you from my heart. For over twenty-one years I pined for you. I compared every woman I dated to you. I put you on a pedestal and for what? Nothing in return. So, for that, I release you. I will no longer compare any woman to you, no longer. My heart no longer belongs to you. I am now free of you as I am free of any other, I have dated. You say I am on trial, no I am judging myself. So, I say leave and be free. My heart no longer yearns for you.”

Shaina stood there; her mouth agape. “I. I. I,” she stuttered. “You release me from your heart?”

“Yes, you are free. I no longer need you. You have shown me in life that you don’t care and now my heart is stone towards you. All I can say is goodbye.”

Shaina’s face was in shock. “But you told me you loved me.”

“I have stopped. My heart no longer belongs to you.”

“I guess this is goodbye then.” Shaina began to disintegrate slowly. Her body turned to ash slowly. Her face was the last to go. The rest of the audience disappeared and Marc was alone with the woman on the throne.

The woman stood up and smiled. It was a kind smile and Marc could tell she was a kind person. She removed the hood of her cloak. She was beautiful. She had blue eyes the shone like blue sapphires covered by black glasses. Her hair was golden blonde. She had the most amazing smile Marc had ever seen. “You have proven yourself worthy of receiving the violet ring: The Star Sapphire. You have sacrificed the one person you loved above others to free yourself. Please, take this ring with honor. Not many men have been worthy to receive the ring and most who have come to this trial, have failed. You pulled through with flying colors.” She opened a small box to her right side and the ring floated down to Marc. It landed in his outstretched hand and he placed it in his pocket. “The oath you cannot repeat because you cannot wear it. You will know when to give it to the right person to wear it when the rose appears.”

“Thank you. You’re unbelievably beautiful though. Who are you?”

“Me,” she giggled. “I’m your past, present, and your future. You will meet me soon at your darkest time.”

“When will that be?”

“You will know. I cannot tell you the future because it cannot be foretold.”

“What is your name?”

“That I cannot tell you. You will meet me though.”

“When?”

“Soon is the only thing I can tell you.”

She began to fade as the temple faded around him. Marc stood there wondering about his future now and what it would hold. What was this darkest time he would experience? Who was this mysterious woman of his future? As the temple faded around Marc, he saw the next goal, ahead. It was a blue light fairly far away. On the ground was a note. It said: GO TO THE SKYLINER AND TAKE IT TO HOLLYWOOD. Marc walked towards it.

Chapter 15: A Skyride to Hollywood

Marc decided to walk around the countries since it was the same distance between where he was and where he had to go. He walked slowly towards it. The trial took a lot out of him but he wanted to get to the next challenge as soon as possible. He passed Norway, then China. He then crossed the bridge to the African Outpost and got himself water from the empty food stand. He sat down at one of the tables by the lagoon and drank the water from the bottle. Marc finished the bottle after ten minutes and continued his walk. He entered Germany and grabbed himself a pretzel and another bottle of water from an empty stand.

He walked and ate the pretzel while walking through Italy and the American Adventure. Again, he stopped but this time in Japan sitting by the koi pond. He looked at the koi pond and realized it was different from when he worked at the park. The koi were different. They were golden instead of white and orange. Their scales shimmered in the water; the moonlight reflecting off of them. It wasn’t getting cold but Marc shivered as he looked at them.

He got up and began walking again. He passed Morocco and smelled cooked shawarma coming from the quick-service restaurant. He wanted to go in and try some but knew that he couldn’t. He had to get to the Skyliner and to his next goal. He walked through France and looked around. It was still empty there but he kept walking. He crossed the bridge to go between France and the United Kingdom. There he saw the International Gateway and knew that was where he had to exit.

He wanted for some reason to go to the United Kingdom, to the rose garden in there. It was as if he was drawn there. He wanted to just stay there because he knew he would be happy and happy with someone if he just went there. It was as if he was being manipulated to stay in this dream or nightmare. Whatever he wanted to do, he knew he had to do the opposite or he would have been stuck forever.

He walked to the exit of the park and walked up the ramp to the Skyliner. There he saw a short brunette with glasses. Her hair was about shoulder length and curly. She wore a green dress with a matching green blouse and a white sweater. She was about five-foot-two in height. On her head was a green hat that looked semi-fancy. It was more as if she was dressed in a dapper fashion.

“I’m here to take you to Hollywood,” she said with a smile. “It took you long enough to get here. I was worried you would have stayed there since that is your favorite park.”

“I almost did stay,” he replied sorrowfully. “What would have happened if I did?”

“Well,” she said sadly, “you would have died. I would have lost my brother.”

“Adopted brother,” he said with a smile. “I missed you, Valerie.”

“I missed you too. Let’s get going to your next destination.”

The car for the Skyliner was sitting there waiting for them. The station itself was empty, no other cast members were there as they boarded the gondola. Marc sat on the side facing the forward while Valerie faced away from the direction they were going.

Marc felt tired again. He closed his eyes as the Skyliner took off. He wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or if he had woken up at this point. He could feel pain in his hands and feet. He was on his back in a dark room. His mother was there to his left but he couldn’t really see what was going on nor could he understand what was happening. He was tied down to the bed, his wrists were in gauze strips to stop him from removing the IVs in his arms.

“I’m thirsty,” he said. “Can I have some water?”

“No,” his mother said, “you can’t have water but I can give you some ice chips.”

“I need to use the bathroom; I need to pee.”

“You have a catheter inside you, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“I’m in pain, what’s going on?”

“You almost died.”

“This isn’t real, where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital.”

Marc couldn’t remember how he got there. He remembered the dream. “I’m in pain, why?”

“They put IVs in your arms and feet. You passed out in the apartment.”

“I have to do back.”

“To where?”

Marc didn’t answer. He closed his eyes and darkness enveloped him again. He could feel himself being shaken and when he opened them up again, it was Valerie waking him up so he could transfer to the next Skyliner track. They left the gondola and walked to the next Skyliner track. There they boarded a gondola at the empty station and it took off again. This ride was quick and Marc didn’t close his eyes this time. The Skyliner ride was quicker than the one from the International Gateway. It dropped them both off in front of the entrance to the park. The entrance was empty and pitch black.

“This is where I leave you,” Valerie claimed. “I cannot go any further than the entrance. I have to go back to my position.”

“Where do I go from here?”

“All I can say is to ‘follow the yellow brick road’.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, would I steer you wrong? Just ride the movies first before you do your next quest.”

“No, you wouldn’t. I guess I’ll ride the movies then,” Marc said with a smile. “Val?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime, just promise me you’ll wake up.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you,” she said and walked back to the Skyliner. She boarded a gondola and it took off back to the far reaches of Marc’s mind.

Chapter 16: A Ride Through the Movies

Marc walked through the entrance to the park and entered Hollywood Boulevard. Walking past the pin station at the entrance the lights turned on in all the buildings and the streets. Speakers started playing Benny Goodman’s Hooray for Hollywood as he walked up the small street. There was a split half-way up the small street which led to a tall dark tower. No light had shown from it but the blue light came from Marc’s left further off but he knew he had to go somewhere else first. He had to ride the movies.

Marc kept walking and a Chinese theater lit up in front of him. Spotlights lit up the sky and started moving back and forth. The doors to the theater were open and no one was in line to get in.

Marc walked into the building. There were glass cases full of movie memorabilia. He walked through the maze of the queue line to another line that had a giant screen that played movies. Since Marc was the only one in the room, he kept moving through the queue line to another room. That room had a ride vehicle waiting for him and a woman in a grey jacket, red shirt, and black pants stood outside the ride vehicle waiting for him. She was about five foot eight and had her black hair was tied back into a ponytail. She was pretty and had kind brown eyes. Her body was average and she had a smile on her face. On her jacket, her nametag said “Tracy”.

“Are you ready to ride the movies?” she asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“Then board the car and we’ll be off.”

Marc boarded the ride vehicle and they took off. They entered the golden age of movies of musicals. Busby Berkley’s Footlight Parade showed the scene of By a Waterfall. Normally it was animatronics if it was the real world but this was a live scene. The next scene in the ride was a live-action scene from Singing in the Rain where Gene Kelly swung from his lamppost as Don Lockwood and was then followed by a scene from Mary Poppins where Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins) and Dick Van Dyke (Bert) danced on the rooftop live.

The scene changed to Chicago in the 1930s. It was a seedy backstreet alley where Marc saw James Cagney as Tom Powers in his amazing movie Public Enemy. Marc could smell the dank dark smell of car exhaust and burnt tires. There was a fire in a barrel and two men were warming their hands against it. They came to a stoplight as it changed to red and the vehicle stopped.

“Hey, you two, get outta here,” Marc heard from the building to his left. It was a female’s voice.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Mugsi,” she replied. Mugsi was about five foot five with light brown hair and green eyes. She wore a black pinstriped skirt and jacket with a white blouse and a black beret with a red feather in it. She held a Tommy gun in her hands and pointed it at Tracy. “Are you part of the Thunder Gang?”

“No,” replied Tracy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Get outta the vehicle, I’m taking it for a ride,” she said to Tracy. Tracy ran off the vehicle and disappeared into the 1930s Chicago streets.

Gunshots sounded from the right side as a car drove up. “Hey Squid, it’s the Thunder Gang. You and Beans hold them off while I take this here vehicle for a little ‘joy ride’.”

“Okay Mugsi, we’ll hold ‘em off for you to escape.”

The vehicle took off through a set of doors into a western scene. There they saw A Man With No Name played by Clint Eastwood standing outside a saloon. Marc was able to smell the desert and the smell of not only horses but also horseshit on the ground. A little further down, they saw John Wayne as Ethan Edwards sitting on his horse. They passed that live scene to the ending of a bank robbery where Marc could smell the burning building of an explosion.

“Wow,” said Mugsi. “I wish I could have taken part in that one. Looks like they took all the gold and money from it. Maybe we can catch up to those bank robbers and steal the money they stole.”

“I don’t want any part in that,” Marc replied.

“I didn’t say you would be alive to use any of that money,” Mugsi replied with a smile. “Let’s catch up to ‘em.”

The vehicle sped up and the scene changed to a dark corridor. The smell coming from the corridor smelled of oil, sweat, blood, and fear. There was also the smell of fire and death within the corridor. The sounds of a computer made the announcement of a countdown to self-destruction. It turns out they were on the Nostromo from Ridley Scott’s Alien film. They saw Sigourney Weaver as her iconic character Ellen Ripley holding a flamethrower in one hand and the cat Jones in his carrier in the other. She stood there sweating with fear in her eyes. Mugsi was out of her element here but Marc wasn’t. He knew this movie very well.

A few feet further and a Xenomorph jumped out from the wall to the right. Mugsi jumped and fired a few bullets from her Tommy gun at it. The Xenomorph backed away from the explosive fire but not without being shot and some of its acid blood sprayed on the vehicle and Mugsi’s weapon of choice. Mugsi screamed and threw her gun overboard from the vehicle.

At that moment, the Xenomorph came from the ceiling and attacked again. This caused Mugsi to jump back and scream again and slam her foot on the accelerator to speed the vehicle up to get them away. Again, the scenery changed to an underground temple. It smelled of the desert, sand, and snakes. There were lit torches all over the temple and sand fell from the ceiling. They could hear two men grunting as they raised a golden box of the Ark of the Covenant from its cement casing. It was Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and John Rhys-Davies as Sallah in the movie The Raiders of the Lost Ark. You could hear Ford’s iconic line from the movie: “Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?” being stated as they passed by.

They continued to another room of the temple. In this room there was an altar. The altar was called the Altar of Anubis because it was shaped in the image of the Egyptian deity. Attached to the altar was a large priceless jewel. This jewel was guarded by a temple guard. The temple guard was robed in a red robe, their face covered and unseen. Mugsi stopped the vehicle as it approached the jewel and walked up to it. The temple guard stopped Mugsi and she reached up to grab the stone.

“Stop,” it said. “Those who touch the stone without permission from Anubis will suffer great consequences. You will pay with your life if you take the stone from the altar.”

Mugsi laughed. “Ain’t nothin’ gonna harm me.” She reached for the stone and touched it. A huge flame came up from under her. Mugsi screamed in pain as her flesh and clothes melted off of her. Smoke came up and all that was left of Mugsi was her skeleton, her skeletal hand still touching the stone. It was then that the temple guard removed her cloak and it was Tracy underneath. Tracy smiled and got back into the vehicle.

“Sometimes you have to listen to a warning. Let’s keep going. I think we have a little more to go.”

The vehicle started moving again and they entered another area. This time it was an ancient burial chamber full of ancient coffins. The coffins started to open and mummies started coming out of them. Their bodies smelled of death and decay. Their eye sockets, empty and dark. Their wrappings were moldy and frayed in most parts. Their flesh was almost completely gone and bones were exposed in different parts of their bodies. Some had worms coming out of them, others, rats, mice, roaches, and other insects. The smell coming off of them was so putrid that both Marc and Tracy wanted to throw up. Tracy put the vehicle into high gear and it went into a jungle area.

The jungle smelled fresh and clean. It did smell like animals but it smelled better than the burial chamber of that horrible movie. It was partially wet inside the jungle due to it had recently rained and it smelled like it does right after it rains. They could both see the water dripping off of the leaves of the plants. That was then that they heard the yell of Tarzan, played by Johnny Weissmuller. Marc and Tracy then saw him swing by on a vine as an elephant walked up next to them with Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane riding him. Jane said something to Tarzan which they guessed was for him to be careful as he swung on his vine. They laughed as they passed by.

It was then that they turned from the normal colored world to black and white. Marc smelled the scent of gasoline and tarmac. They heard the sound of an old Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior airplane’s engines revving up to take off. Mechanics were working on it to prepare it for takeoff. They saw Humphrey Bogart as Rick and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa standing outside the plane. Rick was telling Ilsa to get on the plane so she could escape. It was the end scene from Casablanca.

They heard Rick say this from the movie; “I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You’re part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.”

“But what about us?” Ilsa asked.

“We'll always have Paris,” he replied. “We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.”

Marc teared up. It was one of his favorite movies of all time and the ending always choked him up when he watched it. Tracy looked at Marc and saw how the movie affected him and started the vehicle up again. It moved forward and they went from black and white to animated and two dimensional.

The scene changed from the airport in Casablanca to the mountain scene from Fantasia and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. There they saw Mickey bringing waves up from under a mountain under him. The animated water sprayed up under Mickey and some hit Marc and Tracy as they drove by. It was refreshing but odd since Marc had never been animated before this time. The vehicle continued forward to the final scene.

This time they went from animated to Technicolor. Their skin became three-dimensional again as well. They entered Munchkinland just after Dorothy had killed the Wicked Witch of the East. The Munchkins then started to appear and welcome them to their land and thanked them for stopping the Wicked Witch of the East. They then began to celebrate by singing “Ding Dong The Witch is Dead” as they celebrated.

“Tracy looked at Marc and said, “I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore.” They both laughed.

It was then when a puff of smoke appeared and Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West appeared. She looked menacingly at them and asked; “Who killed my sister? Who killed the Witch of the East?” She pointed at Tracy, “Was it you?”

“No,” Tracy responded, I didn’t kill anyone. It was an accident.”

“Well, my little pretty, I can cause accidents, too!” exclaimed the Witch.

“Oh rubbish, you have no power here,” claimed Tracy. “Be gone before someone drops a house on you, too.”

“Very well,” cried the Witch. “I’ll bide my time. But just try and stay out of my way. Just try! I’ll get you, my pretty. And your little dog, too!” She disappeared in a huge puff of smoke.

“How are we going to get out of here?” asked Tracy.

“Follow the yellow brick road,” said a Munchkin.

“Follow the yellow brick road?”

“Follow the yellow brick road,” the Munchkins began to sing. They continued the song as the vehicle started moving forward.

The vehicle passed quickly by Dorothy (Judy Garland), Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack Haley), Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) and Toto (Terry) standing in front of the Emerald City ready to enter it and passed the dark theater back to the entrance where Marc boarded the ride. Tracy stopped the vehicle and looked at Marc.

“Well, this is the end of the ride. I hope you learned something from this.”

“I think I did,” he replied. “I guess I have to go to my next destination, don’t I?”

“Yeah, or you can stay here and ride the movies with me forever.”

“I would love to but I think I have to wake up sometime.”

“Well, it was good seeing you again.”

“It was. Maybe when I wake up, we can hang out again.”

“Who knows,” she replied, “who knows.”

Marc left the building and as he did, the lights behind him began to shut off. The building was dark when he went outside and he headed towards the blue light shining out of the top of another area within walking distance.

Passing a few empty buildings where attractions usually were, Marc saw his next destination. It was the Forrest Moon of Endor. There he saw an AT-AT standing outside a bunker with the Ewok Village above it. Again, the queue line was empty and Marc walked up to the building.

Outside the entrance was a young woman in her early twenties. She was short with black hair and brown eyes. She wore red lipstick. She was from the small island of Sempai and Marc recognized her as Anna Rose.

“Welcome Commander,” she said with a child-like smile. “You’re late for the briefing.”

“Briefing?”

“You’ll see when you get inside.”

Marc entered the building questioningly.

Chapter 17: A Hopeful Flight

As Marc entered the building his clothing automatically changed to an orange flight suit with a white flak vest and a life support box over it. Black thermal gloves appeared on his hands, and black boots appeared on his feet. In his right hand appeared a white helmet with the red Rebel Alliance symbol on both sides of the front of the helmet. The orange targeting visor was still intact on the semi-charred helmet. Flares appeared in the stow pockets along with a commlink.

The inside of the building was a bustling hangar of starships from the Star Wars movies. X-Wings, A-Wings, Y-Wings, B-Wings, and other starfighters along with battlecruisers, frigates, cruisers, destroyers, carriers, assault ships, corvettes, gunships, logistic vessels, dropships, and landing crafts all filled the giant hangar. In the corner was the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo and Chewbacca fueling the Corellian light freighter. All of these ships were preparing for an attack against the Empire. To Marc, the smell of the hanger was amazing. It smelled like oil, fuel, sweat, and fire. The fire smell was from the sparks the mechanics made from welding. The noises were of people (humans and aliens alike) chatting, mechanics working on ships, and the sounds of engines being tested. The lights were bright and the room was hot.

As Marc stood there in a daze, someone walked over to him. He was about five foot six with short brown curly hair and glasses. His eyes were brown and mischievous. He was of Spanish descent and in Aurebesh the name on his flight suit said, Danny. Marc recognized him from working together at the Frozen Sing-Along.

“Marc!” Danny exclaimed. “I’m so glad to see you here. When did you get here?” They grabbed each other’s forearms in a way of shaking.

“I just got here,” Marc replied. “What’s going on?”

“You’re gonna miss the briefing. Come on, we gotta hurry up and get there. We’re gonna attack the Empire.”

“What do you mean attack? Is this the second Death Star?”

“Second Death Star? We just blew up the first one.”

“Oh, you haven’t gotten to that yet, have you? Let’s get to the briefing.”

They walked to the briefing room in a hurry. The briefing room was huge and full of different pilots of all different races, species, and genders. In the middle of the room was a projection of a planet. Around the planet was a giant force field around it with six space stations that the force field was attached to. The planet had Mustafar written under it and the space stations had Mustafarian Station One through Six below each.

There were a man and a woman standing opposite of each other with the projection between them. The man was about thirty with a brown beard, blue eyes, six feet tall, and of average build. He wore a hat that covered his short brown hair. The woman was about four foot eight, with red hair and blue eyes. Her body was of thin build. The man was wearing the same kind of flight suit as the rest and the woman was wearing a white tunic.

“Gentlemen, thank you for joining us,” said the woman. “We can finally begin. As you can see, we are going to attack Mustafar. This planet is where Darth Vader has his castle also known as Fortress Vader. Underneath the fortress is a Sith cave that contains a dark side locus. This fortress was designed to contain the spirit of a specific Sith Lord, ancient and also an artist. His name was Darth Momin. Vader uses this fortress as his own personal residence where he uses a personal bacta tank to rest in. We received all of this from a spy that we had in the fortress who was disguised as part of Vader’s cleaning personnel. That was before that spy was returned to us in pieces. Around the planet are six space stations that hold the forcefield in place. I will give the rest of the time to General Foley.”

“Thank you, Admiral Bishop,” General Foley said. “We will attack the space stations with separate multiple squadrons of four. Each squadron will have different fighters ranging from X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, and B-Wings. We will take out each space station at the same time or as close to the same time. As each station is destroyed, we will then have each squadron split up and attack the rest of the stations. After all of the stations are destroyed, the force field around the planet Mustafar will fall and we will be able to attack Fortress Vader. We will send both ground troops and fighters to the surface to attack and destroy Fortress Vader.”

As General Foley spoke, the projection showed the stations being destroyed and then Fortress Vader blowing up. “If need be,” he continued, “we may have to destroy the planet Mustafar itself. This would kill all Mustafarians which we will try not to do if we can help it. If we can save the planet, we can use the planet to mine the same substances of dolovite, lava minerals, and metal ore for our own ships.”

“If there are no questions,” said Admiral Bishop, “then let’s get to our ships and may the Force be with us all.”

Everyone got up and left the briefing room. They all entered the hangar and went to their respective ships. Marc found his X-Wing next to Danny’s and they both got into them. Marc started his X-Wing and felt the engine humming as they started. They flew their X-Wings out of the hanger and got into their specific squadrons. Both Marc and Danny were placed into Blue Squadron.

Blue, Marc thought, does this have to do with the next stone? They set in the coordinates for Mustafar in their hyperdrive navigational computers and jumped into hyperspace. The trip felt like it took moments because hyperspace jumps by computer aren’t really timed. As Marc jumped out of hyperspace, he realized the whole mission team wasn’t too close to the planet and his squadron and the three others were preparing their attack.

The space station was spherical and white. It was about a mile in diameter with six little cylinders sticking out of each cross-section. There was an opening in the middle hemisphere on one section that was the bay for ships to enter and exit.

“This is Blue Leader,” said Blue Leader, “all of Blue Squadron check in.”

“Blue Two, standing by.”

“Blue Three, standing by.”

“Blue Four, standing by,” said Danny.

“Blue Five, standing by,” said Marc.

“Blue Six, standing by.”

“Blue Seven, standing by.”

“Blue Eight, standing by.”

“Blue Nine, standing by.”

“Blue Ten, standing by.”

“Blue Leader to all of Blue Squadron, set your S-Foils to attack position.”

Each member of Blue Squadron that were X-Wings and B-Wings opened their S-Foils so they could attack their perspective station. Marc primed his laser cannons and armed his torpedoes to prepare for this assault. He also brought up his shields with the main focus of them on his forward shields with minor shielding on his rear at that moment unless fighters appeared.

“Blue Squadron, this is Gold Leader, Red Squadron and Hound Squadron are ready for attack. We will take out this space station and then split to the three closest space stations.”

“Copy that Gold Leader and may the Force be with you!”

The four squadrons attacked the space station with speed. Lasers fired from the station attacking the four squadrons. Marc fired his lasers at one of the ports where the lasers were coming from. The laser gun blew up and Marc rolled his X-Wing out of the way. Other laser gun ports exploded as well. Then the towers to the space stations fired their laser guns from different parts of the station and then suddenly they stopped.

“They stopped firing their lasers,” said Danny. “How come?”

“Fighters,” said Marc. “They are releasing their own fighters.”

“Blue Squadron, this is Blue Leader, let’s regroup.”

At that moment multiple squadrons of TIE-Fighters exploded out of the space station. There had to be about fifty TIE-Fighters in all. They attacked the four squadrons firing lasers from the front of their ships. Marc set his shields to cover all sides of his X-Wing. He was able to take out five that came towards him as they exited the space station before regrouping with the rest of Blue Squadron. “Great shots Marc,” said Danny.

“Thanks,” he replied.

“Blue Four and Five, cut the chatter, and let’s take out the rest of these fighters,” said Blue Leader.

All of the squadrons attacked the fighters. Marc could see those from his own squadron and others destroying other fighters but also some being destroyed themselves. Marc rolled away from a few attacks by some Imperial fighters as he shot back at them. Danny’s X-Wing was taking on two fighters while a third was on his six.

“I’ve got one following me,” Danny cried as he blew up the two fighters he was firing at. “I can’t shake him.”

Marc cut his engines, flipped his X-Wing to Danny’s direction, dropped his shields, and went full speed towards the fighter following Danny as it fired at him barely missing him by millimeters. Marc got on the fighter’s six and blasted the fighter to oblivion. He then put his shields back up and sighed as he knew Danny was safe.

“Thanks, Marc.”

“No problem, bro.”

“Let’s get back into this dogfight.”

Marc and Danny went back into the dogfight between the Rebel Alliance and the Imperial Fleet. Fighters from both sides were being destroyed on both sides. Marc targeted the space station’s bay with his torpedoes and fired them. They struck home but were deflected off the bay’s shields. They flickered as they weakened and Marc saw. He relayed this to those in all of those in his squadron and Blue Leader relayed this information to the other leaders. Each of the stations had released their fighters and all of the other squadrons were in dogfights as well.

Danny went for the bay and he was again attacked from behind. He couldn’t get them off of his tail and Marc was in a dogfight with three fighters attacking him. Danny was shot from behind and it damaged his torpedoes. He kept going towards the bay.

“Danny, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to take out this station with my X-Wing,” Danny replied.

“Danny, don’t do it,” Marc cried.

“I have to, it’s the only way to take this one down.” He increased his speed of his X-Wing. His shields went down and he slammed into the space station’s bay. The X-Wing exploded as did the bay. It set off a chain reaction inside the space station and the whole space station exploded.

Everyone cheered as the station went down but Marc felt remorse for the death of his friend. Danny made a sacrifice that Marc would never be able to forget. He followed his squadron to the next space station. He decided to stay out of the way of the station’s bay and kept going after the TIE-Fighters so that the attacking squadrons could take down the station themselves.

That station and three more went down. All of the squadrons went after the final station while a few stayed back to take off the straggling fighters. The stragglers were taken off quickly and the final space station was taken out pretty quickly.

Blue Leader, as well as Blues Two and Three, were destroyed which left Marc as the new Blue Leader. He suggested to the other leaders to see if they should assist with the taking of Fortress Vader. They all agreed it would be a good idea and they escorted the landing parties to the surface of the volcanic lava planet.

The fighters flew over the planet’s “surface” as they headed towards Fortress Vader, ready to fire their torpedoes and other weapons at the giant monolithic obsidian building. It was hot and the fighters began to overheat. Marc brought his fighter a little higher into the sky closer to the atmosphere to keep cool and the rest of the fighters followed his lead.

“Follow me and stay in attack formation,” he instructed. “Do not allow them to break us up. If we do get attacked, I want only a few of us to break off and take down any fighters. As soon as those fighters are taken down, back into formation or attack Fortress Vader. If, and only if, we are attacked while taking down the fortress, then we will have half, and only half, of the squadrons, will go after the attacking fighters. We will do this by the book, no deviations unless it is one hundred percent necessary. Do not lose hope and may the Force be with us all!”

The other pilots cheered as they flew towards their target. As they approached the fortress, several squadrons TIE-Fighters flew out from behind it. It was not as many as the ones in the space stations. Half the squadrons flew off to go for the enemy fighters and the rest went after the fortress. Torpedoes and lasers hit the obsidian building with multiple explosions. Laser cannons fired from the fortress and tore into many of the attacking fighters.

“I need four fighters to come with me,” Marc said, “to take down those cannons.”

They circled the fortress first to survey how many cannons there were. They found four on the lower portion of the tower in each corner and one at the top of the highest point of the tall three-hundred story fortress tower.

“Why would Vader want something so high?” asked one of the pilots.

“Maybe he’s compensating for something,” replied another jokingly. “I mean I heard he lost more than just his legs and arms on this planet.”

“There’s more to it than just that,” said Marc. “He has some important and ancient Sith artifacts in there and there is something special under that place. Let’s cut the chatter and take down those cannons.”

They started shooting their lasers at the cannons. The first one on the southwest corner of the tower was taken out while the other squadrons distracted the other three cannons and took out the enemy fighters. They went after the northeast cannon next. One of Marc’s team was taken down by that laser cannon before it was destroyed by one of the others in Marc’s team who took it out with a proton torpedo. They went after the southeast cannon next and it blew apart with another proton torpedo. That left two cannons left. The northeast cannon and the huge cannon at the top of the tower. They broke off again and made a wide berth around the tower and went for the northeast cannon. They destroyed the cannon and then they had to deal with the cannon at the top.

They pulled back and observed the tower from the distance. The cannon at the top of the tower was able to rotate three hundred and sixty degrees. It was the most dangerous of the five cannons.

“We are going to need to take this out differently than the others,” Marc said. “We need to attack this from eight different directions, maybe seven. We will attack it from the north, south, east, west, northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest directions. I think we should even attack from above. This way we would be able to take out this cannon with all of our proton torpedoes and the cannon can only attack one of us at a time. I’ll take the north, Blue Six will take the south, Blue Seven will take the east, and Blue Eight will take the west. Blue Nine will take the northeast, Blue Ten will take the northwest, Green Two will take the southeast, and Green Three will take the southwest. I think that should do it but I also think Green Four should take it from above.”

“Copy that Blue Leader,” they all said at the same time.

The fighters flew to their perspective directions and their attack began. They flew at the cannon with their shields focused on the front of their fighters. Their lasers fired from the tips of their S-Foils. The cannon swung first to the south and fired. Blue Six dodged the attack and fired back with a torpedo. It was destroyed by the cannon and it fired again at the fighter. This time it wasn’t as lucky to dodge the attack and it was destroyed immediately.

It changed direction to the southeast. Meanwhile, the rest of the fighters were attacking the cannon. They locked their targeting computers and fired at the cannon. They were direct hits but the cannon stayed intact. It fired at Green Two. The small A-Wing dodged the attack and fired in response. They pulled back and regrouped back to their original attack positions.

“Blue Leader, this is Green Four.”

“This is Blue Leader Green Four, what’s the problem?”

“I see a small shield box next to the cannon. I can take it out from an attack from above.”

“Copy Green Four, do what you can. The rest of you, hold back until Green Four takes out that box.”

“Copy Blue Leader,” they all replied.

Green Four did a nosedive towards the tower. The cannon swung up towards Green Four and fired. Green Four was able to dodge the attack and they targeted the shield box. They fired and the torpedo hit the box on point. The box blew and the shield dropped on the cannon. Green Four fired again and missed the cannon as it fired. The cannon hit the tip of the right wing of the A-Wing. Green Four couldn’t pull up in time and crashed directly into the cannon. Both Green Four and the cannon blew up at the same time.

“This is Blue Leader to all squadrons, the cannons are destroyed, I repeat, the cannons are destroyed. Attack Fortress Vader now!”

All of the squadrons attacked the fortress at full force. The torpedoes blew up the obsidian walls and the fortress exploded. Cheers rang out over the coms as it exploded. They left the planet and went back up into the cold dark recesses of space. They began to put in the coordinates for their secret base when it happened.

Five Imperial Star Destroyers arrived at the planet to block them from leaving. Alarms went off in Marc’s earpiece as he saw them arrive. Over the comm, he heard an admiral yell for evasive maneuvers as the Star Destroyers released TIE-Fighters and began firing at the cruiser ships.

“This is Blue Leader, protect the ships and allow them to escape. We can always catch up to them. Take out those fighters and those Star Destroyers or as many as possible!”

“Copy Blue Leader,” they replied.

“Thank you, Blue Leader,” said the unnamed admiral. “We’ll meet you back home.”

The fighters attacked each other and the Star Destroyers. Marc led his squadron and the rest of Green Squadron towards the closest Star Destroyer. They bypassed the TIE-Fighters that sped by them and started firing at the Star Destroyer. They went for the shield generators first. They fired proton torpedoes at them and they blew up. The shields of the Star Destroyer dropped and made the giant death ships vulnerable to attacks.

The combined squadron attacked the Star Destroyer. They fired their torpedoes at the ship as it fired back at them.

“Target the bridge.”

They targeted the bridge and fired. The Star Destroyer began to slowly descend towards Mustafar as it got caught in the gravity of the small planet. They could hear cheering over the coms as crashed into the lava ocean. The second Star Destroyer went down as well. The TIE-Fighters were being picked off three or four at a time as the Star Destroyers were being destroyed. There was one left. It was a Super Star Destroyer.

“We have one left, a Super Star Destroyer.”

“That thing is huge,” said one of the pilots.

“I know it's huge,” replied Marc, “but we can’t lose hope. When we lose hope, we lose everything. Don’t give up and the Force will guide us.”

They went after the Super Star Destroyer. Eight out of the fifteen squadrons attacked the ship. They attacked the shield generators first which exploded on impact. They took out the cannons around the bridge as well. All of the fighters then attacked the bridge. They fired proton torpedoes at the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer and it blew up. It started a chain reaction and began blowing up. Like the other three Star Destroyers, it fell into the planet, crashing into another lava sea.

Because the TIE-Fighters didn’t have a hyperdrive system attached, they wouldn’t be able to track the Rebel Alliance fighters to their base. The fighters escaped and returned to their hidden base on Reamma. They landed and disembarked from their fighters.

All of the pilots were celebrating their victory. All except Marc that is. He was mourning the loss of his fallen comrades. He was happy for the victory but felt that he could have done more for them. He was hopeful that they went to their respected heavens and would be able to reunite with their families.

He went to the briefing room with the rest of the remaining pilots. He was called down to the front of the briefing area.

“For taking the lead in this mission after your squadron leader was killed off, we honor you with this medal.” The medal was gold, about the size of a half-dollar, with a blue stone in the middle. “Before you can take it though, you must repeat this: When the day is fearful and the night is raging, Our hearts will be strong and our souls will ignite, When everything seems to lose in the War of Light, From the stars, hope burns bright.”

Marc repeated the oath and was given the medal. He held it in his hand and then held it up for all to see. It shined bright and the light enveloped him. It turned so bright that he was transported outside the building.

He was outside the attraction and it was still night but a darker night than he expected. He saw his next goal. He had collected all seven of the rings and was now on his way to the final task. He saw the black light shining out of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The dark hotel on the other side of Hollywood Studios. It was the Darkness he had to fight and he had the rings to unlock the final power. He headed towards the final goal with hope and willpower guiding him.

Chapter 18: The Darkest Challenge and the Light of Life

Marc remembered he still had the medal in his hand. When he looked at it while walking towards the Tower of Terror. It wasn’t a medal anymore but just a blue stone. He walked back towards the main road of Hollywood Boulevard to the cross-street of Sunset Boulevard.

Sunset Boulevard was completely dark. Shadows loomed from the shops and quick-service food stands. Dark creatures ran back and forth between the shadows. They were small creatures about a foot high. Their hands were claws, their bodies lanky, and their arms long. Their ears were round and when they opened their mouths, they had long sharp teeth. Their eyes, small and red like pinpricks. Marc couldn’t see their skin because they kept to the shadows and avoided the little light that was emanating from the sky and the stone of the ring on Marc’s right middle finger.

Were they frightening? Yes. Was Marc scared of them? Partially. He was more concerned about getting to the Tower and finishing this dream or whatever this whole situation was. He walked closer to the Tower and it felt like it was pushing him away at times and at other times pulling him closer. When he felt scared, it pulled him closer, when he pushed the fear away, he pushed him away.

He passed the entrance to Fantasmic on his right. The entryway was dark and closed off. There was garbage outside the entrance. Maps of the park, soda cups, popcorn bags, and plastic bags were littered all of the ground outside. The trash was strewn all over the ground towards the Tower and all over the area. The trash also went to the Rock n’ Roller Coaster and filled the courtyard of that attraction.

He walked to the gate of the Tower. It was closed but not locked. He pushed open the gate. It was hard to open because the hinges were rusty. He had to shove the gate door just for it to open but it opened with a loud creak. It did so slowly but it opened and the gate stopped halfway open.

Marc squeezed through the gate and walked up the path and up the steps to the front foot. The door was closed as he slowly approached it. As he made it to the door, it opened slowly. The door opened wide and without any sound. Marc walked in and the lights turned on in the old hotel.

The lobby was from the 1930s. The floor was tiled and the rest of the room was covered in cobwebs and dust. The front desk still had the brittle flowers that were there when the hotel had closed. Cracks were in the wall as well as missing stucco from the walls that exposed bricks. The fireplace still had wood in it, never used but rotted and if touched would most likely fall apart at a touch. The mail in the mailboxes for each room was still in them, some of which had been there for almost one hundred years. The elevators had signs on them that stated “Out of Order” on them. As he inspected the elevators, the lights went on in the library.

Marc saw the lights turn on and walked slowly towards the room and then into it. The books lined the library in the bookcases. The bookcases were covered in dust and the bowls and statues on the sideboards under the hutches that were the bookcases were also covered in thick dust. In the middle of the library though there were seven statues. Each statue was the shape and size of a human. In the middle of each statue’s head was a hole. The holes were of different shapes that matched the shapes of the stones Marc collected.

Marc walked up to each of these statues and examined them. He placed the blue stone into the statue of a man with curly hair and metal looking legs. The stone glowed blue and then went out. In the second statue, he placed the orange stone into was in the forehead of a tall, stocky man. That stone began to glow and then went out. In the third statue, Marc placed the violet/pink ring into the forehead of the beautiful female’s head. It began to glow and then went out. The fourth statue was of a tall man and he placed the red stone into its forehead. He held a cane in his hand. Again, it glowed and went out. The fifth statue was of another female, her hair was long and in a ponytail. She was also beautiful and had a camera in her hand. Marc placed the indigo stone into her forehead and it glowed and went out. The sixth statue was of a man wearing glasses who was about the same height as Marc but bald looked like the Nostalgia Critic. Marc placed the yellow stone into his forehead which then glowed and went out. The final statue was that of an African American man about Marc’s height with short hair. Marc placed the green ring in his head and it glowed and kept glowing.

All of the other statues began to glow brightly and the stone outsides of the statues began to crack and break open. The statues came alive at that point. The blue statue came to life and became a man in his late twenties with blonde curly hair, hazel eyes, and glasses. His legs, as Marc assumed were made of metal, but were prosthetic metal to replace his legs. His legs, like the rest of his armor, were blue. His name was Ian. He was the Blue Warrior and had a blue sword covering his back. The orange statue came to life and became a man in his early thirties with short-cropped brown hair and brown eyes. His skin, which was only his hands and face, were olive in color. The rest of his clothing, or armor, was orange. His name was William and he was the Orange Barbarian and he wielded an orange ax.

The third statue came to life. She was, as Marc thought, beautiful. She was about five foot six with long auburn hair and green eyes. She was pale but most of her body was covered in pink armor she carried pink daggers that were serrated. She was the Pink Princess and her name was Lauren. She looked like Princess Ana from Frozen. The fourth statue came to life. He was an older male with short brown hair and glasses. He wore red armor with a red cloak. In his hands was not a cane but a tall staff with a red stone on it. His name was Robert and he was the Red Wizard.

The fifth statue came to life. She had long blonde hair and kind of looked like Betty Cooper from Archie Comics, with her hair in a ponytail. She had beautiful blue eyes. What Marc thought was a camera, were books of spells. Her eyes shined as she smiled. On her back was a thin sword. Her cloak was indigo, like her clothes. Her boots were also indigo. She was the Purple Sorceress and her name was Bethany. The sixth statue came to life. He was, as Marc thought, the spitting image of the Nostalgia Critic. He too wore armor in yellow and a yellow cloak. He was the Yellow Healer named Patrick. His weapon was a simple staff but he also had other tools on him, potions of healing. The final statue exploded in a burst of green light. The light formed into the Green Paladin. He wore green armor that covered his whole body but the visor to his helmet was open. His name was Geoffrey. He wore a green sword on his hip and had a green cape behind him.

They all stood there and began studying themselves and then each other. They hugged each other and looked at Marc.

“You were the one who freed us?” asked Geoffrey.

“Yes,” Marc replied. “You were stone statues. I used the stones to revive you.”

“You must be the one who is to free us from this world then,” said Bethany.

“He is the one who is to free himself from this world,” said Lauren. “Once he frees himself, we will be free from the world as well.”

Robert fixed his glasses and looked closely at Marc. “We have to give him the power to beat the dark one.”

“We haven’t done that in a while,” said Patrick.

“We have to,” said William.

Ian stood there quietly. “Ian, what say you,” asked Geoffrey.

“He gathered all of the stones and revived us,” said Ian. “He conquered his fears, overcame his rage and greed, showed compassion, had hope, expressed his love, and proved his willpower. I think we need to give him what he needs to defeat the Darkness. Give him the power of life.”

They all nodded in agreement and then encircled Marc. They put their right hand on Marc’s shoulders and closed their eyes. Their powers flowed into Marc’s body. Marc felt himself becoming stronger and he closed his eyes as a bright light enveloped him.

Marc opened his eyes and looked at himself. He was wearing a white set of armor and was holding the golden shield he was given by Chuckie all the way from the beginning of his adventure. He also had the katana given to him by Richard and Libby at his hip. He had forgotten all about the shield and had left the sword at the top of Spaceship Earth. Everything had returned to him including the cell phone he was given to call upon those if he needed help. He knew he would use it during this final fight. Over his armor was a white cloak. He looked at the others and they looked back at him.

“I can’t ask you to come with me during this final fight but if I need to call on you, will you come?”

“Yes, we will,” said Patrick.

“We will always come if you need us to,” said Lauren.

Marc felt something against his leg. It was Leah’s cup still full of hot chocolate. He drank from it and felt the warmth flow through him.

“Where must I go to fight this Darkness,” he asked.

Bethany stepped forward. “I’ll take you to where you need to go,” she said. “Follow me.”

They walked to a service door by the library and walked down to the basement by the steps. As they walked down, Marc studied her. She still looked like Betty from the Archie Comics but he remembered something from his path. He remembered he had asked her out and they were supposed to go on a date but never did. He wanted to but then he got sick and left the company.

“You know,” she said, “I would have gone out with you if you had reminded me. I just was so busy when we worked together that it just kept slipping my mind.”

“I didn’t want to push you because I was afraid that I would get in trouble. You know, the whole sexual harassment thing. Disney is pretty strict about their sexual harassment policies.”

“Yeah,” she replied, “I know. I wish I had gone out with you though. You seemed like such a nice guy.”

“Look, Bethany, I don’t know if this is real or if this is from the dream so I can’t take anything you say about this as fact or if it is my subconscious just telling me this so let’s just leave it at the fact that I should have reminded you but I screwed up.”

“For what it’s worth,” she said, “if I were the real Bethany, I would be lucky to have a guy like you.”

“Thanks,” he replied.

They made it to a special service elevator in the basement and Marc pushed the button to call the elevator. It opened after a few moments and Marc got on. As the door closed, he waved to her goodbye.

The elevator kept going up and up to the highest point of the tower and opened. There it stopped at the huge ballroom at the top. The lights were off but the light from the moon shined into the room. The ballroom was empty of people but there were balloons all over it. Black and white balloons. The white balloons had the word “HAPPY LIFE” written on them in black and the black balloons had the word “HAPPY DEATH” written on them.

What is this? Marc thought. “Hello, is there anyone here?”

“I’m here,” a voice from the other side of the room spoke.

The lights in the ballroom turned on. Marc couldn’t believe his eyes. At the opposite side of the room stood a reflection of him. It was Marc but it wasn’t Marc. It was the Anti-Marc. Instead of white, he was dressed in all black. His shield was black, his sword was black, his armor, and cloak were black.

“Seriously?” Marc expressed. “You’re the best my subconscious can come up with?”

“I’m not just you, I’m better than you. I’m the darker version of you. I’m the evil version of you. I’m the reason you will not wake up. I’m the reason you will die.”

“If I die, you will die too.”

“That doesn’t matter. I won’t let you live and go back to the real world. You will die here and now and I will make sure that your body rots in the ground.”

“You know that won’t happen.”

“Oh, I think you will. I have warriors with me.” Behind Anti-Marc appeared seven warriors identical to the ones that Marc revived in the library but their colors were dulled or mostly black with their colors in just lines through their whole armor. They were the Anti-colors of the spectrum. They were the Dark Spectrum of emotions. They worked for the Darkness.

“Let’s make this a fair fight,” he said and pulled out his cellphone. He pressed 9-1-1 on it and the elevator opened behind him. Out stepped the seven warriors he freed from their statues in the library.

“I heard,” said Geoffrey, “that you guys wanted a fight! Let’s just say,” he said pulling out his sword, “that I don’t like being copied.” He pointed his sword towards his evil counterpart. “Warriors of the Light, Assemble!”

The seven warriors attacked their counterparts. Each one fought valiantly and was able to telegraph their attacks perfectly. The only two not fighting were Marc and Anti-Marc. “You see,” said Marc, “I too come with backup.”

He ran at Anti-Marc with his sword drawn and swung it at him. Their swords clashed and sparks flew from them as they swung them. “Your sensei taught you well but remember I know all of your moves because I am you!”

“If you know everything about me, then you know that I am unpredictable,” said Marc. “I’m not as predictable as you may think, especially when it comes to fighting with a sword. You should know that. You should know that with a sword, I go by instinct, not by any set technique.”

They continued to fight, pushing each other to their limits. Marc swung his sword at Anti-Marc’s legs and he jumped out of the way. Anti-Marc swung his sword down at Marc’s head and Marc blocked it barely inches from Marc’s head. Anti-Marc kept pressing his sword down on Marc’s pushing Marc down on his knees. Marc felt the crushing sensation of the other’s sword pushing him down hard and Marc felt like he was going to break.

“No,” said Marc. “NO!” Marc started pushing back as the other pushed him back down. “I will not submit to you.”

He removed one hand from his sword and punched Anti-Marc in the right knee. Anti-Marc went down with a grunt. He dropped his sword, grabbed his knee, and screamed. Marc got up and stepped back. He let Anti-Marc recuperate from the slight injury to make him realize that he was fighting someone with honor. “You have more honor than I would give you.”

“I was taught to fight with honor,” Marc replied. “You would know that if you had studied from my sensei.”

“I did study from a sensei but he taught me to fight with no mercy and that mercy is for the weak.”

“Mercy is for the strong because it takes a strong person to give mercy while a weak person doesn’t care what they do. That’s the difference between strong and weak.”

They attacked each other again. Their swords clashed against each other. Marc took his shield and smashed it against the other’s shield. The shields sparked as well and fell to the floor. It seemed as if they were equally matched. Marc had to think. He remembered from his ride through the movies. Listen to the warning. Maybe this is what he had to learn. Sometimes fighting isn’t always the answer but sometimes fighting for your life is. He wasn’t fighting for his life before this realization; he was fighting because he loved to sword fight. Now he had to fight for his life. This was his life; he had to fight for his life. He had the willpower to live and he had to prove it.

Marc’s sword began to glow. He realized there was a white stone on the top of its hilt that he didn’t see before. He saw Anti-Marc’s sword had a black stone on the top of its hilt. The two swords were the polar opposite. White for life, black for death. That was why they were equals. Marc wasn’t fighting himself; he was fighting Death as himself. Marc took his sword and didn’t aim it at his opponent’s sword but at the hilt, where the stone was. It struck and the stone cracked. As it cracked Anti-Marc/Death’s armor cracked. A white light shined out of the stone and out of the armor. The anti-warrior’s armor began to crack and have white light come out of them too. Marc hit the stone again with his sword, the cracks got bigger. Finally, Marc struck the black stone hard enough to shatter it. A bright light enveloped Marc.

Epilogue: Waking Up

The white light wasn’t what Marc expected. He thought it was him going to the afterlife but it wasn’t. His eyes opened and he was back in his body and he was in pain. His feet hurt, his arms hurt, his head hurt, and definitely, his left big toe hurt. His throat also hurt. His eyes adjusted to the brightness and he was able to see shapes.

He was laying in a bed covered in blankets and people were talking outside a room. He didn’t know what was going on and he didn’t really know who he was. Memories started coming back to him but it was hard to remember things. He remembered sitting in the living room of his apartment feeling weak. He remembered his dog Baby jumping on him to keep him awake and he couldn’t. He remembered asking his mother for her to pour him a glass of water even though his glass was full. He vaguely remembered her calling an ambulance and them coming. He remembered the ambulance ride but that was it.

“You gave us quite a scare,” a nurse said who came into the room. “You were out for about four days. We weren’t sure if you were going to live. Did you take your insulin at all before you were brought in?”

“Insulin? What are you talking about? I never took insulin before.”

“Well, you’re diabetic.”

“I wasn’t before.”

“Well, you are now.”

Marc looked at her confused. He didn’t know where he was. He wanted his mother because he didn’t know what was going on. He asked for her and they told him she would be in as soon as visiting hours begin. He couldn’t move his hands because of the IVs in them. He couldn’t move his feet because of the IVs in them as well. He couldn’t eat because his throat was sore.

He waited for visiting hours to begin and his mother walked in. She informed him of everything that happened in the past few days. He had almost died, his sugar levels when admitted were 1503 and he had a thirty percent chance of living. His liver, kidneys, and pancreas had failed. All due to medication he was given and an allergic reaction to the medication. He lived and is still living today but he would never forget the dream he had during that coma. He just wished his mother were still with him. He lost her on April 13, 2020, from sepsis due to two injuries.

The End