hear how sorry anyone else is. Do you know how many times I’ve heard that already? They just wheeled him out of here and every single one of those people who came in said it.”
“I didn’t mean to –”
“Just stop, please.”
Ramonia went over to the chair. The man turned to look back at her. He looked so familiar to me but I didn’t know where from. And then I saw his eyes. They were brown. I instantly knew that those were the same brown eyes that I had seen twice already.
I backed up. Something was off. It was too real for me, the pain and sadness, Ramonia and this man, and worst of all those eyes. I ran from the room into the hall. I didn’t stop. All I wanted was a way out, a way to stop feeling the gloom that completely enveloped me.
The hall kept on forever. There was no end in sight. I shut my eyes tight. Maybe the darkness would change my surroundings again. I wished to be somewhere else, anywhere else. My feet took me away but was I going anywhere? I opened my eyes and stopped. My surroundings had changed. I was outside.
I heard rumblings like thunder. At first I thought I was back in the mountainous area with the volcano and storm. But this was different. The ground was reddish and there were a few plateaus around, but this was definitely not the same place. It wasn’t thunder that I was hearing. Explosions erupted in the sky and on the ground. People were running every which way. Screams and shouts were drowned out by more explosions. My eyes focused on one man. I watched him running with a gun in his hand. And then a cloud of smoke took his place. I could just make out small pieces of him shooting off in all directions.
There were people on the plateaus. They had large cannon like objects and were shooting bombs into the fray. If there were organized armies they were gone now. All that remained was thousands of people running around trying to kill anybody not wearing the same color they were. One side wore purple and the other wore red. With all the dust and red dirt flying it was hard to make out who was who.
I stood in the middle of it all gazing at everything around me. The impulse to run hadn’t kicked in yet. It was all so sudden and too different. A part of me knew I should still be in that dark room and the rest of me hadn’t gotten the peril to that part yet. And then it hit me. I took off toward the closest plateau. Smoke rose up everywhere. Bodies were lying still or barely crawling around, dazed. I made it to the plateau and hid behind it, hoping everything would end momentarily.
I slid down the rock to the ground and ran my hands through my hair. What was going on? I didn’t mean about me ending up someplace new, I was used to that. I meant this war. Out of all the places I could have found why did it have to be a battlefield? If only I had stayed in that room and not been spooked by those eyes. They knew something, that man knew something. He had the secrets I wanted. And what of Ramonia? How did she fit into all of this? I was starting to give myself a headache.
A girl came around the plateau and sat nearby, reloading her gun. She looked too young to be in any sort of battle.
“What is this?” I asked her.
She suddenly noticed me and looked me over. I saw that I was wearing the same purple uniform she was. She noticed and deemed me suitable to talk to.
“What is what?”
I waved my hands around. “All of this? Where are we?”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
There was a sudden change in her. It was the same as with the man in the sun palace, except she didn’t look angry. She just looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
She got up and ran away before I could ask anything else.
That wasn’t very helpful. I crawled around until I could see the fighting. I kept still and watched. I felt fairly safe from where I was. It was a horrible sight. So many were bloody on the ground and even more were bloody and still running. I couldn’t see the point of it all. There were no landmarks to signify that this was an important place. No generals calling orders or any way of knowing who these people fought for.
The fighting shifted. I felt safe because all the bombs and bodies were heading away from my position. It didn’t last long. They turned and started to come towards me. I got up and started away from it all. Unfortunately there was no place else to hide. In front of me there was nothing but flat land as far as the eye could see. I kept going anyway. The more distance I put between me and those bombs the better.
What if there was a reason for me to be there? The idea caught me off guard. What if there was a specific reason I ended up in these places? Maybe there was something I had to find or something I had to do. Of course I didn’t know. Nobody was there to help me. The only person I thought knew anything I was afraid to go near. I promised that if I ever see that man again I will go straight up to him and ask him how to get home.
But until then I had more important things to attend to. The fighters were coming closer. The bombs were going off all around. I ran, trying to find someplace to hide until I could think things over. And then I remembered my invincibility. Did I still have it? I survived the sun and a gunshot wound to the head. I must still have it.
That gave me confidence. I turned and stood tall, knowing that I could not die. This gave me more ideas. What if there was something else I could do besides not get hurt? What if I could jump really high and not even know it? That would have come in handy against the lake monster. I bent my knees and jumped. I went maybe an inch and a half. So I couldn’t jump really high.
While waiting for the fighting to get closer I tried several other things. I tried to fly but it didn’t work. I punched the ground really hard but it didn’t crack. I gave up. All I could do was not feel pain, at least not physical pain.
A middle aged man in purple came up to me. He was bleeding from his head but still had his wits about him.
“Why are you just standing here? Did you lose your gun?”
“No, I don’t have one.”
“Well let’s get going. Camp is up that way.” He pointed in the direction of all the fighting.
“We have to go through there to get to camp?” I asked, suddenly wanting to get to this place.
“Yes, do you think you can make it?”
“I guess.”
I followed him into the battle. He jogged in zigzags, avoiding bombs and bullets. I simply walked after him, feeling like nothing could hurt me. We both made it to the other side without much trouble. I could see the camp in the distance. It was a tent. It looked awfully like the ones near the mountains where I met Ramonia. No one followed us up there. I don’t think anyone cared. A base would be a great place to attack but that didn’t seem to be the way things were done here. Before we went in I stopped the man to ask him a question.
“Do you know of a Ramonia?”
“I’ve never heard of anyone by that name.” He responded.
“How about a king who thought himself adorable.”
“Oh yes the adorable king. Yes of course I have heard of him.”
“Have you?”
“Yes, he’s a direct ancestor to the current king.”
“Is he still alive?”
The man cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “He’s dead.”
I nodded. “That volcano was really bad.”
“Volcano? That king died of old age two hundred years ago.”
I took a step back. “What?”
“He ruled a long time though.”
“Is there any chance there was more than one king who thought he was adorable?”
“No, that’s why he’s known as the adorable king, he’s the only one.”
He continued inside. I stayed back. Something was not right. How could he have died two hundred years ago when I was just talking to him a day or some other amount of time ago? That man confirmed one thing. I was going through time as well as through space. I shook my head and went into the tent.
It
was filled with cots and hanging lanterns. The fellow who led me there was getting his head wound checked out. Nurses kept trying to bandage me up and I told several that I was fine. I waited for my new friend to finish getting wrapped up and we went back outside.
“So what part of the kingdom are you from?” He asked as we watched the fighting from a distance.
“Oh, way out there.”
“Ah, I have some friends from there. Do you know Macagagaca?”
I don’t know who could ever remember a name like that. “No, it doesn’t sound familiar.”
“That’s too bad. He’s a good guy. He was sick today so he’s probably still there. I don’t live too far from here. I’ll be going back tonight. I hear someone in town is making goose. I’ll want some of that after this.”
“You mean you can leave whenever you want?”
“New fighters will be here in the morning and things will pick up again.”
“That’s a very strange way to do battle.”
“If you can think of another way feel free to tell the king.”
“No thanks.”
I was getting tired of this place now. In fact I was getting tired of every place now. If only I could have just done what the wizard asked and he could have taken me home. Instead I’m stuck here with all these strange people doing strange things.
“Oh no.” The man said.
“What is it?”
He was gone. I turned to see him running into the tent. He waved at me to come as well. I shrugged my shoulders. What was he scared of? We walked straight through a battle with no problems. He