Adventures in Koba
By Kim Bond
Copyright © 2015 Kim Bond, all rights reserved. Contact Kim Bond at
[email protected] with questions regarding permissions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue: About Koba
Chapter 1: Green Hills
Chapter 2: Rock Graveyard
Chapter 3: Grande River
Chapter 4: Shadows
Chapter 5: Bliss Mountain
Chapter 6: Black Lake
Chapter 7: Thorn Forest
Chapter 8: Tree Rings
Chapter 9: The Hike
Chapter 10: The Cave
Note to Readers
Prologue: About Koba
It is true that Jesus lived and walked on Earth thousands of years ago. He was God’s Son—fully man and fully God. He was sentenced to death, crucified on the cross, and died there. His body was placed in a tomb with a stone rolled against the opening. On the third day, he was raised from the dead. On Earth, men praised God because this sacrifice paid for their sins. In heaven, Jesus sat down on the throne next to God because he was crowned with honor. Adventures in Koba takes place at the same time all of these wonderful things were happening on Earth and in heaven. It takes place in a pretend land in another realm—a realm between heaven and earth called Koba.
In the north of Koba, a steep yet beautiful Bliss Mountain Chain protects its people from crossing into heaven. On the south, the wild rapids of Grande River prevent the people of Koba, called Kobans, from wandering south to Earth. The Kobans do not even know human beings exist even though they are so similar. Kobans have living spirits inside physical bodies just like humans do.
It is possible for Kobans to encounter physical representations of spiritual beings due to their location between the two realms. For this reason, it was a terrifying place to live until the ancestors agreed to live together in a village at the base of the Bliss Mountains and alongside Crystal River. They named it Green Hills because of the lush green grass that grew there. For three generations, the Kobans never even saw any spiritual beings which made their history seem more like myths than facts. Parents stopped warning children about the dangerous spirits living among them. They were so happy in Green Hills that they never warned their children about the dangers of the Rock Graveyard, the Thorn Forest, or the Grande River. That was a big mistake.
Chapter 1: Green Hills
It was a typical spring morning. Trip grabbed his lunch and raced out the door. The grass was so wet with dew that he almost slipped, but he kept on running—breathing in the sweet smell of Koban honeysuckle flowers. He ran as fast as he could until his side began to hurt and his legs felt like jelly. Then he saw the one-room school. He looked around for Sarah. She was nowhere in sight. He knew he had won this race.
Fifteen-year-old Trip had a twin sister named Sarah. Sarah had won the race out of the womb because she was born three seconds before Trip. He never forgave her for that. He tried to defeat her in every competition since then. He raced her during their three-mile trail to school every day. Most days he was the first one sitting in his chair in school. There were only about fifteen kids in the whole school, and they were all different ages. They had only one teacher named Miss Kartel. She wore wire-rimmed glasses and black dresses every day. She was always getting Trip in trouble.
Trip walked into the school and found his desk. He slid into his chair at his desk and took some deep breaths to make the pain in his side go away. As he sat breathing, he opened his desk to put his lunch away and saw the strangest thing. His pencils were scattered all over his desk. He may not be organized, but he always put his pencils back in the box after he used them. He wondered who had been poking around his desk.
He snatched a handful and opened the pencil box to shove them in. That’s when he saw it. He could hardly believe his eyes. A fairy! The fairy was laying down inside the box. She was so beautiful and tiny. She looked like a beautiful young adult, but she still fit snugly in a pencil box.
“Hello there,” Trip said to the fairy.
The fairy ignored his words.
“That’s a pretty dress you are wearing,” Trip remarked about her clothes just to make conversation. In truth, her dress was a ragged gray old thing with a scarlet-colored scarf tied around the waist for a belt. “Look, it is the same color as my shirt.”
Trip wore high-top tennis shoes and blue jeans with a button-up shirt. Its color was originally white, but it had grayed over time. He waited for the fairy to say something, but he looked around for something else to talk about when she said nothing.
As he returned his eyes to the fairy, he noticed her dress was now a purple color!
“How did you do that?” Trip asked in disbelief. “Wait till my sister Sarah meets you! She will just love you. What is your name?”
Miss Kartel came in the school from outside. Just then Trip closed the pencil box, and the fairy laid still in pitch darkness. He put the pencil box into his shirt pocket. The box was sort of long and stuck out of his pocket awkwardly so he lifted the top of his desk and laid the pencil box inside his desk. He quietly lowered the lid just as the teacher entered the school from the back door.
From behind, he heard her voice saying, “Good morning, Trip. I trust you had a fine weekend.”
He turned to face her. “Yes, Miss Kartel.” He did not want the teacher to discover the fairy he had hidden in his desk. Making matters worse, he wondered if there was enough air in the closed pencil box for the little fairy to breathe.
As the teacher walked to the board to erase yesterday’s lesson, Trip opened the lid to his desk. He reached inside and quickly found a pencil. He gently poked the box to make small breathing holes in the top. The fairy inside the box sucked in her stomach to make herself lay flat as a pancake to avoid the lead dagger being stabbed through her tiny new home. Trip dropped the pencil and the pencil box, and the desk lid came crashing down on his fingers. He yelled out in pain.
“Serves ya right!” Sarah said, walking down the row to sit beside him. Other children were entering also. They were playing and laughing so no one else noticed the desk smashing his fingers.
Trip said in a low voice, “Sarah, you won’t believe this. I found a fairy. She is hidden in the pencil box inside my desk.”
“Yeah, right, and I am hiding a giant in my school bag.” She rolled her eyes and pulled out a book from her bag. “Hello, Giant. How are you doing today?” she asked her book, then chuckled under her breath.
He whispered, “I mean it, Sarah. I will show you the fairy at lunch.”
“Great. I cannot wait,” she said in a flat voice with her normal sarcasm.
“I will,” Trip insisted with a seriousness that concerned Sarah.
“Alright—I believe you believe…”
A ringing bell interrupted Sarah, which meant the children should be silent for the day’s lesson. Each moment crept by like a snail crawling across the map Miss Kartel was using to teach in class. It was a map of the land of Koba.
Trip’s hand shot up. “Do you believe in fairies?”
The class erupted in laughter. The kids always laughed at Trip’s usual jokes and pranks.
Miss Kartel put a hand on her hip. She stared down her silver wire rim glasses at him. “I am only answering questions about the land of Koba at this moment. Do you have a question about this map, Trip?”
“Yes, Miss Kartel. Is there a place called Fairyland? Or some other place where fairies live? Maybe it is an island that has never been discovered.” Trip’s hopeful eyes lowered as teacher straightened her long black skirt that fluffed out like a pumpkin as she always did right before her wrath flared up.
“You know fairies are just myths and legen
ds. None of that exists today. It may have never existed at all! You may stay inside for lunch today, Trip. Help me wash the boards as detention for wasting my time and the time of your fellow students with silly questions.”
Trip felt so frustrated that he leaned forward and banged his head on the desk three times. With each pound, the fairy shook like there was an earthquake.
When lunchtime came, Sarah ran outside to talk with her friend Rosa while Trip walked to the front of the room as he had so many times before. He grabbed the rags he normally used to wipe down the board and began to walk to the sink.
“Where do you think you are going?” the teacher asked. Her brunette hair mixed with white strands fell from the loose bun on her head and into her eyes.
“To wet the rags,” Trip said in an innocent voice.
“Where did you put the fairy? I know you have one. What else could have caused your sudden interest in them?” The collar of her black shirt ruffled around her strained neck.
“What fairy?” Trip asked. He knew it would be useless to pretend fairies did not exist since she had figured out he had met one. He dropped the rags and ran straight to his desk. He grabbed the pencil box and slid it in his pocket as he ran out of the back of the school. By that time, he Miss Kartel had almost caught up to him. Then, he started to run. Miss Kartel chased after him, but he had so much experience racing his sister that he ran almost as fast as lightening. He never even looked over his shoulder once he started racing. He kept running until the lush green grass scenery had changed to a landscape of hard dirt and large boulders.
Suddenly, he realized he had gone so far west that he was now in the Rock Graveyard. He had heard rumors of violent Kobans who were punished by being sent out from the safe Green Hills. They had wandered west until they had ended up here. He never truly believed it even existed until now. As the myths were told to him, this rocky area was nicknamed Rock Graveyard because no one ever left. The huge boulders actually became more like tombstones for the people who died in that area.
He could not spot a single person or even a cottage. No one from his generation had ever wandered this far from home and lived. Trip knew he could not return home. Surely, Miss Kartel would find him there. His sister would not believe him about the fairy so what was the use of telling her or even asking for her help? He was a kid on the run. Then his stomach rumbled loudly. After a moment, he remembered the reason why he had run away from his beloved family, food, shelter, and all that was safe and secure. He held the pencil box out and opened the top.
He said to the fairy, “Okay, it’s time to start talking.”
Chapter 2: Rock Graveyard
The tiny fairy stood and flew out of the box. She hovered in midair until a transformation began to take place. The fairy grew gigantic white wings. Then a gorgeous young woman appeared in between the wings. She wore a sparkling white dress that shimmered in the sunlight like crystals.
“Woah,” Trip gasped. He could hardly believe his own eyes.
“Thank you for rescuing me,” she said as she gently touched Trip’s face.
Trip noticed his mouth was still open and closed it just before opening it again to ask, “How did you do that? How did change from a small fairy into one big fairy?”
She replied, “Not a big fairy, Trip. I transformed into my original state, which is an angel.”
Trip’s mouth dropped open again. “An angel? Like a messenger of God?”
The lady in white answered, “Yes, and my name is Maria.”
Trip ran his hand through his hair. “Maria, I’m Trip. I’m also very hungry so I would be grateful if you can whip up some bread or something with your magic wand.”
Maria shook her head. “Angels do not have magic wands. I am not a witch.”
“I am sorry. I am just so hungry.” Trip sat on rock and rested his chin on his fist.
“Never mind your hunger! Look where you are sitting!” Maria pointed where he was sitting.
Just then, the rock underneath Trip began to move. It was no rock! It was a four-foot Gila monster! The oversized lizard sunk his teeth into Trip’s arm. Trip tried to stand up and pull his arm out of its grip, but he could not do it. The Gila monster began to back away and knocked Trip right off of his feet. The lizard dragged Trip further and further until he had reached his den. Trip lay in the dark hole smelling the dirt and listened to the monster gnaw on his flesh. He came close to passing out from the pain radiating from the bite. The next thing he knew the angel was standing in the hole next to him.
She said, “Spit on it, Trip!”
“What? It sounded like you told me to spit?” he asked in a faint whisper because he had no strength to talk.
“I did say that. Spit on it,” she repeated in a louder voice.
Trip tried to form saliva in his dry mouth, but he could not. Then the angel touched his mouth, and it suddenly drooled with fluid. Trip spit hard at the monster. The Gila monster let go as soon as the spit reached his scaly skin.
The angel grabbed hold of Trip’s arm flew out of the hole.
“Your sister is in trouble. I’ve seen it in a vision.” She flapped her large wings several times, which took the two of them much farther and faster than Trip could have ever imagined.
Chapter 3: Grande River
Sarah had seen her brother run out of the school with the teacher running after him. The other kids were playing tag or hide-and-seek since Miss Kartel was gone. Girls were screaming, and boys were laughing. She stood in the middle of it all as still as a statue.
Her friend, Rosa, walked up next to her and said, “Trip is in deep trouble this time.” Rosa flicked a bug off of Sarah’s red tee-shirt.
“I have to go after him,” Sarah said. She stared forward like she was in a daze.
Rosa always followed Sarah everywhere she went, and today was no different. It was no surprise to Sarah when she said, ““I will go with you.”
Sarah suddenly woke up from her dazed feeling and snapped back to reality. “Rosa, I do not know where we are going or when we will be back. All I do know is that I am not coming back without my brother.”
“Me either,” Rosa said bravely. She put her hand on her hip like she was a superhero.
The two young girls jogged in the same direction as their teacher and Trip. They followed the trail of broken sticks and crunched leaves until they entered an open field.
“Now what?” Rosa asked with labored breath.
Sarah pointed back toward their home in Green Hills. “You can turn back if you want, but I am just going to keep going. I would rather live in the wild forever than face my parents. I would be in so much trouble if I go home without him.”
“You miss him, don’t you?” her friend asked.
“A little. Let’s go this way,” Sarah said pointing south. Little did they know, but they were headed right for the Grande River. Soon they began to hear its raging rapids.
“It sounds like a river. Sarah, I will stay with you no matter what, but unless there happens to be a giant bridge over what sounds like a really big river then we are not going to be able to cross.”
“I will find a way,” Sarah said as she walked to the top of the hill. “There is the river. And look, there is a log laying across the river. We can walk across the log.”
They walked down the hill, and Sarah spread her arms to balance as she walked across the log. She was glad she wore jeans and tennis shoes. When she had taken a few steps, she turned and urged Rosa to cross.
Rosa took one step on the log and then got down on her hands and knees. After she had crawled a few feet, she wrapped her arms and legs around the log and began inching her body along like an inchworm. She was so close to the water that fish leapt up from the river and began pound against her body. The Koban fish were as big as a baseball bat and as uglier than a mole rat. Sarah cheered her on and encouraged her to keep going.
When Rosa had inched her way across
a few feet of log, she looked up at Sarah. “I just cannot do it anymore. Even with jeans on I can feel that I am getting bruises from these giant fish, and I am so scared.”
“I’ll help,” Sarah said and began to walk back across the log. She bent down to grab her hand, but Rosa refused to let go of the log. “The sun is setting, Rosa. Holding onto a log in the middle of a river will be much, much scarier after night comes.”
“I’m going back,” Rosa said. She began inching backwards.
Sarah followed her friend, “You’re right. There is no reason we should risk our lives to cross this river when we don’t even know if Trip went this way.”
Rosa had reached land again and began to stand and dust off her black jeans. “And if he did, there’s no way to know if he, uh...well, you know...made it.”
Sarah stepped off of the log. “Rosa! Don’t say things like that!”
Rosa laid down on the uneven ground near the river. “Sorry, maybe I should not have come. I thought I was brave, but I am just not as brave as you. ”
Sarah laid down beside her. “You did great.” They looked up at the sky. The sun was setting now. They had been hiking all day. The water rushing by calmed Sarah’s worries.
“I am just so glad it’s over. Yuck, it smells like fish. This is nothing like the Crystal River that flows down from the Bliss Mountains back in Green Hills. We had it so good.” Rosa sat up. “What’s that?” She pointed to a large slimy creature shimmying up the river bank. “It’s a fish.”