Episode Five: Wake Up, Beloved
The sound of rattling is heard. "In this forest," begins the old storytelling man. A young man runs through tall grass. "In the deepest of the deep, there are several large houses that no one knows when were built, it's terribly scary there." A shadowed mansion, chapel-like in appearance. "That demonic sorcerer." Glowing red runes are plastered across dark walls inside. A darkened thin, scary face appears. ".created cool-blooded and merciless freaks." A young woman floats in the fetal position in a tank. Images of wolves and monsters are then shown. The young man in the grass gasps.
Teeth chatter.
Volcan, Dortin and a crowd of children are listening to the old man tell this tale. "That's why at night the forest is filled with strange creatures wandering about." Dortin gulps down hard.
The old man places a scary red mask over his face. "You must be careful when you go the forest. If you are captured by the creatures.they will bite off your head in one go!" He screams out loud right into Dortin's face.
"Y.yes." Dortin stutters.
Later the old man is seen walking up the forest path, leaving Dortin and Volcan behind. "This should only be a rumor, right Elder Brother?"
Volcan's head rattles as he sweats. "Of.of course! A nonsensical.story like that.is simply." Volcan trips over, and jumps back up. ".for deceiving those.fools." Volcan falls to the side. Dortin watches as he trips again and again.
"Elder Brother.Elder Brother?"
*~Wake Up, Beloved~*
"This way!" Announces Cleao, arm stretched out as she points. The others sit, leaned against a tree. "That fragrance is coming from this way. Let's leave this forest quickly and go eat!"
Orphen mournfully sighs, "It's all because of that line of yours that we've been stuck the whole day in the forest going around in circles."
Majic reads a map. "No good, I don't even know where we are."
"I'm hungry," says Licorice. Pamu floats infront of her. "What? What is it Pamu?"
Pamu passes out a silver can into her hand. Licorice widely smiles with delight. "Everyone, there's a can! Pamu has a can on him!"
The three crowd her. "What? Give it to me!" Orphen jerks his head to both sides.
Majic is beaten, tied upside-down from a tree branch. Cleao lies dazed on the ground. Leki tries to pull off Orphen's bandana, tied around his eyes.
Orphen holds out his hand to Licorice. "Hey, can opener." He has a black eye and scratched up face. Licorice gasps. "How are we supposed to open the can without a can opener?" Asks Orphen, "Hurry up and give me the can opener."
Licorice dumbly smiles. "I remember that I passed it to Miss Cleao in the previous town."
"I pass it to Majic already," Cleao replies, still dazed on the ground.
"I put it in Licorice's room," says Majic.
Licorice cutely smiles, "Don't worry, when we get there there'll be enough cans to make up a mountain. I could increase sales."
Orphen withdraws his hand, arms folded. "Damn it! You're willing to sell me!"
"For the sake of the can opener, if one if not enough. Two or twenty should do it."
The young man from the story falls from behind a bush. He tries to peer up, and then faints. Orphen and Licorice gasp.
"A sorcerer's assistant?" Asks Majic.
"A sorcerer in this forest?" Adds Licorice.
Cleao bends over. "The sorcerer who created all these strange creatures?"
In the distance, Orphen sits alone with the can.
"Yes," replies the young man, lying down, bandaged.
"Why did you want to be the assistant of that kind of person?" Questions Cleao.
He closes his eyes, "That man has been bewitched by a demon."
"A demon?" Asks Licorice.
Orphen becomes interested.
"That time.right, a year ago, that person began to change." The scene falls onto the keys and knife hung at his side. The earth is picked; the face of the middle aged man is shown. ".sorcerer, Jiarti. He doesn't belong to any group, and uses drugs to train himself in magic. He's a highly respectable sorcerer." Jiarti's eyes glow red, pulsating. "But."
The young man opens doors wide, to see thousands of red glowing pods. Rats, birds and other small animals fill them. The young man can't believe his eyes. "Jiarti, who was bewitched by the magic of the Heavenly Beings (Tenjin)." In the centre is a large tulip pod, Jiarti carries a young naked woman to it. "Elena!" Calls , the young man, running to them. "Teacher, what have you done? You actually did this to your own daughter.Teacher!" Jiarti talks to him, his eyebrows begin to quiver as he listens. He is kicked away, left to watch as Jiarti places her on an alter, withdrawing a rune carved knife. He raises it high, it slices into Elena. "Elena!"
The young man is now sitting up. "I must.must save Elena."
Licorice weeps, wiping her eyes with a hanky. Pamu released another. "How can such a heart-breaking story be true?!"
Majic looks to him. "But you don't even know if she's dead or alive now. But.why.?"
He takes off the pendant around his neck, and opens it, inside is a picture of he and Elena. "She.Elena is my fiancée."
Cleao makes a fist. "How can there exist such a father?! I can't forgive this!"
"I'm with Miss Cleao!" Agrees Licorice. "We can't let this be."
"Orphen!"
"Mr. Orphen!"
Orphen is eating the meat from the can, after using what he stole from their new companion. "Assistant, thank-you for your multi-purpose knife! It's quite unthinkable that you would carry this with you all around. A can opener, a fork.it has everything. Let me borrow it first."
A dark night. "Is this the place?" Asks Cleao, "Jiarti's house."
"Looks creepy from the outside," comments Majic.
They all stand at the gates of a cathedral-like mansion.
"How can you be scared?" Asks Licorice, "We must hurry, and rescue Miss Elena!"
Orphen groans. "I never thought I'd have to do something like this in return for a can opener."
Cleao and Licorice turn around, furious, determined looks on their faces.
"How can you say that?!" Demands Cleao. "Didn't you hear all that Luther said?"
"Yes, that poor guy," added Licorice. "We just can't stand by doing nothing!"
Orphen glumly rubs the back oh his head. "Really, one after the other ask for trouble."
Majic looks at him, "Master."
Cleao grabs Majic's face, pushing him away as she digs a hand into the backpack on his back. "Majic, the sword, give me the sword!" Cleao holds her sword out, dramatically. "Jiarti, come on out!"
"Miss Cleao's too cool!" Praises Licorice.
"It's no use hiding; I know that you're there!" Calls out Cleao, echoing across the courtyard, "Hurry and come on out!"
Cleao readies her sword, teeth clenched.
"He couldn't have gone out, could he?" Wonders Licorice.
Cleao growls, grasping her sword tighter, "Well, if that's the case, let's just charge into the house!"
Cleao steps forward, onto a patch of thin vines, they wrap around her shoe. Suddenly, she's in the air, entangled in hundreds of small green vines.
"Miss Cleao!" Calls out Licorice.
"Cleao!" Yells Majic.
"What is this stuff?" Exclaims Cleao, as she struggles to free herself. From the vines, a dozen green, closed eyeballs close in on her, opening in unison to reveal light green eyes. Cleao pulls a horrified expression.
Below, Orphen casts a spell. "Give me strength, Demon's Blade!" He now wields a magical glass-like knife. The eyeballs have now fully closed in on Cleao. Orphen leaps up, cutting through them. Cleao ascends to the ground, screaming.
"Majic!" Orders Orphen.
Majic runs on the spot, arms out ready. "Yes...!"
Cleao lands on Majic's back. She rubs her rear, while sitting on Majic. "It hurts." Cleao looks in Orphen's direction, "You don't have to be so rough when putting me down!"
"Cleao." Cleao looks down at the pained Majic. ".hurry and get up, alright.you're heavy."
Cleao's sword stabs the ground right near Majic's face. She peers down at him menacingly, "That's just so rude."
"Give me strength, Miracle of Light!" Calls forth Orphen, creating a huge explosion, killing off the vines.
Jiarti places a hand on the balcony. "I never thought a sorcerer would come visiting."
The dust clears; Orphen looks forward. "It looks like this isn't the house of an ordinary sorcerer."
Jiarti raises his palm, gusts of wind form in his hand. "Wind, blow!" Orphen tries to shield himself; they all get caught in the wind, flung back.
"Strangers who have barged into my place, before you get hurt, leave," warns Jiarti.
"It hurts," whines Cleao.
"You.!" Growls Orphen.
Cleao points her index finger. "Are you Jiarti?! I won't forgive you!"
Jiarti sternly stares.
"To think that you even used your own daughter for experiments! Are you fit to be a father? Two weeks before my father died, he said that even without relatives, a child will grow up, do you understand?!"
"Yes, what Miss Cleao said is right!" Agrees Licorice.
Orphen and Majic stand behind Cleao in a line, as she points at Jiarti. Licorice stands behind Majic, her glasses missing, not realizing she's facing the wrong direction.
"I don't really get it," says Majic.
"I don't really get it either," says Orphen.
"Say something!" Demands Cleao.
Licorice raises her arm. "Yes, say something!"
"Licorice, that guy is over there," helps Cleao.
"Eh?" Licorice feels her face, and gasps, falling to her knees in search of her glasses. "Spectacles, spectacles!"
"Even as a father, you have no right to take away your daughter's happiness!" Insists Cleao, her sword thrust forward. "Hurry up and let Luther." Orphen ducks infront of her protectively.
Jiarti's palm trembles, his body is now trembling in pain. Cleao and Orphen gasp. Jiarti flees.
Cleao runs from Orphen, racing toward the house. "Trying to escape, hold still!" The concrete below her feet crumbles, she falls through a hole.
"Cleao!" Yells Majic, running toward the hole, "Are you alright?!"
Licorice pops up infront of the hole. "I've found my spectacles!" Majic trips over her, and goes flying into the hole. Licorice and Orphen peer in, listening to them.
"Hey, why is it that you fell in here too?" Exclaims Cleao.
"I didn't mean for it to happen," insists Majic.
"Oh, there's a tunnel, it must lead to the house. Majic, let's go!"
Majic stammers. Cleao talks to herself, "Wait for me, Jiarti! I won't let you do as you please!"
Licorice turns to Orphen. "They've left."
"Damn it!" Orphen gets to his feet, staring down at the eyeballs and vines. Is this place.Orphen thinks back to the monsters he's had to deal with. If this is the hideout of those creatures.
Orphen and Licorice have entered the mansion. "Mr. Orphen, be care.ful." The lights go dim, she holds onto Orphen's back, imagining a skinless body falling on top of her. "We don't know.where.something might appear."
A door creaks open. They look inside, to see the large room of glowing red pods filled with a small animal in each.
"This place is." wonders Licorice.
"It looks like the laboratory," says Orphen. "Isn't it, looks like my guess is right."
"Mr. Orphen!" Calls Licorice, "Look at that!"
Orphen's attention is drawn to the middle of the room, where a tulip-like pod holds a fetal-positioned young woman.
"Miss Elena." gasps Licorice.
Orphen picks up a handful of papers.
"What are those?"
Someone walks into the room, Orphen places a hand over Licorice's mouth and ducks out of view. Jiarti stops infront of Elena's pod, taking out the rune blade, slicing it into pink flower shaping globe. The red runes on the wall glow, as does all the pods. The animals evaporate, transformed into energy centered at Elena, and Jiarti. Licorice watches in horror as a cobra evaporates before her eyes.
Jiarti pulls his hands from the blade, his palm shaking. "I still can't.bloom, flower."
"The thing that you want," comes Orphen, "is the flower that will bloom forever in dreams, Jiarti."
Luther steps on an eyeball, squashing it. He stands, breathing heavily by the mansion's gates. "Wait for me, Elena."
@~EYE-CATCHER~@
Cleao points, "The wind is blowing from over there!"
Majic pulls a sour face. "Why is that I have to be made to do foolish things like this as well?"
"How can you say that?"
Hundreds of eyeballs appear before them. Majic's eyes bulge. Cleao doesn't notice them. "We still have to stop Jiarti!"
"Cleao!"
"Eh?"
The eyeballs open. The two panic.
An explosion bursts. Orphen rolls into the courtyard. Jiarti stands in the hole created in the wall. "Do want to die, kid?"
"Of course not," Orphen mockingly says. "But I'm not like you. I will never use that evil magic."
Licorice listens from behind a tree. "Evil?"
"Fire, go forth!" Casts Jiarti, flames flow from his hand."
"Give me strength, Wall!" Counters Orphen. Flames and a pocket of wind crash in the air. Jiarti shields himself.
Orphen appears through the explosion. "Show me the way, Heaven's Path!" A burst of light hits Jiarti into a pole.
"Mr. Orphen!"
"Don't come out!"
"Wind!" Casts Jiarti. Licorice is thrown by a gust of wind.
Jiarti stands by Elena's pod. "Why? Why did it turn out like this?" Images of his beautiful daughter fill his head. "Why did you have to do that?" Energy balls flow into his body. "My flower.my Elena."
Jiarti walks toward them, his arms materializing. Orphen and Cleao watch from the shadows as he emerges. "What just happened?" Asks Licorice.
"Such a speedy recovery," comments Orphen, "is magic that even the Tower of Fang cannot even accomplish! The forbidden Heavenly Beings sorcery.Ageless magic!"
Cleao races through the tunnel, pulling Majic. "Here, the wind is blowing from over here!"
"Stop saying that!" Demands Majic. The two are chased by hundreds of eyeballs.
"This has nothing to do with you," warns Jiarti.
"Right, it has nothing to do with me," says Orphen, "No matter what you want to do. But because of you the lives of other animals have been sacrificed to prolong your own. Is this what is immortality?"
"Shut up!"
"This isn't immortality at all," Orphen calmly states, "This is a lie. Does she really think this way, your daughter?
Licorice clutches Orphen's arm. "Then, Mr. Jiarti is."
Jiarti spans out his arm. "Electricity, go forth!" A burst of yellow electricity escape his hand.
"Give me strength, Shield of Light!" Several circles of light are formed above Orphen, shielding them from the electricity.
Jiarti unexpectedly appears infront of Orphen, hand on his chest. "Wind go.forth!" Orphen is thrown away, leaving Licorice standing infront of the enemy. She stares at him, holding the papers, trembling in fear.
Jiarti turns the other way.
"What are we going to do, Cleao?" Cries Majic.
Majic, Cleao and Leki are cornered, surrounded by hundreds of green eyeballs.
"Why are there so many?!" Exclaims Cleao.
"How would I know?!"
Cleao holds up Leki. "If that's the case, then it's all up to you, Leki! GO!"
Leki cutely howls, his eyes glowing.
Orphen weakly quivers, sitting in a bush pile, pained. Jiarti walks to him. "Sorcerer.What else do you expect me to do, to protect a flower that is going to wilt? What should I do?" His red eyes tremor, "Elena died before the flower bloomed. She can only wait for death now. Can you understand that? What I felt then?"
Luther makes his way to Elena's pod.
"Let the flower wilt, or let Elena die?" Asks Jiarti, "I could only watch the death of my own daughter. Forgive me, Elena. To let you obtain freedom there is only.only one way which is to stop your time."
Jiarti trembles, bunching his fists. "The magic that I use cannot cure Elena's illness, but I still wish to treat her, no matter what it takes! Even if it means doing something unforgivable!"
Licorice holds the papers close, eyes watering as she listens.
Orphen breaths heavily.
"Sorcerer.I just want to see Elena's smile forever."
"That's all your take on things!" Haughtily shouts Cleao. Jiarti looks over to see Cleao and Majic on the pavement, Cleao pointing at him as Majic tries to shake off dead eyeballs. "How about Elena's feelings?! The desire to be with Luther.what's going to be done about that?!"
Majic stares her, surprised. "Cleao can actually think for the sake of others."
"Be quiet!"
"Sorry."
"But, Miss Cleao." begs Licorice, "he did it to save Miss Elena's life! I don't think he's a bad person!"
Orphen leans a hand against the wall, helping himself to his feet. "Yes, indeed he isn't a bad person. But to have a body like that, it doesn't count as immortality. You can't even stop your own hand from trembling. If you don't continue depriving other living things of their lives, understand that unending magic.how can you save your own daughter's life? Let's not talk about saving her; it's possible you will die before that!"
"My life is of no consequence," he simply replies, walking between Orphen's companions. "All I have left is this."
"How can that be?" Asks Licorice. "If you die, Mr. Jiarti.I think the one who will be most heart-broken is Miss Elena!"
The rune blade is taken from the globe.
Jiarti turns back. "That is not a problem, because she." The rune blade stabs through his back, pushing off the flower on his vest. Everyone gasps as they watch the flower tumble to the ground.
"Is that you.Luther?" Says Jiarti.
"It's the only way.I can only do that," bitterly weeps Luther, he looks up at Jiarti, Luther's eyes are in an insane state. "For the sake of Elena!"
Pink globs of magic flow from Jiarti's body. Elena's pod cracks. The globs form a globe in the air, and explode.
"Mr. Jiarti!" Shouts Licorice.
Elena, in her pod appears behind Luther. Jiarti slowly walks toward her. "Elena.my flower.you cannot just wilt like that. You cannot let her." Jiarti begins to crumble into rubble. He raises his arm, which is crumbling. "Elena." He is no more.
The glass of Elena's pod shatters. Elena floats into the air.
"I heard that that scary sorcerer in the forest has been vanquished," explains a woman. A shadow puppet of Orphen and Jiarti appear on the screen.
"I heard that he was defeated by a traveling sorcerer," comments the old storyteller. "Even if it is a rumor."
The old man is standing with an apple seller woman. "This ending is just too simple," she says. "It isn't exciting at all."
A small gloved hand reaches up, swiping an apple. Orphen and Volcan are sitting infront of the apple cart, eating stolen merchandise. "Vanquished I see. This is great, Elder Brother."
Volcan polishes his apple. "Really, to think that there still exists a fellow that pokes his nose into the business of others." Volcan goes to bite it, but polishes it again. "And it wasn't easy for me, Volcan of Volcan's Kingdom to come to a decision to go get rid of him tomorrow." Volcan twirls the apple and eats it in one go. "Evil people will have their retribution."
The apple seller appears infront of them, waving a wooden baton menacingly. Volcan stares in shock. Dortin turns to him happily, "Bad new travels fast, Elder Brother."
"This apple truly tastes the best."
The woman's nasal holes steam. Volcan and Dortin soar above the forest, screaming.
"The ending really alright?" Wonders Cleao.
"That father was only obsessed with his child," says Licorice.
Luther let's go of the rune blade imbedded in Jiarti's back. Jiarti looks back, "Luther." Luther is quietly, insanely laughing.
Jiarti falls into Licorice's arms. "Mr. Jiarti!"
Luther runs toward Elena's pod. "Elena.Elena.everything is alright now! Come out, Elena!"
"Mr. Jiarti. Mr. Jiarti."
"Elena, it's me."
"Pull yourself together!"
Jiarti looks up to Orphen. "Sorcerer.please don't tell anyone the truth. Up to now, Elena doesn't about the condition of her own body. Please."
"How can that be.?"
"Do you really want it that way?" Questions Orphen.
"It is enough for me alone to be the guilty one," insists Jiarti, face cracking. "There is no need to drag the two of them into this."
Cleao holds her mouth. "Your face..."
Jiarti begins to rise. "This is the side effects of the magic of immortality. This is a result of having a body of dreams." Jiarti stumbles to his feet.
"Mr..Jiarti." gasps Licorice. Jiarti turns back, but walks on. Licorice helpless watches him.
The wind blows as she thinks back.
"Going now!" Announces Orphen.
Licorice gasps.
"We've gotten side-tracked this time around," says Orphen. "We're arriving at the next city soon."
Cleao bumps into Orphen. "It hurts.Orphen! Make up your mind whether you want to want to walk or stop!"
A small white flower has caught his stare. "Oh, sorry, sorry."
A petal falls off the flower.
"I heard that the seafood in the next town is pretty good," exclaims Majic.
"I love eating seafood," giggles Licorice.
The scene fades on the small bloom.
Written by Samantha Hill, February, 2003. A darker story than the others, and very interesting, I hope you enjoyed it. =^^= Continue to support me in my transcriptions by reminding me I have readers!!!
The sound of rattling is heard. "In this forest," begins the old storytelling man. A young man runs through tall grass. "In the deepest of the deep, there are several large houses that no one knows when were built, it's terribly scary there." A shadowed mansion, chapel-like in appearance. "That demonic sorcerer." Glowing red runes are plastered across dark walls inside. A darkened thin, scary face appears. ".created cool-blooded and merciless freaks." A young woman floats in the fetal position in a tank. Images of wolves and monsters are then shown. The young man in the grass gasps.
Teeth chatter.
Volcan, Dortin and a crowd of children are listening to the old man tell this tale. "That's why at night the forest is filled with strange creatures wandering about." Dortin gulps down hard.
The old man places a scary red mask over his face. "You must be careful when you go the forest. If you are captured by the creatures.they will bite off your head in one go!" He screams out loud right into Dortin's face.
"Y.yes." Dortin stutters.
Later the old man is seen walking up the forest path, leaving Dortin and Volcan behind. "This should only be a rumor, right Elder Brother?"
Volcan's head rattles as he sweats. "Of.of course! A nonsensical.story like that.is simply." Volcan trips over, and jumps back up. ".for deceiving those.fools." Volcan falls to the side. Dortin watches as he trips again and again.
"Elder Brother.Elder Brother?"
*~Wake Up, Beloved~*
"This way!" Announces Cleao, arm stretched out as she points. The others sit, leaned against a tree. "That fragrance is coming from this way. Let's leave this forest quickly and go eat!"
Orphen mournfully sighs, "It's all because of that line of yours that we've been stuck the whole day in the forest going around in circles."
Majic reads a map. "No good, I don't even know where we are."
"I'm hungry," says Licorice. Pamu floats infront of her. "What? What is it Pamu?"
Pamu passes out a silver can into her hand. Licorice widely smiles with delight. "Everyone, there's a can! Pamu has a can on him!"
The three crowd her. "What? Give it to me!" Orphen jerks his head to both sides.
Majic is beaten, tied upside-down from a tree branch. Cleao lies dazed on the ground. Leki tries to pull off Orphen's bandana, tied around his eyes.
Orphen holds out his hand to Licorice. "Hey, can opener." He has a black eye and scratched up face. Licorice gasps. "How are we supposed to open the can without a can opener?" Asks Orphen, "Hurry up and give me the can opener."
Licorice dumbly smiles. "I remember that I passed it to Miss Cleao in the previous town."
"I pass it to Majic already," Cleao replies, still dazed on the ground.
"I put it in Licorice's room," says Majic.
Licorice cutely smiles, "Don't worry, when we get there there'll be enough cans to make up a mountain. I could increase sales."
Orphen withdraws his hand, arms folded. "Damn it! You're willing to sell me!"
"For the sake of the can opener, if one if not enough. Two or twenty should do it."
The young man from the story falls from behind a bush. He tries to peer up, and then faints. Orphen and Licorice gasp.
"A sorcerer's assistant?" Asks Majic.
"A sorcerer in this forest?" Adds Licorice.
Cleao bends over. "The sorcerer who created all these strange creatures?"
In the distance, Orphen sits alone with the can.
"Yes," replies the young man, lying down, bandaged.
"Why did you want to be the assistant of that kind of person?" Questions Cleao.
He closes his eyes, "That man has been bewitched by a demon."
"A demon?" Asks Licorice.
Orphen becomes interested.
"That time.right, a year ago, that person began to change." The scene falls onto the keys and knife hung at his side. The earth is picked; the face of the middle aged man is shown. ".sorcerer, Jiarti. He doesn't belong to any group, and uses drugs to train himself in magic. He's a highly respectable sorcerer." Jiarti's eyes glow red, pulsating. "But."
The young man opens doors wide, to see thousands of red glowing pods. Rats, birds and other small animals fill them. The young man can't believe his eyes. "Jiarti, who was bewitched by the magic of the Heavenly Beings (Tenjin)." In the centre is a large tulip pod, Jiarti carries a young naked woman to it. "Elena!" Calls , the young man, running to them. "Teacher, what have you done? You actually did this to your own daughter.Teacher!" Jiarti talks to him, his eyebrows begin to quiver as he listens. He is kicked away, left to watch as Jiarti places her on an alter, withdrawing a rune carved knife. He raises it high, it slices into Elena. "Elena!"
The young man is now sitting up. "I must.must save Elena."
Licorice weeps, wiping her eyes with a hanky. Pamu released another. "How can such a heart-breaking story be true?!"
Majic looks to him. "But you don't even know if she's dead or alive now. But.why.?"
He takes off the pendant around his neck, and opens it, inside is a picture of he and Elena. "She.Elena is my fiancée."
Cleao makes a fist. "How can there exist such a father?! I can't forgive this!"
"I'm with Miss Cleao!" Agrees Licorice. "We can't let this be."
"Orphen!"
"Mr. Orphen!"
Orphen is eating the meat from the can, after using what he stole from their new companion. "Assistant, thank-you for your multi-purpose knife! It's quite unthinkable that you would carry this with you all around. A can opener, a fork.it has everything. Let me borrow it first."
A dark night. "Is this the place?" Asks Cleao, "Jiarti's house."
"Looks creepy from the outside," comments Majic.
They all stand at the gates of a cathedral-like mansion.
"How can you be scared?" Asks Licorice, "We must hurry, and rescue Miss Elena!"
Orphen groans. "I never thought I'd have to do something like this in return for a can opener."
Cleao and Licorice turn around, furious, determined looks on their faces.
"How can you say that?!" Demands Cleao. "Didn't you hear all that Luther said?"
"Yes, that poor guy," added Licorice. "We just can't stand by doing nothing!"
Orphen glumly rubs the back oh his head. "Really, one after the other ask for trouble."
Majic looks at him, "Master."
Cleao grabs Majic's face, pushing him away as she digs a hand into the backpack on his back. "Majic, the sword, give me the sword!" Cleao holds her sword out, dramatically. "Jiarti, come on out!"
"Miss Cleao's too cool!" Praises Licorice.
"It's no use hiding; I know that you're there!" Calls out Cleao, echoing across the courtyard, "Hurry and come on out!"
Cleao readies her sword, teeth clenched.
"He couldn't have gone out, could he?" Wonders Licorice.
Cleao growls, grasping her sword tighter, "Well, if that's the case, let's just charge into the house!"
Cleao steps forward, onto a patch of thin vines, they wrap around her shoe. Suddenly, she's in the air, entangled in hundreds of small green vines.
"Miss Cleao!" Calls out Licorice.
"Cleao!" Yells Majic.
"What is this stuff?" Exclaims Cleao, as she struggles to free herself. From the vines, a dozen green, closed eyeballs close in on her, opening in unison to reveal light green eyes. Cleao pulls a horrified expression.
Below, Orphen casts a spell. "Give me strength, Demon's Blade!" He now wields a magical glass-like knife. The eyeballs have now fully closed in on Cleao. Orphen leaps up, cutting through them. Cleao ascends to the ground, screaming.
"Majic!" Orders Orphen.
Majic runs on the spot, arms out ready. "Yes...!"
Cleao lands on Majic's back. She rubs her rear, while sitting on Majic. "It hurts." Cleao looks in Orphen's direction, "You don't have to be so rough when putting me down!"
"Cleao." Cleao looks down at the pained Majic. ".hurry and get up, alright.you're heavy."
Cleao's sword stabs the ground right near Majic's face. She peers down at him menacingly, "That's just so rude."
"Give me strength, Miracle of Light!" Calls forth Orphen, creating a huge explosion, killing off the vines.
Jiarti places a hand on the balcony. "I never thought a sorcerer would come visiting."
The dust clears; Orphen looks forward. "It looks like this isn't the house of an ordinary sorcerer."
Jiarti raises his palm, gusts of wind form in his hand. "Wind, blow!" Orphen tries to shield himself; they all get caught in the wind, flung back.
"Strangers who have barged into my place, before you get hurt, leave," warns Jiarti.
"It hurts," whines Cleao.
"You.!" Growls Orphen.
Cleao points her index finger. "Are you Jiarti?! I won't forgive you!"
Jiarti sternly stares.
"To think that you even used your own daughter for experiments! Are you fit to be a father? Two weeks before my father died, he said that even without relatives, a child will grow up, do you understand?!"
"Yes, what Miss Cleao said is right!" Agrees Licorice.
Orphen and Majic stand behind Cleao in a line, as she points at Jiarti. Licorice stands behind Majic, her glasses missing, not realizing she's facing the wrong direction.
"I don't really get it," says Majic.
"I don't really get it either," says Orphen.
"Say something!" Demands Cleao.
Licorice raises her arm. "Yes, say something!"
"Licorice, that guy is over there," helps Cleao.
"Eh?" Licorice feels her face, and gasps, falling to her knees in search of her glasses. "Spectacles, spectacles!"
"Even as a father, you have no right to take away your daughter's happiness!" Insists Cleao, her sword thrust forward. "Hurry up and let Luther." Orphen ducks infront of her protectively.
Jiarti's palm trembles, his body is now trembling in pain. Cleao and Orphen gasp. Jiarti flees.
Cleao runs from Orphen, racing toward the house. "Trying to escape, hold still!" The concrete below her feet crumbles, she falls through a hole.
"Cleao!" Yells Majic, running toward the hole, "Are you alright?!"
Licorice pops up infront of the hole. "I've found my spectacles!" Majic trips over her, and goes flying into the hole. Licorice and Orphen peer in, listening to them.
"Hey, why is it that you fell in here too?" Exclaims Cleao.
"I didn't mean for it to happen," insists Majic.
"Oh, there's a tunnel, it must lead to the house. Majic, let's go!"
Majic stammers. Cleao talks to herself, "Wait for me, Jiarti! I won't let you do as you please!"
Licorice turns to Orphen. "They've left."
"Damn it!" Orphen gets to his feet, staring down at the eyeballs and vines. Is this place.Orphen thinks back to the monsters he's had to deal with. If this is the hideout of those creatures.
Orphen and Licorice have entered the mansion. "Mr. Orphen, be care.ful." The lights go dim, she holds onto Orphen's back, imagining a skinless body falling on top of her. "We don't know.where.something might appear."
A door creaks open. They look inside, to see the large room of glowing red pods filled with a small animal in each.
"This place is." wonders Licorice.
"It looks like the laboratory," says Orphen. "Isn't it, looks like my guess is right."
"Mr. Orphen!" Calls Licorice, "Look at that!"
Orphen's attention is drawn to the middle of the room, where a tulip-like pod holds a fetal-positioned young woman.
"Miss Elena." gasps Licorice.
Orphen picks up a handful of papers.
"What are those?"
Someone walks into the room, Orphen places a hand over Licorice's mouth and ducks out of view. Jiarti stops infront of Elena's pod, taking out the rune blade, slicing it into pink flower shaping globe. The red runes on the wall glow, as does all the pods. The animals evaporate, transformed into energy centered at Elena, and Jiarti. Licorice watches in horror as a cobra evaporates before her eyes.
Jiarti pulls his hands from the blade, his palm shaking. "I still can't.bloom, flower."
"The thing that you want," comes Orphen, "is the flower that will bloom forever in dreams, Jiarti."
Luther steps on an eyeball, squashing it. He stands, breathing heavily by the mansion's gates. "Wait for me, Elena."
@~EYE-CATCHER~@
Cleao points, "The wind is blowing from over there!"
Majic pulls a sour face. "Why is that I have to be made to do foolish things like this as well?"
"How can you say that?"
Hundreds of eyeballs appear before them. Majic's eyes bulge. Cleao doesn't notice them. "We still have to stop Jiarti!"
"Cleao!"
"Eh?"
The eyeballs open. The two panic.
An explosion bursts. Orphen rolls into the courtyard. Jiarti stands in the hole created in the wall. "Do want to die, kid?"
"Of course not," Orphen mockingly says. "But I'm not like you. I will never use that evil magic."
Licorice listens from behind a tree. "Evil?"
"Fire, go forth!" Casts Jiarti, flames flow from his hand."
"Give me strength, Wall!" Counters Orphen. Flames and a pocket of wind crash in the air. Jiarti shields himself.
Orphen appears through the explosion. "Show me the way, Heaven's Path!" A burst of light hits Jiarti into a pole.
"Mr. Orphen!"
"Don't come out!"
"Wind!" Casts Jiarti. Licorice is thrown by a gust of wind.
Jiarti stands by Elena's pod. "Why? Why did it turn out like this?" Images of his beautiful daughter fill his head. "Why did you have to do that?" Energy balls flow into his body. "My flower.my Elena."
Jiarti walks toward them, his arms materializing. Orphen and Cleao watch from the shadows as he emerges. "What just happened?" Asks Licorice.
"Such a speedy recovery," comments Orphen, "is magic that even the Tower of Fang cannot even accomplish! The forbidden Heavenly Beings sorcery.Ageless magic!"
Cleao races through the tunnel, pulling Majic. "Here, the wind is blowing from over here!"
"Stop saying that!" Demands Majic. The two are chased by hundreds of eyeballs.
"This has nothing to do with you," warns Jiarti.
"Right, it has nothing to do with me," says Orphen, "No matter what you want to do. But because of you the lives of other animals have been sacrificed to prolong your own. Is this what is immortality?"
"Shut up!"
"This isn't immortality at all," Orphen calmly states, "This is a lie. Does she really think this way, your daughter?
Licorice clutches Orphen's arm. "Then, Mr. Jiarti is."
Jiarti spans out his arm. "Electricity, go forth!" A burst of yellow electricity escape his hand.
"Give me strength, Shield of Light!" Several circles of light are formed above Orphen, shielding them from the electricity.
Jiarti unexpectedly appears infront of Orphen, hand on his chest. "Wind go.forth!" Orphen is thrown away, leaving Licorice standing infront of the enemy. She stares at him, holding the papers, trembling in fear.
Jiarti turns the other way.
"What are we going to do, Cleao?" Cries Majic.
Majic, Cleao and Leki are cornered, surrounded by hundreds of green eyeballs.
"Why are there so many?!" Exclaims Cleao.
"How would I know?!"
Cleao holds up Leki. "If that's the case, then it's all up to you, Leki! GO!"
Leki cutely howls, his eyes glowing.
Orphen weakly quivers, sitting in a bush pile, pained. Jiarti walks to him. "Sorcerer.What else do you expect me to do, to protect a flower that is going to wilt? What should I do?" His red eyes tremor, "Elena died before the flower bloomed. She can only wait for death now. Can you understand that? What I felt then?"
Luther makes his way to Elena's pod.
"Let the flower wilt, or let Elena die?" Asks Jiarti, "I could only watch the death of my own daughter. Forgive me, Elena. To let you obtain freedom there is only.only one way which is to stop your time."
Jiarti trembles, bunching his fists. "The magic that I use cannot cure Elena's illness, but I still wish to treat her, no matter what it takes! Even if it means doing something unforgivable!"
Licorice holds the papers close, eyes watering as she listens.
Orphen breaths heavily.
"Sorcerer.I just want to see Elena's smile forever."
"That's all your take on things!" Haughtily shouts Cleao. Jiarti looks over to see Cleao and Majic on the pavement, Cleao pointing at him as Majic tries to shake off dead eyeballs. "How about Elena's feelings?! The desire to be with Luther.what's going to be done about that?!"
Majic stares her, surprised. "Cleao can actually think for the sake of others."
"Be quiet!"
"Sorry."
"But, Miss Cleao." begs Licorice, "he did it to save Miss Elena's life! I don't think he's a bad person!"
Orphen leans a hand against the wall, helping himself to his feet. "Yes, indeed he isn't a bad person. But to have a body like that, it doesn't count as immortality. You can't even stop your own hand from trembling. If you don't continue depriving other living things of their lives, understand that unending magic.how can you save your own daughter's life? Let's not talk about saving her; it's possible you will die before that!"
"My life is of no consequence," he simply replies, walking between Orphen's companions. "All I have left is this."
"How can that be?" Asks Licorice. "If you die, Mr. Jiarti.I think the one who will be most heart-broken is Miss Elena!"
The rune blade is taken from the globe.
Jiarti turns back. "That is not a problem, because she." The rune blade stabs through his back, pushing off the flower on his vest. Everyone gasps as they watch the flower tumble to the ground.
"Is that you.Luther?" Says Jiarti.
"It's the only way.I can only do that," bitterly weeps Luther, he looks up at Jiarti, Luther's eyes are in an insane state. "For the sake of Elena!"
Pink globs of magic flow from Jiarti's body. Elena's pod cracks. The globs form a globe in the air, and explode.
"Mr. Jiarti!" Shouts Licorice.
Elena, in her pod appears behind Luther. Jiarti slowly walks toward her. "Elena.my flower.you cannot just wilt like that. You cannot let her." Jiarti begins to crumble into rubble. He raises his arm, which is crumbling. "Elena." He is no more.
The glass of Elena's pod shatters. Elena floats into the air.
"I heard that that scary sorcerer in the forest has been vanquished," explains a woman. A shadow puppet of Orphen and Jiarti appear on the screen.
"I heard that he was defeated by a traveling sorcerer," comments the old storyteller. "Even if it is a rumor."
The old man is standing with an apple seller woman. "This ending is just too simple," she says. "It isn't exciting at all."
A small gloved hand reaches up, swiping an apple. Orphen and Volcan are sitting infront of the apple cart, eating stolen merchandise. "Vanquished I see. This is great, Elder Brother."
Volcan polishes his apple. "Really, to think that there still exists a fellow that pokes his nose into the business of others." Volcan goes to bite it, but polishes it again. "And it wasn't easy for me, Volcan of Volcan's Kingdom to come to a decision to go get rid of him tomorrow." Volcan twirls the apple and eats it in one go. "Evil people will have their retribution."
The apple seller appears infront of them, waving a wooden baton menacingly. Volcan stares in shock. Dortin turns to him happily, "Bad new travels fast, Elder Brother."
"This apple truly tastes the best."
The woman's nasal holes steam. Volcan and Dortin soar above the forest, screaming.
"The ending really alright?" Wonders Cleao.
"That father was only obsessed with his child," says Licorice.
Luther let's go of the rune blade imbedded in Jiarti's back. Jiarti looks back, "Luther." Luther is quietly, insanely laughing.
Jiarti falls into Licorice's arms. "Mr. Jiarti!"
Luther runs toward Elena's pod. "Elena.Elena.everything is alright now! Come out, Elena!"
"Mr. Jiarti. Mr. Jiarti."
"Elena, it's me."
"Pull yourself together!"
Jiarti looks up to Orphen. "Sorcerer.please don't tell anyone the truth. Up to now, Elena doesn't about the condition of her own body. Please."
"How can that be.?"
"Do you really want it that way?" Questions Orphen.
"It is enough for me alone to be the guilty one," insists Jiarti, face cracking. "There is no need to drag the two of them into this."
Cleao holds her mouth. "Your face..."
Jiarti begins to rise. "This is the side effects of the magic of immortality. This is a result of having a body of dreams." Jiarti stumbles to his feet.
"Mr..Jiarti." gasps Licorice. Jiarti turns back, but walks on. Licorice helpless watches him.
The wind blows as she thinks back.
"Going now!" Announces Orphen.
Licorice gasps.
"We've gotten side-tracked this time around," says Orphen. "We're arriving at the next city soon."
Cleao bumps into Orphen. "It hurts.Orphen! Make up your mind whether you want to want to walk or stop!"
A small white flower has caught his stare. "Oh, sorry, sorry."
A petal falls off the flower.
"I heard that the seafood in the next town is pretty good," exclaims Majic.
"I love eating seafood," giggles Licorice.
The scene fades on the small bloom.
Written by Samantha Hill, February, 2003. A darker story than the others, and very interesting, I hope you enjoyed it. =^^= Continue to support me in my transcriptions by reminding me I have readers!!!