Falias, Finias Prologue

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Floe from La Chiesa

Kazdan coughs into his right hand; he stretches his hand to the little sliver of sunlight streaming in the malformed lid of the old dumpster. He smiles, shaking with relief that there's no blood; he won't have to call 911 and endure his mom's anxiety about the severity of his injuries. He pushes himself up from the garbage, coffee rinds stain his left hand like crusty dirt. He props himself on a brown-metal wall that is close to the crack of the dumpster's lid. Then, he assesses the damage done to his self.

His scalp feels raw from all the literal hair pulling; he sees some strands of his red-gold hair scattered in the vile-smelling refuse. His face feels fine, minus a scratch or two on his ears from being dumped into the dumpster, because the bully is smart enough not to leave such obvious marks for all to see. His neck feels fine like his face, again barring some scratches he got from the tiny shards of glass in the garbage.

He wipes his coffee-stained hand against his black, pencil pants. He rolls up his green sweater sleeves; on his arms he can see slimy, pink welts and angry, red patches shining against his skin like burns. He rolls the sleeves down and then rolls up his pants' legs. He finds bruises in the shape of size 9 sneakers and bleeding scratches on his knees from the alleyway's craggy floor. He rolls them back down again and nearly bangs the back of his head against the wall.

"Violence is childish." Kazdan concludes as he remembers Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange film. The way the bullies, most of whom who got held back by two years, beat him reminds him of sandbox delinquents in kindergarten. The bullies didn't break or sprain any of his limbs; they pretty much used attacks that a five-year-old would use on his annoying little brother like Indian burns. The beating was juvenile, but it still fucking hurts.

"I still got it." Kazdan whispered softly but not hoarsely since none of the bullies tried to choke him out. He doesn't like talking loudly, especially in this miserable environment he finds himself in. He uses his right hand to delve into the right, front pocket of his jeans and pulls out a Chaotic booster pack from his pocket. Chaotic has been growing in popularity for about a year now, but Kazdan didn't buy a pack until today.

Today, he finished the last round of tests he needed to take in order to take certain classes he wants to take in high school. After his tests, he went to the hobby store to buy himself a figure of Moon Horn from Star Quest as a reward for acing all of those tests. He actually did buy the figure; he rummages through the trash and finds the box containing Moon Horn. His horn has broken from all the jostling; considering what happens to him in the end, Kazdan finds it fitting for Moon Horn.

But he had some money left over, like $3.75, and saw the display of Chaotic cards; he decided to buy a pack with his change because it only cost two bucks plus tax. He slipped the little pack in his front, right pocket while carrying his Moon Horn figure box. He was going to open it at home, but, then after walking a block away from the shop and passing by an alleyway, the bullies grabbed him, beat him, and then dumped him in the garbage where he belonged.

He has been bullied before, but it was mostly verbally through vicious gossip or name calling. His tactic with dealing with bullies was to ignore them and ultimately forget about them; in fact, the bullies who attacked him, he couldn't recall their names. He sort of remembers seeing them in the halls, snickering at him like hyenas as he would walk to his locker, but they wouldn't do anything to him. He has a feeling they only did this to vent off some steam that they're going to be held back again. But after this assault, he swears that he will never walk by some alleyway by himself ever again.

He examines his Chaotic pack and wonders if he should open the pack here; there's a chance that he'll dirty the cards or the scent of the garbage will seep into the cards like moldering gym socks. But then again, he feels less than zero like he has watched the series finale of Star Quest all over again. To soothe the wounds inflicted on his pride, he tears open the pack. The first thing he sees is a Master Code card used to register your online deck; he frowns and puts the Master Code card all the way in the back of the cards.

The first real card he finds is red; the border and most of the card is red and bright like movie blood. There are stats on the card with numbers by a pink heart, a yellow lightning bolt, a green breeze, and a blue eye; all of this mean nothing to him right now. There is a monster on the card with red skin and roaring to the sky with his bright blue eyes and deep blue horns. There's fire in the background and the ground is erupting below him and he looks at the corner to see a symbol for fire. There are a bunch of words in black that hold no meaning for him and three red heptagons. He finally reads the flavor text:

"We'll take Kiru City and the UnderWorld will rule all of Perim!"— Chaor

He is Chaor, an UnderWorld Conqueror Warrior. Kazdan feels himself flush with excitement; he is reminded of Mary Renault's Fire from Heaven which is his favorite book about his favorite conqueror, Alexander the Great. Chaor is a conqueror, an otherworldly conqueror from some hellish world! He's a cross between a gargoyle (like Thailog) and a dragon (like Kilgharrah) with an ancient warrior's body. He sort of reminds me of my—

"Mom, I just stopped by Griffith's and I'll be home in about twenty." His excitement goes out like a bucket of water smoldering a roaring fire. He knows that it's Tom talking on his cellphone, walking by the alleyway where Kazdan was beaten and then subsequently dumped in the trash. This is his chance to call for Tom, for his help. Tom could pull him out and maybe take him back to his home to treat his wounds; Tom would most likely offer to beat the crap out of his assailants. Then, they would laugh together like they were best friends again.

Kazdan hugs Chaor to his chest and listens as Tom walks away.

Author's Comments- Originally, I wanted to create a multi-chapter sequel to Lost His Mind which would replace Wayward Power; eventually, I am going to create that sequel. However, I wanted to create Falias, Finias as the replacement for Wayward Power and because this questions has been floating through my head: what would Kaz be without Tom? I know Elememtal1000 tackled this in Evil Kaz where Kaz and Tom are enemies like in the original Grolls and Gorks story of the card game.

However, I've been thinking how Kaz of the show would take it; I noticed in some of the episodes without the support of his friends he would become sort of sad or subdued. In season two's "A Rare Hazard", where Tom and Kaz are secretly working with the CodeMasters to catch these players destroying Locations by having Kaz accuse Tom of cheating who then flees to Perim, Kaz was sad without Tom. I know it was an act, but he is not the best of actors. Even Tom, the OverWorld goody-goody, can deceive better than him as shown in season one's "Maze of Menace" and "Going Under" episodes and in season two's "Putting the Muge in Mugic" episode. I would like to believe that Kaz had to really think and feel what it would be like to not be friends with Tom anymore in order to go through with his act.

So, I deeply thought about all the possibilities, the changes that would occur if Tom and Kaz weren't best friends but not enemies; it's more like a friendship that got away for the both of them. However, Kaz is the one who suffers the most from it, since I do love writing his suffering, while Tom is pretty much the same person in the show with some minor changes. In this alternative universe, Kaz is more subdued and sad to the point where he appears depressed in comparison to the actual Kaz of the show. And in his loneliness, he grows into an entirely different person.