CHAPTER NINE

Owl was back at the Dream Gate with Will and NiGHTS. Owl said that he wanted to speak to Will about something important, and NiGHTS, not interested in hearing a boring lecture from Owl, decided he would go and head back to the park.

The purple jester was soaring through the air when they saw, floating by a rainbow-colored balloon, of all things…

"Well, well! What's Octopaw doing here?" NiGHTS mused. "Oh well. Let's have a little fun then!" He laughed to himself, chasing after Octopaw.

Meanwhile, Owl had sat down on the fountain with Will and was looking at him. He cleaned his glasses, then spoke up.

"Will, I think it's time I told you about Elliot and Claris…you probably want to know what they went through, I wager!"

Will nodded. "Oh yes, I'd like to know what they were like! How did they get here? Where were they from?"

Then a familiar star soared down from the sky, and the teen narrator hopped down from it to join them by the empty fountain. "Ooh, let me hear too! Anything you're saying could be helpful."

Owl nodded. "Right. Well, I'll first start by answering the question of where they came from! They were both children from the town of Twin Seeds over in…" Owl put a feather to his beak. "Oh, I believe it was…Japan, yes, that was the name of the country. And Elliot had gotten here due to a problem with sports…much like you, Will…"

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…the kid had blue hair that spiked up in front, and dark blue eyes. He wore baggy green pants with dark blue sneakers and had on a light blue t-shirt beneath the dark blue sweatshirt he was wearing. His teammate tossed him the basketball after an amazing jump and it soared through the air…he caught it with one hand and smiled down at it…

Then he felt the presence of somebody closeby and turned to his right, just in time to see a blond-haired bully named Roger grab the ball out of his hands, dribble it down the court with HIS buddies and slam-dunk it straight through the hoop. Roger and his buddies laughed as they tossed the ball back at Elliot, who just let it hit him in the chest. He didn't even look up…he'd been served.

"Come back when you're ready to REALLY play, wusses!" Roger's voice laughed.

Then the ball fell down…down…and sank into the ground as everything became dark. Elliot looked up and saw Roger and his gang laughing at him…

Then their forms changed and twisted, turning into dark, fanged phantoms who laughed before they reached out for him with sharp claws. Frightened, Elliot ran for his life down a hallway of twisted light and shadow as screams filled his ears, none of which were his own but seemed instead to stem form the walls…

Then he saw it…a beautiful, shining green light at the end of the tunnel. Arms outstretched, he soared through it…

And landed in a beautiful, lush valley of green. There were pieces of land that had blue, floating windmills passing by, and mountains with snowy white caps in the distance.

Then the wind passed through a nearby tree, and he heard a twinkling. He turned his head and saw a strange creature floating down the valley towards…a girl…

Eyes widening, Elliot raced over to her. She appeared to be unconscious. He knelt down by her side and examined her. She was quite pretty, with a small ponytail at the top of her head and pinkish/red hair, with an orange shirt and a red pair of shorts, with dark brown sneakers. Elliot gently lifted her sleeping form up and placed her underneath a tree.

A few moments after he did that though, he felt…a calling…he had to go. He looked down and saw that he could see through his hand…

Yes, he understood. It was time to go. Somebody was calling out to him. He turned away and slowly vanished into the air…

As for the girl…well…how had SHE arrived?

It had started with the fact that she, Claris, was practicing for an audition. She was quite eager to prove that she could be a good singer, she had been practicing at her favorite park all day beneath her usual "Singing Tree", and was ready at last…

Then everything went dark, and before she knew it, the spotlight was being shone on her. She was on top of the stage, microphone before her. The fat, piggish critic and his crazy-haired co-critic were looking at her. The piggish man snorted while the crazy-haired one tapped a pencil against the desk they were all sitting at impatiently, holding his screenplay "Twin Dreams" in one hand. The director, who was wearing a white cap and sunglasses, had fallen asleep and was lying back in his chair.

Not one to be brought down, Claris stepped forward to try and sing…but then all three adults changed before her eyes into frightful beasts that leered at her cruelly before rushing at her. She screamed and tore down a hallway filled with screaming colors and cries of pain…

Then she saw it. Light. Salvation. She rushed through it…

And awoke to find herself beneath a tree in a beautiful valley, with crisp air filling her lungs. She turned and saw a boy with blue hair looking down at her, smiling, before he turned and vanished away. She held out a hand to try and stop him "WAIT!" she called out…

Too late. He was gone. She sighed. Who had he been?

Then she heard rustling in the grass nearby. She turned around and saw the strangest creatures she'd ever seen…little people in clown-like outfits with haloes on their heads and pink, butterfly-like wings. They floated around her as she looked up into the light, and she could swear she heard a voice calling out…

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…"Wow! That's an amazing story!" Will said.

"Tell us more, tell us more!" The narrator asked.

"Oh, I will, I will." Owl said. "But first, how about a little break? Let's go to the park…I think I might have seen a snack stand there, and I simply cannot HELP myself when it comes to popcorn, ooh-hoo-hoo!" he laughed, belly inflating up and down as he did so.