Zeitgeist
Chapter 12- Outside the Box
Across the lake, Kevin could see the Dungeons and Dragons ride sitting silently under the moonlight. What he felt was another matter. Though it wasn't as intense as it had began, he could still feel the "pull" of the ride , cutting through his expanded senses and drawing him in. His body moist in sweat and his head pounding, Kevin stopped running to rest at the fence surrounding Loony Lake. Seconds later, Josef caught up with the teen, and took a moment to catch his breath.
"What has gotten into you?" Josef asked.
"Josef...this is so weird," Kevin responded. "Its like...ESP or something. I can just feel what's going on in the park, y'know? I can't explain it."
"Are you all right? You look awful," Josef said.
"Yeah, just dizzy. It's not as intense as a minute ago. But, it's still there. Like a magnet in my head, pointing that way." Kevin gestured toward the Dungeons and Dragons ride across the pond.
Josef look toward the D-n-D. "The ride? What about it? Do you...feel something?"
"Yeah, I do. But it isn't doing anything," Kevin announced. "Why is this happening to me?"
"I'm not sure," Josef stated. "You took the ride just like Diana and her friends did, but instead of going to this "Realm," you ended up creating this strange parallel amusement park."
"I didn't do anything! This thing is the one that's..." Kevin barked as he waved the scroll.
"Kevin, remember what happened back in the real park? You were feeling some strange connection to the ride there too. It's all you," Josef said.
"'It's all you.' You sound like..." Kevin bit his lip, wondering if he should mention to Josef the conversation he had with the Loonyland mascot. He thought better of it. Things were strange enough as it is, Kevin thought. "I always did feel more comfortable with myself coming here...I mean to Loonyland. Always did, since I was a little kid."
Josef simply nodded.
"So, what do I do now?" Kevin asked.
"I don't know, Kevin," Josef said.
"And what about you? And what about Diana and Hank and the rest of them?" Kevin rambled.
Josef shrugged.
"And why is that stupid ride giving me a buzz again?" Kevin asked, gesturing toward the 'D-n-D' across the water.
"Maybe this is a sign for you to go back," Josef suggested. "Back to the real park, I mean."
"Really? You think so?"
"Anything is possible. Perhaps we should go get Reggie and try it," Josef suggested.
"Reggie? Reggie!" Kevin said in surprise. "Ohmygosh, we just left him!"
"Right. Let's go get..."
"Eeyyaaaa..!" Kevin blurted suddenly. The strange sixth sense, which pointed Kevin toward the Dungeons and Dragons ride, all of a sudden grew in intensity.
"Kevin, what's wrong?" Josef asked.
Kevin rested on the fence that surrounded Loony Lake as he stared blankly at the ride. His senses enveloped him. "The ride. The ride is...doing something. Something's coming. Something...bad."
Josef turned his head and studied the ride for a moment. "Really? I don't see any..."
Suddenly, from across the lake, Josef heard a deep low animal roar as, for a split second, the eyes on the dragon head of the Dungeons and Dragons ride flashed to life. Josef looked at the ride dumbfounded as they heard a familiar metallic clackity-clack. Immediately they knew what it was.
"Mein Gott," Josef whispered breathlessly. A look of surprise and wonder leaped across his face as he saw a roller coaster car roll down the exit track of the Dungeons and Dragons ride. Much to his unabashed delight, Josef made no mistake at identifying the six oddly dressed passengers who were riding the car.
"It's them! Diana...Presto...all of them! Kevin..."
Just then, Kevin felt a great nausea as a sickly black presence overcame his senses. His skin felt like it was frozen and on fire at the same time. His ears filled with screams of pain, like a pack of angry cats. He glanced at Josef with a look of complete shock and horror. "No...something else," Kevin cursed, then lurched forward and fell to the ground.
"If this is a dream, don't wake me up!" Presto exclaimed as the roller coaster car slowed to a stop on the tracks.
Sitting next to him, Sheila held her hands over her face. "I can't look!" said the red-headed teen.
Bobby reached over Presto in their back seat to pull her hands away. "Sure you can!" the ten-year-old said happily.
Sheila's eyes looked upon the dark amusement park , and an expression of relief and joy bloomed on her face.
The group spontaneously leaped off the coaster car and hopped onto the ride's loading platform, dancing and yelling in celebration.
"We're home!" Eric yelled, his Cavalier armor clanking as he danced.
"I can't believe we made it!" Hank bellowed as he held his magical bow aloft.
"Thank you, Zandora!' Sheila added.
"Thank you, Dungeon Master!" Presto cheered.
"We love you! We made it!" Diana happily proclaimed.
Suddenly, a ball of arcane energy flew from the exit tunnel of the Dungeons and Dragons ride and over the young group's heads. Hitting a dividing wall of the loading platform, the ball exploded, sending chunks of decorative masonry down on the celebrating youngsters. The young ones instinctively turned toward the ride's exit tunnel.
Out of tunnel, riding a snorting horse of pitch black with unearthly, burning red eyes, came a nightmarish vision of a man pale as the moon, dressed in red and black robes. From his back spanned two large batlike wings.
"It's Venger!" Josef yelped in utter shock.
"Aaagck!" Kevin gagged as he let go of the fence and fell to the ground in a fetal position, still gritting his teeth in pain. He couldn't focus his eyes, and his ears were still filled with indecipherable screeching. His midsection felt like he had been stabbed in the belly with a hot poker, and his skin felt like it was covered in ants. And all the while, through the pain and agony, Kevin's senses were still "pulled" toward the ride. Though they were clear across Loony Lake, Kevin could hear Diana and her friends as though they were standing two feet away. He could see their panicked faces and hear their quickly shuffling footsteps on the platform.
"Kevin! Look at me, Kevin! I'm right here!" Josef shouted as he knelt down and tried to look into Kevin's darting and confused eyes.
Suddenly, Josef's attention was drawn to across the lake as another ball of magical energy erupted from Venger's hands and streaked toward the newly arrived young ones. With trained alertness, all of them ducked out of the way of the magical fire as it whizzed by them and exploded on the far side of the platform.
"We...we have to do something," Josef said meekly. Josef looked back and forth between Kevin on the ground and the youngsters across the lake, trying to decide who he should help and feeling utterly lost.
"Uhhhh...stop it...stop..." Kevin stuttered as he stared blankly with bulging eyes as he lay on the cold cement.
Through the chaos of his own senses, Kevin could make out Eric talking about calling the cops. For the briefest moment, Kevin found Eric's statements a little humorous; struck by the irony of Eric trying to call for a bit of 'real world' sanity to be added to a situation Kevin knew for a fact was completely insane. Though still in pain, Kevin let out a hint of a chuckle.
And for that moment, Kevin's pain seemed to subside a little.
Kevin thought back to the conversation he had with the 'mascot' Loony hours before, though why he would think of it he couldn't say:
"Y'know, did you ever think maybe your life would be a lot easier if you just stopped asking questions and just go with the flow?"
Kevin could almost hear the words in his head as they were first spoken.
"I told ya...you should relax, ride it out. You'll feel better."
Kevin closed his eyes and tried to relax as much as his out of control senses would allow. Instead of trying to fight and make sense of the chaos running through him, he opened himself up to it. He simply let his senses guide him to wherever they may lead. Much to his pleasant surprise, Kevin continued to feel less pain than before.
Josef noticed Kevin's eyes had shut and he had stopped squirming on the ground.
"Kevin? Stay with me, Kevin!" Josef shouted.
"'It's all you,'" Kevin said calmly.
"Me? What do you..." Josef was interrupted by the flash and sound of Venger's magical energy bursting apart the telephone booth near the ride. Eric was left standing in the middle of the booth's wreckage comically holding the phone's receiver in his hand.
"GIVE ME YOUR WEAPONS AND I WILL LEAVE YOU IN PEACE!" Venger roared with a deep menacing, supernatural voice that echoed across the lake. "RESIST ME...AND YOU SHALL BE DESTROYED!"
The loud, haunting voice reverberated through Kevin's mind, as if it was a violation to Kevin's senses. Kevin gritted his teeth at the sound of it. Somehow, Kevin could almost sense the old and dark power behind such a voice, and it terrified him. Still, Kevin's pain was getting less and less as he gave way to the "pull" of his senses across Loony Lake to the events on the other side. The sights and sounds of the park washed over him, where the only pain Kevin could feel was being caused by this new arrival named Venger.
"Kevin, I...I have to do something!" Josef said. "I can't just leave them alone again!"
Josef looked up across Loony Lake to see Bobby smacking the ground with a small wooden club. Josef let in a breath expecting to see the club's magical power come forth in a massive groundquake. But, much to Josef surprise, nothing happened.
"FOOLS! YOUR WEAPONS HAVE NO POWER IN THIS WORLD!" Venger proclaimed.
Suddenly, Venger's horse stood high on its hind legs as Venger released a powerful blast of energy from his right hand that streaked across Fantasy Land and struck Loonyland's giant ferris wheel. With a loud BOOM! the magical missile shattered the center spoke of the wheel. The ride quickly teetered and fell on its side with a large crash. Then, Venger released another bolt of energy at a nearby hotdog stand. Instantly, the stand exploded into a pile of rubble in a violent flash.
And each time the energy bolts struck home, Kevin let out a yelp of pain.
"He's playing with them," Josef observed. "He could kill them at any time."
"I know," Kevin said weakly as he looked across Loony Lake.
"I have to get over and help somehow before it's too late!" Josef said as he started to run toward Loony Lake Bridge.
"Wait," Kevin blurted with pain as he tried to sit up from the cement.
Conducting a symphony of chaos, Venger continued to release energy blasts on the surrounding structures of Loonyland. One streak tore a large hole in the structure of the roller coaster, another blasted the nearby performance stage bleachers to a pile of shattered planks in an instant.
And Kevin could feel it all. Every strike felt like a red hot stab in his chest. Still, with great effort that surprised even Kevin, he focused on his concern for Diana and her friends...the ones he had come to help.
"There's only one thing to do," Hank said sternly. "We led Venger here. We'll have to lead him back!"
"Are you nuts?!" Eric yelled back at Hank, "I wouldn't go back to that crazy place for a million bucks!"
"Have it your way, Eric," Hank said sternly. "I'm going...with or without you."
"I can do this," Kevin whispered.
Clutching the Scroll in his hand, Kevin looked across Loony Lake, eyes burning with intensity. Gritting his teeth through the pain that Venger's arcane energies were strangely inflicting on him, he focused on the Dungeons and Dragons ride, sitting quiet and lifeless.
"Go," Kevin grunted.
Suddenly, the ride's inner workings started to hum. The chain that pulled the coaster car into the dragon's giant mouth started to move and clitterty-clack down the track. The eyes of the dragon's head flared to life.
Hank paused briefly at the controls of the Dungeons and Dragons ride, surprised and quite relieved that everything seemed to be working. The chain of the ride was running in front of the coaster, while the lights on the control panel were all lit up. He then made a quick scan and saw a large green button marked "Coaster-Unlock".
"I hope this works," Hank said quietly as he pushed the button.
As soon as Hank sat in the coaster, Diana, Presto, Bobby and Sheila all ran and hopped into the car. Hank looked at his friends' faces as they settled into their seats. He gave a look of surprise and dismay. He opened his mouth to say something, but Diana stopped him with a stern look. Hank let out a sigh and showed a touched smile as he reached up and brought down the coaster's gripbars down to start the coaster moving.
There were no words needed. They were all in this together.
"GIVE ME THAT SHIELD!" Josef heard from across the lake. He had a hard time keeping tabs on everything that was happening, with Venger wrecking the park, Kevin crying in pain, and Diana and her friends running around. Finally, he saw Eric quickly running from Venger and leaping onto the Dungeons and Dragons ride from the castle wall guardrail.
"They're going back!" Josef said.
"WHAT?" Venger's voice echoed as the coaster car rolling toward the mouth of the dragon head.
As the coaster car slipped into the dragon's mouth, Venger quickly followed it, disappearing from sight. Kevin gritted his teeth in hard effort as, in an act of will he could barely understand, he made the Dungeons and Dragons ride roar to life. For a few seconds, the eyes of the dragon head flashed to life and the ride itself let out a deep, menacing growl. Then all was quiet.
Kevin quickly collapsed onto the pavement, exhaling sharply as is body plopped onto the cement with a thud.
"Kevin!" Josef kneeled down to check on the teen.
"Yes?" Kevin said meekly staring up at Josef with spent and tired eyes.
"Are you all right?"
Kevin paused before he answered.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, for my next trick..." Kevin said as a huge smile bloomed across his face.
They both suddenly burst into laughter that echoed across the park.