Journal of the soul chapter 71
Well, third time's the charm right? If you all haven't read my review on chapter 70, go do that please, it'll explain what I'm doing back in this hellhole.
Hunter: Oh shoot, you're back. I thought I was just cursed to float in the void for all eternity.
That's a little over the-…did you turn my office into a pillow fort?
Hunter: yep, and you're not allowed in.
No faaaaaiiiiiiir.
Hunter: you know what else isn't fair? Not finishing something to completion, leaving everyone wondering what happened to you.
…touché…oh right, I get to say the thing now.
Hunter: it never gets old.
Onto the Chapter!
The sun is a cruel and unforgiving mistress. Most of the time people take it for granted, not really remembering that it will eventually be the death of us all. Hunter remembered this about the sun as he tried once again and failed to dig himself out of a particularly large sand dune.
Dusty dunes, the final dig site on the caliosteo islands was a massive desert. It was big, hot, full of sand. That pretty much checks off every category for a good desert.
"I don't even know why I'm here" Hunter said to himself, "it's not like I'm gonna make my vivosaurs stronger by getting new ones"
"Maybe you'll get lucky and the sand'll turn into quicksand and drown you."
"Oh shut up." The ever present voice in Hunter's head for the past few weeks has been trying to wish death upon Hunter for a while now. Ironically, he's had less success with killing Hunter than Hunter has of killing Hunter.
"I should just go back and try and prepare," he mused yet again, finally pulling himself out of the sand. Despite not wearing a jacket or pants this time, being reminiscent of his original clothing, Hunter still felt like he was being cooked alive. He trudged over to the cliff face encasing the Dunes and sat down on a surprisingly sturdy mound of sand. Silently wishing he brought Todd so he would at least have someone other than murder hobo to talk to, Hunter tried to take a drink of water.
"Can you at least be more creative with what you call me? Murder isn't an adjective"
"Well, what do you want me to call you murder conscience?"
"You bastard, I swear once I-"
"That's too long"
"….I'm not talking to you anymore"
"Oh wow, threatening me with being alone. How freaking original."
"What do you mean? You're not alone"
"What's with the motivational message? I thought you hated me?"
"….look down dumbass" Hunter did so, and realized the sand mound he was sitting on was not a mound at all but professor Scatterly.
"…so that makes three times I've found you passed out, right doc?" Hunter crouched by the professor's face and put his hands on his lips. They were incredibly dry. He sat the professor up against the cliff face (which took quite a bit of effort) and tried to pour the water from his bottle into his mouth. The water trickled down Scatterly's front.
"Ugh….wa….ter" the professor moaned.
"If I have to force this water down your throat by kissing you, then I better be getting a life debt for it." Hunter tried yet again to give the professor water. This time, it actually did work and for his troubles, Hunter got to watch Scatterly leap several more feet in the air than humanly possible.
"Great Scott! It seems I am in your debt yet again Hunter m'boy!" Scatterly clasped him on the back, "who would've thought I'd be so absentminded as to forget to bring water to the desert?"
"Based on your past, the answer might surprise you." Scatterly laughed off the half insult and proceeded to dig out his shovel from the sand as well. Hunter sheilded himself from the rain of sand while Scatterly violently attacked the ground with his shovel.
"I'm afraid I can't stay for tea m'boy. I've finally located the final caliosteo tablet! Only issue is that the blasted sand keeps shifting and filling any hole I make!" Scatterly started rapidly flinging around sand, but couldn't leave a lasting mark on the ground. Hunter walked to wear the tablet should be according to Scatterly dropped a Dino medal on it.
"Delta, help us out here." Delta appeared in a flash of light and started shooting small streams of water on the ground. The sand clumped together thanks to being wet.
"Good thinking m'boy, but I thought you weren't interested in the story of zongazonga?"
"Let's just say I'm trying to be better about neglecting things, so I'd rather not leave this story unfinished."
"Well said Hunter! Now, to the tablet!" Hunter cleared out a large swath of ground with his foldax and Scatterly struck stone. They both lifted the tablet from the ground. The depiction on it this time was the familiar misshapen mess that was zongazonga fighting what looked like a guy with a hammer being followed by.
"Is that a dragon?" Hunter marveled at the drawing, "I thought there weren't any dragon vivosaurs."
"Perhaps Zongazonga's dark magic created it"
"Then why would it be fighting him?"
"Indeed, this mystery can only be solve by deciphering the tablet!" Scatterly put on his reading glasses and began to translate.
"Eventually, the people of the land became rebellious towards Zongazonga's rule. The day the next majestic vessel was chosen, a young girl offered herself as a martyr. The people purposefully rigged the tournament so that the girl would win, and zongazonga was tricked into inhabiting a frail vessel. Still, his dark powers were great, and the war between the humans and their magic skeletal soldiers giants zongazonga and his living flesh nightmares was a grueling battle."
"You sure are playing this one up" Hunter remarked.
"'Tis the climax m'boy! One must always have an exciting climax."
"Finally, with the assistance of the ancient weapon and guardian of caliosteo created by the shaman tribe, zongazonga was ripped from his vessel and sealed away deep within the jungle. The lands of caliosteo were finally at peace."
"Skeletal soldiers…living flesh….ancient guardian and an equally ancient weapon…sounds like one of those weird B-movie plots."
"History often is a little cliché" Scatterly remarked, "but who doesn't enjoy a good low class movie from time to time?"
"I guess you're right" Hunter smiled a genuine smile, "thanks for the history lesson doc."
"Of course m'boy! My passion should be shared with the world!" Hunter waved to the professor as he walked away, closing the story of zongazonga forever.
"The finals are tomorrow. We've got to win."
"What's this 'we' shit?"
"C'mon, you know you secretly want me to win."
"I really don't. Nothing would make me happier than to see you die right now"
"What is your obsession with wanting me dead? What did I do to you."
"You exist. That's enough to make me want you dead."
"…I'm pretty sure there's some underlying meaning in there, but I don't really care since you're probably just a part of my subconscious anyway."
"If I'm a part of you, that means you have a voice in your head."
"I have plenty of voices in my head, you're just the only one that doesn't say things like 'say it you damn liar!' Or 'I'm done with you'"
"I have no idea what you're going on about"
"It's probably best that you don't." Hunter finally made his way back to the cranial city teleporter. His fossil case wasn't very full, but at this point he didn't care. He stepped inside and waited for the blinding lights swirling around him to stop. However, once he was done teleporting, it became a struggle just to stand on his feet. Everything was shaking. Not just shaking, it felt as if the entire world threatened to fall in on itself. This was more than just an earthquake. Hunter stumbled out of the teleporter and attempted to crawl across the plaza. Several people were screaming, laying on the ground in an attempt to steady themselves, but for some reason they were sliding along. Was the ground slanted?
"Gotta get…ugh, to the center." Hunter pushed himself further. If he could get to the center, he could get to Joe. Joe would know what's going on. Despite all odds and pat experiences being against him, Hunter made it to the fighters station without sliding on his butt. The receptionist gestured for the stairs rather than the elevator, but even climbing a single step was an issue. The tremors were getting weaker and soon Hunter was able to make it up to the wildwest tower.
"Hunter!" Todd shouted as he Hunter nearly hurled from standing up. Pauleen was there as well, but no Rupert. Todd hoisted his friend up. Pauleen went to help, but recoiled at the last minute with a slight red tint to her cheeks. Hunter remembered their last talk with a biter taste in his mouth.
"Why are you bitter about it?" Murder voice chimed in, "YOU were the one who rejected HER, remember?"
"I know, but still. I feel bad."
"Good, I feel great then." Joe was sitting at his desk with his arms crossed. A black tablet was in front of him with a video ready to be started.
"Rupert won't be joining us." There was a distinct lack of cheery accent in his voice, "he's currently on illum island and I've ordered all helicopters to cease transportation."
"What's happening to this place," Todd asked.
"Yeah-diga. That wasn't a regular earthquake."
"The entire island was shaking." Hunter said quietly, "almost as if it lost balance…..Joe….what's holding these island up?"
"Right now? Not much." Joe tapped the screen of the tablet and the video began to play. Don boneyard filled the screen.
"To the man who calls himself Joe Wildwest. You've left me with no choice. End this tournament now or I will be forced to sink the caliosteo islands. My commanders have already severely weakened the spinal pillars holding the islands afloat. You have two options, disband the caliosteo cup now or I will sink the islands and you along with it. I won't let you have your way." The video abruptly ended.
"There you have it" Joe said somberly, "the islands are held up by massive calcium structures called spinal pillars. Without a way to restore the pillars, the islands will sink.
"So…we went from pampering girls so guys get bored, to dumping jelly in hot springs, to creating a power outage, to possibly killing around 50,000 people by sinking islands? Am I getting that right?" Hunter stood there, shocked.
"Hang on," Todd started pacing, "we'll have to figure out how to get to the spinal pillars. there's gotta be a way to fix this!"
"Toddiga. Even if we did find a way to get to them, we can't fix them if they're each already damaged enough to make the islands shake."
Joe sighed, "problem is, there might be a way to fix the spinal pillars, but Pauleen's right, we can't get to them."
"Deep underwater pillars…deep underwater…where's Rupert again?"
"Illum island, I already briefed him through paleopager, right now he's evacuatin' the people by-" before he could finish that sentence, Hunter's paleopager went off. He smiled, it was Rupert.
"Deep underwater pillars right?" Hunter asked when Ruperts face appeared on the pager.
"Indeed, I'll have to locate the bonehemoth first, but it should work." Pauleen's face turned white at the mention of the bonhemoth. Todd looked confused.
"Bonehemoth? Isn't that the giant whale you guys were in?"
"It's also a whale that can travel to the seafloor."
"…..Hunter, that's insane!"
"Just insane enough to work. Joe, didn't the staff place a monitor and a teleporter on the bonehemoth when it spat us out?"
"Well shoot pard, this is shaping up to be a real plan." He hand a smaller tablet to Hunter. When he turned it on, he could see the ocean swirling in front of him along with a patch of get skin near the bottom.
"Man, the brightness settings on that thing must be amazing."
"Okay-Digadig, but what about the way to fix the spinal pillars."
"Y'see. I've been stressin' over the spinal pillars for a while now. Even without the brigade roughing' em up, they'd still weaken. So I asked a favor from the Richmond foundation and their Dinaurian Friends.
"You say that like you didn't ask a favor from the largest company in the world." Todd was starstruck, who could blame him?
"Anyway, they've got a special solution that'll fix up the pillars real good if they ever get damaged, only problem'll be gettin' it. Vivosaur Island's over 100 miles away and I don't know how much time we have left."
"I've got a way." Hunter stated. The entire focus shifted to him.
"You do?"
"You do?"
"You digado?"
"Ye do?"
"We do?"
"I do." Hunter nodded, "but I need an isolated place first. I'd also prefer if no one asked questions." There was silence for a moment.
"Do you guys trust me?"
"Honestly, I do not." Rupert's voice echoed from the paleopager, "you're unpredictable and have had more mood swings these past few weeks than anyone in their life. I wouldn't trust you even with yourself Hunter Elwood….but, I don't need to trust you to know that if anyone could have a way to do something as insane as this plan, it would be you."
"I trust you Hunter, digadig" Pauleen nodded, "you were the one who helped me show my face to the worldiga, I know you can find a way."
"Of course I trust ye pard. Without you, we'd be short a finalist and there no way someone like you'd miss out on being a finalist!"
"Do you even need to ask?" Todd smiled. Hunter nodded as Joe hand him a small teleporter labeled 'petrified wood' .
"Well, I'll on illum island before you know it. Meet me there."
"Right," Todd and pauleen turned to leave, most likely to use flying vivosaurs, when turned turned right before he was out the door to the stairs.
"…it's good to see that you're back to being you Hunter."
"It's good to be back Todd." Hunter smiled as he disappeared in a flash of light. Todd went down the stairs, leaving Joe alone. The man leaned back in his chair and scowled.
"Curses. The threat remains."
…
Hunter reappeared seconds later on a vast plateau overlooking a rocky plain. On the plains were white trees, each as hard as rock. Hunter sat down on the plateau and began to think.
"Okay, so how the hell do I do this." He said aloud.
"At most, you would be able to send an image." The voice echoed in his head, a voice from over a year ago. An image, but how would he be able to send it? Hunter closed his eyes and tried to expand his mental reach, which was beyond difficult considering he would have to stretch it over 100 miles.
"Dear god this is probably going to hurt."
"GOOD." Murder voice responded, "I'm lookin' forward to it.
"Hey, why don't you do the first 60 miles, then I'll do the other half?" Hunter could already feel sparks shooting from his eye. His connection to dinaurians was much weaker than their connection with him, but he could still try. If he really tried, he could send a message for help. If he really tried, he could save everyone. All he needed to do was send a mental image to any dinaurian that he needed their help. He was confident that they would help him, the only problem was he had no idea how.
"It's Just like talking to him, just think what you want to send and send it." Hunter focused more, his jacket began flapping behind him. He could feel the pressure of the wind against his hair. Hunter removed his jacket and shirt so the flapping would distract him. He traced over his X shaped scar and velociraptor claw pendant.
"I got this back for being horrible, now I should earn it back."
Soulflame roared to life, but Hunter made no sounds. Then a thought occurs to him. If just receiving mental wavelengths from dinaurians hurt, how much would sending wavelengths.
"About this much." The voice said. That was when the pain began. Sparks of pain shot through his entire body. Hunter gasped and soulflame flickered, threatening to go out entirely. It wouldn't stop. He felt like he was being electrocuted over and over. How fitting.
"Goddamn it. C'MON!" Hot tears flew from his eyes. This was it, he was going to die. Killing himself in a pitiful attempt to save people. He felt the pain slowly burn him alive. His vision started blurring. No, not like this.
"There's still…so much more…I need to do." Hunter screamed. It was a heart-rending scream that echoed through the sky.
"Well well well, look who's finally come back!...oh for god's sa-" A new voice, a familiar one, but as soon as the connection was back it was cut. Something was stopping it, and it wasn't either of them Still, with that voice came a surge of energy. An image flashed in Hunter's mind. It was him, standing alone, with tears in his eyes and an outstretched hand. Behind him was a cracking pillHelp, the image cried for help. All at once, everything was over.
Hunter lay gasping on the ground. His veins were practically glowing. He couldn't move, everything felt broken. He was half laughing, half crying. Partly because of the pain, but mostly because of happiness.
"I'll find a way back to you, just you wait." He said to himself.
"The hell are you talking to?"
"My best friend….Spinax." Hunter still couldn't move, so he just sat there. A few minutes passed until he heard the familiar sound of a dinaurian teleportation. He could see who it's was, only their legs, but it was a dinaurian. He tried talking aloud, but could barely whimper.
"…ank….ou….or…..om..ing" he rasped. It hurt, but he couldn't stop yet. And yet, there was no way he could've prepared himself for what was to happen.
"I did not come here for your sake." This voice was familiar too. The kind of familiar he wasn't ready for.
"Hi….Duna."
(No outro to increase dramatic effect)
