A New Type of Adventure: The Secret Family (Part 1)
"This can't be right. It's just not possible!"
As Betrayus's hands began to tremble while holding the old, dusty, huge, and ancient looking book, his thoughts started to run wild. But before going on, let's rewind the story a bit before we get to his freak-out scene. It was shortly after the ghosts we're defeated by Pac-Man and returned to the Netherworld to get regenerated that Betrayus started to get agitated. He kept ranting how they kept losing to that, "Little yellow pest!" And of course, his butler kept trying to think of various ways to calm him down, but to no avail. But he finally realized that there was one way that he can keep his master busy until they came up with a new plan of attack. He suggested to his master that to calm his nerves, he should sort out some of the books that he wanted but never read.
"They're just sitting there, collecting dust. If you're not going to read any of them, just sort through them and see which ones you want to keep and get rid of. It'll be a good way to keep your mind busy and off of you-know-who. And it's not good for your health if you keep on focusing on something for too long."
Betrayus was too tired and frustrated to argue with Butt-ler about the matter, and decided to give it a try. "The master must have been VERY tired if he was taking advice from one of his underlings." Is what his butler thought. Betrayus entered the library and gazed upon all the books that he collected over the years and breathed a deep sigh, and said, "Well... let's get to it." As he was going through the books, he had made two piles. The 'Keep' pile and the 'Throw out' pile. And so far there were more books in the 'Throw out' pile than there was in the 'Keep' pile. The keeper of the library, a short green female ghost, asked if she can help somehow. In truth, she just didn't want him to get rid of all the books and having her lose her job. He figured, "might as well" since he was completely bored out of his mind.
"Sir, if you would follow me, then we can find some books that might be of interest to you." Betrayus gave a look and said, "Whatever! Just make it snappy! I'm bored out of my mind and if you don't find me something that I'll like, then I'll incinerate you!" The little green ghost lady made a worried expression and said, "W-w-well, please follow me sir. I think there's a section in the library that you must see. And it's about time that you knew anyways." Betrayus raised a brow and tried to ask what she meant when she said this. But she had already floated away from his sight. He tried to keep up with the shy ghost lady, but for some reason he couldn't catch up.
"What is wrong with this ghost?! What is she trying to say? I hate it when people get cryptic with me! I'll make sure to "tell" this to her when I catch up to her." He made the final turn to the left and followed her down a long, dark, and creepy looking hallway. And it wasn't till he finally went all the way into the hallway and completely blinded himself in the darkness that he finally had enough of this cat and mouse game. "Okay! Enough is enough! I, the Lord of the Netherworld and it's ghosts, demand that you come out immediately! And turn on the lights! I can hardly see a thing!"
And with just that, torches lining up in the hallway lit up with a spooky green colored fire. The fire wasn't even hot, it was just glowing and was emitting an aura that made you want to stay away from it, but at same time, you can't stop looking at it. Betrayus was about to touch the flame, (BTW kids do not try this at home or wherever you maybe at!), until he heard soft and strange whispering coming from behind the dead end of the hallway. The only thing that was there was a painting of some random ghost.
But something didn't seem right. The ghost didn't seem to be an ordinary ghost. He was tall looking black ghost with some white fringes around his spikey hair and the bottom of the end of his ghostly body. And like Betrayus he had red glowing eyes (that had a darker black mascara-like outline around his eyes), and long and skinny arms with hands that had razor sharp scarlet red colored claws. He also had a big toothy yellow smile and a white circular dot in the middle of his face. Betrayus assumed it was his nose, but the more he looked at it, the louder the ghostly whispers grew, saying,
"Press it! Press it! Press the button! Press the nose!"
He looked back and forth to see if one of his minions were playing a prank on him and grew agitated. "If any of you guys are playing a prank on me and if I manage to find you, I'll incinerate your ghostly bums!" But regardless, he reached out to the picture and pressed the nose. Which turned out to be a button that activated a mechanism to open a secret passage. The whole wall that Betrayus thought was just a dead end suddenly slided open. At first glance it looked like an ancient tunnel covered in cobwebs and as Betrayus nervously called out, "H-h-hello-? Anyone there?"
Then suddenly, as if on command, a sudden rush of bone chilling cold wind went right through him. While at the same time, getting rid of all the cobwebs and dust that covered the ancient looking hallway. Then just like what happened with the previous hallway, the torches in the old hallway lit up. The same green flame lit up the entire way down the hallway until it showed an old, black wooden door. He didn't really know what exactly was going on, but as he floated down the old hallway and came upon the door, he happened to notice an old gold colored door knocker on the front of the door. He tried looking for the door knob but it was nowhere to be found. Then he tried to go through the door, but for reasons that were unknown, he couldn't faze through. It was like someone was preventing him to do it. Then, he suddenly heard an overwhelmingly loud, booming, and British(?) voice.
"I say, aren't you a tad bit rude? Hasn't your mother ever taught you any manners?"
Betrayus was slightly surprised and a bit offended.
"Of course she taught me manners! I'm not an imbecile! She even taught me through books on how to act!"
The voice retorted with a snobby tone, "Well apparently, she skipped the chapter of how you knock on the door first and listen for a response before entering."
He got a bit ticked off when the voice commented on how poorly his mother raised him. But it suddenly dawned on him that in order to enter through the door, he had to use the door knocker. He grabbed the knocker and knocked a few times. He then cleared his throat and asked, "May I come in...please?"
The voice then said in a cheerful but snobby tone, "Well that's more like it! Well you may now enter my lord." He raised a brow when he heard the last part of what the voice said. If the voice knew who he was, then why did he have to ask for permission to enter in the first place?
"That's some lack of respect. Have to remind myself that whoever that was, to incinerate them later." As he kept mumbling underneath his breath, the door slowly and creepily creaked open. He then gazed in wonder at a humongous lavish and comfy reading room fit for a king. It had shelf after shelf of an endless array of beautiful looking books. The room even had it's own royal fireplace with a bright burning green fire already going. It was like someone had been living in there and had been expecting him to arrive for awhile now. There was even tea set up and some cookie trays laid out. And all of it was his favorite! It was official. He was genuinely creeped out. He was about to leave, but he convinced himself to see this situation through till the end.
There was a royally lavish and comfy red chair beside the fireplace and the tea and cookies. He then grew a satisfied and mischievous looking expression on his face and took a seat on the chair. He never felt a chair THIS comfy before. It was like laying on a cloud, if that was possible. He then proceeded in devoring the tea and cookies till there was nothing left. He finally noticed that to his left side of the chair that there was a book about the ancient history of the deep East of Pac-World. He at first had no interest, but something inside his ghostly mind told him that he should read it if he was bored. He really couldn't argue with himself when it came to his entertainment and such. He began to read and the more he read, the more interesting it got. He never knew that this sort of history happened so long ago in Pac-World. He kept on reading until he was at the very end of the book. He sighed, and said, "If only ALL books were that interesting. I wouldn't mind reading a few more just like this one."
And as soon as he said that, more books began to teleport from off the book shelves to right in front of him. He looked surprised. Not even his own minions could give him what he wanted THAT fast. He reached over and looked over some of the books to see what genre they were. They were mostly about ancient history in the parts that were still unknown to the populace in Pacopolis and how to come up and execute tactical strategies and plans in battle. Hours passed by, and he had finally gotten done reading the pile of books. And wondered if there was anything else interesting in the room.
Then, as if someone had read his mind, a slight rumbling was heard just over the huge mantle of the royal like fireplace. He floated to the top of the mantle and gazed and wondered at the humongous book that was on a fancy looking book stand. And above it on the wall behind the book hung an enormous painting. It was of the same ghost that was on the earlier painting in the hallway. Only this painting showed him as a magnificent looking king! The background behind him was filled with an endless array of treasure. And he wore a magnificent royal looking cape on his back and a beautifully bejeweled crown on his ghostly head. The pose he was using for the painting was very distinguished. One hand on his ghostly hip, the other hand casually but sophisticatedly held a glass of blood red wine while dreamily looking towards the unknown. Betrayus raised a brow and chuckled a slight mocking like laugh and said, "Heh! Who is this guy? Apparently he looks like someone important and isn't shy of flaunting his wealth! Almost like me! In a way." He wondered who this ghost was, until he saw a small but fancy looking gold plaque below the painting. It read, "All hail the magnificent and honorable ghost that is his majesty! The Ghost King, King Malverous Del Callous the First! The thirty first heir of the royal line of the ghost rulers." Betrayus was dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what he was reading. At first he thought someone was just trying to tick him off, but there wasn't a single soul in sight. He honestly thought that he was the only ruler of the Netherworld. Then as he thought of this, his eyes trailed towards to an old, large, and dust covered book.
He was hesitant at first, but then he thought to himself, "Eh, what could happen? I mean, I'm technically a ghost and the only thing that can hurt me is that little yellow pest, Pac-Man. What's a book gonna do to me that's ten times worse than what I've been through?" As he picked up the book, he brought it down from the mantle and sat in the chair ready to open it. He blew off the layers of dust that was piled on top of it and hacked and coughed as the dust went everywhere. As the dust cleared up, he finally saw the title of the book. It was inscribed in fancy calligraphic gold writing and as he stared at it, it gave an ominous impression that he couldn't just shake off. The title said, "Pac-World's Past, Present, and Future." He wondered what it meant. Did it mean that it was just another history book or a strategic plannings book? Little did he know that it was the book that would change his entire NETHERworld forever. To be continued...
End of chapter 1 part 1. To be continued in part 2.