Chapter 2: The Heart of Driniscule

"Can we go now?" asked Ka'Shard.

Jack walked out the door and tossed out the pale, immobile, Teensie into the street. "I suppose so, laddie."

"Is it a long ways away?"
"Not very," replied Jack, "it's about a half an hour away."
"We're not going to walk are we?" questioned Ka'Shard.
Ka'Shard kneeled to the ground near Jack's counter. Their lie his cape, black and wrinkled. Ka'Shard picked it up and it was soaked in liquor, dripping with a foul stench. He twisted the cape and began to squeeze. The liquor fell to the floor like the ongoing rain outside.

"Stop that right now, you're dirtying up the floor, just leave the cape," demanded Jack.

"Is there anyway you can wash it, Jack?" asked Ka'Shard.

"I don't see any need, but I can," answered Jack.

"Will you?" pleaded Ka'Shard, "I feel as if I won't be able to go without it." He stood up with the cape in his hands and laid them in front of him. He saw Jack raise his hand as if asking him to wait.

Jack walked over to the side of his counter and quietly dug his fingers into a little crevice and a door popped open. Inside was an oval-shaped bowl. Near the edge were blue flowers wrapping around each other. On the top of the little room was a gravity-defying puddle that would occasionally drop a fountain of water that was all the colors of the rainbow without even making your eyes do some work. When the bowl was full the fountain would stop and the bowl would somehow magically drain the water.

Jack slid the bowl out and set it on the counter. He took the cape and slipped it inside the bowl and slowly took it out. The cape was now utter tye-dye. Ka'Shard's eyes widened in disappointment. He began to walk over to the cape when he saw the tye-dye begin to disappear as a black ocean began to slowly span across the cape. In about 15 seconds, the cape was good as new.

Ka'Shard took it and flapped it once downward before he wrapped it around his floating torso. He put his hands to the bottom of the cape behind and flapped it sideways, making it resemble a curtain near an open window.

"You want to know what this is don't you, laddie?"

"Go on."

"This is the water of Lake Driniscule, the biggest lake on the planet. You can call it an ocean if you want. It's considered to be the true heart of Driniscule. From space it looks almost like a perfect circle of colors. This is a very magical lake, cause of envy and jealousy throughout the galaxy. It has a perpetual cleaning system in which it drains and quickly refills with new water in a manner of minutes, or in this case, seconds. It can't mix with anything else, for if something remains inside it for too long, the water will magically disintegrate it. That's why our liquor is imported."

"Is Lake Driniscule your only source of water?" questioned Ka'Shard.

Jack laughed, "Indeed it is, son, indeed it is."

Ka'Shard raised his eyebrow and asked, "Are you serious?"
Jack replied, "Of course, son. That's why it's considered to be the true or natural heart of Driniscule. The ocean may be off to the east, but there's something strange about it. Thousands of years ago, it was discovered that there were underground rivers that flowed throughout the whole planet and all connected to the ocean. For newcomers it may seem like the ocean is all there is, but that's because every single river on this planet is underground. Not all rivers have been found and nobody has ever seen the bottom of the ocean. It is said that it reaches to the middle of the planet. That is why they call it the heart of Driniscule."

"Are there any rivers nearby?"

"Why, there's one right inside this city, laddie. That's how we're getting to the capital. The only way to get out is through that tunnel that we've added onto with steel grating. This is a walled city and that is the entrance and/or exit."

Ka'Shard asked him another question, "Well, I already asked this, but will we walk the whole way?"

"You ask many questions, laddie. But we'll be walking partly. Now come on."

They walked out and the rain showed no sign of ending. The sky was gray still. They walked slowly down the street stepping over the drunken Teensies. The noise of their footsteps was overpowered by the raindrops.

"How can you tell whether it's night or day?"

"You pretty much guess," answered Jack.

They continued walking pace by pace. There wasn't really anything to talk about. Ka'Shard went through his head many times to think of a new question. It made him feel good somehow to have each one answered. He wanted to come up with so many questions, he was searching for things to learn and know.

"Are many of the citizens natives of the planet?"

"About half of them. I'm one of them. Most of them look like me. We turn right. "

They turned right.

Ka'Shard laughed, "Did you see that sentence above up? retty short, huh?"

Jack scowled, "Don't be rude to those that come before you, you are pretty short yourself you know. And I also don't like the idea of us acting like it's a scripted film."

Ka'Shard exclaimed, "That's not in the script," he heard Jack sigh, then said, "Hey, it's like I've only been alive for a day, I deserve some random dialogue. All is new to me."

Jack bent over to the ground and lifted a black lantern and turned a knob on the top. He put his hands in the handle respectively and said, "Random dialogue isn't good for anyone."

Their footsteps droned on and on through the rain, monotonously. To Ka'Shard, he felt as if it would never end. Suddenly, a flaming piece of fabric landed in front of him and quickly burned out. He turned around, and Jack was gone. He turned around again as if expecting him to return from a different direction. He was alone…again.

He saw an odd-shaped shadow on the floor, a clawed hand was outstretched, the fingers going up and down one after another. The shadow would all of a sudden swoosh across to the other side. He then heard a voice call, "Laddie!"

Ka'Shard stopped dead in his tracks and turned his head. Nothing was behind him. He then continued forward. Something strange was at work, every time one of his feet touched the floor, the rain would stop and a few steps would answer. Once the foot was raised the rain would continue to casually fall rapidly. He stepped again, 5 steps answered, he lifted it, and the galloping rain continued its journey. What in blazes was going on/ Ka'Shard began to finger the chain that held his name and constantly turned his head left and right.

Fire! The rain had stopped and a line of fire had spread across the street. Ka'Shard walked towards it and it erupted high as a brick wall. He covered his face with one hand and stepped back slowly, as he retreated the fire would slowly retreat as well until it was gone. He saw the shadow again following him about. He wasn't thinking anymore, he just ran onwards like a futuristic spaceship, and to his surprise no fire had erupted. He ran and ran. The shadow on the floor grew taller. More and more appeared. He kept running until he saw an alcove. He slipped in. The place was as empty as his brain right now. All that could be seen were pillars that stretched from the floor to the ceiling in a spiral design.

"To the grating, laddie! I'll be…" the voice was muffled.

Ka'Shard stopped again. He could hear the rain outside. He stepped forward, the rain continued on. He began to walk some more, asking himself where he could find the grating. Off in the distance he saw a light. A scarlet-red light was shining. He walked stealthily, in attempt to be sly, trying to act like he didn't have a care in the universe. But in his mind he felt as if the universe didn't care about him. Every time he stepped forward the light moved back. He stepped again without any difference in the light. He started running again and then the light was gone.

He heard swooshing noises, was he near the river/ He heard more swooshes he heard. Then something flew by his head, raising his hair. It was a miasma swirling about in front of him. It stopped and then without warning, struck his cape. The cape flapped and he somehow flew back and collided into the ground. He saw a clawed hand grab his face and squeeze him to the ground. He saw triangular orange eyes floating above him. He clenched his fist and tossed it. To his surprise, the fist flew off and hit the eyes. He heard a thud as his fist ricocheted back to him. He saw more eyes shining brightly in the distance. He tried to punch him from where he was standing but the fist didn't even reach halfway. He heard footsteps coming up behind him.

He turned and let his fists go. He heard another thud and turned back. He saw the other pair of eyes coming towards him. He started punching one palm with his other fist. Every time he did this sparks seemed to fly out of his hand, the black glove would turn red. Time seemed to slow down. The eyes kept on coming as hand met palm. Then finally Ka'Shard launched his fist and it went straight up to the ceiling and froze in midair. The eyes were closer and he had no idea what to do since his hand was stuck. He was trying to jerk it down as hard as he could when finally the fist dropped like a penny off a tower and landed right by the eyes and exploded.

Ka'Shard looked to the empty spot where his right hand would have been and then a new one had generated. His eyes twinkled and he smiled. He looked to the distance and saw the red light again accompanied by the words, "Come on, laddie."

Ka'Shard rocketed after it. He was determined to meet up with Jack. In a matter of seconds he was in front of the wise bartender. He hugged Jack for an extended period, and let go.

"Whoa, that was a little unexpected, son."

"I'm sorry, but where are the gratings?"

Jack laughed, "Here they are," he pointed to an alcove, "and our ride is there too."

Ka'Shard scratched his head, "What are we riding in/"

Jack signaled Ka'Shard to come forward and he obeyed. He was instantly flying through the air, he was shooting straight through a tunnel, carried by wind. He saw Jack flying in front of him. Ka'Shard was fully of joy. Nothing had ever felt so good, he felt happy and excited for the first time in his life, his heart was pumping a mile a minute, and yet his mind seemed almost blank. He looked down and saw the rainbow river under the grating streaking like a watercolor painting.

"This is awesome, Jack!!!"

Jack answered, "Exhilarating isn't it?"

Ka'Shard looked straight ahead and saw a yellow light that was obviously the exit. But it had gone by so fast, he didn't want it to end. He heard rumbling about him. He was expecting a grand finish, and grand it was. A grand chunk of debris fell from the ceiling and the surprised Ka'Shard swerved out if its way easily with the help of his cape. He heard more rumbling. Boulders were falling all about. He tried to look behind him and see if he could see Jack. Every time he looked back it was near death. Finally the light grew so much nothing was visible, he felt the wind start to leave, and he slowly descended into mystery. He finally landed and he felt the seismic vibrations on the floor as the tunnel completely closed the now visible wall behind him.

He was alone………………………again