DAY ONE

The Persian's Journal

There was something very curious about the place I found myself in when I woke up. It wasn't too bad, but I instantly knew it was nowhere in France. How I had ended up here, I will never know, and if by some strange and powerful being, then that is enough explanation for me. Whatever it was that put me here, probably knew I would be fascinated by what I found. For, after I awoke, I came upon a very mysterious and beautiful shining world much unlike the one I am used to.

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The Persian woke up to the sun beating down on him. He figured he must have left the curtains open in his little flat, not knowing he was in a jungle because his eyes were still closed. The daroga rolled over and thought it strange that his bed felt a bit bumpy. Then he realized that there were sounds in his room that didn't have any right to be there.

Nadir shot his eyes open and sat up quickly, looking around himself in extreme confusion.

"What is this…" he muttered to himself, taking in the gigantic trees and exotic plants, listening to the loud call of a parrot and the trickling of a creek.

He decided he'd find the water, for he was thirsty, even though the humidity was hovering very densely around him. The Persian shuffled to his feet and made a note to himself to take care stepping over roots after he tripped over a rather high one.

"Cucaw!" a bird shouted.

"I know!" the Persian shouted back, wandering on in the direction of the brook. When he found it, he knelt on the mossy shore and cupped some water into his hands. He discovered that it was extraordinarily clear, and when he drank, it was the best water he'd ever tasted. After he'd had his fill, he decided to follow the creek downstream and perhaps find somebody to ask where he was.

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I found a creek and drank what was in my opinion, delicious water. That was odd for me, since I never thought water was very delicious in the first place, but that is the only word I could think of that it was. As I followed the creek, I absorbed the scenery around me. It was so nice and peaceful, and it didn't prepare me for what I saw when I made my way around the bend and stumbled upon a magical place that certainly suited its luxuriant surroundings.

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The Persian was lost in thought, walking around a tree where the river turned a sharp left down a small waterfall, when a glare suddenly caught him in the eyes.

"Augh!" he cried, shielding his hurt eyes. At first he thought it was the sun, but then he realized that the sun was higher in the sky. He figured something must have been reflecting the sunlight and he braved the brightness again. Still, he couldn't exactly see what was glaring, but he knew it had to be something very large and smooth.

The daroga quickened his pace, stumbling into the water as he ran with his hand protecting his eyes. He splashed awkwardly in the water and all at once, a cloud passed over the sun and the Persian knew immediately what had been making the glare. His jaw dropped.

There, right in front of him, was a gigantic golden pyramid standing about 200 feet high with two smaller pyramids about 75 feet high on each side of it. The rainforest and the river surrounded the pyramids in a clear circle and went on where it left off about a quarter of a mile in front of the Persian. The perfectly circular clearing was paved with lush, thick green grass that hadn't been stepped on by human feet in just about ten centuries.

He had stumbled upon the Lost Pyramids of Bumba. But he didn't know that. Because normally, Bumba doesn't have pyramids. He also didn't know that besides being a city in the Congo, Bumba was the name of a god who vomited heaven. Go figure.

"I believe I've just discovered something," the Persian whispered to himself, absorbing the beauty of the pyramids. He instantly knew what he was going to do.

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I saw three pyramids in a circular clearing of the jungle. Of course I was fascinated beyond belief and only stuttered words out after I had gotten over the primary shock of finding something so magnificent. It was bizarre how the creek made a perfect circle around the pyramids, as if they had power to control the water. Everything about that place was quiet and mystical. Of course I had to check it out.

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The Persian made his way up to the largest pyramid and found a lever just in front of it. The lever was wooden and covered in cobwebs, supported by a clay structure. He thought that the lever was perhaps too old to work anymore, or probably had been disconnected to whatever it triggered long ago, but he decided to try it out, anyway.

Carefully, the daroga climbed on top of the clay platform and gave the lever a soft tug. He looked down to see an arrow etched into the clay, pointing away from him, and he pushed the lever. It moved with a long creak and clicked into place. The Persian stared at the pyramid fixedly and noticed a sloth attached to one of the sides, seemingly making his way up the glossy, sloped wall with his sharp claws. The Persian waited.

Nothing happened.

"Hm," the daroga said. "This is very peculiar. Most likely, it's out of order." With that, he hopped down from the platform and began to check out the other two pyramids.

Suddenly, there was a whirring coming from the largest pyramid, and the Persian gave a start. He ran closer to it and pressed his ear against one side.

"Yes," he said to himself, "the sound is coming from in there. I should see what it is." Of course he wanted to go through with the idea, but he didn't know how to open the pyramid, as it held no signs of passageways or doors.

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I discovered a lever and pushed it into place, where I waited to see what would happen. After nearly three minutes, a sound began to emanate from the middle pyramid and I jumped to investigate. Now as I think about it, perhaps I was too curious for my own good. I didn't know what horrors laid in store for me only thirty seconds later.

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The whirring continued, and seemed to grow louder as the Persian listened. He was becoming uneasy and began to back away. In an instant too quick for the daroga to follow, the front side of the pyramid shot up and launched the sloth into the air. Thousands of golden birds beat their way out of the pyramid and surrounded the daroga. The sloth gave a low "Graaaah"-sounding squeal as it made it's way back to earth, and latched right onto the Persian's face.

The Persian screamed a surprised and muffled scream and bolted as fast as he could away from the birds that were squawking and fluttering around him, nipping his hair and catching his clothes in their feet. He stumbled over himself and crashed into a tree, trying frantically to get the sloth off of him and run away from the birds at the same time.

"HELPHELPHELP!" the Persian shouted, snorting against the sloth's coarse fur and tearing at it with his fingers. The sloth had dug its claws into the back of his cloak and wouldn't let go for the life of it. The poor little thing was more frightened of the Persian than he was frightened of it. Everyone knows how that goes.

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What seemed to be ten thousand little golden birds burst from the center pyramid. How they got there in the first place, is a mystery to me. I knew they had to have been from some fantastic ancient people who had probably cursed the pyramids to keep wandering people away. It was working. I ran as fast as I could, trying to get away from the attack birds which brought the strange name "Alfred Hitchcock" to mind, but don't ask me how that came about. To make matters worse, a sloth I had seen earlier climbing up the pyramid had been projected right on top of my head and it wouldn't let go. I just kept running and running.

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The daroga made his way to the edge of the clearing and dove back into the rainforest. He didn't realize that the birds had disappeared and were no longer harassing him, for he was in a panic to get the large sloth off of his head and keep running.

His breathing was halted and gasping, his feet pounded the ground and he sloshed into the creek many times, struggling all the while with the sloth. When he finally moved the animal down enough to see over its long fur, he caught sight of someone as he darted by, but had no time to stop. He only shouted behind him; "It's a sloth! Watch out for the birds! The birds, the birds!"

The daroga ran a few yards more then tripped and fell, tumbling over himself, tearing at the sloth and wriggling on the ground maniacally.

"Get off, you beast! You fiend! You evil creature, let go of my head!" he shrieked, yanking at the sloth's claws. He finally ripped it off and let in a loud gasp of air, screaming in rage and kicking the animal into the bushes. It gave a small squeal, rolled up in a ball and disappeared into a bromeliad.

The Persian stumbled to his feet, brushed himself off, and hurried deeper into the forest, jumping when a parrot shouted.

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I finally got the dumb animal off of me and continued my journey into the forest. I didn't care about anything now, only finding the creek and my way out of here. There were bound to be other people at the sea, and I wished to find someone soon. I had completely forgotten about the girl I saw as I was running, for I had just gotten over the fact that I'd been chased by a flock of mythical golden birds and used like a taxi by a three-toed sloth. It was quite an unbelievable experience. I just continued on my way, no better off than I was before.

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Sloth's POV

I didn't do anything wrong! I was minding my own business, making my way up the big shiny thing and looking for some yummy bugs because I was hungry, when all of a sudden, the big shiny thing moved! I thought it might have been frozen water at first, and it might have just started moving again, but it pushed me away from it. I just wanted to be its friend. Water normally lets me be close to it, but this thing made me go up, then down really, really fast.

I found a new friend and held onto him because I was scared. He moved very fast, and made my fur tickle with strange vibrations he made out of his mouth. I loved him and hugged him while birds flew around us. It was a nice ride, and I was happy. But then my friend fell on the ground and pushed me off of him! I thought he'd just slipped, but he didn't, because he kicked me, and it hurt. I was sad. But then I realized that he'd just kicked me into a plant covered in yummy bugs.

I love him.