I must clarify that English is not my native language, but nevertheless I translated this story from Spanish as best as I could... I'm open to criticism and complaints as long as they help me to improve my written English.
Feedback:
Jim Darney The Weird Fictionis: hopefully I don't screw it up... hopefully
I hope you guy enjoy the reading, luc ya ;)
03-. The Champion
As the doors opened, Lincoln thought it was the sun, but that curious light had been present at the exact moment he had arrived in that bus-replica room. With no other choice, he got out and started walking.
In front of him, there was only a blur of what looked like a church. The light that was there made the contours of the walls appear with sufficient precision, but it did not seem to come from anywhere, or rather, it came from everywhere. For the long shadows cast in front of the white-haired man went in all directions.
The corridors through which Lincoln passed were empty, not only of people but also of animals and objects. Everything was motionless, not the slightest breath of air. The stillness made him think that the place was under the ground.
The boy was frightened to see a tiger, like those in zoos or in "International Geography"; it was approaching him. When he wanted to turn around and scream he found that he could not move or hear its voice.
«Shut up» a voice, deep and serious, much like a teacher's; sounded in Lincoln's head, «and follow me.»
After a few minutes of walking in silence, going through a maze of corridors and small gray-white rooms completely empty. The tiger turned a corner, Lincoln followed... and stopped in surprise. This hallway was completely different from all the previous ones.
This one was much narrower, the rooms that lined up to the right and left looked like small exhibits in a museum, displays of plants, depictions of animals, soft and brightly colored objects. This corridor led to a single door, which closed the way. It was green, the same color that copper acquires when it oxidizes and was decorated with small engravings.
Stopping to contemplate that door, Lincoln had lost only a few seconds, yet the tiger was already far away, almost at the end of the narrow corridor, in front of the door.
«Wait for me, don't leave me!» he shouted, but he still couldn't hear his own voice.
The feline, on the other hand, seemed to have heard him because it turned to look at him and sat down. Lincoln wanted to follow it, but the closer he got to the door it was as if he was suddenly walking in mud, his body was too heavy, and with each step, he felt weaker. He held on wherever he could and finally advanced, in fits and starts. Halfway through he had to continue on all fours, trying not to lean too much on his injured hand.
«I can't!» he finally shouted, the tiger still sitting at the end of the aisle. «Help me!»
The tiger spoke to him through his mind.
«Child, stop judging yourself unfairly, open your mind to memory, and show what you are.»
Lincoln tried, he stopped thinking about everything, and when he considered that he had rested enough, he stood up and walked. To his surprise, this time he managed to walk without any effort but something very strange happened, as he advanced, the corridor was getting wider and the ceiling was rising.
At last, he reached the end, he was before the last door, the one that closed the path. He was frightened because seen from close up, the green metal door was gigantic.
«Will I be able to open it?» He thought doubtfully, knowing his voice would not be heard.
«You can always try» The voice of his mysterious friend replied.
And as soon as Lincoln rested his hand on its surface, the door opened, inviting them in.
Lincoln stood still, everything that had just happened was very strange to him. He walked down a myriad of dimly lit corridors, accompanied by a talking tiger, to pass through a giant, and beautiful gate.
«Fuck, I'm dead.» His mysterious companion laughed at the comment and walked in without waiting for him.
Lincoln made up his mind to follow when the big door began to close. He barely had just enough time to get through.
He was now in a very tall and even longer corridor. To his left were, in regular stretches, seven humanoid stone statues, which seemed to support the ceiling. A small breeze hit his face followed by a sigh of relief. His sigh of relief.
Lincoln walked alongside the feline toward a set of double stairs that would take them to what appeared to be a new room, above where they were just now.
«You have arrived, Lincoln Loud» The animal stopped short, «I will not accompany you any further, this last test you will face alone.»
Lincoln took a deep breath and started up the stairs. As he neared the top he could hear a snore accompanied by an almost musical whisper, in many voices.
-o-
A group of girls was in the living room of the Loud house.
"Are you sure about this Lisa? I don't think you're really interested in this."
"Don't say that Darcy, my friends' nightmares and problems will always be a topic of interest to me."
"Okay Lis, whatever you say, but... What is she doing here?"
The gothic girl did not change her impassive gesture at the comment, she simply remained seated in the same corner of the armchair, she seemed to be part of the furniture, a decoration that had always been in the room.
"She's just going to help me take notes, because I've been a little distracted and I'm missing some things, and this is something I want to be very detailed about."
"... All right, girl," the dark-haired girl took a breath and began to remember.
"It happened on Wednesday, until then it was a normal day. I had to leave my project at the gym, you know, for the science fair. I wasn't doing anything special until I ran into Irwing, you know him, don't you? He's a fat little black boy." When Darcy didn't get an answer she tried to give a more detailed picture "He always wears a little red bow tie and an 'eye-killer yellow' shirt.
"Darcy, back to the topic of interest, please."
"Well... as I was saying, everything was going well until that useless boy bathed me in the vinegar of his stupid paper-mache volcano. It was my new dress Lisa, at that moment I wanted to yell at him a lot; but seeing him so scared I didn't do anything. Annoyed I took my electromagnet, I forgot to thank you for helping me; to my assigned space."
"Then I went to the restroom to try to clean myself... that's when things started to get ugly. As soon as the door closed behind me the lights went out and came back on seconds later, but it wasn't the same room anymore. I mean, I was still in a restroom, but it looked like one of those bathrooms that appear in those castle and dragon movies. I was pretty scared until the door opened, but it didn't open towards the school, it was somewhere else... and that's when I have a hard time remembering.
"You say you can't remember what happened next?" Lucy's face finally distorted into a disappointed grimace as she took some notes in a pink notebook.
"No, what I'm saying is that I'm having a hard time remembering it, I think there was an old man... or was it a boy? I can't quite remember, but he was sitting on a throne and he yelled at me that I wasn't worthy... then the lights went out again and when I opened my eyes I was back in the school restroom.
"And that's all that happened?" Lucy took a few steps closer to her sister's friend. "Wasn't there a symbol or a word you hadn't seen or heard before?"
"Lisa... what's wrong? I'm telling you, it was some kind of dream with my eyes open. Things like being teleported to another place only happen in bad stories, right?"
"Certainly, thanks for telling me this, Darcy, these things help develop my social skills. Do you still need help with your math homework? Because I have plenty of time, just let us go upstairs and put the notebook away, I'll be with you in a jiffy."
"Are you serious? That would be great! Thanks a lot, Lis."
Darcy went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water, while the Loud sisters began whispering to each other as soon as they entered the room Lisa had previously shared with Lily.
"What do you think, Lisa? Do you think she's lying?"
"Sister, we have already documented thirty-seven cases of people in different parts of the world and they ALL tell the same story; a normal day, then out of nowhere they end up transported to another place... a strange place."
"Yes, I was with you when those people agreed to tell us by video call their 'experiences', but what I don't understand is your interest in all this, listening in silence to the tragedies of others is what I do, or maybe Lincoln if they were our banal concerns."
Lisa showed her sister an old comic book she had taken from her brother's new room.
"Years ago there was a hero of sorts, I'm not talking about those ridiculous things Lincoln reads about men who catch psychotic clowns using just using shuriken-cards... no, this hero was a real one," Lucy reluctantly picked up the comic book, the title read 'SHABOOM'. "A normal man until one day, on his way home from work, he found himself in a magical fortress among the clouds. This man was blessed with incredible physical enhancements but after saving the world from a third world war he simply disappeared."
Lucy did not change her expression of disbelief until her sister passed her some 'classified' police reports and hand copies of some symbols that Lucy knew very well.
"Big sister, these are the reports involving a 'mysterious red blur' that prevented tragedies and saved victims of accidents or catastrophes, all of them were dismissed by the authorities as implausible, and these others are symbols that are scattered throughout the comic, some of them resemble the ones that are engraved on your door frame."
"Yeah, I recognize the runes, some of them are for protection, others are for concealment... wait... And why do you suddenly have so much interest in mystical things? That's also what I do."
"I spent this last year looking for a way to help my family, but science is not advanced enough to help me in my goal, so I need you. Leni needs a miracle, and I believe magic can be that miracle."
"I understand... at least I think I understand... you want to find the way this 'SHABOOM' got his powers, to cure Leni... sigh."
-o-
Lincoln was in the largest room he had ever imagined. It was so high that the ceiling barely glimpsed over his head and so wide that his eyes could only see three of the four walls, it seemed as if the room was infinitely long. There were no windows. The dim golden light that bathed every object in every room in that place came from countless candles that were strewn everywhere, Lincoln looked at the one closest to him and discovered that it was painted like the others, yet it moved as if it burned normally.
Almost all the noise Lincoln had heard coming up the stairs came from countless objects and creatures of all shapes and sizes. Some maps of unknown places were displayed on large tables, hourglasses the size of elephants, tin soldiers and paper ballerinas, a golden gauntlet encrusted with glittering rhinestones, all these and many more were on endless shelves and showcases. From the two walls that bounded the width of the room hung a myriad of pictures and paintings, the images that were preserved intact by the passage of time moved as if alive. The remaining wall was less impressive, there was only a spiral staircase that climbed until it was lost in the darkness of the ceiling, a torch of living fire, and a thin, frail old man asleep on a stone throne...it was his that Lincoln heard snoring as he arrived.
He did not find it strange that the old man could sleep so well surrounded by so much noise, that was not the strangest thing that had happened to him in the day, since it was not an unpleasant noise, to his ear, it came as a constant whisper, like the sound of the sea or that caused by the wind passing through the branches of a tree.
The pleasant sound reassured Lincoln, and seeing that he wasn't in danger he began to walk the room.
He was holding with his good hand a small terrarium inside a glass bottle, in which he could only see something like a small plump caterpillar, and was about to return it to the table from which he took it when he heard a roar. The bottle slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor. Before he could pick up the shards of glass, he heard the voice that had spoken to him on the bus.
"Tawny! What are you doing here? You were supposed to pick up the next candidate!"
The old man had stood up and was arguing with the tiger. He was wearing a white tunic, with small red details on the sleeves and a golden lightning bolt embroidered on the chest, Lincoln had seen that symbol before in one of his comics.
The tiger answered him something that only the old man could hear, surprised and with red cheeks he looked around, finding the teenager with his eyes almost instantly.
Within seconds the old man was walking toward Lincoln with a serious look on his face and an outstretched hand. As he approached, both, the old man and the tunic changed almost imperceptibly. When he stood in front of him, he shook his injured hand and Lincoln felt, in addition to a great pain; a small electric shock, now the guy looked like he was thirty years old, a full-time instructor in a hardcore gym and wore a tight, red jump-suit.
The squeeze lasted a few minutes, during which time Lincoln remembered as if he were obliged to do so, all his actions with his friends and family. He did not forget anything. In the end, the man smiled at the white-haired boy and release him.
"Dude, you have been tested and you have passed the test, I can see that you have enormous potential to fulfill the task I have to assign you," He then made a gesture that Lincoln guessed he had practiced quite a bit in front of a mirror; he stuck out his chest and flexed both arms upward as if he were a bodybuilder on a photo session and spoke in a thicker voice, which he was obviously faking.
"Welcome! To our fortress, the 'Rock of Eternity'. Allow me to introduce myself, I am the last of the champions, my name is "SHAZAM" but perhaps you recognize the name "Captain Marvel." Lincoln's jaw dropped to the floor, that was the name of an almost forgotten superhero from the golden age of comic books.
The muscular man's hands began to glow with electric shocks. His voice became legitimately very deep, so deep that it seemed as if who spoke was the earth itself.
Lincoln Loud, I grant you the gifts of the ancient heroes of mankind, I grant you the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the endurance of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. With great effort, as if he were separating two very heavy objects, the captain opened both hands pantomiming a bow to someone important. "You must say our magic word, say it with purpose and good faith... Lincoln, say my name."
As if in a trance, the boy closed his eyes, felt the hands of the adult and six other people resting on his shoulders, his mind went blank, a single thought ran through his mind: his sister Leni in a hospital bed.
"...shazam..."
An explosion of lightning and thunder struck Lincoln, his mind opened to a myriad of new and previously unknown subjects, his body filled with energy to such an extent that he thought he was going to explode.
When the dust cloud dissipated, in front of Lincoln the wizard was back again, looking at him with a smile, only now it was Lincoln who had to tilt his head a little to see the old man straight ahead.
"What happened? Wait... I got taller?" He put a hand to his throat when he heard her voice get much deeper. "No... I got older, did you make me get older?"
"No, I have only transformed you to your highest potential..." The smile on his face grew bigger as he got younger again, "you could say that I put you in your best possible physical shape."
Lincoln began flexing his muscles and striking ridiculous poses, the wizard, now looking like a kid barely older than Lincoln himself, laughed heartily at the witticisms of the white-haired man, who seemed to enjoy having an adult body.
A thought came to the mind of the new champion, if he had an adult body now, maybe it was possible that... with his heart in the palm of his hand he desperately searched for a mirror, and when he found one his smile faded. He wore a ridiculous jump-suit similar to Captain Marvel's, only this one was orange, his hair remained white and the four scars were still in place, perhaps a little fainter but they still accompanied him.
"Well, our new champion, I hope this doesn't scare you but before you do anything I must take you to train, I know from experience that you will need it. Don't worry, I'm also sure you'll love the experience."
Taking him by the hand, the wizard-kid led Lincoln to the lower room, the one where the seven great statues were located. The tiger followed them down the stairs but stayed at the foot of the stairs, refusing to approach the curious pillars again.
In the middle of the room, there was now a large circle carved into the stone of the floor, Lincoln was sure it was not there before, the wizard motioned for the champion to stand in the center.
"Please do your best!"
Lincoln did not wait for new indications, as different beings began to appear that looked threatening and without waiting attacked him, he was surprised to discover that he was able to make maneuvers and blocks, that even Lynn would find difficult, without the slightest effort. The really strange thing was that the harder he tried, all fatigue and drowsiness left him. The more he fought, the more he liked the feeling, He thought he could go on like this forever.
The wizard-child looked at him attentively and satisfied, after all, he was doing him a favor, which he would have greatly appreciated when he was also an initiate.
Finally, and after what seemed like days of fight Lincoln was exhausted, as he pierced the chest of the last stone monster with a bolt of lightning, he looked sideways at his host and wondered who he might have been in his own mortal life.
"Why...?" he asked, catching his breath, "why have you summoned me to this place?"
"I have been looking for you, my new champion, for some years," the wizard replied seriously, as he aged a little. "The world will soon need the champion to save itself, and after millennia of isolation, I think I'm a bit touched in the head. You see, time in this place is different than in the human world, I get the feeling that it plays with the mind. I know I won't be able to protect them when the need arises again."
"What am I supposed to protect the world from?"
"Of them," said the old man, pointing to the statues-pillars that supported the roof, "the seven deadly enemies of man, fearsome and powerful beings."
"But those guys are sealed in stone, locked up in what you yourself said is a 'fortress'," the wizard, growing even older, shook his head.
"No, their true essence, or what you would call their conscience is locked up in those statues, but their influence is still present among men. Every mortal sin gives them power. They are just waiting for an opportunity to ravage the world again."
"So the power you inherited from me is keeping them here?"
"Neither, they simply fear you," the wizard explained, "because you have done to them the worst thing that can be done to them."
"I haven't done anything to them!"
"Not you as a normal human, the champion has managed countless times to purge them from the mortal world," a bit of joy returned to his voice along with a bit of youth to his body, "I guess after so many beatings they learned their lesson."
Lincoln and the wizard continued the training in a more theoretical way, together they set about reading as many books on secrets and spells as they could. The white-haired man learned to use lightning and other of his powers to perfection, the time they spent together was very enjoyable. After what seemed like days or perhaps weeks filled with laughter and camaraderie, the wizard-boy stood up and asked Lincoln to accompany him one last time to the stone throne.
"Now you are the champion, the magnitude of your powers and magic will depend solely on your faith and goodwill. Remember that you are the protector of the source of all magic, the only thing that stands between the mortal world and the horrors of chaos."
The tiger transformed into a kitten and purring climbed onto the wizard's shoulder. «By training you he has given you an opportunity that no one has received before you, take advantage of it very well» the tiger Tawny's voice also seemed to have been rejuvenated. «Everything anything you might need is here, in the Rock of Eternity.»
"And one more thing Lincoln, a word of advice between kids with lousy social relations," said the wizard with a wink, "stop acting like a jerk and apologize to Clyde." The mention of that name pained him, more now than ever before because the time he shared with Billy Batson reminded him of the experiences he shared with his best friend.
As the boy and his cat sat on the stone throne, Lincoln realized he would never see them again.
"Aren't you guys going to give me a parting word?" The cat took the floor and with a very correct and serious voice said:
«Indeed yes, though only one SHAZAM!»
After the explosion, the throne was empty and the torch beside it was extinguished.
why I'm translating this shit? 'cause you're worth it
:u
