A Tale of Many an Adventurer- Joe's Story

Chapter 2

Joebushy- if you haven't noticed, I just updated this chapter. It was really bad considering the plot. Yeah. Read, review, and enjoy! If you have any objections to the story line, complain! That's what your here for! (Oops... shouldn't of let that slip...)

A rooster crowed. Joe's eyes opened abruptly and he looked around. He was in a tan-shaded tent lying on a crude bed made of leaves and branches. " Finally," said a voice. " We didn't think you were coming," said another. Joe looked at the tent opening to see two of his friends, Chris and Joseph. They walked in and sat themselves down on two more beds stationed at two other places in the tent. " Where are we?" Joe asked. " Not on Earth," Joseph said. Joe looked around him. " It looks like Earth," he stated. " Joe!" Chris snapped, " Did you not see that tree? The layout of this planet? This isn't Earth, Joe, this is Kealato!" Joe looked to the floor and back to his friends. They looked like they were wearing armor. In Joseph's hand was a sword and in Chris' a spear. " Wh- what's Kealato, and... And what are you?" Joe asked the two. "Hmm, lets see," Joseph said sarcastically, " Kealato might be the ground below you, the sky above you, and everything around you, and we might just be cavaliers, do you think?" Joe looked down at the floor again, averting the two's gazes.

" Well, I just thought it might be something else, that's all," Joe said. " Well, its not," Joseph said. " I take it something has happened?' Joe asked the two with a touch of concern. " The heck something's happened!" Joseph yelled with anger, " We are no longer on earth, Joe. What we know is gone, completely!" Joseph seemed filled with anger and Chris with silent rage. Joe understood why, but that didn't affect him, and he didn't know why. " Guys, it's ok," Joe said comfortingly. Joseph and Chris slumped down in their beds wearily, sinking into the leaves.

Joseph was a 13-year-old boy, who mostly had a split attitude. One was negative, the other happy-go-lucky. He had green eyes, dark brown hair, and white skin chapped from being dry. He was as tall as Joe, but was a little bulkier. He was almost the strongest person Joe knew. Chris was a 12-year-old boy who was almost always positive. Except for now. He had hazel colored eyes and brown hair that was almost blond. He was about the same weight as Joe, but was smaller in size. He had a mildly freckled face, although the freckles were hardly noticeable. The two were, like Joe, both American.

" We need to get out of this messed up place," Chris stated soberly from his bed. Joe thought about what he said, but it didn't make sense. Did he want out of the tent? No, he had just came in. " Get out of where?" Joe asked him. " Joe," said Chris sitting up, " you must of still been out of it when we were talking, because only a troll wouldn't get that-" " What's have you got agenst trolls?" Joseph asked him. " Uh- nothing," Chris said, " They're just really stupid." " Ha, ha, very funny," Joe stated," But really, get out of where?" " This world! It's horrible! You can even go into town and look for yourself!" Joseph yelled. " Joseph, calm down," Chris said, " he can go in there in the morning. For now, I'm going out to get supper, and I hope you come." Chris got up and stormed outside, spear in hand. " Shall we go," Joe said sarcastically. " Let's," Joseph answered back. The two got up and walked outside.

They had to run to catch up with Chris, who was far down on the sandy shore of the beach they had set up camp on. Once they did, Joe had one more question. " Where are we going?" he asked. " To get food," Chris answered simply. " So," Joseph asked Joe as they walked along, more briskly now as it was getting dark, " I take it you are a healing mage, correct?" Joe studied himself. " Yeah... um, I guess so." Joseph looked impressed. " Do you know how to heal?" he asked. " How to- oh, wait, no." Joseph's impression seemed to fade. " Well, I guess you have to go into town tomorrow, don't you," he asked. Now Joe was starting to take it all in.

" Ah ha, now I see," he said, " In this world, everyone has a special power, and they have to master it." "No and yes," Joseph answered. " Not everyone in Kealato has a special power, but for the ones who do, yeah, they have to master it." " So," Joe said, " I need to learn my healing mage powers tomorrow?" Joseph nodded.

" Don't look now," Chris said suddenly, " but I think dinner just found us..." He was right. Joe and Joseph looked around. At first they saw nothing, but then they looked to the sky to see five huge birds swooping toward them. Everything about them was red. Their beaks' were light red, their bodies flame red, and their sharp clawed feet a blood red. " What are those?" Joe asked Chris. " Those," Chris stammered, " are b-baby phoenix d-diggers." All three looked at the baby phoenix. They had skull red eyes that looked bloodshot. Their wingspan was about as long as all three of the team members put together. But that was only one of them. Five was even bigger. They started flying in a horizontal line. The one in the middle swooped down and tried to snatch one of the three, but Joseph and Chris leapt to either side and Joe sprawled on the ground.

" Be careful!" Joseph yelled to Joe, whose back had been scratched. Two more phoenixes started toward Joe, still in the middle. Joe didn't see them at first until he stood up and looked behind him. The giant birds were closing in. Joe had no time to think, let alone do something. He just stood there, looking wide eyed at the two phoenix swooping at him. They both stuck out their claws to grab Joe, but just as they did, the two cavaliers from Joe's right and left slashed and stabbed. The two phoenix soared upward away from Joe. " Second time in two days," he said to the two. Chris and Joseph ran to stand by Joe. " What now?" he asked. " Dunno'," Chris answered, " but it might be best if we run." Joe and Joseph nodded. The three turned around and started off at a run. " Where do we go?" Joe asked. " Nowhere!" Chris yelled. " Just run!" Joseph commanded.

The three heroes ran along the beach, the phoenix hot on their tails. Then, where the beach ended, they came to a cliff. They turned around to find they were trapped. They looked at the five baby phoenix diggers looking for food. Joseph then said, " You know, I could of done with some light meat, like a gwaffa-" " What's a gwaffa?" Joe asked. " Something like chicken," Joseph answered. The phoenix kept getting closer. Soon all five landed- sort of. They dive-bombed the ground and went into it. " Climb!" Chris commanded. The three grabbed rock after rock of the cliff, trying to get up it and away from the birds. Joe was first to the top. He was in a grass filled area of rolling hills. It felt extremely breezy... and then he saw it. Sitting on one of the hills was a phoenix digger ten times the size of the others. Joseph and Chris climbed up beside him and looked at it.

It seemed to notice their presence. It looked at them with its glaring blue eyes. " Woah, are those what I think they are?" Joe asked. " Yeah," Joseph said, " those are blue eyes." The bird swooped into the air, then toward the team. At the last second it pulled up. The heroes turned around to look at it go over them, but what they saw they didn't expect. Behind them the baby phoenix diggers had their heads up out of the ground, and they were shooting a beam of fire out of their mouth. Joe and his team had nothing to do.

But then something happened. Two cloaked figures, one in a brown cloak, the other in green, came out of the ground beside them. The one in green yelled " Lifalin!" and the one in brown yelled " Ifothaga!" The two mysterious figures put out their swords and light and dark magic expelled from them. Lifalin was light and Ifothaga was dark. Both spells could uphold a solid object, and in this case, the phoenix. " Run." the green cloaked druid commanded. Joe, Chris, and Joseph ran away from the magic users and the phoenix, down the hill, around, and back to their tent.

" Well," Joe said as they got back into the tent, " there's always fish!" Joseph and Chris groaned as Joe grabbed Chris' spear and headed out onto the beach. " Joseph," Chris said, " what do you think we're on Kealato for?" Joseph thought for a moment. " To find our way out," he suggested. Chris shrugged approvingly. The two went outside to get some wood out of their pile, and then they brought it inside for a fire. Chris, after the wood was stacked, took two twigs and started rubbing them. " You idiot!" Joseph yelled. He held up his sword and a seemingly rough rock. He laid the rock on the wood and then swung at it with his sword. It caught fire, then the wood caught. " It's weird how that when on Earth things spark, on Kealato they catch fire, isn't it?" " 'Stronger' atmosphere," Chris said humorously.

A few minutes late Joe came in with three huge fish on the end of Chris' spear. He placed the fish, still on the spear, into the fire. In a matter of seconds they were cooked and each person had one in their hands. " That was fast," Joseph said. As they ate, Chris explained of the Dukito spear. It was, " A shining silver spear with an enlarged area a little before the middle," as he explained it. He also said that the end of the spear split into four as it hit its target, ripping it apart. He explained how it was in the mountains between Helioa, the mountain town, and Neasmil, the main port town, although it was a bit off the main path. After they had finished eating, they went to sleep.

That night, Joe had a dream. His friends- not just Joseph and Chris, where being hit by five blurs. Then he saw himself, standing back and powerless. His friends were dying, he could do nothing. It was impossible to control his dream; he wasn't him- if that was really possible. He saw blood gush from his friends. Then he opened his eyes. He was breathing heavily. " I need to learn how to heal," he told himself. He got up and grabbed his staff from under his bed, then, without even waking his friends, walked outside.

It was still dark, but he could tell it was morning. He walked into the town, wondering what it was called. It was all stone, from the street to the buildings. Instead of streetlights, there were flames burning in wooden posts. Only merchants were awake, lining the street and getting ready for the day ahead. After he searched for a while, he came across a magic shop with a sign that said, " Exemap Magic Shop- EST 1814" He stared at it. "Weird…" He said aloud as he walked inside. What he saw was staff upon staffs, potion upon potion, wand upon wand, any magical item imaginable. He walked up to the clerk and asked, " Can you teach me how to heal?" The clerk, an old looking man in suspenders, looked at Joe for a second before answering. " Well," he said, " I usually don't give out lessons in the mornings, especially at six as I'm opening, but with your persistent look, sonny, I don't think I could refuse!"

The man signaled for Joe to follow him and then headed away to the end of the shop. The stone floor echoed as they walked. At the end of the main shop was a door, and Joe, still following the man, went through it. He found himself in a dusty old room with one big table in the middle, a potion-mixing table on the side, and chairs. " Sit down," the clerk, or from what he was doing, the storeowner, said. Joe sat down in the nearest seat. The owner brought a chair toward Joe and sat down. He was going to learn the art of healing.

About an hour later, after some practicing, Joe was put to the test. " All you do," the store owner said, " is say 'heal' and raise your staff. It's so easy!" " Yeah," Joe said sarcastically, " especially when your arm is CUT AND BLEEDING!" The old man didn't look startled. In fact, he looked just the opposite. He looked calm. " Well," he said simply, " Use your other arm, you're left one, is it?" If Joe's right arm wasn't bleeding he would have slapped his head with it. " You paralyzed it 'for later', remember?" Joe said, even more sarcastic than before. " Oh, dear," the man said, " Apprentice!" A hooded boy wearing an orange cloak over his blue shirt and black pants walked in from a room even further from the shop. His hood was up, so it was impossible to see his face. He was shorter and Joe, and his build was a bit smaller " Go and fetch me a potion to... heal wounds. Well, what are you waiting for? Go, my lad, go," The boy walked back into the room from which he had come.

Joe and the man sat there, not talking, and hardly moving. Joe's arms were still under different conditions. Then a loud crashing sound, like the one of glass, was heard from the room the boy was in. Joe and the shop owner looked in the direction of the door to that certain room. The apprentice came out, his hood off, a potion in his hands, trembling. Joe looked at him. " Zach?" he asked. " Ye-yeah... bu- but don't talk. Don't m-move. They- they're coming..." Joe heard a loud squeaking noise, like the one of a rat, only much deeper, and there were more then one. Zach ran to Joe and the shop owner, then handed Joe the potion. He drank it and his arms felt much better. " What is the meaning of this!" the man asked, although there was no time for an answer. As he had been saying it, twenty mutant rats, big as a human baby, had charged in. Joe and Zach had noticed and dived for the table. The man, though, had not noticed. When he looked at the rats he was already to late. One of them lunged straight to the man's heart- and through it. It was a horrible sight.

Zach, on the table with Joe, jumped off and ran into the main magic shop. Joe followed him with the rats in hot pursuit. The customers all ran out screaming. The shop was big, with racks on each and every wall. Zach ran away from Joe, leaving him with the rats. " Um... Zach... this really isn't a good time to run off... help!" A rat, the same one that had pummeled the shop owner into death, was in the air going toward Joe's chest. He dodged it just in time, although he fell in the process. Not good.

All twenty rats were now trying to get to Joe. But so much for trying. " Move!" Zach yelled from somewhere near Joe. He rolled to the left, leaving the rats confused where they had been. Joe heard an explosion and turned around on the ground to see about five rat's dead. He got up and looked back to make sure they were gone, but they had disappeared. He turned to Zach, who had thrown an exploding potion, hoping he would have some explanation. He looked more confused than even Joe did. The rats seemed to have gotten bigger. " Zach!" Joe yelled as he ran to him, " I know what happened! The rats from the ground were ate by the other rats, which got bigger. " Oh, yeah, I knew that!" Zach said. He looked as though he was thinking. "Be right back," he told Joe. Then he ran off again, leaving Joe alone.

Nothing to do but run. Which, of course, Joe did. He ran back into the back room where he had found Zach, then he climbed up onto the table. He looked down at the fifteen rats, filing in by fives. " You can't get me!" he yelled hopefully. He was right. They couldn't. But they could bring him to them. All of them went for one of the four wooden table legs and started chewing. Lower and lower he was going, always getting closer to the rats. They were soon able to jump and get him, but they didn't. They kept chewing, and Joe knew why. The more they ate, the bigger they got. They were all about the size of a three-year-old now, about two or three feet tall. Joe's feet were touching the ground when he caught site of a light soaring through the air. " Joe!" Zach yelled, " Catch!" Joe looked in the direction of the door and saw Zach throwing him a potion. " Drink it!" he commanded. Joe caught it and gulped it down as fast as he could. He felt as though he could lift an elephant. Plain, immense, unfathomable power.

He punched one of the rats and it went flying into a wall. " Oh yeah!" he yelled. He kicked and knocked five into the ceiling. Then he pounded four straight into the ground. Then he picked up his staff and swung it at one more. " Four to go," he said. He dropped his staff again, then he attacked three of them furiously with his fists " Where's the last one?" he asked Zach, who had just came into the room. As though answering the question, a gigantic rumbling came from the next room back. Joe looked at the ground and saw that the other rat's had disappeared. Then a different rat, ten times bigger then both Joe and Zach, pounded into the room. " I didn't know they tested steroids on animals," Zach joked, although his face was both serious and scared. It seemed to have understood. It ran to Zach faster then he had time to think, then he slashed him. Zach fell to the ground. " Say... 'Heal Zach!" He commanded Joe weakly. " Heal Zach!" Joe yelled. In a flash of green light, Zach was back on his feet. Then Joe turned his attention to what stood in front of him. The mega mutated rat. He looked at its glowing sky-blue eyes, and then he tried to shift his attention away from the hideous beast. But he couldn't. He was stuck staring into the mass of blue. Joe couldn't move.

Joebushy- I have actually only worked on this chapter for two days. I love typing! Please review, I don't care if you flame as long as it's helpful.