Chapter Eleven up for you all to read.
Enjoy...
NOTE: I forgot to put in the earlier chapter that the Elve named What will have the 'W' in bold and caps lockto try and ease some confusion. Sorry for the late note, my bad.
Chapter Eleven: The Meaning Of Life
Viewing their surroundings in disbelief the group began to explore the newly found village. All around them flowers bloomed in a forever-lasting spring. Their moods seemed to be just as happy and bright, for not one Elve was sad.
"Maybe this is what Heaven's like." As Tyson imagined rays of sun being visible all around them, the crowd of people made their way to the very heart of the village.
What stood tall on a small platform, but barely reached the height of the humans. Looking around, he raised his arms and smiled.
"My people. If…" He paused as he looked into each persons eyes. "…it took eight men, till dawn, to build a wall, "He sounded out with authority and passion, "How long. Would it take. Four men?
The crowd of Elves pressed in closer as they held on to every word he said. What once again swept his view around the gathered crowd before he spoke. "No time at all." His smile grew as the last few of his sentences were filled with laughter. "The wall is already built."
The Elves burst out in hysterics, some even rolling on the ground. What wiped away a tear before he stood straight once more, "Now, down to business. These guests need rooms to stay in. I need volunteers to look after them and let them into their homes."
A rupture of hands sprung up out of the crowd, as the Elves were all too eager to help. What began to assign an Elve with a person until only Kai stood alone. What had wanted one of his own to look after and had seen how Kai hadn't even smiled at his joke…We'll soon see about that. I'll have him rolling on the floor when I'm done with him…
He motioned to Kai that he was to come with him and then held out his arms in happiness. "I also declare, that a feast will be held, in honour of our new guests."
The humans all looked to one another with huge smiles. They were being very welcomed... too welcomed for my liking… But before Kai was able to properly think this through, What had grabbed his hand and led him to the closest house bringing him inside.
The rest of the day was spent seeing the sights and getting to know their host families. All seemed to be okay, until preparation for the feast had begun. The teens had been 'let out of the house' and all had met together to talk of what they had seen and heard.
"Well, my host family went and, get this. Patted. My. Head." Michael spoke in confusion. "They said that I was a good boy and that later, if I was good, they might let me sleep in one of their kids rooms instead of their loungeroom."
Rei raised his arm to get everyone's attention. "That's nothing. Do you want to know what my host family did? They went and pushed me off the couch. They told me that that wasn't very good and that I was too big to sit on the couch. Then they went and apologised and gave me some food. It was really quite weird."
Quite a few had stories to tell about how they were treated, wether it was too nice or as if they were naive and clueless, but none could say that they weren't hospitable. Unless of course, if you asked Kai.
Kai leant over to Brian and Tala and began talking with them. Their voices had begun to rise just enough that the group began to concentrate on their conversation.
"It was terrible. I don't think that I could stand it here much longer. You have no idea of what I'm going through."
Emily tapped Kai's shoulder and he turned to see the group watching them. "What?"
"That's what we want to know. What's so terrible about this place?"
Kai glared at Emily and maintained his view. "The jokes. Those are the worst jokes I have ever heard. And being with the leader of these fruitcakes isn't helping."
Mariah slapped Kai across the head and placed her hands on her hips, "Don't talk about them like that, they could be listening. Besides, don't you think that it's pretty inspirational? I mean, look at them, do they ever get mad? Do they ever fight? No! All they do is tell jokes and enjoy life. What's so wrong about jokes? They're harmless."
Kai shook his head and stood. He was going to go for a walk, to clear his mind about all this. Tala saw this and knew he couldn't let the Prince go off on his own so he decided to come. Little did they know who had been watching them from the bushes. As soon as Tala had risen, she had taken off in a hurry, to find her partner. They had a job to do.
Walking further and further into the bush, Kai finally stopped and sat against a huge rock. It felt strangely cold and almost scaly but Kai took no notice. When Tala caught up to his friend, he sat on the same rock and looked around.
"So what do you have against the Elves anyway?"
Kai groaned and looked over, "It's not that I don't like them, it's that I don't trust them. Think about it. Did we ever think that Elves ever existed?" Tala shook his head and Kai continued, "Did we ever believe that all they would do would be to make jokes? I just don't like that. What if they go too far with a joke? You saw what they did with the path. They made it go around in a circle, and then brushed over our footprints so we wouldn't realise. And then they went and put more bushes up, so that we couldn't see our original road. Do you really think that we can trust them?"
Tala looked away in thought and could have sworn he saw the pink light of the little vengeful fairy. But when he looked closer, all he saw was the surrounding forestry. Getting up he walked over to the other side of the rock and noticed that it was quite huge. It had one huge bump, and then led off to a small, almost cylindrical, rock. And it was completely smooth. The end of it was hidden in the bush. Suddenly, two red lights shone out and Tala could have sworn they were the red eyes he had seen before.
Turning around to Kai he saw that his friend had left the spot where he had been sitting and was no where to be seen. He had left Tala with this…thing.
Suddenly the rock moved, almost as if it tensed. Then a loud chop was heard and before Tala knew it, a huge, and quite heavy, tree was falling directly above him. Putting up his avarian wings, he quickly flew out of the way in lightening speed, before the tree came to a halt on the forest floor, with a massive bang. Tala gulped as the fact that he could have been under it, came into view but seeing movement in the trees to his right, brought his attention away. He drew out his two hidden daggers for protection, but when he saw Kai come into view, quickly hid them in his sleeves, where he usaully kept them.
"What the… What happened?" Kai turned to Tala for an explanation, but recieved none.
Tala walked around to the end of the tree, to see just how it had happened. When he came to it, his face went pale as realisation hit him. He stared blankly at the tree for a second, before turning to Kai and speaking. "All I can say, is that the fairy has a friend. A very big friend from the look of the claw marks in the tree."
He motioned for the slashes made from sharp, and quite huge, claws. Turning around he also noticed that the huge rock was gone, but rocks can't just pick up and leave, can they? Tala couldn't really say no, I mean, if Elves and fairies were real, what else could be?
Kai came over and swore, "What the hell did that? They're huge. Wait!. Did you say fairy? Tala, your not going on about that again. Come on, this joke is about as bad as the Elves."
Tala just nodded in reply and began to make the journey back. Kai followed off behind but stopped when something caught his view. It was What, but what caused him to stop, was the fact that What was creeping around the forestry, as if looking for something. He was also wearing a cloth over his mouth and nose.
"What the…"
Shaking his head Kai left him to his business and ran off to catch up to Tala.
Soon enough it had begun to get quite dark and the feast had begun. Lanterns decorated the room and filled the place with light. All kinds of foods were layed out in front of them and everyone began to eat their fill. The food which was left over, was taken to one side, and the gathering began to talk of the days events. Laughter and gossip filled the air as everyone enjoyed each others company.
The Majestics were gathered around What asking him as many questions as they could, by which the little Elve was happy to supply the answers to. Enrique shook his head and moved away from the conversation. He chuckled to himself and sat down next to the Neko-Jins. The whole group were gathered around one of the big tables, prefering to sit with eachother, rather than sit with their host families and suffer bad jokes.
Enrique chuckled once more and gathered their attention, "Okay. Get this. What over there, thinks that he's got the meaning of life in a treasure chest of his. He says that it was passed down from generation to generation and only when the leader wanted to, would he reveal it to his people, but he said that guests aren't included with this rule, and that he might be willing to show us."
Kevin smirked and looked to them, "Well I'm up for it. I'd love to know what these, quote 'fruitcakes' think is the meaning of life." He looked around at them all and saw quite a few nods. "Alright then, lets ask if we can see it."
All stood, one by one, and made their way over to where What sat. Enrique tapped his shoulder and hid the smile which threatened to expose itself. "I told my friends about the meaning of life thing and they're really interested in it."
What stood up in excitement and laughed. "Lovely. Come with me, then. I'll show it to you all right now."
He ran out of the door and the group followed. Entering his house he dissapeared for a minute or two, before he came back out holding a wooden chest, with a huge lock. Pulling out a key from around his neck, he opened the chest to reveal one single piece of paper. Bringing it into his view he sighed in awe before clearing his voice.
"This is it. Shall I read it to you?" All smiled and nodded to him. He sighed once more in wonder and began.
"In and out, Up and down, Under and on, Sky and ground.
Soft and loud, High and low, Near and far, Stay and go.
Empty and full,War and peace, Boy and girl,Nephew and neice.
Sun and rain, Flood and drought, Calm and rough, Whisper and shout.
More and less, Starve and eat, Rise and fall, Victory and defeat.
Death and life, White and black, Heaven and hell, Front and back.
Plus and minus, Subtract and add, Water and fire, Mum and dad.
Love and hate, Big and small, Over and under, Short and tall.
Clean and dirty, Weak and strong, Lost and found, Right and wrong
Open and shut, Fake and real, Smile and frown, Won't and will.
Day and night, Wide and thin, Wet and dry, Yang and yin.
Hit and miss, Foul and fair, Now and then, Here and there."
(AN: How cool is this poem? I wrote it myself!)
"Well... That was... good." Steve put a hand over his mouth and turned his back to the group. He cleared his throat and turned back around. "So... the meaning of life is about opposites... Well I'm impressed."
What nodded his head, his eyes wide. "How wonderful is it. It's so... so... true."
The group nodded their heads and thanked him before turning away, heading to the edge of the village. Sitting down in a circle type shape they looked to eachother before erupting into fits of laughter.
"How funny was that?"
"I know, I was trying so hard not to laugh."
Max and Tyson looked to eachother before bursting into more laughter. Tears began to make their way down some people's faces.
Kai looked to Tala and mouthed, 'I told you so' before he stood up, shaking his head. Kai watched as the lights from the lantern dissapeared. He'd had quite enough for today and had decided to head straight to bed. Opening up the front door, he made his way inside the little house and opened up the door to his room. Lucky for him, What had a guests room, which was big enough for a human. Sitting on his bed, he noticed a strange, sweet smell filling his room. Looking around he noticed a small red flower in a pot, placed on his bedside table. The flower looked almost like a venus fly trap, yet it was red, shading into a light pink at the bottom. It's 'mouth' was open and revealed three yellow stamen (AN: those stick things in the middle of the flower which hold pollen - for those of you who need help with this. Don't worry, I did. lol.) almost acting like three tongues. Coming closer to get a better view Kai looked over, into the peculiar flower.
Suddenly, without warning, the flower closed it's mouth, and a fine dust spurted out. What looked like the pollen, began to cover the whole of Kai's face. Kai tried to fan away the sweet smell which followed but the pollen stuck to the inside of his mouth. All he could smell was the overbearing sweetness of the flower. And then darkness began to settle all around him. He thought he heard What's voice, proclaiming that this was the best joke he had ever done but couldn't quite place where the voice had come from. Trying to find his way around, he suddenly felt the soft feel of the blankets, as he fell on the bed.
Darkness slipped in around him as Kai fell into a peaceful sleep.
Oh no... What did What do? Find out in the next chapter... And please review...