The Dimension Walker: The Pearl of Chaos

Summary: Avril Burgundy was just wanted to have a normal summer. She didn't ask to be sucked into her favorite cartoon, nor did she ask to end up in a camp full of special people! To make matters worse, an eight hundred-year-old sorcerer plans to escape and he's going to use the Pearls of Chaos to do it. Avril has to go on a quest to prevent the Sorcerer from escaping. But, something else lurks in the shadows. Something that's been imprison for centuries...

~Chapter Nine~

~Falling and Drowning~

(-Line-Break-)

The Tengu falling into the lake was not entirely my fault. It was the flying monkey demon's fault.

Okay, let me back up a bit.

When I opened my eyes, Natalia was shaking my shoulders and talking in wildfire fast Italian. Behind her, Carrie and Nomi were arguing. Ally and Alice knelt beside me, with Randy kneeling behind them.

"What the fuck just happened?" I asked aloud, catching everyone's attention.

They all turned to me, and sighed and groaned in relief. I quickly got to my feet, quickly checking myself. My quiver was still slung over my back. Natalia held out my bow and sword, which I gladly took. Once the sword was in my hands, it turned back into my ring and slipped it back onto my finger. As I adjusted my quiver, I took a look around.

It was just like the forest in my dream. The tall, towering trees had pitch black leaves and pale grey trunks. The grass was dark green and reached up to my shins, with thick white fog covering the ground. Above our heads was the ebony sky, with swirls of dark blue and dark violet spread across the skies like clouds. The air was cold, and a bitter wind blew in our faces. Raspy whispers fluttered in the air, sending chills down my spine. From the forest line, figures prowled and stared at us with glowing eyes.

We slowly got close to one another. Carrie pulled out her staff, and Natalia summoned her whip. Randy and Nomi grabbed their swords. Ally held up her hand, and pointed ahead of us.

"Look," she said.

Ahead of them, there was a cliff with a weeping willow hanging off its edge. We walked over to the cliff, and looked down. Below us, there was a large valley filled with tall trees and strange creatures. In the heart of the valley, there was a large lake shaped like a teardrop. On one side of the lake, there was foggy forest that had these strange, monkey-like creatures flying above the tree tops. I could hear them screeching and hollering from where I was standing, and that was only a taste of how loud they were. On the other side, there was a bright, colorful meadow with these flying butterflies coming out of the meadow. That kind of seemed out of place, seeing as we were in a place where it's all about shadows and darkness and evilness. The teardrop-shaped lake's crystal-like waters were dark blue, with five rivers flowing out of the lake.

"The Valley of Despair," Nomi said. "The most dangerous and most ancient part of the Land of Shadows. In the heart of it, lies the Lake of Tears. From the Lake of Tears, there are five rivers that flow throughout the Shadows."

Nomi pointed to a river with midnight blue waters. "That's the River of the Damned. The River of the Damned is made from the tears of the damned. The water could send anyone into a state of depression and despair. Only the water from the Spirit World could take away the affect of the River of the Damned."

He pointed to a second river with sea-green waters. "The River of the Broken is made of tears shed by those who were broken and lost inside. The water made anyone reveal their dark side and reveal all their deepest, darkest thoughts. The effect could last from a few minutes up to a few months."

Carrie glanced at a river with murky, black water. "That must be the River of the Tortured, correct?"

The red-head nodded. "Indeed. The river is made of the tears shed by those who been tortured physically and/or mentally. A single drop of the water could make you feel pain for days. But, take a full drink? No one has lived to tell what happens."

"Cheery," Alice deadpanned. She looked over and pointed at a river with milky white waters. "What river is that? Looks blooming harmless if you ask me."

Nomi shook his head. "That's the River of the Hopeless. It may seem harmless first glance. But, this river is fed by the tears of those who have felt hopeless or have lost faith. The River of the Hopeless has no effect if you were to swim in it, or drink from it. But, once you hear the voices of the hopeless when you near the river, all your determination and strong will shall vanish."

"Very cheery," Randy deadpanned.

I rolled my eyes, and looked at the final river. Its waters were ice blue, and I could see figures lingering near it. I pointed at it and said, "And, what river is that?"

Nomi looked to where I was pointing. "The River of the Sacrificed, or the River of Suffering. It is fed by the tears of those who have sacrificed for the ones they loved and ended up suffering. No one dared to go near the river."

I quickly looked away from the Lake of Tears. From the far end of the Valley of Despair, there was a tall, Japanese tower. Mists of different colors and shades floated around it, with glowing butterflies fluttering out of the trees and heading towards it. I pointed over to the tower.

"That's it," I said. "That's the tower from my dreams."

"There?" Ally asked. "That's where we need to go? It's...really far..."

"Well no fucking derp," I snapped. "How are we supposed to get there? We'll never make it on foot!"

Carrie looked around, biting her lip. "Maybe we can get a creature to help us," the French girl mused. "Then, we can get to the tower quicker. But, most creatures in the Land of Shadows are very hostile, and the ones that are not are too scared of us."

"Why would—?" I started to say.

"Hey guys, this may seem totally irrelevant," Alice called. "But, there's a Tengu watching us!"

A Tengu—like the one that was trapped in the carp's eye—stood behind us, watching us with cold eyes. Randy let out a yelp, and almost dropped his sword. Carrie snorted and Natalia snickered, while Nomi rolled his eyes fondly. Alice stood directly in front of the demon bird, staring up at it in curiosity.

"Alice!" I called.

"Be careful!" Ally cried.

"Wait, I don't think this guy's hostile..." Alice muttered.

She held up her hand, and the Tengu placed its forehead against it. It let out a soft purr, which made the rest of us do a double take. Alice laughed, and gently petted the bird demon. I walked over to Alice, standing next to her. The Tengu glanced over at me, and purred. It nuzzled its head against mine, making me laugh. After the nightmare I had, I totally needed that. I let out a yelp as the Tengu picked me and Alice up, and placed us on its back. The bird demon nodded his head, signaling the others to climb on too. Carrie and Natalia climbed on without a second thought. Ally and Nomi hesitated, and then quickly got on. Randy, with a reluctant look, climbed on and held on tight to Nomi. Nomi snorted, pecking the purple-haired boy on the lips.

"Do you think he understands us?" Ally asked.

"Yes," the Tengu chirped.

"Did you—?" I stopped myself. "Great, just fucking great. A talking animal."

"Wonderlandiful!" Alice exclaimed. "Oh! Can you speak Japanese?"

"Hai," the Tengu chirped again.

Alice squealed. "This is the best Tengu ever!" She petted its red mane. "Take us to that tower at the end of the Valley of Despair!"

With a loud 'caw!', the Tengu took to the skies and flew off. We flew over the Valley of Despair, taking in the sights. All throughout the flight, Alice and the Tengu were babbling to one another. Ally and I watched her, confused. But then, Natalia told us that Rabbits had a natural bond with all talking animals, thanks to the first Rabbit—Thomas White Rabbit, aka the White Rabbit who helped out Alice in her adventures in Wonderland. Carrie also chimed in that Alice could also talk to any animal, whether or not they were magical. To me, that basically made Alice like a Disney princess.

"I'm not a Disney princess!" Alice exclaimed, glaring at me. "I am a Disney warrior! There's a difference, ya know."

I blinked, staring at her in shock. "...How did you know I was thinking that?"

"Did you hear the voice?" Alice asked.

I opened my mouth to say something, but quickly closed my mouth and shook my head. Alice was always crazy, in a good way I mean. Her "craziness" always seemed to help us out in some ways. Like, there this one time I was going to steal these Harry Potter books from the rich kids at our school—only because they stole them from my little brother—when Alice said to tell some adult instead. I questioned her, and she said that "the voice" told her it was the right thing to do. So I did, and the rich kids were grounded the next day. My mom even threatened to press charges, since she was the head detective and sheriff of the town. Then there was the time Ally was shopping for her mom's birthday present. She was going to get her a Yankees cap, but Alice said that "the voice" said something about getting her mom that dress she always wanted. Turns out, her little brothers had already gotten the Yankees cap.

This "voice" had always helped us out in some ways. It still freaked me and Ally out, but we never questioned it. Maybe the "voice" was Alice's way of saying she had a gut feeling or it was her instincts talking. I would never know.

By the time we were over the Lake of Tears, things started to go terribly wrong way too fast. Those monkey-like creatures I mentioned earlier? They started flying towards us, hollering at the tops of their lungs. We had to cover our ears when they came. The Tengu started screeching back, its eyes glowing bright red. The monkey demons started flying in circles around us, hollering while throwing fireballs. Carrie swatted the fireballs away with her staff, while also sending out blasts of ice and frost. A monkey-demon tried to grab Natalia, but the Italian punched it right in the nose and sent it falling to the ground. I quickly readied my bow, and launched a bronze arrow at one of the monkey-demons. It nailed it right in the forehead, and exploded in green mist.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH YOU AND THE FART ARROWS?!" Randy screeched.

"I dunno!" I yelled. "I keep pulling out the bronze ones!"

"WELL THEN STOP PULLING OUT THE BRONZE ONES!" the purple-haired boy yelled. "GODDAMN, THIS SMELLS WORSE THAN MY SMOKEBOMBS."

Apparently when others yell, the monkey-demons didn't like it one bit. One of them snarled, and raked its clawed hands on the Tengu's face. The Tengu shrieked, and started falling. We all screamed as we fell, while the monkey-demons laughed at us. I glared up at them, yelling strings of curses and swears. Defiantly, I launched a silver arrow at them. The arrow flew up, up, up until it nailed a monkey-demon in his ass, causing him to poof into black mist. The arrow, however, let out sparks of blue lights. The sparks hit the last of the monkeys and shocked them to death.

I turned my head, and we landed with a splash into the Lake of Tears. We sank down, our heads going under the water. The others were frantically trying to swim up to the surface. Our Tengu was nowhere in sight. I looked around, and saw that Ally was holding Alice and carrying her to the top. I was about to swim towards them when a voice invaded my mind.

"Drown, Avril-Drew Claire Burgundy. Death is a much better choice. No pain, no suffering. Just stop and drown, Avril. Just drown."

Something grabbed my leg, and I was pulled down. I tried to scream, but only bubbles came out of my mouth. Echoing laughter filled my ears, and something sharp dug into my ankles. I kicked and tried to swim up, but it was in vain. Black dots danced across my eyes, and my vision started to blur. My body went numb, and I started to sink.

And then, I blacked out.

...

Ah...cliffhangers. An author's best friend. I love them, you hate them. :)

Sorry about the shortness of this chapter! Kinda struggled a bit with this one, so sorry if this seems choppy and rushed! Next one is going to be better (and maybe a little angsty!)

Don't forget to review and I'll see you next time!

~Ari