Adventures of John: Ravages of War
Chapter 4: The Camp
I reappeared in my bedroom and promptly returned to sleep. I don't know where Calhoun took me before, but I guess someone ended up finding an abandoned van next to an old warehouse somewhere in the city. Maybe the keys were still in the ignition and they got a free car. I don't know and I really don't care.
Back in Arendelle I told everyone about my most recent adventure and Elsa fussed over me for a bit while I assured her I was fine. After that there were a bunch of boring official things I had to attend, doing little more than sitting there in regal clothing and agreeing with Elsa's statements. I've never liked bureaucracy and legislation and all that boring stuff. I did have some alone time with Elsa after that, but it wasn't long before I had to return to our world.
The following days were worrying ones. I continued to discover new troubles facing our world, new symptoms of the war between Order and Chaos. I learned that a jihadist group in the Middle East is taking over parts of Iraq and Syria, enforcing a strict Muslim order in the areas they took over. Interestingly enough, the initials of this "Islamic State of Israel and Syria" spell out the name of the Egyptian goddess Isis. And while this one stood out the most, it was only one of many issues that I discovered in our world that I could directly connect to the war.
The war keeps on growing, I thought to myself as I surfed the internet. More and more people keep on dying, and I am no closer to stopping it. I had succeeded in keeping the tears in the barriers between the realms from going out of control, but that was just a delaying tactic. Even if I kept the realms from merging, the war would still continue, and those working for the causes of Order and Chaos would find another way to fight their war. I needed to find a way to stop this, and I was running out of time.
Unfortunately, my efforts would have to be put on hold, as I was sent on a four day scouting trip. I am already an Eagle Scout, but unfortunately I still have to go on scouting trips, and I can't exactly tell everyone that I can't go because I'm too busy trying to save the world from total annihilation. This particular expedition was a backpacking trip down into Havasupi, a camp down at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The ten mile hike into camp wasn't all that bad, as it was mostly downhill. The hike back up, however, was torment. I would like to point out that I reached camp before everyone else, as well as exiting the canyon before everyone else as well.
The time at camp was spent mostly lying about. We ate freeze-dried food and drank purified river water, hiding from the sun during the day and hoping the insects didn't come for us in the night. There were some things to do, such as searching through the caves near our campsite and laying in the shallow river. One day we hiked a few miles over to some falls, the cold water of which felt wonderful after the hike in the blistering sun.
For the most part of the time in the camp, everything seemed to be on pause. I could feel an old power in the canyon walls, a power which somehow kept the rage of the war from entering the camp. The barriers between the realms were still tearing apart and I had to repair them, and the representations of Order and Chaos were still whispering in everyone's ears, but their actions seemed to be sluggish, and the tears seemed to rip open less often. It felt good to be away from the war for a while, but each day that passed, I knew that this respite was only temporary. Once I left the canyon, I would return to the war ravaging our world.
Then the four days were up, and I was hiking out. On my way out of the canyon, I felt the presence of the spirit guarding it. It was ancient, and as I sensed this spirit, I realized how it could keep the war at bay. This spirit, which must have been inactive for centuries, had been awoken by the growing war, and was now doing its best to protect the place it called home.
It didn't tell me any of this. I don't know whether the spirit was so old that it predated spoken language, or if it simply didn't understand the concept of spoken language, but it spoke to me through images and emotions, a form of communication I hadn't encountered before. Unfortunately, I could already feel the spirit's power waning, and knew that this place would not be protected for much longer. I felt a kinship with this spirit in its attempts to maintain Balance, and I saluted it as I hiked out of the canyon.
As I collapsed on the end of the trail, high above the canyon, I felt the spirit's protection fade to nothing. I was back in the world, and I had a job to do. Except, of course, that once I returned home from camp I was sent off on another trip.