Hello to all Amphibia fans, once again. Here is the second half of the introduction to this story. I imagine that most of you are thinking that this chapter will have too much descriptive text and not enough dialogues or monologues, like the first part. But, this time, I can assure you that that won't happen for this chapter: the only reason I wrote excessive amounts of descriptive text for the first chapter was to introduce the initial setting of the story with some quality world-building writing. Now, for the second chapter, I will include more speaking lines for the characters participating in the plot. This way, you don't have to worry about getting bored with my writing style, hahaha. xP Anyways, putting this behind us, I wish you all a happy reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Chapter Two: The Reawakening (Part Two)
Continuing from where we last left off in our tale, the bright orange male newt is still confused and shocked about the whole situation he's in right now, but, most importantly, he's more affected by the fact that he has completely lost his memories about his identity. He doesn't even know who he is ... At this moment, the newt is having an internal monologue with himself about this topic "That's right ... Who am I? I should at least know the answer to this question, but I don't know anything... The only thing I can remember is my name: Carl ... That, and the only other thing I can remember about my past is the moment when I was put into this weird machine ...".
After these thoughts passed through "Carl"'s mind, he began rewatching the one memory he still has from his past (just to be clear, the readers will need to take into account that Carl will be mentally experiencing this memory in a first person viewpoint. This will also apply to any other memories he might experience in the future, as the story progresses. So, consequently, Carl will not be viewing his memories from an outsider's perspective, i.e. a third person viewpoint): this memory takes place in the same laboratory he's at in the present, as well as in the same room, with the only difference being that, in the past, the laboratory and the tank room were still with all their walls, roof, furniture and machinery, including the healing tank itself, intact. Not only that, but it also seems that there are two mysterious caped and hooded figures helping Carl enter the healing liquid inside the tank: although both figures share the common trait of being short in stature, one of them is wearing a yellow cape and hood and an armored black chestplate with a giant silver eagle covering almost the entirety of that armor piece, while the other figure is wearing a green emerald cape and hood and an armored bloodred chestplate with another giant silver eagle engraved in it; in any case, neither of the figures' true faces can be seen from the outside, because they're both covered by the shadows cast by their respective hoods.
The figures are helping Carl enter the tank, connecting him to the bands and cords we've seen him with in the present and putting his respirator mask at the same time. After they finished their task, the figures enclosed Carl inside the glass walls of the tank. They looked at him for a few seconds, and then back to eachother. The yellow hooded figure was the first to talk to their emerald hooded companion, with a dismayed tone of voice.
"He seems to be in pretty bad shape. I just hope the lab technicians know what they're doing and didn't build a defective healing tank. He's been gravely injured in the battlefield, and this machine is the only thing that can prevent him from dying from his injuries ..."
The emerald hooded figure responded to their friend in the same tone of voice "Yeah... I hope you're right. Afterall, he's the only hope we have of winning this war. Without him, everything is lost..."
"Do you think the guys working at this lab know how long it will take for him to fully recover?"
"They told me they don't know for sure. What they do know though is that his injuries are too serious for him to be treated in a matter of days. It might take weeks, months, or even years to heal ..."
The yellow hooded figure looked distraught at the possibility of Carl taking years to heal from his wounds "What?! Years?! But we need him healed as soon as possible! Otherwise, we'll all be wiped out!"
"I know that. But we can't do anything about it now, except wait for the tank to do its job and put him back the way he used to be..."
"Yeah... That seems to be the case. Until then, we have to defend ourselves against our enemies with all our claws and teeth!"
"And we'll do that until our deaths, brother!"
Unfortunately, for our protagonist, his memory ends right at that instant, with the rest of that event being a blur to him. After visiting his memory corridor, Carl resumes his internal monologue, confused and surprised with what he saw "I can't believe what I've just seen... Did I really fight in a war? And would my recovery and consequent involvement in the war determine the final outcome?"
These questions, though, were interrupted by a more pressing concern afflicting Carl's mind: the image of Anne Boonchuy passed right through his eyes once again, with him having no clue whatsoever about who she was, or even what she was.
"I guess these questions are not that important right now. I'll find the answers later, when I have more clues about what I did in my past. What's bothering me right now is ... who exactly is this strange creature that kept appearing in my dreams when I was inside the healing tank? And, more importantly, why has this beast been appearing in my mind lately? I have so many questions about so many things ...".
Carl's thoughts are, once more, cut off and left unresponded to. This time, however, it's not because of other questions appearing on his mind, but rather it's because one of the newt-robots responsible for the maintenance of the supercomputer entered the healing tank room and stood right in front of him. This sudden encounter was followed by the robot speaking directly to Carl, enthusiastic about finding him in one piece "Oh, Master! You're finally awake after all this time! How are you feeling?"
At this moment, Carl is feeling puzzled about the newt-robot calling him "master", since he didn't think he owned any of the robots present at the lab complex. But, despite this, Carl showed himself to be courteous towards the robot, and replied politely to his concern "I'm fine, thank you for asking. But, at the same time, I have some questions for which I need some answers to, if you have them. Do you think you can satisfy my curiosity?"
"I'll do my best to answer with what I know, master. You can ask away."
"Alright, then... First one: from what you've said right now, I'm assuming that I've been resting inside this tank for some time now, am I right? Howe long have I been in there?"
"Well, master, according to the main computer's database, you've been resting and recovering inside the healing tank for the past ... 1000 years, if I'm not mistaken."
Naturally, Carl's response to this information was an expression of absolute shock and appalment painting his face, bigger than any of the surprises he experienced after he woke up and left the tank, and any surprise he could face in the next few hours. After a few seconds spent absorbing this new knowledge, Carl gathered the composure to speak to the robot about this issue, although he hadn't fully processed what he had learned about himself "DID I HEAR YOU CORRECTLY JUST NOW?! Have I really been stuck inside this machine for a whole millennium?! How am I even alive?!"
"Well, master, what I've told you is the truth, I swear. And, if you're wondering how you're alive, it's because the healing liquid of the tank is infused with a mix of anti-ageing products that kept you from dying of old age, like, for example, the ashes of a phoenix, the horn of a minofrog and the fangs of a toad-vampire."
Carl reacted to the robot's explanation with a little bit of wonder and amazement at what the mix of technology and natural healing medicines could do to keep an amphibian alive. However, he quickly returned to his inquisitve mood from before, continuing to put pressure on the newt-robot for answers "That's fascinating, I have to admit as much. But you still haven't explained to me one other thing: why didn't you wake me and take me out of the tank sooner?!"
"I understand your frustration about that topic, master, and I apologize on behalf of myself and my co-worker units for not taking you out of the healing tank sooner. But, unfortunately, that decision wasn't up to us. Do you see the big wire that's connected to the tank and goes out of this room? This wire is directly connected to this laboratory's supercomputer, who's been spending most of its processing power until now keeping you alive with everything it can do: from monitoring your vital signals to regenerating dead skin and muscle tissue that had been damaged from whatever happened to you, master. You see, the supercomputer wouldn't let you out of your stasis until it had assessed with its good judgment that you were healthy and ready to survive on your own, master, even if it took 1000 years for that to become a reality."
Carl begrudgingly accepted the newt-robot's explanation, since there was nothing else that could be done to revert that decision "Fine... I don't exactly like the fact that it took so long for me to heal, but I guess that what's done is done. Anyway, I have another more important question to ask you: who am I? The only thing I know about me is that my name is Carl, but otherwise I don't know what kind of past I have, and I don't know anything else about myself ..."
"Uhhh... About that, master ... Unfortunately, for you, I don't have the answer to that question. You see, I have been depending on the data stored in the supercomputer's database to answer all of your questions until now. And... the main problem is that the supercomputer doesn't have any data about your identity on its database. It's because, around every 100 years or so, the computer runs an auto-cleaning program to wipe out all the irrelevant contents stored inside its hard drive, so as to create more space for more relevant pieces of information on its memory storage. I guess the supercomputer didn't consider that the data about your identity was that important, because it seems it was all erased during its first auto-wipe ..."
Carl became furious when he heard everything the newt-robot explained to him: how could a massive and ultra-advanced supercomputer consider that all the information about a guy that spent a whole millennium healing inside the tank and who, in addition, partook in a big-scale important war in Amphibia was irrelevant and didn't even care one bit about keeping it intact and available to him?! However, this feeling of acute anger was all an internal process for Carl, for he didn't show a hint of being furious on his outward facial expressions. Instead, he reacted calmly and politely to that revelation "I see ... That's a real shame... I guess I'll have to look elsewhere to find out who I really am... But, just one final question before I leave this place: where am I? What I mean is ... where is this laboratory located, and who does it belong to?"
"About the real owners of this laboratory, master, I'm not authorized to divulge that to you: that's classified information that is only accessible to a select few members of the elite personnel working in this place."
"But... this laboratory looks abandoned to me, and it seems as if no one has worked in here for a long time, except for you ..."
"Yes, you're right, master. In that case, it looks like no one, including me or my co-worker units, can help you with your predicament. Sorry ... Nonetheless, what I do know is the location of this laboratory: we're currently located in the marsh underneath the town of Swamp Shiro, one of the main settlements of Frog Valley."
"Frog Valley... That name sounds awfully familiar to me ..."
"Indeed it should be familiar to you, master. Frog Valley is one of the main regions of Amphibia, which is common knowledge. As the name implies, Frog Valley is mainly inhabited by frogs, although other sub-species of amphibians live here as well. The main ecosystems that characterize this region's landscape are mainly marshes, swamps and forests, but the valley's frontiers are marked by extensive mountain ranges that can be crossed to reach the rest of the continent. However, at this time of the year, Frog Valley's mountainous frontiers are completely frozen and covered by ice sheets so thick that it's impossible to cross the mountains, either to travel outside or to travel inside the valley. Fortunately, according to my calculations, the ice should melt and travel should resume as normal in about two months from today. Until then, you understand that you're going to have to restrict your investigations into your true identity here in Frog Valley, meaning you can't go anywhere else, master, sorry."
Carl wasn't exactly thrilled about the fact he had to stay confined inside Frog Valley for the next few months until all the ice in the region's borders began to melt, especially if, during the course of his quest, he ran out of clues to investigate in the valley that could pinpoint to his true identity. But, within the current state of affairs, he couldn't really do much to change that obstacle. The only thought on his mind, at this instant, is to get out of the dusty and decrepit laboratory he's in right now and head to the outside world.
"It's perfectly fine, my friend. You've already helped me so much by giving me the necessary information to begin finding out who I really am. But I think I won't learn anything else important about myself if I stay here any longer. I'm going to exit this building and begin exploring Frog Valley to find my answers. First of all, I'm going to go above and visit Swamp Shiro to ask some questions to the people living in there. Thank you for your understanding, and goodbye ... for now."
When he finished his sentence, Carl politely nodded his head in an approval gesture towards the newt-robot who helped him, consequently walking to leave the healing tank room. Before leaving, the robot kindly bid him farewell "Goodbye, master! Good luck on your journey, and safe travels!".
Carl spent the next 5 minutes trying to find the exit out of the lab complex, and, when he succeeded and got out of the building, he stood still beholding the enormous marsh that unfolded right before his eyes, along with the slim and tall stalks that sustained the foundational mushrooms of Swamp Shiro, as well as observing the massive shadows cast by the mushroom caps over the marsh. He was marvelled not only at the way Mother Nature made these giant mushrooms standing in a marsh an authentic work of art, but also with the idea of how incredible and groundbreaking it is the fact that amphibians were able to build a civilization on top of these mushrooms.
However, Carl didn't have the time to stand all night admiring this sight, because he needed to get moving to reach Swamp Shiro. So, he began to walk and go on his merry way to reach the borders of the marsh, where the main entrances to the town are located. Unfortunately, Carl faced difficulties in crossing the marsh by walking, on account of the muddy waters of that environment sticking so strongly to his feet and ankles that they slowed down his movements. Along the way, our protagonist eventually began to entertain himself with his thoughts about what he would do once he reached Swamp Shiro.
"Okay, Carl, let's take a moment to think about the main questions you're going to ask to the people who live in Swamp Shiro that may lead you to find out who you are. First of all, I think the most immediate one is to ask the people if they know anything about a war that was fought in Amphibia a 1000 years ago: then, I may be able to understand the circumstances and the causes that I was fighting for. Secondly, I'm going to ask if the people know who the main figures in that war were: that way I can begin to understand the kind of hierarchical position that I occupied during that time. Then, as for the third and final question, I will ask them the names of the major battles of the war and where each took place: because, with those pieces of information in mind, I will definitely have enough knowledge to pinpoint the main locations where I fought, and those places may hold major clues that could reveal more about who I am. Those are the sites where I will be starting my investigation. Who knows, if I'm lucky, Swamp Shiro may be one of them and, in that case, I can start my work in here."
After planning out his main course of action, Carl continued navigating through the sticky waters of the marsh of Swamp Shiro. And, as if the stickiness of the marsh wasn't enough to make the crossing hard, there was another obstacle that stood in the way of our newt protagonist: despite the wind currents having already calmed down and the air temperature having slightly risen, compared to the weather conditions that Frog Valley had been facing before Carl's awakening, the wind was still somewhat strong and still cold enough to affect Carl's movements and his overall well-being; not to mention that, in addition, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction Carl was walking in right now.
As a result of all the obstacles marking his walk, Carl took around 15 minutes to reach the borders of the marsh underneath the town. After reaching his destiny, he was forced to bend down on his knees and breath heavily for a few seconds, in order to recover from the whole ordeal he faced during his short journey with the adverse weather conditions and sticky marsh waters. And, once he recovered, Carl got back on his feet and got the chance to behold the entrypoint he was going to use to get to Swamp Shiro: we're referring to an elaborately built vine staircase, which leads from the bottom of the mushroom stalks up until the first level of the town, where the residential district is located; this may well be the longest and tallest staircase Carl has ever seen in his life. Before walking up the stairs, though, Carl took a deep breath to gain enough energy to climb the leafy steps of the staircase all the way up.
Luckily, he managed to climb all the steps of the vine staircase and reached the first district of Swamp Shiro safe and sound. However, Carl wasn't feeling entirely well: this was due not only to the tremendous effort he made crossing the muddy and sticky waters of the marsh, along with the effort he made climbing the vine staircase, but we can assume that Carl's extreme exhaustion is also due to a combination of the wind having become stronger and colder in Swamp Shiro than it was down below and, at the same time, the atmospheric air being more rarefied made him have more difficulties breathing normally. As a result of all this, Carl is feeling colder than usual, his respiratory system is more weakened than before and, worst of all, he's at risk of having a bad cold and fainting in the middle of the street without having anyone nearby to help him...
So, without further ado, Carl didn't waste any time trying to admire the cosmopolitan beauty of Swamp Shiro and, instead, walked in the direction of the nearest sign post to look for a place where he could spend the night. He saw on the sign post one of the most popular inns around town, "The Giant Rattleshroom", with the sign pointing in the direction of the second level of Swamp Shiro, i.e. the second district. So, he immediately started walking away from the sign and into the direction of the inn. It took Carl quite a few minutes to reach the entrance of "The Giant Rattleshroom", for he was too weak right now to walk any faster, even to a safe haven where he could rest until the next morning.
When Carl arrived at the front entrance he knocked on the door three times. Fortunately, it didn't take too long for the innkeeper to open the door and appear right in front of him.
As for the innkeeper's appearance, he's a medium-heighted light brown toad, with a lighter underbelly, who wears a long (at least, for toad standards) and respectable dark blue gentletoad's overcoat, a white undershirt and a dark brown cravat underneath the overcoat and, to compliment that clothing, dark grey tights and black leather boots. He isn't exactly the friendliest innkeeper around these parts, since he's looking at Carl with a noticeable suspicion frown on his face and is furrowing his brows to show his mistrust of the stranger in front of him, like he does with all the new clients with whom he's not yet familiar with. After a few seconds of carefully inspecting Carl, the innkeeper finally spoke up "Good evening, sir. May I help you?"
"G-Good evening, sir. I was w-wondering if you h-have any v-vacant room that I could r-rent for t-tonight? It's pretty c-cold out here in the street, and I d-don't have anywhere else to go...", Carl made his request with his teeth chattering and his voice weakened.
Before the innkeeper could make any decision about accepting his plea for help, he took into consideration Carl's weakened state, as well as the fact that it was still cold and the winds were gusty outside his establishment. Fortunately, he showed a hint of empathy towards Carl's desperate situation and allowed him to come inside "I think I may have one room available for you, but I need to check the ledger first. You better come inside with me, or you'll catch a nasty cold out here."
Subsequently, Carl followed the toad innkeeper inside the building, eventually leading him into the inn's main living room. This division of the inn holds, not only the wooden tables and seats where all the inn's guests sit to eat, drink and socialize, but also the bar, although no bartender is currently there to serve drinks, and the inn's reception, where the innkeeper is currently checking the ledger for any room that Carl could afford to sleep in. It's also noteworthy to point out that, unlike most of the nights at Swamp Shiro, the living room's tables and seats are almost all packed this evening with many of the amphibians who were forced to be stuck inside the town's leisure time centers due to the harsh cold and windy weather plagueing Frog Valley.
As a consequence, the crowd of amphibians gave the living room a livelier (and noisier) atmosphere than usual: most of them were either holding a conversation with one another, playing card games, drinking beverages served at the inn's bar or getting involved in small scale brawls with one another. Apparently, no one seemed to notice Carl entering the inn, for they were too busy entertaining themselves to look in the direction of the entrance to the building, or hear anything going on outside their macroscopic social circle.
Once inside the living room, Carl headed straight to the inn's reception to speak with the innkeeper once again about the possibility of him staying at the inn for the night, with the bright orange newt asking his first question "So, did you have any luck finding a room for me?"
"Yes, I have one room at your disposal, sir. You're lucky, because it was the last one we had. As you can see from all the amphibians occupying this inn, the rest of the rooms were already booked for their stay...", the innkeeper mentioned the last part of his sentence with a tone of annoyance in his voice, because he prefers a peaceful and quiet inn, like he usually has almost every night, even if that mindset costs him more guests (and, consequently, more income) staying at his business. He's not liking at all the extra noise that the many guests are making tonight in the living room.
"Oh, thank you so much! You saved my night. Then, how much will it cost renting the room for this night?"
"Well, since the room you're sleeping in is the most basic accomodation in the inn, it's not going to cust much. It will only be two copper-"
The innkeeper didn't have the chance to finish telling Carl the price of his stay, because it seems he was interrupted by something that was happening in the living room. It was something extremely bizarre and unnatural, even to Amphibia's usual weirdness: more specifically, it seems that there are some powerful energy waves, very dark purple in color (almost black), emanating from Carl that are affecting the innkeeper's current disposition. However, what's peculiar about this occurence is that the energy waves themselves are invisible to the naked eye, which means that neither the innkeeper nor the other guests at the inn are able to see them. What's even more strange than this is the fact that Carl himself seems to be unaware not only of the existence of these energy waves, but also that he's the one responsible for their continual generation.
The dark purple energy waves were putting the innkeeper in a severe bad mood right now: he was now feeling extremely cold, despite being inside an enclosed space which sheltered him from the cold weather outside, extremely tired for no apparent reason and, worst of all, he felt nauseas and noticeable stomach aches, to the point where he had to make an effort not to vomit on the floor and in front of the inn guests. And, apparently, the innkeeper wasn't the only one feeling the effects of the energy waves, since the waves and its negative effects were spreading to the rest of the guests, and they, coincidentally, were faced with the same symptoms as the ones that befell the innkeeper.
But he was certainly no fool: although the innkeeper couldn't see the energy waves with his own eyes, he was struck with a very strong feeling that Carl was the epicenter of everything he and the guests were feeling right this instant. He couldn't explain rationally what was happening, but the innkeeper felt as if Carl was surrounded by an aura of extreme negativity that consumed every ounce of the happiness and well-being of anyone that approached him. With these ideas in mind, the innkeeper had a new priority: get rid of Carl as soon as possible, getting himself and the guests of the inn out of the reach of this repulsive aura.
"Um... Listen, sir, I'm sorry to inform you of this, but it seems that I've made a mistake in checking the availability of the rooms. Unlike what I had thought earlier, there aren't any vacant rooms for you to rent. They're all booked for this night."
"What?! B-But you said that I had gotten here in time to rent the last room in the inn! And we were about to discuss the price as well! How did all of that change?!"
"I apologize for the inconvenience I caused, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and I'm no exception to that rule. I confused the room availability for today with the room availability I had yesterday at the same hour. So, even though it's not pleasant for me to do this, I must ask you to leave this establishment at once."
"Excuse me?! I don't believe this... You can't have possibly made a mistake that's so easy to avoid! For your information, reading a date correctly is not that hard! Check the inn's ledger again, please. I think you may find a room for me."
"Sir, let me be clear on one thing: I may not be perfect at doing my job, which means I don't do everything correctly all the time, but at least I have enough modesty to admit when I've made an important mistake, and I make amends to correct it! Now, would you kindly do me the favor of leaving this place? If you don't comply, I'll have no choice but to call the frog police to have you kicked out by force! What will it be?", the innkeeper threatened Carl.
The choice was easy to make for our newt friend, since he didn't want to create any big trouble whatsover, especially not in a public and closed space, where everyone inside seemed to be against him, even if he didn't understand the reason why. So, naturally, Carl left the inn through the front entrance and stopped outside, after moving a few meters away from the building.
He was feeling outraged and, at the same time, desperate with the whole situation inside "The Giant Rattleshroom": he didn't understand at all what had made the innkeeper change his mind about the rooms available for him at the inn, nor did he understand why he and the inn's guests treated him like crap and were glaring at him in such a hostile manner before he left the inn. What he did know was that, now that he got expelled from the inn, he was going to catch a cold and die, either from hypothermia or starve to death, because he didn't have a shelter and food to help him survive this night...
Suddenly, when Carl had lost all hope of making it through the night, he heard a voice talking to him "You're such a pathetic fool, my newt friend... How could you let that dickhead of a toad treat you that way?! Don't you have any guts to stand up for yourself?!"
The mysterious voice seemed to be coming from a very nearby place, but, at the same time, it seemed to be so far away on account of nobody showing up in front of Carl to speak to him face to face. Carl waited a few moments to see if the owner of the voice would show up to talk to him, but no one appeared in front of him, so he shrugged that voice off as a trick of his imagination and continued being desperate for his survival.
However, he was interrupted once again by the voice speaking to him "If you're wondering where my voice is coming from, you won't find me anywhere in the streets of this town. I'm talking to you from the inside of your mind, you big dummy!"
The voice speaking inside Carl's mind was neither very pleasant nor sounded very friendly to anyone who heard it: in fact, the mysterious voice sounded very deep and rough, menacing and seemed to instill fear in the heart and soul of anyone, including Carl himself, with each word spoken sending a chill down one's spine ...
Carl was confused and terrified with the fact that he was now hearing voices in his head, and not a very welcoming and appealing one at that, like in this case. Nonetheless, he put his fear aside for a while and responded to the voice "W-Who are you? And why are you tormenting me by speaking with me inside my head?"
"Oooohh, funny you should ask that question. Who I am and why I'm speaking to you doesn't matter at this moment. All that you need to know is that I am a friend. To be more specific, a friend who will help you get out of your predicament... and enact revenge on those who did you wrong, and who will eventually do you wrong in the future to come... HAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA!"
(To be continued...)
Hello to everyone, once again. I hope you've enjoyed reading the second part of the introduction to this story. Of course, from what you've read, our protagonist woke up from a long sleeping period without having any memories about who he is, and he (as well as you, the readers) expected to learn a reasonable amount of info about his identity from the newt robot that entered the healing tank room to visit him. But, unfortunately, the robot wasn't of much help to Carl and he learned very few things about himself from the answers that the robot gave to his questions. However, if you're all questioning to yourselves how long it will take for our main character to have the answers to his questions, and find out who he is, you need not worry, because all will be revealed in due time. But, at this moment, that's not the most important point of the plot: what's more urgent for Carl right now is figuring out how he's going to survive in Amphibia's wild environment, after being kicked out of the only place where he had shelter, food and water at his disposal and, in addition, figuring out to whom the sinister voice speaking inside his mind belongs to, and what kind of intentions it has reserved for Carl's future ... (unfortunately, for our protagonist, it seems at first sight that the voice doesn't have any good intentions at all...) But, for now, you're all going to have to wait for the next chapter. If I have enough inspiration, it will be published soon. Until then, take care. DarkSoul2000 out.