Written by Keith Santos
It
was a typical sunny day here in the city of Stormridge
“Mr.
Herondale, I see you had the initiative to get out of bed this morning.” Mrs.
Starr remarks sharply as I enter the room. I feel exhausted running to school.
I drop my bag on the aisle and take my seat on the front of the class. The
lesson is as boring as usual and my thoughts drift to some random space as the
teacher chatters on. Before I know it, class is finally over. The days now seem
to just zoom by, as if someone broke time and fast forwarded it for me, but I’m
not complaining.
It’s
windy outside; my brown hair is being messed up by nature’s breath. But as I
leave the gate of the school’s courtyard, I see Darius across the street,
leaning against the wall with his arms crossed like he always does when waiting
for me. He sees me and casually strolls over, “John, are you in the mood for
burgers?” he says with a sly grin. “Come on, let’s go.” I answer as I quickly
followed him to the local diner where we hang out after school, Marie’s Diner.
“So...how…was…your…day?”
He sits across me while taking bites out of the BLT he ordered. ”Boring as
usual.” I shove a handful of fries in my mouth “these days don’t seem to change
at all”. “True, but a million things could happen to you. Like find a
girlfriend or get into an accident.” Darius looks at me with his light blue
eyes, the ones I always see since we were kids. “Getting into an accident seems
easier. Look at this face.” I gesture around my face. I know I’m not ugly, I
think I look good enough, if only that mattered. My best friend lets out a
slight chuckle and finishes his burger. He slides some money over to me and
bids me goodbye for now. “Johnny I better be going. It’s almost six and the
garage won’t take care of itself. You should go home too.” He begins to exit
when he pauses and turns to me with a light tone “Oh, and one more thing, I
feel something coming soon.” And with that he left. I sat there just thinking
for a few minutes before I got up and left. There was this eerie feeling I
couldn’t shake off. The things Darius predicts strangely come true.
It’s
been two weeks since Darius told me, I’m already forgetting about it.
“Punch harder…No, NO! You’re doing it
wrong…”Some faint background noise I ignore as I continue on the punching bag.
Right jab, Left straight, Right hook, Left uppercut, elbow. I repeat this
sequence until my arms feel heavy and I sit down by the corner to check my
phone. 9:46 A.M, I should be done at the gym for now. After taking a quick
shower, I pack up and jog back home.
It’s strange, there aren’t much
people walking around the streets this time on a sunny Saturday. I look around
at the buildings, seeing only the empty streets. No cars, no noises, just this
disturbing silence. Without hesitation I jog faster and faster until I suddenly
hear this ear-splitting noise. I look around to find out where it’s coming from
and see purple light shining from an alley ahead. My heart thumps with every
step I make; Then I realize, was this what he warned me of? Millions of
thoughts are racing through my head but as I turned around the corner, they
stopped. Lying on the ground was a bloody man facing up, and behind him seems
to be a purple portal leading to another world. But it shut a few seconds after
I saw it. Now my focus turns to the injured man. He’s wearing some sort of
armour, made of gold with a red star on the breastplate. I approach him and see
that a spear is protruding from his stomach; his hands are stained red covering
his injuries. I approach him and kneel by his side. I don’t know this man or
how to help, but I need to try.
“Sir,
Sir, what happened to you?” The warrior turns to me, but his expression doesn’t
change. He must be around his fifties. “Boy, that is not important. I am going
to die anyway so listen...” he convulses and coughs out blood “…My soldiers
were ambushed. All of them slaughtered. I managed to escape the dark ones, but
one of them gutted me. The kingdom’s end must be near, for the prophesy says
the apocalypse soon follows the rise of darkness.” He coughs again, blood
splattering the floor. I can’t help but feel pity, what he’s talking about is
out of my reach, his last words to a useless guy like me. “But there is hope…find
him, the one who was destined to return and save us. He was sent to this realm
to grow, to be sage, but his purpose must be fulfilled and he needs to return.
Find his all, his guardian. Find Bane~”
Those were his last words before he went
limp. His dead body with a dying message. Now it seems I need to continue
something. I may be ordinary, but I cannot let him die in vain. Bane, Bane… Why
does it seem so familiar…I rack my brain for answers when I finally remember.
Bane is Darius’ last name; Darius is the one who can change the world’s fate.
My lungs are burning, my heart is pumping,
adrenaline rushing. I was trying my best to reach Darius’s house, all this
knowledge, all this pressure, it’s slowly killing me. I finally reach his small
home near the entrance to the forest. I grab the door and rush inside, almost
collapsing from exhaustion. And he’s just there, sitting comfortably on the
sofa with a book in his lap. He looks up calmly and talks to me like nothing
happened. “Johnny, what happened? You look like you’ve been chased by wolves!” he
says curiously. “No, I wasn’t. In fact, I witnessed someone DIE in front of me.
“Fine, tell me” he shuts the book and looks
at me. I take a deep breath and explain everything in full detail, his
expression changing more and more as I continued.
“He said Bane. I know you’re Bane. Now tell
me Darius, I’ve known you since we were kids, what have you been hiding from
me?” The silence between us stays for a few minutes before he lets out a sigh.
“Fine, there’s no point in hiding anything now. Johnny, my best friend, we
aren’t from this world…” I freeze for a few seconds, I can’t comprehend
anything. I’m not from this world, what were all the memories I had? Were they
all fake? Where they… Darius puts his hand on my shoulder and forcefully shakes
me back to my senses.
“Don’t overthink. We’re human, everything
we see and feel is real. Magic is real, yes, but they cast no spell on us. They
just sent us here to grow up, away from our real world so we may grow up…different.
My dad and your dad were, well, best friends. That’s why I live alone and your
mom told you your dad was “abroad”. They left me all these books…” he gestures
around his home “…They left all those messages and instructions in the books to
help me learn about the arcane arts and, well, being your guardian.” I take a
seat on his couch “So, you’re a wizard and you never summoned food for me,
ouch.” I joke, he chuckled “Food spells are off limits. Anyways we all have
powers or special abilities. They’re usually hereditary, each family is known
for their special ability, but of course, many abilities are common, so more
than one family can have it.”
“So yours is being a wizard right?”
“Yep.”
“What’s mine?”
“For the sake of suspense I’ll let you find
out on your own.” He smiles mischievously. He then gets up and collects things
around his house.
“Whoa what are you doing?” I say. “Since
you found a soldier, it means the time is coming. We need to cross over. I’ll
cook up a portal, get ready.” He replies without looking back.
“I’ll take a nap then.” I say dozing off
for a few minutes…
I open my eyes and see that it’s dark
outside. I overslept, Darius must have left. I rush outside in panic but see
him standing calmly on the grass. He chants some “Magic” words and an ear
splitting noise cuts the silence. A huge portal appears and through it I see
another world.
“Ready?” he calls out, He knew I was there
all along.
“Lets see...” I say moving towards him,
“Are there any side effects?”
“Adventure” he says. In a swift motion, I
jump in the portal and everything fades to black.
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