Monday, March 20, 2006

The Button Which Almost Destroyed The World Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Plummet

The white light vanished and he saw the ground. Suddenly, something wet stung his eyes. A strong pressure pushed and decelerated his plummet to the ground. It was much like a water bed except impure hydrogen hydroxide was rushing towards Dyert’s face. He could here liquid blasting at him. Water went in his nostrils and mouth. His vision blurred and faded into darkness.

“Dyert, are you conscious yet?”

Dyert gagged out some water and lifted his eyelids to a nightmarish sight. It was Freddie’s face. He jumped to his fit but yelled in pain. He was able to stand in the end. He was back in front of the busy cinema.

“Fred, what did you do?” Dyert asked anxiously, “Don’t tell me you gave me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation...”

“Hell no.”

“What happened then?”

“You were falling in the darkness. The clouds dispersed when we realised you were missing. Freddie here spotted someone plunging to his doom. Therefore Eliria used her water magic to cushion your fall,” explained Justin.

“Did any of you see any…” he hesitated, “Ninjas?”

They shook there head.

“We did see something though while Eliria looked constipated,” Freddie said as well as teased.

“It looked like a dark fellow. He wore something which shone in the light,” described Justin, “Apart from that, he was too quick to be seen.”

“That was exhausting.”

They turned towards Eliria who finally managed a word out of her lips. Before that, it was only panting. Casting magic can drain a lot of energy out of the body especially for an apprentice and for a long time.

“What happened to your hand?” asked Justin.

“While you all were angrily arguing, I went in that inn to look at the pamphlet but it turned dark and a horde of ninja started attacking me.”

“So, they injure your fist?” predicted Justin.

“No, I punched through the locked window in order to escape,” said Justin, “Yea, I know, that was idiotic.”

Soft sounds of sirens were able to be heard. Sped here were police cars followed by ambulances. The police cars swerved to a halt. Officers slammed the door open, came out and ran into the cinema.

One of them yelled, “Nobody moves. This is a scene of a crime that had just take place in the cinema. We will be asking you all a few questions.”

The tape marked ‘Crime Scene. Do no cross.’ were stretched across the cinema. The doctor from the ambulance treated Dyert’s hand. As he was being treated, a detective approached him and asked him a few questions. The detective was wearing a brown coat buttoned over a grey shirt and he had short, curly, black hair. Every time he tried to find some clues, his hands would be in the air in a specific gesture.

While the strange detective wandered off, the police captain came and sat next to Dyert who was on the bench. He had a moustache and hoarse voice.

“My name is Captain Meyer. I want to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”

“Um… I don’t mind at all,” replied Dyert. Obviously he did not mind but the trouble was should he lie or not.

“First I need to know what did you see happen?”

“Um… I went into the motel across the street and everything turned dark. It was chaotic and suddenly something shattered and I was bleeding.”

“It was glass and you really hit it hard,” suddenly intruded the detective. He went back to observing.

“Captain, it was that window he fell from,” barged the detective once more.

“Tell me son, why and how did you survive a fall that high?” interrogated the captain.

“Water magic. That’s why the air is so moist. Water vapour evaporated the water,” explained the detective.

“Mr. Amonk, I was asking the kid here,” he advised the detective to not disturb him.

Then he added, “Was that true about the water?”

Dyert nodded quietly.

“Well, that is all I need to know now, you are free to go.”

He walked to his friends and turn around in curiosity when he saw a stretcher rolled by some people. On it was a body disfigured until it was indescribable.

The events ended there actually. He went home with his wrapped hand, read a book before dinner and then went to sleep at eight. It was quite early compared to his usually sleeping time. Tomorrow, hopefully, would be a brighter day. Dyert can hope all he wants but Fate had already written the scroll of destiny.

He closed his eyes, prayed to God for the first time in his life before his vision turned black. By the time he knew it, (but he wouldn’t) he was in slumber land.

The location looked similar to those fun houses with many mirrors except there were only two mirrors here. Both mirrors were on both sides and they ran parallel to each other. He gazed into the mirror. It was not hypnotising but his curiosity kept him staring. It was not his reflection. It was someone else’s reflection; a younger version of that very person. He glowed with an aura of light and holiness. Dyert turned around gradually. The other side was a reflection with characteristics conflicting the other one. He had an atmosphere of evil and darkness. Both of them looked familiar yet he couldn’t put his finger on it. Abruptly, the room vanished. He was in emptiness. There were no sounds, light or air. He screamed nothing. He saw nothing. He breathed nothing. He felt nothing. It was terrifying.

He screamed and screamed and he woke up screaming. School was the first thing that came to his mind. He leapt to the floor and felling on his face. That jogged his memory. There was no school due to yesterday’s incident. It was going to be an extremely long day.

“Master Brickstan, are you awake?” beeped the intercom.

That voice belonged to none other than the butler.

“Yes, I am,” he pressed the red button and spoke through the microphone.

“Your school bag just arrived, sir. It’s outside of your door.”

“Thank you, Alfler.”

Brickstan was his foster parents’ family name but he preferred Xavier. Truthfully, he never saw his parents before. His driver was the one who picked him from the foster home. His butler was the one who showed him around and told him everything he needed to know. There were no family portraits on the walls. Not even their voices he had heard. The only thing Dyert saw of his parents was their shadow. From their shadow, he made out that his parents were not big size, but tall and thin.

He took out an outdated CD walkman and placed the headphones to his ears. It was a birthday present from Freddie who gave it to him yesterday. Freddie was the king of smuggling. If you need answers to a workbook or a pirated game, he will have it.

His birthday present was a group thing. Eliria got him CD’s and Justin got him batteries. Fortunately for him, his bag made it through the earthquake. Dyert got out an album from his backpack. The album was called ‘The Truth’ by Dark Fox. The band was created in the year 2018. He placed the CD in the circular walkman and pressed the triangular button with indicated ‘play’. He glanced at the back of the CD cover and checked the name of the first track. It was called ‘Song of Nostalgia’ and it had a catchy tune and meaningful lyrics.

Words of the past, lyrics of history,
Song I have heard, playing repeatedly,
And monotonously, I sing along,
Following this rhythm, singing this song.

The peaceful rock song flowing through Dyert’s ears as he closed his eyes and dreamt. The rhythmic and coordinated instruments were playing hard yet soothing. The fast paced opening guitar solo followed by the beating drums.

Soundtrack of a movie, made in my head,
Movie imagined, starting to fade,
The theme song has vanished, and so have you,
A memory, a dream never come true.

This song made Dyert think. It made him think about his life. It almost ended a couple of times in this week. There was no particular reason to it or maybe one which he was unable to see at this very moment.

Life is a lie, and love is fictional,
Death comes closer, nothing's perpetual,
Time will go on, if that's what you believe,
This song will stay on, it just would not leave.

How true, Dyert thought, I can’t see why my life must suck so badly. And love. Love was a word only used to gain trust.

The tune I keep humming, stuck in my mind,
The meaning of it, I just could not find,
The events had happened, nothing's the same,
Song of nostalgia, that's the poesy's name.

Rest of the day however was pretty boring. That CD would only last him three quarter of an hour. He spent most of his time practicing his biking skills like wheelies and such.

A month had passed and there were no progress to the renovation of the school. Dyert had marked the calendar day by day. It was the big event and he had to get ready. All this while Dyert had been self practicing and self training for this competition. He had a marathon from his room to the car ready on the driveway as he was supposed to get ready half an hour ago. In between, he grabbed his breakfast that was on his plate as he passed the dining room. It was just toast with butter, enough for Dyert. He munched his limousine; a Jaguar XZ, the latest of the models. He gave the driver the map and the driver drove him to the location. The location really existed and it was a turnout. He made it on time and there were already many people there. The event was held in a stadium in Galingston Road. It wasn’t a big stadium but an average size one. He got out of his transportation and ran into the arena.

“Excuse me, sir,” he asked the first person he saw, “Um… do you know who is in charge of this competition?”

“You’re looking at him.”

“Oh, I was wondering if I could register for the competition.”

“What’s your name kid?”

“Dyert Xavier.”

“Dyert, I’m sorry. You should have thought about that two weeks ago.”

“Oh, ok.”

Dyert bowed his head and walked out disappointed. As he walked away, the manager approached his employee Dyert was talking to.

“What just happened?” asked the manager.

“Some kid just wanted to join the competition.”

“Did you get his name?”

“I think it was Dirt Saviour.”

“You mean Dyert Xavier.”

“Yes, that was his name.”

“You’re an idiot. Do you even know who he is?”

“Should I?”

“He’s that kid who the Brickstan adopted. Y’know that kid whose parents got killed by the general.”

“Oh,” his employee said with a satisfied voice as he finally understood, “That kid.”

“What are you waiting for? Get him back here.”

He ran as fast as he could. Dyert opened the door of his limousine. Time dramatically slowed down for the employee. He avoided as many people as he could.

“Dyert!” he called out but Dyert did not hear him. He was able to get to Dyert told him the good news. Dyert did not get to thank the manager as he was not to be found. He registered in his details. He had to get ready for the competition so he rushed to the changing room and changed into his white martial arts robe. He tied the belt around his waist and the headband around his forehead. He was the last one in the challenge sheet. He was up against a girl from a school after seven other rounds. Each round was estimated twenty minutes so it was a hundred and forty minutes which is two hour and twenty minutes.

They were called to meet outside of their changing room and there was a short briefing. They were allowed to sit or stand, whichever they preferred, and watch the competition. Dyert decided to meet his opponent and wish her good luck. However, their conversation did not turn out what Dyert had thought.

“Um, hey, are you Angela?” asked Dyert.

“Yes, I am,” she replied with a sweet voice, “And who are you?”

Angela looked sweet and innocent. The word ‘looked’ shall be emphasised. Her appeared could deceive anyone to thinking that she would have belonged to the ‘popular’ group; the group which are afraid of getting their nails broken or make up ruin. She was slim and beautiful.

“I’m Dyert,” he introduced, “I’m going to be your opponent. Um, good luck I guess.”

“Good luck to you too. And you’ll need it when I begin to pulverise your little body on the ground. Don’t cry ‘cause I have already warned you,” she said with a smile on her face.

“Um… thanks…” Dyert slowly backed away and walked far away from her.

The first match was about to begin. The two competitors were ready on the mat in their poses. What will happen next was unknown to Dyert as it was his first time in this competition. He had never heard of a stealth martial arts competition where magic was allowed to be used.

Ding went the bell and both competitors moved rapidly. The one wearing black dissipated in the shadows and the one wearing blue was moving as fast as the wind. So, what was the objective of this and how do you win? Dyert thought.

The objective is to pin the opponent to the ground but first, he or she must be found and second, he or she must be on the ground. The competitors may use any way he wishes but no weapons involved. They may use the whole arena; climb on the ceiling or even on the metal supports. There will be a few obstacle of the match was taking to long.

Dyert would finally have his chance to try his ninja skills. Freddie found it annoying, Eliria was a… girl and Justin was just Justin. After watching all the seven matches and learning new interesting techniques, it was Dyert’s turn.

He stepped up on the blue soft flat mat. His opponent Angela was in front of him.

“Shake hands and bow,” ordered the referee in black and white.

They both extended their arms and both of their hands met. Dyert held her hand and shook it in a friendly matter. Angela, on the other hand, was doing a death grip which left Dyert’s hand in pain momentarily. They both lower their heads and bent their chest in a bow.

Ding went the bell once more and the match began. She was gone. Dyert stood there, spinning around as he tried to find her. He closed his eyes and heard something come by. There were silent footsteps. He moved to the right and felt a gust of wind created by fast moving objects. She had missed him. Dyert ran to the wall. He was running towards the wall. He had no idea why but his instinct kicked in. He placed his left foot then right foot and kicked off the wall in an air back flip and landed on his feet. In front of him, stood Angela who slammed into the wall. Dyert regained balance and tried to sweep her feet but she leapt and vanished once more. He turned around and decided to run towards the other wall. He dashed and picked up speed. As he approached the wall, he placed his right foot and left foot then repeated the steps. He was walking on the wall subconsciously by instinct. He came to his senses and slipped. He fell but managed to grab around beam with his hands. Wow, he thought, I didn’t know I could do that. Up here, there were many beams. It was like a high-rose arena where once slip and down to the ground. He saw a shadow above him. It resembled Angela and she had a grin on her face. Dyert felt something pressing on his finger; a painful pressure. His first hand let go. It still had the impression of her foot. He quickly recovered and held back on. He swung himself as she stepped on his finger. He lifted his legs and held on like how apes do. He slowly contracted himself by bring his hands closer to his legs and expanded by moving his legs away. He did this motion as fast as his could to get away from her. He swiftly managed himself on the beam.

Phew, that was close he thought. His feet were in a line, balancing on the metal beam. His opponent was doing the same in front of him. The announcer said something but Dyert’s focus blocked any sound going in his ear. Though, he got a glimpse of the phrase ‘Ten minutes had already gone’. Angela let out a powerful jab at Dyert who scraped him by the shoulder. That little motion was enough to unbalance him. Dyert decided to take a risk. He advanced and let out a quick punch but missed. It was Angela’s opportunity to attack. She swiftly axe-kicked Dyert’s upper body and her foot slammed into the side of his head. He grabbed on a support holding the girder just as he slipped of the beam. His sweat decreased friction and made it harder for him. Oh great, another fall, Dyert thought. He was lucky Angela did nothing. She was just waiting for him to defeat himself. It took quite a while which seemed like an hour to Dyert. Angela gave up. Dyert had more stamina than she had thought so she chopped his hands with hers. The pain was unbearable. Dyert let go and took the plummet. Time went by quite fast. The next thing he knew he was standing on his feet.

“Unbelievable, he landed on his two feet,” announced the commentator.

Wait a minute, Dyert thought, how did I do that? The fall was three or four times his height and he was on his feet without any pressure on his foot. It went against all the theories he learned during Physics lessons a few years ago. (Note: There were no more Physics classes)

He stood there amazed. His thoughts stammered. He was confused.

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Ok, here's the update. Comment. I'll type more but Monk is on.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

First comment anywho your grammar seemed to backslide a little but i cant blame you i mean this is one story that is damn l o n g. But this is a pretty good installment. Gj

March 21, 2006 10:12 pm  

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