Chapter 1 - The Crystal Sword | PART ONE |
I AM REMAKING THIS.
Spoiler: show
Sound asleep, John twitched in his bed. He was dreaming of a land of fire with pigs in it. The pigs were dying and people were eating them. Though the people seemed to be unharmed from the fire. John wondered why this was happening. He wondered how this was possible. Then he realized it was a dream. He tried yelling, “This is a dream! A dreeaam!” but no one responded. The only thing that happened was a buzzing feeling in his head. A girl in rags went up to him and offered him some pig head. But John refused the offer and the girl went back to cooking it. Soon, he smelled something good. He smelled something, something like food. Then he realized it was the lovely and luscious scent of bacon. His dream quickly turned into a black screen then he opened his eyes. He looked around the room, as if inspecting it for pigs. Then he realized the aroma of bacon was still lurking into his silent room. As is impromptu, he got out of bed, got dressed, and then ran to the door. Slam! He hit it before he could think about opening it. He quickly got back into shape and opened the door. Making a sliding entrance into the kitchen, he shot his sight right onto the bacon. He rapidly grabbed a plate and took three slices of it. Crunch! The first bite tasted amazing to him. The bacon was cooked to the perfect temperature, and the flavor was a party in his mouth. Then his mom came out of the bathroom. “Oh, I see you found the bacon” she pointed out.
“Mhm, mmmm” said John, enjoying his perfect bacon.
“Well don’t forget you have school today. It’s only like what, five forty-five a.m.? Yeah, that’s it. It’s a good thing I got you up so early. Any more sleep and you would have woken up at maybe six.”
John swallowed the last of the first strip of bacon then twisted his head to the right. He stared at the clock and realized his mom was telling the truth. Darnet! Why does she do this to me? John thought, as he slowly started to eat his bacon again. He finished his breakfast with a white glass of smooth milk. Then he washed the dish and put it into the dishwasher. Then he went back into his room, and lay back onto his bed. Thinking John was still awake, his mom knocked on his door and announced “John! You’d better get ready! The bus is down the street.” John just mumbled something that sounded like it came from another language. The time passed again and his mom came rushing into his room. “Oh my lord. John! Wake up! The bus is right here!” reprimanded the mother. John quickly comprehended the situation and got up. He took his backpack and ran out the door. But it was too late. The bus just left. So John opened the garage door and took out his new bike. “C’mon Bikey, let’s see how you can do” he tested the bike. He shot out of the garage like a bullet out of a gun. Racing towards the bus, he was heating up quickly. He started to feel woozy, and then his head was distorting images. He was right next to the bus but he passed out and crashed with his bike. The bus stopped and Mrs. Sue came out, worried John was hurt. She only overlooked some tiny cuts, but nothing major. By the time John woke up, he saw that he was lying in a bed in the clinic of Fallswoods High. Getting out of the bed, he started walking out of the room. “Whoa, hold it mister. You need to sign out first, before you get out.” Demanded Mrs. Bucks, the school nurse. So John groaned then signed the clipboard. He then hurried to his third block. It was an “A” day so he had English at that time. He didn’t really like English, so he didn’t do well in it. But secretly, his writing was phenomenal. He entered the classroom with a gaze upon him. People stared just for a second and then looked back at their books that were on their desks. They have been reading a book called “Dicey’s Song”. Other people have been saying they didn’t like it, but John thought it was a masterpiece.
“Oh, I see you were able to join us John.” Said the teacher, Mrs. Hitman. “Are you okay? I heard about your accident.”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine now.” Said John, knowing what he did was a mistake.
“Okay, well open your book to page 298.”
And he did. They started reading again and as usual; John got glued to the book. When the bell rang for fourth block, John was sad. He couldn’t finish reading the book. He started walking out of the room and his friend, Alen Tilk, came up to him. In his hands was a book all about the multiverse theory. John looked over and glanced at it. He took the book right from Alen’s hands. “Hey! Ugh, fine, you read it. I never understand this crazy junk anyway. By the way, this is yours. I got it for you from the book fair. I thought you might be interested in it since you kind of like math and junk like it.” He said.
“Wow, thanks. I knew I did the right thing by making you my best friend.” Said John.
As John was walking towards Mrs. Smithers classroom, he noticed something shining form the boy’s bathroom. He went into the bathroom to inspect the mysterious glow. Peeping from behind the wall, he noticed the glow was coming form the lonely stall. He was a slooth as he opened the stall door. Inside was a glowing green ball. It was just an orb, so it didn’t look solid. Yet it didn’t look transparent. So John went to touch it and behind him was his friend. There was a quick flash of light then the orb disappeared. John jumped back, scared almost to death looking mad at his friend for scaring him. “Alen, what the heck are you doing here?” asked John.
“Well I was just following you, I wanted to know what the orb was too.” Responded an angry friend.
“Well next time don’t scare me if you follow me. Well, the orb is gone. We might as well get to class.”
So they left the bathroom stall and went into the hallways. “Hmm, looks like everyone got to class already.” Said John. He tried to open the door to his next classroom but it wouldn’t twist. It wouldn’t even shake. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. John went running through the hallways, trying to open the doors, one by one. But nothing was working. So finally he just gave up. “What the heck is going on with this school?” John rhetorically asked. “Come on, let’s just leave. I bet someone outside will give us an answer.” So they walked down the lonesome hallways again. When they reached the twin doors, they tried pushing it. But nothing worked. They tried kicking the door, as hard as they could, but nothing worked. They were trapped in the school. “Darnet! What’s keeping us from leaving?!” John angrily asked.
“Wait, have you noticed this just started happening? It started right after you touched that glowing orb. Do you think this could have been caused by the orb?”
“Maybe, but who would purposely leave an orb somewhere where almost anyone can find it?” John asked.
“Well maybe we were supposed to find it. Maybe he put it there on purpose.”
“Wait, maybe he did. This could just be a trap you know. And now we have no way to get back home, err, the normal world.” They walked around the school, looking for any signs of a way to escape or get back to the normal world. They were looking really good, but found nothing. Then John realized something. The knobs on the doors weren’t working. Usually in a human, when something won’t work, they take it off. So John was thinking of breaking off the knobs. So John started pulling on the handles, pulling in all directions. He was pulling upwards, he was pulling downwards. He was pulling in directions that didn’t have names. Soon he finally felt something jiggle. Then he kept on pulling on the knob. About forty-five minutes late John finally got the knob off the door. Nervously, he opened the door and time paused. The school went back to normal and people were placed where they were supposed to be. Then time resumed. Alen was right behind John. They slowly opened the door, only to be greeted by many human heads with bodies sitting on chairs. Sighing in tremendous relief, John walked back in. But then he realized he forgot to get his stuff from his locker. So he got his stuff and came back to class. In Writer’s Squaretable, they were starting to think about lyrics for a poem. John, of course, had already made a math poem. There were three verses, one about Algebra one about Trigonometry, and one about Calculus.
The class ended and John got out of the room. He tried to get to his locker, pushing through the endless flow of children. When he finally reached his locker, he met Kath. That was her nickname, her real name was Katherina. But Kath was fine with her. Kath was a nice girl, who liked a good joke every now and then. John and Kath nearly always had a contest to see who would get their stuff and leave the fastest. John didn’t care about the rules, only because he knew Kath would cheat too. But this time she didn’t show up. So John just ignored it and got his stuff. Returning to class, John took his seat and looked at the board. Every class there are two subjects to pick form to write about. John always picked the ones he enjoyed most, or least disturbed him. This time it was either “All about Christmas” or “Getting into the holiday spirit”. Carefully weighing the goods and bads, John picked “Getting into the holiday spirit”, since he thought there would be more to write about. So he wrote on a piece of paper:
Getting into the Christmas spirit is easy. But sometimes it takes more than just decorations and gifts that help. It’s also being with family. Being with friends, too. When you gather with family, you have this warm feeling of being safe, and a sense of joy overwhelms you.
When Christmas day comes, some people celebrate it normally. But if you are in the Christmas spirit, you’ll celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Getting into the Christmas spirit is easy if you know how to do it.
Then he shut his binder with the paper in it. With her strong voice, Mrs. Smithers said “Ok class, today you will be coming up with lyrics for your oral poem presentation that will be given in January, after the Christmas break. Think of something you actually want to write about. Get an inspiration, take something and turn it into a poem, do something creative. Ok, let’s see who owes me what… John, you still need to rewrite your detective story, is that true?”
“Yes, that’s true.” John responded.
“Well go do that now in the library. Ok, and we have…”
But John left before he could hear her talk again. He went to the library and turned a computer on. Entering his username and password, he was thinking about how he would rewrite his story. He was trying to think of a way to state who the killer is, yet not give it away too easily. It took him a while until he finally gave up and rewrote his entire story. When he printed it out, he went back to the room to give to the teacher. There was only five minutes left and the announcements went on. They always went on at two twenty-five p.m. They said something about field hockey, but John didn’t pay attention. In class, they were starting to put computers away and stack chairs. John grabbed his stuff and when he did, he waited the minutes out. Seeing that Dianna was standing next to him, he decided to talk to her. “Hey Dianna. What are you doing for Christmas?” he asked.
“Why do you want to know?” she asked sarcastically.
“Well fine, I guess I don’t have the right to know whether or not you’ll be here during the holidays?”
“You’re annoying. Leave me alone.”
“Fine. I didn’t want to talk to you anyway!”
“Then why did you?”
The clocked changed to two-thirty and the door opened. John went rushing out and navigated to his locker. When he got there he noticed Kath was there too. Racing to twist in the combination as fast as he could, his hands were machines at super fast speeds. He got it open and took out his backpack. Shoving a binder, an agenda, and glasses into his backpack, he realized Kath was already done. “I win. See ya.” She said, gloriously, basking in the joy of winning. John shut his locker, put on his backpack, and went through the double doors. Walking towards the bus, he saw his two friends, Jacob and Mick. They were sticking their heads out the windows and yelling people’s names. Coming on to the bus, he rhetorically asked “For the one millionth time, why?”
“Because it’s fun.” said Mick.
“Ugh, whatever. Don’t come to me when you get in trouble one day and have to spend the day in detention.”
The bus left the lot and started driving on the roads. It took about fifteen minutes, but John got through it. He immediately ran home and turned his computer on. He then went to Newgrounds, a site he loved to go to. He hastily made a new topic in the forums about his weird experience. Most people just ignored him and didn’t say anything about it. They just thought he was making it up. Some people even made a joke about it. But even if he was making it up, he was sincere about it and wouldn’t let his memory die. Time passed and it was finally nighttime. Tomorrow John had a half-day. John went to bed and fell asleep. In his dream, he saw a building with snow on top of it. There was only one cloud and it was on top of the building. So John jumped to the top of the building and landed on the snow. Next to him were an old man who fell down and a bag of sugar. There was also a puddle of rain and some pink sticky stuff on the ground. John was again wondering what this meant.
The next morning John got up and got dressed. He was anxious to talk to Alen about his dream. Standing outside, he watched a car go by. The car was a blue convertible, with spinners. The car came to a stop in front of him. So John just backed away. Then the door opened up. A man in a black tuxedo came out. He had short brown hair and was tall. “Are you John?” he asked.
“Y-yes, I am. Why do you need to know?” John asked.
“Just wondering.”
Then the man got back into the car and drove away. John was frightened and curious about what had just happened. Soon, the bus came. Finally John thought in his head. He got onto the bus as quick as possible, as if he was being chased by something. At school that day, it seemed to go by pretty fast. Yet John kept thinking it was going by slowly. It was finally gym time. John like gym because he actually did something. They went outside that day because it wasn’t cold out. While walking with his best friend Alen, he noticed an orb. This time, he didn’t do anything. But that’s what He wanted John to do. This orb was blue and was hiding in a bush. When John and Alen blinked at the same time, time froze. Everyone removed, and everything stopped functioning. They opened their eyes and found themselves stuck in another puzzle. John tried breaking the knob off the door again but this time it didn’t work. They looked in the windows and saw a person standing in the hallway. He was strapped to a bomb and sitting in a chair. Struggling to move, he couldn’t. The John recognized that person’s face. It was John. It struck him like a stone to a car. He switched minds and became the person sitting in the chair. The timer read only thirty seconds. So John started licking the tape and he stood up to break the chair. Releasing himself, he ran for the door. Opening it he jumped out and the bomb exploded, placing both Johns into one again. Time resumed.
“OK, I swear. Whoever is doing this to me is going to pay.” John said angrily, but aloud. Everyone looked back at him, as if he was crazy. Then, a knight on a golden chariot came rushing towards the school grounds. “What the he-” John said, but he was cut off by the sound of the horse neighing. “John? Are you John? This letter is for you” said the gruff knight, as he handed a letter to John. Everyone was staring at John, then the knight, then back to John again. John slowly took the letter and read,
Dear John,
What you have been experiencing lately is a test. A test to see whether you are capable of defeating “Him”. You do not require any special abilities, just your mind, though you will gain items, spells and etcetera on your journey to the Great Castle. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. There you will be put in a dangerous situation. If all goes well then the next day, Christmas, will be saved. If not, then the world will suffer.
Don’t forget to bring your friends on the journey too.
Sincerely,
King
“As if things can’t get weird enough. What do I do? How do I get through this “dangerous situation”?” asked John, in nervousness.
“Here, take this.” Said the knight as he handed John a black sword with a crystal blade. In the crystal was engraved “Let Your Mind Attack, Not The Sword”.
“But, what the?” said John, confused as a baby with a jigsaw is.
“Use this well, my grandfather had this sword when he was your age. It still does great damage, so be careful with it. Goodbye, John. I hope we meet again.” And that was the last of his words before he left. Everyone was standing there in puzzlement, wondering what happened and why it happened to John. John and Alen started hearing whispers all around them. “Well….follow me, I’ll show you where you can store this for now.” said Mrs. Keete, the gym teacher. John followed Mrs. Keete to a storage room that had almost one hundred locks on the doors. They put the sword in. “Oh my god! What was that about?” asked Alen.
“Wh-what the heck? Were you following me?”
“Well yeah, but only to talk to you. What happened out there?”
“I, I honestly don’t know. He just came and gave me this sword.” responded a confused John.
“Well, I think you should start training with that thing. Once you reach “Him” you don’t want to show up and not know what to do.”
“You’re right… Hey, why not meet me in the woods after school? It’s very secluded and well… trees make for great targets.”
“Well won’t the SWAT team come in and take the sword first?”
“Hmm… not unless I take it first. I’m gonna sneak out of school right now. See you later.”
“Umm… okay bye then.”
“Mhm, mmmm” said John, enjoying his perfect bacon.
“Well don’t forget you have school today. It’s only like what, five forty-five a.m.? Yeah, that’s it. It’s a good thing I got you up so early. Any more sleep and you would have woken up at maybe six.”
John swallowed the last of the first strip of bacon then twisted his head to the right. He stared at the clock and realized his mom was telling the truth. Darnet! Why does she do this to me? John thought, as he slowly started to eat his bacon again. He finished his breakfast with a white glass of smooth milk. Then he washed the dish and put it into the dishwasher. Then he went back into his room, and lay back onto his bed. Thinking John was still awake, his mom knocked on his door and announced “John! You’d better get ready! The bus is down the street.” John just mumbled something that sounded like it came from another language. The time passed again and his mom came rushing into his room. “Oh my lord. John! Wake up! The bus is right here!” reprimanded the mother. John quickly comprehended the situation and got up. He took his backpack and ran out the door. But it was too late. The bus just left. So John opened the garage door and took out his new bike. “C’mon Bikey, let’s see how you can do” he tested the bike. He shot out of the garage like a bullet out of a gun. Racing towards the bus, he was heating up quickly. He started to feel woozy, and then his head was distorting images. He was right next to the bus but he passed out and crashed with his bike. The bus stopped and Mrs. Sue came out, worried John was hurt. She only overlooked some tiny cuts, but nothing major. By the time John woke up, he saw that he was lying in a bed in the clinic of Fallswoods High. Getting out of the bed, he started walking out of the room. “Whoa, hold it mister. You need to sign out first, before you get out.” Demanded Mrs. Bucks, the school nurse. So John groaned then signed the clipboard. He then hurried to his third block. It was an “A” day so he had English at that time. He didn’t really like English, so he didn’t do well in it. But secretly, his writing was phenomenal. He entered the classroom with a gaze upon him. People stared just for a second and then looked back at their books that were on their desks. They have been reading a book called “Dicey’s Song”. Other people have been saying they didn’t like it, but John thought it was a masterpiece.
“Oh, I see you were able to join us John.” Said the teacher, Mrs. Hitman. “Are you okay? I heard about your accident.”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine now.” Said John, knowing what he did was a mistake.
“Okay, well open your book to page 298.”
And he did. They started reading again and as usual; John got glued to the book. When the bell rang for fourth block, John was sad. He couldn’t finish reading the book. He started walking out of the room and his friend, Alen Tilk, came up to him. In his hands was a book all about the multiverse theory. John looked over and glanced at it. He took the book right from Alen’s hands. “Hey! Ugh, fine, you read it. I never understand this crazy junk anyway. By the way, this is yours. I got it for you from the book fair. I thought you might be interested in it since you kind of like math and junk like it.” He said.
“Wow, thanks. I knew I did the right thing by making you my best friend.” Said John.
As John was walking towards Mrs. Smithers classroom, he noticed something shining form the boy’s bathroom. He went into the bathroom to inspect the mysterious glow. Peeping from behind the wall, he noticed the glow was coming form the lonely stall. He was a slooth as he opened the stall door. Inside was a glowing green ball. It was just an orb, so it didn’t look solid. Yet it didn’t look transparent. So John went to touch it and behind him was his friend. There was a quick flash of light then the orb disappeared. John jumped back, scared almost to death looking mad at his friend for scaring him. “Alen, what the heck are you doing here?” asked John.
“Well I was just following you, I wanted to know what the orb was too.” Responded an angry friend.
“Well next time don’t scare me if you follow me. Well, the orb is gone. We might as well get to class.”
So they left the bathroom stall and went into the hallways. “Hmm, looks like everyone got to class already.” Said John. He tried to open the door to his next classroom but it wouldn’t twist. It wouldn’t even shake. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. John went running through the hallways, trying to open the doors, one by one. But nothing was working. So finally he just gave up. “What the heck is going on with this school?” John rhetorically asked. “Come on, let’s just leave. I bet someone outside will give us an answer.” So they walked down the lonesome hallways again. When they reached the twin doors, they tried pushing it. But nothing worked. They tried kicking the door, as hard as they could, but nothing worked. They were trapped in the school. “Darnet! What’s keeping us from leaving?!” John angrily asked.
“Wait, have you noticed this just started happening? It started right after you touched that glowing orb. Do you think this could have been caused by the orb?”
“Maybe, but who would purposely leave an orb somewhere where almost anyone can find it?” John asked.
“Well maybe we were supposed to find it. Maybe he put it there on purpose.”
“Wait, maybe he did. This could just be a trap you know. And now we have no way to get back home, err, the normal world.” They walked around the school, looking for any signs of a way to escape or get back to the normal world. They were looking really good, but found nothing. Then John realized something. The knobs on the doors weren’t working. Usually in a human, when something won’t work, they take it off. So John was thinking of breaking off the knobs. So John started pulling on the handles, pulling in all directions. He was pulling upwards, he was pulling downwards. He was pulling in directions that didn’t have names. Soon he finally felt something jiggle. Then he kept on pulling on the knob. About forty-five minutes late John finally got the knob off the door. Nervously, he opened the door and time paused. The school went back to normal and people were placed where they were supposed to be. Then time resumed. Alen was right behind John. They slowly opened the door, only to be greeted by many human heads with bodies sitting on chairs. Sighing in tremendous relief, John walked back in. But then he realized he forgot to get his stuff from his locker. So he got his stuff and came back to class. In Writer’s Squaretable, they were starting to think about lyrics for a poem. John, of course, had already made a math poem. There were three verses, one about Algebra one about Trigonometry, and one about Calculus.
The class ended and John got out of the room. He tried to get to his locker, pushing through the endless flow of children. When he finally reached his locker, he met Kath. That was her nickname, her real name was Katherina. But Kath was fine with her. Kath was a nice girl, who liked a good joke every now and then. John and Kath nearly always had a contest to see who would get their stuff and leave the fastest. John didn’t care about the rules, only because he knew Kath would cheat too. But this time she didn’t show up. So John just ignored it and got his stuff. Returning to class, John took his seat and looked at the board. Every class there are two subjects to pick form to write about. John always picked the ones he enjoyed most, or least disturbed him. This time it was either “All about Christmas” or “Getting into the holiday spirit”. Carefully weighing the goods and bads, John picked “Getting into the holiday spirit”, since he thought there would be more to write about. So he wrote on a piece of paper:
Getting into the Christmas spirit is easy. But sometimes it takes more than just decorations and gifts that help. It’s also being with family. Being with friends, too. When you gather with family, you have this warm feeling of being safe, and a sense of joy overwhelms you.
When Christmas day comes, some people celebrate it normally. But if you are in the Christmas spirit, you’ll celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Getting into the Christmas spirit is easy if you know how to do it.
Then he shut his binder with the paper in it. With her strong voice, Mrs. Smithers said “Ok class, today you will be coming up with lyrics for your oral poem presentation that will be given in January, after the Christmas break. Think of something you actually want to write about. Get an inspiration, take something and turn it into a poem, do something creative. Ok, let’s see who owes me what… John, you still need to rewrite your detective story, is that true?”
“Yes, that’s true.” John responded.
“Well go do that now in the library. Ok, and we have…”
But John left before he could hear her talk again. He went to the library and turned a computer on. Entering his username and password, he was thinking about how he would rewrite his story. He was trying to think of a way to state who the killer is, yet not give it away too easily. It took him a while until he finally gave up and rewrote his entire story. When he printed it out, he went back to the room to give to the teacher. There was only five minutes left and the announcements went on. They always went on at two twenty-five p.m. They said something about field hockey, but John didn’t pay attention. In class, they were starting to put computers away and stack chairs. John grabbed his stuff and when he did, he waited the minutes out. Seeing that Dianna was standing next to him, he decided to talk to her. “Hey Dianna. What are you doing for Christmas?” he asked.
“Why do you want to know?” she asked sarcastically.
“Well fine, I guess I don’t have the right to know whether or not you’ll be here during the holidays?”
“You’re annoying. Leave me alone.”
“Fine. I didn’t want to talk to you anyway!”
“Then why did you?”
The clocked changed to two-thirty and the door opened. John went rushing out and navigated to his locker. When he got there he noticed Kath was there too. Racing to twist in the combination as fast as he could, his hands were machines at super fast speeds. He got it open and took out his backpack. Shoving a binder, an agenda, and glasses into his backpack, he realized Kath was already done. “I win. See ya.” She said, gloriously, basking in the joy of winning. John shut his locker, put on his backpack, and went through the double doors. Walking towards the bus, he saw his two friends, Jacob and Mick. They were sticking their heads out the windows and yelling people’s names. Coming on to the bus, he rhetorically asked “For the one millionth time, why?”
“Because it’s fun.” said Mick.
“Ugh, whatever. Don’t come to me when you get in trouble one day and have to spend the day in detention.”
The bus left the lot and started driving on the roads. It took about fifteen minutes, but John got through it. He immediately ran home and turned his computer on. He then went to Newgrounds, a site he loved to go to. He hastily made a new topic in the forums about his weird experience. Most people just ignored him and didn’t say anything about it. They just thought he was making it up. Some people even made a joke about it. But even if he was making it up, he was sincere about it and wouldn’t let his memory die. Time passed and it was finally nighttime. Tomorrow John had a half-day. John went to bed and fell asleep. In his dream, he saw a building with snow on top of it. There was only one cloud and it was on top of the building. So John jumped to the top of the building and landed on the snow. Next to him were an old man who fell down and a bag of sugar. There was also a puddle of rain and some pink sticky stuff on the ground. John was again wondering what this meant.
The next morning John got up and got dressed. He was anxious to talk to Alen about his dream. Standing outside, he watched a car go by. The car was a blue convertible, with spinners. The car came to a stop in front of him. So John just backed away. Then the door opened up. A man in a black tuxedo came out. He had short brown hair and was tall. “Are you John?” he asked.
“Y-yes, I am. Why do you need to know?” John asked.
“Just wondering.”
Then the man got back into the car and drove away. John was frightened and curious about what had just happened. Soon, the bus came. Finally John thought in his head. He got onto the bus as quick as possible, as if he was being chased by something. At school that day, it seemed to go by pretty fast. Yet John kept thinking it was going by slowly. It was finally gym time. John like gym because he actually did something. They went outside that day because it wasn’t cold out. While walking with his best friend Alen, he noticed an orb. This time, he didn’t do anything. But that’s what He wanted John to do. This orb was blue and was hiding in a bush. When John and Alen blinked at the same time, time froze. Everyone removed, and everything stopped functioning. They opened their eyes and found themselves stuck in another puzzle. John tried breaking the knob off the door again but this time it didn’t work. They looked in the windows and saw a person standing in the hallway. He was strapped to a bomb and sitting in a chair. Struggling to move, he couldn’t. The John recognized that person’s face. It was John. It struck him like a stone to a car. He switched minds and became the person sitting in the chair. The timer read only thirty seconds. So John started licking the tape and he stood up to break the chair. Releasing himself, he ran for the door. Opening it he jumped out and the bomb exploded, placing both Johns into one again. Time resumed.
“OK, I swear. Whoever is doing this to me is going to pay.” John said angrily, but aloud. Everyone looked back at him, as if he was crazy. Then, a knight on a golden chariot came rushing towards the school grounds. “What the he-” John said, but he was cut off by the sound of the horse neighing. “John? Are you John? This letter is for you” said the gruff knight, as he handed a letter to John. Everyone was staring at John, then the knight, then back to John again. John slowly took the letter and read,
Dear John,
What you have been experiencing lately is a test. A test to see whether you are capable of defeating “Him”. You do not require any special abilities, just your mind, though you will gain items, spells and etcetera on your journey to the Great Castle. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. There you will be put in a dangerous situation. If all goes well then the next day, Christmas, will be saved. If not, then the world will suffer.
Don’t forget to bring your friends on the journey too.
Sincerely,
King
“As if things can’t get weird enough. What do I do? How do I get through this “dangerous situation”?” asked John, in nervousness.
“Here, take this.” Said the knight as he handed John a black sword with a crystal blade. In the crystal was engraved “Let Your Mind Attack, Not The Sword”.
“But, what the?” said John, confused as a baby with a jigsaw is.
“Use this well, my grandfather had this sword when he was your age. It still does great damage, so be careful with it. Goodbye, John. I hope we meet again.” And that was the last of his words before he left. Everyone was standing there in puzzlement, wondering what happened and why it happened to John. John and Alen started hearing whispers all around them. “Well….follow me, I’ll show you where you can store this for now.” said Mrs. Keete, the gym teacher. John followed Mrs. Keete to a storage room that had almost one hundred locks on the doors. They put the sword in. “Oh my god! What was that about?” asked Alen.
“Wh-what the heck? Were you following me?”
“Well yeah, but only to talk to you. What happened out there?”
“I, I honestly don’t know. He just came and gave me this sword.” responded a confused John.
“Well, I think you should start training with that thing. Once you reach “Him” you don’t want to show up and not know what to do.”
“You’re right… Hey, why not meet me in the woods after school? It’s very secluded and well… trees make for great targets.”
“Well won’t the SWAT team come in and take the sword first?”
“Hmm… not unless I take it first. I’m gonna sneak out of school right now. See you later.”
“Umm… okay bye then.”
