Chapter Nine: Get Ready (Saturday, October 22, 1994)
I’m in my room getting ready for the party at the trade city on Crystaltina. It’s still early in the morning but Tom made it clear that the party will be an all day and night event and getting there as soon as possible would be worth it. He also mentioned that we shouldn’t be wearing our normal clothes from Earth. Everyone in the city knows that we’re outsiders but as a sign of respect for tradition, the people of Dorter would like it if we all dressed similar. I look into my closet at home and laugh. It’s filled with jeans, shorts and t-shirts, nothing of which I can really wear at the celebration. Thankfully Celestria picked up some clothes for me that are not fancy but more of an adventure type of wear. I’m glad that she wasn’t trying to get me in a dress for tonight. The last time I was in a dress, I was around six years old.
I toss on a long sleeve white shirt that is longer in the back along with a brown sleeveless vest, brown shorts that match the vest and tall brown boots that have a black trim. The outfit isn’t that bad looking and if I would wear this on Earth I might be considered as a fan of steam punk.
I’ve told my dad that I have a play to rehearse this weekend for drama as a cover. Currently he is working overtime at his job but I wanted give him a cover just in case he came home early and I wasn’t home.
There’s a knock at the door. I’m not expecting anyone. I rush to the door to see who it is and I’m happy yet shocked as soon as I open the door. In front of me with his natural gray hair is Josh. He’s dressed in jeans and a white collared polo shirt.
“Should I even ask why you’re dressed like that?” he asks.
“I’m leaving for Crystaltina…why are you here?” I ask, puzzled.
“You didn’t think you guys could teleport and not get noticed? Hello, it’s the Universal Portal Corporation after all.”
“Are you serious? Ozma knows where we’re at?”
“Not yet and you’re lucky that she doesn’t. Z and I have been monitoring you guys for a few months now and we’re keeping track of what Ozma has been up to. Zar-Q has been staying at my place away from the UPC and I’ve been working there undercover. I was heading to Crystaltina but I wanted to stop by here first to show you how easy it is to track you.”
I allow Josh inside so we can teleport without notice to Crystaltina. His words hit home and it just shows how safe we are not. Before he can toss the potion to the tile floor I ask, “Do you think I should have stayed in Crystaltina instead of coming home?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I don’t want anything to happen to my dad,” I answer, feeling a little emotional.
“Ozma will target Earth again, even if you never came back here. She knows that this planet is your home,” Josh says. He pauses and places his hands on my shoulder. “If you want, I can ask Z to work his magic for you, giving your father a promotion in another state. We can set him up with a nice house and expenses but you won’t be able to see him for a while.”
I’m taken aback that Josh would help me out but I have to wonder, “But my dad won’t leave me here alone.”
“Hello,” Josh says with a smile, “I can change to look like anyone. We can set it up that you will be staying with a relative.”
“Okay, do it,” I say.
“Just write down your dad’s work information and I will need a photo of the relative that you will be staying with. I’ll give the information to Z and he should be able to have it all worked out in about a week or so.”
I head into my room and while grabbing a piece of paper and pen I say, “I have an uncle that lives nearby that’s pretty cool. I’m sure if I tell him that I want to stay in Florida to finish out high school, he’ll understand. I’ll also mention that I want to stay in the trailer that I grew up in for sentimental reasons. I’m sure he will be willing to help me out with that.” I return with the paper with my father’s information on it. “I’m really going to miss my dad.”
“I know how you feel. We’ve all had to make this choice,” Josh tells me. “My parents moved to Zerron for a better life and opportunity and that didn’t turn out too well. Thankfully they got away before Ozma could hurt them but they had to leave me behind. I’m not even sure where they are now but it’s better that way. Z has a way to wire them money every month to help them out, which I’m sure he will do for your dad.”
“Thank you,” I say, trying to hold back a tear or three. “Where is your family originally from?”
“A small town on Crystaltina called Truam.”
“Really? Do you think they’re still there?”
“I don’t want to know. Not until Ozma has been taken care of,” Josh says, who looks sad.
Trying to change the subject, “So there are other towns on Crystaltina? Tom has been helping the people of Dorter to rebuild their town.”
“Ah, the port city, good man. That will help things out with the other towns. And as much as I would love to continue this conversation, we need to get going.”
Meanwhile, within the catacombs of the old castle, Kyle and Celestria have been having a conversation of their own while Tom listens in.
“I just need to warn you that from what I’ve seen, things might start getting awkward for the two of you,” Celestria says, sitting down at a small wooden table.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Kyle stammers, crossing his arms.
“I’m older than both of you, I think I know what I’m talking about and I surely know that you know.”
“Wait, what?” Kyle forcefully laughs.
Tom chuckles at the short conversation between the two.
“Alright, be that way, but you’ll find out for yourself,” Celestria smugly says. “Just don’t come running back to me.”
Of course Kyle knows what Celestria is talking about and he had hoped that she wouldn’t find out. It must be her natural woman instinct that allows Celestria to know about these things. Kyle isn’t able to fool Celestria but he hopes to fool myself and so far he has. As mentioned before. I’ve only been in one relationship and that turned out to be bad, very bad. I have to wonder what kind of relationship our past self had with each other and does that bleed over to present day. What does Kyle remember of the past and why hasn’t he shared that with anyone?
I teleport to their location a half second before Josh arrives via potion. I spin around to face Josh as he appears, with a smile. It’s nice to see that I can teleport slightly faster than someone with a potion can. “Josh is back,” I say, spinning around again and sitting in the chair opposite Celestria.
“Hey guys, it’s been a while,” Josh says. “If you don’t mind, let me get to the point. “I showed up at Jen’s place…”
“…It’s Anya,” I interrupt.
“Nice, embracing your past, I assume. So I teleported to Anya’s place to show her how easy it is to track you guys. Zar-Q and I have been able to pin point everyone’s location for about two months now. We assume that Ozma isn’t too far behind from developing the same program that we are using. It allows us to track anyone with a magical ability and even shows their stats. That last part was my idea—thought it would be a cool feature to have. So anyway, Z has been working on several computer programs to help us out while staying at my apartment on Zerron and I have been working undercover at the UPC. In short, the vacation is over guys.”
The room stays quiet for several minutes. I knew Josh had something to say to the group, but I didn’t know how serious it was until I heard it. I guess that’s why Josh offered to keep my dad safe because he knows that our little world is about to turn upside down.
“Are you certain?” Celestria is the first to speak.
“Yep. I’m shocked that it’s taken them this long to figure out how to find you guys and how to unlock the portal codes to Crystaltina and Earth. I assume it’s because a lot of their staff has either been killed, mentally broken down or got out in time and fled the area.”
“What do you mean mentally broken?” Kyle asks who has been pacing back in forth in the room for several minutes.
“Ozma can control weak minds to do what she wants. In some cases it worked and others caused the person being controlled to either go nuts or become a vegetable. Since they are the largest corporation on Zerron, nothing and no one can stop them, not even Vane. There have even been talks about moving the magic school off of Zerron. These past few months have been very hard at the UPC. Once you guys left, Ozma flipped big time. Production on her robots has increased and those minds that weren’t broken or used to create programs and new technology, went to become mindless assassins and I don’t need to tell you who they are all programmed to go after,” Josh explains.
“And this starts to go down after Dorter is rebuilt,” Tom jokes.
“Yea, it seems that’s the town to get the most abuse, mainly because of their location. Other towns are lucky to be hundreds of miles away,” Josh remembers.
“Other towns?” Celestria asks.
“I was born here,” Josh shakes his head, “But we don’t have time for stories and I won’t ask you to postpone the celebration and honestly I’m grateful, but after tonight, you guys need to be more aware. Z and I have been thinking about moving our base of operation here so we can communicate better. Then we agreed that Z would be coming here. I need to stay at the UPC to gather more information for you guys.”
“Thanks for letting us know, Josh,” Celestria says. “You and Zar-Q are welcome to join us tonight.”
“Sorry, I can’t, I have to get to work in an hour, but thanks. Shame I didn’t bring good news, but we all knew that this day would come.”
Josh leaves and immediately the group starts to talk, starting with Kyle, “Do we trust him?”
“I do,” I quickly say.
“He and Z helped us to escape, I don’t think we have any reason to doubt him,” Tom replies. “Look, I know what he said is important but we have a party to get to and we should take this time to relax, it might be the last time for a while.”
I burst out laughing, “We look like a troupe from a local Renaissance faire…” That got me some awkward looks. “Sorry, sorry, I just…oh never mind, I’ll meet you guys there.”
I would be lying if I wasn’t worried about what Josh had to say. I knew this would happen eventually but I assumed it would be years later when there wasn’t high school and I didn’t have other things and people to worry about. Now here I am trying to pass math, having to relocate my dad and I’m heading off to a party? Ozma is off breaking and killing people because of me and we’re going to a party for a town that was rebuilt? It just doesn’t feel right to me. We should take the fight to Ozma and stop all of this waiting.
I teleport to the rooftop of the tavern and clench my fists as I think of what Ozma is doing and thinking about what we’re not doing.
“Can you feel that anger growing inside of you like fire?”
The voice. I had almost forgotten about it. Why return now? Please go away; I don’t need this on top of everything else.
I sit at the ledge of the rooftop and look down. Several people are dressed the same as I and most have a mug in their hand. That’s what I get for arriving at a tavern. There’s red, gold and black streamers strewn on the trees and buildings and Celtic-type music playing loudly. In the center of the town is a long table with a massive amount of food on it, for example, bore, fruit, pastry goods all of which are giving off a wonderful smell.
These people are truly happy living the way they are: away from technology and the modern world. They’ve heard stories about this town being burned to the ground yet they still rebuild. They know the dangers and they move on and grow stronger. I really hope nothing happens to their town or to them.
“They’re all going to die, you know.”
The voice from the darkness is filled with so much hate and anger. These thoughts are not my own, I know it. I’m part of the good guys.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
I stand up and my brown eyes widen. What is going on? I then notice Tom, Celestria and Kyle walking into town and they are greeted by an older gentleman that I can assume is in charge of this town. Right now, I rather be alone so I teleport to the pier.
“Aw, Tom, it’s great to see you,” the old man says as he walks up to the three.
“Matthew, these are my friends Kyle and Celestria,” Tom says.
“Pleasure to meet you finally. And the princess, will she be joining us?” Matthew asks.
“Princess?” Kyle asks, exchanging a glance with Celestria.
“My apologies, the reincarnated princess but even so, she is still the princess of Crystaltina after all.”
“She left before us and I’m sure she’s somewhere around here taking it all in,” Tom answers.
“Indeed, well I hope you stay around for the announcement at sunset, it’s going to be great,” Matthew smiles and walks back into the festivities at hand.
“Did I forget to mention that?” Tom grins and walks into the town.
The sun is bright, reflecting off the ocean as I sit on the pier. Suddenly a yellow and orange flower appears in front of the reflection. I look over to see a small girl with blonde hair, no older than eight years old.
I take the flower, “Thank you.”
“You’re the princess, aren’t you? Momma reads stories about you each night,” she says.
“Sara, leave the young princess alone.”
The young girl smiles and runs back to her mother. Now what was that all about?
“So this is where you’re hiding,” Kyle says, walking up to me.
“That girl just asked if I was the princess…”
“Tom forgot to mention that the citizens still believe that you’re their princess.”
“…..but I’m not.”
Kyle sits next to me, “I don’t think that matters. Just knowing that you’ve returned has created stories and hope for these people.”
“…….” I stare out into the ocean. This is starting to get too much.
“You okay?”
“Yes? I mean, I’m not…that was hundreds of years ago, I’m not her,” I say.
“The sun’s starting to go down,” Kyle slowly says.
“ So…?”
He shakes his head, stopping himself from saying what is on his mind and instead says, “There’s suppose to be an announcement…”
As if on cue, a man’s voice, Matthew’s, can be heard throughout the town. I have to assume that Tom is amplifying the voice with his powers.
“We all know that it is written that once the princess rises once more we will enter an age of prosperity and happiness. It is also said that much hardship will come before the dawn. We’ve rebuilt this town time and time again and this generation will be no different. We will rebuild and face the darkness with bravery and perseverance. Tom has helped us to rebuild Dorter and has asked for nothing in return. It is our turn to help them and rebuild Crystaltina Castle as it was in its glory days.”
“No way,” I stammer as both Kyle and I turn our heads in the direction of the voice.
It’s as if they know what’s to come. Just like Josh’s warning and my gut feeling. Everyone knows that darkness is coming yet they move on with their lives. It’s touching when I really think about it. I need to make it my duty that no one gets hurt. Everyone seems to have so much hope.
The sun is almost gone, casting a purple and pink reflection on the water and in the sky. I look back to the water and the sunset. Despite everything that is going on and that’s going to happen, looking at this view causes me to relax and feel peaceful. I pick up the flower that the little girl gave me and I spin the stem around with my fingers.
Part of me doesn’t want to see the sun set. I fear the darkness that is coming and the darkness within me.
