“I have to do it,” Brock said.
“You sure?” Katie asked.
He nodded. “I need to know if I am worthy.”
My friends and I were staring at Marseille’s hammer lying on a stump. We were in a clearing inside the forest, not far from town. After two days, my sprained foot had healed. Mr. Smith finally started to teach us how to survive in the Yellow Zone. Raja, Zeki, and the Dragonhearts were also helping out. Raja decided that he would be staying here for a vacation. As for Marseille and her companions, they hadn’t yet told us their reason.
They left the clearing with Mr. Smith to prepare something for us. However, for some reason, Marseille left her hammer behind.
“Let me get this straight,” Li began. “Only a worthy can lift this hammer, right?”
“Pretty much,” Wilt replied. We gave the Shaolin a brief knowledge of what we knew about Thor, from movies, cartoons, and comics.
“Okay.” Li paused a bit. “Worthy of what?”
“Worthy to w
Raja got to me first. While he swung his maces, I skipped backward to keep myself a distance away from their reach. I managed to catch a glimpse at Li leaping from my left. I tucked my knees and rolled toward Raja, avoiding Li’s kick and the swinging maces. After getting close to Raja’s legs, I sprang to my feet and tossed him toward Li, though he evaded the former commander from crashing on top of him. That was a moment for me to give the Shaolin a flying kick, but he evaded. Spinning himself in the air, Li was about to strike me with his glaive. “Stop! Stop!” Mr. Smith yelled. “Time out!” We all stopped in our tracks. He ran toward the crate, pulling out a wooden staff. “Here,” he exchanged Li’s glaive with it, “we don’t want to see Sam getting accidentally cut.” “Gee, thanks,” I grumbled in a sardonic tone. “Ouch, ow, ow…!” Li’s strikes with the staff were faster than his glaive. I had to block the hits with my forearms, bearing all the stinging pain. Raja
While walking next to the tree line, we followed the Mayflower Guildmaster to who knew where he took us. The forest was getting dark as night fell, though we managed to see where we were going, thanking the lights coming from Rockflower. “We’re here,” Mr. Smith said when we arrived in front of a wall of vines and foliage, covering as high as the tallest trees, with its length stretched as far as we could see in the dark. He went through first. Everyone was a bit hesitant until his hand popped out and gestured to come inside. Upon exiting on the other side, what we saw were lights. Not enough to blind us, but it took all of our breaths away. “It’s beautiful,” Katie gasped. In front of us was like a paradise in the night, full of glowing flowers, mosses, shrubs, and ferns, shimmering or tinting in shades of many vibrant colors. “It’s like we’re in Pandora,” Katie awed. “Or the night in the Garden of Eden,” Alex added. “My guild had been
Running and running, deep into the dark forest with nowhere to go. I stopped behind a redwood tree to catch a breath. Resting my back against its trunk, I breathed through my nostrils while covering my mouth with both hands. I stood still, trying to keep my ears open, but the noise of my pounding heart hampered me from hearing them coming. Wait, they got Green Bits! Hunters! They could still track me down. Tilting my head up, beyond those star-like lights on the canopy was the sunny sky. I sighed — if only I could fly to get away. “He’s close!” That was Brock’s voice shouting. “Hush, he might hear you.” And that was Sven’s. The sound of their loud footsteps and rustling leaves were coming from all sides. Tilting my head up again toward the canopy, I decided to make a daring move. My fingers dug on the bark and started climbing as fast as I could. “There he is,” Sven exclaimed. His voice alarmed me to make a twist around the trunk, and arrows m
As night came, we were in a secret hideout in the forest, inside a massive willow tree with its vast canopy of long leaves able to house ten people. This was the first line of defense in case of another raid. If ever a raider group tried to sneak toward the town, we would ambush them from behind. Our only light source was candles, though the double wall of black curtains around the roots dimmed their illumination. Because of that, our hideout wouldn’t get spotted by any incoming intruder. However, we couldn’t make a campfire due to its flame brightening more than candles. Therefore, the Mayflowers brought our dinner instead of cooking it ourselves. We were sitting around, doing our own leisure while waiting for something to happen through the night. I was reading some history books I borrowed from the town’s library. “Did you hear that?” I caught a strange, unfamiliar sound. We were a bit anxious, despite most of us were armed with Wilt’s conjured swords.
“The Blood Eagles are coming,” Brock moped on his chair with his thoughts drifting away. “I know,” Wilt said while massaging his eye bags. A lot of us didn’t sleep well. We kept our watchful eyes up during the night in case of another raid coming. By dawn, everyone had an emergency meeting in the guildhall. “Maybe we should negotiate?” Mrs. Smith proposed. “Yeah, good luck with that, Mary,” the Astute Guildmaster exclaimed. “Even if we pooled our money together to bribe them, they’re still not enough.” The other leaders nodded in agreement. Abraham didn’t say a word on his throne since the start of this meeting. He had an anguished look on his face while pressing his pounding temple with his hand. Perhaps bearing the role as the new Guildmaster during this dilemma was too much for him. “The Blood Eagles are coming,” Brock mumbled. “Maybe we should surrender?” The John’s Horn Guildmaster said in defeat. “Remember the Dal
It was too fast. The tornado took a drop on the guildhall, tearing it to pieces, followed by a powerful squall that swept everyone within the town wall. I managed to embed my fingers against the ground and held on while my eyes closed. “Lady Marseille!” Deborah’s distinctive voice shouted. A crackling thunder was shot toward the sky. That must be Mjolnir being thrown. In an instant, the squall disappeared. Once my eyes opened, the tornado was gone, but the dark sky was still there. “Thank you, Lady Marseille,” Raja thanked in his giant form. All of my friends were clinging to him, much to my relief. I glanced around to see who was left inside the town. Aside from my friends and Raja, I found Marseille, Deborah, the two Green Bit chiefs, and several people standing around. The squall must’ve blown away most of the townspeople. Before long, Mjolnir got back to its owner. “It’s Marseille Thorkellson!” My eyes bulged. “That voice.”
“I couldn’t take it anymore.” I trembled as the fear of death kept weighing me on all fours on the ground. “I had a horrible life. I just wanted to end it all.” Everyone was frozen in gawk. None of them had anything to say. After a short yet dreary silence, Alex knelt and wrapped her arms around me. I clenched my teeth together to keep myself from screaming while tears continued to gush out. After another short silence, Katie spoke, “Zeki, is your guild’s proposal still open?” Heads turned to Zeki. He smiled. “The Boston Tea Party will welcome him with open arms.” “That’s a great idea,” Marseille sighed in relief. “As long as he’s inside the Great Blue Zone, he’ll be okay.” “Then it settled,” Wilt declared. “Sam will be leaving with you.” He then glanced at Raja. “We still have much work to be done before another raid comes.” With that said, everyone dispersed with haste. “In the meantime,” he offered me his hand to stand up, “we’ll help you p
It was morning. A bright ray woke me up when it struck my eyelids. Before continuing my journey, I needed to get something to eat. Utilizing my powers and my months’ worth of experience in thriving in this dark forest, I managed to catch a few squirrels and roasted them. I kept their furs in case I could sell them at Sweet Haven. I chuckled upon remembering Alex skinned a deer in a bloody fashion, causing Katie, Brock, and Li to faint. Moments later, I gathered mints and herbs to make toothpaste that I learned from the Green Bits. It wasn’t like the ones back on Earth, but it was better than getting tooth decay. I kept moving westward, with my sense of direction to guide me. It was lunchtime. I gathered the firewood to cook all the squirrel meat. I was now all alone, surrounded by towering trees and the night-like darkness when my senses went alarmed. It came from behind. As I turned around, there was a massive horned serpent crouching several yards away. It