War of The Worlds

The Quest

Drake

     We all looked at Mifeo like he had gone mad.

“Am I going crazy, or did you just say that we're going to another world?” I asked, drawing a circle in the air with my finger for emphasis.

     Mifeo looked around the room. “Yes, that’s exactly what I said. You need to go on a journey...no, a quest. You will go out to find the way to another world, fighting enemies, overcoming traps, puzzles, and the world itself.”

That’s a bit dramatic. I thought.

     “What do you mean by, ‘another world’?” inquired Toby.

     “I mean that you need to go to a world where there are no Ponies.”

     I didn’t believe him. It was too good to be true. No Ponies?! There was no way we could get away from the horrible creatures. All they did was kill and destroy. Even if there was a way, we’ll all be dead by the time we can go.

     “But wait...why can’t we just stay here?” I asked.

     “Because the Ponies will send a bigger army when the first one doesn’t return. And you won’t have enough time to learn to use your powers,” explained Mifeo.

     “And?” asked Demy.

     “And we’ll all be killed!” Mifeo exclaimed. “But, if you go out on your own and only have to face small groups...”

     Then I understood. “Then we will have time to develop our powers and get to this other world!”

     “Exactly,” said Mifeo.

     “So what I’m hearing is...we are all going to pack up some personal belongings and other things that are essential for traveling long distances, not get killed by Ponies, learn to use this weird power that we all have now and find a way to get to some other world that we know nothing about?” I said.

     “No, Drake, you don’t have to find a way to get to the other world. I know how you get to the other world. there’s a way in the Pony’s base of operations.” Mifeo smiled like this was a great thing.

     I got up and walked to the door. “Okay, guys, let’s go pack,” I said with a smile on my face. “And remember, pack nice clothes. Don’t want to die looking like you just crawled away from a battle.”

     Everyone cracked a smile, even though my joke was so dark.

     I shoved more clothes into my bag, thinking about what we had to do.

Why did Mifeo have to pull us into this? We were just kids we couldn’t do this.

     I heard the front door open then shut, so I guessed that Ben was home.

     “Hey, Drake, are you there?” Ben called out.

     “Yeah, I’m in my room.”

     I finished shoving things into my bag and walked out into the hall, running into Ben...literally.

     “Oh, Ben, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

     “That’s alright but you should have stayed and listened. I mean, I can explain what Mifeo said after you left but I wouldn’t do a very good job.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

     “Why? What did he say?” I asked.

     “Where do I begin? Well first off he told us where the Pony's base is and what the actual “portal” looked like, then he told us that there was another thing we needed to find to activate the “portal” and he doesn’t know where it is. Then he said we should all get going and I came back here, then I ran into you.”

     “Well...that was...very precise.” I said, walking past him.

     Mifeo strikes again huh? He’s always doing things in a over-the-top way and describing things like that too. He probably made it sound worse than it actually was. Probably.

Ben walked towards his room. “Well, I’m gonna go pack.”

     “Okay! I’ll see you later,” I walked out the door. “I’m gonna go to the usual spot.”

     “K, I’ll meet you there,” called Ben.

     I sat down on a stump in the clearing of the forest, waiting for the others. The clearing is, of course, the “usual spot” where we would gather to have a fun time or discuss something on our minds so I knew the others would all come here eventually...now I just had to wait.

     I remembered the day we found the clearing in the woods, that was also the day we became friends.

Three years ago...

     I ran through the woods, my attackers right behind me.

Bullies suck. I thought, tripping over another root.

     “Hey, Drake, come back! We won’t hurt you as much as you think!” A voice called out from behind me.

Thanks, but no thanks.

     I tripped again and failed to keep my balance, tumbling down a hill into a circular clearing.

     I look around for an exit and, seeing none, ran to the center and made what I thought was a fighting pose.

     One of them ran into the clearing, spotted me, and ran in my direction.

     “Hey, Drake, don’t move!”

Yeah right. I thought, ducking to avoid his fist.

     Suddenly he was slammed into from the side, falling to the ground.

     The other two ran into the clearing and ran in my direction.

     One was picked up and slammed into the ground by what seemed like...magic?! I didn’t think there were any teachers in the school who were magicians...unless it was a...student?!

     The other bully saw the damage and ran off. Most likely back to his parents.

     It was then that I saw my saviors.

     The one who had knocked down the first bully was a big kid. Not big as in fat. Just...big, like a rock.

     Three more kids came out of the the woods into the clearing, including the one who had used magic. I knew this because his hands still had their magic aura.

     One was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes that took my breath away.

     The other two were a boy and girl, the boy having a magical aura around his hands that quickly faded. I noticed he had red hair and...green eyes?! The girl had blue eyes and her hair...it looked like it was...purple.

     “Hey there...sorry to get into all this, but you looked like you could use some help,” that was the big kid.

     “We saw them bullying you and wanted to help but the bell rang and you ran outside...we followed them.” the girl with the blond hair said.

     “I don’t mind at all...and that was some nice magic back there.” I told the kid who had done the magic.

     “Thanks.” He replied.

     “You want to be friends...maybe?” asked the girl with the purple-no-black hair.

     “Um...sure.” I said.

     “Alright then...let’s go back to the town...my parents are probably worried sick.” the girl with the blonde hair said, walking to a path leading out of the clearing I hadn't noticed before.

The present day...

     "I met Luke a few months later" I said out loud without realizing it.

     I was interrupted from my memories by Ben walking into the clearing.

     "Hey there, come take a seat." I said, patting the stump next to mine.

     Ben sat down and started to talk to me till I asked him something.

     "Could you to tell me exactly what Mifeo said after I left?" I asked him.

     I saw Sophia and Luke arrive out of the corner of my eye while Ben told me what Mifeo had said.

     “Hey guys.” said Luke, putting his bag on the ground.

     “How are you doing?” I asked, getting up.

     Toby and Demy sprinted in, their bags banging against their backs. “Hey guys, I hope I’m not late.” they said in unison.

     I stood up. “Nah, you guys made it just in time. So let’s get to business.”

     “I think that we should just go and leave right now,” said Toby, looking around.

     Demy stood up. “I think that we should stay for a day or two preparing more though.”

     Sophia stood up. “I think that we should just think this through till we make a decision.”

     “Well I think that we should stay the night and head out in the morning.” I said,waving my arms for attention.

     “Let’s just go back to Mifeo and ask him what we should do.” Ben suggested.

     Luke pointed at Toby. “I agree with Toby on this one.”

     “Oookay...so we all have our opinions on what we should do. Why don’t we have a vote?” asked Sophia.

     “I object!” I yelled pointing at Sophia.

     “No! I object!” piped Toby, his hand shooting into the air.

     “I object!” I yelled again.

     “No! I’m going to object!” Toby exclaimed,waving his hand around.

     I started to crack up.

     Everyone started to laugh until Sophia got in the zone again, standing up and putting her arm in the air so we would pay attention. “Okay...so I agree with Ben on this one now that I think of it. We should go back to Mifeo and ask him what to do. That would be the safe decision.”

     “Hmm...I agree with Sophia when I think about the other decisions.” Demy said, sitting down.

     “Alright then, I guess we should go with that then.” I said, walking to the path leading back to town.

     I stood at the edge of town, looking at the sunrise while waiting for my friends.

     The night before Mifeo had told us to wait till next morning then meet at the edge of the town and leave shortly after. I was now waiting for the others.

     We had all discussed what we should pack and decided to even it our among us so that no one had to carry two times as much as someone else. So I had ended up packing a bunch of food for the trip along with anything I thought I would need. Everyone else had to carry stuff like cooking utensils and and Ben got to carry the small stove we had.

     "Hey there, Drake!" someone called out from behind me.

     I Turned around and saw Ben walking toward me with all the others behind him, each with there own bag.

     "You're late." I said, walking toward them.

     Toby walked up to me. "Nope, you're just early."

     "Whatever...so you guys ready or what?"

     I received a lot of, 'yes' and 'of course', so I decided we were ready. Then I realized that I wasn't really much of a leader. I took care of the problem, though.

     "Alright, let's go! Sophia, you will be the leader." I said pointing at her.

     She looked surprised at hearing this, then a determined look took over her face.  "Oh...okay then. Let's go!"

     We all walked in the direction that Mifeo had told us to go. It got boring...quickly.

     "So what do you think Mifeo meant by,'and the world itself' when he told us about this, 'quest'?"

     I walked toward the front of the pack so I could talk to Toby. "Duh! He meant monsters and stuff like that."

     Luke piped up. "It's moments like this that I'm glad we have a form of defense." he fingered with his bow.

     We walked in silence after that, looking at the landscape and listening to the wildlife.

     The town was surrounded by a forest except for the part we fought in, thanks to me. There was now a clearing as big as the town there.

     Pretty soon we would break out of the forest and then we would have to make a decision. Keep walking or make camp for the night.

     Mifeo's voice echoed in my mind. 'and the world itself!' I hoped the world was nice to us. Boy was I wrong.

     The peaceful night was pierced by a scream.

     I sat up in my tent, trying to figure out if the scream was real or if it was from my dream. Then I heard another.

     Grabbing my scabbard, I ran out of the tent and into the camp we had made seeing the others doing the same... except for Sophia. She was cowering in front of a monster that had it's back to us.

     At first I thought that it wasn't a monster but a Human. Then I saw it's claws. It was bi-pedal like a Human but defiantly not one. It kind of reminded me of a dog with it's somewhat pointed ears and claws. I saw a collar on it's neck. I had an idea for what it was. A...Diamond Dog! That's what it was.

     I unsheathed my sword, running towards the others. "Guys! It's a Diamond Dog! What do we do!"

     Sophia saw the movement and heard my voice. "Help!" She screamed, holding a hand out in front of her for defense.

Where was her spear? I thought, looking around. I saw the spear lying a dozen or so yards away from her. She'd been taken by surprise.

     The Diamond Dog turned around, looking at us. Then it began to slowly move towards us seeing as we were armed. When it was about a dozen yards away from us an arrow sprouted from it's shoulder and it yelped, gripping the shaft and ripping the arrow out.

     I turned around and saw Ben nocking another arrow, aiming for it's chest.

     "Ben!" I exclaimed pushing his bow downwards. "What're you doing!"

     "It's him or us, Drake," he replied, pushing me aside, and letting the arrow fly.

     The arrow missed it's mark, hitting the Diamond Dog just below it's chest. The Diamond Dog fell to the ground, blood seeping out of it's shoulder. It gripped the shaft of the arrow and started to pull it out but then stopped and gave out another sound of pain.

     "Why're you here?" I somewhat yelled at it.

     It looked up at me. "To take care of you."

     I looked at Sophia, who had gotten up and was slowly making her way towards her spear. "Take care of me how?"

     It's breathing came slower and it started to get up. "I thought that you would now."

     "You're here to kill us aren't you?" I said, my eyes still on Sophia.

     "Exactly."

     In the corner of my eye, I saw Sophia pick up her spear and turn towards me, waiting for a signal.

     "Well if you're here to kill us," I pointed at him with my sword. "Then I guess you're too late."

     What happened next was a blur.

     Sophia rushed at him from behind while I get kept him busy at the front, slashing and jabbing. Ben began to fire more arrows but not much since he couldn't get a clear shot. I dove to the left and he got a hit on me. I could fell his claws digging into my side, pain exploding in that area. Sophia stabbed him in the back from behind and he howled in pain and spun around, knocking us all down. Then he jumped into a hole I hadn't noticed before and dirt shot up out of it, filling the hole quickly.

     "I guess the Ponies sent him?" Toby said.

     I looked at the rest and they all looked like they had been surprised. I guess they were too shocked to fight.

     I got to my feet and staggered back to my tent, looking for first aid supplies. I could feel my blood against my fingers and clothes. The injury was worse than I thought.

     "Well at least we ran him off." I said, turning around.

     I dropped the roll of gauze I was holding, looking at the others with a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach.

     Something was wrong.

     Sophia wasn't here.