Chloe At Worlds' End

Onri stood with his two captors before a large pile of bones, skulls, and putrid rotting flesh. He had to cover his nose, for the smell was overwhelming. One of the gorillas was painfully gripping his shoulder. There was a misty, violet cloud that seemed to hover over the pile in perpetuity. Onri felt himself shaking in fear as the now familiar violet colored eye of the wolf-man thing materialized within the cloud and looked down upon them. It angrily boomed

“You imbeciles, I told you to get the girl… not this ugly and skinny little boy! You are both useless… get out of my sight!” Suddenly, a bolt of crimson plasma shot from it and struck the other gorilla. It screamed in agony and flailed about in hot deathly flames. Onri’s captor gorilla let go of him and ran down the embankment to escape its own certain fate with Onri a close second. The plasma stream followed them, narrowly missing them but hitting unintended targets as wolves scattered in howling flames.

They made it outside, but kept running towards the hopeful cover of the jungle. Once they were quite a long distance away, they both collapsed in fatigue and duress. The gorilla was lying on the ground, panting for breath and… crying? Onri sat next to him, also trying to recover. Somehow he no longer feared him, as he now seemed a fugitive like him. The gorilla regained his composure a little and looked at Onri. It said

“That hated thing killed my brother… I will kill it!” He then got up and started to walk away further into the jungle. Onri called out

“Hey… wait! You brought me out here and now I’m lost!” The gorilla stopped and turned

“Yes, you are right and I am sorry… do you want me to lead you back to the lake?

“Yes please… if you would” They walked for a while in silence, then Onri said

“My name is Onri, may I ask what is yours… and your poor brothers name as well?”

“I’m Grog… and brothers’ name was Frog. Onri, I am very sorry about abducting you, but that… thing made us do it. And now my brother is dead. I feel that now I will always be very sad, for Frog was my ‘other half’… my constant companion and I loved him very much”

“I’m sorry for your loss Grog. How long have you been taking orders from that creature?”

“It has not been very long… a few months maybe since he somehow awoke us to his and your way of speaking. My brother and I were before perfectly content and living with our siblings and parents… then that wolf-thing came and chose us to do his bidding… and then somehow transported us to the mountain. He told us that we were now his property and must do as he said… we were rightly afraid of him”

Onri decided to ask him if he would like to help them in destroying the wolf.

“Grog, you probably don’t know this, but I am here with my sister and a few others for the very purpose of destroying that wolf… would you like to join us?” Grog stopped walking and turned to look at him.

“Yes I would! Oh my poor Frog… if we had known that, we both would have joined you in an instant…”

“Again, I feel very sorry for your loss. I know how you feel. Just yesterday my sister and I lost our parents… in the same way as you did Frog… killed by him!”

“Then I am sorry for you as well… and now we both have a dutiful purpose for succeeding in this… and we will, I just know it!”

Back in the attic, Chloe looked to her friends and said

“We’ve accomplished much in this short time and now we must hurry, my brother is still in danger and needs our help immediately. Mr. Carpet, are you still able to fly… and are you willing to help?”

“Yes, most definitely on both of those accounts… at least I think that I should still be able to fly. Everyone, sit down upon me and hold onto the rope which is still fastened there from long ago and I will try” Chloe, Colin, and Ms. Aggie sat down and looked about themselves as they saw all the edges of Mr. Carpet start to flutter… then without a hitch they rose above the floor. Chloe called out to the rooms’ occupants

“Please don’t worry, I will protect your jewel with my life and I promise to bring it back to you soon… goodbye for now… I loved meeting you all!” Grandfather Clock answered for them

“Good luck, we look forward to seeing you again soon… goodbye!” Chloe and the others waved to them as they effortlessly floated out the open doors and over the balcony railing.

Chloe was no stranger to flight, as she had for years flown daily in her Nano Suit. But it was still exciting for her to be riding on the legendary Mr. Magic Carpet. She asked Ms. Aggie

“Ms. Aggie, are you able to point out the direction in which Onri was taken?”

“Yes, it was definitely towards the volcanic mountain”

“Then Mr. Carpet; would you please take us in that direction…?” He answered

“Oh course Chloe” As they flew along, Chloe admired the breath taking beauty of this place… and also was reminded of the perilous dangers it presented when she caught sight of a den of lions nestled in the brush by a small marsh. This whole place wasn’t called the Zoo district for nothing, as all manner of dangerous animals were housed here, roaming free and living the law of the jungle.

Onri was trailing Grog as they made their way back towards the lake. He couldn’t help but note how exhausting it was trying to keep up with him, as this time he wasn’t being carried. And also they weren’t exactly following any sort of a trail… they were traversing through dense thickets of vine covered bushes. He finally had to alert Grog that he was floundering.

“Grog… Grog! You will need to slow down a bit, you’re losing me! Just then Onri felt himself loose his footing as he tripped over some immovable object. Grog turned and saw him trip and fall to the ground with a thud and he began to laugh, but stopped when he saw that the object which tripped him was an immensely thick and long Boa Constrictor, and it immediately began coiling around his entire body! Onri fought and screamed

“Help, Grog, Help!” He felt complete panic as the thick coils quickly immobilized him… and now he could not breath either… he was struggling for breath as his chest was being compressed!

Grog jumped atop them and struggled with the uncoiling of it as the snake snapped at him. It was a fight for him just to hold onto its head to prevent it from latching onto him with its fangs. Grogs loud and fearsome sounding roars didn’t go unnoticed as Chloe and company were flying nearby. Chloe said

“Do you hear that? Mr. Carpet, can you fly towards the sound of that roaring animal…? Something seems amiss.” When they rounded a tree, they all gasped in shock to see Onri struggling for his last breath in the coils of a huge snake as a large gorilla was fighting the losing battle of trying to uncoil it while holding onto its’ snapping head. Chloe screamed horrifyingly

“Onri, hold on… I’m here… hold on!” They were immediately on the ground and Chloe stepped off of Mr. Carpet. She had to do something fast or he was dead! Her only hope was the jewels’ power… but what could she do with it? She hadn’t yet learned how to use it.

As she held onto the staff, she stood before the three of them as they struggled there. She quickly surmised

“Maybe I can awaken the snake’s consciousness as the rest of you are… and make it our friend!” She held out the staff, and from a safe distance she touched the jewel upon the snake’s straining head which was being held by the knotted arm muscles of the gorilla. Immediately the snake went lax and the gorilla fell to the ground in exhaustion. The snake began uncoiling itself. Onri gasped loudly, he was blue and struggling to take in as much air as quickly as he could. Chloe knelt by his side to comfort him, saying

“Onri… are you ok?” He struggled to answer between breaths

“Yes… Yes, I am ok now. But don’t be alarmed by my new friend here… Grog”

Chloe looked up at the gorilla, then back to Onri

“Ms. Aggie said that you were captured by two gorillas… isn’t this one of them?”

“Yes that is true, and he is one of them. They took me to the volcano, and then all the way inside of it to a pile of bones… and that eye was there looking down and speaking to us. It said to them that it was angry because they mistakenly brought me there instead of you. Then it tried to kill us! Grog and I got away, but his brother was killed… and now we are here because Grog was leading me back to the lake to find you” Chloe again looked at Grog

“But can we trust him?”

“Yes, I now think that we can, and he is also interested in helping us get rid of that wolf thing since it has killed his brother”

“That wolf thing is the reincarnation of Rajeem, and we may as well call him by name now that we know who he really is. Hello Grog, I’m Chloe… it’s nice to meet you… I think” He replied to her

Hello Chloe, it’s nice to meet you as well. And yes, you can all trust me now. What can I do to help you kill that wolf?”

“Thank you; we would greatly appreciate your help. To be honest, we don’t yet know what we’re going to do next, but we will figure it out as we go along”

They all looked over at the snake. It hadn’t left, as it was still sitting there and seemingly following the conversation. Ms. Aggie said to it

“Hello snake, I’m sure that you can understand what we are saying, even though you can’t yet speak, but you will be able to shortly. I think it falls to us to give you a name, are you a male snake?” It shook its head negatively.

Ok, then maybe we will call you… Sissy?” It seemed nonplussed and shrugged its pretend hump of a shoulder in indifference.

“Ok, Sissy it is” Chloe then said to them all

“Well, things are moving right along now. We have Mother on our side, we have the ‘all important jewel’, we have our friend Mr. Magic Carpet for transportation, we have coconspirators, and we have a common purpose at hand. Now what we need… is to decide what to do next…” Onri offered

“I think that Rajeem is nowhere around here; or even in the Zoo District at all”

Chloe countered

“Yes, I think that you may be correct. It seems that a trip back to Sanctum is in order… and right away. I know that it is within the jewels power to transport us all there instantaneously… but I am a little afraid to do so since I’ve never done it before. To be safe, let us take the submarine back there. It will also give us time to rest and possibly come up with some kind of a plan” Colin offered

“It may be prudent to keep Sissy here, she can keep an eye on things… and if need be, we have someone here to act in our absence” Onri looked at Sissy and asked

“Sissy, are you now our friend… and do you want to help us to protect the safety of this place… your home?” She nodded enthusiastically, smiling and hissing through her flickering and forked tongue. Chloe said

“Good, thank you! Ok then… all aboard Mr. Carpet here and let’s go.”

As they rose above the trees, Onri wished that there was someone to take a picture of what must have been an amusing spectacle of a magic carpet flying along and ferrying two kids, a gorilla, a sea lion, and a crow! He chuckled to himself as they flew off.

When they landed on the dock next to the submarine, Onri jumped atop it and reopened the hatch. Chloe said

“Onri, will you help me roll up Mr. Carpet and put him inside?”

“Ok… but do you think Grog will fit in there?” Grog said nervously

“You want me to go in there… what is that thing?” Chloe said

“It is a… cave… that travels under water. You don’t need to be nervous about it, it is how we came here and it is safe” He stepped to the hatch and looked down into it, saying

“Uh… ok, I will try to fit inside…” He sat on the hatches edge and swung his legs in, then lifted his arms over his head as he tried to shimmy the rest of his bulk inside. They all held their breath. It looked almost as if he may get stuck… and then what would they do? And then he did get lodged and seemed to panic a little. Ms. Aggie said

‘You’re almost there, let me help” She waddled up and plopped herself squarely onto the top of his head. He said

“Hey!” as he plunked to the floor of the submarine, which tossed about under his weight. Chloe looked to Onri and they both nervously crossed their fingers that he wasn’t too heavy for the journey.

When they were all inside, albeit a little on the cramped side this time, Chloe again fired up the engine and they were on their way. The return journey upwards through the darkened cave was uneventful, but it did provide them with some time to rest and to talk about what they could do once they returned to Sanctum. Chloe said

“So far, the power of the jewel has seemed to awaken in my mind the ability to somehow see into a kind of tangible realm… a realm of consciousness and genetic memories which are recorded into all living matter. I know it sounds strange, but that is certainly what it is. Earlier, when we were in the houses’ attic and the jewels power was affecting me, I could see a real time consciousness flowing through each living thing that I looked upon… its’ present, its’ past, and miraculously I could somehow sense something of the paths of its’ future.

And Mother was there… as a kind of luminous web which was interwoven throughout all of it… in a kind of continuum. And she was able to communicate with me there as well. Onri, I wish that you could have seen it… it was incredible.” Onri asked her

“What did mother say to you there?”

“She asked me if I could see the entity of Rajeem there, which she pointed out to me. And I could see him there… kind of interwoven throughout everything. She said that so far, his existence in that way was a kind of mystery to her which she hadn’t yet figured out. She also said that as far as any living matter was concerned she has always been able to pinpoint its’ exact real time location, but for some reason… not his. So it seems that once we’ve returned to Sanctum, this is a mystery which we will have to look into to possibly accomplish our task…”

They all saw that the end of the tunnel was coming into view and the ocean floor was up ahead. Upon exiting the tunnel they all voiced relief that they were almost safely back to the surface as they passed the familiar coral reef. Then, suddenly they all had to grab onto something stationary to avoid being thrown about. Their vessel was being violently jarred this way and that. Onri shouted while holding on

“What on earth is that!? We’ve lost control… what’s happening?” Ms. Aggie answered

“We’re being tossed around in a very strong current… this is not normal!” Chloe said

“I think we’re under attack… and while I can’t determine where Rajeem is, I’m sure that he can now see me…” Onri added

“Since this is not a real ocean, its currents are controlled by the grid through immense mechanical pumps… we’re at his mercy if he is controlling them!” Their vessel then violently struck a large out cropping of rocks and became wedged. The impact caused a breach in the hull and cold water began pouring in. They all shrieked in panic. Chloe said

“Oh my god… we’re finished if I don’t do something to save us!” She tried to clear her mind and calm herself. She closed her eyes and pressed the head of the jeweled staff to her temple. She looked to the realm where she had seen Mother… and there she was as before. She queried her ‘Mother, we’re in immediate danger… and I don’t yet know how to harness the jewels’ power… what should I do?’

‘Hello Chloe, please be calm. I will help you. At this moment you are already in command and accessing the jewels’ power. You only need to ‘will’ it to envelope yourself and whoever you wish into its mists… and then guide your movements towards any direction you wish.’ Chloe immediately tried this and watched in her mind as the jewels’ power did just that. As Chloe sat there with her eyes closed, the rest of her party watched in astonishment as they were surrounded by a violet colored cloud. They looked about themselves as the inward flow of water ceased… they were safe! Chloe then realized that in fact she could direct their movement and willed them to pass through the hull of their vessel and along the ocean floor. She was also surprised at how fast this form of travel could be. When she thought of the route towards her home… and then specifically the family room inside the house… she felt that they were already there!

She willed the travel to cease and dissipated the mist, and as she opened her eyes… that is exactly where they were all standing as they surprisingly eyed their surroundings… albeit a bit soggily. Onri exclaimed

“Chloe… you did it, we’re home!” Chloe answered him

“Yes… can you believe it? It was almost as fast as the Quantum Duplicator” She looked at a poor rolled up and mushy Mr. Carpet

“Oh my poor Mr. Carpet, you are all squished and wet… are you ok?”

“Yes I am perfectly fine… but would you mind rolling me out flat upon the floor or else I may get moldy… and all creased and wrinkled” They all thought that was funny and laughed as they as rolled him out. He felt immediate relief as he said

“Ah, thank you very much. I will now be just fine here as I dry out” Onri called out to command their homes’ Enviro-Control to increase the rooms temperature.