Fan Fiction ❯ The Memory Remains ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

The Memory RemainsChapter 2Three days had passed since Toni left her village. Unfortunately, she knew everything about the prince, down to his favorite colours and foods. But of the mysterious figure that had kidnapped him, she knew nothing. Being so she felt extremely vulnerable, like a turtle without its shell. For all she knew she could’ve passed by her targets long ago. Rolling her eyes once again to her negative thoughts she trudged on, she was unnerved by the fact she was in a terribly thick forest but hadn’t seen any signs of forest life, no squirrels, wolves or birds. Deciding the silence was too loud, she grabbed a handful of rocks and began throwing them in miscellaneous directions, hoping something would chirp or show any sign of life. When her attempts failed miserably she let the rest of the rocks in her palm drop from her hand.Her footsteps ceased and she crouched down, closing he eyes trying to let the frustration of being completely alone disintegrate. A high-pitched ring grew in her right ear; she balled her fist and hit the ground with a blow hard enough to break the nose of a troll. She yelped with surprise when her hand didn’t just make a hole in the ground, it went through into a cold cavern below. Her fingers were stung by the sudden change in climate. Her hopes now high she began punching at the dirt some more, then gripped the sides of the growing hole and yanked up on the dirt, small bits of ice were mixed in it which melted quickly as it reached the warmth of the sun. Where she had been walking the earth was only a foot deep at best. She wondered how she hadn’t fallen through, but decided she’d ponder the question later when she had time. The hole had grown, just enough for her to slip through, which she did.She landed on firm stone, the cavern was so cold she saw small slivers of steam rise from her skin. Her lips quivered. She reached into her black bag groping at one of the smaller pockets that sat closer to her back for easy reach. Once she maneuvered the zipper open she grabbed a small thin flashlight then zipped the pocket closed again.With a small click the cavern was now clearly visible, unfortunately for her a couple on holiday had found this place before and jumped into it as she had. They walked along for miles and miles, eventually going mad from the cold and the dark. They ended up battling to the death with their bare hands. But before a winner was proclaimed they both dropped dead from some unknown reason.Toni, with her luck, had managed to jump into the cavern only a few yards from the corpses of the couple. Their hands were wrapped around each other’s necks. As Toni walked closer she saw that the people had not decomposed much, their bodies were glazed over with ice.She crouched down next to the two, glad the stench of their corpses wasn’t too strong, she held a hand over her nose and poked at the girls arm with the end of her flashlight. With each prod a small click emerged. Like tapping the flashlight against stone. The people on the ground were frozen through.Toni notice the bags on ground to her right. She walked over to them and opened them, hoping to find something useful. Inside were brand new clothes, when she pulled them out there was slight hesitation on the clothes part. They were stiff from the cold but not frozen through. The bags weren’t wet so they did not freeze.She shook the garments until they swayed with her movements. She didn’t care for the girl’s particular taste in clothing, bright floral designs sitting on tacky vibrant colours from the rainbow. The male had a rather nice taste in clothes, baggy pants and shirts that were plain earthly colours. She admired a pair of chocolate brown pants and began rummaging through the pockets. She ended up finding a few bits of lint, an old gum wrapper and a silver key.Dropping the measly treasures she rummaged deeper into the bag. Eventually she had gone through everything and found nothing of interest. She got to her feet, which was rather tough. She was beginning to feel very stiff and decided she should probably go back up into the woods, before she suffered the same fate as the two before her.She wandered back down the cavern the way she had came, the flashlight interrogating the ceiling looking for the hole she had dug for herself. It was missing.“What in the world…” Toni said aloud to herself, her left hand sitting on her hip which stuck out from the way she was standing. Her bewildered gaze didn’t leave the ceiling.She looked back at the mess she had made from the bag, then looked up again. Even if this weren’t the exact place the hole had been, she knew she would be in sight of it. But to her dismay there was nothing.Feeling very annoyed she slipped her bag off of her back and opened it. She didn’t know how many times her bag came in useful for saving her life, but she knew it was a lot. Her lips were now turning from blue to purple, they were quivering violently and were beginning to ice over. She made it a strict point to resist licking her lips.Pulling a sleek black pole from her bag she clicked a button on the side of it, it extended on one end. She clicked in a small switch and the other end expanded until it resembled a shovel head.“Man I love technology.” She said smiling to herself. She dropped her flashlight into the bag and zipped it shut. She knew this would probably turn out to be extremely messy and cold but she didn’t care, it was worth getting out of there for.She pulled back on the shovel in her hands then sent it thrusting upward at the ceiling of the cavern. The shovel collided with the ceiling and rang loudly in the cavern. Toni dropped the shovel and covered her ears, her eyes darted back and forth.The ceiling was frozen over with thick ice. Now she knew why the dirt supported her even though the dirt was thin. This blanket of ice was tough. It still didn’t explain why her hole was gone.She picked up the shovel again and repeated her previous action. Sadly this time she thrust the shovel so hard it ended up bending into an L shaped shovel which was rather useless. Now angry beyond all reason she sent the shovel down toward the ground with a loud crash.She slipped her bag back over her shoulders after retrieving her flashlight. She walked toward the corpses, something small flickered on the ground near the bag. Toni made her way to the object and picked up the silver key she had found in the pocket of the chocolate pants which were now thrown over the corpses.The cavern began to rumble violently, Toni lost her footing and fell to her knees, on instinct her hands cradled her head. Once the quake had passed she opened her eyes and slowly looked around, hoping that maybe such a large quake could’ve broken the ceiling somewhere and she could climb out.She got to her feet and involuntarily pocketed the key. She looked back over her shoulder, looking back the way she had came. She turned off her light hoping to see any sort of light filtering through the ceiling. She looked in the opposite direction that loomed ahead of her. She wasn’t sure how long this cavern went on for but she had to try to get out of there as soon as she could. Deciding it was better to keep moving she began to walk.Her joints were noticeably stiffer and it was painful to walk, but she continued on, eventually from moving long enough the stiffness wore off and the pain dimmed. She walked along, to her it seemed forever but in reality it had only been thirty odd minutes. After walking for a long time and still not finding a single shred of light from the ceiling of the cavern, she gave up and stopped. She dropped to her knees and grasped her chest, over her lungs. With every breath she took her chest screamed in pain. Tears came to Toni’s eyes, but as they began to trickle down her cheek they froze. She coughed, which sent her chest into more pain. She groaned as her vision began to blur, she tried to get back to her feet but only succeeded in falling flat on her stomach. Her cheek made contact with the floor it was colder than ice, she was now sure that it had gotten colder as she walked further. Toni smiled, she could hardly believe that she would end up dying in such a pathetic manner, and that she would never be found. She exhaled slowly and shallow. Her eyes closed.What she didn’t know was that she was very wrong.
~**~

It was the whistling of the kettle that disturbed her from her slumber. She sat up and began to crawl from her bed to go and shut it off. She tried to remember putting on the kettle but only managed to feed her migraine. The whistling stopped and Toni fell back into the bed, glad she didn’t have to go turn off the kettle, the little mole-looking woman had done it for her.Toni held her breath for a moment, thinking about the sight she had just seen. In an instant Toni was on her feet, though she couldn’t stand upright completely because the house was so small.“Well I see yer awake dear,” chirped the small, plump, homely woman, “ I wuz worr’ied you’d neva wake oop. It’s quite a challenge to drag one of yer kind in and ‘ut of the house.” Toni nodded in agreement, the woman was no more than three feet tall wtoth a very round figure. Her face was round, accented by her round nose, which stuck out from her face a little longer than the norm. Her hands only had three fingers and one thumb and were just as round as the rest of her body. Of course it would be challenging dragging someone double your size into your home.“Excuse me, could you explain to me what happened? Last I remember I-”
“Wuz lyin’ in the freezing’ cav’ern breathin’ yer last breath and found it ironic someone of yer stature wuz goin’ to ‘ave such a pathe’ic death?” the woman abruptly interrupted. “Something like that.” Toni replied and sat back on the bed, which she eventually realized was the woman’s Den with a sea of blankets and pillows for cushioning.“ ’ell you see, I wuz on my way home fem a visit with a friend in the forest. You’re jus’ lucky I took the shortcut home. I don’t usually, it’s too bleedin’ cold in that cavern fer my taste. But you see the weather was turnin’ nasty up ther’,” She pointed toward the ceiling with one of her sausage like fingers, “ ‘en whaddya know, I end up stumbling’ across a new body in the cav’ern. I wuz jus’ goin’ to leave you, but I noticed yer still breathin’, then I felt yer still slightly warm. So I dragged you here.”“I am in your debt,” Toni bowed her head, “I will do anything to repay you ma’am. Just name it and it shall be done.” The woman broke out into a soft chuckle, her whole stomach bounced slightly with each laugh. She gathered her apron in her hands and turned to leave the room. “You owe me nothing’, it wuz the right thing ta do. You want some tea?”“That would be great.” Toni cleaned up her bed, folding the blankets as nicely as she could. They were all so small she knew there must’ve been many put down for her bed. By the time she had finished folding the blankets there were at least twenty piled up along the wall.Toni crouched through the small doorway and made her way toward the kitchen. She followed the woman’s humming and the clanking of cups on saucers. She walked slowly so as to not knock anything from the wall and to not bump the lights that hung low.Toni sat on the floor next to the table, and she ended up being at eye level with the woman sitting at the opposite end of the table. She cleared her throat and coughed loudly.“’scuze me,” She coughed again, “I believe I’m developin’ a cold. Damn cav’ern.” Toni sipped at her tea, the woman had poured Toni’s tea into a small pail. It was the perfect size for Toni‘s hands. “I would like to repay you for your kindness ma’am. It would be the right thing to do,” The woman looked over her teacup with small round eyes. So small in fact that Toni couldn’t distinguish the colour. “Quit callin’ me ‘ma’am’ wouldja. The names Nyx,” She sipped from her cup again then placed it on the saucer, “Like I said before I don’ want anything’ from ya. So let it be, rest up and I’ll getcher back to the forest.”Toni hesitated, wanting to argue her case and do something for the woman, but she figured it would be nicer to just let it go as she had requested. Once she finished with her tea Toni walked back to the wash room and began the difficult task of bathing in a tub three times too small.~**~The King paced along the throne room. Hoping a messenger would burst in the door claiming his son had been found, alive and in one piece. His thoughts were in vain. Lola requested that only high ranking officials and herself were allowed to be in the presence of the King. All guards were stationed outside of the throne room and then at every entrance and exit of the castle.The large doors swung open and Lola walked into the room, a small smile on her face greeted the kings eyes.“No,” Lola said, knowing the king would repeat the question he had been asking these past few days. The king slumped down in his throne chair and pinched the bridge of his nose.“I thought you said these people were the best! And were fast!”“This is a complicated predicament Sir! They will get the job done, they sent out the best,” Lola’s smile faded, “Toni is the best in the village and she will find your son.” The young girl turned on her heel and walked from the room, the large door slammed closed behind her.“That damned Toni took another one of my missions,” her fists clenched and her brow furrowed, “I’ll teach that bitch a lesson. I’ll become better than her.”Lola didn’t notify anyone that she was leaving the kingdom for a while. No one noticed either. The king was rather glad to have the tense girl out of his sight and mind for a while.She pulled her hair back tightly and suited up in the best armor H.Q. could offer. She grabbed a black bag and left the building without being noticed. She pulled the small mission plan from her pocket to see where Toni had started her journey. Lola reached the woods in only two days, bags had developed beneath her eyes due to lack of sleep. With each step she took into the forest, the farther from Toni she would be. Lola stopped walking and looked in the direction where she heard the noise of snapping twigs and crunching leaves. She balled her fists and watched with keen eyes, prepared for the worst since she hadn’t noticed any sort of life in the forest so far. A small plump woman emerged from the trees and glanced over at the girl. The woman wasn’t startled or frightened, she merely walked up to a large oak tree and knocked on it in four different places. A large hole was suddenly visible in the trunk. The woman stepped into it and the trunk became whole once again.Lola shook her head and eyed the tree as she walked by. “That was a neat trick,” she mused as she continued onward into the heart of the forest.~**~Toni reached the bank of the river just before sundown, like Nyx had promised. “keep goin’ that way fer a while and ye’ll end up at the ri’er bank. Then get across the ri’er and go north east fer a day or so. You’ll end up runnin’ into that strange abandoned castle I told you aboot,” Nyx had instructed before they parted ways.Toni jumped from the river edge, into the middle of the cool refreshing water, landing on a large boulder. The bottom half of her body was soaked. She jumped again, with more force since she now weighed more and landed at the very edge of the opposite riverbank. She decided it would be useless changing her pants at the moment since she had little daylight left. She ran northeast according to her compass, running until it was pitch black. She would’ve kept going with the aid of her flashlight but thought that may be dangerous. Drawing such attention to herself when she was near blind was not a healthy thing to do.She pulled a sleeping bag from her black bag and rolled it out. Changing out of her soaked pants, she hung them up on the lone tree she was currently camping under. Grabbing the still warm parcel Nyx had given her before they left her home, she opened it up to the welcoming smell of fresh bread and fried meats. She eagerly ate some of the meal before going to sleep.The following morning was not welcoming, the wind blew fiercely and lightning crackled loudly in the distance. Toni was on her feet early, walking against the wind. Her pants were blown from the tree, which she found unfortunate since they were her favorite pair.Her eyes were shielded by the goggles she put on, she donned a nice warm jacket to keep her both warm and dry. On her hands were thin gloves made just for her hands, the pads on her fingertips and palm used her body heat to keep her hands warmer than normal gloves. She gritted her teeth and cursed the wind in many ways as she walked against it. Glancing constantly at her compass to ensure she kept her direction, she had to adjust herself twice.~**~The only difference between him having his eyes opened or closed was the psychedelic pattern dancing on his eyelids. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering what had happened and where he was.

“urgn,” he groaned as he rolled onto his back. Slowly he sat up and blinked wildly trying to make out any objects in the darkness. Deciding this may have been too drastic of a move he leaned back into the comfort of the very large bed he was in.He pushed the blankets down off his body and lay there in nothing but red silk pants and countless bandages wrapped around his body. The door clicked open and a cold draft found its way around the room making goose pimples rise on the boy’s body.

“I see you’re awake,” said the figure lurking in the dark doorway, fingers curling around the doorframe, his skin was so pale the boy had no problem seeing his face.

“Who’re you?” he whispered trying to sit up again but finding this to be extremely strenuous and decided it wasn’t worth the effort.“I am, the man who has made your life worth something. I am the man who will make you stronger, smarter and in the end you’ll have power beyond and you could have ever imagined,” he said in a voice that creaked here and there for dramatic effect.

“I don’t need or want any of that,” lied the prince now trying to get up and out of the home of this mad man.“Don’t lie to me boy, I can walk through your mind as if I were walking down my hallway,” his thick foreign accent complimented his words, “You desire more power, more fame… you don’t just want to be known to your people, your kingdom! You want to be known to the world! You want to strike fear into the hearts of those who wish to oppose you.”The man stepped into the room and walked over to a large window that was hidden by an even larger, thick velvet drape. He pulled on the small golden rope that sat next to it and it flew open letting the morning sun pound into the room and gave the prince’s migraine a boost.

His eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the room and now fixated on the man that stood before him at the foot of the bed.“I know you, better than you do lad,” he tapped his temple with a pale finger that shone white in the sunlight then pointed at the boy before turning to make his grand exit.

“Wait,” the boy said sitting fully upright and reaching out toward him, “If this is all true, why would you help me?” “Because, my boy,” he said as he walked to the door, once he reached the doorframe he turned his body slightly so he could face the young man for his exiting words, “ I scratch your back… you scratch mine.” With that he walked from the room, letting the door close behind him.~**~“Go!” she shouted waving her hands trying to scare the small clueless creature away. She thought loud noises and sudden movements were supposed to scare these creatures off. It seemed though they were more intrigued to come forward and crowd around her.“Shoo!” She kicked her foot out making a half dozen of the creatures back up. “Would you go mind your own business you dumb furballs!” Now she decided it was time for drastic measures. Grabbing a handful of rocks from the ground she began to chuck them at the things. All they did was jump back then pile closer and closer until now they were threatening to crawl on her.

“You are invading my personel bubble,” which she cleverly outlined with her hands, “See! You are too close and need to- ahhh geroff me!” One had jumped onto the back of her knee and was making its way toward her shoulder.

She jumped around twisting and turning but in the end the creature managed to make it to the top of her head, where it sat and had a lovely view of the mountains. It squeaked and chirped bragging of the lovely view, and now everyone wanted to see. They all flocked until the girl was completely covered in squirrel like creatures. The only difference was the fact that they had the heads of monkies, the bodies of squirrels and the tails of raccoons. Their colours ranged from black and white to light blue and hot pink. The ones with the brighter colours were more likely noticed by predators so there were fewer of the colorful ones.

“AHHH!!!!!” shouted Lola picking off the animals as quickly as she could and running in the direction her feet carried her. Her goal now was to jump into a lake of some kind, or hope they’d all develop some sort of allergy to her. Whichever came first.“Excuse me,” hummed a pleasant voice to the girl’s right, she stopped screaming and turned around.

“Would you just go please,” asked the boy she was now facing.“I-I’m sorry for the fuss I was ju-” the boy raised his hand.
“I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to them,” he pointed in her direction, “So would you lot please go away.”One by one the creatures jumped from the girl to the forest floor and all disappeared as swiftly as they had shown up. Lola stared in bewilderment at the boy. “How did you? They just…” she trailed off, running a hand through her hair and looking over her shoulders.“They’re panic seekers, if you panic as they swarm they wont leave you alone until you become bored with them, because once you’re bored of them they’re bored of you. You see?”Lola nodded and thought the concept over for a moment, then decided the boy knew what he was talking about.“Farewell,” the boy bowed his head and turned on his heel.“Wait! Wait a second, just a moment. I was wondering, you by chance haven’t seen a girl… in a similar outfit as mine walking by here. Shes about yeigh tall,” she raised her hand a little higher than her head, “and is probably a little heavier than myself.” she added just to jab at Toni. “And she’s rather dull.”“Uh, no, I’m sorry but I haven’t come across anyone in a while, except you.. I was wondering when you’d show up. Well… ta,” he turned again.“Wondering when I’d be here?” she asked as she folded her arms across her chest and stared with her most intense stare.“Well, its rather hard to explain I’m afraid.”
“Don’t worry, take your time,” she sneered and stepped up until she was invading his personal bubble.“I’m a “Remote viewer” to put it in words,” The girl nodded obviously not understanding when he was talking about, “Ok here, let me show you. Follow me.”Lola hesitated and the boy noticed. He sighed and turned to face her, holding out his hand.“Lola, I am Halyn and I promise no harm will come to you while you’re with me,” He smiled gently and Lola couldn’t help but melt. She took his hand and let him lead her into the trees.“A remote viewer, is a very unique profession. So some people thought of it as wizardry and exiled me from my hometown,” Lola still not understanding what it was he did just nodded and waited for him to continue, “I can see things, when someone asks or I just try hard I can see it, but I can’t see it exactly… I don’t see everything until I’m done and put everything together.”“This isn’t making sense,” Lola confessed.“It will shortly,” they came up to a house snuggled in the trees, “Won’t you come in?” He pushed open the front door and Lola followed him inside, she looked around the room. Walls were covered in sloppy drawings, when you concentrated on the pictures you could see exactly what they were. Each paper had a small list of odd things in the top left corner, like a list of things.“I’ll get us something to drink before I explain everything,” he quickly disappeared through a set of swinging doors, “feel free to make yourself at home,” he shouted from what she guessed was the kitchen.~**~
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