Chapter five of my new book

Chapter five

In the spot where the portal had been, now stood what appeared to be a tree, but unlike any tree I had ever seen. It stood amongst the destroyed buildings ruble, towering over us by at least thirty feet, its branches spread out twenty feet in every direction. It was thin, without any leaves. What was odd about the tree was that it was made of beautiful red stone. Another odd thing about the tree was that it moved. The branches swayed back and forth, like it was trying to wiggle its way out of the ground.

“What is it?” Dart asked. “It’s really pretty.”

“I don’t know, but it’s weird.” I said, unsure of what to do. Sarah seemed transfixed on the tree, unable to look away. She slowly stepped closer, holding out her hand to the tree.

“What are you doing?!” Dart shouted completely afraid.

“I just want to touch it.” She said smiling. The tree seemed to be able to see her, and pulled its branches away from her hand.

“I don’t think it likes you.” I said, almost the same pink color as Dart. Grrrrrrr… MilkChip growled and showed her teeth to the tree, like it was an enemy. “Come on Sarah. Get back here.” I sounded like an afraid and wimpy kid, but MilkChip didn’t like the tree, so neither did I.

Sarah reached up on her tippy toes, extending her fingers out to one of the branches only inches away. Then before Sarah could react, the branch slammed down just in front of her, shaking the ground so hard she fell on her butt.

Dart turned yellow and MilkChip almost jumped five feet in the air she was so startled. I ran to Sarah and pulled her to her feet. She didn’t need any help from there. She was easily out of the branches reach in seconds, I was just behind her.

The branch lifted up and returned to its wiggling. One of its roots pulled itself out of the ground, followed by several others. It was slowly pulling itself up and out of the ground. In about a minute, all of its roots were free of the ground and it was slowly walking away towards the fields. Everyone in town was watching, completely in shock, even Dr. Emberstone, who had a backpack on and a rope over his shoulder now.

“That is one weird tree.” Dart said, now light blue.

“I agree.” Sarah said. “Thanks.” She said to me with a smile.

“No problem.” I said breathing heavy. The tree was slowly making its way out of sight, crawling off into the fields towards Clarafade.

“Three portals in one day, our universe is on a role!” Dart said.

“It’s weird, there’s never been more than two in one week.” Sarah said. “I feel sorry for whoever lived in that building.” She pointed at the ruble covering the ground.

“Yeah, there are a lot of weird things happening today. I mean what’s with the red clouds?” I said.

“Yeah that is weird.” Sarah said. “Well, what do you want to do?”

“I have some left over onyx sleets from my Mom. We can go get some Sweet Goo and Tolly Pops.” Tolly Pops are candy that look like jagged rocks. When you lick them, it sends a tingling shock through your tongue. It’s really cool and a lot of fun.

“Yeah sure, let’s go to the Fizzy Fart.” The Fizzy Fart is like our candy shop. It has pretty much every kind of candy or junk food a kid could ever want. It’s owned by Riley Potterput. He’s a Shorkle. He’s pretty much a short, fat, pig with a blonde tuft of hair on his head. Put him in a grey suit jacket and a blue bow tie, and stand him up on his back two feet. That’s what Riley Potterput looks like. He’s got a gruffly voice, and sounds like a girl in high heels when he walks because his two hooves tap the wood floor in his shop.

As we were on our way to the Fizzy Fart, Dr. Emberstone ran up to us. He was carrying a lot of supplies for his trip up Clarafade. “Do you know where I could buy a horse or an animal that I could ride? I’m not exactly in the best shape of my life, and the path to my lab isn’t an easy hike to make.” He asked.

“Well, Dolly Dorty sells Ule, and you could probably get a horse from Jeff Kertson.” Two horses had been sucked up through a portal a few years before I came to Craz-Tow, ever since we’ve had a good amount of them around town, pretty helpful animals.

“But Jeff Kertson left town a few days ago to pick his crops. He’ll be back tomorrow though, if you can wait.” Sarah said.

“No I can’t wait, and a Ule won’t do.” He said quite disappointed.

“Well you’re going to have to compromise on something.” Dart said. MilkChip rubbed against Dr. Emberstone’s leg and sniffed his leg. She though he smelled like lemons and dust.

“Are you sure this Jeff Kertson will arrive tomorrow?” Dr. Emberstone said and Sarah nodded. “Alright, then I will remain here tonight and leave first thing in the morning. Would you point me in the direction of the Inn?”

“It’s over there.” Dart said and suddenly the ground light up with flashing arrows all in a line pointing towards the Forth Leg.

“Thank you, your help is much appreciated.” Dr. Emberstone said and followed the arrows.

“He’s an odd fellow.” Dart said and we nodded in agreement with him.

The Fizzy Fart smelled like strawberries and chocolate and vanilla, which isn’t what you’d expect when you hear the name. The walls were covered in shelves and filled with hundreds of different candies of all colors. The entire room was filled with tables and boxes full of everything we could ever eat.

Riley greeted us as we came in and offered us each a complimentary berry bean. Glogger, Riley’s pig, which was lime green with hunter green lines and red ears, waddled over to MilkChip and they began taking turns sniffing each other. Riley bought Glogger a few years ago so he could eat all of the candy kids dropped on the floor. It always seemed odd to me that he owned a pig as a pet, but odd seems to be our thing here in Craz-Tow.

“What are you looking for today?” Riley asked. “I just got a new box of Torguf balls and grump tongue glue.”

“We need three glasses of Sweet Goo and three Tolly Pops.” I said pulling out two onyx sleets to pay for the order.

“What colors would you like those Tolly Pops to be?” Riley asked. Sarah asked for a red one which is Gilber berry flavored, Dart asked for a purple one which is Waterflow flavored, and I asked for a dark blue one which is Doofly flavored. “That will be two onyx sleets.” Riley said and poured three glasses of Sweet Goo and handed them over to us. It took him a bit longer to get the Tolly Pops. He had to carry a ladder across the room and climb it all the way to the top. When he climbed back down, he was carrying three Tolly Pops.

“Thanks.” Sarah said as Riley handed them over. Dart immediately shoved his into his mouth and started smiling as it delightfully shocked his tongue. I licked mine a few times and gulped down my glass of Sweet Goo. MilkChip barked and wagged her tail, hoping to get a treat of her own.

“Here you go MilkChip, on the house.” Riley threw a small chew bone at MilkChip that she caught in the air. She immediately devoured it, and then turned her attention to her squeak toy.

After we were all done with our Sweet Goo, we said good bye to Riley and headed out, our tongues tingling with shock.

“Thanks Damian.” Sarah said and patted me on the back.

“Yeah, thanks Damian.” Dart said with his mouth full, he was a swirling mixture of blue, pink, green, and yellow. “Well, I should be going. Bye guys!” Dart said and headed back home.

“Yeah, I should get going too. See you later Damian.” Sarah said. I waved her goodbye and turned and ran towards my house. There were some things I really wanted to tell my Mom that I knew she would be interested in.

That night, after we had all gone home, out in the fields, a white light appeared. It began to grow and continued to grow far past all of the others. It grew wide and long and covered almost a third of the entire field. The sound of gusting wind was almost deafening. Then there was a sound of clashing thundered that shook the sky and the light disappeared, leaving in its place an entire army, and a Queen.

Chapter four of my new book

Chapter four

After I left the Fourth Leg, I began to notice something odd. The sky was covered in a thin layer of red and black clouds, with flashes of lightning far off in the distance. In all my years here in Craz-Tow, I have never seen red clouds. But no one worried, it may not have been unusual to see red clouds, but it was usual to see unusual things.

“Damian! Damian! Help me!” I turned around to see Dart running towards me. Dart was another one of my best friends. He’s little unusual, and hard to describe. Have you ever eaten Jello? Well he is Jello, but like a clear watery Jello. He’s only a little bit bigger than your hand, has two small eyes, two short arms, and no legs. He just glides around almost like a slug. He’s very colorful though, literally. He has the ability to control light and color, so his body is constantly changing color or colors. He could be six different colors all mixed up at once. But like I was saying before, he has the ability to control light and color, which means he can do almost anything with light and color. He can flash so bright it would blind you, or shoot little arrows of color at you, though they can’t hurt you, their just color. He can throw color behind you or in front of you and anywhere else. It’s a pretty cool ability.

At the moment, Dart was flashing yellow and yelling my name. He was being chased by Jed, Fred, and Ped, who had unfortunately figured out that if they hit Dart he would change color. So they often resorted to throwing him back and forth and bouncing him on the ground like a ball.

Dart slid up my leg, around my back, over my shoulder, along my arm, and in my hand. Now he was a bright red color with an angry look on his face.

“Their trying to make me change colors again Damian!” Dart said very upset.

“Hand him over Damian.” Jed demanded.

“Yeah, hand him over and we won’t pound in your face!” Fred said smacking a fist into his hand.

“Go dunk your head in Ule poop. Dart isn’t a toy, so leave him alone.” I said.

“Yeah! Leave me alone you big bullies!” Dart said and shot a red arrow of color at each one of them. They flinched for a second, then stepped forward and reached for Dart. Luckily MilkChip dropped her squeak toy and stepped in at that moment with a deep growl that scared them into stepping back.

“Put a leash on your dog Damian!” Ped said a little frightened.

“Maybe we should put a leash on each of you and tie you to a tree near the river and leave you there all night.” Sarah said stepping beside me.

“Hi Sarah, how are you?” Jed, Fred, and Ped all spoke at the same time. Each of them secretly had a crush on Sarah.

“I’ll be better when you stop messing with Dart.” She said forcefully. Jed, Fred, and Ped were also a little afraid of her, seeing that she was twice as strong as them and now knew how to use a bow with deadly accuracy.

“We were just leaving.” Jed said and slowly stepped back. Fred and Ped both nodded in agreement and then ran off out of sight.

“Thanks Sarah.” Dart said, now suddenly blue.

“No problem Dart.” She said with a smile. “Hey, who is that?” She pointed to a man walking around in a white lab coat and glasses. He was wearing pointy black leather shoes with double knotted laces, and a brown button up shirt. He had messy black hair that stuck out in almost every direction, a thin pointy nose, and a large mouth. He looked to be an older man, like he was in his forties or fifties. His skin was starting to wrinkle and grey hairs were beginning to outnumber his black ones.

“I don’t know. He must be new.” Dart said.

“That’s weird. I met another new guy just a little while ago.” I said.

“Two new guys in one day, that is weird.” Sarah said.

“I wonder where he’s from.” Dart said.

“We should go say hello.” Sarah said and we all walked over to him.

“Hi there, welcome. I know this is all confusing, but you’re in a town call Craz-Tow.” Sarah said.

“Yes, I know where I am. It’s changed a lot since the last time I was here, but it’s still the same Craz-Tow I left so long ago.” His voice was strong and rugged, but filled with knowledge and a little rushed, like he was in a hurry.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?” I asked confused.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have much time. I’m kind of in a hurry. My name is Dr. Emberstone, and I used to live here twenty three years ago. That is, before my machine teleported me into another universe. Do you know where I can find some supplies? I need to get to the top of Clarafade Mountain.” He sounded very rushed.

“What are you talking about? What is a machine? And how did it teleport you into another universe?” I said, overwhelmingly confused.

“I’m sorry I can’t explain more to you, but if I don’t get to my lab in Clarafade Mountain, this universe is going to come to an end!” Dr. Emberstone looked really serious, which frightened us.

“The Floppy Flat market should have everything you’ll need.” Dart said, now a purple color, and slightly shivering.

“Where is it?” We all pointed in the direction of the Floppy Flat market. Dr. Emberstone immediately bolted off into that direction, his white lab coat flapping in the air behind him.

“Wow, he seemed pretty serious.” Sarah said. “What did he mean by the universe would come to an end?”

“I don’t know. I hope he’s wrong though, and if he’s right, I hope he gets to his lab in Clarafade Mountain.” I said, Sarah and Dart both nodding in agreement.

BOOM! Boom! BOOM! Garroth pounded the ground as he landed just behind them, sending gusts of air rushing past us with his wings. Dart turned bright pink he was so frightened.

Garroth tucked his wings against his body and lifted his tail high above the ground, so he wouldn’t accidently hit it against anything. He learned his lesson after he destroyed our town hall with one swipe of his tail.

We gave Garroth a wave, he replied with a loud grunt, then turned and headed towards the fields.

“So, what do you want to do?” Sarah asked.

“I’m not sure.” I said and took a deep breath. MilkChip rubbed against Sarah’s leg and looked up at her with whimpering eyes. She wanted to be pet badly. Sarah smiled and scratched MilkChip behind her ear.

It was then that I noticed a small marble sized white light hovering above the ground a few feet away near a building. The light was slowly getting larger, and there was a whistling sound of wind. In a few seconds the white light was as big as me and we were all watching it, the sound of whistling wind growing into the sound of strong gusts.

“It’s a portal!” Dart yelled as we started to feel the white light pulling us in. “Run!” We turned and bolted away as fast as we could. The building near the portal was beginning to crack, and then suddenly it crumbled down and was sucked into the portal along with everything that was inside. Then with a loud smashing sound, the portal flashed bright white and then disappeared along with the building.

Everything was silent, all of the people in the town starring in awe at what was now in the spot where the portal had been.

Chapter three of my new book

Chapter three

I forgot to tell you, but I have a dog named MilkChip. She’s an Arctic Wolf with solid white fur and light violet eyes. She’s as big as I am, and twice as sweet, though she can’t talk like some animals in our universe. She is my second best friend, and when I woke up this morning she was sleeping beside me in bed, slowly nudging me further and further to the edge of the bed so she could have the middle. I gave her a quick shove to push her back onto her side, but she was too heavy for my weak arms to move. She just lifted her head and gave me a confused look, then lifted my nose, leaving saliva in my nostrils.

“Ewww! Stop that!” I shouted and leaned back away from her tongue, which was a mistake because I fell off the bed and hit the floor with a thud. MilkChip crawled to the edge of the bed and looked down at me with her head sideways and her ears straight up, almost like she wanted to laugh at me. “Fine, have the bed, I’m awake now anyway.”

I slowly dressed up in a light pink shirt and brown trousers. The pink shirt was MilkChip’s idea. She dragged it out of my closet and held it up to me, leaving a mouthful of slobber on the right arm sleeve. “Pink? Really?” I asked skeptically. MilkChip gave an enthusiastic nod and what appeared to be a smile. “Alright, whatever you say.” I put on the shirt, and of course the arms were too long again so I rolled them up to my elbows. Most of my clothes were from other children in Craz-Tow and some are even my Dads from when he was young, so most don’t fit me.

MilkChip gave a pleased bark and then headed into the kitchen. I followed once I pulled on my sandals. Mom and Dad were both sitting down at the table eating eggs and toast with a glass of Ule milk. Mom was sitting on an extra tall chair so she could see over the table that had to be big enough for Dad.

“Morning son, how did you sleep?” My Dad asked as he finished his cup of milk.

“Morning Dad, I slept well.” I said and sat down in front of a plate full of eggs and two pieces of toast. MilkChip sat beside me. She was almost tall enough to see over the table. I held out one of the pieces of toast to her and she devoured it.

“Eat up. You had a long day yesterday.” My Mom said gesturing to my food.

“He had a long night too, and with that pretty Elf Sarah.” My Dad said with a smile and then nudged me with his elbow. My Dad had the weird notion that Sarah and I were the perfect match for each other. He thought that we spent all of our time together kissing and talking about our feelings for each other, instead of what we actually did which is just have fun and be kids.

“Dad!” I said disgusted. “I’ve told you a million times; Sarah and I are just friends!”

“Alright, whatever you say.” Dad said with a wink. “Well, I have to go. I have a long day ahead of me.” He said and gave my Mom a quick kiss on the cheek. “Have a good day Damian.” He said and gave MilkChip a pat on her head before heading out the front door.

I quickly ate down all of my eggs and toast, and then drank my milk. Mom gave MilkChip a bowl of food and then began working on the dishes. “What do you have planned for today honey?” She asked.

“Nothing, why?” I asked.

“Well, I could use some things from the store. You could get them for me if you want.” She asked.

“Yeah sure, why not.”

“Oh good, the list of things I need and some onyx sleets are on the counter. Hurry back.” I picked up the list and scanned over it. It was full of pretty basic house items for my Mom like soaps and cleaners and some fruits and vegetables, and then there were some items for my Dad like hardened Ule leather and heat resistance leather gloves. Items he used for his job, and couldn’t go without.

I slid the list in my pocket and then grabbed a small leather sack of onyx sleets. Onyx sleets are our form of money. There thin stone grey pieces of shiny rock from the Clarafade Mountain. My Dad earns about thirty onyx sleets a week, which is pretty good in Craz-Tow.

“Alright, I’ll be back soon.” I said and whistled to MilkChip to follow me outside. It was another beautiful day in Craz-Tow, and MilkChip and I were feeling good. The Floppy Flat market wasn’t far. I always enjoyed shopping there. The Floppy Flat is run by Sherri Gutto, who is an Elemental. An Elemental is basically a human covered in brown bark and the occasional patch of green moss. Instead of hair she has leaves on her head and her eyes are golden. She looks like a tree.

When MilkChip and I arrived at the Floppy Flat market, there were four of five people walking around taking things off the shelves. Sherri greeted us as with a friendly smile and a doggy treat for MilkChip.

“Welcome to the Floppy Flat market Damian and MilkChip.” She said with another smile. “What are you looking for today?”

“Just some stuff for my Mom and Dad.” I said.

“Oh, well if you need any help just ask.” I nodded and started my hunt through the store with MilkChip. I started with the food on the list, Quak, Troppy, and Potatoes. Yeah, we have potatoes too. Once I scratched off all of the food on the list I moved on to the cleaners my Mom needed. Just simple things like brushes and bath soap. O, and a perfume my Mom likes to wear when my Dad takes her out on dates. It smells like warm apple pie, my Dad loves it! After twenty minutes of shopping there were only two items left on the list, my Dads hardened leather and gloves. I found them at the back of the store and piled them up in my arms with everything else.

“Did you find everything that you needed?” Sherri asked as I approached the checkout counter.

“Yes I did. I’ll take all of this.” I replied and piled everything onto the counter. SQUEAK! MilkChip jumped her two front legs up onto the counter and dropped a drool covered squeak toy next to everything else. “And that toy.” I said patting MilkChip on the head.

Sherri scanned over all of the items, and then piled them into a large paper bag. “That will be sixteen onyx sleets Damian.” I opened the leather sack and counted out sixteen sleets and handed them over. “Thank you Damian. You business is much appreciated.” Sherri said with a smile and handed over the bag.

MilkChip immediately started barking, she wanted her toy. I reached into the bag and shuffled through the items and pulled out her squeak toy. Her tail wagged excitedly. For the next five minutes, all I heard was SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK! The toy was completely covered in drool.

Everyone in town was out and doing their usual routines all except one. It was someone I had never seen before, someone new. He was huge! He had to be at least nine feet tall, and three feet wide. He was wearing evil looking black armor and a black helmet over his head. The armor had spikes and odd symbols and weird lines all through it. On his back, there was a big broad sword in a leather sheath. It looked very dangerous, and he looked pretty much as evil as it comes.

No one seemed to notice the man, they were all too busy to stop and say hello. So MilkChip and I walked over to greet him. “Hi, I’m Damian and this is MilkChip. I’m guessing you’re new around here, right?” The man silently looked at me and MilkChip. “What’s your name?” He didn’t answer. “You do have a name, don’t you?” He still didn’t answer. He just continued to stare at me. “Alright, well, I’ll just call you Bob. I think it suites you.”

Bob looked around, like he was confused and in a dream he couldn’t wake up and get out of. “I know this is all a little confusing, but you’ve just been sucked up out of your universe and brought here to ours. You can never go back to where you’re from, but you can live here with us. This is our town, Craz-Tow. If you want, I can bring you to Mead, he’ll give you a room to stay in and some food until you get a job and can support yourself.” Bob looked at me with a sideways head, like he couldn’t understand a word of what I had just said, or he thought I was some crazy boy his dream had conjured up to annoy him.

“Well…” I said once I was sure he wasn’t going to respond. “Just follow me. I have to drop off this stuff at my house, but my house is on the way to the Fourth Leg.” MilkChip squeaked her toy a few times before turning and following me to the house. At first Bob didn’t move. He looked at me confused, then at all of the strange things around him. I think he decided he would take his chances with me over the Goblins, Ogres, and Garroth, who were all starring at him now.

Bob ran to my side and seemed rather nervous for a person of his size and strength. He could easily take down anyone in Craz-Tow. Well all except for Garroth, but even he would have some trouble with Bob, especially with the sword he carried around. MilkChip seemed to like him though. She repeatedly tried to get him to take her toy and throw it. She would squeak it three or four times and then drop it in front of him. Bob always walked right past it though, so I picked it up and threw it for her.

When we arrived back at my house, my Mom was sitting at the kitchen table knitting a scarf. It was three colors, red, green, and blue. She mixed the colors in strips and circles. She was just finishing it when we arrived.

“Hey Mom I’m back, and I got all of the things on the list.” I said and placed the bag onto the table. MilkChip jumped up and let her toy roll out of her mouth and onto the table.

“And some things that weren’t on the list I see.” My Mom said with a laugh and picked up MilkChip’s drool covered toy and threw it. MilkChip chased after it. “And who is this?” She asked as Bob stepped into the kitchen. He had to hunch down and in order to fit through the doorway, which was odd to see because the doorway had been built to fit my Dad, who was one of the largest people in town.

“This is Bob, he’s new here. I’m bringing him to Mead, but I thought I would stop here first.”

“Oh, Well it’s nice to meat you Bob. I’m sorry you were taken from your universe, but I hope you come to like it here. Craz-Tow is a really nice place.” My Mom sat up from the table and handed him her scarf. “Here, take this. I want you to have it.” Bob looked at the scarf puzzled, like he was unsure of what to do. “Here, let me.” My Mom grabbed his hand and pulled him until he knelt down on one knee. He still towered over her by three feet, so I gave her a chair to stand on. She was just barely tall enough with the chair to be able to wrap the scarf around his neck.

“There, it looks great.” She said with a smile. “Do you like it?”

“He’s not much of a talker Mom. Actually, he hasn’t said a word since I met him.” I said and helped her down from the chair. Bob looked at the scarf in astonishment. He wasn’t sure what to do, but he kind of liked it.

“Oh, well that is to be expected. He’ll come around to it in his own time.” She said. “Well, have a nice day. Don’t worry, Mead is a wonderful person. You’ll like him.” She started unpacking the bag and putting things in drawers and shelves around the kitchen.

“Alright Mom, I’ll be back later.” I said looking at Bob. He wasn’t looking as fierce with the scarf around his neck.

“Okay honey, you have fun.” MilkChip came running to my side as we left the house, still chewing on her squeak toy. Bob was starring at the scarf, running into things as he did. He still seemed fixated on the scarf, like it was the only thing anyone had ever given him, or the first scarf he had ever seen.

When we arrived at the Fourth Leg, Mead was standing behind the counter filling up a mug with cool Sweet Goo, and his wife Heely was sweeping the floor. Mead looked at me as he handed the mug to someone sitting by the counter.

“Welcome Damian! MilkChip! And the newcomer!” Mead’s voice was deep and almost always loud. “Who is this Damian?” He as he studied Bob, not sure what to make of him.

“This is Bob. It’s his first day here.” I said sitting down on a stool by the counter. MilkChip jumped up on the stool beside me and dropped her toy on the counter. Bob stood in the doorway, studying the people in the room.

“Well, you’re an odd fellow, but all are welcome here at the Fourth Leg. All except Wood Nikks! Darned things ate straight through my floor. I’m still fixing the hole.” Mead grabbed two mugs and a bowl and filled them up with Sweet Goo. He handed me one and placed the bowl in front of MilkChip. Mead held out the second mug out to Bob, who slowly stepped into the room. Bob starred at the Sweet Goo and grabbed the mug. He brought the mug to his helmet like he was smelling it, then he poured it through slits over his mouth. He seemed to like it.

“So you have a room for him?” I asked taking large gulps of Sweet Goo.

“Of course I do, he can stay as long as he needs.” Mead said with a smile.

“Who is this honey?” Heely asked.

“His name is Bob, he’ll be staying here with us for a little while.” Mead said while whipping down the counter.

“Well isn’t that nice. I’m Heely. It’s nice to meet you.” Heely’s voice was soft and sweet.

“He’s not much of a talker.” I said.

“Well that’s fine. I’ll show him to his room.” Heely grabbed his hand and began walking him away.

“Bye Bob, I’ll see you around.” Bob turned and gave a small wave before disappearing out of sight. “Well Mead, I’ll see you around too.”

“You have a good day now.”

MilkChip grabbed her toy off the counter, jumped down off the stool and followed me outside.

Chapter two of my new book

Chapter two

I woke up this morning at dawn, right as the sun began to light up the sky. I jumped out of bed and dressed myself up in brown trousers and a dark purple shirt with sleeves that were a little too long for my arms, so I rolled them up just past my elbows. I slipped on my pair of sandals and strapped them up tight, and then I was out of my room and into the kitchen where my Mom had just baked a fresh batch of muffins. She set them on the table, which was made of harden lave like the house, and place two cups of Ule milk down.

“Good morning deary, how did you sleep?” She asked, barely able to see over the table.

“Good.” I answered quickly and picked up two muffins and gulped down the Ule milk as fast as I could. “I’m meeting Sarah in the fields today; she’ll be waiting for me.”

“Alright, well when will you be home?!” She yelled at me as I ran for the door.

“I don’t know, sometime tonight I guess!” I yelled back as I leapt through the door and closed it behind me. Outside the sky was clear of clouds and a cool breeze swept through town, in the distance Clarafade Mountain was clearly visible. It was just another beautiful day in Craz-Tow.

I was meeting Sarah in the fields across town. I figured I could take my time and enjoy eating the two muffins. She was never on time anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

“Good morning Damian?” Mrs. Tebby said from the garden in front of her house as I walk by. Mrs. Tebby was a Goblin. Short, green, and a little ugly, though she had a great personality, and she loved to garden. Beautiful flowers of all colors were always blooming all times of the year. At the moment, there were large yellow flowers that smelled like honey. I always enjoyed walking past her house.

“Good morning Mrs. Tebby. How are you?”

“Good, have a nice day.” She said then returned to digging small holes to bury seeds. I continued on, passing The Forth Leg and a few shops as they set up for opening. Steam was beginning to rise from the bakeries chimney, and the scent of Mr. Jeklin’s sweet cakes and pies filled the air. Mr. Jeklin was a vampire, though instead of blood, he had a thirst for all things sweet. My favorite is his dikle-berry chocolate pie. Imagine strawberries and cherries mashed into a mushy paste, and then add sweet chocolate and stuff it into a pie. Whenever Sarah and I get are monthly allowance we always buy a dikle-berry chocolate pie, bring it to our secret hideout, and share it.

To add to the sweet smell of Mr. Jeklin’s bakery, a soft melody began to fill the air. Gretery was beginning to play his daily hour of music. Mayor Jurrlo had asked Gretery to walk around town and playing one hour of music a day. Jurrlo thought that it would help create a happy mood around town to wake up to the soothing sound of music. So Gretery plays a mixture of instruments from violins to flutes to trumpets. Today, he was blowing a soft tune on his flute as he walked through the streets.

I took a deep breath of sweet air and embraced Gretery’s soft melody as I finished off the last of my two muffins. My mouth was a little dry and I was beginning to crave a glass of cold Ule milk.

GRRRRRHHHHHHMMMMM! A loud grumbling roar filled the air and shook the ground. No one seemed to notice the sounds, they all knew it was just Garroth was waking up and doing his morning stretches. Garroth is a MASSIVE fire breathing dragon, strong and fierce looking! However, when it comes to Garroth, looks are a little deceiving. Imagine a dragon; now give him black as night scales, two pearl white horns on both sides of his head that stretch out past his mouth, and two catlike fierce black eyes. Give him white spikes all along his spine to his tail and make his tail look like a very spiky mace. Then give him massive broad wings and a body to scale and you have a picture of Garroth. However, as fierce and deadly as he may look, he has a personality like a five year old. He hops and bounces and giggles and smiles, and plays pranks and jokes on everyone he can. He’s one of my favorites in Craz-Tow.

In the corner of my eye I could see Garroth stretching out like a cat after a mid afternoon nap, spreading his wings out to the side. Then he stood and shook like a wet dog. When he was done, just after a large yawn where he showed the entire town his mouth full of razor sharp teeth, he leaped into the air and glided through the sky, casting a shadow on everyone below.

I continued on past Feron, the witch fortune teller, the Pelton Pint Pub, and Jastro the metal smith. Soon I was through Craz-Tow and into the fields where I was supposed to meet Sarah.

She was sitting on a large rock in the center of the field. She was wearing a green shirt and pants with her hair tied behind her head. She was wearing a leather side satchel that hung from one shoulder, and in her hands I could just barely make out a bow and three arrows. Of course, I was too far away to see what she was doing with the bow and arrows. Thhhheuuww! Through the air, one of her arrows slammed into the ground just in front of my feet. I slid to a stop and starred down at the arrow in shock! When I looked back up at her, she was smiling and almost laughing.

“You should see the look on your face!” She yelled out as she burst into laughter.

“Why would you do that? What if you had hit me?” My voice cracked and came out a little girlish.

“My parents are teaching me how to use a bow. I can hit a target over one hundred feet away.” She said proudly. I pulled the arrow out of the ground with a tug and ran over to the rock. I had a little trouble at first getting a hold on the rock, but then Sarah reached down and pulled me up. She was incredibly strong, stronger than even Jed, Fred, and Ped.

“Thanks.” I said and handed her the arrow. She took it and strung it across the bow.

“You see that tree over there?” She asked and pointed at a skinny tree about sixty feet away. I nodded. She pulled the arrow back across the string and took her aim. She breathed slow and focused her right eye down the arrow, and then released. The string slung the arrow through the air until it slammed into the trees trunk with a light thud.

“How long have your parents been teaching you?” I asked pretty amazed.

“Three days.” She said as she jumped down off the rock. “Come on! I found something yesterday I want to show you.” She yanked the arrow from the tree and put it in her leather satchel with the others, then slid the bow over her shoulder and let it hang across her back.

I jumped down off the rock and we started off towards the Clarafade Mountains. I struggled to keep up with her. She was an extremely fast runner. After a few minutes I was breathing heavy and begging for a break. Of course she just looked at me and laughed, hardly fatigued.

“Come on, it’s only a little further.” She said encouragingly. “It’s near the river; afterwards we can go for a swim.” I took a few more deep breaths and then we were off. We were out of the fields and into a wooden area at the bottom of Clarafade, in the distance the sound of a rushing river filled the air.

“It’s right over here.” Sarah said and ran ahead to a large tree that looked like it had been pushed over. It had crashed down and landed on several other trees, leaving the area looking like a battlefield of fallen trees. “Here it is.” Sarah said pointing down at something. It was a set of golden armor that gleamed in the sunlight and a silver sword that lying beside it. “I wonder who it came from.” Sarah said.

“Another universe I guess. It can’t be from here, I’ve never seen anything like it.” I mean I’ve seen armor and a sword before, but none like this. It was almost beautiful.

“I know, it’s really pretty.” Sarah said. I picked up the sword, which to my surprise was really light, and held it in the sun. It was then that I noticed that the edge of the blade was stained red. I immediately put it back down and backed away.

“I don’t like this, I think we should leave.” Sarah gave me a weird look, and then nodded with a sympathetic smile.

“Ok, let’s go swim.” We followed the sound of rushing water until we saw a bright blue stream. We both did a cannonball into the stream. The water was cool and quite refreshing. It was difficult not to be swept away in the strong current, but we swam here often and we both knew how not to be carried away.

We spent three hours swimming and diving off trees into the water, until it was nearly noon. That was when Sarah pulled herself out of the water and began drying off. “I found a dying Sweet Goo tree not far from here. It has some really good icicles on it.” She said picking up her bow and leather satchel. Sweet Goo trees are incredible. Once a day, usually around noon, their leaves release a steady stream of sweet liquid for about a minute. Most have been set up by people so that all of the liquid can be collected. Sweet Goo liquid is like our version of soda. It tastes kind of like a vanilla honey, it’s really good. When a Sweet Goo tree dies, instead of releasing liquid, it slowly gushes out sweet sludgy goo that forms icicles on the leaves. The icicles are like rock candy, and taste incredible.

After we both dried off, we headed to the Sweet Goo tree. It was a large tree with blood red leaves shaped like thin cups hanging upside down on the branches, long icicles hanging from each one. The bark of the tree was twisted and spiraled, and like all dying Sweet Goo trees, a dark black color. An aroma of vanilla filled the air.

Sarah walked under the leaves and started picking off the icicles, placing them in her leather satchel with the arrows. I grabbed a long icicle and took a big bite out of it, savoring the flavor. After Sarah had collected twenty icicles, she turned to me and smiled.

“Catch me if you can!” She yelled just before turning and bolting off out of sight. I did my best to keep up, but she was faster. She would slow down just enough for me to get close, then charge forward just out of reach and disappear out of sight just to reappear start all over again. I stood little chance at winning this game.

After twenty minutes of this nonstop chase, Sarah came to a dead stop in front of a small round animal. It was a baby Rooblle. Imagine a basket ball, now give it smooth leathery brown skin, two big beady kitten eyes, you know the ones that are cute beyond all reason, and a large mouth without teeth, just the pink gums and a long red tongue. Now give it two VERY short and stubby arms and legs that are just BARELY four inches long. Its legs are just barely long enough for it to stand and funnily wobble back and forth, but it doesn’t use its legs often. Rooblles roll around to get where they need to go. The babies roll pretty slow.

Now this is just the baby version, all cute and funny looking and completely harmless, but the adult version is a vicious and ugly animal of rage! Triple the baby versions size, give it SUPER sharp teeth, and cover its skin in sticky slim, boils, and warts. Now you have the adult version. O, and it can roll incredibly fast, it could outrun Sarah easily!

Sarah smiled and gave a soft giggle as she starred at the baby Rooblle. Its eyes were boiling in anger and its mouth pulled back as if to show the teeth that weren’t there. It waved its stubby arms as if to scare us away, making faint hissing sounds all the while. Even at a young age they were fierce at heart.

“Do you think its parents are around?” Sarah asked. The young Rooblle was now gnawing on her leg with its toothless mouth, leaking saliva all down her foot.

“I’m not sure. Usually the parents and the pups don’t separate. They must have lost each other.” I said cautiously scanning the area. A run in with an adult Rooblle is never a good thing, even if Sarah was armed with a bow and her deadly accuracy.

Sarah nodded and pulled her leg from the Rooblle’s mouth, then turned to me and kicked it. Its arms and legs immediately sucked into its body, turning into a smooth round ball. The baby Rooblle came to a stop at my feet.

“Let’s see how good you are.” Sarah said hunching over, prepared to stop the Rooblle from getting past her. It may seem cruel to use a small baby animal as a ball, but Rooblles have incredible strong bodies, they can be kicked around all day and not feel a think. All of the children in Craz-Tow use baby Rooblles as balls to play with.

Before the Rooblle could push its limbs back out and start wobbling away, I reached back my leg, aimed, and kicked it! It flew to the right of Sarah and what I thought would be out of her reach, of course I underestimated the skills of an elf. She slid her legs forward and stopped the Rooblle just before it could pass. Then without standing, she kicked the Rooblle back at me with blistering speed. It flew past me and off into the trees, slowly coming to a stop fifty feet or so away. Its stubby arms and legs popped out and it began slowly wobbling away to safety.

“Hah! I win!” She yelled standing up and doing a little victory dance of celebration.

“Aren’t Elves supposed to be gracious winners?” I said.

“Not all of the time.” She said back with a smile. She pulled a Sweet Goo icicle out of her satchel and snapped it in two, then threw one half over to me. For a few moments we sat and munched on the icicles in the shade of a large tree, in the distance they could hear the baby Rooblle hissing and every once in a while they would see it wobble from one tree to the next. Obviously it hadn’t appreciated our little game as much as we had. It wanted revenge, but seemed to understand it stood no chance against us, so it kept its distance, not wanting to provoke us into a rematch.

Once we finished our icicles, Sarah started up her game of chase again, taunting me to catch her knowing full well I never would. This continued on for two hours until I couldn’t go on any further. Sarah of course laughed at me. She was barely tired and could probably go on for hours more till nightfall. For the next couple of hours till dusk, we walked around just talking and passing the time, doing whatever came to mind.

When the sun finally set behind the Clarafade mountains, we were sitting on the rock in the field we had met in this morning. The field was light up with hundreds of Fireflies of all colors. In our universe, Fireflies light up in pink, blue, green, and yellow, which was really cool to see at night. It was like seeing a fireworks show. To add to the Fireflies, in the distance the Clarafade Mountains glowed in the night. The left side of the mountain was glowing red and orange with bursts of lave flying into the sky, while on the right side the stream of water glowed blue. It looked like both sides of the mountain were in a battle to take the sky, blue and red fighting to illuminate the darkness.

“Hmmmm… Well it was a great day Damian.” Sarah said with a sigh. “But I have to get back soon or my parents will worry.”

“Yeah, me too. Mom probably won’t serve Dad dinner until I get home. He won’t be happy about it.” I said as we both jumped off the rock. She gave be a big hug and handed me the last Sweet Goo icicle from her satchel, then we parted ways and headed back home, leaving the beautiful scenery behind.

In the dead of night, in the fields outside Craz-Tow, a small light flashed about four feet off the ground. A few seconds later the light came again, then again and again and again until the light was constant. Then it began to grow bigger, and a faint sound of wind filled the air. The light grew and grew until it was about the size of a doorway, and there was the sound of large gusts of wind. For a few seconds nothing changed, and then the doorway of light gave one blindingly bright flash of white light and then the sound of a hammer beating metal rang through the field and everything went silent and the light vanished. In its place, stood a man in a white lab coat wearing a pair of thin glasses. His lips were spread in a smile as he whispered. “I’m home…”

Chapter one of my new book

Chapter one

My name is Damian, I’m twelve and I live in Craz-Tow. I know, that’s a weird name for a town, but what can I say, I live in a weird universe. It’s a small town with a population of about four hundred people, creatures, animals, and some other things I’m not sure how to classify. Hmmm… let’s see, how do I explain this? Well, in my universe there is a very wide variety of people. There are Humans, Orges, Minotaurs, Elves, Dwarves, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Goblins, Ghouls, Giants, Unicorns, Witches, Wizards, talking animals, animals that don’t talk, massive Owls we call the Wise ones because of their great knowledge, and so on into a list far too long to write down. You’ll hear about the others soon enough. How my universe can to be this was is a little complicated, but I think I can explain it well enough for you to understand.

Imagine your universe as a small rock lying on the ground. The rock doesn’t move or just stand up and walk away, well that is unless some kids decide to play a game of slap leopard with it. Wait, you probably don’t know what that is, do you? Hmmm… Forget about that, back to what I was saying. Your universe is a rock, and so are all of the other universes. Yes, there are other universes, each of them filled with its own cool and unique people and things inside it, and they’re all just sitting around like rocks, just like yours.

So picture an open field filled with rocks, all lying around by themselves, none of them bothering each other or anything of that sort. Then imagine a coin on its side, now flick it with your finger. It begins to spin madly around in circles and runs into everything. Well, that’s us. Were the coin flying out of control and slamming into other universes that are just minding their own business. Whenever our universe touches another universe a portal between the two is opened and everything around the portal is sucked in. That means things from our side are pushed into their side while things from their side are pushed into ours. Anything can be sucked into the portal, people, plants and even an entire building. Trust me, it’s pretty weird to wake up in the morning and look out your window to see some random modern building lying flat on its side in your yard. Plus it is a pain to clean up, I mean you can’t just leave it there and no one in this universe would be caught dead living in of one those buildings. It’s just not natural here. Just like you wouldn’t live in one of our houses if it suddenly appeared in your front yard, even if it was nicer than what you’re living in now.

So that’s why we have so many unique people, and our list is still growing. From every universe they are sucked up and thrown into our world, and eventually we were just one big melting pot of different and weird people all living together. It’s really quite tragic at first, being taken from your universe and all, being forced to live in this new place, but after awhile everyone comes around to the idea of living here. Well, almost everyone. Some people go rather mad with the idea of never going home. I on the other hand love it here! I wasn’t born here of course, but I was sucked up through a portal and brought here when I was just a baby and adopted by my new family. My mom’s a Dwarf named Teara, and my dad’s an Orc name Bearog. Don’t let the name Orc fool you! He’s a great dad, just a big softy at heart with a rough exterior. You know, with the green skin with the warts and the big teeth that stick out of his mouth and the overly massive muscles. There all just a front to scare off people he doesn’t like. But when it comes to the people he does like, he couldn’t be nicer!

So now that you know why our universe is the way it is, I guess it’s time to tell you about Craz-Tow. It’s a smallish town just off the cliffs of the mountain Clarafade. Clarafade is a massive and steep mountain covered in beautiful green, blue, red, and black colors. You see, half of the mountain is a boiling, raging pile of fire and lava! While the other half is filled with trees and a streaming river. To the west, a river of flaming lava flows alongside the town, while on the east a cool stream of water flows. We use this to our advantage, by making our houses out of hardened lava. This somewhat makes them look like we piled up dark grey mud layer after layer until it formed a basic cube shaped house with a slightly slanted roof, two windows, and a door way large enough to comfortably fit an Orc. The finished product isn’t pretty, but they are the most durable houses in all the land, and only we know how to handle the lava and turn it into a house that won’t crumble. Plus, we have unlimited access to all the lava we could ever want. My Dad works as a lava collector. He pulls it out of the river and prepares it for the creation of a house or a few other things we use it for. As an Orc, his skin has an unusually high resistance to heat which makes him perfect for the job, anyone else who tries to get as close as he does to the lava would burn to a crisp.

Well, the rest of Craz-Tow is pretty normal with large open fields for crops and the raising of Ule and other cattle. Wait; do you know what Ule is? Probably not. Well, imagine a cow with a long horse like neck, now add droopy ears that hang a foot below its head and three tails on its butt. Then make the whole thing bright yellow, green, or pink and you have yourself a Ule. Odd, I know, but you can make an excellent Ule stew out of them, and their pretty fun to ride on when their young.

So, what else can I tell you about my universe and my town Craz-Tow? Hmmm… I’ve been having some trouble figuring out what to write. You know, where to start and what to talk about and how much to talk about it while making it all interesting enough for you to keep reading. It’s harder than you’d probably think! I mean just go ahead and try it! I bet you couldn’t make an entire story about your world. But of course your world is nothing like mine. You don’t have dragons or rivers of lava or brightly colored Ule. Well, you might have one or two of those, but not all of them in one place!

Alrighty, what can I tell you? I guess I should tell you about some of the important people around town, the ones whom hold our community together. Well, for starters, there is our mayor, Jurrlo. He’s a Dillweed. Now sure what the name means or why anyone would call themselves by such a thing, but that’s what he says he is, so we go with it. To paint a picture for you, imagine a human. Now shave off all his hair, give him dark tan skin, and catlike eyes. Now extend his nose out until it’s thin and pointy and then curve it downward. Give him a mouth full of small sharp teeth and a purple tongue, then fill his forehead with odd tattoos that look like a mixture of curving lines, and now you know what Jurrlo looks like. O, and put him in an all black cloak that hangs to the ground, with a hood that he never lifts over his head. He just lets it dangle around on his back. Despite his rigid and terrifying exterior, he’s a rather peaceful person. He’s very smart and kind and has a way of dealing with people that makes him pretty great at being mayor.

Next we have Mead. Mead runs the local Inn called ‘The fourth leg’. He takes in the ‘new arrivals’ and gives them a place to stay until they can find a place of their own and get a job to support themselves. Pretty nice guy if you ask me. He is what we in Craz-Tow call a Dindy-do. Another odd name I know! But he likes it, makes him laugh every time he hears it. To describe a Dindy-do for you, you’re going to have to imagine a brown bear. Now stand that bear up on his back legs and shrink him down to a normal human’s size. Give him fingers like a human but take away the pinky on just his right hand. Pull back his large nose and mouth until his face is almost flat, and then take away his teeth and replace them with only two sharp ones in the front of his mouth. Give him tall bunny like ears that stick about a foot up over his head, dress him in brown trousers and a tan shirt, give him an extremely deep and growly voice, and you have yourself a Dindy-do! Mead was lucky enough to be brought here with his wife, Heely. She looks about the same as he does, except her voice isn’t as deep and she wears pretty dresses and other girly things.

Next we have the three bullies of Craz-Tow, Jed, Fred, and Ped. Yep, we have bullies too. Their triplets and they all have the same short temper and bad attitude towards everything. They are what I like to call, ‘Jerk-ta-pusses’. Ever seen an Octopus? Well, take an Octopus and give it a purple human body, let its tentacles be the hair, and give it one black eye in the center of its face. Add a mouth with a blue tongue and really big muscles everywhere in its body. That is what Jed, Fred, and Ped look like. Their fifteen and only seem to pick on those smaller than them. You know, guarantying that they won’t lose a fight. Well, their main target is most often me. I’d rather not get into details about what they like to do to me, so let’s move on.

So to the last person I’ll mention now, my best friend! Her names Saraphine, I call her Sarah. She’s an Elf. If I had to describe her, I guess I would say she was, well, I never thought about her like that… She’s really pretty. She has long blonde hair and pointy ears and a defined face. Just like all other Elves I guess. But like I was saying, she is my BEST friend and we do practically EVERYTHING together from our daily chores in the fields, to spending the nights over at each other’s houses. We have a lot of fun.

I know I said Sarah was going to be the last person I would to talk about, but I really should say something about myself. Well, I’m a human. I have brown hair and brown eyes, a lean body… I mean, a huge body, massive muscles, and I’m also super smart, like a genius. Alright! I guess I shouldn’t lie. I’m a pretty skinny kid, no really big muscles like Jed, Fred, and Ped. But I am pretty smart, not a genius, but smart. I’m not sure what else to say, I’m just a normal human living in a very not normal universe.

Well, I think you kind of understand my universe and Craz-Tow now, or at least I hope you do. Ahh, whatever. If I think of something else I should have told you, I’ll just come back and add it in. It’s not like you would ever know…