This is an original story written by one of our campers…
Aline
By: Crystal L.
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| Artwork by: Crystal L. |
Two Years Ago – Prologue – Aline’s Point of View
“I will defeat you!” I shouted through gritted teeth.
My name is Aline. I am a bounty hunter who has to pay my parents’ debts. If I successfully defeat Chargin, then that will be $10,000 more. However, that just proves how hard he is to beat.
“Oh?” He questioned mockingly. “You’ve got some guts to face the best villain in the world!”
Charging then charges full speed at me while singing in his bad voice: “Oh ho ho – I am a Disney villain! Therefore, you cannot defeat me!”
He raised his battle-ax as he dropped it down. I tried to block with my pistol…
…but no avail.
He hit me and hard. I ended up hopelessly screaming in pain. Charging seemed to be enjoying it. Considering was a jerk, idiot, and sadist he is. I fainted due to blood loss.
I barely heard Chargin whisper, “I’ll let you go this time, but don’t expect me to let you go.”
With this he walked away.
Present Day
I finally can get my revenge on Chargin, for I ran into him again.
I shouted loud and clear, “I will defeat you this time!”
He replied haughtily, “Well, well, let’s see if you honed your skills from the past two years.”
He brought out his battle-ax. I didn’t hesitate. I brought out my treasured pistol given to me and the holy ice bullet hit the tree directly behind him. Freezing part of the trunk. Before I knew it, he was in front of me.
He said seven words, “Have a great day in the water.”
After this, I was thrown into the river, and I lost consciousness.
Denzin’s Point of View
As I was hanging out in the water, I felt something hit my feet, and I yelped in surprise. I picked the thing up, Only to find a human. A soaking wet human. I put her on the ground and studied her. She had black hair, slicked from the water. A long jacket with pants and a belt. She had a pocket meant for placing guns in. I pressed on her stomach to get the water out. She opened her eyes slowly and she turned her head toward me.
Her eyes then widened, and she sat up fast and brought out her pistol and inquired, “Who are you!?”
I was surprised by this.
“Whoa, whoa, calm down will ya?” I asked.
She slowly brought her pistol down to the point where she had it down by her waist. I noticed unlike most pistols, she had a blue and shiny looking thing.
“Wh-who are you?” She stammered a rather frantic look on her face.
“Denzin,” I replied firmly without hesitation and a smile rose on my face.
“Denzin…” she repeated curiously.
“Yep. Denzin is my name,” I said enthusiastically.
Then a sudden idea popped into my head, “Do you know Poison Lotus?”
She tilted her head, “Poison Lotus?” she inquired.
“She has a servant named Chargin.”
She reacted a lot to the mention of Chargin. Then she slumped back down and said, “My name is Aline.”
“Wanna come with me?”
She seemed puzzled, but to my joy she agreed.
We both stood up at the same time and I decided to explain Poison Lotus to Aline.
“Poison Lotus is a girl who used to be nice and caring. However, after wearing an amulet she got cursed and turned bad.” I paused before continuing, “She killed my parents.”
“Oh…” Aline said,
We continued walking until the sunset and I asked, “Wanna stay here for the night?”
She shrugged. I took that as a yes and went to grab sticks and bark for a fire. After I built the fire,
Aline sat down and looked at it until she turned to me and asked, “Where is this Poison Lotus?”
“In a castle not far from here known as the Nightshade Palace.”
“What do you mean by ‘not far from here’?” she inquired.
“Like, a mile or two. Look up,” I added,
And she did. She widened her eyes, “What is that?”
“Nightshade.”
Morning – Aline’s Point of View
I stretched my arms. I saw by the sun that it was late morning. Denzin was already awake.
When he saw me, he said, “Do you want to head to the palace.”
I nodded and grabbed my jacket and quickly put it on. We set off fifteen minutes later.
There were a bunch of thorns along the way that were sharp enough to draw blood at the slightest touch. After slight trudging, we made it to the front of Nightshade Palace. I realized I would have to face Chargin again.
We went to the doors, and when we were close enough, the doors creaked open. The creaking sound sent uncomfortable shivers down my spine. We walked in cautiously. I have got to say, I never thought I’d live to see the day where Denzin would turn serious all of a sudden. But even so, Denzin would want revenge.
We walked, our footsteps creaking in the dead and eerie silence. Suddenly, there was a pounding sound. I froze from fear and determination flowing inside my body. It was then I realized the pounding sound was an army of skeletons.
I shot them off one by one, but before I knew it, an unlimited number of skeletons. After looking down on the ground in thought, an idea came into my head.
I whispered to Denzin, “Hold off the skeletons.”
He simply nodded, and did hand-to-hand combat. I quickly loaded the bullet and since it took awhile for the bullet at full power, I can’t really shoot. Just three more seconds should be enough.
BAM!
I shot at the ground and the whole ground froze in holy ice, causing the skeletons to fall to pieces. Denzin was panting slightly but quickly caught his breath.
I shouted, “Let’s go, Denzin!”
“Okay,” he replied.
This time, we ran.
We came to a set of doors containing spider webs at the corner, lots of grooves, skeleton heads acting as a torch attached to each side, and a black lotus carved into the center of the doors. We slowly opened it, flinching at the sound it made.
As we were observing the dark, royal room, a feminine voice thundered, “What are you doing here?”
“Are you Poison Lotus?” I inquired.
There were a couple moments of silence before the reply came, “Yes!”
The figure stood up and walked in an elegant way to us and studied us. We studied her back. She had deep purple eyes, and outfit a gypsy would wear, except the color was dark. She brought her dagger up without letting me finish and brought it down. Her hand movements were so fast that it went down my chest. I gagged, and it didn’t feel good. Denzin tried to fight her hand-to-hand, but that didn’t work either.
After I passed out, I felt my pistol fill me with power. At first it was just a little, and I craved for more.
Its power overwhelmed me, but I stood up and said, “I’m not going to lose, especially not this time.”
I pointed my pistol with one hand, with my other hand gripping my chest. I shot at her chest, breaking the amulet. She screamed in agony before everything was yet.
The voice was melodious too, “Thank you…” it said.
Me and Denzin both smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”
Epilogue – Denzin’s Point of View
I was reading at the library along with Aline in comfortable silence. After Aline opened the next book at her pile and scanned through the words.
She whispered quickly, “Come here!”
I came over and saw a temple picture. I read the words: “This temple is located at the peak of the mountain. It is said a monk lives there who will answer any question and grant any wish.”
We glanced at each other and smiled.
I said, “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!”
And with that, we set off on our next adventure.