The Heroic Decision to Do Something Stupid

Elysia was right. It was awful. They felt like they were being smashed together and torn apart all at once, like they were nowhere and everywhere. Reality had no meaning. Nothing did. Even the screams they tried to make with mouths which might or might not exist. Time, space, reality, all meaningless in the deep blue void…

*

And then they were back. Alex stared up at a cloudy sky streaked with red and orange, exactly like home. He sat up, feeling his body. Yup, two arms, two legs, a head. He saw Jake nearby, sitting up, looking like he was about to throw up.

“We alive?” Jake asked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Alex replied.

“Well, did we make it? Are we in another…world? Dimension? What word do I use?” Jake stood, holding his head.

“I dunno. Seems pretty normal. Normal grass. Normal stick.” Alex held up a large tree branch, turning it over in his hand. “Normal…”

He felt a tug on the stick. Looking down, a small creature, like a cross between a squirrel and an otter, was holding onto the other end.

“Yup, I’d say we’re not in Kansas, Toto,” Alex said, yanking the stick back. He chucked it, and the squirrel thing ran off after it.

“Okay, if we’re here, where’s…” Jake started to say. A scream of pain came from beyond the nearby trees. In a flash, both boys were running in its direction.

Elysia stood there, pouring her green energy into a strange device, a cylinder with three prongs dug into the ground and a glowing blue glass dome on the top with what looked like a tuning fork in it. About fifteen feet away, the blue portal shimmered, which wasn’t all the boys saw. Labyrinthian and Eyeblight hovered there, caught in the edge of the portal, both in and out, there and nowhere.

“I c…can’t hold them back for long!” Elysia struggled to say.

“Correct, meat. Soon we will be through. And we will tear you apart,” Labyrinthian said coldly.

“With great pleasure,” Eyeblight sneered, its many eyes bleeding from the damage at the factory.

“Can’t you close it?!” Jake asked.

“Could…b…but it would send them back to your world! Think of how much d…damage they could do!” Elysia said.

“As much as I’m not a fan of Oakmont Falls, yeah, we can’t let them go back,” Alex said.

Suddenly, sparks started spouting from the strange machine. The two Twisted screamed in agony.

“What…Elysia, what’s going on?” Jake asked.

“The dimensional tuner…it can’t take the strain! If I don’t let go soon…or naturally close the portal…it will blow! The portal and everything in it will tear itself apart!”

“Sounds like a pretty good plan to me!” Alex said.

“No! If the tuner b…breaks, I won’t be able to send you back home! Ever! This is the only d…device of its kind! I’m not even supposed to be using it!” Elysia wailed.

“Ha!” Labyrinthian laughed. “So, we’re back to the same dilemma as before. To be a hero or not. If you try to save her, you damn yourselves. If you save yourselves, innocents die. How completely amusing. Boys! Despite the pain you’ve inflicted on us, I’ll offer you the same deal as before. Come through this portal. Leave this girl and this world. We’ll let you pass. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself stranded here…alone…forever…”

Jake looked to Elysia. He eyes locked onto his for a moment, then looked away. She was going to let down her guard. Jake knew it. She would let those monsters through to save them.

“Dude, now is not the time!” Alex cried out. Jake turned and saw the little squirrel thing was back and bothering him with the large tree branch. He reached out and grabbed it, holding it like a club. Then Jake and Alex’s eyes met, a moment of understanding passing between the two.

“Alex…” Jake said quietly.

“Jake, we’re about to do something incredibly brave and stupid, aren’t we?” Alex asked.

“Oh yeah. Look, bro, if you want to back out…” But Alex was already looking around, picking up a large rock.

“Since when have I let you be stupid on your own?” Alex asked. He was clearly terrified as he handed Jake the branch. He was also never going to back down.

“Hey! Crap bags!” Jack yelled at the Twisted in the portal. “You said we’d be alone? Bullcrap!”

“What…what are you…” Labyrinthian sputtered.

“No! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Eyeblight bellowed.

“Damn right!” Jake exclaimed, raising his club.

“Lets smash something important!” Alex yelled, raising his rock.

They crash down onto the dimensional tuner. Sparks flew. Machinery started clanking and screeching within the device. Smoke curled from it.

“Jake! Alex! Stop! Don’t do this!” Elysia screamed.

“Sorry, I can’t hear your probably good advice over the sounds of mindless destruction!” Jake yelled.

“Rock and roll, bitches!” Alex cried out.

With one final smash from both of them, the glass dome at the top shattered. The portal began fluctuating wildly. The two Twisted started screaming, as if all of the atoms in their bodies were being torn apart, which, for all the three teens knew, was true. The blue glow began to fade as their figures became distorted before dissipating entirely. Their screams lasted a moment longer, hanging in the air, a punctuation to the horrible event.

“Holy shit…” Jake said.

“I…I think I’m going to be sick…” Alex said weakly.

“You…you two…” Elysia walked over to them slowly. Then she punched both of them in their arms. “You two idiots! Now I can’t send you home! I came to your world looking for a way to save my village and now I have to worry about how to save you! I…” She stopped. Her eyes went wide. “Lugara! By the First, I got so caught up in screwing up in finding heroes I forgot why I was finding heroes in the first place!”

She turned and began running. However, she only got a few feet before she stopped, hearing feet behind her.

“What are you two doing? You two don’t have to follow me anymore,” she said.

“Remember what I said? I’m not leaving until you don’t need help anymore,” Jake said.

“Besides, we have no idea where we are,” Alex said. “And if there’s more of those things, we might as well be with you. After all, we’ve done pretty good…okay…fine…not great…look, we’re not dead, and you helped!”

The squirrel thing chattered next to Alex.

“Why are you still here! Go away! Got no time for you!” Alex scolded, pointing towards the woods.

The squirrel thing hugged Alex’s leg.

“Whiptails are rather possessive. I think you’re going to have a hard time getting rid of it,” Elysia said, shaking her head. “Okay. If you two…forgive me, three, are sure, then come on. The village is only a few minutes away!”

And so they were off, three teenagers and a big tailed rodent, headed towards the smoke and screams in the village of Lugara.