A Friendly Visit From the Darkworld Tourist's Creator [Part 2-FINAL]

I never thought in my wildest dreams, that my favorite Creator would've ever come back to Protochara. I wanted to revel in that fact for a bit longer, but I noticed the air around us suddenly stagnated. There was at least a period of a couple minutes where Arturo the Creator and I awkwardly maintained eye contact.

"Wait, aren't kids like yourself usually going to school at this time?"

I powered on the communicator in my pocket and noticed it was twenty minutes until classes began.

"Oh, great. Well it was nice meeting you," I said, bending my legs to prepare my body for a sprint. 

Arturo called out to me once more before I took off to the bullet shuttle station.

"Where do I go to meet with your club?"

"Oh right. Our club is in class 7-B on the second floor."

I bolted to the station at top speed. For a brief moment, I could've sworn I clipped a butterfly's wings as the wave of air around me whipped a violent gale. I rotated my head ninety-degrees to see the butterfly hovering a few stories above me, flying a different path under the influence of my lingering tail winds created as a result of my sprint. 

I let out a sigh of relief and jumped onto the bullet shuttle platform, hailing the driver at the the front of the shuttle.

The driver waited only a second longer than scheduled, the doors shuttering closed behind me. I imagined he was tired of making exceptions for me. I thought about the several Draftant Souls that still roamed around Protochara as the shuttle departed.

Even with the chaos created by releasing them, I didn't believe that all of the characters were to blame. When the Doorstopper incident occurred, four characters were released. Three antagonists and one protagonist. The story of the Darkworld Tourist was about a late teenager part of an alien race that wanders away from one of the civilian ships in the race's fleet to go sightseeing around the planet his race, the Darkworlders, had interest in populating. I met him on a few occasions before he escaped the pages of his fictional world.

Through actions only known to Erina, the four Draftant Souls escaped with help from the young protagonist. I was very ignorant of the event leading to their escape, but I was sure he wasn't the enemy.

With an uncharacteristically eventful day that was more eventful than the one that preceded it, I had to decide how to relay the new experience from this morning to my club captain. I managed to book our first client for the club, but it also happens to be a Creator we're both obsessed with. I had to communicate how important it was not to let this fact distract us from other potential clients.

***

"You've talked to Arturo the Creator," Erina asked in a deafening pitch.

"Please don't raise your voice to an uncomfortable pitch!"

"Sorry, sorry. But this can a real big deal for the club."

"I know, but we still don't have five club members yet. We still have to think of the club, and the reason why we formed it."

She closed her parted lips and considered my words.

"Okay. You're right. But what time is he coming by?"

"You know what, I didn't have the time to properly ask him."

For the next several minutes the two of us just sat quietly, our only other company being our thoughts.  When I really thought about it, I was really surprised Arturo gave the advertisement for our club services any consideration. For whatever reason Erina won't disclose to me, we've taken on a role that's normally reserved for either Protocharan soldiers or the Patron Saint. The Patron Saint stood above all other Saints, working in service to the Creators from the other world on the other side of the gate. Erina was always a driven girl, but she's been consistently one-upping herself for the past couple of days.

I really hope that Erina wasn't overworking herself behind the scenes. My hyper-focus on Erina's wellbeing caused me to subtly shift my gaze towards her. My sudden staring didn't go unnoticed by Erina, as she curiously tilted her head.

"Hmm, what is it," Erina asked.

"Uhh..."

There's a melodic rapping at the door. Oh, thank god. I love coincidences.

"I think this is the right room. I'm coming in!"

"Excuse me," Arturo said, waving his arm as he entered.

Similar to Lucy, he observed the four bookcases in the clubroom, but with more outward hooting and hollering as he observed the queues of Draftant novels. His body bent and shifted with passion the student council president could only dream of, but maybe that's just a byproduct of being professional.

"This is an impressive collection you have here," he said.

"I collected it all in a few months, but I had help here and there," she said.

"All this in three months? Young Saints are terrifying!"

He pulled out a particularly active Draftant novel at one end of the corner-most bookcase on the right. The book was a little denser than the average Draftant novel, but even more unusual, the story threw out small arcs of light blue electricity nonstop. In the electric discharge, I could hear the rumble of ocean waves much like the ones in Protochara, but somehow more chaotic. 

If I remembered correctly, Erina told me about a dense Draftant novel a couple summers back, predating the Doorstopper incident, that she always wanted to explore. But my fear of such a reactive novel, one that was never explored by any Saint, convinced her to stay away from it.

"The Dangerous Romance of a Sea Dog. I've met and talked with the author. He's a soft spoken, but often misunderstood Creator. His Draftant novel is every bit as tumultuous as he is."

I recalled the conflicted face of the protagonist of The Darkworld Tourist, Arcturus during our final conversation. While he enjoyed the short talk we had, he always appeared to have his eyes directed elsewhere.

"Are you just as much of a lone wolf as Arcturus," I asked.

"To an extent, I definitely used to be," Arturo said.

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, why did you seek our help?"

"Normally I don't come here for serious reasons, and my agent representative comes to Protochara to handle any unpleasant business in my place, but I made an exception. I am here to recall any released copies of The Darkworld Tourist, and then remove any traces of the novel's influence." 

"Should we recapture any Draftant Souls on your behalf?"

Erina's eyes dilated as she said this, her ponytail swinging similar to a cat's tail with her sudden movement.

"No. I'd prefer for you two to collect any circulated copies and alert me when you spot a Draftant Soul, so we confront them accordingly as a team."

I swiveled the position in my seat to confront Erina's abrupt question.

"Erina, why are you so interested in the Draftant Souls?"

"Well, I'll just say you're not the only one trying to redeem themselves. I suppose now you want to know why I asked you to join."

Redemption. At first blush, it felt like such a simple, yet asinine reason. She always tried to take the lead, even if it wasn't for her own benefit. After Arturo left, I wanted to properly talk about the four Draftant Souls that escaped. I wouldn't let it go this time.

This line of returned questioning was ignored by Arturo, and he finished elaborating.

"So the details of my request are crystal clear, right," Arturo asked.

He began packing his copy of The Darkworld Tourist in an unflattering brown rucksack and waving us off, but judging by Erina's tense flexed muscles, it seems the request wasn't crystal clear.

"If we clean up Protochara, will you finish the story?"

He sucked in his teeth after putting one hand on the door's face. A harsh scoff escaped his lips while his eyes wandered around the clubroom for an answer, finally grunting as he arrived at his response. I knew what his answer would be.

"You know, your friend hinted at a similar sentiment, but were the first to actually ask. Haha, Saint's are something else."

With a hysterical smile, he circled around the four bookcases again, seeking a book that he couldn't seem to find in the equally hastily and impressively gathered collection. Then with a gasp of satisfaction, he took out the desired Draftant book.

It was Erina's copy of The Darkworld Tourist.

He held the Protocharan copy in front of both of us.

"Do I continue to bleed on the page, or do I continue to wander from story to story without settling down to rest?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand, Sir," I said.

"But as a Saint it's an everyday reality for you."

Okay, maybe I didn't know how he'd respond. How could I?

"When you figure out the answer, tell me," Arturo concluded.

"How do we know if you'll still be here when we figure out the answer," Erina asked, but Arturo already handed back her copy of the story before she could protest further.

"Don't you worry. I'll still be here. I'm curious about the answer myself. Sorry if the question sounds cryptic."

Before we could ask for any clarification, he rushed out the door.

Author's Note

That concludes the first multi-parter in the novel. Even though I'm dead tired as I'm writing this, I suppressed the urge to half-ass this story and just give a fragment of a full chapter. Another standalone chapter will be released for chapter 5, but it will be necessary setup for the six-part chapter that comes after, and I think it'll be entertaining enough on its own. 

As always, all criticism, good and bad is welcomed. If you read through the chapter 'till the end, please leave a comment and tell me how it was. If you liked the story, please leave a like for the chapter.