All: Falls down

All: Falls down chapter 3

Dreaming deeply… A tune rang out, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!”

…All was dreaming about ice cream again.

Trying to climb the ice cream mountain to reach the cherry at the top, the melodic song played on. Sprinkles coated the top of the mountain, and she could hear children laughing at her.

Within’ arms reach, the cherry started glowing radiantly. Stretching her hand to grab it, the cherry pulsated and blasted her with a laser beam! The childish laugh transformed into a menacing cackle as the song slowed. The ice cream all melted and All woke up screaming!

Someone spoke from inside of All’s tent, and it wasn’t Rabbit… “Why are you screaming?” He said.

Not recognizing the voice just made All scream even louder! “Who are you?!” She screamed and squinted as she tried to focus on the character in front of her, “And what are you doing inside of my tent!” She yelled, but still couldn’t see who was speaking…Her eyes seemed blurry so she rubbed them attempting to fix her vision.

“My name’s Double-dude! Everyone calls me that cuz I can walk in and out of my body… The watcher of the waterfalls of the inner fire asked me to help you out! I guess he goes by Rabbit now too!”

Double-dude laughed and the sound reverberated off of the tent walls… The echo sent a chill down All’s spine!

All was fed up, so she opened the tent to go and find Rabbit to ask him what was going on. But she found herself in a cave, with the only water in sight at the mouth of it.

Double-dude stepped out in front of All to demonstrate his capabilities. He was constantly static looking and had one bright white glowing boyish appearance, and another shape identical to the first, only his second form was dark as midnight.

Double-dude split into two, one walked past All again to grab her bookbag from inside of the tent. While the other half of him walked over to examine his reflection in the pool of water. Magically blending back into one shape in the blink of an eye, he handed All her bag and smiled.

“I got a letter here from Rabbit for you as well.” He said, as he untied a piece of paper from his arm, and handed it to All.

Rabbit’s letter read:

“Hello All! I hope you are well rested! While you were sleeping I gathered some of your things for you. It’s a good thing that you put those in your pocket while you were falling! For the Earth has granted you with more than just access to the inner sanctum, it has also provided you with a magical Earth stone!

Thank the Earth for blessing you with this stone! It allows your body and mind to learn Earth magic… I have also provided you with a magical stone… So now you have two magical stones! My gift to you is the water stone, since I am the watcher of the waters… I’ve directed your tent towards the Fire Dragon Mountains where you will find one of my brothers. In this mountain you need to obtain a fire stone if you are to tame a Dragon!

Good Luck!

-Rabbit

“A Dragon!?” All’s jaw dropped at the word.

“There are many Dragons…” Double-dude explained, “Fire Dragons are the easiest to tame, they are very friendly!”

“You’ve seen one before?” All asked excitedly.

Double-dude smiled and said, “Yes All, don’t worry! I may look young, but I’m thousands of years old. I’ve seen many dragons, and I’ve assisted quite a number of heroes and villains of the past…” Double-dudes eyes gleamed as he had flashbacks of old memories.

Shaking his head to pull himself out of a trance, Double-dude continued speaking. “I could never tame a Fire Dragon of my own, because I am from the spirit realm, and I’m only permitted to use spirit magic… Although I’m proficient in my class, I’m restricted to using strictly spirit magic.”

Double-dude winked and conjured a purple orb, tossing it from hand to hand he said, “Humans on the other hand, are a younger race, but can be quite powerful. With proper training, your possibilities are infinite, and you can become a master in every class!” The purple orb vanished.

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Double-dude’s speech echoed around the cavern as he finished speaking. Looking him in the eye. All knew he was telling the truth, but she was still skeptical about Double-dude… She thinks to herself ‘I wonder if he is trustworthy… A man that helps villains must be somewhat evil himself!”

“You can trust me.” Double-dude answered All telepathically.

All blushed and said, “You can read my thoughts as well?”

Double-dude smiled and said, “Yup… I’ll teach you another thing or two… Telepathic abilities fall under the spirit magic category. Rabbit isn’t human, but being one of the watcher’s makes him a natural at casting many spells, and he is a very powerful magician.”

“Can I cast spirit magic? Since it seems like I have telepathic abilities.” All was curious.

“Eventually.” he said “But not yet. Casting spirit magic will require a spirit stone. Communicating with us with your mind has only been possible with us because we have the power to tap into your brain… You only hear what we want you to…Until you acquire a Spirit stone.”

Double-dude chuckled again, and his laugh bounced around the cave. All shivered at the sound of his laugh… Something about this creature she found suspicious, but what choice did she have other than to trust him? If he was trying to help her, she would have to accept the assistance in order to get back home.

Inside of her bookbag, All found all of her previous belongings; Pants with zippered pockets, a flashlight, batteries, a t-shirt, food, and some additional items were also in the bag, like, the map, compass, a red dress, the Earth stone and the Water stone.

Picking up the stones, she could feel their magic energy running through her. They looked like normal rocks at first, but as soon as she picked them up, one glowing bright blue, and the other glowed bright green. Energy swirled around All’s body in two bright streams of color as she unknowingly absorbed all of the rock’s energies. After she received the rock’s energy, the magic from them was permanently embedded into her DNA, and although the rocks will glow again in the future, until the stones are fully charged again, they are only hollow shells now where the magic used to flow through them. Basically left as rechargeable rocks

Double-due winked at All before splitting into two again. Both light and dark sides of him began searching around the room for something… Watching the fluidity of the creature made All’s heart flutter, he was moving so fast that she could barely keep track of him! He flurried across the room until she heard a *click*, then a passage appeared and Double-dude disappeared into it, while yelling back, “Come on All! I’ve found it, it’s this way!”

Without a trace, he vanished into the darkness! His footsteps were silent, but he could still be heard laughing somewhere far down the passageway if you listened closely.

All shuttered again at the sound of his laugh as it slowly made it’s way back to her. All was alone now, looking down the dark corridor that Double-dude had disappeared into. Grabbing her flashlight from her bookbag before flinging it onto her back, she started walking down the same path.

Halfway down the path, her flashlight died, and All thought that would have left her walking blind… There were no sources of light around, but she could see as clear as day. “I wonder why…” All thought to herself.

“Night vision,” Double-dude answered her back mentally. “Earth magic.”

“Remarkable!” All said aloud.

Continuing further down the stone hallway, it seemed to stretch out forever…

“Watch your step!” Double-dude spoke to All in her head again as her foot sank deeper into one of the stones. He yelled, “Back up! Quick!”

All fell back just as massive spikes popped out of the walls in front of her… Inches away!

Another laugh rang down the hallway, giving All more chills… All’s heart was pounding furiously! “That’s not funny!” She yelled, “I thought you were supposed to be helping me!”

Double-dude laughed hysterically! “I am helping you!” He said, “Close one eh?” Appearing in front of All, still laughing saying, “You should have seen your face! It was priceless!”

All was not impressed at Double-dudes sense of humor… He offered her a hand up and she grabbed a hold of him. The texture of his arm caught her off guard. He wasn’t warm or cold… There was no blood flow. The boy in front of her seemed so full of life, yet felt so lifeless… There was nothing. Almost as if she was helped up by something invisible, like a ghost… Quite eerie, she thought.