Door of Dimensions Full Story

Summary

Who was him? What made him so special? A minute ago, everything seemed usual. That is, before the Door of Dimensions appeared in front of his eyes. In this epic story, join Hendry in his adventure through not only worlds but dimensions too! Trying to chase the mysterious figure who appeared to know everything about him, Hendry needed to face challenges and overcome them to reach his goal. Will he ever be able to uncover the mysterious figure?

Full Story

Chapter One

The beginning of a story…

            What a lovely day for writing a story. I was in my school as a 9^th grader and my literature teacher had just instructed my class to write the most interesting adventure that we ever went through. My teacher was one scary dude. When he thinks that what we have done is not enough, he will whip us (literally) and force us to fill a whole note book with apologize lines. My girlfriend was currently wondering of what she should write that could attract our teacher’s attention and I’m about to beat her in doing it. My mind floated to the past…two years prior, when I travelled between space rifts and dimensions. I decided that it would make a story interesting enough to attract my teacher’s deepest attention. So, I set up my mind and started to write…

Chapter Two

Where am I?

            As far as my consciousness was laid, I was out of Earth, out of this dimension even. Was I losing my senses? All of it looked like a dream, but somehow, I knew it was the truth. It should have been the truth. I was really hoping that this was all a dream, actually. Most of these didn’t make any sense at all. Are you getting anything I was saying? Me neither. Fine, I’ll back up and tell you what happened. It all started like this…

Chapter Three

What is this dimension called again? I Forgot

            My name is Hendry Holster and I’ve just reached my 14^th   birthday last month. When I was small, my parents told me that someday, I will make a complete circle. At that time, I didn’t understand what they meant. They told me that someday, I would understand. By the years, I have started to forget it. But looking at things now, they have changed. I was starting to understand what they meant…a little.

            I’ve lost track of time. In the last Tuesday, I believe, everything started. I was in my room in a house located in South California, United States when I glanced through my window. I was letting myself to be drowned inside a novel I was reading; I didn’t realize that it was raining cats and dogs all I could see out of the window are droplets of falling raindrops and blankets of fogs. Then, out of nowhere, a light flashed across the sky, looming everything around it in an eerie glow. Then, it was followed by a loud rumble. Yep, it was a lightning accompanied by thunder. I panicked and dropped the book I was reading. I looked outside. No more strange flashes. Strangely, though, after the thunder rumbled, the rain stopped abruptly, as if the presence of the lightning intimidated the rain into vanishing. Visibility started to increase. As it increased, I spotted a strange object lying right outside of my house, in my front lawn.

            Curiosity and scare swept over me. For a moment, I debated within myself, deciding whether I should go check the strange object out or should I stay in the house. Eventually, curiosity won. I scanned my room, searching for my pocket knife. I caught a glance of the title of the book I was reading. Door of Dimensions. I thought for a while. This strange event reminded me uneasily of the story that happened in the book. I shrugged and scanned more. Eventually, I found my dull black pocket knife lying on my study desk. I grabbed it and went to my front door.

            As I reached my front door, my pulse quickened up. Events from Door of Dimensions Novel flew through my mind, filling it with scary thoughts. But there’s no turning back now. I’m committed to it. I braced myself. Grabbing the pocket knife in my right hand, I opened the lock, grabbed the doorknob, turned it and went outside. Only later will I know what a terrible mistake I have done.

            The door swung silently. And…there it was! The object was a nightmarish sight. The thing was actually like one of those gates you can see at castles in old medieval movies. What was it called? Oh, yeah, portcullis. Anyway, it looked like one. Beside the portcullis, in each side, left and right, there were 2 columns which supported the portcullis. They looked suspiciously like obsidian. Moreover, there are strange carvings all over the surface of the portcullis and on those 2 columns too. Each carving was unique, and I didn’t recognize any of them. Really! I’m not making any of these up.

Also, there were 2 devilish, red horns on top of the 2 columns. The horns were glowing with an eerie shallow bright red glow. Both of them are jutting into the sky, as if saying, “Come here, and I’ll bring your soul to the sky.” Just thinking about it made me scared. All those creepiness added up into one was more than enough to creep me out, but I decided to keep moving forward.

            Slowly, I crept toward the door. When I got into 2 meters range from the portcullis, the strange carvings began to glow with a pure black light, starting from the bottom to the top. It freaked me out pretty badly. Seriously. When all the carvings are glowing, finally, the portcullis started to open. What was strange, though, is that inside the portcullis, it’s all black. Finally, the portcullis opened completely. The presence of that thing was very strong; it seemed like it had its own gravity, pulling me toward it with a gentle force.

            At first, everything in my mind was AHHHH! But slowly, I calmed down and thought about it for a while. Part of me wanted to go home and rest, never thinking about this anymore. In contrast, the other part of me wanted to explore the inside of the portcullis. I had a pretty strong sensation that this portcullis will lead me to somewhere important. Eventually, curiosity took over again.

            I breathed slowly. Then, I gripped my pocket knife real hard my knuckles were getting white. Slowly, I entered the portcullis and darkness swept all over me. My head started to spin, slowly at first, then getting faster as time passes. Before I knew it, darkness swept over me, which is ironic, since darkness was already all over me, and I passed out.

Chapter Four

The emerald woods

            So, here we are, done talking about my past. Can I continue from the part when I was unconscious? Yes? Sweet, let’s continue.

            When I was unconscious, I had a dream. The dream showed me glimpses of what seemed like a forest. Except, this was no ordinary forest. The whole forest glowed with a magical greenish glow. Out of nowhere, I saw something ran across the forest in an unbelievable speed. It’s a little too fast to make out details. But I’m pretty sure that his legs are not human legs. I think…it’s a goat’s leg. What do you call those people? Right, satyrs, or fauns, whatever. He ran until he was out of sight. After that, my dream didn’t show anything interesting, except for the whole magical forest, if you could call that interesting.

After what seemed like hours, (probably because it was hours) I woke up, feeling like I just swallowed a soccer ball. Never before I felt this scared. Me, in a magical forest with magical inhabitants? Nah, this ain’t right. But as I said before, all these nonsense was the truth. Both scare and confusion crept to my throat, making me feel desperate. I felt homesick already.

Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted a light so bright it almost blinded my eye. I can’t look directly into it for a long time without hurting my eyes. So, being a logical man, I did the logical thing. I avoided looking at it. I scanned the rest of the area but found nothing interesting, except all those glowing and magical forest all around me. Well, yeah, so want it or not, I had to go to the only point of interest around me. But I’m not prepared to die just yet.

I looked around and spotted my dull black pocket knife lying beside my feet. Somehow, I felt that it would be useful. I picked it up and braced myself for whatever that’s about to come.

Carefully, I moved slowly toward the source of light without looking at it. I tripped my foot of a branch once and fell down hard in my face. Then something hit my nose so hard I flinched in pain and sat upright immediately, which accidentally forced me to look at the source of light. I covered my eyes in pain and dropped down to the Earth. Oh, wait, I’m sorry, I wasn’t on Earth. I dropped down to the dirt.

I waited for several seconds for my eyes to get better. Then I crept slowly to the place where that stupid thing hit my face. When I’m close enough to see more clearly, I realized that what had hit me was a key. A bright-emerald-green colored key. When I took a closer look, the keys glowed with the same glow that surrounded the forest, except the key’s glow was not that bright.

Carefully and with infinite care, I picked up the strange key and shoved it inside my pocket. Then I crept to the source of light. When I got closer, I took notice that the light seemed to be coming from the dirt, but that doesn’t make any sense. Glowing dirt? But hey, everything here doesn’t make any sense after all. I crept even closer, ignoring the pain building in my eyes. Suddenly, my hands lost its grip to the dirt and I stumbled into a hole. The blinding light filled all the space around me and I screamed in surprise while falling down to who knows where.

The fall itself took a long time…maybe. It felt like a million hours but I think actually it’s only 30 seconds. I fell down and took a free dive into a lake. The lake water didn’t even felt like water. When I hit the water, it felt more like hitting into concrete. The airs from my lungs were sucked out. My limbs felt sore and hurt. But I managed to swim aside and reach the land.

I gasped for air and when I’m satisfied the air is enough, I let my eyes stay closed and I rested for a while. I recalled what had happened. So I fell into a hole and splashed into water…so what’s going to be next? I opened my eyes and suddenly lurched to the front. Pain racked my eyes. I screamed in agony and shut my eyes tightly. How could I forget that this cave is the source of that blinding light?

After a while, my eyes started to adapt with its surrounding. I tried to open my eyes and squinted immediately. The lights were still very blinding. Gradually, my eyes adapted fully, though it’s still very bright. I tried to scan my surroundings but came with 0 results. Nada. I can’t see anything clearly. I rubbed my eyes and tried again. This time, I can see something that might be interesting.

I can see a huge shadow all around me. I looked at the ceiling of the cave, which was big, by the way, and found the most majestic tree ever created. With roots like crazy on the ground, the tree rose up high mightily until it reached the ceiling of the cave. If I squinted more closely, I could see all the branches the tree held. There must be like a thousand of them or even more!

What’s more interesting, though, is that at the center bottom of the tree, there’s an object that looked disturbingly similar to something I’ve ever seen. It has 2 devilish horns and strange carvings all across it. With a start, I realized what the object was. I stood up immediately and walked toward it slowly, as if in a trance.

Yes! It was the­ Portcullis which brought me here before! Maybe I could get back to my home with this! I ran toward it with full speed. Gradually, my footstep started to slow down as I realized there’s something different about the portcullis. The 2 devilish horns no longer glow bright red. The horn on the left was now glowing with forest green color, just like the glow which surrounds the entire forest. The horn on the right glowed bright blue, like…like sapphire blue.

Not only have the horns changed in color, now there’s a tiny socket at the center of the portcullis. It looked disturbingly like a socket for a key. I thought about it for a while and searched for the strange key I found on the surface. I tried to grab it but had no luck. I panicked and my brain went into full-think mode. I fell and then splashed into a lake…Of course! The key must be in the water! With new enthusiasm, I ran to the edge of the water body and dived in.

I swam and swam, searching for the key without any luck. I figured it must be easy to be found because it’s glowing. Boy, how wrong I was. About a half an hour later, I found the key setting at the bottom of the lake. But it didn’t glow anymore. It just looked like a plain dull forest green colored key. I took a deep breath and dived in. Seconds passed…I’m not even near the bottom yet. After what seems like hours, I finally reached the bottom of the lake. At that point, my lungs have started to feel cramped. I need air, like, immediately!

How unfortunate I was, that I found the key tangled between emerald-green glowing some kind of plant which looks like seaweed. Wait…seaweed…inside a lake? But I figured it must be just another magic from this crazy forest. I tried to free the key but had no luck. I was about to run out of air supply when magically, the seaweed released the key, as if wanting me to take it. Without waiting for a second clue, I grabbed it and swam to the surface as fast as my limbs could carry me. Seconds passed… My head started to feel dizzy. My movements started to become slower. So this is when I’ll die, huh? With the fishes and the water. Wait…since when did I see fishes? With my last resort of strength, I opened my eyes and saw a group of fishes pushing my body to the surface. I placed the key into my pocket and passed out.

When I woke up, I was on the surface of the land. I scanned the lake for any sign of the fishes which had helped me. I really wanted to thank them. Without them, I’ll be dying right now. No…I would have died already. I checked my pocket and I was relieved when I found out that the key was actually there. I plucked it out and found out that the key has turned color into a dark green color. I panicked again. I quickly concluded that the faster I got out of here, the better it will be. So I ran as fast as my feet could carry me toward the portcullis, which now I named as Door of Dimensions.

I inserted the key into the socket and turned it. Suddenly, the key disintegrated into piles of ashes and the gate started to open. The cave’s ceiling started to shook and the gigantic tree vibrated a little. Then the cave shook fiercely and the majestic tree started to fall…fall…into my direction. I dived into the Door of Dimensions and hoped that I have never been so stupid to check this door out in the first place.

Chapter Five

My fate was sealed

Darkness swallowed my surroundings. Again. I could felt my heartbeat beating loudly. Even though I’m not sure which dimension I will jump into this time, I have a pretty good instinct that it would take me somewhere underwater, or at least close to a water source. The sapphire blue color of the right horn reminded me dreamily of the sight of a majestic ocean looming all across the horizon I visited when I was small. I felt as if I could smell the salty smell of the ocean right in front of me once again.

And the next thing I knew, I passed out. Again. This time, though, I dreamt of a vast and blue ocean. It looked exactly like the ocean I mentioned about. But deep down, I have the feeling that this is not the same ocean. There’s just this strange disturbing feeling that this ocean only looks familiar. I kept thinking about it while scanning the ocean in my dream. I was wondering what was all about the satyr (or faun, whatever) incident in my last dream when…when I spotted the satyr again! This time the satyr was running across the beach, causing the sand behind him to spray wildly. It seemed to be in urgent. It ran across the beach, hesitated for a few seconds, and then dived into the sea. I never thought satyrs could breathe underwater… Just then, I started to feel sleepy. Yes, my friend, sleepy in my own dream. I collapsed and took a nap.

I woke up with a dizzy feeling. I should have probably brought some antibiotics for me to treat my dizziness before I went in the Door of Dimensions. Alas, I didn’t. So, I suffered the dizziness for a few minutes and eventually it got better. I kept thinking about my dream when I realized I haven’t opened my eyes at all. I opened my eyes and found myself lying on top of pure white sand crystals.

I scanned my surroundings. It seemed that I landed in the beach in my dream earlier. There was a forest just behind my back and the vast ocean ahead of me. I searched for the place where the satyr has dived, hoping it could give me some clues. Inside, though, I doubted the existence of the satyr. It was just dreams, after all. Dreams are unreliable, right?

NOOOO, I was wrong. Instead of founding nothing, I found some hoof steps. Wait…what? So the satyr was real?! I wiped my eyes again and again, but no matter what I’ve done, I could still see the hoof prints lying on the sandy beach. I tried to inspect it closer and…yep; its hoof prints all right. The proof of the satyr’s existence was like saying to me in your face, unbeliever.

I studied the hoof prints and it led me to a point on the beach. There was nothing special there. What I was still wondering, though, is that how could the satyr breathe underwater? What if he needed help right now? Maybe he was stuck underwater, captured by those little mermaids from the movie My Little Mermaid. What? It might happen, dear readers.

I doubted it would be a good move, but I was thinking of following the satyr. I wanted to found out what was the satyr searching for and if it needed any help, I can help. Only by then did I realize that I didn’t have my pocket knife.

I retraced my steps to where I first found myself lying on. I searched around but had no luck. I started to panic and I went all around the place, scanned the area and even dug the sand a little. As a result? I couldn’t find my pocket knife anywhere. I figured that it must have gone missing when I was inside the Door of Dimensions. I felt incomplete without my knife, but at least I won’t die because of not having it, correct? I’m not sure…

I scanned my surroundings in hope that I could find anything sharp enough to replace my only primary weapon which was missing. I’ve tried my best to find the replacement but had no luck. Slowly, I allowed my mind to get distracted by the strange events that had occurred. Suddenly, I felt anxious to dive into the water and find anything interesting enough to be found. Slowly, I walked unsurely toward the spot the satyr was last seen.

It felt like as if a piece of my right hand was missing without the presence of my pocket knife, but what else could I have done? I tried to move aside the thought and concentrate on the problem, but it was unsuccessful. My mind will always eventually come back to the missing knife. I would have given my hand to retrieve my pocket knife. But it was not a really logical exchange, though, since I felt as if the knife was a part of my hand.

I stared curiously toward the spot where the satyr dived in. The water looked the same with the rest that was spread throughout the vast ocean. Should I dive in too? My mind raced to find possible solutions other than diving in, but sadly, I found none. I took a closer look into the water and found something interesting. There was a bright spot below the water surface. It looked kind of like a coin and it reflected the sunlight pretty well. Maybe the satyr dropped this coin! If it is so, then I need to retrieve it and return it to the satyr!

I took a quick dive at the water and grabbed the shiny object. Yep, it was a coin. I swam upright to catch a breath…but this was where the problem started. My head seemed to be stuck underwater.

What the heck? I can’t raise my head above the surface of the water. I tried to surface my body but bumped against the same problem. My usually smart and resourceful brain left me with panicked mind. I trashed underwater, hoping that somehow the invisible barrier would disappear. Nothing happened. With a rush, I tried to grasp for air and force it underwater, but my hand seemed to be stuck underwater too. This is it...the end of my journey. I love my family and all my friends. I love my girlfriend. I’m sorry for everything I have done wrongly in my life. Please forgive me. With a bunch of prayers, I braced myself for the end of my sealed fate. Except…the end didn’t catch me that quickly, even though my fate was still sealed by any means.

Chapter Six

Ahoy! Welcome aboard, matey. Arrr!

With a last effort, I tried to follow what fishes and other underwater beings have done their entire life. I tried to open my mouth and breathe underwater. I know right? It’s weird and you might think I’m a doofus, idiot, whatever. I doubted my brain could be called smart anymore. My brain is more like Hey, there’s this idea popping up! Let’s try it!

But I thanked all the gods and goddesses of all the religions and mythologies I’ve ever known that my brain was so impulsive I tried breathing underwater. It SUCCEEDED! Succeeded! Can you believe it? No? Me neither. But since everything I’ve been through doesn’t make sense either, I accepted the fact that my ability of breathing underwater might be real. Or maybe the sea was magical. I’m not sure. But with all these nonsense, how could anyone be sure of anything?

At first, I was surprised, really surprised. I mean, it’s not like everyone could breathe underwater every day. Plus, it’s not logical, I didn’t have any gill. I was not a merman. I checked my limbs for a second. (I was really worried that I had turned into a merman) Yep, I was not a merman. I decided to go along with the magical nonsense. I scanned my surrounding and was also surprised that I could see everything underwater as if I see it on the land. Everything on the radius of my eyesight where I could usually look at on the land looked perfectly clear.

After a while, though, I stopped being amazed. I remembered that I needed to find the satyr. But wait, where’s the coin? I panicked a little and looked beneath me. Luckily, the current hasn’t brought it away yet. I dived and gripped the coin steadily. I was determined not to lose anything anymore. First, the forest key, then my pocket knife, now the strange coin. I can’t lose anything anymore. I tucked the coin inside my jeans’ pocket.

There was another problem, though. I didn’t know where the satyr could have gone to. I doubted that he had surfaced, but I didn’t want to dive underwater for a long time too. I didn’t want to push my luck. And with my luck, while I was walking underwater, my ability to breathe underwater might suddenly disappear and I might sleep forever with the fishes. I ventured just a little deeper into the depth of the ocean.

Underwater, I saw a piece of wood drifting on the surface of the water. Looks kind of like the hull of a boat. Wait…no, a ship. A Big ship with a capital B for Big. It was about 15 meters long and 10 meters wide. And the hull was pressed between 2 rows of oars on each side. With oars that many, I figured the ship could move pretty fast when the oar bearers want to.

I was still amazed by the big ship when suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a tug at the back of my shirt. I was plucked up by a gigantic, pure black anchor. The giant anchor fished my shirt and pulled me above. And nope, I’m not kidding. I thrashed wildly because I didn’t want to get smashed to pieces by the invisible barrier I talked about 6 or 7 paragraphs ago. I tried to free my shirt from the anchor but couldn’t do it because the force of water pressure is quite strong. I tried to free myself from my shirt but had no luck because it’s too tight with the anchor taking space inside the shirt.

I looked above. The surface of the water is only 1 meter above me. OMG! I’m going to be smashed to pieces if I don’t run free right now! I trashed even more wildly. Nothing seems to change. I survived the water breathing incident…only to be killed by some mad sailor? I felt my pulse quickened up, waiting for the worst to happen.

I raised my hand to push against the invisible barrier, hoping it would help me in freeing myself from my shirt. What I found was even luckier than what I have expected. At first I was confused and surprised. The invisible barrier has disappeared! Wait…what? Did the barrier just vanish? I was really confused but I decided just to follow the flow. Everything here was strange anyway. The anchor plucked me out of the ocean and dragged me up. I felt so happy I just wanted to thank whoever had plucked me out of the ocean. But when I saw who they were, immediately I wished that I was still beneath the waves.

The ship loomed high and mighty. But it sort of ruined the effect of a majestic object when I saw the flag that lay above the crow’s nest. The background of the flag was black. Beside each corner of the flag, there were 2 mounds of a white object painted there. The mounds of white continued to the direction of the center of the flag, where displayed there was one of the scariest thing a sailor could have imagined. There was an image of a skull with a black eye patch crossed by 2 bones. The symbol of pirates.

When I saw the flag, I stared at it in horror. I have been always scared of pirates. When I was small, my mom used to read me books about pirates. It was said there that they are sometimes crazy and they liked to force people to walk the gangplank and jumped to the deep blue sea. Usually, Mr. Unlucky got the attention of sharks and they rip him to pieces. Every time my mom finished reading the book, I would cower in fear and my mom would tell me that I will be OK since such things as pirates don’t exist anymore. Maybe I should have brought a camera along and take a selfie with the pirate ship as the background. Then I can prove that she’s wrong.

I started to thrash again and I redoubled the effort to free myself. Since I was small, I was just an average boy with zero to minimal muscles. I never won any sport competitions, nor does my school ever chooses me for any. Plus, the gravity seems to be actively opposing me. I can’t pull myself out of the anchor.

Eventually, I realized that I could never get free. So I stopped thrashing and calmed down a little. I started to form a plan so that I could escape once I was able to move. Maybe I could rush and jump to the sea again. But the pirates can easily pluck me up again. Also, I’m not sure the sea will accept me this time. Maybe it will form the invisible barrier again. Only this time it prevents me from going into the water. And there’s no guarantee that I would have the breathing underwater ability anymore if I jump in again. Maybe I could fight those pirates but…nah, I’ll lose. I couldn’t form any good plan. A few moments later, the anchor dropped me on the deck of the pirate ship.

I expected the barbarian pirates to start yelling at me and throwing things. What actually happened was that one of the pirates moved forward. He wore that cap that the captain usually wears. I figured he must be the captain. Duh. I expected him to yell at me and laugh at me and punch me. What actually happened was that he greeted me.

“Ahoy! Welcome aboard, matey. ARRR!” The captain’s voice boomed, “Ma name’s Garrick and I’m captain here. This baby ya can see here’s mine! Her name’s Bearder, in honor of her first owner, Blackbeard the Pirate!”

As soon as Garrick said the name Blackbeard the Pirate, the other pirates cheered loudly. Garrick handed me a stinky leather bag half filled with unknown substances.

Then Garrick continued, “I had direct orders from ma boss. I need to take ya to the junction for the next dimension. The rest is up to ya. The journey’s gonna take 3 days or so. Yer cabin is at first deck left row second from stairway. These’re food and drink for 3 days, use it well, you’ve no more rations. Make yerself comfortable, ya scalawag! BWAHAHAHAHA!”

Garrick started to creep me out, so I decided that going to my cabin is the best for now. I thanked Garrick and searched for the stairway for a while before I finally found it. I went downstairs and searched for my cabin. Left row second from stairway…must be this! I entered the designated room and immediately found myself in a room with a disgusting stench.

The room was not too big, but it’s still wide enough, and it’s tall enough. The problem was the stench and trashes. There was only one small trash can located at the corner of the room, and there are mountains of trashes around the trash can. The trash can itself was filled with rubbish. For once, I felt as if I wanted to protest to Garrick. Even pirates couldn’t give his guests a room like this, could they? I stormed around the room for a while, debating inside my heart whether I should protest to Garrick or not. Eventually, my mind got cleared out of the anger inside it. I decided it wasn’t worth it to risk my life just for a clean cabin.

I scanned the room and found out that the room has a bed which was probably fit for a child at an early age, a dysfunctional chair with only 2 supports and a table with only 3 supports. Seriously? Pirates are this evil? They can’t even respect their guests! There’s not even a pillow or a blanket on the bed! I dropped my stuff at the floor next to the table and heard creaking sounds. I grabbed my stuff back and the floor beneath where I just placed my belongings disintegrated to pieces. Holy every God! This place needs a complete makeover! I moved the table a little bit to the right side to avoid any other major floor breakdown and placed my belongings beneath the table.

I felt hopeless in this situation, so I decided a quick nap might be necessary. Plus I’m very tired with all the adventures I had. I tried to sit on the ridiculously small bed and found out that the surface was as hard as wooden planks and it was covered by stains everywhere. What stain? I’m sure I don’t want to find out. I pressed the disgusted feeling deep down and lay on the bed, sticking my feet out. Minutes later, after some sheep counting, I fell asleep.

Chapter Seven

Wow! Wait…What is that anyway?

Maybe all of you readers here are expecting that I just had a dream, correct? If it is so, then you are wrong. This time, my sleep was a dreamless one. I woke up feeling as if my stomach wanted a mutiny against my own body. Must be seasick. Desperately, I looked for a window to throw my insides out. When I was smaller, I had experienced seasick. Usually after a day or so, my stomach started to adapt and it got better eventually. But this was still my first day on the pirate ship, plus it has been a long time since I was aboard on a ship.

I can’t find a window. Urgh, what kind of ship is this? As a last resort, I tried to find a plastic bag or a seasick bag, but not surprisingly, there was none. Thinking quickly, I emptied the leather bag Garrick gave me earlier onto the table and all the three supports that supports the table immediately snapped and the table fell down along with all my rations. I was in a hurry, though, so I didn’t notice it. As a replacement for the food and drink, I emptied my stomach into the leather bag.

After I felt comfortable enough, I tied the leather bag and dropped it beside the trash can. I saw that some of my insides have dripped outside of the leather bag, but who cares anyway? Not these barbarians, they’d be happy with any smell. For the first time, I noticed that the table has fallen down and my rations are scattered on the floor. Yuck, I’m not going to eat those. Nevertheless, I searched my rations in hope of anything that was useful.

All of my rations looked…unclean. Okay, I was exaggerating. These rations looked really, really, really filthy, plus it also looked really, really, really unhealthy. Swarms of flies immediately took interest in my rations. They swarmed around it and landed on some of them. I shooed them away but they seemed determined to get the food. Oh, well, I’m not gonna eat these filths anyway. I’ll let these flies take what they want. More of the gang of flies swarmed around my rations.

Coincidentally, I was thirsty at that time. I searched for the drink that was supposed to be along with the food. I can’t seem to found the water anywhere. Suddenly, my brain was filled with a growing suspicion that Garrick had tricked me.

Only then did I realize how stupid I was. I went to the place where I dropped the leather bag and untied it. Inside, I saw my stomach fillings and…and a hardened leather bottle! OMG! I was so stupid! Foolish me! I should have double checked the leather bag first! Now how am I supposed to drink? Desperate, I crept back to my bed and covered my face with my hands. I felt like crying. Oh, how I wished that I never found the Door of Dimensions.

Just then, the ship rumbled and lurched sideways. The whole ship shook with a tremendous force, banging me toward the left wall. My stomach felt worse than ever. I feel the need to puke again, but I forced my stomach fillings in again. Now’s not the time, Hendry, you can puke up later. After some struggling with my stomach, I managed to calm myself down. I sat down at my bed.

There was a loud bang from the direction of my room’s door. I glanced at it and found a pirate with an eye patch staring at me. Stunned, I didn’t do anything. A second later, the pirate shouted at me, “Get up! Cap’n tell ya to go upper deck! Ain’t no questions!” And in a flash, he disappeared down the corridor. I became confused. What could Garrick possibly want from me? What was the sudden rumble in the ship? Better find out now. I sighed and decided to go above deck. Looking at my things, I had nothing to be prepared. So, I exited my room and went up the staircase.

Once my head levels higher than the staircase, I heard someone shouting orders. Everyone was running around frantically, manning the sail, manning the cannon or throwing bucketful of water out of the ship. What had happened? I spotted Garrick standing at the helm of the ship, obvious due to his usual pirate captain’s hat, whatever it is called. He seemed to be staring at the ocean at the right side of the ship. I took a glance and immediately understood why the ship rumbled minutes ago.

Looming over us was something large and long, like the neck of a giraffe, but more flexible. No, like the neck of long-necked dinosaurs from millenniums ago. My eyes followed the long object to the tip, where I could see a gigantic head munching on the crow’s nest. The ship lurched to the right whenever the monster took a bite. I shuddered, imagining how my fate would end. Would it end here?

Shaking my imaginations away, I took a closer look at the monster’s body. Its long neck connected to an oval shaped body with 4 feet, which looked suspiciously like fins but doesn’t seem right. This creature seemed familiar. I searched my mind for anything that looked similar. After a few seconds of thinking, I found what I was looking for in my brain. I’ve seen this creature once in my primary science notebook, when our class was learning about dinosaurs from Jurassic Period.

Plesiosaurus. Yes, I was sure it was a plesiosaurus. With its 2 pair of elongated paddles and turtle-like body, plus the long and slim neck, it fits perfectly to the picture in my science textbook. Except, this one was undoubtedly much bigger. Its height could reach a total of 20 meters, almost 6 times the size of average normal plesiosaurus! I stared in horror as the creature took another bite of the crow’s nest. And then I remembered that Garrick wanted to see me. I shook my head, letting go of the terror. But it wouldn’t go away.

I ran to the helm of the ship. While I was running, a piece of the crow’s nest which was bitten by the monster fell down to my right thigh. It cut through my jeans and scraped my thigh pretty badly. Blood immediately soaked through my jeans. I limped the rest of my way to the helm, where I was surprised to see Garrick so calm and controlled.

Garrick was acting very unalike what a pirate captain should have done at crisis – shouting and just swinging his weapon aimlessly. At least, that was what I figured pirates should be doing at times like this. Instead, he oversaw the monster calmly. Then he spoke to me without even looking at me.

“Hendry, do you wonder why I am so calm in this situation, especially added by the fact that I am a pirate?”

“How do you know my name? I never told u, did I?”

“Someone informed me.”

“And for that matter, yes I wonder how you could be so calm in this situation.”

The boat lurches to the right again and I fell down, rolling to the right. I got up ran to Garrick before the sea could claim me. I continued the conversation.

“How could you be so calm? Also, who informed you about my name?”

“The one who informed me is none of your concern. And I’m so calm because I know you would be the solution to this problem.”

“Me? Solution to the problem? How do you know?”

“One question at a time, kid. First, yes, it’s you. And yes, you are the solution to the trouble this monster is giving us. Three, the same person who told me about your name told me about this.”

“And you trust that person? How am I supposed to end this madness?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, I do trust him. He told me your name and it turns out that he’s correct, right?” He turned his head toward me.

“He is, but that doesn’t mean he is correct about me as the solution of this problem.”

The ship rumbled again. This time, though, I was ready. I kept my footing steady as the ship rocked. Then Garrick asked me again.

“Kid, I trust him and that’s the end of this matter. Let’s move on to the part where you will end this problem. How will you get rid of this thing?”

“You shouldn’t trust people easily just because they gave you a correct piece of information. And I don’t know how to end this!”

“Enough for the argument! I trust him and that’s the end of this argument. And you need to find a way to get rid of it right now!”

“Fine! Fine! I’ll take orders from someone I don’t even know!”

“That’s not an order, that’s your destiny.”

Chapter Eight

I was swallowed…literally

Yeah, right. Destiny. Almost every fiction stories features something as magical and dramatic as destinies, don’t you think? Me? I don’t believe in destinies. I believe there will be no future except the one we will make. All these stories about destinies sounded like bull…poop. We can alter the future. We can change our destiny.

As Garrick said something about my destiny, I stared at him with exasperated eyes. Man, why is he talking about destinies? I stormed off the deck into my room, letting Garrick’s voice trailed. Right now, my room sounded really tempting. As I was reaching my room’s door, the ship rumbled again, this time with greater strength than before. I fell down hard to the floor and the floor creaked beneath me.

Holding a doorknob, I eased myself up. I was really getting exasperated with all these problems and the talk of stupid destiny. Maybe he was right. Maybe I need to stop this madness. But this is not my destiny. I debated against myself whether I should get rid of the creature or not. My instincts told me to do it. My brain contradicted. Since I was small, my instinct had saved me from dangers and troubles. If I could trust my instincts then, I figured it would be wise to trust my instinct now, even though what it suggested seemed illogical. C’mon, how will I defeat this monster? I looked around hoping there would be a weapon lying on the ground. Turned out my luck was a little better than that.

I spotted a weapon rack beside a room’s door, empty except for one weapon lying there, unused. I rushed to the weapon rack and examined the last and only weapon there. The weapon was like a sword, but its curved from the handle to the tip and only one of the edges of the blade curved outside at the center of the blade, making the blade wider than normal sword. Oh, and, only the curved edge was sharp. Yes, dear reader, it was a cutlass.

Almost in all pirate books I’ve read since I was small featured pirates with cutlasses at their hands. So, I found it weird that the cutlass was the only weapon left in the weapon rack. Or maybe the weapon rack was originally full with cutlasses. If that was the case, then it made sense. Maybe Garrick didn’t count all his pirates correctly (maybe because he’s so dumb that he can’t count), and he placed too much cutlasses here.

Whatever the case was, I grabbed the cutlass and rushed to the upper deck. When I moved my foot and took my first step on the upper deck, I saw something similar to a horror movie. I saw the creature’s neck swinging downward to where Garrick was standing. Everyone around the area ducked and dropped to the ground. That is, everyone except Garrick.

The monster’s head descended to where Garrick was standing still, slowly analyzing him. Garrick didn’t budge at all. With a start, I screamed as the monster swallowed Garrick whole in one bite. Rage crowded my mind. No one hurts my ally, even though he is not my friend! No one! I rushed to the place where Garrick stood last to meet the monster. Seemed that I’m going to take chances against this creature of death.

I stood face to face with the monster. I could see its head orbiting me, analyzing every spot of my body. Gradually, the monster’s head descended on me. I shouted out loud, “Come on, you little stupid head! Swallow me!” Now, that might have sounded brave, but actually, I was terrified. The monster’s head rose upward, preparing to strike. It opened its mouth and I could see all those razor-sharp fangs. And then, it went straight down toward me.

Honestly, I can’t really describe what it felt like being in the monster’s throat. All I could see was pink-like surface all around me. Its throat kept moving and shaking, pushing me down. It has been a while before I felt a burning sensation against my skin. I looked down at my body and finally could feel what does it feels like being a food. The acidic whatever-liquid-the-monster-has-inside-its-body kept burning my skin, slowly scraping it.

Now, dear reader, my plan was to get to its stomach then cut it from the inside. But I was worried that I might die even before I reach there. The acidic liquid might scrape me out of existence before long. Well, what could I have done? I should’ve thought of this before I let it swallow me. But now, looking at the present, I need to find Garrick, and then bust my way out of here. Killing the monster while doing it would be a nice little bonus. Well, not exactly little, but you get the idea.

While I was still forming the plan, I spotted Garrick down there out of the corner of my eyes. He seemed fine, but who knows? He did struggle a bit to put up some resistance, but it seemed like he gave up after a while. Or, he might have just died. That was the thing that worried me. I came all the way down here to rescue him, not to watch him die. Making sure that he was still alive, I shouted his name, “Garrick! You there? Safe and sound?” There was no reply. I panicked. What if he really has died? That would be horrible now, wouldn’t it?

After a short period of time, though, an answer came from below. “Sound, yes, but safe? I don’t think so”

“Thank God you’re still alive! I thought you really have died just now!”

“Wouldn’t have been made a pirate captain if I die that easily, now, would I?”

“Certainly not, Garrick, you’re one tough nut to be cracked!”

I laughed. Somehow, I felt as if a newfound strength has just inhabited my body. Now, my entire mind was focused in killing this hideous creature of death. It was then when we reached the end of our journey, by which it means that we died. Just kidding. By that, I meant that we were about to reach the stomach of this monster. Sure enough, not long after, Garrick disappeared out of sight. And soon, I found myself in another place.

I was not ready for this. Seriously, I was really not ready for this. The stomach looked like a small room, with pink walls surrounding it. What made it so scary was that instead of some stomach acidic liquid, there was lava there. Yes, dear readers, I said lava. Now I know I shouldn’t have been able to stay alive, or at least I would be burning by then. But this lava was different. Sure, it was pretty hot, but we were not burning, and the heat was still bearable. But slowly I could feel the temperature rising.

As soon as I entered the stomach chamber, I panicked and threw myself up a bit. Man, it was so close; I could feel the lava a few centimeters away from me. “Whoa, now I know why this thing is called a monster.”

“How can we get out of here?”

“I don’t know! Maybe we can just cut our way out from here?”

“Sure we can, but would that kill the monster?”

“Well, it should be enough to kill it.”

“Alright, but stay away from the lava. You are not destined to die here, Hendry.”

“I’ll try not to. But, how much did that person told you about me and this whole my destiny thing?”

“Just what I need to know, kid, before my time ends.”

“Hold on, what do you mean by your time ending?”

“You know what I mean, surely.”

“Let’s just focus on getting out of here alive, alright? We should probably move now, before it gets too hot for our liking.”

“Right, let’s cut this thing apart.”

“That’s the spirit. I’ll cut it, you just wait for me to succeed and then you can hop out first.”

And just like that, I slashed my cutlass to one of those slimy pink stuff. It didn’t tear apart in the first try, though. I slashed a few times before I succeeded. I could hear the monster screaming in agony from here. I looked at Garrick and he insisted that I go first since I was the one who cut it.

“Fine, but stay alive, ok?”

“I’ll try to, but I can’t guarantee it. Now, get out of here!”

I jumped out of the dying body and crashed into the depth of the sea. Holding my breath, I swam away as far as I could before taking another sip of air. Then I swam to the ship and climbed the mast.

The pirates all surrounded me, bombarding me with questions such as ‘where is Garrick?’ or ‘Is the monster dead?’ It was then when I remembered about Garrick. I rushed to the railing and saw one of the most disastrous views I might ever see in my entire life.

The dead body of the giant sea monster collapsed sideways, hitting the water with such force waves splashed all around it.

The ship rumbled. All of us watched as the body slowly sank into the vast ocean. I scanned the surrounding but found no trace of Garrick. I called out for him but received no reply. Every each of us was silent, hoping a miracle would happen.

It turned out that none happened. Gradually, one by one, the pirates turn their gaze to the floor. I felt the first drop of tear appear out of the corner of my eye. I brushed it off and stayed silent as the creaking sound of the floorboards accompanied our sadness.

Chapter Nine

Making the death worth it

One by one, the pirate crew went below deck. I myself stayed at the upper deck, still trying to accept the fact that I failed myself and the person who I was trying to save died.

I didn’t budge until someone called to me for dinner. I took one last glance at the ocean and swore that I would make Garrick’s death worth it. Then I went below deck.

The pirates were all cheering to honor Garrick’s death. Honestly, I didn’t understand why they were cheering instead of mourning. The pirate who called me invited me to join the party in honor of Garrick, but I refused. I preferred just to take my dinner portion and rest at my cabin for the rest of the night.

I spent the rest of the night finishing my meal and thinking about things I could’ve done that would prevent Garrick’s death. I could’ve let Garrick jump out first and then I would be the one who died. Wait…how did he die again? That brought up the subject; I didn’t even know how he could’ve died. As far as I knew, there was more than enough time for Garrick to jump out of the monster’s body, and then swim to his ship before the monster collapses. That left me intrigued with the cause of his death. I decided to investigate on the following morning. So I took a deep breath, lied down on my stinky bed, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

I found myself inside a room with pink walls all around me. Confused, I scanned my surroundings and spotted something unbelievable. Garrick was there! Then I woke up with a start. It was then when I realized that it was only a dream. I lied back in my bed and covered my face. Only if Garrick was still alive, everything will be better. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep again.

This time, though, I had no dreams whatsoever. I woke up with a mild mood. I checked through the window and the sun was high above me, indicating that it was midday. Gathering myself, I dragged myself out of bed to make myself a breakfast-lunch. I was surprised, though, to find out that no one was in the dining room. I made myself a coffee (Yes, I was also surprised that these sea dogs have coffee beans) and went upper deck in search for the others. And I did found the others around the helm. All their gazes are fixed on something in the distance.

I was intrigued, and so, I went to join the pirate crew. Barely visible on the horizon was something that looked like an island. It was quite small, judging by how it looked. Also, it seemed like it was uninhabited and it was barren, with no plants on the surface whatsoever. But the weirdest part was that it glowed mysteriously bright blue like…like sapphire blue. I rubbed my eyes but the sapphire blue glow was still there. Man, what’s the deal with all these gems glow? First Emerald Woods…and now Sapphire Island?

There were murmurs all around me. I listened to it and it seemed like the Sapphire Island was where Garrick’s destination lied. Now, if Garrick was the one who wanted us to go there, then that’s what I will do. “So, we go there?” I asked no one in particular.

“Yea,” a pirate answered.

“Gimme the creeps, but I’m up for it!” An eye-patched pirate shouted.

“That’s what boss wanted,” another pirate said.

“Prepare yerself, crew! We’re setting sail on Sapphire Island!” A pirate who seemed to be taking the charge shouted to everybody. Then everyone cheered excitedly. The matter brought too much excitement to me that I’ve forgotten all about investigating Garrick’s death. And just like that, the heat of the sun scorched me as the pirate ship sailed into the unknown.

Chapter Ten

A new ally?

I’d say it was around one hour or so of more sailing before we got a clearer sight of the Sapphire Island. It was, as I predicted, full of sapphires jutting out of the surface everywhere. But, what I didn’t predict was that there was a cave on the island. In fact, the cave seemed to be the only point of interest on the island. Like I said, it was barren. I didn’t know what I would do when I reached the island, and so, I decided to reach there first, then discuss later.

I expected the journey would be finished in a day or at least, a day plus a night. Turned out that I was wrong. When it was already a quarter past 7 in the night, the island was only barely visible. Also, maybe it was just a trick of my mind, or maybe it was really happening, but the island seemed to be getting further and further the closer we seemed to be. Or maybe it was just our progress getting slower and slower in each passing minute. Whatever it was, I decided to forget it for a while because…we were still making progress there even though it was not quick by any means.

I discovered that there were also tea leaves in the dining room. So, I grabbed myself a cup of tea (And yes, I was also very confused how the pirates had these supplies of tea leaves and coffee beans) and head back to my room. It was not a tiring day by all means, but I felt like having some rest. I expected tomorrow would be a pretty eventful day. The tea helped me to clear my mind a bit out of all these confusing things I have been intrigued in these past days and not long after, I drifted off into sleep.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I had no dreams whatsoever. It was just like a blank canvas in my mind, with nothing on it. I woke up quite early, judging by the position of the sun, which indicates that it was around 6 at the morning. Not too bad, considering that I usually wake up at around 10 at the morning when there’s no school back home. Home, sweet home. I’m wondering how mom and dad are doing right now… They must be worried like hell. That’s why, I need to finish this whole dimensions mystery as fast as possible, and then return home.

I pulled myself up and took a shower (Yes, I didn’t take any shower yesterday). Then, taking another cup of coffee, I went upper deck to check whether we’re close to the Sapphire Island or not. The result was surprising. I never expected that we would travel so far overnight. But there we were, just about few hundred meters ahead of us.

Long story short, we reached there in about 15 minutes, I believed. I was the first to set foot on this land among all the crew of the pirate ship. The island was surrounded by a beach and as you might have guessed already, the center of the island was occupied by a large cave opening. Sapphire jutted out everywhere on the rocky surface.

I signaled the others to come down and that’s when a miracle happened. Out of the corner of my right eye, I spotted a figure with furry legs and feet which looked suspiciously like hooves. With a start, I realized that it must’ve been the satyr I was looking for all these times. I signaled the crew to wait ashore for my return. And then, I rushed to meet the satyr. “Uh, hey. Were you the guy who disappeared mysteriously at the ocean a few days ago?” I found myself saying.

“Yes, Hendry. Name’s Jason. And as you might have guessed already, I’m a satyr. I was also the one who told Garrick about you. How did I know all about you, you might ask? That’s not your concern for now.”

“Uh…oookay. By the way, I found this coin you dropped before.”

“Good, keep it. You will need it for later.”

“Hold on…can I not go back to my home?”

“You will be able to, eventually, I believe. It is not much of your concern now.”

“So is it actually my destiny to end up here?”

“Yes, Hendry. It is time for you to complete the circle.”

Chapter Eleven

A rest maybe?

I pulled my head back a little. The story writing was getting a little bit tiring. It was raining briskly outside. Avoiding my teacher’s gaze, I slipped out of the class silently. I made myself a cup of coffee in the school pantry and wondered what I will write later. It was one crazy adventure…especially after Jason arrived in my lifeline. The cup of coffee calmed my mind and prepared me for the next session of story writing. I returned to the class with my delicious cup of coffee. Sipping the coffee, I promised that I would finish the story.