Chapter 3 -
05/14/2017
Bulkee nodded with his eyes closed. His head bobbing against the tree branch, while I reflected on the experience.
Reliving the incident was frustrating. Why would an Ashendron take me hostage? And why would he leave me here? The truth was that I couldn’t care less about what got me involved. “I just want to go home,” I said.
Bulkee remained silent like he had gone into a trance. I watched his chest rise and fall to a regular rhythm. I began wondering if he had dosed off.
The forest was tranquil. Only the sound from the sway of the giant leaves was within earshot. Not wanting to look lost and pathetic, I held my head high. “Bulkee. How do I get back home?”
“Bulkee! How do I get back home?” he shouted unexpectedly, repeating my query word by word.
I gaped at him, feeling bewildered. But he stared back at me with the same look of shock, like he had seen me for the first time. He flickered the back of his hand and switched on a disdainful expression. “I’m unimpressed. Comparing with my other creations, this is insipid.”
Did he just call me “insipid”? I pinched myself to refrain from stomping off. But when I saw that he had begun to stroll away, I panicked. “I need your help. Please. I have to go home.”
“Your name is Ears, right?” He swung around and jumped onto a branch behind him.
“That’s my last name,” I replied. “I go by –”
“So, Ears. Apparently, you are not one of my MindShapes.”
“Excuse me?”
“You see. I’ve been guarding the AkxieMoreRun Forest for as long as I can remember. But besides me, you wouldn’t find another living soul here. Even the trees, the grass, the flowers are not living.” He turned in a circle with his arms up.
My gaze trailed after his fingers. I noticed the leaves and the grass turned two shades darker. Only a brief moment ago they had looked bright with exaggerated vividness. But in shadows they were lackluster and lifeless.
“The plants are brought into AohhoA from alternative realities. They are just here for the purpose of filling space.” Bulkee paused, a look of perplexity flicking crossed his face. “To keep myself occupied, I’ve learned to invent different creatures and objects from my head. They are what I call ‘MindShapes’.”
“Like imaginary friends?” I asked. Or hallucinations. I wanted to say.
“No. MindShapes are brilliant and valid creations from my mind. Ears, you have to understand that I am an edified individual with a very special ability,” he said, pride in his voice. “I am the one who can construct characters in my head and bring them to life. Like the perpetually hungry tiger with red dragon wings!”
Bulkee leaped off the twig and surprised me by lying flat on the grass. He raised a hand and pointed behind me, “You see him over there, the Red Tiger? Don’t you worry. I, the brave guard of the AkxieMoreRun Forest, have single-handedly tamed him.”
I swallowed hard and my chest swelled up, as I slowly turned around. I squinted to find a small grassy patch with a line of flowers around it. But there was nothing else in sight. No dragon wings. No red tiger. I turned to stare at Bulkee. He’s not just weird. His mind was gone.
“I don’t see anything,” I told him.
“Of course you don’t. You won’t. And you can’t,” he lashed out at me without skipping a beat. “Only the AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened can capture the essence of this prowess. And you are not even developed yet.”
His quickness to slight me had me bite the sides of my mouth. And to say that he was enlightened? I tried not to dwell on my annoyance.
“Do you know what prowess the Enlightened Seekers behold?” Bulkee went on, oblivious to my irritation.
I picked out a loose thread on my shorts as I gave him a look of nonchalance. I wanted to show him that I wasn’t interested.
“Imajigo!” he announced anyway, accentuating each syllable like he was rolling out a precious stone. “It is the art of channeling the course of events by inventing objects and abilities that are not perceived through the senses.”
“Like magic,” I said flatly. At this point I only carried on the conversation to be polite. My intuition told me that it’d be wise not to make enemies, when befriending them was clearly not an option.
Bulkee shook his head, frowning like I had said something distasteful. “Magic manifests through potions and spells and supernatural forces. But Imajigo is no such foolishness.” His voice deepened. “It is extracted directly from the mind that stores the source of it all.”
“The source of what?”
“The source of imagination,” he answered with a flourish. “Imajigo is a term that refers to all possibilities derived from the source of imagination. My special Imajigo Trade is called Bionic. It’s the ability to create MindShapes, which are categorized into either objects or creatures.”
What he said was actually fascinating. I liked the idea of bringing imagination to reality. But considering my circumstance, I had to be skeptical. I worked the muscles on my face to freeze the expression of indifference, not revealing my growing interest.
“For a moment, I thought that you were just one of my MindShapes,” Bulkee went on. “But you’ve exposed your difference. You are a creature from one of the alternative realities.”
I really wouldn’t consider myself a “creature.” I shook my head. Why did I bother talking to this crazy pear? By now, I was ready to walk off. To find my own way.
“That’s right. Go now, Ears,” he gave me a dismissive wave. “You should make haste because there are only twelve cycles left.”
What twelve cycles? I frowned at his strange comment. I'm out of here. I started walking. I was determined to plow through the hurdles and get home in no time.
But two steps later, my willpower seeped out of my chest like a leaking balloon. In just a brief moment, the forest had changed again. The grass had spurted tall, covering the ground and leaving no discernible trail. The leaves looked wild, swaying like the unkept mane of a madman. The plants were overgrown, standing monumentally like industrial buildings. The patchy shadows peppered the ground around me.
Where do I even start? I braced myself.
“Well,” Bulkee bounced off the tree bark. One eyebrow raised. “I don’t see that you can handle it on your own. I should join you,” he offered. A shift in his attitude.
I was immediately wary. Was he playing with me again? What did he have up his sleeve? “No, I don’t think so.” I backed away slowly, part of me fearing that he might chase after me.
But Bulkee didn't move. He drilled his gaze into my eyes, "How do you think you are going to make it out?"
I stared down. There was a brown spot on my right snicker and I studied the cracks. It must have been mud, I thought.
A jolt to my shoulder snapped me back. I straightened to find Bulkee standing on my shoulder. “Let’s get going," he said.
I was tense but I didn’t brush him off. Part of me relented. I should take up on his offer, I decided, because I really didn’t know where to turn.
“First thing first,” his voiced shot into my ear. “I will lead you out of the Forest. But you must close your eyes and listen to my instructions. I will tell you where to go, where to turn, and when to stop.”
What? The idea of rummaging through entangled vines under oversized plants without sight was terrifying.
“Look, Ears, the Forest is filled with dangerous traps in every corner. I can avoid them because I know my way around. But you got nothing. You are better off following my directions,” he went on. “Don’t try to peek. You might get snared in branches, like a fruit fly caught in a spider net.”
Spiders had been my worst nightmare. I swallowed hard at the dreadful image of being covered in spiral webs. A small and desperate hope grew inside me that Bulkee might actually help me after all. I held onto that hope, as I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Shoulders back. Chin up. Walk straight,” he began.
I was bombarded with his directives, and I fought the urge of opening my eyes. I gingered forward and I was so out of my element that I swayed on my heels. My fists clenched. I shouldn’t be like this. I was good at the balance beam but now I was losing it on the ground.
“Ears. Focus on my voice,” I heard him say. “Keep your body tight.”
I blew out air and pinched the quarter in my shoulders. I worked hard to concentrate on his voice.
“We’ve come across small puddles. Bend your knees. Jump up. Skip two steps. Make a left here. Walk faster. You are crossing over tree roots,” he went on.
It was strange that after a while, I stopped questioning him or worrying about the spiders. Something had shifted inside me. I became aware of the humidity in the air, of the wet mud that I trudged through.
Soon Bulkee’s voice faded and eventually ceased coming. Everything grew quiet. I picked up my pace, running as the weight of my body was lifted from my feet.
A thought occurred.
“Bulkee," I said.
“Yes?” His voice returned. I felt him shift.
“Tell me more about the Apogee Course. I’ve heard the speaker on the phone mention it.”
“As I told you,” he began. “The Apogee Course is the sacred tunnel that connects you to all alternative realities beyond AohhoA. You will have to go through the Apogee Course in order to return to your reality.”
“Are you taking me to it?" I asked. I was feeling airy and excited.
“No," he replied.
The flatness in his voice was like a slap in the face. I stopped dead in my tracks, and my cheeks burned. “Where are you taking me then?”
“Keep moving and keep your eyes shut, Ears,” he said.
I started on my feet again not trying to take a sneak peek. But my heart was pounding in my chest.
“Listen. The Apogee Course, like I told you, was once created by the Ashendrons using Mocirium. But after their defeat, the originators confiscated the passageway and placed a seal on it. The key to the seal is only allowed for the use of the royalties,” he said. “To engage the Apogee Course you must obtain permission from the great King Wuiet of AohhoA.”
“How do I find King Wuiet?” I asked.
“It’s a good question but the answer to which no one is entitled to know except for the King himself. And he has just left his kingdom.”
“Just left? And no one knows where he is now?” I took a shallow breath. The news caused anxiety to spread in my chest like an acute cough.
“No one but King Wuiet himself, like I said,” he corrected me, a slight annoyance in his voice. “The tradition is that all Kings only rule AohhoA up to a point. They decide on the precise point to renounce their kingships and forever retreat to a reality outside the realm of perpetuation. So King Wuiet is to forsake his royalty without consultation with or direction from no one but the sovereign himself.”
I did not capture all of Bulkee’s lengthy explanation. But I was at least clear about one thing. The King who could get me home was no longer reachable. “Why would the King leave, when everything was supposed to stay unchanged,” I asked. "Why wouldn’t he tell anyone where he had gone to?”
“It’s best that the King’s disappearance is sudden and his whereabouts hidden," Bulkee replied. “Only that makes it a perfect opportunity for the Prince to claim the crown.”
“Wait. There’s a Prince? Has the Prince been trying to overthrown the King?”
“Oh, no! Not a usurp,” exclaimed Bulkee. “It’s the tradition that when a King willingly relegates his sovereignty, he makes an exit. At that point a Prince will preside over AohhoA. But the Prince has to first prove that he is worthy of such a duty. You see. When King Wuiet decides to leave, he removes the seal to engage the Apogee Course. But this act disrupts the status quo and the kingdom enters into a phase called the Period of Chaos.”
“What is that?” I asked as I continued walking. My eyes remained closed but I moved with easy like my strides knew where to land.
“It’s an unsettling phase in which everything is subject to change,” Bulkee said. “The Period of Chaos starts at the King’s departure. And it lasts through thirteen Cycles. Each is marked by the rise of the sun. The Period of Chaos is volatile in nature and it opens a window of opportunity for the Ashendrons to reclaim the key to the Apogee Course. And possibly to take their vengeance.”
“What will the Ashendrons do for vengeance? Are they going to kill the Prince?” I interrupted him. A cold sweat broke on my back, as I feared that I too will be subject to their violence.
“No, of course not,” Bulkee let out a sigh like it was draining to explain things to me. “No one dies in AohhoA. Like I had said, this is a place of eternity. No one ever dies. Since the gory battle, the originators removed the concept of time to preserve peace. Upholding peace means that everything remains unchanged. Good or bad. The Ashendrons stay in Stratum Kwattence and they have turned into monstrous creatures tormented by their own greed. They don’t die. The Prince doesn’t die, no dies,” he said.
I gave him a vehement nod in blindness. I was relieved that death would not be an outcome for my abduction.
“But after the King’s departure, they will try to launch attacks and seize power,” Bulkee went on. “The Prince has to defeat them before securing his position as the new ruler. And that’s why no one is to know the King’s whereabouts. The Prince has to fight on his own and show that he is fit for sovereignty.”
My chest grew heavy again. Something didn’t seem quite right. “What happens if the Ashendrons do seize control?”
“No. That’s not happening. Absolutely not.” Bulkee said, more firmly than I thought was necessary. “The Prince will attain victory. And once he does and claims the crown, he will have the Ashendrons back to Kwatt. As simple as that.”
“How do you know for sure that the Prince will defeat them?” I insisted. I didn’t want to come off like I was challenging him but I just couldn’t curb my curiosity.
“Well, it’s a tradition. The Prince, like all Princes, is expected to succeed and ascend to throne. That’s just how things should be. It’s the tradition,” he spoke with an emphasis but offered no further clarification.
I realized what was unsettling to me. The situation was simply a contradiction. If victory was just part of a tradition, what was the point of having a battle? Attesting his dominance for what? I wondered.
I almost let off my question, if it hadn’t been what Bulkee said next. “Listen, Ears, you’d better make haste, because the victory of the Prince marks the end of the Period of Chaos. At that point, the Prince is entitled to reset all functions of his newly conquered kingdom. He might keep AohhoA the way it has been. Or he might retune it to his preference. Either way, you won’t get back to your reality. Because if he is unaware of your entrance, his decision will not factor in your existence. You understand? You have to find him before he attains victory. Or you will be trapped in here forever.”
Forever? The seriousness of my circumstance shot up another pang of anxiety. Flustered, I managed to ask, “Where is the Prince?”
“He should be in the Floating Palace preparing for the battle,” Bulkee replied.
“How do I get to the Floating Palace?”
“I am taking you there,” Bulkee said impatiently. “The Floating Palace sets inside the sun and is accessible only at dusk when the sun lands on the Endless Sea. Once we get to the Endless Sea at sundown, we should find the Prince inside the Palace.”
I began running again, moving my feet as fast as I could. “How much time do I have before he resets everything?” the question escaped me.
“Time? That I wouldn’t know,” Bulkee scoffed. “Not many habitants here know or can even comprehend the concept of it. Like I’ve told you, time records change and we don’t have change. The concept of time has been preserved by a special society called ‘AohhoA Timekeepers’.”
The name invoked a great sense of unease in me. “AohhoA Timekeepers? What do they do?” I asked.
“They ‘keep’ time, meaning that they safeguard the status quo and prevent any occurrence of variation from it. They ensure that residents of AohhoA live in perpetuation.”
I waited for more but I heard Bulkee snap his fingers.
“In any case,” he said. “Our perpetuation is marked by Cycles that make up the Belt of the Sunpath. At each turn of a Cycle the sun sets onto the Endless Sea. As I said, we had entered into the Period of Chaos because of the King’s parting. If I’m not mistaken, you must have arrived at the first Cycle of the Period of Chao, which is the most volatile. Now you must get to the Floating Palace before the end of the thirteenth Cycle. You understand?”
“Before the end of the thirteenth Cycle,” I repeated. The situation sounded as inconceivable as what I had to do seemed undoable. Again, I thought of my family and I couldn’t allow myself to think of the possibility that I might not see them again.
“Focus,” Bulkee said, snapping me back. “I need you to jump. Now.”
What?
My legs moved before my mind could react. The jump that I had taken was in fact a dive. I plunged like I had leaped off a cliff. My heart raced to my throat almost escaping me. The shock had me scream but I forced my eyes tightly shut.
A splashing sound shot into my ears and I came into contact with something soft like a plushy cushion.
I began to slide. Fists clenched tightly I waited before coming to a stop, before I heard Bulkee say, “You may now open your eyes.”
When I did, I found myself atop a heap of leaves amongst pile after pile of foliage like small scaled mountain range. But no longer were we inside the Forest. The sun casted its bright streaks everywhere, revealing what lay ahead of us.
“Where are we?” I asked, stunned at the view before me.
“The Pocket of Origination!” he announced.
Reliving the incident was frustrating. Why would an Ashendron take me hostage? And why would he leave me here? The truth was that I couldn’t care less about what got me involved. “I just want to go home,” I said.
Bulkee remained silent like he had gone into a trance. I watched his chest rise and fall to a regular rhythm. I began wondering if he had dosed off.
The forest was tranquil. Only the sound from the sway of the giant leaves was within earshot. Not wanting to look lost and pathetic, I held my head high. “Bulkee. How do I get back home?”
“Bulkee! How do I get back home?” he shouted unexpectedly, repeating my query word by word.
I gaped at him, feeling bewildered. But he stared back at me with the same look of shock, like he had seen me for the first time. He flickered the back of his hand and switched on a disdainful expression. “I’m unimpressed. Comparing with my other creations, this is insipid.”
Did he just call me “insipid”? I pinched myself to refrain from stomping off. But when I saw that he had begun to stroll away, I panicked. “I need your help. Please. I have to go home.”
“Your name is Ears, right?” He swung around and jumped onto a branch behind him.
“That’s my last name,” I replied. “I go by –”
“So, Ears. Apparently, you are not one of my MindShapes.”
“Excuse me?”
“You see. I’ve been guarding the AkxieMoreRun Forest for as long as I can remember. But besides me, you wouldn’t find another living soul here. Even the trees, the grass, the flowers are not living.” He turned in a circle with his arms up.
My gaze trailed after his fingers. I noticed the leaves and the grass turned two shades darker. Only a brief moment ago they had looked bright with exaggerated vividness. But in shadows they were lackluster and lifeless.
“The plants are brought into AohhoA from alternative realities. They are just here for the purpose of filling space.” Bulkee paused, a look of perplexity flicking crossed his face. “To keep myself occupied, I’ve learned to invent different creatures and objects from my head. They are what I call ‘MindShapes’.”
“Like imaginary friends?” I asked. Or hallucinations. I wanted to say.
“No. MindShapes are brilliant and valid creations from my mind. Ears, you have to understand that I am an edified individual with a very special ability,” he said, pride in his voice. “I am the one who can construct characters in my head and bring them to life. Like the perpetually hungry tiger with red dragon wings!”
Bulkee leaped off the twig and surprised me by lying flat on the grass. He raised a hand and pointed behind me, “You see him over there, the Red Tiger? Don’t you worry. I, the brave guard of the AkxieMoreRun Forest, have single-handedly tamed him.”
I swallowed hard and my chest swelled up, as I slowly turned around. I squinted to find a small grassy patch with a line of flowers around it. But there was nothing else in sight. No dragon wings. No red tiger. I turned to stare at Bulkee. He’s not just weird. His mind was gone.
“I don’t see anything,” I told him.
“Of course you don’t. You won’t. And you can’t,” he lashed out at me without skipping a beat. “Only the AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened can capture the essence of this prowess. And you are not even developed yet.”
His quickness to slight me had me bite the sides of my mouth. And to say that he was enlightened? I tried not to dwell on my annoyance.
“Do you know what prowess the Enlightened Seekers behold?” Bulkee went on, oblivious to my irritation.
I picked out a loose thread on my shorts as I gave him a look of nonchalance. I wanted to show him that I wasn’t interested.
“Imajigo!” he announced anyway, accentuating each syllable like he was rolling out a precious stone. “It is the art of channeling the course of events by inventing objects and abilities that are not perceived through the senses.”
“Like magic,” I said flatly. At this point I only carried on the conversation to be polite. My intuition told me that it’d be wise not to make enemies, when befriending them was clearly not an option.
Bulkee shook his head, frowning like I had said something distasteful. “Magic manifests through potions and spells and supernatural forces. But Imajigo is no such foolishness.” His voice deepened. “It is extracted directly from the mind that stores the source of it all.”
“The source of what?”
“The source of imagination,” he answered with a flourish. “Imajigo is a term that refers to all possibilities derived from the source of imagination. My special Imajigo Trade is called Bionic. It’s the ability to create MindShapes, which are categorized into either objects or creatures.”
What he said was actually fascinating. I liked the idea of bringing imagination to reality. But considering my circumstance, I had to be skeptical. I worked the muscles on my face to freeze the expression of indifference, not revealing my growing interest.
“For a moment, I thought that you were just one of my MindShapes,” Bulkee went on. “But you’ve exposed your difference. You are a creature from one of the alternative realities.”
I really wouldn’t consider myself a “creature.” I shook my head. Why did I bother talking to this crazy pear? By now, I was ready to walk off. To find my own way.
“That’s right. Go now, Ears,” he gave me a dismissive wave. “You should make haste because there are only twelve cycles left.”
What twelve cycles? I frowned at his strange comment. I'm out of here. I started walking. I was determined to plow through the hurdles and get home in no time.
But two steps later, my willpower seeped out of my chest like a leaking balloon. In just a brief moment, the forest had changed again. The grass had spurted tall, covering the ground and leaving no discernible trail. The leaves looked wild, swaying like the unkept mane of a madman. The plants were overgrown, standing monumentally like industrial buildings. The patchy shadows peppered the ground around me.
Where do I even start? I braced myself.
“Well,” Bulkee bounced off the tree bark. One eyebrow raised. “I don’t see that you can handle it on your own. I should join you,” he offered. A shift in his attitude.
I was immediately wary. Was he playing with me again? What did he have up his sleeve? “No, I don’t think so.” I backed away slowly, part of me fearing that he might chase after me.
But Bulkee didn't move. He drilled his gaze into my eyes, "How do you think you are going to make it out?"
I stared down. There was a brown spot on my right snicker and I studied the cracks. It must have been mud, I thought.
A jolt to my shoulder snapped me back. I straightened to find Bulkee standing on my shoulder. “Let’s get going," he said.
I was tense but I didn’t brush him off. Part of me relented. I should take up on his offer, I decided, because I really didn’t know where to turn.
“First thing first,” his voiced shot into my ear. “I will lead you out of the Forest. But you must close your eyes and listen to my instructions. I will tell you where to go, where to turn, and when to stop.”
What? The idea of rummaging through entangled vines under oversized plants without sight was terrifying.
“Look, Ears, the Forest is filled with dangerous traps in every corner. I can avoid them because I know my way around. But you got nothing. You are better off following my directions,” he went on. “Don’t try to peek. You might get snared in branches, like a fruit fly caught in a spider net.”
Spiders had been my worst nightmare. I swallowed hard at the dreadful image of being covered in spiral webs. A small and desperate hope grew inside me that Bulkee might actually help me after all. I held onto that hope, as I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Shoulders back. Chin up. Walk straight,” he began.
I was bombarded with his directives, and I fought the urge of opening my eyes. I gingered forward and I was so out of my element that I swayed on my heels. My fists clenched. I shouldn’t be like this. I was good at the balance beam but now I was losing it on the ground.
“Ears. Focus on my voice,” I heard him say. “Keep your body tight.”
I blew out air and pinched the quarter in my shoulders. I worked hard to concentrate on his voice.
“We’ve come across small puddles. Bend your knees. Jump up. Skip two steps. Make a left here. Walk faster. You are crossing over tree roots,” he went on.
It was strange that after a while, I stopped questioning him or worrying about the spiders. Something had shifted inside me. I became aware of the humidity in the air, of the wet mud that I trudged through.
Soon Bulkee’s voice faded and eventually ceased coming. Everything grew quiet. I picked up my pace, running as the weight of my body was lifted from my feet.
A thought occurred.
“Bulkee," I said.
“Yes?” His voice returned. I felt him shift.
“Tell me more about the Apogee Course. I’ve heard the speaker on the phone mention it.”
“As I told you,” he began. “The Apogee Course is the sacred tunnel that connects you to all alternative realities beyond AohhoA. You will have to go through the Apogee Course in order to return to your reality.”
“Are you taking me to it?" I asked. I was feeling airy and excited.
“No," he replied.
The flatness in his voice was like a slap in the face. I stopped dead in my tracks, and my cheeks burned. “Where are you taking me then?”
“Keep moving and keep your eyes shut, Ears,” he said.
I started on my feet again not trying to take a sneak peek. But my heart was pounding in my chest.
“Listen. The Apogee Course, like I told you, was once created by the Ashendrons using Mocirium. But after their defeat, the originators confiscated the passageway and placed a seal on it. The key to the seal is only allowed for the use of the royalties,” he said. “To engage the Apogee Course you must obtain permission from the great King Wuiet of AohhoA.”
“How do I find King Wuiet?” I asked.
“It’s a good question but the answer to which no one is entitled to know except for the King himself. And he has just left his kingdom.”
“Just left? And no one knows where he is now?” I took a shallow breath. The news caused anxiety to spread in my chest like an acute cough.
“No one but King Wuiet himself, like I said,” he corrected me, a slight annoyance in his voice. “The tradition is that all Kings only rule AohhoA up to a point. They decide on the precise point to renounce their kingships and forever retreat to a reality outside the realm of perpetuation. So King Wuiet is to forsake his royalty without consultation with or direction from no one but the sovereign himself.”
I did not capture all of Bulkee’s lengthy explanation. But I was at least clear about one thing. The King who could get me home was no longer reachable. “Why would the King leave, when everything was supposed to stay unchanged,” I asked. "Why wouldn’t he tell anyone where he had gone to?”
“It’s best that the King’s disappearance is sudden and his whereabouts hidden," Bulkee replied. “Only that makes it a perfect opportunity for the Prince to claim the crown.”
“Wait. There’s a Prince? Has the Prince been trying to overthrown the King?”
“Oh, no! Not a usurp,” exclaimed Bulkee. “It’s the tradition that when a King willingly relegates his sovereignty, he makes an exit. At that point a Prince will preside over AohhoA. But the Prince has to first prove that he is worthy of such a duty. You see. When King Wuiet decides to leave, he removes the seal to engage the Apogee Course. But this act disrupts the status quo and the kingdom enters into a phase called the Period of Chaos.”
“What is that?” I asked as I continued walking. My eyes remained closed but I moved with easy like my strides knew where to land.
“It’s an unsettling phase in which everything is subject to change,” Bulkee said. “The Period of Chaos starts at the King’s departure. And it lasts through thirteen Cycles. Each is marked by the rise of the sun. The Period of Chaos is volatile in nature and it opens a window of opportunity for the Ashendrons to reclaim the key to the Apogee Course. And possibly to take their vengeance.”
“What will the Ashendrons do for vengeance? Are they going to kill the Prince?” I interrupted him. A cold sweat broke on my back, as I feared that I too will be subject to their violence.
“No, of course not,” Bulkee let out a sigh like it was draining to explain things to me. “No one dies in AohhoA. Like I had said, this is a place of eternity. No one ever dies. Since the gory battle, the originators removed the concept of time to preserve peace. Upholding peace means that everything remains unchanged. Good or bad. The Ashendrons stay in Stratum Kwattence and they have turned into monstrous creatures tormented by their own greed. They don’t die. The Prince doesn’t die, no dies,” he said.
I gave him a vehement nod in blindness. I was relieved that death would not be an outcome for my abduction.
“But after the King’s departure, they will try to launch attacks and seize power,” Bulkee went on. “The Prince has to defeat them before securing his position as the new ruler. And that’s why no one is to know the King’s whereabouts. The Prince has to fight on his own and show that he is fit for sovereignty.”
My chest grew heavy again. Something didn’t seem quite right. “What happens if the Ashendrons do seize control?”
“No. That’s not happening. Absolutely not.” Bulkee said, more firmly than I thought was necessary. “The Prince will attain victory. And once he does and claims the crown, he will have the Ashendrons back to Kwatt. As simple as that.”
“How do you know for sure that the Prince will defeat them?” I insisted. I didn’t want to come off like I was challenging him but I just couldn’t curb my curiosity.
“Well, it’s a tradition. The Prince, like all Princes, is expected to succeed and ascend to throne. That’s just how things should be. It’s the tradition,” he spoke with an emphasis but offered no further clarification.
I realized what was unsettling to me. The situation was simply a contradiction. If victory was just part of a tradition, what was the point of having a battle? Attesting his dominance for what? I wondered.
I almost let off my question, if it hadn’t been what Bulkee said next. “Listen, Ears, you’d better make haste, because the victory of the Prince marks the end of the Period of Chaos. At that point, the Prince is entitled to reset all functions of his newly conquered kingdom. He might keep AohhoA the way it has been. Or he might retune it to his preference. Either way, you won’t get back to your reality. Because if he is unaware of your entrance, his decision will not factor in your existence. You understand? You have to find him before he attains victory. Or you will be trapped in here forever.”
Forever? The seriousness of my circumstance shot up another pang of anxiety. Flustered, I managed to ask, “Where is the Prince?”
“He should be in the Floating Palace preparing for the battle,” Bulkee replied.
“How do I get to the Floating Palace?”
“I am taking you there,” Bulkee said impatiently. “The Floating Palace sets inside the sun and is accessible only at dusk when the sun lands on the Endless Sea. Once we get to the Endless Sea at sundown, we should find the Prince inside the Palace.”
I began running again, moving my feet as fast as I could. “How much time do I have before he resets everything?” the question escaped me.
“Time? That I wouldn’t know,” Bulkee scoffed. “Not many habitants here know or can even comprehend the concept of it. Like I’ve told you, time records change and we don’t have change. The concept of time has been preserved by a special society called ‘AohhoA Timekeepers’.”
The name invoked a great sense of unease in me. “AohhoA Timekeepers? What do they do?” I asked.
“They ‘keep’ time, meaning that they safeguard the status quo and prevent any occurrence of variation from it. They ensure that residents of AohhoA live in perpetuation.”
I waited for more but I heard Bulkee snap his fingers.
“In any case,” he said. “Our perpetuation is marked by Cycles that make up the Belt of the Sunpath. At each turn of a Cycle the sun sets onto the Endless Sea. As I said, we had entered into the Period of Chaos because of the King’s parting. If I’m not mistaken, you must have arrived at the first Cycle of the Period of Chao, which is the most volatile. Now you must get to the Floating Palace before the end of the thirteenth Cycle. You understand?”
“Before the end of the thirteenth Cycle,” I repeated. The situation sounded as inconceivable as what I had to do seemed undoable. Again, I thought of my family and I couldn’t allow myself to think of the possibility that I might not see them again.
“Focus,” Bulkee said, snapping me back. “I need you to jump. Now.”
What?
My legs moved before my mind could react. The jump that I had taken was in fact a dive. I plunged like I had leaped off a cliff. My heart raced to my throat almost escaping me. The shock had me scream but I forced my eyes tightly shut.
A splashing sound shot into my ears and I came into contact with something soft like a plushy cushion.
I began to slide. Fists clenched tightly I waited before coming to a stop, before I heard Bulkee say, “You may now open your eyes.”
When I did, I found myself atop a heap of leaves amongst pile after pile of foliage like small scaled mountain range. But no longer were we inside the Forest. The sun casted its bright streaks everywhere, revealing what lay ahead of us.
“Where are we?” I asked, stunned at the view before me.
“The Pocket of Origination!” he announced.
