All I Ever Wanted

All I Ever Wanted

By **********

Dedicated to my cat: Princess Mononoke

Copyright 2016

Maple Leaf Writing Project

Brattleboro, Vermont

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I was in Sector 9 of the Empire, the poorest sector. I was average for Sector 9, light brown hair, blue eyes, and about average height. My family had been sent away to fight for Empress Adelaide. She had made everyone with military experience go to war for her and of course every adult, unless they were pregnant, was sent to fight. The first battle started yesterday. I was afraid but I thought my parents would make it through, as they always seem to do. But just today the mailman came with a letter holding the news of what had happened. The letter stated:

Dear Salem Family,

We are proud to tell you that your family members, Benjamin and Leanna, have fought valiantly in the war against the Asylum. An unfortunate event has occurred and half of our first section was destroyed by a bomb. Due to Benjamin and Leanna’s being in the first line they were killed. I have been informed by the Empress that Benjamin and Leanna had a daughter by the name of Diana. We have enclosed a letter that was found in Leanna’s front pocket addressed to Diana. We are sorry for your loss and are extremely grateful for Benjamin and Leanna’s efforts.

With the most sincerest of apologies,

Gregor the Grand Vizier

I tore the letter they had sent me to shreds, being careful to take out my mother’s letter first. My tears soaked the pieces of paper. As I had expected, my Aunt Lisa came down to comfort me. “I know, when I opened my letter I, too, cried.”

“Levin died?” As I asked, tears took over my aunt’s usually strict expression, letting her fall to her knees.

“Don’t you remember he was in the front line with Benjamin and Leanna? Now the baby will grow up without a dad.” I ran upstairs knowing in my gut that it was the wrong thing to do, but my parents just died, I deserved to be selfish. I jogged straight into the door and fell back. Wait, didn’t I leave the door open? I continued on into my room after opening the door and nothing could get in the way of me jumping onto my bed and burying my face into Boris’s dark red-brown fur. He purred loudly as I rubbed my tears away on him; this had always managed to comfort me but today it only made me cry harder.

The sobbing was racking my body and shaking the bed. Cats were the best comfort and the only one I ever knew. Taking one glance at my snake’s cage, I noticed something. Tori was not there. Something was off. I ran into the hallway and down to the living room where my aunt lay, expecting to see her still crying, but instead I saw something much worse. My aunt was there, yes, but not in the way I wanted. She was on the floor with her limbs splayed out, blood gushing from her chest, her dark brown hair kept perfectly behind her head, and a blank expression on her face. The Asylum, they’ve come for my home. They take all. They capture people and animals to experiment on. Lucky for me, though, Boris was safe. My aunt was not, though, nor was Tori.

I started gathering supplies. I lost almost everything and if I’m going to die, I at least want to die saving something important to me. So I guess that meant going after Tori. I packed my hunting knife, an apple and some trail mix, then stuffed it in my dark green worn-down-old bag. I grabbed some clothes from my closet and ended up wearing a t-shirt and some jeans with boots, a regular outfit in the war sector. After packing the provisions and knife into the bag I ran outside and finally, I was on my way.

The day was cool, and outside the clouds hung low, coating my surroundings in a fog. The land was lacking in everything but trees, lots and lots of trees. I jogged my way through them, past run down old houses and dilapidated buildings. Sector 9 was a wreck, but the vegetation covered most of the damage that happened in the War of Merchants, when the merchants wanted their own sector but the Empress Aidana would not allow it. I had been told by my grandma before she passed away that the war lasted five months. Finally Sector 9 was demoted from its former glory as the city sector and Sector 10 was born. That was all old history though.

I could tell that the Asylum was near, I could feel it in my gut. After getting out of Sector 10, which I had reached hours ago, I finally was in the barracks where the army was preparing for the next battle. As if I were a mindless and suicidal zombie, I just kept on going, pretending to be oblivious to the fact that there were people yelling at me and asking what the hell I was doing. Surprising myself and others around me I just kept going and only stopped when my stomach growled from the lack of food.

Looking behind me and knowing that I was at the end of the Empire was a weird feeling, kind of a mix between pride, bravery and anxiousness. What lay before me was a bloodbath I never wished to set eyes upon. Dead carcasses with bloodthirsty vultures feeding on them. Skeletons empty of flesh were the least gory part of the scene that lay ahead of me. The worst part, though, were the ones that had been killed that very day, maggots still squirming to get a bite of their flesh. I remembered that some of the bodies were corpses of the people I saw in everyday life and I cringed at the thought. Scavengers were elated upon this freshly killed feast. I trembled as I saw what was farther down the hill that separated barracks from blood: the Asylum itself. What's more was the fact that it was growing. Literally GROWING. It was expanding its doors, moving closer to me every minute. My heart thudded in my chest but I did not listen to it. Instead I kept my eyes fixed on my goal: getting inside and saving my snake.

I crept closer cautiously to see if the Asylum had a mind of its own and sensed that I was a threat. It did not seem to notice, but I knew that I still must be stealthy in order to get in undetected. I finally got to the door and opened it slowly, finding that the door was well oiled. Before I could even take a step, the asylum moved forward, engulfing me into a dark, grey abyss.

As if hearing me think, the walls around me lit up with some glowing glass. I walked around, being careful with every step and peeping into doors around me, most of which were empty, until I started looking into older rooms.

Inside the older rooms were places that gruesome experiments happened. The most horrifying thing though, was a person. Something must have gone terribly wrong because her hospital gown was torn and she was covered in bubbles that were oozing yellow-brown pus. Her hair was in shreds and a deep moan came out of her throat. I rushed after that, hoping that Tori had not suffered a similar fate. Blinded by the fear of her being hurt, I ran looking into rooms faster than ever. After speeding up I was checking about two doors per minute. I was just about to check the twenty-fourth door when I heard a hiss. I went to the door that had shown proof of a snake living in it. As I got there I heard footsteps come up from behind me. I gently opened the door and could hardly believe what I saw.

There standing in front of me was Tori but someone was behind her, an Asylum worker. The creature came at me like a lion, trying to tear me limb from limb. I tore it off me and swung at the being with my pocket knife, then without thinking I jumped on Tori’s back, yes she was that big now, and jumped off. Given the advantage of height, I was able to stab it in the back, leaving the lion-like creature lifeless. Looking up at Tori I tried to place what happened to change her. Her ebony scales stood out like black diamonds and her silver eyes glimmered in the brightness surrounding us. These were not even the most fascinating details about her, bright lightning flashed across her long elegant tail and she was bigger than a elephant. It seemed like she stared right into my soul burning out all holes of emotion

except for two; relief and fright. I stared down right back into her silvery gaze and my heart softened.

“You came for me human child.” My jaw dropped and I looked at Tori a confused expression plastered on my face. She laughed it was really not the laugh of a snake, more like the laugh of a refined lady. “I was beginning to have my doubts.” I continued to stare at her, dumbfounded. “I see you are surprised and I can see that you have lost alot as well as seen alot, a bit too much.”

“Tori” I said this lightly “you can talk?”

“Yes I can.” She whispered quietly.

“Ummmm… okay?” It really was all I could muster. Considering how much this was I really did not surprise myself.

“I see this is alot for you to take in but trust me I will explain it all as we go on a rescue expedition to get your cat and my friend, Boris. come now onto my back.” I took a step back as she offered me a ride but I made no effort to refuse her offer. I climbed onto her back slowly and hugged her neck.

.

I held tight as Tori took off. We ran past Sector 10 in seconds, a journey that had taken me hours and within minutes we were back in Sector 9 at the very apartment building where I lived.

I could hear Boris yowling from where I was, he clearly was distressed. I jumped off of my spot on Tori’s back and ran to see what was troubling my little cat. When I went in the room to my surprise, he was yowling at Tori.

I let out a stream of giggles and Tori, who glaring furiously at me and her so called friend, looked as if she might blush had she not been a snake.

“Boris it is me, Tori.” I thought that maybe that would calm him down and I am pretty sure so had Tori. Instead of being calmer this spooked little Boris and he jumped straight up on all four paws then ran under the bed, hissing loudly at Tori. Tori however looked calmly at boris and lifted him up by the nape of his neck and placing him on her back. She gestured at me to climb onto her back and instead of hesitating I happily obliged.

As soon as me and Boris were comfortably seated on her back, me holding on tightly to Tori’s scales and Boris purring loudly in my lap she took of like a rocket.

“Where are we going.” I asked this as loud as I could with as little feeling as possible.

“To the army barracks, we are joining the war.” Tori replied calmly.

“What about Boris?” I siad with worry, sadness and, of course, fear.

“He will be taken care of by the medics, we are needed to win this war against the asylum.” Tori said sternly.

“I guess that will work but why are we needed to win the war against the asylum?”

“Because, who would trust a talking snake besides you, they trust humans more, you will be my human and get me into the war. They will pay for what the did to me.” A small flicker of lightning went through Tori’s body, shocking both me and Boris.

Soon enough we came to a stop, at first I did not recognize my surroundings but soon enough I saw the guns, armor, and other weaponry, we were at the army barracks.

“Hey who the hell are you?” This was spoken from a young blond adult in he twenties.

“Ummm… help?” I said quietly

“Okay but the snake can’t come and, by the way, my name is Maria.” Maria replied.

“NO THE SNAKE WILL COME IF I COME.”

“Ok, sheesh, no need to get so defensive. Your snake can come.” I let out a long sigh of relief held Boris even tighter.

“Good, now lets get going.” I said this calmly and respectfully, a huge difference from when I was yelling at Maria about Tori.

“About time. Now if I may ask, what is the snakes name.” This was spoken by Maria.

“My name is Tori.”

“Not your name, the snakes although thank you for telling me your name anyways.” Maria seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Tori was talking. In fact, she hardly seemed to care about Tori and only ackowledged her as lowly weaponry.

“Ummm…. my name is Diana, the snake well she’s….” I said with a worried note.

“I am Tori.” Tori repeated.

“Are you going through puberty, it seems like your voice keeps……………. holy banana.” It seemed as though she finally grasped the Idea that Tori was a talking snake. “YOU DID NOT THINK TO TELL ME BEFORE I LET YOU IN THAT YOU HAVE A TALKING SNAKE! I LET YOU IN WITH A DUMB BIG SNAKE AND NOW THIS! IT IS A MIRACLE THAT I GRANTED YOU PASSAGE INTO THE BARRACK WITH A HUGE LIGHTNING SNAKE AND NOW YOUR TELLING ME THAT IT IS INTELLIGENT!”

“Whoa, take a second, I did not tell you this because it was the only way me and Tori also Boris would be able to fight. They killed my family, Tori and Boris are all I have left and I am all they have left. They took nearly everything from me and they are going to pay.” I was pratically crying by then.

“I get it, your trying to get in on a revenge mission, but that is no excuse for the snake.”

“I will give you an excuse for her..”

“Let me explain myself, Diana you have done much for me, you deserve a break. Miss Maria you see I was once an ordinary snake, oblivious to much with only food and affection in my mind the lovely Diana supplied me with. Now I worry, I worry what will happen to her and Boris, I wonder what will happen to my home Sector, Sector 9 but most of all I wonder what would happen to this wonderful empire ruled Eby the kindly and generous Adelaide if the Asylum takes over. All my ignorant bliss has been taken from me and I do nothing but worry. Now I know what I can do to take these worries out, sacrafice my life to destroy the Asylum. I can save the millions by doing this, but I need help and that is the reason that I am here.”

“I understand your reasoning but I still must consult the general of the army, I am not in a posision to make decisions.”

It took about two hours for Maria to finally get the news of whether or not we could join the war, the answer was yes.

Two weeks later…..

“Okay soldiers, time for us to get going.” This was spoken by none other than the general of our army. “You know the drills, now get going, squadron one with our secret weapon come with me, other squadrons go with Maria.”

We were traveling by Tori’s back, yet again I say, she was that huge anyways we soon enough made it to the battlefront, It was about an hour away, REALLY close to the barracks if I may say so myself.

As soon as I got to the front I was terrified, it was chaos. I had seen it after a battle, but never right as a battle was going on.

It was ten times worst than the blood bath I had first seen. Not only was there more blood, there were also sounds. Shouts and screams filled my head, clouding all of my hearing.

I could feel a hand grab me and gag my mouth, I tried to squirm free but they held on and led me staight into the asylum. To my surprise, inside the room was Boris.

I ripped myself from the mans arms and ran over to him and hugged him tight shielding him from the Asylum. But as I did the scientists who appeared to be operating on Boris sliced open my back with a a large knife and dug deeper untill they reached my organs. Right as they were in the middle of trying to pull out my left lung Tori came in.

Letting out a loud roar, she killed all of the scientists who tried to kill Boris. She called the soldiers in to take me and Boris away and right as I left Tori let out an ear deafening roar and the asylum collapsed, thunder took over the sky, wait was she controlling the weather, I looked up above as ashes flew up from the flaming asylum, Tori’s lightning caused a thunderstorm and destroyed the asylum after it lit it on fire, elation filled my heart.

Every single one of the Asylum’s soldiers vanished in a large cloud of blackness. After that, darkness I died of blood loss. My last thoughts being this, Boris is saved and the entire Empire, now it is time for me to be with my my family, which is all I ever wanted.