Lost

Lost

By: Jonas Ackerman-Hovis

This book is dedicated to Authors that have inspired me to write this book.

Maple Leaf Writing Project

Brattleboro,VT

2019

It was a normal morning in my life. I was in the kitchen eating breakfast. Oh by the way, my name is Sullivan but most people just call me Sully for short. (I hate my nickname.) It was a normal Saturday and what was about to happen would change the world’s history and my life forever.

I was just finishing my cereal when suddenly I blacked out. Sometime later I woke up but...wait, no this couldn't be right. I expected to be on my kitchen floor but I wasn’t. Everything was gone. It was just a long plane of mass and hard solid earth, but that’s not what was bothering me. There were no plants, no animals... no life.

I thought that this must be a dream, then I tasted something in my mouth...blood. After that I saw there were knife-like cuts all over my body and I realized something. If I could taste my blood and feel pain, how was I dreaming?

I started to stand up, but I saw someone or something coming towards me. It looked like a humanoid in a trench coat. I started to panic! It was coming closer, CLOSER and then once again I blacked out.

I woke up again but my wounds hurt bad! REALLY BAD. I expected to be in a hospital or something, thinking I was probably just hallucinating. Then I noticed the figure was right there in front of me. I was paralyzed in fear. Finally after at least ten seconds of silence, the figure took a flask out of their trench coat and dumped out the contents onto my wounds. Slowly but surely my wounds healed. The figure stuck out its hand and whispered, "Come with me if you want to live, and no questions until we're safe." Then I had this weird sensation as if I was underwater.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You just teleported," the figure said.

"What?" I said in awe.

Now I was in a dark, musty and cold room. The room was only lit by a small fire that was giving off a fluorescent light. I was standing in the middle of a place that seemed to be a small hut. The figure appeared and I managed to stutter, "Wh-Who are y-you and where am I?"

"I am Rajan Vaw," said the figure in a strange accent. "I know this is hard to tell you but your planet is lost and everyone you know and love is currently being enslaved," she said in a surprisingly calm voice. I crumpled up into a ball. I felt as powerless if I had been buried alive. "It might not be okay now but we can fix it possibly," Rajan said quickly.

“What do you mean possibly?” I asked with curiosity and fear.

"We can fix this, but we must kill the the Lord of Tavalar," she said in a scared voice. I could tell something was wrong considering Rajan seemed pretty tough.

"Who is this Lord of Tavalar anyway?” I asked, now with not so much fear as curiosity.

"He is…" she trailed off.

"WHO?!" I yelled.

"The Lord of Tavalar is a demonic creature who rules over the land of Tavalar," she said in a not-so-steady voice. "It is enslaved by him so the people of Tavalar can do his labor. I used to be one of them."

“How did you escape?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, it was a misty night. Me and my friends were sitting in our quarters. We were waiting for just the right time."

"Considering you’re the only one here I’m guessing that it didn’t work" I said.

"Sadly no, "said Rajan. "Our plan was when everyone came out for work time after our break. We would run towards the walls and climb over them. We had made a ladder out of scraps of wood we’d gathered for years."

"Wait a second," I said "How long had you been planning this?”

"Since we were just kids," she said in a sad voice. "That place was like Hell. Anyway, finally we heard the bell signaling for us to come out and get back to work. We decided to wait until there was a crowd so we would blend in. At first it was working just fine. We went out and just started walking with our ladder, then once we were close to the walls we ran. At first it was going good. Nothing seemed wrong. Nothing was in our way. We were about to reach the wall when it suddenly became cloudy and the air became cold and bitter. And then he showed up. He was like a shadow. He abruptly ran towards us, somehow freezing three of my four friends in mid-run.

“Me and my last friend ran like mad, but when we got to the wall we realized we'd dropped the ladder in all the commotion. We tried to scale the wall but it was too late. He had already frozen my last friend. Suddenly fear washed over me. My last ally was practically dead. I was filled with rage, and without even knowing what I’d done I started attacking him. I wasn’t quick enough though. He flipped me over by my wrist

and then flung me over the wall hoping to kill me. But I landed in a mud pit that broke my fall.

“Looking up I noticed a bright light and then confused voices back over on the other side. He had done stuff like this to other planets like yours, so when I saw you I made the connection. But to tell you the truth I have no idea how you ended up here on this side when everyone else is over there. What I do know is that we will stop the Lord of Tavalar and help your planet.”

"Wow, that’s an intense story,” I said, feeling overwhelmed by all this information. “Say, it’s pretty dark and I’m tired. Can we get some rest?"

"Sure," Rajan said.

The next morning I woke up to a horrible smell and Rajan kneeling by a fire cooking something. "What is that?” I asked while holding my nose so it came out sounding like, "Waw it dath!?"

Rajan must have gotten the message because she said, "Come and see for yourself." What I saw in front of me was a big fat skunk.

"It was already dead when I found it. We got pretty lucky!” Rajan said joyfully. Right then and right there I puked.

"Are you sick?!" Rajan screamed, reminding me of my mother.

Once I stopped puking, I yelled, "Why are you cooking skunk?!”

"For proteins," Rajan said plainly.

"Oh," I replied slightly embarrassed. We ate breakfast which actually wasn’t horrible. In fact, it was quite good. If you just plug your nose, skunk kind of tastes like pork.

Rajan and I started making a plan after breakfast so we would be prepared when the time came to rescue everyone. We decided we would try to get through the wall of Tavalar by finding some sort of fracture or crack in the wall. That way even if we couldn't kill the Lord at least we could have a space in the wall where we could get some people out. The one thing I knew was that I wasn’t leaving without my family.

Later that day Rajan decided we should have a look at the wall to see if we could find any weak spots. Then it would be easier to plan our big mission.

Once we got to the wall Rajan said,"We will have to split up. We will cover more ground that way."

I was a quarter way around when I heard a growling from the woods. Next thing I knew, a mountain lion was about to pounce on me! I jumped out of the way at the last second, then ran for my life screaming "HHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPP!" As I was running, I saw just what I was looking for. There was a fair-sized crack in the wall but it was hard to tell if a human could fit through. Suddenly I slammed into someone. It was Rajan!

"What’s going on here?!" Rajan yelled.

"See for yourself," I said in a feeble voice. But before I knew it, the mountain lion was staring right down at us. I was paralyzed with fear, but Rajan had a much different expression on her face. In fact she almost looked happy. Then the mountain lion started licking Rajan! "I’m so sorry, I forgot to tell you. This is my pet, Alman. Alman, this is Sullivan," Rajan said as if Alman was another human.

"Why in the world do you have a pet mountain lion?!” I was very confused.

"Why not? There aren't many other friends out here," Rajan answered.

I took a breath and said, "I think I saw a crack in the wall back when I was being chased by Toothy right here."

"Well then what are we waiting for, let’s go!" Rajan said excitedly.

When we got back to the crack, the crack we found was big enough to get through with minimal problem. Just then Rajan and I realized we didn’t know what we would do once we were inside the wall.

We knew we would have to be stealthy to neither attract the attention of the Lord nor the people of the village. We decided we would paint ourselves a light brown to match the wall. Then once we were near the Lord’s headquarters we would lie flat on the ground. (Our paint would also be about the same color as the ground.) Then once he would come out we would tackle him then somehow kill him. I admit it was a little gruesome for a fourteen year old boy like me, but then my whole world’s population was also on the line.

"Well we’re all set," said Rajan confidently. "Tomorrow we execute our plan and bring justice once and for all!"

"Tomorrow?"I said, starting to feel dizzy. "Oh brother."

"The sooner, the better" Rajan exclaimed happily. Once we got back to camp we wrangled up some dinner, literally meaning we chased hedgehogs through the forest. Once again I ate something "exotic"and once again it tasted like pork. I woke up early this morning and took a "shower"as Rajan calls it, A.K.A. standing in the middle of a storm with no cover at all.

Once Rajan woke up, she seemed unusually happy and perky. When she spoke to me, she was all smiles and said, "Why hello Sullivan, lovely morning isn't it!"

"I guess." I said with a shrug. "Why are you acting so weird?" Then she dropped the act.

"I’m trying to be optimistic, but it’s pretty hard considering we might be facing our deaths today."

Painting myself was a odd experience (and getting paint in my eye was a painful one). We loaded up on grappling hooks. Then we set out, with me shaking from fear. Our "secret weapon" Alman came with us. We painted her as well. (It is extremely hard to paint a mountain lion while holding her still at the same time.)

When we got to the wall I was shaking so violently I could have been used as a jackhammer. Somehow I kept walking until I got to the spot where I had seen crack in the wall, but something was wrong. The crack wasn’t there! I mean, I knew it was there before but now it was just gone.

"W-w-w-what happened?" I said, totally caught off guard

"I don’t know," Rajan answered. Then she slapped her forehead as if she remembered something. "Once a month the Lord forces us to patch up the walls!"

"Well, we do have our grappling hooks?” I asked remembering them.

"Yes!" Rajan said, doing a fist pump. Then in one swift motion she took her grappling hook, shot it and flew onto the wall. I did it too, but much more clumsily, smashing my face into the wall. Just as Rajan looked over the wall she froze, and once I looked over so did I.

What I saw was horrible. The people looked like robots just working the shovels with no interruption, digging on and on. There were ten year olds working with heavy and dangerous tools like picks and big saws. Everyone there was as pale as a ghost.

"So this is it," I said weakly

"Yes," Rajan said as though she had totally forgotten what it had been like in Tavalar. "Whenever you get scared remember you’re doing it for your people. Now let’s go."

You could clearly see the Lord’s palace from where we were perched. In fact it was the only real building in sight. We jumped off the wall and started walking very slowly along it. Finally we got to the building. Then we just laid on the ground and waited. Hours passed by and nothing happened. Eventually it became night. I struggled to stay awake, but my eyelids felt like boulders and before I knew it I had fallen asleep.

When I woke up I heard skittering. I opened my eyes to find a big plump rat in my face. "Get away you stupid rat!" I said in a shrill voice. (I have always been afraid of rats.) When my eyes adjusted I realized that Rajan was next to me and we were in a dungeon! "Rajan wake up!" I screamed.

"Wh-what?” Rajan said groggily.

"We’re in a dungeon with no way out!"

Rajan shot straight up like a bottle rocket.

"I guess that’s what you call a rude awakening," Rajan said, dusting herself off. "Well now, we have to find out how to get out of a dungeon. Just peachy."

As I examined the dungeon wall I realized it was made of wood and could be fractured if hit hard enough.

“Rajan I have an idea,” I said. “Did I mention I’m a expert in taekwondo? “

“No you didn’t,” Rajan says as a smile crept across her face. Then with a simple round house kick I make a nice big hole in the wood.

When the dust cleared up, I saw I was in a very dirty room with a bunch of people staring up at me looking very confused. "Who are you?" I asked cautiously.

"We are the prisoners of Tavalar," a young woman said.

“Oh! We came here to help you!”

“If you're going to end the Lord, we’re going to help you,” the young woman replied bravely.

Just then I heard someone in the crowd say my name. Next thing I knew, I saw my own family right there in front of me.

"Mom, Dad, Jamie, Lindsey!" I yelled as tears of joy fill my eyes.

“Sullivan!” They all shouted at once. Then they all hit me with a million questions each. "Where were you? How did you escape? Are you ok?"

"All those questions will be answered later," I said. “Right now we need to make a plan.”

“I have a plan," my mom said. “We simply all charge at him at once. He can't stop all of us together." But something in her voice made it sound more like he can’t kill all of us together.

"Let’s go!"I said.

There was no talking on the way there except for a few whispers. By the time we got to the building though it was quiet as a graveyard. "On three we all barge in at once," I whispered. "One, two.."

"Three," boomed a voice. Just like that everyone in the crowd was paralyzed. "Ah, Sullivan, pleased to meet your acquaintance." said the hooded figure in front of me. “I am the Lord of Tavalar as you probably already know. And you've probably asked yourself, ‘What happened and why am I where I am right now?’ Well all of that will be uncovered once you watch everyone in this crowd die one by one!”

I struggled to get free of whatever was holding me. Just when I had lost all hope, I saw Alman coming up behind the Lord. I thought maybe if I could distract the Lord for a few seconds maybe the mountain lion could finish him. Then I got a idea of how to distract him.

“You know your plan really is genius,” I said locking eyes with the lord.

“Really!” he said sounding rather surprised.

“Well you’ve conquered a bunch of planets and now you have them as prisoners, doing everything for you,” I said with Alman just inches away from him. The Lord seemed flustered, not knowing what to say. Then to his surprise, Alman pounced on him!

“AAAHHHHH” the Lord screamed in pain. And with one of Alman’s powerful claws to his chest, the Lord took his last breath and died.

Just then a huge light flashed before my eyes and I found myself back on the kitchen floor where I started. I have never really understood what happened those days in the land of Tavalar.

“You know your plan really is genius,” I said locking eyes with the lord.

“Really!” he said sounding rather surprised.

“Well you’ve conquered a bunch of planets and now you have them as prisoners, doing everything for you,” I said with Alman just inches away from him. The Lord seemed flustered, not knowing what to say. Then to his surprise, Alman pounced on him!

“AAAHHHHH” the Lord screamed in pain. And with one of Alman’s powerful claws to his chest, the Lord took his last breath and died.

Just then a huge light flashed before my eyes and I found myself back on the kitchen floor where I started. I have never really understood what happened those days in the land of Tavalar.