Blog Swap! (Part 2!)

Oya everyone!

IT’S TIME FOR MORE BLOG SWAP!

If you are extremely confused right now, I suggest you go and read this post wherein I explain the rules and the concept and begin my side of the story.

Have you read it?

I’ll give you a minute.

You back? Okay, great, moving on.

This week it is my turn to continue the story started by Ariella using three new specifications given by my wonderful and extremely good-at-being-helpful-at-odd-hours friends. Here are my Three Things:

1. A new character — Red headed bard
2. Object — Magic fire staff
3. Bad Thing — breaking a leg

SO yup that’s what I’m doing I’m just gonna dive right into it HERE WE GO

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Why are the walls closing in why would it do this I don’t like it stop stop oh no can’t breathe NO NO NO I DON’T WANNA BE SQUISHED

CANDY, SHUT UP, I CAN HEAR YOU

Gavin tucked his ears back, moving as quickly as he possibly could through the tiny tunnel. Small consolation for being zapped into a fluffy little bunny, he was fast. But was he fast enough?

He sure hoped so.

Behind him the gangly calico kitten that was Candy struggled to keep her thoughts to herself as she skidded down the shrinking passage. He could still hear her snatches of the nonsensical panic zooming through her mind, though they were quieter. Geez, was this what it sounded like in her brain all the time?

FOCUS. He needed to focus on not getting crushed. The scroll clenched in his mouth tasted nasty. I SAID FOCUS. Dodge left, dodge right, squeeeeze through, hop over. He could see the exit, but oh it was small. And getting smaller. Candy jumped over him, running so fast she whooshed.

We can make it, Gavin thought, willing his crazy spring-loaded legs to go faster. We can make it, we can, come on —

Gavin had never heard a cat scream before. It was an awful sound. He skidded to a stop just as a massive ball of fire crashed into the rocks in front of him and Candy. Everything exploded.

He didn’t even realize he’d blacked out until he woke up. Ughhh, twice in one day? Really? His ears twitched and he shook his fluffy head.

“Oh, hey there lil guy.”

AAGH WHO IS THAT!? Gavin flinched away from the sound only to find that he was actually being held by the person.

“Calm down, little dude. I’m not gonna hurt you.” The speaker was a boy probably a bit younger than Gavin himself. Fiery orangey-red hair stuck up at odd angles from his head. Gingery freckles dusted over his snub nose. Over one shoulder was slung a weatherbeaten guitar, over the other was an equally well-used satchel. The hands holding him gently round his stomach were big and calloused.

Gavin blinked. What?

“Sorry about that. See I found this staff thing a couple days ago, and apparently it shoots fire, but really it isn’t my fault, like how was I meant to know it shoots fire it didn’t have a label or anythin on that display case. Probably should have been, y’know, if you’re gonna have a floodlin’ flame-throwin’ stick in a museum I should think you’d wanna label it so nobody accidentally burns the place down just takin’ a look at it. Not that anyone did, I’m not sayin’ that, just sayin’ it could happen. Could happen real easy.”

For goodness’ sake does this guy ever breathe? Gavin blinked again. Oh, come on, where’s Candy? Did she die? Nah, she couldn’t die from just an explosion . . . right?

“Candy? That your kitty friend?”

Hold up. You can hear me?

” . . . ah. Yes. Probly should have told you that already.”

How!?

“Y’know, I’m not actually sure. Got zapped by somethin’ at some point, probably. I’ve been zapped a lot. Anyway your kitty friend’s in here.” The boy patted his satchel. “And that paper you had. That the Scroll of Truth?”

Gavin squirmed a bit. Why are you holding me?

“Oh you broke your leg. Or, I broke your leg. Or the stick broke your leg. In any case it broke.” He grinned sheepishly.

Why doesn’t it hurt?

“I splinted it up for you, put some, uh, stuff on it. I dunno what stuff, my mum gave it to me a while ago and I guess it works cos you can’t feel your tiny bunny femur snapped in half.” The boy blinked. “Anyway. Scroll of Truth?”

Gavin could feel his heart beating wildly. This was not at all how this adventure was supposed to end up going. Yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to be. How do you know?

“I found it, one time.” He laughed. “You know what it said? ‘Home is where your heart is’. Never heard so much hackneyed nonsense. Told it so. Then it said ‘You are not who you try to be’. Bonkers, huh? Some truth, it’s just nonsense.”

A weird jittery feeling bounced in Gavin’s stomach. That was exactly what it had said before. And . . . it was actually true. He wasn’t the capable, smooth, confident adventurer he wanted people to think he was. I mean look at him, he was a fluffy little bunny shaking in someone’s hands.

Did that mean that this redheaded guy was an imposter too?

The guy narrowed his eyes. “No, it doesn’t. You’re lookin’ pretty sus yourself, little dude. Scroll turned you into a rodent? Pretty harsh.”

Hey —

A deafening roar drowned out his thought. Both of them looked up.

A towering, lumpy, hulking, grotesque, vaguely-humanoid-but-very-much-not-human shape clawed its way out of the collapsed scroll chamber. The thing was made of oil-slick colored rock and bit of those creepy green crystals from inside the cave.

And it was very much coming for them.

“Right, I’ma head out,” the boy said, stuffing Gavin into his satchel. Candy was, in fact, in there, curled up and purring with the scroll between her paws. She woke with a sleepy mrrow? that quickly turned into a squawk as Gavin flailed about in the bag.

“Name’s Jok, by the way!” the boy yelled as he started running. “I’m gonna try to keep you guys alive, don’t you worry!”

Well that was definitely reassuring.

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What will happen next? Will they survive? Will Gavin and Candy ever turn human again? What is the Scroll of Truth? Who even is Jok? Did he steal that fire staff? These and all other questions may or may not be answered in the next installment of Blog Swap!

(except for that last one. Jok ABSOLUTELY stole that fire staff, I can tell you that for free.)

If you want to find out what happens next, check out Ariella’s blog (The Arbitrary Fairy) next time for BLOG SWAP!

You have to go there, anyway, if you want to find out how she continued the story I started last time. I have a feeling it’s pretty epic.

So, yeah! I’ll see you guys next week! You should probably subscribe, y’know, so you don’t miss a post. Leave a like, too, cos why not? Hope you enjoyed! Byeee!

~Ace