Craig of the creek: From beyond the creek

A Story In Cavi Cape

the wind blowed gently over the purplish stones as the raft bobbed gently up and down, "it's so good being in the Gulch again !" thought Will as he pushed the raft upstream, the familiar waters were embracing him, and the air was caressing his hair, everything is as it should, yet he couldn't help feel as if he was being watched, he poked his head a bit more above of the water's surface, just enough for his ears to hear anything in the air that seemed strange but instead he just heard Craig and friends' usual chatter "woah ! look at the size of those holes in the rocks !" said J.P. in awe "yeah ! but why are the rocks purple ? and why are they so tall ?" asked kelsey "I don't know, but what do you think would be a good name for this place ?" asked Craig, this bothered Will, this place already has a name, it's cavi cape ! "ooh, how about purple cliffs !" suggested J.P. "or scraggly hills !" piped in kelsey, Mortimer chirped in approval, but will had had enough "you know this place has a name already right ?" he called out from th back of the raft "you can't go around re-naming places that have names already you know ?" "oh sorry we got excited, what is the name of this place then ?" asked Craig "it's called Cavi Cape" Will said with smile as he looked into the gaping holes in the rocks suddenly a voice called out "Brother where are you !?" it was very faint and very different from oswald's voice, it spooked those on the raft, but Will just chuckled "ah, what happened? the cape brothers spooked you?" Craig was puzzled "the who ?" he asked as the voice cried again "When are you coming home again ?" spooking the trio onboard even further "the voices you just heard, there's a really good story behind them, do you want to hear it ?" everyone on board nodded including the tiny bird "well then, it happened a long time ago . . . in the time long forgotten of 8 years ago . . ."

"it all began on a warm day of spring and two brothers that were from the water clan were sent on an important assignment to cave cape"  "wait didn't you say this place was called cavi cape? you know, with an 'I' ?" asked kelsey "yeah, some kid misspelled cave cape when drawing a map a couple of years ago, but they liked it, so we just called it cavi cape" Will explained "now the brothers were very close and worked together perfectly, but the younger brother was nervous, 'I don't think we should go here... It doesn't look very safe' the younger brother  said 'non-sense !'  'but we must get the tidal stone if we want to join the group ! it is our task !' the older brother replied non-chalantly 'brother don't go, please, we'll ask for someone to come with us' said the nervous younger brother, but the more cocky older brother looked him dead in the eye 'i'm going to cavi cape, if you don't want to come with me then it's fine, don't come, I'll do it myself' " Will told as the wind blew harder, the echo called out again "Come back soon ! I'll wait here !"  it was as if the rocks themselves were helping Will tell his tale, so he continued "but as the day went on and the tide began to rise the brother was no where to be seen, and so the younger began to worry" Will stopped, and waited until.... "brother !!! Where are you ! it's getting late !" J.P. opened his mouth as if to ask something but was cut off by another echo coming from the other cliff wall "HELP ! MY LEG, IT'S STUCK ON THE ROCK ! BROTHER !" and although the echo was very faint the desperation in it was very clear "unfortunately, the older brother had fallen through a hole in the rock when no one was watching and gotten his leg stuck on a rock, then the tides began to rise" Will told ominously "with no other choice, the younger brother was forced to tie some of the yellow glass from the cape onto a stick, and light it on fire with a lighter he had on him, for you see, although he was part of the water group, it was only to be with his brother, but in reality his heart always longed to be near the same type of inferno that burned within him" told Will as he pushed the raft through some raging rappids with relative ease "but still he set the grass on his stick ablaze and called out" ... "where are you !? it's almost dark !" the echo yelled "how do you know when the voices are going to call out ?" interrupted Craig, but Will ignored him "as the younger brother decended into the purple abyss the older brother was now beginning to be blanketed in the rising tide "brother ! where are you ! the water is rising !" yelled the echo " but the younger brother was too far away to hear the older brother's pleas" Will said ominously "and so all the older brother could do was to sit helpless and wait to drown" Will spoke sorrowfully as the wind blew "but, the older brother saw a rock in the water, he decided that he would get home that night, regardless of what it took, and so, the older brother grabbed the rock and began smashing the rocks that were trapping him, which hurt him, as the rocks cut more into his ankle the more he bashed them, in the end, it would leave him with a scar that would never fully heal..." Will stopped talking as a rather large rock nearby fell into the water in front creating a splash of rather large proportions Will looked up before continuing "the older brother was free, but now he was lost in the cave system so he then called out" "BROTHER ! WHERE ARE YOU !" the echo cried "I'M HERE ! WHERE ARE YOU ?!" cried the other echo "luckily for the older brother his younger brother was nearby and they reunited but now the sun was going down, which is very dangerous when in cavi cape as when it goes down the water rises to the tip of the grass above" Will spoke "wait that isn't possible ! we aren't in the ocean !" exclaimed Craig "do you think this place cares about what possible is and what isn't ?" spoke Will with a small chuckle "trust me, this place is a wild ride for a newcomer... like for these brothers" Will looked at the rocks sorrowfully "not even friendship can outlast the pain these rocks can inflict upon the souls of the brave travelers that dare cross this place..." Will stayed silent until the echoes rang out "why did you leave like that ! you know this place is dangerous !" yelled the younger more caring echo "well you didn't have to come help me ! see? I'm free ! without a hitch !" exclaimed the cocky older echo "without a hitch !? your leg is bleeding !" there was some quiet... " 'tis but a scratch !"  "NO ! We need to get you home now !" "but brother, I found it ! the rock of tides ! it's right here !" Will continued his story "they had indeed found the rock of tides, it was a rather big moonstone, completely filled with carvings depicting ocean waves and fish, it was in a huge center room in the cave, with more imagery carved into the stone around it, but without even thinking about it the older brother picked up the rock of tides from it's place, and before the younger brother could react the ground shook from below them, and a geyser sprang up from their feet, launching them to the surface and landing safely in the yellow grass once again" Will said he then looked to the rocks above, Craig and friends looked too, sure enough, there was a towering stream of water rising into the sky once again the echoes started speaking again, well, bickering "How can you be so careless ?!" the younger echo shouted "how can you be so boring ?" replied the older echo "I'm just trying to help you not get absolutely wrecked by this place, you are the only person who wants to spend time with me anymore" "well maybe if you weren't such a wimpy creep that spoke about fire all the time then maybe more people would hang out with you" Will winced at the harshness of the words spoken by the older echo, there was silence, until the older echo spoke again  "UGH! you are such a jerk ! go tell Angel I don't want to join anymore ! and that she can go -" a wave crashed nearby interrupting the echo, Will sighed "and that is the end of the story... the echoes go silent after this..." Will said sorrowfully... "wait that's it?" asked J.P. rather loudly "yeah what happened to the brothers after ?" piped Kelsey in and mortimer chirped demandingly Will smiled "well I can tell you for sure, the brothers didn't quite get along after that, the younger brother went on to join the fiery followers and became the most cunning and ruthless leader after overthrowing the fire queen, and would later be the leader of a smaller but more dangerous group, as for the older cockier brother, well, he joined the water group after bringing in the rock of tides, but he still regretted saying those harsh words that day, for if he had known what his brother would turn out to be, he would have not said that, but it is impossible to turn back time, and now these echoes taunt him whenever anyone goes by..." Will said sadly, by the end of his story they were already at the end of the cape, the purple rocks giving way to two forests, one on each side of the creek, the one on the left was scorched and dead, with a thick fog looming over it, while the one on the right was lush and green with palms and ferns growing, and it's trees filled with fruits that were starting to ripen, fireflies flied calmly nearby the fruits, "well here we are, the graphite gulch" said Will cheerfully, he then stopped pushing the raft and submerged underwater, only to jump out of the water and towards the nearest rock to see ahead, sure enough leviathan lake (the lake where rose's tower was on) was just a couple balconies away, but being back at home Will couldn't help but admire his home turf, but while he stood still, Craig managed to catch a glimpse of a rather large scar on Will's right leg, Will then pointed at the tower "that's it that is the place !" "wait how do you know ?" asked J.P. Will shrugged "I think I can smell him from here, smells like refried beans... then again I think I'm just hungry" Will looked around  he then spotted a purplish, oval shaped, spiky fruit growing on one of the trees, he swinged his fishing rod around his head, before casting the line and yanking the fruit from it's place and into Will's hands, who then began to eat the fruit voraciously, skin and all, he then spat the bits he couldn't swallow into the water "yeah, I probably should have eaten something before the trip" muttered Will before spitting the last bit of the dragonfruit in the water, he then jumped in the water and got behind the raft "shouldn't you wait 15 minutes after eating before getting in the water ?" asked kelsey with a skeptical look on her face, but Will just shook his head "it's just a myth ! besides the water isn't that deep, I'm just walking not swimming" and so Will continued to push the rather heavy raft towards leviathan lake, Craig was busy working on a map for the Gulch, while J.P. and kelsey looked on ahead, but maybe if they had looked to the left they would have seen that Oswald had been following them the whole time, walking along the shore of the dead forest, this forest is for him the coolest place in the Gulch, plenty of things to scare people, whether using bone-plants (plants that look like bones when dried up) or actual (bird) skeletons that he sometimes digs up ! it's quite fun to scare people, you never know what their reactions are ! however this forest wasn't always this way, it used to be as beautiful and tropical as the one on the other side of the river, up until the "volcano" was set aflame it launched scorching debris throughout the Gulch, and burning the the forest up, leaving it charred, ashed, and dead, the animals inside had not been able to escape, now the only reminder of what was are charred skeletons and tree stumps that smell of death, yet Oswald had no problem being around here, he had grown used to the foul smell of charred flesh and decaying plants, even though for everyone else the phantom forest is a place that nightmares are made out of, for Ozzy it's just a playground, a morbid playground sure, but a  fun one nonetheless, and although Ozzy wanted to stay a while longer he needed to follow Will and the bunch of intruders that he brought with him... and so he hurried to catch up with the raft, leaving cavi cape alone once again... as a singular echo called out again ...

"Jack ! come back ! I didn't mean it ! I'm sorry !"