A Journey To The Clouds, A Fantastical Prophecy - Book One - ✓

Chapter Eight

I hop in the bath to try to soothe my thoughts. I've heard that hot water helps. I get out approximately thirty minutes later and hop in bed thinking about everything that I saw today. I fell into what I thought was a peaceful slumber but it turned out to be a terrible nightmare.

I found myself to be in a woodland, with a flowery cottage in the distance. I also spot a castle which appears to be on the clouds. The environment was friendly. Birds were singing, and squirrels danced on the branches of the large oak trees. There was a river nearby, and you could hear the fish leaping in the water. Blueberries and raspberries dot the lush bushes that litter the forest. I started to walk towards the flowery cottage when I heard a great thumping behind me. Oh no! The giants thundered towards the house. I see one of them thrust their fist into the house and pull a person out of it. A scene similar to what you would see in some comedy cartoons.

The woman had piercing, sparkling blue eyes. She wore a long, flowy, purple dress, decorated with blue flowers. Her hair was what seemed as its signature look: a messy bun with two strands out the front. Suddenly, I feel sharp recognition. Lily is the person that has been caught. The giants stole Lily! I can't believe it.

I quickly and quietly maneuver my way through the forest, making sure that their backs never turned to find me trailing them. I hide behind boulders, tree trunks, and thick bushes as I trek only a few meters behind them. I can already tell the mood in which the warmth welcoming feelings of the forest were removed. The climate turned cold, and the sky became cloudy.

After a successful mission, I finally reach the castle. I hide behind a wide tree stump, only keeping my forehead up to see what they were doing. I notice the wooden castle door opens slowly, and then I can see the giants emerging inside with Lily being dragged behind them. After a few heartbeats, I slowly walk up to the door to notice other giants guarding the doorway. I keep my back on the door, and once one looks away, I bolt inside. I surprise myself with seeing unfamiliar marble staircases

They walk to a room with steel walls and vintage wooden floors. It looks as though this room and the rest of the castle did not age at the same time. Blood stains on the wood which I have never noticed before give me shivers down my spine. The giants roughly heave Lily in there. Her head hit the floor hard, enough to knock the air out of her. She laid there surprisingly still, until the giants left, slamming the door closed, and tugged against it, locking it. I heard the giant's satisfied grunt, proud with what they had done. Lily slowly lifts her head up and whispers, "Ally, you must start your quest." Lily says.

I am surprised that she is still alive after that fall, but I can not waste another minute. "Forget about it right now. In this present moment, I need to find a way to get you out of here!" I whisper back.

Lily nods reluctantly and starts to look around the room. We are both looking for something to help get her out of this cage-like prison cell, and in caution to make sure the coast is clear.

Then I see a piece of paper. Soon I realize that there are litters of them on the floor. Each looked to be ripped leftovers of documents. I realize these letters were from those who spent time in this exact cell. I go to pick them up, and I see curved, neat, and sometimes sloppy handwriting on the once formal pages. I try to piece some of them together and I get one giant letter. I can barely read it but i think it is in code. Luckily, I took coding classes in middle school. I'm in my freshman year so obviously, I took the coding classes this year.

I look around for scrap pieces of paper and a pencil or a pen. The area around the cell is incredibly lived in, and downright dirty compared to the elegant clean halls of the rest of the palace. A few minutes later, I notice an entire manilla folder full of paper and a few old pens with dusty fingerprints on them. The papers were loosely together with pieces of chewed up gum and some proper paperclips. I climb up the staggered wall of rocks and toss the heavy folder on the ground along with one of the pens.

I climb back down carefully, and open the folder to find even more pieces of ripped up paper and the backs of old documents. Then I spot one that looked to be carved . . in stone. I take a look at the could be code. I think to myself,

ok try some simple ones first then progress to the harder ones. I see that it is a simple double letter shift immediately.

Jcjcja! aqw

fgekrjgtgf jv eqttgevna. . dwv yg eqwnp'v lwuv jqnf wr c eqttgev ukip cpf ngv aqw igv cyca vjiu gcua eqwnf yg? Qh eqwtug pqv! Yg iqv aqw Cnnkuqp Itggp! Aqw ecp'v ucxg aqwt rtgukqwu Njnna pqy, dgceqwug yg jcxg jkffgp vjg tgcn qpg cpf vjg mga vq wpnqem vjg mga vq wpnqem vjg ecig ku uqogyjgtg . . fkuvkpev uqogyjgtg aqw eqwnfp'v igv cyca. . . jgtg'u c mga yqtf:

GAG

Pqy yg ctgp'v "uvwrkf."Agu, yg jgctf aqw Cnnkuqp Itggp. Vta cpf hckn vq ucxg vjcv ocikecn rkgeg qh umwo kp vjcv ecig. Aqwtu vtwna-

Vjg Etgy qh Fqqp!

"Wow. Are they stupid!" I say to Lily. I smile as I write out the finished code. My grin slides off my face like a landslide when I read the letter carved in stone. It reads:

Hahaha! You deciphered it correctly. . but we couldn't just hold up a correct sign and let you get away this easy could we? Of course not! We got you Allison Green! You can't save your precious Lily now, because we have hidden the real one and the key to unlock the cage is somewhere distinct . . somewhere you couldn't get away . . .

here's a keyword:

EYE

Now, we aren't"stupid." Yes, we heard you Allison Green. Try and fail to save that magical piece of scum in the cage.

Yours truly-

The Crew of Doom!