Moonlight Tempest (Completed)

The BadLands

Chapter 4

Kari Transported them to The BadLands.

It was desolate, and all the dust it had made it hard to see more than a few feet in front of you. It was constantly dusty. In fact, because of all the dust The BadLands is infamous for its disappearances and murders. It was like the wrong side of town. Except it was a whole country of the 'wrong side of town'.

The exact destination the boys wanted to get to was still a ways away, so they hitched a ride with this truck transporting hay to a nearby farm.

On the truck, the boys introduced themselves as Samuel 'Sam' Diamond and William 'Billy' Longfang-Diamond. They were both orphans who were adopted by the same guy.

"Sam and I met in this orphanage a long time ago." Billy started. "We instantly became friends. Not long after though, he was adopted by our Dad Tom, and I was adopted by this old Cherokee woman named Blaize Longfang. She was like a grandmother to me. She took such good care of me. She taught me so many things. She was the one to discover my Time Magic. Dude, she was so amazing. But... She died a few years back. I took her name and was sent back to that orphanage, but Dad was able to find me and adopt me. Apparently, Sam here can't live without me." He gave his brother a nudge.

"He asked for you?" Kari said.

"Yeah. I didn't want to be separated from Billy, but he was adopted by someone else. When we heard that he was back at that orphanage, Dad filed the adoption papers as soon as possible. Billy is important to me. He's my brother, I couldn't just leave him." Sam said.

"That's adorable! Man, I wish I had siblings." Kari said.

"Only child?" Sam asked.

"I don't know really. I'm an orphan too. I might have a family, but I might not." She said.

"You're an orphan too? What a weird coincidence! Kinda like the fact that you're a Wizard who can Transport and from the place we wanted to go! Man, thats a lot of coinky dink." Billy said. Kari nodded. It was convenient.

"Were you adopted as well?" Sam asked. Kari looked away. She felt familiar feelings come over her. Sadness. Anger. Lonlieness.

"Kari? Look you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to..." Billy said.

She shook her head. "No, its alright. You told me about you so, I guess I should do the same." She cleared her throat and delved into her past.

"I was only 10 and I was living in a random orphanage. Before that I was under the guardianship of on old Dwarf named Hickory. He cared for me as a child here in Eladias. He had sent me to Earth when I was 4 cause it wasn't safe in the Kingdom where we lived Avolin. At that time, there was a war going on between the Ogre Militia and the Dwarf Armada. It seems that there is always some type of war going on there. Anyway, I was moved from orphanage to orphanage, and finally I had come to the one I was in last. This orphanage was shabby and the caretakers weren't very nice. I had lived here for 1 year and I had just adjusted to life there, when the old caretaker, Ms. Shads came and told me about a potential adoption. I got out of bed dressed myself up and went out there. This had been my 13th potential adoption, so I just went along like it was routine. I entered the room and sat in front of an old African American couple (late 30s or so) named Johnson. They both wore thick framed glasses, they looked kinda funny. I smiled at them- not to be polite, but because they were so funny looking. I was 10. At that point, everything was funny looking." Billy laughed as Kari continued.

~~~~Flashback~~~~

'Ms. Shads sat down next to me, cleared her throat and was interrupted by Mrs. Johnson. "What's your name child?" She said with her smooth southern accent.