Kaotic Beginnings

Kaotic Beginnings part 1

The Gate shimmered and melted away behind them, leaving only a blinding light; a bombardment of photons from rays of sunlight – the real deal this time, not a poor artificial imitation. It was golden hued and warm. Instinctively, the three travellers shielded their eyes with their hands, blinking and shying away from the overwhelming spectacle. How many years had it been since they had felt this sensation? Five and a bit.

The ground was firm beneath them, gritty and dusty and real. Air touched at their flesh, faint changes in temperature could be felt as it ebbed and flowed in that way that only air can do. They stood for a moment, lost in these sensations that they had once taken for granted, before descending to the Underworld and losing them.

Blood rushed around their bodies, thumping in their ears. Hearts beating – they'd beat before, but it hadn't been like this. There was a 'whoom, whoom' rhythmic pulsing inside them.

They lived. They had done it; they had reached the mortal world once more! Lungs expanded, chests rose and fell, muscles twitched.

Anar sneezed; 'atchoo!'. Bright sunlight did that to you sometimes.

Rap blessed him; 'bless you'.

Anar didn't wince. There was no stab of pain at those Holy words. He could probably even mutter 'Jesus Christ' without any repercussions. Probably. He wasn't going to try it just yet though.

He slowly lifted his long grey head, still wincing from the bright sun and stifling another sneeze but wanting to see the sky at last; the actual real genuine sky and not the pretend fluffy-clouded abomination that Hell had, nor the angry blood-red scorched mirage that dominated their old home of Purgatory. What he saw was nothing short of beautiful. A fantastic azure canvas swept with milky streaks of cloud that stretched out into the distance.

He stood tall now, rolling his shoulders back and tilting his chin upwards as his living form came back online in its full glory. A green clawed hand promptly smacked into the side of his head and sent him stumbling.

"Are you fucking joking me?" Rave howled, "where the Hell are we, Big Ears?! Are you so thick you can't spell 'Earth' on some bloody paperwork?"

"What's your problem, now?" Anar growled, composing himself and squaring up to his sort-of-friend. He knew there'd be a fight, there always was, the sodding dinosaur was never happy! "Well? Come on, spit it out, what have I done wrong now? Don't tell me – we're in France? We'll swim across The Channel if we have to, after I'm done sticking a baguette where the sun don't shine-"

"Anar," Rap soothed, his hand patting at the aardvark's shoulder, "I don't think that's the issue here. Look at the sky..."

He did. "Yeah, it's nice. It's sky! Real sky!" he waved his hands emphatically.

Rap carried on nodding, "yes, it's nice, it also has two suns in it, mate."

What? Where? He jerked his head around scanning the heavens. "Ah..."

"Yeah!" Rave spat, "'ah!' I dunno about you, but last I checked Earth only had one of the big flaming orbs up there, ya know? I knew something would go tits up! Always does. 'Oh, look at me, I'm a lucky aardvark I am, everything works out okay for me, I'm a clever bugger!' you've really gone and done it now!"

Rap sighed heavily as he reached into his two friends, who were now throwing punches, and pushed them apart. "That's not going to solve anything, is it?" he asked loudly and firmly. "Wherever we are, we're in one piece and we're alive again. Let's be thankful for that."

But Rave was having none of it, "oh yes, thank you Anar for bringing us to an unfamiliar planet at the arse-end of the galaxy where we can promptly die of disease or starvation or exposure!"