Twisted Wonderland: The Seven Treasures

Twisted Wonderland & The Serpent's Crown-Part 5

It was cold. Jamil opened his eyes slowly and sat up, wincing.
What happened? He remembered Overblot Jamil using the Staff to bite him and...water. He remembered a wave of water crashing around him. 'That would explain why I'm cold." Jamil reasoned, even though he was perfectly dry. What else did he remember?
Racking his brain, Jamil couldn't recall anything after the water. Where was he? The Colosseum? Back in Scaribia? And why was it so dark? He had normally good eyesight, so the darkness shouldn't be so strong.
He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision.
"Who are you?" A voice asked from the shadows. "How did you get here?"
Jamil opened his mouth to answer but began coughing, something warm splattering across his arms.
A light appeared, making Jamil wince.
"Hey. Are you okay?" The voice behind the light asked, gentler. "You've got bite marks on your neck. Did a snake get you?"
"Yeah," Jamil managed to say, his throat dry. "A black one." He looked down and saw something red staining his arms.
"Hang on. I have some herbs that'll help." The voice said, before the light was brought closer, letting Jamil see a young boy holding a lantern.
Placing the lantern on the floor next to Jamil, the boy got to work, pulling out a basin of water and strips of cloth that he handed to Jamil before examining the twin puncture wounds. "It doesn't look infected," the boy said. "If Kalim were here, he could probably tell if it was poisonous."
"I think it was," Jamil said, rubbing his arm with the wet cloth. Then he paused. "Wait. Kalim? Kalim Al-Aslim?"
"Sure," the kid said, pulling out some herbs from the darkness behind him. "Oldest son, frequently kidnapped and poisoned? He can tell a lot of poisons now without looking. I hate him."
Jamil looked up from his arms. "Why's that?" He asked.
"I can't live my life without that spoiled brat hanging at my side all the time!" The kid exclaimed. "I'm so much better than him but I have to play second fiddle. It's so irritating!"
Jamil's eyes widened. No way. Had the snake venom caused him to hallucinate? Was he really talking to himself?
"I need you to tilt your head back." Young Jamil said.
Jamil leaned his head back, letting the crown of his head touch the cold wall, the cool sensation keeping his panic at bay. Why was this happening? Was it just a dream? Was he dying?'
Then he winced in pain as his younger self pressed a herb mixture onto his neck, right over the bite marks. Nope. He wasn't dying. The pain proved that.
"You should be grateful it's midnight and no one's awake," Younger Jamil said, whipping the extra mixture away with a cloth. "If someone else saw you, they'd think you were here to kill Kalim."
"So why didn't you kill me?" Jamil asked, lowering his head back down.
"You made me curious," Young Jamil said, leaning back till he was kneeling in front of Jamil. "We share a face so I wanted to know if I finally get to be free of Kalim."
Jamil swallowed. Two months. That's all he had gotten before Kalim had appeared at NRC, shackeling Jamil to his side again. Then there was winter break. His breaking point and subsequent Overblotting. How could he say anything? If he said yes, he'd be lying. If he said no...
Young Jamil took Jamil's silence and his face darkened. "I guess that's all I'll ever be," he said softly, putting the herbs back into a box. "A shadow to the sun."
At those words, Jamil grabbed his younger self's wrist, making the boy meet his eyes. "You're not just a shadow," Jamil said. "You're a moon. You can still be strong, even with Kalim nearby."
"No I can't," Young Jamil said. "My parents say I can't outshine him."
"That's their mistake," Jamil said. "You're not outshining him. You're shining in your own place and time. Listen to me. Kalim will follow you but you'll always be different from him. So embrace your differences."
"What differences?" Young Jamil muttered, pulling away. "I accept my fate as Kalim's dog. I'm not going anywhere."
Jamil was thrown backwards into darkness, watching as his younger self vanished. Was that really what he had thought? What he had accepted?
Had the other Host's gone through something like this? Had they talked to their younger selves, given them advice?
Jamil shivered. It was cold and dark again. When the lantern had been there, he'd been warmer.
Looking around, all Jamil could see was the darkness. Why hadn't he woken up yet? Was it the snake venom affecting him?
His chest was rising and falling faster now, panic setting in. "Let me out!" Jamil cried. "I don't want this!"
Something dripped onto Jamil's head, making him look up. Rain drops began falling onto his face, drenching him.
Kalim, Jamil thought, closing his eyes. I did hate you. I hated you so badly that I almost cheered when I got my acceptance letter to NRC. I hated having to hide behind you. When you told me that you were going to treat me like an equal after my overblot, I pushed you away because I was scared. I was scared of what my parents were going to say. I was scared of the freedom it would allow me to let more of my true power show. I didn't want to take it. So I kept pushing away.
The rain was falling harder now, the water level rising around Jamil.
I don't want to be in this darkness anymore, Jamil relized, standing up and pulling out his magepen. And I'm going to break myself out.
The darkness began to crack as Jamil ran forward, not caring where he was heading, each footstep splashing in the water.
Break! Jamil thought. Break and let me out!
The cracking became louder and sharper until Jamil sat up, gasping as air filled his lungs, back in the reflection world.
Overblot Jamil was missing, but Kalim was laying nearby, out cold on the sand.
Jamil grabbed his magepen and stood up, looking around. All of the hooded NRC students were slumped over, like puppets cut loose from their strings.
"Why aren't you dead?" Overblot Jamil cried, rising up in front of Jamil. "I'm one of the Seven Treasures! How can you best me?"
The sand began to move around Jamil's feet, followed by a soft hissing.
Jamil looked down as a slithering mess of snakes appeared, shaking off the sand that hid them. At least 10 of them, all of them with their scales rippling as they crossed over each other.
Overblot Jamil waved the Staff at Jamil. "You will die at my hand and I will take your place and give that spoiled brat what he deserves!"
Spoiled brat...his younger self had used those same words to describe Kalim...was it a coincidence?
Jamil flicked his magepen in his fingers, sending it into a spin that ended with the dark red jewel facing his Overblot form. "You'll find it's harder to kill me than you think," he said. "But I'd like to see you try."
The wind spell activated just before the first snake could lunge at Jamil's ankle, the spell sending Jamil up almost level with the roof of the Colosseum.
Overblot Jamil looked up, following Jamil's ascension, a look of rage on his face. "Give up!" Overblot Jamil cried. "Or Kalim dies!"
Crud. Jamil looked down, noticing that the snakes had encircled Kalim now. I left Kalim unprotected. I need to finish this now.
"Snake Whisper!" Jamil cried out, his spell striking the snakes curling around Kalim.
The wind spell petered out, lowering Jamil back to the sand, the snakes leaving Kalim to circle Jamil again.
"Bite him!" Jamil ordered, the snakes flying forward to Overblot Jamil, their fangs exposed.
"Perish by fire!" The Treasure cried, the mouth of the Staff glowing with magic before each snake became engulfed, burning into ash.
The smoke hid Jamil from view and Overblot Jamil narrowed his eyes before he felt a sharp pain enter his ankle.
"You missed one," Jamil said, standing behind Overblot Jamil, a dark red and gold scaled snake wrapped around his arm. "You won't die. It's not possible for a Treasure to die, but that poison will make you feel like you're going to die."
Overblot Jamil dropped the Staff before he screamed, either in pain or in anger.
Jamil threw the snake onto the sand before burning it. When he turned around, the Treasure had vanished.
Walking over, Jamil knelt next to Kalim and touched his shoulder. "Kalim. Wake up." He said.
The other boy stirred slightly before opening his garnet-coloured eyes. They were slightly clouded by the fever. "Hey," he said, his voice dry. "Where...?"
"It's alright," Jamil said. "I just have to take care of something before we go home."
Kalim grabbed Jamil's arm before he could stand. "You don't have to take it," he said. "We could leave it here."
"You're wrong," Jamil repiled, looking at the staff, which was standing up on the sand. "I have to take it. There's no other option."
Standing, Jamil walked over to the staff then reached out his hand to grab it. As he did, the gold crumbled down like sand and reformed into a circlet that wrapped around, the beginning and end forming into the heads of snakes facing one another. As Jamil examined the staff's new form, it rippled under his fingers, the eyes of the snakes becoming rubies, the gold becoming detailed to have scales.
Reaching up, Jamil placed the crown on his head, feeling the twin golden sperpets rest on his forehead.
Master. What do you desire?
The voice echoed around the room, making Kalim look around in panic, but Jamil just closed his eyes and the snakes began to hiss softly.
You can stop hiding. You obey me now.
As you wish.
Black ink gathered and Overblot Jamil appeared, standing in front of Jamil, who opened his eyes.
"What's going on?" Kalim asked, standing. "Jamil, tell me what's happening."
Jamil turned, looking over his shoulder at Kalim. "I'll tell you when we get back to Scaribia," he said. "For now, please be quiet."
He turned back to Overblot Jamil. "A Treasure obeys the Host," Jamil said. "You are to remain hidden from the public eye unless ordered. You are not to use any abilities unless my life is in danger. Any following orders that contradict these will replace them until otherwise said. Should you break the agreement, I will destroy the Staff, therefore ending you. Furthermore, the Treasure Mark will again be invisible. Only myself and the other Host's will be able to see it."
"You are playing a dangerous game, Jamil Viper," Overblot Jamil said. "The other Treasures will rise up and they will be more powerful then me and my already awakened siblings. No one will be safe, not even the other Hosts."
Jamil narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll make sure the other Hosts are aware of that threat," he said. "Now, we're going home."
He held out his hand to his Overblot form, who hesitated before taking it, a white glow enveloping the Colosseum.