I turned around anxiously, away from the enormous shadow blocking the sun which also appeared to be the source of the wind. I did not wait to be told twice when Luke said go, so I went. I summoned Poopleheim, my fantabulous flying sword, grabbed his hilt, and I told him to get me to the arena as fast as possible. We tore through the air at an impossible speed, aided by the wind behind us.
We landed on the arena floor and saw all the audience terrified and panicked, trying to get out. Then I spotted Jerry shouting at Andrew.
"WHY DID YOU PULL ME INTO THE PORTAL!!!" Jerry howled at Andrew.
"Mneh," Andrew replied, too busy staring at the Lord of Darkness's lovely heart-shaped underpants. The Lord of Darkness, completely unconscious, was being rolled around by the wind. I felt a little sympathetic.
"Stop fighting yo!" Poopleheim yelled at them, "We have a life and death situation here!"
I also spotted John and Vanessa. Vanessa was panicking, "What is happening? Imma so scared!"
"Chill, lady! Be calm," John said.
Vanessa stared back at him with googlie eyes.
"HEY GUYS! WE HAVE A LIFE AND DEATH SITUATION HERE, COME ON!" Poopleheim, who doesn't like to be ignored, shouted at the top of his blade.
Everybody looked towards him. Including me.
That's when I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. "We need to get out of here! This place is gonna... blow, probably!" I yelled.
I saw surprise in some of my friends' faces. Jerry looked at me like I was crazy. Andrew looked at me like I was hungry. John and Vanessa looked at me like I was a baby. Only one person seemed to take me seriously—The Lord of Darkness, who had woken up and was now staring openly at me with something like fear in his eyes.
Then, to my utter surprise, two familiar figures walked out of the main building into the arena floor where we were gathered. I couldn't believe my eyes.
"Yo, yo, yo!" said one of the voices.
"Suuuuuup," said the other.
"Billygoogoojiggy and Tristan!?" I yelled, gob smacked. "Where the HELHEIM have you been?!" I realized I hadn't seen these two since we got to this place. How had I even missed that?
The two of them looked only slightly ruffled by the tremendous force of the wind that kept pushing against them, as if it had been nothing but a breeze, even though their hair was completely blown back as they walked towards us.
"Funny you ask," yelled Tristan, trying hard to be heard over the howling wind. "We found a gaming room! Been there a few days I think, lost count!"
"Lost count!" repeated Billy.
I wanted to punch them, but also... I wanted to know what kind of games they had down there. Fortunately, I kept my chill.
"We have to leave!" I yelled, getting everyone's attention, mostly because Poopleheim, having completely lost his chill, began spanking everyone with the flat of his blade.
"But where are we going?" asked Tristan, rubbing his sore butt.
"Yeah, where?" repeated Billy, doing the exact same motion with his own butt.
"Away! To another planet! Another galaxy! This place is gonna blow, don't you understand?!" I bellowed, my Amiel's apple bobbing up and down my throat.
"But why?" asked Andrew, looking up and shielding his eyes from the standstorm that pushed against us.
"Yeah, why?" asked Billy, doing exactly the same hand motion as Andrew.
"Because!" I began, then stopped.
I realized, I didn't know why. Luke had told me to go and I, like an absolute child, went. I had never been this obedient in my life! Whenever my mom told me to go, I did everything but go. I stayed. But all it took was one warning from this brave dude and I was running like a broccoli, green and leafy.
"I... am not sure," I said, "But we need to run! Let's go, now!"
"You heard the senor!" said Poopleheim, spanking everyone together like a herd of sheep.
As we were suddenly all huddled and ready to teleport somewhere else, my eyes found someone still a bit far, lying on the ground, pantless and scared.
The Lord of Darkness, my mortal enemy, who had been trying to kill me for the past seventeen chapters. I made a decision on the spot. Against my friend's complaints, I rushed over to where the skeleton was sitting.
"Yo, let's go!" I offered my hand.
The skeleton looked up, perplexed.
"DO YOU MEAN, ME?" he asked. I could sense he was trying to speak softly but I figured it was physically impossible for him, kind of like calling a dog to meow.
"Yah, Booboo," I said. "You can't stay here, that thing's gonna blow," I said.
The Lord's lower lip trembled, even though he didn't have one, and his eye sockets grew impossibly large. Had he had eyes, they would have been crying like a baby.
"LET'S GO," he said, taking my hand and getting to his feet. But just when we were about to reach my other friends, he said, "I THINK I KNOW THAT THING, IT IS THE MOST INDESTRUCTIBLE MONSTER IN THE UNIVERSE EVER KNOWN! NOBODY STANDS A CHANCE AGAINST IT, UNCOUNTABLE LORDS AND GODS HAVE BEEN SUCKED INTO THE CREATURE'S BELLY NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN!!"
I opened my mouth but no sound came out.
But what about Luke?
He was so brave.
So strong.
So cool.
So dead.
"We can't go!" I blurted out suddenly, breaking out of the circle of my friends. "We have to go help him!"
"Isn't this guy like... surely already dead?" asked Andrew scratching the back of his head, "Shouldn't we just run away? If we go back and he's dead, we'll be dead too and then his sacrifice would have been for nothing!"
"Yeah, for nothing!" said Billy, scratching the back of his own head.
"Your mate's dead, mate," said John, putting a gentle hand on Vanessa's shoulder. "Time to bail."
"Yeah, time to bail!" said Billy, trying to put a hand on Vanessa's shoulder but as soon as his hand was close enough to touch, she slapped him hard across the face.
"I don't care! We can't leave him alone!" and then, I had a feeling like I would know what to do as soon as we got there. "I can't explain it, but I think I might have a plan."
My friends continued to argue at the same time, it was impossible to distinguish what they were saying, but I had made up my mind, and as I turned to leave, grudgingly, they all came behind me. Except the Lord or Darkness, he totally bailed.
With Poopleheim ahead, flying against the strongest wind I'd ever encountered, slowly but steadily, we made our way to the source of the commotion, and the sight that greeted us was one we would never forget for the rest of our lives.
Except Andrew, who probably forgot about it the next day.
