The Magical Islands Of Da

Chapter 10.5

 Solamon pressed the button on the metal bar which stopped the image from appearing, he put the metal bar away. 

"See I told you he wouldn't respond. I'm sorry, you have been found as the prime person of interest to cause destruction to our defense method. You now owe us a ten-year sentence as a prisoner, that starts today. Do you have any problems with your penalty?" Solamon asked.

Cole looked up at the harsh king but couldn't mutter a word, the reality creeping inside him, he had no possible solutions pop in his mind. He glanced over at Solamon who had walked to the other side of the room, he held up the glistening golden vest, it was in a clear box.

"You are not on my level; you could never reach it in a thousand years. Oh got nothing to say? Fine."

Solamon paused before he walked up to Cole again.

"You just sit there and think, maybe you'll actually be useful for once in your life. In the meantime, I'm gonna give this to Seth when you're out of here." Solamon mumbled the last part.

Who is Seth even?

Cole didn't know if he should bring it up.

"Who is S-"

"I'm not gonna tell you who Seth is."

"Look, this trial is over. You will get transported back to your cell and be prisoner here for ten years, end of discussion. Guardimons, escort him back to his cell." 

Cole looked behind and noticed two guardimons standing behind him, they grabbed his arms and started to drag him out of the room.

"Let's compr- compromise!" Cole responded while stuttering. The Sand King looked back at the boy and shouted, "Keep him here, let's see what he has to say! And it better be a good compromise, otherwise my time with you is wasted." 

Cole cleared his throat, he looked up at Solamon and wavered slightly, after a few moments he spoke. 

"Yes ehm, okay here's my compromise. In exchange for not giving that vest...in three days you fight me in whatever setting you want. If you win, I will stay here for more than ten years...however!"

Cole paused while looking up at the king, scowling.

"If I win...I take the vest, LEAVE this place and go my own way. What do you think?"

Solamon stared at him and smirked.

Hours later Cole was being questioned in the shared cell; the skeleton soldier was pacing back and forth while Cole sat on a chair in the cell.

Cole looked outside the cell window, a shining moon in the night sky shined down on the beach, it was a stark contrast to the sea.

Shawn shouted, "Are you insane? You challenged Solamon, The Sand King, The King Of Authority...to a duel in three days? You have to take that back." Shawn paused.

"You'll get killed out there, you think he'll play fair? You'll die a fool. So, kid if I were you, I'd take my chances with that vest of yours in someone else's hands."

"No, I can't do that Shawn. Look ehm, I'm given two options. Either I just stay here for ten or more years of my life, wondering what I could have done...or I could take a chance and go for it."

Cole looked over at Shawn, he didn't smile but he had an uplifting look. 

"I'd rather go for it; I've got nothing now. My family isn't here, my new friends are either gone or captured, I don't, have a huge plan." 

Cole walked up to Shawn.

"The last plan I created and suggested, got one of my friends killed." 

Shawn stopped pacing around the cell and stopped in his tracks, he kneeled down to go eye to eye with Cole, "Hey I commend you for this, it's a noble sacrifice, albeit a dumb one, but there's got to be a backup strategy for this. It's just a vest and..." 

"I know it's important but, your life is important to." 

Cole nodded slowly and got up; he shambled towards the double bunk bed and collapsed on the bottom bunk. 

"I know my life is important but...this is more than just me. I'm tired of always running away. If I'm gonna die, I might as well go down fighting. I just can't keep doing this anymore."

Cole took off his glasses and put them aside, he laid on his back, the skeleton soldier crawled up to the top of the bunk bed. "If you want, let's talk about it, it's okay kid. That was the past and now is what's important. Would your friend really want you to do this? Tell me."

"Oh, she was so, so kind and energetic with everything, she believed in others...but others didn't believe in her. She was some kind of yarn or crochet doll, I told her ehm...that if she didn't believe in herself, I believe in her. She's gone now. She got swept into the clouds and..." 

Cole paused for a moment as tears started to build up in his eyes. 

"At least I know she's in a better place now than when I found her, in the clouds. I should have been the one in the clouds, not her. And my other friend who was made out of cookies, was like a performer or entertainer...we both got here after running. I don't know where he is, he could be dead" 

Cole grabbed a cup in the cell and threw it to the wall.

"I should have been kinder to him, but I was just in my own dumb ways. So, I deserve this. You can't change my mind either. Hey, are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, I'm listening to you, gosh that's just...look, to me it seemed like you cared, and you gave it the best you could. Look, it's easy to look back and bash yourself. When you tell me you told your friend that you believed in them, is that not what caring means to you? Cause if it isn't, I'd like to know what your definition of the word caring means." 

Cole rubbed his face and closed his eyes briefly; he opened them when his mind became clearer.

"Okay you're right I'm just, I'm sorry. I just miss them; they'd probably tell me not to do it. Anyways we should get some rest...otherwise we'll both be tired out of our minds." 

Cole closed his eyes and started to rest, all the chaos around him started to melt away; it all seemed to mellow out.

"Pssst Cole, wake up. Please." Something whispered. 

Cole slowly opened his eyes; he wondered if he imagined the sound or if there was something actually there. His eyes panned towards the cell window and lit up when he saw a hand motioning him towards the window.

Cole slowly got up intrigued and approached the hand like a careful cat. The intervals in his breath became more inconsistent, when he got up to the window the hand disappeared out of view.

"W- what the?" Cole whispered to himself.

After a few seconds a familiar cookie face emerged from the window.

"H- hey it's me, I can't believe you're still alive! Also keep your excitement down, it took me a second to find you." Elijah whispered.

Cole's heart was racing with excitement; the fact there was still a glimmer of hope; however, his mood dampened, that being the trial. ***

(Hey ya'll! Man, that's quite a twist at the end, what do you think of Cole's decision? Also, I hope you like both parts of chapter 10, if you did, a vote and sharing this story would really help. Thank you all, let's see what comes up in chapter 11!)