(REWRITE) The 17th Realm, The Maniac Trilogy - Book 1

Chapter 6 - Sleeping Stone

KAI'S POV

I was singing to myself in the shower when I heard a loud thump. I thought nothing of it and was about to leave the shower when some sort of weird force knocked me off balance, causing me to slip and fall flat on my ass. I managed to break my fall by grabbing onto the curtain, but I accidentally broke it off and it almost hit me right in the head.

"What the—" was all I was able to choke out before I heard a concerned voice.

I got up and quickly put my boxers and trousers on. I grabbed my top and slipped it on as I ran out of the bathroom and towards the commotion. Master Wu was only a few steps in front of me and we both found ourselves in the scroll room, which looked like it was completely ransacked. Zane was slowly collecting himself up on his feet again, scrambling out of a pile of scrolls while one of the shelves was completely knocked over and was currently on top of my clumsy teammate, Jay.

Sensei and I rushed over and carefully lifted the shelf off of Jay, who was laying unconscious on the floor. "Jay? Jay, can you hear me?" I asked. I shook him slightly but he wasn't responding.

I heard a gasp escape Wu's lips. He rushed over to one of the rolled up scrolls on the floor. He picked it up and traced his fingers along the lettering on the side of the scroll while muttering something under his breath. I then noticed what the letters spelled out: "The Forbidden Realm"

"Lloyd opened the scroll," said Wu.

"How did you know it was Lloyd?" Zane asked.

"This is why I never tell you anything!" he shouted while storming out of the scroll room. "Where's Nya and PIXAL?"

I raised my arms defensively, "I don't know! I just got out of the shower!"

"I think Nya and Lloyd must've been banished to the 17th Realm together!" Zane exclaimed in realisation and panic.

"Take Jay to the medical room," he ordered.

We did as told and picked Jay up before carefully taking him to the med room. I definitely didn't accidentally bang his head on the door frame. "That's gonna leave a bruise..."

"Careful! You're holding him wrong," Zane stated.

"It's fine, it's only a few more steps left."

"There are only a few more steps left," he corrected me. I rolled my eyes at the classic Zane behaviour.

Shortly after I safely took Jay to the med room, Wu came back with PIXAL, but no Nya. "Oh my, what happened?" PIXAL asked as she walked over to unconscious Jay.

"Lloyd opened the scroll to the 17th Realm we were earlier warned not to touch," Zane explained.

"The reason why I never told you about it is because I know that this scroll can tempt younger people into opening it. And now not only are Nya and Lloyd banished to the Forbidden Realm, they also have no way of returning. It is a treacherous realm from which you cannot return."

"Yeah, we've heard that before and we came back in one piece," I argued. "They'll be okay!"

"You don't understand!" Wu screamed. "This realm is much further then the Never-Realm. If they are lucky enough to find Travellers Tea, they must hope it's strong enough. Most types of Travellers Tea aren't. We're talking about the other side of the universe! Your overconfidence will achieve us nothing! We can't do anything. It's filled with hideous people and corruption. It is not safe for them. It will take immense luck for them to return. Maybe if they had a vehicle of some sort, they'd have a small chance. Without nothing, they are hopeless."