The Sketch: The Voyage of Soal

Facing His Fears

When the kiwi military found a ten-foot high ridge in their way, they were amazed. That day, the sky was red with the setting of the sun, and as dusk fell, the army stopped and began to set up their tents in which they would sleep. The ridge was climbable, as there was a path leading up it, covering the whole way. Stars filled the sky, and the red band around the sun disappeared as it sank below the horizon. The ironclad warriors settled in the tents.

But the ground trembled, and the air shook with the pitter-patter of a million tiny feet. Soal knew they were being attacked by the Dark Soldiers. "Close camp! Quick!" he yelled, and the tents were folded and packed back into the backpacks that many kiwis were carrying. Backing away from the ridge, the army went into battle formation, Porter and Soal in the front, swords drawn and shields ready.

At that moment, a single Dark Soldier was seen climbing over across the ridge with a spear. As it charged towards Soal, he rendered it into a puddle of sticky darkness before it could harm him. But millions more were running behind him, towards the infantry, spears outstretched- ready to impale anything they came into contact to.

Immediately, Porter bellowed, "Around formation!" This was one of his greatest tactics. The entire square form of the army split into two halves, becoming further apart as they ran. Slowly but surely, both halves would make their way around the army and regroup behind the enemy. But this artillery was massive- it would be hours before the kiwis crossed around a formation this huge. Porter led the left side, and Soal led the right. It would be a long night tonight! He drove his half of kiwis (including Kiwi and Anter) over the ridge into an area surrounded by tall, brown, cone-shaped mountains.

"Left side kiwis- swords ready," he roared, and the kiwis on the let side of the right fought the Dark Soldiers abreast as they ran. It was at this point that the east and west sides of the gooey creatures decided to charge into the kiwis instead. And miraculously, Soal and Porter had already led their halves around one corner. But the Dark Soldiers were doing their job well- the back fifths of the kiwi army had been killed, despite their armor and shields. Soon, the caramel-feeling monsters just became an arrow shape, the back half splitting up and following the kiwis, but the front continuing to sprint alongside the kiwis once they made it that far. As the 'battle' continued, more Dark Soldiers near the kiwis joined the arrow shape. At that point the kiwis had made it halfway across Articulus's repellent forces. And more kiwis were being killed. But Soal didn't focus on anything but leading as many kiwis as possible in front of the surging enemy.

After fifteen minutes of tireless sprinting, Soal made it around the front corner of the Dark Soldiers' army, as did Porter. Their soldiers followed close behind as the entire army formed one giant square once more. But now they had the Dark Soldiers hot on their tail. Porter hadn't thought this through well. Running for about a mile more without stopping, their path was blocked by an enormous mountain ridge. Now the entire army was cornered! As kiwis slashed and pierced away at the front of the Dark Soldiers, the back part of the kiwi battalion was being eaten away. It looked like the entire army would be destroyed before they even made it to Meinhaym.

But suddenly a sharp whistle was audible across the landscape, a kind of which Soal had never heard before. It had come from the clouds, an unlikely place for a whistle. But the Dark Soldiers stopped in their tracks and cringed, covering their ears. A few ran away in random directions. Using this to their advantage, the kiwis at the back of the artillery sliced and diced at the Dark Soldiers.

Magical Hands, transparent but solid, rained down from the sky above the soldiers, pounding the ground and clearing spots of them. This was when they became crazy- almost the whole army scattered in random directions and totally ignored Soal and Porter's army, their only goal being to escape from the hands. More hands fell from the sky, and cleared large portions of Articulus's brigade. They fought similarly to the Dark Hands, but they were on the kiwis' side. When the whole of the corps were reduced to puddles on the ground, a large magical hand saluted to Soal, and the swarm retreated to the skies once more.

"I suppose they did a good job," Porter said with a slightly confused look on his face. "And opportunities multiply as they are seized. We'll have to climb this mountain, up and down, to reach the next milestone in this war. Let's set up camp first, though." And they did. This time, no more soldiers attacked them, and the next morning they were free to traverse the mountain.