Fantopia

8

Galigore

Felix grabbed the grate leading into the sewer and tried to open it. He yelled for Ed to help him and they both pulled it up together. Felix leapt into the hole first like a frog, eager to escape the horrors above.

Ed looked up and saw dozens of ships overhead, preparing to fire upon the city with their flames. He leapt down after Felix, pulled the cover over the hole, and ran down the tunnel, sloshing through the gross sewer water.

"Do you think we'll survive?" he asked, getting tired from running through the liquid.

"I don't know." Felix stopped, breathing heavily. "Do you have your phone with you?" he asked.

Ed shook his head. "I think I lose it when I got jumped," he explained.

Felix pulled out his own phone. "Mine can only be used for calls in Fantopia 'cause that's where I lived before I joined the army," he told his buddy, handing him the cell. "Call someone and tell them what we found just in case we die in here."

"Okay," Ed said, panicking as he grabbed the phone. "I don't know any numbers."

"Call the mayor. All phones automatically dial it for you," the medic told him, too tired to speak anymore.

"Okay!" Ed pressed the number and the phone started ringing.

Felix looked to his left and spotted a child with red eyes staring at him. It was sitting in the water like him and didn't move. He nudged Ed and pointed at the kid. "Do you think he'll attack us?" he whispered.

Ed shook his head. "I thin he just wants food," he said and turned when someone on the phone started speaking. It was a woman's voice.

"Hello. My name is Edward and I'm hiding in the sewers of Galigore. My comrades and I were sent to find Dr. Sicarius' research. I need you to write down what I say just in case we die and can't tell others ourselves."

He heard the woman shuffle around some papers, then say "okay".

Ed gave her a summary of Dr. Sicarius' medicine and what it did to the people of the city. Felix threw the red eyed boy a granola bar from his pocket as Ed continued to relay the message. He was surprised that they could still get service down here.

The boy grabbed the food and gobbled it down in seconds, then started staring at the wall as if it was thinking about something. Felix stared at it, wondering why this child was so calm while the adults were so violent.

"And you have to make sure that no one else ever uses such a dangerous thing," Ed finished, not realising how uneducated he sounded.

"...I think you're too late," the woman on the other end said but he couldn't hear her because the signal started to break up. He hung up and turned to Felix. "It's done."

"Good." His friend nodded and looked up at the ceiling. He could hear the ships start to pour the fire into the city. The screams of its residents could be heard above. He felt he walls begin to warm up and knew that they'd probably die from the heat.

"It was nice working with you," he said to Ed quietly, knowing that their end was near. Ed, looking a little frightened, nodded. "Yeah."

00

It was when the ships were burning Galigore that the enemy's military decided to strike. Vinna's ships destroyed Vondur's entire fleet and the war between two countries officially began.

Both Galifore and Fantopia's troubles were forgotten and Fantopia would be left to fight their disease alone.