Prophecy of the Old King: Verse 1 The Gauntlet Prologue

Earth Times

Worst day of my life! A whole day of maths, I can't stand maths. Most of the time I stare at the numbers and they start swirling around, making no sense whatsoever. So when the teacher wants an answer, I just have a headache. Algebra is ten times worse. When in the history of the planet does a letter X mean the number 20? Now, walking back from school, my minds a snowstorm bordering on a migraine and all I want to do when I get home is play on my Xbox. But no, at home there's a nice mountain more maths to do. Because of my failure at the subject, I get my own private tutor. Mr Reeds is probably the worst teacher ever. He doesn't bother teaching me, he just shoves a pile of question papers in front of me.

"Try and do these Nile, and make them better than your last pitiful displays," Mr Reeds snarled, then spent the next hour glowering at me, as I tried to figure out what any of it meant.

"Paper," He grunts at the end of the hour and snatches my answers up.

"Bah," he growls as he checks my work, "no improvement, why do I bother?"

He stamps an 'F' on the page and shoves me out. Sulking I stomp home again. I hate maths. I hate school. I hate my boring life. Why can't I be some great rock star, or an American hero? I wish my life was as awesome as the avatar in my game; blasting aliens with mega guns and super ships. Better than stupid maths. I kick a stray stone and it makes a satisfying clang against a lamppost. A loud clicking sound snaps me out of my gloom. I turn round, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. At first it was behind me, but then it moved to my left, then my right. It's all around now, I'm surrounded. I begin to worry.

"Hah, hah, very funny," I shout trying to sound light-hearted, it's bound to be some boys in my class trying to make a fool out of me. But no one runs out to claim ownership of the prank.

"Gary, come on out, you got me, this is getting old," I call, fear making my voice go hoarse. This was not a game, if so Gary would have owned up already and be laughing at me. The ominous clicks came closer. It had to be a cricket or a grasshopper. But they made a chirpier noise. There was nothing chirpy about this sound. The clicks had a brass, metallic tone to them. So it was a machine, a robot. Maybe it was a government conspiracy sent to capture me for experiments, or a drone invasion to enslave the human race in a matrix. I may have even stumbled across an alien abduction, like in my computer games, they wanted to observe me and make a master race. All ideas like this popped out of my mind, as soon as the first hulking shadow stepped into view. The only thought circulating my brain was: Oh God. This monstrous beast was impossible. Its fellows soon had formed a ring around me, their pincers gnashing, not yet killing, but toying with me. They appeared to laugh as I squirmed. My mind was blank with terror, only able to manage one thought: What on earth? The question constantly repeated bouncing round my hollow mind. I was no longer able to think, let alone move, I was paralysed. These monsters would have sent my nightmares fleeing for their lives, they were beyond imagination.

I'll do anything to get out of this situation; I'll never complain about maths again, please, I begged the universe. Why had I ever wished for an adventurous life? There was nothing fun about this. Never again would I look at an insect the same way. The circle closed in, like the tightening of a noose and I knew they were going to kill me. This time there was no restart, game over.