Kip Jordin: Bone Creature Adventure

Kip Jordin

 I shuddered, suddenly, I found myself cornered with bone creatures, the aroma was...intense, to say the least. Let me explain how I got myself into this mess. It starts off in Mandireville, one of the last unaffected towns left, to be a secure town, we've had big walls up around the joint for centuries, and it's not changing anytime soon. My name is Kip, one of our knights, or was it traveler? I don't know, but I make Indiana Jones look like an amateur, (that was a joke). "Let me in!" a man shouted, scared, afraid. "Please!" he says through sobs, begging for shelter, to be concealed from the darkness. He knows we can't let him in, or the creatures will be let in. I can't help but stare, as he is corrupted by the mist of the creatures, being within their presence for more than 10 minutes, (that is if they don't kill you) will corrupt you, into a Bone Creature. The dreaded Bone Creature, the worst of them all. The most horrid, wretched creature

I shiver, and cringe at the thought of the Bone Creature. Named as they are, for their love for bone marrow, just like the mythological creature, The Giant. Their shape shifters as well, and they suck the bone marrow out of peoples bones, and now that all the animals have been utterly demolished, they are hungry, they yearn for the next bone they can suck the marrow out of. The castle's walls are strong though. My phone rings, "Hello? Yeah, I guess" I say replying to him, the counselor of Mandireville. "Wait, you don't mean...". He asks me to venture out in search of something, an amulet. He says it's our only hope, as the thick castle walls are sighted to be crumbling. "Be back by nightfall next week, or we will surely perish". This is a lot of pressure, one day i'm a normal citizen, the next I'm the guy that has to save the city. I'm strong, and I should be able to trudge through whatever dangers await me, i think, nevertheless, this doesn't mean i'm gonna like it.

I send a quick message to my friend, Johnathan, "Come meet me outside the Town Hall quick". He tells me he's on his way. Jonathan and I met at the local trading post, I suspected he was just going about his business, casually shopping. I was wrong however, he was on a secretive spy mission to scout out possible disguised bone creature "citizens". He spotted one, it quickly shape shifted back to its normal form, another advantage of the bone creature, its uncanny ability to shape shift into whatever form of matter it pleases. He aims for one shot to the head. He narrowly misses the creature, as the bullet travels past the foul beast, it lands on a hay bale and the bale naturally fly's into the air. Jonathan carefully lit a match from his matchbox and threw it at a piece of hay, still descending from the sky. It lit up in flames, and the bone creature almost instantaneously started, burning, as if the devil itself had poked it with its staff. The hideous beast shriveled into nothingness, as I watched it, flabbergasted at what lay before my eyes. Jonathan grabbed my arms, "Come with me!" he whispered, "Its not safe here!".

I followed him without a second thought, I knew there really wasn't much to lose, as this man had just saved me from being a delicious bone marrow smoothie. So I reluctantly followed. We sprint through the town, I can feel the wind brush against my skin as I graze my feet upon the warm grass of Mandireville. We run for what seemed to be an eternity, before we finally stopped at the local coffee shop and ordered some waters. We caught up, talking quietly, for we knew that if overheard, bad things may occur. We caught up with one another for about five minutes before we left. "I'm Kip, and if I do say so myself, that might have been the coolest thing i'd ever seen!" I said admiringly. "Yeah, yeah, keep it down kid!" he replied, seeming annoyed, or rather, bored. "Sorry, its just, that was...wow, such horrible creatures wide out in enemy territories!" I said, quieter, in a whisper sort of voice, careful not too bee too loud, which seemed to upset Jonathan.

"You should come with me, you might be intrigued in some of the positions we have in the Royal Kingdom. As he said those words, my eyes widened, and my face brightened up immediately. I replied no longer then two seconds. "I'm in". He looked surprised, sort of as if he'd just been awoken by the speakers blasting full volume. He smirked though, and said, "Well what are you waiting for then. Come on!". I ran after him, getting deja vu at the feeling of running with him once more. After we had finally made it to the shiny castle gates, we'd been formally welcomed by the gatekeeper. "Right ahead, Sir. Donahue, oh...who's the new kid?". He said, scoping me out, with his eyes squinting. "A new recruit." Jonathan said, with a confident grin, such as the one in the cafe, when i'd accepted his offers. The old man keeping the gates face lighted with joy. "Splendid, I welcome you Sir.", he stutters, "What's your last name, young traveler?". He asked me, still scoping out my features, and my clothes. "Jordin, and you are?". I replied, my hand over my eyes, shielding myself from the bitter rays of the sun.

"Sir. Gordon, at your service." "Nice meeting you!" I say, waving goodbye to the nice gatekeeper, as he turns away and greets other traveling tourists. We trudged toward the castle, the many guards and defenses glaring at me, squinting, like the gatekeeper. It was unsettling. Never mind that, I'd just been invited to the castle of the Royal Kingdom. I made haste to the kingdom in awe of the fantastic landscaping. We walked far to the front of the castle, and the doors opened far more dramatically then I suspected, I don't know if they always play the trumpets when they open the gates. I think not. The KING of the castle walks up to me, bows, and that's just about when I fainted. I woke up seeing doubles, blinking every two seconds, my head was spinning. The king looked down upon me, and he says, "Hello newcomer, I see this is your first time in the castle!".

This couldn't be real, this was the best day of my life! I replied, "Yeah, I like, what, where, when am I? I mean what, no, WHERE am I?" I choked this one for sure, I finally got the words out though. The king told me I was in the throne room. "Jonathan said you guys have open positions of work in the castle?" I said. It's rare to find good paying work, the offices of Mandireville provide middle-class money, though those jobs are the most boring of all. The local markets payed terribly, though you get to keep all profits, because its a self-employment job. When you work the Mines, you just barely scrape by. Most people who don't own a home work in the mines, due to its availability, you just have to sign up with papers, no resume. Previously, since i'm 17, I wasn't working yet.

I had to tell my mother, but I'd left my phone at home, and realized that was a bad decision. I go to the payphone, and call my mother, (payphones only reside in a certain spot in every building). She quickly answers, as she was being called from the castle, this might be important. I say, "Hello mom". She replies stressed, wondering what I had done to be in the castle, which if you didn't know, contains the koo koo birds and the nut jobs. "What did you do this time, mister!". I replied smugly, "Oh nothing, just got a job as a traveler in the Royal Kingdom". She couldn't believe it, at seventeen her son had been employed into the Royal Kingdoms forces. "Oh my! That's my baby! I knew you would be great!" she said, so proud, that even though I couldn't see her, I could imagine the smile beaming off of her face right now.

I couldn't help but smile too.