Shore ( A Modern Fantasy Beach Action Adventure)

Campfire

     The orange light bounces off the sea as the sun starts to set. The house is in view, with the wisps on the beach. As they walk closer, Lahar sees a stone campfire constructed and lit on the sand. A blanket is laid out with one picnic basket on it. Another basket is by Pie's head as he lies on his own blanket.

     The wisps look over a piece of paper, reading it carefully. They make sure every step is followed. When Arena and Lahar come close, King puts the paper in his flame and burns it to ashes.

     "Well, this is a surprise," Lahar says.

      Arena sits down on the blanket and reaches over to the basket next to him. He pulls out a disc and tosses it to Lahar.

     "You should play with the wisps. Warning, though—they take this a little too seriously," Arena says while making himself comfortable.

     "You won't join us?" Lahar asks him.

     "No, I think I'll just take it easy. You go have fun," he says as he gets comfortable.

      Lahar runs to the wisps and starts tossing the disc. True to Arena's words, the wisps do not hold back.

      King turns his legs to stone so that when he jumps, he can touch the sky. Doc undoes the bun on her head. The strands of sand hair twist and stretch together to act like squid tentacles under her control.

      Crew creates copies of himself with the sand on the beach. They are exact duplicates except for the fact that they lack a flame. He uses this to outnumber them.

      Lahar has yet to touch the disc once since she first tossed it. She walks to the water and begins chanting a spell Arena taught her. As the silver flushes her eyes, a stream of water wraps around her arm. She points to the disc floating in the air. Instantly the water rushes to the disc and pulls it back to her hand.

      Everyone stops moving and stares at her. Clapping breaks the silence. Pride exudes from Arena as he applauds her. "Phenomenal job, but now you messed up. The wisps see you as a threat now," he says, grinning.

      They play till the sun sets and the moon comes out. Arena watches like a spectator at an intense sporting event. He cheers, and he distracts them while he yells his "tips": "Widen your stance. Annunciate when you say a spell!" he yells.

      "Stop helping. Every time I follow your advice, it doesn't work," Lahar shouts.

      The game grows more intense when the flaming fur ball joins in the fray. Arena laughs, as the stakes have now risen. For a moment Arena lets himself relax. His mind drifts as his body loosens. Then he looks down to find his right hand shaking slightly. It's small, not noticeable to anyone else, but for him it's as if Atlas himself were shaking the world.

      He clenches his hand to stop the shaking.

      "You okay there, pup?" he hears in a familiar voice—a voice he hasn't heard in a while.

     He feels a sense of warmth fill him. He lets himself get lost in his memories of a comforting voice. A place where he once felt joy. He hears a voice he has promised never to forget.

       "Are you just going to keep looking down? Are you even listening?"

      He refuses to look up, afraid he will break the illusion his mind is making for him, avoiding reality and indulging in this fantasy for just a moment. "Please be real," he whispers to himself.

      Then the voice changes. "Arena, are you with us?"

     Those words snap him back to reality. He looks up to see everyone staring at him.