Wondered How Long Is He Tripping?
1590 Words
As I walked towards the Macleod Coliseum, I noticed that there were several tentage set up there to treat the wounded as well as to house the remaining senior members of the community.
I was still walking along the grounds with my black plated armour and was greeted by many of the community there.
There wasn't a single food wagon that would usually greet me when I reached the entrance of the Macleod Coliseum and the scene that greeted before I was quite turbulent as there were many wounded that needs to be treated at this point of time.
The dead had been laid individually and were already shrouded with a white shroud and their significant others were already there to mourn for them.
Laying on a solitary platform was Clayton Chadwell's cold and lifeless body and was attended to by Chadwells themselves. I bowed slightly to them and they responded as well. It does seem that they had accepted the fate of their only son.
The injured were being treated and it seemed there was an abundance of doctors and surgeons around this time, more than what I had normally seen 11 years back...!
Priestess Isabela was around and she too had aged considerably and had become quite a petite lady. Well, what do you expect when a person ages from an early teen right to the ripe age of a woman?
The rest of the Priest and Priestess were seated on the bleachers and a rostrum was set up temporarily so I would be able to announce something for them in an effective manner.
Since I do not need to project my voice over to the whole arena, Anastasia's special ability was not required at that moment.
"Uh... Hello everyone. (at this point of time I did not recognise most of the faces) we had yet attained another victory against the gnomes earlier today. However, we need to have your full cooperation to rebuild our town."
"Fortunately, the residential and crop fields were unaffected and work would still be continued as usual. The most important part would be out essential service buildings such as the ones that got blasted by the gnomes."
"One more thing, have any of you seen the gnomes in action during that fateful night? It wasn't any mistaken identity, am I right?"
I asked the Priest and Priestess around and they nodded their heads and confirmed that the ones who had done the deed were indeed the gnomes.
"However, from what I knew, gnomes were intelligent creatures and would not fight back unless they were provoked. Could someone explain that to me?"
I scanned my surroundings to find the Priest and Priestess among the group were discussing the matter with one another.
"It seems that they were suppressed and oppressed for more than a century and decided to retaliate once the Hundred Years War ended? Frankly speaking, Your Majesty, we ourselves do not have the faintest idea on why they attacked this town."
Everyone fell silent and then I asked a very general question, "Why not use your abilities to actually communicate with them, eh? Priest Earl, are you still with us? You can ask them based on your Earth manipulation skills as they were also under earth dwellers."
"Grab hold of one and then asked them what's on their freaking mind before they start attacking our town. Besides, from what I could see there was extensive damage that totally needs the whole town to be rebuilt from the ground up...!"
"I know you are all non-combatant units and are not required to be at the frontline but I'm sure you would be able to do something in the background."
"Don't tell me no one was able to detect their insurgencies when they come in at night before they launch their surprise attack?"
"Urrgghh... I hate these thoughts that had been racing inside my head since I was on the battlefield earlier."
"Would anyone care to tell me why no one would take their initiative to prevent this from happening? You have special abilities, and are more meaningful compared to us normal humans."
From the tone of my voice, they knew I was disappointed in some ways or another and somehow I need to vent my frustration somewhere and unfortunately, the Priest and Priestess were the ones who had to bear the brunt of my fiery end.
"Look before you and what do you see? Fallen, able-bodied men that supposed to be guarding our frontiers and instead of duking out with the enemies that were definitely half of their size...!"
"Those men were someone's brother, husband and father, not to mention uncles nephews and sons. They would be better off guarding the tranquillity of this town instead of going into battles that had neither a beginning or an end to it."
I inadvertently let out a long sigh as I looked down and found that the scraggy doll was still tucked within the gambeson and my plated armour. I removed the doll and liked at it and held it close to my face and I could still smell the faint scent of Amy, or I had imagined it so.
However, that's not the important part yet as I held the scraggy doll in my hand and I peered at the crowd before me who simply hung their heads, as if they had just been handed an admonishment by me.
"Actually I can't blame any of you. No one could predict the future except for Samuel... Where the heck is Samuel? I thought he is the seer who is able to see into the future and why didn't he report any findings to us?"
I mentioned the name of the Seer and suddenly the group before me went silent. I think something happened along the way that I didn't realise when someone from the group stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Samuel passed some time back about the same time the rest of the pioneers."
"He was killed in the blast along with Andy who was at the Blacksmith at that time and was pulling out the armoury to arm the community."
"We're sorry, Your Majesty and we....."
Someone who made the reply had let the sentence hung in the air midway. The whole Coliseum gradually went silent and so does the atmosphere as well...!
The one that made the reply had his hand over his chest while the other hand was outstretched in front of him. His lips were formed into an 'O' manner and seemed he wanted to complete his words but somehow seemed to be petrified to the ground.
"Eh...? What's happening to us right now? Did something happened?" I was taken by shock and looked around me and found that the flags that were fluttering in the wind seemed to be frozen in midair.
The nurses who were milling about to treat the wounded were also in their mid strides, either towards the patients or rushing back to get the necessary swabs and bandages.
It seemed that — TIME HAD STOOD STILL...
The hustle and bustle of the Coliseum had suddenly enveloped in a very deafening silence that it left a ringing kind of sounds in my eardrums.
My voice that was trailing behind earlier was heard to echo around the Coliseum and it was terribly eerie right now.
"Umm... Hello...?!" I called out once and since time stood still, no one responded to me as well. Not even the chirping of birds nor the sounds of crickets.
"Gaahh... Now I'm stuck in this dimension and there are no forwards nor backwards ending to it." I lamented to myself aloud and walked across the wooden platform. I went over to the speaker that had replied to me and poked him in his chest.
Not only did he not responded, but his body seemed to sway back ever go gently and then return back to its position a while later. What the hell is happening around here? I walked around and saw a nurse carrying some gauze inside a petri dish and I could help it punch one and threw it up in the air.
The momentum of the gauze that flew from my hand gradually slowed down and stopped in mid-air with no signs of any indication if it is going up or down due to inertia.
It looked weird and amusing to me at all and I am sure that I'm still in my dream state.
Suddenly, the darned familiar voice squeaked out from behind me and it said for the umpteenth time, "You can't change fate and destiny...! Now go back to where you came from..."
I turned around and saw a weird-looking green coloured being, thin and scrawny, longish arms and legs with a fairly big head affixed to a small body, was smirking at me.
Instead of kicking me or hammering me away with a mace, it was idly eating some bananas and was throwing the skin left and right and around itself.
It then turned around and ran with its bow-legged legs and was literally shuffling or skipping ahead instead of running perfectly in a straight line. Its naked and seemingly rounded butt was bounding behind it as it twerked and taunted me.
"Goddammit, you little twerp... Wait till I get my hands on you...!" I shouted as I turned on my heels and ran towards the little green being and tried to evade all the banana skins that it had thrown carelessly around the ground.
- Writer
