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In the Blink of an Eye
by
Jonathan Isenor
They had awakened me from my deep slumber and chased me out into a nearby forest. The king commanded the soldiers after me; why, I had no clue. I was running through the thick bushes and trees until I came out to a clearing. I stood on a dirt path trying to catch my breath as the king's soldiers surrounded me from different directions. One of the soldiers sat on his horse staring hard at me, as if trying to bore a hole through me. A thick fog surrounded the trees as rain gentle fell. The trees seemed to reach to the sky; I wasn't really sure of what to think about all of this, so I stood in silence surrounded by the guards.
"Give it up!" One of the soldiers bellowed.
I looked around in confusion, trying to find the guard who'd spoken. Then I found him and stared intently at him. I stood silently trying to figure out what he was talking about. No answers came. I couldn't translate my thoughts into feelings; instead I closed my eyes, and let my mouth do the talking.
"Give what up?" I yelled back at the soldier.
As I kept my eyes closed, something unexpected happened. I heard the wind cutting, in different directions. I opened my eyes only to see arrows flying in every which direction. One after another tore through the soldier's armor plates, leaving all of them half sprawled on their horses, dead. I looked around the area looking for where the arrows had come from, and then I saw the answer to my question. A man jumped down from a tree to the right of me.
The man had piercing blue eyes, long brown
hair and a red scar going across his nose down onto his cheek. He wore a green
cloak that had black buckles in the middle. His bow was small and silver; he
held it tightly in his hand. He also had various arrows in a pack on his back.
The man began to pace back and forth as if a wandering child; occasionally he'd
look up at me as if trying to choke out the proper words.
"Are you Lionus?" he asked with his eyebrows rising high up on his forehead.
My first thought was how did this man know my name? Where had he come from? I stared at the man, unaware of his thoughts and feelings.
"Who are you?" I asked, curious of his response.
The man looked at me with his eyebrows falling back into the regular position. Tears formed in the pockets of his eyes. His face looked sad, to say the least.
"I knew your father before..." he replied, trailing off.
Somehow the man had known my father, which tended to be a touchy issue with me. Ever since he died people said I was never the same, things for me were never the same. I missed my father, and it made me mad when people would bring up his death. That's all I can feel - anger.
"Who the hell are you?" I yelled.
The man stared at the ground, probably trying to gather his thoughts. I was holding my tears back; I didn't want this stranger to see me cry. I was never comfortable crying around other people. Sadness was in my heart though; I could feel it haunting me.
"I am Blink, I knew your father before he passed. I made a promise several years ago, and I intend on honoring it. There's more you need to know about what really happened. I need you to come with me. Can you do that?"
I turned my back to the man and wiped away the little bit of tears that were forming in my eyes. I never really knew what happened to my father; all I knew was that he disappeared. We were close, real close, and I often wondered what happened to him, so I decided to take up Blink's offer.
"Yeah, I'll go with you."
I turned around to see Blink already heading north through the forest, and I hurried to catch up to him. I was navigating my way through the brush yet again.
"So where are we going?" I asked, wondering what Blink had up his sleeve.
"The portal deep in the forest."
For some reason I didn't ask any more questions, I just kept walking. There was something about Blink that made me feel like I could trust him. We walked for quite a while; we stopped upon reaching our destination. A large charred black circle lay on the forest floor. It looked as if someone had a giant fire and had trouble controlling it. Blink reached into my pocket and pulled out a small glowing orange orb; silver lighting swirled in the inside of the orb. I didn't even know I had such a treasure until that very moment. Blink threw the orb onto the charred black circle; blue bubbles appeared as the circle came to life. I looked at Blink, puzzled.
"Step on the portal," he demanded.
I did as I was told and stepped onto the portal. I found myself falling, falling into what I didn't know. I was just sort going with the flow of everything. I felt dizzy and then I woke up back in my hometown, or so it appeared to be. I was back in Charmin, people were busily running about the streets, homes were in the same places.
But I felt odd, like I was in a different time era. Everyone was wearing different clothes then me. Then I looked beside me only to see Blink smiling.
"Where am I?" I asked.
Blink pointed straight ahead to my house. My house looked like it always did.
"We're in Charmin. Go to your house and you'll have a pleasant surprise. It's time to right a wrong."
Blink started walking towards my home; I stood at the entrance of the town for a good minute thinking about this time warp of some sort. When I caught up with him he was at the door of my home, waiting for me. I went to open the door, but Blink slammed it shut.
"What did you do that for?" I yelled at him.
Blink's smile had faded away.
"There's something you need to know. Your father was taken away from you when you were young, he was executed for having that little ball which is the orb of time that you have now. That orb has the power to take us in between time periods, like a time machine. The king knew of your father having this power, so he executed him. Now we are here the day he was executed to save him. It was my fault he died in the first place - I was weak. I haven't been able to sleep at night because of this tragedy. So before you open the door be aware of that."
Having all of that dumped on me was pretty harsh, but those were the things I needed to know. As he said it though, I remembered the day my father was taken away, I remember crying to my mother, I remember the soldiers taking him from us and I remembered what he told me that morning, that morning he gave me the orb. He told me to hide it well; finally I had remembered how things happened. Now it was time to stop it all, and save my father. It was time to stand up and face my fears. With that all fresh in my brain I grabbed the door handle and whipped it open.
My father stood before me, his eyebrows were raised and he focused on me intently upon my entrance. His big brown eyes made him appear friendly as he faked a smile for me. It was my father, and he was alive, standing right in front of me. I never thought I would ever see him again, I thought he was gone. This was my chance to change all of that. Words couldn't make it out of my mouth, as I opened it time and time again to speak. I can't describe all the emotions that were running through me as I saw him for the first time in years; it was a moment I'd remember for the rest of my life.
"Who might you be?" he asked.
He didn't recognize me, but that was understandable. It was years later, and I hadn't expected him to know who I was. But at the same time it was disappointing; he was my father after all. I had to change things though, I didn't want to think he was my father; I wanted to think he could be my father again. I closed my eyes as the words finally began to make their way to my mouth.
"You need to get out of here. Listen, I know I sound crazy, but you're in grave danger."
My father looked at me, with a smile
forming across his face. It was obvious he wasn't taking me seriously.
"You're pulling a prank; if you were really my son, then you'd be out in the
streets like he is playing with his friends. I want you out of my house!" he
yelled at me.
When he yelled at me, it caught me off guard; it was like a smack in the face, or worse. Blink touched my shoulder and whipped me around to face him. I hadn't realized it, but he was behind me the whole time.
"Let's go to the castle, that way you can find out for yourself what really happened. You can find out from the king himself."
I followed Blink's idea and, after looking at my father one last time, left our house. Getting into the castle wasn't going to be easy.
"Lionus, I need you to walk up to the front gate and distract the guards."
I followed his instructions, and walked up to the front gate of the castle. Both soldiers were wearing gray plates of armor with matching helmets. Both held long silver spears which they crossed upon noticing me approaching the castle. One guard stared very hard at me, as if trying to look right through me.
"What is your business here?" the soldier yelled in a harsh tone.
Thinking quickly I decided to try and lie my way through this episode. I'd tell them I was here for an execution.
"I'm here for the execution today."
I tried to push my way through but one of the soldiers threw me back.
"We have no executions today, liar!" he yelled.
Before I could reply the guard knocked me to the ground, then I heard screams of pain. I looked up only to see arrows sticking through both of the soldier's throats. Trying to ignore the gruesome sight, I got up and ran farther into the castle. Soldiers yelled at me, but that never stopped me. I just kept on going - that is until I arrived at two large wooden doors that I suspected would lead me to the throne room. Instead of hesitating, I grabbed one of the door handles and yanked it open. The door swung open only to reveal the king sitting on his throne, staring down at my father, who had his arms and feet tied behind his back and was left kneeling.
Upon my entrance to the throne room, the
king changed his attention over to me. The king had long red hair as fiery as
the flames of hell, his green eyes made him mysterious and yet creepy at the
same time. He was tall and thin with a plate of gold armor and a red cape
attached at his shoulders.
"To what do I owe this pleasure, peasant?" he asked in a sarcastic voice.
"You will set my father free!" I yelled.
The king only smiled at me.
"I will not do such a thing for a peasant. Guards, take care of this man."
I didn't have much a chance before five soldiers all jumped and began beating me. I felt several punches to my head and kicks to my stomach. The next thing I felt was blood coming up from my mouth and tears dripping down the sides of my face. They kept kicking me and I kept getting up, until they stopped. I pulled myself up to one knee and then fully up and stared at the king.
"I'm still standing! You can't break me! You've taken my father's life once and now you want to do it again, you've had me beaten by soldiers; you've done everything to make my life hell! I don't even know why, but I'm still here!"
The king signaled for the guards to back off, and they did as they were told. My body was aching as silence struck the room.
"You want to know why I've been doing all of this? It's simple - your father has a pretty little orb that controls time. I am the king! I need it, I desire it, I want the power. Upon learning your father had it, I asked him for it. He refuses to give me the orb so now I will take his life in place of it!"
I felt a surge of anger as the king finished his sentence. I walked to him and pushed him. He drew his sword and thrust it at me, luckily I dodged it and he only caught my arm. I kept dodging until the inevitable happened; I got tired and fell to my knees. I closed my eyes knowing I was about to die; it was fate I guess. But the next sound I heard was a thud and then a scream. I looked up only to see Blink lying on the ground in a puddle of blood. The king stood over him laughing - his laughter pulsated in my head, then I felt a rush and I grabbed a sword from the wall. He turned around and looked at me laughing, his laughter still reverberating inside my skull.
"Are you broken yet? He thought he'd shot me from the rafters, little did he know I was on to him. Good thing I had a guard on watch up there who just happened to push him down for an easy kill. You're next." He said as he laughed.
"I already told you, you can't break me!" I yelled.
We sword fought until I noticed him get
tired then I swept his legs out from under him, walked over, threw his crown off
and pulled his head up by his hair. Then I thrust the sword downward into his
heart as he let out an agonizing scream. The orb then floated up from my pocket
and flashed; the next thing I knew I was
back at my home and my father was sitting in the kitchen across the table from
me.
For in the blink of an eye as it all started it all ended. Lionus challenged fate that day and defeated it. For anyone else who has faced adversity in your life this should be a lesson to you - no one can defeat the power of the human spirit when you've really put your mind to something.
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