Dale

The Dale of Five Worlds – Part 7 (Conclusion)

/ Christian Laforet / 1 Comment

By Christian Laforet

Sam was blindfolded. Her hands secured behind her back. After the Emperor’s men ambushed her and her companions, Felicia and Robi-Jo, at Fresh Choppers 9822, they were loaded on to a transport. She couldn’t help but wonder how the Emperor had managed to get to Hardpan. Although able to communicate across the worlds, he had, as far as she knew, not mastered the technology needed to teleport. A familiar voice answered all her questions.

“You must have known I’d figure it out.”

She tilted her head. “Professor?”

“Pahlease, I’m ten time smarter than that fool.”

“Don!” Sam’s words dripped venom.

Felicia piped in. “Hey, um, for those of us who have no freaking clue what you are talking about, how about some answers.”

Sam assumed her compatriots were secured, as she was. “The Professor was my mentor. He invented the teleportation technology that I’ve been using.”

“Huh,” Felicia said. “So, he turned traitor or something?”

Sam shook her head before remembering her friend probably couldn’t see the gesture. “No. The professor died for the cause. This is his half-wit twin brother Don.”

“Half-wit?” Don roared. “I’ve always been the smarter sibling.”

Sam laughed. “Yeah, right. You’re a lazy loser who leeched off the professor for years. I’m guessing you sold him out and stole his technology?”

Sam smiled when no reply came. Clearly she had hit the nail on the head.

Finally, the man spoke. “It doesn’t matter what you think, soon you and your friends will be dead. The Dread Rainbow Emperor will rule the multiverse and I’ll be there by his majestic side.”

Despite all her bravado, Sam felt a swell of remorse fill her. They had lost. “It’s over.” Her voice barely above a whisper, Sam shook her head. “We’ve failed. The great profit Veets was wrong, nothing can stop the Emperor.”

She felt the familiar distortion of a teleportation field wash over her.

***

When the blindfold was pulled from her face, Robi gasped. She expected to see anything but the sight before her. She, and the other two girls, stood in front of a massive window. The pane stretched floor to ceiling and looked out at the most gorgeous world she had ever seen. Towers of sparkling glass and ivory stood like sentinels across the landscape. Lush bunches of trees and foliage carpeted the land around them, and stretching between it all was rainbows. These were not just illusions of light like the ones she was used to either, these were physical arches which radiated glorious colour.

“Holy crap!” Felicia let out a whistle. “This place is—” Continue reading →

The Dale of Five Worlds (Part 4)

/ Christian Laforet / 1 Comment

By Christian Laforet

Robi-Jo squeezed her eyes tight. A scream escaped her lips as her toes plunged through the surface. A chill instantly passed through her body. She wondered briefly why a chill, but her brain insisted that the lava was so hot, that it felt cold. It made sense, she guessed. It wasn’t until she swallowed a mouthful of salty liquid that she started to think that she was not being burnt alive in molten rock. She opened her eyes, and although it stung, she saw that she was submerged in water. Pushing with her legs, she swam upwards.

She found Felicia and Sam already bobbing on the surface. “What the crap?” she yelled to get their attention.

Sam surveyed the endless ocean which stretched across the horizon before looking back at Robi. “I teleported us to Teardrop, the water earth.”

“Oh gee, you teleported us? I hadn’t noticed.” Robi-Jo waved her arms around. “Maybe—and this is just a thought—in the future you could not wait until we’re about to die a horrible death before doing so!”

Felicia nodded. “Yeah, it’s kinda jerky. The whole, making us think we’re gonna die thing.”

Sam frowned. “I’m sorry, would you have rather me leave you in the hands of that narcissistic psychopath?”

“Well, she has a point there.” Felicia shrugged.

Robi-Jo was already fuming, but the smirk that Sam shot her way, sent her over the edge.

“I’ve had enough of you!” She grabbed a hold of Sam and pushed her under the water.

“Whoa!” Felicia tried to wade away, but was somehow pulled into the mix. Continue reading →

The Dale of Five Worlds (Part 3)

/ Christian Laforet / Leave a comment

By Christian Laforet

The lift descended into the blackened earth. Felicia and Robi-Jo stood rigidly between the armed men. Overhead, through rusted mesh speakers, crappy pop music assaulted their ears.

“So…what do you guys do for fun around here?” Felicia flashed a smile to the man on her left. A grunt and a don’t-talk-to-me glare shot back.

The elevator came to a grinding halt. As soon as the doors opened, the guards shoved the girls out.

“Wow!” Robi whistled as she and Felicia entered a massive foyer lined with various doors on either side, a huge, spiraled staircase at the back and a dozen marble statues stationed at even intervals along the walls.

One of the guards exited the lift with the girls.

“You think that’s The Sensation?” Robi-Jo pointed towards one of the statues.

“Jeez, I hope not. That guy looks a teenager.”

“No talking!” the guard barked.

The armed man led them down a series of labyrinthine corridors until finally coming to a stop at a set of silver doors which stretched almost all the way to the arched ceiling.

Felicia caressed the precious metal of the door. “Holy smokes! Is this real silver?”

“Shut up.” The guard pushed the door open, then nudged the girls inside.

The harem was a lavish display of comfort. Luxurious beds and couches were positioned around the room. Trays of food and a fully stocked cabinet of fine wines and spirits stood at each end of the space.

“Hey, booze!” Felicia started towards the bar. Continue reading →

The Dale of Five Worlds (Part 2)

/ Christian Laforet / 1 Comment

By Christian Laforet

The Lorrza skittered across the blackened landscape. The heat, which escaped through the cracked earth, warmed the scales on its stomach, thermal energy powering the reptile’s meter long body. It would need the boost. In the distance, a leather winged Krillette, no bigger than a fist, had landed on a cooling lump of rock to pick the Sla gnats which had become lodged in the coarse hair covering its squat legs. The Lorrza flicked its tongue, the taste of the Krillette hanging heavy in the oppressively hot air. With a burst of power, the lizard sprang towards its prey. The Krillette had been too distracted by the parasites hiding on its body to notice the Lorrza, and now it would be too late.

An arc of blue energy pulsed and rippled across the torn earth, swirling and undulating like a living thing. Its sudden appearance caused the Lorrza to dance sideways frantically, its wide, black eyes like mirrors reflecting the disturbance. It twisted to look towards the Krillette, the delay enough time for the creature to stretch its wings and take flight. The reptile would not be eating tonight. With a savage hiss and a flick of its tongue, the Lorrza decided that the Krillette was right to flee, for whatever this new arrival was, it was beyond them. With a slash of its tri-coloured tail, it slid into a crack in the ground and was gone.

The energy dissipated into a flurry of dazzling blue sparks, at the middle of which stood three women. Continue reading →

Don’t Pick Things up from Other Dimensions – Conclusion

/ Ben Van Dongen / 4 Comments

Davis followed protocol as he walked the streets.  The flashlight told him he didn’t have to be so uptight.  It claimed that it could sense any disturbance, dimensional or not, but Davis felt more relaxed when he was doing his job.

They made another turn down a street lined with long low buildings.  Some of them had bars and Asian restaurants and others housed book stores and pawnshops.  They had all been deserted since the shift.  With the first attack, people left behind everything they couldn’t carry.  The zone was closed off as quickly as the military and corporations could manage.  Dust, time, and the first creatures had their way with everything in the zones, but that didn’t stop people from trying to get in and scavenge.  Davis pointed the flashlight at the broken windows and occasional holes in the walls of the stores, happy it still served its purpose.  The crunch of Davis’ boots on the scattered debris was the only sound. Continue reading →

Ten Thousand Dales (Part 5)

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

Part 1 – http://adventureworldsblog.com/2013/08/26/ten-thousand-dales-part-1/

Part 2 – http://adventureworldsblog.com/2013/09/23/ten-thousand-dales-part-2/

Part 3 – http://adventureworldsblog.com/2013/10/28/ten-thousand-dales-part-3/

Part 4 – http://adventureworldsblog.com/2013/11/25/ten-thousand-dales-part-4/

Dale pushed the door leading out of George’s office to the floor, the army of Dales had all but knocked it off the hinges. “C’mon!” he shouted as he waved Alton and Sam through.

The building around them shook violently. A large stack of wooden pallets toppled forward crushing the produce preparation table flat.

“My phone,” Sam said forlornly. Continue reading →

Ten Thousand Dales (Part 4)

/ Christian Laforet / 3 Comments

Part 1: https://myadventureworlds.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/ten-thousand-dales-part-1/

Part 2: https://myadventureworlds.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/ten-thousand-dales-part-2/

Part 3: https://myadventureworlds.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/ten-thousand-dales-part-3/

“What the hell’s going on?!” Dale demanded as he took in the scene before him.

George gaped at the new arrivals for a moment before raising his hands defensively. “I know this looks weird but there is a perfectly good explanation for this.” Continue reading →

Ten Thousand Dales (Part 2)

/ Christian Laforet / 4 Comments

The rain beat against the front windows in a steady cadence. The noise was not enough however to override the beep of the scanner at checkout nine. Adrienne passed one item after another across the scanner. She had the extreme misfortune of being the only cashier currently working at that time. Putting on a smile which she hoped did not look as fake as it was, she asked the customer standing before her, “Do you need any bags?”

————————————

Down aisle one, Danny stood in front of a green cart piled high with a dozen cases of instant mashed potatoes. He made a sour face when he realized the shelf was already filled to capacity with the sodium loaded side-dish.

“Why did we get this?” Danny asked himself. Continue reading →

Ten Thousand Dales (Part 1)

/ Christian Laforet / 6 Comments

Bleep Bleep Bleep

Dale opened his eyes, he hated the sound of his alarm clock but then supposed that that was the point. With a slap he silenced the damned thing. It was nearly 7:00am, he had to shit, shower and shave before he headed off to work. Screw it! He would shower after work, shit while at work (might as well get paid for it) and shave sometime next week—it wasn’t like those three hairs on his chin were going to be getting company anytime soon. He would just rest his eyes for five or ten minutes.

“Dale. Dale, honey, don’t you got work today?”

Dale opened his eyes to find his mom standing over him. “What time is it?” Dale asked as he yawned.

“It’s just after eight.”

“What?!” Dale jumped from his bed; his lord of the rings blanket flying to the floor. “I’m late!”

In a matter of minutes Dale had donned his obnoxiously coloured purple and red uniform complete with shiny gold name-tag dangling from the shirt collar, scarfed a cold pop tart, threw on his shoes, snatched the keys to his mom’s minivan and bolted out the door. Continue reading →