Now, for the morning post today, I will be posting the next part of A Jammer's Dream, Book 4: The Darkest Days. I already posted the Prologue, and now, here is Part 1.
Present
It has now been two days since we arrived back in Jamaa. The journey was long and hard, but we all survived. I even spoke with Ersel on the way home and I’ve gotten an orb to communicate with him. It’s early spring and the flowers are all starting to bloom around Jamaa Township. I’m standing in the center, watching the crowd go by. The blue sky covers Jamaa in a cheerful way. Everyone is out and about, shopping, chatting, and… worrying. Like I am.
Wandel, the new popular Arctic Wolf, is sitting on the bridge with his friends. They chat together, smiling. Wandel spots me and raises an eyebrow. When I go up to the bridge, Wandel looks similar to me. He is still bigger, but I am more muscular. He has more fat. His brown fur is soaked with mud and grass stains. His eyes droop beneath his exhausted face, and he peers at me with his green eyes. He looks tired, but not tired enough to stay home.
“Cup! It’s been ages!” Wandel gasps.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I grunt.
“I was a fool to ever bully you. We were all fools. We were were young,” explains Wandel.
“Thanks, Wandel. I’m sorry I was such a pain back then,” I apologize for my weird behavior from the last time I saw him.
“And I apologize for mine,” Wandel dips his head.
“You’re going to save Jamaa, and I’ll fight with you when the time comes,” Wandel chuckles.
“I can’t wait to see the final enemies. I’m going to tear them apart,” Wandel and I both say at the time.
“Cup, you won’t believe what happened this winter,” an older voice creeps out from behind the bushes.
“Armin?” I stare at him blankly. Armin is one of the older Snow Leopards in Jamaa, and he’s known for his unique fighting skills. He has dark gray fur and brown eyes.
“Yes, it’s Armin. He didn’t communicate with barely anyone. But earlier he had a vision, telling him to step up and return to the real world- not his own mind,” a smaller seal pushes her way through the crowd.
“Umm… who are you?” I ask. What’s with all of these changes? What happened while I was gone?
“Call me Rosa. I was born right after you left, but I am speaking up now because Armin takes care of me. My parents left me behind,” Rosa’s blue eyes twinkle as she speaks. My father left me at a young age, so I do feel empathy for her. But I have both of my parents now. Zikah returned to Jamaa on the journey home.
“But let’s return to the point. Over the time you were gone, we were attacked by Phantoms. Thousands of them. They were huge, too. The battle lowered our number of animals, and that’s why some of them aren’t here,” Armin raises his head. I stare at him, waiting for him to continue.
“The Alphas battled hard and finally fought them off. But we lost so many animals… it was a tragedy. We are still filthy and have the memories of the battle fresh in our minds,” Armin coughs up some blood as he finishes speaking. And then I look at him more closely. Mud is covering his gray fur, and he also looks exhausted. Rosa looks the same. And so does Wandel.
“It really affected us badly, Cup. You’re lucky you weren’t here,” a black eagle speaks, perched on top of Jam Mart Furniture. I stare up at him trying to avoid the sun blazing in my eyes. I squint, and I manage to figure out it’s Daymond. Daymond was an eagle from way back before I started any journeys. He’s about my age and he peers directly down at me with his blue eyes.
“No, I’m not that lucky. You see, Faber lived in a different land called Zone Two. In that area, the lands were divided into two parts. He controlled Zone Two. But I had gotten a vision- or something- about the Phantoms attacking us. I tried to warn Faber, but we got in trouble. I won’t discuss why. We had to escape from a dungeon, and by the time we got out, the Phantoms arrived and we had to fight them off. Three animals died in the battle, but we all had scars after it,” finish my story.
“That’s interesting. But were they huge, like the ones that attacked us?” Daymond wonders.
“Yes. It is all Kurkah’s doing,” I admit.
“But Kurkah died a long time ago!” Nile, a dark brown wolf with brown eyes, gasps. I remember him from a long time ago, too. He’s also my age and we all have memories of being around each other.
“You aren’t that old. If you were my age, there would be plenty more on more mind,” Armin snaps.
“But getting back the point. I figured out that the final battle will be a betrayal. But recently, I found out that there will be two main enemies. Since the Phantoms came in such large numbers and sizes, I knew that one of them was Kurkah. After all, he was consumed by a Phantom King- and they become whatever they eat. He must’ve been brought back to life,” I explain thoroughly while everyone else stares at me with wide eyes.
“But he’s dead! How could he come back to life?” asks Nile in a confused voice.
I look at Armin. He looks at me, too. We both know what I mean.
“There’s some things that should just be forgotten. Besides, it’s not important. Kurkah could attack again with his army of Phantoms. And we have no idea who the other enemy is, but I believe I’ve seen them,” I guarantee. I remember being in the Dream World. I watched a vision in the future. The mysterious animals rushing towards Jamaa must be part of the other enemy’s army.
“Cup, how much have you changed?” a quiet voice asks, buried in the crowd of animals. A gray arctic wolf comes out from the crowd. I can tell she’s a girl when I see her face. She has beautiful green eyes and stares at me while waiting for an answer.
“Ranel?” I ask.
“Yes, Ranel. Archie’s sister. Now can you answer my question?” she raises an eyebrow.
“I’ve changed as much as you think I have,” I make a quick reply.
“You probably have.”
Ranel dips her head in respect.
“I’m sorry for what I did to you a long time ago,” Ranel apologizes.
As I get ready to accept her apology, Armin interrupts.
“I’m about halfway through my life. All of you are nearly through a quarter of your life. Stop saying that these things happened a long time ago, because you’re making me feel really ancient,” Armin growls.
I laugh a little under my breath, but nobody else sees it. The sun glares into my eye as we all sit there in an awkward silence. Who is going to be the next animal to speak?
“I think you remember me, Cup,” another voice says out loud. I peer in the direction of the voice and spot Quinn, a small otter. I remember him from a while back, too. He was bullied by Archie and his followers, just like I was. We were both small.
“You’ve grown a lot,” I chuckle. He smiles at me, and then I bring a new topic into the discussion.
“Where’s my mother?” I ask, looking around. Then I spot Zikah standing next to her. What’s going to happen between those two?
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