Chloe At Worlds' End
Chapter 5

Onri stood withhis two captors before a large pile of bones, skulls, and putrid rotting flesh.He had to cover his nose, for the smell was overwhelming. One of the gorillaswas painfully gripping his shoulder. There was a misty, violet cloud thatseemed to hover over the pile in perpetuity. Onri felt himself shaking in fearas the now familiar violet colored eye of the wolf-man thing materializedwithin the cloud and looked down upon them. It angrily boomed

“You imbeciles, I told you to get the girl… not this uglyand skinny little boy! You are both useless… get out of my sight!” Suddenly, abolt of crimson plasma shot from it and struck the other gorilla. It screamedin agony and flailed about in hot deathly flames. Onri’s captor gorilla let goof him and ran down the embankment to escape its own certain fate with Onri aclose second. The plasma stream followed them, narrowly missing them buthitting unintended targets as wolves scattered in howling flames.

They made itoutside, but kept running towards the hopeful cover of the jungle. Once theywere quite a long distance away, they both collapsed in fatigue and duress. Thegorilla was lying on the ground, panting for breath and… crying? Onri sat nextto him, also trying to recover. Somehow he no longer feared him, as he nowseemed a fugitive like him. The gorilla regained his composure a little andlooked at Onri. It said

“That hated thing killed my brother… I will kill it!” Hethen got up and started to walk away further into the jungle. Onri called out

“Hey… wait! You brought me out here and now I’m lost!” Thegorilla stopped and turned

“Yes, you are right and I am sorry… do you want me to leadyou back to the lake?

“Yes please… if you would” They walked for a while insilence, then Onri said

“My name is Onri, may I ask what is yours… and your poorbrothers name as well?”

“I’m Grog… and brothers’ name was Frog. Onri, I am verysorry about abducting you, but that… thing made us do it. And now my brother isdead. I feel that now I will always be very sad, for Frog was my ‘other half’…my constant companion and I loved him very much”

“I’m sorry for your loss Grog. How long have you been takingorders from that creature?”

“It has not been very long… a few months maybe since hesomehow awoke us to his and your way of speaking. My brother and I were beforeperfectly content and living with our siblings and parents… then thatwolf-thing came and chose us to do his bidding… and then somehow transported usto the mountain. He told us that we were now his property and must do as hesaid… we were rightly afraid of him”

Onri decided toask him if he would like to help them in destroying the wolf.

“Grog, you probably don’t know this, but I am here with mysister and a few others for the very purpose of destroying that wolf… would youlike to join us?” Grog stopped walking and turned to look at him.

“Yes I would! Oh my poor Frog… if we had known that, we bothwould have joined you in an instant…”

“Again, I feel very sorry for your loss. I know how youfeel. Just yesterday my sister and I lost our parents… in the same way as youdid Frog… killed by him!”

“Then I am sorry for you as well… and now we both have adutiful purpose for succeeding in this… and we will, I just know it!”

Back in theattic, Chloe looked to her friends and said

“We’ve accomplished much in this short time and now we musthurry, my brother is still in danger and needs our help immediately. Mr.Carpet, are you still able to fly… and are you willing to help?”

“Yes, most definitely on both of those accounts… at least Ithink that I should still be able to fly. Everyone, sit down upon me and holdonto the rope which is still fastened there from long ago and I will try”Chloe, Colin, and Ms. Aggie sat down and looked about themselves as they sawall the edges of Mr. Carpet start to flutter… then without a hitch they roseabove the floor. Chloe called out to the rooms’ occupants

“Please don’t worry, I will protect your jewel with my lifeand I promise to bring it back to you soon… goodbye for now… I loved meetingyou all!” Grandfather Clock answered for them

“Good luck, we look forward to seeing you again soon…goodbye!” Chloe and the others waved to them as they effortlessly floated outthe open doors and over the balcony railing.

Chloe was nostranger to flight, as she had for years flown daily in her Nano Suit. But itwas still exciting for her to be riding on the legendary Mr. Magic Carpet. Sheasked Ms. Aggie

“Ms. Aggie, are you able to point out the direction in whichOnri was taken?”

“Yes, it was definitely towards the volcanic mountain”

“Then Mr. Carpet; would you please take us in thatdirection…?” He answered

“Oh course Chloe” As they flew along, Chloe admired thebreath taking beauty of this place… and also was reminded of the perilousdangers it presented when she caught sight of a den of lions nestled in thebrush by a small marsh. This whole place wasn’t called the Zoo district fornothing, as all manner of dangerous animals were housed here, roaming free andliving the law of the jungle.

Onri wastrailing Grog as they made their way back towards the lake. He couldn’t helpbut note how exhausting it was trying to keep up with him, as this time hewasn’t being carried. And also they weren’t exactly following any sort of atrail… they were traversing through dense thickets of vine covered bushes. Hefinally had to alert Grog that he was floundering.

“Grog… Grog! You will need to slow down a bit, you’re losingme! Just then Onri felt himself loose his footing as he tripped over someimmovable object. Grog turned and saw him trip and fall to the ground with athud and he began to laugh, but stopped when he saw that the object whichtripped him was an immensely thick and long Boa Constrictor, and it immediatelybegan coiling around his entire body! Onri fought and screamed

“Help, Grog, Help!” He felt complete panic as the thickcoils quickly immobilized him… and now he could not breath either… he wasstruggling for breath as his chest was being compressed!

Grog jumped atopthem and struggled with the uncoiling of it as the snake snapped at him. It wasa fight for him just to hold onto its head to prevent it from latching onto himwith its fangs. Grogs loud and fearsome sounding roars didn’t go unnoticed asChloe and company were flying nearby. Chloe said

“Do you hear that? Mr. Carpet, can you fly towards the soundof that roaring animal…? Something seems amiss.” When they rounded a tree, theyall gasped in shock to see Onri struggling for his last breath in the coils ofa huge snake as a large gorilla was fighting the losing battle of trying touncoil it while holding onto its’ snapping head. Chloe screamed horrifyingly

“Onri, hold on… I’m here… hold on!” They were immediately onthe ground and Chloe stepped off of Mr. Carpet. She had to do something fast orhe was dead! Her only hope was the jewels’ power… but what could she do withit? She hadn’t yet learned how to use it.

As she held ontothe staff, she stood before the three of them as they struggled there. Shequickly surmised

“Maybe I can awaken the snake’s consciousness as the rest ofyou are… and make it our friend!” She held out the staff, and from a safedistance she touched the jewel upon the snake’s straining head which was beingheld by the knotted arm muscles of the gorilla. Immediately the snake went laxand the gorilla fell to the ground in exhaustion. The snake began uncoilingitself. Onri gasped loudly, he was blue and struggling to take in as much airas quickly as he could. Chloe knelt by his side to comfort him, saying

“Onri… are you ok?” He struggled to answer between breaths

“Yes… Yes, I am ok now. But don’t be alarmed by my newfriend here… Grog”

Chloe looked up at the gorilla, then back to Onri

“Ms. Aggie said that you were captured by two gorillas…isn’t this one of them?”

“Yes that is true, and he is one of them. They took me tothe volcano, and then all the way inside of it to a pile of bones… and that eyewas there looking down and speaking to us. It said to them that it was angrybecause they mistakenly brought me there instead of you. Then it tried to killus! Grog and I got away, but his brother was killed… and now we are here becauseGrog was leading me back to the lake to replace you” Chloe again looked at Grog

“But can we trust him?”

“Yes, I now think that we can, and he is also interested inhelping us get rid of that wolf thing since it has killed his brother”

“That wolf thing is thereincarnation of Rajeem, and we may as well call him by name now that we knowwho he really is. Hello Grog, I’m Chloe… it’s nice to meet you… I think” Hereplied to her

Hello Chloe, it’s nice to meet you as well. And yes, you canall trust me now. What can I do to help you kill that wolf?”

“Thank you; we would greatly appreciate your help. To behonest, we don’t yet know what we’re going to do next, but we will figure itout as we go along”

They all lookedover at the snake. It hadn’t left, as it was still sitting there and seeminglyfollowing the conversation. Ms. Aggie said to it

“Hello snake, I’m sure that you can understand what we aresaying, even though you can’t yet speak, but you will be able to shortly. Ithink it falls to us to give you a name, are you a male snake?” It shook itshead negatively.

Ok, then maybe we will call you… Sissy?” It seemednonplussed and shrugged its pretend hump of a shoulder in indifference.

“Ok, Sissy it is” Chloe then said to them all

“Well, things are moving right along now. We have Mother onour side, we have the ‘all important jewel’, we have our friend Mr. MagicCarpet for transportation, we have coconspirators, and we have a common purposeat hand. Now what we need… is to decide what to do next…” Onri offered

“I think that Rajeem is nowhere around here; or even in theZoo District at all”

Chloe countered

“Yes, I think that you may be correct. It seems that a tripback to Sanctum is in order… and right away. I know that it is within thejewels power to transport us all there instantaneously… but I am a littleafraid to do so since I’ve never done it before. To be safe, let us take thesubmarine back there. It will also give us time to rest and possibly come upwith some kind of a plan” Colin offered

“It may be prudent to keep Sissy here, she can keep an eyeon things… and if need be, we have someone here to act in our absence” Onrilooked at Sissy and asked

“Sissy, are you now our friend… and do you want to help usto protect the safety of this place… your home?” She nodded enthusiastically,smiling and hissing through her flickering and forked tongue. Chloe said

“Good, thank you! Ok then… all aboard Mr. Carpet here andlet’s go.”

As they roseabove the trees, Onri wished that there was someone to take a picture of whatmust have been an amusing spectacle of a magic carpet flying along and ferryingtwo kids, a gorilla, a sea lion, and a crow! He chuckled to himself as theyflew off.

When they landedon the dock next to the submarine, Onri jumped atop it and reopened the hatch.Chloe said

“Onri, will you help me roll up Mr. Carpet and put himinside?”

“Ok… but do you think Grog will fit in there?” Grog saidnervously

“You want me to go in there… what is that thing?” Chloe said

“It is a… cave… that travels under water. You don’t need tobe nervous about it, it is how we came here and it is safe” He stepped to thehatch and looked down into it, saying

“Uh… ok, I will try to fit inside…” He sat on the hatchesedge and swung his legs in, then lifted his arms over his head as he tried toshimmy the rest of his bulk inside. They all held their breath. It lookedalmost as if he may get stuck… and then what would they do? And then he did getlodged and seemed to panic a little. Ms. Aggie said

‘You’re almost there, let me help” She waddled up andplopped herself squarely onto the top of his head. He said

“Hey!” as he plunked to the floor of the submarine, whichtossed about under his weight. Chloe looked to Onri and they both nervouslycrossed their fingers that he wasn’t too heavy for the journey.

When they wereall inside, albeit a little on the cramped side this time, Chloe again fired upthe engine and they were on their way. The return journey upwards through thedarkened cave was uneventful, but it did provide them with some time to restand to talk about what they could do once they returned to Sanctum. Chloe said

“So far, the power of the jewel has seemed to awaken in mymind the ability to somehow see into a kind of tangible realm… a realm ofconsciousness and genetic memories which are recorded into all living matter. Iknow it sounds strange, but that is certainly what it is. Earlier, when we werein the houses’ attic and the jewels power was affecting me, I could see a realtime consciousness flowing through each living thing that I looked upon… its’present, its’ past, and miraculously I could somehow sense something of thepaths of its’ future.

And Mother was there…as a kind of luminous web which was interwoven throughout all of it… in a kindof continuum. And she was able to communicate with me there as well. Onri, Iwish that you could have seen it… it was incredible.” Onri asked her

“What did mother say to you there?”

“She asked me if I could see the entity of Rajeem there,which she pointed out to me. And I could see him there… kind of interwoventhroughout everything. She said that so far, his existence in that way was akind of mystery to her which she hadn’t yet figured out. She also said that asfar as any living matter was concerned she has always been able to pinpointits’ exact real time location, but for some reason… not his. So it seems thatonce we’ve returned to Sanctum, this is a mystery which we will have to lookinto to possibly accomplish our task…”

They all sawthat the end of the tunnel was coming into view and the ocean floor was upahead. Upon exiting the tunnel they all voiced relief that they were almostsafely back to the surface as they passed the familiar coral reef. Then,suddenly they all had to grab onto something stationary to avoid being thrownabout. Their vessel was being violently jarred this way and that. Onri shoutedwhile holding on

“What on earth is that!? We’ve lost control… what’shappening?” Ms. Aggie answered

“We’re being tossed around in a very strong current… this isnot normal!” Chloe said

“I think we’re under attack… and while I can’t determinewhere Rajeem is, I’m sure that he can now see me…” Onri added

“Since this is not a real ocean, its currents are controlledby the grid through immense mechanical pumps… we’re at his mercy if he iscontrolling them!” Their vessel then violently struck a large out cropping ofrocks and became wedged. The impact caused a breach in the hull and cold waterbegan pouring in. They all shrieked in panic. Chloe said

“Oh my god… we’re finished if I don’t do something to saveus!” She tried to clear her mind and calm herself. She closed her eyes andpressed the head of the jeweled staff to her temple. She looked to the realmwhere she had seen Mother… and there she was as before. She queried her‘Mother, we’re in immediate danger… and I don’t yet know how to harness thejewels’ power… what should I do?’

‘Hello Chloe, please be calm. I will help you. At thismoment you are already in command and accessing the jewels’ power. You onlyneed to ‘will’ it to envelope yourself and whoever you wish into its mists… andthen guide your movements towards any direction you wish.’ Chloe immediatelytried this and watched in her mind as the jewels’ power did just that. As Chloesat there with her eyes closed, the rest of her party watched in astonishmentas they were surrounded by a violet colored cloud. They looked about themselvesas the inward flow of water ceased… they were safe! Chloe then realized that infact she could direct their movement and willed them to pass through the hullof their vessel and along the ocean floor. She was also surprised at how fastthis form of travel could be. When she thought of the route towards her home…and then specifically the family room inside the house… she felt that they werealready there!

She willed thetravel to cease and dissipated the mist, and as she opened her eyes… that isexactly where they were all standing as they surprisingly eyed theirsurroundings… albeit a bit soggily. Onri exclaimed

“Chloe… you did it, we’re home!” Chloe answered him

“Yes… can you believe it? It was almost as fast as theQuantum Duplicator” She looked at a poor rolled up and mushy Mr. Carpet

“Oh my poor Mr. Carpet, you are all squished and wet… areyou ok?”

“Yes I am perfectly fine… but would you mind rolling me outflat upon the floor or else I may get moldy… and all creased and wrinkled” Theyall thought that was funny and laughed as they as rolled him out. He feltimmediate relief as he said

“Ah, thank you very much. I will now be just fine here as Idry out” Onri called out to command their homes’ Enviro-Control to increase therooms temperature.