Previous | Table of Contents | Next
Khrx gnashed his teeth as he tore the letter apart. He held the phone in his hands and frowned. He pressed the button that looked like it’d activate the phone and waited. A white screen with a banana logo appeared. A feminine voice echoed throughout the cave. “Hello, Khrx’Lrvnjl. My name is Isri. I’m here to help you operate your new banana ePhone. How can I help you?”
Khrx’s brow furrowed. He ignored the voice and approached the river of magma cutting through his cavern. His arm stretched forward hovering over the river. Remembering the hot stew, he frowned before dipping one finger into the magma. He burst out into laughter and raised his hands towards the ceiling. “My strength is really back!”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t quite catch that.”
Khrx stared at the phone. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Oh.”
Khrx waved his hand, and black fire sprouted into existence, floating in front of his body. “And my magic’s back!”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t quite catch that.”
Khrx glared at the phone before throwing it into the river of magma. It floated on the surface, completely unharmed.
“This is cruel.”
“Turn yourself off,” Khrx said. The phone beeped once, and the light disappeared from its screen. Khrx scratched his head. “Now what do I do? I won’t get blown up again if I leave since I’m camouflaged now, right?” He grabbed the floating phone and submerged himself into the river of magma, swimming away and towards the surface.
The place he exited from was different from the previous time. He burst through the ocean crust, much to the surprise of a few flat fish, and made his way up through the darkness. A giant tentacle wrapped around his body, but it exploded as Khrx ejected his mana outwards. There weren’t any other issues, and he made it to the surface of the water, flying past it into the sunny sky. Ahead of him, there was a coastline. Khrx flew towards it while turning on his new ePhone.
“How can I help you, Khrx’Lrvnjl?” Isri said.
“I don’t know,” Khrx said, shaking his head, droplets of water falling back to the ocean. “You tell me.”
“I can tell you the time and date, set an alarm, remind you of activities, call your friends, access your emails, surf the web, act as a diary, tell you the weather, give you directions, read you a story, play videos and cartoons, stream popular music from around the world, and access a store which will allow you to do much more. I also function as a digital wallet and proof of identity. By inserting mana into me, you can change my shape to your liking. Many customers prefer the form of a watch or ring.”
“What’s a watch?”
“Insert mana into me and I’ll show you.”
Khrx complied, and the phone liquefied, squirming down his hand and wrapping around his wrist.
“Like so. I can monitor your heartbeats and vital conditions in this form. If any accidents were to occur, I can cast a healing spell and call an ambulance if that’s not enough. Currently, your resting heartrate is … oh, dear. Are you an undead? I’m unable to find a pulse. Wait. I think I found one. Canceling request to the national monster exterminating association.”
Khrx frowned. Luke wouldn’t give him anything that threatened his life, right? Khrx shook his head and ignored the rambling watch before landing on the coast. “Now to figure out where I am.”
“You’re on the coast of South Rokea.”
“And where’s that?”
A beam of light shot out of Khrx’s watch-phone, creating a holographic projection of a globe in front of his face. A red star labeled ‘you are here’ was placed onto the globe. Khrx frowned as he played with the projection, spinning it around and upside down. “The world changed again.”
“Continents are always moving due to a phenomenon called continental drift. I’ve finished calculating your resting heartrate at one beat per five minutes. Are you a giant sleeping turtle buried under ice?”
Khrx ignored the phone and raised his head. Giant crystalline towers lit up the sky, taking up half the horizon. He flew into the air and approached them. “What are those?”
“Those are called skyscrapers. There isn’t enough space on the ground to accommodate a large population, so the only choice was to build upwards. It seems like children are very uneducated these days. I’ll do my best to assist you.”
“What’s that?” Khrx asked, pointing at a massive green statue of a woman holding a sword into the air with one hand. She wore a crown, and had a closed book in her other hand.
“That’s the Statue of Freedom,” Isri said. “It’s in the shape of the hero who slew the demon lord, bringing about an end to the dark ages. The festival of the hero is currently ongoing. Would you like to attend?”
Khrx hovered in the air, frowning at the crowd of people gathering around the statue. He lowered himself, but a voice shouted, “Halt! Put your hands in the air!” Dozens of red dots appeared on Khrx’s body.
“I forgot to mention,” Isri said. “Flying is prohibited during the festival of the hero. I will buy a ticket for you right now. Tell the police you didn’t know the rules, and they’ll forgive you considering you’re a naked child.”
Khrx bit his lower lip before raising his hands into the air. He still didn’t know the surface dwellers’ full strength, but he was getting a bad feeling from the red dots trained on his body. The festivity below paused, and the crowd of people raised their heads, looking up at Khrx. A squad of police officers flew into the air, their facial features covered by helmets.
“…A flying child?”
“He must be a genius.”
One of the police officers flew towards Khrx and lifted his helmet. “Where are your parents?”
Khrx’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know.”
“You’re lost? Is that why you were flying? To look for your parents?”
Khrx scowled.
“You’re scaring him,” one of the police officers said. “He’s just a … naked child. Why aren’t you wearing clothes?”
“Don’t have any.”
The police officers glanced at each other. Were there any stray children in this day and age?
“Officers,” a feminine voice said from below. A woman that looked like the Statue of Freedom flew towards the group and Khrx. “Is everything alright?”
“Anaheim,” one of the officers said. “Everything’s fine. It seems like the case of a lost child. He doesn’t know where his parents are.”
Anaheim nodded. “I can take over from here, officers,” she said. “I’ve already attended ten of these festivals. They’re the same every time.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.”
The police officers exchanged glances. One of them spoke into a mechanical box. “False alarm. Disengage the snipers.”
The red dots on Khrx’s body disappeared, and he exhaled. The police officers flew down, leaving Anaheim and Khrx alone in the air. “Everything’s going to be alright,” Anaheim said as she grabbed Khrx’s hand, slowly flying towards the ground. “What’s your name?”
Khrx tilted his head. Did his charm carry over from the game?