5 Chapter Four
"What do you want to be when you grow up, Seth?" Benny asked me in seventh grade. We were walking down the halls to our ocean blue lockers. I smirked. "Married to Angie Host," I told him. Benny shook his head and smiled at me."You do realize that will never happen if you never talk to her, right?" Benny said a matter a factly. Then, as if on cue, Angie and her friends came to their lockers. Benny eyed me when he noticed Angie. "Come on, man. This is your chance to talk to her, so just do it," Benny nudged me. I just shook my head and Benny rolled his eyes.
"Fine then I'll have to force you," he said and then started dragging me. I tried to pull away from him, but he was either too strong or I was just too weak. He pushed me then stopped when I was right behind her. I looked back at Benny and he gave me the two thumbs up for my own confidence.Thanks Ben, I thought to myself. I just shook my head, gulped, and patted on her left shoulder. She turned around and stared at me like I was a stranger. She had light blonde hair, perfect blue eyes, dazzling white skin, and had a magical smile that could stop you for hours. "Um...uh...heyyyy…." was all I could get out. I noticed her friends were chuckling a little bit. Angie looked embarrassed. I knew I would be humiliated for acting like a fool in front of Angie Host.
"Hey Ange, is my friend failing if I attempt to ask you out?" Benny asked behind me. When she saw Benny she wore a big smile on her face. I just shook my head. "Hey Ben, I didn't see you at practice today," she said moving past me as if I wasn't there. Benny just shrugged and Angie nudged at his shoulder playfully. "Anyway, my friend, Seth here is pretty bad at talking with girls, so I thought maybe I could help him out a little," Benny said smiling. Then Angie's friends started towards him as well huge plastered smiles on their faces. I started to walk away, but then Benny called my name. I sighed and turned around. He motioned me to come forward, so I began to walk. "Ladies, ladies, I would like you to meet my besr friend, Seth Wesson, the ladies killer," he told them gleefully. I smiled at Benny and was glad I had a friend like him. The girls turned around and looked at me in disgust. That was not what I was expecting at all. "Benny, why do you even associate yourself with people like him?" I heard one of the girls whisper to him. "Yeah, too pale and too scrawny and he's like a nobody," another said. Then there were other bitter comments about me. Well, at least I know why I never had a girlfriend before, I thought. I saw Benny shake his head, he was also disappointed but then he changed his sad face back into a smile and started walking away with the girls. I just turned around and walked away. That was one of the worst days in my life.
***
I was sitting in the passenger's seat next to Danny. We left a few hours ago after he explained . We haven't talked much since he explained things to me. Then suddenly my phone rang. I checked who the caller was, it was Benny. I answered moving to the beds, so Danny wouldn't hear our conversation. "Hey man, I stopped at your house today, but I didn't see you. Where are you?" I could hear the concern in his voice. I still couldn't believe what had happened today, it was just too crazy. Danny told me I could tell no one about this, because no one would believe me and they could be in danger. "I… I'm going on a roadtrip with this guy I met, his name is Danny Hocourt. He's really cool, trust me," I told him encouragingly.
"Are you sure. You know this Danny person could be an axe murderer or something."
"I'll be fine, mom," I said sarcastically. I heard him chuckle a little bit and then I heard him sigh. "Fine, I trust this guy if you do,but if you die I'm not going to write a eulogy for your ass, so try not to, OK." I agreed and then he hung up. I put the phone in my pocket and walked back to the passenger's seat. When I sat down, I noticed Danny staring at me. "Did you tell him?" Danny asked me suspiciously. "No I didn't and how are you driving without looking at the road?" I have a driver's license, but the last time I tried driving with my eyes closed, I crashed into a fence. Hocurt just simply smiled his annoying smile.
"Wow you really are a dimwit, you do realize that I have parked, right?" I then noticed we weren't moving at all. We were parked out of a place that looked like a… club. I went to a club once sophomore year. Benny gave me a fake I.D. and we both went, it was pretty cool. I was scared most of the time, I didn't want to get caught.
"Why are we going to a club, you do realize I'm 17, right?" I asked. Danny looked at me and shook his head.
"After all we haven't been through you actually think I'm gonna buy you a few drinks. No, this place is not a club. This is one of the places where many creatures get together, this kind of place has many names, but you may call it the Institute." He said spreading his arms widely to show me. I had no words and just sighed and opened the door and got out. Danny followed suit. When we were close to the door Danny stopped me."Okay, lad. There is a big rule for the Institute and that rule is no humans allowed. You are technically not a human,
but still be carefull. If you break the rules you get your head chopped off immediately. So trust me, lad no funny business, eh?"
I gulped and nodded as fast as I could. I think this is worse than getting caught at a club, I thought. Danny smiled grimly and said "ladies first." I tried to laugh but I was too nervous.
In the club or Institute it looked like a place where you gamble and fight and buy drinks to get drunk. I was thinking of a place with a bunch of creepy scary monsters, but all the things looked like drunks. On the left side of the wall there was a massively intoned deer head. On the right side there was a terrifying grey wolf's head with teeth as sharp as daggers. There was a fight going on and people were cheering loudly, I couldn't see who it was because there was too many people. But it sounded like a pretty intense fight, it sounded like animals fighting.
Danny was talking to a guy in a dark cloak, he was covered all in black clothing so I couldn't see who it was. I decided to walk over to them knowing it was a dumb idea. When I came over Danny stopped talking and smiled at me.
"Well hello Seth, I would like you to meet Life, the grim reaper's cousin. Life, this is the one I was talking to you about, this is Darkness's weapon," Danny introduced. The man took his hood off and was revealed with a beautiful face. He had the most shiniest blonde hair on Earth, his smile made you feel alive, his eyes were bright orange which was weird but somehow fit him. His skin was glowing and it made you feel like immortal.
"It's an honor to meet you, Darkness's Weapon," he said soothingly and shook my hand. When he did that all my happy memories came to me in an instant, when he let go they all fluttered away just as quickly. I felt disappointed when the memories were gone. "So wait that means your Death's cousin, but wouldn't you be ugly and hideous?" I asked surprised. Life smiled a shiny bright smile that made me feel better."No, that's why my names Life, I'm the opposite of my older cousin," he said still smiling.I looked at both of them with a concerned look. "So… uh… what were you guys talking about?" I asked suspiciously. Life looked to Danny and Danny nodded to him."We were talking about the my cousin escaping from hell. You know he is the strongest of the horsemen right?" He asked. I shook my head and asked what a horse man was, he just sighed and explained.
"The four horsemen are Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. They are supposed to come when the apocalypse comes, but it looks like Darkness has other plans. He's getting stronger, but he's not the problem right now. The main problem is my cousin and he will kill both of you if he has to. Be careful my friends and train him well, Hocourt. Death will not hesitate it's what he's known for."
***
"Okay, okay," the ref hollered at the audience. "Tonight we have the king of the new york goblins!" Everyone cheered, there applause erupted through the Sanctuary. "And over here we got an unknown species, Danny himself!" The applause erupted even louder, probably because he was an "unknown species". Danny hasn't even told me what he was. I asked him if he was a vampire or werewolf, but he just shook his head.
The "goblin" looked pretty normal . He had dark hair, an average goatee, wore a white t-shirt and tan shorts, his eyes were light green, he looked strong, and really short. Danny smiled grimly at him, the goblin returned the favor. Their eyes were locked on each other fiercely. "Pick your weapon of choice," the ref said advancing to the weapon table. There was a good amount of weapons. All deadly and razor sharp looking. Danny and the Goblin both shook their head and brought out their own weapons. The goblin started coughing and coughing. First I thought he was going to die, but then I saw something sharp and silver coming out of his mouth along with his green and red blood. I nearly gagged but swallowed it back in. The thing was a sword and it was covered in the goblin's blood. The sword was about two yards long. Danny brought out a sword made of bone out from his jacket. Why does Danny always have weird swords, I thought to myself. "Okay, are you ready," the ref asked them. They nodded. "Then get ready and… fight!" Once the ref said that the two ran at each other. They both moved swiftly and silently. In fact, I think the whole Institute would have been quiet if it wasn't for the cheering.
The goblin swung his sword in Danny's direction. Danny blocked it carelessly with his boned blade, pushing the goblin back a bit. Then the goblin ran toward him aiming his sword at Danny's chest. Danny moved out of the way with his amazing speed. The goblin looked irritated, then I noticed something that looked like a tattoo coming from the goblins neck. It had a face of a hideous monster and then I noticed the goblin press the tattoo as if it was a button. I thought he was going to change into his goblin form, but nothing had happened.
Then I noticed Danny had stopped fighting, but he still wore his smug smile like he knew what was happening. Then something rich happened, when I say rich I mean rich. The goblin made pure gold come right out of his hand and shot it right at Danny who dodged it. It hit the ground and I saw it was a golden arrow. My eyes opened wide, I couldn't believe what I was seeing ( I usually couldn't). The goblin started throwing more golden stuff at him like spears, swords, and other stuff like that. Danny just kept dodging with his incredible speed. Then Danny ran at the goblin at full speed and dodged his throws and his swings and stabbed the goblin right in his chest. The goblin gasped in pain and everyone was silent in the Institute. Then Danny took the blade out of the goblin's chest and kicked him to the ground. Then Danny lifted the sword high and put one foot on the goblin.
Cheers erupted through the entire Institute. I was sick to my stomach though, I ran to the bathroom and threw up. Why were people cheering, I thought to myself. I had to get back home, screw the summer vacation. When I got out of the bathroom I put my hood on so Danny couldn't notice me. I was almost out the door, but then a Institute bouncer grabbed me and looked right into my eyes.
He had huge biceps the size of my face, he was bald, he had a lost front tooth, shiny brown eyes, and a ugly scar near his right eye. He was wearing all black with a blue stripe in the middle of his shirt. That's what the workers wore. "You human, ain't ya?" The guys voice sounded like a creepers. I just stood there having know idea what to do. The bouncer grinned like a evil villain. "Come with me, human," he said the last word in hatred. He started dragging me by the hood. I was scared out of my mind a million thoughts came rushing in my head. This was it I was going to die in a bloody way I might add. Well on the bright side at least I got to see things people only dream about. The bouncer stopped me at a door, he got out his key and unlocked it. Then he pushed me inside and he came in and closed the door.I couldn't see anything, but the place smelled like a pile of sardines and death. I nearly gagged but I swallowed it back in. The bouncer turned on the light and I hurled again. In the room were a bunch of headless corpses some were even fresh. There was a guy with a sinister looking battle ax in his left hand, he was covered in chaotic blood.
He was averagely strong, had a full grown beard, his hair was dark and long, he had a strange set of violet eyes, and he wore the same suit as the other bouncer. Bouncer two smiled at me the same as the first bouncer did. The second bouncer motioned me to a bloodied stained table. I went there slowly, then the first bouncer pushed me from the back and told me to hurry up. I started walking faster until I was there. The second bouncer told me to lay my head flat on the table. I didn't want to lay my head on that blood table but this was a life and death situation, so I had to. I felt the the gooey fresh blood on the right side of my shaken face. "You went to the Institute as a mundane, so your punishment is to become beheaded," the second bouncer announced. "Any last words, mundane," I thought of something to say to get me out of this, then I remembered. "I...I'm a weapon, so technically I'm not a human," I told them. The second bouncer lifted me up and looked me in the eyes. Then he came up to me and smelled me. "Well you smell human to me, mundane, but please do explain," he said still holding me. "I am the most strongest weapon in the world or so I'm told," I explained shakingly. The second bouncer looked at the first bouncer. The first bouncer just shook his head. The second bouncer nodded and put me back into the table.
"You're a lying mundane, the strongest weapon in the world is Darkness's first human and he's heard to be black and he wouldn't be scared at all," the second bouncer pointed out. This didn't make any sense Danny told me I was a
strong weapon. Did Danny lie to me to get me killed? Well it didn't matter I was going to die anyway.
"So mundane any last words that don't involve lies?" The second bouncer asked. I thought and started saying my last words. "Umm…I love you mom and dad and…uh...Benny thank you for being my only and last best friend to the end and stuff like that. At least I get to die knowing the earth's secrets-" I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. That's when I noticed the second bouncer hit me with the butt of his ax. "Okay, mundane that's enough. You humans really are all dramatic. So goodbye mundane, hail and farewell," the second bouncer announced. I looked up a little, seeing the second bouncer lift the ax over his head. I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. Then I heard a familiar voice.
"Let him go in the name of Darkness," it was Danny. I looked up and saw Danny holding the sword made of bone in one hand and a gun in the other. The bouncers grinned happily when they saw him. "Congrats, unknown species who won against the goblin from New York," the first bouncer said. Danny smiled and shook their hands proudly like I wasn't about to die right now. "Now good gentlemen, if you could get my dear friend out of here, that would be nice," Danny said soothingly.
Both of the bouncers shook their head. "Can't," the first bouncer said, "you know the rules no humans." Danny walked up to them with his boned blade slowly.
"Do you have any idea who this boy is and what power he has?" Danny asked them pointing an index finger in my direction. They looked back at me cautiously, like I was about to do something. I just stayed there having no idea what Danny was planning, but hoping it wouldl work.
"Not right now, you dimwits," Danny said while shaking his head. "What I'm saying is he's Darkness's weapon and I'm his mentor." The two bouncers opened their mouth in disbelief. Then looked at me like they understood something now. "So when you said you were the strongest weapon in the world, you meant you were the strongest weapon of everything, right?" The first bouncer asked me. I stood up shaking and nodded. It scared me to know I was stronger and more powerful than the earth itself. Then they just shrugged their shoulders and the second bouncer lunged at me with his ax. Without even thinking I ran out of the way. Then I noticed the first bouncer was fighting Danny with a machete he got out of nowhere. The machete was pure silver with a blue tip to it. The two were both incredibly fast with their intense speed and they looked like a blur. Then the second bouncer got back up and swung the ax at my face. Without even thinking, I ducked of the way. The weird thing was, I wasn't controlling
myself it felt like someone else was controlling me. Then with amazing speed, I kicked him in the face and pushed him at the table. He fell down on the dead bodies and got back up as fast as he fell. His ax was on the ground, so it was now hand to hand combat. This person who's controlling me better be good at fighting, I thought to myself.
The second bouncer was way stronger than me by a long shot, but the thing that was controlling me was a good fighter. He was in a stance like a cobra ready to strike. Then instantly he threw a punch at my chest, I went sideways instantly. Then I threw a punch at his neck hard. He nearly dodged it, but I was too fast. He grabbed at his neck gasping for air. At once, I kneed him in the stomach and pushed him down. Then the thing that was controlling me, vanished and I collapsed to the ground. Then the second bouncer got up while holding his stomach and this time he had his ax and now he was a different color, he was all red. He hissed "die" and then he swung his ax at my head. Then the second bouncer stopped and grunted like a pig. Then I saw something boney come out of his chest. I knew what it was, it was Danny's blade. I sighed and saw the bouncer collapse to the ground. I saw Danny's smug face and then everything went black.
When I woke up, I noticed I was in the RV on one of the queen beds. I got up and decided to go to the front seat. When I got there, Danny was driving the car. "Good morning, princess. I hope you got your beauty sleep," Danny said with his crazy grin. I just shook my head. I was starting to get used to Danny, but I still couldn't believe in any of the stuff that's been happening. "Danny, the drug you gave me must have been seriously good, because I think I'm still high," I said sort of laughing. Danny looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Wow, you really are dense, aren't you. You still can't believe that everything you've seen is real, well you'll believe sooner or later."
I just ignored him going with this mystical stuff. "So those two bouncers what were they?" I asked. I was wondering why the second bouncer turned red. "They were trolls. They change different colors usually to blend in and they have fast speed and their scent is excellent." Danny said happily.
"And what about that goblin why was his power like gold and would he change his form like the trolls?" I really wanted to know all this information. "No, the goblins stay in human form and don't you read anything. In folklore it says goblins are greedy for gold and jewelry, so that's how the goblin threw gold things from his hands at me." Danny explained briefly. Now I had to ask the question that was nagging at me. "Danny, when I was fighting the troll, it felt like something… was controlling me. Do you know what that was?" Danny looked at me serious this time, then he looked back at the road.
"Yes, my dear friend. That was the weapon controlling you, it's hard to explain, but how you were fighting, that's the way you will fight in the future," Danny told me, still looking at the empty road. "Wow I'll be that good at fighting in the future, that's actually pretty cool."
Danny looked at me as if I was insane. "No, that is not 'cool'. That means the weapon wants you to hurry up and learn how to fight as soon as possible. Which means Death is coming sooner than I thought." Danny sounded really worried.
"Wait, you mean I have to fight Death himself?" I asked horrified. Danny nodded. I slouched back in my seat and closed my eyes. "Don't snore this time, it's really annoying," I heard Danny say. "Well, deal with it. How many more miles until we get to the place?" I asked in my sleep. "About fifty miles left, enjoy your nap, my dear lad," Danny said and then I was out.
