INNEREAL ADVENTURES - ONE

THE THIRD GATE

THE THIRD GATE

   Byron was afraid to look. But, he did, and thankfully, the mist was gone. What a relief it was to him to be free of the nothingness. He was so happy.

   However, after some exploration of his surroundings, he discovered that he was in a jail cell with strong iron bars on all four sides. The prison was dark and cold and quiet.

   As his eyes became more accustomed to the dark, he saw that he was in a row of similar cells. Then, he heard some rustling in the cell next to his, so he walked over to see better. He did hear some more rustling, but he couldn’t see anything at all, so he lifted his right hand to shine his orb.

   Suddenly, he heard, “Byron? Oh, Byron! Byron, I am so glad to see you!”

   “Narrie? Is that you, Narrie?” asked Byron, excitedly.

   “Oh, I’m sorry,” said Narrie, as she became visible again. “I was scared when I heard noise in that cell, so I disappeared.”

   “Wow! It really is you!” exclaimed Byron. “I am so very very happy to see you and… so so sorry for leaving you, Narrie. I have been such a fool.”

   Byron then noticed that Narrie was quite beaten up. “What happened to you?” he asked, concerned. “Are you… ”

   “Oh, I think it must look worse than it is,” answered Narrie. “I was captured by Ajobis right after you went through the gate. He’s been real mad at me because I won’t give him my orb.”

   “Oh, Narrie, I am so so sorry,” said Byron. “All that time I spent in… well, I’ve been trapped in this nothingness mist for all these days or weeks or however long it has been, and I thought about you a lot, and I really feel bad… ”

   “Byron,” interrupted Narrie. “It was only yesterday that we parted.”

   “What?” exclaimed Byron. Then, he shook his head, and said, “No. I’ve been in that mist for ages! Oh, I am so confused!”

   “Well, you’d better get focused, Byron,” urged Narrie, “because you walked yourself right into a jail cell and we have to figure out how to get out of here. I’m sure Ajobis will be back soon with more of his torturous temptations to give up our orbs.”

   “Yes, of course, you’re right,” agreed Byron. “Oh, Narrie, I am so sorry to see you beaten like this. But… well, we both know that it is going to get even worse, right? Ajobis is going to keep on trying to do whatever he can to succeed. We have to be strong.”

   Byron then began to look around his cell. “Maybe if I transform into my super hard solid body, I can break the cell door lock open,” he said.

   So, Byron closed his right fist tightly onto his first orb and his body became as hard as a rock. He walked over to the door and swung down hard on the lock with his fist.

   “Ow! Oh, ow, wow!” he cried. “Ow, that didn’t work at all!”

   “Are you alright?” asked Narrie, concerned.

   “Yes, but that sure isn’t how this power works,” answered Byron. “Hmmm, maybe if I throw my solid weight at the door, it might break the lock open.”

   “Are you sure?” cautioned Narrie. “And… you look a little funny. What does your orb do?”

   “Oh, yes, with this orb I can transform into a super hard body. Even the Crusher had no affect on me when I was solid like this, so I must have some level of damaging ability,” reasoned Byron. “Ok, here goes,” he said as he backed up and took a running charge at the cell door.