Henry and Kikkert

“All hands on deck, gentlemen! We got pirates!” Captain Peck yelled as the sound of cannon fire filled the sea.

“Aye Captain!” The men yelled, sprinting to the cannons. Some ran below deck to fetch gunpowder and ammo, and some climbed up ratlines with muskets on their backs. The sound of the wood cracking and the crashing of the waves almost drowned the sailor chants that rose from the Duke Elyse. Amidst all this, Henry, a young 14 year old boy, was running all over the ship making sure that the cannons were never empty.

“Hits, Cap’n. We’re landing hits!” A sailor yelled after the first round of shots were fired.

“Good you sweaty whore spawns. Keep em’ coming!” Captain Peck yelled as he violently turned the rudder.

“You, rug-rat” Captain Peck yelled at Henry.

Henry looked up

“Come here” Peck commanded

Henry ran up the small set of stairs that led to the backend of the ship, where the captain was.

“Do you know how to use a sword, powder boy?” The captain asked, staring straight ahead at the large ship turning to aim at them.

“Aye sir!” Henry answered.

“Good. Keep the cannons powdered.”

“Aye aye, sir!”

Henry took two steps away from him and turned to face his captain again.

“Why did you call me captain?”

“Just thought I’d make your acquaintance, kid. Just in case.” Peck said, drawing a melancholic smile as he pulled a locket with a rose engraved on it from his coat’s pocket. He looked into it as his mind drifted to a place far away. He came back to his senses and turned to the boy.

“Now, get ready!” He said

As Henry was making his way down the stairs again, he heard Captain Peck's voice, so he stopped and listened.

“Hold on to something gentlemen! Brace for impact!”

As Captain Peck yelled the order, the Duke Elyse rammed the pirate ship. Wood splinters flew all over the place and sailors flung overboard. Henry fell down the flight of stairs, and fell on his face, kissing the deck and sliding until hitting his head on the mast of the ship.

The sound of metal striking was deafening and when Henry looked up, the vessel now roared with war as pirates were boarding the ship. Sabers flashed gleams of light as they claimed the lives of those in front of them. Pistol fire banged on deck. Henry drew his saber and started running clumsily around the deck towards the poop deck, barely dodging cuts and shots that were astray. He managed to reach the stairs to the top deck, but a pirate got on his way. He smiled at the boy and reached for his holster. The pirate pulled out a flintlock pistol and aimed its black barrel straight into Henry’s eyes. Henry closed them in fear and twitched when he heard the loud bang of the pistol going off. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that the pirate was now at his feet, lying motionlessly. He looked over his shoulder and saw a blonde boy, not much older than him, pointing a smoking barrel past him. He nodded at Henry and went off, with him doing the same as he ran up the wooden stairs. When he reached the top, he saw Captain Peck fighting two pirates. He sliced one straight across his face with his saber and swiftly jumped to his right as an overhand attack from the remaining pirate slit the wooden deck. He took two steps back and pulled out his pistol as the pirate released his heavy saber from the deck. The pirate ran towards Peck with the saber over his head, but before he could bring the blade down, a bang sentenced him, sending the pirate straight to Davy Jones’s Locker. Peck looked around and met eyes with Henry. He rushed to him and held him by the shoulders.

“Are you okay cap’n?” Henry said

“Aye kid. Are you okay?”

“Aye”

“Good.” Captain Peck looked over to the sea and then turned back to Henry.

“You swim by any chance, boy?”

“Aye…Sir?” he stopped feeling the ground on his feet and felt how Captain Peck lifted him by his shirt and tossed him overboard. Time seemed to slow down as Henry watched his captain’s face as he plunged into the ocean.

The cold water embraced Henry as he slowly sank. He knew how to swim, but the shock wasn’t letting him. It took him a few seconds before he was able to start making his way back up.

When he broke the surface, the Duke Elyse was lit in flames, and the roars of men were gone. He looked at the end of the boat and saw Captain Peck, impaled by four rapiers, with the same grin he had given Henry when he had talked to him not too long ago. Henry felt like screaming, but before he could do anything, he heard wood cracking. He looked up and saw the massive mast falling over him. The last thing he saw was the huge wooden pillar getting bigger by the moment before, suddenly, it all turned black.

#

A small wave splashed on Henry’s face, waking him up. At first, he was blindsided by the sun and the quartz white sand he was laying on, but his eyes adjusted to the brightness and revealed to him a dense forest 50 feet inland from where he was. He slowly made his way to his feet and started looking around confused. ‘Where the hell am I?’. Something caught the corner of his eye and when Henry turned his head, he was staring at what was left of the Duke Elyse. Wooden planks, barrels, cloth and even the lifeless corpse of a pirate laid there piled on top of each other as a vestige of what once was a gorgeous vessel. Henry dragged his feet through the warm sand and made his way towards the wreck. As he walked, he couldn’t help but notice that there was a huge tree that stood atop the forest’s canopy. It was contorted and time had clearly made a dent on its huge body, but it stood mightily above all other trees, presiding over the jungle.

Henry stripped the pirate of its clothes and threw his old rags away. The dark brown leather vest covered his chest and a long red waistband held his cropped pants that only went down to the calves. He ignored the sandals as he liked to have his feet bare. Once he was done with that, he dragged the corpse into the sea and watched it get taken away by a small wave.

He watched the corpse get devoured by the calm but ruthless sea. Such beauty.

He needed to make camp, and it didn’t look like he had much time left before nightfall came, so he hurried to the pile of wood without a clue of where to start.

#

He leaned the wooden planks onto each other as if to make a conical structure, but he had nothing to hold it up with, so it inevitably crumbled with as little as a gust of wind. He continued to try using the cloth to make a hammock and then lay the wooden planks diagonally on top to protect him from rain and whatnot. However, the clothes were rotten, so it wouldn’t stand his weight despite his small physique. Finally, barely able to see as twilight took the light away, he set two wooden barrels and then placed the planks diagonally on top of them, making a shaggy lean-to shelter. Wasn’t pretty, not even close, but it’d do for the night.

Henry had never made a fire before, but he was lucky to find a knife in the pirate’s leather jacket. He used that and his saber to spark a flame on a pile of planks and dry leaves he had gathered. The fire started out frail, looking like it’d extinguish any second but it started to get larger and larger as Henry added more leaves and blew until eventually, it became a large flame that helped the boy dry off his clothes and have some warmth for the night.

Sitting before the fire, the boy pulled out a locket from the vest’s pocket. It was the only other thing inside it besides the knife, but he had not paid attention to it until now. When he held the jewel in his hand, something stuck out. It was adorned by an engraved rose. Henry opened it and a tear slid down his sun-burned face when he saw a picture of a family. A woman, a little boy and then, with his body burned off, was Captain Peck’s face.

The boy laid down and stared into the night sky until his eyes felt too heavy to keep them open. He slowly dozed off.

There was a loud bang, followed by a blinding light that woke Henry up and forced him to open his eyes. He darted up to a sitting position, hitting his head on the wooden planks above him as he did. He crawled out of his shelter and stood as he tried to see where it came from. It wasn’t hard. The light beam came directly from the mysterious tree and it was…magnetizing. Henry felt a shiver down to his bones as he heard a low voice calling for him.

“Come for me, as for when the twilight of Ertha reaches its end, I will remain here. Enslaved by time, chained by the curse of the eons. Come, boy. Come for Kikkert.”

Henry was paralyzed. He thought it might be a nightmare, but he knew he was wide awake, his right arm was pinching his left cheek hard enough for him to know. Then, as if it had never been there, the light vanished, leaving the boy staring at the night sky, adorned by countless stars. The tree’s silhouette ominously presiding over him.

#

By the time the sun rose, Henry had barely been able to rest as the events from the previous night left him unsettled. He was sitting under his small shelter as he stared into the turquoise sea. He grabbed a small stone beside him and threw it towards the shore, barely making it to the tide line. He stood up and swept the sand off his pants before picking up his sword and starting towards the mysterious forest. Towards the mysterious tree.

The vegetation was like nothing Henry had ever even dreamed of. Extravagant colors and strong aromas flooded his senses, almost making him enter a trance state. There were teal fruits hanging from the trees, as well as golden leafs that adorned the bushes which scraped his feet.

It took him 6 hours to cross the forest. The vegetation got thinner as Henry approached the tree and, before he knew it, he was at the base of it. It was larger up-close than it looked from afar. Truly a behemoth that towered over anything Henry could recall seeing. The roots of the tree protruded from the ground and were thick like the mast of Duke Elyse itself. As Henry raised his gaze, the outsized branches of the tree shook gently as the wind rocked them with its breeze. A leaf fell from one of the branches and started wafting slowly towards the ground. It started off as a small speck of green, but by the time it hit the ground, it was enough to blanket Henry with ease.

The boy was startled for a second due to the magnificence of such a sight, but soon enough he was back within himself, and what he had come here for. At the base of the tree, there was a large hole that gave way towards the entrails of the ominous giant.

#

Henry stood before the entrance, hesitant as to whether or not he should enter. Suddenly, the ground underneath him gave in and plunged him several feet down. He landed on mud and before he could grasp anything within his range, he was sliding down rapidly. All Henry could see were blurs that breezed past him as he struggled to stabilize himself.

The fall was long and it seemed to have no end. That was, before a dim light started closing in on Henry, becoming larger and larger. Just like that, he was spat out into a strange room. He managed to catch a glimpse of a platform illuminated by the light of the sun, before he was covered by a mantle of water.

It was like a flashback. Henry opened his eyes, but all he saw were images playing quickly before him. The Duke Elyse, him washing the deck of the boat, the blonde boy that saved his life. Captain Peck. Although they were not close or related, remembering Peck’s face quaked the boy's heart a little bit. Then it all stopped and all he could see was a dark void surrounding him.

He was floating.

Where am I?

A sudden light appeared.

What is that?

Then he heard a small voice.

“Breathe” it whispered in his ear.

“Breathe!” The voice was closer.

“BREATHE”

Suddenly, Henry was back to reality and drowning. He swam upwards as fast as he could, but the surface never seemed to get any closer. He was fading. His lights were starting to shut off when he heard a voice. “Come to me! Come to me, boy!”

A sudden burst of strength overtook the boy’s body and in an instant he broke the surface. He was breathing painfully as water leaked from his mouth and nose. He managed to reach the pedestal as his energy depleted and just as he got onto the gray rock, his arms and legs gave out. He laid there heavily puffing as water still came out with every cough.

It took him several minutes, but eventually he got up and managed to haul himself up the small ramp that led to the top of the rock. He reached the top exhausted and could barely hold himself with his feet. He raised his look and saw a pedestal, elevated a few feet over the ground and shining with golden rays of light. He stumbled towards it.

On the pedestal there was a scroll with runes inscribed onto it. Henry grabbed the scroll and looked into it, but nothing happened. That was until he turned it towards the shadow, for the rays to illuminate the scripture. That’s when he heard it

“So you’ve finally arrived”

#

The boy’s body tightened and he started looking around. There was no echo despite the size of the room he was in, and it was way too loud to come from outside.

“Who are you?” The boy asked as his hands violently shook with dread

“I am time and space. I am the light that crawls through your window and I am the darkness that hide’s kid’s fears. I am what’s seen and what’s not.”

“What-” The boy was cut by the ominous voice.

“I have been slave to the curse of the one-eyed for millennia. It has been long since my last contact with a mortal. You have been chosen by me to receive the honor of being my bearer.”

“Your bearer?”

“Indeed. You will be the bearer of my soul and will help me find the missing parts of the Light Mirror.”

“What are you talking about? Who are you? What is this place?” The boy started breaking down and kneeled on the floor, letting the scroll roll off of his hand as he stared down.

“I see. Listen, boy. You have been brought here from your world because I chose you. This is not your home, and never will be. You are here for the sole purpose of helping me recover the Light Mirror. As for me, I’m The Deity of the Wise although you mortals like to call me Kikkert.”

“Kikkert?”

“Yes, boy. Stop repeating everything I say.”

“Sorry…”

The voice was cut off for a few seconds but then returned.

“Henry, right?” The voice asked

“Aye” the boy replied, the fear in his voice now replaced with sadness”

“Listen Henry, we have a lot to do and not a lot of time. Get the scroll and place it over the pedestal. After that place an object on top of it and pour blood on it. My soul will be transported to the object you place and I will be linked with you completely.”

“But why? I don’t want to be here. I miss my home. I don’t understand!”

“Listen Henry, all that you knew as home is now gone. In this world, there is no one but me that will give a damn about what happens to you. If I wanted you dead, you would have drowned already. Trust me, please.”

Without a word, the boy stood up and slowly pulled out his knife from his vest. He placed it on the scroll and then used the saber to slice the palm of his hand. He squeezed and a drop of blood fell on top of the paper, completing the ritual.

The scroll lit up and the runes started radiating white light. They slowly crept onto the knife, making a sizzling sound as the patterns got engraved on the iron. After a few seconds, nothing happened so Henry went to pick the knife up. When he touched it, massive energy flowed within his body. His eyes lit up with blue light and he lifted from the ground.

Then it all suddenly stopped. Henry fell to the ground with his knife still clutched in his burned hand. He was alive, the question was for how long.