Fight Me Find

“Fight Me Find” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Ojas Krish, UAE.

Fight Me Find

CHAPTER-1: WELTSHEIR HOUSE

The electric-blue morning sky looked down upon the pathetic excuse for a town, Quagmire. When one enters this realm of confusion and chaos, they leave the first chance they get. Quagmire is a town in Northwest Sovarnet, in the Northwest of England. The Slums dominate the town, and dirty Villas and cramped apartments in polluted hill-waterfalls spotted the town. The only reason one would want to stay in Quagmire, was the cheap cost of living and its peculiar history. For Quagmire was the birthplace of many controversial people such as James DeGaul, who was executed for many horrendous war crimes and superstition and rumor make the poor citizens of Quagmire live in fear. But, there is one family that has bared with this chaotic land of confusion and rumor. The Jinkes family used to stay in Quagmire since it’s foundation in 290AD. Their house is now occupied by the Hargreaves family, who will change the world as we know it in this tale.

The Weltsheir house, as the people of Quagmire named it, was easily the best house in this slum-town. The closest thing to a palace in the whole town, it had a huge oak door with door-knockers and a sign that was the coat of arms of the Jinkes Family. Its windows were light grey and its structure was made of an ebony wood, which was in huge supply in Quagmire. Quagmirian Ebony was one of the most durable materials in the world. It had a layered structure that ended with a chimney which was unnaturally very, very fat and wide.

James Hargreaves and Carla Hargreaves ruled Quagmire, but were mainly outside their house in the nearby Kioley Laboratory and HenjeyJord Games and Arts, two shops that offered the best equipment in proportion to their names. The Kioley laboratory was of great interest to Carla, who was a straight-A student and graduated with a master’s degree and 99.76 percent in her final exam. James was an avid gamer who was well-known for being a creditable game-tester, who strangely had an affinity for martial arts, with a black belt in Kung-Fu, Tai-Kwa, Hopkido, Karate and a blue belt in JiuJitsu and a green in Judo. Immensely rich due to their professions and fame, they were the unofficial kings of NorthWest England.

Now, we see how two siblings changed history.

“James! OI! Wake UP!” said Carla, yanking the blanket off of his back. “Whozair!?” said James, sitting up. “Me. Get up, it’s 9:00.” Said Carla. “First Day in this Weltsheir House. We gotta clean it.” Said Carla, standing up. “Oh, yea.” Groaned James. He got up, brushed and followed Carla to the attic. Carla began vacuuming the dusty floor and china while James was sweeping the damper part of the room. But soon, after James switched on his flashlight as there was only one window, he discovered a chest with odd symbols on it. “Carla, come here.” James called. Carla strode to where James was and looked at the chest. “D’ you reckon we should open it?” asked James, but there was a faint note of apprehensiveness in his voice. “James, look closely. It has a lock.” Said Carla. “But-” began James. “I know Karate for a reason, Carla. I can-er-Karate Chop this lock.” Carla folded her arms and glared at James, and even gave an involuntary snort. Carla did not believe martial arts to be the solution of everything; she believes that science is the answer. James nevertheless put some hand wraps on and stood there for a minute, concentrating hard. Suddenly, his body’s outline began to grow yellow and green and orange. “Chi, Carla.” Said James, raising his hand. And then, with a jump and a roar of pain, he hit his hand on the lock. Blood spurted everywhere out of James’s hand. But, as the confusion eradicated, the lock was broken. After Carla healed James, she opened the chest.

CHAPTER 2: APERTURANTIS

The chest illuminated the whole room as it was opened. Inside were gold, gold ingots, riches, ores, rubies, gemstones, jade daggers, ruby-encrusted swords, shields, silver, crowns, jewels, golden chains and watches, and undreamed-of treasures. “Wow…” whispered Carla, paralysed with shock like James. After madly celebrating, they began taking out the gold. But, after James heaved out a heavy pure-gold slab, he found some substance, which looked like broken shards of rubies and were encased in a glass container. James showed it to Carla, who took it in her hands, and after contemplating it for a few minutes, she said, “Aperturantis…” “What?” “Aperturantis. It’s a very rare material that is found in the Thalamus of the brain. Extremely difficult to get, it is “Mined” by a surgeon, who drills through the brain. But all of this treasure looks like it was received in medieval times. This is a bit suspicious to say the least. Or. Aperturantis in its liquid form can be collected after the person is stabbed through the brain, and the Thalamus pops out. When you “eat” Aperturantis, you enter a person’s memory. Read the Harry Potter books? It’s like the pensive in Dumbledore’s office.” “Let’s eat it then!” said James, taking half of the Aperturantis, and chucking the rest to Carla, and gulped it before Carla could protest. He felt a jerk behind his navel as he was lifted of the ground and fell against a wooden ground. He witnessed a man, hooded and wielding a sword, standing in a blood covered room. Carla standing beside him, he heard the man who was the ground cry, “JINKES!!” “That’s right.” He said with a sneer. He kicked the hooded man twice and said, “I have a story. A DEATH-time story, geddit?” said Harry, chuckling. The man out of fear nervously forced a faint giggle. The hooded man said:

“My name is Harry Jinkes. A thief, murderer, assassin, serial killer, burglar, whatever vulgar words you want to call me. You want to know why I am such an-ah-unlikeable person? Of course. You see, I was born in Quagmire. The only thing I hated more than Quagmire was my parents. The only thing they gave me was my life. They practiced slavery.” Harry’s voice was getting colder and harsher with every word. He continued. “The most horrific sights for a child for me. So, I took it upon myself to provide amenities for these poor people. I sneaked around bodyguards, pickpocketed their keys, or I lockpicked my way into the cells. I found out after 2 years, I was good at it. So, I began stealing from my neighbors. But, one day my parents found me helping a slave, John Bralpoeymint, by giving him a delicious dinner. My parents were drunk that night.” Tears were beginning to stream from Harry’s eyes and his voice grew colder. “That Night. That night I became what I am now. I was just 10 at the time. My father began threatening me, when something in me snapped. I lunged at him with a knife in my hand. I killed my parents and 4 bodyguards. Horrified by what I had done, I ran to Sovarnet, where I made money by, you guessed it, killing and-ah-stealing. But, I missed Quagmire. I hated it, but I missed it. I came back and the people saw me as their king. And in bloody good time, too as Aton Hunmer came riding in. Me and 100 of me subjects held off 40,000 of Hunmer’s troops. We fought till our last breath. It was the first time I ever felt affection to Quagmire.” The man on the ground squeaked, “But-But didn’t your parents-l-l-love y-you?” Harry gave an artificial, hollow and heartless laugh. “Love ME? My parents didn’t have time to love their only son. They were too busy enslaving more and more people. They only saw me as a means of exercising their power and as a means of spending spare cash. And here I am now. Harry Jinkes DeGaul Ohizin, grandson of James DeGaul.” But in that moment, James coughed loudly and their positions were revealed. “WHAT!?” said Harry, taking his sword. James pushed back Carla, and with a grin, punched Harry. He blocked Harry’s repeated sword strikes, and smashed his knee against Harry’s head, knocking the sword, he kicked Harry in the face, and gave him a right hook, and Harry went flying back. James was licking his wounds, when he saw Harry launching a kick at him. Dodging the kick, He twirled around, backflipped, and upside down, kicked Harry on the side of his head. Harry’s face fell on the floor. But, he felt a jerk behind his navel as he fell on the damp of smelly attic floor. James looked up to see Carla.