Well, Santa knows where all the Bad Girls live.
But I know what's going on with Dante.
Would you like to know?
I bet you would!
Okay!
Chapter 12 Yay!
After the initial push from Orion, I felt a brief sensation of falling. I guess you could say that it was the kind of fall you expected to be in for quite some time, like you jumped off the high dive at a pool and knew you were in for a longer than usual fall.
Instead, the fall lasted about half a second, and I landed with an unceremonious and unimportant thud in a new place.
I took in my new surroundings. Straight ahead of me there was a dull and lifeless mudokon village. It looked like any mudokon village you’d ever see. But there was something … unnerving about it. It took about three seconds to catch on: there was absolutely no color whatsoever in the entire village. Everything was in shades of black, white, and gray. The huts, the fires, the grass, the birds, the firewood, the trees, the sky, and the mudokons were all colorless. It was as if I was watching an old television set. I had to suppress a deep urge to cry out.
Instead, I turned around to see what had befallen the rest of the landscape. Thankfully, it was in full color. It just … happened. There was no fading between colors and black-and-white, there was just a line. There could’ve been a sign put up that read “No Color Beyond This Point.” But that is all unimportant. What I saw there was a vast and powerful river. It had to have been two miles wide, and I’m sure it would take a severely long time to travel from the source of the river and where it met the ocean. I was surprised it hadn’t been drained by the glukkons, but just as I thought of this it occurred to me that the glukkons had no idea that it even existed. Far across the river I could see smoke from small campfires—Rotag. Orion was probably over there, looking right at me.
Well, good. Let him see me begin my quest! Huzzah!
I turned and was about to march right into the colorless town (which I remembered to be called Oblim) and I stumbled. I had already forgotten how depressing this place looked. Instead of turning back, I just sucked in a huge breath (not knowing how that was supposed to help me, but I did it anyways) and marched forward.
No one stopped me until I reached the center of town. A light gray mudokon moped along, and when he noticed me, he didn’t say “Hello,” he simply let out a long, terrible, depressing sigh.
I instantly felt a wave of sadness overcome me. Great Odd, what could’ve possibly upset this mudokon so much? I felt so sorry for him. I made my way over to him, at what I hoped was a non-intimidating pace, and he decided it was safe to greet me.
“Hello,” I said. “Are you okay, buddy?”
The mudokon sighed again, and I felt that same pain overcome me, but weaker. “My name is Boomer, and no, I am not okay. Everything just … kinda … kinda sucks.”
I was genuinely hurt by this. I mean, I think back now and realize, what the hell? Sure life sucks, but that’s no reason to wander around infecting people.
Which is what he was doing; I was slowly becoming depressed just talking to this guy. I noticed this when I reached up to rub sweat from my forehead; my paw was slowly turning a dark gray.
Okay, I thought, I’m turning gray. Don’t panic. I have to cheer this guy up before I do anything. He’s more important to me right now; no one that is this depressed should be left alone.
So I spoke again. “Alright, Boomer, what makes you feel like everything sucks? Did something bad happen to you?”
I thought I saw a brief gleam of hope in his eyes when I said this, and I thought, Progress!
“Well … I’ve seen so many people just walk on through here without ever bothering to check up on anyone here. I suppose you’re on your way to complete the Mudokon Trials, too, huh?”
I winced. I didn’t think it mattered, but it seemed to matter to Boomer. “Well, yes, but—”
Boomer let out a monstrous wail, and began to pummel himself. It was disturbing to watch: he just started slamming his fists into his face. He was merciless!
“Stop that!” I shouted. And, thankfully he did, but I don’t know if it was out of fear or because he knew a command when he heard it.
Wait … was I commanding him? I suddenly thought of Abe … how he directed countless mudokons with no effort. Well, why not?
“Okay, Boomer. I know that life sucks. I know it very well. I just recently escaped from the Tastee Treets Factory because the glukkons there want to make me and my friends into cheap food for their stock animals. In doing so I lost an arm, was coated in crap, suffered multiple stabs from fleeches, and was finally shot and killed, only to watch my own body drown.
“But do you know something? I died watching the Moon. I survived. I have a purpose. And it is my firm belief that things happen for a reason, Boomer. All of us—mudokon, glukkon, slig, slog, whatever—have something to accomplish in life. You are just depressed because you haven’t found your purpose yet.
“So you need to figure out what you want to do with yourself. You can mope around here, moaning and groaning, or you can go and do something. And keep this in mind: no matter how sucky you think things are, someone else is out there who has things even worse.”
Boomer sat and listened intently. And I swear on Mother Sam’s name, I could literally see the color returning to his skin. His gray tone became a bright green. The black feathers on his head became a deep red. His loincloth made a hardly noticeable change from dark gray to deep brown. His white eyes became a healthy yellow and orange.
And he was smiling.
“Hey, everybody!” Boomer suddenly shouted. “Check out this guy! This guy—” He looked over at me. “What’s your name, Blue?”
“Dante.”
Shouting again. “This guy Dante! He brought Happy!”
I almost burst out laughing, but decided it would be best not to. If I laughed, he might interpret it as me thinking he was stupid, and he’d lapse back into depression.
Eager mudokon faces poked out of doors and windows. Faces were already gaining slight color in hopes that I could bring “Happy” to them.
And to encourage them, I spoke: “It’s true! This is Boomer, as I am sure you all know. I just showed him how much there is to live for, and how much worse off some people are.”
As I spoke, the mudokons stepped out of their huts, eager to hear me speak. Feeling empowered, I continued.
“There isn’t any reason to slink around and complain—you guys have it a lot better than I did where I came from.”
“Where are you from?” A random voice from the gathering crowd.
“I was raised in Tastee Treets Factory, and it literally cost me my life to get out.”
There were varied gasps and cries when I said Tastee Treets. But I definitely had the full attention of the crowd.
I told my whole story to this crowd, and was amazed at the way the color snuck into their skin. There had to be at least fifty mudokons here, all listening to me speak. It made me feel pretty important. Like I had an effect on their lives.
As I continued speaking …
“… and I have a purpose in my life. I know what I have to do. There is something for me to accomplish. And that is what you all need to do! Find purpose, Find meaning. And you guys know something?”
A unanimous “What, Dante?”
“Everything has a purpose! From the lowly slurg to the mighty scrab, every living thing has a purpose, and Fate will help it to complete its task!”
The mudokons really enjoyed this. There was a massive and triumphant cheer from the crowd.
And as they cheered, a wave of bright and healthy color issued forth from all of them. It screamed into the sky. It was almost like paint splashing onto a canvas. Color bloomed everywhere. Skies of blue, clouds of white, grass of green, huts of brown. All the colors came from the freshly enlightened crowd of mudokons. I wish I could explain the joy in their faces when they realized what was happening. Their cheering only redoubled, and I felt a very deep, very complete satisfaction.
An old mudokon that could only have been the chief of the village stepped forth. His feathers were long and ragged, and his face was sagging, but he was still full of life.
“Young Mister Dante, I am the chief of this poor village—” (my suspicious confirmed, I thought with some humor) “—and I want to thank you on behalf of us all. I want you to know that I, Patch, swear our village into your allegiance for all time. If there is anything we can do for you, simply name it.”
I thought for a moment, and thought up an abrupt request.
“Well,” I began, and showed him my earring. “Can you tell me what I can do with this?”
Patch’s eyes widened. Not in fear, but in understanding. “Absolutely. Come with me.”
He took me through the crowd of still cheering mudokons and into a small, out of the way hut. Without a word, or even a glance back at me, he walked in. And I, obviously, followed.
Inside was a tall totem pole. Carved on it were the faces of paramites and mudokons.
“Give me your earring, Dante.”
I remembered Orion’s warning. Guard it with my life, he said. “Absolutely not,” I said. “I was told to guard this.”
Patch nodded. “Very well. Place it inside the middle paramite face.”
I looked at the pole and it struck me how lifelike the face was. I hesitated for only a second—instinct overcame me for just that long—then I removed my earring and placed it inside the paramites maw.
At first there was nothing. Then, an unimpressive green flash, and no more.
“It is done!” Patch cried. “You have earned the Spirit of the Paramite!”
I raised an eyebrow. “The Spirit of the Paramite, eh? What’s it do?”
Patch talked right through me. “This is amazing! I never get over this. The power to actually become a paramite, now that is just fantastic! I mean—”
“Hold it!” I cried. “Become a paramite? What do you mean?”
Patch stopped. “You haven’t been told about this earring?”
I shrugged. “A mudokon named Orion gave it to me. But he said he didn’t know anything about it.”
Patch smiled wide. “Well, I’ll have to tell you all about it, won’t I?”
And he did.
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