Chapter 2 — Pt.1
Henry Willowstone, the commoner groundskeeper, now fashionably turned into a bowl of cereal, accompanied by his royal bowlness, Lord Marcos himself, made their way through a well lit path, with benches on its sides and a nice array of forest trees, while the dense jungle made itself less dense and dense by the stroll, and a small opening could now be seen at the end of the path. After a few steps, the ground path was replaced with a well paved street, with yellow markings in the middle. Henry was impressed by everything he was witnessing. Slick wooden slab benches neatly placed along the trail, luminous phosphorescent white lamps with a slight curve at the top of the pole lit the way as the two bowls of cereal could now see what must be a city center.
Suddenly, Lord Marcos stopped in its tracks, and signaled Henry to do the same. “Do you hear that?” asked his cereal majesty. Henry stopped for a minute and listened carefully. He could hear the chattering noises of two people coming closer and closer to them. “Quick Henry, hide behind that bush” said Lord Marcos while pointing to a side bush on the left side of the path. Henry nodded and ran quickly towards the signaled bush. He hid back, and saw Lord Marcos hid behind a bench not too far from him, but definitely closer to the road than Henry. Not long, a couple holding hands and laughing about something came flashing into the light thanks to the street lamps. The cheerful couple were walking side by side, laughing and joking as they walked by. Henry saw Lord Marcos signal to him to remain silent, by placing his index finger on his lips. The young couple were both wearing jackets and jeans, while the man wore dirty white shoes, the lady alongside him wore fashionable sneakers.
Henry was intrigued about what Lord Marcos was possibly thinking. Yet he didn’t have to think for long, for as soon as the bright couple walked somewhat near to the bench Lord Marcos was hiding behind, he jumped, like a springboard coming to life, splashing pristine white milk, and fedora-like cereal hats atop his head, as he yelled, with both arms extended open: “SURPRISE”.
In a matter of seconds, the cheerful couple became petrified and froze in shock at what they had just seen. Milliseconds later, they both let out a gasping scream of terror, until they both fell on the ground in a deep slumber. Lord Marcos waved at Henry to join him, as he approached the fainted bodies in the ground, and removed the nice fancy jacket from the man, and told Henry to remove the jacket from the lady. Instinctively, Lord Marcos placed the newly acquired jacket on top of his head and instructed Henry to do the same. The once stunningly peculiar bowls of cereal, were now unrecognizable thanks to their new disguise. Each bowl of cereal wearing jackets to hide from the people, finally exited the neat path and found themselves in the middle of an open road with two story houses behind the streets, a park in the corner of the road, an opening to the sea and a distant harbor and port to the right side, and staring into the left was something that truly caught Henry´s eye. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He was so captivated by what he was seeing that he almost dropped his jacket in order to get a better look. “Henry!” yelled Lord Marcos who was now a few meters ahead of him, “What did I tell you?! Quit getting distracted and follow me”, exclaimed his cereal royalty. Henry shook his bowlish head, as if trying to wake up from a distorted dream, and correctly placed the jacket on top of his head again. Yet, he couldn´t let his mind escape asking him what it was that he just saw. At a distant corner, hundreds, if not thousands, of Grand Towers reached the sky.
Before Henry could get a better look of the many Grand Towers that the East had to offer, Lord Marcos took a sharp turn left on the main road, and Henry quickly followed in suit. After catching up to him, Henry noticed that they now found themselves in a dark alley, with trash on the ground all around them. The only thing that could help them escape that terrible smell of the dark alleyway were the sweet juices emanating from the milk on top of their bowlish heads. However, the sound of rats and mice quickly made Henry realize that his milk could land him in more trouble than any actual benefit. Lord Marcos led the way, as he went down a suite of stairs and then took another sharp turn right into another corridor, yet this one had some lighting coming from one flashing lamp pole.
“Henry, I know all of this must seem strange, or out of ordinary, but there is a simple answer to all of this…” said Lord Marcos, until he was interrupted by a fascinated Henry: “I just saw a hundred Grand Towers, all splattered together”
“Yeah about that, listen Henry…”
“The Colony´s treasury must be racking good business in the East then” deduced Henry. Lord Marcos stared at his commoner companion for some time, and then turned his back to him and continued walking. “Remember Henry, no distractions”. Lord Marcos stared into an opening that led back to the main street where Henry noticed the patch of Grand Towers. However, he walked back, as if he didn’t like what he saw, and decided to get back to the corridor and take a left into another dark alleyway. Yet again Lord Marcos stared back into the main road, and back again he stepped into the shadowy alleway. This procedure endured for almost through multiple smaller passageways for an hour, until finally, Lord Marcos peaked his round head, and decided to step out.
The main street was now filled with trees, two story houses and no Grand Towers in the distance to observe. A heavy forest at the top of a hill blocked any shot of getting a look at the batch of Grand Towers seemingly planted together. The bowls of cereal, covered underneath the jackets they acquired from less fortunate others, could easily pass by any wanderers and regular folks without creating a scene or causing havoc, as any glimpse into the bowlish companions could resolve in a complete disaster. They walked past strangers who in Henry´s eyes, seemed only to be worried about small black devices with shiny lights. People stumbled into the bowls with frequency, at times spilling milk into the grounds only to go unnoticed by the weary bystanders, as they held these slick devices close to their faces and seemed to walk without seeing where they were going like it was normal.
Henry stayed close by to his cereal majesty, hoping to avoid another reprimand from Lord Marcos. Lord Marcos walked through small crowds of people, avoiding gathering attention to themselves, and Henry, following close behind, was able to at times, peek around the jacket on top of his roundish head and observe the good looking two-story buildings, with ordained designs and elegant architecture. The buildings had nice paintings like sky light blue, and light orange, always portraying royal white marble accessories. Wherever they were in the East right now, Henry figured it must be somewhere royals inhabit, yet he couldn’t figure out why these regular folks and strangers were allowed near these pristine homes. Henry wasn’t about to stop and ask Lord Marcos about this, yet he would keep it in the back of his mind. It wasn´t until Lord Marcos took another sharp turn, this time to the right of the neat street with elegants buildings, into another dark alley. The alleyway was filled with graffiti, Henry noticed that plants were growing out of the broken ground and deeper into the alleyway, abandoned homes awaited them. Henry realized that the abandoned and broken buildings ahead were of the same kind as the elegant and pristine buildings he just observed in the main street, but time without care and cleaning had turned these prestigious buildings into broken shackles.
Lord Marcos led the way until he suddenly stopped in the middle of the broken road and stared into a decrepit building in front of him. The building had an old, weathered sign that had fallen down and was now gathering dust and earth in the ground. The crumbling building seemed abandoned and didn´t show any signs that anyone had entered it in a long while. Lord Marcos grabbed with a tight hold a rolled piece of parchment fastened with a rubber band and whispered: “This is it…”, Henry carefully approached Lord Marcos, but before he could say anything Lord Marcos looked at the commoner directly in the eyes and said: “We are going inside Henry..”
“Uh, sir… Are you sure this is the correct place? I mean, there were better houses back there…” said Henry pointing to the back alley, “I don’t think there’s anyone inside, sir”.
“There is Henry,” answered Lord Marcos. “Stay sharp and don´t look around too much. He doesn’t like it” And with that said, Lord Marcos took a royal first step and entered the decrepit, almost crumbling, abandoned building, with a largely worried Henry close behind him. Together, the two bowls of cereal will try to find answers as to what happened on the island, inside this mysterious building.
