The Beginning (Pt 2.)

After hearing a loud scream from her owner, Derby hurries in pain to assist Henry, but once she reaches there, Henry is passed out in the ground with a large round figure lurking above him. As the old wounded shepherd dog saw the strange figure almost hovering above his owner, she began to bark in what could only be pure cold fear, grounding the dog to a shiver in despair. Until a familiar voice raised her small ear in caution:

- Calm down Derby. You´ll get us killed, go! LEAVE!

The dog was shocked in terror and confusion. It wasn´t until a small well-polished shoe stomped the ground with authority that brought the old shepherd dog back to reality

-Go home Derby! NOW!

Instinctively Derby listened, as if it wasn’t her first time following a command, and left in a suffering hurry whose barking moans could be heard until she left. All poor Henry could remember while being dragged before falling into a deep slumber was the reflection of the sunset on what seemed to be a rounded mirror.

*The night passes in silence after the attack and we now meet with Henry at an unknown location.

Henry now wakes up in a daze, confused as to what happened, wondering if it was just a dream he had. That suspicion was quickly shattered as he heard the sound of birds in the sky and the roars of waves besides him. Henry was covered in sand and all he could see were birds in the sky, the blinding sun on his face and the sound of thundering waves. It seemed louder and harsher, unlike anything he has ever heard before. Then he hears a voice call to him:

-“Hey Henry! Are you up?” — Asked the voice.

The familiar voice who attacked him raised Henry´s consciousness enough to shake his head and look around. He couldn’t believe what he saw. This surely must be some sort of freakish dream, or he accidentally ate one of Miss Pumklin´s treats, for before him, stood a giant bowl of cereal for a head wearing a tuxedo and pulling a knot with a rope on a wooden pole on what could only be the front of a boat. The rocky boat only amounted to chunks of milk along with cereal constantly jumping around on the bowlish head. As Henry stood perplexed, he noticed that the cereal on the bowl were small fedora-like hats.

- “Henry there is no time”, and the bowl of cereal tossed him a small weathered map wrapped with a rubber band.

Henry looked at the living, breathing bowl of cereal with a stern face as if he almost found familiar the voice coming from his mouth.

-“Lord Marcos? Is that- Is that you?” — Asked Henry, confused beyond his wildest dream.

-“Yes Henry, it’s me. Now I understand this all seems very strange…”

-“Very strange?! YOUR HEAD IS A FUCKING BOWL OF CEREAL!”

-“Yeah… Well oh have I a surprise for you”.

Lord Marcos himself, his highness, member of the Royal Court and Counselor to the Governor of the Colony, and Secretary Treasury, whose head was now a bowl of cereal filled with mini hats, extended a mirror to the horrified Henry.

Henry grasped in awe. He stood shaken and crooked to the bone. He was looking at himself, but instead of recognizing his face, he saw a giant bowl of cereal, with big eyes, and straw milk dripping from the right side. Henry had become a bowl of cereal as well.

- “What happened to us?”

- “We’ve become bowls of cereal Henry” Replied Lord Marcos confidently.

Henry placed his hand on his mouth as he grasped for air in shock “Oh my God”.

- “Listen Henry, everyone´is in danger. In grave, grave danger”.

Henry looked around the boat and sea, trying to grasp the reality of the situation. The sun had now faded to a comfortable degree, and the shade from the boat sail hit his cereal bowl of a face with great refreshness. He finally grabbed the courage to stand up, and asked: “Where are we going?”

- “You see that far off land?” Aked Lord Marcos as pointed to a distant patch of terrain.

- “Yeah” replied Henry.

- “That’s the East, we need to get there and meet some people. It may be our only way to find a solution.”

- “How did this happen?” Asked Henry with a tone of sadness in his voice. Lord Marcos stared at the despaired Henry. He then bowed his head in discomfort. “I don´t know”.

- “My God, the people. Are they all going to- going to….”

- “Turn into bowls of cereal?” Lord Marcos looked away from Henry and glanced at the sea. “My best guess says so”.

- “Wait a minute” said Henry, “One minute I was myself, next thing I know… I wake up and I’m a goddamn bowl of cereal in a boat in the middle of nowhere”.

- “I can explain…” said Lord Marcos calmly, “after you fainted, I picked you up and brought you with me to the harbor. In the process of bringing you here, you turned into a bowl of cereal as well” explained his lordship while now leaning on the boat sail. “It was quite gruesome to be honest. I thought you’d liked being knocked out for that one. Mine was painful too. And disaster almost happened, I had to sit you down in a corner because your milk started to drip out”

- “My milk?” asked Henry as he simultaneously regretted sticking his fingers inside his bowl of cereal, as a sharp pain rocked his entire system.

- “Yeah your milk, I have a bad feeling about losing it” Answered Marcos with a straight look.

- “How are we going to fix this? I mean, we are literally bowls of cereal. We have milk in our head, you have little hats for cereal. This is all so crazy!”

- “Forget that for now Henry, the people are in danger.” demanded Lord Marcos.

- “Wait, what about the Colony´s authorities? Aren’t they trying to fix this as well?”

Lord Marcos looked at Henry like any nobleman would look an incompetent moron, but then quickly glanced away, as if a quick thought had entered his head. “I guess so, but we must try our part as well”

- “And what are we supposed to do in the East?” Asked Henry cluelessly.

- “I might have an idea, but it’s too early to tell”

As Henry looked at the distant land that awaited them, a crucial thought popped up in his mind. He realized this was his first time leaving the colony. Leaving his home. For the first time, Henry found himself outside the familiar borders he called home. The commoner groundskeeper, whose life had seen nothing but toil and labor, suddenly felt a rush of excitement he hadn´t experienced in a long while.