NOVEL NEXT X2.5.1 - The Android of Downside Up City
X2.5 – THE SEVEN WONDERS TOURNAMENT
X2.5.1 - The Android of Downside Up City
Roa felt a sweet water flow down his throat. His eyes shot open.
"What are you giving me?" he shouted, sitting up, noticing the vial of Ambrosia in Indigo's hand. He grabbed it from her and violently threw it on the ground, shattering it into a thousand pieces. "I told you that I don't want to grow any younger. I need to use my aura."
The others stared at him without saying anything.
"That was our last vial," Indigo said in a resigned tone. "If you go to that tournament and fight, you will die, Roa."
"If we don't win that tournament, reality is as good as dead anyway. So, what's the point? Why would I hold back? I have no past as it is—so what if now I also don't have a future either?" the boy shouted. "I'm nobody, remember?"
"You're a stubborn idiot," said Rosso. "That's what you are."
"Where the hell are we?" the Sunflower asked, ignoring his friend's remark.
"We made it to Parallel Valley, Sunflower," Elevar explained calmly.
"What? You said there were at least four Exits between us," the boy from Earth said with a confused look on his face, causing the others to glance at each other.
After some time, Elevar spoke again, and said, "you've been out for days. We carried you here through all four worlds we went through. Indigo is correct. You don't have much time left. I advise we reach the Celestial Dojo as soon as possible. We can fight in the tournament, but you should not. There should be another spring of Ambrosia in Grand Market. We should head there soon after. That may be your only hope—"
"I already told you that I don't want to grow any younger. You've already forced a few years off of me without my consent," the boy shouted back. "We are going to the tournament, and I will fight in it, and that's the end of it."
Roa woke up the next day and stumbled to the mirror. Every step felt heavy, and his breath was laborious. He stared at himself.
"From like fifteen years old—back down to like thirteen. Damn it," he manifested the Compass, noticing a tiny, weak flame barely move. He stared at his body. It was more than half covered with the disease at this point. The discoloration was now reaching up toward his jaw. "Soon, I will be a monster. The Lord will have won, and all my fears and insecurities will have been true all along. Little, tiny, cruel prophecies in my head foreseeing my destiny. So much for dreams and hope. So much for a better world," he said, as a tear fell down his cheek.
It wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair at all. After all he had done, after all the effort—none of it seemed to matter. He was just—nobody—floating in the immensity of Existence. Just a speck of dust, soon to be blow away by some wind with no name, insignificant as ever.
The boy walked out of the inn and into the busy streets of the city. His head spun when he noticed a desert above him, where the sky should have been.
"What the hell is this place?" he said out loud.
"Welcome to Downside Up City! Parallel Valley's best place," said a man wearing a suit. His head was an eight-ball, which turned slightly toward the boy, as if staring at him.
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"Uhm—thank you," Roa stuttered.
He glanced around, finding himself surrounded by a bustling city filled with odd characters. A wizard passed him by. It was wearing a long, starred cloak, and its head was a pink cloud with eyes and a smile. Another local looked like a large beer can with arms and legs, waddling about next to the boy.
"Excuse me," Roa asked it.
The beer can stopped moving, and cracked open its top, fizzing out foam which turned into a muscular-shaped man of sorts.
"What?" it said, with an angry tone and a deep voice the boy was not expecting.
"Sorry—which way to the tournament?"
The can pointed in the distance at the upside down, pink desert below, and said, "two weeks—that way."
The boy stumbled about the city, aimlessly. His head was lost in an avalanche of negative thoughts, not realizing that he had gotten lost. Two strange-looking men came out from an alley, running. They held on to a bag.
"Stop them! They stole my stuff," shouted an elderly woman appearing from behind the corner.
Roa glanced back at them and used Haste, appearing in front of them, opening his arms wide open.
"Give it back, you two," he said.
"Get out of our way," said one, punching him in the gut.
The boy let out a grunt, leaning over from the pain, then standing straight up again as he caught his breath.
"I said give it back," he repeated. "Don't make me hurt you."
The two laughed, kicking him down to the floor. One placed his boot on his chest, and said, "stay down, freak. You look like you're with one foot in the grave already. Don't make me push your other one in it."
"Ugh…" the two grunted, falling onto the ground, suddenly unconscious.
The boy looked up, but the sun shone in its face. He could see a large silhouette towering in front of him.
"It's you—Sunflower," the stranger said, causing Roa's head to tilt back, and lay on the ground.
"Great," he said out loud, not moving or even attempting to figure out who it was. He expected the worst, and responded, "yes, it's me. You found me. All of you found me—problem is, whatever it is you are after, that you want to ask the Dreamer, won't become real—because I don't remember anything, let alone the way to the Heart of Hearts."
Metal steps clanked next to him, until the stranger stood right above him, tilting down, revealing the body and face of a robot. Its head looked like an old fashion television, and its body parts seemed like scrap parts taken from a salvage yard.
"It is you!" the robot said.
"Do we know each other?" Roa asked, shielding his eyes from the sun.
"It's me—Thero!"
"Thero? The little, robotic ball we found at the Hole prisom in Grayshroud? Why do you look like that?"
"I did a few upgrades! Do you like it?" Thero said, helping the boy to his feet. "You don't look so good."
"I know. Thanks for reminding me. What happened to you? I haven't seen you in years."
"My battery ran out of energy after Ardor's Forge was opened. I was out cold for several months when some random local plugged me and charged me up again. Why did you leave me?" Thero asked, the eyes drawn on his screen opening wide, and staring into Roa's.
The boy did not know what to say. He had just realized that they had completely forgotten about the robot.
"I'm sorry, Thero. We are horrible friends. In all the commotion, we sort of—left you behind," he said, placing his hand on the robot's metal shoulder.
"It's alright, Sunflower. I forgive you. Would you like me to bring you to the others?" he said.
"Who are the others?"
"Nirvana, the white rabbit, C-Saw, and several other Jumpers who have joined up and are heading to the tournament," Thero explained.
"Yes, bring me to them, but first, we must go get my crew," Roa said.
"Sunflower—" the robot scanned the boy, "your life expectancy is extremely low. If my calculations are correct—you should have about two months of life left in you."
"Well—two months is enough to win this damn tournament," Roa said.
The next day, Thero, Roa, Rosso, Indigo and Elevar left the city, and entered the desert. Downside Up City was a massive metropolis completely upside down, floating in the distance above the pink dunes. Parallel Valley was a strange place. It reminded Roa of the Outerworks, except much more stable and less dangerous.
"How far are we from the Dojo?" Indigo asked Elevar.
"If I remember correctly, we should take about two weeks if we use Pan's Gift all the way there," he said, as the group walked in the sand under the scorching sun.
"Let's not waste time, then," Roa said.
"Wait—look," Rosso pointed in the distance. "Someone's coming."
The group stared at a large plume of sand growing in the distance.
"It's a group of bikers, it looks like," Indigo said.
"Yeah—are you picking up on those auras though?" said Rosso.
"Yeah, they're huge. Someone really powerful is coming our way. Stay sharp, in case they are looking for trouble," Roa said, preparing for the worst.
The bikes roared past them, then turned, enveloping the travelers in a dust storm. They were surrounded. A woman shouted in the dust, "we are looking for a boy with white hair. Have you seen him?"
"Here we go again," Roa thought.