World Walker Park [Magical Amusement Park Base-Building]

It took a day for an article in the Sneerhome Chronicle to be printed about the park's impending closure. It was a short piece, explaining everything Luka told Stell Metus, the demonic reporter with a growing collection of sunglasses. And while it was published on the front page of the paper, it was under the fold—a story about the mass-migration to Sneerhome by rich families was the more important story.

Apparently many nobles were buying property because of Princess Alexandra's actions. Sneerhome, and conversely World Walker Park, were now in. Whatever that meant.

Regardless, Stell's article was short, to the point, and painted the park in a favorable light.

So—when Luka went to open the park the next day, he assumed it was just another day. Annie and Vlad's wedding was in two days; the park's closure wasn't until after. A few more days until everything stopped and the real work began… or so he thought.

Vale caught him on the inside-the-park side of the gate. Normally, the eldritch-god-unholy-creature-thing spent the morning talking to regular park guests and handing out breakfast. Today, she looked disturbed.

"What's wrong?" Luka asked, trailing to a stop a few paces away.

"I—well." Vale snapped her mouth closed and grunted. "I just thought, as employee of the month, that you should hear it from me…"

She trailed off and Luka's stomach sank. "What's wrong?" he asked again, adding a hint more bite.

Her hand found her longish hair, twirling it uneasily. "I just—" She took a deep breath and said, "There are a lot of angry people."

"Angry why?"

"Because of the article!"

Luka frowned. He had read the article over breakfast. He thought it was well-written. "Meaning?"

"Why are you closing the park!?"

"To finish it?" He was missing something; he just knew it.

Vale stilled. "What do you mean?"

"The park's closing for two weeks so I can focus on finishing it. Then we're hosting a grand opening extravaganza or something."

Like she had just been punched in the gut, Vale tilted at her hip and spewed her breakfast onto the gravel road. "Sorry—I—" A hacking shudder filtered through her body and her eyes flickered dangerously and red. She shook her head, and they reverted, but not before throwing up again.

Luka was suddenly beside her, holding her upright and keeping her hair from the danger zone. "Vale, talk to me?" He grabbed the sick with his magic and threw it deep into the forest, cleaning the path perfectly.

"I was just—I was just so afraid. I thought—we thought—you were closing the park for good!" she croaked.

"And the sudden throwing up?"

"My nerves. I don't want the park to close, it's all I have."

Luka gently rubbed her back. "It's not closing permanently. Only until we can open for real. If you remember, the park never truly opened. We had a soft opening, but in a way this was always the plan."

"But the article—"

It was just then Luka noticed she had a copy clutched tightly in her hands. He took it from her and found Stell's words in question.

"WORLD WALKER PARK CLOSING! Says the World Walker himself! After a long and hard decision, it was decided that the world's newest and hottest entertainment and amusement park will be closing in a few days.

The decision did not come lightly and was always planned to close sometime soon after opening. The World Walker, and another source close to the administration of the park, both commented that this was the case and that they were surprised the park is as successful as it is.

This comes as a surprise so soon after the opening of the park's newest flagship 'themed land' called the Bestial Grove. Was this land too expensive? Was this land too difficult to maintain? Does the Bestial Grove have any say in the park's closure at all?

Here at the Chronicle, we asked these very questions…"

The article went on to give more background details and speculation on World Walker Park's finances.

Now that Luka was reading through the eyes of someone who didn't know the park was reopening, it sure did sound like it was closing forever.

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"Yeah… I need to contact Stell and have him write a retraction."

Vale shuddered with relief. "That's great news!"

Was it? How did this happen at all? Luka distinctly remembered telling Stell the park would reopen after two weeks. Was there some sort of miscommunication?

"I suppose I'll need to make an announcement," Luka mumbled to himself, walking forward. Vale was one step behind, smiling like a cat.

The park gate was a grand old thing after Luka's most recent renovations to the area. It was sitting under a train station with a parked train shining in the sunlight. They had plans to open the park every day using the train as a delivery vehicle, but since the track circuit was not fully built and connected, it was impossible to reset the train without asking for divine help. Apparently, when the gods copied the hulking iron beauty, they forgot to copy the reverse functionality.

That was typical when it came to the gods, Luka knew.

He then stumbled on a rock he knew was not there moments before. He glared at it. It glared back.

Luka sighed and climbed the stairs up to the top of the train station. Vale disappeared, off to tend to the crowd in a way only the employee of the month could—however that might be.

The crowd was massive, only dwarfed by the eight-times crowds of the faithful. Excluding those, the crowd today was the largest the park had seen. It could handle the large influx, specifically because of the Bestial Grove's size. As the park's newest land, it was designed in a way to handle large roaming groups of people and keep them entertained enough to maintain low queue times elsewhere.

People liked looking at animals.

Someone spotted Luka standing there and shouted at him—another soon followed, then another. Soon the whole crowd was complaining to Luka—who couldn't exactly make out what they were saying—yelling and groaning about the park's closure.

Clearing his throat, Luka took the magical microphone stick from his back pocket, solidified blocks of air above the crowd, and stepped out over them. The yelling ceased and he started his normal welcoming speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, mystics and mages, adventurers and explorers, welcome to our humble slice of the extraordinary—World Walker Park!"

He was met with blank stares and crossed arms.

Luka scratched his head and said, "I'm assuming you all saw the article, right?"

Many heads nodded, and many more deepened their frowns.

"I gave that interview yesterday, and well—I believe there was some sort of miscommunication—"

"So the park's not closing!?" someone yelled.

"No, it is—" Groans and yelling interrupted him. He waited a moment for it to die down. "The park is closing, that much is true, but only for two weeks."

The man who just yelled opened his mouth to protest, yet the words failed him.

"In fact," Luka continued, "we are planning to host a 'Grand Opening Extravaganza Party,' with limited time foods, souvenirs, and even a temporary attraction or two."

The attractions were likely going to be something simple, like a zero-gravity roller skating room powered entirely by simple glyph magic, or an Earthen car show sponsored by one of the gods. They were meant to be overflow attractions where the kids could blow off steam or the adults might be able to hide from the crowds for a little while—nothing special and only around for a limited time.

"What!?" someone else yelled.

Luka sighed. "Look, I'll completely level with you all. There was some sort of miscommunication or something with the article's editor. I'm not going to throw him under the bus or anything—"

"The what!?"

"A bus—" He gritted his teeth and said, "I'm not going to put the blame on the editor or anything like that. I don't remember all the specifics of the conversation, so maybe it was my fault. Regardless, the park is closing soon and will be reopening bigger, better, and with wildly more polish."

The crowd grumbled about, talking to their friends, family, and complete strangers about this turn of events. Some even put away their sharpened pitchfork—Luka made a note to point those few out to the security team.

All in all, the crowd seemed unconvinced.

"Tell you what," Luka said, "until the park closes, all drinks are half off."

A silent gasp echoed. Someone asked, "Including the alcohol?"

"Yes, including those."

The crowd cheered.

Luka sighed with relief, opened the gates, and welcomed everyone in for a second time. As they walked by, he kept his eyes out for a certain devil reporter.

Near the back of the main crowd, Luka found him—sunglasses placed tightly against his nose and eyes, head bowed in shame, and shoulders slumped.

"Stell," Luka said by way of a greeting, "what happened?"

The reporter kept his head low. "You've got to believe me, Luka, I tried to keep them from printing that. I told them it was purposefully misleading—and they didn't care. Edited it behind my back, too."

"The Chronicle did this, not you?"

Stell reluctantly shook his head. "We got a new primary editor for specifically all World Walker Park related things. And well—she's trying to maximize publicity on our relationship."

"By publishing misleading information?"

He looked up, eyes hidden behind dark glass. "She'll do anything to make her numbers go up. And trust me, when a paper releases an article touching on something controversial, it sells more."

Then quieter, more saddened, Stell added, "That's why I quit this morning. I told her it was either the fake article or me. Obviously she chose the article."

Luka faltered. He was ready to not exactly yell but sternly talk to Stell after this blunder. Now, he wanted to hug the man. Saving himself and Stell the awkwardness of that, he chose a different route.

"Hey Stell, you want a job? How does "Chief Editor of World Walker Press" sound?"

The man lurched on his feet. "You have your own press?"

Luka smiled. "We do now."