章節 95: Special Presentation. "An astronaut in the ocean. " Part 1.
Hello!
Welcome one and all, to the wonderful world of Enverdolmal!
Welcome back to the gates!
I hope that this latest installment finds you all well!
It is currently -5 degrees here in Milwaukee, WI.
This shit suuuuuuuuuuucks lol
I am a "Winter baby" but I don't really care for this much.
Snow doesn't bother me in the least, but this dry, bitter cold?
Hellz no.
I can't deal.
Especially as I find myself getting older.
I'll be 36 in just about two weeks!
How time flies, yeah?
Thank you all for 64.5K English views,
44.5K Spanish Reader views, and an additional 4.5K German Reader views!
That's just shy of 114,000 VIEWS!!!
I can't thank you all enough, now will I ever be able to I believe lol.
This next chapter is dedicated to (and based on) two of the most amazing kids that I have ever met!
For the past year or so they have run through my lobby nearly every day as their parents have made their way to and from work.
They have consumed my lunches, my dinners, any samples of candy, and even my heart.
One day they will be old enough to read and understand all of this lol
I hope that they love it.
I hope that I am alive and well to witness that love.
We will see, yeah?
Here's to a couple of tiny heroes.
The Adventures of Nonchalant and Captain Kneecaps!
I know what you all came for,
And I won't keep you!
I will see you all back here soon enough!
Enjoy.
-----
Mum and Dad had gone to bed
A while ago, they did.
And from their bunks,
-Two little heads-
To shadows, off they slid.
Noncha was the eldest boy.
With Neeka right behind.
Neeka was the stronger still.
While Noncha was the mind.
On nights like these
When clouds were many
The boys set out,
Their task aplenty.
The rain would not waylay their task
Their targets were quite numerous.
Each boy slipped on a silky mask
The moon could be quite luminous.
They had to keep their secret,
For the village could not know.
That these two were their "Twin Guardians."
The "West Wind." and "The Snow."
In Southern Lumaleza
There was a roving gang.
A group so vile and cruel and scat
It's hard to ascertain.
They were the Bloody Bucket Boys,
They'd go from door to door...
And those who didn't pay their price
Would all be left quite sore...
Their favorite thing to do to folks
Who could or would not pay,
Is so uncouth!
Depraved!
Unhinged!
So bad, I dare not say.
Tonight these men would meet their match
In these two modest boys.
Tonight these men would meet their end
To their heroic toys.
-----
A deep, dark shadow slid across the second-story window of the shabby home as the moon's light was temporarily obscured.
A storm was on the way...
As the shadows passed, two diminutive figures dropped with a silent plop onto the soft, damp patch of grass that was the front lawn of their family's shop.
Phase one was complete.
They had made it out of the house without being detected.
The night was still quite young, but not as young as they.
Noncha was but seven years of age, while Neeka was...well, as he would put it:
"Just completing his 5th year of existence..."
Neeka was not only the stronger but the stranger of the two brothers.
From birth he had been quite energetic, some would say that he was even as wild and active as three such children of his age combined!
Those folks had no idea how accurate they were.
Neeka was and would always be shorter than his elder brother Noncha, but his strength was nearly double that of any other child of his size. Even though it was often Neeka who started the fights, he was also always there to keep anyone from harming his sibling should trouble come their way.
His short, choppy hair was a dark shade of blond, his rosy cheeks bespeckled with tiny brown freckles.
His eyes were hard and wise for his age, a sign of his well-earned maturity.
They shown a fine and charming light blue, set lightly upon a small and perpetually scuffed, rounded face.
Neeka's temperament was thus that he was more inclined to blacking the eyes of his foes, versus his brother's more passive nature.
He had no tolerance or patience for those who would bully the weak and defenseless, and he was quick to let that be known and let blows be thrown.
Noncha was very much the mirror to his younger and more hyperactive sibling, and this fact was quite perplexing to the elder boy.
While his counterpart was often quick to judge and even quicker to take action, Noncha was more inclined to speculate before all else.
His mind had always been several steps ahead of all of the other children his age, and this had given him a particularly unfair advantage when it came to his ability to rapidly absorb information.
Unfortunately, Noncha had also been born quite ill and was prone to experiencing intense and debilitating headaches for the better part of his life up until the exact moment Neeka was born.
He had always been just a little thin for his age, and his frame had never seemed to gain or hold onto much muscle. His hair was a warm mix of chocolate brown and light burgundy, his eyes just as blue as those of his younger brother.
With Neeka's birth came a state of peace and internal silence within Noncha that the boy had never had the joy of beholding till that point, and with it came the awakening of his vast and awe-inspiring telekinetic abilities.
Neeka was strong, fast, and agile in his movements.
Noncha was not.
He was not one for physical combat, and it was more like him to talk his way out of situations that would call for anything more than an aggressive glair.
With that being said, only a fool would venture to underestimate him.
While Neeka excelled in tests of physical strength, speed, and agility, Noncha could weave a thread through several needles at once with but a thought and a slight donation of his vast amount of stored Aether.
His abilities were such that he and his brother just happened to make the perfect little pair of heroes.
And in their spare time, and often in the dead of night, that is exactly what they would look to be.
Noncha with his infallible telekinetic prowess would come to be known as Noko, the Western Wind, and his stalwart partner -and brother still- would come to earn the rather enduring title of "Captain Kneecaps!" due to his uncanny speed and martial skill.
On that damp and dreary night, our intrepid heroes would escape the confines of their home and head out into the yonder, looking to see what they could see.
Aiming to thwart what they could thwart!
----
The Bloody Bucket Boys had made a name for themselves.
They were nearly emotionless, they left their hearts on their shelves...
Each had been corrupted for an item or a price.
Each had made the darkest deals, had traded away their lives...
Tonight they would collect their dues and sate their master's call.
Tonight they would collect their take of blood from all the halls.
From every home, of blood or bone, a penance would be paid.
Or the next night, a horrid plight...to waste they would be laid.
This mid-sized town had paid them well,
Each month they left with brimful pails.
Their bloody buckets earned their name,
They dripped with greed and knew no shame.
Tonight was that night.
Was that night.
Was that night.
Said each Thug on the left
To each Thug on their right.
And as one they all stepped.
They all stirred.
They all shambled...
To extort the people
Or burn them like candles...
Every so often a home was selected
A home from which nary a drop was collected...
Every so often they set an example.
To ensure that everyone else gave a sample...
-----
Phase two was complete.
They had made it into position just in time.
From atop the second-story roof, the young boys watched.
The night had been rather uneventful at first, but alas the time had come.
The same time that came but once a month to this part of the slums.
Just around the corner were the Bloody Bucket Boys, their name derived from the tools of their awful trade.
The gruff and filthy gang who had shown up suddenly but months ago to this small town, in this perpetually damp and isolated part of Lumaleza.
Neeka was itching to get at them, his right hand clenching one of the handles of his oversized single nunchaku that was strapped to his little back.
His left hand fiddled with the smooth, silk mask that wrapped around his head and concluded with a thick knock at the back.
Noncha was conversely not in the mood to fight this evening.
He hadn't slept very well the night before, as the storms had brought with the wind and rain, great and rumbling thunder.
He was not a fan of the excessive noise or the way that the booming thunder had made the wooden beams and walls of his home rattle and shake.
Neeka had slept as a stone would.
He always had.
It was theorized that the boy could most likely sleep through an earthquake should one happen to strike in the dead of night.
He was a bubbling ball of energy while awake, and a leaden load of lumber while asleep.
Tonight he had more than enough energy to expend, and he didn't mind pulling his brother's share of the weight.
Below the pair and across the dimly lit alleyway, a group of five approached the first of the many houses they planned to visit that night.
Their clothes were loose and tattered for the most part with chipped, broken, and oversized pieces of armor to complement the garb.
They wore black and brown and grey from head to toe, and the lower half of their filthy faces were masked in a sheer veil that hid only partially their broken and rotten teeth.
Each wore a shallow hood, and each carried both a small bucket, and an extremely sharp dirk.
Noko and Captain Kneecaps would surely have their work cut out for them this evening.
-----
The first thug pounded the wood of the door,
And slowly it creeped open...
The lone woman who stood inside
Was worn-out, cold, and broken...
The man now before her
Lifted his bucket...
He drew forth a blade.
From wherever he'd tucked it...
With a soft, stifled groan,
And a wring of her hands...
She halfheartedly said:
"I can't meet your demands..."
"We ain't be no demons..."
The stupid thug said.
The woman's sentence
Had gone over his head.
"But I tell you this now..."
He said between his teeth.
"Both me boss and me boy's
Are all needin' to eat!"
She took a step back.
As he inched his knife forward.
Her fear grew quite quickly,
Her throat he moved toward.
The group of five men
Had now split into two
Two stood as the watch
The rest went to "make do."
-----
Just as the group split in two with the greater half forcing their way into the lone woman's home, the young heroes made their move.
They leaped in unison from the edge of the rooftop, their plan in motion before either of them drew close to the ground.
Noko calmly lifted his hands before him, his eyes shut, his head slightly tilted back.
His hands emitted a faint blue light as his Aether surged through his arms and upward-facing palms.
He focused his telekinetic abilities on himself and Captain Kneecaps, slowly lowering them to the ground. Before he let himself fall into the two men's line of sight, he slowed his brother just a bit and pushed the eager Captain forward by a foot or so, enough for him to land silently on the stares behind the impervious pair of lackeys.
"Hey! What are you about you little shit!?"
The first of the two shouted as both of the men caught sight of the apparently solo individual slowly descending before them.
Noko said not a word at first, his patience already at its lowest point this evening.
He set himself down before the two men while mentally drawing from his back his own singular nunchaku, the twin to his brother's chosen weapon.
"I would just leave if I were the two of you...alternatively, If I were you, I wouldn't have come in the first place..."
Noko said, his head tilting slightly to his left as his eyes opened and flared with brilliant blue Aether.
It was a mild suggestion at best.
He knew that they would never have made things easier for him by just taking his advice...
He slowly raised his left hand to his mouth, stifling his weary yawn.
The thugs exchanged confused and indignant looks with one another before they both dropped their buckets and leaped forward in unison, their blades leading the charge.
Noko gave a quick, sly grin.
His nunchaku snapped forward in a blur of motion.
The gap was closed.
-----
Captain Kneecaps touched down so softly on the stares that the two men had not a clue.
Their full attention was on his brother, and that made him all but invisible.
The three men had entered the house but a few seconds ago, and the door was still swinging shut as he made his landing.
He reached out quickly, silently stopping the door with his left hand before it could fully close.
It was just his luck that none of the thugs had decided to apply pressure from the inside, and more to his advantage that neither of them took notice of his small frame as he slipped around the legs of the last man to enter and rolled without a sound to the left and into the darkness of an unlit corner.
Before him and off to his left, the woman cowered as she sat on the edge of a crudely built bed.
She didn't appear to be much older than Neeka's own mother, the boy reckoned as he quickly took stock of the situation at hand and the room with which he had to work.
He could tell by the eager look in the men's eyes, and the twisted grins that each of them wore, that something really bad was about to happen.
Captain Kneecaps carefully calculated the distance between himself and the trio of men, the muscles in his legs tensing in anticipation of the approaching combat.
Just as he made his move, launching himself up and onto the top of the small table that was between himself and the nearest of the three men, he heard the muffled sound of Noko's voice off to his right and beyond the thin wooden door.
"...If I were you, I wouldn't have come in the first place..."
He caught the words in mid-air as he launched himself from atop the table after sliding across its surface at full speed, his nunchaku flashed forward faster than the average eye could track, catching the first of the three thugs off guard with a swift and relentless combo.
Noko's voice had caught the three thug's attention for but a second, and as one they turned toward the door in a single swift move.
He who had been closest to the helpless woman, was now furthest from the closed door, and his two companions stood at the ready with their backs to both him and their victim.
The Captain came at the solitary man in a flurry and from the lone thugs right.
He had but a second to react, his right foot shot back and he pivoted to meet the diminutive figure head-on. His right hand shot up to offer some form of resistance.
He was a second to late.
An armored knee slammed into the thug's right temple with enough force to take the man's head off.
His vision doubled for a split second as he took a handful of measure steps backward.
Before he could recover and mount a proper...well...ANYTHING, there was a subtle flash of something metallic, and the room before him went black.
Captain Kneecap's first blow to the man's head had sent him reeling for just long enough for him to snap his nunchaku from its sheath and bring it to bear in a pair of vicious, downward-spiraling blows.
He let himself drop with the body, landing atop the man's stomach as he hit the floor in an unconscious state.
The thump that their landing generated, paired with the sudden squeak of surprise from the startled woman was enough to turn the remaining thugs on their heels.
It took but a pair of seconds for the both of them to take in the sights before they realized that a hostile was in the room.
Their blades were in motion before their feet.
That was more than enough time for our vigilant Captain.
In a brilliant show of dexterity, the boy whipped the nunchaku to his left and around his neck, the opposite end of the weapon snapped around in a quick circle and intercepted the first of the two incoming attacks.
The first of the two men was thrown off by the excellent parry, his attack flying wide and to his right, missing the boy's head by more than a foot.
The second thug came on fast and low, his blade razor-sharp and thirsty.
Captain Kneecaps spun with the momentum of his first swing, his left foot snapping out in a high roundhouse kick that caught the man's thrust at the wrist and forced his blade into the path of his partner to his right.
The first thug's left hand shot out, catching the incoming blow before it could impale him in the stomach.
He flipped his deadly, deflected blade over in his right hand, reversing the grip in a flash before bringing the weapon down and over his partner's arm in a scorpion-like chop.
The boy saw this coming as well, his reflexes and reaction time being thrice that of the average human. He took up his nunchaku in both hands, spread his feet to shoulder-width, and caught the incoming attack above his head.
The tip of the man's plunging blade came to a halt but inches from his small, sweaty face as his strength was countered by Neeka's own.
The boy locked eyes with the first thug, then shot the second a sly wink from behind the black silk mask.
"Try again?"
He asked sarcastically, his words dripping with condescendence.
With a grunt from the boy, a roar of protest from both thugs and a blur of blades and chained batons, the trio separated.
The two took several steps back, wearily eyeing the small figure before them.
Gaging their unnaturally skilled opponent.
Captain Kneecaps chanced a quick glance over his shoulder.
The woman had moved to his left and into a dark and distant corner of the small living space.
That was all the better, he thought to himself.
One less thing to worry about.
Immediately behind the boy and slightly to his left, the very first thug had awoken and with the boys back to him, he made a move.
His left hand shot out and latched onto the armored ankle that was just within reach, his right hand shooting forward like a bolt of lightning.
A blow aimed at Neeka's lower back.
In the blink of an eye, Neeka kicked his left foot forward, dragging the man with it so great was his strength, and so tight was the assailant's grip.
His right hand snapped his nunchaku up and over his right shoulder, and around his back in a graceful yet powerful arch, the other end slapping smoothly into the boy's extended left hand.
He kept the momentum and yanked the weapon up in a devastating uppercut that connected with the prone and surprised figure's right temple, blasting him into the afterlife before he could react.
Captain Kneecaps gave the body a quick glance before looking back to the remaining two, the color seemed to drain from their faces.
"Where were we?"
He asked.
-----
Hey! hey!
I hope that this is more than enough for you all!
I hope that the rest of your year goes well and that your next year is amazing!
I MIGHT see you all back here soon lol
We will see what the rest of this year brings.
Head on over to Facebook to see some pretty cool character art AND an evolving world map!
I will also be launching an Instagram with the same O.L.K. namesake, so be on the lookout in 2025!
I love you all, and I will see you next year, yeah!?
Till then, and as always!
Safe travels.
Stay safe.
Stay healthy.
Stay vigilant.
-Redd.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票