Sebastian’s Revenge

I picked myself up from underneath the tree where I was resting and climbed onto my best friend. My horse Bessie. I looked up at the horizon and saw burgundy clouds floating softly underneath the bluish rays of the sun. The skyline of the mountains looked like drinking fountains for the gods, as they spat glittering water from their peaks. I stared in amazement; as aqua flowed beautifully down those mountainous peaks and disappeared in its crevasses, like it had been my first time seeing Unitas, its nature, and all its glory. 

I looked up into the tree that I was laying under, and spotted the red fedor that woke me up, sitting on a tree branch. It had stopped squawking, of course it did, now that I was awake, and it was giving itself a bath. I admired how the bird worked diligently through the uncomfortableness that came along with lodging its own head in between its breast and wing, and licking away at its own red feathers. 

Im actually glad the red fedor woke me. I was having the worst dream. I dreamt that I was down to my very last Brighton. It makes me cringe to even think about moving about the land of Unitas, with only a single Brighton to live with. Never! I believe the horrible dream was etched into my mind by Sebastian. Allow me to explain. 

Earlier, I travelled over the Tappan Bridge into the village of Nook, to visit my new girlfriend Lyn. Lyn is a female that I would refer to as a seductress. Interestingly enough, she also happens to be Sebastian’s ex-mistress. He abandoned his affair with Lyn and recommitted to his wife Hope, because Lyn was beginning to want more than just a secret affair. 

Now, It may appear that Lyn and I conspired a relationship together in efforts to hurt Sebastian, and there may be some truth to that, but there is no denying that Lyn is with the most entertaining night festival performer in all of Unitas! That’s right, it’s me! 

But Back to what happened earlier. Bessie and I picked up Lyn and we rode over to Kings Tavern which is exclusively for Elites. We spiritedly drank spirits, so much so that I ended up standing on top of our table confessing my love to Lyn; who sat blushing and smiling at me in a tipsy stupor, slightly embarrassed at my behavior. She politely beckoned me to get down, and as I jumped down from the table top, the moment my feet hit the floor, in comes Sebastian into the Tavern.

The tailored cloak he was wearing was glowing. An assembly line of adjacent primary colors, like his seamstress had taken a rainbow from the sky and stitched it on the garment. Hope walked in beside him. Her locks flowed beautifully. She looked like a goddess. She was wearing a white blouse with the first three buttons open, and a braw that raised her honey colored bosom into plain sight. She stood proudly by Sebastian’s side. 

A gust of wind, which I am almost certain Sebastian concocted for theatrics, flowed past them and flaunted his cloak. The wind waved the tail end of Hope’s dress, and it waved the blue streamer that was tied around Sebastian’s head, both, like a flag on a pole on a windy day, as they entered the Tavern. Everyone stood up at their presence, except for Lyn and I.  

After being greeted by all of their admirers in the Tavern they walked over to our table. I rolled my eyes for him to see unimpressed by the love everyone gave him. There Sebastian stood in front of me at my table. 

“I see the two of you have been getting along well” - Sebastian said very pleasantly, although I knew he envied seeing us together. 

Hope snarled and rolled her eyes at the sight of us. She did not say a word.

Yes, we are thanks to you.” - I said 

“Well one’s trash is another’s treasure” - -Sebastian responded. 

“I beg your pardon” - Lyn objected

“My apologies, I meant that in the best way 

possible”

“No it’s ok, what one can’t please another can surely can bring pleasure” 

It was the best rebuttal I could come up with in the moment. But after hearing my response I was embarrassed at how weak of a reply it was.  

Lyn smirked at me. Reassuring me that my remark was cunning line. Hope had had enough of the slick banter. 

“Im going to our table my love” -Hope said. 

She kissed Sebastian on the cheek and walked  away, off to their table. 

Sebastian eyes followed Hope until she sat down at their table. He examined her walk with a lustful nature, like she was a female he wanted but could not have. He look back at me and Lyn with a snarling glare. With Hope gone he could speak his mind. 

“You two think that you can hurt me with your relationship? As you can see” - he lifted his hand with his palm facing up and waved it horizontally around the tavern. 

“I own this village. And that means that while you’re here, I own you”

I leaped up from the table, accidentally knocking over a pitcher of brew onto Lyn’s lap. She shrieked and stood up, shaking the ice cubes off of her skirt and down her legs. White clouds of smoke began to swelter around my wrist.

Sebastian let out a gut wrenching laugh. He felt satisfaction in our mishap.

“What are you going to do? Expose yourself”

Lyn noticed my anger. She tried to grab my arm and stop me, but she couldn’t reach it. I wound up my fist and threw the hardest punch I could, hitting Sebastian directly in the face. Pow! I completely knocked his head off of his shoulders. 

His head hit the floor and rolled next to his feet. His eyelids blinked repeatedly with disdain and disbelieve in them while he looked up at me from the floor.

Sebastian stumbled back. His headless and obese body tilted like an oak tree that was one swing of an axe away from someone yelling Timber. But he gather himself and managed not to fall over. An amber ring appeared above his headless shoulders with the number 169 inside of it. He used one of his Brighton’s and instantly his head reattached to his neck and he was healed without a scratch. His composure straitened up.

I thought about grabbing the steak knife that sat on our table but Sebastian wouldn’t have allowed me to stab him 168 times, which is what I would have to do if I wanted to kill him. I’d have to relinquish him of the rest of his Brighton’s to have him banished for the world of Unitas, a nearly impossible task. So I didn’t go for the knife.

Sebastian serenaded the tavern with a  ferocious laugh. 

“Is that all you got. You violent, feeble minded squire. You have just let The Universe know what we are. You fool”

Hope walked over to us, calm, collected, and expressionless, like nothing happened, trying not to draw any attention to herself. 

“Theo you have put yourself and Sebastian at Jeopardy of being exposed”,-  she said 

“And for what reason? All because you can’t control your Temper.”

She was right. I looked around. The tavern was silent and everyone was staring at us. They seemed to be in disbelief from the magic they had witnessed. You see, the Universe (our governing body) has taught the citizens of Unitas that there are none capable of magic, and there are no wizards in existence, and if anyone attempts wizardry or claims to be such, they will be prosecuted. We needed to flee from the Tavern and come up with a plan on how we would explain what just happened. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here “ - Hope whispered to us all. And she took off towards the exit as Sebastian followed. 

I knew we needed to leave the Tavern, but I didn’t want to trust Hope or Sebastian. I literally just attacked Sebastian a moment ago, but neither one of them seemed to be concerned about my actions. They only looked forward, calculating their next move, with or without me. 

Lyn made the decision for us both. She grab my arm, pulling me towards the exit and we all quickly followed Hope and exited the Tavern.

When we got outside of the Tavern we were swarmed by the bustling villagers, citizens walking speedily in all directions like worker ants. There were folks on horses galloping about, on foot scurrying around, there were peasants and merchants, and Dax fruit hustlers, and Elites all who all seem to be actively chasing something yet getting nowhere. 

The sky settled into the color of sand and the sun was no where to be found. There was a storm approaching. 

We disappeared into the crowd. Lyn held on to me and followed Hope and Sebastian as we zig zagged around the graveled streets until we finally reached the lot where Sebastian parked his horse and chariot. 

There was a small crowd gathered in front of Sebastian’s wagon watching Herlim dance on top of it. That’s all the idiot ever did, dance around like a fool with ants in his pants. If it were possible for me to disliked anyone more than Sebastian it would be his comrade Herlim, who took pride in being my replacement in Sebastian’s life.  

When Herlim finished his dancing, some of the Elites that were watching him gave him a round of applause, and others went up to Herlim to shake his hand and offer him Brightons for his performance. 

I surveyed the area looking for an escape, a way ditch all of them, but Lyn wasn’t paying attention. She was committed staying with Hope and Sebastian and I didn’t want to leave her with them. 

“Hey I got some Dax fruit for sale” - A Tiny person standing about 4 feet tall whispered to me. 

I wanted to tell him I was with the creator of Dax fruit - but I didn’t. I had done enough of exposing our secrets for the time being. 

He hastily walked away to gesture another person after a few moments of me ignoring his presence. I can sensibly conclude that he made the same gesture to that person that he just made to me. I watched him a bit and I saw him drop a Dax fruit in their palm and then they exchanged a handshake so that the Tiny person could collect his Brighton. 

The Dax fruit was the sole reason the village of Nook was thriving, because when you eat it, it gives you a great feeling of euphoria and it is extremely addictive. It is only a matter of time before The Universe finds out. 

“Theo come here” -Sebastian waved at me noticing that I had slightly fallen behind. 

I walked closer to his chariot . 

Herlim’s face scrunched like he smelled a foul odor, at the sight of me, and there were a mirror in front of me, I’m sure I would see that I held the same ugly facial expression when seeing him. 

“What is going on? Why is he here” -Herlim said

“Oh Herlim, not now” - Hope responded

Sebastian didn’t say a word. He began climbing into his wagon, pulling his large frame up with all his might as the chariot leaned to the side his weight was on. I always cautioned him about his weight when we were friends and since our friendship has ended he has gained even more weight. So much so, I was impressed that he was able to pull his large body up into the Chariot without any help. 

“Now wait a minute. They’re not getting into this carriage with us, are they?” -Herlim asked

Suddenly it felt like a pleasure. I was delighted to climb into Sebastian’s Chariot, just to upset Herlim. 

I helped Lyn and Hope up and I followed them

inside the carriage. 

Herlim climbed onto one of Sebastian’s horses, grabbed it’s harness, struck the reigns, and like a group of friends on an evening out, we rode off. Where too, I wasn’t sure, but I was enjoying the moment, it was easy to sit quite and enjoy one another’s company inside of the chariot, reminiscent of when Sebastian and I were once good friend’s. 

I looked out of the chariots carriage and up at the sky. Sandy clouds hung above, the darker clouds that were out yonder were headed strait for us, but there still was no rain. I saw a flash of lighting. Then I heard a faint rumbling of thunder off in the distance. The next time I saw lightening, I counted the seconds between the lightening and clash of thunder. One, two, five….nine.. I counted to nine seconds. That meant that the storm was about 9 miles away and approaching.  

I broke the silence. 

“Sebastian. I owe you an apology.”

“Apology accepted” - he said without even looking at me. 

My guilty conscience may have been playing tricks on my mind, but I believed that Sebastian’s response was a calculated one. He has always been strategic, and I was beginning to wonder why Sebastian would forgive me so effortlessly. I thought about Herlim, why would he just accept the fact that I would be joining them for a ride, without any explanation. There was surreal mix of fact and fantasy, something more was happening. I saw another flash of lighting and that’s when it hit me. They were all setting me up. 

“Where are we going?”- I asked as calmly as possible trying not to sound concerned. I don’t think i worked. 

“I’ll escort you and Lyn back West” - Sebastian answered. 

It was a good response. Exactly what I wanted to hear, but I didn’t see him discuss any directions with Herlim who was steering the horses. 

“My horse is back in the village.”- I said

“Don’t worry you can take one of my horses to finish your journey.” 

I really wanted to say, I don’t want your piece of shit horse, but instead.

“Ok, sure, thank is very kind of you” 

I was thinking that it was a little too kind but didn’t say that either. 

“Herlim stop anywhere here please”. - Sebastian said. 

Before the chariot came to a complete stop I had already jumped out, and I when I reached my arm inside to help Lyn out, she confirmed my worst suspicion. 

“I am going to stay in here in Nook, there is a festival tonight” 

A loud rumble trembled through the sky. The storm had quickly come upon us. 

“Yes, of course.” - I responded

I unharnesses one of Sebastian’s horses, without any help from Herlim, who pretended not to see me. Sebastian’s horse bucked and resisted a bit as I climbed on top of him. I worked to gain full control of the horse’s reigns, and it took a few more unwarranted steps before settling down underneath to a tree. 

I thought about striking his reigns and taking off but for some reason I felt obligated to first say my good byes. Every one in Sebastian’s chariot seemed to be trying to disguise looks of anticipation. 

Before I could do anything. 

Kaboom!! 

I bolt of lighting struck down on the tree next to me and a tree branch 2x the size my horse came crashing down right at me. The huge branch split my entire body open right down the middle along with the horse’s crushing and impaling whatever flesh of ours was left, pinning us to the ground. 

I used a Brighton to heal myself, and my injuries were repaired but the monstrous sized branch still sat on top of me and I couldn’t breathe. I had to keep using my Brighton’s to revive me from suffocation, over and over and over. 

I could feel the implosive twitching of Sebastian’s horse cadaveric spasms underneath me, each time I repaired myself. I managed to roll my eyes around the immediate area, there was no sight of Sebastian or his Chariot. Lyn was also gone.  

The rain began to pour down, soothing drops splattered against my face, and I stuck my tongue out to consume the mint tasting rain drops that-streaked down my cheeks. The powerful nutrients from the rain allowed me to gather the great strength bestowed to me by my fore fathers, and I was able to push myself out from underneath the huge branch just before I used my final Brighton. I looked down at the bloody corpse of Sebastian’s horse, and then up at the tree from which the branch fell, I stuck my head back in the rain and swallowed more drops. The rain was coming down heavy. I wiped my face with my hands and I tried to wipe the rain off of my bald head, the rain kept pouring down. 

I walked for over an hour through the rough terrain of the forest, back to the village of Nook. The rain had subsided once I arrived at the village gates but my pants and vest were soaked. 

One of the gate keepers of the village recognized me. 

“Hey you were the one with Sebastian at the tavern today. “ - he rambled excitedly. 

“Yeah”

“So is it true?”

I didn’t want to respond, yet somehow I still did.

“Is what true?” - I said 

“Well, you know. I never actually thought there could be a wizard among us. We were always taught that The Universe was the only entity capable of magic. But everyone in the village is talking about how you used magic in the Tavern today. 

I responded-

“Do you know where Sebastian is ?”