Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S

Verse 1- My Name Is Jack

10 years flew by very quickly and the sun rose steadily over the plains and all the various creatures and people who inhabited it. Within the plains, across the green meadow and past the rivers that ran through the valleys stood a single cottage sat at the bottom of the hill. Beyond the red door in a small sized room above the stairs, a small boy lay on his bed reading an old newspaper page that found itself into his grasp, and since they lived way out of the reach of the cities, civilization and social media such as Newspapers were rare. The boy had read the same article over for about 30 times now, he loved reading and always done so through anyway he could, whether it was through pieces of old newspapers , receipts or scraps of old books it didn’t matter to him, he simply just loved reading. The particular article he was re-reading was about a special school called the Cantas Academy which resided in the capital city Cantabrigia, “The Cantus Academy is happy to announce its 89th year anniversary as one of the top institutes in the world for developing gifted and talented kids, shaping them to become the leaders of tomorrow, the Headmaster Professor Earnest Kobi was delighted to celebrate such a milestone and vowed to continue the development of the academy for any years to come……” the sudden opening of the door startled the boy, as MR. Thomas stormed into his room “get your yourself up boy it’s time to get to work, MOVE IT NOW! “ the old man slammed the door shut with the force alone enough to shake the whole room like an earthquake. The boy got up laid out his bed and got dressed, he opened his wardrobe and looked at the one piece of clothing that hung inside, one ironed plaid shirt, he took it out of the wardrobe and looked inside the collar , it read Jyro Thomas written out in blue pen. Looking at the name tag he suddenly remembered a nostalgic memory, one of when his foster Mother Mrs. Alice Thomas was still alive. Mrs. Alice had a habit of writing his name on every piece of clothing he owned, even though he could count the number of clothes he owned on one hand she still engraved his name on each item to make sure he didn’t lose anything. The floorboards begun to shake and 3 distinctive thumps were heard beneath him, “IM NOT GUNNA ASK YA AGAIN YOU BETTA GET DOWN ERE THIS MINUTE BOY!” the wails from his foster father Mr. Richy Thomas blasted through the floor to his room, since Mrs. Alice’s death a few years ago Jyros life has been a disaster, almost like Mr. Thomas blamed him for her death. Jyro made his way downstairs and the place was a mess as usual, old newspapers laying everywhere, half eaten tins of food and rubbish all spread across the floors, meanwhile Mr. Thomas sat in front of the television with his feet up and beer in his hand, clutching at the wooden broom he used to thump the ceiling. The old man looked back at the boy descending from the steps, “make sure u round em all up this time I’ve been coming short with cattle recently, you best not lose anymore or ill be losing you….BOY!” he snarled while he glared towards the young boy, “no problem Mr. Thomas” replied Jyro he then made his way down to the scattered cattle that sat around the distant field. Jyro counted about half a dozen in his sight but he also counted a few more dozen down the stream, which seemed odd to him since Mr. Thomas tended to round up the first set the night before with Jyro left to finish off the next morning, but lately the old man had been piling up the workload on him twice as much. Complaining or moaning about it wasn’t an option since he’d probably just get given more work to do. Jyro approached the first herd in his sights, they are known as Bull-Cattle due to their big meaty size and small horns on each side of their head.

By noon the skies colour was already a purple tint and the cold wind from the air begun to fall slowly onto the earth. Jyro wasn’t nearly half way through the herding and still had half the days’ worth of work left, he peered back towards the cottage and saw MR. Thomas in the same spot he’s been in all morning gazing at the T.V. The cold gust of wind swept through the meadows and the cattle begun to moan in discontent. The winds presence was clearly disturbing the animals who attempted to flee from the gate they had been rounded into, Jyro quickly sensed they’d become uneasy and quickly shut the gate, as he begun latching it shut he suddenly heard the far cries from one of the cattle in the distance “WAIT WHERE ARE YOU GOING” he screamed before dashing after the fleeing cattle. Jyro sprinted through the valley and crossed through the running stream towards the small forest that the animal fled to, he ran through the bushes that clouded his sight but couldn’t see the cattle anywhere. His sprinting slowly turned into a jog which then turned into a stroll, Jyros senses immediately started to be on full alert and the eeriness of his surroundings was the reason for this. Feint growls and rustling was heard from within the forest, Jyro slowly walked into the direction of the rustling and snarls and came across the cattle laying helplessly on the ground while being eaten by a beast. The animals fangs were as long as a hip bone and its eyes where dark orange with a black slit through the middle, as Jyro slowly retreated backwards he then begun to remember the book he read as a child about the different animals that walked the land of Atriabnna, “That’s…. that’s a Smilodon” he thought to himself, but in his stunned stance of amazement over the animal the beast slowly walked towards him one huge paw at a time. By the time Jyro realized the danger that crept towards him it was already too late, the beast pounced at him bearing its teeth. Jyro just about evaded the attack and scurried away from the beast, the beast took its fangs out of the tree and again launched at the young boy, it caught the boy’s right arm and locked onto it tightly whilst the boy struggled to break free. Jyro groaned and gasped in panic as he wrestled the Liger on the ground, the beast gripped his arm even tighter in an attempt to shut its jaws firmly on his arm, Jyros heart grew fainter and fainter when suddenly his heart beat with a sound so fierce he heard it through his chest. A burst of red light shone from the beast’s mouth followed by a sudden red lightning that came from his arm and sent the beast spiraling through the tree. The tree slowly creaked and cracked before caving in through its center and crashing down atop of the beast. Jyro stared in horror at what just took place, he looked at his right arm which was covered in red dark metallic scales, like an arm of a demon. He observed his arm a little more and realized the arm that was being chewed by the beast had no cuts or scars, Jyro didn’t even feel pain coming from it. Since he could remember he’s always had the deformed arm but he’s never seen it react like this before, when he questioned his foster mum MRS. Thomas simply told him it was a gift from god and he should never feel scared or threatened by it that one day he’s going to change the world, but that was easier said than done this was the first time he threw something 30 feet into the air. Jyro slowly approached the beast that lay motionless under the tree, the closer he got to it the more certain he was that the beast was dead. Tears suddenly ran down his face as he stared at the dead carcass, for some reason he couldn’t help but feel in deep sorrow for it, so he knelt down beside it and said a prayer. More rustling was heard in the nearby bushes behind him and when the young boy went over to inspect it out emerged a baby Smilodon, the cub purred softly towards Jyro and gazed up at him in wonder, the small cub barely had any spots and was coated in a cinnamon colored ball of fur with orange eyes “Come here little fella I’ll take care of you now” he said as he lifted the cub into his arms and proceeded out of the forest.

By the time Jyro and the cub made it out of the forest the moons glow shone down onto them, “ahhh shoot it’s already late, Mr. Thomas is going to have a fit when he catches me out this late” Jyro thought to himself so he quickly hasted his way through the meadow and back to the cottage farm. He slowly opened the creaking wooden doors and slowly tiptoed inside, just as his foot touched the first step an arm suddenly grabbed his collar “WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR RUNNING TOO…BOY!” Jyro looked back and saw old man Mr. Thomas glaring down at him. Mr. Thomas glared at the boy for a moment before spotting the tiny cub nestled in his arm, “what the…. WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE YOU BROUGHT IN” he yelled, Jyro quickly nudged free from the old man’s grasp and dashed up the stairs like his life depended on it, “oi come here” echoed Mr. Thomas whilst attempting to chase after the fleeing boy. Jyro quickly ran inside his room and slammed the door behind him, he quickly placed the cub onto the bed then forcefully dragged his dresser behind the door, loud thumps of banging was heard from the sounds of Mr. Thomas trying to force his way into Jyros room. “Listen you little maggot when I wrap my hands around you I’ll bloody kill ya!” the old man echoed , Jyro slowly backed away in anticipation of the door actually flying open, but moments later the wailing and banging ceased. Mr. Thomas probably tired himself out and gave up on his pursuit is what the boy thought and he was probably dead spot on. Jyro sighed with relief then lay down on his bed, he looked down at his muddy tattered clothes and realized his right sleeve was torn completely leaving his cursed arm visible , the Smilodon cub crawled next to him and begun licking his fingertips, Jyro smiled to himself then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning was just like the previous morning or any other morning in fact, Jyro got up bright and early and made his way to the fields to start his chores, surprisingly Mr. Thomas didn’t say anything to Jyro about the previous night but it wasn’t really much of a surprise after Mr. Thomas had a night full of drinking and sleeping he tended to not remember what went on the previous day. Jyro finished his daily chores by noon, he rounded up every single cattle by dawn which gave him some rare free time, so he quickly rushed back to the cottage and raced upstairs to his room to see his little cub. “Hello there Sebastian I got all my chores done early so I came to keep you company” he said to the little cub, but as he slowly approached the feline that nestled peacefully on his bed he noticed it was struggling to breath. Jyro quickly examined the cub, he placed his palms over its stomach and felt a fever running through the entire animals’ body, in a haste of panic Jyro quickly rushed to his wardrobe and wrapped the cub tightly in a firm cloth. Whilst Jyro was panicking he noticed the cub hadn’t touched any of the food he left for it on the plate, there had to be a few days’ worth of it still there so he quickly went under his bed and pulled out a medium size luggage box, when he opened it dozens of old and ripped pages and newspapers were littered inside, he dug deep into the pile of papers and pulled out an old book titled ‘Walking with Atriabnnas Beasts’. Now ever since Jyro was little Mrs. Thomas made sure he knew how to read and write, on her weekend errands to the town she’d find ripped up pages of newspapers lying on the road and collect them for Jyro to read, sometimes the farms cattle business would do particularly well one season and with the extra money Mrs. Thomas will buy Jyro a book. Every book and scrap of sheet that he received he stored it in that brown luggage under his bed, because if the old man found it out he’d surely throw it all in the scrap bin or sell them for some extra coin. He opened up the book and blew the dusts off the pages, he looked for the letter ‘S’ and found information under it on the Smilodon. Population= only a few herds left in the wild,Habitat= wet, dry areas ,mountains or rainforests, Foods= Only Red Meat preferably from a Mountain Black Cattle, after reading through the information Jyro suddenly realized the reason the cub was sick. The rain poured down onto the meadow fields and sounds of thunder resonated through the plains, Jyro put on his long jacket and ran outside to the herd of cattle in the field, he jumped over the wooden gate and slowly crept through the sleeping herd. The sleeping cattle that lay on the floor looked like huge grey boulders buried in the earth, and Jyro knew if he woke one of them up he’d most likely have to run for his life. Jyro was submerged between the sleeping animals and slowly crouched down to pick something up, when he arose he nestled a baby cattle between his arms then slowly crept away. The boy carried the small animal into one of the open barns, he placed the animal on the ground and stood over it, the flash of lightning shone on him followed by the sound of a rumble in the sky, tears suddenly begun to flow down the young boys face, he slowly wiped his eyes then moved closer to the animal and spoke, “I’m really really sorry forgive me” he wiped his eyes and took hold of the baby cattle, and that night was the first time Jyro had killed anything purposely with his bare hands.

The next morning Sebastian the little cub was in brighter spirits after eating the baby calf that was fed to him, Jyro woke up and proceeded to complete his usual chores but when he got downstairs he saw a note left for him on the table, “Got a Buyer for the Cattle Meat, so I’ve gone to Bridgewoods, won’t be around today so look after the place….. Oh yeah and tidy up when you’ve done the daily work this house is a mess”, Jyro looked around the room and saw the state the house was in, empty bottles and tin can laids everywhere things certainly had changed since Mrs. Thomas passed away he thought to himself. Bridgewoods was the closest town from the cottage but getting there would probably take 5 hours so Jyro didn’t expect to see Mr. Thomas for the rest of the day which suddenly made him feel happy. By noon Jyro was already on schedule and proceeded back to the cottage, the clouds above were grey like smog and the air was hot , all the signs pointed to an incoming storm. Whilst Jyro cleaned up the house from top to bottom he let Sebastian roam freely around seeing as he didn’t get the pleasures to do so when Mr. Thomas was around, moments later sudden knocks from the door were heard. Jyro froze in his steps and Sebastian quickly dashed around the chair, could Mr Thomas be home already he thought to himself and if so he’d be in serious trouble considering the house was nowhere near clean, “who... who is it” he asked, but no one replied only a continues bang was heard coming from the door. Jyro opened the door and saw a man drenched in rain standing in front of him, “erm hey kid sorry to bother you but I’m kind of lost and I don’t think I can go anywhere else in this weather, you mind if I come in” the man said, but Jyro wasn’t too sure about letting him and remembered the things that MRS Thomas told him about strangers whilst growing up, but nevertheless he took one glance at the downpour outside and the man inside.

The peculiar man was dressed in fine clothing, he wore black trousers with a matching waistcoat sported with an expensive looking shirt underneath, and although his whole clothes were soaked from head to toe Jyro could still tell the man must be quite wealthy. “Erm, sir would you like something to drink… I don’t have anything that rich people would drink but we’ve got sweet cattle milk if you’d want some” he said, the man suddenly burst into laughter, much to the displeasure of the boy of course, “sorry sorry don’t mind me cattle milk will do me fine thanks” he responded. Jyro scowled at the man with displeasure and served him his milk, whilst Jyro poured him his cup the man suddenly grabbed hold of his hand, “your arm, why is it in such heavy wrappings little boy” the man asked , to the shock of Jyro who suddenly felt his stomach sink and he tried to think up a response in the dire moment, “er…I…well...” the boy muttered, after a few moments of silence the man laughed aloud again “ha-ha don’t hurt yourself now thinking of a lie, you don’t have to tell me” the man replied. The man glanced at his golden plated pocket watch then suddenly came to a realization, “oh shoot the time” he quickly scurried to his feet then frantically searched around the room “little boy you haven’t happened to have seen any strange things around here have you” he asked, Jyro looked back at him with a confused expression “seen anything? Like what sir?” the boy responded, “well…… I don’t know let’s say demons” said Jack. “Demons?, why would I see Demons? And Sir if you don’t mind me asking who in the world are you?” Jyro questioned intently,“I was wondering when you’d ask me that, “My name is Jack Sterling and I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a very long time Jyro Thomas. “ How… How do you know my name” Jyro asked worryingly, “I’d love to chit chat and trust me there will be time for that but I’m afraid if we don’t find the …..” just as Jack was about to finish his sentence the lights in the cottage suddenly turned themselves off. “Oh boy looks like it’s already here” he said, “what’s here and what is going on around here” asked a very bewildered Jyro, Jack quickly hushed the young boy then slowly walked around the darkened room. He brought out a small black stick which looked like a black wand made of out of stone and a small blue light shone from it, he then begun whistling out loud and humming a song, “Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner…. Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner…. Early in the morning” almost instantly after he sung the last note, the mirror that stood on the wall in front of him begun to shake. Jack slowly approached the mirror and as he reached his hand out to touch the glass a formless spirit suddenly shot out from it. The spirit flew around the room in panic wailing with a defining pitch, Jyro didn’t quite understand what his eyes was witnessing and simply stood still in fear, Jack slowly crept towards the spirit that slowly hovered in the air, its eyes were red as blood and its face bore the appearance of an old disfigured monster. Just as Jack closed in on the floating spirit it turned towards him and screamed with a terrifying sound that broke every piece of glass in the room, Jyro and jack fell to their knees stunned whilst covering their ears in pain. Jyro opened his eyes and saw the red eyes of the spirit glaring at him from above, the spirit opened its mouth and slowly descended closer to the boy, Jyro lay down in panic and watched on as the spirit descended closer towards him, the spirit seemed to talk but Jyro couldn’t make out what it was saying. “Fuliminus Pulsus” shouted jack and an electrical shockwave suddenly hit the spirit and sent it spiraling across the room. Jack approached the boy and helped him up to his feet, “what is that… and how did you just...” the boy muttered, “ you ask a lot of questions don’t you kid, that’s a lesser demon also known as spitter and although it’s pretty weak leveled they have a knack of sucking up peoples souls whilst they move around unnoticed…. You might want to stand back for this” said Jack, he then pointed his wand like weapon towards the spirit across the room “ignis erupit” spoke Jack , a sudden bolt of lightning streamed from the stick in his hand and shocked the spirit. The spirit squirmed and screamed in agony, and as Jyro looked on in horror he looked towards Jack and saw a cold expression fill his eyes, moments later the spirit blew up into ashes. Silence filled the room for a moment followed by the lights turning themselves back on. Jyro begun to hear rustling and noises coming from the cupboard in his kitchen, he slowly approached it and turned the handle to open it, “arghhhh “yelped a small sized creature that rolled out from the cupboard, its legs were like hoofs from a sheep and although its body was covered in wool it had arms like a human and stood like one. Jyro glared in surprise at the tiny creature crashing around in his kitchen, “OI! Come here you lazy git, I thought you was meant to have my back “screamed jack to the tiny animal, “listen here you I’ve been stuck in that infested ridden storage for about an hour now… What in heaven’s took you so long to find the demon” the animal replied back, “like I explained to you before Oviz we I had an important mission to do, by the way this guy here is…”said Jack, “ yeah I was just about to ask that where in the world are we, the air in this place smells horrendous and I swore I sensed a beast in the room above me and who’s this clown standing over here” Oviz said whilst he squared up to a startled Jyro. “ This boy here is Jyro Thomas so I suggest you show some respect” Jack said, the tiny animal suddenly gasped in shock and begun sniffing around, “noo bloody way…. Let us see it then kid you know your arm of the…” he said before being abruptly interrupted by Jack , “whoa easy now just ignore him Jyro he tends to not know when to keep his mouth shut he’s my pet Familiar his name is Oviz”. Jyro simply nodded his head in approval as he slowly tried to grasp the situation, he moved closer to Oviz and begun prodding him, “alright take it easy now kid I aint a play toy” Oviz stated in annoyance , meanwhile Jack was rummaged through his pockets and brought out a small crumpled up envelope and handed it to Jyro. “ I know its late but I didn’t bargain I’d be arriving this late but here you go” he said , Jyro opened up the letter and removed the card inside, it read ‘Happy Birthday’ drawn on the front with uneven letters. Jyro was lost for words, he didn’t know where to even start from the various questions running through his mind, Jack moved closer to him and placed his arms on the boys shoulders, “listen to me now Jyro I know you’ve probably got a million things you’re dying to ask me but first I need you to answer me this question… How would you like to leave this place, I’ll show you a world much more bigger than this, a world where you’ll see all types of beautiful things and meet all types of people some like yourself, what do you say? Do you desire to see such a place?” asked Jack as he held Jyros bandaged hand, just when the boy was about to reply the sound of a car approaching the cottage was heard, “uh oh times up… Jack we need to scoot we got company” said Oviz whilst he peered out of the broken window, “alright alright let’s get a move on…. Jyro it seems times against us but here take this, its directions on where to find me I’ll be waiting at this spot in 3 days at 6:00, if you desire it so then follow your thoughts and meet me at the that x on that paper” said Jack, who then along with his talking animal companion quickly fled from the cottage back doors into the night. Jyro looked again at the card and smiled to himself, it was the first time someone other than MRS. Thomas wished him a happy birthday in his whole life, but happiness quickly turned into despair when he realised the state the house was in and by the sounds coming from outside it sounded like MR. Thomas was back home. The boy quickly ran upstairs and barricaded himself into his room it was the only logical thing he could think to considering there was no way he’d be able to tidy up the mess in time, he heard the doors open from downstairs which were followed by screams and shouts from MR.Thomas, Jyro made sure his dresser was firmly clocking his door then quickly turned off his lights and jumped into bed.

Jyro woke up to chirping of the birds outside, he turned his head and watched from the inside of his small room as the sun rose from the earth. 3 days had passed since he last saw the peculiar man named Jack, so today was the 4th day, the day for their appointed reunion. Jyro got started on his usual chores but today somehow felt different, with each hour that went by Jyro peered eagerly at the clock anticipating when the clocks hands were vertically aligned. It was 4:00 and the boy sat in his room gazing at the card that Jack gave him, he grabbed the brown suitcase under his bed and emptied the little clothes he had inside it. Sebastian hopped into the large coat pocket of Jyros coat and nestled himself inside it, Jyro made his way down the steps and crept as quietly as he could trying to avoid being seen by MR. Thomas. He looked over towards the sitting area and saw MR. Thomas sleeping with his feet up with dozens of beer bottles littered around him, he looked towards the small picture frame sat on the windowsill it was an old photo of MRS Thomas carrying him as a baby, “I’ll be off then MRS T” he spoke aloud, Jyro then gathered up his things and departed off to meet Jack.

According to the brief directions that was given to him he was told to travel west till he sees a large Tree. Jyro along with Sebastian made their way west till he finally saw it, a massive tree standing in the distance atop a hill. The tree was the biggest Jyro had ever seen in his life and he stood still in awe for a few moments, trying to embrace the sight. He slowly walked up the steep hill and when he finally made it to the top the giant tree was surrounded by a bronze gate with the doors broken and a symbol crest of a sun split in two, he entered through the gate and there he was, the man who he was eager to meet again Jack Sterling.

Jack was seen laying against the tree sleeping in the shade his face was covered with a top hat and he was chewing on a piece of brown straw, “Mr. Jack, Mr. Jack” Jyro called out, “I made it just like you told me to Mr. Jack, I decided to follow you to that wonderful place you told me about” he said, the man smirked under his hat then slowly picked himself off the ground, “ why if it isn’t Jyro Thomas, you do realize you’re a day late but luckily for you I got tired so decided to nap here for a little bit” said Jack whilst he dusted the dirt off his fine clothes. Jyro approached the bark of the tree and stared up at it, he noticed from being right next to it the tree looked much bigger than he first thought, the top of the bushes probably touched the heavens above, “it’s called the world Tree” Jack responded, “It’s the biggest Tree in the world, they say many years ago a special fruit used to grow here” he added, “a fruit you say? What was so special about that fruit” queried the young boy, “ the fruit had the ability to show you the wisdom beyond the earth, imagine your mind knowing all things that walked on this earth, all languages and every soul that’s ever walked on it, that’s the power the fruit gave its eater…. But obviously it came with a price as sudden death was promised after eating it” explained Jack. Jyro became confused when he heard Jacks explanation and wondered why such a tree would still be growing here if its fruit killed people, “so why would people want to eat a fruit that kills them” he curiously asked, “it’s simple because we are greedy Jyro humans are really greedy, even though it hurts we still love, even though will never win we still fight, human beings live their life’s striving for the best when at the end of the chapter we all meet death, death? The one thing no man can escape from, it is our fate to die anyway so why not see the wonders of the world before then hmmm?” said a serious Jack who then glared towards the curious boy, Jyro became silent at Jacks words and thought to himself that the world he stands in is a very big place, “the tear from the sun…. the fruit was called the suns Tears, well that’s what I heard anyway” spoke Jack as he realized he had something to tell Jyro. “You’ve probably got a lot to ask me about yourself but it’s not the right time to tell you and one day you’ll realize why, so Mr. Thomas I’ll ask you again do you desire to see such a world where anything is possible, wealth, power, fame, adventure, Demons and Angels , Exorcists and enchanted creatures and worlds…. If you dare to see it then take my hand and I’ll show you , I’ll take you to the world I come from, the world where your unimaginable dreams and your unimaginable fears exist”, Jyro didn’t even hesitate he lifted his hands and stretched out to touch Jacks own, “well then…. MR. Thomas shall we go, shall we go to the true world under the sun.