The Fighter’s Guild Chronicles
“Then, Let Our Journey Begin!”
1965, Miniature City, USA
A grey Chevy Impala pulls into a driveway of a newly remolded home and stops. In the driver’s seat is a beautiful Asian woman, roughly in her middle thirties and a man in the passenger seat, in his early forties. Both of them get out of the car.
“Well, here we are. Miniature City.” The woman says with a Filipino accent. The woman is about 4’11’’ with long brown hair and glasses that cover her brown eyes. She turns to the man with a smile on her face. The man is about 5’5’. He has short brown hair and hazel eyes. He also has bruises and cuts on his face and body. The man remains silent as he looks at their new home. The man’s blank stare screams unsatisfaction.
After a few seconds, the woman’s smile fades, followed by a frustrated huff that is exerted from her mouth.
“Look, Dale…” The woman says, readjusting her glasses. “…I know you’re unhappy about having to move after… what happened but, we really didn’t have much of a choice.”
Ignoring the woman’s comment, Dale turns around as he glances as each house that meet his eyes. “Why does every house look the same Lara? It’s like, they miniaturized a bunch of skyscrapers and stuck them all right here for us to live in. Literally, the only difference between these houses is the color.”
“Yeah, maybe they did, hence the name, Miniature City. Seems like more and more cities are becoming more futuristic” Lara says, taking her own glance around the neighborhood. Dale remains silent as he continues to look around. Lara, gets a little annoyed. “Dale, can I have your attention for a moment, please? I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you.” Dale ignores Lara again and continues to look around. Dale’s ignorance causes Lara to grow angry but, she ignores it and walks toward the front door. Dale watches quietly as his wife unlocks the door and enters the house.
He knows that she’s angry with him. It's not that he doesn’t want to talk to her about what happened but, after the pain and embarrassment that he caused her, Dale just doesn’t know what to say, right now. He then walks over and enters the house. The combination of smells from the fresh, new, ocean blue carpet and new blue paint on the floor and walls, throughout the house, somewhat lighten his mood and he smiles.
Lara is rearranging some items on the kitchen table, when she looks over to see her husband standing in the doorway.
“I’ve had all of our stuff brought over all ready. Our mail has been transferred over to this address and I’ve already went grocery shopping, so, there’s no need for you to do anything. You should go lay down and rest.”
“No, I’m okay.”
Dale’s response angers Lara for the second time and she slams the fruit basket down on the table. The loud thump causes Dale to look over. Lara looks over at Dale, putting her hand on her hip.
“Are you okay?” Dale asks.
“You just got out of the hospital! You aren’t allowed to go back to work for the next week. The doctor told you to rest!”
“I know and I know that you’re angry with me but, what happened couldn’t be helped. You know that, Lara.”
“You’re lucky that you didn’t end up in prison or killed!”
“It was an accident! I was defending myself!”
Lara looks away while crossing her arms. Dale huffs in frustration and shakes his head but, he immediately feels bad for snapping at his wife.
“I’m sorry.” He says, very sincerely. “I know that you’re just trying to help. You always have my back.” Dale looks over at Lara. “I can’t remember a time when you didn’t.”
Lara looks over at him. His apology and kind words sooths her anger. “It’s okay and thank you. You know that I love you, right?”
“Yes, I know, Lara. I love you also.” And with that said, the couple exchanges smiles. Lara walks over to Dale and gives him a hug.
“I have to leave now. I made some meals for you, they’re in the fridge. They should last you until I return. I’ll only be gone for a few of days, okay? Will you be okay?” Lara asks.
“Yes, my love. Go have fun and be safe.”
“Okay, baby, I love you.”
Dale kisses Lara passionately. Lara then grabs her purse and heads toward the car. Dale watches as his beautiful wife enters the vehicle. Lara starts the engine then looks up at her husband. Dale smiles and waves. Lara waves back and then pulls out of the drive way. Dale closes the door. He then goes up to his room with some food. Dale turns the tv on and eats. After eating, he falls asleep on their California king sized bed.
Dale wakes up the next morning. He rolls over and looks at his clock. It reads 8:15A.M. So, Dale gets up and takes a shower. After that, he eats breakfast and then washes the dishes. Dale then sits down in front of the living room tv, where he likes to watch cartoons. As Dale is watching cartoons, he hears commotion coming from outside and goes out to investigate. Outside, the neighbors are gathering by the road. Dale walks out and stands next to some of the people.
Dale looks around at all of the people who have gathered there. They are talking excitedly, as they point and look down the street. Dale looks over and sees what looks like a parade moving their way. He wasn’t aware of any parade today. Just a little curious, he looks over at the two girls standing next to him.
“Hi, I’m Dale. My wife and I just moved in right over there.” He says with a smile, pointing to his house.
“Hi, I’m Mandy and this is my twin sister Mindy.” Mandy says.
“It’s very nice to meet you both. I was just curious. Is this a parade?”
“Yes, it’s the Clawhaven Parade.” Mandy responds.
“Clawhaven Parade?” Dale asks, shaking his head, curiously.
“Have you never heard of the Clawhaven Parade?” Mindy asks.
“It’s my first time in the city so, no.”
“Of course, duh!” Mindy says, laughing. “Well, the Clawhaven Parade is a celebration of the Clawhaven family. Are you familiar with their legend?”
“I’m not, I’m sorry.” Dale replies with a little chuckle.
“Okay…” Mandy says. “Legend has it, that the Clawhaven family was a mysterious family of monsters who appeared just appeared one day to help people in need.”
“Family of monsters? Do you mean like the Munsters?”
“Yes but, only, more social. As the legend goes, the Clawhaven family would appear out of nowhere, no one knows from where or why but, they would help someone in need, like with a serious life lesson or something important with their life.”
“Aaah ok.” Dale says, not believing one word of this so-called legend.
“Yeah, and once they were finished, the family would just, like disappear. Well, at some point int person’s life whom they helped, the Clawhaven family would return an ask for some type of help. That part is unknown but, there have been people throughout history who has spoken about a family of monsters who helped them then took them to like, a weird planet or whatever but, nothings ever been proven.”
“Yeah, and we also celebrate them because the other part of the legend says that they are the reason why our city exists and that their presence here is also the reason why our soil is so rich and why our city produces the best crops in the U. S., so, we honor them as part of a tradition.” Mindy says. Dale nods his head. He might not know about the Clawhaven family but, he does understand tradition.
Even though Dale doesn’t like parades very much, he decides to stay and watch. The parade is led by a really good marching band from Fable High school, one of the many high schools in Miniature City. The marchers are dressed in black and purple, also the parade is full of cool looking monster balloons and floats. Like with any traditional parade, the people in the parade, wave as they pass and throw candy out for the children. The parade lasts for about an hour.
After the parade ends, Dale goes back into the house and sits down on his chair, in front of his tv. As he sits there, the memories of the tragic event begin to stir. The shouting, the nasty words that he spoke and the violent actions that he participated in, start to fill his mind. Due to this, Dale’s anxiety starts to rise and he quickly stands up. Now with a lump in his chest and labored breathing, Dale decides to go for a walk to clear his mind. Before he walks out of his house, Dale looks over at a picture of him and Lara and he smiles. Dale steps outside and locks his door. Putting his key in his pocket, he then begins his walk.
As he is strolling through the city, Dale takes time to notice the beauty that the city holds, other than the houses themselves. The parks that he passes are clean and appear to be well taken care of. There are many open fields within the city. Dale finds a good spot and takes some time to watch some animals scurrying around, either playing or scavenging for food. Dale even takes time to watch some of the beautiful birds that soar the open sky. As he continues his walk, Dale finds the grass, within the city, to be quite interesting. It seems to be rather healthy all throughout the city, which is due to the soil in the city, being very rich in nutrients, which would also explain the dense flowers that blanket the ground. Even stores and gas stations appear to have regular maintenance done on them. Though, the buildings have been there for years, they still look new.
About a couple of hours into his walk, Dale comes to another part of the neighborhood. The road that leads into this specific part of the city is blocked off by yellow caution tape. A sign has been placed, right in the middle of the road. Dale walks closer to the sign, so he can read it. The sign reads… “DO NOT ENTER! DANGER ZONE! ANYONE FOUND TRESSPASSING IN THIS PART OF THE CITY WILL BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY AND WILL BE DETAINED ACCORDING TO THE LAW!”
Usually, Dale follows the rules of signs like this one but, for some odd reason a weird sense of curiosity overwhelms him and so, he ignores the sign and the caution tape and proceeds into the danger zone. As he looks around, Dale notices that this part of the city has been completely ignored for years. The houses are run-down and shabby. The sidewalks and streets are wore-down and the grass, flowers and trees seem to be dying or dead. Even with the eerie scenery, Dale presses on. After about 20 minutes he comes across a strange looking house. Strange in that, it’s the only house on the block that appears to have had some upkeep. As Dale approaches the large, Autumn-Red house, he hears what sounds like a man’s voice calling out.
“Come Dale. Come to me and I will set you free.” The voice says, in the form of a gentle whisper, yet loud enough to catch Dale’s attention. Dale stops. As he stares at the house, he ponders if he really hard a man’s voice or if he’s going crazy, which could be possible after the rough few months that he just endeavored. Then, Dale hears the man’s voice again.
“Come, Dale. Come to me and I will set you free.”
“Hello!” Dale calls out. “Is anyone there?” Dale stands there for a few moments as he waits to either see someone or hear the voice again but, neither happens so, Dale decides to walk up to the door. The door is rather large and matches the color of the rest of the house. On the door, is an old-style door knocker of the face of a gargoyle with the knocker in its mouth. Dale grabs the door knocker and knocks on the door three times. To Dale’s surprise, the door opens by itself.
“Hello, is anyone here?” Dale calls out as he pushes the door open. The inside of the house is completely dark and makes it impossible for Dale to see anything. Then he hears the voice for a third time.
“Come in, my son.” The voice says.
“Hello? Your door was open.” Dale says, stepping inside. Once he’s inside, the door slams shut by itself and locks. Dale jumps and exclaims in fear. He then hears movement near the door. Now fearful for his safety, he frantically tries to find a light switch on the nearby wall. After scurrying around for a few moments, without finding a light switch, he stops.
“Hello, can someone help me, please?” He shouts.
“Yes, dear. Allow me.” A woman says, with a British accent, appearing from behind him. Dale jumps as he exclaims out in fear, again. The woman snaps her finger, immediately illuminating the room, they’re standing in. Dale looks behind him at the abnormally tall woman and gets a good look at her face. To his surprise, the woman standing in front of him is a vampire, wearing an all-black dress.
“Well, hello. Welcome to our home.” She says, ever so politely and then she curtsies. Ignoring what she said completely, Dale starts full on screaming. He immediately turns back toward the door but, stops suddenly, when he sees that the door is now a mouth belonging to a giant spider. Even stranger is that the giant spider happens to be part of the wall circling the door. The spider moves its mouth as it hisses toward Dale. Dale continues to scream.
Then another vampire appears from the dark. An abnormally tall male this time, wearing an all-black suit. The vampire throws his arms up, revealing his underarm wings as he hisses. Dale screams even louder and jumps back. Losing his balance, Dale falls to the floor.
“Shadow, enough!” The female vampire shouts. Shadow immediately stops screeching and puts his arms down.
“Awe! Come on Sis, he was already screaming anyway, might as well get a little kick out of it.” Shadow says, with a British accent.
“You know that isn’t how we treat humans in this guild.”
“Okay, Shade, chill out. I was just having a bit of fun, is all.” Shadow says. The vampire then looks down at Dale, who is now starring at the two vampires from the floor. “I apologize, little human. My name is Shadow and this is my twin sister Shade but, don’t worry, we aren’t going to get all, I’m going to suck your blood, on you.” Shadow finds humor in his little joke and laughs as he crosses his arms behind his back.
“I appreciate that.” Dale says, still looking up at the two vampires, wondering, if they’re really going to suck his blood or not.
“That was a splendid Transylvanian accent imitation, my dear brother.” Shade says, shaking her head at her ornery brother.
“Thank you.” Shadow replies with a slight bow.
Shade looks down at Dale. “Awe! You poor thing!” With the raise of her hand, Dale’s body is immediately lifted up off of the floor. Dale exclaims in surprise as he is lifted up in the air and safely placed on his feet. “There you are.” Shade says happily.
“What just happened?” Dale asks.
“Oh, you mean my magic. That was telekinesis, honey.”
“We all have special abilities, as you’ll soon find out.” Shadow says.
Shade nods her head agreeably “Now, you must forgive my brother, he can be quite prudent, at times.”
“If you say so.” Dale says rudely, looking up at Shade. “I would very much appreciate it, if I could go now.”
“Oh, you can’t leave, mate. You’ve been called here.” Shadow says.
“What are you talking about?” Dale asks, looking over at Shadow.
Shade puts her hand up toward Shadow, instructing him to be quiet. “What my brother means is, that you heard the whisper and now, here you are.”
“The whisper? The voice!” Dale says, looking over at Shadow. “It was you, you called me here.” Dale says, accusingly.
“I did not. What you heard was a whisper from the one that we call the “Most-High”. Only special people can hear it.”
“What’s a Most High?”
“Not what, mate. Who.”
“What you heard was, let’s say, a sort of call to arms.” Shade says.
Dale gives Shade a bewildered look. “Look, you’re obviously not from around here so, let me help you out, here, okay? A call to arms is usually done with a book or a song or even with someone standing outside, around a large crowd of people, using a megaphone! A creepy whisper is usually how perverts and/or serial killers speak to their victims, okay? Now, why can’t I leave?”
“As I have already told you, you have been called.” Shadow says. Dale looks over at him, angrily. Being called isn’t going to be enough to keep him here. “I mean, if you really want to leave, you could always go back the way you came but, something tells me that, it isn’t going to be the “exit”, that you’re looking for.” Shadow says, pointing to the spider.
Dale looks back at the spider, where the door used to be. The spider immediately moves Its mouth, again, as it makes more hissing noises at Dale. Dale gives the spider a disgusted look before returning his attention back to Shade and Shadow.
“Why have I been called? What do you want from me?”
“Well, the way this works is, it isn’t about what we want from you, it’s about what you need from us. You see, we only appear to a person who is in dire need of our help. Weather if he/she is danger or, if it’s a life lesson that they need to learn. Seeing how you don’t appear to be in any immediate danger, I’m going to assume that we’re here to help you with your struggle.” Shade says, smiling.
“My struggle?”
“You know what struggle we’re referring to, mate.” Shadow says. Dale looks over at him and then remembers about the legend of the Clawhaven family, that the twins were telling him about, at the parade, earlier today. “Wait a minute…” He says, looking over at both Shade and Shadow. “… are you the Clawhaven family, that I heard about today?”
“Aah, our legend continues!” Shadow says. This pleases him, putting a smile on his face.
“We are, my dear. We are part of a guild who hails from a mystic land, that only a handful of humans have ever been fortunate enough to set foot on.” Shade says, proudly.
“And what land is that?”
“We come from a place called Noman’s Land. A place not of this world but, a place that you are now tied too.”
Dale shakes his head. He’s never been so confused in his entire life and now he’s starting to get frustrated.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about but, there isn’t anything that I need your help with and even if there was, what could two vampires possibly do, to help me? I just want to go home, now!”
Shade and Shadow give each other a meaningful look. Shadow nods his head at his sister. Shade, then looks back over at Dale.
“Okay Dale…”
“Whoa, how do you know my name? I never told you what it was.”
“Because we know more about you then you think. You see, when you answered the whisper, at that very moment, we learned everything that we needed about you, including the fight that you were in, only a few days ago.”
“I was never in a fight. I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Shade gently chuckles at Dales’ denial.
“Really, that’s not what those wounds on your face tell us.” Shadow says. Dale looks over at Shadow.
“You don’t know anything about me.” Dale says, angrily.
“Of course, we do but, I can see that telling you won’t do so, how about I show you, instead?” Shade asks, slowly walking toward Dale.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll answer your question with a question.” Shade says and then puts her hand out toward Dale. “Are you brave enough to find out, what I mean?”
“It doesn’t appear that I have a choice.”
“Ooooh, little human. One of the many things that you’re going to learn from us, is that, you always have a choice.” Shade says, putting a smile on his face.
Dale stares at Shadow for a moment, as he quietly asks himself if he really is brave enough to follow these vampires and to find out exactly why he’s been called here, to this weird house, with these even weirder creatures. After a few moments, Dale decides.
“Yes…” He says, grabbing Shade’s hand. “… I’m brave enough to find out.” Shade and Shadow both smile.
“Then, let our journey begin!” Shade says, excitedly. She then snaps her finger and every room in the house lights up. Dale looks around. Now that he’s settled down, he realizes that they are standing in the foyer, which is connected to the living room.
“Follow me, please and don’t touch anything.” Shade orders.
“Yes, ma’am. I wouldn’t want to get my human germs all over your home.” Dale says, as he looks around the house. Shadow laughs at Dale’s comment.
“Trust me, mate, we’re not worried about your germs. My sister told you to not touch anything for your own safety. You’ll see what I mean, soon enough.”
Dale puts his hands up and quietly follows Shade and Shadow, as they lead him through the house. The house is not only huge but, gorgeous! The interior of the house looks nothing like what Dale thought it would, when he was looking at the house from the outside.
The interior looks brand new. The house is not only clean but, spotless. Each room is filled with expensive furniture and decorations but, what really catches Dale’s attention is the lighting in the house. Instead of traditional light switches, fixtures or lamps, the house is lit up by a weird white, magical glow. Dale has never seen a more beautiful house in his life.
“Where did you find such a beautiful home?”
“We built it, of course.” Shadow says.
“Really?” Dale says, just a bit surprised.
“Come along Dale, the best part has yet to be seen.” Shade says.
Shade and Shadow lead Dale to the back of the house, to a set of double doors. The two vampires stop and turn toward Dale. Dale stops, looking at both of them.
“Are you ready, Dale?” Shade asks.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”
“Then let my brother and myself be the first to welcome you, to the No-man Land Fighter’s Guild.” Shade says and then she opens the double doors.
Immediately, what sounds like chaos, fills Dale’s ears. Dale walks over to the door way, where he sees that a giant hole as been drilled further down into the house with a dirt path that has been carved so you can walk to and from the arena. Dale walks over and looks down, over the railing, where he sees an arena at the very bottom. There are other monsters down there, who appear to be fighting. There are hundreds of more monsters in the stands, circling the arena, roaring and cheering, as the fight rages on. Dale watches in awe.
“These are tournaments, held only here and only fought by those in need of help.” Shade says as she walks over and stands next to Dale.
“Tournaments? They’re fighting each other! How is this helping anyone, except, maybe for those who love pain or has a death wish.” Dale says.
“Pain, yes. Death, absolutely not. We do not kill here, only fight. Each participant in these tournaments, fights and with each victory, is either an achievement of a goal or an overcoming of a struggle, in their lives but, to achieve or to overcome is often painful.” Shade says, then she looks down at Dale. “While here, you will also overcome struggles in this arena. As you will soon see, self-change is something that you have to fight for.
“You want me to fight, monsters, in that arena?” Dale says, rather worried about his safety, as he points down to the arena.
“I want you to overcome and grow in a more positive manner. You have spent your whole life fighting this struggle of yours in the wrong way now, we’re here, to help you fight it the way you should be, the way that you should have fought is a long time ago.” Dale looks down at the arena, again. Shadow notices the fear in his eyes and walks over to him.
“I assure you, that you have no reason to be afraid. With our guidance, your whole life is about to change. You will be a completely different person, once this is over. What do you think, Dale?” Shadow asks, looking over at Dale. Dale shakes his head.
“I’m thinking, what did I get myself into?”
TO BE CONTINUED!!!