Entry #5
A Day In Ancient Greece – Part 8 Enter Sebastian
Short Story by Fatteus “Fatty” Thorsson
“It’s a fine day to be on the run, isn’t it, Dr. Kylon?” Sebastian said happily as he bobbed through the jungle on his way to Orpheus Cave. Behind him sounds of pursuers could be heard, Bounty hunters who had found Sebastian digging up the body of a man near Tanzanite View were hot on his heels. They had been told any Papoo that becomes a menace to Human society is fair game. “We’ll have to shake these simpletons first, though, won’t we?”
Sebastian ducked behind some jungle bushes and a strange pillar and allowed the bounty hunters to pass by. After he was sure they had passed, he took out a skull that still had some scalp with blonde hair stuck to it. “Close call, eh, Dr?” Sebastian moved his shades and wiped a tear from his eyes. He recalled his tragic last meeting with Dr. Kylon. The man seemed happy to see him, but Sebastian was in a towering rage at the time and didn’t notice in the heat of the moment. But now the images returned to him, and they were terrifyingly real.
Sebastian needed to get out of dodge. He needed to escape from Next Island with what was left of Dr. Kylon. He heard of a magical door that can take you to another world and another time in Orpheus Cave and thought this would be the perfect chance for him to start a new life. So, here he was at the yawning entrance to Orpheus Cave. As he entered, the world began to spin and there was a tremor, but it quickly passed, and he found himself in a large room with a stone disc in the center with the face of a Greek Goddess on it.
“So, this is the door to Ancient Greece. I bet you didn’t think you’d ever get to see this place, eh, Doc?”
Seb stepped on the stone disc and squinched his eyes shut. He felt himself getting lifted into the air and a falling sensation, then he gently touched the ground again. He opened his eyes and was still in a cave. He felt a little let down.
“Well, that was disappointing. Looks like we didn’t go anywhere at all. Huh…” He skulked over to the cave entrance and stepped into the blinding light. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust even after such a short time in the cavern, but when they did, his jaw hit the floor. This was not Next Island in the slightest. There was a harbor with Greek Ships, a town made of white marble, rolling hills with whimsical trees. Gone were the jungles and the spaceships of his home. He jumped in the air and kicked his heels together. “Woohoo! We did it!”
He continued to cheer as he ran down to the landing at the harbor. The sailors doing their daily chores looked at him curiously. They had never seen a monkey before, let alone a Papoo, let alone one wearing shades and a ball cap. Realizing this, Sebastian quickly dove for cover and made his way inland.
It truly was a marvelous place. The verdant hills and cliffs, the delicate trees, the blue sea with its white foam. Everything was overwhelmingly beautiful to Sebastian. “Are you seeing this, doc? Such a pristine and nearly untouched state!”
He roamed the land for a while until he grew tired. He sat on a rock and admired the scenery while he broke out his dinner, some paplon and bread. He munched on the sweet Paplon and smiled, his mouth full of juicy fruit. Kylon’s skull was set next to him, and at least to Seb, it seemed to be grinning as well.
Suddenly, there was the sound of trampling hooves. Thukka-thukka-thukka-thukka. Then, around a corner of a nearby cliff, a strange beast appeared. It was a horse, but with the upper body of a man. The creature grimaced when it saw the strange guest on its land, then it tamped the ground with its front-right hoof. Sebastian was stunned at what he was seeing. He thought he heard myths about such things as centaurs, but never thought they could be real.
The centaur snorted out of its nose like a horse would, which seemed silly to Sebastian since it had a man’s head and nose. Then it did something Sebastian probably should have anticipated. It charged. When it got to Sebastian, it reared up and kicked at him, but thankfully it missed. In frustration, it instead kicked Dr. Kylon’s skull off the rock perch it was sitting on and sent it flying.
“Nooo!” Sebastian cried out reaching for the skull, but it had already slipped through his outstretched fingers and fallen off the top of the cliff they were on and down into the sand below. He scurried to get it, anger at the centaur quickly being replaced by fear of losing his friend again. Then the centaur blew a horn and more centaur began to surround him. He had to run.
Sebastian made a mad dash back to Orpheus Cave, leaving behind his friend. By the time he reached the cave, he had lost the centaur. He wept loudly into his arm as he leaned on the entrance to the cave. It would seem that even this place was not safe for a poor little Papoo like himself. He had lost his friend again today, maybe for the last time. Sebastian went back to Next Island, to his own world, and remained at his hidden base near Papoo Village. It is said that the skull of Dr. Kylon is still in Ancient Greece and it still gets kicked around to this day.