Two days passed.
It is a lot quieter now outside the condemned palace building. No
sound of bomb blasts, whinnying grunts of galloping horses, or desperate
screams, shouts and groans of frightened people; only sporadic gunshots being
heard from the distance. It appears that engaged fighting had died
down. But, they are still being trapped inside the building, lying among
heaps of smoky rubbles, broken furniture, shattered glasses and heavy boulders,
waiting for their fates to unfold. For the lucky survivors, they begin to
entertain thought of hope to escape alive and return to their loved ones.
Has the rebels been repelled by King Ringana’s military forces, has the tiny South
American rainforest Kingdom been disposed, is help coming from international
organizations having friendly diplomatic relationships with the Sulupi Kingdom?
. There is no way they could find out from the inside.
“Oh God, I can’t take this
anymore!”, someone exclaimed in the darkness. Just keep calm ok? We
all want to get out from this hell hole. But what if King Ringana has
been disposed? How are the rebels going to treat us when we get
out? Are they going to torture us?’, another survivor bemoans. “Who
knows? Why don’t you go to find out?”, another gives his thought
sarcastically. Two men are frantically chipping away at the fallen
boulders rocks in a corner, hoping to find an opening to get out. But, they
soon tired out and gave up. The rocks are just too heavy and
thick. Daniel is clinging to his bottle of water hidden underneath his
jacket. Thirst is driving him to reach for his only life-saving water
bottle. He checks around to make sure that no one is looking and then
silently pulls out the water bottle from his jacket. He twists the
plastic top ever so gently, trying not to arouse any attention. He puts
the bottle head on his dry lips and lets the water inside wetting his lips
rather than drinking it. Then he begins to take in little sips but soon
has to force himself to stop, realizing that the water is the only thing that
is going to keep him alive. He puts the lid back on the water bottle. Why
didn’t he tell somebody where is going? He thought. He should have
told someone he was coming to his friend, Prince Ringano’s coronation.
“If I die here no one will ever know”, he is getting really worried now.
It is estimated that over
6,000 people were inside the palace building when the bombs exploded.
Many would have died by now. Most of the deaths resulted from
collapse of the building, hit by falling boulders, and shrapnel’s rather than
the bomb blasts. The victims ranged in age from one year to nineties, in
addition to the fetuses of three pregnant women. There were also
those who died from smoke inhalation and suffocation. Some were burnt
beyond recognition. Those who are alive suffered injuries from severe
burns, broken bones and dehydration. Among the survivors, many had
started to write down their last wishes on the stones; with plenty of ‘I love
you’s’, ‘forgive me’s’, ‘remember me’s, signed and dated. But, there is
one message scratched on the wall that has caught everyone’s attention and
imagination. “To the world you may be just one person; but to me you are
the World!” No one knew who wrote it. What’s going through the
writer’s mind? What’s his or her story?
Daniel is lying at another
end of the palace building which looks more like a small dark cave. He
prefers it that way. He would rather hide and look rather than getting
looked at. There are few survivors around him. They look weak and
feeble but are able to speak. They begin to share their stories.
“I went through a very
messy divorce. My wife was having an affair with my partner”, the lawyer
was the first to share. “It has been over a year and I am slowly getting
over it. I found a new love of my life. She is a divorcee too. She
looks great, has a good job, a degree in finance. But mostly importantly,
we laugh a lot. My wife and I, we don’t laugh at all, just going through
our routines, putting on the masks, the charade. I find it hard to
laugh in her company knowing what she is doing behind my back. I am truly
happy with my new girlfriend. We are going to get married when I get home.
Now, my life has to end this way! Oh God, it’s so unfair!”, he starts to
cry. “Is she here?”, the banker asks. “No. I didn’t bring her with
me. I don’t want people to know her yet”, he answers. “My father
has been diagnosed with cancer. He has tried radiation and chemo pills in
the past weeks but it didn’t help. He has no appetite and has lost lots of
weight. He is down to only 115lbs. He was 210lb. And now he
could hardly walk and has difficulties in speaking. He speaks with a
slur. He probably has only a few weeks to live. My father is my
best friend. I can talk of anything with him. He taught me whatever
I needed to know growing up. He is a very kind man too and he has never hurt
anyone. He is so trusting of people and is very protective of his
friends, much to my mother’s dislike. I used to tell him, ‘You are the
last of the Mohicans, Dad!’. We were supposed to go visit my aunt in
Australia in the falls. Life is so cruel!”, the banker lifts up his
feeble hand to wipe away his tears. “My sister was diagnosed with breast
cancer and doctors had to remove it. I visited her the day before I flew
here. She was a shadow of the person I once knew. She had lost all
her hair because of the chemotherapy. She asked me to visit her when I
return. She knew that it would be the last time we would see each
other. She begged me to look after her two kids. It now looks like
I am the one to go first!”, another man relates his story. “I am also a
cancer sufferer. Doctors have given me one year to live. I don't fear
death and sometimes have wondered what it would be like to die. Death is
just a rebirth, a cycle of life. My only regret is that I have lost
the opportunity to do the things I planned to do”, yet another is filled with
the urge to share. “What do you plan to do?,” Daniel asked him. “I
have not had a good relationship with my brother. We have some
misunderstandings and have not been talking to each other for years.
Whoever is right or wrong, is not important now. I want to tell him I am
sorry for the hurt I have done onto him. But, I guess I have to tell him
that from another world.”, he reveals. “I don’t want to die
now. It’s too early for me to die!”, another man rubs in. “I met my
wife at her friend’s birthday party. It was love at first sight for both
of us. Everything was perfect. She is warm, friendly, intelligent
and with a good sense of humour. Many people think we are
incompatible. And they are right. I am fat and ugly but she loves
me anyway. She could stand all my nonsense, stubbornness and my careless
attitude. We got married anyway and have two lovely daughters.
Now it looks like we can’t grow old together. Lucille and I came here
together. I can’t find her anywhere!”, a German shares his love for this
wife in between sobs. His voice has become coarse from the screaming for
his beloved wife. "I was planning to make up with my mother-in-law”,
a woman moans. “What’s between you and your mother-in-law?”, someone asks
in the darkness. “She always pops in to my house unannounced.
We told her to let us know in advance before she visits, but she turned a deaf
ear. I wished she would call before she visits. You know we have
our routine or planned activities and I don’t want anyone to disrupt our routine,
even she is my mother-in-law!”, she continues in dignified defiance. “You
know, in our country, relatives can call on us anytime and we are so happy to
welcome them. Often, we invite them to join us for dinners”, an oriental
man interrupts. There are several of them trapped inside the
building. “You live in a village?, a man enquires sarcastically.
“Not exactly, but we used to. Why do you ask?”, he answers with a
question. “So, you have joined the civilized world then”, the man
answered with a scorn. “I bet you don’t open your door to them anytime
now!”. “But, a couple of months ago, I heard it from my mother-in-law’s
doctor that she is suffering from memory loss and sometimes cannot remember
what she has done or said. It seems this illness has been with her
some time. And, she kept it to herself. She didn’t tell my husband
or me of her condition. I found out from the doctor that she doesn’t want
to worry us and the children’, the woman covers her face and sobs; ignoring the
temporary interruption. “What about you? Which country are
you from?”, someone asks another oriental who is clutching his medals tightly
on his uniform He seems a highly decorated military
hero. “I am a Japanese general. I am here to represent my country.
I came here with my wife. I also cannot find her……..” “I don’t want
to be near this man! I don’t want to hear him!”, the man lying next to
him is heard objecting. “His country has inflicted untold miseries and
sufferings on my people!”, he continues. “Where are you from?”.
“I am from Korea. Do you know that during the World War period, the
Japanese Imperial Army has conscripted millions of our people for labour. They sent them to the prison camps to do
labour. They were forced to do labour for the Japanese army, and
they were treated like animals. Thousands of our women were
abducted and abused. They sent our women to these prison camps to satisfy
the sexual lust of their army officers. They became sex slaves.
They treated our women like dirt!”, the Korean is now getting really
emotionally charged and angry. “Which World War are you talking about?”,
someone enquires. “The Second!”, the Korean replies.. “What about
you, young man? What do you like to share with us before we all perish in
this bloody shit hole! What’s your story?”, an elderly woman turns
to ask Daniel. “Errr…..Right now I am thinking of how to get out alive,
madam”, he replies. There is an air of silence. They expect more
from him. “You oriental people are so private and secretive!”, someone
breaks the silence. “Err…Well, I am also thinking of my girlfriend back
home. We are going to get married when I get home “. “Which country
are you from?”, the elderly woman enquires again. “Malaysia. We met
when we were in secondary school. She is the kindest and most beautiful
girl I have ever met. I think of her every day. I love her so
much. She doesn’t know I am here. I didn’t tell her I came here, or
anyone else. You see, our country doesn’t have diplomatic relationship
with the Sulupi Kingdom. If caught, I will be tried as a subversive
citizen. They will certainly throw me into jail. Damn!”, Daniel
continues with regretfully. “Water, water, water, please!”, the
old man lying next to the elderly woman cuts short Daniel’s story. Daniel
turns around to look at the poor frail old man. He hesitantly reaches
into his soiled jacket and slowly draws out his last bottle of water. He
crawls along the debris and moves towards the silvery hair man. He then
turns loose the cap and hands over the life saving plastic water bottle to the
thirsty frail old man.
“Hey. We are not
dead yet. Listen, looks like help is coming!”, one of them at the far end
shouts with a weak voice and yet full of excited anticipation. Everyone
in the caved-in building holds their breaths. Their ears are focused on
listening to any sound outside. They were not disappointed. Indeed,
they heard the thumping of footsteps and the footsteps are getting louder and
louder. Then they hear running footsteps. Suddenly, they hear
people screaming and shouting. But, they could not make out what this
commotion is all about. They could only hear them faintly from the
inside. It looks like there is utter confusion outside the collapsed
palace building. “HELP! HELP! Please Help us!”, they shout in
unison, mustering all their energy, trying desperately to alert the people out
there. “We are still alive! We are trapped inside! We are not
your enemies, please, please help us!”, they continue to plead. After a
while, they heard shoveling and thudding sound. “Thank God, they have
found us! They have found us! They are digging for us! Thank God!”,
someone in the group shouts with joy. They then sit back and wait
anxiously for contact with the outside world. It’s the longest wait of
their lives. But help never came. Instead the sound of digging is
getting fainter and fainter. Increasingly, they realized that the digging
is not getting to them but is away from them. The people outside are just
shoveling earth and stones on top of them. After a while, the shoveling
sounds grow quieter and quieter and finally died down altogether.
Not a single sound could be heard from the outside now. They finally came
to realize that the people above did not come to save them. Instead, they
came to seal their deaths! They are King Ringana’s enemies.
They are now engulfed in
total darkness, shivering with fright and despair. Two more days
passed. A few did not survive. Daniel slumps against the body of
the old man. He is lying dead on the bloody floor with two more dead
bodies beside him. Daniel reaches out to pull the water bottle from the
old man’s firm clutch. He drank the last few drops. Soon he
became dizzy and lightheaded and then drifted off into a deep sleep.
There is nothing he could do. He can’t even help himself. A
dislodged boulder fell next to his right arm, trapping him against the
rock. Fortunately, the boulder fell only inches away from his arm, lest
his arm would have surely been broken or even severed by the sheer force and
size of the falling stone. He is now entombed in the condemned palace
building. How foolish he has not told anyone where he was going.
The air is now chillingly
cold. He coughs and sniffs. He is experiencing hallucination
through hunger, lack of water, and cold temperature. He feels
thirsty and extremely weak. He has been trapped inside the collapsed
palace building for five days now. He has given up any hope of
rescue. He feels drowsy. He keeps telling himself “I must not fall
asleep or I die”. The thought of Janet keeps his will up. He must
not die. He must survive for Janet. But, he realized that he is in
a hopeless situation. He now accepts the inevitable. ‘Janet, my
darling, I love you so much. Please forgive me, I am sorry. We will
meet again in a better place my dearest angel.” He drops his head and
weeps uncontrollably. “Oh. No God. No God, not this way!”. He then
passed out.
Half an hour passed.
But it seems like ages. Suddenly, he hears the flapping of feathered
wings. He lifts his heavy eye lids slowly and opens his tired eyes.
In the corner of his eyes, he saw the shadow of a small bird flying above him,
and then circling him. Instantly, he raises his right arm to try to touch
it. The bird flies away from Daniel’s outstretched arm and rests itself
on the boulder which had earlier fallen next to him. Daniel struggles to
open his eyes wide, wanting to have a proper look at the little bird. The
bird wears a coat of black and white feathers, its chest is completely covered
with white feathers, but only his beak is yellowish and it has an unusually
long tail. Its eyes are extremely bright and penetrating with pupils
circulating constantly, which have a hypnotizing effect. The color of its
eyes is a mixture of orange and blue. “Don’t worry. I am here to
help you”, the bird speaks! Daniel is confused; he can’t believe what he
has just heard. Instantly, he turns his head to look around, surveying
the environment surrounding him, trying to spot any human alive who could
possibly have spoken these words. “Look no further Daniel. It’s
me”, the bird answers his thought. “You can talk?”, he pulls himself up
but away from the little bird. “Well, you have heard what I said didn’t
you?”, the feathered creature replies. “This bird can talk! How can
that be? Am I dreaming? This is not possible!”, Daniel is in shock,
his muscles tightened, questions racing through his mind, trying to make sense
out of all this. “Oh God, this can’t be true!. I am hallucinating.
I am going to die soon!” “You are not hallucinating Daniel and you
are not going to die anytime soon. Listen to me. I am here to get
you out!”, the bird smiles at him, reassuring him. The smile is
hypnotizing. “Err…you can talk! But birds don’t talk! Who are you?
What are you?”, Daniel exclaims, at the same time fighting hard to pull himself
further away from the little creature. “Mine is not for you to understand
Daniel. Just trust me. Have faith”, the little bird doubles his
reassurance. This time it has a calming effect on Daniel. “I don’t
have any choice do I? Alright, what do you want me to do?”, he gives in.
There is no way out, it’s futile to resist. “Close your eyes.
Do as what I am going to tell you”, the bird commands. Daniel has no choice
but to obey. He closes his eyes, but his mind eye is imagining the bird
in front of him, trying to figure out what this little creature is going to do
to him, awaiting the mystery to unfold.
Suddenly, the bird flaps its
tiny wings, and starts to take flight inside the large cave. It spreads
its little wings, pointing its beak towards the dark smoky ceiling and flies
straight through the debris, broken marbles, pillars and through to the
sky. It continues to sail higher, higher and higher, piercing through
clouds and soaring towards the scorching sun. “This can’t be. It is going
to kill itself! No bird can fly that high! The atmospheric pressure is
going to kill it!”, Daniel cannot believe what he is witnessing. The bird
suddenly stops. It stays transfixed in the middle of the radiating sky,
weightless, motionless, effortless, with only its wings fluffing. It
turns its head to look down on earth, staying still on air. It starts to
twist and wriggle; its movements are like a trapped animal fighting to free
itself from a tight grip. Much to Daniel’s horror, the little bird begins
to stretch its tiny body which soon starts to expand. It continues to
push, wriggle and twist. Its wings grow wider and bigger, its body
stretches longer and longer until its tail becomes a pointed arrow. At
the same time, its beak disintegrates and gradually formed a huge rectangular
powerful jaw. It ached steadily as it continued to lengthen, a quarter, a
half, then one and then finally a full 15 meters long!. The color of its
body is a hue of green, yellow and purple. It is now covered in smooth,
neat gray shinny scales. Its face looks fierce, predatory, with big red
nostrils and two different types of teeth: It has a set of sharp teeth on its
lower jaw and a set of flat teeth on the upper jaw. It has four short
muscular, strong and stubby legs, with long steely claws. The little black and
white bird has transformed itself into a mighty menacing dragon! “Oh my
God, Oh Lord, what is happening?’ Daniel finds no other words to express what
he is witnessing.
The dragon starts to swirl
around the sun soaring through the clouds in acrobatic moves, as if to put on a
show of might, power and magic for Daniel. After about 10 minutes it
begins to descend in Daniel’s direction. Instinctively, Daniel starts to run
away from the creature above. He ran and ran like a hunted prey
running for dear life. He can run but there is no place to hide in the
wide open field. The dragon above knows each turn he takes, which path he
chooses, each step he takes. Soon he gave up running, he tired himself from
exhaustion. He slumps on the grass land, face looking on the ground,
unable to move anymore. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself before
lifting up his head to see if the creature is still around. The dragon is
standing right in front of him on two pairs of steely rugged legs!
Looking at him with the most piercing pair of eyes; eyes that could penetrate
one’s soul. It then bends its legs, lowers its body and spread itself on
the floor. “Come Daniel, come sit on my back. Let’s go for a ride”,
the dragon turns its huge rectangular head, looking at him with its big red
hypnotic eyes. Without uttering a word, as if mesmerized, Daniel meekly
stands up and starts to walk towards the shiny scaled creature. The dragon is
too high for him to climb up, even though it is sitting on its stomach. Daniel
took a few steps backward and then proceeds to run towards it. As he
approaches his body, he suddenly jumps and flunks his body on top of the
dragon. “That’s very good Daniel”. The dragon slowly lifts up its
heavy body with steady ease and straightened its muscular stubby legs. It
spreads and fluffs its wings and then turns towards Daniel, “Hold on
tight. Don’t ever let go of me”.
With a thud and a hiss,
the dragon took off to the sky. Gradually, it gathers speed as it flies
higher and higher. Daniel is holding his breath, clutching very tightly
on the dragon’s neck, hanging on for dear life. “Hey, not so fast, not so
high ok? I am terrified of height!”, he pleads. The dragon below
turns to look at Daniel. It didn’t say anything, just giving him a wry
smile, ignoring his plea. And without giving him any warning, the dragon
wags its tail, flaps its wings harder and faster, its legs disappeared
underneath its body and zoom, he powers towards the horizon, gaining speed as
it glides across the skyline. “Oh my God, stop! Please stop!”, Daniel
fells his muscles tightened, begging the creature with his eyes firmly closed,
afraid to look down on the earth beneath. His palm is oozing sweats and
his legs frozen. He feels like fainting, losing consciousness.
Suddenly, he lost his balance, letting go of his grip on the creature’s neck
and he fell off from its back. He falls further and further away from the
dragon, gaining gravity to the vast forest below. “This is it! This is the way
I am going to end my life”, Daniel cries out loud. But, suddenly he saw
the dragon flying past him and then it turns and swirls round him. It
then dives below Daniel, spreading its wide wings beneath him. Daniel
opens his eyes. He finds himself landing and sitting on top of the dragon
again. “What is this? Is it a joke? This is not funny ok?”,
he quips but feeling incredibly relieved. “If I can get you to fly up
with me, you think I am going to let you go down like that?” Daniel is
feeling a lot happier now. He feels the breeze gently rubbing his face,
stretching his hands to touch the passing clouds. Gaining confidence
gradually, he is now getting used to flying with the dragon. In fact, he
is now actually enjoying the ride, marvels at the spectacle aerial view
below. They are flying pass majestic snow-covered mountain peaks, lined
on ground by beautiful valleys with picturesque lakes and its
tributaries. They fly over the blue ocean, punctuated by school of
playful dolphins, pulsating whales, hunting sharks and squawking seagulls
gliding over them. Daniel is enjoying the magical mystical aerial
tour. The view below is breath-taking; awe inspiring, spine tingling; he
has never seen anything like that.
“Hang on. Let’s go
to another place”, the dragon turns its head to look at Daniel. “Where
are we going? Where are you taking me this time?”, he immediately
responds. The dragon ignores his anxiety and continues to fly further
into the horizon. Together, they sail through heavy rain, lightning,
thunderstorms, and treacherous snow falls. This was followed by strong
cutting winds, thick clouds blanketing their faces, and finally the
shining sun comes to view, spreading its array of colourful rays over the blue
sky. All of a sudden, out of the blue, like a page from the magical comic
book, a stunningly beautiful waterfall comes to view, surrounded by white dots
drifting around the cliff. As they glide lower and closer, Daniel
realized that the white dots drifting around the cliff-face are actually
birds. Nestled behind the waterfall, is a misty, mysterious, temperate
rainforest. The rainforest is adorned with thick vegetation, beautiful
flowers and ancient tall trees. Some of the trees grow up to 200 feet.
Colourful tropical birds singing, tweeting, wooing, catching insects,
picking figs to build nest. Animals are grazing, galloping, checking, and
frolicking in the pristine tropical rainforests. They glide just metres
above the rainforest canopy before descending through the canopy layers and
deep into the heart of the forest. The rainforest contained an amazing
array and diversity of flora and fauna. The dragon then gives out a
hissing sound and suddenly they are out of the forest trees and a long winding
clay path comes to view. On the ground of the rainforest, clay and tar
roads were built, leading all the way to the forest mountain tops. These
roads were built for trekking, cycling, and walking. There are sporadic
huts made of clay lining the fringe of the mountain and away from the mountain
paths. The inhabitants in these clay huts are the local aborigines.
They carry on their unheralded daily routine without any cares in the
world, oblivious to the hustle and bustle of the outside world, clinging to
their traditional ways of life, in the comfort of their closely knit
community. “This place looks familiar. I am sure I have been here before;
just can’t remember”, Daniel thinks to himself. “Yes, we were”, the
dragon reads his mind. “We?”, Daniel asks in disbelief.
Instantly, he sees a young carefree boy cycling and whistling happily along the
road below. As the boy comes to the bend, from nowhere, a beautiful
magpie bird flies out from the edge of the forest and swings over the boy’s
head. The bird flies past the young boy, as if inviting him to follow it,
leading him down to the mountain valley. The boy steps on the bicycle
peddle, increasing his speed, ignoring the bird. The bird is trying to
slow him down but the boy keeps up his pace even faster. They then come
to the edge of another bend, the boy steps up his speed again to negotiate the
bend dangerously, mocking the little bird. The bird stops abruptly,
making an about turn of 180 degree and flying straight at the boy. The
boy did not want to experience a head on collision with the bird. He
applied the brakes on the bicycle. But, he was cycling too fast, the
sudden force caused him off-balance and he fell onto the grassy ground, beside
the road, just before the bend. At this split moment, a fast moving
delivery van comes to sight. The boy could have been killed by this
oncoming van. 
“Oh my God, Sunny!
Is that you Sunny?”, Daniel covers his mouth in disbelief. “It’s me Sir.”
, the dragon answers with a reassuring but tenderly soft voice. “What are
you doing here? How did you come here? You are dead! You have
died many years ago! How did you transform yourself into a dragon? Tell
me Sunny!”, he wants all the answers at once. “As I said, mine is not for
you to understand Sir. I am in a place that you won’t understand Daniel.
Don’t worry about me, I am in a very good place.” With these words,
Daniel’s journey of discovery is brought to an abrupt halt. The dragon
proceeds to fly higher and higher, gaining speed in the process, to head back
to the Kingdom of Suluppi. As they reached the skyline hovering above the
tiny Kingdom, they could see the condemned fallen palace in the distance.
The dragon started to descend and finally landed on the ground, ever so
gently, in spite of its size. Daniel lifts his body from the dragon’s
mane and slips down to the ground. He wished the journey doesn’t
end. He doesn’t want to be back to his death bed. He turns round to
look at the dragon with a sad disappointed gaze. Suddenly, with a twist
of its head and swirling of its tail, the dragon turns itself back to the
little black and white magpie again. At this very moment, Daniel woke up
from his deep slumber.
He opens his tired
eyes. His weak body slumped against the boulder. His mouth is dry
with thirst and he is dehydrated. He has lost a lot of weight. He looks
round the environment, trying to see if there has been any change before he
went on his ‘journey’. It is pitch darkness and total silence.
Not a single sound can be heard. He realized that the last of
the survivors had also met their faith in the dark cave. Suddenly he
twitched, trying to steady himself. He saw Sunny, the magpie, perched on
the fallen boulder next to Daniel, looking at him with its soulful eyes.
“Listen to what I have to say Daniel”, Sunny starts to speak with a deep
determined voice. “King Ringana has built an underground tunnel
underneath his palace compound. The tunnel is about a mile long and it
leads right to the edge of the rainforest. He built the tunnel for him
and his extended family to escape in case they needed to escape from their
attackers. “Go to the left side of the wall. Around the bend of the
wall, you would see a group of distinguished silvery pink boulders. They
are piling on top of each other at the corner of the wall. At the bottom
of the heap lies a black boulder. You must push this boulder aside.
It will reveal a hole in the wall. Go inside the hole and crawl along
it. It will lead you to the sewage system. This is your escape
route. You can escape through this opening, Daniel. Be very careful,
there may be dangers at the other end. Take care of yourself
Daniel” With that, the little bird flew away and disappeared into
the darkness.
His hope of getting out
alive is rekindled by Sunny’s encouraging revelation. Instantly, Daniel
found his strength, pulled himself up, steadied himself and slowly limping
towards the direction of the left side of the wall. Soon, he reached the
corner of the bend. True to the bird’s prediction, a group of pinkish
looking boulders are seen lying firmly against the fallen palace wall.
Daniel increased his space and stepped up his steps. Finally, he reached
the pile of unique boulders. He threw his body on the hard surface of the
stones. He mustered all his strength and started to push the boulders
away. They are not too heavy or big. As he took them down one
by one, the last one reveals a black stone sitting firmly at the bottom of the
heap. Daniel falls down on his knees and tries to push it away with
renewed determination. But the black boulder refused to move; it remained
stubbornly stationery, not yielding an inch. He has to persist for every
word that Sunny foretold is true. Daniel continued to push, grinding his
teeth with focused rigour. Then, it happened. The black boulder begins to
move a little. Daniel started to push in earnest now. His efforts
were duly rewarded. Slowly and gradually, the boulder yielded as it
gained speed and rolled away from the wall. True to Sunny’s prediction,
behind the black bolder, the wall reveals an opening hole. The hole is
protected with cement. It is only big enough for one body to get
into. Daniel’s despair is quickly turned to hope. He is now
fuelled with gritty determination to get out from the condemned building.
He muscled up all his strength to lift up his weak body, checks what’s inside
the cemented hole. But all he could see is complete darkness in
there. He could not see anything beyond the opening. Undeterred, he
pushes his head inside the hole and begins to crawl along the small cement
tunnel, at the same time, he is apprehensive of what lies ahead. Daniel
continues to push himself, crawling further and further inside the tiny hole,
sweeping away the accumulated mud and dead vegetation along the way. Soon
he reaches the other end of the hole. He pushes his forehead
forward to see what lies beneath. A large rock tunnel comes to
view. This must be the tunnel that the King has built as his escape
route. Daniel gives a final push and dropped out of the hole. He
lands on the edge of the huge rock tunnel. The edge of the tunnel floor
is wet and slippery and both sides of its walls are covered with brown and
white clumps of filthy algae. The middle of the rock tunnel is lined by a
shallow running watery stream. The water is murky and smelly.
The tunnel air is thick and foggy, oozing an unbearable stinking
odour. Which way to go? Shall he turn to the left or to the
right? Which is the correct path leading to the outside world? He
stands there not knowing which direction to tackle. “Sunny, Sunny where
are you? Please don’t leave me here. I need your help. You
can't leave me this way!”. But, his little feathered friend is nowhere to
be seen.
Not moving is not even a
choice. He will die from hunger and dehydration. Daniel decided to
take the left direction of the rocky tunnel. The tunnel is mysteriously
dark and shadowy inside. It is eerily silent, except for the tingling
sound of water dripping from above and the sluggish flow of murky water in the
middle. In the centre is a large black sewer pipe just below the water’s
surface. Daniel is now standing at the edge of the stagnant black groundwater
up to his ankles. He trudges along the edge of the tunnel, using his
hands to glide along the wall as he moves; keeping his balance. He tries
to avoid going into the centre of the underground water. He had tested
its depth and found that the water is getting deeper as he stepped towards the
centre. He keeps on walking until he comes to another bend. As he
edges round the bend, he could feel a bout of breezing cold wind sweeping past
him. He could sense something unusual in the air is going to
unfold. Instantly, a colossal limestone cave comes into view. It is
so huge that thick cloud and fogs are trapped inside the case. Daniel
froze in awe. He stood there motionless, trying to get used to his
situation in this huge cave. It is the biggest cave he has ever
seen. He surveys the surroundings. Colonies of bats hanged on the ceiling
of the limestone cave. Female bats glued to the uneven ceiling with their
young clutched tightly onto their stomachs. There is an aura of mystery
and fear about them. He recalled the literature he has read about
bats. They conjure up bats as blood sucking vampires. Creepy
insects and cave crickets crawling on the wall of the cave. Daniel holds
his breath, scared of awakening the hibernating bats for fear of being attacked
by them. After getting used to his new environment, he steadied
himself and resumes walking towards the far end of the cave, hoping that he
would soon get out of this mysterious dark hole. He walks ever so slowly
and carefully, trying not to make any noise. After walking some distance,
suddenly out of nowhere, a big pond appears in front of him. Curiously,
he edges forward towards the pond, to try to investigate what is in it.
“Oh my God!’, Daniel exclaims, covering his mouth in absolute horror.
There are motionless, breathless bodies in the pond. Some are floating
and some are submerged, piling on top of each other. The pond is filled with
dead bodies, thick with blackened red blood. The dead bodies are already
decaying, decomposed with rotten smell. Maggots are feeding on the
decaying flesh. He should be put off by this horrible sight but his
curiosity is even more aroused. He edges nearer towards the unsightly
pond, covering his mouth to keep the stench away. What he saw in the pond
gave him another horrible shock. Amongst the dead bodies in the pond is
that of King Ringana’s. His body is floating faced up. Beside him lay
Ringano’s mother, the Queen, his mistresses, army generals, soldiers and palace
guards. The King has a single gunshot in his forehead. That had
probably killed him. They were all massacred. They suffered
horrific and painful deaths in the hands of their attackers. They have
been spayed by machine guns, pierced by arrows, throats slit by sharp
objects. Daniel lets out a loud scream, “Oh no! Oh no! King
Ringana! ”. His scream unsettled the bats above. They begin
to twist and wriggle, slowly turning their heads to look down on Daniel.
They have been awakened from their lazy slumber! One by one, they begin
to dislodge their grips on the limestone cave’s undulating ceiling. Then
they start to flap their webbed wings and take flight, emitting high pitched sounds
as they rain down on the single target below. They circle around the top
of the limestone cave, pitched sounds getting louder and louder. The
silent insects and crickets on the ground also begin to move. They all
start moving towards the direction of the pond, towards the direction of
Daniel. Intuitively, Daniel starts to run. He is surprised by his
ability to run despite his weak physical stature. But, when someone’s
life is threatened, somehow, an indescribable strength is found. To his
utter horror, other nocturnal creatures which have been hidden out of sight
hitherto have been rudely awakened by the noise above. They start to move
too. Dirty, slimy, furry rats slipped out from nowhere. They are
huge and looking wickedly hungry. They too are attracted by the mucky
stench and running towards the direction of the bloody pond, where Daniel is
standing. Instantly, Daniel turns away from the rats and makes a run
further into the other end of the dark cave, looking for a place to hide.
Worst is to come. Suddenly he stops. Instead of running forward, he
is stepping backwards, back to the direction of the creatures charging at
him. The reason for his about turn soon comes into focus abruptly.
Out from the darkness, a gigantic menacing looking snake, slides into the
cave. Instantly, the cold clouded atmosphere is filled with thunders and
lightning. This is not a normal snake. The serpent has two huge
heads attached to its equally big round and long body. Their mouths flick
out their forked tongues constantly, to collect data from the air particles for
analysis. The giant snake smelled a prey; the full blooded live body of a
human. That explains why Daniel is moving backwards. He is standing
motionless in front of the giant snake, frozen with fright. The
snake stops gliding and coiled up, its heads swinging back and forth, then
steadied itself, ready to pounce at Daniel. It opens its mouths, making
loud hissing sounds, revealing long sharp fangs. The fangs are connected
to the sacs in the snake’s head behind its eyes. These sacs produce the
most poisonous venom which can easily paralyse and kill Daniel. The fangs
fold backward into the mouths and then open again, their tongues flicking and
licking the atmosphere all the time. Each mouth can easily swallow a
grown up human body. There is nowhere to run. Turning back, he
would be attacked they dirty lice laden rats, walking forward, he would be
devoured by the vengeful serpent, and above him are the blood sucking bats raining
down on him. He is surrounded. There is no exit. There is
nowhere out. He drops on his knees, sapped of energy, succumbing to his
ill fate, awaiting a horrible and painful death. Cold sweats oozing from
his frozen body, he fears that he could suffer a more painful death than King
Ringana and his men and women. Very soon, he could feel the oncoming
dirty rats pulling at his clothing, the mystical bats smelling for his blood,
and the hissing serpent’s flicking tongues are licking his throat. “Oh, God!
Oh my God! Oh No! No! No!,”, he shivers with fright, soaking in cold
sweats. He finds it hard to breathe and is about to faint. He prays that
he would die first before being mutilated, eaten alive.
Sunny the dragon is back
to save the day. From nowhere, he flies abruptly into the cave, making
loud screeching noise as he sweeps the cold clouded air above with his powerful
wings, encircling the creatures below. He wriggles his body as the
atmosphere is freezing cold up there, clouded with cold air and fog. He
looks extremely fierce and angry, eyes enlarged and red with rage, steely
armoured scales tightened, formidable powerful claws extended outwards ready to
grab his preys, nostrils breathing heavily at all directions. He twists,
and spins as he surveys the scene below. Suddenly he stops and then
plunges straight to the ground, charging at the creatures below.
Sunny sweeps away the creatures in his path with his powerful tail as he
landed on the solid ground, knocking them off their feet and swinging them
against the walls, killing them instantly. The lucky ones near the
burrows managed to escape through the narrow holes of the burrows. They
hide underground, shivering with fear, frightened for their lives. Some
bats also managed to scramble and fly out of the cave and into the
rainforest. The sky is filled with their high pitched squeaks and part of
the sky is darkened by the silhouettes in flight of their sheer numbers.
The dragon gripped the rats, bats, and other underground creatures with its
powerful claws, squeezing the life out of them and then slammed them into the ground.
He lets out a series of mighty deafening roars. The roars can kill
any creature within range. The creatures are running in every direction,
frightened of coming into contact with the mighty dragon. All, except the
giant snake. The serpent is not afraid of the dragon. It stood its
ground, ready to face off with the dragon, ready to do battle with the mighty
dragon. The serpent’s body is bigger and longer than the dragon. It
is big and powerful enough to take on the dragon. The serpent squeezed
its slimy body and quickened its slides now, its scales making a ruffling sound
on the ground as it travels determinedly towards Sunny. It then
constricts and coils its hardened body, with only its huge twin heads
protruding, aiming at the dragon above. Suddenly, the snake pushes
swiftly and darts straight at the dragon above. The serpent is aiming at
the dragon’s throat. It then opens wide its pair of enormous
mouths, fangs dropped down from the upper jaw as they try to take bite at Sunny’s
throat. Sunny senses what’s coming and swiftly swings away from the
serpent’s salivating mouths, avoiding the serpent’s bite in the nick of
time. The dragon then turned around and descends on the serpent, taking
the offensive. It tries to grab the serpent’s body with its powerful
sharp claws. The snake could see the shadow of Sunny’s shinning scaled
body descending upon him. Instantly, it flips over massive body to face
its attacker from above. And before Sunny could grab the serpent’s heads,
he realized that the serpent’s pair of huge mouths is already at his
throat. Sunny swings his face away from the snake’s mouths but it was too
late, the two powerful jaws of the serpent are already at his throat, clutching
firmly at its prey. It starts to pull the Sunny’s head closer for it to
inject its poisonous venoms inside the dragon’s body. The serpent’s two heads
have a mind of their own. One is biting at the Sunny’s throat, the other
is biting his nostrils, trying to squeeze the life out of him. From the
ground, Daniel could see Sunny is in deep trouble and in a lot of pain.
Sunny wriggles, twists and turns; trying desperately to dislodge itself from
the serpent’s potent jaws. But, to no avail, as the powerful jaws of the
serpent bite deeper and deeper at his throat. The serpent’s teeth
penetrated his tick scales. Daniel could see blood is now oozing
from Sunny’s throat. Sunny swirls in pain, and at the same time
trying hard again and again to free itself from the serpent’s mouths.
But, there is nothing Daniel can do about it. He is powerless to help his
friend. Then he hears Sunny’s coarse voice talking to him. “Daniel,
go to the body of the King. He has a set of three keys wrapped round
inside his waist, underneath his coat. The tree keys are of different
lengths. Go find them quick!”, the struggling dragon instructs.
Without asking any question, without doubt, Daniel instantly swims across the
shallow pond to where the King’s body floats. The water in the pond
stinks with foul smell, maggots are chewing at the King’s flesh.
Daniel continues to swim towards the dead King, oblivious to the
unpleasant surrounding, focused singly on his mission. This is the least
he can do for his friend, he thought. Soon, he is facing the dead King’s
decomposing body. He used his fingers to close his nostrils with one hand
to block out the rotten smell and with the other hand pushed inside the King’s
under coat. True to the dragon’s words, Daniel found the set of keys
wrapped around the King’s body. He immediately snapped away the set of
keys. “I’ve got the keys, Sunny!”, he yells. “Now go to the far
right of the cave’s wall. You will see a heap of black stones. Push
them away. It will reveal a large wooden door. Unlock the door with
the short key,” Sunny continues to instruct in struggling pain.
Daniel found the shortest key round the chain and lifts it to insert
inside the hole of the wooden door. The door unlocks. Daniel pushes
the door open. Behind the door is a long dark passage. It also
reveals another wooden door on the left, fixed just next to the side
entrance. “Now, what?”, Daniel is not sure of what he is supposed to
do. “Now, take the longest key and insert it to the other door.
Push it open”. Daniel followed what the dragon has instructed. As
soon as he pushed the inside door open, a loud thundering noise is heard from
above the cave ceiling. Daniel immediately lifts up his head to see
what’s happening above him. His gaze is met with a horrifying
sight. The roof of the cave starts to crack and pull apart.
Gradually the roof caved in. And then, as it gained momentum, the roof
begins to disintegrate. Bit by bit, debris, boulders and stones start
raining down. The thundering sound of the heavy falling stones shocked
the whole cave. It caused a pandemonium of life below. Creatures,
big and small, running helter skelter in utter chaos, with the two giant
reptiles locked firmly onto each other in their fierce battle. But, the
skies also open up. The clouds and fogs which have been trapped inside
the thick dark cave escaped through the open roof and integrated with the hot
air above. The hot air rushes in, brightening and warming the
whole cave.
This is all Sunny
needed. This is the combustion he needs to produce his fiery weapon.
The dragon has two stomachs. Inside Sunny’s second stomach are several
fire glands. And inside these glands are methane and octane which can be
ignited to breathe fire. Once ignited, Sunny is able to breathe fire out
from his mouth and nostrils. He is able to control the shape, temperature
and duration of the flame with great precision.
Sunny opens his mouth,
letting the hot air rushing into his lungs. He warms up to the new
temperature inside him, saturated with renewed sensational energy. From
head to toe, Sunny’s body gleams with bright shinny scales. The dragon
then gives a thunderous roar, shaking the whole cave again. He
twists and pulls his head away from the serpent. The snake tightens its
grip on Sunny’s throat. It could feel the sudden burst of strength from
its prey. But, it is a futile effort, because Sunny’s neck has started to
harden like steel. The snake’s fangs cannot sink in. It cannot penetrate
the dragon’s steely neck. Sunny gives one powerful twist and the snake
loosens its grip on his throat. Finally, the snake lets go of its tight grip on
Sunny. But it is not about to give up. The snake swings again at
Sunny, with open mouths, massive fangs pointing at the dragon’s neck again.
Suddenly, the snake spits its poisonous venoms at the dragon. The serpent
has the most poisonous venoms which can instantly paralise its prey.
Sunny did not try to avoid the serpent’s venoms. Instead, it also opens
its mouth. To Daniel’s utter surprise, Sunny is taking in the serpent’s
venom in his stride. He is swallowing all the venoms thrown at him by the
snake. Daniel thought this would be the end of Sunny. He would not be
able to withstand the poisonous venoms. But, the dragon closes its mouth
and slurping the venoms all the way down to his stomach. Inside the
dragon’s stomach, the serpent’s poisonous venoms start to mix with its chemical
secretions. This process serves to harden and solidify the jelly
venoms. Few moments passed, Sunny squeezes its stomachs and drives the
solidified venoms to its tongue. Sunny turns to the giant snake, opens
his mouth, and spits out with great speed, the solidified venoms at the
snake. The giant snake is undeterred; it swipes forward and sweeps away
the hardened venoms. Realising there is no danger from the dragon, the
snake lunges ferociously at Sunny’s throat again with greater resolve.
Sunny turned to face the giant serpent head on, giving out a deafening roar,
nostrils breathing heavily, stirring smoky air particles. He then lets
loose a massive ball of fire from his mouth, shooting viciously at the
snake. The snake swings its huge body away from the charging ball of
fire. The steaming hot ball missed him. Sunny takes in a few deep
breaths, and then spits out enormous stream of fires in quick succession.
The serpent is now surrounded by great balls of molten fire. He has no
way to run. They strike at the snake’s long body. The snake is now
feeling the heat, it wriggles in pain. The dragon keeps up this momentum.
It continues to attack the serpent by blowing out massive stream of fire over
and over again, and hitting the serpent each again. Very soon the snake
is completely engulfed with the deadly fire. Its will to fight back is
still strong, but the torrent balls of fire keep raining down on him.
Finally it gives up the will to fight and falls to the ground, writhing in
pain. Soon, its mighty frame is charred beyond recognition. The
demonic giant serpent is now dead. Sunny is in his elements now. He
continues to blow ball after ball of fire at the escaping creatures, roasting
them, burning them alive.
In the midst of this
mayhem, Daniel realizes he has the opportunity to get out of this cave.
Intuitively, he turns and walks painfully toward the wooden exit door which he
has opened with King Ringana’s key. He enters the dark passage and limps
slowly and painfully along its pathway. Finally with great willpower and
belief, he reached the end of the passage. The passage ends with an exit
looking out to the fringe of the rainforest. Daniel is now overcome with
emotions thinking of all that he has gone through, his eyes welled up, unable
to control his tears, cannot belief his luck. With a profound sigh of
relief, he steps out of the dark passage and throws his feeble body onto the
ground. Kissing the ground, he says a little silent prayer, thanking God
that he is still alive.
With that, the beautiful
small bird flaps its little wings, flies out of the thick rainforest, and
disappears into the twilight sky.
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