Sort of Dead

52 - City Of A Hundred Haunts

AAR'S POV:-

So apparently, Mr. Om had been right. The whirlpool was actually a portal kind of thing. A doorway, so to say, to the Witches’ actual domain.

Lakoswanion, the place is called.

Now, I’ll admit I’ve been acting somewhat harshly these last couple of days, but . . . you know how sometimes an alarm buzzes off in your head and you just can’t help but say the things you’re saying? Teens will relate.

I miss my family. I miss going to school (even though it’s not as much fun with me being out of the Drama Club; still, the revenge on Gaba and his jocks {Gabocks, as Marra calls them} thing had been worth it). I miss my normal life.

Not that this is bad. I mean, I’m getting to explore places. Sure, I might die, but then I’d be dying working for a cause. By my friends' side. How many get a death like that?

I’m not scared. Not. One. Bit. Obviously I don’t want to die. Life is so full of possibilities, and I want to unfurl all leaves, but . . . I mean, if I’d killed myself for flunking my social science exam back in ninth grade, I wouldn’t’ve gotten here, talking to you, would I?

I do plan on apologizing to Marra and Bee and Es and even Mr. Om (ugh, I wonder how that conversation will go) the first chance I get. So. Yeah. Onwards.

Once our boat had been ingested by the all-consuming eddy, we ended up here. In Lakoswanion. The City Of A Hundred Haunts.

Why the name? Well, a citizen of this dull hellhole they call Lakoswanion told us the myth behind it’s foundations. Apparently, a very old yet wise warlock – yeah, the cliché Gandalf in every fairy tale (even though I played him in this one school play and it was way more fun than I’ll ever admit, fake eyebrows and the beard and the staff and all) – had discovered Lakoswanion centuries ago. A land of nightmarish creatures yet magical soil. This Gandalf guy decided it would be a nice idea to start a civilization here.

And so he did. Little did he know, the place was already inhabited by – voila! – a coven. The coven-iest coven that ever covened.

That’s right. Coven Thirteen.

The one we’re looking for.

Now, they didn’t want their territory being taken over by the old warlock and his army of fools and farmers. So the Coven haunted them. Spooked them, tried all tricks they hid up their sleeves. They did so a hundred times, but the warlock would not leave.
Hence the name of the city.

The warlock was a bit daft, if you ask me (not that you would). A lose screw in his machinery up there. I mean, if some spooky-witchy women haunted me, I’d be running head over heels in the other direction.

To the witches, these new residents were like “leech on a cur”. But, thought the witches, leeches can be exploited.

Thereafter they let these new residents thrive, cultivate, settle in Lakoswanion. Then, once their population had grown and the haunts had forged fear and panic in the common mans' heart – they took them for slaves.

Till date, the City of A Hundred Haunts is under the Order of the Witch Grant.

It’s a strange place filled with stranger people, but it’s also a surprisingly colorful one. And not without it’s fair share of kind people.

The doctor that treated us gave us clothes, food, treatment. And these were some weird, weird clothes he gave us. But customary here, so.
Tattered burlap sacks with holes for arms and head and waist. Tight fit jeans-like material, only not quite.

Marra has suffered the worst of us all. He hit his head on the boat or something, and developed a concussion, it would seem. Poor guy. He’s sure been through a lot of rough patches for someone who’s twelve. I try my best to make him laugh, but I guess my sense of humor isn’t his cup of tea.

Just like his poetry isn’t mine. (Don't tell him I said this, or I’ll personally see to it that you are fed to the Devil's pooches.)

He is fine now, however. He is awake.

And I can’t wait to see his reaction once he sees what a crazy, wacky place this is. Our home {Undisclosed} this is not.

This is the underbelly of the Earth, which no one has any knowledge of.

Thanks for reading!