Discoucia Read online

  He walked around to the main entrance and walked in. It was a Saturday so no one was working, and apart from a guard who was probably down the pub no one was guarding it. Arthur walked to the door of the room that Jo entered, and saw that it was opulently decorated with three big paintings on the wall. One had a burning skull, the second had a small cottage and a beautiful sky, and the third represented the levels of hell in Discoucian mythology. Arthur looked around and Jo had disappeared from the room, though there was no way for her to leave; only the door she had come in. He looked suspiciously at the painting of the cottage which seemed to be rather large, and the door looked very realistic even for a painting.

  The Yellow Coven

  Arthur reached out for the doorknob, and it was real! He turned it and the door opened. Arthur stumbled into a corridor which was coloured yellow, and the floor was made from a peculiar kind of brick which was dark red. There was no place for Arthur to hide so he crept down the corridor. He could not hear anything apart from talking coming from far off down the corridor. He came to the end where the corridor went down underground, and then it split to the left and right. Arthur heard talking down the left corridor, but didn’t hear anything from the left. He peered out and saw that the left corridor led to a larger room, and there were a load of bookcases that he saw from his vantage point. He then heard the voices getting louder to the right, and then walked slowly along the left-hand corridor.

  The room he came into was huge and was surrounded by bookcases, with the Discoucian power symbol carved into the floor and two entrances, one going straight on and the other leading to the right, but he couldn’t see what it led to. He decided to walk across the room and find out where the corridor to the right led. There was no place for him to hide if someone did come, and Arthur felt as though he was being watched.

  “There’s not much I can do about it,” he thought to himself. The bright yellow walls made him feel slightly dizzy, but he carried on walking. He entered another room, and saw that it had a hole in its centre, and the hole was glowing. His curiosity got the better of him and he walked over to stare down the hole. It was a lava pit, and at the bottom of it was the churning molten rock, about 30ft down.

  “Who are you and why do you trespass in the Yellow Coven?” said a voice rasping from behind. Arthur turned around and nearly fell down the hole, as he saw a girl who looked positively hideous. She had a warped face with pointed teeth and glowing green eyes, and scrawny red hair tied in a bun, though this was pointless because most of the hair was escaping to the sides. She wore a tarnished dress and dull red gloves that were ripped, exposing her long fingernails. She was wearing old red shoes that matched the rest of her ensemble, and she looked absolutely ghastly.

  “Um…good morning?” replied Arthur, a little worried but trying to maintain composure.

  “Answer the question!” she shouted, her mouth dripping saliva. Arthur took her hand off his arm and walked over to a bookcase, while she watched in disbelief.

  “If this is the Yellow Coven, then I’ve heard that its rich members dress up as ugly people. Since there is a big lack of ugly people in Discoucia, then the question should be who you are,” he said calmly.

  “I hate that mind of yours,” she said, standing up normally. “

  “OK, what…the duck,” said Arthur. “I’d give you a ten out of ten for the costume Jo, you nearly had me, but it takes a lot to get past Sir Arthur Pageon.”

  “Unfortunately with Coven rules I can’t really take it off until I’m out of here, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with you,” she replied.

  “Is there any other way out of here?” he asked.

  “No, I’ll try to distract some of the other members, while you go down the main corridor and out into the warehouse,” she said.

  It was strange for Arthur to see someone so repulsive have such a beautiful voice. “Yeah OK, I’ll meet you in the fancy dress shop and please don’t wear that there, it might scare some people,” he replied.

  “Oh shut up!” she shouted in the same rasping voice she had in the beginning.

  She limped down the corridor, staying in character, and Arthur hid behind the corner and saw two other people dressed in similarly hideous costumes walking past. He waited until they were gone, and heard a crackling sound behind him. The stone doorway he had seen earlier in the room, which was made of a blue and purple coloured stone, now had a swirling red pattern inside it. Arthur walked up to it, and a hand reached out to take Arthur’s hand, which he gave. Arthur was pulled through into a world that he couldn’t believe.

  He stood on a platform in the weirdest cave he had ever seen. The walls were made from blue stone, and the floor was on fire in some places, but the fire was blue and made the place seem cold, and it was cold as the floor was covered in ice below the sandstone platform. “Where are we exactly?” asked Arthur, now extremely cold.

  “Welcome to a version of Hell, Arthur, I was going to meet you later but it seems that you needed a hand,” said Archie.

  “This is Hell; wait a minute what the hell is hell?” he asked.

  “In your myths and legends, what does it specifically state about where you go when you die?” she asked.

  “If you intentionally murder, not counting wars or accidents, then you go somewhere and never return. However, if you’ve led a life of good deeds that have erased any bad ones you’ve done, then you go above the clouds, to a high place not reachable by any ship,” he replied.

  “That’s kind of beautiful but here is the place that spawned the myth, It has yet to have a name, why don’t you name it?” she said.

  “Why not Erthyana?” he asked.

  “No, we are not naming this dark cold netherworld after your mother,” she said.

  “How did you know that? Oh wait, god,” he replied.

  “Think of something different,” she replied.

  “I can’t think of anything,” he said in a tired voice.

  “Very well, do you want me to take you back to the coven?” she asked.

  “Please do, but honestly, what is going on with them? I’m curious,” he asked.

  “Look I’ll do you a favour, for an hour you and I will be invisible and we can go for a walk around the Yellow Coven without them being any the wiser, sound good?” she asked.

  “A chance to be invisible, I’ll take it,” he said. They passed through the same portal that Arthur had originally entered and they left this strange place, but it wouldn’t be the last time that Arthur would visit…

  “Are we invisible now?” asked Arthur.

  “Walk up to Jo and find out, she’s still got that ridiculous costume on,” replied Archie.

  Arthur walked over to Jo, who was looking at a bookcase, and waved his hand in front of her horrible looking face, but she didn’t register at all. “See, she doesn’t see you at all,” said Archie, walking over to the two.

  “I have an idea,” said Arthur. He pulled out a book from the bookcase and placed it on the top of the bookcase, which he did while Jo wasn’t looking. She turned around, and saw that the book was out of place, and she put it back. Arthur pulled it out, and put it back on the top in the same place. She turned around to see that the book was out again, and she could conceive of no way that could possibly happen.

  “Come on Arthur, Is that really necessary?” asked Archie.

  “Yes, she tried to scare me earlier so this is payback,” he replied.

  Jo walked off to a doorway and the two ‘ghosts’ followed her. She walked up the corridor that Arthur was going to go down, but his curiosity had led him to this. The corridor led up, then into a large room, where a blazing fire was roaring in between blue sand mounds. “The blue sand came from the other world, and this coven is linked to the others,” said Archie.

  “I know this sounds strange that I’m asking this now, and not when I first got here but what’s a coven?” he asked.

  “Broadly speaking, it’s a group of witches that exist as a group
with one leader and several lower members. You see, in my world a coven is a much more dangerous prospect than one is in yours. Here it is just an exclusive club where rich people dress up in horrific costumes and do god knows what, but in my world it exists to harm and to cause general misfortune,” she explained.

  “And you said that there is more than one coven, how many are there?” he asked.

  “There are technically five. The Yellow Coven of Chene, The Red Coven of Ashin, The Blue Coven of Cesta and the Green Coven of Gard” she said.

  “What’s the fifth?” he asked.

  “The White Coven of Evermore,” she said.

  “Do you want to know something?” she asked, as they watched Jo walk into a room with a large cage in it.

  “What might that be?” asked Arthur.

  “How old can a Discoucian live to?” she asked.

  “The general age limit is 1000, but people have been breaking that record all the time,” he said.

  “In my world the age limit is about 100, you have ten times the age others do,” she said.

  “That’s horrible, living to only 100, how do you get anything done?” he asked.

  “Well, you see, your 220, in another world you would be 22, and time flows differently in this world. It flows ten times as slow in your world, but the actual time flow doesn’t go any slower, which is a hard concept to grasp,” she said.

  “I think I understand, it’s like walking to a destination which is the other world, and then flying to a destination, which is your world. We travel at vastly different speeds, but we arrive at the same time,” he explained.

  “Congratulations Arthur you may be the smartest person I’ve met,” said Archie.

  “Obviously, though I still don’t believe it,” he said.

  “You don’t have to believe it, you understand it, and that’s more than I can say for anyone else,” she said.

  After following Jo, they were walking down a huge grand staircase. “OK, so this Coven is for Evere, The Blue Coven is for Seashorelle, The Red Coven is for Ignatio and the Green Coven is for Altatia?” he asked.

  “Correct,” she replied.

  “So the White Coven is for you?” he asked.

  “It was for me, but I told them to stop, as they were becoming too powerful. I mean, their god actually spoke to them, so they tried to take over the different Covens. They did stop, but most of their temple still exists far below Evermore, and I haven’t been there for years,” she replied.

  “Did they do the same stuff that happens here?” he asked.

  “No, this is just limited to Chene and in the spirit of their God they have a load of places to fly,” said Archie.

  Jo reached the bottom of the stairs and still felt like someone was following her. She was now in the grandest area of the Coven, which was below the huge circular window that was in the centre of Chene. From the surface it looked like a dome, covered by a really ornate metal frame, which seemed to be made so no one could go near it and find the world below. The glass was opaque, so no one could see through.

  “You know, this seems like a strange but interesting place to hang out, but I believe that they have some odd rules here,” she said.

  “You’re a god, you can do anything,” he said.

  “Yes, but that’s a bit of a grey area. Yes, I can do anything, but I don’t want to live in a marble palace being godly and judgemental, I’d rather share in an adventure with you, it’s way more interesting,” she said.

  “Oh, I feel honoured,” he said.

  “Please don’t do that,” she said.

  “If you insist,” he replied.

  “You see, when I start travelling back in time and changing history, it becomes a whole mess that I end up leaving,” she said.

  “Can you travel in time?” he asked.

  “Yes, sometimes I go backwards and watch great events, or I peek into some people’s futures,” she said.

  “Have you seen my future?” he asked.

  “Sort of,” she replied simply.

  “Can you tell me about it?” he asked.

  “Not really, but since it’s you, I’ll let you ask one question, and I shall give you an honest answer” she said.

  “Okay, umm, what is my daughter’s name?” he asked.

  “I can’t answer that,” she said.

  “You promised you would,” he said.

  “The reason is because the answer is another question,” said Archie.

  “Then what is it?” he asked.

  “Which daughter’s name?” she asked.

  “Oh, I see,” he said, and now Arthur’s mind went into double thinking overdrive. “OK, I have one more question, but it isn’t about the future,” said Arthur.

  “Then ask away,” said Archie.

  “Is Archie your real name?” he asked.

  “No it isn’t,” she replied.

  Jo wandered off to a group of people; one was a woman dressed as a siren. She has long white hair that was so bunched up, it looked awful. Her mouth was so large, that it had to be fake, since it was huge, a gaping hole with long teeth. The long shiny green dress she wore was tarnished at the bottom, but hid her feet. She also wore gloves similar to Jo’s; however they didn’t end in claws. There was a man, who wore a long cloak, and had a horrible-looking face, with long twisted horns. He held a trident, and had white hair like the siren, but not as long. The third was a girl who had a pink dress, and wrinkled grey skin. Her face was bent into a torturous grin, and her eyes were wide open, with black accentuated eyebrows. Her hair was scraggly blonde, and she had claws like Jo, only she didn’t wear gloves, exposing her grey wrinkled hands.

  “Jesus, they all look like monsters from a television program, but I cannot figure out what,” said Archie.

  ”What’s that?” asked Arthur.

  “A television program is something pretty exclusive to my world, and we haven’t got time for me to explain what television is,” she replied.

  “Look, they’re going, what do we do now?” he asked, but Archie couldn’t help staring at the people.

  “Wait a minute, they are from what I think they are from. The woman in pink is Aphrodite. And Jo is The Ghost Girl; I don’t know how I missed this, but how did these characters get into Discoucia?” she asked rhetorically.

  “Because this is all a dream you are having and soon you’ll wake up realising that you have no powers!” shouted Arthur.

  “Oh come on be serious,” replied Archie

  “I don’t know, shall I ask Jo?” asked Arthur.

  “Yes please, wait till she’s alone and then grab her,” she said.

  The group walked off, and Jo walked back in their direction. Arthur was about to grab her, but Archie grabbed him before he could. “Not now and not right in the middle of the room, follow her and go for it when she’s near a small room,” said Archie. They followed her up the stairs, and when they reached the room with the sand fire, they saw Jo walk into a narrow corridor. They grabbed Jo, pulled her into a room, and locked the door. Arthur held her, while Archie held her mouth, though was quite scared by the sharp fangs that Jo’s mask had.

  “What is this!? A poltergeist kidnapping!?” she shouted. Archie blinked twice, and they both faded into view. “Arthur! What are you doing…invisible!” she shouted, now returning to normal voice.

  “It’s a long story but Josephine, I give you The Fifth God…Archie,” he announced.

  “Who the heck are you?” asked Jo, now defensive since there was another woman in the room.

  “Oh don’t think of me as a threat Princess Josephine Archaelia Olandine, I’m actually a really pleasant fellow,” she said.

  “Your middle name is Archaelia?” asked Arthur.

  “How did you know that, may I ask?” she said.

  “Look, take the mask off then we can talk,” she replied. Jo pulled her fake face off and her beautiful platinum hair bounced out.

  “There, happy now?” she asked.

  “Ve
ry. Now where did you get the idea for that costume?” asked Archie.

  “From the head of our coven, she’s new and has some interesting new ideas,” said Jo.

  “What’s her name?” asked Archie.

  “Professor Cordelia Paradise,” said Jo.

  With the sound of that name, Archie felt a feeling of dread flow through her and all of time felt like it slowed down. Arthur and Jo stared at her blankly.

  “Do you know her?” asked Jo.

  “Not anyone of that name, that’s what worries me,” said Archie.

  “What is she talking about?” asked Jo.

  “Look, I’m a little perplexed myself, but it seems that she is indeed the god Authos and has power over everything,” said Arthur.

  “Actually, since I’m talking to you two, I’ll outline the fact that I do have a few constraints on my powers” she said.

  “Like what?” asked Arthur.

  “Well, firstly I cannot see into the future since that power belongs to someone else. I on the other hand control water since I am the water goddess,” said Archie.

  “Is that why you wear blue all the time?” asked Arthur.

  “I have to coordinate don’t I?” she replied.

  “Is there anything else a little more helpful you can do?” asked Jo.

  “Now that you mention it I can bestow basic elemental powers on humans. I shall be doing that on the three of you,” she replied.

  “Apart from you there are only two of us” said Arthur.

  “Oh, you’re right; well, it only proves that I don’t have the power of foresight,” she said.

  “What else can’t you do?” asked Jo.

  “I can’t control the sea on a whole since that’s Seashorelle’s territory, and even though we’re friends I don’t think she would like it” she said.