Lovers of Babel (13 page)

             
Alex was not too far behind. Both of his arms had transformed and his head. All that was left were his legs and torso. This was by far the funniest competition of the night. For what felt like hours the audience sat and watched a boy with an octopus head and tentacles for arms struggling to complete his transformation. By the time he transformed one leg, Esmerelda had only her head left.

             
Esmeralda kraken had nine tentacles that could reach out into the audience and the ceiling. By herself, she took up the majority of space in the arena. There was hardly space to rest her tentacles and so they just hovered around her like worms dangling from hooks. Once Esmerelda and Alex finished transforming the entire Tourney was filled with two massive octopuses. They were squished together unable to move except for their tentacles.  At one point we thought the glass dome would break under the pressure.

             
An obnoxious audience member who was sitting a row in front of me decided to use his flare stick to burn one of Alex’s tentacles that was hovering above his head.  Alex kraken howled in pain and used his tentacle to grab the boy. The audience yelled in protest as the tentacle brought the boy to the kraken’s massive face. The look in the octopus’s eye sent a shiver down my spine. Suddenly, he opened his massive mouth exposing hundreds of tiny sharp teeth that filled up the entire inside of the kraken’s mouth. The boy was trying desperately to escape the grip of Alex’s tentacle, but the suction cups were too strong to escape. The audience’s reaction was a mixture of anger and excitement at what was happening. I wondered when the Herald would stop the tournament.

             
The boy came closer and closer to the kraken’s mouth until I could see the boy’s hair blowing from the breath of the octopus. Alex was preparing to eat him alive with not a care that soon he’d be a boy again too. It didn’t matter though; he wanted his power back. But that’s when the Herald spoke.

             
“Put him down Alex! You have given us quite a show. Now, please release him,” the Herald demanded.

             
Alex hesitated and then clumsily sat him back down in his seat using one of his tentacles. I looked at the obnoxious boy and saw that he had peed himself. Even if Alex didn’t win the tournament, he had won.

             
The Herald took a few minutes to deliberate with the game makers then he climbed to his seat at the top of the Herald throne.

             
“Now, I think we’ve all seen enough. I should’ve planned this better and considered the space of the arena more, but alas we are an imperfect race!” The Herald looked at Esmerelda and Alex who were still krakens.

             
“Please transform back into yourselves. There is simply not enough room and it’s starting to smell like seafood in here,” the Herald demanded.

             
The transformation back to normal took much less time than it did to become krakens. Once they were finished, the Herald held up a silver crown with the water symbol carved throughout the entire rim.

             
“This crown goes to the transformer who had the most courage in this competition. And the audience loves an underdog. So, because of your strength and ability, Alex, we crown you victor of mimicry!”

             
Alex was shocked. He thought he lost his chances of winning since he tried to eat an audience member, but it seemed like that was overlooked. Maybe there was still hope for the power games after all. Alex wore his crown like a true champion. His life as the underdog had changed for good.

             
The next competition was Quicktrek and it was already dark out. The overcast sky was now black and the colors of aurora were more striking than ever. The atmosphere was so clear that you could see the craters on the surface of the moon. The bright moonlight shined on the Tourney creating a natural spotlight for the next two competitors.

             
Next up was Chad and George, the teleporters. The audience cheered and waved around their star dust glow sticks filling the transparent arena with streaks of fluorescent colors.

             
Again, it was time for the Herald to announce the nature of the Quicktrek competition.

             
“You both will have to teleport to the Room of Worthless Creations and find the Portal of Antiquity. This portal was accidentally stowed away with all the useless creations that have been made in the school from the beginning. Some of you may have heard of the Portal of Antiquity and its power. You see this creation is not worthless. No, in fact, it is one of our most prized possessions here at the Society. This object appears to be a simple wooden relic but it holds the key to the past. Whosoever possesses it will be able to see however far back into the past they need. This creation was made by Simone Green, one of our dearest sponsors, who unfortunately passed away years ago from a fatal illness. We will honor her by finding this portal in the pile of rubbish that is the Room of Worthless Creations and bring it back to the Tourney. We will be able to watch your every move with the help of our spy cameras. We have a few cameras set up in each room of the school just in case you end up somewhere you’re not supposed to,” the Herald said with a wink.

             
The audience burst into hysterics.

             
“And don’t think about outsmarting us and hiding from the cameras. They are all hidden and it will be utterly impossible for you to know from which angle you’re being filmed. We will be watching you on this gigantic screen.” The Herald pointed up towards the center of the arena at a large screen that was bent in a circle so that everyone in the audience could see the action no matter where they were sitting.

             
“Now, whoever finds it the fastest and brings it to me will win an extra prize. After the trumpet sounds you may depart, gentlemen. Happy trekking!”

             
Both boys looked nervous. The Room of Worthless Creations was one of the biggest mysteries on campus. There were rumors that the room was filled with all sorts of failed creations that were made by the most inexperienced creators in the power society. These were the creations that were forced into darkness because of the shear bizarreness of them. No student had ever stepped foot inside the room, but this hadn’t stopped them from talking about it. Some rumors revolved around the weird creatures that lived in the room. Other rumors were about random students who got lost inside, never to return again. Some said the room had no walls and held a vast number of creations. It was a wonder why these creations weren’t just destroyed once they proved useless. For some reason the society members wanted to store these abominations for safe keeping and now two students would be allowed to explore the secret chamber.

             
The trumpet sounded serenading the Tourney with one long and eerie B flat. Then, it went silent. The boys were gone in an instant. 

             
Chad was the first to appear on the screen and it immediately dawned on the audience that he was not in the Room of Worthless Creations, but in the dining hall. The audience was well amused and I, well I was annoyed. I wanted him to win. Chad was also visibly annoyed and slapped his head with his hand.

             
Here was the problem: in order for teleporters to travel anywhere using their power, they must
know
where they are going. It sounds simple enough, but ever-so-often a natural would ask a teleporter why he doesn’t just transport himself to a place called Heaven and be done with it. The teleporter would simply answer: ‘because I have no clue what heaven looks like or where it is or if it is even a place.’ A teleporter must travel with intent. They must not only know where they want to go, but they must
believe
that it is where they think it is. If a teleporter didn’t have these things, they’d end up like Chad, by himself, in a dark dining hall.

             
George was a little closer to reaching the target. He looked even stronger on screen with his spiked hair jetting from his humungous cranium. George appeared to be in the library, but the room was very dark. The only light was a faint moonlight coming from outside the windows. When George finally realized where he was he stood still, preparing for another teleport.

             
The screen switched over to Chad who was still in the dining hall. My twelve-year-old mind couldn’t figure out why he was still there. It was obviously
not
the Room of Worthless Creations. I wanted to jump from my seat and yell at the screen,
transport you fool!
But I sat containing my composure. Chad was seated in Indian style, eyes half closed, and mumbling to himself. He was saying something like, “where would I be if I was worthless? Away from everyone else of course. But where? The place once called the Bermuda Triangle? Or Massachusetts. Alaska?”

             
I didn’t understand this then, but now I realize that what Chad was doing was making his imagination more open to the idea of the Room of Useless Creations. Since he had no idea where it was or what it looked like inside, he was trying to create an idea of it in his mind. All he needed was a good idea drawn from his imagination and his power would take him there.

             
Suddenly, George materialized inside Mr. Stanley’s classroom. Mr. Stanley was a high school transformer teacher and had all sorts of funny masks propped up on the walls of his room. However, in the dark they looked more menacing than funny. George looked around and shook his head.

             
“Where is this place!? I wonder where Blondie is,” he asked himself.

             
He appeared to have gotten an idea, because he suddenly perked up. Then a sly smile slid across his acne sprinkled face.

             
Chad was
still
in the dining hall, but this time he was pacing back and forth, stretching his arms as if preparing for a fight. Suddenly, the sound of silverware dropping to the tile floor came from inside the kitchen area. Chad looked toward it waiting to see what happened.

             
The audience was in a state of suspense and was quiet for the first time since the Tourney began.

             
Chad slowly walked toward the kitchen. It was dark inside the hall, but above his head near the ceiling was the faint light coming from blue flames that the society liked to use in the dining hall at night. Right when Chad was about to push the door open to the kitchen, it swung out and nearly whacked Chad in the head.

             
It was George and he started aggressively at Chad. Chad stepped back a few feet in defense.

             
“Hey George. Looks like you made the same mistake I did huh? I guess the dining hall is the easiest place to teleport. Food is important after all,” Chad was trying to make light of George’s bad attitude.

             
“You know where the Room of Worthless Creations is, don’t you?” George quizzed.

             
“No, I’m just as unsure as you are George,” Chad was still backing away.

             
“I heard you’re one of the most imaginative teleporters in your grade. I’m sure you’ve been hanging around here thinking about where that room could be.”

             
George now had Chad against a wall. Chad was looking up at him with a look somewhere between fear and annoyance.

             
“Look, I have no idea what you’re talking about. That’s just a rumor.”

             
“If you don’t want your face to be pounded in front of the entire Tourney you’ll tell me where the room is!” George’s face was so close to Chad’s that I imagined he could smell the processed meatloaf and asparagus he had for lunch.

             
“What? Are you afraid to be beaten by someone two years younger than you and half your size? It must kill you to know that all the hard work it took you to bulk up won’t amount to anything in the Tourney. It’s the quality of the mind that matters; not the girth,” Chad said.

             
That received a standing ovation from the audience.

             
Suddenly, George wrapped his massive hands around Chad’s thin neck. There was a short struggle and then in the blink of an eye they were gone.

             
The scene switched to both boys standing in the midst of a white room. George released Chad from his grip and gawked at his surroundings with his mouth wide open.

             
“Where are we? Where have you brought us Blondie!?” George asked.

             
Chad was in awe of his surroundings as well. It looked like they were in some sort of void. There was nothing but white all around.

             
“Could this be…it?” Chad said to himself.

             
“Hello! You teleported us here. Now what the heck is this place?”

             
“You wouldn’t have had to come with me if your hands weren’t around my neck.” Chad looked at him condescendingly.