Montezuma
It was in a small cavern where we finally found Montezuma, shovel in hand. He was digging with a miner in a spot where piles of rock and dirt seemed to glow.
“Come on.” He said to himself. “I’m running out of time.”
“Are you Montezuma?” I asked.
“I’m sorry I don’t have much time right now.” He replied continuing to dig fixated on the glowing rock and dirt.
“I’ve heard that you can help me.” I replied. “Help me find my way back home.”
Montezuma stopped digging and dropped his shovel to his side. The miner took over continuing to dig. Montezuma looked directly at me. It was like he recognized my face from somewhere before. I think I might have slightly recognized him at the time too, but from where I did not know, I knew I had seen him leaving Calico, but even then I thought I had seen him somewhere before. Montezuma looked at the boomerang glove I was wearing.
“…Miko?” he asked.
“I’m sorry?” I replied.
“You don’t remember me?”
“I don’t think so.” I replied, but something in my mind flashed. A younger version of the man, yet still I couldn’t quite remember.
“I wouldn’t expect you to.” He sighed. “You were so young when you left... You shouldn’t have come back here.”
“I don’t even know how I got here.” I replied. “I can’t remember anything; can you tell me what’s happening? Who I am? And why I can’t remember anything?”
“Memory wash...” Montezuma replied. “...From the shock of crossing from the other world.” “Give it time, you’ll remember everything soon enough. You should be able to remember at least one thing from the other world.”
“I can’t remember much of anything anymore. Only my wife.”
“Do you know what she looks like?” He asked.
“I do.” I replied pulling out the picture from my wallet.
“She’s very pretty.” Montezuma said with a smile. “Do you remember her name?”
“No, but I keep having dreams about her. I think she’s dreaming about me too.”
“She is.” Said Montezuma. “Those that are connected can talk to each other in their dreams. You just keep focusing on the thought of her and some of your memory will come back.”
Montezuma handed the picture back to me. I placed it in my wallet.
“It’s better you don’t remember this place.” He said. “we can’t talk now but I’ll explain more later. Right now I need to find the seventh seal to give me more time.”
Montezuma picked up his shovel then shook his head brushing off what seemed to be something important to him. Perhaps disregarding or suppressing something. A memory maybe. Instead he and the miner steadily continued to dig.
“We here to help.” Bigfoot said grabbing a shovel nearby. Westwood rolled over an oar car and began filling it with rock and dirt too. I also grabbed a shovel and began to dig.
“The seventh seal is here.” Said Montezuma “The earth glows where it rests.”
Montezuma stopped just for a moment.
“... Here Sheriff." He called out pulling out something from his leather jacket then tossing it to Westwood. It was something that had a dim glow. Five pieces of stone almost connecting in a circle with unreadable writing on it. The center was also empty.
“Over the years I’ve found six pieces of the seal.” Montezuma whispered. “Now the last one is here.”
“Is this how you stop Nefarious?” Westwood asked.
“Yes.” Montezuma replied. “Once the stone is complete I can re-seal Nefarious as he wakes. But I need to find it before that glow is gone.”
“What happen when no more glow?” Bigfoot chimed in.
“Nefarious will wake, and consume everyone he has taken.”
Understanding the severity of the situation we all continued to dig. Finally, we saw how a place in the dirt had an even brighter glow.
“The final stone!” Montezuma declared then threw down his shovel and continued to dig with his hands. “She’s here too.” He whispered carefully brushing the dirt away from the stone and a grey hand appeared, it was clenching onto the final stone.
“Is that who I think it is???” The miner asked. His voice trembling.
“The grey witch Edena.” Montezuma whispered.
Hearing that, the miner dropped his shovel and rushed out of the small cavern. Montezuma hushed everyone as he slowly began to pry the stone out of the hand.
“Can’t wake her.” He whispered again. One by one he pried each of her fingers loose from the stone. Soon the seal was out of her hand. Montezuma whispered to us signaling us to leave.
We continued on back headed through the tunnels. Once we were far enough we stopped whispering and began to talk loosely again.
“What was that all about?” I asked.
“The grey witch Edena.” Montezuma replied. “She’s been hiding the seventh seal from me for a very long time. She Want’s Nefarious to wake up.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because she is in love with him. She’s always been in love with him.”
Westwood handed the rest of the seal back to Montezuma and Montezuma took the new piece placing it on the outer edge. The stone seals fused together creating a circular plate with one missing space in the center. The glow from the entire plate grew brighter once this seal had been fused with the rest.
“Now that this seal has fused Nefarious will sleep a little longer.” Montezuma declared.
“There are only six seals here.” Said Westwood. “The center is empty...Where is the seventh?”
“It is waiting for me in safe hands.”
“How do you find Nefarious once the stone is complete?” I asked.
“I already know where he is.” Montezuma replied. “It’s a long way, but I need to get to the Jaguar Temple.”
“That very far.” Bigfoot replied. “Past fiesta village, Me and Dodo like fiesta town.”
Once we returned to the bottom of the mine we noticed that there were no longer any men working.
“Where everyone go?” Bigfoot asked.
A small mine train roared along its rails then hit its engine brakes once the driver noticed us. One by one its oar cars bunched together like an accordion. The cars slammed into each other and the train finally came to a halt.
“Didn’t anyone tell you???” The Driver yelled. “The grew witch is here! They’re gonna blast the mine closed! You’ve got to get out of here now... Get in!”
“Thank god." Said Westwood as he climbed aboard the first car. “My boots are killing me."
The small train began to move and the rest of us hopped aboard the last mine car. The Driver rushed us through the mines. Along the way were lit fuses burning in different directions. their fiery smoke trails headed to different sticks of dynamite. The first blast blew far behind us and the whole mine shaft began to rumble!
“Come on!” yelled the driver giving the little engine all she had. The mine train was moving pretty fast now, but soon enough there was an upward shaft that slowed us down as we headed closer to the exit of the mine. Again another blast and the wooden beams that held the mine shaft together began to break under the weight of the crumbling mine.
“This doesn’t look good!” shouted Montezuma.
One of the beams finally gave and a giant boulder crushed one of the cars in the center of the train. It uncoupled the mine cars splitting the train into two sections. Most of us were in the last mine car and began to roll backwards into the mine once uncoupled from the rest of the train. We began to pick up ferocious speed.
“How do we stop it?!!” I shouted.
“Can’t!” Bigfoot gasped.
“Then what do we do?!”
“Hold on?!” Montezuma shouted.
More dynamite blasted projecting debris at us as we held on for dear life in these runaway mine cars.
Meanwhile the rest of the mine cars were safe. The little engine slowly pulled the front half of the train out of the mine to a small loading dock.
“Whooey!” Shouted the Mine driver pulling the mine cars to a stop. “Looks like we made it out of there alive... thanks to my “dynamite” driving.” But then he looked back at the rest of the train noticing that half of it was gone and the rest of the group was now missing except for Westwood whom had an upset look on his grey old face.
“Yeah, that’s not good.” Said the mine driver.
“You think?” Westwood barked.
The rest of us continued to roll backwards through the mine at rapid speeds. Bigfoot holding onto Dodo. We were passing through every cavern that we had walked through earlier.
“Look Dodo!” Bigfoot shouted trying to calm the upset bird. His large hand pointed at the stalactites we had seen earlier. “Pretty rock again!”
The oar car sped on making its way into the cavern with all those bats. The bats were already upset from all that blasting, and decided to take their frustration out on us by attacking as we bolted though their cavern. We swatted them away as much as we could but soon enough we were out of there and speeding through the rest of the tunnels. Everything grew steamy and we were now moving through the large cavern where geysers sprayed up out of the mud pots, the cavern was upset and steam was spraying everywhere. Rapidly we passed that cavern and the oar cars quickly sped through more tunnels leading us back to where we originally entered the mine.
We could see the light coming from the end of the tunnel.
“No more track.” I shouted. Everyone held on as tight as they could, but once the cars made it outside, the tracks ended and we were all thrown from the mine cars tumbling in the dirt. There was one last blast and the second entrance of the mine had crumbled also.
It wasn’t long before Westwood rushed to our aid, asking if we were okay. He counted everyone, making sure we were all there. Aside from a few bumps and bruises, everyone was fine. Dodo was a bit shook up though, squawking angrily at everyone trying to find out who was the cause of all its distress. We were all lucky to be alive.
It was getting dark now, so we decided to make camp for the night amongst the miners. Westwood started a fire. The miners were very hospitable, they fed us some soup that they were making in a giant pot, even provided us with blankets so we wouldn’t have to sleep in the dirt.
By the fire Westwood told stories of Calico and different bandits he had arrested over the years and how he once outshot the fastest gun in the west!
Bigfoot also told stories of his and Dodo’s journeys amongst the woods. Bigfoots stories were mostly about food. They were very un-entertaining.
Eventually everyone wanted to hear what Montezuma’s story was, but he wasn’t as open about himself with our group, insisting that his story was mostly sad and he didn’t like talking about his past very much... Instead he began to tell the story of Nefarious.
He said that a long time ago Nefarious wasn’t as bad as he was now. That his people were once friends with the Zuma’s but were fading away from a mysterious disease. That he was dying and was afraid of death, so he went on a journey to find eternal life. Most of his travels were unproductive, until one day he came upon a Gypsy camp where a woman claimed she knew a spell that would help him live forever, but eternal life came with a price, that if she were to perform the spell it would rid his body of either good or evil, that whichever he had more of would stay with him without the other. Nefarious was fearful of this, he didn’t know which he had more of. He knew that there was much good in him, but with all that he had done in his life he also knew that there was a large amount of fear in him and he knew that fear was evil.
Regardless, Nefarious agreed to the terms and payed the Gypsy woman. So the woman performed the spell on him.
Montezuma didn’t quite know how the spell was cast on Nefarious, but he said that the woman removed all that was good from him and it became an infant.
Once the spell was cast it was the evil inside that overpowered the good, and the good was cast out of Nefarious becoming a new born and all that was left inside Nefarious was hate and hunger, hunger for life, hunger for power.
At first Nefarious wanted to kill the child, but the old woman told him that hurting the infant would only hurt himself. Nefarious abandoned the infant there.
Ever since that day, Nefarious has grown powerful, consuming everything in his path and taking powerful things. Searching for the operator’s bands and sometimes completely consuming them. Montezuma told us that Nefarious would also consume entire areas of Boysenvale. That years later he consumed that entire gypsy camp and that there used to be a Kingdom of the Dinosaurs and he took it. That Nefarious has an uncontrollable hunger for life, to consume it and anyone and everything that has life, and that is why he must be kept sealed away.
After hearing that story I kind of felt bad for Nefarious. From what I heard he didn’t mean to become evil. He was just unlucky I thought.
Eventually one by one we all fell asleep.
Montezuma woke me up in the middle of the night. He took me away from the camp to talk alone.
“It’s time for you to remember.” He said. “I’ve dreamt about you. We are connected.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Nefarious wants the power inside of you, he won’t rest until he has it. I sent you away to the other world when you were just a little boy to protect you. Originally Boysenvale was your home. Your real name is Mikozuma, a blood descendent of the Zuma’s. I watched over you as your older brother.”
This was a lot to take in. I had to sit down.
“I’m sorry.” He sympathized. “I didn’t want to send you away. Everyday I’ve prayed for you, hoping you had food in your belly and a place to sleep. I wish I could have been there to watch you grow, to protect you. But Nefarious gave me no choice, he would have killed you if you had stayed. Now you’re here years later, too old to be the little brother that I wanted you to be. In my heart I always wanted you to come back, but always hoped that you wouldn’t.”
Montezuma told me that I could ask him any questions that I wanted to know the answer to.
“Do we have other family.” I asked. “Parents?”
“We did.” He replied. “But they’re gone now.”
I knew by the tone of his voice what he really meant. Somehow inside me I knew they had died a long time ago. I didn’t want to know how, I stopped him before he could say.
“How come Nefarious didn’t kill you?” I asked.
“I’m not really what everyone says I am.” Montezuma replied. “The last of the Zuma’s.”
“What do you mean?”
“You and the Grey Witch Edena are the last of the Zuma’s. I was adopted by your family years ago. Your father took me in, so you and I are not really related, not by blood anyway.
“Who is this grey witch?” I asked. “Did I know her?”
“She is your great aunt. You don’t know her, but she knows of you.”
“She does?”
“She doesn’t know your alive though. I had to protect you at all costs even if I had to lie. If she finds out you’re here she’ll use all of her power to harm you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“It’s like I said. …She’s in love with Nefarious, and Nefarious wants what you have. She’ll do anything for him.”
“I see, so I have two people in this world that want me dead, one of which is my aunt, and the other is immortal. I no longer feel very welcome in this world… but then then there’s you.”
I won’t blame you if you don’t think of me as your brother, maybe it’s better that way. That way once we send you back you won’t have any more ties to Boysenvale.”
“How old were you when you sent me away?”
“twelve.”
“You were just a boy... Who took care of you?”
“I’ve taken care of myself, I haven’t had much time to worry about much of anything except for the seven seals. I knew that once I found them all I could re-seal Nefarious.”
“How long have you been searching for them?”
“Since the day you left.”
“You’ve been helping me? Keeping me safe all these years?”
“Yes, and now it’s time for me to help you once more. Help you remember the other world. You must remember in order to get back home.”
Montezuma prepared to tell me about the other world. He told me to keep my mind as clear as I could, and only focus on what he was telling me. I tried my best to have an open mind and calmed my heart.
“I remember dreaming about you Miko.” He said. “Small dreams, flashes of you from your world. I ‘ve Dreamt about you your whole life, the dreams are real. They will help you remember your past.”
Montezuma sat next to me. “Are you ready to remember?” He asked.
“I am.” I replied.
“Your head might hurt a little.” Montezuma warned me. He then held my face in his hands covering my eyes with his thumbs. He closed his eyes too trying his best to recall dreams that he once had of me.... Montezuma began.
“You were just a little boy, had just left here.” He said. “Lost, and alone. You were crying because you didn’t know where you were or why you were there.”
Something began to trigger in my mind. I could feel it transferring from him to me... I began to remember little bits.
“There was a young girl that found you.” He continued. “She was sweet and held your hand. I need you to remember her.”
I began to remember that day at Knott’s berry farm from when I was a little boy.
“I remember.” I said. “She was a Sweeper… Clara, she had a pan and broom. She knelt down trying her best to stop me from crying. She asked me my name, I told her my name was Miko, but she called me Michael, I didn’t correct her because she was so nice to me.”
“Good.” Montezuma replied removing his hands from my face. “You’re starting to remember.”
My head began to hurt a little but I insisted that Montezuma continue on. So he did once again placing his hands on my face.
“Later there was an orphanage. The other kids would treat you bad there. They were mean and called you names. You didn't like it there. You felt like you were alone do you remember that place?"
“I do” I replied remembering the orphanage. “I hated it there. The other kids would steal my things and hide them from me."
“There was a girl, a girl that was kind.”
“Michelle.” I replied remembering instantly. “I remember her name! Everyone there was so mean, But not her. She was good to me, sweet to me."
“Can you remember what happened to her?"
“I married her. I promised I would take care of her always.”
“Michael.” Montezuma said removing his hands so that I could see.... “I want you to know something.”
“What?” I asked.
“I want you to know you weren’t really alone back then. I was with you in my dreams, watching you, you’ve never been alone, not ever okay?”
“Okay.” I replied with a smile. Montezuma asked if my head was hurting. It did but I wanted to continue further so I made him continue.
“This one will hurt very much.” Montezuma warned. “Your wife Michelle...She has something of yours...Something precious, what is it?”
My head began to hurt extremely bad.
“I don’t know.” I replied. “I can’t remember.”
“Yes you can!” Montezuma insisted.
“I can’t it hurts too much!”
“Think harder! Don’t think about the pain, think about the memory! You need to remember this one on your own. I can’t tell you what it is... If you do it will unlock all the memories from your world.”
I wanted to give up for a moment but Montezuma wouldn’t let me. My head hurt so bad that If I hadn’t been sitting I would have collapsed, finally it came to me. A memory of Michelle.
I was laying in her lap with my hand pressed against her stomach.
“Do you feel him kicking?” She asked.
I felt it. A tiny foot pressing outward from inside her womb. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced.
“Our baby.” I replied. “She’s carrying our baby boy… I’m going to be a Dad.”
After that I could remember everything! All my memories came pouring back into my mind! I knew that I had gone to work at Knott’s berry farm in order to find out what happened that day in the park all those years ago. That I had operated most all the rides at Knott’s berry farm. That I had become a locomotive engineer on the ghost town and Calico railroad. Everything was now clear. I could recall the night I went up in the sky cabin and landed on the beach here in Boysenvale.
“I remember!” I cheered. “I remember everything!”
I had questions to ask. Montezuma tried his best to answer most of them.
“Everything from Knott’s berry farm is somewhat like this world, why is that?” I asked.
“Our worlds are mixed.” Montezuma answered. “This world has an impact on your world, and the things that are done in that place in your world impact this world. They are connected.”
It was almost eerie how much Knott’s berry farm was similar to things in Boysenvale, Like the boomerang. I had operated a ride called boomerang at the park, and Bigfoot too! There was a water ride called Bigfoot rapids at the theme park back home. Even Mr. Knott and his farm were here! The theme park back home was called Knott’s berry farm! Named after its creator Walter Knott! I had even met that man here in Boysenvale! I remember thinking how impossible it was. That maybe I had been dreaming this whole time. I wanted to know what the link between my world and Boysenvale was.
“I don’t understand." I said. “How is it that our worlds are connected?”
“The boysenberry.” He replied. “They are very powerful.... The berry vine reaches from the other world into this one, connecting the two. That’s why things here and there are somewhat alike.”
Montezuma decided that I needed to get back home immediately. He said that we needed to get back to Mr. Knott’s farm only then could he send me back home. I wanted to go with him and stop Nefarious, but he wouldn’t let me. Saying that if Nefarious got ahold of me all would be lost. I asked him what he meant by that. He said That if I and the grey witch Edena were consumed by Nefarious that he would become all powerful and nothing would be able to stop him. Not even the seven seals.
“Once you leave this place, you need not ever come back....” Said Montezuma. “You don’t have any more ties to Boysenvale anyway.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“I can take care of myself.” Replied Montezuma. “You can forget about me when you get home. I won’t blame you seeing as we’re not bonded by blood.”
“Will you forget me?” I asked.
Montezuma grew silent. I knew he couldn’t. In his eyes I’d always be his little brother.
“No...” I said. “.. I can’t do that. You sent me away to protect me when I was just a boy. You’ve dreamt of me. You’ve spent your whole life searching for these seals to protect everyone from Nefarious, including me. Even now you helped me to remember my world. That, to me sounds like the type of big brother I always wanted. You say that we’re not bonded by blood and I think you’re right... I think we are bonded by something bigger than blood. You said that I was never really alone, that you were watching me in your dreams. I once heard that dreams come from the soul. I think that’s where our bond comes from.”
I gave him a hug saying. “It’s nice to meet you big brother.”
Montezuma smiled simply replying. “It’s nice to meet you too little brother.”
Montezuma warned me not to speak too much of the other world. Saying that people from Boysenvale might not understand and be fearful of it, that he too didn’t understand exactly how things worked. Did Knott’s berry farm exist because of Boysenvale? Or was it the other way around? What would happen to Boysenvale if Something bad happened to Knott’s berry farm? Was one world real and the other just someone’s elaborate imagination? He told me that these questions had haunted him his whole life. I agreed that too much information from my world would only upset the people of Boysenvale... better to not speak too much of the theme park back home.
In the Morning Montezuma told the group that he and I are brothers and that I am actually a Zuma.
“That why you so strong with Boomerang?" Bigfoot asked.
“Yes." Montezuma replied. “He can operate any band. And learn them very quick."
“But Nefarious hates Zumas" Said Westwood.
“I know." Replied Montezuma. “That’s why we need to send Michael home now."
There wasn’t much time to explain, but Westwood and Bigfoot understood the gist of everything. We left the miners camp in route for Mr. Knott’s farm.
Montezuma began to lead us towards the east but I knew that Mr. Knott’s place was to the south.
“We’re going the wrong way.” I insisted. “Mr. Knott’s place is to the south.”
“It’s also to the north, east, and west.” Replied Montezuma.
“What’s that supposed to mean? I asked.
“No matter where you are, no matter how far you travel, if you want to make it to Mr. Knott’s farm, you will. The Knott family is very welcoming and takes in all travelers from all of Boysenvale.”
“That don’t make no sense.” Westwood sneered. “That some kind of magic or something?”
“Yes.” Montezuma answered as we continued on. I wanted to use one of my Locomotive bands to get there but Montezuma insisted we continue on foot and that it wouldn’t be long before we got there. He was right. Suddenly orange trees began to appear off in the distance. Strawberry patches too.
I didn’t understand it all that well, but it was in fact the farm of Mr. Knott. What I thought was miles and miles away was now right in front of us. Like the farm itself was magic. I had just been there with Coast days earlier. It was as if all my traveling was washed away and I had started all over again!
As we got closer we noticed that something was different. There were ravens feathers amongst the crops. Most of the fruit from the orange trees were missing, the strawberries were mostly gone too. When we got to the Patch of Boysenberry they had also been destroyed. Montezuma searched the vine thoroughly but there wasn’t a single berry left.
“This is not good.” Said Montezuma. “Now how am I going to send you back?”
“What do you mean?” I replied.
“We need Boysenberry to send you home.”
“I ate one of those berries before I was taken up in the sky cabin.” I replied. “Is that how I got here?”
“Yes.” Montezuma answered. “Without those Boysenberry and that sky cabin you can’t go back home. It appears that Nefarious is set on keeping you here.”
I looked off in the distance towards the farm. “What about the Knott family? Do you think they’re ok?”
We rushed to the Farm house and found that everyone was gone. There was a note left behind resting on the dining room table that read…
“Dear weary travelers, I am sorry we are away today, please make yourself at home and help yourselves to a meal. If you need to find us we are headed to the Boardwalk, I have a bad feeling our friends may need our help.”
The Knott Family
“Surfside and Coast!” I shouted. “They must be in trouble!”
“Well, let’s go help them.” Westwood insisted.
I tried out the 41 operators band and a locomotive appeared but sped by almost hitting us.
“Wrong band.” Montezuma scolded. “That operators band is used to attack.”
“Three forty!” I shouted and my 340 locomotive appeared stopping before us. We hopped aboard and I politely asked it to take us to the boardwalk. Its tracks headed straight toward the boardwalk then let out two peppy toots and we were on our way.
“That’s much better little brother.” Montezuma laughed. “But I had better teach you how to use those bands before you get someone killed.”
The locomotive sped towards the Boardwalk. Along the way we saw Mr. Knott’s wagon, it was tipped over and there were ravens feathers everywhere. There was no sign of the Knott family. It was like they abandoned the wagon.
“He took them." Said Westwood. “Just like he took everyone in Calico."
“like tribe in forest!" Bigfoot replied. “......Bad, bad witch man.”