monster and magic (end, for now)

ลำดับตอนที่ #27 : Chapter 27 An unsuspecting motel

   Jordan, this might sounded rude, but nobody interested in your conflicting romance, they’re here for me! And my superior-er comedic ability!

   [Sorry, I’m suffering though a narcissistic phrase at the moment.]

   After we finished with Hydra, we hopped back on the jeep, and continued our journey in the speed of light. Actually, it’s just 20 km/hr.

   We mostly silenced though out the whole trip, Jordan seemed to have something to say but didn’t seem to have courage to do it.

   As we moved forward, the lands around us seemed to be losing life, no plants could be spotted and the soil turned grey and dead in general.

   “Dad” I said “Why does the place seem so sh*t?”

   “If you want me to guess” He said “Ludwik must be sucking the power out of this land, to use in his ritual.”

   We followed the trail till the sunset, when we spotted it.

   Ludwik’s castle was on the horizon, it was a black building, with various tower, decorated with spike and gargoyle, for dark lord good measure.

   Suddenly, dad stopped the jeep.

   “Why did we stopped?” I asked.

   “We must ready ourselves before entering his castle.” Dad said. “We don’t know what Ludwik will set for us.”

   “Speaking about the guy…I have this dream” Jordan said.

   ‘Took you long enough’

.

.

.

   “I see” Dad said after listening to Jordan story “That do sound like Ludwik.”

   “So we will be facing another trial before we will enter the castle.” Jordan said.

   “But if we stay in the open, the same thing will happen again.” Dad said.

    “Then…” I asked “How about we stay in a motel?”

   “And how are we going to find the said motel?”

   “There one.” I pointed to our left, about 500 meters from our stolen jeep, there was a small motel-like building, with a big sign on it said…I didn’t remember the names, so I will just make one up…Totally not a trap motel.

   “That isn’t right.” Jordan said, “There can’t be a motel here.”

   Dad made a thinking face “There is a high chance this is Ludwik’s third trial, if it is, he will probably bait us to where he wants us to be and ambush us.”

   “So, the question is” Jordan said, also in a thinking face, “Should we step on the said trap?”

   I somehow found Jordan sync with dad quite horrifying.

   “Let’s just go.” I said, “I’m really tired of sitting on this car.”

   Which was true, if you ever sat on the same car nearly 1 day and a half, you will want to get off it immediately, especially when the car was probably 1 million years old crappy jeep.

   But to my surprise, dad said “It do give us comfort when we rest and prepare ourself.”

   “But…” Jordan tried to say.

   “No but Jordan!” I said, “We going to sleep on a comfortable thing tonight!”

   So yeah, that how it was, we drove to the ‘totally not a trap’ motel, parked the car, and entered at the front door.

   “What can I help you and your lovely family, sir” The desk lady asked.

   “Definitely a trap.” Jordan grumpily whispered.

   “Cut it out! Will you?” I said.

   “Fine! Just don’t blame me when we all get kill.”

   “Room for three, please.” Dad said.

   “How long will you guys stay?”

   “One night should be enough.”

   She grabbed a key on the table and handed it to us “Room 06, on your right, that will be 50 dollars.”

   After dad paid the bill, we walked straight to our room, the room was quite nice for a motel in nowhere, three small beds, a nice window… and a bathroom!

   “Dib on shower!” I screamed.

   I walked into the bathroom, and undressed myself, I turned on the shower and let’s the water washed though my face.

   You might be thinking, ‘Ava! Why you take everyone into an obvious trap?’

   Well, despite my grade average, I’m not stupid. I knew this is a trap, but I also knew that we were in no shape to advance forward, so I think this is the smartest way to go. And I mean, that Ludwik guy was kind enough to make his trap this comfortable, I had to take it.

   So, after I scuffed all dirtiness from my body, I wiped myself, and wore my spare cloth. A brown leather jacket, a black t-shirt, and a blue jean. Gotta looked good for a showdown with dark lord.

   After I emerged from the bathroom, I saw Jordan and dad on their own bed. Jordan was reading though a scroll and repeatedly change his weapon into different shapes in the meantime. Dad was taking care of his still burnt arm, it looked better the night before, but still bad.

   Since I didn’t want to distract them, so I laid down on my bed, going though spell scrolls and listening to music. But after about 20 minutes, boredom got the better of me, so I decided to distract them.

   “Dad” I said, “What do you know about Ludwik?”

   He turned to me “As a matter of fact, I once personally know him.”

   That seem to catch Jordan’s attention, “So, what he like?”

   Dad looked up to the roof, “He was the councilor of Alpha’s dad, they know each other since they were kids, I think, when he was a head magician. I first know him when I was just 8 and started training magic. Back then he was quite a swell guy. Sure, he wasn’t the nicest guy in the world, but he was at least…a good person.”

   “But one day, he went on a solo mission, and something bad happened to him, nobody except Ludwik himself knew what it was. But what was certain is that it broke him.”

   “A fallen hero trope, nice” I said.

   “He became worse and worse day by day, always depress, and saying terrible thing. Then, 2 months later, he disappeared.”

   “So, what happened next?” Jordan asked.

   “Nobody knows, some said he rejoin the normal world, some said he change his name and work in another fort, some even said he was killed by a monster. But just 20 years ago, Zeta appeared out of nowhere and declared that he wants to take over the world. We went to war for some years when I realized Ludwik was all behind it, so I told Arron, the current head magician. But he didn’t believe me. So, your mom and I travel by ourselves to stop him…but…”

   A tear started to form in dad’s eyes “The ring…I have use the ring too much that…when Ludwik about to strike a blow on your mom…I didn’t have enough power to save her…and Ludwik…killed…her.”

   Suddenly I had a slight urgh to punch Ludwik in the face.

   “Let’s just go to sleep.” Dad said, trying to change the topic “We got a long day ahead of us.”

   I agreed with him, so we close the light and went to bed.

   Spoiler for the next chapter: Jordan get the biggest I told you so in his life.