Perla Vardo: The Ragnarok Chronicles

This will be a continuation of "Perla Vardo: The forgotten Toy"...

Energy coursed through Perla's veins (figuratively, of course) . A side of him that had lain dormant for oh so many years, awakened. Usually, Perla was a mischievous, but good natured toy. But now, it was like he was a different person. He didn't feel different, but he was suddenly capable of so much more. Now, he was malevolent. Everyone had seen it coming except for one individual; the person who needed to know it the most; Perla.

A terrible laugh, echoing from the deepest depths of his soul erupted. It was a hard laugh, not filled with hate necessarily, but with the ever possible ability to do harm, and the wish to do so. Perla was suddenly quieted when a fierce karate chop to his neck forced him to enter the world of unconsciousness. Tu the teddy bear stood over Perla's limp body, a grim expression on his face, looking as ragged and frail as ever.

"We have to get out of here" Tu hurriedly told the other toys behind him. "Our house is no longer safe for us. Nay, not a speck of dust on the entire Earth is really safe. But, we must find a place to recuperate for now. Let us be on our way. Can someone take care of poor Perla?". Two tin soldiers, working in tandem managed to pick up Perla, and carry him alongside the group.

Tu had quickly been given the mantle of leader. Although he was always thought to be good for only little bits of wisdom (and that was only when he managed to muster enough energy to speak), he now looked as spry as a teddy half his age (which still would be pretty old). He also now had a commanding air to him that wasn't there before.

Rain gushed from the heavens, but even it's torrent of liquid could not stop the spread of the awful flames. The toys were absolutely miserable; some of the toys that had metal body parts were dreadfully sure that they were going to rust. "If the flames didn't get burn them to death, then a flood would surely sweep them away" they joked, desperately trying anything that might boost moral, and keep hope alive.

Perla awoke in a cave. He probably would have exclaimed something that would express his confusion at the new turn events, but he had an awful headache, and he couldn't even sit up. "Relax, don't exert yourself. You've been through a lot" Rutherford the sock monkey (and resident doctor) quietly whispered. Perla was surprisingly calm. None of the tension, or malicious joy, from the previous night existed. He was back to his old self. He barely managed to consider this, when he went back to a restful sleep.

He was awoken once again by sound of loud arguing.

"Don't give me that rubbish! I want to see Perla now!"

"I can't! He is sleeping, just let him rest a short while longer."

"Let me through Rutherford! Or it will be your neck!"

"Tu told me to take care of Perla, and that is what I intend to do. And please lower your voice down, alright?"

"What is it?" said Perla weakly, by force of habit trying to garner attention. "See! He is awake." said the intruder. "Now please let me through!". At this point, Perla saw a very angry stuffed rabbit named Lucy.

Lucy strode into Paula's corner of the cave, closing behind her the sheet had been put up to give the patient some privacy, and to reduce (unsuccessfully) the amount of noise that the patient heard. Paula was of course familiar with Lucy, as he was to all of the toys: she was impulsive and sometimes rash, but she had a kind heart. And her smile could light up a thousand rooms. But this Lucy seemed different. Her eye's had a cold, hard, callous look.

Maybe she was just mad? That seemed to be obvious. Yet it seemed to Perla to be so much more than that. Something menacing. Lucy walked forward, and with great difficulty, as a tear rick rolled down her cheek, she started to speak. But before a word left her mouth, the knight Mattindell pushed past the curtain too.

He was a beautiful toy, a doll so to speak (although those that would actually play with him would probably prefer the term "action figure" instead). He had a full suit of silver armour, with the slightest trim of gold. A red feather adorned his helm. He had no shield, due to the fact that his behemoth of a sword required two hands to wield properly. The blade flared up to the tip, causing it to look quite menacing. The hilt and pommel were magnificent, precious gems infused in them: A diamond, sapphire, aquamarine, opal, ruby, and amethyst in the hilt, and a large emerald served as the pommel. Each stone shone like a sun, displaying its's high quality to all. It seemed quite odd that someone would put valuable jewels in a children's toy, though. But the strangest thing of all was the fact that the blade was sharp. This seems to go against everything you would expect; because why would someone make a toy and then give it something so dangerous as a sword that a child could hurt himself on? Yet, it had always been so.

Mattindell looked directly at Lucy with a piercing glance. Immediately, Lucy's entire behavior changed. With what looked like a slight shrug of relief, she walked out of the room.

"I'm so terribly sorry Perla, but there is no need to worry; you will not be interrupted again"

Once again, Perla entered the world of dreams. His following dream was so vivid, he would remember, and ponder upon, it for many days to come. He was falling, falling from the sky. The Earth was green, like it had been before ragnarok. Below him was a grove filled with trees that were twisted in all sorts of amusing shapes. He was falling with such alacrity, he reached the ground in mere moments. But instead of hitting the surface with great impact, he went through the ground. He would later compare it to falling through a painting, with a large hole in the canvas left behind. Another ground below him. This time, it was an open book that smelled of a familiar scent. Through again, he just kept falling. Now portraits of several of the toys in peculiar positions. Lucy, roundhouse kicking some sort of dark blob; Mattindell holding his sword high; Tu resting peacefully on a bed; Broken tin soldiers littered on the ground; Rutherford surrounded by barbed wire; and last of all, Perla, sitting in a high-backed chair, flames flowing like water behind him, and a malevolent smile on his face.

Perla awoke in the morning to the sight of Tu standing next to the bed, watching him with anxious anxiety.

"What happened?" asked Perla.

"As foretold in Norse mythology, the end of the world is here. Everywhere, people are dying in higher and higher numbers. Those that aren't burned alive by the flames are crushed by giants made up of ice or fire." answered Tu plainly.

"Wouldn't the flames of ragnarok melt the ice giants?"

"No, no. It doesn't work that way. Anyone who expects the laws of nature to act normally in times like these really needs to get out more."

"As if I could get out, do to the fact that I've lived solely in an old house all my life."

"Good point."

"Tu, how long do we have before the flames reach us?"

"Depends. In this cave, a day or two. If we manage to find a sacred tree that somehow is also immune to fire, we might be able to wait this out."

"What will happen if we do make it out of this alive?"

"I assume that some sort of evil dictator will take over the world and make slaves of the survivors (which would be the people who also managed to find a sacred tree to find refuge in)."

"Tu, you seem to act like it isn't that big of a deal."

"Putting aside the ethics of slaughtering trillions of people, who knows that this new ruler won't be better than the ones we've had so far? But enough of this. Perla, do you think that you can walk?"

"Yes, I believe so, if I take it slow."

Fantastic. We're moving out."

"But I thought that you said that we would have a few days of solace here!"

"Sure, but what would we do? Wait here until a few days pass and then die a miserable death? No thanks. I prefer more active approaches"

At this, Tu walked out of the room.

Perla rose from his bed and entered the main chamber of the cave. There was a flurry of activity; they had been in the cave for two days, and now the toys were picking up their meager belongings. When they saw Perla, they looked at him with mixed reactions of fear, awe, and plain confusion. Undaunted, Perla rested his weary body against a protruding stalagmite.

"How could all of this happened so quickly?" Perla wondered to himself silently. A few days ago, the toys didn't have a care in the world. Now, there was a certain uneasiness. Most of the world's population was quickly, very quickly, dieing off. And all he could do was sit here; and not do anything about it.

A crack like thunder took hold of everyone's attention. In the very centre of the cave, a light shone from a hole in the ceiling. From this hole came hoards of shadow monsters. The toys screamed in panic and ran for cover outside. Perla caught hold of Tu in the crowd, and decided that the best place for him would be to stick close to the elderly old teddy bear.

"Tu!" Perla cried. "Don't you think that 'shadow monsters' are a pretty lame excuse for the story's main enemy? What in the world is wrong with this writer?"
"Don't do that." Tu answered.
"Do what?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because then I would be doing it."
"You're not making much sense, Tu..."
"Perla, can we just get out of here before the shadow monsters attack us?"
"Oh, it's okay, we have all the time we need." Said Perla calmly. "The writer would have to be pretty lame to kill main characters like us so soon in the story. He was hoping to get at least ten parts out of this story, after all."
"Would you PLEASE stop doing that?"
"Doing what?"
"I THOUGHT that we had been over this, I can't tell you, or else I would be doing it myself."
"I think that you need to be less grumpy, Tu."
"YOU would be grumpy too, if an annoying toy keeps on breaking the fourth wall."
"You just did it."
"Did what?"
"Break the fourth wall. You acknowledged that it existed, which means that you broke it..."
"Please Perla, can we just pretend that there isn't a fourth wall, and that we never broke it? The story flows better that way."
"I guess, but I think we should say hi to Abby and Ryan first. After this we'll have to pretend that they don't exist."
"Alright Perla, but just this one time"
"Actually Tu, can I give them a hug? It would be a rather odd thing coming from our author, but I think a yellow plush toy would be alright."
"Okay Perla, okay. You can give them a hug too."
"What about Kilgalan and Marthadok from The Elori Saga?"
"Marthadok would probably administer a good whack or two with the flat side of his dagger if you tried a stunt like that"
"Okay Tu, what about some characters from Abby's blog?"
"Didn't you know, Perla? Abby's characters always die at the end."
"That's pretty depressing."
"What else can you expect from a girl that never wears matching socks?"
"Good point."
"Okay Perla, NOW can we go back to the story? I believe that we were running away from shadow monsters last time I checked."
"Stereotypical shadow monsters that took no imagination from this lousy author of ours to think up of..."

Perla ran as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. He had been separated from Tu in the crowd, but he saw that Lucy was not very far away. Still, the shadow monsters continued their chase. They exited the main area of the cave, and entered a maze of catacombs. seeing their chance, the toys rushed in, hoping to find an escape rout from the fiends. Those that found themselves at dead ends received a gruesome fate via the hungry monsters behind them.

Perla went this way and that, feelings of claustrophobia setting in. At the end of the maze, Paula saw a good portion of the toys. Included among them: Tu, Rutherford, Lucy, Mattindell, and all of the tin soldiers. Tragically, of the sixty toys that entered the maze, about half of them did not come out alive. Spirits down, the remaining group hurried away.

"What were those beings?" asked Perla.
"Shadows, that was clear." shuddered Rutherford "but they seemed to be living shadows"
"Mattindell, I've been wondering" started Tu. "Why didn't you try to attack the shadows with your sword? I've never known you to flee easily, and yet you seemed to have run away without any hesitation."

At this, Mattindell stopped walking. He slowly turned around, a snarl on his face. "What are you trying to say, old man? That I'm a coward now?"
"It was a simple question. I advice that you answer it"
Tu too stopped walking. A confrontation seemed to be heating up, "But at what?" Perla wondered. At first glance, it just seemed like Tu and Mattindell were just trying to relieve stress. Tu questioning Mattindell's courage, and Mattindell questioning Tu's leadership. But it seemed to be much more, like a battle was being fought on an imaginary plane that Perla could not comprehend.

"You know?" whispered Mattindell in disbelief. "Of course." answered Tu flatly. "You should of talked to me first, before going on with this wild plan of yours".

"What!" screamed Mattindell. "Wild plan? This is the only way justice will be done, and I have a feeling that you are my enemy in this matter."

"Your justice is twisted and convoluted" answered Tu. "I suggest that we work together if you want anything to get done"

"Your words mean nothing to me, Tu. I've seen, I've seen. And I won't let you or anyone else get away with it. Even if it means my death, I'm taking you with me!"

"Oh, your death seems very probable. But if you think that I will fall with you, you are are sorely mistake. Now let us not wait here any longer; the shadow monsters are right behind us. You wouldn't want to the innocents to die too, right? Even you are not that far gone."

"Mattindell paused for a few seconds, although it seemed to those involved like an eternity. "Alright Tu" he answered. "We'll have it your way. But mark my words, you will not win this day!"

"Please, we have to go NOW!" said Rutherford. "We can not let any more of us die today."

Shaken the group put on a burst of speed. "There is a light ahead!" Said Perla. "I think that we can finally get out of this hole!"

Brilliant sunlight flooded the toys, as if recharging them, and erasing all of their stress. Then, as if it was an illusion, the light was gone. They were back on a bleak, devastated world, with no hope. The hole that they had crawled out of exited in an old, forgotten prison. Although it had long since been abandoned, the barbed wire fences still stood, and the gate was still locked tight. An uneasy feeling aroused itself in Perla. This seemed too planned: first their numbers were dwindled down by the catacombs, and now they were in what looked like an ambush. Before, they might of put up a good fight. Now, they had no chance of survival except if the toys managed to get out of the prison. More monsters appeared out of the prison buildings: they HAD planned all of this.

Mattindell took his magnificent sword out of his sheath. With a nod to the tin soldiers, who also prepared their weapons, he got ready to make his final stand. Lucy took out twin daggers, and took her place to the right of the tin soldiers. Perla, Rutherford, Tu, and several other toys had no weapons or fighting expertise, so they tried to get past the barbed wire wall. Perla, Tu, and a couple other toys started digging, trying to tunnel their way under the fence. Rutherford desperately attempted to climb the fence. He slowly reached the top, but when his hand grasped the barbed wire, he slipped, pulling the wire with him. He hit the ground with a horrific "clunk". A scene flashed into Perla's head, of his dream, recreated before him.

Lucy nervously shifted her weight over her two feet. She wished with all of her heart that it could of ended differently than this. The again, if it ended like this and the world was saved, it would all be worth it. She knew that her group were not trying to defeat the shadow monsters, because that would be impossible. Instead, they simply had to try to give the others as much getaway time as possible. A monster right in front of her. A quick slash with her right dagger exterminated that threat. The another, and another. As she roundhouse kicked one, another in her blind spot attacked with it's claws. Then, all was black...

Perla looked back. Thump. Lucy fell, just as he had saw in his dream. Mattindell raised his sword high, in an attempt to kill yet another monster. Despite his skill, he also was hit by a slash in the side. Tu managed to get a hole ready. Perla crawled under. Looking back once more, he saw all the tin soldiers broken on the ground. Thump.

A cold dreary rain washed through Perla's entire body. A dreadful day, which could not of gotten any worse, just did. His entire life was gone. He had no identity left. What now? What emotions could survive this cataclysm? Revenge? No, the drizzly rain simply made him apathetic. Perla simply wished that all this pain would go away. Not necessarily that life would go back as it was, that was too much to hope for. His reactions were mixed: should he put all of his effort and energy into trying to make sure that the toys that survived would go on to live healthy and fruitful lives? Or should he abandon all hope, and simply sit in the mud until he became one with it, and his life sniffed out?

These heavy thoughts filled Perla's head until he could bare it no more. "I must have sleep" he whispered, dropping onto the ground with a low, mournful, sigh. "No!" Tu thundered. "We must keep going, Perla. it cannot end like this, not like this!"

"Does it matter now?" Perla snapped back, with a ferocity that he did not know that he had. "Life as we know it is gone, dead forever. Do we need to keep on fighting? We can't save them now, we can't save anyone."

"It does matter Perla, oh, it does matter. How could we expire with our consciences like this? To know that we did not give all that we had, and that we had doomed so many others. I know that you are so deep into the throes of despair that you hardly care Perla, but I beseech you. With every fiber of my being, listen to me!"

"What could we do Tu, even if we tried? How could I pledge myself to a cause that has no hope of success? All I ever know is gone, all my friends cannot be saved, what is the point Tu? What is the point?"

"You might not see a light to the end of this darkness, and you may not see anything that we can do. But I'll tell you this: in all of history, those who have succeeded in the end, those who win, are those that have nothing to lose. That is what we have become Perla, and let us use it for our advantage. It is true, our friends are beyond saving. But our duty to them, as binding as a solemn oath, is to keep this from happening to anyone else. Then, and only then, may we rest in peace.

Tu's words hit Perla like a hurricane: thrusting new ideas and concepts that either he had not thought of, or he had not been willing to admit. Reason washed over Perla, and he took Tu's suggested goal as his life's purpose. Perla would keep on going until this enemy was gone, so that no one else had to endure all that he had gone through. Little did he know at the time, he had not really known pain. He had not really known fear. He had not really known despair. But he would, very soon. Oh, so very soon. It would not be long until he would regret this choice, and curse the very day that he had been born.

"The first thing to do" said Tu "Is to plot an attack plan. If we simply wonder the Earth looking their leader, we will have gray hairs on our gray hairs by the time we are done."

"Where our are enemies?" asked Perla "And how do we even know that there is a mastermind behind all of this? Is it not possible that all of this happened of its own accord?"

"No, I don't think so, Perla. Ragnarok is happening for a reason, and we must stop it. As for the location of our enemies, the forest of Ethantropia sounds like a good place to start. In it, the oldest trees in the entire world grow. Due to the fact that trees play a large part in the Norse mythology on which this is based, we might find a suitable alternative for the 'world tree'"

"Is it far from here, Tu? I don't think that I can walk much farther"

At this, Radunk said "Boing!" Until this point, Radunk has not been mentioned and this story. This was not because of his very interesting personality. No, it was due to the fact that he has hardly a single thing to do with the plot of this tale. He did not give any inspiring speeches, he did not fight any wars, and he did not have any wars fought for him. Instead, he was usually just in the background muttering indecipherable sayings. Although every now and then he would say a real word or phrase, it scarce had to do with what was happening at the time, and he would be better off sticking with simple sounds.

Radunk was a short, plastic figurine of a monkey with giant cymbals permanently affixed to his hands. One would not be surprised that this would render a toy such as Radunk insane. Radunk was the only toy besides Tu and Perla that still lived after the catacomb and prison incidents. Now, back to Tu's and Perla's conversation which we so rudely interrupted.

"Well Perla, Providence has smiled upon us, even under such bleak and depressing circumstances; the legendary forest of Ethantropia is only a few miles southwest from here."

"How in the world do you know things such as this, Tu?" Asked Perla.

Tu was silent for a long time, as the trio clomped through the mud. The rain had subsided, although no sun appeared: thus, the atmosphere was not lightened.

"Perla, things such as that do not concern you. I can provide my utmost assurances that information such as this would not hamper or aid us in our quest."

Any further discussion that Perla might have pressed on about was done away with by a spectacle further up the path: Lucy the rabbit, laying motionless on the ground.

"Lucy!" screamed Perla, all thoughts of his quest and his burning desire for justice forgotten. "Wait, Perla!" said Tu "Everything may not be as it seems. This is most likely a trap, so let us proceed carefully"

"But Tu, Lucy needs our help! We can't let her die!"

"Dear Perla, she already died. We saw it with our own eyes. There is no mistake; Lucy is dead"

But Perla hardly heard Tu's words, as he rushed forward. "She's unconscious, but I can't find anything wrong, Tu."

Despite Tu's hesitation, Perla convinced him to get a fire going, while Perla made a bed of pine needles and leaves. As he did this task, he wondered why he ever thought that pine needles would make a comfortable bed. Still, it seemed like the thing to do, and Lucy needed some sort of bed.

"Perla," Tu started "Has the fact that nothing looks wrong with Lucy seem strange to you? When we saw her die a few hours ago, she was killed by a claw to the side. It is impossible for that to be healed by now."

"There has to be an explanation for this Tu, and for that we must wait until she awakens."

All the while, Radunk, oblivious to all that was around him, tried spinning around in circles. The giant cymbals did not provide him much balance, so he fell down face first. Getting up again was quite a chore, so he simply moved his face a bit so it was in a comfortable position in the mud, and he started watching all the bugs crawling about. "Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!" he chattered excitedly. Most of the ants decide that being close to Radunk would not be the best thing, so they scurried away. One little one stayed, however. With a quizzical look on it's face, the tiny ant looked up at Radunk. From the little hop it made, we can imagine that the ant might have said "Bonk!" in return. Radunk, of course, could not hear it either. But by some miracle, he got the message. A happier little guy you never would see. He would have danced if he was standing up. In fact, he tried, but after a little while he realized that he was still on the ground. Now he figured, would be a good time to take a nap, so he did.

Perla and Tu continued their assigned tasks. When a crackle was heard, and a small flame flared up, its light cast a small glow on Lucy's face. She gave a start, and then opened her eyes.

"Where am I?" she asked, ever so quietly." Despite Tu's glare in his direction, Perla replied "Safe. You are with friends now, Lucy."

"Oh, my goodness, I thought that I was a goner. When those wolves attacked, I thought that I could've never survived. But here I am, right?"

"What wolves, Lucy? When you were killed, it was by shadow monsters." said Tu, in a very suspicious tone of voice.

"Now you seem to be as confounded as I, when I met you just a little bit ago. You mentioned something about shadow monsters then too, but you seemed to know what was going on." said Lucy.

"How do we know that this isn't a trap set by our enemies? How do we know that you are the real Lucy?" said Tu, standing up.

Lucy also stood up, until she was face to face with the teddy bear. "Do you even know who your enemies are? And I am very confused; back in Ethantropia you said..."

"What about Ethantropia?" said Perla "We were just on our way there now."

"What? You haven't been there yet Perla? But before..."

"Please tell us all you know." said Tu "It might enlighten us about a few things, and possibly this confusion might be cleared up."

"No, no, no. I just don't know." stuttered Lucy.

A shiver went through all of the camp. Then a long, hoarse, screech. "They've found us Perla!" Tu roared. "We must get away!". Tension ran high; if this was a movie, the scary music would be playing right about now. All of a sudden, everything seemed well. A certain peace was about, and then, BOOM!

The earth itself turned, and twisted, and rose into the air. Now, what looked like statues made of earth surrounded them. If Perla was in his right mind, he might of commented how yet again they had a stereotypical enemy. But, alas, he was not in his right mind. No fear was to be found in Perla's soul. He wanted what he wanted, and these statues were in the way. He stepped forward, a cynical smile on his face, when Lucy ran up to one. Her twin daggers magically appearing in her hand, she roundhouse kicked the statue. With inhuman speed, he caught her kick. And with a laugh, pummeled her into the ground. Hard.

"Not again." thought Perla, the notion repeating over and over in his head. What seemed to be a sonic boom ripped through the clearing.

One at a time, Perla's eyes opened. As his vision cleared, he saw that the living statues were now broken on ground; as dangerous as a piece of pottery. "Did I do this?" he wondered. The rage in him at the time was so strong, he could not remember a thing. Then, he thought of Lucy. He rushed over to her. "Please, please be alright." he cried. But despite his insistence otherwise, it was unavoidable: Lucy was dead.

"What happened, Tu? What in the world happened? That couldn't if been Lucy, could it?" asked Perla, anxiously.

"I don't know for sure Perla, but there a few things that point one way and the other. She referred to the forest as 'Ethantropia', even though its real name is 'Sparrow Hollow'. I thought that it was an atrocious name, so I simply call it 'Ethantropia' now. It's possible that our enemies heard about it, but unlikely. As for her cryptic speaking, it is possible that it was a plot to confuse us. If she WAS a fake, and they somehow replicated her, it means that we have a much more dangerous foe than we had previously thought."

Perla had nothing to say, as was often the case. Tu's personality was such that he enjoyed making long speeches; droning on, and on, and on. Perla, on the other hand, was more quiet. He had matured a lot since living in the house; he was no longer a prankster, whose every moment was focused on entertainment, and getting a cheap laugh.

"You see Perla" started Tu, on yet another long speech "Society, technology, and culture have all receded. There are some humans about, but almost the only ones that have survived thus far are the troglodytes, secluded from the rest of their race. The cities were wiped out quickly, and easily. All conventional weaponry is useless. If we do encounter any humans on the way to Ethantropia, they will almost certainly have a savage demeanor, and it's possible that they could be violent."

"Tu, how in the world would you know all this? You've been with us the entire time!" said Perla.

"Most of this has been foretold in Icelandic myths. The rest I could piece together by what we have seen do far."

Perla was not so certain about that, but he decided that now would not be a good time for a discussion, so he saved Tu the trouble of changing the topic. "Tu" he asked "just how much that has happened so far come from Norse mythology?"

"Well Perla, bits and pieces. The flames are very much true to it, as well as those wolves that Lucy talked about. Not to mention frost giants, even though I have only seen one, and it was from very far away. There hasn't been a hard winter yet, even though that was the first thing that happened in the old myths. A central part of them, of course, were the gods. Although I don't see any Odins, Heimdalls, Lokis, or Thors, it is possible that they are being represented by beings that we are unaware of."

His thirst for knowledge temporarily sated, Perla and Tu kept on walking, being careful to skirt around the multiple dehydrated trees that had fallen and blocked the path.

Meanwhile, Radunk decided to imitate a frog. With each leap, he would say one word, repeating the same sentence over and over again "Ru Pa Glomp, Ru Pa Glomp, Ru Pa Glomp..." Every now and then he would say "Ru Pa" as one word, but it hardly mattered. Eventually, Radunk got bored of simply hopping about, so he tried to play leap frog. He leaped forward, and waited for someone to leap over him, and continue the game. Sadly, this was never to be. After a few minutes, even someone as dense in the head as Radunk could see that no one was coming. Not dismayed a bit, Radunk resigned to play leap frog with himself. The only that Radunk could accomplish this, was by doing a flip. To his surprise, he did a perfect one, with impeccable form. Although this was quite cool, he immediately got dizzy, and went back to walking normally.

Perla looked towards the horizon. For a fraction of a second, the red sky looked blue again, with white, fluffy clouds, and white doves flying in pairs. Truthfully, it was the kind of scene that made Perla sick to his stomach. Still, it was refreshing from the sky's current appearance. Of course, the entire time the sky had been red. Perla must of just had seen an optical illusion, or a mirage. Right?

The crunch of the dry leaves under Perla's feet resonated in his ears. The forest was just ahead, with giant trees reaching towards the heavens. The forest was dark and foreboding. Like sharpened knives, the tree's branches blocked incoming entry. Eerie wolf howls emanated from the forest. "At least she got one thing right." said Tu dryly "There are definitely wolves in there, although from out here we can not tell if they are the wolves of myth."

"Before we go in Tu, I have something to ask." said Perla quietly "The world has already ended, right?"
"Pretty much."
"And yet Harold Camping says that the world is going to end today, May 21st, 2011."
"If he was wrong about 1994, I'm not surprised that he was off by a few days now too."
"I guess then the Mayans were wrong about 2012 too..."
"You can't blame THEM for being off by a year, they had a lot less things to work with. Anyway, the forest?"
"The forest!"

With a hip, and a hop, and a "ho ho ho" the three toys ventured into the forgotten forest of Ethantropia.

Even before the cataclysmic Ragnarok, Ethantropia had always been strange. It was like no other forest in the whole world. The north side of the forest, from which the group entered, was a dark and quite frankly, scary place. "Doesn't light ever manage to come down into this forgotten place?" wondered Perla. "Despite their appearance frightful, these trees are quite tall and hardy, and near the top of the tree the leaves are very thick.".

In his peripheral vision, Perla sighted what looked to be a figure running in the darkness.
"What was that?" asked Perla, his nerves starting to get on him.
"What was what, Perla?" answered Tu.
"I heard a noise, and I saw something. I just know I did." said Perla, swallowing in anxiety.
"There are many critters, small and large in this forest, Perla. I suggest that you get used to it."

In the distance, there appeared to be what looked like a log cabin. It was made of fine, sturdy oak, with a pine roof. Although there was a chimney, by the lack of smoke it was apparent that no fire was in the fireplace. A nervous old man just coming out the door, possibly going out on some sort of expedition. He was frightful looking, with a scruffy beard and a torn jacket.

"Hey mister!" Perla yelled out. "Can you help us?"
"Aahh! Talking toys!" screamed the old man in distress. "You be more of those demons, I'd wager. But you won't be serving me on a platter with cranberry pudding and roast duck, no sir!"

He was holding a hunting rifle that had seen better days in his weathered hands. Much to Perla's fright, he started shooting at them! "Back! Back I say!" he roared. This old man, of course, did not mean any harm. Well he did, due to the fact he was trying to kill them, but if they all sat down for a nice bit of tea I'm sure all of them would get along just nicely. Sadly, this was not possible in this instance.

Running as fast as their assorted feet could carry them, the trio escaped the flying bullets. The old man, satisfied that the intruders were run off, retreated back into his cabin. "What was that for?" asked Perla, as he sat down on a log to catch his breath. "When you think about it Perla, walking and talking toys are a bit of an abnormality in the land of humans." answered Tu. Now Perla had never heard of anything of the sort. Living in the old house, he had always assumed that toys and humans lived together in the world. Finding out the contrary was only a small step in the direction of the knowledge he would attain soon, however.

A steel knife slid through the air right next to Perla's shoulder, solidifying itself into the trunk of a nearby tree. "First the old man, now this? Is there anyone who doesn't want to kill us?" though Perla silently, as he turned around to see... Lucy? Again?

"I don't like this Tu, I don't like this one bit" whispered Perla.
"Who are you?" asked Tu. "And why do you look like our friend, Lucy?"
"Who are you?" asked the Lucy in front of them. "That is what I should be asking you. I still have a dagger, after all."
"Any weapon, no matter how powerful, is useless if one does not have the resolution to use it. If you are actually Lucy, you would not turn your hand on us."


Lucy's hand quivered, ever so slightly. "That still does not mean you are the real Tu. This all seems like a dream, and you don't seem to act like the Tu I knew."
"Lucy," Tu began, "Times change us all. After Ragnarok started it was necessary for me to..."

"What do you mean 'Ragnarok'? What are you talking about?"
"Hah!" snorted Tu. "As if you could forget! The cataclysm that has torn apart this land, and killed so many of our friends. Including you, twice!"

Lucy seemed terribly confused, so Tu sat down, with his eyes ever on the knife she loosely held in her left hand, and recounted the story of Ragnarok.

"This is so strange, Tu." said Lucy. "I mean, I remember a big earthquake, but when I exited the house I saw some sort of monster. I tried to kick it but, it hit me. I was certain that it was a fatal blow, but apparently not, right? I had some sort of vision; a strange dream, and I found myself here with two strangely carved daggers in my hands. I'm sorry for attacking you, this still all felt like a dream, and I wanted answers badly."
Perla spoke up, for the first time entering the conversation. "Lucy, do you believe us now, that we are who we say we are?"
"Yes Perla, yes I do. I'm still oddly mystified by the talk of myself doing all those things that you speak of, though. I have absolutely no recollection of any of it. Some type of memory loss, perhaps?"
"Perhaps Lucy, perhaps." Tu answered "For now, we all need a rest"

All of the group (including Radunk, with quite a bit of difficulty) settled in the rooftops for the night. Blissful dreams all around.

Lucy, Perla, Radunk, and Tu silently walked together. In the horizon, there was a giant wooden cube, reaching into the heavens Its area was impossible to derive from how far away they were, but it was obvious that it was on par with that of a skyscraper.

The woods had several layers, it seemed. The part that they entered in was comparable to a haunted forest, while the section they were in now was lush and vibrant. Healthy trees stood tall, and if one listened closely the quiet chirping of birds was audible. Yet again, it seemed like the destruction of most of the world had never happen. Instead of smoking craters and gut wrenching smells, there were faint odors of various bright flowers.

You never would have expected at this moment for wolves to attack, but they did. Fierce, proud creatures, one leaped at Lucy, it's teeth shining bright in the sunlight. But he never made it. A sword went down, and blood spurted from the wolf. Mattindell, looking as knightly as ever, his armor polished so that each section shone like a miniature sun in the sunlight, settled into a defensive position. You cannot blame the wolves for not hesitating for a fraction of a second, but once seeing that that they outnumbered the group by quite a lot (they didn't even bother counting Radunk, but who could blame them?), the pack rushed forward. Mattindell surveyed the situation, and then began fighting.

Despite the desperate look in his eyes, Mattindell remained calm. His battle prowess was unmatched; he had the strength of a giant, the agility of a cougar, and the courage of a lion. His one focus was on protecting Perla. He circled around the frightened toy, daring any foolish wolf to taste his blade. After several dozen were cut down, the rest found the battle meaningless and fled.

Somehow in the confusion, they managed to take Lucy with them. Perla and Tu felt a wave a sadness, and yet not as much as other times. This seemed to be quite predictable, and they were certain that soon enough they would find Lucy again, right as rain.

Right about then would seem to be the ideal time to ask Mattindell a few customary questions. Yet, the group remained silent (Except for Radunk's occasional "Boink!", it was his favorite word, after all). With a meaningful look in Tu's direction, Mattindell walked next to Perla, every now and then stealing a quick glance to the left and right.

The pace of their walking was quite fast, so not too many hours had passed before they arrived at the foot of the huge wooden structure. It had absolutely no windows, it was not possible to see it's top from where they stood; it was much too tall. When they stepped onto the doorstep, the double doors opened by themselves, allowing the group entry into its interior.

The hallways that led to the highest tower had lush red carpets, grand adjoining rooms, and giant pictures featuring somber pictures of eating utensils placed in such a way that they resembled flowers. In the corner, peeping his head out of a tiny hole, was a mouse. Seeing this, Radunk clashed his cymbals together producing a cacophonous sound. The noise jarred the entire structure. "Well" said Perla dryly "If the evil mastermind wasn't mad at us before, he certainly is now for us waking him up from a nap". Tu replied "Or at very least, perturbed that we disrupted afternoon tea". Mattindell of course, stayed silent the entire time.

Before they scarcely knew it, they were at the door (they obviously knew that it was the door because of how big it was, where else would the villain be?). Mattindell motioned for Tu to open it, his sword at the ready. The room was very long and tall, but at the far back was a figure sitting on an exalted throne. Going forward a few steps, they saw the yellow fabric body and malevolent green eyes. He was the exact likeness of Perla. Actually, only Perla was shocked by this. Tu and Mattindell were indifferent, while Radunk didn't even notice the doppleganger.

"W-w-why do you look like me?" Perla stammered.
"Ah, that isn't the correct way to say it. Instead, why do you look like me? Oh wait, haha, I already know. One advantage of being the bad guy, I guess, I know all of the answers." replied the twin in a mocking voice.
"Are you going to tell me them" said Perla, his courage slowly rising.
"Oh, eventually. We need to draw this scene out as long and as dramatically as possible. Authors orders."

Perla first reaction was to glance over at Tu, who he was sure would soundly rebuke the doppleganger for breaking the fourth wall. At the very least, it was certain that Tu would engage in a fierce debate about morality. Tu didn't even flinch.

The evil twin started talking on and on "Hmm, not dramatic enough. We need some action. Maybe you can try to kill me to avenge the death of your friends. Got a concealed knife anywhere? Me neither. Maybe what we need to do is lighten the mood. Can you sing or dance. I can do a mean can can myself, but I always feel silly doing it alone."

Perla patiently waited for the monologue to finish (a skill he got from listening to Tu). Surely eventually all the questions will be answered, right?

The Perla clone kept up his barrage of verbiage; talking for several days and nights, forcing Perla and the others to take occasional naps. Finally, the last word was said, the last point made, and everyone had a through understanding of quantum mechanics. Apparently he got the go ahead from the author to stop sticking filler material in; the plot was ready.

"We're doing the scene where the bad guy reveals his evil plot only for the hero to stop him at the the last minute? Okay. I have to tell you ahead of time, you won't stop me. Why? Because you aren't the hero of this story. That's a new thought, eh? Because you are in reality me, the villain. Yes Perla, we are one and the same toy. It's complica..."
Perla rudely interrupted "That's a bold face lie. You're just trying to trick me. Were you behind all of the confusion with Lucy too?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself?"
"What are you talki..."
"Perla." said Lucy, stepping in from a side room.

Perla retreated back a few steps, his composure shaken. "W-what are you doing here, Lucy?"
She went slowly went forward a step. "I didn't want it to end like this, I honestly didn't."

"Fake me, what did you do to her?"
"I assure you that I am not in anyway fake. Actually, if anyone here is fake, it would be you."
"Just tell me!"
"Alright, alright. Absolutely nothing. She's just a little annoyed to know that you caused the death of all of her friends."
"But I didn't..."
"Actually, you did. Do I need to explain it all? Alright. Even for me, this might be long, so you might want to make pop some popcorn, it's over by the shelf by the way, as a snack. Promise no interrupting? Okay. I made as a handmade toy for a little british child named Billy. My theory is that the mother put so much work into making me that a tiny bit of pure energy was trapped inside my body, giving me life. I don't have any scientific data that this is where the energy came from, but it is my theory nonetheless. Upon gaining conciseness, life, I left by the window, never to return again. I didn't kill them then, although I had the will power and lack of moral values to be a mass murderer, I refrained, although I'm sure it cost me plenty of potential joy. I didn't want to make enemies when I was so new to my surroundings, you see. After a few long and arduous years, through much manipulation and intrigue, myself and a devoted band of followers conquered the earth. Having the populace in constant fear of me was nice, as was the luxury that the position of dictator-for-life entails, but it got quite boring after awhile. Then I ordered my scientists to... Oh, look at the time! You know what this means, right? Guards!"

A legion of battle hardened humans with automatic weaponry charged in from all directions.

"You see other me, I think that it will be quite amusing if my guards kill you right now, before I explain how and why we all came to be here. I hope you have plenty of anguish. Have fun everyone!"

The humans stepped forward, towering over the little toys.

"This will be fun." said the evil Perla as he sat down on his throne, a malevolent smile of pure joy on his face.

Perla was getting very annoyed at mindless enemies circling around their little group and attaching them. So, he thought he would do something about it. The most prudent course of action it would seem would be to destroy the humans. He raised a foot, and lightning stuck.. Brutally killing the guards in an instant. They had barely fell to the floor, charred and dead, when he he was immediately trying to get answers. He felt no remorse for the killing; morality was the farthest thing from his mind at the moment.

Energy pulsated around the room, ripping up the floor tiles and flinging kitchen utensils every which way. The other Perla started clapping enthusiastically, giddy with joy. "A tremendous show! I would ask for an 'encore', but those minions are as dead as a doornail. I hadn't realized that you had discovered your abilities already. Of course, that is one of the reasons that I was able to control the world, you see. But even without them, I would have gotten around to it eventually."

A wave of Perla hand, and the throne burst into splinters. "Now, get to the point quickly, please. I'm not very patient right now."

"Well, I guess you deserve it. As I was saying before, my scientists discovered time travel. I thought that it would be quite interesting if I matched wits with myself, so I went back in time. I used resources from the future to make the old house in which you resided until just recently. I always wondered what would have happened if I had not taken this glorious path, so I took myself right after I was born and whisked you away to the mansion. You were as violent as ever at first, but after a few years of being restrained you quieted down into what you are today. The hatred had never really burned out, however. You felt great sadness for your fallen comrades? Bah. Don't kid yourself. Right now you would kill them without a second thought if it was convenient for you. But see, you won't become what you once were, because this is who you truly are, in your heart."

Perla knew what he said was true "But that doesn't explain what happened with Lucy's deaths."

"Doesn't it? Hmm, I thought that I would be smarter. When ever she died in a roundhouse kick, she would be re-born in another point in the time frame. It went from 1. The mansion, living normally to 2. The forest to 3. The path to the forest to 4. Right now, In my house to .5 Shortly after escaping from Ragnarok. Of course, that is assuming something doesn't happen now that will affect the time stream and force history to re-live itself. But I'm control of the situation, so don't worry. I placed Lucy as an assassin, just because I thought it might be fun. She's terrible at it, though."

"What was Mattindell made for?"

"Your protection. Again, he's not very good at it due to the fact you were unprotected for so long."

"And Tu?"

"He's a special case. He was one of the original living toys, and his energy did not come from me. I have no idea where he got it, he won't say. He ever so loves manipulation,  so he got a chance to send all sorts of amusing ideas into your head. Again, he's bad at his job. I really thought he was a better manipulator."

Just out of the blue the villian snapped his fingers, and Tu rapidly grew old. "You want to know why he went from senile to active? This. I wonder how he will like it going through a living death."

"Oh, you'd be surprised." "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat"

"This is of course the scream that came from when the building without any warning blew up. Those that needed to die to go back and achieve specific goals did, and life went on. Actually, technically it didn't. Details, details.