Hello dear readers! You may know me or you may…
[Discord is a very old passion project I have long since abandoned due to a severe amount of plotholes. I’ve been slowly posting edited versions of the chapters.]
Max cocked an eyebrow. What was going on? The young teenager standing before him who had stormed into the room in anger suddenly welcomed him with open arms.
The girl walked to the robot and said, “Now Bob-Er, that is no way to treat our guest. It’s raining outside.”
The robot’s eyes turned green and friendly. It bowed and turned to Maxwell.
“And who might you be?” she asked.
Max opened his mouth to speak, but the robot who seemed to be Bob-Er answered for him. “Maxwell Silvers.”
The girl nodded slowly. “We should go someplace more comfortable. My room will do. Go down the hall. It’ll be the second door to your left. I’ll meet you there.”
This only made Max more confused, but rather than asking her who she was or why it was raining ice cream outside, he walked down the hall. Second door to the left…He put his hand on the doorknob. Then he looked back. The purple-haired girl was talking to Bob-Er. The robot nodded and began to walk to the exit (which wasn’t there before…) while the girl turned toward the hallway. Max quickly entered the room, hoping the girl didn’t see him watching her.
He began to scan the room the moment the door opened. The first thing he saw was a loft where there were large purple and black bed with a closet, a nightstand, and a shelf with assorted trinkets. On the bottom floor at the side without the loft above it, there was a large black table with paper and supplies occupying most of the room. Multiple ebony bookshelves were lining the walls which matched the walls in the entry room. At the side with the loft above it, was a large rug and stacks of books and paper. Paintings and photographs of animals, sceneries, and swirling dark colors were placed to take up space on the walls. It looked almost cluttered and organized at the same time.
The only places to sit were the table, the rug, and the bed. He wasn’t sure where to go so he walked to the bookshelves and began to read the spines. Most were in different languages or hard-to-read calligraphy. The ones he was able to read had strange titles. “Seasons,” probably a fiction novel, unlikely that someone would write a whole book on seasons, “Mysteries of Mean Street,” another novel maybe, “The Rise of Discord,” man this girl likes her fiction.
“Are you…a human? If you don’t mind me asking,” came a voice behind him.
He looked around the room to find the purple-haired girl sitting on her bed. How did she get over to the loft? Maybe she snuck up the stairs just for the fun of startling him.
“How did you…?”
Maxwell’s question trailed off as he thought of possible answers to his unfinished question. He didn’t seem to hear the girl. Before he could finish his sentence another question popped into his head.
“Who are you.”
The girl smiled. “I’m Silvia…Delarosa.”
“And the robot is Bob-Er?” he asked climbing the stairs to the loft.
Silvia nodded. “He’s my butler guard.”
Max sat next to her. “Butler guard?”
Silvia’s smile grew wider as if amused, and she nodded again. “Yes. He’s my butler and my bodyguard.”
“And this is your mansion?”
“My father had it made it for the two of us. Technically it’s mine though- at least according to him.”
“Does your father live here?”
“Sometimes,” she told him, “It’s…complicated.”
“W-why is it raining vanilla ice cream?” he asked.
She looked at him curiously. “Ice cream? Oh, you mean the sweetened condensed milk. Are you just asking me to explain common sense? Well, when the milk evaporates into the air, which usually only happens once every six months- milk evaporates very slowly -it condenses into sweetened clouds of cream then precipitates back onto the grass, a nutrient that is not unlike a growth serum. You might not want to go outside tomorrow.”
Max decided not to question her take on science and asked a different question. “What’s with this house?”
Silvia closed her eyes and laughed a bit. “You ask a lot of questions don’t you?”
Her head tipped down a little, and something strange happened. There was a bright pink gleam that flashed over her eyes. Probably a trick of the light...
There was a moment of silence before Silvia spoke again. “Are you human?”
It was a very odd question. What else was he? A monkey? Max had so many questions but decided to answer her rather than rudely ignoring it.
“Uh ya…” he answered.
“How did you get here?”
“Where is ‘here’ exactly.”
“Well.” Silvia bit her lip as if pondering on whether or not to tell him. “You’re in another dimension called Discord.”
Maxwell grinned, his eyes lighting up. He was right! He was actually in another dimension. He made a portal to another dimension!
“How did you get here?” Silvia repeated.
“You may not believe it…but I built a portal from spare parts. And it accidentally brought me here,” Max told her with an air of nervousness.
Silvia’s eyes widened in shock. “Wh-where’s your portal?”
Max chuckled shyly, “Well it was kinda sorta destroyed by some kind of clumsy green slime monster.”
Silvia gave a frown and muttered something under her breath.
Before Max could question her murmuring, Silvia stood up. “I need to talk to my father. Please stay here and…uh…try not to touch anything.”
Max frowned but decided not to ask any questions. She exited the room.
She was only gone for five minutes, but for Maxwell that was a long time. When Silvia came back, she found Max laying on the black and purple bed eating a granola bar, an atlas in front of his face.
“I thought I told you not to touch anything,” Silvia growled.
Maxwell looked up from his book with a grin. “What’s Arareul?”
Silvia climbed up the stairs and, with a scowl, snatched the book. “A mountain range.”
Max opened his mouth to ask another question, but Silvia changed the subject. “What are you eating?”
“Granola bar,” he answered, his mouth full.
Silvia raised her eyebrows, “Pardon?”
Max swallowed his food, “I’m eating a granola bar.”
“What’s a granola bar?”
Max grinned, “You don’t know what a granola bar is?! Wow, you’ve been missing out on a lot. A granola bar is like one of the most amazing foods ever created. Here try some.”
He broke off a piece and held it out to her.
Silvia frowned, pushed his hand away as if he had a contagious disease, and gave a simple, “No thank you”.
“My father wants to talk to you. He’s going to meet us at the theatre. Follow me,” Silvia said turning toward the stairs.
“Why does he want to talk to me?” asked Max.
Silvia looked at the door as if she was expecting someone to enter. It was hard to tell with her. “He…wants to help you get back to your Earth dimension.”
Max’s eyes lit up. “Well, then what are we waiting for?
He stood up and together they walked out of her bedroom, down the hall, past to doorways until they entered a room different than all of the others. Instead of black and purple like most of the rooms, this one was…well it’s kinda hard to describe- but easy? It was white. That’s all! A plain, empty room with smooth white walls and floors. The only thing in the room was a simple black office chair, and no it didn’t have wheels (much to Max’s dismay).
Silvia stood in the doorway and motioned toward the chair. “Take a seat. My father will come soon.”
She started walking towards the exit before Max interrupted her, “Where are you going?”
“Um…going to watch,” she told him.
Then she left before he could ask any more questions. What a shame. Max place his backpack on the floor. When he looked up, the door he came from had disappeared leaving a blank, white wall. Well, guess he wouldn’t be able to escape even if he wanted to. With a huff, he sat in the chair, killing time by spinning it and trying to tip it back. It seemed like the chair was glued to the floor because it wouldn’t move from where it was fixed in place. Finally, after a few minutes, someone entered from a door opposite from where he entered. The door wasn’t there before, was it?
In the doorway was a man dressed in a black cloak similar to Silvia’s, covering his entire body. His hair was slick, neat, and black like a glossy tv screen, and his face was covered by an ominous skull mask.
“Afternoon, Maxwell,” came his cold, deep voice.
Max frowned at the man. Silvia probably told her father what his name was. He didn’t mind, as long as he didn’t use his last name. It was always weird when people used his full name. Still, when someone would ask him his name he would use his full name. He should probably stop doing that…
“It’s already 12 AM. You must be hungry.” The man’s tone sounded as if they were at a fancy gala.
One of the man’s hands was behind his back. When he revealed it, there was a small plate of cookies neatly balanced on top of it. Max took one
Max repeated the words in his head. “AM? Is it really midnight?”
“Midnight?” Although he could not see his face, Silvia’s father sounded amused. “Oh yes. Discord abbreviations are different than Earth’s. AM for us means after-mid-day while PM means pre-mid-day. I believe they mean the opposite in your world.”
Although he sounded hospitable and friendly, his insides squirmed. Something felt…off. Maybe it was there the moment he met Silvia, but now it was obvious that something was wrong. Was it the cookies? Nah, they tasted fine.
Maxwell glanced up at the ceiling. It wasn’t blank and white like before. Instead, it was a glass dome with maybe one hundred red, velvet seats on the other side like some sort of domed football game. In the sea of red, his eyes caught purple. It was Silvia sitting in one of the chairs, watching them.
“Is it true you built a portal to get here?” spoke Silvia’s dad.
“Yep…Mr. Delarosa is it?”
Silvia’s father chuckled. “My name will come in good time. So, how exactly did you build this portal?”
Max thought about it for a few seconds. “I don’t remember…”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t know. I just threw some parts together and started inventing until I came up with something,” Max told him.
Mr. Delarosa nodded slowly, “I see. Well…we have ways of extracting it from you.”
This severely alarmed Max. I mean why wouldn’t it? “What?”
He tried to move but his arms and legs were stuck as if held by an invisible force. He looked from his limbs to Discord who was chuckling, his left hand outstretched.
“You can’t move can you?” he asked and laughed some more, “You humans are so small-minded.”
“You said you wanted my name?” a shadow loomed over the man’s face, “My name is Discord. Discord Destroyer of Worlds.”
There was a long silence before it was broken by laughter. What kind of name was Discord Destroyer of Worlds?
At this sudden outburst, Discord slammed his hands onto the arm of the chair, “I’m going to extract every living memory from your brain until you are a mindless zombie, so I can build that portal!”
“Why do you even need the portal? You’re not the one who has to go back home,” inquired Max, his curiosity getting the best of him.
“I already rule over this world. When I go the Earth, I will rule over their universe,” the man growled.
Max’s eyes strayed to the ceiling where Silvia wore an anxious look. “Can Silvia hear our conversation?”
“The dome is made of soundproof glass.”
Max had many questions but decided not to annoy him with the more complex ones. “Is Silvia in on this?”
“No, she is not. When I am finished with you, she will be discarded.”
That seemed extremely cruel: betraying your daughter for a selfish goal. Good thing she couldn’t hear them. Maxwell glanced at the dome and did a double-take when he saw Silvia’s face. She looked completely furious. But how was that possible? The glass was soundproof. Glancing back at Discord, he noticed a small object in his hand that wasn’t there before. It was some kind of remote with two red buttons and a long antenna. The antenna moved toward Max until it was touching his forehead.
“Now, this won’t hurt a bit…or maybe it will. I’ve never tried this on a human,” Discord spoke, his finger drawing closer and closer to the button.
It came to the point where he was only a hairline next to the button before- CRASH!
[8 pages]
