Simplisica Blissikiss - A Fable that I wrote

I wrote this long(er) story for my first semester of High School Junior English: Fiction and Film.
The story talks about themes like "corruption over time", "the loss of innocence" and "dangers of spreading knowledge".

Be warned - the story is quite long. It might take you around 15 minutes to read, depending on how fast you read in comparison to me.

Enjoy my story! Feel free to comment, and ask questions - if you want.


Simplisica Blissikiss
By Sean Ching


The nightmares keep returning each night and, like a restless sea or pestering wind, cannot leave nor be reasoned with. Even a logical mind and a calm heart, the type I've possessed ever since the start of my career, cannot rid me of these relentless images. Images of that painstaking transit ride home, the collapsing of boulders, the struggling of bodies, bulging eyes, and my quiet removal of the corpses once the torment had reached its final destination. Should I have warned them of their inevitable demise, should they choose to follow me back? Or should I have sent them back to their bleak existences: to die, perhaps far more horribly, by the hands of their kind?

I need no answer for this purposely rhetorical question for vows have stayed intact. Will's vow. Our vow. Will had saved my life, and probably all of humanity, through a promise he and I shared. He vowed to prevent his evil from spreading, and I had vowed to make this happen as well.

It has been 33 years since I've set foot in Simplisica Blissikiss: seeing its final days of glory and endowing the land with its splendid title as if it were mine. Technically, it became my creation, although I wish I had never invented it. I'm an archeologist, not an innovator, so finding new places is what I do.

Like the time my excavation team and I visited formally uncharted areas of the Cairo desert. Like the time I had found that fateful salamander hole. It was abnormally wide, but refused to cave in. And this aroma – oh why did it go? – that grew so distinct, the closer I ventured: it puzzled me when the others denied sensing any of it. Unlike my co-working Egyptologists, finding natural investigation sites kept me strong in my profession: even more obvious when muscling through the usual strata to locate another dusty finger or toe bone.

Every morning, three alarm clocks would wake me from my restless slumber, and if I forgot to set one of them, I'd set a fourth one the following night. Skipping biscuits and tea, I'd haul full-body duffel bags to the salamander hole: unfortunately dropping clamps, steno pads, and brushes along the way. And after I had gone back to collect my tools and finished measuring the hole's various intricacies, I could not help but notice my colleagues' averted eyes and tightly creased mouths. Their indirect responses seemed trivial to me, for my shovel had come across a layer of alluvium: dark, moist, and comforting sand. At first, this seemed like an appropriate discovery, since salamanders would usually inhabit places with preferably conditioned soil for the sake of their parched hide. However, the strengthening aroma, as I dug deeper into the hole, enticed me to continue investigating. My shovel hit a dark blue spot, and I froze at what I had just discovered. There wasn't any time to announce my findings, for the ground collapsed, and so did I. Post-impact, dust swirled but I breathed it in as if it were pure air, for I knew it was harmless water vapor. Realizing that there was a tall tunnel next to where I landed, I easily got to my feet, and stared into the anxious chamber.

"Mr. Adams! Sir, what happened???"

"The hole caved in, but I'm completely unharmed," I replied as I looked up through the startling shaft I had fallen through.

"We'll get a rescue team down there, sir!"

"That's okay, lads" I quickly added. "This is the perfect spot to further my investigations. I wonder how permafrost could have possibly formed at all – given these conditions, and-"

"About that sir…" and the blue patches burned me. "The group has decided that we must move on to the next site-"

"Without finalizing our report on this salamander hole???"

"-with or without your approval, sir."

I dropped to the ground, cross-legged, while staring at the blurry, narrow wall in front of me. I let out a large sigh, and realized that I had been drooling for a while. Suddenly, my jaw clamped together, and my eyes started to squint. I slammed my fist on the permafrost, shattering it, and replied,

"Well, I don't approve, and I hope you traitors know that!!!" And with that, I ran down the tunnel, flashlight on hand, and didn't wait for any reply.

Foot after foot, cough after every few steps, I realized how unprepared and rash I had acted. Here I was, in the middle of a tunnel-to-nowhere, and all I had with me was my flashlight and a light backpack of preserved rations meant to last a couple of days. In no way was I prepared to navigate the uneven path, or the small ledges, or the narrow openings. It must have been the curiosity to find the origins of the permafrost, or what(ever) was located at the end of this tunnel. Besides, if I hadn't ventured on, I'd be forced to leave this place by my mutinous and supposedly well-versed colleagues.

On the other hand, the anomalous attributes of this tunnel surely fueled my spirit to finish the journey. Although rough and uneven, I noticed that the path was leading in one, specific direction to the North. Furthermore, there weren't any impassible obstructions, and I could easily break through the gnarliest mud mounds that this tunnel had to challenge me with. Less than half an hour of walking, a speck of light appeared in front of me, at a fair distance. It seemed that every minute more the speck was reasonably enlarging: making me change from a brisk walk to an all-out sprint. As I ran towards the light, I noticed that it wasn't the usual white that I've always seen in previous excavations. This light consisted of light, soothing hues of green and blue. In what seemed to be less than five minutes, I had reached the source of the light: above me and next to a malleable earth wall. At first, I didn't even want to get up there, having absolutely no ideas how to do it without cables, grapples, or apparatuses. Finally, out of absolute defeat, and some desperation, I slammed my fist into the wall, and was surprised to find handholds where I had punched. Furiously, yet mindfully punching up the wall, I made it to the top, and nearly fell back down.

Everything was bright and void of impurities. Hilltops stuffed with new-world grass were spread across a golden landscape. The trees were bright turquoise and constantly undulated while reflecting the colors and gentle motions of the rivers beside them. Rivers, seemingly filled with sparkling spring water, flowed, harmoniously, beside hilltops and trees. For a moment, I felt a type of bliss I had never, and could never, feel from where I had come from. In a way, this sheer joy felt entirely alien, and I, uncontrollably, thought only of pleasant memories and the excitements of finding new locations. I was so enamored by the sensation that I failed to notice a crowd forming around me. I finally realized that someone was trying to get my attention when I realized that I was already sitting down on the blanket-soft grass. A sphere of flowing river water levitated near me, and as I sipped on it, I tried to make out what these people were. All I could see were their floating, humanoid heads and unwavering facial expressions; they all seemed to have some type of smile, be it wide smile, grin, or just a subtle smirk. And there weren't any physical differences between them. I wondered if they were actually people.

Trying to figure out some way to break the silence, I carefully smiled back and, pointing to the river water sphere, I said,

"How….how do you do that?"
All they did was smile back, and make various gestures back to me as well as among each other. I made another contrived smile, then looked down for a moment. I then looked up again and asked,

"Do…do any of you have a…name?"
They all started laughing: wide-mouthed, or hissing through their malformed teeth. In truth, they all looked pitifully messy and unmaintained, but they showed no irritation towards their modest appearance. After all, they were just floating heads.

"Can any of you speak?" I finally asked.
I jumped when I heard,

"Apparently so." One of the floating heads rose from the crowd and approached me. The others grew awkwardly silent, and stared equally as awkwardly. Letting out a sigh of relief, I replied,

"It's good to hear some type of voice. I was beginning to think you all were mute."

"We are quite social." said the head. "However, we have never had any visitors…since….never!" He smiled and I couldn't help but (lightly) reciprocate the gesture.

"I apologize for intruding then" I (carefully) responded: hopefully trying to diffuse the tension I was beginning to sense. I must have sensed wrong, for the group laughed again, and the head head said,

"It is no intrusion at all, my friend! Meeting something new is always a treat! Isn't that right, friends?" The other heads nodded in approval, although they failed to utter a single, audible word.

"How did you learn to speak English?" I replied, to which the head head replied,
"We are quick learners". Moving next to me, the head head said, "my name is George Drayden, and we made that ball of water so that you'd feel comfortable and healthy, of course!"

"Thank you…" I replied, slightly unsatisfied with the shallow and confusing answer. "But I don't see how that's possible…"

"You mean…that isn't possible?" replied George, and I felt a splash.

"Indeed," I replied, "since you'd need some type of cup to hold the liquid inside".

"A cup?" George replied. The group continued to stare, although I noticed some of them had stopped smiling. Slightly irritated, I replied,

"A cup is a container used to hold free-flowing liquid. You'll need to use-"

"Why do we need to 'hold' our free-flowing water?" George asked.

"Well…" I replied, feeling as though I was talking to elementary toddlers, "if you want to use something – in this case, water – you'll need to hold it in place.

"Why???" asked George, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"Because the liquid will move away in ways you don't want it to, of course! I mean, you can't have water running wherever it wants to go! You'll need to control it, forcefully, so that you can use it." Calming myself, I asked, "Have you considered modernizing this place? For instance, installing pipes so that you can access the water in a controlled fashion?" George was completely silent and stared off into the distance. I waited for about half-an-hour, to the point where I worried whether or not George had become ill or just in a deep, trance-like thought. Thankfully, he began to speak, and my worries melted away for the moment.

"I…" he began, "never realized how little I knew." He paused once more, and I gave him all the time he seemed to need. He continued, saying, "You are quite an amazing visitor. Do you mind spending a little bit of your time with us? We have regenerating food and water resources near our shelters, so we can definitely take care of you".

"That sounds like a fine idea", I replied, and I walked along with George, the floating head.

I don't remember what happened that afternoon, since, the next morning, I got up to the sounds of drilling and hammering. I raced out of the hovel, that I had apparently passed out in the night prior, to find massive, wooden cranes putting together buildings among previously constructed buildings. The people looked different this time. Importantly, they had full bodies and were fully clothed. I found George giving directions to the workers, who were drilling next to the rivers.

"What's going on, George?!?!" I frantically yelled, nearly unable to hear myself. George leaned next to me, and I was surprised at how well I could hear his voice. He seemed to understand my question, and said,

"thanks to your excellent advice, last night, we are beginning our modernization! I have workers making water systems and constructing massive, secure skyscrapers." I continued staring at all the action occurring, and felt a mixture of awe and doubt. Not knowing what else to say, I yelled,

"so how is this supposed to work?"

"What do you mean?" replied George.

"I mean, how are you supposed to keep your workers working? Won't they need some type of reward?" All of a sudden, all of the workers ceased working. They looked at each other and whispered. Some of them looked towards George and, for the first time, frowned at him. George pulled me aside and whispered,

"I hadn't thought about that." Quickly leading me away, he yelled to the workers, "don't mind us! Just keep it up!" and whispered to me, "follow…" I followed him to a surprisingly elaborate office building and sat down on an elegantly crafted metal chair.

"You were saying?" he asked, closing the door.

"Well…" I continued, slightly unsure how to explain what I was going to explain, "Back home, my people were paid with money."

"What is that?" George asked.

"It's a piece of paper that bosses give to workers for their work efforts. Money can be used to buy materials and services".

"You mean you can't just take what you need?" replied George.

"Of course not! Resources aren't unlimited! And materials can rot or wear down, over time, so you'll need money to replace them on a regular basis." Continuing, I said, "Money is distributed by a central government, that-"

"What is a government?" asked George. Again feeling irritated by the constant questioning-and-answering, I nonetheless continued and replied,

"Well, I'm an archeologist, not some economist or political strategist, but I can basically explain that a government consists of leaders that uphold the common peace."

"How do they do that?" asked George.

"By establishing rules for everyone to follow."

"Well that should be easy then!" replied George.

"Except", I had to add, "that people don't always agree, so-"

"Why don't they always agree???"

"because they have their own interests! That's why, in some cases, government will need law enforcement officers to make sure the people follow the rules".

"And what makes these 'officers' different from the other people?"

"Well, simply put, they obey the government and carry various tools to keep the peace."

"Such as…?" Slightly afraid at where this conversation was heading, I nonchalantly replied,

"basic survival gear, as well as handcuffs…the like."
George sat silently with an emotionless expression and eyes facing downwards.

"Are you alright?" I asked, and he replied with a stoic,

"leave now." I didn't hesitate in taking his request. I returned to my hovel, now an apartment building, and asked the concierge for my room number before calling it a day.

I suddenly woke to the sight of bright light shining in my face. I was completely blinded, so I turned my face towards the balcony and saw a monochrome landscape outside. I turned back towards the light and saw an armor-suited man holding a steel flashlight. Four other men surrounded my bed and pulled me up. I struggled and yelled,

"what is the meaning of this???"

"King Drayden requests your presence" replied one of the men, and the other two slapped handcuffs on me. The fourth pushed me into some type of vehicle, unlike any type I have ever seen, and drove me to an ominous palace. They walked me through the various hallways until I reached an elaborately decorated foyer. I stepped inside and only saw the back of a chair. A deep voice began to speak.

"Good day….Mr. Adams" the voice said.

"George? Is…is that you?" I meekly replied.

"FOOL! Guards!" shouted the voice, and three guards arrived at the scene. One held me, while the other two stared with eyes of fury. I felt impaled, and I let out a weakened, spit-filled cough. Only after it was over did I realize the guards were unleashing a barrage of punches at me.

"Why…" I coughed, "why are you doing this to me?"

"Simply put," replied the voice, "you have information that I WANT". With the guard still holding me, my head drooped down and I weakly replied,

"what…do you mean…?"

"You come from a society of ORDER and CONTROL", said the voice. Last night, our little conversation was most…helpful." The voice laughed hysterically, and so did the guards. However, it didn't feel at all like the first time they laughed with me, when I first met them. The voice continued, and said, "last night's conversation alluded to a key idea that I MUST find out about". The chair turned around and George rose from it. He was clad in royal attire that resembled all types of cultures I knew from my world. Except, they made him seem completely alien to me. HE felt alien to me.

Continuing, King Drayden said, "I need to know how to BETTER control my subjects. I ALREADY have trivial weapons like stun gas and Taser guns. Now, I require something more…devastating." A servant shakily brought a tray with a duffel bag on top of it, and King Drayden snatched it.

"This book is entitled, 'nuclear power and arms research', and its contents seem most…beneficial." Drayden smiled and it disgusted me.

"However, it is locked with a numbered code, and YOU'RE going to open for me."

"And what if I refuse" I said through my bruised lips and clenched teeth.

"Then I'll make you accept!" replied Drayden. The guards brought out steel bars and all of them held the bars in baseball grips. Drayden, smiling, put his thumbs down and the guards' arms rose above me. All of a sudden, glass shattered from above and grenades landed among us. Smoke popped out, and the guards began blood-curdling coughs. I was already in pretty bad shape, so I didn't really react to the smoke. When the guards scattered, I dropped to the floor, but felt somebody else picking me up.

I awoke in a wide but darkened mud tunnel. I soon realized that it was the tunnel I had used when I first entered this world. A taciturn and gentle nurse was spraying some type of gel on me, and I my jaw dropped when I saw my bruises fading away. Regaining my energy, I began to speak,

"I have never seen many of your creations. You people…are sure quick to learn!" I weakly chuckled, but lay back down in exhausted pain. I heard footsteps, and a suited man entered. However, he was not one of Drayden's henchmen, and he possessed a look of conviction that Drayden's kind all failed to possess. He sat down on a chair next to my medical stretcher, and spoke so softly that it startled me. He began,

"I never wanted anything like this to happen to you, or my people".

"How do you know me", I asked.

"I was one of those floating heads that met you when you first came here"

"Oh…!" I replied, startled at how different he looked, from then, and not knowing if I should say anything else. However, I did have one thing to say.

"I'm sorry for the evil I had spread across this once pure world."

"You aren't evil", the man replied. "But some of my kind have turned…" he responded: last word trailing off into a whisper.

"Yes," I continued, "but I told too much to the wrong person."

"Indeed you told too much," replied the man, "but not necessarily to the wrong person. I'm sure anyone of us would have turned out like that tyrant, Drayden, if we were exposed to that kind of knowledge. My head drooped and I waited for the man to say something. Apparently, he must have thought the same way, since we stayed quiet for too long. Soon enough, he took the initiative and broke the silence by asking, "what's your name, sir?"

"I am Thomas Adams, an archeologist from a different world, apparently". "Who are you?"

"The name's Will", he replied, "and I'm the leader of the armed resistance against Drayden.
With a sharp turn of my head, and a lot of disappointment, I whispered…"oh for heavens…an ARMED resistance…who'd have thought it would come to this…" I couldn't help but shake my head in defeat. Looking up, I candidly asked,

"what can I do about things now?" Will shrugged,

"nothing, at this point. Just get away from here. And don't reveal anymore to Drayden."

"But how can I get out of here? I barely knew how I got IN here!" Rising, looking around, and spreading his hands across the walls, Will replied,

"you were right about this one". He continued, saying, "this cave is nothing but amazing, and the key lies in the permafrost". Feeling slightly better but still confused, I asked,

"what do you mean?"

"Aside from providing us with drinking water, our technology experts have figured out how to use water as an energy source. Permafrost is an even more concentrated energy source than liquid water! It's so concentrated, that we've built this." Rising and offering his hand, he said, "come on!" and pulled me up. Hand on shoulder, he led me to the main tunnel and there appeared a sophisticated transit system: loosely resembling the steam trains back home. People waited inside, and I asked,

"I can leave on this thing…but should they come with me?", pointing to the passengers already inside. Will shook his head in irritation and explained,

"our expert scientists have already revealed that any of our kind who try to leave this land won't be able to survive in your foreign environmental conditions." Placing his open hand on his chest, and wide-eyed, he continued, "I tried to tell these people, but they were too desperate to listen to my reasoning." Pushing me forward, towards the transit, he bluntly said, "Just go". Feeling as if there wasn't enough closure, I replied,

"I must do something before I leave this place…I must make some type of resolution".
Leaning against the transit, Will replied, with a smile, "our world is already doomed", and I was confused about his smile. He continued, "but you must ensure that this never happens to your world. Make that vow!"

"Of course!" I eagerly shouted, but suddenly heard explosions in the background.

"Oh no…it's Drayden!" Will replied, and before I could ask anymore, he continued, "his henchmen have invaded the cave! Get on that transit now!!! I'll shut the entrance, with explosives, once your transit has left. Now go!"

I hopped onto the train and found the passengers cheering for me and the revving tremors of steel shredding tracks. I felt no joy for them, for I knew too much. All I did was find a seat, among them, and reflect upon the day. One of the passengers hugged me, but I didn't hug back. I just said,

"Ignorance is bliss, isn't it?" The passenger looked somewhat confused, but I said, "Forget it. I'm not going to talk about this for a few decades anyway.


SIMPLISICA BLISSIKISS-
The End....