8

The labyrinth of streets and shops made John forget the way back home. But there was no home to go to. John wandered the streets for some time, but everywhere he went seemed the same to him.

"How could anyone navigate through these streets," he thought, "They look like a maze!"

John was disoriented and drowsy. He was scared that he would have to sleep out on the sidewalk. Ashley, who was his guide and brief friend, was gone, dragged away by her short-tempered and cruel mother, who looked so much like her. Now he would never find those tents that Ashley talked about. And to make matters worse, he had very little cash from his own world, which would barely buy any food after a day or two. The points were all gone on a Gacha game that gave him good fortune for a month. John wasn't sure how his present circumstances could have been an instance of good luck. How was being lost and homeless, without money or a roof over his head, an example of good luck?

Was Ashley's kiss on the cheek the one stroke of fortune that had happened to him until now? John touched the spot on his cheek where Ashley had kissed him. Remembering the warm and lovely sensation, the shockwaves of pleasure spreading in his body, he decided that Ashley's kiss on his cheek was definitely good luck. Sitting on the pavement, John hugged his legs and placed his chin on his knees. Closing his eyes, he realized how tired he was. Getting up, he decided to go look for a tent area. But then, a sound rented the air and sent a shiver up and down his spine. It was a dog whimpering and howling, as in great pain somewhere in the distance. Turning around, John realized that the noise was coming from an alley. He rushed ahead, straining his ears for the origins of the noise. A little way further, he saw the most unusual thing. A black dog was howling in great pain and distress. He was held captive by a small group of cloaked men and was put in a cage, too cramped for the dog to move. How they got him into the cell was a complete mystery to John. But the poor creature was clearly anguished. The men looked as if they belonged to a religious cult; they had their faces tattooed, and all of them wore the same hooded cloaks, and they had an emblem, in the form of a pendant, hanging around their necks. Eerily, the charm was red, and it was surrounded by black mist. The icon had seven fragments, six of which were empty. The non-empty slot was engraved with a drawing of a skull pierced by an ax. It looked as if the fleshless head was angry and that the ax was attacking it. These peculiar men were shouting insults at the dog through the cage.

"You fraudulent beast! We know exactly who and what you are. There is no way you could fool us! We know what you are capable of, mutt. Oh, yes! You will do just as we say; otherwise, there will be dire consequences! Do you have any idea of the horrible things we can do to you? Huh, you filthy creature?"

John had heard enough. He didn't know what these religious cult people were talking about, but all of that was irrelevant. What mattered was that these vile men intended to hurt the poor black dog. They wanted to abuse him and cause him further pain. The whimpering dog reminded him of Jack, who had given up his life to save John. He decided that he would not let another dog suffer! But what could he do? There had to be a way to release and rescue the whimpering dog.

"Please, please," John prayed. Then, as if answering his prayer, the month-long bit of fortune at his disposal came to the rescue. One of the religious cult members was standing under a huge billboard sign advertising a general store. It miraculously came crashing down and fell right over the man underneath. On earth, the crash would have squished the man like a bug. But of course, with no possibilities of injuries, the man was simply trapped under it. He must have felt really uncomfortable because he started to scream for help. His cohorts laughed like hyenas, nastily and mockingly. But they weren't going to let him stay trapped in there. One of the men suggested that the lifting machine would have to be fetched; agreeing, all of them went away to get the lifting apparatus. This was it; John knew he had an opportunity to release the black dog! Crouching and moving forward as quietly as he could, John approached the cage. When he got to it, he unbolted the lock and guided the black dog out. To avoid raising the alarm, John and the black dog crept out of the alley. They were successful, and neither of them made a single noise. However, as soon as they were out of earshot, the black dog dug into his heels. He ran at full speed in a random direction, away from John.

"Hey! Wait, where are you going?" screamed John, "they will catch you again; you need to stay close to me."

But the black dog kept sprinting away. John, whose body was now pumping with adrenaline, ran after the black dog. He followed him through streets and marketplaces. They ran so fast that everything around John was a complete blur. He had to push as fast as he could to keep up with the running canine. No matter how hard he tried, John was barely able to keep him in his sight. The black dog ran so fast that, at times, he appeared to be a streak of blackness just rolling ahead. A long way further, John turned a corner to discover that he had lost sight of the black dog. Panting and huffing, John fell to the ground, clutching at the stitch in his chest. Spots appeared in front of his eyes, and he felt oddly dizzy and weak. The last bit of strength he had was drained out of him. Had it not been for a very unusual sight, John might well have fallen asleep on the ground again. Squinting his eyes open, he saw a small colored cloud drifting by. This bizarre sight shook him awake. By now, he had regained his strength to some degree. Getting up, he saw that the place around him was teeming with clouds of all colors of the rainbow. Finding this to be the oddest sight, he roamed around until he bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch where you are going! Are you blind or drunk?" said a man to John.

"Sorry, I didn't see you through all these clouds. What is this place? Where did all these rainbow clouds come from?" said John.

"Clouds? What clouds? There is Nothing here, boy! Are you really in your senses?"

John's heart sank. Had the bizarre and peculiar events of the day unbalanced his mind? Was he hallucinating? Or was the man lying to him.

"Listen, kid. You look really disturbed and in bad shape. Tell you what, it is perhaps your lucky day. There is a nice little tent spot I just left. I don't need it, for now, so you can have it for just $1, what do you say? I am sure that once you wake up, all this cloud business will be behind you," said the man. John paid him instantly, then he took him to the spot he was talking about. The rainbow clouds continued drifting around. Finally, they arrived at the site. Thanking the man and shaking his hand, John lifted the flap and went inside. It was pleasantly warm inside the tent. A sleeping bag, in the shape of a cheroot, was lying on the floor. He got into it and instantly fell asleep.