The Epic of Verarde

Chapter 1

Tweeeeeeeeeeettttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daniel slowly got up, rubbing his head. The referee came over to him.

“You okay, son?” he said.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He looked over in disgust at the player who had just tripped him.

“Got you, man, you’re too slow.”

Daniel got up. “Rick, will you just stop?”

“Rick, will you just stop?” Rick imitated.

“Watch it, Heinwurst,” the referee warned. Rick smirked. “Whatever,” he said, and walked off nonchalant.

Daniel’s coach motioned him to take a break. As he came to the sidelines, he heard his sister say from the stands, “What happened, Daniel?”

Daniel looked toward his younger sister, Rachel, and walked over.

“Nothing really. Rick just tripped me.”

“He’s been beating you up a lot lately,” Rachel observed.

“Yeah, I know,” Daniel remarked sarcastically. “He never pushes anyone around.”

In the distance, thunder sounded. “I think that’ll come up on the way home,” said Rachel.

“I hope not,” Daniel said.

Daniel’s coach yelled, “Get back out there, Daniel! You’re in for Singleman!”

As Singleman came out, they slapped five.

“Watch out for Rick. He’s nasty today,” Singleman warned.

“Thanks, I will.”

Daniel took up his position at right striker and made sure his laces were tight. He looked at the scoreboard. His team, the Nighthawks, was tied 2-2 with its rival, the Raptors, with 10 minutes left. “Gotta focus, gotta focus,” he thought.

The ball was kicked and the game restarted. A scuffle began for the ball as five players converged on it, then it squirted out towards the Nighthawks’ left defenseman. He took it and ran with it, then passed to Daniel’s friend, Solomon Marks. Daniel looked around for a spot to get open for a pass. There! In between the two Raptor defenders was a wide-open spot in the goal box. Marks had advanced the ball past the opposing midfield and done some fancy moves to get past a defender. Now he was heading down the sideline, looking for someone to cross the ball to.

Daniel made his move. He sprinted past the two defenders and got in the clear, waving frantically to his teammate. Fortunately, Marks spotted him and crossed it perfectly, straight and low. Daniel tensed, waiting for his moment, then jumped.

As his forehead met the ball, several things happened. First, his body was knocked to the ground by some unseen force. Then, he saw something strange. Actually, a few things. A creature with a sword jumping over rocks. Someone who looked like his father smashing a medieval-looking weapon into someone. And a body with no face making a strange, unearthly laughing sound.

Other things he could not immediately recall flashed in his mind’s eye. Himself standing in the middle of a forest. A rope bridge with tens of hundreds of people on it falling down, down, down into a great abyss, with himself unable to do anything about it. As he watched it fall, the vision faded and he realized he was blacking out. He saw the soccer ball fall down and miss the goal wide. He heard the whistle of a referee, but it sounded so far off.

Then, and only then, did Daniel give in to the darkness encroaching upon him, and sank unconscious with the feeling of failure resting deep inside him.

To be continued…

Copyright 2009 Santos DeBarros