Day 4: Tunnel #3, The Tunnel’s Lost Cities - Later Afternoon, 4:39 P.M.

I walked into a small room with a giant beast staring right at me.

"What are you?"

I asked.

"I’m a Thunder Titan."

The creature replied. He was like a zombie, but instead, had a lightning bolt that came out of his heart, a head that looked exactly like a pop-out brain, and a long piece of wood that hung out of his mouth. I jumped into confusion, making lots of predictions.

I crouched towards him and opened my mouth.

"Are you hard to fight?"

I asked, concerned.

"That’s up to you, but for me, I am hard to fight."

The Thunder Titan replied.

"Well then, prove it!"

"You want to challenge me? You’re going to die, man! Are you sure about this?"

"We’re going solo! Let’s do this!"

We both jumped into action and started fighting. The Thunder Titan kept throwing magical swords and summoning baby zombies, which could talk in a British accent and could relate to the Thunder Titan, who looked exactly like him, but smaller.

I jumped onto a nearby rock to avoid and dodge the baby zombies. Since they were so little they couldn’t go after me.

"You think that’s how it works around here?"

The Thunder Titan asked.

"Yes, I do! And you’re not going to stop me or my life from getting out of this place!"

I ran up to the monster Thunder Titan, passing by all the babies and stabbed the Thunder Titan right in the arm. I climbed up his foot to his leg, then massively, he exploded down in anger and frustration.

He started to stumble and fall to the ground, then he caught himself, throwing me off of him. I passed out, knowing that I would be waking up soon.

* * *

I entered a giant hole, realizing that I might have died. I looked around, then I walked into the hole.

"What’s this?"

I ask, staring upon the hole. I bent down, noticing that my back wasn’t perfectly straight. I strolled forward and saw the lions I saw before.

"King Cat?"

I asked, in a worried tone.

"You again? What are you doing here? Did you die?"

He replied, curiously.

"Yes, I did. I’m sorry."

"I understand, kid. You’re not going to be fully dead. I’m going to give you my entire body."

"But you need a life here too. You’ll be gone forever. You won’t even be in Cat Heaven."

"I know, but I need you to do this for me. Please, kid, I beg you to be brave and do this for me."

I stared at his regale eyes, feeling down and mad at myself.

"Don’t feel mad, this wasn’t your fault. You mustn’t do this, or you’ll be fully dead like me."

I nodded, and he smiled.

"Can you roar before you go?"

I asked.

"Yes. I want you to go out there."

He said, as he roared a regale roar four times. He gave me his soul, quickly disappearing.

"Do this for me!"

He shouted.

"And don’t ever give up!"

His last words were final.

"Don’t ever give up."

I told myself, repeating those words non-stop.

I came back to live, turning back to the giant Thunder Titan.

"Wait,"

He paused.

"I thought you were dead! We were about to have a big party with snacks and drinks and-"

"You can forget that now."

I spoke.

"There’s no way going back."

"How did you do that?"

"Secrets. Sometimes you think you’re dead when you’re really not."

"But you ruined it!"

"Oh well. As I just said, you can forget that big party you were about to have. Ready to fight?"

I clutched up my fists. I pulled out my sword, cleaning it thoroughly. I watched the giant Thunder Titan start to get mad and charge at me.

"Why would you do this to me?"

He asked.

"No time to chat,"

I replied.

"It’s time to become a brave warrior, just like how I dreamed of it."

He growled and continued to charge at me. We battled for hours, throwing swords, making bloody messes, doing all that violence and making it entertaining. My mind swung about King Cat, and I remembered those words.

"Don’t give up."

I heard.

"What was that?"

I asked. The Thunder Titan stopped fighting me and balanced the sword on the ground.

"You’re right - what was that noise?"

The Thunder Titan asked.

"I don’t know."

I told him.

"He sounds like someone from my past."

I held a gem in my hand, then looked down at the palm of my hand.

"This is for you."

The voice repeated.

"I kept it special. I’m now a ghost. I’m not fully dead."

"Goodness sakes! I thought you said you were fully gone! King Cat, I’m going to do this entire thing for you. I’m never going to give up, no matter how hard things are, or how bad they seem to be before I try it. I’m not going to let you down!"

I yelled.

"No."

He spoke.

"What do you mean ’no?’"

I asked.

"What I mean is, you never let me down no matter what - you only let me down if you seem to give up, or if you seem like your life, is a miserable place. When life feels that way, talk to me. I’ll never be there to reply, but I can always see you and hear you."

I laughed so hard, that he led out a wild roar once again.

"I remember the first time I saw you."

I spoke.

"I’m never going to give up, even if life feels like a pain in the butt."

"I know you aren’t! That’s my boy!"

He replied. He disappeared into the mist of the wind, singing across the cloudy airs with a pinch of love. I smiled, as he roared back at me, once more before disappearing in the dark wind of the air.

The Thunder Titan wasn’t paying attention, so instead of attacking me, he tried to attack King Cat.

"He’s a ghost!"

I yelled.

"And you can’t kill a ghost!"

He rolled his eyes, continuing to stomp his loud stomps and swing his sword around the air. He hit the rocks down and they poured into little ones, smacking me down to the dirty grass, and hitting me with the edge of his sword, leaving me unhurt.

"Oh, my goodness, I am so sorry for disturbing you!"

He screamed. I got up, carefully removing the rocks and the pointy marbles out from under me. I struggled, grunting in slow motion and dancing in a disturbing way.

"Its-"

I began, closing my eyes lightly, and lifting up one finger, touching the smooth stones around me.

"It’s okay. Mistakes happen and they always will."

"You forgive me?"

The Thunder Titan repeated, feeling like he wanted to faint, when he was still standing tall.

"Listen: You might think that you’re a bad Thunder titan, but what I’ve learn in my past, certainly scary life, you always need to learn to forgive others. Even if they cause your problems, it’s still your job to solve them."

"What does that mean? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say here."

"That means, that if someone caused a problem that left you stuck in the middle, you still need to solve it on your own. Let’s say that I was in school still, and my teacher taught me nothing. I go into Middle School, and I know nothing about the subject because I didn’t learn anything. It’s still my problem."

"Why would it still be your problem though? Shouldn’t it have been the teacher’s problem?"

"Actually, no it wouldn’t. You cannot control the actions of others, so you just need to learn to deal with it and move on in life. You don’t want to be miserable because of other people, right?"

"No. I wouldn’t want to be miserable because of someone other than me."

"Exactly. Always remember that."

I then ended the conversation and noted those strong words from my head to his ears. He asked me some more questions.

"Wait! Can I - can I help you get to the next tunnel? I know where it is!"

He asked, with a bright smile on his face.

"Wait, you forgive me?"

I asked, then realized what I just said.

"Ha, I don’t even know where that came from. I think I need to forgive myself!"

Both of us laughed loudly.

I still had more questions for him, still, but for now, those could wait.

"Where is it?"

"It’s behind the rocks that I accidently tipped over. I need to apologize for that!"

"It’s fine. As I just said, I forgive you!"

"Thank you. I wouldn’t know what to do without you!"

We started to clear up the rocks, and the Thunder Titan summoned a small pond that looked like it came from the tunnel’s sewer water. I seemed a little grossed out, and had another serious question for him.

"Do you know why they put sewer water in these tunnels these days? I’m kind of wondering about that."

I asked in a clear, short tone.

"When they first built these tunnels, they put in regular, ocean water. When the water went bad, it turned all green and now it smells like sewer water."

He replied, filling up a glass of water and sipping it. He opened up the pond and swam underwater, disappearing.

"Am I supposed to do that too?"

I jumped into the water, and instead of going into a different tunnel, I jumped into a different portal, with a bright, old TV standing next to me.