Miles: The Heroic Adventure of an Average Boy

“Hi, can you tell me where the bread is?” “Sure, it’s on aisle 4, towards the middle.” Miles purchased the bread and went home; he was 13 now, he had more responsibility in his household, which explains why he was at the store buying bread. As he was walking out of the store, a man in a black suit bumped into him and dropped what looked like a TV remote. “Hey sir! You forgot your…,” but his sentence trailed off as he saw the man stare at him intently and mouth the words “For you.” So, on a sudden impulse, he pocketed the remote and headed home. He decided not to tell his parents about the remote, but his cover was almost blown at dinner when his dad, Ryan, asked what was in his pocket. “Oh, um, it’s just a pack of gum I bought at the store today.” Luckily, the excuse worked on his family and they asked no further questions.

In his room that night, Miles couldn’t sleep. His mind was filled with possibilities about what the remote could mean. At about one in the morning, he decided he couldn’t wait any longer. He got out of bed, and pressed the power button on the remote. It was a wild guess, but the top suddenly popped off! Inside was a recorder. Miles pressed the play button, and a rough voice came on. “Miles Malisse, you have been chosen to join the SDFS (Society of Dark Forces Specialists). You have powers unknown to you as of now, but we need to meet in private so I can explain all that you need to do. Meet me at 1226 W. Concorde Blvd, at 12 AM on the 13th. Ask the person at the door for Rick, and then say “Moriano” when asked for the code word. I know this is a lot to handle, but it is imperative that you understand. If you do not believe me, take three steps back and watch what happens to the tape recorder when this message finishes. Be there,” and then the message was over. Suddenly, there was a blinding light, and all of the particles of the tape recorder seemed to split apart. Then, they all came back together with a “Bang!” and then the tape recorder was gone.

On the 13th of May, Miles found his feet dragging himself towards 1226 W. Concorde Blvd, against all of his mental objections. He knew he couldn’t be the right person, he was just an average kid from Streeter, North Dakota. Yet his feet seemed to think differently. When he arrived at the door, his hands seemed to agree with his feet as they rang the doorbell. “I’m looking for Rick.” “What is the password?” “Moriano.” “You may enter.”  Miles walked inside the dimly lit room. There seemed to be moth balls everywhere, it looked as if it hadn’t been touched in years, much less cleaned. Suddenly, someone jumped him! Miles let out a cry and tried to fight off the attacker, but to no avail. He was in good physical shape, but Miles couldn’t inflict the least bit of pain on the attacker. “Was this all a trap?” Miles thought. However, all too suddenly, the man loosened his grip on Miles and let him go. Miles immediately hopped up and delivered a swift punch to the face, to which the attacker said “Ah, very good Miles, you are going to need those fighting skills when you inevitably fight the dark spirit.” Miles stopped mid-punch. This must be the man the recording talked about.

“Are you Rick?” “Yes, I am Rick.” “Great way to greet someone new, you could have just said hi.” After one hour of confusing mumbo-jumbo, Miles was finally starting to sort things out. He knew (to some extent) what his powers were: He could summon fire, and he could see through the outer layer of people or other animals. He also knew that he needed to defeat two minions, and then he could finally face the dark spirit. He did not know what form the minions were going to take, so he would have to be ready for everything. He was also given a sword with which he would fight all of the minions face to face, if possible. Miles was finally told that Rick did not know when the minions would come, so he should always be on guard.

The next day, Miles decided to go to the pool with his little brother, Joseph, who was 9 years old. He figured it would be a good way to wash away all of the heaviness that was just bestowed upon him. As they were splashing in the deep end, the water level started to rapidly decrease. He looked over towards the shallow end, and Miles could not believe what he saw. There was a giant water blob forming, with eyes, mouth and all! He reflexively ran out of the pool, grabbed his sword and charged the blob. When he hit the water blob with his sword however, all of the water flowed steadily out of the blob and refilled the pool, as if the blob had never been there. At first Miles thought he had defeated the first minion, but it was all too easy. Much to his dismay, the water then reformed into a completely intact water blob.

If hitting it with his sword was not effective, what was? Miles was caught off guard and thrown into the center of the water blob! No matter how hard he swam, Miles could not get out of the center of the blob. He was losing air fast, was this the end? The blob started to laugh, the deep sound reverberating inside it's translucent body. Just before Miles blacked out, he had one final idea. He gathered up all of his strength, and summoned fire on his hand.

The result was instantaneous. The blob shrieked, and Miles could cut a path through the blobs body as long as he had fire on his hand. He plunged his fire into every corner of the blobs body until finally, the blob was gone. It's final words were "I am not your final challenge. Expect death to come soon....." Miles lay down on the empty pools floor in exhaustion. Many kind citizens offered to call the paramedics and the police so they could report "Whatever trickster did that to you!" Miles declined both offers: they were just mortals, little did they know that he wasn't just a trickster. And then Miles realized something he had denied completely up until now: he was not a mortal anymore, and never would be again.

Once again, his feet guided him to what he supposed was Rick's house. He reported to Rick what had happened that day, and Rick, in return, gave him a new weapon. "This is a knife with immortal poison on the end. There is only one lethal dose, so use this only when you are in a complete bind. For all I know, it may not even work on the minions, but you have to try. Do not lose this; guard it with everything but your life." Miles took the knife, put it in his pocket and left.

The next week, Miles and his friend Kevin were mountain biking on the local trails. It was summer, but it was still 34 degrees and there was a bit of snow on the ground. As they were on a gnarly uphill, the ground started to shake! "EARTHQUAKE, GET ON THE GROUND!!" yelled Kevin, but Miles stopped him. "No, I know what this is. Get on your bike and ride as fast as you can down this hill. Then do not stop until you are at least 2 miles away from here. GO!" Kevin started to argue, but then common sense got the better of him and he took off. Right in time too, because the ground started to break apart, and it formed what looked like a muscular man with unbreakable armor. It was about 7 feet tall, and it started to lumber towards Miles. He tried hitting the giant with his sword and his fire, but to both the giant giggled and said "That tickles! Do it again!" Miles knew the giant was just mocking him, so he tried a different approach. Miles dodged one of the giants punches and tried to look through the armor, but there seemed to be no weak spot on his body. But maybe his whole body was a weak spot. Right then, he saw a tiny chink in the giants armor, but it was enough to fit.... a knife!

Miles knew he only had one throw. He pulled out his knife, ran under the giants legs and threw. Time slowed down, the knife looked on track but what if the giant moved? Right before the giant turned around, the knife hit its target, and the giant turned to dust.

Miles had defeated the final minion, but he knew he might not be so lucky the next time. However, right as he finished up catching his breath, a giant black hole opened up in the space in front of him! Wait, no, it was the dark spirit! A booming voice came out of the rift "Miles Malisse, I am the dark spirit, and I have come to finish you off for once and for all! I honor you for defeating my minions, but you have no power that can defeat me!

As much as he hated to say it, the dark spirit was right. There was nothing he could do, his fire didn't work, and what would a sword do to a rift in space itself? Right as he was about to give in to the dark spirit, he knew there was only one thing he could do. It was the ultimate sacrifice, but he knew it is what he was meant to do. With one swift leap, he dove into the rift

He was in a nearly pitch black world, with only one light shining from what looked like far away. As he approached it, he saw it was a crystal. "This much be the dark spirits power source!" Miles thought excitedly. He knew what he had to do. "Mom, Dad, I love you" was the last thing he said before he plunged the sword into the crystal, and Miles and the dark spirit were gone.