A Drunken Man in a Nameless Land -- Part II [TFTG]

Link to Part I

"Where the hell did this come from?", Nessich said out loud as he reached down to pick up the bell that sat on his doorstep. He vaguely remembered something about a bell in his dream, but his head was swimming from too much drink, and clarity wasn't exactly at it's strongest at the moment. He opened the door to house, hitting his shoulder on the door frame as he entered. Something about the bell irratated him, so he tossed it across the room, and crawled into bed.


He awoke sometime later to the sound of a cat purring. Nessich didn't have a pet cat. He opened his eyes to see a large white cat sitting at the foot of his bed. It was too damn bright in the room as well. He looked across the room to see the front door standing wide open. He had forgotten to close it. He was pretty good about locking his door at night. The last time he had forgotten, some local kids had come in the middle of the night at stole what few things of value he owned, the full bottle of whiskey being the most important.


Nessich kicked the cat off the bed, tried standing, but ended up face down on the floor. Laying in front of him was the bell. Seeing the cat jump back onto the bed, he grabbed the bell and hurled it towards the cat, but missed. The cat jumped back off the bed and ran thru the open door. Nessich pulled himself to his feet, picked the bell up where it landed on the bed, put it into his pocket, and staggered to the bathroom.


After his bladder was releived of the pressure, he walked back towards the bed only the see the damn cat cleaning himself on the bed. He had forgotten to close the front door again after the cat ran out earlier. Deciding that the cat wasn't worth further trouble, Nessich went into the kitchen to find something to settle the pains that plagued his stomach. Inside the cabinet he found some bread that had been in there for quite a while. He picked a few spots of mold from the bread, throwing the little pieces on the floor beside him. He took a small bite, but the taste was awful. The cat looked at him from the bed, longing for the piece of bread. Nessich was about to throw the bread to him, when he felt the bell inside his pocket. He reached inside and took the bell out.


Nessich looked closely and noticed something engraved in it's side. There was only one word on it...First.


His mind began racing. He remember the mysterious man named First approaching him last night, but didn't remember anything more than that. Out of curiosity, he shook the little bell. The white cat jumped down from the bed, and ran towards Nessich. Just before the cat collided into his legs the cat burst into a ball of light. Nessich covered his eyes for just a moment to protect them from the flash. When he opened them, First stood before him, looking at him with those strange eyes that told him not to trust the man, if he was a man.


"You did well my drunken friend. You completed your task with ease. The bell in your possession is the key to the gate of the realm that had no name, and now is named. It is my land now, and you have delivered it unto me. The land is named for you. The Land of Nessich is where my power resides, and where you are the hero of the land," said First. "In the once nameless land, you shall forever dwell, for it is a wastland as barren as your soul."


Nessich looked again at the bell. It had a faint glow and rang even though he wasn't moving it. When he finally looked up, First was gone, and so was his home. Once again, Nessich was in the land that had no name, but was now named Nessich. A large stone tree stood before him, and the memories of the previous night came flooding back to him. He remember defeating the Man of No Good, also known as the Wizard of the Wood, but what was more important was that he remember things about his life that didn't seem to exist before that moment.


Nessich had spent countless eons hiding his true identity, even from himself. In strong drink, he had forgotten that he was Second, the follower of First. He had hidden in the realm of the humans to keep First from finding him, but after all this time, First had found him, and brought him to the land with no name, he had brought him to Nessich, to himself. First had created the wasteland to mirror the empiness inside of Nessich, and to punish him for his jealousy of the powers of First. Nessich, the Second, was back in the place that he had tried to hide from. There was only one place to go now. He had to travel across the void to where First made his home. The only way to put an end to the empiness was to defeat First, and to take his power.


He began walking across the wastland of Nessich. The land that now belonged to First.

Well done.

reply to post by beezzer


Thank you Beezzer...It's always a challenge writing for these contest. There's this evil bunny that writes some great stories. I'm trying to catch that dang rabbit.

Excellent story...I give it