The Kur Guardian is the twenty-ninth chapter of Zak Saturday's Immortal Love Life. It was first published on January 29, 2016.
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Chapter It’s been a week. One whole, long, depressing week since I broke up with Zak, and since my dad and baby sister got into a tragic accident. They’re finally done with fighting to stay alive, and they should be released from the hospital in a few days, but, based on what my mom said, they’re covered from head to toe in bandages, but they’re special healing bandages, so they should be out of them in a couple weeks. I was in a quiet, half emptied room in the Saturdays home when Doyle and Fiskerton entered it. I turned myself invisible and move to the corner while I listened to them talk about telling Zak something now and taking him on a fake week long training mission. I didn’t understand what they were talking about, and I was curious, so I followed along. Doyle and Fiskerton had led Zak to a tree in a forest a few miles away. I was hiding in a tree about ten feet away, still invisible. “Fisk’s old tree?” Zak asked. “I don’t get it. How is this part of my training?” “It’s not,” Doyle replied. Zak was confused. “What? You told Mom and Dad we were going on a week long training mission, and Fisk had to come help.” “Yeah, none of those parts were true.” I, of course, already knew that, that’s why I followed them. “Then why—” Zak tried. “Because Fisk decided it was time to bring you in on this,” Doyle interrupted. “In on what?” That’s also what I would like to know. “When Argost had Fisk in Weird World, they weren’t alone. There was something else. Some kind of half serpent, half lady. Argost thought she could tell if Fisk was really the cryptid Kur.” “What?!” Zak asked, sounding just as surprised as I was. “Fisk is—” Fiskerton protested. “Turns out no,” Doyle said. “But the serpent lady did call Fisk a Lemurian, said he wasn’t Kur, but he can lead you to Kur.” Serpent lady, huh? I wonder if that’s the one that Drew mentioned after she got that picture of the last Kur Stone piece. “You know how to find Kur?” Zak asked Fiskerton. “And you told Doyle instead of me?” He shook his head. “Whoa, whoa, hey. Fisk didn’t tell me anything,” Doyle said. “I was there. And Fisk doesn’t know how to find Kur, no idea what a Lemurian even is. But if his people have some connection to what can be the ultimate evil cryptid, you can see why he’d want to keep that quiet. For some reason, you’re the only one he trusts.” Zak turned to Fiskerton. “Hey, you know I’ve got your back no matter what.” Fiskerton cheered and gave him a hug. I felt a little intrusive about spying on them and them not even knowing, but my curiosity always seems to get the best of me. “So what are we doing back at Fisk’s old tree?” Zak asked. In response to his question, Doyle grabbed a couple of shovels and started digging at the base of the tree. They’re just wasting their time, my powers told me in my head. Whenever they talk, it sounds like there’s a lot of voices in my head, saying the same thing at the same time. “I can tell,” I agreed. Even Zak seemed to as well. “Seriously? This was the best idea you had?” “Unless you know more about Lemuria than we do,” Doyle replied. “All we found online is that it’s some kind of lost ancient civilization.” “I’ve heard of it, but I’m pretty sure it’s not under this tree.” “Well, Fisk’s tree is part of Fisk’s past. Gotta start digging somewhere.” Fiskerton was digging with his bare hands like a dog, eating any maggots he found, and then he pulled out a snake. “Whoa,” Zak exclaimed. “Careful,” Doyle said. “That’s poisonous.” He was right. Fiskerton threw it away. But then a lot more snakes came toward them. Fiskerton spit out all of the maggots he had stuffed in his mouth, but the snakes kept coming. Fisk complained. “Fisk,” Zak said. “I don’t think they’re mad about the grubs.” The three of them began knocking them all away. They were even come toward me because they sensed me, thanks to my aura. I flew near the guys so that they wouldn’t notice that. A snake was about to bite Fiskerton on the neck and he didn’t notice, but Zak grabbed it with the claw and knocked it away. “See?” he told Fiskerton. “I told you I got your back.” He continued knocking them away. They started walking away from the snakes. “I just remembered where I heard of Lemuria before,” Zak said. “Abbey.” Hearing that name made Fiskerton seem all happy. “Abbey?” Doyle asked. “Our old babysitter,” Zak explained. “She used to tell us bedtime stories about all the unexplained mysteries of the world.” “Your story-telling babysitter is Lemuria adjacent to Sparkle Pixy Land?” “She’s an expert on lost civilization. You don’t think we could use one of those?” “I don’t know.” Doyle knocked away another snake. “Is she cute?” “Oh, she’s more than cute.” More than cute? Oh, boy. Zak led Doyle to some water port a long way from where they were. I was leaning my back against the wall of a storage building a few feet away. “That’s her,” Zak said, pointing to a motor boat out into the water and coming their way. The motor boat had wheels, and rolled up the dock and stopped right next to them. “Ok, bad idea,” Doyle said. A woman exited out of the boat and Zak and Fiskerton waved to her. I assumed that that was Abbey, and, I’ll admit, she was pretty. Don’t trust her, my powers told me. “Oh, don’t worry,” I replied. “I won’t.” I don’t know why I shouldn’t trust her, but our powers know a lot about ourselves than even we do, and my mom tells me that they never lie, so it’s best to always listen to them, or you might regret it. Doyle seemed to have fallen head of heels for her. “It would be to leave before meeting girl,” he said, stumbling over his words. He approached her. “Doyle Blackwell.” He held out his hand. “Adventure for hire. Careful, I’m dangerous.” She just passed him by and continued walking toward Zak. I couldn’t help but laugh. Unfortunately, they heard me and turned their heads in my direction. I clamped my mouth shut. “Zak? Oh, look at you,” Abbey said, giving him a hug. “I can’t believe how big and handsome you’ve grown.” “Why, yes, I have,” he replied, sounding like he was gloating, which he probably was. “How kind of you to notice.” He was definitely gloating. Doyle was confused. I rolled my eyes. Abbey greeted Fiskerton as well. “Oh, and how’s my favorite fur ball, hmm?” Something didn’t feel right. And I’m not talking about the boys acting like idiots just to get the damn attention of that woman, but I feel the presence of some kind of animal with my aura nearby, and the presence felt dark. I kept a sharp eye out, but it was hard to do that with the boys acting like idiots and not laughing at them for being that way. They all climbed into Abbey’s boat, which was also a hovercraft, and flew off somewhere. I let my Charizard out, climbed onto his back while also turning him invisible, and had him follow them. I used my powers to also be able to hear what they were saying from inside the hovercraft. The boys were telling Abbey about Fiskerton and him being a Lemurian, and she suggested that they head to Egypt for some answers, so that’s where they went. After a little while, they finally got there and landed near the Great Sphinx. I put Charizard back in his Pokéball and continued to follow them. They exited out of it. “I can’t believe I babysat a real Lemurian,” Abbey said. “How did you keep it a secret for so long?” “He didn’t know,” Zak said, answering for Fiskerton. They continued on. “So, babysitter,” Doyle said. “If you’re not sure what we’re looking for, why are we looking for it in Egypt?” “Why, Doyle, don’t you know?” Zak said, sounding like a smartass. “The search for all lost civilizations begins in Alexandria.” “I can’t believe you actually remembered that,” Abbey said. “Oh, he remembers anything a cute girl tells him just to impress her,” I muttered. “Oh, I’m a great listener,” Zak said. Doyle whacked him on the head. “Ow!” “Yeah, do you hear that, you little . . .” Doyle faltered and followed after Abbey, and Fiskerton, Zak, and I followed too. I wish Doyle did more than just whack him. They descended down some stairs into a room with Egyptian inscriptions all over the walls, and the weirdest thing, I could actually read what they said. I remember my mom telling me that our powers allow us to read and speak any kind of language there was, sometimes without even realizing it. “What we need is Alexandria’s royal library,” Abbey said. “The largest collection of knowledge from the ancient world.” “The library that burned down thousands of years ago?” Doyle asked. “Ah, so we have a history buff.” “I’m kind of an everything buff.” He flexed his muscles. I rolled my eyes. “Then, of course, you know that the fire was only a cover,” Abbey said, not seeming the lest bit fazed by him. “A way to hide the library’s most important secrets.” “Of course,” Doyle said, though I could tell he didn’t know that until now. We started hear voices around us. “Time to play dead,” Abbey said. The four of them moved under a shelf and I saw it move. I followed them through it. They fell into an open sarcophagus. It closed and moved down what looked like some kind of elevator. It opened at the entrance of a door and dropped them out, then continued going down the elevator. Ok, that was weird. But, then again, this was a different country, and, for all we know, this could be normal for Egypt. “Welcome to Serabian II,” Abbey said. “The royal library of Alexandria. The Lemurian section is down here.” I felt the presence of that dark creature near by again. I couldn’t see it anywhere. I don’t know why or how, but it’s following them. “There’s a Lemurian section?” Zak asked. Abbey led them to it. “And this isn’t all of it. The best stuff is stuck behind that door.” Fiskerton walked up to it, looking mesmerized by it. “They say it was locked by the Lemurians themselves,” Abbey continued. “Well, I’m more of a kicky-punchy guy than a readie-thinky one,” Doyle said. “So, you know, I’ll let you guys get to it.” He sat down on the floor and leaned his head against the wall. Then, suddenly, the bookcase in front of him fell on top of him. “Doyle!” Zak called. He and Abbey ran over to help him, but Fiskerton was too focused on the door to notice. Abbey lifted the bookcase up while Zak pulled out Doyle from underneath it. “I think you made the books mad,” Zak said. “Oh, yeah,” Doyle said sarcastically. “That must be—” He was interrupted when another bookcase fell over just a few feet away, and I swore I just saw a tail move from behind it. “Alright, alright, I’ll read,” Doyle said. That creature’s presence was still here, and I knew it was knocking over the books. More bookshelves fell over, even the stands holding up the ceiling were falling over too. “There’s something else in here,” Zak noticed. “Those are low-bearing walls,” Abbey said. “If they go, this whole place comes down.” I could see what she meant. The floor walls and ceiling were all crumbling to pieces. “Hang on!” Doyle said, then lifted one of the bookshelves back up, holding the ceiling. “Kicky-punchy.” Abbey seemed impressed. Zak wasn’t happy about that. The floor shook and a hole appeared under where Doyle had just pushed up the shelf. It fell through. “Hey,” Doyle complained. “That was my hero moment.” Yeah, and how long do you think those last, dude? The ceiling was collapsing now. “Fisk, seriously,” Zak said. He was still focused on the door. Then, suddenly, it opened down and apart of the floor that they were standing on opened back, and they disappeared. I used my powers to follow them through and the library collapsed behind me. It was dark behind the door. I hovered in the air above the others heads. “Well, Lovely Locks, it seems you’re officially a Lemurian,” Abbey said to Fiskerton. “Nice one, Fisk,” Zak said. Then the four of them began to move forward without either of them moving their feet. “So, Brain girl, why is the floor moving?” Doyle asked. “I—I don’t know—” she faltered when they started moving farther and fell to the ground. Thank God I have my super speed, or I would not have been able to keep up. Fiskerton looked about ready to hurled. “Just focus on the light, Fiskerton,” Abbey told him. “Focus on the light.” He did. After going through the light, and our vision cleared, we were in a new room. “That was pretty cool, right?” Zak said. No one answered. “These inscriptions,” Abbey said, walking up to them on the wall. “I think I can translate.” I could read it as if it were in English. She turned to Fiskerton. “Fiskerton, are you sure you want me to read this? This room is meant for Lemurian eyes only. If your people have a dark secret past, this is where we’ll find it.” He thought about it for a moment, then nodded. She read them. “‘Instructions to the Kur guardians’.” “Kur guardians?” Zak asked. “So Lemurians are Kur’s body guards? And if my powers mean I’m suppose to fight Kur, does that mean me and Fisk—” “It doesn’t mean anything,” Doyle interrupted. “Maybe Abbey got the translation wrong.” “I did not,” she protested, sounding offended. She wasn’t wrong. I could read them too, and that is what they said. “You said instructions,” Zak said. “Fisk wants to know what they are. Look, if we’re gonna uncover the ugly truth about his people, let’s go all the way.” Abbey continued to translate. “‘His wise eyes looked to the entrance of enlightenment’.” She shrugged. “Mean anything to you?” Doyle asked Fiskerton. He shook his head. “Wait. Where are we?” Abbey asked. She took out her GPS. “Remarkable.” “You care to share with the class there, Professor Babysitter?” Doyle asked. “We’re standing in the head of the Great Sphinx.” Really? I found that kind of cool. “His wise eyes,” Abbey continued. There was a face carved between the eyes. Fiskerton walked up to it and placed his face in the carved face. The two eyes opened up and a bright light came through, blinding us. It shined a beam of light into the distance. “28 degrees, 58 minutes, thirty-one seconds due east,” Abbey marked with her GPS. The light faded. “We’ve got a heading voice. Come on.” The eyes began to close and the four of them jumped out of them before they could. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about that. I can just move through it like a ghost. Abbey pressed a button on her device, and her hover craft was coming our way. “Hovering capabilities,” she said. “And that’s not even my favorite feature.” They climbed into it. “Shotgun,” Zak said. “Hey,” Doyle groaned. I rolled my eyes, again. They flew off east. I let my Charizard out and we followed them. “As long as we keep this heading in altitude, we should run smack into the entrance of enlightenment,” Abbey said. “Whatever that is.” Zak moaned. “Fascinating.” My powers were showing me a vision of him staring at her like she was a queen. I gagged. You’re jealous, my powers told me. “Oh, shut up,” I replied. Ok, maybe I was. But I don’t know why. I mean, like Zak has any chance with someone whose at least ten years older than him. Granted, my mom is more than sixty years older than my dad, but they’re adults. That’s different. We flew for a while. “Odd,” Abbey said. “This heading takes us right into the side of that mountain. I better switch to chopper mode so we can look around.” “Fisk, what are you doing?” Zak asked. “Have you lost your mind?” Doyle asked. The hovercraft began shaking from side to side. I had my powers show me a vision of what was going on inside. Fiskerton was taking the controls from Abbey and kept the hovercraft going straight toward the mountain. He sensed something there that they couldn’t see, and I did too. “Charizard, I’m going to put you away now,” I said, and put him in his Poké ball. I was still flying behind them. I heard them screaming. A second later, we passed through the mountain and into a tunnel. “Wait ago, Fisk,” Zak said. “But how did you know that rock was an illusion?” He shrugged. “What? You almost flew us into a mountain on a guess?” He nodded. “Looks like the Lemurian instinct is kicking in,” Abbey said. “So where are we?” She looked at her GPS, but it wasn’t working. “That’s odd. The GPS won’t tell us our—” She faltered when the tunnel led us to some kind of city in gold. “Whoa,” Zak said. I nodded in agreement. “It’s Shangri-La,” Abbey said. She was right. I remember learning about it at school and the descriptions of it were almost right. Doyle gasped. “The Shangri-La? Yeah, ok, that was just for show. What are we talking about here?” I rolled my eyes. Classic Doyle. “The mythic paradise in the Himalayas,” Abbey said. “I had no idea there was a Lemurian connection, but, Fiskerton, is this where your people came from?” He, of course, didn’t know. We flew to the temple and landed next to it. The four of them exited out and went inside. Some of the statues and pillars were destroyed. “Looks like your home town got tagged, Gorilla Man,” Doyle said. “Anybody else getting really sick of snakes?” No one answered. They just continued along. Then Fiskerton ran ahead suddenly. “Fisk?” Zak asked. They ran after him. There were some doors ahead, and Fiskerton pushed them open. In the center of the next room laid a big gold cube. “Abbey, what is that?” Zak asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she replied. “It’s not in any of the books on Lemuria.” “Ah. And once more, readie-thinky lets us down,” Doyle said. Sometimes, I don’t understand him. I mean, he clearly likes her, but he tends to insult her at times on purpose. Usually, a guy would never do that to a girl he likes. I will never understand how teasing and making fun of someone supposedly gets their attention in a romantic way. “Yes. Well, maybe you should go punch the old tern,” Abbey retorted. “See how well that works.” Fiskerton was one step ahead of him. He punched the cube a few times, bending it all over, and then it began floating in the air and the cubes moved around to form a head. The head looked like Fiskerton’s. “This one in the books?” Doyle asked Abbey. “Uh-uh,” she replied. Long have we awaited your arrival, young Lemurian, it said without moving its lips. There are a great many things to pass on to you. Millennia of our history and culture. “Is anybody else hearing the brick monkey talk inside their brain?” Zak asked. “Telepathic communication, of course,” Abbey said. “It’s the only way to be sure everyone hears in its own language.” She was right. Many ages have past since our people were scattered across this world and beyond, the brick monkey head continued. You, my kindred, maybe the last Kur guardian left on earth. Fiskerton seemed surprised by that. “Hey, Brick Face,” Zak said, moving between him and Fiskerton. “Fisk isn’t gonna be anybody’s guardian.” Fiskerton agreed, then crossed his arms and turned away. You reject your own heritage? the brick monkey face asked. Impossible. No creature can escape its nature. “You’re wrong,” Doyle spoke up. “I got brought up like a punk thug and trained to be a crooked mercenary. But after I met my real family, I’m not that guy anymore.” I couldn’t help but smile at that. It was true. “My, you are dangerous,” Abbey said. “Like a hurricane, baby,” Doyle replied. “Hey, Doyle,” Zak said. “Focus.” This was . . . unexpected, the brick monkey face said. I don’t— Suddenly, the brick monkey was pushed into the floor by a big yellow snake. I realized that that snake was the creature I’ve been sensing all day. How did it keep up with them? “It’s her,” Doyle said. “From Weird World.” She grabbed him and held him against a beam. Then she turned toward Zak and Fiskerton. Fiskerton grabbed Zak and jumped away from her. Abbey tried to help, but the three of them together couldn’t fight her. Fiskerton knocked her on the head. Abbey then kicked her away, knocking her into a beam. “Oh, and she fights too,” Doyle said. “I know,” Zak agreed. Guys love girls that are pretty and can fight. Parts of the bricks from the monkey were swirling around Fiskerton. “Hang on, Fisk,” Zak called. “I’m coming!” He ran to him and tried to break away the bricks, but couldn’t. “What’s with these things?” The snake woman tied up Doyle and Abbey against the beams with vines and pulled tightly on them. Then she went after Zak. I decided that this was the time for me to act. She knocked him away and turned to Fiskerton. “Kur will be revealed. You cannot stop it, guardian.” She scratched at the bricks, but they wouldn’t move. I turned myself visible and high-jump-kicked her in the head. She didn’t see it coming. Of course, nobody did. “Sarah?” Zak asked. “What are you doing here?” “Hi, Zak,” I said. “Umm, how about we wait for explanations?” The snake woman began attacking the two of us. Embrace who you are, I heard the brick monkey say to Fiskerton. The future may depend on it. You must guard this world from the evil of Kur. Then it broke into many pieces. “Guard the world from Kur?” Zak asked. “Fisk, your people are the good guys.” The snake woman appeared behind us. Fiskerton growled and attacked her, the floating bricks helping him. Zak and I were watching with amazement. Fiskerton managed to grab her tail and threw her outside. “How cool are you, Fisk?” Zak said. “The Kur guardian. Guarding the world from Kur.” I smiled. “Looks like you’re still on the same team,” Doyle said. Abbey managed to untie the vines from around her and was now working on his. After she got his off, he fell to the ground. “On the same team?” Zak said. “We are the team. Right, brother?” They gave each other a high-five. That was cute. We all were walking back to Abbey’s hovercraft. “So, Sarah, you didn’t answer my question,” Zak said. “Why are you here?” “I overheard Doyle and Fiskerton talking earlier about telling you something and I was curious, so I followed along,” I replied. “Yeah, sure that’s why you followed along,” Doyle said mockingly. I knew what he meant and glared at him. “That is the only reason why. So you can shut up now.” “You’re a tough young girl,” Abbey noted. “Yeah, I get it from my mom.” “She does,” Doyle agreed. We got inside the hovercraft, and I, of course, had to sit next to Zak. “I’d like to ask Doc and Drew a few questions about that serpent woman,” Abbey said. “If it’s alright to tell them your secrets now.” Fiskerton nodded. “Hey, so, speaking of questions, we should go out sometime,” Doyle said to Abbey. “I know this café in Bellerose.” “I’ll get my parka,” she replied. Zak gasped. “What? It was that easy? It’s not suppose to be that easy. That wasn’t even a question.” “Actually, Zak, it can be that easy,” I said. “You just have to have the guts to ask.” Maybe it was a little too harsh, but I didn’t care. He kind of deserved it. We flew all the way back to the Saturdays home in silence. Well, this should be fun. Please review here. |
Character Appearances[]
Main Characters[]
- Zak Saturday
- Sarah Hollinger
- Drew Saturday (mentioned)
- Doc Saturday (mentioned)
Minor Characters[]
- Cj Hollinger (mentioned)
- Emily Hollinger (mentioned)
- Doyle Blackwell
- Abbey
Pets[]
Enemies[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode chapter that Sarah is the only POV in.
- Doyle's last name is known.