Dreams Come True

Arcade Achievements

I was surrounded by the endless colours and deafening volume once again, and it was horrible. I frantically tried to reorient myself, but nothing worked. I just kept endlessly spinning down the tunnel.

"Gladius!!!" I screamed. I was so dizzy from the constant spinning I couldn't see the only friend I had right now. Just when I was going to pass out, I felt something press against my back, stopping the spinning. I looked up and saw Gladius, who went under the back of my shirt and kept steady as he flapped his wings with all his might.

"Just hang on Caleb!" He yelled over all the voices, "I'll try to get us home!" He began trying his best to fly against the pull of the vortex, but it wasn't enough. We just kept barreling down at impossible speeds, my head feeling light as my brain imploded. I could barely hear Gladius as I was getting closer to passing out. Just before I did, however, I saw a blinding light consume us, and we were suddenly in a dark tunnel. We both screamed as the walls of the circular tunnel sparked with electricity, Gladius constantly dodging blots that shot out at us. Soon the two of us were separated, and so I wished for this crazy ride to end. Seconds later, I slammed full force into a wall of faded green bricks. I fell down and landed on my back, Gladius landing next to me with a clash. We both groaned in pain.

"That was so much worse than last time", I muttered. My vision was blurred, as my surroundings were foggy and duplicated.

Gladius made some noise as he moved. "You can say that again, dear friend," he weakly said. I slightly turned my head to him, and watched as he flipped himself over and got back up using his wings. He began to hover again, but lower than before, and gave me one of his wings. I threw a hand at it, but missed completely. Gladius just sighed and used his telepathy to pick me up and set me on my feet. I stumbled a bit, so I leaned on the wall for support. After we both stood in silence for a bit, I finally broke it with the most important question that needed to be asked.

"What do we do, Gladius?" I looked at my friend with misty eyes. He stayed silent for a moment.

"Okay, first, we should see what world we wound up in", he started, "The multiverse is constantly shifting, so we could be who knows how far away from the capital we are."

That made me look down in sadness. "So, what? How do we get home?"

Gladius hummed. "Well, we can't keep opening portals willy-nilly, otherwise there could be lasting damage to the multiverse, so we need to wait to open another one. And to get to the capital, I have an internal compass." I opened my mouth. "I knew since I was created, yes." I closed my mouth. "So, first we get a lay of the land, let some time pass, then we open another portal and get closer to home."

I nodded and began to take in my surroundings. The walls were a faded green brick, painted with graffiti. The floor was a spotless light beige, and there was a small staircase that went up to a small train. I squinted at the train, and it was designed after the arcade classic Pac-Man. That made my heart skip a beat.

"Wait..." I was starting to look around with wide eyes. I went and read the graffiti, and my heart started racing. "No..."

"What, is this place bad?" Gladius asked in worry.

"Far from it..." I said as tears of joy formed in my eyes, "We're in Wreck-It Ralph, my favourite movie." I wiped my eyes. "But, how could that happen? Why here?"

"I don't fully know, honestly", Gladius admitted with a shrug, "But, this is the best case scenario, so let's not dwell on it."

I nodded and pulled out my phone. The date read November 14, 2012, the time being 6:50 PM. That made me realise something. We somehow also travelled back in time from 2018. I just shrugged it off and looked at Gladius.