The Seven Chairs, Harris Burdick

The Seven Chairs

            Kalamander was tired. No, that’s an understatement. Kalamander was exhausted. For three years so far he had been on the run, trying to track down the seven chairs, attempting to beat the Nopalis to each one. Kalamander doesn’t know why he got picked as his race’s savior. However, here he was, outside the Pyramids of Giza, only minutes from the last chair.

            “Pufo vu,” he speaks in his native tongue. The secret door on the map opens up. Seven doors lead to seven chairs, he thinks as he walks through the first.

            As Kalamander continues his descent into the pyramids, he recalls all of his quests prior to this final one, each one getting a little more challenging than the last. This seventh and final quest promises to be the most difficult of them all.

            The first chair was in a warehouse in the country sides of England. In a small barn, he found the first door. He continued to discover a horrifying colony of albino snakes. One of the doors had a riddle to pass through. However, most of them just needed to be found and past through. That underground maze was by far the easiest of Kalamander’s trials, partly due to the fact that the Nopalis had not yet discovered Kalamander began his search.

            Once Kalamander obtained the chair and prepared to transport it back to his home planet, the Nopalis knew the quest had begun. Luckily, Kalamander was able to activate the transportation before the Nopalis found him and the chair made it safely back to the council chamber in the capital city of his home planet.

            The searching got progressively more difficult after that. Chair two was in India, protected by some kind of ancient spells. Chair three was in the White House. Kalamander found chair four in central Africa. The fifth one ended up in France. Chair six was in Antarctica.

            And finally chair seven in Egypt.

            Most of the chairs were protected by magic or monsters. The White House had enough protection already. That hunt caused Kalamander to become a fugitive in America. Although Kalamander did not like being a fugitive, he would do anything for his people. Only a small number of them are left, scattered across the galaxy like bread crumbs to be hunted down by birds.

            Large Nopali sized birds. With a loud crash, the army of Nopalis entered the door behind Kalamander.

            Into the maze they all went. A large Nopali was quickly approaching Kalamander when he took a sharp turn. Due to the Nopali’s size, they were quite unexceptional at maneuvering through tight spaces.

            Two hours and six doors later, Kalamander was in the depths of the pyramid. The chair was very near, and, for the moment, the Nopalis seemed to be nowhere near. Kalamander walked through the dark corridor and towards the inner room that held the chair.

            In front of him was the great gold door. His very last door. Kalamander would never again open a door using a password, or anything thing else. Kalamander’s job was finished. The reason he was created has been completed. He puts his hand on the solid gold knob and opens up. No password on this beautiful door.

            He walks over to the final chair. It is nothing special. Just another chair he has to teleport back to the council room. He places his hand on the chair and recites the chant for the seventh and final time.

            “Cebo ne vu tepuva,” he whispers. The chair begins to dissolve, and this time, so does Kalamander.

            As Kalamander disappears, he sees the Nopalis hurry into the room. They look horrified when they see they have failed their mission. The secret weapon has defeated them.

*********

            The streets are filled with joy. Kalamander won! The planet and the council are saved! All seven chairs for all seven council members are back where they belong. As life returns to normal and the fight for their extinction is over, everyone forgets about Kalamander, the hero created for saving them. They begin to take their existence for granted once more. Even the council who created Kalamander forgets the young hero. When the final chair dissolved, it reappeared in the council room. When Kalamander dissolved with it, he reappeared nowhere; it was part of how he was created. The council was worried they would have created a monster with someone so powerful, so they programmed him to die once his job was finished.

            Sadly, no one knew that Kalamander was not the one that became a monster. The real monsters still dwell among the people, ready to “save the world” again when the need arises.