The artifact looks amazing! It stood on a pedestal against the back wall of the Art Room. I was getting closer and closer and couldn’t resist reaching out to touch it. SWOOSH! Suddenly, purple mist swirled up around me and everything around me began to fade. Oh no! What happened?! Before I could have a second thought, I was whisked off to a place far, far away. How far away exactly? I don’t know. But all I knew was that wherever I landed, it definitely wasn’t where I was before. People hurried around me in all directions. Ladies with bustle dresses wadded past me and men in waistcoats with walking-sticks rushed past me. Where am I? I thought as I pushed past the crowd. I stopped to ask a lady what time it was. She said it was one-thirty. Uh oh. Ma expected me to be home at Twelve. But where was home?
I stopped and asked a man what year it was. He huffed and said it was 1812. I just gasped. How would I get back to my time? I don’t want to be stuck in 1812! Where was Ma? Where was Pa? I was even starting to miss my annoying little sister Vie. I looked around desperately. I saw a shop with a sign that said ‘Grubber’ on it. I racked my brain for the information my History teacher Ms Hemings had told me about the olden days. I think ‘grubber’ meant sweet shop. I was nauseous and I desperately needed something sweet so I went inside and looked around. There were weird sweets and not one lolly-pop to be seen.
“Where are the lolly-pops?” I asked the person at the counter. “What?” he asked. “the lolly-pops, sir,” I replied. “What are they?” he asked. “oh never mind,” I mumbled and treaded out of the shop. Just then I saw the same ancient artifact that had taken me here. Or at least I think it took me here. I grabbed it on my way out and the person at the counter shouted, “OI! No stealing!”
I looked around for anyone else who he could be talking to. There was no one. I was the only one in the shop. The man came out from behind the counter and tried to grab me. In shock I jumped and managed to step on his hand. “Ouch!” he cried, withdrawing his hand and shouting in pain. I made my escape and ran.
Soon I saw the man chasing after me shouting, “get back ‘ere you thievin’ rascal!” I didn’t come back. I ran and soon I saw men on horses after me. Probably the olden-days cops. One grabbed me by the arm and shouted, “Where’s your parents?” I stuttered, “I-I-I don’t know S-s-Sir!”
“Nonsense!” shouted the cop. I bit his arm hard and sunk my teeth into him. He shouted and I ran. The cop, still clinging tightly to his wounded arm, shouted for me to get back. Like that was going to happen. I darted into a dark alley way. Suddenly, I was cornered. A tall fence towered over me and even taller cops towered over me blocking light from getting through.
Suddenly, I saw the purple mist again. Everything around me went black. I called out for help but no one heard me. I still heard the shouts of the cop but it was faint. White light shone on me. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw a friendly human-looking face looking down at me.
“I am Alvos and you are safe here!” it said. I asked him where exactly we were. “In the land of Aardvark.” He replied. “Who are you?” I stuttered my name and he asked me where I was from. I told him that I was from Melbourne in Australia. He didn’t know where that was. So I began to fill him in on how I think I got here. He listened carefully and didn’t interrupt.
“If someone sees you they are going to kill you!” said Alvos as footsteps approached. “Who is someone’?” I asked. I looked at Alvos and blinked the sleepiness out of my eyes. Now that I had a good look at him, I realised that he was extremely tall for a normal human being, his skin was glowing and he had three long fingers on each hand! When I stood up he towered over me, “The Xenomorph Troopers of course!” replied Alvos and looked at me like I was the stupidest being alive. “Now the question is what are you?”
He shoved me under a what-seemed-to-be-a-bed as the footsteps got louder. “I’m a human! From Earth!” I whispered just as the door flung open. From under the wooden contraption I could only see shoes. I saw a pair of weird floppy shoes with googly-eyes stuck to it come through the door. It sounded like a female’s voice. She seemed to be looking for something and I heard Alvos say ‘no’. Then she walked out of the room.
Alvos helped me up from under the wooden contraption and apologized to me. “Now, you said you were a human from Earth?” asked Alvos. I nodded as I dusted myself off. “How’d you get here then?” I explained to him for what happened to me and as I described the artifact, he stopped me.
“That’s the KWS-19!” he gasped in shock. “KWS-19?” I asked. “What’s that?”
“Only the most advanced, rare item in the planet! It can transport one person from time to time and galaxy to galaxy!” shouted Alvos. “We’ve been looking for it! Show it to me!” I gave it to him. His smile fell. “it only has one more use.” He said. “it can only transport or teleport to another galaxy one more time. You need it more than we do.” He pushed it into my hands. “why?” I asked. He explained that he couldn’t hide me forever on this planet and I would be killed sooner or later. I agreed with him, but I really didn’t want to leave him behind.
“it’s ok,” Alvos said. “you can’t stay in this world.” I smiled and a tear fell from my face as I saw the purple mist again. The image of Alvos in front of me faded.
“Zac? ZAC? HELLO?” I heard a voice. I opened my eyes and found myself lying down on the floor with Ma and Pa and my Art teacher, Mr Shot, looking down at me. Ma and Pa hugged me as soon as they saw my eyes open. I smiled and hugged them. I was back in my own world, my own time. “YOU BROKE THE KWILI!” shouted Mr Shot. His moustache was trembling terribly and his face was redder than a tomato.
I was put on detention for two weeks and I was grounded by Ma and Pa for a month. I grumbled, but still, I couldn’t help but smile. All I was doing was admiring the masterpieces in the Art Room when this adventure started. I swore to myself that I would always remember Alvos, and the strange adventure of being in the past. I drew Alvos in my journal with what little memory I had left of him a few weeks after I was out of detention. I also drew the police chasing me, and most importantly, I drew the artifact. Or what Alvos had called it, the KWS-19.
Just then, something tapped on my window. I opened it and as soon as I did, something that looked identical to the ancient artifact appeared in my hand and before I knew it, all I saw was purple smoke. Oh no, not again...