Shovel Musings

Havoc sat in the tea room, as he was usually taken to doing so, quietly stirring his tea and taking the occasional sip. Havoc was content being in the tea room on his own. Others were out there 'achieving' but he felt that somehow he'd earned his break from it all.

Suddenly the tea piped up, "Time for some action, mortal one". Havoc blinked. "When was the last time you explored? Get out there!", said the tea. Havoc pouted. He didn't much feel like getting up to anything right now.

Without warning someone powerful thrust something into his grasp. After scrutinising it, Havoc plucked up the courage to object, "But this isn't much of a weapon. What am I supposed to do with this?". The tea remained silent, and silent some more. Havoc stared at the shovel, shuffled his feet, and finally headed out into The land.

The greens and browns disorientated Havoc, leaving him with the nagging feeling that perhaps he had been drinking a little too much tea recently. His vision clearing, Havoc peered from the clearing out over the north mountain.

A mean-looking billy goat trotted up to Havoc, scowling disapprovingly. Not wanting to get caught up in anything, Havoc nervously scampered off in the direction of the swamp, hoping for inspiration along the way.

Meandering past the cottage Havoc's gaze passed lazily over a old sign hanging from a gate: "Resting place for lost souls". Havoc chuckled to some private joke, before being taken aback by a thought bubbling up in his mind.

"Of course!", blurted Havoc, caught up with the idea, "Grave robbing!". Skipping over the gate, Havoc all but ran headlong into a horrifying looking zombie staring him down with vacant eyes.

Swallowing his fright, Havoc barked out, "Shoo!", to which the seemingly obedient zombie dragged itself off.

Knowing his way about, Havoc confidently swaggered off to the centre of the graveyard. Unswayed by the imposing size of a marble slab directly in front of him, Havoc began to dig. Soon enough he realised that he was going to get nowhere fast. If he did he was only going to dig up some hideously decomposed corpse. No, he needed a better idea.

A disgruntled Havoc exited the graveyard and headed up towards the house. "Ah ha!", he exclaimed, "perhaps the old fool buried treasure in the flower bed?!".

Havoc took the shovel to the soil, carefully digging around the precious flowers. After not too long, it was after all, turning out to be far too much like hard work. "What I need, is a real promise of treasure, somewhere where the digging easy ..." mumbled Havoc to himself.

Just then Havoc received a big dose of wizardly stimulation!

Encouraged by the reward, Havoc yelled, "Love some more of that please!". After a momentary pause Havoc found himself enveloped in a mantle of golden, glowing flame!

Somewhat singed, Havoc thought better of pushing his luck, and wondered off in search off easier places to dig. Wandering up north, Havoc tested the ground in places. Tree roots made digging in the forest a bit of a problem. The train tracks got a bit in the way too.

After not too long, Havoc arrived at the stony beach. Somewhat frustrated, Havoc flung the shovel down to the ground. Not only did the shovel stick in the sand, it made a muffled THANG!

Cautiously Havoc took up the shovel and began to sift away the sand. Which as it turned out, wasn't as easy at it looked because the sand kept caving in on itself.

Soon enough though, Havoc had excavated a tarnished old lamp. Excitedly, Havoc proceeded to value the item. "Hmm, not worth much" muttered Havoc to himself sadly. Havoc rested the lamp back down on the sand and sat next to it, staring down at the ground despondently.

A butterfly fluttered by, circling around the lamp with interest, before fluttering off as quickly as it had come. Havoc, knowing that all butterflies are minions of the immortal, was on the alert.

Sure enough, up trudges the old man and nimbly (for an old guy) picks up the lamp. Havoc, having been thought a fair few hard lessons by the old man, thought better of protesting.

Without paying Havoc any attention the old man proceeded to clean off the grime on the lamp with his sleeve. Out of nowhere appeared first a genie, then a splendid icon depicting an oriental chamber, then a length of cloth-of-gold! Havoc could hardly conceal his surprise.

The man promptly whisked up the treasure and departed, leaving the now slightly more valuable lamp behind. The genie for its’ part, bowed formally, with what Havoc was convinced was a wink, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Unabashed and eager for treasure of his own, Havoc tried to repeat what the old man had done. Much to Havoc’s displeasure except something rather unexpected happened ...

A wizard, taking pity on Havoc’s plight, deigned to enlighten him of their presence. Feeling not quite as honoured as would have been appropriate, Havoc proceeded to whine. "It's not fair" complained Havoc, "The man took everything, and looks what's happened to me now ...". Havoc sniffled.

The wizard, not entirely won over by Havoc's performance, but none-the-less amused, chided "Well Havoc, what have you lost and what have you gained?".

As Havoc was frowning pensively over the comment, the wizard plucked him up and transported him back off to the tea room, setting him down again at his regular armchair.

No longer enlightened to the wizard's presence, Havoc could only hear the chuckling of someone powerful nearby. Feeling somewhat wounded, Havoc returned to sipping at his tea, determined to make something of his new-found knowledge ...