A lazy guard, sits on the ground in a small storeroom where flour, wheat and other baking goods were kept. Why was he here? Really, he didn't want to have to deal with the prince's rage, but instead decided to slack off and play a game created by elven children, which involved throwing a many pieces of objects, which were really made of bones, on the ground and score points depending on how each bone lands. Nevertheless, there were other reasons he wanted to be here instead of with the other guardsmen getting whipped by Prince Gaethial with his harsh, cruel words. Well you see, for one thing he really wasn't one of the guardsmen of Prince Gaethial's, but more of an operative sent by someone to spy on a particular someone to make sure that 'someone' would do his job. However, there was another reason he was here, and that reason came knocking.
“Psst...you there?” a voice rung through out of somewhere.
The fake guard placed the bones on the ground, and looked around...and spotted what he was looking for...an access hatch he had found in a previous assignment, leading to the outside world away room this god forsaken place of a storage room...which started to reek for no apparent reason. He rustled his way to the hatch, “Garndev?” he whispered to the trapdoor.
“Yes, it's Garndev.” it replied back.
“You got what I've asked for?”
“Yes, yes, now open the damn hatch!”
Opening the door carefully, the false guard lifted the hooded figure out of the underground passageway and took the bag labeled 'Royal Burger.' The man that just entered, removed his hood and said, “Geez Arnor, I don't know why you'd like that stuff; you know you'll get a heart attack— I hear they make those meat with human children.”
Arnor, the man disguised as a guard, laughed. “What nonsense! Where did you 'hear' that from?” he replied as he dove into the burger in his hands.
“Nowhere in particular, but you can't find it a coincidence that the Royal Burger was established right after the news about missing human children.”
Arnor gulped down the morsels he had chewed in his mouth, “First of all, why would you know information about the humans? I never knew you liked them so much.”
“Naw, I overhear news every now and then at the pub in the humans' district.”
The elf in guards' clothing raised a brow, “Now why would you be doing there?”
“You kidding me right? That's the only place we could conspire without getting into much trouble. If you have business you need to secretly carry out, you know you'll have privacy at a human pub.”
In truth, the elf known as Arnor, didn't know much about the humans' district because he never really been there. He was living a life as a lonely farmer, spending most of his days away from major towns and cities. However, he met his new life when he came across a man who promised him he would get the riches he'd be seeking for. Agreeing, he went on a few missions, this being his latest one.
“Arnor! Arnor!” Garndev screamed into the elf's ears.
“W-what! What!”
“You've suddenly got quiet for almost a paragraph, are you feeling well?”
Arnor cleared his throat, “Y-yes, yes I'm fine.” he paused, “Now do you have other business here?”
“Yes, he canceled.”
Arnor stiffened, “Really?”
“Yes, and I feared I had already met my end at the town...”
“Poor Garndev,” Arnor joked.
“Whatever, I shouldn't be here too long, so I'll just tell you to carry out your other job.”
Arnor took another bite of his burger, swallowed, and replied, “fine fine, I'll go report to the prince.”
Garndev gave him a nod, and opened the hatch and disappeared into the passageway below after closing the door behind him. Arnor, sitting on a crate, continued to devour his meal.
Prince Gaethial had just left the main hall, somewhat more calmed after releasing his anger upon the many guards in the castle. However, he was upset that the writer did not give him a lot of lines when his part in the story came into play. How could insignificant characters have more lines than him!? “Madness!” he screamed out into the hall.
“S-sir”?
Gaethial was taken slightly by surprised; he had not noticed one of the guards was behind him.
“What is it?” he bellowed in somewhat of a rage. He then noticed he hadn't seen that face during his lecture. Anger started filling him up once more. “Slacker! Why were you not at the mess hall when I had ordered everyone to gather?”
“W-well you see—“
“Silence! I will not hear of your excuses!”
The guard winced, “N-no sir! I've got news regarding the kidnapper of your princess, sir!”
The prince paused, “Really now? And you've actually are able to have accomplished something within the recent chapters?”
The guard knew it was a lie but, “Y-yes sir! I've been working hard for you, sir!”
“Hmph, it's good to know I have at least one guard I can rely on. Very well, what is this news? You've found her?”
“Y-yes...and I know her abductor.”
“Really?”
“Yes, he is known as Black, sir, and the princess is with him...in the town not too far from here.”
Gaethial brightened up a little, they had just passed that town not too long ago. “And what is the name of the town?”
“P-Poopycock, sir.”
The prince raised a brow, not sure why a town would be named as something so uncouth, and why the writer would have an immature sense of humor to name a town such as that just for kicks...maybe his joke repository was running out of the funny. But the prince shrugged it off. “Well fine, we shall visit this town of Poopycock, and get back what is rightfully mine!”
“Uh...sir?”
The prince realized the writer hadn't cut off to the next scene, and was somewhat mortified because he was menacingly staring off into the distance, with his fist clenched into a ball...which must've seem strange for the guard standing in front of him. Cursing at the author...the prince wondering if he really should be referring to him as an author...he cleared his throat, and ordered “Relay the message to all the guards, that they are to gather up in the front gates.”
“ALL of them sir?”
“Yes, all of them.” he said, and trodden off to the outside, leaving the guard to do his task.
The elf cloaked in black, stood there gazing at the stars in the sky. However, he was not leisurely stargazing; he was on the look out for more of Lapole's men, and for the guardsmen from the castle. He and the princess had just made their way here in an Inn in the human's district, after making sure no guardsmen were there. Dûrion would have wanted to go out and sleep in the forest, but he was unsure whether the miracle they had experienced in one of the previous chapters would happen again, since he had no clue how to start a fire. He spoke curses to the writer for making him impotent in the one thing that would be helpful in surviving in the wilds. Nevertheless, he decided to stay here for the night, as they would no doubt, not make it very far.
A sigh came from the mouth of the elf who's color can surpass even the darkness of he night sky, he turned to look at the princess, sleeping snugly under the worn out sheets. He couldn't help but let out a smile. The princess could even make anything around her so beautiful. He wished he could give her a better place to stay however, but he couldn't afford sleeping in the Inn in the main district...seeing as he spent most of what he had on the food she somehow gorged into her tiny body.
He walked and sat in a dusty old chair...he was tired...but he tried to stay awake, for the sake of Claara sleeping soundly in the bed. But suddenly, he felt a quick pain, and the his eye lids rebelled against him. Then the room around him...the sounds around him...slowly...slowly started to fade away...and then...darkness...silence...
The starless night blanketed the forest with darkness, and the glaring moon was no where to be seen. An elf, with pure black hair and eyes, and skin even darker than the shadows around him, snuck quickly and quietly under the dark canopy of the forest, with a mission in mind. He can easily navigate through the forest without making much noise and make his way through without getting lost in the night.
For most of his early childhood, he'd always try and sneak out at night, and practice his stealth with animals around the forest. On one of his runs he spotted a cave not too far off his village. Curious struck him, and he started to wander toward the cave, when out of nowhere he had been stopped by two giant rabbits.
W-wait...giant rabbits?
…
Is this a dream?
Dûrion realized he was dreaming about his early childhood, which coincidentally chronicled with his previous dream. However this time he was watching the whole scene like it was a TV...whatever that was. He fixed a few things mentally, replacing the giant bunnies with two elven men, and returned to the dream.
This was the night he returned, after discovering what was in that cave...info he heard from rumors around town, and a strange book he had found in the Elder's room. He saw his young self hide behind bushes, staring intently at the men. Dûrion knew he was formulating a plan to get through the guards...however the part of his memory of what that plan was, as this part of his memory was jumbled, so he thought he'd just fast forward to the part where he was inside the cave.
He didn't know how long he been watching himself walk through the torch-lit and quiet cave, and was about to skip forward again when he saw himself stop, with a surprised look on his face. The Dûrion that was watching the events happening, turned to the direction his younger self was facing, and saw what he saw.
It was a massive room, he never could have imagined existed. The walls that he could see were lined with moss, In the middle was a giant stone pillar. He knew, just what that stone was. Curiosity got the best of him, and without thinking he jumped into the scene himself, and made his way to the pillar, shoving away his younger self.
“Hey!” the young Dûrion proclaimed, as he picked himself up from the dirty floor, “What was that for!”
The older one ignored him, and continued to the stone. When he reached it, he stopped and gawked at the stone. He remembered how it looked, like the walls it was covered in moss, but it was decorated with symbols and marking unfamiliar to him. He was about to reach for the stone when—with a BANG and an “oof”—a powerful blow smacked on the back of his head. Rubbing the back of his head in pain, he turned around and saw his culprit—his younger self.
“Hey, what was that for?” he asked frustratingly.
“Jerk! You just shoved me!” the young Dûrion argued back.
“And?”
“And you're a big fat meanie!”
“Well you're just a little brat!”
The young black elf stuck his tongue out, “Well you suck!”
“Oh yea, well...” and the grown black elf mentally pictured his younger self disappearing, and he made it so. “How do you like that!” he scolded at the empty spot that his younger self was on. Feeling accomplished, he turned around, and continued his reach toward the stone. For some reason, he felt that his hand was moving very slowly, as if it had a mind of its own and was intentionally doing it for a dramatic effect, as it reached out to touch the pillar...until eventually, felt the rough hardness on his palm. Suddenly, the markings lit up, and he felt a sudden surge of energy coursing through his body...and then...darkness...
He awoke on the dirty, wooden floor, and winced as he started to get up—he still had pain on the back of his head. Rubbing behind his head, he finally found the strength to stand, and became alerted as soon as he realized what had happened. Frantically, he clapped his hands together to turn on The Handclap™ lights, removed the bed covers and saw something that made his heart jump...she was gone.
<span id="test32156317">. . .</span><br/><div id="post32156317" style="display:none; margin-right:75px;">
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