A boy awakens in the castle garden with no recollection of his purpose, his past, or even his name. After having the fate of an entire world different to his own thrust upon him by an ancient prophecy, our hero chooses to challenge his fate and blaze his own trail. Will his prophesied purpose to save this dying realm manifest in the end?
# of Chapters: 1 (Ongoing)
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Content Warnings: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
Chapter 2: A Fateful Meat-ing
It wasn't until I tried to read the first sign I saw at the village's gate that I realized I was completely illiterate. I scratched some dandruff off my hair and let out an audible groan before yelling to myself, saying, "I can't believe this! How am I supposed to find a place to eat now?"
A young man in chain mail and an iron helmet, walked by me in the opposite direction. I flashed a nervous smile his way, but he grimaced and avoided eye contact as he continued on his way without addressing me.
I called out to him. "Excuse me, sir. Can you be so kind as to—"
"Please don't bother me," he said, cutting me off. "I don't have any spare change with me." Without waiting for me to respond, he sped up his walking pace and practically jogged up the hill to the castle.
"That's right," I told myself. Heaving a disappointed sigh, I looked down at my ragged undershirt. "Nobody's going to take me seriously if I look like this. I should probably find a tailor or something. There has to be a way to buy clothes in town, right?
I reached into my pocket and gripped the purse Daphne had entrusted me with. "I have to take special care of this," I told myself. "She told me I should use this money to look for a place to stay, but…"
As if on cue, my stomach rumbled.
"...I think I have other priorities right now."
The lack of activity in the main street leading in from the gates elicited a whimper out of me. "You'd think the main street of the castle town would be more hustling and bustling in the middle of the day," I thought. The same gibberish symbols adorned the signs on the barren, unmanned market stands and buildings. Groaning, I thought to myself, “Can’t any of these places have signs that read in regular English?”
As I rounded a corner as if I knew exactly where I was going, a chill jolting up my spine froze me in place. "This supernatural shiver..." I thought. "It's just like the one I felt in the throne room earlier. Am I in danger?"
I swiveled my head to face an alleyway right across from me, only to find the silhouette of a shady figure slinking behind one of the establishments. Assuming that person was stalking me, I gave chase to them. I called for it, yelling, “Hey, come back here!”
The figure didn't respond; it slunk around the corner behind it instead. I dashed as fast as my weakened legs can carry me--and in my emaciated state, that’s not much to boast about--but by the time I’d rounded the same corner, the figure and any trace of it ever existing were nowhere to be found.
“Huh,” I told myself, scratching my head. “Must have been my imagination.”
I said this out loud, but the shivers persisted. "They must still be around somewhere," I thought, "...But I don't think i can stand up straight, let alone run after anyone, without food." Just the thought of my hunger crossing my head beckoned the ire of my aching stomach, and within moments, the lasting pain of ravenous hunger overshadowed the antsy feeling of impending doom, “I need to find something to eat, and fast."
The first establishment I could find was a two-story wooden building. A sign hung from the steel-framed wooden door, but as big as the text, if you could even call it that, was, I still couldn't make heads or tails of it. Throwing caution to the wind, I opened the door just a crack. "What's the worst that could happen?" I thought. "Worst case scenario, I'll just stumble upon someone who can point me in the direction of the nearest tavern."
The first thing that caught my eye after peeking through the crack was the thickest ham leg I’d ever seen, hanging from a high shelf on the wall opposite to the door. My stomach practically roared in approval, so I opened up the door the rest of the way.
A husky man in an apron stood behind a wooden counter. Taking note of the rather intimidating and broad blade in his right hand, I waved at him and addressed him. “Hi, I’m guessing you’re the butcher?” I asked the gruff man behind the counter.
Before answering me, the man raised his wide, veiny left arm and motioned towards the array of meats behind him.
An awkward silence ensued, but the man eventually let out a grunt and spoke up in a voice that was deeper than I expected, saying, “I expect my customers to read the sign hanging from the front door before they walk in.”
“That's fair, yes…” I chuckled while scratching an itch on my chin. “I can’t even read the sign on the door, but I suppose it should have been an obvious assumption, judging by all the... delicious-looking cuts you have back there.” My stomach roared, as if agreeing with my opinion.
“That’s weird,” said the butcher, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “I could have sworn even outsiders write in the same language we use, plus you sound like you speak our language fluently. Maybe you’re just illiterate.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” I said. “Listen, I am starving. I could almost literally eat a horse if you let me.”
“I getcha,” said the butcher. A hefty chuckle escaped his lips before resting his left arm on the counter and leaning towards me “You looking for anything in particular? I saw you eyeing that leg of ham earlier.”
“Yeah!” I exclaimed. “I have a purse full of money, but I’m not sure how much I could buy with it. I also need to budget so I can stay a couple of days at the nearest inn, too.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the purse that Daphne had gifted me earlier. After opening it up, I spilled its contents onto the counter.
The man's eyes widened at the sight of the small mountain of coins that had piled on his countertop. "To be honest, I was not expecting that many coins to fit in that tiny purse in the first place," I told the butcher. "I mean, I knew it was heavy, but..."
The man picked up one of the sparkly coins and eyeballed it for a moment. "I'm guessing he's checking to see if it's counterfeit," I thought. "It does look weird, coming from someone dressed like this..."
The butcher set the coin down, then turned towards the pile of coins, all of which looked just like it. I could swear I caught the slightest hint of a smirk before he turned to me with a straight face and broke the news to me.
"Best I can offer you is a slice of ham."
I’m not sure which one sank deeper after hearing this, my stomach or my heart. I let out an agonized groan before asking him, “Are you sure? I can’t go on with just a slice…”
“Tell you what,” he said. He pointed to the pile of coins and said, “I’ll settle for two slices of ham for the price of everything on here. The whole thing is barely worth one, but I’m feeling generous today, so--”
Before the butcher could finish his sentence, a knife crashed down onto the counter between us, missing the pile of coins by just a hair.
The butcher gasped and took a step back. All that could come out of his mouth was, "What the!?"
“Knock it off, Butch," said a voice from where I had assumed was empty space beside me. As if taking off a hood, a young hooded woman materialized from out of nowhere. "The boy’s coming with me, and I know for a fact one of those platinum coins could buy your entire stock every day for the rest of the week.”
I recognized her as that hooded figure that I'd been chasing down the alleyway earlier, but the shivers did not alert me to her presence this time. "Did she use some kind of strange magic to turn herself invisible?" I thought. "If so, how much time had she spent just sitting in the corner completely unnoticed?"
She--and I say she because I can now tell her body type and frame was clearly that of a slender woman--removed her hood, revealing a head of eye-catching flowing blonde hair. She looked at the butcher with a piercing glare that could make even her honey-colored eyes look menacing, and said. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, and you should know better than to pick a fight with me, right?”
The butcher clicked his tongue. “Fine, you can take the damned leg, for free even. But you’d better make it worth my while, Cecilia.” Having said this, he stomped his way into the back room, grumbling the entire way and not even bothering to pull down the ham from the shelf.
I looked up at the strange woman. She stood at least half a head taller than me, just a bit shorter than the butcher was. “Thank you very much, miss,” I tell her. “Is there anything I can do for you in return?”
The lady smiled at me. “That’s awfully generous of you. I’ll take you up on that offer. You said you were saving up to reserve a room at the inn, right?” she asked me.
I nodded. “That’s right. I don’t know where it is, though. I’m really sorry to ask for a favor from you after the great deed you’ve done for me, but--”
“That’s okay,” she said. “I was about to say I’ll lead you there anyway. I’m staying at that inn myself, so if you can, please stop by my room as soon as you’re done checking in.”
“Right, miss! You can count on me!” My eyes widened as I finished saying this. Only then had I come to realize the gravity of my situation. "This tall, mysterious, and beautiful lady had just asked me to come to her private room by myself?" I thought. "I don’t know if I can handle this much embarrassment…"
Cecilia raised an eyebrow, but otherwise did not address my nervousness. “Come on, we’d better get moving,” she said. With one smooth motion, she hopped over the counter and picked up the dagger she'd lodged into the wooden countertop while still airborne. It took her a bit of effort, but she managed to slice the thick rope attaching the leg of ham to the wall with her dagger.
Handing me the chunk of meat with the rope still strapped to it, she addressed me. “Time is of the essence, Hero. We need to get moving.”