As the warm summer sun, beared down on the small land of Ram Village. The adults of the village, went to work; weather it'd be going out to the farms, running the shops, or just fixing random odds and ends around the town. While they were all doing that, the children of the village, laid on the ground staring up into the sky.
"Alm, I'm bored!" A bright brown haired boy, known as Tobin, complained. "When is your grandpapa coming back?"
"I don't know." Alm sighed, "He told me that he was going to
be gone for a while."
"That might be." His dark brown haired friend, Grey chimmbed in, "But He locked away all the weapons, leaving us nothing to play with!"
"The weapons aren't meant for play, Grey." Alm said, "They're meant for practice and just because Grandpapa put the weapons away, doesn't mean we can't have any fun. We just need to find some substitutes"
"Like what?" His white haired friend asked.
"Just things around town,"
"So let's go find some stuff!" Alm's final friend, Faye ordered.
With a quick and simple search through town, the children were able to find a couple of sticks, a broken fence post, and a bag of oranges.
"So we have sticks to use as swords." The teal haired boy explained, taking a stick for himself, "A fence post for a spear, and a bag of oranges for arrows. Come and take your pick!"
"What are we playing Alm?"
"Princess and knights."
Princess and Knights, was a game that the kids played almost too much. The game itself was fairly simple. So the princess, Faye, is captured by two dastardly villains, and it would be up to the two knights to save the princess. The princess got to pick who the first knight was, and then the first knight would pick who ever the second knight would be, leaving the remaining two would be the villains.
"Faye pick the-." Kliff began to say, but was cut off
"Alm! I pick Alm."
"Of course." Grey sighed, "Now who will be the other knight, Alm
he should he chose? Grey had the other stick, meaning his attacks would be quicker. But Tobin having the spear, would mean his attacks would be stronger, and more effective. Of course Kliff and his oranges, would give Alm an archer.
Who was Alm going to chose; more important, who should he chose? Grey had the other sword, meaning his strikes would be swift and accurate. But Tobin had the spear, which gave strong sure strikes; but even better Kliff had the oranges, and could attack from range.
"I guess Grey." Alm said.
"Whatever, just know you just looked over the best fighter here." Tobin warned, swinging the oak plank in a circle, "Come on Kliff."
"You guys start over there." Kliff commanded, pointing behind the knights, at the woods.
"M'kay." Grey said, "Come on Alm."
The two knights walked back to the edge of the woods, and waited for the villains to say they were ready. As the did Alm stared into the forest, thinking how easy it would be to get lost in it. The shade of the trees gave Alm a weird feeling, like something bad could happen at any time.
"Ready!" One of the villains yelled.
"You ready?" Alm asked, noticing that Grey had torn his right sleeve off. The two boys would probably get the scolding of a lifetime, when their caretakers found out, but there was nothing they could do about it now.
"Always!" Grey smiled, thrusting his stick into the air.
"Then to victory!" Alm said running, leading the charge, with his stick ready to be swung.
It didn't take to long to get to the villains, and they were ready for the heros.
"Knights help me!" 'Princess' Faye pleaded.
"Don't worry princess, we're here!" Grey said, halting in front of the villains. "Vile beings, release the princess at once!" He commanded.
"Never!" Tobin yelled, readying his spear, "Attack Kliff!"
"Aye sir!" Cliff said, drawing his arm back, and chucking it as hard as he at Grey.
"Not today!" Grey laughed, ducking under the orange. The he jumped into the air, and swung his sword down at Kliff. Crack! At the last second Tobin moved in front of Kliff, and blocked the strike with his spear.
"Ya!" Tobin grunted, pushing Grey back. "I'll be your wall, just keep firing the oranges."
"They're arrows!" Kliff corrected, chucking another one; at Alm this time. But Alm was able to react. He smacked the orange down to the ground, and picked it up.
"You can't do that?" His white haired enemy cried
"Why not? The arrow was dead and in the ground. All I did was simply pick it up.
"Just forget about it, Kliff!" Tobin said, his head turned to his head "He's not going to be able to get it by me anyways."
"Hey, Tobin!" Alm called.
"Wha-?!" Tobin started to asked, as he turned his head around. But he was cut off by something flying into his mouth. With further tasting, Tobin found out that he had been hit with a citrus arrow, meaning a head shot. Which meant death. "See you on the other side, Kliff." Tobin sighed, walking off of the field.
"Better luck next time Tobi-poo." Grey teased, before feeling something hit his face. The sting of a hundred tiny needles told Grey he was out, "Well that was short lived." He grunted, walking off of the field. Leaving Kliff and Alm to fight.
"You ready?" Alm asked, getting into a fighting stance.
"Yeah." Kliff laughed, "Like I have a chance."
Even though it was pointless; Kliff drew his arm back, and chucked another orange at Alm. Who effortlessly slide under and at Kliff, thrusting his sword forward. "Poke." Alm squeaked, poking his friend in the belly.
"My hero!" Faye cheered, running up and wrapping her arms around the young boy. Then she jumped up and gave Alm a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Gah!" Alm cried, "What was that for?" He asked, his face turning bright red.
"A kiss for my hero."
"Well, what about me?" Grey asked, walking up and taping his left cheek, "I was a knight as well."
"I didn't know that dead knights could talk." Faye snapped, puffing her cheeks out.
"This one can!" He exclaimed, lifting sword in the air. "So do I get one or not?"
"Nope, only for the live knights. Hey, the sun is starting to set! Should we get back to the village?"
"Yeah!" Tobin said, "I don't need my ma to get after me about being out past dark."
"Race ya!" Grey said, running off.
"That's not fair!" Kliff cried, chasing after Grey, the other following.
"I win! I win! I win!" Grey cheered.
"Because you cheated!" Tobin complained.
"Did not!"
"Did to!"
As the other three watched them argue, then sun; falling behind the clouds, tinted the sky orange.
I wonder if Grandpapa is back yet? Alm thought to himself.
"Glad to see that you five could keep yourselves busy while gone." A deep voice said from behind them.
"Grandpapa!" All the kids yelled, turning around to face the older man. His grey hair stood in the air, as his grey beard pointed straight to the ground. His golden armour shined in the sunlight, like a beacon.
"Where did you go Grandpapa?" Alm asked the old knight.
"I had some business that I had to attend to lad." Sir Mycen said, standing up, "I think you all should go home, before your parents have to come and get you. I'll see you all tomorrow for weapons practice, I presume."
"Yes, Sir!" They all said, before running off.
"See you tomorrow Alm!" Faye said, walking off.
"Now Alm, I got these for you while I was gone." Mycen said, pulling out a pair of new brown shoes.
"Really Grandpapa? Thank you!" Alm celebrated, putting on the new shoes. They were a little more bulky then Alm was used to, but he wouldn't dare spit ill words against his present.
"There's something else you need to know als." Mycen warned as they walked back to the house, "There's something that you need to know about this mission."
"What is it Grandpapa?"
"Well I um… I kinda… I guess it will be easier to just show you." Mycen said, swinging the front door open. "Alm, this is Celica."
In the house stood a girl about Alm's age. Her fire red hair was flowed down to her shoulders, and a white bow was around her head. Her clothes looked a lot fancier then anyone else's in village. She stared right past Alm, with a dazed look.
"H-hi!" Alm stuttered, "I'm Alm."
Instead of, Nice to meet you Alm, I'm Celica. The young girl walked further into the house.
"I said hi!" Alm shouted.
"Alm!" Mycen demanded, "You don't raise your voice to her."
"I just wanted her to say hi, or something back."
"Alm, Celica has been through alot, and I need you to be kind to her."
"But-! Fine Grandpapa, I'll try. Now that you're home, what for supper?"
With the random odds and ends that Mycen was able to find around the house, he was able to make some soup. It had some random pieces of meat, some carrots, and some honey.
"Here you go Alm." Mycen said, taking a ladle, and pouring some soup into a bowl. As Alm was about to eat his soup, he noticed Celica staring into the fire.
Be nice. Alm thought. Hes intentions, were to simply walk over, and had Celica the bowl of soup. But as he took a step forward, his foot got caught in his other one; and he fell over like a tree. In mid air, Alm let go of the bowl and it went flying through the air at Celica.
"AH!" The red haired girl screamed, as the hot soup fell and stung her skin, "You clod!" She called Alm, "Look at what you did to my dress, you reckless boar!"
"I'm sorry!" Alm apologized, but he was too late. Celica stood up and ran out of the room.
As Alm looked over to his side, as he saw his grandpapa staring down on him, tears burned in his eyes, "I'm sorry grandpapa, I was just trying to give her something to eat. I didn't mean, to spill the soup on her."
"Alm, don't cry over it, I know it was an accident. You'll just have to be more careful, until you get used to the new shoes. I'll give Celica her soup, and here's your soup."
"Urg!" Alm moaned, throwing himself at a bail of hay, "I just don't understand her!"
"Understand what?" Faye asked, sitting next to Alm.
"Celica! I've tried to be nice to her, just like grandpapa said, but she won't even speak to me!"
"What have you done?"
"I've brought her food to her, and left the room every time she told me to."
"Well that's not being nice, that's just slave labor." Faye smiled, "If you want to be nice, try bringing her flowers, and just talking to her."
"Will that really work?"
"There's only one way to find out."
"I guess." Alm said, standing up and brushing the hay off of his clothes, "Thanks Faye."
"No problem."
Flowers, huh? Alm asked himself, looking at the ground at some yellow wild flowers. He quickly snapped the stems and walked back home.
"Celica?" The teal haired boy, meekly asked, walking through the door. He made his way to the young girl's room, and knocked on the door. If he waited for an answer to come in, he probably would have been waiting an eternity. "I got you these." He said, entering the room, and walking up to Celica. Who was sitting on her bed, the place she rarely moved from. She had been living in Ram village for almost two week, and most of the time had been in her room.
The red haired lass, cautiously took the flowers from Alm.
"They're nothing spectacular, but I thought you would appreciate something to brighten your room." Alm sid, hoping to get some sort of conversation out of the girl, "You know, I'd bet it gets pretty boring just sitting in this room all day. Why don't you come outside and play with my friends, and I. We would be glad to have you."
There was still no response from the girl.
"You know, you being my cousin, reminds me of a story the grandpapa use to tell me. It was about prince Ephraim, and princess Erikia. They weren't cousins, but they were siblings."
Alm then began to tell Celica the tale of the two royal, and how their home was destroyed. He found a stick, and played out the battles that the two hard to fight to get their home back. Then he would tell her how the two would go to save the world from the Demon king.
"And with the Demon king defeated, Erikia and her brother would return home, where they would rule their home land fairly." Alm said, finishing the story. He looked at his cousin, to her head still down.
Whatever, see you later! Alm thought to himself, ready to leave the room.
"So if Erikia never gave Lyon the Sacred Stone, the demon king would have never been awakened?" Celica asked, looking up and at Alm.
"Y-yeah!" He said, surprised that she had actually talked, "Her love for Lyon blinded her judgement, and the world was almost destroyed."
"But it's a good thing her stone got destroyed." A new voice said. When the children looked, they saw Mycen.
"Grandpapa?"
"Sir Mycen?"
"If it wasn't for Lyon destroying the stone, Erikia would have never traveled to L'arachel home. Meaning that L'arachel's father would have been killed in the ambush, and his Sacred Stone would have been destroyed; making it so, the Demon King could rise again. But without princess Erikia, prince Ephraim, and their company know about it."
"So, the Demon King's uprising was unstoppable." Celica said.
"Yes."
"But whose fault was it?"
"That is something no one has figured out about this story. You could blame Lyon, who wanted to use the power of the dark stone, to save his kingdom, but ended up being taken over by the dark energy. You could blame the mercenary Caellach, who destroyed the Sacred Stone because he was hired to do so. The true lesson of this story is something that you two have to find out for yourselves. Now come on you two, I have supper waiting."
"Yes Sir Mycen."
"Okay Grandpapa."
As the old man walked away, Alm turned to Celica, " Why don't you call him Grandpapa to. He is you your grandpa right.
"Yeah, I guess."
"You two better get out here!" Mycen warned.
"Coming Grandpapa!" They both replied, running out of the room.