Chapter Two || Drowning in Sorrow
When the sun was just beginning to rise, Elliot awoke, deeply disturbed by his dreams. He had dreamt of a burning village, and his wife had been screaming as she was consumed by the inferno. His kids had also been screaming, but they were being taken by a man with jet black hair and a jet black mask, only being offset by his glowing white eyes.
Shaking the remnants of his dream away, along with rubbing the remnants of sleep out of his eyes, Elliot got up out of the spare bed Emmalyn had kindly set out for him and fixed up the tangled sheets. He picked up his newly repaired shirt off the cold stone floor and put it on, gently buttoning it up and smoothing down his collar. He also grabbed his satchel, and placed it on his shoulder.
He grabbed some spare paper and a pencil from his bag and wrote a quick note to Emmalyn to explain where he was. He gingerly placed the paper on the chest next to her bed and crept out of the house.
It was still rather dark outside, and rather cold for spring, but Elliot shrugged off the creeping frost and walked out to the border of the village, before turning around and evaluating the village. He noticed the paths needed fixed, as they were rugged, uneven and, quite frankly, hell to walk on. He also noticed they needed a new plaza if merchants ever decided to sell things at the village.
Elliot quietly walked over to an open space on the south side of the village and paced the space, thinking of what to add.
"A few new wells, merchant stands, a village mine, some lights, a path leading here. What else would a plaza need?" He muttered under his breath, so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Garroth and Zenix standing next to him.
"What are you doing?" Zenix asked. Elliot yelped and spun around to face the guards, a hand over his heart.
"You scared the ever living death out of me!" Elliot gasped, before regaining his composure. "Anyways, I'm thinking of building a plaza, so then if merchants ever decide to visit us, they have a place to sell their wares."
"That's quite a good idea actually! Are you going to model it on any other village's plaza?" Zenix asked, curiosity evident in his voice.
Elliot thought for a moment and the blurred image of Angelharbour's plaza came to mind. "I don't know why, but I'm thinking of using Angelharbour's plaza as inspiration for our plaza."
Garroth shrugged. "Fair enough. I mean, Angelharbour is to the south of here and I'm pretty sure you should be able to see the spires of its temple from the hill up there." Garroth gestured to a hill, overlooking the small village.
"Huh. That's interesting!" Elliot smiled. "Regardless, I was thinking of having a variety of things here in the plaza, like a well for drinking water, and another where people can wash their clothes, so that the water supply doesn't get contaminated. Then we also should have stalls for merchants already set up so they don't have to worry about setting them up themselves. As well we should have a village mine so we can get resources more easily."
"That's brilliant. Zenix and I will get started on the mine straight away." Garroth nodded at Elliot, who flushed slightly. "By the way, you seem to have gotten your colour back, now that cut is healing."
Garroth and Zenix walked over to a hidden away area to begin the mine, leaving Elliot standing in the middle of the soon-to-be plaza, flustered and alone. Elliot had always known that his son Gabriel liked the other boys in his village, he never realised that he liked them as well.
Breaking out of his stupor, Elliot walked over to some trees and grabbed an axe out of his bag. He swiftly chopped them down and began crafting them into planks, crafting benches, fences and fence gates, so he was ready to begin building the plaza.
Apparently, he already had some cobblestone in his bag, so he took it out and began replacing the dirt with cobblestone, making sure to double up on layers in case anyone tried to destroy the plaza. He then began building simple stalls, made out of wood. They were pretty small, and the roof was held up by fence posts. There was a crafting bench at the back of the stall in case a merchant needed to craft something and a gate for easy access in case of an emergency.
A hissing noise from behind him set him on edge. He whirled around, only to find himself face-to-face with a creeper. Its leafy fur bristled as it primed itself for explosion. Its plan was thwarted when Elliot plunged the obsidian sword into its stomach, and the gunpowder spilled from its insides.
Deciding to take a break, Elliot told the guards in the mine where he was going and headed off to the seashore in the west. On his way, he passed the house that the giggling girls went into the previous night. The door was very battered, leading Elliot to think that zombies had been at the door. Vowing to protect them the next night, he continued on, clambering up the hill leading to the shore.
The salty sea air filled his lungs as he approached the shore, watching the waves lap against the sand. He gently knelt on the soft sand and placed a hand in the warm water, focusing on drawing some of his magicks out of his body. His fingers felt tingly so he removed his hand from the water.
A trail of salty water followed his hand's movements, and he gently smiled. The smile was knocked off his face when he felt a harsh push against his back. He yelped and fell into the warm water. The first mistake he made was trying to take a breath as he sank. The second mistake was trying to fight the surprisingly quick current.
He felt another sharp push against his back, and the thing pushing him pushed him up onto the sand. Coughing up a significant amount of water, Elliot wheezed, his sudden trip into the depths not agreeing with his lungs. He gently turned around, careful not to strain his screaming muscles, only to be faced with a beautiful pink dolphin.
It looked at him with a mischievous glint in its eye and seemed to smile at him. He smiled back and carefully patted it on the head. It squealed and then darted back into the ocean, leaving Elliot staring wistfully at the waves.
His reverie was interrupted by the clanking of armour. Garroth and Zenix were being led to him by two women. One had light brown hair, green eyes similar to his own and was wearing a striped shirt and some pretty shorts. The other had blonde hair and dark green eyes and was wearing a grey shirt, a black corset and a very pretty green skirt.
Garroth quickly rushed over to him, and briefly checked him for injuries. Despite the helm obscuring his face, Elliot could sense his worry, though he wasn't sure why Garroth was worried about him. Once determining he was alright, Garroth knelt next to him.
"Are you alright, Elliot?" he asked. Elliot flushed slightly.
"I'm alright. I'm just a bit shaken up about what just happened." he sighed, fiddling with a rather sopping bandage on his arm.
"What happened?" Garroth tilted his head, rather like a puppy would, making Elliot flush harder.
"Well, I was practising my magicks and someone pushed me into the water. I got startled and nearly drowned, but a dolphin saved me before I drowned." Elliot winced, realising how ridiculous his story sounded.
"Do you know who pushed you in?" Garroth's demeanour changed and a dark aura surrounded him. "If we know, then we can persecute the perpetrator or perpetrators accordingly for endangering the Lord of our village."
"Lord?" Elliot raised a brow. "Anyway, I believe one of the people had black hair and another had long white hair, so I think they were female or femme-presenting. I only saw them quite foggily as I was in there."
With those words, a now dry Elliot, a still very worried Garroth, a slightly fuming Zenix and two very relieved ladies headed back to the village of Phoenix Drop.