Elliot quietly muttered to himself as he resurfaced the old dirt roads of Phoenix Drop with gravel. The gravel bit into his knees despite the protection of his trousers and his hands were littered with small cuts. He was rather focused on his work, so focused that he didn't hear the crunching of the gravel behind him.
"Hello, Elliot." Zenix's voice startled Elliot and he flinched and whirled around, before realising that it was only Zenix and Garroth behind him.
"Oh, hello you two." he smiled, before gently standing up, careful not to cut his hands even more.
"You sure have been doing quite a lot of work around here, despite only being here for a few days." Garroth mused. "Anyway, Zenix and I were here to thank you for what you've done."
Elliot smiled, very gently, the cut on his face still twinging, despite having scarred over. "You're welcome."
"Oh, that reminds me!" Zenix grinned. "Garroth and I were thinking, why don't you check out the old Lord's house? There's bound to be some interesting stuff there."
Elliot blinked before shrugging. "What harm can there be? I'll just grab my bag from Emmalyn's and then you can point me in the direction of the house."
With that, he popped into Emmalyn's little house and briefly smiled at her as she researched, before grabbing his bag. He quietly stepped out and gently closed the door to avoid disturbing the librarian from her work.
He turned back to the guards and grinned at them, all decked out and ready for his break from resurfacing.
"Right, where's this old house then?" Elliot asked, bouncing on his heels.
"It's just over in the northwest. It's kind of decrepit, but that just adds to the eerie factor." Zenix grinned, rather too enthusiastically in Elliot's eyes, but he nodded regardless.
"Please be careful, though." Garroth piped up, worry clear in his voice. Elliot felt a rush of emotions flow through himself but mentally shook himself out of it.
"I will," he reassured the taller guard and set off northwest, determined to see the old house.
It was a rather hard trek, and the cuts on his hands stung as the cool air flowed over them. He jumped over a fallen tree with ease and came across a clearing. In the middle was a relatively small house, constructed from oak wood, burnt almost entirely to the ground.
Elliot cautiously crept towards the old structure and entered the house. In the corner was a little desk, next to a staircase leading to what he presumed was the basement. He made his way towards the desk and began reading the book placed upon it.
"'Day one in this new world. This is epic! I can literally date anyone in the village!'- That's kinda weird. - 'The villagers are so cool! Day 15' - That's a time skip if I've ever seen one. - 'The villagers have warned me of -ACK!" Elliot slumped forward and the world turned black.
Two people stood behind him, one with long white hair and purple eyes, the other with black hair and blue eyes. They were both masked and decked out in black. The white-haired one had potions attached to their belt and held a sack of coal which they promptly dropped and then grabbed the diary from the desk.
"This one doesn't look like a Lord." The black-haired one noted.
"Give it time, Gene. Eventually, they'll be begging him to be their Lord." the white-haired one scoffed.
"He looks familiar though." Gene paused. "I think he's a Prince, Sasha."
"Why would a prince be over here in the first place?" Sasha asked incredulously.
"I think there was a tale of a prince who married a commoner and a few years later, a fire ripped through their village and his wife died and their two children were taken. Then the prince wandered the world, with his dog as his only company." Gene replied.
"This can't be that prince, Gene! Just look at him!?" Sasha hissed.
"I'm just saying." Gene held his hands up in mock surrender. "I mean you never know."
Elliot's vision was rather fuzzy as he woke up from his unwanted nap. Unfamiliar voices swam around as his mind caught up with the events that had happened only a moment ago. As his vision cleared, he realised he was lying on the old Lord's house floor.
"Medea's sword! He's waking up!" Sasha hissed and Elliot turned around. Sasha and Gene turned tail and fled the scene but not before Elliot got a good idea of what they looked like. He painfully got up, dusting himself off and rubbing his head.
"Well that happened." he sighed. "Shame they took the diary. Didn't finish reading that."
Elliot shrugged and set off back through the forest, idly picking at a splinter he had gained on his hand from his trip. His thoughts were wild, spinning around in his head, giving him quite a headache. He found himself back in the plaza and he smiled at the progress that was going on.
The villagers were all helping to set up stalls for merchants who may come to the village and spirits were high. A group of ladies sat near one of the wells, washing their clothes. One of the guards, who Elliot believed to be Dale, was passed out on the floor, a glass of ale in his hand, whilst Emmalyn sat near him, a book in her hand. She looked up and beckoned Elliot over.
"The village hasn't been like this for months." Emmalyn chuckled. "And then you came along and brought us happiness and a new plaza."
"All in a day's work." Elliot smiled, fiddling with a button on his shirt. As he talked with Emmalyn, a hazy memory of a girl with bright purple eyes and a kind smile rose from the darkness.
"Oh, yes!" Emmalyn exclaimed. "Garroth and Zenix are over on the beach with Brendan, and they have a surprise for you."
Elliot laughed. "Thank you, Emmalyn. I'll head over now."
He rose from his spot and stretched, before bidding Emmalyn a temporary farewell and making his way to the beach. There was a spring in his step as he walked, but something in the back of his mind was telling him something or someone was watching him.
He shrugged it off and continued to the beach, mentally cursing as he climbed the hill. He huffed as he reached the top of the hill and laughed as he saw what was going on. Garroth was yelling incoherent things at Zenix, whose manner seemed mischievous, even from Elliot's position. Brendan was diligently working, building a dock for ships.
Another hazy memory made its way to the forefront of Elliot's mind, this one including a woman of the sea with green eyes and fiery hair wearing something reminiscent of a pirate. He blinked it off and made his way down the hill to the beach.
Zenix was the first to notice Elliot arriving and ran over to him. "You have to help me! Garroth's mad at me because I nearly knocked Brendan off the docks with an arrow!"
"You could have killed him!" Garroth cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "Anyway, his arrow fell in the ocean, and we were wondering if you wanted to retrieve it with your magicks."
Elliot shrugged. "Sure, just let me get closer to the water."
He knelt on the sand and could see the arrow in the depths. He took a deep breath and focused on the arrow, imagining he was bringing it up from the depths. The arrow rose in a magnificent column of water and gently landed in Zenix's outstretched hands.
The pink dolphin from a few days earlier seemed to whine as it lost its plaything and Elliot laughed, patting its head.
"Sorry buddy, but that wasn't yours to play with. Anyway, you could have gotten hurt." Elliot tried to justify his removal of the arrow to the dolphin, who just sulked even more.
Garroth and Zenix tried to stifle their laughter as Elliot panicked even more. Brendan looked up from his work and began laughing at the scene before him. Garroth and Zenix succumbed to the situation's hilarity and their roaring laughter echoed around the bay.
Elliot began to giggle himself and eventually the whole bay was filled with joyous laughter. He was having so much fun, his unwanted nap nearly slipped his mind, but he ignored the feeling and continued with the fun. Even the mischievous dolphin was having some fun, squealing in happiness.
