Chapter Four: Thoughts and Reports
"My head burns!" I continued to shout. I looked in the mirror. My scalp was melting off! Yellow puss was oozing forth in a frothy form. Yellow sores that seemed to move were on my head. Most of my hair was gone. I put my hand to my head and it burned. This had to be the shampoo! It's evil!
"Ahhh!" I screamed. I was in bed. I quickly flew my hands to my head, and felt around. All my hair was there, no pain, and no sores. "It was only a dream," I said to myself. When I got home I was too tired to do anything. It was already what nigh time would be back home. I think time runs at the same length in both worlds. It is 4:00AM here, so it should be around four where Pent is. Now all I had to do was muster more sleep till it was six. How could the others from the campaign sleep that much? Guy, he could sleep from 9:00 PM by the sun flies, and not wake up until about ten the next morning. Course he could probably sleep longer if we weren't always on the move. The Lords would wake up everybody at a certain time if they didn't wake up on their own. Not that Guy was lazy though, as soon as he woke up he'd go straight to his training. Most swordsman's were serious about their training, but Guy...He took it seriously but he was clumsy at times. Not at all like his master Karel. By the time Karel was enlisted in our army, Guy was the highest of sword master's. He, like me, wasn't allowed to change his class until he couldn't get stronger in his lower class. He was stronger then Karel when he was enlisted, but Karel could still out-finesse Guy and also out-wit. He was beginning to be like Karel in a way. Not homicidal, but he was looking for more challenges. He would get a challenge here, that I was sure of. The Booma's would give him no end of trouble. Though Lord Pent would do best here.
"You shall suffer," said a voice to me. I looked around me. I was in some kind of...cave. It was like the resting place for Lord Eliwood's great sword. There was that fish. The giant floating fish.
"You shall suffer," it said to me. "You will see tragedy, you will feel pain. You shall suffer. You will suffer like the great ones. Heathcliff, Donoph, and Great Sword Zoke, suffered. You shall to. You will know these names in time...in time..."
"What do you mean," I said. This fish was trying to tell me something, I will suffer? I'm always in that situation. Things never seem to go right. I keep on getting enlisted by nobles and now I'm working for...Pioneer 2. But maybe this fish means I will suffer more...Like Ninian and Nils did. I was surprised when I heard the gossip that they were...dragons...in human form. Nergal. He wanted to steal quintessence to control dragons. He needed Ninian and Nils to open the Dragon's Gate. That was the whole reason why Eliwood's army battled Nergal. It was to prevent him from bringing dragons into Elibe and destroying everything. The brutal battles, the injuries, and the weather was always against us Too hot, too cold. Because of these things, there is nothing worse this giant fish can throw at me. I stepped toward the fish. I said "Foie," and threw a fire ball at the beast. The giant cavern I was in dissolved.
I woke up standing in my bed. My covers were wrapped around me like a cape and I was holding my pillow as if it were a Anima magic Tome. I leaned down and sat in the middle of my bed. This was another reason why I didn't like to sleep. I'd sometimes wake up in the strangest positions. One time I woke up hanging upside down from the bed I was sleeping on. I rubbed my head and looked at a clock on the otherwise blank white wall. It was now ten o'clock. Now was the best time to contact Lord Pent, he would have just finished eating and would be going to his study. I spoke the proper chant, and a visual window opened before me. It showed a charming corridor, and Lord Pent just came around the corner.
"Erk! Your alive!" he exclaimed. "I was worried about you, you didn't contact me last night. Good thing you didn't, Serra would have made a big fuss. She was waiting all night to pounce on me the minute you contacted me so she could chastise you for leaving."
"Does she need me to get her anything while I'm here?" I asked perplexed.
"Well she's probably worried about you. She doesn't really like going outside. We are in a desert at the moment, so Serra and everyone else for that matter stays in most of the time. Both day and night are treacherous. Because she doesn't go outside often she doesn't have anything to eat up her time while she waits to talk to you again. She'll be happy to know your safe, Louise as well."
"Serra... is worried...about me?" I asked. Surely she wouldn't be worried about me... She...does she care? Does she really care about anyone or anything besides herself? Of course she does...I know that already. She's not as selfish as she seems. But...not me...can't be me...never me!
"Erk don't do this again," Lord Pent said again. He had said this before. Now he would say that I shouldn't be-little myself. These people act like I want to kill myself. That is not true, I wouldn't kill myself if it was commanded by the gods. I must learn what I can about the physical plane before I move on to something more supernatural as what the after life is like.
"Erk...I'm not going to give you the usual speech so don't give me that look." I gave myself a small gasp, hardly escaping my mouth.
"Now Erk," continued Lord Pent. "I know you like Serra. And Louise says that Serra likes you. We might as well be arranging a marriage for the two of you."
"WHA-NO-NO-NO Lord Pent you MUST'NT!" I shouted stuttering. "Serra and me are not...of proper age and...well...she doesn't care for me. She is very unpredictable."
"I find her very predictable. Louise was sort of the same way as Serra when she was her age. Not exactly as shrewish but she acted pretty much the same. I know you...wait. Erk you know that marriage age laws depend on the region you are in as far as Elibe goes. Some are twenty one, some are eighteen. Well here in Arcadia Serra and you can get engaged now!"
I felt my cheeks flare up. It didn't seem right to get married, so young. Besides it would hinder my learning. I said just that to Lord Pent.
"For me Erk, after I got married I found that I had more time on my hands," Lord Pent explained to me. "Your just a little shy Erk. Once you come home it won't be like Ilia or Bern. It's will be oka-"
"Lord Pent I don't want to be engaged. I know you and Louise want to see me 'grow up' and possibly grand children but I'm not that kind of person. Besides Serra is a priestess. She is allowed to marry but..."
"So there is more to your shyness of marriage?" said Lord Pent with a smile.
"Please Lord Pent lets not get into personal matters," I said sternly. "Now let me tell you what I have learned in this new world."
I told him everything I learned. Starting from my arrival to the time I got up this day. Though I left out the personal information such as standing in front of the refrigerator for three hours. Lord Pent was fascinated by the new technology. I finished and turned to a different subject, one that would improve hygiene.
"Lord Pent," I began to say. "I think that the cleaning products of this world would be very popular among nobles. I think there is a money opportunity in it. Especially if we have it released in Ilia. It would help their economy and people greatly."
"I will discuss it with Fiora," said Lord Pent. "She'd be delighted by this information. As soon as I can cast another portal spell, make sure you have plenty of those products so I can analyze them, and make more. Which also reminds me. If we carefully administer the information of the new technology of Pioneer 2, we could make our world much better. So long as we don't go overboard. We don't want to give too much technology out. The other countries, especially Bern, would try and make weapons out of this and surely would bring Armageddon down on Elibe in a wave not even Nergal could have thought of."
"Well then Lord Pent I should be leaving," I said to him. I wanted to talk to Serra, despite that she would yell, but if she was worried about me...she may also say nice things... But that doesn't matter. Since I found out that she was a mistress...and about her past... I realized she had a reason to be upset with me at times. Hearing the story from her, I didn't think she was a mistress, just an orphan. But then I found that book in that library when I was just wandering around on a hike with Lord Pent...He was angry when I left his side to go do some research. I decided it would be best not to let Serra know that she was indeed part of a noble family. That wouldn't be good. It would feed her ego, and when she was alone...bad...bad bad bad... She thinks that they did it because they had no choice. They had many other choices...they just didn't want to care for a kid...like my own parents. I hate remembering how that was. They were one of the strange people that thought magic was evil. They tried to stop me one time, and my mind just flexed and...I never told Lord Pent about that. Not anyone. It was a miracle I lived in the first place. Maybe...is that why that when people try and be nice to me I just freeze? When my real parents were nice...they always had ill means behind it. They gave me things in front of other people just to cover up the fact that I wasn't eating at home. I guess that is why I am so used to not eating. And what they fed me...whatever it was...must be the reason I don't like things in my mouth.
"Now now Erk," said Lord Pent. "Don't leave yet. You must talk to Louise and Serra. She will be calmer now. She will be more glad that your safe then angry."
"I don't think I could muster it master," I said. "Just tell her that I hope she doesn't worry too much. She is good at covering up her worries but... I can tell that they eat at her health."
"Very well," said Lord Pent. "But the next time that we talk, you will talk to them too. As well as the others that are most interested in the new world. Lets do that in a week shall we?"
"Very well," I said. "Lord Pent I must go to work now. I need to get another part time job from the Guild."
"Now make sure you eat and sleep Erk, remember the accomplished mage must be at peace with nature and himself. Don't abuse your body."
"I'll try not to."
"Good. Farewell."
"You too master."
I closed the link to Lord Pent. Something told me today was going to be both a long, hard day, and one that will be good near the end.
It's quite annoying how parents seem to tease their kids. Though Erk isn't Pent's actual son, he's good enough! Hahaha