𝓨𝓮𝓪𝓱 𝓘'𝓶 𝓰𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓷𝓾𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓱 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮
.
.
.
.
.
𝓨𝓮𝓼...
»»————-————-««
𝓗𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓮𝓷𝓳𝓸𝔂!! ฅ(・ω・ฅ)
Galo flips the sign with the bold red words "OPEN" on it, even though it was four in the morning. He got to work cleaning the artifacts, making sure that all of them had rid of the fingerprints and dirt on each artifact. Galo always hated how people touch things and leave disgusting germs after touching them, especially since flu season is around. He made a mental note to make people put gloves on or wipe them down while touching the old objects.
After Galo cleaned up the artifacts, he got his work area set up. He put cute little stones to fit the setting a little. He got out the little mini version of the artifacts that were in a little basket and placed them on the front of the counter. It was for kids who wanted something more cool and clean than the old artifacts. Galo also took out the small little mint candies too, which were for free; and a donation jar which would always fill half way.
It was around five thirty, which was when a few people started coming in. Mostly middle age to people around their seventies. Galo believes that this is the best part of the morning because the elders were always so sweet and so delegate with the objects; which he praised to them a lot about. They would smile and promise they will take excellent care of them as a response. Galo loved the early mornings.
Galo turned to see an old woman eyeing a vase, examining every intricate detail and design. Then, the old woman turned her head and locked eyes with Galo, to which Galo felt the need to come over there and help her.
"Everything okay here. Ma'am?" asked Galo as he walked up towards the old woman.
"Yes, everything is okay. I just wanted to know, what's the history behind this vase? It looks too detailed to not have a story." she croaked.
Galo eyed the vase one more time and the story automatically clicked to him. "This vase," he started. "Is the vase of Lidarr. Lidarr was the god of autumn in the Lore of Seasons. It is said he uses that vase to hold the autumn winds, and makes sure that scents can flow into the wind. The winds grow stronger if he is angry, and the winds grow softer if he is content. In one story, Lidarr first used the wind when people were overheated or dying from heatstroke. He was one of the people who created the cold weather we have today."
"I see, we must be grateful for him then." The old woman chuckled. "You know, I am quite the fan of autumn. Especially the breezes, like voices singing into the air, I always say."
"Hmm." Galo hummed as a reply. He took the vase by the top, holding it like he's trying not to dirty up the bottom of a disc, and quickly grabbed it by the bottom so he wouldn't drop it. He smiled at the old woman before offering it to her.
"If you like autumn, I think this would be great for you. Whatchya think?" Galo offered, still holding it out in front of the old woman to see. She looked at him, and looked at the vase again. She smiled, "I think I'll take it."
Galo beemed. "Alrighty then. Shall I take you over to the cashier, ma'am?"
"Oh, can you, deery? My legs aren't as good as they used to be. Also, Merideth is fine, dear. You don't need to have formalities with me."
"Of course, Merideth." Galo offered his left arm to the woman, and held the vase of Lidarr in his right, making sure it wasn't going to fall while he was walking. Merideth slipped both of her small, frail arms around Galo's muscular lower bicep and forearm. It took a little, but they made it to the cashier, ready to pay for the vase.
After Merideth paid for the vase, Galo put bubble wrap and paper inside, and around the vase, and put it in a small box. He then put it in a small bag and offered to help walk Marideth out the door, the bag in his hand.
When they exited the store, he realized that Merideth had a service dog outside, waiting for her. Galo asked why she didn't take the service dog in the store with her.
"Oh, I thought you couldn't go in here with them because one of the employees here yelled at me to take it out or I'll be banned from coming here." she replied, trailing off a little bit. Galo immediately knew who it was. One of Kray's employees. Galo writhed. He quickly changed his attitude and assured the old woman that it was completely okay to take the dog in with her. Galo tied the bag on the handle wear it helps Merideth to walk and bid her a good morning and day.
The day went by like usual. Helping people pay for objects, clean the objects, put up posters of a future sale, and so on and so forth. The late morning had its ups and downs, he had to get manager Kray to escort someone out for walking in here drunk and almost breaking one of the things that Galo cherished. He swore if Kray didn't involve himself, Galo would have knocked him out and literally threw him out the store. No. Like, literally, he was so close to doing that. He knew that it would be an idiotic thing to do, considering that he could have gotten fired from his job, but no one messes with his pride and joy, the very thing he treasures. Galo may be an idiot, but he takes absolute care of the artifacts in the shop and protects them with all he has. Considering that they were the real thing.
Yes. The real thing. You would think this shop was just an old antique artifact shop with all the "real" ones. If he could, Galo would laugh at your face. This shop was a place with the actual artifacts being sold. How did he find them? Well he was given them, by the very gods to protect and give away to people who were willing to keep it. Galo is a god himself too. He is the god and protector of treasures. Everything he protected was given to him by the gods, nymphs, and other lore creatures. Back then, he had to store it deep down in his very own basement. He never knew what to do with it. When Galo began living with civilization, he decided to start selling them, since he had no need for them anymore. He opened a shop called Pyro's Antiques, and it never stopped getting busy since.
Sitting back down in his seat, Galo checked the time on his watch. Twelve ten. A few minutes before his break starts. He couldn't wait for it. The store was getting emptier and emptier by the minute since the customers knew they couldn't be here during his break. Soon, it was empty and Galo sat back in his chair, eating the leftovers from last night. He gobbled up as much as he could and played a few games on his phone to pass time. After a little while, Galo decided to get up and walk around the store, making sure everything was intact and taken care of. He made sure that the flowers outside were given their daily dose of water and cleaned the display windows. Afterwards, he went back inside and decided to read a book about today's lore; which he found highly entertaining. Galo only got to the middle of it before he heard the door open.
His ears perked up as soon as the door's bell rang. He looked at his watch and saw it was one sixteen. Just a few minutes after his break. Galo raised his eyebrow a bit but shrugged it off after a while. He couldn't care less, he liked his job anyway. He put all of his belongings away back into his bag under his desk and started back on track. Galo noticed the person, who walked in. They looked about twenty, maybe Galo's age if he was lucky enough. They had short, pale greenish hair that was angled, with the sides of their hair almost meeting their shoulders. They bore a white shirt with only half of it tucked into some black leather pants. To top it off, they also had a black leather jacket sitting on their shoulders, the words "MAD BURNISH" imprinted on the back. Mad burnish, huh? Not a bad name. Galo thought to himself. The green haired person looked like a male, but he didn't want to assume that right off the bat, since they looked very small.
Galo decided to get up and stretch his legs. He noticed the person walking around the different aisles scanning everything, but nothing caught their interest. Are they looking for something specific? Galo thought.
"Good afternoon." Galo said with a smile. The person looked at him, waved, and went back to browsing. Galo felt a bit awkward, but shrugged it off since he knew not everyone was a talker type. Galo decided to organize his desk a little since it was kind of a mess and started in buying some things off the internet for the store. Galo looked up every once in a while to see what that person was doing. They were still browsing, but it looked like something caught his eye. Galo sat there and waited for him to come up at the front, while still doing some of his work on the computer.
The person finally came up at the front. Galo got up from his computer and greeted the silent customer with a smile. "Hello!" he beamed. "How are we today, hmm?"
"...Fine." they mumbled. The voice caught Galo slightly off guard but chose not to let it bother him.
"Did you find everything you wanted?" Galo asked. "Also, weird question, but what are your pronouns? I don't want to misgender anyone, haha." he scratched the back of his head after asking that.
The green haired customer smiled a little at the question. "They them or he him is fine. Thank you for asking. Most people assume that I'm a girl half the time."
"No problem. I can't imagine what it must be like going through that. Must be a pain." Galo sighed.
"Yeah it is. But, it's whatever."
"So, sir, did you find anything you wanted?" Galo asked, holding out his hand a little.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry." They gave Galo what they were holding into his hands. Galo didn;t realize it at first but his eyes widened and his stomach dropped the moment he saw it.
"The Promare stone?" Galo asked in disbelief, he couldn't believe it. Why would someone want the Promare stone?
"The "what" stone?" The customer asked. "What is it? If I may ask?"
"The Promare stone is a very powerful stone. It is said that the person who wields it, could control all fire known to man and god. While that sounds like a good thing, believe me, it's a curse." Galo explained.
"How is it a curse?" The customer asked, leaning over the counter a bit as to show interest in what he has to say.
"Thing is, not just any person can wield it. The stone chooses someone, and once it chooses someone, it never leaves them..it stays with them forever. Unworthy people have fought over this stone for its power. All of them burned to ash trying to extract the power from the stone. This angered the gods of how greedy the mortals got. So they gave it to Xetar, The Fire Knight. Truth be told, his emotions got the best of him. In battle, it's power became so much. When he defeated the enemy, he was sucked into the stone, his anger still fueled. He was known to be the first to control it, but he might be the last. Legend has it, that if the stone chooses you, you will have the same fate Xetar once had." Galo trailed off.
"Oh. I see." The green haired customer sighed. They looked at the stone, wondering if the same thing was going to happen to them.That couldn't be possible right? It was just a myth, it couldn't be real be real. Just some stupid lore someone read out of a book.
"But, I can assure you, it won't do anything as long as it's just for show. If anything, that legend is probably long gone. No one's ever been proved worthy, so you're safe, I guess." Galo said. "Sorry I rambled off there. That legend is probably one of my favorites so far, haha." Galo awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his head.
"No, no it's all good. I was the one who asked." The customer replied. He then offered his hand out to Galo. "I'm Lio by the way. Lio Fotia"
Galo blinked a few times before he actually got the message. He smiled and took Lio's hand. He lightly shook it since he didn't want to rip his arm off. Like some of Galo's friends said, he has the strength of an ox.
"Name's Galo Thymos. Nice to meet you, Lio." Galo beamed. Galo then realized he still had the stone in his hand. He looked back up to Lio, who eyed the stone for a minute then made eye contact with him.
"Would you like me to scan this for you?" Galo asked, retracting the stone a little just in case Lio wanted it.
Lio hesitated, but nodded his head."Sure. I'm only giving it to a friend of mine for their birthday. Nothing special." he reached for his side bag, opened it, and started scrambling around for his wallet while Galo was scanning the old stone.
"I see, you part of some gang or something?" Galo asked, eyes fixed on the computer.
"Huh? Well-uh..kind of." Lio stammered. He finally found his wallet and took his debit card out. "It's not really a serious gang but it gets serious when things want to be I guess. What about you?"
"Me? Well, most of my friends are out overseas, or they live in another state." Galo shyly chuckled."It's mostly me and my coworkers here, even though I don't talk to them that much. That'll be 17.20, by the way."
Lio plopped his card in Galo's hand. Galo, put it in the machine and waited for it to process. Lio signed his name on the machine next to the basket of candies and put his phone number and card pin in it. Afterwards, Galo gave him his card back. "Looks like you're good to go. Would you like a bag, sir?" He gestured to the bags.
"Yes please." Lio replied, putting his card back in his wallet and shoving it in his bag. Galo wrapped the stone in bubble wrap and paper, making sure it all fit perfectly and nothing stuck out, taped it, and put it in a box. He then pulled out a bag and placed the box inside and handed it over to Lio, who carefully retrieved it from Galo's hands.
"There you go sir, have a nice day." Galo waved. Lio waved back and headed out the door. Lio then remembered what Galo said about him not having his friends around and felt guiltiness for in his brain and stomach. Must be lonely, He thought. To have no one to hangout with or go to for help..must be rough being alone like that. That's when Lio stopped himself before he could walk out the door,
Galo was busy cleaning up his desk, which somehow got dirty again. Even he himself didn't know how that happened. He sorted papers in one stack where he needed to turn in things to manager Kray, and another beside that stack that were unfinished papers and ones that weren't really important. Galo put the important papers off to the side and put the unfinished and less important ones back in his bag.
"Hey. It's Galo right?" Galo's ears perked up at the familiar voice. But he being an idiot and caught up in his own mind, forgot who it was.
"Yeah, just give me a sec." Galo said in a strained voice. He was trying to shove as much as he could as possible. He then got up and whipped his head around to see who it was that was calling him.
Lio stood there leaning over the desk a little bit, trying to find Galo maybe. Galo tilted his head to the side in confusion as he quickly walked up to Lio. Did he forget something? Did he not do something right? Galo decided to ask.
"Is everything okay? Did you forget something?" Galo asked. Lio dropped his head a little and he shifted his foot from side to side. Was he embarrassed? Flustered? Both? Why did he get so shy all of a sudden?
"Um..I was thinking, um," Lio stammered quietly. He cleared his throat and looked Galo in the eye so he could get it over with. "Do you, if you want to, do you want to hangout with us?" Lio rubbed the back of his neck and looked away for a minute then flickered his eyes back to Galo. "I know how it feels to be alone like that, and I just thought it would be a good idea if you wanted to hang. It'll keep you from waiting for your friends, I guess."
Galo's eyes widened. Was this guy serious? Was he actually going out of his way to become friends with an idiot like him? Galo became flustered at the question. He didn't exactly know how to respond to this. It took him a minute to process what was happening before he started smiling like a weirdo.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt. Sure, it wouldn't kill to have some fresh faces to talk to once in a while, huh?" he beamed. Galo looked at the clock, his shift was coming close to an end already. Has the day already gone by that fast?
"Ok, cool." Lio said with a small smile. "When do you wanna hang? I'm free the rest of the day and tomorrow too."
Galo pulled out a piece of lined paper and started writing, not replying to the question at all. When he finished writing, he folded it and handed it to Lio. "My shift ends at five. Here's my information. Text me when you can."
Lio took the piece of paper and folded it in his pocket. "Okay, see around five thirty?" he asked. The smile on his face grew slightly bigger. He didn't know if the others would like him, but it wouldn't hurt to find out, right?
Galo thought for a minute then smiled again. "Sounds great."
"Cool. Well, see you then, Galo." Lio waved as he walked out the door. Galo watched as the pale green haired person in leather walked away until they were out of plain sight.
Galo smiled to himself. He couldn't believe it. He actually made a new friend after the past ten thousand years. Sure he was well known with the gods and goddesses themselves, but here? On earth? To him it felt impossible. He looked at the clock on the wall again, three forty-six. Galo felt his excitement rapidly building up as he started to gather his things. Galo couldn't help but wonder though, what if that stone activates? Sure, it's been a hundred-something-million years, but still. Galo prayed that none of that wouldn't happen. What if it accidentally activates and burns the whole city down? Galo shrugged it off. If it's just for show, what's the worst it could do?
Galo couldn't help but wonder, who would be the next person, to activate the stone?
(This isn't the best ending I came up with but I think it's pretty good lol)