A Dance with Destiny

Chapter Four: Shopping

"Quickly, Griff, quickly!"

The prince huffed and increased his pace. The king had insisted on visiting Quest Buy and had dragged Griff with him. Before he had left, Griff had cornered Higgs and asked what this "Quest Buy" was.

She laughed. "It's a department store, dummy. Sells things like swords, armor, and other stuff you might need."

"Oh."

She laughed again and patted him on the shoulder before giving him basic instructions on where to find everything before the king had found him and rushed him out the castle doors; which is how he found himself pushing a monstrously large cart full of monstrously large things around a monstrously large shopping plaza.

I swear, Griff thought as the cart nearly tipped over, if this doesn't wrap up soon, someone's going to get it!

"Have you ever seen a place as stocked full of treasures as this, Griff?" the king asked, swaggering with his chest puffed out.

"Can't say I have, Your Grace," Griff said. After a few more stops the king stopped in front of the "Armor and Weapons" aisle. Griff followed behind the kings as he walked down the long line of cuirasses, gauntlets, boots, swords, maces, morning stars, axes, war hammers, bows, and halberds.

The king put a hand to his chin. "Hmm…Why don't you stop pushing, Griff, I'm trying to decide which armor I should buy.

"Oh, thank gods," Griff muttered. He let go of the cart's handles and began to walk up and down the aisle. He lifted a rather large greatsword off of a shelf and held it with both hands. He managed to hold it for a few moments before his arms began to shake and he put the sword back quickly before he dropped it. Next he pulled out a flail and swung it a few times before the spiked ball at the end flew out of his grip, taking the rest of the weapon with it; it soared above a few more aisles and landed with a loud crashing sound and a cry of "Ow!"

Griff winced and walked down the aisle, trying to act as normal as he could. Next he picked up a longword and held it in his right hand. He twirled it about, running his fingers up and along the leather hilt.

"Well done!"

Griff jumped and dropped his sword, which clattered against the ground with a loud clanging. The king was behind him, hands on his hips, lips wide with a large smile.

Griff swallowed and picked up the sword sheepishly. "Thank you, Your Grace."

"You've been practicing."

Griff nodded. "Every chance I get. Higgs and the others have been helpful, and some of the knights help too. I've always dreamed of being a knight one day."

The king put a hand over his shoulder. "And you will," he said, leading Griff back to the cart. "One day, I promise."

Thank you, Father. "You are too kind, Your Grace."

The king smiled kindly. "Come, Griff, I have everything I need."

"At once, Your Grace."

As they made their way to the registers, they passed through a book aisle, full of novellas, magazines, children's books, autobiographies, text books, and historical documents. One book, "History and Lore of Mewni," caught his eye.

Griff cleared his throat. "Your Grace?"

When the king turned, Griff pulled the book from the shelf. "Might I? I don't know very much about Mewni, and I thought…well…maybe I could…"

The king took the book and thumbed through it. For a long moment, he said nothing, but then the king shrugged and said, "Very well, throw it in with the others."

Griff smiled widely and tossed the book onto the large pyramid of things the king intended to buy, balancing precariously on top of a dragon groomer and a swiss army knife that included and axe, chainsaw, flamethrower, and a hairbrush. Griff hurried after the king.

-o-

That night, deep within his quarters in that tiny closet, Griff opened his book. Searching the table of contents, he found the section labelled "Pre-Butterfly Mewni" and searched for the page—fourteen, just after the author's note.

Ten thousand years ago, the first page read, before the reign of the kings and queens of the Butterfly family, monsters ran amok on Mewni. They were a violent and cruel people, who feasted on the flesh of Mewman babes and used Mewman woman as they pleased.

Griff frowned. Even amongst the most savage monster villages, rape was a serious offense, and Mewman consumption was nothing but a midwife's tale used to scare little children; warnicorn, however, was a readily consumed meal, but not Mewman.

At the head of their hordes were the old ones; twisted and cruel things that turned and corrupted any living thing they came into contact with, whether that be Mewman, monster or beast. They rode into battle on massive spiders, using swords of metal so sharp they split metal and mail as though they were the thinnest silks.

They threatened to consume all life on Mewni, were it not for the strength and valor of the first king and queen, King Cosmos and Queen Star. They joined the forces of Mewni together and drove the old ones back, never to be seen again.

That's it? Griff wanted to scream. He flipped through the table of contents again, but every other chapter was about the reigns of the kings and queens after Cosmos and Star. Griff swallowed. By what chance is it, he wondered, that the first king and queen, who ruled at a time when the old ones came, that they should share the names of my sister and me, who will rule when the old ones are returning?

I will have to speak with the king tomorrow, he thought, closing his book and rolling the blankets over himself. I promised myself that I would bring help to my people, and I shall not fail.

A/N: In case you guys couldn't tell, this chapter was, like, ninety percent foreshadowing, so that's why there wasn't a whole lot of content. (And I didn't really know how to make a chapter about shopping interesting.) Also, I've decided to keep this story going (duh) because so many of you wanted it, so get excited!

Please review if you liked it, follow and favorite if you want to be alerted to when I update, and I will see you all next time!