Note: I am absolutely awful at keeping stories and projects going, but I said I will do this series, at LEAST book 1, and I will.
The Tiny Hero.
Most of the people present had a rather good dinner after not long, Ruth was just a wizard on the art of cooking, as usual, Bracken and Vanessa were eating in opposite sides of the table, Warren at the left of Vanessa and Kendra at the right of Bracken, Seth was sitting by the middle and devouring his plate. And even though Raxtus said he was in no need of food, Kendra gave at least some of her food to him to try since he could sniff it really well and she could tell clearly he'd like to try some now.
After everyone was done eating, they rushed back to their spots from before, food is great but not even Seth wanted to take too long eating so they could resume reading, this is all about their future after all, a very likely war, where they realize many of them could get really hurt or even die.
"Do you think perhaps I could have a go at this?" The potion master requested, raising his hand after they were all seated, Stan was carrying the book and keeping it close as he nodded and handed it to him.
"Next we have "The Tiny Hero" tiny huh." He said in his usual calm tone.
"Plenty of tiny creatures, hard to pinpoint one that could be a "Hero" though." Warren replied, looking excited about learning more of the future.
Seth awoke the next morning to find a mouse squatting on his nightstand. The little creature sat upright, nose twitching, and began to squeak.
"I am really glad to have hindsight of magical creatures, I wouldn't like to wake up to a mouse." Kendra commented, wondering what creature this one will be exactly.
Seth continued to use one of the beds in the attic playroom, while Kendra
had moved into an empty bedroom on the next floor down. Though the
playroom was large, and cluttered with enough toys to hide a hundred mice,
Seth had never seen a rodent inside the house.
"You're not a mouse," Seth said.
The furry intruder waved both arms and kept squeaking. The only wild
mice Seth ever glimpsed had scurried away at the sight of a human. This one
was clearly signaling him.
"Seems like not even the mice want to stay too close to you normally." Doren couldn't but comment at that, as Seth stares.
"Such enlightening comment, Doren." The kid replied in a sarcastic tone.
"Sit tight," Seth said. "I'll be right back."
He hurried down the attic stairs. The mouse was just an illusion. Seth
needed some supernatural dairy. Sometimes he envied Kendra's ability to
see magical creatures as they really were without drinking Viola's milk.
Grandma Sorenson stood at the stove tending a large pot of oatmeal, her
graying hair bound in a large bun. "Good morning, Grandma," Seth said,
grabbing milk from the refrigerator.
"Good morning," Grandma said. "Your cousins and the Larsens are
coming to breakfast."
Seth poured some milk into a glass. Oatmeal had never been a favorite of
his until he had eaten it at Fablehaven. Grandma Sorenson always offered
lots of tasty toppings. "We'll have extras to put in it?"
Grandma smiled. "We have honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, almond
slivers, sunflower seeds, walnuts, bananas, blueberries, blackberries,
raspberries, and boysenberries. Plus homemade bread with my special jam."
That pretty much immediately made the satyrs lick their lips.
"Why don't you invite us for breakfast?" Newel asked.
"And lunch, and dinner, could do with some of these spanish Meriendas too, I am sure that we're good guests." Doren added.
"Even if you were star quality guests, I don't think anybody has time to make all the extra food needed to account for satyrs." Ruth replied, shaking her head, as the duo looked with a dramatic hurt expression.
"That should keep them from running away," Seth said, then finished the
milk in his glass. "You really do spoil us."
"It's one of my fundamental rights as a grandparent," Grandma said. "I'm
saving the pancakes and French toast for later in the week."
"Good finale," Seth said. "Don't forget the huevos rancheros."
"Or the heavenly hash," Grandma said.
Seth put the milk bottle back in the fridge. "See you in a bit."
"Is everything all right?" Grandma asked. "You seem in a rush."
"Should have gone to the bathroom first," Seth said, racing off. He swung
by the bathroom on his way to the attic, partly so his statement would be
true, and partly because the claim had awakened an urgent need.
"Hm, these books… they won't go into detail of absolutely everything, right? I am rather sure that we don't need to read everytime one of us goes to the bathroom, in detail." Kendra suddenly questioned, as that would be truly awkward, and even more of an invasion of privacy than it already is.
"Don't worry, seems like it's just saying that someone goes there, nothing else at least here." Tanu assured her, which made others nod thankful.
When Seth entered the attic playroom, he found a little man waiting on his
nightstand where the mouse had been. Proportioned like a normal human, the
tiny fellow stood not quite three inches tall. He had black hair and blue eyes,
and he wore a dark yellow shirt tucked into brown pants. A little sword hung
at his side. His boots looked travel-worn.
That description confused the readers rather well, not quite pinpointing the creature.
"Obviously not a fairy, also does not sound like a Brownie or a Leprechaun or similar, at least by description, what is it?" Warren questioned.
"I am not quite sure, could be some more unique member of his species, but the book will probably say it clearly soon enough." Stan answered.
Seth knelt down beside the nightstand. "Hi there," he said. "Sorry I rushed
off. I had to drink some milk to see your true form."
"Understood," the visitor replied in a squeaky voice. "You are Seth
Sorenson, correct?"
"Who's asking?" Seth wondered. "What are you?" The little guy didn't fit
the profile of any of the creatures Seth knew—though fairy-sized, he had no
wings and was male. He didn't look like a brownie or a leprechaun, either.
The diminutive man bowed. "I'm Calvin of the nipsies."
Newel and Doren stared rather dumbfounded. "A nipsie? Did you read that right?" The former questioned.
"I am quite sure it said he was nearly 3 inches tall, what kind of colossal nipsie is this?" The latter now said.
"Big nipsies? The future sure is sounding interesting." Vanessa is the one to speak now.
"You're too big," Seth said. "Nipsies are like . . ." he put his finger and
thumb about half an inch apart.
"Good eye," Calvin said. "I wondered whether you would realize I was
out of scale with the rest of my kind."
"I've been to the Seven Kingdoms of the nipsies," Seth said.
"I know," Calvin said, "along with the Supreme Gigantic Overlords,
Newel and Doren. You three are hard to miss."
"The what?" Raxtus asked, looking at the half goats and future TV partners, are they actually revered somewhere?
"Oh you know, we are nipsie heroes, we even saved many kingdoms with our trusty companion Seth. "Doren was the one to answer first.
"Big invasion, would have been a nasty war, we stopped the plot of the evil nipsies in minutes." Newel nodded.
"You really should leave these nipsies alone…" Stan shook his head.
"I guess so," Seth said, remembering how easily they could have smashed
the elaborate cities full of miniature buildings, bridges, monuments, palaces,
ships, and people. "Why are you so big?"
"The elders cast a spell on me," Calvin said. "Among the nipsies, I have a
reputation as an adventurer. I hate to toot my own horn. It always sounds
hollow. I should have brought letters of recommendation. But anyway—they
chose me as their champion and used a spell that turned me into the Giant
Hero. Well . . . to them I look like a giant. Seems silly in front of you. Maybe
you should call me the Tiny Hero."
"Oh right, that always solves any question, it was magic." Warren says with a chuckle.
"I had no idea the nipsies actually had magic and spells." Seth said surprised.
"Calvin, the Tiny Hero," Seth said. "That works. Did they send you to
fight me?"
"Betting on Calvin if they fight." Newel said inmediately.
"Same." Doren agrees.
"Ditto." Warren now follows.
"I could totally see Seth being overconfident and losing to a bigger nipsie." Kendra nodded.
"Thank you, thank you, you're all so supportive of me." Seth replied in a snarky tone.
Calvin laughed and shook his head. "No! You are Seth?"
"Yeah."
"Slayer of the Lord of Filth?"
"I've killed some gross things."
"You destroyed the Foulest of the Foul? The Cursebringer?"
"Probably," Seth said. "Does he have a name?"
"We don't enjoy the taste of it," Calvin said. "The demon Graulas."
Seth's expression inmediately hardened, the previous talks of demons weren't enough, now Graulas is the topic.
"Seth, Graulas did countless terrible acts, but at the end, you still defeated him, you avenged many, it seems like the nipsies for example will want to thank you." Bracket said softly.
"I know… But I just wish I could have done something sooner, to have reached the house first, or never getting tricked in the first place…" The boy answered.
"If you and Hugo had managed to beat Graulas to the house, then most likely you would have been done too, Hugo is strong but there's no way he could act against Graulas." Stan told Seth, looking at him.
"It also lead to Coulter talking to Patton, then Patton's message and everything gotten from it, the end of the war could have shaped a lot differently without something like Vasilis." Vanessa added, which is true, Patton might have still done something else from the past, but nobody here could know what might've changed.
Seth just slowly nods and looks at Tanu, asking for him to keep reading, which he does.
"Yeah, I killed him," Seth said. "I wish I could have done it more than
once."
"We rejoiced at the news," Calvin said. "We had begun to worry nobody
would ever slay him."
"He was almost dead for a long time," Seth said, not wanting to mention
that he had healed the demon before killing him later.
"Stupid…" Seth whispered so low, that only Raxtus could hear him, as the dragon looked at him for a moment.
"Which is why we were concerned," Calvin said. "Because of the curse."
"What curse?"
"The terrible curse of the nipsies," Calvin said. "It was placed on us long
ago, before I was born."
"What did it do?" Seth asked.
"The details are obscure," Calvin said. "The elders refuse to elaborate.
But we used to be more powerful. And bigger. Maybe even as big as I am
now."
"Enormous," Seth teased.
"I actually had no idea about that one." Newel said surprised.
"Me neither, the nipsies usually are by themselves, not going out to interact much with others, I never heard of such curse." Stan says in thought.
"Do you think maybe we'll learn more about the curse with the books too? Perhaps we can help out the nipsie species too." Warren wondered.
"Hopefully, the more we can help others from learning all this, the better." Gloria replied.
Calvin scowled. "Hey, it makes a difference to us."
"I get it. So did the nipsie elders somehow remove the curse from you?"
"No. But they had ancient magic to create a giant champion. I was
chosen."
"What does the curse have to do with Graulas?" Seth asked.
"A deal with Graulas led to the curse," Calvin said.
"I believe that," Seth said. "He pretended to help me, then stabbed me in
the back. He overthrew Fablehaven and killed my friend Coulter."
"The curse came with a prophecy," Calvin said.
"Tell me."
"All nipsies can recite it: The curse arose from the demon's blight; the
lord who slays him will set it right."
"No way, is Seth going to be some sort of Nipsie hero?" Kendra had to add, looking at her brother.
"To be frank, I am the hero of countless." He says with a small smirk, trying to act normal again.
"I thought we were the Nipsie heroes, are they gonna build more Seth statues now?" Doren sounded offended.
"It rhymes," Seth observed.
"Most of the good ones do," Calvin said. "Some strain more than others.
But the basics are clear. Whoever kills the horrible demon will help lift the
curse."
"I slayed that horrible demon," Seth said.
"Thank goodness!" Calvin cried. "If the Foulest of the Foul had died from
a disease, who would we turn to?"
"I'm supposed to break the curse?"
"With the help of a nipsie champion. There's a second half: The slayer
shall restore our pride, the Giant Hero at his side." Calvin drew his
sword, dropped to one knee, held out the blade with the point downward,
and bowed his head. "I, Calvin son of Brendan, pledge myself to you, Seth
Sorenson. From this day forward I am your vassal, keeper of your secrets,
protector of your honor, servant to your interests, and defender of your
causes."
Warren directly laughed a bit now. "You've got your own personal knight in the future, a big escort, what does that make you feel?" He asked.
"Quite big." The kid says.
"Wow, thanks. I'm still not clear on this curse, let alone how to break it."
With his head still bowed, Calvin said, "Nobody is really clear about it.
But if you're willing to help, please accept my devotion."
"Aren't you kind of small?" Seth asked.
"You're small compared to a giant," Calvin replied, glancing up at Seth,
though his head remained mostly bowed. "And compared to Graulas. You
did all right against him! There is more to me than my size."
"But what if you get squished?" Seth exclaimed. "I'd feel awful."
"I'm tougher than I look. It's all part of the champion spell. Stronger than I
look, too. Let me worry about the risks. I don't squish easily. You won't
regret it. Little people can come in handy. I knew I should have brought some
letters of recommendation!"
"Okay," Seth said. "I'll help with the curse."
"Try to be a little more specific. I'm offering my devotion. This is a
dramatic moment. Very ceremonial. Something like 'Rise, Tiny Hero, and
join your new liege lord.'"
"And now this is a whole lot for me, so I'll have to take care of a 3 inches guy?" Seth scratched his head, looking at the book.
"You better be careful, he says he's rather tough but don't you go too far." Kendra said.
"You think I'd purposely do that?" Seth argued that with a bit of an offended tone.
Seth swallowed. "This means I'm responsible for you?"
Still kneeling, Calvin lifted his head a little more. "It just means you
accept my service. We're a team, and you're the leader. It'll be fun! I'll help
you with anything you need, and we'll also keep an eye out for ways to break
the curse on the nipsies."
Seth paused. The little guy seemed eager and fun, but he didn't want this to
lead to trouble. "How did you get in here? The house is shielded from
intruders."
"Being tiny has advantages. In this case, the brownies helped me out. With
brownie permission, anyone smaller than a brownie can gain access to the
house using the brownie passageways."
"That's impressive. My sister and I got in that way once. Long story. How
do I know you're not an evil spy?"
"It does sound silly placing doubt on a nipsie but, I've learned to not be too trusting." Seth explained, nobody could really argue that.
"I'm a nipsie," Calvin said defensively. "We've never allied with evil!
The shadow plague turned some of us dark for a while, but that wasn't our
fault. You can count on me. Go check with our elders. Or ask your
grandfather. I pledge to serve you faithfully. With an oath and everything!"
"Rise, Tiny Hero," Seth said, doing his best to make the words sound
official. "I believe you. I'll be your partner."
Calvin hopped to his feet, swung his sword, then sheathed it. "You won't
regret it. Should I call you Supreme Gigantic Overlord?"
"No," Seth said. "The satyrs made up that title. I wasn't part of it."
"Master?"
"How about Seth?"
"Very well, Seth. Want to carry me in a pocket for now?"
"Really?"
"Why not? I'll be fine. That way I'll be with you if you need help."
Seth was currently in shorts and a T-shirt. "Okay. Let me get dressed for
the day."
"Seth, and someone super small and barely noticeable on his pocket, that smells like it could lead to trouble." Kendra quickly pointed out.
"Oh c'mon, I can't do thaat much." Seth complained.
"Knowing you, you could." Bracken added with a shrug.
Grandpa and Grandma Larsen brought Knox and Tess to join Grandpa and
Grandma Sorenson, Kendra, and Seth for breakfast. They all gathered around
the table, a big bowl of oatmeal waiting at each place. Bread, butter, and jam
occupied the center of the table, along with the many add-ins for the oatmeal.
Knox eyed the bowl of oatmeal with a mix of suspicion and disappointment.
"Thanks for coming over for breakfast," Grandma Sorenson said. "We're
happy to have Knox and Tess visiting."
"How was your first night?" Grandpa Sorenson asked.
"Wonderful," Tess enthused. Though she had shed her fairy wings for
breakfast, she still wore a tiara. "Fablehaven is a magical place."
Knox snorted. "I don't know about that. But the other house is pretty
sweet."
Seth wanted to say that he should have seen it before the brownies fixed it
up. The manor had been abandoned for years before Grandpa Sorenson
invited a group of brownies to take up residence there and repair it for the
Larsens. But of course Knox didn't know that brownies were real.
"Dig in," Grandma Sorenson invited.
Knox looked down at his oatmeal without excitement.
"He better digs in, he does not know what he'll miss otherwise." Seth decided to comment, hoping his cousin won't be that dumb.
"Add stuff," Seth prompted, spooning in some sugar. "It can get amazing."
"There's warm bread, too," Grandma invited.
Knox's interest increased as he sweetened up his oatmeal with berries and
sugar. Seth snuck little pieces of bread to Calvin, who was hiding in the front
pocket of his cargo pants.
"You don't have a basketball hoop anywhere?" Knox asked as he finished
his food.
"We could maybe rig one up," Grandpa Sorenson said. "For now, why not
let Seth show you around outside. We have a pool here, and a great yard to
explore."
Many looks inmediately went towards Stan Sorenson.
"Is it really wise to have just those two, and Seth being the tour guide?" Vanessa questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"I'd like to trust Seth to not ruin the whole thing for his cousin after a day." Grandpa looked at Seth while saying that, as he looks away slightly, hoping his future self won't do anything tooo dumb, or everyone in the present will get mad, that's unfair.
"I want to catch some fairies," Tess declared.
"I can help," Kendra offered with a nervous smile.
Seth wondered what would happen if Tess drank the milk. He figured
either it would be no surprise at all, or it would completely blow her mind.
"I'm done," Knox announced, blotting his lips with a napkin. "That was
the best oatmeal I've ever had. It usually tastes like mud."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Grandma Sorenson said.
"Grandpa Larsen reviewed the rules with you two?" Grandpa Sorenson
checked.
"Stay out of the woods because of ticks," Knox said. "No problem. I'm
not a big fan of trees. Or bugs."
"I'll stay by the flowers," Tess promised.
"Run along," Grandma Larsen said. "I can see you're ready to go."
The kids left the table. Seth followed Knox out the back door. He might be
annoying, but he was still company.
"What are we going to do?" Knox groaned.
"I can show you the yard," Seth offered.
"I can see the yard," Knox said, gesturing at it. "Lots of bushes. Tons of
grass. What are you going to do? Tell me the names of all the flowers? This
is the most boring place on Earth."
Once more, there were some chuckles around the room, it's always worth to see someone's first reaction to this other world, and with everything, Knox's will probably be especially good.
"It's actually not," Seth said.
"Right," Knox said with a huff. "Prove it."
Seth had seldom felt so tempted. He had called Fablehaven boring plenty
of times, but hearing it from somebody else made him defensive. What if he
gave Knox a sip of Viola's milk, then snuck him down to the dungeon? He
could introduce him to the goblins. Maybe release a wraith or two. Wraiths
were the opposite of boring.
Oh he could feel so many glares heading towards him, without the need of him looking around, Seth had fingers crossed that he wouldn't show Knox the magic dungeon, he begged Tanu with a look to keep going fast before someone says anything.
"Look at your sister," Seth said. Tess was running around a rosebush
waving her wand while Kendra tried to keep up with her. "She's having a
great time."
"She thinks she's having fun," Knox said. "Tess tries to make everything
into a storybook. She believes anything you tell her. Once she got stuck on
the idea of fairies being here, she was all set. Tess lives up in the clouds.
One of these days she's going to be really disappointed."
"Are you sure?" Seth asked. "What if there really are fairies here?"
Knox stared. "You have to be kidding! That is the lamest thing I've ever
heard. Maybe you should go play with Tess."
Seth knew he needed to proceed with caution. Yes, there were fairies at
Fablehaven. And so many other amazing things. And yes, Grandma and
Grandpa Larsen probably had some interest in sharing those secrets with
Knox and Tess or they wouldn't have let them come here. But Seth knew he
would be in huge trouble if he showed Knox what was really going on.
Grandpa Sorenson had pulled him aside yesterday and insisted Knox and
Tess needed to figure out the secrets of Fablehaven on their own.
"What if I told you there were demons here?" Seth asked. "Or monsters?
Or treasure?"
"Seth, you are starting to go a little far already…" Stan said slowly.
"They need to figure things themselves, without constant nudges like that." Hank told Seth.
Kendra had a bad feeling when she heard the word "treasure".
"At least that would be interesting," Knox said. "But still dumb. Except
the treasure. I wouldn't mind some treasure."
Suddenly Seth had an idea. It would require taking Knox into the woods.
But it shouldn't be very dangerous. Not for Knox. Since he didn't know
about the magical creatures, the treaty would protect him.
And just like that, Kendra's suspicions got confirmed.
"Seth…" Grandpa Sorenson's face was starting to get a little red, Ruth was giving an extremely disaproving look at the boy.
"The treaty is very powerful, but you still cannot just bring him to the forest like that, there could be the chance of losing him in the woods, and then he could wander somewhere of extreme risk." Tanu said, his tone just showing some disappointment.
"H-Hey! I literally won't make any mistake for months, you cannot get mad at me for something that didn't happen yet, and will not happen because we know about it now!" Seth quickly try to argue back.
"That is partly true, we cannot punish you for technicaly that is now a hypothetical, but we still have to show you that you cannot do these things, under any circumstance, be it during the period of these books, or not." Ruth told him now.
"How about a dare?" Seth challenged.
"I like dares," Knox said hesitantly.
"We'd have to go into the woods."
"What about—"
"I have bug spray. I go into the woods all the time. And I've never seen a
snake here. I'll show you cool stuff. And I'll give you ten bucks if you do the
dare."
Knox grinned. "You've got a deal."
"That is the chapter's end." Tanu stated.
"So next time, Seth messes up and will get grounded again." Kendra predicted.
"The next chapter is called "Steal the Bacon" so probably." Tanu said with a slight smile.
"Seth, we can't punish you for this, but I am feeling greatly disappointed." Grandpa Sorenson said glaring.
"Hm, well… we said just One chapter after dinner, right? So now it's bed time, all that stuff can wait for tomorrow." He quickly reminded.
"That's a quick save." Warren says.
Stan sighed, rubbing his forehead. "That is right, we need rest, and I must contact Agad before we get too far into this."
Bracken and Raxtus got up. "I will return to the Fairy Realm as I said before, my mother will be rather surprised." The former said.
"And you're gonna join us in a TV night? The first time's free." Doren offered to Raxtus.
"Only this first time ever, snacks anytime else." Newel added.
"Sure, better than going back to a sanctuary after starting to learn, all this." Raxtus said sheepishly, looking away for a moment as he walked outside, with the satyrs following.
"Well, goodnight, lots to think about." Seth waved to everyone and promptly rushed to the attic, and after that everyone made their way to their respective room.