The world of magic and fantasy had been retold in movies, books, and TV shows. But there had always been one piece of the story that had never been told. The modern society of a world filled with magic and fantasy. Probably because it’s just not as exciting. The modern society of a fantasy world had bigger issues than a fantasy world during the Old Days. They have rent, job applications to fill out, babysitters to call, school, and everything else a modern society must worry about. They don’t have time or the money to drop what they’re doing and spend their life wondering the world to explore. In fact, even this new society fantasizes about the Old Days. A popular show among the children is called “The Knight of a Dragon” which told the story about a brave mysterious knight who hunted powerful dragons because, why not. Housewives enjoyed watching “Night Elf Curse” which is a romantic drama about a night elf who was cursed to be an immortal that tries to not fall in love knowing it cannot last. As for the men, they pretty much liked any show that was full of action and magic.
But none of these shows are close to being accurate. Because of people’s obsession of the Old Days, an historian was a valid occupation. Their job is to accurately collect and verify relics from the past and be a sort of bookkeeper to ensure that information from the past isn’t forgotten. Historians were known to be a source of reference for big entertainment companies that wanted to deal with the Old Days. But only one historian was known as the best in the whole world.
“Ah, you must be Rok. I’m Ryu, we talked on the phone.” A man said as he made a quick glance towards the door upon seeing a large person entering his shop.
With a deep shallow voice, the large person replied. “I believed I had an appointment with someone named Egg, not Ryu.”
Ryu made a large sigh and he brought his hands together in front of his mouth. His eyes widen as if he wanted to say something but didn’t want to be rude to his guess. It’s as if this wasn’t the first time this had happened.
“Nope,” Ryu replied with, “Egg is me. That’s is sort of the name everyone knows me by. But I’m pretty sure I said over the phone my name was Ryu. You’re not Rok are you?”
The large person removed his hood to better show his face and unzipped his jacket revealing a plane gray shirt. He had long pointy ears, short blond hair, fangs that were so large that they peeked out of his closed mouth, bright blue eyes and green skin; typical traits of a half orc half elf, also known as a green elf. “Rok is my brother, I’m Gollik. My brother couldn’t get off work in time, so he asked me to come instead. He was referred to you by someone he knew. You’re apparently the best at stuff from the Old Days.” Gollik revealed as he searched through his pockets looking for something.
That explains them knowing me by Egg, Ryu thought to himself.
Gollik eventually pulled out what appeared to be a rolled-up piece of paper and handed it to Ryu. Ryu guided Gollik to an empty table as he unrolled the scroll and began examining it. “Do you by any chance know why we refer the past as the Old Days yet in our history book we have names for different eras of the past?”
Gollik, thrown off by the question replied with, “I never really thought about it before.”
Ryu, not taking his eyes off the scroll continued, “Of course not. From the time we are born we are taught that we call the past the Old Days so we never think twice about it. The term Old Days comes from a popular radio show during the 1800s that referred to the era of when magic was popular as the Old Days. Magic had existed during the Dark ages, Middle Ages, Stone Age and so on. But it’s easier to just refer to any era when magic was available to the mass as a single place in time, the Old Days. “
“And you’re telling me this because?” Gollik questioned, as he rolled his eyes and jerked his head to the side.
Ryu, ignoring Gallik’s comment continued, “For some reason we never did any proper documentation of magic. Which is why so little is known about the Old Days. My theory is we took magic for granted and when restrictions were implemented, history of magic just faded away.” Ryu then walked over to Gallik and handed back the scroll. “So, forgery of magic books, scrolls, or anything that pertains to magic has a high price from us historians and government. We’re done here.”
Gallik narrowed his eyes on the scrolls and jerked his body back like he was surprised that the scroll would even be handed back to him. “We have a deal then?”
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Not wanting to wait any longer for Gallik to grab the scroll. Ryu dropped it at Gallik’s feet and proceed to walk back to a stack of books that he was organizing before Gallik came to the store.
“Hey! This is a scroll that contains a fire spell. You know how much this thing can be wor-!” Gallik roared as he rushed up onto his feet.
“One point zero five million gold. Fire spells are rare and are very powerful spells that can help with housing, manual labor, and metal shops.” Ryu interrupted as if he knew what Gallik was going to say before he could even finish. “If you went to anyone else, they would have bought it, but you came to me. You’re probably the best forger I’ve met so far. But you had plenty of mistakes that made it easy for me to see it wasn’t real. Most forged scrolls take me 20 seconds to conclude their legitimacy. Yours took me nearly a minute, take that as a win.”
With his jaw and fist clenched, Gallik slams his fist onto the table. His eyes burned with rage but not because of Ryu’s statement but because of how Ryu acted as if he wasn’t in the room. Even his outburst didn’t cause Ryu to flinch in fear. Ryu just continued to organize his stack of books.
“How dare you claim it to not be real! I’ve taken it to three other historians, and they will all vouch that it is legit!”
“Oh, I have no doubts. But you came to me because they don’t have the money to pay what the scroll is worth, but I do. Working as the only government issued historian, I am authorized to make such a purchase. But I’m also the best, and if I say no, those other historians will vouch for me and not you. By the way, if you really want to sound convincing.” Ryu took a short paused to glanced at Gallik and pointed towards Gallik’s feet. “Don’t step on a magic scroll you believe to make you a rich man.”
Gallik looked down to seem his giant foot crushing the magic scroll. His burst of rage made him forget that the scroll was even on the floor.
“You son of a bitch,” Gallik muttered to himself as he rubbed his foot onto the scroll knowing that he had been caught. “You’re going to buy this scroll from me and forget I even came here.”
Ryu paused again from his work to pull out a chair so he could sit and face Gallik at the same time, “And why would I do that.” Ryu said with a low calming voice.
Ryu had absolutely zero fears when it came to threats. He always treated threats as a child throwing a tantrum because they can’t get what they want. He always had a calm expression on his face that would be easily misinterpreted as annoyance. His eyes would have a blank gaze about them, the eye lids would cover half his eyes, his lips would have a slight frown as he let his muscles relax, and would always rest his head on his arm as if that was the only thing keeping his head up.
This expression only frustrated Gallik more as he had no hesitation on pulling out a loaded gun from his back pocket. Gallik began to grin as he pulled the safety off and aimed for Ryu’s head. “Authorize the payment and forget you every saw me...NOW!
“No.” Ryu replied with.
“What the hell is wrong with you!? You haven’t even flinched and take the smug look off your face.” Gallik demanded.
“Just pull the trigger and let me get back to work.”
Gallik sneakered as Ryu refused to give in to his demands. Sweat dripped from Gallik’s forehead, his arms and legs trembled. His finger inched closer and closer to the trigger, but it never came close enough to pull the trigger. Gallik’s body wasn’t trembling out of fear, it was trembling because he was trying to force his body to do something and it was refusing. Gallik tried to pull the trigger the second Ryu told him too, but he couldn’t.
“Why...won’t...my body...listen to me,” Gallik grunted as he continued to try and pull the gun’s trigger.
Ryu got up from his seat to point down at the floor. “Magic circle.” Gallik looked down to see a large circle with strange symbols and writings from the Old Days that covered nearly the entire floor of the store. “I’m not dumb enough to be in this profession without knowing the threats that come with it. I’m not really a fighter so I use spells that don’t require me to get dirty.”
“Magic is illegal! Only the government has the authority to use them!”
“Ironic that a criminal is lecturing me about the legality of me using magic. You’re only half right. The law is that only government issued people can use magic. Technically everyone has the ability to use magic, but only a few people actually know how too. I’m not only licensed to use magic but I’m also very good at it. This spell is a pacifism spell. It will prevent a person to act violently towards me if they're in the circle. To ensure a person stays in the circle I have a second spell,” Ryu pointed up towards the ceiling revealing a second magic circle, “That is a gravity spell that strengthens as the person gets closer to the edge of the circle.”
Gallik, feeling defeated dropped the gun. “So this is what magic can do....it’s just like the TV shows,” Gallik said in a calm demeaner.
“Actually, magic is nothing like what you see on TV, books, or movies. While we wait for the cops to show up. Let me tell you how magic actually works!” Ryu said as he grabbed a book and moved his chair near Gallik so he can sit closer to him.
“Please No! Just take me to jail!” Gallik yelled out while Ryu rambled on about the truth behind magic.