Victor stared at the sunrise over the Eastern Beach. Not directly, mind you, for that would have burned his eyes out of their sockets, but in the general direction. From his perch on the northern pier, he witnessed a prismatic whale breach the Ætheric Ocean in the distance, its vast size eclipsing the sun as light shone through its flesh, refracting and flooding the scenery with a munificent rainbow, dying Victor’s hair a bright burnt orange, a vast improvement over last week’s puke green.
Laughter exploded from a small skiff out on the water. Several fishermen are on it, their hair a myriad of colors. A giant of a fisherman is waving his arms angrily and pointing at another fisherman. Snippets of the angry man’s rant float across the water as the others chuckle to themselves.
“ …fucking prickweed! … wanted the blue… fucker pushed me!”
Victor nods in understanding. He used to do the same thing to his friends, pushing them into the whale’s rainbow so as to give them bad hair colors. It was refreshing to see that such antics were not limited to just children.
The sun continued to rise, signaling to Victor that it was time to get up off the pier and head back into town.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
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CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The sound of the blacksmith working echoed throughout the workshop as Victor worked the bellows to the forge. The heat of the forge was heavy, yet not oppressive. It was more comforting to Victor, like a weighted blanket during a rainstorm. The blacksmith continued to forge, a great metal block being slowly warped and twisted with each masterful hanmer strike.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG?
HHHHHHIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
The quenching of the twisted pikehead brought Victor out of his thoughts, not that he was actually thinking about anything in particular, more like he was lost in his own little world, as one tends to do. Looking out of the small ash covered window, Victor noticed that the shadows were growing long, as the sun would be setting soon. And thus, an entire day had passed.
Victor ended his shift and went home for dinner, where his mother was making his favorite dish: baked potatoes and gilded eel, which had the unique property of making one’s nails and teeth take on a golden hue when eaten. And thus, time passed for Victor, a simple blacksmith from a simple village with absolutely no ambition whatsoever. And that was absolutely valid.
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“I want to travel the continent and visit the capital in the Central Valley.” Victor declared to his family during dinner.
The Author groaned as his hand cramped up suddenly.