“Welcome dear travelers, how may I help you?” A flirtatious voice sounded out. It was a young, thin man, standing behind the counter of the bar. His hair was black and his eyes dark. He was good looking, albeit unassuming. “You wish for a drink?” he asked as he pointed towards the colorful liquids spread out in front of him.

Looking at the liquids, the colors made them uncertain. ‘You think those are poisonous?’ they thought to themselves.

‘Probably not?’ they felt uncertain.

‘Focus, they are already looking at us!’

‘How should we respond? We do not even know what those drinks are!’

‘Why are you asking me?’

‘Quickly think of anything!’

‘You think of something!’

‘I have no idea!’

‘Shut up you two!’

A few seconds of silence had passed when they finally answered, with their colorful eyes drifting sideways: “S- Sure.”

The bartender laughed. “What do you want then?”

“Ehm, what do you have?”

“Oh I have much to offer,” he smiled, “I have to offer water from the river Lethe for those who wish to forget the past.” he grabbed a bottle from underneath the counter. It was filled with a darkish substance that moved like water. “Seeing your wary faces however, I doubt that is what you want it.” he gave off a light chuckle before continuing on. “Some Ambrosia for those who fear eminent death? Or Unspoken Water to cure those who are sick? No? Then maybe Dragons Blood for power beyond mortal means?”

“Wait a moment, please wait a moment, we forgot, we don’t have money. Our bad, sorry for wasting your time.” Saying that their eyes had finally settled on the color golden, much to the interest of the bartender – he didn’t comment on it though.

“Don’t you worry,” he chuckled, “here, you do not have to pay with money.” A charming smile plastered his face.

“With what do we pay instead here?” They asked warily, their gray eyes mustering the young man.

“You can take a debt, pay in blood,” he smiled warmly but eerily as he added, “even future favors will be accepted.”

Suddenly a hand slammed on the counter. “Enough of your games, just give us some Pleasure Of Tomorrow.” It was the young lady they had ridden to the inn.

She then looked at the steel-clad. Shacking her head she explained: “you can’t trust that bastard. He will do all he can to suck you dry of all you own an even things you did not know you own.” Looking over the counter at the back of the young man who was grabbing a thing to drink for them, she proceeded to say: “he managed even to make some saints and heroes fall for his tricks in the past.”

“Then why are we buying from here?”

“His drinks are good.”

“And all that danger is worth it?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Also as long as you make your requests clear there isn’t really any danger.”

“Is that so…” they nodded thoughtfully. “Speaking of which, what was it that you ordered?”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“You mean Pleasure Of Tomorrow? Oh, it is great!” she marveled to hereself, “It is all the fun and enjoyment you will have the following day gathered into a single drink.”

They frowned, “Why would one want that?”

“Why wouldn’t one? It is rather enjoyable.”

“But don’t you take all you could have tomorrow away from yourself?”

“It’s not like I am losing much.” She shrugged. “And I always have the option to get myself another one if I so want.”

They fell in silence with their gray eyes looking downwards in thought. Quickly they got pulled out of their thoughts again when a mug was bumped onto the counter in front of them.

“You wonder why people would drink this you say?” the friendly looking barkeeper asked.

“Well yes. They are, after all, not gaining anything.”

“True.” the barkeeper agreed. “They are even losing some, as that is the fee I take.”

Even more confused they looked at the barkeeper, hoping for an explanation. “Why do they drink it then?”

“Well,” he started of with a slight smile, “when your daily life contains so little enjoyment as some of theirs does, that little spike is the best they can ask for.”

After a moment of contemplation the responded: “Still, wouldn’t you be able to enjoy life more without such things?”

“And what would we enjoy then?” to their left the centaur woman complained as she grabbed the mug and downed the sticky content in quick gulps. “This place is so colorless after all.”

“You could enjoy the flowers for example.” they said, as they showed the flower they had plucked on the way.

“Flowers?” she scoffed, “Why would I care about such things?”

“Because they are wondrous!” they frowned as they looked at her. But suddenly something changed about her. Suddenly, she was smiling brightly.

“Heh,” she chuckled, “Night time with your drinks is always so much fun!” She started laughing as if there was no more tomorrow. Her face was lush red and she started to jump around in excitement.

The sight of that irked them. It felt weird to them for a person to suddenly act so much different.

“Is… Is that normal?” They cautiously asked.

“Well,” the young man answered cheerfully, “it is what I would consider normal.”

“Hey bartender!” she called out, “Give me another one. Or you know what? Give me three at that!” She laughed around even louder.

“Sorry young lady, you instructed me before to not give you more.”

“WHAaat?” she seemed confused, “why would I not want more? Give me more!”

“Sorry dear lady, a contract is a contract.” He simply smiled.

“Oh co~me o~n.”

“No.”

“When did I even sign such a contract?”

“A while back.”

“Then as of now I am ter~” for a moment she spaced of, seemingly losing herself in pleasure. Then she continued on: “I am terminated… wait… I mean I-I am terminating the contract!”

“No can do,” he shook his head, “you are in no state to talk about contracts. Please wait till you are better of.”

“Oh damn you!” she stomped off, leaving the barkeeper with the same slight smile plastering his lips behind.

They had watched it from the side with some curiosity.

The barkeeper turned to them as he spoke: “I believe this one is for you?” and he pushed the other drink into their direction.

“I- I think we’ll pass!” they took a step back.

“Your loss.” he shrugged.

“Is there anything maybe a bit more … normal for us to drink?” they asked hesitantly.

He fell into thought. Then he responded “I can offer you some serum of truth, for you to see the truth behind the world. It is not as enjoyable though. Its just a useful tool, not much else.” After a moment of hesitation he added: “It is not that I wish not to offer you anything else but that the things you might take are not things you can pay and the things you can pay for are not what you desire.”

They nodded. “And what does the truth serum cost?”

“A truth for a truth.” He smiled kindly: “It costs for you to tell me some truth about you.”

“Like what?”

“You could tell me for example what you truly desire.” A glimmer flashed through his eyes as he spoke that.

“What we truly desire?” they fell into thought.

“Yes, a thing you truly care about, no matter what it is.”

They nodded and their golden eyes focused on the figure in front of them as they spoke “I care about my c-” But before she could complete what she wished to say a gray color intruded their eyes.

“Have you seen flowers before?”