The musty stench of what could only be described as oldness itself weaselled its way inside Jay’s nose the moment he entered Arlie’s shop. He gingerly crept forward through a narrow path carved from old clutter, cautiously placing his feet in the rare spots where he could actually see the floor.

Dozens of shelves, each lined with old trinkets, filled the entirety of the cluttered foyer. Packed so tightly that Jay wondered how anyone could ever walk between them.

Jay looked up from the shelves; even the ceiling wasn’t free of clutter. Loops and hooks, all made from different metals were sporadically bolted to the wood-panelled ceiling. A circlet of polished brass caught Jay’s eye, reflecting yellowish light onto the nearby shelves, it looked almost like a piece of jewellery, and Jay wondered why it had been fastened there.

He tried his best not to kick anything over as he waded through the store, but the sheer amount of junk made it nearly impossible. A jade statue caught Jay’s eye, but his elbow bumped into a nearby shelf while he stared. He caught a glint of silver mere seconds before a grubby candelabra fell off its perch, deeper within the shelf.

Jay winced as it clattered into the floor.

“MMFFUH!”

He swivelled his head away from the candelabra. The sound came from deeper inside the store, but he couldn’t pinpoint it.

“NNGHHH!”

Jay flicked his head to a shuddering heap of rusty cogs and gears, debris tumbled onto the antiques beside it.

A tiny black hand emerged from the heap. It swept away an orange cloud, pushing more metal off the pile. Through the haze of airborne rust, a raccoon’s head punched through the mess of ancient iron.

“IS THAT A CUSTOMER?!”

The raccoon brushed another layer of rust off his brow. He scratched his tufty cheeks and Jay saw at least five screws fall out and join the pile.

“Here to buy somethin’? Or are ya sellin’?” Said the raccoon, squinting at Jay as he wiped his eyes.

Without the mound of junk muffling his voice, Jay heard who he assumed to be Arlie loud and clear.

He still took a few stunned seconds to reply.

“Umm, neither. I have this shield that I’m struggling to attune to. My friends told me to come here and ask you to take a look at it. They didn’t tell me anything else.”

The raccoon hopped out from the pile. No longer covered in rubble, Jay saw that he was wearing a thick leather apron, tailored exactly to his size, and nothing else. He had an entirely mechanical right arm, noticeably larger than his left, which he pointed above the shelf nearest Jay.

The raccoon shut his left eye before shooting a harpoon out of his forearm. It knocked over a replica galleon and at least five books before wrapping around the top shelf and pulling taut.

The shopkeeper hopped in the air and his arm rapidly reeled him towards Jay.

The raccoon sat on the now empty top shelf. He gave Jay a once-over before examining the shield and scratching his chin with his non-mechanical hand.

“You got a name?”

“I’m Jay. Are yo-”

“Shh!” he jumped on Jay’s shoulder and pressed his ear against the shield. He held up a metal finger to Jay’s lips and spared him a quick glance.

The shopkeeper pointed down at the shield.

“I was askin’ her.”

Jay waited in stunned silence as the shopkeeper nodded and whispered at the shield. After a brief and one-sided discussion, the raccoon hopped back onto the bookshelf and dangled his legs in the air.

“Pleased to meet ya, Jay. I’m Arlie. Sure you didn’t come here to sell? I’d give ya good money for her.” Arlie nodded at the shield as he went back to scratching his chin, somehow dislodging even more rust.

“Sorry. Not for sale.” Said Jay. “Can you help me out though?”

“Shame, it was worth a try. She likes ya. I don’t know why. Why’d you try and give a beaut like her a boring old name like Zeus? Come. Follow me. It’s too crowded here.”

Before Jay could reply, Arlie jumped off the shelf. He fired his grappling hook into a bronze loop nailed to the ceiling and swung through a doorway at the back of the shop.

Jay followed Arlie, taking slightly less care not to knock anything over after seeing how the owner treated the shop.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

—

Jay poked his head through the doorway into a room just as cluttered as the first. A flicker of movement and a stack of falling books to his right signalled where Arlie went. Jay followed the swinging raccoon’s trail of destruction down a set of stairs.

The narrow stairs whined under Jay’s weight as he descended into the basement. He carefully planted each foot, wary not to tread too hard or slip on the errant sheets of paper coating each step.

Arlie’s basement was slightly tidier than his storefront. Piles of worn-out clutter still heaped in the corners, but Arlie had swept open a small opening in the basement’s centre.

He fished inside a pile of metal scraps, shoving his mechanical arm in up to its shoulder before pulling out a bronze contraption and tossing it at Jay.

“Wind that up a few times would ya.”

How?

Jay set his shield down and inspected the device. It was mostly bronze, about as large as his fist, and a golden coil jutted out of the top. Nothing looked like it could wind except the coil. When Jay tried to twist it, he had to put in all his force just to get a quarter turn.

While Jay grappled with the machine, Arlie began searching a different pile of rubble. He tossed a steel kettle onto the ground near Jay and swung his way to a dusty wooden cabinet at the far edge of the room. He grabbed an almost yellowing bottle of water before leaping onto Jay's shoulder.

“Come on! You can push harder than that!” He tapped Jay’s biceps a few times. “Or are these beefcakes just for the ladies? C’mon, toss it here.”

The raccoon grabbed the machine, he hopped onto the ground before shoving it underneath his armpit and clasping his mechanical hand over the coil. A jet of steam shot out of his elbow and his wrist began to rotate. Arlie laughed under his breath as he wound the device far faster than Jay ever could.

Arlie set the device on the ground. He looked up at Jay and grinned, shaking his mechanical arm as his hand continued rotating.

After the rotation had died down, Arlie bent over the device. He smacked its side with his real hand while snapping his metal fingers above it, raining sparks atop the machine.

The golden coil began to glow red. Jay spotted a barely visible flame above it before Arlie placed the kettle on top. The raccoon popped the cork off the bottle and began pouring the musty water into the kettle.

“Is that water safe to drink?” Asked Jay. The bottle didn’t just look old. Jay saw a layer of encrusted sediment at the bottom, refusing to move even when Arlie tipped the bottle aside.

“What? This?” Arlie thumbed the top of the bottle and vigorously shook it. He watched the dirt whirl around the bottle like a snow globe. “You’ll be fine… It’ll do wonders for your intestinal health.”

He reached into his apron pocket and grabbed a fistful of dull green herbs, sprinkling some into the kettle before stuffing the rest back into his pocket.

All that just for some tea?

“Ya know, I usually charge for this kinda thing, but I’ve got a good feeling about this. Sit down. The floor’s perfectly clean!

Arlie fished into the nearest pile and pulled out two chipped porcelain teacups without even looking. He grabbed the kettle just as it started hissing, pulling it into the air before punting the heater into a nearby scrapheap.

Arlie poured out two cups of tea. He paused and thought to himself, staring at the ceiling before placing the kettle on the floor. He picked up both cups before handing one to Jay.

“Here, drink this.”

Jay hesitated, waiting to see the raccoon take a sip before he did.

Arlie downed the whole cup in one.

He smacked his lips, letting out a satisfied sigh as he brought the teacup down. Jay watched his face light up with delight as he waddled back to the kettle.

He poured himself another cup. This time, after a much shorter pause, he flung the half full kettle back across the room.

“What are you waiting for?” he said, slurping up half of his second cup. “It’ll get cold!”

That’s… kinda what I was waiting for.

Jay took his first sip. The tea tasted slightly bitter and felt almost grainy inside his mouth. Even though it was still steaming, it didn’t feel hot at all.

Fuck it.

Jay followed Arlie’s lead and drank the rest in three big gulps.

Whatever this tea was, it couldn’t be that bad…

—

“C’mon. Place her in between us.” Said Arlie. He snatched the teacup out of Jay’s hands and gestured at the shield. He tossed both empty teacups over his shoulder into the basement’s stone walls.

The cups shrank as they soared away. Jay expected to hear them shatter against the wall, but he stared behind Arlie and watched them silently fade into darkness.

The shield.

Jay turned back to the whole reason he was here in the first place. He bent down to reach for the shield, stretching his arms forward to try and grasp it.

It was too far away.

Black and white flashed in Jay’s periphery. He tried to stay focused on the shield, but it felt like someone was tugging at his vision, trying to pull him aside. Jay squinted, narrowing in on the shield, but he couldn’t resist it. He flicked his head around.

Arlie sat there waiting for him. Smiling. He wasn’t on the floor anymore. The raccoon had dragged a rusty garden chair from the rubble and slouched in it, feet dangling off the edge.

One beady eye stared down at Jay through a pair of cracked sunglasses.

“C’mon. What are you waiting for?”

The shield!

Jay spun back; the shield was already at his feet. He placed a knee on the floor, stabilising himself as he reached for the shield again.

He clasped both hands against the shield’s edges. Gripping it tightly, like it would roll away the moment he let go.

With great effort, he heaved the tiny thing into the air.

Wait…

Jay stared at the shield, pressing his forehead into the cold metal. It pressed into the shield, and Jay felt droplets of cool liquid metal roll down his temples.

He pressed forward, further into the soft metal, until his eyeballs almost touched its surface.

It’s not tiny.

It’s…

Shield sized?

“C’mon. You’re so close now.”

Close to what? The sh-

The shield!

He was supposed to place the shield between them. But how? It was so heavy. Jay couldn’t even lift it off the ground.

CLANG!

What’s tha-

The shield!

A round blue metal thing dropped onto the ground between Jay and Arlie.

Did that thing make the noise?

What is it?

Jay dropped to all fours. Whatever this weird thing was, he needed to get a better view of it.

He crawled closer, inching his way towards the blue metal.

When he placed his hands on the blue… thing, it didn’t feel like metal. It didn't feel like much at all. Jay’s hand sank into the fuzzy blueness. It began to melt.

When he tried to lift his hand away, he couldn’t.

He slid his hands across the sludgy surface, leaning forward and sinking his cheekbone into the blue.

“That’s it. Now close your eyes.”

Jay closed his eyes.

“Close your eyes and see.”