Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 6. A thousand words
A few days pass and nothing of importance happens, other than the short celebration of Edwad’s twenty-first birthday. Peter rests his head, having been kicked by a leg as hard as steel, and everyone else lays around. But to make them later than they already are, the bolt on their wheel pops off. In the sudden stop, the carriage waves side to side, falling over, right on top of the wheel that had popped off, crushing it.
Edward: “DAMMIT!”
Edward hops off, pushing the carriage back over. Gray and the others fall out of the carriage, nauseous and annoyed.
Gray: “WHAT THE HELL!”
Soku: “Did we hit something?”
Peter walks out of the carriage, looking at the broken wheel.
Peter: “No fixing this anytime soon.”
Edward: “I swear I didn’t hit anything.”
Gray: “Did the carriage feel different? Maybe those thieves messed with it.”
Edward: “They couldn’t have. But we checked right after they left to make sure of it.”
Peter runs a bit back to pick up the bolt, further inspecting it.
Peter: “IT SEEMS LIKE IT WAS JUST TOO LOSE!”
Rosemary: “At any point did it feel loose?”
Edward: “The only time it did was when we left…the fourth or fifth village, but I assumed that the bolts just set into place.”
Gray sits down, criss-cross style, and thinks to himself for a moment.
Gray: “Maybe those thieves weren’t just randoms. Soundless thieves, a kick so hard it feels like being hit by a metal rod, a lighting magic user…hell, I didn’t even know you could have a lightning affinity.”
Rosemary: “You shouldn’t be able to, that’s something only spirit mages with expensive wands or staffs can use.”
Gray: “So they have money, have the skill to rob us in a second, can get away, and have the confidence to do all of it.”
Gray concludes, standing up as he does so.
Gray: “I think this was planned. They’re following us, trying to slow us down. The mail came in late, they messed with our wheels, and tried to steal our stuff, stalling us in the process.”
Edward: “It could be the Sect…or some outside source not wanting us to come here.”
Soku: “Yeah maybe, but the only people who know Greenvales location outside of us and the Walgonian government are Julius. That we know of at least.”
Rosemary: “But he’s the one that invited us, why would he try to stop us if he didn’t want us to come?”
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Gray: “King Cornelius was on that paper too, maybe he doesn't want us comin’. He’s the mad king after all, he could be planning something.”
Edward: “All the more reason to get there. The main gates of Valatrocitus’ capital are closed every day other than Mondays, and today’s Saturday, so we’d have to wait a week if we miss it.”
Soku: “And we’re supposed to be there by tomorrow. So we could just walk.”
Gray: “That could take too long. We have the Silver Chariot in the back but it won’t start, and all of our stuff won't fit so we can’t ride in it anyway, and with Luna as well? I’m not leaving her.”
Peter walks up and sits on the ground.
Peter: “If we didn’t get robbed…we wouldn’t have lost so much time.”
Gray: “We only lost like thirty minutes, don’t beat yourself up over it.”
Edward: “Look, they’re a few trees back that way. If we chop one down, we might be able to kindle something.”
Soku: “That would take way too long...do have any extra clothes? The wheel broke into large pieces, we could just tie it up.”
Rosemary: “Maybe…but it’ll just break again if it even holds at all.”
Peter: “It’s starting to get dark…if Valatrocitus is only two days away, but five or six by walking…we should be able to make it if we lose a day on the carriage.
Gray turns to Peter, a bit confused about his idea.
Peter: “I’ll try to nail the pieces back together, but that’ll take a bit. And then we can leave right after.”
They all turn to each other, accepting the plan.
Gray: “If it’s all we got, then it’s all we’ll do. Peter you get to nailin. Soku, Rosemary, you guys set up camp. I’ll see if I and Edward can get the Silver Chariot to start up.”
Rosemary and Soku start taking the camping supplies out of the carriage, Peter grabs his tools, and Gray unlocks the caged wagon where the Silver Chariot is staying.
Edward: “I don’t know how this thing works so I can't really help, sorry”
Gray: “That’s fine. The wheels are connected to an axle that connects the other wheels. Then the steering wheel on the driver's side moves through the wheels. Then the engine is powered by energized blank crystals, it’s what fuels it too. Though we just gotta recharge them pretty often. And they either don't charge right, overcharge and explode, explode for no reason, starts to smoke, lights on fire, yada yada.”
Edward: “Okay...um...So what did you need my help for?”
Gray: “To be frank, I didn’t. I wanted to talk to you.”
Gray's response confuses Edward, prompting him to pay closer attention.
Gray: “You freaked out badly when you lost your bag. Now I would have reacted the same way, but you didn't get mad, you got sad. Why was that?”
Edward: “It’s nothing, I was just surprised.”
Edward tries to lie, though he’s so bad at it Gray sees right through it. They stay in silence for a bit until Edward laments.
Edward: “I lost a picture of my mother and I…It’s the only one I had…and it’s the last thing I have from the Island we lived on together. It was in the bag…and now it’s gone.”
Gray is stunned, tries to be sympathetic, but then just gets quiet. Gray goes on to say he feels sorry, but by the look on Edward's face, he chooses not to, and just to remain silent.
Edward: “Don’t tell Peter…I don’t want him to feel worse than he already does.”
Gray understands this notion and starts recharging the blank crystals. But outside the wagon, sitting down beside the carriage is the nosey and now distraught Peter, quivering, entrenched in a feeling of guilt and loneliness.
Rosemary: “Come on! Fire, tents, and food are ready!”
Gray: “Dang that fast?”
Gray, Edward, and Peter walk to the camp, finding Soku struggling to put up the tents, while Rosemary tries not to burn the food above a blazing fire. Gray and Edward quickly move in to help with the campfire, while Soku just walks away from the tents, which tells Peter that he’s the one who needs to do it.
Rosemary: “Sorry, we haven't had to do this the whole trip.”
Gray: “Nah, it’s good. You started the fire better than me.”
Rosemary: “Oh, it’s because I found this.”
Rosemary pulls out a small contraption, a flame crystal inside of a rectangular metal case, and with the insertion of mana, it creates a small flame through a small hole on the top.
Gray: “Oh, you found my lighter. Peter and I made it, I guess I left it lying around.”
Soku walks up, pulling slabs of wood with hinges connected to smaller pieces on the bottom. And when she unlocks the henges, the small wooden pieces swing out, being locked in place again.
Gray: “Nice, you got the benches.”
Soku: “Yeah, I thought you were making the fire each time. Didn’t know you were cheating.”
Gray: “No cheaters here, just a guy with a big enough brain to solve the issue, and most of Peter’s help.”
Edward: “Speaking of Peter, hey Peter! Come on!”
Edward calls Peter over, and he slowly steps closer, holding the broken wheel. They all camp out, eating sausage cooked over a fire, talking and goofing around while doing so. The burnt wooden flakes fly around in the cold night sky, lit by the green-ish moon. Everyone spends their time just relaxing. Edward rests, Soku reads, Rosemary star gazes with Gray goofs around beside her, laying down the glance at the stars with her every few minutes. They all have fun, or at least do something, except Peter. He sits in the carriage, fixing the wheel, thinking about how much he’s messed up. This trip shows what everyone is like when they’re just relaxing and not needed for some grand battle, and without something to do, Peter is useless, or so he thinks.
Peter: “Why…am I so worthless…no. No, why is the world so unfair.”
Peter takes this chance to throw the idea of being the problem away, pushing the blame onto the world, onto other people, good or bad, he’s finding a way to cope, that may or may not come back to bite him later.
Peter: “Yeah…yeah! I don’t know how I never got this! I’m just not blessed, and I’m still here beside those who are blessed. I am worthy, these idiots who keep trying to pull me down aren’t. They're just cheaters”
With that as his new ideal system, the world is the problem. Everything is wrong other than himself. Pride and ego at its finest, even if he doesn't know it yet.
End of Chapter Six