Inside of a dusty unkempt house, an old man sat on a rocking chair. The chair creaked incessantly, proof that it had been the man’s favorite and most-used chair for years. Sitting across from him in a padded chair was Tray.
The elderly man, whose name was Agnar, had helped Tray drag Nate out of the river and brought him to this house where Nate now lay on a nearby sofa close a fireplace.
“So let’s see if I’m understanding you right...You say that a so-called game is the reason our cities were merged into one?”
“Yes, as far as I understand it. I don’t know the details of how such a thing is possible.” Nate replied in confirmation.
Agnar let out a deep breath. His adventuring years were over and he had gone into retirement. It seems that the adventure decided to come to his city’s doorstep today.
After a contemplative moment, Agnar spoke.
“Donnel, the captain of the city’s guard seems to think of you strangers and all the others like you to be the cause of this town’s change, but I think differently. If you were responsible, you would have been commanding the monsters, not throwing pebbles at it and nearly getting killed by it.”
The fireplace had finally managed to work up a proper temperature. Following this, the antique house’s frigid atmosphere was gracefully lifted away.
“You can find it down the hall; First door on the right.”
“Find what?” Tray asked,
“Some of my grandson’s spare clothing. Your garment is too obviously foreign to us, and until everything settles down it would be wise to not make yourself into a target.”
Seeing what he meant, Tray left the room and down a short hallway.
Inside the room to his right and hidden in a closet were a small number of clothes. Mostly simple cloth shirts and pants intended to be held together with a belt.
After dressing himself in one of them, he came out of the room bearing an extra pair for Nate, which he placed on the top of the couch that Nate was asleep on.
“Are you sure he's going to be okay?” Tray couldn't help but question.
“Oh, don't you doubt me! I used to be an adventurer, and a sporting good one at that. Your friend here was hit with a heat-seeking corrosion bolt, and the common cure for corrosion based magic is simply vinegar mixed with glassworm extract and bogroot powder” Agnar replied while gesturing towards two jars labeled 'dapperwood fungus' and 'Coffee'.
For unknown reasons, Tray's concerns were not lightened by very much, though he did remember that Agnar used different jars than what he was pointing at now.
“Besides that, your ribs are all healed up now. That should prove I know what I'm talking about. I'm going to need more duskrot leaves if anyone else gets injured though. Never saw a need to keep a large supply of the stuff when it goes sour so fast and constantly needs replaced.”
The room became quiet for several more minutes as Tray waited, still processing all that had happened that day now that he had a chance to stop and think. Agnar let the room and after rummaging around in another room he came back holding a kettle filled with water. He hung it over the fireplace and waited.
“Tea?”
“Yes, please.”
Before much longer had passed, Nate finally awoke.
“Where is this?..”
Tray jabbed at Nate's question by saying “Ikea. We got lost for days and couldn't get out.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the sun began to set, Nolan finally got a chance to take his stuffy helmet off. It didn't feel right, being ordered to hunt down helpless people who couldn't fight back. He was told they were the magic users who messed up the city, but they sure didn't act like it.
He trudged back to his home, an old rickety thing that his grandfather refused to sell or repair. Was he lucky or unlucky that this house was among the few that did not get changed? Would have made for a fine excuse to finally be rid of the place.
Upon opening the door, an unexpected sight met his eyes. His grandfather, Agnar, had guests; Two of them. One was reclining on the couch and the other was sitting in a nearby chair. Both were sipping cups of tea and wearing...
“Are those my clothes?” Nolan's voice entered the room.
“Yes they are. They look better on these two than they did on you anyway.” Was Agnar's response.
Nolan wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was his clothing, not Agnar's to give away to strangers.
A few awkward seconds went by before Agnar introduced them to Nolan.
“This man is Nolan. He's my grandson.” Gesturing to Tray, Agnar continued “This here is Nate...”
Tray was pointing to Nate as Agnar spoke, and when Agnar noticed this, he moved his hand to gesture to Nate.
“Ehem...Of course I meant to say that this one is Nate. The other one is Tray. They came from Loamsview the other day but were accosted by those wooden monsters on the edge of town before arriving here, so I invited them to my house and handed them some of your clothing to wear until we can at least sew up their torn clothing.”
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“Loamsview?” Noland asked “I've heard of it, but I've never been there myself before. What's it like out there?”
“It's a beautiful place. I quite like it there.” Nate spoke, but Tray flinched.
Tray hurriedly interrupted Nate by saying “...but not as nice as this place was. I mean, before it got all mixed up.”
“Want to sit with us? We've got tea.” Agnar said while holding up his cup.
Nolan turned Agnar down by saying “I'd love to stay and chat, but today's been a long and tiresome one. I'm sorry. Maybe some other time”
Not long after that, Nolan continued his path from the front door straight down the long hall to his own room.
Once Nolan entered his room and shut the door, Nate questioned Tray “Is something wrong with me saying it's a beautiful place?”
“It's in the name you dolt. Loam means dirt. It's literally named dirt's view. I highly doubt it's beautiful.”
“Oh,”
Agnar just chuckled at this before assuring them. “He'll just think it was sarcasm and laugh it off.”
“Didn't you say that he was your grandson? Why are we pretending to be from Loamsview instead of just telling him the truth?” Tray asked.
“Well, Tray, that's a bit of a story but I'll cut it short for ya. In my younger years I was an amazin' adventurer. Being the best of the best kinda got to my head, and so I caught the dumbest idea that to become truly strong, one needs to learn the hard way without guidance like a wimp.”
Agnar took another sip of his tea.
“So when the time comes that Nolan asks me to teach him to be strong like me, I all but boot him out the door telling him to, and I quote, just go an' hunt monsters or something. He never really forgave me for that. Later I learned that he became a city guard under the tutelage of Donnel. These days he is more loyal to Donnel than to me, and with Donnel's current behavior in mind I chose not to tell him about where you two come from.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Down the hall in Nolan's room, Nolan laid in his bed, emotionally depleted. He knew. He knew that Agnar's guests were some of the strangers that appeared in the city today. When he passed by that room, he had seen a shred of some foreign fabric in the bottom of the fireplace where they had burnt their old clothing to hide the evidence of who they were. Even without seeing that, there were just too many things that didn't add up about them.
He wasn't going to do anything about it. He already shed too much blood today on Donnel's orders.
Agnar may be old and retired, but he was still one of the top adventurers in his prime. His combat skill and strength may not have been the greatest, but his instincts were unparalleled. When Agnar trusted someone, chances were good that they were trustworthy.
If Agnar trusted Tray and Nate, then Nolan would too. Agnar's trust that those two were not a danger was enough evidence for Nolan. Something else bothered Nolan however. Agnar didn't tell Nolan the truth about those two guests. Did Agnar not his own grandchild?
Many long hours crept by before Nolan could pass out into sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The morning sun peeked above the horizon and started to shine it's majestic brilliant light across the land. A half-asleep Nate turned to the side so the sun would stop shining it's majestic brilliant light into his eyes.
Nolan was already gone. He left the house early dressed in his armor and didn't say anything as he went.
Nate pulled the blanket over his head. He had slept in the spare guest room. Tray who was in a healthier condition last night had slept on the sofa.
“RISE AND SHINE YA BUTTERCUP!” came a sudden and ominous voice from above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I've always wanted to do that.” spoke a gleeful Agnar, holding a wet bucket in his hand.
“I had hoped to never experience that. My hopes are shattered now.” spoke a somewhat less amused but slightly more drenched Nate.
The two of them and Tray had been led to a small dirt field just a couple blocks down from Agnar's home. Part of the field had been turned into sidewalk and grass, but it still functioned as a field.
“Do you know why I brought you here?”
“No, but that's probably because you didn't tell me anything besides RISE AND SHINE before dumping water on me.”
“It's unhealthy to be so pessimistic.” An amused Tray jibed at him, which just earned him a cold glare from Nate.
Agnar, happy as happy can be, strode to the center of the small field and beckoned the two of them over. When they came closer Agnar spoke
“I brought you out here because we were in my house, and I don't want to be teaching magic to a complete newbie inside my poor fragile ol' house.”
Tray and Nate both brightened up upon hearing that.
“It would be a shame for a talent bearer to waste his talent, so that is why I've taken it upon myself to teach you both. As you've told me already, neither of you have ever encountered magic or monsters until yesterday, so you'll need to learn to survive anyway.”
“Talent bearer?” Nate inquired.
“Yes, Talent bearer. Some monsters are stronger than others, and the people who kill those gain a talent that is thematically similar to what the monster was like. Tray, you landed the final blow against the wooden machination. You are a talent bearer. Instinctively you should be able to use it. Just think back to the rush of energy you got when you killed the beast. That rush of energy that allowed you to go help your friend out of the water after killing the monster despite being so injured earlier that you couldn't even walk properly.”
Tray was somewhat uncertain about this, but he tried to remember what it was like back then at that moment.
“What about me? What am I supposed to do?” Asked Nate.
Agnar handed him a stick. It was at this moment than Nate realized that Agnar brought two walking sticks instead of one.
“Hit me with that.” Agnar simply stated.
“Excuse me?” was all Nate could manage to say.
“You're excused. Now hit me.” Agnar said while making mocking gestures at Nate.
Nate wasn't the keenest on hitting old people with sticks, but this wasn't an ordinary old man. This was the old man who dumped water on him early in the morning.
It was also the old man who deftly dodged Nate's swing and smacked him upside the jaw with a stick. Nate tried again, but the old man parried Nate's next swing and bruised his leg with a harsh snap of the stick. The third attempt didn't go much better as Nate's attack was blocked and suddenly there was a handful of dirt thrown in his eyes.
“That's low!”
“It's also effective. Don't let me do it again.” Was Agnar's response to Nate's complaints.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nolan was walking torward the courtyard where Donnel was getting reports from the guards and re-assigning them as needed.
“Report.” Donnel bluntly demanded.
“I and my team finished patrolling the market district. No more strangers were spotted.”
“Very well. Go patrol the southern residential district and tell the team patrolling that area to return here.”
“Understood”
Donnel narrowed his eyes as Nolan and his two teammates left. That team found nothing again. All the other teams had been getting results and eradicating the strangers, sometimes chasing them as far as the outer woods. Nolan's team, however, had found nothing too many times in a row to be a coincidence. It's not like they didn't have a skillful tracker on the team.
Donnel stretched for a few seconds. He instructed Tain, his right hand man, to take his place and continue his work for him. He was tired of standing around and needed a break anyway.
It was time for him to personally investigate this matter.