Fantastopia: The New Life (Part 1)

Some history talk

Thankfully, the arena was empty when Aria and I got there so we were able to use the remaining time to finish my training for the day. I gotta say, I was getting the hang of using a sword. But I know the more I practice, the better I’ll get, and that way I can use Defender, while being careful of it, of course. But I also know that I need to train with other kinds of weapons, like the Chakrams that I haven’t tried out yet, now those I was looking forward to trying out, well, unless they happen to slice me by accident and I might wanna change weapons.

But as I left the arena and changed back into my normal clothes, I was about to rub the ring when I looked up and spotted the opened doors that led to the Great Hall with all the portraits of the previous heroes. I still had time before I go so I might as well check out the Great Hall, I didn’t get a chance to see all of the portraits so I might as well do it now. As I entered the empty Great Hall, I was amazed by how many portraits there were of the previous heroes who were also my ancestors.

I started at the portrait of the first hero, Phillip Golding, and then I followed the timeline of the heroes throughout the years. Every one of them looked as brave as ever, but when I came to a certain one, I stopped as I stared at the portrait, or in this case, a black and white photograph in a medium-sized frame with the name embedded on a golden tag.

Richard Lawerence Turner.

My grandfather.

I’ve seen some photos of my grandfather at a young age, but not like this. He was dressed in a typical warrior’s outfit that consisted of a brown leather jacket along with some fingerless glove which made him look pretty cool. He was sitting on a wooden chair with a sword placed by his side that he held up with one hand by the handle. It was so hard to believe this was him, I can’t imagine my 80-something-year-old grandfather with white hair, wrinkles, and yellow teeth as this young guy in the photograph.

But hey, we all gotta get old someday.

“Your grandfather was really handsome when he was young” I turned to see Wren entering. Oh great, just the person I needed to see.

“He was a lot like you actually.” she added “Kind of clumsy, but also smart.”

She then turned to face me as she stared into my eyes, appearing to be studying me.

“Are your eyes blue or green?” she asked.

“They’re green.”

“Oh, I could’ve sworn they were blue like your grandfather’s. I could barely tell those two colors apart on eyes.”

“Don’t worry,” I smirked “You’re not the only one. My dad sometimes forgets what color my eyes are. Heck, he even sometimes forgets my birthday.”

“Ooh,” her face tightened.

“Yeah” I chuckled. My dad may have a high paying job, but he can sure forget little things like that easily.

Seriously, dad, you need to step up your game.

“So,” I spoke to change the subject “I’m guessing you knew all these heroes, huh?”

“I did” she replied with a small smile as she turned to the portrait of Phillip “From the very first one. I even remember the day I first met him, we literally ran into each other in the woods, it hurt, but I’m glad it happened.”

As she stared at the portrait, I noticed that she had this dreamy look in her eyes as she kept that small smile on her face. Why was she doing that? She didn’t seem to notice that I was staring at her until I cleared my throat.

“Oh,” Wren snapped out of her thinking “So uh, are you about to leave?”

“I was going to, but I decided to have a look at the portraits before I go. And then I came upon the one that showed my grandfather. I still can’t believe this was him back then, he was actually good-looking.”

“He was,” Wren snickered “He was so nice too. I can see why Luna fell for him, I actually thought they were pretty good together.”

“Wait,” I raised my eyebrows “They were actually together?”

“For a while, yes. But I’m sure your grandfather told you why they couldn’t be together. Them having separate lives in two different worlds, and then with Luna passing. It was another death I had to witness, such a dreadful thing.”

“I bet” I sighed sadly “Were you close with my grandfather?”

“Well um, I try not to get too close with anyone because of my immortality, but I did like your grandfather. Oh who am I kidding, I liked all of your ancestors.”

“Did you meet my grandmother Darlene?”

“I did meet her.” she nodded “I wasn’t surprised when Richard told me that she found out his secret. Those two were practically inseparable, I knew she would find out eventually. She was so brave and nice, and I wasn’t even surprised when she and Richard got married.”

“Did you go to their wedding?”

“Oh no, weddings aren’t my thing. But he did send me a photograph, those two are a lovely couple.”

“They are,” I smiled when I suddenly realized that I’ve got some questions that need answering “Hey uh before I go, I’ve got questions I need to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

“First off, do you like have a box that I can put the ring in when I’m not wearing it? Lately, I’ve been keeping it in my backpack, but-”

“Bad idea” she cut in with a frown “It could easily get stolen.”

“I know” I responded obviously “That’s why I’m asking you if you have something I can put it in to keep it safe. My grandfather suggests a box made of iron or something.”

“He’s not wrong” she smirked while holding up her palm to show me a small square box “I’ve got one right here, made completely out of iron. And if I were you, I’d sprinkle some salt inside to extra protection.”

“Right” I pointed while taking the box “He also mentioned that. And another thing I wanted to ask you, is there a way I can control the ring so that it can take me wherever I need to be. Like when I go back to my world, it always seems to drop me off in random places. So is there a way I can control that?”

“As a matter of fact, there is a way. The reason your ring has been taking you to those random places is that you’re not focusing on where you want to be taken to. It’s doing that to keep you safe and hidden from anyone.”

“I see” I understood “So if I know where I need to go and if I know that no one will be around to see me, all I have to do is focus on that spot and the ring will take me there?”

“You have to be sure that no one will spot you.”

“What happens if someone does spot me?”

“Find some excuse to convince him he didn’t see that he thought he saw. Do whatever it takes- make up a lie, knock him out, kill him, anything to take his mind off of it.”

“Uh...” I froze by her options, especially the killing part “Are there any other and safer options?”

“Well...” she began to think “There is this.”

She held up her hand to reveal a small black drawstring bag. So can she just make anything appear in her hands?

“This is an amnesia powder” she explained “All you gotta do is blow some into someone’s face and they won’t remember anything in the past five minutes. However, I recommend you only use these when you really have to because these are really hard to obtain. So use them wisely.”

“I promise” I assured while taking the bag that felt surprisingly light.

“Any other questions?”

“Yeah actually. On that guide of the ring colors and their meanings, just out of curiosity, what happens when the ring turns black?”

The enchantress let out a deep sigh while clasping her hands in front of her.

“It hasn’t happened in years” she began in a mumble, “I think it only happened once in the 19th century to one of the heroes. When the darkness took over him, his ring turned black.”

A shiver went down my spine. I could even feel my ring turning orange.

“What do you mean when the darkness took over him?” I asked nervously.

“Apparently Z got the best of him and was able to somehow brainwash the hero into joining him, he got the hero to do terrible things. And the worst part was, the hero has no idea what was happening to him. Thankfully, we were able to get our hero back to normal, but he had no memory of anything that he did.”

Holy s**t, now that scared me.

“How were you able to bring him back?” I questioned.

“To be honest” she breathed “I don’t remember, I wasn’t there when it happened. But I’m just glad he was alright.”

She then turned her head to one of the portraits of an older black and white photograph that showed a young man in his heroic pose.

“Your many greats grandfather Henry” Wren pointed “He actually almost died because of that brainwash. And to this day, I still have no idea how it even happened.”

“Oh jeez” I shook with fright “I can see why you don’t want my ring to turn black.”

“That’s all I can say about that. Now as much as I would like to answer some more questions, I need to go to my room so I can lay on my bed and stare into the abyss. Goodbye.”

And just like that, she poofed into a cloud of purple smoke that unfortunately blew in my face as I coughed while brushing away the smoke. And as soon as the haze faded away, Wren was nowhere to be seen. I guess she likes to make a dramatic exit as well as an entrance. But did she really have to go with the smoke?

As soon as all of the smoke has faded away, I turned my attention to the portraits of the heroes, especially on my grandfather and the one called Henry who somehow got brainwashed into turning evil. My ring was still orange just thinking about it.

“I hope you fellas can look out for me,” I said to the portraits “And um- if you guys can, maybe you can help me out with Aria, see if I can be a match for her... why am I talking to a bunch of portraits? I must be losing my mind.”