Fantastopia: The New Life (Part 1)

From bad to awkward

The moment Aria and Dale entered the misty woods, they began to search for their friend who was nowhere to be seen.

“Jesse!” Aria called out, but there was no response “Oh man, how are we gonna find him now?”

All of a sudden, they heard the sound of Jesse’s loud shriek which caught their attention.

“I suggest we follow the sound of his terrified shrieks” Dale pointed out.

_________

One minute I was chasing after a pixie that stole my ring, and the next I’m getting chased by this scary monster creature who trying to kill me with his big a*s of a sword that was stained with blood. What was I thinking? Taking off my ring to clean it even though I have slippery fingers, especially in the woods! And now I have a killer monster after me as I did my best to dodge all of his swings from his bloodied sword.

To make matters worse, I didn’t have any weapons on me, not even my pocket knife which I stupidly left in my backpack. Besides, even if I did have it with me it wouldn’t do anything against this beast. So I was weaponless, I was lost, and I was already getting tired running from this monster, so I knew that I was most likely gonna get killed. And when I suddenly fell forward and turned around to see the monster lifting his sword above me, I knew that it was coming for me.

But right before he could strike me, I suddenly heard something hitting against the beast as his body jerked up. And when he began to fall forward, I quickly rolled out of the way as the monster collapsed to the ground where I saw a hatchet had been thrust down into the back of his head that made my heart jump a bit. When I turned my head, I was relieved to see Aria and Dale who both had worried looks on their faces. And seeing how Dale was in front of Aria, I was assuming that he was the one who threw the hatchet, nice job, Dale.

“Are you alright?” Aria asked worriedly.

“I’m fine.” I assured as I got myself up and let out a deep breath “Thanks.”

“What were you thinking going off like that?” she demanded.

“It wasn’t my fault,” I explained, “This little pixie stole my ring and I chased after it and it led me into here.”

“Ugh, Pixies” Dale spat, “I never liked those little people.”

“How did a pixie steal your ring?” Aria asked puzzled “It couldn’t have taken it off of you.”

“Yeah um...” I muttered a bit embarrassingly “I made the wrong choice of taking my ring off to clean in when I dropped it.”

“Oh man,” she groaned.

“I’m sorry.” I regretted “I can be a bit of a clean freak sometimes.”

“Well, you’re lucky that Dale found his foal in time, otherwise we wouldn't have found out you were missing.”

“Oh, he found the foal?” I remarked surprised “That’s good.”

“Yep,” Dale responded while pulling the hatchet out of the monster’s head “And I suggest we get out of here before more orcs come.”

“Wait,” my eyes widen as I looked down at the monster’s body “That was an orc?!”

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

“I thought orcs were just a Tolkien thing.”

“Nope,” Aria shook her head “They’re real here too.”

“But-” I gasped, “I thought orcs were the same thing as ogres.”

“Yeah, a lot of people think that. I can explain it to you on the way cause we really need to get out of these woods.”

We were able to find out way out of the misty woods and back into the more enchanted woods as we began to head back to Dale’s farm.

“So, ogres and orcs may appear similar” she began to explain “In fact, I think they might be distantly related. But orcs are more related to goblins, hence making them dangerous creatures, just like the ones created by Tolkien. And even though ogres and orcs are both deadly, some ogres can be trusted, like Oswind, but all orcs can’t be trusted.”

“I see.” I stated, “So, how did Oswind get to be trusted? And how come he doesn’t appear dangerous?”

“I’m not exactly sure how he got to be trusted. He’s been around the palace for a long time, even before I was born. Apparently, his whole family was friends with the Royals. But I bet if you ask him nicely he could tell you his backstory. Although he doesn’t seem to talk about his past much.”

“In my opinion,” Dale spoke up “I don’t think it matters how he got to be trusted, I like him, it’s great to have him around, especially when you need someone to lift something heavy for you.”

I chuckled, “And I thought elves were stronger than humans.”

“Oh, we are” he nodded, “But we can’t always carry everything.”

“Well uh, what about Lindel?” I put in, “How did he get to be a part of the royal palace?”

“Actually,” Aria smiled, “Hobgoblins have been around the royal palace since the very beginning. As you probably know, hobgoblins are the safer versions of goblins. And from what I know, they’ve been helping out at the palace for as long as they’ve lived.”

“Wow,” I remarked astonishingly “Are there any other mythical creatures who help out as the castle?”

“Oh, there’s plenty. I would name them all, but I might lose count.”

Okay, now that just got me curious about what other mythical creatures are in that castle. But by the time we got to Dale’s farm, all of the animals seem to be in place, including the foal who was reunited with its mother as we watched them in their stalls.

“So, do you take care of all the animals?” I asked Dale.

“Most of them.” he shrugged, “But my parents and older sister usually do it whenever I’m not around.”

“And where are they now?”

“My parents are working in the city and my sister-”

But right before he could finish, we suddenly heard footsteps as we turned to see a young elven woman entering the barn while carrying some hay. I assumed her to be Dale’s sister due to the similar blue eyes she bared along with her dark hair that was wrapped up in a messy bun.

“Happens to be right here” Dale pointed with a smile.

“Oh,” his sister stopped when she saw the guests “Dale, I didn’t know you had guests over.”

“Oh, they were just helping me out.”

“Did you lose another animal?” she smirked.

“... No,” he replied while biting his lip.

“He did,” Aria suddenly spoke, “But it’s all good, we found it.”

“Oh, Dale” his sister groaned while setting the hay down “You have got to remember to close the doors.”

“I was in a hurry!” he complained, “I had to pee!”

“Well remember to go before you work!”

“Ugh!” he groaned.

I had to chuckle, typical siblings. Although I could tell they were nothing like me and Kendra, lucky them.

“Oh,” she suddenly turned to me “I don’t believe I’ve seen you here before.”

“This is Jesse” Aria introduced “Our new chosen hero.”

“Oh really?” she gasped when she spotted the ring on my finger “It is you. That’s amazing.”

She then held her hand out towards me.

“Nice to meet you, Jesse” she smiled “I’m June, Dale’s older sister.”

“Is your birthday in June?” I asked as we shook hand “Is that where you got your name.”

“First day of June to be exact.”

“No way,” I smiled amusedly “My birthday’s in June too.”

“It is?” Aria remarked, “When?”

“The 10th.”

“So you will be turning 25 this year, right?”

“Correct. When’s your birthday?”

“December 4.”

“In that case,” I smirked, “I will make sure to get you something special.”

“Oh really?” she smirked back.

“Oh, are you two together?” June suddenly asked.

“WHAT?!” Aria and I screamed in unison.

Both of our eyes were wide as I noticed Aria’s cheeks turning pink and I felt mine doing the same thing. As much as I would love to be with Aria, I couldn’t lie. Besides, I’ve only known her for a few days so there’s still no much to learn about her.

“Oh uh- we’re not together!” we both replied embarrassingly.

“We’ve only known each other for a few days” Aria explained as she tried to calm herself.

“Oh, sorry about that” June giggled as Dale tried to hide his laughter with his hand over his mouth.

“It’s okay,” Aria assured with a flustered laugh.

She turned to me still fake laughing as I joined in in the embarrassed laughter. Both of our cheeks were still pink as we felt our fake laughs fade away as we let out deep sighs.

Well, that was certainly an awkward moment.