Someone more clumsy than me
1781 Words
Okay, now that that awkward moment was over, at least for now that is. I had to help Aria pick up the weapons and fix the stands, and I’m pretty sure I may have cut myself on the blades. It was fine though, the stands were pretty old and needed some fixing, but I really don’t think a hatchet in my weapon of choice.
We left the training arena after that and began down another hall until we entered some kind of dining hall. Once again, this was another part of the castle that looked really amazing. The room had two long dining tables with neat looking wooden chairs that had some leave designs. There was even a bigger chair at the very end which I presumed was for the king. But besides the cool designs this room had, what really caught my eye were the many portraits hanging on the walls of young men who I’m pretty sure were all the previous heroes.
“This is the Great Hall” Aria introduced, “This is where we have our meals and for all the warriors in training to dine in.”
“So, this castle is like an academy for warriors in training?” I questioned.
“Pretty much, we even have classrooms where they learn important subjects.”
“What do they learn besides how to s*******r people?”
“Well-” she snickered, “They basically learn all about Fantastopia, from the geography, etymology of spells, anatomy of the creatures here, the history of our land, and even certain languages like Latin.”
“Really huh?” I smiled amusedly, “Say, what other languages are spoken here?”
“Well, everyone here can speak multiple languages. The main languages in this world are English, French, German, Scandinavian, and some of the older ones still speak Old English and Latin.”
“Whoa,” I breathed astonished, “Old English and Latin?”
“Yeah,” she nodded with a small smile.
“That’s incredible.”
“I know, and that’s why we offer classes in certain languages like those two.”
“So, I’m guessing there’s no Elvish language?”
“Really?” she smirked.
I chuckled, come on, I had to ask that.
“Hey, I still think it’s pretty impressive that Tolkien created his own languages for his books” I commented, “I mean, I can’t even do that.”
“As much as I agree with you, there is no Elvish language, no matter how remarkable that would be.”
“In that case, do you speak any other languages?”
“Well, all elves like me actually know German. In fact, German was one of the most popular languages spoken back then. We may have evolved towards English, but we all gotta know our German.”
“Wow. You know I actually know some German as well.”
“Is that so?” she smirked.
I can tell she was going to say something to me in German, and I was ready for it.
“Welche anderen sprachen sprichst du?” (What other languages do you speak?)
“Ich kann Spanisch, Französisch, ein bisschen Japanisch, und im moment lerne ich noch Latein.” (I know Spanish, French, a bit of Japanese, and right now I’m still learning Latin)
“Beeindruckend” she grinned. (Impressive)
“Danke.” (Thanks)
“Wow,” she smiled amazedly “When did you learn these languages?”
“Well, I’ve always known Spanish from watching ‘Dora the Explorer’, who knew that kid could be a good teacher?”
“What?”
Oh crap, did I really just say that? Dammit! I should have said ‘Go Deigo Go’ instead.
“Uh-” I began, “What I meant to say was, I’ve known Spanish since I was a kid, they taught it at my school.”
“Oh. But what’s ‘Dora the Explorer’?”
“Oh wait, you don’t know that show” I breathed in relief, “That’s a relief. But, never mind that.”
“Okay?”
Jeez, why do I have to be like this?
“Um, so-” I changed the subject before things could get more awkward as I turned to the portraits “Are these the portraits of the previous heroes?”
“Yep, we have them all from the very first one”
She pointed to the wall behind me as I turned around to see something that amazed me. Right above the door was this huge portrait of the very first hero of Fantastopia. I gotta be honest, he kinda looked like Ryan Gosling, but man that armor he’s wearing looks epic. He stood in a sort of hero’s position, tall and firm and with a look that shows honor.
“The very first master of the ring,” Aria smiled at the portrait “Your ancestor, Phillip Golding.”
“Whoa,” I breathed, full of bewilderment “This is so cool.”
“It’s actually where we got the name of your ring. Most of us just call it ‘the ring’, but its given name is the Golding.”
“Golding huh?” I remarked while looking at the ring on my finger “Kinda ironic how the ring is silver instead of gold.”
“I know, I was thinking the same thing. But it doesn’t matter, it’s powerful and you should always keep it safe.”
“I will” I promised, “But speaking of the ring, what do you know about it?”
“Not much actually, all I know is that it senses when evil is back, and it never makes a mistake when it chooses its new master.”
I looked down at the ring again, feeling that it may have made a mistake this time. I still can’t believe that I can do this, once again, I’m not a fighting type of guy, plus I don’t wanna die!
“Jesse,” Aria spoke, catching my attention “I know what you’re thinking, and no, the ring did not make a mistake choosing you.”
How did she-?!
“Okay, are you like some mind reader or something?” I demanded, “Because it seems you can always tell what I’m thinking.”
“No, I am not a mind reader. I’m just good at knowing what people think by their facial expressions and body language.”
“Of course” I breathed frustrated.
“Hey, the ring did not make a mistake. Just give it time, and you’ll see that it was right to choose you.”
Sigh.
“Hey, think of this.”
She grabbed onto my jaw with one hand and moved my face to stare at the portrait of the first hero.
“One day, when it’s your time to retire, your portrait will be up on these very walls with the rest of the previous heroes. You’ll become a legend, doesn’t that sound nice?”
I shrugged, “That depends, how many of the heroes have actually died before their retirement?”
“Um...” she avoided eye contact while twiddling her fingers “A few...”
“Great,” I grunted, “That’s good to know.”
“Look,” she sighed, “If you want to know more about your ring, I’ll take you to meet my enchantress friend Wren. She knows more about the ring than anyone.”
An enchantress? I don’t know how I feel about this. Is she gonna be like Morgana? Oh wait, Aria said this enchantress was her friend, boy I hope she’s right.
We headed out of the Great Hall as I followed Aria. But just as we were walking down the hall, we suddenly stopped when someone stepped into view. It was a young elf guy, probably about our age with a huge crate in his arms. He was struggling to keep it up as he tried to keep his legs still.
“Easy now,” I heard him mutter to himself “You’ve got this. Just take this to the arena, and you’ll be fine.”
He didn’t look fine at the moment, he looked like he was about to fall down at any moment. And I stood correctly when the weight began to take him forward. Without even thinking, I ran at him and caught the crate before it could hit the ground.
“I’ve got it,” I told him as we both lifted the crate back up.
“Oh thanks,” he breathed in relief.
“Let’s just set this down for a moment.”
He nodded as we set the crate on the floor.
“Thanks again,” he thanked in ease.
“No problem,” I patted his shoulder.
He must have noticed my ring because he couldn’t take his eyes off my hand.
“It’s you,” he gasped, “You’re the chosen one.”
“Um, yeah I guess so” I shrugged.
Chosen one? So cliche.
“Your Richard’s grandson. Um... Joey?”
“Jesse.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I snickered, “But who might you be?”
“Oh um, I’m Dale,” he held his hand out as we shook hands “I’m a good person, I swear.”
Okay?
“He’s one of my friends,” Aria came up to us, “And he’s also one of the warriors in training.”
“Oh really?” I remarked while turning to him “How’s that going for you?”
“Eh,” he shrugged.
“Good answer.”
Wow, this guy.
“He’s a great fighter,” Aria commented, “Very skilled with an ax.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Dale nodded, “I live on a farm so I’ve always been handy with an ax. Except for that one time when I accidentally chopped off my uncle’s finger.”
Uh, what now?
“He forgave me, it was just his pinkie.”
Somehow I don’t feel reassured. But how does a guy cut off another guy’s finger by accident?
“Anyway!” Aria suddenly spoke, most likely to break the awkwardness “What are you doing with that crate, Dale?”
“Oh,” he replied while looking down at the crate, “I was just taking these to the arena.”
I looked into the crate to see that it was filled with what I first assumed to be ornaments made from stone, but as I looked closer, I realized that they were grenades.
“Are those grenades?” my eyes widen.
“Yep,” Dale grinned while picking up one “Made by the same dwarves who made my ax, those guys are some of the best weapon makers.”
“Dale...” Aria suddenly uttered while stepping back “I’d put that down if I were you, remember what happened last time?”
Last time? That doesn’t sound good.
“Don’t worry,” he assured, “These aren’t filled yet, so nothing will happen if I-”
You know, when Aria told me that she had a friend who isn’t the brightest elf, I’m starting to think this is him because that grenade just slipped out of his fingers and landed right on his toes as he clenched his fists and his face blew up like he was holding back the pain, and by the looks of it, it must have really hurt.
“This is still better than blowing up,” he winched while bending down and picking up the empty grenade.
“Yeah um-” he muttered while tossing the grenade into the crate, “I’ll take care of this later, I gotta go see a nurse.”
Depending on how hard that thing fell on his toes, I think he might have to see a surgeon instead.
“It was nice meeting you Jerry,” he turned to me.
“Jesse,” I corrected.
“Right, sorry. I’ll uh, I’ll see you around.”
He patted my shoulder as he began down the hall while limping on his hurt foot while muttering- “Ow. s**t. Ow. Shit...”
“So...” Aria said to me as we watched him limp down the hall “That was Dale.”
“Is he the one you told me about who’s not the brightest?” I asked, even though I most likely knew the answer.
“What do you think?” she tittered.
“Right, I don’t even know why I asked.”
“He may be a fool, but he really is a good friend and a good fighter.”
“I’ll take your word for it. Though if I were him, I’d probably go see a surgeon instead of a nurse.”
- Writer
