The King Of Adventure

Problem Arises 2

Derek's POV

It's been two weeks since I returned home, and my father’s workshop was sold a week ago, my mother had wept bitterly; she found it difficult to believe the business she and father had worked so hard for was just sold away. And day by day, it was getting harder to make ends meet, and due to my grandmother's medication fee, I've been doing menial jobs which clearly hasn't been enough, it was so hard to get a job that pays well since Gardenia was in bad times.

My cousin,Toby had gotten back from Caravelle: one of the neighboring kingdoms four days ago, legend says Caravelle was a kingdom with half-humans and half magic, my grandma said it was because a human once saved a fairy, and seeing the kindness in him, the fairy allowed the human and his family to stay and master the knowledge about all the mystical creatures in Caravelle, but I don't believe in magic, so I never really believed it was real, the place is said to be transaction place for all the seven kingdoms: people from all over the valley come to sell and buy things in Caravelle and there is nothing you want that you can't find in Caravelle, from magical weapons to mystical pets, potions and so on.

“Earth to Derek.” Immediately I jerk forward from my sleep and groaned,

“Hey, I've been calling you for some time now.” Toby said, chewing on what seemed like a tree branch,

“Do you want to go for practice or not?” he has always been the playful one between us, he's been staying with us since the death of his parents, and he also believes in the story my grandma Pabby tells us which makes me the bad egg who doesn't believe or care.

Till now, we never knew what had happened to Toby’s parents, he was there, but he never spoke about it, so we concluded he lost his memory, and after he was kicked out of the martial arts school, he then left for Caravelle according to him, and let’s just say Master Fung is not a great fan of him, and the feeling was mutual.

He suddenly said making potions was his passion and he wanted to learn about all the magical creatures in the seven kingdoms and believed Caravelle is the best place for his passion, although mother did not support the idea, he was still allowed to leave.

“Of course, why not.” I quickly replied as I noticed he was already getting impatient,

waking up wasn't always easy for me, especially in a time like this because I know waking up means facing all my problems again,

“Derek hurry! We're gonna be late." he yelled, immediately I jerked away from my thought,

“Coming!" I said, immediately grabbing my bow and arrow and rushing out to meet him.

Toby and I set out to the woods for practice, I wish we were at Mr. Fung's, it was more conducive to practice than the woods, but anyway it's better than nothing.

We started immediately on arriving at the woods, I practice my arching skills because master Fung said I have to work more on it, while Toby also practiced more on his sword skills, although he still sucks at it; he practically flunked the academy when everyone was training.

We soon became exhausted, so we decided to retire for the day, so I packed my bow and arrow and headed to my part-time job while Toby went back to help my father at home.

Along the way, I could feel the hair on my neck stand: someone was following me, ‘pickpockets’ I thought out loud, so I hid and waited until the person showed himself, but what I didn't expect to see was an old haggard-looking lady, so I came out and on seeing me she took to her heels,

“Hey, wait up! Who are you? Why are you following me?” I yelled as I ran after her but on getting to the corner by the street, she was gone, ‘that was strange’ I thought, but I shrugged it off as I realized I was getting late.

Later in the evening, it was pretty much cold, luckily Marie had stopped by with my coat in the afternoon; I didn't miss the worried look she had when she saw my situation at work, I quickly pack up and left for home.

On getting home, I couldn't stop feeling uneasy, something was wrong, then I heard my mother scream from the yard,

I immediately rushed inside only to find that everywhere has been destroyed,

“Who did this?” I asked Toby, who was trying to calm my mother down; I could feel rage running through my veins, immediately my mother ran over to me,

“Marie! My Marie, please save her, I'm begging you.” she cried out as she slides down on her feet, my father then pulled me aside,

“The dime collectors had stopped by, I don't know how they found out that we were bankrupt…they took Marie.” He ushered out, immediately I began to hyperventilate, I couldn't breathe well, God knows hell what they were going to do to her and at that moment, the world seems to be closing up on me,

“Why did they have to choose to come now of all time,” I suddenly realized that my father’s words were slowly turning to sounds in my ears, without uttering a word, I slowly turn around and dash out of the house: hopefully praying I was not too late,

“Please be okay, Marie."