Magnifico

It was a mistake trusting him.

Sun came back home, it was already afternoon. He knocked at the door more than twice but no one answered. He knocked again and a voice in the distant answered. It sounded like the voice of Amara, Sun thought. The door was opened and it was Amara, his wife that opened it. Sun could notice this unclear facial expression on her face. “Hi dear!” he said to her while she was still holding unto the door.

“where have you been? You left since morning and you didn’t bother to tell me where you were going to.” She said angrily.

“I am sorry. I went to sort out things with the King and also to let him know that I won’t be making the journey as planned today.”

“Oh please.” She said as she leaves the door opened and went inside. Sun came in, closed the door, and followed her to the kitchen.

“Where is my baby?” he asked.

“He is sleeping. Let me make some food for you.”

“No, don’t. I have eaten already.”

“where?” She asked...

“At the King’s place."

“Oh. I see.”

As she was making food, Sun found a comfortable chair around and sat down.

“Can I help you with anything?” he asked.

“No. Don’t bother yourself"

“okay. I went to the weapon house.”

“what about it?” she asked while cutting beverages into pieces.

“I saw Hammer. He has really done some wonders, you need to see the new weapons he has developed. It is mind-blowing.” Sun said excitedly.

“Oh, Hammer!! I have so missed him.” Amara exclaimed, less angry this time.

“Yeah... he asked of you too and our son,” Sun said.

“Heard that sound?” she asked. Stopping what she was doing to listen again.

“what sound?” Sun asked.

“Someone is knocking at our door.”

“Alright, I will take it. Let me go check” Sun said. He stood up from the chair and went to the sitting room to open the door. When he opened it, he saw Jonas.

“Hi, Jonas! You are here, you are welcome,” Sun said sharply.

“Thank you General,” he said with his solid voice and smart looking face that increasingly looked smarter lately. It seemed as though everything about Jonas including his looks has changed his he came to Quinax. He now looks smart and has less of a tyrant face but his serious looks can still tell you that he once possessed those traits.

He walks in majestically into the sitting room as Sun closes his door. “What will I offer you?” Sun asked.

“Water will be fine,” Jonas answered.

“Okay, I am coming,” Sun said as he goes back to the kitchen to tell his wife who had visited them and also to fetch Jonas a cup of water.

Jonas took his time looking around Sun’s place even when he has seen it before. He saw how neatly dressed and arranged the General’s place is and saw some items on the tables and cupboard that looked as though are gifts people had given to him. He admired the General's work ethics and concluded that hard work pays.

General Sun comes in with the water and hands it over to him to drink. “Thank you General,” Jonas said.

“Yeah... Well, I have some simple questions to ask you regarding our journey to Sytrits, ” Sun said.

He paused drinking and said, “What’s that?” Jonas asked.

“You know I told the king we won’t be making the journey to Sytrits today, but what I didn’t tell him was that I am afraid. It’s not a journey I have done before so I don’t know who I will meet or supposed to meet there. I didn’t bring that up so now I want to ask you, how exactly are we going to use the scroll in Sytrits and how is it going to help us out. I don’t know if I am asking this question the right way. I think there should be some kind of information the scroll should contain that we may need to decipher but nothing. We have nothing, so what exactly are we going to do if we get there?” Sun asked with a slow but steady voice.

Jonas taking his time out, he waited before answering. He didn’t give his own opinion immediately. He took his cup again and drank the whole water as if it was a wine that was contained in the cup.

“Well, I need to be honest with you. I am as afraid as you are. I wondered how you would face the king when you will tell him that you are not ready to start the journey today. Well, about the scroll, it contains information and roadmap we would need but to decipher them, we need to meet the Abbot of Sytrits. They are the only ones who could tell us how to destroy Magnifico since the knowledge from the book contains some powers that could reinforce him, it can also contain information that could weaken his power. I strongly believe that when we get to Sytrits if we find it, we will get all our answers,” Jonas answered.

“But since Sytrits is the land of the dead and Magnifico a fallen army of the guardian of the temple, are you sure they are going to help us? Are you sure the Abbots won’t be on his side?” Sun asked, his mind now more focused.

“This, I don’t know. I hope it doesn’t degenerate to that because we will be having a very big problem to deal with if that happens” Jonas said.

“But I guess you have been there before?” Sun asked.

“I was close but never been that close.”

“Then how close?” Sun queried worriedly, you could tell by the look from his eyes.

“Magnifico was handed over to me by pirate friends of mine. I paid heavily for him, they made Magnifico loyal to me. I thought I could use him to achieve dominance but the reverse was the case.”

“Now I get it. Well, I hope we will make this journey and it becomes a success. He just needs to be eliminated for peace to reign the entire kingdoms,” Sun said, this time in a more relaxed tune.

“That is everyone’s goal. I want him gone as much as you do. If he continues to leave, more kingdoms will go down and more people will die.” Sun explained.

“Anyway, I am now bored. Can we go outside and do something else?” Sun asked.

“Do something else? Actually, I was bored at home and that was why I visited you. What do you want us to do outside?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, sword fighting. How does that sound?” Sun smiled a bit.

“Oh no. This is a great idea, I would want to do that as well. With you, that’s an honour,” Jonas said as he smiles. Sun stood up and went straight to the kitchen.

“Hey dear!” Sun said to Amara who was just sitting down in the kitchen waiting for her food to get ready.

“Hey! Have your friend gone home?” She asked.

“No. He is still very much around though he will be leaving soon. And I will be leaving with him.” Sun said. She walks to the pot which was on fire, opened, and started stirring.

“You are going out with him?” she asked as she stopped stirring.

“Yes, I won’t be long. I just told him I would have a sword fight with him.”

“You told him? You would have told him you are busy.”

“Busy? But I offered to help you in the kitchen and you said no, so I am not busy. If I was busy, I would have told him" Sun explained.

“Oh! Okay, you can go.” She said with a disappointed voice.

“Thank you, I won’t be long.”, Sun said, oblivious of her feelings, he left the kitchen and went to the sitting room.

“Oh! You are ready?” Jonas asked as he saw Sun coming into the sitting room.

“Ah yes, lets start going. We need to go to the training ground. It has lots of grasses and the weapons we will use will be available there too”

“Okay. Let’s start going.”