Reverse Chronicles

A Ripple

The town of Raeple is a peaceful trading town nestled in the great plains of Mhyrk. After days of travelling, we finally made it. The town gate was open when we arrived early in the morning. There were guards that were stationed at the gate, but they were asleep, soundly dozing off. The fresh air blew as people got out of their houses and got ready for the day.

The smell of freshly baked bread wafted through the air, and the commotion of the townspeople made me miss home. At the center of town, shops lined at every corner and street. The western side had a minimalistic architecture, while the eastern side had classical architecture decorated with a tropical island vibe.

"A magic item that tells and captures time for sale!" I can hear one of the merchants loudly announcing his product.

A magic item that can tell time and capture it? Now that sounds amazing.

"I need to examine it," Keith flew towards the merchant. I followed him piqued by my curiosity of how this item looked and functioned. "Take a look at this, Josh!" Keith handed me a...a smartphone!

"This is a smartphone!" I examined the contents and it was an old smartphone model released seven years ago. "How could it have gotten here?" I confronted the salesman and inquired.

"It was sold to me by a humble merchant from the city of Lyane. She said it was an extremely rare magic item, so I bought at a handsome price. She also showed me how it tells the time and how to capture time."

"Do you know what it does, Josh?" Keith pondered, while further examining the smartphone.

"It is a popular technology back from my world called a smartphone. It has a lot of functions, such as calling people from far away, watching videos, taking photos, and listening to music."

"W-W-W-WHAT? I didn't understand anything that you said!"

If this smartphone is here, then its owner must be from Earth! Maybe he or she knows how to get back.

"Sir, do you know the name of the person who sold you this magic item?"

"She's pretty popular in Lyane, actually. Her name was, if I remember correctly, Jennifer Lawrence."

"Jennifer Lawrence!" I shouted in disbelief.

That's the name of a popular actor back home. Is she really Jennifer Lawrence? No, it can't be, it must be a fan of hers, so she really is from Earth.

While we were in town, we restocked on supplies. We decided to spend the night at an inn where we left most of our stuff. Keith wandered off somewhere, while Franz and I sparred on the town center.

I went for the offense and attacked. His defense was solid, but it was not perfect. I made a ploy attempting to strike at the side, when I was going to attack from the front. I struck him from the left, then thrust Whisperer at his front. He was able to parry it, however.

"Your skills are improving," Franz praised me. "That was a nice ploy, but it will only work on monsters. Now it is my turn to attack."

I took a step back and braced for his incoming attack. His sword swings are swift and powerful, I could barely parry them. He suddenly went for a circle s***h, which was pretty powerful that it knocked me back. That strike made us realize that a lot of people were watching. We were so focused in fighting that we did not realize a crowd already surrounded us.

"Sir knight! Sir knight, please help my sister!" A child ran toward us. He wore ragged and torn clothes and he was dirty.

"What happened to your sister?" Franz sheathed his sword and confronted the child.

"She is sick. Please help me."

"Take us to your sister," I stepped forward and let the child guide the way. He took us to an alley of the southern street from the town center. At the end of the alley was a small house, where the child and his sister took refuge.

"Please heal her!" the child pleaded. I cast Heal and did what I could. However, the spell was not strong enough.

"We need Keith," I told Franz and he ran immediately to find him. "Since when has your sister been sick?"

"I don't remember, he suddenly became weak."

"*cough *cough, I need water," the sister asked for water from the child. The child fetched water from and gave it to her sister, it was a strange water.

"Where did you get that water?" I asked.

"From the town well," the boy answered. "Everybody gets water from the well."

Franz came back with Keith. Immediately, Keith began healing her, but he suddenly stopped and ordered Franz to fetch some herbs from his receptacle at the inn. Franz ran towards the inn, while I went with the boy to the town well.

I got water from the town well and just as I thought, it was poisoned. Did somebody poison it? I looked but the bottom was too dark. If only I knew a light element spell. Keith is busy healing his sister, I must do something. I returned to Keith and showed him the poisoned water.

"This water is magically poisoned!" Keith was shocked.

"Magically poisoned?"

"Something or someone is causing the water to be poisonous. Plant poison is natural poison, but magic poison could be caused by a spell or a magically imbued item."

I ran back to the well to see a man who was flashing a torch inside.

"What are you doing?" I confronted him.

"I dropped something dangerous in this well, three weeks ago. It is very dangerous if we leave it. You can keep it if you can get it. I just want it out of the well," the man confessed.

I tried to search for the item using the bucket but there was no luck. I used the man's torch, and I could see something flashing at the bottom. It looked like a gem or an accessory with green hue. I memorized where it was and without hesitation, I jumped inside the well. There wasn't much water, but I took care not to drink any of it. I picked the item from the well, it was a green jewel that could look like it could be attached to something.

Keith luckily came to my aid at a great timing. He conjured Levitate and I floated out of the well. I told him about the jewel that I found and how it got to the bottom of the well.

"This is a weapon accessory!" Keith exclaimed. "You can attach this to your weapon to enhance its magical properties. Franz should know how to attach it."

I told Franz the entire story and gave him the jewel, which he attached at Whisperer's hilt. We reported the incident to the town magistrate and she thanked us dearly. We returned to the inn and planned our next journey.

"We should head to Lyane next," I suggested. "What that merchant from this morning sold was an item from my world. He said that he bought it from a woman in Lyane, we could find some clues there."

After our meeting, I decided to take a late night stroll around town. The starry night sky was beautiful. The atmosphere was peaceful, only the sound of the crickets can be heard.

"It is dangerous for a lady to walk all alone late at night," I looked behind and found Franz who was also taking a late night stroll.

"Well, I'm no ordinary lady."

That's because I'm a man!

"You think Lyane is going to pay off?"

"Hopefully, it will." I answered. "Thank you, by the way."

"For what?"

"For being here, I would never have made it this far without you or Keith. I am truly grateful."

"No apologies necessary, I'm here to help a dear friend."

"Yes, a dear friend." I paused to gaze at the stars. "Thank you for being my friend. We should probably head back now."

"If only we were more than friends," Franz suddenly said, which made me walk faster.