The medieval dream: Travel into fantasy

Chapter 1 The smoke rises. *cough* *cough* Dinis is stuck in traffic once again. The line stretches to the end of the avenue. “Damn it! I’m gonna be late again!” Some impatient drivers start honking, adding to the general hubbub. In his old 1995 Mercedes, the young student looks at the clock. 08:52. The history class starts in 8 minutes. “Why did they have to put this university so high up?” says he while looking up at the imposing edifice towering over the city of Coimbra. His car was offered to him by his parents for his 18th birthday. It gives him more freedom of movement, but he agreed to pay for gas. After ten minutes of slow driving, Dinis finally reaches his campus. He clumsily parks his car and rushes towards the old building. His badly closed suitcase swings back and forth, following the rhythm of his running lanky legs. Typical of freshmen, or so say the older students. This year, he can finally feel like an adult, not having to carry his heavy backpack that screams “teenager”. When he finally reaches the door, stress starts coming up. “What will the teacher say?” thinks the late man. He timidly opens the door, looking all around the room. But, strangely, no one looks at him. The feeling of judgement starts going down. “That’s right! I’m in university now ahahah I’m free to be late!” A silly smirk appears on his face. Dinis waited for that feeling of liberty for a long time, after 3 long years of high school, he’s finally free from this mental prison. His bad morning habits won’t result in heavy looks from the class now that he is in his first year of higher education. It’s the last day of his second week. The young man walks to the nearest seat and takes out his laptop. “I hope I didn’t miss much though…” he thinks. “… and so the crusaders accepted the offer of the king and joined him in the reconquest of the city, in exchange of land and the right to keep the goods they pillage…” That voice is that of Ms. Amorim, the history teacher. A woman in her forties, with long black hair, dark brown eyes, of medium built, not very tall, but still displaying that natural style typical of Portuguese women. Dinis finds her cute, she has that little touch that makes older women sexy, but something even more attractive captures his attention. Behind the teacher, projected on the whiteboard, a painting representing a group of men, dressed in medieval armours, accompanied by an angel looking feminine figure, facing another group of men, these ones sporting oriental silk-made clothing, and a horse. In the background, some tents and a castle. The scene is imposing. They appear to be Moors and Christians. A little note at its foot says the painting is called “The Siege of Lisbon by D. Afonso Henriques”, painted by Joaquim Rodrigues Braga. Dinis’ eyes are shoved into that work of art. He is fascinated by these men, this background, this history. Reason why he joined that course. He whispers to himself: “- Life must have been so much better back then, no traffic, no pollution, no rat race, people were connected to nature, they worked in harmony with it, everyone must have been so much happier. - … and the crusaders massacred the population when entering the city, ignoring the orders of the king…” continues lecturing the teacher. “- Well, ALMOST everyone.” This is not the first time our student ends up daydreaming about older times. At every class, the semi-legendary figures of ancient kings, warriors, saints and princesses fascinate him. A sort of nostalgy of times he never knew catches him every time. *riiiing* The hourly bell rings, indicating the end of this morning’s first lesson. “Alright folks, enjoy your break, I’ll continue the lesson this afternoon.” Says Ms. Amorim while instantly leaving the room. No pointless time-consuming chitchatting, in university, the teachers do their jobs, whether you’re here or not. That thought brings a smile to Dinis’ face, the feeling of freedom makes him feel good again. But freedom implies responsibilities. “Ugh, time for my shift…” Thanks to his incoherent hours, the young student managed to find a small part-time job on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, between 10:00 AM and 12:30, at a local café. The place is small, situated not far from the university, mostly frequented by students and retired people. Dinis stops by his car on the way to his job, quickly taking advantage of the moment to open the door and throw his suitcase in. He then starts walking towards the café, while taking out his phone. He opens an app. It’s a strategy game, where you play as a war leader, trying to conquer the provinces of rival lords around you. This is Dinis’ favourite type of games, they make him feel powerful and alive. He wishes he could be a lord in real life, taking care of his people and county, while heroically going to war against his enemies, surrounded by his best men. What a pleasure this would be! In today’s game, Dinis chooses to play as king Hermeric, controlling the Suebi kingdom. The game is set in Europe, in the times of the fall of the Roman Empires. The student’s kingdom starts in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, with the capital in Bracara, today’s Braga. He has to manage the resources of his kingdom, probably needing to raid neighbouring tribes. He decides to prepare troops when suddenly… *SKREEEEEEECH* “Are you f*****g retarded?! It’s red, you absolute dumbass!”  A car dangerously drifts in front of Dinis, to avoid hitting him. It’s a BMW, driven by a 30 years old looking man. Being so distracted by his game, the young man didn’t pay attention and crossed the street when lights where red. “Oh sorry, I didn’t see! Sorry mister!” *vrooooooom* The car is driven away at full speed, leaving Dinis in a cloud of smoke. *cough* *cough *cough* “Geez, I didn’t do it on purpose, why do people have to be so frustrated?! Anyway…” The lad closes his phone, the café is just right after the corner. He walks up to it and is greeted by his boss. “Hey Dinis, always perfectly on time! Ahahahah!” He raises his look to the big clock, decorated with a scarf of the local football club. 10:10. Late, again. “- Oh man, I’m so sorry! It’s just that uh today that the class lasted, well a bit longer because uuuh and uuuh also I almost got run over and… - It’s ok, I’m just kidding, calm down, there’s no pressure here you know it! We’re like family!” The café owner is Mr. Nunes, a 57 years old, moustache wearing man, proudly letting his beer belly appearing under his typical red shirt. He’s very laid-back and patient. He’s also one of the friends of Dinis’ father, which would explain the patience. “- Ok, let’s go boy, we got some work today, all your friends came. - Well, they’re not my friends, they’re just other students, I didn’t make much friends yet. - It’s the same for me boy, come on move on, look at this beauty, waiting to be served ahahah you have some fine women in your school, I tell you!” answers the boss while pointing at a pretty blonde student sat at the corner of the café with 2 friends. Dinis blushes, he’s never been really at ease with girls. Or at least, with real girls. The young worker puts on his apron and starts working right away. He’s a bit shaky and doesn’t always pay attention at everything the clients are saying but “He does his best” says Mr. Nunes. The job isn’t that hard, but the minutes seems like hours to the impatient student, all he can think about is his game, his dreamed kingdom, power and conquests. If he was as powerful and noble as king Hermeric, he could probably seduce that blonde girl his boss pointed out, instead of timidly bringing her coffee, avoiding eye contact as much as possible, while she laughs with her friends, totally ignoring him. He wonders if he will ever be able to make some friends in this university. Finally, after many hours of working and dreaming, the voice of Dinis’ boss is heard across the room: “Dinis, you’re good sonny, your shift is finished, come on, go back to class and pay attention to the lesson, don’t be as stupid as me, you need that diploma boy.” The boss smiles at him and gives him a thumbs up. Mr. Nunes is always very nice to Dinis and his family, since his father dropped him out of poverty by helping him to open his own café. Dinis takes his apron off, thanks his employer and walks out of the shop. His first action, which could be called a reaction, due to the automatic nature of it, is to take his phone out of his pocket. He launches back the game and dives again into his fictional universe. The troops are ready to attack. His main goal now is to take territory in Lusitania. Dinis wants to take Conimbriga, modern Coimbra, the very city in which he lives. He can attack only from the west, to avoid the mountainous region in the north-east. There is something very exciting about conquering your own city, as if you became its master. But quickly, reality knocks back. He’s arrived back at the university, and he’s no master of Coimbra. He goes back to the same room, pretty familiar with the building now. The teacher is back too. The lesson goes on again, still talking about the conquest of Lisbon. How was life during a siege? Living in tents, building towers, one must feel so heroic doing that, the adrenaline rushing and the blood boiling. It must be much better than being a simple student sitting all day, learning about the deeds of others. “Ah! If only I could join them” thinks Dinis, “It would give a little bit more meaning to my life than just going to school, not knowing what I’ll be doing in the future…” The afternoon passed quickly, the lesson was interesting and he made sure to note every key date on his laptop. Seeing all the other students leaving in groups, Dinis also grabs his best and most faithful friend, his phone, to conclude the attack on his neighbours. He successfully carves a path south, piercing through the enemies’ defence. Victory is close, only one more fortified citadel to take and Conimbriga will be his. The troops are fighting when suddenly, something interrupts the fight and the image on the screen changes completely. The face of a smiling middle-aged woman appears, with the word “Mum” written on it. Dinis’ mother is calling. “- Hello Mum? What do you want? - Dinis, what are you doing? You told me you would finish at 05:00 PM today! It’s already 05:30 and you’re still not home! Your sister is going to arrive soon! - Ugh… Don’t worry mum, I’m coming…” He hangs up the phone and sighs. Even the freedom of a young adult’s new student life has its limit. Dinis works to pay the gas for his car but doesn’t earn enough to pay for his own apartment or even food. He has to live with his parents. Today is Catarina, his sister’s birthday. She’s 24, turning 25, working at a successful start-up in Lisbon, going from party to party, living a modern life, basically the opposite of what Dinis dreams of. They never really went along together, but hopefully for him, she’s far from home now. Well, most of the time. Today, he will have to do a little sacrifice and endure her presence for a while. “I forgot to buy a present. Well, my patience towards her is already a present, she doesn’t deserve it.” says he. He jumps back in car, turn the engine and the radio on. “It’d be much cooler to have a horse, even if they don’t have radios. At least they don’t have an engine that goes down at every red light like this godforsaken car.” 05:30 PM is the time at which people go back home from work, so the traffic is jammed. Late as always.