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Vee's Tale: by bLiNkLoVeR182
Verankai stood in front of a magnificent castle,
so tall it disappeared into the sky. He had been brought to the castle by his
Grandfather to be one of the king's servants. His Grandfather had dropped him
off in front of the castle and sped away without a backward glance. Verankai had
two choices: he could do as he was told and serve the king or he could run away
and start a new life. His Grandfather's voice sounded in his head, "Work at
the castle, your destiny will unfold from there." He didn't know what it meant.
All his Grandfather had given him was a medallion, which he was never to show
anyone. On the medallion was the inscription "rorri mehtd niheb." Verankai understood
none of it. "...your destiny will unfold from there," he thought, and without
any further hesitation he walked into the castle.
Inside the castle
were many servants, each doing different chores. "Verankai," a voice came from
behind him. Verankai turned around to face the King standing before him. "Your
Grandfather informed me of your arrival. Durai will show you your room." With
that, the King left. "Durai? Who's Durai?" thought Verankai. "It's me!" piped
a voice from below Verankai. He looked down to discover that a little elf-like
creature was the source of the voice. "How'd you know what I was thinking?" inquired
Verankai. "I'm of the psychic Druag species," answered Durai. "A Druag? What's
that?" asked Verankai. Durai answered, "It's almost like an elf, but a little
bigger." Verankai looked surprised and Durai replied to this by saying, "Don't
be so surprised. You're not that normal yourself." Verankai nodded in agreement.
He was a 5' tall Koh, a species of weak, wolf-like creatures. "Come on,
let me show you your room," said Durai, who Verankai had forgotten about momentarily.
They walked down the stairs to the dungeons. Durai opened a door and said,
"This is your room. You'll be fine as long as you don't go-" A beeping sound
cut off Durai. "Ahhh!" shrieked Durai, "I'm late for it! Sorry, I must go!" And
with that, Durai disappeared. "Don't go where?" asked Verankai to no one in particular.
He hoped for a reply but knew none would come as he was the only person
in the hallway. "I'll just ask someone else," Verankai, "Durai can't be the
only one who knows about this forbidden place."
Verankai walked into his
room and looked around. The room didn't look too inviting. The walls were painted
brown and were bare. There were no windows in the room. Verankai noticed that
there were two beds in the room. He walked over to one of the beds and put his
stuff down. "Hey, that's my bed!" came a deep male voice from behind Verankai.
Verankai quickly turned around and saw a person in the doorway. He was a man,
at least seven feet tall, and very mean-looking. His eyes were such a dark shade
of brown, the looked almost black. His long, shaggy, black hair came down to
his mid-back and looked very greasy. Verankai stood there for a few moments just
looking at the enormous stranger. "I-I didn't know. I'll-I'll take the other
bed," stammered Verankai. He walked over to the other bed and put his things
on it. There were some drawers next to the bed, the same shade as the walls. Verankai
began to unpack. Once all of his belongings had been put in the drawers,
Verankai sat down on his bed. He took some time to think about the last few days.
A war had recently started in his homeland of Kaaler. Three days ago,
a bomb had landed near Verankai's house. It had killed his sister and Grandmother.
His mother had died when Verankai was only three years old and he didn't remember
anything about her. Sarfund, Verankai's father, was missing. Many people
feared him dead, but Verankai still had hope. He knew his father was alive somewhere
out there. After the bombing, Verankai's Grandfather had found him. He
had given Verankai only a few minutes to pack whatever he could salvage from the
destroyed house. Then he had brought Verankai to the castle. The trip was very
long, and took almost two days to complete. Now Verankai was here and very confused.
What had his Grandfather meant by "Your destiny will unfold from there?"
Where was the forbidden place Durai spoke of? Why was it forbidden? Who was the
tall stranger he had for a room mate? All Verankai wanted now was an explanation.
Verankai looked up to see the stranger still at the doorway. "Who are
you?" Verankai asked. "I am Cretun. I'm sorry if I frightened you before. I
didn't mean to," replied Cretun. You didn't frighten me, I was just surprised,"
replied Verankai. "Okay, so you know who I am. Now, can you tell me who you are?"
said Cretun. "Oh, yes. I'm Verankai," replied Verankai. "What's a young one
like yourself doing here?" asked Cretun. "It's a long story," said Verankai. Cretun
replied, "Don't worry, I have all day to listen to it." "Well, okay. It started
with a war going on in my homeland, Kaaler..." began Verankai. When Verankai
had finished the story, Cretun replied, "Well, we all have tough times in
our lives. You'll get over it." With that, Cretun walked out of the room.
Beep!
Beep! Beep! A beeping sound awoke Vee the next morning. "Wha-what
the!" stammered Vee. "Oh don't worry, that's just means you're needed to help somewhere,"
said Cretun, who Vee was surprised to see. "What am I supposed to do?"
asked Vee. "Do you remember when you first got here? That burning feeling on
your wrist the minute you entered the castle?" Cretun asked. Vee did remember
it. It felt as if an invisible someone had burned a mark onto the inside of his
wrist. It was not a pleasant feeling at all. "Yes, now that you mention it, I
do," answered Vee. "Take a look at your wrist now," said Cretun. "What the-what
is that?" asked Vee, his voice almost at a shouting level. He had looked at his
wrist and to his surprise, the word 'KITCHEN' was on his wrist, printed in red.
"That's the system for telling the servants when they are needed," said Cretun,
"The system was burned into your wrist when you entered the castle. Whatever
word appears on your arm tells you where to go. the color of the word also has
a meaning. Red means that help is needed immediately, green means that it isn't
an emergency but you should still hurry, and blue means that you can take your
time. Do you understand?" "I-I think so," said Vee, still a little shaken, "but
according to this system, I'm needed in the kitchen immediately. Thank you,
Cretun." Cretun replied, "Don't mention it. But you better get to that kitchen
fast!" The "system" beeped again and Vee hurried out of the room, tripping on
his shoes on the way out. "I hope they go easy on him. He doesn't look too stable
here," muttered Cretun. His system beeped too, and with a quick glance at his
arm, he was off.
"No, no, you silly boy, you are doing it wrong," said
a woman who looked like a grandmother. "Doing what wrong? I'm just washing the
dishes with this soap," replied Vee, clearly exasperated. "But that's the wrong
soap, you have to use the green soap, not the white soap!" said the woman again.
"What's the difference? They do the same thing, right?" said Vee. "No, no, they
don't, you silly boy," said the woman, "The green soap cleans the dishes, and
the white soap dissolves the dishes." "Oh," said Vee, feeling small. He picked
up the green soap and starting using it. "Yes, that's how you do it, you silly
boy," replied the woman and she went back to her own job.
Vee washed
off the dish he ad just lathered with soap and saw that there was a dark spot
on it. "Missed a spot," he thought. He scrubbed at the spot a little more and
rinsed it again. The spot was still there. "That's one hard stain," thought
Vee again. Vee took a closer look and suddenly dropped the dish. The spot had a
face. It occurred to him then that spot was not a spot at all, it was a reflection.
Vee slowly turned around and came face to face with a giant beast. It's arms
were those of a bear, it's hands were human, and it's body was coated in metal,
excluding the legs which were made of what seemed to be gold. It's head was
a black, rotting mass of slime and maggots. The only part of it's face which
resembled anything normal was it's single eye. The eye was glowing an evil shade
of red. Vee also noticed it had a sword. As the thing pulled the sword out of
it's sheath, Vee came out of his shock. What was he doing standing there? He dodged
to the left as the beast pulled it's sword down. There was a clanging sound
as the sword collided with the metal of the sink. The beast made a sound, which
Vee supposed was a sign of the beast's anger. It turned again and swung it's
sword at Vee, but to no avail. The sword slammed into a pile of dishes sending
them crashing to the floor. Vee dodged two more of the beast's attacks before
feeling something in his own hand. He looked down, and to his surprise he was
holding a golden sword. Vee marveled at it's beauty, wondering how he had gotten
it. He remembered the beast and turned around. The sword was coming down and
was about to hit Vee, but he swiftly dodged it. He felt the sword as it passed
closely to him; he had narrowly avoided it. Vee remembered the sword and swung
out at the creature. He felt a jolt up his arm as it collided with the metal of
the creature's torso. "What the heck? How am I going to beat it if I can't even
hit it?" thought Vee frantically. Then he thought of the beast's head, gooey
and swarming with maggots. "Yes! That's it," he thought again. He moved towards
the monster and swung at it's head. A sickening plop! was heard as the gooey mass
of maggots hit the kitchen floor. The headless body fell to the ground, dead.
"Is it true?" he heard a frightened woman ask. He looked around
and saw all the kitchen workers crowded in the corner. "What?" replied Vee. "Is
it true?" repeated the woman, "Are you really him?" "Huh? Is what true? Am I really
who?" replied Vee, confused. "The-the sword came to you. It's the sword of
the Hero," said the woman. "Hero? Me? How could I be the Hero?" replied Vee.
"The sword only goes to a person if they are chosen as Hero. And Heroes are only
chosen when someone is needed to go forth on a Quest. The sword has chosen you
as the Hero. You must accept the Quest now," said the woman. "But-," Vee started
to say. But he couldn't talk, or at least not be heard. The kitchen workers
were carrying him off somewhere. He felt someone hit him on the head with something,
but had no time to see who or what before his consciousness slipped away.
To Be Continued
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