“Let's go on an adventure.” It was Lyra that suggested it. She stretched out across the apartment sofa and glanced over with an optimistic smile on her lips. “It could be fun.”
“An adventure?” Milo blinked and looked back at his girlfriend from where he was making a cup of tea. “You want to go shopping, honey?”
“Pfft- shopping isn’t an adventure baby.” She chuckled and shook her head. “I mean a real adventure.”
“Shopping could be an adventure.” Milo pointed out. “Any activity could be called an adventure, honey.”
She just shook her head again. “Milo. No. Just no. I’m talking about a real adventure. Let’s go outside the city walls. Let's leave the city.”
Milo paused. “Pardon?”
“Let’s leave the city!” She sprang up from her seat and skipped across their apartment towards their bedroom. “I’ll start packing!”
“...leave the city?” Milo just blinked and stared after his girlfriend dumbly. “...you want to go on a walk?”
“Sure!” She called out as she went into the bedroom. “We’ll go all sorts of places! We’ll need a tent and some supplies from the store too!”
“...a tent?” Milo just kept staring at the doorway. “...we’re going camping?”
“Yeah! Let’s go camping across the country!” Lyra beamed as she began throwing clothes onto the bed, folding them up neatly one after the other.
“...pardon?”
“It’ll be an adventure!”
It was just another average day for the couple living in their shared apartment in the city they had grown up in. Well, it had been just another average day before Lyra had suggested the camping trip. An average day between just an average couple living together. They were both human. Most people in the kingdom were human after all.
“Dear…” Milo meandered over and poked his head into the bedroom. “I don’t think-”
Lyra grabbed her boyfriend by the arm and tugged him along. She had a backpack on her back full of clothes and another backpack in her other arm. “Come on Milo! The day is just getting started! And so should we!” She let go of his arm for a moment to throw open the door to their apartment.
“Honey wait-” There would be no waiting for the couple.
Lyra grabbed his arm yet again and pulled him outside.
Soon enough Milo found himself having to pick up his pace to keep up with his girlfriend as she marched across the cobblestone streets. “Lyra!”
She giggled and then she began to run. “Race you to the supply store!”
“What- no- Lyra!” Milo groaned before picking up speed and running after his laughing girlfriend.
When pedestrians turned their heads to see what all the shouting was about all they would see was a dark-skinned beauty running down the street towards oncoming wagon traffic and a pale skinned man desperately trying to keep up and warn her of said oncoming traffic.
Then there was more shouting. Men and women shouted obscenities at the woman as she ran right between the wagons, spinning out of the way and narrowly stepping back to avoid being run over by a horse and the wagon it was pulling. Another horse was already behind her then the edge of a cart knocked her forwards. The woman yelped and threw a fist up and cursed at the driver to watch where he was going only for an older lady to curse for her to get out of the way!
“Lyra! Watch out!” Milo shouted before running up to quickly grab his girlfriend before a set of horses pulling a carriage could trample her.
Lyra spun around and shouted at the carriage driver. “Hey! Watch it bud! Can’t you see I’m walking here!?”
“Walk on the sidewalk you idiot!” The driver snapped back.
Inside the carriage a lady blinked up from her book before setting it down and placing a marker in her spot. “Miss Elbi? What’s all that fuss about outside?” The lady asked as she slid open the window to the carriage driver.
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“Oh- my apologies milady.” The driver bowed in her seat. “Just a pair of fools running through the street. It’s a wonder how they haven’t been killed yet.”
“Oh goodness.” The lady put a hand to her lips before chuckling. “That sounds quite exciting. Carry on then Miss Elbi.”
“As you wish, lady Serenity.”
As the carriage rolled on by, Milo grabbed his girlfriend and guided her out of the road. “Are you crazy!?”
Lyra giggled. “Wasn’t that exciting? And that was just a taste of what’s to come!”
Milo stared at his girlfriend for a long moment. He turned his head and glanced back in the direction of their apartment before letting out a defeated sigh. “You’re going to be the death of me, you know that dear?”
She just giggled yet again. “Come on Milo, let’s hurry.” She beamed and started walking forwards again. She blinked and looked at all the people staring at them before raising her voice. “The hell are you all looking at!?”
Back in the carriage the lady sat back down and picked up her book. “At least I’ll have something interesting to bring up to lady Crow this afternoon.” She smiled and began to read once again.
A bird stood atop a building watching over the street before spreading its wings and taking flight. It flew over the adventurous couple and then over the rolling carriage. It flew across the many streets of the city, passing over thousands of people going about their daily lives. The bird angled itself and turned before it could run into a large standing tower before angling itself up. The bird flew over the city walls and the guardsmen that patrolled it daily.
The bird flew onwards, leaving the city behind it as the scenery below the bird changed from grassy plains to long and winding roads, green forests, curving rivers, round hills, towering mountains, quiet villages and more.
In one such village an old knight was leaning back against the outside of a stable. A morning breeze blew through his white hair as he watched his latest charge… his most unconventional student. The old knight still remembered his sister’s bizarre favor and the way she had written to him. He still remembered the shock he felt when he actually met the subject in question… somehow it was not a prank.
The knight massaged his temple and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was probably a mistake. This was probably wrong.
For whom in their right mind would train a goblin?
A hobgoblin swung a wooden sword. His green skin was already beginning to sweat, it dripped from his muscles as he stepped into another stance and practiced another form. His blood red eyes were set and focused on the distant horizon as he trained.
“How is he doing ser?”
The old knight blinked before straightening and giving the newcomer a bow. “Lady Crow-”
“Please. Don’t bow. Would you like some tea ser Felix?” The witch asked with a small smile. She was a pale skinned and black curly haired beauty. She held out a cup of tea that called to the knight.
“I… thank you milady.” The old knight smiled and accepted the cup of tea gratefully.
The witch turned her eyes back towards the training goblin. “How is he doing so far?”
“The goblin? He is… doing better. He’s got a long way to go before he can be considered anything more than a squire.”
“I see…” The witch sighed before glancing down into her own cup of tea. “He doesn’t have much time. His enemies are moving. The world is turning. Can’t you feel it Ser?”
“My apologies. I’m afraid I cannot milady.”
That brought about a small and sad smile from the witch. “Your retirement may come to an end, ser.”
The knight felt a chill run down his spine as he shivered. “Pardon milady?”
“The world isn’t long for this peace we’ve grown used to.” She took a sip from her tea. “The age of magic has come and is fading. The time of humankind has been here for a long time now… we’ve taken over every corner of the world we can walk. …there are even men on the moon.” She glanced up towards the sky.
“Yes. There truly are no marvels we cannot achieve.”
“...great marvels befit great devastation as well Ser. I feel my death is sooner than yours.”
The knight wanted to reassure the lady that she would live a long life. She was only half his age after all… but this lady was the last witch on the continent. Probably one of the last witches in the world. He didn’t really understand magic… but whenever the lady Crow spoke… she was almost always right.
“When I was a little girl there were more witches.” She continued as if she heard the knight’s thoughts. “And when they were little girls there were even more. I am not the last. But I am of the last. Magic weakens. …my mother would weep if she were still alive.”
“...” The old knight didn’t know what to say.
That sad smile adorning the witch’s face grew bitter. “We could have saved the world if the world had not hunted us. We could have kept the magic alive… Perhaps someone still can. But it won’t be me.” She watched a bird flying high in the sky before looking over at the training hobgoblin. “It won’t be me.”
The knight hesitated. “...and how are your lessons with the goblin going?”
The witch chuckled. “He should know the very basics at least… he will have a foundation to build upon when the time comes for him to leave us.”
“...and is that… a good thing? A goblin knowing how to use magic?”
She laughed without joy. “They’ve always known magic. It is another thing we’ve forgotten about their kind. I am teaching nothing new… only what has been lost.”
“But milady… it is- he is a goblin. …a monster.”
“A monster you say? That is the word men called my mother when they hunted her. Monster? Only recall a warm embrace, sweet cookies, and a soft voice. Monster you say now Ser Felix? I only see a young man who wants to save his people.”
One of the goblin’s long and pointed ears twitched ever so slightly as he listened in on his teachers conversation.
“As you say milady… but the general consensus of the kingdom is that goblins are monsters.”
The witch rolled her eyes. “Is that what you truly believe ser? It's a wonder you headed your sister’s call at all.”
“Lady Crow. From my many personal experiences of having dealt with goblins over the years… I would say that many are monsters. Killers, kidnappers, thieves, and rapists. I’ve had to slay many in defense of the people.”
The witch raised an eyebrow. “Now how did your sister get you to agree to this if that’s how you feel about goblins ser Felix?”
The old knight blushed slightly. “Zara was very adamant.”
She smiled. “That’s what I like about her.”
Ser Felix glanced down into his cup of tea. Something began to stir inside of him as what was left of the tea swirled around in the cup… and in the reflection in his green eyes. A little bit of magic caught the man’s spirit in that reflection. Of Felix’s greatest moments and worst failures, his fear and his hope. Memories swirled and the old knight felt younger if only for a little bit.
The witch sipped at her tea with a small twinkle in her eye.
It was supposed to be just another day. A day like any other. A day where a couple may go on their first real adventure. Another day of training for a goblin to save his home. Another day where Viren Eclipse would wake up and run his shop…
Viren was still in his bed. He had woken up early in the night and he had never gone back to sleep. He just shook in fear as something cold teased his heart with the reminder that his time was running out. Everyone’s time was running out. The end of the world was coming. The end of everything. It was coming.
