They spent the entire morning cleaning out the attic, wearing face masks, which were essential for protection against inhaling the dust particles that contained many types of bacteria. Eddie’s orange Ramen Ninja Boy t-shirt was drenched in sweat and covered with cobwebs. His faced was smeared with dirt and perspiration. With all the hard work put into cleaning, he was very weary.

His palms picked several splinters from charring rotting wood from old busted furniture. His hands were blistered and aching halfway through the renovations and helping Walter with the hauling of garbage. Waltzing up the staircase to the attic and back down repeatedly depleted most of Eddie’s energy. His legs felt so heavy as if they were shackled to an anchor. He was panting very heavily and he felt the drum of his heartbeat.

“Breath, boy. Breath,” Walter came up from behind and patted Eddie’s back. “Drink. It will rehydrate you,” Walter offered Eddie a bottle of purified water. “Let’s take a break. Lunch will be here shortly.”

Walter laid down an old-fashioned picnic blanket underneath a tree. The trade winds blew against his back from southeast. It blew the lush aroma of beef stew toward them, which tingled his belly. His stomach growled and he was famished.

“That’s done. Let’s get washed up for lunch. We don’t want to get dirt and bacteria in your food.”

They went back to the old school pick-up Ford F-150 that they had hauled the trashed onto. The body has been refurbished with a new jungle camouflage paint job. The driver and passenger bay remained intact as if from the day of purchase. Beyond the truck was an old-fashioned brick water well where Rosa was using a pulley to lift a pail from the well.

As it surfaced, a leather bucket appeared, attached to the other end of the rope that was looped over the pulley. From the leather pail, water splashed like a waterfall as it rocked unsteadily. Rosa caught it and removed the latch from the rope and steadily transferred the water into metal bucket, miraculously spilling not a single drop. Watching her, Eddie reached out for the pail, but Rosa stopped him.

“Do not contaminate the water with your filthy hands, young man!” Eddie froze. “Do not follow Walter's practice. He has no manners and respect for natural resources,” she scowled, folding her arms. Eddie’s hand remained frozen in position as if he was being scolded.

“Water is not going to waste. The remnants will return to the earth and help fertilize the garden. That’s the cycle of life,” Walter said with sarcasm.

The look on Rosa face reminded Eddie of his mother every time she got angry or furious with him. His mother Cassandra could be a very daunting woman. Even his caretaker and guardian told him stories that she got men to urinate their pants out of fear. Chills ran down his spine just thinking about it.

Rosa crossed her arms and gritted her teeth, “Next time, I’ll have the young master dip his hands and wash his face in your water and force you to drink every pint of it, you ungrateful oaf!”

“Pay her no mind,” Walter muttered, gently nudging him on the shoulder. “She’s just an angry lass in heat. Her boyfriend went overseas—”

Eddie laughed uncontrollably, not recognizing what was happening as Walter slipped away from the water being thrown in their direction. Poor Eddie got his wits knocked out of him in a heartbeat. His humorous, cheeky smile was instantly reduced to bitterness as water sputtered from his mouth and nostril and he muttered incoherently. He was completely drenched from head to toe.

“You see what you made me do! It’s for fault that the young master got doused!” She threw the empty metal bucket at Walter’s head, but with great reflexes and quick footwork, he spun and caught it masterfully with one hand.

She snarled in defeat, “Sweetheart, my apologies. I’ll be back with a towel if you need one.”

Truth to be told, he felt a lot better and relieved, soaked in the fresh well water. “Ma’am, that's okay,” he said shyly.

“Now. Now. Don’t be afraid to ask me for anything. Communication is very essential, even in the presence of grownups,” she sighed. “I suggest we get you dried off. Don’t want you to catch a cold.”

Rosa left their side in a hurry.

Thinking back on the interaction, Eddie thought Rosa acted too mature for her age. The way she acted was as if she was an old crone, he thought. There was some mysterious chemistry between Walter and Rosa. By appearances, Walter may seem like a father figure due to the age gap to onlookers, but there was more there than met the eye. Walter and Rose seemed to be more like quarreling friends or lovers. Eddie was too young in age to comprehend that.

Rummaging through his pocket, Walter pulled out a plastic bottle of hand sanitizer. He squirted a capful of the gel solution onto his open hand. “This will help terminate most of the germs.” Eddie held out his palm and happily received the sanitizer. He mimicked Walter, rubbing it in with his two hands until it was absorbed.

“We have a little time, please do tell me about yourself?” Walter asked.

“Umm . . . I-I don-t know,” he stuttered. “Ahh . . . I like to play video games. I like to watch anime on Cartoon Stream. I like to read my Ramen Ninja manga,” he smiled cheekily.

“Manga?” he furrowed a brow.

“You know! Japanese comics,” he shrugged.

“Oh! Never read anything from Japan,” he said, while scratching the back of his head. “Reading is very comprehensible. Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to read comics. My parents believed that a picture book story will not increase a reader’s intelligence and that it’s a good exercise to determine a story or a current event by words. Although, on Sundays, I used to sneak into the living room with a flashlight and read the Sunday comic strip special,” he reminisced, scratching his well-shaved chin.

Eddie laughed at this thought while continuing to listen.

“Reading is a good hobby no matter if a book is judged by pictures or literature.” They laughed together.

“On to physical activities, your mother tells me that you are quite skilled with a bow. She also said that you possessed such great affinity with a bow that you may be a master marksman long before maturing into adulthood. Do you know how long you have been practicing archery?”

Eddie shrugged, “Don’t know. My mom and I shoot bow and arrow together when she does not work and has time to spend with me.”

“Interesting. Not too many children your age could draw back a bowstring (not a kid's bow), especially at the age of ten,” he chuckled. “How about we get a shoot in tomorrow afternoon if you’re up for it.”

“Sweet!” he exclaimed. Suddenly he felt dejected for the reason he was on the Preserve. “But will Grandma and Mom let me? It feels like I’m being punished.”

Eddie felt a hand rested on his right shoulder, making Eddie come to a complete stop. He was spun around to meet the man’s squinted onyx eyes, gazing upon him.

“Don’t go pouting, young master. With every punishment, a disciplinary action is required to carry out each sentence. However, you’ll find almost every disciplinary action you undergo because of disobedience or foolishness, each sentence is very rewarding. Disciplining is very necessary for physical growth and maturity. Everyone needs it, not only the punished. That’s why the Boy Scouts and the military have boot camps.”

Eddie gulped, not too pleased with the lecture as they continued their slow pace through the lawn. When he returned, Cassandra helped Grandma place a nice glossy, picnic wooden square table with four curved ends in the center of the mat. The table had two aluminum folding legs. The height of the legs only extended approximately two feet high, so everyone had to sit on the mat in a cross-legged posture.

The table had a basket full of fresh baked French baguettes, a white butter dish with a block of low fat butter, a pot of delicious venison stew, and four dinner plates with metallic utensils placed neatly upon a sheet of napkin made out of linen. Eddie had only been on picnics with his mother and occasionally at school excursions. He had never seen such a well-prepared and luxurious picnic in his life.

Drooling, Eddie heard his stomach rumbling at the sweet and tender aromas filling his nostrils. He could not wait to fill his belly with a bowl of stew. His cravings were interrupted when Rosa called out to him. She was waving a folded blue towel that had tribal art print that he could not discern. Holy smokes! That was fast! He could not believe how quick she was, as if teleported from one area to another.

He happily received the towel and thanked her. Eddie's mother and grandmother arrived at the same time. They did not looked happy.

“Why is he wet?” Grandma and Cassandra said in unison.

Cassandra hissed.

Eddie saw the devious glint in Grandma’s eyes, seeing Walter and Rosa blaming and pointing fingers at each other. Grandma folded her arms and patiently watched them bicker with amusement. Eddie took the opportunity to wipe himself dry. He recalled Cassandra telling him to be aware of Grandma’s sly and cunning jests. And that she was very uncanny to catch people off their guard with her devious remarks.

To make matters worse, it was nearly impossible to distinguish Grandma’s anger from her jokes. You had no choice but to play a mental game of cat and mouse. He marveled at how Grandma defused the situation with a cackle of laughter that seemed to end the argument in a heartbeat.

“You two get a room! You’re dawdling around my grandson being very improper.”

They laughed in a cheerful mood and Eddie joined in with them. The luncheon that afternoon lifted Eddie’s spirit. Grandma’s cooking had to be the best, next to his mother’s. The spices and preservatives were well balanced with the tomato paste and broth that gave it sweetness with the potatoes, carrots, and celery. The meat chunks, which Eddie wrongly thought were beef melted in his mouth.

The meat was not rough and rubbery. It was sublime. Telling Grandma how delicious the beef was, he received giggles from the ladies while Walter jested to Eddie that he was tasting the meat of a dog. The color in his face drained. He was pale and stiff as a corpse; his gut felt like it was being constricted.

Walter shivered as a pair of deadly glares shot at him. He reassured Eddie that it was all just a joke and the meat that he was consuming was venison, the flesh of a deer. Eddie had never eaten deer meat in his life. This was his first. He was glad that he could finish his bowl of stew.

Learning proper bread and butter etiquette, Eddie thought the skill was too fussy. He was told to not smudge butter on his bread directly. He observed how it was done when Grandma tore off a bite size, held it with her fingers, and used her butter knife to smudge the creamy butter onto the bread. She dipped it into her bowl, marinated it with the stew gravy, and consumed it.

Grandma’s cheeks brightly flushed red. Rosa poured them a glass of freshly made lemonade. There were slices of lemons within the pitcher to add more flavor to the beverage. The lemonade was very sweet and tangy. His face flushed red from the sourness that came afterward.

In all his life, Eddie had never had lunch outside a residence, much less on a lawn. The only time he ate lunch outdoors was on school excursions and occasionally at beach parks with his mother. Eating in the presence of adults, Eddie thought it was best to keep quiet and never interrupt grown-ups while they were conversing about the Yggdrasil yellow jackets. A sign of apprehension was grimly written across Grandma’s face.

“It’s sooner than I anticipated,” Grandma said, “However, you can put your worries to rest. The Yggdrasil yellow jackets are this Preserve’s guardians and under my husband’s jurisdiction. They would not have harmed anyone here that is on the list. They relayed a message to me.”

Rosa coughed. She was mortified from her ineptitude. Eddie looked at her suspiciously once again. She shamefully never returned the glance.

I closed the window all for nothing, Eddie said to himself.

“Is it a message from him?” Rosa asked with interest.

Grandma shook her head and sipped her lemonade. “All we know is Blackhaven has made landfall here, somewhere on American soil, and that they are after my grandson. The numbers are unclear.”

“It is very clear that they are working with the goblins. We should also assume that they are in cahoots with the orcs and any evil entity in existence. Blackhaven will never rest. They will never sleep. And they will never stop until they apprehend Eddie.” Cassandra fumed.

“As I feared. The orcs have legions of foot soldiers by the hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions. Their armor has been upgraded since the last century. Their shells are so shrewd that even a shotgun shot at point blank won’t leave much of a dent. This Preserve will face a great peril,” Walter interjected. “This state of Kentucky has been compromised.”

“Impossible! Nothing can breach the distracter spells’ line of defenses without us noticing it.” Rosa gritted her teeth.

“Perhaps we have a mole within our midst,” Cassandra retorted.

“How did you come to this conclusion?” Rosa accused, “We swore an on oath and pledged our fealty to protect this Preserve with our lives! There is no room for deception!”

“They knew exactly where to hit and where to locate me and my son. Why do you seem disobliged by my presumption?”

Cassandra furrowed her brow.

“On the contrary,” Walter pointed out. “The contract does not welcome evildoers. Nor does it accept individuals with future intent to endanger this land and its inhabitants. However, the contract cannot filter out change of heart,” Rosa looked at him with rage.

Eddie watched and listened with curiosity. He felt like he had no place within the debate with adults, but he had a hunch that his visit here would be out of the ordinary. Observing the grown-ups, Walter seemed the most mellowed out of the three. Something about the man’s foresight piqued his interest.

“Preposterous!” Rosa spat.

“That’s enough,” Grandma intervened. “We will deal with the full brunt of the crisis when the time for it arises. Best we get started with the preparations. There is no telling how long we have before combat.”

“And the boy,” Walter pointed at him. “How should we proceed with his training?”

“It’s your call,” Grandma indicated to an irritated Cassandra.

Cassandra sipped her lemonade and looked at her son with guilt. She had never intended for Eddie to live this way of life. She always wanted him to have a normal life and grow old in an age of peace and prosperity. Here on Earth, during the Modern age. Wars were very scarce, compared to the Magic Era of the seven other worlds. This was one of the main reasons why she discarded her highborn nobility for a normal life for a husband of her choosing and settling down with kids.

She had made an oath to her husband Alphonse that their children should never live the savagery life of warfare and conflict. That oath now had to be broken for Eddie’s sake. He will definitely need to bathe his hands in blood and severe his innocence to survive. Survival of the fittest. Only the most intensive, brutal training would guarantee survival. Cassandra now hated herself for what she was about to do to her son.

“One month. He will be trained the Spartan way.”