‘’Perinia Village’’

I walk through the plains away from the caravan, trying to calm down and get some fresh air. The night sky is pretty, filled with hundreds of stars. Since we’re in the middle of nowhere, no lighting is keeping them from being seen. They shine brightly together with the moon, naturally lighting the flowers and grass stretched over the endless looking plains. I stretch a bit out, still tired from my nap. I’m allowed to walk already, but…

I’m already healed, even though I was supposed to be dead. I look at my hands…but there’s nothing unusual with them. ‘What in the world am I?’ I never felt something like this before. All this weird stuff has been happening to me ever since I fell into Illuminia. ‘Maybe Evander knows something I don’t…’ I clench my fist. I think about my battle with the golem. I ended up relying on a power I don’t even know. My attack turned dark…like Abyss. Not to forget the voice I heard during that time. It sounded so familiar. I try to think where I heard it before, but I’m drawing blanks. It’s on the tip of my tongue. ‘Argh! Why do I always draw blanks when I think about something important?’

‘Seems like you are alright now. Shouting like that in the middle of the night,’ Evander says while coming from behind me, removing his bandages as we speak.

‘Are you sure you’re supposed to take them off? They might get angry, you know…’

‘I wasn’t that badly hurt, so I didn’t need much treatment…unlike you.’ A grin appears on his face. I-Is he mocking me? That old… ‘Let’s get some sleep and depart tomorrow. We still have a journey to continue.’ He walks away from me again, back to the caravan.

‘Evander…’ My mind falls into thought again. ‘Abyss…’ I remember the people of the caravan that were being slaughtered in front of my eyes. If I stayed with them, I could’ve prevented so many from dying. ‘I…let so many people die…’ I stare into the sky. ‘I’m…so sorry…’ My heart aches. Today, I failed as a Hero.

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……..

The ruckus around me takes me out of my slumber. People are walking and running around, while others are finishing some final repairs on their carriages. ‘What the...they finished repairing everything already?’

‘Of course, they are experts in this. As a caravan, you need to be sure that you can quickly manage repairs and inspections with minimal personnel,’ Evander says from me behind. I’m more surprised by myself that I didn’t get startled. It seems that I’m getting used to his sudden popping up out of nowhere. ‘They also weren’t planning on leaving whitout thanking their savior.’ I get choked up from hearing that.

‘But…’ But I let so many people die… I want to say that, but the words don’t come out of my mouth. The people from the caravan start gathering in front of me, while I stand up in our own carriage.

‘Sir Brandr, we cannot express our gratitude that you saved us. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.’ Some of them bow, and some kneel, while others just keep standing and bowing their heads. I couldn’t feel worse now. The thought that I let so many people die doesn’t escape my mind. The girl that treated me suddenly walks up to me. ‘Please accept this from us.’ She hands me a wooden bracelet, craved with weird markings. ‘It’s a protection charm. It will keep you safe in your travels.’

‘I…I can’t take this! I-‘

‘Please, it’s our only way of saying thank you. We sell these to people at a very high price, but you saved us from Abyss.’

‘……’ I just let my head hang for a bit. ‘Thank you. I do feel safer already.’ I force a smile, which feels unconvincing, but it does the trick.

‘I’m glad. We’d love to travel with you back to Lamia, but since I we heard you guys are heading the other way, we will have to say goodbye.’

‘True…’ I really am bad in conversations with strangers sometimes.

‘Well, goodbye for now. We hope to meet you again someday!’ We all return to our respective carriages and wagon, but when we all start to move, I suddenly realize something. I quickly hang outside the carriage.

‘Girl, I never caught your name!’ The girl turns around to me and hangs outside the back of her wagon as well.

‘It’s Cindy! Cindy Limonia!’ She waves at my wildly, and so do I. Their carriages disappear in the distance as we continue our journey.

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………

‘Evander?’ He doesn’t say anything. ‘Did…did a lot of people die the last time Abyss attack?’ He doesn’t respond, but I keep on talking either way. ‘Do you remember when I went down to help you? All those people… If I stayed up…could I have saved those people? I’m weak after all. I couldn’t beat that monster without that mysterious power…and…’ I fall quiet. The weight of those lives. They might’ve had families that are wondering when they are coming home…and because of me…they will be waiting forever on a son, daughter, wife or husband that is never…ever going to return to them… Evander stays quiet once more. ‘If…if I just listened to you… Could I have…’ I hear a small snore coming from him. ‘W-was…he…sleeping?’ My worries get replaced with anger, and I throw an apple to his head for his worries. He instantly wakes up. ‘That’s what you get for ignoring me.’

‘What was that for?! Don’t you have any respect for your elders?’

‘You’re not my elder, you’re a lazy old geezer who sleeps and drives a carriage at the same time.’ We start fighting like children again to the point we fail to notice that we’ve already entered a different kind of surrounding. ‘Evander…?’

‘What is it?’ We both start looking around as he asks me.

‘I think we’ve entered a forest…’ The trees are thick and overgrown, so we can barely see the sunlight.

‘Well, I’m just glad you aren’t stupid. Thank you, Sir Obvious.’

I glare at him for a moment. The density kind of creeps me out. I presume that Evander noticed that, since he suddenly grabs my sides.

‘Boo.’

‘Gah! Monster!’ I kick him away from me. He starts laughing like an old am. ‘You idiot!’ I shout as I throw the same as before at him. He catches it easily this time.

‘A donkey doesn’t hit the same stone twice, young one.’ I completely loose him there. ‘It means that no one is as stupid as you to make the same mistake twice.’

‘You really like mocking, don’t you?’ He just ignores my remarks as he grabs his personal satchel.

‘Let’s see...’ he says as he grabs the map and shows it to me, pointing at a specific point. ‘We’re about to enter Perinia Village. It’s a small village known to make revolutionary elixirs. It’s also known as ‘’The Witches Village’’ because of this. We’ll quickly resupply and move on if possible, but you can also use it as a resting place. That would mean we will travel straight through the next place, which will New Asonia, the capital of North Asonia.’

‘I see… What’s the best option to take?’

‘I want you to decide that, but it’s probably to rest in New Asonia. More options to calm the feet down and more stores to resupply from. Perinia is really just a simple village.’

I think for a moment but stop myself from making a choice just yet. Something tells me to hold my decision off. We start seeing buildings as that thought crosses my mind. ‘So that’s Perinia Village?’ The village is quite small, with only one big main road going through it, while small roads lead deeper into the forest. I can see some buildings constructed on trees, with ladders or big spiraling stairs leading to the entrance. It’s like I’m in a true fantasy village, with huge treehouses in a dense forest. ‘This place is amazing…’

‘It is a one-of-a-kind village really. From what I’ve heard is that most animals here don’t attack the villagers, since the people have found ways to domesticate the fauna in this forest.’

‘That’s amazing,’ I respond as we enter the village. We only ride for a few seconds before a little kid stands in front of our carriage, stopping us dead in our tracks.

‘What business do you guys have here in Perinia Village, outsider?’ The boy has a high-pitched voice, and he’s wearing a white shirt and blue short pants, showing off his bandages on his arms and legs. He wears a straw hat, which makes most of his face not visible to me.

‘Uhm…my name is Brandr.’ It takes a moment to progress my respond, since he took me off guard. We're here to resupply and such...we're traveling to Fireroot Village.'

'There's nothing to resupply with here, so be gone, outsider!' That response takes me my surprise. I suppress my urge to rudely respond, until another old looking villager covered in brown and white robed clothing with gray hair and a small beard appears and signs the boy to stand behind him.

'I'm sorry for his behavior; he is quite rude to strangers. He slightly bows to me, and then quickly inspects me. ‘What is your business here in Perinia Village?’

‘We’re just taking a small break, before moving on to Fireroot Village. We mean no harm, truly.’ He looks suspicious at him and moves his focus to Evander. ‘Ah, he’s my guide! Right, Eva-?’ He fell asleep again. ‘He’s tired. I’m going to let him rest for a moment, before we take the road again. He’s been driving the entire day after all.’ I hit him in the side, and he shoots awake.

‘I see… Excuse me for the boy his behavior. He’s not used to strangers. Please, there is a stable further down the street. You can leave your carriage over there,’ the old man says, before tapping the straw hat of the kid and leaving again. The boy follows him but turns around for a moment.

'If you're smart, you'd better leave. You’ll regret staying here.’ The boy parts with the old man after leaving me with those words.

‘…weird kid, right Evander? …hey, Evander?' He fell asleep again. What's wrong with fool today? He's keeps falling asleep. I shake him carefully this time, because it’s kind of worrying me now. He slowly wakes up; nods back off, and completely wakes up again. 'Evander, are you alright? You keep falling asleep today...'

'Yeah, I’ve been feeling kind of tired ever since we left the caravan. It’s probably the after-effect of the medicine they gave me. If I get enough sleep today, I'll be fine tomorrow.'

‘If you say so, then we better take a rest here and just pass through New Asonia. I can’t have you fall asleep on me the entire time.’ He laughs for a moment when I say that, before taking the reins again and driving to the stable. We leave it there and rent two rooms for the night in the nearby (and only) inn located in the village.

‘Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then. I’m going to get a long sleep,’ Evander says as he lets out a big yawn and enters his rented bedroom. That leaves me with the entire day further for myself, so with some of his pocket money in my pockets, I try to find a place to wash and score a meal…

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‘Sir, what is this dish? Pi-zza?’ I found a peculiar store after my long bath, giving off a similar vibe as the one in Rakenia, which served the groundbreaking ‘’Spaghetti Bolognese’’. Ah…my mouth waters just by the thought of tasting that sublime dish again. I have longed for another bite for a while now, and with the recipe in my bag I might be closer to tasting it again than I think.

‘Ah…the quattro formaggi has gorgonzola, mozzarella, pecorino and parmesan cheese.’ I look absolutely dumfounded at him, making him realize all those ‘’cheeses’’ weren’t the issue. ‘Wait…do you mean?’

‘Indeed, I mean! What is a pizze?’

‘Pizza, sir.’

‘Yes!’

He doesn’t know how to respond at all. ‘You’ve never had a pizza, sir?’

‘Well, if I did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now, would we?’ He looks a bit agitated now. I try to tone myself down a bit. ‘Excuse me…can you explain to me what a pizza is?’

‘A pizza is round wheat dough, baked in a stone oven and layered with things like tomatoes, cheese and various other ingredients.’

‘I still don’t really understand, if I’m honest… If I can just see an exam-‘ he sighs before I finish my sentence and suddenly overflows me with information straight out of a book, that I cannot even begin to understand.

Pizza /ˈpiːtsə//ˈpɪtsə/. NOUN A dish of Italian origin, consisting of a flat round base of dough baked with a topping of tomatoes and cheese, typically with added meat, fish, or vegetables.

‘a cheese and tomato pizza’

mass noun ‘a slice of pizza’

as modifier ‘a pizza restaurant’

He takes a deep breath, as if coming to back to his senses.

……………………………………………. ‘what?’ That was…weird. ‘Noun? Italy? Mass noun? What on earth you talking about?!

‘I don’t know either. This tends to happen whenever I explain something. I just get…lost in myself, and usually make it harder to understand that simplifying it.’ He bows to me apologetic.

‘It’s okay, really! I’ll just see for myself. I will take the one you talked about in the beginning. The one with cheese!’

‘Almost every single on is with cheese, sir…’

‘I know, I know, but I mean the one you said. The one that had a lot of cheese.’

‘Ah, the quattro formaggi. Coming right up.’

The waiter takes his leave, finally giving me a break to absorb all the information he has given me. I hang in my chair, staring at the ceiling. ‘Dad…’ I still remember the faces of my family clearly. I try to everyday, in fear that I will forget them. ‘It’s going to be okay, Brandr. You’ll see them sooner than you think. We’ll arrive in one piece.’

‘Thinking about your family? You did seem quite young for a sellsword.’ I jerk forward when I suddenly hear a voice address me. It’s the same man that talked to me when I arrived. The old one which the annoying kid stood behind.

‘Ah…can I…help you?’

‘I’m pleased you asked. Indeed, you can help me. Help all of us, in a matter of fact,’ he says as he sits in the seat in front of me. ‘The people of Perinia Village need you, young man. The lives of this village rest in your hands…’