《The Mountains Of Versailles》 Prologue: An Ominous Sign Awaits! It was a cold and misty day when Bran woke up. The alarm going off next to him didn''t help the fact that he hadn''t slept well last night. Not for lack of trying though, his brother had decided that imbibing one too many drinks and trying to sing his favorite death metal song would be a great way to end his last day of work for the week. "Blegh" Bran smacked his lips together a few times then yawned, at least he had the 11:00am shift at work and not the horrendous 8:45am shift. Bran shivered a bit, yeah things could definitely be worse. Getting dressed Bran got ready to leave grabbing his backpack with the work uniform in it and strapping it onto his back. It was a forty-five minute long walk to work and forgetting his uniform meant either trying to catch the bus that was never on time, or walking home and back for two hours. Bran opened the door and set off, slamming the door loudly just in case his brother was still trying to sleep. After all if Bran couldn''t get a decent sleep neither could his brother. Graduating high school had been a big step in both Bran and his brothers life, they moved from their hometown to a bigger city. With college tuitions expensive however Bran soon realized that one year was all he had money for hence the job he had. While not paying very well it gave lots of hours. Coming out of his musings, Bran looked at his watch. He had an hour left, just enough time to grab a coffee at the Starbucks next to his workplace. Bran hated washing dishes with a passion, so some caffeine would be greatly appreciated. Turning the corner Bran already had visions of a steaming hot mocha in his head, only to have those thoughts crushed when he saw a young woman crying on a bus stop bench. Bran was raised as a gentleman by his father after all, and he always had trouble keeping his nose out of other people''s business. So he casually walked up to the lady crying at the bench. "Excuse me miss, but are you okay?" Bran asked her. The sobbing woman raised her head and looked at him with her tear-stained face. "Yeah I guess I''m okay I just really screwed up." She sniffled as she looked at him. Now Bran was never a Ladies man. The only girlfriend he''d ever had dumped him on prom night. While this situation wasn''t quite as awkward... It was getting there. It only took Bran a moment to decide what to do. "Well I got work in about an hour, but before that I was gonna get some coffee. I may not be a psychiatrist but I''m a good listener, so if you wanna come...?" Bran left the offer open. "You know what? I will take you up on that offer!" The woman happily exclaimed, her tears all but forgotten. Bran looked at her, the woman almost glowed with an eastern beauty, the tears doing nothing to hide her obvious Greek ancestry. The woman''s long raven hair was in stark contrast to the apparent sundress she was wearing. It was odd, Bran thought. This woman was wearing a sundress in winter? While a bit confused Bran thought for a moment that maybe the dress was thicker, or warmer than he thought, even if it looked like some sort of white bed sheet. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. "Want me to pose so you can get a better look?" The woman asked, noticing Bran''s stare. "Um. I''m sorry. I just thought you might be cold in that sundress." Bran mumbled, averting his eyes and blushing furiously. "Nah, it''s surprisingly warm." She said, doing a twirl and giggling, her earlier grief completely forgotten. "So may I ask my knight-in-shining-armor''s name?" The woman asked covering her mouth to stop the laughing fit she was having. "Oh, sorry. My name''s Bran. What about you my lady?" Bran asked as he made a deep bow. "My name is Atropos. It means unstoppable in Greek. Weird name right?" She giggled at the confused face Bran made. "Not as weird as being named after a cereal!" Bran replied laughing. Soon Atropos joined in, the both of them getting weird looks from a man across the street getting his newspaper. For awhile they continued like that laughing at small jokes and making small talk as they made their way to the coffee shop, until they got on the subject of work. "At least when you make a mistake you don''t change someone''s life!" Atropos said. "Oh really? Well then what great and important work do you do little miss "unstoppable"?" Bran replied. Atropos became solemn, like flipping a light switch before her features warped in confusion. "I''m a tailor, kind of? I''m really important though" Atropos said, withdrawing and becoming quiet once more. At this point Bran had made it to the coffee shop, Atropos in tow behind him. Bran directed her to get a seat in the corner as he ordered them some coffee. Debating on how to breach the obviously touchy subject of her work with her he paid the barista and took the coffee to their table. A small secluded table for two, it was perfect for a conversation that others wouldn''t overhear. "So... What''s been eating at you so bad that you would cry at a bus stop in the middle of the winter?" Bran asked, carefully prodding her for answers. "Well as you may have guessed, it''s about my job." Atropos said becoming teary eyed again. "I messed up real bad, and I can''t fix it at all." Atropos was starting to softly sniffle by this time. "Hey there it can''t be that bad. I mean we''re human aren''t we? We all make mistakes, hell god probably is regretting making me. Like have you SEEN this face? Bran replied, trying to cheer her up with his sarcasm. "Is there any chance I can get you to help me fix it then? For some personal reasons I can''t but you might be able to." Atropos asked looking up at him with eyes the size of saucers. "Sure," Bran replied. After all, imagine the good karma for this! The light flickered slightly above them as a tremor ran through the caf¨¦. Bran looked around nervously, he had never experienced an earthquake before, even if this one wasn''t very big. Bran looked towards Atropos to see her smiling, almost like she had pulled off some clever ruse. Chapter 1: Hell Hath No Fury... Heya there friends! Itsa me! Your non-Italian-plumber friend! I''m just here to let you know if you read my prologue on the day of its release some things might have changed. So if you are are a bit lost make sure to check that out! Also as a bit of clarity originally I wanted to make Bran an edgelord type of character... Nope can''t do it. So If Bran seems a bit different and less like shadow the hedgehog then that is why. Enjoy the story and remember reviews help me get my story out there so they are greatly appreciated! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had taken exactly five seconds for my day to go off the deep end of sanity. As soon as Atropos, my newest friend had looked at me after the mini-earthquake I knew something very bad was gonna happen. She looked like a cat that has the mouse cornered. Both the cat and mouse know it, and both know the cat won''t make it quick. The other patrons of the coffee shop seemed to have frozen, like a video that''s buffering except there was no spinning dots, no percent loaded. It was like the world had stopped. At this point I looked over at Atropos once more. No amount of scary stories, movies, or T.V. shows prepared me for the jolt of absolute pants-shitting terror that assaulted me at that moment. It felt like when I looked at her the world faded into black, all that was left was us, our table, and our coffees. "U-u-m, you aren''t some demon I''ve sold my soul to right?" I let out weakly. "A demon? Really Bran? That is the BEST you could come up with? Frankly I''m quite disappointed in you." She sniffed and upturned her nose slightly. "Well maybe we should go over what you want me to do now that I''ve been manipulated into helping you?" I said, getting quite fed up with her smug attitude. At this she raised one brow giving me another smug smile. "Well I guess I a should start with the basics. First of all I didn''t lie to you at all, I AM a tailor, and my job is very important. How much of Greek mythology do you know?" "Enough to start thinking that isn''t a sundress, it''s a toga and you are definitely not human, or something looking for "human relations"? I said. At that moment she laughed. It wasn''t the one that I''d heard earlier, this one was beautiful, almost cataclysmic in the emotion it brought. The laugh made me remember everyone I''ve ever lost and the bittersweet feeling of their passing. "How cute. Too bad I work so much otherwise I might take you up on that offer." Atropos winked at me as she spoke. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Unfortunately you have somewhere to be." She said. "Work?" I asked, extremely confused. Again she laughed. Nearly making me fall into the blackness that was the world around us. "Nope. You are going to Alpochre. I guess you could call it a "whole new world"?" Well shit. I''d always dreamed of fantasy worlds with swords and magic. Heroic deeds abound in worlds like that. Hell with my knowledge I could sell designs and make a killing off of it. I don''t really have many attachments here anyway, I never really got along with my family, and my friends would survive without me. I wouldn''t need to have a mountain of debt in college, and no more worrying about a nuclear war going off. The more I think about it the more I decide that it can''t be all THAT bad in another world. "Ok, but a few questions first?" "Ask ahead" She replied, seemingly amused with my acceptance. "Anything in this for me? Do I get any special skills or magic? Like can I fly? Or Breathe fire?" I excitedly listed off. "Nope." Atropos replied smiling. ".........." "What about translating the language so I can understand?" I asked hopefully. "Nope." Her smile grew larger. "See, I don''t need you to do anything there. I just need you to go there. What you do after is up to you." The smile now reached all the way to her eyes, full of satisfaction. "That is so bullshit though, how am I supposed to survive in a world I know nothing about, with a language I don''t understand and a currency I don''t know?" I asked indignantly. No matter how you looked at it this was unfair. It was like trying to swim up a waterfall, impossible... "That''s not my problem. Anyway I''m sure you will land near some sort of human settlement, after all they are everywhere." She replied. "Maybe if you survive you can take it up with the gods in THAT world, after all they''re the ones who wanted some power siphoned." She looked at me. "Are you ready to go?" "I guess so... Can I at least finish my coffee?" This was probably the stupidest thing I''ve ever said. Atropos had pretty much said that she was a god and here I was not asking the hard hitting questions before I left. Not "why are we here?" Not "what is the purpose of life?" No. I had a cup of lukewarm coffee to finish. When I looked at her I knew she was NOT happy with my answer, in fact she looked furious. As she pushed me into the void around us I remembered something my father always used to say... "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Chapter 2: Struck By An Angel Seriously thinking about just skipping this chapter for now. Like this is the second time I''m REWRITING IT. What THE EVERLIVING HELL. It''s like someone *cough* Atropos *cough* doesn''t want to be non-story relevant. Anyways the schedule will be a chapter every two days, with an extra thrown in every once in awhile. I am also hosting a contest! Bran will be described in this chapter, and I WANT YOU! YES, YOU! Submit art of what you think he looks like based on my description and the top three will not only get their art featured in chapter 12 they will also get to name a character in the story! (NOTE: WITHIN CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS! I am not putting xXDopeFiendXx into the story.) Also can anyone show me a good tutorial on how to work these god darned writing boxes!?!? I am terrible at them. With all that said, Enjoy the story! There is officially one thing worse than falling into the deepest depths of darkness. That one thing just so happens to be falling into a gigantic spider web from said darkness. I looked at the arm that was attached and said goodbye to my favourite jacket, you will be missed. Slithering out of it I managed to fall down into the cave below. Looking around I see a human sized crack in the wall, with a thread of the web as thick as braided rope I figured that wall crack > giant spider. and so I picked up my pack and started walking. One thing I know about spiders is that they don''t use sight, instead they feel vibrations and use that to "see" their environment. Unluckily for me, this spider "saw" me. Luckily it hissed before it tried to rip my face off, giving me the time I needed to dive for the crack in the wall. Squeezing in I almost made it through. That is until I felt my backpack get hooked. Quickly undoing the straps I saw the spiders considerably well sized fang stuck inside of it. For the first time I got a good look at it and shuddered. From the light coming in through what I assumed was the opening to this hellhole I saw a spider that, using my backpack to judge was around eight feet long and 5 feet high. Definitely not a friendly pal. Looking around the tunnel I was in I did the only thing I could. Walk further in. The tunnel was small but not enough to get too claustrophobic. Holding my arms out I could just barely reach to either side. I kept walking deeper into the darkness. While walking and singing songs to myself all I could think of was Alice, and how she went into wonderland almost never getting out again. I wonder how I could possibly explain this to any people when I get out of here. What could I say? "I''m sorry but I was just taken from another world, plopped into a spider web from a cruel and rude god only to end up stuck in a mountain for who-knows-how-long?" Yeah. That''ll go over well. Especially considering I can''t even speak the same language as them. How am I even going to communicate that I''m not some evil villain or bandit anyway? Shit. What if a bandit attacks me on some road? I can''t even bargain for my life. Well, at least it can''t get any worse. Scratch that last thought. At least it can''t be any better. I may have found a way to speak the same language as the people in this world. Money. It is the universal language. How am I gonna get it? Easy, the giant door in front of me should be hiding some pretty great treasures. Hell the door itself should be worth a fortune! I think it''s solid gold! First things first though, gotta check and see if there is any beasties around here. Coming out of the tunnel there are two doorways, one is blocked by this door. The other is a passageway cleanly cut into the rock and lit by torches placed periodically along the way. Going down it a fair ways I came to a crossroads, right led to what looks like a giant antechamber that was pitch black. The left ended into a door as well, I could hear snoring on the other side. Deciding that as long as I was quiet I would be fine, I headed back to the door. About ten feet tall, pure gold, and with no adornment other than some weird what I think is letters, it was perfect. While the door had no obvious locks on it, the wall to the right of it did. In between the passage and the door was a puzzle. Easy. It was one of the ones where you have a board divided into squares and one blank space. The goal was to make the lines in the picture line up with each other to make it complete. I used to do those all the time, I can''t wait t get me some of that sweet, sweet treasure! Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. It has been five hours. As it turns out, this puzzle ain''t so easy after all. Oh how many times have I tried only to fail. See the puzzle is on a timer and if you don''t solve it after that it will reset and then change into a completely different picture. I''m tired, hungry, and thirsty. Please god just give me an easier puzzle. Finally! I did it! ME! look out treasure! Here I come! I open the doors, close my eyes, and take a deep whiff of apple scented air... What? Why would gold smell like apples? I look inside the room confused. There where my treasure should have been is a small garden lit up by a glowing crystal in the ceiling. There in the back of the room past some of the rows of carrots, and lettuce, along with some other vegetables is an apple tree. Tired, frustrated, and felling quite a bit dejected I decide that an apple would really hit the spot right now. After all I''ve been up for awhile and haven''t had anything to eat. So I go over to the tree and reach up for one, this apple is possibly the most delicious thing I have ever seen in my life. Glistening in the light it is the perfect ripeness, almost as if it was perfectly crisp. The red skin almost bursting with the promise of the bliss inside. I knew at this moment that I had found a kindred soul in this world. Something that I could treasure, and love. My eyes started to tear up a bit looking up at it. I reached out my hand to grab it and heard a gasp behind me. Turning I saw heaven on earth. There in the doorway stood the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. With long, flowing blonde hair, and a rounded pretty face she held a hand up to her mouth, her face terrified. We stood there for a second staring at each other. Her looking almost terrified as she clutched a basket to her chest, as if to offer some modicum of comfort. Now I may not be the most handsome guy, but I''m not that ugly either. With my messy brown hair I had a sort of wild look going on. A rounded face and broken nose however made me almost seem like an ogre in comparison to the beauty before me. She stood a full head lower than me, and looked like the picture of innocence standing there. As I slowly withdrew my arm as stealthily as possible, with the apple in hand. I looked at her. She looked at me. I looked at the apple. She looked at it. Watching her carefully I brought the apple towards my mouth about to take a bite. It was at this moment she decided to scream. A high pitched and panicked one. Surprised, I dropped my soulma - I mean apple. The world slowed down a bit as it fell. It hit the ground with a dull thud and a crack. I fell to my knees defeated. Life didn''t matter anymore, not without that apple in it. Oh cruel god why hast thou forsaken us? A tear leaked out of my right eye. The apple was gone now. Five second rule and all, I had to move on. Looking at the screaming beauty at the door I did the only thing I could think of: I started to scream louder than her. There we sat screaming, her giving me a confused look and me giving her my most complicated can-we-please-stop-screaming-and-talk look. It appears as though she wasn''t alone though as soon enough she looked to her right at the other passageway and another beauty came into my sight. This one was taller than me by a few inches, with red hair and a shapely body. she would have been a perfect fiery red-head, except for one thing. She had a sword. A sharp one. As the blonde one stopped screaming and pointed at me saying some sort of gibberish to the redhead I took my chance. I immediately stopped screaming got up and held my hands in the air. I was NOT going to get cut up by some crazy lady with a sword. Seeing my surrender she smiled sweetly at me and walked towards me. Blondie was behind her. Upon reaching me she started to switch between a lot of different languages, or at least that''s what I thought she did, all I got was gibberish. Red, which is what I''m going to call her upon seeing the confusion still apparent on my face did something I didn''t expect. She rolled her eyes, said something to Blondie and started to walk away. Looking at Blondie confused I saw a fist. Ouch. Seeing that her fist did nothing but cause me pain, she promptly reached over and slammed my head against the tree sending me reeling into the darkness. As I was on my way out I chuckled a bit. I guess I''d truly been: struck by an angel. Chapter 3: Et Tu Brute HEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYY YOUUUUUUUUUU GUYSSSSSSSSSSS! Obvious Goonies? references aside, I thought that in my everlasting wisdom you all might appreciate another chapter? Like I said in one of the previous chapter blurbs, send your art of Bran to [email protected] and the top three, YES you heard it here folks, the top THREE will be featured in chapter twelve and get the name of their choice in the story. Again there is guidelines, no BlazIt420xXXx as a name. Anyways I''m kinda cheating here because these used to be the same chapter before my pc decided that I didn''t need to actually have that chapter. Luckily I rewrote it and it is as good as before! Waking up to being dragged on a stone floor is definitely not the best feeling. The fact that it was Red dragging me didn''t help. Red was dragging me by the back of my shirt, all the way out of the garden and towards the other tunnel. Behind me Blondie was grimacing as she rubbed her quite swollen knuckles. Good. I hope it hurt when you tried to invert my face with your fist. You monster. I could feel the lump forming on the back of my head where it hit the tree already. At least it felt like the blood had stopped flowing from my nose. Ouch. Scratch that. After wiggling my nose it has started bleeding profusely, and the sharp gasp of pain made Blondie glare at me. Oh sorry, does that fist hurt? Well so does my face. Blondie said something to Red and she laughed. It was probably some witty remark about what once was my beautiful face, I''m almost happy I can''t understand them. Coming to the branch in the passageway we turned right, towards the black antechamber. As I was on my back I got an excellent view of what was behind the door in the left passageway, which happened to be a giant room for what looked like a teenage girl? No way that belongs to Blondie, her room would be packed with brass knuckles and vodka not stuffed animals and painting supplies. As we passed through the threshold into the antechamber what I could see of it was lit, of course. I was still facing the door. Blondie glared at me once more, said something to Red and stepped into the chamber, almost appearing nervous. Anything that would make Blondie lose her nerves even slightly makes me a tad terrified. That woman could probably crush an apple in her bare hand, not to mention that Red was right here with a sword. Speaking of Red she took this moment to rudely throw me into the room. Landing on my stomach I looked up at the entrance, There stood Red and Blondie, both looked behind my back, said something, and looked at me to make what I assumed to be a very rude gesture. The growl that responded to them sent shivers down my spine. "....." "....." I can feel it staring at me. I think it wants me to get up. Quite frankly, it ain''t gonna happen. I silently looked at Red and Blondie pleading with my eyes to come back and drag me away. They looked at me, then each other, then they turned around and promptly left. Oh what a cruel world! The thing behind me must be huge, it''s breathing is making my shirt fly about. Wow, the anticipation in the room is palpable. I can feel it waiting for me to get up. Hmphh. Not today beastie, this Bran is not cereal. This is just like a horror movie, as long as I don''t get up or look at it, the thing won''t eat me. grrrrmmmblllrrmm "....." "....." How could I be betrayed like this! My rumbling stomach has made the staring even more oppressive. ET TU BRUTE! I feel as betrayed as Caeser. I can feel the pure undivided attention of the beastie on me. The jig is up. There is no way it doesn''t know that I''m trying to delay now. I eye the passage, maybe two meters away. If I hurry maybe I can get out and escape. If I get in one of the trees in the orchard I may be able to hide until they check the exit. Then it is my time to escape! Perfect! I ready myself, this is probably one of the most important sprints of my life. I got this. Taking a deep breath I get up as if I''m going to turn around and look at the beast. Just as I''m about to face the beastie I sprint for the door way, for freedom! I made it all of two steps before something swept my feet from under me, and as my head rushed towards the floor I may or may not have swore vengeance on Red, Blondie, Atropos and the mystery beastie behind me. I woke up in a cage. Kinky right? At least this one was pretty posh with golden bars, a bed, an area sectioned off for the toilet, and a chair. I''m pretty sure this is a dream though because outside my new prison Red and Blondie seemed to be arguing with a huge, gold, dragon. Well, they were saying a bunch of things, the dragon just stayed quiet staring at them. They kept gesturing at me angrily however, and making what I assumed as an argument to kill me. The dragon however just seemed amused. Mirth apparent in it''s eyes. From what I can guess the dragon is their boss, and it wants to keep me alive. Clearing my throat made them all look towards me. Just feeling that stare again I knew the dragon was the thing that tripped me before. I then spoke probably one of the first words I''ve ever said in this world. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. "HI?" I called out waving my hand a little as my voice cracked. Red and Blondie looked like I had just transformed into a dragon, the dragon however looked like I had just proved a point. As they turned to look at each other the arguing continued, with Blondie and Red gesturing as if I was some rabid dog and the dragon letting out some chortles. My stomach took this time to assert itself with another rumble. Hearing this the dragon gave both girls a pointed look before nodding towards me. It was like it was saying "Our guest is hungry, how could we not show some hospitality?" Now as a avid fantasy reader seeing that the dragon was intelligent was a godsend. An intelligent dragon could be reasoned with, or bargained with. Unfortunately for me I didn''t speak the language. A hungry dragon all alone with me, separated by some thin gold bars? Not good. While the girls disappeared into one of many hallways in the semi-circular antechamber I cleared my throat again. "BRAN." I said slowly, while pointing at myself. This seemed to amuse the dragon and it moved closer to my cage as I sat on the chair. It stared at me intensely before I heard a beautiful woman''s voice in my head, or at least it would be beautiful if it wasn''t so damn loud. "So you ARE intelligent! What a great surprise!" The voice was ecstatic, and had what seemed like a British accent? "Wait. You can understand me? Like hear my words and translate them to a different language?" I called to what I assumed to be a her. "Of course I can understand you. You speak the language of dragons little one, and I can quite assure you I am female." She replied, the volume of her... telepathy? Whatever it was, it wasn''t loud enough for my head to feel like it''s going to explode anymore. "Then you should let me out of this cage and point me towards the nearest human settlement." I remarked, looking her in the eye. Might as well go for the Hail Mary here. "Why ever would I do that?" She chortled as she replied. I was starting to see why Red and Blondie were angry at the dragon. "Because it''s common decency?" I flashed her my best smile. If this was gonna work I needed to turn on all my charm... what little of it I had. "Ufufufufu an interesting proposition indeed little one, but if you want out you will have to try a bit harder than that." What the hell. No one even laughs like that. I needed something I could trade for freedom and supplies, I don''t have anything though. I mean all my stuff was stolen by that spider... That''s it! If I get my backpack back I can trade that stuff for supplies and a way out. While I had been thinking, Red and Blondie were back and they had come with a bowl of steaming hot stew and a loaf of bread! Well, well, well oh how the tables have turned. I looked at the dragon as I accepted the bowl through the bars. My backpack had a few things this dragon couldn''t even imagine. I guess you could say they were of an otherworldly quality. Thinking of those things gave me an Idea. "Airplane. Motorbike. Computer. Cellphone." The dragon went from amused to intensely curious in an instant. The pupils dialating as both Blondie and Red moved off to the side as the dragon rushed closer. The dragon''s head inches from my cage now she stared at me intensely. "Well now, it appears you happen to know a few words I do not. Would you kindly explain them to me little one?" She never did anything distinctly threatening while she said those words, however a refusal seemed... to be a very bad idea. Oh well, never was any good at keeping secrets. "Well seeing as I''ll probably need to explain quite a bit, you may wanna get comfortable. You see It all started on a misty morning in a city called..." After explaining how I heroically escaped the giant spider through the crack in it''s cave the dragon immediately turned to Blondie and Red who dashed off through the hallway leading towards the crack. With the dragon still pestering me for answers like what an alarm clock is, I knew that being eaten woulda been a hell of a lot easier. Chapter 4: You Got A Friend In Me. Heya you! Yes you! How would you like to display your very own drawing of Bran based on character descriptions so far? If so email me at [email protected] with your artwork. Top three get featured on chapter twelve and a name of their choosing in the story. ( Sorry no xXDaKushSlayer$$$$Xx though, names must be manageable.) Hello there my precious reader base! Someone kindly left a reply on an earlier chapter as a sort of pseudo-review, and I''m going to take a little section to comment on the big part of Bran''s character he didn''t like - His decision process. Now first let''s ignore the whole blah, blah, I''M THE AUTHOR, HE''S SO PRECIOUS DON''T SAY MEAN THINGS ABOUT MY CHARACTER mumbo jumbo because he brought up a valid point. Bran hasn''t made rational decisions for the most part. He immediately accepts the fact that a goddess just tricked him and he will never see his family again. Then sometimes he shows no regard for his life, and other times he shows almost too much. There is a simple reason for the almost non-human danger-sense he has, put simply Bran will most likely not think about danger lying ahead. Unless he is about to die he will probably try to decide what to do based off of the immediate danger. For the earlier point I want to make sure all my readers know one thing by now: to Bran his family is considered dead, and vice-versa. He has no way back, and no connections in this world to tether him there. While I like the light hearted comedy crap I''m writing right now we will get to a point where the mature tag comes into effect. Anyways that''s all for now folks, enjoy the new chapter! "No, for the last time I do not know how to make a bus nor, would I want to." I replied, this dragon wanted to know everything, and I really just wanted to sleep. Sleeping proves to be a challenge however when someone stares at you, waiting for you to wake up. "Well little one, you are the only one who knows what a bus is and I would really like to see one." The dragon replied. After explaining coffee, roads and sidewalks she was still not satisfied that I was telling her the whole truth. Her suspicions were correct of course, there was no way I was explaining everything. That would not only take decades, it would be really, really boring. Then again, why hold back? It''s not like I have a family to go back to. For all I know the world I came from is traveling through time at a faster rate. Maybe this world is Earth two billion years in the future. Hell, maybe this is all a dream and I''m in a coma at some hospital. Either way, what now? Should I really go find human civilization? What about Red and Blondie? They''re both human, why are they with this dragon? Is it their foster parent? Do dragons even eat? It had been about twenty four hours judging by the meals, and I had yet to see the dragon eat anything. "For such a little one you seem to have a lot of big thoughts. Why not share some of those with me, or will you still not tell me how to create a bus?" She fluttered her eyelashes. What the hell, why does she even know such human gestures like that? Is it from Red and Blondie when they ask for things? This dragon brings more questions with every answer... "How about this then, I will tell you how to make a bus if you can solve my riddle, if not however I can ask for any three wishes from you as long as it is within your powers to grant them. Will you accept or are you afraid to lose to a human?" I had put some extra emphasis in there just to make sure she realized I was a lower species. If she thought she could easily win then I might be able to get away with these heavy terms. "You are an interesting one indeed little one! I am truly glad I didn''t eat you immediately. I will abide by those terms under two conditions. One: you must specify what two of those three wishes are immediately. Two: since I am merciful and just I will give you three riddles to stump me." "Well how generous of you, I give you my word that should I win two of the three things I ask of you are as follows. I would like to be released from this cage. I would like you to teach me the common dialect." I replied, satisfied with what my third wish would be. "I give you my word that should you confound me with one of the three riddles I will abide by these rules." She replied curtly. She looked like she had already won. For a dragon she seemed pretty arrogant about her knowledge. Time to bring her down a few pegs. "For my first riddle I''ll ask you one that has been passed down in my world for generations, it is called the sphinx''s riddle. I walk on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night. What am I?" "This is too easy little one! You simply must try harder, or do you want to build my very own bus? The answer is simple, Human." She replied smugly. I was starting to get tired of how smug people had been to me in the last two days, and I was getting kind of tired. Time to see if I could cheese it up. "Hmm... You''re right. I''m sorry for asking such an easy one. How about this: what is the square root of two?" I let out the words so innocently I was proud. I had won it with this, there was no way she knew the answer. "I do not understand the question little one. What is a square root?" She gave me the biggest puppy eyes possible. Seriously? Where does she learn these behavioural nuances from? Either way, a dragon doing them did not project the same feelings as when a human did. "It''s not in the rules that I have to explain the question." The smile on my face was clear, I had won. I had beaten the dragon in a battle of wits. Doubt my "smarter" brother could have done that. "I only keep you alive for my entertainment little one. Do not think that you can hide behind petty rules. There is no rule saying I must answer within an amount of time. Which of us will live longer, me, or you?" She smiled. Now that is bone-chilling. At least the other emotes and nuances had some semblance of humanity, this smile had none. She had a point too. It looks like I had to play fair, now what was something I knew and would stump her that didn''t use otherworldly knowledge? Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Riddles were pretty big in a lot of fantasy settings, in fact dragons usually told them. The question was, what could stump her? What was something she won''t think of? With that the answer to an old riddle came to mind along with an idea. "Fine. I''ll play fair then. When I get that third wish though, you''re gonna regret agreeing." "We shall see little one. Now, what is your final riddle?" "Men both young and old doth curse me. All of nature withers and falls from me. I destroy both village and city. The thickest armor can''t stop me. The strongest weapon can''t hurt me. What am I?" "That is easy little one, I am quite disappointed in you. The answer is a lich. Oh well then, looks like after that bus you have much to make and explain for me." She was positively ecstatic. Too bad for her though. I was not making a bus for her, I didn''t even know how. "Wrong." I replied smugly. "Ufufufufu how cute, you think that you can fool me. Sorry little one but I know what a lich is and you described it well." "Is that your final answer then? A lich?"I wasn''t smiling this time. No sense tipping her off that if she didn''t admit she chose lich as her answer she could continue waiting until I gave up. "Yes that is the answer I choose. Now tell me what I must get for the bus to be made." She answered, turning around as she did so. "Well you better open this cage ''cause you just got it WRONG!" I did a fist pump as I said it, it''s the small things in life after all. Really though. What else could I do but celebrate? Through my celebration I saw what seemed like a scowl on her face. "What is the correct answer then? If you are using some foreign concept I still win." "The answer is time. Young men wish to be older so they curse it. Old men wish to be young, so they curse it. Eventually trees, grass, even mountains erode and decay. Villages and cities rise and fall. Of course time can''t be stopped by armor or hurt by weapons. It can''t be a lich anyway. They can be hurt if you destroy the phylactery." I celebrated some more, doing a little dance, and fist pumping some more. Dungeons and Dragons had really come through for me. That and the arrogance of dragons as a fantasy clich¨¦. The dragon looked crestfallen, like I had enslaved her only child. "I will do as agreed then. The logic is correct, I have but one single request for you." "Sure what is it?" "Do not take my daughter from me." "....." I have no idea what to say. my third wish was going to be for her lifelong servitude but now that she said that I feel a bit bad about wanting to ask for that. She had said she wanted to eat me, if the tables were turned she wouldn''t show me any mercy so why should I? That being said I was raised as a gentleman, though the last time I acted like one it backfired quite a bit. What should I do? She obviously took this a lot more seriously than I thought. Note to self, don''t make oaths carelessly as apparently, they hold a lot of weight. I couldn''t doom this woman to serve me till I die, that was way uncool. How could I get her to come with me, and help me though? It''s not like I could just ask her without it being pseudo-slavery which I was not okay with. "For my third wish I want you to be my friend." I let out sheepishly. I still wasn''t sure it would work. Tears welled in her eyes and she looked at me like I was the messiah. Apparently a request of friendship meant a lot more here then on Facebook. "Thank you little one, for not taking my daughter from me. At least there is a single human in this world who wouldn''t enslave my race given the chance." Shit. That was an option? Don''t get me wrong, I''d feel pretty bad enslaving an entire race but morals only go so far. I may have made a serious mistake, but sigh I guess a single friend is worth more than the world. Well, that''s what the internet told me at least. "About teaching you the language. It is quite easy. a month at most for the basics of it. While I know you don''t like that cage it is currently the only room available." She eyed me up right then as she cut the bolts holding the cage door shut like her claw was a hot knife through butter. "What about the room dow-" "That room belongs to my daughter, and as we agreed I am your friend not her. You are not going to see her until I can truly ascertain your intentions of being my ''friend''." Ah. I see. So this is how you treat the guy who not only didn''t enslave you, but your whole race. Fine then. I see how it is. You won''t even be my wing-dragon later on at taverns will you? No, probably not. Well at least as my friend she will let me sleep without those intrusive stares. "Well in that case I'', tired we can start teaching me the common language in the morning." I said, turning my nose up as I faced my bed with a tiny sniff. As I laid on my bed about to go to sleep I called out one last thing. "Good night dragon" "Good night little one, and you may call me Astarte." Astarte? Well at least I had made one connection in this world. One tiny light in the void that would keep burning after I was long gone. If I was gonna be in this world till I died having a dragon as a friend couldn''t hurt. Chapter 5: Where The Wildest Things Are Heya there partner! Liking the story so far? Let me and other readers know by tossing out one of those there reviews so I can get me some of that tasty, tasty reader-base I want. Can you draw? Do you want the world to know how Bran should really look like? Submit your art to me at [email protected] and the top three will be featured in chapter 12! The top three will also get a name of their choice featured in the story. The names of course must be within reason. Hey there guys! Tis your humble story overlord here! "Wow" you might say, "was Bran getting some actual character development in that last chapter, or was I dreaming?" You aren''t wrong dear readers tis true Bran is going to be a fully fledged character by the end of this so help me god. Also a quick shout-out to NuitBlanche! He/She is one of the very first to comment on my humble story and his comments are one of the things that allows me to continue it! Please do message me questions if you have them and I will try to respond ASAP. Also for you guys another smaller chapter will be released either today or tomorrow so look forward to it. Waking up inside of a cage is never a pleasant experience. Waking up inside of a cage to hear a dragon devouring something that was screaming was less so. Looking over at Astarte I saw her look back at me. She appeared to be quite satisfied with whatever she had eaten. Human or not, it still screamed and I wasn''t sure if I wanted to know what it was. It had been three weeks since I had come to this world and I would say that I''m adjusting quite well. Most days I would peacefully awake and move to one of the twelve doors in the semi-circular antechamber and make myself breakfast. Most days, but not all of them. Sometimes I awoke to hear gurgled sounds, screaming, one time I even heard what sounded like pleading. Honestly I was starting to get quite a bit afraid. The pleading was the first of these incidents and whenever I looked at Astarte she looked back, almost as if she was waiting for me to ask. Enough was enough I had to know. There was no way a typical goblin made that noise. Though Astarte had taught me most of the common language which was called Adysan I had yet to speak a word of it to anyone but her. Red and Blonde hadn''t shown up once and I was starting to wonder if the screams were from them. Well, only one way to find out I guess. I stared at Astarte, and she stared back at me. a significantly more threateningly sight considering she lay atop a giant red cushion her golden scales gleaming in the torchlight along the walls. "Alright Astarte what was that screaming?" Hesitantly I asked. "How silly little one! There is no screaming, it must have been your imagination." She replied curtly, almost as if she was afraid to say too much. "Are we really gonna do this right now? Are you really going to make me name the fact that it has happened quite a lot in the past three weeks? Really? If it was only once maybe I would''ve believed you." I said as calmly as I could. It was funny really. Over the past few weeks I got frequent tired spells. Times where it seemed as though I couldn''t keep my eyes open. When I asked Astarte she replied that I probably wasn''t used to this worlds environment. I guess it made sense considering that I was always having trouble breathing in the smog of densely populated cities. It was still a little too coincidental that I just so happened to wake up from these frequent naps to hear Astarte eating something. Something was up. "Little one we both know that you are suffering from frequent tired spells. Maybe you need more rest?" She looked like she was getting desperate, like something was closing in. "I''m completely awake. Now let''s talk about why I wake up to hear you eating something every time one of these "tired spells" happens?" I replied slyly, I had her cornered now. "You look positively famished. Maybe you should eat something?" She pleaded. Something was up. Something was gonna happen that she didn''t want me to see. Maybe it was some dragon ritual thing? If it was then what was the screaming? As I opened my mouth to say that I wasn''t hungry a curious thing happened. One of the doors in the room directly opposite Astarte opened. Out of it stepped what looked to be a rag-tag group of adventurers. Three of them walked into the room and looked directly at me, their mouths open as I stood in my cage, my arms crossed in what must''ve seemed like anger towards the giant golden dragon. What a role reversal this was. Every member of the party was a woman, good for them. I hated seeing fantasy books where women were only meek and submissive. After all women were just as varied as guys were, no two were the same. "....." "....." So we stood there. A young man in a golden cage, a dragon that looked like a bundle of nerves, and a party of beaten and bruised adventurers. I looked at Astarte. "I never asked you about magic did I?" I asked coldly. "Now is not the time little one.'' She replied, clearly uncomfortable. "Oh, I think it is though. Tell me Astarte can you make someone fall asleep with magic?" I was clearly furious now, and my voice was raised quite a bit. "Ok little one I will admit it. I have been casting magic on you to put you to sleep." She looked like a beaten puppy. "Am I correct in assuming that what I have been thinking is correct then? When I am asleep adventurers come and you kill and eat them?" I continued to raise my voice as I scolded her. "Yes, but little one you do not understand the reason I do this. It is to protect you." Astarte replied with a cold, hard look in her eye. "How is killing people who come here possibly protecting me and not yourself? If it''s you they are after could you not just make them fall asleep with magic and send them away?" "It is not that I cannot it is simply the way of things. They come here to take my daughter from me, they would sell her to evil men and leave my body to rot. While I am sorry I lied to you little one they are here and now that they have seen you they can not be allowed to live." At this she turned to them and bared her considerably sized teeth ready for a fight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had taken Blanche days to make it through the labyrinth with her party. This was one of the most famous labyrinths in the known world and if they conquered it then they would be able to afford whatever they wanted. Wimly her Dwarven friend would be able to restore her father''s forge, Jade being the studious Elf she was, wanted to open a library to honor her villages memory, and Blanche, well she would worry about that when she was waist deep in men and booze. They had decided that each would gain 25% of the profits from conquering the dungeon. Originally it had been 33% split three ways but they had decided to hire another member of their party to join them. Her name was Daisy, or at least that''s what she told them. Blanche still wasn''t quite sure about letting her join them considering that she was both a Draconian, and a high ranking priest of Kulan. Kulan while known as one of the "good" gods was also known by his overly devout followers and their tendency to... impose themselves on others. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Originally the labyrinth had been easy, allowing them to snatch some great treasures from chests and the stronger monsters around the first few floors. This labyrinth was one of the legendary few that had yet to be conquered in this the "Age of Exploration". Now while she watched a handsome young man shout at an almost sullen looking dragon she was flabbergasted. not only was this man in what looked like a golden birdcage furnished with what seemed like a bathroom and bed it also had one lone chair facing the dragon. As her and her party watched the curious situation of the young man shouting at the dragon , and the dragon staring at him intensely (probably some kind of telepathy.) she assessed the situation. Blanche herself was a melee fighter who used her iron gloves to punch most monsters into dust, somehow she didn''t think the dragon would appreciate her giving it''s scales a few scratches. Wimly was a guardian, a special warrior caste that used a smith''s hammer and a shield to outlast their opponents with their steel-plate armor. There was no way a hammer could hurt that giant beast. Jade was in a difficult spot as well. She was the only one who could perhaps harm the damn thing but her spells took too long to chant. After all the beast would hardly let them slay it. Blanche looked at Daisy to see her looking at the dragon and smiling. Yep. She can do something. Blanche looked around the room at all of the members of her party. They all nodded back at her in reply. They would slay this dragon and conquer this dungeon or die trying. After all what kind of dragon would let them escape? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Bran''s POV] As I looked between the adventurers and Astarte I knew they had settled in for a death match. Nothing I said would dissuade Astarte now. One of the things I learned about her over these past few weeks was that she was stubborn, and protective when it came to her friends and family. She had left after that first conversation, she told me that when I fell asleep she went into the tunnel I arrived from and killed the giant spider. Burning the nest to the ground and collapsing the tunnel after her. As she explained it "while I may not know much about you little one, I know your heart is in the right place. We are friends now, and I protect my friends and family with all my might." As I looked between the adventurers and Astarte I knew I had to do something... but what? I could scream and shout but no amount of that could stop the fully combat-ready dragon in front of me. Neither could I stop the adventurers as they seemed to be nodding at each other now with a "we win, or we die" look in their eyes. They were ready to brawl, so I did the only thing I could. ahem "He-hello?" I said, the Adysan words were unfamiliar on my tongue. A human woman stepped ahead of the others. She had an amazing body, probably one of the most fit people I have ever seen. Strangely enough though she didn''t seem to have huge muscles or bulging veins, it was more the way she carried herself which brought about the illusion of her strength. As she stepped forward she said something that made my blood run cold. "Fear not handsome young man we will save you from that evil dragon that has imprisoned you." She proudly proclaimed as she gestured to her companions and then at Astarte. Oh. My. God. Seriously? That was why they all tried to fight Astarte instead of running away? I took one look at her proudly nonchalant smile and walked out of the opening in the back of my cage. I then walked around the bars of it to stand in front of it and look at Astarte. She was watching me do this while keeping an eye on the adventurers in case they tried a surprise attack. I looked at her. "Have you ever tried to ask them what they wanted Astarte?" "No, they usually tried to kill me when they fully entered the room." "Can you like, I don''t know, calm down maybe? This is a huge misunderstanding." "Little one if they make one move towards you I can guarantee that they won''t leave this labyrinth alive." My blood chilled at those words. I took it as sign she was willing to try to talk to them at least. Switching to Adysan I addressed the group of adventurers. "This is all a big misunderstanding. I''m not being held here against my will. I don''t need saving either, so how about we put away the fists and teeth and talk this out like the intelligent species we are?" The woman''s smile faltered and she squinted as her forehead furrowed a bit. It seems she wasn''t sure if she could trust me yet. She turned to her party who looked at her and shrugged. They then put away their hammers, weird necklaces and staves. The woman then looked at me and said two words tersely. "We''re listening" One thing that makes talking to new people more enjoyable is coffee. Well, unless that person is some evil goddess like Atropos. I decided to go to the kitchen room and prepare some of the tea there after telling the women I would be right back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Blanche''s POV] This was completely absurd. Not only was the young man not a prisoner of the dragon he was actually telling us that we had misunderstood! This dragon was obviously the one protecting the treasure room of this dungeon. When he left to "make tea" I was quite worried. What if he brought reinforcements back here? What if he was hypnotised by the dragon''s magic and was being controlled? That must be it I thought. When he came to hand us our tea we would grab him and run for the above floors of the dungeon. There was no way that a dragon could fit through these passageways. I looked at my companions, they were all extremely worried. Seeing the look in my eyes though, they knew I had a plan and would follow me. We all tensed up when he came back with 5 cups of tea on a literal silver platter. It looked so ornate that it had to be worth at least three gold. Note to self: take the shiny silver platter and the young guy. As he came towards us we all smiled and looked at each other and him. When he went to hand Daisy the cup of tea was when we struck. Daisy was the closest to the door. When she saw me reaching for him she understood what I was trying to do. She struck him on the head and knocked him out cold. Then she dashed for the door with him over her shoulder. Me and the others immediately followed after. As we rushed out I could hear the dragon roaring at us so I shouted something back at it. "Don''t worry we''ll undo the brainwashing you''ve done and come back to end you!" I laughed as we ran away adrenaline pumping in my head. As we ran I almost missed the sorrowful howl of the dragon behind us... Almost. Interlude 1: An Interesting Day Ending Lives Oh my I didn''t see you there dear reader. Be much assured Bran''s story will continue, I just thought that some more character development would be nice for him and one other character: Atropos. Also I''m having a contest. Cool, huh? Just send all your character art of Bran straight to [email protected] and the top three get a name of their choosing in the story, as long as it''s within reason. Now BE WARNED there is a mature tag in this fiction for a reason. This interlude is going to touch on themes of suicide and severe depression. If that bothers you please ignore this interlude. If you do want the full story than feel free to read on as you have been warned. Being a goddess isn''t easy. Being a goddess who happened to be one of the fates was even less so. As Atropos, or "the unturnable" I controlled how a mortal met their end to a certain point. If you ask me my sisters have it easy, one just spins the thread of life, the other measures the length. They don''t do any dirty work. They don''t feel the mortals cry and beg for their life, or plead for mercy. Those ones aren''t the hardest though, the ones that make it really hard are the ones who choose it themselves. The ones who commit suicide. I control every mortal''s end to a certain point and when I say that I mean it. I wouldn''t be sitting on this bus stop if I couldn''t. Every mortal has to depart from this world at a certain point. I am the one who makes them. So when I reached for my shears, to end this young man''s life I got a glimpse through all of his living memories like I always do. Something stuck out to me on this one though, they were all so macabre. He looked at life as if it was the waiting room for death. A unique point of view for most mortals. Intrigued I decided to take a closer look. It was terrifying the mental anguish he had suffered. Not from his friends or from strangers, but from his family. His step-mother had tried to bring him up right. She was kind at first, but then the fights started, and with them came the mental abuse. He didn''t understand what he did wrong, he was too young to understand that his dad doted on him. His step-mother didn''t like that. She yelled at him when his father was away, threatening to tell his father how he had used him if the young boy said a word. His world had changed and in a few short years he was the only one not broken by her mental abuse. The other children, two of her own and one of his father''s wouldn''t speak out, he continued to. Through the abuse he became emotionally distant. He lost track of what faces he should make when happy, or when sad. He forgot how to laugh and smile. His father saw this change and immediately blamed it on his step-mother. Again he suffered when she asked him what she was trying to do to her and his father. He soon lost interest in the real world. Becoming angry and spiteful at how destiny and fate treated him. The boy became a teen and tried to forget the world. He chose not to invest himself in others and instead read books. When his step-mother asked him why he never went out with friends he told her the truth, the abuse came again. He was tired now. Sleep was but one of the few things he had left. Dreams took him to the worlds of his fantasy books, worlds where he was needed, wanted even. Another blow came while he visited his real mother, she told him of his conception, of how he was never meant to be. He realised he was unwanted then, his father just felt guilty about not loving him enough. He only caused trouble for them after all. The next blow came out of nowhere, he found someone he felt he could show himself to. What he thought was love. Again fate intervened. She moved away, to a city far from here. He fell into a pit of depression again. High-school became hard and he soon got lost in the work, he forgot his sorrow for a bit and made friends. He was starting to fall behind in classes now. What once came easily soon became impossible. His grades showed this and hi father and step-mother weren''t happy. They asked him why, why was he doing so bad? When he tried to explain they decided that he wasn''t trying hard enough. He disconnected once more. High-school ended and he panicked. He had no idea what to do, he couldn''t live off of nothing his parents told him. He panicked and chose a career in computers, the structured code made him feel safe. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Once again fate struck him down. He became sick. He had missed a week of classes, and when he returned he understood nothing. He stopped going to college. He had a lifeboat now, his friends on the internet still talked to him, they kept him away from darker thoughts while they played small games and laughed. Life was good for him again. Another blow came soon after. His computer, the window outside, the way to speak to his only connections broke. The darker thoughts filled the newly opened void. They told him that he was worthless, a nobody. They told him that he was going to be forgotten, ignored. His brother stepped in and saw his pain. He kept him company for awhile. Then disaster struck. He had no job and no one would hire him. The darkness whispered to him, it told him that he was worthless. He started to believe it. A ray of hope shone down then. He was hired. It wasn''t much but it let him push back the darkness. He was able to be happy again. His money soon ran out. When he asked his parents for help they refused, he needed to learn how to manage money and they had their own problems. He was scared. He just wanted peace and happiness, why could he not have it? He cursed fate once more. He woke up one morning very tired and left for work. He arrived only to be told that he was laid off. The darkness crept back in. This time he listened to the softly whispering voices and he believed them. Instead of heading home he got on a bus towards downtown. Towards the river. He soon got there. He gave the driver a smile and tipped him generously. He didn''t need the money where he was going. He stood on the railing of the bridge and looked down. He didn''t blame them. He didn''t blame anyone. He would go to a better place, one where he could connect with them. To greener pastures he said and walked off. Atropos wiped the tears from her eyes. It couldn''t end like this for him. She was tired of the looks they gave her when she met them. The way she saw their hopeful stares, waiting for nothingness. She wanted to scream. None of them deserved this, it was wrong. One way or another though they had to leave this world, it kept the world stable and allowed them to keep everything right. There had to be something she could do though. Some small rebellion that would allow her to prove to herself that she was still able to help them. So she came up with a plan. If this world couldn''t hold him any longer then she would find one that could. The only one that fit her needs was quite small in comparison. It''s gods told her that the world had to much energy, too much raw power. She told them she could help. She would send mortal souls that had used up all of their time on earth to another world and they would siphon the power out. The gods of the small world thanked her and she left. When she got back her sisters confronted her, it was wrong they said, unnatural. She didn''t care. They told her that this could end her divinity and she spoke to them. She was tired of being the reaper. Of being the shepherd. She watched all who died, she made sure they did and tried to make it peaceful. They replied and told her it was not her place to question the way. She walked away sullen. She was still crying when the boy walked up to her. He was kind to her, in an awkward way. After seeing what would happen if she didn''t intervene she knew she had to save him. Order must be upheld though, he could not come back. So she tricked him. She sent him to the other world, and she watched with the other gods as he ran from a giant spider right into a dragon''s lair. When he befriended the dragon she knew she had made the right choice. She was one of the goddesses of fate. She made this change, insignificant in the whole tapestry of fate just for one him. He had no almighty powers, no unfathomable strength, only his words and his will to live, peacefully. Chapter 6: Family Before Friends Heyoooooooooooooooooo! What up my home dogs? Yesterday/today two of you lovely readers tripped two of my lovely trap cards. "What do you mean trap cards? Are you crazy after imagining that crazy apple?" The answer is no dear friends. By trap cards i mean little hints in the story. Some are for foreshadowing, others are more subtle. The name Atropos is one of the less subtle ones however. See Atropos is the last of the three fates, which are the greek goddesses of, you guessed it- fate. Another asked me if harems will be included in this story. Nope! I am not like Mr. Sir and as such don''t even wanna try to write one that works. The reason most characters are girls may or may not be revealed soon. Still reading this? Want more TMOV? How about you either leave me one of them there tasty reviews, or draw some art for me? The deadline for the art contest is chapter 12 I will feature the top three in the story and those people will get to name a character each. [Bran''s POV] I woke up to being spooned. I gotta say, when they reached out to grab me I thought they were gonna kill me. I didn''t expect to be kidnapped and tied up like this. I don''t even know how this rope is keeping me bound but it is wrapped completely around me. I also appear to have a gag in my mouth. squirming around a bit I looked around myself. We appear to be in some sort of small room. There is the elf woman sitting by the fire on a chair of stone reading, I think she is keeping watch. Around the room I saw two other lumps of people. I assumed they were the other adventurers. Feeling the arms around me squeeze extremely hard I let out a little whimper. If what I assumed was correct then the woman currently squeezing the life out of me was the gauntlet wearing bad-ass from earlier. Stealthily moving a bit I turned and looked at her. Wow. She may have looked very pretty from a distance but from here you could see her struggles. Her arms, now bare with the gauntlets removed, were covered in scars. Her knuckles looked like they were made of scar tissue completely. The laugh lines around her eyes were visible now, and the small smile she had been harboring was one of contentment. Me, nervous? Yes, very nervous. The long raven hair she had didn''t hide the well-toned muscles. She could probably punch into my chest and rip out my heart! I was still deciding if letting the elf know I was awake was a good idea when I heard a throat clear behind me. Squirming around I looked at a very cross elf. Shit. Welp, now they know I''m awake. I looked at her and mumbled through my gag to untie me. For a second she looked confused. I then tried again, this time in the language she understood. The elf looked at me right then, and she gave me the most piteous look I have ever seen. She then told me that if I talked too loudly her companion behind me might wake up surprised and squeeze harder. If this was light squeezing then I didn''t want to feel hard so I nodded my agreement. She then whispered a few words and the rope unbound itself around me. Ah. Freedom how missed you were! I carefully snuck out of the sleeping woman''s grasp and stood up. Quite frankly this elf lady was tall. Really tall. She was like 6''5, and as lanky as they come. Her robes fluttered as she pointed me towards a chair. We sat down and she looked at me. I looked at her. There we sat, me looking dazed and confused, and her looking calm and collected. She really was quite beautiful, just in a more dignified way. Almost like how a still pond, or foraging deer are. She put the book in her lap and continued staring at me. I did the same, there was no way I could talk my way out of a kidnapping. I would wait and then pick my chance to escape. It was at this moment the dragon-lady walked up and touched my shoulder. Needless to say the high-pitched shriek I let out woke up the other two. Soon enough they came over and sat down on the chairs or rubble around the room and started talking. The shorter lady in plate-mail spoke first saying something about capturing me in what sounded like a Russian accent. When they all laughed it made me startle quite considerably. For kidnappers these guys were quite friendly, after all the elf undid the ropes as soon as I woke up. They all finished their conversation and looked at me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Blanche''s POV] When I woke up to a shriek I thought that another of those stupid birds had gotten in the room to continue their attack. I was a little shocked when in my grasp was only a bundle of ropes. It appeared that Jade had let him out while we slept. A little bit stupid but I''m sure she had her reasons for letting the guy out. I''m sure she was a bit worried I''d have a nightmare and squeeze him till he popped like a blemish. Having an elf in your party was nice, they never truly slept. Instead the went into a trance-like state where visions of their past came to them. Wimly had woken up as well and the short ginger dwarf sat on some rubble in the corner of the ruined room and started talking. "Poor little man, look at how he cowers! If he is strong then he should stop with the nervous looking about! Just because he got captured by some over-sized scaly beast!" She nearly shouted it with bravado evident in her voice. Wimly, while incredibly muscled and strong, hated seeing the weak bullied. While she seemed to be scolding him, she really must be worried about him if she brought him up in conversation. He was taller than her and looked around 5''7 with curly brown hair. Currently he looked like a scared rodent, searching for a way to flee from Jade''s stares. He didn''t know it but Jade was almost a mute, hardly ever talking except for soft murmuring and whispers. So for him this might be unnerving and uncomfortable, for us this was hilarious. When all of us burst out laughing he startled, clearly his mind was harmed by that evil dragon. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Ee''s quite the catch you know? Few good meals and some work-outs and he could be the pinnacle of health again. Hell we could make a fortune off selling ''im." Daisy replied boldly. She still had her and on his shoulder, almost possessively. "Daisy! We are not going to sell him! We just saved him from a dragon, and by the gods he was there for a reason. As soon as we get him out of here we can try to see why he was there." I was a little furious, we weren''t going to sell this guy just because he had brown hair! What kind of fool would do that? I did feel a little anxious though. If he was brainwashed he shouldn''t have acted so calmly by now. He should be screaming and clawing his way out, trying to get back to his master. He shouldn''t be sitting there trying to calm himself down while nervously watching them. I was a bit leery, maybe the dragon was protecting him. If so, from what? "Well guys, let''s get moving for now. I''m sure our strange prisoner over there can walk with us. Hopefully the traps haven''t been reset." As we packed up our things to leave I looked around this room, it was a great find. A room with no monster spawns would be perfect as a base camp. Just this info alone could be worth golds. Sighing I forlornly looked at the worn out backpack I carried. Unfortunately instead of being loaded down with treasure, like that silver platter I was loaded down with guilt. I hadn''t a clue why I was though. We finished packing, attached the rope to the young guys waist and set out into the hallways, back to the surface. Or at least we would''ve had we not come face to face with a wall. Apparently the labyrinth didn''t want the boy to go. Too bad. I wound up my fist and punched the wall, we would find a way through. Even if I had to break every damn wall in this place. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Astarte''s POV] The tears freely flowed from my eyes. I had made my choice. It was between the only people I had in my heart. Bran was vibrant, full of energy and he kept me company. He was not my daughter though. She was my everything and though I hadn''t seen her in a decade I held hope that I would soon. So the tears fell. Poor Bran, he was but a flame in the dark. When I had first met him I was amused by his strange antics, the way he laid on the floor as if dead. Oh how amusing it was to see a human with personality. When he challenged me to a game of riddles was when I had truly decided that he was worth a small portion of my time... maybe. No mortal had ever struck me quite like he had, as a dragon we live in almost another world. We pass our days by sleeping and guarding our treasures. The only real treasure I guarded however was the life below me. So when I sat and listened to the hustle and bustle life in these cities I was intrigued to say the least. His face had come alive with color and expression when he described how buses travel the paved roads. More so when he explained what the black rectangle he held was. Fortunately he had left it in his pants pocket when he had been taken here. In the last few weeks he had shown me his favorite songs, all of which were comparable to gods music. For a day we had sat there listening to what he called a "podcast" about three brothers answering questions. The words were beautiful. He showed me his favorite one, they were playing a game of some sort called " Dungeons and Dragon''s". His face had flushed when he said that. The stories they wove were unfamiliar, there wasn''t a single dragon or dungeon in any of it! When he had looked at me with tears in his eyes he showed me something on the tiny rectangle. It was a painting of his family, all of them were smiling, they were happy. He told me of the times he shared with his friends. How they would sit and talk for hours about silly things like girls, and local happenings. Of how he had walked through every street alley and trail in and around his town. He had talked of his brother, how he was so arrogant all the time and how he sang incessantly. He then told me of how they used to fight and yell at each other, he was crying when he told me that he was sorry about not leaving his brother any money for the place they lived. I had asked him why they needed the money to live there. He said that one of the things he had not explained was "rent" that he must pay to live in his tiny home. I looked around the room. It was a mess, and I hoped the labyrinth shades came through to clean it soon. Over half of the doors were blocked by rubble, caused by my roars and raging when he had been taken. The cage he had slept in was melted, I couldn''t stand the sight of it. It brought back the guilt, the indecision about finding him. I couldn''t leave though. Not yet. My daughter was here and she was family. Tears fell again, they looked like liquid gold. Streaming into my cushion they reminded me of his own tears. He would understand, my family was important, she was all I had left now. So I lay my head down to rest. I sniffle a bit, not due to need but out of habit. And just before I close my eyes I see the lone clay cup sitting on the ground, knocked over in the party''s mad dash for the door. I sigh and shake my head to clear the dark thoughts of how he must feel. My daughter comes first, Bran would understand that. I lift the edge of the cushion and peer at the metal door. She would agree with me. It was something she always said. "Family first." I whispered to myself. Entering the sweet land of dreams. # Hey there! this is just a quick reminder that you should totes rate this fiction or at least comment! Any feedback helps me write! Also when someone pieces together the crumbs of knowledge and figures something out it makes me giddy! So if you got theories post them below!#
if anyone, god forbid saw the old title. Just like shhhhhhhh k? Questions, Queries, and Theories. Is it just me or does it smell like updog in here? Did you say it?!? Oh. My. God. If you did think it over real slow. If you see what I did there then power to you! If not don''t worry, you only missed the best moment of my life. This is going to be a page dedicated to all things TMOV. Post your questions, queries and theories below and I may address them. As I am already 6 chapters in with a few followers now I would love any feedback you give me. If you wanna share your beautiful theories below feel free to! The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. BEFORE YOU LOOK PAST THIS CATCH UP TO THE CURRENT CHAPTER AS IT MAY BE IN THE DISCUSSION. ALSO SPOILERS: DUH! Chapter 7: A Treasured Companion Chapters are coming... How do you guys like these GOT references? Hmmm? What is that you say? Please don''t kill Bran as you love him and don''t want him to die! How quaint. Maybe he will. Maybe not? All I can say is that everyone dies sometime. On a side note, if you haven''t heard of the new page for Questions, Queries, and Theories then what are you doing here! It should come out before this! Again if you love to draw, even if you "suck" I don''t care! Draw Bran and the top three will have won the grand prize of naming a character in the story! Send the art to [email protected] Also of note is reviews! I only have one, and if you enjoyed the story send one my way to help others find it. Because SpartanLoki told me so I guess I need to put a line here ______________________________________________________________________________________________ [Bran''s POV] Seriously? What the everliving HELL! Who punches a god damn wall? More importantly who does that and cracks the wall? I can see why the dungeon shades were no match for them. From what I can glean of their conversation, dungeon shades float through the labyrinth or dungeon they inhabit. They then upon seeing an intruder react in one of two ways. The first way, and the way most act are to violently try to attack anyone who intrudes into their area. The second way is way more terrifying. The dungeon shade will mimic what a person imagines as an ideal spouse and then proceed to enchant and knock out the intruder, taking them to the floors boss and leaving them there. There is no way in hell Blondie or Red are my ideal spouse. They act like they are from some bad anime. Heh. That is a pretty great idea so far. Bran the meager young lad steps up to his apple senpai and nervously reaches for his hand. But wait, two evil yanderes attack and carry him away before his love of senpai can be confessed! Oh the tragedy! While I solemnly mourned apple senpai I looked at the rope wrapped tight around my waist. The dragon-lady held it. She was scary. She looked mostly human except for a few scales here and there along with a tail. Yes I stared at the tail. What was I gonna do? Social justice warriors may pounce upon me should I ever find them but holy shit. A lizards tail is way weirder seeing it in real life than in fiction. I may or may not have "accidentally" touched it... once or twice. Hey, I had to know if it was real. When I did however reach out for the... third time I got bitch-slapped plain and simple. Thankfully it wasn''t Popeye with her iron gloves. It was Silent Bob the non-speaking elf. She was blushing when she did it so I''m assuming touching the tail is a big no-no. The worst part was seeing the uncomfortable faces of Gingy the dwarf and Scales. Gingy looked plain horrified at me, Scales looked really flustered and was almost crying. When they started walking again I stared at my filthy hands. Why? Why didn''t I just resist? We continued walking the corridors and I decided two things. One: I hate walking. Two: Labyrinths suck. I couldn''t try to escape because while the monsters all preferred to attack the girls, they were freaking scary. Giant snakes, zombies, even what looked like a murderous and sentient apple tree all attacked us. The girls destroyed them, Popeye punched a snake so hard her fist came out the other side. I vomited after and when they saw this they laughed and continued to casually slaughter everything. One time as we were travelling we came across a goblin, he was tiny, barely half my height and he held in his hand a sharpened stick. When he saw us he ran, unfortunately the fireball that Silent Bob shot off caught him in the back. This led to him falling and rolling around to put out the fire. When he looked up at me I nearly started to cry. He stared deep into my eyes, almost as if to my very soul and mouthed some words before Popeye walked up. She picked him up by the head and started to squeeze until his head burst. I had to escape. I don''t know when but anyone who could kill such a clearly intelligent species is obviously insane. I remembered a quote from a book I read along time ago - "No mercy for monsters". I don''t know when but as soon as they fall asleep, or I get the chance I am leaving for good. At least goblins won''t smile as they kill. Even if I die I won''t die in the no doubt horrible way these people would have me. My chance came when they were distracted. The bats were attacking them and to protect me Silent Bob bravely threw me behind her, causing Scales to let go of the rope in the process. I then took this time to stealthily run back the way we had come. As far from those monsters as possible. ---------------------------------------- [Blanche''s POV] I was starting to get less and less attracted to this guy the more time we spent with him. I may not know much about Daisy but one of the things I did know was that her tail was a... sensitive spot. So when I turned around to see Daisy extremely flushed, slightly panting, and extremely uncomfortable I was a little disgusted at him. He was looking like a beaten puppy. Meanwhile me and Wimly stood there horrified as Jade rubbed her hand. That was a nice shot though. Really go him good. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Another off-putting thing about him was he threw up constantly as if being able to punch through a snake wasn''t a great feat. Not to mention he never laughed when I did something funny like crushing a goblins head. I was seriously debating leaving him to find some better treasure when we were attacked. Bats came out of everywhere, as if they were sent to destroy us. Thinking about it, they probably were. When we finally finished with the bats, I made two explode I punched them so hard we all laughed at the dead bats. Something was missing however, our captive. Our treasure. "He must have ran like scared dog. I am sure we will find him soon." Wimly said, with worry evident in her eyes. "Ee''s probably somewhere just out of sight." Daisy blushed as she said this. No way. How could she consider him violating her personal space charming? Daisy''s words did nothing to allay m fears however as I had almost mapped out this floor. I knew where all the monsters were and if he ran into ANY of them he was going to die. From the basilisks, shades, and giant bats, all of these were no "easy" monsters. Even if he was a seasoned adventurer going in here alone would be suicide. He must''ve been brainwashed after all. There is no way a sane person would leave us after seeing how capable we are. I turned towards the party and sighed. We didn''t have enough provisions to last long, and eating the monsters meat would poison us. We had to choose to leave him, or possibly starve. "Alright ladies we got a choice to make. We don''t have many provisions right now and if we search for him we may run out of food. Now, he is obviously a ''treasure'' to the labyrinth so maybe it''ll keep him alive until he reaches his master. Either way, we need to decide. Come back later with more provisions, or stay and search for him." "I think he is tougher than we give credit, let us go and gain provisions to slay this scaly beast." Wimly brashly replied. "We should stay and search, maybe ''e was just the dragon''s pet." Daisy shyly answered. I looked at Jade to see a myriad of emotions pass through her face. When she finished her thought she looked at me and shrugged. She obviously didn''t care which. "Looks like my vote is the deciding factor then. I vote we leave and return, he isn''t that handsome." Though Daisy seemed like she was about to say something, she stopped herself and nodded to me. Wimly looked over and did the same, while Jade kept her neutral expression. I looked around one last time as we set off for the upper floors. "Good luck kid, you''ll need it." ---------------------------------------------------- [Bran''s POV] As it turns out, goblins can smile while killing. As I was back-tracking I came across the corpse of the recently deceased goblin. Around said goblin''s remains were two others, these one had very threatening looks on their faces and some wickedly curved swords. They were obviously mourning their comrade. Unfortunately I think I spoiled the moment when I saw the corpse again and vomited. They were quite shocked at the display to say the least. so for a moment we stood there. Two goblins, and one very frightened youth, just watching each other. Unfortunately when I wiped my mouth off and averted my eyes from their comrade they jumped at me. What happened next was... odd. As the goblins jumped at me I shrieked and held my arms in front of my face in vain. Then they suddenly passed through me. Like they went through me. I was a little shocked and turned around to see them pounce on the giant snake behind me. While flabbergasted I didn''t want this magic spell, or whatever to wear off before I got back to Astarte. So I did the only logical thing. I ran like a bat out off hell. I don''t know how long I have been wandering the labyrinth now but I''m so tired. It feels like forever. I''m so bored. At least the monsters would give me some excitement if they could see me. I had been walking so long my feet felt like lead. If I didn''t find Astarte''s room soon I''m gonna lay down and sleep somewhere... I''m done. This is it. My tragic end. Oh how fate doth be a cruel mistress! I had to sleep, staring at the same walls for hours had made me realize that I was probably better off with the kidnappers. I was so lost so maybe when I wake up my mind will be a bit clearer. I woke up to two familiar faces. Red and Blondie! Both alive and kicking! Unfortunately the kick was straight to my face. All I could think of when I was sinking into unconsciousness was, not again... Chapter 8: Moo-ving Along *Zelda discovery sound plays* Oh my it appears I''m back? Where was the chapter yesterday? Frankly I was quite caught up in a game called monster hunter 4 ultimate. No Ragrets and all that jazz, but seriously? I AM sorry guys I did the outline for this chapter days ago but I had a bit of trouble writing it. So I sat down, chilled with my bros, and bounced ideas off of them. CHAPTER 12, CHAPTER12, CHAPTER 12, YOUR ART, MY STORY. THE TOP THREE SUBMISSIONS GET A ONE WAY PASS TO NAME YOUR CHARACTER TOWN. SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TO [email protected] Hey there pals! You like the story? Wanna see more? Easy peasy fam, just rate/review the story and tell me what you did and didn''t like! It really helps me write chapters, and it also helps others find this story on their own. ================================================ [Bran''s POV] So I woke up chained to a post. All around me was gold, gold coins, idols, I think I even saw what looked like a golden monkey. Wherever I was, it was some pretty nice digs. I could really go for some water and food though. My lips were pretty dry and cracked, my nose felt broken, and the gold did nothing to keep this room warm. ACHOOO! "Who goes there?" A deep bellow rang out. I stayed completely silent. It appears that while goblins couldn''t see or hear me this thing can. If I follow logic it can probably also touch me. I thought back to Astarte. She must be worried sick. Maybe if this guy can talk I can trick him as well? That voice doesn''t exactly sound intellectual though. Deciding that maybe sitting here tied to a post waiting till it found me wasn''t that great of a plan I rattled my chains and called out. "Um, my name is Bran and I''m kinda chained to a post?" I called out nervously. A deep rumbling laugh filled the air, it was like standing next to a giant speaker, or a motorbikes engine. Then I heard some clopping getting closer. Wait, if the first thing I met was a dragon, does this mean I''m going to meet a unicorn? I smiled while not entirely pure of heart, at least it wasn''t some hulking monster with an axe. It probably just made it''s voice sound like that to scare people off. What a softie, I could probably ask for directions. The clopping got closer and I could see it round the mountain of gold coins. All thoughts of directions left my head immediately. It was huge. Not only was this room probably ninety feet tall the pillars were the size of redwoods. There was only one word that came to mind when I looked at this thing. Minotaur. How could I be so stupid! What is the most famous monster that lives in a labyrinth? The minotaur! He, and I''m assuming that from the fact he only wore a loincloth. Looked at me and laughed once more. This time I could feel my insides rattle with the vibrations. "Well then, I''m glad the dungeon shades brought me another. I was getting quite bored waiting around for challengers." He smiled as he said this. There was no way he meant a battle of wits. He probably didn''t care about words I knew, or machines I could lie about knowing how to make from another world. He threw a small dagger at my feet. "Oh cursed chains release thy grasp, this one shall pay for crimes in blood." The chains released me. Well, that didn''t sound ominous. What were those chains anyway? Were they magic? Could I use them to lock him up? I don''t even think they were big enough to wrap around him. He was just huge. He started to look annoyed. "Pick up the dagger. This will be your one and only warning." He pretty much growled it at me. He also snorted like an enraged bull. Makes sense considering that he was half bull, half man. I stalled as I walked towards the dagger, pretending to stretch my arms and legs. Now what did I know about minotaurs? They were supposed to be stupid animals, no intelligence to them but if he could talk... I looked him up and down. He was almost a T-Rex in size. I then remembered something. It would give me a chance, not much but a small one. I always was good at gambling. I then looked him up and down and promptly spat on his hoof while my neck craned to glare at him. "Man you''re big huh? For such a big guy, why do I get the feeling your brain is so small? Maybe I could teach you a thing or two about how to fight? I AM world renowned you know?" I said it as much like a snob as I could. Giving him my most disgusted look. "I will grind your bones to powder and bleed you dry like the ticks humans are you mortal!" Hoo boy. He shouted that last bit, at least I got him angry. Hopefully he was just angry enough. He reached behind his back and pulled out an axe that Paul Bunyan would be too small for and grinned maniacally, he looked satisfied at the brief hesitation I made upon seeing it. No doubt that thing had cleaved mortal in half more than once. Luckily for me I had a plan. You see while the mighty tyrannosaur was huge it had one main weakness, it''s footing. This guy''s ankles were tiny compared to the rest of him, so I could maybe make him fall. As I picked up the dagger I saw the other fatal flaw of his. While unbearably strong, it was mostly upper body. His biceps were so big I doubted he could reach all the spots on his back. All I had to do was either get on his back or make him fall somehow before going for his vitals. I was a little shocked at how ready I was to kill this thing. He was probably doing his job guarding the treasure and such before I came here. While the chance of me winning was slim, I still wasn''t sure if I could without hesitating. I reached down and picked up the dagger. Only one way to find out. "Ah I see you don''t just want to talk the pretty words towards me, do not worry mortal, when I am done there will be nothing left for the cleaners to remove from the labyrinth." He smiled wickedly as he said this. His nostrils flaring as he seemed to get bigger, and angrier by the second. I got into a ready position next to the pillar I had been tied to. Maybe the room was reinforced and the backlash from the axe hitting it would be the chance I need. He charged me so fast I barely had time to jump to the side. Where I was standing seconds ago was a crater, Pillar included. Okay scratch that idea then. Time to go on a wild goose chase. I dove into the piles of gold coins next to me. Pushing through them until I came to an air pocket made from swords and armor. It seemed like a safe room for now. I took a breath as I started to push my way through again. The gold seemed to almost flow around me, as if to unhinder me. As a hand came down to grasp me I nearly sighed. Of course, I couldn''t have one thing, could I? He brought me before his face laughing as I tried to stab the meaty fist holding me. "For such bravado I had thought you might be a challenge." He gloated. I threw the dagger at his eye. It sunk in deep. Yes! Score one for me! As his howls filled the room he started slamming his fist into the ground. His other and rubbing his eye desperately. He eventually gave up and looked at me howling as he did. "How dare you do this to me? I am the gold keeper, if I must be blind then you must die!" He screamed out and clenched his fist tight around me. I tensed as I waited for the crushing pain. I kept waiting. I waited some more. I opened my eyes and saw the minotaur standing there trying to squeeze me with both hands. If it wasn''t so terrifying I might have laughed. It didn''t feel like he was trying to hurt me at all. In fact it almost felt like I was being held by a cherished lover. His good eye was bulging as he strained harder and harder to crush me. I sat there waiting for the end. For him to break through whatever it was and crush me. A vein bulged on his head and pulsed erratically, he was getting more and more angry by the moment. I then heard a snap. I looked at where I had heard the snapping form and nearly vomited. Fortunately I hadn''t eaten in awhile, Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.So all that happened was a gag and deep regret. What had once been a fully functional and beautifully furry minotaur hand now looked like minced hamburger. Blood was freely flowing, some of it hitting my shirt and pants. I was quite afraid at this point. Popeye, one of the adventurers had knocked me out, so how was it this guy couldn''t crush me like I was a bug? I''m quite stunned. Maybe I''ve become a mutant. Awakening all my dormant genes, I was probably indestructible now. It was a bit lame as far as super-powers go but beggars can''t be choosers. In fact this is pretty much like those manga I used to read so much back home. Just when the hero is about to lose, he gains a sudden power-up and wins. The minotaur finally screamed in pain and let me go falling back onto his behind and cradling his hand. Meanwhile I fell about ten feet into a pile of hard, gold coins. What I mean to say is I dived into them, trusting in my new mutant powers to keep me safe. Note to self, don''t ever trust in anything good again. I had freely fell forward ready to live out my scrooge fantasies when I collided with the coins. Hard. It turns out, this new super-power was a fickle one, and I now had a giant goose-egg on my head. Rubbing it tenderly I looked at the minotaur and stared. For a half-bull, half-man he wasn''t half bad looking. Or at least I thought so, not that I really knew what good looking was to other minotaurs. He had giant pecs, killer abs, and judging from his overall size, he could please whoever he wanted. He returned my stare, with only one eye of course, the other was still weeping tears. He spoke as he looked at me, while wiping his tears away with his good hand. "Tell me mortal, the name of the one who bested me. Tell me of you, and your powers. I cannot hurt you so I''m sure you could probably take whatever you wanted anyway." He appeared almost sad and mournful as he said this, tears starting to leak from his other eye a bit. "Don''t be sad big guy. My name''s Bran and I''m probably the strongest human out there!" I puffed out my chest, hiding my shudder as I thought of the adventurers slaughtering those poor creatures. "Well at least I was beaten by the best of the best, though I doubt I''ll be allowed to keep my job now." He dejectedly sighed. "What do you mean job? Come to think of it, why do you even guard the treasures here?" I quizzically asked him. "It provides a home for my family. It isn''t easy raising a kid when you''re as big as I am and everyone wants to kill you." He was very clearly depressed at this point. The minotaur clearly wasn''t in his best shape and the fact that he had one swollen eye, a mincemeat hand, and was looking dejectedly at his crossed legs wasn''t helping. "Who hires minotaurs to guard treasures anyways?" "How did you make it this far and manage to avoid the Stone of the Conquerer? His room is before this passage." He gave me a suspicious look now. "Ah, you know the usual way." I deflected the question. "Come to think of it you know the dragon''s tongue. What sane dragon would sit by a human and teach them? It would clearly be planning for suicide." "I picked it up on my travels from a passing... merchant. A draconian one." I replied, thinking on my feet. "Well mister minotaur I think I know what treasure I''ve decided to take." I looked at his face falling and started to laugh. He looked at me, fear showing on his face. "I misjudged you Bran, I took you for a mortal with a heart. Fine then, take any treasure you want. When my family and I die from the humans outside, know that it is your hands stained with our blood. "Calm down big guy the treasure I want is to see your family. I''ve never seen a minotaur before and would greatly value the experience." I lied and smiled as his face went from shock to confusion. He looked at me once more and spoke. "You are a strange one indeed Bran." He then called out to his family in what seemed like a series of grunts and huffing. Soon to more sets of clopping could be heard. It didn''t take long to hear the strange snuffling language again as two figures rounded the corner. One was about my size and had a small dress on. She had long auburn hair, a sweet smile, and a girl-next-door kind of face. As soon as she saw the cross-legged minotaur she burst into a sprint her hooves clopping against the ground. It was almost like coming face to face with a female satyr. Completely normal from the waist up, other than some gnarly horns in her hair. The other figure looked much the same, like an older version of what I assumed was their daughter. She was a lot more toned though, her biceps bulging almost as much as her husband. The daughter ran towards her father, the towering figure giving her a big toothed cow-grin and perched her on his shoulder with his good hand. They smiled at each other until an earth shattering bellow filled the room. I looked forward in time to see the lady minotaur charging at me. Not wanting to trust my dodgy super-powers I moved out of the way as fast as I could. Not fast enough though as I twirled when she grazed my shoulder, the momentum spinning my body. I held onto my surely bruised shoulder gently and watched as the furious wife was picked up into her husbands hand. They seemed to argue for awhile before he gently put her down. She gave me the scariest bovine glare I''ve ever seen and proceeded to ignore me. "Sorry about that. The last time she saw a human and me in the same room, I was about to die." He smiled at her and brushed her cheek as he said this. It sure was weird just how human all of the monsters here were. From the goblin''s final words, Astarte''s thoughts, and the minotaur families actions, I wondered what the humans were like. If this world had some weird role reversal that would explain the sadistic adventurers. Either way I had seen my fill, and while it would''ve been nice to take some gold coins back for when I left this place, I don''t think Astarte would appreciate me stealing treasure from one of the places she was guarding. I said my goodbyes to the family and made my way as directed to the entrance. It was a door the size of a skyscraper. I looked at it and how the ceiling seemed to, like the door, stretch infinitely higher. I checked for the knob and found a convenient entrance built right into the door. It was a regularly sized door. What luck! I immediately opened it and stepped through. Stepping into the inky black chamber made my heart stutter a little, and I hope my new super-power had activated just in case. I had barely made it five steps along the wall before the lights turned on and I heard what sounded like a synthesized voice say something. "Fool. Did you think I wouldn''t notice the signature of one of my labyrinth''s treasures moving? Today will be the day you die mortal!" And with that I looked above me at the giant crystal floating in the air. I watched as what seemed like an endless amount of icicles floated there. All of them pointed at me. -------------------------------- Heyo there guys! Just a quick reminder that if you liked the story... review it! It doesn''t have to be lengthy or giant, just a small blurb about what you liked and didn''t like will help out a lot. Thank you pre-emptively! Chapter 9: Blood Is Thicker Than The Water Of The Womb Hello. You may be wondering why there is no exclamation marks, pop-culture, or incredibly bad grammar so far. The reason is thus: I done fucked up m8. The story was getting too dank for me. Just kidding. Seriously though? I just wanted to say sorry about the four day hiatus and the lack of updates. My job has been pretty shit as of late along with plenty of other things. So while you guys sat there and stewed I was not thinking about this story at all. That being said, there will be a chapter per night for the next three days to make up for it and get me back on schedule. Heya there pal! Do you like to art? Do you like to art about Bran? Send it to me at [email protected] Top three get to input a name into the story! So I see this story now has five reviews! What''s that about guys? I''m honestly surprised that five of you gave it a good rating like 4/5! Thank you guys so much! It really does mean the world to me. Now to get onto a big point for me... I have a patreon, however imam wait and see until im at least 1/4 of the way through the story to post it k? but when I do I want something to be clear THIS STORY IS FREE. I AM NOT NOR WILL I EVER THREATEN TO LOWER CHAPTER NUMBERS OR QUALITY FOR MONEY. That is all you may now enjoy the story. ------------------------------------------------------ [Astarte''s POV] I woke up quite cold. Around me I could see that the rubble from my rage had been cleared. I looked towards Bran''s cage expecting to see him sitting there and drinking tea with a smirk on his face as he would always say: "Man dragons sure do sleep a lot! How do you even know that people are coming? Hell, I could walk over and take anything. I bet you wouldn''t even notice!" My eyes started to tear up a bit. It had been a week since he had been stolen. I wanted to search for him but he had already left the floor. Besides, I had already made my decision. I glanced down at the over-sized cushion. She was there. I knew she would be angry when she heard what had happened when she was gone but I was the adult, I knew what was best. I knew that what I did, staying and guarding the treasures, was correct. But why did I feel uneasy thinking back to it... I thought of her. She was my angel. She was always laughing, even when she cried she would hiccup and laugh. It was so odd to me, how she could turn anything into a joke. I remembered the times as a youngling she would hang from my nostrils and swing. She would giggle and throw her hands around my neck after, apologizing as she tried to hug me. "I''m sorry for hurting your nose mom!" Her voice was always so clear and angelic... When I had first met her she had snuck away from her home. She was petrified! Never before had a beast as beautiful or divine as me appeared before her! At least that''s what I had thought. She stood there looking at me and said two words excitedly: "Golden Horsie!" I was severely dumbfounded. Did this hatchling think me a breed of horse? While I certainly was noble and awe-inspiring, I was no mere animal! I had glared at her with vengeance in my eyes and prepared to swallow her in one go. This young one would hardly make a meal but I was willing to see just how tender hatchlings were. It had taken one moment for me to re-evaluate. Upon seeing my glare she had returned it! Towards me! A mighty dragoness! She had then puffed up her cheeks and turned around. I had sat there in shock for awhile. My mind reeling at her actions. Then a curious thing had happened, a strange half gurgle, half growl. I didn''t understand what was happening. My breath had started to come in great heaves. My maw displaying it''s sharp wares as I had to let out my joy at the absurdity of this situation. At that point the young one turned around. She looked even more mad! The gurgling got worse as I looked upon her face. "The others say that laughing at people is wrong!" She yelled at me, clearly in distress. "The others aren''t here right now are they little one?" I could feel the satisfaction as she comprehended that her "golden horsie" could talk. That was perhaps one of the only moments I would hear her quiet ever again. She was speechless. She had fallen on the ground staring at me. This was it! The awe! The fear! This was how a dragoness such as myself was treated! She had then screamed, loud and high-pitched it hurt more than a banshee''s wail. I took that moment to flee. Leaving her in that forest clearing. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. She had grabbed my curiosity and was the only thing I found of interest. I would circle above her, watching as she gathered her meals. Occaisionally I would leave small things for her. a deer here, a boar there. If she was to keep my interests she must be healthy after all! Sometimes she would look towards the sky, almost as if she knew I was there and wave at me. Of course she thought it was a bird, I was only a speck from where she could see. The years passed like this and the others in her village seemed to worship her. It was only right after all. She was the one who had caught my interest. Being worshipped should be natural for someone so talented. The others brought her gifts and built her a shrine, little statues evident on the path leading towards it. The statues did not interest me though, the little one had grown. She was almost an adult, and soon I would reap my harvest. I took her in the winter. When the food was scarce and she seemed to be nervous, or afraid. I remember being confused. Why was she nervous? Did she not know that I took the others that were tied to the post before her? It had been common in the years I had been watching the little one that she knew when the others had gathered and taken someone to be left at the post I took them with me. She had cried out to the others when they had left her there. The tears had streamed down her face, as if she were but a hatchling again. I was curious. Why? Why did this little one still sob so? Did she not know I had been taking care of her all these years? I had landed in front of her then. I reached out with one talon, towards her porcelain skin and nicked the rope holding her. The rope broke apart and left her there. She was obviously distressed. So distressed in fact she had urinated all over herself. It was quite the human thing to do. Ah yes. My daughter. One of the only humans worth living in this world. I remember the way she had looked at me after. Her blotchy, tear-stained face. Her dark brown hair. The way she had laughed when I asked what was wrong. I hadn''t understood what she had said back then. I hadn''t learned the common tongue. She was quite the spectacle though. In her long sun colored dress, a dragon sewn onto the front. She looked as if she met a vengeful god. As I later found out, she thought she had. It was at that moment. The moment when I was most proud of my careful cultivation of this interesting little one, when it happened. A man''s scream filled the air. He shouted as he fell back, scrabbling to get up and run away from me. To run away from the forest clearing and us. His torch went unnoticed as he shouted and ran towards the village. The torch slowly moved towards the bushes and combusted them into a brilliant flame. I looked back at the little human. She was on her knees crying. Voices shouted from where he had disappeared and the girl''s sobbing got louder. The flames crackled and spread around the clearing. They bathed the area in the firelight, glinting off of my scales. The others came from the path. It was clear of debris and provided a safe path from the fire. The man from before led them. They seemed mad, I had thought it was the fire back then. She had told me it was her later on. She told me that when the man, a suitor from the village had come to say his last goodbyes he had been shocked by the sight. The false god that had brought them profit for the sacrifices had refused her. It had meant she was "impure" or unworthy. He had gone back to the village to grab the others. They had to kill her, make her "pure" for me or the harvest wouldn''t be bountiful. The reason she had cried was because she had just watched her best friend, and what was going to be her husband state he was going to kill her. As we stood there, humans, dragon, and priestess we all knew one thing: this would not be pretty. A Quick Poll! Heya everyone! This is just a quick poll to see if you guys want me to overhaul this story to make it a little less messy. It was said in the reviews and I totes agree but before I go editing and tidying up certain chapters I want your guys opinions. Chaptern 10: The Sinner And The God. Oh SHIT FAM! I have literally fallen asleep at my computer for the past few nights... Work has been really busy for me irl right now. If you''re wondering why the late releases that is the reason. Ohohohohoho, it seems that some people have been contemplating Astarte and her child. Honestly, she is probably one of my favorite characters in this story. For the people who commented about my story overhaul, thanks fam! I really appreciate the advice and I''m taking it. Do not worry! I repeat: DO. NOT. WORRY. If I do go over and edit the story (I will at some point) releases will not be delayed. No important story element changes either. A little insight into my writing process as well. I am really, really stupid. Now that the expectations are lowered I can explain. See most author''s meticulously plan their story and it''s arcs (at least I think they do). I do not. My planning consists of what I want to happen in the story, then I decide if I want to work on a certain character or flesh out the world. I purposely write myself into corners to make the story more creative. When Bran faces a problem, I do as well. Bran is not superhuman, OP, or even very brave. When he sees a giant spider he gets scared and panics. I then have to figure out how I can stop him from getting seriously fucked up. Anyways here''s the chapter, more coming soon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Astarte''s POV] I lifted my head as I looked towards the kitchen. It was around noon, Bran should be coming out with his tea any minute now... I flinched. I had forgotten in my reminiscing that he had been taken. It was just me and my daughter. I let out a long winded sigh. What had my life come to? I used to be a god! Power condensed into a corporeal form! How had I, the great Astarte come to worry about mortals? Mortals, with their small nuances, their feelings, their sickness... Mortals were trouble, all long-lived races knew this. It was the truth. Heartache was what followed a mortal friend. A mortal daughter. Though for all the gold in the world I would not trade my memories of my daughter for anything. Just thinking about it brings me back to my reminiscing... Fire surrounded us. Men shouted and jeered, their weapons and farm tools raised. The little one cowered, hands held over her head as she wept. The man from before stepped towards her reached to grab her arm. In a flash he flew into the trees, my tail moving too fast for him to react. The mob''s reaction was immediate. Some pointed towards the little one, others rushed towards her, their weapons at the ready. One stood out from the formless faces. He wore robes of white and gold. Spittle flew from his mouth as he pointed at my little one. He shouted at the others and screamed towards me, a miasma of anger, hate, and desperation pouring from him. How dare they attack what is mine! They shall burn for this. No shield could withstand my flame! No armor my fangs and claws! No man my wrath! I was power incarnate! I was death. I reared up and spewed a gout of flame towards the group. Half of them went down instantly, nothing but ash left. The other half weren''t so lucky. They screamed as they ran into the burning woods, their fires intermingling with that of the forest as they wailed. I roared in satisfaction. This victory was mine! As I roared I heard two startled squeals, one from my little one, the other from the man in robes. I looked at my little one, fear roiled off of her in waves. The fear wasn''t in reaction to me though, it was to the robed man. I looked to him in wrathful anger. There he stood smiling and chanting. I blew another gust of flame towards him, a gust of wind following it as I flapped my wings. The fire billowed around him, he smiled as his chant continued. My little one was wailing now, despair evident. The robed man finished his chant as he screamed the last words. The look in his eyes chilled my molten blood. ---------------------------------------------------------- [Tam''s POV] I was afraid. Ever since I was younger I knew eventually this would be my fate. Eventually the goddess would come for me. Consume my mortal coil, and carry me to her bountiful lands. My sacrifice, like so many others would bring bountiful harvests and fertile women. The village''s stores had been getting low lately, with winter coming soon the village needed it''s food. The maple forest could be tapped for it''s syrup but that would not sustain us throughout the winter. No one in the village mentioned it. As if the very mention of my oncoming sacrifice would bring it to pass sooner. The high priest, Gilgamesh, had been making preparations for the past few days. The Falling Leaves Festival would be coming upon us soon, and it was my job to remind the villagers of their pious ways. I walked through the arches as I descended from the temple on its long steps. The golden rays of the sun lit the maple leaves as if they were on fire. Every gentle breeze sending them dancing like a bonfire''s flame. I descended through the last arch, signifying my return to earth. I walked down the main road of the village, Endikar''s general store on my left. I stepped through the door, he smiled at me as I waved to him. "Good morning Endikar!" I joyfully said. He was to be my husband if the harvest was bountiful, a fact we both enjoyed greatly. "Mornin Tam!" He smirked as he called to me casually. "It''s a good thing Gilgamesh isn''t here to hear you say that otherwise it would be the two hundred steps for you!" I giggled as I said it. The nickname was one of the few intimate things we were allowed. "Aww don''t say that Tam! You know I mean it in good humor." He smiled and the dimples on his cheeks made him that much more charming. He really was quite the catch. Most of the young women in the village had wanted to get their hands on him. Within the first month of him being a bachelor he had hardly eaten at his own home. Invited to the various houses of many families, the wily young women trying to charm him into courting. I hadn''t even tried though. A woman of my station was hardly allowed any courting or anything. Or at least that''s what Gilgamesh had said. He was a father to me. My parents long gone from a bandit raid on the village. He had taken me in, set me on the noble path of the cloth. Throughout the years him and the others had praised me. They called me blessed. They had told me that the good gods smiled at me from above. This idea was only reinforced when the offerings showed. Deer, boar, even mountain lions. They would appear along the forest path towards the church. Gilgamesh would praise me every time. "You have been devout little one! The gods are showing their appreciation of our efforts!" At these times Gilgamesh would get a strange look in his eye, his face happy, but his eyes were almost calculating. Eventually the village started to petition me for more godly gifts. "We are hungry!" They said. It was after a few days of being petitioned Gilgamesh made an announcement. "Do not worry my flock! The gods will deliver us more food but we must prepare for them some form of payment." "What payment can we give? I cannot pray anymore, not without neglecting my field." One of the villagers had asked. "One of us my friends! Who here would go on to their gods? Continue on from this earthly coil and meet their deities? It will give us a bountiful harvest, and more fertile women!" Gilgamesh had shouted. A frenzy evident in his eyes. The whole village had gone silent at that moment. Not a soul moved, all of them realizing the gravity of Gilgamesh''s words. A pall fell over the crowd as murmurs abounded. Or at least the murmurs were there, until one of the more devout widows had stepped forward. "I am old, Gilgamesh. I have no more husband, nor do I have children. I will give my life to the gods, for the prosperity of this village." The crowd cheered at the announcement. Not so much a happy cheer, as a relieved one. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. "Thank you Dorn, your sacrifice will make us stronger." Gilgamesh had that curious look upon his face again. His body seemed happy, but it didn''t reach his eyes. Three days later Dorn had been tied to the newly constructed post. No one had thought of the screams that had rung out in the deep night. Screams filled with terror. No one but me. Soon the sacrifices came more often. The village losing all of it''s elderly led to a problem, no able-bodied villager could go to the gods without hurting the villages production. That night a traveling bard had come into town. Gilgamesh had told the villagers to put Sleepwort into his ale, the others tied him to the post later on. Again I heard the screams. It was winter now. The village prospered, sacrifices all but forgotten. Almost every woman was with child, every harvest and hunt bountiful. The gifts showered upon the church aplenty. Gilgamesh looked upon them greedily. Gilgamesh had started looking at me more and more. Almost as if he was checking to see if my clothes were too small. When he stared at me I felt so uncomfortable, it felt like the stares of passing adventurers. It was full of lust and greed. It happened three days later. Gilgamesh had went to the inn and drank, asking me to clean the altar. I was still cleaning when he returned. He burst through the door, loudly belching and giving me that stare again. He stumbled forward kicking the door closed. "Ahh, my sweet young Tammuz. How you hic glow in the candlelight." His words slurred as he stumbled towards me. "Are you okay Gilgamesh? You seem to have drank much more than a man of the cloth should." I tentatively backed up, my heels and back hitting the altar. I was feeling a bit scared by his actions. "How dare you question me!" He reached back and smacked me hard. My world swirled as I tumbled onto the altar. My arms and stomach knocking the candleholders and cloth to the floor as incense spilled onto the floor. "Mmmmm. Your silence is much better my darling. Now don''t move. Let me reward you for being so devout." He chuckled darkly as I felt his hands lightly brush my lower back. I awoke the next morning with tears still in my eyes. I felt dirty, and like I was hollow. If this is what my devotion had given me then why did I feel disgusted. I feel broken, like something had been taken from me. When I went into town the next day I was treated coldly. Endikar and the others would not meet my eye. They seemed afraid. Something was wrong. I looked towards the town board. A place for announcements and local jobs. Oddly enough, the church was looking for another priestess. Where would she sleep? There was only three rooms in the church. Mine, the altar room, and Gilgamesh''s. Even thinking of him made me shiver. Something was very wrong, I had to get back to find out what was going on. Just then one of the women in town walked passed me and spit. "Whore." She whispered, with venom in her voice. Oh no. They knew. That was why the villagers were so cold to me. I had been soiled. I was broken. I fled to the woods, sobbing with my hands covering my face. I stayed there till twilight my tears flowing without end. They found me there. Kneeling, with a tear blotched face. "How could you Tammuz? We were to be wed, and you betrayed me. Not for man even, but for an animal? Gilgamesh says that your sacrifice will please the gods. That they will enjoy tormenting you for your sins." Endikar said calmly. There was no hint of pity in his voice, no love, just a strange hardness. I looked at the villagers. They had been my friends, my family, my everything. There was no pity in their eyes as they surrounded me. Only a strange manic quality, as if they were frenzied. It frightened me. They had dragged me to the post, as I cried. They tied me up and left me there to die. When a giant golden beast, fangs the size of my forearm descended down I laughed as I cried. The gods had sent down a beast for me. An unjust way to end my life. I had given them everything. I had been blessed by them. Gilgamesh had taken that the night he had taken everything from me. How could this happen? How was this fair? How was this a just payment for my devout life? As the beast had released me I fell to my knees in my soiled clothes. This was how it ended. The beast had cut me free. Tormenting me with the chance to flee, but where could I possibly go? Endikar had shown up at that moment, as if to say goodbye to me. When he came upon the sight of me in that clearing he dropped his torch and ran. The torch had rolled across the cold and hardened earth. Coming upon one of the bare berry bushes the flames had hungrily devoured the dry wood. Flames leaped to trees and soon the forest was alight around us. When I heard the villagers shouts I knew. The gods had refused me. They would kill me to save them, I almost welcomed it. When the beast defended me I was shocked. Was this my death? Did the gods intend to slaughter the others for giving them an impure sacrifice? I felt twin waves of both rage and fear rise up within me. They would die, and I would watch. Revenge would be satisfying. I watched the beast launch Endikar into the trees, flames billowing around him. He had reached for me yelling that I should give myself to them, I still had a chance to find salvation. I saw him then, as the villagers rushed forward. It was Gilgamesh, he was leading them. Spittle flew as he yelled. The villagers charged at me and the beast, their farm tools and weapons raised in anger. Their brave charge was met with a breath of flame from the beast, half of them instantly falling, the other half running screaming into the trees. I looked towards where Gilgamesh was hope welling in my chest. Maybe my tormentor was dead. Maybe his lies would fall with his corpse. I let out a squeal of fright as I saw him. He let one out as the beasts breath had raced over the villagers. He started to chant. The very sound of it made my very soul shiver. It felt like something unnatural was happening, as if the god''s eyes were turned from this clearing. The beast launched another gout of flame and tried to buffet him with it''s wings. He smiled as the flames parted around him. The hair on the back of my neck rose as he shouted the last two words. "SERVANTS RISE!" A chill permeated the air and the world went silent. It was as if a thick blanket had fallen on the clearing. Gradually as we stood there beast, man, and I we looked towards a crackling. The smell of burnt flesh tickling my nose as corpses started to twitch. It couldn''t be, I had seen them die. I had heard their screams. When the first one rose to it''s feet I felt myself slip away... ---------------------------------------------------- [Astarte''s POV] As my little one fell into unconsciousness I looked towards the robed man. He was one of the most vile creatures I had ever seen. A necromancer. They were one of the few things that could harm a dragon. I could feel now how he had tainted my little one. As corpses twitched towards me, the necromancer smiled coldly at me. He was going to try to kill me. He may be a necromancer but he wasn''t anywhere near as powerful as me. I stared at him as the burnt and dessicated corpses shambled towards me. It took one spell. As my little one would later tell me, the area where her village was had been renamed. After my spell had destroyed it, leaving a crater it had been given a new name. Wrath''s Crater. ++++++++++++++++++++++= Heya there guys! This was supposed to originally supposed to be like 2-3 chapters but I decided to just put it all in one big one. Whew. anyways I hope you enjoyed! another one comes tomorrow! Why you no chapter? Simply put, my computer has been crashing on the site lately causing me to lose at least 4 chapters. So releases will now be at least one a week(probably more). Srry guys but it''s real hard to write on a machine that can barely run Internet explorer. Chapter 11: How Doth The Summer Wind Blow? HEYOOOOOOOOOOOO! Welcome back to the super amazing, death defying, ultra-cool, epic tale that I am spinning. First of all I wanna apologize for having slower releases, I''m hoping to get my pc fixed soon so I don''t have to use this horrible one. Now in the past I have brought up the subject of patreon and I''m still not sure if I want donations or not. Don''t get me wrong here, I love writing and would enjoy writing for a living but I''m still not sure about asking for donations from you guys. Anyway from your best bud BrandKayen I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter! ---------- [Bran''s POV 1 year before being transported] I was sitting in my room pretending to read a book as I thought. What is a god? Do they have feelings? Are they omnipotent? I had asked these questions to myself a long time ago. There was still no answers. I''d fought with my step-mother for at least the past five years, during that time I had prayed to god. My family was never religious, in fact my father was quite the opposite. Always wary of churches and followers of various beliefs I would sometimes think that maybe he was a demon- some unholy creation. Unfortunately that wasn''t the case, it was something much, much worse. My father was completely and utterly human. This is the part where I yell "yipeee!" or "wahoo!" right? You see there is one thing about humans I hate. All humans are flawed. Some were openly broken or hurt. Some hid behind carefully constructed "masks", their true personalities hidden behind the various layers. I was of the latter. My masks were safe. My masks hid me. With my mask no one could come in and hurt me anymore. My father belonged to the former type, he had no mask. He was bad at mask-making. I never really realized about the masks until his poorly constructed one came off. He had always tried to be looked up to, to be praised. He was like a child inside. It was easy to get what I wanted. A little praise here, a little compliment there. I could ask for anything, the world was my oyster. Even though my step-mother knew how to make masks well she was no match for me. I had masks under masks, so many layers that I wasn''t sure if they ever ended... That was okay though. I had what I wanted. One day my mask cracked a little. It was small, hardly noticeable. My step-mother saw it. She realized my mask was there. The next few years were spent tearing them all off of me. One. By. One. At first it hurt. I cried and retreated, hiding behind more masks, they were my safety, she would give up soon. She kept coming. One by one I lost them all. I felt naked. Without my warm cocoon, my barrier to the outside I was afraid. How many times did I hide? Trying to cover my raw feelings, my raw emotions with the masks. Without my masks who was I? My step-mother wanted to know. She prodded and prodded at the raw nerve I had become slowly but surely stripping me of that as well. I was left with nothing but memories, memories and a hollow feeling. I did not know who I was. Was I a demon? Was everyone actually wearing masks? I felt confused as my safe world crumbled around me. I was tired. Extremely tired of lying, of cheating, of being afraid. I was afraid of being seen as something inhuman. So I did the only thing that made sense. I tried to become as human as possible. I blended with them all. I didn''t put on a mask this time. Instead I molded the hollow space into the closest semblance of one as I could. I laughed with them as they spoke of love, hopes, and dreams. I had a dream too. I had thought of it myself. I wanted to be loved. To be praised as a hero. To have a close lover. To be truly understood by someone. I wanted someone to look me in the eyes and remove their best mask. To look at that person and see that I wasn''t alone. I had a shitty job at this point. A fast-food restaurant. It was so uplifting. For awhile I forgot my dream. One day the restaurant was held at gunpoint. We were ordered to give him all the money or he would should us. I was cleaning the lobby of the restaurant and as such was the closest to him. We didn''t need a hero. It was even stated when we started that we should just give them the money. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It wasn''t to be a hero that I did what I did. I wanted to see if I died. I was morbidly curious. Could I stop this man? If I did would it make a difference? What will happen when I die? As I thought about it I looked at one of the customers who was clearly in shock. She went to my high-school. If she was shot would I feel truly sad? I didn''t know her well, and I knew that if she died I should. But what if I didn''t? I made up my mind. I stepped in front of his outstretched arm and gently directed the muzzle to my forehead. "Do it." I said. The restaurant fell into complete silence. Even the robber looked dazed. It was natural for people to value their lives. For me, I wasn''t sure if I did. I would die eventually. What is the difference between then and now other than time? The robber nervously wet his lips. I had called his bluff. If he didn''t shoot me right now then he was screwed. He would lose all authority he had. He looked like he might get desperate as he eyed the people in the restaurant. This wouldn''t do. I was willing to sacrifice my own life, not anyone else''s. So I did the only thing I could. I gave him a way out. "Just remember this. Right now you can leave here, we haven''t seen your face. You could escape and run away. If you don''t you will have to shoot me. I don''t care if you do. Once you shoot me however you are a criminal and you will be hunted. Eventually they will find you and when they do you will go to jail, maybe even death row. I''m saying you can go free right now and you can get off scot free. Don''t waste this chance." My voice was oddly calm. It drifted out into the almost silent restaurant amongst the sobbing of those fearing for their life. The man cocked the gun and licked his lips nervously, he appeared to be sweating quite a lot in his all black clothing and ski-mask. He shoved the gun forward a tiny bit as If he would pull the trigger and the whole room went quiet. Everybody''s eyes were on us. They would witness my final moments and I would always be remembered. In the hollow darkness I felt a little spark. It was a tiny bit of happiness. That I had probably saved one of these people from being used as a hostage. The gun was lowered slightly. He lowered his arm completely and looked at me. There were tears in his eyes. He had no mask on. He looked around the room once more, this time he seemed almost calm. he then left through the front door. I fell to my knees tears in my eyes. The people around me cheered and gathered around. They all thanked me, they told me I was a hero. I had possibly saved one of them. Some of them cried as I looked into my hands. I had thought that this would give me satisfaction, would make me feel whole. I just felt emptier. ---------------- Hey there pals! Tis me again. Just here to remind you that a rating would be greatly appreciated. I write when I have the time between work and honestly it was really hard to get even this short chapter out. Thank you again for understanding why I changed my scheduling and please do rate, comment, or otherwise give me some feedback. It makes my day. The story is over To all who enjoyed Bran''s adventure it is appreciated but unfortuneately alot has happened and I cannot with good conscience continue this story. When I first started this story it was to do something, anything I could. I did it because at that point in my life I needed control over something while everything else fell around me. This story was the control, I moved my pieces back and forth and it brought comfort. This story saved my life when nothing else could, so for all who read this far thank you. If you are looking for more stories I recommend listening to the adventure zone a dnd podcast with a great story. I don''t know if I''ll really be writing much, but if you stuck around waiting this long I have the feeling you won''t mind. Once more, thank you.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. -BrandKayen