Essence of Time - The Forgotten Journey von Deamond ================================================================================ Kapitel 33: ------------ Chapter 33 „Hmmm…“ Grenlin rolled around in her bed, enjoying the soft blankets and especially the sweet smell of fresh soap, coming from the bathroom in which Narwa was just taking a bath. It had been such a fabulous evening. The food had been great and the conversations were so funny. The only thing that she had to mentally slap herself for was her burst-out when she had realized about the goddess’ feelings towards their demon-companion… What a strange couple indeed… A knock on the door made her snap back into reality. “Who is it?” Her sleepy voice was a mere croak, she had laughed too much and too loud yesterday… “It’s Raven!” A chirpy voice entered the room. The mercenary seemed to be in a rather good mood… made her wonder what she and Allen had been talking about yesterday… “Come in!” “Okay!” Raven slammed the door open, bringing breakfast on a tablet into the girls’ room. It looked truly delicious… Fresh fruits from the forest, elven bread, marmalade and yogurt. “Allen made breakfast, but you weren’t down when we were done eating, so I thought I bring it to your rooms.” She smiled happily. “Oh, thanks a lot…. But what is the third dish for?” The dwarf observed the tablet a little closer. “That’s for Zeyir. That demon never gets up before midday!” She chuckled and placed the stuff for Narwa and Grenlin on the little table to the side before leaving for Zeyir’s room. She entered the room carefully, sticking her head inside. The oh so great prince of Galdor was lying in his bed, half-covered with his blankets and stretching all limbs away from his body. Raven couldn’t suppress a giggle. Zeyir was indeed very lovely when he wasn’t just in the mood to tease someone… She had to agree with Narwa there. Looking around she had to remember there was no table in this room… what a shame. Sighing she walked over to Zeyir, placing it on the ground before his bed. Sneaking out of the room again, she closed the door behind her, joining Allen and Callo in the entrance-hall of the Inn again. “Let me guess…” Callo grinned as he saw Raven coming down the stairs. “Yes, Zeyir is still asleep.” The human girl completed for him. “We still have one hour until Nuramond picks us up…” “Guess it is time to decide who is going then…” Allen sighed heavily and looked from Callo to Raven. “Callo has to go with Nuramond. That was the deal…” “Hmpf…” The dark elf crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaning back against a pillar. The only person he had ever gone to a ball with was Serena… He had no clue how to act with other women… “Anyway, I’d like to go with you, if that’s alright!” Raven chuckled and leaned forward, eying Allen playfully. She received a happy nod as reward. She bit her lip happily and hopped back again towards the stairs. “How about we send Narwa and Zeyir together? Zeyir and Grenlin would look weird… besides, that’s the perfect chance for her!” Callo looked confused at the two humans, feeling left out of the topic… What were they talking about?! Zeyir and NARWA?! This was going to end in bloodshed and murder! “Come on… you are kidding right?! The two of them dancing?! I bet they tap on each other’s feet in full purpose. And you know what that will lead to… Narwa smacks Zeyir, Zeyir yells at Narwa, she yells back, he tells her that Asgardians are stupid, she retorts that Utgardians are even worse,…” “Hahaha, yeah, really sounds like them.” Allen laughed at that one. “But hey… did Mister Leave me Alone just make a joke here?! By Asgard! What a historical day!” He received a smack for that one… “Hihi!” Raven let herself fall backwards, sitting on the stairs. “I still think it’d be fun letting them dance together. After all, Zeyir is a prince and she is a high goddess… They should know how to behave in public. Nuramond said that the lords of the Forest-Temple let only very few couples up to their stage, so if we want a chance to talk with them, we have to give our all, and I am sure they both can realize tha-“ “AH!” A yell from upstairs made them snap out of their conversation and running up the stairs to Zeyir’s room. As they stormed into the room, they couldn’t suppress an outburst of laughter. “Haha, how funny…” Zeyir rolled his eyes as he lay on the floor. From what they could see, he hadn’t noticed the tablet in front of his bed, slipping all over it… The marmalade and yogurt covered his black shorts and long T-shirt he used to sleep in. “Let me guess, that was Callo’s idea…” “Haha, no, in that case I’m innocent!” The dark elf grinned as sheepishly as possible for him while Raven tried to regain her cool –which was rather hard as she still had to hold her belly from the laughing. “Nya, sorry, that was my fault alone.” She added between the chuckles. “I really only wanted to bring you breakfast!” “Suuuure…” He rolled his eyes, standing up from the floor, patting the remaining of his ‘breakfast’ off his cloths as good as possible. As they were finally all done with dressing up, bathing or taking breakfast, the group met at the entrance. “So we are going to buy dresses for tonight?” Raven chirped happily. “Yupp. I gotta help you pickin’ as I won’t go there for sure.” The dwarf laughed bemused over the happiness of the human girl. That was indeed a cheery personality here. “Right…” Zeyir and Narwa sighed, not looking at each other. “I brought my formal suit with me from Galdor so I don’t really need anything…” The demon looked hopefully back towards the stairs, hoping he was able to get away without having to go shopping… “Nice, then you can help us picking something.” Allen grinned evilly. Zeyir sighed. Too bad… “I think it’d be coolest to separate for shopping! That way it will be a giant surprise in the evening what the others wear!” Raven hopped on the spot, thrilled. Callo agreed with her and unfixed his wallet from his belt. “Here, you can have some of our fonts.” He gave the girl 100 Gar. Her eyes widened happily. “Woa, I didn’t know you were rich!!” She took the money, happily, letting it disappear in her pocket… that’d sure make an awesome dress for them! “It is the money of all three of us… and Kyrin gave us an extra boost on money when we were in Galdor.” The elf shot Allen an angry deathglare as he just wanted to bring the sword-topic back. “That doesn’t mean we can throw it out for any junk, okay?!” “Too bad…” The summoner sighed. Nuramond had finally arrived. She was filled in by Narwa that they were going to split until evening, and the elf thought it was really a nice idea to get surprised in the evening. The boys wandered through the streets, looking for some nice shops they could buy formals in… but whenever they found one, Callo lead them on… He wasn’t going to wear a typical forest-elf-outfit! Besides, green was definitely not his color… After over an hour of searching they finally found a shop of a dark-elf. The woman had grey skin and silver hair –typical for the dark-elf kind. Her dresses weren’t the typical kinds of robes they had found in the other shops. They weren’t ornamented with so many strings or ribbons, but with belts instead. After half an hour of advising, Allen had tried a crimson jacket on. It had black belts fixed over the arms and long sleeves with black endings. On the back two long strings of black fabric were fixed, giving him a feeling as if he still wore his scarf. A pair of white trousers matched perfectly with the black shoes. Zeyir sat on a couch in the corner, eying the human from head to foot while Callo was busy looking through the other cloths for something for himself. “I think it looks awesome…” The owner of the shop –her name was Terra- chirped happily while fixing the last belts on Allen’s jacket. “I have to agree. It suits you really well.” The demon grinned, enjoying a drink while waiting. “The only thing bothering now is your green head-bandana…” “Riiiight…” He sighed and took it off. His whole mess of hair fell into his face, covering eyes and nose while his goatee made a perfect match with the mess… “I think I have something to fix that.” Terra ran back to her storage-room, searching for something. In the meanwhile Allen tried his best to get his mane out of his face again without knotting it all up. “Honestly, Callo, how do you manage to have so much hair and never tangle them up?!” He asked frustrated as his fingers hang in the mess of hair. “When your hair is as long as mine, you barely have that problem anymore as the weight keeps it down.” He lolled his tongue out while musing another suit. Terra returned with a thin black headband that almost disappeared between Allen’s hair as she fixed it on his head, releasing peace and order in the struggle of chaos on the poor summoner’s head… “Now it’s perfect!” Zeyir and Terra both chirped at the very same second. “Hehe~” Allen rubbed the back of his head, pleased by his image in the mirror. “Now only one left is Callo…” “I think that one would look awesome on him!” The dark-elf ran to her storage-room again, searching for something. “I think that’ll fit perfectly with a desert-elf!” “I prefer dark elf…” Callo sighed in bad memories… He didn’t really identify himself with his clan any longer… “Huh? Dark-elf?!” Terra blinked confused while returning with a big box in hand. “No, dark elf, not dark-elf…” He flapped a little with his ears while blushing. “Just forget about it.” “As you wish.” She grinned and pulled the box open. She pushed the elf with the box into the cabin, ordering him to take it on. Without further complains, Callo disappeared behind a curtain, trying the outfit on. “Are you sure you don’t want any?” Terra looked at Zeyir saddened. “I have such awesome outfits for you… Demons and Dark-elfs have a lot in common, you know?” She grinned sheepishly. “It’d be really alright, Zeyir!” Allen laughed and patted his demon-comrade. “…” He sighed. “How about that: I run back into the Inn, pick up my formal outfit and we have a look if you have something more matching, alright?” He rolled his eyes and jumped up at the cheering and agreeing nods of Allen and Terra. As Zeyir ran to the Inn he really had to ask himself what he was doing… His prince-suit was good enough for any kind of ball, that was for sure. Still… maybe Terra knew some ways to get it a little more to his own taste… Zeyir liked his casual outfit much more than his formal one… and that for a lot of reasons… Maybe the dark-elf actually knew a way to fix that! Besides… he couldn’t wait to proof Narwa that he in fact was not just a spoiled bratty prince, but he could be an honorable leader as well! Callo stared into the mirror… He couldn’t possibly wear that… He just couldn’t! “Are you finally done, Mister ‘Dark Elf’?” Terra’s voice echoed through the curtain as Callo snapped back to reality. “I-I doubt this is going to work for tonight…” In that very second, Terra ripped the curtain open, musing the elf. “What are you talking about?! It looks perfect!” She barked, dragging him into the main-room. Allen’s mouth clapped open at the sight of the tan man. “Yeah, it looks awesome!” Allen stared at his friend. Callo wore a white shirt with high collar and plunging neckline, giving free view on his necklace. Over it a dark-red jacket with long wide sleeves gave him a majestic look. A few golden ornaments added to the image. A dark-gray set of trousers and black shoes fixed with belts matched perfectly to the overall-image. “If I was you, I’d fix your long hair into a loose ponytail… like this.” Terra took a gummy and fixed it in about shoulder-length on Callo’s hair. “Now it is perfect!” She grinned and patted the elder. “…” Callo just stared into the mirror… He was looking good, no question about that… but he had the weird feeling as if this might be even a little too good… Sighing he moved his fingers through his golden mane, eying himself a little longer in the mirror… “We take it!” Zeyir’s voice echoed through the shop as he returned through the entrance-door. “Callo, that’s great!” “Hmpf.” Was the only reply of the desert-elf. “Oh, let me see that!” Terra gasped and snapped Zeyir’s formal cloths out of his hands. “That… that’s fabulous! The quality is… is just… perfect! Where do you have that from?! Are you some kind of aristocrat or something?” She gulped and had a hard time thinking of the young man in front of her as a politician or something the like… “S… something like that…” Zeyir rolled his eyes, while Terra pushed him into the cabin, wanting to see him with the outfit. As the demon returned with his prince-suit on, Callo was the only one whose mouth wasn’t clapping open. The tight black top with long wide sleeves added to Zeyir’s slim yet athletic body-built. The silver ornaments seemed to glow in a foreign light while the crimson cape was fixed with two golden brooches to his top. The black trousers were fixed into black leather-boots. Now Allen had to agree… Zeyir looked like a perfect prince in this outfit. Honorable and majestic. “Wow! That’s great!” Terra blinked and ran into her storage-room again. Allen had to wonder why she had most of her stuff in that little room instead of in her open shop…?! She returned with a box in hands once again. As she opened it, Zeyir could spot a couple of silver chains, ornamentations and buttons. “I’d add some of these… I have them left from an outfit I made for a dark-elf-lord a few months back… look.” With a well-trained hand, she added black leather-belts with silver buckles on his sleeves, riffling them a little at that spot. Next she fixed some of her ornamentations on Zeyir’s black collar as well as at the ends of his cape. With a couple of chains, she snapped off the golden brooches and took two blue gems instead, matching with Zeyir’s mark on the forehead. Another chain she fixed on his black leather-belt, making it hang loosely over his legs. “Now it is truly perfect!” She grinned. Zeyir had to agree. It looks even better now. And it was more his taste than before with the silver chains and ornaments… “Great!” Allen chirped happily, looking over at Callo. “I think that’s it then… Shall we pay?” “Alright.” The desert-elf smiled. By now he had re-dressed into his normal outfit. Zeyir disappeared in the cabin to take his casual stuff back on again, as well as Allen. “That’d make… 120 Gar please.” Terra smiled. Callo had already expected a high price so he didn’t really care… at least it was important they made a good image of themselves tonight, so they got a chance of talking with the elven-lords of the temple… A thought that made Callo shrug… He gave the dark-elf the money and fixed the rest on his belt again. “My pleasure!” Terra grinned and leaned forward a little. “Just one question… That demon-guy you are traveling with… could it be he comes from Galdor?” Callo grew pale on that question. Did she recognize his mark?! How stupid of them… Zeyir’s demon-mark was proof he was from Galdor! Why had they forgotten?! “W-well…” He looked away awfully ashamed. He had never been the best person in lying or denying something… “Hehe, so I was right…” She smiled. “That kind of fabric he wears is typical for Galdor!” Grinning she counted her money. Callo’s heart started beating normal again at that statement… so she hadn’t recognized he was in fact Galdor’s beloved prince… good… “Alright, we are done!” Allen and Zeyir returned to the main-room in their typical cloths. “Bye, Terra!” They left the shop, walking back to the Inn. On their way Callo took Zeyir’s arm, stopping him for a second. “What’s the matter, Callo?” He half expected something mean to come from the desert-elf again… They hadn’t been teasing each other for a whole day by now! That was really strange… so was about time they picked on each other again! “Is there a way to hide your demonic mark?” The elder asked seriously, coughing the demon off-guard. “Eh.. Huh?” Zeyir needed a couple of seconds to understand the question. “Uhm… Not really… But with a little energy of Luna and Sol it should be unrecognizable for others when staring at it…” The demon sighed. Of course. How could he have possibly forgotten about that?! “Alright. As soon as we are back at the Inn, I will make Luna and Sol seal your mark away.” Allen smiled and walked on ahead back to the Inn. Zeyir however stopped again for a second. He looked around… What was that? Had he just… felt something? “Hm…” He looked around. There were a lot of dress-shops around… so maybe Narwa was in one of them here… “Zeyir, are you coming?” Callo shouted from almost 100 meters ahead of him. “…” The demon shook his head, running towards his companions. A man was sitting on one of the branches on top of the giant tree, standing in the center of the city… He stared with empty eyes at a photograph hidden in an amulet around his neck. He stared at the happy family on the photo… A man with his wife, a girl and… two boys… He grid his teeth frustrated and closed his hand around the amulet tightly, almost breaking it. White hair fell over his face, hiding his hate-burning green eyes. A couple of whit wings spread from his back as he stood up, his lance tight in hands. He was going to have his revenge… He was going to have it no matter what… And if it’d cost his life, he didn’t care… The only thing important was vengeance… A blood-revenge for what they had done to him… And e knew perfectly well who was going to pay for it… Spreading his wings, Marduck flew into the wide open sky, towards the blood-crimson sunset. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)