Chapter 4: Where Is My Mind…

 

              Lyalya led the old man past the brothel to her cheap apartment room.

She had been lying before, when she said she followed the 'Rule of Twice' and would repay the old man who saved her.       

She hadn't followed 'The Rule of Twice' since her mother had died.  She just couldn't see the point of it anymore.

 Lyalya was just scared.  Scared and lonely.  The thought of going back to that empty room with no one there anymore...   she couldn't bear it.    She just wanted someone, anyone to talk to.  Even if that person was an old man who smelled like seven different kinds of awful, and  killed people like it was nothing.

More than that, she just wanted to feel safe. 

    She was so tired of feeling scared.  Tired of being scared of the men of the slums, and their creepy gazes, tired of being scared of making too little money and having her ugly landlord kick her out of her room, tired of her customers who would sometimes hurt her, she was worried that one would go too far one day and maim or kill her.

But for some reason the old man didn't make her feel scared.  He was scary, but he didn't make her feel scared.

Instead she felt safe with him.  She couldn't put her finger on why, she just knew that the old man wouldn't hurt her.

In the slums, you didn't last long if you didn't have good intuition about people.

Walking out of the side street, Lyalya & The Bum entered the cheap wooden gate and into the small apartment complex.  It comprised of three two story buildings in a semi-circle, with a well in the middle of a dirt courtyard.   There were chicken coops off to the side of the rightmost building.

"Um, my room is on the left-most side, on the bottom floor" she says while pointing.

She took out a rusty key from a leather strap on her neck and used it to unlock the old wooden door of her room

With a rusty creak, the old door opened to reveal a single room.   With a single bed in the corner, a small woodstove sticking out of the wall, a cupboard, and a small table other than that, it was empty.

"well, here it is...  you can sit down at the table there, if youre hungry i have a bit of bread and cheese leftover from this morning..."    she says awkwardly

The Bum sits down, and Lyalya rummages around in her cupboard and puts a candle on the table, that she had lit with the woodstove.   She also puts a half loaf of bread in front of him, as well as a wedge of hard white cheese with holes in it & a knife.

The old man looks like he's about to drool.   With a quick "Thank you" he begins tearing into the bread.

Lyalya puts a waterskin in front of him.    City water was contaminated, if you drank it without boiling it, you would get sick.  Most people drank weak beer or wine.  The rich however, drank tea.  Tea was expensive and imported, and they also had access to clean water purified with sorcery.                 Lyalya had never tried tea but she had heard it was bitter.

"Have anything stronger?" he asks   She shakes her head no.

After taking a swig from the waterskin, the old man started cutting off slices of cheese with the knife.

The Bum pauses for a moment, and puts a few slices of cheese in front of Lyalya.  

"Eat girl, you're too skinny"   The old man says between a mouthful of bread & cheese

Annoyed she responds "I have a name y'know, its Lyalya.  Lee-All-Yuh.  Not 'Girl' or 'Kid'."

The  old man stabs a piece of cheese with the knife, and eats it.  Chews for an awkward amount of time, while flatly staring at her.

Uncomfortable with the silence, the girl fidgets in her chair.

Finally The Bum breaks the silence   "Yep, and its a good name.   Girl." He said with an ugly grin.

"Ugh" she says while wrinkling her nose  "Y'know, you still havent told me your name yet..."

The Bum pauses for a moment while looking down.  " I have no name, at least not one worth remembering"

Lyalya raises her eyebrow.  "Thats silly, everyone has a name. Even my rude neighbor's dog has a name"

"Well I dont" Said The Bum tersely. 

"Well, what am i s'posed to call you 'oh nameless person who saved my life'? " she asks with a small laugh

"I'm an old man girl, who knows how much time I've got left.   So what's the point in learning the name of someone who wont be around much longer?"

"Well, then thats what i'll call you from now on."  She says while pointing at him with the last slice of cheese. 

"Until you decide to tell me what your name is, i'll call you Oldman"      

 

***

 

   'Oldman.'  Thought  The Bum... He had been called worse.  

noticing he had finished eating, the girl spoke up.

"Its uh pretty late, if you want to sleep, you can sleep on my bed... I need to wash it anyway, so you dont have to worry about getting it dirty..."

The Bum takes one look at the bed, and then back at the girl.     

He just gives her a flat stare.    "I'll sleep on the floor girl"

She looked like she wanted to say something, but instead bit her lip.

"A-alright, i have a spare blanket you can use then..."   she says as she goes over to the cupboard and gets her spare blanket and hands it to The Bum.

The Bum had spent years sleeping on hard surfaces, he doubted he could catch a single wink of sleep on something that soft.

The Bum laid down on his side against the wall, and despite the awkwardness of the situation, soon felt drowsiness come upon him.

  Lyalya blew out the candle, and climbed into her bed.

 "Good night Oldman"  she says, but The Bum doesn't respond...

 

    In dreams the mind can find refuge.  Like a weary traveler coming back from a long journey to a warm Inn, dreams provided much needed rest for the soul.   In a dream, the powerless can become gods.   In a dream, the horrors of the world became clearly defined threats transformed into nightmares in obvious black and white,  A much better alternative to the ambiguous grey nature of evil in the real world.      In a dream one can find romance and passion fiery enough to make reality seem drab and lifeless.    And in a dream, you can be what you want, flying free from all the worlds constraints...

 The Bum did not dream however.

The Bum had no escape from the ugly realities of the world.  When The Bum slept, his mind would show him his life's memories, in perfect crystal clear detail.   Over and Over again.

The only thing that helped was getting so drunk that he would black out.   

So drunk that he couldn't ... Remember...

 

~~~~~

 

       A young boy of seven sat at a solid table covered with books and scrolls.

The boy was well dressed, with a mop of wavy shaggy hair that he refused to brush.   The room the boy sat in was decorated with maps and skeletons of animals, strange runes and crystals, and shelves of books.   

There was an old man in the room, droning on and on, but the boy wasn't paying attention.   He was too busy looking, with his bright brown eyes, at the window.                     Outside he could see the soldiers practicing their swordplay.   A much more interesting sight than another one of his Grandfather's lessons.

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"What do you think about that young man?"   His Grandfather asked him.     

Absentmindedly the youth just said "Yes Grandfather..."  while still looking out the window.

*SLAM*

The boy is completely startled and almost falls out of his chair as a heavy book is slammed down on the table in front of him.

        "Bowen Blackwood!" 

 "How do you expect to be the next head of House Blackwood if you cannot even pay attention to these basic lessons!"    The old man said sternly.         

He was very tall & slender, at around six and a half feet, with a long white beard down to his chest, and long white wavy hair parted in the middle.                        He was Majeia.    And like all Majeia, he had long pointed ears, and a small oval gem in his forehead.   His forehead gem, called a manastone, was a bright blue.  And if his grandfather was angry or used sorcery, it even glowed.    That meant that his grandfather was very old.    He wore simple blue flowing robes, and baggy cloth trousers in the Majeia style.

 "But Grandpa Elric!  Ive been stuck in this room lookin at dusty books everyday this week!   Can we go outside pleeeaaasssee!"         Bowen whined.

"Hehehe"  His grandfather chuckled  "it IS a very nice day out today...   Tell you what, how about we get through this lesson, and we get something to eat from the kitchens, and then we can go to the forest...where I can teach you about the local wildlife"

Bowens eyes lit up.  The Blackwood forest was his favorite place to play.

"Also, out there"   he pointed towards the door "I am your Great 'Grandpa Elric', but in here, in this room, I am your teacher.  Understand?"

 "Yes Grandfather..."  Bowen says, slightly annoyed.

"Now, where were we?"   Turning around, his grandfather walked over to a blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk.  He proceeded to use his long sleeve to wipe the chalkboard free of markings, making his sleeve dusty in the process.

"Now, did you read your first few chapters of 'Elvorn's Grande Bestiary' like I asked you last night ?"

 "Yeah.." Bowen lied.

"Well then, lets start simple.  I want you to name me all of the races  of people that were brought here during The Cataclysm.  Whom the humans call the Sinful races or 'Daemons'.  I want you to give me Both their human names, and their actual names, with a basic description."      

"Um alright" young Bowen said.

"There's the Alcyoneus, and the humans call them... Ogres.  Theyre very tall, some of them taller than you, Grandpa. And they have small horns on their head and their skin kinda looks like metal.   Umm, Mom is part Alcyoneus"

 His grandfather smiles "that's right, your mother's - my granddaughter's- father,  was half Alcyoneus.    Now, can you tell me what 'Sin' the humans who follow the Letosian religion associate with it?"

"Theyre the sin of Pride"

"very good"  His grandfather says as he writes the information in neat flowing lines on the chalkboard. "Next is?"

"Next is you Grandpa!" Bowen says with a laugh "The Majeia! ...Lets see, Mom is half Majeia and that makes me... one quarter?"

The old man nods.

"The humans call us Mages. I don't really understand why, its not like Majeia is hard to say... Muh- Jay- Uh" Bowen said while sounding each letter out.

"We're getting off topic young man.  Tell me the characteristics of these... Mages."

"Yes. Um. Let's see... Every Majeia has a jewel in their forehead, and they have long ears, and they all live a long long time. Oh yeah, all Majeia are really good at using Sorcery. "  

"Are we forgetting something? " His grandfather says while crossing his arms

Bowen looks confused for a moment, wracking his brain for an answer   "Oh Yeah!  The Majeia are supposed to be the Race of Sloth"

"Very good, next" his Grandfather says while writing more lines in chalk.

"Next is What Jenáh is.   Vrykolakas.  That one's hard to say. Vree-Ko-La-Kas"  He says while sounding it out again.   "Jenáh gets mad when i dont say it right..."   "The Humans call them Ghouls.   They have blackish-grey skin, and sharp teeth and they have Cat-eyes that can see in the dark!  She can also make these sharp claw things come out of her fingers...  And they're supposed to be the Race of Gluttony...

"Excellent Bowen, next"

"OK, after that is the Xemyalistra. I've never seen one before...  The humans call them Succubus's.    Umm Xemyalistra look like normal humans, the only difference  is that they have odd hair colors.   Nobody knows a lot about them except that they suck out your soul...."

"WRONG.   The Xemyalistra do not 'suck out souls' young Bowen.  They suck out Vitality. Your life.   Hmmm, you know how you had gotten sick last year?  And you had to be in bed for a whole week? Do you remember how weak you felt?  That's what getting your vitality sucked out is like." The old man explains     "And what is their 'Sin'?"

"The Xemyalistra are the Sin of Lust"

"That's right, and I would definitely want to get my vitality sucked by a Xemyalistra on my deathbed!" his grandfather says with a laugh   "Next"

Bowen looked confused.   'Why would you WANT to get your Vitality sucked out?'    He thought.

"Next is the Lycaon.  The humans call them Werewolves.   They look like normal humans, except their ears are kinda pointy and they have creepy eyes, like a wolf.  Theyre supposed to have good noses.  They're a scary race, because if you make them mad, they can turn into big wolf monsters and eat you.  Uhh they are the Race of Wrath"

"Yes, they do sound scary don't they?  But there is good news.  As long as you don't try to harm them, then they will leave you alone."                           "Now, we're almost done. Tell me the last two."

 "The next one is my 2nd favorite one.  The Koboloi are short, slender dog people- maybe fox people?   They have dog legs, and fox tails, with big fox ears on top of their head.   And they live underground, they only come up to steal things from people.    Ive seen some in town once!"            Bowen said excitedly  "Umm the humans just call them Kobols.   The Koboloi don't seem very smart, compared to most of the other races...     People dont like them very much, because they are afraid the Koboloi will steal all their stuff....  They also live the shortest of any of the Races, except for humans.   ...Oh, they are the Race of Envy"

"Good Bowen, good. However The Koboloi are not as stupid as most people seem to think.  They have language, and are very cunning. They also use very powerful Earth sorcery.        You would be wise not to underestimate them.   Also, I wouldn't be so quick to judge them.  Your Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather Boris Blackwood 'The Strange' was obsessed with the Koboloi. Even going so far as to marry one.  That was your 4x Great grandmother by the way, so that means you have a small amount of Koboloi in you"  Grandpa Elric said while pointing at Bowen.

'I'm part koboloi?'  Thought Bowen with a conflicted expression

 "Last one"    His Grandfather said as he wrote more lines in chalk.

Bowen's eyes were bright as he was about to talk about his favorite race

"The last race are the Dragons!   The Race of Greed!  The Dragons are REALLY big, they are supposed to be  as big as a large house.  The drawings ive seen of them make them look like huge Bat monsters with four legs.  Their fur is like armor! And is supposed to be metal and shiny.  They can use HUGE amounts of sorcery.   Um, even though they look like monsters, the dragons are smart, they can talk.  And - And-"

*Chuckles*   "It seems that all little boys like Dragons...   But can you tell me their Actual name?   Dragons are their most common name, but its not what they call themselves.  That is just another human word."

"uhhh... "  Bowen furrows his little eyebrows, thinking hard to find his answer, but then looks down, depressed.

"...I don't know it Grandfather..." he said while still looking down

His Grandpa Elric strides towards him, and puts a hand on his small shoulder.

"Remember Bowen.  There is no shame in admitting ignorance. As long as you take steps afterword to learn and educate yourself."

He continued    "The name that the Dragons call themselves is the 'Dracohn' .   It might not seem like much of a difference, but its an important distinction, and will come up in future lessons"         

He moved back to the chalkboard and continued writing the final details

"Now, it is important that you know everything about each of the races, because YOU Bowen, and ALL the members of House Blackwood who came before you, carry the blood of Every. Single. Race. "  His Grandfather said while pointing at him     " The Blackwoods have been interbreeding with The Races of Sin for hundreds of years.  Mixing Human and Non-human has allowed us to form alliances with every race, and as a result our small nation of Dásos has prospered for centuries. "  

His Grandpa stroked his beard for a moment "Alright, that's enough exposition for now, lets get lunch and spend the rest of the lesson outside"

"YES!!!"   exclaimed Bowen, practically jumping out of his seat.  Tired of being cooped up in a classroom, like all children.

 

 

 

 

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