Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Scrolls ❯ Chapter I : The Preparation ( Chapter 1 )

I'd always had a fairly quiet life, but always fairly boring too. I’ve lived in this small lakeside Village all my life, and I only venture out when my mother needs something from the store in the neighboring town. She's so lazy why can't she ever go by herself? I suppose that's what Sons are for huh... I don't mind really, it gives me something else to do while I work my fingers to the bone on our farm.
I have a younger Brother and he's a right little trouble maker, always crying wolf just to get me in bother, ‘Mum Tone hit meeee!’ I don't know why he does it... attention probably. You'd have thought he would have grown out of it by 18 though! We also have a girl living with us; she's been with us since I can remember, her name's Shelle... my best friend.
She's a year older than my Brother, or so we think. You see my Mum found her as a child, or so she says. Nobody except my Mother really knows the truth about where she came from, and she's not much of a talker so I don't bother asking. My Father apparently went missing around that time too, I try not to think about it too much, it's no use drilling for information my Mum just clams up and starts screaming, WAY too stressful!
Well it's my Birthday tomorrow, I'll be 23... Twenty bloody three! And what have I achieved?
Well I'm alive..... That’s good enough for me.

‘Wake up Tone you lazy bum!! It’s your Birthday!!!’ My bedroom door rattled from the yelling.
‘Yeahhhhh, so I deserve to sleep longer don't I?... Let me sleep Shelle...’ The door flew open and she dived on me. My eyes still glued together, I prized one open slowly, letting the glow from the window burn my cornea like some kind of holy flare. ‘Ughhh! Good morning Shelle, thanks for waking me, really... Cheers!’ I muttered sarcastically. She stared down at me sitting on my chest. ‘You have a big day ahead of you Tone; you're having a huge party remember? The whole Village will be there you don't want to disappoint them all by being late now do you? Come on, you have to get ready, it's 3PM already!’
I almost choked on my tongue, how did I sleep that long? I swear I was in bed early too. I suppose I have been working harder than usual recently, winter’s approaching so we have to stock up on all we can, you know...like squirrels.
I stretched and yawned. ‘ughhhhhh.. So are you gonna let me get up or are you gonna sit on me all day?’ Shelle smiled as she lent down and kissed my nose. ‘Happy Birthday Tone.’
I blushed and tried to wiggle free. ‘Ummmm...thanks, now let me go! pleaseee?!’
‘Okay fine’ said Shell as she rolled her eyes and crawled off me. ‘I'll see you downstairs in 5 minutes!’
Five bloody minutes what does she think I am some kind of speed demon that can defy space and time?
Well I guess I better get up then, I was actually looking forward to today, I hadn't had a party since, well I can't remember when. Oh yeah, last year. It was gonna be held in the Village square, which was actually round, but anyway... everyone was invited, it was only a small community of people, the Village Elder and his Wife and Son, the Blacksmith, the local School which has about six pupils, the Teacher, about three family homes and our farm. That's it; I told you it was small. I may have missed a few people out but hey, I'm not giving out awards.
I didn't have many friends as there weren’t many people my age around here, besides Shelle there was the Elders Son, Leone Martwi. He's alright I suppose, thinks he's so cool though because of his pitiful status, a total snob and thinks he's Gods gift to women. But besides that he's pretty trustworthy, I’ve known him all my life and we went to School together, everyone else who I went with left the Village years ago, smart move. I have this bloody farm to keep though, not that I mind too much, I have a humble life. But do I crave adventure and excitement? Hell yeah I do.
I stumbled out of bed realizing I was still clothed from the night before; man must I have been tired! Oh well I better get changed and washed since yeah, it's my big party and all. Gotta make the effort.
After getting ready and spending most of the time fixing up my unmanageable red hair in the mirror, I rushed downstairs into the kitchen where my Mother and Shelle were sat at the table, with looks that could kill from a thousand yards.
‘What?...’ I said nervously knowing very well why they weren't pleased. My Mother stood up and came and hugged me. ‘Happy Birthday Toneal my Son, you're now officially an adult.’
Yeah that’s right, around here guys come of age at 23, I suppose that's about right since I still didn't feel too responsible...
‘But don't think for ONE second I'll allow you to stay in bed this late in the future!’ She screeched as she twisted my ear. ‘Oww! alright alright I'm sorry Mum geez let go will you I'm 23 not 5!’
Shell giggled to herself from behind us, she always found it funny when I got into trouble. The stupid thing was though, so did I!
‘So where's our Woz, that little Bro' of mine? The little turd better have gotten me a good present this year, I'm tired of getting onions and things I hate wrapped in layer upon layer of paper. The challenge of unwrapping them is never worth the effort when I get to the gift inside, if you can call it a gift that is.’
My Mother screeched again. ‘He's out helping set up YOUR party so don't be so ungrateful! You do the same to him so what are you complaining for? You’re the eldest you should know better!’
‘Alright alright calm down Mum don't have a fit.’ I looked at Shelle and nodded my head towards the front door. ‘Shall we go see what's going on?’
‘Sure Tone, lets go.’ So we headed out.

Now the thing with Birthdays in this Village is the traditional way they're handled, first of all, I have to wear this big stupid red feather headdress so everyone can clearly see the Birthday boy, then I'm greeted one by one, or family by family to wish me well. If they give me a gift is up to them, I bloody hope so though, everyone likes gifts don't they?!
Well, after the initial greetings I'm supposed to thank everyone for all the effort they put into my bash, and then comes the ceremonial ritual. This is the weird part, but all new adult males have to do it. In the centre of the lake by our Village is a small island, I’ve never been there personally but apparently there's a statue at the centre holding a cup of stone needles. I have to SWIM there and bring one back, just so the Elder can dip it in holy ink and scar my body with, well..... A pretty cool looking tattoo actually. A sign of maturity and virility or something or other... I don't pay much attention to all that mystic crap, who believes in mage lore these days anyway?... Well, Shelle does actually; I’ve caught her before chanting incantations she probably made up, and trying to squeeze fireballs from her fingertips. I guess it's kinda cute in a way, and she would make a pretty hot Sorceress.
I’ve never seen Shelle as a Sister type figure, she's always been my best friend and even though she's extremely good looking I’ve never thought about her in that type of way, the girlfriend type I mean. But who knows, we're still young after all.
I suppose I should stop getting lost in my own thoughts and head down to the Village square, I spend most of my time wondering around in my head so you'll have to bare with it, if you can. Wait...who am I even talking to? Myself again, great.

‘Toooone! Hellooo!’ Shelle waved her hand in front of my face ‘Anybody home?’
‘Oh... yeah, sorry I was daydreaming again...uh what were you saying?’
‘Oh nothing...’ She said quietly. ‘Hey look at all these wonderful decorations Tone! Everyone’s really pulled together for you, you're so popular!’
‘Yeah it does look great doesn’t it?! So when's everything starting?’ I asked enthusiastically.
‘Well in about an hour I suppose, don't want you swimming in the dark now do we?’
‘Right... the swimming, I almost forgot about that part, can't we just cut that out and enjoy the party? I mean, it doesn't sound fun at all...’
Shelle looked at me with narrowed eyes. ‘Heyyyy stop complaining, you're becoming a man, you should be happy about it.’
‘I am, I am... okay fine, the swim will be great, it's been a while since I got a decent wash anyway.’
‘Tone you bum! Stop joking around all the time, isn't there a moment where you act serious, ever?!!’
I looked at her with a pout and exposed my eyes with a fake glaze of sadness. ‘Sorryyyy.....’
Shelle shook her head and held onto my arm. ‘Anyway everything looks great here, lets go get ready it should be starting soon.’
‘But, I am ready...I spent a whole 10 minutes doing my hair and everything!’
She looked me up and down with an unimpressed expression on her face. ‘Your hair looks fine but those clothes won't do, look there's even a hole in your pants! Come on Tone lets go get you something -half decent- to wear.’
‘Oh alright.’ I sighed as we headed back. I was actually looking forward to this evening, it had been a while since I had any fun, I’ve been working day in day out, Shelle is my only escape really, I admired her for that, we always had a good time.

As we strolled back to the farmhouse, a gentle breeze blew the golden brown leaves past our feet, and the two suns sat high in the sky barely covered by any cloud, like a pair of glowing eyes happily watching down on us.
‘At least the weathers nice for it today Shelle huh?’
‘mmm... It is mild for this time of year, we're very lucky’ She replied calmly.
We arrived back home and headed up to my room; I sat on the edge of my bed. ‘Man I'm beat, how am I supposed to swim all that way, I'm gonna drown I tell ya!’
‘Oh hush you'll do fine Tone, we'll all be cheering you on, especially me!.’ Her reassurance always seemed to give me a boost in morale.
I stood up ‘I'll try my best just for you then okay?... Now time to find something -half decent- to wear.’
‘No no you sit down, I'm gonna choose cos' you're useless at that sort of thing’
‘Alright... I aint gonna complain about that’ I laid back and stared at the ceiling. ‘.....Shelle?’
‘Yes Tone?’ She replied while rummaging through my closet.
‘Do you think we'll ever get away from this place? Like far away I mean, see the World... I know it's dangerous out there but I don't care, I would like to see lots of new places, at least someday... We've been here all our lives and... I just always wondered if there was something more... I AM and adult now after all, I should be out there doing something...’
Shelle stopped what she was doing. ‘Maybe...’
‘Maybe?? I was looking for an answer a little more in depth than that!... Don't you ever want to just escape, search for who you are, where you're really from? I mean I know you're happy here with us but if I were you I'd be want to know where I came from, why you were abandoned here, who my real parents are... Don't you ever wonder?’
Shelle turned around slowly; I was surprised to see tears in her eyes...’Every single day...’ She said quietly. ‘I wonder every single day... But I'm scared, scared to know the truth, scared to find out who I am, I’m scared.’
I frowned and got up from my bed and knelt down beside her, I looked into her watery eyes with a concerned look. ‘Why didn't you ever tell me this Shelle? You don't have to be scared, because no matter what the truth may be, you'll always have me okay? I promise we'll always be together, if I ever did leave this place I would never leave you behind, you're my best friend and... um...... nevermind... HEY! Weren’t you finding me something spectacular to wear?’ I smiled at her and ruffled her hair and she smiled back and giggled. ‘YEP! And you'll look amazing too just you wait!’
‘Sorry for bringing that up out of the blue Shelle, I didn't mean to upset you.’
‘It's okay, we'll talk more about it later but right now we're gonna have some fun huh? Mr. big man Tone all grown up!!!’
‘Hey! Shush you; I've been grown up years I'll have you know!’ I exclaimed.
‘Uh huh, right. I totally believe you.’ Said Shelle in a tone of voice that sounded very similar to my own sarcastic reactions.
‘Hmm... Very clever Shelle’ I smiled and winked. ‘Now come on, did you choose something for me yet? Now look who's making us late!’
‘Yes here you go, put these on you'll look especially cute.’ Answered Shelle.
‘Well okay if you say so.’ I muttered nervously as I took the outfit from her.
I never understood what the big deal was with clothes and making things match and all that, if it fits and feels comfortable that's good enough for me, I'm usually out in the fields getting filthy anyway so there was no point in being too fashion conscious. But I must admit, these clothes do look pretty neat, how come I’ve never seen them before?
‘Hmm... Shelle? Why don't I recognise my own clothes? I knew I was a dummy when it came to getting dressed but I swear I’ve never seen these before...’
Shelle giggled and tapped her nose. ‘Wouldn't you like to know huh?’
‘Well actually... yes, but....oh never mind, thanks for picking them out for me, they look great.’
Shelle smirked. ‘I need to get ready myself, wait for me downstairs okay? And check on your Mother to see if she's ready.’
I nodded. ‘Okay will do!’
‘Oh and Tone, your new clothes really suit you, Happy Birthday.’ Shelle smiled and left my room.
Did she get these for me?...wow she's full of surprises, they must have cost a fortune, I thought they were a little up market for me. Heh... I'll thank her later.

I got dressed and stood in front of the mirror nailed to my wall, somehow I felt different, I didn't know how, but I felt older, stronger... Something inside me was ringing out, a sense that something big was going to happen... Was it a bad feeling? I wasn't sure; I guess I would find out...
I turned my head and looked out of the window; I could see the square filled with brightly coloured paper chain decorations, hanging from the withering trees slowly swaying in the autumn wind, the ambient orange glow from the sky made the whole village look serene. Food was prepared on tables and everyone looked like they were having fun. Tonight was going to be good... Nothing could ruin this day... I was happy.


To be continued...