Dawn- An age of Darkness

It was noon and now we had money.

"What should we do now?" I asked. I for once was kind of excited. Was it because I now had money or was it because I did a bad thing? I wasn't falling down some sort of rabbit hole now, was I? Was I!?

"I'm the reason for your nose, so what do you say I take you to the doctor? I heard there's a famous one here in this town." Brenda's voice didn't show the enthusiasm she had back in the store. Instead, she wore a serious expression and looked forward. It still felt weird whenever I heard her speak in the normal way.

Maybe I was being picky but I liked her pirate-ish accent better.

"No thank you. Herbs are enough."

I was glad that she wanted to treat me but just the thought of a doctor made me remember that guy's laugh and that muddy texture… yuck. All my hair stood up and my body shivered once.

I'm never going back there.

"Then I'll-" She paused. "How about I treat you for lunch? Anything you want…" She seemed concerned. Did she think I'd hold it against her if she didn't make up for that punch? I wanted to assure her that it wasn't like that, but I got the impression that anything I said now would just end up being backfired.

"That sounds fair enough." I did feel hungry. So letting her treat me wasn't a bad idea. Besides, this way she'd be able to save face too.

If it was something that I wanted, then it was definitely the old man Bonkarin's cooking. No matter how much I ate, I didn't feel bored; not once. If possible I'd have eaten his cooking 24/7. But alas! Fate wasn't that sweet.

We went back to Old man Bonkerin's shop. It didn't take long and the guy never really moved from his one place. The food was excellent and it was cheap. What more could I have hoped for?

"Back for more?"

"Couldn't get enough old man." And I meant that.

"Looks like you've had some fun…" He laughed pointing at my nose. My nose's swelling had gone down but his words brought back the sharp pain.

Why were old men so difficult?

I sighed and bought two sticks of meat. I didn't know why but my love for meat had grown exponentially over the course of last three months.

Bye, bye salty fish! Hello the wonderful world of meat!

Hopefully I wouldn't end up getting my arteries all clogged up with fat and all that.

Brenda bought some for Biteria too. "You deserve this sweetie."

"I didn't know she was that brave. Jumping off like that," I said.

I never expected Biteria to do anything for that matter. I guess I shouldn't have forgotten that she was a monster.

"I didn't know either." Brenda held her close to me.

I smiled, patting Biteria's head as she finished off a stick of meat. If she didn't have that stick I'd probably have gotten a bit a long while ago. It didn't matter though. What if she was a monster? That didn't stop me from loving her.

"What are you two talking about?" Bonkerin looked confused.

"Actually," I explained.

We chatted as we ate. Normally I'd have sugarcoated a lot of things. But this time I kind of ended up exaggerating my lovely bunny's exploits. At one point Brenda just sighed as my mouth blabbered on.

"Interesting… this might be a legendary monster!" Old man Bonkerin seemed confident enough.

He wasn't making sense, so I pounded some in him. "I'm pretty sure it's just a meat-loving bunny. Don't worry about it." Besides, half of what I just said was nothing more than just plain exaggeration anyway.

He burst into laughter. I knew it, he was just joking.

Right?

Without much more chatter, we finished eating and as I was just about to pay: My body shivered. All my instincts told me to not even twitch one of my muscles. Something or rather someone was glaring at me. That's when I remembered, Brenda was treating. I looked behind me and she was smiling. It wasn't the smile of joy. If I stopped a second later, blood would have been spilled.

Brenda paid and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Where to now?" she said, pretending nothing was amiss.

I thought for a few minutes. I didn't really have anything else to do. "Old man, is there any place worth visiting in this town?"

His suggestions were always on point. So it was best to just ask him than wander around aimlessly.

I didn't want to move around much but sitting around doing nothing, wasn't my thing. It was an irony though. Back in my world, I'd always spend most of my time in my room doing nothing and here in this world all I'd been doing is, soaring outdoors. A near experience with death really changes you, it would seem.

"Hmm… you could visit the central garden if you want to…."

"Where is that?" I asked. I didn't have much passion for flowers but every once in a while it wasn't so bad.

"Over there to the left."

"Alright, thanks!"

Brenda didn't have any complaints so we started walking.

The old man was smirking rather wildly. "Thank me later…"

What's up with him?

We went in the direction, the old man pointed in. We arrived at the garden and were amazed. Not by the flowers or anything but by the fact that nearly all the young men and women of this town were gathered here flirting with each other. Love is universal after all. I saw something similar back in Moire but not of this scale. All my anxiety came crawling back and I felt sick.

"So, this is what you meant, geezer." My voice was under my breath.

Brenda kept quiet and we walked around.

However, it wasn't just that, there were bards playing flutes in every corner. Women flocked around them. One particular bard caught our attention or rather Biteria's attention as she ran off towards him.

"Wait, you little devil!"

I ran after Biteria and Brenda followed. When we got there, my eyes jumped to my forehead.

What in God's…?

"Jowy, what are you doing here?" Brenda screamed.

Jowy was playing his flute with his eyes closed. The melody was rather enticing. Even I felt something. Let's not get there.

The woman around him looked dazed and bewildered. To answer her question Jowy stopped playing and the women suddenly regained their senses. They were shocked at how or why they were here. Honestly, I was too.

"What is going on?"

"Yeah, why were we here?" The women were terribly confused if nothing else.