“Wanna hear a story?” Jordan and Emily took their time to explore the large elven town.
There were sounds of the clanking of metals everywhere they turned.
Almost every elf was either a blacksmith or a carpenter.
Jordan’s anxiety soon melted away when he saw how docile the elves were, even though most of them were just indifferent.
Of course, he still had to be by his best friend’s side to feel safe.
“I don’t wanna disturb Gabe today.
He seemed really upset when I talked about the fairies” said Emily as the two made their way to the grand old castle sticking out in the centre of the town.
“Wonder if there’s a king up there” she wondered.
Jordan looked up at the abandoned castle which had moss and old roots growing and climbing up its walls.
Another thing they noticed is the poor vegetation in the Elven town.
Within the gate, where the town was situated, there was not much sign of green.
Only few shrubs could be found, and not much water either.
They bumped into just one elf who was a farmer, and trying to toil the hard dry soil.
It was pretty much like a dry lifeless savannah.
The two children’s gaze lingered on the grand castle before them until Emily tore her eyes from the castle and turned to Jordan, “Hey!
Maybe we’ll find something that can tell us about the fairies!” Jordan blinked, unable to comprehend her words until he found himself being dragged inside the castle.
The elves nearby might have seen them going in, but if so, they refused to care enough to chase the children out of their beloved castle.
The interior of the castle was much worse than the exterior.
From the outside, the castle looked like a lost monument, a historical building, but in the inside, all there was was dust and dirt.
The castle was truly abandoned.
“Hello?” Emily shouted and her voice echoed through the halls of the empty castle.
The two slowly crept deeper into the castle, looking around for anything of interest.
Emily jumped when she found something, and Jordan sprinted in her direction.
“Look at these pictures, Jordy!
I think that’s the king of the elves!” She exclaimed, looking back and forth from the picture to Jordan, all the while pointing at the picture.
“Wowie!
Look at him!” She mused.
The king…
or prince (they couldn’t tell, he looked so young) of the elves, was surely a very handsome one.
He had gorgeous yellow hair like the sun, and he seemed to have a tan brown skin, gotten from basking in the sun perhaps?
And yellow patches of skin covering his whole right ear and the back of his hand.
He wore extremely sophisticated clothings and was heavily girded with gold.
“I bet all the elves loved him.
Look at all the gold he’s wearing.
My mom would throw a fit if she saw this” said Emily.
Jordan stared at the picture.
The king of elves seemed loved by all the elves, maybe he had died?
But even so, when he did, could they mot have just selected a new king?
Or maybe it didn’t work that way…
“Jordie!
Over here!
Look, look!” Emily called out excitedly.
When Jordan came over, he was surrounded by books end scrolls all mounted on marvelous mountain-high shelves.
“There’s gotta be something here about fairies!
Let’s look for it!” The two split up to quicken their search.
The search took much longer than expected, and soon they realized it was getting late.
The two had to return to their real world.
“Story’s over!” Emily piped and they were warped back to the garage.
Jordan fell on the floor, immediately throwing up.
“Sorry, Jordie.
I didn’t know it would be this bad…” Emily apologized.
Jordan groaned, “Just warn me next time we do that” Emily hummed and nodded in response.
### “What’s that you’re holding, Jordan?” Mrs.
Pillers asked when Jordan got up to leave after having dinner with the Pillers family.
Jordan clutched the book and gulped, “I…
got it from the library” he lied.
Mrs.
Pillers smiled warmly at him, “Always so smart and productive” she turned to Emily, “Why can’t you be like your friend, Em?
Instead of spending your hours watching TV and playing games” Emily pouted and folded her arms, “I do a lot more than playing games!” Mrs.
Pillers pinched the girl’s cheeks, “You need to work more on your speech, honey” Jordan nervously exited the house while mumbling, “Thanks for dinner, Mrs.
Pillers!
Bye, Mrs.
Pillers!
Bye Mr.
Pillers!
See you tomorrow, Emily!” The door closed shut and Jordan ran to the bus stop, where he took a bus ride home.
His dad laid on the couch, completely spent.
Jordan tried to tiptoe past him, but a creak of one of the wooden boards gave him away.
“Kiddo!” Mr.
Blake jerked awake, “You’re here!
I made us dinner if you’re hungry…
it’s in the kitchen…” Jordan froze on the spot, still staring at his father as the man dozed off and fell asleep again.
He slowly crept to the kitchen where he found the health hazard called food.
He didn’t have the stomach to eat, he just came back from dinners with the Pillers, and the wife is a whole chef!
Of course, he knew his dad wasn’t the best cook, and he had tried his best…
but he sometimes wished…
he could be better.
He could do better…
Jordan heaved out a sigh and walked to his bedroom with the book in his hand.
It was titled, ‘The Beginning’.