Three Visions

by Tony Johnson

  “Have you eaten yet?” Ty asked Shana. “I’ll buy you dinner if you give me some pointers for my game.”

  “I don’t know how I can help you. You either have the skill or you don’t,” Shana continued to badger him over the losses. “I already ate tonight, but if you wanted to have dessert together, that’d be fun.”

  “So tell me about your tattoos and your hair,” Ty was curious to know as they found a table, placed their order with a barmaid, and waited for the delivery of their food.

  “This is the first one I got,” Shana held out her forearm and pointed to an inked flag of Casanovia with the shades of the blue and yellow accurately detailed. “A bunch of guys were saying I couldn't handle the pain, so I wanted to prove them wrong. Then, it turned out to be addicting, so I got more and more, and over the past few years it’s begun to turn into a full sleeve of symbols and representations of things that are important to me.”

  While he listened, Ty took a quick glance to the bar and saw that Grizz was passed out, his head resting on his arms.

  I don’t know what to do for him. It’s sad to see, he tried to put the Halfman out of his mind. Worrying about Grizz’s state is going to ruin the great time I’m having with Shana, Ty thought, deciding to refocus his mindset and listen to Shana’s explanation behind her body’s artwork.

  “I still have some more things I want to get, but, yeah, it started out as a way to prove I’m not a pushover. I have to earn the respect of men to be taken seriously, especially in the career I want to be in. I want to show I can hold my own with them regardless of my gender, race, or age.”

  “How old are you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

  “Nineteen,” Shana said.

  I can’t believe she’s that young. She looks young, but if I had to guess based just on her maturity level, I would say thirty. Her impressive attitude is beyond her years.

  “I’m twenty-two,” Ty said, “but my brother is the same age as you. You remind me a lot of him. You both seem much more mature than other people your age.”

  “Here’s your cheesecake, the barmaid delivered the cream-colored slice with a strawberry topping to Shana, “and your tiramisu,” she gave Ty the coffee-flavored dessert. “Enjoy!”

  “Oh, and as for my hair,” Shana explained, having almost forgotten because of the tangent she went on, “There’s no rhyme or reason to it. I love the colors of Fluorite Crystals so I occasionally dye my hair one of the colors,” she showed Ty how she had a bracelet with many tiny crystals of the various neon colors fastened to a piece of twine around her fair-skinned wrist.

  “That’s another reason you should come to Celestial sometime,” Ty said, sharing his enthusiasm so quickly that he forgot it wasn’t even a realistic option at the moment. He continued anyway by saying, “The Fluorite River flows right through the city. At night you can look in the water and see hundreds of shimmering crystals.”

  “I’ve heard about that. That’d be awesome to see,” she said, using her fork to take a bite of her dessert. “Thank you for this. It’s my favorite dessert here. I don’t get it that often. How’s your tiramisu? I’ve never had it before.”

  “It’s excellent. Here,” Ty cut his in half and gave Shana some. “Try it and see what you think.”

  As she ate, Ty saw his new friend was missing her pinky finger. Although he tried to hide the fact he’d stared at it for a second too long, he saw Shana had noticed.

  “I’m sorry,” Ty apologized.

  “Don’t worry about it,” she wasn’t afraid to discuss her deformity. “It’s not a big deal. I was born without a pinky finger on my left hand. I’m missing the same toe on my left foot. I don’t know why, it’s just a fluke I guess.”

  Impressed that Shana wasn’t someone who was self-conscious about her physical differences, Ty continued conversing with her the same playful way as they’d been all night. “If you’re trying to make me feel sorry for you so you I’ll give more of my tiramisu, think again,” he teased.

  In their own little world, Ty and Shana kept laughing and talking until the barmaid that had served them drew their attention by hollering at a warrior sitting at the bar who had rudely slapped her butt.

  “What are you doing?!” she blushed, and with tears forming in her eyes, the visibly shaken barmaid hurriedly ran to the kitchen.

  “Ugh,” Shana shook her head, “that’s Captain Nereus and his warrior friends. He's always touching places he shouldn't. I would’ve slapped him if I were her.”

  “Five silver pieces says you won't throw a dart at him,” Ty proposed, challenging Shana.

  “Fifteen,” she countered without hesitation.

  “Ten,” Ty offered, taking the amount from his coinpurse and sliding it across the table.

  Shana didn’t accept it.

  “Twenty…gold pieces,” she held out her hand.

  I like her, Ty told himself, impressed by her haggling.

  “Okay,” Ty agreed, much to Shana’s surprise. “I don’t have it with me now, but I promise I will give you that much if you follow through.”

  “Are you sure?” Shana thought he was joking. “I was kidding around. You don’t really have to. That’s more than I make in a month.”

  Ty’s only response was holding out his hand, gesturing towards the darts they left stuck in the dartboard. To his surprise, Shana got up, pulled one out, and snuck it back to their table.

  I wanted to do stuff like this with Steve back in Celestial, but he’d always say ‘no’, it wasn’t ‘becoming’ of a warrior. Now I’ve finally found my partner in crime, Ty slyly grinned as his machinations developed before his eyes.

  Shana first waited until the barmaid was back out on the floor so the woman could watch what was about to happen. When the path was clear, the lavender-haired Human sent the dart soaring across the room in a line-drive throw.

  Since the captain was wearing armor, there were few places where she could score a direct hit.

  But she did.

  The sharp piece of metal impaled the captain in the neck, causing him to howl in pain, which caused Ty to burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

  Ty quickly covered his mouth to stifle himself as Nereus stood in anger, pulled the small projectile out of his neck, and turned to everyone in the tavern that had gone deathly quiet.

  “Who threw this!?” the captain slammed the dart as hard as he could into the ground, using a much larger throwing motion than needed for such a little toy.

  Ty straightened his face and pretended to look around like everyone else did, searching for the culprit, but when he turned his head, his field of vision caught Shana, who was pointing directly at him.

  Prankster! Ty shook his head while smirking at Shana as Nereus yelled, “You, Elf!” and charged at him. Before he reached the Celestial warrior, however, in his rage, the captain didn’t see Shana stick her foot out. At full speed, he tripped and was sent sprawling to the floor.

  At that, Nereus’s friends attacked, heading straight for the mischievous Elf and Human duo. Ty was tackled to the ground and took a few punches straight to the temple, while Shana picked up a chair and smashed it into the back of one of the men on top of Ty.

  Another of the warriors pushed Shana from behind, causing her neck to whiplash as she stumbled. Luckily, some of the patrons of the tavern caught her, who immediately joined the brawl, enraged a woman had been violently pushed. As everything around them descended into the chaos of yelling, shattering bottles, and splintering tables and chairs, Nereus made his way to Ty, pulling one of his friends off the Elf so he could get some punches in himself. The captain and Ty wrestled each other, rolling around while hitting each other until Ty pushed Nereus off himself with his foot, sending the captain crashing into the inebriated Dwarf resting at the bar.

  With a flick of his wrist, Grizz sent his stool tumbling across the room, clearing the way to the man that woke him from his slumber. Grabbing Nereus by the throat, he lif
ted the captain off the ground.

  One of Nereus’s largest warrior friends popped up from behind the bar someone had thrown him behind and jumped on the back of Grizz to protect his captain. Grizz easily pulled him off, grabbed a metal plate, turned it into stone, and smashed it over the man’s head, knocking him unconscious.

  Like before, Ty looked around quickly, but in all the chaos, only Captain Nereus seemed to have seen the element in use. It took only a few minutes for the misbehaving, immature group of warriors to be overtaken and defeated by Grizz, Ty, Shana, and the patrons who had joined their cause. Those of Nereus’s group who weren’t writhing on the floor in pain backed out of the tavern in retreat.

  “Everyone out! The tavern’s closed for the night!” the owner came out from the kitchen in a fury, seeing the damage that’d been done.

  “We’ll pay for this,” Ty went up and told the man.

  “You’re Mayor Hughley’s friends. I should’ve known outsiders would come and here and cause a disruption,” he shook his head, still upset.

  “Do you want help cleaning up?” Ty was trying to be serious in his offer, but he asked the question with a smile on his face, still impressed Shana had the nerve to not only throw the dart, but to rat him out to warrior captain.

  “No, just go to your room,” the owner commanded, believing the Elf thought this was all some grand joke.

  “Flashbacks to getting in trouble in my childhood,” Ty whispered to Shana, who laughed hard and pretended to turn it into a cough so as not to forever incur the wrath of the Applewood Inn owner.

  “Everyone who doesn’t have a room get out!” the man shouted, angry the destruction of the first floor of his tavern had turned into a mockery.

  “Woo,” Grizz exasperated, wrapping his arm around Ty’s shoulders as he was too drunk to walk in a straight line. “Thank you for instigating that, my friend. I haven’t been in a bar fight like that in ages.”

  Ty led the Dwarf up the stairs, but before clearing the second landing, he turned back to see the woman who had captured his heart and made his night so memorable. “Don’t you have twenty pieces of gold to come and collect?” Ty called out to the champion-dart-thrower who was at the back of the pack of people funneling out the tavern doors.

  Shana turned around with the biggest smile on her face and ran past the angry owner, through the wooden debris, and up the stairs to Ty.

  Both secretly happy their night together was not ending, Ty and Shana accompanied Grizz to his room since he was too drunk to work the key and lock. They then went to Ty’s room, where they both exhaustedly collapsed onto their backs on the bed’s sherpa-lined quilt.

  Shana propped herself up on an elbow to look at Ty. “My adrenaline is still flowing. That was crazy!”

  “Mine too!” Ty was still smiling from the whole ordeal. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

  “No, I’m all in one piece, but you,” Shana was laughing now, “you have a huge goose-egg in the middle of your forehead.”

  “I know. I can feel it.” Ty winced. “I feel like a unicorn.”

  “Does it hurt?” Shana gently poked the bump with her fingertip.

  Whereas his brother was the type of person who would say, “I'm fine,” and play down the fact that he was in pain, Ty made light of his injury. “Who are you?” he asked Shana, pretending he had suffered memory loss from hitting his head.

  “Stop joking around,” she said sternly while grinning. “Really though, you’re okay, right?”

  “I'm fine. Really, I am. Just a little knock on the old dome,” he said, tapping his forehead. “Probably did me some good. I can already tell it’s going to be such a bruise though! Why’d it have to be in the middle of my forehead?”

  “Because you were too slow to duck.”

  “Don’t make me laugh, it hurts,” he moved his hands to his ribs, which had taken quite the impact from getting tackled.

  “Well, you can’t be in as bad of shape as that one warrior that tried to attack your Dwarven friend.”

  “Yeah, I watched Grizz turn that metal plate into rock and smash it into that guy’s head. Knocked him out cold.”

  Suddenly, Ty realized he had said too much. He accidentally revealed that Grizz had used his element. But it wasn’t that fact that Shana picked up on, it was the reveal of the Dwarf's name.

  “What you say your friend’s name was?”

  “Grizz. Grizz Grindstone.”

  “That's funny,” Shana looked perplexed, before explaining her puzzlement to Ty. “I had a vivid dream a few nights ago while I was sleeping. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. It was of a Dwarf named Grizz, only he was a child. He had the same dark skin as your friend.”

  Chapter 81

  “Can I help you?” a pretty, blonde-haired woman opened the door. Steve’s heart broke as he laid eyes upon her and saw her watermelon-sized stomach. I forgot Cyrus mentioned she was pregnant. That must be the reason she didn’t travel to Celestial to watch Cyrus compete.

  With his heart beating ten times faster than usual considering the news he was about to share, Steve asked, “Are you Emma?”

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “Commander Lockland led me here, but he sends his regrets he had matters to attend to and couldn’t stay. My name is Stephen Brightflame. I’m from Celestial and was wondering if I could talk to you about your husband Cyrus.”

  Either the look on Steve’s face or the tone of his voice caused Emma to know something was wrong. Immediately she asked, “Is he okay?”

  “No,” Steve answered, his voice breaking in the middle of the two-letter word. He watched as Emma’s face lost color and she leaned her weight against the door frame, trying to find something stable. “Do you mind if we sit inside and talk?” Steve asked, stepping aside to reveal Copper standing behind him. “I have a direfox with me, but he is friendly. He was raised by warriors, trained as a service animal for a warrior who had epilepsy. If you want, he can stay outside. I’ll understand if you're not comfortable with him.”

  At first, Emma took a step back, surprised by the size of the beast, but then the sides of her lips curled slightly upwards. “It’s so strange.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Cyrus has always been fascinated with direfoxes. Look,” she directed Steve’s attention to artwork on a wall just inside the entrance of the apartment. “My husband painted that. He always says he wants to see one in real life, but we thought they were extinct.”

  “I think they almost are. This is the only one I’ve ever seen.”

  “Come here, boy,” Emma held out her hand as Copper sniffed it and then tilted his head so that she could feel his fur. Copper then sniffed her large belly and gave off his trademark panting smile.

  “You can both come in,” Emma invited the red-armored warrior and the orange-furred monster inside. “Can I get either of you anything?”

  “No, thank you, we’re fine.”

  Like a gentleman, Steve allowed Emma to take her seat before taking his own. Copper, instead of laying down next to Steve, sat on the floor and rested his head in Emma’s lap so she could pet him.

  I’ve never realized it before, but Copper is always where emotional people are. He was next to me digging when I thought Ty had died; he supported Grizz after he found his family was killed; he was with Ty after Ty’s vision; and he’s here now. Somehow he always knows when someone is hurting and seeks to comfort them.

  “How far are along are you?” Steve asked, using the impending baby as a way to make conversation and stall the reveal of the real reason he was there.

  “Nine months. I’m ready to pop any day,” she smiled as she held her stomach with one hand and petted Copper with the other. “I’m sorry to be rude Stephen, but you said my husband was not okay, can you tell me what happened?”

  She’s right, I should’ve told her first thing. Shame on me for trying to delay the news to ease my anxiety while all
owing hers to rise.

  “Forgive me, Emma, I’m so sorry to tell you this, but Cyrus was killed in Celestial.”

  In a silent pause that felt like an eternity, Emma said nothing. Over the minutes, her chest starting rising and falling more errantly, her face and neck became blotchy, and tears began to form in her eyes.

  “When you’re ready, I can explain more in-depth, if you want to hear it.”

  Emma began crying and for a while Steve sat in silence while Copper looked up at her with large, concerned eyes, whining at seeing a person in such distress.

  “Tell me,” Emma commanded in a whisper and a deep breath as she prepared herself.

  Steve explained jousting against the Casanovian warrior, the attack by Malorek’s army, and Cyrus being felled by his horse which crushed him. Leaving out the gory details, he mentioned their conversation in which Cyrus had asked Steve to give his love to his wife.

  “That’s why I’m here. He wanted you to know he loved you. I’m so sorry,” Steve said, once again. “I know this is a lot to take in. If you need me to repeat anything I would be more than happy to. Whatever I can do to help you process your husband’s death, please let me know. Commander Lockland wanted me to let you know he is just as willing.”

  Emma reverted to silence and contemplation, so Steve got up and got her a glass of water and a refill on tissues since she had used up the ones beside her. Together, they sat across from each other, not speaking, until the shock of the news seemed to wear off and Emma found it easier to talk openly about her feelings.

  “The thing that makes me most sad is the fact that my baby is never going to get to know his or her father. They’ll never get to meet him, and they will never know what he was like in person.”

  “You know,” Steve tried to alieve her worries, “I never met my father. My mother either. I was a surprise for them, and they tried to afford me, but they couldn’t. I know very few details about them. I find myself wondering who they were and what they looked like, but your child won’t have to wonder like I do. They have you. You can bring Cyrus to life for them by telling them stories about him. He can live on through your memories. And hopefully, your child will be lucky like I was and have people who genuinely care about them even though they're not related by blood.” Encouraging the distraught widow the best he could, he said, “I've come to realize that even though bad things may happen, Alazar has a way of making things work out for the best in the end.”