After that dreadful night my savior and newest friend Rune joined me on my journey to Nolt. The road seemed longer than I last remembered. "What was that noise?" Rune asked. He looked around wondering where this mysterious noise was coming from, only to come back and look at me. "There it is again" He said. I grabbed ahold of my stomache and blushed a little bit.
I shook my head and laughed uncontrollingly so my stomache couldn't be heard. It growled once again, louder than before, I just sighed and watched Rune chuckle. "Come on, lets get you something to eat." He said. He turned and began walking up the hill, I followed close behind him. Reaching the top of the hill a small riverside town was seen in the distance.
"YAY!" I screamed as I jumped in the air. I ran past Rune, quickly towards the town. Later, when we finally arrived in town I looked at a sign posted at the entrance. "Caution, a group of thugs have been vandalizing the local residents of Fables. If found do not engage them, contact the local authorities as soon as possible." The sign read. I began thinking to myself, could those three that I encountered last night be the thugs this sign was warning about?
I felt something touch my shoulder. Rune had placed his hand there and with a smile he said. "Hey lets not worry about it right now alright? Lets go get something to eat." I nodded my head, my stomache growled a bit more and before long we found ourselves heading into Fables for a delicious meal. Later at the restaurant.. "ALRIGHT! LETS EAT!" I said loudly as I munched down on my food. Glancing up at Rune every now and then I noticed all he was doing was drinking some tea.
Rune was quite well mannered for a twelve year old, not like the boys from my village. I continued eating my food quickly, knowing I shouldn't of been I choked on some of the bread I had just eaten. I pounded my hand against my chest, then finally reached for my glass of tea, taking a drink helped the choking go away. I let out a sigh of relief now that I could breath again, Rune looked at me with a concerned face. "Are you alright"? He asked me. Taking another sip of my tea I nodded my head.
We sat in the restaurant for awhile, talking about a few things. "I never asked, why is it you're heading to Nolt anyways?" Rune asked me. A sad expression came on my face, I hung my head down towards the table, finally explaining everything that had happened within the last week. "So thats it huh? It might be possible our meeting was no meer coincidence." He said. "This person you met back at your home, he might be the same person I'm looking for." Rune said all seriously.
I wondered about that, you don't see very many identical people. "So Rune, is this person.. your twin brother or something?" I asked. He shook his head when I asked that question, he propped his elbows up on the table, his hands closed together near his face. "Where should I begin? He said with a low voice. "As you may already know we're on a worldship called the Neo Parm correct?" he asked. I nodded my head, explaining that I learned about the history of the worldships in school.
"I'm not from here, I come from a cold world called Dezolis. A few weeks ago a dark energy was felt across the planet. As a esper in training I, as well as many of us are able to feel this dark energy." Rune explained. His story at first made no sence to me, but as he continued it became more clear. "A close friend of mine had become overpowered by the dark presence, before we knew it half of us at the mansion were killed. I engaged him in battle, only to come out barely alive, but I shouldn't get into detail since you're so young." he said.
"No please continue, I don't know if this is the same man but if it is then he hurt me as well. I must know." I said. Rune took a sip of his tea once again, and continued on with his story. "During our battle I managed to damage his face, but even with his face burned he managed to use his new found dark powers to form a mask in the shape of my face. Thinking I was dead he left Dezolis in search of the worldships, for what reason I do not know. All I know is I must stop him, not only for the death of the people, but for the benediction of my friends soul." he said.
His story was so sad, what could I do? I wanted to help, not only for what happened to me and him, but so that no one would ever experience what happened again. I stood to my feet, slamming my hands down on the table. "I want to help Rune, I know nothing about combat but whether you want my help or not I can't let this happen again." I said. Rune shook his head, explaining to me that he would not risk my life for his cause. "Then I will just follow you! I said.
A brief moment of silence passed by as we stared at each other. Rune stood to his feet, a serious look on his face. "Fine you can come, I'll teach you combat and technique training so you can defend yourself rather than have me protect you constantly. But remember, you could be killed at any moment, never let your guard down alright?" he said. I gulped, a little scared but it couldn't be helped. The road to Nolt is dangerous enough, thinking about my mom I gathered my courage and prepared for my training.
