Chereads / The Phoenix In The Dusk / Chapter 2 - Life In The Village

Chapter 2 - Life In The Village

Deeper in the village, A man can be seen holding a child. He seems to be worried about something as he keeps looking behind him. He approaches a house and opens the door.

"You're finally back dear! You've been gone for so long. I hope your work has been going-" She pauses as she looks closely at the boy in the man's arms.

"Burche Dynas, who... is this? What have you been up to these months?" She asks suspiciously as she narrows her eyes.

"Whatever you're thinking, that's not it. A dying man gave me this child saying there were people after him." Burche explains as he sits on a couch and begins to take off his glasses.

"Burche, this sounds dangerous. You know I gave up the dangerous life when I decided to follow you. What are we going to do about the child?" The woman says worriedly.

"Well, the only thing we can do is to wait until someone comes to take him. Surely someone must have noticed that he is missing." But no one came. Days passed when finally, they decide to bring him to an orphanage. There was no orphanage in the village so they went towards one of the big cities called Marblemont. But as they approach the city gate, they see a guard questioning a civilian about a green pendant... something that they noticed was on the baby. Immediately, they turned around and began to cautiously go back home.

"Kiera, I think there is something special about that pendant the boy has," Burche says as they travel down a road.

"I know Burche. But we can't just give him to the soldiers." Kiera says pondering what they will do with the boy.

They continue to travel in silence until they get back to the village. As they enter their house, Kiera begins to speak first.

"Burche... I think we should keep the baby." She says preparing to begin an argument with him but the next sentence that comes out of his mouth shocks him.

"My thoughts exactly." They begin to discuss how exactly they are going to take care of him what they need.

"What should we name him?" Kiera asks.

"Hmmm... We shall name him Tunde." He says. "Tunde Dynas."

*Two Years Later*

"Hey, Burche! How are have you been?" A man says as he runs up to Burche.

"Oh. It's you. I've been good. How have you been Janus? I thought you were out on a quest." Burche replies.

"Oh, I was. On our way through Hollow Maple Grove, I and my crew saw a Komodo Vibo. It was a Level 1 savage beast! I think it would have sniffed us out if it wasn't for the Grine Of Maleti that we sprayed on us." Janus says, his expression changing vividly.

"As soon as we attacked, It fled. We had to chase it into our carefully laid trap before we could kill it. The work was hard but the reward was great. 200 copper coins!" he exclaims.

"So how's the wife?" Janus says as they walk towards the town hall.

"Oh. She is doing good. She's pregnant right now. 6 months." Burche says.

"Wow! Congratulations! First Tunde, now this. Seems like you have your hands full." Janus teases.

"So have you picked any names?" Janus enquires.

"We have some ideas but we aren't set on them yet," Burche says.

"Oh. So how is little Tunde doing? I heard he is quite the trouble maker." Janus says.

"Oh." Burche let out a deep sigh.

"Tunde's always getting into places that he shouldn't be. One time, I found him on a tree trying to knock over a beehive, and he is only 2!" Burche says with exasperation in his tone. They continue to speak and soon they reach a short building with a straw roof. The words 'StrawMan's Pub' is writing in big letters in front of it.

"Alright, Burche. I would invite you to my pub but I know they need you back at home. It was good to see you." Janus says.

"You too. goodbye." Burche replies as he heads home.

*3 Years Later*

"Mom, can I go play with some friends?" a 5-year-old boy asks his mother as they walk towards their home.

"Well just be sure to be back before 8 Tunde." The woman says.

"Ok." And the boy dashes of through the village.

"Oh hello, Tunde. Going to archery range?" A burly man with a beard says.

"No uncle Janus. Can't talk right now." Tunde replies as he dashes past Janus. Soon, he arrives at a mansion. A huge wall with a gate surrounds it. He climbs onto a tree nearby and jumps over the wall. He keeps running and soon finds a balcony. He stops and front of it and screams,

"Hey, Herrick. Come down to the river." A chubby boy soon comes out of the balcony. He has brown hair.

"Tunde I'll be coming down soon." He says.

Tunde exits the premises and heads towards a big building. It has a frog in front of it. It also says 'Melting Pot Fantasy' on it. When he enters the building, he rushes towards the employee area and jumps over the countertop.

"Minerva, Landers, Rachil! Head towards the river." He exclaims. A girl with light blue hair, a boy with green hair and a girl with black hair turn towards the sound of his voice.

Around 3 minutes later, a group of five kids can be seen rushing towards the forest. As the adults look on, they begin to make comments like,

"Hey, that's Tunde and all the other kids. I wonder what kind of mischief they're up to now." Soon the kids enter the forest, dodging and weaving through all the vines and shrubbery. A river comes into view and the kids all run along the river until they see a treehouse. They climb the ladder and enter.

"Ok, Tunde. We're all here. What are we going to do today?" The girl with the light blue hair says. Tunde thinks for a bit before replying with,

"I was thinking of playing some pranks on some people for a bit before ending the day off with some hide and seek."

"Oh no. remember the last time that we tried to prank someone? My royal father almost took away my allowance for a whole month! I had to grovel on my knees and beg before he finally reduced it to a week. Remember that Landers, you almost got beaten up too. And all because we put some tadpoles into their dishes."The chubby boy named Herrick says with a little bit of fear in his tone,

Landers' face turns green as he remembers that faithful day.

"Hey, my dad owns the restaurant. If I knew that we were pranking my dads' place I wouldn't have joined in." Landers exclaims.

"Landers, you've always been a scaredy-cat. Ok, Tunde what's the plan?" The girl with the blue hair says.

"This time, I think we should prank uncle Janus. Maybe we can put some laxatives into his late afternoon beer. I took some laxatives from my dads' medical kit before he went out to work."

"Hey, what if we replace the salt with sugar at the Melting Pot Fantasy?" The girl with the black hair says.

"Rachil, we already got that place last week. They will be ready for us. Plus you, me and Landers work there." Minerva cautioned. They continue to discuss what they will do until they all reach a consensus.

"Alright, Rachil and Herrick, you guys will distract uncle Janus. Minerva and I will plant the laxatives and Landers will keep a lookout for us." Tunde explains.

"Guys, I have a bad feeling about this," Landers whispers.

"Landers, this is why you are just the lookout. How are you going to run your fathers' restaurant if you are too scared to do this?" Minerva scoffs.

Soon, they divide up the work and head of to carry out their mission.

*30 Minutes Later*

Sonic stared deeply into Amy's eyes, wrapping his gloved hands around her thin neck. Amy moaned, the cold touch of Sonic's hands sent shivers down her spine.

"S-S-Sonic-chan" she whimpered. "I can't, you know I'm with Justin Soro"

Sonic scoffed, "That coomer? You and I both know you could do better", a small bump began to form in the front of his pelvis.

5 years later

Amy and Sonic have a child and they name it Angelyn.

*******************

"What... what was that?" Janus wakes up with a start. He looks around and seems relieved to find that he is just inside of the employee area of his pub.

"It seems like I saw some low level beasts. But only level 5 beasts can talk. And just who is Justin Soro?" Janus ponders as he gets up and heads for his early morning beer. He stretches for a bit before he grabs his pre-prepared beer.

"The mysteries of the heavens are too much for a small mind like me to understand. All I can do is run my pub and drink my beer." Janus sighs as he swirls his beer and downs it in one sitting. He proceeds to walk out of the employee area.

"He drank it! He actually drank it!" Landers whispers as he and jumps of the wooden barrel that he was using to peek through the window.

"Good. Now all we have to do is wait." Tunde laughed mischievously. As Janus went around greeting his employees and helping the customers, the five kids secretly kept tabs on him. Soon, Janus' face turns slightly pale. He looks around searching for bathroom while the kids begin to snicker.

"Herrick, Rachil. Did do the thing that I asked you to do?" Tunde asks quietly.

"Yes. All bathroom doors are locked except the one over at the west corner." Rachil says while Herrick nods. Janus searches for the nearest bathroom, only to find out that it is locked. Now he begins to panic, frantically trying bathroom doors for one that is open. He finally makes his way over to the nearest bathroom and bolts in. He sits down and begins to relieve himself. But as he looks up, he sees a sign saying 'Drinking Is Bad For You'. He looks stupefied. his face turns purple, then green, then red as he goes through the list of suspects that would do this. And only one comes to mind.

"TUUUNNDEEEEE!" Janus bellows. The five kids burst into laughter tears falling from their eyes.

"I think it's time we made our escape. While Uncle Janus is still in the bathroom." And they run back into the forest to play some hide and seek, leaving a fuming Janus searching through the village for them.