Good Food - Good Times was the main restaurant in Mertin. It was always open no matter how busy it was. Doren went through the doors and sat at a table, setting his sack on the ground.
A waitress walked over to him and put a menu on the top. "What can I get ya to drink, babe?" she asked with a smile. A set of ears and a tail was on this woman as well.
"Uhhh." he stuttered being distracted by the strange woman, "can-can I get a dark ale?" he glanced down at the menu and said, "Also a burger please."
She picked up the menu and smiled, "You got it, babe." she walked around, her tail swaying with her hips.
Within minutes, she came back with his beer and explained that it would be a little longer. Doren sat forward and drank from the glass. Customers chattered in the background, but he drowned them all out.
The dream kept replaying in his head. But the face of the voice still never appeared no matter how hard he tried to focus. The voice was there perfectly, playing over and over again.
"I wish he would've helped me out more." he whispered and finished his drink. He looked up as the waitress set the burger down.
"Enjoy!" she said excitedly. She picked up to glass and asked, "Would you like another one, babe?"
"Please. Say.. why do you call me babe?" he asked, putting one of the fries in his mouth.
"Don't you know?" she laughed and leaned down to him. "This isn't just a restaurant. It's also a brothel!"
Doren's jaw dropped, "A brothel?" he looked around at all the girls there. They wore small skirts with fishnets under. Their chests were just covered by pieces of cloth. Doren looked away with a red face.
"That's right." she stuck her tongue out. When she turned away, Doren refocused on his meal.
The burger was one of the best he had ever had. When he got his beer back, it wasn't the waitress before. He looked up and finally got a better look.
That woman from the street who put him in the cell was standing over him. She had long dark hair and piercing yellow eyes. The only waitress that had regular clothes on, she leaned towards him.
"You will pay for that or you will end up in that cell again. Test me." she whispered and began walking back into the kitchen.
He stopped eating and stared into the last bit of his food. 'She... She works here?' he thought.
When he finished his meal he stood up and went to the pay counter. He paid for his meal and walked out of the restaurant. Today had been one hell of an ordeal.
If he was going to run into this much trouble, then why should he continue to travel? What was the point in it all? To show up his old man? Perhaps it was time to figure out a plan. What to do and where to go.
He continued down the dirt street. With the suns begining to fall, he felt the strain from the other night when he left. He walked the entire night, and hadn't rested besides when he was knocked out in the cell. Time to turn in and rest. And to make his plans.
He ended up at an inn on the other side of Mertin. Walking in, the earthy smell of coffee gave him goosebumps. He walked to the counter and asked how much a room was for the night. As well as a cup of coffee.
After paying, he took the dark cup of joe and went up to his room on the third floor. Sitting on the bed, he threw his sack at the foot. From the sack, he took a pad of paper and a piece of charcoal.
In all honesty, he had no idea where any city was. "Maybe I can find a map somewhere in town." he said to himself as he wrote it down on the paper. "I'm also going to need provisions. Guess I gotta find out how long it's going to take to get to the next village." tapping the charcoal on his chin, he made a realization, "How the hell am I going to make money?!"
He laid back and kicked his sack off the bed. "What do I even want to do with my life?"
That was a thought he's had for near his entire life. The only thing he knew was that he was important. He had remembered reading a story about a warrior with the Powerhart.
About 500 years ago, he was the King of Etern's personal knight. Serving during countless conquests all over the world, he was the reason Etern had influence on all the other continents of the world. After the king had died and his successor took over, the knight stepped down and later started his own warrior group. Being the knight who served the king, he was able to gain a group of reputable fighters. Together they made the Elemental Warriors.
Fighters born with each element who fought under the man who could beat the world. However, instead of going after the big prize, he and his warriors helped out all around the world, wherever they were needed.
That. That is what he wanted to do. But the fighting that his father taught him was nothing compared to what the warrior was capable of. Not to mention, he knows only one element. Air. And he didn't even know much about that either. He had an incredibly long way to being a strong warrior.
He sat up and hit his fist against his palm. "That's what I will do. I'll be the strongest man in the world! And I'll have a crew of the strongest by my side!"