Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.
~ Shakespeare
"Now what?" Jiya asked as she stretched cracked her knuckles within the gloves.
"Fool's inventory", Alex muttered with a grin.
"Inventory?" She looked at him disbelief as if she had a loss of nerve, "Like in those online games?"
"You will see", he flashed her an obvious smirk and paced forward.
"What the?" she twisted her face into a frown and ran ahead to catch up with him.
The sun was already down behind the medieval high-rise buildings, giving the sky a cerise hue. The shadows loomed longer than usual, giving the illusion of being followed.
Worth the name, Jiya thought.
People were no longer on the streets. Most of them were shooting curious gazes at the pair as they passed by their roofs.
"How long?" Jiya muttered with discomfort, "I am so a hell of a tired!"
"Give me a break", Alex let out a helpless sigh, "I need to figure this out."
"Don't tell me…" Jiya panted as she tried to catch up with him, "We are lost."
"Oh, no. We are not", he tried to sound as assured as possible.
When she caught up with him, she saw him fidgeting with a piece of paper, with looked like a handmade map. She realized that he was having a hard time deciphering how to hold the paper map. They came across an alley and both of them stopped to catch their breaths. Alex bent forward and placed his hands on his knees, panting rapidly. Jiya leaned against a nearby wall and closed her eyes with a sigh. When she opened her eyes with a deep breath, something far off in the distance caught her attention.
FOOL'S INVENTORY
The words were brightly painted on a wooden house. It appeared medieval by appearance. And for a moment, she thought that they were traveling through alternate across various timelines.
"Jackpot!" she uttered with a low voice, filled with a joy akin to a nomad who had found an oasis of water in the middle of a desert.
"Huh?" Alex raised his head to look at her and then followed her line of sight. His eyes sparkled with pure joy and relief.
"Let's go", she muttered slowly and stood up straight.
Alex nodded and they walked ahead in the distance. Though it seemed quite closer, to their tired bodies it seemed like miles and miles away.
"It was mentioned in the letter that I am a student of first-year", Jiya spoke with a steady voice, "Which year are you?"
"Fourth", Alex responded.
"Fourth?" she touched her chin thoughtfully, "You have in there since you were fourteen?"
Alex nodded, "Yes."
"How so?" she asked with a confused pout.
Realizing her folly, he said, "A boy awakens at the age of fourteen while a girl at the age of sixteen."
"But…", she frowned, "I just turned fifteen two months prior."
"Special case", Alex nodded, "Or else why would you be reckoned as 'The Rare'?"
Jiya nodded her head thoughtfully. Now, they were right in front of the Fool's Inventory.
"Why are we here?" Jiya asked cautiously, "It is said, Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
"To do all things people consider foolish and never believe that those might come true", Alex said with a smile.
"Well?" she nodded with a strained smile.
"Let's go", Alex dragged her in.
The place looked so out of place that Jiya would describe it as 'a mental asylum inside a circus camp'. She pressed her lips into a thin line. The place was scattered with various kinds of liquids, ranging from red, black, silver, green and violet, boiling and bubbling around in conical and spherical flasks of various sizes. The walls had a dull blue color. The place gave her the heebie-jeebies. She turned her head and noticed that Alex was smiling.
So, she nudged him, "What are you smiling at?"
"At how foolish you look", He said without hesitation.
"Yeah", she scoffed, "What's more to expect when you are at the Fool's Inventory."
"Indeed", he gave a nod and his smile grew bigger.
Jiya rolled her eyes in frustration. The room ended and a door appeared in front of them. Both of them crossed the door. Just how big this place was. Jiya could not help but wonder. The room looked straight out of a wax museum. But the only difference here was that, instead of famous personalities, the place was decorated with statues of mystical creatures, ranging from pixies to fairies, from goblins to dragons, from vampires to witches, from demons to devils and whatnot.
Jiya swirled around to look and bumped into Alex. He was still smiling, making her feel annoyed. She rolled her eyes in frustration.
"What's wrong with you?" she nudged him.
"What's wrong with me?" he thoughtfully touched his chin.
"What are you?" she grabbed his hand and made him face her, "Drunk? Hypnotized?"
"Hypnotized, My Lady", a voice came from somewhere.
Both Alex and Jiya turned towards the voice. They were greeted by the sight of an old man; whose silver hair grew all the way down to the floor. His face was littered with wrinkles. His bushy beard flowed up to his knees. He was of good height but was bent with age and was wearing a white robe. He had a crooked stick in his right hand, probably to have a proper balance while he walked. With his shaky left hand, he snapped his fingers. Nothing happened.
Jiya looked at Alex who was confused beyond words. He frowned and looked around, "What's going on?"
"You are at my abode; The Fool's Inventory", the old man said in a throaty voice, his eyes smiling. Probably, he was smiling under his bushy beard that concealed half of his face.
"I… I have already figured it out", Alex frowned hard, confusion written on his face.
"I suppose", the old man turned to Jiya, "You are The Rare."
Jiya nodded with a smile before glancing at Alex.