"From what you're describing, it sounds like you were attacked by a hand golem."
"A hand golem…?" Fishy stared into his wooden bowl of plain rice as the village elder sat across from him. The same person that could hardly walk and looked as if he'd lived for a thousand years claimed themselves to be the elder of the village. Before listening to Fishy's story, he dragged him inside and forced their finest food in his face. Of course, it was only rice.
"We don't have much here. We live in a dangerous land, as I'm sure you've figured out." The elder said.
"Haha yeah…" Fishy could only laugh to help himself feel better. Trying to look for any opportunity to escape.
"Say, what brings you here anyway? What kingdom do you come from?"
"Kingdom?" For what seemed like a simple question, Fishy was unable to answer. "Errr, the united one?" He said as it was the only 'kingdom' he could think of.
"A United Kingdom, haha?!" The elder laughed back, "No place in this land would ever be united. Why are you in this area? Someone as strong as you could guard the princess."
"Princess?" Despite the location he mentioned, Fishy was not a fan of royalty. He could put up with it for as long as he needed but going as far as to spend time with them was torture to him. Someone who was slaving away at university only to be stuck with a minimum wage job wasn't exactly happy with people that have it all.
"Why don't you smile!" The elder said hitting him on the shin with his stick. "You're a powerful man, Fishy."
To smile in a situation like this was impossible for him. He had no idea where he was, what was happening back home, or if he could get back. He even thought about not going back. If the power the elder claimed he had was power, it might be worth staying.
"Can I stay here tonight? I don't have anywhere to stay."
"Of course! Anything for you!"
The villagers were kind as Fishy roamed the 10 building village. There were too many people for the lack of houses, and with most of them being kids, it was clear that there were issues in this world that he could relate back to his own. By the time the sun fell, he went back to the nicest house in the village, the elder's house, and he passed out on a straw bed that was prepared for him. He stared into the night sky through a missing plank in the ceiling, looking at the moon in the sky, studying it and the rock that orbited around it.
"Two moons... I guess if I'm going to live here I'll do it right." he thought to himself counting the stars to help him fall asleep.
# # #
"Good morning, Fishy. I've got someone here who wants to meet you." The elder was in high spirits as usual for someone his age. He ran around the village with the others protecting it from whatever crazy monster came after them next.
"Who is it?" Fishy said already half asleep.
Next to the elder stood a girl around the same age as Fishy. She had pink hair that shined in the light and was as clean as if it had never touched the ground. Despite how clean it looked it seemed as if it was badly cut, regardless, it would still attract anyone's eye. Her cute young face was enough to distract Fishy from her sapphire eyes that reminded him of the seas he wished to visit with his mother.
"Nice to meet you." She spoke clearly as if every word was sung from her heart. "I'm Clara. I hear you are Fishy?"
"That's my granddaughter for ya." The elder interrupted before Fishy could correct her about the name. "I used to have pretty hair like that. It was even the same colour."
"R-right?" Fishy managed to get some words in. "Nice to meet you, I'm Fintan but you can call me Fishy if you want. Fishy is fine."
Through the awkwardness that he was experiencing having spoken to a girl for the first time since he was 7, he felt as if he didn't understand the stares that he was getting back.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Fintan?" The elder said. "Your name is Fintan?"
"Yes? But everyone calls me Fishy…"
Fishy couldn't understand why they were so interested in his name, but once it was explained to him, he understood why anyone would be surprised.
"There was a hero mage called Fintan, he was a man who could kill the strongest demons, conquer the worlds around him and even bring together the fiercest nations. The name Fintan will cause many to get scared and fight. It's not a name you want to call yourself so easily."
"Right! Best to never mention the name Fintan again." Fishy thought to himself rather smugly.
"NO!" The elder screamed. "Perhaps this makes sense? The power you have? Perhaps you are a descendant of Fintan."
"Hehe…" Fishy laughed. "I'm not… I don't know my dad but my mum is nothing more than a school teacher."
"I see…" The elder said rather disappointingly, falling onto his stick to support him. "Nevermind! Clara, go show him around more. Introduce him to the kids!"
"Kids?"
Fishy's dream that he had when he arrived. A dream which was sealed away in his heart. To meet and marry a pretty girl. He thought that maybe this was her. But now hearing that Clara has kids, his heart was shattered and his dreams crushed.
The two of them walked around the empty town with rain clouds quickly approaching. The once sunny sky quickly turned grey but that didn't stop Clara from giving Fishy a great tour of a village he had already seen last night.
"Well," She said as if she was about to show her true colours. "I'm going to be honest, I don't want to show you around."
"Excuse me?" Fishy replied trying not to say anything rude back.
"You just appear out of nowhere and my grandad is treating you like you are royalty, I don't buy it."
"Oh no," Fishy said ready to defend himself. "I'm not royalty. I'm no more royalty than you are, princess of the slums."
Fishy's harsh tongue was one of the many reasons he was single. People didn't understand his sarcasm and always felt as if he was being harsh either on himself or others. That and you have to talk to girls to get them to like you.
"Ha!" Clara laughed. "Good one. You've been here one night and already can tell that my grandad spoils me."
"Was sarcasm but ok," Fishy said with a smirk on his face as he pushed past to lead the way, already having a basic idea of where to go from last night.
"What a cheeky guy," Clara said following behind.
"TIM, TOM, AND TAM!" Clara screamed into what seemed like an abandoned house only for the dirt to slowly move and three identical triplets to appear. Three 5-year-olds with the only way of telling them apart from the different eye colours.
"How do all three of them have a different eye colour?" Fishy tried not to overthink the world he was living in. "And why is one of them yellow?"
"I'M TIM!" The boy with green eyes screamed.
"I'M TOM!" The boy with blue eyes screamed.
"I'M TAM" The boy with yellow eyes screamed.
Clara looked at each of them with a disgruntled expression. Whereas, Fishy looked with an expression that said his understanding of biology had failed him.
"Don't worry about it," Clara said. "They are half cat which is why they are weird."
Fishy looked at them closer and found all three of them with small black tails and ears. It was strange how he missed the tails but their ears blended into their scruffy black hair.
Fishy expected cat-girls in his new life but wasn't expecting cat-triplets all of which were 5-years-old and male. Something he personally doesn't go for.
"These guys help out around here," Clara said.
"That's right. Master Clara!" They all said in sync.
"When we are old enough Clara will marry me!" Tim said.
"No! She will marry me!" Tom said pushing Tim.
"She'll marry me!" Tam said pushing Tom.
"I don't plan to marry any of them, I'm 15 years older than them," Clara said to Fishy as she dragged him along to the next stop which was next door.
"This is the old man's house," Tim said sitting on Fishy's shoulders.
"He's creepy," Tom said.
"He's a murderer." Tam didn't hold back.
"He's not a murderer." Clara had to say since the buildings were full of holes so there was no such thing as privacy in this village.
The door to his house was left slightly open, not that it could be closed properly. Clara gently opened it and took one step into the dark before stopping at a large lump on the floor. She looked down to her feet to see the body of the man that once lived there. Laying on the floor with flies in his mouth and a scarred body that was savagely ripped apart.