During the walk out of the forest, Lucian told me so many things about this world, and his home town and his family. It all sounded so magical and new. I was eager to make a life here.
Some of the more important things he told me were that the kingdom I was in, was called Girannon. Apparently, it was a kingdom renowned for its superiority in battle (which included physical and magical battle). Most of this worlds most praised fighters and mages/magicians/magic-users came from this world. He also told me that Girannon was one of the Great Four Kingdoms – The four most powerful and influential kingdoms in the world.
There were a few smaller surrounding nations, but in terms of politics, only the Great Four mattered. The Great Four Kingdoms are Girannon, Astonia, Erithien and Malesh. Each kingdom had its own trademark and royal family. Astonia was a kingdom full of scholars and learners. It is a highly intellectual society and is known for its huge libraries. Often the royal children of the smaller kingdoms were educated in Astonia. Erithien, on the other hand, was a trading kingdom, since it was located on the coast, and in the middle of all the other countries, it became a huge trading and merchant city. According to Lucian, all things were traded for, in Erithien. Lastly, there was Malesh, which was a kingdom known to be a very decadent and pleasure-seeking nation. This kingdom had lots of good farmland and thus produced the best crops and animals. As the kingdom was rich in resources very few people in that kingdom starved. It was a kingdom home to exquisite cuisine and decadent pleasures.
The way Lucian described everything only made me want to go out and explore this ridiculously awesome world more.
We finally arrived at Willow's town. It was a beautiful medieval-looking town, with cobblestone streets, and wooden houses with sharp-sloped roofs. A small river ran through the middle of the town and on each bank of the river pink and yellow flowers grew. The air was also so fresh and clean, something I was not used to living in New York.
But I suddenly felt very out of place in the small town when I realised that my clothes made me stand out. All the other women were wearing long skirts and corsets, while I stood in my black jeans and a t-shirt and sneakers. Actually, I wondered why Lucian hadn't asked me about my strange clothes, maybe he just hadn't noticed.
We walked along the side of the town, and I took in as much of the small town as I could. There were food stalls located on what looked like the main street. There were people wearing medieval clothes bustling through the town, all busy going about their business. Lucian and I stopped in front of what looked like a barn or a shed. He rolled the cart into the structure and used a large wooden block to balance it horizontally.
"There. I'll sell this tomorrow. Come with me." He commanded.
"Where are we going?" I asked confused as he began to briskly walk around the barn/shed and onto another cobblestoned street.
"We're going to get you some new clothes." So, then he had noticed that what I was wearing was strange. Maybe he didn't say anything because he didn't want to sound rude.
We came to a stop outside a shop called 'Mr BuClantiana's House of fashion' I scoffed at the very pretentious name. Nonetheless, we still entered. As soon as I walked in, my nose was filled with the scent of rosewater. The room was carpeted with a very intricately patterned rug, the furniture seemed expensive and well taken care of, the curtains were made of what looked like silk and I saw tons of amazing medieval dresses on display. I looked around and was thankful that Lucian and I were the only ones in the shop.
From the other end of the shop a small stout man, with a potbelly, who was impeccably dressed shuffled his way towards us. His chin was lifted high up and his moustache was curled at the end (He reminded me of Agatha Christie's detective, Mr Poirot) and he had a very snobby expression on his face as he gave Lucian a disapproving look.
"And what exactly brings you here, to the grand house of fashion, Mr Briar?" Lucian scowled back at him, obviously not liking the stout man's sarcastic tone.
"My friend here needs some clothes." Lucian folded his arms and leaned back against the wall. Still upset.
The man then waddled towards me and put on his gold-rimmed glasses. He seemed to be examining my clothes. I got a bit freaked out when the old man's hands started shaking, and he started stuttering, "hh—h-hh-hh-how! We—w-w-www-where is this material from?" He asked me urgently.
"Sorry Mr, but I don't remember where I got these clothes. I have amnesia, so I can't really remember anything before this morning." I said inching backwards, trying to avoid his shaking hands and grimacing internally at my lie.
"No!" He cried out, seeming to be in pain. The small man's face was turning red, and his eyes were widening, he looked like he was just about to die right in front of me.
"These clothes, I must have them! Name your price, how much do you want for these materials?" He said pointing at my clothes. I was quite shocked at his reaction. I didn't really know what to say. I didn't even know if I wanted to sell them.
"I'll give you three gold coins for these clothes." He pleaded with me. My mouth fell open with shock. Even Lucian lost composure for a second, his eyes bright and alive with shock. Three gold coins was a ridiculous amount of money.
Lucian had told me earlier that one Silver coin was worth one-hundred Bronze coins. A Gold coin was worth 100 Silver coins. And if you pegged a Bronze coin as the same worth as a US Dollar, the old man had just offered me $10 000 for my clothes. Even though this world was very beautiful (at least the part of I that I had seen was) it was quite impoverished. Especially the smaller Kingdoms had a great amount of poverty. So, three gold coins really was an amazing sum of money. At that instant, any sentimentality that I held for my clothes flew out the window.
"I'll take it!" I said enthusiastically. The old stout man shouted 'hoorah!' but then immediately straightened up after realising that he hadn't been true to his fashionista brand.
"Please follow Daisy to the dressing room, she will help you get changed." I followed the small red-headed girl into the dressing room. I got changed out of my clothes and put on some ordinary medieval-styled clothing of the same style that I saw the other women wearing. I immediately felt the difference between my clothes and these. Where my old clothes had been comfortable and soft, these clothes were coarse and unyielding. Perhaps the old man could tell that the quality of my jeans and T-shirts were a few hundred years ahead of his own workmanship. Or maybe it was the 'friends' print on the front of my t-shirt that interested him so much.
After coming out of the dressing room, the old man who was actually the owner of the shop, Mr BuClantiana himself, handed me the bag of money and gave me a few complimentary clothing items: a few more dresses, some undergarments and a pair of shoes. Lucian and I left the shop with smiles on our faces.
Lucian and I walked back through the street we came and returned to that same Barn. The house next to the barn was his.
I opened the wooden door of the house to find a warm and cosy living area, lit by candlelight. Soon a plump merry looking woman popped out from a passage-way and ran to give Lucian a big hug, he sweetly hugged her back. I noticed that they had the same blue eyes.
"And who is this young woman, my son?" She asked him with warm eyes after they had finished embracing.
Lucian told her the story of how we met, and that I had healed him and that in return I had asked for a place to stay. He also told her that I had amnesia – which seemed to be a familiar concept in this world. The woman got up and thanked me profusely for saving her son. She also gave me a huge bear hug and laughed as she squeezed me tightly. She even told me that we were family now and that I was like a daughter to her. I admit that what she said made my eyes water because I was starting to miss my mom and my family back in New York, and to get a new family kind of meant a lot to me.
"So, you remember nothing else except your name?" She asked after the story was done, "Well, your name and healing magic it seems." She corrected herself.
"Well actually, I didn't remember how to use healing magic, I was actually just trying to see if I could do it. I don't really know how to use my other magic either." I told her.
"Oh, you poor child! Just imagine waking up in the woods and only remembering your name and nothing else. Not even how to use your magic. Poor child..." She shook her head in pity for me and gave me another warm hug. I loved her hugs.
"Well don't you worry little miss, I'm sure it will all come back to you. In the meantime, Lucian will look after you. He's a strong boy so he won't let any harm come to you. Yes, a pretty girl like you must be careful. Especially with that beautiful dark hair of yours, you stand out quite a bit."
"My hair?" I asked confused. My hair was normal, it was just dark brown/black hair.
"Well my dear, haven't you noticed... Dark hair is very rare here." She said matter-of-factly. I thought back to when I entered the town a few hours ago when I thought about it, I could only remember people with light coloured hair, mainly blonde and ginger. Actually, I couldn't remember a single person with dark brown hair.
This new world really was very strange. I wasn't sure, but from what I could remember dark brown hair was the most common hair colour among all race groups on earth. After what Lucian's mom said, I made a note to look at people's hair colours. I wondered if there were any extraordinary hair colours like pink or green...
For a while, Lucian's mom (Elsbeth) and I sat chatting about this word and myself. She was a lovely warm-hearted person. Although she was a bit old, she was still beautiful. She tied up her blond hair in an immaculate bun, and her blue eyes were just as striking as Lucian's. She told me that she owned the town's apothecary and that if I was looking for a job I could come and work for her. I was elated to find work so soon. I wasn't at all bothered about being tied down to this town, because I needed to find my footing in this world before I could go out and do the job the God's seemed to want me to do. And if I worked in an apothecary, I could learn more about healing and I could meet more people.
That night when I went up to sleep in the room, they prepared for me, I took out my phone to check if there were any notifications. The screen read: 'Healing magic activated' and 'New Skill – Friendship'.
I chuckled as I read the skill, I guess making friends counts as a skill.
That night I fell asleep feeling happy and content.
<-------------<<<<
As Riley was sleeping in her room, Lucian and Elsbeth kept on talking downstairs.
"What extraordinary magical power she has." Commented Elsbeth to her son, still not quite believing that she was able to heal a broken bone in a matter of moments.
"I didn't quite believe it at first, even though it was my bone that she had healed," Lucian said with a grin on his face, thinking about the mysterious dark-haired girl he had met in the woods. She had such an unusual name, 'Riley'. He hadn't ever heard a name like that. Not from any of the kingdoms. He had thought that perhaps she was a nomad, a person who didn't belong to any of the kingdoms and just travelled around the world before she lost her memories. However, it seemed unlikely to Lucian that a nomad would have such powerful magic or have clothes of such high quality. Lucian guessed that she was probably a noble from one of the Great Kingdoms, perhaps she was robbed or kidnapped, and in the process, one of the criminals hit her on the head and caused her to lose all her memories.
When he had mentioned this idea to his mother, she agreed that it was the most likely answer to her story.
"Hopefully she will regain her memories in the weeks to come. Poor child, she probably has family looking for her somewhere," said Elsbeth sadly, knowing the pain of losing a loved-one well. "Tomorrow I'll start teaching her in the apothecary, with all the medicine and people that drop in there every day, I am sure that she will be able to remember something."
"Mother, things like memories come back in their own time. You mustn't try and force it out of her." Said Lucian, trying to dampen his mother's ambitions of a full recovery for Riley.
"I know, I know..." she said dismissing him, still very sure that her methods would work.
The mother and son duo soon went up to bed. The mother dreamt about a happy day - years ago before her husband had to leave when they were still a happy family. While Lucian dreamt of the mysterious dark-haired girl that he met in the forest. A girl who only had a name, a girl who had saved his life and wanted nothing in return. She was someone impossible to him, someone that didn't seem real.
He liked the way she talked; she was so raw and authentic, and yet so naive and gentle. Like a wild young dear.
She was beautiful too.
Even though he had tried not to notice, but her dark hair and dark eyes were so intriguing, they had captured his attention the first time he had looked up at her as she approaches him in the forest. They were so rich and so unique. This girl... Riley.