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h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / t r a s h w i t h g l a s s e s
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"What kind of story do you want to hear?", asked a smiling man wearing a black cloak of crow feathers, and a headgear of eagle feathers. A red stone with two eyes, one atop of the other, on one of his bracelet was highlighted by the darker colors he wore.
"We are looking for stories about places", Ike replied.
"Oh, then you want to walk all the way to the elbow of the Bear Mountain", the man nodded and pointed us away, already greeting someone else.
Then, we were inside the biggest repository of knowledge in the world.
The long humerus had been carved into a single, huge shelf with hundreds of three walled rooms, each containing a person wearing a black cloak of crow feathers, and a headgear of eagle feathers. On the other side of the room, the leathery tilted roof was absolutely covered by enormous and intricate paintings, and collages which also contained all sorts of information.
"We will find something here about your past for sure!", Ike said, excitedly guiding us through the storyteller wing of the Bear Mountain.
"Yeah, yeah, here is where we will find the next adventure that will force him to unlock his true powers", Spruce smiled smugly. Approaching me, however, he whispered, raising an eyebrow: "Hey, bro, is this Ike guy really… strong? I mean, I don't really care about it, but he may end up dead in our next adventure to unseal your powers, and I just don't want to be expelled from this school."
Smiling, I said: "He is. Quite strong", I still remembered quite vividly how he moved when we fought against that giant wolf after all, and that seemed to put an end to the little person's doubts.
It's been a just few days since the three of us started to live together, but things had already become so much livelier, suddenly my life in the Bear Mountain didn't seem like a constant academic and social struggle all the time. There was fun too!
And after some thirty minutes of walk, we reached a section between the humerus and the ulna bones of the Bear Mountain, in which many strips of cartilage formed an intricate web of hammocks and cushions in various levels, and many groups of peoples were there, some telling stories, some silently listening, and once I thought about it, "Story Telling" was one of the courses I could have taken to study.
We approached one of the older men with the crow cloak and the eagle headgear, a storyteller, who held a tangled mess of ropes and knots, which contained the same symbol I saw in the bracelet of the man who guided us at the entrance.
"Excuse us, elder, could you help us to find a story in particular?", Ike asked.
"Well, of course", he replied, looking at Ike with a kind smile on his face. Still, his hands moved attentively and delicately touched the tangled rope. "What story do you want to listen to?"
"Well… It's something about a silver fortress with transparent crystals as windows on a floating rock", smiling awkwardly, Ike explained. "I know it sounds bizarre, but…"
"No, it doesn't. I can think about at least a couple of stories like this…", the man's smile grew wider, as he seemed pleased to tell us a story. Excited and surprised with the ease we found an answer, we all crouched around the man in the cartilage-cushioned room and listened: "A long time ago, during a bloody war between two great clans, a pursuit had taken place. To escape certain death and slavery, the losing clan climbed on top of a certain rock, and prayed for the Gods' salvation… And saved they were, for the ground beneath them took flight! It flew for a day and a night, and when this flying rock finally landed down, the fleeing clan was safe, already too far away from the war to be harmed", the storyteller took a deep breath, and seemed to get out of a trance state I haven't even noticed he entered in to begin with. Then, he explained: "It may not be silvery, or mention crystals, but a flying rock is quite close to the story elements you're looking for, I believe."
"Indeed, they are, thank you, elder", Ike smiled back. "By any chance, would you know where this flying rock is located?"
"Oh, if you're planning on visiting it, you may want to ask the teleportation specialists, I believe we have a portal near it. The place is called 'Rock With Wings', just ask them about it. But, be warned: no one knows how to truly access it."
"I see. Thank you, elder!"
We waved goodbye, got up, and were about to leave straight to said teleportation specialists (I was more than curious to finally discover how all of that portal and teleportation thing worked!), when Ike suddenly stopped.
"Is there something wrong, Ike?", I asked, curious.
"Uhm… No…", he replied, swallowing hard. His next steps, as we bypassed another group of people were uncertain, however, and he kept his eyes fixed on the ground.
I knew exactly what that posture meant, even before one of the people of the next group stopped in his tracks, and teased Ike: "Heeeey, if it isn't Ike! I see you finally found something useful to do, hu?", that person, a man with jewels in his teeth, spared us a glimpse before looking back at Ike. "You're a living backpack now? Carrying their stuff around? If you were so desperate to serve any purpose other than being a burden for everyone, you could serve me. Look, I had to find someone else to carry my stuff around because of you", the man nodded toward someone else I knew, Ninebark, the ugly girl who called me a slave before.
Then, she was carrying many bags, sacks, and items all over her body for the man with jewels in his teeth and his partners, drenched in sweat. Differently from Ike, who stared at the woman with a gaping mouth and wide eyes, with sympathy, I didn't really care about Ninebark, however. And Ike? I didn't know how he was dealing with that and didn't want to mess things up by being too quick in my judgment. Plus, the aggression towards him was only verbal up to that point, nothing that justified rearranging the face of those assholes.
Not everyone thought that staying quiet was the best option at the moment, however: "HEY, YOU!", Spruce shouted, putting his hands in his pockets, and approaching the man with jewels in his teeth with the most arrogant face I've ever seen. "Don't you have any etiquette, hu?!", he continued to scream, gathering much attention from the whispering rooms in the bone. "Who do you think you are to treat our Ike that, HU?!"
"What? Heeeey, calm down, little man, we both own some losers here, there's no reason for us to fight", The man with jewels in his teeth looked half surprised, half amused.
"Spruce, it's fine! Hook is not really bothering me", the awkward swordsman, tried to reason with the little person, already starting to shake and sweat, probably from all the attention and the confrontation. It was to no avail, however.
"IF YOU'RE REALLY A MAN, THEN FIGHT US! TOMORROW, AFTER OUR LESSONS, AT THE LACROSSE COURT! THE WINNER GETS TO KEEP IKE! WE WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU, FUCKING PATHETIC LOSERS!", Spruce bought us a fight no one asked for, and since there were so many people paying attention to us then, I doubt those guys would or could reject the provocation…
"…You will regret this, you teeny tiny idiot", the man with jewels in his teeth, Hook, whispered back to Spruce, and walked away. Not before slapping away one of the bags from Ninebark's hand, and ordering her: "Grab it. Now. And if you let anything fall to the ground again, you're dead."
The awkward swordsman seemed to hesitate for a minute, looking from Ninebark to Spruce, then to the man with jewels in his teeth but finally said: "Wha- What did you do!? If I had just kept my head down, he would just let us go!"
"You too?", the little person said, after a long, deep sigh. "Yeah, yeah, sorry to tell you this, but that guy would never just let you go", taking the lead and walking ahead of us, Spruce concluded: "Now, you better know how to play lacrosse!"