-Break-
-The next day-
Location: City of Ceathairéad Miongháire
In front of me, the boy named Dumnorix stands with his hand out and light radiating from his eyes, and says, "LET'S BE FRIENDS!"
Instantly, I turn around and try to run away. And as I do, I say, "No good can come from this."
Beside me, I hear, "Why are you running away?"
Looking at him, shocked, I say, "Because I don't want to talk to you."
With an impassive expression, he says, "You know lying is bad?"
"HOW IS THAT A LIE!"
"BECAUSE I CAN SENSE YOU WANT TO!"
"YOU'RE CRAZY!"
"DO NOT PRETEND LIKE YOU DON'T WANT TO TALK TO A WONDER OF THIS WORLD LIKE MYSELF. BECAUSE I AM THE ONE WHO SOARS THROUGH THE UNKNOWN PATH OF EXISTENCE, THE GREATEST IN ALL OF CREATION!
"YOU'RE DELUSIONAL, AND YOU CAN'T EVEN KEEP YOUR INTRODUCTION CONSISTENT!"
"THE GREATEST IN ALL CREATIONS, IS EVER CHANGING SO, OF COURSE, HIS INTRODUCTION MUST CHANGE!"
"IF YOU ARE EVER CHANGING, THAT MEANS YOU ARE NEVER TRULY THE GREATEST!"
"I AM EVERCHANGING BUT I AM ALSO EVERPRESENT, SO I AM TRULY THE GREATEST IN ALL OF CREATION!"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"
"YES, I AM!"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"
"YES, I AM!"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"
"YES, I AM!"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"
"YES, I AM!"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"
"YES, I AM!"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"
"YES, I AM!"
Stopping, I punch him in the face and say, "NO YOU'RE NOT!"
As he flies away, I start to panic. Oh, no, I used some spirit energy in that punch! But worse than that, he is lying on the ground unresponsive.
Stiff with fear, I ask, "Hey, are you ok?"
Jumping up with passion, he says, "That punch was amazing, I felt the weight behind it! I knew it you were chosen by the heavens like I was."
Suddenly on his face, a giant red swelling appears on his face, it looks like a ball has fused into his face. So I say, "AH, what is that!"
"Oh, I am a beastkin of the a skerlegh, it is capable of making a couple of poisons in its tail, which I test on myself every morning. This one makes my skin super sensitive, and makes everything hurt three times as much."
"Doesn't that mean you are currently in a lot of pain?"
With his legs constantly trembling, he says, "Pain is an illusion."
"It looks like you are in pain."
With tears and snot flowing from his body, he says with a whimpering voice, "Not at all!"
"You sure about that?"
"YES!" He says right before he falls to the ground.
Seeing him unconscious in a lot of pain, I pick up his body and say, "I guess I have to pay him back."
-The next day-
"We meet again, my friend!"
Turning around with the beetle brother who stands beside me, I say, "Oh, not again!"
"After I fell asleep yesterday, you took me to a druid, and I thank you for your effort. So now let us become the greatest of friends, and advance our friendship to the next stage."
"Next stage!? I haven't even agreed to stage one!"
Moving closer to me, he puts his hands on my shoulder and says, "Don't worry, I know you want to."
The beetle brothers, getting in between both of us, enter a defensive position.
Proteus says, "If you mess with Abbán, you will have to deal with us, isn't that right, brother?"
"RIGHT!"
Dumnorix, stepping forward, puts his hands on the shoulders of the beetle brothers, then hugs them while saying, "You're both so brave. To think you would try to defend your friend even though you both have no chance of beating me, let's be friends!"
As the beetle brothers look like they are about to fold to Dumnorix's straightforwardness, the words my father says to me flash through my mind, and I pull both of them back and say, "Leave us alone!"
Confused Dumnorix says, "Why?"
"Because you and all your people are scum. You bully us, you attack us, you keep us held down, and then you call us monsters for complaining just a bit. You tell us we deserve our treatment, you tell us we are beasts, you tell us we're greedy, you tell us to suffer for the rest of our lives. Then, when I act like that, you people use it against us, so get out of my face!"
I try to catch my breath after the words I say, but then Dumnorix says, "I see why you feel like this, but you are missing something. I am not like those ones who speak ill of you, I am the one for whom the heavens part for the greatest in all of creation! DUMNORNIX!"
Both of the beetle brothers watch him in amazement, but I say, "You're really starting to piss me off. Why the hell would you ever think a needle in a haystack beastkin like you would ever be the greatest in all creation!"
"SIMPLE, BECAUSE MY MOMMY AND DADDY SAID SO!" He says with great fervour.
Dumbstruck, I say, "Are you stupid!? All parents say that to their kids!"
"So what, it was said to me, so it must be true!" He says with unbreakable confidence."
"You're an idiotic moron, so by logic, it is true."
"Nuh, huh."
"What do you mean, nuh huh!?"
"I don't trust your words or your judgment, so your words are meaningless to me!"
"So you only take the words of people who say good things about you, what kind of stupid logic is that?"
"But you take in the words of all those people who insult you."
I freeze for a moment.
"Unlike you, I am not stupid; I don't take in the words from people who don't know me. I only take in the words of those who do, and my parents have known me since my birth, so if they say I am the greatest in all creation, I am."
Getting close to me, he points his finger at me, and says, "You stand there and talk about how everyone says this or that about you, but why do you care for the opinions of those who know nothing about you? Didn't you say all parents say their kids are the greatest in all creation, so why have you chosen to take in all the bad words and not the good words?"
Reaching his hand towards the sky, Dumnorix says, "If you choose to listen and walk the path of the messiah, you too can become the greatest in all creation and shine like the heavens!"
Suddenly, light shines down on him from the sky, and unlike before, it lands on him directly this time.
After this, a bright smile appears on his face. Then, like the giddy child he is, Dumnorix runs around and jumps, saying, "I finally did it. I finally called the heavens towards me!"
As he says this, I start to laugh at how ridiculous his entire existence really is. Walking up to him, I stick out my hands and say, "Ok, let's be friends."
He runs and grabs me with his tail, and then says, "I can see it right now, the heavens are showing me the way. Just watch, we will have a series of adventures that will go down in history as a legend among all of the Tuatha Dé Dannan, now let's go!"
Dumnorix runs off into the distance, dragging me along, and this causes the beetle brothers to chase after us while screaming, "Wait up!"
-Break-
-A few hours later-
Location: Northeastern part of Nialathrú
Running through the forest as Wonderbeasts chase after us, I look to Dumnorix and say, "Why did you make us do this!?"
"Hehehe, I have tried to best these beasts before, but I had failed, so I simply thought by bringing allies we would be able to overcome this challenge together."
"NO!"
"But when one has the power of their friends, they can do anything!"
Hitting him, I say, "Not this!"
-Some tireless running later-
Lying on the floor with Dumnorix and the beetle brothers, I say, "I revoke our friendship."
"Impossible, it is lifelong. Now, just wait, I have plenty more adventures planned out."
-Break-
-4 weeks later-
Location: Neamhcheangailte plains
"Keep moving, you brats!" A man says as he yells at me, Dumnorix and the beetle brothers to move wood during a construction project.
Walking beside Dumnorix, I say, "How much longer do we need to do this?"
"For a few more weeks, we need to make money to finance our quests, and there is no shortage of construction jobs all around. So we need to make a bit without our parents finding out."
Malachy says, "My back hurts!"
Proteus says, "My leg hurts."
"The man shouts, "You Fanalis, better hurry up, I know you freaks are capable of doing more."
On the back of all of the Fanalis throughout the area, almost twice as much weight is being carried per person, yet they are being screamed at and sneered at despite doing more work overall.
Feeling anger well up inside me, I feel it about to explode, but before it does. Dumnorix grabs all of the weight that my brothers and I are carrying, then says, "This stuff is pretty light, don't you think you Beastkin who are carrying such light loads should be pretty ashamed?"
Just like that, he walks ahead without a care in the world.
-Break-
-3 months later-
Location: Sports field of the grand hall of Eche
With a group of other boys in class, I play hurling. But just like usual, we Fanalis are put under far more restrictions. We are only allowed to support the other players and must never intentionally go for the ball.
Our role is only that of subservience to the other boys and girls. It's a fun sport, but not being able to try my best really does peeve me, and a lot of other Fanalis just sit down.
But I refuse to, even if there is only one moment where the ball will fly towards me, I wish to grasp it. I don't want to just accept this lot we have been given.
As I run towards the side, I see countless players gather around Dumnorix. He is rather good, but he likes to showboat a lot instead of focusing on winning and ends up getting surrounded.
But in the middle of that large prison of people, a hole opens up, and through the hole, he hits the ball to me and screams, "SHOOT!"
With the ball in hand, I smash it into the goal and score points. Then, moments later, he came and kicked me in my side.
-Break-
2 months later
Location: Back side of the grand hall of Eche
Peering over a corner, me Dumnorix and Malachy, look over a corner and watch as Proteus talks to a girl he likes.
But moments after their conversation begins, he runs over to us crying. "There, there."
-Break-
5 months later
Location: Dumnorix residency
"This is my mother and father, are they the greatest?"
Both of his parents instantly jumped up and say, "Thank you for being friends with our little boy!"
"We know he is a lot, please stay with him forever!"
Shocked, I pat the heads of his parents and say, "You two must have been through a lot."
Crying, they say, "It was so tough."
"Sleep didn't exist in our lives."
And Dumnorix just watches this scene completely perplexed.
-Break-
4 months later
Location: Eche training grounds
As Dumnorix clashes against my sword with his tin blade, mine is deflected, and he hits me with his tail.
On the ground, I say, "I can't beat you!"
"Don't you think you're really bad with a sword?"
"I know I am weak, you don't have to rub it in."
"Not that I mean you just suck at using any form of sword, so maybe pick another weapon. But what to choose?"
With his eyes lighting up, Dumnorix runs into a storage closet, picks up something and hands it to me.
It is a shield with bladed edges, and he says, "I think this would work better for you, considering your rubbery body."
-Break-
Location: City of Ceathairéad Miongháire
With Dumnorix and the beetle brothers, we sit in front of a street shop and request golden Potatoes.
In hand, we stare at all of our steaming golden potatoes, and I say, "This is what we have been saving up money for the legendary golden potato, now let's dig in."
All of us take a bite and say the same thing, "So bitter!"
The shop owner says, "It is hard for kids to understand the complexity of the flavour, so it usually ends up bitter."
Annoyed, I say, "Then why did you sell it to us?"
"To give you kids something to look forward to when you grow up, it seems a lot of you are lacking that now."
"I see, so give us back our money."
"No way."
Angered, I hear Dumnorix say, "I think that is fine, because without a doubt I plan to come back here with you guys."
Seeing his smile, I say, "Ok, I know we will too when we get older. But for now, let's finish this."
As we continued to eat the bitter potato, I savoured it and that moment, especially looking back on it, since it was a day that didn't last.