There's no one else Grandpa could root for in his bloodline when I'm his only grandchild.
His volition is a hard pill to swallow, and it's been stuck in my throat.
I rummage through my closet to choose what type of clothing I should wear that survives in four dissimilar seasons.
After infinite hours of ransacking, I made up my mind to wear my school uniform: it's cushy, stylish, and woven to withstand any cataclysm.
I went to Grandpa's room because I miss him, and the smell of cedarwood brings back mementos to me. I took a peek at the things he owns, and Grandpa is a huge collector of blades. I saw this large wooden box hidden underneath his bed.
When I opened its lid, I saw Grandpa's precious bow and arrow. He uses this whenever we go hunting, and having it with me feels like he's just by my side. I took it, and the only remaining arrow bothers me.
When I went back to the living room, I almost bowled over when I saw Warchaic in his cargo pants holding a paper bag of snacks.
Warchaic is my long-time friend and is living kilometers from us. He's like a brother to me.
He always makes himself at home, and we have no issues if he would just sneak inside the house without proper permission; we trust him. And it hit me like a boulder when I ultimately remembered that yesterday I invited him to play videogame with me.
"Instead of coming here, I went to the party last night, and as we expected, you're a no-show, man. I know you won't forgive me for skipping your grandpa's birthday, but here I am, fully dressed and with lunch."
"Who are you to owe me an explanation, my girlfriend?"
"That's what the rumors in school and the alleyways are."
"And you tolerate them. Dude, you're as disgusting as your two-day-old boxers."
"If two girls are together, they call it women empowerment, but when two boys are in the same room, what do they call it?"
"Faggots."
"Exactly. And that's the problem in our society. They mistake brotherhood for romance. Dude, why are you in your uniform?" he asked.
I think of telling him about everything.
"Aren't you going to tell your Mom, or would you just keep this whole situation a secret?" he asked me after knowing the whole truth. Recently he commended my bravery for defeating the Gremlin.
"Mom has a lot of businesses to worry about, and if I add this burden to her loads she might go insane. I prefer to keep this on my own and let time be her ultimate truth teller."
Kooki meddled in our conversation and told me that we should be going.
"Won't you miss Ivypom?" Warchaic began to tease me. "Ivypom—the girl who has a secret crush on you?"
"Stop it."
"Just spill the beans that you'll miss her, and I'll tell her by the time you travel."
"It implies that I'll be dead by the time I have the strength to confess my adoration to someone. I'm a grass that can't be easily chewed by herbivores, Warchaic."
"I dare you. Don't turn your back on me now that you've found out about Ivypom and me."
I said goodbye to Warchaic, and as the nonchalant he is, he remained placid.
I took a last peek at my home, thinking this could be the last time I'd ever see it.
Thinking of Mom, I wanted to make it out alive, and the next time I stepped foot in this backyard, Grandpa Kaeron would be with me.
I took a deep breath before I peeked at what's beneath this centurial well that was built in our backyard.
All I can see is darkness, nothing more.
A lot of bodies were thrown down here intentionally and accidentally, and thinking of it gives me the jumpscare. As a toddler I already had a hunch that this well is mystic, and I was right all along.
"There's no turning back, Kintsugi," I uttered to myself before jumping in the well.
Darkness embraces me along with the ghastliness. The deeper I went, the murkier it gets. I saw a light, and it gets bigger the closer I fell to the bottom. However, seeing it swirling makes me vertiginous.
I think I'm gonna black out.
•••
That wasn't an air flight, but I do feel jet-lagged as I regain my cognizance, and thinking of the swirling light made me puke.
On the other hand, I made it to Meadowglaze!
But this is not what I anticipated. This is not the scenery I want to see. A horde of green monsters in bulky size and grotesque feature got in our way.
Even the Grimsby's siblings are also present. They are unnerving the way they simper at me.
"They are Mezoid's henchmen," said Kooki as he floated right in front of me, showing his cute clenched fist to the enemies. "They were ordered to stop me from fetching you, but since the portal is unaccessible from here, they just wait for our arrival."
Although Kooki is a magical creature, I won't let him face this battle alone.
I'm not a killer, but when my life is at stake in the hands of these monsters, I am willing to deprive them of life.
The immature Grimsbys attacked me, rucked up on me as if they want to play rugby but in a more brutal way, and Kooki, the small but terrible monster that he is, lifted his hands to the sky and moments later tiny cumulonimbus clouds flew above the Grimsbys' heads.
He chanted a spell that summons lightning rods, but these lightning rods caused light damage only. It made the Grimsbys' heads burst in flames.
Gripping the bow, I feel useless as I hid behind Kooki. The Grimsbys have flamethrowing skills, and to protect us from being roasted, Kooki made a shield made of nimbostratus cloud. But Kooki can't hold the intense heat any longer. Anytime he's gonna collapse due to overusing his power.
"A single arrow can't help us either. What shall I do?" I muttered to myself as I bathed in my own sweat.
I saw a glimmer of hope when the sky brightened unexpectedly. Swords and all sorts of blades fell on the ground like a downpour, fiendishly stabbing and killing the Grimsbys.
Kooki sighed in relief when the Grimsbys fell lifeless on the ground one by one.
"Lucky for the both of you that I passed by in this area, cause if not you're just another tattletale this town would never know," said an elderly gray-haired woman with an eye patch.
She huff and puffs tobacco as she talks. The unhinged part is that she's sitting on top of a floating blue whale the size of a regular automobile. This fish carries her baggages and other amenities.
"Who is she?" I asked Kooki.
"She's Forosa, the great blacksmith," he replied in a tone with great respect and idolatry.
Forosa is a sword whisperer. Blunt or sharp, frozen or melted, she can communicate to all sorts of blades. Bounty hunters, mercenaries, even ghouls confer to her, forging them the blade that best suits their whole being.
However, as she figured out the truest motive of most of her clients and how they treated their blades, she retired and ran away, travelling from place to place with her pet, the Gobu.
Forosa gives me the creeps. She stares at me like her onyx eyes can see through me.
The archer's kit aroused from its resting place on my back and flew away toward her. She grabbed it by the hand and gave it a thorough inspection.
"Did you know that this is one of the rarest weapon ever existed?" she said, checking every part of the arrow. "This was made from the remains of the mythical Meadow Feral called the Dracomeleon. Are you sure this is yours?"
"It belongs to my Grandpa's. I took it to make me feel closer to him."
"You should've not done that. The blade dislike to be taken without permission to its reigning owner."
I feel ashamed when she reprimanded me, but later on she consoled and told me she gets it why I took it away from its chest. She told me that the archer's kit talked to her, telling her that it needs to be remodel.
Forosa fed the Gobu with the archer's kit.
Afterwards, it spat out molten metal on the anvil Forosa had prepared.
I used to believe that the archer's kit was made of wood, but it turns out that it wasn't. It was made from the bones of a mythical Meadow Feral. Forosa pulled a hammer, and I watched her as she modified the bow and arrow.
It looked sublime and powerful, but why is it that she only made one arrow?
"If you use the arrow wisely then you'll not run out of ammunition," she explained, but I don't get her. She helped us a lot, and I don't want to sound ungrateful. If she can't make another arrow, then I'll find a way to collect some. "On a side note, the blade is hesitant if you are worthy to be its next successor," Forosa added. "All great things start in the worst-case scenarios. The blade could be vainglorious, it could be petty to you, but you have what it takes to be its next master. Furthermore, just get along with the archer's kit."
Kooki and I waved our hands as she flew above the sky.
I thought Meadowglaze was more advanced than the world where I came from, but it appears that I'm time-traveling from the feudal era. The sun is roaring in the middle of the day, and a lot is in store for us.
Kooki is taking me to where his master is residing.
He mentioned that his master is a monk and is living in a temple.
We heard the sound of a gong as we approached the temple, which was made of mud and stone. It was a signal that there was an incoming visitor, and a tall, slender, bald man holding a long ornamental stick appeared from a podium, watching our arrival.
"He seemed cultured," I said.
"Of course he is," Kooki replied confidently. "And he can be the wisest person you've ever met."
"Do they practice cannibalism in the temple?"
"Every day. So move your lousy balls, Earthling, 'cause my master's starving. And don't think I'm bluffing, I'm not making fun of you."
"Are you kidding me, right?"
Seeing the monk from a better angle made me think that there was more to him than I expected. He was very old, but his gentle smile and meek presence made him seem youthful.
He greeted Kooki and even commended him, as if Kooki hadn't failed to protect my Grandpa.
"You're just like the boy I always envisioned," he said to me in a discreet tone.