Chương 16: Book 1; Chapter 15; Pupil without a teacher (2)

To hear that the campfire is there every night was a delight. To hear that it is not popular was strange.

"I love campfires!" she said.

"I love stories!"

"Stories?" Anthony asked with curiosity in his eyes.

"What stories do you like?"

"Any! There is always someone who knows good stories at the fire. I love listening to them."

"But these stories usually have a little truth in them."

"Why not?!"

"People like to exaggerate and complicate every event. Then others who hear it take it for the truth."

"I never thought that way," Anniet admitted.

"But still, what difference does it make? All stories are about people who are not there anymore or far away, never to be seen. Even if it is exaggerated, what difference does it make?"

"I never thought that way," Anthony said, putting on his jacket and picking up his little dog from the floor and leading the way.

"What would you like to hear today?"

"Doesn't matter! Doesn't matter! It has been so long, long since I have been camping! Can I carry him? I promise not to hurt him. I love animals." There was a slight hesitation, then Anthony carefully handed over his shaggy pup." He really must love his dog," Anniet thought, taking it gently. For some reason, she was prepared to lift a very heavy weight, but the puppy was as light as a feather.

"Why haven't you been camping for a long time?" Anthony asked, keeping a close eye on how she would handle his dog and looking somewhat relieved when the puppy relaxed in Anniet's gentle hold.

"After the heroes of today have suffered this defeat, people are not willing to camp that often, and even when they do, they usually talk about revenge. It is not the same."

"Heroes of today? Who is that?"

"You know. Rainbow girl, Shadow from the sky, Sleeping dragon, and even Pink prince. And those under their command. And the King also."

"So that's how they are called in your homeland."

"And how are they called in your homeland?"

"In my homeland? They are usually called generals."

"Well, yes, I know they are generals, but they have done so many incredible and unbelievable things, and also they possess such a power that a regular mortal cannot even dream about. Of course they are heroes."

"It may become difficult to see people behind such a description."

"But they are not people!"

"How come?" Now Anthony seemed to be very interested in what she said.

"At the very beginning, they are immortals who know no possibility of defeat."

"Didn't you say that they had been defeated not so long ago?"

"True," Anniet admitted, "and Rainbow general was killed... So she wasn't immortal after all. They say that even the King himself was injured. Do you believe it?"

"I have no reason not to believe it, no matter how impossible it seems, as there were many witnesses. But again, sometimes things are different from how they look. But aren't your words contradicting themselves? You said they are immortals, and you say they have been killed. You say they are invincible, and you say they have been defeated."

"True," Anniet couldn't disagree, "I always strongly believed that such things cannot happen to them. Do you think even the King is mortal?"

"We had many other kings in the past who were born and died, so immortality isn't a part of being a King. Also, any person can become the King. You know the rules. So there must be a day when our King was just a regular person like me and you before becoming the King."

"It isn't easy to imagine it, as he has been king forever."

"I cannot argue with it. But that just means that the day when the new king will arise is coming closer."

"OK, but what then about Mister Darkness?"

"That's a very strange name. Who is that?"

"Shadow general!" Anniet laughed.

"What about him?"

"He can fly!"

"Most of the King's Army can fly."

"Yes, on dragons. But he can fly by himself. It is said that his hands turn into wings and he is transformed into a half-human, half-bird."

"And?"

"Well, that's not very humane! Isn't it? And his hound is the size of a mountain, has shining red eyes, and there is no wall, no obstacle that could stop him. When Mister Darkness comes from above, his hound rises from the ground, and there is no escaping him, neither inside nor outside. Even his own dragon was afraid of his Deamon and never came to him!"

"Must agree that it does sound very scary when you picture him that way." Anthony shrugged his shoulders.

"But still, he might be a human."

"You must be right..." Anniet agreed after a little thought.

"Do you think he died too?"

"It is not certain yet," Anthony said.

"Yes. It is said nobody has seen his body. But he had vanished straight after Rainbow General's death, and the King conducted a deep search all around the country and attended this search himself, but could not find him. I think he must be dead." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Why?"

"He didn't even attend Rainbow General's funeral! And it was said he never leaves her side. People say he loved her so much that he nearly got mad after being rejected."

"Do they? Why would they say it?"

"Because after she had chosen Pink Prince, he made many women love him and then mercilessly broke their hearts, leaving them and moving on to someone else. Nobody could stop him, as even the King doesn't have any power over him. Rainbow General herself had to lock him up for some time to bring some sanity back to his mind!" Anthony didn't say anything to all these statements and walked silently for some time. Anniet could see he was feeling a bit off.

Most likely, he had a different opinion about this controversial but nevertheless deeply loved by the nation general.

"What is your dog's name?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Ehh… Deamon," Anthony said with a shy smile.

"You really like the Dark General!" Anniet couldn't hold it anymore. How could she be so blind! He even named his dog after the famous hound!

"What's not to like about him?" Anthony didn't argue.

"There are some things I think he could do better, but generally I think he is alright." There were always an incredible number of people who looked up to this historical figure. Lately, these numbers have increased drastically. After two major generals were gone, the nation wasn't so sure about their safety and security anymore. Strangely, instead of falling into despair, a new fire was born into people's hearts, and many have risen after two have fallen.

Never before was it known for so many people trying really hard to find their way to the King's Army. Never before were departed generals loved this much as now, but not as ideals, but more as a shining sample, as something to reach for. Anniet couldn't believe how she could miss it! Black was the favourite colour of General Blake, and Anthony was dressed only in black.

The General refused to receive a dragon to keep his famous hound, which he must have loved very much, and Anthony had his dog at his side all the time. He even gave his dog the same name under which that demoniac hound was known. He must be one of General Blake's followers, and she just spoke so harshly about him!

"There are many good stories about him," she said, trying to remedy the situation. It wasn't a lie because there were many. Way more than bad. Well, they couldn't even be named bad. It was just his description that was a bit scary. And attitude. And behaviour… Well, there is no denial – he was a frightening personality.

"Like what?" Anthony asked, looking at her.

"Like when he… the one about…" Anniet was struggling. She wasn't lying, there truly were hundreds of majestic, heart-lifting, mind-blowing stories about the Dark General. Why can't she remember any?

"There are many," she said in defeat, "I just cannot remember any. I think the scary ones have overshadowed the others, and I cannot remember anything else. And besides, I am not that good at storytelling. I like to listen."

"So you never tell stories?" Anniet shook her head.

"No," she smiled, thinking that if she would, most of her audience would get upset and start crying.

"Well, I think you would do very well if you tried," Anthony said.

"You described yesterday's events very well."

"That's just because you wanted to hear what I said," Anniet laughed.

"Is there any other reason for telling anything to someone? What's the point of telling others something they don't want to hear?"

"Good point," Anniet couldn't agree more. It's just that people usually wouldn't want to listen to anything she wanted to say.

"We must be getting closer," she added, smelling the burning fire. By now, the sun was almost gone, and light was giving way to the incoming dusk. Perfect timing! They turned the corner, and a large bonfire greeted them with its warm and flickering light. It was set in a large yard, surrounded by several chairs, benches, and simple logs for everyone to choose. Just a few people were sitting at it, and several children were playing around.

Children always liked Anniet, and sure enough, soon they were surrounded by this little chatty folk asking who she was, how she came, and if they could pet and play with her dog. Anthony didn't receive this kind of interest and sat himself down on a log to watch this greeting. Anniet was eagerly answering all questions and told the children to go and ask Anthony if they could play with his dog. The kids said they would, but none actually did it, so Anniet had to do it herself.

"Sure, they can pet it, but I doubt he will want to play with them. His old bones might be too weary for that," Anthony said. That was strange, as Anniet didn't think his dog was old; if anything, she thought it was a young pup that would grow much bigger one day. Hearing that he was old made her wonder. She let the children pet him; Deamon didn't reject it, but neither did he look too excited, so to make sure it would not get too annoyed, she returned the dog to its owner.

Strangely, but as soon as it was given back to Anthony, the children completely lost any interest in it. Or maybe it happened because they turned away, occupied with some new things and adventures seen only by them. Anniet sat down next to Anthony. A few people greeted her, but none spoke to Anthony.

"Have you done something bad? Are they cross with you?" Anniet asked, thinking that such a cold shoulder is not very welcoming.

"Don't worry about it," Anthony smiled.

"What story do you want to hear?"

"Are you going to tell it?" Anniet asked excitedly.

"Why not? No one else is," Anthony said.

"Story, story time!" Anniet shouted happily to the kids, making sure they wouldn't miss any. Everyone gathered around expecting her to tell it and were a little surprised when Anthony spoke instead. He spoke about an Old World that everyone knew existed there somewhere, as time after time a traveller from it would come through the mists, but no one truly knew how people lived there, as all information that these travellers would bring was changed and distorted while being passed from one to another.

He spoke about cities built by these unknown people that were as large as oceans and as high as mountains. One could travel all day and would not cross these cities. There were little trees or flowers in these cities, so people had to carve them from stone to remind themselves how they looked. People lived there in large numbers but hardly knew each other, as they rarely spoke or communicated with each other or spent time together.

All information was passed through small or large talking boxes that not only spoke but also showed pictures and images. One didn't have to travel somewhere to see how it looks there, as they could look into these boxes and would know. Inhabitants of these cities walked very little and rode only for pleasure, as they mainly moved inside machines that would transfer them from one place to another, somewhat similar to transferring machines existing in this world.

Still, people would not need to give any energy of their own for these machines to move, but would take the energy from the world surrounding them. Just as this fire was taking energy from a dead tree to burn, these machines would consume the energy of living and non-living things from that world, so anyone could use them, no matter how weak they were. Anthony spoke for a long time, describing in detail all that this small audience wanted to know, and even more – things that no one could ever even imagine.

By the time he finished, it was a dark night around. Anniet enjoyed this evening a lot. Besides the story she heard, two more things made her wonder. How did Anthony know all this in so much detail? She even asked if he was one of these travellers from the Old World, but Anthony denied, reassuring her that he was born there in this world and that he simply spoke directly with a few of these travellers.

The second thing was even more intriguing – it seemed to her that people were seeing Anthony somehow differently than she did, and not only that, they were forgetting about him as soon as they turned away and as soon as he stopped talking. They would remember what he spoke about, but not about the speaker himself. After each pause, everyone got confused about who it was that spoke and were pointing at everyone but not Anthony.

After Anniet asked him why, he said that some things cannot be helped, and it is better not to dwell on it. By the time Anniet came back home, it was already past midnight. Anthony had to walk her back again as she was completely lost and didn't even know where her place was. Before going to sleep, Anniet made a promise to herself that tomorrow, after her classes, she would familiarise herself with the surroundings not to get into such a situation again.