Uriel" "Adventure, adventure..."

 

I rode calmly through the forest on my faithful horse, Dead Man, and admired the beauty of nature unshaken by humans (it would have been unshaken if some shadow in black armor hadn't appeared before me out of nowhere)

- Money or life, life or money!!!

- ???

- Don't look so surprised! You must have heard something about me!

- ...Nooooo...?

- I'm a terrible black knight!

- You don't seem so scary...

- Stop slacking off! Money or life!

- How much time do I have to think about it?

- You don't have time! Choose now, or I'll choose!

- Fine. I'll take the money...

- What???

- But you said I had to choose: money or life. I don't need your life, so I chose money.

- Nooooo!!! You idiot! I WAS SUPPOSED TO TAKE YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE! NOT YOU!!! Stop!

- ???

- Don't pretend! What are you afraid of?! Fight or die standing still. Uh, sitting down. Never mind! Just fight!

I jumped down from the saddle and grabbed my sword. The black knight was absolutely speechless. After all, it's not every day you meet a man ;-) with a sword almost two and a half meters long, and almost as wide as a normal human.

"God almighty! How do you fight like that?

" "Are you sure you want to find out?

" "You can cut through three people with a sword that sharp!

" "Not really. Firstly, it's not sharp, and secondly, I "collect" two people with it. Crushing armor.

" "Let's see if you're as confident when I call my friends! Guys! Come to me!

" Six lightly armed men jumped out from behind the bushes.

"Get him!"

Two of them came up to my left and two more to my right, the others were watching me along with the black knight.

They couldn't get closer than my sword's length. But I could get closer. Two quick swings, and all four of them were lying in the grass, their spines broken.

"You're doing quite well. I see we might not be able to handle you alone. Then you'll have the inexpressible pleasure of meeting my brother... BRAINBEAT!!! I know. Don't even say it. It's a terribly stupid name, but you'll soon learn why it was given to him."

The ground began to shake. Two trees standing before me collapsed, and "something" (certainly not a human) appeared. It was perhaps three meters tall and more than half as wide. It was clad in incredibly thick armor. In one hand it held a shield, and in the other a huge iron ball with spikes, the whole thing hanging from a chain as thick as my four fingers.

"Brainbeast... The master won't give us his money. Take care of him."

A huge ball whistled towards me. I jumped to the side.

I parried the next attack with my sword, stunning both the knights and my "mighty brother." The shock didn't last long, however, and soon turned to anger. The Brain-Blower began attacking with redoubled force and speed. I managed to deflect all the attacks, and I managed to strike a few times, but he blocked with his shield. After about five minutes, this began to annoy me. I sensed a longer pause between attacks, and with the next one, I parried the ball with a roundhouse attack. The weapon returned to its owner and shattered the shield. My next blow was fatal. I leaped into the air and struck the enemy's helmet with my sword from behind my back. Blood spurted. When I looked back, I saw no one behind me. The poor bastards were in such a hurry that they'd lost pieces of armor and money. I gathered up my valuables and continued my journey.

The time until dawn passed peacefully. I found an abandoned cabin on the edge of the forest and fell asleep there.

The next night was beautiful. A full moon, meadows and forests everywhere you looked. Suddenly, something flashed to my left. I thought I was imagining things, but the glowing dot began to move. A moment later, it was at the edge of the forest directly in front of me. I decided to go there and see what it was.

Where I'd seen the strange dot before, only a note remained: "Follow the yellow ball."

What is this nonsense? There's no yellow ball here...

"Gema?"

"Hmm?"

"Gema, gema?"

"Hey! Where are you running? Wait!

So there's a yellow ball..." I gave chase. My armor made it a bit difficult, but I kept going. I entered an open clearing. In the center lay something strange, yellow.

"Hey! What's going on here? Why are you running?"

I stepped closer and unrolled the small yellow ball. The creature looked like a cross between a rat and a dachshund.

"Pika!"

At that moment, I was hit with an incredibly powerful electrical shock. Then I lay still, my vision blurred, and I couldn't move.

"Gema, I love playing with people like that. But this one's weird.

" "Pika.

" "So let's give him, gema, some kind of reward for, gema, perseverance!

" "Pika! Pika?

" "A little, yellow, gema, little ball."

Then I fell asleep and couldn't see or hear anything anymore.

I woke up in that old hut on the edge of the forest, where I'd been resting after fighting Brain-Blower.

So it was a dream? It seemed so real. Oh well. I wanted to lie down for a moment before leaving, in a clearing, among the flowers, when I felt something pressing against my neck. I reached under my jacket and pulled out a small, yellow ball.

"So it wasn't a dream!

" "I still don't know.

" "What about that ball?"

"I still have it. So as you can see, Maharet, I haven't been idle all these years.

" "Incredible.

" "Look out the window. It's almost dawn, and we haven't eaten anything yet, though, you have to eat, adventures are adventures, but to have them, you have to live.

" "Yes. Adventure, adventure, there's no time in life..."