Roocal rose early feeling thoroughly refreshed. The room he’d rented in the inn proved to be basic but more than sufficient for his needs. And walking down the stairs into the common room, it appeared he was the first to rise. Taking a seat at the empty bar, he waited quietly for someone to arrive.
It wasn't long before Carb appeared carrying a large sack of something, “Morning, Traveller. Up to catch the Sun Sprite?” he said in his usual deep friendly tone.
"Morning," Roocal replied, smiling.
“If you’re quick, the Sprite may still be around. Head towards the sunrise and you might catch it,” Carb added.
Roocal had just come down for breakfast, but as he looked out the window, he could see the sun was just beginning to clear the horizon and a little morning exercise didn't sound like a bad idea.
Carb was still looking at him as he turned around.
“Alright,” Roocal said, having no real idea what a Sun Sprite was but he left the inn anyway and headed east as suggested.
This was the opposite way to yesterday’s flower picking excursion, so he was in new surroundings almost immediately. But the landscape wasn’t so different. Mostly meadows and fields with a few woodland areas dotted around. He just ran initially, happy to be stretching his legs and feeling the morning warmth on his face.
But as he ran he began to wonder if he shouldn’t be collecting a few more flowers while he was out. There were different varieties all over the place and he guessed they would all be in Freen’s book somewhere. The local flora seemed to take on a whole new meaning when considered ingredients rather than just simply flowers.
So he stopped for a while to pick various handfuls and stuff them in his stasis bag, which as well as keeping things fresh was turning out to be significantly larger than he expected. He must have put over twenty different plants of various guises into the bag and it still only looked about half full. But there was a limit to how long someone could pick flowers before getting bored and with the sun now well above the horizon, Roocal began to run again.
Shielding his eyes as he went he guessed the Sun Sprite, real or otherwise, had long since vanished but he continued running east, simply enjoying the fresh air. Still squinting in the bright morning light, he suddenly skidded to a halt, only just avoiding running off the end of a cliff. And it was no small little escarpment, it was a long sheer drop down into the ocean below.
Well, he knew for sure he was on an island now. And as he stood there looking out to sea, his racing heart beginning to calm, he couldn’t help but marvel at the vastness of the ocean before him. There was nothing on the eastern horizon other than water. And the beautiful clear cloudless sky seemed to merge seamlessly with the horizon, creating a huge wide open expanse of blue. It was difficult to not feel awed looking at such an impressive backdrop.
...
The common room was still empty when Roocal returned. Empty that was, until Jinkle came out of the back room, looking a bit bedraggled.
“Just made a delivery for Carb,” she said.
Carb emerged, a few seconds later, similarly bedraggled.
“Delivery?” Roocal said
“Bread,” Carb replied
“Wine,” Jinkle said
Roocal nodded. “Bread wine, huh?”
They both blushed.
Carb then mumbled something about forgetting a bag and returned to the backroom.
YOU ARE READING
Echoes of Before
Fantasy[Completed] Roocal doesn't know where he's from or how he got here but as events unfold around him, he starts to suspect there is more to his being here than meets the eye ...
