Unknowing (A Yogscast Fanfic)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

The duo had arrived at the mage’s castle. It was large, and a mage tower spiraled into the sky. Zoey smiled, not realizing how truly beautiful the place was. Rythian stepped towards the door, and turned to look at her. “Are you coming?” he asked. She nodded, and walked alongside him. He plopped her stuff down on the bench, and she followed suit with the items she had in her arms.

 

“We’re going to have to make you a room,” Rythian told her. “So, that means you have to help.” He started up the stairs, and Zoey quickly trailed behind. He stopped down a long hallway. “Let’s get you situated on everything. That’s my bedroom, the magic room, and bathroom,” he said, pointing to each of the doors. He finally walked up to a small room, and pushed open the door. “This,” he continued. “Is your room.”

 

Zoey stepped inside, gazing at her room. It was overall small, but it seemed homely enough. There was a small bed, a bookcase, a wardrobe, and a mirror.  She grinned. This could be a wonderful start to something, she thought. She turned back to Rythian. “I’ll go get my stuff!” she said excitedly, and ran down the stairs to her things. He soon followed behind her, smirking. It was obvious she was excited. “Take that, Duncan,” he said under his breath.

 

Zoey’s head snapped up from picking up as much of her stuff as possible. “Did you say something?” Rythian started coughing, and replied, “No, I didn’t say anything. Now let’s get you settled in.”

 

They set up her things, and proceeded to make a small dinner. Mushroom soup for Zoey, and a steak for Rythian. She slurped her soup happily, while he didn’t even pick up his fork. “I’m just not hungry,” Rythian would tell her, “I’ll eat later.”

 

The thing was; Rythian was starving. He wanted to eat, but didn’t want to risk revealing what was really under his mask to Zoey. It’s only her first night here, he thought, let’s not scar her for life. So, he hid his hunger, and instead gave her a few spellbooks to use.

 

“Here,” he said, handing her the books. Zoey was soon stumbling under the weight. He noticed this, and took a couple of the books from her. “These are yours now. You can study them.”

 

Zoey’s eyes lit up. “Can I study them now? Please please please?”

 

“They’re your books now, you can study whenever,” he said. “As long as you also help clean, cook, and-”

 

“Yeah yeah yeah, I know I know,” She replied, waving away his words. “But,” she added, somewhat sheepishly, “Could you, possibly, help me?” Rythian’s eyes grew a bit brighter. Nodding, he took her to his desk, already cluttered.

 

“Sorry about the mess, I don’t really keep it clean,” he told her.

 

She snorted. “Yeah, just like a lot of stuff here,” she said, a bit too loud. Rythian gave a sidelong glance at her, and she quickly amended her statement.

 

“No, I mean, I can fix everything!” Rythian turned to her again, an eyebrow raised.

 

“I didn’t mean it like that! I mean I can help clean everything up, make it better!”

 

“Yeah, you better,” Rythian said matter-of-factly, “After telling me my house is crap.”

 

Zoey didn’t get the joke, sadly. “Rythian, I didn’t mean-”

 

Rythian stopped her, grabbing her shoulder, chuckling. “It was a joke, Zoey. Just a joke.”

 

Zoey’s shoulders relaxed, and she started laughing in spite of herself. She leaned into Rythian, still laughing. “Oh,” she said between giggles. He led her up to the chair in front of the desk, and pulled up one for himself.

 

“Ready?”

 

“Ready.”

 

They studied the books until the sun was long gone from the sky. By the end of the session, Zoey was able to make gentle breeze that could send books toppling off the desk. “Did I do well?” she asked.

 

“Yes,” Rythian replied, “You did very well.” He looked out the window, and, seeing how late it was, said to Zoey “Let’s get to bed.”

 

Zoey followed behind Rythian sleepily as he dragged on towards her room. He opened the door, and she plopped down on the bed happily, burying her face in the covers. “Do you stay up this late every night?” she soon asked.

 

Yawning, Rythian answered. “Yeah, that’s about right.” He started to walk out the door, blowing out the torch at the doorway. He heard a cry of protest from Zoey.

 

“Rythian!” she cried, “Er, um, could you, not blow out the torch? I have a bit of a… fear of the dark.” After receiving a sceptical look, she added, “It’s not the dark directly, it’s just, my mind like to create monsters when I’m in the dark.”

 

Rythian nodded, quickly understanding her reasoning. He soon re-lit the torch, making fire erupt from his fingertips. He went to walk out again when Zoey’s soft voice reached his ears.

 

“Goodnight Rythian,” she said quietly, almost as if she didn’t want him to hear.

Rythian met her eyes, and smiling, he replied “Goodnight Zoey.”