Reflections

Chapter 1

"Hello, how can I help you?"

I greeted the man with a dangerous looking grin. He stared down at me as he made his way through the tent's entrance. He sat down, then started to fidget around a bit. He looked a bit unsure. Not wanting to scare the man and cause him to leave, I softened my smile.

"Well you see, I've heard about you. You know, about your miracles?", he asked.

I tapped my fingers absentmindedly on top of the table. His eyes furrowed in confusion when I didn't respond right away.

"Ah, so you've heard about me? Well I can't help but feel flattered.", I said sweetly.

I bowed my head in some sort of thanks and he seemed to understand.

"Anyway, I assume you want my help? What would you like? I could do a reading from my cards or-"

"Please join me!" The man interrupted as he slammed his large hands down on the table.

It shook and it threatened to give out from the sudden force. The smile dropped from my lips.

"Excuse me?"

The man paused and looked down at me. His face then flushed with embarrassment and he took his hands off the table. It still wobbled even moments after he had slammed down on it.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I should explain myself.", he said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Go on."

"Well you see, I've come from a very far away place. I'm on a quest to vanquish an unforgivable evil and I need all the help I can get. But unfortunately, all the people I've asked have turned me down."

"I see.", I responded flatly.

Well no wonder no one had accepted his offers. It all sounded too ridiculous. An unforgivable evil? Really? But I bit down hard on my tongue to stop myself from saying anything too reckless.

"Yeah...", the man replied sadly.

He seemed dejected as he slouched over on the chair.

But suddenly, the man straightened his back "But even so, I still haven't given up. I will find someone to help me. I will vanquish that evil person once and for all.", he said with a sudden burst of determination.

I continued to frown at him. How stupid. A guy pretending to be a hero? Yeah, he's definitely worthless.

But even so, the man seemed to be quite gullible. Perhaps I could use that to my advantage.

"Alright, I suppose I'll agree to your little offer. That is, as long as I get properly paid for my contributions.", I said as I laced my fingers together.

The man stared at the side of my head. He didn't seemed to be looking at anything in particular. For a moment we sat in complete silence until the man suddenly snapped his focus back on me. He smiled sheepishly and gave me a nod.

"Oh, of course. I'm already eternally grateful that you even agreed to join me. Any payment required for your services will be absolutely guaranteed. I promise you that."

The man put his hand to his chest with a confident smile. I felt a smile work it's way back onto my face. Things were going just as planned.

"Good. Then I suppose I should get myself ready. After all, I assume the journey ahead will be a rather long one."

The man nodded at me. He looked relieved in a way, and I couldn't help but hold back a smirk. What an idiot. Hopefully this guy wasn't spitting lies. But even if he was, that didn't matter much. His money was going to be mine one way or another.

I turned around started to make my way to the secluded part of the tent to gather some supplies.

"Hey, wait a second!", the man called out.

I whipped around to face him. I fought an annoyed expression that threatened to creep onto my face.

" I apologize for being so rude, but I forgot to ask for your name."

I stared into his flushed face for a moment.

"It's Robin, just Robin."

The man beamed at me.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Robin. The name's John."