DISCONTINUED - The Fireflies - A Zodiac Adventure

Five - Leo ♌

"Hey, newbie!" Blacksmith Joe called towards my direction. I turned and saw his bearded face snarling at me. "What are you making?! GET BACK TO WORK!"

I put down the unfinished toy in my hands that was made of scrap metal I picked up in the shed. "Yes, sir..." I grumbled without giving him a single glance. I went back the axe I was in the middle of making.

  Six months ago, I remember still hanging out in an orphanage with my 11 buddies. Playing basketball with makeshift hoops and always arguing about the team managements. All the girls back there admiring me. (Okay maybe the last bit wasn't completely true but I like to believe it is)

  Then I was taken away from that place. What was the thing that took me away, I had absolutely no idea. I remembered nothing about that night - I just remembered waking up inside this camp, trying out every weapon they had there and at last being declared to the 'useless point of throwing me to the crafters'.

  I suppose I got lucky in some way. The knights in this strange camp place seemed to be a whole lot more violent than my crafting buddies, excluding my mentor Blacksmith Joe. He was the classic old guy with bits of dust and motor oil clogged up in his long beard and a serious expression wherever he went. He looked like an extreme pessimist to me - the gossip in this little shed of ours claimed rumours of him having a dark past. I wouldn't be surprised to know, but I didn't feel obliged to.

  All I did in this place was craft weapons 24/7. When Joe wasn't around, I would pick up scrap pieces of metal and make toys out of them - it was entertaining and actually contained interesting mechanics. Unlike boring swords, shields, bows, arrows, axes and all those collections of heavy unwelcoming stuff. (I'm serious. Have you lifted one of those things? They feel like the weight of 15 elephants.)

  It was never fun sitting there hammering the weapons. With each hit I missed home even more. With each hit I missed my friends even more.

  With each time I heard the chatter of the other crafters, I dreamed more of how popular I was back then, while no one knew me or cared about me wherever I was.

  I hated the feeling of being alone...and lonely.

  A loud, violent knock was heard on the shed's door.

  Blacksmith Joe stood up and walked towards it. "GET TO WORK, YOU LOT! I'LL ANSWER AND YOU KEEP WORKING!"

  He was opening the door in mid-sentence and I could see the figure who knocked the door flinch as he heard Joe's voice. He was wearing the classic costume for knights. A helmet covered all features of his face as if he didn't find the necessity of breathing important.

  "Hello, sir, what are you doing here?" Joe asked him in an accusing tone. I could imagine the wrinkles seizing up on his face and a ridiculously exaggerated frown to complete the nerve wrecking image.

  That seemed just enough to make the knight speechless for a few seconds. "I-I'm here because...uh...general." The nervousness was clear in his shaky tone. The helmet might've disguised his actual voice, but from where I was sitting, which was right behind the door of the shed but curved inwards, creating a space that was like a bigger bathroom stall but without the door to make supervision easy. His voice sounded like a girl trying to pitch down her voice to sound male - I was surprised that I could suppress my laughter as he spoke. I debated whether to poke my head out and have a closer look at the situation.

  "My general ordered me to come here and fetch and extra-" He stopped speaking. He looked directly towards my direction and almost held a gaze with me through the thick exterior of the helmet - it sent a shudder down my spine. I was going to sneak back in but the tension was so strong it kept me rooted in place