The rise of the idiot

The sound of broken chains went up, followed it was a loud thud that
echoed throughout the dark room. The arms of the dormant young boy
were freed as he fell from the wall, while his legs remained chained, falling
head first into the ground.

“Ouch!” he said while opening his eyes.

“What just happened..?” looking around, yet unable to see through the
thick cloak of darkness. “Is there not a nicer way to be woken up?”

He raised his right hand towards his forehead, around where he bashed it.

“Oh wait, they are not chained anymore! My hands are my hands again!”
joyfully said, then he tried to pull his legs out but to no avail “ My legs are
still stuck, but this metal doesn’t feel as hard as I remember, so is there a
way I could break it?”

He reached his left hand into the void as if searching for something. After
letting it flutter around a bit, he grabbed onto a bar looking item: a thin
rod with a sharp edge that looks like it’s been detached from a head it
used to hold there.

“Oh, it is still here!” with a smirk on his face, raised it with both of his
hands, then stabbed his newly acquired key into the chains repeatedly,
breaking them while piercing both of his feet in the process.

Eventually, he managed to stand up, but the celebrated look on his face
didn’t last much as staying up was a struggle for his shaky legs that gave
up in less than a minute. He sat down again, letting his eyes roam free to
scan his surroundings, but there isn’t much to see due to how dark this
piece is. The only thing to see is a single line of dim light coloring the
ground, cutting through the brimming darkness.

On all fours he crawled towards it, and upon reaching it, the curtain
tackled him. Planting his hands into the soft tissue that showed a yellow
color, his legs had enough support to hold the bodyweight. In the process,
a rupture sound echoed and it got more aggressive the more force he
used to stand before it eventually tore apart, slowly falling to the floor.

Not wanting to go down again, his hands rushed to the front latching onto
a white flat wooden piece that was in front of the window which was
inviting the light in. The shocked boy had his eyes wide open while looking
down into the small town with roofs of all sizes and color, shops that had
their hanging signs dancing in the air, all under the golden light of the
sun, with the horizon hidden behind a big wall circling the town.

The boy opened the window happily saying : “I… I can reach this now! Just
how much did I reside in here?” Then a gust of wind invaded his small
cage as if welcoming him back to the world, he followed up saying “ I
am… alive now. I can leave this, I can go out of this prison for once, and
there wont be a twice. I kept Rakos waiting until today and it waited
patiently. It’s all good now, the wait is over now.”

The young hero turned back to take the broken rod, to aid him while
walking, then took a last look around, saying goodbye to the remnants of
his memories, and to the reek of the room. Our boy with the white hair
faced the window again, stood on it, threw the rod and jumped down the
tower towards the land, with the smile of a pure, young child.

Halfway through his fall, hugged by the wind and the golden ray of a
setting sun, he felt an awful breeze. Then it hit him: the cloth he thought
was around him is nonexistent, but is just completely naked. After falling
and landing in a thorny bush decorated by white flowers that have
spiraling petals, he picked his trusty metal stick again, thinking where
could he obtain some clothing.

Seeing the small river in front of the base of the tower he jumped from,
and not wanting to be seen naked, he went swimming. The pure, cold
water cleaned his body from the dirt and blood that covered him since
falling, and after going around the body of water a bit, there was a tall
man standing on the other side. After hearing a weird noise from the
water, the old man asked with a tired, squeaky voice:

“ Is there anyone near?”

Hesitant to answer but doing it anyway, Atuko said : “Yes, I am here.”

-“Oh thank goodness, I lost my coin bag but I heard a splash sound when
it fell so I’m afraid it’s in this river. Could this blind man ask you to assist
him in his search?

-Sure, but will I get something in return?

-So long as I’m able to provide it, I’ll be more than happy to repay you.

-Is a set of clothes too much?

-Not at all young soul, if we were to find it, I’ll get you the set your eyes
wish to have.”

Getting his affirmation, Atuko took a deep breath and dived down.
Immediately, there was no sign of coins nor a bag, then he continued
down until he could walk on bottom of the river. With mini jumps to walk
around, there was a shaking sound that caught his attention from behind.
The source came from a Kesh; [fish thing], that had the bag stuck around
its teeth.

The closer the boy got, the further the creature got. After pointlessly
chasing it, he swam back up.

-“Did you find it?” said the old man with an excited voice.

-“Find it? Yes, I did. Got it? Not really. Its stuck around this thing, a Keke or
whatever it was called.

- Oh just a Kesh, but they are fast swimmers. Thanks for your time, but I
suppose I’ll have to call som-.”

“No need”, he said interrupting him while reaching onto the rod he left up,
“I’d like to see how fast they swim if I get them.”

Immediately after his sentence was done, he went for a second round,
chasing the sound of the riches hitting each other until he saw a school of
Kish that took the aggressive against him now. The rich Kesh wasn’t
running away, but rather bringing backup, but what’s a bunch of fish for
an idiot with a weapon?

It was troublesome, embarrassingly troublesome as the thrown weapon

didn’t hit a single of the 18 targets. Slowly, each one of them took a small
bite from the boy’s body until he angrily shouted in his head “I CAN BITE
ASWELL YOU DUMB, DAMNED, THIEVES.”

In his madness, grabbing the one stuck between his elbow and core, he
opened his mouth wide that was filled with water and bit the prey’s head
off. Witnessing the blood that swam with the river water, the remaining
Kish escaped, except the rich Kesh that was already exhausted. Retrieving
his lost weapon, he took the bag letting the fish go, and resurfaced, but
snatching a few pieces of gold first.

“-Mister, I have it with me now!” he shouted.

The blind man rushed towards his voice until the sound of the water got
too loud, finally kneeling down. He laid his hands out in a cupped position
facing the sky, and Atuko filled them with the retrieved treasure.

With tears clearly formed under his shut eyelids, and a shaky voice : “I
thank you from the bottom of my heart, how I could ever repay you?…. Oh
right, clothing! Look around and tell me if someone’s clothes caught your
interest.”
The streets weren’t crowded as night time was coming up, but there was
one kid around Atuko’s age and size who was wearing black pants and a
red shirt under a dark gray jacket. The pants had front pockets and darker
vertical stripes going from the bottom to halfway the distance separating
the foot from its knee, and while the details of the shirt weren’t
observable from this far-away, the jacket had the sleeves rolled back a bit
and gray buttons to close it up.

Pulling his hand out of the water, Atuko pointed to the boy and said “ This
one’s.”

“….which one? Replied the old man.

- The boy standing over there, there’s no one around beside him to begin
with.”

- And where is this over there? I can’t see.

- Oh that’s right.” He got out of the water, stood next to the man and said:
“Turn a bit to your left, not this much, now a bit more to the right. Alright,
now he’s in directly in front of you.”

With further information such as approximate height and distance, the old
man pulled a gun out and shot the costume holder who fell down
alongside his bloody, blasted-off head.

“Those clothes are now all yours. I hope you are pleased with what this
old man was able to provide for such an important deed.”

“The little boy is pleased and also thanks the old man for keeping his
promise.” He answered joyfully .

Atuko crawled towards his “rightfully” earned clothes, leaving the metal
rod near the flowing water. In the meantime, the man went his way until
he felt his wallet was slightly lighter even when though it was tightly
closed. Thus, he turned back and his squeaky voice went much deeper
and menacing as he said:

“ Return what you stole from me you crooked bastard!”

Not getting an answer right after he finished his sentence, he shot again
in the same direction but the crawling boy is safe from the high bullet.

“I missed… Curse upon you! You who isn’t any better than a god damned
Kesh, may those…” his sentence was cut as his voice went down and
continued to himself. “It’s just a few coins, I’m better than this.” Then he
went his way.

In the meantime, Atuko stripped the corpse of his reward and put them
on. The wet blood on his perfectly fit costume left him uncomfortable,
obviously shown on his annoyed face.
Wanting a cleaner fit, he looked around. Nothing in sight that could help
him other than the river. He thought to himself: “I hate that place, I don’t
want to go back. I’ll just a find a shop or something. Who knows how this
world functions anyways.”

After taking the hard stick with him, he set foot on the stone plates
making up the way. Night time was approaching, so the doors were
closing, one after the other. The houses were around the same height,
housing two stages, but of varying colors. But a shorter turquoise house
with a flat white roof had an orange light come out the window that itched
the little thief’s curiosity. He looked through the window to see a big man
sitting alone on his table, with his right facing the window. His left arm was
laying on the table and the other was holding his rested face, seeming lost
in his thoughts.

Atuko knocked on the door. The man told him to enter as the other wasn’t
locked. The small guest was looking around the small house that was just
a room with painting on the right wall, a table to the left, and further down
to the left was another room that was dark. On the walking facing the
entrance was some piled woods and a pair of shoes lying on them.

As the bearded man spoke, the room was filled with a deep voice:

“ How could I help you, mister child?”

Upon a better look, he noticed the blood all over the clothes of the wet
boy, getting him to stand up due to utter shock:

“Are you okay?” he said with a rushed voice, opposing the one used in his
“greeting”.

“Oh I’m fine, just looking to clean these. Do you have something or
anyone really that can aid my case? I don’t want to stay in this town any
longer.”

Seeing the smile of the guest made the owner calm down, then he added:
“I can take care of your clothes, but you take a shower or a bath. It’s cold
aswell, spend this night here and you can leave at dusk.”

As he stood up, Atuko said: “But without them, I’ll be naked again…”

To which the man replied: “Go bathe, I’ll handle your garments and pass
you a blanket or something when you are done. I’m not excited to take
clothes that are half my size’s.” He said jokingly before laughing.

He entered the dark room and turned on it’s light, and in it was revealed a
small dug area to hold the shower water with a washing machine close to
it. Following the man’s orders, he went to clean himself while the blood
was getting removed off his set.

In the bath, Atuko was thinking to himself: “….how does one bathe? Prior
to that river, I cant remember when I saw water, let alone do this.” After
analyzing the small bathroom, he found that the height of the [7affeh] was
convenient to his if he sat down. And so he did. Then he turned on the
water and filled the tub until only his head was free. “Is that how it’s
done? Water cleans, and I’m in the water so I’m clean now! At least I hope
so…”

After residing wet for a while, he took the towel placed on the loud
washing machine then, after he became dry, heard the man saying:

“The clothes to your left are mine, but wear them in the meantime that
yours are ready.”

He put the big blue shirt on that covered him shoulders till above knee
level and pants with a darker shade of blue. After getting out, he noticed
that they both were wearing the same shirt, and that the big guy had dark
shorts instead.

“Ah, you finally got out. Here take a seat.”

Atuko held the seat that was near the man and took it in front of the door
from which he entered from, then took his place as told.

“Oh wow, you actually took that seat” and he said and laughed, unable to
continue his sentence with a straight face “I don’t know who you are kid
and what your goal is but for sure, you are amusing.”

The child started and the man, comparing how he first saw him to how he
is currently, then shook the thought off to answer him:

-“My goal is to discover all of Rakos. Every land and structure it presents, I
will witness them.”

-“Being born a dark-eyed isnt helping your case my child. Nonetheless,

that’s…a beautiful…dream.” Then he started to seem down again.

-“ Big guy, are you okay?”

-“ You share the same dream as my late son.”

-“ If he’s late, he’ll just come back soon. What’s sad about it?”

The man looked at him with a mix of shock and sadness in his eyes, then
with a light smile replied:

-“ Who knows, you might be right… Pipsqueak, what do you think my

name is?”
-“ Big guy!” he said without a second thought, but instead came from the
bottom of his heart.

-“ Then I’ll call you small guy. Say, small guy, do you have a plan? How
exactly do you want to go through this dream of yours?”

-“ I’ll just leave this night since everyone is down. I haven’t thought
further than that. I said my journey will build itself by itself.”

-“ How do you plan on passing through the 3 Great Walls?”

-“ The ones circling this town, right? I have this rod” he said, pointing at
the window “ I placed it on your flower beds. I remember a nest of animals
who walk on their stomachs with an egg planted on their back where lies
their heart before re-living. They have sharp teeth, so I’ll hunt them, use
their teeth as claws and climb.”

-“ Using [name], not a bad one kid. Then the patrol on the mountain?”

-“ Eh? Mountain? Patrol?”

-“….yeah? You live here, how do you not know that we live on a
mountain?”

-“ I have been asleep since I was child. There was no moon in the sky at
the time.”

-“THAT’S AT LEAST 9 YEARS!” he shouted, slamming the table with his

hands and standing up from utter shock. After calming down, he followed
up: “The third moon is now up and clear, say, just , how could you sleep
this long “

-“I don’t remember, I just remember being hanged on the wall until earlier
today.”

The room was loud with the silence exchanged between the two sides,
then was broken by the beeping of the machine that now must be
manually flipped into drying mode. After the man was gone, Atuko saw
that next to where he was sitting was a trapdoor planted in the floor.

-“You clothes should be ready soon. Now allow me to aid you. I’ll cover the
basics and you execute.”

-“…sure.” He said, hesitant, thinking that the fun would be killed like this.

-“ Our village of [think of a name later] is situated in an important

location: the top of this mountain that forms a strong natural barrier
against most ground raids, and the sky is safe thanks to our king who,
through his successor, formed an alliance with the People of the Clouds.
But given that us, the black-eyed tribe remain the weakest, our king
[7awwat] our town with the 3 Great Walls that possesses no entrances nor
exists. Are you with me so far?”

-“… the king. The big black armored one right?”

-Yes that’s him. To pass those 3 walls, your idea works well enough. Just
don’t get caught. As for the patrol, try finding the cave entrance before
going further down. And if the light of their torches gets too bright, hide
anywhere. At. All. Costs.”