Rune Scroll

As the day comes to an end, Winter makes his way through the Vendors lounge. An area where the lower classes go to buy items and Food. An elderly woman working the fruit shop is approached by Winter. The woman looks up at Winter and Smiles gently.

"Hey there Maria! Do you have any Linen Fruit for sale?" Winter approaches the counter, his eyes scanning the food that he could not afford.

"I'm very sorry dear, but we ran out couple of hours ago. My husband will come back with some more next week. Ill save some for you," Maria smiles softly giving the whole area a calming feeling.

"No worries Maria! Just let Victor know that he owes me 4 silver coins for winning that bet haha," Maria chuckles at the comment "He better not be waging any more money to you younglings! I'll have his head for that," Maria laughs a bit and continues taking care of her shop as Winter walks towards the exit of the Vendors Lounge.

Winter chuckles and starts making his way back home through an alley-way right at the end of the vendors lounge. He looks down at the grey pavement counting the cracks that go by. The walls that surrounded the alley-way were old and shattered. The sun slowly disappears from winters sight yet he continues the long walk through the Alley-way. "Was the alley-way always this long? I'm usually at home before the sun goes down..." Winter thought to himself and muttered. He was starting to get anxious as the Alley-way starts getting darker than before, it felt like it was expanding, there was no end to this path. The cement Cracks were no longer visible, the walls were filled with the an endless void, only thing that was visible to him was the Moon right in the middle of the Alley-way.

"I see.... you," A raspy voice is heard from the darkness that shrouds Winter . "Who are you? Where... are you?" Winter replies with a shaky voice as his mind cannot process what is currently happening, "The scroll... Take it... and bring it to me," The voice begins to deepen.

"W-What are you.. Where are you!," Winter begins to shout as he turns his head around trying to locate where the voice is coming from.

A few seconds of silence reassures Winter but that reassurance is immediately destroyed "Child... Bring the scroll to me. This is not-A request, it is a DEMAND," The voice booms the word inside of Winters mind spontaneously.

"Make it STOP.. JUST STOP," Winter cries out in pain as the voice repeats itself over and over. He slowly falls to his knees holding his head and trying to block out the noise.

The voice settles and whispers into Winters ears "You are...nothing but I can make you... powerful"

"Just shut up! What are you!!" Winter shouts as his eyes slowly turn red and insanity begins to settle in his mind little by little.

"I.... am," Before the voice could finish its sentence, Winter closes his eyes and reopens them seeing the bright sun beat down on him. His sweat was covering the cracked cement floor. Walls were flourished with plants and parts of a forest. The Alley-way had returned.

"W-what was that" I couldn't be going crazy could I? It... felt so real, I was there in that darkness, the voice... but where.. how I... I need time. Winter began to cling to the wall as his body became limp. Every step was excruciating. Every blink, burned his eyes, every feeling began to burn his skin. He forced himself to sprint home regardless of the pain he was feeling. The small pokes of a knife drilling into every body part with every movement he made. To Winters surprise, Clark was waiting right there in front of his house.

"Hey! where have you been man. its been like a couple of hours since school and I see you coming drenched in sweat, are you working out? Woah easy there, are you okay?" Winter falls to his knees and throws Clark his keys to the house. "Open the door now," Winter mumbled those words but it was apparent to Clark what he meant. He inserted the key into the hole to unlock the rusty old door and pulled it open. "Lets get you inside man," Clark grabs Winter by the arm and helps him up. "STOP- don't touch me right now just don't... turn on the shower ," Clark nods his head as Winter begins to hyperventilate. "Okay Okay, Its on, lets get you to the shower dude," Clark replies as he fumbles with his fingers not knowing what to do. Winter gradually gets up from the floor and stumbles his way to the hallway that housed the bathroom. He began to take off his clothes and dumped them onto the dirty laundry that was next to the toilet. Soon the cold shower was running onto Winters scorching body.

Winter lets out an audible sigh as shouts to Clark "Hey! Can you Microwave the food!?," "Yeah I got you!" Clark responds. In the dining room, the stove being turned on and the beeps of the microwave are heard. 12 minutes goes by and Winter finally cools off, He grabs a towel and slowly dries himself off as Clark waits in the dining room.

"Hey are you okay? Clark asks as Winter walks into the room Wearing nothing but some shorts and a towel around his neck.

"Yeah.. Don't worry man, I was just really tired? And exhausted. Not to mention I was burning up like a fire haha," Winter chuckles nervously as droplets of water slowly drip onto his dining table

"Hmm, If you say so man. You can tell me anything Winter, you're my brother and I worry idiot," Clark smiles at Winter, Winter slowly smiles back blushes.

"You don't have to be so nice... Anyways lets just drop what just happened. I wanna talk about the Rune Scroll you got!" Winter gets excited as he eats from his plate that Clark made for him.

"You're gonna think I'm playing with you but the truth is, I found on the side of the road when I was heading to school. It was tucked away in some flower shrubs and dirt. I looked around if anyone was pulling a prank and just snatched It," Clark bends down underneath the table to grab the Rune Scroll from his bag as he shows Winter.

"Holy... That's really freaking beautiful man. Have you opened the Scroll yet?," Winter grabs the Scroll from Clark as he inspects it.

"I would if I could. We need a rune reader and those are only sold to Casiam Citizens or Noble Rich people," Clark responds as he sounds bummed out.

"Well, if we cant open it we could always sell it! These things are worth like uh... 30 pounds of gold coins! Unless we get hunted down like animals."

"You really think that happens to people who find Rune Scrolls? I mean yeah, they contain riches and other materialistic things but c'mon, killing someone over it?" Clark begins to laugh a bit over the thought of that.

"I'm being serious Clark. Haven't you heard of the Bounty Hunters who come after stuff like this. They also use Magica man. That type of stuff is dangerous and you never know who could use something like that" Winter tries to forcefully open the scroll to no avail.

"Its not like they would suspect some random kids from WinterHold of all places, to have such an item. Even if they did I would hide it duh. This thing is freaking precious!"

"You say that now but... still be careful who you talk to and try not to lose it, I know your clumsy and all," Winter teases Clark as they both laugh out loud in the empty dining room.

"Hey man, c'mon, even our "Rey" (King) from WinterHold would personally speak to me if I ever told them I had a Rune Scroll"

"Yeah that's probably true, Not to mention the rumors that are going around about him. Hes able to use a special Magica, only known to WinterHold and not only that, They say he has spoken to one of the 4 Royal Gods," Winter looks out of the dining room Window, overlooking the Snowy mountains and a clear view of the Townhall.

"Oh c'mon man. Don't be such an idiot, those are just old tales told by old people. They probably aren't true and lets be realistic. Our old "Rey," being able to use Magica? He's like 90 isn't he? He's a fossil," Clark laughs at his own jokes as Winter holds in his laughter.

"Well, regardless, its not like we are gonna be able to use Magica so lets focus on the Rune Scroll. Have you figured out how it works?" Winter raises an eyebrow.

"Actually yeah, I asked my parents about it and like I said before, the Rune Scroll needs a Rune Reader and something called a USB. Not Sure what a USB is but yeah, we need one of those things. When we get the Rune Reader it should have a socket on the left side to plug in the Scroll, once we do that we need a USB and we plug it in some hole. Once we combine those two The Scroll unravels to us in a digital format? Not sure what that means but yeah. It should show us where to go but we have neither of the items that are essential to this process..." Clark sighs

So you're saying we have a better chance selling it to some rich person? Rune Readers are only bought by the rich or Casiam Citizens and the USB. We have no clue what it is, what it looks like. We got no leads" Clark and Winter both sigh and look at each other. " I mean regardless of the USB we could always ask the Casiam Transfer student, see if she has a rune reader we can "Borrow," for educational purposes duh," Winter being the sly fox he is, initiates what he calls "Plan, trick, and run," "I'll gladly talk to her if that's what you're asking me to do," Clark snickers at Winters dubious plan.

"Its getting darker and the Tundra that comes each year is gonna hit on this day, its better if you get home safely so your parents don't think I'm a bad influence on you," Winter frowns slightly as he tilts his head away from his friend.

"Hey.. C'mon, its not like I care about what my parents say or tell me what to do. It is my life after all and you're my only friend. You're someone I consider family dummy," Clark gets up from his seat as he walks past Winter. He grabs Winters shoulder and smiles softly. "Tomorrow is Friday so look forward to that. And not to mention that cute Casiam girl"

"Haha of course. Thanks Clark, I really appreciate it brother. Ill see you tomorrow!," Winter watches Clark leave through the front door as they wave to each other. He takes a deep breath in and out. Feeling relieved and much better he begins to smile uncontrollably. "If we luck out tomorrow we just might become... Rich...heh," Winter mumbles to himself as he cleans the dining table and room. He spots a note from Clark on the Microwave, it read "Make sure to buy a new Heat stone. Seems like your stove and Microwave are running out. P.S didn't mean to make a mess lol," Winter chuckles and grabs the note from the Microwave and hides it in a box full of Clarks most memorable notes as Winter likes to call it.

The journey begins to unravel. The road to the Royal Three begins and the suffrage of the young teens will get worse. Let the Era of The Royal Gods begin!