David woke up again in the guest room. This bit of extra sleep did help him quite a lot. He not only felt well rested, but his headache was barely noticeable as well. He groaned as he stretched his body on the bed, loosening his joints before getting up and about.
Sunshine was pouring in from the windows, while the candle that Sturdy left on the nightstand was still burning, although the light it provided was insignificant compared to the Sun's. He put his index finger and thumb together, licked them and extinguished the light between them, there was no need to waste a candle for this.
He proceeded to one of the windows to take his first glance of the outside. He saw a dirt road, with wooden houses on both sides. All of them had the same type of architecture. Snow covered almost everything, except the road, which was bustling with the same kind of creatures his hosts were. They came in all colors and shapes, some of them had wings on their backs or horns on their foreheads. All of them were happily walking along the road, going about their days.
David relaxed for a moment as he watched these creatures moving to and from. It felt as if he had done this many times before, but elsewhere. After he had unwound himself a bit, he turned right around towards his messy bed. He decided that this time he won't leave it in this shape again and actually made the bed for himself. After he was done, he looked over his work and smoothed out any remaining bumps and wrinkles in the sheet. He would not settle for anything less than perfection. When the bed's flatness finally reached his expectations, he started searching for Sturdy.
David descended the stairs and arrived at the dining room. He didn't see Sturdy, but he saw the apple on the table, which was left there by his friend earlier. He went into the kitchen to check if Sturdy was there by any chance, but he found nobody there as well. He concluded that his friend must be in the basement, looking over his stuff again and taking even more notes of them.
He went towards the door leading down to the lower level of the house, grabbing the apple from the table while walking.
David didn't even make it halfway downstairs, he was already hearing Sturdy mumbling to himself. He was sitting on a ragged looking pillow on the floor, his back turned towards the stairs and hunching over David's book.
"I hope you are not trying to read it," said David jokingly. He waited for Sturdy to turn around and tossed him the apple, "Thought you might want to finish this."
Sturdy caught the apple with ease while smiling and rolling his eyes at David, "Even my own hoofwriting is more comprehensible than the language this book has been written in," shot back Sturdy, then looked at the fruit, "Oh, I already forgot about this," he took a bite as soon as he finished the sentence, then excitedly motioned for David to come closer to him, "This book is full of hoof-drawn pictures and they are amazing!" he said the last word in a higher tone.
David did what Sturdy wanted him to do and took a look at the book himself. The picture, which Sturdy talked about, was completely colorless and covered a whole page. It depicted a dirty-looking boy with expensive silk clothing carelessly hopping along a busy cobblestone road, pushing people out of his way. There was a tall, muscular man behind him in armor, presumably some kind of guard, who was following him and desperately trying to stop him.
"This drawing is the most perplexing for me. I can't even fathom what is going on on it."
"Well, the boy in the middle seems to be a trouble-maker and this guard," David pointed at the tall man, "is attempting to stop him."
"Fascinating," Sturdy pulled out his quill and notepad from his suit and wrote down what David said.
"But I can just read the story out loud for you, I might regain some memories from it, and you get to better understand the illustration," suggested David and without waiting for a response from his host he picked up the book from the floor.
"I was just about to ask you," Sturdy rotated himself on the pillow to face David, while he took his linen coat from the table and placed it on the floor, then sat on it. He put the book into his lap and opened it at the beginning of the story. He glimpsed at Sturdy, seeing if he was ready for him to start. Sturdy eagerly nodded, "You can start now."
David turned his attention back to the book and started to read out loud, "The tale of Jayden..."
There once lived a boy, his name was Jayden. He was the son of the wealthiest merchant in Crektam, a large city by the sea. He was quite a misbehaving child, his daily routine was this. He always woke up late, at around noon in his room, where a dozen servants waited for his awakening. When he sat upright in his bed, he was immediately fed and clothed in the finest clothes of the town. All the while, Jayden scolded and swore at his personal servants for everything. He was not grateful for their work, in fact, he despised them very much.
After he finally got out of his bed, he took a walk in the mansion in which he lived in and complained. He complained about the marble floor, the red carpets, the silk curtains and the colored glass windows. It was difficult to mention something that the boy did not dislike. And his poor servants were the ones who had to go around and change the carpets and curtains in a futile attempt to please Jayden, which was impossible.
After Jayden had grown tired of scolding his servants, he stepped outside his mansion and went for a nice and relaxing walk. Inside the town, he would wreak havoc, he criticised everybody and everything. And when something caught his eyes, he would just simply grab it and walk out of the store with it. Nobody dared to stand up to him in fear of invoking his father's wrath, only the town priest. He threatened him that the Great Lord Zoh will grow tired of his behavior and one day the Great Lord Zoh would punish him. Of course, the boy did not listen to the priest and continued on with his evil acts.
The boy's father was displeased with his son's wrongdoings, as expected. So he hired a guard to put a stop to his son's mischievous behavior and went back to managing his businesses. Unfortunately, the guard wasn't successful at putting a stop to Jayden's wicked tricks, and sometimes his tries would even amplify the effects of Jayden's actions. After a while, the townspeople started paying the guard to just leave the boy alone and don't cause any more trouble.
With nobody to stop him, Jayden played as many tricks on the townspeople as he wanted. He went out into the woods and started shouting for help, or he pushed people into the mud after a rainy day, or he simply jumped at them from unexpected places and scared them. The people of Crektam could only hope, that one day someone or something will eventually free them from the boy.
The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months and the months into years. The little boy has grown up, but his behavior did not improve. Until one fateful day.
Jayden did his morning routine with all the scolding and complaining. However, when he stepped outside his mansion an apple smashed into his head from above. It took Jayden by surprise and he quickly ducked and covered his head with both of his hands. When no second apple came, he looked around to possibly shout at the person, who dared to throw a fruit at him. He looked to the left, then to the right and up to the sky. There was no single soul near him, nor was there anything above him, only the clear blue sky.
Now confused, Jayden wiped the apple pieces off of his head and dried his hair with the sleeve of his expensive coat. He tried to forget the incident, and instead went on to torture the townspeople with his endless complaining.
At the market, he saw the fear in the people's eyes. Everybody watched him intently and silently praying in themselves to the Great Lord Zoh. Jayden stopped in front of a food stand. He looked at the salesman with the evilest grim in the world and opened his mouth...
And another apple hit his head. This time Jayden remained standing. The busy market turned silent for a few moments, then everybody burst into laughter. Jayden furiously ordered silence in the market, which he got. He then proceeded to search through the crowd, looking for the culprit. He, of course, accused the nearest person to him, but every time he did that another apple fell on his head and the crowd started laughing, again.
As the tenth apple hit him and his head began to ache, he grew tired and instead opted for a usual trick of his. He went straight into the woods and searched for the bush, in which he would hide and call out for the townspeople to help him against a bear or wolves. However, on his way, he slipped on the wet grass on top of a small hill and rolled down. He tensed his muscles and tried to stop himself from rolling, but he only broke his ankle. He let out a loud scream as the pain suddenly hit him.
Meanwhile, a pack of hungry wolves on the hunt heard his screaming and started heading straight for him.
Jayden finally stopped at the foot of the hill. He was disoriented and he couldn't walk, only jump on one leg. He heard the howls of the wolves and in his panic he shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping that someone would come and save him.
Back in the town, the people heard his shoutings but they thought it to be another trick, so they paid no attention to it.
Jayden got himself in a bad position. As a last attempt, he tried to climb up to the nearest tree, but to no avail. He was already getting surrounded by the hungry beasts. He covered his eyes in fear and, for the first time in his life, he prayed to the Great Lord Zoh. He heard one of the wolves growling and jumping on him and then a loud thunder.
The wolves began to whimper and dispersed in fear. Jayden did not believe in his fortune, so he cautiously opened his eyes. The beasts were nowhere to be seen and the grass turned into ash in a patch right in front of him. He turned his head to the sky, which was clear of any clouds. Then he heard another thunder, and before he could even react, a lightning bolt struck down on him and everything turned black.
Jayden took a peek through his hands and noticed that he still lived. He felt so grateful and happy, he stood up on both legs, and after he felt no sharp pain in his ankle, he jumped in the air with joy. He turned to the sky and showed his utmost gratitude for the Great Lord Zoh by bowing and loudly shouting thank yous. He knew he had just been forgiven and now he must prove his worth, so he immediately ran home to tell his story to the people of Crektam.
The day after, Jayden had changed significantly. He no longer woke up late in the day and always helped his servants from making his bed to cooking. His complaints turned into compliments and the whole mansion of his felt happier and more alive.
In the town, the people were wary of the sudden change in Jayden's attitude. Instead of torturing and making fun of them he gave his money to the poorest, he paid for everything that he stole and he spread his joy to the other people. As expected, the people of Crektam feared this was only a part of his next trick, but as the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months and the months into years, even the most doubtful of the townspeople saw, that Jayden genuinely changed. The town of Crektam became the most famous and prosperous town of them all, and all it took was one boy to change.
The young David looked around in his room after he was finished with the reading. It was dirty and dusty and his bed messy. He was so eager for finally being able to read The Holy Chronicles that he forgot about everything else. He did not waste any more time. He made his bed, paying great attention to make it wrinkle free and he dusted off his bookshelves with an old rag he once tossed in the corner long ago.
The young David stopped tidying his room when he was unable to find more spots with dirt or dust on them. He proudly straightened his back and took another look at his bedroom. This time it seemed more fitting for the newest defender of the realm, although soon he would have to find a place for his armor and weapons. He began thinking about the issue and he reorganized the furniture in his head, trying to fit them in next to his bed. Then the door behind him opened...
Sturdy waved his hoof in front of David to get him out of his daydreaming. He was worried about his friend, he did not know if this was just another vision of his past, or he had a silent mental breakdown.
David blinked for the first time since he finished reading and Sturdy let out a sigh of relief, "Was it another vision?" He inquired.
"Yes," David firmly nodded, "I was in my childhood bedroom and I was cleaning it after I read the story. I thought what happened to Jayden might happen to me as well," David chuckled lightheartedly at his younger self. The strange feeling already told him that you had to work really hard in order to invoke such wrath from the Great Lord Zoh without taking innocent lives.
Sturdy was about to open his mouth when he heard the doorbell. He excused himself and went upstairs. David turned a page in the book to read at least the title of the next story when he was interrupted by his friend rushing down the flock of stairs. His face turned white and shamefully walked up again. This was enough for David to be interested, so he placed the book on the table and made his way up as well.
From the top of the stairs, David saw a grey male unicorn standing in the doorway. He looked at Sturdy with a furious expression on his face, which immediately turned into a fearful one when he noticed him. The pony quickly said goodbye and promptly ran away.
"Who was that?" David went to the door and peeked outside. He barely saw the pony's tail disappearing behind a corner.
"I have to go, you can come as well if you want to," Sturdy got a suitcase from the drawer next to the armor stand and placed the brown hat on his head from the hanger, "It will only ta-" the absence of David cut him short. He hurried back down to the basement to get his warm clothes from the tables. He put on his linen trouser over his short and his linen coat over his shirt, then went back up again.
"We can go now," said David from halfway up the stairs. He didn't even pant from running up and down so fast.
"Alright then," said Sturdy with a fake smile and stepped outside with David right behind him.