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66.66% The Violet Dragon Familiar / Chapter 3: Consequences

บท 3: Consequences

Evan squirmed in his seat.

A few minutes had passed since his dad called him up to his office - Evan had been given some time to change into non-soaked clothing. The old man sat right across from him, at the other side of the desk, sorting through maps and notes.

He had a solid foot over his son in height, and a good bit of muscle on him, too. Since he had been told of Evan's misadventure as soon as he had arrived home, he still had on the fancy blue robes any official of the Emperor's court wore. Once upon a time his cropped-short hair had been the same sandy shade as Evan's, but it had long gone gray. Several thin scars ran across his face - two on his right cheek, another on his temple, and a final one on his forehead, close to his eyebrow. To him they were medals, marks of pride earned from a lifetime fighting in Valoria's name.

The man was the definition of intimidating. It was no wonder that he commanded so much power whenever he entered a room.

Silence filled the office, broken every now and then by the rustle of a sheet of paper or the sound of a stamp being brought down on one. For Evan, it was unbearable.

"So..." out of his father's sight, Evan was wringing his hands together anxiously.

The man's sunken gray eyes flicked to the teen, barely visible under the shine of his glasses. "So?"

"Aren't you gonna yell at me?"

Something unexpected happened: his dad laughed. Reaching to his face, he pulled off his glasses and placed them down.

"What, do you want me to?"

Taken aback, Evan jolted up for a second - then slumped back in his seat.

"I just... I just want to know what you're gonna do to me."

The old man pushed aside the papers on his desk, folded his arms on it, then leaned forward. His pupils seemed to burn into Evan's as their eyes locked.

"Well, let's see here... you made an embarrassment of yourself, you tarnished the family name - what you did's gonna be all over the papers tomorrow, if you didn't know - oh, and you got water all over your mother's favorite couch. It's probably gonna leave a stain."

Every word made Evan shrink back a little more.

"So, what do you think I should do to you, Evan?"

"Uh..." the teen tried to raise his voice over a low squeak, but found it about as difficult as breathing underwater. His heart was pounding, but not in a good way. It was like he had just ran a mile.

"Ground me... for... a week?"

His dad raised an eyebrow.

"T-two weeks?"

With a sigh, the old man shook his head. He reached for his glasses and began to wipe them off with the corner of his sleeve.

"Evan, you... I don't even know what to say." he stared at his glasses, at the maps, at anywhere but his son. "You're not leaving this house for the rest of the summer. And come fall, I'm sending you off to Uncle Lot's."

Now, the first part of his punishment hit Evan hard. But the second was like a sledgehammer.

"Uncle, Uncle Lot? The farmer?" he could barely form sentences. "Why him?"

"You'll be working in his fields." his dad explained. "I've already written him a letter telling him you will."

Evan snapped. "I can't go! What about, what about school?"

"I've written the academy a letter too." while Evan had lost his composure, his father remained as sturdy as a mountain. "I figured you'd be happy about getting a few semesters off."

<A few... a few semesters?>

His jaw dropped.

"Wait, how long am I gonna be there?" he asked.

The general shrugged. "Til' you build some character."

* * *

Evan stomped through the hallway. His dad had just dismissed him from his office, and now he was headed to his bedroom. He would be there... well, for the rest of the summer, he supposed.

Before Evan left, the old man had mentioned something about hiring a person from the church to give him etiquette lessons. Apparently it was his mother's idea... only the best from her. Just another thing to look forward to, in addition to being shipped off to pick turnips for his weird uncle in a month or two.

He thought he'd be spending his summer with his friends. He thought he'd be having fun. And even if things didn't work out, he at least thought he'd be going back to the academy to work towards joining the military. But no. No he wasn't.

And it was all his fault.

As he trudged up a staircase - his room was on the third floor - one of the Thames house's many servants caught up to the young man. The staff usually avoided talking with the family, but this case was different. It was Pieter, the same butler who had given Evan a towel earlier that day. Out of all the servants in the Thames's employ, he was the one Evan was closest with.

"Evan, don't be angry about this..."

"Oh, what, just... how?! How am I supposed to not be angry about this?!"

Evan didn't even bother to look at the old man. Reaching the top of the staircase, he sped up as he rounded a corner. He didn't feel like talking with anyone right now... he just wanted to beat something up. Pieter shifted to a jog to keep up with him.

"Your father just wants what's best for you, you know that."

"Just shut up, okay?" reaching his door, Evan tore it open. Pieter stopped behind him.

"Y-your grandfather sent you something."

Evan stopped too.

"Gramps?" he turned around.

Pieter had a parcel in his hands, wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string. It had a letter attached to it, which Evan could make out some words on: "To Evan Thames."

"There was a note included." Pieter handed the package over to Evan. "Read the letter first."

Evan pulled out the envelope, but paused to shake the package a bit. He could feel and hear what was inside... it slid around under the paper, making a distinctive metallic jingle as it did. Some sort of chain? Whatever it was, it didn't weigh that much.

He turned his attention to the letter, which he ripped open. The paper inside was wrinkled, sepia-tone like a photograph - parchment, that's what it was called. It was written in black ink, and clearly by his grandfather's hand.

* * *

Dear Grandson,

I've missed you! Apologies for not writing more, I just haven't been able to find the time.

This letter will be brief. I've found something, and I want you to keep it safe for me. For the time being, keep it somewhere in your room, or in the house, anywhere will do. I will need you to bring it to someone soon, but I don't know where they're currently staying. I'll write you another letter when I find that out.

DO NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE.

See you soon! (Hopefully)

* * *

This letter... this letter was the first he had heard from his grandfather since he had left on an airship to the Republic. Two years of silence had just been broken.

Growing up, Evan's father had always been too busy with his military work to spend any time with his son. Instead, Evan had Grandpa Ryner, or as he preferred to be called, Gramps. The man was ancient, but always seemed to be in good shape, especially for a veteran of the Orc Wars. Most of his military buddies that Evan had met were missing at least a couple fingers.

Even as he had gotten older, even when his dad had made the old man move out, Evan had stayed close with Gramps. His dad liked to think it was he who inspired his son to join the academy, but in reality, it was his grandfather's stories. Evan could listen to them for hours and not get bored. They were tales of the battlefield, of traveling the world, of adventuring to new and strange places - they gripped him more than any book could.

Their connection had only stopped when Gramps boarded that airship. He barely told Evan a thing about why he was headed to the Republic... something about an expedition, whatever. And now, he had sent him this cryptic letter, and a package he couldn't even open.

Evan didn't know whether to feel mad or not.

"What's it say?" Pieter asked. The teen folded up the parchment into a tiny rectangle, then shoved it in his pocket.

"Nothing." he said.


บท 4: The Mysterious Necklace

As soon as he stepped in his room, Evan had changed into pajamas and flopped down on his bed. He laid above the covers... he didn't have the energy to pull them over himself.

Today had been draining.

Time ticked by slowly. He didn't know how long he had been laying there for. An hour, maybe two. Three, even? It was hard for him to remember, and even harder for him to care. He was just so burnt out... everything sucked.

Being grounded was gonna be the worst. Moving to Uncle Lot's was gonna be the worst. And those etiquette lessons were definitely gonna be the worst. But, what was the worst of all?

His date with Ellie. It was supposed to be tomorrow. He'd have to miss it.

Evan pounded his fist against his forehead.

<Whatever... Sam was right. "I'll consider it" just meant no... I'm so fucking dumb.>

He hit himself again.

He shouldn't have gone to the baths. He shouldn't have climbed on that stupid beam. The girls there weren't even that cute.

<I just want to sleep...>

The teen rolled over, grabbing his pillow and fluffing it back up. He was trying to make himself more comfortable, but something caught his eye.

On his desk were the envelope and package Gramps had sent him. Glancing at them, Evan thought about the contents of the letter. Specifically, the last line.

DO NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE.

All capital letters, super-serious. It really pushed aside those bad thoughts, made Evan wonder... just what was beneath that paper and string?

With a lot of effort, Evan slid his tired legs over the side of his bed. He propped up his arms on his bent knees, still messing with his pillow. The package was right there, just a few feet away. He stared at it.

<Should I...?>

Well, Gramps knew how curious Evan was. He probably expected him to take a peek. No harm in it, right? And besides, his life was ending at the end of the summer when he left to work at Uncle Lot's, so really, what did he have to lose?

Tossing the pillow towards the front of his bed, Evan got to his feet. He stretched, yawning loudly, then collapsed in his desk chair, swiveling it around. Taking one last look at the letter, he cast it aside.

<Alright...>

He took the package in his hands, giving it a shake like he had done before. It made that same jingling noise... gingerly, Evan slid a finger beneath a spot where two of the strands of white string crossed over. Pushing them upwards, he used his other hand to undo the knot that was there, then stripped all of the string away. All that was left now was the paper. He found where it folded over, then unwrapped it.

Inside was a long, glimmering chain, the individual links so small and close together it looked like a rope of steel... Evan lifted it up to view it closer. Hanging from it was a thin, polished, violet-colored amethyst, cut in a pointed oval shape and set in the middle of a large silver ring. One of the oval's points was at the top of the ring, opposite where the chain was attached, and the other was at the bottom. Combined with the negative space and the ring's outline, it almost resembled the pupil of some sort of eye... the moonlight cast on through Evan's window gave the entire thing a bright shine.

<A necklace? Well, I don't see why Gramps would be so secretive about a necklace... sure is pretty, though.>

Suddenly, that shine grew even brighter.

Yelping, Evan dropped the necklace to the ground. It landed with a clattering noise... the teen gripped his hand tightly, trying to stop the pain.

In an instant, the chain had suddenly grew unbearably hot. The spot of metal that Evan had been in contact with glowed from within, like a sword being forged. Evan stared down at it, then opened his hand back up slowly. A thin red mark ran across his fingers... the necklace had burned him.

* * *

Breathing heavily, Evan raced through the streets of Dewton. He nearly tripped on his untied shoelaces - he had been in such a rush to get out he forgot to tie them, or do any more than throw a coat on over his pajamas.

Sneaking out on the first day he was grounded wasn't the best, but there was someone he had to talk to: Ellie. The girl was the only person he knew who seemed to know a thing about magic or other weird stuff.

He reached the marketplace by the river. Though he had visited it just that afternoon, it felt like a lifetime had gone by. At night, the place looked completely different. Most of the colorful tents had come down, and the few that stayed there were bathed in moonlight. The swimming reflections cast off the river's churning water gave everything an eerie appearance.

"Please be here, please be here, please be here..." he begged under his breath.

With no bustle to push his way through, it was a short path to Ellie's tent. She told him that sometimes she stayed the night there, when she didn't want to see her grandfather. He prayed that the old man had been rude to her recently.

"Ellie, Ellie!"

The tent obviously didn't have a door, so he was left to call out her name to try and rouse her. He rattled the length of chain that served to secure the tent's flaps at night... the lock was facing in, so that meant she was there.

"Wh... who..." after a few seconds, Evan could hear Ellie's groggy voice coming from inside. "Who's there?"

"Ellie!" he shook the chain again, just to try and wake her up some more. "It's me, Evan!"

"Evan?" he could hear her getting up. A light came on inside the tent, and the chain began to shake from the other side. Before he knew it, he was standing face to face with Ellie, a candle in her hand. She wiped the sleep out of her eyes with her wrist. The girl had on a pinkish nightgown made from thin fabric... one of the straps hung loose over her shoulder. Evan tried to keep his eyes off it and his mind on what he had come here for.

"What... what is it?" once she spotted Evan staring, Ellie fixed her strap. There was a twinge of anger in her voice, same as would be in anyone's if they were woken up late at night.

"I need to show you something!" Evan said frantically, digging into the pocket of his coat. From it, he pulled out the necklace. Part of it he had wrapped with some of the brown paper it arrived in, which he figured would block out the heat.

Ellie stared at the dangling jewelry with an unamused expression, then her eyes moved to Evan's. Her glare pierced into him.

"If this is some kind of stupid present..."

"No, no!" Evan said. "It burned my hand!"

She suddenly became more awake. "Excuse me?"

"Here, watch." deciding the best way to show what happened was a demonstration, Evan took the necklace with his other hand, dropping the protective paper covering.

To his surprise... nothing happened.

"Wait, wait." he gripped it tighter, making sure to touch the same area he had before, but still... nothing. "It, uh, it worked just a little bit ago..."

Ellie interrupted him, grabbing his wrist and giving it a squeeze.

"Did you say it... burned you?" as she asked her question, she looked him right in the eye.

<Oh man, her hand is so soft...>

"Evan?"

"Oh!" he snapped out of it. "Yeah, it burned me!" opening up his other hand, he turned it around to show her the mark it had left. The red line had faded a bit, but was still clearly visible. Ellie let go of his wrist, taking his burnt hand in hers to bring it closer.

"Oh... oh, dear." wide-eyed, she stumbled over her words. "Are, are you sure it was the necklace?"

<Man, her hand is soft!...>

"Evan?"

"Oh! Um, yeah, it went all... glowy." he said. A grimace twisted the girl's lips as she drew her hand back. Evan didn't notice, but it was trembling. "I don't really know how to describe it..."

"I'm taking this." she said, snatching it from him... but she hastily gave it back, shaking her head. Confused, Evan just went with it. "No... keep it. Come back tomorrow... what time was the, uh, the carnival you mentioned?"

Evan was taken aback. "Wait, but-"

"Answer the question!" she snapped.

"Well, the carnival goes all night..."

"Wonderful!" Ellie smiled awkwardly. "We're definitely going! It's a, it's a date, are you happy?! We can hold hands, and you can, um... buy me food?"

Evan raised an eyebrow.

"Ellie, you're acting kind of-"

"See you tomorrow, stop by anytime, bring the necklace!" she rushed out some words as she disappeared back into her tent. Evan stepped to follow, but Ellie closed the flaps, locking them back up from inside. "Goodnight!"

Evan stood there for a few seconds, hands in his pockets. Turning around, he began to walk home... he couldn't see inside the tent, but he could hear Ellie busily packing up.

He had a strange feeling in his gut about the necklace. Like it had some kind of... significance, or something. Why else would Ellie act that way? Eventually, he just sighed, idly kicking away a nearby stone.

<Well, I didn't learn anything... but at least I got a date.>


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glennfletcher glennfletcher

Hey guys! I've updated older chapters to fix lore inconsistencies/add more detail/correct errors. Check 'em out!

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