The Prophecy of Valor: The Hero Rises

Chapter Two: Milo-I Accidentally Save a Dying Duke

I woke up early this morning to help my mother set up the bakery. My mother owned a bakery right across the street where we lived. My mother made me work there after school and on weekends and practically whenever I had any free time, but I didn't mind. After all, business was usually slow, the cafe seats were cushioned enough to comfortably do homework on, and it was practically an all-day-everyday pass to all of the chocolate muffins I could wish for. Yep, life was good.  

The bakery was a small, cozy building on the outskirts of town, the kind of place that would get swallowed up by all of the larger buildings surrounding it from all sides, so much that even if you passed right by it, you wouldn't even notice it unless you looked close enough. The bakery wasn't much, but to me, it was my entire childhood. I remember everything here, from my birthday parties to my graduations, and I would do anything to keep it running.

When I finally biked my way up to the store, I was surprised to see lines of people filed outside the bakery doors, waiting for them to open. strange I thought to myself. In all my 14 years of working here (including all the "workdays" I skipped for the first eleven years of my life), I had never seen so many people waiting to come in the bakery before, especially not an hour before the store even opened.

As I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, I began to realize why there were so many people waiting outside.

"Look, look," screamed a little girl," Mr. King is looking for a hero!"

"You should go, daddy!" screeched another.

Finally, I got close enough to the front of the crowd to read a poster that somehow got pasted on the door. The poster read: "Our beloved king is looking for a hero to accompany him on a quest. Any young man between the ages of 14 years to 18 years is eligible to compete on the second Tuesday of the month."

"So that's what all the commotion was about!" I said to myself while chuckling as I came in the bakery door making sure to come in as quickly as possible and lock it before anyone outside thought the shop had opened early. In the bakery I was pleasantly greeted by the sound of my mother's voice.

"That's a whole lot of people out there!" my mother yelled to me from across the kitchen. I could see her covered in flour (as she always was) whisking away at the last batch of cupcakes that she was supposed to put in the oven an hour ago, I presumed. My mom was always like that. She would always forget to do things when she was supposed to and only remember to do them the next day. That's why she needed me, her right-hand man (almost) that would do all the extra things she would need help with while she finishes off all of yesterday's work.

"I know!" I yelled back.

"Isn't it crazy!" answered my mother. Now she was finally putting the cupcakes into the oven, but the real question is whether she will burn them or not. "Business will be booming today-and I don't even have a clue why?"

"It probably has something to do with the poster you pasted on the front door, the people outside seemed really interested in that."

"What poster?"

Before I had the chance to answer my mother's question, the alarm that meant that it was time to open shop (and take the cupcakes out of the oven) went off.

ring, ring

Before we knew it, costumers were flooding out the front door, filling up the cafe seats, and forming yet another line that stretched out until the end of the street. Soon enough, the bakery alone was as loud as a concert, and I was serving twelve cups a minute to people I didn't even know existed. 

"So much for the shop that nobody visited!" I barely heard my mother say from amidst all the noise. 

"What?" I habitually screamed back.

"Never mind!"

All over the cafe there was chatter about the king's poster and everyone I met was asking me a million questions a second as if by some miracle I knew more about the poster than what was written on it.

"How did you receive the news?" I heard a woman ask me.

" I don't know, it just showed up on the door." I replied

Clearly dis-satisfied with the answer, the woman left the cafe altogether with her two young kids.

"Her loss!" I muttered to myself. I wasn't normally this pessimistic but I had just worked well into 6 hours nonstop. "I hope everyday isn't like this."

Suddenly, an old man collapsed to the floor and the whole cafe went silent. The old man was dressed as a beggar so I assumed half of the people in the cafe had only quieted down because everyone else had.

I had become paralyzed. My fingers and toes became numb and the air was starting to get humid around me. Since I was the one closest to the man, it was as if all eyes were on me. For a few seconds, all I could do was stand and watch, like everyone else in the room, but something, a quiet voice inside, told me that I couldn't just leave the poor old man like that, beggar, and all. I just had to do something.

Without even giving it a second thought, I latched onto the man by the arms and, using all the little strength I could summon out of me, jolted the man up, and laid him face-up on the nearest chair I could find, ushering my mom to go call the paramedics. While the paramedics were on their way, I furiously thrust at the old man's heart until I saw some life come out of him. 

After a few seconds, the man began to cough. 

"cough, cough. " The man spoke waspily, "Did I scare you, young man?"

Immediately afterwards, the sound of clapping came from all over the cafe, all around me people were cheering my name, and at that moment I felt on top of the world.  I mean, who didn't want to feel like one of the heroes in the books they read about, only, this time, they were the one doing the hero-ing.

Soon after, the paramedics came and rushed the old man to the hospital.

"You, kid!"

I looked up to see who was calling my name, only to find that one of the paramedics was trying to get my attention.

"Yeah..." I said, half questioning whether the paramedic was talking to me or a person behind me (although, when I turned to look behind me, I didn't see anyone standing there).

"Nice job helping up the duke, you see, he has health issues and normally someone..."

My thoughts drained out the rest of what the paramedic was saying as my eyes widened upon hearing the duke's name.  The duke? It can't be? Why would the duke walk into the practically-invisible cafe, let alone dressed like a beggar? Dukes are supposed to wear fancy stuff and crowns all day, not practically ripped-apart rags. And then faint? and the flyer, something just doesn't add up!

"Right?" I was jolted out of my daydream to the sound of the paramedic's voice.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, totally! Sorry, what where you saying?" I replied cluelessly. I have this habit of randomly slipping into a daydream when people talk too much. That's why all my friends don't talk endlessly around me because they know I won't listen anyway. Unfortunately I can't say the same about all my teachers.

"Oh, I was just saying that this place is completely underrated, I mean, this coffee is amazing. Hey, you should really try out for "The King's Trial", you know, that thing written on the poster all over the cafe, I noticed it when I went to grab me a cup, you might actually have a shot at it." the paramedic finally finished.

"Oh, sorry, I'm really not the "soldier" type of person." 

"Oh well, just think about it, kid, this kingdom could really use such a helpful person like you." and with that, he left.