The Guardian

Rats kidnap my cheese maker

I couldn't help but smile and nod. Feeling his hand on my shoulder reminded me of Samson. It might have just been a thing with leaders or kings. Rosie, the small Lanta, through her arms in the air and celebrated when I agreed, catching the attention of the crowd.

As they all looked upon us, the king told them proudly about what we pledged to do. They all clapped their hands and yelled in celebration before Vivian quickly put a finger to her lips, telling them to hush. After all, if our cover is blown, the rebellion would end before it even started.

After the celebration died down and they went back to their excited murmuring while doing their jobs, the king took us deeper into the cave to speak privately. The idea of a cave inside of an already gigantic cave was so surreal, but what was more surreal was the gems in the wall lighting up the dark cave as we had gone deeper.

Eventually, we made it to the end of the cave. Against the wall was a makeshift throne, sculpted from a green stone, that the king sat in. He cracked all three of his knuckles in unison, then layed his arms in the three armrests on either side of him, smiling down on us.

"I know your time is dwindling, so I'll make a long story short. They have the majority of our Grove's people. The rest are in hiding or fled to spread word to the other groves spotted around Sedementia. We don't have any weapons or power to fight back, so we've been hiding here, waiting for a pair of heroes that were told to have the power to help us. Standing before me is who I presume to be those heroes. I'm not wrong, am I?"

Me and Rosslyn glanced at each other, then nodded confidently, not being able to think of any other heroes out there jumping at the thought of saving the world. The king reached for a large slab that stood against his throne and turned its colorful end to us. My jaw practically dropped to the floor when I saw what was on it.

It showed hieroglyphics of three men and a rat. One man was dressed in white with a dragon staff, the other wore black and white and had a pirate sword, and of course, the last man had a backpack and wore hunting garmets On his shoulder was a rat with a purple scarf and green eyes. Behind them was none other than the pirate king, a green boned skeleton with a big white beard and red eyes.

Me, Rosslyn, and Mamble were on that slab. It was literally set in stone that we would be the heroes who saved the six kingdoms. The only thing that caught me off guard was the third man. He didn't look like anyone I recognized. Rosslyn didn't seem to know either. She was mainly just checking herself out.

The king handed me the slab gently. It was a lot lighter than I thought it would be. It's just a thin sheet of gemstone with varying colors. It would slide into my backpack easily, but there was something I needed to know.
"Where did you find this?"

He just chuckles and moved his head, revealing an empty slot in his throne where it must have come from.
"Fate brought us to this cave. It knew that we would flee here, and you would find us."

I guess fate was pretty powerful and pretty smart. What are really the chances of someone carving a gem stone throne with three pairs of armrests in some random cave? My guess was no one in their right mind.

After slipping the slab into my backpack, the king got up and pointed at his throne.
"I need you to move thst for me."

Considering the size of the king, I didn't think he was serious, but he definitely was.
"Why can't you?"

"Don't let my powerful demeanor fool you. Without my people, I'm weak. Just look at it as a test of strength."

"How heavy even is that throne?"

"No clue."

With a long exasperated sigh, I walked to the side of the throne and grabbed one of its arm rests before digging my heels into the ground and pushing with all my might. The throne must have weighed a hundred or so pounds because it barely budged as I pushed it with all my might.