A Fortune of Nature

Prologue Draft

A boy rides in the moonlit, snowy path with his horse named Josh. Cold was his sweat-filled body as he rode faster than ever, not sure why or even where he was going. He was running from something, yet he didn't know what... or who? He kept panting, his thighs hurting from the excess of miles he rode with Josh, yet the horse didn't care to complain about his new master. It's as if Josh felt the need to protect the boy from harm, from whatever darkness laid in his mind. The boy whispered constantly to Josh saying, "Please Josh, just another mile until we reach an inn or town. Please boy, please boy". He kept pleading to the horse and the horse obeyed, never straying away.

The boy looked around 15, with auburn hair and deep crimson eyes. He wore tattered, peasant clothes, and his feet laid bare. He felt the winter's breeze gnawing his feet wildly. He looked up at the soon to be a cloudy night, scowling at what he knew would be a cloudy night. Josh was going slower and slower until it stopped, suddenly disobeying his master's pleading. He slumped the boy backward, plummeting into the icy snow. The crimson-eye boy frowned and stood up, snow-covered and all. 

"What was that all about," the boy asked scornfully to the horse as if the horse could understand what the boy was even saying.

"Well, if I were to serve you I must know your name, Master?" said Josh the Horse. The boy, startled and rubbing his eyes as if he was dreaming, was awestruck. Then he glanced down, frowning with tears sliding down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Josh, but I can't tell you my name, I truly cannot tell you, for my name bears a burden, a nasty curse that runs in me like a virus. Please can we just get out of the main road, we have to keep going!" said the boy wickedly, anxiously looking at his surroundings.

"Only if you answer me one question, young Master, for what reason do you hide your name?" asked the horse, looking curiously at his master. Josh got close as if wanting to lick the boy's tears. But, generally enough, horses do not lick their master's tears. Josh observed the boy intently, waiting for a response.

The boy spoke, "I am sad to inform you that I bear a curse. I do not know my name, I forgot as if it was a quill. Forgotten as a stone thrown into the ocean. Abandoned like an unwanted dog." The horse pondered for a moment, he never served a master without a name before. Eventually, Josh conceded and gave his master the opportunity to ride at his back once more. 

"Alright, child, I will grant you the wish to ride on my back. Whilst you remember, if there's a slight chance you do remember your name, then I shall give you a name for now." said the horse, eagerly kicking the snow whilst his new master climbed to his back.

"Oh yeah? What would that name be?" replied the boy, smiling even with his puffy eyes.

"Yes, I have found a noble name for you, my master. The name I've decided to give you is... Grass." said the horse, riding into the night to what seemed to be, finally, a city. The horse neighed loudly and the boy grinned and laughed enjoyably at his new name. Grass and Josh strode forward into the thousand lights and into...

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It was a winter night, cold as if the Gods blew ice upon the cold town of Cornes. Snow poured in softly, but the winds made everything colder. Andrew walked to the mechanic's shop, as he normally does around the evenings. He always got bread from the mechanics there. They always had sympathy for poor old Andrew, even Andrew was surprised by all the food and coins he was given. Then again, the mechanics were dwarfs, dwarfs are treated not too different from beggars in this town. Andrew and the dwarfs shared that connection, or burden, of being looked at with distaste. When Andrew arrived at the shop two dwarfs were already waiting for him, Bennyhammer and Luckyhammer.

As the name suggests the dwarfs were brothers but as appearances go they didn't look similar in the slightest. Luckyhammer, the oldest, was always covered in more soot than the rest of the dwarfs combined. He wore a red shirt with brown overalls and gloves twice the size of his hand. He always smelled like oil or metal or, depending on the day, burnt hair. He had a beard as long as to his bellybutton, ginger to his eyebrows too. He burnt his hair too much that he was bald but you would never see his bald spot because he would cover it with a hat or his welding helmet. He always had pursed lips as if he's tasting oil from his lips. Overall Luckyhammer was a funny looking dwarf, kids bullied him for it and men and women twice his size looked at him with disgust.

Bennyhammer was the contrary. He was like a flawless diamond, perfect. No soot, no oil stains, no bad smells, nothing of the sorts. He wore always a green tunic and shorts. He also was ginger too but the color of his hair was more radiant than Luckyhammer. He didn't have a beard but made up for it with a mustache bigger than his lips. He has a red pompadour that some people look with awe but others, the dwarfs, make fun of. Bennyhammer, much different than his brother, tried so hard to appeal to the common folk that he's become more generally accepted than his brother or the other dwarves. He wasn't a mechanic, although some say he knows more than all the dwarves combined. Bennyhammer was in charge of the finances of the shop, that is the main reason he looked clean.

As Andrew came close to the dwarfs, Bennyhammer ran inside. Andrew came at a stop in front of Luckyhammer and slowly nodded. He didn't shiver, being barefoot and exposed to the cold and all. He had his hood on, which was rare, and wondered if he scared Bennyhammer. Confused, he pulled down his hood to reveal his miserable face.

As his puzzled expression was visible, Luckyhammer smiled and spoke, "Don't yer worry Beggar, he's lookin' for ye stuff," he then licked his red lips, pulled out a cigar, lit it, then pulled as much of the cigar as his dwarven lungs could hold, then let out a giant cloud of smoke. Andrew wondered why he licked his lips before smoking, shouldn't smokers have somewhat dry lips as to not ruin a cigar? He spoke once more, "tis' a cold night to wander around, there's no one, should you ever have nowhere to go ye can stay at the shop so long you don't go scavenging," said the ginger dwarf. Andrew smiled when the dwarf didn't pay attention to him, being busy because of his cigar. After a small silence, Luckyhammer waited for maybe a shiver as a response. "Do I have to wait for a whole millennier for yer darn mouth?" Luckyhammer said, chuckling.

Bennyhammer came quickly with hot bread, butter, and a cool flask of Steamed Whiskey. Steamed Whiskey was a whiskey brand made with Stema, in which warms you up and doesn't drunk you as much. Bennyhammer then said, "I sure hope you enjoy Beggar, not everyone gets to have warm bread like you, especially without that Steamed Whiskey. It sure does hit the spot especially on winter!" By the time Bennyhammer spoke, Andrew was halfway done with his beer. Bennyhammer and his brother both gasped at how quickly he drank the whiskey, eyed each other, then chuckled. They laugh harder usually, but the cold of the night seized their desire to laugh.

They were going to invite him into the shop, as they usually do, but Andrew stayed reluctant, frozen, not a sudden move or twitch did his body make and his eyes were closed. It was as if all the winter's cold gathered in his body and froze him. Luckyhammer did not notice this sudden change as he was busy walking and organizing inside, but Bennyhammer froze too, observing Andrew with a thorough and thoughtful eye. Bennyhammer was baffled at how still he was, making it seem like he turned into a statue. He then thought that the beggar was going to go on a rage and attack them. He then turned back and said, "Lucky! Come see the beggar, I think he-" when he turned to look at the beggar once more, the beggar vanished, and Luckyhammer added, "Well this is new fer the beggar, what sort of queers is in his mind?" And with that, Luckyhammer took a Steamed Whiskey flask and went to the bottom floors of the shop to sleep, while Bennyhammer sat down to make up for the lost time and work on the finances of the shop.