Half a week passed in utter boredom. Todor got late for work four more times and his pay got docked. 15% of my salary lost because someone keeps taking my parking spot ... Even though he kept going to work earlier and earlier in vain hope of outsmarting the parking space thief. But alas he got late more times than not.
Luckily he got off work early on Friday so he tried to relax. That wasn't going so great either. He caved in and got few history books about Three Banners War thinking he could glimpse what kind of ideology each side was pushing. It was quite the interesting read but he just couldn't concentrate. After reading the same page twice and still getting lost in his own thoughts he slammed the book on the table. Mihos opened one of his amber eyes, looked at Todor and then closed it again. It had nothing to do with him after all.
"I am going for a walk, Mihos." the cat waved his tail once lazily without even opening his eyes.
Todor grabbed his peacoat, phone and house keys and run out like someone was chasing him. Halfway across the yard, he realized he was wearing house slippers. He made a face and walked back replacing them with his boots. Finally ready he left the aging building in a random direction.
After fifteen minutes of mindless walking, trying not to think he noticed he headed for Human Town. Placed on the west side of Moriganhold, it was a large collection of stone, brick and steel buildings which looked like a patchwork of different styles, eras, and cultures. Mainly because it was just such a patchwork. For some reason, Knitting placed parts of two hundred different towns together in one place. The population of this part of Moriganhold was largely human so the name Human Town stuck even after many campaigns to change it to something more dignifying.
He went there a few times but he always felt uncomfortable. These people were different from him. They were born in the world where there are magic, orcs and elves and many other oddities that Todor couldn't grasp yet. But he wanted a change, his very soul ... or some equivalent of it since Anadori and Morgs claim humans have no souls, urged him to act. Every day became the same. Wake up, read about physics and engineering of telecommunications, get depressed since he can't really revive such an enormous infrastructure by himself. Go to work, get even more depressed, get home, shower, go to bed. Repeat.
He stopped and looked at the darkening sky. Clouds started to rumble in the east. It will rain soon. Where am I going? He thought in frustration. Suddenly he felt a tug at his sleeve. He looked down and he saw a small elf boy, looking at him. He was eleven or twelve years old, his blood red hair bound into a braid. Boys ears were huge and pointy going back behind his head like some kind of antennas.
"Hey mister, do you know where I can buy Nintendo 64?" the boy asked.
"I have no idea," Todor said reflexively. "But let's find out," he added motioning the boy to follow him. He hasn't seen a console since all of his got destroyed in the small fire a few years back. He was lucky his house was well built and he managed to pay for damages.
"Alright, but just so you know I have location bracelet." the boy said moving to walk beside him.
"Oh, how good for you," Todor said dryly. The boy grimaced.
"Not so good. My mom can find me anytime she wants and I can't get it off unless she unlocks the charm on it."
"Bummer. Glad my mom didn't have one of those when I was growing up." Todor responded turning left at the next crossroads.
"Where are we going?" the boy asked trying to keep pace with Todor's larger steps.
"I am guessing there must be electronics store somewhere around here," he answered absentmindedly looking around. He thought he saw a sign for 'MagicWaveStop' store somewhere around here. Ah, there it is.
"You are looking for what?" the store worker asked in amazement. She was Morgothlite or Orc how humans called them. Her small tusks that protrude outside of her mouth were painted blue, a counterpoint to her crimson-colored skin.
-"Nintendo 64! By the Maelstrom of Entheogen, it is like we asked you for the blood of your firstborn child, the way you are acting." the elf boy responded angrily.
Todor almost smiled at the boy's passion but he decided he needed to calm things down before things escalated. Sure, the elf boy was young but hostility between Morgs and Anadori was legendary.
"Kids this day, they are passionate about retro gaming." he said putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. He tensed and then turned around looking at Todor right in the eyes. Then he nodded and turned to Morg store clerk.
"Yeah, I am sorry for snapping like that." the boy added grinding his teeth.
"It's alright, I was just surprised. That gaming console was rare even before Knitting, or so humans say. Finding one in working condition would be hard and expensive." the Morg girl responded calmly. Isn't there a stereotype that Morgs get angry easily? Maybe only the green once do. Todor thought to himself with a smile. Morg girl looked at him and smiled back. It was a surprisingly charming smile coming from an orc. He slapped himself mentally right after that thought.
"Do you know a place where we could maybe find one?" Todor asked, his smile getting wider. She was quite pretty. And as it turns out he was a bit of racist himself. Charming for an orc, what a dumbass you are, Todor. He thought idle.
"Price is not a problem." elf boy added.
"Hmm, maybe antique pawn shop. There is a chance you will get lucky." the Morg girl said taking a paper and pen. "I know a good one on this address. My half-brother works there." she scribbled a few words on the paper and then she stopped looking at it for a few seconds. Then she smiled and added few more words below it. She gave the paper to Todor with one more charming smile.
"Thanks for th ..." Todor started reading the note. There was pawn shop address written alright but beneath it was a phone number and a name." ..this, Cassandra."
"No problem, and call me if you want to go out for a coffee or something," she said still smiling.
The elf boy started tapping her foot.
"If you two finished flirting can we go now?" he said. Both Todor and Cassandra the Morg laughed uncomfortably.
"Sure, let's go. The pawn shop is not far from here."
After ten minutes of walking in silence, Todor looked down at the diminutive elf boy.
"What's your name?" he asked curiously.
"Malabahtorh, most call me Mab."
"So, what's your story? Why does an elf boy wander around Human Town looking for forgotten historical peace of electronic entertainment?"
"I am NOT an elf." he responded vehemently "Only a half of one," he added a second later.
Halfbreed? I thought that was a myth. Todor mused in his mind.
"Ok, so why Nintendo 64? There are newer consoles around." Todor continued with questions.
"It's my aunt. She is a seer. She told me that to find my destiny I must find a working Nintendo 64. I didn't even know what is that." halfbreed boy said petulantly.
"I had four of them back in the Old World. And one after the Knitting. Too bad it burned down." Todor confessed.
The boy looked back up at him surprised.
"Old World? Old World before the Sundering or human old world between Sundering and Knitting?" he asked walking backward with perfect balance.
"How old do you think I am?" he laughed at that. "It's been seven years since Knitting for me.
"Wow. You are one of the last to be spat out, eh?" he said giggling. "And that would make you at least three centuries old."
"Huh, I guess it would if we ignore that those three centuries I lost to who knows what," Todor responded with a smirk. "I will have to use that little fact sometimes."
They walked in silence until they reached the address Cassandra wrote for them. The building looked old. All though Corinthian pillars on the front window were clearly fake, the window pane was smudged and scratched by elements. Todor thought that even if it was clean it would still look dirty. The boy and he looked at each other and shrugged at the same time.
"Well little brother, here we are," he said jokingly expecting the boy to rebel at such address.
"How old do you think I am?" he said with a giggle. That surprised Todor.
"Twelve? Eleven?" he guessed perplexed.
The boy burst into laughter slapping his thigh in exaggerated signs of merriment.
"What?" confused Todor spouted.
"It's funny. I could biologically be older than you," he said, as his laughter died down.
"Well, I hardly doubt that."
"Doubt as much as you want. I was born twenty-two years ago. Because of my half breed nature, I am reaching puberty now and will probably endure acne for the next fifteen years before I reach my stately Anadori figure." he explained mockingly.
"But you are still mortal?" Todor couldn't help himself. He ignored the new world for so long that things that should be evident for him by now, sounded outlandish and strange.
"Yes, and sterile. I am like a mule or a liger. Anadori and humans are genetically related but are still different species." he said patiently "You know, I would think you are messing with me or trying to insult me. But I see you are just a fish out of temporal waters. What have you been doing for the last seven years?"
"Filling jars of jam and studying physics and engineering so I can bring back the Internet," he said flatly.
Mab looked at him for few seconds then shrugged.
"Cool. Shall we?" he said pointing to the waiting pawn shop in front of them.
"Sure. I am Todor by the way," he said opening the door.
"Glad to meet you Todor. And thanks for helping me. That Morg girl wouldn't be as helpful to a brat." he said with a smirk before going in.
He shrugged and followed him in.
The interior of the pawn shop was chaotic and dirty. The only light came from the dirty shopping window pane and a small lamp on the counter. The shelves and boxes were randomly thrown around, hanged from walls and ceiling that it was hard to walk and not hit something along the way. Dim lighting didn't help much.
Mab expertly circumnavigated around all the clatter and tapped the bell on the counter.
"I'll be there in the minute." came the deep voice from within.
"Yeah, just a second." came female voice just right after.
"Guess they are open for business. You think they would have Nintendo 64?" Todor asked incredulous, looking around at all the junk.
"Guess we will find out in a minute or a second. Depending on which of the two shows up." Mab said walking between the piles of gadgets, furniture, books and who knows what else.
"This place is missing only the priest's ear," Todor said picking up a doll with a cracked face.
"What a strange idiom," Mab responded trying to reach something on the shelf by climbing on top of the pile of books.
"My mom used to say it a lot when she would enter my room," Todor explained smiling wistfully.
"Your family ... they didn't ... you know, transition with you?" Mab asked jumping down with something in his fist.
"No, I tried to find any relative after I was dropped here but the network just covers Seven Cities of Albinion. So far no luck," he said sadly.
Whatever Mab wanted to say was interrupted by the arrival of a strange pair. The male was huge, towering above the little woman who barely reached the level of his elbow. What struck Todor as the stranger was the man's skin. It was ashen in color and crisscrossed by tattoos that glowed faintly blue or green. The woman was in her thirties and had her black hair in the bun. The man wore a sleeveless shirt exposing bulging muscles while the woman's attire was a simple dress that covered her from her neck to her toes.
"Welcome seekers of strange, uncanny, bizarre, queer and peculiar." the man said spreading his tree trunk-sized arms like he was presenting the greatest treasures in the world.
"Excuse my blabbering husband. He has a habit of running his mouth a bit too much." the woman added smiling.
"Do you have to do that in front of guests too?" the man said sadly. The woman ignored him.
"What can we do for you on this fine day?" the woman asked.
"We are looking for Nintendo 64 gaming console." the Todor said looking at the pair of them and slowly putting down the doll he was holding.
"Working one if it is not too much trouble," Mab added playing with something in her hands.
"Ah, the Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit central processing unit, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America and Brazil, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France. I have no idea what kind of places those were but they sound interesting. Did they transitioned, honey?" the man said and then turned to his wife.
"I have no idea dear, but do we have one in stock?" she said producing a large notebook from somewhere.
"We sold two since we opened the store. I think we had a few broken ones somewhere. Maybe you can mix and match and make a working one, hmm?" the man said disappearing behind the curtain. The woman continued to look through her notebook.
Todor and Mab patiently waited but after fifteen minutes of total silence, they decided to look around the story some more. Mab disappeared behind one of the shelves and Todor realized the place was much bigger than the first glance would suggest. He walked around one of the bookcases and gasped. Behind were rows upon rows of more bookcases filled with tomes, scrolls, books, booklets, magazines, what have you. Maybe there is something that could help me! He thought, reading the first title. "The Ways Humanity Is Plague Upon Both Anadori and Morgothlite societies."
"Damn, that is a mouthful." he said under his breath."Hey, have you read 'The Ways Humanity Is Plague Upon Both Anadori and Morgothlite societies.' No, I haven't read 'The Ways Humanity Is Plague Upon Both Anadori and Morgothlite societies.' Stupid."
"The author married a human," Mab said right behind him. Todor jumped in surprise.
"What?" he gasped looking at the half breed boy.
"The product of that marriage is me." the Mab declared flatly.
"Wait, your mom wrote elven Mein Kampf?" Todor gaped, dumbstruck.
"If by that you mean she wrote a manifesto proclaiming that both Morgs and Anadori must put aside their differences and wipe humanity from the world if they wish their cultures to survive, then yes." she proclaimed and took a book, looked at it and threw it across the aisle.
"And she married a human?" Todor asked slowly.
"Yeah. Imagine that!" Mab said smiling. "Crazy bitch."
At that moment Todor felt a slight tugging at his forehead. Similar to the feeling he had when he put mind link stone and it established a connection to that otherworldly realm. But more faded, less surgical. It felt like a direct call instead of a jump into shared mind space. He turned in the direction he thought tug came from. It happened again, and again. Now more insistent and it somehow conveyed the sense of happiness and surprise. He started walking before he could stop himself. With each step, the feeling grew stronger and stronger until he felt aged leather on his fingertips. He was touching a book.
"Is something wrong? Hey, where are you going?" he heard Mab behind him but he could have been miles away for all Todor cared. The book called for him, but not with words or voice but with emotions. It sang the song of loneliness and mission not fulfilled. The song of utter despair and beginning of the hope. He realized he was holding a book in his arms. It was heavy and bound in leather and metal rings. And it was locked.
"That is creepy," Mab said looking at him. Todor snapped out of his reverie and looked at the half breed.
"What is creepy?" he asked still holding a book. He didn't know how the book sang to him or how anything worked in this new world. It was starting to frustrate him.
"That is one of those, what they called them? Tomes of Megi or Apeling Grimoires, depending on who you ask. Books written by human mages before Sundering. There are hundreds of them, every one of them different and all locked. No one managed to open one."
As to punctuate boys words, through the aisle resounded the single click. The lock on the book flung open.