Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Tommy hadn’t wanted to do much with his life. Grow up, move out. Normal stuff.  

He wasn’t one for wishing for things.  

He was loud, sure.  

Because no one would hear him otherwise.  

He insulted people.  

No one would listen if he didn’t.  

He got on a lot of people’s nerves.  

At least they looked at him.  

So yeah, maybe he didn’t have the perfect life. But it was his life. He could make those decisions if he wanted to.  

He eats his bowl of bland Cheerios. His stepfather hadn’t even bothered to buy the flavored kind.  

Tommy looks at his watch. He had about ten minutes until the bus would come by, then he would have to go to school. He’s pretty sure that Mrs. Anders had a test today for science. He couldn’t exactly remember.  

Not that he cared. He’d probably do average on the test.  

Then his stepfather would yell at him. Something about how he didn’t spend all this money on Tommy just to have an average kid.  

Tommy didn’t particularly care what the other man thought.  

He stuffs his notebook and other things into his bag. He hears the sound of the bus coming down the street towards the stop. It always upsets his eardrums. The rumbling of the large engine attempting to turn onto his street is one that couldn’t be missed.  

No matter how much he just wanted to go back to bed, cover his head with a pillow and scream.  

Or go to sleep.  

Either sounded better than going to school. 

“Ugh...” He didn’t want to go to school. But it was better than staying here and facing his stepfather for longer than he had to.  

Honestly, he just wanted to move out. But he was only a freshman in high school. He still had at least three more years until he could move out.  

Another two years until he was sixteen and legally allowed to get a job that didn’t include babysitting a stranger’s kid until 2 am.  

Tommy sighs as he pulls his backpack on and starts walking toward the bus stop. He’d get there last. He was the last stop before the school. So he only had to suffer with the others for ten or so minutes.  

He couldn’t wait to get out of this stupid town.  

Tommy sits on the bench, waiting for the bus. 

The bench was cold. It wasn’t like the wooden benches outside the school. No. This was the cold metal benches that the city had built to keep homeless people from sleeping on them. They were uncomfortable as all heck.  

He thinks he’d be better off sitting on the ground.  

But he couldn’t do that and be seen by the bus. And he didn’t really feel like sitting on the cement, either.  

He opens the book they were reading for class. Hardcore’s Downfall. It was about the main character Theseus trying to save the land of Hardcore.  

Reminded Tommy of some sort of rogue-like adventure. He could level up and everything. It was kind of crazy. But the leveling up wasn’t something he read in books very often.  

He was about halfway through the book, and Theseus was still searching for the three divine beasts. Or familiars.  

The narrator was unreliable and used the two words interchangeably. Which, to Tommy, made it seem like the so-called “beasts” weren’t really that powerful. The author wasn’t doing a good job of describing how the beasts would come into play.  

Theseus was supposed to find them because apparently, they were the keys to defeating XD, the antagonist. XD was currently being held back by Trixtin, Goddess of Death. Theseus was her champion or something.  

Again. Another detail the author conveniently forgot to explain.  

Honestly, Tommy was getting pissed with Theseus. He was acting like some sort of single-brain-celled idiot. The clue was clearly telling Theseus to go to the east, so why the hell was Theseus going south? 

Tommy groans. “I’m going to throw this book. I could do better than this idiot.” 

He glances at his watch.  

“I could’ve sworn the bus was supposed to be here alrea-” Tommy looks up as he hears the sound of something coming toward him.  

It was swerving around a stopped car in the middle of the road.  

A truck.  

Coming straight toward him. 

Shit. 

• · ─ ·✶· ─ · · 

Tommy wakes up in a dark place.  

It was quiet, unlike his old house.  

Dark. Way too dark. He couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face.  

“Hello?” He calls into the darkness. Then he sees a faint light in the distance, so he starts walking toward it.  

The silence was oddly comforting. He breathed deeply, letting air come in his nose and out his mouth. His chest wasn’t tight anymore. Tommy’s footsteps touched the ground, but simultaneously he worried about his foot falling through the dark abyss.  

The light was closer now. He could see some shapes moving.  

There was still no sound.  

He found himself standing beside what looked like an old movie player. Showing only a black and white video.  

But... why was the person in the video looking right at him? 

She had long hair in a braid down her back. She wore a dress that fluttered with her constant movements. It looked like she was fighting something. Or someone.  

“Who are you?” 

“Tommy... Theseus,” she whispers.  

He shivers. Something about those names... it was familiar. He can’t recall exactly why though. 

She swung her sword down, then parried a blow. Her sword angled downward from the parry. She used the opportunity to shove her opponent backward.  

Tommy blinks. She looks right at him.  

“You... are the one who will save us.” She seemed so sure.  

Something inside Tommy recoiled. He wanted to step backward.  

Another part of him wanted to step forward toward her. Accept what she was telling him.  

“Am I? I’m just... Tommy Innes,” he says.  

“No... I’ve chosen you. Theseus failed. You can do better. You can save us. Tommy,” she reaches her hand through the screen, “Come. Will you accept? I promise that if you can save our world, you will get whatever your heart desires.”  

Tommy stares at her hand.  

“Riches” 

He could refuse. He knew he could. 

“Power” 

But what was waiting for him back on his old world? 

“Glory” 

A stepfather who would yell at him again? A mother who never was on his side?  

“Fame” 

He had no friends. No family that truly cared about him.  

Nothing really tied him to his old world.  

“Family.” 

He reaches his hand out. He grabs her hand.  

It was cold, but not like the bench he’d been sitting on before. Her hand was like a cold drink on a hot day. Refreshing. Comforting.  

He hopes that he doesn’t regret this choice. 

• · ─ ·✶· ─ · · 

She wasn’t sure about Theseus.  

Theseus had... attempted.  

That was the best, most respectful way to describe his truly pitiful and pathetic efforts. Why he had been chosen, she would never understand.  

He never tried hard enough. Every cycle, every restart, Theseus showed more of his true colors.  

He would get to the first obstacle and turn tail to run.  

Her family didn’t deserve such a cowardly Champion.  

A coward like Theseus couldn’t defeat XD even if her family did all the work.  

He was a ball and chain that she couldn’t seem to rid the world of.  

She needed to find a young child who had potential. One that would fight for everything they wanted.  

Then she got the idea to take another soul who died into Theseus’ body.  

She tried a young girl, first. An orphan who claimed to want a family. 

Theseus’ body had shifted to more feminine so that the girl wouldn’t be too overwhelmed. She really had tried to support her as best she could.   

But when she saw the first enemy, she cried and ran away. Straight off a cliff.  

So she was sent back to her world.  

The world restarted. 

The next one was a black-haired boy. She wasn’t sure why she’d chosen him, but she had thought he had potential.  

He had gotten over the first obstacle. He had even found where the first divine beast was. But he just... left?? 

She still was confused as to why the heck the boy had chosen to just leave after going through all the effort to get there. She couldn’t even send him back because she couldn’t find him.  

Then the world restarted. 

So she chose a new one.  

The world restarted. 

Then another.  

The world restarted. 

And another.  

The world restarted. 

The closest any of the children she chose got to completing the task was a young girl who managed to free the first divine beast. However, she unfortunately died when her son’s magic overwhelmed the poor girl.  

She sent the girl back to her home.  

The world restarted. 

She lost track of how many tries she had gone through.  

XD was loving all the attempts. 

She would get defeated. She would feel the pain of his sword in her ribs.  

She didn’t know what happened after she was defeated. She just knew that the world restarted to right after her family was... 

She didn’t want to think about that.  

She could only keep bringing people from other universes into their world, praying that one day, one time, someone would be strong enough to save them. Bold enough to fight XD.  

Someone who could bond with her husband and sons without combusting.  

Then she sensed it.  

A young one who carried her traits. She didn’t even fully understand it. She just... knew. It had to be him.  

He was the one that would save Hardcore.  

Tommy was the Theseus this world needed.  

She had no doubt. If not the first time, he would win eventually. 

• · ─ ·✶· ─ · · 

Tommy groans as he wakes up. 

The world was bright. Too bright.  

“Hey!” Someone shakes him.  

“Ngh...” he blearily looks over to the other person.  

Some man with black hair and a gold tooth.  

“Who are-” 

“Who I am don’t matter,” the man grins, “Theseus... you have been summoned to the town center. You will finally be able to escape the slums!” 

Tommy thinks that line sounds familiar.  

Where had he heard that before? 

“Sure...?” Tommy stands up. A yawn escapes his lips.  

“C’mon, amigo, the guards will barge in if you take too long!”  

Why did that sound familiar- 

The book.  

That lady.  

The truck. 

He was in the damned book.  

Tommy had taken Theseus’ body.  

“Y-Yeah, alright, Big Q,” Tommy tries to smile, but it feels heavy.  

Why the hell had he of all people been chosen? By golly, he sat there and did nothing. 

He follows after the man. He tries to remember what had happened in the book.  

Hadn’t the guards dragged Theseus to the town hall?  

Tommy thinks that Theseus had refused to go unless they made him. But he couldn’t remember exactly why though.  

Was he already changing the story by agreeing so readily?  

Could he really be a better Theseus? 

The dirt roads reminded Tommy that he was no longer in his world. They ran between shacks that he supposed were houses, market stalls where people called out prices and hooks. The dirt wasn’t brown, though. It was an odd sort of grayish-green. Vein-like strands ran through the ground, reaching toward... something.  

He wasn’t sure what.  

Big Q, or Quackity, was the only person Theseus knew before he was called to be a Champion. Before he was “The Chosen One”. The black-haired man with a gold tooth ran a gambling den nearby. He was the king of the Underground, and, for some reason, had taken a liking to Theseus.  

The book never explained why. It never detailed things like that. It just started vomiting out action scene after action scene. Scenes that didn’t ever actually move the plot along.  

That reminds him that he’s going to have an argument with the town guards.  

For plot, of course.  

Or... he could just not. 

But he didn’t want to chance missing out on information. He thinks he remembers one of them spilling the beans on the direction Theseus was supposed to go.  

The original Theseus, however, was the biggest dumbass ever created in the history of fiction. This “hero” went in the opposite direction than what he had been told very blatantly.  

So yeah, maybe Tommy needed to argue with the guards.  

He couldn’t remember if he needed to go east or west. Or... maybe it was south? 

No, not south. That’s where Theseus went.  

Tommy just needed to do the opposite of whatever Theseus did.  

He was basically guaranteed victory if he did that.  

Big Q nudges him with an elbow. “Hey amigo, what’s with that face? It makes you look older than you are.” 

“I’m not a child!” Tommy complains. The words burst from him before he can reign them in.  

“Of course not!” Quackity laughs, “You are the biggest man in the world. The hero we all are counting on.” 

“Yeah, bastard, you gotta listen to me!” Tommy elbows Big Q back.  

Tommy smirks when Quackity nearly falls over. He didn’t think he was that strong.  

“Ow!” Quackity rubs his side, glaring at Tommy.  

But it wasn’t like the glare that his stepfather would give him. It was lighter. The eyelids weren’t as close together as his stepfather’s got.  

Tommy smiles. He wants to see that look more often on more people.  

There was a smile playing on Quackity’s lips.  

“Deserved.” 

Tommy turns back to face the road. Nearing the duo was a group of guards in green and yellow colors.  

Wasn’t Hardcore currently being ruled by... some dude? Not a good man. Tommy can’t remember who though. 

Who was that guy again? 

“Theseus Innes?” The guard at the forefront of the group of five says.  

“That’s me, ain’t no other.” Tommy smirks.  

The guard frowns.  

That was a look Tommy was unfortunately familiar with. Big Q conveniently disappeared before Tommy could ask him for any help whatsoever.  

Bastard. Coward.  

“Well, smart-ass,” the guard grabs Tommy’s arm, “we’re needing you to get out of town.” 

“Yeah, but where? How? I don’t have any money.” Tommy rolls his eyes.  

He just needed to lay hard into this bratty character long enough to get information out of these bozos and then he’d get out of town.  

“Wherever gets you out of town. The guv’nah said so,” another guard, older than the one holding Tommy, says. 

“You’re the supposed Champion and yet you laze about in the slums all the time?” A third guard mocks.  

“Well what am I meant to do? It’s not like I have a map or a guide or anything that would help me find where I’m going.” Tommy retorts.  

C’mon just give me some information. Anything. C’mon you idiots... 

“Go east ‘nd find yerself that ol’ volcan’ah. Den youse oughts to jump in it, knowit?” The older guard shoves Tommy out of the first guard’s grasp.  

“Why? Something in it other than lava?” Tommy backtalks.  

Adults always hated when kids backtalked.  

It seemed this world was no exception.  

“You twat,” the older guard punches Tommy’s face.  

Tommy grunts. He stumbles backward a step or two before glaring at the man who has just punched him.  

“So? Why shouldn’t I go south?” Tommy mocks.  

He just wanted this conversation to be done with.  

“Cus there ain’t no volcan’ah for youse to jump in, knowit,” the older guard growls.  

Tommy huffs at the man.  

So east, then? Well, it wasn’t south, so he couldn’t be wrong. Right? 

“Fine! Fine! I’ll go east, then!” Tommy kicks dirt as he walks past the man.  

The guards behind him growl, and if Tommy wasn’t in Theseus’ body, they might’ve pounced on him.  

He didn’t care though. He could probably take the bastards anyway. He could fight them off.  

Probably.  

He didn’t want to find out though.  

Tommy carefully asks around to find out if the sun’s pattern was the same in his world. Not using that phrasing obviously, he didn’t need to have angry villagers on a witch hunt, but enough that he could glean information.  

The villagers were oddly helpful. A bit wary, sure, but helpful nonetheless.  

Through them, Tommy found that the sun rose in the east and set in the west. Just like his old world.  

The one he probably wouldn’t go back to.  

That made Tommy falter in his steps, nearly biffing it on a rock.  

He didn’t want to go back, but... it had been his home for nearly fourteen years. It was kind of hard to not miss it a little bit.  

Like plumbing. He missed plumbing.  

Which gave him an unpleasant reminder that he had needs to take care of. That was a later-Tommy problem.  

Eastward was a lot of thick, pine forests. Or something similar anyway. The branches stretched outward like pines in his old world, but the trunks were not brown, nor did they have bark. These trees’ trunks were closer to a dirty orange rather than the familiar brown he was used to.  

There was a trail though, presumably leading to the next village.  

And he was correct.  

It took a few weeks, but he eventually passed into a village. Or a town. It was small, but not that small. It had a bank. 

That made Tommy think it had to be a fairly large town if it had a bank in this more primitive time.  

Trusinville. What an odd name.  

It was named after some lady that had saved the bank when the town had first built it. Which, admittedly, was pretty cool.  

The next village was smaller, didn’t even have a name.  

He had arrived after three weeks of walking.  

The whole “no name” thing was weird to Tommy. Every village had a name in his old world. But these villagers just didn’t care. They were just grumpy, older folks for the most part.  

Tommy happily walked away from that one. He had only needed supplies for a few weeks anyway so that he could get to the next place.  

Then he came upon a very large town. Rochdale.  

It looked like it should sound like Rock-dale, but no it was pronounced Rosh-dale. The name tickled his ear. Not in a bad way, but it did make him want to laugh at it.  

The dirt roads were a lot more compact than the last two he had been through. The houses were similar enough to the old houses in Tommy’s old town that he wasn’t fazed.  

The sight of livestock was surprising though.  

He had time to investigate this world, surely.  

It took Theseus like five years to even find out he was in the wrong place.  

So yeah, Tommy has time.  

He heard the sound of something clicking. Almost like a chicken, but it wasn’t quite right.  

It didn’t have the brrrawwwwk of a chicken. It was closer to something hard snapping together rapidly.  

He turns and sees a small house that he equates to a chicken coop. A small fence around it to keep the animals in.  

But there wasn’t chickens in there.  

They were chicken sized, but not chickens.  

What the heck? 

He steps closer to the fence to investigate.  

The creatures had scales. Like a reptile of some sort, but the beak of a bird. The beak was short and curved. It reminded him of a duck, but it was still wrong. Wrong. The creature was just wrong. 

The legs looked similar to those of a duck, but the feet weren’t webbed. No... They were hooves. What kind of bird has hooves?? 

The chest of the creature was pink, melting into a greyish-green with streaks of dark brown running through it. The babies (or what Tommy assumed was the babies) had that pink chest, but instead of the grey-green color, there was a light brown color. Some dark brown streaks were on the babies, but not as large as their older counterparts.  

Tommy blinks as the creatures look up at him.  

“You like me libir birds do ya?” A voice says behind him.  

Tommy turned and saw a tall woman. She had a dark green braid going down her back and equally green eyes that stared right at him. Tommy shivered.  Her voice had a slight slur in it, not like when his mother or stepfather came home drunk. More like her tongue was moving slower than her brain. 

Almost like it wasn’t quite like her usual talking pattern.

“Yeah... I haven’t seen one in a while,” Tommy says. Complete lie. He has never seen anything like that in his life.  

Then again, he technically hasn’t been in this world for that long.  

“They’re pretty birds. Odd, but pretty. I like ‘em for the coloring, though they piss-poor layers. I only get ‘alf a dozen outta damn things.”  

Tommy nods like he understands.  

He doesn’t really, but he definitely does not want to interrupt her.  

“’nd really, they ain’t all that bad, knowit, but they ain’t for everybody now, knowit,” the lady gestures to the biggest bird that had a longer beak than the others. “That’s my prized one. Conin I calls ‘im. He’s my male libir that gets every gold banner at them fairs.” 

“What do you mean gold banner?” Tommy asks.  

“Ain’t ya never beenta fair?” The lady’s eyes widen.  

Almost like Tommy had just said the craziest thing she’d ever heard.  

“No...?” 

Then his hand is grabbed and he’s being taken down the road.  

The road he was taken to was large, there were animal pens. Most pens had animals he was familiar with. Cows, horses, pigs, sheep, even some chickens.  

Most of them had different names.  

Pigs weren’t called pigs, or even swine, instead they were called something like binnies. Binney? 

He couldn’t remember with how fast Dina- the green-haired lady- was dragging him from place to place. There was a bunch of food.  

Celtuce was made from a mixture of some vegetables he recognized and beef. It was a bowl, almost stew-like in nature, but when he lifted some to his mouth, it tasted nothing like stew. It was gelatinous, but not like a marshmallow. It jiggled. It didn’t have a gelatin texture though.  

Celtuce was amazing.  

But not as amazing as the whole damn steak Dina fed him. The steak and potatoes, with a little bit of sweet potatoes mixed in, were something that Tommy would happily eat every day.  

No, no, every minute.  

Snacks galore, too!  

There were kebabs of cobblefruit and watermelon. Cobblefruit- as Dina began telling him- was found in the nearby volcano maze, growing near the entrance. The fruit was bitter when overripe, and sweet when underripe. There was a whole season and everything.  

Apparently this festival was to celebrate the cobblefruit harvest.  

“So... it’s called the Cobblefruit Harvest Festival?” Tommy asks, watching as some kids led cows toward the animal pens.  

“Yessir, knowit!”  

“What’s that word? Knotit?”  

“Nah, nah, no-it, knowit! It means ya learnin’ som’tin ya oughta known,” Dina explains.  

Tommy nods. “I have something similar I say. Innit?”  

“Ooh, youse must be from the north, Ise heard dem folks says that,” Dina ruffles Tommy’s hair, “Now, we’se gots to hurry or we’ll miss all da fun with the Hardcorian cattle show!”  

“The who, what, how now?” Tommy blinks.  

Dina grins. “Hardcorian cattle show! We’se gots a nat’nal breed of cattle, and Rochdale is da center of da shows.” 

“Really?” Tommy looks up at the large tent on the south end of town. It was the familiar, disgusting colors of green and yellow. But not striped like circus tents in his old world. The fabric was green with yellow dots all over.  

“Really!” Dina pays for Tommy to get into the show and sits with him near the front. He hears the sound of cattle mooing.  

He waits excitedly. He’s never been to a fair before. 

He’d always been too busy, or his mom wouldn’t sign the waiver for him to go on the school trip. It was always one or the other.  

Tommy gasps when the cattle begin walking out.  

They had the bodies of cows, but the legs were large and round. They stretched into reptilian-like feet. They had toes that were long and ended in sharp claws. They probably were twice as big as Tommy’s head. 

The horns dripped with vines and leaves. Some were green, some had flowers on the vines. Not only that, but the horns were massive. Tommy almost wondered if one horn was the size of him.  

Then there were the tails. The tails were long, and swung lightly as they were led in a circle in the show ring. Tommy watched as the cattle demonstrated how prehensile they were by plucking grass from the judge’s hand and lifting it to their mouths.  

Long, snakelike tongues wrapped around the bundles to eat them.  

But the tails were beautiful. Vines wrapped around them too. Deep purple ones. Some, like the horns, were leaves, but others were flowery.  

It seemed to depend on genetics. The colors varied between shades of white, grey, and silver.  

“Wow...” Tommy stares in awe as the cattle are led around to show how they move.  

It was oddly graceful. The cattle looked like they should be awkward, but they were graceful.  

Then a winner was announced.  

“Wow... she’s beautiful...”  

She was a reddish-grey, dark brown spots covered her body. Her reptilian feet were large, but not unproportionately so. The vines dripping from her horns shimmered with little lights. They looked almost like berries. The vines wrapped around the crown of her head.  

Then Tommy sees her tail. It has a vibrant, blooming purple vine that wraps around her long tail. The flowers has some sparkle, just like the vines on her horns.  

“She’s fer sale, knowit,” Dina grins, “wanna buy her?”  

“Who? Who would sell such a beautiful lady?” Tommy asks, eyes wide.  

“Me.” Dina pats his head. “Ise take ten goldy coins from ya fer her.”  

Tommy pats his coin bag. He has a few different kinds of coins, but he didn’t know if he had that equivalent of money.  

He checks his bag.  

One... two... five... seven... nine... 

Nine. 

Nine gold coins and ten silver.  

“I... I only have-”  

“That’s basically ten. Yer only a silver short. Good enough fer me new pal.” Dina claps him on the back. “She a ridable cow, knowit.” 

“Really?” Tommy gasps.  

“Yeah... youse askin’ why Ise sell her?” Dina’s smile fades, “Ise just not got da ability to care fer her no mo’, knowit. Me bones ain’t doin’ well recently. What with da curse ‘nd all runnin’ through the town recently.” 

“The curse?” Tommy asks.  

Dina, for once, doesn’t explain.  

“Well, doncha wanna see yer new ride?” Dina asks, distracting him successfully.  

Tommy nods. He jumps up and grabs her hand. He tugs her up. He then drags her out where the cow had gone.  

“What’s her name?” Tommy asks. “What does she like to eat? How old is she? How much water does she drink? Will she-” 

“Slow down, boy!” Dina pants softly. “Yer too fast fer me achin’ body!” She laughs. “I ain’t named her. Dat’s a tradition fer chil’uns, knowit. Unless ye plan on keepin’ da beast fer life, adults don’ name da beasts.”  

“So... I can name her?” 

He’s never named anything before.  

He never had stuffed animals or even pets to name. He didn’t name anything. If he did... his stepfather would take it.  

But now he had a whole damn cow! 

“Yes, boy. C’mon boy, dis way.” Dina leads him into a different pen where the cow was standing.  

Tommy gapes at the cow. She’s taller than he thought. He can’t believe he owns this cow now.  

How does he even take care of the cow? 

“How do I take care of her? I’m kinda traveling at the moment...”  

“These cattle’s made fer travelin’, knowit, they take care of demselves pretty good ‘nough.” Dina chuckles, patting Tommy’s head.  

“So... she’s chill?”  

Dina chuckles, “Is dat a northerner ting? Chill?”  

Tommy blushes. 

What did he say?  

He’d used slang from his old world naturally, and hadn’t even stopped to think about it. But hadn’t she said that innit was a northerner slang? 

Maybe he could get away with that.  

“Nah, just a thing that I say.” 

Brilliant.  

Great job, Tommy.  

You idiot. 

“Well, I kinda takin’ a liken to it. I mighta use dat word now. Chill.” Dina chuckles.  

He can't believe that worked.

Then she shows him how to ride the cow. She shows him some of the commands to make her stay, to tell her to lay down, how to tell her to run and hide. Some basic traveling commands.  

It’s pretty neat, really. He can’t believe all that comes for a cow.  

“Well, Dina... it’s been really fun,” he says reluctantly. 

“But youse gots to get yerself on da road?” Dina’s smile flickers.  

Something else crosses her face, but Tommy can’t name it.  

“Yeah... is there anywhere with a stable I could spend the night?” Tommy asks. He looks at his last few coins from selling some of his crafts at the fair.  

“Yeah, dere’s a tavern down da road dat has a stable. They’re pretty good at rememberin’ to feed youse too.” Dina points down the road.  

Tommy nods, climbing onto his cow’s back.  

He needed to think of a name for her. 

“Thanks, Dina... I’ll come back someday.” 

She smiles sadly. 

“I hopes you do, boy. I really hopes you do.” 

Tommy tilts his head. 

Before he can ask though, Dina goes into her house. The libirs outside also go in to their house. Like they were mimicking their owner.  

He stares at the closed door for a few seconds before turning his cow’s head towards the tavern.  

Maybe he should ask around about the curse. He has a sneaking suspicion there’s more to it than anyone is telling him.  

His cow was pretty fast. Considering it had the weirdest feet and legs he’d ever seen, it made the five minute walk into a one minute ride.  

Imagine how much easier traveling would be now.  

Theseus would never have gotten a cool ass cow like him.  

Tommy hands his cow off to the stable boy at the entrance before heading into the tavern. He looks around until he spots something that looks like a reception desk.  

“Excuse me?” He asks the lady. “Miss Dina said-” 

“Oh yer da boy she was showing around today! Da one with the flower crowns?” The lady grins. “Do you still got some of them pretty thangs?” 

Tommy nods. He’s startled by the fact that she knows him. He pulls out the remaining inventory he has.  

There’s about five crowns, made of daisies, lilies, and some dandelions he’d found on the side.  

“Knowit, if I enchanted these pretty thangs... I’d make a pretty coin sellin’ ‘em. Why, knowit, Imma give you a room for free if you let me have these.”  

Tommy nods.  

A room for a few flower crowns?  

That sounds like a free room to him.  

“Could I get a meal-”  

Before he can finish, the lady was nodding.  

“Of course! Wese got steaks and potatah’s tonight, knowit boy. Go on to da dining room and ask fer yer meal from Dee.” The lady waves him on, still looking at the flower crowns.  

Tommy shrugs and goes in the direction she’d pointed.  

He enters the dining room and sits at the bar. “Dee said-” 

A plate of food was put in front of him, a five-pronged fork laying on the wooden plate already.  

“Thanks-” 

A glass of milk was slammed down beside the plate. He blinked.  

What was going on? It was like they didn’t want him to talk. 

Well, if they were feeding him and giving him a free glass of milk, who was he to refuse? 

He happily eats his steak and potatoes. It tastes just as good as the one from the fair earlier. He chugs the glass of milk and sighs.  

He didn’t want to leave. He could probably stay in this town forever and be happy.  

But he had a world to save.  

That reminds him.  

“Hey, barkeep?” He asks.  

“Sup, squirt?” the man leans close to Tommy.  

“What’s wrong with Dina? She-” 

“We don’t talk about da curse, squirt.” The man’s eyes turn cold. Then he stops talking about it. Completely re-routes the conversation.  

He had a sinking feeling he wasn’t going to get jack-squat out of anyone here about this curse. He had no clue what to do about it.  

But he was just a kid. And he was tired.  

He hadn’t slept on a bed in at least two or three months, so he was going to go enjoy it. 

Tommy enters his room and locks the door. He writes down a few names for his new traveling companion before going to sleep.  

His last thought being about what kept the people so tight-lipped about a damn curse.