Magic names

Content warning: contains blood.

“I wonder what’s my purpose in life,” I thought to myself pacing the living room window. The sun was just beginning to wake up, and the birds were singing their beautiful songs. “Would I ever find it? How would I even realize it’s my purpose or, where to find it?” I walked to the window. My reflection showed the deep scowl of an unhappy boy. My hair was in a mess, my blue eyes were bloodshot, with deep bags under my eyes. “Who am I?” I pondered. 

A voice rang out from the kitchen. “Son food’s almost ready. Why don’t you come over and help me set up the kitchen table?" 

“Coming mother.” And I went roaming to the kitchen. The smell of fresh croissants and bacon filled my nose, as I grabbed some plates and bowls. 

“Where’s father?” I asked my mother as she flipped some pancakes. Her flower apron was stained with all types of batter and grease. Her brown hair was in a messy bun. 

“He’s filling out some paper work for grandpa’s funeral. 

“How long has he been gone?” I questioned. 

“Six months,'' she said nonchalantly. “By the way, she pointed the spatula dripping in pancake batter in my direction. He wanted me to ask you if you could head over to your grandpa’s house and try to take out all the junk that’s in there. 

“Will do.” I nod my head. 

“Great,” She flashed me her million-dollar smile. “You can do that after breakfast.” When I was done setting up the table, I heard some footsteps from upstairs come bounding down. 

“Hmm, smells delicious.” my father said as he strolled around the corner. His beard was kept pristine, his square glasses complimented his long face, and his white shirt looked like snow against his rosy skin. 

“ Hey Dad, we've just finished getting everything ready for breakfast. Are you ready?” 

“I’m ready. But.” He pressed his hands together like he was about to pray. “Change of plans.” I want you to go and take all the junk out of your grandpa’s house right now. I want to get it done as soon as possible. We’ll pack some food for you.” 

“Alright,” my shoulders slumped a little as soon as he said that. 

“Thank you so much son.” He gave me a firm pat on the back. “Now go take a shower.” I solemnly walked up the stairs, went up to my room to get ready. As I got to my room, I started to wonder what was in the house. I haven’t seen grandpa ever since I was a baby. Mom and dad always talked about his cool adventures and what he brought back from his trips. Like a spear from the depths of the Amazon rainforest or, the one time he brought an actual diamond that he found in Zimbabwe. Maybe there’s something that I can sell. As soon as I thought that, I could feel my spirits rising. Perhaps there could be priceless things like a bunch of gold. As my thoughts were racing, I rushed to the shower trying to go as fast as possible. I quickly washed my body and shampooed my hair. I leapt out of the shower. Got on my clothes. And, bolted down the stairs. At the door entrance was mom holding a paper bag and dad holding a piece of paper. 

“Here’s your lunch”. Mom tossed me the bag. 

“And, here is the address.” Dad handed the paper to me.

“Call us on your phone if you’re ever lost.” Mom said as she gave me a hug. And, with that, I was out the door.

It took me a while to find the house roaming the streets like a wild animal. When I came upon a decaying house. I looked at the address Dad had given me, and it was the right one.  

“Alright, let’s get this done” I mutter to myself. As I walked up to the house, I realized that the lawn itself looked like the jungle had crept in and taken over. I touched the rotting door and as I pulled it away, I felt some mildew on my hands. I grimaced, then I took a deep breath and opened the door. When I stepped into the house I was completely shocked. It looked like a neat freak had snuck into the house and decided to live there. No mildew, no mold, and no rotting wood. Instead, it was built like a wooden cabin with wooden floor and ceiling, open fire place and the walls were lined with stuffed animals, artifacts and torches, some that I recognized and some that looked like they were from another world. “Why would he do this?” I muttered to myself as I lit a torch on the wall with a match. Then it hit me. I remember what my parents told me about how my grandpa had been paranoid and an extreme recluse. He probably let the lawn and the outside of the house go to waste so that no one would expect someone to live there. As I explored the house in awe, I saw things that grandpa never told anyone about. Like a human skull that had forked tusks. Shadows danced on the walls, making the ghoulish stuffed animals look like they were alive again. After a while, I came upon this oak door with flowers carved into the door and two massive golden knight statues with swords drawn protecting whatever is inside. “I wonder what’s in this room.” I say to myself as I touch the door.

“Halt.” Someone commanded in a stern voice gravely. I ripped my hand from the door and whipped my head along with the torch, looking for someone who might have snuck in. 

“Hello,” I yelled, “Is someone here?”

“Right in front of you.” I looked toward the knight and, to my surprise, he was starring right back at me. 

“No one may enter the room. Only the master can enter.” As he talked, I realized that there was a little golden face in the helmet. I put the torch to the face and realized that it was a metal pug's face with a little drawn on fake mustache. 

“Ya you tell him Teetee.” Another much soother voice came from the left side knight. 

“That’s Sir Teetee to you, Wolf-fang." Snapped Teetee. 

“Teetee? Wolf-fang? What are these sounds that you call each other? And, why are you talking? Statues aren’t supposed to talk? I walked over to the other knight, and it was another tiny pug head pug, but sunglasses instead of a drawn on mustache. 

“It’s our name,” said wolffang “It defines us. Gives us persnalty, and purpose.”instead of a fake mustache, he had sunglasses on.

“We call each other Teetee, and wolf-fang. These are the names that the master gave us and help define our characters. It gives us purpose.” Said Wolf-fang quite proudly.

As soon as Wolf-fang said that names give purpose, I became quite curious. “So, if I walk into that room, I can meet the master, and he can give me purpose? By giving me one of these nams?” 

“Names,” Teetee snapped. “N-A-M-E-S. And no, this is a restricted area. No one can pass unless you’re the master or have permission. Leave now or I will strike you down.” I went to touch the door before Teetee could do anything, but as soon as I touched it the door felt like it was burning me. I yanked my hand away, and checked to see if there were any burn marks. Nothing. “3-2,” Teetee was counting down. I shut my eyes and prepared myself for the worst. “ 1. Alright, you asked for it.” I opened my eyes but nothing was happening. Teetee was grunting and straining while Wolf-fang was cheering him on. I dug through my pockets looking for the paper dad had given me. When I finally found it, I showed the paper to Teetee.

“Here, is this good enough for me to go in?” 

Teetee stopped straining and opened his eyes and looked up and down at the note. He nodded. “That’s good enough. You can go in.” And, with that, the doors opened by themselves and I walked in. As I walked in, the room lit up with torches on the walls all around me. I put out my own torch and saw in the corner a bunch of palm trees were swaying as if they were in the wind. The room smelled as if an ocean breeze had just come by. CAW.CAW. I looked around, and saw a bright blue bird sitting on one of the palm trees. It took off with its four bird wings and landed right in front of me. Staring at me with its piercing green eyes and, then took off for the palm trees again. At the far end was a solemn wooden desk with a bunch of papers on it. I walked over and grabbed one of the papers. It was a poem. I didn’t know he was a poet. I thought and read it out loud. 

“Over yonder and I wonder where my place I must be

Not, in this world because I whirl 

It is another that I smother 

And, with these final words, I go off like a bunch of birds.” 

And as I finished the poem, I felt myself become lighter than air and the world around me started to cave in as my vision became darker, and darker until I was in complete darkness.

When I woke up on my back in the middle of the forest, I saw that the sky was a mix of orange and blue, making it look like a sunset. But, the sun is still in the middle of the sky. I thought. The sun was also different. Instead of yellow, it was magenta. As I got up, the normal green looking trees around me seemed to scrape the sky. I wiped my hands off the brown dirt and got up. “Where and what is this place?” I wondered. As I was looking around, I saw a white bearded man in a ripped leather coat running towards me. I froze in place, unable to move my legs when he tackled me to the ground. His hands grabbed mine. His powerful grip kept me in place as I thrashed around. 

“Who are you? And, how did you get here?” He cried out. A look of fury was in his eyes. When he suddenly let me go. The anger left his eyes. And was replaced with shock and awe. “Grandson?” His mouth agape. He picked me up and gave me a big bear hug. “How long has it been. Warmth filled my chest. He’s alive, I thought, but that was quickly replaced by coldness and anger. “Sixteen years.” I snapped. 

He looked down in shame. His long white hair covered his eyes. “I’m sorry.” He murmured 

“Sorry doesn’t cut it. You missed sixteen years of my life,” I jabbed a finger in his chest. “ Everyone thought you were dead. I just want to go home right now.” I crossed my arms. 

“I’ll get you home.” He turned around. “But, first I need your help protecting Agron from a dragon. Come, I’ll take you to it. 

After a while of trekking in the forest, he told me all about all the adventures he had while being in Agron. How he came here because a friend who had died showed him and when that friend died he became the protector of Argon. As he talked I felt my anger fade away. “Don’t worry about the dragon, I have a plan,” a smile formed on his face as he pulled out a red journal and started to wave it around. ​​”I was given this journal after I did a favour for a wizard. Watch what happens when I write in this journal with a specific pen.” Grandad took out a small ball point pen, and wrote the word bunny in it. As soon as he wrote that the ink came off the page like water and formed a white bunny. 

“Woah,” I said out loud. “Can you do that with anything?” 

“Most things,” Grandad gave a sly grin. “The only thing I can’t do is kill living things. I can only create. Also, if this pen runs out of ink,” he waved the pen in front of me. “I have to go to a water nymph and get the ink they gave me or else it won’t work.” He narrowed his eyebrows. “You didn’t say how you got here? How did that happen? Also, how is my house? I put a cleaning spell on it and is it working? 

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I was sent by my father to clean out your place, but it was clan so the spell worked. So instead I went exploring, and I found Teetee and Wolf-fang.” As soon as I said that, Grandad shook his head, as soon as I mentioned their names. They said they had a purpose because you gave them names, and I want to have a purpose in life. 

Grandad crossed his arms. “I’ll give you a purpose, but it has to be a special type of blood dragon's blood to be specific. That’s the extra bonus we get if we kill this dragon. I’ll give you a name,”. He put his hand on his chin. “It would be something like my name James.” A huge smile spread across my face and I felt giddy at the thought that I might have a purpose. "Come, we're almost there.” James said as he jogged in front of me. 

As we walked, the forest faded and more animals' bones started to show up everywhere. Until we got to an open field where a massive animal slept on a pile of bones. “We’re here,” said Grandad coldly as he marched forward. He took out his journal, and scribbled something down. The blue ink came down and went to his and my hands, forming swords. “Be careful, we don’t want to wake it,” He whispered. “I don’t want to capture it or else it will break free and kill us. I want to kill it first.” Grandad crouched down and went towards the dragon. I followed him closely. As we got closer, the air smelled like burning rotten flesh. I could feel the heat coming from the dragon’s nose. Even his scales gave off heat. When we reached his massive eyelids, grandad took another step, getting ready to draw his sword. But, his feet betrayed him as he slipped on an animal’s bone. The dragon’s eyelids snapped open. His blood-soaked eyes looked around before realizing what was happening. He let out a massive roar. The dragon shot up and whipped his tail back and forth. The dragon flapped his wings trying to take off. The wind blew us away. Grandad landed a few feet away from me. He took out his journal and scribbled something. The ink flew off the page into his hands and formed a bow and arrow. “Grandad he’s getting away.” I cried out. He grabbed the arrow, looking at how straight it was and feeling the bow. The dragon flew father away until it was almost out of eyesight. “Grandad please.” I begged, tears began to form in my eyes. He knocked an arrow, looked at the dragon and let it fly. The arrow had found its mark. The dragon plummeted towards the ground. As soon as that happened, he got up and limped towards me. 

“Let’s get that blood.” He sighed. We limped a few feet before we heard another massive roar. “That can’t be.” Grandad said in shock. As the dragon gushing blood came rushing towards us at breakneck speed. The ground was ripping underneath him. The dragon slammed into him. One of the razor sharp claws ripped into me. The cut gushed blood. James was on his back, the dragon on top. “Kill him!” Grandad screamed as the dragon bit into him and whipped him around. I grabbed the sword and ran over to the dragon and plunged it into the rib cage. The dragon howled in pain and slumped over dead. I dropped the sword and ran over to grandad. The dragon's teeth had shredded his torso. He was pale as a ghost and shaking, but he was writing in his journal. Ink spilled off the page and went into my mouth. One word formed in my head. Matthew. I felt a calmness wash over me. I look back at grandad. The light in his eyes disappeared. I grabbed the pen and journal. His hands felt clammy. I looked at the red journal now stained with crimson blood. On it there was only one word. I said it out loud “Take me home.” And, with that Argon melted away and I was standing in James’s office. The gash hurting even more. I walked out the door. Teetee stops me. 

“Where’s master?" he questioned. I waved the journal in front of him. 

“I’m master now. And, the name is Matthew.” I walk by holding my chest. And, headed out of the house to go to the hospital.