Chapter 1: The Burning of the Human Ship
It all started with an idea.
Dagmar Kuta sat against the courthouse wall in Oren, an apple rubbing against the palm of his hand for shining. It was a bright, sunny day, just about to set into nightfall. People bustled about the main square of the Elysium town, guards patrolling and conversing, citizens beginning to settle into their homes.
Dagmar took a bite into his apple, and the taste and smell of the apple entered him. Finally, a moment of peace, he thought.
It was then that another smell entered his nostrils; they flared. Smoke, dirty and dry, flooded his nose, and he sniffed the air for a direction. Turning around, he saw a plume of smoke rising from the Human docks. That was just about when someone called out, "Fire, fire!" and everyone bustled to the docks.
The Queen of Oren was already there, trying to put out fires on the Human ship. The sails were heavily ablaze, gushing through the air as they hissed with flared desperation. Dagmar simply watched, for he did not want to get burned; they did not need his help.
The fires were soon to be put out by guard and royalty alike, it not having spread onto the ship, and the sails in recoverable condition. The Queen descended from the mast, her face a bit blacker due to soot and ash. She exclaimed, "The culprit was in black clothes, and wearing a pumpkin. He got away before we arrived."
Guards were stationed on the ship, looking for any other signs of this "pumpkin man". It was then that he got a devilishly funny idea.
Dagmar remembered that he had many pumpkins back in his house, from his days back in Asulon of farming. Wouldn't it be funny, he thought, if I showed up as this pumpkin man? I wonder if the guards will really be gullible enough to arrest the complete wrong person... He rushed back to the monk village, ran to the docks, and entered a small hovel below a wooden pathway.
It was small, dug out from a small hole under the docks; but it served its purpose. Hey, it was free too.
Dagmar opened one of his chests, pulling out an appropriately sized pumpkin. He took out a simple sword, carving out a hole in the bottom. Jamming it on his head, he chuckled, grabbing a torch as well as he headed out.
After a couple minutes of walking, Dagmar found himself back on the Human docks. He swam around the ship, guards conversing aboard, and took a deep breath. He climbed the ladder, and met face to face with a recruit to the guard.
They both stood there for a second, comprehending the situation. As a joke, Dagmar waved the torch in the air, hissing. "Jonathan! JONATHAN!" the recruit called, pulling his sword from the sheath. Dagmar hopped from off the side of the boat, landing with a "kersplunk" in the water as he began to swim away.
"Get back here, you," the recruit cried, racing off the boat to apprehend the pumpkin man. Dagmar faked tripping on the ground, just so he could see what they'd do if they caught him. The recruit caught up quickly, binding his hands and trying to keep him restrained. His other guard friend, Jonathan came waltzing up.
"Huh. You caught him. That was easy," he commented, watching as his friend struggled with the pumpkin man.
"Don't just stand there...! Help me," the recruit called, punching Dagmar in the stomach as he tried to escape from the binds.
Okay, he thought, this is getting more serious... Perhaps I should stop. But, some sort of subconscious inside him said, No, this is fun. Just play the act. This is funny, making them think you're the criminal... So, he continued playing the act.
Jonathan helped the other guard drag Dagmar, wriggling in binds and all, back into Oren, to a large military fort inside the city. "Ser Grimbeard," called Jonathan, kicking Dagmar to the ground, "we got him! We found the man who burned the ship!"
Dagmar lay on the ground, his ribs throbbing, as some royalty of Oren and this "Ser Grimbeard" came forth to see him.
"Well. You caught him. Good job, recruits," Grimbeard commented. Dagmar had his pumpkin ripped off his head, and the insulating heat he once felt now met with cold, and he began to look back at his decisions once more.
Crap, he thought, they're going to behead me now. What have I done...
And so they did. His head rolled on the ground, and everyone thought the pumpkin man was no more. But, as custom for people revived involuntarily by the Monks, Dagmar didn't remember this part. He simply remembered one thought before all went blank: I dressed up as a pumpkin and went to the Human ship.