Memento's

To her, it was just really fun to be able to let go and to meet and talk to someone so clueless. It was nothing like she had ever done before and it felt so nice to teach someone things that she knows. She was currently heading over to the Birmalu Kingdom to meet her husband as of five years for the fifth time.

It wasn't a fulfilling relationship, they had only gotten married and had a child for political reasons, to unite the two kingdoms once again and to fulfill the four-hundred-year treaty. Her marriage to him decided four hundred years ago, and it didn't sit well with her. Her future was decided by some old person she had never met, and it didn't feel good. They weren't on bad terms, but they weren't close either. He was more like a stranger and talking to Zeeth took her mind off Birmalu Kingdom for a while.

He stayed with them all night and late into the morning the next day asking about this world. They were far better to ask than god since they were willing and seemed happy to pass on the information and they didn't have a timer on their discussions, so he didn't have to think about all of his questions before asking to see if they were worth it or not and he didn't feel ad to ask a seemingly useless question, they were happy to give more than what he asked for and share their experiences, unlike the stingy god that he can call.

After a full night and day of talking, he decided, "I'm going to go out and stretch a little."

Tarud turned to him and said, "Ah, Zeeth. The cart is still moving. Pull up the platforms underneath it. There should be a small tab for you to kick open."

Zeeth opened up the curtains and heard the soft rumbling of the wheels and the smell of the forest that was slowly thinning out. He stood on the moving platform and let the curtains close behind him as he stood there thinking. It had been enjoyable to talk to them, but he knew they would have to split up sooner or later. He planned on staying at Jarlon while they hadn't even planned on going there in the first place, they would leave really soon.

It wasn't a good feeling, knowing that they could possibly never meet again. It was like when he had to leave Afir, but it wasn't as strong. He had spent months with Afir, learning, and bonding. The time he spent with Eviry and Tarud had been relatively short but really special for him. They were the second group of people he had ever met from his memory anyway, not counting the other kids that god had abducted taken.

He made a promise to never forget these guys.

Tarud then opened up the curtain and kicked open another platform beside him.

"Hey, Zeeth. Lady Eviry decided to go to sleep since she didn't get any yesterday night." he took a deep breath of the forest air and said, "This is such nice scenery. So, what were you thinking about? You seemed to be deep in thought."

"Oh, nothing much. Just thinking about how we would all have to leave each other soon after Jarlon. I plan on staying there and you guys plan on leaving."

"Hmm. How about this, lets make a trade. I'll give you something to remember me by and you'll give us a small memoir for us to remember you. And I think I have the perfect thing. From what you've been asking, you don't seem to know much about the world, which means you probably don't have much or any money, right?"

"Uh-huh. I've never had money before."

"Then, I'll give you this card with 30 styrs that I first offered you. it hasn't been claimed yet, you just have to press here with your thumb for 5 seconds." the card had a long set of numbers in the front and little buttons that read 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, all. "After spending the money, you can keep the card, or refill it for more money so the card can stay with you for a lifetime. 30 styrs isn't too much, but it can get you a couple of dozen nice meals."

"Oh, uh. Wow, that's a lot. I don't have much."

Zeeth sheepishly thought, I was intending on giving him that shiny pebble that I got or maybe some of these flowers, but none of them even match up with what he wants to give me. I can't give him a slime or a necklace. Hmm.

Zeeth kept scanning his body looking for something of equal value for him to give, but 30 styrs really seemed like too much and he was reluctant to take it.

'Oh! I have that table that Afir gifted me! I'm not sure how much that costs, I'll have to ask.' Zeeth quickly reached into his slime suit and pulled out a small wooden square with barely noticeable white strings wrapped around it.

"This is a magical table that can help prepare food. We're going to have to get on something larger than this platform if you want to open it though. I'm willing to prepare any animal that you have with you, but I don't think I can give the table to you. I need it for my travels."

"That's fine, but what do you mean by prepare food? What exactly does it do?"

"Well, um. How do I explain it? There are these hairs and they can move around and I use them to dissect animals. Um, it's better to show you than to explain. When we stop at Jarlon I'll show you."

'Hmm.' Tarud looked at it closely and rubbed his chin. No matter how he looked at it, it was just some really nice wood with strings but his businessman heart inside him told him that it was something far more extraordinary and that it shouldn't be opened somewhere in the open.

"No, come with me. I have a secret room back here." They walked back into the cart as the platforms felt the weight disappear and drew back in where they saw Lady Eviry asleep in the chair. She looked beautiful just sleeping there with her baby. They quietly walked past her and into a door. It was a plain pink and white door that matched the wall perfectly and seamlessly. He hadn't even noticed the door was there despite facing it for several hours.

When Tarud got to it the door, it opened up a mouth in the middle and shot out a tongue that licked Taruds face as he casually let it slowly move up. When the door was done licking, it opened up its mouth to perfectly fit Tarud and let him in which revealed a bright white room.

"Just stand in front of the door and let it lick your face. If it determines that you have no ill will, you can come in."

Zeeth did the same thing after the door closed with shark-like teeth and the mouth opened again to lick Zeeth. The tongue didn't feel wet like he had expected. It felt like someone was rubbing his face with a rubber towel with thousands of small bumps on it. The same process happened and he was let in. But instead of a bright white room, there was a large room filled with boxes and chests. Anything from a metallic skull-shaped chest to a small pink box.

"What is this place? Why was it white from the outside? And it's so much larger than even the cart itself."

"This is one of the secret compartments of this cart that I store things in. It was magically enhanced to lead us to another room with no other exit than the carriage. You can safely open up the table here."

"Oooh. Cool. what are all of these boxes holding?"

"Well, even I'm not sure. I put all of the strange boxes and chests that I can't open here. In case one of them is dangerous, if they blow up they will just blow up this room and not the cart. I carry them around in case I meet someone who can open them for me."

"Oh, okay. Well, this place is more than enough for this table, I just need an animal or something to dissect. Maybe I should get the tentacon."

"You could. We are now close enough that the special freezer that I could store its parts in would work. It's a little sad to have to kill this baby tentacon though. How about we use old boar that we hunted recently. This table can really dissect things? Interesting."

"Oh, yeah I think that would work. Yeah, let's use a boar instead."

Tarud pulled out a small bag and unzipped it and from Zeeths point of view, he could see only darkness and frost hover out of the bag. He pulled up his sleeves and reached his entire arm into the tiny bag which should have broken through the bottom had it been a normal bag and started moving his arm around as he tried to peek in. he finally seemed to grab what he wanted when his arm stopped with a jolt.

The top of his arm and his shoulder suddenly bulged up with muscles, his neck veins grew and his face turned red as he yanked up as hard as he could. As his hand slowly went up which revealed a massively muscular arm and the bag started to bulge near the top into the unmistakable shape of a boars' back. He had eaten so many of these that he knew the shape of their backs even through a bag. The bags opening widened more and more as the boars back was being pulled up by Tarud and with a final heave, he pulled up the entire boar out of the bag which zipped itself shut after. Tarud threw the boar onto the ground and his arm slowly deflated until it was back to normal.

"W-Woah! So many things happened at once, I don't even know what to say first!"

Tarud chuckled as he swung his arm around a bit to stretch it around, "That was another magically enhanced bag, much like the doorway that leads to this room, it leads to another storage room. And that was a skill I learned a while back."

"Cool… okay, so let me show you this table." Zeeth popped the table open and the hairs neatly fell over the table to form a grid. He then picked up the boar and flung it onto the table and the hairs instantly got to work. They jumped up to grab the boar and slithered under the skin and started sliding around to separate the skin from the meat.

They tore the head off, let the blood spill onto the table which soaked it right up, they cut off the legs and continued working for a few minutes. After they were done, they had the fur, head, bones, and all neatly displayed on the table, and the threads wrapped around the table legs peacefully.

When Zeeth turned around he saw Tarud staring at the table full of astonishment. His eyes were wide open and his mouth remained unhinged.

"Boy, this table is incredible! My goodness, this isn't just worth 30 styrs! Just the knowledge of it is enough for 30 styrs." Tarud quickly went to the table and started inspecting the goods. "Can this do it to any animal? You were trying to use the tentacon, can it really do this to a tentacon?"

"Well, I haven't tried but I assume it can. It cut up a winged lion before."

"Incredible, a winged lion, you say? May I ask who gave this to you? No, that would be too much. Zeeth, make sure you don't let others know about this table. If the wrong people knew about the existence of this table a lot of trouble would follow in your footsteps. I know many people who would destroy cities and kill thousands with no hesitation for this table, it's worth that much. Also, don't tell anyone who gave this to you either, it could cause problems for them."

Now, this was true. He did want Zeeth to stay safe. His empathy is part of what makes a great merchant and he wouldn't want bad to befall random strangers, especially not those who have saved all of his merchandise.

But it was also for his own benefit. This way, if Zeeth ever did want to sell it, he would have less competition. He was a world-renown merchant, after all, he has to keep money at the forefront of his brain.

"Ok. well, do you wanna cook the boar? And if you do, do you have any spices and sauces and a source of the fire?"

"Oh, yeah lunchtime is coming up, I'm sure the people would enjoy a good boar. I'll get the flavoring out." Tarud quickly reached into his bag and pulled out some ingredients like a closed flower with strange bumps along with the petals, a horn with a built-in grinder that ground itself, and create flames with a simple shake, a stone that would harden when touched but cut like butter. "Although, a fire might be dangerous in here. I don't know if any of these boxes are reactive to heat."

"Well, we'll just have to risk it, huh?" Zeeth took the horn and shook it under the table which caused a flame that instantly turned the table into a shade of steel.

Tarud looked at him, horrified. 'This man is insane! How can he be so careless?! He is dangerous to simply be around! Page followed him his entire life?! It's a wonder he lived past 40!!'

"Now, Zeeth. I understand that you are inexperienced with the ways of the world after losing your memory, but that was really dangerous! I'm not sure what these boxes could do, if one of them reacts to heat in any way, we could be dead right now!"

"Oh, really? These can be that dangerous? Okay, I'll keep that in mind next time. But it seems one of them is reacting to the fire. A green box behind you is opening."

"YAAAAAGH," Tarud jumped up into the air and turned a full 180 to look at the box. He quickly pulled up his monocle to study what was going on. The green box was about the size of Taruds torso and the green vines that wrapped around it slowly climbed back into itself away from the fire.

"I don't think that's a box. That's just a bunch of vines that grew in the shape of a large cube." Zeeth took a step towards it and moved out of the way of the light of the fire and the vines retreated even faster with more light.

Tarud, instead, took a step back in fear of the anger, "Zeeth, don't get too close. There have been far too many stories about people dying from trying to open unknown boxes and I still can't analyze anything substantial right now, these are just artus vines, vines known to grow in dry areas that can very tightly hold onto something once it's got a good hold of it. Although, I've never heard of them being afraid of the heat or light before. In fact, they thrive in it. This is most likely a creation of a great wizard."