NINE

Rufus’s mind was calm and collected. His thoughts snapped together like cogs in a finely made clock. It assessed what it gathered through his senses. What it would have normally taken Rufus’s mind years to identify, it took his new mind milliseconds to recognize, analyze, and make a final assessment. A fleeting thought in the back of his mind questioned each interpretation of the sensations he was having, but this new self disregarded those doubts like he did the snow flurries that were falling on his bare shoulders. He looked at the man in front of him. Rufus knew it was Merlin, but there was so much more apparent now.

He could see that the man in front of him looked young, but his eyes belied that. They were ageless, had seen pain, fought enemies, celebrated life, lived and were living fears. He saw the slight hand movements and recognized them as intricate elaboration of the thoughts that controlled them.

“Well good. I’m glad to hear that you are happy with your projection, if you wouldn’t mind heading out the gates. Miss Whimsic will be with you momentarily.” Merlin pointed to the gates in the North side of the arena and turned his head towards the bleachers, indicating that Imogen and Meme should enter the Arena.

Rufus wasn’t necessarily startled by Merlin’s voice; he was more-so made aware of it, he expected it. He was entirely enthralled by what he was seeing, and normally he would have been startled out of such reverie, but Rufus was as surprised by the intrusion as if he were standing on a beach and was splashed by a collapsing wave.

He could see the unbelievable sight of human footprints that stopped where he had stood and continued as those of otherworldly creatures. He stoically walked through the white, snowy field towards a gigantic double gate. Outside was a staircase that was very wide. Wide enough to fit some of the large creatures Rufus had seen earlier. He crunched through the snow and slowly walked through an invisible barrier that he obviously couldn’t see but he could feel as if he were slowly submerging his body into an icy bath. When his body started to pass through the invisible plane there was a split moment of panic, where he felt that he was losing hold of his projection, however the moment passed and his projection solidified.

He continued down the stairwell and into the middle of the blacksmith market place. He stopped at the base of the staircase to see several of the newly projected creatures watching him come down. They turned their attention to Imogen and Merlin being displayed in the sky above them. Rufus walked over to what he thought was Biggie, but he wasn’t completely sure.

“Rufus? Nice!” Jimmy came around the side of Biggie. “That was your first time? I like it. The ladies will be after you like brown on a stick.”

Rufus, looked at the child that stood in front of him and said nothing. He was inspecting the child, interpreting and internalizing what he saw. He wasn’t trying to be rude, but that isn’t the way Jimmy took it.

“Hey, buddy. Wake up.” Jimmy started snapping his fingers at Rufus. After Rufus only intensified his examination, Jimmy snorted, “I’m out of here. I’ll be at Meme’s if you all get hungry.”

Rufus watched Jimmy walk away.

A rumble slowly emanated from the giant standing next to Rufus. “Is rude to stare, my friend.” A gray hand the size of a serving platter rested on Rufus’s shoulder. “Jimmy does not like that. You give too much to abilities, lose Rufus…lose self.” The hand left Rufus’s shoulder and folded into a fist with a single gigantic finger sticking out—pointing to his temple. “You must project self also. Lose control like them.”

Biggie pointed to several dragons that were flying through the air. They looked like they were fighting over some type of remains.

“They know only of their real selves if they include that in what they project. That’s not much…” Biggie let the word hang as they turned their attention away from the bickering dragons to the staircase that lead from the Arena, because Merlin, Meme, and Imogen were coming down to the Market.

Imogen had projected herself into a tall, beautiful woman. Surprisingly, her facial features seamed to be consistent but slightly older. Her hair was braided with a single intricate plait weaved with gold and silver thread that draped over her right shoulder. Rufus was unable to take his eyes off of her as she glided next to Meme. Her regal appearance forced every eye in the market to stop what they were doing and look at her.

“Well? What do you think?” Imogen said as she stepped down to ground level spreading the skirt of her dress wide with one hand. Her smile was dazzling and a slight floral fragrance floated about her, enhanced by the air she stirred as she gesticulated. Rufus could do nothing but love her in that moment; however, all of the other men were feeling the same amorous feelings. And every single woman that saw her walk down gave her an envious glare.

Rufus stammered. “You are a amazing!” The real Rufus was writhing in agony in the back of his projection’s mind.

“Rufus, you are too kind! I was thinking of joining the fairies, but as they haven’t yet invited me, I decided to take a page form Greek mythology. Can you guess what page?”

Rufus wanted only to please the woman standing in front of him, so his mind raced for possibilities. “Athena?” he asked.

“Somewhat, but you do have the right gender.”

“Penelope?”

“Who? No.”

A sound like an earthquake carrying words came from behind Rufus said “Aphrodite”.

“That’s right Biggie, how did you guess?” She exclaimed as she interlocked her arm with Rufus’s and started to walk away from the staircase. “I am famished! Aren’t you Rufus? That breakfast was good, but I am still a bit peckish. Let’s go find some food. Biggie would you like to join us? What’s good around here?”

Biggie and Imogen both started chatting about the many different types of foods that existed in the Arena. Rufus’ mind was racing. The quick, methodical calculations it had been making up to that point had disappeared the moment he’d seen Imogen in her projection. Biggie and Imogen finally decided that they would make their way to Meme’s to get some creamed cakes, towing Rufus along.

On their way they made a stop at the bank. As they walked through the brass doors, they saw two massive trolls sitting just inside the entrance to the main hall. They were ugly and, even in a sitting position, their heads reached above the massive doors the trio had just walked through. Both of the trolls had their best suits on. Of course, a suit for a troll was very hard to find due to the shear amount of material required to make it—and also due to the fact that trolls inherently are really hard on clothing. These “best suits” were ragged and dusty, but they were full three-piece suits with even the added touch of a gold watch chain dangling across the front of each of their vests.

A large wooden desk was at the end of the hall, and at it sat Mr. Sineter. They walked up and greeted him. “Good morning, Mr. Sineter.” Said Biggie.

Mr. Sineter looked up from his desk. “Still using that Russian accent are we Mr. Worthrite?” Mr. Sineter stood up and pushed his chair under his desk. “Follow me.”

Mr. Sineter showed them their lock-boxes and the amount of money they each had. Biggie had saved most of his from last year, but he didn’t really do much in the way of making more money to replenish his funds. He had around 450 decoins, where Rufus and Imogen both had 500; every student’s starting amount.

As Rufus was counting the coins in his lockbox Mr. Sineter said “Merlin told me that you had projected as a blacksmith. If so, you will need money to buy supplies for your business. I recommend you take at least twenty or more decoins with you. Some of the metals out there can be very expensive. Are you going to continue to be a blacksmith?”

Rufus took 50 decoins from his box and nodded to Mr. Sineter. “I believe so, at least for the next several sessions. Is there a market stall available that I could rent?”

Mr. Sineter walked them back to his desk and looked through some of the papers he had. “Yes, you can take the second to last on the left hand side. It’s number 15. You will see the number engraved on the wall next to your forge. It is one decoin per session to rent. Curious thing is we only had a couple blacksmiths and today we had twenty, including you sign up.” He held out his hand, indicating that Rufus should give him a decoin.

After the blacksmith stall arrangements had been made Mr. Sineter walked them back to the front of the main hall and handed them each a leather coin purse to hold their money. “The decoins are made out of soltanium. Merlin uses this metal because it is very difficult to recreate perfectly. Mind you, it is fairly simple to tell a fake. When you press on one, it should change colors; especially the very last color should look like sunlight. That is the hardest part to replicate.” He paused and then shooed them. “Ok, kids. Come back at the end of the day with whatever you have left over and we’ll put it away for you.”

The trio walked out the doors and could hear Mr. Sineter yelling at one of the trolls—something about paying them to watch, not to sleep.

“How come you take so much?” Biggie asked Rufus as they walked towards Meme’s cafe. “Food inexpensive here. Thieves take when carry so much.”

“I’ll have to be careful, Biggie. I plan on buying supplies to make weapons for myself.” Rufus replied.

“Oh, no. You aren’t planning on fighting in the Arena are you? I would worry so much if you were to do so.” Imogen’s personality definitely had changed. She had actually pulled Rufus’s arm tighter to her as she spoke. Rufus’s projected mind found it nice and comforting, but somewhere in his brain alarms were sounding, like a muted scream.

“I don’t think I will. I might, but my plan right now is to create weapons and artifacts so that I can make more money.”

“Well, ok, but I want you to know that I would be very unhappy if you were to hurt yourself.”

“Ahem…Yes, I will make sure I am careful.”

They walked down one of the rows of market stalls towards a group of tables and chairs that were set halfway out into the street. Several storybook creatures walked, slithered or flew past them: centaurs, fawns, minotaurs, sprites, fairies, animals that Rufus recognized and some that he didn’t, men and women, and, of course, the children who didn’t project.

“Helloo!” A man with a short-cropped beard, purple cape, a gold crown, and boots strolled through the crowd and waved at Rufus, Imogen and Biggie.

They passed by him and started to wave back when they realized that the man only had his cape, boots and crown covering his body.

“That man is naked!” Imogen whispered to her two companions and averted her eyes. So much for Aphrodite not being a prude thought Rufus.

“Yes, that Frank, he projects self as different Kings from stories and histories each session.” Commented Biggie. “Naked won’t last long, when Merlin finds out.”

Rufus fleetingly remembered a childhood story about an Emperor who was tricked into buying invisible clothes. He chuckled to himself.

They settled down at one of the tables in front of a large market stall that had been painted canary yellow with white trim. The front of the stall had one doorway with a Dutch door that lead into a kitchen area. The top of the door was open and the kitchen area was seen through it. Biggie moved a chair to the side and sat down on the ground. “Meme, gets mad when I break chairs.” He drawled while rolling his eyes.

Meme was standing in the kitchen, holding a wooden spoon, overseeing the other cooks. She saw Rufus, Imogen, and Biggie sit down and immediately came out to see them.

“Hello, everyone. How is your day going so far?” Meme asked.

“Beautifully, Meme. We haven’t done much, but I am so excited to try some of your food. Biggie speaks so highly of it.” Imogen chirped.

“Well that is nice to know. Biggie is one of our best customers. Aren’t you Biggie?” Meme gently rested her hand on Biggie’s forearm.

“Here are some menus. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. Rufus and Imogen, because this is your first time here, you can have whatever you would like on the house. Biggie, I am sorry, but you eat too much and you must pay. We let him eat for free once and that left us without food for the rest of the day. Not very good if you want to stay in business.” She winked at Biggie and left them to their menus.    

They ate their fill at Meme’s and then Rufus wanted to get to work in his new stall, so they all walked with him over to the blacksmith market. The air rang with metal clanging on metal and water fizzing. As the trio walked passed each of the Blacksmith shops, Rufus’s mind instantly recognized who really knew what they were doing and who didn’t. Most of the Blacksmiths were okay; however, only a few were really good. That being said, all of them were concentrating on their work and not wasting a bit of time, as if they all had a deadline to make. Strangely, he noticed that the smithies were all making mundane weapons: swords, arrowheads, axes, etc. None of them were making the magical weapons that he assumed they would be. In a world like this a basic sword wouldn’t be worth much.

They walked down to stall 15 and went in. There were hammers, tongs, anvils and all such smithy tools. Rufus’s hands craved to hold them, to build something. He grabbed one of the hammers off the wall and flexed his fingers around it. Blue and black sparks laced with white came from his forearm and traveled up through his hand and into the hammer’s head.