Ikäraja: K-13
Kuvaus: Atakk viettää hyvin tavallista iltaa Dumnomia-museossa, kunnes saa yllättäviä vieraita. Ficci on englanninkielinen ja julkaistu alun perin Zinesteria - Tales of Zestiria -fanzinessa.
A Night at the Dumnomia Museum
The corridors of the Dumnomia Museum were pleasantly quiet. If you listened very carefully you could hear the faint sound of birds chirping outside. Atakk stood before his favorite painting and gazed at it as he did every night after closing time. He could stare at it forever and never get bored. The spot where the painting had been set was perfect too; natural light came from the window and made every color even brighter, and when there was a full moon, the scenery in the picture bathed in the moon’s pale light and became a bit mysterious but exciting too. Atakk was pretty sure that the painting was alive, and his very core sang every time he laid his eyes on the beautiful landscape of Morgana Woods from the distant past.
But tonight, something was out of place. Call that a seraph instinct or whatever, but Atakk couldn’t concentrate and enjoy his evening ritual. There was something ominous in the air. Something was about to happen, he was sure of it.
It wasn’t long before a sudden air current disheveled Atakk’s fur and made every hair on his body stand up. Eyes wide he turned around and forgot all about the painting. Did he hear a hinge creak? Could it be that someone had just opened the front door? People who worked at the museum had already gone home and there shouldn’t be any curious customers this late either. What if the mysterious visitor was a lowest of the low, an art thief?
Atakk darted down the stairs. The door was indeed standing ajar. His heart was trying to climb out through his throat at the thought of what might happen. He could handle this, he could handle this. He was a normin, a seraph, he could handle anything! He adjusted his golden helmet and ran to the door.
“Show yourself, you filthy thief, and feel the anger of the mighty seraphim!”
It was more than likely that the thief didn’t have high resonance and they wouldn’t hear Atakk’s shout, but it was worth trying. If he was lucky, the thief would get scared and run away.
“There you are! And here I thought you had left this dusty building.”
The voice was familiar but Atakk couldn’t remember where he had heard it before. When he turned around, he saw two other normin standing in the middle of the main hall. One of them had purple and white fur and he was wearing a huge top hat with a ribbon over it. The hat was so enormous that he had made holes for his eyes in it. The other normin had a big hat too, but it was a pointy one. She adjusted her tiny eyeglasses and stroked her greyish green fur, which had rustled up in every possible direction because of the evening wind. Both normin’s white bellies stood out in the dim lobby, and they brought the smell of a damp cavern with them.
“Well, this is an interesting turn of events,” Atakk said. Maybe his seraph’s instinct had been wrong after all. “Grimoirh, Bienfu, it has been a while! What are you doing here?”
“Just traveling and collecting interesting stories. One of these days I’ll write a book more spectacular than the Celestial Record,” Grimoirh said.
Atakk had to admit that the lady normin didn’t have any problems with self-esteem. And if he remembered right, same went with Bienfu.
“Is that any way to say hello, fu? I would like to have some dinner and wine, if you please,” Bienfu said.
“Why am I not surprised?” Atakk said.
He couldn’t help but smile. When was the last time they had seen each other? There was no way of remembering. It would be nice to catch up.
“Actually, I haven’t eaten dinner yet, so come on in… Well, I guess you're already in…”
Before Atakk led the two other normin to the basement floor, he closed the front door as he wouldn’t want any thieves to show up. There was a kitchen for the people who worked at the museum in the basement and sometimes they left something for Atakk too. Of course, they never said that the bread, wine and other goods were for him, but why else would they leave them in the kitchen after leaving work? Besides, Atakk had heard that humans weren’t even allowed to drink wine while working so the wine had to be for him. Although there was one older man who sometimes sipped the wine from bottles meant for Atakk and didn’t even ask for permission. That one didn’t have any respect at all.
“Let’s see what we have here today…”
Opening the big cabinet was always hard work and Bienfu or Grimoirh didn’t do anything to help. After Atakk managed to open the heavy cabinet door, a lovely smell of cheese wafted in the kitchen and it made his stomach growl. There was wine, cheese, bread and even some fruit, which was very rare. The humans of the museum must truly love him.
“That's more like it,” Bienfu said, when Atakk carried everything to the kitchen table.
The normin climbed onto the table and sat there while Atakk opened the wine bottle. The aroma of the red wine was so rich that Atakk could almost taste it on his tongue. He sipped the wine and took a small piece of cheese. It melted in his mouth and left a creamy aftertaste. The food and wine were indeed delicious but Atakk was also curious to hear what was happening outside the village.
“We came from Lastonbell and we met a young Mayvin there. He is just a boy but nonetheless very enthusiastic about his life’s purpose. I have to say I admire the passion that young ones have… Can’t say I have felt it in a very long time. But watching the young ones always makes me a bit younger too,” Grimoirh said.
“Do you wish you were younger?” Atakk asked.
“Oh boy, who wants to be young when you can live long and see everything, fu?” Bienfu asked.
“Well, I think the art was better when I was young. They don’t make paintings like that nowadays. They just splat some paint to a canvas and call that art. I honestly don’t understand some humans…”
“They are not so bad, especially the little ones,” Grimoirh said.
“You have always had a soft spot for kids. Remember how Laphicet just wrapped you around his finger, fu. Now that I think about it, that kid had something that made all the ladies notice him. How does one get something like that?”
“He didn’t do anything special. He was just a nice kid,” Grimoirh said. “So, Atakk, how has your life been?”
Bienfu opened his mouth but Atakk was quicker and started to tell about all the humans who came to the museum and admired the works of art. They were good people who still appreciated fine art when they saw it. And some brought food to the kitchen for him. Those were really good people.
“Phoenix used to visit me, but I haven’t seen him in a while,” Atakk ended his story about living in the museum. Bienfu had been yawning, but now he was wide awake again.
“I heard that he made some kind of contract with Eizen, fu,” he said.
“Eizen? Eizen the dragon?”
Atakk couldn’t believe his ears. Maybe his helmet was blocking something. Maybe Bienfu had said Aiden or Adam, because no normin would ever have anything to do with dragons. It was way too dangerous.
“So, it has finally happened,” Grimoirh said and put her glass to the table. “I sort of knew it would happen some day. He had so much darkness in him, but for Edna’s sake I didn’t want to believe it.”
Atakk wasn’t sure if he was following the conversation even though he had drunk only a little bit of wine. Bienfu looked shocked and just stared at him and then Grimoirh. He obviously hadn’t known about Eizen’s transformation.
“Bieeeeen! That’s terrible!”
“What kind of contract did Eizen and Phoenix make?” Atakk could barely ask.
Making contracts with a seraph who was on his way to become a dragon was serious business. Serious and dangerous.
“I don’t know but maybe we should find out, fu. What do you think, Grimoirh?”
“I think we should pay Edna a visit… if we can find her. This could be the perfect story for my book. The one I’ve been looking for. A story with heartbreaking destiny and sorrowful ending.”
Atakk wondered why on earth Grimoirh wanted to write sad stories instead happy ones. Who wanted to cry, when they could enjoy life and art? Literature was an art form as was painting, but Atakk was interested in adventures and stories with heartwarming turns of events, not something that made you mourn.
“She’s living in Rayfalke Spiritcrest, I've heard. Eizen is there too,” he said anyway. “But I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to pay them a visit…”
“I’ve known Eizen forever. It can’t be that bad, not yet, fu”, Bienfu said. His voice was as full of confidence as always. “And I’m pretty sure that Edna is already a beautiful lady. It would be a waste not to go meet her and do my best to conquer her heart.”
“Knowing your history with ladies, Edna would suit you perfectly, but she might think differently,” Atakk said.
“Bieeeenn…”
“Quit with the moping. You haven’t even seen her yet. Last time you two met, she was a toddler,” Grimoirh said.
Bienfu mumbled something and took the wine bottle from Atakk’s hands. He raised the bottle bottoms up and drank it empty.
“So, Rayfalke Spiritcrest is our next destination,” Grimoirh decided.
“Well, it’s your funeral,” Atakk said.
“I doubt that. But in case you’re right, I’m going to eat and drink all night, fu,” Bienfu said and took a piece of cheese next.
Atakk didn’t mind. Even though Bienfu and Grimoirh weren’t his best friends, it was nice to have some company every once in a while. So they talked about the good old times and the bad ones too. They drank another bottle of wine and ate the rest of the food. It was a good night with old friends, but when Bienfu and Grimoirh left at the dawn, Atakk worried about them. It turned out his worry wasn’t for nothing, because it was the last time he ever saw them.
