Chapter 3 – Age Four

Oliver had grown up from a little baby to a young child four years of age. Under the tutelage of the bald man he learned to read, write and the basic necessities taught to children whose parents had enough money to get them educated.

He was a good looking little boy with blonde hair covering his entire head and kept short, brown eyes and fair skin. He interacted with everyone as equals and was well liked by everyone in the manor.

On one such occasion after one of his lessons, Oliver went outside to play and found a boy and a girl playing together in the field behind the servants quarters. Intrigued by their laugher, he ran to join them only to have both children stop their playing once they noticed him and become guarded.

Once he was close enough he noticed he’d never seen these two kids before and that they were much older than him. “Hello.” he said to them waving and giving them a haphazard smile.

The other two kids nodded in response and returned the smile but were clearly on guard as they both stared at him in a way he found a bit odd.

“Hello there, I’m Oliver” Oliver didn’t quite notice their stiff attitudes, just that they were acting a little strange as he asked the girl closest to him “What’s your name?”

Still staring at the boy a little oddly, the girl finally responded in a timid voice “My name is Nye”.

“What kind of name is Nye? Is it short for something” Oliver asked her questioningly. Almost expecting this question, Nye dropped her head as her cheeks flushed knowing she would have to tell him her name and then explain “My name is Nyemeria”.

The boy’s eyebrows lifted at that “That’s weird. That’s not a very common name. Is your family from another kingdom or something?”

Sighing. The girl looked back at the young lord and then stood up straight refusing to be ashamed of her family, despite the many quirks… “We’ve lived in this kingdom for generations. My mother has ‘the sight’ she can see the future, past and sometimes other worlds!”

The boy’s eyes stared wide as he immediately responded in an excited manner “Oh wow! So you’re name is from the future or something!?” Instead of receiving a disbelieving response, for the first time in her life someone had responded to her response involving her family and mother in an excited way. ‘He actually believes me…’ a little shock and glee was evident on her face as she tried to stay calm “Yes… My name is the name of a mighty queen! She is the unburnt! She has three mighty dragons and they conquer this kingdom where she stands atop the mightiest of all thrones! She even defeats zombies and faceless people!”

“Woooooow!”Oliver was speechless. This woman’s power was incredible that she could see such a magical faraway place all on her own! It was almost like a story of fantasy…!

The boy next to Nye also looked at Oliver like he was an idiot. Even he had found her name strange when they were first introduced, and he definitely didn’t believe that Nye’s mother had ‘the sight’ it sounded silly to him. ‘Is this young lord stupid or is it just because he’s so young?’ he wondered.

Still entranced by the Nye, Oliver turned to the boy and asked him his name too. Oliver was now expecting something equally amazing from him as well and frowned in disappointed as soon as the boy answered “My name is Plucky. My mother is visiting and so is Nye’s”

“Oh.” was Oliver’s only response as he looked back at Nye with interest “How old are you?”

Nye answered in a cheerful tone, glad to have finally met someone who hadn’t mocked her for her strange name or family “I’m 9 years old, and Plucky is 6 years old”

“Ohhhh” Oliver was even impressed by their ages! He was an easy to please boy. “What were you two playing??” he asked intrigued by the game he’d seen them playing, it was what had caught Oliver’s attention.

“We’re playing Knight and princess!” little Plucky answered in raised enthusiasm.

“Oh how do you play?” Oliver asked intrigued by the excitement in the other boy’s tone.

“It’s easy! The Knight is mighty and strong and he tries to save the princess from the bad things! Just like in real life!” Plucky responded just as enthusiastically as before with Nye nodding her head.

“Oh. What bad things were you saving her from?” Oliver asked now genuinely intrigued. He’d been taught about nobility and what Knights were. Strong warriors who had honor and protected the strong and the weak alike.

“I’m protecting her from an evil dragon!” Plucky said as he picked back up a long stick he’d dropped before, afraid he would insult the young lord. Now he realized the young lord was acting very approachable ‘He’s not so bad like mom said so. He’s like like a normal kid like me’ he thought and therefore didn’t think Oliver would get threatened if he showed him the stick that he’d whittled into the hazy shape of a sword.

Oliver looked at the stick-sword and wanted to play too but suddenly wondered “Where’s the evil dragon?”

Plucky looked at down at the ground sheepishly and quickly stole a glance at the Nye who was doing much the same…

“What’s going on” Oliver asked too confused to understand what was happening.

“Okay… I’ll tell you but you have to keep it a secret, otherwise our parents are going to get mad, alright?” he said in as stern a tone a 6 year old could make.

“Okay okay, promise! Show me!” Oliver nodded his head enthusiastically

“Hehe…” Plucky stole one more glance at Nye and they both started sprinting towards the woods leaving Oliver in the dust. Oliver stared at them for a few seconds before running after them dying of anticipation at what they were hiding.

They ran through the entire field all the way towards the woods and right before the woods sat a giant grey slime, right in front of it were both Nye and Plucky who were grinning waiting for Oliver. The moment he arrived and saw the slime he was completely startled enough to trip on the ground as he tried to stop himself and back up.

“That’s a monster!” he yelped

“Hehe… Don’t worry, it’s just a grey slime. They’re totally weak and don’t even have any way to really attack. Although we can’t kill it, we can’t even hurt it we can totally attack it!” Plucky said as he jumped forward with his stick sword slamming it down on the slime.

Instead of doing anything that resembled damage, the sword just bounced off the slime.

Plucky grinned at Oliver and they tossed the sword-stick to Nye as she followed up and did the same, only to end up with the same effect. Oliver stared at them and realized he was safe. This slime didn’t seem powerful even if it was a monster.

Mustering up his courage, Oliver moved forward a few steps before gaining more confidence and putting his hand out towards them. Both Nye and Plucky understood his meaning as they walked over to him and handed him the stick-sword as he held it in both hands. Then running towards the slime with the enthusiasm only a child can have while screaming “Aaaaahh!” He slammed the sword stick down as hard as he could and as it made contact with the slime, it bounced backwards with enough force that he struggled to keep it in his hands.

“Whoa…” with wide eyes he stared at the slime and suddenly a deep desire started growing within him.

They began playing together pretending the slime was an evil dragon that had captured Nye, as she stood behind the grey slime, both Oliver and Plucky pretended to be brave knights as they spouted off extremely dramatic dialog

“In the name of the kingdom, I demand you unhand the lady you evil beast!”

They took turns with the sword-stick attacking the slime pretending to be heroes of justice, not giving Nye a turn to be a knight, leaving her stuck as the damsel in distress even though she was older and stronger than the two boys.

Every whack of the sword-stick and the slime would seem impervious to them, as if it had yet to even notice their presence.

They played for a few hours before they all returned, grinning ear to ear after playing together happily. Deep inside of Oliver he’d begun to sprout the urge to become a strong knight and protector of the princesses of the world and slayer of evil monsters.

After they left parted and left, both Nye and Plucky going back to the servants quarters and Oliver to the main house. No one notice but the slime started to vibrate and then combusted as it exploded into liquid. The liquid soon dried up after moistening the grass, forever gone.

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