Chapter 1~ The Note

“When one destined to become the lone paladin is ready, they’re taken away by the four mages and the master, to be trained and become the paladin of all four of the elements” Alice leaned forward slightly as she spoke, emphasizing the end of the legend she’d been telling so the kids would’ve been on the edge of their seats if they weren’t sitting criss cross on the floor. She’d been volunteering to tell stories to children at the tiny local library for years, and recently they’d been very interested in hearing the old legends that her grandmother had taught her. Since Alice had heard them so many times she memorized them, she didn’t need a book, or need them written down. The young women, leaned back and quickly stole a glance at the clock, her time was almost up. With about five minutes left in her allotted time slot she didn’t have enough time for another story, in fact she was about to tell the kids that when one little girl rose her hand.

The girl was pale, like Alice and had big round blue eyes. “Yes Mandie?” Alice acknowledged the girl, Mandie, about 5, had always had an interest in Alice's stories. She’d often find Alice after the sessions and ask for another story, or if she saw her at a restaurant she’d run up, say hi, and ask a question. Alice didn’t mind, of course, she was pleased that there would be at least one person in the new generation that cared about the legends of the past, though she felt old thinking that. “Are your stories true?” The little girl’s quiet, innocent voice was soft, but it still rung inside Alice. She hadn’t been expecting that question, but before she could even open her mouth to answer another little girl interrupted. “Of course they aren’t” The high pitched, perky voice of Olivia, the girl destined to be the popular cheerleading captain chimed, “They’re just stories” Alice, for one, didn’t like this little girl, and would honestly be happier if she didn’t come to her sessions, but she did, and Alice had to be nice. “They’re true if you believe they are” Alice decided, cutting in after Olivia’s interruption. She couldn’t stand the thought of a little girl with so much imagination to be crushed by another girl’s pessimism.

“Mandie, if you believe the legends I tell are true then they are, and that’s all that matters” She gazed with a slight longing for the fresh curiosity and blazing imagination that the young girl possessed, just as the librarian came in and motioned to the clock. “If that’s all, my time’s up!” Alice exclaimed standing up, listening to the librarians orders. “I’ll see you all next week” She quickly collected her black bag and slung it over her shoulder, as she made her way around the crowd of young children that were standing up to go find their parents who’d been waiting and browsing the books.

Alice pushed the cool glass door open, allowing the equally chilled winter wind push its way into the building. Unfortunately, she was destined to walk against the wind to get to her apartment that was only a street away. She pulled herself into her jacket and collar as the wind blew her long deep mahogany locks back into the wind, showing off her beautiful amber eyes, that previously glowed with excitement but were now weighed down with the responsibilities of adult life. As she walked, she daydreamed, like she always did. She thought of a world where her stories were real, what if they were? She couldn’t imagine what that’d be like, some of them were wonderful, but some, like the one she’d just said, had some dark parts, parts she often kept out of what she told the kids. Parts that you wouldn’t want in your deepest darkest nightmares.

As she walked her eyes were focused on the ground, her mind still focused on dear Mandie’s question. She let out a small gasp as another figured pushed past her. It surprised her greatly since the sidewalk was pretty much deserted, and there was plenty of room for the stranger to walk. There’d been no need for him to run into her, and everything seemed to still be in her pockets, so it’s not like he’d stolen anything. “Rude..” she mumbled under her breath disconcertedly before moving on and continuing walking. It wasn’t long before she arrived at her puny one bedroom apartment. She gently closed the old wooden door, with chipping tangerine paint behind her, careful not to wake any of her neighbors, who were probably still asleep at 9:00 am on a Saturday.

Alice’s apartment building was old, and not only on the outside. It was commonly known for its population only either elderly folk, and young adults. It was the place that the elderly lived when they retired and wanted somewhere quiet or the place where the young lived because of the cheap rent when they were just starting out on their own. Almost every single door to an apartment that lined the hallways was a different color. To her left was a deep royal blue door, freshly painted since the kind old woman who lived next door liked to keep her apartment fresh and always tried to make it look as nice as possible, while still maintaining its original look. To her right the door used to be a bright rose red, though now you could hardly tell since the paint had weathered away with age. There lived a new tenant, James, he was one of the new ones. The boy’d just graduated the summer before and didn’t have enough money to fully furnish his small apartment, let alone paint the door, and that was how that apartment had always been. It was known as the apartment for kids like James, since after about a year they moved into one of the nicer, bigger apartments and someone new moved into that one.

Alice’s however, was about in the middle. She’d never painted the doors, but everyone who’d lived in apartment 305 previous to her had taken care of it, and so did she. She loved the tangerine color, and she even thought the chestnut wood that was creeping out from under the paint gave it a nicer touch, it showed off the age of the door while not looking too bad. On the inside of Alice’s apartment she’d worked hard to make it as homey as possible. She’d lived there for a years, so she had had enough time to make it look nice, however it still wasn’t perfect. The walls that were a bright teal color had been painted just long enough ago to have the slightly aged look, where the color had faded slightly but was still there, and with the help of a wooden banister it melted into the old chestnut floors. Alice’s apartment was one of the many in her building with wooden floors, which got pretty cold in the winter, since there was no central heat, so most of the tenants, including herself, had many rugs on their floors.

Infact under her small coffee table, which also served as a dinner table, was a large steel grey rug, that was chevroned with white. The table was a small glass one, with black metal legs that crossed each other on their descent to the floor. Next to it was a sunflower yellow love seat and a sky blue bean bag. On the table was a bowl that was home to Alice’s keys and things. Across the table from the couch was a small TV on a similarly small TV stand. On the other side of the door were the chestnut counter tops and the matching stools with yellow cushions that also served as a dinner table. Beyond that was the long thin kitchen, with a white ceramic sink, an old stove and a matching refrigerator, along with a drain rack, and a trash can. The dishes were beginning to pile since Alice had been busy the last week, she didn’t have a dishwasher and between work, the library, and the small amounts of school she was attending, she had no time to do her dishes. Even further beyond that was the only hallway that she had, and it was tiny, with only two doors lining it. On one side it had a door, matching the front door, that opened up into the puny bathroom, directly across from it however was the bedroom. The bedroom that was just big enough for a double bed and a desk, with one of those slide open closets. The walls in that room were brown, the bedroom considerably darker than the bright living room. Her sheets were dark purple wine colored and the wood of her desk was a dark cherry color.

As Alice entered the bright living room, she slid off her deep grey jacket off and dropped it on the arm of her couch, surprised when she saw a small slip of paper fall out of the pocket. What the? She thought quizzically. She hadn’t remembered putting  any paper into her pocket. Curiously, she bent down and retrieved the paper, she could now tell it was what looked like a torn piece of printer paper. Carefully she unfolded it and glanced at the strange writing with wide eyes. Meet me at the cafe on the corner of 6th and Mongolia at 6 pm tonight. Don’t be late, don’t be scared, don’t tell anyone. I’ll explain everything soon Alison Reed . Alice couldn’t believe it as she remembered the guy that’d ran into her. That must’ve been when she got the paper, and it wasn’t on accident, it literally said her name right there. Her full name too, almost no one knew her full name, she was just known as Alice Reed, or just Alice by most. As far as she knew the only people that knew her full name was Alison were her parents, grandma, and her birth certificate, but it couldn't've been  her father who’d given her the note. He was dead, he’d been dead for a long time and so had her mother.

Despite what the note said, Alice was scared, and she spent the long day debating whether she should go or not. Finally at around 5:30 she decided she might as well find out what it was about. If they knew her name, and had gone through the trouble of getting her the message, she might as well go. For some reason she didn’t have a bad feeling about this meeting, though it wasn’t exactly a good feeling either, more… ominous. Like she was about to find out something big. She straightened her loose navy blue top, and pulled her grey coat on again, not bothering to tie it closed despite how cold it was. As she began to walk to the small cafe that the letter spoke of, she started to regret not dressing warmer, since the early February, Iona weather was below freezing, as the layers of snow covered the ground.

As she reached the cafe, she gladly entered the heated building, greeted with the smell of hot chocolate and coffee. Alice wasn’t very into coffee, though she loved hot chocolate, of all kinds. She gazed around the cafe, looking for the man, somehow, she knew she would know who it was when she saw them. When her sight landed on the corner she knew she was right, there sat a man with medium length, white blond hair that was sort of ruffled, not really combed in any certain way, coupled with brilliant green eyes.

She approached him, gaining confirmation that it was him as he looked directly at her and smiled. “You came, I didn’t think you would” The man’s smooth, voice greeted her calmly. Alice, however didn’t know how to respond. “Umm..” She was stumped, unsure of what to say. “Yea.. I didn’t want to waste your time while you waited for me.”

“You think I would wait for you?”

“Umm.. yea I guess..”

“Oh dear.. I would’ve known you weren’t coming as soon as you decided not to.”

“What do you mean? How?”

“You’ll learn all in good time Alison, for now I must ask. Do you know the legend of the Element Paladins?”

Author's Note

Any feedback is good. :)