The Adventures of Lucius Chapter III

This is the third chapter from my story The Adventures of Lucius. Which follows an amnesiac wizard. For the previous chapter, go here.

As¹ I crested a dune, a large, majestic, and spectacular dome-like structure came into view. It was only later that I would learn that this was Dome City.² It was also the first sign of civilized life that this world had produced. You know besides the wreck of the airship since it does actually require civilized beings to build something as impressive as an airship, but in all fairness, all civilized life on this world could have been on that airship and therefore died during the crash. As for this Cassandra woman, I could hardly be expected to know whether or not she was civilized life. After all, the first time that I had ever beheld her, she was killing someone. Granted said someone was trying to kill me, but civilized people should have worked out other ways to deal with their disagreements besides bloodshed.

Well to make a long story short, I went to Dome City and lived happily ever after. The End. Okay, that might not be exactly how it happened. I might have left out small unimportant bits like running from a dragon and a horde of corpses, but honestly, do you really want to know why that happened. I guess possibly you do, but I should warn you. Once you know certain things, you cannot unknow them, and knowing them could put you in deadly peril. However, if you insist, I shall continue.

Slowly, I made my way across the sandy beach, which now, that I was paying attention to it and not desperately trying to survive, appeared to be quite beautiful. It was a most picturesque scene of rolling dunes and lapping waves. Of course, there was also the ruined hulk of an airship, which in all fairness did not help the scenery much. In truth, it was undoubtedly the most majestic scene that I had ever seen. This was largely due to the fact that it was the only scene that I had ever seen in my very short new life. Remember, I have amnesia.

It took me a while to find the entrance to the dome, but when I did, the cavernous insides of it impressed me greatly. You see, it was like an underground city had been built above the ground. The dome was colossal. The exact measurements, I never bothered to learn, but it was immense. The great market, near the center of the city, was a city unto itself in size at least. In truth, this sight was most likely more majestic than the sight of the beach, which only had nature’s majesty going for it. Here was blended in near perfect harmony, the majesty of man or gnome’s ingenuity and the majesty of creation itself. So majestic was it that it could easily bring a tear to one’s eyes.

I strolled down the great majestic streets that were lined on every side by small statues. Later I would learn that these were in fact life size statues of full grown gnomes, but since a four foot gnome is a tall gnome, most the statues seemed to not be life size. Still, they were quite impressive pieces of work. Gnomes have always been skilled artisans after all. In particular I remember one statue of a gnomish inventor named Jarik. The statue stood about three feet six inches tall. Jarik had a long beard that flowed over his chest. His head was bald and apparently regularly polished considering the amount that it shone. The beard was so skillfully wrought that for a moment, I wished to reach out my hand and feel its silkiness. Of course, it was made of bronze and therefore was not very silky.

I digress though. I moved down the long streets with the rest of the foot traffic until the great market of Dome City reared up in front of me. It was then that I beheld for the first time in my very short new life the most beautiful thing ever created. It was such a fine work of artistry that I nearly wept. There in front of in one of the market stalls on a mannequin hung a long blue coat. The blue fabric had been interwoven with threads of gold so that it shimmered in the torchlight around it. I had to have that coat. It was destiny’s clarion call. The coat was meant for me. And so guided by The Divine Providential Hand itself, I moved through the market to my destiny.³

Arriving at the small stall where the coat of destiny was being sold, I stopped and did a dance. Such a momentous occasion as the fulfillment of destiny should be marked after all. This got quite a few people to throw weird glances in my direction. I guess it wasn’t quite socially acceptable to dance like that in public for seemingly no real reason, but I had amnesia. How was I supposed to know? Anyway, destiny was being fulfilled right in front of their eyes, and they couldn’t see it. What a bunch of poor rubes, they were.⁴

. “Can I help you with something?” the stall owner, a short man or gnome with very, very bushy eyebrows, asked in a slightly put upon voice.

“How much is the coat?” I wittily replied.

“Ten silver drato,” he answered.

“I don’t have ten silver drato.”

“Do you have anything of worth?”

I was dumbfounded by all of this. It was clear that I was destined to buy this coat, but here I was already facing off against the inevitable tricks of the enemy. Then it occurred to me that I did in fact have something of worth upon my person. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the silvery disk. The gnome looked at it for a moment before he took it from my hand and grunted. “The coat is yours.”

So it was that destiny was fulfilled. Putting on the coat, I smiled benevolently at those poor, ignorant, hopeless rubes that surrounded me. At that moment though, I heard the roaring sound of an approaching monster.

¹It has been brought to my attention by the editor that I may possibly be putting in too many footnotes. Here, I thought that they wanted me to write footnotes in order to get the most accurate portrayal of what happened since Lucius is given to inaccuracies. I also thought that I was here to encourage and recommend further scholarly readings to help the reader understand certain matters that come up in this story. However, this is apparently not the case. Therefore, I, Kianith, being of sound mind, do hereby resolve to only interject with a footnote when it is absolutely necessary for accuracy's sake.

²Okay, I am sorry, but the inaccuracy here is just far too annoying. The city is not called Dome City. It is Avaard. Like most gnomish settlements outside of the mountains, it is built beneath a dome.

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³ Obsessive much? I mean seriously. It was a coat. Hardly worth using the word destiny about it. Especially since if you haven’t figured it out yet, he was destined to rip it.

⁴ Some heroes have the destiny to overthrow dark lords. Lucius’ apparently was to buy a coat.

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