More Than A Princess

What in the world is JorvTown?

This is a strange world indeed. 

They walked past more phallic looking steel and glass structures before they come to a stop. They are now in some sort of a town square except it was all strange with clean, flat, grey roads and a concrete fountain of odd sculptures in the centre. 

Finally, they say some humans. 

They were dressed strangely and milling about a fountain. Some of the metal beasts were stopped near the sides of the roads, some of the people alighting from the metal beasts.

The sky was turning an orange and pink hue and the people were gazing at the sky in awe, as if something glorious is happening. 

None of them seem to notice the two women standing by the side of the road staring at the strange scene and the people gathered at the fountain. Except for a man. He was looking at them curiously before walking cautiously towards them.

Lyvia pushed Jinna behind her protectively and brought herself up to her full height, standing her ground. She will protect her gentle handmaiden from whatever strange men in this strange land. 

“Are you girls lost? Why are you dressed like that?” the man asked as he approached them, not seeming in the least intimidated by Lyvia’s scowl and belligerent stance. 

He was looking at their attire askance. 

The man was dressed in a strange fashion too. 

It was like nothing they have seen before. His top looked like a frock with plain round collar and short sleeves that was tucked into his pants and his pants looked loose in a blue rough material. The words “Live your life now bro!” were emblazoned across his strange frock. 

“Can you understand me?” he asked again, this time slowly, when they didn’t reply him. He took another step closer and Lyvia hurriedly pushed Jinna back and they both took a step back. 

He held up his hands, palms up, as if to reassure them that he is harmless. 

“Look, I mean you no harm. You look lost and I am only offering to help,” he said.

Lyvia looked at him warily. He did not seem dangerous but they are in a strange world, they have to be careful. 

“Where are we?” she finally asked. She gestured to the crowd around the fountain. “What are they doing?”

He glanced back at the crowd that was busy adoring the skies, their arms wide open.

“Oh them? It’s the magic hour. Time to absorb some magic and power up, so to speak,” he said, shrugging. 

“You are in JorvTown. Are you from another city? How did you end up here anyway?” he asked. 

“Magic? Power up? What does that mean?” Lyvia squinted at the crowd. 

They seemed entranced. Most of them had their eyes closed and their arms wide open. Some of them appeared as if they were rapturous in joy. 

“Huh? Don’t you have to power up where you come from? That’s the first I’ve heard. I always assumed everyone power up this way, even from the other cities,” the man scratched his head, bemused. 

“We are from Vernia. I have never heard of JorvTown and magic is not real, it is just tricks to entertain children,” Lyvia announced. 

The man chuckled. He snapped his fingers and a sprig of flowers appeared.

“You mean this? Of course this is to entertain children!” he snapped again and the flowers disappeared. Lyvia and Jinna gasped. 

“Haha…no, I meant the real magic, the ones we use to power our cars, build our homes, makes things run smoothly, you know, to save the earth and stop using fossil fuel and all that?” he said, raising his eyebrow quizzically.

Lyvia didn’t understand most of what he said. She has never heard of cars or fossil fuel and the term ‘save the earth’. This man is strange indeed. This town is strange. 

“Okay, so, let me introduce myself. I am Callan. I am a Norm. Born and bred in JorvTown. I am a downright nerd and yes, just like any nerds you know, I am a librarian but I do have some useful magic,” he said and extended his hand. 

Lyvia and Jinna stared at his hand as if it was a poisonous twig being offered to them. 

“Cars? A Norm? Nerd? What…I don’t understand anything,” Lyvia finally said. 

“What…were are you girls from? That’s so weird,” he looked puzzled. He lowered his offered hand and looked at them, confused. He made a gesture and some transparent screen appeared before him. He started scrolling through it, muttering “Vernia” under his breath.

After a few minutes, he went “Ahahh found it! Vernia!” and looked pleased. 

Startled, Lyvia and Jinna took another step back. 

He turned to look at them and back at his screen. He did that a few more times as his expression changed from puzzled to shock to contemplative. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and finally made a pinching gesture and the screen disappeared.

“So, you are from Vernia. The kingdom of trees and lakes and bountiful gold. A rich kingdom that many other kingdoms have been hoping to forge an alliance with,” he said, almost to himself. 

Lyvia puffed up her chest in pride of her kingdom. Of course Vernia is a beautiful and rich kingdom. That was why she had been seeing parades of princes asking for her hand ever since she comes of age at 16. Every other kingdom wants an alliance with their kingdom and nothing like marriage can seal an alliance perfectly. 

“Of course. Vernia is a powerful and rich kingdom,” she said and stopped short of announcing her position. It is not safe. He might kidnap her and demand for a ransom from her father. 

“That is strange. Vernia is in another world, it is almost impossible for you to get here without magic, how did you do it?” Callan asked, curiousity clearly written on his face. 

Lyvia was taken aback.

“What did you say? Another world??”

“Yes, you are at least a few worlds over. How on earth did you get here?” he replied.

“How, what…I don’t understand…there are more than one world?” she stammered finally, confused.

He rolled his eyes, as if they are slow-witted fools. 

“Yes, there are seven worlds. Vernia is in world number two, we are now in world number six where we have modern technology and magic to balance out all the evil things we did to the environment, unlike world number five, you don’t even wanna know what they did,” he said. 

“Anyhow, since you are not from here or this world, I guess I have to get you settled in,” he continued.

“We will need to get you some clothes,” he looked at them from top to bottom, staring inordinately long at Lyvia’s bare feet. “And..shoes…obviously,” 

“I suppose you can stay with me for now until you find better lodgings so come along now,” he beckoned them and started walking away.

“Wait, wait…we don’t even know you, why should be follow you?” Lyvia asked.

Callan shrugged and wiggled his eyebrows boyishly.

“I suppose you have to trust that I am not a serial killer or rapist and that I genuinely want to help you damsels in distress,” he said. 

“You know, to earn my knighthood or something,” he added jovially and chuckled. 

Lyvia huffed.

“That is now how we knight people. Only those who have shown an example of bravery and loyalty will be knighted,” she said. Jinna nodded in agreement. 

Callan laughed good naturedly, his hazel eyes twinkling in the most adorable manner. Lyvia could not stop noticing how his whole face lighted up and the crinkles on the sides of his eyes when he smiled. He did not look like a criminal or a rapist at all, but still they must be careful.

“Okay, okay. I don’t want to be a knight. I am only helping from the goodness of my heart. Is that good enough? Look if you’re still scared, I can give you my word that I have no intention of hurting you or your pretty friend hiding behind you,” he said.

He placed his hand on his chest and made a cross. 

“Cross my heart, I will not harm both of you. I only have good intentions. You should know, a Norm cannot give their word and go back on it, otherwise they lose their magic,” he said. 

“Besides, we need to figure out a way to get you back to Vernia. Don’t you want to go back?” he added. 

“How do we know you are not lying? You can say anything and we won’t know because we are not from here,” she replied.

Callan sighed. 

He snapped his fingers and a serrated blade knife appeared in his hand. Startled, Lyvia and Jinna jumped back in fear. 

“Chill. Here, you hold this to…err…protect yourselves from me, the scary, nerdish Norm librarian,” he flipped the knife and handed it to them carefully, the handle facing them.

Lyvia hurriedly snatched it from him before backing about five feet away, Jinna still closely behind her. She gripped the heavy wooden handle and made a light jab. It was a good weight. Must be made from iron. She touched the blade, it felt sharp. She made a few more jabbing, stabbing motions with it. Perfect for self defence too. 

“Look. I know you are careful, you are in a strange land after all. But at least, may I know your names?” he asked, ignoring her stabbing motions. 

She stopped and pointed the knife at him. He really looked harmless. 

Upon closer scrutiny, he may be tall and appear well-built but he did not seem strong. In fact, he looked like a country squire or a librarian as he claimed he is. He probably would not know how to wield a sword or fight in a battle. 

“I am Ly…I mean Maud and this is my…han…I mean, my best friend, Jin…ni..” she said, deciding to go by her lesser known middle name and a false name for Jinna. They still have to be careful even if they are in a different world. 

“Okay, Maud and Jin…ni, let’s go,” he said and walked on cheerfully. He was heading towards a blue metal beast. He pressed something and a part of it opened up. Lyvia and Jinna jumped back in fear. 

Lyvia brandished her knife.

“What is this??You are feeding us to this metal beast?! I knew it!” she screamed.

Some people nearby turned and stared at them before turning away. 

Callan stared at their fearful faces and burst out laughing. Loud, belly laughs. He laughed so hard that he was bent over and holding his belly. 

Lyvia glared at him, annoyed. Why is the librarian laughing? How dare he laugh at them. He tried to feed them to the metal beast and now he is laughing at him. How preposterous. 

“Are you done laughing? How dare you! You tried to kill us and now you dare to laugh at us?” She pointed the knife at him and tapped her feet in annoyance.

“This is not a metal beast,” Callan gasped in between laughter. “I am..not..feeding..you…to a beast…hahaha…hoo boy…you girls are hilarious…hahah…this is a car,” 

He wiped tears from his eyes and stood up, again ignoring the knife pointed at him. He gestured to other cars driving by as the crowd around the fountain started to disperse. 

The orange and pink glow in the sky is diminishing and people are now going home, their magic recharged. Most of them are Norms and they usually kept to themselves, not wanting to meddle in anything that looked out of ordinary. 

“Look, it is a means for us to travel. Like your carriages okay?” he said. He opened the door to the driver’s seat, went in and sat in it to show them it was perfectly safe. He came out and made a comical swirl to show them he is alive and well.

“See? It did not eat me. I am safe. This is not a beast. It is…let’s call it a horseless carriage,” he said, finally. 

Lyvia took a tentative step forward and touched the door. It appeared firm, cold and inanimate. It did not move or spring towards her. She gave it a push and it moved, much like a door would. 

Satisfied that it did not appear to be a beast and that Callan was not lying, she got into it and Jinna followed quietly. Jinna has not spoken a word since Callan approached them. 

Callan closed the door behind them and got into the driver’s seat in front.

“Okay, settle in and let’s go. I hope you don’t show any of this extreme behaviour when we reach my place, I don’t want to scare my neighbours,” he said as he started the engine with a snap of his fingers and the contraption started moving. 

Amazed at the smooth movement, very much unlike a carriage, Lyvia sat back and looked out the windows pensively. This is indeed a strange magical world and cars are such wonderful things. The seats are comfortable and soft too. 

Before she knew it, the motions had lulled her to sleep and the silky warm darkness welcomed her into its grasp.