The storyteller

Alice was walking along the road under the summer heat in the middle of the day.

*gulp*

She swallowed dry, trying to swallow even the last bit of spittle she could collect in her mouth. It was unbearably hot, and there was nothing but open fields all around the road.

It wasn't even an hour back when she still had more than enough water to last her through the day. Back in her old village, she had packed more than enough on the little handcart, but it was as if all fortune had abandoned her and the axis broke on the second day after she had left her village.

After thinking about it for a while, she had taken the most important things and left the rest behind at the side of the road. Actually, she didn't have much of a choice, she could have waited by the cart for two or three days, the food and water would have been enough. But she was still on the same road without any crossing or village on the way, so she knew that it could take two to three months until someone came her way.

So, after thinking about it, she had taken a bag of water, a change of clothes and two loaves of bread, leaving the rest behind. It wasn't that she didn't want to take more, but she couldn't. It also wasn't a problem of weight, she was stronger than most and had better stamina as well if not, she wouldn't have even been able to pull the cart all the way. The problem was that she had nothing to carry her stuff with, she had the water bag on her back, her father walking stick in one hand and the clothes and food in the other.

Right now, she had to be careful how much water she drank, she didn't know how long she had to continue walking until she would reach the next place where she could get her hands on freshwater and she couldn't risk having nothing to drink at all the next day.

Trying to distract herself from the overwhelming heat and the sadness that constantly assaulted her, Alice thought back on what happened when that old storyteller appeared in her little village. He had come from the direction of the farming village, and now that she thought about it, he had also left in the same direction as her now. The big difference was that it had been late in spring, so the temperatures were much more bearable.

....

It was in spring three years ago, and Alice had still been allowed to play more by her parents instead of having to help. She had always been a very happy and wild child, even more so than others thanks to her strong body. If it wasn't for her friend Cathy playing the role of some kind of counterbalance, she would constantly run around and cause mischief.

She was on her way to the farming village and wanted to play with Cathy. Cathy could be said to be her best friend and although many wondered why they were so close to each other, they were almost like sisters. They were total opposites of each other, while Alice had always been wild, adventurous and quite stubborn, Cathy was very kind, considerate and at times very shy, also even compared to normal girls her age, she had a rather weak body. These two had made the promise to meet today a few days ago and planned to meet in the middle of the way to save time.

She was already walking for about fifteen minutes when she saw an old man coming towards her. As she had good eyes she could soon make out some details.

He looked as old, if not even older than the grandpa of her village who everyone said was immortal and lived already forever. He had relatively dark skin even compared to the villagers who had all a healthy tan as they worked outside all year long. Actually, ‚skin' seemed to be the wrong word as it looked already more like old leather and he had so many wrinkles in his face that Alice didn't dare to try and count them, it could take her the whole day.

He wore simple dark brown clothes and a travelers cloak. He held a large walking stick in his right hand to support him and his left hand was behind his back. But despite his old age and the big bag he was carrying, his posture was perfectly straight and he looked like a picture of health.

The only thing that stood out was the simple small pendant of a six-pointed star. It was made of bright silver and was made of two overlapping triangles. Despite looking very beautiful, it hung around his neck from a crudely made cord that didn't fit the pendant. Alice could only remember that pendant so clearly because it had a mysterious attractive force over her, she just couldn't take her eyes off it.

When Alice was just about to walk past the old man, he suddenly started mumbling:

"Bright red hair... green eyes... a little beauty..."

Even with her good hearing, Alice could almost not make out what he was saying.

"Excuse me, little lady.", that man said to Alice. „Is your name Alice by chance?"

Surprised Alice stopped walking, how did that man know her name? She found it a little disturbing.

"My parents told me not to talk with strangers on the road."

Chuckling, the old man said with a friendly grin on his face:

"It is very good that you listen to your parents this well. By the way, I have a message from your friend Cathy for you."

"A message from Cathy?!", Alice exclaimed a little worried. What could have happened that Cathy couldn't tell her herself?

"Yes, she wanted me to tell you something if I meet you. She said she wants to postpone your meeting for tomorrow, or else you would regret it."

"Why would I regret it?", Alice got even more worried.

"Hmmm, if I had to guess, I think I am the reason."

"Wha- What did you do to Cathy?!", Alice exclaimed.

"Don't worry, don't worry! That came out a little wrong. Your friend is totally fine! I am a storyteller, I had visited her village yesterday and am now coming to yours. Your little friend seemed very excited about my stories, and I think she didn't want you to miss this chance."

"Is- Is that so?", at first, Alice wasn't sure if she could trust this old man, but then she thought that that did sound like something that Cathy would do. Also, this man looked very old, and old people were weak, he shouldn't have been able to do anything to her. Her father and brothers always took good care of her after all.

"Little lady, could you do me a favor? Could you go home first and bring the other children together?"

"Hmm? Why?"

"That way we can save time, and I may be able to tell you more than one story."

"Hmmm... Ok, I will go!", not even thinking anymore about the fact that she wasn't even supposed to talk to people she didn't know, Alice already dashed off in the direction she had come from just a short while ago.

....

It didn't take Alice long to get back and bring all the other children together, as there weren't many in the first place. Besides Alice and her older brother, there were only three other children at the right age. The others were either too young to understand anything or old enough that they had to help with their parents work.

Just when she had brought everyone together, the old storyteller could already be seen from the village. When Alice mother saw all the children together with Alice, she stopped doing the housework and came over to ask Alice what was going on.

"Alice my dear, didn't you go to Cathy? And why is everyone else here together?"

"Mom! There was that old man, he said he is a storyteller and was yesterday over at Cathy's village. He said he would come here today and that I should bring everyone together!"

"Oh? Is that so? But what about Cathy?"

"He said that Cathy told him to tell me that we can meet tomorrow!"

"But you were supposed to help tomorrow in the house. Did you forget that?"

Hearing that, Alice was shocked, she had it indeed forgotten! But what should she do? Cathy would wait for her tomorrow, she had to tell her but there was no one who would go over there today!

Seeing Alice shocked expression, her mother chuckled.

"Ok, you can meet her tomorrow, you won't have to help me, but only this once!", pinching Alice cute little nose in mock anger, her mother told her. In the first place, Alice couldn't be blamed for this, and her mother knew that they would always meet in the middle. And it wouldn't be good for Cathy to wait there only for Alice not to come.

Looking in the direction of the farming village, Alice mother saw the old man coming. She thought for a moment before going back into their home and bringing out a stool and a cup of water for the old man.

....

Not long after, the storyteller came to Alice mother and had a little talk with her.

"I will get straight to the point, the children are already so excited and can't wait anymore after what my daughter told them. I guess your stories aren't for free, right?"

"Well, that certainly is right. But I don't want much, just a place to sleep for the night and enough provisions to reach the next bigger town."

"That would be about three days worth of food. That won't be a problem, we can provide that much."

"Many thanks. Now then,", directing his next question at the children the man asked: „what story should I tell you?"

Without waiting for an answer, his eyes fell on Alice and he said:

"Little lady, did you know that the blood of the ancient ones seems to be rather strong in you?"

Looking at the old man puzzled, Alice tilted her head cutely, as if to ask what he meant.

"You are probably faster or stronger than other children your age, aren't you?"

"Hm! Yes!"

"That's because of the blood of the ancient ones in your veins, someone who has it as strong as you is rare. Have you ever heard of the ancient ones before? Werewolves, fairy's, elves, vampires, orcs... To only name a few, but have you ever heard of them?"

When the old man was talking about the ‚ancient ones' the children all had puzzled looks on their faces. But when he started to name the different races, their eyes lit up. Who hasn't heard stories about the beautiful elves that once lived in this very forest or the dangerous vampires that would come and drink the blood of naughty children at night?

"It would take to long to tell you the story about how they disappeared, it's enough to know that over a very long time, most of them died or became one until the humans came to be. That's why there are those like you little lady, that inherited the abilities of those races.

Instead, I will tell you where they came from, because, in this world, there was not a single living being here at first! Can you imagine that?"

Not wanting to interrupt the story that was about to come, the children only shook their heads.

What followed was a long story about all kinds of fantastic creatures the children had never heard about. At first, this world was empty, until other worlds started to open gates to come over here. Every world had different creatures, plants, and races living there, and as more and more worlds connected to this one, more and more people started to live here.

They lived in peace for a long time, and everyone was happy, until the first world got the idea to take over another world, just like countries would fight each other in a war, the different worlds fought with each other. But as more worlds joined in on the war, it became more and more chaotic as this very world was the connection between them. It only ended when this world was almost completely destroyed and only very little land was left over, everything else had already sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

Only when things had gone that far, did a group assemble that tried to stop the war in earnest. They were assembled under one man, he himself wasn't strong at all, but he had the ability to bring some of the strongest individuals from all those different worlds together and stop the war in the end.

And to prevent something like this from happening ever again, they made a treaty. That group, as well as a few chosen individuals from each world, would stay behind in this middle world, and they would seal all the gateways to the other worlds. Only many years later would they open the seals again, when this world would be strong enough to defend itself. But until today that never happened, and even the old storyteller could tell when it would happen.

....

It was the first time in a long time that Alice had been able to sit still for such a long time without saying a single word, only listening to the old storyteller telling his story. It was already late in the evening and it wasn't long since the storyteller had finished his story. Right now he was sitting with Alice family at the table and they were all eating together.

It was now that Alice asked the question:

"Mister, what should I do to become like you? It sounds really fun to travel around villages and tell stories!"

Hearing that question Alice mother had a slightly shocked expression on her face and looked at her husband. He on the other hand only shrugged, he was already half-expecting such a question as far as he knew his daughter, but because he knew her, he wasn't all that worried about it, she would forget in a few days anyway.

"Hmm...", the old man thought a while about how to answer. "Living like this is not easy in the slightest, you need to know a lot of things. And, much more important, being a storyteller isn't a fate, it's a destiny."

Hearing what the old man said, Alice got quite confused.

"Fate? Destiny? I don't understand?!"

"Hahaha... How to explain... Ah right! Listen, little girl, if fate is a story, then destiny is its end. And without a story, there would be no end. And, I can tell you this out of my own experience, the story you can tell the best is always your own story, so be patient, you are still young and your story has not even begun."

"But, how do I know when my story begins?", Alice asked curiously.

The old man hadn't expected this question and coughed twice to buy time.

"Fate will send you a sign when the time has come."

"What sign? I don't know if you don't tell me!", Alice continued asking.

"It's okay, isn't it? You will find out eventually! Now eat!", her mother tried to stop her from questioning the storyteller any further.

But to her surprise, the old man didn't stop.

"That is something even I don't know, it's your fate after all. The sign that fate sent me for example, was the walking stick I've been using ever since. It is only a simple piece of wood, but it saved my life already on several occasions and has always been with me since I started traveling.

Who knows? Maybe yours will be something similar?"

After he said that, they continued eating in silence, and on the next day, the old man had already left before Alice woke up. Those were the last words Alice heard from him, and even though she didn't even understand what he was talking about, she could never forget them. It wasn't until many years later that she would talk with the old man again.