New Foods, New Words, New world

"Listen up Hubrid, I'm about to tell you something very important, even if you cannot understand it, I at least want you to remember," Druchess says as he begins to take a seat next to him as his beard drags along the cold ground of the cave.

Hubrid stares at Druchess as he nods his head up and down.

"Okay, don't forget a single word. Not for as long as you breathe. I'll tell you why you had to live life on the ground. Why you can hardly remember your past, and the relationship between your people, and the people of magic." Druchess says with melancholy in his voice.

"Long ago, before anyone had the ability of strength or magic there was a single being that ruled over all of creation, he formed the world for a while and left three of his descendants to watch over us. Eeara, Aaura, and Haaura. They each held the supreme power of an element. Water, Wind, and Ground. Eeara created the oceans when the world was desolate and…"

Hubrid stares at Druchess as drool falls from his mouth in big wet globs as it touches the ground.

"Ahem, as I was saying, the world was empty. So, in an attempt to give it life she put water across the terrain so that creatures could come to exist. Then Aaura, placed mountains and soil so that plants could be grown and so that creatures could explore the lands."

Hubrid sees a bug sitting on the ground sitting still. He darts his hand at it quicker than it can react and puts it in his mouth and begins to chew.

"...Okay, the final of the trio is a name that has been erased from all of history. I'm one of the few people left that knows of her-."

Hubrid spits out the bug he had chewed on with force and begins scouring the room in an attempt to find a new one.

"Okay, what -- are -- you -- doing?" Druchess says slowly so that Hubrid could understand.

"Hungry," Hubrid replies as he sees a spider hanging on by a single thread in front of his eyes as he nabs it out of the air.

Druchess realizes that the boy had been a slave. That he had to fight for his food, and then when he rarely got it, it would be inedible. He scans over the Hubrid's frail body and sees that his bones are nearly visible through the skin.

"Spit that out, I'll fix you up…" Druchess says in understanding as he nods his head downwards and closes his eyes in solemn.

"You wan some?" Hubrid says with benevolence as he spits the mangled spider onto his hand and sticks it out in front of Druchess.

"N-no thank you, Hubrid," Druchess says as he lifts up his head and opens his eyes to see tiny spiders crawling across Hubrid's hand and arms.

"Moore for me!" Hubrid shouts as he begins sucking them up one after another into his mouth.

Druchess rubs the temple of his forehead as he realizes that teaching this boy will be harder than it looks.

"I'll make you some real food Hubrid, we can finish my story after you've recuperated a little, okay?"

Hubrid nods his head eagerly. Druchess snaps his finger and a pot in the corner of the cavern begins to give off light as a fire burns beneath it. As Druchess sees the water inside of the pot boil and the flames ignite, he jumps back a little bit.

"Sorry, it's been… a long time since I've cooked hot food," Druchess says despondently as he stares at the water rippling endlessly.

He stares at it as droplets of his tears fall into it.

"Crying?" Hubrid says in a questioning tone.

"No, I'm adding some salt to it to give it flavor." Druchess rebuts quickly.

Druchess grabs his book and rips a page out of it and throws it under the flames as he begins to toss unidentifiable meat into the pot.

"Once you eat this, your vocabulary will get better. I would give you more but it's better if you learn naturally. I'll do my best to make up for the childhood you had to endure and for the future, that's awaiting you." Druchess says as his tears continue falling into the pot as Hubrid had already fallen asleep soundly.

"If you take that boy to the king, he'll surely forgive you…" A voice whispers to Druchess as he paces back and forth as the fire continues burning as it cackles and fills the room with smoke.

"No! If you raise the boy properly, you could use him to take over the kingdom!" Another voice cries out to him.

"Kill him." A deep gruff voice says as Druchess's eyes dart wide open.

He had fallen asleep alongside Hubrid. He pulls a book out of his robe that reads "Time," he opens it and realizes that six hours had passed.

The meat was ruined and the water corrupted. Still, Hubrid had to eat from it.

He shakes Hubrid violently as he refuses to awake.

Hubrid was dreaming of the story that Druchess had told him. He saw the face of The Creator, and it saw him. He created the world while staring at him and then his mouth moved slowly and precisely, no sound came out but his message was clear...

"Help them." The first word was one that Hubrid had heard plenty of back on the farm he belonged to, the last part confused him though. The shaking from Druchess awakens Hubrid from his dream.

"Eat this," Druchess says as he holds a jagged stone bowl filled with soggy meat with a piece of blond hair sitting on top of the bowl.

Hubrid grabs the bowl hastily and begins eating chunk after chunk voraciously, he'd never eaten a meal this large before, the water in the bowl looks cleaner than the water he'd normally drank.

He finishes it quickly and lets out a long burp.

"How'd you like the food?" Druchess says while waiting for Hubrid's response as he crosses his fingers behind his back.

"It was… Equivalent." Hubrid says in a condescending tone.

"You mean exquisite?"

"Yes, that."

"Well, it looks like it worked pretty well if I say so myself," Druchess says with confidence.

"Indubitatabay," Hubrid says with a smirk.

"... It'll get better with time…" Druchess says with a pause as he grabs another book from his robe.

"Splendid," Hubrid caresses his chin as he puts his bowl to the ground.

"All right, now that you can understand me better, let's continue with the story," Druchess says as he begins to pace back and forth.

"Where was I… I remember I was telling about the third goddess, the one whose name was erased from all history books, except mine. The dusty book he'd pulled out earlier said "History," on the cover of it.

"Alright, here we go," Druchess says with a huff as he blows dust off of the book that fills the room. When everything settles, a hologram of three ladies stands before both Hubrid and Druchess.

"Quite Volputious," Hubrid says in wonder.

"Indeed," Druchess says as he stares at the three of them.

He shakes his head to break free of their hypnotizing figures.

"No! That is not what we are here for young man! The dust from this book can bring images and words to life. I'll show you the story so you can better understand it.

A picture plays of the three goddesses sitting on a perch watching over the world. The two sisters were holding chains behind their backs. Haaura looked down too much and nearly fell chains were tossed around her as she sighed with relief at the close call of her almost falling. Her two peers wouldn't let her out of the chains through after she'd begged. As she squirmed on the ground she managed to throw a small speck of dust down to the planet. The dust from the video falls into the chest of Hubrid as he rubs his body.

"Does that explain it well enough for you?"

"Parheps," Hubrid says as he looks completely confused.

With a facepalm, Druchess puts his book away and the three ladies disappeared.

"Where did those gentlemen with xx chromosomes go?" He scours the room as nonplus is easily seen on his face.

"So you didn't understand... also, I'm pretty sure you shouldn't know that much…"

"Huh?" Hubrid says while not realizing what he did.

"Never mind, let me simplify the story for you. The third goddess, Haaura embedded a very miniscule amount of magic in you. That magic is different from the kind that people like myself and other Magic-Users wield. This power, albeit weak, will one day grow so strong, your own body not be able to handle it. So, you must train yourself physically and mentally in order to one day use your true potential,"

Druchess stares at Hubrid as he sees his magic aura. It had already become stronger after less than two days. His progress was something that was only seen from Magic-Users of royalty. Magic-Users of royalty also had their magic given to them directly from the gods, but it wasn't from Haaura, the foundation of all magic.

"But! Before anything else, you must learn proper etiquette and arithmetic," Druchess says as stares at Hubrid with hope in his eyes.

"Agreedable," Hubrid says as he eagerly awaits his tutoring.

He was eager until he saw two weird symbols embedded on the stone wall.

"1 + 1"

"Do you know what this is?," Druchess asks as he begins to take a seat next to the wall while pointing to it as his beard nearly trips him.

"But of course, it's a wall!" Hubrid says in confidence as Druchess begins punching the wall in frustation, nearly drawing blood from his knuckles.