“Alright, so, just to make this perfectly clear,” Chase said, “Carmine, you truly, genuinely, do not know anything about cursive writing?”
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like that,” she said, crossing her arms. “Why? Are you planning to make fun of me for it?”
“I mean, yeah, but also, I’m supposed to teach you how this works, so I kinda need to know what your baseline level of knowledge is. Sounds like it’s nothing, which both makes things easier and harder.”
“In what sense?”
“Well, it means I know where to start, at the very least. But it also means that we have a lot of ground to cover.”
At that moment, the three of them made it into the forest from the main road. Suddenly, the foliage overhead became thick enough to nearly block out the sun above, save for a few stray beams of light that came spilling through the leaves and branches. The road continued on ahead, marred with fallen leaves as it was.
“Well, this road certainly seems ominous,” Leon observed. “Still, no way out but through.”
“Is that wise?” Carmine asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because if there are any bandits out there, this road is the perfect place for an ambush.”
“What makes you think there are bandits out there?”
“No, she’s got a point,” Chase admitted. “Still, we kinda have to go this way, and I’m not too keen on getting lost in the forest.”
Leon brought a hand up to this chin in thought, stroking his beard as he did so. There was still a patch of it missing from where Carmine had set it on fire a short while ago, and Chase could tell that it irked him, but it wasn’t like Leon could do anything about it at this point.
“Alright,” Leon announced. “We’ll head down the road for now. If it gets any more ominous than this, then we’ll look for an alternate route. We probably won’t make it through the forest before night falls, so once it starts getting dark, we can set up camp off the path for the night. Sound good?’
Chase and Carmine both nodded, and after seeing that they were both in agreement, Leon motioned for them to follow him and they set off once more.
XXX
True to Leon’s word, they failed to make it through the forest before night fell, and wound up setting up camp just off the trail in a nearby small clearing. By Chase’s best estimate, it was around eight at night; the sun had long since disappeared below the horizon, with the full moon now looming overhead, casting the faintest of glows down on them. Leon and Carmine had managed to get a small fire started, and currently, the three of them were huddled around it, the remnants of their dinner having been pushed off to the side.
“Well, that hit the spot,” Leon announced. “Haven’t had plain rabbit in a while.”
“I legitimately can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not,” Carmine stated.
“That was an honest comment. Usually, I prefer to drink my sustenance rather than eat it. I forgot how much actually eating something can be a cleanse to the system from time to time.” Leon reached into his cloak and pulled out a hip flask, which he took a big drink from.
Chase just shook his head at the sight of it, then turned towards Carmine. “Alright, so I guess I’m supposed to teach you how to read and write in cursive.”
“So it would seem,” she replied.
“Honestly, I’m surprised that you don’t know this already. I mean, you’re a Demon – I thought Demons were big into contracts and the like.”
“We are, but those contracts need to be accessible for everyone, I guess,” she said. “There are some, for lack of a better term, very low-INT people out there. I guess we just never saw the value in cutting off people from our Demon deals by having them be illegible.”
“Makes sense, I suppose,” Chase admitted. “Of course, this begs the question… how the hells am I going to teach you to do this without a way to write anything down?”
“Oh, I’ve got parchment, quills, and ink in my bag,” Leon volunteered.
Chase just stared at him. “...You’ve got all that stuff, but you don’t know where your socks ended up?’
“Hey, you never know when you’ll have to write something down or draw a picture of something,” Leon said defensively. “Here, give me a minute, I’ll get this stuff for you both.”
“Oh, so he even has enough for both of us,” Carmine observed.
Leon flipped her off without looking back, instead continuing to root around in his bag. After a moment of searching, he found what he was looking for, and came back with some rolls of parchment, some quills, and enough ink for the two of them to share.
“You two get that taken care of,” he said. “I’m going to do something important.”
“Like what?” Chase asked.
“Catch up on some sleep, that’s what. Wake me if it’s an emergency.” He paused, then added. “By which I mean, one of you is actually dying or something. Otherwise, I’m gonna be mad.”
Carmine rolled her eyes, while Chase nodded. With that established, Leon laid down, resting his head on his pack, and then closed his eyes; he was asleep within seconds, the sound of his gentle snoring filling the clearing they were in. Chase stared at him for a moment, then turned back towards Carmine.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Shall we get started?” he asked.
XXX
“Alright, so this is an A.”
Carmine’s brow furrowed. “That just looks like a bunch of squiggly lines to me.”
“That’s basically what cursive is.”
“That’s incredibly stupid. Why would humans invent something like this in the first place?”
“It’s supposed to be fancy,” Chase argued.
“Oh, so it’s fancy to write illegibly?” Carmine asked.
“Apparently, yeah.” Chase paused, a thought occurring to him. “Wait… if Demons can’t read cursive, then why is the contract you’re summoning in cursive?”
“Well, the Demons in this world must know how to read and write it, but the ones back on our world clearly didn’t,” Carmine pointed out.
“But… we can speak and understand the common language in this world innately, apparently,” Chase said. “That’s not weird to you?”
“Oh, it is,” Carmine agreed with a nod. “But apparently we’ve got to do everything all messed-up. Don’t forget, we were supposed to be literally reborn rather than show up as two six-year-olds. Hells, it’s been two years and I’m still confused as to why that happened and why nobody in that village thought to question our arrival.”
Chase let out a grunt. “Whatever, let’s just keep on with this… thinking about that stuff is making my head hurt…” He shook his head, then motioned back to the parchment he’d been writing on. “Anyway, that’s an A. Think you can copy it?”
Carmine scoffed. “Can I copy a bunch of squiggles, he asks… of course I can. I’m the Demon Queen, after all.”
She proceeded to do exactly that, copying Chase’s rendition of an A onto her own parchment. Once that was done, Chase gave her a nod.
“Okay, good,” he said. “So, this next one is a B…”
And on it went, as Chase taught her the alphabet in cursive. It took a little over an hour for her to get all the letters down, as well as begin stringing them together into complete words. By the end of it, however, she was certainly well on her way to fully understanding it.
“I think that’s enough for tonight,” Chase announced, stretching his arms out and letting out a yawn as he did so. “Good work, Carmine.”
“Thanks,” she replied. After a moment’s pause, she added, “...And thanks for teaching me, too.”
“Yeah, don’t mention it.” He let out another yawn. “Anyway, let’s get some rest.”
“Should one of us keep watch, just in case?”
“Eh, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?”
XXX
A short while later, Chase opened his eyes, only to find that he was in a featureless white room. He blinked, then let out a sigh.
“You’d think at some point I’d learn that going through life continuously tempting fate is no way to live,” he lamented.
“Yeah, you’d think that.”
At the sound of Carmine’s voice, Chase turned around in surprise. Somehow, it was just the two of them there, with no sign of Leon anywhere.
“Hey,” Chase greeted. He looked around again. “Any idea where we are?”
“None,” Carmine said. “Honestly, this is going to sound weird, but… I think we might be dreaming this.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. How could we be in each other’s dreams like this?”
“I don’t know, but the alternative is accepting that someone managed to kidnap the two of us without waking up Leon or us, and then put us in some featureless white room with no exits.”
Chase thought for a moment. “Well, if we’re dreaming, then I should be able to confirm it.”
“How so?”
“Ever hear of lucid dreaming?” Carmine shook her head, and Chase pursed his lips. “Basically, if you realize you’re in a dream, you can then start controlling parts of the dream.”
“Okay, then how do you intend to test this hypothesis?” Carmine asked.
“Like this.”
Chase closed his eyes and began to focus. After a few seconds, he felt his clothes disappear, leaving him in just his underwear. His eyes flew open, and he stared down at himself.
“Well, guess that confirms that,” he said. After a moment, he realized Carmine was staring at him, and turned towards her. “What? Something wrong?”
“That’s seriously where your mind went to at first?” she asked.
“Yeah? I mean, what was I supposed to imagine?”
“I don’t know, something other than getting naked.”
“I’m not naked, I still have underwear on,” Chase protested. “What’s the problem with that?”
“It’s indecent!”
“It’s no more indecent than wearing a swimsuit.”
“Yes, it is! It’s the context around the clothing that matters, Chase! Your unmentionables are unmentionable for a reason – you’re not supposed to be seen in them!”
Chase went to reply to her, only for a sudden round of giggling to erupt around them. Instantly, him and Carmine tensed, the two of them backing up to each other as they whipped around, trying to search the room for the source of the laughter.
“Ah, but you two are so entertaining…” a woman’s voice announced from nowhere. “This was the right choice, it truly was.”
“Who are you?” Chase demanded. “And, for that matter, why are you in our dreams like this?”
“Oh, not to worry, my dear Chase – I mean the two of you no harm at all,” came the response. “In fact, you could say I am the one who Blessed the two of you.”
Carmine’s brow furrowed. “No offense, lady, but the two of us have had our fill of asshole deities for both of our lifetimes. If your plan is to use us for something, then you’ll be sorely disappointed, because we have no intentions of going along with it.”
“Oh, you misunderstand me, dearest Carmine – I have no intentions of using either of you for anything,” the voice insisted. “Rather, I’d simply like to continue observing you both from a distance.”
“That’s creepy,” Chase commented. “You know, most people who watch children like that get added to a list or something.”
That earned another round of giggles from the mysterious voice, which soon tapered off after a few seconds. “Good one,” she said.
“Was there a point to this?” Carmine asked. “Or did you just want to let us know we were being watched?”
“I wanted to meet the two of you,” came the response. “Unfortunately, I believe our time grows too short for that. But just know, I will be keeping a very close eye on you two and your entertaining antics, and when the time comes, I will meet you both face-to-face here once more.”
Chase couldn’t help but scowl. “What’s that supposed to-”
Unfortunately, it was too late for him to get a proper answer. A bright light suddenly filled the room, and just like that, Chase and Carmine catapulted upright, suddenly back in the waking world together.
XXX
Name: Chase Ironheart
Level: 3
Race: Human
Class: Warrior
Subclass: Swordmaster
Strength: 19
Dexterity: 15
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 13
Constitution: 17
Charisma: 16
Skills: Master Swordsmanship (Level 10); Booby Trap Mastery (Level 8); Archery (Level 2)
Spells: Rush (Level 4); Muscle (Level 1); Stone Flesh (Level 2); Defying The Odds (Level 1)
Traits: Blessed
Name: Carmine Nolastname
Level: 3
Race: Greater Demon
Class: Arcane Witch
Subclass: Archmage
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 13
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 18
Constitution: 9
Charisma: 8
Skills: Master Spellcasting (Level 10); Summon Familiar (Level 10)
Spells: Magic Dart (Level 3); Magic Scattershot (Level 3); Fire Magic (Level 2)
Traits: Blessed
