Where was I?

I tried opening my eyes, but the fatigue of both my mind and body prevented me from doing so. So instead, I buried myself deeper and deeper into the soft cushion of the bed. The feeling of it reminded me of my bed at home. I distinctly remembered that the material of my bed was the best of the best in the entire continent, thus allowing me the easy effort of entering sleep. I didn't know the specifics, but I do remember the Phoenix being mentioned.

Alright, let's sleep more.

“Wake up kid, were not here for a vacation.”

“Oh let the child sleep, Samuel. He has been through enough because of you.”

There was another voice besides Mr. Samuel. Just from her voice alone, it reminded me of a kind old woman, like a strong oak tree that I could rely on when things got tough. I wanted to sleep more but I knew that it was rude to sleep on other people's beds.

So I reluctantly opened my eyes and sat up. The moment I did, I felt a rush of pain through my body. Even moving my arms was causing muscle pains. I tried enduring the pain, but my body caved in and fell back towards the bed. “Now look what you've done Samy. The boy can barely move. Aigoo have I taught you nothing?” My body was still still in a lot of pain but I was still able to open my eyes. I looked closer and saw that an elderly woman, barely half the height of Mr. Sameul was scolding the man himself like he was her mother.

Mr. Samuel didn't even seem fazed by her nagging and instead moved closer to me. He took my hand without a word and sent a pulse of mana through my vitals. Mr. Samuel raised his eyebrow for a moment before he said, “You're not dead. Thats good. You will feel pain throughout your body for the next week or so, but overall you're alive.”

He isn't a good doctor. His bedside manner was really bad. The elderly woman realized it herself too and smacked Mr. Samuel at the back of his head. I was then shaken with fear as I felt something bad was about to the old woman, but Mr. Samuel just took it without a word. Is she his mother? I don't see it.

“Aigoo enough with you Samy, it's best I take care of Cosmo. You might accidentally kill him like that other boy.” I then felt a chill down my spine as I heard her words, but the old woman gave me a teasing look as she lightly laughed. “I'm only joking deary, Samy has indeed killed a lot of people but not children. He's a warm teddy bear on the inside you see.”

“Now wait a damn-”

The elderly woman snapped her fingers, as Mr Samuels mouth suddenly vanished. He seemed to have realized it himself as he touched his mouth, and instead of going on a full rager, he had a blank expression and walked away from the bed. The elderly woman smiled. She turned to me and said. “Forgive him, he can be a potty mouth at times.”

“Um okay…”

“Oh my, silly me I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Amanda and I am the owner of this small little house. Forgive me for the current room you have, it has been a while since it has been used.”

“No, it's okay…”

I looked around and indeed, it was a little bit of a mess. Books were stacked around the corner, with dust being compiled on top of it. There was another bed beside this one but the pillows and sheets in that one were gone. All that was left was the pure white bedding. I wanted to ask who was the previous occupant of the room but I held back.

The woman named Amanda seemed to have seen through my thoughts and said, “You must be wondering who lived here before. Oh, it was such a long time ago, that my old self barely remembered it. But I can tell you that Samy once lived here for a time.”

There was a smile that she wore across her face, but as I looked deeper, there seemed to be a tinge of sadness. I wasn't sure as she hid it in the next second as she said. “Now come along now. There is no need to remember the past for it is the past, we must look forward to the future. Specifically, your future.” She smiled, clapping her hands once, as I then felt life come back to me. The pain that I felt as I moved seemed to have been healed. I moved around my arms and indeed, there was no more pain. I jumped from the bed and felt that I was almost at a hundred percent. Almost, because there was still a good amount of mental fatigue.

“I can cure what ails the boy, but what I cannot cure is the ailment of the mind. That is up for you to solve my dear boy.” I nodded, as I understood that I still had to bear the weight of what I did. I remembered it. I remembered everything as if it was a blur. I could hear the screams, and the dying wail of the goblin as it made its last struggle to survive. I heard my scream, the desire to live apparent in my voice. I vividly remember it. I wanted to forget it, but my mind disagreed with me and kept replying to the scene in my head.

I followed Ms. Amanda with a blank look and without realizing it, I was sitting by the table. I snapped out as I suddenly realized what was in the room. I jumped from my seat and tried grabbing the dagger that was supposedly by my side, but all I grabbed was air. “Hm, not good enough. Too slow.”

I heard Mr. Samuels's voice but I did not turn to him. The main reason was that there was a monster inside the house. It was a goblin. I was about to attack it but Mr. Samuel appeared beside me and held me back. “Easy tiger, it's not a monster. Well, it is, but it's not an it, it's a he.” Startled, I looked closer, and indeed, it- no he was different from the rest. This goblin had the same green skin, but it had a monocle… He wore the fashioned attire of a butler as he poured tea for the three of us. Ignoring the fact that I almost attacked me. He glanced at me for a moment, as he nodded before bowing and returning to the kitchen.

“It's worse than I thought. Samy, what did you teach the boy?! Look at him, he was just intimated and scared of Charlie here.”

“I merely taught him how to survive. What it takes to survive. Living isn't for the weak.”

Ms. Amanda glared at him, and instead of doing nothing like any other time, Mr. Samuel looked back and held his stance. Seemed like he was pretty adamant about that teaching. Ms. Amanda seemed to have been thinking about what to say back, but it seemed like even she, agreed. “Sigh, just sit down so we can chat.”

Mr. Samuel nodded and sat on the end of the table beside Ms. Amanda, and I sat on the other end. Silence then followed. Ms. Amanda quietly sipped her tea, while Mr. Samuel just looked at the cup in front of him as if he thought that it was an alien thing. Any interest in the tea was non-existent.

“Now then, let's get straight to it.” Ms. Amanda said, gazing at Mr. Samuel. He nodded and said, “His future. We want to know.” He pointed his finger at me, and I replied with a dazed expression. My future? Is Ms. Amanda a fortune teller? I looked at her and she sighed.

“Now look here Samy, I can't just-”

“It's not a matter of if you can, but if you want to.” Mr. Samuel brutally saw through her as he said those words. So she can tell the future. How did that work exactly? Ms. Amanda looked coldly at him but he didn't back down. “Samuel, he is a child. It is best for him to not know a single thing about his future. The unknown is best for oneself when it stays unknown.”

“I disagree. If we had more information, then we could have been better equipped to handle the situation. It would not have gone terribly. If you had just told us what our future was, I- no we could have prevented it. We could have stopped it all.”

Mr. Samuel still held an expressionless face, but there was a noticeable vein on his forehead. He clenched his fist so hard that it seemed like I heard a bone break. Instead of replying, Ms. Amanda just stayed silent and let the atmosphere simmer. It took a few seconds, but Mr Samuel regained his composure as he said. “Please, this is all I ask.”

I stared at Ms. Amanda and saw that her face was indifferent. Her warm smile was no more. It seemed that even she was conflicted on what to do. Eventually, she just sighed and said. “Fine. I will do it. But I want something in exchange.”

“Sure.”

“I want him to call me Granny.” She pointed at me, and I then froze. I didn't know how to react. “Done.” Mr. Samuel then stared at me, his eyes cold as it seemingly told or more likely, ordered me to do it. I wearily smiled and said, “Uh Okay Granny Amanda.”

Granny Amanda's smile came back as she said, “Finally, you have brought me a grandson.”

Mr Samuel had an awkward expression on his face, but Granny Amanda ignored it as she said, “Let's start shall we.” She stood up from her seat as the table seemingly vanished without us noticing. The room's atmosphere seemingly stilled. Granny Amanda waved her staff, slamming the butt off to the ground. I then felt a slight pain and saw that a piece of my hair was plucked out. My single hair then flew towards her, as it then turned to golden dust as it flowed through her spell.

She started chanting, her words making no sense to me as I felt like a thousand voices were speaking to me in a whispered tone. I covered my ears and even then I could stop it. I kneeled on the ground, as another thing penetrated my mind. An image flashed through my head. I didn't know what it was. I looked closely at it and saw that the person in front of me had his back turned to me, his white hair flowing down like a waterfall, as his robe was somehow a mix match of black and white, with some blue at its edges.

The man then turned to me and I saw who it was. It was me. My blue eyes were gone. Replaced with crimson-like eyes I felt like I was seeing the hell itself. My face was still young, but my eyes were different. It looks damaged, jaded as if he went through several lifetimes. The me with white hair tried mouthing something off, but before I could properly guess what it was, the image cracked as I then felt like I was being sucked out by an unimaginable force.

I snapped my eyes open and quickly sat up. My face was sweaty. My back, even more so. I looked towards Granny Amanda and saw that she had a troubled look on her face. Looking closer, I saw that blood was dripping from her mouth, but she acted as if it wasn't happening and said to me, “Cosmo Le Strange, The Endless Calamity.”