Each Friday, I will blindly pick a picture card from the board gameMysterium, and set a timer for fifteen minutes. When the timer goes off, the story is done.
Aristu was mad.
He was right in the middle of a wonderful dream. He was walking through a beautiful field of wild flowers in the bright sunshine. He could smell his favorite dessert, angel food cake, wafting to him from a nearby cabin. It reminded him of home.
Instead of making it to the cabin he was woken up from his wonderful dream due to a noise that he heard in the nearby room.
He groaned and rolled out of bed and put on his black suit of armor.
"When will these people learn," he said while groaning to reach over and pick up his giant ebony sword.
"I see you have already heard," came a voice in the darkned hallway that Artistu stepped into.
"I did. I'm not happy about it, but what can I do," he replied.
"Well, get on with it," said the voice.
Aristu walked down the hallway and gave a look to a painting of a woman wearing a crown. "You don't have to add insult to injury," he said.
"I know I don't have to, but I want to," said the painting as Aristu huffed and walked down the hall.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Aristu could see the trespasser running down the hall. He was a little man with a shock of white hair on top of his head and a blue jacket flapping in the breeze behind him.
Even though he was far away, Aristu could hear the heavy breathing the man was doing in order to put more distance between himself and the towering knight all dressed in black.
As he ran, the man held tightly to the crystal; his prize.
All along the gallery hall the paintings came to life and tried to stop him. One of the ocean paintings spilled forth and tried to flood the man out, but he dodged around the water. Even Esmeralda, who told Aristu about the intruder, was firing a pistol from her painting,
"Where did she get that gun from," he thought to himself and making a mental note to ask her about it later.
The man dodged the bullet and was even able to run around Emishas' pack of dogs that were snapping and snarling from the painting with salava dripping down from their jaws.
Now Arisut felt even more pressure. He was the last defense in protecting the castle. If this man made it beyond the castle walls with the crystal, they would all be turned to dust. It was the crystal that kept Arisut, Emserlda, Emisha, and the others "alive." Well, as alive as they could be considering they were just enchanted objects. But, to them it didn't feel like they were any less alive than the theif who had invaded their home. They had memories, or so they thought they did. Aristu thought of his mom, and of the field, and of enjoying her angel food cake after his classes at the castle. It always made him feel better after a long day of bullying. He wasn't about to let all of this be taken away from him by this greedy, little man. He never could understand why people couldn't be happy with what they had.
"Aristu!" came a shout that took him out of his head. It was Emisha yelling at him from down the hall. "He is almost there!"
Panic began to bubble in his chest. It was down to him. The man had almost crossed the threshhold. Only a few more steps and they would be dust.
Aristu held his breath, focused on the man and pulled his arm back. He exhaled and launched the sword directly at the man's head, cutting the thick air around him with a whirl.