The Petite Dungeon Explorer 34 A Sweet Treat Fueled Decision

Grabbing the wooden handle, the door opens without any resistance, and inside the restaurant, a strong scent of sugar and chocolate hit my face. I can't help but smile and feel the anxiety of my meeting with the G.o.ddess of Death wash away.

"h.e.l.lo little one," a soft chirpy voice enters my ear and I twist my head and find a little fairy fluttering next to me. She's a beautiful little one, her eyes are soft and violet, her hairs a two-toned purple-blue. A little pink dress that had a cupcake print on it and little pink shoes adorn her feet.

She's got giant b.u.t.terfly wings that are a warm purple.

"h.e.l.lo, I have a reservation for Hollis," I tell her.

Her little eyes light up. "Right this way little miss, please follow me your friends are waiting for you on the upper level," she says with a tiny bow and she begins to float forward through the restaurant.

It was a busy place, I all sorts of people and all sorts of desserts in front of them. The interior of the shop didn't disappoint either, it was something magical, and whimsical like straight out of a child's fairytale book.

We arrive at a door, and she waves her hand a brilliant sparkling smattering of blue dust hits the door, and it transforms slightly.

The shape of it stays pretty much the same, but the wood has changed to a door that had V.I.P. printed along the length of it.

"Right through here," she says with a soft singing voice, and the door swings open. Inside the room, there are far fewer tables and fewer people. Everyone within the room was dressed quite gaudy and upper-cla.s.s.

A few people look up from their meal and look at me, first with a bit of disgust because I was dressed pretty simply. But once they see the medallion on my neck, and recognize me, they hastily trying to smile and give me, a goodwill expression.

I chuckle and just continue to follow the little fairy in front of me. She moves up towards the back of this room, and in a giant booth, that has a huge table, and the soft voices of my friends drift up into my ears.

"Here you are little miss," the fairy says bowing to me and then fluttering off.

"Hollis! You're here, Cecily has been waiting for you," Cecily says as she stuffs a cookie into her mouth, and I felt my heart clench.

She was adorable, she had little cookie crumbs on her face, and some on her deep red s.h.i.+rt that was adorned in jewels that are a deep black and silver, I saw diamond pressed into hanging strands around her clothes.

Her normally ashen color hair was looking a little lighter, it's been put up into two buns on her head, with the rest of her hair falling down her shoulders.

Sitting next to her Ekon has a spoon in his mouth, and I see that he's tucked into a chocolate cake that has strawberries on top of it. He was dressed similarly to Cecily, in a deep red colored jacket that displays all the tattoos on his body. His pants are a deep black.

"You shouldn't talk with your mouthful," Ekon says with a pointed look in her direction.

She shoots him a dirty glare and continues to munch on her cookies.

"Sit next to me, Hollis," Silvyr says as he scoots over a little bit, opening a seat next to him on the side of the booth.

He has a cup of tea in his hand, and I could smell the strong mint and earthy flavor of the pudding that was in front of him.

His long hair was tied up into a ponytail, and a beautiful silk green ribbon is waved through his hair. He's dressed in a simple seafoam green tunic, and a tree branch bracelet is hanging around his right wrist.

A detailed tattoo of a flower is underneath his eye, covering his scar. Sliding into the seat next to him, I can't help but point at my eye, and he seems to understand, and a small sigh leaves his mouth.

"Cecily insisted that she give me a non-permeant tattoo because I was always looking at hers," he says with a small blush over his cheek.

I nod my head and find that Cecily's got a brilliant smile on her face.

"My sister is one of the best scribes that the tribes seen in the past twenty years, she's been apprenticing under our current scribe," Ekon says with a flash of pride on his face.

"Your scribe?" I ask.

"The scribe is the person that tattoo's the history of our tribe onto our bodies," Ekon continues as he points to his tattoos. "They'll pick a few young ones to apprentice under them and learn the art of tattoo," he explains to me with a smile.

"I didn't know that there was a set individual that tattoo's the whole tribe," I say with a smile.

"You'll have to let Cecily tattoo you as well," Cecily says wiping the crumbs off of her face.

"Maybe," I say with a chuckle.

"I'll give you one even more beautiful than Silvyr's," she says with a firm nod of her little head.

"You're so nice to Hollis! You just went and pushed me down and started to poke me!" Silvyr cries with annoyance as he put his tea down.

His mouth set in a firm line, I pat his hand and scoot closer to him. His face transforms and he starts blus.h.i.+ng, I laugh and scoot away from him.

Ekon has a smirk on his face as he watches the exchange, and Silvyr realizes because he quickly tries to straighten his expression.

"Don't bully me as well," he says turning his haunting white eyes towards me. I just smile.

"h.e.l.lo, may I take your order?" A warm voice asks, I turn my head and find an elf staring down at me with a small smile.

She was a beautiful elf, her hairs a brilliant green and her eyes are a warm hazel. She's thin and dainty like most elves. She's dressed in a baby pink dress the same as the fairy that escorted me earlier.

"Do you have a menu; I could look at?" I ask her softly.

With a nod of her head, a menu began to take shape out of nothing in her hand. Curling sapling of wood twisted into a beautiful menu.

She hands the menu to me, and I smile as I began to flip through it.

After a moment, I make up my mind.

"Could you bring me the a.s.sorted blood cookie set, with a cup of cinnamon tea?" I ask her.

"Of course, I'll bring that right to you," she says and leaves with a bow.

Turning to my friends, they all are looking at me expectantly.

"I decided on what I want to do for my Cla.s.s!" I tell them.

Everyone sits a little straighter as they look at me, the last time we'd gotten together. Everyone knew what they wanted as a cla.s.s.

"You finally decided?"

"Cecily bet that this was what you called us out for, even Silvyr agreed. Ekon didn't think that was the reason," Cecily laughs softly.

"Well, then one point to both you and Silvyr, and minus a point to Ekon," I chuckle.

"What did you decide on Hollis?" Silvyr asks.

Smiling, I lean back in the booth and look at each of them.

"I've decided that I'm going to take the test at the Fate Temple. Because, I can't decide on anything and I don't think I will be able to either, I'll just let the temple pick for me," I tell them all with a smile.

A hush fell over the table, each of them had a puzzled look on their face as they look at me. It was a mixture of emotions that are hard to read.

"You do know what you're saying? That's the worst time of all, it's by far the hardest, and it's not a guarantee that you'll always end up with what you want!" Ekon says looking at me.

He reminded me of a stern parent right now.

"I understand all of that, however, it's the cla.s.s that will be the best for me. I'm willing to take a risk to get something perfect for me," I tell him with a firm resolve.

He backs down and looks at me, but then lets out a sigh. "Only you," he mutters.

"If you're going to take that, then I should also take that test as well," Silvyr says with a nod.

I look over at him surprised, I want to say something but Cecily cuts me off.

"No fair! You're trying to get on Hollis' good side, Cecily will take it at that temple too then," she slams her little fist onto the table and all the cups and plate rattle a bit.

"You're being a copycat as well!" Silvyr fires back at her.

"Cecily isn't a copycat! She's a good friend to Hollis!" She cries back, with tears threatening to spill over in her eyes.

"Ahem," I cough into my hand, "I didn't say this to sway your decision about what you want to do. It's simply what I've decided would be best for me, I caution you to give it a good amount of thought before you decide something like this," I tell them.

The waitress quickly leaves me my cookies and tea, before she leaves not wanting to disrupt the conversation between us.

Reaching a handout, I grab the first cookie that in the shape of a rose flower and has sticky blood on it.

"I don't care, I plan to follow you, that's what friends do!" Silvyr says with a firm nod, as he brings his tea to his mouth.

"Cecily agrees!" She cries with a nod of her head.

"Ekon…" I say turning towards him.

But he holds his hands up and I smile bitterly at him.

"You're not going to try and talk them out of it?" I ask him.

He gives a small shrug. "They've made up their mind, I'd agree with them. If you're going to go and test yourself, then we might as well follow you," he laughs.

I felt my lip twitch.

"You're going to challenge it as well?"

"I think if everyone's going to do it, then why should I be the odd one out," he says with a grin.

"It's been decided then, hasn't it? We're all going to challenge the fate temple in three years, right?" Silvyr asks.

They all turn to look at me, it seems that I'd become the nominal leader of my group.

"Yes?"

"Cecily's excited, I'll train even harder," she cries happily to herself.

"We'll all have to train hard then, three years isn't that long," Ekon agrees.

"We should start immediately!" Silvyr nods as he finishes his tea.

It looks like I've sparked another fire, but I felt a warm feeling in my stomach. I'd lucked out in this life so far already.

I'm looking forward to our adventures.