4) An Unexpected Party

Liam found himself on an open-air wagon traveling down a wide city road with three other passengers. They were his new companions, but the looks being shot his way were those of disdain… especially from the large, bull-headed beast-man sat directly across from him.

On one side of the beast-man, closest to the front; was a meek, but excited young woman, chatting up the driver. Every so often she would look back at Liam to shoot him an angry look. The driver she was talking to was an older, distinguished looking man. He encouraged the conversation initially, but after so many questions had become noticeably exhausted. They weren’t even out of the city yet.

On the other side of the beast-man was… just… a guy. That’s the only way Liam could find to describe him. He was an appointed guard of course; armor, standard issue spear, etc., but nothing really stood out about him. He had a slight smile on his face as he looked past Liam, occasionally making eye contact with him, nodding politely before looking back out at the sights they passed. He was either; happy to get out of town, or trying to keep his composure next to the heaving bull-man he had to sit next to.

‘This is going to be an interesting few years.’ Liam thought.

A few days prior

After workshopping his attempt at pixel art with Cecilia and creating a few more pieces, he presented them to the king.

Some landscapes, life drawings, a decent attempt to replicate the kingdom's emblem, and a slightly better redo of Cecilia’s portrait are set out for display on one side of the throne room.

With the same enthusiasm he had from when they first met; the king was elated. So much so he asked Liam to do a portrait of him like he did for Lady Cecilia.

Last they met, the king was on his throne, metres above Liam’s head and the size of the throne made him look small in comparison. By the king’s old face and gentle demeanor, Liam hadn’t considered that he’d be quite as imposing. He was a least 2 heads taller than Liam and had a fairly muscular build. But he otherwise had the complexion of an old man with a mid-length white beard and long, kingly hair.

Liam sat behind an easel, painting away. Across from him was the king striking a dignified, but dramatic pose of his choosing. The fitted suit he was wearing was also eerily modern, but Cecilia did mention a clothing designer passed into this world and had been doing some work for the royalty.

Upon revealing the final work; the king couldn’t contain his laughter. He was overjoyed. He commended Liam’s art, but said it needed work.

Liam was a little frustrated that people kept laughing at his work as though he was showing them purposefully goofy caricatures of themselves. But he resigns to the fact that it’s probably something he’s going to have to get used to.

Later that night, Liam was unexpectedly summoned. Liam was led to the door of a room he hadn’t entered before.

The door opened and a jolly conversation could be heard emanating from the room.

As Liam entered the room it was immediately clear he was the king’s chambers. It was adorned with far gaudier art and decorations than the rest of the castle, and a lot of it. If Liam had to guess, all the pieces that his council vetoed from being put elsewhere in the castle ended up here. And lo-and-behold, on the wall is the crude, pixel art portrait Liam painted of the king yesterday. Seeing his painting up among all this other… art, made him feel more confident in his abilities. He also noticed one or two of the pixel art landscapes he did were also put up.

Liam’s attention turned to the king who was greeting him boisterously; ‘Ah, Liam, Son of David, from Vancouver! Come, join us!’ Liam cringes every time the king uses that full title, but there’s nothing he can do about it at this point.

The king is sitting on one of four large couches arranged in a circle. There are a few other people scattered around the couches, including someone who definitely has a bull head.

Liam is about to sit in an open space on the couch opposite of the king, but he notices the king gesturing to him to sit in the available space next to him. Liam obliged. There was no one else seated on that couch, and there was plenty of space so it wasn’t like he’d be sitting next to the king.

Other than the king, among the faces in the room the only familiar to him were those of Cecilia and Chancellor Lena. Lena was whispering pleasantries with another guest, whereas Cecilia’s had a puzzled look on her face, when her and Liam’s eyes met her brow furrowed in concern before looking away.

The King introduces Liam, and explains the purpose of the gathering; ‘To catch you up, Liam; these fine folk are from the Extrazoological Research Foundation and the East-Biel Publishing Company. They are working together to make an updated edition of The Bestiary. The Bestiary is essential reading for Biel’s army, but it’s come to our attention that it hasn’t been properly updated in over 150 years, and a lot of the information has been found to be false, either out of error, or possibly… evolution.’

Liam nods at the story and forces an expression of interest, but is, inside, a little fearful to find out what it has to do with him.

‘It has already been decided that one of Biel’s own; master illustrator; Aloe Serviette, will be tasked with illustration of this addition,’ The king said, gesturing to a small woman, who reluctantly raises her hand and nods toward Liam as a greeting. Liam nods in return, but he can’t help but notice that she seems just as concerned as to where this is going as he does. ‘But,’ the King continues looking at a distinguished younger gentleman directly across from him, sitting next to Aloe. ‘I’d like to request that Liam accompany Master Serviette to train his painting skills under her tutelage.’

The woman’s jaw nearly drops and a look of disgust washes over her. She looks over to the man sitting next to her, her publishing agent, to try signaling to him that she was against it. But the man responds almost immediately without looking her way; ‘Absolutely, Sire. I don’t see why not.’

Liam could see Aloe’s rage start to boil, her eyes staring daggers at the man beside her. But before long she rolls her eyes and slumps back into her seat, refusing to make eye contact with Liam.

Liam was unsure what all this meant. Was he to help illustrate the book? Copy her work? Judging by her reaction; will she even be willing to teach him anything?

He looked to Cecilia to see if she had any answers, but she was staring into the middle distance again, down towards the table in front of them. He couldn’t get a read on what she was thinking.

And of course, he’s been doing his best to ignore it, but the bull-man has been giving him the side-eye this whole time.

A few days later - Present day

As the cart rolled along; Liam was still a little unsure what was in store for him. He’s headed into a world he had no knowledge of to catalogue ACTUAL monsters. And there’s a chance that he might not return, either because he gets eaten alive by some big monster he’s trying to illustrate, or worse… eaten alive by his party.

He was sad that he wouldn’t be able to see Cecilia for a while. She was his first friend in this world... his first friend in a while, really. She’s been his rock, keeping him calm and grounded in this weird world. He didn’t see himself getting the same out of his companions.

He hadn’t seen her since the meeting in the King’s lounge, and he wasn’t able to find her anywhere before leaving, so he wasn’t able to say goodbye and thank her for the help. The time spent working on paintings with her was the most fun he had in a long time. She’s the ambassador for the Eartherner’s so he’d imagine she was probably just busy.

‘See you soon, Cici.’ he thinks to himself, closing his eyes.

Clunk, clunk!

The driver starts to yell profanities in Liam’s direction. Startled, he opens his eyes and sees the driver yelling past him. He turns to his right to see whatever it is he could be yelling at… It’s Cecilia and her luggage.

Liam was shocked and could barely form a sentence before Cecilia decided to answer his question before he could finish asking; ‘I’ve got 16 years of unspent vacation time!’