A New Day In Emmerberk

‘Get out of bed kids, breakfast is ready!’

I could hear Iris’ voice shouting from downstairs, abruptly waking me up. I opened my eyes and was greeted by the sun shining through the lone window in the room.

My first morning in this other world was far from ideal.
I thought that despite of everything that happened yesterday, I’d be able to sleep a little. But that wasn’t the case. Everything that has happened, had instead made me restless, making it very hard to fall asleep.
I was able to get a little shut eye, but not an awful lot. Luckily I didn’t feel too tired, so I don’t think it’ll affect me today.

In the other bed, I could see that Maya and Casper were still sleeping soundly. Yet it looked like they turned a lot while they were sleeping. Most of their bedsheet was no longer covering them. Maya even had her stomach exposed.
Some people are actually like that, huh.
As I was laughing to myself about how this looked, I started to wake them up.

‘Hey Maya, are you awake?’ I shook her shoulders to wake her up. I hope this isn't too rude to do.
‘Hmmmm.’ Maya responded sleepily. At least it seems she heard it.
‘Your mother just said that breakfast is ready.’
‘Hmmmm? Oh, good morning Micheal.’ Maya opened her eyes somewhat. She looked half-asleep.
‘Mornin’.’ I said, while half-asleep as well.

Maya got up with bed hair and started shaking Casper to wake up too.

‘Hey Casper, wake up.’ Maya said.
‘Just a few more minutes.’ Casper responded groggily. Eyes closed and hugging the pillow like a plushie.
‘Kids!’ I could hear Iris from downstairs again.
‘Yeesss! We’re coming!’ Maya shouted towards the door.

Are they always like this in the morning?
I had a small laugh to myself. This kinda reminds me of how it was back home. Especially after a long weekend or summer vacation, where my mother tried her hardest to get me out of bed.

---

The three of us got out of bed and made our way downstairs. Iris was sitting, enjoying something that looked like tea and we joined her at the dinner table.
As far as breakfast went, it was relatively simple. There was a loaf of bread on the table with a knife to cut it into sizeable slices. A small bowl had three cooked eggs in it, one for each of us.

‘Mornin’.‘ Maya said, still a little tired.
‘Good morning you three. Slept well?’ Iris asked us.
‘Yeah, pretty well I think.’ Maya answered.
Casper gave a thumbs up, yet he still looked like he wasn’t fully awake yet.
‘I guess so.’ I answered. It wasn’t the truth, but I didn’t want anyone to feel bad.

I looked around the living room and noticed that Richard wasn’t there. And it seemed Maya noticed that too, since she was also looking around.

‘Where is dad?’ Maya asked her mother.
‘He is on duty today, so he already headed out.’ Iris answered.
‘Oh okay.’ Maya responded.
‘Duty?’ I asked them.
‘He has to guard one of the gates.’ Maya answered. ‘When you’re old enough, you sometimes need to be a guard for the day. There are guards that the capital sends here, but this is something that we as a village decided to do.’
‘Then what made the village decide that they needed to do this?’ I continued to ask.

I was curious about the village and what made them come to this decision. Maybe even Maya guarded the village once.
But I couldn’t have predicted their reaction.
A silence befell on the table, aside from Casper who is still eating without a care in the world.

‘There… was a senus attack, I think almost nine years ago now, and it made us realize firsthand just how dangerous the senus are and how important it was for everyone to learn how to defend themselves. The guards weren’t enough to protect the place and many villagers were severely wounded back then. A couple were even... killed.’

The atmosphere in the living room turned heavy. What was supposed to be a light breakfast, turned gloomy fast. Since Iris sat in front of me, I could see a very somber look on her face. Maya sat beside me, so I couldn’t see her full expression. Yet, from just the side, I could tell she looked just as somber as her mother, if not more so. Her cat ears clearly gave it away. They were drooping, just like the other times she seemed worried or sad.
I still don’t know what a “senus” is, nor what they look like, but I already gathered from the way the townspeople and Maya talked about them, that they are dangerous. But seeing the two of them now made me realize that they might be even more devestating than I thought. Just what are they capable of?
As I was questioning these things, Iris tried to brighten the mood somewhat by changing topics.

‘What are the two of you going to be doing today?’ Iris said to us. She looked happy, but there was clearly some melancholy to be seen on her face.

‘Oh, I’m going to be showing Micheal around the village today.’ Maya responded neutrally.
‘Oh okay. By the way, can you visit Lucas for me then. I didn’t ask your dad yesterday since I didn’t know about it, but we’re almost out of bread.’ Iris said back.
‘Yeah sure.’
‘Can I come along too?’ Casper said.
‘I don’t see why not.’ Maya answered.
‘Not so fast Casper, you’re coming with me.’ Iris interjected. ‘We have to get you ready for your admission to the academy.’
But moooom.’ Casper pouted.
‘No buts. This is something that everyone has to do when they’re about to turn nine. Your sister had to do it, I had to do it, your father and everyone else.’
‘I know. I just wanted to go with sis and Michael.’

So school is even a thing in this world then huh. Can’t say that I’m completely surprised. More so that there might be one in this small village. And an academy at that. A bit much for an eight year old kid, but who am I to judge. I do wonder what they’d be teaching in this world though.
Maya and I finished our breakfast. We washed our faces outside, walked back in and got ready to head out.

‘Well, we’ll be going then. See you later.’ Maya opened the front door and said to her mother and Casper.
‘Have fun you two. Bye.’ Iris waved at us. Casper sat beside her and poutingly waved at us without saying anything.
‘Bye.’ I said and made a simple hand gesture.

Maya closed the door behind us and started to walk ahead of me.
I wonder what this village has to offer. It’s not that big, yet it looks entirely self sufficient from the houses that I can see. It started to get dark when I arrived here yesterday, so I couldn’t quite see a lot. But now, early in the morning, I could see that most if not all the houses had a small farm.
The river that originated from the waterfall also flows through this village. Making it easier to supply the entire village with water.
Now that I look at it, the river is actually quite deep. It’ll probably reach my shoulders, were I to stand in it.

‘It’s actually good that we’re alone. There is something that I don’t want Casper to see.’ Maya said to me out of nowhere.
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, curious about what she meant.
‘It’ll be Casper’s birthday in a couple days. I’ve asked Johan, our weaponsmith, to make a bow and I want to give it to him as a surprise. I’ll need to check if it might be finished already.’
‘But doesn’t he already have one?’
‘If you’re talking about the one he had yesterday. That one is actually mine. I lend it to him back then, just in case. This one will be his own, so it’ll also be easier to teach him.’

Now that I think about it, didn’t Casper say that he’d almost turn nine when the three of us first met. I guess that was a lot sooner than I would have thought.

‘Should I also give him something?’ I asked Maya.
‘I don’t see why not. I think he’d really appreciate it. But do you know what to give him by any chance?’
‘Not a clue. I don’t know him enough, but maybe I’ll get an idea from walking around with you.’
‘Then we’ll go to as many places as possible.’ Maya grinned at me. ‘So let’s go.’
‘You got it.’ I said back enthusiastically, ready to explore Emmerberk.