Zak recognized the village from afar, even if it looked like it was the size of a fly from this distance. The prince, who was now running, smiled brightly.

He finally arrived. Looking around, he noticed all of the changes that was happening. A new place had a long line, it looked like it was stealing all of the customers from the different shops.

Suddenly, he felt something tug on his sleeve.

Turning around, preparing himself for anything, he was met by a small boy. His eyes were widened, his mouth was widely open.

"Hello sir! Or ma'am. I don't know your gender, but I do know you look really cool!" The boy said, gesturing to Zak's outfit.

Zak stayed silent for a while, this was not what he was expecting.

"Thanks kid." Smiling, he ruffled the kids hair. The kid beckoned for him to lean down. Looking around as if he was searching for crimibals, he put a hand to Zak's ear and whispered: "Are you a wizard?"

Zak's eyes widened, surprised as he was expecting for the kid to know that he's a prince, and the kid took this as confirmation.

"Aha! I knew it! I read about wizards," He brought out a book, showing Zak one of the characters. "-and you looked like one! I always wanted to be a wizard." The boy was rambling passionately, doing a superhero stance every 5 seconds.

"-your mask too! It's a superhero mask. Do you have ice powers? Or is it diamond powers?"

Zak smiled, then playfully put a finger to his mouth and winked.

"I won't tell anyone, Wizard! I promi- No, pinky promise. You never break a pinky promise." The boy offered his thumb, instead of his pinky, but Zak went along with it.

"Thanks kid, I owe you."

"Miles!" A voice screamed from afar.

A girl pops up the view, looking relieved when she saw the kid.

"Miles, sweetie, don't run away like that." She leaned down to Miles height.

"I'm sorry sister, but look! I saw a wizard!" Miles excitedly pointed to Zak, jumping up and down. Zak awkwardly waved, feeling as if he intruded a moment.

"Skeppy?" The girl finally looked at the man's appearance. Obviously, she didn't recognize him at first as he was all covered up, but she could recognize that mask from a mile away.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Zak fidgeted with his hands, feeling guilt from not being able to remember who she is.

"Oh, it's fine. I'm Juliet. I was homeless for quite a while, and you gave me food and then hung out with me a lot. You disappeared one day, but I've moved on." She brushed some hair away from her face. It seemed that her bangs were too short to put into her bun.

"Juliet...Juliet Bakers?" Zak remembered.

"Yes! That's me. Which is kind of funny actually, considering the fact that I am now a baker." She laughed at the end.

"Right, that's a big coincidence."

"Anyways, I gotta go. My partners are probably worried for me." She walked away, but stopped.

"I'm glad I met you, life has really improved once you bought me food." She smiled and the prince.

"Bye wizard!" The kid loudly whispered to Zak, leaving him there waving to the two.

~

Looking around, Zak found himself walking to a familiar place. The bookshop.

Entering the place, windchimes informed his presence, making the owner look up, before reading his book again.

Flowers from 1970, a classic.

He felt like a child walking around the aisles. He remembered the days when he never even had his own library. He smiled at the thought, remembering how he was almost here for half of time time he was awake.

He wished life was as simple now as it was back then.

Almost tearing up at the thought, he shook his head, as if he was dismissing it. Breathing slowly and walking in a rhythm, he looked at every book in the store.

A certain one found his interest.

Minecraft

The unique font choice drew him in, so he read the first page.

Amazed by the introduction, it soon turned to a second one.

He didn't know why he was buying this book, he was certain that there was a chance of a copy at the palace already, but if he had to take a guess, it would be for old times sake.

Walking to the store owner, he placed down his book.

"Hello Sir. I would like to buy this book."

The owner placed down his own book, looking at the price of the one the prince put down.

"Alright. That'd be... 20 gold."

Zak was a bit hesitant at buying it. 20 gold seemed like a lot for a book, but the curiousity was to strong to overpower. He quickly reached for his pocket, only to find nothing there.

His eyes widened, causing the owner to raise his eyebrow.

"Nevermind, I'll put it back."

"Hey! Uh- I could pay for that." Someone said. Zak didn't realize someone else was here, so he looked around the room for his knight and shining armour, only to find him already beside him."

"No, no, no, you don't have to." He tried to convince the other to not buy it, but it looks like the other was not buying it. (Ba dum tss)

"It's fine, I've got money to spare." Gently putting down gold on the table, the mysterious man smiled.

Zak took in his appearance. He looked like he was ready for battle. He had a sword on his back, and he had a red badge. It had a familiar logo on it, but it was too small for Zak to recognize. His mask was covering his face, but you could simply listen to his voice, and there's no doubt that he'd be smiling.

"Thank you." Zak said, but he felt guilty now that he was spending someone else's money for something that he could've bought easily.

The mysterious man gave a laugh, or something like a giggle. "I already told you, it's fine. Have a nice day sir." He then walked away to the store.

Zak quickly took his book, not even giving the owner time to react. Running to catch the mysterious man, he bumped into a certain tree, which caught the man's attention.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright, good sir?" He ran to the prince, his hood almost falling down, showing his brown-ish blonde hair and his green eyes. Offering a hand, Zak hesitantly accepted.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just needed to know your name." The man was confused with this. He could never think that someone could think someone would be that determined to know his name. "Well, if you really need it, it's Bad."

"What's bad? No, I'm sure your name is fine, my good man." Bad definitely found this funny, he was giggling really hard. "What? Is it something I said?" Zak was panicking, wondering if he said something wrong.

"No, no, no," Bad paused so he could breathe. "My name, that's my literal name." He had this huge adorable smile from his face. "Oh." was all Zak could muster.

"What about you, my good sir?"

"Skeppy. My name is Skeppy."

"That's a fine name." Bad looked at him and stopped. "Well sir, I'll have to end this conversation short. This is my stop. Do you need anything else?"

"Can we meet again?"

Bad hummed for a while. "Are you free today at sunset?"

"Yes! I am."

"Well, there we go. See you soon, sir. Meet me at the Luna tree."

Zak nodded excitedly.

"Goodbye!" He said and waved, before walking off.

"Goodbye." He said quietly, waving.

He wished that he could repay the man for his kindness.

7/6/21