THE MOMENT
"Behold!" Destiny's half-hearted gesture didn't live up to her exaggerated announcement. The young woman with long dark hair flailed her hand in the direction of the large boulder in the center of town. It was a sunny afternoon with plenty of citizens wandering around the town square in and out of small shops. A gleaming golden sword protruded from the stone. "The legendary weapon, 'Hexcalibright', because 'Excalibur' is too played out," she giggled.
"Thank you for the lovely tour of your town, Destiny," Justice replied with a smile.
"Ready to move on and take a look at the enchanted forest? It's full of dangerous, bloodthirsty unicorns," Destiny shook her head with a sigh. "Because, making something the opposite of what it's traditionally been is the easiest way to subvert expectations."
"No, I think we can skip the forest," Justice shook her head. She was ready to be done with the whole thing; but, she had a job to complete. Still, she felt comfortable taking a few shortcuts, it was the holidays after all. "Do you have a magic academy?"
"What, just one?" Destiny giggled and made a wide, circular gesture with her arms as she indicated the outskirts of town. "We have 12 academies surrounding the village, one for each school of magic. All of them filled with super-powerful heroes summoned from another world. "
"That's probably a bit much...," Justice commented. It was meant to be more of a mental note to herself, but Destiny took it as an invitation for more banter.
"You're telling me!" Destiny said. "I swear it's put a strain on the economy and no one seems to care. Do you know how many magic crystals they shatter every day, just 'testing' newly summoned heroes? Do you know where those magic crystals come from? The enchanted forest! Do you know who is facing those dangerous unicorns and supplying all those crystals?? Less and less people every day...," Destiny added.
"Oh, that's interesting," Justice nodded. "Is there an adventurer's guild? Why don't you recruit adventurers for the crystals?"
"There was... until the A'di'jq' arrived," Destiny grinned and shook her head. "A'di'jq'," she said.
"I don't even know how to spell the name of their race, "A'di'jq', A'di'jq' .. it's just gibberish letters thrown together with too many apostrophes."
"Uhuh, and then what happened?" Justice asked. She was enjoying the interaction; but, she was still on task.
"The A'di'jq' arrived...," Destiny shrugged. "Now, there's no more adventurers guild. That little changeover hasn't been written out quite yet, but trust me. Something awesome is going to happen to wipe out all the adventurers. Well, not awesome for them, but you'll think it's awesome. Anyway, uhhh.. did you want to see one of the academies? Or maybe get some lunch? We can pick up some Blue Quenchfruit... uh, unless you don't like spicy things. If you want it mild, you should get the Red Quenchfruit instead, that one's not spicy. You can tell because it's red," she laughed. "It's so unexpected!"
"What's unexpected?" a new voice spoke up and Destiny yelped in an over-the-top fashion as she spun around to face the newcomer. Justice wasn't as surprised, and even recognized the voice.
"What's up? I'm working," Justice asked her sister. Liberty was several years younger than Justice, and she had bright blue hair instead of Justice's pink twintails.
"Are you?" Liberty asked as she looked around at the quaint town.
"I'm a werewolf!" Destiny blurted out the revelation to get some attention back on her.
"Thank you, Destiny. Can I have a moment alone with my sister?" she asked.
"I have a sister too! She's a vampire dragon!"
"Destiny Mysterio Eclipse," Justice sighed. "Dismissed." Destiny disintegrated into white dust at Justice's command, and the woman turned back to her kid sister.
"I'm grading student assignments. This Earth was a creative writing assignment, and Destiny was the NPC giving me a tour of the world from the viewpoint of a regular person. I'm giving this one an A," Justice nodded.
"An A?" Liberty laughed. "A regular person named 'Destiny Mysterio Eclipse' who's a werewolf?"
"Well, I mean,... so am I," Justice laughed along with Liberty. They were sisters, but only one of them was a werewolf. "I'll admit, it's a bit of bias on my part. Besides, I think they did a wonderful job overall. The entire world was crafted by a beginner, and obviously she's what this new author considered a 'regular person'."