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I answered with the brash confidence of youth. “Yes.”
She gave me a crafty smile. Rummaging on the table before her, she pulled out a stone amulet on a silver chain. Rubbed it against her sagging bosom to clean the dust from it.
“Take this.” She pressed it into my hand. “When you are truly ready to become the greatest warrior in our world, you need but hold it in the palm of your hand, look up at the Seven Stars, and say, ‘Test me. Train me.’”
I took it. Anything to get away from her. I tried to pay her for it, but she refused. “It is a gift, Magnus,” she said solemnly. “Not from me but from the Goddess I serve. She has chosen you among all men. Deemed you worthy to rise to the ranks of hero one day, your name a legend – if you develop the heart and soul to become a great warrior.”
“How do you know my name?” I stared at her suspiciously.
“I know many things. The Goddess has shown me the Akashic records, the golden tablets on which are written the secrets of the Universe.”
I looked into the cold black pools of her eyes. Despite the heat of the day, a chill ran down my spine. “Who are you?”
“My name matters not. Truth be told, I forgot it centuries ago. I am known now only as the Oracle.”
Centuries ago? Messages from the Goddess? The old lady was mad. I threw a handful of coins at her, grabbed the scarf and hurried away, without realizing I still clutched the amulet in my hand.
I wandered the city for hours. Finally, hunger drove me into a tavern where I ordered my evening meal and a mug of ale to wash it down. Both were delivered by a buxom blonde wench with a winning smile. I flirted with her outrageously, though she was probably twice my age. To my astonishment, as I was leaving she whispered she’d love to meet me at midnight, after her work was done.
I tipped her lavishly then dashed outside and down the street to a traveler’s inn I’d passed, where I rented a room so we’d have a comfortable bed nearby. I wanted my first sexual encounter to last for hours, rather than having to back her against a wall and lift her skirt for a quick fuck in a dark alley. Then I headed back outside to roam the streets till it was time for our meeting. The combination of nerves and a hard-on gave me boundless energy.
I ended up in a part of town I hadn’t seen before, where the streets were dark and nearly deserted. I’d been spending my time dreaming of the evening to come, making up fantasies culled from bits and pieces of every dirty story I’d heard from older, experienced males. When I stuck my hand in my pocket to rearrange the bulge in my pants, I found the amulet.
In my excitement, I’d forgotten all about the old crone and her odd gift. I pulled it out to examine it. The silver chain was tarnished with age, nearly worthless. The amulet looked just as old. A metal disc surrounding a lump of rock. I nearly tossed it in the gutter, but something caught the light from a flickering torch in the doorway of a cheap rooming house nearby.
The object was filthy, despite the old lady’s attempt to clean it. I spat on the amulet and rubbed away some of the grime. To my surprise, a faceted stone was set in the heart of the rock. It looked for all the world like the diamond in a necklace father had given my mother on their last anniversary, only bigger.
I looked up at the Seven Stars, shining bright, and remembered the old lady’s words.
To this day, I don’t know why I did it. Perhaps I was saying goodbye to my childhood belief in magic and myths, for after this night I’d truly be a man. Whatever the reason, I laid the amulet in the palm of my hand, looked up into the heavens and sent the message.
“Test me, Goddess. Train me to be the mightiest warrior in the World of the Seven Stars.”
The next moment, I found myself alone in a barren wilderness, with no idea how I’d gotten there. My first thought was that I’d been conked on the head and robbed by street thugs then dumped at the edge of town. But when I checked, my pouch full of coins was still tucked into a hidden pocket in the waistband of my trousers.
I thought I saw a figure in the distance, so I headed that way, hoping to find someone who could tell me where I was. I had to get back. It was nearly midnight, and my lusty tavern wench would soon be waiting for me.
To my shock, when I drew near, I saw it was the old woman. The Oracle, she’d called herself.
“Where am I? How did I get here?”
“You’re in a training camp for mighty warriors.Mytraining camp.” She tossed a bundle at my feet. “Supplies. You’ll need them. Head east.”
I bent down to pick it up. When I lifted my head, she’d vanished.
I whirled around in a circle, but she was gone. The barren ground offered no hiding place, strewn with rocks that barely came up to my shins.
“Wait! Come back! I have to get to town. I’ll pay you well,” I added, out of sheer desperation. My words were carried away by the night wind.
She knew my name. Perhaps she was part of an elaborate plot to kidnap me and hold me for ransom. After all, my father was a wealthy man. But how did she do it? How did she get me here, in the middle of nowhere, in the blink of an eye?
That’s when I started to laugh. This was all a dream. An elaborate nightmare fueled by fears and fantasies. I hadn’t gone to the city. I’d leave on the morrow.
Navigating by the Seven Stars, an unremarkable talent possessed by every schoolboy in our kingdom, I headed east, determined to see what other adventures awaited me in my sleep.
When the sun rose, reality set in. This was no dream. In every direction, as far as the eye could see, a layer of dust covered the ground. Soil baked dry by the heat of the sun. No sign of civilization.
The first day, anger propelled me forward. I’d find that old crone and make her pay. I’d been so close to losing my virginity – and to an older woman at that, one who could teach me all manner of wicked acts. I cursed the bitch with every step.
