Once upon a time, many hundreds of years before now, there was a little town that sat right next to a huge forest. The people in this town were very happy, for they were protected by the Twin Deer Gods that lived in the big forest. All deer that lived in the forest were godly to the people. Every deer that would come to their settlement was respected and praised, and because of this, the deer were happy too. This little town, I forgot the name of it now, was your average town. It had an Inn, a blacksmith, a tavern… pretty much all things needed for a town to thrive. But it also had a young merchant, who was very rich, named Bartleby.
Bartleby, being as rich as he was, lived in a big mansion all by himself. His parents died young, so he took over the business of buying and selling at a younger age than most. In our story, he had just turned eighteen years old. In this big mansion, Bartleby lived alone with hundreds upon hundreds of servants. Bartleby himself was very handsome, with short blonde hair and pale skin; he was the most popular young man that was always asked for at dance festivals.
One day Bartleby was strolling about his own personal garden. It was a lovely day, and a light breeze had begun to pick up, ruffling his delicate golden locks. He enjoyed walking about by himself on days like this; it made him feel as if he were the only person in the world. He breathed in a mouthful of clean, fresh air… and retched horribly. A disgusting reek had entered his nostrils, coming from behind a couple of large blueberry bushes. Incredibly annoyed, the boy marched over and pushed some leaves to the side.
A boy about his age was hiding behind them, worn and dirty. The repulsive smell had been coming from him. Bartleby wrinkled his nose rather impolitely. “Who are you? What is your business here?” he asked. The dirty boy just looked back up at him and smiled.
