Varrockians

''Tap. Tap. Tap.'' School can be such a bore.

"And that is how, children, an internal combustion engine would work, if the government hadn't cut off all our funding!" my Professor screamed. It was true; Varrock University's funding had been redirected to solve the water shortage. "But, pupils, don't forge-" the bell went off! We were free! I carefully tucked my books into my napsack; they were so old and dilapidated that they could fall apart at any moment. As usual, I was the last one out the door. I strolled into the square and onto the bone dry fountain's bridge. From here I could see games of boccia, football, and lacrosse. Though, I wasn't the sporty type, and it must've been at least 39 degrees out today! And with that in Autumn...well something had gone wrong.

"Hey! Dan!" a voice yelled from the distance. I turned around. It was Rarren! And Livan!

"Hey guys!" I replied, walking towards them.

"God, it's hot out today. Can we please get to somewhere shady?" Livan impatiently asked. She wasn't really one to want to wait. And even though her figure wouldn't say so, she was very strong.

"Sure, let's get to the Apartment." We all walked towards the General Store, and entered. I pulled out my wallet and handed the storeowner a check. "Here's last month's rent."

"Thanks, Dancus Frumac!" he said. I climbed up the ladder in the back and stuck my key into the hatch in the ceiling. "C'mon Rarren, Livan!" They followed me up. I slung my napsack onto a hook on the wall. Here we were! The Apartment! It's where we three live after our old abodes had been foreclosed because of the diverted cash flow. And us all being friends, why not? Three beds were lined up against the opposite wall, and there was a table and 3 chairs sitting near the window to the north. In the corner there were three cages, containing our pets: my chinchompa, Livan's rabbit, and Rarren's ferret. A separate room contained a water pump, a range, a larder and a sink. Branching off from that, there was the bathroom with a tub and a toilet. Nowadays, though, bathing is considered a "luxury", and therefore receives no ration of water. We each only get 3 gallons a day, which was recently downgraded from 7. Even though space in the Apartment is hard to find, we don't mind. It's our home, and we intend to stay.

Life's not exactly peachy in Varrock right now, as if that's not already apparent. I'm Rarren Ule, and it's time to tell my part o' the story. So grab some popcorn and cop a seat, 'cos I'm ready to write.

I sat down at our table and stared out the window. I had a perfect view of the border of Varrock's two halves. The Aristocrisal District, and 'Dirty Varrock.' If you specialize in Misthalinian geography, you should be able to figure out which end was in which direction, and vice verse. The growing city, almost certainly one of the world's largest, had fractured in two. For know, the split stays only figurative, but almost all of the Varrockians could sense their city was quickly splitting in half.

"Rarren! C'mon, we're going to the restaurant for dinner!" Dancus said from at the hatch door. I stood up and joined my friends as we climbed down the ladder. We pushed our way through the crowd in the General Store and out into the streets of Varrock. The city split became even more apparent, even to the unaware. Panhandlers were begging at every street corner, doing their best to squeeze at diminutive amount of cash from the passers by. It was already 5:00, but the air still retained the day's hellish heat. We walked quickly down the street towards the Blue Moon. As we entered the building, we realized it was considerably cooler in bar than outside. A quick look around could tell you why: a huge pot of ice was laying in the corner. A fan was turning above it, powered by a ferret in a mechanical wheel. Out of an engineer's instinct, Dancus quickly went over to investigate. Livan and I walked up to the bartender's island.

"Good afternoon!" Livan said to the bartender.

"Why good afternoon to ye too!" said the bartender in his booming voice. "What ye be havin' today?"

"I'll just have a baked potato... Rarren?"

"Square Sandwich please." By now Dancus had finished inspecting the machine.

"I'll have a fishcake."

"Good then!" said the bartender. "Is that for here or to go?"

"For here!" we said in unison.

"Then find yourselves a table and your order will be up in no time." We three walked to a booth table in the corner.

"Hey, did you here?" I asked.

"About what?" Dancus and Livan replied.

"King Roald. He's making a speech about the drought in town square tonight. At night."

"Pff," Livan said. "Probably because it's too hot for him during the day with all of his velvety robes on."

"Actually, Livan... that is why." We all burst into laughter as a waiter came with our food. I bit into my delicious sandwich and my friends began to eat their food as well.

"So, are we going to go to his speech?" Dancus asked.

"I guess if we want to. I mean, the guy is our king."

"Yeah, but it seems he can't take a little heat!" Livan quipped. We all laughed again.

"No, I'm serious, Livan," Dancus dryly stated.

"Fine, fine. No more jokes, but we should get back to the Apartment if we want to catch the speech. Waiter!"

A man came running up to our table. "Yes, miss?"

"Doggie bags please."

"Certainly." He handed each one of us a paper bag. We stuffed our food into the bags and left for the Apartment.

With Dancus and Rarren walking beside me, we hurried up the street to the General Store. The Sun had began to set, and guards were already lighting torches and placing them in the hands of the statues at the Square Fountain. We scurried up the ladder in the shop's corner and Rarren inserted our key to the hatch. Once again we had arrived at the Apartment. Dancus ran into the kitchen and placed our food in the icebox. Rarren was sitting at the table once again, finishing up some last-minute homework. And I, Livan Alder, took the job of feeding our pets. I heard a thump coming from the kitchen. I ran inside to investigate. Dancus had collapsed on the floor.

I was thrust into a black and white world within my mind. I was among a swarm of people in the town square. King Roald stood high above the citizens, placed squarely on top of a granite pedestal. I could instantly tell something was wrong.

"O citizens of the grand kingdom of Dukea Misthalinia, I, your king, come before you today to discuss with you of the great period of drought that afflicts our nation and world as we speak. The earth is finite, and cannot stand this torturous process as it converts itself to a sandy waste..." A dark skinned man standing behind the king slowly brought out a crossbow.

Oh no! I thought. The man loaded a jade bolt onto his bow. He slowly raised it, aiming for the king's neck.

"...and our lord Saradomin shalln't deny our thirst any longer. We Misthalinians shall repair our kingdom as we have repaired it before. And we must let the gods know that we..." The man cocked his deathly bow. "...and as a united race we will stand together and-" Blood spilled from the neck of the king. He fell to the ground. Dead. The horde of people surrounded him, in shock and awe. People were weeping and at their knees. And I knew that I, Dancus Frumac, was the only thing that could stop this horrendous crime from happening in reality.

I woke up several hours later in on my bed. It seemed as Rarren and Livan had already left for the speech. I looked outside and I saw that King Roald was already beginning to speak. And behind him stood the assassin. I ran from the window and jumped down the hatch into the shop. I ran for the door. It was locked! I ran over to the front window and kicked it out, sprinting for the square. The man cocked his bow. Click! I pulled some runes from my pockets and threw them at the king. The bolt began to fly. "Noo!" I yelled. The runes hit the king's arm and exploded, encasing him in purple light. He teleported two squares in front of the podium. I had thrown the combination for Varrock Teleport! The bolt hit dead air. "Yes!" I said to myself. The killer broke a hefty amount of runestones and teleported out of sight. The crowd was aghast. Roald turned around to see me standing there.

"Citizen, what is your name?" he asked.

"Dancus J. Frumac, of the noble Frumac line, o glorious king," I replied.

"You, Mr. Frumac, are a hero!" The crowd began to applaud. "If you had thrown those stones a second later, I'd've been a dead man! Guards! Give this man his due reward! One million coins, and a guaranteed lifetime pardon!" I was in shock. The guards came up to me and handed me a sack of gold. Roald went over to his guards and whispered something into their ears. "Mr. Frumac," he said, "Please come with me." I followed Roald into the castle. The guards followed behind us, shooing away the media. Roald and I walked into the throneroom. "Please, sit down," he said, as he sat in his throne. "Tell me, how did you do that, Mr. Frumac?"

"I'm a precognitor, sir. A seer, if you will," I replied.

"So, you foresaw my attempted murder?"

"Yes, in fact."

"What triggered you to do so?" Roald asked. He cocked his head to the side in interest.

"I don't know. My visions come and they go when they please. Usually when I'm in a sticky situation. Almost like divine intervention."

"Well, what happens when you foresee?"

"I fall unconscious, and in my mind's eye I see the event that's going to happen if I don't intervene."

"Interesting... what else have you forseen?"

"The last thing I foresaw before to day was when I eight, I saw my parent's death two weeks before it happened."

"Oh. I'm so sorry." Roald suddenly looked mundane.

"Don't worry."

"Tell me, Dancus: what did this assassin look like?"

"He had darker skin than most. His hair was jet black, and his eyes were a deep yellow."

"Was he wearing anything that could tip off our defense force?"

"Now that I recall, he was wearing a small emblem on his chest. Looked a bit like...A snake twisted around a pole with a hawk on the pole's top."

King Roald's eyes grew large. "Dancus, that's emblem of the Bazsmaal...a terrorist group bent on world destruction. We've been trying to find their base for years."

I had nothing to say.