Lore/Story The Legend of Bob Chapter 2 - The Warning Signs

Finally. After National Novel Writing Month and half of December, I have another chapter. (Sorry, it has been a while) This may or may not be the longest in the whole book, we'll see.
My next chapter is coming up soon, I think. It's about three-fourths of the way done, so it should come out in January some time.

As always, here are the former introduction and chapter:
https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/the-legend-of-bob-probably-some-spoilers.280437/
https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/the-legend-of-bob-chapter-1-some-spoilers.291948/

Now, for the chapter.

Spoiler: The Warning Signs first half

Chapter Two: The Warning Signs


As Robert reached home, he found a steaming mad Momo on the porch. This time, she said absolutely nothing as she pointed inside. Willingly, he went inside and dropped his dagger on the kitchen table. Momo came inside, still silent, but now folding her arms. "Uh-oh," Robert thought. When Momo folded her arms like that, well lets just say nothing good happens. "Robert." Momo spoke his name softly, but her tone was brimming with loving fury.

"Why did you leave the house without telling me where you were going or even telling me that you were going somewhere, let alone asking permission, vanishing for the SECOND TIME IN A ROW! YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER!!"

She looked ready to explode, Robert thought. Oh wait, maybe she was exploding.

"But I..." Robert began.

"I DON'T NEED TO HEAR IT!" After her outburst, Momo softened. "Even if it's important. FOR NOW, YOU ARE GROUNDED."

She picked up the dagger off of the table, muttering, "Don't even want to know where you got this from," before pushing Robert towards the bedroom. Robert went willingly, still desperately wanting to tell Momo of the morning's adventure. As he entered the room, Momo slammed the door shut behind him.

Robert slumped to the floor, sighing. He suddenly remembered. "Don't I have work today? It's nearly time for me to go!"

Almost as if reading his mind, Momo called from the other side of the door, "And you don't even have to think about work for the next few days. I've already arranged it with the baker. You will start, young man, when you are mature enough for it."

Robert was truly worried now. "No work? That meant he would be staying here for potentially the rest of the day. The prospect terrified him. He wasn't good at making up games or imagining things. He had learned the games he played at the park from other kids.

"I'd better start learning." Robert thought as he looked around the room for anything he could make into a game.



As the hours wore on, Robert heard a knock at the door, waking him from his thoughts. "You can come for dinner."

He sighed and left his temporary prison cell. Momo was at the table, just putting a slab of chicken on Robert's plate. As she looked at Robert's surprised expression, she said, "What? It's been a busy few days. You need some good food."

Robert was excited. He hadn't had chicken in ages, and he felt that Momo was making a huge sacrifice, even in a time in which she didn't like Robert's actions.

"Thanks so much!" He told her as he cut it up and savored it piece by piece. The chicken tasted more than wonderful. It tasted... special.

After cleaning up his own plate, Robert was ushered back into his room as Momo finished tidying up. He shouldn't have expected the moment to last that long. He returned to the game in his thoughts.



The game was this: Because Robert was not good with his imagination, he decided that he'd imagine a world where anything could happen. The story then would progress faster than usual because he didn't care what happened. Other than what his character did. He was a hero in his games.

Trying to save whatever world happened to exist in the moment. Currently, he was imagining a simple tale about knights being under siege by a cruel warlock, who with the powers of sacrifices from nearby villages, could create massive amounts of dark magic. The hero, Robert, came and heard about the situation and thought up a plan. Someone would distract the warlock as he snuck in behind it. When the plan was fulfilled, the knights and villages celebrated him as a hero. But as he was applauded by all the villagers and noblemen, he turned into a chicken, and the environment around him turned into a swamp...

He continued like this until he noticed it was quite dark in the real world around him.



The next day for Robert was one of solitude. He got a quick breakfast before returning to his room and his thoughts. He had asked Momo if he'd be working tomorrow, and he was! He was excited for the upcoming day, so many of his thoughts led back to work.

The day continued, and Robert struggled with his impatience and boredom. He REALLY wanted to leave this prison cell. "Momo?" He called out. "Can I come out now?"

"Not until dinner time." She responded. Robert wondered what she was doing, actually what everyone else in the entire world was doing. Probably something more interesting than what I'm doing. He reasoned.

At last, when his imprisonment was finally over, he exited the room again, glad that dinner was ahead. Today Momo had made a more simple dinner than last time. A substantial piece of bread and some milk. "So." Momo began. "How was it?"

"It was terrible." Robert was kind of lying with that statement. It wasn't that bad. He ate his food without comment, except to answer the questions Momo was asking. Finally, at the end of dinner, Momo asked the question. "Where did you go yesterday morning?"

Robert thought for a moment, deciding what was best to tell Momo. "I asked the blacksmith to give me a weapon, but he said I had to work for it. He made me work in his forge and create two weapons for that dagger you got from me yesterday."

"Why in the world would you want that dagger?" Momo asked incredulously. She seemed a little unimpressed with Robert's weapon choice. "I had to, it was the only deal he'd make with me." It was mostly true, it was the only deal the blacksmith would give Robert for a weapon. But Robert had just been about to steal it, something he wouldn't tell Momo.

"So that took you all morning." Momo crossed her arms. "Or did you do something else?"

"I went straight home."

After a pause, Robert asked what he'd been dying to know. "So. When's work? I'm starting tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, at mid-morning. You'll work in the bakery, remember?"

"Yeah!" Robert smiled at her, excited. He could imagine so many wonderful things happening: more food, new enjoyable things happening, and of course, maybe Robert could go to school!

Robert bargained to sleep outside the room, since he was tired of that place. He took a while to fall asleep because of his excitement. Work would be great.


The next morning, the time finally came.

"Robert, let's go!" Momo told him as he was preparing. "I'm coming!" He called back. He finished his preparations and scurried after Momo as she began to walk up towards the center of town. Ragni was bustling as they passed, the usual shopkeepers calling out to attract customers. It was a busy day in the town.

Baker's Corner had long been a landmark of the center of Ragni. It was across from the bank, over King's Road, and the Castle was just adjacent to it, across the other street. Robert realized he would be at the bakery for at least a third of the day, if this job worked out. More accurately, though, he supposed he'd be going back and forth from Baker's Corner to the Castle.

"Okay Robert, here we are." The inside of the bakery was welcoming, with amazing, ravenous, hunger-inducing smells that couldn't quite satiate Robert's nostrils. Momo led him back into the kitchen where he glimpsed a first look at his boss for the next several years.

She was a stern old woman, with her hair in a bun as all bakers wore their hair. She looked quite strict with a stern look, contrasting with her rounded face. Her hands were calloused from years of handling difficult and stubborn bread. Momo introduced Robert and the baker - whose name was Adenee - and they talked, exchanging a bit of news with formalities. Soon, Momo left to get her cart from the village farm.

"Well, Robert." Adenee busied herself in making a supply of bread as she talked. "Work is necessary for any reward so you should most definitely begin. First off, hand me that sack of flour, please."

She showed him some basic jobs to do when he didn't have a specific assignment: cleaning off counters, sweeping the floor, wiping cabinets.

Most of the time, though, he would be pushing carts across the street loaded with bread and goodies for the king's own dining room.

People often wondered why the king didn't have any bakers employed in his kitchens. This was because he didn't need them; he got his bread from Baker's Corner from a deal the former king of Ragni made with Adenee's family. And Baker's Corner was just so good that the king didn't want to get his own bakers unless Adenee and her family joined his staff. But Adenee felt it was much better to keep the family tradition of Baker's Corner alive.

He learned all this while helping out, cleaning the counters of flour and other spills. After finishing these tasks, Adenee came over to check and critiqued him on every miniscule thing.

"This counter could use better scrubbing. You missed a spot. Just use a different rag." These were all comments she gave him and he scurried to fix them. After maybe an hour of this, Adenee directed Robert to a side room where a reflective, metal cart was inside.

"Your job is to clean this cart every day, pick up the baked goods I tell you to get, and deliver them to the castle kitchens. Here. Let's demonstrate. The castle needs a delivery in just a few minutes, so we should get it to them." She took the cart and rolled it to the pastry shelf.

They loaded pies and pastries onto the cart and rolled it outside the bakery. "Be careful when transporting these - especially here. Watch the road and don't get run over. Don't get the cart broken, either."

When Adenee directed it, Robert rolled the cart across the street at a quick pace and towards the entrance of the castle.

"Steadily. Not hastily. Don't make anything fall off," Adenee reprimanded him a little. At the gate entrance, she talked to the soldiers on guard, telling them Robert would be rolling carts in here for the king, wanting permission for him to enter.

The soldiers gave permission for them to enter and Adenee took the cart and Robert followed her. The open throne room was right in front of them, magnificently majestic in its glory. The king was actually right there, royal robe, on the throne, everything. Robert paused just to take it in, but Adenee made sure he was staying along behind her. The floor below Robert's feet was impressive as well. Splendid carpet which made a mosaic of color. When Robert was looking at it from the side, he realized it was a design of Ragni's flag.

"Hurry up!" Adenee hissed as she saw him stop again. "You'll get to see this many more times if you don't slack off."

"Yes Ma'am." He whispered back. He quickly caught up to the baker and her cart. They went to the right where a hallway led straight into a dining hall. The hallway was also magnificent. To the right, there was a hearth. It was a bit confusing because it seemed so oddly placed.

There was simply just a tiny hallway leading down to that one fireplace. Robert couldn't make any sense of it.

They passed by it and into the dining room, which was empty, but cooks and their helpers were scurrying around placing fancy dishes onto the long, furnished table.

The cart squeezed through a door on the left with the two people right behind it. The kitchen was very loud and busy.

"Here." Adenee huffed as she placed the cart right next to the door.

"Why'd you place it right there? the table back there might be a better place for all the bread."

"They don't need all this for lunch. Some of these are cakes and pastries which they bring in after the guests are satiated."

"Oh," Robert thought about this but didn't understand why they didn't get their whole meal at the same time. "Really?"

"Yes," Adenee said impatiently as they left the dining room. "When you come back with the other cart, take this one to the bakery and clean it.

When Robert arrived back at Baker's Corner, he saw a girl entering the store with bags of flour. She turned around and smiled at Adenee, then gave a shy wave at Robert. He waved back. "Who is she?" Robert whispered politely to Adenee when she turned back.

"My daughter. Myli. She's just two years older than you."

Just, He thought suspiciously. What does that mean? He gained no reply, of course, from Adenee, but she ushered him forward to meet Myli.

Myli had just set down the bags of flour on the shelf where they belonged when Robert came in.

"Hi! I'm Robert."

"I'm Myli. Are you working here now?"

"Y-yes."

Adenee slid away through another door, purposefully leaving Robert and Myli alone.

"Did my mom assign you to cart duty? Phew, I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore. There's so many other jobs we have to do now..." She trailed off, looking sad, and Robert tried to think of a good way to cheer her up.

"What about your dad? What does he do?"

Myli leaned against a countertop and fiddled with her hands, choking out a phrase. "He was a s-soldier. H-he helped out part time here... at the bakery."

"What happened to him?" Robert asked just a moment before he saw her tears. "He- he was on patrol, at- at night, and the s-soldiers s-say he was attacked." Apparently, she could say no more on the subject, for she left the room, still crying.


"Okay. The next one's yours. I need to get a batch of bread baking in the oven, so please take the next cart and bring it to the castle yourself." Adenee sounded short tempered. Robert presumed Myli came and talked to her.

I'm sorry. He mentally willed the words towards Myli, wherever she was right now.

To Adenee, he softly said, "Ok," and grabbed the cart. Adenee helped him load it and he took off with it destined for the castle. He only stopped to gawk twice, once again at the throne, even though the king wasn't there and the other as he looked off in the opposite direction of the hearth. It seemed to lead outside to a courtyard.

Through the courtyard, Robert could see a mountainous landscape with a beautiful sky draped across it. Wow, he thought for at least the fourth time that day. Making his decision, he glanced around for anyone watching and idled for a moment while a servant passed him in the hallway. Then he turned his cart and quickly moved towards the open sky.

Unlike he had previously thought, it was not a courtyard. It seemed more like a garden surrounded by steep mountains, but a tunnel led through the mountain facing the castle.

Strange. Robert had previously thought that Ragni's castle was large because it had so much room behind it, even if it had to extend into the mountains. The castle seemed rather small, from what Robert saw of it.

When he looked down at the cart, he suddenly noticed how appetizing the smells were, coming from every single bit of food on the cart. I wonder how they taste. I haven't had any of these. On a more personal level, he thought, If royalty can have it, why can't I? I'm a person who needs food, too.

He looked down at all the small pastries, cakes, and breads, choosing the most colorful among them. He took a bite.

Wow, he thought, eyes widening. For certain, it was the best thing he had ever tasted. Not even the wonderful creations Momo could conjure compared to this. This was a different level. He quickly consumed the rest of the small cake, and thought about taking another. Someone might notice. He worried.

Robert briefly fantasized of rolling the cart towards the tunnel and just making a break for whatever was out there. With a mountain of pure delight, what could go wrong?

But that was just wishful thinking on his part. It wouldn't even be good for him. What about Momo? And he hadn't really apologized to Myli. With a sigh, he turned back and headed into the dining room.

The dining room was full of royalty eating their royal lunch and servants moving around.

"Boy!" Robert was walking past the table when one of the royals beckoned to him. "Pass me one of those cookies."

"Okay." Robert said as he looked down at the cart. He wasn't exactly sure what was a cookie, so he gave the royal one of the smaller rounder things.

"No! Not a biscuit, a cookie!" The royal pointed at one of the darker brown rounded desserts and Robert handed one of those to him looking sheepish.

"Look at what you are doing next time." Robert was scolded by the royal. He quickly drove the cart away into the kitchen right next to the other, empty one, thinking spiteful thoughts towards the royal.

After taking the empty cart and hurrying back to the bakery, Adenee gave him other, menial tasks. Robert by this time was bored and tired. Working for over an hour constantly, he was curious if he could have a break.

"No. Keep working. There are things to be done, and sitting somewhere doing nothing or playing is not necessary." Adenee seemed to have a strict no-breaks policy, unlike Momo, who basically allowed him to do anything as long as he got the necessary jobs done by the end of the day.

Robert sighed. It had been a long day, but it was not over yet. "What next?"

As Adenee finally allowed him to finish for the day, she sent him home with a lovely loaf of bread. "Here. You need this to keep your strength up. Tomorrow you're working again."

"What about those small cakes? Can I have one of those as well?"

Adenee considered for a moment, before giving him a quick decisive no. "If you work hard tomorrow, you might get one, but you have not earned it yet."

"Okay," he replied, sighing internally.

Apparently it needs to be in two chunks.

Spoiler: The Warning Signs second half

"How was your day?" Momo interrogated him as he got home from work.

"It wasn't great. Adenee worked me soo hard." Robert complained, exhausted from the long day.

"Well, sadly, you will have to work tomorrow. But at least you get a few days off, until you are comfortable working every day."

Robert sighed. He wasn't excited anymore for that difficult task of... working. Then he brightened. "Here. At least I got a whole loaf of bread!"

Momo smiled and took the loaf from him. "Let's split half of it and save the rest for later."

Robert took a chunk of the bread from Momo and savored it. It tasted like no bread he had ever had before. It was certainly the best bread ever. And he'd worked for it.


Over the next several days, Robert got more and more treats and breads which he took home to share. He made sure to always share them with Momo, since she didn't directly get food from her work, but on occasion, he stole the delicious foods from his cart.

Robert's work was hard, for an 8-year-old. It tired him out so much. At least he would get a break tomorrow, he reasoned as he finally finished his work on the third day, later than usual, because he had a late start to work. Walking home exhausted, the boy felt like the path back home was longer than ever.

As he passed the last few buildings of the urban part of the city, three teenagers slid out from behind a shop.

"Robert. You gonna give us that bread or do you want to keep it? I want to see what happens if you do that." The ringleader was vaguely familiar, but the other two were quite younger. Robert recognized him after a moment of silence.

Wasn't it a year ago? He insulted me and my mom.

"No, I'm fine, thanks." Robert said in a casual voice.

"What if you don't deserve the bread? What if someone better should get it?"

"I'm much better than you." Robert responded impudently as he began backing away.

The gang drew closer. Threateningly.

Robert tucked his daily allowance of bread under his arm and sprinted back the way he came. Again, like the ringleader did a year ago, he and his buddies followed him.

Robert ducked into a side alley and stopped abruptly, seeing that it was a dead end. Well this was a bad idea. He thought. The gang was right behind him and he was trapped.

"Just stay right there." One of them said.

Am I trapped? Robert risked a glance back at the alley and responded.

"Again, I'd rather not. It's much funner to run. Or climb." Then he sank his teeth into the bread to allow himself to use both arms. The bread was so delicious, but Robert had more important things to do than to just savor the bread. He acted quickly, turning and scrambling up a box of... something, pulled himself up onto a windowsill and from there climbed onto the roof.

As Robert removed the loaf of bread from his mouth, he watched as the leader tried to climb up the box. It crumpled under his weight and he cursed. They were too short to take hold of the windowsill, so they just clustered below, shouting threats at Robert.

Robert considered the bread, taking a moment to revel in his escape. He ripped off a chunk and savored it.

A particularly loud shout from below pushed Robert back into reality. He glanced down below and a moldy onion just barely nicked his scalp. He stayed low on the rooftop after that.

For a minute, Robert was worried they'd stay down there forever, but after he sat down on the slightly slanted roof, they left, probably unable to see him.

Then he worried his bullies would head towards Momo's place, but he realized that Momo could keep them at bay. She was pretty ferocious sometimes.

Robert thought about his day with all the struggles and trials he had encountered and began to cry. Tiny tears fell from his eyes and he bent his head, silently sobbing. He considered staying there forever. It seemed like a sanctuary.

Suddenly, a voice of someone or something came to him. Look up, child. He startled, looking around him up close, until his eyes settled on the horizon, where the sun was setting spectacularly over Ragni's walls. "Wow." He breathed as he looked into the light. Pink streaks of clouds shone round about the sky, turning purple on Ragni's east side right over the mountain.

There is beauty at the edge of darkness. The thought startled Robert and he couldn't even tell if it was his own thought.

Such a mature thought for one so young. The voice marveled.

What? Am I going insane? Robert was a little frightened of random voices popping up in his head.

You are not.

Are you sure? Wait, am I sure? Uh... Nevermind.

I cannot stay long. But, be careful. You are important. Remember that.

What? Who, what are you?

I can't tell you.

Robert asked the voice several more questions, but it didn't respond. He decided it had been a very long day and Momo would be worried about where he was once more.


Without any prelude about Robert keeping Momo waiting, she welcomed him back at the door and ushered Robert to sit on the well worn couch. Before he did so, he put the partially eaten bread loaf on the table and told Momo about the long events of the day.

"Are you okay?"

I need to grab something. Just give me a second."

"Okay." Robert said as he placed the bread on the table and took a seat as Momo stepped outside for a short while. She brandished the knife, the one Robert got from the blacksmith just a few days ago.

"Robert, you really need this. The Corruption, it's coming and you need to protect yourself."

"But there are never as many monsters now. I don't understand." Robert told her.

Momo sighed and took a seat beside him, inspecting the knife and twisting it in her hands.

"I guess I need to tell you more about what the Corruption actually is. It is a force affecting all it comes in contact with. It doesn't necessarily make things evil, but it inflicts a desire to bring the Corruption upon other things."

"Inflicts?"

"It causes people, things, whatever to want to harm others and bring the Corruption upon them."

Robert nodded to tell her he understood.

"It originated from a huge disaster with a band of miners finding an ancient portal.

When one miner entered, he became an entity... er... person." Momo saw Robert's questioning glance and explained the word. Sometimes, when Momo went into full storytelling mode, Robert would have to ask about and learn almost one word from every sentence.

"Anyways, all life would consider him evil. His name was Bak'al. Soon after he was corrupted, he attacked other miners, turning them into zombies. Then they spread, quickly attacking and corrupting life across the Wynn province. With the undead, yet unorganized army, it attacked ancient Nemract, causing it to fall. There were many gains to the army that day."

"Why couldn't they protect themselves? Ragni has guards and it hasn't fallen." Robert protested and Momo handed the knife off to Robert and he took it. Then, she stood up and started pacing. "It has fallen. But we recuperated. We recovered and restored our city. That does not mean it won't fall.

The undead Corrupteds have caused harm to many cities, including Ragni, and our neighbor Detlas. Troms has also attacked, but less forcefully, which means with less strength. That's because Troms is hidden in the deep jungle. It's harder for the monsters to focus on a target if it's difficult to get to."

"What about the portal? Has anyone done anything with it?"

Well, it became too dangerous. The area around the portal slowly began to grow, creating dark spikes that jutted from the ground. The ground turned red with corrupted rock and things of fire and darkness came from the life around the area. It came to be known as the Roots of Corruption."

Momo stopped pacing and sat back down next to Robert.

"That is the sad tale of the Corruption. And this is why you need that knife. Corruption is coming and you need to defend yourself.

"What about you? How will you defend yourself?

"You're a nice, strong boy. You should learn how to use this and then you can protect both of us.

Where would I learn to use it? I don't think a soldier would train me." Momo considered for a moment. "I'll figure that out. Just, make sure to keep it with you."

"Lets see how good this is." Robert took a fair few experimental swipes with it, trying to analyze its worth with all his weapon experience. "Now that I think about it, this is pretty small. It's barely bigger than a kitchen knife."

"A small, even insignificant weapon is better than nothing." Momo assured him.

"Are you sure? I mean, this can stab and hurt, but will that do any good? Can I fight the Corruption with it?"

"You can." Momo whispered something else. Robert wasn't sure, but he thought he heard "and you will."

"What?"

"It doesn't need to be fancy, the simple thing can do the job!" Momo seemed a little frustrated, so Robert reconsidered his opinions.

"Yes, okay. I just need to learn."

"Can you keep it around with you wherever you go? Please?"

Robert huffed. "I guess."

A few days later, the boy finished his work at the bakery and started contemplating the words Momo had spoken to him just before his eighth birthday. "If I'm infected, then you must make sure I can’t hurt anyone by ending my suffering."

That isn't right, Robert thought. But what should happen? Neither of us want her to become corrupted. But dying? She would be gone.

As Robert was returning home, he had an idea. That rooftop. That is a nice place to stay and think. He turned at the alley and came up to the place he was yesterday, making sure that no bullies were around to chase him. They couldn't catch up to me if they tried. He boasted to himself.

The box Robert had used previously was caved in in the middle, but he could stand on the corner of the box and get onto the windowsill. Yesterday, he hadn't wondered why there was a window facing straight at the blank wall of a building, but he did now. There isn't any value for this window. It does nothing. Except help me escape those people.

He returned to his thoughts of more serious things when he crested the roof. He sat down and just thought. Corruption makes things do worse things than you would normally do. Momo doesn't want to go through it, right?

But that requires something more. I would have to hurt her.

Really? The other side of Robert thought. You might encounter Momo anyway. What if she was corrupted? You would have to hurt her anyway. And she would try to hurt you. That is bad for both of us.

He debated some more, generally discussing the same points of the arguments again and again, until he decided to return home.

He followed the familiar path to the ground and headed home. Momo was on the porch, just rocking in her rocking chair and Robert came up to her. "Momo, I decided."

"What is it, Robert? Is it about work?"

"No, no, not that." Robert took a breath and released it, before continuing, glancing up to the north. Momo waited patiently. "It's about the thing you said the other day, right before I ran to the sewers."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Momo replied quickly.

"No I am." He made eye contact with her again.

"I promise. If you are hurt by the Corruption, I will cure you."

Oh, and I likely made some scenery mistakes in this chapter. Point them out and I'll change them.
Also, in chapter one, Robert stole from a blacksmith, not a butcher because I misread the words in Ragni's library. (It makes more sense though.) I purposefully didn't have him steal anything because, what source does Ragni's Secret Library get its information from anyway? Bob himself?
Yeah, I made some mistakes.

Merry Christmas! Keep adventuring. (I'll just keep playing Rocket League, and writing songs and stories, hehe.)