The Passage Of Time

⭑ · · ᯓ 𐃈 ᯓ · · ⭑

“…What?” Felix blinked. “He’s… dead?”

Kite nodded, a soft frown still lingering.

“For a long time now.”

“You’re joking!”

Kite shook her head, the honesty in her emerald eyes unwavering.

. . .

No, of course she wouldn’t lie, but…

“But, it can’t be, I just...” Felix shook his head, trying desperately to come to grips with the revelation. “It was at the Studium; I spoke to him right before I woke up in prison. And Dante… What happened to the Prince?”

“If you mean King Dante, he took his rightful place on the throne after his old man passed away.” Kite sighed, scratching her chin. “Must have been a couple of years ago now, maybe?”

A couple of years? That shouldn’t be possible.

“How?”

“How??” Kite repeated. “What do you mean?”

“How did Dynas…” Felix closed his eyes, clenching his fist. “How did the King die?”

“Well… They said his health had been failing for a while. He was getting up there in years.” Kite explained, but Felix knew as much. “That’s the official story they gave, anyway.”

“I see, and so he passed away of natural causes?”

“That’s my best guess.”

It makes sense, but the greatest man I’ve ever known… dead?

It simply didn’t sound right. If there was ever a man who could cheat death’s unyielding grasp, Felix had always figured it would be Dynas. With a body like an ancient stone, and a spirit that didn’t yield an inch. His personality was larger than life.

But age catches up to all, including the Archmage King.

“He passed before he could see the era of peace, after the Hero defeated the Mad God. Some era it’s been for us though…” Kite shrugged. “The poor and miserable are as poor and miserable as ever, if you ask me.”

“Ah…” Felix cast his gaze down before processing the last of what Kite said. “Wait, the war is over?!”

“Uhh, yeah?” Kite’s face only grew more confused. “Wait, you’re telling me you didn’t even know that?”

Felix nodded. The news should have filled him with relief. Instead, grief crept through his chest like a strangling vine. A different worry came to mind.

Dante. His adoptive brother…

“But he’s just a fourteen-year-old boy,” Felix muttered. “Dante is a bright kid, but shouldn’t they have appointed a Regency Council to run the country…?”

Felix stopped speaking when his companion tilted her head to the side.

“Fourteen? Felix, pal, just how old do you think you are?”

. . .

“Eighteen, no, I guess I’d have to be around nineteen now…” He paused. “Why?”

“Felix…” Kite crossed her arms. “I’m in my twenties, and with all due respect… there’s no way you’re younger than I am.”

Of all the mounting evidence, the thing the man refused to believe was the changes to himself. Though she had no reason to lie to him, he didn’t feel any different physically.

Rather than try to convince him, however, they walked down a path through the forest when they heard a flowing source of water cutting through the dense woods.

Felix walked right up to the surface, as clear and still as he could find. Kneeling beside the body of water, he took a great, long look at his face for the first time since he woke up in chains.

“No…” He brought his trembling hands up to his cheeks, stained with dirt. He had crow’s feet, stubble painting his weathered chin.

The truth could no longer be denied. His complexion was almost ghostly, a faded scar marking his cheek from a battle he couldn’t even remember.

“I just don’t understand it… any of it.”

“Might be a lot to take in, I imagine.” Kite nodded with understanding. “Take your time, Felix.”

“But if I’ve changed, what else has—?“ Suddenly a thought struck Felix like lightning. “My family! It’s worse than I thought, Kite. If it’s been longer than a year, I can’t waste a single moment getting back to them!”

“You don’t stay down long, do you? But your… friend, Dynas…” Kite wasn’t sure how to address the former king, afraid to say something insensitive. “He’s not around anymore. So… what are you supposed to do now? That was your whole plan, wasn’t it?”

“It was.” Felix lifted himself to his feet. “I’ll admit it. But there is still someone I need to see.”

“Are you suggesting what I think you are?”

“Aye. We’ll head west.”

“But what if… things aren’t like we think?” Kite asked hesitantly, trying to be the voice of reason without crushing his newfound spirit. “What if he’s not like you remember?”

“No, that’s not possible. He’s family.”

I’ve had quite a run of things, but everything isn’t lost. Not just yet. He’ll understand… I know it.

“We’ll go see my brother.”

Felix looked toward the western horizon, where the afternoon sun was starting its slow descent.

“Archmage King Dante.”

5.2

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”

The great door burst open into the throne room. Footsteps echoed on the marble floor as a pudgy man approached the throne in a hurry.

Clutching a scroll with one meaty hand and pulling up his trousers with another, he clumsily got down on one knee at the foot of his young king. The latter simply looked down upon his servant with his blue appraising eyes.

“State your business, messenger.”

“As you wish, sire.” The man made a show of unrolling the faded scroll. “I bring news from the East. Blackwater prison has fallen.”

“Into enemy hands?”

“No, sire, there’s been a prison break. We found the Warden and his top lieutenants with their heads in their laps…” the messenger gulped. “Military suicide.”

“A shame. He was a friend of my father’s, a decent man.” The King thought deeply before snapping his fingers. A well-dressed male servant appeared at his side. “Make sure all the fallen are given proper burials, and their families notified. Immediately, if we can spare the men.”

“Right away, sire.”

The servant rushed out of the room, and the King turned his attention back to the messenger with a smile.

“Continue your report.”

“Yes, of course, Your Majesty.” The messenger hurriedly scanned the page for where he left off. “Ah, yes. The prisoners, those that survived, all escaped.”

“Escaped?” The King’s smile disappeared for only a heartbeat, causing the messenger to flinch. But it just as quickly returned as he tapped his cheek thoughtfully. “Escaped… and what of the Hero…?”

“The scouts… have not located him yet.” The man trudged onward through the worst part of any messenger’s duties, issuing bad news. “Would you like me to send for more, Your Majesty?”

“No need. It would be a waste of resources.” The King reasoned, slicking his black hair to the side. “If I know anything about the man, he’s on his way here right now to pay us a visit.”

“Sire…?”

The King snapped again, and an altogether different servant, this time a young rabbitfolk girl, suddenly appeared by his side in the same uniform.

“Your orders, Sire?”

“We are expecting company tonight. Make sure he’s well taken care of when he arrives, understood?” The King ordered. “Was he alone perchance, messenger?”

“Nay, Your Majesty. Surviving guards say he was with a demi-human girl, a harpy. They escaped together.”

“Splendid! Put out another chair at the banquet table as well, in that case.” He said, gripping his armrest and leaning forward. “And tell the cooks to prepare for a feast tomorrow night.”

“Yes, Sire.” The rabbitfolk servant disappeared down a corridor leading to the kitchen.

“You are dismissed as well, messenger.” The King said. “You’ve done well to bring me such welcome news.”

The messenger, still puzzled by the King’s jovial attitude, left with a bow before he could change his mind. A warm smile settled on the handsome ruler’s face.

“Did you hear that?” He said to no one in particular. “Our Hero…”

My brother.

“…Felix Atlasse is coming home.”

5.3

The road had widened into a highway as Felix and Kite left Blackwater Forest behind them. The trees became sparse, and a large grassy plain opened up as far as the edge of the horizon. The eastern frontier.

The two walked along the side of the road, still in their ruined prison jumpers. As far as they were concerned, they were ahead of the news out of the prison, but they couldn’t be too careful—hiding off to the side when others would pass by.

“We can’t keep doing this all the way to Aberdeen.” Kite groaned, putting her hands on her hips. “If we wanna make it there before we’re as old as the Warden, we’ll have to get some new clothes and resupply.”

“Yeah, and mine are half ruined by the blood stains, besides.” Felix agreed. “But where did you have in mind?”

“Probably just the next little town along the highway.” Kite shrugged. “And hope we luck out with a few shops and a place to rest for a night.”

I’ve been out this way before, but I can’t seem to remember a town being anywhere close…

“Like, at an inn? I really don’t have any money, do you?”

He brought up a point neither of them had bothered to mention until now, but a smug look followed the twinkle in Kite’s eyes.

“Tsk, tsk. Don’t think so little of me, my friend.” Kite wagged her finger, walking backwards. “I wouldn’t have bothered busting out of that dump if I didn’t have my emergency funds handy.”

She reached into her prison jumper from the front, and pulled out a single gold coin from her small clothes underneath. She proudly rotated it between her fingers, and Felix resisted the urge to ask where she’d hidden it—for fear of getting smacked.

A silver piece was worth around one hundred coppers in the Human Magic Kingdom. The gold piece Kite held was worth close to an additional one hundred silvers. In other words, enough money to make Felix suspicious of the thief-by-trade.

“Hey, why are you looking at me like that? I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re thinking!” Kite snapped. “At least, not all at the same time…”

Felix raised an eyebrow, leaning further into view.

“In any case, all you need to know is that it’s all I’ve got, so we’d better use it wisely and try not to get bushwhacked along the way, yeah?” Kite huffed. “And you could pretend to be grateful too, you know.”

“You’re right… That’s my bad, Kite.”

His mother had always told him and his sister to be grateful, especially to someone willing to give their last coin to a friend. Questionable origins of the money aside, he counted them lucky not to be flat broke.

“Ah, don’t sweat it. I was only teasing...” Kite scratched her chin.

“Even so. And of course, I’ll pay you back for everything once we get back to my farm,” Felix added.

“…Your farm?”

“Well, not only my farm, it’s the family’s, but still,” Felix crossed his arms in thought. “Why, you curious?”

“No, it’s just…” Kite looked ahead. “You really do have some place to return to, huh.”

“Well, yeah! We’ve been there for generations, the Atlasse clan.” Felix grinned widely. “Though, more than just the land, it’s the people there I’d like to get back to, you know?”

“Yeah…” Despite the smile on her face, Kite’s eyes got lost in the endless plains before them. “…Must be nice.”

Before Felix could open his mouth to ask the next question that came to mind, Kite pointed and suddenly blurted out with relief.

“Finally, a town!”

A medium-sized frontier settlement came into view beyond the hillcrest. Smoke drifted lazily from stone chimneys while wagons rolled beneath wooden arches into the market square. Around it, neat squares of green and gold farmland stretched beneath a limitless blue sky.

Much of the land in the central kingdom was like this, and it reminded Felix of his own home once again. He was surprised, however.

“There really was a town...”

“What? Did you think I was lying to you?” Kite scoffed playfully. “C’mon, let’s get out of these stinkin’ rags already, and get some rest. My tail feathers are killing me.”

“Right.” Felix nodded, following his now-chipper companion the rest of the way. “Hey, you think they’ve got meat in a restaurant down there? That prison gruel never quite hit the spot…”

“Only one way to find out.”