TRYST // Philza X Reader

14

And so it went. For a while you lived simply in the house with Phil, going about the day to day life that he had been living since he had disappeared from the public eye. Your ankle got steadily better until it was like you had never hurt it in the first place and you fell into Phil's routine easily - rising with the sun and grabbing something quick to eat before heading off to the task of the day, be it farm work or repairs around the house or something else that needed to be done.

Of course, there were days that deviated from the routine too. Sometimes the weather forced you to stay inside, lest Phil get blow off course by strong winds or rain. And sometimes the work for the day was something that Phil needed to do alone, leaving you in the house to just take a day off. Today was one of those.

Phil had been gone before you had woken up, but he had left a note on the table saying that he would be back before sundown. You made yourself breakfast as the sun rose outside the window, and when the eggs were done, you took it all out onto the deck to enjoy the rest of the sunrise.

As you ate, you mused over your plans for the time until Phil would return home. You would have the house to yourself today - the perfect time to just curl up with a book and read uninterrupted. Phil had quite the collection as well; by the looks of it, some of the volumes were older than time itself. You were sure you could find something that piqued your interest.

You carried your now empty plate back inside and left it in the sink with all the others - you would take the time to do the dishes as some point today since you had the time, but for now you were more interested in finding something to read. Meandering over to the bookshelf (more like a book wall, since almost the entire side of the house was covered in tomes) you began your search, scanning over titles and brushing past books with your fingertips.

Cracked leather spines were well worn under the pads of your fingers, and some of the titles printed into the casing were so faded that you had to squint to read them. Most of the books were adventurers journals from names you had never heard of - no doubt men and women from the distant past, long forgotten by time. None of the titles really caught your fancy though - you'd gone on enough adventures in the past few weeks for the time being.

Of course, books weren't the only thing on the bookshelf either. Little trinkets adorned the spaces between the volumes. It was a variety of things - shells from the sea, pressed flowers from meadows, crystals and rocks from down under the earth. A glowing conduit caught your eye and you paused in your search of the shelf. It was strange that he just had something so valuable sitting out in the open like that...

What other wonders had you missed just by not looking?

Your focus shifted from the books to the spaces around them, peering into the crannies of the shelf. Sure enough, now that you were looking, you began so see more hidden treasures. Swirling eyes of Ender sat in a jar, the pupils following you around the room was you grazed down the shelf. Little golden trinkets were sprinkled about - bracelets and necklace chains and some swirl of metal you thought might be for hair. Some of it escaped you - why Phil had kept rusted guitar strings and an old red bandanna you didn't really understand - but most of it was more valuable than anything you had in your house back in the city.

As you moved down the shelf another glimmer of gold caught you eye, and you reached out, cupping the little statuette with your hand. You were expecting something small, like the other gold trinkets that you had found before. You turned the statuette around by the wings, and almost dropped it when little emerald eyes met yours.

You were holding a legend in your hands.

You had heard about these before - Totems of Undying. Little golden statues that were older than time itself, hoarded and collected by only the most powerful. As far as you knew, even the king didn't have one - though word around the city had been that he'd sent a ship out looking, only for them to return empty handed. How Phil had gotten one you didn't know... and that he had it just sitting about his home like any other decoration.

Just holding the thing in your hands, you could feel the powerful aura almost radiating off it. It made the tips of your fingers warm (and a little itchy). You went to set the thing down when you noticed that a small scar on the side of your finger had completely disappeared.

You dropped the thing back onto the shelf and yanked your hand away before the affect could spread more. The little emerald eyes of the statue looked up at you, deceptively innocent. You glanced down again at your finger and sure enough, the scar was completely gone - like it never even was there in the first place.

How the hell did Phil have one of these? Was this how he had stayed the same age for all these years?

Slightly unsettled, you stepped away from the bookshelf, going over to the sink to clean off the dishes. The work was simple and grounding, and something to do with your hands as your mind raced, processing what had just happened and the fact that Phil had had one of the most valuable treasures in the entire world just sitting on his bookshelf, where anyone could have found it.

So much for finding a relaxing day.