Kings Game

Chapter 25 - Topple the Tower

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With a little more than a week remaining until the event, Roran settled into a routine. He trained with his focus markings daily, first by himself, then with Kell once she'd recovered enough to resume her own combat training. She made him spar using his focus markings, attacking him relentlessly, and with much more power than before. Half the time Roran failed to activate his marks at all, but Kell was undeterred. She ran him through exercises and training matches until he collapsed.

After his exercises, Kell would return home, leaving Roran to wander around the city, fetching things for Karyn and Nul. He primarily did the grocery shopping but would occasionally pick up ingredients for spell making or materials for etching.

Finally, once his errands were finished, he would go visit someone. Sometimes it was his father, who looked a little more coherent each time he saw him; sometimes it was the people from Sunridge, who insisted that Roran stop by from time to time; but most often, he visited with Sarah.

After finishing his chores for the day, and dropping off the groceries so Karyn could start on dinner, Roran made his way towards Mount Vassilis, towards the graveyard where he'd found Sarah during the Queen's Hunt. Along the way, Roran stopped at a vendor and bought some flowers.

As he was about to begin the climb up to the graveyard, he heard a familiar voice say, "You don't have to make the climb."

Glancing back, Roran found Sarah standing behind him, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

"I like it up there," said Roran. "It's peaceful and the view is nice."

He started up the trail that would take them to the cemetery.

"Are those for me?" Sarah asked, eyeing the flowers.

"Maybe. Or maybe they're for the graves that I'm always visiting. My mother taught me to pay my respects to the dead."

Sarah frowned, pouting. "It's not like they care. They're long gone, most of them anyway."

"I meant to ask you, what's death like?"

Sarah shrugged. "Wouldn't know, haven't died yet."

"So you are mortal?"

"Sort of...it's hard to explain. I will die but, in a way, I will also be reborn and live again."

"That sounds complicated. So, do you have multiple birthdays?"

"No...well, sort of."

Roran laughed. "Do I need to memorize all of them?"

"Don't make fun of me! I'm not human, remember."

"Fair enough. What was your childhood like?"

"I didn't have one."

"So you were born looking the way you do?"

Sarah moved in front of Roran. She didn't walk past him or run around him, she just appeared in his path, scowling at him.

"I don't look like anything," she said, "Most of the time I don't even have a physical body. You just interpret me in a way that is comfortable to you."

Roran started walking again. Sarah turned and kept pace, walking beside him.

"If you're not human, then why do you act so human?"

"Out of necessity. Most of the remnants we deal with are human. It's easier to talk them down if we understand human thoughts and emotions. So we evolved to closely emulate you and your people, that way we can help you."

"Help us die?"

Sarah nodded. "You'll understand, one day. Everyone does eventually."

Roran winced.