Tbate | Short Stories

Differing paths

Arthur LeywinPOV

Tessia and I sat silently at the edge of Mount Geolus, peering down at the wrecked lands of Epheotus. Well if we could even call it Epheotus anymore that is. The once beautiful plains of the tundra was now barren, burned to the crisp courtesy of my fight with Kezzeez. The gorgeous cherry sakura trees leading up to the Indrath castle now looked like burned twigs from my distance. As for the Indrath castle, well pretty much no longer exists.

Although the enemies no longer pose any harm to us, recovering is what's next. Lands still need to be rebuilt, the citizens need to be fed, and most importantly Dicathen needs a strong leader to help them guide into the new era of this world. The Glayder's have already established themselves in Dicathen for a while now, but the problem still remains, with an unstable council and dwarves. Dicathen needs stronger leadership than they already have; however I'm not what they're looking for, I'm not fit to be king.

"It's crazy how far we've come since our youth," Tessia's voice rang from beside me, emphasizing the 'youth' part. She was gazing at the view and the asuras who were still alive trying to rebuild Epheotus slowly. Tess did this while listening to my past life and who I was back then. She was slowly digesting everything.

I turned to her worryingly, "Are you. . . okay?". She turned to me revealing a faint but somber smile, "Yes I'm okay, just. . . troubled is all." She turned her attention back to the view ahead of us, "After all it all fits into place; your abnormal awakening, your unmatched perspicacity for the sword and magic, all the way to your manners and maturing at a young age." She stopped, taking another deep breath, "I'm not angry at you Art, if anything It's me. I regret hurting you so many times, for ignoring your advice and pleas. You were more experienced than I was simply blinded by my naivety at reality."

We sat there for a couple more minutes, neither of us unsure of what to say, "It's fine, Tess. I never held any of that against you, If anything I blame myself for not helping you see the truth behind your intent." She merely nodded.

"Hey you remember our promise at the cliff, the night your dad. . . died." Tessia said. I felt my chest tighten at the unwanted memory, "Yes, I do." Was all I said.

She curled her knees until they were to her chest and she wrapped her arms around them, "Arthur, I don't think I can keep that promise." She spoke softly, her eyes gazing at me, searching for any reassurance.

I looked into the air and clenched my fists, "I know your view of me probably changed, and your burdens of being the perpetual queen." She nodded in affirmation, "Yes, in the beginning perhaps I was in love with you, blinded by our childhood together perhaps. but now, what with all this what. . . past that I never knew you had? You seem. . . I wouldn't say foreign, but just different to me. Don't get me wrong I don't hate you or dislike you, but there is still so much that I probably still don't know about you, and that romantic or sexual attraction that I had towards you doesn't exist anymore. I'm sorry" I could feel my eyes become watery but I held them because I knew that this would happen.

She continued, "There's still so much that needs to be done, The asuras have Epheotus, but Dicathen. There's still so much rebuilding that needs to be done; the welfare of the people, the lands, the food shortage, and the treaty with Alacrya. I have responsibilities Arthur and its time for me to grow up."

My gaze remained on the deep blue sky shrouded in black and red fire, "I know and I don't want to be king anymore, ever since Xyrus I could feel myself draining in energy both in spirit and mind."I smiled at her, as she returned it, "So then what do you have planned after this then?"

I gave her a somber smile, "I want to settle down in a lake somewhere, build a nice cabin alongside it, where my mother and sister can live in peace." Her lips curled just slightly, "Well what about a family?"

My eyes softened, "I don't know, perhaps I'll die without a wife or kids. To me. . . it's difficult to find love and fall in love with someone. I'll live a long time, so I'm sure I'll find someone, eventually." She let out a sigh at my loneliness, "Well let's keep in touch okay?"She said.

I nodded at her, "And let me know when you need an heir, I can help you with that." I told her, my smile widening. She reddened but quickly composed herself, "Thank you for the offer, and I'll think about it." In truth I don't think I'll ever get married, I can't think of anyone other than Tess that I'm attracted to. I'm pretty sure this type of agreement is called Surrogacy.

After a while of chatting away about miscellaneous things Tess got up and flew off into the direction of Dicathen, while was left here to wander in my thoughts. 

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This other book won't be a constant 'every week' type of thing, only when I have time will I update it. Also, I mainly wanted to make something like this because I sometimes find myself coming up with scenarios such as these and obviously, I can't really put it into fanfiction so here ya go.

This one-shot was mainly inspired after i was spoiled with the ending of the inheritance cycle series(courtesy of reddit). So I felt that Arthur and Tessia and will have a similar ending to Arya and Eragon.