The Way Caraval Used To Be

Help from an old friend

What could be so special about a piece of metal he stole?

He remembered now.  The memory erase was painful. So painful he couldn't stand on his own, no matter how hard he tried.

"Do you think this one will work?" Dante asked. He was laughing. How could he?

"Maybe. He's already gone crazy. I don't think he can handle it."

"Sounds amazing!"

Something fell out of Dante's pocket. He didn't notice. Aric reached for it and grabbed it. His fingers were trembling terribly. He slid the watch in his own pocket. He realized in horror that that he started losing memories of people: his mother, Japeth, Rhian, Kei, Tedros, Agatha, Sophie, Rafal... wait... who were they?

Aric felt sick while remembering this. The best think he could do was destroy it.

He smashed the watch to the floor until the cracked glass shattered and the front and back part broke.

He picked it up and removed the back part carefully. He didn't know what he wanted to see. He cut his palm and fingers in some pieces of glass. It didn't look like an ordinary watch. It functioned with a blue and sparkly stone. How did it work before? It was, in fact, the prettiest stone he'd ever seen. 

Someone knocked. It couldn't be Japeth. He was still sleeping. Even though he was in the living room and Aric was in the bathroom, he could still hear him snoring.  He came back at 3 and said he will never get out of the castle without a mask on. He clearly didn't like Elantine.

He opened the door. He recognized the person who knocked, but the person didn't seem to recognize him until he spoke.

"Rafal? Are you ok?"

The white haired boy seemed to wake up from a daydream. 

"Who? Me? Of course! Why was I here again?"

He nodded slowly, waiting for Aric to answer. Aric had no idea.

"It was about the... the... this old brain of mine isn't helping anymore!"

"Dad... I asked you to help us with something."

Japeth had already woken up and changed his clothes. He was more awake than he was supposed to be after five minutes.

"Something... something... the stone!" Rafal whispered. 

1. He already knew about it.

2. Since he was whispering, the stone was important/dangerous.

3. Japeth knew about it before Aric did.

Japeth welcomed Rafal in. His full lips went from arched in a smile to a straight line. His face looked cold, and, somehow, the room temperature seemed to change.

"Now, give me the stone. I'm not joking!"

Aric slowly took the stone out of his pocket. He wasn't sure Rafal knew what he was doing. He snatched the blue piece of glass out of his hand and put it in the sulight.

"This is the youth stone. Where do you have it from?"

Aric didn't know if he was supposed to answer.

"Answer when I ask you to!" He yelled.

"I stole it from Legend. Well, technically. It's a long story."

"Go on. I'm willing to hear it."

"I found it inside a pocket watch I stole while my memory was erased, and I didn't remember about it until this morning. That's why I said technically. I didn't intend on doing it."

"You know you can't give this to anyone. If this gets on the wrong hands, many people will die. And, yes, I said many. Villages. Cities. Whole empires. You can't let them open the Valory Arch, even if they threaten you with death."

"The impossible ease you said that with..."