The Leviathan

Chapter Six

Sage blinked.

"Hello? Are you listening to me? I said it's a day's ride from here, mister. Follow the north path until you come to the river, and turn right."

The man behind the bar waved a hand. Sage looked around, the bar bustling with people. Outside, the sun blazed onto the ground mercilessly, but the air itself was cold. Sage raised a hand, feeling for the rugged hilts of his weapons - and there they were. Alpha and Omega, bundled onto his back. He turned back to the man, who was staring at him expectantly for an answer.

"I'm sorry; were we talking?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "You better drop the act, mister. Were you faking the accent the whole time? You came in here, asking for directions to this place." He held up the note, the one which Maeve's captors had written. "Asking dumb ass questions like 'what year is it?' and 'where am I?'. Seriously."

The man grumbled as he slid the note back into Sage's hands.

"I'm very sorry, what date is it?"

The man looked as if he wanted to shout, but Sage's sincerity in his voice broke through the annoyance. "Seventh of June. Two p.m. For the FINAL time."

"Thank you." Sage's mind raced, faster then it ever did. He had ten hours until he needed to be at the designated location. The barman had given him more then enough information for Sage to figure out what was happening.

Somehow, by some way or another, Sage guessed he might've swapped bodies with himself, from the past. Or the future, he wasn't sure. But the Sage that'd been roaming this earth for the last half a day or so was most definitely not him. Sage remembered the scene very clearly, the inn razed to the ground, and the panic that ensued when he'd realized Maeve had been taken.

Still, the time off had allowed him to calm down quite a bit, his thoughts back to a rational working state. It was almost guaranteed that Maeve was still alive. All Sage had to do was to show up, and obey their demands.

Although that wasn't what he was going to do. He would show up, oh yes, he was going to show up, but not for negotiations.

Sage sipped the drink he ordered - no, the drink the other Sage had ordered, and spat it back out almost instantly.

Gin?

He left the inn, dismayed to find his horse was nowhere to be found. The slight ache in his legs told him all he needed to know; he'd most likely walked until he came upon civilization. Sage let out a small groan, as he saddled the nearest horse, riding off quickly before its owner found out.

The images Sage had seen were fresh in his mind. He would need to write it all down, eventually, but that could wait. Leviathans. Massive structures known as Guardians. Boxes that could display images at will. Just what kind of wonderland did he come from? It made the world he lived in seem...ancient.

But the air here was fresher, Sage remarked to himself. The air there had been thick, heavy even. He hadn't noticed it back then, but it was getting quite difficult to breathe normally. It was a wild assumption, but Sage though that world seemed like it was a dying one, despite the celebrations. And the fanfare all around, the incessant talking, people with no regard for personal space...nothing would beat this. Riding alone in the grasslands, with nothing to disturb him but the rushing of the wind.

So, the other Sage was trying to help him. Sage tried to put himself in his shoes - he'd most likely saw the scene he saw, felt the emotions he felt, and put two and two together, trying to find the designated location as well. And for that, Sage was thankful to his past self.