Tales of a golden prodigy

Reality Of A Wooden Boy

Belos had often been seen walking back to his castle alone from the woods in the wee hours of the morning. It had become a normal occurrence once the last golden guard died, so most of the emperors coven just assumed he was mourning. After all, it was clear as far as everyone knew- Belos had cared for him, Tanner was a great golden guard after.

But no, if he did miss Tanner- he didn't show it. Though it was true the trips to the woods where for a golden guard, But not for mourning one. He was venturing out to a hidden cliffside lab he had been using for over 399+ years, he drew a glyph efficiently and his eyes darted around the tree line to make sure no one had followed him. He had killed many witches who had even just happened to be in the area, after all he couldn't let people know what he was doing.

As the glyph slowly opened the cliffside with a rumble, Belos stepped inside and grunted as he dropped the bag of items he had carried there on the dirt floor. As the door rumbled shut again, he looked around- something was off. Starting to walk around and inspecting his lab for intruders, he soon realized why the atmosphere seemed off. His eyes landed on one of the small dirt squares where he had planted something... special...

Ignoring his bag for his new found interest, he knelt down. He started to debate weather he should wait for the grimwalker to sprout or to pull him out so he could have his dear brother again- but before he could finish his thought, when the rather small framed grimwalker climbed out of the dirt, his eyes landed on the fiery red hair- almost like he had been insulted. Trying to stay calm he just gave the small child his current cloak and tried to think of how to explain his surroundings, he often forgot how to comfort children, let alone one who was technically not real. It was hard for Belos. He had no care for them unless they acted like Caleb, without the witch loving part of course. So then he spoke.

"hello dear child, are you alright?"

The small red haired child- who couldn't be more than 13-14, just looked... confused, and really really scared. Scooting back from Belos, the child tried to get away from him, holding the cloak close to their chest. Belos while not surprised, he is slightly concerned he may have messed up, what if he had mixed the wrong ingredients? What if the child inherited Caleb's anxiety? What if- Well it didn't really matter, if he did mess up- he couldn't terminate it now, it was now a child, with feelings and a life- and as well he didn't have enough ingredients to start over- so this small... thing would have to do.

"come on now, its alr-"

Before he could finish the child threw dirt at him- still shaking with what could be fear of the unknown. It took everything in Belos not to react in a... negative way. He stood up the held out his hand to the child.

"come-on, you must be freezing. I have food and warmth, come now."

Hesitant, the grimwalker grabbed his hand and stood up. The cloak still wrapped around them- it wouldn't be enough for the snow and Belos sighed. He walked to the table with his brothers coat and picked it up with a pair of really old pants and handed it to them.

"put these on, and the shoes too. we don't want you to catch the common mold."

While yes, his concern was mostly fake- some of it was real. He never had a grimwalker turn out THIS wrong before. Yes he had some with one eye, some with fish body parts, horns, longer ears, limbs that were misshapen- but... this one felt... off. As the grimwalker got dressed, Belos opened the cliffside again. Motioning for them to follow. as they followed close behind, Belos could hear the child panting as they looked around frantically.

"you know, its safe out here. the sun is out and its just snow"

The child had been squinting but just nodded and kept following Belos, still very unsure of who or where he is. It was a long walk, and somewhere along the way, the child tripped and scraped his knee. When it happened the old emperor heard a thump, the crunch of the snow then a small whimper. He froze- unsure if he should ignore it or not. Fully willing to ignore it, he felt a pang of guilt as it reminded of himself so so so long ago. He slowly turned around and knelt on one of hes knees and reached his hand out to them.

"hey, its alright. just a smalll cut, it'll heal, bruise and scar if its worse"

The grimwalker just kept sniffling as the had a hand on their knee and another to their face wiping some of the tears. Belos sighed in defeat and tore a piece of the cloak he had put back on and came close and gently grabbed the kids leg and wrapped it after he used snow to get the dirt out of it.

"can you walk, or does it hurt a lot?"

They nodded, still sniffling and taking Belos's hand to stand fully up once more. as they walked Belos had realized that the child was now holding his hand- not sure what to do, he let them. after all he had accidently made it clear he was a safe person.

"come now, we mustn't stay in this weather much longer."

So off they walked through the woods.

(to be continued)