Time Lapse

Chapter 22 ~ Tiamona ~

The occasional hills, fields, and trees slowly disappeared as the days passed. The ground became more coarse daily, and Atlas began recognizing bits of dried dirt. While it wasn't as dark as the dried desert soil in Caryopsis, the patches of grass that became more dried and rough looked ready to burn any minute if the sun got much hotter.

Shadid and Rak sat along the wagon's front while Helmer asked Shal questions about herself. Shal didn't seem interested in answering unless he turned the conversation into questions about her work, politics, or readings. However, Atlas knew Helmer couldn't read like most common men like himself. But for Shal, her attitude wasn't meant to be passive. Only she didn't know what else to talk about. She's spent her entire life caring for the Rime family, nothing more. What else could she talk about?
Erys sat next to Atlas at the back of the cart, wanting to ask him more about himself. "Are you really only seventeen?" she blurted out. Not that she cared whether she sounded rude, but simply wondered if Atlas lied about his age. After he explained magic the other day, Erys felt doubtful.

"Yes, I'm seventeen," Atlas replied, preoccupied with the Caryopsis desert. They would arrive in a few days, just when Atlas finally thought he left for good.

Erys's legs sat out the wagon's back end, staring at her new boots. Appreciating them, Erys knew it was something she couldn't obtain even as a noble. "You're not lying, are you?"

"I'm not. What more do you want to know?"

"How much of your time at my estate was genuine? I don't think you lied, but I must know for myself." Erys reached down to trace the boot's curves.

"Erys, I wasn't lying about myself. I can't say certain things, or it'll cause more trouble. But I promise how I will be the real me, okay?"

Something stirred inside Erys. Confused, frustrated, happy, a bit of everything. "When did you know you could see things?"

"When I was eleven, the day before my birthday and the day before the twelfth rite. But I don't just see that invisible world. I can see farther than normal, all the way to your family's estate if I had the right vantage point."

Erys beamed, finally turning to look at Atlas. She looked excited, her face full of child-like wonder. "You could? What did you see that day? I wish I had that power, and then maybe I could've found Cedric and Gideon by now."

"Well, it doesn't work if there are hills or buildings in the way," Atlas said calmly, returning Erys's stare. Recollecting his earliest memory of using his eyes, Atlas reminisced the scene. It was the first time something profoundly inspired him, and he couldn't help but share. "I sat along my roof and ate bread for the first time. Not the mold us poor folk eat, but real bread. I honestly thought I was going to die the next day and was fully prepared to. And when I sat there eating tasty food for the first time, I dreamed of someplace nice. Honestly, I still don't think what I saw was real."

Erys felt for Atlas. The boy she knew was someone she had never imagined as weak and vulnerable, but someone full of mystery and whimsy. Someone who is headstrong and blunt about his thoughts. Impulse before hesitation. "I can't imagine you dying, Atlas. Something about it doesn't seem real for some reason. What did you see?"

Her words shook Atlas, feeling some strange flurry. Couldn't die? What did those words mean? He died several times, yet here she was, claiming it was impossible. Atlas questioned, telling her he couldn't die. His fey curse stopped it. "Erys, don't jinx me!" Atlas jested, trying to ease his thoughts. "I wish I felt the same, though. But that night, when I saw this port town farther away than I could imagine, it felt so real. The sailors prepared for a voyage while partying with their families one final time. I watched until midnight when the sailors finally parted, their ships far off. Everything about it was warm. Like I watched everything I'd been missing in my life."