An Accounting Error

Chapter 5 Explanations

After he was done with his meal Cale quickly rose from his seat and practically sprinted out of the dining hall. Completely missing his father's startled call inquiring if he was alright. While he didn't regret his choice to go to breakfast as it helped him to steel his resolve, he still wasn't one hundred percent ready to face his family for very long. The strange flashing images had plagued him all morning long. Until he fully figures out how to suppress them, he doubts he could maintain eye contact with anyone, let alone his family. As his brisk pace brought him yet closer to his room, his thoughts shifted to the explanation he would have to give to not only the Molan pair but to Kim Rok Soo as well. Just thinking about it was giving him a headache.

The closer to his room he got however instead of intensifying his dread, an until then unnoticed weight seemed to be lifting off of his chest. Now standing in front of his door he took a deep breath, feeling much less stressed than he had been before. For now, he figured it must be due to it being his own room, a place he would naturally feel more at ease in.

Opening the door he was met with the sight of a bemused Ron and a seemingly disgruntled Beacrox, attempting to help Kim Rok Soo to his feet so he could finally be off the cold hard marble floor. Cale stood in the entryway not wanting to disturb the potentially harrowing task.

After a great bit of struggle the trio had finally executed their task, the two men and a dragon taking their time to catch their breaths. The dragon in particular while barely being on his feet for any time at all was particularly winded. After giving them a moment to recover Cale made his presence noticed by clearing his throat.

"Ehem, now that our special guest finally has had all of his accommodation granted," a nervous grin played across his face, "I suppose you're all due a proper explanation as to what it is that's even going on."

Moving to a lounge chair in the sitting area of his room he motioned for Ron and Beacrox to have a seat, to which the two servants didn't protest as they were still recovering from moving such a heavy load.

"Haa," Cale huffed, struggling on where to even start, still unsure of how much information to divulge. "I guess I should begin with the deal that was made with the God of Death."

"You made a deal with THE God of Death?" Ron interrupted concern and skepticism apparent in his voice.

"Not me per se, but a version of me did," uncertainty evident in his voice, Cale looked away and added. "My future self is the one who made the deal."

"How far in the future?", Ron inquired, redirecting his young master's attention back to him.

"Twenty-two years from now." he paused. "The contents of the deal were to rewind time back to a time where things could be fixed."

"Fixed, Young Master?" Ron asked.

Cale took a shaky breath, "If nothing changes in twenty-two years the world will end and everyone will die."

"Ha," Beacrox let out a bark of a laugh, " How's someone like you supposed to save the world."

"I wasn't supposed to do anything," came Cale's deadpan response. "It's him who's meant to save the world, not me." he continued gesturing towards Kim Rok Soo.

Kim Rok Soo who throughout the entire conversation had been doing his best impersonation of a wallflower was mortified at the idea of being the one responsible for saving the world.

"Huuh...", Kim Rok Soo let out an exasperated sigh, as he whined, "I don't want anything to do with saving the world."

Ignoring Kim Rok Soo's pitiful protest Cale continued his explanation

"The deal didn't go how it was intended, Kim Rok Soo and my future self were meant to swap bodies. The world would be saved but my future self wouldnt get to experience it.", Cale took a deep breath."However, the God of Death made a mistake with the transfer and while my future self has made it safely to his destination, Kim Rok Soo on the other hand didn't because the present me still exists in the spot he was meant to occupy."

"How come I didn't get any say in this, I didn't make any deal with the God of Death" Kim Rok Soo complained.

"As compensation for the mistake he granted me the memories from my future self, and to make up for you not having a vacant body he gave you that dragon one." Cale avoided discussion about the soul fusing situation, unclear on how to broach the subject.

"I'd like to file a complaint with customer service. This damn body barely even works out of the box." Kim Rok Soo quipped.

"He said if we had any questions we should contact Miss Cage"

"The crazy priestess?"

"The one and the same."

"Aigoo," Kim Rok Soo rumbled doing his best approximation of a facepalm with his limited movement range.

"Young master if I may inquire?", Ron said interrupting their banter. "Sir Kim Rok Soo seems to be quite disadvantaged by the gift he received from the God of Death. What about you is there any discomfort from suddenly receiving Twenty Two years of memories? I can't imagine its pleasant."

"It's not," Cale replied dryly. "I've been struggling all morning to separate myself from them, to remember that those things hadn't happened yet. I could barely make it through breakfast without having a breakdown."

"You should have had me make an excuse for you to eat in your room."

While Cale's voice was calm, the look in his eyes reminded Ron of that of a soldier who had seen far too much. It was a look that didn't belong to a child who just the day before was prone to throwing tantrums over the flavor of the tea he was served.

"No," Cale's even voice began to show some cracks. "I needed to confirm for myself that they were still there, that those memories had not played out yet."

Cale took a moment to calm himself before asking the room.

"Are there any other questions?"