The Quest

Onward

Sonia used Pendleton's sword and hacked through the wiring to turn off the electricity on deck. Timothy had collapsed from exhaustion right after they set sail. Pendleton had dragged him off deck so he wouldn't fall over board.

Timothy woke in the dream world he had talked to Zhen Su in. The table with the food was gone and Timothy was alone. He heard clapping behind him and he spun around. There stood Zhen Su in his purple wizard robes and dark beard clipped, so it reached only to his waist.

"Congratulations, Timothy. Though I am upset that you killed Rusteel, you got the sword. I knew that it would be difficult to get it away from him. So if you would be kind enough to leave it in Port Ohahii for me so I can send someone to collect it, that would be great." He said.

"This sword is mine now. You will never get it from me and when I get the other three parts I'm coming back to avenge everyone you hurt." Timothy replied.

Zhen Su's congenial look melted into a scowl. "If you don't give me Clarent I'll have to send someone to get it from you, and they won't be as nice as me."

"This sword is mine until the day I die."

"That can be arranged."

Zhen Su snapped his fingers and Timothy was in a black void. There was nothing around him, just inky darkness.

"Last chance, leave the sword for me and I will not hurt you or your friends." His voice surrounded Timothy.

"Never!" He yelled back.

"Very well, I leave you to Him. Enjoy the nightmares."

The darkness changed to the scene that Timothy had scene before. The library with his mother trapped inside. Before he could react he was transported inside the blaze and he could see his mother cowaring from the flames. He watched as they crawled ever closer. He closed his eyes as tears streamed and pushed through. He tried to turn and leave but he was rooted in place. He could hear her screams as the flames reached ever closer. He he heard part of the roof creak and it came crashing down onto him and his mother.

The scene shifted. He now stood atop a mountain. It was snowing heavily and Timothy shivered. He stood between a sheer cliff going up and a chasm going down. In front of him it slowly went up. A few feet away in the snow he noticed something. He was hesitant and walked slowly up to it. It was a body. He didn't recognize the face when he turned it over. Farther up the hillside he could see the bodies of demons. He followed the destruction to find Pendleton.

He stood on one knee with his sword stuck in the ground, pinning a demon to the ground. There was blood on his face and arrows sprouted out of his back. Timothy could tell he was dead. Timothy didn't know what to do, he continued up the hill. Farther up was Sonia with more demons lying around her. Her quiver was empty and she had a gash across her stomach.

Timothy didn't want to continue up the hill but he did. At the top there was someone on their knees facing away from him. He could see the end of a sword jutting out of their back. Timothy was crying at this point. He faced the body and saw himself.

He had a look of surprise and pain on his face. The sword stuck through him all the way to the hilt.

"This is where you adventure ends. He will get you here and leave you here. Give me the sword and I will make sure this doesn't happen." Zhen Su had appeared behind him.

Timothy just sat on his knees beside his future self.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I said no."

"Insolent child, I will have you destroyed."

"It doesn't matter. Because I'm going to find every piece and bring them back and wipe you from the face of the planet."

Timothy stood up and stared into Zhen Su's eyes.

"If that's how you want to be. He will destroy you as you see here." With that he dissapeared with a snap of his fingers.

The surroundings slowly melted around him. Even after it had dissapeared he could still see his own face and the faces of his friends.

- - -

Timothy awoke in the navy infirmary. There were more flowers than Timothy thought exsisted. Pendleton sat on the other side of the room sleeping. Sonia was sitting in a chair beside his bed, slumped onto his bed. As soon as he started to move she bolted awake.

"Timothy you're okay!" She shouted.

Pendleton was shaken awake by the outburst. He jumped up and came over to Timothy's bed. Timothy looked up at him with confusion.

"You've been out for a week. The fight with Rusteel must have drained you. We had to turn the electricity off the deck to be able to sail at all. I have no idea how you were able to fight with it on."

"I just found the power somehow."

"Well it doesn't matter how you did it, cause now we have Clarent." He replied.

Pendleton and Sonia filled Timothy in on what happened after he had passed out. The navy had almost sank them on their way into harbour. They raised a white flag and a small naval ship was sent to search the ship. After being towed into port they were detained. Timothy was taken to the infirmary and Rusteel was left where he was. Every one avoided his body. The Admiral interogated them for hours about their adventure and after hearing it all and with Rusteel's body as proof he believed them.

They rushed to see how Timothy was doing. They had barely left his side since being released by the navy. They would take shifts in watching him while another slept or went and got food. He had laid there the whole time not moving with shallow breathing. A naval doctor had looked at him but couldn't figure out why he wouldn't wake up.

"I glad your okay but we've lost valuable time." Pendleton said.

"While you were asleep we planned where we were going to go next." Sonia pulled out a yellowed map. "This is the location of the next sword part." She pointed at a place in the east.

"There is a group of temples there where an order of monks once resided. The swor-"

"We're so happy you're okay." Sonia said as she cut him off. She hugged Timothy and glared at Pendleton.

"Guys I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but...Zhen Su spoke to me in his dreams."

Timothy recounted his nightmares but he left out the part about the mountain.

"Who is 'He'?" Sonia asked.

Pendleton's face darkened. "He is an assassin. No one for sure knows his name and he goes by pronouns. It sounds stupid but he has killed more people than any soldier. If Zhen Su has Him after us we're in trouble."

"Then we need to get out of here." Timothy said. He tore the sheets off of himself and got to his feat. His vision went blurry and he had to steady himself on his bed.

"You aren't ready to travel yet. We need you at the top of your game." Pendleton said.

"I don't care, we're moving on to the temples in the east." He took a few shaky steps toward the door. By the time he had reached the door he was drenched in sweat. "I won't let him hurt anyone else. Are you coming with or not?"

Pendleton walked up behind him and put an arm around him.

"I'm with you Tim."

"Then we're going east."