The Path of Time ★ [3] ✔ (EDITING)

Fantastic...

⏳ --

Steve and I followed Primavera into her tent, the flaps closing behind us.

As expected, it was spacious and nicely furnished. On the left was a large oak bookshelf with dozens of books. On the right was a weapons rack; on it were daggers, a shield, a longsword, and a classic bow and quiver. A fire crackled in the fire pit just off the center where an old fashioned war table was set up. To say that the Chronos was pretty much like The Lord of the Rings would be right at this stage.

"As you probably know already, my husband has been held captive by Eon for too long," Primavera said, walking over to the war table.

"Astra told me," I replied.

"And I'm guessing that things haven't been going well since that happened," Steve added.

Primavera leaned her fists on the edge of the war table. Her expression told me everything I needed to know. She was nervous, scared even, and the Lady of Time was not one to get 'scared'. She was too much like a stone angel to show such an emotion.

I'd known Prima a long time. She and the Lord were among the few highly ranked Walkers who tasked Eilian and I with finding the Shards and actually believed we could pull it off. We weren't close, however. She was not one for public appearances like the Lord was, the one I had some kind of relationship with. But it wasn't like what he had with Eilian; those two were close. I wasn't one of the powerful Walkers who hung out with the Lord and Lady, but I had a feeling that I was going to be one very soon in the situation we were in.

"The Lord of Time is the most powerful man in time itself," Prima began. "The repercussions of his capture and imprisonment have been detrimental to my people and this galaxy. My general has been kidnapped. Many of my people have been enslaved by Eon, and his army grows by the day. Too many have been unnecessarily slaughtered. My home has been devastated. We are not strong enough to meet him in battle – our numbers are too few and too weak. And so we are losing this war."

So much had happened since I was gone. I couldn't help but feel guilty. If I'd found the Shards sooner, none of this would've happened. Eon would've been locked up again a long time ago. Omega Chronos would not be in the state that it was in and the Lord would not have been captured. Perhaps Eilian...perhaps he would still be alive. I couldn't help but feel that this – all this devastation and misery – was my fault.