Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 33 - Camping in Style

Previously on Aethernea:

After a day of training, Kiel and Elaru return to Hot Pot, only to find two battlemages in Rroda uniforms waiting for them in front of Hot Pot. The two decide to avoid the men with unknown motives and not to return to Hot Pot.

* * *

Elaru scratched her head sheepishly. "Do you have any friends living in Ashar that would let us crash at their place for a night?"

"Me? I don't have any friends in Beyd let alone Ashar! What about you? Aren't you supposed to be an adventurer? Surely you know a lot of people who'd be willing to help out."

Elaru chuckled awkwardly. "I guess we have no choice but to sleep in the forest?"

Kiel's face turned sour. He looked back towards Hot Pot. "You know...now that I think about it...those guys might not be here for me at all. Why don't I just go and have a little chat with them...hey! Where are you going? Come back!"

Elaru didn't even wait for him to finish before she flew back in the same direction they came from. Kiel "tsked" but nonetheless chose to follow. Sleeping on the hard ground wasn't that bad...maybe Elaru could do some magic and transmute the ground into soft sand? However, the trip back was a pain...

He wouldn't have complained had he known the disaster he had just avoided.

If Elaru had been less observant that night, Kiel's path as the student of the Ashar University of Magic would have ended then and there.

No. Actually, there were no 'ifs' involved.

Elaru was never "less observant". For 18 years she had lived on the edge, one step away from the bottom of the cliff. It took only a second of negligence, a single slow reaction, a single misstep, for her to end up at the bottom of the cliff.

It wasn't that she searched for irregularities and suspicious behavior. It wasn't that she was paranoid and edgy. No. The closer she was to the edge, the calmer she became. Her constant flawless awareness of her surroundings had stopped being a conscious decision long ago. It had seeped deep into her bones becoming second nature. Something she didn't think about, something that happened on its own.

It was the edge that pushed her to improve, to absorb all knowledge she came into contact with like a sponge, to constantly improve in every way. To not make mistakes.

Yet, no matter how she walked along the edge, she was unable to reach the summit of the cliff, to reach the top and look down at all creation.

What chained her back was time.

Time. The most valuable commodity that no amount of money could buy. Something effort and talent couldn't surpass.

Time constantly went forward, never retreating or slowing down.

Time already passed was forever lost.

***

(Meanwhile in the Rroda Mainhouse, Ashar)

Venric Rroda looked at the large clock hanging on the wall of his office, a slight frown making its way to his face.

"Lawrence. Did you send someone to pick Kiel Rroda up?" The iciness of his voice was enough to cause people to shudder.

His mood was exceedingly sour. His men had combed through the estate two times already, not finding anything out of the ordinary. To anyone else, that would be good news. However, Venric Rroda didn't view it in the same way.