Tearha: The Number 139

Chapter Eight: The Storyteller

"If I am understanding this correctly," Kathleen asked, "You are a time traveller?"

The Watcher replied, "That's what I'm saying."

The campfire crackled between them, sparks and ember gently drifting away with the breeze of the plains. Dots of lights freckled the west, the town and villages of Dane and the Grassplains filled the earth like the stars did in the clear night sky. A single hot-air balloon floated slowly across the backdrop, its flame a soft flicker in the background of space. Their destination, Ra'Kalen, stretched the base of the mountain ridges to the south. To the north, Everwind continued to shine bright, the capitol a beacon even at night.

"But you are not able to time travel right now?" She bit into her piece of bread.

He stopped mid bite, thinking of a reply, "Boy, you sure ask tough questions, don't you?"

"I am not a boy," she snapped back, lacking in finesse more than she would like. She scratched at her hair, not having been used to sweating and not showering as much as for the two days they had been on the road. From the looks of it, they would reach Ra'Kalen as early as the next noon and she could not wait to find an inn for a hot bath. She continued, "You really should see someone about that. Maybe an Enhancer can fix your 'condition'? There's one in Ra'Kalen, actually."

The Watcher looked back quizzically in a way she wanted to say was a manner of distrust. He asked, "Aren't you even the least bit sceptical of what I said?"

She smiled back, "My family is the head of the state of Consortia." She looked down to the fire sombrely, flames dancing within her ember eyes. With a deep breath, she forced herself to cheer up her tone. "They held lavish parties almost every other week, inviting performers from across the country with amazing talents, and nothing much surprises me any more. We once had a mage who could turn water into wine."

"Was his name Jesus by any chance?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," he nonchalantly replied. "But I am getting the hang of how this universe-multiverse thing works."

Even after travelling with him for two days, she could not fully comprehend the man. Sometimes, he would ask questions so fundamental that she felt akin to tutoring her nephew when she answered. Yet, at other moments, he had a worldly aura, emitting the sense of wisdom in spades and an intellect that seemed to dwarf any known mortal alive.

She leaned closer to the fire, putting her face in the light. Curious, she asked, "What is your world like?"

"Sorry?"

"You keep saying you're from this other universe. Other planet. What is it like?"

He raised a brow, "What is what like?"

"Your home planet. This other place."

She watched as his smile widened. A grin that spread from ear to ear. A glint shone in his eyes not from the reflection of the campfire. "Oh..." he started with an ecstatic groan. "Oh... my world... is amazing. We had cars–um... carriages, that could fly. Planes the size of trains and faster than ships. We could make food by the millions of barrels with the flick of a switch. We built towers that reached out into space, and ungodly sized domes for games and sports. And holograms! Oh! Those were amazing things. Light that gives a three dimensional image. You would have loved it."

Kathleen could only smile as he reminiscence his home. Campfire stories. One of the things she had looked forward to in her dreams of travels.

Then, The Watcher trailed off. "We had... great people. Men and women... capable of amazing feats. I knew a man who could fuse with anything he touched. And I knew a thief, oh, she was a thief alright. Stole the throne of a kingdom. A little girl who brought hope to an entire nation. A boy who could snipe off a target from a quarter a continent away. Then there's that kid who could see the end of the world, and the old man who stopped it." She listened, attention enraptured to his tales. "Stuff of legends they were. Battled gods and took down monsters of all kind. Tales that get sung off to the end of all time."