And to Darkness You Shall Return.

Leo - Chapter 13: Timeline

His vision blurred and swirled, and it took him a few seconds of trying to keep his balance to realize that he was standing in a living room.

A family sat down around a table. In the middle of the table was a grand butterscotch pie with candles. The family smiled and sang in celebration. There was a mother, a father, a boy, and a girl.

This was Leo's village, his family. It had been his home, before the soldiers came and turned it to ruins. Leo was shocked at how nice it looked; how much joy and happiness had been shared in that room.

The same room Leo had shivered in the cold and clung to life in solitude for seven years.

Even though Leo was looking at his family, his strong handsome father, his beautiful mother, and his baby sister, he didn't feel anything about seeing them. In fact, he felt it was a little disturbing. He didn't want to see the faces of his dead family, he no longer found them comforting.

He willed his mind to change the scene again.

Leo found himself in a meadow. He looked to be about sixteen. Next to him sat a girl. They were holding hands, and the girl leaned in for a kiss.

While he still lived alone at that point, he had ventured further down the mountain, in the opposite direction that Tabitha and Grelf came.

He had found another village in the forests on that side of the mountain. For some odd reason, they had been left untouched, probably because their town hall had a beacon on it, which could be used as protection from enemies or to call for aid.

In that village, he met a girl, her name was Amanda. She was gorgeous. Startling blue eyes, and long golden hair.

Her village offered Leo food and shelter. But this was not to last.

Her village was attacked in the ensuing month. She and the mages of her city died defending the village. Leo did not know of his power at the time, so he fled, and he didn't look back until he reached the top of the mountain.

Leo remembered the guilt he felt that night, as he looked at the smoke rising over the mountain. The Shadow Mages had set fire to the village. 

But even through his tears, and the smoke, he could've sworn that he saw a familiar glint of silver among the flames.

Leo willed his memory to speed up once more.

He saw a montage of the following years. All his failed hunts that left him hungry, the winters he spent huddling in the corner for warmth, and the constant mental break downs he had that left him closer to the edge than normal. Crying and yelling at unfairness of the world, longing for the comfort of another person.

Then it stopped. He was looking at himself, walking down the mountain with Tabitha. This was the day that they met.

But Leo wasn't in this memory to see himself. He ran back up the mountain, through his village, and followed the path that led him up the mountain.

His feet started to ache from the steep hike. Just as Leo felt he could go further, he reached the top. There he found Grelf, sitting on a stone, looking at a door in the mountainside.

Without a word, Grelf poked the door with his sword. Runes shined across the door for a moment. Leo watched in fascination as Grelf used his sword to move the runes around, like a puzzle.

Leo waited for hours, until the sun went down. By this time, Leo and Tabitha had been sitting around a fire, all cozy and warm, as Grelf sat on top of a cold, snowy mountain.

At last, Grelf stepped away from the door and sighed from exhaustion. The door swung open. Grelf immediately walked in, Leo followed.

Inside was just a small room, about eight feet in diameter. In the middle was a stone podium. But it was empty, save the two planks of oak wood with grooves cut into their top. 

It was a ceremonial sword stand.

Grelf stood there for a moment before shaking his head. Leo stepped aside to let him pass, before realizing that Grelf could walk right through him. But Grelf stopped in the doorway.

"You." Grelf said, leveling his sword.

"Me." an impossibly deep voice came from outside.

"I would like to thank you Grelf," the voice said "You have made this so much easier."

Leo walked out from behind Grelf to see who was talking.

It was a giant of a man in pitch-black armor, with black smoke rolling off of his shoulders, pooling on the ground, his horned helmet covered his face, showing only his eyes, which appeared to be two black marbled stuck in his eye sockets. He had a giant sword slung across his back, and flanked by two soldiers in black fatigues.

But then Grelf laughed. It was nothing major, but just more than a chuckle seemed to annoy the man.

"What is it?" the figure asked "What's so funny?"

"I'm so sorry to disappoint you," Grelf said "But it's not here."

"What!?" The man yelled.

Grelf simply turned up his palms, and continued to laugh. "By the gods! I can only imagine your frustration right now! After all these years, waiting for the perfect moment, and then I come along, find its hiding place, solve this little puzzle, and you were expecting to regain the one thing that could restore your full strength!"

The figure pushed Grelf out of the way, and looked inside the room for himself. Then he roared in outrage and unslung his sword.

Grelf just barely raised his own sword in time. But the man's sword had too much power and size behind it, Grelf could only slow it and redirect it off of his shoulder, which now had a huge, bleeding gash, forcing Grelf onto his knee.

"Get him," the man growled. "Don't kill him, but leave him barely alive."

Then he turned to Grelf "You still have your horse waiting for you, yes? Good, we'll let you go back to your puny guild, let them know what I've done."

The two men advanced on Grelf.

"No" Leo tried to say, but his voice wouldn't work. "No!"

Then his vision started to fade. The voices of the four men grew distant, Leo could only watch as the soldiers mercilessly beat Grelf, his blood staining the snow.

_______

"No!" Leo yelled and he heard a girl yelp in surprise.

When his vision finally cleared, he found himself back by the pool. Jade walked up by his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I saw everything" she said slowly "I... I'm so sorry."

Leo mumbled something in response, and the water woman sank into the water.

The air was silent, save the occasional trickle of water, heavy with the knowledge of a memory that was best left forgotten.