Tale of The Broken Sword

Chapter Twenty Five : Return to the Front Line

22nd July, AD 1656

Griswall Royal Family Mansion, Migrath Alsea Outskirts

Everent opened his eyes wide, realising that the time had come for him to leave. He had a dream, a nightmare, of the Grand Passage, swallowing everything that stands in its path, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. A living monster that roams around the land, feared yet respected by the people of the nation. He had seen a vision of his brother, wandering aimlessly into the forbidden passage before disappearing into the swirling winds.

“It’s just a dream,” Everent reminded himself. But the vision kept on playing with his mind and he couldn’t get them out of it.

Walking out of his room and into the hall, Everent noticed his father stood there, worriedly shaking his head and muttering to himself.

“Pa?” Everent asked in an uncertain tone. “Is there a problem?”

His father turned and worriedly asked him, “Everent, did you see Jachyon? He’s been missing ever since this early morning. Have you seen him?”

“Yeah, he told me last night that he was going to get some hunting game back in the forest. He’ll be back sooner or later.” Everent replied.

“Is that so?” His father felt relieved. “I was worried that he might be in trouble or something like that. Oh, you’re leaving already?”

Everent nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be heading back to Jyona at noon. From there, probably head for an exchange train line to Grendan.”

Everent realized that he needs to leave, now. At that thought, he felt a large burden weighing on his shoulder. The burden of leaving his father alone had once more haunted his mind. But at that time, he also felt a strange lightening and also some kind of inner emptiness, like all his responsibilities was taken out and he could have some space to breathe again.

“I would love to send you away, but this old body of mine could not handle the stress.” Griswall coughs loudly. “Maybe another time... Are going now? Well, then we’ll get to say goodbye then. Get your things together in the meantime.”

Everent kept silent and whispered softly but his father had left him alone. “There won’t be another time, father.”

In his room, Everent started to throw things into his rucksack. Food, water, his identification card, passport –just in case he had to follow some diplomats into a foreign country–, a hidden pouch containing a pair of magazines for his gun. And the special pistol that his father had gave to him two days ago.

Once it was done, he slung the rucksack over his shoulder and proceeded down the stair and into the main entrance.

“Wait Everent,” Griswall cried out.

“Pa?” Everent turned behind to see his father walking towards him. “What is it?”

“Journeying from Migrath Alsea to Jyona would be killing, and I’ve asked Jachyon to fetch you to the valley city using my old ship.”

“You’ve got an airship?” Everent was surprised.

“An old one.” The old man had laughed. “Don’t worry, it won’t malfunction halfway and crash down. It’s well maintained, you know.”

Everent sighed and followed his father into the landing pad just behind their mansion, on top of it lays an old airship. Everent was told that this airship was salvaged from a scrap metal yard after it was decommissioned. Griswall had it stripped right into its core layer and replaced by a new layer of metal coating. The gunner positions were taken out as well, leaving more space for cargo or passenger compartments.