TBATE | Lingering Flames

Breaking Times

SERIS VRITRA

"Seris, will you come with me to a time before strife?" 

Though he asked me such a simple worded question, I couldn't help but instinctively flinch back in surprise. Though he asked a single question, he asked it while knowingly releasing a drop of his authoritative intent. Though he asked me a question, the thousands of questions I had about his state of mind and the actions he's taken throughout the decades, were swiftly answered with a few of his words.

"By the gods .....what has time done to you Arthur?" I asked him in a soft voice, grabbing the snot covered hand he had on my desk. I held it tight, making sure he could look at me in the eyes as he spoke, instead of once again breaking down in tears. 

He took a few sniffles before he spoke. "It's quite funny actually. With every second that passes, my body grows stronger, instead of rotting with age. I don't tire nor will I ever fall to disease. Though I'm not immortal, I'm certain the only thing in this world capable of killing me is myself."

"What are you getting at?" I asked him.

With a soft voice he continues. "Did you know? I can't remember the last time I went to sleep. Time has withered my mind, Seris. Despite my two lives, I'm younger than you and many of the other veterans of the war, yet I'm the one who has already gone insane. Time has clouded my senses, my judgment and has devoid me of purpose."

We sit in silence for a moment, Arthur rolling his shoulders as he nervously waits for my response. I understood what he wanted. He wanted a second chance. A second chance to save  his family, his friends, his lover. Even though doing such a thing -tearing the fabric of time and space to such an extent- could have irreversible consequences, he was ready to pay the price. More accurately, he didn't care what the price was, as long as he got what he wanted.

Despite all the risks he was taking, he was offering me a chance to go with him. I could see it in his eyes though, he wasn't here to ask for my permission or even for my opinion. Whatever his plan was, he had already spent the countless years on his flying rock debating on the moral implications and the complications that could arise on a personal level because of his actions. No. He sat in front of me to ask if I wanted to claim my one way ticket on his inter-dimensional train. 

With bangs of blonde slightly covering his face he says. "I don't mind being nearly immortal. Though I dislike the thought of eternal life, I'm willing to be this world's guardian for as long as reasonably possible, even after my family is long gone. I'm willing to do anything for the prosperity of the society that I, we, created."

Within the eerie silence, the scared boy that was within Arthur Leywin, stated his one and only condition. "I know I'll drastically out live them. I know that unless I experiment on them, my family won't live for a fraction of my potential lifespan. But all I want, all I want is for my mother to die with a head of white hair, surrounded by her family as she closes her eyes with a smile on her face."

He looks up at the sky, seemingly talking to Fate itself. "Is that too much to ask for?"

I knew he wasn't talking to me. He was just reaffirming his reasons for his extreme actions. However, I couldn't help but want to rebuke him, to tell him to that he hadn't been the only one to have lost so much. To remind him how much I and many other had tried to help him move forward, the only way anyone could ever go. But we all had failed, without the capabilities to physically hold him down, no could help him if he himself didn't let us. Even that old elf had failed to impart any meaningful words into him, the man himself left in a state nearly as bad as Arthur's. 

I glanced at a picture frame that sat at the end of my office desk. I was holding them both, my former student Caera and Arthur, by the shoulders in a tight embrace as we all had bright smiles on our faces. Arthur's bond and adopted daughter clinging to his back while the obnoxious wolf was howling upwards at Caera's side. The background of the picture littered with countless faces and important figures from Dicathen and Alacrya alike. It had been a great victory, driving the asuras out of Dicathen, laying the groundwork for a world that would value a person for more than just the number of spells they could spew.