It didn't take long for Amara and Erik to make their way out of the Manglegrove's Heliodor exit, and even less for them to turn right to the Cobblestone road. As they were walking to Cobblestone, Amara felt a weird energy aura emit close to her hometown, but when they walked closer, and she saw her town still in peak condition, she didn't worry too much about it.
Amara smiled upon seeing all her townsfolk running around happily, although she could've sworn they were older than what she saw them as now. She walked past a couple that were intently talking, but they paid no attention to her, and when they did see her, they just gave her a confused welcome look.
"Ooh, we don't get new visitors every so often! Welcome to Cobblestone, stranger!" They say with a friendly wave. Amara raises her eyebrow.
"But don't you remember, I used to live here! I only left to go to Heliodor!" She says with a pleading face, gravely hoping they would turn around and say 'only joking', but no such reply came.
"Oh. We wouldn't know anything about it. Maybe go ask our lovely lady, Amber. She might know, she knows everyone in town." They say hopefully, to which the Luminary nods.
"Thank you." She says simply before walking up the white brick road, the road to her house on the hill.
She went up to the door, brought her knuckles up to the hard wood, but thought again. Surely Amber wouldn't demand her to knock before entering. It's her house, for god's sake. Amara brings her hand down to the hand, and wraps around the cold metal, pulling it down and opening the door.
The first thing she saw was her mother stirring a pot, hunched over her stove. She was humming an unrecognizable tune. Amara's footsteps alerted Amber of an unknown presence, causing the older lady to start speaking, as if she already expected Amara.
"Is that you, dear? I'm cooking your favorite—stew! It'll be ready any minute now. You'll be desperate to stuff your face as always, I'm sure. Well, set the table and I'll just give it a last little stir." Amber turns around to face her company, but when she sees Amara standing behind her, she holds a spare ladle up and points it at Amara in a threatening way.
"Eeek! Wh-who are you!? And what are you doing in my house!?" Amber shrieks on the top of her lungs, causing Amara to flinch. A wave of hurt wracks through Amara's body, as she immediately recoils, trying to find the right words to explain her situation... to her mother.
"M-mum, it's me... Amara. Remember? I'm your daughter!" Amara says, with a sort of desperation in her tone. She gave Amber her sincerest expression and had nothing but kindness in her voice. Sadly, Amara's statement just made the lady even more angry.
"What nonsense are you talking? My girl is six years old! Who do you think you are, waltzing in here and claiming to be someone you're not?" Amara feels tears in her eyes, and she looks down, away from the harsh glare of Amber. "Whoever you are, I want you out of my house this instant!" After a last scream, Amber turns and viciously points to the door, glaring at Amara.
Without a second thought, the startled teenager rushes out the door, with the door being swiftly shut and locked behind her. Amara sighs sadly walks down the white brick path, past the couple, and to the tree with the big green root wrapped around it. There, she saw a little girl with blonde hair, reaching for something stuck in the tree. The girl and her attire distinctly reminded Amara of somewhere.
Amara swiftly reaches up and grabs the red cloth that had become snagged on the branch easily, then turning around and crouching down to hand it to the sniffling girl. She wipes her eyes and whispers "Th-thank you, miss! My name's Gemma! Who are you?"
With her headscarf tied back around her hair, and her name now revealed, Amara almost stumbles back on the truth. How could her best friend, that was once her exact age, now be half her height?
"A-Amara." The teen says quickly, trying to make sure her shaky voice doesn't mix up her speech.
"But... that can't be right..." Gemma frowns and looks at Amara with a confused expression. "Oh, wait! I get it! That's not your name! You mean you're looking for her, right? She went to look for Chalky. Come on, follow me!" Amara didn't have the heart to correct the six-year-old girl. The teen simply just nodded along and started following Gemma, and the Luminary was unaware of how fast her heart was beating, just hearing her grandfather's name. Would she finally be able to meet him? Amara's eyes watered at the thought.
Amara lightly jogged to keep up with Gemma's fast running pace, as she didn't want to seem rude and run around. Because she knew exactly where their destination was. There could only be one place that Chalky could be found, and that was at his favorite place.
The path the two girls took were exactly what Amara thought they'd be, going through Cobblestone, taking a left at the fork in the road, and walking till they reach the large lake at the bottom of the hill. There was a fishing jetty for citizens to do a spot of fishing if they ever beat Chalky of course. This was his favorite place, of course.
When Gemma and Amara reach the two figures at the jetty, Amara immediately recognises them as her grandfather, Chalky, and what appears to be her younger self. Mini-Amara had shoulder length brown hair, just as she had it now, but the younger girl had her hair tied up roughly in a short ponytail. She wore a long blue tunic that almost reached her sand brown boots, and it was fastened with a dark brown belt. The end of the belt was folded into itself. She had a mint green long sleeve under her tunic and had darker green pants on. It was basically just a smaller version of Amara's attire before she left for Heliodor.
Chalky however was wearing a green and white striped tunic, with an orange strip of cloth tied around his waist. He wore baggy black pants underneath and had another orange piece of cloth wrapped gently around his neck.
"Hey, Grandad! Can I borrow your ladder? The wind blew Gemma's scarf off and now it's stuck up a tree!" Mini Amara says to Chalky.
"Ho ho ho ho! Well, we can't be having that now, can we? Let me go and find it for you. ...Hm?" As Gemma and the teen walk up to the two on the jetty, Chalky looks up, and Mini-Amara turns around. Gemma's the first to speak.
"We don't need the ladder anymore! That nice lady over there got my headscarf down for me! She said she was looking for you. Is she a friend of yours?" The little girl speaks to the other girl.
Mini Amara looks at the grown Amara with careful eyes for a few seconds, leaving the luminary feeling a little weird in the stomach.
Amara then turns back to Gemma and says, "Nope! I've never even seen her before." She says simply. As the two little girls start whispering to each other, Chalky says in a much louder voice,
"I think it might be me she's looking for, you know. Why don't you two run along and play, and leave us grown-ups to talk?" He says in his signature kind voice. Amara and Gemma nod and run off in the direction of Cobblestone, leaving only Chalky and his granddaughter left.
"Well, well, well... It's... you, isn't it?" Chalky says with teary eyes. Amara nods, her expression almost the same. "Ho ho ho ho! I knew it! I've known you since you were a baby, after all! I knew it was you right away! But you don't look too happy, my lass. Care to tell your old grandad what's on your mind?" He says with kind eyes.
Amara looks away for a second, then opens her mouth to speak. "Well, after I left Cobblestone, under Amber's word, I reached Heliodor. I thought it would be easy, I'd go to the king, show him this pendent," She stops briefly to show Chalky the emerald pendant hanging off her neck, "and it'd go from there. But it took the worst turn. King Carnelian mistook me for the Darkspawn and sent me to the deepest depths of Heliodor Castle's dungeons. I thought I was done for, till I met this guy, Erik. He helped me escape, and then we tried to find our way back here." Amara finishes, and her last words make her remember about her faithful companion. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen him for a while. The realization makes her frown.
"I see... So you're from a future where I'm no longer around? Well, well... And King Carnelian went and threw you in the dungeon? And to think I trusted that he'd do right by you... If I'd known how things were going to turn out, I would have told you everything instead of hiding the truth from you for all those years... But you don't have time to be listening to an old man's regrets." He says, waving off an already growing conversation starter. "Here's what we're going to do... If you head out east of the village, you'll come to Cobblestone Falls, as you know. Go there and dig in front of the three-sided rock. Got that? Hm? The three-sided rock at Cobblestone Falls. You'll know the one I mean." He says not continuing until Amara gives a nod of approval. "Ahh, but what a fine figure of a lady you've become... I'm so glad I got to see you all grown up... You be good now, lass. Don't waste your time bearing grudges—live life with love in your heart. It always saw me right. Bye, now..."
Chalky says, as Amara sees her grandfather grow fainter and fainter. With a realization, she reaches her arm out to grab his, but before her skin can touch his, her hands grab at nothing. Her grandfather was gone. Don't waste your time bearing grudges. Her grandfather's words linger in her head. She'll do good to remember that.
With a final look at where Chalky used to be, she turned around and walked back up the path, turning right into Cobblestone. She walked past a few townsfolk and stopped infront of the huge tree. Mini-Amara and Gemma were happily playing with each other, that was until her younger self saw her and stopped, running up to her.
"Thanks for getting Gemma's headscarf back for her! Come back and play any time you like!" The little girl says happily to Amara. The teen smiles sadly at the six-year-old, as the mark on her hand glows, pulsating in time with the tree. Then, when Amara closes her eyes, she feels a weird aura, then nothing.
She opens them again, and saw the Cobblestone hills, before hearing Erik's worried voice. He was right next to her, with a calm hand placed on her shoulder.
"Are you okay? I lost you for a minute there. Not surprising, I guess..." Erik whispers, not too loudly to be a bother, but not to quietly to be inaudible. Amara then takes a second to look around, her eyes going wide at what was in front of her.
The town that once was lively and bustling with life, now stood lifeless, smoke pouring out of put out fires, stone buildings crumbled to solemn piles and nothing more, trees charred, and bridges broken. Amara put a shaky hand to her mouth as she lets out an almost inaudible gasp, tears already spilling from her eyes.
"N-no..." She whispers, falling to her knees, sobbing quietly into her hands. Her entire childhood, destroyed at her feet. She so badly wanted to hunt down the person who did this... but she shouldn't hold a grudge.
Amara just sat there, sobbing into her hands, not at all aware of the thief behind her. His eyes considerably softened as he walked up behind her and crouched down, soothingly rubbing her back. "I can't believe they'd do this..." He whispered, staring at Cobblestone—or what was left of it. "And just because you grew up here?" His voice slowly grew louder, and angrier, as he put the pieces together. "What kind of animals are they?" He growls under his breath, causing her to wipe her eyes and turn around. "Jasper and his goons must have ridden straight here after you got thrown in the dungeons and torched the place..." He says, before stopping as his words was just making her sadder.
"Now that you say that... that would be why the King wanted to know where I lived so badly..." She says, looking at the thief with solemn eyes. She couldn't let the bitterness and sadness get to her now. Would her friends want that?
"Hey—just now when you zoned out, the mark on your hand was glowing, and so was the root wrapped around the tree. Was it another one of those visions?" Erik asks gently.
"Sort of. But I was in the vision... if you could call it a vision. I could move around freely, and Cobblestone was normal as it could ever be. But the thing is, it was set back 10 years ago. My mother didn't know who I was, because there was already a version of me in the vision. But I was a six-year-old, if that makes sense." She starts rambling a little, but Erik didn't complain nor interrupt. He simply sat there, listening politely to the trembling teen.
"Gemma was six as well, same age the mini me, and there was... my grandpa, Chalky. He was right as rain, he was, and he even recognised me. Oh—he told me that I should go to Cobblestone Falls and dig in front of the three-sided rock. He said it'd explain everything that's happened to me." She whispers, her eyes falling to the ground, and her mind going silent once more.
"Wow. So you... You went back in time and spoke with your grandad and... And... yourself?" Erik scratches the back of his head confusedly, trying desperately to see the sense behind this. There was nothing. "That is seriously weird. Must have been the root here. It must have the power to show you the past... Well, if what your grandad told you was right, then we need to head over to Cobblestone Falls." Amara nods at the thief's words.
"Where did you say it was?" Amara simply points in the direction. "East of the village?" She nods sadly, taking another look at her broken village. Her actions cause him to sigh, and he stands up, offering a hand to Amara. She timidly takes it, letting him pull her to her feet with impressive strength.
He then proceeds to say, "Listen, I know this can't be easy, but... hanging around here isn't going to do anybody any good." He says softly, as if he's afraid to shatter her broken heart. He slowly wraps his arms around her shaking body, trying his best to soothe her. They stand for a few seconds, just standing in each other's embrace, before they pull away, both getting slightly flustered of their close proximity.
"C'mon, let's get going." Erik says with a small smile, putting a hand on her shoulder once more. She nods, leaning into his warm touch, and the two teenagers slowly trek back the way they came, out of Cobblestone, and turning right, going through the tunnel that leads to the Falls.
It wasn't too hard to leave the fallen village behind, but the broken feeling she felt mingled with the memories of her friends, creating rather mixed emotions. She trembled slightly, every time she tried to remember her mother's delicious suppers, or Gemma's bright smiles, or the feel of Sandy's fur on her hands. She tried not to remember how happy and lively Cobblestone could be when there were horses trotting by, carrying their riders who were waving to passing villagers. She tried not to remember all the wonderful times she and Gemma would sneak out at night to head to the jetty, she tried not to remember how angry her mother got when she caught them.
She tried not to remember... all their amazing faces.
Amara tried so hard not to cry, as the memories just caused a new wave of sadness to wash over her. She let her hands fall to her side, rolling them into fists to ward back the tears. But when her hands brushed her sides, she felt a small pouch. She sucked in a sharp breath as she held it in her hands.
The blue fabric, with a red ribbons tying it shut, and all the memories tied into the charm. When her eyes immediately saw the charm, she couldn't stop the tears this time. They rolled freely down her cheeks, a few landing squarely on the charm, her best friend made for her. Hell, she didn't know if they were alive, but all Amara knew, was that they were gone. Gone from her life, gone from Cobblestone, and until she could find them, gone from the face of Erdrea.
Upon seeing his comrade tense and shake slightly, Erik turned his head to see Amara crying silently, staring at a blue pouch in her hand. He didn't know what the pouch was, but he knew his friend was crying, so he put a comforting arm around her, pulling her close to him. It made his heart ache to see her cry. He wanted nothing more than for her to carry a proud smile, with knowledge that her town can be rebuilt, and that she could find her friends again, but even he knows that everyone must be allowed time to grieve at least once in their life.
The trip to the falls was a silent one, but it was a comfortable silence, the two teens walked together. Amara tried her best to think of the scenery, scrutinizing it closely to distract herself. She thought of Erik's hand brushing against hers every so often, about how her cheeks heated up just a little when they did.
When they reached the Falls, they immediately noticed huge waterfalls, with water gushing down into a beautiful crystal-clear lake, with a few little moss-covered islands loitered amongst the pond. They saw the wild abundance of healthy-looking trees, their leaves draping down to touch the top of the teens' heads. Amara immediately smelt the water mixing with a strong dew smell, which sent a wave a happiness through her. Cobblestone Falls always seemed to calm her down, no matter the mood she was in. It seemed to have a similar effect on Erik, as he carried a gentler and more genuine smile on his face.
When they walked down the small hill, they stood right next to the lake, where the gushing of the waterfall was loudest. They saw what appeared to be a triangular rock, one with three sides, standing solemnly next to the pond, and with a gut instinct, Amara knew that was the rock they were after.
"That must be the rock we're after, dont'cha think?" Erik points out the same rock Amara had her eyes on. His statement received only a nod from the Luminary as she was already traversing land to reach the rock.
It took no time at all for both teens to cooperatively dig a hole in front of the rock because the soil was mainly soft, and the fact that what they were looking for wasn't that deep in the ground. They knew when to stop when they pulled out what looked to be a very battered looking chest.
Amara opened the chest quite easily, and what was found resting inside were a few pages, and a fist-sized marine stone. "Letters, huh? The top one there's seen better days, that's for sure." Erik pipes in, leaning over Amara to see what they'd dug up. He was standing up, behind her, whilst she was crouching down over the box.
She simply gives a simple nod, before picking up the top note, and unfolding them out, seeing a note written neatly in beautiful calligraphy. Luckily for Amara, the writing was similar to her own, so it was pretty easy to read it. Amara holds the letter up and proceeds to read it aloud;
"My dearest darling baby girl, when finally you come to read this, I will almost certainly be long dead."