Earth - A little while ago

Kane

And that is how it went. We, sometimes just the others, talked round and round about what we could do, how we could defeat him, and what the Sisters of Soul and the Unwitting One of prophesy could bring to this fight. Possibly the only thing that came out of these protracted conversations was when Jain asked of Jalholm why it was that Dar’cen had been so driven to recapture him. But even that yielded us no answers. Jalholm didn’t know; there was nothing, he said, that he knew of Dar’cen that could hurt him.

Often I ventured back to dry land to seek out sign of Dar’cen and to watch both David and Alex .from afar

Almost every time I ventured forth I was accompanied by either Jalholm or Jain, and sometimes both. They rode with me, seeing, hearing, and even feeling everything I did. It was quite unnerving to have almost my every sense shared instantly with others. It was a blessing that they could not, or at least refrained from, hearing my every thought. Though as Anna had done all those years ago, we did communicate with each other. I thus knew that all was well aboard, and they quite often pointed out those in my vicinity that were his followers - something about an aura of evil that surrounded those that had been touched by Dar’cen they said.

I, we, followed David and Alex to the hospital where Jalholm was incarcerated. I had long since decided that I could not risk Alex or Carthia to warn Jalholm, and after much argument the others had reluctantly acquiesced.

We watched the hospital each day that David and Alex visited, and too were there to observe as Alex left for the UK.

That night was a tense one for all of us, but for Jalholm most of all, for his dread bled through into my own emotions, making me almost as tense as he felt hundreds of miles away. On this night all our futures, those we believed set, hung in the balance.

I lay in long grass on the boundary of the hospital grounds, as near invisible to the human eye as one with no magic could be.

It was good that the others refrained from hearing my thoughts, because throughout the dark hours my mind played over and over the various scenarios that might happen should Jalholm not be warned by some future fixed intervention, and so be dragged out of the hospital by Luke.

Jalholm broke through my thoughts, ‘There!’ he said, almost as loudly in my mind as if he lay next to me in the grass and had bellowed in my ear.

Then, even as I scolded Jalholm for his outburst, Luke marched down the hospital driveway. As ever dressed from head to toe in black, his stride and bearing pure arrogance itself.

We watched as he strode up to the hospital doors, pushed them open, and walked inside. Then, even as distant as I was, I felt the wave of terror and command he exuded, subduing the staff to his will.

In my head Jalholm and Jain both whimpered as they too felt its force.

‘Be calm,’ I messaged to them. ‘I cannot do anything to counter his power, for if I do he will sense me. You must fight it yourselves… it will dissipate as soon as those within are in his thrall.’

And it did, and I knew that now all he had encountered were under his sway, and I knew too from my visit as David the following day, that none would remember this night… if nothing changed, and all was as it had been.

The few moments that followed, for only moments passed, were the longest I, and certainly Jalholm, had ever lived through.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I honestly believe that I did not breath from the moment Luke pushed open the doors to enter until he finally emerged, rage painted across his face, and blessedly alone.

Jalholm’s relief was a palpable thing in my mind, so profound was it, and Jain’s, ‘Thank the Gods,’ was filled with elation.

I watched as Luke stormed from the hospital. He marched down the driveway, his hands clenched into fists, and his whole demeanour now a mix of pure fury and something else… fear I thought. He is now dwells upon the punishment he will receive for his failure.

‘And so he should,’ Jain’s thoughts came to me, that made me realise that I had communicated all that I myself had thought.

‘No,’ Jalholm said to us both. ‘I know what it is like to be his plaything, his tool. Luke is as I was, he is as you were, Kane. He is one to be pitied.’

Jalholm’s words somewhat dampened our elation that the past Jalholm was safe, and that our theory, our belief, that the future was set had been somewhat vindicated.

I did not return then. Instead I travelled to the hotel where David would be attacked, and a man would give his life for Dar’cen’s whims.

I arrived long before David, and from the roof of the building opposite his hotel I waited and watched.

Confident though I was that all would be well, all would be as it had for me, a seed of doubt nagged at my mind. Was this where everything would change? Would I, would we, even know that change had taken place? Steeling myself against such self doubt, I settled down to wait.

I saw David arrive. I saw too a van pull up, the same van that moments later would explode in the parking garage below the hotel; four men dressed as officers of the law exited and immediately entered the hotel.

Only minutes passed before I heard gunshots, and then David dropped from the hotel balcony down to the street. The thought then that somewhere near Jain of old had just messaged David to warn him brushed at my mind, was quickly dismissed by what I knew would happen next.

I waited then until the explosion rocked the very building I lay atop, and David finally emerged, limping and bloody.

That for me was enough. 'I need not follow David any further until the day of his return,' I sent to Jain and Jalholm.

‘You lived through that!’ Jalholm sent in astonishment.

From Jain came, ‘The first time was bad, but I did not witness it as we did today. Last time I heard the explosion from afar… I did not witness any of this. For the first time I truly see the importance of the messages.’

‘Yes, on this occasion the warning was useful, if not a little late in coming. The earlier ones, and those that came after, until the last, I still do not understand their use. Regardless, now I will return to you, and we will wait for the day I return.’

It was a long and agonising wait. Occasionally I ventured out, not really seeking Dar’cen, but more hoping to find signs of Anna, or as Carthia had said, hoping that Anna would seek me out.

How I prayed that she still lived, and would come to us. I missed her counsel, but in truth, I missed my friend.

The day finally came and, despite my protests, everyone demanded that they too be allowed to come and witness, and possibly defend my earlier self as I was returned to Ellas.

We split into three groups. Jalholm insisted on accompanying Alex, and I couldn’t separate Carthia and Tomas if I tried, although Carthia and Alex too wanted to be together.

Better to have one with magic in each group I argued. I would be alone, but with my rod I could be with either of the groups in an instant, not that we would be more than a few hundred yards apart.

So finally I got agreement that Alex would be with Jalholm, and Carthia and Tomas would be with Jain,

I had hoped that Grall would have returned to us before this day, but we had had no word from him since the day he’d left to seek Dar’cen. He too I prayed was safe.

Before we left, I said, ‘This is going to be strange for some of you. Jain, you will witness your former self as you deliver the rod, and believe me it’s far worse than an episode of Deja vu. And you too, Alex.’

‘What about you, Kane?’ Alex asked.

‘I’ve been following my former self for a while now, and strange though it is, I’ve gotten used to it. At first it was as if I viewed a memory, but from a different vantage, but now, he is a different person I watch, even though I can almost remember his every thought and feeling as I watch him. It will be similar for you too, I guess, Alex. But I won’t really be watching him, will I? I’m there to ensure that no one interferes this day.’