‘Well, you certainly fight well against the monsters,’ said Horatio when they had killed all of them with Tyler’s help. ‘That proves you’re unlikely to be a Braxian, at least.’
‘And you do command very adept use of time magic…’ Primus said, his brows knotting into a frown. ‘Maybe time travel is possible in the future…’
‘But,’ said Walter, ‘what is this about you being my…er, our son?’ He glanced at the shaman Ursula. Horatio noticed that he hadn’t contradicted Tyler about having a crush on her. He also noticed that he had been sober for a good while now.
‘Are the things that he said about you true?’ Horatio asked the champion warrior.
‘Er…’ said Walter, narrowing his eyes at Tyler, ‘yes. All of them, actually. And nobody else in Gard should know them. Nobody knew about that birthmark except for my late wife… And nobody knows the recipe for my hair gel, though l’ve always said that if I ever had a son I would pass it on to him… And…’ He didn’t finish that next sentence, but he did take another sheepish glance at Ursula.
‘Alright,’ said Alex, ‘I’m convinced.’ His face had drained white as the robes he wore. He addressed Tyler. ‘Tell me: How did you come to be here? What happened in your future? What must I do to avoid failing in my mission to defeat the Demon King?’
Tyler launched into his explanation. ‘In my future, the Clarent Sword is stolen from you by the Braxians, and you get this far to retrieve it, but then, without the Sword, you are killed by a Braxian champion–a worshiper of death, clothed in his likeness; an embodiement of the spirit of death. As a result, when Brax is summoned back to Gard, he remains unopposed and undefeated, and he rises to power is able to overrun the whole world.’
The time mage held up his wrists, where the red metal bracelets shone in the volcanic glow. ‘These are slave bracelets. Brax creates them in order to control people and force them to do his will, especially magic users. I can’t get them off, but…’ He looked at Ursula. ‘But you and I, Mom, we found a way to override them with your knowledge of Braxian magic.’
Ursula put a hand over her mouth.
‘And then,’ Tyler continued, ‘I set about learning and experimenting with time magic so that I could come back to this moment to stop Alex from being killed and Brax from taking over the whole of Gard. I have dedicated my whole life to the study of time magic in order to learn how to travel back here to prevent this from happening.’
Everyone was quiet for a moment as they contemplated Tyler’s words, even Alex, who had finally stopped trying to run off at every available opportunity.
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‘What should we do now, then?’ said Horatio after a while. ‘What must we do to stop Brax rising to power?’
‘Well,’ said Tyler, ‘Alex still needs to get the Clarent Sword back in order to defeat the Demon King and banish him back to Hell.’ He turned to the chosen hero of destiny. ‘But please, don’t go it alone. It’s dangerous to go alone. In my future, my father and his companions pursue you, but you leave them behind and strike out by yourself, and are killed. I time-traveled here because this is the day that you are killed. You need to let these heroes, and me, protect you for as long as it takes you to get back the Sword and complete your quest. And we must be on the lookout for a Braxian death-worshiper champion, clad in a dark blue hooded cloak and wielding an enormous scythe. He is an incredibly powerful Braxian champion and you must avoid him at all costs.’
‘How do you know all this?’ said Walter. ‘If you are only born later in the future, you shouldn’t remember any of this happening. How do you know about it?’
‘Because in the future, you tell me about it, Dad.’
‘Then…what happens to me and the others here today, in your future?’
Tyler was quiet a moment, and gulped, his adam’s apple bobbing above the golden collar of his flamboyant robe. ‘From the way you tell it, Dad, the rest of them are killed by the same Braxian champion. Only Mum and you managed to make it out alive, because Mum teleported you away at the last moment, back to [Walter’s home country–Excelsivania]. You went into hiding there and began forming a plan to get back the Clarent Sword and defeat Brax, but by then it was too late. He had already ascended to his throne in Braxia, with the Clarent Sword in his possession, and was soon able to overrun the whole of Gard with monsters, enslaving everybody. Like I said, we found a way to bypass the slave bracelets, and figured out how to send me back in time.’ Suddenly Tyler’s eyes began to fill up with tears. ‘It’s really good to see you Dad, Mum… The Braxians discovered us just before we completed the spell to send me back in time, and… and…’
‘Oh, son!’ Ursula exclaimed all of a sudden, and ran to the time mage. She embraced him, and Tyler held her tight and put his head on her shoulder as his tears broke and ran down his cheeks. Horatio guessed he really was her son, and at what had happened. ‘I never thought I would have another child,’ Ursula said, ‘after I lost my first baby to a Braxian sacrificial ritual… But you…I’m so glad you came here. I’m so proud of you!’
After a moment Walter walked over too and embraced the both of them with his huge arms, gathering them up in a big group hug.
It was such a tender and intimate scene that Horatio felt like he was invading the family’s privacy, so he looked away from it.
‘This is all very touching,’ said Alex, ‘but if what you say is true, we have work to do, and time is of the very essence.’
Horatio looked back. The family broke apart from its hug, Ursula and Walter each going red in the cheeks and looking anywhere but at each other.
‘And while I waited to hear your explanation,’ Alex went on, ‘the monsters did not. They know we are all here now and someone is directing them at us.’ He nodded in a direction beyond the family. ‘He come some more now.’
Horatio looked. Alex was right: All manner of monsters were charging towards them across the red rocks now, hell-bent on attacking them.
The nearest group arrived.
Battle 2