Charlie

The room Merlin had rented for them was actually a small house in a residential district. Each of the houses was built side by side with very little space in between. They looked more like fancy wooden boxes with doors and windows than they did what Charlie would usually consider a house. But Arcadeya was a big city, and these homes provided living spaces for the people who couldn’t afford something nicer.

There was only one bedroom, a small bathroom, and a storage space that was already filled to the brim by the landlord. The room was nice enough; the bed was pressed into a corner. On the opposite side of the room there was a dark blue couch that looked brand new, and a worn carpet that appeared as if a herd of wild beast had trampled over it. A bookshelf with a few dusty texts was next to the couch. Vetica had already drawn the window curtains shut tight and bolted the door. After all, they had a hex knight tied to a chair in the center of the room. It wouldn’t be great if someone walked by and looked inside the window.

Bleedy had lost Redrick in the city and make his way back already. Charlie had wanted to put his onesie back on immediately, but Vetica insisted they needed to wash it first. So, he still wore the toga, as Orb called it. Now Bleedy hid in the bathroom with Mousifer and Orb. Merlin had suggested leaving them out of sight. They wanted Talmot focused on talking, not the strange-acting animals and the floating blue dungeon core in the room.

Talmot studied each of them through the lenses of his glasses. He hadn’t tried to free himself since he woke up from when Vetica had knocked him out. “You should’ve let me go. It’s going to be b…bad for you when Brandt tracks me down.” The hex knight said.

Vetica quietly sharpened her knife against a small whetstone. She sat with her legs crossed on the edge of the bed. Merlin stood in front of Talmot. He ignored the hex knight’s words. “What do you all even want with Charlie? What do you plan to do with him?”

Talmot glanced over to Charlie, who was watching the interrogation from the room’s couch. Talmot eyed him for a moment, before a defiant look crept over his face. He turned back and glared at Merlin. “What else? He has to be eliminated. He’s an abomination!” Talmot spat.

Charlie’s heart sank. He knew how the knights felt. Talmot had been the first person to use that word around him. To use that word to describe Charlie. It had haunted him ever since.

Merlin didn’t say a word. He rolled up his sleeve, took a step, and punched Talmot across the face. The man’s glasses skidded across the floor.

Vetica’s head shot up. Her cool demeanor gone in an instant. “Hey, no fair! You should’ve let me do it!” she complained.

Charlie sucked in a breath. “Merlin?” he called out.

Talmot looked stunned. Merlin had been the one insistent that they wouldn’t hurt the knight. The hex knight probably hadn’t expected that at all. Merlin knelt down in front of the man. “Listen here. I asked you a question, and you answered. I’d like you to keep answering questions. But let me make one thing clear: you will never use that word around me again, especially not to describe Charlie. Do you understand?”

Talmot didn’t look toward him. His unfocused eyes searched the ground for any sign of his glasses.

Merlin followed his gaze and saw the glasses sitting on the floor. Luckily for Talmot, they hadn’t broken after falling. Merlin picked them up. “I need to hear you that you understand. If not, we’re done here. I’ll let her do things her way,” Merlin said, nodding his head toward Vetica.

Vetica sat up in the bed excitedly.

“I understand,” Talmot said. Vetica scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Merlin nodded and carefully slid Talmot’s glasses back on. Talmot wrinkled his nose, trying to straighten the glasses on his face. “Good. Now, you should reconsider your stance here. Charlie isn’t bad. He may be different, but that’s not a bad thing. He’s a good kid,” Merlin said.

“Different?” Talmot said, looking up. “I woke up two hours before I opened my eyes. I listened. I waited. Do you know what I didn’t hear during that time? Crying. Babies eat pretty often. When’s the last time you fed him? He’s not hungry? He hasn’t cried because he p…pooped his diaper or wants to lie down and sleep? I don’t know about you, but that’s more than different. It’s inhuman,” Talmot said.

Charlie’s head fell. Sure, he didn’t eat a lot, heck he hadn’t been hungry since his powers woke up. Even since then, besides a few dungeon cores, he hadn’t eaten at all. He hadn’t ever needed his diaper changed, either. He still slept, though, not as often as he used to. But did all of that make him inhuman? Was that what being human boiled down to? Eating, sleeping, and pooping. Was Charlie more of a monster because he didn’t do those things? Did it warrant the knights wanting to eliminate him, as Talmot had put it?

Merlin shook his head. Talmot’s words had caught him off guard. “Sure, his needs are a little different, but that doesn’t make him bad. You’re a knight. Shouldn’t you want to help him? You’re the ones who summoned him. Surely you feel at least a little responsible.”

Vetica sighed. “You’re wasting your time with this. We didn’t take him hostage to try to convince him to switch sides or anything. Let’s do what we came here to do.”

Merlin shot her a stern look. “That doesn’t mean I can’t try. If we can make them see things our way, then—”

Talmot cleared his throat. “Has the boy gr… grown at all since you’ve been traveling with him? You weren’t in Troa, as far as I know. But I saw him then. It’s been what? Weeks? Months? In that time, he hasn’t grown at all. He’s the same size that he was when I first laid eyes on him. He hasn’t put on any weight and he’s not any larger. That’s not normal. I know you think that he’s just another kid, but the facts all say otherwise. Why can’t you see that?” Talmot asked.

Merlin turned to look at Charlie. A shocked expression appeared on his face. Charlie could feel Merlin’s eyes scanning him. Charlie was just as surprised. He looked down at his hands; he turned them to face toward him. Charlie really hadn’t grown at all since leaving Richard and Mary. Did other babies really grow faster than he was? Was it because of his powers? A sinking feeling flooded his thoughts.

Would Charlie be a baby forever?

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He’d found ways around the limitations that came with being a baby. He could talk telepathically. His powers and friends let him get around and move quickly during fights. The dungeon granted him the power to protect himself and others. But he’d always just kind of assumed all of those things would get easier as he got older.

Merlin had said something to him during the trip to Arcadeya. He said that lots of children look forward to being adults. Sometimes too much. Merlin said that Charlie should just enjoy being a kid as much as he could. But was that all he would ever get to enjoy? Would Charlie never walk or talk out loud? He’d always imagined Vetica teaching him to fight with weapons, and Merlin teaching him sleight of hand. Talmot’s words left him questioning if any of that would ever be possible.

He looked back at Merlin. “Have I really not grown at all?” Charlie asked his friends. Vetica bit her lip. Merlin shook his head. They didn’t have an answer for him. They didn’t know.

And that felt like all the confirmation Charlie needed. How could he be human if he was so different from other humans?

“None of that matters!” Merlin said suddenly, staring at the floor. “It doesn’t matter. Charlie is a person. A good one!”

Talmot sighed. He looked at each of them, one by one until his eyes fell on Charlie. They were sad, but serious behind his glasses. “I understand how you feel. I shouldn’t have called him…that word. But you have to understand something. All I know is what I saw that day. The boy was in control of his own dungeon. If he’s allowed to grow up, if he even can grow up, imagine the danger he could cause? If his dungeon functions even partially like most do, then he presents an unimaginable threat. He could command hordes of hex beast to overrun cities and became a tyrant. We already heard of the scaler horde in Sange, and I suspect you all had something to do with that. The problem is normal dungeons can’t just get up and walk away once we track them down.

“If that boy grows up to become corrupt, he would be a walking apocalypse. He could blend in with humans in every kingdom in the world, walk right into the capital, and then unleash his power to devastate everyone and everything around him. The two of you are what? Late twenties? Early thirties? Surely you’re old enough to remember the days before the hero from another world liberated us? What it was like when dungeons sent hordes deep into our cities? The kingdoms of the world were all on the verge of ruin. Many of them were ruined. This boy has the potential to throw us right back to those times. But this time there won’t be a hero to save us. We’ll be lost. I think about a future where this child is allowed to grow up and all I can see is despair.”

Charlie hadn’t heard about any of that before. This wasn’t like the ancient story about the Hex King. Whether that had happened was up for debate, but Talmot was talking about this hero from another world as if it had happened in Merlin and Vetica’s lifetime. Dungeons used to be that bad? That recently? It sounded like it had taken a special hero to save the world. Hearing Talmot say all that made Charlie wonder, was running away really the right thing to do? What if the knights were right about him? Of course, he never intended to be a bad guy, but what if his powers overwhelmed him? Or he lost control of the beasts inside his dungeon? What if he hurt people, even if he didn’t mean to?

He looked down at the ground. “Merlin, Vetica, maybe I should just go with them.”

Vetica shook her head. “Charlie, what are you talking about? Don’t listen to him!” she cried out.

Merlin held a hand up toward her. She furrowed a brow in his direction. “What?” she asked.

Merlin sighed and looked at Talmot. Once again, he wasn’t answering Charlie directly. Maybe Merlin felt the same way. Maybe he agreed with Talmot and had reached the same conclusion. Charlie’s powers were just too dangerous. He didn’t want to hurt people. The thought of it made him sick to his stomach. Talmot was right, Charlie didn’t cry about things other babies did. He didn’t get hungry, or have to use the bathroom, and he certainly didn’t nap as often as he once did. But right now, he did feel like crying. He knew nothing about his powers. For all he knew, he could actually be the threat that Talmot and the other knights feared he was. The Nae Glera hadn’t intended to hurt people either, but Sen had taken him over. Sen had wanted to turn Charlie into some kind of vessel. If the dungeon core of Sange had been successful…

Talmot’s fears might’ve come to life.

“Listen, Talmot. You too, Charlie,” Merlin said. “You’re right about one thing. I am old enough to remember the days before the hero saved us. I remember how scary it was. Until one day, the royal family summoned a man who gave us hope. I understand how it feels to look toward the future and see nothing but despair. I was there too until recently.” Merlin looked at Charlie over his shoulder for a moment before turning back to their hostage.

“But I want you to imagine a different future. What if that boy you’re so worried about grew up to be a protector of humanity, instead of its destroyer? What if he called upon his powers to save us, rather than ruin us? And what if he could conquer the other dungeons and slay or command even the most powerful hex beasts? It would be like the hero had returned, wouldn’t it? Someone the kingdom of Aysela…no, the world could put our hopes in again. That’s the future I see, and every day by Charlie’s side makes me feel like we’re a few steps closer to making that reality. Someone told me recently about the importance of having a dream. I think this is my dream, this is my hope. At least, part of it. I want to see this little boy grow up into the man I believe he’ll be. I’ll do anything in my power to make sure he gets to. So, I won’t let you or the rest of the knights or even an army put an end to him just because you’re afraid of some hypothetical scenario. Instead of demonizing him, help him. Are you telling me that even with all the resources of the hex knights, you couldn’t help him train? You couldn’t guide him rather than hunt him down like a monster? I just don’t believe that’s the only way you can see forward.” Merlin sighed. He turned toward the door.

“He’s wrong about you, Charlie, and I’d stake my life on that.” Merlin stared at Charlie for a moment. He nodded and then opened the door. He turned back to Talmot one last time before exiting. “Hex Knight, I know right now you can only see a future full of despair and fear. But know that there will always be room on the side of hope. I’ll be waiting for you to realize that. In the meantime, I need some air.”

The door shut behind him. Talmot was speechless.

Vetica jumped up, twirling her knife in hand. “Finally!”

“No, Vetica. You still can’t hurt him,” Charlie said. His thoughts lingered on Merlin’s words. Did Merlin really believe all that? Sometimes Merlin said the most incredible things on the fly. He could make up stories that sounded like they were so real. That gift of his had gotten them out of dangerous situations a lot already. But this time, Charlie thought Merlin was being genuine. Did Merlin really believe that Charlie could be a protector of humanity? Did he really think Charlie could live up to someone as revered as this hero from another world? It was a lot to take in.

It was a lot of pressure.

Talmot shuddered, and his head shot up. He turned to look over his shoulder at the window behind him. “That was quite a speech. I almost want to believe him, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I would advise you all to surrender, but Brandt won’t accept it. For that, I truly am sorry,” Talmot said.

Vetica’s eyes widened. She hurried to the window and peeked behind the curtain.

“What is it?” Charlie asked.

She held a hand toward him. “I don’t see anything. But—”

The door burst open, and Merlin hurried through. “I can’t find Marvin. He’s gone, so is the wagon.”

Vetica flinched. She dropped her knife and ran toward Charlie. “Get down!” she called out.

“What?” Merlin asked.

“Get down!” she yelled again, as she dove toward Charlie.

At the same time, fire burst through the house’s windows and sent glass scattering through the room.

Vetica covered Charlie with her body. He shrieked. Merlin dove to the ground.

The Hex Knights had found them.