“...What…”

“I’ve travelled back in time… my god…” Owins voice cracks.

“Owin. Stop acting crazy… that's not even possible.”

“Nialuc! I'm from 1211!”

“No. No that can’t be. You must be delusional or something. Amnesia. Mind tricks. Why would you even think-”

“The church Nialuc! I know that symbol!”

“Oghma?”

“In my time his name has been banned and forgotten. There's no doubt! These buildings! These paths!”

“Well- Then how do you know about him?”

“I’ve studied the forbidden texts of my order. It's no wonder you don't know what chivalry is! No wonder I don't know your god! His name has been forgotten in my time. It must be!”

“Owin! That's not possible! The gods rule the world with supreme power! They would never allow such a distortion of the natural laws! Much less, such magic or power must be divine in nature to even be considered possible… its not…”

“We have to find the other tablet now! I have to go back!”

“... You didn't have it when you arrived… wherever you came from, it's probably still there.”

Owin snatches the tablet around Nialucs waist and grips it tightly, staring into it. Shaking it violently. “Take me back! I want to go back!”

“Owin! Calm down!” Nialuc rips the item from his hands.

“How does this work?! Have I changed history!? This could be catastrophic!”

“Owin listen!” Nialuc grabs the knight by the shoulders, lifting him into the air.

“We can figure this out… We need to find someone who can read the text on these tablets”

“What's the biggest, most developed city in the area?”

Nialuc sets Owin back down, calmer and embraced in thought. “Hm… Our best bet is probably Emba actually… the place I was originally going to go”

“God damnit! I’ve wasted so much time! Lets go now!”

“Alright alright. But it's a long way”

“How long? How far from Abkbir?”

“Its the next one east from Abkbir”

“What? I took that route to the swamp, I’ve never heard of Emba. From Abkir its Kerzagel, Meltane and then off the road before Korka south”

“No.. Its Abkbir, Emba, Meltane and then Korka”

“Maybe its name got changed in the future… Agh It doest matter! Thats almost a 5 day trip for me on foot!”

“It's only 2 for me. I don't need to eat, drink or sleep. If you can stomach no food for a bit we’ll get there in 2.”

“Then go go!”

“Hop on my back”

Nialuc turns around and Owin jumps on. The two speed off, retracing their steps and hurry west.

“Do you think Hiterito has recovered by now and is on his way? It's been less than 2 hours.” Owin asks, deep in thought and concern.

“I don’t know. I should be able to sense his approach. It's not a pleasant feeling”

“Let’s just hurry” Owin buries his face in Nialucs shoulder. “I pray I haven't already destroyed the future…”

Darkness. An incomprehensible depth of darkness surrounds her. She has curled herself up in the corner. Every slight movement makes the floorboards creek beneath her. Even with her frail body and slim figure, she feels like the ground will break beneath her weight. The wood feels as hollow as the dark room. It’s empty, or at least as far as she can see, only a metre or so around her. Though she chooses to keep her face tucked between her legs, buried in her thick black robes, matching the colour of her long hair, both dirty and worn. The outer layer of her robe is rough, but the inside is sown in with bright red fur to keep her warm. It's the only thing on her which managed to stay somewhat clean and bright. She can’t help but take occasional peeks at the room, hoping, praying it's something other than the void. The room was a normal one when she first got here. She does her best to remember what it looked like. A cracked bed frame in the back left corner, the mattress was torn to pieces just outside in the hallway. There was a nicely carved wardrobe in the middle against the back wall, big enough to accompany two people. A shelf and worktable pushed up by the walls next to the entrance. Papers and old books were scattered on them. On the table there was a ripped picture of a man and woman, torn straight down the middle. They looked happy. The picture had drops of dried out water on it. A ring sat comfortably next to a silver necklace on an unopened letter stamped with a red heart. There was a tear at the top of the envelope but not enough to be opened. It didn’t matter. It was all gone in the void. The darkness wasn’t from the absence of light, but the absence of everything. She doesn't fear the dark, not anymore. No. She fears the thing that lives in the void. It is empty, it must be. Yet she can feel it. There is no smell, no sound, no sight of anything, but it rings in her ears, her head. In the back of her head there’s a constant shrill chirping of a little bird. It was pleasant at first, but the more she listens, the more it sounds like calling out for help. It sounds desperate, alone. It echoes in quiet but constant tones through her head. The uneven pitter patter of a raindrop hitting a metal sheet. A string of a harp, strung and played like a wave, distorted, reverberating as if it were 3 crooked notes in one. She shudders. Tears edge at her shut eyes. The ringing won’t stop. It’s taken the house. Why did she come here? She should have stayed in the village. At least there, she could hear other people walking around, talking as she suffered in silence. How could she think she could escape the void? It's endless. Now she's alone. At any second it could eat her whole. She dares not make a sound.

I don't want to be alone anymore!

I’m stuck here forever… I don’t want to live like this… Please…

Someone find me.

Someone help me.

Kill me…

The void follows her wherever she goes. Why did she come to this place? The abandoned mansion in the middle of the woods. Kids in the village call it the haunted house. What was going through her mind when she decided to do this? Tears spill onto her robe.

Owin grumbles. He’s shaken awake, barely clinging onto the lancers back. “Nughh…”

His stomach growls louder than him. Vision misty from sleep, he rubs them open. “Uhhg… So hungry…”

“We’re here”

Nialuc treads on. In front of them along a larger dirt path, ladened with large stones on the side, there stands a massive city surrounded by an even larger wall. Cobblestone wrapped in metal wire and chain. Old archer towers and large wooden chain gates. Just over the tip of the wall Owin can see some of the roofs. Some made of straw, others of wood. Particularly there is another large dome, this one bigger than the last and made of smoothstone and coloured glass. The banners of Oghma presented proudly yet again.

“... Much more developed”

“Welcome to Emba. My home.”

A church bell rings in the distance.

“I need a break Nialuc…”

“We’ll get you something to eat on the way. We’re heading to the city hall.”

As they approach the large gate, manned by guards in chain armour, they look out and point at them. One of them signals to a soldier on the top of the wall. They exchange more signals and the metal bars before the wooden gate begins to rise. As they reach the front, the guards walk over and pull the gate open, nodding a greeting to Nialuc who returns to gesture.

The city is lively. Musicians play in the streets. Children run about unimpeded and horses are now more commonly seen on the roads. The houses are larger, with more emphasis on nicer architecture. A combination of cut stone, carved planks and nails form more familiar houses to Owins perspective. Stalls and shops are placed all throughout the open ways. People exchange gold and food. Nialuc stops for a moment to grab a peculiar circular green fruit with a tint of yellow. He smiles at the seller who gives him a simple wave, not caring to stop him from taking it.

Nialuc raises it to Owins mouth, who squints at the unrecognisable object.

“I thought you were hungry”

“This doesn’t even look ripe”

“It is. Just bite it.”

Reluctantly he does. White juice spirits from the fruit, spraying onto both their faces.

“Not that hard!”

“Youn..mnfh… didnmt mentionmn..” Owin muffles back as he licks and chews on the leaking fruit, taking it in his hand. The white liquid is sort of thick but tastes like sweet chunky milk. The fruit's skin is layered with a thick but softer pulp which dissolves in his mouth, creating a mix of sour with the sweet.

“Never had a Fade?”

“No.. mgh… its good tho”

“Refreshing. They grow year round”

“Tastes a little unhealthy. I wonder why we don’t have them in the future…”

“They’re actually very healthy and sweet”

“I can walk on my own now. I’ve had enough rest”

Owin hops off and stretches his legs. Nialuc walks over to another stall with a prepared flame, cooking and selling to passersby. He brings back two sticks skewers with pork.

“Pig on a Stick” Nialuc names, handing one to Owin.

The knight eagerly takes a bite and is immediately disheartened at the lack of spice and small amount of salt. “Mngh..” He grumbles, continuing to eat to satiate his hunger.

They hurriedly walk through the streets, actually paved with stone.

“Why to the town hall?”

“If there’s one person in Emba who can read what's on this tablet, it's going to be Ezra”

“Who’d he?”

“She. A vampire who’s lived maybe half as long as me.”

“Vampire!?”

“...yeah. Is that not something you have in… wherever you’re from?”

“No. They’re pretty much outcasts”

Owin looks around the streets to get a gauge of the races around here. “Then again. I’m seeing a lot of diversity. Dragonborns, Lizard folk, Elfs, Humans, Centaurs, Minotaurs…”

“Emba is known for its diversity. Not many places accept dragonborns.”

“In my world too.”

They turn and walk onto a central street. The city hall comes into view. It's less a Hall and more a castle, just smaller. Towers line its roof and large glass windows as well as fancy carved doors and bug gates surround its walls. Colourful banners fly in the wind. Red with a white line across it and a white box in the middle along with 3 golden eagles around the top of the banner. They walk inside. People fill the main hall, with people crowded in lines leading towards officials sitting behind desks with books and quills. Overly pompous staircases lead onto the second floor with balconies overlooking the centre hall. Nialuc turns and heads toward a door behind a pillar near an unused corridor. Owin follows with curiosity, taking in the, to him, unusual layout. Behind the door, a rotating staircase leading down. It begins to get colder and they descend. Guards sometimes walk past them up to the hall, not batting an eye at Nialuc but certainly sizing Owin up along the way. Finally, they reach a dim underground hallway. Knocking on the last door and walking in, Owin is presented with a big room furnished with dark wooden floor boards, carved walls and ceiling. Bookshelves line the walls and a massive circular table fits in the middle of the room, scattered with maps, open novels and history scriptures. There is a massive map nailed to the back wall with a tall muscular man dressed in a fresh suit staring at it, not minding the entrance of the two men. His hair is black, comed but still a little wild, his arms are crossed behind his back as he stares intensely at the map. Owin, taking a glance at it himself, tries to make it out. It's a dark room, lit only by two candles on the table. By way of what he can see on the paper, Owin familiarised himself slightly with the geography. Eastern Europe. There is light blue painted on it, marking a large eastern territory where most of the polish culture lies in his world today. It is marked with the name ‘Ognian league’. Further west, in central Europe, where to his knowledge the German part is contained, there is an even bigger territory marked as the ‘Kingdom of the Grey Crown’.

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The man turns around after many seconds of silence. The door closes behind them independently. Nialuc waits patiently until the man is ready. The man's face looks like that of a 30 to 40 year old human with a long, tired but calm expression and a very unkempt stubble forming around his chin.

“Gentlemen. Nialuc”

His voice is deep and a slight growl comes out at the end of his every word.

“Is Ezra home?”

“No, she’s been gone for several weeks. West with a research expedition”

“...Shit.”

“What do you want with my daughter?”

“This.” Nialuc takes the tablet from his waist and hands it to the man.

“Hm” He ponders over it.

“Can you read it? Or at least tell what it is? I recognize only a few words”

“It is clearly Celtic in some way. Not gaelic”

“No wonder I can’t read it'' Nialuc sighs, slightly relieved to find out it isn't Gaelic and he hasn't fully lost his ability to read it. He thinks.

“Maybe some sort of Archaic era language. In any case, it's more than ancient”

“Can you get it to work?”

The man glances up, raising an eyebrow “It's an artefact?”

“Apparently. This knight,” he gestures at Owin, “Managed to somehow open an identical one in his world and got transported here”

“Peculiar. I don't sense any magic from it”

“It's true! I’m from the future!”

Nialuc and the man both turn to him with widened eyes, one slightly angry, the other concerned.

“Oh my… He must have suffered some sort of mind bending”

“Yeah I think so too” Nialuc agrees.

“What? No, it's true! I come from the year 1211!”

“Impossible” They both say at the same time.

Owins face reddens slightly in frustration.

“Whatever! I need to get back!”

“I can’t help much, I'm afraid. ”

“It's alright. I didn't expect you to”

“I will let you know when Ezra returns. She will happily help.”

“Yeah… sure”

Nialuc turns to leave. Owin doesn’t move. “Sir. We need to get this figured out now. Is there anyone you know who can help?”

“Owin, lets go”

“What, do you know how to fix this?”

“I said lets go”

“Nialuc! Time is precious! We-”

“Exactly!” Nialuc stares back into Owins eyes with sharp anger, making the knight freeze.

“Im sorry for bothering you sir Harland”

Harland looks at them both, his peaceful face never fading. “No bother. Apologies I wasn’t able to provide you anything”

Nialuc grabs Owin by the arm, pulling him out of the room and down the hall. Owin doesn’t bark back this time. The door closes by itself once more. As Nialuc drags Owin out of the building, he can’t help but speak up again.

“Do we have a plan?”

“I definitely do,” Nialuc responds, letting Owin go without facing him. “Im going to say my goodbye’s”

“Wait. So you’re giving up?!”

“Honestly I wasn’t all too invested anyways. Why would I care about your delusions?”

“What?! How can you not believe me?!”

“Even if it's true, It doesn’t matter to me.”

“But this could literally break our understanding of magic and time as we know it!”

“And I don’t care. Leave it to the magicians, theorists and people that aren’t about to die and lose every little thing they care actually about”

“You- but I- what about my home?”

Nialuc begins to walk away, Owin jogging behind him trying to plead.

“Not my problem”

“I saved you”

“And thanks for that. Now I can tell my family i'm going to die”

“You-!... mngh…” Owin grits his teeth at the lancers attitude. He wants to continue berating him but reasons that there’s more pressing issues for him to worry about.

“Give me the tablet then!”

Without stopping or turning, Nialuc tosses the tablet in the air, aimed perfectly for Owin to catch. No more words are exchanged before Owin also turns around and they begin to walk in opposite directions. Yet they don’t get far until someone yells,

“LANCER!”, the words of a man echo in the streets for all to stop and listen. Owin instinctively turns to the source. A man with the head of a bird, his feathers rose red, but the chest and arms of a human with only the legs continuing his bird-like features. He has a determined look on his face, dressed in only loose pants and a coat wrapped around his waist. He’s topless and built like a barbarian, muscular and wide, though probably not even as tall as Owin.

Nialuc stops but doesn't face the man. He already knows who it is. The voice and the noise of his essence beating like heavy drums, each hit sparking like a flame, crackling with fury.

“I’ve finally found you! Face me!” He points a finger at Nialucs back. People watch and whisper amongst themselves as a fight looks imminent. Owin is about to step in, but he bites his tongue and takes a step back instead. Nialuc doesn’t react.

“FACE ME!” The kenku screams.

Without a single reaction sparked, the man puts his finger down. He turns his palms to the sky, holding them close to his sides. Bursts of fire spark from them.

“Fine! Then I’ll kill you with the same disrespect!”

He clenches his fists, the fire in his palms absorb into his hands and form blazes around his arms. He lets out a battle cry as he charges at the lancer, fists raised. Finally Nialuc turns to look at him, only to get punched straight across the face with a fire induced fist. He staggers a foot back. The kenku follows up with a right hook to the face again, then into his stomach with the left. Nialuc takes every hit. His blue, already torn, battlesuit left with black marks on every point of contact. He doesn’t attack back, taking the hits.

The kenku slams his fist into his chest, this time causing the lancer to groan slightly in pain, making him buckle his knees. The kenku smiles and tries to swing at his face again.

Nialuc raises his arm and blocks, his arm firm like a stone wall. He lifts his head to glare into the eyes of the kenku, anger flashing violently in them. The kenku tries to take a step back but before he knows it, the lancers leg is already in the air, burying his foot firmly in the kenkus face. The sheer force of the kick lifting him off the ground and tossing him several metres, crashing down against the pavement. The flames around his arms go out.

Nialuc wipes the burn marks from his face. “Didn’t I tell you not to come here” He says with a deeper voice than usual. His opponent struggles to his feet, holding a hand against his bleeding beak.

“I’ll kill you for what you did to my father!”

“You’re going to kill the killer of a killer. How noble”

“NGHAA!” The kenku can only scream as he charges in anger again, this time flames spreading around his entire body. Nialuc dashes as well, going from 0 to outpacing the wind, appearing in front of the kenku in an instant, who breaks in surprise but doesn’t let himself be intimidated and tries to throw another punch. The lancer catches it with one hand and twists his arm, “Argh!!”

Then follows up by gripping the twisted limb with both his hands, turinging around and flinging him over his back hard into the ground. The earth cracks as the kenkus body slams down and a loud Crack Echoes through the streets. “AAAGGHH!!!”

The kenku screams. His back completely broken.

Nialuc draws his spear and places his foot on the kenku’s chest. The people watch in silence, guards arrive but they don’t intervene, instead blocking off the street from more spectators. Nialucs spear is lifted above the kenkus head, pointing down menacingly.

“I warned you”

“Nialuc!”

The lancer's head turns to Owin, who is holding his blade in his right hand.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Owin prods.

Nialuc scoffs, looking at the ground, then chuckles softly. “Pf… You know... I think I’ve had it with you knight.”

He takes his leg off of the defeated aggressor.

“You’ve already won. There is literally no point in-”

“Or what sapphire?! You gonna stop me?”

Owins eyes squint and focuses on the lancer. “Don’t you dare kill him”

“I don't know what this chivalry thing you made up is. But your bullshit ideology is starting to really piss me off”

“You have no right to decide his fate”

“I am literally chosen by GOD to be the judge! Hell, you don’t even know him. You don’t know what he’s done!”

“Neither do I for you. So I will treat you as equals.”

“I don’t care what you think. He’s a criminal! Your idiotic form of equality will cause more death for those who wouldn’t commit it and more life for those who do.”

“Everyone deserves to better themselves. Everyone can be better and they deserve to be brought back from wherever they’ve fallen to. Evil isn’t born, its created”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Guess what your actions have led to. This man wouldn’t be dying right now if you hadn’t helped me. You are causing his death.”

“No. You are. And just like I stopped you from dying, I will stop you from killing”

“For the love of- You don't get to decide! You are talking to the representation of God, the representation of justice! We are made so that proper order can be established. The world needs rules and enforcers so that chaotic types like you don’t send it all to hell”

“Talk about narcissism. Here stands a man as powerful as a demigod, killing someone who can barely even hurt him. Someone with no concept of death deciding who gets to die”

“Oh I’ve DIED! I’ve spent more years dead than you have lived!”

“And still you stand before me, oppressing the ones who don’t get second chances. You get to choose against death itself and now you take away the common people's choice to even live.”

“... I'm not going to waste time doing this. I'm running on the clock just like you. Hiterito is on his way to kill me and I can’t do anything about it. I know death. I know it best. I know the laws, the gods' idea of justice. The supreme deities are our reason for life and death. As such, It will be executed how they see fit. In extension, how I see through them.”

Nialuc turns and takes a step back toward the groaning kenku, who can hear the approach of his imminent fate. Wiggling on the ground desperately to even attempt to move.

“Gem. Evolution.“ Blue aura bursts out into the streets, Owins body burning away his mana with blue flames bursting from his body, his sword and armour absorbed as the sapphire.

Nialuc hears it all. The frenzied orchestra returns. He doesn’t hesitate to turn and dash at Owin, spear aimed straight at his head. The tip directed right in front of his eyes, ready to hit. He is blasted back, Owin pushing his hands forward and force blasting him across the entire width of the street, the air gusting in every direction as Nialucs chest caves inward and he flies above and beyond the kenkus body, smashing into an unoccupied stall on the other side of the road, breaking it down and it collapsing in on him, dust kicking up into the air in thick wads.