Lanetli pauses his story as they approach the docks, seeing the waves frozen in place was an odd experience, especially given Alex's love for the ocean. It looks like a picture, taken with the highest definition camera shown on the highest definition screen. Lanetli walks up to one of the boats, one big enough to make it across the ocean, but small enough that it could be piloted by two people and a chicken.

"We won't need to take a boat, but I don't feel like conjuring one," says Lanetli. Alex just grunts as he shoves the shopping cart full of supplies across the dock and towards the boat. In the small town, he knew it was Mr. Anderson's boat, more commonly known as Old Man River, for how much he loved being on the water, even as a seventy-year-old man. Alex had gone sailing with him on more than one occasion, knowing the man was starting to lose touch with reality, someone had to keep him safe and Alex loved the ocean almost as much as he had. He had started doing crazy things, but Alex was happy to roll with it, twisting his fits to mesh with reality.

Alex did not want to take this boat. Old Man River was very particular about this boat, and he would kill anyone for touching it without his permission, and he would know. He had too many memories on this boat, and Alex couldn't even comprehend how much the man loved this boat specifically.

"What if I conjured a boat?" asks Alex.

"What?" is all Lanetli asks.

"You won't, and Old Man River has too many memories with this boat. He would never forgive us if we used it. You can teach me to conjure, so I'll do it." says Alex.

"You do realize that guy's bat shit crazy right?" asks Lanetli.

"Yeah, but he still has a mind, has those memories. He is still human, madness doesn't change that, it just adds depth to his character."

"I can see why madness likes you. But, you learning to conjure a boat would take too long." Lanetli says. He waves his hand and a boat around the same size appears further down the dock, with a similar build and a name scrawled across the bow of the ship.

"Really? That's What Sea Said? You really couldn't just leave it nameless or something?" Asks Alex as soon as he sees the boat's name.

"You wanted a different boat, I made one. No complaints," he says. Alex just shakes his head and forces the shopping cart forward. Lanetli was already on the boat, and as Alex approached he realized how hard it would be to get the cart onto the boat.

"I should just move the stuff from the cart in batches, right?" asks Alex. Major General Bakaw rolls his fowl eyes and Lanetli just picks the cart up with one hand, pulling it onto the boat. Alex simply shrugs and realized there isn't a board to get on with, and the distance between the dock and deck was not insignificant. Alex jumps as high as he can, barely holding on to the edge of the boat. He scrambles slowly up the side of the boat to see Lanetli smiling at him as he slowly pulls himself up. "You wanna help?"

"Not really, this is fun to watch."

"Asshole," Alex mutters as he swings his leg on board and pulls the rest of his body on, glaring daggers at the powerhouse that laughs at his struggle.

"Well, now that you're on, let's get on with this, it's a long way to Europe and we only have so many resources," says Lanetli, getting up from where he had sat on a bench. Alex scrambled to get the boat on its way out, pulling cords and tying knots until the boat was speeding away from the harbor, out to sea.

After a time of manning the sails and stabilizing the boat, it started moving in the direction they wanted with no help from the sailors, and they no longer had to micromanage it. Lanetli sits down, pulling a compass from his jacket and setting it down next to him. Alex took a seat nearby, waiting for the rest of the story.

Lanetli took a deep breath and his story fell from his lips like stones, clearly a tale that still affected him, even so many years later.

----------------------------------------

I knew who the kid was, and I saw his past, knowing that the kid might believe that I had destroyed the world with malicious intent, but I trusted that a balance mage would see what I had done as a cost for humanity's continued existence.

I trained, ignoring the fact that the child had immediately run off when he saw me. He had left the garden in an attempt to spread nature from the gardens and revitalize the world from the one nexus. He believed that I had died, though his parents had never said as much, they did seem to have made the assumption after I disappeared nearly a century prior.

I was fine with that, working to incarnate on my own and letting them work their magic on the world around them. I had made minimal progress in the years but I was fine with that. I tried to become my icon, embodying Time as best as I could, but I couldn't get there, not with how I was working. I needed something, some, lack of sensation, some way to leave my body behind and feel nothing more than the passing of Time. I didn't allow my limitations to ruin my drive. Every moment I dawdled Elysia suffered a moment longer without me.

It had been a long Time but I gave her my inhuman heart after it was shattered and pasted back together with madness and war. Even in death, my love was stronger for her than for anything else.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

I was training for many years more when I heard a noise and saw the shadow of Cain and Able approaching before they did. I moved forward to meet them. They had grown from children, strong in mind soul, and body. Cain had found Balance, and Able had found peace in Sacrifice, growing strong connections to them fairly early in life.

"You're Lanetli, aren't you?" asked Cain. Able seemed much more withdrawn than Cain, who seemed to be flying at the situation with rage rather than calm questioning.

"I am," I responded with a smile. I did like these boys, they had a strong sense of morals even before I left. I recognized that they lived incredibly long lives for mortals, likely both having a power that extends their lives.

"I charge you with destroying the world and having not paid a significant price for your actions. The punishment is death, how do you plea?" asked Cain quickly, clearly preparing for a fight.

"Cain, calm down, there's something strange about him, and I don't think he did it for a bad reason. Mom and Dad said something about a world overrun." said Able, coming to my defense and looking at me questioningly.

"I can explain," I started.

"You don't have to. I know your crimes, and I can make you pay for them. An eye for an eye." says Cain, who lunges forward.

"Cain! Let him explain! I can tell he sacrificed a lot to get where he is." Able says, pulling Cain back after I dodge his first attack with ease, hands never coming from behind my back. I place my curse on each one of them slowly, so that they don't notice.

"I was in a dark place, I was in a war and I saw the darkest parts of humanity. . ." as I started my story I got a new power, one that would allow me to show fellow magi the past as if they had experienced it themselves. "Let me show you," I said. I reached out and touched my thumbs to Cain and Able's foreheads, twisting the magic in the area into the patterns necessary, and I showed them the highlights. They had a good idea of events, they just needed some final touches on the story. As soon as I pulled away Cain attacked, Able supporting him, blood dripping from his nose as he sacrificed his life force to empower his brother. I was able to quickly parry the rapier of Balance with my sword, dancing back. I didn't want to hurt the boys, but they were after my life.

I couldn't let them take it. Not before I was ready. I danced around their attacks, each thrust of Cain's blade coming faster than the last, Able swaying on his feet as he tried to uphold the enhancement. Blood dripped from his ears as well as both nostrils, sacrificing himself for greater power. Cain also appeared to have a power that increased his physical abilities by a certain amount, dependent on the strength of the opponent. As I was much stronger, he quickly maxed out that power.

Able fell backward, and I used my eternal moment to catch him and lay him gently on the ground before returning to fight with Cain. Able was still conscious, but he couldn't uphold his power any longer.

"Able! From me!" said Cain, eyes never leaving my form. Those words filled a requisite of a power from Sacrifice and Able started absorbing the life force of Cain. It wasn't a bad tactic and could save Able's life, but it was a terrible plan in the midst of battle, far better to let the support mage heal on his own while the upfront fighter-type mage bought Time. These kids didn't know that, and I wasn't about to exploit the weakness.

I let both boys reach an equilibrium, simply watching. They looked on and saw that I hadn't taken a single scratch, and I hadn't attacked once in the entire battle.

"Cain, we can't win. We need to retreat." said Able as he stood and slowly started backing away from me, never turning his back on the perceived enemy.

"I agree, we need a better plan next time," said Cain as he too backed away slowly. I turned my back, sitting down and meditating on the battle, on what I had learned. It wasn't a hard-fought battle, I learned very little other than the character of the boys. They were good kids, and I needed them to survive so that the human race could continue, with or without me.

About a week later I felt a pull on the ambient magic in the area. I felt where it was coming from and ran through the pyramid to investigate, fearing an attack by an entity seeking the destruction of the world. Upon exiting the pyramid I saw that it was just a large ritual being enacted by the boys. Cain had gained a ritual of forced justice, a punishment that was, in fact, illegal during the time of civilization. It technically created a balanced way to pay off issues, and they couldn't die, couldn't hurt others, and couldn't do anything without extending the punishment, which caused excruciating pain. It made the weight of your actions physical, rather than emotional. And it was almost impossible to pay off.

Cain smiled as I dropped into the circle. Rage twisted my face for the first time since the conception of the two boys, and their smiles fell from their faces, quickly being replaced with terror. I rushed at them, looking to hit Cain hard enough that the ritual failed without killing the boy, but as I drew close to the edge of the ritual Able held up a hand, and a red barrier sprung into place, halting me in my tracks. I pulled my blade from the pyramid, hacking and slashing at the barrier, but Able could pump his life force into it faster than I could deal damage.

It was killing the kid, but I just hacked at the barrier as fast as I could, using my eternal moment to finally deal enough damage to the barrier to break it, only for another to be waiting behind it. During my eternal moment, I broke that one too, and I dismissed my blade as the moment ended, pulling back my fist and aiming right for the chest, right where he was channeling the magic through.

Able stepped up, taking the blow for his brother. The damn kid was persistent and had a strong sense of morals, but he didn't know what he was doing. He was a good kid, but he couldn't get in the way of stopping this ritual. I blew him off his feet, blood flying from his mouth as I broke bones on impact.

I felt the magic around him shiver as he got a new power, and I could tell it would be useful for his situation. "No!" was all I could shout before he drained the last of his life force into a barrier, and his corpse exploded with magic that was quickly funneled into the ritual by Cain, who had tears streaming down his face. I could tell that part of the power made it really easy to revive him, but I was confident that his icon didn't tell him that there was no living person with the ability to revive, even immediately after death. "Damn it Able!" I shouted as I tried to break this last barrier, his final act.

The ritual was completed, forcibly setting the curse on me. I could feel the weight of my actions, none taking into account why I did what I did, or what I had done to make up for it until now. The curse didn't care and would feed on me to power itself.

I wasn't fast enough. I couldn't break the ritual.