After making sure that the boy fell back to sleep from his little panic, the older man began to make his way towards the door of the only room in the log cabin. The room containing nothing but a small table and chair, with an odd pyramid shaped crystal lying in the middle of the table. Going inside the room, he made his way to the chair and spent a few moments getting comfortable again.
A few seconds passed before he moved to touch the crystal on the table. With a light tap, it began to give off a slight dim and a low hum. Just as quickly as the crystal came into activity, a voice began to be heard from the crystal.
"So what was it this time." Came a voice with uncertain gender as the crystal made it sound more machine, distorting the original. The crystal giving off dim flashes of light as it matched the voice.
"I did not get the full story. But it makes me believe it to be a dream about a moment in Elfred's time." He replied with a face deep in thought, almost as if trying to recollect a lost memory.
"How important can those moments be, Elfred has been gone for hundreds of years. I do not know how any of the events that took place in his time could affect us now. Could you be wrong?" Came the reply from the crystal, giving off its flashes matching the voice.
"I do not believe so, he mentioned black armored knights. No knights currently wear black armor, unless they are part of the association. His ability also gives him dreams of the past or future and never the present, at least not yet. The only group with black armor in the past is Elfred's man." Answered the old men as he looked at the door, almost trying to see through the door and the young boy beyond.
"Any chance you may have gotten the ability he has wrong?"
"I Begin to ask myself that. At first, the ability was fully similar to his mothers. But as time went on, he began seeing things that did not make sense. Now I begin to wonder if it's even the same as his mothers or something new." Came the reply as he grasped a locket around his neck. A silver locket with golden trim and decorations in its face and back. The decorations forming a bit of nature team, showing deers and other small animals among trees.
"We will be sure to keep an eye on him; help as we can." Came the response from the crystal. Almost as trying to reassure the old man.
Unresponsive, he sits on his chair, staring at his hand that appears to seem to be fading slowly. The locket he held falling on the table as it passed through the hand holding it.
"...James, are you alright?"
"Hm.. Sorry, what were you saying?" He replies as he shakes his hand as the fading look appearance disappears.
"Is it happing again? How much time do you have left?"
"Not much, I must leave within the month, maybe a little longer." He says as he leans back on the chair and staring into the ceiling. "You know, every time I came back, I would always end up a legend. Strange knowing this time around it won't be me." Answered James, giving himself a small smile. Leaning back on the chair, remembering fond memories of the past.
"Hope you are training him properly."
"I hope I am as well. The boy shows promise." He replies with a chuckle.
No sound came from the crystal for a few moments. The room becoming quiets, the of crickets and other animals being heard. "Seems something came up on our end. Sorry to leave like this but I must attend to it. We will see you soon, James, things are about ready on our end."
"You guys take care, ill be sending the boy off and heading your way soon." He replies as he taps the small pyramid-shaped device and heads out of the room and the direction of his bed.
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"Seth, Wake up." Came a muffled voice. Seth, the boy in the bed, barely hearing the sound proceeded to raise the bed sheets the rest of the way to fully cover himself. "Wake up boy, before you fuse with the bed!" Came the muffled voice again, this time louder. With a few mumbled words, Seth rolled around in his bed. With a sharp pain on his lower back, Seth's mind finally clear and awake.
"mm... nicer ways to wake a person up, you know." Came a muffled reply from the bed as the bed sheets began to slide off him. "Like a simple shake, a low shout, or even just waiting." He finished as he turned in bed to face James.
"Waiting will not get us nowhere. Now put your clothes back on and eat. A lot we must do today." Replied James as he looked over at the bed looking at the boy, long black hair and slight toned build.
"So what do you have planned today. More torture, I'm sure. Maybe you finally decided to toss me off the cliff today." Came the reply, with a hint of fear of what horrible lesson James would put him through today, as he put on his clothes and making his way to sit on the table.
"Tempting offer it'll teach you to think quick and use your resources around you." Grinned the older man and sending a chill down the kid. "But it would not be torture if you just opened that brain of yours and shove the lessons inside. You are quite good at remembering everything but the things you need to."
Sitting down on the table, James placed a wooden plate in front of the boy before proceeding to sit across him on the table. "Now today will not be as hard. Today we will go over everything I have thought you and hope you managed to keep everything in that head." Said James as he took some bites of his food, some cooked eggs, dried meat, a toasted loaf of bread, and some cheese.
Taking a drink after filling his cup from a jug on the table, James looked at the boy. "... now tell me this dream of yours. Not often, I see you shoot straight up from your bed."
"I just remember this forest village. It was on fire, and people were screaming and running away from this dark colored knights with cloaks..." He began to talk before stopping, his face in slight pain as he began to remember and looking like he is trying to fight himself from remembering.
"Your gift lets you see things that happened or will happen. Most gifts people get are good, but some do carry a burden with them. You are a bit unlucky to inherit this one. But do remember, everything you see has importance to them."
Looking over at the boy, head down and plate with its food barely eaten. Wanting to give him a few moments to think about his dream, James began to quickly finish his food and start to stand. "Practice can be a good way to help one make sense of things." He speaks as he finishes his meal and standing up, grabbing a bag and two wooden swords. "Meet me outside once you finish."
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Stepping out of the door, James can be seen taking a few practice swings. "Glad to finally see you come out. Have you had time to put everything in order?" Spoke the older man as he glanced over to see the boy make his way to him, still swinging his wooden sword around an imaginary foe.
"Is there anything you can tell me about my dream? Every time I have one of them, you seem to know more about them than i." The boy asked as he watched the older man swing his wooden sword. He began to walk closer to him, eyes mostly focused on his swings as if trying to memorize them. "Most of my dreams are not much. But some times they are bigger and longer than the rest." He finished saying as he stopped a couple of feet from his practice spot. Trying his best not to stay within reach of his practice, lest he gets forced to start training right away. "Then in times that I tell you my dreams, you seem to know more of them than I do."
"It is not that I know more. I just happened to have read more in my life than most people out their can, let alone want. I have also had the honor to read books that no longer exist." He replied to the boy as he finished his practice with a single forward swing. Grabbing the other wooden sword, he walks over and stops in front of the boy. "Through large and annoying efforts, I have read the books in the library inside Merlin's tower. The kind kings would rather be burned."
"let us start today's training. See if you can still fight. Now today will not be as hard as all the others. Just trying to review how far you have come." Handing him the other sword, he walks a couple feet away. He lifts his sword, the boy doing much the same. Before long they get settled into a rhythm of slashing at one another and parrying.
"To further answer the question you asked. During my readings, only one group of knights have ever worn black colored armor with cloaks covering them." He continued to say as he blocked one of the blows and quickly switching to a side swing. The boy nearly failing to prevent as he got hit on the side from the tip of the sword but blocking the rest. "Now, this moment happened hundreds of years past. Not sure as too why this moment was the one you had." He finished as he got ready to swing once more. The boy taking a few steps back as he got into a guard position, sword held straight in front of him.
"So who is Elfred. He appeared to be the one in charge of them." He asked as he tried a feint on him, only getting blocked and tapped on the head by the sword.
"He was a man long ago who was seen as a hero. There was almost no one in the lands that did not know of him." He replied as he went in for a side swing, only to switch midway to a downswing and giving him another tap on the head. "But some time later, each story different from the rest, he went mad from a vision he claimed to have seen. A vision where he saw the extinction of our race." He stopped speaking for a while as he saw the boy bent down on the ground and rubbing both spots were he got hit. More focused on getting rid of the pain than hearing the story.
"If you picked up the sword better, you would not be getting hit as much." He said as he gestured to the boy to stand and resume fighting.
"You could also go easier." He replied as he began to stand again, readying his sword and still rubbing one of the bruises.
"If I did, you would learn little."
Readying his sword once more, he charged at the boy. Aiming for a stab in the chest. Soon as it got blocked, he quickly switched to upward cut. The boy also managed to dodge it with only a scratch to the chin. Holding the sword with both hands, he managed to block the strike coming to his head.
"It is through the pain that we can grow and learn from the mistake that we make." Said the old man with a small chuckle at seeing the boy blocked his third attempt to tap him in the head. "Like I was saying, this vision he claimed to have seen, had made him desperate. Before long, he began to take actions to avoid it. At first, it was just simple vocal actions until he had gained himself a following."
Stopping the training for a while, James took a few feet back. The boy staring at the old man, seeing him stare off as if remembering lost memories. "Something wrong. You seem lost in thought." Asked the boy, seeing the old men inactivity.
"Just remembering the story I read. Let us take a short rest." He replied as he began Walking to the edge of the forest. Arriving at the edge of the clearing, he sits on the ground and uses the fallen tree as a backrest. "In the end, Elfred began to take drastic measures. Before long, villages began to burn."
Joining James and sitting beside him. Looking to his side, he sees James with his head staring down with his last words quieter. "You seem to know more about him than simple reading. I don't think this story would affect you as much otherwise." Seth asked James as he was pulling some jerky from the bag and a few waterskins.
"Perhaps, or maybe I just get too emotional with this type of stories." Replied James as he handed Seth some jerky and the waterskin. "Anyway, sometime later, he just disappeared. Along with the ones following him at the time."
Some time went on as they both sat, Seth not wanting to disturb James. Silence filled everything around them as the only sounds were of the wild animals. Feeling like not sitting around too much, Seth stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff were their makeshift backrest to their earthly chairs are. Looking below, seeing nothing but a forested area and a small open clearing at the base of the cliff.
A few seconds later, about four deer ran past the edge of the bottom of the clearing. Followed behind a pack of wolves, the last one being grappled by a branch of a tree. The grappled wolf vanishing among the other branches of the tree, yelping along the way. The rest of the pack halting for a few seconds before deciding to keep running after the deer to be the better choice.
"I think we have a mimic down below us." Told Seth as he watched blood start falling along the sides the trees before turning to James.
"If it is in a tree shape, we will be fine. It'll take a few years before it makes its way up to us. Unless it changes its shape that is.?" Replied James, finishing up his jerky. "Come, let us continue our practice."