Nearly ten years ago, life was simpler, but still very complicated. The people recovered from the rebellion, but the mark it left remained easily felt. It was something less talked about and people wished to ignore it more often. Life had stability again. They were comfortable with their situation.

Deep inside the marble and stone construct of the palace, a young voice screamed in pain. It was loud and piercing, threatening the very stone. Such stone was old and proud, unwilling to bend to the childishness coming from the voice, even if it pained it.

“I can’t take this anymore!” snapped the voice, once more. They threw down what they held and jumped up from the marble floor. “It doesn’t make any sense!”

Across the large chamber from them, an aging man stood with a full head of gray hair. He leaned forward and began marching in silence towards them. His features hardened with wrinkles making his expression more severe. Only a meter away, his feet stopped next to the two things they threw. Loosely staring down, he towered over them. “Pick it back up,” he ordered, in a grave tone.

“But it’s too hard!”

“Your lesson is not over until I say it is.” He started to lift his hand in a slow action. “I said, pick it up.”

They whimpered a little under the booming voice. It made him shrink away. “But you said I could stop whenever.”

“Did you really think I would let you just quit?” His presence grew worse, darkening out much of his face. Only his eyes remained visible to them.

Tears formed in their eyes. They wanted to look away, but couldn’t turn. Something seemed to compel them to stay fixed on his eyes. It was as though being swallowed up by something cold and dark. Emptiness poured out into a deep endless void. “I’m really scared!” they cried, tears pouring down their face.

All the tension popped in a second, along with the shadow covering him. “I’m so sorry, my dear!” He knelt down quickly, hugging her. She wrapped her tiny arms around his neck crying into his shoulder. “It’s alright, Eudokia. Daddy will stop.”

“Daddy’s too scary! Your face was really creepy!”

Eudokia’s honest words pierced his heart, deeply turning his face blue. “Creepy,” he muttered. Hearing his daughter call him creepy made him want to cry.

Chapter 200 – Rewind 2

Once all of the emotions settled down, the two sat on the floor. He handed over the things she dropped. Eudokia still didn’t understand them. “Why do we have to do something so hard? I thought you were going to teach me how to use my power, Daddy.”

“These are part of your lessons as well, dear.” He patted her on the head. A warm smile grew across his face. “I taught you all of the basics, but to advance you need to grow a strong foundation.”

“But how does logic games and number puzzles help?”

He pointed down at the puzzle she tried to complete. Numbers suddenly appeared on the paper completing the puzzle in mere moments, that Eudokia struggled with for what seemed like hours. “It’s not about solving the puzzle. It’s about holding the information in your head. That’s why I’m not allowing you to write any notes on the paper. You need to keep it all in your head and always remember it. It is important with our power to be able to always know where everything is and what it is or else it can’t exist.”

Eudokia nodded to him. “I know that already, Daddy. I was meaning why these, the academy doesn’t used Sudoku for training.”

Her father looked a little surprised to hear such a response. “How do you know what the academy uses for these exercises?”

“Demmy showed me! I asked him after the last lesson.”

He sighed at the thought of having been undermined. “I can’t believe him. He’s too conventional at times. It’s true that the academy has different methods for this and they’ve had millennia to refine it, but it’s not always about doing what’s well tested.” The man nodded to himself, it felt a little weak the way he backed up his words.

She tilted her head to her side, a little confused by her father’s response. “Huh? Is it because you like Japan?”

The question turned his face red in an instant. “What are you talking about, Eudokia?” Denial clearly colored his expression.

“You don’t?” Her head leaned a little more. “But I saw Daddy playing and looking really excited in his closet.”

Jumping up, he realized he was cornered by his own daughter. She discovered his secret, that he thought he kept well hidden from everyone. “When did you?”

“A while ago,” she answered quickly. Eudokia didn’t understand why he acted so strangely. “Daddy looked like he was having fun. You always have a sad look on your face, so I thought you liked it. Am I wrong?”

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She completely disarmed him, but it was innocent and earnest. He sighed and patted her on her head. “You’re not wrong, dear.” He smiled a little for her. ‘I didn’t realize she noticed. I guess I can’t hide my emotions as well as I thought. I’ll have to try to remember to smile a little more for her sake.’

A heavy knock came to the door. It rang out in a particular manner. Both of them seemed to know immediately who it was, as their expression changed. Eudokia jumped up, getting very excited suddenly. She ran over the large stone doors as they slowly opened. “Demmy!” Eudokia shouted enthusiastically.

He looked down at Eudokia, a bit of a wrinkle entered his eyebrow. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to react. She already leapt up and climbed up the tall man. “Lady Eudokia,” he uttered carefully.

Eudokia pouted from her perch on his shoulder. “I told you not to call me that, Demmy! How many times do you have to keep telling you?”

“Until you stop giving me nicknames, Lady Eudokia.”

She crossed her hands in a huff, resistant to his request. “Demmy’s being a meanie.”

He sighed to himself. Stepping into the room, he approached the center where Eudokia left her father. “Your Majesty.” He straightened himself up in the presence of his King.

The King’s face narrowed a little, understanding the difference of their stations. “Demosthenes, you had a safe travel?”

“Yes, Majesty.”

“Hey, no serious talk!” Eudokia leaned in, using her arm wrapped out around Demosthenes’ neck for support, to get in between the two. “Demmy just got back, Daddy!” She carried a rough look with puffed cheeks that only a child could pull off.

“I’m sorry, dear. You two can play shortly, but we need to talk for a minute, alright?” He patted her on the head to comfort her. She glared a little at him, doubting his words. “I won’t steal your time. I bet he brought you a souvenir back from his trip, right?”

“Did you really, Demmy?” Eudokia’s eyes perked up immediately. She turned her attention over to Demosthenes in anticipation.

The pace of the two was a little difficult for him to keep up with, even though he was used to it. Demosthenes dug out of his pocket a small box wrapped up carefully. He presented it to Eudokia. “It’s popular currently in Japan I’m told.”

She accepted the gift. “Will you play with me after you’re done talking?” Her eyes darted between the box and Demosthenes. An excited glow of curiosity filled her eyes. She desperately wanted to know what was inside, but she had to be sure.

“I will.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” The warm smile on the young child’s face made Demosthenes grin a little. He lowered her down to the ground, allowing her to run off. Once she was far enough away, he turned back to his King. The old man was already on the other side of him working to the doorway. “Majesty.”

“Eudokia seems to have grown very fond of you recently, Demosthenes,” he commented, as they walked slowly.

Glancing at his King, Demosthenes read the scene, while responding. “I just wish she’d call me my name.”

The King laughed a little hearing Demosthenes complain about his daughter’s whims. “It’s an improvement over her last one, Demon.”

“I guess, your Majesty.” He did have to agree with the man. The last name made Demosthenes feel a little self-conscious. He wasn’t sure if it had a source, as Eudokia never gave him a reason. She only called him by it for the last few months in the same cheerful tone. It made it difficult for him to know if she was afraid of him. Demosthenes wasn’t blind to the impression others had on him, being too serious.

“Still, getting more excited to see you over her own father,” he muttered. There was a hint of him pouting a little, strange for someone ruling a kingdom.

It wasn’t something he was really pleased with, but Eudokia’s nature made it difficult to just ignore her. “It’s only because you’ve gotten strict in your training with her.”

“Because you haven’t been as tough as you need to be her. I never attended the academy, but I know about what happens in there. I can’t do anything about the prejudice, but I can prepare her for the challenges she’ll face. It’s my duty as her father to make sure she’s able to survive. Even if she doesn’t understand the reasons right now.”

Demosthenes nodded in agreement. It was something he tried to mirror in his training with her, but it was difficult somehow. “I know…” He didn’t understand how the King could manage it. There was something about Eudokia that Demosthenes couldn’t get past. The threshold of the room was finally behind them. He drew the doors closed.

When the clear ring of the sealed doors sang out through the hall, the King leaned against the wall. He broke out into a sudden fit of coughing that he didn’t seem to be able to stop. Mere moments passed, but he looked even older than before. Sweat covered his face.

“Your Majesty!” Demosthenes shouted, as he went to help. It eventually calmed down, but he looked worse from the experience. He helped his King through the hall and to a nearby balcony. The King always preferred the fresh air and sight of Atlantis. It seemed to calm him down. “It’s getting worse, isn’t it?”

He took a deep breath in before replying. “It just seems that way. I keep it all back with my power when I’m with her. So it just built up.” It was painful, but he did feel better at least. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Demosthenes looking at him. He knew the look he gave him. “Don’t look at me like that, old friend. We both knew how things would end. More importantly, your report.”

It was back to business. “Yes, your Majesty. I delivered your gift as you requested.”

“That’s good,” he said, a little grin came across his lips. “The seal will remain in place for another few years. How is he doing?”

“He’s very lively and spirited.”

“I’m glad. It was the right decision to leave him with Tomiko and Isamu. They’ll be able to give him a happy, peaceful life away from all of the threats here in Atlantis. I can only imagine what those old men would do if they knew of him. I have too many enemies.” He stared off at the towers popping up throughout the dense structures of the capital. The white stone of the city masked the darkness in an aura of majestic wonder too easily seen as purity. He knew how dirty the stone truly was, such things weren’t suitable environments for growing up. “Speaking of enemies. What are they up to?”

“I put a stop to another team. They still look to be interested in him, despite their failures. However, they have given up for now trying to recapture him, but they are monitoring him.”

A grim expression appeared on his face. “I fear Japan may be no safer than Atlantis for him, but they at least won’t want him dead.” His eyes stared off to the horizon. “Though they only want him because they continue to fail without him.”

Demosthenes agreed with him. He didn’t have the intimate understanding of the people as the King did, but he had seen enough to know how they would act. “They are patient. I believe they’ll keep trying. There is something driving them.”

“It’s true. They are quite desperate, but they’ve been at this for a very long time. So a few years won’t mean a lot to them.” The King turned away from the balcony to look at Demosthenes. “Promise me, old friend. Watch over him. Protect him until the day comes.”

“Your Majesty!” Demosthenes spoke with some surprise in his voice. The tone of his words made it seem like a final request. “You’ll see him again! You’ll be able to explain everything to him then!”

He dropped a hand on Demosthenes’ shoulder. “It’s fine. I’m dying and I don’t know how long I’ll last. I’ll hold out as long as I can until he becomes an adult and I tell him everything. He at least deserves a happy childhood before learning the truth. However, if I don’t make it. I entrust my will to you. He’ll need to know the truth.”

Demosthenes stared at his King for a while. He heard the words, but felt unable to say anything. It was important to him. Everything they worked for had to succeed. Demosthenes understood the grave situation they stood within. “I promise, your Majesty! He’ll be the one to save Atlantis.”

“Thanks, old friend…” Trailing off, his voice seemed to weaken at the end. His eyes closed almost as if something relieved him of a great pressure. The stress disappeared from his eyes. Silence filled the balcony until it became awkward. Demosthenes stretched out to touch him. “Oh and try to learn to be a little less rigid. No one likes a stick in the mud.”

A flattened and slightly annoyed expression painted Demosthenes’ face. He made him worry for nothing. “I’ll try.”