The days went by, time flowed on. Every day and night, an undertone of distress haunted the Reyos. Their minds were elsewhere, hoping for the safe return of their dear friend, but every passing day snatched a part of their hope away until it was fully drained.
It had been two years since Tommy departed on his last grand adventure, and the world hadn't heard of him since. Passing sailors who landed on Dreya were questioned, oftentimes antagonized for news around the world that mentioned the man's name, but no one knew more.
Another autumn came, and two years have now completely passed. The Reyos were hopeless, and the folks of Dreya were, much less, sorrowful. Tommy's name was slowly uttered less until it was no longer mouthed by the people, like a grieving relative of the deceased. They anticipated the man so greatly that they expedited the Great Hunt in summer, but it all proved for naught.
That is until, one day, news came from adventurers seeking respite at Dreya:
"Tommy did it! They did it! They killed the midnight man!"
The news spread around the world, faster than one could comprehend the words themselves. Years of vanishing, now back to the pinnacle of relevance and popularity, lighting ablaze the hearts and hopes of people far and wide, especially the folks of Dreya. Even though the island is self-centered, unbothered, and untroubled by the news from foreign lands and issues, nevertheless they couldn't contain their joy upon hearing it. Maybe, this might be the only time in their long and peaceful lives that they ever cared about anything other than their Island as much, probably the most they ever will.
In celebration, the world rejoiced in parties and toasts to Tommy and the great thirty-five that saved the seas from a vicious pirate lord, an evil beyond compare, a malevolent existence that plagued most of the world for long restless decades. Dreya's people were no different, as they partied and danced the night away, drinking in Tommy's good health as they hung his pictures, brought by sailors from lands far away, in the taverns, in the inns, on the walls, and all across the town.
One faithful day, one late afternoon in the middle of autumn, two years after Tommy departed, a galleon ship was spotted drifting towards the port of Dreya, unknown by whom and from whom, but the ship was all too iconic for them to not know. And much to one port worker's astonishment, as the first one to see the ship, he ran for the bell at the entrance of the dock and rang it with every ounce of strength from his thin, young body.
"Tommy is back! Tommy, Tommy I tell you! Tommy is back! Come out, rejoice, he's finally back!"
The people were caught by surprise, those who hadn't heard well were informed by those closer to them, and those farther away were told by others nearer, so it was until every person stepped out of their home. Every man, woman, child, and elderly, everyone made for the port and stood waving and cheering as the ship docked at the pier.
Tommy and all of his crew stood waving, cheering, smiling, and laughing. Some jumped in joy, some cried in happiness, but some were simply smiling as they descended from the ship.
The people wasted no time as they made a corridor of honor, standing in two lines facing each other from the entrance of the port to the plaza of the town. The people stood in respect, clapping and cheering, nodding and saluting. Some threw flowers, others threw apples and treats, which Tommy caught and ate some of.
It was a grand welcoming, as unorganized as it was. The people of Dreya never welcomed anyone in such a way, but for them, it felt natural; it was the least they could do as they rejoiced for the hero of the world.
"Dreyans!" He exclaimed, "It is so great to see you all! Words can't do justice to how I feel, or how any of my friends feel at such a hospitality!"
The people hailed and whistled in agreement.
"But don't waste your time standing here, there's only so much to see in us. It's a time of celebration, not just for me, but for all of us! " He said, "Then what are you waiting for? Crank out the bottles, prepare the stands, bring out the bards, it's time to celebrate!"
And the people delayed no further.
The streets were crowded in a short time. The plaza was occupied, people erected stands and tents, taverns opened their doors and put up decorations, bakers put up sales and a variety of sweets and candy, and musicians brought out their instruments for a day or days long celebration. Flutes, drums, violins, and lutes played in a chaotic harmony of joy as some people, and Tommy's friends, already took to the crowded streets, dancing.
Amidst the gleeful mayhem of the party, a young brunette in her late teens was searching restlessly as she held the hands of many boys and girls in hers, none older than a young toddler. She was frantically searching, shouting, and calling out a name that Tommy seemed to recognize from reading her lips.
Before he could extend a helping hand, a young boy bumped into him; a brown-haired, amber-eyed boy with flushed cheeks, and tears streaming down his innocent pure face. Tommy's worries faded into a warm, friendly smile as he knelt towards the boy, wiping the tears from his eyes as he caressed his cheek.
"Well, hello there. Are you lost?" He asked.
The boy nodded.
"Well then," Tommy said, sitting in the middle of the road and crossing his legs.
"Tommy?" Neila called out, "What are you doing?"
Tommy responded with a finger over his lips and hushed everyone with a smile on his face. Not in a reprimanding manner, but as if to implore them to give him a moment of quiet to speak to the boy.
"What's your name?"
"A-…Adrian." He stuttered.
"Adrian, what a beautiful name. What happened, Adrian? How did you get lost?"
"I…I was with my teacher, and she-…uh, she wanted to buy us candy, but then I didn't see her, and then…" But before he could continue, he broke down crying.
"Oh, don't worry," Tommy said, gently patting his head. "Do you want to go back to your teacher?"
"I want mommy."
"In that case," Tommy said, picking up Adrian and placing him on his shoulders just as the sun was slowly setting from view—opposite the sea. "Adrian, can you see the sunset?"
The little boy was amazed by the view as he now stood taller than anyone, finally able to see the sunset, able to see the world from a view in which he wasn't scared, but happy instead.
"Y-yes, I can." He wiped the tears away.
"Good, keep looking at it, take in its beauty, engrave it in your mind, and solidify it. It's a beautiful scene always worthy of viewing. You just relax and look at the sunset, I will take you to your mommy, I'll be here for you until midnight."
Just like that, Tommy made his way towards the Reyos' house, while the little boy's teacher watched with a relieved smile on her face. Neila, knowing how much the boy mattered to her friend, decided to not intervene as she watched him make his way out of town, and towards the eastern half.
Tommy made his way through the forests and green plateaus, through the rivers and treacherous roads. It was a long, hard way to take on horseback, and only one road was safe for passage. But Tommy took the easier way for an early arrival around midnight, jumping through rivers, climbing hills, and venturing through uncharted parts of the forest and plains of the plateaus with Adrian on his shoulders.
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Snakes, spiders, insects, no harm seemed to bother him as he fended them off from the little boy, passing the time by speaking to him, and showing him the wonders of nature as he strutted through dangerous terrain.
As the night fell—and midnight clocked—a faint lamplight flickered from the interior of the Reyos' house. Finally having reached their destination, Tommy glanced up at the boy to alert him:
"Adrian, Adrian!" He whispered, shaking the boy awake. "We're here."
But the boy was back to sleep almost instantly, too tired to care for his whereabouts or destination. The former laughed it off as he stepped towards the house, and knocked three beats on the door.
"A moment." A voice replied, and seconds later Charlotte opened the door.
Her eyes bulged, her nonchalant expression shifted to astonishment and awe while covering her mouth, at the sight of Tommy carrying Adrian on his shoulder with a smile stretching from ear to ear.
"Good evening, Charlotte. It's very late for you to be awake."
"Oh, you silly boy!" Said Charlotte as she leaped towards the man, hugging him tight, squeezing the air from his lungs. "We thought we'd never see you! Now here you are, alive and well!"
"Of course, I promised. It's a little later than what I said, but better late than never." He said, lifting the boy from his shoulders and into his mother's graceful hands. "I take it that Isaac is on the shore again, right?"
"You know where to find him."
A respectful nod was his response before treading down the dirt track in the forest towards the rocky shore. Despite the darkness of night and cold wind from the sea, there he stood. With a leathery, hooded cape, and a lantern in hand, he stood rooted as his eyes gazed upon the beach.
Feeling as though the time had finally come, Tommy made his way towards the fisherman and greeted him.
"Isaac-" He said, before his words were jumbled in surprise upon the sight of the fisherman turning to face him.
"You're late." He scolded, "I won't say it, you didn't keep true to your promise."
"Not even a hello?" He chuckled.
"Well," He cleared his throat, "You didn't keep your promise, but at least you kept your word, you came back. Well done."
"Huh, strangely, I have someone I call a father who is just like you. It makes me feel as if he said it."
"Was he a fisherman?"
"A knight, actually."
"Hm, respectable enough." Isaac turned to face the sea again, "I bet he's as proud as I am, maybe more."
"I'm not sure, but I do know he's just as stern." He chuckled, seeing through the stoic face of the man. "Funny enough, you're both the same. He's also just as soft on the inside."
"In my heydays, I would've killed you for this insult." He turned to face Tommy, stomping towards him. Then, his face softened, and half a smile was drawn on his lips. "But that's long ago."
He extended his hand for a handshake, and Tommy took his hand; shaking it firmly.
"It's good to see you again, son."
"Much the same, sir."
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The party concluded that night around dawn and was filled with food, drinks, and music, but a few hours were barely enough. Hence, the mayor concluded that a celebration seven days and seven nights long would take place in honor of the greatest adventurers in the world.
The adventurers couldn't complain. Though their visit to Dreya was planned to be short, for they were due to check on other parts of the world, a week-long celebration felt just right after their great endeavor.
As the crew-mates and Dreya folks prepared for another party in the night, Tommy and Neila were wandering in the streets of the town around the late afternoon. While enjoying the peaceful stroll, the latter interjected:
"Are you sure we should let them waste their stuff for a party? Don't they have winter to worry about?" Neila wondered.
"Never bite the hand that feeds, Neila." He replied, "I've already spoken to them about it, but they seem more than fine since they have enough to get them through the season. What can we do?"
"Right, I see."
Their short conversation succumbed to silence as Neila looked at the ground, while Tommy gazed at the yellow-painted sky as he hummed a tune.
"Tommy," She began, "How many more trips do we have left?"
"Hm, six I believe." He answered, "The seventh should be back to my hometown, in the far north."
"And then?"
"And then? Well," He wondered, "The end, I suppose? There's no longer a reason for us to put our lives at stake anymore. Now we can do what we want, each on their own. You know, Jacob wants to build a farmhouse, and Nathan wants a bakery, how cool is that?"
"Yes, very cool." She nodded in agreement before a saddened gaze was plastered on her face. "The end…we'll never see each other again? All of us?"
"It'll be hard for us to reunite if everyone is off to their own business and lives, some will have family to care for, others might be dead, and some we might lose contact with for the rest of our lives. It's a painful truth, but it's the truth nonetheless."
"So, all the years we spent together will be for nothing?"
"Of course not, why would you think that?"
"It's just-" She stuttered, holding back her tears. "I really love all of you, I don't want this to end. Things are great just as they are, can't we go on for longer? Just one more journey?"
"Ah, I understand. Quite the fact we have to gripe about." Tommy smiled reassuringly, "I'd love to as well, but we can't hold back others from living their life. So many are looking forward to when we part ways, so each of us can go our own way. We shared a life for quite a long time, but it's nigh time each of us goes back to their own."
"But, I don't want to. I have no life, and mine only mattered when I was with you all." She said, "My dream is to keep going on adventures, to ride on the galleon and escape to the unknown with everyone again."
"Then what's stopping you? There are loads of exciting, amazing adventurers in the world. I'm sure you can keep going without us."
"But none of them are us." She failed to hold back her tears, "There's only one me, one you, one Jacob, one Nathan, one of each one of us, and I can never find them again. I wish we didn't defeat that son of a bitch, maybe then we could've-…we could've-"
But her words were silenced by a gentle pat on her head from the man as his smile faced downward, feeling the weight of the goodbye that awaited.
"That's how life is. The beauty of the end is the value of those moments the more they pass us by. One day, when you're older, you will laugh about our horrible days, and cry about our better ones. Either way, you will reminisce, but life goes on, and the beauty of our moments together will only grow old like aging wine. Maybe if we manage to gather together, all of us, years from now, we could go for one last grand adventure. But promise me, then, you will be living your life just as you want, not in the shadow of a distant past that we can't bring back, okay?"
Neila nodded, hesitantly, yet agreeably.
"Good. I believe that you'll be a great, popular adventurer in the future, just do what you want, and don't let anything hold you back, not even yourself."
Silence fell once again as the two went back to strutting through the streets until they ventured well out of the town and towards the plateaus.
"I really will miss all of you, it's been so fun with all of us together. Feels just like yesterday when we all got into a fistfight at the dock of Helsara." He added with a chuckle, "But enough of that, come with me for a moment, there's a place I want to show you."
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Tommy made his way through bushes and trees, dirt tracks, climbed around hills, and finally towards a great big plateau standing taller than all the ones around it. It stood high, higher than the rest of the island, overlooking a beautiful scenery of green terrain, trees, and finally the edge of the sea with the sun setting slowly in the ocean, in the western half of the island.
"Quite beautiful, isn't it?" Tommy asked.
"Wow. Very beautiful, actually," Neila responded, her eyes captivated by the wonderful scenery, the most peaceful she'd ever seen. The melange of green plains, blue sea, pink sky, and orange flare of sunset gave birth to a captivating masterpiece of mother nature that may never be repeated; not so much so from nature, as it was from the moment and the person.
"Frankly, I have no idea what to do in life after we all go our separate ways. I feel that everything that I could do has already been done. I might help people some more on my way back home, visit others that I've long grown attached to and distant towards, and then…I don't know." He smiled, faintly. "I feel that the sun is setting on my time, towards an era that I might not be present for, nor care to be present in.
However, that boy, Adrian. I saw something in him, something I hadn't seen a long time ago. I don't know what I will do next with my life, but I'm truly hoping I get to see him again. Maybe he could one day want to tour the world, and I would be there to aid him along the way. Who knows?"
"But, what about you? Don't you have dreams, ambitions?"
"Dreams?" He laughed, "Oh, Neila. I saw my dreams through with you, and all the others. I've done what I wanted with you, and I couldn't be any more grateful. But, if I had to say, I do dream of sailing a boat into the vast seas again, but not to save the world. This time, I just want to enjoy, to experience, to live. I've done all that I can, now I want to see the beauty of life as my sun sets, as the pretty orange fades to dark."
"Tommy?"
"Neila…" He said, "I'm not sure I'll live for much longer, I can't tell. But I would be happy if the life I lived made others live theirs too, that's why I want you to continue with yours as well. Maybe, if Adrian sets his sails, I'll be there for longer to guide him through. But so far as it stands, my hometown will be the last stop, the last time we see each other. My sun will set, but yours will probably only shine brighter, so please…live, you have so much more to live for."
Neila didn't object, didn't argue, and didn't question. She understood what he meant, but her worry was overwhelmed by a sensation of bittersweet understanding. She didn't want to think of the future, for all that mattered to her now was the moment, the person, and the beautiful setting sun.
"Let's cherish the moment instead," She broke the silence, "I never knew the sunset was so beautiful."
"Right?" He gleefully exclaimed, "You know, it all began when I was young and I almost drowned near the dock while the sun was setting. Master Fredrick really beat my ass that day."
The two shared a laugh as the edge of the sun disappeared behind the sea, leaving only the twilight in the sky as a reminder that it once was there.