- The King has given his word. I trust him. He has no reason to antagonize you. You’ve fulfilled his condition. He won’t break the treaty.

- What about Ulia?

- Elfric, you know I’m a wizard’s apprentice, an adept of Oceania. After living in the village for a certain period, I’ve reached a certain level. Now, to merge it, I have to pass an exam, and for that, I have to go away. Don’t you want me to become the strongest wizard in the area?

I don't think the supervisor understood what the exam was. I didn't know what I was saying. Good thing I didn’t lie about life and death. Elfric, though, agreed. To have on hand mage is the dream of every leader, and the father of my fiancée was no exception.

The conversation with Fluffy was less tense. When I told him I was going to leave the village, he only asked:

- Did you bring food for me?

- What an insatiable animal!

I grabbed him in my arms and started tickling his round belly. It hit me:

- Listen, buddy. Where did you come from that night? Did you get any family? Relatives?

Tush stopped laughing, his muzzle became serious. He said:

- Not now. Someday I’ll tell you. I’m filled with fear at the thought of how this will hurt you.

- Well, I’m not gonna rest until I find out. Is this what you wanted?

- Is Jurion coming with us? - Fluffy asked a distracting question. And it worked.

- Yes. Who else would pull the wagon? You?

The centaur had seen that I was preparing the wagon for the long journey. He had accepted that he would pull it. So he took the news that we were leaving the village.

The wagons brimmed with fuel stone as the carriage drivers replenished the water and food supplies. The caravan's departure was scheduled for the morning.

Taking advantage of the fact that Luco had gone on duty, Ulia came to see me. All evening we cried, laughed, and talked about our separation. I assured the girl that my journey would not take long, and she pretended to believe me.

What do you do with a bird out of your hands? The right answer is to let go. I wasn’t like a bird, but only a cage could hold me. Ulia understood well, so she tried to fill the farewell evening with tenderness, kisses, and conversation. No one interrupted us. We focused on each other. Even years later I remember how good I felt then....

- You bet, — Blondie grinned. - I remember a lot of things, too. Do your memories have anything to do with the trip and what happened there?

- It’s up to you to listen, — Michael decided to interrupt the discussion that had not yet begun. - When it comes to the memories, you will hear everything.

I silently thanked my older friend for his support. I realize that I am not the best storyteller.

The beautiful evening was over, and we went to bed. Ulia touched my neck and asked:

- What is this amulet?

- It was a gift from the king of the roctopuses. I don’t know how it works.

- Then why do you wear it?

- If I take it off, how will I know what it can do?

We kissed again and fell asleep immediately. The dream world is a strange state of mind and body. In a dream, you fall from heights, float above the ground, and travel through time and space. Sometimes you can’t tell the difference between a dream and a dream, because all the sensations are so real.

And now, as soon as I closed my eyes, I began to dream. A very realistic dream. I was dreaming about the room we were sleeping in. The bed on which Ulia and I were lying. I was lying on my back, one arm above my head, with my other arm around the girl. I had an unbearable urge to change position. I saw and felt myself removing my hand from my head. I felt as if my soul had left my body.

In my dreams, the boundaries of reality and fantasy melted, as if they were dancing together in a complex dance. Dreams, like ornate rivers, carried me into a world of uncharted possibilities and imagined fears. And now, as I saw my room from within the dream, I realized that my fantasy was turning into reality, and reality, in turn, was permeated by the magic of my dreams.

Perhaps Oceania wanted to talk to me, so she sent a dream as a greeting. - I pondered. - But it’s different from what I’ve seen before. For example, I can get up close to the furry guy feel his breath, and hear his heartbeat. I can penetrate the wall of a house and fly over the roof.

In dreams and reality, I considered myself the master of my destiny, but sometimes it seemed that reality itself became the main director of my life, and I only played the role assigned to it.

What if, — a strange thought flashed through my mind. I didn’t realize at that moment that being weightless hadn’t made me lose my ability to think.

That’s what happens sometimes. When you are busy with something interesting and exciting, you don’t have time to analyze your actions and thoughts.

I decided if I could pass underground. The flight into the underground space was also light and weightless. I entered the octopus kingdom without difficulty, once again finding myself in a cave of boiling lava. I wanted to explore the beginning of the fiery spring, and then I felt the alarm again. I did not stop. I rushed into the thickness of the stone wall. The feeling of anxiety increased, and I felt as if I were being torn apart. And yet I kept moving forward until I felt a dark whirlpool sucking me into the wireless void. Fear gripped me, and I tried to break free from the dizzying merry-go-round, but something clingy and sticky held me back.

I screamed. If it could be called a scream. I think I cried out for my mother. My mother, left behind in another world, could not hear me. I would have died if Oceania hadn’t intervened. She somehow pulled me out of the destructive maelstrom and pulled me back to a safe distance.

- I’m not ready to part with you, — she declared. - You could have died.

Those words sounded like the voice of nature itself, a reminder of its inexhaustible care and protection. Oceania, the embodiment of all waters and depths of the sea, was a wise and caring, but also a powerful entity that watched over the lives and destinies of all who lived on earth.

- You saved me. Thank you!

- Where did you get this artifact?

- The King of the Roktopus gave it to me. Is it bad?

- Artifacts like this have no clear boundaries. They allow you to experience new sensations, to explore the world around you. In this case, they're good. But you almost died because of it. So…

- So I’m unreasonable, — I interrupted Oceania. - I’ve gotten warnings, only to ignore them and pay the price.

- You mustn’t forget that, — Oceania disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared. I did not return to the house but continued to test the artifact. It allowed me to travel about a mile away from the body, which was not a poor result for exploration. I could travel in any direction encountering no obstacles. It remained to be seen how the artifact was activated. After all, I hadn’t cast any spells or waved my arms. And how could I return to my own body?

The return happened instantly, as soon as I thought of it. Ulia was sleeping sweetly on my chest, and a sleepy Tush was settling at my feet. Having spent most of the night traveling around the village, I still felt rested in the morning.

Parting is a sad event. Even with old things. And with people even more so. It’s all because there’s a breakdown of shared memories. A new period begins in your life where a new story is being written. New events overshadow the old ones, new feelings surpass the old ones. The new feeling of dread is stronger than what you experienced a week or a month ago. Parting is something like a funeral, with the same sadness, the same unpleasant feelings.

My heart is heavy from parting with Ulia, from saying goodbye to her warmth and tenderness that filled every corner of my soul. We shared common moments and created our memories together, and now I could feel them slowly slipping away through the fingers of time, leaving only emptiness and sadness.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Parting is not only saying goodbye to the person you love but also to a piece of yourself that you gave to that person. It is the process of breaking away from the past, from everything familiar and cozy, and meeting the unknown of the future. Like the sea that washes away the footprints in the sand, time washes away our moments together, leaving only imprints in the memory.

And now, as I stand on the threshold of a new chapter of my life, I wonder: what adventures, what trials await me ahead? What new people will enter my life, and what connections will I create with them? A breakup is not only an end but also a beginning, an opportunity to open a new page in your book of life and start a new story.

Jurion pulled the wagon with ease, but we couldn’t break away from the caravan. The heavy tufftons were taking their time on the long journey. They were in no hurry to get anywhere because the whole meaning of Tufton’s life was the road. To walk and pull. Then there is the rest and enjoyment of chewing grass, twigs, and leaves.

Fluffy, climbing on Jurion’s head, took on the role of a lookout. Several times, tired of the monotony of the road, he fell asleep, and only the sensitivity of the centaur, who picked up at the last moment fluffy, kept my favorite from falling.

We moved along the forest road, accompanied by wind or silence. Somewhere in the branches of the trees, small birds squeaked. Sometimes we saw deer running away.

I was so tired of the slow movement that I could not bear it and asked Hagar to give me a guide who knew the way.

- I am the only one in my caravan who knows the way. That was the idea from the beginning, so as not to breed rivals. Besides, you promised to protect the caravan, and trouble in these parts can happen at any time. You’ll ride ahead, and my coachmen, who can only drive tuftons, won’t put up much resistance.

I wanted to object to him, for at my age, such objections are natural. We seventeen-year-olds are sure that we know the vicissitudes of life better than people who have lived most of our lives. We are sure that we will not get hurt and immediately fall and crack our heads.

Hagar’s words proved prophetic. On the fourth day of the journey, the caravan was attacked by forest brigands. The same ones who tried to rob the old merchant.

I recognized the chief bandit by his wounded arm. The forest bandits used the same principle - a surprise attack designed to frighten. They partly succeeded. The charioteers, throwing the reins, scattered in different directions. Hagar, sword in hand, rushed between the carriage drivers, begging them not to leave the sad wagons.

I wasted no time, quickly unharnessed Jurion, and said the magic word to him:

- Fas!

I counted seven bandits. That is, almost twice as many as the first time. The outlaws had the advantage in quantity. In terms of quality, we had the upper hand. Jurion alone was worth the price. The Centaur was in the thick of the bandits, grabbed two of them, and slammed their foreheads into each other, incapacitating them instantly. A couple more were knocked out by the centaur’s hind legs. Jurion's unusual appearance caused the bandits' consternation mixed with surprise. A man is not a man, a horse is not a horse. He struck with his hands and feet. Wild and strong.

I struck the leader in the head with my sword, rendering him unconscious. I aimed the point at the rest of them and shouted,

- Everybody on the ground or else I’ll kill.

The bandits obediently dropped their weapons. Some with clubs, some with swords. They were used to a different ending. Obeying my command, one part of the gang tied the hands and feet of the other part. We tied up the men lying unconscious. Including the bandit leader who was lying down.

The coachmen returned to the abandoned wagons. They looked warily at the bandits as if they might break out and attack them again.

- What are you going to do with them? - What are you going to do with them? - Hagar asked me, kicking the gang leader who had regained consciousness.

- Why me?!

- You have taken these men prisoner, and you are free to do as you wish. You can kill them, you can sell them.

- Don’t kill me, — cried one of the bandits. - I have a wife and a small child.

- Why did you become a bandit? You wanted to rob caravans, and kill people? And now you're crying?

- We didn’t want to kill anyone, — the bandit continued sobbing. He looked about thirty years old, but he cried like a little child.

- He told us that the caravaners would flee as soon as they saw us, — the bandit nodded toward the leader. Well, I had to admit that the bandit’s calculations were right. Without the support team of Jurion and me, Hagar would have lost all his goods and animals.

There was one other question I was curious about:

- What were you going to do with the fuel stone? Who were you going to sell it to?

- With what stone? - wondered the crybaby bandit. - You mean that black trash that abounds in the neighborhood? Who needs it here? We were interested in these magnificent animals - tuftons. Such giants are rare here, we could make a lot of money.

My thoughts returned to what to do with these brigands who had foolishly become my prisoners. Murder was out of the question; I had not yet stooped to selling people.

The realization that murder was not the most prudent way out of this situation was creeping into my thoughts. Yes, these people had committed a crime, but killing them wouldn’t fix the situation. It will deprive them of the opportunity to correct their mistakes, and it will deprive me of my moral integrity.

- Why don’t you trade this stone if you have, as you say, plenty of it? - I was talking only to the crybaby, but an older bandit answered my question. Jurion kicked him wholeheartedly. After the “friendly gift” given by the centaur, the old bandit sighed and groaned for a long time.

- Who would want him? You’d need wagons to haul it out. Suppose we could make one or two wagons? But where would we get such draught animals? We only hoped that a caravan would turn up on the road. And so we lost?

- Is that why you attacked the old merchant?

- It was the work of Silvan and his brothers," the old bandit nodded toward the leader. - This is the first and last time we’ve been with him.

The crybaby bandit was in tears again. He didn’t want to die. His tears outraged even my little pet. I pondered for a while. Then I turned to Hagar and asked,

- I am entitled to a reward for guarding your goods. Isn’t that right?

The merchant, realizing where I was going with this, quibbled,

- I only promised to show you the way to the blacksmith. You and I never agreed on any reward.

- I could follow you and trace your path. What would you be doing if I hadn’t interfered? You’ll make a lot of coins selling fuel stones. If you get the caravan to the end of the road. You said yourself it’s a long road, danger can come anywhere. So, am I to be rewarded?

- We’re not there yet. It’s not the end of the road.

I’m tired of accompanying you so that I can go in peace.

- All right, all right! - Hagar almost shouted. - You’ll receive a reward.

- Do any of you know how to fight? - I turned to the bandits.

The first to answer was the crybaby bandit:

- I have great experience swinging a wooden club—the one by the wagon.

I examined it. It wasn’t just a wooden bat. It had bronze spikes in the thickened part of it, and a blow with a club could cause a lot of wounds.