—5 years later—
—Somewhere…—
A clinking sound echoed through the forge as a young man was working on a new sword, that metallic sound was almost music to his ears as he continued doing his job, but he stopped when he heard a bell ringing, alerting him that the door has been opened, and turned around; with a smile, he greeted the owner of that place.
“Hikla Tar(Good afternoon), old man.”
“Hikla Tar yo(Good afternoon to you too). Shouldn't you be eating at this hour?” the owner asked.
-His name was Harfid, he was an old dwarf and one of the best blacksmiths in all the Duchy of Osnar, or at least, he was the best in the past. A year prior to him saving that guy lost in a mine near his Forge. He had contracted a rare illness that caused his body to tremble, at first it wasn’t too serious but as the years passed, the condition got worse and working was becoming too difficult. Fortunately for him, the guy he helped, wanted to return the favour, plus he wanted a home; so here he is, staying in a room, that was improvised as a bedroom, at the Forge while working there.-
“I’m not that hungry.” the guy said while resuming his work.
“That’s not good. You should be eating something, otherwise, it will affect your performance.”
“Hearing this advice from you is funny. Shouldn’t you be the one eating? I bet you didn’t touch anything yesterday too.”
The old man laughed and sat on a stool “What are you? My wife?”
“Fortunately for you, no. I would be stretching your ears for how many times you don’t eat.” he said and then thought ‘Mother huh? I wonder how Nys is doing…” he stopped thinking about her when remembered the hell he had to go through ‘Well, it doesn't matter. I’m living a slightly normal life now and that’s what I have to care about.’
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m almost 100 years old and with my illness, my time will come soon.” Harfid looked at the guy’s arm as he continued to hammer the hot iron blade.
The guy sighed “Don’t be so depressing. You’ll be fine once the doctor will find a cure, in the meantime, I’ll be helping you.”
The old man smiled warmly “Quikla(Thanks), Dai.”
“Nit quikla dak ram. Mengali berd ylt (Don’t thank me. I’m doing the bare minimum)”
The old man continued smiling while watching Dai working, he was lucky of having him as he was always kind and willing to help, not only him but also other people in the city; leaving the forge to him was the right idea.
“Hm?” suddenly, the guy stopped working and was looking at his hand.
Harvard asked worriedly “Did you hurt yourself?”
“No…it’s just…” there was a light visible through the glove(which was made of a dark and thick material) and he quickly covered it. “...I’m just hungry. I’ll go eat in my room.” he put the hot blade in a rectangular container full of cold water, making a sizzling sound, he ran into his room upstairs.
‘...It’s not like him leaving his work half-finished.’ Harfid thought even more worried.
Dai once in his room, sat on the bed, removed the gloves and looked at the ring, it was lighting up intermittently and not knowing what to do, he touched it; suddenly, a woman’s voice could be heard from it.
—Meanwhile, somewhere else…—
“Hey! Don’t be so fast!”
“Yeah, we aren’t as strong as you, big sister!”
“I don’t think I can go on for long!”
Three kids were jumping from one tree to another, following a young woman who was easily jumping 5 branches at a time while they could barely do two.
The woman turned towards them while still jumping without looking forward
“Come on! We are almost back in town! Just 500 branches of distance!”
“500?!” the kid shouted in unison, almost scared for their life and the girl giggled at their faces while turning her back on them to look forward. Even if she was agile and knew where to go, she still had to be a bit cautious since the forest was really dense, with trees that could easily reach and even surpass 130 meters(more than 426 feet), their dense foliage wasn’t letting a lot of light in, that’s why they were using lanterns powered by a really bright kind of fireflies.
She was training those kids to help them learn how to move in the forest because, even if they were night dryads, they were too young to move alone in that darkness they called “home”.
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Minutes later, they finally arrived at a village and came down the trees by using lianas; in that place, every apartment and shop was built inside those giant trees, with all of them being connected by bridges, there were platforms working like balconies(if close to an apartment) or little plazas and almost every single corner was illuminated with the same kind of lantern the woman and the kids had.
The woman turned towards the kids, who were on the ground, exhausted,
“You did well today. You deserve a gift!”
With that sentence, the kids suddenly became more energetic and asked non-stop
“What is it? What is it? What is it?”
The woman smiled maliciously “Tomorrow there will be another training session and I will be harsher!” she then turned around and waved her hand “So rest now and see ya tomorrow!” she left them there, while they were shouting in terror “Are you joking?!” but she didn’t answer.
The woman went to the biggest tree and entered the apartment at its base
“I’m here!” It was a big room with green banners made of silk on its walls, the interiors were really basic, with shelves being carved into the trunk and overall being like a studio apartment with all concentrated in one room(apart from the bathroom); they didn’t have running water and had to go to the near river to wash themselves and their clothes, which were mostly tunic made of big leaves, silk and fibres.
There was a man, called Fars, sitting on his knees in the middle of the room, he had pale skin, long white hair and red eyes, he smiled at the woman.
“Sharadà!(Welcome back), Sarah!” he patted the floor to invite her to sit in front of him and as she did that, the man asked
“How did the kids behave?”
“Pretty well! Tomorrow I’ll also raise the difficulty!”
“Poor kids…” Fars said and then giggled “We’re lucky of having you. You are helping us a lot.”
“It’s not like I have any other choice, especially after you saved me from that carnivorous plant…and I killed your pet lamb because I was too hungry…sorry.”
The man shook his head “Zakri(Don’t worry), you explained yourself already. Still, I find it weird that the animals we call pets get eaten in other parts of the world. Other cultures, I guess.”
“Yeah, you could say that…” Sarah said and then thought ‘Fortunately they never asked where is the country I talked about, it would be too hard to explain…’
Fars, without saying anything, put a little red gem shaped like a tear in front of her, it was lighting up intermittently
“This is…” Sarah recognized that gem. It was the one the dryads found in a pocket of her old jeans, it doesn’t have any aura around it and she doesn’t know it ended up there.
“You can have it now. We took it from you because of what you did in the past, but since you are helping out, it’s only right for you to have it back.” Fars said seriously and Sarah nodded respectfully “Zakirì(Thank you).” she was going to take the gem but in the instant she touched it, a woman’s voice came out of it.
———
“Can you hear me? I hope so.” It was Nysilia’s voice and both Dai and Sarah were surprised, it’s been so long since they last heard something from her. “A piece of my soul has been dormant in what I gave you two and if you can hear this, it means 5 years have passed since I was killed.”
Dai’s blood froze at that sentence. Although he wanted to hate her, there was still a part of him who considered her a friend.
“I know you might think “How can a god die?” and well, since this will probably be my last message, I’ll give you an almost clear answer: I broke a promise that we, Gods, made to each other, and it was something so important, that the only price to pay is your own life and I had to do it to save you two-”
“But why here?” Dai asked suddenly and the voice stopped “Why in this unknown world?”
“...because the present is doomed.” the voice answered “Samriel and his accomplices are too far into their plans and their influence around Earth is too high, even with the little resistance I built over the years, it won’t be enough”
“Nysilia, it’s time that you tell us, what their plan is?” Sarah asked and the voice didn’t answer immediately
“I don’t know. Samriel has hidden his plans really well and I was never able to go high enough in the Council’s ranks to know about it, but from what I heard you two are some kind of Keys to control the other Gods.”
“...What?” Dai could only say.
“I know you want more answers but that’s all I know. Now, I suppose you want to know where I sent you.”
“That would be really helpful quikla- I mean, thanks.” Dai said embarrassed, not knowing if she could understand, but Nysilia giggled.
“Don’t worry, I know you just said “Thanks” in the Dwarven dialect.”
“How do you know that?” Sarah asked
“It’s simple. We, Gods, created the world you are in. You, guys, are in the past or to be more precise, you are in the First World.”
“Wait…isn’t that the one that got reset?” Sarah said and Nysilia was pleased
“I see, you still remember those memories, very well. Yes, that’s the world you are in. You’ll have to destroy the problem from its roots, that’s what you have to do-”
“If we have to kill Samriel…” Dai interrupted Nysilia again, from his voice, he seemed tired “Why did you separate us? It doesn’t make sense since my weakness can be covered by Sarah’s strong points and vice versa; we would be strong together.”
“And that’s also your weakness” Nysilia intervened “Fate is a like beast, unpredictable. Dai, what do you think would happen if you and Sarah got separated and had to fight someone that can take advantage of your weakness?”
“...We would lose.”
“Exactly. That’s why I divided you, so that could gain new knowledge and train those weak points of yours…” she stopped a second “But it wasn’t just for this that I sent you here. It was to give you a choice about your future.”
“Our future?” Sara asked, with a confused tone like Nysilia said something weird.
“Yes. I’ll be honest with you. From the start I have been sorry that I had to involve you two in this matter, that’s why I’ll give you two options; you can either continue to fight and risk your lives to create a better future or, you could live a normal life here”
Both Dai and Sarah didn’t say anything. “Normal life” such words weren’t forgotten by them but still felt distant.
“If you choose the first option, you will receive one last order on where to start and you won’t hear from me again, since the soul in the ring and the gem is depleting already.
But If you choose the second option, the things you are listening to this message from, will hide your aura completely, but will also limit your powers, it will be enough for you to defend what you are doing or love; no one will be able to find you and you can live peacefully until you die.”
Silence. Sarah and Dai finally had a real choice for the first time, without any real side effects.
“So….what will you do?”