From behind them, a man watched in hiding. He was sitting behind a bush and cautiously watching them leave. It was Compton, and once he saw that they were out of sight, he stood up and began following them again. Compton was feeling more and more guilty about having to follow Scott as this mission continued, but he knew that there must have been a reason for him to have been given this assignment.
To be honest, the more he followed Scott, the more his gut told him he should be following his new partner instead. Lou seemed innocent, but something about him gave Compton chills, and this whole time traveler mystery was making it worse. “I should just go back to headquarters… That said, the Head Consul was pretty mad that I broke the communication tool. I should just stay here until they’re done with this Willowisp business,” Compton said to himself, as he waded through the woods.
“I wonder why they even wanted me to follow Scott? He is the least likely to betray the Table out of anyone... Mordred knows that, so why do they think he could possibly be in contact with Sir Micheal? Her obsession with that man is insufferable,” Compton continued talking to himself as he had become accustomed to. The questions kept piling up in his mind, and they wouldn’t stop. It made him even question his loyalty to the Table. The Table well knew that all of his friends, other than Scott, had died. Yet, they had ordered him, of all people, to spy on Scott.
Compton was ready to just turn around and leave, but as he considered doing so, he heard a twig snap from behind him. Turning around, Compton saw a Willowisp crouched over a few meters away. As the Fae-human chimera turned to look at him, Compton noticed something. The eyes weren’t yellow like the ones that Scott, Lou, and Elysif fought earlier, but instead, were crimson red. Its jaw unhinged with a roar akin to a banshee, before charging at him.
“Just my luck,” Compton said with weary eyes and an emotionless voice, before dropping a long dagger attached to a chain from his right arm and summoning a magic shield to his left. Attempting to block the Willowisp's attack with his shield, he braced himself, but the force of the Willowisp's strike sent Compton flying back. As he flew backward, Compton swung the chain up to grab onto a tree branch, and swing himself into the maze of branches above. The Willowisp, baffled, searched around for him as he hid in the leaves.
Compton silently crouched on a tree branch and swung the chain around a few times for momentum before releasing it towards the Willowisp. It wrapped itself around the creature's neck but sadly didn’t cause the Willowisp to burn, as the chain was made of silver, and not iron. Pulling on the chain, Compton used it to jump onto the Willowisp's back. It flailed around to try and knock him off to no avail, as Compton had a strong grip on the chain around its neck. Reaching down, Compton pulled an iron dagger from his belt, and stabbed the creature in its left eye. The cold-skinned creature flailed some more, before falling to the ground and turning to dust.
“That was quite annoying,” Compton said out loud, to no one but himself. Picking up the iron dagger, he returned it to its sheathe, as well as started reeling in the chain which he examined for damages. “What a pain. Now the chain’s all covered in mud.”
***
Back at the inn, we said our hellos in a nonchalant manner, which ticked off the innkeeper a little. It didn’t matter, though, we were in a serious amount of pain. Elysif, however, kept a big smile on her face, and even apologized to the innkeeper for our so-called rude behavior. I wasn’t complaining though, because as Scott and I trudged up the stairs to our rooms, I heard Elysif order food to be brought up to us. She was nicer than she wanted to let on.
Returning to my room, I made my way to the bed, and lowered myself down with a few winces and grunts. The outside of my body was fine, my insides, however, were still healing. Whatever Elysif gave me had stopped the bleeding, but that didn’t mean I was healed. I guess this is twice now that Elysif has prevented me from dying so far. Even if she is a doctor of sorts, she will hold it over me till she dies. Or possibly, till I die. Rubin never mentioned if I could be killed as a Time Lord, did he? I have to assume that I will die if I am killed, then.
After I had closed my eyes for a bit, I was awoken by a knock at the door. Looking at my watch, it read 9:34 PM. “Come in,” I said, before sitting up on the side of my bed. Rubbing my eyes, I did a little stretching of my arms as Elysif opened the door. She was holding a plate of what looked like corned beef and cabbage. “Sorry, I fell asleep,” I said to her as she entered.
“You are fine. How are your wounds feeling?” she asked as she set the plate on the corner table.
“I still feel like shit, but I am going to be fine, thanks to you,” she looked a bit flustered for a second, then got a serious look on her face that started to fade.
“Do you really believe that you might be a Time Lord or whatever Rubin called it?” she asked, changing the subject.
“I… don’t know. If it is true, then I would rather do nothing with this power. It would be too dangerous to use. I could mess up the lives of so many people,” I said, rubbing my forehead.
“I don’t think that is necessarily true. No matter who you are or what you do, someone will end up suffering because of the decisions you make. All of our choices have an impact. Even if your intentions are good, or if it helps someone, it will ultimately affect someone you don’t see in a negative way. My advice to you would be to do what you can for the people in front of you, because that’s all you can do,” she said with a caring and understanding look.
“Elysif, I can’t deny that, but if I mess up the past, then I could make everyone I know forget about me, or worse, get them killed,” I replied with what felt like a logical assumption.
“Did you forget what Rubin said? No matter what you do, if your past self has done it, then it is fated to happen. Thus, whatever you are doing now, will always have happened,” she said, getting up. “You should rest some more. I brought you some food if you want it, and don’t worry about Scott, he is half drunk, half asleep in his room,” she said, before stepping out the door and closing it.
Man, I feel like she has the only logical brain cell in this group sometimes. She did, however, get me thinking about this whole time travel thing. If I could control it, then I could stop that knight from killing Mordred’s father. Perhaps, I could also stop Scott’s wife from getting killed. I wondered if that was even possible. Maybe I should ask Rubin before we leave?
For now, I just wanted to rest, so I got up and ate the plate of food Elysif brought me. Eventually, I laid back down in my bed for the night. It wasn’t easy though, because now I had a lot on my mind. I had no idea what was going to happen, but the thought of it gave me an uneasy feeling. It was as if someone was pulling the strings for my entire life. The thought of it made me angry. To think that someone or something could be doing that. Though this was a pointless thought that would disappear as my eyes grew heavier and I fell into a deep sleep.
***
I awoke to see the stars, not above me, but all around me. Looking around, as if I was in a dream, I noticed that there wasn’t anything here but the stars, or so I thought. “Beautiful isn’t it?” I heard a melodious voice say. Looking around to see that behind me, was a small child, a girl... or a boy, I couldn’t tell. It had long ethereal hair on one side of its head, and short hair on the other. The child wore a plain Greek-style himation and had eyes that could only be described as a reflection of the stars, its bare feet standing upon what looked to be a pool of reflective water, producing ripples with every slight shift. Looking down, I saw that I too was standing on this pool. Strangely, neither the child nor I were being reflected on the surface of the water.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“Who are you?” I asked. The being gave me a devilish grin, and sat down cross-legged where it was standing.
“You could say I am your power, or the power of all Time Lords, as you have heard them called,” the child said, as it rocked back and forth in a carefree manner. It was difficult to gauge the child's expressions or even motivations. I didn’t even get a name out of that answer.
“That doesn’t really answer my question,” I replied, not exactly amused by the proclamation. The child gave me an annoyed scowl in return.
“Fine, you want me to give you a name? You can call me… Sela,” the child said.
“Sela? Is that your real name?” I asked, not entirely believing the child.
“Of course, it’s not my full name. Telling you that would be wrong. It is the shortened version of my true name. That is all you need to know,” Sela interrupted.
“So, what is this place, Sela?” I asked, changing the subject. All around me, the lights of various stars glittered in the distance of this place. Out of reach, yet so close to the being before me.
“Nowhere, yet, everywhere. Albeit this is my realm, this is like a dream to you, which is why you’re so calm. I’ve learned that dreams are the best place to commune with mortals, because when dreaming, most common sense is thrown out the window. There is only logic and emotions here. This is still a realm of existence, though; my existence, specifically,” Sela replied.
“Why are you a child, if you don’t mind answering?” I asked. It just seemed odd for some reason.
“I am what you subconsciously believe I am. My true form is unknown, except to me. Every Time Lord has a different idea of me. The dwarf saw me as akin to the old storyteller mentioned in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Warlord believed me to be an ancient dragon, the farmer believed me to be the same as the sun and moon, and you imagine me to be that of a carefree and deviously innocent child. That is all,” Sela explained with a bit of a crass tone.
“If you are here, does that mean you wish to explain how I can use these time travel abilities?” I assumed out loud.
Sela bellowed with laughter to the point that the being almost fell over. “That is a good joke. You can figure that shit out on your own. I am only here to explain that I only do what I believe is interesting. Lending people my power is done at random to keep me entertained, so don’t think you're some chosen one or anything. I did make the mistake of giving my power to Rubin, though, as he did practically nothing with his gift, and it got so boooooring,” Sela said in a ticked-off fashion. It was like I was hearing someone complain about their job through a child's mouth.
“Okay, well, if you want something interesting, then why don’t you show me how to use these powers?” I said, trying to get something out of this.
“No. In the time that you’ve been in the past, you have done so much interesting stuff without these powers that I just want to see what happens,” Sela replied smugly.
“Well, then answer this. Can I stop people from dying if I haven’t been there before?” I asked.
Sela got up and started to pace. After a few seconds of pondering, Sela answered, “No. Only I have that ability, and I would have to erase the timeline beyond that to keep Rag's off my ass.”
“Oh…”
“... However, if you can do it without changing anything that you’ve already experienced in the past, then yes. For example, if someone's body disappeared after they died, then you could go back, fake their death, and bring them to your current time. This wouldn’t affect the timeline in the slightest, as nothing was technically changed,” Sela stated.
“So you’re saying that I could save King Arthur and Scott’s wife?” I asked excitedly.
“No, I’m pretty sure that nothing can be done about them,” Sela said, raining on my parade.
“...”
“...”
Sela paraded over to me and patted my head in the most annoying way possible. “There, there, child. Do you want a cookie?” the child-like being asked with a condescending and slightly mocking voice.
With a disappointed tone, I asked, “Do I look like a child?”
“No, but you act like one,” Sela said, obviously mocking me. That little shit.
“Can I just wake up now, if you’re not actually going to tell me anything?”
“Well, I could, if you can beat me in a game of chess.”
“... fine,” I said, giving in. This Sela child is such an ass. With a wave of Sela’s hand, a chess board appeared floating over top of the pool in between us. I sat down opposite to Sela as they made the first move.
“You know, as a thank you for humouring me, I’ll give you a hint. Imagine the time and place, and really think about it,” Sela said, sticking their tongue out in a mocking fashion. We then played chess for what felt like several hours… I lost every game.
“Well, I guess it’s about time you woke up,” Sela said whilst standing up and stretching. The child clapped their hands and I began falling through the watery pool below me. I fell into my bed with such force that I was launched out of the bed itself and onto the floor with a crash. Behind me, I heard a woman yelling but I was too shaken up from face-planting on the floor to recognize who it was.
Lifting up my head over the edge of the bed, I saw Elysif sitting on the floor like she had jumped backward and landed on her butt. Behind her was Scott, who was sitting scrunched up in a chair with a half-empty bottle in his arms. I stood up and rubbed the back of my neck before asking, “What are you two doing in here?”
“We were worried because you fell asleep and hadn’t woken up in nearly two days. We tried waking you up, but nothing worked,” Elysif replied, as she stood up and dusted herself off.
“Was I really asleep for two days?!” I asked in disbelief as I stood up.
“Yep. Elysif refused to leave your side the whole time,” Scott said from the corner, before he unscrunched himself from his ball and yawned real loudly.
“I did not!” she yelled at Scott, unable to hide her embarrassment. “I was simply waiting for him to kick the bucket so I could dissect him.”
“Elysif, we have been over this, you cannot dissect me,” I replied as I meandered over to where I had set my coat.
“Actually, she and I agreed that if you die, then I could get your liver to replace mine,” Scott said with a tired, matter-of-fact tone.
“And you didn’t think to include me in that discussion?” I asked presumptuously.
“We didn’t think you would mind, since you would be dead. You wouldn’t really be using it for anything anyways,” Elysif said as if it was no big deal. I disagreed
“Well, to change the subject, I am starving,” I said, throwing on my coat.
“Sounds good to me,” Scott replied.
“I feel like I could go for something,” Elysif agreed. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying each other's company. There was plenty to talk about but we didn’t want to talk about anything work-related, so we spent our evening playing cards and discussing the comings and goings of our normal lives. Ha, normal my ass! We are nowhere near normal, even in our everyday life.
***
Outside the window of the inn, Compton sat with a relaxed gaze on the three. He had watched as the trio talked, laughed, and enjoyed themselves. Compton wanted that, but at the same time, he was happy. Not for himself, but for Scott. Scott had been a loner ever since Silva had died, and seeing him with people whom he could be himself around was enough to give Compton a warm feeling.
He reminisced over when they were younger. Compton saw him as this smart-ass kid that was always talking to people, never shutting up. He was the only one that tried to actually be his friend, other than Silva, who had taken both him and Scott in. Even though she was only six years older than them, she excelled at everything. Compton only became Scott’s friend because Silva wanted them to get along. It felt more "forced” at the time. However, after a few years of working together, they became excellent friends. Even so, Scott would never bring up his life before Silva took him in.
The only thing he ever said was, “my life was meaningless until Silva found me, I owe her everything.” Compton never understood why, and he never got an answer from Scott. Even Silva’s father didn’t know. He only knew that Silva brought him home one day, and she later told her father that she wanted Scott to be her pupil. Since she rarely asked for anything and usually made smart choices, he let it happen. It didn’t matter though, after she died, Scott became a loner who only spoke to a few select people for as little time as possible.
Now, he seemed to have friends, and was happy. Compton was just glad he had been able to open up to some people, even if it wasn’t himself. “I guess I don’t have to watch over you, Scott. You’re just enjoying life, and who am I to stop you? I may not trust this Lou Barrett guy, but I can trust you,” he said to himself, before standing up and strutting down the cobbled street. “Man, I need to stop talking to myself. The Table's had me working alone for too long.”