"A woken dream is reality and chaos conjoined in harmony manifested. "
- Kritovolous
3. A Scattered Dream
As Auris finished the last of his duties of feeding the animals and cleaning both his home and the small hen house, he felt the hunger rise from his stomach and remembered the invitation that Mrs. Kirke had given earlier.
He changed from his dirty gabs to his slightly cleaner and not so worn out garbs. It had been given to him by his late mother prior to her sudden death.
He hid the garbs and other valuables inside a chest that could only be opened with a key that hung over his neck. He hid the chest under his bed, he knew that it was an awful place to hide valuables and if any raiders decided to enterhis house, they would not only find it rather quickly, they would probably laugh at him.
The chest looked quite worn out, it was another memento he decided to keep of his late mother. After she passed he decided that the many objects in his home would only remind him of her, he had been young when she passed, though he couldn’t remember much of her now as the years had begun to wane on his treasured memories of her.
She had been an odd woman, he thought as he opened the chest and saw the numerous objects that lay inside it. When he removed the garbs that covered the upper layer that he would wear to the dinner, he saw candles, three books, an amulet with odd numerals that his mother treasured more than anything else. She used to tell him that it belonged to his father, which he had never met and probably never would now.
He remembered the way she used to talk of him. The love she radiated when she would mention the adventures he and she would undertake.
As Auris held the amulet he remembered his mother telling him of how she and his father first met.
They had been enemies at first. She told him that her father stole a valuable from her and she would hunt him down to retrieve it and revenge the dishonor he placed upon her by stealing the object.
She never told what the object in question he was nor why would have stolen it from her, he only remembers her talking of those days with longing and sadness.
When he saw the deep sadness those memories caused, she who had always been strong and forceful he decided to never talk of hose days with her again.
He picked up the garbs and changed them for his other ones. As Auris finished changing clothes he went to the kitchen.
“Wright! Come, let’s leave.”
He left through the front door with wright in tow and walked down the road towards the village a few miles away from his home.
As Auris walked down the two-way road, he saw in the distance a carriage coming towards him.
The closer the carriage came to Auris’ location, his view of it became clearer. The carriage was being hauled by two horses, a man sitting behind the horses directing them. It wasn’t moving down the road fast, but it moved with a calm and steady rhythm.
He moved to the side, waiting for the carriage to pass him. It then slowly came up to him and stopped. He looked at it and said, “Can I help you with anything?”
The driver turned to him and smiled. “Yes, lad where is this?”
Auris looked at him in confusion, “You are currently near the town of Rehs, where are you headed stranger?”
He then laughed, “Young sir, could you happen to point me in the direction of the Aéhrüm.”
Auris’ eyes widened, “Why would you go to such an ill place? The lake of wayward souls is not a destination that is traversed through lightly good sir!”
He then laughed once again, louder than previously.
“Worry not lad, I have my means.” He said with a wide smile on his face.
Auris then sighed and pointed him in the direction he desired to be sent towards, as Auris turned and was about to depart the man said quietly, “Wait lad, I fear I must warn you. You should probably leave town, I fear darkness may soon be upon us and this place will be the first place to feel its terror.” He warned him.
Auris then remembered the figure clad in darkness, he shivered and as he was about to ask the man what he knew, he looked at where he once was and couldn’t find him any longer. He had disappeared.
Auris then lost all color on his face and looked at Wright who had been unusually quiet during his encounter with the man.
She looked at the down at the road, where Auris had previously directed the man towards. She simply stood there and peered her eyes towards something in the receding light of the sun.
Auris felt uneasy and began to walk towards the town.
For some reason he felt nervous, he couldn’t explain exactly why he felt so, he felt strong enough to warrant thoughts of cancelling his dinner plans with the Kirke family.
But he knew that doing so would finally give Mr. Kirke enough reason to think that he disliked him.
Which, he of course did, but had never actively expressed towards either he or his wife.
Auris didn’t know why he disliked the man, but the first time he laid his eyes on the man he felt strong negative emotions towards him. His mother had even told, that all men that give off such negative emotions in him, should warrant both his suspicion and should actively evade to interact with as much as possible.
He continued and before long he entered the town.
In the center of the town was the bell and clock of Eterna. Made of some of old remnant technology from the days when the first race of Anúdil roamed the lands, though Auris.
He remembered the tale his mother told him, of a time when they, the ancient races, would create various objects on the land at the urgings of the High Kings of the Ëodin. She had told him of the stories of how the first race of Ánudil created the first clocks from the remains of the destroyed mountain of Tïndrá.
From these stones the first race of Ánudil crafted the one thousand and one clocks of Ëodin, after the creation of the clocks they created the large bells of Ruil, from these bells they would call for the first race Ánudil to repair old broken watches.
His mother would sigh when she told him of this story. She then told him of how the peace ended.
How the High Kings that broke the Truce of Ghrúl had decided to wage war on the children of Yhmir and of how those decisions came to affect their relationships with the other races of Ánudil.
The first race of Ánudil disappeared from that day henceforth and would never appear in the there onforward long history of man.
Whether they truly exist Auris knows not, but he knew that his mother would tell him of the stories involving the first race and the High Kings and their knight in shining armor. She believed them. But then again, she wasn’t the sanest person to roam this land.
‘They probably never existed in the first place.’ He thought and then sighed as he looked at the bell that had lost its entire half section from the right side.
None knows the materials its made of. That’s why many raiders try to steal them from villages, not many still exist. Probably only a handful of watches and bells still lie in these lands.
The only reason this village still has one is probably due to the large presence of Dawns military troops near the village.
Auris then shook his head and slapped his face.
“Stop thinking about these fantasy tales, Auris.”
Wright looked at him in confusion as she tilted her head at him. He smiled and walked towards the back of the village near the large hill.
He was topped on the muddy road, by a young man clad in a black apron that wore a large amount of soot on his face.
“Auris, dear brother.”
Auris looked at him in exasperation, “Tori.”
“Where you headed towards Auris?” He asked with a wide grin on his face. Auris knew then that the lad had gotten the wrong idea.
“I have been invited by Mr. Kirke to dine with them this evening. He apparently caught a large boar in the forest this morning.”
Tori then looked somewhat disappointed, “That sounds boring.”
Blunt as always thought Auris.
“So where are you headed?” Asked Auris.
“Home, but before that I’m walking down to the lake for a quick dip.” He said with a mysterious smile.
Auris sighed, “You know that the guards will soon apprehend you if you continue going down this road, Tori.”
Tori laughed and put his hands on both of Auris’s shoulders.
“Brother, you wouldn’t understand. I must do what my body compels me to do. Otherwise I would be nothing but a shallow husk of a man.”
Auris then turned around and began to leave.
Tori then laughed and yelled at him, “Have a good evening with the Kirks, Auris.”
Auris walked down the road ignoring his yammering.
Soon he came to a house, almost three times the size of his. He saw smoke rising out of the chimney and light from the candles illuminating the interior of the house which could be seen from the windows outside it.
Auris walked towards the door and knocked.
He heard someone shouting and waited.
A few moments later the door opened and Auris saw no one in front of his eyes. He then smiled and looked down. He saw a small girl that smiled at him.
He took her in his arms and tossed her into the air.
She laughed. “Uncle Auris, have you brought candy?” She looked at him with eyes that radiated an innocence that didn’t belong in the world.
He smiled at her. “I’m afraid that I have run dry, Airla.”
She then crossed her arms and then looked at Auris with puffed cheeks.
“But you promised that you would bring me candy last time, you are a liar Uncle Auris.”
Auris faked looking hurt and grabed his chest.
“Why must injure me like so, Airla?”
She then looked startled and asked fearfully. “Are you alright Uncle?”
“I will be. That is if you tell me what a dashing young man I am!”
He yelled as he tossed her into the air once again.
She laughed as he caught her. He then gripped something out of his pocket and placed in Airla’s palm.
“I gave you a promise, and the promise has now been upheld. Are you happy now?” He said as he laughed.
She then opened her hand saw a small green orb.
“Thank you uncle Auris!” She yelled as she planted a small kiss on his cheek.
His smile widened further, and he placed her on the ground. He then heard yell coming the kitchen.
“Auris what are you doing just standing there, come inside!” He heard Mrs. Kirke yelling towards him. Airla then gripped his hand and forced him inside.
“I’ll come for you later Wright, go and have fun inside the town with the other dogs.” He told Wright and then she quickly departed away from the house, before snarling at it. She too felt something from Mr. Kirke.
He took him further inside the house towards the dinner table where her father sat.
He smiled at Auris. “Good evening Auris, you came at just the right moment. And I see that you brought a gift to the little rebel.”
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Auris greeted him back and Airla let go of his hand and went to her father showing her what he given her. Her father praised his girl and told her that she had to wait to eat it, at least till the end of the dinner. She sulked and sat down while her father placed the candy inside the kitchen.
Auris sat down at the table and waited for the dinner.
It quickly appeared together with Mr. and Mrs. Kirke, she had cooked a fine dinner. The chicken had been roasted and sliced into several pieces. She placed it on the table together with some salad from they harvested from the fields several days ago, some mashed potatoes and water.
“Eat up. There Is more than enough for everyone” She said as she removed her apron and sat down next to her husband at the small round dinner table. Auris sat next Mr. Kirke and Auriel while Mrs. Kirke was seated opposite to him. The table was made of wood and so was the chairs. They were old and used but had the warmth and love that came with household objects in this area.
As they began to eat the food Auris felt the eyes of Mr. Kirke on him, but the moment he looked at him, his eyes were not on him, they were instead on his food.
For some reason Auris hadn’t felt the usual nervousness and tenseness he usually expected when he near the man and for some reason this only made him far more nervous and tense than any prior encounter with the man.
They ate their food in silence, Mrs. Kirke could feel that something was awry. Usually they would talk while eating, but this time none choose to talk.
Mr. Kirke broke the silence. “So Auris, have you heard the news that comings out from the capital?”
Auris looked at Mr. Kirke in confusion. ‘What is he talking about’ he thought.
“No, what news?” He asked back, while slowly eating his food.
Mr. Kirke did not leave his eyes from his food while talking.
“The crown prince of Nomaria is marrying the only offspring of the timurian king.”
Auris then looked at Mr. Kirke in shock.
“So, it’s happening.” He sighed.
“Their union will put much pressure on Dawn and her Majesty the Queen.”
Auris said nothing and simply nodded.
“Okay let’s stop talking about politics now, okay?” Said Mrs. Kirke as she clapped her hands together to get our attention.
I nodded at her and I resumed to eat my food.
We continued to small talk, not about politics but about village and our new mystery guest. Nothing much had been seen of here since she appeared in town. She went towards the mansion some mill near Auris. He was quite surprised at that, the mansion had been abandoned for ages, he had never seen anyone enter it before.
Soon the conversation switched from the noble lady to the heavy taxes that had been placed on the village. Mr. Kirke talked furiously at how he found them preposterous. They took almost one third of the entire villages grains every quarter. As he continued to grow in anger in his proclamations of how tyrant the current administration had become, Mrs. Kirke quelled his anger magnificently by providing him with food and sweetened words.
Though Auris had found the man to be avoided he still respected him. He took good care of his family and was an excellent member of the community. He never turned anyone away that needed his help. He was a good man.
Auris had battled quite intensely in his earlier days in the village to force himself to like the guy, despite his mother’s urgings. But he failed time and time again. And he simple just began to avoid him. And Mr. Kirke wasn’t one to force anyone to like him, he respected anyone no matter what they though of him.
That just made Auris feel bad about himself.
As the dinner concluded Auris thanked the family for their invitation and as he was about to leave, Mr. Kirke offered to take Auris home, but he declined his offer with a smile.
The sun had gone down, so Auris quickly called for Wright that promptly came and left for his home.
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A young man awoke in a large room, he opened his small and weary eyes only to be greeted by the blinding light of the sun pouring inside the room from the windows, he closed his eyes and opened them slowly, getting them adjusted to the sunlight. For the first couple of seconds he saw nothing, but as his sight slowly returned, the sight of what appeared left him dazzled.
The ceiling had a mural depicting a battle between three dozen men and women clad in silver and gold armors on their horses preparing to clash against an entire army of winged beings that illuminated the world.
The winged being’s swords, shields but wore no full body armor, except for on their chests and head. They wore white sleeveless tunics, that for the men were long enough to reach the knees, while the women had theirs end just below their ankles.
The winged beings came downward from the sky, flying towards the men and woman clad in silver on the ground.
The people on the ground were led by a woman that wore a scepter, had a white wolf next to her and golden armor with a long, red and thick cape. The battle seemed to take place on a sand colored desolate plain.
For some odd reason he felt a tingly sensation at the back of his mind when viewing the mural, but he chose to ignore it.
The young man shifted his attention from the ceiling and onto the room. He noticed the vastness of the room and was flabbergasted for a few seconds as he tried to recollect himself, he began to question where he was, as a result he moved his body to stand, as his feet touched the ground he was attacked by an utterly excruciating pain that reverberated throughout his body, he felt weak, nauseous and dizzy as he tried to raise himself up.
It felt to him like he was being shred to pieces and smashed with a hammer in quick successions.
The pain he felt made him unable to scream in pain, he clutched his head as the headache made him unable to think and breathe and then blood began to pour out slowly from his nose before he passed out.
He had felt himself turn broken and then not, he felt old memories surfacing and disappearing before he could grasp them.
The darkness took him away from the pain and guarded him from the torrent of excruciating pain pouring into his mind.
As time passed, night came and went multiple times.
He awoke with a start and felt out of breath, for no apparent reason. He clutched his head and tried to remember anything, but nothing came to him. He knew his name, but nothing else.
‘Timur’, a weird name he thought to himself.
He then turned like a frightened animal to look at his surroundings once again, they had not changed prior to his collapse. Fear took over, he couldn’t remember how he got here or where he was.
His mind starting conspiring against him, without meaning to he started to consider that he may have been drugged and kidnapped. But then why would he have been placed in here and not in an dungeon? Nothing makes sense here.
Once again, his head began to hurt, and he held it firmer and with more force than before.
As the pain disappeared he began to hit his head and urged it to remember anything significant about himself, but he failed magnificently.
He then ran towards the open window and threw up. His stomach was empty so all that came out was some small amount of water.
The boy trying to understand what was going on sat down to think and organize himself.
He took a deep breath and went towards the mirror at the back of the room.
He looked down at his hand and body. Thinking ‘How am I still alive?’
He looked at the numerous wounds on his body and his missing arm. It had ben cut of cleanly just above the elbow area.
‘Have I been tortured? Is that why I have lost all my memories?’ He began to think and felt fear creep on him once again. But then he wondered why his face had been left as it were? His strong chin, his olive skin, small forehead and firm bushy hair and thin cheeks seemed to be in pristine condition. He compared his face to the rest of his body and sighed.
He felt bad looking at himself in the mirror for so long and then turned to the room.
He began to scan it and realized that much of the furniture was made of oak, there was silverware by the table some feet from the table and next to the window. As he continued to scan the room he came to discover that many of the materials, the curtains, sheets and men clothes in the closet that was made of silk. How ostentatious he thought while sneering inwardly.
As he continued his observations the door flung open, a maid entered and froze at the sight of the young man who was up and about. Both parties stunned for a few seconds looked at one another not uttering a single sound nor word to each other. As the young man came to find the atmosphere awkward, he opened his mouth and asked the maid.
“Excuse me, but is it possible for you to tell me of where this place is?”
His voice rough and dry as he had not taken in any water for days. The maid still in shock dropped what she was holding and ran out the door as quickly as she had arrived. The young man angered at the way she ignored his question walked towards the door and out into a long hall filled with various doors.
He looked both ways but couldn’t find any trace of the maid.
He went back inside the room and turned to the mirror. He gasped in surprise and realized that he wore only a piece of cloth protecting his crotch, and he started once again to touch his scars. He was both fascinated and sad that his body looked like this.
He then began feeling embarrassed that he was touching his body alone inside the room the boy found some of his clothes, but saw that the outer layer was missing, he only had a shirt and pants. He wore them and found a jacket inside the cabinet.
‘I wonder what material this is made of. The jacket is soft yet it appears rough before one’s eye, I wonder what it is?’
As he once again entered the hall, he decided to walk towards the window and he then saw a large garden filled with a large amount of various plants and wildlife. He saw a door by the right side of the hall and walked towards it. He opened the door and went outside into the large garden. The cool summer breeze hit him and warmed up his body, the sun in the middle of the sky sent rays of warmth towards his body and he accepted it with all his heart.
While basking in the wonders of nature the young man heard splashing and remembered his need for water. He quickly went towards a small pond that was inhabited by fishes of various colors, he contemplated at first whether to drink of this specific pond, he felt his thirst strengthen at the sight of the water and decided to just drink from it.
As he collected the water on both of his palms he sipped the water from them and did so multiple times until he had quenched his thirst. He then heard a rustling from the entrance to the forest in front of him.
He looked towards the area and saw five people, similar to him in age, appearing from the forest laughing and bantering with one another. The boy leading the group, with blond hair and fierce eyes was leading them towards the pond where he now stood.
To his right was a youth with black hair and slanted eyes, thin eyebrows and skinny body stature.
He walked with a smile on his face while his compatriots were laughing. His face never changed away from that smile, it somehow nerved Timur greatly.
To his left was a young girl, also similar in age to Timur. She wore a light blue dress, with various hair ornaments on her thick and lush hair that she let go freely. She had a firm face with an olive colored skin tone. She was short and while laughing would hide her smile from others by placing her hand on her mouth.
Behind the group was a young man, slightly younger than Timur and the rest of the group.
He was similarly to the girl quite short. He wore a sword on the left side of his hip holstered in a silver scabbard adorned with numerous jewels. Timur sniggered at it. The boy still looked as if he had baby fat on his cheeks, his eyes looked strong, similar to a hawk, and had proudness and arrogance that he seemingly oozed out of his pores.
It seemed to Timur like the young man trying to enter the conversation of the three persons group but was shut down by the girl constantly who appeared to be his sister.
And behind even he, was a girl with short black hair and brown skin, clad in a silver armor with a red sun on her chest plate. She had thin lips, and a strong face. She was slightly taller than the other girl.
‘I should ask them where I am.’
As they saw him walking slowly towards them, the youths stopped dead in their tracks and looked at him in confusion. He then stopped as well. As he was about to ask the group where this place was the girl in the dress looked at him in dismay.
“What are you doing here servant? I thought I told Mr. Hans to not let any servant into the gardens today. Why are you here?”
She asked while raising her voice towards him.
As he looked towards the girl, he looked down at his clothe and realized that he truly did appear to be clad similar to a servant.
As he was then about to tell her of is name the youth in the back pushed forward and began to walk towards him. His eyes told Timur of the derision that he was looking at him with.
“Sister, I do not think that this slave is a servant, look at his jacket, it is undoubtedly something that belongs to our household, his right chest bears the crest of a bear. Our family crest, which isn’t what we give the servants to wear. He must have stolen it before coming here. I should execute him right where he stands.”
Timur then stood stunned as he looked at this group in front of him.
“Wait a minute! How did you come to that conclusion!?”
‘Sure, I borrowed the jacket, but how does that merit my execution!?’
Before he could protest once again the cold youth charged towards him with sword in hand, Timur who prepared to receive his blade changed his stance.
The youth in the middle frowned at the stance Timur took and was about to stop his friend as he began to feel that something was wrong but was a second too late.
As the cold youth charged forth began to swing his sword in a downwards motion towards his chest.
As the blade was about to hit Timur, he shifted his body to the right slightly and narrowly evaded the blade that now impaled the ground.
The young man looked at Timur in shock and jumped backwards as he, Timur, tried to grab him with his only hand. As he failed Timur removed the sword from the ground and looked towards the youth with a cold glint in his eyes.
“You will regret that.” He said with a dark look on his face.
From the youth charging at Timur and him reacting, not more than two breaths had passed.
The young man now being alert and believing more firmly that Timur is a skilled thief, that he likely appeared before them to kill them here in the garden, away from the prying eyes of his father and the other guards inside the mansion. He then took hold his short sword from the small scabbard next to his empty one and began to prepare to charge at him once again.
“Stop this at once Benjamin, what are you doing!?” The lord yelled towards him.
The lord that previously took Timur into his mansion appeared to be running towards them from the entrance of the garden. He brought a butler and a small group of guards with him.
He looked at the situation before him with a frown and before anyone could speak he knew what had happened when he lied his eyes on the clothes that Timur wore.
“I was just apprehending this man Father, what have I done wrong? I suspect that he is an assassin sent to take life of our prince. He moves too well to be a common thief.”
The rest of the party also looked at the lord that appeared in confusion, though they did not explicably say it they agreed somewhat with Benjamin.
‘I hate these nobles.’ Timur could almost feel himself spitting at the ground in disgust but knew that it wasn’t an optimal time to do so.
“Where does he look like an assassin you fool!?”
The count slapped his son hard. Benjamin fell to the ground, he placed his hand on his red cheek and looked at his father with a stunned expression, his father then began to walk towards the group behind him, turning his back on him.
Presented with this sight, the anger began to boil up inside him, fueled by the pain given to him by his father for a stranger.
Before the rest of the party could react, the lord walked towards the youth that stood at the front and said with a formal bow.
“Nephew, I believe the palace has sent someone to get you, they are currently awaiting you at my front door. If you would please follow me.” The lord them walked away with his hands on his back
The Prince shivered and nodded towards the two behind him before quickly leaving. The girl with the sword and the other youth followed him out. They were soon followed by the young girl in blue, she looked at Timur with the same derision that her brother had given him before entering the mansion with the rest.
“Bring the young man to my study later and bring him some warm food and new clothes and tell the doctor that it was a false alarm.” He said as he looked at the butler and then at Timur with a frown on his face. He wished to stay and question the youth but knew that he had to see the prince safely to his carriage and deliver him outside his territory safely.
Timur looked at what was unfolding before him and could only doubt whether he stumbled upon a play or whether he entered it all had been a figment of his imaginations, or maybe it was dream.
He pinched his neck and felt the pain from his action. He wasn’t dreaming nor was it all a figment of his imagination.
The incredulousness of it all tired him extensively. The shock and surprises he time and time again came to see as he awoke not long ago, had caused him to grow weary.
The butler nodded and took Timur who just stood there in confusion, the butler took him and let him inside the mansion and showed him back to his room where he received food and drinks.
All the while Benjamin stood outside, fuming with anger, all alone.