The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist Part 12

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Kaleth peered anxiously into Aennin's eyes as the other Avatar stared intensely into his own.

"How am I supposed to do that?" The boy asked nervously. "If saving everyone really hinges on me figuring out these powers we're going to be waiting for a long time!"

Aennin shook his head and pulled Kaleth from his bed. "Bullshit! Your Avatar powers aren't all you have to offer! Do you think Geos would have chosen you if he thought you were too weak on your own?"

"I'm a druid!" Kaleth protested weakly. "A pacifist! What can I do against an undead army?"

Aennin shrugged and raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't they teach druids healing magic? That's pretty much all Volt wants to do most of the time when she's doing stuff with us!"

Kaleth sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, but that's what I was learning to do before the sai'mul crashed into Orion."

"That's no good," Aennin replied with a frown. "Well, either way we can't have you sitting on your hands now that we know you're part of the team. I'll go talk to Volt to see if she can teach you how to heal, but I can think of some ways your transformations can be put to some use too. We have until Spring before we can get out of Heron to do anything useful, so we might as well use this time to help you get ready.

So began a long winter of what Kaleth would come to know as Avatar School. To be even one Avatar short, Aennin declared, was a disadvantage that no one could afford. In the mornings, he would train with Atunis to sharpen his reflexes by sparring just like his father used to do. During these sessions, the Salican Avatar would talk about the Kartal that he knew and how their templar training informed their decision-making as Avatars. During these times Kaleth struggled to resist asking about how the Kartal from this other timeline differed from the father he had grown up with. Atunis seemed constantly stressed by the idea of his dearest friend causing so much damage by abusing Geos' power and Kaleth couldn't see no good in making him think about it any more than he did. In truth, both of them needed the distraction they found in swinging sticks at each other.

When the two tired of sparring, Kaleth would next go to see Tir to learn what she could teach him of Intalan magic. Aennin adamantly stressed that telepathy in particular was an important skill as a scout when used in concert with his transformations. This was a matter of some irritation to Crane's Avatar as she specialized not in telepathy, but in divination and engineering. Still, she relished in the challenge of linking the principles of these disciplines to the skill Kaleth sought to acquire and learning alongside him. It was during these times that Kaleth would learn about what was happening in the world outside Heron. Through her frequent contact with her predecessor, Mr. Broger, they had learned that the Serene Avatar, Ekera, was alive and using the benefits of her sai'mul body to gather information from the enemy. This role wasn't without risk as she had learned that some of the undead army were able to distinguish the mindless sai'mul they had subjugated from those who still thought freely. But with newfound allies among a guild of warrior artisans, she was already making moves against their adversaries that would hopefully lay the groundwork for the Avatars' return from isolation.

After lunch, Kaleth would seek out Volt, a notorious late sleeper whose lunches were actually her breakfasts, to continue his training in healing magic. These were some of the hardest times for him because she was rarely in the best of moods. She had counted on the power of Geos to save her husband from whatever fate had befallen him in the midst of this sai'mul onslaught, but hearing that Kartal caused all of this to happen by doing the same for his wife should have soured her to the idea. This didn't change her mind at all, however. No one seemed more interested in his progress in mastering his Avatar abilities than she did and the fact that he was focusing more on his worldly skills did nothing to cheer her up.

This left Kaleth looking forward to his late afternoons with Aennin. The person he had once known as an acerbic rogue quickly became the most welcoming presence among the Avatars. Unlike the others, who had looked to him to master his powers quickly in the hopes that he would single-handedly fix everything, Aennin was the only one who made him believe that he could be useful with or without Geos' blessing. To Aennin in particular, Kaleth was a valued member of the group he was thrust into just as he was. Instead of forcing him to think of his place among the chosen figures of the divine, Aennin's training felt more like playing. Every day, Kaleth would face the challenge of sneaking on the elf in order to steal something from him, spy on him, or ambush him in whatever beastly form he expected least. This gave him an opportunity to explore Dalaska through the eyes of a falcon, mouse, stag, dog, cat, or crow. Although he rarely seemed to surprise Aennin, the elf was always sure to point out when he believed he would have fooled anyone else.

It was always in the evening that Kaleth spent any time thinking about Geos and his future as his Avatar. It had been a month before he reached an important breakthrough in understanding these dilations of time. As it turned out, finding a pattern in the speed-ups and slow-downs had been besides the point. The more he thought about it, the more random they seemed to be. But as contemplating these powers became routine, he found that he could predict these occurrences more accurately when he was completely relaxed. Eventually he realized that this was the key to controlling his powers. It was during these moments of gentle contemplation that he ceased to predict these changes in the flow of time and began to mentally trigger them. 

He decided to demonstrate this power to Aennin during one of their games. He had been tasked with stealing Aennin's coin purse. Normally he would do this by sneaking up and pouncing as a cat or diving from the rooftops as a bird. But he knew Aennin would be on the lookout for these tricks now and he started to doubt he even needed to do so anymore. So, he merely donned a cloak and shadowed him for most of the afternoon. He was sure that Aennin had spotted him before the time had come to make his move, but it no longer mattered. He took a deep breath and concentrated on slowing everything down. As expected, even the quick reflexes of his teacher weren't enough to stop him from sprinting up and snatching his prize for the first time with his own hands. In his excitement, he lost control of the power and Aennin smirked at him.

"See? I knew it was only a matter of time before you started to pick it up!" he declared proudly. "What did you learn?"

"I'm not sure," Kaleth said uncertainly. "I just stopped stressing about it so much and figured it out naturally."

"That's the trick," Aennin said with a grin. "None of the others would know this because they were already far more confident with themselves than you were when they first found out they were Avatars, even Atunis. But the trick to gaining control of your powers is gaining control of yourself. These abilities are a part of you now and the only way you were ever going to learn that was by sharpening your original skills."

"So, what's next?"

"What's next is continuing to practice with this new skill until you are able to use it confidently and doing yourself a favor by keeping this a secret between us. The more progress you make, the more pressure everyone else is going to put on you which we now both know isn't going to help. Just focus on what you're already doing until you're ready to move on to reversing time."

"Wait, what?"

Aennin sighed. "Your dad wasn't always able to avoid getting hit in battle. He only seemed that way because, as Geos' Avatar, he was able to undo any damage he took by reversing the movements of whoever hit him. It's not the same thing as going back in time, but kind of winding the clock backwards. If you can control the speed at which time flows, eventually you'll get the hang of controlling the direction, right?"

"I guess so," Kaleth replied uncertainly. 

"You have to know so," Aennin emphasized with a roll of his eyes. "Remember that confidence is the key to unlocking your new powers."

Kaleth nodded a little more confidently this time. "I will!"

"Good! You should have extra time to work on it tonight since you finished today's mission more quickly than usual," Aennin said with a smile. "I'll be sure to come up with something more challenging tomorrow.

"Okay! I look forward to seeing what you have in mind," Kaleth replied with a smile. 

The two then prepared to go their separate ways until Volt approached them with some important news.

"Ekera's here!"

The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist Part 11

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Despite largely only confirming what he had already heard from the Avatars, Kaleth's first communion with the God of Time was enlightening. He now knew a specific, albeit indirect, cause of the sai'mul invasions that threatened to overrun the world. He even had an idea of what he might try to do to fix it. But he couldn't put that plan into action until Geos allowed him to use the Reservoir again. If he was going to do that, however, he was going to have to master the rest of his new powers. This was infinitely easier said than done.

For starters, he had yet to even figure out the random bursts of altered time flow that seemed to follow him. After days of observation, he had begun to get a sense of when they would occur, but he was only right half the time. He knew now that the power that caused this all to happen lied with him, but he was no closer to consciously controlling it.

The boy turned to look at the dog that continued to snooze on his bed. He ran his hands through the beast's fur, noticing as he did so that it was far rougher than it looked; like massaging a bowl of sand. The beast tensed at his touch, but relaxed after a single glance at his face. Kaleth had seen plenty of geoli like the creature the dog had become, but his father always warned him not to approach them.  It was easy to think of them as simple fauna like the wolves they so closely resembled, but this appearance concealed their power. There was, after all, a reason they were considered a counterpart to the maulans and kerunites. These were creatures whose bites could induce rapid aging, a malady that was made even worse if they should ever be warped by dark magic.

As he stroked this one, though, he instinctively knew that he didn't mean him any harm. The geoli didn't respond with any particular enthusiasm to his presence, but seemed to tolerate Kaleth's presence. He considered that Geos had left the creature with him for a reason. He had always wanted a pet, especially since he had come to understand the fauna in his druidic studies, but he couldn't imagine his parents being thrilled with the animal that he had found himself caring for then.

The door to the room opened as Kaleth fawned over the geoli and Aennin walked in, looking exhausted. Considering the many feats of athleticism he had seen from the Avatar of Death thus far, Kaleth couldn't imagine what had him so drained all of a sudden. But it didn't matter; as soon as Aennin saw the geoli, he grinned widely. 

"I fucking knew it!" the elf hissed as he hurriedly closed the door. He fell onto his own bed and stared expectantly at Kaleth.

"Yeah, I just found out," he offered awkwardly.

"Well, no shit!" Aennin said with a hint of impatience. "The others are going to be thrilled, you know. To be honest, we were backed into a corner by these sai'mul. The Avatar of Geos is our best hope of fixing all of this now."

Kaleth shook his head and said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but knowing that I'm an Avatar doesn't tell me how I'm supposed to fix anything. Geos isn't letting me use his power to travel through time until I can master the rest of his power."

Aennin rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Makes sense, I suppose. Maula never shuts up about her precious twin. It doesn't surprise me that he'd make the new Avatar earn his trust after the colossal fuck up we're dealing with."

Kaleth stopped petting the geoli and frowned at this response. Even though everything that they were dealing with was certainly the result of his father's carelessness, he couldn't bring himself to stomach the idea that saving his mother was the greatest mistake anyone has ever made.

"I only exist because of that fuck up," Kaleth growled moodily.

Aennin seemed speechless for a change. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Kaleth said, "I can't fix everything. Even with Geos' power, nobody can ask me to put everything back to the way it was if it means I'll cease to exist!"

Aennin finally found his voice in time to retort, "Nobody's saying you need to put everything back the way it was! I'd take any option that allows you to stick around without zombies threatening to break down our doors!"

Kaleth sighed and resumed petting his new companion. "I didn't think you'd care."

Aennin shrugged and rolled his eyes. "I don't even know why I do. Even if you were erased in history, it's not like I'd be able to miss you. Still, I don't hate you as much as most people. You deserve to be here."

Kaleth pulled his knees up to his chest. "Well, what we want isn't going to matter until I pass Geos' test and earn his time traveling power."

Aennin smiled wryly and nodded slowly. "If he's anything like his sister, he's probably stuck you with some stupid riddle that you have to figure out to prove you think alike."

"I'm supposed to learn to understand the path that led us here and be mindful of the future... so I can make the right decisions in the present." Kaleth repeated with an awkward smile.

Aennin frowned as he mulled over the words, finally he muttered, "Well, unless I'm rusty in my 'asinine divine riddle' language, you are halfway there now that you understand what happened. But it sounds like he wants you to do something about it before he'll give you the time traveling abilities."

Kaleth let go of the geoli and stared at Aennin with his eyes bulging in shock. "You don't really think he expects me to stop the sai'mul, do you?"

Aennin shook his head and rolled his eyes. "What am I, a pasty boil on your ass?"

"What? I don't--!" Kaleth sputtered.

"It seems obvious to me what needs to happen," Aennin said as he jumped back to his feet and crossed the room to Kaleth. "The other Avatars and I are going to have to find our own way out of this mess and you're going to help us."

Next Chapter

The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist, Part 10

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

"Now that your mind has been opened to the truth, we can begin to make sense of your impossible existence."

This was easier said than done as far as Kaleth, who was still processing the reality of this conversation. Like his father before him, he was now able to hear the voice of the God of Time. But as this ability was supposed to be unique to his father, the Avatar had never bothered to tell his son anything about the voice that now spoke directly to his mind. He wasn't prepared for the Fadalian's soft-spoken and patient tone. When he had read about the damage Geos had done to Comalan-- specifically his homeland of Resta-- he pictured a cold entity skillfully controlling the deep-seated rage that his father had given him through both heredity and upbringing. But as he sat down on his bed next to the dog from which he had recently been fleeing for his life, the comfort Geos brought him now made him think more of Serenity than Chaos. But with Geos with him, even this idle thought was a statement for the god to hear.

"In my early years, it is true that I felt more of my mother's influence while father doted on our dear Maula," Geos said as if they had just been sharing a casual conversation. Was this what it was like for all Avatars to speak to the gods? "I believe that's something we have in common. I would go so far as to say that made my decision to allow you to succeed your father less complicated."

"Aennin said my father caused all of this. What did he do?"

"You may wish to keep some words to yourself," Geos warned as footsteps sounded outside the boy's door, then quickly faded away. "You never have to speak words directed for me aloud again. To answer your question, I must take you on your first tour through the Reservoir of Time. Your father used my machine's power to fulfill a selfish wish and carelessly allowed the evil that pervades your world to grow. To further elaborate, it would help for you to understand how the Reservoir works."

Before Kaleth even had a chance to think of a question that could possibly make sense of what he just heard, he heard a high-pitched mechanical whine. He followed the sound upward and saw a pentagon that was wide enough to encircle him had formed in the ceiling. The shape extended toward to floor, revealing a strange metallic structure that was sinking to enclose Kaleth within its walls. Darkness fell as the pentagon swallowed the floor underneath him. He was vaguely aware of the floor vanishing, but when it was gone, he seemed hover in place instead of falling as he waited for something else to happen. He wouldn't have to wait long.

The first thing to happen was the golden light that gradually began to illuminate Kaleth's strange coffin at various intervals in the form of a glowing symbol that resembled an hourglass enclosed with curved lines that was was topped with a circle that could be a sun when compared to the crescent moon shape at the very bottom. Kartal had taught him that this was a sigil representing Geos, and it could be seen every so many yards for as far as he could see both above and below him. Kaleth continued to stare at the nearest of these lights until they all began to move, scrolling upward as loud mechanical hum was heard coming from the walls.  It took Kaleth a minute to realize that he was moving and by then he was falling so rapidly that the glowing sigils had melted together into massive blurred lines. He began to feel nervous, but found himself slowing down before he could start to panic. Gradually, the lines began to break into individual symbols once more, which then slowed to a crawl and eventually stopped. 

Moments later, Kaleth felt solid ground beneath his feet once more and saw light once more as the bewildering machine vanished. He adjusted his eyes hastily and soon found himself standing in a familiar place. He was home. More specifically, he was standing on Midstreet, a road running through Beldor that he had walked so many times between his home and primary school. He had never seen it quite like it appeared now, with the moon hanging high in the sky to indicate that it was late.

"Stay hidden," Geos' voice warned the boy. "I have brought you here only to observe."

Fortunately, Kaleth knew all of the hiding places along this road, out of necessity. Those who took an interest in his father always made his days intolerable, so he had taken to walking through the trees that lined the sidewalk. He used to climb one of these trees and walk between them from branch to branch before jumping into his backyard, but this was before he had been taught easier ways to move around. For the second time that day, he inhabited the body of a bird--this time a seresian owl--and perched himself on the nearest tree branch. With superior eyes, he scanned the road and found what he was looking for: his mother walking home. She looked slightly younger, and appeared to be loaded with books. 

Suddenly, from the shadow of an alley between an abandoned restaurant and a new laundry, a slender form darted onto the street and enclosed her between a pair of long, stringy arms. Kaleth focused on the assailant's face and saw Aennin drawing a blade to her throat. He might have felt sick to see this, but the mind of the owl whose form he took processed this image more calmly than he would have. He looked on as Adamora struggled in vain against the assassin's grip. 

That was when Kartal showed up.

Kaleth watched as his father snuck up on the assassin as stealthily as he had appeared, realizing as he did so that it helped him not to picture his name. Kartal pulled the assassin away from his beloved, but as he did so, something strange happened. As Kartal stepped back, he left behind an after-image of the assassin who continued to hold Adamora. He threw the elf that was caught in his grip roughly to the ground and kicked his knife arm with enough force to send the weapon flying. Meanwhile, when the other elven assailant quickly slit his mother's throat, another after-image remained standing in her place after she fell to the ground. The still-living version of Adamora turned rushed to Kartal and threw her hands around him while both assassin's fled; the successful killer melted into the shadows from which he came while the defeated version took off running down the street. 

Kartal and Adamora spoke for a few minutes before returning home, leaving the version of Kaleth's mother who had been killed to bleed on the floor. He watched for a few minutes longer as an old man walked onto the street. He too split into two versions of himself, one of which rushed to inspect Adamora's dead body and the other of which continued casually walking past her. As the old man who knelt over her began to call into his airwave tablet for help, the one who had kept walking bent over to pick something up from the ground: a brass locket he had found in the spot the failed assassin had been thrown into. He held up the locket to casually examine it as a pair of spellwarriors rushed down the street to relieve his counterpart.

"What you have just witnessed are two versions of the truth," Geos said then. "When Aennin Moonstep was soon to become my sister's Avatar, her first Avatar used his magic to turn the elf's blade on someone he had deemed a threat to himself. In one truth, the woman who is to be your mother died well before you were ever thought of, only to be avenged by your father later. In another, your father's timely intervention saves your mother and allows you to exist."

But how did what just happened here cause the sai'mul to start taking over? Kaleth thought, unable to speak even if he wanted to in this form.

"I'm sure you noticed the bystander who first happened upon the scene of your mother's tussle with Aennin after it was over," Geos responded in a tone of overt patience. "Did you see what he did in the truth that led to you?"

He picked up a necklace that somebody dropped.

"That necklace belongs to your mother," Geos said approvingly. "It is a sparesoul containing the spirit of an evil witch that has haunted your mother since birth. In the version of the truth ending with your mother's death, it was buried with her so the spirit's evil could be contained by her tomb. In the other, Aennin tore it from her neck in the struggle and neither of your to-be parents noticed that it was missing until it was long gone. In hands other than Adamora's, the spirit of Adaling is even more dangerous. It was this spirit who bestowed the sai'mul army with all of the power they need to overpower the living. She has driven them to cross lines which no one else would dare to try. This was all made possible because my power was used irresponsibility by someone I expected to know better. It would seem that love is stronger than even the great Sir Marle's faith."

It doesn't sound like saving my mom was what caused our problems, then. What if they had picked up the amulet?

"The only way to know for certain would be to observe as the water flows into a new direction," the gods said cryptically. Kaleth remembered that the name of the time travel machine that Geos used was called a Reservoir, but this only helped him to understand that the god meant that the only way to be certain was if they tried it.

"I cannot allow you to interfere with the contents of the Reservoir just yet," Geos said sternly. "After your father's betrayal, I am hesitant to trust mortals with control of my machine at the moment. I have allowed you to see the past because it is important that you understand the past and be mindful of the future to make the wisest decisions in the present."

If I do something, maybe I can save the future!

"You cannot know that for certain," Geos replied, although the tone of his voice made Kaleth begin to feel as if the god was humoring him at least. "If you are to represent me, you would do well to learn to be patient. When you master my power, there will be no hurry."

How do I master the power of time?

"You must understand the past and learn to be mindful of the future," Geos repeated. "By proving that you are capable of observing the past without bias, you have accomplished the first of these requirements. But learning to carefully consider the future will be harder. Uncertainty has a way of paralyzing those who are inadequately prepared and unforeseen disaster awaits those who do not take the exercise seriously. Until you can competently predict the consequences of your actions, no matter how small, you cannot fully inherit my powers."

Kaleth suddenly began to feel his body returning to normal of its own accord as five-walled machine dropped out of the sky to swallow him once more. As the symbols began to move again, this time downward, he began to contemplate Geos' words. Understand the past and be mindful of the future to make the wisest decisions in the present. Now that he finally knew the truth that tied his existence to all of the tragedy in his life, he felt slightly older. But he wouldn't be able to do anything about it until he became as intimate with the future.

Next Chapter

The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist, Part 9

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

The dog began to bark excitedly as Kaleth ran back and forth in a panic, searching for a direction to run. The racket was starting to draw the attention of onlookers, who either whooped in amusement or shouted in irritation.

"Will someone shut that damn dog up!"

"Look! He's trying to catch a mouse!"

Kaleth ran through the gap in the dog's forelegs and shot past him as fast as he could. He thought about he was doing the opposite of everything he had set out to do when people looked at him. Now, a gaggle of annoyed people and a starving dog all wanted him dead and all he could do was run. He hugged the side of the alley as he fled, searching for the tiniest nook to squeeze into. But escape would not be so simple. Every time he stopped, he found himself standing between a wall and the wind blown by the snout of the desperate beast.

His efforts to put some distance between himself and the dog were undermined by their difference in size, a disadvantage only slightly mitigated by the shortcuts his tinier body allowed him to take. Every time he did so, he would continue to run without breaking his gait, only for the dog to catch up after running around. He needed to find somewhere the dog couldn't follow, but such an opportunity was proving difficult to spot. His tiny muscles screamed for rest, but he couldn't find so much as a chance to slow down and pick a more suitable direction to run.

As he broke free of the alley, however, he was visited by a stroke of incredible luck. As he continued his sprint, he noticed that the humans walking around ahead had begun to slow again. At last, this strange perversion of time that followed him around gave him some relief instead of questions. He stopped and looked around desperately for something to run toward. All he could see was the unused festival grounds far in the distance. If he could get there, he wouldn't be safe to return to his normal body, but he could at least turn into a bird and fly away.

He decided to go for it, skittering along quickly, but not at quite the hurried pace at which he had been running before. He had a ways to go yet-- between the feet of the humans, no less-- before he could reach this small measure of safety, and he would need to pace himself. He was already beginning to consider finding another direction in which he could run to find a hiding spot. But before he could make up his mind, he started to feel that hot breath on his back again. Kaleth glanced up to find that the dog was upon him again, moving faster than before. 

This didn't make sense to Kaleth, who was sure that the magic was supposed to last a lot longer at this point in the pattern he'd painstakingly observed. Yet, the dog was tilting his snout down in an attempt to snap him up. He continued to run, noticing that the humans still weren't moving any more quickly in the process. He managed to find cover between the legs of a soldier who was apparently herding Restan refugees and turned back to look at his pursuer. The animal was changing before his eyes. What was once a mane of patch brown  was gradually turning white, and his head grew slightly larger. By the time the animal began to nudge his way through the soldier's legs, he was no longer a dog, but a frost-colored wolf. 

Kaleth continued to run from the new creature, who was now not only moving as fast as the dog had been before, but much faster. Fortunately, all of the people in the way were still reacting with the urgency of snails. Deciding to use them to his advantage, he weaved between the many pairs of feet in his path and left the creature behind to struggle against the humans. Finally, he managed to make his way into the festival grounds, which were empty at this point in the year. Although he could no longer rely on humans for cover, he had lost the wolf somewhere in the crowd. With his line of sight clear of anyone else, he took cover behind a fence post and transformed into a hawk. He could have breathed a sigh of relief as he spread his wings and took to the sanctuary of the sky.

But another problem became clear as he took to the air. Although no one could reach him, the cold of a Heronite autumn was too much for his current body for bear. His mind screamed as he fled for the relative safety of his inn. He nearly crashed as he landed on the roof and hurriedly took on a warm-blooded body. As a field lynx, he still shivered in the cold and stood out in the middle of Heron. But here, nobody could see him, nor could they react quickly enough to trouble him if they did. He rested from his turbulent outing enough of his energy returned for him to resume his mousy shape and slip back into his room. He was alone yet again and finally free to return to his body, but something was wrong. 

Impossibly, the wolf was previously chasing him was laying on his bed. This didn't stop him from returning to normal, but his mysterious appearance here did nothing to calm his nerves.

"How?"

Kaleth had let out the word with an expression of shock, which only deepened when someone answered him.

"You have finally asked the critical question," a smooth and velvety voice said to him from out of seemingly nowhere.

Kaleth jumped back from the wolf, who only glanced lazily at him before lowering his head on his paw. "Who was that?"

"Think back to what you last heard when your mind was too small to comprehend it," the voice said enigmatically. "The answer to your question lies in this memory."

Kaleth thought back to the meeting between Avatars in The Deer's Fang. Something his father had done with the power of Geos had led to the calamity that was overtaking the rest of the world. Now he was dead, and the Avatars were convinced that he had been replaced. By him.

"Geos?"

"It is always most helpful when the mortals we speak to are so clever," the voice responded. "Now that your mind has been opened to the truth, we can begin to make sense of your impossible existence."

The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist Part 8

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Reeling from the image of his mother being murdered by Aennin, Kaleth's attention waned for a few seconds. The mouse was brought back to reality with a start as Aennin groaned loudly.

"I don't believe this!"

"I do!" Volt chimed in with a tone of disdain.

"Aennin, no," Atunis said in firm tone. "What happened wasn't your fault. And it apparently never even happened here, so you shouldn't beat yourself up about it!"

Aennin slammed his hands on the table and snapped. "I'm not talking about me! I'm talking about Kartal! That complete idiot!"

Kaleth jumped at the sudden commotion. The Avatar of Death had never spoken of the boy's father in friendly terms, but Kaleth had never heard Aennin directly insult Kartal before.

"Don't you dare call him that!" Atunis snapped back, in a tone of disgust.

"Yeah, what gives?" Volt added.

"I remember trying to kill Adamora," Aennin said in a low growl. "I know full well Garanda was the one who was responsible for that but Kartal, a man we know has some control over Geos' time power, showed up at the last minute to stop me. Suddenly, when the world is in its most fucked up state, his best friend shows up claiming memories of a world in which I did exactly what I was being pushed into. Think about it!"

The table fell silent leaving a bitter taste in the air for Kaleth. He sneezed, then groomed his face as he pondered the conversation, then his tail. He wasn't in the right mind to fully comprehend what he was hearing yet. The thought of sneaking away to revert to his normal shape so he could process this conversation had barely formed when Atunis broke the silence.

"Gods...I know precisely what happened. How did I not see it?"

"So...Kartal was the one who did this? He's the one who fucked up everything?" Volt mumbled.

It was with an air of irony that Aennin replied, "That or, as I originally thought, Atunis is deluded and everything fucked itself up."

"Let's slow down a bit." Tir said loudly. "We gotta find some way to confirm this."

"It has to be true," Atunis eventually replied, his voice trembling. "That way, we can go back and fix this. We can bring him back. Bring all of them back."

"How do you propose we fix this with him gone?" Aennin asked.

Atunis took a deep breath and replied, "Kartal may be...inaccessible to us, but Geos should not be. He has the ability to choose another avatar."

Aennin lowered his head to the Avatars' table so Kaleth could see his face as he turned to look directly at him. Stricken with bewilderment at having been found, he began to scan the room in a hasty attempt to look like a natural mouse. He scurried further under the table, putting everyone out of sight completely. His eyes found a pair of feet crawling across the ground on the far end of the pub. It was then that Kaleth realized that Aennin must have noticed the effect he was having on the people around him again.

"He might already have," Aennin said.

"So it'll all be okay," Volt said softly, her speech slurring slightly with the effects of her drinks.

"What do you mean?" Tir asked.

Aennin let out one of his impatient sighs. "Well, I was just thinking that either Kartal doesn't need to be replaced or there's a reason his magic is affecting his son."

"I asked Kaleth to attempt to contact Lord Geos when I saw that Kartal's magic was affecting him," Atunis replied. "But there was no answer."

"Oh? You asked an untrained druid boy to pray to a busy God and he didn't respond on the first try? I'm shocked," Aennin replied with a scathing tone of irony.

"We should have Kaleth try again," Tir replied before a brief pause. "Aennin, even if you're not entirely sure that what Atunis says is true, the way time magic is affecting Kaleth, and the lack of guidance from Geos, seems to imply that Geos is involved in this in some way."

"No, I agree," Aennin said. "It's clear that there's something different about the kid. But you'll forgive me if I don't rush to embrace a theory that everything can be fixed by making me kill someone I'm glad I didn't."

Atunis sighed and replied, "I never said that you should kill Adamora, Aennin, There may be some other way."

'That's a great sentiment, but trying to save her is clearly related to what's happening," Aennin said impatiently. "If we go picking and choosing our own history, we'd only be making the same mistake Kartal did."

"I ain't sure it matters at this point, quite frankly," Tir replied. "The timeline is already contaminated. I don't think it's possible to just make it so things happen the way they were meant to happen in the first place."

"Exactly," Atunis added. "If all we do is stop him from saving her, I cannot imagine he would not try again."

Aennin clicked his tongue. "Even if it is futile to try returning things to the way we were, it doesn't mean that we can control what will happen if we mess with time.

"Time has already been tampered with," Atunis insisted. "We may as well try!"

"Keep it down! Somebody's coming!" Aennin suddenly whispered hastily.

A large pair of feet strolled up to the table under which he hid moments later and began to sweep underneath with a mangled broom. He jumped back from the broom's wickers with a squeak.

"Oh no you don't!" An unfamiliar female voice hissed. "Hold still, vermin!"

She jabbed at Kaleth with the end of her broom several times in frustration. His survival instinct kicking in, he darted from under the table into the relative safety of a small hole in the wall. He cowered in the spot for several minutes, only to watch the same woman from before charging in with a small mousetrap. He darted further into the void and wandered around so blindly that he quickly got lost.

When he finally found an exit from the space between walls, he could see the street outside. He stepped out gingerly and hugged the side of the building as he skitter along for a private place to change back to normal. But as he rounded the corner of the pub into an alley, he nearly bounded into the paws of a sleeping, brown husky perched within an overturned box. The boy-mouse froze in fear as the dog's nose and whiskers began to twitch. His eyes opened slowly as he stared at the tiny stranger.With a loud yawn, the beast lumbered to his feet so Kaleth could see his emaciated form.

The dog looked like he hadn't eaten in quite some time and his eyes were set on the small, but not negligible, source of potential nutrition beneath him. Kaleth could defend himself if he could return to normal, but he had been warned not to let any of the locals see his magic. If he wanted to return to his own body, he would have to lose the starving dog.

The young druid was starting to feel overdue for a simple day.

Next Chapter

The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist Part 7

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

The night following Kaleth's conversation with Atunis about his father left him miserable and restless. Trying to sleep in particular proved to be a lost cause hours after he began his attempts to do so. So consumed was he with obsession over his family and the magic that seemed all the more mysterious in their absence that he couldn't find any peace in his mind. Whenever he tried to think of anything else, the disembodied voices of his father and mother would chime in with what he imagined were their own opinions of whatever he was thinking of. Nothing he did could distract him from the void his parents had left when the sai'mul came to claim their lives.

So he lied awake in his bed the whole night, turning frequently to readjust in his discomfort. His bed creaked with every movement and each time this happened, he could hear a sigh coming from Aennin's bed. After a dozen turns, Aennin got up wordlessly and sat down at the foot of Kaleth's bed. When Kaleth sat up to look at him, the elf sighed.

"Something on your mind?" he said loudly and pointedly.

With a sigh, Kaleth sat up and shook his head. "What if my parents are both dead after all?"

Aennin sighed and shook his head. "We'd have a lot more in common, for starters."

Kaleth froze awkwardly and said, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Aennin said as he tilted his head to the ceiling. "I lost them a long time ago. I've had plenty of time to process my grief."

"How do you stop feeling so empty?"

Aennin sighed ironically. "It helps when one of them isn't the sort of parent you'd miss. But ultimately, you can't live the kind of life that I have without gaining some perspective on death. We are put on this world for only two things. We live to accumulate experience, then we die to pass that experience into another world that needs it. It hurts to lose your family, but when they die, they almost never suffer, but move on to the next step of our purpose."

Kaleth thought about Aennin's words, struggling to find any meaning to them. Finally he admitted, "I don't understand."

"Hardly anyone ever does," Aennin said as he locked his fingers behind his head and leaned against the wall.  "The takeaway should be that your parents lived well, and if the Gods saw fit to take them away from you, it was because they were ready for them to be of use elsewhere. If it's any consolation, they're always going to live on in the things they did, you, and the things you'll do."

Kaleth found the mirth in him to smirk. "Somehow, I never pictured you being so religious."

Aennin nodded and slapped Kaleth's foot. "You would be too if you had a god speaking directly into your brain day in and day out."

Kaleth nodded and pulled off his blanket so he could turn his back to the wall. Sitting beside Aennin, he said, "What's it like to hear her voice?"

Aennin shook his head and said, "You don't want to know. It's not pleasant. At least not for me."

Kaleth sighed and stared into the darkness for a few more minutes. Then he said, "It doesn't really matter how you came to your conclusion about death, but it sounds like something they would have told me. Thank you."

Aennin stood up and pivoted back toward his own bed. "Don't mention it. I'm going to try to go back to sleep now. I have to be up in the morning to meet with the other Avatars so we can finally contain this violence."

"Right. Sorry to wake you. Good night."

Aennin fell asleep moments later and, so as not to wake him again, Kaleth readjusted himself gingerly. He put his head back onto his pillow and closed his eyes. Buoyed by Aennin's dark, but encouraging words, he managed to shut out the other voices in his head and focus on his newfound companion. He was still far from alright, but he was able to put his mind to rest for the moment and finally fell into sleep.

Kaleth woke up the next morning to the sound of Aennin shutting the door as he left. He sat up in his bed blearily for a few minutes before something occurred to him. Since he no longer thought he needed help finding his parents, he didn't really see the point to following Aennin's instructions to keep himself hidden away. Perhaps because his future was uncertain, his curiosity towards the Avatars and their plans to save the world overtook him. Compelled by this desire to know what was coming next, Kaleth threw some clothes on, locked the room and set out to find where Aennin had been.

Finding the Avatars wasn't as simple as he thought it would be. Whether they had chosen to meet somewhere secret or because the locals weren't inclined to tell him anything, he struggled to find a straight answer about their location. It would be an hour before an excited gossip had let slip that she had seen Atunis walking into a pub called The Deer's Fang. He thanked the girl and hastened to follow her instructions. Upon doing so, he found the people he was looking for grouped around the same table in a dark, secluded corner.

He crawled under one of the tables and, hidden from sight, began to think with the mind of a mouse. As he had done many times before, he then shrunk into the unimposing rodent he pictured. His transformation complete, he crept quietly across the floor to avoid making a sound. Upon reaching the underside of the nearest table to the Avatars, he looked up toward them and focused intently on listening to their conversation.

As the boy began to listen, he heard Aennin let out a pointed sigh "Time has been screwed up around Kaleth's person. That's what allowed us to cross two countries to get here before any of you. He thinks it must be because his father's still alive and I was perfectly fine with letting him believe that until things calmed down!"

"I understand, Aennin. I'm sorry," Atunis said in a tone of palpable sorrow. "I desperately want Kartal to be alive, but Lady Salica's responses to my prayers seem to imply otherwise, but..." He trailed off, his brow furrowing pensively. 

"But what?" Tir said, peering searchingly at Atunis.

"I don't think any of this is meant to be," Atunis replied softly. "I opened my eyes one moment and everything was different."

Volt banged her tankard down on the table with a hint of clumsiness. "Atunis, I know it really hurts when you lose someone you love! It really does feel like the whole world changes around you, but we're here for you!"

Aennin put his head between his arms on the table and sighed. "I think everybody at this table knows how that feels by now."

Atunis released an exasperated sigh. "No, Volt, not..." He paused for a moment to rub his temples and let his head fall forward. "I don't mean like that. I mean it quite literally."

Aennin tilted his head upward and looked into Atunis' eyes. "Explain."

Tir leaned in as Atunis took a deep breath and began speaking. "I suppose I will just tell you what I told Kaleth. I had just returned from a long journey, and was spending some time with Jemah in my apartment. I closed my eyes one moment, and when they opened once more, he was gone, and the world around me had changed. I looked outside, and the street that had been tranquil and safe just an hour before was utterly destroyed, and teeming with violent sai'mul."

Aennin lifted his eyebrows. "You're not making any sense. Are you saying they just appeared on you?"

 "Who's Jemah?" Volt asked curiously. 

Atunis sighed. "Yes, they just appeared. And Jemah is my boyfriend."

 "Boyfriend?!" Volt squeaked, scandalized. "You didn't even tell me you were seeing someone!"

Atunis leaned forward, putting his hands on the table. "Voltairine, you know him! You've met him several times!" He looked to Tir and tilted his head. "As have you. Do you remember?"

Tir shook her head, staring at the table in deep thought. "No. I don't."

Aennin shrugged and said, "I've never heard of him either, but I've never taken enough of an interest in your life to know who you're seeing."

Volt frowned at Aennin and smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand. "Ass."

 Atunis sighed, looking pleadingly at Aennin. "You see what I am trying to tell you, right?"

Aennin shook his head in exasperation. "No, not really. All you've told us is that the world somehow changed while you were seeing someone you're quite certain everyone has met. What do you suppose that means, anyway?"

"That is not the only thing that changed," Atunis replied. "Where I came from, there is no Kaleth." He furrowed his brow uncomfortably and lowered his voice.

Aennin frowned and gave Atunis a peculiar stare. "So? Why would you suppose he didn't exist in this not-at-all-delusion of yours?"

"Because Kartal did not have a son, before! Adamora died before they could ever have children!" Atunis replied. "It isn't a delusion, it's my life, Aennin!"

Aennin shrugged and sat back upright. "Well your history is definitely far off. Either you're delusional or you're from another reality."

"Well, I'm not delusional!" Atunis replied, his brow furrowing sadly. "I really did come from somewhere else! Somewhere where Resta City is perfectly intact, and Kartal is still alive! Our only hope is to bring that world back!"

Tir shifted uncomfortably as she considered the man's words. She looked at Aennin somewhat pointedly before turning back to Atunis. "Atunis...listen. This is definitely worth looking into."

Aennin  rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'll bite. Assuming what you're saying is true, maybe you should start by figuring out what else is different in this world you seem to know.

 Atunis nodded, a small pout on his lips. "Right...well, I suppose you all could help me with that, since you all seem to be familiar with this awful place."

Volt looked at Atunis searchingly from her spot at the table, where she sat with her chin resting on the rim of her tankard. "What about Gyanda? Is he still okay where you come from?"

Tir placed her hand on the table in front of Volt. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Aennin nodded in agreement with Tir. "You said that Kartal's wife didn't make it this long as far as you were aware. How did she die, then?"

Atunis looked away uncomfortably, picking up his drink and fidgeting with the handle. "She...was murdered."

Aennin had a chill in his voice as he said, "So it seems. I might just be piecing this together, but you need to tell us all what you just held back."

Atunis sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Adamora was murdered. By...you, Aennin. You were the one who did it."

Kaleth suddenly felt sick to his stomach. They were far from done speaking, but he was far too stunned to care what else they had to say in that moment. What he heard made no sense, but it didn't stop him from picturing Aennin plunging one of his knives into his mother's torso.

Next Chapter

The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist, Part 6

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Kaleth couldn't bring himself to think about the horrible revelations that gnawed at his mind, so he continued to focus on the phenomenon that surrounded him. Two more hours of solid effort had brought the boy much closer to determining how the magic of Geos worked. Although, he couldn't seem to predict the occurrence of these random spells of altered time, he managed to work out a binary pattern. Whenever a burst of slowed time coincided with an even number of minutes on the clock, the magic seemed last only briefly, while an odd number of minutes seemed to find longer occurrences. The opposite seemed to be the case an hour previously, before he turned the clock a minute forward. Whatever was happening, it seemed to be tied into someone's clock, but not his.

He began to pace in the middle of one of these spells, staring at his clock as he walked. It began at thirty one minutes past the hour, and had gone on for over half an hour. He continued to stare at the clock while wandering through the room, which turned out to be a mistake. Distracted by the slowly-moving clock face, he stumbled and dropped the clock, sending it sprawling to the floor. He picked it up and examined the damage. He was relieved to find that one of the case's sides had popped off, but the clock remained in working condition. He sat down on his bed to reattach the detached panel and stared at the clock until the hands began to turn at a normal speed once more.

The many hours that he had been cooped up in that room had taken their toll just then. What was he even doing here? If it was true that his parents were dead, what was he going to do? With a sharp intake of breath, he jumped out of the bed and began to pace once more. He ignored the clock completely this time and merely tried to walk out his frustrations. As he stopped, he heard one long, booming sound that seemed to rattle the walls. Then another. Then yet another.

Kaleth froze. Whatever that sound was had seemed to stop after the third time. He glanced at the clock and realized that it was moving slowly again. He shrugged and continued to pace, deciding it wasn't worth trying to make sense of anything that happened when everything was moving so slowly. After what felt like another half hour of pacing, the booming sound returned, this time to the door. Kaleth jumped this time and smacked himself on the head. Only now did he realize that the sound must have been someone knocking first on the wall, then the door. How much noise was he making?

As if to confirm his suspicion, a booming voice grumbled painfully slowly, "Keep it down in there!"

Kaleth sighed and glanced at the door. Something about the voice sounded familiar. Feeling an urge to apologize directly, he opened the door and did a double take when he saw a familiar face. Atunis Astersong, his father's best friend stood in the doorway staring into his eyes with widened eyes. 

"Atunis! I'm so happy to see you!"

Atunis was a gentle man, who never seemed to have trouble making Kaleth smile. Before the sai'mul began to ravage the world, he would visit often to either spar with his father or practice their healing magic together. Whenever he did, he always spent time with the entire family. He always seemed to have better stories than his father and was seemingly acquainted with many interesting people. To Kaleth, there was no better company.

The Avatar of Salica didn't respond to his greeting, however. Instead, he continued to stare at the boy, his lips waving slowly. Tears pooled in his eyes and fell down his cheeks at a snail's pace. Although he seemed to be making every movement with a deliberate pace, he covered his face with his forearm and turned his back on Kaleth as fast as he could in this state. Kaleth could only watch as he did this, unsure of how to respond. Time returned to normal at the end of Atunis' turn and Kaleth shook his head vigorously to straighten his mind.

"Please come in!" he murmured weakly as he stood aside to let the man in. "I've been hoping to see you!"

Atunis wiped away his tears and sniffed before entering the room, his back to the oni. He paused for a moment before looking over his shoulder. "Kaleth?"

Kaleth furrowed his eyebrows in concern. Whatever had befallen him at the hands of the undead army seemed to have shaken so completely that he was no longer himself. "Are you okay, Atunis?" 

"You...don't need to worry about me," Atunis replied, furrowing his own brow. "Are you okay?"

Kaleth nodded somberly. "Not really. Volt told me my parents are dead, but it's hard to believe, you know? My father's magic doesn't seem to have gone away, so I want to believe he made it, but then why hasn't anyone seen him?"

Atunis looked at Kaleth with confusion. "I was also told he was...dead." He swallowed the last word, and then continued. "But you say that his magic still exists?"

"Yeah! That was what allowed us to get here as quickly as we did!" Kaleth insisted without a trace of certainty. "Time's been slowing down around me since the sai'mul attacked Orion."

As Atunis looked away, he seemed to be thinking about something. "Have you tried praying?"

The boy shook his head and gave him a sigh. In truth, he was not as comfortable with prayer as his parents were. He didn't have much patience for the complex symbols he needed to learn in order to understand their language. Kaleth preferred to connect to his world through nature instead of religion, which was what drove him to become a druid instead of joining the clergy like his parents had. "No, not really." 

"You may want to try it," Atunis replied, furrowing his brow and looking tiredly at the ground. "The Gods may be able to provide some of the answers you're looking for."

This was the first time Atunis had ever actively encouraged him to pray. Wondering why he would start now, Kaleth responded, "Not directly, anyway. My training in Tanis didn't exactly cover the language the gods speak in."

Atunis folded his arms across his chest, looking at Kaleth pensively. "When you opened the door, before I came over here...were you using time magic?"

The boy shook his head again. "Not really. Time's been acting very strange around me every since this all started."

Atunis turned towards Kaleth and put his hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes imploringly. "Kaleth, I need you to reach out to Lord Geos. Please...just try."

Kaleth frowned in confusion, wondering where the Avatar was going with this. "Do you really think that will help me find my father?"

"It certainly couldn't hurt," Atunis replied softly with a sad, but desperate look on his face.

Kaleth frowned awkwardly, "So how do I do that?"

"Just close your eyes and ask for him, as if you were wishing for something," Atunis replied. "You don't need to worry about doing it the right way. He...will hear you."

Kaleth nodded and gave a noncommittal shrug. "I guess there's no reason not to try." He closed his eyes and murmured. "Do you want to have a seat while I'm doing this?"

Atunis smiled weakly and headed over to one of the beds in the room, sitting on the side of it and keeping a close eye on Kaleth as he began to pray. The boy opened his eyes to glance at Atunis, sat on the bed beside him, and closed his eyes before falling into a trance. He sat there in silence for several moments, calling out in vain to Geos. No matter how he worded his requests, however, the deity wouldn't respond.

When Kaleth finally opened his eyes, he frowned. "I didn't hear anything."

Atunis' brow furrowed curiously. "Well...it was worth a shot." He looked at Kaleth. "Kaleth, there is something odd going on here." His face fell and he sighed, before adding, "That sounded pathetic. Of course there is. I mean, I have... much to tell you. Things are not as they seem."

Kaleth nodded excitedly, eager to finally learn something new about this mess. "Okay, how so?"

Atunis stood up, pacing in front of Kaleth. He took a deep breath and released it, starting to relax. "I...will start from the beginning."

Kaleth nodded, encouraging the Avatar to continue.

"Two days ago, none of this was...happening. At least, not for me. No sai'mul trying to take over Mortanis, your father...was alive and well. As was everyone else," Atunis began, furrowing his brow as he recalled things. "I was with Jemah, and suddenly, everything just...changed. He was gone, and when I looked outside my apartment, there was nothing but desolation."

The unfamiliar name seemed to catch Kaleth's attention. "Who's Jemah?"

Atunis' eyebrows perked. "Oh, sorry. Jemah is my partner. I had just returned from a long trip, so we were spending some time together. It was, unfortunately, cut short due to the phenomenon I just described." He rubbed his chin and looked away pensively.

Kaleth couldn't help feeling a little disappointed to hear that. In all the times Atunis had visited, he had never once mentioned being in a relationship. As he pondered a response, he noticed that Atunis had begun to walk backward. Back and forth across the room, he seemed to pace in reverse. He sat back down in the bed beside Kaleth and hung his head.

Atunis sighed yet again and said, "That sounded pathetic. Of course there is. I mean, I have...much to tell you. Things are not as they seem."

Kaleth's suddenly widened with bewilderment. "What's happening?"

Atunis didn't seemed to respond to his confusion. It was as if he was unaware anything unusual had happened. Once again, he stood up and began to pace the room. "I...will start from the beginning."

"Okay," Kaleth murmured, unsure of what else to say.

"Two days ago, none of this was...happening. At least, not for me. No sai'mul trying to take over Mortanis, your father...was alive and well. As was everyone else. I was with Jemah, and suddenly, everything just...changed. He was gone, and when I looked outside my apartment, there was nothing but desolation."

Everything about the way Atunis spoke was the same as it had been the first time. Kaleth noticed the same pause just before he began to tell his story. Figuring it best to keep things on track, the boy tried to keep his response the same. "Right. So, who's Jemah again?"

Atunis' eyebrows perked. "Oh, sorry. Jemah is my partner. I had just returned from a long trip, so we were spending some time together. It was, unfortunately, cut short due to the phenomenon I just described." He rubbed his chin and looked away pensively.

Kaleth stared at him for a few seconds before realizing that they had just return to the point in their conversation which preceded this newest episode of time magic. "Right. So, what were you saying?"

Atunis sighed and proceeded. "Well, at first I thought I was dreaming. For everything to change like that...I assumed I had fallen asleep in my apartment. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong. The sai'mul killed my horse, and it looked so...real. I was almost killed, myself."

Kaleth nodded, genuinely hurt to hear about the man's struggle.. "That's awful! I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm glad you're okay!"

Atunis' brow furrowed worriedly as he noticed Kaleth's demeanor. "Are you, though? I don't want to upset you."

Why would Kaleth be upset to hear that? It took the boy a moment to remember that how he felt emotionally was never a secret to Atunis. Being the Avatar of Salica gave his eyes permanent Empathy magic, allowing him to discern people's emotions through colored auras that only he could see. He could tell that Kaleth was upset about something, but not the reason.

"Of course I am!" Kaleth said hastily. "I know what you're thinking, but something is happening to me right now."

Atunis tilted his head confusedly. "What do you mean?"

Kaleth stared at the floor as he struggled to put what he saw into words. "I almost don't believe what I saw. We were talking, then you just started speaking in reverse for a few seconds. Then you repeated yourself! I think this is more time magic!"

Atunis frowned and sat down next to Kaleth, studying his face with great concern. "Have you tried controlling it?"

Kaleth's eyes widened at Atunis' question. The thought of consciously controlling the time magic he was experiencing had never occurred to him. "Control it? No! I've been trying to understand it, but I'm not making any of this happen!"

"I don't know why this would be happening to you, but I imagine you're right about it having something to do with Kartal." Atunis looked away from Kaleth as he said this.

Kaleth began to wonder why this was still in question. Once again, he insisted, "Exactly! Why else would any of this be happening to me if he weren't trying to protect me?"

Atunis sighed heavily. "I want more than anything for your father to still be alive, but... I don't know."

Atunis leaned over, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Kaleth could see that he appeared to be praying.

After a few moments, Atunis looked up. "Lady Salica won't answer me." His expression was one of pain. "She...would tell me if he was alive."

Kaleth's denial was starting to wane. To hear this from Atunis of all people made the thought of his father's death seem all the more real. He pulled his knees up to his chin and murmured. "I see."

Atunis stared at the floor. "I'm sorry, Kaleth." 

He hesitated for a few moments before turning to the oni and wrapping him in a hug.

Next Chapter

The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist Part 5

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

The next day found Kaleth in the exact place he had been the day before, alone yet again. The only thing that was different was his possession of an antique wooden clock that Aennin had brought that morning. He would have been satisfied with that alone, but then Aennin rolled out a set of tools and insisted on spending the rest of the morning improving it. While Kaleth found it relaxing to watch him work, he definitely felt that time was wasted. Although adding an extra face with separate hands allowed him to set the time while he experimented with the other side, he wasn't particularly interested in keeping time. Instead, he whiled away the hours watching the seconds tick away on his clock. Oftentimes, he would fiddle with the dials to force the hands to turn. 

As his observations progressed through the day, he seemed to notice that the second hand would sometimes move just as quickly without interference as it did when he forced it to turn. Other times it would slow down to a point at which it appeared to have nearly stopped. He watched these occurrences, counting off each spell of sped-up and slowed-down movement in his head and counting still between these moments when the clock seemed to tick at what he thought was a reasonable rate. He stared for as long as he could, alternating winks so he could avoid blinking. He was searching for a pattern in these bursts of fractured time, but none of his counts ended at the same number. All he had managed to figure out by the middle of the afternoon was that his father's magic was truly working at random. Although Kaleth's frustration was mounting, this did not deter him from testing and recording the length of each event.

Kaleth was later startled out of this meditative study of his clock by a sharp and quick series of knocks. When he heard this, he jumped so violently that he nearly careened out of his bed. Recovering quickly, he rushed to the door and opened it carefully, making sure to frame himself between the door and frame so that the visitor he was responding to could see only his face. That was the only part of his body he was sure could pass for human. Unfortunately, this didn't allow him to see the face of the woman who barked at him in a demanding way.

"Kaleth?"

Kaleth was startled once again this woman's tone. Whoever he was talking to didn't sound friendly, but her voice sounded familiar. 

"W-who wants to know?"

The woman sighed and replied impatiently, "It's Volt. Aennin said something about me, right?"

It took the Avatar of Kerun identifying herself by name to finally recognize the voice he was listening to. He had seen her countless times since she was married to her mother's cousin Gyanda. But the person who spoke to him sounded a lot different from the Voltairine he knew. A chill ran through his spine as he stepped away from the door, saying, "Yes, I remember now! Sorry! Please come in!"

Without further preamble, Volt practically charged into the room. Once she reached the center of the room, she turned toward Kaleth as he closed the door awkwardly. As he looked into her eyes, he found no trace of her usual vigor. Instead, she wore a hollow expression that dripped with bitterness. 

"So, are you okay?"

Kaleth nodded nervously. "I am now. Aennin helped me get out of Tanis. I'd be dead now if it wasn't for him."

At the sound of Aennin's name, Volt seemed to bristle irritably and abrasively replied, "Whatever." She paused for a few moments before adding, "So, what's next?"

Kaleth was confused to have been asked this question by an Avatar and so timidly answered, "I d-don't know! I was told the Avatars were all meeting here to plan your next move. I'm just here to find my parents!"

"Well, I'm not the boss of anyone," the woman grumbled moodily. "I don't really care what happens. It's all bullshit anyway."

Kaleth was stricken dumb by these words, which he couldn't believe were coming from the Avatar of Life. Wondering what could have possibly happened to put her in such a pessimistic state, he asked, "Why do you ask that?"

The question seemed to be ill-considered as, just then,Volt turned and looked at Kaleth incredulously. "Uh, have you looked around lately?" She snapped as she threw her hands in the air. "Everyone is dead, and the only things left are these shitty mountains that are way too cold for anyone to live on without turning into an asshole! Have you met this place, Kaleth? Have you ever been anywhere else? Everything good is gone!" 

She collapsed onto Kaleth's bed, which was nearest to the door. "What's the point of trying at this point?"

Kaleth frowned sadly as Volt finished her rant. She was acting so differently from her usual self that it was almost jarring. In vain the vain hope that he could cheer her up, he said, "My mum used to tell me that there is no problem that we weren't created to overcome. That must be especially true with the miraculous powers you have!"

Volt's voice dripped with nasty sarcasm as she turned herself away from Kaleth so that her body faced the wall. "Yeah, they've done me a hell of a lot of good so far."

Kaleth couldn't believe what he was hearing. She had always had faith in the healing power she borrowed from Kerun; a power strong enough to bring the dead back to life using just her tears. Kaleth really wanted to know what she had been up to, but he couldn't think of a way to get her to do so. Finally, decided to ask honestly.

"A lot must have happened back home for you of all people to lose hope so completely. Do you want to talk about it?"

But, predictably, she flatly replied, "No."

Seeing the Avatar of Life so thoroughly defeated was beginning to make him feel miserable. It was then that he remembered the single hope he had held for this reunion. "Do you at least know where my mum and dad are?"

Volt seemed to go stiff upon hearing Kaleth's question. She paused for a few moments before slowly sitting up looking at the boy, a weary, concerned look on her face. "What?"

Kaleth sighed before repeating. "Do you know where my mum and dad are? I know my dad is still alive because his powers are protecting me, but I haven't heard anything about my mother! When Aennin told me you were coming, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me something about them!"

Volt looked severely put on the spot by Kaleth's question, and simply stared at him for a few moments, her mouth hanging open. "Uh..." She rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably before looking away and swallowed. "I don't think they made it out, Kaleth. I mean, I mean...they didn't. I was there."

Kaleth's blood turned to ice. His parents, both dead? He couldn't believe it! As shock began to drain all of the color from his face, he whispered, "Where? What... what happened to them?"

Volt looked away as her eyes turned glassy and her lip began to tremble. "Don't look at me like that." She folded her arms across her chest and looked away. 

Kaleth's voice trembled as he said, "But that doesn't make any sense! My dad can't be dead right now! He wouldn't let anything happen to mum either!"

The woman looked pained as she uttered, "He couldn't do anything. He was first."

Something seemed to click in Kaleth's mind just then. If Aennin had rescued him because his father had told him to, then they had to have met after his father split up from Volt and whoever else they were with at the time. Why else would Aennin have been missing from whatever tragedy in which his father was supposed to have died according to Volt? There was only one possible answer in Kaleth's mind.

"But Aennin said he talked to him! Was he there too?"

Volt shook her head confusedly. "No..."

Kaleth's face hardened into an expression of ironclad certainty. "My dad was the reason Aennin came to look for me! If he wasn't with you when my dad supposedly died, then he has to have made it out!"

Volt looked off into the distance, confusion on her face. "I thought...but..." 

She trembled, covering her mouth with her hand. She stood up and rushed to Kaleth, putting her hands on his shoulders. "But...but...if Kartal made it out, maybe..."

"He had to have made it out!" Kaleth insisted firmly. "That has to be why his magic is working on me right now!"

Volt nodded emphatically. "Yeah! Yeah, that makes sense! And if he made it out, maybe he and Gyanda got out together!" Her eyes darted from side to side as she processed the information she was given. She manically rushed for the door. "I gotta tell Tir!"

Kaleth stared blankly at Volt as she made her hasty departure, stunned by her sudden change of mood. His certainty of his father's survival didn't extend to her husband. But if she could bring herself to smile again, even for a little while, that was enough to make himself feel slightly better.

 "Thanks for stopping by!"

"Yeah!" Volt called back, her voice now far more full of life than it had been when she entered. With that, she opened the door and sprinted away excitedly.

When she was gone, Kaleth closed the door once more with a sigh. He fell back onto his bed and picked the clock back up. He began to stare into one of its faces once again, determined to find a pattern in the way his father's magic was affecting his perception of time.

Next Chapter