Aeoryi

THE KING'S FOLLY: CHAPTER 16

[NOTE: chapter 15 was written on paper yesterday]

I actually don't even head to Northernmast. Kanil seems much more intent on going southwards, which would lead to small city with a relatively simple purpose: To do a secondary trade sweep. It was almost scummy in nature, the entire idea behind it was probablt inspired by parasites.

I ask Kanil why we should head there, and he responds with, "Dude you need to get some help in order to pull off this time god thing. And a little magic."

I don't really get what he is talking about, so I ask him to expand.

He expands his answer alright, "Look. You want to convince everyone that you're the time god of time, then you are gonna need help from people who can actually pull off tricks like this."

"And who are these people?" I ask, "How fond of me will they be?"

Kanil sighs, then says, "There is Nymphis, whose been to hell, and Piceies, who has also been to hell. In general they understand magic super well, and have some other cool stuff. I don't even know if they'll like you."

That answer seems slightly off. Kanil seems almost half-awake most of the time. He must really miss his parents. Or his city. Or everything that he had to abandon. Yet he still pushed through it. He was a champion in that sense. 

"How much do you miss them?" I ask lightly, expecting no reply.

"Too often. I miss everyone. Even good ol' Vakili who would steal my food. Even the scummy half-faced nobles. In a way it almost seems like leaving them behind was more important that going back for my parents." He explains.

I ask him how he deals with this every day, and he just says, "I don't, but I know I-you can fix it. I hope you can." He presses his eyes' gaze into mine. In this moment, he seems more like an adult than a kid. "That's the only reason why I'm helping you, and that's the only reason why my friends will help you. So it better work."

My mind started spiraling. "But what if it just doesn't?" Kanil continues, and a tear starts to find a path down his cheek. "What do I do then? What if you run off and leave me here? What if it doesn't work?" 

Then, from that moment on, I realized how real he was. He wasn't just some bratty kid, he actually cared. I give him some words of reassurance, "I won't run away. I won't just leave you here to suffer."

And I start to tell him a tale of my own. I leave out some details but keep most of the important parts in. I tell him about the collosal rocky beings that forced me to flood the world, the dragons' death, the battle with the ice demons, and the energion spider. 

Kanil does interrupt occasionally, but for the most part he listens respectfully.

He finally says something meaningful at the end, "My life was different than yours. I was born by two parents who barely stayed alive, who barely survived to raise me, and gave everything up for me. There were times when I would eat but my parents wouldn't. It was... eye-opening."

I think back to the previous arguement with him. Kanil was right. I hadn't even suffered that much, or had to sacrifice everything. Yet I had ruined the world more then he had, but never wanted to change it. And I was the one calling him selfish and self-centered. He deserved the ability to turn time more than I do.

And how does it work? Would it split off into multiple timestreams, like the gods believed? Or would it already be determined, and no fate would change? Time was such an oddity among divine attributes, that no god controlled it.

And with the sun slowly setting in the distance, Kanil and I walked towards the path to fate and destiny, the trail of hope. We just had to hope the trail led to the right spot.