Chapter 183: What Time is It?
Jacob looked at Enki confused.
"What year it is? I’m assuming it’s the same year it has always been."
"And what year would that be?"
"Year 600. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I came into this place when it was Year 300... or so. To be honest, it has been so long I lost track of the days."
Jacob’s heart dropped slightly. If either one of them was right, that meant the other had successfully travelled through time. It was possible everyone around them were all transported to a different era from which they came.
"How do we know what year it could possibly be?"
"There’s only one way, and it just so happens to be the most dangerous."
"Are you serious?! We just got out of trouble and we’re already in danger?!"
"That’s right. We must head north of where we are. If I am correct, this forest was on the east side of the kingdom."
"What is north of us?"
"That is where the kingdom I grew up is... or perhaps was. We’ll get what we need from there. We only need to see if the kingdom is still standing. From what I heard, the Monlo Empire laid a raid on the kingdoms by this border. My kingdom didn’t have this wasteland to protect them, so it’s possible they didn’t survive the onslaught. That is how we’ll know."
Jacob sympathized with Enki hearing his somber resolve to see his kingdom, even if it meant seeing the remains of what was left.
"Very well. We will travel north. Me and Maria can lead the way."
Maria walked up next to Jacob. She stayed close by his right side as they walked.
"I can’t believe we were living in a creature the whole time. What kind of creature is separate from time? Is that even possible?"
"Based on everything we’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t doubt it if a creature existed that abused time to a much larger extent."
"But if that was the case, wouldn’t our world already start to be affected by those things they manipulate?"
Jacob rubbed his head.
"Time is too confusing to think that way. I am inclined to believe time works in a different way. Or rather, maybe there is no such thing as time travel at all."
Maria raised an eyebrow.
"What do mean?"
"Well, I don’t really know how to explain it. What if instead of travelling through time, we simply were teleported to a different reality where certain events hadn’t occurred yet? Wouldn’t that be the exact same thing as time travel?"
"Well, almost. If everything occurred at a later time, that would mean the events are not exactly one-to-one... or maybe they are but the time it took for them to occur would still technically be different. Same thing with travelling to the future. In your words, that would mean travelling to a reality where events had occurred much quicker. Then we have to wonder, what events did the universe cut shorter that made this reality different?"
Jacob slouched.
"Time is such a pain in the ass. I wish my idea was much simpler than thinking about all of that."
Maria chuckled lightly.
"Well, sometimes it’s a good thing to think before jumping to conclusions!"
Jacob looked at her, slightly confused.
’I can’t tell if I should be offended by that comment or not.’
Suddenly, Jacob remembered something. He stopped the group with his arm.
"What is it, Jacob? Is there something out in the woods?"
"That’s not it. I think I have another way of determining what era we are in."
Jacob looked down at his right arm that he used to stop the group.
"No one look at my arm for any reason. Understand?"
Maria understood what he was about to do and helped distract everyone while Jacob took off part of his armor. Staring at the onyx-black skull on his arm filled him with dread. He looked at the runes, which were a faint red color.
’Had they always been red? Am I losing it?’
The runes were moving as usual, but there seemed to be nothing different about the timer. Jacob still had a small feeling of doubt remaining in his stomach after looking at the runes. He simply didn’t know enough about how his mark worked to jump to any conclusions. It was possible that the timer was not even affected by changes in the time around him. Maria walked over and showed him her arm as well. Her runes were the exact same.
"So, does that mean we’re back to our time?"
Jacob stared northward.
"I think we should still confirm it. Just to be sure."
Maria nodded and gestured back towards the group to follow them. As they walked more, Jacob looked back at Enki.
"Tell me about your kingdom, Enki. What was it like? How many people lived in it? Was it safe from the monsters outside?"
Enki raised his hands.
"One question at a time! I may not look it, but I’m possibly hundreds of years old!"
Enki started laughing at his own joke before choking on his own saliva. After a small coughing fit, he cleared his throat.
"Sorry. To answer your first question, my kingdom was very unique. There were not many nobles, but there were many wealthy commoners. I don’t believe a single person in our kingdom was impoverished. Our economy was great, our leader was kind and benevolent, and the community itself was like family. In all aspects, I would say I grew up very pampered and spoiled."
Jacob smiled, fantasizing about such a nice place possibly existing in this world. He couldn’t decide if growing up pampered and happy was a good thing or not. On one hand, Enki had a wonderful, happy childhood with a loving community. He never had to struggle for anything. However, it is the very reason that he has never struggled for anything that makes him weaker than most people. In an unforgiving world like this, that was a death sentence in Jacob’s mind.
Maria eventually added in her own thoughts.
"What kind of food did you get to eat? Any pastries?"
"Oh, of course! My mother always made this fantastic blueberry tart that was covered in sugar! She made it every Sunday for us kids and the neighbors."
"So, what happened? Why did you decide to leave that place?"
Enki looked forward, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze.
"The thing about such wonderful peace is that it can be boring. And for an ambitious, young lad such as myself, living in such a kingdom was simply never my style. I fell in love with the mystic arts. I wasn’t satisfied with becoming a great enchanter, I wanted to become the best. However, our kingdom didn’t have the most skilled teachers. Therefore, I packed my bags and left in search of a place where I could hone my craft."
Jacob looked at Enki curiously.
"How old were you when you left? Why did your parents not stop you?"
"I was twelve years old when I left."
Jacob’s face dropped.
"Twelve?! And you went out into the wild?!"
"That’s right. My parents tried to convince me not to go, but when they saw my determination, they respected my decision and let me have the final choice. Therefore, I packed my things and left the kingdom."
Jacob couldn’t believe what he was hearing. All of them could hardly survive as adults out in the world. To think that such a young boy walked into this hell out of his own volition was madness.
"So, I’m assuming you found your teacher eventually, right?"
Enki smiled.
"I did."
"Where did you find them?"
"She’s all around you right now."
Jacob looked around, confused.
"Uh, what?"
Maria appeared to understand what he meant. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"You mean, the wilderness?"
"Close enough. I never needed a teacher. Every day outside those walls was a fight for survival. For the first time in my life, I got a taste of what kinds of forces lay beyond my walls. It was ’complete the enchantment in time or be mauled to death by horrors beyond my comprehension’ every waking second. On the bright side, the first kinds of charms I mastered were illusion charms! That’s why Miss Lidia’s disguise worked so well!"
Jacob couldn’t believe what he was hearing. To think a person could survive outside for such a long time at such a young age left him dumbfounded. Especially since it appeared he didn’t possess a Zalo or some crazy strength like Slimo.
"Have you ever faced a creature you couldn’t hide from?"
Enki notably shivered upon being asked this question.
"I think that’s enough questions for today. We’re almost to my kingdom."
"Just one more, I promise!"
"Ugh. Fine. What is it?"
"Are you secretly royalty like Slimo? I don’t want to be shocked again."
Enki chuckled hearing the question.
"I am not. I was a simple commoner who lived near the gates."
Jacob sighed in relief.
As the group followed Enki’s lead, he led everyone over a steep hill overlooking the valley for hundreds of miles. Enki was the first to reach the top. He stood in silence as he looked out at the view. Jacob joined him next and looked outward. He gasped upon sharing the view with his new friend.
At the bottom of the valley looked to be the remains of a broken kingdom. Its walls were decimated, all the houses were charred and burnt, the palace was no more than a pile of stone, and the worst part of it all...
"Enki... You don’t have to look anymore. Let’s move somewhere else."
Enki refused to move, staring at the horrid scene in front of them.
All across the stone and burnt houses were mountains of corpses. Even from being so far away, Jacob could see that not a single person had a weapon on them, which meant one of two things: One, the Monlo Empire had stolen the weapons from their kingdom, which wasn’t likely because of their ever-increasing power. Or two, the Monlo’s mercilessly slaughtered the people of the kingdom who refused to fight back, even when under attack.
Such was the fate of the Kingdom of Peace.
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