I had spent what remained of the night in the deepest sleep I could manage. After returning to the Cabin on the lake at some ungodly hour, I found the three siblings fast asleep on the bed I'd fashioned hours earlier out of timber and vines. I was glad that they had found rest but also partly jealous of how comfortable they looked, cozy in the cool night breeze. The eldest sibling had started a fire in the open hearth that I'd shaped into the wall. The flames were flickering lowly and provided a pleasant warmth that carried through the otherwise empty room with each new breath of wind. Looking at it i found myself grateful that it hadn't caused the entire shack to burn to the ground. The fireplace was made purely from memory and wood and was in no way safe to house a fire. I'd have to line it with stone if i plan on staying.
That was another question I had to answer in short time. What would I do, moving forward. Pushing those thoughts to the side once more, I stretched out next the fire and lay down on the hard wood floor. I can't remember how long I stared at the flickering and sparking embers of the burning logs before my consciousness slipped away and I found myself once more resting the trees outside.
When I awoke, the mid-morning sun had found its mark in the sky and the cool breeze of the night before had shifted to a pleasant whisper that crept from the water and fell fresh on the skin. The day was warm to be sure, but the cool water of the lake brought forth a sense of relaxation one felt during a summer holiday by the beach or camping by the river. It was a blissful feeling, the glistening water fractured the incoming light like a million diamonds and the smell of grass, trees, flowers and water filled my nostrils as I breathed the first calming breaths of the day. Edgar had set up a tent outside the house after we had returned and had seemingly busied himself in conversation with the two younger children. He was showing them some wooden carving that he was working on, and they were providing animated notes on what he needed to improve on. I smiled at the kind faces laughing in defiance of the turmoil of the past few days and strolled over to join them.
"Good morning."
"Morning, Flower Lord."
The Two children shied away at first behind Edgar who had stood up to shake my hand. I smiled at them in the hopes of reducing their anxiety towards me, but they were quite hesitant to reciprocate, understandably.
"Sally, Sven, this is the Flower Lord. He's the one that saved you and your big sister. He also saved our village as well. He's going to be our new Lord."
"New Lord?"
"Come on guys, he's very friendly."
After a little more convincing, the two children emerged from behind Edgar, and each shook my hand. Sven was a small, sandy haired boy with pale dirty skin and a slight build not to different from his sister who shared the same raggedy clothing and appearance. Sally had lighter hair that shone almost silver in the morning light and the two of them together looked entirely frail, almost in stark contrast to the harsh nature of the world I'd observed so far in this future. I remembered the words their older sister had spoken last night, advising me of their village being put to the torch by the bandits I'd just killed. I wasn't sure what to say or how much they remembered so decided it best to keep it simple for the time being.
"How are you both feeling today?"
"Good" they both replied in unison.
"Is Edgar teaching you how to make wood carvings?"
"Yes"
"you guys want to see my wood carvings too? I'm pretty good!"
They nodded in unison once more. Holding out both my hands in front of me both kids focused intently waiting for me to begin carving something or show them some of my work but instead I simply issued the command.
[Mug]
Both hands had immediately morphed into small child size mugs and the kids looked on and exclaimed in awe of what to them must have seemed a magic trick. I separated both mugs, grew back my hands and handed over a mug to each of the awestruck kids.
"Here, these are presents for you."
Their faces lit up in grins as they proceeded to show off their new mugs to each other and to Edgar who was smiling on as well and exclaimed how awesome their new presents were.
"Where is…"
It was at that moment I realised I had no idea what the older girls name was at all.
Edgar looked over the heads of the smiling children and pointed over to the tree line behind us where the older sister was laying on her back staring up into the branches and leaves above. I nodded in reply and left the three of them by the shore to continue their fun and games. I knew it would be best to keep the children from following me over at least for the next conversation.
When I approached the girl she lifted her head slightly to inspect the incoming noise then sat up with a snap that startled me and paused my step.
"Sorry, i didn't mean to startle you." I said, taking a seat a few feet away from her and picking up a few fallen sticks that lay amongst the emerald-green, ankle high grass waving and bowing with each slight breath of wind that passed us by.
"It's ok."
I rolled the twigs through my fingers, taking my time to approach the subject matter at hand. I was never good at the hard conversations, at least not from what i could remember. I had always held off talking through an uncomfortable topic or discussing painful events with others. It was a deep discomfort that left knots in the high of my stomach. I'd always been one to simply bottled up any emotions that were outside the comfortable, avoid the conversations that were hard. But I was in a new world now and felt like at the very least, in this moment, I should be of comfort to someone else if I could, rather than ignoring them for my own comfort.
"I've gotten rid of the bandits for the most part. I doubt they'll be back."
She simply, stared off towards the water and nodded slightly. That isn't what I should be saying right now.
"My name is Selwyn."
"Sarah."
Sarah's clothes were as tattered as her siblings. Though her skin was just as pale and her body as frail, her hair was a deep brunette that bordered on black. Her dark waist long hair framed a porcelain like face marred with bruises and a pair of aquamarine eyes that seemed far more distant than the few feet between us.
"I came here from the past."
I thought we agreed you wouldn't be letting everyone know the nature of what you are.
{Oh, stuff it, she's a traumatised kid. Least I can do is talk to her honestly.}
"What do you mean past?"
"I Died about fifty thousand years ago in a hospital bed and woke up on top of a cliff a couple of days ago in this weird body."
I could feel her eyes on me now as I looked over my limbs and strange tree like appearance once more. I wasn't sure if she believed my story or not, but she seemed to, at the very least, appreciate the distraction.
"What was the past like?"
"Filled with cities and people. Nature like this was a lot harder to find than it is now."
"I've never been to the city. Only ever been to the villages near… home."
I continued hoping not to dwell too long on her home. I would need to find out the details of her village if I was going to get them back there. Perhaps there were survivors, family even.
"Where is your village?"
"We were in a small village near the border. Dad always talked about how the river flowed down into a great lake."
"I'm guessing this is the lake then. Can you tell me what happened to your village?"
Sarah's eyes welled up with tears as she looked past me to the water of the lake.
"The Bandits came at night. We were all asleep and they came and burn everything. Everyone in the village. There were others they took as prisoners… but they're gone now too."
"Sarah, I'm going to take all the Bandits treasure today then head up to the Village on the mountain behind us. Once we've cleared up some of the mess they've caused, I can take you back to your village and we can look for survivors and lay to rest those who've passed."
Sarah nodded and began crying with great, heart-rending sobs. I reached out and hugged her closely. Hoping to at least sooth the pain a little. Two of Edgars friends from the village had just arrived by the clearing and were now joined in playing with the tow kids who were looking over in concern to their big sister. After a few minutes had passed, I helped Sarah to her feet, and we joined the rest.
"Alright, now that the Flower Lord is here."
"Selwyn."
"Sorry, now that Lord Selwyn is here-"
"Just Selwyn…"
"-we'll head over to the keep and empty those sons of bitches of their wealth and weapons."
Leaving Sarah and her two younger siblings behind, we made the short journey along the shoreline to the keep I had raided the night before. Going to the building that the bandit I'd poisoned had pointed me to the night before, we began dismantling the floorboards. In a few moments we'd ripped apart the floor entirely and to our great surprise were met with a veritable treasure trove. Gold, jewels and metals I wasn't familiar with were all enclosed in steal cases a few feet wide and a foot high. These Bandits had clearly raided more than just small villages. Although I loved to look at the shining goods, none of it seemed to catch my eye quite like the strange cube of black…metal? That was sitting innocuously in its own crate. I picked up the black cube that seemed to absorb all light around it. In-fact it was so black, the only way I could tell it was three dimensional at all was by feel and the slight shadow it cast on my hand.
"Ohh, now that's a rare find."
{What is it?}
"That is some ancient void steel. Well ancient from our perspective, highly advanced from yours."
{Is it worth anything?}
"If you find someone capable of using it, you could have yourself a blade able to sever light itself. That man last night had a sword coated in a void steel alloy but no where near as pure as this. I doubt you'll find anyone on this planet to work it for you, but you never know."
I rotated the seemingly two-dimensional hunk of metal in my hands as we carried out the crates of treasure through the gates, passed the dead bandit and on towards the village of Surn, picking up the three siblings on the way. I'd now need to worry about this execution Edgar had mentioned last night.