Chapter 140

Chasms of the Mind

Sylas was sitting in the wide-open plain, snow falling relentlessly on him, his legs hung off the ledge of the boulder he'd taken as his 'spot', gourds upon gourds of wine--over half already empty--strewn about. There was a dazed look on his face, his lips faintly parted, eyes misty and thoughtless. He was 'looking' at the sky, or at least something beyond it, thousands of thoughts swirling in his head. The King knew--it sounded like he knew everything.

He knew Sylas was from Earth, he seemed to know about the loop, about the Shadows, even that portal... he knew. Everything. Taking another sip, Sylas sighed, wanting to cry. His answers were there. That regal man had all the answers he wanted--but he got none. Instead, he got booted out and told to come back ‘proper way’. It seemed that the King even knew about his main quest, which was to usher Valen on the throne. And he certainly knew about Valen--which meant that his banishment... was planned.

Whether the King and the Queen worked in concert for it, or he was entirely responsible for it, it was clear that Valen’s existence in the north was fabricated and not natural. He was meant to be there... as Sylas was meant to land there. The two were meant to meet. The man virtually confirmed that--he confirmed what Sylas had long-since suspected: that nothing that happened was coincidental.

It was all a woven tapestry that was likely years if not decades in the making, and he was the last trigger--the last domino to fall into place before all the pieces began unfolding. It was terrifying, the knowing. Beforehand, at least, when it was speculative, it was easier to deflect--to convince himself it could just as well be something else. But he no longer had that option. Now... now he knew.

“I spent almost two weeks looking for you!” a melodic voice woke him up from his stupor; looking to the side, he saw Asha walking up, donning her familiar, silver gown, a frustrated and angry look on her face. “I thought for a moment you ran off into the mountains once again!”

“Considered it, to be honest,” he replied.

“What the hell happened?” she asked as she struggled to climb the boulder, eventually resulting in Sylas taking both her hands and lifting her up, seating her next to him. “The thing just... reset, I heard. Did you get yourself killed?”

“Yup.”

“Wait--really?! Who was it?! Was it that stupid-looking old dude you were left with?!”

“Pfft, ha ha ha, no, no,” Sylas belly-laughed at her reaction, shaking his head. “It was Valen’s father, actually.”

“Valen’s father? Wait--the King? You met the King?” she asked, aghast.

“Yup,” Sylas nodded, taking another sip. “Scary bastard, the old man is. He choked the life out of me without lifting a finger.”

“Why did he kill you? Wait, Sylas--tell me, what did you do?”

“... what?”

"Don't play innocent," she warned. "I know you and that tongue of yours. For all I know, you threatened to steal the Queen from him so he killed you!"

“... no, seriously, what?” he chuckled lightly before continuing. “No, nothing that... insane. He simply said that I was too early.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, taking one of the gourds.

“It means that he knows.”

“Knows what?”

“Everything.”

"What do you mean 'everything'?" she asked, tilting her head.

“Precisely that,” he responded, taking another sip. “Knows about you, about me, the loop, the shadows, Valen...”

“...” Asha’s expression froze in shock as she stared at him for a moment. “You’re messing with me?”

"No," Sylas said. "Do that for about two weeks, and you'll be where I'm at right now. Lost. Completely, utterly, ungodly lost. What the ever-loving fuck am I supposed to think, now?"

“...”

“No, I’m genuinely asking,” he said. “It was like I was poking the bear my whole time here, and the bear finally woke up and stabbed me straight through my dumbass brain.”

“What do you mean ‘what are you supposed to do’?! Let’s go back and demand some answers!”

“He promised he’d kill me if I ever came through that portal again,” Sylas chuckled. “The next time, he said, it ought to be at the front gates, with Valen in tow. Long after this winter, he implied.”

“... damn,” she took another sip of wine. She’d picked up on some of his colloquialism, he realized. “But you’re wrong about one thing.”

“What?”

“Me. He doesn’t know about me.”

“What? No, I’m telling you--he knew.”

“He may have known I was a Prophet,” she said, smiling at him. “But I guarantee you, he could have not predicted it. He was shocked. He just hid it. He was shocked that you had such a beautiful Prophet in the prime of her youth with you!”

“Youth? Aren’t you in your thirties?”

“So? Aren’t you in your forties?” she fired back.

“Men, it is said, age like fine wine, and women--khm.”

“Go on,” she said, the look in her eyes darkening. “Finish that sentence.”

“And women, uh, like finer wine?”

“But at least now you can recognize that I am beautiful,” she scoffed. “Though I don’t recall all that much, I do recall that Prince being utterly smitten by me!”

“Oh, he was,” Sylas laughed lightly. “I felt kind of bad for the guy.”

“... so, nothing changes,” she repeated. “He may know plenty, and he may have orchestrated as much... but... he didn’t know about me. I promise you.”

“Oh, I’ve no doubt about it,” Sylas said. “You came like a bolt from the clear sky, shocking everyone.”

“Humph, as long as you know,” she nodded knowingly, taking another sip. “So, what’s the next course of action?”

“Relaxing.”

“Huh?”

“For a while, loops included, of course,” he said. “I just want to laze around the castle. I want to spend some time with Valen and Ryne and Derrek. It has been a while.”

“Oh.”

“You are included in that equation. You know that, right?”

“O-of course!”

“I need to let it all settle down,” he chuckled. “And I need to go back to the roots of my wants. I think I lost them, in the vestige of time. Somewhere along the way, it became almost a selfish obsession of mine, wanting the answers. The whos and the hows and the wheres. But it all began as a promise to a young boy, one born largely out of necessity, but a promise I nonetheless valued and believed.”

“Yes, you have become very selfish recently,” she sang along. “It has been very hurtful.”

“Ha ha.”

“You’ve changed, Sylas,” she said, her smiling warming up. “But for the better. I don’t think you even realize how much. When I first met you, you were an empty, hollow husk of a man, single-minded in the pursuit of something tangible. You were not a man, back then. You were merely a shadow masquerading as one. But now... now you’re alive. I've seen it, the few times I watched you interact with them. With Ryne and Valen. And I've seen their reactions shift, slowly. They're... happy when you're with them the same way you were before. They love the man that stole the thunder and exposed their eyes to the light that forever shines, not the shadow wracked with guilt and pain, barely surviving."

“... I’m still both, I’m afraid,” Sylas said, taking a sip. “I’m just... more hopeful. With magic so vast, so powerful, there has to be a way to help them. To give them what they had lost. And thus... I hope. And with that hope, I push forward. It doesn't hurt, though, that there's a cute girl by my side shelling me with compliments."

“Mostly deserved ones, even,” she added.

“Wow. Who would have thought?”

“... let’s go back home,” she grabbed his hand gently. “And dine with your family.”

“Thank you,” he said, tightening his hold on her hand. “For persistently believing in me, like an annoying mosquito hellbent on sucking every last drop of blood from his poor victim.”

“I know you can’t help it,” she said. “But being repeatedly compared with awful things, such as literal shit and mosquitoes, is distinctly not what girls want.”

“Oh, I can very much help it,” Sylas leaped off the boulder and caught Asha on her way down. The two held hands as they began walking in the direction of the castle. “I choose not to.”

“That’s even worse! It means you go out of your way to hurt me!”

“But I’m praising you?”

“By hurting me!”

“But secretly you’re happy, right?”

“What? No! Of course not!”

“Hm? You’re lying,” Sylas shook his head. “I was repeatedly told, growing up, that girls liked it when a guy complimented them while also slightly putting them down. It was a surefire way to get some, they said.”

“... get some of what?” she quizzed. “And definitely not! It feels awful!”

“Man, I can’t believe those lads online lied to me,” Sylas sighed.

“... what are you talking about? Have you finally lost your mind?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point,” he joked, patting her head gently. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“E-eh? Really? I mean, of course, of course I am!”

“You’re like Kingdom-wide sewers, cleaning shit up everywhere, all at once, draining it selflessly.”

“...”

“...”

“You know what Sylas?”

“What?”

"Eat shit!"

“Pfft, ha ha ha...”