∞ Chapter 14.

Fate has a funny way of catching up to you, doesn't it? Yet this is only the beginning. What I have seen would make even the oldest, most stoic of you alfr shiver with dread.

In my dream, the inferno blazes, eradicating armies, marring the earth like a storm of death.

You will be quite discombobulated to know that in my dreams, the fires of his rage do not stop burning until he has extracted revenge for precisely everything you have done.

That is why I have left you, why I continue on this path. Not merely for sake of ideological difference, but for sake of survival. For as a Ljosalfr myself, I feel keenly the sweat on my brow and the shiver down my back, as his red eye gazes into my soul and my dreams quiver with his rage.

It is why I continue working with the church of Rothinia, for they too see what comes.

You can keep ignoring your seers all you like, but I will not ignore it any longer! You can all stay where you are, cowering behind a veil that keeps the others out.

I have but one question for you.

Is he like the others?

-Excerpt from a letter addressing the united Alfr council of emergencies, written by the Child of light. Archived in the hidden library of Rothinia in the catacombs under Colla.

"So, what you're saying, Mayor Farnsworth, is that Dorwine is currently being invaded?" Jak asked. They were strolling through the mans gardens, which were of elaborate design indeed. Various vines and white flowers climbing over the wooden fencing lining the carefully carved paths through the lush little enclave.

Whoever Farnsworths gardeners were, they were pretty good.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." The mayor said, stopping before a large fountain of marble white stone peacefully gurgling up water. By his side, Jak could feel Mina's tension as they talked. He knew she was concerned by these news and wanted to go back to tell her Princess. But Jak still hadn't gotten what he came for.

The Mayor sat down on a bench near the fountain with a large hedge behind his back. From what Jak had seen, the hedge seemed to be part of a maze. Jak sat down aswell, Mina soon joining him.

"Our spies spotted the army making landfall near Fyford 8 days ago, so you see why this is such troubling news to us, even disregarding the fact that Dorwine is being invaded due to the incompetence of that damned king." Mayor Farnsworth said, his fists clenched and his brow creased.

Mina stirred uneasily next to Jak, so he looked over to her for answers. Catching her attention, Jak fired off a few handsignals. He didn't want the Mayor to know of his ignorance.

[I gather that this Fyford place is near the coast, a port city perhaps? And that we are close enough that that's a problem?] Jak asked Mina. She frowned at his question briefly, before seeming to remember to whom she was speaking. Jak almost smiled, but kept himself in check for the Mayors benefit.

[Yes. Fyford is where we were heading. Ves has connections there and we were hoping to catch a ship up to Nandorwin from there.]

The Mayor looked on their exchange with raised brow, and Jak turned to him. "My apologies Mayor Farnsworth, I didn't want to trouble you with minor details. Suffice it to say that this news is troubling indeed, for my companions and I." Jak said.

"How so? Are you not a band of explorers or some such? I believe you mentioned those earlier." Farnsworth said.

Jak nodded.

"Then shouldn't it be easy for you and your band to make your way up to Nandorwin through the forests. You needn't take the coastal route." The man continued.

Jak shrugged. He honestly didn't know what Ves and Mina had planned, and he didn't much care at the moment. Clearing his throat and straightening himself, Jak looked over at the Mayor.

"Earlier you mentioned the siege of Tabrygg in 239 ABS and you saw I was not familiar with this siege." Jak said, the Mayor nodding and accepting this change of topic. The man obviously didn't like to dwell on difficult topics. Maybe he foresaw trouble from the invading army, Jak didn't know, nor did he really care.

Clenching his fists, Jak looked up. "I neglected to mention another facet of my ignorance, Mayor. " Jak said. He could feel himself shaking slightly in dreadful anticipation, and he reached up a hand to run it through is long black hair.

"I also do not know what this ABS thing is." Jak said, his whole body stiff with anxiety.

Mina and the mayor both turned to look at him with raised brow, but when they saw he was sincere, they grew puzzled. The Mayor tried to hide his surprise because he was a nice man. Many others would no doubt scorn or snub Jak for his ignorance so for that, the man had Jaks respect.

Mina on the other hand looked completely shocked.

The silence was long and awkward, and nobody spoke for a time. When Jak felt he had been enduring their disbelieving stares for long enough, he cleared his throat again.

"Would you... would you care to enlighten me, Mayor?" Jak said. The mayor seemed to shake himself from his stupor with a little laugh and a shake of his head.

"Ah yes, lord Jak. So the Siege of Tabrygg-"

"No, no. I care not for your siege. Tell me what ABS means." Jak interrupted. The mayors face grew slightly red, but he gathered himself with a big sigh, looking over to Mina before addressing him.

Jak briefly wondered how this would go without Mina at this side. Probably not too well, judging by Farnsworths reaction just now.

"My dear boy." Mayor Farnsworth said, a note of condescension creeping into his voice. "I'm still not sure whether you're serious or not, but due to the status of the Lady by your side I shall humor your question."

Jak lowered his head briefly in thanks, though he felt cold sweat running down his back. This was it. He knew. His gut clenched with anxiety as he looked over at Mayor Farnsworth.

"ABS is simply an abbreviation of After the Battle of Sirion, my lad. We have used ABS for 500 years here in Dorwine and it was first adopted to signal the start of a new era. So you see why I think the question- what's wrong?" The mayor said.

Jaks vision flickered black, then red, then it settled at a drab monotone as he stood. It was as if all color had been leeched from his world and he felt empty inside.

His throat felt constricted, and he wasn't sure he could speak right now. Still, Jak turned to the Mayor and bowed, this time affecting the Sirionean court bow.

"Thank-" Jak said, but he had to pause to swallow a lump in his throat. "Thank you for your time." Jak said. Then he turned to Mina, who was still just staring at him with wide eyes.

"Thank you aswell, Mina. You may return first. I have... some thinking to do." Jak said, quickly turning from the two Dorwinians and walking away. Just in time too, because he felt the moisture running down his cheeks. One trail of water, another trail of blood.

Of course he had known. He had known all along. It had been obvious. But... he hadn't wanted to believe it. It still felt surreal. He felt like they were lying and that he was being deceived.

He heard Mina get to her feet, but she did not follow. If she were Ves, and had a voice with which to shout, she no doubt would have called after him. Or would she? Perhaps he meant nothing to these people. They were Dorwinians after all, and he wasn't one of them.

Jak quickly distanced himself from people as he walked. Whenever he would hear a voice or distant footsteps, he chose the path leading away. Always away. The gardens were huge, so Jak wandered for some time until he noticed he'd ended up near the Mayors abode, but behind it.

He'd wondered why works of art had started popping up in the garden again, like in the hallways, but it was most likely because these were the gardens connected to the private part of the Mayors demesne, for that is what it was.

"I failed before I even began. It's laughable! My enemies died of old age before I could do anything to them." Jak laughed, muttering to himself in Sirionean. "The alfr are still alive though, and it was they who did this. I'm sure of it. It is their plot that brought my Empire to ruin. It is their plot that killed my family, my friends. My people." Jak said, continuing his ramble in Sirionean.

He felt slightly unhinged, and although his tears had dried, a streak of blood still ran from beneath his eyepatch and down his cheek, marring his otherwise pale and unblemished skin.

He wandered from statue to statue. Each was more elaborate than the last. Men and women carved from various things like Quartz or even marble. There were bronze statues aswell, decorated with silver and gold.

Jak froze before one such statue. It shone with silver and gold, and the details were exquisite and haunting. It was eerily familiar.

"Oh by the seven towers... that looks like..." Jak shook his head.

"No, it can't be." He said, smiling at his own stupidity. How could it be her? Sienna had probably not even made it to the boat. If she had, then would she really have been able to run the blockade he assumed the alliance had formed around the ports?

Sienna... Jak looked up at the eerily familiar statue, tears once more welling up.

They had slaughtered his people and for 500 years nobody had exacted revenge.

For 500 years the sinners had lived unencumbered by what they had done. What justice? What revenge?

Jak chuckled through his tears, but then he noticed the small plaque near the feet of the statue and crouched down to read it.

☼ Sienna Veris, the Scholar of Dawn.'

First of her name.

Queen of Dorwine and the keeper of scrolls.

Life was too cruel. Destiny was a joke and fate mocked him. He was Jaka Arahan. He was heir to the throne. He had killed many people, committed many sins and done many unsightly things to help his father rule, and to learn the ruling way himself. Had he liked it? No, but he had still done it even though it killed him inside. He'd done many things for the greater good.

And now this...

Jak couldn't see anything any more, his vision blurry and dancing with black shadows.

It was all too much.

He fell to his knees infront of the statue and wept like a child, pulling long heaving sobs from his tortured lungs, hammering his fist into the ground.

In his grief, Jak forgot the world around him, his awareness solely focused on one thing.

He was alone, the world he knew long gone.

His heart screamed at him that it wasn't true. That it couldn't be true.

"Surely, this is all an elaborate joke. If I pinch my arm, will I wake up in my bed back home with Mother smiling down at me." His whole body quaked as he knelt there before the statue. The statue of her.

There was only one thing that kept him together, and it was the desire for revenge.

The damned Alfr and their schemes and machinations. They thought themselves immortal, but were they really as immortal as the tales said they were?

Jak still knelt there for a time, oblivious of the world around him and shaking with grief and rage. But he swore one thing to himself that day. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

Suddenly, Jak felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped, his heart pounding. He had already drawn a dozen attack sigils. He took a big breath, then let it out slowly as he unwrought the sigils and drew his power back.

The hand on his shoulder was small, but it didn't seem to be going any where. Slowly, Jak straightened and sat up. He'd laugh at himself it he wasn't such a mess. A prince of Sirion on his knees crying like a child, how pathetic.

Jak turned his head, expecting to find Mina behind him but instead he found a young girl. Jak blinked a few times in confusion before he remembered the name to whom this pretty little face belonged.

"Hello, little Princess." Jak said, his voice a bit dry and cracked. He forced himself to smile at the girl.

She stared down at him with her mouth open in surprise. "Oh no, you're hurt!" Ophilia said with a little yelp, fumbling for a white handkerchief.

When she finally managed to free it from a hidden pocket in her dress, she quickly spit on it and began rubbing the blood off his face.

"What the hael?" Jak muttered softly, still speaking Sirionean. The Ophilia girl bit her lower lip as she carefully rubbed blood from his cheek with her white handkerchief. When she was done, she took a step back, her cheeks flushing red.What was she, his mother?

"Are- are you okay?" She asked in a small, timid voice. Jak nodded, still not trusting his own voice... on the ground as he was, he didn't even look up at her for long. His gaze fell instead on her small black-lacquered shoes, open at the top with a strap across.

Such fancy looking shoes. New and in a style he hadn't seen before. But of course he hadn't seen such a style of shoe before.

Bloody sands. 500 years, Sienna long gone... his revenge... what... what should he do?

Jak let out an empty chuckle that sounded more like a whimper than anything else. Then Ophilia surprised him by launching herself at him and hugging him.

She pressed his head against her flat baby chest and stroked his hair, whispering. "There there. Everything's gonna be okay. There there."

Jak found himself smiling. Being comforted by a child was somewhat awkward, but he relaxed and let the girl stroke his hair. She smelled nice, like sunflowers and nature.

She was a nice Dorwinian, he had to admit. Not only that, but Sienna had been the first Queen of Dorwine.

He would focus on the Alfr. There was no reason for him to kill the children of Dorwine for the sins of their forebears.

Jak wrapped his arms around the girl and hugged her back. For a moment, she froze, but then she squeezed harder aswell.

Laughing, Jak got to his feet still holding the girl in his arms. He smiled down at her as she dangled from him, too small to reach the ground.

"I'm fine now, thanks to you Ophilia." Jak said. The girls face was bright red so he decided he better set her down and distance himself from her. When he lowered her feet to the ground, she didn't immediately let go of him. First, she gave him a peck on the cheek, then she dashed away in a rather childish fashion, emitting a cute little squeal.

Jak stood there smiling after her as she retreated, pulling a door open to slip inside the house. She paused in the doorway, looking back at him. Jak bowed deeply, and when he came back up he found that she had disappeared inside the building.

Jak turned from Mayor Farnsworths abode, his face contorting into a grim smile. His tongue ran across his teeth and his elongated canines and he felt his blood singing with power most foul.

It seemed that Jaka had changed in more than just one way this day.

And he had preparations to see to. It was high time that he made good on his promise of revenge.