Crusader King

Chapter 136 - The old man and the child

There stood a man, a old man, a very old man that exuded a great deal of power with that very step, a step that resounded throughout not just this one island, but throughout this whole realm, a step, a sound that woke up those ancient ones that resided under the islands, gnawing away at their roots, that slithered through nothingness, squirming to survive, that terrified the few that had found cities, that turned the few that ventured across the endless chains into warriors looking around all over, but more than anything, it was an announcement of arrival, an announcement that the being that now stood before the unconscious Cades, his back on the gravel and all fours stretched apart.

He was mantled in a medieval garment made of linen, his pants reminded one of relaxed legwear for days off of work, dark green and filled with a great amount of power, that was clear, and yet, nothing oozed out from him, nothing affected his surroundings and even the power he had been exuding slowly vanished once more, seemingly turning into nothing as if it had always been nothing.

His upper body was covered in the same kind of garment, this one black, with long sleeves and various strings attached, their purpose not entirely clear, if they even had a purpose.

The hair of the mysterious being was unkempt, greyish white, messy and so long it reached the chin of the being, with some of the slightly oily strands even reaching his neck, something that would've disgusted most barbers, but to this being it seemed almost as if it didn't care about such things anymore, it seemed as if it was too powerful, too great, too much.

Then another appeared, this one constantly changing form, but it was clear of what this being was, it was the same as the statue that Cades had been looking at for such a long time, the statue of the child.

At this point Cades might've remembered the painting on the door of the old man and the child and realized that it might very well be about this man and this child whose form was constantly changing, as if to almost average out between all children, or rather, as if to pick what child he wanted to be, what child would end up being the best and most likely choice.

As the two stood there the old man suddenly looked at the child and arched his back over, causing a weird sound to resound from the stones that seemed to be about to burst from the pressure of the old man standing atop them despite not even having been dented by the weight of both Cades running around and the monster's rampage.

But as soon as he did they were somewhere else, somewhere that Cades would've known far too well, everything had changed, he would've had no idea where he was right now, but he would've known that he was on one of the many chains in this endless, accursed realm, and then, he would've screamed aloud, cursing the beings if he wouldn't have been so absolutely terrified by the two beings that now both looked like wingless ehetrians.

The old man looked at him with his eyes glowing in a silver light.

Cades was now laying in a stereotypical sleeping position, his sword right next to him after the old man had softly thrown it, almost magically causing it to land perfectly next to him, and then, that very same old man began to hear something, he began to hear the voice of a small child that was behind him, and as the high-pitched voice of the little girl that had just been a boy resounded he listened intently.

"What are you doing, old man?"

The old man turned around, facing the small black-haired girl in flipflops, and smiled, opening his mouth and saying something that the child had both expected and feared, something that it had already known he was doing but simply didn't want to know with a calm and powerful voice that broke through the islands bound without any problems, just like everything else about the two visitors.

"Cades Kirgun."

For some reason this seemed to sadden the blonde-haired child that seemed to be hovering between male and female now, until it opened it's mouth once more and said something else, this time with a less high voice but still unmistakably the voice of a child.

"So that's why you have been interfering so much lately."

The old man nodded, and as soon as he did the childish tirade continued to explain that which no-one had asked, he, or she began to put reasoning behind his exclamation.

"Within the last four hundred years you have interfered roughly about fourteen times, ten of which happened within the last decade, and four of which were evenly spread out across the rest, and mostly stuff that I don't have the slightest idea of what that is supposed to do." He paused for just a bit, "Is this supposed to help him become the crusader king ?"

"This will indeed help him, though it might also hurt him. To be entirely truthful there is no doubt in my mind that he will despise me more than anyone else, even the ones who killed his parents, but he has always hated me, and despite not even knowing it yet he's cursed me for a long time, it is kind of sad when you really think about it."

"This doesn't really answer my question..."

"Ah, yes, indeed, he will be the first and last Crusader King, and yet at the same time he will be the second, third, fourth and so many more, without him knowing, at least not yet."

The small child, now with darker skin and slightly more male stature, looking to be about seven years old, seemed to be kind of dismissive as he looked at something on Cades' chest, a kind of small dot that hadn't been there before and shrugged once when he turned to the old man that had already begun to walk away despite being able to probably vanish within an instant.

"The source origin and the silver ocean and then you also asked Resuniv to look after him for a bit. Are you sure about all of that? That's three out of eleven.."

"Yes, indeed, it was always supposed to be theirs after all, and he will be them soon as he will be both theirs and them themselves."

"What ?"

"I've known you for a long time, and you know that I'm older than even you, the third and first to be born, but there are secrets you have to allow an old man like myself to keep. Haven't I already told you enough?"

The child shrugged, obviously not really caring, and then simply vanished, as if it had never been there, as if it had been a mirage, a lie, a nothing, but the old man turned around and looked at the young, unconscious man for a moment, lingering, as if intent on saying something but simply struggling to do it before he vanished, leaving only a few words behind.

"I'm sorry."

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End of volume 2 ~ Nowhere