The next morning, some people were still awake, drinking awake while others were asleep on the ground or at the table. Lilly had chosen to go to bed which Berk had shown her a tent that she could sleep in. Her sister hadn’t joined her that night to which she was concerned. When asking around though, she was told that she was seen leaving with Jackson into the forest and that they were alright.

  Hearing that, Lilly would smirk to herself before going towards Berk who was up early. He too had gone to bed more early than most, having to bear the responsibility of running this war. She would greet him with a quick bow to keep things formal. “Can I ask you something your Majesty?”

  Berk nodded slowly, his face seemingly sad. “Yeah, go ahead, also call me Berk please. I’m not used to that title yet as usually my dad was the one doing all the talking.

  “Well… Berk. Why when there’s a war that has just started do you guys celebrate? This wasn’t officially a party but it felt like one.”

  To that Berk would chuckle. “Well, look at it from a different perspective. A war is coming to consume us all. Not everyone will survive so who knows if this will be your last happy moments? We enjoy the time that we have left since we don’t know when it’s over.”

  Lilly nodded as she understood, looking back around the camp as she still didn’t see her sister. “I request some horses if you have those to get back home. We could explain everything to our mother and get her ready for the war as well. We can spread the word back home of what happened here. Maybe even convince our mother to take revenge on them and join the war.”

  Berk gave her a short nod as his eyes wandered off. “That sounds like a good idea but we don’t have horses here. What we can do is give you is a cart pulled by centaurs. To ensure your safety I can give you protection by letting my general Barta the minotaur come with you together with my archer general, Wout.”

  Seeing the danger that has been looming around lately, that seemed like a good idea. She would nod and smile softly. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll be getting my sister then. I want to leave as soon as possible.”

  “Give me an hour. I need to gather my men and make sure everything is in order.”

  “That’s alright, thank you Barta.” She turned around to go to where he sister was supposed to be, seeing Lucas standing there.

  He had been standing near them, a bit unsure of what to do while he was waiting as there were many people here looking confused at why he was here. Once she turned to face him, he would take a step back, a bit careful with her.

  “I heard you talking. I’m sorry about your father. A funeral without his body isn’t fun to do.”

  While to him it was something normal to say, to Lilly it was very weird. “What do you mean? We almost never get a body unless their brains are crushed and their skulls completely destroyed.”

  “Right… My apologies. I’m still not used to the way death works in this world.” He looked down as he started to get a bit uncomfortable around her. “Anyway… I wish you the best of luck on your journey.”

  While Lucas wanted to cut the conversation short and talk to Berk, Lilly would stop him, grabbing his arm as he tried to slip past her. “Hold on. I wanted to thank you for helping us survive out there. We probably wouldn’t have made it without you.”

  Lucas tried to get her hand of his arm as he looked at her. He then stopped trying and rubbed his throat, able to still feel Emma’s hands closing around his throat. He finally had enough of trying to stay civil. “The next time we meet shall be too soon.”

  With that, he yanked his arm loose as he then looked at Berk who had witnessed it all. He knew that this wasn’t the best way to be officially introduced to the king but he couldn’t keep in the frustration and anger he had felt the past days.

  Lilly understood why he said that but still was a bit hurt. Without saying anything else, she left to go and find Emma.

  Berk wasn’t so sure how to talk to Lucas as he seemed like a bit of a wild card. From what he heard, he was an ally but from what he saw now, he was more a lone wolf. “You’re not a part of those freedom fighters are you?”

  That question was quickly met with him shaking his head. “No, my apologies. We had… let’s say a rough first encounter with each other.”

  “So I heard. Now I’m guessing that you’re here on business?”

  “Not really.” Lucas would look down at the ground, feeling a bit ashamed of what he was going to say next. “Look… I’m not a fighter. I don’t know how to handle a bow let alone fight well with a sword. I just came to say that I’m going back home. I don’t want to take part in this war.”

  This information wasn’t too weird. Not everyone was born to fight and Lucas didn’t seem like the fighter. “That’s alright. Problem is that… I would like your friend Gurgen to help us. He said that if you fight, he will fight. And not only that. What do you think will happen when the skeletons win the war?”

  That question came a bit out of the blue for Lucas. He hadn’t really thought about that. “What are you trying to say?”

  “If the skeletons win, every other gruge will be destroyed. They can’t reproduce so… my guess is that we will be treated as cattle. Forced to reproduce and killed at an early age to keep us weak. Think about that while you go back home. You might not be able to fight but with the help of Gurgen and his healing brew. I was told that he even managed to overpower Barta.”

  Lucas looked down as he started to realize how bad things might become if they actually lose. He didn’t think that two more people could change the outcome of the war but who knows what might happened.

  “What if I do change my mind, where will I be able to find you? I don’t think that you’ll stay here.”

  “No indeed I won’t. We have an actual village nearby.” He motioned for Lucas to follow him as he walked to a table nearby where some people were working. He grabbed a map of the nearby area, pointing out a spot not too far from where they were. “Only a day of traveling needed. You won’t find me there but during conflict, it is used as a command base.”

  “Can I…?” Lucas pointed at the map as he wanted to take it.

  “Go ahead, we have more so you can keep it.” He gave the map as he turned around. “Listen, I have a lot to do. Think about it.”

  With that being said, Lucas was left behind as Berk started to make preparations for the girls to go home. He looked up at the sky, starting to get angry once more. “Couldn’t you send me to a peaceful world? You had to put me in this shithole didn’t you.”

  He didn’t expect his god to answer so when nothing happened, he would sigh and roll up the map. He then grabbed his bag and went on his way, the words of Berk echoing in his ears.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Emma woke up from her uncomfortable position. She had fallen asleep on the rock with her hands underneath her head. When she woke up, she felt stiff and had an ache in her back. “Note to self… don’t sleep on a rock…”

  As she looked around, she saw that Jackson hadn’t left her and passed out on the ground next to her. She never saw a centaur sleep so it was interesting to see that he slept lying down. Before she got up, she decided to lie down for a bit more. The stone wasn’t getting any better so she would just get up, debating on waking him up or not.

  Luckily she didn’t need to make that choice. While she got up and was standing there, Medi stormed into the open area. He recently had almost lost his brother and he was a bit concerned about him. He had seen them go here last night so at least he knew where to go.

  The sudden entrance of Medi both spooked Emma and woke up Jackson. Jackson groaned, rubbing his head before rolling over and sitting up. “Hmm… hey Medi. What has you going like that?”

  Seeing both Emma and Jackson here, he wouldn’t know what to think of this. “Did I disturb you two?”

  Emma shook her head, yawning as she walked past Medi. “No, just woke up. I suggest you give your brother some water.”

  Medi walked to Jackson, offering him his hand so he could help him get up. “Next time I demand that you sleep in a tent. You aren’t fully recovered yet from yesterday.”

  “Yeah yeah I know.” He grabbed the hand and got up, groaning as he then shook his head. “At least I got some good sleep.”

  “Berk wanted us to go and travel with the princesses but seeing you, I think it’s better that you stay here.”

  “Hey wow… I can walk therefor I can travel.”

  “Really? Okay then, how about we do a small race then? A good race to wake up.”

  Hearing that, Jackson would give Medi a dirty look. “Fine… I’ll stay here.” He groaned a bit and shook his head. “You better not die.”

  Medi chuckled, shaking his head. “Me dying? I wouldn’t dare.”

  “Oh shut it, you didn’t do much better than me.”

  “Anyway, listen. I’m going to the human capitol. That will take a while. Therefor when I come back, it’ll be at the battle. According to Lehtern if we go now, our army meets the skeletons at the Free Valley. This means that I won’t see you anymore until the battle start.”

  Jackson nodded slowly, not liking the sound of that. “Hmm… I doubt that you can stay?”

  “I can’t stay. Berk thinks it’s best we go seeing how we already had our moments with the princesses. Seeing that you won’t be able to go, I doubt he’ll like it if we both not go.”

  Even though Medi was right, Jackson didn’t like it. He hugged him tightly, leaning a bit onto him as well. “If you get killed during the travel… I… I don’t think I can handle it. Not after mother…”

  “I know I know. We both almost died yesterday. I’m not planning on making that something regular.”

  “If you have to make a choice. If things get bad and you have to run. Save Emma okay?”

  That request was a bit weird but Medi wasn’t going to pry. “Yeah… If it gets to it, I’ll make sure to get Emma to safety.”

  Jackson hugged him once more. “Thank you brother.”

  “I have one more hour before I have to go. Wanna play some cards before I leave?”

  “Hah! You’ll lose!”

  “Try me horse for brains.”

  They both laughed as they left the open area to go back to the camp, acting as if nothing was wrong.

  As Lucas was walking, he’d take a look to his map ever so often. The one he got was much bigger and much more detailed than the one he had made himself. As he walked, things went through his head. Emma choking him, Gurgen saving him, Berk talking about what would happen when the skeletons won.

  That’s when his mind got back to Gurgen and his machine. Something about it was bothering him. Not only that, back at the cave the armor had yelled lies when they were interrogating him. Something about him not being a fugitive from Pan and not coming from this world. That’s when he also remembered Demmie’s words.

  “This isn’t a different world, just a different time. Logically speaking… my god doesn’t exist yet. But then how did he know about this place? My god did come from another world and was brought into this once. That means that someone told him about this place. So Pan must still be alive somewhere in the other world.”

  He had now two options. He could go to Gurgen and take his time machine trapping Gurgen in this time or perhaps if he could convince Gurgen, he could come with or he could try and fight in the war. “Or… I gather all my friends and try to get them out of here with me.”

  He took the map once more and started to circle around some areas. Demmie was still at the camp so he had to find him later. Gurgen wasn’t really a friend but he couldn’t leave them here and lastly there was Ninke.

  “Now… where will I go? I can’t go to my own time because my god will be there.”

  That made him stop in his tracks, thinking about it. Then there was also the problem of taking Ninke away from the land she knows and grew to love. The more that he thought of it, the worse his conscious became. He couldn’t just leave everyone here could he?”

  “Uch fine!” He stuffed his map back into his bag as he started to head towards Ninke. “Might as well tell her what is happening. Knowing her, she will want to fight as well.”

  As everyone had their thing going on, Demmie just sat there. After waking up, he felt older once more. He was an old man now, standing there in the middle of the area as everyone just walked past him. He didn’t really fit here and he had seen a lot in his lifetime. Perhaps he could use some of his experiences in war to help Berk in his war. Finally having something to do, he would walk up to Berk.

  Berk had started to order the camp to be packed up. He had send multiple messages using birds to quickly message other gruges to try and get their aid in this upcoming war and to fill everyone else in what was happening. So when the old man Demmie came to the king, he was a bit confused.

  “Can I help you sir? I saw you entering the camp with Lehtern and such but we haven’t really spoken yet. As you know, my name is Berk and I was told that you are Demmie.”

  Demmie nodded as he wasn’t sure how to approach this subject without looking insane. “Well.. It’s not about how you can help me. It’s about how I can help you. You see… I have lived many lives in the past. Believe it or not but I come from the same world as Lucas does. I don’t exactly know when I was born but I have vague flashes sometimes of wars that I’ve witnessed. I want the opportunity to be heard by you and your generals, perhaps make up a strategy.”

  While this was something interesting to accept, he also didn’t have time right now to talk strategy. “Well sir, I will be glad with any and every experience that I can get but for now, it might be better if I send you ahead with the scouts. Mostly because of your physical age. You can ride in the utility cart if that’s fine with you.”

  “I do think I can keep up with your elven convoy that you have right here. Believe me, I can walk.”

  “Look sir, I understand that you want to help but I really suggest that you go ahead.”

  Demmie understood that with his current body condition, wasn’t really in shape to run or walk for long distances. “Understood your majesty.” He bow his head as he went to a group that was about to leave, climbing into the cart.

  As he sat in the cart, Zoala would join him, carrying a rather heavy bag with empty stones. Once she got in, she grabbed one, starting to make some kind of incantation, carving something into the stone. This stone seemed like it had been worked on before, already having an almost complete carving into it.

  Having nothing else to do for now, Demmie would watch her work on the stone. At first he didn’t want to disturb her seeing as she was busy, but as the group got ready and started to move, pulling the cart with them, he would finally open his mouth.

  “Zoala right?” He held out his hand.

  Zoala continued her incantation for a bit longer before stopping and accepting the hand. “Zoala, and you’re Demmie. I never got to ask what you were doing in that cave.”

  “Yeah… well… where do I start? I’ve been here for around three years now. That is a total of three years times 365 days. Minus how old my body is right now which is seventy. I’ve died over a thousand times since I arrived in this place. Every day I fear that I feel too bad to continue and decide to start a new cleansing process. In that cave, I somehow felt more relaxed. I was able to sleep properly again, not having nightmares of the different deaths I experienced.”

  He didn’t realize it yet but the long he talked, the sicker Zoala was getting. She couldn’t imagine how a life like that would be.

  “Not only that. It might be my imagination but for some reason, dying in that cave didn’t feel as bad as in any other place. Off course Lehtern found it not too long ago so I wasn’t able to make my home there but I was relaxed. That’s why I was there.”

  She would nod as he finished talking, putting away her stone as she looked up at his old wrinkles. She felt a lot of empathy for this old person, not sure on how she would be able to help him perhaps stop feeling pain.

  “Can I ask you something Zoala? I’m not sure who else to ask and seeing as Lehtern is gone on another mission, I only know you around here.”

  “Yeah sure, ask me anything.” She wanted to help this man, wanting to show him that he could come to her for anything.

  “I want you to kill me. I want you to kill me around fifty times.”