Chapter 21
The Time-Teller
Megan tried to move but found herself floating slowly upwards.
“Pyralis!” she called out as the figures and images around her became more and more blurred. She vaguely saw the outline of the dance of magic as Pyralis and Gethin began to seriously fight. ‘Pyralis seems angry. Did he care that I died? Does he know I’m dead?”
The world around Megan slowly faded to nothingness.
“Hello,” a deep voice echoed through her mind.
“Tempus?” Megan tried to say, but did not feel her mouth moving at all.
“Ah, you recognized me, little girl,” Tempus’ voice echoed in Megan’s mind.
“Tempus?” Megan heard her voice but couldn’t feel her mouth moving. “Are you dead too?” Laughter echoed around her head.
“You’re not dead, I pulled your soul from your body, and thus only the shell, which contains your soul, sustained the harm that Gethin’s spell did.”
“Whatever,” Megan was sick of magic by this point and had she had her body she would have yawned tiredly at this new development.
“It seems you truly expect the unexpected,” Tempus’ voice chuckled into your mind, “especially after the discovery of Gethin’s identity.” Megan’s mind went blank for a moment. Her spirit cried silently.
“I would like to show you something that you do not expect. Have a seat.”
“Huh?” Megan’s eyes shot open. She was sitting in a vast domed room on a small wooden chair. In front of her, in his familiar armchair sat Tempus, the Time-Teller.
“How did I…? Was it all a dream,” Megan’s mind felt slightly foggy. She blinked several times. “If so, when did it start?”
“It isn’t a dream, little Megan,” Tempus smiled at her cocking his head to the side. “I have a story to show you.”
“How do you show a story, like a movie?”
“You’ll see,” Tempus smiled a soft old man’s smile. “First I must ask you an important question. You hated Pyralis when you first came here. What do you think of him now?”
“I still…” Megan started. “I… I…” She had intended to say that she still hated him, but the false words refused to escape her lips. Suddenly, memories of his lengthy explanations, his amazing insight, and his strange manner flooded into her mind. What did she hate about him? He had brought her here; here, away from Gethin, her lying father; here where she had made new friends and seen things that no one she had know before would see in ten lifetimes.
“I… I… I respect him,” she faltered. “I respect him… like a father.”
“Interesting,” Tempus smiled cunningly as if at some strange inside joke.
“Why do you ask?” Megan felt confused. She had still not recovered entirely from the mindset of the battle. Was Pyralis alright?
“Don’t worry,” Tempus chuckled. “Time flows differently in my house. As soon as you entered, time sped up for you. So much so, that it is almost as if the outside world… is completely stopped.”
“Stopped?” Megan slouched down in the strange wooden chair, relieved somehow.
“Yes… Now, about that story,” Tempus stood up and placed his hand on Megan’s forehead. “I want you to understand Pyralis fully. I’m sure by now he has told you of his Helia.”
“Yes,” Megan furrowed her brow in contemplation, wondering what Tempus was getting at.
“I want to show you the life that Gethin stole from them. The best way for you to see it is through, Pyralis’ eyes.”
“Pyralis’ eyes?” Megan was slightly confused. She felt a cool sensation where Tempus’ hand touched her as if ice were being formed connecting his hand to her forehead, but before it was cold enough to give her a headache, it began to warm. She felt as though her mind and consciousness were being sucked into his hand. Suddenly, she felt as though her arms and legs were not her own. She could not control any movements.
“Are you sure you didn’t leave any wrapping paper around anywhere?” She looked into the green-gray eyes of a woman sitting beside her on a large, old-fashioned bed.
“I think so,” she felt her mouth move and recognized Pyralis’ voice instantly. Although, this voice seemed much younger, and the drawl was less lazy.
“You know for sure. This is her second birthday, and I want it to be really special for her,” the woman’s voice was soft and somehow familiar. Her wavy brown hair brushed against her waist as she moved her head anxiously.
“Helia, she won’t even remember her second birthday,” Pyralis sighed.
“Did we leave anything undone.”
“I don’t know!” Megan felt Pyralis’ body saying as if annoyed. Then she felt him lean down and whisper softly in the lady’s ear. “I’ll go check. Don’t worry.” Pyralis winked walked swiftly out of the room into a narrow hall, hoping to get to bed soon. A little girl, who couldn’t have been more than two years old, looked up at him in alarm. Her big, light-blue eyes, stared into his not-yet-blind ones. Her short brown hair was messy as if she had been tossing and turning, and her white nightgown flowed down softly to her small ankles. Pyralis looked down at the girl as if in anger.
“What are you doing here?” he asked in annoyed. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“I… I was wanting a water drink cause of being thirsty, so I called mommy, but she didn’t come… So I called her again. Then, I came out here… for the water. Are you mad, daddy” the little girl blushed.
“Of course not. Tomorrow is your birthday. I couldn’t be mad at you, but you don’t want to spoil the surprise. Go lie down, and I’ll bring you a glass of water okay.” Megan felt Pyralis smile broadly at the child and he reached down to pat her head. Then, the girl skipped happily back to what Megan assumed was her room. Pyralis walked along the narrow hall in the other direction. He came to a small room with several chairs and a short table, upon which several wrapped gifts were piled. Pyralis bent down and checked the floors carefully.
“I told her their was no wrapping paper lying around,” Megan felt him whispering to himself. Then, he walked to a small room with a woodstove. He took a wooden cup from a cupboard on his left and dipped it into a small bowl, in which water was swirling like a fountain. Then, he walked along the hallway into the room the little girl had entered. It was dark, and the silvery blue curtains drawn over the small window rippled lightly in the wind. Random toys lay scattered across the floor, but he didn’t pay much attention to them as he walked to the small bed in the center of the room.
“Dilana,” he whispered.
“Daddy, how come it took you so long?” the child pursed her lips. “I could have daydreamed twenty-hundred times with you taking so long. I was thirsty.”
“I brought you water,” Pyralis smiled, and he bent down to kiss her forehead.
“Tank you,” she smiled. Pyralis handed the small child the cup, waited for her to drink it, then left the room.
“Took you long enough,” the woman said, leaning against her pillow.
“I ran into our birthday girl. She wanted a glass of water.”
“I don’t see why we have to make such a big deal about her second birthday. She won’t remember it…”
“Her unconscious mind will, Pyralis. Don’t be so silly. You never say stuff like that around Dilana. You’re always too busy tickling her or teaching her little magic tricks, and you giving her ridiculous nicknames like ‘nutmeg’ because she tried to put it in everything. Why do you do that if she won’t remember it.”
“Because I find it fun,” Pyralis laughed and kissed the brown haired lady. Megan felt slightly awkward, but soon got over it. She fell asleep as Pyralis and woke up to some sort of wild animal jumping on her, or rather Pyralis’ legs.
“Daddy!” she recognized the child’s voice. “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Mama told me I could jump on you to wake you up! She said you’re not allowed to punish me.”
“She said that, huh,” Megan felt Pyralis say. “But she never said the tickler couldn’t punish you.” The little girl shrieked gleefully and jumped from the bed, dashing out of the room. Pyralis shook his head and stood up.
“Let’s play hide-and-seek!” the little girl said jumping up and down around the table of presents, now lit by the sunlight of a nearby window.
“Okay,” Pyralis sighed tiredly. His legs felt slightly bruised.
“You and mommy have to find me.”
“Okay, my little nutmeg,” Pyralis brushed her hair then closed his eyes. The brown-haired woman began to count.
“One two three four five six… seventy seventy-one… one-hundred!” Pyralis snapped his eyes open.
“Dilana?” the woman giggled softly almost like the wind or the purr of a cat. “Dilana? Dilana?”
“Helia!” Pyralis said suddenly panicked. One of the walls suddenly burst into emerald-blue flames.
“No!” he shouted in unison with Helia.
“Where’s Dilana? We have to find her quickly, the seek spell!” Helia said panicked.
“No time!” Pyralis looked around frantically. “I can hear her coughing.”
“That cupboard!” Helia dashed forward.
“Help!” a voice inside the cupboard wheezed. Pyralis banged open the cupboard door with magic. There, the choking two-year-year old sat. He watched Helia take the child in her arms and hold her. The whole room was filling with smoke and flames.
“The cradle!” Pyralis cried. “It’s protected!” Helia ran to a wooden cradle that Megan had not noticed before. She placed the crying child in it.
“We have to put out this fire, Pyralis!” Helia cried.
“This is Lucifer’s doing!” Pyralis growled. “We have to find the source of the flames!” Suddenly Helia’s skirt caught fire. Pyralis tore it off and lifted her up, protecting her with his cloak, he lept backwards through the window.
“There’s no way to find it’s source! We have to get Dilana away from here he cried to Helia, who was on the ground rubbing her burns.
“No, Pyralis!” Helia grabbed his cloak. “The cradle will protect her! I don’t want to lose you! Lucifer cannot take her if he cannot find her. If you go in, he’ll find her!”
“Dilana!” Pyralis cried still trying to run into the burning building. “Dilana! Dilana!” Megan watched the cradle through Pyralis’ eyes as it became more and more surrounded with smoke and fire. Suddenly the child inside the cradle screamed as a flame licked her side through the cradle. “What magic is this!” Pyralis shouted. Suddenly a beam began to fall towards the cradle, covered in flames. Dilana leapt out of the protection of the cradle as the beam bounced lightly off the barrier Megan assumed Pyralis had placed around the cradle.
“No!” Helia screamed and jumped into the house as the ceiling collapsed. Pyralis shrieked so loudly that had Megan been in her own body, she may have had permanent damage to her ears.
“Now Megan,” Tempus’ voice intruded. “You may come back.”
“What was that?” Megan could control her mouth again. She opened her eyes as Tempus removed his hand from her forehead.
“Do you wish to know what happened to the mother and child?” Tempus asked.
“Uhh…” Megan was still getting used to moving on her own and almost fell out of the chair.
“They survived.”
“Helia survived!” Megan sat up straight. “Then…”
“Pyralis does not know, and it would be wise not to tell him, for in the state she is in, it is impossible for her to return. The child, however, was taken by Pyralis’ long-time enemy, Lucifer. Lucifer felt that it would truly be sweet revenge to raise Pyralis’ beloved daughter as his own and make her love him as a father. Then, eventually Pyralis would find out, and his heart would have been torn apart. However, child ran away when she was twelve years old, and that is why Lucifer came back to this world. Oh, and one last thing, he had named the child Megan as a mockery of Pyralis’ ‘Nutmeg’ nickname.”
“Then that means…” Megan felt her head hit the stone floor as she fainted.
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