Chapter 7- Mentor

Chapter 7 of Vector of the Heavens

Eraqus was pacing back and forth in his chambers.  Was it true what the guard said?  That the heirloom that Riku gave to him eons ago had returned to the palace gates?  Had Riku’s descendant found out the truth and coming to the palace to confront Eraqus on it?  Then he realized, why did he worry?  He had nothing to hide from the family of Riku.  He calmed himself as the gates opened.  The guard stepped inside and said the attendant was arriving with the two travelers.  Eraqus thanked him, and told him to let them in.  With that, the guard left and brought back the attendant and the two travelers.  Eraqus didn’t look at them in the eye directly until he told the guard and the attendant to leave them alone.  As they closed the great doors, he turned around and said,
“Welcome travelers.  You are welcome in my palace.  I must say, I thought I wouldn’t see Riku’s family again for quite some time.”  He got a better look at the two people when he turned around.  One looked like a simple ranch man, young, but seemed to have the drive to get things done.  He also had the earring heirloom which intrigued him.  The other had his head down, trying to hide his facial features.  “There is no need to be shy my friend.  Any friend of the house of Riku is a friend of mine.”  He turned his attention back to the ranch boy.  “Tell me child.  What is your name?”
“My name is Link sir.  But, what do you mean the family of Riku?  Did I miss something?”
“He’s referring to your ancestors Link.”  The other stranger stepped forward and brought his head up.  “He is also indirectly referring to me.”  Eraqus suddenly got a sense of shock.  He could now see the whole face of the stranger, and what he saw he couldn’t believe.
“This is impossible.  Riku is dead.  You are not who you say you are.”  The stranger then drew a sword that he had hidden in his cloak and then performed a sword technique that only one other person other than Eraqus knew.  The stranger sheathed his sword, looked up at Eraqus and said,
“Is this a lie as well then, master?”  Eraqus was overcome with a wave of emotion.  He now knew that this was his pupil Riku, who had died back during the thousand year war, and had somehow come back from the sky.  He didn’t know what to do, so he just walked up to Riku and embraced him.  Riku was a bit stunned at first but then returned the gesture.  Link just stood there with a confused look on his face.

 

The servants came in with trays of food and drink into Eraqus’ chamber and grabbed two extra seats for Link and Riku.  As they sat there, Link looked on as Eraqus and Riku just talked about old days.  He still didn’t understand completely how Riku and Eraqus knew each other, but it did increase his assumptions that Riku was indeed the Guardian of his town.  After a few more minutes of this, Eraqus asked,
“So you were dead, but now you aren’t.  What is it like up in the sky Riku?  Is the view beautiful?”
“I don’t know master.  I haven’t gone yet.”  Eraqus had a confused look on his face then showed signs of understanding.
“You became a Guardian didn’t you?”
“Time runs differently up in the observatory of the Guardians.  Three days by your time is about three minutes by our standards.  The only reason we can keep up is because when we go down to the mortal plain, we spend a whole day there gathering prayers and doing odd jobs.  When we go back to the Observatory, it only feels like we only did all of this in the matter of a minute.  However, it usually takes much time for a new soul to become a Guardian so…” this went on for quite some time.  Then Eraqus asked how Riku managed to return to the mortal plain without angering the Goddesses.  Riku fell silent for a minute, then spoke.
“When the Guardians were first established by the New Gods, they only had one purpose and one destiny.  To help the mortals and do this for all of eternity.  Then the Goddesses took command of the realm and gave the Guardians the golden power.  Once collected enough thanks from mortals, the door would be opened and then the Guardians could wish for a better world.  Its power is to grant the wish of one with a balance of the three essences that makes it up.  We had opened the door, but then something happened.  A giant pillar of darkness fell from the sky, and out of it came a tall, muscular thing with flaming hair, scales for skin, and a giant sword that looked similar to rippling waves.  We all tried to stop him, but as far as I could tell, we failed.”
“How do you not know the outcome?”
“When the thing attacked us, he used some kind of magic spell that sent Guardians flying off the observatory, and I don’t know if the same thing happened to the other Guardians, but I lost my wings and halo as I fell to earth.  I fell in the form of a shooting star which caused me to land only a flight away from my descendant’s humble ranch.”  Link looked up from his plate as soon as he heard his ranch mentioned.  Eraqus then smiled and said,
“Yes, the ranch that I gave to your son and his wife.”  Link was now confused as a man who doesn’t know a horse from a cow.
“You gave my family our ranch?”
“Your family didn’t tell you this?  I thought you were here because you had found out about the history of your ranch.  All right.  I will tell you everything that has happened.  When Riku here died, he wished that I take care of his son and raise him well.  So I took him in and raised him as my own.  He was at the tender age of ten when I took him in.  When I conquered Galor, I raised him in the palace for thirty or so years.  When he reached the age of…I think it was 45, he found a woman that had come from a ranch background and fell in love with her.  She didn’t want to leave her ranch life behind and he didn’t want to live without her.  So I made arrangements for the two of them to have a ranch just outside the city so they could live their lives together in peace.  However, about a thousand years ago, your father met your mother, and they both wanted to live in Feather Falls, so I pulled some strings to get them the ranch that you now call home.  Since then, your family has been in possession of that ranch and will probably own it until the end of this world.”  Link was astounded.
“So, in a way, I am technically related to you since you took in and raised my ancestor?  Why didn’t they tell me this?”
“Because your ancestor asked told me that when he left, our families would not be in contact unless a descendant of his came to me to ask me about the past.  He didn’t want your family to try and take up a position of power and cause great disturbance in the country.  He felt that it would be better for his family to learn what it meant to be poor in money, but to be rich in spirit.”  Riku laughed a slight bit.
“Sounds to me like you rubbed off on him a bit more than you thought Eraqus.”
“How so?”
“Before you got all of this, you taught me the same thing, even though I had nothing like that.”
“Why do you say this Riku?  You had her.”
“And then she was taken away from me.  Just like everything else in that life.  But enough of the past.  I am in need of your help master.”
“What would you wish of me Riku?”
“Two things.  One, an access to the library and the history of the world, and two, a vessel and a crew in order to traverse the seas to travel the world.”
“The library you have access to, but why do you need to travel the world?  I would think the best course of action is to try and find the answers to who that mysterious attacker of yours was.”
“That will come later.  For now, I need to figure out how to get back up to the Observatory.  There are several portals from there to here that the New Gods planted in case of emergencies like this.  But when the Goddesses took the reins, their existence was all but forgotten.  I think your library would have information on possible whereabouts of these portals, and also the library will give me a better sense of how the world changed while I was gone.  I need to make sure I know the world before I go explore it.”  Eraqus pondered this for a few minutes, then nodded his head.
“You will have access to all you need, and your ship will be prepared as soon as you are ready.”
“Thank you my master.”
“What can I say?  A man has been dead for over 3000 years, I took care of his family, I have to do something in return.”

 

Elitran covered his eyes as the Door to Darkness shone with great intensity and Demise walked through the door.
“Success my lord?”
“In a way.  Rather than kill that pathetic king, I am going to use him as a pawn in a much greater game.  The bearers of the other two pieces will not come to the king, so rather, I will make his country come to them.”
“Will the legions of darkness be required my lord?”
“No, their army will be enough to draw out the power I seek.”

Author's Note

Slowly but surely, I'm getting there. Please tell me what you think.