As the gentle breeze ruffled through his hair and the little drops of water trickled from the pine needles on his face and body, Balthazaar slowly opened his eyes. He could feel the fresh air filling his lungs. The unbearable stench was gone.
Although his vision was hazy, he could see that there was a horse in front of him that was galloping ahead and with the way his body moved, he realized that he was sitting on a horse himself. He looked down at his hands and found them tied. His body was also tied to someone.
'Did I turn time? Where am I?' he pondered and turned back to find who the rider was and seeing the familiar face of Nicholas he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Balthazaar! Are you ok?" asked Nicholas as he saw the old man wake up and turn back. He immediately took one of his hands off the reins and unfastened the cloth which was tried to his hands.
"I am fine! Is Nubeous fine? What happened? Where are we and who are those people?", asked Balthazaar with an anxious voice looking in the direction of the horse that was galloping ahead of him.
Nicholas took a deep breath and spoke sarcastically for he was still irked to hear his concern for Nubeous,
"Yes, the very man who tried to put you in the dungeon of death is fine."
His mockery didn't go unnoticed by Balthazaar, but he was bound by the promise, an unbreakable vow that he could end only after he died. But hearing that Nubeous was safe, he breathed a sigh of relief and then said,
"I knew it! I knew you were the one who could help me stop Morpheous!" said Balthazaar and felt relieved with his choice. This man was going to be his successor as the protector of the throne keeper.
"Stop Morpheous! Huh!" lamented Nicholas as he pressed his legs against his horse to make it move faster as they were lagging behind.
"What do you mean?" questioned Balthazaar, seeing him acting up all vexed.
Nicholas took a deep breath and said,
"That man that you see ahead, galloping on that horse, is Morpheous. And I didn't stop him. The heavens would agree as I dare say this, not even God could have stopped him, but he himself. He chose to save his master rather than fighting Nubeous. He chose to save you despite the fact that we the ones who plotted against him."
There was resentment in his voice and that burnt the face of Balthazaar for he knew that he was being consciously insulted but was embarrassed as he didn't know how to resent the promise that he made to his father.
"He is no ordinary man Balthazaar. He is beyond us, beyond Nubeous, beyond the reach of anyone."
"Hiyaaahhh..."
And he stroked his horse to move faster again.
Hearing his words Balthazaar stayed in silence for a moment, looking in the direction of Morpheous. A bit of guilt started encroaching a corner of his heart. Unable to assimilate the thoughts inside of his head he asked,
"What happened?"
"What happened?" chuckled Nicholas and then said, "A grave mistake. A grave mistake from our side. A grave mistake that Nubeous has made, which probably he can never rectify."
"Can you tell me in detail rather than playing riddles with me?" urged Balthazaar.
Nicholas took a deep breath and said,
"Today when I had reached their village, there was nothing left. Everything had been turned into ashes. They were trying to hold onto the last pieces of their lives, trying to survive, but then came in the men from the kingdom. Around three hundred men, in search of that ingot.
"We went to talk with them politely, to try to persuade them from ruining the leftover crops as their livelihood was dependant on it, but they didn't listen. And they committed a sin of standing against him. They killed his friend in front of him and it was then that the hell broke loose.
"I assumed he was a strong man, but I was wrong. He is not a man, he cannot be a mortal, he cannot be an angel for his powers were beyond human imagination. The earth shook into pieces as he was enraged and he killed them all."
"He killed them all?" asked Balthazaar all surprised, even though he had seen his might before.
"Yes, every single one of them until the guilt crept in and a few soldiers who were in hiding took the opportunity and dragged him to the Kingdom."
"Why didn't you give him the wolfsbane?" asked Balthazaar. "That was the first thing I had asked you to do. Didn't I?"
"Oh, I did. I did everything that you had told me to. But there are angels guiding over him who saved him from it," said Nicholas and pointed ahead. "There, along with him is his master, a fallen angel like you. It was for his sake that this man left the kingdom."
"A fallen angel like me? Who?" asked Balthazaar curiously.
"Damianos."
"Damianos!" exclaimed Balthazaar as if memories and tales of the past came flooding in.
"But he is hurt, badly hurt," said Nicholas.
"It's ok... We will figure something out. The good thing is he didn't fight Nubeous. Good that he chose to save him," sighed Balthazaar.
"Oh! No! Balthazaar! No! You have understood me wrong. When I said he chose not to fight, I mean he chose not to fight back. Nubeous tried to fight with him with all his might, but he chose just to shield himself and his godfather, his guiding angel."
"Shield? Shield from what?", asked Balthazaar. His breath was hitched for he didn't want to hear what he was fearing.
"The bolt of death. That man took the bolt of death all in and yet you see him alive in flesh and blood. He is no ordinary man Balthazaar, he is the one. A righteous, benevolent yet the fiercest of his kind."
Balthazaar closed his eyes in despair for even the time travel couldn't help the prophecy from being true.
'The bolt of death,
Will perch up in the sky.
"What have you done Nubeous? Now even the heavens cannot save you," mumbled the old man and looked at the horse galloping ahead.
All that he could see was his broad back from behind.