Did it take days or weeks to reach the great city Feyshell? Cashimir didn't know anymore. The days felt long, as he kept walking until his legs couldn't go further and then he slept. His mind was constantly filled with Eris.
They either made him happy, thinking about her smile and how she probably tended the flowers and drank tea. But then he felt bad, the regret eating on him each and every day. He left her and no one would probably visit her.
He feared she might grow to hate him. With each day, the sword glowed less and it soon vanished making the sword look like any ordinary one with pretty decorations.
When he arrived and the first thing he saw was the large white church with swan statues. A lump grew in his stomach and walking back to the village was tempting but people had already noticed him.
"Is he the long awaited champion?"
"Who else walks around in all white?"
"Look at his posture, it's so elegant" Cashimir felt so small, like he was some sort of pretty object everyone was admiring. He let his head down and slouched as he made his way to the church which made the whispers stop.
He felt ashamed, he wasn't the hero they thought he was. He couldn't keep up an act, he couldn't act like a hero and he didn't feel elegant. Exhaustion took over him and the feelings of regret still lingered over him.
The large doors of the church were open, before Cashmir did even have time to enter, his father came running over. He had his arms open wide for a hug but he stopped midway and looked at him with an awkward smile.
"Son… The sword…" Casimir released the sword from his hip and gave it to his father as he walked past him and sat down, his body sinking down completely. He looked up at the ceiling, the silence felt nice but also somewhat judgemental. He feared what his father would say.
"I'm sorry father… It's not what I am destined for… I-"
"A swan is elegant when it's in the lake but not on land" His voice held no judgement nor anger. Cashimir turned to look at his father's face who had a small smile, he walked over to Cashimir's side and sat down beside him, placing the sword in his lap.
"You have seen a swan on land no? They are just like any other bird and they definitely don't sound nice either."
"I understood what you meant father." Cashimir rolled his eyes as his father gave a small chuckle and bumped him with his shoulder which made a smile curl up on Cashimir's face.
"I haven't seen you in years, you have grown so much. I don't want to lecture you right away." Cashimir felt his father's hand on his back, relaxing slowly to his touch. But memories of his mother screaming and crying when his father left made him tense up again and flinched slightly.
"Don't you understand Cashimir? He left us! His duty is more important than us! Doesn't Theelia want us to spread love?" These words were engraved in his mind, engraved in his heart. He followed in his father's footsteps, leaving them behind for duty.
The hand moved away from Cashimir's back and the awkward silence returned. They looked away from each other, none of them knowing what to say. His father muttered something under his breath which made Cashimir turn his head slightly towards him to hear him better.
"You… Must be hungry. Let's eat" His father stood up, holding the sword in his hand before making his way to the dining hall.
Cashimir walked behind him, staring at his back. He had the same long hair as he did and both of them were wearing all white. He looked around the halls and the walls hoping that this wouldn't be his future.
The meal was eaten in silence, no matter how much his father tried to strike up a conversation, it was always one sided.
"Sir, I've finished reading all the books in the library and found nothing. What's the next step?" A voice interrupted their miserable meal, Cashimir looked up and saw a young woman standing in front of the table.
The first thing he thought about was the night sky when he saw her. She wore a dark purple dress with gold decorations and gold jewelry. She had symbols of stars, crescent moons and constallians. Her skin was like obsidian and her hair was curly, having a purple witch hat on top of it.
Cashimir kept staring at her until her eyes soon glared at him and an uncomfortable feeling shot right through him. Her eyes were purple, making it her most distinguished feature and they stared right through him, like she read him like a book.
"Right Helene. I think you should take a break. Why don't you join us?" His father tried to lighten up the mood. Helene sat down beside Cashimir and didn't take her eyes off him. Cashimir smiled awkwardly and looked away, giving his father a pleading look. But he only received an encouraging look from his father.
"Give me your hand" Helene demanded and didn't even wait for an answer before she grabbed his hand and began to look at his palm. Cashimir wanted to protest and pull his hand away but she had a firm grip on it. When she looked up again she shook her head then let his hand go. She sighed and stood up.
"He shouldn't be here, he will be the doom of us all"
"Excuse me?" Cashimir felt offended but Helende didn't bat an eye and just gave him another glare making him feel even smaller and the feelings of regret grew.
"Helene, don't be like that. Just because you saw it doesn't mean it can't change" She just sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I have a bad feeling about him, he might not be a criminal but his future shows something horrible" Cashimir felt locked out of their conversation. He looked at his meal and lost his appetite, he then left the two of them, walking around the quiet halls to find somewhere he could be alone.
He sat down on a window ledge and stared outside, watching the people rushing towards different places and talking to each other. He sighed as he rested his head on the surface of the cold window. Footsteps were moving closer to him and stopped when they arrived behind Cashimir.
"What do you want?"
"Don't think about what Helene said… She is… Well… Special in her own way. Her talent is seeing into the future and she is encouraged to use her powers as much as possible. But they are not always right, she can't predict everything." His father sat down in front of Cashimir and he pulled away from him, curling himself into a smaller ball.
His father moved his hand towards him but stopped and crossed his arms instead. The tension between them returned yet his father stayed. Cashimir sighed, thinking they might need to talk it out eventually but before he could say something, a messenger boy came almost running.
"Mr Havenbow. Greenfair… Greenfair is flooded and a fire happened in the forest." Cashimir felt his heart stop. Greenfair was his village.
"What happened exactly? Did someone do it or?" He began asking a lot of questions but his father stopped him so the messenger boy could explain.
"The villagers say many different things but the water came from a lake in the forest and it seems like a cottage was on fire that spread to the rest of the forest. It seems like magic was involved." Cashimir ran his hand through his hair, the sounds didn't reach his ears and his vision became more and more blurry.
"Cashimir, Cashimir!" His father's voice felt distant and he slowly closed his eyes, the world kept spinning until everything was completely black and the world paused.