"Wake up child" his raspy voice sounds so close, like if he spoke to his ear "Your journey has just begun"
His wicked grin shows a row of yellow teeth, face hidden beneath the dirty bandages, bloodshot red eyes.
"Who are you? This is a dream right?" Das replies to the false him, they stand in endless darkness.
"Of course it is, everything is a fleeting dream for us. Leaving behind the sour taste of freedom once we wake up"
"What do you want?"
"Ironically, to stop dreaming" the false Das laughs, it is rough and sounds painful.
"You make no sense you know? But I guess that's to be expected of someone going insane"
"Are you afraid?"
"How can't I be?"
"Don't be it, in the end, we will be free from this dream, only to fall within the confines of life's enslavement. But we will break those chains...I dream of that day"
"Why not just tell me what I need to do?"
"If I tell you, you won't do what has to be done"
"So...you are real?"
"I am, of course, I am" the false Das raises his hand at the same time the true Das does, they move like reflections on a mirror "As real as you will ever be"
"Does that mean we will see each other often?"
"You won't too often. But I will be watching, I have always been watching"
"I see" Das turns around and walks away, as does his reflection.
"The second time we see each other you will have tears of joy, and a thousand words of gratitude in your mouth that will come out as only one" they disappear, leaving only the false's Das voice in the pitch-black emptiness "The third and last time we will see each other, you will be crying inside, with one thousand screams of help that will come out as smile, as we clap our hands in the Fastnacht of freaks"
Das wakes up and stares blankly at the roof for a few seconds before raising from bed, he glances at the whole on his wall and sees the vast, wide world surrounding him.
An alluring sight.
There is a memory of something he dreamed, something important, but no matter what he does, there is no memory of what it was.
He gets up off the bed and prepares for what's to come that day. Hearing the metallic footsteps before they reach the door he turns to it, not a second later the sound of unlocking security is heard and it opens, showing a knight carrying a bowl of wood and a spoon.
"Hey," the knight says, her voice and appearance seeming familiar to Das, who raises an eyebrow expecting either silence or hostility from her. She realizes this and walks inside leaving the bowl on a nearby desk "We have met before, I am Petra Eisenbär. I was a Gate Guardian of the throne"
"Oh," Das replies, finally remembering the blonde woman and her companion, the memory also highlighting the incoming encounter with now Regent Edel. Making him grimace slightly.
"I...am sorry for what happened that day" she mumbles, embarrassed and shamed "I shouldn't have done that, putting your life at risk like that, if the King had actually come, the three of us would have likely been executed"
"Don't worry about it, it's in the past already" Das sits at the edge of his bed.
The room falls into an awkward silence as both avoid each other's eyes until Petra clears her throat and walks out to the stairs "Well, that's all I really wanted to say...I hope we get to see each other on more friendly terms in the future"
"You are strange, knights don't usually act so friendly towards me. Especially one that lost her position thanks to me"
" That's untrue. I was too spineless to stop my superior from putting you in danger, I lost my honor by no one's fault but mine, and I even put an innocent at risk" she then smirks "besides, you call me strange when you are the one carrying a bloodsucking fairy from your neck" she points out.
Das looks at his right shoulder and sees that Drachen has materialized, meaning it shouldn't be long before she wakes up "Good point" he replies giggling.
"You know...where I'm from, we used to have this large statue of a mage in the middle of town, someone that saved the land from an invasion of the many beasts in Grunland many centuries ago. It's no longer there, but we still remember her with awe"
"Your people weren't harmed by the mages during the war of thunders?"
"Oh we were, lost countless to the mage's rampages. But we knew that their horrible actions shouldn't replace the good they have also done for us, so, we still tell tales about your kind and the good things you did, even nowadays, only that in secrecy"
"Maybe I will visit that place one day then, sounds quite pleasant, what's its name?"
"That visit would have to wait at least a few weeks, it's Dorfmeer. The town you saved"
The revelation visibly shocks Das, whose surprise quickly grows into guilt, knowing it was his father who set it ablaze decades ago "I should have done more"
"You did what you could archmage, not everyone may have survived, and we lost a lot, but there is still people, we can and will regain our strength. We may not be as prosperous as before, but we are alive, so long as we are breathing, we can see ahead for tomorrow with a smile" she leans into the door and puts her hair behind her pointy ear like Das's.
"Thank you," Das says, feeling a little better.
"No, thank you archmage" Petra smiles one last time before clapping her hands together and opening the door of his room "Now, I have a new royal duty to attend to. I hope to see you again, may you find a torch in your darkness," she says leaving and closing the door behind her.
Das stays silent for a moment, it feels good to be treated with kindness every once in a while. He holds that thought as he stands up and looks at the bowl of food on his desk.
A stew of meat and potatoes, he grabs it and hesitates for a moment, but the repulsion he once felt seemed much weaker than before. After weeks of abstinence, he finally enjoyed the taste of cooked meat once again as he sits down on the creaking wooden chair to eat.
Loud yawning coming from his shoulder is the sign that Drachen has awoken. The small fairy slowly floats in front of him, she looks sleepy and stretches like cat mid-air.
"Morning...by Irthis, I look awful," she says catching a glimpse of her hair on the mirror of the desk. Her braided hair was a mess that she quickly helped clean with her hands.
"You always look messy"
"Oh shut up!" she sticks out her tongue at him before returning her attention to the mirror "Yesterday? I slept less than usual than"
"Good thing too, a lot has happened," Das says placing the almost empty bowl on the desk, along with a small chest he opens to pull out a wooden comb and fix his own hair.
"Oh really? What did I miss?"
"Ann is a prisoner now, they know she is a necromancer"
"WHAT?!" Drachen flies up to his face "Did they do something to you?!"
"Not yet, but I have to speak with Edel soon in the throne room. He is regent now so many things are changing in the palace" he says jerking his head towards the window behind them.
Drachen flies up to it and gets out of the tower, seeing how the once old catapults have been replaced by a few new ballistas, pointing directly at the tower. Seeing this she returns inside, a troubled expression on her face.
"Damnit, I guess there is not much else we can do but go and try to convince them you are not trying to betray them" she then notices the circlet on Das's head and flies up to it, pocking its jewel "A crown of truth? Haven't seen one of these in decades"
"A fitting name I would say" Das closes the chest, his hair now tied on a low ponytail, almost all hair away from his face.
"Not so much, humans are as dumb as ever. Don't let their name deceive you, they don't enforce truth to be spoken, they simply don't let you lie"
"Isn't that the same?" he says standing up from the chair and walking up to his wardrobe.
"Not at all, if what you are saying is false, but you believe it to be right, the crown won't react. The Dominion made those a long time ago before they were called Dominion"
"When they asked me if Ann was a threat, the crown reacted when I meant to tell them she wasn't"
"Do you really believe she can do us no harm?" Das's silence is the answer she needs "Now, you can tell me everything I've missed as we go to the throne room, at the moment pick your clothes and let's go"
"I have everything I need on me already, except the most important part," Das says pointing at the empty wardrobe.
"A mage without their cloak? Preposterous" Drachen says after gasping loudly.
Das looks around the room and his eyes fall on the one garment he hasn't given away or lost, resting on the floor where he left it. He walks up to it and puts it on to Drachen's surprise.
"Doesn't look too bad right?" he says stretching his arms, he wears the brown cloak that once belonged to his father.
Drachen takes a moment to look at him, almost seeing the man she loved for a split second, she smiles "No, it looks perfect"
"Then let's go, there is much to be done," he says walking up to the door.
"Onwards then! If Edel tries anything funny, I'm kicking his ass!" Drachen exclaims sitting on Das's shoulder.
Das opens the door of his room and exits it. Closing it behind him as he leaves, leaving only the breeze coming from the hole in his wall and some pages of a book that move with it behind.