Chapter 13: A plan.
Time was limited the winter was to end and spring was on its due course.
"A week I have a week at best to set the barrier" sighed the man as he tediously carved away at the glass-like mana core.
At this point, the orb was so detailed that every micrometer of its surface was marked with archaic runes so detailed, that it was made from at least 50 layers, one could mistake it for a fine metallic sculpture, a truly timeless artifact.
Alabaster had almost finished his masterfully crafted defense, he had spent countless nights perfecting his runes, for this was his only reassurance of the border's management in his absence.
As a result, saw his hours of painstaking carving as a worthwhile investment, despite its costly demand of his time.
He looked at the charcoal map of the borders that were drawn on his walls.
The map now featured many dark blue dots surrounding the monster's biome.
He had intended to carve the rest of the circuit, on various totems he placed around the monster's land.
Like waypoints to connect when making the base shape for the formation.
As a sort of wall, if you will.
The time had flown by, and his worries and responsibilities weighed on him like a mountain.
Alabaster was too preoccupied with the boy and the barrier to have realized how brazenly time had flown past him.
It had been four months since the boy arrived.
The boy was already 9 months old and the cold season was ending. This change of season was made apparent by the ever-changing landscape.
The land that encapsulated the man's cottage, appeared to have morphed.
The once solid fiord cracked as small streams of glistening fresh water wove, swerving around the narrow passages within the ice.
The sturdy fiord once frozen motionless in time, had begun to flow thawed from the clutches of the cold climate of the north.
The weather patterns reflected the season, as the blistering blizzards that raged within the borders howling their ghostly screams, began to whisper a delicate lullaby, as the dark grey sky lightened into milky white, and clouds sprinkled soft fleets on the land below.
With the end of winter, the monster's hibernation was over and the monster's migration to the fiord was to happen within the following weeks.
Nature's timer was running out.
Alabaster had yet to make a plan, no, never mind a plan he hadn't even plotted his route.
In the past 4 months, Alabaster had procrastinated planning his travels quite effectively.
Alabaster still had just considered the various supplies, and rations, needed for such a treacherous journey.
Needless to say, Alabaster was short on time and lacked a proper plan.
In full honesty, he was avoiding the task altogether.
He knew the world had changed a lot since he isolated himself along the borders of the empire.
But, to come to terms with that change is a different subject altogether.
Like a frog in a well, he lived in an ignorant bliss oblivious to the changes around him.
Though he tried his best to separate himself from the world.
He was no fool, he had noticed that the world was in anarchy years back.
On an annual trip to a distant village in search of long-lasting ingredients.
He noticed the distressed look of woe on the villagers, the shortage of their usual baked goods and confectioneries troubled him.
The bright-colored cakes and sweets were replaced by emergency rations and crops.
The state of the villagers' broken homes, torn clothes, and full streets spoke volumes and Alabaster read along the lines.
It was the blatant effect of war.
Maybe that is why the following years after that faithful visit, he chose to busy himself with brutally battering monsters. Any monster, beast, or foe that was most unfortunate, to have met his eyes met their end, occupying his mind with the thought of destroying their land.
He tried to ignore the signs as a mistake, a misjudgment on his part, his mind hazed in denial, but how could he be mistaken?
Alabaster knew war well.
The dramatized arrival of the boy confirmed his decade long suspicion of war.
Alabaster knew to attempt his journey he had to study the atlases and maps he looted from the reck.
He knew he shouldn't let his clouded judgment continue.
He knew after reading them the truth of the world's state was to come to light, that his sweet days of being oblivious were to abruptly end.
He knew he was to leave isolation someday but he didn't wish to leave so soon.
As the man tensed troubled by his mind, his steady hands began to waver.
He placed the mana core down on a cloth stationed on a white wooden table, that was centered in front of his unearthly fireplace and took slow, deep, breaths.
Alabaster's mind wandered aimlessly, as he looked around at the decorations within his house, various items that all appeared to be cursed, weapons and rugs, monster skins and skulls, rare ores, and unidentified materials.
He lamented lost in thought his mind elsewhere, as calmed himself down.
To be distracted by a binding glint of sunny hair that peered behind the mana core he had placed on his light wooden table.
Alabaster leaned over the table to bear witness, to the sunny boy standing, whilst sampling the bright white wood happily indulging on the man's table.
Alabaster chuckled his deep voice echoed through the walls, his marble-white eyes watering, what was he so anxious about? He had already forgotten.
The man beamed a bright smile a smile so bright some could swear there was a halo encircling his face.
He leaned reaching for the boy and in a humorous tone he said,
" Hey, I don't recommend biting the table, it's wood from the elven forests its very hard and mana-dense."
As the man picked the boy up to coddle In his arms he noticed that the boy was chewing on something.
By instinct, the man tried to pry open the boy's mouth to no avail as a loud gulp resonated from the boy's iron jaws.
"What did you just do!?" Exclaimed Alabaster as he noticed the baby-sized bite mark on his priceless, elven wood table!
The man wasn't mad he was distraught.
That chunk of white wood could delete a mage, that is if there was ever one brain dead enough to attempt to digest it, or be able to bite it in the first place!
That chunk of wood was as tough as mythic armor, it was way too mana-dense to be eaten without consequence
Alabaster hastily scanned the boy's mana for an irregular burst of energy some form of uncontrollable mana.
But there was no such mama, rather the boy had absorbed the mana entirely. It smoothly blended with the boy's sunny mana melting into it like liquid butter.
...
The man was too stunned to speak, yet again the boy had done the impossible,
Are they breeding super soldiers in the South or something!!!
What is this cheat skill!?
Thought the man as he stared at the boy who was making a face of pure satisfaction.
The man finally understood the most unusual dietary requirement of legendary mana cores.
The man looked at his now not-so-perfect circular table making an audible sigh.
It was a shock but he didn't dwell on it long.
Future problems for future me. Thought the man.
He had to make a plan now whilst his motivation was at a high.
With a look of determination he reached down his satin shirt resting on his perfectly proportioned chest, he pulled out a string necklace with a familiar pendant and multiple space rings.
The man removed two of the larger gaudy rings and opened the dimensional pocket, removing piles of leather hardback back books, atlases, scrolls, and maps.
Baby in hand Alabaster took a seat.
The man had already taken a brief look at the maps when he first welcomed the boy to his house.
He didn't process it back then, but the world he once knew was long gone.
Many nations the man had known were nowhere to be seen, like a distant memory of a faded past they had vanished from the map.
New nations had taken their place, there were countries and land that had spawned across oceans, that Alabaster hadn't ever seen before.
Even the empire he lived in was no longer the same as it appears to have shrunk...
Shrunk!!!
The empire that was a ruthless international power, an unrivaled nation in terms of technology and magical prowess, had shrunk!?
Alabaster leaned in for a closer look thoughtfully examining the map.
The areas the empire preoccupied were now taken by a new nation.
Correction, countless countries have been swallowed within this new nation.
However, the man wasn't shocked, in fact after he read the nation's name all emotion left his face blank.
The room was silent.
The cool amber lips of Alabaster twitched as he began to grin ear to ear.
"Ha, ha what insane bastard names their own country Derelictus, In other words...
The forsaken."
Chapter 13 fin.