Darkness swallowed the twelve moons of Elfarsa, but Marquis Zachary thought they were there, luminous and whole.
He stood beside a window and basked in illusory moonlight before fumbling for a plaque. Then he jolted, retreating his hand immediately after being pricked by its thorny edges.
His freshly burnt fingers throbbed as blood oozed from the punctured wounds, but this made him smile.
The pain reminded him that his existence, his story, was not a figment of his imagination, that he was real… and alive.
Reassured, Zachary extended his hand once more. His long and delicate fingers traced wooden carved letters with reluctance and initiative, hoping it would give him insight.
"Tomorrow... doesn't... exist, but... yesterday... does," he read. Letter by letter, word by word, he ensured he interpreted the symbols right. However, the proverb remained the same.
"Tomorrow doesn't exist, but yesterday does."
Unconvinced, he traced the letters again and again, till his blood painted the letters red. Till he understood what they meant.
Then, a heart-wrenching laugh rang through his desolate room.
"Yes, yes, of course, it's true, it's true." He nodded and bit his lip hard. "If I only made a different decision back then, today would surely be different."
He walked towards the end of the table and fumbled for a bottle of wine. His bloody hand, redder than the liquid inside.
'But... if I didn't choose this path, would regret be chasing me instead of hopelessness?' he asked. His interaction earlier, replaying in his mind.
...
"I've returned, kiddo," a rugged voice greeted behind, drawing Zachary's attention.
'I'm a man,' he ought to say, but he greeted Ferdinand instead. "I'm glad you're safe. Is she with you?" Zachary asked while striding towards him as fast as he could. However, he only ever made baby steps with his shaky legs.
"She's dead," Ferdinand said, making him stop in his tracks.
"The legendary doctor, I've found her, but she has passed away due to old age."
"Hey, are you listening kiddo?" Ferdinand tapped Zachary's shoulder, but he just stood there. His eager heartbeats turned to silent beats of disappointment. However, he still chanted as a habitual response.
"Wherever she lies, may her soul be at peace. May she find rest and leave behind her grievances." He chanted repeatedly as the midnight breeze tousled his robe and the gushing river drowned his chants.
"Done?" Ferdinand asked. His muscular back pressed against a gigantic tree root as he looked at him.
Zachary nodded. "Your payment is in the same place."
"Kiddo, you'll no longer pester me to search for someone else?"
"She's the last. I've deployed several people to search every continent. Twelve years have passed," Zachary said as he staggered forward with a bleak smile.
'I'm tired. I don't want to hope anymore. It's just suffocating,' he thought.
"Then at least allow me to assist you to your room, kiddo."
"There's no nee..." Zachary stumbled on a stone and fell.
A microlith easily punctured his tender skin, making his blood drop on a tree root. As soon as it did, the tree glowed, starting from the roots spreading up to all parts of the tree, and to every tree within the vicinity. Then they moved, surprising Ferdinand who had only heard about his employer's power across the seas.
Hastily, several branches supported Zachary and formed railings he could hold on to. Twigs moved pebbles and stones that might hurt him, and roots created a temporary bridge so he could cross the river using a straight path. However, the trees never tried to carry him to his room even though they could.
"Manifested will... must be one of his natural abilities back then, but the only thing he has now," Ferdinand said. His hawk-like eyes turned to pleased yet bitter crescents. For the first time, he finally saw a demonstration of the marquis's power, just as he finally saw him walking on his own feet after 12 years of employment.
As soon as Zachary entered the main door, the trees slithered back to their places and blossomed white flowers before quieting down.
"That kid, if he feels grateful, he should've said it directly. Did he think I wouldn't understand?"
Ferdinand watched the blooming flowers graciously falling like tender rain. Their refreshing fragrance unmatched by any other, making it an exclusive experience for him.
"But that kid, is he trying to kill me with his gratitude!" Ferdinand evaded flowers six times larger than his head and glanced at the scenery once more before departing. "Nah, forget it. I'll just take this memory as a parting gift."
Upon reaching the middle border of the territory, Ferdinand felt a chill that made him grab the tip of his sword on instinct.
He observed his surroundings and looked far into the horizon. The night seemed peaceful, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was amiss. It's as if something massive is approaching the land in all directions.
...
Zachary poured a minimal amount of wine.
"I guess Ferdinand would leave as soon as he got his pay. I hope he understood what the flowers meant," he said while imagining how large the flowers he couldn't control appeared to be.
After taking a few sips, he slammed the glass on the table, bothered that a tiny drop of his blood awakened several ancient trees when it should have not.
In his current state, he knew he could only awaken a blade of grass even if he bathed it in his blood. Unless there's a special circumstance...
Thump
Thump
Thump
His heartbeat skyrocketed as an eerie feeling he could recognize too well engulfed him. 'Death and danger,' he thought as he stood.
"Delmier!"
He called his bodyguard, but it was overshadowed by a beat of drum that rang throughout the land. Awakening soldiers in their sleep and instilling terror among citizens who are still awake.
"Curses! Why now?" Zachary stretched his dominant hand as reflex. However, he wasn't able to draw his glaive. He just heard another beat of drum, then another, till nine beats were completed, indicating how severe the situation is.
Anyone who can fight must fight. Anyone who can heal must stay. Only elderly, pregnant women, children, and ill or injured people must evacuate, the rest should assist.
Once he processed the message, his body entered a state of paralysis, and the excruciating pain he used to feel, spread in his body once more.
With nine beats, Zachary knew there were hordes of monsters from the lowest to the highest grade wreaking havoc in his land. This rekindled the battle that took everything away from him.
In his mind, he was once again put through everything. The death of his comrades, the helplessness and despair that dawned on him when he awoke, the senses he lost, the excruciating pain that tormented him nonstop, the people who turned their backs, the loneliness he always felt when no one is around, the hopelessness that followed...
It came to him all at once, suffocating him till he dropped to his knees. He panted unsteadily. His body drenched in cold sweat as he bears the suffering that's crushing what's left of him.
'Curses, I don't like this one bit.'
'Why is no one coming?'
'I need to move. Any kind of assistance will help. Even a single pat on the back will do,' he thought while trying to move the tip of his fingers but it was no use. He couldn't feel his limbs because of the throbbing sensations torturing his body.
'What am I expecting? Of course, no will come.'
'It's alright. It's alright. I can get through this.'
'But I felt awful. It's unbearable.'
'No, it's bearable.'
'It's bearable.'
'It's going to be alright. This is different. If there were warning drums back then, they would have played them nonstop.' He reassured himself repeatedly and failed again and again till he finally regained control over his body.
He stood with hardship, only to hear the horn being blown, indicating that the outermost barrier had been breached.
This made him bite his lower lip till it bled. He knew it was his fault. If he were as strong as before, the barrier would've never shattered. Still, he proceeded towards the door to command his men since right now, he thought it was the best thing he could do.
Then he stopped. 'The trees, maybe I can still awaken the trees.'
He rushed toward the wooden plaque and fumbled for a button at the side to take the dagger in the compartment. This made him push several carved letters that had absorbed the blood smeared earlier.
Upon his touch, the letters which were not supposed to sink, sank and became one with the wood. Then, the entire plaque turned bloody red as the moonlight from the emerging moons bathed it with their grace.
However, Zachary did not know. He just opened the compartment and took the dagger out. Fully unaware that the total lunar eclipse which turned the moons invisible, coupled with the wooden plaque being smeared with blood, as well as specific letters being pushed down at the right time, just before the eclipse ends, would complete a long-forgotten ritual that will completely change his life.
'I must hurry.' Zachary turned towards the door, but before he could take a step forward, the rays of the moons illumined him and he disintegrated into nothingness.
On another dimension...
Zachary emerged in a woman's room, completely unaffected by the bending of time and space that has brought him to the right world, at the wrong time, in the right country, but in the wrong location.