Kismet’s Tale

      Two days after he returned home. Mavin spent some the time on his bed. His bed was already large enough so Natalya had joined him. Although Mavin had done nothing other than to  take a rest, and laze around while looking at the skies outside. He thought that it was best if he took it slow. Natalya however didn’t show the same intention, and had wanted to tutor Little Elea in teaching her some of the basic education. She had reasoned that even though she had grown up from Wilde. She was still a graduate of Arkadia, and thus was eligible to tutor her.

Mavin had approved this out of the single reason that she was after all someone who had spent the five-year war taking heads and roaming around the field taking pictures of maps and documents. To their surprise, even Little Elea wanted Natalya to teach her. The enthusiasm on the little heiress’s face was rather unmoving. Derrick and Elma didn’t have the heart to reject their daughter who usually was well-behaved and didn’t ask for anything other than stuff she usually could use to act as a lady. Mavin still had doubts over Natalya, and had asked Sister Elna to watch over the Lady.

It was during this time that she had reported that there was nothing wrong with their teachings. She had made a rather detailed report and placed it on Mavin’s study table. Mavin’s study room was large enough to have a library and a keen eye would spot peculiar things in the room. He had modified his library and some parts of it were inaccessible to the staff of Lazon.

The boons he had received had allowed him to cultivate his mind enough to learn and recreate the neater ideas that those ‘memories’ had. So it came as a secondhand and natural to him. His room was dustless. There was not a single speck of dirt even though he had been away for far too long.

He had to have the chairs replaced because of his size. And the only thing that originally remained was his desk that was filled with documents that were not written in any language known in the continents. He pulled one of the drawers, revealing a stack of paper that had ideas written on them.

Mavin had learned them when he had acquired those knowledge. After all, how could he have so much knowledge when so young? During those times he had to play the role of the determined prodigy and so he had used the experience and knowledge of the man in the memories to be taken seriously. He doubted anyone would follow a child unless they saw potential in him or had an inkling of what he would do. He was able to attract their attention because of his eccentricity, not what he was pitching at them.  There were individuals who could not be bought with money, not through persuasion, and only through actions and interest that they would dare to even follow the words of a child.

It has been long since I can feel this relaxed, Mavin thought to himself. He lifted the document, and read the instructions on how to communicate directly with a computer’s hardware. The other document was his thoughts on a language that consisted of binary and hexadecimal characters. He had already presented this idea to the Holmians and through their combined genius that they were able to compose and create up to one gigabytes of computing hardware that was superior to theirs.

That reminds me, I didn’t really check on my invoices, papers, and the royalties that I have in Holmia, Mavin pressed the bell on his table. It was then that a man in a frock coat appeared.

“So you’re back? Aunger?”

Aunger made a gentleman’s bow. “I had been told that you were back, Boss. How could this one have missed out?”

Aunger Nim. He was one of the individuals that would have worked with Rene and Kristine if he had not interfered. He was a rather competent individual that had used his expertise to help him out once in a while. It also helped that he was loyal to a fault that even death could only cure that loyalty.

Right now in his hierarchy of loyalty, it was Mavin who was on top and the rest were either Rene and Kristine who would call on him for help. If anything he was just like Robert, but different that he wasn’t someone who would have to die.

“I haven’t seen you in the Capital.”

“I was at Holmia, Boss,” Aunger sauntered and twisted on the chair. “I had heard news of their recent transactions so it took me a long time to get all things done.. Since this one had been eager to take care of the assets that shall last centuries.”

“That so?” Mavin crossed his arms. “You heard of the Great Silence and what had happened.”

Aunger nodded.

“That reminds me,”  Aunger lifted his head. “I congratulate you, Boss. Are you satisfied with the results?”

“No. Not at all. But it was the most optimal result available.”

“I see,” Aunger chose not to say anything. He leaned his back on the backrest of the chair. “The Lady of Death, to think she was the Imperator. I guess it was natural for her. Is she tamed?”

“I don’t know.”

“Boss, wouldn’t it have been more...productive if you had killed her?”

Mavin raised his head. There was no anger in his face. That calm and composed expression of his would have made anyone shudder. “To kill her means that the vessel of the Imperator’s Crest would have died. Do you know what that means? It means there will be someone who would inherit the crest. It is better that I’ve her close.”

“And so that the blood would stay with the Tomas Family.”

“That is correct.”

Aunger tapped his seven fingers on the armrest. “Boss, how long until?”

“Not long,” Mavin clenched his right hand. “I had thought that it would last, but it seems that there are chances that severing her hand had caused my boons to react in defense. I was channeling the very energy of the world on my body for a second you know? ”

Aunger made a dulled look. “I have made sure that my heirs will support you in the future, Boss. I have spread them everywhere and I have chosen people that will maintain the assets in the Capital and in Holmia.”

“The password?”

“It is as you told me, Boss. I doubt anyone in this era could crack it.”

“I see. Thank you for your hard work, Aunger,” Mavin said. His vision slowed to a still and it was only when he forcibly exhaled that his vision returned to normal.

“Nonsense, it is my duty to serve, Boss. Are you alright?”

“Time dilation. You know how it is. There are days where I truly stopped because of my slowed breathing.”

“Boss, I don’t believe that you truly don’t know how to deal with your boons.”

“I know. But this is the only way.”

“When will it stop, Boss?”

“I don’t know either,” Mavin looked outside. There were demifiends pulling on large quantities of stone and concrete. Most of the grounds were being cleared as they were directed to the walls. “But it is the only way.”

“Very well, I don’t pity that path of yours, Boss,” Aunger took something out of his pocket and handed it to Mavin. It was a strange concoction that was poured inside this crystal glassware.

“This is the last boon.”

“You got it?”

Mavin took the concoction with his hands shuddering. Here it is, the last piece of the puzzle, and here just in time.

“There was a piece of paper that accompanied it,” Aunger took it out, and read it solemnly. “O Soldier of Time, may your journey be swift, and through this boon you may receive the blessings of the perennial. How potent this one would be would depend on thy boon.”

Aunger slid the piece of paper on the table. “Are there any deeper meanings to it?”

“No, as far I can tell,” Mavin popped the cork.

“Are you sure about this, Boss?”

Mavin stared at Aunger’s eyes. There was pity and disappointment in his eyes. He didn’t know what to say about those eyes. He only took the mouth of the bottle and emptied the contents of the concoction.

Vitality immediately poured inside his body. The scar on his brow vanished and Mavin looked at the world. He inhaled and exhaled and for a moment he didn’t touch anything.

“Did it work?”

“It did.”

“I see,” Aunger stood up and circled around Mavin. He took a magnifying monocle and pointed it at Mavin's eyes. “The boon is taking effect, Boss. Although by the time this one is done with you, then you would lose the pigment of your hair and your eyes would lose their blue colors.”

“If it’s working then it would make sense,” Mavin held his violently beating chest. “It looks like my time just got shorter.”

“Was this really necessary?”

“It’s already done,” Mavin said casually. “I already took it. Should have asked that when I didn’t take the damn thing, Aunger. You're missing out on all these strengths, friend.”

“I know...I just worry about you, Boss. You’ve always been prone to your self-imposed missions.”

“Even if I don’t take it. It’ll just come anyway. By the time that I would be done, I’d be more miserable than I could be. This is only to complete the boon, but every boon has a price and in the end this was mostly to save myself. Yours should allow you to keep going on without the after effects.”

Aunger nodded. “Should I call them?”

“Who?”

“Everyone. I don’t know whether it will be the time, Boss.”

“Let’s not hasten it. Other than you, I don’t think that they will know.”

Aunger pocketed his monocle. He went back to his seat and stared at the Mavin. “This is one of things that I hate about you, Boss. Always going on about the mission, and never caring about the people next to you.”

“You misunderstand, Aunger. The moment that I took the first boon, this was the only path that meant for me. What is a boon without a price? What is power without cost? Unfortunately, there can only be so little miracle in this world that one would have to consign oneself in this. I had my thoughts of making an end to it. To put that goddamn barrel in my head. That’s the thing, I might have done it if I had managed to truly seal the spark.”

“If your words are true then the world before long would flow into the very path that it would.”

“No, I should be the one apologizing to you, Aunger. You still have a lot of fight to go through. I hope the Hounds would at least lessen that burden.”

“That is if we survive through the ordeals. Sir Rene and Kristine, I believe that they aren’t ready for the ordeals. The Crown Prince, the Demikins in the East, and the transcontinental train. All these...you’re going to leave them.”

“One man isn’t enough to move the continent. That’s why I needed to take the first step, unfortunately, there are just so many of them that from the very start this was only the beginning. She always asks me why I would never hate or loathe her...and unfortunately I cannot speak through the vow of silence. She’s...one of the few that I truly understood and at the same time fear. It’s because her path is long and treacherous...that perhaps it’s hard to hate someone whose path is much harsher if she still had that mark. ”

Aunger stood up and then stopped before the door. “Boss, I have a question that I hope you can answer before I go.”

“What is it?”

“If you had done something about your boon. What would you have done?”

“I would have not injured myself on the spindle. Perhaps, I would have loved my stay with all the wealth in the world, no?”

“And you choose this path,” Aunger shook his head. “I’ll come back soon, Boss. Enjoy your rest, and do not worry. Your Hounds will always be eager to help now and then.”

“Godspeed, Aunger. May your God’s love be with you.”

"You know me better than that, Boss," he looked away, wiped his face and left the room. "I hope my heirs treat you right... Alden."

Mavin looked at the window.

 He thought of the name in those 'memories' and closed his eyes, basking upon the sun's insistent warmth.