x
Scott was fading in and out of consciousness as he was struck again and again by the Willowisp's humongous hand. He had been successful in dispatching one of the Willowisps with ease using a surprise tactic, but was put near out of commission by another. All he could do was lay there and take it. The last thing Scott could make out before getting separated was Lou getting attacked by the last Willowisp… so it didn’t look like he was going to be able to help him anytime soon. As for Elysif, he expected her to come looking for him. Though he also worried very little about her. Not because he didn’t care, but because he knew she would be fine no matter what came at her.
Scott desperately tried to get up, only to see a big black lanky fist slamming him down once more. He did what he could to roll to the right, and just barely avoided the attack. Once he had rolled onto his stomach, Scott was able to get a slight amount of footing and push himself up in a sprint. He was only able to run a few meters, though, before the Willowisp was on top of him just like before, ready to strike… or at least it was.
Scott focused every ounce of strength into his legs to jump forward with monumental speed. Twisting his body in mid-air, he planted his feet on the side of a tree trunk. Attempting the same maneuver again, he shot off like a bullet at the Willowisp, shattering the side of the tree he launched from. Shrapnel exploded out behind him, and with several large cracks, the tree started to fall toward him and the Willowisp. Scott slammed into the Willowisp's thin rib cage, causing it to stumble back, but it still didn’t fall. Rather, the Willowisp grabbed Scott and chucked him to the side, sending him flying into the dirt and crashing into the uprooted roots of a tree.
At this moment, Elysif had run up to see the tree falling towards the area in which the Willowisp stood. Knowing what to do, Elysif lobbed an explosive-filled with iron dust at the creature. The bottle smashed against the ground, and its contents exploded in a fiery blue roar. The iron, however, wasn’t spread on the Willowisp, but around it. Wherever it would attempt to step toward it would be met with the painful sting of iron against its Fae skin. It was trapped, and at the perfect moment too. The tree collapsed directly on top of the Willowisp, crushing it whilst avoiding Scott.
“Scott, are you okay?” Elysif yelled, running towards his body. Scott slowly raised his arm, giving a thumbs up, before his arm dropped limp a moment later. She got over to his now limp body, and quickly rolled him onto his back. All he could do was give her a wry smile.
“I could use a drink now,” Scott said with a light chuckle.
“No, you may not have a drink yet. If I gave you anything other than this potion, you could die.” Elysif said, pouring the contents of a vial similar to the one she had given to Lou into Scott’s mouth. As he drank it, he gave her a sour face with regret.
“In the words of Lou, YOU SUCK!” he stated angrily as she began her chant.
Once she was done, she gave him a stern look and said, “You know, I didn’t have to help you?”
“But you did, and that’s what makes you a good person,” Scott said with a smile that seemed genuine, but Elysif felt otherwise.
“Don’t try and sound like you’re giving some piece of wisdom when you’re sober, because I know you’re just giving me crap,” Elysif replied with an annoyed and pouty voice.
“I know. I’m sorry. Is Lou okay, though?” he groaned as he painfully sat up.
“He should be fine, I gave him the same thing I gave you and he was breathing when I left him.”
“Good, now help me up so we can get back over there,” Scott said, holding out his arm. With a nod, Elysif reached underneath his arm and lifted him up to the point where he could stand. While lending him her shoulder, the two stumbled back towards Lou. As they stumbled back, out of the corner of his eye, Scott could have sworn he saw a human-like figure shuffle behind a distant tree, but he decided that it was nothing to worry about.
***
Gauging what I could, I looked around to see where the voice had come from, but the dust in the air was making it hard to see. I had very little grasp on the situation, but as far as I could tell, I wasn’t alone, and I was in a lot of pain. I took in a big breath, but was met with dust in my lungs, making me release a series of violent coughs before I heard the voice speak again. “Are you alright?” Looking to where the voice had come from a second time, I saw, through the dusty air, a small man.
He had a rather large beard and stood roughly a meter tall. The hair on his head was matted back in semi-dreads, and his eyes looked old and tired. In one hand, he held a quill, and in the other, a pipe that was still smoking. His clothes consisted of only a light-green robe which was tied at the waist, and drooped down just a bit past his knees.
“Who... are... you?” I asked between coughs, as the dust settled more. Looking around, I realized I was laying in what looked to be a living room. There was a lit fireplace behind the man and a few cushioned chairs. To the right of the man, was a large wooden desk dressed in humble but decorative etchings in which several stacks of papers lay. The walls were stained oak, and had many different carvings in them that made the room seem like it was moving when you walked through it. To add to the effect, there were several candles whose shadows turned the room into an effigy of living wood.
“I believe I should be asking you the same question. I mean, you did fall through the roof of my home,” the man said.
“Fair enough, I am Lou Barrett,” I said, sitting up from the rubble. Elysif’s potion seemed to have worked as my pain had subsided for the most part.
“Rubin, Rubin Reuben, but most people who know me well, call me Rubin or Rubin squared. I am the last of the Dwarves… Or rather, I was.” he said, puffing out his chest proudly, and then taking a puff off his pipe. ”Now, how did you come to fall through the roof of my abode?”
“I, along with two others, were sent by the Table to deal with some Willowisps. Some had been attacking beings that are on good terms with Table. We ended up fighting some of them on top of your house and I fell through,” I explained with an apologetic look.
He took in a deep breath and sighed. "I’m surprised, I didn’t think my Willowisps would ever attack anyone unless they were a threat to me or the village of Haringey,” Rubin said as if he didn't entirely believe me.
“Wait, they are your Willowisps?” I asked in shock.
“Yes, and I want nothing more than to live the rest of my life here in peace, so I would suggest that you not consider me an enemy. I am a pacifist of sorts, so I don’t believe that violence is necessary unless in self-defense,” Rubin said, giving me a hand. When our hands touched though, I felt a shock, and with it, the feeling that we had already met before.
“Are you… perhaps a Time Lord?” he asked, shocked. I guess he felt the same thing I did.
“A what?” I asked in surprise, standing up. He looked rather excited for a second, then looked around as if afraid of who might hear what he was about to say.
“A Time Lord! Did you come to this timeline from the future?” he asked in a somewhat hushed voice.
“I mean, I did come here from the future, but I don’t know anything about Time Lords, unless they travel around in police boxes or with microwaves,” I said jokingly, as I dusted myself off. He stared at me like I was an idiot.
“Of course, you wouldn’t know anything about them, you haven’t met me yet. Well, you could have also met THEM, but I doubt that they would do so unless it amused them to do so, ” Rubin said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Huh?”
“Let me explain myself a little better. I used to be a Time Lord. Time Lords have the ability to travel to any time period before they became a Time Lord, though it takes a lot of practice and focus. However, if you do travel to the time that you became a Time Lord, you revoke your Time Lord abilities, and a new one is chosen in the distant future. You are probably my successor,” Rubin explained.
“I have one question. Did Diogenes really claim a plucked chicken was a man?” I asked as soon as I comprehended what he had just said.
“He did, and it was hilarious, but are you perhaps mentally challenged? I would have thought you might ask a much more important, and well… sophisticated question than that. At the very least, I thought you would have questioned it more,” Rubin said with poorly hidden judgement.
“I mean, I have other questions and, at this point, not much surprises me. I mean, I found out that monsters and magic are real after I suddenly ended up in the year 1888 one day. More importantly, could you maybe stop your Willowisps? My friends might still be fighting them,” I said.
“Oh, sorry,” he said before snapping his fingers. “They shouldn’t be hostile to anyone around here anymore.”
“Thanks,” I said nonchalantly.
“Now, you probably had an easier time becoming a Time Lord than I did. I fell into a river and the next thing I knew I was in Nigeria in 1742. It wasn’t painful, but I did witness my entire species get killed before falling into the river… At least, I thought I did,” he stated, rubbing his chin.
“That sounds awful. I just sort of wandered through an alleyway on my way to work,” I replied, a little horrified.
“It’s fine. Despite me saying that I am the last of the dwarves, it is technically incorrect since that was in my original timeline. Now, there are still plenty of us.”
“Oh… Now, how do I control my Time Lord powers? If I am one, then I would like to learn to time travel. It sounds fun,” I asked, rubbing my hands together eagerly.
“I don’t know,” Rubin stated.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” I asked, a little angry now.
“I mean, it’s different for everyone, I had to meditate for five years before I could time travel the first time. The second time took me significantly less time, as the more you do it, the easier it gets. The one before me was an African Warlord. He would cut through time and space with his blade and just walk through it. The one before him, a Mongolian farmer, used Psychedelic mushrooms to send him to the past. It is all a matter of who you are and how you discover doing it. I have tried for years to figure out how it all works, but I only became more confused,” Rubin said with a defeated tone, before scratching his head.
“But do you maybe have some tips? Like, something that all the Time Lords you knew had in common with using their power?” I asked, hoping for something to kickstart this ability.
“I don’t, and you are incorrect about one thing,” Rubin said. This confused me a bit, because I couldn’t think of anything that I said being wrong.
“What?”
“I’ve only met my predecessor. Everything else was told to me by the one who gives us these powers. It’s some kind of unspoken rule that you can only meet the one chosen before you. I’m not entirely sure how it works, but I have also found that you cannot change anything yourself that would affect what you have already done. The universe will take what you have changed and return it to its original state so that your personal future isn’t affected,” Rubin explained.
“So then, how would I be able to change the past?” I asked, because that sounded like bullshit. What is the point of time travel if you can’t change anything?
“You can change the past, so long as it doesn’t affect what you have already done. Thus, if it will not alter anything that you have already done, then it can be changed. You do have the ability to go to any point in time in which you already exist, but your past self will fall asleep when you do,” he said in the same way a science teacher would explain the basic laws of physics.
“Okay, that makes a little more sense. But doesn’t that mean that there are several places in time that cannot be changed no matter what?”
He rubbed his chin for a second then finally said, “Yes, major events cannot be changed. However, I have been able to alter them in ways that don’t matter. For example, I stole half of the Library of Alexandria before it burned down, and stored them in several safe places. I didn’t change the event since it burned down anyways, but I saved quite a bit of the material that was destroyed. Though I have found that if your future self does something in the past, then it is set in stone. You will eventually do what your future self did. Even if you know what you will do and decide not to, the universe will make it happen,” Rubin answered in more detail than I needed.
“Then doesn’t that mean that everything is pre-ordained?” I asked as I came to a concerning realization.
“I don’t know,” he said, sitting down in his chair and taking a puff of his pipe. From above, in the distance, I heard Scott call out.
“Lou?” he yelled.
“Where are you, Lou?” I heard Elysif call as well.
“I’m down here!” I yelled back. Looking up, I saw them both hobble up and peek over the side of the hole.
“Nice place,” Scott said with a pained wince as he eyed the room.
“Thank you,” Rubin replied, taking another puff of his pipe.
“Who's the Dwarf?” Elysif asked.
“Scott, Elysif, meet Rubin Reuben. Rubin Reuben, meet Scott and Elysif,” I said, introducing the three from my seat atop the caved-in roof.
“Wait, is that the same Rubin who’s been controlling the Willowisps?” Scott asked, as Elysif helped him climb down the hole. Elysif then climbed down behind him.
“Well, yes and no. According to him, he has been creating the Willowisps, but he hasn’t attacked anyone. He has apparently only used them to protect this area and get groceries... it seems” I corrected him.
“And you believe him?” Scott asked me.
“Well, yes,” I replied honestly.
“Okay, then. Mr. Reuben, do you know who might be using Willowisps that originated in this area to attack monster settlements north of London?” Scott asked with a semi-judgmental glare.
“Wait, Scott, you just believe him like that just because Lou said so?” Elysif asked, a little confused.
“Not exactly, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt,” Scott Replied, looking at Rubin Reuben.
Once Elysif and Scott had climbed down the hole and off the rubble along with myself, Rubin snapped his fingers and the rubble began floating in the air. It held itself up to the place it had been before and completely healed itself. We all stood in shock. There was no magic that we knew of, nor that Iscariot had explained to us, that could do anything like that. At least, not without a magic tool. “Sorry if that surprised you, I just would rather not have the draft. It is getting quite chilly at night now that it is Autumn,” Rubin Reuben said nonchalantly.
“Okay, so you have proven yourself to be powerful. Though that doesn’t prove that you didn’t attack a settlement,” Scott said.
“How about I put it to you this way, some of my Willowisps have gone missing. I destroyed them once I had realized that they were no longer under my control, but it can take days sometimes before I realize it.”
“So what you’re saying is that it was your Willowisps but you lost control of them? That seems really convenient,” Elysif replied.
“You would think, but as you saw before, I can control things like the Willowisps easily. For me to lose control of them means that something or someone fairly powerful is removing my control over them,” Rubin stated.
“That does make sense,” Scott replied.
“W-wait, how does that make sense?” Elysif stammered.
“I mean, it does seem possible,” I chimed in.
“If you are telling the truth then where do you think we should look for this person?” Scott asked.
“Let me ask one of the fairies around here if they know?” Rubin said, and with a whistle, a pot in the corner of the room with a single tulip in it bloomed completely. From the flower, a creature no taller than my hand emerged. It had two sets of wings and the body of a small woman. The Fae flew over to Rubin, and landed on his hand gracefully.
“What can I do for you, Rubin?” it asked in such a deep manly voice that it surprised all but Rubin.
“Could you ask around to see where my missing Willowisps have gone? I can’t quite remember where it was,” Rubin replied. The Fae nodded and flew off with an annoying flutter.
“Well that might take a while, would any of you care for refreshments?” Rubin asked us cheerfully.
“Alcohol, if you have any,” Scott said. Both Elysif and I looked at him, before him suddenly coughing up some blood and crumpling to his knees.
“”Scott”” we both cried, rushing to his side. I myself was still in pain, but whatever Elysif had given me had relieved me of most of it as well as healed my major wounds. Scott, on the other hand, wasn’t doing so well. I wasn’t sure, but I assumed that Elysif gave him the same stuff.
“I’m fine, it’s just my body reacting to me using my enhancements. I usually have at least nine minutes before my body starts to reject itself, but I haven’t used it in a while, so I guess it’s less time now.” Scott replied, before hacking up some more blood.
Rubin toddled over to us and placed his hand on Scott’s head. Before either I or Elysif could stop him, Scott’s body started to glow a faint blue. “I repaired some of your organs, however, enhancing your body with magic is reckless and stupid. Why you would ever do such a thing, I don’t know. Now, I shall prepare some drinks,” Rubin said, letting go of Scott’s head before heading out through the doorway on the left side of the room.
“I think I trust him now,” Elysif said.
“Is that all it took for you to trust him? You're growing soft,” Scott said with a smug grin.
“Oh, shut up. You were trusting him from the moment Lou said we should,” she rebutted with an annoyed tone.
“No, I gave him the benefit of the doubt,” he corrected with the same smug look, before groaning in a fit of pain.
“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms. Once I realized that Rubin was gone, I turned to Scott with a serious look.
“Now, Scott, I want to know about these enhancements and what they’re doing to your body?” I demanded. He gave me a look as if he didn’t want to talk about it. However, I wanted to know about it now, and he could tell that I would keep asking. He looked up, as some of the blood he had coughed up started to dry on his five-o-clock shadow-bearing chin. Seeing that I still wasn’t backing down, he let out a loud and heavy sigh. I was worried, and I knew that Elysif was only going to tell me enough to satisfy my curiosity for a while.
“Before my wife passed away, I was as normal as you. I mean, I was a lot more reliable in a fight, but still. When she was killed, however, I didn’t know what to do. Revenge was the only thing I wanted, so I begged to Iscariot to turn my body into a magic tool through an experiment he had mentioned to me before. He was hesitant, and told me that, if I did this, I might die afterwards if I didn’t focus on controlling the enhancements properly,” Scott explained with a sorrowful quiver. He looked like he was having a hard time even saying it.
“It was such a simple choice, because I didn’t plan on living. I was going to kill everyone who could have been involved in Silva’s murder and die along with them. In less than a single day, I committed genocide on every werewolf in London. There are only a few packs left in the world, and each one barely rises in numbers above one hundred. I was ready to die for my act painfully, but instead, I continue to live and suffer for my sins,” Scott continued.
“Strangely, I felt as if my wife wasn’t going to let me die that easily. I ended up passed out in an alley, and awoke to whiskey being poured into my mouth by a beggar. I was drunk, and I had no control over my enhancements, but I could still function as a person. After hobbling to Iscariot’s home, he told me that the alcohol was causing me to have barely enough control of motor function to move, but was blocking me from the enhancements. It didn't make any sense to Iscariot then, and it still doesn’t. He assumes that he messed up the runes in some way,” Scott continued explaining. I had to agree with the assessment that it didn’t make any sense, but I wasn’t going to complain about something keeping him alive. Is this why Elysif and Iscariot are okay with his habits?
“Iscariot had never seen anything like it, and was surprised to even see me alive, but urged me to drink from sunrise till sundown as it seemed to work. That wasn’t very hard for me, as I was heartbroken due to my wife dying, so I drank and drank. I later learned how to control my mental state while drunk, but only to a certain degree, and I was trained to be able to fight even when disoriented. Thus, the shift for me wasn’t that difficult, and that’s the whole story. Happy now?” Scott said, relinquishing his story to me. I was somewhat satisfied, but at the same time, disappointed that it wasn’t more interesting.
“I brought refreshments, would anyone like a biscuit?” Rubin asked, as he came back into the room holding a tray covered in snacks and beverages. He set it on the desk and then brought the bottle of alcohol to Scott, who gladly took it and downed half of it. The man must have a liver of steel. Rubin then turned to us and offered tea, we accepted, and talked for a while. During which, Rubin told the other two about how I might be a Time Lord. They were surprised to say the least, but willing to listen.
“So Lou is a Time Lord?” Elysif asked, not entirely convinced.
“Perhaps? Although, my only proof is that he is from the future and that strange feeling I felt when we touched hands. It was awfully familiar,” Rubin answered before biting down on a biscuit. The crumbs from it fell down into his beard, to be found at a later time, I assumed.
“I have been with the Table a long time and I have never heard of a Time Lord. If there was any knowledge of someone who could travel through time at will then it would have been classified as a top-level threat.” Scott interjected.
“I have a theory about that. The reason I believe that Time Lords can only meet their predecessor is that when a Time Lord returns to their original time period, they switch to another dimensional plane. This may also be why history is altered so dramatically between Time Lords. For example, when I traveled through the past, the Table was only a small group and most so-called mythical creatures had been killed off by my time. However, when I returned to my time period and gave up my ability to traverse through time, the Table was massive and mythical creatures were everywhere, as they were in the days of old,” Rubin explained.
“So what you’re saying is that something I do as a Time Lord will fuck up a ton of shit and create a semi-alternate reality?” I asked.
“Yes, to put it bluntly. I attempted to save my people from extinction, as I am the only survivor of a massive attack, but failed due to the unspoken rules of time. Somehow, when I revoked my powers, my people were thriving again, as if nothing ever happened. This is why I believe that we switch dimensional planes. So in some aspects, you saved my people without realizing it, and that is something I am very thankful for. Thus, I wouldn’t say as you had phrased it, fucked up a ton of shit, but rather beat your own path,” Rubin said.
“This is still a lot to take in,” I said, setting my biscuit down and rubbing the bridge of my nose.
“I understand. Take your time to figure things out. Trust me, you have plenty,” Rubin said, before picking up his tea cup and taking a small sip. He pulled it away quickly, jerking back a little from his lips being burnt. Nearly spilling the tea onto the floor. “Bloody hot bastard,” he spoke in a hushed voice. Elysif smiled, but only I could see it from where she was hiding it behind her tea cup. Scott, however, was already drunk and chuckled out loud for everyone to hear.
Once Scott finished chuckling, Rubin gave him an annoyed look. I don’t think they are going to be getting along anymore. Seeing as I was pretty tired, I laid my head on the table, which was kinda rude, but no one here could blame me. Being beaten up like that hurt, and then, after I was somewhat healed, I am told that I can probably time travel at will. I know I took the news fairly easily when he first told me, but I didn’t exactly have the time to process it. Now I did, and it felt like a burden. I didn’t want this. Even if it was awesome to be able to time travel, I didn’t want to risk screwing anything up.
Scott basically didn’t care from what it seemed, but he was starting to get drunk, so I didn’t really know. Elysif, however, was intrigued and cautious as to what could be done with this information, from what I could tell by her expression. It was the same expression she made when she was mixing dangerous substances for some form of medicine. Before I could really ask either of them for their thoughts, the fairy that had appeared before flew back into the room. It got up in Rubin's face to get his attention, then got up to his ear where it spoke to him. When the fairy was done, he nodded his head, and she flew off to the flower she had appeared from before, and closed the petals over her as if it were her little safe space.
“What did it say?” I asked.
“Oberon has said that a Fae giant is resting on the edge of the woods to the south and could be powerful enough to relieve my Willowisps of their slave enchantments,” Rubin replied. Though he didn’t sound so sure about it himself.
“Wait, wait, wait, did you say Oberon? As in, one of the Elder Ones and king of the Fae?” Scott asked, sitting up. Unlike before, when he seemed a bit more carefree, he was ready and attentive.
“That’s not possible, he’s been missing for over a hundred years,” Elysif stated.
“Actually, Oberon and I have tea every now and then. We are on quite good terms, he just lives in the land of the Fae. No one except those whom he has accepted can enter his sanctuary. That’s why everyone thinks he’s missing,” Rubin corrected.
“Well, that’s another surprise that I didn’t need today. Let's go kids. Thank you for the hospitality, Mr. Reuben,” Scott said, as he stood up with the bottle Rubin had set out for him. “May I buy the rest of this bottle off you?”
“You may keep it as a gift, but please try speaking with the Fae instead of fighting it, as a way of payment,” Rubin said.
“I will try that first, but if it attacks us, then I will have no other choice,” Scott replied, as he started for the door. We got up and shook Rubin's hand as we scooted past him after Scott. Rubin showed us the door, and once outside of it, we were in the forest above the room. We had somehow appeared out of a tree.
“So, Scott, are we gonna go talk to this Fae that he spoke of?” Elysif asked.
“No, I am in no shape to fight if we need to, and neither is Lou. Plus, I’m tired. I want to get some sleep, and I want some more booze,” Scott said, before turning and hiking back towards the village. Then, remembering that he still had the bottle Rubin had given him in hand, he began drinking from it.
“Lou, come on, we could do it. Let’s go talk to this thing,” she turned to me eagerly.
“No, I agree with Scott. I am in a lot of pain. Your potion only did so much for my wounds,” I replied, agreeing with Scott.
“Ugh, fine,” Elysif groaned, giving in.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
