Dire Wolf

Chapter 14

"You have finally arrived at the foot of Mount Olympus..."

I looked up and saw a familiar and handsome lame boy arriving on a crotch like before.

"Ryk," I whispered as I stood up from the bench where I am sitting just now when I gained consciousness and helped him sit down comfortably beside me.

He smiled at me that reached his unseeing eyes and nodded, "Why I never thought you will still remember me at all, Keenan. I thought you will forget about me after everything that happened."

When he said that, I recalled something, his golden wings that sprouted from his back when he left my dream.

"Are you a god?"

He chuckled for a while before nodding, "Yes, I am, Keenan. I am an immortal god. What you once said as a figment of mankind's imagination in the flesh, or should I say, the presence since I am in your dream right now."

"Which one?" I asked in a careful and respectful tone as much as possible that made him smile a little as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before speaking again.

"I am the one who arrives in late in a crutch and leaves early on wings. The one who accompanies peace and fortune. The one who is not seeing but giving. One of the deities who symbolizes the Golden Age of Mankind. I am..."

"Ploutos, the God of Wealth," I finished what he is saying, and he laughed out loud that sounded like chinkling of coins.

"Indeed I am, Keenan. Did you expect someone grander, powerful, or greater than I? I wouldn't be angry if you did."

I shook my head a little and smiled sadly, "I am actually not expecting any immortals to visit my dreams at all, to be honest."

"Ahh, the signature quality of the Rosenbaums. Always thinking so lowly of themselves, even if they have every right to act so high and mighty," he said in a sigh as he touched my face again fondly, "I feel that you have removed the powders covering your skin, Keenan. Tired of hiding things?"

"Well, yes, but it's the Gates of Apollo that do me in, Lord Ploutos," I answered respectfully, but he suddenly frowned when he heard me say his name.

"No need to be so formal with me, Keenan. Just call me Ryk, like what the members of your house have always called me since the start of our partnership together."

I inclined my head as I didn't understand what he just said, "Partnership?"

"Why, yes, Keenan. Or should I say, Tsarevich Kynan, head of House Rosenbaum, the family that I have graced for thousands of years ever since your ancestor has given up the throne of the Empire of Plurinational Alliance Xenocracy so that his younger sister can inherit the throne instead."

"But why did he gave it up if he is the one who is next in line to the throne?"

The god smiled and reclined comfortably on the bench as he tapped his crutch on the ground, "Because he saw how his sister will forever languish behind his shadow if he became an emperor and live a miserable life until her dying breath. He loves her so much that on the day of his ascension to the throne, he abdicated right there and then before anointing his sister as the empress instead."

"That's a rather noble undertaking, but I can kind of understand why he did it. To live a life in a shadow of someone else is something I will never wish upon myself or to others."

He looked at me nostalgically and patted my head kindly, "You really remind me of him. You know your true name, right?"

"Yes. I am Kynan the Second of the Tsarevichy of Rosenbaum."

"Do you know who is the first Kynan?"

I shook my head, and he opened his left hand and summoned a yellow haze in front of us, and to my surprise, a teenager around my age appeared wearing the Imperial Crown Prince Regalia.

"Kynan the First, Imperial Crown Prince to the Imperial Throne of House Faulken..."

Aside from minor facial differences, we look exactly the same: same curly fiery-orange hair, freckles all over his pale body, and beautiful reddish-orange eyes.

"In this life of ours, no one will give you the basics of living your life. They will teach you how to exist but not how to live," he began speaking in a kind voice as if he is talking to someone dear to him, "They will tell you all the sweet lies about how perfect this world of ours is, that everything will go our way if we do our best, only for you to realize that everything was a lie when they left you with the truth that this borrowed time that we have loaned is nothing but a series of hardships and responsibilities you never asked for."

The prince then smiled sadly as his eyes watered up, "Now that it's your time to leave my shadow, I will tell you what little I know living the life of someone forced to be someone he doesn't want to be. That I am forced to fulfill my duties as expected of my lineage, but in the process, I ended up destroying your life without me even knowing it."

"I don't know if I am qualified enough to replace you, brother," a girl younger than him but with the same thick red hair and freckles materializes as well in front of him and began crying as she looks down at the crown on her trembling hands, "All my life I am nothing but a follower."

"The best leader there will ever be is someone who knows how to follow others. That's the greatest thing you have over me, sister. You know how to listen to others, hear them out, and know when is the best time to speak or be silent. I wished that someone told me that I can be an effective emperor but never a beloved one," he said frankly as he fondly lifted the face of his sister, "And now I will gladly pay the price for the mistakes that I have made. I am sorry if this looks like I am shoving the responsibility left to me by our parents to you, but for the greater good of the empire and for my love of you, the Plurinational Alliance Nation is at the palm of your hands, my dear sister."

But she shook her head as she tries to shove the crown to her brother, but he just stepped back and genuflected lovingly and respectfully before her.

"I have so much to learn from you, Kynan! Don't leave just yet! You can stay here until I acclimated to the throne! Teach me how to lead and be strong enough, just like you. I beg of you!"

"The only thing that is left for me to teach you is not how to lead, but I can teach you how to make the most out of your life even if we have limited time in this world. Just watch how your older brother tumbles through his life, scarred but happy. That's the very last thing I can impart to you. How I will live my life the way, I wanted it to be."

He then stood up and gently helped his sister put the crown on her head securely before giving him a thumbs up.

They then disappeared to the yellow haze from whence they came.

"What happened to him?" I asked quickly that made the god chuckle a little.

"Well, after the coronation of his sister is finished. He left the imperial palace and announced his intention to create a new branch family to the Faulken called House Rosenbaum that will act as a shadow of the Imperial Main Family and ensure their continuity from the shadows by accumulating vast wealth not directly controlled by the reigning emperor or empress but can be tapped in case of emergencies and near bankruptcies," Ploutos said seriously while closing his eyes as if to help him remember, "With the personal fortunes he inherited from the previous emperor and empress, he managed to gain controlling shares on all the gambling businesses in Gearth."

I inclined my head in confusion, "Why gambling of all things?"

"Well, one of the greatest reasons why he deemed himself unfit to lead the world is because of his risk-taking tendencies. He thought that the world needs a leader that is consistent, true, and stable. Not someone who loves to leave everything to chance. He is also a celebrated patron of casinos, so he easily got the trust of the owners enough to allow him to take over while letting the previous owners manage it indefinitely."

I nodded slowly as I finally understand what he is trying to say, "He already gambled his life away. Why not go all in, huh?"

"Exactly what he told me when he decided to dedicate himself and his descendants under my patronage."

"Well, if you want to amass huge wealth, there's no other deity who can help you other than the god of wealth himself, of course."

The god laughed and grinned in my direction, "You just don't look like him. You speak exactly the way he does. But yes, that's his reason when I asked him for the reason why he picked me of all deities wanting to grace his esteemed house."

"Well, I also bet he thinks that by choosing a lesser-known immortal will save him and his descendants, us, from the ire of scorned gods and goddesses who might be offended if he picks someone they don't like," I followed matter-of-factly that made him laugh out loud so much, bullion of gold, stacks of cash and coins began appearing on our feet.

"Too true. I belong to a small group of immortals who can get along well with other gods and goddesses rather nicely since I personally bear no ill will towards anyone, mortal or not."

I nodded in agreement and sighed, "Wealth comes and goes wherever he wants to. Welcomed and missed by all."

"Exactly. Anyways, I stayed at your house until then. Even if I can only appear in dreams and visions, I tried my best to take care of your family who knows and believes in my existence as much as I can."

"But not enough to save them all?" I asked quietly that made him lose the smile on his face and was replaced with an expression of pure guilt and sadness.

"Yes. Not strong enough to save the very mortals I vowed to protect," he admitted solemnly as he sheds a tear for my deceased relatives, "Kynan should have gotten a stronger god or goddess, eh?"

I shook my head and tried to smile a little, "He picked the best one. For they died as a wealthy mortal, and not anyone can claim to be one. Not just wealthy financially but in time, socially and physically."

"The four pillars of wealth, huh?"

"Yes, Ryk. The so-called "divine" dogma of House Rosenbaum since time immemorial. To be considered wealthy, you have to have all four in your hands, and I am sure that my relatives achieved that long before they were gone," I said clearly that made him break a smile, "Did my father said anything about me? I am assuming that you appeared to him in his dreams at least once in his life, huh?"

He nodded and once again touched my face, "Once. And that's several years before the tragedy happened and after you are born. He knew and feel my existence. I've made my presence felt to him dozens of times in his life by providing him with divine support on his seemingly impossible endeavors that resulted in a surprise return of investments by spades. But he didn't even let me speak past introduction when I appeared to him as a hallucination when he has a high fever."

"Yes, I remembered that because he stayed at home for a long time. Probably his longest stay with me physically, and he always wanted to be by my side all the time."

"Yes, and you know what he said to me during our first and last meeting?"

I blinked at him and inclined my head, "What?"

"Be there for my son and tell him that I will love him long after I am gone."

I sobbed when I heard those words. He never was the one who says his feelings verbally, but I can feel it in his actions.

"Soon, you will know the reason why your father has left you to the care of your relatives instead of taking care of you on his own," he said quietly that made me nod slowly, "He loves you so much, he is willing to trade all the wealth and luxury that he has just to be by your side always. But to safeguard you, he'd lead a life away from the only being that made him complete. Your father did it all just to safeguard you from what is to come. To make sure that you awaken in the right place at the right time."

"Awaken?"

"Yes, Keenan. Awaken. Soon, very soon, I will regain my physical form, and we will be able to finally spend time together in the real world. I really want to do so much more with you. You are, after all my..."

Suddenly, he sprouted his wings again, and I yelped in surprise when he quickly flew away in a blink of an eye, leaving me flabbergasted looking up at him.

"I'd rather not speak too much. I might mess things up. After all, she is dearly waiting for the time when she can hold you finally in her arms again."

I quickly stood up and tried my hardest to run after him to no avail, "Wait! I never knew who my mother is! They never told me who she is! You know, right?! Please, tell me! I beg you!"

"Of course, I know who she is, Keenan. I know full well who she is and I can tell you for sure that she is looking forward to meeting you after all these years. The only thing left to do is wretch the Gates of Olympus open and set us all free. But for that to happen, a beacon must appear to guide us all to the mortal world. Our consciousness has been detached from the physical plane. We don't know where to materialize at all. If that happened, then you will meet your mother, Keenan."

He slowly disappeared into the darkness of my dreams, and I began falling again, "I will know everything soon, you promise."

"I am no god of fate, but if my oath makes you feel assured, then yes, I vow that everything will be revealed finally on who and what you really are, my..."