Beyond Eternity

DAY 3

The girl once more woke up with the sun shining on her face, she left the watchtower and from there, headed back into the castle, again, it took her some time to reach her destination.

“Oh right, he’ll probably take fruits from the garden today rather than the woods now that he knows about it.” Recalled the girl.

She entered the garden, alert for any signs of the boy being nearby, and just within her field of vision, she saw him, gathering fruits from the bushes, then the trees, then from the vines, he only took a few of each kind but that still was more than enough to fill his basket. The boy returned to the castle and the girl sneakily followed him there.

In a few minutes, the girl found herself at the throne room once more, as she was hiding in the very same spot from the night before, she could see that the boy is at the throne.

“Well good morning my king.” She said under her breath sarcastically. “Is he just going to spend the rest of the day sitting and eating just like that? Talk about royalty.”

She left the castle again through the secret servant passages, intending to get to the village.

Upon her arrival at the village, she entered a house that she knew would've belonged to a painter, canvases, both painted and empty, can be found around the house along with brushes and other painting paraphernalia, among which were those done by the girl herself. She took some papers from a shelf along with a thin brush and dark ink. With her purpose done, she left the house and returned to the castle, peering at the throne, she noticed that the boy was no longer there.

“Tell me where 'he' is” said the girl, looking behind her.

After a few moments of just standing there, let out a slight look of surprise and left the castle once more. After a short walk, she entered a place that would’ve been the guard barracks where she found the boy, aiming at a target practice with a bow,

“Huh, so he doesn't intend to play king all day” said the girl, watching him eagerly from atop a wall. “Now he’s an archer.”

The boy would shoot at the target and strike it, shoot and strike, rarely did he miss, but even rarer were the times he hit dead center.

“Well, he isn't half bad, I'll give him that.” Said she, leaning forward and resting her arms on the stone railing.

The boy kept going on for longer than the girl expected, it was early in the afternoon when the girl decided to do something. With the materials she previously collected, she began scribbling on a small roll of paper.

“O false king, return to the throne room.” She wrote.

With a bowstring, she tied the paper to tiny bag holding a pebble and threw it to where the boy is, after making sure the boy noticed it, she darted away.

It only took her a short while to return to the throne room from there, she dashed towards the kitchen and returned after pulling a book from one of the less conspicuous drawers. She placed the book at the throne and hid once more just in time for the boy to arrive.

“That was unsettling to say the least. 'false king' I've been called.” said the boy as he walked back towards the castle, “Well, I mean, everything has been weird since I arrived here so this isn't so much to take.”

The boy, now with a bow in hand and a quiver filled with arrows at his back, found the book.

“That… Definitely wasn’t there before” He said to himself, with anxiety in his words.

After looking around cautiously, took it and tried to read its contents.

“Ah, it’s a journal I see.” He turned the book from cover to cover. “Hmm, most of the pages have been torn out or are too damp to read, let's see...” After finding legible pages, the boy began reading.

Entry 59

Despite all their words and promises, I know that nobody at this court can to be trusted, everyone is power hungry, the lords just want more fame and fortune, the princes' and princesses' are fighting to rule, heh, even the servants are using underhanded methods to gain their masters favor, still it’s not like I can do anything about it though, I only know things, not act upon them, nobody notices me being there all the time so I get to hear a lot of things...

“So I assume the owner of this was from the time when people actually lived here, and not someone like me who washed up on shore. That’s interesting.” The boy thought to himself.

The text from there is too faded from dampness to read, so he skipped the pages until he found more legible ones.

Entry 65

I write now not of any culinary masterpiece, for I have not been able to make on, moreover, this doesn’t appear to be the best time, so I shall write instead of what is happening around here. Let’s just say that the “aura” of the castle has been changing a bit over the past few days, enough for me to take notice, although luckily, most of everyone still doesn’t feel affected. The reason for this change… I have yet to fully discern, but I plan to find out, for now, all I know are the whispers of the nobles who don’t seem like they’re up to any good, the small rumors about the princes and princesses that get passed around in hushed voices, I only know what I hear and sense, and although I barely hear a thing right now, I sense no good coming off of these.

“So the journal's owner is probably the chef here.” He thought. Seeing then that the next few pages were again, illegible, he skipped to a point where the words can be properly made out.

Entry 70

All kingdoms have their conflicts, so it's expected even for a wet heap of rock like Victusene to have some, and yet, I have this feeling, like somehow, even for a kingdoms' problems, these are too extreme, the sons and daughters of the king have begun killing each other in cold blood, everyone tries to win the favor of the king, all the “advisors” are practically commanding the king with their tone of voice, the high ranking officials act based on their own desires, the kingdom is in chaos, its citizens are just about fed up and the knights begin to disobey orders or resign from duty, this can't be normal, no, if this goes on, our kingdom will tear itself apart.

“I see, so this place was once called Victusene. I guess it was much livelier back in the day huh?” He thought once more as he turned the page again. “But these entries feel distressing.”

Entry 71

With all the rumors going about, I deduced that the chaotic power struggle is more than just about who will be the kings heir, or who will be their future subjects, it's more than just gaining political power and influence in the kingdom, it must have something to do with “that”. The kingdoms' treasure, meant to be kept safe by the kings, an artifact meant to be sealed away for its immense potential, everyone in the kingdom was taught that the artifact is a cursed item never to be released into the world, the knights have in their oath to “keep the secret hidden” which refers to the artifact, but it seems that suddenly, many are after it for some reason, but why? Why are the good rulers of the kingdom suddenly after it? Why would they of all people want to unleash disaster upon us? My job might only be to cook, but I dont want to overlook this, even our good citizens have begun fighting those in power, it makes sense, after all, they too are victims here.

“Huh, no wonder he knows a lot, being a chef and all, most people won’t notice him listening. So there’s also this artifact that this place has, and it’s also supposed to be the kingdom’s secret.”

Entry 72

I know not of the artifact’s actual identity, it’s not something one just learns at random, nobody really cared about it up until now, it’s existence was only really mentioned in the oaths. Not even the books say any more. Regardless, if it’s true that that is the reason for this unrest, I’ll need to know more. I hope to be able to fix the problem, as much of a lowly cook that I am, but it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be able to, but at the very least, I hope that what I know can be received by another who can resume in my footsteps. I’ll look into this and see just what’s going on. If these I hear are no more than rumors, they’re bound to die down eventually, but I fear for what might happen if it isn’t the case, I one way or another, I hope that I’m just being paranoid and tired, perhaps in the near future, I’d laugh at myself about this, but right now, the important thing is that people have perished already, and if all the whispering and secrets have to do with it, then it would mean that what I’m doing is no fool’s errand.

The boy, finding once more that the next few pages cannot be read, was utterly disappointed. “But I was just getting to the best part!” He grumbled, but after less than a moment, he turned the pages again, finding that the next readable part wasn’t so far away.

Entry 75

I have been silenced by one of the princes, one who I watched and helped to raise, I can no longer go on with my investigation, so much for my investigation and my claims on how I'd “Get to the bottom of it”. I only hope that this book will reach someone who can do what I can't. I still haven't deduced the true nature of our kingdoms' artifact, however it seems that the prince did, he merely said “Our kingdom will see everlasting prosperity once I have it.” By the looks of it, all the sons and daughters of the king along with a select few also know what it is. I did say that I will “stop my actions” after he pointed his sword at my neck, but I'm sorry, I must disobey that order even if that's the last one I'm given, for even when we have yet to see or touch this artifact, I see now that it is already destroying us.

I shall hide this journal along with my recipe books, again, I wish that it will be found by someone who can fix it all, someone with the desire to make right the wrong, and not otherwise, for despite all my effort, I can't do it.

“And somehow, I find this journal at the seat of the throne when it’s supposed to be with his recipe books, O how the plot thickens.” Said the boy sarcastically.

“So we have this artifact thing and somehow that caused everyone to disappear? Is that it? I guess I really do have something to do now then.” He said. “I'll try to solve these mysteries.”

The boy noticed that its already nighttime

“Okay, maybe tomorrow.” He said and ate a few fruits before entering the kings room to sleep on the royal bed.

The girl on the other hand, had already left the castle the moment the boy began reading, within the time the boy was immersed in the book, the girl had already bathed, eaten and tucked herself to bed at that same watchtower, sleeping under the clear night skies.