If I can start over: A new world

VIII. History classes. Part 2

"One of them died that day, and the other disappeared... because that one promised that he would avenge his family by killing every one of the Alt, and I think boy, that he's fulfilling it. Over time, some of the greatest and most experienced alt have disappeared. The oldest of the siblings was born in early February and the youngest in mid-June. They both belonged to the air element, like you, but with far more powerful gifts."

"Wait a minute..." I said while I pondered about the story I had just heard. "A grumpy and proud guy, who throws lightning and possesses a huge hammer, and his younger brother, who is skilled with the spear, and makes a living fooling people... Aren't they Thor and Loki?"

"Exactly, child. That is how your ancestors named them. But their real names were Varick and Garpur. Sons of..."

"Odin?" I tried to guess.

"A Nordic peasant," he completed his idea "or so the stories tell. Nothing special about them. His children were anointed by a shaman of the time, or alchemist, or sorcerer. He was nothing more than a Geist so powerful that he could awaken the Geisters in others. His village was besieged by titanic men from the frozen northern lands. It was then that he saw something special in the brothers, he saw different futures, for which he made the risky decision to awaken the geist of each one. In this way, each time an attack occurred, one of the brothers only had to go back to the past leaving traces of how many giants came and the direction they would take, so that the other smashed them to pieces with a hammer forged by himself, and enchanted by a nymph, her Vormund in person, to make it unbreakable."

"But Norse legends denote Loki... or Garpur, as a malevolent being who enjoys deceiving and lying to other gods."

"Well, don't believe everything that nonsense says, kid!" He raised his index finger, moving it from side to side. "Garpur was the best at what he did. He learned to persuade over time, to gain the trust of others, to read people, and to treat them in the best way to please them. Those kinds of gifts that develop over time helped him a lot in repairing cracks. Even the legends narrated that he could be in many places at the same time... ha ha ha," he cleared his throat while laughing. "And well, it was only him returning again and again, as he knew what was going to happen, he had full knowledge of the battlefield to position himself in the best areas."

"So they weren't recruited, they were created."

"You're getting it, boy." He kept grinning widely. "Before the Geister were created all the time, there were many who played to awaken the others, for that reason gods and magnificent beings exist in abundance in the past. Now we only recruit the best."

"Thanks?" I laughed nervously.

"Don't believe the most, son. You woke up because you have Garpur's geist inside you, and we finally located you." He smiled, satisfied as if he had been the one who did a tremendous feat.

"Why did it take you so long?"

"Legend has it that when Garpur died he hid in a newborn. And his Vormund protected you ever since. You must have seen him in your dreams, he was a djinn, but I don't remember his name..."

"A >?" I whispered. "A genius?"

"Of the friendlies, yes. He met Pavlov on one of his trips to Middle Earth. Pavlov was the alchemist, or sorcerer, as you understand it, boy," he clarified again "that woke up their respective Geist. Now Pavlov is an Oberster Uralt, one of the most powerful beings in the cosmos. It's him that they called Odin since it was understood that he gave them life, as a father does, and ordered them to do their duty."

"My dreams... geniuses can see possible futures, right?"

"Exactly boy. Why? Has the djinn been showing you what's going to happen?"

"Yes, for a long time it has made me dream of different metaphors that I managed to interpret when I proposed it. Most of them were deadly, that's why I stopped practicing and trying to interpret them."

"Ah, he was the one who discovered that gift, then!" Interjected Francesca, who all this time only listened patiently.

"Yes, that's how geniuses are, presumptuous and pedantic, they like to show you things that you don't prefer to see, but most of the time they have a purpose, as in your case, the djinn must have alerted your gift and decided to develop it." he rubbed his hands. "Boy, you're Pandora's box, huh!"

"So Varick is after me because I'm wearing Garpur's geist, and he hates him for not agreeing to go back in time and save his family. Is that so?"

"You understood perfectly..." he laughed. "I'm great at telling stories."

"How does Varick plan to take his brother's geist from me?"

"I think you know the answer to that question, boy." He crossed his arms.

"And how does he plan to store it?" I sat down in a red chair. I had been so enthralled by the story that I didn't notice the fatigue in my legs. "Is that possible?"

"Yes, it's possible..." Vuk began to walk in circles again, lecturing. "You see boy, many ancient alchemists tried to achieve longevity in their lives. One of them and the most recognized in the field was Nicolas Flamel. I guess you've heard about him at some point." I smiled, recalling all the books I'd read where he was mentioned as a fictional character.

"Yes, I have heard about him and his stone."

"His diamond, yes." He nodded. "A colorless gemstone the size of a human eye. You see, Flamel liked to experiment with mortal life, or well, rather; with death. He did experiments on the dead, trying to bring them back to life. He had the gift of wisdom, so he could see in common things what a Weltlich would never be able to realize. Obsessed with the secret of eternal life, he began to learn dark gifts, gifts that involve sacrificing or possessing Geister from other third parties. He forced his Vormund, an elf, to hunt a nymph in the thick forests of ancient Paris. He drugged the nymph and sacrificed her, taking her blood and bewitching a diamond that he kept for no specific purpose, but perfect for the occasion: a diamond is indestructible and absorbs large amounts of energy without deforming over time. What the diamond did was simple: it sucked the life out of everyone who possessed it. And if it was touched again, it expelled it and it was impregnated in the closest thing: Flamel. In this way, he managed to live a long time, crawling between villages and fleeing from the Alt. They tried to stop him many times, but they never found him. The brawl that I just told you about between the brothers was only the last of all. There were many fights... too many, before that. They both decided to settle the issue in a private meeting, but I couldn't be present, it was a war that I didn't have to fight. In no legend did they mention that Varick possessed the stone of life, only in that one."

"Then it's so likely as he got it, as he doesn't," I sighed.

"Actually." He scratched the back of his neck with one hand. "More likely to have it, boy. And if he stores your geist, he can place it in any other body, and in that way, he will resurrect his wife and son, and perhaps on the way rescue his Vormund as well."

"How bad can that be?"

"Very," Francesca replied. "You cannot do it if an astral has not seen it in a rift."

"She's right, boy. You cannot go against the rules. Bad things happen for changing the past without mother nature permitting you."

"How do they... we know what to change?"

"I have no idea..." he shrugged "But I have lived things that didn't happen thanks to them, and that I wouldn't like to live again. So just try to avoid what you see in the visions, son. That was Garpur's philosophy, and it's the best one to follow."

"Garpur... Loki... now I understand why it is said that for Loki any door or path is a shortcut. But Varick has a good point. Why should we obey the Alt, or avoid everything I see? What is it that I have inside me that knows what is right when someone else dies? I have the ability to change the past, and if someone dear to a friend, or anyone else suffers an accident, are they the ones who will prevent me from changing that event?"

"If they detect you, they'll order the Alt warriors of the time to hunt you down. And well, it would be a good fight, a fight that I haven't had in many years."

"Would you be on my side? Even though you think I'm wrong?"

"Til death, boy, till my last breath." I felt the inner warmth that only the loyalty of a friend produces in you.

"What happened to Garpur's djinn?" I wanted to hide my embarrassment.

"Well, it should still be in your head, I guess." He came over and rubbed the back of my neck three times. "Nope. No one has come out of any of your holes, so it likely vanished when they noticed the presence of your Ratgeber."

"Well, it doesn't matter." I shrugged and let out a tired sigh. "Do you have any idea who the guy in the mask might be?"

"No, boy, and I'm honest, admitting that I'm ignorant of something is very difficult for me."

"Francesca, and you?"

"No, I don't know either. As Vuk said just now, he must be a Varick devotee."

"A time-traveling follower of Varick... why doesn't he use it to save his...?" I started to make sense of things. "The boy in the mask, the ogre, the nightmares."

"You saw that, didn't you?" Vuk smiled.

"I don't know... what if he woke up someone else and used him instead of me?"

"A rookie traveling over a thousand years into the past? Varick is not a jerk, boy. To make a trip of that magnitude takes a lot of energy, the energy that a novice doesn't have in the short term. He must expand his lungs overtime for longer loads, which you don't have yet." For the first time, I saw his smile disappear. "Got someone else on the job, kid."

"Then it's said, I suppose." I raised both hands and dropped them on my hips. "He already has my Geist, and now he's trying to kill me by sending his emissary of death... but how could he have succeeded? In other words, he's thousands of years from my present... and I'm not going to approach him anytime soon."

"He must have found a way to track you after so long," Vuk replied.

"Or get your attention enough that you jump over there," Francesca interjected.

"Whatever it is, it hasn't happened yet. I should focus on fixing this rift, and preventing my friends from dying in my present... wait, why don't I just avoid what happens in my present instead of fixing these cracks that don't even belong on my timeline?"

"Because they do, kid." He looked at me sternly. "If you don't, your present doesn't exist, and no one else will do it for you. You must somehow erase those defects in your past."

"And what are the Alt or the Obersters doing all this time? If they are so skilled, why don't they fix this in a two-for-three?"

"Because the decisions must be made by you, boy. The vision is in your mind, only you know what to avoid and what to leave as is so as not to alter your reality. By the beard of Perún, child! Don't be insolent with your elders! They don't scratch their balls while you lay down your life for the cause."

"That's how Varick began to doubt..." Francesca commented. "Be careful Benjamin, they are ambiguous thoughts, they are both right from a certain angle, but the correct one is the one that has kept us alive for millions and millions of years."

"Well..." I still had my doubts about the Alt, but arguing would lead to nothing. "How long ago did it all start?"

"Too much..." Vuk replied. Over the years, Varick has been gaining followers, Geister who support him, who share the same thought, even though that was the last time he was seen. Some Geister live in hiding, all Jäger lurk from the shadows and continue to recruit new Geister for what is to come. No one knows who's in charge, boy, but I don't think it's Varick, he's not smart enough to organize anything in life."

"I understand," I sighed. "I will stay away from bad meetings. Now what? Start again?

"This c***k is taking your whole life, son. Work it out once for all! " Vuk scoffed.

"Yes, you need to start over," Francesca added. "And remember, you must not see yourself."