"You can't escape even if you wanted to. I have an army surrounding the place," he told me. He started going down the road toward where I was, and where Sam lay on the ground, still unconscious. 

"Ever since Raiya pulled that stunt on me, I vowed to never get blindsided again." Grandpa kept walking, slowly, as though every step he made was calculated. His steely eyes darted between me and Sam, never resting on either one of us more than too long.

"Which one should I start with," he mumbled to himself. Sam was closer to where he was. I hoped he'd stop near the traitor. I still needed time to execute my plan. 

"Speak d.a.m.n you!��� he screamed. "Why did you make me chase you all over the continent?" 

I knew I had to say something, but all words failed me that night. In the sp.a.w.n of a day, I've been betrayed for the second time by the same woman who used me once. I lost all my partners. Some of them didn't even see death coming. 

I didn't speak. I just looked at him in stubborn silence. 

Grandfather's only response was a "humph!" before he kept walking toward Sam and I. The half smile on his face didn't bode well. I started dreading another shock like the one I suffered inside the Fragment. 

Once he reached Sam's unconscious body, he looked up toward me. 

"Your father came to see me twice after he married your mother," grandpa said. "The first time was when she was sick, right before you were born. Of course, that was before they moved to that forsaken desert. He told me she was dying, that no healer or doctor could do anything for her. Did he ever tell you about this?"

What the h.e.l.l was he talking about? Father told me he'd severed all contact with grandpa the day Adwerald was born. 

I shook my head. 

"Decay," grandpa went on. "It's a rare sickness caused by one's foolishness. If you push your conduits to their limits, your entire soul, the source of all your energy, starts to decompose. It's what happens when we die, only our souls explode into tiny Fragments then. With your mother however," he whistled. "It was akin to watching a soul on fire. She had but a few days left to her name." 

I knew my mother's illness had something to do with her abusing magic. I just didn't know the specifics. To tell you the truth, I didn't know whether to trust or reject grandfather's story. It was buying me time though, so I let him ramble on. 

"I told your father that the woman was doomed. I told him she'd die in a fortnight if she was lucky, but he refused to listen. Language was exchanged that day. I said some words I could never take back." Grandpa sighed then looked at me. It felt as though he saw me under a different light then. "You took a lot from your father young man. Then you took his life... After all he's done for you. You let them execute him. You let this little s.h.i.+t murder my son."

He kicked Sam, and the latter groaned in pain. 

His cold eyes landed on mine. "You don't look so well, son," he said. "Did you lose your tongue as well as your eye?" 

I opened my mouth but no words would come out. My throat felt dry. Grandpa let out a disappointed sigh then turned around. 

"Bring her here!" he called out. 

Two young, burly men approached us. They were pulling a battered Elsa from her legs. They dropped her next to Stalwart's feet then disappeared into the darkness once more. 

"She tried to escape," grandpa said. "She shouldn't have." 

He turned to me then his lips parted into that amiable, despicable smile. "There are many things I need to ask you son," he said in a soft, fatherly voice. "As I'm sure there are many questions on your mind too. Let's start with that missing Fragment of yours." 

My heart leapt to my throat. I was still incapable of uttering a single word. How did he know I was missing a Fragment? How did he even know I had any Fragments at all? 

"Only a handful of people in this world know how to extract Fragments," he said as though he was reading my mind, "the Bishop of the Church of Dhobor, Pontiff Sullivan, myself and Raiya. I taught her how, should she ever need it during her mission." 

Grandpa took one last look at Sam before he decided to turn his attention toward me. He started walking, slowly and casually again. 

"What Fragment did she take from you Myles?" he asked. "Did you steal a Fragment from empress Evangelica after she tried to possess you?" 

My heart pounded against my eardrums. Grandpa knew everything, yet Raiya still blindsided him. I knew I could do it. I knew I could pull it off. 

There was no time to hesitate anymore. It was do or die. I just had to find the right opening. All he did was try to intimidate me. He knew I'd try to escape. So he brought the battered Elsa to show me I could not. 

"I think you already know the answer to that," I said. My voice came out cracked, hoa.r.s.e. 

"Why did you hide from me back in the Tree Vessel?" he c.o.c.ked his head to the side. "Did you think I wouldn't find out about your ident.i.ty?"

"I'd lost my memories, I didn't even know who I was," I said. He was still not going on the offensive. I still had hope...

I fought to keep my body from shaking. If I wanted to escape from his clutches, I had to be meticulous. Every step of my plan had to be executed without his knowledge. That was the tricky part. My body shook, both from excitement and fear. 

If I could pull this off...

"Why are you plotting against me now?" grandpa asked. He was still walking toward me, ever so slowly. 

"You've been hunting me since Raiya rescued us. I thought you were one of them." I said. I needed just a few more seconds before my plan came to fruition. I had to stall. I had to make him talk. "How did father help mother then?" I asked.

"What?" grandpa asked, disoriented. 

"You said she had but a fortnight to live, how did she survive?" 

"Ah, yes," grandpa replied. "Your father formed a pact with a beast," he went on. "Abrath the Venomous King, they call him. Your brother told me you've met him too." 

"A pact?" I asked. "That beast only asks for blood." 

"If you offer it something greater than what you hold dear, you would be able to negotiate with it," grandpa said. "Or at least that's what the legends said at the time." 

"What did father offer?" I asked. 

"You should have asked him that yourself," he said. A mocking grin split his face open. His pearly white teeth matched his snow white trimmed beard. "Whatever you've been planning won't work. Will you come quietly?" 

He'd finally figured my plan out. It was about time, but I still had the upper hand. I squeezed my hands into a fist then locked eyes with the old man. "I think you already know the answer to that!" 

"You move like a snail, son. You can't get away from me," grandpa said as his steely eyes followed me. He didn't move. That was a good sign. 

I unsheathed my sword then walked toward him. He smiled at me, amused and intrigued. He squared his shoulders. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. 

"This wouldn't be the first time," I said, grinning in response.

His brows furrowed for a second then his frown vanished. "Don't you dare run away from this!" he hissed. 

"Watch me!" I said. 

While grandpa was busy playing politics with the Pontiff, I was busy collecting time energy. I knew it was volatile, given my current mental and physical states. So I had to make sure every step of my plan was perfectly executed. I a.s.similated enough energy to coat myself with time energy. For this plan to work, I had to be excluded from the effects. 

Then I proceeded to creating a time bubble as wide as a great hall. It wasn't the strongest bubble I could create, but it was the widest. 

Grandpa didn't notice its presence because I molded the bubble with the existing time energy around us, not my own. His pace, or time perception, would never be affected. The goal was to imprint the entire bubble with nuggets of my energy. 

By placing my energy at strategic points, I could mold the bubble however I wanted later on. This way, my grandfather would only notice my plan at the last possible second. All I actually needed was to slow him down for three seconds. 

Then there was the source of energy I would use to power up the bubble. I'd just slaughtered a hundred men, using every ounce of energy I had. I needed time to regenerate it, a.s.similate it from other sources. 

Theolonius Stalwart, as you now know, loves his theatrics. His great display of power was also his gift to me. The explosions of lightning on earth caused each one's time energy to dissipate. All I had to do was to pick up the residue and make it my own. It wouldn't be the strongest type of energy since I didn't spend enough time a.s.similating it, but it was enough for what I was attempting. 

When I stood, I let all the energy I'd collected through the bubble, coating it and dividing it into smaller divisions: one bubble inside a bubble inside a bubble... you know the drill. 

It all happened in a flash, but my grandfather saw right through it, as I expected him to. He saw that my speed was slightly faster than he'd expected. He knew something was amiss, the clever b.a.s.t.a.r.d! 

He dashed forward, breaking bubble after bubble. His speed however, was depleting as he advanced. The bubbles wouldn't stop him, naturally, but they'd slow him just enough for my next step to happen. 

You see, I'd fallen next to a tree, filled to the brim with time energy. All I needed were three seconds to absorb all the energy, then revert time. 

When the idea of escaping came to my mind, I tried to think of how and where. All possibilities ended with disaster. Then I started cursing my luck, for all the encounters I had and how I could have avoided all that. Then it hit me.

Time travel... What could go wrong? 

I've been through all the scenarios. I didn't see why I shouldn't take advantage of my own powers. 

My grandfather's face contorted in anger as I put my hand on the tree, or was it ecstasy? I didn't have time to think about it though. I went on with my plan, despite a voice inside me violently protesting. 

The tree's time energy quickly entered my conduits, then filled the Fragment's heads in a flash. I began concentrating on the past, trying to think of the night we invaded Bodrick's villa. I had to get back there. We'd have a great advantage if Raiya... 

Raiya...

I saw her face clearly, smiling as she approved of my progress in training. I saw her frown and scold me when I first time travelled. I could hear her voice then, and I felt as though I was standing in that verandah with her again, with early winter winds brus.h.i.+ng against my cheeks. 

Then everything stood still. 

My grandfather had disappeared. Raiya was standing in front of me. She was still frowning, mouth open, forehead creased. I wanted to take my sword and shove it down her throat. 

Before I could do anything though, my body moved by itself. I started levitating, as though something pulled me off the ground. It felt like I was dreaming. I had no control over my body. I was but a helpless observer. 

I kept levitating until Elsa's estate was but a dot in the vast earth that surrounded it. Then I picked up speed. I flew higher, over the clouds and across glacial winds. The sky went from blue to dark, from flat to round. Then the wind stopped howling in my ears...

Silence ensued... It was sudden, but brutal. Absolute silence... 

I could hear myself breathe... or try to breathe at least. 

I tried to inhale, but there was no air to take in. It felt like my body was shriveling from the inside. My heart raced against my chest and eardrums. 

Bdum! Bdum! Bdum! 

I was floating in an endless sea of darkness. Far away from me, a bright spot shone, like light at the end of the tunnel. It felt like I was underwater, unable to breathe and unable to find the surface. I tried to move, swim toward the light, but I didn't move an inch. I felt exhausted. My body turned cold and my heart slowed down. 

B--dum! B--dum! B--dum!

With no air to breathe, no s.p.a.ce to move in, I felt as helpless as a trapped fish. I was out of my element, about to die in complete darkness. Or had I died already and this is what it felt like?