Chapter 15 - The flow of Life
Like an unstoppable current, years passed by. The Barford kingdom bloomed into its most beautiful form.
Unlike other tribes. Their culture shone almost everywhere. Beautiful palaces with gardens that one could explore for hours.
Meanwhile, Morpheus kept studying. Over time, he managed to recreate some things such as radio and other things.
Nonetheless, to create so many technological marvels proved to be difficult, even when you knew where you are going with it.
After all, formulas, design rested on his shoulders. But he held hope for the generation of geniuses he 'bestowed' knowledge in order to see how far they could go.
With peace, and enough food, that famines weren't a problem even if they hit the kingdom for 3 years.
People felt stability. A luxury that prompted many to try to migrate over, legally or not.
Thankfully, Ortus had the skills to sort them out well, which boosted the economy.
Good times moved people up. However, if one looked down at the bottom, they'd fall down back in no time.
Things like farming, cleaning the cities, and more would always play a vital role in a functioning society.
14 years after, the Barford kingdom rose. The envoys from the 'other world' came.
Past the endless mountain range apparently resided an Empire, Theocracy and a Senate.
All three eclipsed the Barford kingdom in size, according to the envoys. Still, they valued their technology greatly.
Things like guns were commodities that they wished to secure alone, so better deals were coming in almost every day.
Further south of the three behemoths were the Shattered Islands. People didn't know much about them.
As the inhabitants were quite aggressive against any kind of foreigners.
Last were the unexplored areas of the east of the Empire, which laid on the east of the three behemoths and the Theocracy, whose west remained a mystery due to the high altitude.
Morpheus wondered why no one had touched the east, but the envoys didn't know anything except a few rumours.
In the eyes of the southern world. They were savages. Tribes, living in older times with little to no value.
The three behemoths held together a delicate balance. With the senate being in the center and having the greatest power of them all.
While called the 'Senate'. The people held little to no power as over a thousand families elected 13 senators who led the entire territory.
If any of the three behemoths tried to enter the North. It would threaten the balance of power.
Such a war no one wanted to bear. On the other hand, with the veil hiding the south gone.
Morpheus realised how much people didn't know about the Northen continent except for the Sea of Life and rivers surrounding it.
He knew that in the cold extreme North were peaks thousands of bars tall.
Under his persuasion, Ortus established the adventuring association. Become an adventurer and explore the Northen continent!
With Morpheus' influence. Some began to call it the spirit continent or the wisdom continent.
Other nicknames that people thought of from certain myths and legends were there too.
Spirit and wisdom continent stuck the best though.
With the adventurers, another incredible thing happened. Their exploration unveiled hundreds of mines of iron, copper, zinc and other precious minerals.
At first, the Barford kingdom found most of those mines in their territory.
But, as the adventurers spread further and further. The kingdom began to grow in size.
One last notable thing happened in the world for Morpheus. Much to his surprise, Halvar established a merchant organisation.
It grew in silence in the Northern Sea of Life and spread to the south tribe by tribe.
Halvar seemed to become a completely different man. He matured, and no longer pursued extreme things.
According to the reports from Ortus' spies. Halvar himself adopted a pretty humble lifestyle.
There were many other things that Morpheus didn't take to mind. Some adventurers reported huge waves hundreds of meters tall crashing into the land.
Some areas began to develop seismic activity. Nevertheless, things like tornadoes didn't exist.
He quite didn't understand, but that was why he studied. To understand the world piece by piece and figure out what and why he was.
With the rise of the adventurer organisation. Another one sprouted. An assassin like organisation which took almost all tasks except a few like influential leaders of select few countries.
Nobles began to grow fond of the organisation. It came out of nowhere and everyone acknowledged it.
Morpheus warned Ortus about it. So, their expansion into the Barford kingdom could be called laughable so far.
Though Ortus did listen to Morpheus. He had ruled most of the things himself and, a few times, even rejected Morpheus.
He set the boundary well. Partners.
Sadly, even a partner as great as Ortus had to leave. The kingdom sprouted in an incredible way during his reign.
His ten children already were at peace with themselves. 9 of them entered other fields of craft or the army.
With his 3rd son taking the mantle. Part of it was thanks to his affinity with Morpheus being the highest.
As a part of the process. Ortus agreed to let Morpheus impact the children's future and supported such action for further generations.
Unless he grew mad. The spirit had only all the right reasons to teach the generations well.
...
An old man stood at a peak. Rich fauna surrounded him with many exotic flowers and trees.
They were the treasures adventurers managed to find on their travels.
Some couldn't be here due to the environment. It didn't take away the rare sight at all, though.
The man wore an embroiled robe with gold, silver and ruby gems and the colour purple with the legendary crest said it all.
"The stars are as beautiful as they were when we met. Do you remember Morpheus?" He said in melancholy.
Many, many decades ago. When he didn't know the ways of the world, but acted like he did.
The days where he kept on the fake mask in order to scream prestige. Yet now, he could smile, laugh and yet his presence never diminished.
Age couldn't take away his achievements. The once brilliant light in his eyes couldn't fool him nor Morpheus.
"You know. I envy you, Morpheus. Even though only through the eyes of others. You can see the stars every day. The fear of time doesn't exist for you." He said once again.
Oh, how brilliant he once was. If he could choose to live another lifetime and throw away everything he had.
He would do it in a heartbeat. Unbeknownst to Morpheus, he always searched for the methods of immortality.
The clues behind Athánatos' and everything he used too. Anything close to immortals or magical items never escaped his sight.
In the end, Morpheus remained as the only supernatural thing he had ever witnessed in his life.
"Be it as it may. After I am forced to watch so many lifeforms turn into dust. Life would become a torture in itself. If I became unfeeling, would I live? And if my feelings remained, would I just have to see them go all one by one? Like you?" Morpheus said in a bitter tone.
"That's life, isn't it? I just had to suck it up for 80 years and you will have to do so for a hundred times that, if not more." Ortus said and laughed.
He opened a bottle of wine and poured some to himself and some to another cup.
"Cheers!" He said as he downed it without savouring the taste.
"I never understood why you like wine so much when you enjoy chugging alcohol down at once! If those fanatics saw how you treat that precious wine, they'd stage a coup, no doubt." Morpheus said, as he looked at Ortus.
Just 10 years ago, he would chug the wine from the bottle. Now he poured himself a small cup.
Ortus kept drinking as he poured himself and poured into the other cup.
Morpheus didn't bother to keep count on how many times it overflowed already.
Still, he felt those bitter eyes as Ortus watched the wine flow and join the earth.
"Drink well, drink well." He said under his breath. Then they decided to end the night with a round of chess.
"Haha, you hate the Danish opening or whatever you call it, right? Let me play it against you for the last time." Ortus said and began with his moves.
Morpheus sighed, but decided to humor him. Even if he got into an unfavourable position, he held the confidence to at least force a draw.
So, he took his pawns one by one. The game continued on for another hour.
Almost 48 moves later, both grew silent.
"Let's call it a draw." Morpheus said, as he broke the silence.
"Yeah. But remember, next time I will beat you." Ortus said as he packed up.
"Ah, you have wine smeared near your mouth again." Morpheus said and berated Ortus.
He smiled back.
"You are right. Hehe, it seems that the alcohol got to me." He said and bid Morpheus a farewell.
"I'll see you again soon..."
'Soon my ass.' Morpheus thought as a tear rolled down his cheek.
The handkerchief silently escaped Ortus' hands as the moonlight reflected beautiful stained red.