Chapter 8

The traveler awoke from his sleep, checked his pocket watch, and found out that he woke up earlier than usual. It was five in the morning but normally, during his travels, he would wake up at six.

Instead of freshening up, the traveler fell deep in his thoughts. As time passed, he was starting to feel worried about his dreams.

At first, he didn't care about them as his focus was always on different things which he found more important.

He once thought that the memories which he didn't even remember would soon drift away like it usually does however this time, the memories he altered didn't seem to disappear.

They remained in his mind, bothering him from time to time.

Some of them were quite disturbing such as that memory where a boy was hung from a tree, there was a thick rope around his head and a beast wolf ripped his torso apart.

There was also that memory where there was a heavily injured girl sitting on a pool of blood. Because the traveler was punished for helping her, he thought that it was not worth saving her therefore he allowed her to get eaten by a beast inside a forest while he cleaned the blood from the floor.

The traveler couldn't remember any of those and he convinced himself that he couldn't possibly do such a thing. He was just a teen back then after all. What kind of teen can be responsible for deaths as gruesome as these?

He killed neither of them, he was sure, but he was the reason why they ended up so unrecognizable. He didn't believe that he had done something like that in the past.

As the traveler spent time processing his memories, he began to doubt if he and the traveler showed in those memories were the same people. He couldn't imagine himself doing such a thing.

However, there was something that bothered him the most. The memories before he altered them, were somewhat normal.

The boy that was hung for example. Before it was changed, the young traveler had shouted for help. The traveler now saw that he before was hated by the parents so he thought that they didn't deserve to know that their child was dead.

Therefore, the memory was altered and it showed how a beast came into the picture, knocking the tree down and eating the upper part of the boy, only leaving his feet behind.

The traveler didn't think of it to go that way, he simply thought that the parents didn't deserve to know at all and the next moment, it was changed to that.

Perhaps it was because of his wish but why did he have to be present when it happened? He could have been at home before the boy was eaten yet now it made him feel as if the young traveler was the one who was responsible for everything.

Thinking for a while, he found out that he was the one at fault. Altering memories knowing that it affects reality made him feel weird all because he knew that it wasn't supposed to happen. But he didn't want to stop using his powers.

Though he felt as though it was powerful and could cause a butterfly effect, he thought that if he was careful enough, he will be able to use it properly.

The traveler felt a headache coming so just as he wanted to stop thinking, he noticed a lot of sounds coming from the outside. He found it troublesome but still, he came out of his tent to see what was going on.

As he did, he saw plenty of people wearing black clothing. They covered their heads, faces, and body. Even their skin color could not be seen and there was only one thing that caught the traveler's attention. It was the mark on their chests, red four-leaf clover in a circle.

The knights with the young girl were fighting them. The traveler didn't join in, he even leaned his back on a tree and watched as if he was simply a spectator.

This time, he made up his mind, he wasn't going to get involved. The men with this red four-leaf clover mark, he was sure they were from an organization of some sort and some big figures were behind this so it's best to leave things as is.

Though it was a pity that he would lose his travel companions during his journey, he barely knew them. They were strangers to him therefore he could not find a reason to interfere.

Perhaps after these people were done with the young girl, their next target would be him but that was a problem for later. His main concern was his breakfast.

The traveler approached his horse and the bags attached to the saddle. He grabbed an apple from one of them and used water from his leather waterskin to clean it.

He liked to eat fruits in the morning, meat or vegetables for lunch, and meat for dinner.

As he was about to take a bite, a pillar of fire formed nearby. The traveler enjoyed the spectacular show as he was eating.

Though he felt the extreme heat, he appeared as if he was not bothered.

The pillar of fire reached up to five meters in height while it was one meter and a half wide. It was red with a mixture of orange and yellow hue.

Despite it not being as powerful as the traveler imagined, it was still impressive to see someone produce fire with nothing but their bare hands.

The fire lasted for no longer than five seconds therefore although it did some damage to the attackers, it was not enough to scare them off.

As time passed, the young girl's side, despite there being a wielder included in their group, seemed to be overwhelmed by their foe.

The traveler began to wonder why the men in black fearlessly fought the young girl's group. He figured that there might be a wielder among them as well but he was not knowledgeable enough to know as his understanding about wielders isn't very high.

There were eight attackers, four of them fought the four knights with the young girl while the other four focused on the girl herself.

The enemy had the advantage of numbers but as the traveler watched, the men in black didn't at all seem that skilled.

The traveler knew very little of the situation, he didn't know who these people were, or their goal, and so he simply prepared to leave after he was done with his breakfast.

From time to time, screams from both parties could be heard and waves of fire would appear.

When he was done, the traveler mounted his horse. He began his journey once more and before he was too far away, he turned to look at the battle one last time.

The young girl's side was winning, half of their enemies were down but two of her companions were injured while one laid on the ground, unmoving.

The young girl seemed to be exhausted while the area around her was indulged in flames. Three of her opponents were on the ground but three of the knights on her side also couldn't fight.

The knights managed to defeat two of the men dressed in black while one knight failed to subdue and the last was still fighting.

Though one of the knights failed to subdue his opponent and was now laying on the ground, his foe did not win unharmed.

He was wounded and cuts were all over his body, still, the clothes did hide his appearance.

Seeing that the young girl didn't need his help, he proceeded on with his journey. However, just as he was about to leave, he remembered something interesting.

He looked towards the knight on the ground, if his memory was right, this knight was stabbed on his abdomen and his chest was slashed by his opponent's dagger.

The traveler assumed that he was dead considering that he was laying on his pool of blood. The traveler wondered if his power could bring him back to life.

His power allowed him to do the impossible, drawing a colorful scene for example although he had nothing but black ink. He was able to change the past therefore he thought that bringing someone back to life as possible.

After thinking for a while, the traveler decided to continue his journey. Reviving a human was not worth it, he thought, he needed to be careful with his ability.

If he could revive with his power, he thought it would be best to test it on an animal first as there were too many risks in testing it on a human. The traveler decided that from now on, he would try to not use his ability in anything involving humans.

He figured that he should do simple things first to make sure nothing would go wrong and slowly test the limits of his power.

† Mundivagant †

Two days later, the traveler arrived in Eastern White Stone Inn. He had just finished talking to the person behind the counter and was heading towards the room which he asked for. The inn was packed with adventurers but thankfully there was a room available.

It didn't take long to reach the room. When he entered, a room much smaller than what he had in White Rose inn greeted him. He was feeling devastated as it cost him fifty alvas to rent a room for just a day.

He rented the room for seven days which meant he had to pay for three hundred and fifty alvas. Back in the previous village, forty alvas was enough to rent a room for two days and it was in a better condition than what he currently had.

Soon, the traveler stopped sulking and unpacked his belongings. He planned to stay in this place for a week and he was tired so he wanted to rest. The traveler also accepted the fact that he will have to spend more money here since this was a city.

After unpacking, he explored his room and found out that there was no bathroom. In the end, he was so upset that he wrote all the bad things he could write in his journal about the inn.

As for the revival test, he had conducted it not too long ago, and not surprisingly, he succeeded. He tested it on two different animals, an insect, and a bird. He befriended them and asked them to stay with him for a while.

On the first day, he killed the insect and when he went to sleep, he changed it to him not even touching it. When he awoke, he found the insect near the bird and it was alive. On the second day, he did the same to the bird and in the morning, he found it alive.

With that, he can conclude that reviving someone with his power was possible. He never tested it on a human but if he could do it on an animal, he thought that it was also credible.

However, instead of being happy about the result of his experiment, he could not help but feel afraid. Being able to revive... It was too powerful and he knew he was capable of doing something more than that.

Despite knowing that with his power, he could do so many things others would not be capable of, the traveler refused to become arrogant as he deemed himself still ignorant. He thought that his power isn't invincible.

He could only use his power in his dream, he figured that he could not do it while conscious therefore if ever there is a situation where he can not sleep and dream, it would be dangerous for him and it might even be his cause of death.

He thought that a situation such as that would be quite common. Being in a life and death battle for example. Though he was skilled when it comes to using weapons, it was possible that he would encounter a wielder in the future and so he thought, he would need to improve his abilities.

† Mundivagant †

"I pushed them back, memories of the past.

It makes me upset, filled with hatred and regret,

Yet I can't help but want to forget.

I'm Trapped in this cage of despair,

Can do nothing but ask, who did I become?

Forced myself to forget and change,

In the end, I can't remember who I am.

Life has always been fair, they say.

But every time I look in the mirror I say, who are you?"

                             - Cassius Tarquin