4 Residing In The Past

Meanwhile, while Edward was heading to the building where he met Clover. He went to the throne room where Skyvent was.

Upon entering the room he swiftly made his way before Skyvent and knelt down on one knee with his arm across his chest as he lowered his head.

"I am here my Lord." Edward said.

"I apologize for summoning you after just giving you a task." Skyvent apologized with a troubled expression. His voice was broken from it's usual dominance and his hands were tightly gripping the arms of the throne he sat upon.

"Not at all my Lord. How may I serve you?" Edward raised his head and stood from his prostrated posture.

Skyvent exhaled a heavy sigh and held his forehead in his palm before bringing up his head to speak.

"It seems that the Sycons have challenged us for the right to rule over the Gi Template."

Looking at Skyvent with untroubled eyes and a confused expression, he didn't understand what his Lord was worried about.

He took a short pause before speaking.

"My Lord, why do you look so defeated?" he asked. "Although I understand that the Sycons are indeed strong, they are still no match for us. Besides, they have morals even though they tend to be irrational."

Looking at Edward with understanding, Skyvent helplessly eased his back against the chair he sat in.

"Well that is exactly what's troubling me, they aren't acting irrational."

Hearing this, Edward stared at Skyvent with visible confusion. What was his Lord talking about? Why is he emitting this aura of uneasiness?...Edward had to know.

'In all my years as a guardian of the Gi Template, never have I ever seen my Lord like this. Even though he isn't the official lord of the Gi Template, this man before me has never been so shaken up.' Edward though.

"My Lord, I don't understand."

Skyvent clenched the handles of the chair tighter and his body stared to subtly tremble.

"The Sycons have not made an attempt at the Template ever since their strongest warrior went missing, and now there has been word from the king's espionage squad that the strongest warrior of the Sycons has returned." Skyvent's voice became shakey when telling Edward this.

Like being in contact with high voltage electricity, Edward was shocked and he conveyed this through the way his body suddenly jolted as he stopped breathing for a moment.

After calming down, Edward controlled his breathing.

"My Lord, if this is true then we must ask the king to return to the Template."

Saying this in a rushed manner, Edward now realize why his Lord was acting this way as he too became concerned.

Skyvent sighed and relaxed his arms, his expression also became relaxed.

"As much as I would like to have the king return to the throne, we simply cannot afford for him to stop his war against the Skotadi creatures that have been emerging from the Marvos veil. If he does, not only will the Template be in danger but the whole world as well."

"Then what do you propose we do, My Lord?"

"We must not let the Sycons assume the Gi Template, if they do, the whole kingdom will fall into disorder. But now that their strongest warrior is back, this task will prove difficult to accomplish. If it is anything like the last time they made an attempt after the Template, they will request a tournament for the right to rule over the Template and thus, I am tasking you with the responsibility of training the students of the academy as you are our strongest veil guardian."

Edward straightened his back and stood at attention, his earlier expression of worry was now gone.

"I am honored to be given this task my Lord, but I feel that there is someone who is more capable of executing this."

"Is that right?" Skyvent was surprised at the fact that Edward rejected to do this himself. "Alright then, do as you see fit. But I must tell you that we have about a month's time before they make their move."

Edward bowed, "Yes, my Lord."

And with that, Edward exited the throne room with haste.

...

Back at the academy in the library where two persons were. A lady was sitting infront of a boy while holding his head as she pressed her forehead against his.

The boy's eyes were closed and his body seemed lifeless as the lady's eyes before him were also closed and her hands were glowing blue along with her forehead.

But although the boy seemed lifeless, that was because his consciousness was not focused outward but it was directed inwards.

...

As Clover opened his eyes he saw that he was standing on deep dark waters. There was no land, there was no one, and there was no end to the waters that stretched limitlessly, creating dark grey-blueish horizons whenever he tried to look further into the distance.

'Where am I?' Clover though. 'Could this be my mind?'

He looked at his feet that were standing on the water without sinking. He then looked at the dark blue waters that almost seemed grey.

Then, out of nowhere, a figure appeared Infront of him with it's face darkened making it unidentifiable.

Clover brought up his focus to the figure as he was able to see the hazy blue shade of the horizon through it's transparent body.

The figure looked like a little child around 6 years old with hair that rested several inches below it's shoulders.

"W-Who are you?" Clover asked.

The figure stood without ever moving and it slowly began to sink beneath the surface of the water.

"No! Wait!" Clover called to the figure, grabbing after it, but by then it was already fully submerged under the water.

Clover lost his footing and fell headfirst before sinking into the water himself.

Closing his eyes before he splashed into the water, his body gradually sank deeper and deeper.

He opened his eyes and looked up at the surface of the water as he tried to swim back up. But somehow, despite his efforts, he still kept sinking into the darkness underneath.

Looking around, he tried to hold his breath for as long as he could. Soon, after feeling his lungs start to push for air, he struggled to hold his breath.

But he couldn't keep it up forever as he gave up and gasped down water into his lungs.

With his mouth open, the last bubbles of air rushed through his lips and swiftly made their way up to the surface of the water.

As Clover breathed the icy cold water inside his lungs, making him feel as if his lungs were being pierced by thousands of needles, he realized that he could breath it out as his body didn't reject the water by trying to cough it out.

With the fact that he was able to breath, Clover's eyes grew dim and darkness enveloped his surroundings.

Time quickly passed by while he sank deeper and deeper in the dark waters. Clover's mind soon went blank and clear, able to think of nothing, able to do nothing.

Suddenly, he felt himself falling faster as he dropped onto his back. Immediately as he fell, his body stared to reject the water as he coughed it up until his lungs were filled with pure air once more.

When his coughs died down, he opened his eyes only to see water above him. It was as if gravity was selective to the mass of the water alone while Clover was laid flat on his back on a cold ground that was endlessly dark.

He rolled onto his side and brought himself to his feet.

The view that he saw was the same as when he was standing on the water before he fell in it, but in reverse.

He wasn't above the water anymore, the water was above him. His feet weren't closest to the surface of the water anymore, now, his head was closer to the waters' surface.

*Drip, Drip, Drip*

Small splashes of water could be heard in Clover's surroundings. He turned to the source of the sound and he saw the same child-like figure running along the water behind him.

"Wait. Don't go!"

Clover ran after the figure with his hand stretched towards it, shouting, pleading for it to wait for him. The figure appeared to be running at a slow pace, almost skipping across the surface of the water with leisure. But the faster Clover ran, the farther the child seemed to be.

Without giving up, Clover strived towards the child, never despaired by the growing distance between him and the figure.

Then, almost as if feeling Clover trying to reach out to it, the child's feet slowed down to a halt and turned around to face Clover.

Even though the child stopped running, giving him a chance to catch up, Clover's feet halted as well when he saw that the face of the child was no longer darkened and also smiling at him. It was an innocent smile, a smile that could bring a glimmer of hope in the midst of neverending despair.

But that wasn't the reason for Clover's chariness, no...not at all. The reason why he stopped was because...the face of the child he was looking at...was...was his face! More specifically, how he looked when he was much younger.

He didn't have any time to process what he was looking at as the dark space around him suddenly got engulfed in bright white lights and soon, the light got too intense for him to keep his eyes open.

Using his arm to shield out some of the light, he closed his eyes as tight as he could.

Soon, when feeling that the light had died down, he removed his arm from his eyes while opening them.

Along a familiar street was where Clover found himself. He gazed both ways, left, then right, and finally looking forward in the middle of the road.

"This is the street I took with dad to get home back in middle school." he said.

He knew that he couldn't have been transported back home, to the realm he came from because everything he was looking at felt like a dream. A lucid dream filled with hazy shaded colours.

After those words left Clover's mouth, he heard someone sobbing in the distance.

Tuning to the source of the stifled cries, he saw a little boy walking along the sidewalks while tears ran down his cheeks.

"That's me." he said, looking at the face of the boy that was now ruddy from holding back his cries. "Was I brought in the past?"

Clover wondered if it was possible that he had traveled back in the past or if his mind was playing back a certain day in his life with him viewing from a 3rd person perspective.

'Wait. Why isn't dad with me?' he pondered the thought. '...Oh, I remember this day...this is the day that I met her, that I met Hara.'

Looking at the child, Clover saw that he hadn't changed much since then. The same thick, long dark hair. Adorable feet that moved swiftly along the ground, puffy cheeks and a cute face.

Compared to him right now, the only things that have changed is that his hair grew longer, his body became more mature and his face was sharper and more defined.

Clover's younger self walked around a corner while rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms.

Clover followed himself around the corner.

A few minutes passed and Clover found himself at his house, the same green, red and blue house with the same gate and the same welcome mat. All of it never changed much and that's how he liked it.

When young Clover entered the house, Clover followed him inside.

While inside, he saw himself walking upstairs while sobbing without end. This time, he didn't follow himself upstairs but started to walk around the house, bathing in remembrance of his home until he ended up in the living room.

Looking through the windows of the living room, a large one room building made of cobblestone and wooden glass window frames came into his view.

It was his father's office, where he wrote his books and told Clover stories.

Moments passed as he stared at his father's office with reminisce when soon, a shaggy dark haired figure with broad shoulders and a slender yet muscular body exited the office. It was his father.

He walked to the house as Clover watched him with a phone at his ear, following the movements of his father with his eyes before his father entered the house.

"...Yeah don't worry, I'm going to pick him up from school now. He's going to be so happy, trust me." he said while entering the house.

Grabbing keys and a jacket, his father was about to exit through the front door when soft sobs and gentle weeping seeped through the wooden walls of the house making him stop all he was doing to investigate.

The high pitched creaks of the wooden staircase almost seemed to scratch the walls of the house as his father made his way upstairs while Clover followed.

A small gap on an almost closed door caught the attention of his father as he paced down the hall towards it and opened the door.

There, lying on the bed, was a boy stuffing his face into a pillow while hugging it, trying to hush his sadness in secret.

When realizing he was found in his room crying, he hastily tried to hide evidence of his sadness and sat up while improvising a poker face.

"Dad I-" Clover's younger self said, with his gaze fixed on the floor.

Clover's father made silent steps towards Clover and sat beside him on the bed. Rubbing his back before speaking.

"Is it the hair again?"

Young Clover nodded while sniffing another sob.

"Why not cut it?"

"N-No, I don't want to." Little Clover sniffed shaking his head with great vigor.

"Why not?"

"Because it makes mom happy to play with my hair and whenever mom is happy, I'm happy. And I like my hair, so it doesn't matter if I get bullied about it. I'm keeping it just the way it is."

Clover's dad smiled at him with sparkling eyes. He placed his arms around his son, hugging him.

Clover began to tear up at the corners of his eyes as he watched this scene. Remembering the loving kindness of his father.

"You know what kiddo?" his father said.

"What?"

"I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise? For me? What is it?"

His dad let him out of his hands and stood up while holding both of his son's shoulders.

"Wait here for me. I'll be back."

Clover, who was now at the doorway, stepped to the side as his father went out of the room.

Staring at his father's disappearing back as he went downstairs, Clover stretched out his hand, almost calling to him. But he couldn't utter a single word as he wheezingly exhaled the breath that he was about to use to speak.

The front door to the house opened as the distant and muffled voice of his father spoke to someone.

"He's upstairs. 'It' happened again."

After hearing his father's words he looked back at his younger self with a soft expression, and yet, he held a smile on his face.

'I remember waiting for hours before dad finally came back to show me his surprise.' he lightly chuckled at the thought.

As Clover thought this, he heard footsteps stomping up the wooden stairs.

The source of these footsteps came around the corner of the hallway and a woman appeared in Clover's sight. Long Dark hair, a pair of light shaded red eyes, and a thick but slender, voluptuous body.

She rushed into the room Clover was standing Infront of and without announcing her presence, she made her way to the bed.

There, the puffy cheeks of her son and his swollen eyes seemed to cut her deep in her heart as she looked at him.