Cedric and Ural

Sep 20th, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch

In a small village on the coast of Desi Bay, a bald old man lay sprawled on the ground, tears flowing over the dried tears on his cheeks before falling onto the ground below his head as he stared at the ceiling.

He had just confessed to Max, that the moment he had carelessly taken the name of a certain Beyonder Organisation, was the moment he had already signed his death certificate. He did not know it at the time, but a series of events followed as soon as he had taken the name, resulting in him being chased by the believers of the church of the God of Combat.

It was just a cascading series of coincidences that led him to be imprisoned by them in a certain heavily protected location, and ultimately Uxas had come to rescue him by breaking him out, only to realise it was a trap all along, and just as he was going to be killed by the High-Sequence Beyonder, Uxas sacrificed his life, to activate a single-use Beyonder item that destroyed all the tracking methods placed on Cedric, and teleported him away from the enemy Beyonder.

But the teleport was not fast enough, as he not only saw his best, and truthfully only friend left in this world being bisected in two by a fierce attack, but he also had his left hand being obliterated into nothingness by another attack launched by the same Beyonder.

Cedric lifted up his left hand, and looked at the almost healed stump, not feeling anything for the loss of the limb, but feeling immense sadness as it reminded him of a memory he would much rather forget.

The memory of his friend, his brother-in-arms, his only family, and one of the few reasons he had left to struggle to survive in this cruel world being killed just like that. And that too, for trying to help him escape a situation he had thrown himself headfirst into.

"Sometimes I wonder, Ural, ah, but you renamed yourself to Uxas right?"

"I wonder, Uxas, I wonder, what I would have been like if we hadn't become Beyonders…"

…

Outside a dilapidated shack, a child with a scar on the side of his face curiously knocked on the door.

*Bang*

The door was swung open revealing an energetic child of a slightly older age, but without any scars on his face, or body. He had a wild smile on his face, as he looked around but saw nobody, then looked slightly below his sight level and saw a small kid, an inch or so shorter than him and with a scar on his face looking up at him with curiosity.

"Whatareyoudoing!" the older child asked while speaking incredibly quickly.

"Don't you know this is an exclusive club, only chefs get in here!!" The older child continued a frown on his face.

"Not just any kid with hands and clothes can get in. Do you think you have what it takes? Huh? Do you?!"

"I- uhm-" but before the scarred child could react, the older one interjected as his frown vanished.

"Okay, you're in!"

…

The scene rapidly changed to the same dilapidated shack but the children were a few years older, and a lot healthier as well.

"Hey Cedric! Why the long face!! Come on! We got food to steal and dishes to experiment with!"

"Alright! Hold on! Let me just wear my shoes!!"

The two quickly made their way to the market, and with great stealth, teamwork, and pity from the stall owners, took away 2 carrots back to their 'base of operations'.

Moments later after breaking one of the carrots in two, cooking them on an exposed fire, and letting it cool down, the two took big bites out of the cooked carrots, only to freeze a moment later.

*Blurgh*

Both of them spat out the charcoal that was in their mouths as black pieces of what could best be described as burnt wood fell to the ground.

"Well then, I suppose plan old carrot it is for today, Cedric!"

"I suppose so…" Cedric answered, dejected.

"Cheer up now, we got the rest of the day to plan a better meal for the night!!"

"Yeah…"

…

The scene changed to the always excited and jovial Ural, marrying the love of his life; Cindy Ves, and taking up her surname. It was the first time Cedric had seen the man cry, and that moment made him rear up as well.

…

Then came the child, which marked the second time the old man had cried, and a baby boy, his baby boy had been brought into this world.

…

And then came another scene. It was the moment where Ural's smile vanished. Up till now, even when he had cried, that smile had never gone, always remaining plastered to his face. But this time, it was completely gone, and his expression reminded Cedric of the expression he had had on his face just in the morning when he looked at his reflection in the mirror.

It was the face of a man who had given up hope, who had lost everything.

Ural stood in silence, the relentless rain pouring onto his black clothes as he stood above a deep hole in the ground.

Cedric noticed he was no longer watching everything from a third person's point of view, but now from his own point of view. He reached out and patted Ural's back, the same emotions he had felt that fateful day washed over him once more.

Ural turned to Cedric, tears gradually forming in his eyes.

"I could have saved them. I could have stopped everything. I don't know. If I'd just… I could have saved them…"

Cedric spoke up to stop this line of thought, "You saved me. You saved her," Cedric pointed at a young girl who was standing in the rain without an umbrella, just like Ural and Cedric. Except, she was not related to anyone here other than Ural, and that too because he had chosen to save her life in a split-second decision, which had resulted in him returning home late, to find his wife and child dead.

"Look at her," Cedric pointed at the girl who was just standing still in the rain.

"If I'd been stronger, faster, just not wasted my time playing the fool and cooking. You have no idea. If I'd just…"

"She will live. I will live. Because of what you did," Cedric once again stopped this dangerous line of thought.

"I DIDN'T DO ENOUGH!!"

"You did so much…" Cedric interjected.

Ural turned to the girl but then turned back to the two wooden coffins in the dirt.

"They are dead now… Because I was not fast enough. Because I did not make sure to keep them safe. Because… I was weak."

Cedric could not say anything more, as the three fated souls stood in the rain in silence, mourning the loss of two beautiful souls in exchange for two of the three present to live.

…

From then on, Ural had never had his smile, ever. Only an ever-present frown. The years passed but Ural could never get over this loss and ended up retiring to open up a café in Backlund.

But his smile… his smile never returned.

'I don't want to forget. But I don't want to remember it like it is now, all broken up and pieced together. I want to remember it as it was when it was good.' Cedric cursed himself in his heart.

Suddenly, Cedric felt a hand on his head ruffling his nonexistent hair.

He found himself back in the body of the lost child with a scar on his face and a head full of hair, lying down on the broken wood of the dilapidated shack. In front of him was Ural's younger self, crouching on the ground and speaking soothingly.

"We had lots of fun together. Thank you for that little Cedric. But you can't keep looking back to the past that is trying to drag you down. You must look forward to the adventures that await you. Go now. Go, you still have something to do. Take care of that little brat for me. Go."

Cedric saw the smile he had not seen since Cindy and her child had passed. The smile he had longed to see on his friend and brother. The smile, that was now plastered on his face as he opened his eyes, that were no longer dead inside.

Instead, a deep resolution formed itself within him. The resolution to do at least one thing right for Ural, one last thing that he could do. Take care of Max.

[AN: Don't question me. I had just rewatched Schindler's List before writing this chapter, and I had to incorporate that scene into this. Sorry about that, but I felt emotional. Then I remembered the movie Up while writing then and felt even more emotional. So, I did a very stupid thing and looked up sad movie scenes, and felt even more emotional resulting in this chapter. Sorry if it is not to your liking, I have not proofread this chapter, and honestly, I can't. Too emotionally spent to do anything. Somehow, I am sweating while sitting in the AC… wtf]

[AN: I would like to thank all those who have added the novel to their collections. I would also like to thank those who give me power stones, and also those who leave reviews and comments. I would especially like to thank the following people:]

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[I have tried to limit each person's name appearing only once, which is why people like GuYue have only appeared once, else he would be on all lists lmao. Thank you everyone for your unwaivering support. I know I should be doing this kind of thing at chapter 100, but I am going out of town for a while, so I uploaded the next few chapters in advance. they will be released automatically at a rate of around 2 chapters per week. Hope everyone likes it! Thank you guys once again]