The Dead King

Gus had a lot to analyze after the ambush he was forced to take part in. Had it not been for Sullivan Marin dealing with, in his mind, the entire situation, he may not be alive now. Gus had thought himself quite capable from attacking the raiders in Heroca, but it had all evaporated from the recent event.

Those rogues were so quick, he could barely see them, let alone even think about getting a hit in on them. Yet somehow, Marin was able to catch them all mid-flight. How was it possible? Gus analyzed it more as they traveled. He wrestled with whether Marin was so battle experienced that he knew where they would be at a given time, or that his reaction times were astronomical.

Both were impressive enough, and he wondered if it had anything to do with being an ice elemental. One thing was for certain, though. It was clear Marin would be protecting Gus, not the other way around as he had so imagined. Gus was only there to handle interactions for him, nothing more, apparently.

He felt mixed emotions of bewilderment and disappointment for himself. He was clearly out of his league.

“Well, Marin. If it wasn’t for you, they would’ve gotten me. I owe my life to you again,” he admitted.

“You would’ve never been targeted if you were walking alone. I was the reason for their attack,” Marin sharply countered. “You heard them, they’re petty thieves looking to make a quick buck. And my attire had attracted their attention.”

Marin looked down to his clothing. Gus heard much despair in his voice, as if he was questioning all the decisions he had made thus far.

Gus leaned his head back and looked at the large dagger rip on the back of Marin’s royal robe.

“Well they definitely devalued your clothes from that nasty tear. Perhaps we won’t be the victims of another attack,” Gus tried.

Marin shook his head, and continued on. “My clothing was a factor I had missed. Had I given more thought to this quest, I might’ve realized this could have happened.”

“So what are you going to do?” Gus asked.

“What I’m going to do…” Marin paused to finalize his plan. “Is I’m getting new clothes in Navaren. And by new, I mean not so new, if you understand that.”

Gus nodded. “Poor man’s gear. Tattered stuff, maybe.”

“Indeed. Something I should’ve done earlier.”

Gus was shocked to hear Marin finally admit to an oversight. As strong and wise his King seemingly was, and given his history, he had almost convinced himself that Marin could make no error easily.

It reminded him that Marin was still human – in some sense – and that he wasn’t this being of higher knowledge. In knowledge, perhaps, but certainly not in power. If anything, Marin’s error gave himself another chance to show off his strength.

Meanwhile, Marin knew how curious Gus had been about him, and how easily he could impress on the young lad. It gave him great concern, knowing that if the wrong person came into his life, Gus might end up down a troublesome path. It lead Marin into being careful with what actions he displayed to his humble castle guard.

Upon further analysis, Marin realized he needed to share information with him before he got it from somewhere else, perhaps from a dangerous source. Gus displayed the same passion he had when he was his age, and realized his journey on becoming stronger would not give way.

Marin gave a defeated sigh as he realized Gus needed to hear this stuff from him, and not from someone who would turn his ambition against him.

It had been silent for sometime now as they walked, and Marin with no pleasure on his part, began.

“I know your mind is burning with questions on how I handled that attack, Gus. I welcome you to ask away,” he stated.

Gus lit up immediately. “Are you serious?!”

“I am.”

Gus wasn’t sure where this new Marin had come from, because it was not the one from earlier. His King had been fairly adverse to discussing anything to do with his elemental prowess, and suddenly, he invited any questions. Had Marin finally given in to withholding from him? Or was there other intentions behind the statement.

If there was, he didn’t mind it too much.

“First of all, how. How did you even manage to catch them? They were moving so fast!” Gus darted his arms around, a cheap imitation of the rogues’ speed.

When Marin didn’t respond immediately, Gus kept going.

“In fact, on that last rogue, the girl who dodged all those colossal icicles, you had your hand out in preparation of catching her. How did you know she’d end up right there, in your grasp?”

“It was from a skill called Slow Time.”

“What?!”

“A mental ability in which you accelerate your brain’s operations, to the point that the world around you moves in slow motion.”

That sounded unbelievable. Gus had never heard about that before in all his twenty-some years of being alive, and under normal circumstances, would have rejected such an idea. Seeing as this came from someone of great abilities, however, he carefully considered it.

It also lined up with what he saw, seeing as Marin nabbed each rogue at full speed.

“...That’s really a thing? You can’t be serious,” Gus finally said, all excitement abandoned from him.

“I do not waste my words on tall tales, Gus. You can trust me.”

Gus looked onward, trying to wrap his brain around mastery of such a skill.

“How did that even work when you were fighting them?” Gus continued, still trying to buy into such an idea.

“Well, they were moving really fast, as you saw. Faster than someone could normally process. But if you… focus your mind in a particular way, you can slow down their fast movement to the point where they can be dealt with.”

“That was going to be my next question. How did they move so fast? I’ve never seen that in my life. I heard rogues were fast, but that was ridiculous. No one could ever move at that speed.”

“They can, Gus, and you could too, with secret techniques that aren’t openly available to common society.”

“What?!”

“I understand this is all coming as a shock to you. There is a world you have not known about, and that was due to your living of an everyday, ordinary life. No fault to you, of course. Most people choose not to dig deeper than the world they’re presented with, and because of that, society remains ignorant on it all.

The elements are an exception, of course. Those are too large of a power to hide. The governments won’t openly advertise abilities beyond that, however. It is with intention though, I assure you. Could you imagine if everyone could move at the speed of sound? There would be chaos,” Marin patiently explained.

There was a long silence, and for once, Gus didn’t have words to say. Marin knew he was dropping heavy information on him.

“...In fact, books on the secret skills are illegal,” Marin stated in a quieter voice, almost reminding himself. “...They are top secrets, traded underground.”

Marin looked over to Gus, seeing him stare down at the road while they walked. He turned his head back, gaze focused on the road ahead of them. There was a break in the talking, as Gus pondered.

“Slow time. And the movement of the rogues was another skill?” Gus asked.

“Speed.”

“Oh… how many skills are there?”

“No one knows. Every once in a while a genius invents a new skill, and it’s only passed around if they record how they did it in a book. Known as skill books. They’re valuable, but also illegal, as I stated earlier.”

“And have you read some?” Gus fearfully asked.

Marin darted his head around, making sure no one was eavesdropping.

“...I’ve been in possession of quite a few over the years,” he admitted in a hushed voice.

Gus gulped. If this wasn’t some elaborate prank Marin was cooking up, he was in over his head. So much so, he wondered if he would even be able to come to terms with it all.

“This is… This is a lot to take in.”

“I understand.”

From then on, any conversation became sparse. The two traveled side by side, Marin on the left, and Gus on the right. The fields shifted to a downward slope as they continued on, indicating that they even now were still descending in elevation from the north.

Trees started to appear more often. It wouldn’t be long now before they reached the Roaming River, and in turn Navaren.

Every once in a while, a traveler or cart moving the opposite direction would pass by them. It had become a common sight to see at this point. Most were merchants or transporters, moving various wares to different cities. Strong horses shouldered the burden of the packed carts. The clopping of hooves onto the cobblestone paths became a semi-regular sound.

What was not a regular occurrence, however, was the sound of a legion of them.

Marin and Gus suddenly heard many horses behind a curve of the road. The hundreds of horses trotting against the stone sounded like the roar of an ocean.

“Do you hear that?” Marin asked.

“Sounds like soldiers,” Gus identified.

“RAM?”

“Yeah. A company of them moving to a new position,” Gus explained.

They stopped walking in anticipation, and sure enough to Gus’s claim, within a moment a large wall of horses with metal armored knights stationed on top of them came around the curve. They all moved in line, an impenetrable barricade of ordered might.

Marin marveled for a bit. He hadn’t seen RAM in this sort of condition two hundred years ago. If these were truly RAM soldiers, they had beefed up their forces. The reflective, shining armor of the knights stationed on these steeds were of impeccable quality.

“Oh yeah, that’s RAM,” Gus stated again, sounding more sure than before.

As good as this group of decorated soldiers looked, it was obvious that RAM had come into a larger degree of finance. Marin wondered if it was from higher tax rates or recent expansion of their empire into new resources.

“Quick, over here,” Gus ordered Marin. He stood to the side of the road, to make way for the central government’s armed forces.

Marin followed Gus, catching on that new rules had apparently been established since he had been dead.

“What do we do?” Marin inquired.

“Stand still. Arms to your side. Make no movements as they pass by,” Gus quickly instructed.

Marin started to worry if his mask would arouse suspicion. While they were still out of ear’s reach, Marin asked more questions.

“Will they inquire about my mask?” Marin asked.

“They won’t as long as you stay orderly. I’d hate for them to harass you about it, so just stand still and don’t stick out.”

Marin didn’t need to be told twice. He froze in place as the guards approached the two of them. As they got close, he estimated about one hundred soldiers, with a captain leading the front.

The knights wore tabards with the three letters in gold across them. The armor was shined and flawless. It was obvious this company of warriors hadn’t seen battle yet. Or if they had, new armor had been granted to them. Steel armor of this quality wasn’t cheap, however, so Marin bet on the former reasoning.

On either corner of the perfect formation were flag bearers that held high poles. At the ends of them, lengthy red tails over ten feet long flew behind. As impressive as it was, part of Marin’s mind thought this could even be an advertising stunt, a message to anyone who saw that the government was doing well.

The knight’s faces were nearly concealed, minus their eyes, due to the clad protection of the helm they wore. Besides the guarding of their faces, the helms also caused an intimidation factor – the knights came across as war machines rather than people. He had to remind himself that there were humans under that armor.

It didn’t phase Gus a bit. He had seen RAM soldiers many times before, and this occasion was no different.

Again, Gus proved to be right. As the fearsome knights trailed by in a clean motion, they paid the two of them no heed. Marin wouldn’t take a sigh of relief though until they were far ahead.

A few horses neighed as they marched on. Expenses hadn’t been spared for the steeds either. They were adorned with trimmed cloth, held together by chain mail and leather skins.

Marin estimated a cost of two thousand gold pieces to fully outfit this company. An impressive figure, seeing as that same amount could afford several well built houses in a village.

Finally, the tense moment had passed as the soldiers had cleared the two of them and continued up north. Once they were far in the distance, Gus relaxed his tense form.

“Alright,” Gus said as he walked forward to rejoin the cobble road, signaling the end of their fearful stance. “What are they doing out here?” he asked himself.

Marin stepped back onto the road again as well, and turned to look at the company in the distance.

“They might be going to Orhome. Maybe to reinforce it,” Marin guessed.

“Why though?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

One thing was for certain in Marin’s mind – RAM seemed a lot stronger than it was two centuries ago. He recalled Harrel talking about how they almost went tyrannical – that was before Neo and Arkana somehow teamed up in a threat to remove them. They had certainly grown in power.

Back on the road, Marin asked Gus everything he knew about RAM. From Gus’s knowledge, they had stations set up in Whitewood, and almost every other city.

“If they look that well off, RAM has obtained a large amount of funds. Would you know anything about that?” Marin asked.

Gus shook his head no.

“I suppose Harrel would know more about it.” Marin made a mental note to inquire more about RAM to his financial manager when he returned to Nocturne Castle.

It wasn’t long after they returned to the monotony of walking that they heard a large body of water flowing. The sun had began to near the horizon as they approached the Roaming River – a boarder to Tresdor and the new region they were about to enter.

The flowing water could be heard some distance away – despite not seeing the river yet, they knew they were about to cross it.

While Gus had never left the northern regions, Marin was well traveled from some time ago. Most of the continent had slipped his mind from all those years sleeping, but one thing he vividly remembered was the Roaming River, and that helped anchor the rest of his recollection of the geography.

A wave of comfort rushed over him in relief of knowing that not everything had been changed or altered to a point of unfamiliarity.

The river was impressive. Marin and Gus approached a wooden bridge held together by iron beams, and a flowing channel of water spanning some seventy feet made its way by underneath. It did not look pleasant to be in – the speed that the water moved at was so quick, it looked to drown anything in its way.

“Man this river is huge!” Gus exclaimed, never seeing one of this magnitude before. It certainly paled in comparison to the trickles of water that made up White Forest’s small rivers.

Marin nodded, a slight grin under his mask. “This is a larger part of it. These waters travel so far that several cities and towns make use of it, far southwest.”

“Really? Could we ride it all the way to Tarenfall?”

“It doesn’t go there.”

“Darn. With a river this impressive, it sucks they can’t partake in it.”

Gus ventured ahead on to the bridge. The wooden boards flexed slightly under his weight. When he got to the halfway point, he veered to the guard rail and watched the water flow under him.

He marveled at the greenish-blue waters that made their way further south. Some twigs and debris accompanied the journey. It was not long before Marin had crept up besides him to join his sightseeing.

Gus looked over to Marin, but he made no reaction. He just studied the river as well. For this entire quest, Marin had been against any pauses to the destination for mere enjoyment of the surroundings. For this however, he seemed to put that rule on hold. Gus sensed that this river was no ordinary landmark for King Marin.

“Have you crossed this river before?” Gus asked.

“Many a times. Hard not to, seeing how long it is,” Marin responded.

“Can I see it on the map again?”

Marin allowed Gus to reach in his traveler’s bag and pull the map out. He unraveled it on the thick guard rail, and studied it.

Marin continued to gaze down at the river during that time, and allowed himself to be hypnotized by the moving patterns of water. To him, it all started to feel like memories being flushed away from his mind, each wave and ripple representing a thought he once had, lost to the centuries of being dead.

If only there was a way to reverse the flow of the river, allow his mind to be fully restored. Maybe even create a net to catch the patterns at the end of the path, before it emptied out into the vast ocean where it could never be recovered.

He could’ve spent a few more minutes in deep ponder, but it was interrupted when he saw his map fly into the water below.

“Shoot!” Gus yelled.

When Marin looked over, he saw Gus’s arm reaching down below the top of the rail, where the map had launched itself. Gus quickly ran to the other side of the bridge, to see the large piece of paper float down the Roaming River.

“Well, there goes our map, Gus,” Marin stated.

“Quick, Marin! Use your ice powers and grab it!”

Marin approached the other side of the bridge where Gus was, and observed the map cover distance away from the two of them. A few thoughts ran through his head before he responded.

If he had lost nearly all his memories, nearly all of his castle’s belongings, nearly all his life, and everything about it, what was a map, too?

“It’s okay, let it go. We’ll buy a new one in Navaren.”

“A-are you sure?” Gus asked, feeling awful from his accident.

“It’s just a map, Gus. There are much more important things that could be lost. Things that… have been.”

Gus looked over to Marin. That was a suspicious statement for him to make. After Marin felt his gaze for a moment, he walked off.

“C’mon, let’s keep moving,” Marin finally said.

The sounds of the river faded in the distance as they walked on. Gus felt bummed out from his mistake – he had underestimated the wind that the waters generated, and after letting the map rest alone for a mere second, it flew off the rail.

He replayed it over and over again, and hoped that Marin wasn’t too disappointed. He seemed to not care much about it from the statements he made, but Gus felt that he thought otherwise – and it was a weird phrase he said. Things had been lost. What did that mean?

Gus had to settle on the fact that he may never find out. He eventually pushed the whole event out of his mind, and started to think again about the information bomb Marin dropped on him about those secret skills.

On the road, the two of them reached a signpost. It relayed to them that Navaren was just ahead, and that they hadn’t made an accidental turn somewhere. They had to rely on these since Gus’s blunder, but Marin did all he could to not make the young lad feel bad.

Conversation was sparse, Gus had seemingly received his fill of information for the time being. Much had been unloaded onto him, and he needed a break from his continuous dive for Marin’s knowledge.

Speaking on Marin’s knowledge, it seemed like everything the King shared with him only opened up more doors on what he knew. Gus was starting to get a glimpse of Marin’s vast knowledge, not known to him that so much of it had been lost.

The sun was setting when in the distance, the tops of buildings could be seen. They were an arm’s reach from Navaren’s boarders. The roads became more populated, noises of voices and carts could be heard from every direction. Gus breathed a sigh of relief that they had finally made it. Only two days had passed from traveling and he was already getting sick of the road.

Navaren itself wasn’t as large as Whitewood – it was more of a town than a city, but hosted a large business district along with the residential. Wrapping around the town were farms to grow crops. The soil had become rich since crossing the river, and farmland was abundant because of it.

In the town itself, Marin told Gus that he hoped to find a clothing store before the day ended. After Gus spoke with some of the denizens, he got the information he needed.

“We need a second hand clothing store, nothing new,” Gus asked a bystander.

They were pointed in a direction and they walked with haste. Marin kept his head down and minded his own business while Gus’s sight wandered in every direction. They eventually found the store, and headed inside.

It was definitely a used clothes store. The large room had a musty smell, and racks of clothing hung from long metal bars.

“Alright Marin, let’s find you something poor.” Gus declared as he started to leaf through the clothing.

Marin watched him for a bit, before wandering off on his own. He couldn’t recall the last time he wore such dilapidated attire. He guessed he must’ve when he was young.

Or did he? He was born into nobility, wasn’t he? He looked down at his ring, which contained his family seal. If his family had a seal, he must’ve been rich throughout his life, right? There’s no way he could have worn such garments.

Wait a minute. I don’t think this is even my ring.

Marin began to question everything, and began to realize that he truly knew nothing of his past life. Who he was, how he grew up, even his family. He now was doubting the ring he wore.

No, no. It’s got to be my ring. I remember it. I… remember it.

Marin took a sigh. He was allowing himself to spiral, and needed to step back and recollect himself.

“Hey King Marin, what about this one?” Gus yelled, holding up a stained yellow-white drawstring shirt.

Sullivan Marin focused again, and put out all thoughts of doubt. The shirt Gus held up was too revealing – showing any bit of skin was extremely risky, and he knew that the clothing had to be sealed.

“Find me something more… concealing,” Marin offered.

Gus looked down to the shirt he picked out, then to Marin’s robes, and made the connection.

“Gotcha.”

It took them a while to find some garments that would fit all of his requirements, but after half an hour, they had assembled dark brown tattered clothing that looked to be in poor condition, but also would fully cover his body as his royal robes did.

Marin told Gus that he would keep his current gloves and shoes. After purchasing the clothing, which costed a measly 22 silver, they made their way back outside, and looked for an inn to stay at for the night.

Marin held his new (old) clothes within his arm and torso as they hit the main road. He hoped not too many people would notice the large slash in his garments on his back. It wouldn’t be long before he could change.

Gus successfully found several of Navaren’s inns. The town had a couple that they could stay at, but Marin insisted they not pick the fanciest one. Inside, Gus made small talk with the innkeeper while Marin slid some coins over the counter for the cost of the room. Gus ate a meal alone that paled in comparison to Elmo’s from last night. Marin had taken off to the room alone as he always had.

When Gus finished eating, he waited a while before approaching the door to their room. When he got there, he knocked, and Marin responded that he could enter. When Gus opened the door, he saw that Marin had changed out of his dark blue robes and into the tattered clothing.

It took Gus by shock, seeing his King in such lowly garments. He went from looking like a mysterious noble to a downright rogue.

“Wow, Marin. You...uh,” Gus began.

“How does it look?” Marin asked.

“You look different.”

“Does it look bad?”

“Bad in the way we wanted it to. It’s just crazy that I’m realizing I’ve always identified you by your clothing since I can’t see your face, and now I have to readjust how you look,” Gus explained.

Gus noticed that he had transferred over his gold cross necklace, and ring. It seemed that Marin still needed to keep some familiarity on him. After staring at his King for a moment, he looked to Marin’s old robes on the bed.

“What will we do with those?” Gus added.

“They’re not too big,” Marin stated while grabbing and folding them. “Will you be able to keep them in your pack?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Gus. You’ve been a huge help to me so far, I want you to know that,” Marin said to him.

Gus didn’t exactly believe his words.

“I don’t know. I felt pretty useless after that rogue ambush, and even more so when I dropped our map into the river.”

“Accidents happen. You don’t make them very often. And contrary to what you’ve said, you’ve been quite useful. You handle almost all interactions for me, and I really need that. That’s why I took you in the first place. You’re well experienced in the places I needed you to be,” Marin explained.

Gus shrugged. “Okay.”

Within an hour, Gus was in bed, and ready to fall asleep. Marin actually laid on his bed too, but knew he wouldn’t be getting a wink of sleep.

“You know, you’re a really mysterious guy,” Gus admitted in a sleepy voice.

“Yeah. Yeah, I know,” Marin finally acknowledged, even to himself.

Gus said nothing else. Marin thought about it all for a while. After a few minutes passed, the King spoke again.

“You know, maybe overtime, I’ll unravel my secrets to you. You never know. I know you’d like that, eh Gus?”

Marin heard a snore.