The carriage rumbled as we shot a loose stone from underneath a wheel.
The story I had read before passed my mind as I heard Edward.
"A lost name?"
"Yes—a lost name."
"Both the hero and their companions have been forgotten—only some stories remain."
"Is Eden the wise that one I know?"
"No, that should be impossible. All of the companions died—either time would have done them in, or external factors."
"Time... how long ago was it?"
"If I had to guess... it should be around ten generations past—" His eyes narrowed, almost doubting his own words as he said,
"At least 700 years ago."
"700 years ago?!" My mouth had opened slightly, not knowing what the lifespan of a normal human was.
He took a long breath as he continued.
"Exactly, no human would survive that. No—no living creature can survive that long—with the possible exception of some."
"But do you think that it's just a coincidence then?"
"Hm... how would he know of that name—"
"It's not something he should be able to know."
"Then why do you know about it...?" I asked, looking for his gaze to meet.
He was silent, avoiding my gaze, while I narrowed mine.
But then as if a switch had been flipped, he matched my gaze, intensely enough to make me glance away for a fraction of a second.
"Because I'm part of the Cross family—descendants of Eden the Wise."
I closed my eyes for a second as a knock echoed through my head,
What did I just feel...?
"But why is he forgotten by others? If you, his family know about him?!"
"There are reasons for it..."
"Reasons?"
"There are some people who want to erase all of the hero's legacy—" He had clutched his hands together.
"So we need to live in hiding—hiding of those in power, in wait for him to come back!" A vein had appeared down his face, his irises trembling.
I looked over at Katherine and heard her sigh—the moment I looked at her, her gaze looked away from me.
"Uh... what do you think we can do about Mim?"
He held his head, and sighed.
"I have no idea."
"We will try to find a solution in Kardiotza. Maybe another craftsman understands what is going on." Katherine said, matching my gaze again.
It was as if rain had cleaned her previous expression, but unable to take it all.
"What did you see when you read it...?" I asked both of them.
"I could see the letters, but I couldn't understand what it said..." Katherine said.
"I was able to read parts of it, but the other parts were unknown to me." Edward looked at his finger that kept tapping his lap.
"Why... are your layers too low?"
"No not necessarily. It has to do with us not being craftsmen—otherwise we would not have been able to read it, it would just seem foreign to us," Edward said, with a sigh.
"...That's great to hear..." I sighed as well, unable to imagine how strong Eden was supposed to be otherwise.
"Your worries are unnecessary, Tjer—you can trust us." Katherine smiled, looking over at me and the sleeping Mim.
"I know... you are both far too strong." I smiled back to her.
"It's not just... that..." She said, shining a gentle smile on me, hiding her eyes beneath her eyelids.
"Sorry for the interruption but we have arrived in Kardiotza," Albert said.
Already?
I peeked between the curtains and was met by a gigantic wall in front of me.
One bigger than the frontiers, and Antoria.
At least double their size—high enough for the top to be blurry.
Not only was it huge, the walls reflected the lights of the setting sun white as it met the white mineral covering it.
"What are those white stones?" I asked for anyone to answer.
"Narmalaine that is the name we gave it."
"A mineral discovered after excursions into some vauren lairs." Katherine said, while she looked behind her at the view I saw.
"I mean beast."
"We can just start telling him now—vauren is what you call a beast, but that was too broad of a term—vauren is the term we have given for the entities that nest themselves into our world." Edward turned alongside Katherine, both looked at the wall with me.
"Wait—into our world?" I pulled my head back from the wall, and looked at them.
They both turned around, and Edward spoke now.
"Yes, it's strange but whenever a vauren arrives into our world, they change the conditions of location—it's almost as if it becomes another world."
"Conditions of location... I hadn't noticed anything before."
"Uhm... the roc for example—did you see anything when you looked down the mountain?"
I held my chin between my fingers, and thought back for a second.
"There were just clouds below us."
"That is an example—the mountain is not supposed to be high enough for that." Edward separated his hands to show the height of the mountains.
"They do vary—from simple forests, to whatever else your mind can think of—even things beyond that."
But before I could ask anything, I saw Katherine's grip tighten around her dress.
What did I want to ask again? There were a few seconds of silence as I tapped my finger against my lips.
"Ah! Where do they come from?"
"No one knows where they came from—" Her grip loosened itself, laying her hands flat on her dress.
"It was there already—far before our birth."
"But for now you should just enjoy the area around you." She said, smiling as she pulled my curtain slightly, pointing outside.
"Mim! We are at Kardiotza! Look now!" I woke Mim up, knowing that she would get mad otherwise.
As she opened her eyes, the last rays of the white walls reached them—taken over by the city lights.
They shone even brighter than the light the walls reflected.