Remembering what once was
"A smile can mean a thousand words, but it can also hide a thousand problems"
In an unknown time and location:
"I found you Rogen!" declared Grojo with a menacing smile.
"I really hope you don't get caught by me, Rogen! You will regret the day you were born!" shouted Grojo with a savage smile as he continued flying into a definite direction.
Location: Unending Primal Forest, In front of the river of greed
Time: Year 11 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change
"Uh... well... " as Flaven was trying to explain what had happened to the ancestor, he saw something that shocked him to the core.
"Now-now Lucien, why don't you leave my grandson alone?" asked a voluptuous young-looking woman that had silky grey hair and two beautiful sharp-green eyes that could see your darkest secrets. "Ah... Grandma?" questioned Flaven. He was shocked, why would there be more than one ancestor at any time, outside the ancient cave in their tribe? He especially could not comprehend why his grandmother was here.
"Hmph! Stop playing favourites Melisandre! We all know the importance of this situation!!" demanded a big bulky looking man. His hair was wild and deep brown. His bread, matching his hair with tangled knots, making him look more unruly.
"Gran... Grandpa?!" yelled Barion in shock, as he had not seen his grandfather for an awfully long time.
"Hehe! Well, if it isn't my little grandson. Come give grandpa a hug!" chuckled Barion's grandfather with a bright smile.
"Hmph! Hypocrite! Baren you're just as guilty as I am!" declared Melisandre in an angry tone.
"Sigh! Can we not waste time like this, you old farts!" chirped a small squirrel standing between Melisandre and Baren.
"Ugh! Fine!" nodded both Melisandre and Baren, as they knew the importance of the situation.
"So young lads, why don't ya tell us what happened?" questioned the ancestor squirrel, with a Scottish accent.
"Yes, ancestor Hiot!" answered both Flaven and Barion in a serious tone as they both knew, that even though the squirrel in front of them was small and not intimidating, he was the most powerful ancestor in the group of ancestors in front of them.
As Flaven and Barion started explaining what had happened, the expressions of the ancestors changed from serious to dark and gloomy. Their faces showed that something unbelievably bad had happened.
"Uh, ancestors, is everything ok?" questioned Flaven as he noticed the dark atmosphere.
"Hmmm... Flaven, my boy. What I am about to tell you is of most importance," told Lucien with a serious tone, no longer showing his playful smile.
"Yes ancestor!" replied Flaven with a serious tone as he knew, there was no more room for messing up now.
"Good! I need you and Barion to take some elite tribe members with you and chase after that boy. No matter what, you must bring him back safely. If you for some reason cannot bring him back, protect and stay with him! Protect him! No matter what! You understand?" ordered Lucien to Flaven while slowly turning to the other ancestors.
"Yes, Ancestor! We won't fail again!" answered Flaven, knowing that the importance of the mission couldn't allow any more room for failure.
"Good!" said Lucien not turning around anymore as he walked to the other ancestors. "Barion come with me!" called Flaven as he slowly walked to the other members of his tribe. Barion came as soon as possible to Flaven's side and mumbled
"Flaven, how are we going to find that human though?" in a concerned tone.
"It shouldn't be too hard! It's just a human after all!" declared Flaven with confidence. Not knowing that he would very soon come to regret those words.
For this mentality would lead him right into a situation that he would never have been able to fathom to be possible.
Location: River of Greed
Time: Year 11 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change
"Hmmm, I really want to find out what's so peculiar about that young boy," thought Colin while he sat on his chair in his cabin.
"It's not like anything could go wrong, and besides, we still have like a week before we arrive at the harbour anyways," murmured the man to himself. He had a difficult choice ahead of him.
He could listen to his captain's advice; or rather not listen to his captain's advice and go and talk to that strange boy, whom he honestly preferred more.
"What to do, what to do... Aah, who cares! If I am careful, nothing will happen! I won't mess up like last time!" announced the man as he silently sneaked into the direction of Steven's cabin.
As he was sneaking into the direction of Steven's cabin, he failed to notice that his captain could see him from far away.
"Sigh! Colin! I hope you don't regret this decision," thought the captain as he looked away and pretended not to see what his crew member was up to. The captain turned back to his duties and the crew member he was talking to and ignored the nagging feeling developing in his stomach.
Colin was for some reason, extremely nervous. So, it took him a few minutes to collect himself and knock on the cabin door, where they put Steven.
"Knock… Knock…"
"Hmmm...Who is it?" responded Steven as he stood up from his bed and walked over to the cabin's door.
"Oh, it's you… Hello, how can I help you?" asked Steven to Colin.
"Nothing important… I just wanted to know if you… uh, wanted to have chat? Can I come in?" asked Colin with a slightly embarrassed tone as he couldn't help but feel even more nervous than before.
"Uh... sure I don't mind," awkwardly answered Steven. Steven stood back to make space to let the man with the green mohawk into his cabin. As he closed the door, Steven saw that the man sat on a chair in the corner of the cabin.
So, Steven took the other chair on the other side of the cabin and moved it closer to the man, for them to have a proper conversation.
"So, what do you want to know?" inquired Steven to start the conversation.
"He is quite nervous for some reason," thought Steven.
"Uh... what's your name and... uh, how old are you?" asked Colin casually as he had managed to calm himself down.
"I'm called Steven and I'm twenty nine years old. How about you?" responded Steven back. He could not bring up the whole, "... losing ten years of my life while talking to a celestial..." in just a casual conversation. Especially with someone he only just met.
"Really, you certainly don't look your age, ey? But that could be because of your awakening, ya know... so who knows? Anyhow, my name's Colin. I'm twenty five," replied Colin.
It was normal that people did not look their age or even species anymore. Many people got different abilities and changes to their bodies after the awakening.
"A... awakening?" asked Steven as he thought that it might correlate with what happened to his friends and classmates on the day everything changed.
"You don't know, ey? That is weird! Most people call it that, but maybe ya would know it for its official name, ey? Officially it's called the start of the "Era of Change." But we all call it the awakening." explained Colin thinking that maybe Steven previously lived in a secluded place and hadn't been around much.
"What do you mean, officially?" urged Steven in a confused tone.
"Heh? Do you really want to know, ey?" asked Colin with a dark laugh, suddenly he became profoundly serious.
"Uh yeah," answered Steven. He needed to get all the information he could get about what had happened in the last ten years.
"I knew you would but be prepared. Once you hear what I am about to say, you'll never be the same, ey!" clucked Colin as stared seriously at Steven.
"All right. I understand," stated Steven with a serious expression.
"Where to begin? It all started ten years ago... " as Colin stared to explain to Steven about what he meant, he didn't for some reason think of the fact, that he wasn't actually allowed to talk about the statement of what "officially" actually meant, but for some reason, something compelled him to trust Steven and elaborate to him what he meant.
He felt that he could truly be himself in front of Steven and not the pretender that he always showed to everyone else. He could be true to himself and Steven. He felt exposed. Like he did not have to lie behind a smile. It did not make sense to him why he felt that way.
He could finally be the person he once was and had forgotten. He could be the Colin before the awakening. What Colin did not know, was that the instant he went into this mindset, he had already changed his entire future. His life would intertwine with Steven's. He would become part of Steven's so-called "adventure".
Would Colin regret opening himself up to this human?