Chp.27: Seed.

And after everything, Duncan was alone. He sat there on the couch in his room. The room was quiet and the only sound that occupied the background was the sound of the rain.

The darkness that fell over the kingdom that early in the evening made it very obvious how it was the rainy season.

"It should stop at some point. Otherwise the rivers will flood soon." Duncan mumbled to himself. But after sometime he decided to keep aside the book he had just opened and kept, and looked up at the ceiling.

"Today's day was a bizarre adventure." Duncan thought to himself.

"But I saw her once more." Duncan was slowly getting lost in his thoughts. "She is indeed beautiful, Rachel D'Azure." He closed his eyes leaning his head back.

The serenity in the atmosphere gave Duncan some space to stay calm, to think to himself and maybe lower his guard.

"If only this peace prevailed." Duncan sighed as he decided to give in to the air around him and relax and before he even knew it, he was already dozing off.

-----

There is nothing but fog.

Thick, grey and heavy fog that has been blocking his view for a very long time. He is struggling, trying to swim through this fog just like a fish who is fighting for it's last moments even though it's fin is stuck in the net the fisherman had setup as a trap.

Panting heavily, he is taking his steps one after another. Running to what seemed like a treasure that seemed to be shining golden on the top of the mountain. The end of his race on this steep mountain was a shining gold treasure.

And he is running towards it.

"But why?" A question popped in his mind.

"Why am I running towards something that clearly seems to be impossible to achieve?" He kept on questioning himself. But even so, he couldn't stop himself from running.

"Stop. I want to stop." He kept reminding himself. "I need to stop, I have to catch my breath." He was desperate to save himself. To save his life.

"But you mustn't stop." A voice whispered in his ears.

Someone who came to him as he was struggling for his life, on that cold and desolate foggy road.

"You must not stop my son, not now." The voice gave him warmth, and perhaps the strength to keep moving on.

"Mother? Mother?" He kept asking for the person who might have been beside him.

"Yes my son?" The voice asked with a calm and elegant demeanor.

"Are you there with me?" Duncan asked desperation brimming his question.

"Of course I am always there. I will never leave you alone Duncan." The voice assured him.

"Thank you mother." Duncan was on the verge of crying. "I've been missing you..." he said in a wavering voice as he was still climbing the steep road.

"I've been missing you. Are you living fine mother?" Duncan asked.

But there was a sudden silence. No one seemed to be around him.

"Mother? mother!" He panicked and he suddenly felt as if he was falling down.

"No!!" He screamed as he could feel his voice echoing around him in the cold, icy and foggy mountains. He was falling down. He was falling down into nothingness when he suddenly fell down on a soft cushion.

The atmosphere around wasn't ice cold anymore. On the contrary he felt warm.

"Huh? Where am I?" Duncan sat up and looked around.

There was a fireplace. The room he was in was smaller compared to what he was used to living inside these years, but it was warm.

He looked around as his eyes intentionally looked for someone. It was evening and the darkness had fallen sooner than usual. It was raining outside as well.

There was a couch, a luxurious carpet on the floor and huge curtains over the windows by his bed's side.

"I know this place." He thought to himself.

"Duncan?" A voice called for him. And he immediately looked to the other side.

"Oh my goodness!" A warm and gentle voice sighed.

"Mother!" Duncan mumbled.

"Oh! I thank god. It's great that you've woken up. Come on let's eat the porridge I prepared." His mother said as she placed the tray in which she had brought the porridge bowl and medicine, on the table beside his bed.

"Huh? Why did you prepare it?" Duncan asked.

"Hmm?" His mother seemed more confused than he was.

"Of course I will prepare it for my son." She said sweetly shrugging her shoulders.

"You've always been like this, haven't you?" Duncan mumbled to himself.

"I see you've taken up some of your brother's bad habits." His mother said as she took a spoon full of porridge and blew the steam away to cool it down.

"Huh? You mean Desmond?" Duncan asked as he was shocked. "How can she compare me to him?" He was flabbergasted as he thought to himself.

His mother looked at him in a stern expression. "These are bad habits, Duncan. You need to stop them." His mother said to him in a stern and serious voice.

And something inside Duncan felt as if it was fulfilled. "Yes mother." He agreed without any hesitation as he took a bite of the porridge from the spoon.

"Look at you, you mischievous boy." His mother said as she giggled. "I will become the son who you'll be proud of mother." Duncan said assuring her.

He could feel that he had returned to those times in his life where he wasn't that strong. A teenager with big dreams reflecting in his eyes and aspirations reflecting in his words.

"Of course you will be." His mother said to him as she ruffled his hair and looked at him with appreciation in her eyes. He could tell she was happy.

She wore her gown, marron was it's colour and a blue and black shawl that the king gifted her on the new year's day. She was weak and her smile for trembling, but he knew she was happy. She squinted her eyes when she smiled.

"You have to become the king Duncan and take what's yours.", suddenly the atmosphere turned cold around him.

"Huh?" Duncan was confused.