Chapter 5: Dreadful week

The Easter Holiday was a major event that involved a multitude of treasure hunts which Barbados had to participate in as a teacher of the Academy. It symbolised the freedom of exploration and discovery. Barbados believed this to be a useless celebration, partially due to his forceful participation, but also due to there being no real sense of freedom. Barbados had tried to leave this world's boundaries and was punished by his mother's race, the angels, for going against their self-believed perfect views. It was only natural for him to have a low amount of hatred towards the mortal's beliefs. Although different, the two still held similarities: the constant worry of death. Barbados was lost in thought as he waved to the passing populace who enjoyed the diminished view of a devilish creature wearing bunny ears. It struck a nerve in Barbados, and in an attempt to keep calm, he left the strange event the humans called a 'parade'. Adam appeared behind, took hold of his hand and shifted places in mere seconds. "Teleportation? And done by a human?" he thought as he was kilometres away from the crowded street into Adam's office.

"The Knight order wishes to speak to you." spoke Adam in a pessimistic tone, his face sullen and devoid of the calm composure form before. Barbados was still trying to understand how he teleported without the use of a divine object.

"How did you move me here? Teleportation? But how would that work using mana?"

"This isn't the time for showing your old age."

"Oi, I'll have you know I'm relatively young, only a millennia old."

"You have received a summons to the Sleeping Monarch Castle in the Capital. They wish to meet you now or as fast as possible." This time, his voice had a hint of dread that unknowingly seeped through to his sentence.

"Who wants to meet me?" asked Barbados believing this to be the chance to escape this dreadful celebration.

"The Knight Council in charge of education in the Academies across Germany."

"Wait, I'm in Germany? Where is the beautiful arching architecture and the vast amount of culture that was comparable to Greece."

"What's Greece,"asked Adam but didn't let Barbados answer, "Nevermind that, you need to prepare to depart immediately."

"If someone wishes to meet this old hero, they can come to me directly." he said smugly.

"What hero, you are a fraud. I went and checked the history in the national records of the capital. Your name is nowhere to be found." Barbados's blood froze. "The only reason you are here is because I wanted to keep you under my watch while I tried to find your origins. Sansar is your name, not your father's, right?" Barbados's blood melted and boiled inside him as the disowned name had resurfaced from the depths of forgotten history.

"Do not call me that. Not you, not anyone in this godforsaken world is allowed to refer to me as that." He had lost the composed and cheery archaic way of speech, which even startled Adam. "The past deserves to be forgotten, otherwise you can awaken despicable predicaments."

"Why hide behind this facade?"

"How would you feel to be assumed with a race composed of 7 immortal beings that are responsible for the creation of every Dined War, all due to a conflict of interest between their parent races."

"What is this war you speak of?" asked the old fool.

"Angels and Demons fighting for their so-called rightful ownership of us."

Adam's blind and blank face stared in bewilderment, leaning back in his chair as he tried to interpret the knowledge no other human knew.

"You may think you're lucky for knowing this, but I assure you every human that has ever got involved in this upper realm conflict has perished a fate worse than death. You may follow the same path if you pry any more than needed."

"Are you threatening me?" asked Adam while he raised an eyebrow at the provocation.

"Yes. Keep out of this and do not mention this to anyone else. You may think mana is powerful, and I do too, but it doesn't surpass the power of a creature associated with the destruction of reality. Now, what will you do? Tell those cocky arrogant men in iron armour to come here or will you try to attack me. It's your gamble." Barbados awaited for the conflicted man's choice, only to be met with a depressing "I don't know". Barbados teased him, asking where that bravery from before disappeared, where his valiant soul had run off to.

"This is just depressing, you had such a strong and outstanding aura, but deep beneath you are mortal after all."

"I do feel bad for lying about there being another war, but given that I'm alive, breathing and walking, there probably will be one. Tell the Knights that if they want to see me, they'll have to drag their bastard asses here."

"What do you plan to do now?" asked Adam after a long pause.

"I'll stay as a teacher. I have a soft spot for those who are forced to learn the art of a particular weapon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to drown my sorrows for remembering those grotesque memories." And so, Adam only saw the back of Barbados as he left on a solitary path. Maybe he shouldn't have angered him, but it was too late to turn back. He picked up the strange rotary communication device and dialled the Knights Council.

"Barbados has asked me to convey you all a message. These were his exact words, ahem, if they want to see me, they'll have to drag their bastard asses here. Thank you for your time." Adam hung up and wiped the icy sweat of his forehead. He felt the worst fight brew far away.

****

Barbados was deep in his booze, but sobered up only 5 minutes after finishing his 20th drink. "Damn this perfect body" he thought as his intact mind zipped around with horrible visual imagery. He stumbled out of the bar's thin door and made his way back into the heart of the city. There was a golden clock decorated with pink and blue paper chains. There were fake rabbits laid under arranged in a circular formation, all holding onto a chocolate egg. "Tsk, materialistic freedom" thought Barbados as he left and made his way towards an alley surrounded by high-rise buildings adorned in dark glass. A large sign was hung from one side to another saying 'Happy Easter' with the date 'Sunday 16 April 2017' attached at one of the corners. It only just hit Barbados that this was the very first indicator at what time period he had woken up in, but it still wouldn't allow him to figure how long he was trapped in his confusing prison. Humans used a different calendar than Angels and Demons which was surrounded around the birth of a single person, which Barbados thought was just simply weird. His walk was becoming tedious as the symbols of Easter were everywhere. Barbados truly wondered if the other races that used to be shunned by humans were happy to celebrate such a tasteless tradition. But his wonder was shortly interrupted as he saw a group of what looked like Dwarves and a strange race composed of tentacles walked by wearing bunny ears. "Brilliant" he sighed as he continued walking onto the path he knew nothing of.

He made his way through and the more he walked, the more he wanted to escape all the loud sounds and jarring music. If only his wings actually functioned and weren't just useless hunks of mass that held him back. A single composed step at a time, he walked against the flow of civilians. At the end of the suffocating tunnel of bouncing light, on the right was a secluded path that opened to a vast green plateau with natural hillage. He entered without thinking and continued walking until he reached an isolated bench underneath an isolated coast redwood that reached over 100 metres. The bench's dedication plaque was eroded to the point of unrecognition. This wasn't a problem for Barbados, as he rubbed the rust away and deepened the engrave using a pin he had in his pocket. He picked up a stone from the floor, crushed it into a fine powder and added a drop of his blood to transform it into a red beryl crystal that he shaped to fit the engrave. It read 'In memory of Garde. Fought for his people, for his freedom from oppression.' It saddened Barbados to see the decrepit state he had found the only mark left by Garde. He rummaged through his stash of weapons and artefacts he made before making weapons specifically meant for death. He picked the remnant of a fallen comet and used the icy tool to mark the bench with a rune that would ensure the condition of the plaque to be frozen.

He sat down on the grass nearby the tree and just stared. The day had run and night was slowly approaching. His sense of time had dulled and the days passed by quickly for him, but this moment lacked the fast paced feeling. He enjoyed that. In the distance he heard the light stepping of a person that blissfully approached the tree. When she made her way up, she saw the deathly wings attached to Barbados's back and the dim light from his maroon halo as he was looking towards the illuminating city. The woman left a small package by the tree and joined him on the grass.

"What brings you here to this isolated patch of land?" she asked as she looked towards his face. Barbados faced the woman and was surprised to see the face of a druid.

"Easter isn't my type of celebration. What about you?" he asked as the shock of a druid being in an artificial city still coursed through his mind.

"Just here to visit my father. He was buried there and grew into that tree. It's become a tradition of mine to bring little gifts and leave them there next to his resting place every Sunday. Are you new to the city? I haven't seen you around before."

"You could say that. It feels like I've wasted a major part of my life sleeping and just woke up to reality. Was your father's name Garde by any chance?" he asked. The woman was taken back and shocked to hear her father's name come from a stranger.

"Oh, yes it was. How did you know?"

"I fixed the plaque on the bench over there," he said as he pointed to it, "if you mind I can go change it back."

"No, it's fine. I appreciate it. I hadn't been able to clean it and was thinking of asking someone to help me with it." They both stared towards the city in silence, not an awkward silence, but a silence of peace. "I'm sorry to pester you, but what race do you originate from? In my hundred and twenty years living here I have never seen anyone that looked like you."

"I'm a subspecies of Demons."

The woman stared in shock.

"Demons? They actually exist? How has no one seen them though?" she asked intrigued.

"I don't know." he said as he continuously looked toward the city with his hands on his knees. "I'm the only one that's roaming the earth as far as I know. They're all probably in Hell, lazing around and ignoring their worries." he said in a chuckle. They both went back to staring at the city.

"How did you find yourself in the city? I thought druids despised humans and technology."

"That's an ancient stereotype. We help them by ensuring their technology doesn't affect the equilibrium of nature." Back to staring. She looked down at her watch and was shocked by the time. "My goodness, it's late. I'm sorry if I bothered you."

"I enjoyed your company. It was appreciated. If you have to go it's fine." he said while warmly smiling.

"I'll see you around bye!" she said as she waved while hurrying down back to the city. Barbados would have continued to look but his small tablet that people called a phone rang.

He checked it and saw a notification from his clock app saying that if he went to bed now he would get 8 hours of sleep. The realisation hit him. Tomorrow was the day he went back to teaching. He decided to get up and turn to the tree, wished it a good life, and slowly made his way to the city. As soon as he reached the city, he saw the druid meet with a group of other younger druids that all seemed joyfull. He turned and walked into the lively night city. Then a thought struck him. He rapidly turned to see her, but their little group had disappeared into the crowd

"I never asked her what her name was." he said to himself in a low tone. He turned back and made his way back to the Academy.

****

Jorvik and Nam were out on a run when he got back to the campus. It was well past 1 in the morning, so he caught up to them and asked if they had classes tomorrow. This shocked them, for the thought of school had escaped their mind and they had completely forgotten. They thanked their teacher for the reminder and dashed to go to sleep. Barbados didn't need to sleep. He only engaged in it to feel like a mortal, to feel normal. But this night had a special sensation that he didn't want to leave. He sat by a stone water fountain, with moon-glistening water that had ceased moving. But after the cramped feeling of his wings annoyed him to the point of ripping them off, he stood and walked to his chambers