Lord Shadow

‘I guess future me and future you…. are quite intimate’

Erika smiles deviously.

‘Is that why you came?’ Will shakes his head.

‘No’ Will said.

Erika chuckles.

‘It looks like that is why you came’ Will look at the teasing expression of Erika and he knew what Erika is implying. He shakes his head and said

‘I said no’

But Erika couldn’t just stop. She asks

‘In that future dreams of yours, am I a good kisser?’ Erika ask.

Will blushed.

‘I said I am not coming because of that’ Erika chuckles for a second. Then she sighed. It seems like there is regret in that sigh but also longing.

What does she regret and what does she longs for?

She then said

‘That is a future……that does not yet happen. And we should pray it never happens’ Will hearing this nodded though there is a trace of sadness on his face.

‘I agree with you on this’ They look at each other and there is now an understanding…. but just like before there is still an unsaid words and feelings.

Before tonight both of these two rarely cross path and the amount they saw each other is even more rare.

But why could their eyes look at each other like they know each other for years and years? How could their eyes look at each other like they were some kind of sweethearts to each other?

The fact that they met now is a miracle. Whether it be coincidence or fate it is a miracle.

Will then is about to go down from the second floor. He walks slowly, while at the same time hesitating to take that step forward.

It is like a personal struggle to walk forward and go down to the first floor.

Erika look at Will back but before he is about to walking down to the first floor Erika stopped him, holding his arm

She spun him around and she look at him straight at the eye. Then she said with a serious face to Will

‘Tell me…what will you do? Now you know what is going to happen to you? Don’t tell me you are going back to his side? Tell me, you are not that big of an idiot’

Will only smiles bitterly

‘Does it worry you?’ he asked. There is many meaning in those words and Erika don’t know whether she could bear the burden of the meaning behind that word.

Erika nodded and she said

I…do worry about you’ she said it hesitantly. Will could quite understand the dilemma she has but he couldn’t help himself so he asked.

‘Why? Why do you worry about me?’ Will knows the answer. But he wants to hears her said it. He wants to know if he still has a chance of happiness.

Erika look down and she sighed.

‘I saw in the future…. what we became. What we could have together. And what we are to each other. To say I am not tempted…would be a lie. But in this……in this time……I am not with you….and you are not with me’

‘You saw it too?’ Will ask

Erika bitterly smiles.

‘If you saw it, how could I not saw it. There is Karma between us. I don’t know whether it is because you are a speedster or because I am an Oracle. Even if Time messed up, it seems there is Karma connecting us. Or maybe it is Fate. Or destiny. Or maybe it is all of that.’

‘So…you are worried about me?’

‘I am worried about you’ She look at him right on his eyes and hold his hand tightly and squeeze it, praying he would heed her advice and said

‘You are a good man. You are more than that. You were perfect. The kindest man I ever had the pleasure to love’ And then with a hard to say word Erika said

‘And a good father to his son’

Will look at Erika with complicated expression. Before tonight, he doesn’t know much about Erika the All Seeing oracle.

But one night…and one dream…it was like he has spent an entire life with this woman. It was like one of those long tall tales in One Thousand and One Nights

No wonder, his teacher always said to him that the life of Speedster is very complicated.

In another lifetime he and Erika were lovers. It is why he was so awkward and felt weird all during the dinner

They were more than just some casual lovers.

They married each other during a sunset on Athens. They live a happy life together even through all the hardships.

He was happy with her by his side. Her right hand wrapping his left hand and just to be able to be like that make him feel her love.

Each day together, they found little happiness that could be cherished and must be protected. In a big word and in such harsh condition and tribulations, they found each other amidst all that.

It turns out Azief is not the only one that have an epic love story. It might not be as sensational or dramatic as Azief love story, but Will and Erika love is not that kind of love.

It was a sincere love. Even on days when nothing goes well, or even in the day when everything goes well, just being together makes them happy.

As long as they are together they could forget all sadness and sorrows if they share it together.

In that timeline, Will was not that close with Death Monarch and help him travel to the future only once.

At that time Erika is known as the One Eyed Oracle.

After that matter, Erika disappeared from public eyes and they know each other and started loving each other.

Then they lived together with their son, Antonius, the name was given in memory of her friend and bodyguard.

Until something happened that tore them apart.

Erika and Will both don’t know what happened but in the glimpse of the future he saw, Will was howling to the red sky, his son on his arms, dying and bleeding.

And he was crying blood from his eyes. And that son is also Erika son.

But clearly something changed this time.

Antonius did not die in the early days of the Fall and she falls in love with Antonius while Will become sworn brother with Death Monarch and their close friendship and unbreakable bond of brotherhood is known to the world.

Erika was clear and know what she is feeling right now is not her feeling but the feelings of her future self…. but she could not help but somehow reminded her of the gentleness of this man in the future.

In a way it is a resonance of the past

The situation they are in is quite fucked up.

‘Tell….me. What are you planning to do?’ She said squeezing his hand. It is the way the future Erika always used to make Will agree with him.

But they are not those people in their dreams no matter how sweet that dream is.

Will shake his head and said

‘I don’t know what the future holds. But I know this. I won’t betray my brother’ Will said without hesitation.

Erika frowned and she almost shouted to him in worry

‘He will kill you’

‘For what exactly?’ Will ask back.

Erika don’t know so she said

‘I don’t know, you idiot. But he will kill you. And I don’t want to see that happens to you’

‘And what does that have to do with you?’ Will asked, like he is trying to make sure Erika feelings for him.

Erika flared up and punch Will on the chest and she said

‘Idiot. You…don’t know how to appreciate kindness’

Will sighed

‘How do you know that this time it would be the same? Maybe he had changed. After all, we are not exactly like we were in the dream’ Will said and Erika quickly retorted back

‘It is not a dream’ Will smirk and nodded

‘True. It is not a dream’ Will said

‘It is just one possible future’ he admitted. And Will shakes his head

He looks at Erika with a complicated feeling. If he did not know who she is or what she could become to him, he would not feel this conflicted.

But he knows. In another lifetime, she was the love of his life. And he…. was hers. They were each other moon and sun.

In that dream…yes, there is tragedy, death and all those dark things. But they also had each other.

And that is the most important thing

Will always felt like his life was incomplete. It wasn’t until last night after seeing that dream, he knows what he is missing.

Someone that loves him. And that is the true reason he is here to night.

He wanted to ascertain the truth not because he fears Death but because he wanted to confirm whether that love he saw in that dream……in that possible future is real.

It is the question whether that love is real that is more important to him rather than the threat of Death looming against him.

When he knows that the dream was real, then he knows what he has been waiting for all this time. He was waiting for this woman in front of him.

He doesn’t know whether it is because of that glimpse of the future or because it is destiny or fate, but he felt like he belongs with her

And Erika…. who loves another man in this timeline also felt something when she saw him tonight.

When she serves him food she was reminded of a future she secretly wanted. She likes the fact that he even though tried to hide it, he loves her cooking.

It was like all this time…. they were waiting or each other to see each other. It is quite ironic and sad…. that the timing isn’t right.

Then suddenly it rains on the sky. Santorini rarely rains. Someone is sad….and it affects the weather.

The rain like tears falls down slowly

‘Listen to me, Will. Don’t…get near him…Its dangerous’

Will shakes his head. He kind of understand what she is worried about and he could see the plan that Erika have for Azief.

But he could not do what Erika ask of him.

‘He is my brother. He had protected me and shelter me and love me like a family. Erika…I will not betray him’

Erika look at him and they share a look. The tarp is blowing wildly and the rain drops falls onto both of them.

It is a downpour. Antonius is still sleeping and Will and Erika is looking at each other, and the rain is like tears from the sky.

Fate is playing with them. A perfect match made in heaven is stopped because of bad timing.

Erika then said

‘I am not that strong of a woman’

Will smiles bitterly and answer back

‘And I am not that weak of a man. Whatever happens, happens’ he said. Erika slowly loosened her grip on him and Will notices it and smiles bitterly.

Erika sighed and knows whatever she is about to say would be useless. Will is a stubborn man. The shadows of these two people look from afar look like they were side by side

Erika don’t know what else she could say to persuade Will. Because she knows it is useless to say more, she did not say anything else

Will turns around and was about to run away, as his entire body produces an arc of electricity and the area around him get slightly distorted but he heard what Erika said before he took his run.

‘Be careful’ when that words reach his ears, he smiles and a second later he already disappeared from Greece and he turns into a flash of light that cut through the rain and the wind.

The rain also stopped and the sky is clear again.

Erika just look at that the dot of lightning that is dashing through the waves of the Aegean Sea and sighed. She did not understand why her future-self choose to show her this.

She didn’t understand why Will also was shown glimpses about the future.

It is a hard thing to begins questioning yourself. Fate is a little cruel to her right?

She looked at clear sky and could not help but think that her time is near.

It is not yet time but it is coming closer. The Time Crisis. She will make her choice by then and Will will also have made his. Now, only Death Monarch had to make his choice.

Erika don’t see everything even though she acted she saw everything. But she knows some things. This is where Death Monarch would change. This event is the juncture.

She looks at the sea and listened to the waves. She had hope that this peaceful life would continue. She can’t rely on a future written on the sand

She need to forge her way forward. And then maybe, a new path will open for her.

She smiles and she laugh and she cried that night. And only the moon as the witness as these two people spoke about these things and think about these things

***

Finally the revelation of Will and Erika relationship.

Time magic does fuck them all doesnt it? If anything Lord Shadow story is a morale story on how fucked up your life coudl be if you used Time magic

End of thsi chapter. Next chapter will be a long one but also will be the alst chapte rof the month and the last chapter for this Arc. Then I will be resting for a while from writing Lord Shadow and focused on editing the chapters for Age of Adventure and Age of Heroes.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it