westwhere | Let's get down to business

WHO: Hendrik & yourself
WHEN: June
WHERE: The farm
WHAT: Training
WARNINGS: None, will change if needed

Making a temporary place for himself in an unfamiliar world was a huge task. But the one task the knight would never tire of is that of ensuring the safety of the Luminary. The boy would have been a Prince of Dundrasil had a cruel fate not befallen him. Torn from his family as an infant he was raised in a small village after being rescued from the water. Greater still was destiny's hand as he survived and grew to manhood. After more than a few wrong turns, Hendrik realized his great error in doggedly pursuing the boy with the very misguided intent of killing him. The knight had sworn himself to the Luminary, they became friends and the boy did his duty of delivering their world from an evil known as Mordegon. With the darkness conquered that had taken his own family, friends (including his childhood friend Jasper) and home, Hendrik remained vigilant even if he had yet to realize he and his companion weren't from the same time frames.

This vigilance included training so one day he was out to try and refocus on this task of trying to make the abnormal seem a little more familiar. So swordplay was the order for the day as much else wasn't being done at the current time.

So with an extra weapon or two thanks to the Luminary's forging ability, Hendrik is out practicing with his axe and shield. Turning when he hears footsteps, the tall knight would nod at whoever approached.

"Are you here to test your blade?"

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The purple hair shook gently as he watched Eleven try to piece together the puzzle they found themselves in. Nothing made sense otherwise to his mind, though he hadn't quite ascertained the reality of those words he'd heard on the ship.

Not until now.

"And I came in after we defeated Mordegon." That vexed him. "So you remember nothing of Cetacea? Or of defeating the Lord of Darkness?"

Hendrik was almost worried at this point.

Eleven slowly shook his head, trying to think through this seeming impossibility. Hendrik, from a time in Erdrea's future, wherein Mordegon had already been defeated? He had questions- a great many of them- but would knowing the answers change that when he returned? Should he even know this much?

"Yggdrasil has only ever shown me the past," he said, brows furrowing. "I haven't seen a single tockle here since I arrived. I don't understand.."

"Nor do I. But if you left when we were on Pang Lai, then you had not yet recovered your companions at the heart of Yggdrasil." And again he couldn't bring himself to explain what happened to Veronica. "We had gone beyond that. You had summoned a great winged whale and we flew on it's back to defeat the Lord of Shadows. Where I left off, we were headed back to see His Majesty King Carnelian to reunite him with his daughter Princess Jade."

Hendrik then tried the tiniest smile. "And if our timelines somehow merge here, you will regain your Luminary powers."

Eleven stared. A great winged white whale that could fly. ..It was difficult to imagine.

His fingers curled against his chest.

"So they will return.." It felt like he already knew too much, and so he may as well ask. "How is it.. that I regained them in your time?"

Time. Goddess, they were speaking about different times. He no longer felt certain of anything.

Hendrik felt uncomfortable talking about the deceased rulers of a once great kingdom. And it was even more uncomfortable because that whole night had started the 'Darkspawn' name with King Carnelian becoming possessed by Mordegon.

But the Luminary deserved the truth. "Your parents spirits in Dundrasil called for aid. We answered the call, finding that your father King Irwin's soul was trapped by a beast. When he came to his senses and was freed, that is when your powers came back to you."

Eleven's gaze dropped, brows furrowing as he fought to digest that information. His parents' spirits? It was difficult to imagine, given he had no memory of them. To think that somehow freeing his father's soul would hail the return of his Luminary spirit.

"How curious," he said finally, lowly. "So their souls are free to return to Yggdrasil."

His eyes snapped up. "Yggdrasil. After Mordegon was defeated, were we able to restore Her?"

Hendrik nodded. "Your father was able to rejoin your mother." It was heart breaking to hear Queen Eleanor speak of how much she loved her son, recalling that he'd also met the woman named Amber who'd raised him in the village of Cobblestone. This gave the Luminary a normal childhood that he might not have had even had his parents lived.

After all, great things would've been expected of a crown Prince of Dundrasil. Plus coupled with being born the Luminary, the expectations might've been far too much for the young man to bear.

But he nodded again. "The Tree was indeed well once more."

"Thank the Goddess," Eleven breathed through a hoarse rasp, as what felt like every muscle in his body went lax. It was rather a good thing he'd never managed to make it to his feet. Suffused with a relief so profound, he wished for little more than to lay on the ground until the feeling passed and his strength returned. He settled for sitting there, breathing and letting the numbness flood through his limbs.

"I was so worried," he confessed, hands shaking through the vestiges of his professed anxiety. "Xie Lian said.. nothing could be done, if a God fell in mortal form. I thought I'd doomed Erdrea. That even if we won, Yggdrasil wouldn't- would never.."

He shook his head, swallowing hard. "That death would rule, like it does this world. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to live with that. Goddess.."

Hendrik crouched down to talk to the Luminary. Since the boy obviously couldn't stand, the least he could do was match the height to something a little more even. He nodded quietly at Elven being worried and stressed because he had felt the same way. "I understand your concern. But rest easy knowing that in my time you fulfilled your duty and we were safe and sound in the Last Bastion with His Majesty King Carnelian."

Unfortunately he couldn't say the same for Veronica. But putting the other's mind at rest for home was the best thing that he could do so he gently placed a gloved hand on the Luminary's shoulder for a brief moment. "I assure you the World Tree is completely intact." It really bothered him to see the boy so shaken but he did understand.

"Death and darkness are no more in Erdrea." Here however was of course a different story entirely.

Eleven's head bowed, shoulders slumping with untold relief. He inhaled heavy, hard breaths for several long moments and clasped his hands to his chest, folded beneath his chin in silent prayer.

A prayer that the future Hendrik had seen remained unaltered by his time in this world, a prayer for that version of himself that had surely suffered, but managed to regain his spirit and earn his mantle, and a prayer to Yggdrasil, reaching for Her benevolence, an unending relief and gratitude for Her continued existence and blessing upon the world he so cherished.

His eyes opened wet with unshed tears, but with a slow, steadying sigh, he held together.

"..Thank you."

Hendrik watched in fascination as Eleven bowed his head and folded his hands. He was more than sure a prayer was being said and in his eyes those were private matters. Especially with the boy being so connected to the World Tree, it was hard to imagine that somehow he couldn't commune with it all of the way back home. But he remained characteristically silent and patient as this happened and waited until the boy looked up.

And the thank you struck a private blow because he couldn't tell the other about Veronica's fate. And so he really in honour couldn't accept the heartfelt sigh and those unshed tears alarmed him all the more when he thought about the little mage with the huge heart.

"You have much to do before you get to that point here."

Eleven's eyes lowered, swallowing past the lump in his throat. He was too weak as he was now, lacking the power he'd barely understood before it was stolen from him. It seemed as though Hendrik could sense it too.

"I know," he said heavily, and breathed another careful sigh. "I need to use the time I have in this world to regain that power."

"And during that time, I will be your sword, your shield and your unswerving companion." As Hendrik always had been really and of course this was no different. Except it was different since they were obviously no longer on Erdrea. But when they returned, the knight was more than sure that his charge would be back up to full speed and power because if the World Tree was here, why would She not bestow Her power back onto the one deemed worthy enough to wield it?

He wasn't quite sure how to comfort the boy but all he could do was reassure and that was the one thing he could and would do.

Let's get down to business

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