I Know a Shortcut

That night, while Rudeus slept soundly, Paul was kept up by his stirring thoughts.

'Rudy is from the future? Can I really believe that?'

'That would explain everything though..'

'If this is true, then that would make Rudy older than me! Can I really consider myself his father if he's older than I am?'

'What does he even think of me? Does he think of me as his father or just another child he has to protect?'

'Should I tell Zenith when I get back home? No. She would be happier not knowing.'

Paul laid awake the entire night with these types of thoughts spinning in his head.

When I woke up the next morning, I found Eris at the side of the road doing practice swings with her sword. Paul meanwhile was sitting beside the carriage looking at the ground with bags under his eyes.

"Are you ok, father? Did you not sleep well?"

"Haha... No I didn't. I had a lot on my mind."

"I guess that makes sense, after everything we talked about."

After a short pause, Paul took the initiative to break the awkward silence.

"Well, I guess now that you're awake, we should probably get going and continue on our way to Shirone."

"Why don't you try to get some sleep in the carriage and let me drive?", I offered.

"I'm fine", he replied.

"No, I insist. You look dreadful, and besides, I have plenty of experience driving carriages and I know the way to Shirone."

Paul reluctantly agreed and tried to get some sleep in the back while I drove the carriage. Eris sat up front with me. She stood up on her seat while we traveled, claiming it was for balance training.

Not too long after setting off, I made a right turn off path into the forest.

"Hmm...? Why'd you go into the forest?", Eris asked.

"It's a shortcut."

"How do you know about a shortcut here?"

"Oh, uh... The Pope told me about it when I went to get my arm healed."

"I see!", Eris said as she folded her arms in front of her and stuck out her chest. "The Pope seems to be a nice guy."

I couldn't help but cringe a little when I heard that.

"I suppose so...", I answered.

The deeper into the forest we traveled, the bumpier the ride became. Eventually, Paul yelled out from the carriage.

"Rudy! How am I supposed to get any sleep when you hit every single bump and divot in the road!? I thought you said you knew how to drive a carriage!"

Eventually, when Paul got up to take a look outside and realized we were in the middle of the Forest, he made his way to the front of the carriage by Eris and I.

"Rudy, where the hell are you taking us?"

"It's a shortcut!", Eris yelled back with a big smile on her face.

Paul didn't know how to respond to that. She had answered him so earnestly and excitedly, he kind of wanted to just go along with it.

"You know where you're going?", he asked me.

"Of course. You'll have to excuse the bumpy ride, but we're almost there."

"Already!?", Eris shouted. "This was a really good shortcut!"

I couldn't help but laugh a little in response.

Paul decided it wasn't worth the effort to try and sleep in these conditions, so he sat up front with Eris and I. The front of the Carriage had room for three people, although it was a little crowded. While she didn't say anything, it was obvious that Eris wasn't happy about the new seating arrangement.

After another hour of slow progress through the woods, we happened upon a wooden cabin. As I stopped the carriage in front of the cabin, Eris looked surprised and started complaining.

"What? This is where we were headed? I thought Shirone was a big city!"

"This is the shortcut I was telling you about."

"Huh!? How is this a shortcut?", Eris yelled back.

"Follow me, and I'll show you", I said as I hopped down from the carriage.

We parked the carriage outside the cabin and I untethered our horse.

"What are you doing that for?", Eris asked.

"We can't bring him with us, so I'm going to let him free."

"What? That's cra-", Eris continued shouting at me, when Paul interrupted.

"I take it there's a teleportation circle inside that cabin?"

"Yes. There is."

Eris quieted down as her facial expression changed to that of intrigue and curiosity.

"Grab your things from the carriage and follow me inside", I directed.

There was too much for us to all carry by hand as Paul had packed enough food and supplies for a long journey, so I gathered together what we couldn't carry by hand and lifted it with gravity magic.

Eris ran up to the cabin and walked through the doorway (The door had long rotted away and fallen off).

"What is this supposed to be? There's nothing here! This place is empty and falling apart!", she angrily shouted.

"That's because this place is protected by a barrier. Come over here, I'll show you."

I walked up to a stone slab that was propped against a tree a short ways from the cabin. There was a carving on the stone depicting the Dragon God's motif. I placed my hand upon the stone and voiced an incantation.

"The wyrm lived only for his ideals. None could escape the reach of his mighty arms. He was the second to die; a Dragon General, his scales green and gold, his life the most ephemeral of dreams. In the name of the Holy Dragon Emperor Szilard, I break his seal."

The instant the final word left my mouth, the world began to distort before our eyes. The rundown wooden cabin before us transformed into a well kept wooden cabin with a closed door in place.

"That's amazing!", Eris shouted.

Paul meanwhile could just stare in awe with his mouth agape. "Incredible.." he muttered.

We entered the cabin and drawn out into the floor was a huge, glowing magic circle.

"Is this it? Is this the teleportation circle!?", Eris shouted as she ran up to it.

The moment she stepped inside of the circle, she vanished before our eyes.

"Ugh... There she goes again. Always running ahead on her own without thinking", I sighed.

Luckily, I had already linked this circle to our intended destination in advance, seeing as Eris just ran straight into it the moment she saw it.

"Will she be alright on her own?", Paul asked, surprised by what he just saw.

"Yes, she'll be fine. We're coming right behind her, after all"

I motioned for Paul to follow me, and I dropped our luggage into the circle, and then stepped in myself, making sure to touch the barrels of supplies as I stepped in.

The next thing we knew, we were all inside of a dark, cold room. I lifted up our luggage and walked towards the stairs leading up to the floor above.

"Well, are you guys coming, or what?", I asked with a smile on my face.

Paul looked a little dazed while Eris had fallen onto her rear.

"We just teleported?", Eris asked. "It feels like I just woke up from a dream."

"Yeah, it does feel rather awkward at first", I answered.

"You've done this before?", Eris asked, confused.

"Of course! I am the Magic God, after all!", I answered back proudly while somewhat avoiding the question.

Luckily, that answer seemed acceptable to Eris as she stared back at me in admiration with starry eyes.

"Here, wear this. It's quite cold outside", I said as I reached into one of our supply barrels and brought out two fur robes, approximately sized to fit each of them.

"Where did you get these?", Eris asked.

"I bought them a while back, knowing we would need them when we got here."

They each accepted the robes I offered and put them on. We made our way up the stairs and outside the stone building to find ourselves in a snow covered forest.

"It's beautiful!", Eris yelled in excitement as she stepped out into the snow.

"Is this...", Paul began to ask, trailing off.

"Yes, we are back in the northern region. We're deep in a forest, about a five hour walk from Sharia."

"Sharia? What about Laws? I thought we were going to Shirone to pick him up."

"We will still pick him up, but I wanted to get home and see everyone as soon as possible. You and I can go pick up laws after stopping by Sharia for a short time."

"I see. I can't argue with the fact that I've missed everyone."

"Eris, follow me! We should be back home before the end of the day!", I yelled out.

She looked up from the snowman she was already trying to build. "Really? That's amazing!"

With that we began making our way through the snowy forest. I continued to carry our luggage behind us with gravity magic while I cleared the way of snow in front of us with basic fire magic.

Truth be told, I'm just as excited as Eris. I can't wait to see Sylphy again!