No Turning Back

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Rider Of The Pale Horse Pt. 1

Thinking about the hellish time spent at the orphanage had opened the flood gates of repressed emotions. And the feelings they evoked left Primis feeling deeply unsettled. In the years since, he had learned to mute his emotions as he found control in eradicating the possibility of low moods. But with that - he had also muted the highs.

Though, these days, Primis had found himself feeling the very emotions which strayed far beyond either side of the baseline. And for the first time in many years, he was able actually absorb and experience the affections and warmth of another person.

Primis' breath still trembled with each exhalation as he tried to calm himself down. Kiana seemed to be in such a deep sleep that even his uncontrollable shivering had not disturbed her. Her exhaustion was obvious with each slow deep inhalation of breath. And as Primis lay listening to her calm breaths and sleepy mumblings - he quickly felt sleep call out to him.

The comfort he felt with Kiana reminded him of happier times. It had become increasingly harder and harder to hold into these memories as the gulf of time swelled. But at night, an exuberant stream of happy memories would spill forth from Primis' unconscious and fill his dreams. And each morning, it would quietly retreat to whence it came; leaving Primis unable to remember yet pining for the fleeting familiarity of the feelings it evoked.

Primis' life had been perfectly idyllic before that fateful wave of cholera swept throughout the village. Primis was born and raised in Lüssum; a small close-knit village outside the port town of Kiel. It was 1896 and the epidemic which plagued much of Africa and Asia had long since begun to terrorise Europe. In the years prior, many neighbours and townsfolk had quietly faded away from village life as they succumbed to the disease. Houses were boarded up and signs were placed on the homes of both the damned and the condemned.

Primis and his family lived in a large house whose many surrounding acres of land seemed to protect the family from the dangers outside. In the years leading up to this point; Primis and his sister Anna had become used to always staying at home. And since having two highly academic parents; Primis and Anna had always been homeschooled - when their parents were not on one of their expeditions, of course. But this meant they had never really interacted with the other village children.

The Richtofens absence from village life had caused a great deal of alienation between the family and their fellow villagers. There were always rumours being spun around the village and many snubbed the Richtofens when they did venture into the market. Many saw them as aloof and snobbish and parents deliberately instructed their children not to play with Primis or Anna - which caused them to be ostracised by the other children. So instead, they became content with playing within the confines of their land.

Their mother, Larissa, had been a devoted archaeologist until she met their father, Jürgen. Jürgen himself was also a highly respected researcher in his own right. As a leading figure in the field of physics and astronomy; Jürgen's mind had been sought out by almost every university world-wide.

In the beginning, Jürgen's research had been rather grounded as he pondered Newton's Laws and tried to fortify the foundations of physics. And he was not alone. Many great minds were born out of the scientific renaissance which continued long into the 1800s.

And with these minds all coming together to discuss their theories and ideas; many ground-breaking concepts in areas such as thermodynamics, atomic physics and quantum mechanics were born. These great minds continued the work of their intellectually herculean predecessors within the physical sciences.

Jürgen had attended the University of Austria to study physics and mathematics. It was there that he met a fellow student called Ludwig Boltzmann - who would later go in to become one of the greatest minds in physics. Both men worked alongside each other and formed a strong friendship which remained long after they graduated with their doctorates.