Nomad

No More

Varian wasn't listening, not this time. Quirin turned away to leave and let his obstinate son cool off and then heard a sound that made him lookback. Right behind Varian, whatever he'd spilled on the black rock when Quirin had come into his lab was starting to form menacing, yellow-orange crystals.

It was a split-second choice. He wouldn't move out of the way fast enough if he warned him, so he would have to risk hurting him to save him. He ran forward and grabbed Varian's arm tightly before giving him a yank hard enough that sent them both flying back to the floor a few feet away, Varian wrapped in his father's arms out of reach of the crystal.

"D-Dad, what--?" He looked up at him, then towards the crystals growing from the rock that was encasing a nearby desk and chair. "I...That could've...I  could've been..." He looked at Quirin with wide eyes full of relief and love and regret for their argument.

Quirin sighed and slowly got up, helping his son to his feet, before he walked over and knelt to pick up his fallen glove.

"Dad? I-I'm sorry..." Varian said shakily.

He pulled his glove on. "I'm sorry, too." He looked back at him. "You're right. You're fourteen, almost fifteen. And I...I can't keep lying to you. Not when doing so nearly cost you your..." He looked towards the rocks, towards the encased furniture. "I know what is sending the rocks here, and it's not something we can fight."

"What...what is it?" Varian asked, his brow furrowed.

He looked back at him, then sighed and removed his glove, showing him a mark on his hand. "I did not originally come from Corona. I came from another land, one full of darkness. Unlike Corona, who worships the Sun, we worshiped the Moon." He walked over and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. "I was one of a few elite people chosen to protect a piece of the moon that the Kingdom housed. The Sundrop Flower's counterpart, the Moonstone Opal." He led him out of the lab and into the house, to his room where he kept the chest hidden from him for years.

He left Varian's side and went to open it, noticing that Varian was looking at the family portrait that he'd moved into the master bedroom when his mother had disappeared. "I thought you put this in the room with mom's stuff." He said softly.

"I couldn't bring myself to lock her away completely." He sighed and opened the chest, pulling out an object and putting in a key to open it, unrolling out a piece of parchment. "The rocks were sent by the Moonstone Opal, in search of the Sundrop Flower. This is one piece of a scroll that could tell us how to defeat the Moonstone and its rocks, but no one has been able to translate it since...since it was written. And I only have the one piece." He offered it to Varian.

Varian took it and looked it over thoughtfully. "Does...does the King know?"

"Yes. I warned him not to take the Sundrop Flower, that the Moonstone would retaliate, but he didn't listen. Ever since, I have been monitoring the rocks at the monument but...the night that it happened, I was at home tending to you, because you were horribly sick. I was unable to stop the Sundrop from touching the rocks and making the Moonstone chase her." Quirin picked up a helmet and showed it to him. "I used to wear this armor, can you believe that?"

Varian looked at it thoughtfully, then looked up at him with a playful grin. "Maybe a few pounds ago."

Quirin rolled his eyes and set the helmet down before he walked over to sit on his bed. "I kept telling you that you weren't ready because...I didn't want that kind of life for you. I'd honestly hoped you'd give up on asking, but I should have known you never would. You're too clever to leave a puzzle unsolved."

"Yeah, speaking of puzzle?" Varian looked back at the scroll piece. "This looks like a cross between Ancient Coronan and a few other things I've seen before. I might be able to decipher it, but it will take some time. Would be easier if I had the whole scroll." He squinted at it.