Titan's Throne

Chapter 108- Inner Demons

Bastian sat in the Cole family garden. It was a charming botanical wonder full of flowers Bastian had never seen before and well trimmed trees and hedges in neat little rows. Soon the plan would be put into action, and Bastian's mind had been racing. Several gardeners were tending to the maize of stunning flora. His clothes were fine and comfortable, provided by Tyson Cole while Bastian had been living under his house to prepare for the ensuing battle that was to come. His hair was growing again, in fact he found it grew quite quickly, but Bastian had become accustomed to keeping it short.

He had been taking walks in Tyson Cole's garden more frequently in the past few days, choosing to seclude himself in meditative isolation as much as he possibly could, and he knew why. Since the deafening roar – no, that was too recent – since he had woken up in a foreign body in this foreign land and trapped with this foreign soul inside him that claimed to have become a part of his own, Bastian had found himself restlessly pursued by situation after situation. It had dawned on Bastian that Minister Lee was right; the title of mark bearer (and the mark that came with it) would lead to him always be in the fray of things.

It had seemed that Bastian had been at the nexus of each situation, and the thought of what life would be like once the shield had worn off made him shudder. In turn, Bastian took these quiet moments whenever he could get them, for all he knew he wouldn't have moments of calm like this for a long time.

He sat down on a bench in the very middle of the maize. It was a wide clearing in the shape of a circle, with six paths leading in different directions. In the centre of the circle was a small pond. Large koi fish practiced their ancient dance, gracefully gliding around each other. As Bastian the earthling, (that's what he called the Bastian from his former life.) he had never been one for nostalgia. Now here, it seemed his previous home was all he could think about on days like this when he would let his mind wander.

Today he remembered, with a bitter smile, how he had often run away from his mundane life in search for adventure, hoping to stumble upon some grizzled old sailor who would ask him if he had any cheese like in 'treasure island', one of his favourite books as a child. He also would have been just as glad for a grey Wizard and his company of dwarves, to come and take him on some epic adventure like in 'the hobbit', another one of his childhood favourites that had been the basis for many of his fantasies.

Of course he had never gotten his call to adventure, not in that life anyway. So instead he buried himself deep in something he found just as interesting. It was science. He knew it sounded cheesy, but if he had to say where his love for the sciences had originated from hours spent in front of a box with a pair of bunny ear antennas perched on top of it watching Bill Nye the science guy.

That had been the fuel, slowly seeping into his heart, and the book, Bastian thought, had been the spark that ignited the flame of scientific wonder in him. It had been an old National geographic magazine. Bastian had picked it up in the waiting room for a dentist's appointment when he was twelve. The main article for that day had been black holes. Instantly Bastian had been amazed. He had begun to give up hope that anything other than the mundane normality of his current world existed but hearing of the cosmos and all its splendour he was immediately filled with wonder and the world had regained its magic.

Now the Hunger had come. Bastian rapidly found himself with a deep desire to know more – to know everything, even. Theoretical Physics had become his favourite, above all else. All his life, he had been searching for it, and here it was: Magic, or at least the closest thing there was to it. The mystique and charm of it all enchanted and held him, and the hunger consumed him. He wanted to know it all, and how it worked, he almost needed to.

"Sebastian." A voice called to him, drawing him away from his reminiscent thoughts and surprising him. Or maybe, Bastian had wondered later as he replayed this event, maybe he was surprised to have been surprised. He wasn't quite sure.