The Shadow of Eudaimonia

Chapter 11: The Soldier and The Princess

"Shijian, we've been on this planet for a month, don't you think we must return now from our home era?"

Lazzi tilted his head slightly like a confused pup. "A month? Our planet's time or this Earth's?"

"This Earth of course. How can you not know? You're the Obelisk of Time!"

"Oh Vide," Lazzi scoffed "every time period in this universe from the very beginning to infinity is embedded on every cell of my body. Do you think that this Earth's mere month would be memorable to me?" Lazzi snapped.

"Then why don't we just go home?"

"You know we can't. Veross' ordered us to be here and find his Inheritor. And we cannot leave Ortus here. She doesn't age, she is perfectly capable of changing history. Just imagine the anarchy it would create in our present time."

"Let's just come back, okay? Maybe we can find help from—"

"Help? And then what? Accept the shame we'll bring back home? The two most powerful beings can't find a single person? We already failed them Vide! We already failed when we weren't able to save those people she killed. We're the biggest failure in the entire human history!"

"We're not soldiers, we weren't prepared."

"Maybe you're not, your highness! But I am. I was prepared all my life for anything like that and what did I do? I let them die on my own planet! I'm a disgrace! We cannot go back until I show them Ortus' dead body."

"I knew it. This is about you, isn't it? You can't swallow your pride."

"Easy for you to say. Your pride is a birthright. Mine is something that I have to earn."

Ophelia bit the insides of her cheeks. She wanted to say something, defend herself, but decided to keep it to herself. Inside the abandoned building they were staying, no sound but their own echoing voice could be heard but the lack of it was still deafening. Lazzi noticed that he might have hit a nerve with Ophelia.

"Hey I'm sorry." Lazzi whispered in his velvety voice and patted Ophelia's back. "We'll find Veross' Inheritor soon. If only we have his Obelisk."

"Well, we got the second-best thing. Our minds."

"What's the next area we're going to check?"

***

It was a bit dark and gloomy outside although it was early in the morning. Lazzi and Ophelia, despite their control over time and space couldn't do anything to find Veross' Inheritor but to simply ask around people if they observed something peculiar for the last few weeks. Most of the people they asked said no. While others don't even entertain them.

"Vide, um, are you a bit hungry?" Lazzi asked after they asked yet another snobbish person.

"Hungry again?" Fortunately, after a few weeks of practice, the two became more well-versed to their abilities. Often, during scouting, when the two find themselves hungry, they steal food using Ophelia's warping ability.

"You know my metabolism is faster than normal. I think it's an effect of being the Obelisk of Time."

Ophelia scoffed. "Liar. I haven't read that effect in any books I've read."

"Well, I think I am more credible than any of your sources. I'm literally the one they're talking about."

Ophelia just sighed and scratched the back of her ear where her insignia lies—a folded fabric of space, that looked like an inverted omega sign from afar. "I'll be back in a few seconds."

"Okay, I'll count how many seconds you'll—" Lazzi paused. He looked up in the sky and it hit him again. A spray of water fell on his face and slowly became a downpour of rain accompanied by a cold gust of wind. The two for the first time smelled the sweet scent of petrichor on Earth. It was slightly different from theirs.