Author's Note :- This chapter is just a prologue...A glimpse into the past events...It will not effect the tone of novel for the time being...you can skip it if you want.
"I have been thinking about it for a while." The silver eyed man spoke, gazing at the horizon.
"So, give it a thought again..."
*Sigh*
"My body has been in a state of deteoration for years."
With a sigh of reluctance he continued, "for me...this might be the best time."
"But what if you fail?"
The old man asked with a trace of concern.
Not receiving an answer he spoke.
"It's power of time ******...if it doesn't work out, it will be all over...for you, for us, for these people calling you their lord...think again my friend."
*Sigh*
The silver eyed was lost in the fleeting sight of the evening sky.
"We have had our time *****."
Glancing at the tired eyes of his old friend, he replied.
"We have lost too much, haven't we?... Our brothers...our families." Taking a brief pause he spoke again, albeit in a tone embraced with helplessness, "and what have we made of it?...of their sacrifices? We still know nothing...nothing at all."
"Exactly ******." The old man spoke, his voice laced with slight agitation.
"That's why...that's exactly why." Choking on his words he repeated..."That's exactly why we need to be here till the end, we need to look after these people, without us..."
Glancing at the gloaming sky, easing his breath he said, "They are not the weilders of shard – but we are, you my friend...you bear the shard of time...You need to think this through. "
Not pondering much on his friend's words, the silver eyed man kept staring at the fiently lit horizon, maybe lost in lost in his own thoughts.
"This world has been plagued old man."
With a sigh full of emotions, he let his thoughts out.
"And I am tired of this endless pursuit...of deaths. I don't even know if I can sustain this body another year, so, atleast I can try, right?" the man with silver eyes smiled at the old man.
"We came to exterminate them" said the old man. "You still remember that, right?"
"Yes I do."
The place fell into a momently silence with lights escaping the horizon and the rustle of trees drowning the winds carrying sighs.
The old man finally broke the silence.
"You'll only throw this world into an even more chaotic mess *****."
"We don't have the right to choose ******. We lost it long ago...We have to see the end of our paths." The silver eyed spoke in a melancholic tone.
His brows knit tightly in frown, as if recalling those sullen moments.
"Had the nobility been accomodating of all humans...treated us as their kins, then why even would I have thought of this" He spoke, his eyes locked onto the old man.
"If I can't make the nobles humane, then isn't it better to let everyone have the power of nobility?"
His silver eyes gazed into the depths of sky.
With tired voice, filled with agitation, the old man said.
"It's a gamble, a big one. Have you thought about the downside? What if..."
"There is no room left for what ifs, there are no questions...my body has been rotten by this shard."
Giving a glance at his hands the silver eyed said, "I asked too much of it and it took too much from me. If we go for a fight...with the state I am in."
Making a first he continued. "I might not even be able to stand after a single strike..."
A temporary silence spread over again.
With a shake of his head the silver eyed spoke " You have to understand, our fight is against the weilders, the lands of beyond won't entertain us any longer. We are no longer a threat *****... We have lost our brethrens, we have lost them all ******... We lost them all."
A deep sense of melancholy flickered through his expressions.
"You will be forgotten ******."
Hearing this, the silver eyed man gazed at the the old man.
With a smile on his face ****** said, "Old friend"
"Is this the reason? Is this why you want me to carry on? To be remembered? A non aetherain who nearly usurped the nobility?" He let a small chuckle escape.
"You have...no. We all have sacrificed everything we had." The old man gazed at the darkened sky and carried on.
"But it's you...who took us to the lands of beyond."
Looking at the silver eyed with a hint of tiredness, he said "It's you, who struck fear in their hearts, it's you who is our lord, if you disapper...forget disappearing...you will be vanquished by time."
He paused, his words choking, as if pleading the silver eyed man to reconsider his thoughts...
"Then what of us? Won't we all become grains of sand flown away by winds? Not even being able to leave one footprint in these annals of time?"
"It is for our lost ones." The silver eyed said, melancholy tracing his voice.
"It is for them that I intend to do this. It is for our future ones that I am happy to be forgotten. It is for what we have done, what we sacrificed for, that I want it all to end with one final sacrifice..."
Sighing, he continued, "We have lost too much. You and I, we know what power brings. So, if some with power can call themselves nobles...Then, let every single one weild power. I was unable to bring the nobles down old friend. But, I can atleast make everyone powerful enough."
"What guarantee is there in it???what if.."
"There are no what if's, maybe hundreds of years down the line I won't be remembered. But, what I do now... will make our dreams usher"
He stood up and gave a side glance to the old man he called his friend. "It's time ******, I should begin now "
Helplessness flashed across his face, taking away a few more years of his lifespan, with a sigh of reluctance, he asked
"Will I forget you right away?"
The silver eyed smiled and said " I never existed. "
Flashing a helpless smile on his wrinkled face he said, "wait for a while."
The old man went towards a nearby tent and brought out a black rock, abysmal and void like.
Rubbing it with his fingers he looked at the silver eyed.
"This is infused with aether, last one we had. I will implant my shard into it to make it strong enough... atleast to last some eons."
"You will die." The silver eyed said..."if you take out the shard, you will die old friend" he sighed with a smile.
" When my lord dies, I as a servant must follow."
The old man smiled at the silver eyed.
"Only after I implant it with my shard, you can start *****." He stared deeply into those silvery irises.
"I have been with you throughout this journey. The least I can do is safeguard the time keeper."
"Why are you doing this *****?" A look of helplessness flashed in his eyes.
"So that this world remembers you, if not your name, then atleast as the one, who disappeared in time."
And so, he started to inscribe the black rock.
"Amongst the crowd of people he lay
Still as frozen time.
Amongst the vehemence of nature he lay
Still as frozen time.
Amongst the inception of beings he lay
Still as frozen time.
Amongst the stillness of time he lay
The being born of time. "
Seeing the writings, the silver eyed gave out a light chuckle.
"They will think I was some time guardian or time lord, why do you have to write it like this ******."
"Aren't you?" The old man smiled.
"Now let me immortalise this."
The old man closed his eyes, and placed his hand on his chest near the heart. Moments later blood started to ooze out from his orifices...a cracking pattern started to appear at his chest, but in his hand he held a stone like object, a shining purple coloured shard.
"This will be my end...My lord. May our dreams come true."
He smiled at the silver eyed and touched the black rock with his purple shard, the shard burst into grains and ingrained itself in the rock.
Sighing with relief the old man threw one last glance at his friend, his lord, and fell down with a faint smile.
The silver eyed held the old man for a while and sighed out of tiredness, closing the eyes he laid him down on the ground.
"None of our sacrifices will go in vain... what a few of them are proud of today... our children... they will have the chance to hold similar powers,"
He glanced at his sleeping friend, smiled in peace and closed his eyes.
He felt free, of this burden, this responsibility that weighed upon him, and a sense of happiness filled his mind ... Hopefully it works.
It all went still for a moment, or was it infinity? There was no sense of time, everything sat still... and he started to turn illusary.
After a couple of seconds which seemed to encompass several eons, only his eyes remained, which too started disintegrating, erasing every sense of existence ****** held.
The only thing keeping his memory in existence was the void like rock, with no mention of his name...
But, as the being of time. ***** had forever been consumed by time.