Drex kept walking and man, it felt endless. The sun kept climbing until it was perfect overhead him. His feet hurt like hell, his mouth was very dry and his stomach had been making weird noises all the way. He could swear it was about to eat itself.
Every step he took was heavier than the last but he still kept moving, he had to. Because what else was he going to do, would he curl up and die in the middle of this forest? Nah. He wasn't ready to go through dying again.
Finally after he hopped over some falling branches, he froze. Something shifted in his head, Kaiden's memories. Then he realized, he was here.
He pushed past a big leaf that was smacking him in the face and just stopped.
And there it was.
His father's kingdom.
It wasn't massive compared to those crazy futuristic megacities he saw clips of on earth's old videos. But it was not some tiny village either, it was down below the valley, perfectly surrounded by strong stone walls, and inside those walls there were rooftops stacked close together. There were little houses with curved tilled tops and smoke curling slowly out from chimneys.
At the center stood something bigger, the palace.
The streets weren't empty, it was alive. It was bursting and filled with high energetic people. He saw a lot of people in colorful robes moved in every direction. The little kids chased themselves with sticks and vendors yelled about or bread or whatever magic herbs they were selling.
In another part , he saw. Blacksmith hammering a glowing metal that sparked so brightly Drex thought the guy was summoning fire but nope. It was just work here.
He took it all in slowly, the sound, the smell of baked bread, the smell of whatever it is that smelled partly bad, the way laughter rolled down the streets like music.
Drex blinked a few times, he was completely thrown off. He had never… never in his entire damn life see this many people smiling, it was an unbelievable sight for him. On earth, there wasn't much to smile about, machines were always above your head, hunting you. Even when people tried to laugh, it was a forced one and they quickly retract it in a second.
But in this place the people were free, they don't know what it feels like to live in shadows, to hide under dirty tunnels. To wake up and wonder if today was the day you and your family don't make it. They do not even have any clue what a machine is. To them the only dangers were beasts, magic and every other weird unexplainable crap this world has.
Drex just stood there dumbly for a while, his throat tightened. A part of him…. It hurts. It hurts very bad, he didn't know how long had pass on earth now. How is his family? Did they survive? How heartbroken will his mum be when she hears of his passing.
And then….
"Bless the gods! Prince Kaiden has returned!"
The shout came from somewhere down the street, and instantly heads turned around.
"Are you serious?""Look, it's actually him!""Prince Kaiden!"
The voices multiplied fast, they echoed through the street, the people were pointing now. Some were even running closer to him. Their faces was lit up as if the sun itself had walked into their lives.
At first Drex was a little bit confused, he actually tuned to look behind him, like maybe somebody else was there. But no, there was nobody. Only him. Then it clicked in his head, they were looking and talking about him.
Right, he wasn't Drex anymore, he was Kaiden now, prince Kaiden.
And then Kaiden's memories kicked in again, it painted the whole situation clearer for him. Of course the people here loved him, he wasn't like his brothers who strutted around like they owned the air people breathed. Kaiden was their boy, the prince who sat on dirt to play games with steer kids, the prince who carried baskets for old women even even his mother scolded him for it. He was the prince who would sneak out of the palace just to run with other little kids.
No wonder their faces shone like crazy when they saw him.
Too bad that the real Kaiden had already died out in that forest.
Right. He wasn't Drex to them. He was Kaiden. Prince Kaiden.
Drex swallowed hard, he wasn't sure what he should do with all of these, should he accept them? Reject them? Or he should just fake it and keep moving. His chest felt really heavy, like he had stolen what did not belong to him.
"Prince Kaiden, are you alright?"
Then the thick voice cut through his thoughts. He blinked and looked up, a group of armored men were moving towards him quickly. Their polished chest plates shined under the sun.
Roh knights.
One of them, he was tall and bread with trimmed beard, he stepped forward with a look that baffled Drex. Concern, real concern.
"We've been looking for you for two days now," the knight said firmly.
Drex froze, he just stared back. His mouth opened a little but no words could come out. He had no idea what he was supposed to say, how he was supposed to act, how to smile.
Two days. That was how long Kaiden had been gone.
And now, he was back.