The Union

"What… what do you want?" he stuttered due to fear.

The man chuckled in an unsettling way. Timothy noticed that one of his teeth was replaced with a golden fake one.

"I told you, we are here to help" he sat on the bed and like before, his movements were fluid. "The one you call Sylvie is telling the truth. You must trust her."

"What are you talking about? Sylvie? Wha…?" Timothy shook his head and frowned. He was already confused and the mention of Sylvie"s name further mangled his thoughts. "Who are you anyway?"

The man spun his cane in a playful way. "It doesn"t matter who we are. We have been watching you for a long time Timothy. We have taken a liking to you. You have the potential and we are starting to invest. But lately, you are making some big mistakes so we decided to intervene. Treat this as our gift to you. Now let me tell you that your friend Erik can"t be rescued without the help of Sylvie."

Timothy was still scared. He can"t set aside the fact that there was a strange man sitting on his bed. Also, the man"s words were the stuff of horrors. Watching him for a long time? Invest? He felt like a puppet being controlled from the shadows.

"I.."

"You don"t trust us?" He smiled again and the golden tooth was revealed. "Good. We would be disappointed if you trusted us that easily. So we will instead let you see someone who can change your mind. I"m sure you missed her already. You have an hour King Timothy"

Timothy"s vision blurred. Everything went dark.

The next thing he knew, he was inside a room. The room was familiar and it soon occurred to him that it was Lucia"s room in Solon. He was still shaking from what happened. Is this a dream? He asked. But the lack of answer terrified his being.

"Tim?" a sweet voice called from behind. He turned around and saw Lucia in her nightgown. She looked shocked.

He ran towards her. Even though he understood nothing of what"s happening, his longing for her won over his fear.

She stepped back at first. He could tell that she was scared. But it seemed she also missed him enough. She ran forward to embrace him.

But when they were about to embrace each other, a strange thing happened. Timothy"s arms pa.s.sed through her body like smoke. He couldn"t touch her.

He tried to touch her again and the same thing happened. He looked at his hands. So they can see and hear each other, but can"t touch?

"What"s happening Tim?" She looked at him. "You are Timothy right?"

He did not answer and walked towards her bed. He sat down.

Lucia followed and sat beside him.

"It"s hard to explain, but let me try." He said.

Timothy then explained everything to her, every single thing that transpired. He told her about Erik and his sins towards his friend. He told her about Sylvie"s offer. Lastly, he told her about the strange man and how he ended up here. Lucia listened without saying anything and his explanation took almost an hour.

"So let"s talk about the man first. If he was telling the truth then we only have a few minutes left." Lucia said after Timothy finished his tale. "Who do you think he is? And why is he talking as if he"s not alone? And how in the world is he able to send you here?"

"I don"t know. I"m as puzzled as you are. He said that they have been watching me. I"m scared Lucia. I"m sure he was the one who sent me here. He said it"s a gift of sort. He is powerful. If he wishes to, he could have killed me. I"m truly scared. It"s my first time experiencing something like this. "

"Does Leo"s Tear know something about this?" she asked.

"No" Timothy shook his head. "We don"t even know that such thing was possible. I was in my tent a few minutes ago. The next thing I know, I"m here. "

"Then we don"t have enough information about him. He could be our future enemy, but for now he is helping us. We don"t know anything so we can"t do anything. Be careful Tim."

"You seem calm about this" he commented.

"I"m not" she showed him her shaking hands. "I"m as scared as you are. I"m really scared. This is not normal Tim. But what can we do? We are powerless. Whatever he is, whoever he is, we can"t do anything. So we must do what he said. He sent you here to talk to me so we should talk."

"Right" Timothy tried to calm his nerves. Since the man sent him here to talk to Lucia, then he will and the thing with Erik was a good place to start. He forced himself to forget about the strange man for a moment. "Are you disappointed regarding my decisions with Erik?"

"I am. " Her face turned sad. "This is not like you Tim. I know saving Arthur is strategically more important but you are not someone who would leave a friend behind. You are turning into him, your father. Your actions are similar to what King Leopold would do. When you started this war, you told me that you wanted to be better than him. Now you are turning into him."

Hearing her say that she was disappointed p.r.i.c.ked his heart. He was hurt. He didn"t want to disappoint the woman he loves. He wanted to be someone she could be proud of.

"Would you still love me even if I turned out like him?"

She smiled but sadness still lingered in her eyes. "Yes. Yes I would. I will always love you Tim. Even if you"ve turned into the likes of King Leopold I would still love you. The heart is strange. The heart doesn"t need reasons. The heart knows no morals. But I prefer you to be like before because if you change, then I will be sad."

Seeing her like that prompted Timothy to make a decision.. He will think of his actions from now on. If he can"t do it for himself, then he will do it for her. He will not disappoint Lucia and he will become a man she can be proud of.

"And what about Sylvie?" he asked.

"Trust her" she said without hesitation.

Her answer surprised him. Lucia was the one who experienced first-hand Sylvie"s betrayal. She was almost killed twice by Sylvie. She should be the first one who would tell him to not trust Sylvie.

"Why? It could be a trap."

"If Ivan and Skall were indeed preparing a trap for you, then they would use a more sophisticated plan wouldn"t they? You said that she just walked up to your soldiers and introduced herself. That doesn"t look sophisticated to me. Why would they use Sylvie knowing that you wouldn"t trust her in the first place? Her approach reeks of desperation. She is desperate to free Erik."

Timothy finally heard the argument he wanted. Once again, he realized Lucia"s importance in his life not just as his lover but also his partner. She completes him. With her by her side, he felt that they could survive anything.

"And what if she really is working for Ivan and Skall?" he asked again. Even though her argument was sound, he was still afraid to put his trust on Sylvie.

"I may be wrong Tim and she could be part of an elaborate trap. But this is a test, don"t you think?"

"A test?"

"I know you want to do the right thing. You don"t want your morals to further degrade. This will be a test for you. Yes she could be lying but if she was telling the truth, then you could rescue Erik. Will you risk losing against Ivan for Erik? Will you take a leap of faith for your friend?"

Listening to her opened his eyes. A man must think and use his brain, but the desires of the heart must take priority sometimes. The old Timothy would throw away a crown in exchange for a friend. Some people may say that it"s stupid, but this att.i.tude was one of the attributes of the rooster prince.

"I will save Erik." He declared. "Even if I lose to Ivan, I will have my friend back. Even if I lose my crown, it doesn"t matter. I am not my father and I will never be my father. I am Timothy Castonia, a better King."

The sadness in Lucia"s face faded. She smiled. "Welcome back Tim"

Timothy opened his eyes and he was back on his bed. What happened was like a dream. No it was not a dream, he thought. He really talked with Lucia. He was sure that the person he talked to was the real Lucia and not just a fragment of his imagination.

To confirm his thoughts, he saw the strange man again. He was still standing near the bed.

"Who are you really?"

"A spectator" The man smiled. He then continued.

"We are investing in you. You have so much potential that we just can"t sit idly. But this doesn"t mean that we will always help. For now you are not yet worthy of our full support. We will meet again Timothy. From the shadows, we will watch you grow. When the time is right, everything shall be revealed." He then turned around and walked away. Timothy blinked once and the man was gone.

Timothy was left staring at the darkness. He was glad that he met Lucia again and he was delighted that he finally found his way.

But the things that happened were just too strange. He realized that he was but a p.a.w.n in the grand scheme of things.