Richard returned one month after bear attack. Nothing really happened, things were very silent after that attack. Either forest already knew who their defenders were or they just were lucky. Either way, Richard had to answer a few questions.
"I know... I know it does sound shocking," started he "but Pumpuls are actually very cooperative creatures and not a bloodthirsty creatures kingdom pictures them"
He sat down on his chair and light up his cigar, slowly smoking it. He was clearly tired and his eyes were all red from not having enough sleep.
"Alaric fears Pumpuls, even though he is much stronger than any Pumpul existing" he shrugged his shoulders "But he is panicking, he is waiting for attack from every corner. Typical tyrant emperor, if you ask me" said he with a sad smile "And it could all go so differently"
"You were one of the first, who joined him when he started rebellion, right?" asked Balthor "I wasn't even born yet"
"Yes, that's been a long time ago. Almost a century" answered Richard and rubbed his chin through his big beard with free hand, while still smoking with the other one "He was different at that time. Ambitious, with cool mind, fearless and really good friend" Richard said sadly.
Silence fell in the room, which was broken soon with children cry. Lyra quickly went to the babies room. Richard put his cigar in the ashtray and stood up.
"I need to sleep a bit" said he, going outside, towards his house. He suddenly stopped and turned towards Balthor "I know that everything seems a bit shaky and your fear is justified, but trust me… your son, my grandson and few more young ones will change our worlds one day and bring prosperity to all creatures"
He finally stepped out of the house and closed the door, leaving Balthor in surprise or maybe even shock. It wasn't easy to accept this idea, but something inside Balthor was trying to say that this is true.
* * *
Months passed by, nothing unusual happening, except Balthor and Lyra got to know few Pumpuls and lost almost all fear towards them. Pumpuls were not the kindest creatures in whole world, but they weren't the worst for sure. They helped and taught Balthor a lot, about wood, about magic and even about hunting, the field that Balthor knew very well.
Richard was coming and leaving, he couldn't leave kingdom for too long and his visits started to become shorter and shorter. Instead Gubo was coming more often. He said that he and his soldiers are building a small village nearby, so he would be able to come more frequently. And as he said all this soldiers are actually an allies to Richard.
Lyra was the busiest person in this "small village", two boys were growing fast and they were clearly developed better, than other children of their age. At 7 month they were already walking freely and even running without falling. And it should be good for the parents, right? But two boys were also mischievous, always hiding, running, destroying some things. Especially Ashgrave's son - Jorvik. He literally was a machine for destruction, crushing and breaking everything he could get his hands on.
Jorvik was a bit older and was leading the army of destruction, Kaelen was just happy to follow. He didn't really like destroying, but he liked the company and was happy to help his friend or maybe, even brother. They weren't related by blood, but Kaelen grew up with him, drank the same milk, they got scolded together, was it really that different from brother?
House became a bit louder. Gubo sometimes brought other people from his squad, Lyra and Balthor were happy, since living alone in an abandoned place like this was really pressuring them mentally.
When Kaelen and Jorvik both became one year old, there was a small party. Richard also came and even Pumpuls were invited.
After a bit of drinking and eating a rough meat of Nilfvar deer, Richard took out of his big pocket two purple, ideal spheres. They were around half of the human palm, he called boys and squatted down. It was an Arsi core. They were used to store Arsi and then reclaim it whenever needed. Those were also used with new mages to understand their elemental affinities.
"It's a bit early, but looking at how you two grow I am sure you will be able to do that" said he giving each boy a ball.
Jorvik and Kaelen both took ball and were looking at them with interest for some time, but soon Jorvik quickly thrown it at floor and laughed. Ball didn't break, neither did it scratch. Jorvik took it again an repeated, then stomped on it, but nothing worked.
Kaelen was looking at the ball mesmerised. As if it was something he truly valued. They he squeezed his eyes and ball suddenly started to blink. Richard was looking at that with surprised eyes, he was trying to say something, but his body was frozen from interest.
Finally ball stopped blinking and suddenly became empty. Richard almost fell. He took ball from the boy and ball soon was filled with purple colour again. Then he gave ball back to Kaelen and he emptied it again. His gaze switched to Jorvik. His ball was bright red and brown.
"Well, at least, that could be considered normal" said he, until noticed how slow this colours were moving between each other and then suddenly started to accelerate. He took ball from Kaelen once more and then gave filled one again to Kaelen.
"Gubo, we will need to return to capital" said Richard and scratched his cheek "We have a few wunderkinds here" said Richard and smiled a bit, but his hand was shaking a bit, even though nobody noticed.
He was happy, because such talent meant only one thing, prophecy is coming true. But at the same time Richard felt scared, not for himself, but for overall future. There are four more monsters like that, growing up somewhere and they will tear the worlds apart.