Tenebroum

Chapter 206: A Return to Normalcy

Chapter 206: A Return to Normalcy

Leo’s return to Wayward was as uproarious as he feared. The entire village, which mostly consisted of people he didn’t know at this point, stopped everything they were doing to celebrate his return. It was exactly the opposite of what he wanted, of course. He just wanted to slip back in and pretend he’d never left, even though he knew that was quite impossible. Some reacted like Toman, but they were in the minority, and a meager feast was called together for later that night.

The feast might have been too strong a word. There was plenty of dried fish and bland root stew, which was more than enough for him. There was also some bread, though it had been created with light rather than grain. Still, Leo didn’t complain. He still couldn’t eat more than a few bites at a time without feeling completely full anyway.

The event was dominated by his presence, which was no surprise either since it was in his honor. He was peppered with questions and spent half the night making fruit for people on demand between telling stories about some of his adventures. He mentioned a couple of the giant monsters in passing, but mostly, he focused on how empty it was out there now that both the monsters and the men were gone.

“It’s like a new world,” he explained. “There aren’t even any goblins. It’s like the zombies ate them or something. We could go anywhere and do anything.”

“Why would we need to go anywhere?” Tara asked as she squeezed Regie’s hand tighter where she was sitting across the fire from him. “We’re building something right here.”

“You are,” he agreed, looking around.

The place really had come a long way. There was a thatched roof over every head now, and though some of those homes were still crowded with several families, it was only a matter of time before there was a cabin or a cottage built for everyone here. That would be an accomplishment in itself, even if it was a rather primitive one.

Soon, primitive houses would line crooked streets, and gardens and fields would stretch out into the distance. It wouldn’t be such a bad place.

What’s the next step, he wondered. Do we make bricks? Does anyone even know how to make bricks? He had no idea. He certainly had no idea. He was pretty sure they involved fire and clay, but after that—

“No, we are building something right, aren’t we,” Cynara said, correcting him very publicly.

“We are,” he agreed, a little chagrined. “I’m just saying that we could do anything.”

“We are doing anything,” Reggie agreed, looking back to his wife. “We’re building a new world.”

Leo didn’t comment on that because he wasn’t sure what to say. Instead, he was relieved when Toman finally asked, “So, do you think we’re the last people left in the whole world then?” @@@@

“Probably not,” Leo answered honestly. “The world is a big place. I’m sure there are other survivors hiding here and there just like we are.”

Some of the other men complained about feeling naked when they left their weapons at home. Leo never joined in those complaints, because he’d long since figured out how to banish and summon his own blade. He would never be unarmed as long as he could channel enough light to make it appear and disappear at will.

He never had need to summon it, though, because there was no longer anything left to fight. With the darkness gone, the light could finally grow. That meant more than fields heavy with wheat. That meant families and children. Those thoughts inevitably made him think of Cynara, which usually made Leo blush before he refocused on the task at hand.

Despite the fact that he worked with the men, he still somehow managed to run into her almost once or twice a day. That shouldn’t have been a surprise, of course. Wayward was a tiny village with just over two dozen structures that were only slowly evolving into something more. It was easier to see everyone at mealtime than it wasn’t. Still, something about those encounters always made him feel special. Like it was meant to be.

It was shortly after spring started in earnest that those feelings only blossomed further, though. Toman, of all people, had figured out a new trick to do with the light. Not wanting to be outdone, he’d spent days and nights in the field tending to their small crop of wheat and other staples. At first, this had been just to keep the animals away from the tiny precious plants, but as time went on, he discovered he could use the light to bless them, too.

The result was easy to see. Only a few weeks after the last frost, the fields were alive with plants that looked like they’d been growing for months. The celebrations that followed that discovery were even more joyous than Leo’s arrival. He wasn’t jealous, though. Well, he was jealous that he hadn’t thought of Toman’s idea first, but only a little.

After all, it only made sense. Plants needed light, and he and his friends were suffused with light, more or less. Why shouldn’t one go with the other? In the nights that followed their impromptu spring festival, they spent an evening wandering the fields singing the old hymns that Brother Faerbar had taught them all in what felt like a lifetime ago.

The fields outside their small village were a wide place that was many acres across, but even so, with so many of them weaving the light and blessing the plants, it looked like a swarm of fireflies had infested the whole area. It was like the stars had come down to dance, and they danced with them. It wasn’t a joyous moment like it had been during the recent festival. It wasn’t somber, either, though. It was more of a reverence.

Leo had dreamed of healing the world with the light, one sword stroke at a time, but in a way, this was better. This is what they should have been doing all along if only they’d known that they could or even that they should.

That night was almost as exhausting as combat for him, but by the time he was done, wheat was ripening, rows of maize were growing tall, and fruit trees had grown into fine saplings. If we do this every week or two, we might have two or even three harvests this year, he thought to himself as he slumped down against a tree and watched the few remaining fireflies dance in the fields beyond.

That was when Cynara found him. Even without the dancing lights, she was a vision of loveliness, but tonight, she had a glow about her, and when she sat down beside him and started talking to him, he could barely formulate a response to whatever it was she was saying.

It should have been the perfect end to a perfect evening as the two of them sat there. Instead, Leo had to go and ruin it by kissing Cynara. She didn’t complain. Quite the opposite, she kissed him back eagerly, like she’d been waiting for this moment for longer than he’d thought to do it. Still, after a long minute, when they finally came up for air, he couldn't help but feel like he’d changed everything with that one little thing.

He burned for her, but that wasn’t what he was supposed to be burning for, was it? Didn’t he have some greater purpose than to marry a beautiful girl and settle down?

He wasn’t sure. However, he gasped as he gazed into her beautiful glowing eyes, and he had a hard time trying to convince himself that they shouldn’t do that again.