Chapter 2: Bygone Dream

The dappled sun shone through the trees, creating mysterious shadows. The sun was a peak high. It was midday.

Although it was vague and blurred, the breeze brought back a nostalgic feeling in his skin. He fixated his eyes in front of him to focus even more.
As he realized it, the wind blew up his black hair. His eyes widened in shock.

It was the village. The village that he thought that had lost and ended in a downfall.

He roamed his eyes. Confirming he was not mistaken. Wooden houses, rocky roads, tall trees and lumbers settled at the centre of the village; used for night fire when at night. He was not mistaken at all.

He furrowed his brows. "Why am I back at the village?" Asked himself.

He tapped his forehead. The view in front of him was too untrustworthy, he started questioning his self once again if he just had his eyes covered in gold dust.

"This. Is this true? Then," He was trying to reminisce what happened before this.

The village was burned almost to ashes and spit, the people pleading to escape safely and Eliaz's death as well as his entire family. Was that all just a mere hallucination and his hellacious thinking? He thought.

He massaged his forehead with his palms. But, interrupted by the sudden change of his physic. Theon, without a hint of slowness, checked his body.

"What is this?" He said and gasped. "I'm at my younger self."

Now, it made him confused. He turned his gaze back at the houses. After just considering it, the houses were built and formed by the days when he was still training. Theon was in awe. Indeed, everything he saw was not to be believed. Desperation quite changed his perspective. He assumed that all the tragedy that had happened was just because of the steadfast pressure he experienced, he was a warrior, it was not a matter of ridicule that he wanted to indulge in a group that only sought peace for its land.

Still stuck in his reverie. Theon walked and began to search the house that he had his eyes set for.

Step after step, he almost overlook all the houses but there was only one that caught his attention. It was Eliaz, his mother and the chief's house. He halted and stared at it.

"This was burning," He spoke up. "And now it seems that it hasn't been destroyed by anything."

The man took a few paces and stayed right in front of the entrance. He somehow hesitated to pass into the entrance, afraid of what he might discover. After all, he insists to believe that all that has happened might just be an oversight.

He proceeded to enter and what he saw made his eyes widen in shock. His body was stunned and he could stare at it.

It was Zynthia. Sitting on a stool while knitting winter clothes with her hair ringlet down, brown coloured eyes, pink rosy lips, ocean blue eyes and emitting an aura that Theon missed to sense. It was the comfort of a mother. And yes, Zynthia is Eliaz's mother that he thought was already lifeless.

"Dear Theon, why are you here?" The woman furrowed her eyebrows confused why Theon has gone back to the quarters.

Theon didn't even move a notch. He couldn't believe his eyes as he stared at the wonderful woman who has taken care of him ever since he was just a child.

His eyes became blurry as he ran to this woman and gave her an embrace while he was on his knees.

Zynthia raised her brow and tilted her head upon seeing Theon's behaviour and how it acted in front of her. Surely, something might have happened and she is deeply thinking as to what had happened.

"Why are you in your tears, my dear," She raised a question. "Is Ganord giving you a hard time with the training?"

Theon was silenced. Perhaps, he was still desperate and insists he believes this very moment that's occurring. For a while, he wanted to stay like this and never let go of her.

"Chief is alive?" Still, he asked. And he raised his head to meet her gaze.

"What nonsense. Of course, he is. How could he not be alive? What's the matter?" Worry was marked in her utterances.

Theon just shook his head even though everything is shocking him off.

"My heart is beating so fast, Mother." He said.

"Calm down then. There's no need to nervous." She refrained from laughing but chortled a little.

Zynthia thinks that Theon is nervous because Ganord might get angry. However, Theon thinks otherwise.

"Ganord is probably waiting for you, you should head out, my dear." She insisted while holding Theon's chin.

"Will you still be here?" He asked staring intently at Zynthia.

Zynthia was shaken by his question but she didn't make it obvious for him to see. She smiled softly and did not even do any reckless actions to pressure Theon and his palpitating heart. Instead, she stood up and head to a near furniture.

On the other hand, Theon followed her every action and was quite confused. Later on, Zynthia was already carrying something brilliant and it caught Theon's eye.

"What is it that you're holding?" He could not resist but to ask.

"This is an ornament you wore on your neck. A necklace."

As soon as he got his eyes close to it. Indeed, it was a necklace. It was made of a silver piece of chains and a round pendant hanging at the centre.

Zynthia noticed how the ornament brought predicament in Theon's face. She laughed.

"This was given to me by my father. He was such a great man. Just like Ganord, so dedicated to their land and the woods." She gleamed as she reminisced her father's attitude. "I was so little back then when he wanted to continue his father's legacy to pursue the success of keeping the land and not giving in to the conquerors."

She gripped the necklace tightly. Theon noticed Zynthia's changes of emotions so he held her hands.

And so she continued. "However, he died in that war. And the only thing he left me was this necklace. You see this?" She showed Theon what was carved in the pendant.

Theon was mesmerized by the detailed carved leaf in the round pendant. "What does that mean, Mother?"

Theon prefers to call Zynthia his mother even though she was not the one who gave birth to him. Just as how he also treat Ganord as his father. For him, everybody is a family if it's close to their heart. Theon has always thought about such things in this way.

"Father has always treasured the woods. So he carved this leaf right here himself and told me that wherever he might be in the world. This leaf will make me remember the forest and the forest will make me remember him." She smiled.

Now Theon understood. He gazed back at the necklace, with such little things meant much more. He was stunned upon listening to Zynthia's back story.

"And now, my dear. I am handing this to you. So my presence will stay with you even though we're not near each other anymore." She put it on his neck.

Theon stared at it and stared back at her afterwards.

"Now, now. Moving along, Ganord's possibly searching for you. You should head out now." Zynthia inferred.

"Yes, I will." He couldn't help but smile.

As he head out of the house Zynthia continued her knitting.

However, The thought of returning to his young self and the sudden changes of time in the village bothered him once more. How could all of that happen? He was battling with himself at this point. So the only way to clear all these things out of his mind, he had to search for Ganord.

Theon roamed around the village and remembered a place where he usually trains during the time he was young. He ran hastily and could not even want to waste a second.

"Theon, there you are!" A man shouted at his back.

His memories served him precisely and he was pleased to see the man he was looking for.

He was gasping for air as he wailed for this man. "Father! Chief!"