The lost days

Chapter 1 :When the universe was young before the dawn of man there were the Xerons. This species existed on Earth and possesed extraordinary powers one of their numerous abilities was the power to bend time to their will, they could slow time down to enjoy pleasant moments and skip the unpleasant ones. Among the Xerons was Arphaxad a young lad with an unusual amount of courage. "You know I have a feeling the clan heads are hiding something from us" Arphaxad said to Kyfrt one of his few friends still willing to take the risk of having Arphaxad as a friend, because Arphaxad history among his clan made mothers tell their children to avoid him. "What do you mean by that" answered Kyfrt. "Well..you know the forbidden cave where the crystals of moments grows". "No no no no no" Kyft yelled. "Calm down Kyfrt" Arphaxad said trying to persuade his friend to join him on this quest. Of course Arphaxad had mastered the technique of compelling Kyfrt to do his will but this time Kyfrt was drawing the line as they all knew the number one rule was to never ever enter the cave no matter the situation. "Listen to me Kyfrt " Arphaxad said "I overheard some of the clan heads discussion" Kyfrt was shocked "you mean you actually sneaked into the hall of the elders" Kyfrt said surprised "No" Arphaxad replied "I was just passing by, but then I heard the crystals can give whosoever wields it untold power". Kyfrt knew the punishment for entering into the cave, they both knew. It was a grievous punishment indeed. "I've rode the serpents of Ot with you, I've entered the chamber of the dead with you, I've tasted the springs of Langlot with you. You also know the punishments we've suffered for our failed expeditions". Do you really have to recount all we've done whenever we start something new? " Asked Arphaxad. This time Kyfrt was not willing to take any risk and so he walked away. Although Arphaxad did not have his friend support this time he was not deterred, he was still going to attempt stealing a crystal of moment. Now although the Xerons had numerous untold power there were so many rules surrounding these powers that they basically lived like humans, Arphaxad unlike most Xerons his age had challenged the clan heads authority severally and he had of course being punished on many occasions. There were many beautiful things that existed on Earth when the Xerons existed, irrespective of the beautiful landscape and red sky that once was the Xerons which were the most advanced species at that time had many character deficiencies one of which is accepting all the laws made by the clan heads whether beneficial to them or not. One of these laws was banning the use of their time manipulative powers, now it is debatable whether this law is beneficial or not but then only the clan heads are allowed to do so and these clan heads do no work but they loop the moment of harvest on their farms, and they never have to farm but they harvest endlessly. Harvesting alone would be extremely beneficial to all as everyone one then had individual farms, but these clan heads fobade others from doing so also the act of freezing time to enjoy a moment and skipping a moment was forbidden. These clan heads were so old no one could tell the origin of their days, the Xerons ofcourse grow old and die but the clan heads found a way of living outside the effects of time and all Xerons for some reason never questioned the clan heads authority. Chapter 2 : Arphaxad had decided to steal a crystal of moment with or without the help of his trusted friend Kyfrt. Although Arphaxad had planned every step precisely there was something he missed out: the mad titan that guards the crystals, because no Xeron besides the clan heads had actually ever entered the forbidden cave Arphaxad did not know what to expect within the cave. "For the last time I'm warning you you don't have to do this" Kyfrt said. Kyfrt tried and tried to dissuade Arphaxad but once Arphaxad had set his mind to something there was no turning back. First Arphaxad waited till sundown then he went to the edge of his village unseen this was quite hard as he was famous for breaking all the rules, he had to wear a large cloak with a hood to move without being spotted. There were guards stationed at the mouth of the cave even though no Xeron had attempted entry into the cave in aeons. Arphaxad had studied the guards carefully for weeks and he knew that about the fourth hour of the night they dozed off, so Arphaxad waited patiently almost dozing off himself as soon had the guards had slept Arphaxad walked quietly past them into the cave. The cave was quite large as he walked for a while then he heard the roar. The mad titan had heard him, the guards were awoken by the titans roar and would not even dare to venture within the cave, quickly the guards sounded the alarm and the clan heads were already on their way. Without thinking Arphaxad began to run but the titan swiftly swung his club at him he ducked but the club smashed the ground and Arphaxad was pushed by the force of the ground being split and he hit his head after spinning violently, he was hurt but his instincts pushed him to run fearing the looming danger. He lost his sense of direction but ran with all his might until he saw the faint glow of white. The titan chased him violently breaking the ground as he ran but Arphaxad knew his life was at stake so he ran even harder. The titan hit once again with his club this time hitting Arphaxad swinging him closer to the crystals, blood and dust covered his face, he knew one more hit from the titans club would end his life. He was going to try something dangerous he would try to skip time by a day, as he summoned all his time manipulative power he gripped a crystal of moment which amplified his power and he blinked. He opened his eyes to an entirely new world this was still Earth but because he held a crystal of moment he skipped a million aeons instead. Arphaxad was in the woods of a small town in England, he started to explore this new world but as he walked past an abandoned building he decided to camp there. The next day Arphaxad decided to explore the new world, "leave me alone" a voice screamed, Arphaxad who was curious followed the voice until he saw a young boy surrounded by two older boys. The young boy Peter by name was being bullied by the older boys although Arphaxad was adamant concerning the laws of the Xerons he hated injustice. "Let him go" Arphaxad said "And how does this bloody concern you" one of the older boys replied "I won't repeat myself" Arphaxad answered. "Oh he's a fighter the second of the older boys said" as soon as he said this he lunged at Arphaxad with his fist but Arphaxad immediately froze time and all hell was let loose on both of the older boys as Arphaxad beat them to pulp. No one saw this because time was frozen and as soon as Arphaxad was done he unfroze time. "What sorcery was that" said Peter who could not comprehend what just happened because it seemed the older boys just dropped suddenly on the floor. "I'm Arphaxad" Arphaxad started to introduce himself, Peter who was very much afraid said his name shakily. Although the Xerons had great powers they resembled humans physically in all dimensions except for the fact that they had purple eyes that glowed and elf-like ears. "Which aeon is this?" Asked Arphaxad "what do you mean by aeon?" Replied Peter " the real question should be who or what are you?" Peter continued, "are you not the most advanced species on this planet?" Arphaxad replied "how come you do not know what a Xeron is?". "I think we should answer the current questions before asking more" Peter said finally. After a while of explanation of the human and Xeron race both lads had trouble believing each other Peter especially, and so they became friends. Peter who still thought he was dreaming decided to use a rock to scratch a small line on the wall of the abandoned building. Chapter 3: Unlike the Xeron children who had a questionable amount of freedom, well we know how we humans are protective of our your ones. So every day after they met Peter had to go back home at dusk. Peter who still had a hard time believing all this made a mark on the same wall everyday for confirmation that this was reality. As for sustenance Arphaxad simply froze time and got whatever he needed although this often led to quarrels between his victims. Both boys learned about their different races each day and shared secrets. "You know I wish I met my mother" Peter said to Arphaxad one day "Well we can fix that" Arphaxad answered "how?" Peter replied "well I can travel through time with you to meet her" said Arphaxad "you told me time travel was dangerous" Peter said "well that was before I tried it and well there were no consequences". Shortly after Arphaxad went back in time with Peter this time without the crystal. When Peter saw her he didn't know what to say he cried and hugged her, his mother not recognising him because she died shortly after his birth felt a connection some how and hugged him back. Arphaxad froze time so only him and Peter could move and then returned to the present. Meanwhile the clan heads had traced Arphaxad to the time he escaped to and were searching for him. The crystal of moment was so mysterious that it changed whosoever wields it. In a way it made Arphaxad know how they were searching for him when he returned from seeing Peters mother. Immediately Arphaxad told Peter everything, how he was being hunted and how he needed to find a way to escape the looming danger. The punishment for venturing into the forbidden cave was the eternal loop. This meant the offender would be made to relieve his most dreaded moment eternally. Before Arphaxad could draw power from the crystal to return the clan heads found him but first they wanted to wipe away every trace of Arphaxad from the point in time he escaped to, Arphaxad could only manage to protect Peters memory by making it seem like a dream. Arphaxad then had an idea he was going to discover the clan heads origin and try to stop them from ever becoming clan heads. So he travelled millions and millions of aeons back before the clan heads were. Then he saw it all. The clan heads were actually evil Xerons who were to be banished from the land but stole some crystals and used the power to bind all Xerons minds to their will and have lived as clan heads afterwards. Arphaxad simply went back in time a little more and stopped them from stealing the crystals by alerting the guards at that time. Arphaxad returned to his own time of existence and the evil clan heads were no more but the clan heads that existed then had decided the crystals were too powerful to be kept and destroyed them all. Arphaxad tried to return to Peter but the crystal he took was used up. Peter awoke from his sleep and was so convinced about Arphaxads existence he ran to the building he put the marks on but they were no more. Back in Arphaxads time the Xerons lived more freely and used their powers to make their lives easier but Arphaxad could not travel millions of aeons without the crystals. Arphaxad had saved his people through his adventures but they didn't know. Peter was confused and could not understand everything around him as every trace of Arphaxad was gone, deep down he knew his experience transcended a dream but the days of his adventures with Arphaxad were lost.