Chapter 985: You Have Never Changed

The earth shook, and a wave of force traveled through the forest at the crash, causing numerous animals to shriek in fright, creating a small stampede that only subsided after a while.

The boy pushed his way out of the shattered mountain, he was unharmed but his body was covered with dust, especially his mouth which was filled with sand and pieces of wood and rocks that got in because the naughty child had been laughing through his crash.

A small figure with butterfly wings appeared before the flustered boy, hovering before his face and placing two tiny hands on her hips,

"This has gone on for long enough, Romion, I can no longer hide your presence from your mother, you will return this instant, your games are over. A whole year I have put up with your stupid schemes and I will not be a party to them any longer." The tiny sprite stamped her foot in the air with annoyance and went to the boy's right ear and began to drag it, her small frame holding astonishing power because she lifted the boy from the rubble, bringing him dozens of feet into the air.

She had decided to take matters into her own hands and would be bringing the naughty child home by force.

"Isshsamm yhot ghoingg!" the boy struggled, his little hands and feet waving in the air,

The tiny sprite cocked her head in confusion as she peered down at him, and then grimaced in disgust as the boy did not spit out the dirt in his mouth, instead, he chewed and swallowed, before yelling at her, "I said I am not going home, I am not sleepy and mother says I can play until I am tired. So let me go... this instant!"

The little sprite brought her nose up in the air in disdain, "When your mother told you to play until you got tired, she did not mean for you to gallivant around the forest, terrorizing the entire good folk who make this place their home for an entire year. When are you going to stop?"

The boy no longer waved his hands around, instead, he folded them on his chest, blushing a bit from shame and annoyance,

"I am a child, and you should not deprive a child of the chance to play. It is my right."

Although he knew that perhaps he might have overdone it with his acts these last few months that had magically turned into a year, Romion could not stop pursuing the horizon. There were so many new things to discover, every corner he crept past he found something amazing, the world was an endless mystery and he did not want to stop exploring.

"Who needs sleep," he muttered to himself as he was brought back home. His body was wrapped by a green glow and he was teleported to the side of Elura.

The sprite let go of his ears from hundreds of feet in the air and Rowan dropped to the ground like a stone he landed with his head, leaving his stomach and legs waving in the air as his shoulders and head were buried in the ground.

The laughter of the sprite as she flew away did not hide his angered sputtering as he spat out the dirt in his mouth and chewed and swallowed the rest.

Romion had explored the world for a year and saw so many wonders, but most of those wonders had to go through the taste test. He ate everything.

From rocks, woods, metals, leaves, grasses, insects...even the wind did not escape his mouth. If he perceived something fragrant in the air, he would suck in the entire air in the surroundings for miles.

Coming across a pack of wolves, it was not strange for Rowan to bite off a tail here or an ear there. A cave filled with sentient mushrooms... half of them were eaten. A mighty bear... missing his left paw.

Romion had a goal, the round moons up in the sky looked so tasty, and he wanted to eat one, maybe two, ok, in truth, he was planning to eat five, but it was alright, who needed thirteen moons anyway? Plus they must be so tasty!

A year reign of terror had just ended and the perpetrator looked at his mother with his hands folded behind his back and his large green eyes that sparkled like a clear lake while grinning sheepishly,

"Hello Mother, you called for me, but I have not finished playing. Can I go? I promise I will return when I get tired."

Elura smiled and turned to the boy, "Come and hug your mother child, I have missed you so."

The boy blinked and ran to her, burying his face into her robes and squeezing her so tight that the air around her body trembled. Elura laughed in delight and tousled his curly hair that had grown nearly to his waist after leaving the house for a year,

"We will need to trim your hair unless you want to be tripping on them soon enough."

The child nodded, before turning to the side and whispered to his mother, "I don't know who that is but he looks scary."

Elura turned to Rowan, "Him? Oh, he is harmless, he is like you actually, he does not know when to stop for rest but keeps running until he drops."

Rowan had noticed that the reality around them that Elura created was not simple, and he confirmed it when that sprite dropped the boy in front of them and he ran and hugged Elura who was beside him.

His mother had brought him to a past where he was a child, and the Rowan of today was looking at the clear eyes of Romion in the past, who was looking at him with clear curiosity and wonder, and a tiny bit of fear. Rowan nodded, the child's instincts were accurate, he should be feared.

"Is this the way I thought you to greet a guest?" Elura chided Romion and the child shook his head from side to side and left his mother's side.

Rowan was a few feet away but Romion walked slowly toward him, and he paused halfway as if an invisible wall was blocking him, before he frowned and fished inside his fur robes, bringing out a half-eaten golden fruit.

The fruit emitted a tantalizing smell and the child looked at it with regret before firming his stance and presenting it to Rowan,

"Good day mister, and may the good tidings and fortune that brought you to our home follow you to whatever road you take after leaving. Please take this token of our welcome."

Rowan looked at the half-eaten fruit and he nearly grinned. The little brat had sliced off a piece of the fruit with his fingers before he brought it out from his robes.

As if he was taking the fruit from his outstretched hand, Rowan instead reached into the robes of the surprised boy and took the small pieces that he had sliced off.

Elura rolled her eyes in astonishment, "Why did I not notice how devious you were as a child? You have never truly changed, have you?