sea of time

1

“And don’t forget to hand in your permission slips for the field trip on friday!” Mrs. Bergliez said, trying to get in one last word before the bell rang and the classroom turned into a competition of who could leave the fastest.

Does going to the library even really count as a field trip? Caspar thought. He’d never really been all too interested in reading. Oh well, he shrugged on his backpack and began making his way to the exit, and then home.

Currently his class had been writing essays on historical researchers. It had been overall very boring, as essays typically are. Only the really nerdy kids had taken it seriously. So, in an effort to get them to actually care, Mrs. Bergliez was going to be taking her students on a field trip to the local library.

By the time he got home, Caspar was tired out. His school didn’t have enough money to afford more busses than necessary, although apparently his definition of necessary and the school’s definition of necessary were a lot different, because he would be tired out by the walk every time. Caspar was a sporty guy, too.

“Aw, hey there lil’ fella,” Caspar closed and locked the door to his house, then knelt down to pet the head of the cat he was addressing, a small grey tabby. He looked up at the clock across the kitchen.

4:30

Darn. Missed 4:20.

The cat seemed to have lost interest in being pet, so caspar got up and went to his room. Upon arrival, he shut the door and leapt onto the bed as if the whole scenario was rehearsed. He finally gathered up the energy to sit up and turn on his television and grab the remote, only to flop back down immediately after. He flipped around the channels, finally settling on reruns of Naruto.


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What the…
He took a moment to rub his eyes and take in his surroundings. Great, it was already 6:00 PM, as made clear by the alarm clock on his nightstand.

Someone was pounding on his bedroom door. “Come in!”

And that was evidently what that someone did, because it was revealed to be his father, who had gotten home from work likely a few moments ago.
He wore a skeptical look, surveying what was in front of him. “Were you… sleeping?” He turned around and left before Caspar could answer.

I guess I was. Caspar flipped his legs off the edge of the bed, and made his way to the door that his mother had occupied moments ago.

He walked over to the kitchen, where the rest of his family were seated at the table. His mother and brother must have not cared enough to check up on him when she got home, because his mother had just finished setting out dinner.

“So, Jeffrey, how did you math test go?” His mother gave Caspar a look from the corner of her eyes that reeked of “I’m not mad, just disappointed”

“It went excellently mother, I got 100%” His brother Jeffrey said.

His mother looked straight at Caspar now. “You should try to be a little more like Jeffrey, dear,” she smiled, but it was like feeding chocolate to a puppy; cute on the surface, but terribly upsetting to those who know better.

“I’ll try.” I’m not an idiot, I won’t even bother.

You can’t please people who just want you to be someone you aren’t. This is a fact Caspar was reminded of time and time again. It was always “Jeffrey this” or “Jeffrey that”. In Caspar’s mind, it’s better to not have to live up to someone else’s expectations. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting, though.

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Friday morning came quick. It felt like only yesterday Caspar was laying in bed watching Naruto. Probably because it was yesterday.

“Alright class, I want you all to remember to be respectful of the books,” Mrs. Bergliez began.

Caspar tuned out the rest of her little speech. It was ridiculous they had to listen to this, most of the class was 15. Except Caspar, he had gotten held back a grade, so he was 16.

It seemed he had tuned back into what Mrs. Bergliez was saying just in time, because she was telling everyone to go and check out whatever they wanted.

Caspar decided to go to a section that had some knights on the cover of the books. If he had to be here, he may as well make the most of it.

He picked one at random. Important People Of The 12th Century.
Not ideal, but whatever.

He flipped through the book until he found something interesting. Old guy, painting, painting of an old guy, random horse, another old guy, why are there so many old guys, painting of a dragon, wait a minute go back to the painting of a dragon.

And that he did, only to be mildly disappointed when the caption stated it was an illustration of a dragon from Linhardt Von Herving’s writing. Oh well, what did I expect, real dragons? He decided to check out the page anyway.

Linhardt Von Herving is most well known for his work on “The Sea Of Time”, a story featuring a man who went back in time to be united with the love of his life. Not much is known about his personal life, aside from that he was almost always in the company of his friend (name unknown). Featured here is a painting of him done by Ignatz Victor, a man who attended the Garreg Mach Academy at the same time as Von Herving.

He looked at the image of the painting, and gosh, he didn’t know if the artist was being flattering when he painted this, but that man was gorgeous.

He checked the rest of the book, but there was nothing else about this Linhardt guy.

Maybe….

He checked, and luck wasn’t on his side, because they didn’t have The Sea Of Time in their collection.