A familiar feeling washes over him, as he awakens once more bound by the wrists, ankles, and mouth. He isn’t blindfolded this time, which is better at least. He opens his aching eye to see that he’s seated in the back some sort of small chariot. As the numbness subsides, he can feel that the interior is much warmer than the outside. In front of him he can see two chairs facing away from him, towards a glass window. Looking through it, his blurred vision can just barely make out a road, yet he can’t see anything pulling the chariot, which is strange as he can feel it moving under him. Looking back at the chairs, he can see his two captors, the girl on the right and the boy on the left. The girl’s hands are on what appears to be a circular object attached to a panel in front of her.

  Even when their backs are turned, he doesn’t try to struggle. In his current state, there’s no way would he be able to break free. Instead, he’ll bide his time, waiting for the perfect moment to—

  “Oh god, he’s awake,” Alfonso wears a terrified look on his face, “You better be right about this.” He turns back to his sister.

  “Ah, don’t worry too much” Valentina turns her head for a moment to confirm the man’s awakening before focusing back on the road. “Mornin’ old timer, you’ve probably got a lot of questions right now, huh?”

  The old man tries to reply but his mouth is still gagged.

  “Right, yeah, that stays on this time, don’t want any curses placed on me.” Alfonso says with a smug look on his face.

  “Zip it.” Valentina shuts him up before he could go on, “Let me get two things straight first before you try to kill us again.” She turns the wheel in her hands clockwise and the carriage turns right in response, before finally stopping by the side of the road. She turns her body to face him, “First of all, I know who you are ‘Your Highness’,” She pulls out the notebook from her bag and opens it, “Assuming that you really are the old king, Einar Arcanmir, you were once known as a man with insatiable curiosity and possess high intellect for your time. So much so, that you were once called “The Grand Mage of Arcanmir”. You’ve supposedly had extensive research on magics, the supernatural, and the arcane. One of the things you’ve researched was immortality.” She closes the book and faces him once again. “Most say that you were obsessed with it.” She shifts towards the old man and looks directly into his pure white eye. “I wonder if you managed to get what you were looking for”.

  After a painfully long stare off from the two, Alfonso chimes in, “Ahem, what about the second thing?”

  “The second thing…” Valentina continues staring before backing away slightly, “Whether or not you’re actually the old king, one thing’s for sure; you were not something we expected to find at the bottom of a millennia old tomb. But we definitely can’t just let you go, especially after what you showed off back at the mountain. So instead, I have a proposal, I’ll let you go under one condition; you come back to the museum with me and answer every single question I have for you.”

  The old man, Einar Arcanmir, simply stares back in defiance. There’s no way he’s going to cooperate with them after what they’ve done to him.

  “If you agree, then I’ll get rid of the gag for you”.

  “Hey, who said you could do that?” Alfonso insists on keeping the man in bindings until they reach their destination, but Valentina isn’t listening.

  Yet, despite himself, the old man hesitates. He really doesn’t want to do anything for these two, but on the other hand…

  He nods.

  Valentina gives a big grin before pulling down the gag from his mouth.

  Einar coughs again, “That better not have been your undergarments again, boy.”

  “No, no, it’s my handkerchief this time.”

  “You could have used that last time.” The old man sighs, “Before we continue girl, I need to ask you something very important.”

  Valentina raises an eyebrow, “Go ahead.”

  “You say that you’re researching me for the sake of your museum correct?” He takes a deep breath before continuing, “How many years has it been since I… Since ‘The Old King’ disappeared?”

  “Ah,” She opens her book again, “According to legend, it’s said that the king vanished about fifty years after the supposed founding of the kingdom of Arcanmir so… About three-thousand and eighty-three years ago.”

  Einar slumps back into his seat, speechless. He stares at the floor of the carriage for a moment. “I… I see…” He hunches over with a pained expression on his face. It was even longer than he thought. “Of course, I should have seen this coming…”

  The siblings look at each other in confusion, “You uh… You alright there?” Despite his paranoia, Alfonso can’t help but notice how upset the old man seems.

  But his concern falls on deaf ears, “It is none of your concern boy. Do with me what you will, and quick, so I can be rid of you.” Despite his brief melancholy, his stern nature is quick to resurface.

  Valentina shrugs, “If you say so old timer.” She pushes a lever next to her and the vehicle starts moving once more.

-----

  As Valentina brings the car back on the road, Alfonso leans over to Valentina and whispers, “What do you think is up with him?”

  Valentina sighs. “Why do you think people nowadays don’t want to be immortal if given the choice?”

  Alfonso thinks for a moment before slumping into his seat, “Ah.” The car is completely silent for a moment. Perhaps out of consideration for the ancient king, or perhaps simply there’s nothing to talk about. The silent doesn’t last, as Alfonso straightens his back once more, “Ahem, so where are we headed now? Straight to the museum I assume?”

  “Huh? ‘We’?” Valentina scoffs, “Don’t you have a job to do, Alfie? Something about ‘reporting back to your company about a massive discovery’?”

  “Are you kidding me? With what evidence? Even you still think the old guy is some dude someone sent to mess with you.” Alfonso leans over again, “Besides who knows what’ll happen if I leave you alone with him.”

  “True.” She takes her time to think before finally answering, “Alright fine, I’ll bring you along.” She tries her best to ignore the barely veiled giddiness on Alfonso’s face.

  She continues driving through the lush Scandinavian Forest. Since Einar’s tomb is said to be hidden inside the mountains of Vittaheimr, Valentina had to drive through rough dirt roads and thick spruce forests to get to her destination. Worst of all, she had to use her parents’ old, rust-bucket of a car, making the journey all the more tiresome. Lucky for her, the bright glow of the autumn sun kept any prospective researcher warm within the cold mountain winds. As she drives on, the roughness of the dirt road starts to take its toll on Valentina’s morale. She switches the car’s radio on to the car’s station. The station that her parents loved to tune into whenever they drive the siblings around the countryside. It plays classical music, and to Valentina, it keeps the edge off from the long working days.

  After a few minutes of violin strings and piano melodies, she can almost tolerate the bumpy ride, when suddenly she hears a voice behind her, “How is this possible?”

  “Hmm?” Valentina stops the car in response. “What happened?” She looks back to see Einar looking at her in bewilderment.

  “How is there music playing when nobody is around to play it?”

  Alfonso turns to him, “Ah, right, you just woke up from a three-thousand-year sleep.” A gives Einar a big grin. “You want me to tell ya about what we’ve been doing for the past few millennia?”

  Einar hesitates, almost letting the boy’s air of superiority get the better of him but calms down soon after. “… If you wipe that smug look off your face I just might.”

 “Hehehe…” Alfonso probably dreamed of having this kind of conversation ever since he read his first fantasy book. “Well, let’s start with the invention of gunpowder…”

  Valentina, upon realising that he’d be talking the whole drive home, wants to intervene but felt that she’d only waste her breath in trying. “Ah…” This is going to be a long drive home.