His was the Eye that oversaw creation, so powerful it was that it had forced the genesis of the tenets.
The tenets he had broken, they had broken. And now here he was, a nobody on the cosmopolitan streets of Constantinople, with ratty clothes and an even rattier soul.
Why oh why then did that particular eye have to be so fucking blind to the mundane. His problem at the moment was finding someone who could replace the glass in his monocle, a feat not easily done for someone in his position. The foreign drifter look, unsurprisingly, failed to endear him to many of the high end merchants who could craft a useful new lens.
He had always had terrible eyesight but at least the one on his right eye was possible of being corrected and he had learned to live with the blur on his left. While there were some hiccups to it at times, Balder had learned to work around his limitations quite seamlessly. Of course, that was before cracking his precious monocle in a fight with a random demon.
"Jubileus take me…" He sighed quietly, hoping to not attract too much attention.
If he was swindled one more time with a faulty eyepiece, he would send Applauds to tear whatever hapless bottle maker was lining his pockets with his very hard earned funds into very small pieces.
If anyone could do it, it would be here but it was proving to be a much harder search than he initially thought.
Night would soon be upon him and despite all of his talents, a weary and nearly blind Lumen was always at a disadvantage in the dark.
The streets were fairly empty at that hour and it wasn't hard to navigate undisturbed to a place offering shelter.
The small inn was jolly enough, travelers from all over the world milled about and the barkeep kept food onto the tables which was well enough for him.
His room was…reminiscent of a cloister in poor funds but it was better than roughing it out in the woods or desert. Balder preferred to stay away from any hubs of civilization, especially large cities like this one. His fellow Lumen always knew who he was, he was probably the only Lumen on the Realm of Chaos to exist alone and Umbra rarely let go of the chance to harass him, despite generally not recognizing him. Necessity had dictated his detour, not that he had any destination in mind.
He just needed to keep on moving.
He was now so far away from Vigrid, from his home, from the Gates of Hell, from Sunrise Valley but at the same time it was all ever so close if those doors were still open.
The passage of time was starting to become somewhat meaningless to him but there was still one thing that kept him with a working referential.
His beautiful daughter was 4 years and all of 8 months old now. A precious little girl, a daughter he did not regret but also that he wished she had not been stuck in Luna with the dark crones.
What of Rosa, too, what of her… She was so radiant, even in her dark formals. She was the most beautiful and caring woman he had ever known and now she was locked away to wilt, a life without freedom the harshest thing Umbra could suffer.
Whatever favors he had left with his former comrades was used to know that and to know of little Cereza.
He had not a clue of how she lived but he hoped beyond hope she was happy and well cared for. Witches respected their children, or always had best of his knowledge. He counted his blessings she had not been killed on the spot, it seemed their respective Elders had some sense left to them.
"Aren't you gloomy, mate." His head snapped in the direction of the sound and his lance was out before he could catch a glimpse of his intruder but the…boy? jumped quickly from the windowsill to the room, evading his weapon with uncanny expertise.
"Oi, aren't you a jumpy fellow. 'Bout you calm yourself down so we can chat, man to man." Balder frowned and evaluated his surroundings, trying to find the best strategic location to gain the upper hand. Jubileus be praised, what the fuck did they want with him. As far as he could tell, it wasn't any Lumen looking to even scores nor an Umbra to shove him around but if so, what manner of intruder could this be.
"Not much for chats, are you?" Balder lunged again but they evaded once more, perching on the beam like an unruly cat. "But you'll like what I have to tell you. I'm here to give you something very nice, a favour for a friend you see."
He growled and prepared for a counterattack, pulling his weapon closer to his body.
"I don't need anything from you, demon child nor am I naïve enough to think I've any friends left." The child could not be older than fifteen years and the overly casual way their arms were supporting their head made zero sense to him.
"Name's Loki, mate, and I think you'd like to see your daughter." He crouched on the beam, smirking down at Balder. "No?"
His smirk grew wider when the lance faltered in its stance.
Yes, Balder wanted that more than anything in the world, save perhaps for reuniting with Rosa, for a life with all three of them together but nothing like that came without a price.
"You tempt me with impossible things, boy. I've no patience for tricks and deception, leave me be or I'll banish you back to the depths."
His threath was met with a dismissive shrug, narrow shoulders rumpling his odd orange garment.
"Too bad, then. I'll have to tell my friend you missed out but at least have this." A pristine monocle was tossed onto his chest and he nearly let it fall to the floor as the child sized blur of orange and yellow jumped back to the windowsill.
"Wait! Who are you, why now? Why here?" He lowered his lance, a foolish maneuver but his daughter would always be his blind side. "And just how do you wish to…" He frowned, crossing his arms and looking away. "Its Luna, you cannot smuggle her out or worse, me in there."
Grabbing a card from his jacket, his smirk turned even more self satisfied as he threw it at the wall.
The massive portal that formed made Balder take a step back and ready his weapon, when a hand to his back made him move closer to it until he was nearly engulfed by the light.
"Tsk, I'm not here to repeat myself mate. Consider this a reward and a favor from the Remembrance of Time and don't think too much 'bout it." Balder was nearly shoved inside when the hand touched his back again. "Don't keep her waiting now, go."
He glared back at the boy and stepped inside the portal on his own volition and into the damp, dark grey walls of a small bedroom even more sparsely decorated than his.
It was the heat peak of august and yet he still felt a definite chill in the room that was conspicuously devoid of a fireplace. In fact, it was devoid of much else barring a small bed and a rickety chest against the foot of it.
His attention was soon captured by a mess of beautiful black hair and huge grey eyes staring up at him with all the wonder in the world, small glasses perched on her chubby, round face.
"Hello, mister." The little girl, who could only unmistakably be Rosa's (and his), waved her little, pudgy hand at him and hopped out of the lumpy mattress. "Are you who's supposed to come visit me?"
Balder fell to his knee with all the grace of a collapsing house and resisted the urge to hug her so close and never let go. "Yes, it's me Cereza. I am…"
"Daddy!" She grinned and jumped straight into his arms, much to his great surprise. The adult part of him was worried she trusted strangers ever so readily but the other, more rational part (the Dad part he had never gotten the chance to use before) knew she was young and if she could see the good in things, that was a blessing.
"Angels bathe you in light, my dear sweet child." She was small and soft but so very warm against his chest. "I've always wanted to meet you see how you were doing."
"Mummy talks a lot about you, says you are kind and daring and pretty. Are you, mister?" Balder hesitated, surprised Rosa would speak of him much less in such kind terms but nodded along, getting a big grin in return.
Allowing himself a watery smile, parent's shouldn't cry to their children after all, he tried to commit to memory the precious daughter he had given up so much to have.
She seemed satisfied with his answer and sat down near his legs, fetching an ill sewn cat from under the raggedy bed.
"Mummy says you can turn into a wolf! What's a wolf, daddy, is it a kitty? My friend, she says they are ugly and that umbra kitties are much prettier but…" She turned contemplative, smooth brow furrowing in thought. "I've always wanted to see one!"
He hid a sniffle as best he could and chuckled quietly. "Mummy is right, I can. Do you want to see?"
She jumped up and squealed in excitement, tugging at his big hand. He grabbed her from the floor and was surprised at the strong grip she had. When he tried to set her down, she held on for a few more seconds and a niggling doubt flared in the back of his head.
Dismissing it and softly combing her fine dark hair, he stepped a bit away and let his magic flow. The change was quick and seamless, Cereza's eyebrows shooting to her hairline in astonishment as a large wolf stood in his place.
The tackle he received in return nearly dazed him a bit but the awe and radiance of Cereza's open expression were worth the Trinity of Realities to him. She pat with small, careful hands his head and he nudge it, licking her fingertips.
She snuggled with reckless abandon into his soft fur and giggled, earning her a rumbly woof. For a moment, everything felt like it would be ok. It felt like having a daughter, a lover, a clan. He wasn't a stupid man, this wasn't real in a way, why and how he was here was still a mystery but at least for a few seconds he could pretend.
He had so much to show her, so much to teach her and she to teach him. How could such a precious, sweet child be of any harm to anyone? Balder could not figure it out, the world hadn't ended now had it. If everything was still going as smoothly as before, why had they been forced to separate.
"Don't want to have to break this up, kids, but even I can only hold time still for so long." His unknown benefactor appeared again, as if materialized out of thin air but he guessed perhaps he had been just lurking at the edge of their reunion.
"Awww, does daddy have to leave?" Balder turned back into his human self and restrained the urge to glare at Loki.
"'Fraid so, little lady, he's got places to be and so do you."
"Oh…" He didn't want to say goodbye, wanted to be in the dinky room forever getting to know the daughter fate had wrenched from his grasp but it seemed it was not to be. When would he see her again, or perhaps more accurately would he ever see her again?
Yet… "My sweet child, I'll always watch over you I promise. No harm will ever come to you as long as I am around." Her pudgy cheek trembled and her eyes glistened with unshed tears and Balder faltered once more. His resolve could only stretch so much.
He wondered what kind of life did she even have, stuck in this dingy room with no amenities or comfort. How bad would the boy object if he just…whisked her away.
"Mummy is sad…Can you make her happy too?" Oh Cereza, he couldn't. But oh the things he would sacrifice to make it so.
"I'll try" It was a broken promise from the start though.
With one last, heart wrenching hug neither Cereza nor Balder wanted to end, he was back on Constantinople, the sweltering heat hitting him like a bullet.
"Sorry mate, even I have my limits. Well, now this is done, I'll just b-"
"Is she ok?" He forced out, failing to keep the growl out of his voice. He would raze Luna to the ground if she was being mistreated in any way.
"Who? The little one? Yeah" He hesitated, looking away into the bright night. "Yeah, she is, for the most part. Everything will fall in place, don't worry."
"That not what I!" In an instant too fast for Balder to catch him, he was already out the window and had disappeared into the void.
"Asked…" He finished, letting his arm fall to his side.
Damned Umbra, he thought while trying to keep busy replacing the chain on his monocle, if his dear, sweet child got harmed there would be literal Paradiso to pay.