A few days had passed in Felix's house. The great mystery remained unsolved. Owen had finally woken, but he had not spoken a word. He spent his days glued to the window, his gaze fixed on the garden, skipping his meals unless prompted by Hugo. Hugo, however, revealed a cheerful, caring disposition, a pleasant contrast to his outwardly gruff first impression.
The butler knocked on the door and brought tea to Felix. "Duke Lily is here to visit you," he told him as he brewed the tea.
"Is he already back from war?"
"Ah, yes. And victorious, too." He handed the cup to Felix.
"That's great news."
The butler stepped back, leaving Felix to sip his tea in silence. A moment later, a cheerful, commanding voice came from the doorway. "Is that all? I was hoping to receive more compliments, great father."
Felix turned and saw Duke Lily standing there, his bright red hair shining brightly under the sun rays.
"You're a grown man, Rezef. Your children are of marriageable age. You probably don't need compliments at this age."
Rezef walked to him with a smile. "A child is still a child no matter how much he grows. He'd want to be complimented even on his deathbed by his parents."
"What brings you to my humble home, child?" Felix asked playfully.
"I heard you have guests. I was intrigued by who they are, seeing as how you have let them stay for more than three days in your house of solitude." Rezef spoke, crossing his legs as he settled into a chair.
"If you're curious, visit him. He's painting in his room." Felix sipped his tea.
Rezef stood up and left, driven by his curiosity.
He opened the door to Owen's room and stood still for a moment. He didn't think any person could look so stunning in such plain clothes. His gaze drifted to the canvas, on which Owen was working quietly. It depicted the garden in front of him. There was a part missing in it.
The canvas was blank—the sky and the ground were entirely absent—from the point where the wooden water tower stood in the garden.
Before he could ask the significance of the blank part, he heard hurried footsteps from the corridor probably looking for him.
"Sire!" A man clad in knight's armour entered the room finding Rezef there, "A beast wave outside the cottage!"
"Wave?" Rezef exclaimed, "Not a few beasts?"
"About a hundred or so- goblins, golems and a few gargoyles."
"We don't have that many people to ward them off." Rezef strided out of the room while Owen continued painting the canvas adding hue to the flowers.
As Rezef left the building, he saw the beasts already in the house's territory; the knights were barely keeping them from entering the house. The knights' strength couldn't be blamed; they were seasoned warriors- only a handful against a horde of beasts.
"Is great father in a safe place?" Rezef inquired while slaying a golem with his sword.
"No, sire. All the knights guarding this place are busy in defense."
"Damn it!" Rezef grumbled, kicking a goblin away.
Meanwhile, Owen continued to complete his painting in the midst of chaos. Hugo, standing at the door, looked at Owen as if waiting for some sort of response.
"You ain't doing anything?" He asked. Owen remained silent. It was as if nothing mattered more than painting the canvas.
The fight intensified and the knights could no longer hold their ground. A golem charged towards one of the knights fighting another one and was immediately struck down by Rezef who came just in time to hit him. The hit made the giant golem crash on the wall and sent tremors in the building.
Owen was placing a yellow stroke on the canvas when the tremor made the canvas move, making the stroke longer than he had intended. He halted, placed the palate and brush aside, and walked out of the room. Hugo followed suit wondering what he might be thinking.
Owen slowly walked out of the main door of the building empty handed watching the knights in a disadvantage against the beasts. He lifted his arms to the front, coiled his hand in the air and moved the right hand from left to right. As he moved his hand from left to right, a halberd as black as the night with a tinge of green materialized from thin air. He held it in his right hand, made a stance, and charged at the beasts with superhuman speed, killing off the beasts that were close to the knights.
He stopped for a moment, sighed and spoke in a low deep voice, "A moment of peace and quiet is all I ever needed, yet there always seems to be a reason that I can't enjoy that moment."
He charged again, making the knights around him wonder at awe with his superhuman speed and precise hits. "That's Owen for you." Hugo smiled as he walked past Rezef who was kneeling on one knee. In a matter of minutes, the beasts that had swarmed the place ran away left for those that were killed.
Owen saw them leaving and decided to strike them from their backs. Just as he turned to face them, he stopped midway as his eyes caught sight of the sun rays seeping from the tree.
"Hugo. Canvas."
"Here." He brought it from inside in the blink of an eye.
Owen picked up his brush and continued from where he had left off.
Rezef, curious of what he was doing, came to him and saw Owen giving finishing touches to his artwork.
There it was—the blank part of the canvas covered with paint. "I didn't know you were after the mountain." Rezef spoke as he admired the finished work, which focused not on the water tower, but the peak behind it.