《Keeper of Souls》 Chapter 1: The News [V 3.0] No matter what anyone says. I was not na?ve. I was not manipulated. I choose this path.
The wind was always hot. She hated it. This place had once been almost cool every day of the year. Sometimes it would snow almost the entire year. Now she struggled to remember the snow at all. A small whirlwind played around her, tossing and turning a cloud of sand through the air. It didn''t interest her. He would always do things like that to try to catch her eye, but she knew better now. He would never let her learn the truth. She knelt, watching the little insect begin to walk in the strange little spirals. They always did that. The wind blew past her and towards some distant land beyond her reach. As the wind blew, the girl faded into the sands with a faint shimmer.
The wind blew across Hushwood. The thick, heavy air stirred little clouds as it drifted to the village. The ground was rough and ragged, with only small crevices for the sand to find a safe harbor from the wind. Little drifts would build up in the cracks until small whirlwinds swept them away, only to be deposited again by the breaks created by the small adobe homes of Hushwood. A young boy with tasseled brown hair was busily removing the offending deposits of sand. It wasn''t the most difficult of jobs, but someone had to do it and he didn''t mind dealing with it. So when the odd jobs went around, he was usually the first to volunteer for this responsibility. He paused, gazing into the east. A large hill blocked most of the rising sun and the expanse of lifeless land beyond it. He had heard so many stories of strange creatures residing in that forbidden land that he couldn''t stop imagining the possibilities. A rather strong gust of wind blew past, trying to deposit sand in his eyes, but he was able to block it before they succeeded. The houses whistled softly with the passage of wind. Every home had a wind pipe. It was an essential piece of their hard stone shapes. It allowed the air to pass through the buildings, sucking all the air from the inside out, leaving what air was pulled inside from the doors or windows. No one in Hushwood closed their windows or doors. There weren''t any reasons to do so. They were the only living creatures for some considerable distance. The young boy paused, listening to the sound. It was the reason he didn''t mind this chore. He worked in the clay pits like everyone else during the cool of the night, harvesting the precious white clay that they would ship off to Emberfall to the northwest. It was almost three days from here, and the road was long and treacherous. As he worked, he heard someone moving on the roof. He turned to see Lyla on her rooftop. Her beautiful long hair was almost straight and pure black, and it did amazing things with her eyes. He waved happily at the girl he planned on marrying someday. She was a little older than him, but they had both talked about a life together when they grew up. Just the other day, they had discussed where they wanted to go in life, and what they planned for the future. "I want to see the entire world," Lyla had said. She had been sitting close to Zayn, and he had noticed it in a way he hadn''t as a kid. After all, he was almost fourteen, and that meant he was basically an adult. "Are you sure?" He had asked skeptically, "What is there that we don''t have here? We have family, friends, and plenty of good food." "Don''t you want to know what else there is in this world?" Zayn hadn¡¯t known what to say. So he simply shrugged. "Did you know that Emberfall isn''t even that big of a town? It has 10,000 people living in it. It is considered small!" "Where did you hear about that?" Zayn hadn¡¯t been paying attention to what she was saying. All his attention had been on the faintly pleasant aroma he had just noticed. "My dad was talking about it. He thinks we shouldn''t have gone here. He said that it wasn''t worth it." "What does your mom think?" "She says he is being silly, and that he has forgotten how hard we had it before coming here. This place is peaceful." ¡°What¡¯s wrong with being peaceful?¡± ¡°Dad says we can be something if we leave here. He thinks we shouldn¡¯t be afraid of the world, and that there is a chance we could have a better life out there.¡± ¡°A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.¡± Zayn had said it without thinking about who he was talking to, and he had immediately regretted saying anything. Lyla stood up, her shoulders set firm and her eyes filled with fire. ¡°You think it is stupid, don¡¯t you?¡± Zayn had felt his face grow hot. He didn¡¯t think it was smart to go out into the world and try to find something he couldn¡¯t even be sure existed. ¡°So what if I do?¡± He had felt childish saying it and wished he could be like his father. When his father stood there, he commanded everyone¡¯s attention. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. There hadn¡¯t been a point in trying to defend himself, as Lyla had stormed off and left him alone on the roof. Zayn pushed the thoughts out. It had been a while since they had fought. He waved at her and felt his face grow warm when she turned away without even looking at him. He didn¡¯t stand there for long, because the sun was rapidly rising and he wanted to finish his chore before the heat settled in. So he spent the next thirty minutes gathering up the sand and moving it to the western side of the village where he deposited it, allowing the wind to sweep it away and along its journey to the west. His mother turned and smiled as he entered the main room of the house. The other rooms were small affairs, barely larger enough to hold the hard cool beds that everyone slept on. The main room was cool and dark, with its only window facing in the same direction as the door. The kitchen was tucked into a slightly larger room around the far right corner of the main room. The door to the kitchen shone brightly as the window caught the light of the rising sun. The three doorways to where everyone slept were cool and dark. ¡°Want anything to eat?¡± She asked him. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t think so. I am too hot to eat right now.¡± ¡°Drink some water before you sleep.¡± ¡°Sure thing Mom.¡± ¡°Selene!¡± Zayn¡¯s father¡¯s voice boomed from outside, ¡°Did you hear the news?¡± He entered the room and his voice died off. His eyes bore a hole in Zayn¡¯s head, ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t know you were still awake.¡± Zayn yawned, ¡°Yeah, I just got done cleaning the sand traps. What was the news?¡± ¡°Oh, it isn¡¯t that exciting,¡± His father raised a muscular arm to his head and tugged at his hair. It was a surefire clue that something was bothering him. ¡°Off to bed son,¡± Zayn¡¯s mother shooed him towards his room, and he didn¡¯t really have the energy to argue with her. His bedroom was cool and dark. The sound of the whistling wind was rather loud in here, and Zayn didn¡¯t mind. He loved sleeping to that sound. As he drifted off to sleep, he could have sworn he heard his mother yelling at his father; but that couldn¡¯t be possible. They were almost inseparable, spending countless evenings talking on the roof and watching the stars. Zayn pictured the stars swirling overhead, hidden by the light of the day, and drifted to sleep.
He awoke to the heat of the fading day, having finally infiltrated the cool of his room. Then he noticed that the whistling sound of the wind had vanished. He frowned, the wind was one of the constants of their home. Hot, warm, and slowly moving to the east. Having it stop, even for a moment, felt incredibly unnatural. He got up and went into the main room. It was now slowly growing bright with the light of the passing sun and discovered that he wasn¡¯t the first one up. He didn¡¯t expect either of his younger siblings to be up yet. They usually found excuses to stay up in the heat of the day and go hunting for lizards. They never found any, because there just weren¡¯t any animals this close to the wasteland. The adults all talked about how nothing ever survived there. It was a barren land where creatures would go to die. A graveyard of sand and wind. It gave Zayn chills to think about that place. Still, the kids had fun chasing after whatever creatures they thought they had discovered today. It was usually nothing but a sand sprite, playfully dancing just at the corner of human vision. He went to the basin and found it full of warm and tepid water, so he washed off a little and then opened the drain. He reached under to pull the bucket out and went to draw fresh water from the well. The well was the last source of water that anyone knew of in this area. The only other sources were the two wells that marked the trail to Emberfall. One for each of the two nights that travelers would be forced to stay during the long meandering trip between civilization and the middle of nowhere. He heard a clang from the kitchen after he had brought in the fourth bucket of water, filling the basin enough to properly be able to drink from it. ¡°Zayn, is that you?¡± His mother didn¡¯t exactly call out his name, but he could hear her reasonably well even though they were in different rooms. Rather than answering her, he just went into the kitchen. The light wasn¡¯t nearly as good now that it was evening, but his mother''s long slender form and thick curly hair were still beautiful enough. She worked over a large pot, cooking and stirring something that didn¡¯t smell like food. ¡°What are you cooking?¡± She looked up and laughed, ¡°I¡¯m not cooking hun. It¡¯s just a little something for later. I need to keep at it for now, but I want to tell you that Dad and I have to tell you some news.¡± ¡°Oh great,¡± Zayn sighed, ¡°Does that mean I am getting a brother or sister?¡± His mother blushed enough he could see it on her sun-darkened skin, and Zayn frowned. It was the only thing that they ever had to tell him about that counted as ¡®news¡¯. Yet she had never looked uncomfortable like that with his other siblings. Both of them were a lot younger than Zayn. Zayn and Lyla were the only two kids in Hushwood that had the distinct privilege of being born before the families had moved here. Zarn didn¡¯t remember any of those days, because he had been too young. He frowned as he wondered if Lyla remembered something from then because she was almost a year and a half older than he was. ¡°Not that kind of news, well not exactly. There is a kid coming, but it isn¡¯t mine.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s neat. Who is expecting then?¡± His mother clutched her spoon tightly, and he thought she was biting her lip. She didn¡¯t look even a little happy about this, and it only confused Zayn. ¡°Lyla.¡± his father spoke from behind him, ¡°Lyla is expecting.¡± ¡°But Lyla¡­ She isn¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t¡­¡± Zayn rambled through several incoherent thoughts as he struggled to understand what his father had just said. ¡°We all know how you feel about her, and we knew you deserved to hear this before anyone else.¡± ¡°Is it mine? But we... I mean¡­¡± Zayn fumbled through a jumbled mess of thoughts. He had been thinking about spending time with Lyla, but they hadn¡¯t done anything like that. ¡°We know it isn¡¯t you.¡± His mother spoke softly, and Zayn was too shocked to see the smoldering anger in her eyes. He missed the awkward shuffle from his father. All he felt was numb. He had planned on leaving with Lyla. He didn¡¯t want to go, but how could he actually say no to her? Something cold and wet stung his eyes, and he went to his room to cry. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what he had lost, but he felt that he had lost something precious. Lyla was going to have a family without him. He was supposed to go work in the clay pit with everyone else, but no one asked him to go. His parents just packed up and went without him. The house was empty before he knew it, slowly cooling now that the sun was almost completely set. He left his room and went up to the roof, but it felt hollow and empty to watch the stars by himself. Their normal playful sparkling felt cold and mocking for some reason. So he left the roof and wandered over to the pit, where everyone was working. Normally there was little talk, and seldom there was laughter. Tonight was no different. Everyone worked silently on their tasks. They felt small looking at them from the overlooking ledge. He had never realized how pitifully small humans were. Their tiny forms were insignificant under the passing stars. ¡°Why?¡± Zayn asked the cold night sky. Pathetic humans. The wind whispered back to him. Zayn looked around, but there was no one nearby. He sat down, legs dangling over the ledge. He watched everyone for a while, but all he could think about was Lyla. With someone else¡¯s child. His hands felt cold and numb. Pathetic humans. The wind whispered again. A part of him agreed with the wind. ¡°I just wish everyone would disappear,¡± Zayn muttered quietly to himself, and then he turned and wandered back to his home. He went to the room and was relieved to hear the familiar whistling had returned. He wasn¡¯t sleepy, but he still managed to drift off to sleep. His parents tried talking to him when they got back, and he couldn¡¯t muster himself to say anything. The voice of the wind kept whispering to him. All he could think about was the anger slowly building inside of him. The sunrise changed that. He watched it rise and felt the warmth of its light shining over him. He normally worked through the night and was hot, tired, and exhausted by the work. Today he felt something different as the light shone on him and the wind died off. ¡°You going to be alright?¡± His mother was behind him, and he turned to see her tear-streaked face. A part of him wondered what she had to be sad about. It wasn¡¯t like Lyla meant anything to her. Zayn struggled to say anything, but he didn¡¯t have anything he wanted to say. He was sick of all the talking. All he could think about was the wind¡¯s mocking laughter at the pitiful human lives it passed by. ¡°I guess.¡± It was difficult to answer her. Thankfully she didn¡¯t say anything but simply put a hand on his head. Chapter 2: Burial [V 3.1] The pain got better, but the anger was on a constant simmer. It came to a boil every time he saw Lyla. He wanted to hold her and tell her it didn¡¯t matter. That he would still go with her, but he felt like she had moved on from him. And he was terrified of her telling him that. It wasn¡¯t long before he got back to work and he learned to deal with it. While everyone was interested in giving him some space, they were equally determined to make sure that the work got done. If they couldn¡¯t finish the shipment, they couldn¡¯t eat. So he had to get to work. It helped, except for the times when he had to deal with Lyla. ¡°Zayn, you can¡¯t stay angry at her,¡± his father had walked up behind him, ¡°It isn¡¯t fair to just blame her.¡± ¡°What happened though? Why?¡± His father didn¡¯t answer right away. Zayn turned to look into the pained eyes of his father. He was a tower of strength, and everyone looked up to him. It made him feel small. ¡°You¡¯ll¡­¡± His father coughed, ¡°Need to ask her.¡± Zayn frowned, ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°What is what?¡± ¡°That thing you just did,¡± Zayn imitated the cough. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a cold. You get them from time to time.¡± Zayn didn¡¯t think to correct his father. He just wondered why he had never noticed it until today. His father coughed again, and Zayn found himself supporting his father by one of his muscular arms. ¡°I think you need to lie down.¡± It was near sunset and everyone had already gone off to work in the clay pit. So it was the two of them as he helped his father get to bed. In the brief twenty meters to the house, his towering father, a bastion of strength and integrity, went from being able to walk, to needing Zayn¡¯s help, to relying on Zayn to keep him upright. At the door to the house, he collapsed and Zayn was forced to drag him to his bed. The coughing was a lot worse. Several times he sounded like his lungs were going to explode, leaving Zayn so shaken that he stood there watching his father spasm. ¡°Get¡­ Selene,¡± his father gasped. With that command, Zayn bolted from the house for the clay pits. He had never run that fast. He got to the group of people, puffing and huffing out of breath. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Zayn, where is Azarik? His mother looked him at with pleading in her eyes. ¡°He¡­ collapsed.¡± Zayn pointed back to the village, ¡°Home.¡± Everyone turned and ran for the village, leaving Zayn all alone. As he caught his breath, his vision cleared and he realized Lyla was standing there. Her hands clenched at her sides. She looked angry and determined, and Zayn couldn¡¯t help but see her storming off of the rooftop in anger. He tried to say something, anything, and he failed. He stared at her for a moment and realized she was trying to say something. Time froze. He could see a thousand possibilities. Half of them ending with them happily together, and half of them ending with him angry and alone. ¡°Zayn¡­¡± She coughed, and Zayn felt his stomach drop. He didn¡¯t even wait. If she had a cold, he had to get her home as quickly as possible. She gasped and protested him lifting her into her arms, and Zayn only succeeded in that because of all the hard work in the clay. He ignored her squawks as he ran home faster than he had gotten here. He didn¡¯t make it, but he did catch up to several of the other village¡¯s men. They saw him carrying her and came over to help. By this time, her coughs had gotten a little worse and she wasn¡¯t trying to insist that she was alright. One of the men, only ten years older than Zayn, took her from him. And for a moment Zayn saw nothing but rage. Was it him that had stolen her heart? Someone who dreamed of leaving the village and going on adventures together? He didn¡¯t have the strength to say anything. His body was pounding with the exertion; and once Lyla had been carried away, he collapsed to the ground.
¡°What do we do?¡± Selene asked Aria, Lyla¡¯s mother. Aria was a strong woman, and Selene had always known that she could rely on her. Even with her daughter sick, she was still reasonably calm. ¡°How is his temperature?¡± Aria asked, dabbing at Lyla¡¯s forehead. ¡°He¡¯s running a fever. He also has red legions covering his skin.¡± Alia sighed, ¡°Do you think it¡­¡± ¡°What else could it be?!?¡± Selene didn¡¯t mean to yell at her childhood friend, but time was running out. Alia dabbed at Lyla¡¯s forehead, ¡°I guess we need to prepare a cemetery.¡± Selene was shaking with rage, ¡°If only¡­¡± ¡°If it doesn''t help Selene. We have a lot more people than these two. We can¡¯t afford to lose sight of the curse¡¯s reach.¡± Selene slammed her hand into a table, ¡°Why would he wish this on us?¡± Aria stood and hugged her friend, ¡°You know why. He is angry.¡± Selene looked at two of the people her son loved more than anything else in this world, ¡°My poor son.¡±
Zayn woke to a loud thump and an angry voice shouting about wishes and curses. ¡°My poor son.¡± His mother was talking about him. The night with him wishing on the wind for everyone to disappear flashed before his eyes. He was feeling better and hurried back out to the pit. The wind was blowing steadily in the night air, and the normally active worksite was dark and quiet. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Stop!¡± he shouted into the night, ¡°Don¡¯t take them away from me! I didn¡¯t mean it!¡± Pathetic humans. The wind answered they deserve to die. All humans do. ¡°No, they don¡¯t!¡± The wind grew still and the temperature dropped quickly, leaving Zayn uncomfortably cold. ¡°Save them. Please!¡± Death comes. Plague-bearer. ¡°I didn¡¯t do it!¡± Pathetic humans. Zayn dropped to his knees and wept. He listened to the wind as it laughed at his suffering. Plague-bearer. Zayn felt his skin writhe. Every time it whispered his name.
Azarik died in the night. Zayn wanted to cry, but his little brother had started coughing. Even now, as the men discussed burying his father, he watched his mother working a wet cloth along his little head. Ethan was always a pain, but he didn¡¯t deserve this. ¡°Come Zayn, you should be here for this.¡± Corin, an older man, put his hand on Zayn¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Your mother is doing what she can for Ethan. Let us send your father to the next life in the best way possible.¡± They went up the hill to the east. A hint of sunlight brightened the distant horizon, blotting out the stars. Several of them had shovels, and they set to digging the hole. Zayn did his best to keep up, but most of the work was done by everyone else. They went back to the house and carried his father up the hill. As they walked up, Zayn noticed several of the men were coughing. They Azarik into the ground and Corin spoke of things that sounded good. The times they had been together, about how things were going to be alright. About the future and how they would all see each other again. They always talk. The wind sneered. The coughing started getting worse, and Corin told everyone to go home and rest. He then turned to fill in the hole. Zayn joined him in the work and the two of them spent a considerably longer time working on it than the others. Corin started coughing as they neared the finish, and Zayn encouraged him to go home and rest. He stared at the grave, not really understanding what he was looking at. His father had seemed to be invincible, and he had died in a single night. It was exhausting to finish the grave, the sun was far up into the sky and Zayn was only awake because he had collapsed the night before. The next day, he watched his brother grow sicker and sicker. His sister started coughing by the end of the day. His mother, normally beautiful and devoted, looked exhausted as she dealt with her sickly children. Zayn had never felt so helpless. He had wanted to help his father, but he didn¡¯t really have anything he could do to help. He had never imagined his father dying, and his loss shook Zayn deeply. When his little brother lived through the night, he thought that he might survive, but his mother seemed to be growing more and more frantic. She had taken to sobbing uncontrollably and she seemed to think that both her children were gone. When Zayn woke to find her at work in the kitchen, he almost yelled at her. Then he remembered the first time he had seen her use the enormous pot that she was working with. It had been the day he found out about Lyla. He tried to push her to explain what was happening, but she could only babble incoherently about how it was important. Zayn gave up in frustration and did his best to save his sister. Her breathing was the worst and she was even smaller than Ethan. He knew that his father would have fought to save everyone, and it was his job to be just as strong. So he spent every waking moment trying to ease their obvious discomfort. When he spotted the angry red marks on their skin, oozing and bloody, he knew that it wasn¡¯t helping. He thought about his mother and her strange behavior, and then he heard her coughing. The days and nights blurred together as he worked. He would collapse in exhaustion and then wake up to see them looking worse. When he woke to see his little sister still and cold, he shook with rage. His mother was still scrambling in the kitchen over that stupid pot. He left the house to dig a hole for his sister and looked around at the other homes. No one was moving around. There was an eerie silence that hung over the entire place. He thought about visiting Lyla, but he didn¡¯t have time for that. So he trudged up the hill. Then he realized all of the shovels were still laying where they had been dropped. No one had come to clean up. It was at that moment that he realized how desperate their situation was. Pitiful humans. The wind laughed. He couldn¡¯t expect anyone to help with his sister''s grave, so he dug it fairly shallow and then went to get her body. It was then that he realized Ethan¡¯s cough had gotten worse, so he spent a minute taking care of him before going up the hill. No one came to pay their respects or help with the digging. A part of Zayn was angry at them all, but he realized that they were all falling ill. He lowered her to the ground and filled in the grave. He looked at his hands, they had started bleeding from several spots. His body ached all over and he struggled to stand. He tried to think of the words that Corin said, but all he could think of was how his brother needed him and his mother was doing something pointless. ¡°May we meet again and be happy.¡± He turned and walked down the hill. The whole walk he listened to the laughing wind. All you do is talk. Pathetic. He got to the house and found his mother was looking after his brother. He thought about what he wanted to do and ended up going to bed. He woke up feeling much better and found his mother sleeping next to his brother. He started to wake her and realized that she was damp with sweat. He did his best to move her to a bed, and then applied a damp cloth to her forehead and went to look after his brother. Both of them needed his attention, but fortunately, his mother quickly improved and she was soon back to helping with his brother. He took the break to go check on everyone else. He went from house to house and discovered that almost everyone was either sick or tending to the sick. Lyla lay panting for her breath. Her mother was trying to take care of her, but she looked almost as bad as his mom. Her dad and sisters were nowhere to be seen. He was too tired to offer to help. He went back to his house and lay down. He wasn¡¯t eating well and he hadn¡¯t really slept properly. He lay down and all he could think about was how pointless this was. It didn¡¯t help. Everyone was getting sicker and sicker. Everyone was going to disappear. Soon it would just be Zayn. His stomach growled, and he realized that the shipment was supposed to be done at this point. They were never going to be able to complete it. The food wouldn¡¯t last much longer if they didn¡¯t get the new supplies. That meant that they needed the wagon loaded and ready to travel. It didn¡¯t matter how hard he worked at it, he could never finish the job. Pathetic. One little plague and you all die. Zayn cried himself to sleep. He dreamed of discovering a cure, buried in the clay, and helping everyone recover. Then using it to bring the dead back to life. He dreamed of everything going back to the way it had been. Lyla was close and telling him about her dreams. He was listening to her and encouraging her to escape this hell. She promised she would escape, and find a way to be happy. He woke to again discover his mother, feverish, had fallen asleep at Ethan¡¯s bed. He moved her to bed again and then went to take care of both of them. He noticed that what little food they had was starting to look rougher and rougher. It didn¡¯t matter. Everyone was going to die. He fed them and ate a little, not even noticing the taste. Then he went to see Lyla. Her mother wasn¡¯t there, and the sound of almost constant coughing made him pause before going inside. Everyone sounded sick. He found that Lyla was already gone. Her body looked so small now, and he wondered what had been the point of being so angry. He lifted her up and took her up the hill. Slowly he dug her a hole next to his father and sister and lowered her into it. He wanted to say something. To fix everything. You can¡¯t do anything for them. They are all dead. He looked around, realizing it was sunrise, with a tiny glimpse of the sun. ¡°It¡¯s going to be another day. I wish I hadn¡¯t gotten angry at you. I wish I had told you I wanted to go with you and explore the world. I was just scared. I was scared to leave home because I thought we were safe here.¡± Zayn looked at the rapidly growing cemetery and laughed. ¡°Now I am talking to¡­¡± He caught his breath for a moment, ¡°I will be there soon enough. I think everyone will be joining you. It will be better that way. We will all be happy again.¡± He filled in the hole and went home. That night he didn¡¯t have the strength to look after anyone. He could just see Lyla¡¯s baby, unable to ever see the world. He felt awful, angry, and confused. The normally soothing wind only whispered its mockery. He went home to discover his brother and mother were in their equally awful state. He had wished this very thing on them. He did what little he could for them before moving on to the other homes. He checked every room, and every time he found the same thing. The group who had been fighting to save the sick lay in their own beds. The first people to fall ill were dying or dead. Everyone was disappearing. Zayn looked at the hill and the long trek to where the graves were. It wasn¡¯t so far that he couldn¡¯t make the trip, but he suspected he was going to be dealing with a lot of bodies. He just couldn¡¯t handle the trip, so he made the choice to dig a single larger grave in the center of town. He didn¡¯t start digging though, just dragged bodies out of the homes and lined them up on the bare ground. He was in the middle of dragging Corin when he spotted the three men. They stood some distance away, and they were just standing there. Zayn realized that they were the men sent from Emberfall to gather the clay shipment. That meant that they had the town''s meager supplies on them. Zayn¡¯s stomach growled. He had been so busy dealing with the bodies that he had forgotten about food. What was left in the kitchen was almost entirely inedible anyway, so it didn¡¯t really matter. He went over to see them. They didn¡¯t run away, but they did move back if Zayn got close. ¡°Do you have food?¡± Zayn asked, ¡°Where¡¯s the rest of the men?¡± A taller man with a mustache, Zayn thought his name was Gavric, answered, ¡°What¡¯s happening here?¡± ¡°People are getting sick and dying, sir.¡± ¡°How many?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if anyone else is healthy but me.¡± The men turned and fled without saying anything. Zayn stood there watching their vanishing forms and wishing that they had simply left him enough food to survive. He went home to see his brother had died, and his mother was crying. He wanted to tell her to rest, but he didn¡¯t see any reason to. Everyone was disappearing. Chapter 3: The Pit [V 3.0] Zayn woke to a feeling of emptiness. He crawled out of bed and wandered into the kitchen to realize there was only old stew. His stomach growled as he stared at it. It smelled strange, and he was confident that it was no longer good to use. So he pitched it out and then went to check on his mother. Her breathing was labored and she was covered in sweat. He changed the wet cloth and went to refill the bucket with fresh well water. Then he moved his brother¡¯s body to the area in the center of the village. The small line of corpses was growing steadily longer, and he realized he would need a shovel if he was going to dig a grave for all of them. He looked up the stretch of land to the hill. The light of dawn hadn¡¯t yet shown up, and the stars spun playfully overhead. The thick range of colors reminded him of the time he had spent with the people of the village. They had all gathered together and eaten, laughed, and drank under the stars. He loved that moment, seeing everyone together had been amazing. He jerked as he realized he had been drifting off to sleep. He looked around and for a moment he could have sworn he saw the ghosts of the people around him laughing and celebrating. All they do is talk. Pathetic humans. ¡°Why are you bothering me!¡± He shouted into the dark, ¡°Why is everyone dying?¡± There was no response but the laughter of the wind, whistling through the buildings. The feeling of emptiness disappeared as he remembered the anger. The anger he had felt at what had happened. He remembered his mother standing over a pot, cooking something for no reason. While his siblings were sick and dying. His father, a bastion of the community, unable to help him understand how to deal with Lyla¡¯s child. Lyla for having a child. The wind was right, and everyone loved to talk, but none of them said anything. They were pathetic. He slumped to the ground a painful hole in his heart. ¡°Why am I afraid to lose them?¡± Pathetic Humans. The wind whispered back. It was right. He was pathetic. He had wished this into existence. He had been hurt and angry, and a part of him was happy to see them suffer. That made him feel even worse. The moment of emotions faded as the emptiness returned. It was easier to feel nothing. He jerked, looking around as he realized that he had drifted off again. He stared at the hill, realizing that he had to climb up the hill to get the shovel. It was difficult to stand up, but he was eventually able to find the strength to stand up. ¡°Pathetic Humans.¡± He began the long walk. It felt like he was climbing a mountain. The oppressive walk stretched out longer and longer as he neared the summit. He reached for the shovel, picked it up, and began to work his way back to the town. How long did he normally take to walk this distance? How long had he spent already? It felt like ages. He looked at the bodies and estimated how big of a hole he would need. He dug and dug. Deeper and deeper. He would have liked to have been so deep that he couldn¡¯t escape from the grasp of the pit, but he was barely to his knees in the deepest part. He sighed, dropped the shovel, and then moved around the different houses. There were more bodies, and he was clearly the only person who wasn¡¯t sick yet. He began to drag them from their homes. ¡°Pathetic Humans.¡± The number of bodies grew enough that he began to wrap them around the growing pit. A circle of death. More and more bodies for the pit. And the pit was growing deeper and deeper. He gathered stones to mark the grave and began scribbling on them. He had to make sure everyone had their mark. He placed the stones down around the pit. He looked at the hill and could see the sun slowly rising in the distance. It¡¯s light washing away the stars. Then he went back to digging. The pit grew deeper and deeper, slowly getting to where it could almost swallow him. His stomach hurt. The pain of hunger shot through him, forcing Zayn to face reality. He was dying. He hadn¡¯t coughed or anything yet, but hunger would end him soon enough. He was having trouble remembering when he had last eaten a real meal. The fruit had always been a rarity and the thought of succulent purple fruit with its creamy contents left him moaning for a bite. That plant that grew the fruit only produced them in one season, and that was a long way away. His hunger grew sharp and insistent. Then he saw the bodies of the dead. He looked at them and wondered how they would taste. He would have puked if he had anything in his stomach, but he hadn¡¯t drunk enough in the last several days. So he ended up heaving and retching almost nothing. The foul taste stung his nose and mouth, driving him from the pit and to the well. He washed off his nose and rinsed his mouth as best as he could, but the putrid odor refused to wash away. When he was done he saw the bodies of his community. People he had known his entire life and seen as friends, and he was hungry. He closed his eyes and looked away in shame. Pathetic Humans. The wind laughed at him. He went to check on those who weren¡¯t dead yet. No food smelled safe to eat anywhere and there was nothing but a wet cloth to help them. It felt so pointless. ¡°Son¡­¡± His mother gasped as he walked into her room. It had been days since he had heard someone talking. It felt strange. ¡°Mother, you should be resting,¡± he changed out the towel he had been using. He didn¡¯t think that it was helping in any way, but he did it without really even thinking. ¡°Sur..¡± She struggled to speak, ¡°Survive.¡± He watched her in shock, unable to respond. Her mouth moved, struggling to say something, but nothing escaped her lips. She spent a few moments trying to say whatever it was, but all she was able to do was cough. Zayn, unable to respond, wandered out to the field of death. Hunger gnawing at him. She had asked him to survive. All he could think about was the hunger, it was consuming him. He made a choice. He cut into the flesh of those he had loved, and he would survive. That one word held more meaning than all of the nonsense everyone had talked about. Nothing mattered if he died. If he died here, the memories of everyone would vanish forever. He looked at the meat long and hard. Then he went to the kitchen. He cooked and ate. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was a lot more than he had eaten in days. He took some broth to his mom and she slurped it down. For a moment, she looked a little better; and the pain and uncertainty vanished. He gathered several more bowls worth and took them around to the different people in the town. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was obviously better than letting the sick starve. So Zayn spent a while going from house to house checking on the different people and giving those who would accept the broth some food. He found three more bodies and after he had wandered around providing food, he dragged them out to the pit. He looked into the hole he had been making. It wouldn¡¯t be enough for all the bodies that he had put around it, so he planned to get back to digging the pit. It was a little easier with food in his stomach, but he ate too much and ended up vomiting in the pit. He stirred the mess into the dirt to cover up the scent and kept up the digging. He got hungry again and prepared another broth. It wasn¡¯t much, but he knew that the soup was helping people. He fed himself and everyone some of the broth and went to bed. The next day no one died, and for a moment he wondered if he could save the rest. He spent the day feeding and digging and went home and discovered his mother with a red blossom growing from her mouth. It formed a delicate flower spattered on the hard surface of the bed. He did his best to clean it up and then went to bed. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. It took three more days for everyone else to die. He lined them all up and could feel the pit calling for him to feed it. He felt the stones needed to be updated, and he spent time adding the names of everyone else who had fallen to the stones. Zayn couldn¡¯t even tell that the scribbles were all wrong, as he put the stones back into place. It is ready. Zayn jerked and looked around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. ¡°What is ready?¡± He shouted into the silence. There was no answer, and Zarn stood there looking like a fool. He looked into the pit and could feel it calling for the bodies. It consumed everybody he fed it. As the bodies fell in, they vanished into the darkness, devouring almost everyone he had ever known. There were only a handful of people still alive in the village, and none of them were doing well. The few people he knew who weren''t affected by this didn¡¯t even live here. Zayn only had a vague recollection of their faces and he didn¡¯t even know their names. A faint memory of his grandparents wafted through his mind, as he dragged the bodies into the pit. He watched them, one after the other, devoured by the all-encompassing hunger of the pit. He would have cried if he had any tears to cry, but his body just couldn¡¯t do it anymore. Everything was gone. After he grew tired, he gathered some food and went to bed. He woke to find his mother was dead. She had coughed out her lungs, leaving a twisted and demented shape protruding from her mouth. He moved her to the pit. She was the last. He stood over the pit and he could hear it calling for him to feed it. It wanted more. The darkness in it presented an inescapable barrier. He looked down at the lump of flesh that had been his mother and then back to the pit. Its darkness invited him to join the dead. ¡°I¡¯m coming.¡± he muttered to the pit, ¡°Soon I will be there.¡± Survive. A single word gasped from dying lips with barely a breath. He looked at her body. He was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. He had a long journey in any direction he went and almost no water for the journey. ¡°I need water.¡± He muttered to himself. The wind howled past him. He should have treated Lyla better. He should have asked her about what happened. About how she felt. Instead, he had just wished horrible things on everyone when he learned about the baby. He was cursed and diseased. It was the only answer. It hadn¡¯t killed him, because it was created from his anger. It had acted out his will. ¡°I have no one left.¡± Pathetic Humans. All they do is talk. ¡°Shut up!¡± He screamed into the wind, hoping it would stop its mockery of his pain. He was alone. Completely alone. He had no one to talk to. No one to share his hopes and fears with. All that was left of his family were the stars passing overhead and pleasant dreams. Not that he expected to have any of those. Feed her to the pit. He looked at his mother''s body and then at the pit. ¡°One last body for you to eat. You damned curse. I hope you are satisfied.¡± He threw her into the pit. He stared into the darkness. He knew that it wanted him. Pathetic Humans. All they do is talk. Powerless. You are powerless to do anything. He started to walk into the hole, and for a moment he saw his mom. A faint specter floated before him, hands on his cheeks, whispering to him. A precious word. A single idea. Survive. Pathetic Humans. ¡°Shut up!¡± He wanted to scream it, but it sounded more like a gasp. His body was wracked with a coughing fit. He stared at his hands, checking to see if there was blood. Had he been coughing before this moment? He couldn¡¯t remember. Regardless, he would soon be joining the others. It was almost over. He was infected. Survive. A different, sweeter voice whispered to him, struggling to breathe. He dropped to his knees and cried with dry tears. Survive. The sweet voice whispered again, and he looked up expecting to see his mother. All he saw was a book. It was transparent and glowed with a soft green color. Thin tendrils of mist drifted from it, reminding Zayn of the ghost he had just seen. He had never heard any stories about ghostly books. All he knew was that he couldn¡¯t read very well. His father and mother had taught him some of the basics, but it was barely enough to be able to read a ledger or receipt from the convoy. Zayn just laughed. It was so ridiculous. What good would a book be for him? It drifted closer and he felt the word whisper to him. The soft sweet voice seemed to come from the book. For a second he stared at it bewildered. It had been where he saw the specter of his mother. ¡°Mother?¡± He reached out a hand and grabbed the book. He expected his fingers to slip through it and for it to vanish like the mirages he had learned about from the adults. Playful spirits would lead unwary travelers to their deaths in the deep deserts like the wasteland. The cover, while ghostly, looked like a thick leather cover with no letters or symbols. He was surprised at how easily it opened under his touch, and the first page was covered in strange symbols he had never seen before. Despite that, he was able to easily read it
The Eternal Balance
The title was strangely easy to understand, and Zayn spent a moment staring at how easily he was able to grasp its meaning. He spent another moment marveling at how he was able to see through the pages of the book. He flipped through it, expecting to be able to understand all of the strange scribbles with ease. However, he quickly realized that there was something unnatural or strange about the text. The later parts of the book didn¡¯t make any sense. He could feel that they were written in the same way as the earlier ones, but no attempt to grasp their meaning succeeded.
It is said that all life ends at some point or another. The process of death seems like an inescapable barrier that consumes everyone in the end. From the beginning of time, humans have only ever sought to sustain themselves. They build legacies to carry on their works, dreams, and hopes. In this way, they create a temporary form of immortality.
Zayn knew that he shouldn¡¯t have been able to understand those words. Many of them were strange and unfamiliar, but he was able to follow what it meant.
It is said that there is no solution to the plague that is death. Every living thing falls under its influence. As death is the only true constant in life. It is said that this is the eternal balance of the world, but this is far from true. Despite what numerous sources would claim, there are ways to overcome death. Overcoming death is no simple matter, but those who are dedicated to the path of immortality are often able to find a way to achieve it. Once mastery of death is accomplished, anything is possible as the gateway between this world and the next is open to your desires. Controlling death allows an individual¡­
Zayn looked away from the page. Controlling death. He looked into the pit and the shapes that lay within it. No one needed to die. If he could open the gateway between the world of the living and the world of the dead, he could bring everyone back, right?
¡­to accomplish truly impressive feats. The needs of a living body no longer need to apply, as sustenance and nutrition can be drawn from the very world around them.
He paused as he realized how thirsty he had gotten, so he wandered over to the well and drank deeply. Then he sat down in the shade of the well to keep reading.
This extends far beyond overcoming the limitations of the flesh, as they can shape the very essence of a person and their physical limits. As they gain a greater understanding of death, they can not only overcome its influence but can gain control over all living life.
Zayn stopped at that part. It was getting harder to understand the meaning of the text and it was getting more and more nonsensical. What did it mean to shape their limits? What were the limitations of flesh? What would gaining control over life mean? It sounded so outlandish that he just couldn¡¯t take it anymore. The world wasn¡¯t full of demons, dragons, and fairies. It was just the world, full of people and animals. He let his eyes wander around the small collection of buildings, and he was drawn to that abysmal hole in the ground. It had devoured his home. If ever there was a demon, that was one of them. If that was a demon, then there could easily be magic in this world. The word that the wind had taunted him with floated through his mind. It had called him powerless. Unable to do anything. He looked at the strange ghostly book, and then he realized he had stopped reading it because he couldn¡¯t believe in magic.
The path of mastery is difficult. You must devote yourself to the path of death without any reservation. All of those who walk this path begin surrounded by death. They have faced it and chosen to live, regardless of the cost. To begin the path of a devotee
Every necromancer is born from death. If you are reading this tome, there is a great number of dead nearby. You must use them to devote yourself to the path of immortality. Take the corpses of the dead and use them to further your knowledge. Ingredients 1 Human Brain 1 Human Heart 1 Human Lung 1 Human Spinal Cord 1 Preserved body These components must be arranged in the correct patterns for the circle to form properly. Each one represents a different aspect of the human condition, and the applicant must understand their place regarding the ritual circles. The ritual circles are arranged as a reflection of all the elements needed to sustain life. Each part of the body serves a function and represents one of these elements. To begin the process you must create the proper tool as only the flesh of life can be used to create life.
Zayn had already done the unthinkable. It wasn¡¯t like it would do any harm to follow the instructions. Everyone was already dead. He set to getting several bodies out of the pit. He had this strange feeling that he should touch the pit itself, the stones surrounding it and that entering it would result in his death. So he ended up using a rope to pull the bodies out. It was rather difficult, but he was able to get body after body free from the pit. The steps for creating the knife required a specific bone from a human. The ghostly book wasn¡¯t exactly specific as to which bone it was, so it took him a while to find the right one. He felt stupid as he carved several shapes into it, and then the process of extraction could really begin. The book stressed that there couldn¡¯t be a single scratch on the organs to be removed. He had to get a perfect sample of each piece. This required considerable practice to accomplish. There was a large collection of failed samples for the ones that he succeeded in pulling out. Still, he had his four organs and placed them in their correct places around the pit. After that, he returned to the book and read about the process of mummification. He read through the process as carefully as he could, learning about how things like temperature and humidity would affect the condition of the body over time. He looked at the bodies lying in the dry heat, and he knew that he would need several things from them. He also knew that, with a little preparation, he could preserve these bodies. He went through them all and carefully took pieces he could use and made sure that they could dry in as natural a process as possible. He did his best to prepare an ample supply of both food and water for a journey. The only thing he wasn¡¯t sure about was where he should go. Based on how the people for Emberfall had reacted to his news, Zayn suspected that they would view him as unclean. Rather than following the road directly out of town, he went farther to the west. There was a decent overlook of the road, and he was able to see what he suspected would be there. Spearman. The metal heads shone bright yellow in the sunlight, twinkling like strange lanterns and their metal shone almost as brightly. The metallic golden color left no doubt in his mind. They had absolutely no interest in letting anyone from the village leave. He felt his skin tingle. They wouldn¡¯t let him live. They already say anyone in the village is cursed or diseased. Either way, there was no hope of escaping this direction. Even if he managed to get around them, an easy enough feat. There were only a few sources of water outside of this area, and none of them would be difficult to guard. These men were probably going back to the first well on the way out of the village. So that left only one real way to escape. Through the uncrossable wasteland. A place that killed anyone who tried to cross it. Chapter 4: The Ritual [V 3.0] Zayn spent the morning on the hill watching the sunrise. He had seen the long stretch of the wasteland, but he had never really watched it before this moment. A part of him felt that it was suicide to cross this direction, but he felt that he had a better chance if he didn¡¯t go through the heart of the great desert. He looked to the north and then to the south, trying to gauge which direction looked better, but either direction looked equally difficult. No one had ever told him if there were ways that were shorter, so all he could do was get a good angle and do the best he could to judge which way he wanted to go. He yawned as he considered which way would be the shortest distance to cross. Neither of them looked particularly promising. He looked to the rising sun, wondering if it held his salvation. If people couldn¡¯t cross the land, perhaps it was because it looked like a long flat stretch of nothing. It would be easy to get turned around in that place without landmarks. He couldn''t afford to get lost. So the best solution was to use the sun. He stood up and walked back to the town, looking to see if he could see any sign of soldiers in the morning light. There didn''t appear to be anything, but the rolling hills of rock and sand offered many places for men to hide. As he drew nearer the pit, his eyes were drawn to the pit. The hole, seemingly small, drew in the eyes with its unnatural darkness. He had read what the book wanted him to do, but he wasn''t sure if he would have the strength to commit to it
The pit is the heart of the ritual. It is the doorway to the realm of death, and through it, the supplicant must gain the permission of its lord and master. There must be a retinue for the lord of death. Prepare a council of the dead around the pit. At the head, back to the sunrise, place a throne and a body for the king resting upon it. At even intervals, place six more bodies, three on each side of the throne. They must be placed in positions of respect to the great one.
Zayn felt sick reading those words, but he saw a glimpse of many truths in The Eternal Balance and he suspected that there were many more. It offered the keys to immortality and the possibility of bringing his loved ones back. Pathetic Humans. The wind mocked him briefly. He stood up and made his way to one of the houses and brought out the nicest chair he could find. It was nowhere close to a throne, but it did have a backrest and armrests making it the best choice available. The wood was weathered and worn, showing its age in many spots. Zayn placed it in the correct position of the circle and stared at it. It didn''t look even remotely throne-like. He knew of several gold coins in the village, but he wanted to save those for his journey. There was nothing else of gold in the village, so he turned to the jewelry. There wasn''t much. They made most of it from leather strips, but there were a few made out of copper plates fastened together. All of them had semi-precious stones on them. No one had any gemstones or anything, as they couldn''t afford to keep something so extravagant. He placed them on the armrests and back of the chair, like spoils of a conquest draped on the chair. It didn''t really help, but it looked better than doing nothing. The only question was which cadaver to place on the chair. He eventually decided that it should go to Corin, the closest thing that village had to an elder. His grey-speckled hair had continued to grow, and Zayn wondered if he should spend some time cutting and cleaning it. He stared at the rising sun, feeling the heat of the day build. It would be better to travel at night. Finish the ritual and then travel after sunset. That meant he needed to gather the other corpses. So he turned to setting them up and found he had a real problem. Getting them in the proper position was surprisingly hard. The bodies were growing stiff and he suspected he shouldn¡¯t use any of the ones that he had harvested material from. So the muscles had dried and hardened into their resting position and he struggled to get them into the right position. He discovered that the second body was far easier and that the older ones were easier to move than the fresher corpses. He eventually had six figures, kneeling on both knees, heads touching the ground, and arms outstretched to the pit¡¯s welcoming darkness. Then it was time to begin. He gathered up the body he had worked to preserve and placed it before him. On it, he lay the organs he had painstakingly removed from numerous bodies. Each of them was assigned a specific location on the body. ¡°World of death, heed my call.¡± He knelt down and raised his hands to the sky. ¡°I have received words of wisdom from beyond the land of the living, and I seek audience with the lord of that realm.¡± It started out like a distant rumble, emanating from the pit, and slowly grew in tone and ferocity until it blasted out of the pit with unnatural fury. The wind howled into the sky forming a sandy cyclone as it blew debris clear of the pit. After a moment, the cyclone faded as it ran out of material to blast into the sky. It maintained a steady torrent of wind until it just stopped. Zayn stared down into the pit, gazing at the darkness. It wasn¡¯t darkness anymore. Previously he had felt it was a consuming hunger that wanted to devour him. Now it felt like an endless void, stretching into another world. Pathetic Humans. The wind mocked. Zayn pulled his eyes up from the pit and to where Corin sat. He was no longer placed in the chair, having taken a far more relaxed and comfortable position. ¡°Mortals are all the same.¡± The thing behind Corin¡¯s lifeless eyes spoke, ¡°You fear death. You fear emptiness. You run from it all your lives. What does it accomplish? Nothing. You always die. It is pathetic to see how far you have fallen.¡± Zayn felt his mouth go dry. The book had suggested that he would be talking to something, but he hadn¡¯t really believed it would be real. The fact it was the voice in the wind terrified him. ¡°You are the wind. Aren¡¯t you? That voice that has been tormenting me.¡± ¡°Wind?¡± Corin¡¯s head twisted as if he was listening to something unexpected. The neck cracked and popped as it moved. ¡°It is possible that you heard a medium like that, but I am not the wind.¡± A finger twisted, slowly rising upward as it tapped the chest of Corin¡¯s body. ¡°I am the author of that book.¡± The finger twisted around and pointed at the ghostly tome. The head looked around, first gazing at the blue sky and then at the dry brownstone homes. ¡°Where exactly are we?¡± ¡°This is my home village, Hushwood.¡± ¡°Village..¡± Corin muttered the word as if it held great value, gazing at the building that had once been Corin¡¯s home, ¡°You killed them all? No, that isn¡¯t right. That smell, is it what I think it is?¡± The body of Corin jerked upright from his death-like posture. The head jerked quickly from side to side, ¡°This is interesting. Come to me, boy.¡± Something tugged at Zayn, almost lifting him off the ground and towards the pit. He grabbed at the body and felt the pull almost vanish completely. He looked around the prepared body and could see small tendrils of glowing energy connecting it to the ground. ¡°Fine,¡± The voice sounded slightly annoyed, and the tugging stopped. Corin''s body jerked out of the chair, dangling like a puppet, and drifted over the pit. He drifted closer and closer, almost to the point where he had completely crossed the pit. Zayn held his breath, watching to see if it crossed the line; but as close as he got. He never once crossed it. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°I wrote the book, boy.¡± Corin¡¯s mouth moved, but it was strangely slow compared to the words. Zayn felt stupid for thinking it would be that easy. Corin¡¯s head leaned in, sniffing the air, ¡°You smell of him. Why are you here boy?¡± ¡°I lost everyone, and I want to bring them back. I want to survive. To overcome death.¡± ¡°Tell me the truth boy, or I will rip it from you by force.¡± Corin waved a hand into the air, and the six kneeling figures all stood up. Each of their eyes was unnaturally red, their teeth were long and sharp, and not one of them moved in the awkward way of Corin. They moved with a grace that spoke of power. ¡°Give it to him,¡± they all chanted. Zayn stared at them. Even if he was feeling strong, he doubted he could resist them. The book had said nothing about what they could or couldn¡¯t do. It had just described them as members of his court. Attendants. Zayn thought about everything he had heard about a court or its people. He knelt down, bowing his head low as if he was a courtesan, ¡°Great one, take no offense. I¡­¡± Zayn heard the attendants settling down. ¡°I..I¡­¡± Zayn couldn¡¯t get himself to admit the truth. ¡°Can¡¯t say it, can you.¡± Corin¡¯s head cocked to the side and a finger touched his lips, ¡°Fine, I don¡¯t think that it matters much. What are you willing to give me for this power?¡± ¡°Can I overcome everything? Can I change what it means to be human?¡± ¡°You cannot imagine what is possible. Death is the doorway to so much more than what you might hope to accomplish. Look.¡± Zayn raised his head and watched as Corin gestured towards one of the now kneeling attendants. It howled, muscles writhing beneath the flesh, and a great monster ripped its way from beneath the skin. Golden lances of bones grew out of it, rising into the sky. They twisted around each other like snakes forming golden flowers and budding gemstones. The whole process was over in an instant. It floated on wings of golden light, pearly white bones shinned and shimmered in the light. Each of the bones was covered in beautiful decorations. Corin gestured with his other hand, and a second corpse writhed in energy. Instead of the bones growing out of its flesh, the skin itself changed as it grew into long thin plates. The plates were black and oozy but quickly grew hard. These also reminded him of a snake, but now it looked like the scales of a snake. They didn¡¯t stay that way but grew into like dark spires, overlapping each other into thousands of knife-like points. While the first was beautiful and inspirational in appearance, this one was a twisted monster. ¡°The distinction between good and evil is no more significant than the difference between life and death. The divide is the domain that is mine. I rule over it and control all that passes through it.¡± Corin was selling himself. Zarn couldn¡¯t be exactly sure of what that meant, but he could feel it. This ¡®god¡¯ needed something. ¡°Why?¡± He found himself asking a being that could obliterate him, ¡°Why write the book? If you hold so much power¡­¡± Zayn looked into Corin¡¯s lifeless gaze, ¡°The divide may hold much, but it doesn¡¯t occupy much if any space. What of the light and the darkness.¡± Corin hissed, drifting away from Zayn. A face, ghostly and pale, emerged from it. She was beautiful, radiating painfully dark green energy that grew silvery and bright for a brief moment. ¡°You are smarter than you look, boy.¡± Her voice was playful and soft, ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Revenge.¡± ¡°Oh, you think someone did this?¡± She gestured around her at the village. The Corin figure''s arm slowly followed her movement. Zayn blinked, ¡°What? No, I don¡¯t think that. I want revenge for everything. Life itself is responsible for this. I want to break this process. To escape the boundaries that we live in.¡± ¡°To break open the divide?¡± She drifted close to the boundary. ¡°What is the divide?¡± She held up a finger and wagged it, ¡°Ah, ah, you didn¡¯t say the magic word.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t tell me?¡± ¡°Let us consider this. If you were to sail on a boat, cross the ocean, and discover the truth about the Kraken and the sea god, what would you do if I told you that the answer involves their hubris? Would it help if I told you what the word hubris means?¡± Zayn felt his face go red. He didn¡¯t understand almost anything the figure had said. ¡°What is hubris?¡± ¡°Pride. The belief that one is unable to make a mistake.¡± The being pulsed fiercely. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you said.¡± Zayn lowered his head. ¡°If you had grown up near the ocean, you had seen the fury of its god, you might understand it. Every living thing changes. This is an ability that has no limits¡­¡± ¡°So you have limits.¡± Zarn interrupted, lifting his face to meet the gaze of the being. She grimaced, her face scrunching up, ¡±Yes.¡± ¡°Are you alive?¡± ¡°God¡¯s are a little different. We exist outside of the living realm.¡± ¡°So you want me to give you the ability to change?¡± She laughed, a peal of powerful laughter that almost split Zayn¡¯s ears, ¡°No, but that isn¡¯t a bad way to think of it. Go ahead and think that way.¡± ¡°I would accept this deal.¡± ¡°Good. Offer me the organs, and I will give you what you need to succeed.¡± He did his best to follow the steps he had been given. The figure didn¡¯t move any, so he assumed that he had done it right. The wind started up, this time it was pulling into the hole with a thunderous roar. It pulled everything tied to the ritual into it. The chair, the jewels, the small stones he had placed, the bodies of the attendants. Finally, Corin was drawn into it, pulling the specter of the being with it into the pit. There was a flash and the pit was gone. All that marked its disappearance was a small green stone resting on a perfect piece of untouched land. Zayn walked over and picked the stone up. It glowed brightly as he lifted it into the air, and he felt a surge of energy course through his body. He looked at the glowing tome, floating in the air, and realized it was an actual book now. Its leather was aged and worn ranging from a dark brown to a slightly off-color tan. There were several cracks in it and he could smell the pungent odor of its pages. He dropped the stone and the tome turned back into its ghostly form. A little experimenting revealed that ¡®The Eternal Balance¡¯ would become physical any time he held the stone in his hand. Putting objects between him and the stone reverted it back to the ghostly one. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what this meant until he looked at the book in both states. In the ghostly form, it looked more or less the same. In the physical form, its opening lines were very different.
The Eternal Balance Devotee of Gavrik Most people know nothing of Gavrik. So you should be safe in revealing this to others, but it is important to understand that there is a group of people who are determined to kill any Devotee that they encounter. It is the nature of service to Gavrik that one would expect to face so much death. Realize that there is no clue who these individuals are. They will simply offer you no mercy, no hesitation, and no regret if they encounter you. Conceal the stone and the book, as they are clear indicators of your devotion. The stone is a font of your power and the book holds the knowledge needed to unlock more power.
Zayn looked at the small bundle of supplies he had been preparing for the journey. There was a backpack he had been planning on putting his clothes, food, and water into. It had belonged to Corin, as he had loved spending a lot of time wandering around the hillsides looking for treasures. Zayn had always thought that his treasures looked a lot like junk, but he wasn¡¯t going to complain about the pack. It would allow him to carry everything without using his hands, making this trip something he could survive. He put the stone inside the pack, nestled among his clothes, and then packed the food on top. The waterskins went on the side of the pack, in case one of them broke. He began washing himself off and getting ready to go to bed. It was still sunny and he knew it would be best to start the journey at sunset. As he scrubbed his body, thick grimy water pooling at his feet, he wondered about the soldiers and how long it would take before they would come back into the town. The longer it took for them to come looking the better a chance Zarn had. He didn¡¯t think that they would follow him into the desert, even if they suspected someone had fled into it. They would assume that no one would survive crossing it. Still, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to let them think otherwise. He looked around at the buildings. How were the soldiers spotting signs of life? How long were they planning on waiting? Until everyone starved, it would seem. How do you tell if someone is out of food? Smoke. He looked at the thin wispy tendrils leaking from his chimney. He didn¡¯t really ever notice the smoke, but it was true that they almost always had something coming out of them. They all had coal boxes for storing hot embers to allow them to restart the fires. The only house that emitted smoke was his. He wondered if they could count the tendrils of smoke. ¡°What if they came early?¡± He muttered to himself, just to hear something other than the whistling wind. He realized he could solve the problem easily enough. It would explain where he was and what had happened to the last survivors. So he went through his childhood home and made sure everything he needed was in the next house, then he started moving anything wooden into his home. Chairs, tables, bits of wood. Anything would do. The houses burned surprisingly well due to how air flowed through them. He didn¡¯t remember anything from that day other than the surprising heat and how quickly it had started. He then opened the coal box and made sure the pieces of wood had something to burn off of. The flames licked hungrily at the pieces of wood, and before long they had roared into a giant ball of fire. It grew hot and fierce enough Zayn wondered if putting other items into the house was too much. He went to where he had stashed his traveling gear and went to bed. He woke to find the fire was burning nicely. He ate one last meal, drank his fill of water, and set out into the wasteland. Chapter 5: The Curse [V 3.2] The sun was slowly drifting below the horizon as Zayn walked up and over the large hill. He walked past the markers of the earliest graves. He almost stopped to say goodbye, but he wanted to be out of sight of the village as fast as possible. So he moved past them without slowing down. He simply waved to them as he passed by. ¡°I¡¯ll find a way to bring everyone back.¡± He promised no one in particular. With that, he left everything behind. The wasteland was a long and barren stretch of sand and rock. He had only been walking for an hour or two, keeping the sunset at his back before he realized that there was nothing around him but the endlessly flat expanse of land. It was a bit harder to navigate the desert at night, but it was still fairly easy. It wasn¡¯t easy to use the stars to find where he was, but he had a good idea of where the stars in the sky were at this time of year. So he was reasonably confident about which way was east. As long as he kept going in the right direction, he wouldn¡¯t get lost. Eat regularly, drink well, and stay out of the heat. It wasn¡¯t that difficult, as he had spent the majority of his life in a similar place. So that meant he should be fine assuming that the desert wasn''t more than four or five days across and that there weren''t any large animals out here. If the desert had any lions or tigers, there was a good chance that he would quickly get in trouble. He didn''t have anything to help him deal with something like that.
"There aren''t any animals in the deep wasteland," Azarik growled. "That''s the only explanation. I know some men who have walked around the northern edge. It isn''t that big. You can walk around the edge in a week." [] didn''t really think that it was animals, but he and Azarik had often gotten into this debate as they would sit on the roof drinking while watching the rising sun. Zayn had stayed up with the men that night and had found the argument completely fascinating. They argued about all sorts of things, but the simplest fact was that there were almost no animals here.
Zayn blinked and shook his head, "Did I just hallucinate?" Hallucinations were seriously bad. That meant that the heat of the desert was getting to him and it wasn''t even that hot. The night had already begun to cool down, but it would get a lot cooler before he reached the end of his day''s walk. He scanned the skyline, wondering if there were any places he could find shelter from the heat of the sun. It was all flat and empty, stretching as far as his eyes could tell. The wind blew, cool and refreshing on his face. Suddenly, his feet sank into the sand. Zayn looked down at his feet, pausing in his long walk. He knew how to spot the differences between sand and stone. It was more difficult to walk on sand, and he had carefully checked to make sure his path wouldn''t go into the sand. Here he was in the sand deep enough to sink into it. He looked around, checking to find the actual ridge of stone he had been walking along. It was an almost perfect stretch to the east, and he knew it would get him a lot farther than this. It didn''t take too long before he spotted it. The actual path was to his left. "How did it get there?" Zayn checked his orientation against the stars. The bright star in the north was right where he expected it to be. The path had changed somehow, stretching to the northeast. He had a choice, follow what should have been a truly eastward ridge that had somehow drifted to the north or follow the stars. He sat down, catching his breath for a moment.
"Don''t you want to see the world?" Lyla asked sitting down next to him. She leaned up against him and he could feel her warmth.
Zayn looked around. His side was surprisingly warm, and he could swear he could smell her in the night air. "People don''t hallucinate at night, right Dad?" There was no answer, and he knew there wouldn''t be one. It wasn''t the roof of their house, and he wasn''t talking to her before everything had gone wrong. Before he had brought death to his loved ones. He felt the wind stir and for a moment he wondered if he heard Garzik''s voice laughing on the wind. He summoned The Eternal Balance watching its faint outline drift in the night air. He stared at it. "Is this real?" He reached out and touched the ghostly book. It felt real enough, even if it didn''t look like it. "Can you touch a hallucination?" There was a faint laugh in the wind, and Zayn looked for anything to indicate Garzik''s presence. Shaking his head, he stood up and began walking again. The soft spongy sand was annoying, but he couldn''t afford to be led astray from the east. It was too dangerous and the risk of getting turned around was a real threat in this place. He made good time as he walked. Fortunately, the sandy area wasn''t that big and he was soon walking on rock again. He would take breaks to drink or eat, but he was focused on finding a place to shelter from the sun. Even now the sunlight was warming the distant horizon. A small black shape marked almost dead center against the sunrise. He stared at it. It was easily big enough to be a mountain, but it was incredibly thin. It didn''t matter too much, as it would make an excellent landmark to help him stay on course. He walked a while longer, following the small black needle as he walked into the sunrise when he discovered the crevice. It was a little small, but it was facing the north and it should be relatively sheltered from the heat. The only question was if there were any little creatures inside. He waited for the sunlight to fill the sky and blot out the stars before he crawled in. He had a good look at what was inside and it seemed empty enough. He slept well enough. He woke up to the heat of the day, it baked the sand with a sizzling popping sound. It wasn''t helpful to move, so he ended up with nothing to do but read. So he pulled out the tome and began to skim through its contents. The section he read about was focused on the anatomy of bone structure. It talked about the various functions that the bones provided to the body, and different ways to artificially create those same effects. It was a pleasant enough way to pass the time. Once the sun had set, he began to walk again. The pack''s weight dug into his shoulders even though it was lighter than the day before. He looked at the strange needle in the distance. It was still very black, and it didn''t make any more sense in the setting sun''s light. He made good time, and he was fairly certain that he was getting closer to whatever it was. But the fading light of sunset left no certainty about how it was doing. The night was almost identical to the previous one. Occasionally he would lose track of his placement and find himself unexpectedly in the sand. Almost every time he would hear faint laughter, as if he was missing some form of joke. By sunrise, he was able to tell that the strange object was closer; but it wasn¡¯t nearly big enough for the amount of walking that he had already done. He had been walking for an entire night, and he knew that it should be a lot closer. He stared at it. It definitely didn¡¯t look right for a mountain or natural formation. It was getting brighter, and so he began looking for another place to spend the day. It took an hour, but eventually, he found somewhere to get comfortable and he drifted to sleep. ¡°Ow¡­¡± His voice croaked as he spoke and he looked around as he tried to figure out where he was. He looked around the darkened space and couldn¡¯t see anything but rocks and sand. Despite having checked it before turning it in he couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that someone was in there with him. He spent a minute checking at the small recess for any signs of life. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. It was still hot outside of the hole, but the shadows were already rather long. So he prepared to wait until things cooled down. The minutes dragged along, and he still couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something was there. Every now and then he would spin around and check the small space and discover that it was still empty. His mind drifted back to his friends and family and everything that had happened. The strange green stone, hidden in his pack, and the powerful creatures he had never imagined seeing before. It was then that he remembered his mother cooking over a large pot. He had forgotten what she had been doing, and he remembered nothing of the food that had been in it. ¡°Strange how I forgot about it.¡± He muttered to himself. He lay his head down thinking about all the meals that he had eaten. The sweet fragrances of the different meals that she had cooked to celebrate someone¡¯s birthday. The subtle tones she had worked into the daily meals. He hadn¡¯t eaten her food every day, as that was too wasteful; but he had always loved it when she prepared the meal. ¡°I¡¯ve survived Mom. At least I have escaped.¡± ¡°You think you have escaped?¡± A light voice spoke up. Zayn looked around, trying to see who had spoken, ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t escape. We won''t allow you to.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± There was the sound of laughter and the wind picked up blowing sand around the small crevice. ¡°You can¡¯t recognize me?¡± Zayn struggled to pinpoint the voice, but he still couldn¡¯t place it coming anywhere in his vicinity. ¡°Stop hiding.¡± Zayn snapped at the voice. The laughter picked up, stirring the sand and swirling it around him. ¡°No, no. I can¡¯t have you spoiling things.¡± ¡°Spoiling what?¡± The voice didn¡¯t respond. It just laughed and faded into nothing. Chilling fingers wormed their way into his spine, and Zayn scrambled out of the shelter and into the blazing heat of the sun. His eyes hurt for a moment as he struggled to adjust to the brightness and look into the dark crevice. All he could see was the same empty space that he had crawled into. A sudden burst of laughter from behind him caused him to spin around. For a brief moment, he thought he caught the glimpse of cloth growing from a small cyclone of sand, but it was gone almost instantly. He spent a good minute looking around, trying to find out where the voice had come from. It didn¡¯t sound like the being he had talked to at the pit, but he couldn¡¯t be exactly sure. Standing in the heat of the sun wasn¡¯t going to get anything accomplished, so he decided to grab his pack and get moving. It was about an hour until sunset, based on where it was, but he didn¡¯t want to deal with whatever had happened in that crevice. Hopefully, it wouldn¡¯t follow him. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Every now and then he would hear faint laughter on the wind, or catch a glimpse of cloth pulled from the nothingness and vanishing into the sand. At first, Zayn was worried that this involved the being he had met at the pit. It had talked to him, like a voice on the wind and Zayn wondered if that was going to resume again. That voice hadn''t actually talked to him, but it was always possible that things had changed now that Zayn held a stone. The behavior of this voice was very different and as things dragged on, Zayn was more and more certain that this wasn''t the same entity. When the sun drifted below the horizon, everything started getting worse. More and more times he would catch a glimpse of fabric, and it became clear that it was a dress of some sort. The delicate designs suggested whoever wore that dress was no ordinary person, but Zayn didn¡¯t allow the swirling, laughing form to distract him from his long march. Step after step, he marched towards the tower. The sun had long vanished before he actually saw her. She was smaller than Zayn, so if she had been flesh and blood he would have thought that she was around eight or ten years old. It was hard to make out any of her details, she seemed to be made out of the twirling sand and her features were constantly shifting in the wind. Every now and then drifting bands of sand would break away, sparkling in the moonlight as they escaped her form. She drifted along with him as he walked pretending to stroll along with him. ¡°Who are you?¡± He eventually worked his way to ask her, and she turned as if surprised that he could see her. She stopped walking and stared at him angrily, floating along while he kept walking. He wondered if this was a mirage, but it made no sense that she showed up now that it was getting cooler. Still, the way she floated along made him feel like she was one. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be able to see me.¡± She pouted, ¡°How are you doing that?¡± ¡°How would I know the answer to that? I don¡¯t even know what you are.¡± ¡°I am a scary ghost trapped in between worlds.¡± She waved her hands as if trying to look as if she was haunting him or something, but it just looked strange. She stopped partway through and looked surprised for a moment as she floated along with him. ¡°Well, I think that I have a connection with ghosts.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Zayn shrugged as he kept moving towards the distant object. He knew he shouldn¡¯t be telling people about what had happened, but he didn¡¯t think a ghost really counted. ¡°Yea, but I am not really sure,¡± He gestured to his backpack, ¡°I got a strange stone now and I think I met the god of death.¡± She vanished in a twirl of sand and reappeared in front of him, peering up into his face. ¡°Ooh, that is really cool. You are a diseased one then.¡± ¡°Diseased one?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s from an old story.¡± She held up a hand and drifted along with him, ¡°It took place long before I was born. It was said that those born under a certain time are cursed with a terrible disease that leaves nothing but death in their wake. These cursed ones wander the world in service to the dark one.¡± She stopped talking and tapped her chin as if she was thinking about something for a moment, ¡°At least I think that is the story. It¡¯s been a long time since I heard it. So what are you doing out here?¡± ¡°Trying to survive, everyone in my home is dead. A terrible disease ravaged it and left them all dead, and I needed to find a way to escape there. The only real choice was through this wasteland.¡± She clapped her hands excitedly, and Zayn realized he couldn¡¯t actually hear the sound of the clap. ¡°See you are a diseased one. Looks like you will have death and destruction following you wherever you go.¡± Zayn didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. He wanted to object, to disagree with the strange little ghostly figure¡¯s statement. The problem is that it didn¡¯t feel wrong. Something about it sounded right. ¡°Anyway, this isn¡¯t a place you can escape from. All of those who enter this place are cursed to stay here forever.¡± He wondered about the distant object, hanging over her ghostly figure, as he walked along. It really should have been bigger than it was, but it was still about the same size. ¡°Does that mean I am going to die?¡± She laughed, ¡°Everyone who enters this place dies.¡± At that moment, he could hear his mother¡¯s sweet voice, wracked with the disease and struggling to speak. She had said one thing. ¡°I can¡¯t die.¡± She clapped happily, ¡°Oh goody! You don¡¯t look like you have ascended. That is really neat!¡± Zayn almost stopped walking to look at her, ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°You are immortal.¡± She spoke strangely, and it held the tone of someone trying to explain things to a child, ¡°That means you can¡¯t die.¡± Zayn¡¯s mouth suddenly felt dry. Immortal. The word resonated with him like someone had struck an enormous gong. He could feel the strange green stone resonate with him. ¡°I am not immortal yet, but I will do it.¡± ¡°So you aren¡¯t ascended? I was hoping that you were going to mess everything up.¡± ¡°Mess what up?¡± ¡°Everyone here dies. If you can¡¯t die then you would just get stuck. It would be nice to have someone to talk to for the rest of the time. It gets a bit lonely out here.¡± ¡°I just need to head east to cross the wasteland.¡± He pointed to the distant tower. ¡°Is that east?¡± She asked. Her face creased in a frown. ¡°Yes.¡± She didn¡¯t say anything but changed positions and floated to stay behind him. Zayn was tempted to keep talking to her, but he didn¡¯t want to stop walking. It started to grow quiet as he walked along, and he remembered that strange word she had used, ¡°What do you mean ascended?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a legend about how people can overcome death and become immortal. They can climb this tall mountain and become gods. Gods cannot die so they live forever.¡± ¡°Can people become gods?¡± The girl shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. My father thought he could do it.¡± ¡°What happened to him?¡± ¡°He died at the same time I did.¡± She laughed, ¡°So I don¡¯t think he is a great example.¡± The silence grew as he continued to walk until he got hungry enough to eat. So he found a spot to rest and ate some meat and water. The girl drifted in front of him, ¡°Is that going to help?¡± He nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t see how it will help.¡± ¡°Why?¡± She pointed to the distant object, ¡°Everyone goes there and then they die.¡± He looked at it, but couldn¡¯t see anything special about it. Finishing his last bite, he stood and began walking again. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t understand. What is it anyway?¡± ¡°A nasty old Sorcerer¡¯s tower. He was really mean and now everyone is trapped here.¡± She sounded different when she mentioned the sorcerer, and Zayn could see the anger on her face. It was there for just a moment, and then it was gone. ¡°Can you really do it?¡± She asked excitedly. ¡°Do what?¡± ¡°Become immortal.¡± ¡°I think so. I struck a deal with the lord of death, so I think I should be able to find a way to live forever.¡± ¡°Wow. That is really cool.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t die either. You are a ghost you know.¡± She seemed surprised that he mentioned it, ¡°Oh, I am a ghost, but¡­¡± She trailed off and the sorrow vanished almost as quickly as the anger, ¡°You are going to die here you know.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why. I just have to keep walking to the east and I will get out of here.¡± She giggled, ¡°I don¡¯t know why you think that is east, but it isn¡¯t.¡± It wasn¡¯t very obvious, but Zayn could see a faint coloration in the distance that suggested sunrise was slowly working its way toward him. ¡°I can see the sunrise. It is over there. The tower marks the same direction.¡± ¡°So you haven¡¯t turned? Not even once, not a tiny bit?¡± Zayn started to say just that, but then he remembered how he had gotten confused by the sudden shift of the ground underfoot. ¡°I might have had to change my direction from time to time, but it was never that much.¡± ¡°Go in that direction for a moment.¡± She pointed to her right. ¡°Why?¡± If a ghost could roll their eyes, she did so at this time, ¡°Do you think you will magically lose sight of your destination?¡± ¡°No,¡± It was definitely getting brighter in the distance. Sunrise was well on its way. ¡°Just do it real quick.¡± With the coming sunrise, it would be nearly impossible to get lost. So he turned and went in the direction she had gestured. He walked for about forty paces and then stopped to look for her. She hadn¡¯t followed him but floated at where his tracks had suddenly veered to the right. He stared at her and realized she was trying to point in the direction she had sent him. So he turned and¡­ The tower was in front of him. It was the exact same size as before, but now it was in the south. He turned back to her and then looked to the east and the south. The sunrise was still in the same position, and the tower was now in the wrong location. The ghostly girl appeared in a twirling display of sand, ¡°Everyone goes there.¡± Zayn felt an unexpected chill, ¡°I just have to walk towards sunrise then. I will be fine.¡± The girl didn¡¯t seem convinced, ¡°I don¡¯t think that works.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± He yelled at her, and she looked surprised. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I am pretty sure others have tried that exact same thing.¡± Chapter 6: Latty [V 3.0] Zayn sat down and watched the sun slowly inching higher and higher into the sky. he wasn''t exactly sure what he was hoping to accomplish, but if the ghost was right wandering around without a plan wasn''t going to help. He looked at her, glowing fainter in the warming light of dawn, "Are you still going to be there when the sun comes up?" She just giggled, making no attempt to explain herself. ¡°Great¡± Zayn muttered, turning to look back to the almost bright light of day, "Let''s think about this. I can only see you at all because of my contract. Wait, am I the only person to notice you?" "I don''t know. It has been a long time since I have seen anyone try to cross it. No one is willing to enter this place now." "So there could have been others that saw you?" "I don''t think so. I didn''t think you would be able to see me, and I was surprised you can talk to me as well." "You don''t remember? How long has it been since you became a ghost?" "Five years? No that can''t be right. Five hundred or was it five thousand." She looked down at her faint fingers, half invisible in the morning light. Then she looked up with a smile. "It was a really long time. I know that." Zayn couldn''t argue with her. There was a good chance she didn''t even know, but the fact that she thought he was the first was interesting. If he was the only one to have ever learned the truth, then he was the only person to know what he knew. He had already spent several days wandering around in circles, and he still had a decent amount of food. The real concern was water. Even if he could figure out how to get out, he could still easily run out of water. "Let''s assume the wasteland really is only a day or two of walking in size." He muttered to himself and looked at the tower. He hadn''t seen it grow much in size. That mean he hadn''t gotten any closer or farther to it. "So I am either too far south or too far north of it," he sat thinking about it before he remembered something the ghost had said, "You said that was a wizard''s tower, right?" "No, it is a sorcerer''s tower." Zayn waved a hand, "Whatever, I want to know if that is at the center of this place or not." "Center?" "Yeah, this thing that traps people. You said that everyone tries to go there, but they die. They die because they can''t get close to it, right? So I am walking in circles. That means that thing is at the center of whatever is happening to me." She was getting harder to see and looking more like a strange sandy cyclone than a girl, "I think so. I am not really sure what you are talking about though." "You wanted me to mess everything up, right?" She smiled a faint but energetic smile, "Right!" "So I need to know if the thing that causes everyone to be trapped here is over there." He pointed at the tower. "I guess it is. It''s kinda complicated." "Has anyone alive actually made it to the tower?" "Oh no, they all die walking towards it." Zayn rubbed his eyes, trying to think of something, anything that would allow him to figure out how this place worked. He sighed and let his eyes wander, trying to find anything as the shape of the sun shone brightly in the distance. For just a brief moment a long line of shadow was visible on the relatively flat and sandy landscape. The shadow was pointing to his right and it should have been pointing behind him. With a gasp, he realized that the shadows weren''t wrong. They were potentially pointing to the west. For a brief moment, the shadows were pointing in the wrong direction. He turned to the left. "That would make you east," he turned slightly and pointed behind him, "And you west. So I have probably been traveling to the south, and I need to go to the east." He started moving that way and the tower did its strange reappearing act. He looked around and most of the shadows had vanished, except for one. The one sticking out of the sand like a giant needle. Or a sundial. "I can use the tower and the height of the sun to gauge roughly where I am and where I am going." "So?" the ghostly voice asked. He looked at her vague translucent figure, "It means I can get to the tower, and from there I can get out of here." "You will leave me? The voice was faint and distant as she vanished from Zayn''s sight completely. He wasn''t sure how he felt about that as he walked along, but he focused on making sure he was heading in the right direction first and foremost. As he walked he discovered several things. The tower had a habit of appearing to be directly in front of him. The sun wasn''t so obvious, but it would move slowly around to the left or right. This meant that he could only reliably tell what time it was by how high the sun was in the sky, and he only could tell where he was by the constantly moving shadow of the moving tower. He didn''t move far, but he did make progress. Good progress. It wasn''t even the third correction of his course when he realized that the tower was getting taller and better defined. At the speed he was going, he realized he would be near the base of the tower before the day was over. He would stop in its shadow to cool off and rest, as he was covered in sweat from walking during the heat of the day. Zayn''s real problem was that the only way to travel required there to be sunlight, and that meant he was going to drink a lot of water. Water he didn''t have. It took six more adjustments to reach the tower. It got a lot easier as he neared it for two reasons. One was that the shadow was becoming clearer and clearer relative to him as he got close to the base. The second was that the wild fluctuations were dying down. The initial corrections had been large, massive swings as he had gotten wildly turned around. The last one was almost so small as to not be noticed. It might have led him astray if he hadn''t paid attention, but only barely. When he reached the tower''s shadow, pointing roughly toward his location, he wasn''t even able to tell if he was losing his sense of direction at all. Stepping into the shadow felt amazing as he was able to get away from the heat of the day for the first time since he had begun the journey. Theoretically, he was halfway through the wasteland at this point, but he had consumed almost all of his water getting here. If he hadn''t gotten turned around, he would have been fine. After getting turned around, he had used up far too much water to be able to escape safely. He knew he didn''t have enough to survive this place. Inside the shadow, he was able to see the girl, drifting nearby. She seemed to instantly realize that he was looking at her as she waved at him. ¡°I am the first to get here, right?¡± He asked as he walked towards the tower. ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°Can you tell me anything about it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a tower. A powerful sorcerer lived in it. So did I.¡± ¡°I was hoping you could give me an idea about what caused this problem to even exist.¡± ¡°What problem?¡± ¡°The fact that everyone ends up trapped here.¡± ¡°Oh, that problem¡­¡± Zayn looked at the faint ghostly girl and wondered why she was being so quiet, but he didn¡¯t see any reason to push the issue with her. There was no chance that this was a coincidence. The tower appeared to hold the key to what had happened. ¡°How about water?¡± He ventured, ¡°Any chance there isn¡¯t a supply of water in here?¡± Again the ghost didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°If you don¡¯t even help me a little, I will surely die. Is that what you would want?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± Zayn didn¡¯t push anymore but focused on reaching the entrance to the tower. As he got closer, he saw something that broke the smooth surface of the exterior on what would probably have been the southern face of the tower. So he focused on heading in that direction while staying in the shade of the northern side. He was eventually forced to leave the shade, but by that point, he had almost reached the tower. He turned to face the large gateway that towered overhead. It was big enough that his entire village could have fit in the open doorway. If they had figured out some way to stand the houses on top of each other. Getting inside the tower was surprisingly simple despite the doors'' monstrous appearance; they swung freely and easily. The interior was cool and dark, but even as his eyes adjusted to the much darker space Zayn didn¡¯t have trouble seeing. He assumed that there was some hidden mechanism that provided a soft and gentle light to the entire space. The inside of the space was wide and welcoming. The best part of the large entryway lay at the opposite end of the room. A large fountain trickled away feeding its water into a large basin. Water. He had found the one thing that he needed to escape from this place. So he filled his waterskins and took a long bath. He took a while to refresh himself, and eventually the ghostly girl floated over to him. ¡°So are you going to leave me?¡± Zayn shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t survive here and I want to figure out if I can bring my village back to life. I can¡¯t do that here either. So I don¡¯t see myself having a choice. I am going to need to find a way to escape here. It would be easier if I could get rid of it, but I can get away without breaking it now. I figured out how it works. ¡°I don¡¯t like that idea. Why do you need to break the curse? What did it do to you?¡± ¡°It trapped me in a place without food and almost no water.¡± Zayn didn¡¯t even bother to open his eyes. She didn¡¯t say anything else and eventually Zayn couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Why do you even care?¡± ¡°It¡¯s boring¡­¡± ¡°Being here by yourself?¡± ¡°There are others here.¡± She didn¡¯t sound very happy about it, ¡°But they aren¡¯t really nice to me.¡± ¡°Where are they?¡± She just pointed up, ¡°They hang around at the top of the tower.¡± ¡°Why?¡± "They''re not very happy up there. The tower seems to be getting to them." ¡°Is that why you are always outside?¡± ¡°I want to leave this place and go into the world at large. I feel everything has changed and I am stuck in this place.¡± ¡°So are you trapped here?¡± ¡°Everyone is trapped here. That includes the ghosts.¡± She looked away. "So if I break the curse, you could go free. Isn''t that what you wanted?" "I..." She looked confused as she floated gently in the air, "I don''t know." "Well, I am going to explore this place, at least a little. If you want to help me, feel free to do so." "Why would I help you?" She sounded a bit angry. "Because I am studying the forbidden arts and you are a ghost? It seems pretty reasonable to me." "What exactly does that mean? I don''t know what you are talking about." Zayn summoned the ghostly tome as its gemstone was still packed away. "This is what I am talking about," he waved at the book. "What... There is nothing there." Zayn checked to make sure she was looking at the actual tome. It was floating in front of her, so there wasn''t even a possibility that she hadn''t noticed it. He sighed and climbed out of the water. The air was cool enough that he went over to the door to dry off, once in the sunlight he dried quickly. Then he wandered back to his backpack and got out the stone. Once it was in his hand the book plopped into existence. "Ooh, is that a magical book? I didn''t know you were chosen." Zayn stared at her innocent expression, but she made no move to indicate that it was a joke, "What does being chosen have to do with magic?" "All magic users are chosen." "Oh, well I told you that earlier. I said I was a devotee of Gavrik." "You did?" She looked confused, "That doesn''t sound like any of the orders that I am familiar with. Are you sure that is one of the orders?" The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Zayn didn''t know what she was talking about, "I think we are talking around each other. This book has a lot to say about ghosts." "Really so that means you are a devotee to Sapientia, Somnuxis, or maybe Umbrion, right?" Zayn felt like they were talking in circles, "Here let me just look up something I saw in the book." He flipped it open and began skimming through its pages looking for a reference to ghosts and curses. He had seen both mentioned several times but he hadn''t read anything about either of them at this time. Eventually, he was able to find a section that talked about ghosts. The girl floated through him, looking at the page, ¡°You can read that?¡± Zayn hadn''t ever really been a great reader but found the majority of the information in the book was relatively easy to read through. "Some of it is easier than other parts. My mother taught me how to read, but I am not really that good at it. For some reason, I don''t find most of this book that hard to read. I can usually understand the beginnings of the chapters really easily. As the chapter progresses, its material gets a lot harder to read through, and I don''t understand most of it. She looked between him and the book, ¡°Huh. I am really good at reading, and I would swear that it looks like scribbles.¡± He looked up at her, ¡°Really?¡± She nodded. He didn¡¯t really know what he could add to that, so he went back to reading. It took a while, but he eventually found a section talking about the natural occurrences of ghosts. This one was related to curses.
Ghosts are commonly found untethered to a master in places with powerful curses. They can be an excellent source of souls if they can be reasoned with. If you want to take them by force¡­
He skimmed over that part. It didn¡¯t look quite right.
Breaking a curse can release the souls that are trapped in this realm. This will lead to the souls escaping and the effect of the curse disappearing. This can be useful as curses¡¯ are a powerful source of negative energy. The souls of the ghost¡­
The instructions were fairly mundane and he was a little disappointed that it wasn¡¯t more difficult to accomplish, but it was better than discovering he was missing some key ingredient. He looked up to see the ghostly figure floating overhead. "It seems pretty simple. I haven''t ever done it, but I should be able to break your curse. It should be possible to get the job done with or..." Here Zayn decided not to mention the consequences of the action, "without your help. If you want to travel the world, I can take you with me as I travel. Do you have any problem with that?" "You can break the curse and take me out of this place?" ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need me to break it?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Zayn didn¡¯t look up from the book, as he was reading the instructions. A part of his brain caught the subtle tone and he looked into the eyes of the girl. ¡°That¡¯s a good thing, right?¡± She didn¡¯t instantly respond, but rather floated around him for a few minutes, ¡°I¡­ I can leave the desert again?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that there is a problem with that. Ghosts almost always need an anchor to hold them to this world. It seems like almost all of the natural occurrences of ghosts are because they are tied to a specific place. So you would basically be attached to me instead of this tower.¡± ¡°I can leave the desert again¡­¡± She muttered softly as if she hadn¡¯t even heard Zayn speak. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I feel something is missing¡­¡± Zayn did his best not to show surprise, choosing to look intently at the book he had opened before him. The lines in the book almost perfectly matched what was happening to the little girl. He wouldn''t have thought he would get so lucky right at the beginning, but here he was looking at the only thing that was likely difficult to find. ¡°What are you missing?¡± He choose to keep the question simple and vague. ¡°Leaving the desert¡­¡± She was definitely fixated on something and didn¡¯t really hear what he had just said. It probably didn¡¯t even matter for him to hide it. If the book was right, she wasn¡¯t even really aware of what was happening around her. He looked at the page and sketched out the pattern that it recommended. There was a flash of dark green energy and the pattern burned its way into the hard stone of the tower. The ghost jerked strangely as if something had struck it. She looked around and seemed to remember Zayn, ¡°Can you do anything to help me?¡± Zayn smiled, ¡°Yes I can. Let¡¯s get going, alright?¡± She nodded slowly, ¡°I can leave the tower?¡± ¡°I think so. You want to travel the world, right?¡± ¡°Travel¡­¡± For a second Zayn wondered if she would get stuck again, but it lasted for only the briefest of seconds and then it was gone. ¡°I want to see the world again. That would be nice.¡± Zayn glanced at the first symbol burned into the stone by a strange energy. The Eternal Balance had been right and the spell had worked. He reached down and touched the symbols. The stone didn¡¯t just look differently, it felt different. It crumbled into a fine powder as he rubbed it, and he couldn¡¯t help but remember the warning in the first lines of the book.
They will kill any devotee that they discover.
¡°Hey,¡± He started to address the ghost and blinked, ¡°I don¡¯t know your name. What do I call you?¡± ¡°My name is a bit long, but everyone calls me Latty,¡± She curtsied as she spoke. ¡°Nice to meet you, Latty. Have you ever seen anything like this?¡± He pointed to the crumbling stone. Her eyes widened in surprise, ¡°Oh, no. What is that? It¡¯s almost as if the stone has died!¡± She kept talking, but Zayn didn¡¯t hear anything else. Those last three words burned a certainty into his mind. If he was a devotee of Gavrik and there really were people hunting him, they would surely have ways to find people like Zayn. Burning the stone and leaving a perfect ring of what could only be described as ash was probably an easy way to identify them. ¡°You said there is a sorcerer in this tower, right?¡± She nodded. ¡°His magic doesn¡¯t do anything like this?¡± ¡°No,¡± The single word was emphatic and left no uncertainty. Zayn had already gotten the feeling that she wasn¡¯t entirely there and he suspected that this would be fairly normal for the ghosts he would be encountering as he worked to advance his knowledge. Still, she didn¡¯t seem confused. ¡°Could you tell me about his magic?¡± She nodded, ¡°His magic was super amazing. He could create mountains out of the ground and build massive buildings out of thin air!¡± ¡°So he just waved his hands and it happened?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t something he wanted other people to see. I don¡¯t know what it looked like, but I do know that he had to prepare a lot for something really big. He had a special room at the top of the tower to help him cast spells.¡± ¡°Can you show me that room?¡± ¡°I know where it is, but we would have to go past the throne room and that includes him. So I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea to go up there.¡± Zayn resisted the urge to look at the book again. He was pretty sure about what that meant. He would need to find three points that anchor the ghost to a location. The first had obviously been the tower itself. He hadn¡¯t been certain if it would matter where he had attempted to break the link, but it had gone ahead and worked. What was really interesting is that she was the anchor. The book had suggested that a single specter could trap others in the area, but he hadn¡¯t really thought it would be her. He now needed to figure out what had caused whatever happened here and break the link entirely. Once he broke the link he would be able to seize the ghosts that occupied this place. ¡°What was it like here?¡± ¡°Oh, it was amazing once. There were grand balls, great feasts, and thousands of servants working tirelessly to make sure¡­¡± She started off smiling, but it quickly vanished as she described the once glorious life. When it was clear she would start up again, he knew he would need to ask more questions. ¡°Where did you live?¡± She didn¡¯t answer but simply pointed in a general upwards direction. ¡°Can you show me where you lived?¡± ¡°I suppose,¡± She didn¡¯t sound nearly as happy about that as she had just a moment before. ¡°Come on then. You can tell me about everything.¡± Once they were through the main entryway, everything changed. The central staircase was wrapped around an empty space that seemed to stretch up forever. Latty informed Zayn that this was for a service elevator, whatever that was. It had been left on the ground level, and it had eventually succumbed to the ravages of time. As he climbed he began to see hints of wood having been used to cover different things. His first real hint was a wooden panel that was aged and cracked near the second floor. It clearly had once been a part of a larger picture, carefully carved into a long stretching image. Zayn had never seen wood used in such a refined manner and the dried-out husks of wood weren¡¯t a great hint at what lay further into the tower. Room after room. Hall after hall. Most of the towering structures'' furnishings were still intact. Every now and then, they would discover a room, usually with pools of sand in it that had been ravaged by time, and the furnishings were gone. The intact rooms were unlike anything that Zayn had ever seen in his entire life. The beds were made out of wood and they had strange fabrics draped on them. Some of them looked almost new, and they left them alone. Others looked like they had aged, and when Zayn touched one of the fabrics it melted away at his touch. It reminded him of what had happened when he used his magic on the stone, but he suspected that this was just the natural effect of time on something like cloth. When they got to Latty¡¯s room, he was left speechless. Her room was virtually the way that it had been when she died, and he couldn¡¯t help but wonder at the craftsman who had built this place. The wood had actual pictures worked into its surface, and when she pointed out her favorite. It was a scene of a knight fighting a dragon, Zayn made the mistake of asking her about it. He had never even heard of such a creature, but she made sure to give him endless details about princesses and greedy beasts. He looked around the room that looked like it had been built for a princess and then at the ghostly girl talking about how terrible it would have been to be abducted by a fierce dragon. He could see the young girl, dressed in the finest of clothes, trapped in the tower and dreaming of being abducted from this place. He was tempted to try the second spell on it, but he didn¡¯t think that it was the right thing. She wasn¡¯t supposed to be so interested in talking about the things that tied her to this place. They wandered through the room and examined all the various things. She talked about each and every one of them, but he started to realize she was avoiding a specific area in the room. There was a small round table with a large book laying open on it. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± He pointed to it. ¡°It isn¡¯t important¡­¡± She muttered. Zayn frowned. She hadn¡¯t flat-out denied its existence, but she definitely didn¡¯t seem to want to explain its presence in the room. He walked over to it and looked at several of the pages. The markings were completely nonsensical, and it gave him the feeling that the shapes were almost reacting to his presence. ¡°It isn¡¯t important¡­¡± The ghostly girl muttered again. That was everything he needed to know. He wasn¡¯t sure why she had such a powerful artifact, and it was painful to use the spell on it. If he was wrong, it shouldn¡¯t have any impact on the book. If he was right, a large portion of the book was about to melt away. He drew the correct symbols over the book. It was a lot more complicated than the last set, and he spent a good several minutes working at it. The ghostly girl continued to repeat the same line while he doodled in the air. Eventually, it was completed and the dark energy snapped into life, burning a circle through the book. Zayn sighed at the destruction of what was probably a magical tome. He had no way of using the knowledge it contained, much less reading it. So it wasn¡¯t exactly useful to him, but he would have loved to find a way to access its secrets. ¡°I miss my room,¡± the ghostly girl seemed more cheerful, but it was only a little improvement. ¡°Think we can go to the top?¡± Zayn asked her, ¡°I really want to see the room he would cast spells in.¡± She almost shrank, but she didn¡¯t flat-out deny the possibility. ¡°You did say that you wanted to leave this place,¡± he prompted her. ¡°Okay¡­¡± The response had the same listless energy and he half expected her to start repeating herself. She didn¡¯t thankfully as it was a long way from her room to the top of the tower. Zayn was forced to rest multiple times as they climbed staircase after staircase, and he was only able to accomplish it with the freshly refilled water skins. When the endless up disappeared, leaving an actual roof, they had arrived. ¡°It¡¯s up there¡­¡± She muttered pointing up. Zayn started to ask her for more details, but she simply started repeating herself. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out what had probably happened here. The first two anchors were the tower and the spell book. If it was indeed a spellbook, then it probably should have never left the room above. That it had been inside her room suggested something very specific had happened. He pushed open the door and entered the room on the other side. It was beautiful. The large clear surfaces let in huge bands of sunlight, hurting Zayn¡¯s eyes as he went from the dark interior and into the sunlit room. He couldn¡¯t feel any of the cool that he had experienced below, but he also didn¡¯t feel the harsh wind blowing or the near-constant sand blown in his face. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he was able to see the towering stone chair at the other end of the room. The strands of golden metal and the sea of colorful gems laying at its base reminded him of the throne he had made at the pit in his home village. The way the gems had scattered made Zayn feel like they had fallen from something, and he thought of the aged and worn wood often missing in rooms that had faced the fury of the desert''s weather. If this room had once had something like the girl¡¯s bed, it had been no poor man¡¯s attempt at a throne. It had been an actual throne. ¡°Who enters my throne room?!¡± A voice boomed, as a large figure appeared in the center of the room. He wasn¡¯t a faint ghostly glimmer of a person. His robes were flowing and full of rich colors. Reds, yellows, and oranges all were intricately woven into a beautiful display of art. The quality and beauty left Zayn stunned as he considered how much power and wealth this man had once controlled. ¡°I do.¡± He said lamely looking at the imposing figure. The figure glowered at him, ¡°What are you doing in my domain?¡± ¡°I want to break the curse and leave the desert.¡± The figure laughed, ¡°Foolish mortal! I am a powerful sorcerer. That desert was my empire. Even I am held here by the curse. What can you do to break it?¡± Zayn stared at the towering figure considering his options. If he chose to reveal himself, the figure might attack. Ghosts weren¡¯t supposed to be able to do much to the physical world, but one born from an ancient sorcerer was probably more potent than the average ghost. ¡°I am a chosen, and I have some knowledge about breaking curses.¡± Zayn didn¡¯t want to anger the spirit in front of him, but it didn¡¯t seem a good idea to reveal too much to the figure. ¡°I have already broken two of the three anchors that hold everyone to this place. I need to reach the casting room to finish the process.¡± ¡°Why the casting room?¡± The figure didn¡¯t boom nearly so loudly. ¡°I believe everything started there. This story involves a girl, a book, and that room.¡± The figure sighed, sitting down on the throne, ¡°I wondered as much. That foolish girl never did listen to me.¡± The ancient sorcerer looked down at the ground and then at Zayn, "So tell me what would happen once it is finished." "I would be setting your spirits free from this world," Zayn lied. He hadn''t really intended to trick the spirits of the dead until that exact moment. He could feel them gathering and watching him. Thousands upon thousands of ghostly forms were trapped here. This tower had been the home to an entire civilization at some point and they had all been trapped here in death. He could feel the power of the curse, holding this vast tide of undeath in place. If he broke the curse, releasing them into the void. He would lose the power that drove the curse just as quickly as the spirits themselves. It was an all-or-nothing proposition. Zayn knew this power was nearly limitless and he couldn''t afford to miss the opportunity. "That would make you chosen of Sapientia, correct?" "Would you expect me to answer that?" The figure laughed, "Hardly. Sapientia holds her secrets most greedily." Zayn didn''t react to that statement. If he had gambled wrong, he would have been forced to do things in a far more destructive way. He had no idea if this ancient spell caster held the ability to attack him, and he didn''t want to learn the answer to that suspicion. He waited for the silence to drag out before responding. "Would you refuse my assistance?" "I don''t have a choice, do I?" "I doubt anyone else could figure out the nature of the curse and reach the tower alive." "How does it work?" Zayn laughed this time, "Again you seem to think I am here to answer your questions." "I know how Sapientia works. I am willing to trade information. A secret for a secret." Zayn didn''t exactly understand that, but he had no problem with the offer. "What secret are you offering me?" "Don''t insult me, boy. This tower has been without a master for ages. There is a good chance that no living minds remember its existence. So there will be no one to claim it once I am gone. You will get rid of us and you will attempt to claim ownership. It is the only reason someone serving Sapientia would enter this desert. She told you of the lost tower and you saw it as the ultimate test and opportunity. Did she tell you the solution to the curse''s puzzle?" "No. I solved it on my own." Zayn was tempted to argue about why he was here, but that might lead the old spirit to suspect Zayn''s motive. So he didn''t say anything else. "The tower is locked. No one can claim it easily. If your mistress has revealed the process to you, you wouldn''t need me. If she hasn''t, then you will need to figure it out on your own. I can tell you how it works." Zayn had no idea what that meant. He had found it rather easy to walk into the tower. "Why are you wanting to know the answer to the curse? If I set you free you will simply pass on from this world. The information is worthless to you." "It is true that I won''t be able to use the knowledge that you are offering, but I want to know what spell..." He paused and looked to where the ghostly girl was floating, still muttering in the loop, "I may have been wrong about someone, and I would know the answer before I die in truth." Zayn looked at the girl, a princess dreaming of being kidnapped by dragons, and then at the powerful sorcerer. "Nothing escapes you does it?" The ancient spellcaster asked Zayn. "She stole your magical tome. I can only assume she dreamed of adventures and exploring the world. She wanted you to teach her?" The ghost slumped, "I did not think she had what was necessary to wield that power." "The spell that holds everyone, you think you know which one she cast?" He nodded, "I fear that I was very wrong about her. I assumed her knowledge was from her birthright, but now I wonder if she was something else." "Tell me the secret of the tower, and I will tell you about the curse." "We have a deal then?" Zayn nodded, "We have a deal." "This tower wasn''t built by human hands. It isn''t like the others. It isn''t even like the Holy Citadel." Zayn had no idea what he was saying, but the old sorcerer seemed to think he would understand what he was meaning. "I suspect the Citadel, which is the template of all wizard''s towers, is built off of the existence of this place." He spoke those words with such gravity that Zayn felt their importance, but he still couldn''t grasp what they meant. "Simply placing your oathstone on the pedestal isn''t enough to claim this tower." he raised his hands and a great glowing field appeared in the air. It was almost exactly the same as what Zayn created, but it glowed with a golden light. "Memorize it well. Without this spell, the tower will never be yours." Zayn spent minutes copying the pattern over and over again. "I have it." He spoke only when he was certain that he knew the correct pattern. "There are clues to it all over the tower. I only wish I had discovered more of this place''s secrets. It holds many, and you can use this tower to rival all but the Citadel''s. I have honored my part of the bargain." Zayn started to explain how the curse worked, but he had barely begun explaining it when the old ghost waved his hand. "Say no more. I know the spell." "A single spell has entrapped so many for so long?" Zayn couldn''t believe it, "That has been thousands of years." "As I said, I suspected I was gravely mistaken. A chosen and a birthright." The old ghost looked at the girl, still stuck on her loop. He stared at her long and hard, and Zayn felt he should understand the meaning. However, the spellcaster seemed to think he already knew the meaning of the words. "Very well, follow me and I will show you the heart of the tower. That itself is a secret sealed in the stone, but I won''t bargain for it. This secret will be used to free me from this place." He drifted over to the wall behind the throne. Almost every stone in the building was uniform in size. One of the stones here was smaller than the others. He drew a symbol that had been in the large ritual circle he had shown earlier. "This symbol is hah, and it will release the door. Do so and ascend the stairs." Zayn drew it into the stone and the wall slid open, revealing a staircase behind it. He went up the small staircase, winding about a quarter of the way around the tower, until he reached a small room with a stone pedestal. On that pedestal sat a large golden gemstone. It glowed with a brilliance that hurt Zayn''s eyes. "This tower holds tremendous power. You see it here and now, don''t you. That is the value of my secret. It was well worth it, yes?" The ghostly king had spoken as he drifted through the floor. Zayn simply nodded, "Latty I need you." She floated up through the floor, "It''s up there..." Only she pointed to the gemstone and not through the roof. Zayn began carving the final set. A sigil designed to bind ownership of the one who created the curse, and to consume all the remaining energy into itself. It would leave nothing of the ghostly occupants. They would simply become fuel for Zayn''s power. The green energy crackled into life as he drew the last symbol over the glowing golden stone. ¡°What is this trickery boy?¡± The sorcerer roared to life as the energy filled the room, "You are no servant of Serpientia! Who is your master?" Zayn fumbled the next part of the spell, letting his eyes drift to the old sorcerer. The figure''s fingers were blurring through the air with practiced ease. Zayn fumbled again as he realized the ghost was preparing a spell. He focused on finishing the ritual, and the green energy devoured everything. It roared into Zayn''s pack and he felt the power surge into his stone. The glowing golden gemstone cracked and turned to dust. "What happened?" The ghostly girl suddenly seemed to come back to life. Even as he stared at her, her faint figure began to become more and more lifelike. The colors bled from purples to yellows to reds, and then she stood there like a tiny version of the ancient sorcerer. Her powerful figure adorned in reds, oranges, and golds was exquisite. Her dark skin held a purity that Zayn''s family never had seen. ¡°Oh~!¡± She said as she noticed the change, ¡°Hey I look like I am almost alive. Very nice.¡± Zayn smiled, ¡°I believe that you are now bound to me. We can leave this place at any time. Are you ready?¡± She seemed nervous for just a second, and then a wicked grin of white teeth shone through, "Off to go slay a dragon?" Zayn laughed. This time it felt real and natural. "I don''t really care, as long as we start this journey by heading east from here. ¡°It¡¯s that direction.¡± She pointed to her right without even hesitating. Zayn did his best to gauge the time of day and where the shadows were, but he had been inside at least for hours and wasn''t exactly sure where it was. Still, he didn''t have any reason to think she was wrong. ¡°Well let¡¯s get ourselves out of this desert. Sound good?¡± Chapter 7: Loyalty [V 3.0] ¡°There are humans over there!¡± Latty pointed behind her. It was difficult to make out her shape in the swirling desert heat, but she was no longer invisible in the sunlight. Zayn nodded. The trip out of the desert hadn¡¯t been particularly difficult, especially when compared to getting lost in the waste. He had spent a good day and night in the tower before heading out and the water had proven to be a lifesaver. He would have stayed there longer except for the rapidly dwindling supply of food. So he had set out and found that the entire wasteland wasn¡¯t nearly as large as he had thought it was. This was still the first day after having left the tower. There was absolutely nothing to cause him to lose his sense of direction and even now he had learned that Latty was correct. She could just tell which direction was which. Whatever allowed people to get turned around and lost, she didn¡¯t suffer from it. The sun was getting close to setting and he had to make a decision, go in now or wait until he had time to rest. He thought about the meat in his pack. No one would probably be able to tell what it was, but he didn¡¯t like the idea of finding out he was wrong about that assumption. ¡°We will deal with them tomorrow. I am going to eat up the rest of my food tonight, and we will buy some of the food off of them if we need to. He shifted the far heavier backpack as he talked. One of the first things he had done, once he had decided to stay in the tower for the night, was to carefully loot anything that looked valuable. Most of it had been easy enough to store in the hidden room at the top of the tower, but getting the gold up the stairs had been exhausting until Latty had suggested he use the lift and pulley system. It wasn¡¯t in the sunlight room and it had survived perfectly intact. He would have never figured it out without her, but the system was clearly designed to handle massive weights without relying on human muscles. His improvised elevator had quickly filled with treasure. Zayn had no idea how much it had been, but it was enough to fill the small casting room and make it difficult to move around in. He had planned on filling it more when Latty had asked why he wasn¡¯t using the treasury. Once he realized most of the tower¡¯s wealth, something around ten times what was now in the casting room, he stopped trying to move the money around and just focused on bringing the most value for the least weight. So now his backpack was full of regular gemstones. None of them glowed, but they at least afforded his small green stone a place to hide. It also made him incredibly wealthy. That would have been exciting at one point in his life, but now he realized how little money could do. It was a mere afterthought to the power that the old sorcerer had held, and Zayn had devoured a great deal of that power. His green stone was almost blindingly bright now. He had no idea what he could do with that power. So his priority was finding a place he could practice in relative safety. If he had a way of bringing food to the tower, he might have considered doing it there, but the only way he could move that much food would be with wagons. A group of wagons trundling into an uncrossable wasteland would draw a lot of questions, and wouldn¡¯t really help him avoid attention. ¡°What do they look like? Did they see you?¡± She laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t know of anyone who could see me when I didn¡¯t want them to. They looked like workers to me, digging in the dirt and gathering something.¡± One of the reasons she had taken so long to mention the treasury was that she hadn¡¯t been able to understand what he had been doing. She had just seen him moving ¡®stuff¡¯ around. Once she had realized what he was doing, she mentioned that the tower had a kingdom¡¯s worth of treasure in it. Despite this shortcoming, she had already proven to be an incredibly useful scout. She could move quickly, and as far as either of them could tell it was pretty far from wherever Zayn was. She seemed to think that the tower allowed her to go farther, but she didn¡¯t seem to mind as they were able to move to the edge of the wasteland pretty fast. She hadn¡¯t stepped one foot past that place since she had been trapped as a ghost. When she had crossed that unseen line, she had been nervous, delighted, and a little more than scared. ¡°Find me somewhere to rest for the night.¡± She nodded and disappeared while Zayn sat down and ate away at his food. He had enough to almost last another day, and eating it all right now felt strangely nice. It had been a while since he splurged on how much he could eat or drink. ¡°I found a place. It¡¯s on the way to where the people are.¡± Zayn simply stood up and gestured for her to lead the way. This was definitely her strong suit. She could give him almost perfect directions without seeming to even realize how she was navigating around all sorts of things that would normally slow a traveler down. ¡°Latty, don¡¯t talk when other people are around. Got it?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She didn¡¯t stop her role as a guidepost as they walked wherever they were going. It took about ten minutes to get there and Zayn was happy to see that the sun was almost beginning to set. He got into the crevice and did his best to get comfortable while he ate and drank far more water than he had been planning on consuming before this moment. ¡°Mind if I go exploring?¡± Latty asked primly. She had taken to wandering around while Zayn was resting, especially now that there were new things for her to discover. ¡°Sure thing. I will be going to sleep. If you think you find something interesting. Make a note of it. It wouldn¡¯t hurt for us to do some exploring later.¡± There wasn¡¯t a response. There was just the gentle stirring of the wind as the day slowly began turning into night. The next day found Zayn crossed a hill that had been dug into by the ¡®digging people¡¯. If Latty hadn¡¯t been guiding him, he might have walked right off the edge and fallen to his death. With her help simply found himself walking down a narrow path that led to the base. The workers had all stopped what they were doing by the time he reached the base. He had a perfectly good view of the thing they were mining: gold. In that moment he felt infinite relief at the realization that he hadn¡¯t brought any gold with him. He didn¡¯t think they would assume he was stealing their gold, but it would have led to all sorts of questions he didn¡¯t want to answer. Gold, freshly pulled from the earth was a very different thing from the gold you found in a palace after all. The miners were all covered in dirt and grime, and for a moment he remembered all of the people from his home. They had mined something that didn¡¯t seem as valuable as gold, but everyone had said it was of great value. The white clay wasn¡¯t nearly as pretty as the gold though. When they all started talking to him, he didn¡¯t have to feign having trouble responding to them. The wave of noise made it difficult to understand what any one of them was saying, and then Zayn realized how long he had spent in the still silence of the desert, with only ghosts to keep him company. When they offered him water, he accepted it. He didn¡¯t really want it, but he didn¡¯t want them to realize how full of water his packs were. He had thought about pouring out the water, but it had been too difficult a thing to do. No one was likely to notice, and the fear of running out was all too real. It still helped him eventually get his voice back, and the shock of all the men rose to a whole new level when they learned where he had come from. ¡°I crossed the waste.¡± They all babbled like a bunch of excited children at the news and Zayn wanted to ask for food because they seemed to have forgotten all about it. He wasn¡¯t entirely certain what they had said, but he thought someone had mentioned food. ¡°Everyone quiet down!¡± A deep voice bellowed and the group of men grew silent, and a large powerful figure began pushing through the men, ¡°What is all this about anyway?¡± The towering man wasn¡¯t nearly as dirty as the rest, but his muscular body left no doubt about how he made his living. He had a big bristly beard of light brown hair that looked really funny on his skin. It made Zayn think of an old man¡¯s beard gone light and clear, and he would have laughed if he hadn¡¯t realized it could offend the man. His brown eyes shot wide as he spotted Zayn, ¡°Who is this?¡± Everyone responded at once, and the man began waving his hands trying to quiet everyone down. ¡°He just wandered in.¡± ¡°He says he crossed the waste.¡± ¡°He is just a boy.¡± ¡°He is so thin.¡± Zayn looked down at himself at that statement. It hadn¡¯t been that long, maybe a month since he had eaten well. Back then he had been rather powerful and muscular, almost as big as any of the men gathered around him. Now his body had grown thin and frail, almost like an old man¡¯s, and he wondered what had happened to him. He stood there, playing with a shirt far too big for him. When had he been wondering if the shirt was getting too small? Was that two months ago? He didn¡¯t notice the large man instructing the others to clear out some space for the boy, and he missed them bringing him a bowl of soup. All he could wonder at was how he was still walking. If he had seen someone who looked like this, he would have assumed that they were basically dead. Suddenly he felt incredibly tired, and he would have hit the ground with a crash if several helping hands hadn¡¯t quickly reached out to keep him upright. The smell of food caused his stomach to growl in anticipation, and the men all began laughing as he hungrily devoured the food. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! One of the men laughed, ¡°Boy¡¯s got an appetite. Hey boss, how about I go back to the village and let everyone know. I bet he would eat us dry if we feed him with our remaining stock.¡± ¡°Good idea Liam, get back there and let them know he is coming back.¡± The same man, obviously Liam, detached himself from the group and disappeared towards the east. ¡°Everyone! I need you all to listen carefully. I know this was unexpected, but we can¡¯t stop working. If you were on the swing shift, I need you guys to go ahead and get to work a little early. If you were working the graveyard shift, I need you guys to go ahead and finish up what you were doing and then you are all going to help our friend get to the village proper. The results were impressive. Everyone scattered with practiced ease as they all went about their various duties. The number of people here was a lot higher than what they had in his village, but everyone worked so quickly and smoothly. ¡°Where am I?¡± Zayn asked the large man called Boss. Boss¡¯s beard bristled as he responded, ¡°This is the mining camp of a small village to the east of here. Shimmering Sands isn¡¯t the biggest of places, but it is a really nice place to call home.¡± ¡°Thank you for the food and water,¡± Zayn started to try and offer to pay, but the man put a large hand on Zayn and shook his head. ¡°Your money won''t be good here, stranger. We have all been close to death with that foul wasteland on our doorstep. We wouldn¡¯t be deserving of being called human if we didn¡¯t at least help you get back on your feet. You are almost only skin and bones. I would ask you what happened, but I think the fact you crossed the uncrossable says everything that I need to know.¡± Zayn started crying, and for the life of him, he had no idea why. Images of his family flashed before his eyes. The worst part was that he was having trouble remembering what everyone looked like. He could hear the sounds of life emanating from every direction, and for a moment he felt like his father was just behind him. He wasn¡¯t, of course, these men were just strangers. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± The large man knelt down so he had a good face-to-face view of Zayn. ¡°Zayn.¡± ¡°My name is Ciaran, and I am the foreman here. That means I yell at everyone who is supposed to be working here, and I get yelled at when there is something wrong happening at the mine. You weren¡¯t alone out there were you?¡± ¡°I was with my family and friends.¡± Zayn didn¡¯t really know what he should say about them. ¡°So there were a lot of you before you crossed the waste?¡± Suddenly Zayn realized that he was thinking that Zayn hadn¡¯t traveled into the waste by himself, but he had been with a group of people. He thought about correcting him, but he didn¡¯t see any reason to explain the actual details. He didn¡¯t really have the energy to talk about it at this time. ¡°Anyone else alive?¡± Zayn shook his head. ¡°I know you don¡¯t feel like it, but you are actually incredibly lucky to have survived that place. I can¡¯t imagine anyone intentionally trying to cross that place knowing its reputation.¡± ¡°Reputation?¡± ¡°Yeah, they say that no one can cross that place without dying, and you are still alive. As you are breathing, it isn¡¯t over yet and you can keep going.¡± Zayn didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. It felt empty and hollow and he wanted to throw the words back at the friendly man. His thoughts were interrupted by another bowl passing by. It smelled amazing and he quickly found himself devouring the second serving of soup. It was thick and flavorful, and no one needed to tell him to eat it all. While he was finishing off the bowl, he watched Ciaran and the men packing the raw gold into a bunch of packs. ¡°They are going to take last night''s haul back to the village, the women there will be more than happy to take care of you. So don¡¯t worry about anything. Zayn started crying again, and it felt even worse. It seemed so pointless to cry after everything that had happened. It felt so nice to hear the people laughing and going about their regular lives, but it also hurt. Deep inside him, something was growing hard and cold at the realization of how much better these people had it than his family. He could close his eyes and be back with them. In those moments nothing had happened. A part of him wanted to just pretend that these people were his family, and as he looked at the various people he hated them. He wasn¡¯t sure how he was going to make everything work, but he was bound and determined to make it happen. He was going to find a way to cheat death. It didn¡¯t matter what the cost was. If he could bring back his friends and family and not just replace them with these people, he would do anything. He almost summoned the tome then and there to read the secrets of the Eternal Balance, but he was worried someone would notice something. If they were like Latty, they wouldn¡¯t even be able to tell he was reading the book. It didn¡¯t take long for the men packing to get ready to go. The walk wasn¡¯t that hard, but it felt worse than the entire trip. His body had started aching in a way that he just couldn¡¯t understand, and each step got harder and harder. From time to time he would have someone lend him an arm to keep him going. The walk was only thirty minutes, but it was unbearably hard. Because of this, he barely noticed the land slowly changing from a lifeless sandy rock to having patches of green vegetation clinging to the landscape. The first hill that marked the mine was far from the only one. The entire area was covered in numerous hills scattered around the area. The plants and the traveling troupe were mostly found in the narrow flatlands between the hills. The plants weren¡¯t that amazing, the thing leaves barely had any green to them, but it was almost more than Zayn had ever seen. It would have taken a day or two¡¯s walk to Emberfall to see plants like this. And Zayn could vaguely remember the days before everyone had settled down in what would eventually become Hushwood. The village proper was nestled into a rather thick batch of spindly trees. The buildings were short and squat, hugging the ground in a strange fashion. Each of the homes was completely white, and Zayn was instantly curious about what kind of clay had been fired to get the stones to look like that. The women of the village were very different from the ones he had known. In Hushwood the women worked almost as hard as the men, but they were all slender and delicate despite the hard work. Here the women were almost as big as their men, and Zayn felt embarrassed when he couldn¡¯t tell the difference from a distance. Once they got to the village, several of the women pushed their way to where Zayn was and hustled him off to a room in one of the nearest houses. As he went in, he was surprised to see that the house wasn¡¯t made out of clay or brick at all, but it seemed to be primarily made out of wood. The white substance was apparently something they covered the wood in. He protested being shoved into a bed, but it was a futile effort. He just didn¡¯t have the muscle to resist any of them, and the strange white of the bed made him feel uneasy as they lay him down. It was soft. He hated it instantly. He had slept on the cool hard beds his entire life, and just a few seconds on the surface had him feeling rather uncomfortably warm. When they added the ¡®blanket¡¯ it made things even worse. He had no idea why they would use something like that, and he kicked it off the moment the ladies had left the room. He started to move to the floor to find a more comfortably cool surface to sleep on but found his body just didn¡¯t have the strength to get up. So he ended up on a hot, soft surface. After a while, he started to doze off, and he was only awakened by a sudden interjection. ¡°You won¡¯t believe what I have found.¡± He had already grown accustomed to the way Latty would start a conversation. With nearly no warning whatsoever. ¡°I already saw the trees,¡± he said noncommittally. ¡°Oh, I know about trees. There used to be thousands of them when I was alive. The entire area was green. No that isn¡¯t what was exciting. I found animals.¡± ¡°Animals?¡± Zayn couldn¡¯t tell if she was being serious. ¡°Yeah, a mommy and two babies. They are sleeping in a cave I found.¡± ¡°Where are you?¡± Zayn didn¡¯t want to sound annoyed, but it was rather annoying being this comfortable and his body was really tired. He got chills as her head drifted into view through the bed. She had done this numerous times now, and it always gave him the chills. Each time felt like dozens of chilled insects were crawling through him wherever she passed through. Attempts to get her to obey the natural and obvious things, like physical spaces, tables, doors, and the like had completely failed to connect with her. Whatever she experienced didn¡¯t make it easy for her to understand what he was asking of her. So he had come to the conclusion that he would have to learn to deal with this odd behavior. ¡°There used to be a lot of trees near the tower?¡± He didn¡¯t really want to talk about the animals, and he didn¡¯t want to think about the frozen legs dancing their way through his leg right now. ¡°Yeah, it was called a jungle.¡± ¡°A jungle?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s where the plants grow so thick you can¡¯t see the sky through them.¡± Zayn couldn¡¯t imagine something like that, ¡°Are you happy you came with me then?¡± She turned to look at him, her body was partially inside his leg still, ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Did you see anything I might care about?¡± She floated out of his leg as she thought about it, ¡°There¡¯s an old abandoned cottage on the other side of the hill.¡± ¡°An old cottage.¡± He frowned as he contemplated something, ¡°These things are called cottages?¡± She began to lazily float up towards the all too white roof of the room, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a small house made out of wood. People have been living in them for as long as I can remember. What did you live in?¡± ¡°A proper house. One that was made from Adobe.¡± She tilted her head, ¡°Do you mean clay?¡± He nodded. ¡°That sounds weird. Why would you do that?¡± ¡°It helps with the heat.¡± The conversation dropped off as neither of them had anything to add to that. Then Zayn remembered what had gotten them into the conversation, ¡°You said there¡¯s an abandoned cottage over there, what¡¯s interesting about it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s in a place that is kinda hard to find, and I have no idea why one of the villagers would have lived in a house that was on the wrong side of the hill. I think there is a second person still living out that direction,¡± and here she paused, striking her thoughtful pose, ¡°although I will need to investigate it further.¡± Zayn sighed, ¡°So what you are saying is that it is probably nothing interesting for me, but you really want to go explore the area.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She didn¡¯t even try to hide her excitement. ¡°Alright, I think I can get around to doing that.¡± He was feeling rather sleepy for some reason. ¡°So what are you going to do next?¡± The question caught him off guard. If he had been a little more awake, he would have given a more careful answer, but it was only Latty and the bed was so soft. ¡°I think I am going to bring everyone back to life.¡± ¡°Can you do that?¡± Latty floated down, pretending to sit on a chair or stool that was slowly sinking into the floor. ¡°I think so. I haven¡¯t read nearly enough of the book yet. So I really need to figure everything out first. But the book makes it sound easy enough. Giving a body to someone who doesn¡¯t have one is supposed to be child¡¯s play. So the real question is can I get their soul¡¯s back.¡± Latty was quiet for a moment and Zayn started to drift off to sleep. ¡°Can you give me a body?¡± He hadn¡¯t even considered the possibility,¡± Sure, I don¡¯t think there would be a problem with that. I need you to know that I don¡¯t know if I actually will be able to do it. It will take time.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind waiting.¡± Latty was sitting properly in a way that made her look like she knew that there was a floor. She raised a delicate hand and stroked her phantasmic cheek, ¡°I could feel the wind again?¡± ¡°Only if I don¡¯t have any problems.¡± She began straightening her outfit, ¡°I suppose I should pay more attention to how I look then. I can¡¯t let myself fall apart before I get myself a new body.¡± ¡°No more walking through me?¡± She smiled primly at Zayn, ¡°I might do it from time to time, but I will do my best to avoid it while you sleep.¡± Zayn yawned. This bed was definitely too hot and too soft. ¡°That a promise?¡± She sniffed, and then flipped around so she was bowed low to the floor, ¡°I promise to do everything in my power to obey and aide you. If you get me a body back, I will pay any price.¡± Zayn didn¡¯t know what to say. He didn¡¯t need her oath. He had absolute power over her, but he didn¡¯t see it causing any problems either. So he simply waved a hand. ¡°Guard the door. I think I am going to fall asleep again. I just woke up, and I can¡¯t be that tired. Must be these weird beds that they are using here. Keep an eye on me and make sure no one touches my stuff. Some people will try to stop me.¡± With that, he drifted to sleep. Chapter 8: Time to Work. Jorun dropped the book on his chest and rubbed his eyes. He had been staring at a page, trying to figure out what it meant, and failing completely. ¡°Someone is coming.¡± Latty spoke into the silence. Jorun hastily closed the book, ¡°How long?¡± As he spoke he lifted up the pillow, looking for a spot that would conceal the book. ¡°They aren¡¯t very close. Most of the men are sleeping, and the women were down at a house near the end of the village. One of them is bringing a pot this direction, and I assume it is for you.¡± Lowering the pillow and he got out of bed and began working on getting it back into his pack. It didn¡¯t take that long, but it was extremely annoying and he wished that he had a better place to put it without fear of someone discovering it. ¡°Having fun?¡± He asked Latty as he moved objects out of the pack. ¡°Oh, yes! There are so many people here that it feels like a completely different world.¡± Latty drifted properly into the room. Jorun had noticed that she had a habit of turning blueish when she passed through a wall or object. She watched him pack his back, ¡°The people here are all so interesting. It feels like my home when I was a kid.¡± The small ghost of a child raised a finger to it¡¯s phantom chin, ¡°I suppose I should say when I was alive.¡± Jorun got the book shoved in and began to put everything back into place, ¡°Go check on the lady for me.¡± She didn¡¯t respond and he couldn¡¯t see her, so he assumed that she had done as he asked. She could move incredibly fast when she wanted to. ¡°She¡¯s definitely coming here.¡± Jorun climbed into bed and thought about putting the cover back on, but it was way too hot for that. So he decided against it. And just focused on getting comfortable. With as soft a bed as it was, it wasn¡¯t that difficult. After a minute there was a gentle knock on the door. ¡°Excuse me,¡± A sweet voice spoke up, ¡°Can I come in?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The door opened and a plump lady walked in. She had bright red cheeks and looked like she was going to burst into a smile at any moment. Latty had said she was carrying a pot. She actually was holding a tray with several bowls and plates on it. He made a mental note to ask Latty if she understood the difference or if she couldn¡¯t tell. It seemed pretty obvious to him, but he had noticed that she struggled with certain details when they had crossed the waste. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to learn if she what was causing this strange behavior. ¡°I¡¯ve got a little meal for you.¡± The women spoke up. She plopped the tray on the end of the bed and wandered away for a second to return with a stool. She then scooped up the tray and sat down with it on her lap. ¡°Thank you. I don¡¯t think I need you to feed me though. I am feeling quite fine.¡± ¡°Nonsense.¡± She raised a thick arm and pushed Jorun back. It was like a wall. He didn¡¯t think that she was that much stronger than he was, but she didn¡¯t even seem to notice his vain struggles to get out of bed. ¡°You are all skin and bones. Now you are going to cooperate, or I am going to do this the hard way.¡± Jorun gulped, but stopped resisting. ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am.¡± He had never before called anyone that, but it seemed the wise decision. ¡°There you go. First we drink some more soup.¡± She started to use the spoon herself, but stopped and passed the bowl over to him. ¡°If you spill, I will have a terrible time cleaning my bedsheets.¡± Jorun looked at the fine white material. He could only imagine how hard it had been to get them that color, and how hard it would be to clean out a greasy stain from spilled soup. So he ate carefully, very carefully. She nodded, appreciative of his care, ¡°What¡¯s your name? I don¡¯t know if any of those fools at the mine bothered asking, but I think we should know who you are.¡± He finished off the spoonful of soup before answering, ¡°Jorun, Ma¡¯am.¡± She nodded, ¡°My name is Betty. Nice to meet you.¡± Rather than nodding back, he focused on continuing to eat carefully. He hadn¡¯t felt that hungry since the first two bowls of soap, but he also didn¡¯t feel full either. Once he had finished the bowl, she swapped it out for a tray of small, thin white pieces of bread. Jorun eyed them carefully. ¡°Don¡¯t eat them too quickly. Your stomach is only so big and your appetite is a lot bigger. Take your time.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. He nodded and complied. They continued this slow pace item by item for about an hour, finally she stopped handing him items. ¡°It¡¯s time for you to get some rest.¡± Betty commanded. Jorun wanted to object, but he yawned instead of replying. Betty gently lowered him back down, and covered him up. This time the warm cover didn¡¯t seem nearly as offensive as before. Jorun¡¯s eyes grew heavy and he drifted to sleep. The next day Jorun¡¯s body screamed in agony. So he spent most the day reading and resting. He discovered something about the book. After a certain point it stopped making sense to him. The effect grew more and more obvious the farther he went into it. Reading from the last pages gave him a headache. Skipping back a couple dozen pages left him feeling a sharp pain, but no lasting effect. He could only understand the first hundred pages or so. He put the book away, having left his pack mostly empty for now, and called out to Latty. She appeared in the room almost immediately. ¡°What was that about?¡± she snapped in annoyance. ¡°I need to ask you something.¡± ¡°Now?¡± She almost sounded like she was wining, ¡°I found some people doing something different and I don¡¯t want to miss it.¡± ¡°Sorry, but I need to know how much you know about books like this.¡± He gestured to the book in the pack. ¡°Oh fine, let me think about it for a moment.¡± She tapped her chin as she floated there in the room, ¡°I have seen the old man¡¯s a lot. It never made sense, despite me studying how to read.¡± ¡°Right, you mentioned that earlier, and that is what I am wanting to know about. There are certain parts of the book that I just can¡¯t read. It doesn¡¯t matter how hard I try. They make no sense at all.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you, but I suppose that means you aren¡¯t ready for them.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°That old sorcerer in the tower. You remember him right?¡± Jorun nodded. She hadn¡¯t ever said anything about it, but he was reasonably confident that ¡®old man¡¯ was her actual father. They had argued briefly and Jorun got the feeling it was an old argument. A very old one, as they were both ghosts. ¡°I wanted him to teach me about his powers¡­¡± She spoke softly and Jorun strained to hear what she said, ¡°He was able to create great firestorms and seas of swirling sand. He could destroy entire countries with it. I saw him do it to a city once. He conjured walls of burning sand to sweep in and scour it of every living thing.¡± Jorun couldn¡¯t imagine someone powerful enough to destroy a city, ¡°Why did he do it?¡± Latty shrugged, ¡°I have no idea. He never explained it to me. He just brought me with him and told me it was their punishment. She paused and fiddled with her nonexistent dress. ¡°I thought that he wanted me to learn from him. He always seemed so interested in showing me what he was doing, but he would always grow angry and tell me I wasn¡¯t ready.¡± A pained look crossed her sweet face, ¡°He said that it only can be read by the worthy.¡± ¡°Whatever happened to his book?¡± She shrugged, ¡°It fell apart a long time ago. Books don¡¯t last that long, especially wet ones.¡± Jorun refrained from asking about how a book got wet in the desert. It probably wasn''t a useful addition to the conversation. ¡°So you think it is because I am not ready?¡± She shrugged, ¡°You have read a lot of it, right?¡± ¡°I start to struggle with the words when I am getting close to around page one hundred.¡± ¡°There is a lot fo stuff in those first hundred pages, right?¡± ¡°A lot. Maybe too many things.¡± ¡°How many of the have you actually done?¡± Jorun started to snap that he had done a lot. Honestly he had only done two of the spells contained in the book. Depending on how it counted the processing of the dead, he might have done more. He had only needed three corpses to perform the first ritual and he had processed every corpse in the village. Some to a larger degree than the others. ¡°Only the one for you. I mostly studied the books information on anatomy, corpse preparation and basic elements of reincarnation. It¡¯s why I picked it up. To bring everyone back. To help them find a way to cheat death.¡± ¡°Sounds like you need to try some other stuff then.¡± Jorun leaned back and let his eyes wonder around the room. It was a simple enough room, but it didn¡¯t have a way for sunlight to stream in like his home. He had sworn he would do anything, and he had already done far more than he would have ever expected to do. The possibility that he needed to do more things hadn¡¯t really occurred to him. The book described a lot of things. Things that easily were ¡®not acceptable¡¯ for a person to do. If she was right, he would have to do more. He had done what he did because he wanted to live. It had been necessary. He started to ask Latty if it was necessary to go forward, and realized he was trying to pretend like nothing had happened. He had seen the disease ravage his home. He had seen the cursed towers¡¯ occupants get dragged into whatever lay beneath them. ¡°I need a place to work. This room wont do. Is there a place that would let me work without worrying about anyone stumbling on us?¡± ¡°Let me take a look.¡± Latty vanished from the room. She eventually returned, ¡°The house up on the far side of the hill might be a good place to work. It feels different from anything else around here.¡± ¡°Alright, show me where it is. We can¡¯t move my pack, but I have no intention of just sitting in bed all day.¡± It was surprisingly hard to get out of bed. He made it to the door, but the aches and pains of the trip took a lot of his strength from him. The front door was slightly to the right, and a small kitchen and table filled the large space outside his room. The other walls had several doors on them, but they were currently closed. He made his way outside, and looked around. The village was long and narrow, nestled between two long hills. It was at the western end of the stretch and the other houses stretched ahead of Jorun with a thin path between them. ¡°Most of the women are at the far end of the village.¡± Latty whispered quietly. The wind stirred as she talked. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can make it up one of these hills, which one is it behind?¡± ¡°The one on your left.¡± ¡°Do you know if there is a path to it?¡± ¡°Yes, there are two paths. One heads straight up the hill, and it starts on your left. The other one is down through the village. It goes around the hill rather than over it. So the distance is a lot farther.¡± ¡°Long way it is then.¡± He started walking through the village. It was a lot quieter than where he had grown up, but there were almost twenty buildings here. Latty had seen at least one other building outside this area, and that suggested there were up to thirty buildings. That was a lot of people. When he had gotten closer to the end he could hear the laughter of women. He didn¡¯t have the energy to try and sneak by, so he figured he should just pop in and inform them he was walking around. Several of them protested, but they didn¡¯t do it very hard. Betty was silent, her gaze suggested she understood what drove him. It caused Jorun to pause, because he seriously hoped she didn¡¯t understand what he was up to. Still he moved on without too much protestation, and he eventually realized that he was having trouble walking any further. He turned around and went back to the house. A tray of food was waiting for him on the table. He ate there. It didn¡¯t feel right, because he wanted the people he had known to be there. While it did ruin his appetite, he didn¡¯t stop eating. For a while now he had eaten only for the sake of survival. The painful silence wasn¡¯t ever going to disappear. Not unless he found a way to bring them back. Chapter 9: The house on a hill It took him another two days before he had enough energy to reach the house that Latty had spotted. Jorun¡¯s body was growing considerably stronger, but he felt more tired that he had when he had been crossing the waste. He discovered one thing that was far more interesting to him than the house, and Latty had made no mention of it. A cemetery. The hill to the south had a small area that stuck pushed the hill away, and in this little alcove a good hundred tombstones had been placed. He had been shocked to see that many graves, until he checked the dates. People had been mining in this place for almost two hundred years. Whatever they were mining was worth a lot of death. What was interesting was how Latty reacted to the place. She hated it. It was possible to force her into the graveyard, but it was the only way she would enter it. Whenever he would ask her what was wrong she would reply with, ¡°It feels weird. I don¡¯t like it.¡± She wouldn¡¯t say anything more than that. Jorun felt a strange sense of peace in the place. He knew that he should feel uncomfortable with it being a place for the dead, but it felt welcoming for that very reason. He would feel his fatigue and exhaustion leave him as he walked through it¡¯s narrow path lined with memorials of past lives. The effect would fade the moment he left it, but it was near the far end of the village allowing him to catch his breath before moving on. The house was clearly abandoned. Walking the long path took about thirty minutes, and he noticed that it split before heading up the hill to the house. The trail to the house was almost completely overgrown with small plants. The path that split off wandered off towards the waste. It was relatively heavily used by someone, although Jorun hadn¡¯t seen anyone walking it since he had arrived. The house itself was in decent shape. The few plants growing in the area hadn¡¯t started on the house itself, but rather on claiming several small spaces that had probably been cleared by someone. The patches of short greenish grass caught his eye. There wasn¡¯t much of it, but the heat of the region was browning it, leaving it spotty and discolored. The house had three rooms. A kitchen, a bedroom, and what looked like a workshop. He walked through the house and found a small grave behind it. There was no sense of peace or tranquility here. Just a sense of sorrow. ¡°Latty,¡± Jorun called and she appeared in front of him. ¡°Yes?¡± Jorun pointed under her floating figure, ¡°There is a grave there. Can you tell me if they are still around?¡± She looked down and floated back. Then she dove headfirst into the dirt. A second later her head bobbed above the surface. ¡°A girl. Something is definitely there, but I don¡¯t it is her anymore.¡± ¡°Should I dig up the grave?¡± Latty climbed out of the soil using a nearby rock. She shook herself like she was wet. Then she began wringing her hair like she was drying it. ¡°I suppose you would probably want to. If you liked that yellow stone that is.¡± Jorun looked down to where the two stones rested next to each other. One small and green. One large and golden. The golden one pulsed with energy, but neither stone would allow itself to be separated from Jorun¡¯s presence. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure if it was a good thing to have two stones. He had read that the green one would mark him for death if certain people discovered it. If he knew anything about the yellow, he suspected that there would be people who treated it the same way. A third stone would mark him for death from a third party. Then again, he suspected that it had been used to carve out the wasteland and it¡¯s curse sending thousands of people to their death¡¯s. ¡°Show me where the thing is.¡± Latty floated over a part of the grave and point down, ¡°Dig straight down there.¡± ¡°Is it deep?¡± Jorun asked as he moved towards the spot. ¡°Not really. Maybe about 30 centimeters.¡± He started digging with a could of flatter stones, carefully moving the dirt away. It took Jorun a while to eventually move enough dirt to see the cover. ¡°It¡¯s a book?¡± ¡°It has power like the stones. I can feel it.¡± Latty responded, sounding a little annoyed. She spun turning her back to him. ¡°Latty?¡± ¡°What?¡± She looked over her shoulder. ¡°Can you see what it is?¡± Jorun held up the first thing he could. ¡°Of course I can! It¡¯s the book.¡± Jorun looked at the stone he had been using to dig, it wasn¡¯t even remotely book-like. ¡°Thanks Latty. I don¡¯t really need you here. I will let you know if I find anything interesting in the book.¡± She vanished and Jorun spent several more minutes digging the book out of the ground. It was a large tome and it was held in the deathlike grip of a small skeleton. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Jorun did his best not to twist the arms any as he pulled the book out of the ground. It felt heavy. The cover was a thick dark leather. It felt like his book. He opened it. It hurt to look at the words. He rubbed his head, and focused on the very first word. Witchcraft. It left his head aching to read that one word. He put the book into the ground, and covered it in a layer of dirt. He was careful not to add too much, but make sure that the area didn¡¯t look like someone had been digging there. He got up and went home. Latty drifted along when he was halfway back to the village, ¡°Did you find anything interesting?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a book about witchcraft.¡± ¡°Oh neat! So now you have a second book.¡± ¡°You couldn¡¯t read the sorcerer¡¯s book, right?¡± She shook her head, ¡°I could read a little of it, but it was really hard.¡± Jorun remembered the cauldron and his mother cooking. He thought about his father¡¯s death and Lara. ¡°I don¡¯t want to pry, but I need to know something.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Latty didn¡¯t seem that happy at the statement. ¡°I can¡¯t read much of the witchcraft book, but I can understand the first word. You can¡¯t read anything about my book, right?¡± She shook her head, ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°So if I read the sorcerer¡¯s book I shouldn¡¯t be able to understand it, right?¡± Latty titled her head as she thought about it, ¡°I suppose that makes sense.¡± ¡°You were related to the sorcerer, right?¡± She was quiet. ¡°Sorry, I just can¡¯t understand why I can read the witchcraft book at all. If you could read the sorcerer¡¯s book, because you are related¡­¡± He broke off, unable to finish the thought. ¡°Are you related to a witch?¡± Latty asked quietly. Those two times where his mother had used the enormous cauldron flashed before his mind¡¯s eye. The dream of the dark energy. ¡°Maybe.¡± He didn¡¯t really like the idea of saying yes. ¡°Me too. Maybe that guy was my dad.¡± It was even quieter a response than a moment ago. ¡°My mom. She did something.¡± He stopped, picturing the dead and dying people of the village. It had been two or three weeks before everyone grew sick and died. ¡°Maybe she didn¡¯t. He might not be my dad.¡± Latty tried to smile, but Jorun knew what she meant. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. It doesn¡¯t change anything. I will bring everyone back. Then I can ask her myself. Do you know anything about the other direction the path goes near the house?¡± ¡°No, what other path?¡± Jorun pointed behind them, ¡°It¡¯s more or less straight that way.¡± She vanished and he continued walking in silence. The sun was setting and he saw the moon on the distant horizon. It was a thin sliver. ¡°Looks like there is another house, but I can¡¯t get close. It¡¯s pretty far from here.¡± Latty suddenly spoke up from behind. Jorun felt his heart race for a moment, ¡°Please don¡¯t talk to me like that. Let me know you are there first.¡± Latty giggled, ¡°Whatever else happens Jor, you are way more interesting than the waste.¡± ¡°Thanks Latty.¡± Jorun wasn¡¯t really sure why she had shortened his name like that, but it was the first time she had ever referred to him by anything resembling his name. ¡°Think it¡¯s worth investigating?¡± ¡°I dunno. I think I saw light coming from it¡¯s windows, but I could be wrong.¡± ¡°You have been amazing, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Thanks!¡± She smiled, and for a moment she reminded him of his kid sister. Her hair was the wrong shape and color, but that was the only real difference. Jorun finished the walk in relative silence. The village was lit up with a number of candles burning brightly. It was a strange way to react to the encroaching darkness. He missed the roof¡¯s with their amazing view of the passing stars. The trees and hills didn¡¯t really allow the people here a good view of the night sky though. Several of the women greeted him as he wandered back into the village. It was then that he realized that he was no longer feeling the strain of the walk. A couple of miners, big brawny men, where playing a game on a wooden board with a variety of oddly shaped pieces. They looked up and smiled as Jorun passed them by, but neither took their eyes off of the board for very long. ¡°Have a good walk?¡± Betty asked as he walked into the house. Her husband was the foreman of the mine, Smith. He wasn¡¯t home yet and he seemed to work a rather strange schedule that Jorun hadn¡¯t figured out. ¡°Yeah, found a little path that goes to the other side of the hill. There are quite a few of those trees, and I was thinking that it would be nice to explore over there tomorrow.¡± Betty quickly poured a bowl of soup. It was the usual fair for the evening meal, made from the leftovers of the earlier meals in the day. Jorun sat down and began to eat hungrily away at it. ¡°Just be careful, there is an old house on the hill. I wouldn¡¯t recommend you go up there. It is said to be cursed.¡± Jorun coughed a little. He had hoped the people of the village stayed away from there, and this all but guaranteed that no one would bother him up there. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry yourself. The curse never leaves that house.¡± She patted him on the back. ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡± Jorun lied. He had been taught to be honest and upfront to people, but he knew that she wouldn¡¯t understand. He had already felt the effects of both curse and disease. He could feel it in his blood. He wasn¡¯t like these people. ¡°Anything else over there?¡± ¡°There¡¯s an old hermit over there. He¡¯s a strange old guy from somewhere to the northeast.¡± Jorun blinked, ¡°Why does he live so far from the village?¡± ¡°He¡¯s an outsider. He just wandered in here with little to nothing to his name.¡± ¡°I am an outsider.¡± Jorun smiled at her, and Betty laughed. ¡°You are one of the wandering people. Doctors and merchants and those kinds are always welcome here. He never once tried to sell or help anyone.¡± ¡°So?¡± Jorun didn¡¯t understand what the distinction was. Betty waved her hands nervously, ¡°It means he did something bad and was kicked out.¡± ¡°Ohh.¡± Jorun feigned understanding, but he really didn¡¯t get it. They talked for a little while Jorun picked his way through the soup. She told him several stories about the hermit, and how strangely he behaved around the people of the village. All he could think about was that it didn¡¯t sound too different from what had happened to him. ¡°Would anyone mind if I were to go talk with him?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Betty seemed genuinely perplexed by the idea, but not upset. ¡°I would want to check up on him and see if he is taking care of himself. It¡¯s my people¡¯s custom.¡± He lied again. ¡°So your people were healers?¡± Jorun pictured the death. Then he remembered those perfect moments, sitting on their rooftops laughing and drinking through the night. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I guess we were. I hadn¡¯t really thought about it before.¡± ¡°You done eating that?¡± She asked and Jorun looked to see his bowl was empty. ¡°Yea, I guess I am.¡± She picked it up, ¡°If you think it is the right thing to do. No one here will stop you. But I want you to be careful too. He could be a dangerous person.¡± Jorun was pretty sure he knew how to stop a person¡¯s heart. Suddenly he realized that Betty was worried the hermit would hurt him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I am tougher than I look, after all, I crossed the desert.¡± She smiled, ¡°Sounds like your mind is made up.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t forget what my family would want me to do.¡± He hadn¡¯t liked lying. It felt right to be completely honest about this. ¡°Make sure you never disappoint them then.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Jorun smiled at her, ¡°Good night and thanks for the food!¡± She waved as she began washing out his bowl. Once in his room, he pulled out his tome and began reading it. He wasn¡¯t that tired and it was surprisingly easy to read it in the dark. Chapter 10: Examination A soul is a glass bead filled with fire. The fire spills over, forming the energy of life. When the soul passes, the energy can remain behind. Jorun leaned back. He was seated in the abandoned house late at night. He had realized that this afforded him a great deal of privacy. He simply needed to head out and come back on a relatively reliable schedule. He wasn¡¯t sure how late it was, but he was thinking he was understanding something at the beginning of the book better now. ¡°Latty,¡± He spoke softly knowing that she was actually quite close. She was always lingering in the area whenever he was reading the book. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Do you remember how I described this line earlier?¡± He pointed to the line he had just read. She floated over staring at the page. ¡°I think you said that had something to do with souls.¡± Jorun sat back and looked out the open window. The only time he had seriously studied the book with Latty had been back in the tower before he cast the spell. If she had said that it was about energy, he would have been doubting his memory. The lines were changing as he studied the book. He was pretty sure this had started as a line about the Soulgem, but he really couldn¡¯t remember. ¡°It¡¯s changed.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Latty sounded excited. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it has, but I feel like its meaning has changed a little. The first time I think it was about the first ritual I performed, then it was about souls with you. I can¡¯t remember for certain, but you said the text is just gibberish, right?¡± ¡°Yep. Care to tell me what it says now?¡± ¡°A soul is a glass bead filled with fire. The fire spills over, forming the energy of life. When the soul passes, the energy can remain behind.¡± She looked at the text and frowned. ¡°Hoping you can learn the book yourself?¡± He had been wondering the same thing. Latty just shrugged. ¡°I was hoping something would rub off.¡± Jorun tried patting her shoulder, but ended up flailing his arm through the air. ¡°Keep at it. It might just take more time.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t mind?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why I would. I told you I would try and get your body back. If you figure out how to do it yourself, I think it would make the whole process easier for me.¡± She smiled, and Jorun had no trouble seeing the hollowness inside it. ¡°Well if I am ever going to learn, you better keep reading.¡± The beads hold the fire. Jorun looked back to check it wasn¡¯t the same line. Each soul is unique, containing the essence of life in a different way. They compliment the flesh they were given, utilizing it¡¯s strengths and passions. Without the flesh, the soul cannot change or grow. Jorun looked at the ghostly girl who floated around the room. As the soul needs the flesh, so does the flesh need the soul. The flesh is an engine, driven to accomplish basic goals. The flow of energy drives the power. To create either a soul or flesh without it¡¯s counterpart is to create a temporary entity that will only function when it is fed with energy. Overcoming these limitations is about understanding the principles and mechanics of flesh or soul as they exist. As the flesh has a vast and complex array of components acting out it¡¯s will, the soul does to. Without a subject to study, the ability to learn these elements is nearly impossible. Creating an adequate vessel to study and learn the mechanics of the soul is critical. Jorun skimmed down the page as it walked through how to create a rudimentary ghost. It wasn¡¯t that impressive, but he was very interested in the elements describing the methods for examining a ghost. ¡°Hey Latty, I need to use you for this part. Come here.¡± She drifted over, and Jorun read through the book. The soul made manifest must properly reflect the seven components that exist within the flesh. When a soul is removed from the flesh, these components are severed and lost. This loss is nearly unavoidable, and results in a greatly weakened state for both the flesh and the soul. Follow these steps to successfully create artificial points around the soul you are trying to make manifest. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Jorun read down the page. The foundation of the energy can be successfully aligned by having the spirit enter the first circle. What followed was a string of symbols and a geometric pattern. He sketched it out around the floating Latty. ¡°Uh, can you float out and come back in it?¡± She did so, looking more than a little confused. He felt the energy draw from himself. It coursed into the circle, now truly forming into a circle. The dark green field crackled and sizzled with energy. A small glowing book appeared in his hands. It reminded him of the first time he had seen the tome he was studying. He opened it. It was everything about Latty. There was a lot in it, and it took him a while to skim through the information. He looked up to see that she had frozen in place. For the first time since he had met her, she was perfectly still. He smiled looking at a word in the glowing book: Restless. That certainly described Latty well enough. If anything could be used to describe her, restless was one of them. He looked at the larger book, still resting on the ground. The information should be fairly basic. You should see¡­ He looked at Latty¡¯s book. It was anything but basic. He spent a good thirty minutes skimming through the contents, and he could see how it might seem basic. The shear volume of information had him wondering about something. He broke the circle and Latty looked around confused. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°I just learned about what it is that makes you,¡± he paused looking for a word, ¡°Well, um, you.¡± She looked at herself rather puzzled, ¡°Well was it interesting?¡± Jorun laughed, ¡°It might have been too much. I am still thinking about everything. The book said I would only see a couple of things inside the soul, but that was a lot more than a couple things. I don¡¯t think it was written with the assumption that I would be taking a ghost as powerful as yourself apart.¡± ¡°I am powerful?¡± Jorun shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. What is inside you is complicated enough that I just needed to stop. There are a ton of ideas that I just don¡¯t really understand.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± Jorun sat down and glanced at the open book. ¡°Stuff about your¡­¡± He waved a hand, ¡°Fabric? Cornerstone? I don¡¯t know how to describe it.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t making any sense.¡± Latty looked skeptically at Jorun. ¡°I guess I need time to think about it. It¡¯s getting late, and I think I have an idea that I want to try out.¡± He stood back up and put it in a small gap between a counter and a wall. It wasn¡¯t the perfect hiding place, but it would be more than enough for now. He left the abandoned cottage, and began to walk slowly back to the village. ¡°It¡¯s like a chain holding you to this place.¡± ¡°What is?¡± ¡°What I read about. See the problem is that if I describe this it will sound like I am reading your mind. It talks about your desire to grow and become stronger. It describes your hopes and dreams.¡± ¡°That sounds creepy.¡± Latty didn¡¯t sound bothered. ¡°That¡¯s my point, it isn¡¯t creepy. It isn¡¯t personal. It is, if anything, annoyingly vague. It is also incredibly complicated.¡± ¡°So what was it supposed to look like?¡± ¡°It was supposed to be the core component that drives you to exist in this world. If I created a ghost to explore, it would be vague and undefined. If I created a ghost to keep watch over me, it would be hard and concrete.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like me at all.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Jorun couldn¡¯t help but smile at the ghost, ¡°You are definitely vague and undefined. The problem is that the book isn¡¯t vague and undefined. I really don¡¯t know how to explain it better than a chain holding you to this place.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°You want power.¡± Latty was silent as the turned the path and the villages lights came into sight. ¡°Everyone wants power though.¡± Jorun shrugged, he was pretty tired and he didn¡¯t really care too much about explaining it to her. He had the suspicion that she wouldn¡¯t be able to learn much if anything. It didn¡¯t hurt to go ahead and try, but he was confident that the book was right. Ghost¡¯s can¡¯t change themselves. He looked at his hands, pondering everything that he had done up until this moment. ¡°Latty.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I want to help you live again.¡± Rather than walking into the village, he turned into the cemetery. He worked through the trees, rather than going by the main path. It took a little longer, but he didn¡¯t really want to draw attention. He set up a circle, using a number of gravestones to etch the symbols onto. He was careful to lift them up, and place it on the bottom of each stone, so that no one would accidentally see them. When he was done, he began channeling the flow of his energy into the circle. He could feel it. There was energy in this place. The dead had left a lot of it. It was a deep well of energy. He rubbed his fingers, building the connect with his stone. It began glowing softly. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Gathering power.¡± Latty watched him silently as he got the last piece in place. ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem like much.¡± She was correct. The small stone glowed with a tiny light. It reminded Jorun of the bright yellow stone that he had gotten from the man who was probably not her father. ¡°It isn¡¯t right now, but I think I don¡¯t want to take too much. It represents the energy of life. If I take too much, I might kill all the plants or something. I just want enough to gain a little everyday. If a giant circle of dead plants appeared in the cemetery, someone might notice.¡± With that done, he turned and began the long walk back to the house. He wasn¡¯t in particular hurry. Several of the miners could easily be awake, either having returned from the mines or getting ready to go. Sure enough a light grew bright as someone adjusted their window. Jorun didn¡¯t mind. He was just enjoying the cool night air. Chapter 11: Moving Out The hermit was a knobbly old man. He had a wispy patch of thin gray hairs sticking up from his head, a long wicked nose, and fingers that looked like some old trees gnarled bark. He was busily gardening when Jorun walked into sight. He glowered at Jorun, waiting as he approached. ¡°Hello,¡± He said as amiably as he could. He couldn¡¯t muster much energy as the man looked like he was ready to bite off Jorun¡¯s head. ¡°What are you doing out here boy?¡± He growled. Jorun just smiled as amiably as he could, ¡°I heard someone lived out here and was just wanting to say hi.¡± ¡°Hi. Now beat it.¡± Jorun paused. Normally people were friendly and nice. Everyone in the village had made him feel welcome. This response was completely unexpected and he struggled to think of something to say to that. ¡°Look. I don¡¯t want it. I am fine. Go away.¡± With that the man resumed hoeing the ground. He was digging a long track in the ground. ¡°Sure. Do you mind telling me what you are doing?¡± The man glanced at Jorun briefly, but didn¡¯t stop chopping the ground with his hoe. ¡°I am getting ready to grow some tomatoes.¡± ¡°What does that have to do with you hitting the ground with a weird shovel?¡± The man laughed hard enough to stop working. He glanced at Jorun, ¡°Where did you come from to have never seen a garden, the waste?¡± ¡°Oh, someone told you about me? I didn¡¯t think anyone from the village came to visit you.¡± The man squinted at Jorun, ¡°Are you seriously from the waste? No one has ever come from there a live.¡± ¡°I did. Although,¡± Here Jorun looked at his badly fitting clothes still hanging off the bone, ¡°I almost didn¡¯t make it. Everyone has been kind enough to look after me since I got here. I didn¡¯t realize how close to dying I got. I¡¯ve only recently been getting around and moving again.¡± ¡°I hit the ground to stir the soil. The soil on top is dead. The sun dries it out, making it useless for plants. Older plants, with long roots can survive, but seedlings wont make it. This also kills off any weeds.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a weed?¡± ¡°Anything that isn¡¯t a tomato plant, when I am planting tomatoes.¡± Jorun nodded, ¡°The other plants are bad for tomatoes?¡± The man shrugged and resumed his chopping motion, ¡°There is only enough food for a few plants in soil like this. If I am not careful, the other plants will steal all the food that the tomatoes need. If I was planting corn, it would be corn. You really don¡¯t know anything about this?¡± Jorun knelt down to look at the dirt, ¡°No one growing up took care of plants. They were all too buy. We only ate what other people gave us.¡± ¡°Well this is how you grow food.¡± ¡°It¡¯s interesting.¡± The old man laughed, ¡°I suppose it is, but I don¡¯t think what I am doing is that impressive. There are people that have actual farms out to the east. This soil is awful for growing in.¡± ¡°Bad huh?¡± The man didn¡¯t respond, but simply continued chopping away at the ground. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind trying it some time.¡± ¡°Gardening?¡± Jorun nodded. ¡°You can¡¯t learn here.¡± The old man harrumphed. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. It didn¡¯t seem like he would get anywhere with the old man, so he turned and walked away. ¡°He wasn¡¯t very nice.¡± Latty snapped. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± When he got back to Betty¡¯s home, she was cooking over a small pot, and he had a flashback to the days when his mom would cook something for him. He closed the door as she spoke. ¡°I hear you went out to see the hermit. Everyone says that you shouldn¡¯t have ever gone to see him, but I wonder what you think?¡± Jorun sat down on one of the stools that lined the table. He hadn¡¯t thought that anyone would have been able to tell if he had talked to the old man. Apparently someone in the village had figured out what he had been doing. ¡°He seemed like he wanted to be left alone.¡± ¡°Do you think you will see him again?¡± She put down a bowl of soup for Jorun to eat from, ¡°I think so.¡± And he had. The next couple of times he visited the result was more or less the same. The man would grumble and complain, but he would answer a few questions that Jorun asked. After a while, he would just get tired of talking and expect Jorun to go away as he had originally asked. Even as he complained, Jorun suspected there was a smile in the old man¡¯s squinting eyes. The villagers, on the other hand, had all sorts of fantastic stories about the hermit. Some believed he was a bandit hiding from the law. Some thought he was a demon. Some thought he had been conjured by the witch. Never once did Jorun get the impression that the people thought anything good about him. He thought about the grumpy old man that he had begun getting to know. He just spent all day trying to grow crops in soil that wasn¡¯t really good for growing crops. Jorun knew that much now. The reason that there were only really scraggly plants was because of the soil and weather. It was too dry. It had more water than where he had grown up. There were almost no plants at all there. The scraggly trees and bushes weren¡¯t exactly green, but they were definitely more than nothing. He didn¡¯t seem like a bad person. If Jorun had to guess the main was probably a victim rather than a culprit. The people in the village didn¡¯t really ever talk or interact with him. All they saw was an angry old man who never tried to talk to anyone. Jorun hated to admit it, but he was coming to like the man. This would only lead to a problem that Jorun hadn¡¯t expected to deal with. He had just assumed the same thing that all the villagers thought. If you didn¡¯t bother to get to know the person, you couldn¡¯t ever really understand what they were like or what they wanted out of life. He lay down after finishing the evening¡¯s meal. Betty was cleaning up, but she had informed him that he couldn¡¯t just spend all day wandering around. He should try to help people out a little, and figure out what he was wanting to do next. Latty drifted in. ¡°Latty, do you think anyone is following me when we go out?¡± ¡°No, I am pretty sure it is just you.¡± ¡°The villagers always seem to know what I have visited the hermit.¡± Latty drifted over him like a small colorful cloud, ¡°Worried they will try to stop you?¡± She raised a finger, ¡°Or are you worried that they will see your other activities?¡± He had made a habit out of visiting the witches cottage and the cemetery at night. He wasn¡¯t carrying a huge supply of energy, but it was definitely growing brighter. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone is aware of you heading out to the witches cottage.¡± ¡°Betty wants me to start working.¡± ¡°Are you going to?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°So what will you do?¡± ¡°Pay for my food and go live in the witches house. I will pretend like I don¡¯t know there is anything strange about it. That way they will all think I am just looking around for a place to stay. I will ask if anyone ones it, and if they mind me living there and cleaning it up.¡± ¡°You have enough money?¡± Jorun hadn¡¯t thought he had that much money, but he had discovered that he had more than he had expected it to be, ¡°I should be fine for a while. I just need to figure out what I will be doing in the long run.¡± ¡°I suppose you know what you are doing. Just don¡¯t die on me.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. Let me get some sleep.¡± ------- ¡°Betty,¡± she looked up from her breakfast porridge. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°The house on the hill, I was wondering if anyone owned it. I wouldn¡¯t mind cleaning and fixing it up for them.¡± ¡°No one owns it, but it is cursed. You really shouldn¡¯t stay there.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind curses.¡± Betty glowered at him, ¡°You should. I¡¯ve seen it drive men mad.¡± ¡°I faced the waste. I have seen madness. I know you mean well, but I have to think about where I am going. What path I am going to walk. I can¡¯t let others tell me what to fear and what to face. It¡¯s just me. I am all that is left.¡± Betty sighed, ¡°You are getting stronger, and I think you have done the old hermit some good. Just make sure that you take care of yourself properly. So don¡¯t forget to keep with us here.¡± Jorun laughed, ¡°I am not planning on being a hermit. Just not going to wander around aimlessly either.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe I am worried about you. You just wandered in from the waste a couple of days ago. Get out there and do your best, but first you better eat up that food. Can¡¯t have you starving on your first day off on your own.¡± Jorun slurped up the food, and went to his room to pack up. There wasn¡¯t that much he actually cared about. He just needed to go through the motions. When he was done, he was able to put on his pack and head out for the first time in a long time. It felt great to be on the move again. Even if it was for such a short distance. Chapter 12: Game of Kings Jorun had spent a good hour cleaning up the house. He had already gotten familiar with the numerous chores that Betty had used to clean the house, and they weren¡¯t that complicated. As the sun rose through the spindly forest, the piles of sand and dust were slowly driven out of the building. He found that a small well was still able to draw water and he used this to scrub down the floors. While he was scrubbing he discovered one of the floorboards was loose, and it had a cavity below it. It was a little difficult to be certain, but it looked big enough to hold several books. So he tried it out with his tome, and went back to cleaning. The white substance that had been put on the walls was peeling, and he wasn¡¯t sure what he could do with that. So he left almost everything above the floor alone. The windows, doors, and lack of any furniture were all something that he would need to deal with if he were to stay here for very long. He stopped to eat whenever he got hungry, and it didn¡¯t even take half of the day. The last thing he needed to do was to move the old witches book. He wasn¡¯t sure if he would want to be using it or not, but it served no purpose leaving it in a hole in the ground. So he wandered over to her grave and brushed off the dirt he had used to cover up the hole. The book was still there, and he had the sudden thought of looking into it¡¯s pages. He opened it as he took it out. The first page almost made sense, but it still gave him a sense of discomfort. It wasn¡¯t as bad as reading some of the later pages. He closed the cover and stared at the book. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Latty spoke up in her usual carefree manner. ¡°I am wondering if I am able to improve my ability enough to read this book.¡± He waved the witch¡¯s book. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°If I can learn from it, I might be able to use it¡¯s knowledge somehow. I don¡¯t know what I will be facing as I go into this world.¡± ¡°What if you can¡¯t learn from it?¡± She drifted overhead, pulling off her cloud impersonation. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think it would be wise to keep it around myself. I doubt people would react well to discovering a book about Witchcraft in my possession.¡± ¡°How would they know what it is about? I can¡¯t understand a thing either of those books say.¡± He stood up and moved it into the under floor space. He stared at his first tome, and decided that he couldn¡¯t just do nothing. So he pulled it from under the floor and went into the room with the circle¡¯s markings in it. ¡°Latty. Hop in the circle please.¡± He instructed the ghost. She did as he asked, and he felt the energy change as she froze into place. The circle glowed its ominous color and the small book popped into existence. He opened it and considered something that his tome said. Each layer is bound by a single ideal. This was supposed to be Latty¡¯s first ideal. It was intended as her core component. The thing that defined how solid or ephemeral she was. Not that he had any idea about what that meant. The book was full of information. It described her desire for power and her restless spirit, but what it didn¡¯t do was describe a single ideal. After a while, he gave up and severed the link ¡°Find anything out?¡± She asked as she came unfrozen. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It is supposed to be a single thing, but there is just a limitless number of things in your book. It is the opposite of single.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cause I am a complicated girl.¡± She preened. ¡°I think I need to follow the instructions and build a more basic ghost. It should be easier for me to figure out some of this with a less complicated character.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do it! I could do with some company.¡± She clapped her hands enthusiastically. ¡°I got to wait until evening. Most ghosts don¡¯t do so well during the day.¡± Latty rolled her eyes, ¡°What will we do until then?¡± ¡°I was planning on visiting the old hermit.¡± Latty pouted, ¡°Not him again. He is so boring.¡± Latty had a very limited field of interest. She grew bored with almost anything that didn¡¯t directly relate to her obtaining power or experiencing new things. Jorun paused as he considered this. There was something here. Maybe he was looking at this the wrong way. As far as he could tell, the person she had been in the real world had been obsessed with gaining power. He thought about her restless energy and how he had read that she couldn¡¯t change. He had been assuming that was because of what she had experienced in the waste. Being trapped in a single place, and a desert at that, for what amounted to hundreds or thousands of years. He had been thinking of her in terms of a person. A person would grow tired, bored, and frustrated with being trapped there. However, that wouldn¡¯t have had an impact on what was marked into her first circle. Then he got it. He had been thinking of her lust for power and her restless energy as separate things. The book implied that the first circle could only contain one singular point. A fixed idea. ¡°Hey Latty, when you were alive, what did you want more than anything?¡± ¡°To go on adventures with my dad. To fight terrible monsters and become a hero.¡± Jorun mulled it over. There was definitely the possibility he was on the right track. He took a quick look at the old book before he stashed it away. He opened it up and read through the first page. It almost made sense. He let the cover swing shut and put it away and put the book into it¡¯s hiding spot. ¡°Well let¡¯s head over and see what the old man is doing.¡± Latty sighed, ¡°Farming. He is always farming.¡± She was right. He immediately stopped when Jorun showed up, ¡°Go away.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be that way, I can weed for you.¡± ¡°You are terrible at weeding. Go away.¡± Jorun choose to ignore him. The man did the same, and Jorun spent a few minutes digging through the garden and thinking about the book. It was hard to say that if it was really easier or not, but he felt that he had improved. He pulled a plant from the ground, careful to make sure that he didn¡¯t allow it¡¯s roots to stay in the ground. ¡°You almost seem like you know what you are doing there.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know almost anything when I first met you. I guess I know at least a little now.¡± ¡°If you help this much, I wont have anything left to do.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad having some free time.¡± Jorun looked up at old man. He didn¡¯t look particularly happy. ¡°What am I going to do if it isn¡¯t farming?¡± ¡°I see a lot of people playing a game in town, how about that?¡± ¡°You mean chess?¡± The man looked over at Jorun, only pausing for a moment. ¡°Yeah, I have seen people playing it all the time. They seem to have fun.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a chess set.¡± ¡°Make one. It doesn¡¯t look that hard. You were just complaining about how you didn¡¯t have anything to do.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to make anything.¡± ¡°I can carve it, if you tell me what to do.¡± ¡°You just can¡¯t leave me alone. I just can¡¯t figure out what your game is.¡± He sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t need you to carve one. It is pretty easy to get going.¡± It didn¡¯t take them too long to finish up, and he pulled out a simple board with the familiar grid. ¡°We should have properly marked pieces, but we really just need something that represents each of them. I know some people who are able to play with nothing but a piece of paper.¡± Jorun did his best to withstand the flow of information, but the man who normally said very little was suddenly brimming with energy. He had the board set up and pieces laid out in only a few seconds. They played a couple of games before it was getting dark and Jorun wandered off home. ¡°Wow,¡± Latty drifted up once the house was out of sight, ¡°I can¡¯t believe how different he is when you two played chess.¡± Jorun had lost every game against the man. ¡°I feel like he is pretty good to, and it makes me think that he was holding back against me.¡± ¡°Looks like you got him exactly where you wanted him.¡± Jorun turned down the path and considered what she had said. Latty was right, but there was one problem. He was starting to like the old guy. ¡°It¡¯s time to create a ghost.¡± Chapter 13: A ghost of a possibility Jorun focused. He would need an anchor. He looked around the empty room. There was nothing but the old house. He thought about the body that lay in the shallow grave. A witch. Young, alone and afraid. Forced to live in this home for all time. He focused his breathing and let the energy slide into the ground. It spread through the small house and long tendrils began snaking from the various structural elements to a point in front of him. Next he needed the energy to manifest a purpose or drive. Looking for friends. It was a simple enough purpose. He focused the energy and drove it into the sphere. Next he would need to create the focus. If he didn¡¯t push hard, it wouldn¡¯t be very focused on the purpose he had just defined. He suspected that it would take more energy to accomplish the focus. He poured the energy into it. Looking for friends. The next element was the heart. If he wanted a being of passion, he could pour energy into it and help define it. Love or hatred, either was acceptable. A little love. He was burning through the small reserve of energy he had been taking from the cemetery quickly. So he didn¡¯t want to pour as much into creating this aspect. A vague or ill defined passion was acceptable enough for him. Breath. He needed to breath the voice into the creature. He poured energy into his throat and forced it out and into the sphere. It took a lot of his energy, but he figured that Latty would be able to chat with it for a while. He was almost done, and he would be able to rebuild his reserve easily enough. There were two more stages to this process, and neither of them were as important as the ones that he had already accomplished. The next step was the eye. It¡¯s ability to see beyond the obvious. Intuition, instinct. These were important for only specialized situations, so he only poured the minimum amount of energy into it. The eye opened above the sphere, a vague and unclear thing. The last piece was the connection to the next realm. If he understood what the book meant, he would be able to use this for a proper reincarnation or resurrection. He wasn¡¯t entirely certain how it would work, but it was definitely the first real clue that he had seen in his journey to accomplishing the resurrection of his hometown. He filled out the eye¡¯s energy with as little as he could, then he poured the remaining energy he had into the last stage. It wouldn¡¯t serve to making the specter more useful, but it would allow him to study the last layer¡¯s book. The final result was a shell. It glowed in the faint and familiar way. It was like the books. They existed in a real way, but they weren¡¯t physical to anyone else. He suddenly realized that he had poured too much energy into the process and that he wouldn¡¯t be able to complete it. ¡°Is it done?¡± Latty interrupted his train of thought. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Uh, I may have poured all the energy into creating the frame and I don¡¯t have enough to actually form the specter into it¡¯s physical shape.¡± ¡°So you have to stop?¡± ¡°I need to get some more energy.¡± ¡°What do you need to do then?¡± He shrugged, ¡°I mostly need to wait for a while. The cemetery is generating energy for me. I shouldn¡¯t need to do much more than that.¡± They chatted idly while they waited. It took a couple of hours for him to build up his reserve, it was still before midnight and he knew that there was plenty of time for him to wait. ¡°Here we go.¡± He held up the vessel and poured raw energy into it. It shifted, drawing the small amount of energy and it became different. This was a small little amount, but he immediately drew it to the circle and began studying it. The book was far simpler than the one for Latty. It was not simple thought. The only reason that he could understand this one was because he had defined it himself. ¡°Find what you wanted?¡± Latty asked, ¡°This is very interesting to look at from this perspective.¡± Jorun simply shrugged as he released it from the circle. It floated over to Latty, still ball-like, and began chatting with her. He began to mark out the elements that where necessary t change this into the second circle. As he worked, he listened to the two ghosts talk. The new one was incredibly simplistic compared to Latty, but she talked to him anyway. They continued chatting, more or less in circles. He hadn¡¯t ever noticed it, but he could tell Latty wasn¡¯t bothered in the least. Ghost¡¯s cannot change. He had to try and talk this way to Latty. He had been keeping the conversation alive, because he didn¡¯t think of things in the right way. Latty wasn¡¯t able to talk or think, she was just a more complicated version of the simple little ghost drifting in front of her. ¡°Ghost, into the circle.¡± he commanded it when he had finished making the marks for the second circle. It drift into it and froze in place. The pulsing energy of it¡¯s light holding was the only visible change. The book was very different. It contained many of the same ideas, but it expressed them in entirely different ways. He spent a little time studying it, but he didn¡¯t want to waste the night. Dawn was coming and he wanted to see the seventh circle. He hurried through the process each time as he listened to the two ghosts chat. They picked up the conversation as if nothing had happened or changed and resumed talking around each other. Faint echo¡¯s of their lives. Well Latty¡¯s life. She isn¡¯t the original person. He needed to know this. This alone had revealed a great truth to him. Even if you bring back the loved ones as carefully as possible, they aren¡¯t alive. He made a note of this in the tome. It was the first time he had ever written into the book. The entire text changed, responding to his words. Jorun stared at the page for a moment as he considered the implications, and then realized he was running out of time. He finished the seventh circle and began the examination. Each of them had revealed pieces of information he hadn¡¯t considered before. It¡¯s book held the words he was looking for. There is no living soul connected to this form. Jorun sat down as he had the answer he had wanted. He watched the rising sun slowly warm the distant horizon and bleed through the window. When strands of light struck the small ghost he had created, it exploded into dust. ¡°Hey where did it go?¡± Latty asked confused. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it Latty. I just need you to enter the circle.¡± Jorun instructed. She drifted into it and he felt an option to open several different paths open before him. The tome hadn¡¯t made it entirely clear. He had feared that it would take seven different and unique circles to be able to view the information contained in the different layers, but it was all visible here and now. He opened the book containing Latty¡¯s Seventh Level. This contains the soul of Lattara von Eldrin. He closed the book and released Latty. ¡°You are smiling. I take it you found something you needed?¡± ¡°Yes Latty, I found the thing I needed. I can at least bring you back to life. Although I don¡¯t know if it will immediately help with my personal goals. It does suggest exactly what I suspected it does.¡± ¡°I can live again?¡± There was a desperation in those words. ¡°I think so. I need to gather more information first. So make sure that you don¡¯t get in my way.¡± She grinned. Her eyes cold and hard, ¡°I would kill to have my life back.¡± ¡°It will probably be necessary little Latty. That and even more.¡± He watched the sun rise, and new that he had to do whatever it would take. He would survive, and everyone from his home would survive. Chapter 14: Chosen Jorun¡¯s routine for the next week was pretty much the same as before. He would work on tidying up the house in the morning after he woke up, and then he would something for lunch and go visit the old man. He hadn¡¯t yet learned his name, but they had quickly taken to the game. Despite his protests, he had actually began carving out the more basic shapes of the different pieces. Jorun would help a little there, but mostly he would just focus on the crops. Seeing the different plants sprout and grow into their distinct shapes had proven to be a highly enjoyable experience. He had taken to watering the different sprouts and was even thinking about growing his own garden at his house. As he worked on the plants, he couldn¡¯t help but feel connected with his mom. He had never thought of her doing this kind of thing. There were no plants where he had grown up, but this felt right in a way he couldn¡¯t explain. The image of her working in a garden flashed through his mind. Her hands were covered in dirt and there was a smile on her face. She turned and smiled. Jorun dropped to the ground, his head aching. ¡°You alright boy?¡± The old man was suddenly standing over him. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know,¡± for a moment, Jorun had been seeing his mother from someone else perspective, ¡°For a moment, I was remembering something¡­¡± ¡°Sit down you fool boy. Sit down.¡± He helped Jorun get into a more comfortable position, and then scuttled away. Jorun had never seen the old man hurry before, and he watched the man draw a bucket of water. He then hurried back and gave Jorun a drink. The cool water refreshed Jorun and helped him catch his senses. ¡°Thanks,¡± he looked up at the old man, ¡°What should I call you?¡± ¡°Narlin,¡± He looked down at the ground, ¡°I haven¡¯t had someone talk to me by name in a long time.¡± ¡°Thanks Narlin,¡± Jorun offered his cup back to the old hermit. ¡°Go ahead and stop working on the garden. Let¡¯s just play a few games and then you can eat with me.¡± Jorun didn¡¯t see any reason to reject the offer. So he got up and the two of them began to play away. ¡°Moving your knight, eh?¡± He cackled with delight. Jorun resisted the urge to smile. He knew what Narlin was going to do next. Move his bishop to kill his knight. He watched as the man lifted the bishop and did exactly that. Jorun was tempted to follow that up with another good move on his part. This exposed his rook to one of Jorun¡¯s bishops. He could take it easily enough, but then he would be too close to winning the game. It was better to leave the piece on the board and let Narlin win. Jorun had lost every game until now, and he had found that Narlin loved to explain his victory at some considerable length. Losing a battle could teach you more about your opponent than defeating them. ¡°I am not out of the game yet,¡± He boasted as he moved one of his pawns into a slightly better position. Narlin cackled with delight and proceeded to destroy Jorun. Once the match was over, he cleaned up the board and looked Jorun square in the face. ¡°You didn¡¯t see your bishop had a wide opening to take my rook a seven moves ago. Pay attention boy. If I didn¡¯t know you better I might think you lost that game on purpose.¡± Jorun blushed. Not because Narlin had spotted his deception, but because he had underestimated Narlin himself. He had been thinking that Narlin wouldn¡¯t be able to spot that. In that moment he realized that a player could intentionally leave an opening to test their opponent. This game seemed simple at a glance, but it had so many layers built into it. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s getting late, and I want to eat. One more match and then we eat and you head home before it gets too dark.¡± They played and this time he was more careful not to miss anything too obvious that might be an opening. He lost, but only because Narlin suddenly switched his tactics after Jorun took out a similarly suspicious piece. ¡°You aren¡¯t playing you best, are you?¡± Jorun asked as they put the pieces away. ¡°Of course not. It wouldn¡¯t be fair to play a complete rookie at my full ability. I would crush you and you would never want to play again.¡± ¡°Am I getting close to you?¡± The old man¡¯s eyes twinkled mischievously, ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°Looks like I will need to try harder next time. I can¡¯t have you thinking that I am too easy to beat.¡± The man laughed, ¡°There aren¡¯t many chess players who can beat me. I can only think of a few.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Here in the village?¡± Narlin laughed harder, ¡°No boy, in the capital.¡± Jorun felt shocked at the statement, ¡°You have been to the capital? What¡¯s it like?¡± Narlin laughed harder, ¡°Sometimes I forget how little of the world you have seen. It¡¯s a crazy place, full of the most powerful sorcerers I have ever seen. If you don¡¯t have a talent of some kind, they will crush you with ease.¡± ¡°You have seen magic?¡± Jorun didn¡¯t have to feign surprise. Magic was almost completely unheard of in either of these villages. People would talk about it as if it were some form of evil that needed to be removed from the world. ¡°Plenty, there is a huge abundance of magic in bigger cities. In the capital it is even worse. I would almost say that it is necessary to have access to magic to thrive there, but it isn¡¯t really that bad. You just have to understand that without magic you need to find an alternative to accomplish your goals.¡± Here he tapped the chess board. ¡°Some day you need to tell me what you were before you came here.¡± The laughter vanished from Narlin¡¯s face, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t matter if I did. If you are amazed at the idea of magic, than you aren¡¯t going to even know enough about the places of power to be able to survive there.¡± ¡°So you used to be somebody important than?¡± He stopped and looked at the board, ¡°I suppose I was. At the time, I just thought I hadn¡¯t accomplished enough and that I would need to climb higher. Compared to almost anyone in this part of the world, I have done a lot. Enough questions kid. Let¡¯s get you some food.¡± He brought out two bowls of soup, ¡°Eat up.¡± Jorun did, and he practically died, ¡°What is this?¡± Narlin looked up, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°This is delicious!¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, I am not a great cook so I don¡¯t know if I would describe it as delicious¡­¡± He looked down at the bowl of soup and looked at it confused. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you say. This is the single best meal I have ever had.¡± ¡°Kid you need to get out of this place and go somewhere bigger.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah, you are smart enough to play decently well and you haven¡¯t even played that many games. You have some brains, even if you don¡¯t have any magic worth mentioning.¡± ¡°Why do you think I have no magic?¡± Jorun just laughed, ¡°Kid, you are killing me here. Everyone bears the mark of their power in some form or another. The only ones that don¡¯t are their children, but children never develop power that can rival a real practitioner.¡± ¡°So everyone who can use magic is obvious?¡± Jorun couldn¡¯t believe his luck. This guy had just told him some incredibly important information. ¡°Yes. In order to become a practitioner, you must have accomplished something at some point to get the attention of one the divine.¡± ¡°The divine? Is that a way to describe gods or something?¡± ¡°Not really. There are gods, and the divine are similar, but each of them represents one of the attributes. Take fire for example. The divine of fire is Ifrit. If you want to wield fire magic you must have been chosen by him. Without his blessing you can¡¯t ever cast magic.¡± ¡°How do I catch one of the divine¡¯s attention?¡± Narlin stroked his gnarly chin, ¡°Think you are going to go earn the favor of one of the powerful and somehow become a great one than you have a lot to learn. It isn¡¯t going to happen. You are too old. The divine never choose anyone after infancy.¡± ¡°Never?¡± ¡°Never.¡± Jorun had a million questions, but there wasn¡¯t any way to continue this conversation without admitting what had happened to him. If Narlin was right and the divine never gave power to anyone, did that really mean this was some form of curse? Of course, that would still admit his knowledge fo something dangerous if he asked about that. ¡°Well that¡¯s a bummer. I was born a normal enough kid. Although I have wondered if my mom might have had some power.¡± ¡°What gives you that idea?¡± ¡°Oh just something I saw her do right before she died. I get the feeling that she was trying to protect me.¡± ¡°How did they all die?¡± Jorun suspected he could admit it was a disease to the old man, but he also knew that someone else in the village talked to him. If they found out, there was no guarantee that they would be as reasonable as Narlin. ¡°A thing killed them.¡± It was almost true. ¡°Don¡¯t want to talk about it?¡± Jorun just shook his head. ¡°Fair enough kid. Now eat up and get out of here. I can¡¯t keep talking to you all day.¡± Jorun did as he asked and wandered home. Once he was around a bend in the path, he spoke to Latty. ¡°Is he right about the divine?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. It doesn¡¯t sound entirely right, but I think he is telling the truth about his past.¡± She slowly appeared next to him. For once she actually look like a normal girl, she moved her feet along the ground as if she were walking next to him. ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°When he talks about chess he reminds me of someone the old man knew.¡± Jorun made a mental note that this was probably a reference to the Sorcerer who was her father. Whatever had happened between the two of them had driven her to curse them both and create the waste itself. A place where only Jorun had been able to escape the curse. He thought about the large golden gem that he carried with himself. It was dangerous to think that he had escaped the curse. He had faced disease and curse, and he had walked away from them without any obvious indication of personal harm. That didn¡¯t mean that they had disappeared. ¡°If there are divine, are there an opposite to that?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I am just trying to figure out how I gained this power when I shouldn¡¯t have.¡± ¡°So like an evil version of the divine?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Latty shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I am not really sure about the divine itself. Something about that really bugs me. I feel like he is close to the truth, but missing something important.¡± ¡°Can I learn to cast fire?¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± Jorun wanted to object, but he was quickly learning that there were many advantages to the power he held. It might have it¡¯s draw backs, but it was probably the case with any powerful magician. Latty¡¯s own father had apparently had the power to destroy a nation, and he was nothing more than a faint echo. ¡°Everyone dies in the end.¡± He muttered to himself. Latty floated past, ¡°I am still here.¡± Jorun thought about the words in the book, about how she was little more than a shell of the person she had been. When he had seen the seventh circle for her, it had implied there was a connection to her original life. He just had no way to figure out what that was exactly. ¡°You don¡¯t know of anything like a divine related to death, do you?¡± Latty shivered, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. That sounds really horrible.¡± Jorun couldn¡¯t believe it. That was almost as impressive revelation as what Narlin had said to him. She shivered. He had observed her behavior for a long time now. She was the single person in his life he could say that he knew well, and she wasn¡¯t even really alive. In the month he had known her, she hadn¡¯t done anything even remotely close to something like shivering. So there was an answer there. If the idea of a god of death couldn¡¯t cause a ghost to shiver, nothing would. That meant that someone had chosen him. The image of his mother using the cauldron as she coughed, slowly succumbing to the sickness, popped into his head. ¡°Mother what did you do?¡± He asked the cooling night sky. There was no response. Chapter 15: The Razors Edge Jorun dreamed of his mother that night. It was that same moment, her looking up and smiling. Her hands were covered in dirt and mud. A small green plant was in one hand. She laughed at something. Then everything died. The green garden fading to cold lifeless rock. As the world faded into the barren landscape, the warmth of his mother¡¯s smile faded. A hand reached out to her. Thin cracks wrapped the hand in their tiny lines. A piece of one hand flaked away, exposing the tissue and bone underneath. It was as hard and lifeless as the rocky landscape. The blood sparkling like thousands of tiny crystals. His eyes drifted to his mother, still seated; but now her entire body was lifeless stone. It cracked and crumbled away, revealing the flesh beneath. ¡°Pathetic.¡± A deep voice boomed. The pain in his crumbling hand grew white hot, and Jorun jerked awake. He rubbed his hand desperate to bring it back to life and realized that it was untouched. He stared at it in the morning light, the pain had been so real he could still feel it. ¡°The flesh is weak,¡± he muttered. Jorun looked around. There was no one there. It had been a dream. ¡°Latty,¡± he called, and he felt amazing to see her vaguely visible form in the light. ¡°What?¡± ¡°No one was here, right?¡± Jorun couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that someone or something had passed through. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear or see anyone. It was really boring, so I wandered around a little.¡± She looked puzzled, ¡°Are you alright?¡± Jorun didn¡¯t see any reason to answer the question. She didn¡¯t actually notice the answer anyway. There was no point in responding. He slipped out of bed, ¡°I am going to get started a little early. Go back and wander around if you want.¡± She vanished. He filled the bucket with water from the well. It was cool and fresh, and the moment it touched the skin of his hand, the pain vanished. He washed had planned to just wash his face, but he suddenly felt the need to clean his entire body. When he was done, he spent a few minutes tidying up the house. He boiled an egg and ate it on toast. ¡°Jorun, someone is coming.¡± Latty whispered to him. He froze. He had gotten into the habit of using Latty to look around, but there was usually nothing to see and it startled him to hear her warn him. ¡°Can you be more specific?¡± ¡°A villager I think. They are running.¡± ¡°Running?¡± She nodded and imitated someone running and stumbling as she floated above him. ¡°They are moving like this.¡± Jorun frowned, ¡°Thanks, go check out the village for me.¡± He finished off his breakfast as he waited for Latty to return. ¡°Something is definitely happening. People are all running around with sticks of metal and wood. They are shouting a lot.¡± A pit formed in his stomach. Had someone seen him do something? Had he Narlin realized his true intentions while they talked? He pushed them aside as he realized that they wouldn¡¯t have sent one person if that was the case. He got up and started drying out the pot over the fire. The man ran into sight when the pot was almost dry. The last traces of water vanishing into puffs of steam. Jorun took the pot off the open flame and set it aside to cool. Then he stood up and walked towards the man. ¡°Help¡­¡± he panted. Jorun had seen him quite a few times, but the man spent most of his time working in the mine. So he had no idea what his name was. ¡°You are a doctor, right?¡± Jorun gulped. He hadn¡¯t really known where the rumor about his family had come from, but most of the people seemed convinced that his family had been a traveling medical troop. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± He replied. If they needed a doctor, someone was probably dying. An excellent opportunity. ¡°Bandits¡­ they attacked the Hodges walking back from Westshire.¡± Westshire was the town to the east of here, and it was a major landmark for the locals in the village to go visit from time to time. Jorun didn¡¯t know who the Hodges were, save that they had been visiting family in Westshire since he had arrived in the small mining village. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°I need to know what kind of injury it is.¡± He turned and went into the house, grabbing his tool wrap. He had put it together when he had preserved everyone from the village. He had kept it with him, because some of the tools where harder to replace and he didn¡¯t want to risk needing them and not having them. ¡°A cut leg. It¡¯s bad. He¡¯s bled a lot already, and it¡¯s still bleeding despite their best efforts.¡± Jorun ran. A leg injury could kill someone in minutes. It was one of the fastest ways to kill a person, if the correct blood vessel was damaged. When he got closer to the village, someone met him and waved him towards a house. Inside the house, a group of people were gathered around a bed. A long streak of blood led from the outside to there, and a pool was forming at the base. It looked bad, but it wasn¡¯t as much blood as it could have been. ¡°Let me through!¡± Jorun shouted, and the crowd and chattering people vanished. The man lay, pale and panting on the bed. His leg was propped up and several belts had been tightened around a long gash on the outside of the leg. It wasn¡¯t near any vital spots that Jorun knew of. The only reason he was pale was¡­ ¡°How long ago did this happen?¡± A man appeared, holding a cap in hand, ¡°His wife and daughters came running into the village an hour ago. We went and found him after that.¡± ¡°Three hours?¡± Jorun snapped. The man¡¯s head bobbled in a hasty nod. Jorun realized he could save this man. He knew everything that he needed in order to do this. ¡°I need clean, white towels boiled in water. Like for giving birth. Anyone have strong alcohol?¡± Several people moved, and Jorun focused on setting up something to restrict the blood loss better. There were three belts all tied hastily along the wound. Jorun rolled his eyes. The heart moves the blood. Anyone should know where the heart is. How can the mess something like this up? He pulled off his own belt, and wrapped it tightly over the leg as close to the waist as he could get it. Then he grabbed what looked like a walking stick and began tightening the belt with it. The blood seeping from the leg stopped almost immediately. ¡°Hold this.¡± he didn¡¯t look to see, but a hand held the stick, ¡°It¡¯s blocking the blood flow. If you let it go, he will bleed to death.¡± The hand tightened it¡¯s grip. ¡°Push into the twist to keep the belt tight.¡± A pair of hot, steamy towels appeared before him, and he flicked open his tool wrap. A thin bone blade was perfect for this. He pulled the tool out and sliced the three belts off. The pant leg was the next to go. It was a bloody mess and mixed heavily with dirt and grime. He put the blade down and began wiping the wound clean with a towel. The wound was jagged and chunks of muscle and fat hung in twisted lumps. ¡°The sword that cut him was dull, correct?¡± Someone held a sword in front of him. It was chipped and the tip was broken clean off. ¡°I don¡¯t need it. Just¡­ Never mind. Take it away.¡± He picked up his fine edge and began cleaning out the damaged tissue. The man groaned in pain. ¡°I need that alcohol for him. Now! And don¡¯t give it to me. Get him drunk.¡± Someone lifted the man¡¯s head and put a large brown jug to his lips. He coughed, but it sounded like he drank deeply. Jorun pulled the wound open, peering inside. It was too dark to see well. There were several pieces of something deep in the wound. He pulled out a grabbing tool and began to work the pieces out of the tissue. His hands slipped on the hot warm blood, and he almost lost the object. Jorun paused and took a breath. It was harder doing this with someone who was alive. After he collected his thoughts, he worked the piece back out. Then the next piece and finally the last one. They each looked like flakes of metal. He examined the wound one last time. ¡°Give me the alcohol, and someone hold him down. He won¡¯t like this part.¡± As the jug was handed to him, he looked away from the leg and realized three strong men where already holding him down. ¡°Uh, thanks.¡± He poured the alcohol into the wound and then drained it back out. It wasn¡¯t pretty, but it should do the job. He examined it carefully and then pulled out the needle and thread. He had never done this with a living person, but he had to just stay focused. In. Up. Over. Cross. Down. In. He repeated the motion as he worked his way down the wound. It took three sets before he felt comfortable sewing across the deepest part of the cut, and two to finish it off. There were still spots where the wound bled a little, but he was running low on thread. He suspected no one would like where he had gotten it. So he choose to make do with the small amount he had on hand. He looked it over and began wrapping up the wound in the remaining towels. He didn¡¯t get it as tight as he might have wanted it, but it should be enough. He collapsed to the floor. As he lay panting, he realized he had come here to harvest the man¡¯s life energy. Not to save him. It had felt natural to do this though, and he knew that he couldn¡¯t have done it without the knowledge the tome had given him. He looked at his bloody hands. They were shaking uncontrollably. ¡°Jorun, you did it lad.¡± ¡°Lad, you alright.¡± ¡°Someone help us move the doctor.¡± His vision blurred as he drifted towards unconscious. ¡°He¡¯s a kid.¡± ¡°Too much pressure.¡± ¡°Saved¡­ life¡± He thankfully didn¡¯t dream this time. When he woke up, he found himself wrapped in the awfully warm bedding again. His clothes had been removed and the blood washed off of his body. He looked around and saw some of his clothing. It looked freshly laundered. His tool wrap was there as well. Each of the pieces had been put back and the whole thing was perfectly clean. ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t know you were a doctor too. I guess the rumors were right.¡± Jorun looked to see Latty¡¯s face poking through the wall. He didn¡¯t have the energy to respond. A sweet-faced woman came in with his clothes in hand, ¡°Thank you, good sir, for what you did for my husband. We can never thank you enough.¡± Jorun waved a hand, ¡°I did it for myself.¡± She plopped the clothes on the bed, ¡°Now, now, don¡¯t go saying that. You still saved him.¡± He wanted to protest, but his was too tired, ¡°I need to go check the wound.¡± ¡°Betty has been keeping an eye on it. She knows how to keep bandages clean. Get yourself dressed and get something to eat.¡± With that she turned and left the room, giving him the privacy to get dressed. He did so, and found a nice meal waiting for him. It tasted awful compared to Narlin¡¯s meal. A crowd of people stood outside, watching him eat. ¡°What¡¯s that about?¡± ¡°Oh, they are just so happy to know that you saved Mike. They want to thank you, that is all.¡± Jorun felt awful, remembering his intention to kill Mike Hodges. Everyone was laughing clapping him on the back, so Jorun did his best to excuse himself and wander back to his house. It was quiet there. Chapter 16: Going Rogue ¡°I hear you saved someone¡¯s life yesterday.¡± Narlin spoke over the chess board, ¡°That why you choose to ignore me?¡± ¡°I just couldn¡¯t deal with everyone.¡± Narlin laughed, ¡°Just teasing you boy. You should be proud of yourself.¡± Joren didn¡¯t really have anything to say in response to that. Fortunately Narlin didn¡¯t mind. They both focused on the chess pieces, and Jorun moved one of his pawns trying to put pressure on Narlin. Narlin responded quickly taking another piece that Jorun had lost track of. He proceeded to crush Joren¡¯s attempts at beating him. ¡°Head¡¯s not in the game. You will lose every time if you can¡¯t keep your focus.¡± Jorun didn¡¯t say anything. Narlin slammed the table, startling Jorun, ¡°Why are you here if you are just going to sit there and sulk? Snap out of it and play the game, or go slink back to your house. Everyone you loved died. I get that. You just saved someone¡¯s life. If you could go back, could you help the people you knew? Possibly, but they are dead and gone. There isn¡¯t anything you can do about that. If you think you are the only person with regrets, then you are very mistaken.¡± He paused catching his breath, ¡°Now beat me for once.¡± Jorun reset the board and he began thinking about the next moves. He had been thinking that he missed his opportunity to harvest a soul, and then he realized that everyone would notice how badly he reacted to being a hero. If Narlin thought he was dealing with past failures and the frustration of loss, then he might have a chance to use that as an excuse. It sounded perfectly reasonable. Now all he needed to do was beat Narlin. It was a hard fought game. Jorun forced himself to do the best that he could do, and he slowly worked through all of the Narlin¡¯s pieces. He lost, but it was close. Narlin leaned back, and smiled. ¡°That was a lot better. Now get off of your butt and go check on your patient. That man¡¯s life belongs to you.¡± Jorun stopped and looked at Narlin, ¡°What did you say?¡± ¡°His life belongs to you?¡± Narlin looked puzzled, ¡°You do realize everyone is counting on you to keep him alive. He would be dead if you hadn¡¯t helped. If you don¡¯t go back, he could still die.¡± ¡°Really? They just need to keep the wound clean at this point.¡± Narlin laughed, ¡°Go check on him yourself. These are miners. They don¡¯t have the sense to stay still and recover.¡± They sat in silence as Jorun considered what Narlin had said. ¡°Do you want him to die?¡± Narlin spoke softly. Jorun looked down, unable to meet the old man¡¯s gaze. ¡°These people have nothing. They have no hope, power, or opportunities. If anyone can understand your pain, they can. Do you really want his daughters to grow up without a dad?¡± Jorun¡¯s strong father, tall and proud, appeared in his mind. Something wet dripped down his face. ¡°I¡¯m angry at them.¡± Someone spoke using his voice. No one replied, so the voice continued, ¡°Mother, father, they knew something. Neither told me what was really happening.¡± A crooked hand rested itself on his head, all Jorun could do was stare at the ground. ¡°I don¡¯t know what they were thinking. I know that they wanted the best for you though.¡± Jorun looked up, his face covered in tears, ¡°How can you say that? They treated me like a child. They lied to me and they are dead now!¡± ¡°You are a child. No, you were a child. Anyone who can cross the uncrossable isn¡¯t a child, but you are still incredibly young. You have a lot to learn about the world. Here, how about I go with you to see your patient. I promise no pesky people will bother you with me around.¡± Somehting sparkled in Narlin¡¯s eye, ¡°They are all afraid of me.¡± So they went together. It felt strange to walk with someone beside him that wasn¡¯t a ghost. They didn¡¯t talk as they moved along the path to the village. When they got to the village, no one came out to greet them. The village, normally bustling with activity, was completely empty. ¡°I have that effect on the villagers,¡± Narlin spoke softly. ¡°Why does everyone hate you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit complicated. Just go and check on your patient.¡± Jorun went inside to see that the man¡¯s bandages had gone from white to red, to brown, and maybe some other colors. He pulled them off and the flesh was turning angrily red. ¡°I told you to rest,¡± Jorun snapped at the man twice his size. Stolen story; please report. He flinched away from Jorun and tried to apologize. ¡°We need clean bandages, and I need some more alcohol.¡± He spotted the jug, picked it up and discovered it was empty. ¡°You might lose your leg if you aren¡¯t careful,¡± Jorun threw all the bandages on the floor. He leaned in and examined the stitches. They weren¡¯t doing bad, but one of them looked like it had torn the flesh a little. He did his best to clean it up without any of the necessities. Eventually he got freshly cleaned cloth and alcohol. He looked at the the man as he explained the consequences of getting his wound dirty. Once he had left, he discovered the old man had wandered off to his home. He looked around and was pleasantly surprised to see the people of the village behaving normally. They all smiled at him and waved as they passed by, but they left him alone. It had been a while, so he went to see Betty. She was outside the house, working on her laundry. Betty glanced up as he came closer. ¡°Hello Jorun, how are you doing today?¡± ¡°Fine enough. I had a good talk with Narlin and I think I have realized some things that I hadn¡¯t been thinking about.¡± She pulled a wet shirt from the bucket and began to wring it out, ¡°You have been through a lot. There is no need to push yourself to hard. Take time to figure things out.¡± ¡°I think I should say thank you.¡± She looked up at him, blocking her eyes from the sun, ¡°We wouldn¡¯t abandon someone in need.¡± ¡°Thank you anyway. I can¡¯t say it enough.¡± She stood up and lay out the shirt. Then she turned to give him a hug. She wasn¡¯t built exactly like his mother, but he didn¡¯t really notice. It felt nice. His eyes started to tingle and he stepped away to clean them a little. ¡°Don¡¯t mind it,¡± Betty spoke softly, ¡°There has been quite a lot of dust blowing around in the wind today.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s really annoying.¡± Jorun wiped his face, ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on staying any longer than to check on the injury.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be a stranger.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Jorun replied and realized he actually meant it. These people had done nothing but show him kindness, and he wasn¡¯t going to do anything to change that. He looked around at the village and realized that they deserved as much as his own hometown. A chance at life. He thought about the men that had attacked the Hodges. They were different. He waved and started down the street, ¡°I just thought of something I want to do. I gotta get moving!¡± With that finished he started to run. It was still early, but he needed to prepare several things. He had never done anything like what he was thinking about, and he knew that he needed to move quickly if he wanted to finish before the daylight was gone. He started making a checklist of all the different things that he needed to gather together. It was getting dark, when he finally finished preparing. He looked at it. Several of the pieces where crude and unwieldy, but they would have to make do. He proceeded to pack the set of flat stones into his bag and head into the night. ¡°Latty, I need you to find the Bandits that attacked the villagers yesterday. Can you do that for me?¡± She flickered into existence next to him as he called to her and vanished as soon as he had finished asking the question. He didn¡¯t need to ask her for general directions, but simply headed for the one path that left the village. It was difficult counting out the time as he traveled, but it was enough for him to be able to estimate the distance. ¡°Where are they Latty?¡± he spoke softly. His voice sounded unusually loud in the cool dark night air. ¡°Turn to your left. It¡¯s hard to see, but there is a small trail there. Follow it and you will get to where they are.¡± ¡°Are they sleeping?¡± ¡°Not yet, but they are discussing who will stay up tonight.¡± ¡°How many are going to be watching?¡± ¡°Just one from the sound of it. There are only three there right now.¡± ¡°Should there be more?¡± Jorun paused, realizing he knew nothing about Bandits and how they operated. ¡°My guess is that there are many more than these three. They mostly try to steal the shipments of ore out of the village. Another shipment isn¡¯t due for a while, so most of the people aren¡¯t here.¡± She paused, ¡°I think.¡± ¡°You think?¡± Jorun almost shouted it out loud, ¡°Latty, I really need to know this stuff, and I can¡¯t work with guesses.¡± She held up her hands, ¡°There are only three here, they talked about some others, but I don¡¯t know where they are.¡± ¡°Get me close to the camp, and then look around for any other groups of Bandits.¡± She led him to the perfect place to set up. He had a decent view of the fie, and the three forms near it. Two were laying down and one was poking at the fire with a stick. Jorun pulled out the flat stones. Each of them had parts of the ritual on them. The thin flakes weren¡¯t the strongest, but it was better to use something portable. If he had spent the time drawing it here, they would have easily spotted him. He arranged them carefully on the ground. He didn¡¯t want the area to cover too much ground, but he wanted to get this done as quickly as possible. Once he was done, he broke a stick. The guy standing guard turned around. He had been staring at the fire, and Jorun knew that he couldn¡¯t see anything. That didn¡¯t make him feel better as the man slowly unfolded, drawing a metal sword from it¡¯s scabbard. The guy was enormous, easily towering over Jorun. If it came down to a fight, Jorun would die. He had studied the process of harvesting, but he had never tried it before this moment. The circle glowed into life with it¡¯s venomous dark green energy. The man stood uselessly looking at the dark energy surrounding him. Bring the victim to the circle. Once they are in it, the circle will activate. Take what is yours. Jorun reached out his hand, and the man¡¯s eyes snapped to where Jorun was. His eyes were wide open, his mouth dropped open. Drool dribbled from it. Jorun pulled something to himself. A small strangely shaped bead of energy. It was extremely different from the vessel soul he had created to practice making the ghost. There were only a few plants within the circle, but they immediately began to wither and die. For a moment, the drooling bandit was untouched; but then he began to dry out. His body twisted and contorted as it grew smaller and smaller. His clothes, armor, and weapon all resisted the effect better; but they too began to show the signs of aging. Jorun let go and the energy of the circle flashed into the soul, filling it with a bright energy that almost hurt to see. He waved the glowing soul towards his own stone and it slipped into the gem. ¡°One down¡± he muttered to himself. He examined the contents of the circle. It definitely looked unnatural, but there weren¡¯t that many plants in the spot. So all he would need to do was dispose of the body, and most people wouldn¡¯t be able to tell anything had happened at all. He hoisted the flat stones back into his pack, regretting how heavy they were, but it had worked at least one time. Any other material would have probably tarnished under the effect of the spell. With a shrug, he hefted the pack into place and moved down to the two sleeping men. He could feel the warmth of the fire as he drew closer, and realized that the area was relatively clear of vegetation. So he began to carefully arrange the circle around both men, rather than one at a time. He expected the spell to active, once he got the last stones down, but nothing happened. So he spent another few minutes arranging things. It looked like several of the pieces were in the wrong place. He felt the energy snap into life, snuffing out the tiny little spark that was the once roaring campfire. With a quick sidestep, Jorun moved out of the circle and held up his hand. As the two bodies convulsed, their souls drifted over to float above Jorun¡¯s outstretched palm. He pulled everything. The wood, plants, men and many of their garments slowly melted away. Jorun let the energy flash back into the souls before it ate too much of the remaining victims. The souls cracked. It was the only way that could describe the spattering power of energy. When it was done, Jorun held a strange fusion of the original two globes. The normally smooth shells had indeed cracked and twisted together in spots. In other spots they exhibited strange protrusions that reminded Jorun of cacti needles. He slipped it into his gem. He glanced at the bodies, and then got to work. He dragged the first bandit back to the camp. It was so desiccated that it weighed almost nothing to move. The equipment was more of a bother, as a piece would fall off from time to time as he moved it to the others. He sifted through the gear and found a piece of metal with a decent shape. Tool in hand, he set to digging. It was harder, longer and more frustrating than killing the men had been. Eventually the hole was big enough and he dragged the bodies in. Chapter 17: Herbology Jorun held the strange amalgamation of souls. He had fallen asleep the moment he got back to the house, and now that he was awake, he couldn¡¯t stop thinking about what he had. The strange gem buzzed with energy, and he couldn¡¯t figure out how this would be different. ¡°You gonna lie there all day staring at it?¡± Latty asked. He yawned and sat up, looking around the bare floor. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to get something to make himself feel more comfortable. He hadn¡¯t thought the beds were necessary until just now. He had slept funny and his back ached a little. ¡°Nope, gonna find out what this is about.¡± He held up the soul. ¡°What is it exactly?¡± ¡°The soul of two bandits, but it somehow feels like a single soul.¡± Latty didn¡¯t seem to know what to say. She floated there without any response. ¡°Not going to say anything about it? Look at it!¡± He held up the strange mixture of two balls that had melted into collections of spikes. ¡°Look at what?¡± Latty seemed genuinely confused. ¡°You can¡¯t see this can you?¡± He pointed with his free hand. It was glowing brightly, even coloring the room green in the bright morning sunlight. ¡°Nope.¡± Jorun tucked that little tidbit away. Standing up, he went over to where he had stashed the books. He hadn¡¯t looked at either for a while, and he decided to start with the witches book. He opened it and the first page read. Herbalogy Jorun could read it. The Study and Practical Applications of Herbs He flipped a couple pages in and found that he could still understand the content. ...serrated leaves that are bright green in color¡­ ...the oil can be used in soothing stomachs and cleaning wounds¡­ Committing everything to memory would be too much work, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to learn one that could be found in this area. He skimmed down the page and found one that looked reasonable. A woody shrub with needle like leaves that are dark green in color. It has benefits to the mind and helps the body resist infections. He memorized it. If he could get enough of it, he might be able to make a tincture that could help his ability to learn. He walked around the house, cleaning various points that caught his eye. Once he got it tidied up, he reheated his stew from last night and put the witch¡¯s book away. Then he pulled out the book of the dead. He flipped through until he found the section about souls. Merger of Souls When multiple souls are harvested in the same circle, they are merged. This process is inherently unstable as it contains the essence of two different lives. There are considerable benefits to the process, making it something that is often used by the craftsman of death. Failure in this process tends to be related to trying to merge them too quickly, and is marked by a loud cracking sound. Failure results in greater instabilities in the souls. Unstable Souls appear to be spiky and twisted. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Perfectly merged souls appear to be an extension of themselves. They move seamlessly from one part to the next. A set of two appears as a cylindrical shape, and a it slowly builds into a cross-like shape as the number of souls reaches six. When the number exceeds this pattern, it still follows a similar path of development. It expands slowly from the central axis and builds up and down evenly. Stable souls are marked by a vastly improved ability to learn. They are resistant to the effects of life, and they only suffer from mild forms of psychosis. Unstable souls suffer greatly in their ability to learn, and are extremely vulnerable to the effects of life. The level of psychosis is extreme, and it is only offset by making the subject extremely compliant to the will of the creator. Jorun frowned at this mention of ¡®effects of life¡¯. He wasn¡¯t entirely certain, but it sounded like the effect that the sun had on the ghost he had created. This probably meant that Latty had an incredibly stable soul. The first one that he had collected was also the only other one that would resemble something like Latty. He held up the twisted soul, and thought about the implications of book. He waited for a moment. Then he put the book away and put the floor board back. Rather than heading to Narlin by walking down the path, he headed into the trees. ¡°Latty, point out the direction to Narlin¡¯s house for me. If you think I am getting lost, go ahead and point it out again for me.¡± She pointed almost exactly to where Jorun had thought the house was. ¡°Thanks, I am going to wander through the trees looking for something.¡± He wandered back and forth down the hill looking at the various plants. Narlin had insisted that there wasn¡¯t much plant life, and Jorun hadn¡¯t really thought anything about it. Now that he was examining the plants he was surprised at how many different types there were. He had only walked a short distance, but found a good dozen different plants. None of them looked like the one he was looking for until he got to the bottom of the hill. When he got to where the land leveled out, he found a great variety of new plants. One of them was the one he was looking for. ¡°Latty,¡± She appeared before him. ¡°Can you tell me how to find this plant again?¡± She squinted at it, ¡°Is it a plant? Anyway, I can tell you how to get back to this spot. The house is right there and Narlin¡¯s home is there.¡± She pointed in two different directions quickly. Jorun had a rough idea where he was, and it matched up with his expectations nicely. ¡°That¡¯s good enough. You can tell me how to get here, right?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± He waved her off. Latty struggled to identify objects, but he had noticed how quickly she could move to and fro. She didn¡¯t seem to think that there was anything troublesome about this. He examined the plant, doing his best to remember the details, and then he began the wandering walk through the woods. He hoped to find at least a couple more of the plants before he reached Narlin¡¯s home. He only ended up with another two, but it was better than nothing. Narlin looked surprised to see Jorun walk through the woods, but he didn¡¯t say anything. He simply kept working away at a small chess piece. Jorun had offered to make pieces, but he had come to realize that Narlin was far better at carving wood than he had expected. The man¡¯s fingers deftly worked a small knife through the piece, shaping it almost perfectly. Jorun walked over to the garden and began working at the different sprouts. He was happy to work with them, especially when he learned that it was probably helping him learn how to use the witch¡¯s book. When he had finished with the crops, he looked up at Narlin who had finished the first piece. It was no longer a crudely carved lump, but had a perfect sphere on top and a simple ring below that leading to a widening base. ¡°Which piece is that?¡± ¡°The pawn. It is supposed to be the most simplistic of the pieces and I will need to find a way to make white and black versions.¡± ¡°It¡¯s beautiful. I was wondering about plant oils. Do you know much about them?¡± Narlin shrugged, ¡°I know something that should work. Mind telling me what you are thinking about?¡± ¡°A plant here has some medicinal value. I know a little about how to use the oils, but I don¡¯t know how to get the oils.¡± Narlin cracked his hands, ¡°Let¡¯s get going. Going to need some animal fat as well. You have any of that lying around?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Well we really would want some before we do this. How about you get some plants gathered up and I will go get some tallow?¡± ¡°How will you get some?¡± ¡°I have a bunch of snare traps around here. One of them probably has something caught in it. I usually check it tomorrow, but we might find something today.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a snare trap?¡± Narlin laughed, ¡°I would give you a hard time about what your parents taught you, but I think your medical knowledge speaks for yourself. Most kids your age don¡¯t even know how to add their numbers, much less medical knowledge.¡± Jorun did his best to take it in stride, but he hadn¡¯t learned most of this from his parents. ¡°Come on, let me just show you. They are a simple way to feed yourself if you know how to set one up. You need a lot of them before they are useful, but it is a simple way to get meat.¡± Narlin walked into the trees and Jorun followed him. Chapter 18: The First Potion He was right, the trap was incredibly simple in design. It mostly required a rope and an anchor point. They walked through several different snares and the various ways that Narlin had set them up. After that, he went off to look for some of the plants. He just needed Narlin out of sight, then he asked Latty to show him where to go to get back to the plant. It just took a minute to get to them. He broke off the pieces as best he could, twisting and yanking them, but he was eventually able to break of a good dozen limbs. He looked at the plant. A year ago, he wouldn¡¯t have understood that this could kill the plant, but he had been chopping away at the weeds and he was getting a good grasp at how they worked. He examined the plant, it still had plenty of branches, so it should be able to grow new branches. Then he bundled up the plants and went back to the Narlin¡¯s. When he got there, Narlin was still gone, so he dropped off the branches and examined the chess pieces. Most of them were still more of lumps than anything else, but he could see the rough shapes of what would eventually become the other pawns. ¡°Going to suck all my knowledge out of me?¡± Narlin¡¯s voice caused Jorun to jump. ¡°It¡¯s impressive what you can do. I can¡¯t believe that you have so many skills.¡± ¡°I am just old boy. Nothing more and nothing less.¡± A small squirrel was dropped on the table they normally played on. Jorun looked up to see Narlin standing over him. ¡°Kinda scrawny, isn¡¯t it?¡± Narlin shrugged, ¡°There¡¯s probably a little fat in there. We might find at least a little in it. That is assuming you want to try.¡± Jorun had no doubt that the abilities to read the book was linked to his practice. As he gained experience involving souls, the tome of the dead adjusted itself to his new understanding. He was reasonably confident that there had been no mention of merged souls. He had been suspicious of what was happening for a while, but this only confirmed it. Both books were the same. Parts were unreadable, but the ability to read them simply required him to improve his understanding of the few aspects he could understand. As he improved his understanding, the tome revealed new knowledge. ¡°Let¡¯s give it a shot. At least I can learn the basic principles.¡± ¡°Know how to butcher an animal?¡± ¡°I think I can manage. You have a knife or something like that?¡± Narlin disappeared into his home for a moment, and then reappeared with a knife. It wasn¡¯t what Jorun would have preferred to use, but it would work well enough for this. He drained it, skinned it and gutted it. Then he set about removing the fat from the meat. There wasn¡¯t much, but there was enough to have several small lumps. Narlin put down a small plate. ¡°Clean the plant off, whichever parts of it you are using.¡± Narlin began smearing the animal fat along the plate while Jorun washed off the branches and needles. ¡°Do you need to grind or chop up the leaves or anything?¡± Narlin looked at pieces of plants that Jorun had cleaned. ¡°I am not really sure.¡± ¡°Go ahead then. I don¡¯t think that it should be a problem here.¡± Jorun used the knife to chop up the plants. Every now and then, Narlin would scoop up a bundle of the minced material and place it on the smeared fat. ¡°Just enough to cover the fat in an even coating.¡± Narlin muttered. It took a few more minutes to finish up, and Jorun still had a pile of plant parts. ¡°What do I do with this?¡± ¡°Throw them away. We will need fresh material in a few days, but we are done for now. You could try stewing it or something like that if you want to experiment with it.¡± ¡°I think I would rather just play some games with you. If I am right, the substance I am wanting is made from the oil.¡± Narlin finished covering the plate of fat, ¡°Now all we do is cover it, keep it in the sun and wait. We will want to repeat this process until the fat smells like the plant.¡± ¡°So we aren¡¯t taking the oil out of the plant, we are infusing it with the plants essence?¡± ¡°I believe there are oils inside the plant, but it doesn¡¯t hurt to think of it that way.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°That makes sense. Let¡¯s start playing.¡±
¡°Who was it?¡± Narlin asked as he moved a piece. Jorun looked up, surprised, they had developed a calm quiet routine when they played against each other. ¡°Who was what?¡± ¡°Someone instilled alove of plants and medicine in you. Who was it?¡± Jorun didn¡¯t have a clue about who it was. He had grown up in a desert village that had no plants to grow. They had existed to work in a clay pit. No one in the village here knew this. They all believed that Jorun¡¯s family had been traveling doctors. He had personally heard nothing of a group like that, but the people here all seemed to believe that traveling healers were a common thing. ¡°My mom,¡± It wasn¡¯t exactly true, because he wasn¡¯t actually certain his mother had been a witch. If she had been a witch, it would have changed everything. Jorun shut that thought out of his mind. The thought of his mother having been responsible was too much to bare. ¡°Nothing wrong with loving to grow things. Many people look down on me, because I enjoy working in a garden, but there is a connection to the truth of human life in plants. Never forget how much we depend on them.¡± ¡°Depend on them?¡± ¡°I assume you are going off to other places before long,¡± he moved a piece exactly as Jorun had wanted. Jorun countered and the old man grimaced. ¡°After all,¡± he continued, ¡°You are a smart young man and you have an amazing grasp of things. You would be waste living out your life in a single village.¡± Jorun was silent for a few turns, ¡°I have always planned on moving on from this village before to long. I just didn¡¯t expect to find so many people that I would want to spend time with.¡± The Narlin paused with his hand on a piece. For a moment, his mouth hung open, as if he was going to say something. Rather than that, he just moved the piece. The game resulted in Jorun¡¯s win. It wasn¡¯t his first win, but it was one of the easiest he had ever had. He had caught Narlin off guard somehow, and he had no intention of forgetting what happened. They played another couple of games, and Narlin did a lot better. He still struggled to focus, and Jorun could see the distraction. ¡°Latty did you notice Narlin¡¯s behavior just now?¡± Jorun was working his way back to the house. As it was getting dark, he wanted to be able to study the souls properly. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Narlin didn¡¯t play very well there at the end.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Jorun nodded and looked at Latty. She was just as disinterested as usual. She floated along with no apparent interest in what he was doing. ¡°Yeah, it was when I was talking about¡­¡± Jorun suddenly realized something. ¡°Latty.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Have you ever met someone really smart and knowledgeable like Narlin?¡± ¡°Oh yes, there are lots of people like him in the world.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Jorun¡¯s eyebrows shot up in surprise, ¡°I can¡¯t believe anyone knows as much as he does. Where are these people?¡± ¡°Most of them end up near centers of power. My¡­ The old sorcerer had hundreds of people like that in his tower. They would come seeking to gain his favor.¡± ¡°Why would someone like that be farming in a small place like this?¡± ¡°Exile.¡± ¡°Exfile?¡± Jorun had never heard that particular word before, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°E-X-I-L-E. It is the process of being removed from one of the center¡¯s of power. My guess is that he was once a member of the countries court. So that would have meant that he was in the capital itself.¡± ¡°Is that impressive, being in the capital I mean.¡± ¡°I am not sure if it is the same country or not, but there were a ton of powerful sorcerers there. Individually they weren¡¯t nearly as powerful as... the one in the tower, but they could have easily taken him on if the wanted to.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say how he could have destroyed entire countries?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°So the people in the capital are about as strong?¡± ¡°Not individually. Maybe not even as a whole. It had something to do with¡­¡± Latty paused her drifting float and held a finger to her mouth, ¡°Unit Cohesion? I think that was the word.¡± ¡°Cohesion is about how well something mixes together.¡± Jorun muttered, ¡°So if they didn¡¯t work together, they wouldn¡¯t have been as powerful.¡± He thought about this while he ambled along the path. That made sense. If a group of men tried to pull something heavy, they could only pull the object if they worked together. So the people in the capital, if they worked together, were easily stronger than Jorun was ever going to be. ¡°Latty.¡± This entire subject had raised a question he hadn¡¯t ever thought of before. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Who are the strongest people in this world? The ones living in the capital?¡± ¡°No, silly, they aren¡¯t strong at all. The members of the holy tower are the strongest. Everyone knows that they aren¡¯t rivaled by anyone.¡± ¡°Holy tower?¡± Jorun had never heard of that place. ¡°It¡¯s where the divine reside. Only sorcerer¡¯s can reside in that city, and it stands as the pinnacle of human civilization.¡± ¡°The divine, huh? Narlin mentioned them as well.¡± ¡°The divine were supposed to have been human at one point, but they are the sources of their power in the world.¡± ¡°So they actually live in this world?¡± ¡°Of course they do, where else would they live? I have always wanted to go to the holy tower, but my father never let me.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He said that the people of the tower were fools who limited their power for no reason. He said that we wouldn¡¯t be safe there.¡± ¡°They are dangerous?¡± ¡°The central order of the holy tower is¡­ dangerous. A single branch of power holds sway over the tower, and they do not tolerate anything that they consider unnatural.¡± Jorun felt his blood run cold. What had the book said? The ones that will react badly to your presence will do so at the cost of their own lives. Jorun could see the house come into view, colored blue by moonlight. ¡°Last question, and then I will begin studying the souls in earnest. Do you know where this place is?¡± ¡°No, but I believe that we will always be able to notice it when we get closer.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It is supposed to be bright with a light that does not originate from the sun.¡± Jorun stopped walking, ¡°What does that mean?¡± Latty began drifting in a slow arc around him, ¡°The central order is built around the power of light itself.¡± Jorun began walking, thinking about the ghost that had died due to the touch of sunlight. If they were bound to the light of the sun, they were the opposite of Jorun himself. Chapter 19: Ancient Enemies Jorun spent the next days building a map of the world as Latty understood it. She wasn¡¯t a perfect source, but she had once known the world in detail. The only problem is that she couldn¡¯t really see well. Jorun had known about this for a long time, but this is the first time that it really got in the way of things. She would look at the map and not be able to tell what was what. So there was a lot of redrawing involved in this. He would have her describe things to him, sketch them out, and then try to get Latty to understand what he had put on paper. He found that she was able to follow his finger relatively well, if he traced the paper with it. Using that trick he was able to tell roughly when he got things off, but he knew that it wasn¡¯t perfect. Latty¡¯s memory was probably fine, but he had no guarantee that she had ever understood the geography of the place that well. Still it seemed that they were residing on the southwest corner of the continent. The country that occupied this region was different from the one that was west of the waste. Latty had no idea if they were the same countries, but Jorun had a feeling that the people living here were referring to a different capital than the one his family had referred to. That one had been to the northwest of here. Latty was reasonably confident that there was a third country to the southwest, as that was originally a vassal of the tower. That meant that the Holy Tower was to the northeast, near the center of the continent. She knew more about the other towers of the land than the countries. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what they were, but she insisted that they housed powerful sorcerer¡¯s who rivaled the power of the Holy Tower itself. They weren¡¯t exactly enemies, because the Holy Tower could crush them, if it was necessary. However, they were mostly independent. He would need to steer clear of those locations if he wanted to be able to grow. The land was so big, and he had only seen this one tiny piece. It wasn¡¯t even a corner of the world. The number of people in this world were countless. ¡°Latty, how many people live in a city?¡± ¡°Hundreds of thousands. I have no idea, but it is a lot.¡± ¡°Would you say there are at least a hundred cities in this world?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Jorun wasn¡¯t that good at math, but he knew a big number when he saw it. He stared at the map for a while, before he realized what he was noticing. If there were that many people, there were a lot of people dying. There were a lot of people in need of help. It was a little early, but he decided to go over and visit Narlin and ask him about numbers. If he was right, he was onto something that would be useful.
Narlin was working the fields. Jorun had been less active in that part as he had been working on the oil project. It had become a regular routine, and Jorun was learning how the fat was slowly gaining the smell of the plant. He went over and helped Narlin work on the garden, and noticed how big the plants were getting. ¡°Going to help with the garden? What is the reason for this change?¡± ¡°I need to learn how to do math. I was trying to draw a map, and I realized there are a lot of people in this world. I am not sure what I am looking for, but I think math would help me figure out the answer.¡± ¡°What are you trying to figure out?¡± ¡°How many people are dying in a day.¡± Narlin didn¡¯t answer immediately and the silence stretched out as they worked on the plants. It wouldn¡¯t take long with both of them working on it. ¡°A lot. More than you can count. Almost as many are as born. Math can definitely help with understanding that, but¡­¡± Narlin looked down as his voice grew silent. His hands, normally tireless in their work, drifted to a stop. ¡°I can teach you a lot about numbers. If you think it will help.¡± He didn¡¯t look happy, but he went to work on the plants. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it will help, but I feel I need to learn it. I need to understand how many people are dying. How many people are sick.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Then what are you going to do?!?¡± Narlin yelled at Jorun, causing him to flinch away, ¡°Are you going to try and save them all? You can¡¯t do it. There are just too many people. There is a limit to what you can do. Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t realize how hard you are pushing yourself.¡± Jorun almost yelled back, his face was flush with anger, ¡°I can¡¯t do nothing either! I need to do something!¡± ¡°Your family is dead!¡± Jorun slumped to the ground sobbing. Narlin huffed a couple times, and then sat down in the dirt, ¡°Sorry lad. I just¡­ Sorry.¡± It took Jorun a moment to catch his breath, ¡°I know they died, but I can¡¯t walk away from them. I can¡¯t just pretend like there is nothing I can do.¡± ¡°There isn¡¯t anything you can do. Death is final. There is no cure.¡± Jorun started to open his mouth, an angry snap on his lips. It took all his strength to keep quiet. ¡°What is death?¡± Jorun looked into Narlin¡¯s old eyes. ¡°It is the end of everything lad. We are born and we die.¡± Jorun wanted to confide in Narlin more than ever before. A part of himself desperately wanted someone to understand what he was trying to do and what it would mean for everyone. A world without death. The perfect cure. No pain, no fear, no horror, no regret. Just an endless sea of existence with an eternity of happiness. ¡°What if there was another divine aspect?¡± It was all he could say. He knew that people would be horrified to learn of the plague and curse. How Jorun had taken them into himself would have terrified himself in the past. ¡°There isn¡¯t the possibility of that. There are only twenty aspects. There aren¡¯t any others.¡± ¡°Just pretend there was another one. What would that mean?¡± ¡°It would mean that the entire world¡¯s order is wrong. Everything we know about this place is built around the understanding of the divine.¡± Jorun didn¡¯t know what to say to this. ¡°You don¡¯t know much about the divine do you? I am hardly an expert, so I really shouldn¡¯t talk on this subject. I have only briefly met high ranking members of the divine.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I know much about them. You are really the only person I have ever met to talk to me about them.¡± Narlin sighed, ¡°They represent the elements of this world. Things like time and fire. These exist everywhere, without them we cannot live.¡± ¡°So if there was another aspect, that would mean that the world has other rules that we don¡¯t normally consider. We would assume that the rules of this world work one way, but there is more to it than that.¡± Narlin looked long and hard at Jorun, ¡°You are dangerously close to heresy.¡± ¡°Here-what?¡± ¡°Taking a stance that is directly against the rules of the divine. If certain groups heard you speak of this, they would probably kill you on the spot.¡± ¡°Why? Didn¡¯t you say it was important to consider every possibility?¡± Narlin held a hand to his head, rubbing what little hair he had, ¡°I suppose I did. I also want to be clear that I was worried about you from the start of this conversation, and I think that I wasn¡¯t entirely wrong.¡± ¡°I am not trying to do anything bad. I just want to find ¡­¡± Jorun broke off. ¡°Find what?¡± Narlin¡¯s eyes burned into Jorun¡¯s and he did his best not to look at them. ¡°A cure.¡± ...to death. He wanted to say it, but he just couldn¡¯t get it out. Narlin sighed, ¡°I can¡¯t blame you for wanting to save people¡¯s lives. If I had power, I might do something similar. Let me try and explain it like someone told me. He was a prominent water mage, and he was considered an expert on magical law.¡± ¡°Magical law?¡± Narlin held up a hand, ¡°Don¡¯t ask questions, or I will spend all day answering them.¡± ¡°The point is that he understood this a lot better than either of us ever will. He said it this way. If he creates rain to help a village during a drought, what happens to the other villages?¡± ¡°I suppose they would get some of the rain and it would help them as well.¡± ¡°Yes, but is that what they need? Do they need the rain or do they need the drought?¡± ¡°Who needs a drought?¡± ¡°He said it was about erosion. If there is too much waterfall, it can wash away the soil. If the soil gets washed away, what happens to the crops?¡± ¡°They cannot grow.¡± Narlin nodded, ¡°Exactly, this is the point. By taking an action, such as helping people get water, he could destroy the lives of those downstream. It would wash away the soil that they needed to grow their crops.¡± Narlin rubbed his head, ¡°I am not an expert at these things. I hope you can understand that. His point is that he can use his power, for a good purpose; and cause suffering and harm. This is the nature of all the divine aspects. They cover everything. There is nothing in between. There cannot be a ¡®hidden aspect¡¯.¡± ¡°I think I understand.¡± Jorun couldn¡¯t shake the look that he had seen in Narlin¡¯s expression. If Narlin learned the truth, he wouldn¡¯t be safe to be near. Heresy. What a strange word. He had never bothered to look closely at Narlin, because he hadn¡¯t seen anything worth looking at. Now he wondered about a gemstone somewhere on his person. He saw a small pouch on Narlin¡¯s belt. It was fitted against the belt and Narlin himself. Jorun couldn¡¯t be sure, but he suspected that there was the gemstone of whatever group that would kill him inside that. It was time to deal with the hermit, as he had always planned. Chapter 20: A four legged beast. Jorun didn¡¯t do anything to suggest a change to Narlin. He had learned enough from playing chess to understand how to read Narlin¡¯s mood. He knew that Narlin would pick up on something, but he hoped that the old man would just assume that it had to do with wanting to be a doctor. He had continued working with Narlin on making the oil extract. The process at the end was a little more complicated than what they had been doing, but he had a small jar of the ointment. He had also begun studying math and writing with Narlin, who insisted that they study something Jorun had never heard of. The Holy Text. It was a strange book, made out of the finest materials, but also surprisingly small. The content was simple enough. It lay out the tenets of what was natural and acceptable to the world around them. Fire burns. Water is wet. It might sound silly to expect something more, and the book did address more complicated notions about time and fate. However, the principles of the book were pleasantly straightforward. All Jorun new was that he hated the book. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure why, but something about it¡¯s rather beautiful exterior felt revolting. At first he hadn¡¯t wanted to study it, until he got past some of the introductory materials and into the mathematical laws of the book. ¡°This is the core component of learning how numbers work,¡± Narlin explained, ¡°These are laws that are established for every field of magic. They are critical to ensure that the balance is maintained and the world¡¯s order isn¡¯t disrupted.¡± He pointed to a section of numbers that Jorun couldn¡¯t quite understand, ¡°These numbers are the ones about fate. They dictate the rules in regards to who dies and who lives, among other things.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t understand it.¡± ¡°You can recognize some fo the letters and numbers, right?¡± Jorun nodded. ¡°That¡¯s enough for now, you will eventually be able to read them on your own. Everyone should learn to read. I am surprised your parents didn¡¯t teach you these things. Almost everyone in the world learns them.¡± Jorun wasn¡¯t surprised. He had learned one interesting thing from the list of Divine Aspects. There wasn¡¯t one missing power, the one related to death, in the book. There were two. There was absolutely nothing about witchcraft in it. Jorun¡¯s ability to read the witch¡¯s tome had improved since he began the process of refining the plant oil. It included things about the uses of the various salves that he could make, and it also included a much more efficient process to extract oils than the one that Narlin had used. He was certain the dead girl had been a witch. He was also comfortable in his ability to understand it¡¯s text. He couldn¡¯t read pages and pages of information, but he was more than able to understand a lot of the principles and guidelines. The critical part was the refining process, as it would allow Jorun to continue improving his knowledge and experience in the craft. His only problem was the extreme lack of any interesting plants in the area. He wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything but make more of this one plants¡¯ ointment until he left the area. The potions served an incredibly useful aspect that Jorun was coming to appreciate. Everyone assumed that they were medical in nature. For now they were, but the tome had already suggested that there were a variety of uses he could add to the potions. That wasn¡¯t important though. What was important is that everyone assumed Jorun was practicing medical knowledge. As long as they assumed his fascination with potions was related to striving to become a doctor, he was protected. There was one profession in the world that spent a lot of time around the dead. Doctors. He also happened to have realized his knowledge was reasonably useful in healing injuries. Combined with the knowledge in the witch¡¯s tome, he would be able to heal a wide range of injuries. ¡°Don¡¯t be in a hurry.¡± Narlin muttered snapping Jorun back to the present, ¡°It is tempting to see the end goal and think that you are already there, but you need to work your way up to it.¡± He nodded, and went back to studying the numbers of fire, which had a lot to do with metals for some reason. ¡°I¡¯m bored.¡± It had been an hours since Jorun had started reading the numbers on flames, and he wasn¡¯t even half way through the table. ¡°Eat up. You try out your oil yet?¡± ¡°Not on anyone hurt, but I am reasonably confident that it will work. It really helped and I think the stuff I am making will work as well.¡± Narlin looked surprised, ¡°You made more?¡± ¡°Yes, I am going to be leaving here before too long, and I don¡¯t think that the plant grows elsewhere. So I need to build up a reserve of it.¡± The old man¡¯s eyes dropped as he thought about this, ¡°Right, you are going to leave.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I wont be leaving anytime soon. I need to finish up learning numbers and words, and I haven¡¯t really even begun to make more oil. So it wont happen tomorrow or anything.¡± ¡°Got to get enough jars, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know what will work well from that perspective. I don¡¯t think I want to go around handing out huge jars of the stuff¡­¡± ¡°Sell lad,¡± Narlin interrupted, ¡°You want to sell them. Once you get into a bigger town, everyone will be expecting you to sell your skills for money. Here it is alright, but most of these people don¡¯t have much money.¡± ¡°I would be one of those people. I only have a few coins left from my family.¡± ¡°You have a safe place to store them?¡± ¡°No, why?¡± ¡°Pickpockets and thieves are a real problem. If they believe that you are holding something valuable, they will try to cut it off.¡± ¡°So I need to hide it?¡± Narlin nodded, ¡°I would. You should also consider how you will carry everything. That sounds like a lot of weight.¡± ¡°I am having Mrs. Hodges make me a new travel pack in thanks for what I did for her husband.¡± ¡°Packs are fine, but you should look at getting a wagon again,¡± here he held up his hands, ¡°I know you are worried that everyone will just see a target and attack you, but you can¡¯t carry everything that you will be needing.¡± ¡°Does that mean I need a horse?¡± Narlin laughed, ¡°Nah, just a donkey or a mule will do fine. Horses are expensive. No one likes dealing with a mule, so they aren¡¯t nearly as bad. === ¡°It would be nice if you could pull it,¡± Jorun was speaking to Latty about the wagon, ¡°Animals need food and rest. That means I need to bring even more stuff that I don¡¯t want to deal with.¡± ¡°I could if you gave me a body.¡± Latty replied, ¡°You promised me a body, and I still haven¡¯t gotten one. I don¡¯t think I have even see you make one.¡± Jorun had been avoiding those sections of the book. Everything involved with creating a creature was incredibly complicated and it just didn¡¯t seem to be worth the time and energy. ¡°I guess I should try something out, shouldn¡¯t I?¡± Jorun wondered about creating a mule. He wanted it to look like a real animal, and he wanted it to seem alive. If people suspected that it was actually dead, that would be obvious to anyone who was worried about ¡®heresy¡¯. He pulled the book out of it¡¯s hiding place and began reading through the process of animating a body. It was complicated. ¡°Latty, I don¡¯t think I can do this. Nothing here is easy. I need an easy way to move a cart.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± He flipped a couple of pages back, ¡°Well there is this part.¡± He pointed to an offending line, ¡°It says that the body must be kept cool.¡± ¡°Why is that a problem?¡± ¡°Well, if it gets warm, the body will start to rot and smell. If it is cold, anyone who touches it will instantly know that there is something strange about it.¡± ¡°So what is the solution?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Get a donkey I guess.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Jorun held up his fingers as he counted, ¡°One, they eat. Two, they sleep. Three, they get sick. They are alive after all.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I see the problem.¡± Jorun¡¯s head hit the table with a thunk, ¡°You never do Latty. I just was hoping for a way to create something that could move the wagon and not spend hours taking care of it.¡± ¡°Oh! Like me!¡± Latty clapped her hands. Jorun had seen enough to know that she was effectively at the end of whatever conversation he could hope to get out of her. He flipped through the pages, searching for inspiration; and found nothing. The book had numerous references to things that could work, but never once did it present the information in anything that seemed reasonable to Jorun. It was always vague, unclear, and abstract. Like with Latty looping, that meant the book wouldn¡¯t reveal any solution. Then it hit him. He had been forced to come up with a solution for the oil. The book hadn¡¯t explained that to him. It had simply expected Jorun to figure something out or fail to ever find a solution. He tapped the page, as he struggled to figure out what he was looking for. ¡°The body feels wrong or rots.¡± He muttered, and thankfully Latty didn¡¯t respond. He flipped to the section about corpse preparation, and found something promising. Bones don¡¯t rot. He tapped the page, he didn¡¯t have a great idea, but he knew enough to know how to clean the bones. The problem was that the bones wouldn¡¯t be connected together. He needed the tendons, at least, to get mobility. He stood up, and went out looking for bones. He didn¡¯t have a full carcass and he wanted to prepare it carefully, even if he did. It took a while, but eventually he found a snake. He killed it easily enough, and set about cleaning the bones. He was almost done, when he realized a solution was looking him in the face. ¡°Latty, are there any carts pulled by lizards?¡± ¡°Lizards? I think so, but I haven¡¯t ever seen one.¡±
The next time that Jorun met with Narlin, he asked him. ¡°Argurs? Yea, they exist to the north of here, were it gets warmer. So they are supposed to be common enough in the central regions of the world.¡± ¡°What are they like?¡± ¡°They change a lot, just like a horse and a donkey, there are more options to pulling a cart than one or the other. Some are low and slow, crawling on the ground with stoic ease. Some almost stand upright and run as fast as a man. I don¡¯t think any of them ever can run quite as fast as a horse though.¡± ¡°I could have a lizard pull my wagon.¡± Narlin just laughed, ¡°Yeah, if you want to get one. No one would stop you.¡±
He set everything up carefully following the instructions that the tome set down. He arranged the bones of the snake so that they looked like the creature it had once been. He set up the ritual site and poured energy into it. The bones wriggled to life, crawling around the floor like an actual serpent. He pulled the power from it and it crumbled to the ground. He had already gathered some chicken bones, and he arranged some of them like legs for a snake. Then he poured energy into it again. This time the snake-like creature wriggled to life and stumbled around on the bone like legs. Again he pulled power from it, and the pile of bones flopped to the ground. ¡°Did you just make a lizard snake?¡± Latty startled him. ¡°Yes I did.¡± ¡°What is that for?¡± ¡°I want something that can pull my wagon around.¡± ¡°You have a wagon?¡± ¡°No, I am going to get a wagon. If I can make enough of the medicine, I can make it look like we are a traveling troop.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t people notice a skeletal lizard walking around?¡± ¡°I am going to cover it so it doesn¡¯t look like a skeleton.¡± ¡°How¡± She asked, but he just ignore her. He needed to find a way to make sure that it seemed realistic. He draped a cloth over the pile, and charged it again. It came to life and crawled out from under the cloth. Jorun started to pull the power from it, and then realized what he had been missing. He picked up the cloth and tied it off around each of the legs, the head and a couple place along the body. Then he allowed it to start skittering around, and the cloth didn¡¯t flop off. ¡°Now it looks like a weird little ghost. That is really neat.¡± Latty clapped. Jorun tinkered with a variety of things in an attempt to figure out the limits of the strange little creature. He learned that it would slowly drain the energy the longer he left it walking. If he put a lot of weight on it, it seemed to speed up the rate it drained. He cleaned up the experiment and sketched out a rough idea of what he wanted it to look like. It would need to be almost the size of a horse. Chapter 21: The Great Game ¡°I need larger bones.¡± Jorun was talking to Latty, but he didn¡¯t really care about her response. The only source of larger bones were from humans. There were no animals larger than a rabbit in this area. ¡°Go find some.¡± Latty didn¡¯t really seem to care. Jorun poured energy into the small little snake creature he had been tinkering with. It scuttled to life and wandered around for a moment, before he pulled the energy from it, causing it to crash to the ground. He picked up the bones and examined them. He had been practicing his sketches and he had already sketched out how big this creature would need to be. He needed leg bones to lift it off the ground, and he would need a lot more than that. If he wanted to create a passable lizard creature, he would need the correct feet and a tail. He would need to go and examine the bodies of the bandits and see if he could get some decent bones off of them. He hadn¡¯t bothered to clean up the corpses or anything. Just buried them. He looked out the window and saw that the moon was still relatively low on the horizon, so he had plenty of time to go looking into their condition. He spent a minute cleaning up the area, putting everything back into it¡¯s cubby hole. The he grabbed his empty pack and headed into the night. ¡°Latty, I need to know where the men I killed are. Just point me in the way and I will head straight there.¡± She pointed and he set off through the dark trees. The path down the hill was a little rough, but he had grown comfortable with moving around in the dark and reached the burial site without any surprises. What he found at their barren encampment was a surprise. Narlin was there. The old man was rummaging through the dirt as if he was looking for something. ¡°Latty,¡± Jorun whispered to his ethereal companion. ¡°Yes?¡± She was thankfully quiet. ¡°What is he doing? And where did I bury the dead bodies?¡± ¡°He is practically standing over the corpses.¡± with that she vanished into the dark. Jorun felt his mouth go dry. There was absolutely nothing to indicate that there was a burial site there. The only reason he even knew it was the correct spot was because Latty was telling him where to go. ¡°He is definitely looking for something. Maybe he dropped it there on accident.¡± Jorun didn¡¯t bother to reply to that idea. There was absolutely no way that was the explanation. He hadn¡¯t ever seen anyone from the village out at night, much less this far from town. He turned and started home, ¡°Latty.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I need to gather everything together and prepare to move. Keep an eye on Narlin for me. Pay attention for him reacting to your presence. I think he might be able to see you.¡± Jorun thought about something, ¡°You have never been around him before, have you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t usually spend time near the people in the village. So I don¡¯t really know if I have or haven¡¯t.¡± ¡°Why do you avoid people?¡± She shrugged, but now that she had mentioned it Jorun couldn¡¯t ignore what she had said. Every time he thought about her being around, he couldn¡¯t think of her having been around other people. ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter. I think I am just happy to realize that you have been avoiding them. Just keep an eye on him and report to me what you observe.¡± She vanished and Jorun went home to begin organizing his supplies. He had a lot more now than when he arrived, and it took him a long time to figure out everything that he needed to pack and bring with him. The next day, he went into the village and got the new pack that Mrs. Hodges had made for him. Then he began to pack everything into it. It was tricky, but he had figured out a way to move the books and the bones without drawing too much attention to them. The only thing that he was going to leave behind was the pots he had been using to make food and plant oil. ¡°Jorun, I don¡¯t know what he is doing, but he is definitely doing something strange.¡± ¡°What is he doing?¡± Jorun looked at the ghostly girl. ¡°He is looking through a book. It kinda makes me think of your book.¡± The words of the Tome of Death reappeared in his mind. A few will seek to attack you. ¡°I need to deal with him, and I need to deal with him now. Running away will only emphasize my involvement in current events.¡± He looked at the packed gear, and realized he had been panicking. ¡°What do you think. Can I kill him?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. You killed the bandits.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I think that was different. I don¡¯t think I will be able to get the drop on him.¡± Even as Jorun said it, he realized that wasn¡¯t entirely true. Narlin had no reason to be suspicious of Jorun. Maybe he wondered if there was something strange going on. Maybe he was trying to figure out if there was someone bound to death in this area. Jorun thought about the chess games they had played. He thought about the time they had spent together. It was time to use the original plan. There were two locations that Jorun had spent a great deal of time around. One was his house and the other was Narlin¡¯s house. He had worked a great number of ritual elements into both places. He had been planning on arranging Narlin¡¯s death, and he had only delayed because he had come to see the old man as a friend. Jorun just needed to finish the job. So he went to Narlin¡¯s. Narlin was busy cleaning up the garden and waved as Jorun approached, ¡°Ready for a game?¡± ¡°Sure thing. Sorry, I was busy trying out my new travel pack. I think it will work fairly well.¡± Jorun did his best to smile, but he was certain that Narlin could see through it. ¡°Going to get on the move again?¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know if I am going to leave earlier than I planned, but I am definitely interested in getting out there and exploring the world some more.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Excited by the idea of finding some lizard creature or lost treasure?¡± Jorun laughed, ¡°Nothing like that. I just think that there is a lot to this world and I want to see as much of it as I can.¡± ¡°Hold up while I get my garden finished. Will you be wanting some additional help with numbers as well?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t hurt to learn, but I don¡¯t want to wear yourself out.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me boy, I¡¯m not that old yet.¡± Narlin finished up his gardening and walked over to his table. Jorun went ahead and sat down, preparing the pieces, which definitely were getting to the point where you could tell what they were supposed to be. ¡°The pieces are looking pretty good.¡± ¡°Thanks, it took a little longer than I meant it to. Pretty happy with the result.¡± Narlin grinned a toothy grin, and Jorun felt a pang of doubt. ¡°Your start.¡± He had set up Narlin to be white, and Narlin used the standard opening. ¡°Where are you thinking of going to first?¡± ¡°I guess I am thinking about going to the Capital, but I haven¡¯t really decided.¡± Narlin nodded, ¡°You have potential to do well there.¡± Jorun made his move, shifting one of his pawns and abandoning the center of the board, ¡°I just worry that I will get caught up in bigger things than myself.¡± Narlin laughed, ¡°Everyone is dragged into bigger things. Life is a current, pulling towards destiny. You can fight it, or succumb to it. It doesn¡¯t change the outcome.¡± He moved another piece forward, and Jorun frowned. The old man usually used a pretty dynamic strategy. He would create faints to divert attention from one part of the board, and then circle back around with a knight. This wasn¡¯t a strategy. It was a basic opening both of them had long abandoned. He stared into Narlin¡¯s face, but he couldn¡¯t see anything there. The man¡¯s wrinkled face just looked tired. ¡°You alright? If you are tired we can stop the game and you can just get to bed.¡± ¡°Shut your mouth. I can still beat you,¡± Narlin growled as Jorun took advantage of the mistake and cut down a bishop. Jorun grinned he could see the realization in the deep blue eyes as Narlin stared at the board. ¡°I am willing to take the victory now, if you just want to admit you made a mistake. Narlin growled as he moved another piece forward, and Jorun did his best not to grin. It was another obvious mistake. It was a reaction to what he had just done. Narlin had just ceded his advantage as the white player. He paused, remembering what Narlin had told him. ¡°You get cocky when you think you have the advantage. If something seems to good, it probably is.¡± He examined the baord and realized that Narlin had turned his earlier mistake into a trap. If Jorun advanced now, he would loose two or three pieces. He moved his knight back, losing his apparent advantage. The darkening scowl on Narlin¡¯s face was a clear indicator that he had made the right move. Narlin looked up at Jorun, ¡°You are getting better, aren¡¯t you?¡± Jorun kept his face as still as possible. Narlin glowered, trying to evoke a reaction and Jorun just ignored it. ¡°I believe it is your move,¡± he prompted the old man who harrumphed in response. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have been teaching you numbers and letters. You are getting clever. I enjoyed beating you.¡± He moved another piece, and Jorun studied the board. ¡°You said I could go and become somebody, didn¡¯t you?¡± Narlin didn¡¯t respond, but stared at the baord. ¡°If I am going to go out into the world, I had better be able to handle a little old game like this. Shouldn¡¯t I?¡± It was hard to not grin as the old man, but Jorun did his best to keep his expression as neutral as possible. Narlin looked up at him with a hint of pride, ¡°I can¡¯t really complain. I guess I am proud to see someone pick up the game and be able to beat me. Especially when I taught them everything they know.¡± ¡°So you are saying that you think I am ready for the capital, right?¡± ¡°I suppose, you definitely have ability, but that isn¡¯t everything. If you don¡¯t know the right people, there is a limit to where you can get.¡± ¡°I am sure that there is truth in that. Of course, that only matters if I am going to get involved in politics.¡± ¡°What are you thinking of doing?¡± ¡°Helping people, if I can find a way to do it.¡± ¡°There are ways to help people.¡± ¡°What would you suggest?¡± ¡°You remember asking about magic and how people were born with it?¡± ¡°Yes, I was wanting to know if there was a way to get power like that after you are already older.¡± ¡°There is one.¡± Jorun¡¯s eyes narrowed. He had already discovered that there were two. The power over death and the power of the witch. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what the power for witch¡¯s was called, but he knew that it existed in the same way as his.¡± ¡°It exists for a group of people who understand the importance of things. People who can think and understand complicated ideas.¡± ¡°Like yourself?¡± Jorun chuckled until he saw Narlin¡¯s expression. ¡°It is possible I know more about this than the average person.¡± ¡°You are serious?¡± Jorun got a little excited. A third power would be fantastic. It would also mean that Narlin wasn¡¯t an enemy and he wouldn¡¯t have to kill him. ¡°The world has a balance. You can understand that, right?¡± Jorun nodded, ¡°In order for there to be life, there needs to be death. People need to be a part of the cycle.¡± He hated those words, but he knew that was want Narlin wanted to hear. ¡°Right, this group exists to maintain that balance.¡± A pit formed in Jorun¡¯s stomach as he grew suspicious of what Narlin was about to say. ¡°They focus on handling the more complicated situations in the world. Enforcing the rules and orders necessary for the balance.¡± Jorun¡¯s mouth felt dry and he focused on the rapidly evolving chess board. ¡°I might know someone in that order, and they would be very interested in meeting someone who could help uphold the natural balance.¡± ¡°What balance is that exactly? The one that leads to families loosing their loved ones?¡± Jorun wanted to snap at Narlin, but he knew better than to say it. He was coming to realize everything he had suspected was true about Narlin. He looked at the board and knew that he was winning the game. There was almost nothing Narlin could do to win. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind meeting them.¡± Jorun wouldn¡¯t do exactly what Narlin was suspecting, but he didn¡¯t intend to tell the old man that. Narlin pulled a slip of paper out of his pouch and slid it across to Jorun, ¡°Show this to any guard in the capital, and they will direct you to the correct people.¡± The paper was small and easily fit up a sleeve or even in the palm of a hand. It didn¡¯t have words, just a complicated design that Jorun had never seen before. It was incredibly intricate and he had no idea how someone could have drawn it on such a small space. He put it in his pocket, ¡°I will do that. Thanks. Although I will prefer to stay on my path of medicine. I think I have a good idea of how I can help people.¡± Narlin waved a hand, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. They would be more than happy to have you moving around. It is pretty convenient to have an excuse to travel and not have people suspect you of anything.¡± That only confirmed Jorun¡¯s suspicions. He focused on ending the game and realized he couldn¡¯t noticed any of the words that Narlin was saying. They sounded empty and hollow. Pleasing words that sound good by hide a corrupt soul. Jorun almost jerked as he heard something he had almost forgotten about. A voice. Talking to him. When had that been? Back when he was dealing with the dead from the plague, right? Images of all the people he had lost flashed through his mind¡¯s eye. His mother and father, saying one thing and doing another. The lies, the deception, and the death. All because people couldn¡¯t be true to who they were. Jorun despised them all. Every single one of the people who would pretend to be something that they weren¡¯t. He looked at Narlin, and the old man jerked back. ¡°Lad are you alright?¡± ¡°Just thinking about what happened to my family. I wish there had been someone to protect them. Someone who cared to look after them.¡± Narlin didn¡¯t look convinced and Jorun watched the man¡¯s hands drift below the table. He moved his queen, ¡°Checkmate.¡± And he struck. This was the single most complicated ritual site that Jorun had prepared. He had spent days working in and around the garden, and he had plenty of opportunities to set things up in advance of this moment. He just hadn¡¯t realized how easy it would be to finish the old man off. The dark energy surged into life around them. It was surprisingly faint compared to the other¡¯s he had made, and Jorun instantly wondered if there was a way to conceal the entire event. Narlin¡¯s eyes shot wide open, ¡°IT WAS YOU!?!¡± He clutched at it chest, dropping a strange object that he had been holding. A dagger. ¡°Yes. It was me.¡± ¡°You killed those bandits?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You killed that family?¡± Jorun cocked his head, ¡°What family?¡± Narlin choked, ¡°There were two¡­¡± Then he collapsed to the ground as if he had died. Jorun frowned as he hadn¡¯t done anything to cause that. Then he saw the man¡¯s feeble hand reaching to the dagger, and he jumped to seize it. The blade burned, but Jorun just needed to throw it away. Outside of the circle. He looked at his hand. The heat had done a lot of damage to it in just that moment, and he would need to treat the wound to prevent infection. ¡°Lad¡­ Don¡¯t¡­¡± Narlin gasped, ¡°Don¡¯t do¡­¡± Jorun didn¡¯t care to hear whatever excuse Narlin had. He was only alive because of this power. His mother¡¯s dying word echoed in his mind. ¡°Sorry Narlin. I liked you a lot, but you are my enemy. I cannot tolerate that revolting balance you speak of. If there was a balance, my family wouldn¡¯t be dead.¡± Narlin¡¯s eyes grew wide as he realized the truth about Jorun¡¯s family, ¡°You killed¡­ them¡­¡± Jorun looked at his hands. They were strangely clean of all the blood and death he had experienced. He wasn¡¯t sure why he had been allowed to survive. All he knew was that he had survived. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe I did.¡± ¡°Lad¡­¡± Narlin¡¯s mouth struggled to form a word, but Jorun didn¡¯t care anymore. He closed the circle and began to draw in the power. It sputtered and lapped around him, but this time he knew how to slow it¡¯s effect. He drew from the old man¡¯s heart. Nothing else. Narlin¡¯s eyes bulged and his mouth was flecked with foam. Then he died. The soul was perfect. It was the single largest soul he had collected, and there was a tremendous amount of energy coming from it. ¡°You did it?¡± Latty clapped. ¡°Yes, I did.¡± ¡°Great job. You think I can have his body?¡± Narlin laughed, ¡°I doubt you could. It would probably destroy your body if you tried to force yourself into it.¡± ¡°Aw, I was wanting to touch stuff again.¡± ¡°Patience Latty. Patience. You have waited an eternity. You can wait a little longer.¡±