Saturday 30 January 2010

Puritan

~One of my Noir York stories, like Angel and Two Days A Nightmare, Puritan concerns the tribulations of homicide detective Lucifer Hill, a neurotic individual who dropped out of the Seminary because he was struck with debilitating claustrophobia in the Confessional. And now a serial killer is preying on the Priests of New York.~

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01- The Holy Blood

“NYPD! FREEZE!”
New York’s finest had stormed the building, guns drawn they moved cautiously to surround the last survivor of the bloody trail that had started three days ago.
Three days.
It felt like so much longer, months maybe, years.
“Easy now, drop your weapon.”
I let the desert eagle slip from my grip to hang from the trigger guard and rock on my finger, smoke from the last round still whispering from the barrel like a death sigh.
The gun fell to the ground with a heavy clunk, an exclamation point on the events that had led me on the dark and winding path to this place.
I look back and I think about destiny, fate, call it what you will. Did I ever have a choice?
Does anyone?
Of course I know really that destiny is an abstraction, something that you can think about after you have made your choice. Destiny is the ability to recognise alternatives, missed opportunities, and mistakes.
Had you done anything differently it would not be yourself looking back but another you, a subtly different doppelganger, and he too would wonder of the path not taken.
I wonder what this other me would make of the path I have taken to this place…
* * *
It started with a corpse.
A couple of kids found it washed up along the Hell Gate, on the Queens side of the river, and like all good children everywhere they poked a stick at the grey, bloated mass until it burst.
“Jesus Christ that stinks!”
My partner, Burke had a way with words as subtle as a car crash, he did not regularly screen the thoughts that passed through his head before they reached his lips.
“Whaddaya think? Three days? Four?”
I waved a hand to chase away a few opportunistic flies.
“Gotta be at least four,” I squatted next to the prone form, I fought the compulsion to gag, “looks like he was strangled.”
The telltale bruising was plain to see in a ring around his neck, given the spread I assumed that it was a violent and sloppy job. At a guess I would have said this was a heat of the moment thing, an emotional impulse gone out of control.
That guess was my first mistake.
“Looks like our boy was a member of your club.”
Burke had prised open the Doe’s sodden overcoat to reveal the clothing underneath, I found myself staring at a dog collar that had long since lost it’s priestly white to the stain of the East River.
I pulled a pack of Lucky Strikes from my pocket and took a long drag, the smoke killed the smell of putrefaction and feeling the warmth hit my lungs relaxed me somewhat, if only for a brief respite.
“I’ll call it in.”
* * *
“Father Charles Patrick Norris,” I read from the case file in my hands, the final brief acknowledgements of a life’s accomplishments. They almost never get larger than the few scant pages I held in my hands now: name, the necessary in and out dates, a few personal stats, a couple of lines about their history, and like an afterthought tacked on at the end- cause of death.
That was one page, the other was the coroner’s report.
“Chuck Norris, huh,” Burke sat back at his desk tossing a foam football into the air, “no shit.”
“Sixty two years old, from Boston,” I scrolled down through the few lines that summed up a forty year dedication to the Church, “reading between the lines it looks like he was shifted from his last parish in a bit of a hurry.”
“Part of their divine witness protection program?”
My partner continued to toss that ball, annoyingly this was when he thought the best, “You think that he tried to give his communion cookie to the wrong altar boy?”
I raised my eyebrows in agreement, it certainly looked as though that were the case. Father Norris fell back on old habits and somebody’s older brother had to explain to him how things were.
“Wafers,” I said idly, continuing to read.
“What?”
“In communion, they’re wafers not cookies.”
“So, not the body of Christ?”
I didn’t rise to that, there were echoes of the life that almost was that at times still resounded within my soul and occasionally I could forget that I am a cop.
I flicked across to the coroner’s report, the few succinct passages in it more dehumanising than even the NYPD case report.
“Subject male, approximately sixty two years of age, found Hell Gate, East River. Ecchymossis around the neck and subconjunctival haemorrhages would appear to indicate strangulation as the cause of death. High levels of ketones in the blood stream indicate that the subject was held in a state of near starvation prior to death.”
“Starvation?”
Burke sat up nearly knocking his lamp from his desk as he swung his feet to the floor, “It was premeditated?”
That turned this case on it’s head and probably tripled our paperwork, we were no longer dealing with a relatively simple crime of passion.
This was now murder in the first degree.
The oldest of crimes, almost as old as sin itself.
The post-Giuliani years had left most homicide detectives with relatively little to do, compared to the bad old days at least, New York really had improved that much during his tenure as mayor. I couldn’t have been certain without going back over my case files but it must have been almost a year since I had worked a genuine case of Murder One.
“So our Suspect X starves the guy, and then strangles him?” Burke was up and pacing around his desk, “Doesn’t seem very… eloquent. Why go to the bother of starving the guy? Shits and giggles?”
“Torture,” before I said the word the dark realisation was already upon me. Someone went to a lot of effort to do Father Norris properly, to make it look like a random, violent act, but they took their time. They savoured it.
The whole thing stank to high Heaven.
This was only the beginning.
* * *
It was raining heavily when I left the station for the evening. It was always raining in New York, or certainly it always felt that way.
Great tear-like raindrops hammered upon the ground at my feet in a constant roar that only the really good city downpours could manage, the slap of a billion tiny beads on concrete.
The umbrella above my head provided little comfort, the wind was able to make sure that enough spray reached my face.
Drenched, I pulled up the collar of my Mac and started toward the subway. This is the preferred form of travel in the Big Apple though for myself it was not a matter of choice but necessity. A few years ago I had tried the marriage thing, the wife got the car in the divorce.
I marched down the stairwell to the subway to be met by a smell like a wet dog, the collective scent of hundreds of damp and miserable human beings crammed together for their evening commute.
On a pillar next to the tracks the words ‘Bright and Morning Star’ were spray painted over a poster for the Catholic Church depicting the Crucifixion, a subtle assault on an organisation that had taken a battering since the dawn of the Information Age.
The paint referred to chapter 22 verse 16 of the Book of Revelation, the last page of the Bible when Jesus reveals himself to be the Morning Star of Christian dogma, Lucifer.
“I am the root and offspring of David,” I muttered to myself, hearing the rumble of the oncoming train, “and the bright and morning star.”
The train ground to a halt before me and I found myself staring at the words in red paint ‘THE END IS NIGH’.
There must have been some bored Bible-bashers running around these nights.
The train as always was crowded, the sodden multitudes of New York jostling for whatever bit of comfort could be found on the hard plastic of the subway chairs with their illusory cloth covers.
As usual the one chair that was free had been pissed on by some lowlife with too much time on his hands or a transient taking shelter for the afternoon from the torrent above.
I gripped the overhead ‘Jesus bar’ and hung my head, the damp on my face mixed with the clammy air of the carriage, an uncomfortable, sticky mix of rainwater, body heat, and sweat.
Audibly sighing I took solace in the fact that my journey home would not take long, that I would only have to tolerate this interminable heat for a few minutes.
Up ahead I could see a bum making his way through the crowd, the commuters parting like a tide rather than let the dirty and dishevelled soul rub up against them.
He was muttering incomprehensibly and shaking his head as if locked in a permanent twitch, the thin strands of his dirty grey hair swishing about over the midnight black sunglasses he wore despite the weak light.
As the train swayed he knocked against me and I caught a whiff of what I’m certain was Sterno, I mumbled an apology and went back to my thoughts of going home and cold Chinese takeout.
I felt a damp hotness on my cheek, I stepped back in shock when I saw the bum was only inches from my face, staring directly at me.
“You. Cop,” his words rasped and slurred, “I know you.”
“I’m sure you do,” I turned my shoulder to him.
“Fallen one. Turned his back and was damned.”
I started walking away from the rambling old fool, edging through the crowd that seemed to have gotten tighter in the last few moments, clustering together like a human wall.
Trapping me.
It was all in my head, I knew that but still occasionally I was struck with terrifying bouts of claustrophobia. It was the heat, and the stickiness.
“Lucifer Hill!” The bum called loud over the rattle of the subway, “Priest beware for the judgement of the Lord comes on swift wings. Repent your path and rejoin your flock!”
Upon hearing my name I had turned and saw the man point directly to me, the other commuters ignoring the affair in the hope that he would go away and leave them alone.
Glancing down at my coat I reached inside and drew my pistol from it’s holster with the intention of arresting the man, the train lurched on the tracks and the lights momentarily flickered.
When I looked again he was gone.

Mana: The Shadows Of Destiny


~This story uses the same characters of Mana: The Rising but instead put into the story of a world that has had its past altered and is spiraling towards destruction to meet the mysterious ends of the Fel Knight Abraxus. Aiding the hero, Balder, is the equally mysterious Daryim, an impossibly powerful mage who is wrapped and shrouded to hide that his body is little more than a charred husk. Uncovering an ancient portal device known as an Avengerius Lock (after the Demigod of History Avengerius) Balder attempts to amend the timeline and stop a cataclysmic awakening that is the result of his own actions~

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Act 1- Concerning The Shadow In The Land Of The Mountain

The flagstones were slick with blood, it was pooled all along the palace walls from the bodies that lay broken and spent, the last remnant of the Royal Guard and their failed last stand on the ramparts, consigned to history now as little more than a footnote.
A man landed heavily on his back with a gasp as the wind was knocked from his body, blood gushed forth from the slashes across his chest, arms and legs, his face was swollen and cut and it stung from dirt in the wounds. He rolled in agony onto his chest and using his one good arm dragged himself weakly towards the parapets, there was the sound of something heavy landing on the ground behind him but he did not turn to see.
The sky was black as obsidian and lit only by the occasional burst of lightning, the air stank of burning pitch and worse, acrid black smoke filled the air and burned at the lungs. It felt in every way like the Gods had forsaken the city and its people, that they had decreed that they would once and for all be wiped from the face of the world. The palace shook beneath him, the sign that another projectile had struck home, those horrid steel arrows that shot fire and drove themselves further than they should by right, some new and terrible magic that had been brought to bear against them. The assault was unrelenting even now when the enemy’s own forces were well within the city, the streets were overrun and he could hear the screams of the populace below.
He reached the parapet wall but could not summon the strength to pull himself up, he was done, drained, what little remained of his life was slipping fast from him, he could feel it fading inexplicably from his broken body. There was nothing more he could do, he lay panting against the short wall with the rough stone against his face and awaited the blissful release.
There was the sound of another heavy thud, this one much closer than the last. Turning his head he saw an armoured boot black as a midnight in hell, small spikes protruded upwards as toes of burnished steel and tiny rivers of blood flowed across its surface.
A hand grasped the back of his collar and he was pulled bodily upwards to see over the parapet wall, the city was ablaze under the black of the storm. In the far distance he could see the flaming missiles launched by the relentless siege engines rise over the walls to come crashing down on peoples’ homes and livelihoods.
“See your future’s end,” the Fel Knight said, his voice a foul rasp like the hiss of a serpent mixed with the sound of fingernails scrapping a chalkboard. “I want you to see this, I want you to bear witness to true power, the dawn of a new age, the collapse of destiny!”
Through his good eye the wounded man watched the destruction of the last High Kingdom on Hyldrassil, the grand city was burning to the ground under the onslaught of the foreign war machine. The inner concentric circles of walls were overrun with marauders and brigands, the sea blockade on the delta had been broken and now the invaders controlled the harbours. This world was coming to an end in a barrage of flame and thunder.
A blackened iron gauntlet with fingers sharpened to points grabbed the man by the throat and he was turned to face the Fel Knight. The warrior was clad in lustreless black armour inlaid with burnished gold filigree of flame and broken souls, he must have been at least eight feet tall and easily lifted the man to eye level. There was nothing in that hollow blackness beneath the helm except two glowing points of light that flared with a fire fuelled by some deep inner rage or torment, black smoke rose out of those burning points with the stink of charred flesh. They narrowed as if in a frown or sneer.
“I know whom you serve, Abraxus,” the dying man croaked, his eyes going bloodshot in the knight’s iron grip, “I promise that victory will be denied to you.”
The spiked pauldrons on the knight’s shoulders shuddered as he hissed a foul laughter, “My imminent victory will be the last thing that you ever see, your highness, and you will find yourself rushing unstoppably towards it.”
And with barely a perception of effort the black clad knight threw the dying man over the parapet to the sound of his own diseased laughter.
He did indeed see his fate rushing towards him, thirty stories from the palace spire to the courtyard below had become quite an unavoidable destiny, with his strength drained he prayed, as the cobblestones approached he closed his eyes-

-Balder screamed and sat bolt upright, his skin was slick with sweat and his bed sheets stuck to him. It was a nightmare, just a nightmare. A bloody nightmare at his age!
It was still dark outside and the crickets were singing their nocturnal chorus, which sounded odd against the eternal haunting song of the Twin Gods that forever echoed throughout the land from the two lava spires known as the Towers of the Twin Gods.
Pyrrha was a relatively young land, up until two millennia ago there had been nothing but ocean here but then some far off cataclysm shook the world of Hyldrassil to its very core and the volcano of Pyrrha became a planetary pressure valve. The eruption changed the face of the world forever, lands were devastated as the seas rose and entire kingdoms were wiped out, whole cities vanished under the waves whilst others fell to disease and ruin as their governments struggled to adapt. But with all things a certain degree of inertia set in and some normality gradually came back into the world, new kingdoms arose, new governments were founded and in that time the nation of Pyrrha arose, the merchant kingdom within the flooded crater of the volcano.
Balder groaned and rubbed his eyes, he had to get up at dawn to help with the harvest on the northern fields. It was that time of the year again and the big orders from the city for Vinalia Flour were already in and Mister Butcher, the miller, had enlisted the services of most of the young men in the village. The money wasn’t great but it meant a day in the sun with your friends who you never got to see enough of these days and Mister Butcher always rewarded his farmhands with the first round in the tavern that evening.
A long day’s work ahead of him and he was dreaming about demons and burning cities, he blamed the glass of milk that he’d had before bed, it must have been going off.
Cursing the circumstance Balder threw his legs out of bed and felt the cold wooden floor beneath his feet, slowly he stood and in that zombie-like half-awake state he shuffled into the kitchen and lifted a mug down from a high shelf. He drifted with a grunt to the frostbox and opening the door he was hit by a blast of cold air, he was definitely awake now. The back of his mind made a small mental note that the air wasn’t as cold as it should have been and that he’d have to take the thaumatite in to the town mage in a day or two in order to have it recharged.
He lifted out a jug of fresh water from the spring and shuffled back to where he had left the mug, as he powered the water he stared out the window into the world beyond. It was a crystal clear night with both moons hanging high over the rim wall, the trees and grass swayed gently in the convection currents flowing up the rim, they moved in a slow dance of sparkling silver in the moonlight. Far off he faintly heard the screech of a flight of the rather unfortunately named Predator Bat, quite possibly the most vegetarian species on the planet, it was only a predator if you happened to be a blackberry.
Balder sipped at the water and shuffled his way back towards his bedroom, passing the kitchen table he spotted a note addressed to himself, he lifted the folded paper and angled it towards the silvery moonlight coming through the window.
It had been written in the fluid, if somewhat archaic language that was commonly been used by his father as an educational tool, it read:

Balder, I have been called away to a Council meeting. I may be gone for some days. I know that I can rely on you to look after things in my absence. I have left some extra cash in the usual place since you won’t get much work from me and Fred just doesn’t pay enough for the harvest. See you in a few days, Dad.

Balder sighed, a few days? ‘Council meeting’ implied that his father was on his way down the rim wall to Prosperina, that was a week of travel in itself and then nearly two weeks back up again, a few days…
On the bright side there were a few things that Balder had been meaning to catch up on but had until now found himself in a deficit of free time, that put him in a better mood.
He might even be able to fit in an afternoon or two of Current Jumping, an extreme sport played high on the rim wall whereby the jumper leaps from an appropriate ledge with a large sail strapped to his back. The object is to stay within the convection currents that washed up the inner rim wall from the lake far below in the crater, the winner of the game is whoever can land the highest from where they started. There is a danger of going too high and getting blown over the rim. From there it is a long fall to the ocean below, though thanks to the sail isn’t much of a risk in itself but there are no pathways back up the mountain and it is a long walk round to the sea gate.
He smiled as he continued back towards his bedroom, this week was good to be pretty good, and thinking those happy thoughts it took him a moment to realise that the ground was beginning to shake.
“Earthquake!” Balder yelled to no one in particular as he braced himself against the doorframe. The ground shook violently and a deep rumble pervaded the very air he breathed as if the world was trying to cough up a particularly nasty glob of phlegm. The moonlight vanished as dark clouds washed in and he was left standing in an unnatural darkness, a red glow rose from cracks that had split across his floor and chunks of land slowly began to rise.
The broken land exploded into the air and through the roof in a column of roaring flame and suddenly everything was normal again, the floor was intact, moonlight shone through the windows and the ground was still. Balder blinked twice, what in the heavens just happened?
There was a slight cough and looking down Balder saw that where the ground had split there now stood a little naked figure, about six inches tall and with horns on his head.
“Sorry about the fright,” it said, “people usually expect a bit of flair and drama in the opening show and I do so hate to disappoint.”
Balder remained motionless, he was still braced against the doorframe and his knuckles were going white from the grip, he was starting to feel light-headed and it slowly dawned on him that he was holding his breath.
“You can speak, can’t you?” The figure cocked his head, “You aren’t like, slow, or anything, are you?”
This couldn’t possibly be happening, Balder was saying to himself, the real world didn’t just spew forth little naked men in a column of fire, he was still dreaming.
“This is a dream,” he said at last, and slouching his shoulders he relaxed from the doorframe, “my nightmare didn’t end, it just changed. Can’t imagine why I’d have little naked men in my sleep though, where are all the buxom maidens?”
“I’d like some maidens too, but you aren’t asleep. Right now you are about as awake as you have ever been,” the little man spoke slowly, as if talking to a child, “now, do you think that you could maybe pay attention for a moment? And put the kettle on, I’m thirsty.”
“This is just a dream,” Balder muttered ignoring the tiny figure, he walked off towards his bed mumbling about soured milk.
The little horned man stared in disbelief as Balder climbed into bed and pulled the sheets tight around him, he lay on his side with his back to the bedroom door and very soon afterwards he was snoring.
“Once, just once I would like this bloody job to be easy,” the little man sighted, he strode towards the kitchen, “I wonder if he’s got any gin?”
* * *
Balder awoke with a start, sunlight was streaming through his window in a clear indication that the day had well and truly began, and more importantly it gave a clear indication that he was well and truly late.
He mumbled to himself as he splashed the last of his mug of water into his face and started to get dressed, he was letting Mister Butcher down and that didn’t sit well with him, especially since he had been helping with the harvest for the past nine years. It didn’t look good to the new lads when one of the more experienced hands turned up well after the work had commenced. Bloody nightmares.
His scythe had been left next to the front door along with a sharpening stone, the original intention of this was that if everything was sitting ready in the morning he’d be able to get away early and show the new kids how to properly handle and maintain a scythe. He cursed again, and grabbing the gear he ran out the door.
As he trotted down the path he shook off the thought that he had heard someone call ‘Hey’ from his kitchen, it was probably a bird on the roof or something. This was not a good start to the day.
Over the tops of the trees the smoke from the village blacksmith rose gently to the sky, there was next to no breeze this morning. Balder had gone off the winding path that led downhill to Vinalia, the fields were on this side of the village and it would be quicker just to cut through the narrow collar of forest. He jumped the small stream that ran from the spring next to the ranch and a couple of highland hares bolted as he landed in a run, the air was cool and invigorating under the forest canopy and he felt energised.
Ahead a clearing became visible beyond the shade of the trees, before it there was a hawthorn hedge he knew and then the golden fields of wheat that they would be working on. And wasn’t there a sturdy branch hanging over the gap ahead…
Balder leapt just before the opening and grasping the branch he kicked his legs up and over the hedge and- fire raining down on a city of stone, skeletons and zombies stalking the streets and feasting on the flesh of the living, the hordes were closing in around him, he was trapped against a wall-
-Oh hells! Balder tumbled on the ground, he felt a pain in his hip as he rolled over the sharpening stone, he felt the slap on his face of harsh strands of something and could taste dirt in his mouth.
“Balder,” a young man stood over him in a cloud of dust, the sun behind him hid his face, “better late than never, eh? You must be out of shape if you couldn’t handle a simple swing like that.”
“Ches?”
“No, I’m a ghoul. I’ve taken this form so I can meet chicks.”
Balder laughed dryly, he was still a little dazed, “You might want to reconsider your choice of body, Ches couldn’t get a woman if he had money hanging out of his pants.”
“You’re a funny guy, you know that,” Ches said as he helped his friend to his feet, “you should go on tour with your comedy, I bet you’d get crowds numbering in at least the tens, and they’d all be there to see someone sadder than themselves.”
“Oh, so you’d be going with me on this tour then?”
“Yeah, whatever,” the young man reached down and fished Balder’s scythe out of the long wheat stalks, “so what’s with being late today, I thought that you were looking forward to this? I mean, the Gods know you need all the beauty sleep you can get, but still…”
Balder took the offered scythe and laid it across his shoulder, the pair started over towards the area already cleared by the young farmhands, they had reaped over half of this field already.
“I’ve been having weird dreams lately,” he said as they strolled amongst the golden stalks, “I keep dreaming that I’m in this big city under siege and this demon knight beats the crap out of me and throws me off a tower, and I feel like I’m falling for ages.”
“Well, falling dreams are normally associated with a feeling of a lack of control in one’s life,” Ches commented, “or so I’m told. What was the city like?”
“Big,” Balder said immediately, it was the first word to pop into his head and it was a fairly accurate description, though from the way things were going it was soon to be a lot smaller if his dream had run its course. “It was old, there seemed to be lots of monuments and statues, lots of columns and palisades, that sort of thing. There were canals laid out in concentric circles with huge walls between them, and the tower or palace or whatever looked like it was in the centre. Oh yeah, and it was on fire.”
“Hmm, I think Tyria is built in concentric circles, and Han Kiroj is supposed to be a series of concentric rings descending into a pit, and the castle of Tithonus has a circular wall. What about the demon knight?”
“Black armour, tarnished chains, lots of spikes and I think that his eyes were on fire, either that or they were very, very bloodshot.”
“Black, spiky armour,” Ches tutted, “these villains are always such clichés. Well, I think that your dream means that you are afraid of black-clad knights throwing you of towers in burning cities.”
“So I just have to stay out of burning cities and I’ll be fine.”
“No, you just have to stay out of towers in burning cities and you’ll be fine,” Ches laughed as they reached the spot where he had dropped his own scythe. “I’ve been reading about this new shrink, Phroid, who’s been making a bit of a name for himself in Midas, he’s got some interesting, if somewhat unorthodox theories. For instance by his standard getting thrown off the tower into a burning city means that you are angry with your penis and that you want to sleep with your mother.”
“Well that would make me pretty messed up,” Balder replied.
Ches knew that, he’d regretted saying the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. Balder’s mother had died sometime shortly after he was born and his father had moved them to Pyrrha in order to make a fresh start, Balder hadn’t even been old enough to remember what she looked like. Dealing with the subject of dead relatives is always a problematic subject even for the best of friends and he usually found the best solution to be to gloss over it and ignore any further reference.
“Not that I have anything against necrophilia, cracking open a cold one as it were,” Balder winked, letting his friend off the hook, “but doing it with my mum would be just a little sick.”
They spent the rest of the morning working their way down through the field, with the wheat stalks swaying gently in the mild breeze and the sun beaming down through a cloudless sky it really was the perfect day for working the fields. A few of the youngest lads, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old were running behind the more experienced reapers pulling together the cut stalks and tying them in bundles. In a year or two these young chaps would be the ones doing the cutting, if they saved up and bought their own scythes that is, Mister Butcher was of the opinion that paying them was charity enough without giving away farm equipment.
The late summer harvest was something of a community tradition in Vinalia, the teenagers and young men all pitched in for the day and after it all they piled into the inn for an evening’s reverie. The teenagers did it for the money, the young men did it because they were now all apprenticing as craftsmen or tradesmen and had come to appreciate the value of a day in the sun with their friends.
“How’s about we break for lunch before starting the next field?” Ches let the suggestion hang in the air for a moment whilst he wiped a rag over his brow, he saw that the other experienced lads in the next field over had finished up and were sitting down for a snack, “That sound good?”
There was a cheer from the other boys, Balder just said ‘bugger’ under his breath, rushing out the door this morning he’d left his lunch in the frostbox, he’d have to run back and get it.
“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes,” he said as he took off up the field.
Ches sat on a bundle of stalks and pulled a sandwich out of his backpack, “I swear he’d forget his head if it wasn’t glued on.”
* * *
The kitchen was an absolute mess, cupboards lay open and bits of food lay strewn across the floor, the worktops and even the walls in some places, bottles of condiments and spirits lay empty on the floor. There was also an empty bottle of high strength liquid plant feed.
“What in the Underrealm happened here?” Balder looked in disgust as he lifted between his thumb and forefinger what looked like a half-eaten raw fillet of roebuck.
“So you’re back then,” came a voice from behind him, “nice day out is it?”
Turning slowly Balder spotted the small horned man standing by the doorway picking his teeth with what looked like a splinter from a matchstick.
“Did I pass out along the road or something?”
The tiny figure strode over, hopped what looked to be an insurmountable distance for a being his size onto the table and sat on an empty bottle of Jotunheim Dry Gin.
“I can assure you that you are fully awake,” the figure crossed his legs, “as you were last night. You may remember- earthquake, column of flame, your floor and ceiling destroyed… any of this ring a bell?”
“I thought that was soured milk.”
“Yeah, so I gathered,” he stood and bowed slightly, “I am the great and powerful Multhazzarlandruckullzae’draennodaildontrovandzadaar, Oppressor of the Ninth Pit and Destroyer of Worlds.”
Balder stared for a moment, “What are you?”
“I’m a demon, an imp to be exact, you can call me Multhazzar,” the demon said, “the full name and title is a cultural thing.”
“You mean that you have to have a name bigger than yourself,” Balder slowly sat himself down at the table, this was just too weird, “didn’t anyone ever tell you that size doesn’t matter? Incidently, did you drink all of my father’s gin?”
“Amongst other things, yes,” Multhazzar burped, the jar of mustard wasn’t sitting well with him.
“But you’re only six inches tall, that bottle’s about ten times your volume.”
“I’m an abstract,” the demon shrugged, “basically it all boils down to relativity and perception. And didn’t anyone ever tell you that size doesn’t matter?”
Balder was glad to be sitting down right now, he was pretty sure that his legs were about ready to give up with the whole bipedal idea and let his arms carry some of the burden for a change.
“Right about now you are probably wondering what I am doing here.”
In actuality Balder was wondering if he was lying face down in the forest somewhere with a pinecone in his ear.
“I’ve been sent to get you out of here.”
“You have been sent to get me out of here?” The idea seemed fairly preposterous and Balder’s tone certainly indicated that he thought so, “Why, pray tell? And by whom?”
“By whom would take too long to explain right now,” the demon said, “the ‘why’ is far more simple, if I don’t get you out of here and off this damn volcano then you shall find yourself being swiftly shuffled loose this mortal coil.”
“What?”
The demon sighed, “Wotan give me strength. If I don’t get you away from Pyrrha… You. Will. Die. I can’t be any clearer than that. You will have your entrails ripped out through your throat, you will be drawn and quartered and your head will be stuck on a pike.”
“You will die would have been sufficient,” Balder had paled noticably, “why is somebody trying to kill me?”
“That takes a lot of explaining, but essentially it’s because somebody is trying to stop history from happening.” Multhazzar knew that statement was far too cryptic to be considered a good explanation but right now he really didn’t have time for anything better, “Do you have a weapon?”
Balder stood slowly and moved as if in a daze towards the lounge, “I’ve got a sword but I usually just use it for cutting long grass.”
Balder presented a rusted and very notched blade.
“Ye Gods, that piece of crap looks so old that it might have value as a relic. Anything else?”
“I’ve got some knives in the kitchen, I guess…”
“Bring them, at least that way you’ll be able to stab any adversaries whilst they’re laughing at your sword. Quickly go throw a few essentials into a backpack, we need to get going. I’ve left you enough waybread to last as far as Prosperina and even filled a couple of water skins out of the goodness of my heart.”
Balder did as instructed. Somewhere in the back of his mind a thought was fighting for attention, he was taking the word of a self-confessed demon, but the thought of keeping his bits inside his body was a far better fighter. After all he had grown said bits all by himself and over the years he had become quite attached to them.
A few changes of underwear, adventurers and heroes seemed to forget about that when they go off on their legendary quests to liberate captured maidens, steal precious jewels from evil tyrants and that sort of thing. Gods only knew what they smelled like by the time that they were seducing said maidens or spending said jewels in the nearest brothel, how these heroes had any self-esteem was a mystery to Balder. Of course he wasn’t expecting many brothels but the need for clean linen was what he considered to be an important part of travelling, that and perhaps arriving at his destination in one vertical piece.
Destination? Now that was a fairly important point, where was he going to go? The imp hadn’t spoken of where he intended to lead Balder, was this some sort of pointlessly elaborate trap? He knew that there were stories of demons trying to trick men in order to steal their souls, but this seemed to be a bit too proactive in nature, wasn’t it traditional that the demon challenges the victim to a contest of musical prowess?
“Come on,” Multhazzar called impatiently from the kitchen, “all you really need is food, water and money. It can’t take you that long to grab whatever worthless junk you think that you will need.”
Balder sighed and rolled up a coarse blanket of a dark green colour. The demon was right, there were many things in this house that he would deem to be items of importance, and you never know when you might need that 18 piece camping knife, but most of it would be little more than dead weight. He tied the blanket to his backpack and reckoned that he now had pretty much everything that he would need. He quickly pulled on a clean tunic of an unusual purple colour and a teal green cloak, he strapped the scabbard under the cloak so that the sword was more or less hidden and finally he hefted the backpack onto his shoulders.
This isn’t exactly how this week was supposed to go… he realised that he’d best leave a note for his dad but somehow “Dad, a demon came and told me that I had to leave or I’d face certain death. Sorry about the mess, he drank your gin.” Seemed a bit stupid. He settled instead for “Dad, had to go away for a bit, will explain when I get back. Sorry.” and as he strode into the kitchen with the note he thought that he could hear the far off sound of horses.
“You almost look impressive,” the diminutive demon said dryly, “we’d best get a move on.”
The clatter of hooves became much louder, there were a lot of horses coming up the lane, the imp vanished in a small puff of smoke and reappeared by the window, he gently slid aside the curtain and glanced out.
“You might want to go out the back door,” he said, “and right now.”
Balder stuffed the waybread and water skins on the table into his satchel and bolted for the door, he cautiously pulled it open and ran to the stables across the corral, the forest came to the back of the buildings and he could easily slip away from there.
As he made his way under the shade of the trees he saw soldiers in heavy armour take up positions around the cottage, the sun was high in the sky behind him and the forest canopy was dense so he knew that he was well hidden here.
The markings on their armour seemed familiar but he couldn’t place it, an eye over a three-peaked mountain, black on red with gold filigree.
Quietly he moved on around the outskirts of the ranch, creeping amongst the tall High Oak trees and ensuring to stay out of any breaks in the canopy. He took care to avoid the treacherous dry twigs that always seemed to be lying in wait for the wary traveller who is trying to evade unwanted attentions only to step on the wrong patch of ground and have his position given away with a snap like a gunshot.
An enormous black war horse stood in the centre of a group of lesser steeds, this creature looked like it could carry it’s rider to the Underrealm and back again. It was then Balder saw the rider amongst the other soldiers and it occurred to him that the horse might possibly have done just that.
He was clad all in black with ornate gold engraving on his spiked armour, three massive spikes rose from his helm as if in competition with the tarnished spikes on his pauldrons. A red mist drifted from the deep blackness within the helm.
“I’ve had nightmares about that guy,” Balder whispered to Multhazzar.
“I’m not surprised,” the imp replied, “Abraxus is nightmare incarnate.”
The knight called Abraxus knocked daintily on the door of the cottage and after a few moments without response he kicked the door in, the wood blowing apart as if it couldn’t get away from him quickly enough.
His dimensions were too large in every way for there to be any convenient manner in which he could enter the building but Balder got the distinct impression that this knight was the kind of person who would just stare threateningly until he got what he wanted. The soldiers filed around him and began a search of the building, from the sound of the smashing within Balder assumed that they had found his father’s small alchemy lab, either that or they weren’t overly fond of his father’s collection of collectable plates.
“If I were you, and believe me I’m glad I’m not, but if I were then right about now I would be making my way down the side of the rim before they decide to search the forest,” said Multhazzar from beside Balder’s ear, he was lying across the backpack. “Just a thought.”
He agreed with the imp, cautiously he slipped back deeper into the shade and a twig snapped with a crack like a whip. There was always bloody one.
The knight Abraxus spun, or at least Balder assumed that he had spun since he was now facing in his direction, those eyes of flame fixed firmly on the spot in the shade were he now stood.
He couldn’t possibly see me Balder was saying in his mind.
“Run you idiot!” The Demon smacked him over the back of the head.
Balder ran, he ran hard. Branches slapped him in the face and whipped at him as he charged through the trees, not far behind the call of the soldiers could be heard and the whiney of horses, he’d never lose them on foot even in this dense grove. The only thing that he really had going for him was that the tree roots here all grew long and deep, there was nothing in the underbrush that could trip him up as he fled for his life.
The stream was up ahead then it was a brief sprint to the fields, and then what? He couldn’t expect the lads to get involved, most of them were just boys and those behind him were soldiers, professional thugs, the lads would be slaughtered. So what options did that leave him with? The Livery in Vinalia, he could commandeer a horse for a while, one of the express mail horses or something. Well, that wasn’t quite a plan but it was better than running until he coughed up his lungs.
He jumped the stream and as he landed there was the sound of cloth tearing as his cloak got caught on a thicket of briars, it seemed that the accursed things were growing everywhere these days. Cursing as he pulled himself loose Balder took a quick breath and started running again. He’d ended up back on the very trail that he’d ran down only this very morning, and there ahead of him was the gap with the sturdy branch, he’d better not make a mess of it this time.
His legs swung up and over the hawthorn, he kicked out and glided in slow motion through the air, the ground was get closer… he landed on his feet and continued his sprint through the harvested field. The ground felt strangely uneven underneath his feet, off to his right were some unusual dark shapes, lumps really. A horrible realisation set in, the stubble of wheat here was stained a dark red, the unevenness of the ground was due to horses milling in the area, lots of heavy horses…
Balder ran to the misshapen lumps but stopped short when he could see what they truly were, his legs failed and he wretched a couple of times before actually vomiting. The older lads, the young boys, they all lay here with their throats slit and their bodies bruised, they had been herded together and slaughtered as if they were animals.
“Ches.”
His lifelong friend has been afforded special attention, not only was his throat slit but his guts had been spilled and his ribcage torn open.
“Gods!”
He didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t think. Tears ran down the side of his face and as he sat there on the bloodstained ground he sobbed.
“You can’t help them,” the demon stood next to the trembling young man, “for what it’s worth I’m sorry, but we have to keep moving otherwise you’ll be lying there next to your friend.”
“I can’t just leave them like this,” Balder snivelled, he could feel nausea creeping upon him once more.
The rumble of hoof beats grew louder, “I don’t think that you’re going to have much choice in the matter. Get going!”
Balder staggered to his feet, his legs were trying to run before his body was quite ready but they soon found their rhythm and he was once again sprinting towards the village. Behind him he heard shouts, the soldiers were out of the forest and that meant trouble, they could make real speed in the open plains.
Vaulting a gate Balder found himself on the dirt path that led directly to the small village from the northern fields. The livery no longer seemed like such a good idea, with those soldiers hot on his tail he would probably never make it out of the table let alone all the way to Prosperina. He needed a new plan, and he needed it damn quickly.
Then as normally happens in those situation when the neurons are firing and the adrenaline is coursing through the viens he had a moment of inspiration, he saw the Cheshire household up ahead. Now, where did he keep it..?
The tack room, Ches always kept his gear together in a nice shaded room with cool air and no direct sunlight, and the tack room was on the other side of the house. Running around the brown stoned building Balder saw the room, its door was open as Ches’s sister brought out the saddle for her pony. He cursed his luck, the door wasn’t locked but instead a family member of his best friend stood watching him, he could he tell her that her brother was dead? How could he even face her?
The sound of mounted soldiers charging down the dirt path made that particular decision for him, he ran past the raven-haired young woman and into the tack room.
“Will’s in the field,” she called after him, “where you should be surely?”
“No time to explain,” replied Balder as he grabbed a heavy pack of brown leather, “I’m borrowing this for a while.”
He started to run again but stopped by the girl, “Lucy, get the magistrate and tell him to get some men up to Butcher’s fields. There’re foreign soldiers chasing me and they’ve committed a terrible crime.”
“What soldiers? What are you blathering about?”
Balder stared over her shoulder, “Those soldiers! Get inside now! Get the magister when they’ve gone!”
He vaulted the privy hedge that served as a boundary to the Cheshire estate and hit the ground running, he was on the cobbled path that led all the way through the town centre and out the other side to the main road down the rim. It also led to the mill, which was the ideal spot for what he had in mind so long as he lived long enough to make it there. The trouble was that the once outside the town centre the road to the mill became very open, and sods law the market was yesterday so there would now be no convenient stalls for him to hide behind or handy crowds to get lost in.
The alley between the general store and the livery would be the safest route to duck down, the path was playing out in Balder’s mind as he slipped between the buildings, the tower of the arcanorium was directly ahead, and next to it sat the tavern awaiting an evening’s merriment. Or what would have been an evening of merriment had these foreign devils not shown up.
There were a few people in the village square but they soon scattered as the soldiers charged over the grey cobbles, their horses milled as the soldiers sought their quarry, the enormous black warhorse of Abraxus however stood patiently awaiting his master’s instruction.
“Find him,” the black knight barked, his voice had a definite serpentine quality beneath the dark timbre, “tear the village apart if you have to, just bring me that boy!”
The soldiers dismounted and spread out to search, only Abraxus and the man with the look of a captain remained in the square with the horses.
“This isn’t exactly the subtle incursion that we had planned for,” the captain commented.
“I care not,” the words insinuated themselves into existence, “I’ll crush this wretched little island under my boot if I judge it necessary. The only thing that matters here and now is that Balder Von Daryhiem dies.”
Balder stepped back against the wall, hearing the fel knight actually say the words brought the reality of the situation home to him, this wasn’t a case of mistaken identity or a random act of violence, this was premeditated murder. The only thing that matters here and now is that Balder Von Daryhiem dies, there was a certain focus to that statement as well as the undeniable finality.
He crept back down the alley, heading around via the tannery now seemed like a much better idea, granted that meant going in the opposite of his intended direction but the tannery had a nice big wall that dominated one end of the square. If he wanted to make it to the far side of the town then this would be his best bet, that or he could hide himself in a box and try to creep across the square when neither the captain nor the fel knight were looking.
He preferred the tannery idea.
*****
The wall at the tannery wasn’t there in order to keep people out, its sole purpose was to try and encourage the smell to go upwards and to this end it was at least marginally effective. Outside the walls it merely smelled as if something had died whereas inside it smelled as though something had died, decomposed, and borne the evolution of a sentient bacterial life that in itself had died because of the smell it made.
Balder wrapped a heavy scarf around his face so that it covered his mouth and nose, he was glad of his foresight although admittedly this was not how he had intended to make use of the scarf, still it was better than the alternative.
From within he could hear a couple of soldiers cursing the putrid stench, the poor fools were unknowingly only a few feet from their quarry but from within the yard they may as well have been miles away, they probably wished that they were. It was better than the devils deserved.
Balder started counting as he tiptoed along the wall, three… two… one…
The sound of someone being violently sick shattered the relative quiet. So many young folk who had never before set foot within the tannery, himself included Balder had to concede made the cardinal mistake of peering into one of the tannery vats. This was an act that involved having your face and more importantly your nose directly over a concoction of the most unrelenting foulness known to man, and it was a mistake that nobody ever made twice.
Good enough for them Balder scowled as he slipped along the wall, he had passed beyond sight of the square now and if the coast was clear he could dash across the road to the blacksmiths and clamber over the rear yards to the mill lane. Of course from there on he had the problem of the mill lane being completely devoid of any form of cover, but he would worry about that bridge when he burned it.
The cobbled road was clear of soldiers. It was clear of locals too but that was just the typical Pyrrhan response, when there’s trouble you could always rely on Pyrrhans to dash to the safety of the nearest tall building to get to the window with the best view. The largest wartime import to the nation was popcorn.
He dashed across the road and cursed as he heard a call from the tanners, one of the soldiers must have had a stronger stomach than the other or else had taken the intelligent option and had chosen to wait by the gate. Either way Balder was in trouble, but thank the Gods for small favours, the soldiers didn’t have their horses.
He slammed the door of the blacksmiths behind him and dropped the bar into place, it wouldn’t hold them for long but it would do until he could get away.
“Quick,” Multhazzar called from within his backpack, “grab something better than that sword of yours, I think I’m getting tetanus just being this close to it.”
The only implements in any state of completion were a couple of scythes, a bundle of horseshoes and several pokers (as any Folk Park will have you believe, pokers are the foundation of the blacksmith industry, a keystone in early economics), he grabbed a scythe as wood splintered behind him. Part of the door had shattered, a board was pulled back and broken away, thinking fast Balder grabbed a horseshoe and lobbed it at the hand that had reached through to grasp the locking bar. There came the sound of a nasty thump accompanied by a string of expletives from outside.
Not waiting for the next attempt Balder made a dash for the door to the yard at the rear. Accidentally tearing the still pumping bellows with the scythe blade as he rushed past, he grabbed a bucket of ash from next to the furnace and threw the contents before the tear. The room was quickly filling with grey dust as he entered the back yard, there were a couple of mossy stoned stables out here and along one wall a lean-to store room.
The other wall contained a simple three barred gate that opened to the pathway that led back to the street and to the field behind, a pathway that one of the soldiers was bound to notice eventually.
Balder clambered up onto the store, his progress hampered somewhat by Ches’s heavy pack in one hand and the scythe in the other, but through sheer will to live he made it onto the shed roof and over the wall into the yard behind the bakers.
He was just making his way onto the roof of the baker’s store when something whizzed by his head, turning Balder saw a soldier on the wall behind him load another bolt into the crossbow. The man’s hand was red and swollen so reloading was proving to be a somewhat cumbersome operation, however once it was loaded the pain in his hand served only to steel his resolve, as Balder observed just before he dove over the wall to cover.
This was the back of the library, which was an incredibly great thing he noted as he ran down the big yard, after that small wall ahead it was a simple dart across the rim road and then a dash down the mill lane. Chased by soldiers the entire way admittedly, but it was a relatively hurdle-free sprint nonetheless.
Multhazzar hurled a stream of abuse from the top of his backpack as another crossbow bolt whistled by, most of the abuse appeared to be directed at Balder and his inability to phase shift out of sight or teletranslocate himself across the opening.
“Imp, shut up!” Balder shouted between breaths, “You aren’t helping” If you want to be useful why don’t you throw fire at these bloody soldiers!”
“I can’t do that in this form,” said the demon in distinctly soft tones, “and if I transfigure I’ll only attract Abraxus, and that is a fight that is a little beyond me.”
Balder leapt the small wall in a single fluid motion that would have shamed an Olympian, running for his life giving him the added impetus that most professional athletes lacked. He landed one foot on the cobbled street and was off again in long strides, there was a shout and the clatter of horses’ hooves in the square as he hit the dusty path that led to the mill.
Heavy cloth sacks of flour lined the pathway, the best stuff always went to the local bakers in simple honest-to-goodness sacks whilst the stuff in the bags marked ‘Finest Flour of Vinalia’ was the cheap stuff marketed as ‘all natural, organic flour’. City folk were dumb enough to pay extortionate prices for a poorer quality product time and time again.
Balder didn’t particularly care about any of this right now as he ran up the stone steps to the mill, he knew that the knight and his entourage weren’t far behind him and were probably gaining rapidly.
Running around to the back of the mill Balder saw the enormous canvas sails turning in the updraft from the centre of the crater along with the two other horizontal shafts with their long, twisted blades extending out over the precipice. The mill was the oldest building in Vinalia, built over an outcropping beneath which was a sheer drop of fourteen thousand feet to the crater floor of Pyrrha, it was the ideal site for a windmill and over time the village extended back from it.
Quickly tossing the scythe to the ground he removed his backpack and hefted Ches’ heavy pack onto his shoulders, securing the harness he then pulled his own pack over his chest and ied the loose straps to the harness.
He could hear the soldiers in the mill and on the steps outside. He saw one coming around after him with sword drawn; Balder backed away and cautiously ducked under one of the turning axles that extended out into the void. He had nearly reached the far axle when he spotted another soldier coming from the opposite direction, the man spoke something that was unintelligible to Balder though he assumed that it was either a threat or a declaration of war, it had that intonation.
“I hope that you have a brilliant plan,” said Multhazzar from under the flap of the backpack, “because we are trapped, buddy boy.”
The black knight Abraxus was coming up behind the second soldier, he was even more intimidating when seen from this close, standing at nearly nine feet when you took into account the three spikes that extended a foot from his helm. The fel knight hefted a blood stained battleaxe with obvious malicious intent. A faint smell of brimstone and burnt soil seemed to hang around him, his breath was a horrid hiss that chilled to the bone.
“Actually, Imp,” Balder replied as he saw the first soldier duck under the axle, “I happen to have a truly fantastic plan.”
He hurled the scythe at the soldier and ran for it, the handle smacking the man hard in the face as he saw the younger man running towards him, his compatriot had given chase and was gaining.
Then Balder turned and dove off the walkway where the wall ended to allow the horizontal axle to extended out, the soldier heard the young man yell ‘hold on!’ as he cartwheeled in the air.
“The thought had occurred to me!” Multhazzar was screaming as the greyish-brown cliff face rushed inexplicably by whilst the forest on the crater floor far below was growing at an alarming rate. “You’re out of your mind!”
Balder held his arms out as the wind whipped at him, he did a somersault in the air and cheered wildly as the landscape rushed around him, the demon had to admit it was an exhilarating, if stupid way to die.
“Hold on tight,” Balder shouted as he grasped a handle on the left strap on his chest and yanked it hard.
Looking over the young man’s shoulder Multhazzar saw a small parachute pop out of the backpack, “What in the hell use is that thing going to be?!”
The pilot chute fed out into the sky on a long thin line until suddenly the pack burst open and the imp felt intensely uncomfortable as the blurring landscape seemed to kick back to a normal pace, moments later they were drifting peacefully through the sky. Slowly the demon turned his head upward and stared at the massive silk canopy above their heads, it was wing-shaped and seemed to have a second layer slightly above and was of a bright red colour just in case anyone would miss it.
“Congratulations on your first Current Jump,” Balder cheered, “of course normally we would stay in the updraft to try and land above were we started but today I don’t think that would be such a great plan.”
“Normally?” Multhazzar looked at the young man as if he were insane, “You mean you do this regularly?”
Balder pulled gently on a cord to his right which resulted in the canopy performing a slow turn in the air, “Oh yes, I was last year’s champion. Ches took the title from me this year.”
The sport only really existed on Pyrrha as there were few other places with such suitable updrafts, but even at that most jumpers came from the rim villages such as Vinalia and Zephyr, though sometimes you did get folk from down in Prosperina coming up to try it.
The demon looked down and saw that not far off, at least from this height, the whitewashed city of Prosperina spread along the shore of the lake that lay central in the Pyrrhan crater. The black specks that he saw on the water were ships heading across the surface to the broken section of wall that open the lake out to the ocean. And there standing out of the lake were the two enormous hollow spires known as the Towers of the Twin Gods, the wind whistling through the openings to create the haunting song that echoed throughout Pyrrha.
“You’re all mad, you know that.”
“Mad? Not in the slightest,” Balder replied as he admired the beauty of the sweeping landscape around him, “this is as close as mankind will ever come to flying. The mill jump is the best jump in all of Pyrrha but no one ever really does it because of the risk of catching on the mill sails, and it takes a bloody fortnight to get back up again if you miss the landing. But if you do jump it does reward with the most spectacular view.”
Something hit the canopy above them and tumbled away into the void, another grey blur shot by less than six feet away.
“Rocks! The bastards are throwing rocks at us!”
“If it’s just rocks we’re getting away lucky,” Multhazzar stated, “with Abraxus up there-”
He was interrupted by the approaching sound of screaming and a body in red armour overtook the pair on their downward course.
“That was a soldier…”
“Yep, Abraxus would have a fairly literal interpretation of sending men in pursuit.”
Another screaming terrified soldier shot by.
*****
In a small grassy plain the red canopy was stretched out as Balder carefully made the necessary folds in order to ensure that it would open again flawlessly, though Multhazzar personally hoped that he would never have to experience such lunacy again. Quite a few humans experienced a long fall after they died, he couldn’t for the unlife of him figure out why they would willingly go through it now, it isn’t as though falling is the kind of thing that requires practice. Maybe they were of the impression that you got awarded points for style.
The boy, well he called him a boy though the lad must have been in his twenties, had been strangely quiet since they had landed, he had just put his head down and began working on that sail without so much as muttering to himself. Multhazzar didn’t like it when humans were quiet, when their mouths were closed it generally meant that they were thinking and that could lead to all kinds of trouble.
Balder folded the last of the canopy into the pack and started towards a dense patch of forest that was nestled against the imposing and impossibly tall cliff face, Multhazzar started to follow him but was abruptly told to wait where he was. The kicked up a minute cloud of dust and sat on the discarded backpack that lay on the edge of the clearing, he muttered a couple of mild obscenities then pulled a miniature hip flask out of thin air and took a long draw.
Under the shadow of the cliff it was quite dark here amongst the trees in the thicket, taking a moment to ensure that he was alone Balder laid the jump pack down and collapsed in tears against a nearby tree. His whole world had been destroyed in a few mere moments, all his friends had been mercilessly slaughtered and he was now on the run from some vicious fel knight and his band of marauders.
But it was more than just the murder of his friends and the hunt for his flesh that flayed his soul and rends his heart. His father had been riding from Vinalia to Prosperina on the only mountain route down to the city, his path would certainly have crossed that of the foreigners and if they knew so intimately off Balder then they would certainly know his father, and that would have been his end. Hope would not stay with the young man, it was a far off thing that right now happened only to other people.
He wanted to be sick, he prayed for the ground to open up and consume him, he wished that his mother had been barren that fateful night or that he had been stillborn, by the light of the Gods why had he been visited with such villainy. He had been robbed of everything that he had in the world bar the meagre existence that was his life, and they wanted to take that from him too. He cried until no more tears would come and his heart felt as a dead weight upon his chest, the world moved unsympathetically forward and the shadows shifted across the land, he felt his strength had left him as he watched time slowly pass by.
His father dead, his friends murdered and his life in tatters all because of some unknown crime that he had no knowledge of. Again the tears came in wretched sobs.
“I could claim to understand what you are going through right now,” through hazy eyes Balder saw Multhazzar sitting on a nearby log, “but I can’t because I am a demon and thus lack the necessary faculties.”
Balder wiped his eyes and tried to summon his strength, “I thought that I told you to wait in the clearing.”
“You did,” the imp replied dryly, “but you are neither a warlock, summoner nor a demonologist and so have no exertion of will over me. Now, I have been given specific instructions to get you off Pyrrha and as far away from Abraxus and his goons as possible, so if you don’t get your arse in gear then I’m afraid that it will be too late to do anything for you.”
“Unsympathetic little bastard, aren’t you.”
“I wasn’t told to do sympathy,” Multhazzar replied matter-of-factly, “and besides, anger is a far more useful emotion than despair. Now dry your eyes and let’s get a move on.”
Balder tucked the heavy jump pack into a nearby bush and started towards the distant haze of smog that hung over Prosperina, the pack was too heavy to lug around and it was very doubtful that it would be of any use from here on. Plus it was half a day’s walk along the shoreline to the city and the idea of traipsing that distance with such a dead weight along with his own gear was about as appealing as finding a hungry leech spreading barbeque sauce on your nadgers.
He wiped his eyes as he walked in the general direction of Prosperina, they should hit the lake soon and from there it was easy to find your way. Somewhere overhead came the shrill cry of a Pyrrhan Aigle, huge birds of prey that the druids of faraway Heimdahl claimed kept watch over the land, Multhazzar confirmed this legend with the asseveration ‘bloody gossips’.
*****
Hyldrassil is a young world, relatively speaking, though it is ancient compared to the kingdoms that have come and gone, it is the seed of a far older world, one thought to be the cradle of the first life in the galaxy, a world known as Yggdrasil. But how best to describe Hyldrassil, a world that is for all intents and purposes a giant tree, and one of many scattered throughout the universe carrying the promise of life to the stars. This is the science of astrodendrology, the study of the World Trees and the universe in which they inhabit, and though it is intricate we’ll try not to go to deep.
The nature of the universe itself has been the subject of debate since the first monkey looked up and said ‘Ooh, pretty’ (actually he probably said ‘Oook’ meaning that he wanted to play with his faeces, but it was a good analogy nonetheless). Theories abound about the exact shape and structure of our local reality, every configuration from a bubble to a doughnut has been put forward at one time or another as the absolute definitive truth. These shapes whilst all equally plausible within the realm of astrophysics really serve only to show how limited the human mind really is, we can imagine a limited universe so long as it is confined within something. In these forms the universe is only infinite via a technicality, in that if you start at one point and keep going in the same direction you will eventually come back to where you started, you can’t reach and edge because there is only a curve.
These theories all rely on the same principle that the universe is expanding in all directions from an impossibly ancient explosion know as the Big Bang, or as you will soon come to know it (from the Hyldrassil perspective) the Wee Drip.
The universe is in point of fact infinite, it has no shape because it is infinite, and it has no edge any more than it has a curve. It is also largely empty. It isn’t a bubble floating in an energy pool with tendrils of superstrings spreading out across all existence, it is just space, lots and lots of space.
There is however a substate of this vast nothingness, a realm of pure energy and consciousness, its all very quantum, and occasionally a wayward wave of energy will break against another which results in an outburst that releases upon the universe itself.
Imagine if you will a sheet of blotting paper spread flat on the table, and on this paper a single drop of ink falls upon it, see how the droplet spreads out across the paper. Now another drop falls elsewhere on the page, and maybe another, now scale things up a bit and try to think of the paper as three dimensional rather than two dimensional so that the ink drops burst and spread anywhere. These are universes as we understand them coming into existence, the universe isn’t a bubble onto itself but something in which a bubble of matter will spread through.
Over aeons this bubble continues to spread across the paper and begins to fade as it does so, eventually it will fade away completely except where it crosses the expanding bubble of another inkblot. Maybe in the subrealm another two waves crash together and a fresh burst of energy is released into the universe, or in this metaphor another droplet falls on the page.
Now if you were to lift the sheet of blotting paper you will also see a stain on the table where the ink has soaked through, this is because all matter is condensed energy and still holds a connection to that subrealm from whence it came.
In the universe there are some places more fertile than others are, these would be the areas where there is an expanding bubble of energy, these fertile areas would be more commonly known as galaxies, and it is here that the World Trees take root.
Look at any world and you will see that it is more or less spherical, this is because the sphere form is a very natural and highly efficient shape if you want to have an evenly distributed gravitational field. What you won’t see are the giant roots extending from the southern polar region or the boughs in which might sit a moon or twenty. This isn’t because you have poor eyesight or because they aren’t there, it is simply because they are on a different plane of existence. The roots seep into the subrealm of energy and sustain the tree whilst the boughs absorb energy from the local star in a remarkable case of photosynthesis to sustain life itself.
Because of the constant ebb and flow of sub-universal energy the trees exist in what might be defined as a Multiverse, there are two distinct forms of the world with an infinity of shades and possibilities in between. Hyldrassil represents one form of the world whilst at the other end of reality there is Goldrassil, its mirror image. They exist in this manner as a way of balancing the colossal energies that would otherwise tear them apart. Strangely unlike most other trees Hyldrassil and Goldrassil are not in perfect balance, this has resulted in a tiny amount of energy seeping onto the worlds and having all kinds of weird effects. This energy is called Mana and is the source of all magic.
Like all trees the World Ashes can produce seed when the time is right, as was the case with Hyldrassil and ancient Yggdrasil, and like all seeds to their sire the pair were linked until events in the world’s history severed this connection.
So to recap: The universe is infinite and matter explosions are like inkblots spreading across the nothingness and ruining your furniture. These blots are fertile areas in which worlds take root and a constant flow of energy surrounds the worlds, and because there is an imbalance on Hyldrassil there are manipulatable levels of sub-universal energy seeping in. And each world is linked to its parent tree unless a fight breaks out and the link is broken.
Isn’t astrodendrology fun.
*****
They skirted along the lakeshore, the only real moment of note for the last couple of hours being when a spur of granite extending from the crater wall to the shore forced them to go for a wade. This entailed Balder edging out into the water whilst Multhazzar sat on his shoulders, he explained that he couldn’t touch the water for very vague demonic reasons, Balder assumed that he meant laziness.
On the other side of the great stone outcropping they came across a vast tract of land that had been cleared of trees and plant life to be surfaced with a coarse gravel, it looked like it came all the way from the city and ran to the crater wall.
“This must be the new Harvest Highway they’re building,” commented Balder as they started down the clearing, the gravel crunching under their feet with each step. “The government is trying to improve the infrastructure between the city and the rim villages, Vinalia is the first to get connected to the new highway network.”
“Sounds like a waste of time to me,” Multhazzar snorted, “wider mountain paths aren’t going to help you actually get up the bloody mountain any more quickly.”
Balder turned and after scanning along the tree line he pointed to an incomplete stone structure extending just slightly above the trees, it seemed to have been built against the crater wall and was surrounded by scaffolding.
“That’s the base of the elevator station they’re constructing, the sister for it has already been built at the top of the cliff, fourteen thousand feet up, about a mile from the mill road. When it is finished it will have two cars, one at the top and one at the bottom, they’ll work as a counterbalance with one going up as the other goes down.”
Multhazzar took in the details of the cliff face, even from here he could see were heavy wooden beams had been fixed to the stone to act as guide rails and they already extended a third of the way up the wall of stone. He could make out a crane structure on the cliff edge suspending a massive box that must have contained the construction crew adding the next beam, he had never before seen a project of such scale.”
Human ingenuity never ceased to amaze the diminutive demon, their capacity for inventiveness had even forced the demons to throw their hands up and cry, “You win!” No matter what evils the demons perpetrated the humans topped them on a daily basis, and most humans did it simply because they could. The Dark Lord himself conceded defeat after the first humans arrived in Niflheim, it wasn’t that they rose up against him or anything but simply that even the most excruciating punishment became mundane to humans after only a few months. He was out of ideas so he simply left them to it, as a result the Dark Lord hasn’t been seen in a while, rumour has it that he lives on a secluded island spending his days surfing and avoiding humans.
The demons now realising that they were unemployed took up whatever jobs were available on Hyldrassil, usually as spectres, poltergeist, and when necessary as door to door salesmen. They don’t really do evil anymore because, comparatively speaking they just aren’t very good at it.
“When the elevator is finished and the highway is cobbled they say that the two week journey from Prosperina to Vinalia will be reduced to about four hours,” Balder commentated with no real sign of enthusiasm in his voice, he was still emotionally drained. “It’s all the talk of the village, mostly because it will destroy the value of our produce since it will become so easy to acquire, and of course then you’ll get city folk moving in, and with them follows city crime.”
“You aren’t really so naïve to think that there isn’t any crime in your village now, are you?” Multhazzar sneered, “You aren’t that dumb?”
“Of course there is crime in Vinalia,” Balder replied without rising to the insult, “but we all know it’s either Thick Reg or Daft Ron, their crimes are always monitored and taxed.”
“You tax crime?” Multhazzar could see another one of those human creations looming.
“Of course,” said Balder, “it’s income isn’t it.”
“Yeah, but… surely they don’t declare it?”
“They would have to give it back otherwise.”
It made no sense, Multhazzar knew that it made no sense and he cursed himself for living in a world in which such logic determined ‘truth’.
“What about other crimes?”
Balder thought about that for a second, “What like?”
“Well, Murder? Rape?”
“Murder isn’t allowed, and you can only perform a rape if you get notarised permission first.”
No, don’t rise to it. He’s bound to have some stupid flawed logic behind that statement.
“ITS NOT RAPE IF IT’S CONSENSUAL!”
“Oh yeah, I’m thinking of adultery. No, rape isn’t allowed either. They hang you for that, yes it’s technically murder but everything is done perfectly legally and above board.”
“What, do you force rapists to take a jump from the mill without a pack or something?”
“Oh, you’ve seen our courts at work?”
A short while later the pair came across the construction crew packing the heavy stone slabs together that would eventually make up the road surface. There were dozens of big, burly men and in the tradition of road workers everywhere at least half of them were leaning on their shovels surveying the scene. On closer inspection it appeared that the crew was mostly comprised of Lycans, the collective name for the various races of beasts who walked like men but still resembled the creatures of their various clans. The half-light of dusk revealed their true nature and they would stay as such until dawn when the day shadows gave them human form once more.
The Lycans were quite possibly the oldest race on Hyldrassil, certainly in an age past they had commanded a vast empire spanning all of Vanaheim and Amaldaar whilst the first humans were getting to grips with that bright stuff that burned things. Mysteriously the empire disappeared almost overnight leaving only the land of Lycanholme for them to call their own, the race never fully recovered from the fall. The last of their strength had been broken when they went to war against the Vastian High Kingdom, the last of the great human empires of old crushed the Lycan armies on the Hylaan Fields of Midas, and from thence forth the once noble Lycans became reticent and reclusive. Those who did leave their ancestral home to explore the world could usually find work only as unskilled trade and labourers, doing jobs that most humans did not want.
The road itself was coming together at a remarkable pace, from the looks of things it should be completed just in time for the inaugural run of the elevator.
The Lycans barely passed notice of the sullen young man as he hopped onto the completed section of road and followed it like a river of stone flowing to the city, most averted their eyes to avoid meeting the human’s gaze. Multhazzar kept himself hidden under the flap of the backpack since he was under the impression that the less people saw of a demon hanging around the young man the better he might go unremarked.
Balder could feel despair filling up his soul once more, damming up in his psyche, threatening to burst and overwhelm him, to drown him in emptiness and sorrow, and deep beneath it all he felt a growing fire of rage. He needed to keep that flame alight, he was clearer in the anger, his thoughts were sharper and more focused, the sheer outrage give him the passion that he needed to plan his revenge.
“Imp, tell me why that knight is trying to kill me,” Balder’s teeth were clenched as he spoke, “tell me why my friends had to die, and why I know that he killed my father.”
“I didn’t know that you knew about that,” replied Multhazzar with genuine surprise, “Abraxus killed your father because he wanted to change the future, and he is determined to kill you because he is trying to change his own destiny.”
“That’s stupid,” Balder spat the words as if they left a foul taste in his mouth, “those people did not deserve to die over a foolish and archaic notion such as destiny!”
“It’s not so stupid as you might think,” Multhazzar replied dryly, “Abraxus succeeded in changing the events of history, but so far history has found a way to ensure that the story will still reach the same end. History is malleable but destiny itself is absolute. Abraxus knows this, and he is fighting it.”
“Why? What is so important about me that I can affect his destiny?”
“You’re going to kill him.”
Balder stopped in his tracks, “Now that is stupid! Until this morning I didn’t even know that he existed, what possible motive or excuse could I have for killing someone I’ve never met?”
Although he wouldn’t say it aloud the idea of killing Abraxus did now hold a certain appeal.
“You see, that’s destiny at work that is,” Multhazzar tried to sound as sage-like as his somewhat piccolo voice allowed, “in trying to kill you he has set in motion the events that will inevitably lead to his own destruction. It’s a common human error made by villains throughout history, they never know when to leave well enough alone. That’s the real trick behind prophecies, the future is an entirely random state until it happens, and then it becomes history. But if you tell a human that they are going to do something then subconsciously they will do everything in their power to ensure that it happens, even if it is something that they do not wish to happen.”
“That sounds spurious.”
“Does it really?” Multhazzar tapped Balder’s shoulder and indicated that he should walk on, “Destiny isn’t some serpent waiting to spring upon the unwary traveller, destiny is just the name given to the path before you, but only you can choose to walk that path to whatever end it might lead.”
As he strode down the empty new highway with the evening sun gradually starting to sink in the sky Balder thought about the path that was before him now. His world had been turned upside down, his family and friends murdered, he himself on the run from some fel knight and his soldiers. No matter how he tried to look at the situation he could only see this path coming to an abrupt end, quite possibly over a chasm.
*****
On a land far, far away from the troubles of the young apprentice mage an intoxicated man sat at a bar, a feat that no publican on the planet could describe as unusual, the drunk was also in a maudlin state of mind, another feat of gross mundanity.
The pub was a busy tavern known as the Black Guard and was in the trade district of the Mage City of Ameer Hesh, the capital city of the Vanutian Dominions. The pub itself took its name from a somewhat legendary tribe of man who were renowned for having banished an ancient race of false gods and burning the bridge that would allow them to return to Hyldrassil. The destruction of the bridge not only destroyed the Gateway Isles but also caused the mana eruption that became the volcano of Pyrrha and changed the face of the world forever. Most of the tribe died that day almost two thousand years ago and those who remained now lived in peace in the village of For Humm in the small land of Kardiak between the three dynasties of Auraksis.
This was the legend of the Bridge Burners that the world knew, few knew the whole truth of their story, the dictators toppled, the invasions quashed and the wars averted. These were the things that could be hidden from the public eye, the cost of peace in a world that balance on a razor’s edge over oblivion.
“I used to be great,” the drunk moaned into his beer, “I led the armies of Strenia against the last High Kingdom. Me! A Vastian myself and I brought doom upon my people, and only because I had the misfortune of being born outside the city in one of the first villages to fall. I didn’t even know what it meant at the time, I was a general and the empire in the city were the enemy.”
His companion sat in silence, occasionally he sipped at the ale before him but mostly he listened, that was what he did, he listened to every detail no matter how trivial and then he would ensure that it was all carefully recorded in the histories.
“And oh how we crushed them,” he continued, “the ballistas soared through the sky spitting fire in their wake and breaking the walls like the fingers of the Eidolons. The Vastians were broken, the few who remained were scattered to the wind to await their destiny of nothingness. I hear that your lot even has one.”
For the first time the quiet man spoke, “In name only, it is not his bloodline.”
“Doesn’t matter, someday the Inquisition will come for him, just as they came for me. If it hadn’t been for the loyalty of my men I would be a much less complete person today.”
“The Inquisition wouldn’t dare,” said the quiet man in an off-hand comment, “there are forces in this world that even they must respect.”
“Quite true,” the drunk sighed, “but they might not yet be aware of that fact. I’m tired. Tired of fighting, tired of being on the wrong side of a conflict ending that seems to be without end, wrought with foulness and ruin.
“Did you know? Did you know after Vastinopolis fell my forces walked across Raan as if it were already ours, they had no fight left in them once the rumours spread of barbarism shown in the great city. I would have crushed Tithonus too had it not been for the Inquisition and their desire to eliminate what little remained of the Vastian bloodline. I could never figure that out, why would they do such a thing? It wasn’t as if there were even enough true-blood Vastians left for an uprising, there were few enough remaining to form a decent picket line and yet the Church decided that they, we must all die? It makes no sense to me that they would go so far even to turn on those who served Strenia and even on her Generals in the midst of a war.”
“Maybe one of your kind is destined to carry the light of the High Kingdom,” the quiet man ventured.
“Yeah, with sword in one hand and an olive branch in the other, posies in his hair and sunlight shining out of his arse.”
“Rather cynical, don’t you think?”
The drunk snorted, “No, I am a realist. The time of the Vastian people has been and gone, anything that rises from the ashes will be nought but a pale imitation. The world of the mage and the mana stone is coming to an end, it is the time of the ballista and the steam engine now. Technology is taking over on the path once tread by magic and those who do not keep up will find themselves swallowed up and devoured by the New Order.”
The quiet man sipped once more at his beer, the crowd in the tavern paid them no heed, it was not the first time that a tired soldier had gotten depressed about the direction in which the world was headed and had chosen to drunkenly voice his opinions. Sebastian Pygmalion probably had greater reason than most to be depressed for he was a true-blood Vastian and a cousin to the former Royal Family. During the early years of Strenia’s rising his village had been swallowed up, he was just a baby at that foreboding time of change. Twenty two years ago he was in his early thirties and a General of great renown, a natural leader and knowing nothing of his heritage he crushed the failing High Kingdom, and in so doing he destroyed his past. He was now a man hunted by the very people whom his deeds had made great, and he was doomed for a bloodline that he did not even understand.
“Technology is the way forward,” the drunken General sunk further into his melancholy, “Strenia is getting better in developing their machina of war, and I hear that Moldor has twice now attempted invading the southern kingdoms. That last time they nearly succeeded in laying a railway across the Badlands for shifting their troops. It is only a matter of time before they succeed in getting a foothold down here, don’t you think?”
“No,” said the quiet man with a resolute firmness, “the Moldorans are overconfident in their technological might. The first time they came here they were wiped out because they foolishly chose to camp over a nest of creatures that devour all non-magical life, they thought that they could easily overpower such beings. Their second attempt failed because they were so sure of the dread they inspired that they failed to realise that the Black Guard were amongst the slaves building their railroad, and that the rails were moving imperceptibly apart. At the ruins of Ish Hundaar their steam engine derailed and they found themselves surrounded by a combined Auraksian army, the Moldoran technology useless because it was still packed up for transport. The Moldorans will never gain a foothold here because they fail to comprehend a magical civilisation as a threat.”
It was the turn of Sebastian to sit in silence, his worldview was that darkness was closing in all around him and he couldn’t see this light that the Black Guard Chronicler was insisting still existed. He could see only enemies gathering on every side and a greater, brooding evil somewhere in the background biding it’s time.
“Avengerius,” he said at last, “do you really believe that there is a Vastian out there who can restore the legacy of the High Kingdom?”
“I do not think that restore is the correct word,” Avengerius the Chronicler replied, “but I do believe that there is one who can stop the world from sinking further into darkness and destitution.
*****
Chaos Theory states that in any system of disorder you can find an underlying pattern of order, which is of course subject to entropy within itself, and under which there is another intricate pattern. All that really means is that if you watch something for long enough you will get very bored and start coming up with overly elaborate sentences that could be roughly translated as ‘Oh, déjà vu’. This wordplay system has been used for years by quantum physicists to show how smart they are in comparison to other people and to attract women, you only think that you know sleazy until you meet a drunk physicist. The Arcanists of Hyldrassil have come up with the same theory because they want to meet women too (and to justify their otherwise pointless jobs that had previously involved pulling rabbits out of hats and other forms of pest control).
Bar fights tend to follow a similar pattern of entropy and inertia. You start with the breakdown of order, usually by the guy closest to the keg and from thence spreads a wave of disorder as he falls in a pool of his own vomit. The wave spreads out as patrons move or are pushed out of the way and into the path of other patrons, drinks are spilled, noses are knocked, feels are copped, and soon the wave crashes against the far wall and sometimes against the ceiling too. Order slowly returns as some reconcile their differences but soon breaks down again as they suddenly both realise that they have an unresolved issue with the closest person to them and they move in using a classic pincer formation.
It all goes to show that some of these quiet country pubs really could use some other form of entertainment to pass a Satyrday afternoon, possibly a flickering box showing grown men kicking an inflated bladder about.
The Twisted Ankle tavern sat on the outskirts of the whitewashed city of Prosperina, built just metres beyond the city limits allowed it to call itself a traditional country tavern and thus have an excuse for its ‘rustic’ appearance. Dilapidated is another word that came to mind when looking at the building. The other reason for being just beyond the city limits was that the publican could take advantages of lucrative tax breaks, such as not having to pay City Tax, Guild rates or trade duty.
This evenings bar fight was just coming to a close as Balder stepped through the doors, the next one wasn’t due to start for another couple of hours, time enough for him to grab a bite to eat and get on the road again.
He ordered what he knew would turn out to be assorted bits of pig in various stages of disfigurement served in a small pool of grease with black bits floating in it, he also ordered a pint of strong ale to try and cover the flavour. Pint in hand he made his way through the settling crowd and made himself comfortable at an unoccupied table in a darkened corner, then with that done he sat and stared blankly at his beer. Weariness washed upon Balder like a tidal wave, the events of the day once again threatening to overtake him in a flood of funereal emotions. He sighed long and hard as he tried to keep his mind on the here and now, he needed to get some sort of plan together otherwise he’ll end up standing at the harbour pointing from ship to ship going ‘eanie meanie mynie moe’.
At some point a plate of blackened meat and grease that more resembled a natural disaster than dinner was set in front of him, but Balder completely failed to register its presence, he was lost somewhere between the untouched ale and the stained dark wood of the heavy table.
A commotion at the bar finally brought him back to the real world, a hunched figure hidden within a faded brown robe was being shoved aside by a crowd of gruff men who gave off the same universal aura shared by bullies everywhere.
“Man before beast,” sneered the obvious ringleader as he gave the robed figure a push that sent him sprawling. The other men laughed at this, the robed one whimpered which only seemed to spur the bully on further, “Surely your kind should be drinking from a saucer out back? What right do you think you have round here? There’s a sign on the door says ‘no pets allowed’.”
Balder left his backpack at the table and made his way through the growing circle of spectators, Multazzar took the opportunity to hop unnoticed onto the rafters just in time to see the bully deliver a sharp kick to the chest of the prostrate figure.
“Hey,” the crowd parted around Balder, “if you think you’re such a big man why don’t you have a go at someone closer to your own size.”
Balder may have been the blond-haired, blue eyed boy but he was still over six feet tall and well built, not barbarian-invader build but athletic with enough obvious muscle definition. Plus he still had his sword strapped to his back.
“This don’t concern you, farm-boy,” the bully growled, “go back to your shandy and leave us with the beast.”
The cowering figure crawled towards Balder, shaking in fear and pain as he did so. The bully took a step forward.
RETURN TO THE BAR NOW!” Quick as a flash Balder had turned to an attack posture, his body sideways to the bully with one hand stretched before him and the other grasping the hilt of his sword. The bully and his posse backed away but this was probably less to do with the threatening pose and more to do with the fact that Balder’s eyes had turned black yet were somehow glowing and seeping a purple mist. The command barked in the strange foreign tongue also helped to throw them off balance, they may not have understood the words but they could sense that the speech was all in upper case.
“Hey, relax,” the bully said with his hands raised in a gesture of conciliation, “we were just messing around. No harm intended.”
Balder reached down and helped the robed figure to his feet, he glanced once to the posse, “I suggest that you guys learn a little respect before you run across someone less merciful than myself.”
The robed one gripped Balder’s arm as he attempted to steady himself and he could feel the long claws within the robe as the figure breathed in a ragged rasp. He led the cloaked figure to his table and offered him a seat near the hearth. The crowd had dispersed upon seeing that there was going to be no action so the pair was once again largely ignored.
“Thank you for your assistance, young human,” the figure said, his voice was a hiss as if he were speaking through fangs.
“I cannot tolerate bullies,” Balder replied, “and I despise racists.”
He could see the outline of scaly flesh within the darkened hood, of serpentine eyes appraising him and a superior sense of smell tasting the air around him for any hint of deception or malevolent intent.
“I know of many clans of Lycans,” continued Balder, “but I must admit that I have never before heard of one matching your description.”
The Lycan pulled back his hood slightly, just enough to allow the tavern light to illuminate his face and cast strange shadows across the spiny ridges that defined it.
“I am a Drake Lycan, dragon descent,” he said softly, “my kind are few in number, we are… an embarrassment to our people.”
“An embarrassment? If you do not mind me asking, how could you be an embarrassment to your people just because of your birth?”
“How much do you know of the wars between our peoples?”
Balder thought for few moments, his father had tried to educate him as fully as possible in the history of the world but the library of Vinalia was somewhat scant in reading materials.
“I only know a little, and that mankind could not exactly be called an innocent party in the altercations.”
“Quite,” the Drake said, “during the First Age my clan was the ruling caste of our people, and when the war came we made one tragic mistake, it was an act of desperation but unforgivable nonetheless. We consorted with demons beyond the likes the world has ever known, and unwittingly we brought genocide to Hyldrassil on a scale never before imagined in even the worst moments of your kind. In shame our clan went into exile on the mirror world, along with many others of the Lycan people, only a few of us remained to ensure that the mistakes of the past would never be repeated, and the gates of Goldrassil were sealed.”
“But you went to war against the Vastians five hundred years ago.”
“And lost,” the Lycan spoke solemnly, “that was the Lupercal Clan, the wolves. They could not forgive humanity for a war that cost our race its honour. They watched humans war amongst themselves and with their false gods and when they could stomach no more they struck at the Vastian Kingdom, then the heart of your peoples. But the Vastians were naturally powerful in magic, far more so than even the greatest shamans of my kind and in the end the Lycan armies were overwhelmed in the kingdom now known among your kind as Midas.”
Balder shifted a few blackened pieces of food about on his plate without any real interest or desire, it served more to remind him of the possibility of eating rather than to encourage actual consumption. He listened to the Drake’s story and could fully understand how the animosity between their peoples came to be, they had a history that started badly and gradually got worse until the Lycans closed their borders. Now humanity outnumbered their race by a figure roughly two hundred to one and could not be trusted to not flex that collective muscle.
“I thank you for protecting me, and for hearing me speak,” the Lycan slowly stood up from the table, it was clear that he still felt some pain in his body but must move on nonetheless. The story of his clan was a tale of woe and a cause for derision within his own kind, but it was also all that the Drakes really had left and they needed to ensure that the lessons were not forgotten. “I fear that I must now take my leave of you, my journey must continue.”
Balder stood and held his hand in what he hoped was the traditional Lycan sign of a friendly parting, the Drake made a reciprocal movement and Balder knew that he had got it right.
“I am Malecghos of the Drakes, Cleric of the Wind, Malec to you, my friend.”
“Balder Von Daryhiem, apprentice mage,” Balder replied, “I wish you well wherever your path may take you.”
And good luck to you,” Malec said in the same foreign tongue that Balder’s father used when teaching the manipulation of mana, “your kind has suffered more than mine ever had at the hands of those you once called your friends. I wish you providence on the journey that is before you, for I can see the shadows of destiny like an aura surrounding you.
Balder nodded, between the use of his educational tongue and the general bizarreness of the statement had left him unsure as to how best to respond, what exactly did he mean by ‘his kind’?
They parted company and Balder once again found himself sitting in the smoky air and staring at the most horrid looking plate of burnt slop ever to have befallen the world, it looked far worse now that it had cooled a little. They called this a ‘traditional fry’ but whatever people it been considered traditional to must have long ago succumbed to heart failure. He tried a bite of what was either a hash brown, a mushroom, or gravel scraped up from around the bins outside, he then attempted in vain to wash the flavour away with a large mouthful of the dark ale.
“So just out of curiosity,” a voice came from beneath the table, “what would you have done if they had chosen to fight? Would you actually have drawn that sword?”
“I tried to,” Balder replied softly, “the bloody thing is stuck.”
“Ah,” Multhazzar was lounging across the flap of the backpack and visibly suppressing a chuckle, “well you can always use the scabbard to bludgeon anyone you see as a threat. How did you do that thing with your eyes?”
“What thing with my eyes?”
“You know, black… misty?”
“Oh that. Happened again, did it?”
Multhazzar picked a bit of meat from between his teeth, “That a common thing for you, is it?”
“Tends to happen when I get.. emotional,” Balder shifted his food about his plate again, “my father explained that it was because I had a natural affinity for shadow mana and it tends to manifest according to my emotional state if I forget to keep it under control.”
“Fair enough,” the demon responded disinterestedly, “any chance that we could go now? You and I both know that you aren’t going to eat that crap.”
Balder shifted the mess once again, although he might have been imagining things he could have sworn that his fork was smaller than when he had started. He found that what was on the plate before him was very quickly becoming one of the most depressing aspects of this day, more depressing still was the fact that he had been forced to pay for it before seeing the dish. Too late to refuse to pay for this garbage, it was a well thought out strategy by the landlord, Balder would have commended him on his business acumen if it hadn’t been himself who had just gotten the shaft.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
*****
The sun was just sinking beneath the peaks of the rim wall and the shadows were growing long, the brightest of the evening stars shone through the gaps between the wispy clouds and crickets could be heard singing in the hedgerows. Somewhere in the trees beyond the road an owl was hooting.
“We’ll need to find you a brothel for the night.”
“I’m sure that you mean ‘hostel’,” Balder said as he stepped onto the stone highway that gently sloped into the heart of the city and would eventually lead to the harbour.
“No, I mean brothel,” Multhazzar replied, “you could do with some sort of distraction and there are few people more vigilant than ladies of rentable repute when it comes to looking out for hostile men.”
“I’m not really in the mood for such… indulgence. I’d rather find the first boat to Midas and get the hells away from here.”
“I’m getting pretty sick of this wallowing in self-pity phase that you’re going through. People are dead, it’s not your fault. Deal with it and move on!”
They trudged down the road in silence, the paraffin lamps along the roadside flickering as a mild breeze blew up from the harbour and carrying with it the faint hum of the Song of the Twin Gods.”
“I don’t know how people live here with that racket,” Multhazzar broke the silence, “how in the name of all the Shades of Niflheim do people sleep with that constant humming?”
“I imagine that they take comfort in hearing their Gods sing.”
“Most Gods have enough decency not to talk to their flock,” the imp spoke dryly, “when they do you generally find that people misinterpret them and end up killing virgins and dancing naked in a forest.”
“Unfortunately I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of that sort of thing going on here.”
The whitewashed houses gradually gave way to shops and guild offices, all whitewashed with an added tint of smog. As a rule Prosperina never really slept, though nobody could say for certain if this was for commerce or crime, ‘entertainment’ generally falls into both categories on Pyrrha rather than warranting a separate group for consideration. A good mugging was usually more fun than the theatre and so long as you weren’t the mugee it was generally cheaper too.
As they neared the City Square and the main thoroughfare to the harbour district the number of reputable premises gave way to an increasing number of restaurants, taverns and ‘financial centres’. The ladies of negotiable repute preferred to call themselves financial advisors because based on your finances they could advise you on exactly what you were going to get.
It was reckoned that the population of Prosperina was just over the eighty thousand mark, there was no accurate figure available as census forms rarely got returned out of the deeply held Pyrrhan fear that the tax man might come round. One or two people might get counted twice (for reasons of claiming disability benefits) but this is balanced out by the number of people who dabble in a little identity theft to shift the responsibility onto someone else.
At any given time there might be a further ten thousand seamen and merchants in the harborage, dockyards, and numerous inns and houses of financially determined repute, and the closer than you came to the harbour the more of the population you found on the streets.
Balder found himself trying to stay as close to the walls as possible, he felt uncomfortable in the street lights now that he knew he was a hunted man, the shadows along the storefront might give him some chance of avoiding any trouble.
Ahead a tavern door slammed open allowing the din of a few dozen conversations accompanied by the sound of a fiddle wailing some vigorous ditty to erupt into the night, Balder stopped in a convenient shadow to see what would happen next.
In the end it wasn’t particularly exciting, a group of drunken corsairs with the tanned skin of Minaarkand stumbled into the broad street, they were singing a somewhat crude song about a fair maiden called Venus with a rather unusually shaped body. They each held a flagon of ale in their hands and were far too merry to pay much heed to the crowds around them, this was the harbour district and if anyone had a problem with happy sailors then they should politely bugger off to one of the other districts.
There were plenty of taverns in this area due to the aforementioned ten thousand approximate visitors to the city, at least half of which must have been on the streets at this very moment. There were faces from all over the world here- gruff, long-haired Vikings from Althaea; black skinned merchants from Nu; pale, heavily accented druids from Heimdahl; there were even a few Lycans. This last group stuck together in close company and was trying to stay out of sight in much the same way as Balder.
A mild commotion up ahead attracted the attention of the majority of the crowded street, people were shuffling to move to the sides of the thoroughfare and to clear the way, even the drunks were shifting to make room. Balder melted back into the shadows but then saw that his fear was unwarranted, those who approached were not the black and red armoured soldiers who had ransacked his home and life, no these men had the respect of the community.
Their armour shone in the flickering street lamps and over the near glowing chain mail they wore tabards of regal blue upon which embossed in exquisite silver was an elaborate three pointed star, the longest point facing downwards with the others like outstretched arms. The image of a man was further enhanced by the small diamond above the star like a head, a behind it was a small halo like a shield.
The crowds stood in silence as these five proud knights strode by, many bowed their heads in quiet reverence whilst others whispered blessings and uttered prayers of good fortune.
Balder did not recognise the uniform, though he could recognise a certain divine energy like an aura that surrounded the knights. He spotted an Owl Lycan in the shadows nearby, quietly he made his way over and though the Lycan backed away at first he was able to enquire as to the nature of the knights, an act that shocked the Owl somewhat. The Owl had assumed that humans naturally knew those they venerated rather than just throwing around faith so blindly and without question. Balder had to explain that until today he had spent most of his life in a quiet mountain town reading books about magic, alchemy, harvests and exotic animals (just for a bit of variety).
“Those men are knights from Midas,” the Lycan said softly, “Paladins in the Order of Aryia.”
“The ones who build all the hospitals?”
The name of the Order rang a bell with Balder, he had read about them long ago, knights who appeared in war torn lands to build safe havens for those wounded and they did not discriminate against whom they healed. It was an old Order created around 1200AX by the Vastians in honour of Aryia, Demigod of Healing.
“Indeed, young human. They are a very forward thinking society, very compassionate even towards my kind, they are much honoured amongst my people.”
“I wonder why they are on Pyrrha? There is not a hospital here so far as I know, and we are not at war with anyone.”
“I fear that war may be coming to this land,” the Lycan said with sorrow in his voice, “there are rumours that a force of Strenian soldiers have landed here, an act that could easily be a precursor to invasion. The Paladins have been trying to keep the war on Amaldaar from spreading, the nations of Vanaheim are strong enough but as I understand it the King of Midas fears that Pyrrha is ill defended, and so he has sent the Order here to bolster the defences.”
“But there is only one way to Pyrrha’s interior,” Balder replied, “and invasion fleet would be forced to pass through a heavily defended bottleneck in order to land.”
“That is true, but a strong enough fleet could do it, especially with the weapons the Strenians now employ, horrid, evil things that have been improved upon every day since they first shattered the walls of Vastinopolis.”
Of course Balder knew all about the Strenians being here, he just hadn’t known at the time that they were soldiers of Strenia, but what he still couldn’t figure out was why even a warlike nation such as theirs would want him dead. He had never even been to the accursed place.
He thanked the Owl Lycan for his help and shuffled off into the crowd, there was obviously something far more serious going on in the world than he had first considered. Not that the fact made him feel any better about his own situation, an entire country had declared war on him.
It didn’t take long for the crowds to resume their drunken reverie after the Paladins had passed, as with most things respect only ever really extended as far as earshot.
When the surrounding noise was sufficient to drown his voice after more than a few feet Multhazzar spoke from the backpack, “It’s amazing how the people you talk to seem to be frightfully well informed. But perhaps that is because I am forced to use you as my basis for comparison. And you are an idiot.”
“I told you that I had a natural affinity for shadow magic,” Balder spoke and ignored the insult, “it’s mostly mental stuff, I can sort of read who might be off the most use to me, it’s like an instinct.”
“I’m just pointing out that it is a tad convenient, is all.”
“Well I tell you what, Imp,” Balder said jovially as he skipped around a fellow who was discussing his finances with a raven-haired beauty, “the next time we need to find something out I’ll just ask the first person who looks like they’ll reply ‘dunno’. Maybe they’ll turn around and shock us with some useful knowledge, wouldn’t that be a fun experiment?”
“You could try asking one where we might find a good place to stay tonight.”
“I’d rather not,” Balder replied as he shrunk suddenly back into the shadows of an alleyway between a burlesque and a restaurant, “that man across the street with the short black hair, the guy in the dirty cloak. That’s the Strenian captain who was with Abraxus in Vinalia.”
“It couldn’t be,” Multhazzar peered over Balder’s shoulder, “it’s a week’s ride from Vinalia to Prosperina, you said so yourself.”
“Well they must have gotten down somehow,” he started down the alley, first at a quiet pace but very soon he was running, “they must have portals or something.”
Multhazzar doubted that idea, wormholes were incredibly difficult to create even by the best mages, it took skill and energy far greater than even the most powerful summons. Heck even the majority of demons were incapable of creating a wormhole large enough to transport anything but their own essence. Of course there were certain mana stones, spatial thaumatite they called it or something like that, stones that could be bound with the essence of a location so that even a non-mage could teleport back to the spot. But even with such stones they would require a high level terramancer to draw forth the spatial essence.
The thoughts going through the demon’s head were far beyond Balder’s education, and probably a good thing too because it allowed the apprentice to approach the problem from a more practical level, and he had hit upon the answer.
“The elevator,” he said between breathes as he ducked from one alley to the next, “the construction crews had cranes at the top to lower the crew in boxes to the work area. They must have had the crew lower them all the way down.”
“Huh,” Multhazzar sounded like he might finally have been impressed, “so IQ means more to you than just letters after all.”
Balder stopped and leaned back against the alley wall which in turn resulted in a muffled curse from the demon still secreted in the backpack. The cold, damp stone against the back of his head sent chills down his spine, though it could just as easily have been the adrenaline having that effect on him. This was the grimy underworld beneath the whitewashed façade of the merchant city, hidden there buried amongst the discarded trash and detritus lay the shivering and largely ignored vagrant population of Prosperina. Drink, gambling and taxation had cost many a man his home and livelihood in this city, and usually the three went hand in hand.
It was a terrible state to be in and Balder genuinely pitied these poor souls huddled around their small fires or wrapped in waste paper, you never saw people in this condition in Vinalia, the folk in the mountains looked out for one another. This sense of community was one of the things he feared that the village would lose when the elevator was completed, and that chilled him more than the cold stone ever could.
He could do nothing for these people here now, he knew that there was nothing that he could do and still felt no better for knowing it. The feeling was the same kind of impotent guilt that healthy people feel when they meet a crippled person, which is why most people avoid the handicapped, that guilt is a horrible and somewhat unjust feeling.
He remembered that he had packed a week’s supply of waybread for coming down the rim wall, and most of it hadn’t been need thanks to his necessary shortcut. Approaching the nearest group, three desolate souls huddled around the most pathetic fire they looked up at Balder with withered, hollow eyes that tried to blank out the reality of their world, he gave them all of his waybread and most of his water. It wasn’t much but at least it felt right, it felt like he had at least tried to do something that might make their world better if even only a little while.
“How fantastically altruistic,” Multhazzar hissed from within the backpack, “if you’re quite done with your little humanitarian mission saving those who can save themselves could you perhaps get back to the task of saving you whilst we still can?”
Saying nothing Balder slipped silently through the darkness and the stench of decay, his feet sliding in random puddles of grime or tripping over unseen bags of waste. This city was badly in need of redevelopment or at the very least sanitation, over the last decade things had slipped further and further into disrepair as the Pyrrhan government grew more corrupt and apathetic.
Beneath the smell of waste he could just about make out another scent, the rich tang of salt air and seaweed, the harbour was only a corner or two away and then all that he had to do was pick a boat.
And there it was, he rounded the last corner and saw beyond the dark walls the glare of the lanterns along the crowded harbour promenade and the packed quay. Beyond that the vast darkness of the Crater Lake, and on the opposite shore the chasm known as the Pillars of Ares which opened out to the expanse of the Gaean Ocean.
Standing at the edge of the alleyway shrouded in the last of the darkness Balder surveyed the hustle and bustle along the promenade. There were blocks of warehouses lining the shore and because no Pyrrhan would ever pass up the chance to make a quick buck there were also numerous inns, taverns and brothels, plus for some reason the public library. This area was the real hive of activity in Prosperina, the one place that even in the darkest hours of the morning commerce never ceased, there were always ships coming and going, always cargo to be unloaded and deals to be made.
In the light Balder saw a crane swing overhead and lower one final crate onto a barge that already say dangerously low in the water. At first he wondered how that thing would ever survive an ocean journey when a light breeze would whip up waves large enough to capsize it and make the ocean floor that bit more valuable. An empty barge silently came alongside as the first slowly backed out, as it moved away from the harbour Balder saw a multitude of small vortices travelling along the hull, the water was being shifted by a piece of thaumatite charged with water mana.
Further out in the lake a shadow sat imposingly on the water and as he allowed his eyes to follow it he realised that this was a vessel sitting beyond the harborage, a monster of a thing so large that it could come no closer. That was were the barges were coming to and from, this leviathan that boggled the sense and defied all logic. How could a monster that size plough through the waters?
Thaumatite, whilst allowing laymen to control magic to an extent held only a limited charge and to shift a super freighter of such magnitude half of their cargo space at least would need to be taken up with stones just to reach Midas. It seemed an incredibly inefficient way to move cargo.
The second barge was moored and Balder saw a crew of dark skinned men working on deck, well that explained something at least, the Noob city of Solczar was the largest merchant city in the world, the Nu Combine had been built upon their trading empire. When it came to shifting merchandise the Noobs were inventive in ways that would put certain historical Leonardos to shame, and they had done it without having to blackmail any failing ancient empires.
“I think that I’ve just spotted our way out of here,” Balder whispered to the backpack, “if we can get onto one of those barges we could hitch a ride on that super freighter out there.”
“Yeah, a six foot tall, blond white guy,” Multhazzar said with mock enthusiasm, “I’m sure that you will be totally inconspicuous amongst the people of Nu. Great idea, you just have to work on your tan.”
“I don’t intend to stowaway,” he replied as he scanned the nearby crowds, “I intend to ask for help, I’ll buy passage if need be.”
“And do you really think that going to Nu will keep you safe?”
“No, but if you have any better ideas I am open to suggestion,” there was a hint of anger in his voice, “seriously. You were the one who was sent to get me out of here, if you have a better plan I’m happy to give it a shot.”
There was silence from his backpack and then Balder knew that he had struck a chord.
When the demon finally spoke his tone was one of resignation, “I’m sorry. You’re right, I went to your house and told you what I was ordered to and since then you have done all of the work. I know that I have been underperforming, believe me I am well aware of the fact and it is frustrating as hell, and the simple truth is that I do not know why I have been sent here. I’m only an imp after all, my job is to destroy things, I can’t even do any of that transmogrification or mind-mess stuff that djinn can and our species are separated only by two Words. I don’t know how to save you.”
“Maybe you aren’t meant to,” Balder mused as he slipped forward into the light, “maybe you are here because you know more about the world than I do, after all, I’ve lived in a quiet mountain town all of my life.”
Before Multhazzar could respond a shadow leapt from the edge of the darkness grabbed Balder, bodily lifting him back into the shadows and pressing him back against the wall.
A pair of glowing spheres that could have been eyes stared back at him, they seeped a deep purple mist that drifted skywards, the face was shrouded in a grey cloak and further inspection showed all flesh to be hidden. The figure was the same height as Balder but far more powerful than a man should rightfully be, when he spoke his voice was a damaged rasp and the words almost seemed to insinuate themselves into existence rather than be spoken.
“Are you bloody stupid or something?” There was a definite malevolence in that voice, “You can see in shadow so why don’t you try doing that before exposing yourself, you damned fool!”
Balder struggled in the figure’s iron grip and felt an anger building inside him as he flailed in vain to break free.
“Cease your infirm scuffling,” the figure commanded, “I am not going to harm you, and the last thing that either of us needs right now is for you to draw any unwanted attention. Calm down and relax your mind, let the shadow flow into you and I think that you’ll see things a little more clearly.”
The struggling ceased but the figure still held tight, Balder calmed himself with deep, steady breaths and allowed his mind to open out to whatever it was that he had always felt trying to get in.
Colour drained from the world and the people within it became as little more than two-dimensional cut outs, the lake glowed white as if filled with some luminescent creatures and the sky became a swirling monochrome vortex.
And suddenly here in this toneless landscape there hovered in glowing orange a creature like a squid, a ring of eyes surrounded its body and its tentacles reached out in all directions. It was feeling everyone who came within its mammoth reach whilst the body rotated slowly in the air, Balder watched as the tentacles wrapped around people, gripping their 2-D chests, caressing their faces and frighteningly nobody seemed to notice.
“A pitseer hydra,” the shrouded figure said, “they only exist as energy, unless they choose to manifest their touch cannot be felt. They absorb holy mana as sustenance and as a result show up exceptionally brightly on the shadow spectrum. There’s a couple of dozen of them up and down the dock, and I know that you can guess who they are looking for.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Balder couldn’t take his eyes off the monstrous being, the vile tendrils reaching out and grasping all who came by, it was more than an abomination, it was a violation.”
“There are far stranger things than that in the world,” the shrouded figure released the young man, “and Multhazzar, I know you’re in there. You were supposed to be keeping an eye out for things like that.”
A small head with over-exaggerated horns poked out from under the flap of the backpack, “Daryim, I’m sorry. I, I didn’t know what to do, I’m not cut out for this kind of-”
“Stop babbling,” the one who had been identified as Daryim said, “I told you to get him on the move and help out whenever you can, I’m not expecting you to perform any miracles. I know fine well that it is Balder who will have to do most of the work, it’s his life we’re talking about.”
“Can you stop talking about me like I’m not here, please?” Balder brought the focus of attention back to him once more, “I’d like somebody to talk to me and explain exactly what in the Underrealm is going on.”
“I would have thought that much was blatantly obvious,” Daryim rasped, “the Strenians are trying to kill you.”
“But why me?”
“Don’t take it too personally, they’re determined to wipe out all of the Vastians, not just you.”
Balder stared at the glowing squid thing, “But I’m not a Vastian.”
“Did it never seem odd to you that all other Pyrrhans seem to have dark hair, green eyes and few seem to be taller than five foot eight? Oh, and that you have a natural affinity for magic?”
The monotone world of two dimensions continued to flow by, another pitseer hydra became visible briefly further down the dock, it was lower towards the ground and moving amongst the cut-out figures, ducking in and out of narrow spaces along the wharf. The nearby hydra was no longer groping around the crowd but had pulled its tentacles into the air and moved as if swimming down the promenade, and it was moving directly towards those in the alley.
“Um, I think that squid thing has spotted us.”
The air moved in the darkness of the alley, a cool breeze grew to a fierce wind and in the realm of shadow Balder saw a vortex of blue light form seven or eight feet off the ground. Lightning crackled within the glowing whirlpool and mists of local ether were dragged over the event horizon and drawn away.
People were at the head of the alley, in two dimensions they were ludicrous looking as they pointed and stared, above and behind them the hydra picked up pace and was joined by another glowing beast.
Daryim grabbed Balder’s clothes just below the neckline and spun the young man towards the vortex, with inhuman strength he held him up towards the maelstrom. Balder screamed and fought as some unseen current caught his legs and pulled him up into the vortex, the only thing anchoring him here was the unshakeable grip of the shrouded man.
“I am sorry,” the voice rasped from behind the grey bindings, “but this is the way your story must continue.”
And with that Daryim released his grip.
Balder felt himself dragged inexplicably across the threshold, light washed over him and he had the vague sensation of being stretched to infinity, sight and sound became meaningless and became one.
In one moment he felt himself become everything that didn’t exist in the world.