Chapter 12

After five days of traveling the group found themselves camping another day’s travel outside of Borhevan. Borhevan was a river town centered around a joint in a major river that flowed southwest towards Vordenport. The plan was to get there the next day and find a place to stay so they could restock supplies and get a decent night’s sleep in actual beds.  They were all looking forward to it, except Drule, who could sleep soundly just about anywhere anyway, and preferred to stay away from cities. Sleeping in separate rooms would also give them a chance to get away from Shernine’s snoring. As quiet and calm as Shernine typically came across, his snoring was like a howling from a bear. Michael was hoping to find a place in town to get some milk to help with his stomach infection. He had definitely been having the most issues sleeping as a result of the intense stomach pain he was experiencing. He tried to keep the darkness in his veins hidden but Bart noticed one day that it had creeped up well past his elbow and was sure to reach his neck soon. It was something unlike any of them had ever seen before. James was hoping either Shernine or Drule would have some insight to offer on the subject, but it was a truly unusual case. Shernine said it looked familiar but he couldn’t remember a time when he had encountered it before and Drule would only ever shrug in his slow demeanor when asked about it.

Drule was very quiet generally so no one was really surprised when he refused to answer. Shernine talked to him on a regular basis but rarely got any sort of response from the large beast of a man. The boys all felt awkward talking to him and never getting an answer so they generally didn’t say anything to him at all. Drule was most talkative to the horses who would all gather around him attentively so he could brush their manes and whisper to them about where they would be headed. James was amazed by his ability to keep them calm; he was the only person he had ever met more capable with the animals than his parents. He imagined whenever they made it back home, Drule couldmeet his parents and show them how he was able communicate with them. He figured his mother would fawn over his abilities and his father might wish to keep in touch with him to assist with particularly stubborn stallions.

James spent a lot of time thinking about his parents. He wasn’t used to be separated from them for so long. Even though it hadn’t been an entire week it was the longest he had ever been away from them. It didn’t bother him too much but they were always on his mind. It seemed odd not knowing what they were up to, or how things were going on the ranch. He wasn’t sure if they felt the same way about him. Bart was used to not having his father around for extended periods of time and didn’t seem too concerned about his mother, as she was fairly independent, despite here deteriorating health. He told James she was as strong as his dad and was most worried that they might get used to having him out of the house while he was gone. Michael was too busy trying to maintain his composure in spite of his own sickness, vomiting about twice a day, to really worry about how his family was handling life in his absence. It made James feel uncomfortable, not experiencing the same sort of pain he was going through while witnessing it on a daily basis. Michael tried to play it off casually but was becoming increasingly more tired and irritated with traveling as the days went by.

The boys were surprised at how easily Drule’s horse carried him, considering how large he was. He had a sort of ritual to go along with mounting the horse. He would always whisper something to it first and give it a good few pats before placing his foot in the saddle. Then he would run his fingers through its mane and say “Here we go now,” before effortlessly lifting himself onto its back. It was sort of amazing to watch such an overbearing person be so gentle with the creature.  Bart was not nearly as large and his movements were much clunkier as he tried to get on his horse. He had never ridden one before starting on their journey.  One day he tried whispering something into his horse’s ear but it began to trot into the woods rather than remaining steady for him. Bart claimed it was the horses own behavior and not his inability that was the problem. Drule managed to calm it down for him and he was able to mount the saddle. As the horse walked back to Bart, calmly reassuming its position, they all looked to Drule for some sort of reply but their stares were met with a simple shrug.

Most of the traveling was very easy. There weren’t any roads for traveling directly north of Vorren but there was enough travel to and from the town that the more wooded areas at least had simple paths and clearings. Shernine always insisted they camped a little way from the roads just to be safe. The boys didn’t understand his paranoia but since he was the only one who was sure where he was going they didn’t see any point in arguing about it, figuring at least they wouldn’t be disturbed while trying to sleep. Michael said that anyone who might mean them harm would have been scared off by Shernine’s snoring anyway which, of course, was met with a shrug from Drule. The group moved quickly by day and only stopped for an occasional rest or quick meal before sunset. The horses were starting to tire and it was becoming evident that at least a resting day in town would be necessary if they were to keep moving at the same pace. Shernine was hesitant to take a break but James knew that it would be better if they waited a day and rebuilt their strength rather than exhausting themselves as they had been.

During their brief pauses the boys would occasionally prod Shernine for more information regarding himself and Alchem. Shernine’s answers were usually short and cryptic. They weren’t sure whether he was crazy or just knew much more than he was willing to share. James suspected he wasn’t trying to hide anything from them but simply had very limited communication skills. It was really a mixture of both. Whenever Shernine had any kind of interaction with people in the past it was either with Alchem or the Sun leading the conversation. Alchem was, or at least used to be, very good with people. Before he became a docile old man, he was a very friendly old man. Alchem used to have many friends on earth who would converse with him on any matter of subjects. Unfortunately for Alchem he realized that living such an extended life could be lonely as he fell out of touch with most people he knew and eventually outlived nearly all of them.

Alchem used to be bustling with life back before the Dark Age and early into the dissolution of the Mainland Empire. He had a knack for humanity that was far out of reach for Shernine, Drule and the Sun. They were all very similar in their composition but very different in their personality traits. Drule never felt the need to communicate with humans and the Sun was much more authoritative on the occasions when he did interact with them. Shernine preferred Alchem’s method of speech but was unable to replicate it himself. He never felt as comfortable with earthly life as Alchem had. It became even more difficult for Shernine as Alchem fell out of touch and lost his own sense of self-awareness. It didn’t help that Shernine’s amnesia was worse than Drule’s or the Sun’s. Alchem had also spent all of his life, as far as the rest of them knew, on earth’s surface. Shernine and the Sun often escaped the earth altogether and Drule could essentially disappear from existence if he felt the need. The week that Shernine had been perusing the planet with the boys was the longest in a while that he remained bound to the gravity of the heavy planet.

In some ways he felt very proud to be leading a group of humans, and Drule, but at times preferred to take a step back and relegate his responsibilities. He could tell that the boys were more familiar with traversing difficult landscapes and terrain simply based on their experience. He couldn’t understand how they could block out the mass amounts of detail constantly passing by them as they road through the forests. Drule had an excellent sense of his surroundings and could easily remember all of the fluctuations in the paths. Where it not for his ability to follow the sun and the stars Shernine would have been completely lost, instinctively trying to memorize every tree and rock they passed. The buzzing of green and brown colors around him often gave Shernine a headache as they travelled. It wasn’t so much the speed as the amount of color reaching his vision that slowed him down. Still, he was aware that appearances were very important to humans and so he tried to remain calm and act as if he was very comfortable with what was happening around him.

Whenever Shernine was on earth with the Sun he played more of a passive role, which he preferred. The Sun could come across as very controlling and harsh and, while the Sun was rarely wrong, it helped to have a calm, relaxed tone to go along with the often severe news that the Sun delivered to his subjects. Unfortunately Shernine was painfully aware that what the Sun was doing was necessary and could never interfere with his decisions, despite his discomfort with the delivery. The Sun however was very attentive to Shernine’s opinions when it came to humanity primarily because of Shernine’s ability to receive messages from beyond the stars. It was always strange to Shernine that this power continued to sway their opinions even though he was no longer able to use it affectively. Alchem always followed the instructions of the other three but they were never sure if it was by choice or if he really agreed that they should hold authority over him. They never asked him as they were afraid of what the answer might be.

The four of them all suffered from some level of amnesia which may just have been a result of how old they all were, at least, how old they thought they were. The Sun retained the largest amount of memories and claimed they were at least a thousand years old, except for Alchem, who they had found only a few hundred years ago. They weren’t entirely sure how old he was when they discovered him.

 Even though the Sun could remember more than the rest he was the most adamant about finding out why they were all suffering from it. Shernine wasn’t sure he wanted to remember why and Drule never seemed to care too much. The last time Drule, Shernine and the Sun were all together the Sun attempted to jog their memory using a series of flashing drawings he had made. It didn’t work at all which Shernine insisted was a result of the crudeness of the drawings. The Sun insisted it had worked on humans if he could flash the images at the proper speed, but they didn’t have human brains so they were unsure as to why he thought it would work for them. Alchem refused to participate and often claimed that he hadn’t existed until he was located by the others as that was when his memories began.

Shernine watched the fire they had built crackle slowly underneath the food he was preparing. He was an excellent cook and had prepared all of the meals during the journey. Shernine enjoyed making food although he was unable to do so on the moon. James gazed into the flames with a worried expression plastered on his face. Shernine could see the concern washing over him. Five days of traveling was wearing down on him. As uncomfortable as he was with emotional interaction he felt the need to instill at least some kind of confidence with the rest of the group. “James.” James looked up at a very stern Shernine. He didn’t say anything. Before Shernine could say anything else, Michael wondered over and plumped himself down in front of the fire.

“What’s on the menu tonight?” He managed to cough out. His condition was clearly taking ahold of him as it was now difficult for him to simply sit and stand.

“Bread and meat, maybe a potato,” Shernine was always proud of what he could create using very little resources. James’ glare was cast back down towards the fire. Drule and Bart came down from tending to their horses and sat with the rest of them quietly. Shernine felt the tension in the air. He looked back towards the small burning coals in the fire. “Alchem never used magic around you boys, did he?” Michael and Bart turned to James assuming he must have seen it at some point, but James simply shrugged. Shernine threw his elbows back behind him with a resounding symphony of crackling from his spine. He pointed delicately to a coal in the fire. It rolled out from underneath the grill towards him. As he raised his finger it rose slowly from the ground and into the air, suspended in a sort of purple bubble. Shernine noticed a brown leaf start to waver down from a tree above. He waited for the opportune time and gestured towards it. Suddenly, the coal flew through the air and burnt straight through it. The boys all were aghast. This was the first experience any of them had had with sincere magic.

“Hah, good shot.” Michael laughed and then broke into a fit of coughing. Shernine rolled another coal out of the fire and lifted it into the air. They all waited patiently for another leaf. As soon as the small crack could be heard from above the coal broke lose, and hurtled towards it, burning another perfect hole through the center. Shernine smiled confidently.

“I’ve always been a good shot.”

“Sure…” Michael chuckled again, this time managing to keep his composure. “It’s easy with magic, I’ll bet.”

“Hmph. You give it a go then.” Michael glanced at Shernine. He then stood up and cracked all of his knuckles proudly. He pointed to a coal in the fire which rolled out from underneath the grill. The look on his face showed nothing but sheer surprise. He raised his finger into the air and watched, amazed at is took flight and hovered where he pointed. Michael threw a branch up into a tree above to cause a few leaves to fall. He flicked his hand forward and sent the coal right through the centers of three of the leaves. Bart and James looked at him in amazement.

“Was that me, or you?” He asked. Shernine raised an eyebrow.

“I guess it is easier than it looks.” He replied. Michael slumped back into his seat, smiling to himself. Bart seemed fascinated by the whole event. He too, stood up and pointed to a coal. Nothing rolled out from underneath the grill. He tried a few times before completely giving up. James laughed at his defeat.

“Well, we finally found something Michael can beat you at.” Bart rolled his eyes and wondered off. James wasn’t sure whether or not Shernine had been controlling the whole charade, but it was amusing to watch Bart’s utter defeat, which was especially crushing as he lost to Michael of all people. As he watched the rest of the coals turn to ash, he realized Alchem had never even mentioned using magic in the past. He knew Alchem had magical abilities, but only was aware of this because Malcolm had talked about it. Alchem refused to use it in his work, despite the opportunities that presented themselves. James hadn’t ever given it a second thought as Malcolm seemed opposed to the idea as well. He knew that no amount of magic could verify any of the experiments they were doing, and the results would hardly be helpful if they couldn’t be reproduced in an average setting. Malcom always acted as if magic was a crutch to be used only in desperate situations, so he was somewhat surprised at the carefree way Shernine used it to make a joke at Bart’s expense. He wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to it, so he simply laughed it off and enjoyed the dinner laid out before him.

Shernine, Bart, Michael and James slowly approached the gates of Borhevan later the following day. Drule had disappeared at some point while the rest of the group slept, but Shernine assured them that he would not likely ever be seen in town due to his unusual stature and inability to have any kind of serious communications with humans. Borhevan had a massive southern gate that was left open during the day and essentially impenetrable during the night. The boys noticed Shernine was uncomfortable on his feet but none of them realized it was mostly due to his inexperience with heavy gravity. The road into town was paved with stone; a much easier alternative to the rooted paths up until this point. None of the boys had been to the city in many years and felt overwhelmed by its magnificence, even Michael. The outpost soldier by the door stood firmly inside the side wall gazing absolutely forward from the window from which he was perched. As they neared the entrance Shernine halted the horses with much gusto and had them all wait by the caravan. He slowly approached the guard and cocked his head sideways. The guard remained undisturbed by their presence.

“State the reason for your presence here.” He calmly stated. Shernine wavered for a minute.

“We are… passers-by. We are seeking refuge from the elements and supplies before we continue north.” Shockingly the armored soldier gestured them forward with a calming demeanor.

“Carry on then!” He said with a smile. “Have and excellent visit to Borhevan!” Shernine opened his mouth to speak but decided not to press such a friendly welcome further. Shernine turned towards the boys and pointed into the city. As they passed underneath the gate and through the portal Bart peered upwards at the massive metal, ornate frame that would separate the city from the outside world at night. There were a few skulls perched atop spears inside the walls on either side of them. No one else seemed to notice so he chose not to divulge this information with them. Inside the wall lay the bustling city before them, filled with life and activity on a level which none of them, not even Shernine, were familiar with.

Borhevan was a diverse city filled with all sorts of shops and service stations on either side of the main road into the city center. The crowd of passers-by was dense and active as they attempted to stick together in the quickly moving morning traffic. For James and Shernine the noise was nearly unbearable. Michael and Bart were more used to a constant barrage of conversation that made no difference to them at all as they were able to block it out. James and Shernine were uncomfortable with the amount of confrontation happening around them. Borhevan was well known as a bartering town filled with many interesting wares with prices that were all negotiable depending on the buyer and the seller. Anything for sale was negotiable and people fought tooth and nail to save mere pennies.

Anyone who travelled beyond one of the few major roads would find the slums that occupied most of the rest of the city. Residents who couldn’t make a kind of honest living in Borhevan could find a somewhat sound, yet seedy alternative deeper within the city. Around the popular paths he Architecture was bold and coarse. Any sort of decoration was offset by what it was being used to display. The buildings were tall, built with stone on the lower levels and cheaper materials on higher floors. The city paid no tribute to ascetics when it came to residences. Houses and shops were all crammed together separated by an occasional small alley. The streets were narrow and most of the squares were crammed with carts and small booths advertising food and materials. Navigating the streets with a string of horses was nearly impossible for the boys.

Drugs and corruption ran rampant through the lesser known parts of the trading town. You could find a cheap place to stay away from the traveler friendly areas of the city if you were willing to look, but at the price of security and safety. The biggest trade was in illegal gambling. Borhevan was the epicenter of underground gambling rings in the mainland. This led to lots of violent crimes over disputes especially unpaid debts. Loan sharking was a dirty but lucrative business in Borhevan. Most police wouldn’t bother leaving the main sectors. Matters in the slums tended to play themselves out without any governing authority. There was a large homeless population, most of whom were victims of their own addictions, whether it be drugs or gambling. Bodies seemed to pile up in the streets near to the outer walls of the cities, most remaining unclaimed, often caused by bad batches of the latest painkillers.

Shernine led the boys and the horses inside the walls of the city looking out for a place to stay. The first location they found on the main road was well kept and far out of their price range. A few more attempts led to the same results. Michael suggested getting off the touristy road and finding a place deeper in the city. They all walked down an alleyway to find themselves on a street filled with caravans and locals. The road was cramped and no one was giving them any room to move. Pushing and shoving appeared to be the standard mode of travel in this part of town. Eventually up the road it became much less crowded and they stopped to rest by a group of boys playing some kind of ball game in the street. James plopped down on an empty crate. As Bart and Michael tied up the horses Shernine wondered over to the boys. James watched as all of a sudden Shernine was pitching for the game. “Hey, Bart found a smaller inn; we’re gunna see how much it will cost to stay the night.”

“Sure, I think Shernine is a little preoccupied now anyway.”

Inside the inn it was dirty and had a musty sort of smell to it. There were empty liquor bottles lying all over the tables in the front room which seemed to serve as a bar. There was a large counter next to all of the mailboxes with room keys dangling behind it. The man standing behind the counter looked completely uninterested in Bart and Michael’s presence. He was a scruffy, older man with a dirty apron and scraggly facial hair. They walked up to the counter, but before they could begin to speak a loud snoring broke out behind them. The man at the bar screamed over to an elderly gentleman passed out over a table with a bottle still clutched in his fist. “Get outta here Sam!” Sam didn’t even stir. The bartender grabbed an empty bottle and hurled it towards him, causing it to shatter directly above his head.

“Alright, I’m going.” He moaned as he struggled to make it to his feet and wonder off. He was still drunk by the looks of it.

“Stupid old drunk, you kids need something?”

“How much is a room for one night?” Bart asked calmly.

“65 for a night.”

“For this place?” Michael questioned him while looking around the room.

“Doors over there if you don’t like it. Another 35 if you’ve got horses need tied up.” Bart huffed.

“See you then.” He spun around and began to leave but Michael remained at the counter.

“Roll you for it; Half or double, seven or eleven.”

“Michael, don’t.”

“Alright.” They shook on it. Michael began to pull out his loaded dice, but the bartender pushed his hand down.

“You must think I’m stupid. We use mine.”

“How do I know yours aren’t loaded?”

“I know yours are, so we ain’t using ‘em.” The color drained from Michael’s face. Bart crossed his arms with a sigh and shook his head. The man pulled out a pair of cheap looking wooden dice with scratches and dents in them. They looked like they had been thrown a million times. He dropped them in Michaels hand with a confident smile. “All yours.” Michael gave them a single shake and rolled them across the bar revealing an eleven. The man looked both shocked and appalled. “You some kind of cheater?” He spat while scooping the dice back up. Michael regained his earlier confidence while Bart just stared in amazement.

“They’re your dice.” After they stared at each other for a minute the man finally resigned to the loss and placed his dice back in his pocket. Michael dropped his coins on the bar and got his key, truthfully, he hadn’t nearly enough to pay twice the rate and was planning on running the moment he lost.

“Horses can get tied up around back.” He scoffed and turned around to wash some dishes, clearly just to avoid the smug satisfaction smeared across Michael’s face. When they returned outside Bart grabbed Michael’s shoulder.

“That was a special kind of stupid. You knew his dice were loaded too. You could tell by the way he was acting when he lost.”

“Maybe they were once; not in that kind of shape. Guess I’m just lucky, and I try not to question good fortune.” Bart clearly wasn’t convinced, but Michael was somewhat right, they were very fortunate to get a good deal in such an expensive area. They asked James were Shernine was and James pointed out into the street. The boys were playing their game and Shernine was pitching all sorts of incredible pitches, most of which seemed to move straight through the batting stick. Michael ran out to the stand where they had been swinging fruitlessly, which was simply an old piece of wood that had been tossed onto the path. “Let me take a swing.” He told one of the younger boys holding the bat. Shernine turned to a child standing nearby.

“Watch this one; it’s gonna zig-zag.” Shernine had an incredible wind up to a pitch that quite literally zig-zagged towards Michael. Michael gave an astounding swing and sent the ball soaring through the air, completely out of sight, leaving nothing but a whirring sound in its wake. The boys all stared at Michael with mouths hanging open, even Shernine was shocked. James stood up with his hand shielding his eyes from the sun but couldn’t keep track of where the ball landed.

“I guess I win?” Michael subtly dropped the bat to the ground and walked away. As he passed Bart on his way back inside he was met with glaring disapproval. He shrugged and ignored him. James watched their strange interaction and was simply confused by what was taking place in front of him. It seemed out of character for both Michael and Bart, but he wasn’t sure what to say so he quietly followed them inside.

At night they all had settled themselves in the room and divvied up bed space. Shernine elected not to have any seeing as he didn’t actually require much sleep, although he definitely could sleep for hours if he wished. Bart offered to sleep on the floor if Shernine wanted a bed, but Shernine just shook his head and jumped out the window, off into the night. No one was sure what to say as he dropped delicately from the second story window as if that were a typical mode of travel. As they lay to rest Michael fell fast asleep for once soon followed by Bart. They were all bushed from the long day. James sat up in his bed on the floor staring out at the night sky. He could hear insects buzzing outside, even though they were in the city. Occasionally a few bats would fly in and out of view. It was a fairly warm night, despite it getting late into the fall season. James attempted to get some actual sleep, but Bart’s snoring was filling the room and the noise coming from downstairs was enough to keep him awake. He eventually gave up and wondered downstairs and outside. Luckily, he didn’t have to go through the bar as there was another door from outside that led to the upper rooms.

The streets of Borhevan were mostly dead at this point with the exception of an occasional yelling off in the distance or wondering soul. James looked to his left and realized there was an old man passed out in the horse trough next to him. He nudged him a bit but didn’t get any response. The guy was at least breathing so he wasn’t particularly worried about it. Another man who seemed lost meandered past the inn but was talking gibberish to himself so James felt it would be best to let him go his own way as well. Looking up at the moon James began to question if they would ever really find Alchem. Shernine’s lack of direction and Drule’s lack of interest was beginning to worry him. He knew they meant well, but meaning well didn’t guarantee and results. The trip was looking as if it were going to take much longer than expected as well. He figured he’d write home to his parents and hope they had the good sense to check the mail office when he didn’t return on time. Despite the amount of travel around Vorren in order to reach Vordenport, mail never seemed to move expeditiously in the Mainland, if it reached its destination at all. Communications were generally poor, especially in the southern regions. Local governments operated essentially independently as few orders were ever received from the capitol. The biggest government presence in the south was in Vordenport simply because it was such a large trading hub and taxes needed to be accounted for. Taxes, which no one was quite sure where they were going, or for what purpose.

The Mainland clearly lacked leadership during the Dark Age, much to the unhappiness of people living far from abundant resources, such as in the south. Most towns learned to survive on their own small economies, which left many businesses out of touch eventually leading to bankruptcy. For this reason, especially early in the Dark Age, there was a serious influx of poor citizens and an alarming amount of death from starvation. Some families further out from towns became totally self-sufficient and survived principally as a result of good hunting and strong will. Unfortunately, surviving without the structure of a community can lead to diminishing education. Not many people of the Mainland outside of the capitol and nearby cities retained the ability to read. This was amplified by the lack of mail service between villages.

As James watched the moon sink behind the clouds he heard a commotion coming from the bar. Peering in through a window he could see a crowd gathering around a bar, occasionally cheering or gasping. The concrete attention of every patron grabbed James’ curiosity so he headed inside to see what the noise was about. Much to his surprise, Michael was in the center of it all at a small table with the bartender, consequently also the innkeeper, looking very happy with a large drink in his hand. The tired and sickly Michael who they were traveling with had been replaced by a vibrant and active gambler. At the table James could see they were throwing dice but couldn’t get a good view of what was happening. He could hear people in the crowd whispering things to each other such as “How is that possible?” or “It’s some kind of trick.”

“Michael?” he interjected from the back of the audience. Michael paid no attention to the comment, but realizing James was with him a few of the crowd allowed him to reach the table.

“Six!” he heard the bartender call out. A quick throw and the dice landed both on a three. “Eight!” he called again and the number was rolled.

“Eleven!” Michael yelled. The bartender threw his dice to find a four and a seven. The crowd all whispered to one another in amazement. The bartender was clearly drunk, and not the only one in the room, to Michal’s good fortune.

“I could tell you knew they were loaded! I’m not sure how you’ve cracked em’ but clearly they’re no good to me anymore!” The bartended was laughing and slurring his words. If he weren’t so drunk he’d probably be livid that Michael had outsmarted him. The man looked up to James with a big grin on his face and rosy red cheeks showing. “You’ve got a giant cheater with you, you know?”

“I don’t cheat! I’m just good.” Michael’s ego was clearly getting the better of him.

“I ain’t ever known someone who could be gooder than a pair of loaded dice.” The man was nearly incapable of speech at this point. James looked at a small piles of coins dispersed over the table, covered in beer and food.  He grabbed Michael’s shoulder. Michael turned around to him and could tell what he was going to say by the displeased look on his face. He threw himself forward and muttered something about one more roll. Suddenly James felt himself thrown to the side. When he regained his balance he realized it was Bart, who was now dragging Michael away from the table as he kicked and screamed. James looked at Michael and then down at the gold on the table. He swept a bunch of it into his shirt and scampered off after them.

When they reached the room upstairs James let the coins fall to the floor, jingling and rolling all over the room. Bart dropped Michael to the floor with a large thud. Michael stood back up and walked right to Bart. With his chest puffed at he looked up at him and huffed. “Move!”

“No more gambling. I don’t know what you’re up to, but it’s dirty.”

“I don’t need a big lumbering oaf, like you, to be my moral compass.” He sneered at him. Bart went to grab Michael by his shirt but was stopped as Michael grabbed his wrist tightly, almost causing it to break. They stared at each other for a moment as James was left there frozen with widened eyes, unable to comprehend what was happening between his friends.. Bart eventually threw his arm down and stepped aside.

“Fine.”

Michael stormed out of the room and was barely out of sight when Bart turned and pointed a finger to James. “Those coins are dirty. I don’t want them in here.” James hadn’t ever seen Bart like this. He was acting both scared and paranoid about the gambling. It was unusual for Bart, especially because Bart had enjoyed gambling a few times in the past, and even won some money with some of his own tricks. Bart didn’t turn to make sure the job was done but just slumped down onto the bed and closed his eyes. After a few seconds of silence he could hear James picking up the coins and leaving the room. He knew James was going to the small stable to put the coins in one of the horse’s pouches, but as long as they were out of the room he didn’t care.

Bart wasn’t concerned about the gambling, he wasn’t even really mad at Michael. Bart was worried. He thought back to when they were shooting coals from the fire. That’s when he first noticed it. Originally he wondered if it was because Michael was finally getting better. But as he watched closely when Michael played the bartender for a discounted rate when it was became evident that something was awry. When he saw Michael’s hand as he had grabbed his wrist and realized it couldn’t just be a coincidence. Every time he won something it happened deteriorated as quickly as it had appeared. The darkness in Michael’s veins had almost completely vanished.

Chapter 11

James quickly rose from his sleep to find himself lying in the corner of the room. The sun was shining in from his bedroom window; he figured it must be getting close to noon. His breathing was heavy and his head was aching. The bottle was still sitting next to him on the floor. Neither Alchem nor the beast was present in the room and there was no sign he had thrown anything up. He couldn’t say how much of what he saw was real, if any. His legs were being warmed by the sun seeping through the shutters. He grabbed the bottle next to him and wondered down the stairs. His parents weren’t anywhere nearby and he couldn’t see them in the fields out the window. James popped the cork and took a swig. It may have been a bit early to be drinking, but he felt the circumstances called for it. Outside James did a slow lap around the house. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for but he figured he’d know it if he saw it. Nothing was out of the ordinary so he cautiously made his way towards the back of the fields to the stable. The doors were already open so James assumed he would find his parents inside, which he did, but he also found two people he did not expect to see.

His parents were laughing and talking to Shernine and the tall green man. He wanted to tackle him to prevent him from running off again, but restrained himself in front of his parents. James stood in the doorway confused for a few moments before his mother noticed and beckoned him over. She pulled James in close to introduce him. “James, this is Shernine and Drule. They are renting some horses and need you to escort them to north to Bornatville. You’ll be leaving tomorrow.” She then leaned in and whispered in his ear “They are paying us a lot of money, you’re going.” James turned to Shernine and Drule. Drule was paying absolutely no attention and just petting the mane of one of the horses. Shernine was smiling proudly at James. It was clever, to his credit. James was surprised his parents were so quick to jump on board with the idea.

“Can I bring along Bart? I may need some help on the way back and you know I’m awful with directions.”

“I don’t see why not, we’ll give him some of the payment for the help.” His mother leaned into him again. “Part of your payment, obviously.” She whispered. Shernine grinned again at James.

“We’ll be heading out tomorrow morning. Don’t have a lot of extra time.” James looked around at everyone again. His parents both seemed excited about having James help. Drule just seeded happy to be around the horses. If Shernine was able to work this out, maybe he wasn’t as clueless as James originally thought. For the first time in a few weeks James felt excited again; he might really get some answers.

“I’ll be ready.”

James parents finished arranging the transaction with Shernine while James ran back to the house to start packing up his things. He couldn’t believe he may actually find out what had happened to Alchem and Malcolm. His heart was thumping with excitement as he hurriedly threw his cloak and extra clothing into a bag. A million thoughts were racing through his head as he watched Shernine and Drule through his window as they wandered back up the road. He realized this Drule character must have been looking for him over the past weeks, maybe realizing who he was? It didn’t matter much to him at this point.

A few hours later James was knocking on Bart’s door. He could hear Bart’s footsteps thumping towards him before opening the latch and revealing himself in the entrance. “You still up for heading north?” Bart raised an eyebrow at him.

“When?”

“Tomorrow.” Bart took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He turned over his shoulder to the empty looking home. He could hear both his parents snoring from their room.

“Yeah.”

That night the boys all met at the pub in town to say goodbye to Michael before the trip. Michael was clearly in no condition to travel, or drink for that matter, but wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to drink with his friends for the last time for a couple weeks. Bart and James had mostly packed over the course of the day and had to be up early for travel. They were going to meet at James’ ranch, pick up the horses and go from there. James never had a chance to talk to Drule. He wanted to find out why he kept popping up and how he disappeared so quickly but didn’t get the chance while he was at the ranch. James’ parents were too busy chatting away with the two strangers.

The boys all sat at a table with beers chatting away in the mostly empty bar. Michael tried to convince them once they made it to a real city they would quickly realize how much more interesting it was and never come back. James said he wouldn’t mind if he never came back; Vorren wasn’t offering much for him at this point. Bart seemed determined to become a sailor and get on with a somewhat normal life and make a living doing what he knew well. James was much more determined to see the world. He was happy to have grown up in a small town away from the hustle and bustle of city life, but as he grew older he started to get bored with the same old day to day life his parents were so fond of. If he never had to clean out another stable again he’d jump at the chance. The biggest barrier standing in James’ way was that he did not want to disappoint his parents. It wasn’t so much that they loved the idea of James raising horses as it was they’d be saddened to see the ranch abandoned. His parents loved the horses almost as much as they loved James.

As much as Michael wanted to move back into a big city he seemed like the least likely to end up leaving Vorren. He had become good friends with the carpenter he had been apprenticing with and would have been happy to take a full time position with him had it not been for his recent health problems. The furniture he was making was of high value and was mostly shipped out to rich homes far outside of Vorren. Michael felt proud of his work. It also paid fairly well.

After a few laughs James quieted down for a minute and stared at the foam in his beer. Bart and Michael both took notice. When he looked back up James could tell they were concerned. “I saw its eyes last night.” He whispered, as if the information was too sensitive to speak openly about in public. Michael slumped back in his seat.

“It’s terrifying, isn’t it?” James just shook his head. He couldn’t describe it. He had never been so scared in a dream before, if it was even really a dream. He had never actually fallen asleep before finding the creature in his room.

“It said something to me. It said ‘he will fall’ and then... Alchem was there, and it went after Alchem” Bart cocked his head to the side and squinted but looked away when James made eye contact with him. Despite having had the dream himself he wasn’t sure he still completely believed there was much meaning to it.

“It only smiles at me. When it smiles I feel like puking. I feel like puking just thinking about it. Sometimes I swear I can see it off in the distance. Just staring at me…” Michael seemed genuinely shaken just talking about it.

“I tried talking to it.” Both of the boys turned to Bart. They couldn’t get over how non-chalant he was about the experience. Neither of them could imagine remaining so calm in its presence. The beast was clearly some form of evil.  They seemed confused as to why he would make his presence known to the thing. “He can’t hear me. They can only hear certain people.”

“They?”

“My dad told me once that spells can have a mind of their own.” Michael and James were confused by what he meant. Bart was convinced every story his dad had ever heard from some crazy sailor was an absolute fact. He was certainly more superstitious about it than he had been letting on. James and Michael weren’t sure they believe what he was saying. At the same time, neither of them would have believed that some dream they were consistently having was supposed to mean something unless it had happened to them as it did. For whatever reason, Michael bit.

“What do you mean?”

“Spells can sometimes become a little more powerful than originally intended. Too powerful…”

“As in?” James prodded.

“As in taking a corporeal form, messing with dreams and having adverse health effects on people.”

“I doubt a stomach infection is a result of some magic nonsense.” James wasn’t buying it at all, but Michael was listening carefully.

“A stomach infection just seems like something they told me to make me feel better, to convince me it could be fixed.” Bart agreed and gestured towards James that maybe something more serious was going on. Michael was not the sort of person to complain about a health issue but whatever his problem was it was utterly debilitating… and it wasn’t getting any better. James feared Michael was looking for answers in the wrong places solely out of desperation. “If you saw Alchem in your dream, that’s got to mean something, right?” James wasn’t sure how to answer. He wasn’t ready to board the magical sickness conclusion, but at the same time he felt very sure that Alchem had to be involved somehow. The beast clearly referred to his presence in the dream.

“I can ask him about it whenever we find him.”

“Sure…” Michael muttered while grabbing for his beer, “sure.”

The next morning James slowly cracked his eyes opened to an early, glowing red sun seeping in through his shutters. His head was pounding slightly and he wasn’t exactly sure when he went to bed. Luckily he hadn’t had any dreams at all. His bag sat on the floor next to his bed in the same spot he had left it before going to the pub. He threw a few more essentials together before strapping on his boots and heading downstairs. His parents were both asleep. He knew they would be which is why he made the point to say goodbye to both of them before heading out the night before. Outside his front door no one was to be seen so he headed back to the stable to pick up the horses. The doors to the stable were already open much to James’ surprise. Inside Bart, Shernine, Drule, and even Michael were all waiting for him. The horses were already packed and ready to go, except for James’ bag.

James rubbed his eyes and stared at them all. It was if they had been waiting for him all through the night. Michael in particular seemed concerned. Shernine, the least worried looking of the bunch, standing in front of the rest gestured to the single empty horse. “Ready to go?” James looked at them all standing, waiting for him to answer as if the entire journey depended on a simple yes or no. Michael was dressed in his riding gear with his bag strapped to one of the horses.

“Michael’s coming?” He didn’t think it was wise to have someone so sick come along on such a long journey. Michael simply looked down at his hand and pulled back his sleeve to reveal dark veins that faded up his arm, as if his blood had been turning black in his extremities. James rushed over to get a closer look but Michael pulled his sleeve back down.

“Started a few days ago, I gotta believe Alchem might have some kind of answer.”

James turned back and looked at the humble house he grew up in. He had spent his entire life living here. It was comfortable to him. It wasn’t necessarily what he wanted to do most, but it worked. His family and friends were here. His greatest memories lived in the home. He thought about his parents. They wouldn’t ever leave the place, it had been their home since before he was born. They meant more to him than anyone ever could, leaving the village was like leaving them behind. In fact, leaving this home was leaving everything behind. James slowly turned around and looked at the unlikely group waiting before him. “Let’s go.”

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Chapter 10

James slowly wondered home while trying to process everything he had been told. Shernine was planning on heading north from Alchem’s hut in an attempt to find out where he’d gone. He suspected that they would rendezvous with a small regimen of the King’s Army in a northern town or encampment before moving northeast towards the capitol for debriefing. They already had a few weeks head start, but James knew Alchem was not going to be traveling at any great speed, especially considering they were traveling with a substantial amount of cargo. Still, Shernine figured it would take a couple of weeks to catch them and who knows what after that. He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to convince his parents to let him go, but James was getting old enough to start making his own decisions and this was going to be the start.

He still wasn’t as convinced as Shernine that Malcolm would follow the orders of the King’s Army to the letter. Malcolm had been very dedicated to Alchem’s work and especially his well-being for as long as James had known them, so he couldn’t see Malcolm putting Alchem in harm’s way. Malcolm was also very adamant about staying out of the affairs of Mainland wars. He might be willing to deliver Alchem to the destination but after that point he wasn’t sure how involved Malcolm would become. There was very little chance that Malcolm would allow for Alchem to go alone if the situation wasn’t safe and he wouldn’t follow the King’s Army, so unless he felt comfortable with the contract then Malcolm would keep Alchem out of it. At least, that was James was thinking. Of course, a contract with the King’s Army wasn’t an optional invitation, but James trusted Malcolm would be able to convince them Alchem was in no condition for the amount of travel required.

Unfortunately it was the way Shernine reacted to Malcolm’s previous involvement with the King’s Army that worried James. His perception of the situation shifted quickly when James mentioned it. James didn’t know what sort of idea Shernine had about the way political operations occurred in the Mainland, but he didn’t seem too keen about having Malcolm involved in it. Of course, Alchem also used to be a member of the King’s Army, but if Shernine was to be believed, it would have been long enough ago, no one from that time would be around to remember it but Alchem. James wasn’t positive that Shernine was telling the truth. Was Alchem really that old? Hundreds of years seemed like stretch, but James didn’t want to step on Shernine’s toes as he seemed to be his best bet of finding out what happened to Alchem and Malcolm.

James climbed out from the brush and entered the horse fields through the fence. The horses were in the stable making quite a bit of noise. James wondered over to see if there was anyone around but the structure was devoid of any other animals. As he entered the horses quickly quieted down for a moment and stared intently at him. They seemed mesmerized by his presence. James figured his father must have locked them all up in the stalls for whatever reason. As he approached one horse it slowly back away from him into the corner of the stall. Without breaking eye contact James slowly began to unlock the gate to enter at which point the horse began jumping and kicking and neighing. “Have it your way then.” He muttered as he back away and locked the gate.

James closed the door behind himself as he walked back into the field and to the house.  Right away he saw Michael wonder around to the front of the house and out of sight. He must have been over looking for James. He made his way inside to find both of his parents in the kitchen, as he entered he found his parents sitting calmly in the kitchen. “Was Michael just here?” he asked.

“Upstairs. Came to drop something off for you…” his father paused for a moment. He lowered the town of his voice so Michael couldn’t hear him. “He’s not in good shape, is he?” James shook his head and made his way up the stairs. Inside his room, Michael was there with a big bottle of something resting between his hands. He held it out for James proudly but, as it was unlabeled, James wasn’t entirely sure what it was supposed to be. He took it from Michael and looked through the dark, green glass cautiously.

“Uh, thanks?”

“It’s homemade booze my friend!” James pulled the cork out with his teeth and gave it a whiff. It smelled vaguely fruity behind the heavy scent of alcohol. “It’s my own special recipe. I’d tell you what’s in it, but then it wouldn’t be a secret.” He coughed with excitement.

“I think you mean, but then I wouldn’t drink it. Is this gunna make me go blind?”

“Blind with excitement?” James put the cork back in the bottle and set it on his desk.

“Thanks, I actually…” he was cut off by a tapping on his window. Confused, he walked over and unlocked the hinge on the shutters to open the window. He almost fell backwards when he saw Bart staring in at him from immediately outside. “What are you doing?! We have a front door!”

“I’m trying to show you how unsafe it is to have all this garbage piled up outside your window. Somebody could get into your room and night and kill you or something.” Michael snickered when he heard “or something.”

“Yeah, but you couldn’t have gotten in here without me opening the window.” Bart rolled inside with a tremendous thud onto the floor. “That’s fair. But clearly you’re going to open it regardless of who might be behind it.” James and Michael weren’t really sure how to respond to that. “Alright, I was supposed to pick up some things from town but I came here instead.  I didn’t want your parents to see me because I’m trying to be discreet about it.” Just as he said this, James’ mother arrived in the doorway, she seemed genuinely concerned.

“What happened? Did you fall?” She turned to Michael, then amusedly to Bart, lying on the floor. She rolled her eyes as she walked away, back down the stairs.

“Yeah well, I don’t think trying to break through the floor was the most ‘discreet’ way of getting in here.” Michael answered as he plopped down on James’ bed with a large sigh.

“Is there a particular reason you came all the way down here?”

“Yeah, I saw Michael walk past my place on the way south of town and I figured I sneak up on him, but at some point I realized he was holding a glass bottle and didn’t want him to accidently break it. The last time I jumped out at him he threw a basket of bread into the air and screamed like a girl.” Bart stood up and noticed the bottle sitting on James’ desk. He sat on the desk next to it causing some awful creaking sounds to echo through the room. After biting off the cork and spitting it onto the floor he took a quick swig. “Woah!” he said with a cough, “is this stuff gunna make me go blind?” Suddenly James remembered where he had been that afternoon.

“Hey, I was just at Alchem’s hut and there was some other guy there.” Bart, for whatever reason, took another swig from the bottle.

“Somebody moving in?”

“No, he was looking for Alchem. He said he’s going to head north to find him. I think I’m gunna go with him.”

“Awesome, I’ll tag along.” He coughed as his second drink reached his stomach.

“That seems kind of sketchy, and that’s coming from me.” Bart and James looked at Michael and just shrugged. “Seriously, do you even know this guy?”

“I mean, he definitely knows Alchem and he seemed genuinely concerned for him. He thinks Alchem’s been summoned by the King’s Army for some kind of work.”

“Well, there you go. He’s far gone at this point. It’ll take at least a couple weeks to catch up to him, and then what? We’re here to take you home, ignore the fact that you’ve been contracted by the forces?!” Bart looked at James. Michael was actually talking some sense for once. It’s wasn’t as if he could easily turn down an order like that, even if Alchem was ridiculously old. James hadn’t really been thinking about it realistically. He was too focused on finding out what was going on to have given it that much thought. If Alchem was actually contracted there wouldn’t be much any of them could do about it. If anyone could have done something it would have been Malcolm, so clearly there wasn’t really an option. Bart took another swig from the bottle.

“Well, I was looking forward to some traveling outside of here and Vordenport. Thanks, killjoy.”

“Hey, I’m just pointing out the facts.” As worried as James was for Alchem, Michael was right, there wasn’t anything they could do. He wasn’t sure he would even run into Shernine again. Shernine was very cryptic about meeting James again. He didn’t really set a definite time or place; he just wanted him to be ready to go in the near future. James resigned himself to never really knowing what happened to Alchem and was forced to trust that Malcolm was doing the right thing.

“Thanks for the booze, Michael.” Michael smiled and then coughed. He tried to wipe blood from his chin without James or Bart noticing but they both did. He was becoming seriously ill. James and Bart felt hopeless for him. They both knew he had seen both of the doctors in Vorren and a few doctors in Vordenport. None of them had any sort of solution for his problem. Michael was deteriorating from the inside out and no amount of support from his friends had any effect on it. The boys all hung around for a but passing around the bottle of homemade booze and talking about various topics that had no meaning to any of them. Even Michael was drinking against all the orders of the doctors he had talked to about his condition. Michael left first after a fit of coughing took most of his breathe away. Bart left a few minutes later to follow Michael and ensure he could make it back into town without any assistance.

After all of the excitement, James headed downstairs to find both of his parents had left the residence. He wondered outside to look for them; they weren’t anywhere to be found in any of the fields. He heard the sound of one horse whining in the stable and decided to investigate, wondering what could have occupied both of their attentions. As he neared the stable he could have sworn he saw the tall man in the green robes just behind the brush in the woods. James ran through the brush cutting himself on one arm before making it into a small clearing. He turned himself around trying to find the man. There was no sight of him and absolutely nothing to see but a serene and quiet forest. James was frustrated beyond belief with this sort of specter he could not identify. He turned himself around again before shouting. “I’ve seen you!” Nothing but silence answered his statement. James felt less than threatening at this point. “Don’t come back here.” He muttered, almost to himself. He felt defeated not being able to identify the man that haunted his peripherals.

James pushed his way out of the brush and walked into the stable. The horses remained in their stalls without much complaining. His parents clearly weren’t anywhere to be found so James left again and began to head back towards the house. It was beginning to get dark. He stepped into a puddle and shook off his foot, irritated, trying to get all of the water out of his shoe. When he looked up he noticed a tall black figure wonder around the side of his house. Terrified that the being may be after his parents he dashed towards his home. He screamed for both his parents but felt as if his voice was too weak to reach through the walls of the house. The door of the cottage was open. James was terrified something had happened to his family. He jumped in the doorway just in time to see the black mass make its way into his bedroom up the stairs.  James ran up the stairs in just a few steps and jumped through the hallway. Inside his room he could clearly see a tall black figure with doglike legs and a long, hairy black tail. Its back was manlike, bony and elongated. It was hunched over on the opposite side of his bed breathing heavily with a dark, black hum.

James turned to his desk to grab the bottle that had been left there hoping to strike the monster before it could turn around to realize he was standing there. The bottle was exactly where Bart had left it. James grabbed it by the neck and turned only to find the beast staring directly into his eyes. The eyes were brightly white, yet emitted no light. It was if they stole all of James’ focus and drug him into the darkness inside. He could not break eye contact, no matter how hard he tried. The face of the freakish being was distorted but James could make out a large and disgusting mouth that hung open with a dark red tongue bursting out from the white skull. The being panted quickly as James could see the shadows of its horned raise and lower on the wall behind it. He felt frozen, as if in a bad dream. Finally, in a distorted manner with its tongue flailing wildly through its mouth as darkness dripped off of its chin the beast proclaimed. “He will fall.” The voice was deep and echoed through the emptiness of the room.

James collapsed onto the floor and vomited a dark and red substance at his feet. He slumped onto his back and closed his eyes. As he drifted slowly in and out of consciousness, assuming he was really awake at all, watched helplessly as the evil creature crawled all over his ceiling with its spindly limbs flashing back and forth. Finally, before completely losing sense of his surroundings, James saw Alchem appear in the room. James tried to scream at Alchem to alert him of the presence of the monster. Alchem simply turned away from the beast; his eyes were grey and empty while he appeared to be staring at something in the darkness. The massive black and distorted freak jumped from the roof and landed on Alchem’s back before James finally resigned to a deep slumber. 

Chapter 9

Shernine slowly touch his feet on to the earth for the first time in many, many years. He forgot how it felt to have dirt between his toes. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of earth’s thick and warm air. He could feel a very light breeze tuck on his flowing robe. Unlike Alchem’s robes his were very light and airy. For a moment he just stood there smiling and gazing out into the woods. He had excellent eyesight and could even peak through a few trees to see Alchem’s hut off in the distance. He quickly began to walk on the balls of his feet through the woods towards it. He enjoyed ducking between trees and around fallen branches. Shernine was very light and could simply lift his feet off the ground to jump over any pointy looking debris. He slowed his pace as he neared the cottage and attempted to peak into the windows from a distance. He squinted and moved his head around slightly to try and pick up any movement inside. Very suddenly he heard a voice next to him. The towering figure in green robes stood beside him facing away from the hut. “Alchem’s already left.”

“Oh. Didn’t see you there friend.” Shernine peered into the house to see the boy rummaging around in the drawers. “Who’s the kid?”

“An employ of Alchem, I suppose.” The beast known only as Drule’s words grew distant as he vanished quietly into the woods. He was never really much for conversation, even worse than Alchem. Shernine was disappointed he missed Alchem before he departed for the north. He placed his fists on his lower back and lean over himself to stretch out his spine. As he lurched forward again he could see the confusion and distress in James’ face through the window. It was very apparent that James was upset at the sudden disappearance of Alchem and Malcolm. Shernine exposed his pearly white teeth with a wide grin. “We’ll find him, boy.”

Over the next few weeks, time felt as if it had slowed to a screeching halt for James. Every day seemed to be a repeat of the last; James felt as if he was stuck in a world where time continued to turn without him. The blistering heat of summer finally began to ebb away as the leaves on the trees steadily turned bright colors of yellow and orange. Cool winds blew through the empty woods bringing calmer weather with them. The city markets became more and more crowded as the end of crop season approached and everyone knew it was time to stock up for winter. James would run into town to pick things up for his parents on occasion but to him the streets may as well have been silent. He heard voices and the noises of the crowds around him but for once paid no attention to what was being said. His transactions with people were as short as they were uninspired. He was noticeable lethargic. James paid no attention to the beauty of the season around him as he kept his head low all the time, watching the ground as he walked. His parents were worried, but were unsure what they would say to him. James wasn’t ever a moody child; they knew that he felt completely abandoned by his friends.

Michael wasn’t fairing much better. As much as Bart hated to admit it, it turned out that his sickness was clearly from something other than drinking or bad karma. He was throwing up a few times a week and began to vomit small amounts of blood. The town doctor-a generous term for the local medicine man- prescribed him a very rich sort of milk and told him to stay off his feet as much as possible. He feared it was an infection of the stomach. Michael tried his best to ignore the doctor’s instructions, purely out of spite. He would show up at James’ house only to be sent home after vomiting out behind the home.  Bart seemed to be getting along better than the other boys, but was still having his own issues at home. He was becoming more adamant about a career in shipping much to the dismay of his mother. It had become a divisive issue for the whole family.

After one of the best weekends the boys had ever had, things seemed to be spiraling downhill. James had finally resigned to taking over the ranch for his parents. He started working longer and harder with the horses on a daily basis, finally trying to master the craft. He spent most of his free time maintaining parts of the ranch that had previously been neglected because of his father’s limited mobility. His parents were excited to see him taking charge, but James was merely using it as a mechanism to pass the time. The most exciting prospect in his life was that winter was approaching and thus there would be more busy work to keep his mind off of what ordinarily would have been lab work. James become very good at not thinking about it, but occasionally would lay awake at night pondering what could have happened to drive Malcolm and Alchem off so suddenly. He hadn’t been back to the hut since the last time he had left because he could tell by the way they had left they weren’t planning to return any time soon. Just thinking about visiting the place made his stomach churn. So James would lie in his bed staring at an unchanging ceiling until eventually he managed to sleep.

Perhaps the worst development after the trip was the strange visions beginning to cloud James’ and Michael’s dreams. A long time ago many people would have tried to interpret the dreams in some way but this was no longer a popular thing to do as it was widely regarded as mystical nonsense. Attempting to predict the future was generally considered strange and dangerous. Michael and James would have completely ignored the dreams had they not, through pure accident, realized that they were both having the same sort of nightmares. While they both started out very differently they seemed to converge at a certain point and end in similar fashion. The dreams weren’t exactly nightmares in a scary sense, but whenever they ended Michael would wake up and have to vomit and James would wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to fall back asleep for hours. The dreams never seemed to happen on the same night and would occasionally diverge into something completely different. They mentioned it in passing to Bart, who refused to listen and insisted all dreams were completely meaningless. He dismissed the similarities as being a result of both of the other two having heard a similar story elsewhere.

One particular night James fell asleep, quite quickly for once, and began having one of the dreams. He began on the ranch performing day to day chores, although no horses were ever present in the visions. As he left the stable there was a tall dark figure that had a very rough shape that James could see wonder into his home. It was humanlike, but its limbs seemed to be out of proportion, long and thin, moving freely through the air. He followed it inside to be greeted by a very dark and empty kitchen. The figure wondered upstairs and down the hall, out of sight. James would walk up the stairs after it to find that the only door down the hallway was his and there was nothing were the door of his parents room would ordinarily be. His door was open and inside was nothing but his bed. He would lay down in it and watch the room fade into darkness around him. The only remaining portion of his room was his window, which held a sort of glowing figure outside of it, peering at him from the purple grow as he lay motionless. Strangely, as he fell asleep in his dream he would come to consciousness in his actual bed. James was sweating profusely as he came to and lifted himself to a sitting position. As usual there was nothing to be seen out his window, and no figure in his room, so he merely sat in his bed pondering to himself what it could possibly mean. Perhaps Bart was right and It meant nothing, although, the way Bart reacted to it, it seemed as if it could mean something and Bart simply wanted nothing to do with it. Either way, it would be at least an hour before James would make it back to sleep.

The next day James wondered into town to Michael’s parent’s home to see how he was doing. Hesitantly, Michael’s mother allowed him inside and sent him to Michael’s room down the hall. Michael was sitting quietly at his desk working on a wood carving. He was very skilled with his hands and crafted wood carvings throughout the day to keep himself busy as he became less and less mobile over the recent weeks. He seemed genuinely excited to have a visitor and threw his tools down to give James his full attention. It didn’t take much more than an opening sigh for Michael to realize James had had the dream again. “Was he in the window again?” Michael asked with a shred of hope that James may have been able to have identified the unknown figure.

“Yes, but I still couldn’t get any kind of glimpse of his face.”

Michael had never seen the figure in the window. His version of the dream was more subdued yet more detailed with regards to the dark figure. Michael could see more clearly that the creature was tall and had non-human elements to his figure. While trying to describe the shape to James he compared the legs to a dog, or maybe a goat, and said the arms where much longer and thinner than what you would expect of a normal human of that size. The worst part, in Michael’s mind, was that he was never able to see the shining figure that often appeared in James’ dreams. To Michael, the world was much darker and even fewer objects from real life were able to appear to him in the dream. James wished there was something he could say to comfort Michael, but both were at a total loss for words. The only person James could think to ask about such a matter had disappeared off the face of the earth, leaving only an empty hut behind him. The two boys sat in silence for a moment before another figure appeared in the doorway.

“I had the dream.” Bart muttered as he entered the room.

The boys stared at the walls in silence trying to interpret what it could possibly mean. The silence filled the room in the same way darkness covered life as it did in their nightmares. The sound of breathing was mute as each of them began to fear the possible outcome of a prophetic darkness surrounding each of their lives. Something very dangerous was taking hold of them, and while it was only strong enough to affect their dreams, it became clear that it was moving to a fuller control. This was no longer a simple message, it was a threat. The dark figure in the dream was not human, it reminded Bart of old tales of monsters that sailors would claim to have killed on lost journeys. The other sailors never believed what these men had to say, but no one really believed that these fantastical beasts were purely fictional creations from shattered minds. Bart remembered very specifically the types of anatomy that could sneak its way into the structure of the beasts as they were described. Their presence always signified stormy weather or bad misfortunes to come. The signs of an omen were very clear. Bart had never given much credit to these sorts of stories, but he had never experienced such a vividly disturbing dream either. Michael finally broke the silence. “Did you see the glowing dude?” Bart simply shook his head.

“He’s not exactly glowing.” James clarified. “It’s like a dark outline bathed in the a purple glow.”

“Well I didn’t see whatever it is.”

“Why would you see it James and not me or Bart?”

“That’s got to mean something.”

“I don’t know.” James was frustrated that he could see the figure and neither Bart nor James could. He felt as if he had the key to the dream in front of him but was unable to resolve it for any of them. As the dream began to become more prevalent the figure seemed to become more and more clear. At the same time he seemed to drift away from it faster every time. “He’s not recognizable to me. I’m not even sure he’s looking at me when I see him.”

“You don’t want them to look at you.” Bart and James both turned to Michael. He sat looking down at his feet with his eyes wide open and his brow pushed downward. He was clearly disturbed by something he had seen. He was breathing very slowly and heavily as he tried to muster up the courage to explain what had happened. “I had the dream again a couple nights ago.” He looked up the James and Bart who stared back very concerned for what he was about to say. They could tell by his demeanor he hadn’t been sleeping well. He had dark circles and bags under his eyes. Neither of them had seen Michael in such distress before. It was a striking contrast to his normal happy and carefree self.  “That black thing turned to me last night. I never made it to my bed; it put me to sleep as I entered my room.”

“Did you see its face? What did it look like?” Bart pressed Michael for an answer. Michael turned to Bart and slowly shook his head.

“Don’t look in its eyes.” Bart sat down feeling somewhat defeated. Michael was too shocked to garner any information, it was clear whatever they were dealing with was mentally crushing them. Without understanding fully what they were dealing with, James offered the best option for them to avoid any further confrontation.

“Next time we see the… thing, just look down and wait it out.” None of the boys were very excited with this being their best prospect for avoiding any familiar contact with the being, but there was no other obvious solution.

“I don’t know if I can.” Michael murmured.

“You’ve just got to remember it’s a dream. Get it stuck in your head before you go to sleep, keep saying it until you can’t forget.”

 James found himself repeating the words over and over as he wondered back home. Don’t look at it; just look down. Don’t look at it; just look down. Don’t look at it; just look down. He managed to make his way back to the house all while barely looking up from the path in front of him, continuing the stream of words. He realized he forgot to lock the stable gate when he walked out after feeding the horses in the morning. He made it to the fence and ducked through. His ribs and legs were feeling much better after a few weeks of healing. He finally mustered up the courage to look upwards. He was secretly terrified he might see the beast in front of him, but instead he saw something very unexpected. A tall, old man wearing green robes stood at the other end of the field with the family horses surrounding him. The horses were jumping up and down in place as if they were excited to see him. James immediately forgot about the beast in his dreams as he began quickly walking towards the man. The man, without taking any notice of James, turned and wondered through the clearing and into the woods. James wasn’t going to let him out of his sight this time.

James continued to stare ahead as consistently as he could while passing through bushes and ducking under branches. He was smashing his shins into fallen sticks but refused to look away from figure for a moment. The old man in the green robes was still wondering in front of him at a seemingly slow speed while still managing to keep a distance. It was clear to James that the man was heading towards Alchem’s hut, which shouldn’t have been too surprising considering he had a very similar manner of dress that James had never seen other than on Alchem. He wondered if this man had something to do with Alchem’s disappearance, or perhaps even this man was also searching for a missing Alchem. He saw deep through the trees the man turn onto the main road that led to the cottage. James tripped over a branch right as he made it to the path and rolled over a couple times before finding himself sitting on the path and staring straight towards the hut. As he recovered from the dizzy landing he focused his vision but it the green man was nowhere to be seen. Ahead, the door to Alchem’s was wide open. James figured he must be inside.

He slowly caught his breathe as he approached the doorway and quietly peered inside. The lab appeared exactly how he remembered the last time he saw it; empty. He couldn’t see the man inside but figured he must be in Alchem’s room. Before checking, James couldn’t help but notice how quiet the lab was and take in the emptiness of it all. For the first time since he had left a few weeks earlier he felt relieved about the situation. He figured there must be a very important reason that Malcolm would bail out so quickly without even a word. It may have had something to do with Alchem, perhaps his health? It didn’t matter. Malcolm and James would cross paths again at some point, he felt sure of it. With a small grin on his face he wondered into Alchem’s room to confront the tall man but was very surprised to find a completely different person standing in the darkness. The skinny figure turned to James and smiled towards him. “Oh, hey,” was all that he said, as if James too was expecting to find him there. James cocked his head to the side wondering if he actually knew this guy, purely based on the friendly reaction. As it became evident he did not, James finally piped up.

“Who… are you?” The man’s reaction changed quickly from a smile to a look of slight shock.

“Oh, sorry, I’m a friend of Alchem’s!” James looked at the man through the darkness of the room. He stood on his bare feet underneath long, skinny legs that led into a short pair of pants above his knees and below a wavy white shirt. Something about the outfit reminded James of Alchem, but the robe was much lighter and loosely fitting as opposed to Alchem’s heavy, fitted garb. The robe the man wore was a rich purple with some silver accents. The stitching in the robe glistened with silver threading. The man himself had a warm, welcoming face partially hidden beneath blonde, almost white, hair. His hair seemed as if it would flow in only the slightest breeze, were it not for the brown bucket hat smashed onto his head. The man’s robe covered only some of his forearms which each slid into two pockets high on his chest, leaving his elbows dangling underneath.  James was somewhat taken aback as he had never seen such an outfit, not even in Vordenport.

“How do you know Alchem?” James finally squeezed out. The man laughed and threw his head back. James figured his hat must have been glued to his as it didn’t budge despite the quick movement.

“Me and Alchem go way back, waaay back.” James was clearly confused by the way the man was talking. “You want some tea? I’ll make some tea.” And so James nodded and pulled up a chair in the lab as the mysterious stranger walked past him and started to make a pot of tea.

James figured the man must have brought the kettle and cups with him as there was absolutely nothing of the sort left in the building when James had been there previously. The dishware was all shining copper, something James was not accustomed to using. James sat quietly as the man threw wood in the oven appliance and began heating up water. He worked very quickly, almost dancing around the kitchen. His movements were smooth and graceful as he hummed a strange sort of tune and occasionally muttered to himself something about what his was doing. The tea leaves were fresh from a small pouch and to be crushed up. They smelled very fresh. The man seemed extremely comfortable with James’ presence, despite the strange circumstances. At no point did he question why James had entered the residence. James had completely forgotten about the tall man in the heavy green cloak. Finally, as the water boiled, the man poured out two glasses and sprinkled small amounts of tea in each before handing one to James and taking one himself. He jumped to a chair and landed cross-legged on top of it in a way that seemed to defy gravity. He was somewhat uncomfortably calm about the situation. “So, how do you know Alchem?” He asked. James seemed confused that he had no concern as to why he was there.

“I worked with Malcolm a lot, so was here a few days a week… at least.” The man threw his head back again with a long resounding “Oooooooh,” before leaning forward again to get a better look at James. “How do you know Alchem?” James pushed him.

“Oh right, sorry, forgot my manners.” The man lifted himself off the chair and on to the floor so he could bow politely to James. “I,” he said slowly, “am called Shernine.” He announced in a calm and quiet tone, before quickly jumping back to his stool. “Me and two other… friends… found Alchem a while back in a cave, searching for some kind of… um, alloy.” This in no way cleared anything up for James. The man’s story seemed disjointed, as if he were either making it up or couldn’t remember. He still managed to speak cheerfully, as if he had pulled off the story perfectly.

“You were searching for the alloy? Or was Alchem?”

“I guess we all were. That’s just how we found him.” Shernine smiled widely. James wasn’t getting any real clarification and was a little too frustrated with Shernine’s inability to elaborate. What he was really curious to know was whether or not Shernine had any information regarding Alchem’s sudden departure.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where Alchem is now, would you.” At this point, Shernine all of a sudden became excited.

“Not exactly,” He exclaimed proudly, “but I have a pretty good idea.” He pulled a rolled up map from inside his robe and stretched it across the lab bench. The map was mostly of the Mainland, but included a few territories outside of it as well as a large stretch of ocean in the southwest. James recognized most of the names and places but couldn’t make heads or tails of many of the markings in-between villages. In some way the map was more detailed than any James had ever seen, but it also meant there was less that James really understood. Shernine pointed a bony finger to Vorren. “We’re here, obviously.” Alchem’s hut was marked clearly on the map. “Now, I know Alchem’s been traveling up north with what’- his-name.”

“Malcolm.” James felt the need to correct him.

“Right. What’s-his-name. Unfortunately, I’m not entirely sure what route they are taking, or if they are detouring west at any point.” Shernine was speaking quickly and excitedly.

“Wait, do you actually know where they are headed?”

“Well, I assume the capitol at some point, but many times I know sections of the army rendezvous in certain towns and then move from there straight into contested territories.” James sat back in his chair and took a deep breathe. Was Malcolm getting involved with the King’s Army again? He never gave any indication that he was planning on going back to war; in fact, he seemed quite against the concept. Alchem was clearly far too old to be involved in any fighting, but if that were the case, why would he travel with Malcolm? It was honestly possible that this “Shernine” fellow was full of garbage, but he seemed familiar enough with Alchem to know that he left for an unexplained reason, and he knew where he was going. There was something about him that reminded James of Alchem, despite his opposing personality, although he couldn’t place his finger on it.

“I… I’m not sure I understand. Why did Alchem leave so abruptly? I mean, we were working on things… important experiments!” James boasted. How could he just up and leave?” Shernine just shrugged a bit and rolled his eyes as if it wasn’t unusual in any way.

“Alchem’s does stuff like that.” Shernine’s calming smile was not enough to convince James. Shernine was not a person used to any kind of confrontation with people; in fact, he wasn’t used to people at all. It was a pretty lonely life on the moon, which worked well for Shernine. He wasn’t exactly a loner, but for someone who lived for so long he never felt isolated when he spent time away from earth. Shernine also had the luxury of being able to stay far, far away from the conflicts of earth. He would observe things from afar without ever having to become involved in decision making. Despite being able to resolve things very quickly with magic on his own, he never felt it appropriate to intercede in human affairs. The tall man in the green robes felt that Shernine was the most apt of all of them when it came to humans, but Shernine did not share the same sentiment.

Shernine was very cautious about interfering with earth, only slightly less cautious than the Sun. Alchem and the tall green man, who they called Drule, spent considerably more time with humans as they both actually lived on earth. Shernine felt more comfortable working with machines and puzzles than humans. Humans, he felt, we puzzles that you could hurt. This was a terrifying concept for someone who essentially was free from human pain. Shernine had very limited experience with pain as there wasn’t much that could hurt him all the way out in space. He wasn’t even sure he could feel physical pain as the closest he had come to it was stepping on slightly pointy rock.

Shernine suffered from something more mentally tasking; a fairly serious memory loss. His clearest memories only went back a couple of hundred years. Anything before that point was very cloudy. There were some important details that tugged at him but as hard and as long as he tried he couldn’t recover any memories. One of the most disturbing things that tugged at Shernine was his recollection of the stars. He knew that at some point he had heard clear voices from the stars, whispering to him through space. He used to sit on the moon, cross-legged, listening to the wisdom that they spilled out for him. They were like voices from a deep consciousness that guided him and in turn the other beings like him. He was always respected very highly among the others because of this ability. The stars never lied to him, because they could not lie. They didn’t know lying. They were simple truths scattered about space, calling throughout the emptiness, beckoning him to listen. Shernine wasn’t sure how often the stars communicated with him and in turn how often he had used the messages to benefit humanity. The Sun had a better memory of the earlier years, but was very unrevealing whenever Shernine pushed him on the subject.

As a result of this Shernine was paranoid that any decision he made without the consultation of the stars could lead to disaster. The stars used to prevent wars and bring about great scientific advances with the messages sent to Shernine. Without the help of the stars he would not intercede. He almost wished he had no memory of listening to the messages at all, but he remembered very clearly the hollow whispering that had previously guided him. He would still sit from time to time out on the moon trying to concentrate on the murmuring that was now uninterpretable to him. It was as if they were speaking a language foreign to him. It was just a frustration for him at this point, but Shernine refused to abandon hope that one day a voice might reach him again. He knew it was worth the time and frustration if at any point he could use it to the benefit of the Mainland. But he couldn’t, and every occasion he tried to was just a reminder of what used to be and what was no more.

So now Shernine tried to occupy his time with more concrete subjects such as engineering and tinkering with mechanics. He had many brass instruments in his hole on the moon. He could have used any metals but brass and copper had a warm color that he appreciated on what he otherwise liked to call “the grey rock.” There was a small staircase that led inside the moon and into a one room home that Shernine spent most of his time in. He had many lamps to light the otherwise darkened rock. The only other portal outside of the room was through a long telescope that could be used to view the earth. There was a large circle of different lenses that could be used to focus and certain areas and distances. Shernine didn’t remember building it himself but knew he had at one point based on the handiwork and a small signature he found on the base of the scope.

The rest of the room was adorned mostly with curtains and rugs of various warm colors. Shernine attempted to keep most of the grey from the walls and floor out of site. He had a few desks and chairs, all scattered with papers and maps, which also helped cover the floor. The room was somewhat of a mess, but Shernine knew where everything was inside. It’s not like anyone ever came to visit him on the moon anyway.

“He’s… strange?” Shernine tried to divert the question again, coming back to his senses. Judging by his facial expression James was clearly not going to let his questions slide unanswered and so Shernine finally conceded to giving him more information. “I think he’s been contracted by the King’s Army again.” James slumped back in his chair trying to process what that could possibly mean. Alchem was far too old to be involved in any kind of conflict; if his caravan was attacked he’d be doomed. Did they really think he could be of any use to them for research purposes? Even if Alchem had enough of a reputation with the King’s Army that they would specifically choose him as a candidate, how did they find him? James wasn’t sure he trusted Shernine at this point. The only thing linking Shernine to Alchem was similar garb and knowing where Alchem lived.

“What on earth would they want with Alchem?”

“I can’t say I’m sure, but I have a feeling it doesn’t have to do with his work. Alchem is known for possessing a… power, in the King’s Army, something that has long lost purpose here, at least, until now.” James still didn’t understand what he was getting at. He stared back in confusion. “They may need Alchem to for something a little more sinister.”

“There’s no way. Malcolm wouldn’t have any part it in, and Malcolm had to have helped get him out of here.” Shernine shrugged his shoulders. He could see where James was coming from. Alchem wasn’t the type to follow along with a cause he didn’t agree with. Shernine had barely known Malcolm, but he was sure he wouldn’t risk putting Alchem in danger either. Unfortunately, Shernine knew the truth of the matter.

“I can’t imagine Alchem would abandon his work for anything less severe. His contract must not involve willing participation.” It was a little too much for James to process.

“So what are you doing here then?”

“I want to find Alchem.”

“Why?” Shernine pondered the proper way to answer this for a few moments. He ran through all of his usual tics. He scratched his chin and rubbed his hands through his wavy hair. He rubbed his hands together in front of his face. He rocked back and forth in his chair, but never came up with anything that he thought would sound right to James.

“Alchem is very valuable to us.”

“Us?”

“I’m not sure what kind of contact you’ve had with Alchem, but he’s not like you.” James knew he wasn’t like him, but he wasn’t really like anyone. What was Shernine getting at? “Well, let me ask you this. Did the other guy who lived here, uh…”

“Malcolm.”

“Yeah, him, did he ever mention anything about Alchem when he fought with the King’s Army?”

“I knew Alchem was a member... a long time ago, even before Malcolm was ever involved.”

“Before the dark age?” James sighed. Shernine was talking crazy. Before the Dark Age? The Dark Age began some two hundred years ago. James knew Alchem was old, but that was ridiculous. Malcolm did used to mention that Alchem was in the King’s Army. Back in the glory days is how he used to describe it. Did he really mean the glory days? Back when dark forces where considered a principal defense mechanism? James wasn’t a history buff, but he remembered hearing about old tribes trying to course their enemies. It was nothing more than silly scare tactics; no one in the Mainland believed it was real. He wasn’t very clear on the details; however, he knew Alchem did have some, unusual abilities. It was possible the King’s Army was interested in reviving old techniques, especially considering there was a potential threat from the east as he heard during his weekend in Vordenport a bit back.

“Alchem’s definitely been around since the Dark Age. In fact, he was pretty old before the Dark Age. Don’t be fooled by his old age though; an old dog fights most ferociously before death.”

“I’m not sure I buy it.”

“I’m not sure either, but we can’t let Alchem fall into the wrong hands at this point.” James shook his head again.

“Malcolm wouldn’t let it happen. He’s smart, and he’s loyal to Alchem. He had his priorities straight.”

“Malcolm’s fought in the King’s Army as well, yes?” James hesitated for a moment. He wasn’t sure at what Shernine was getting at.

“Yes.” He finally muttered slowly.

“Then I think it would be best if we found them first.”