Sitting down around the fire, Martin turned to take in his newfound companions.
There was the girl, younger than Martin with blonde hair and a curious outlook. She asked questions and refused to accept the answer when she didnt like it. She was impulsive, yet she feared taking any initiative. Her actions were always predicated on someone else having acted first.
Her bodyguard, or overseer – their relationship was ambiguous – the patient, older man. He had saved their lives with some form of magic even the girl had not expected. While he refused to speak about it, he was still approachable and reasonable. So long as the girl was not under threat, he seemed to be a genuinely nice man. Intelligent and insightful. A man of the world, as Martins father would say. Yet, there was something under the surface. During the fight with the guards, he had acted far too brashly, even when his ward was safe.
And then there was the new girl. The purple haired wild child. She had burst into their lives in town, chased by royal guards who were not intent on simply imprisoning her. They were out for blood and if and the other two had not stepped in, they likely would have got it. For now, in her words, she would stick with them. Unknown to anyone else, Martin had seen her use a similar magic to the old man. There was a connection there, but how could he bring it up?
“So,” Martin said once they had finished eating. The food wasnt much, and it was even less now that it had to be split four ways, but they couldnt do much about that now. It was still another days travel to the next town. Assuming they werent found before then. “What do we do now?”
The old man shrugged, unconcerned. “We keep to the plan. Those guards will be nursing their heads for a while, plus they dont know which way were coming from or heading in. Even with this one in tow, they shouldnt be able to track us easily.”
“What if they do, though?” the blonde girl asked. She kept looking over at the other woman suspiciously. “Where are you from?” she asked, not for the first time.
“I would like to know that too,” the old man said, setting his attention on her.
“It doesnt matter where Im from,” the purple girl said. “I left there, rather deliberately just so I didnt have to be from there. Im from wherever I want to be and thats something no one can take.”
“Fine,” Martin said before the other two could protest. “We dont need to know everything, but why were you being chased? That kind of thing might be useful to know.”
“Who are you to question me?” she scoffed. “Your words are strange and your mannerisms are different. You and I are as different from each other as I am from these two. We are all outcast, are we not? Why is that not enough?”
“We’re not-” the blonde girl said before she was interrupted.
“Perhaps it is,” the old man said. “I see the value in that. However, outcast or not, you could be a danger to us.”
“You saved my life,” the girl said quietly, almost ashamed. “I am not a danger to any of you. I vow.”
“Vows are not to be taken lightly,” the man said, but his voice was softer now. “Where I am from, a broken vow begets a punishment that cannot be undone or withstood.”
The purple girl nodded. “It is the same where I,” she paused. “Where I was. I was raised with these ideas. I know the stakes.”
“Very well, if you are not a danger to us, then I see no reason why you shouldnt stay.”
“Youre sure?” the blonde girl asked him nervously.
“He said so, didnt he? Ill leave your group at some point. Once I know those idiots arent still chasing me. Happy?”
“Youre free to stay with us as long as you need,” the old man said. “Provided you travel to our plans.”
“Which are?” the purple girl said.
“We’re heading to Caister to visit the Sage,” the blonde said.
“Ha,” the purple girl said. “Getting your fortune told? Youll have as much success looking to the stars. The Sages arent worth the cloth they wear.”
“Sages are not as they once were,” the man said. “But they channel the power, same as any wielder. Some, maybe not all, but some, still see the truth in the world. There was one meant to be here, in this town, but theyve gone missing.”
“And you think the one further out, in the wastes, is still there?”
“If they arent, then we will find another,” the blonde said defiantly.
“For her people, it is a rite of passage,” the man said. “For those who are not satisfied with a life of normalcy, to head out and seek the words of a Sage is something that is expected of them. She is the first to take the journey this year. She will be celebrated in her town for many weeks.”
“And you?” the purple girl asked the old man. “Do you believe the words of a Sage?”
“I spoke with a Sage many years ago,” he nodded. “Their message was simple, concise and easy to understand. Whether it was true remains to be seen, but I still have many years left in me to find out.”
“What about you?” the purple girl turned to face Martin. “Have you seen one of these witches?”
“Watch your mouth,” the blonde said immediately, venom in her words. Martin could see her tensed, ready to launch at the other.
“Easy,” he said, calming the blonde down. Turning to the purple, he said, “no. As youve noted, Im not from around here. We’re hoping that one of these Sages can give me an idea of how I can get home again.”
“Ha,” the purple girl laughed again. “Sages dont have knowledge like that. They give you your future. Tell you something thats going to happen to you. If you want some kind of omniscience, youll need to go all the way west.”
“Why?” Martin asked. “Whats out-”
“You should not ask such questions,” the blonde girl said. “Lest you draw the eye of danger from its slumber.” It sounded like a rote catechism, learned as a child.
“What?” Martin asked.
The blonde shook her head, and went back to focusing on what was left of her food.
“The west is where He sleeps,” the old man said. “We’re safe so long as He doesnt wake, and as a child, if you mention Him or His prison, its said that He can hear it and will awaken.”
“So thats the bad guy then,” Martin said, nodding. “Pretty standard stuff, to be honest.”
“What are you talking about?” the purple girl said.
“He talks like that sometimes,” the blonde said. To Martin, she added “its very annoying.”
“I came from another world,” Martin explained. The man and the blonde girl rolled their eyes and sat back to watch the others reaction. “In my world, places like this are fiction, a fantasy. Your world has every trope I ever read when I was a kid. Now youve just told me about the overwhelming evil thing that exists just barely contained somewhere. In the stories, the evil thing would awaken at the start of the plot and the main characters would travel across the world to stop it.”
“We have stories like that,” the purple girl said. “How do you think He was entombed to begin with?”
Martin shrugged. “Wouldnt have a clue.”
“Youre a story man,” she said to the old man. “Tell him.”
“Dont,” the blonde said immediately. “Itll wake Him.”
“No,” the old man said. “The story should be told. We keep stories like this to remind people of what not to do. If we dont tell them because were scared, then we lose the power to stop Him, or anyone else, the next time it happens.”
“He sleeps until He’s woken. Stories told around a campfire cant do that,” the purple girl said. “Someone would have to go there, and deliberately awaken Him.”
“Regardless, since this one hasnt heard the story, let me give the short version.”
“Im all ears,” Martin replied.
Some generations ago, (the old man said) for reasons that escape history, an entity covered the land from the ocean out to the west, all the way to the shores of our civilised nations. This entity controlled everything. Its presence was everywhere and the weakest of us were able to be bent to its will. In so doing, even our nations succumbed to the dread of this god.
Those who were able to resist banded together as much as they could. The magic wielders imbued many weapons with powers beyond our knowledge and handed them off to a group of heroes who set forth to bring down the shadow that covered our world and end our imprisonment.
Our heroes suffered much as they fought off the ever increasing number of people bent to this gods will. He would reach out and promise people whatever they wanted, anything their hearts could desire and in return all they had to do was serve Him. Do as He said. And He relished in their pain, their anguish when they realised that His words were broken promises and cursed futures.
He threw families at the heroes. Men and women who had to slaughter their own for His entertainment.
At the end of it, three heroes stood as they approached the forest that still stands today on the western shore of this continent. Between them they wielded as much magic as this god. But He had one final trick up His sleeve. They had grown too reliant on the magic present in the weapons and their minds had been too relaxed. He reached into them, one after another, and turned them on each other.
In this, the final battle, it wasnt our heroes vs the mighty god. It was three heroes fighting each other and when the dust settled and only one stood, the god knew that He had won and His laughter shook the continent, put fear in everyone. It was over and we had lost.
But magic has a funny way of working sometimes. If you ask a Sage, they will each tell you that magic is alive. It has its own goals. Feels its own future and at this point, the very nexus of paths our world could take, the magic imbued in each of the mighty weapons was channelled through the remaining hero and while the god was distracted, lashed him – using the weapons themselves – to the temple He had built. Using the heroes mind as a connection to the rest of the world, the pain and fear and hate that had spread through the population was sucked into the beast Himself and in order to escape it, he fell into a perpetual slumber. Now, free from its struggling, the hero and his magic was able to bind the god so completely, to cover the temple so entirely, that no one may ever find it again.
“No one ever did find it, or no one found it and told anyone,” the man said to finish it off. “Its a story to frighten children now, mostly. The forest is real, though. Ive seen it.”
“Its a warning about letting our fears get the best of us,” the blonde said.
“Its a good thing we arent in one of my stories then, isnt it?” Martin smirked.