Echoes of the Divine

Heavy stomp to the rear left. A snapped branch straight behind. One. Two. Three paces behind me. It thankfully wasn’t faster than me. But I couldn’t trip. Each step had to be firmly planted and careful. Running through a forest wasn’t my choice, no that was the Choit, I think, that smelt me. They were known to have keen noses and the thumping from the paws sounded right.

That was all guess work. I was working off knowledge I overheard from hunters and soldiers that passed through town. What made me certain was the chittering trill sound it made like blowing through a half broken flute. A heavy breath through its long neck created that unique whistle

Heat echoed through my body as I kept running. I could do with jumping in a frozen winter river at the moment. It had been ten minutes already since our chase started. And to my annoyance it hadn't given up the hunt. Was it that hungry for human? Or did it just not like my smell? I’m sorry that traveling on the road didn’t afford me the luxuries of bathing. I didn’t know I would offend the wildlife so badly.

I hurriedly tapped my stick around at the ground and air. It couldn’t have been very graceful, but running through a forest was a stupid idea for myself. Not that I was given a choice. Still, I couldn’t let it get caught on roots or plants. It seemed that with luck, it wasn’t a densely packed one. But I felt like I was just tempting fate doing this. Eventually I would smack into one and I’d finally be monster feed.

This was a dumb idea. But so was trying to stand my ground against it. What the hell was I going to do to it? Punch it with my twigs for arms? Poison it with my unplanned hygiene habits. All my time wandering the countryside didn’t really grant me much for protection, just good legs.

My body leaned to the right a little, turning me. Was the ground uneven here? I didn’t fall over, so I didn’t complain. One. Two and half. Curse Shaline’s Spirit. It was exhausting me. I needed something to throw it off. No way this was going to be where I finally died. Mauled to death by the weakest creature in the land. Those sword lessons from Fran started to sound appealing.

One and a half. Two-thirds. Definitely, two-thirds. Maybe it was my imagination, but it felt like a hot wind blew at my back. Move legs or I wasn’t going to have another use for you soon!

The stick brushed with some resistance. The scrapping sounded like bark. I didn’t know the age of it, but this deep in the forest I just prayed it was thick. I would just have to risk it. Anything to change this hunt.

I pulled to the left groping the air until I found the tree. My hand couldn’t even squeeze around it. Maybe I had a chance. My body was still in motion and I just held on to spin around.

Not even time to crouch before the tree rattled against me. A powerful thud of skull and wood meeting in lethal fashion, I prayed. There were still snarls of the trilling through maybe some pained groaning. Animal husbandry wasn’t my trade and neither was hunting, I just had to hope these were positive sounds.

I took a couple steps back feeling that heat brushing on me again. Curse on Shaline, it wasn’t dead. Clawing earth, it was probably getting back up.

My legs started running again, I didn’t even need to ask. We were of one mind. Distance was our only bet now. I gained enough time that escape finally was an option. I just needed to outrun its great smell and insatiable hunger for human.

I was doomed.

Running again, I felt myself lean left turning and then right. The ground didn’t feel so uneven, but I didn’t tumble. So I just kept going. Putting more distance between it was all I could think of right now. I couldn’t hear it clearly anymore. It was going to be hard to track, but I could just be happy for the space.

The stick suddenly hit something with no give to it. At first, I thought it was a tree, but that wasn’t the scrapping of bark or wood like before. It was stone or something similar. Was there a cliff or some boulder I found?

Pausing on making noise, I listened. Annoyed grunts and the broken flute whistle. It was still out there, further away, but approaching.

Focusing back, I tapped on the surface listening for the contact. It was uneven to the touch and cold. Though as I paced around it didn’t round off and turn. Cliff seemed the best guess now. Though that wasn’t helping me in getting away from the human crusher stalking me.

It was the worst idea, but I tested the surface for holds. Not flat, bumpy, but there was dirt packed in around the stone. This wasn’t my talent either. I’d sooner kill myself and become a free meal. No, I needed to keep going.

But it wasn’t even more than twenty steps before my hand dropped in. That wasn’t right. A hole? Testing around the edge, it did sharply cut in. Had I found a tunnel or cave? But as I felt around it the stone was carved. Something or someone cut it, but it wasn’t like with a chisel. No, my fingers couldn’t find the usual tell tale signs of chipping or flat edges like you would from a tool. There was no tool that I knew or held that could make this. It was perfect, a flawless edge like I could only dream of cutting. Like it was done in a single masterful swing.

Who made this?

A distant whistle urged me in quickly. If this was created, then maybe it had some place I could hide until it was safe. One step in and the echo from the ground rang a little hollow. Even that was carved? How was something like this even possible?

The bouncing sounds from the tunnel were so pure. It was just a cut surface I thought. How could it produce such crisp sounds? Ever since my curse I became more tuned into such things, but never once had I even thought such a thing. I couldn’t even hold myself back. “Beautiful.”

I didn’t even know ripples through air could be felt like that. My skin almost tickled. It was a strange sensation. Was it the tunnel? It wasn’t natural. And no one could make it as far as I knew. Did it come from the Era of Gods? There were rumors that hunters or armies would stumble into a Lost Ruin of the forgotten age. But it certainly was never something I saw. And if someone actually did find it I would have imagined something important would have happened. Filled with objects of divinity and coursing with powers unlike we could fathom. We would know if it happened.

Or maybe it was all just tales that excited children and the ruins were just empty markers of a lost time. No treasures remained to be claimed. Maybe they were already looted long before. Honestly, none of it really mattered. Finding somewhere safe to lose the Choit was more important than a historical find. It wouldn’t really mean a lot if I just became another skeleton haunting these ancient halls. If this truly was from the tales.

Keeping my left hand firmly to the wall, I kept walking forward. It was already a few dozen steps and nothing changed. It was amazing such a thing could have been carved. Even if I wouldn’t have a use for it, I had a slight urge to know how they did it. Just as a professional curiosity.

How far would I have to go before anything broke? Had I just found a tunnel? As much of a shortcut might have been inviting, that wouldn’t have let me escape my stalker. I also felt like someone should have discovered this sooner if it was. It wasn’t exactly subtle.

But I just kept going. The only favor seemed to be that I couldn’t hear my hunter anymore. It might have given up on me. That probably was a futile hope, but I needed one right now. With curiosity guiding my feet, I continued forward.

By the time I finally found an alcove, I had completely lost track of how far I came. Unless there was light somewhere on the ceiling, sunlight was certainly not reaching this far in. But that wasn’t a worry for me.

Testing around me, the passage did still continue. This was a room then maybe. Checking back towards the entrance, I still heard nothing but my breathing. If it was a room, then I could at least have a place alone for a while. For lack of a better choice, I entered.

It felt exactly like the tunnel, though far more narrow. Before I couldn’t even touch both sides, even stretching. Now it was effortlessly in reach. Even the ceiling was close. It was a strange feeling to feel like I was squeezing through something when I couldn’t even see it.

To my displeasure there was no door. But maybe that was for the best. If this was truly something ancient, I might not have even been able to open it. And then I’d be back at the start again. But it finally opened up. And I almost immediately hit something with my foot.

I was going to need my stick again. The empty tunnel got my guard down. Once more I started tapping around listening to what ripples were made. The whole space still carried a strange otherliness as the tunnel. Each ringing came so clean that it was starting to become unnerving. This had to be old, but it sounded so new and fresh. This was impossible.

I was repeating myself.

But I wasn’t a poet. My uncultured tongue would have to make do. If this room took offense it could furnish me with a better collection of words. But for now all it did was beautifully ring out in varied pitches.

While my familiarity with sound had certainly increased in the last year, my ear wasn’t perfect. But I knew enough to be able to tell the difference now. The tunnel had a more flat tone, even and constant in perfection, but very mute and uninterested. Practical, sterile. Which still seemed odd since it was beautiful despite that. But there was warmth to be found in the room. If it wasn’t the floor, it rang like finely aged cider wood or even like the tomato patch in Erika’s garden.

I stopped as the stick rang out a thick autumn breeze.

What’s wrong with me? Why am I describing sounds like they were objects? Sounds can’t be things. And yet I didn’t even have to think. It just came from me. On instinct. Something carved into my very soul knew it so clearly that doubt couldn’t even find purchase.

A drip bounced over the stone floor, wet and rippling. I was crying. Why was I crying? My heart ached worse than the day that I was cursed and even more than when I abandoned everything. Even the death of my father didn’t hurt this much. Why did it cut so deep? What was this feeling? It was out of reach. Beyond any sort of understanding. I entered a dreamscape of feeling like I had never known.

Longing. Familiar. It was so tantalizingly familiar.

No, none of this was. I had never been here. This was all foreign me. Ancient and beyond my wisdom.

But my body couldn’t lie. Even if I knew it had to be. Curse you, Shaline!

I couldn’t even listen properly. I just slumped down to the cold unfeeling floor and waited. It would pass. This emotion, feeling would calm. I did need to hide out. There was nothing else to do. This room made for a good enough place to rest.

The walk inside brought my breathing down I noticed. And while it wasn’t quite that frozen river I requested, the stone served well enough. It pierced through my tunic with ease. Sweat stuck everywhere, but with the layer of filth on me it was in perfect company. There was likely a wonderful disgusting party happening. Not that that was the reason everyone avoided me.

Shaline, I didn’t need these thoughts now. I wished you would just leave me alone. Haven’t you done enough already?

Shaking my head, I tried to rattled away those distracting thoughts. They weren’t something I needed on my shadows. It was black enough being cast by me. One fortunate result was that I had stopped crying at least. But now I needed to get my mind on something else.

Feeling around the floor, there had been more than a few things I knew that laid around. Maybe it was just debris from it falling apart, though that would almost seem hard to believe amongst perfection. So I hoped for something a little more interesting.

At my left I found a block, no, rubbing my fingers over the surface it was smooth like water and yet hard as wood. It was like it had been sanded and polished to such a fine measure it changed into some other material. This definitely wasn’t stone. And it didn’t have a heft to it. I could hold it, though passing my fingers around the edges there were no carvings that I could find. Interesting as this could be for someone else, it told me nothing.

If this was some relic of that age, I couldn’t comprehend what purpose this might have served. For all I knew it was a cutting board and I was in their kitchen. Placing it down, I searched my right. Each investigation revealed a new discovery and possibly even some wonder for the world. But it was just an ill shaped ball that never turned despite its balance, a series of ribbons that felt crisp and new bought from the market this morning and a flexible chunk of some rock-like material.

It was frustratingly equal parts exciting and boring. You really love taunting me, Shaline.

In the end, the only thing that I found that could be of use to me was a staff. It was taller than me and decorated with numerous metal rings on the upper part that rattled in a pleasing way. It had the same clean quality of the room making me assume the same person that made this place crafted this piece.

If it was made by them, it should be able to take a hit. It wasn’t exactly a lethal weapon, but I wouldn’t trust myself with a sword or spear, training not withstanding. If I accidentally whacked myself with this the worst that I would get was a bruise. I could live with that, not a missing limb. I would leave that to the monsters to remove. I certainly had no plans to volunteer them. I liked what parts I still had. I didn’t need more stolen from me. And I would resist those human-loving beasts with my skillful fleeing talents I’d refined.

In my right hand, the stick that I had picked up a month ago. The last one snapped during a rainstorm. My stick waited in silence. It had to know this was always a temporary arrangement. Though I had expected to lose it before giving it up myself. It wasn’t personal, just practical.

Leaving it in some ruins felt a little awkward, but they could consider it an unequal trade. Maybe the dead would find the new more interesting than the same old thing from a millenia unchanging around them.

Fond farewells given, I stepped back into the tunnel. A rattling melody bounced off the smooth surfaces rising into a chorus. It almost sounded like a voice singing. I refrained myself from repetition again. This really was a strange place. If hunger wasn’t starting to get to me I would almost want to stay here. The charming ripples were alluring. But my traveling pack was lost thanks to the chase. I needed to find the road and help, provided there was a kind soul that wouldn’t flee once they realized what I was.

The only problem that I was presented with was the Choit outside. Putting the staff to the ground, another chime came out. I wasn’t quiet anymore. Even if I could defend myself or maybe smack it, it was going to hear me. It wouldn’t need my smell. Was this a bad idea?

No, I needed this.

Protection, I was alone. This would keep me safe. If only it could be a little silent while I escaped. My hand twisted a little around the grip as my thumb felt over the surface. There was a seam. I noticed it before, but thought it was just decoration. It rested in a comfortable spot for my hand, so I just used it as a sign to know I was holding it right. But there was some give. This whole thing wasn’t solid.

I tested around until there was some switch that suddenly dropped my hold. The piece fell a whole hand length. It was loose. I could slide it over the staff. Its purpose remained unknown, but I tried to get it back into position when I realized it wasn’t making a sound anymore. When I moved it back up the rings clanged against the staff. There was a locking mechanism. But it slid around. Would the handle lock in place here? I felt it had to.

The switch flipped back down, halting it. I shook the staff to silence. A sigh came out. “Peace. Now I just hope I don’t need to run again.” Bravely and foolishly, I made my way back toward the entrance. Being a straight tunnel, I thankfully didn’t need to remember much. Just the distance, which I couldn’t recall. But my right hand told me enough.

I stopped once it cornered sharply into rough stone again. It might have only been a short period, but I already missed the ease of the wall. It gave no features and should have been uncomfortable and unwelcome to me. I couldn’t tell anything. But I couldn’t stop pressing further. If my belly hadn’t grumbled I almost turned back.

And then a low growl from the dark made me question if it was actually my hunger speaking. The broken flute was back. “Hungry as well?” A chittering howl came out like a reply. “If you could find someone else to have for lunch, then maybe I’d be willing to bend your ear over a fire.” It put down a heavy stomp feeling the echoes through my legs. “Didn’t think so.”

Judging from the sound, it had to be five or ten paces away. Close enough to lunge if it was still bold. But it hadn’t yet. Maybe it remembered the tree still. Or the cliff didn’t look appealing to it. I lingered in the tunnel. Could I wait it out? It had been patient enough already. Was it worth the risk?

Then I felt it pounding the earth. It was running at me. On reflex, I let go of the tunnel corner and fled into the tunnel. It was a long way to the room. Maybe I couldn’t out run it, but maybe it would at least be easier to bait.

A whistle came from it as nails over stone. It was disgusting in clarity. It tainted this beauty with its corruption. It didn’t belong here.

But I stopped. Listening, there should have been stomping. It had to be stomping over the stone reflecting around the chamber. No, that wasn’t happening. I tilted a little, listening close. What was it doing? What exact sound did it make? A chitter again, frustrated and pained. Why? I was in its sight clearly. And while I never saw a Cloit in my old life, I knew well enough that they were only slightly larger than a beast of burden. It should fit in easily. But it wasn’t approaching.

Was it scared?

That wasn’t it. I approached two paces close. It was distant, but the ripples of its roar reached me with ease. It made it a little difficult to judge distance, but I think it was still at the entrance. It stopped?

This was ill conceived, but I slowly walked towards my starving dinner partner. Once my hair started to brush around my forehead I knew I was close enough. It was just outside. It knew I was here, but didn’t come inside. Did it understand it was forbidden to enter? Or was something else stopping it? Each howl from it sounded more ticked off at me. It could just see me out of reach probably. Its meal was taunting it. This meal liked living another day as well to curse Shaline’s name. Thank you kindly.

But we were at an impasse.

I couldn’t leave now and it couldn’t enter. How could I convince it to leave? The staff tapped on the floor in a counter ripple that battled out the annoyed rumblings. It didn’t help, but I felt slightly more at ease with the soothing echoing.

Pressing my thumb around the shaft of the staff I pondered stupidity. Even if it was just standing there, enough anger could change its mind. I really shouldn’t make the situation worse. But I did have one clean strike possible. My sticks for arms couldn’t muster enough to even give it a bruise though. This really would be the height of foolishness.

My anxious thumb accidently clicked the switch and released the handle. I fumbled a little in surprise to keep my hold. The rattling bounced around in rising song only to be coda’ed by a heavy thump. The Choit retreated. It was only a bit, but I could hear the difference in volume. Was it frightened?

I clutched the staff tightly against me now. This was my life. Drawn out moments left the situation unchanged. It roared, but this wasn’t the frustrated bellowing it made before. And there wasn’t some broken flute chirping. It didn’t seem scared, at least from what I could hear. Did I just startle it?

Foolishness or bravery, I wasn’t sure which was better at this point, but I shook the staff letting it ring loudly to sing proud into the hall of its home. Listening carefully to the monster, I didn’t hear it move or react. It wasn’t the staff then. Or rather it probably was just startled. I didn’t understand monsters.

I brought the staff back in as the handle slid up and suddenly its song pitched up. Its voice hadn’t quite become that of a maiden, but it was neither bassy before. Letting it move quickly over the whole length of the handle, I confirmed I wasn’t hearing things. It wasn’t just some decoration or adjustment for hold placement. I could actually change the sound that it created. Not that that bit provided me with an escape.

But it was captivating, compelling. It drowned out the tainted trilling of the Choit with beautiful melody. It was a strange device from the ancients. Maybe that’s why it begged for my attention. Sliding at smaller increments, I started picking out different tones. A raging fire, then a comforting breeze and a tormenting quake. It was like before. Why did that sound right? It was like notes of a ballad, but I could feel each and I was sampling my favorite meal. I knew them. They were close. They were haunting.

It was comforting.

I stopped. Locking the handle, I had a monster to confront. Or hide from, neither of which I was doing right now. I took a step forward. There was no plan. But my legs dragged me on. The staff tapped in an earthen and flaky timbre around the tunnel. It almost felt like I was pressing clay between my fingers. But that almost immediately was cut off as I felt the tunnel rock or shake a little. How did it move?

Silence.

I was just lost in the song. That had to be it. But listening in the stillness, the Choit trilled. This one was definitely different from any of the other sounds. It came out weak. Maybe that was fear. It was my best guess. Did it feel the earth move too? Was it not my imagination?

Curiosity wrapped a string around my ankle and tugged me ahead again. The staff knocked against the stone once more. Earth and clay then rumbling. It was real. It was the staff. But how was it doing that? It hadn’t before when I was holding it. What changed?

The handle, I moved it. It changed. That had to be the answer. Was this really a tool of the divine? But whatever it was, the monster seemed to have a better understanding. I could hear it brushing against the forest bed with its paws. It was backing away, scared.

I had my escape!

Tapping it out again with more confidence, the tunnel nearly seemed to jump. Groans from the stone poured in around me. I probably shouldn’t stay. Hurrying with my right hand tracing the wall, I reached the entrance finally for the second time.

The beast was further away, but near. Its whistling called out almost like a rejection of what I did. I struck the staff into the earth wanting to finally be rid of it. Cracking popped up all around me. From deep within the ground it sounded like an even larger beast came out as it roared from below. I couldn’t even stand as everything shook. I braced the best as I could against the cliff until I felt pebbles raining down on me.

This wasn’t safe anymore. The whole place was going to collapse. But it was rocking so much that the ground couldn’t support me. I just crawled desperate to keep the staff with me. In the distance through the discordant chorus of earthen rumble I heard a pained screech, wet and deathly. If I didn’t know better it sounded like the final cries of the monster.

But I just kept clawing my way forward waiting out the violence until it finally relented. The earth’s anger calmed once more. The creaking of trees and whistling of leaves still blanketed me, but I could handle that. What I didn’t hear was the beast. The Choit was silent for the first time in an age.

Was I safe? At last!

Waiting out for complete silence, I hung on every noise. Nothing, just nature was around. Moments into minutes, it remained still. It was dead, but how? The quake must have done something to it. That was enough for me.

It started to get back to my feet. “Where was the road again?”

“At last! You finally remembered!”

“Who’s there?” The voice echoed like there were three others with them, each mirrored in a slightly different key. It wasn’t someone that I knew. Besides, it was ridiculous for anyone from my town to be out here.

“I’m right at your side.” It came from my right ear. I turned even if it was pointless. I was never going to see anything but black. Though I couldn’t tell if they were a man or woman. It felt somewhere in the middle almost like they were both or neither.

Stranger still was that I didn’t sense a thing. There were no footsteps of someone approaching. No subtle breathing or even a faint hint of a person. It was like they weren’t even there. I tentatively reached my arm out to test for anyone nearby. They came in my ear so clearly, they had to be close. But there was nothing that my hand found.

I lifted my hand up higher, maybe it was a fae. They didn’t live in the kingdom as far as I knew, but my knowledge did end at stone. So maybe there was a community I was unaware of. But even then I should have heard the beating of wings or something.

Were they just an illusion of my panicked mind?

“No. You’re not going to find me, discover me.”

“Then why did you say you’re at my side?”

“Because I am.” I gave the voice a scowl. “I’m real, as you. I just don’t have a body, a physical form anymore.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Oh, that’s definitely not true, wrong, inaccurate! You can do anything with magic!”

“I wish you would start making sense. I must have fallen asleep in those Lost Ruins.” Magic, no such thing existed. It was the fancy of children’s stories. Playful ideas to make them excited or distracted. “I guess beating a Choit really was too convenient.”

“No! You did kill the Chauvoiter. You’re not asleep. Not in the least. Not at all.”

I braced both hands on the staff. This became far more lucid than I was ready for. “Chauvoiter?”

“That magic beast. You destroyed, vanquished it with your magic.”

Taking in a long breath, this was going to take a while. My mind really seemed fixed on this notion. I wish I could just return to reality. “If you’re going to lie, at least make it more believable.”

A huff of air popped out from them. Still I didn't feel anything. Normally dreams had a little more sensation to them. “We created magic beasts for that purpose. To force you, everyone to remember.”

I started tapping my dream. “Time to wake up.” Nothing changed. Curse you, Shaline.

“This is annoying. Really troublesome. People of your age are so unimaginative.” It felt like they were talking to themselves more than me. I certainly didn’t understand anything that they were complaining about. “Would this help you believe me? I am the Great Sage Asherrot!”

“Great Sage Asherrot. I don’t know anyone by that name…Asherrot. Asherrot, the Ripple Lord?”

“Ripple Lord, what nonsense is that? I know it’s been a thousand years, a millenia, but you can remember two simple words can’t you?”

“Asherrot. God of Water and Bearer of the Curse of Shaline. Asherrot?”

“You remember Shaline, that crazy architect?”

“Architect?” I took a step back. This wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmare.

“You know, people that design buildings. You do have architects.”

“Maybe the King does.” I shook my head trying to claw back my position. “You’re the God. The one that gave me this Curse?”

“Yes and no. No and yes. I gave you the Calling, but I am no God. But I guess after so long, we might have become that. I didn’t really consider how you would see us.”

“What are you then?”

“The Great Sage!” I knocked the staff against the earth. They coughed even though it seemed that they had no body. “I am the Astral Construct of the one known as Asherrot. From your point of view, I’m dead, a ghost. But I’ve simply reconstituted my essence as a magic spirit. That’s why you can’t touch me.”

“You’re the Spirit of Shaline that’s taken root in me?!”

“If that helps it make sense to you.” Their voices sounded so exhausted even saying the words.

But it did finally make something clear. “You’re the one that ruined my life!”

“That’s a terrible, awful way to say thank you for finally rediscovering magic.”

“I don’t care about any of that. You destroyed my life! I was happily married before this Curse! Take it and leave me! I want nothing to do with you.”

“It doesn’t work like that. I picked, guided, directed you here for this reason.”

“Then be silent and leave me to find the road.” If I was awake then I could just walk away. Taking a firm hold of the staff I started tapping around checking the changed terrain. The breaking of the earth had shot up pieces around me. My once nice forest floor had become more like stairs. I couldn’t see how bad it was, but the staff made it clear that walking would be a challenge now.

“You have a noble task! A job to do. You must listen.”

“For a God you don’t hear very well. I made myself clear, I want nothing to do with you. Find some other fool.”

“I’m not waiting another millenia for someone to finally find magic again! You must fulfill your duty, your charge.”

I stopped looking blindly to my left. They had spun around to my other side. “Magic isn’t real. And the only duty I have is to find food.”

“Magic is real, you’ve just forgotten it! It was stolen, taken, sealed away from you!” I just kept walking. It was slow going, having to keep knocking around for cracks or jutting earth. It was surprisingly hardened for being dirt. “What if I granted your wish?”

I stopped. It was bait. I knew it was, but the allure was too strong. “Thought you said that you couldn’t.”

“The Calling seals away one of your seven senses.”

“There’s only five, nice try.”

“I wasn’t finished, done explaining. For the price of one of your senses, another is enhanced to bring you closer to magic once more. Restoring it would tear away the link you’ve made, the sensitivity you found. You needed heightened hearing to be able to understand Sound Magic. It’s only one element of ten that exists in magic.”

“You’re running out of time.”

“For believing I’m your God, you’re speaking rather callously to me.”

“You put this Curse on me. No one wants anything to do with me! And by your own words, this was your plan. You tried to kill me.”

“We had no choice, option, alternative. The experiment destroyed magic as we knew it. Fractured, divided. We had to fix things. You live incomplete, empty lives not knowing what you could be. What the world might be. This was stolen unrightfully. We are returning things to their correct form.”

“You don’t get to judge how we find value in our lives. I was happy.” I could still see the chisel in my hands and chips of stone on the floor. The warm smile of Glennida before it became corrupted in scorn and fear. Broken stone and shouting that ended everything.

I burned my happiness.

“It’s all a lie. The world, life, nature, it's wrong.”

“From my perspective your world is a lie. And one that I know nothing or want nothing of. And unless you get to the part about fixing my eyes, I’m leaving. I’m not your fool.

“Restore magic, learn what you’ve forgotten. And the seal need not be in place.”

“Have you maybe considered the world is better without magic? It’s not necessary for living.”

“You don’t know what you are missing. The vivid colors that paint the world.”

“I’m blind.”

“Anything was possible. Magic enriched everyone and the world. Full of life! Floating cities, trees that could speak, hills that could move. Not like the darkened world now, a pale shadowed form.”

“I remember what you said. You made the monsters that haunt us and ruin our peace. You’re nothing, but a terror. You’re playing at gods. Just give me my sight back.” Did magic deserve to return? They ruined the world once already.

“Restore magic and I will.”

The final line, we were stuck. My jailor baited me with keys. Glennida came to my thoughts again. After everything I did would she take me back? Could I apologize?

I missed her.

I missed home.

Could I believe in a promise for a future uncertain?

Do I walk a children’s tale or walk alone in the dark?