I never once yearned for strength, son. It came to me in waves, waves that were never meant to crash upon these shores. I hid it at first. But when the time came, I knew it had been given to me for a reason.
So shall you.
- Galath Areias, The First
Renric Demaris
My heart pounded, as if it might burst from my chest and soar into the horizon at any moment. The events of the past few hours replayed in my head over and over again. Flying through the air with the Prince, learning to use magic, and fighting those fiery beasts. Cindraks, he had called them.
A fair bit more exciting of an afternoon than I was typically used to.
Suddenly, a thought struck me like a bolt of lightning racing down from the sky.
"Balius," I muttered aloud, "Goddamnit." Balius was still tied to my father's stall back in Darrowmere. With everything happening so fast, I had completely forgotten about him. I should've asked the prince, Cadyr, to fly me back to the Capital instead of back to Stonewick.
Tomorrow's problem, I told myself. I was much too tired to worry about the horse now, even if he may have been mad at me for a few days when I did find him.
I stumbled slowly towards my home, following the path illuminated only by the silver moon light above. It was a quaint building, a brick foundation holding up a wooden second floor. Square brick tiles lined its triangular roof, with a slight overhang on each side of the house. A perpendicular roof sprouted against the main building's side, with a small chimney where the fireplace would be from the inside. There were three wooden windows on the front face of the house, each with their own slightly unique design.
I pushed my way through the rickety old door, careful to not wake my mother, but inside I was met with a familiar sight.
"And where have you been sir." A soft, yet stern and demanding voice called out, even before I had fully closed the door.
"Elira-" I started simply, trailing off while gathering my thoughts. "I- I got lost on the way back." I lied, knowing full well that she would never buy my excuses.
"Ren, did you hit your head while you were out there or do you think I'm an idiot?" She retorted, moving from my mother's bedside towards me. She stopped a foot's distance away, and lightly flicked me across the forehead. "She was worried sick." She whispered, gesturing back at the sleeping figure of my mother.
I brought a hand up to rub my forehead, the same spot she always hit me in when I would say or do something stupid before replying, "I'm sorry, Elira, thank you for taking care of my mother for me. I'm truly grateful."
She continued to stare at me expectantly, simply waiting for me to continue.
With a sigh I held the door open, gesturing with my other arm, "Let's talk outside then."
Elira was born only a year after me, and our families had always been friendly with each other. She knew me better than almost anyone, perhaps, even more than my parents ever did. I never shared with her the exact details of what occurred at that royal showcase so long ago, and she and her family never pried. They knew only that my father had passed through some ordeal, leaving me and my mother to grieve in his absence.
"So what really happened, Ren? What could be so important that you would leave your mother here all alone?"
"There's something I have to show you." I replied, glancing left and right, checking for movements within the village. Although, I knew that no one would be awake at this hour.
I raised my right arm–somehow, Cadyr's lesson had begun to make sense. Closing my eyes I focused on the water in the village well a few feet ahead of us.
Whispers echoed in my head, but no meaning could be deciphered. It was like trying to eavesdrop on a murmured conversation behind a thick, castle wall. Faint, with no substance.
Perhaps this was the Veil. Stories and fables of its sentience spread among the common blooded citizens. People spoke of its "will" in a way. But stories and facts were hard to decipher between, and I had no way of knowing what was true, and what was a bedtime story meant to scare children to sleep.
Only when I had deliberately tried to access the Veil's powers did I hear the whispers, but I had declined to mention it then to Cadyr, not knowing if I could truly trust him or not.
I focused, forming my hand into a tight ball, imagining the water droplets forming together into a tight sphere. After a few beats, I heard a gasp fall from Elira's mouth, and I knew at that moment it had not all been just a dream.
"H- How…" she trailed off before resuming, "Ren, is that- magic?" The final word glanced off her tongue, as if she could hardly believe she was saying it herself.
"Yes," I replied, wondering how much of the truth I should tell. She was perceptive, with everyone, but me especially. I could not afford to tell a half baked lie to her. "When I was finishing up at the markets, suddenly I felt something, and I accidentally started a minor fire in one of the stalls. So I ran, not wanting to get caught, and in my haste I even left Balius behind." I pursed my lips, hoping that she wouldn't catch the cracks sprouting throughout my falsified story.
Her jaw was still agape, and like she had just noticed it was so, she slowly closed it, turning to stare at me. "But how can this be Ren, we all know only royal blooded people can-" She stopped, eyes narrowing, "don't tell me you are some prince or something because I swear to god-"
"I promise, I'm nothing like a prince," I said, smiling, remembering what the actual prince was really like. "Or atleast, as far as I know I am not."
"Then how?"
"I don't know, but Elira," I turned, my tone growing serious, "You can't tell anyone, not my mother, not your parents, no one."
"But why? What if they can help? Or maybe the royals from Darrowmere know something? Maybe they will even celebrate it, maybe-" I cut her off with a look, and she sheepishly shied away, knowing she was entering into one of her rants again.
"Let's call it an instinct." I replied. This was not entirely a lie, but everytime the thought even crossed my mind of sharing my ability to use magic publicly, the image of my fathers lifeless body played clear in my mind. Yet still, her words had some sort of allure to them. Cadyr didn't have quite so strong of a reaction to finding out I could access the Veil. Perhaps more royals were like him-
Not yet, boy, the voice rasped through my skull, like wind dragging over stone.
My train of thought halted, I spun my neck, nearly breaking it, before focusing my gaze on Elira.
"Did you say something?" I questioned urgently.
She shook her head, "Uh, no-"
"Did you hear something?"
"Ren what is going on-"
I stood abruptly, grabbing her by the arm.
"I must be getting tired, hearing things, look, will you help me get Balius tomorrow morning?"
"Yes of course, I'll just tell my parents we are going on a trip to Darrowmere for something, but seriously Ren-"
"It's fine," I comforted her, a thin smile on my lips, "tired, that's all it is, I'm tired."
She clearly wasn't satisfied with my answer, but she nodded, slipping away into the darkness toward her home.
I let myself relax, walking back towards my home, and laying in the comfort of my bed.
Tomorrow's problem, I thought, attempting to reassure myself that nothing was wrong, tomorrow's problem.
—
The man stood, a flowing, red cape behind him. He was clad in a suit of jet black armour, covered in gold accents. A large sword hung at his side, big enough that I doubted I could wield it if I used both of my small hands. Adorning his head was a decorative golden crown, which he first placed beside him before rising into the air, undoubtedly channeling wind element magic around himself.
Magic danced around him, as if it could not, or rather, would not, leave his side. Embers of fire, mixing with air element magic to form bolts of lightning arced from his body. He flew down to the battlefield below, and more of the scene was revealed to me.
A field of endless bodies, marching against each other. Some were clearly Veil Walkers, clad in suits of elemental magic, while others seemingly were not, fighting only with swords, shields, and spears. Blood tainted the battlefield, creating a sea of red as far as the eye could reach.
The man landed, instantly the enemy soldiers upon him, but just as quickly as they reached him they were repelled back. He hardly moved, letting the Veil itself carry out his bidding, pushing back soldiers with wind element magic and slaying them where they stood with arcing electricity.
His expression however, was not that of a bloodthirsty killer, no, he looked.. sad, regretful. Like he had been forced to throw out a bowl of perfectly good food. He made his way towards what seemed like the opposition's King, or perhaps simply their leader. This man was covered in rocks, welded together to create a suit of armour, only allowing room for his joints to move in between the boulders. He looked solemn and accepting, like he knew what would happen next.
The original man, in his suit of armour, the same color as the midnight sky, raised his large, heavy sword with a single arm. He looked at the other man, seemingly saying something that I could not make out. The man armoured in rocks lowered his head.
The jet black walker swung his blade.
—
I awoke in a cold sweat, grasping my sheets like I have grown used to in the past few months. But this time, something was different. My dreams and nightmares had never been so clear as they had been that night. In fact, there was not a single recognizable memory or emotion that I could recall aside from the sensation of burning within my chest that had plagued my nights in recent times. Only whispers had ever reached me before.
I could not decipher the meaning behind this vision, or perhaps, a memory. The figures were not familiar to me, although I was not exactly well read on Karousian history. Whatever its meaning, I decided to shelve it for another time. There was a much more important matter to attend to either way.
Although, a deep unsettling feeling still began to form from within me.
Something has changed, I thought to myself.
—
"Ren?" Elira spoke to me, voice soft as always. She reached an arm out, handing me an apple.
"Hmm? Oh, yes, thank you." I replied, grabbing the apple from her hand. I leaned back, letting the rumble of the wagon gently rock my body back and forth. It was a comforting sensation, yet distinctly different from the rocking of my family's wagon when Balius would pull us along.
"Did you bring any food for Balius?" She asked, a worried expression on her face.
"What do you take me for, a monster?" I laughed before opening the sack at my side, showing a treasure trove full of carrots I had picked from the garden behind my house.
"Why yes, I do in fact. Remember that time when you broke my mothers favorite flower vase and blamed me? She still believes it was me to this day!" She exclaimed, still as frustrated as the day it had happened.
I let out a hearty laugh, almost surprising myself. It was nice to get a moment to just relax for once. "Well, it's not my fault your parents like me better than they like you." I taunted.
"Well how about the time that I got you to look into the well for my 'bracelet,'" she added air quotes with her fingers around the word bracelet, "and pushed you in."
"That wasn't even funny or clever, just plain mean!"
She let out a giggle, playfully pushing me the same way she had pushed me back then.
"And you couldn't even climb out on your own! You had to wait until someone found a rope to let you back out!" She keeled over in laughter, illuminating the wagon with the warmth of its sound.
"Or how about that time when your father-" she trailed off, her laughter slowly falling away as her tone turned somber. "When your father took me hunting instead of you because you wouldn't wake up-"
"-And I cried for the entire day when you returned." I finished for her, slightly smiling, the complicated emotions of happiness and grief dancing across my face.
"I'm sorry Ren, I didn't mean to-"
"It's ok. It's a… good memory." I reassured her, leaning back once more into the wagon.
We sat in silence for a few moments. It wasn't an awkward silence. It was never that way between me and Elira. No, silence was just another way we had grown to enjoy each other's company.
Eventually, we reached the gates of Darrowmere once again. Both of us were still shocked by its overwhelming beauty, even if its memory had haunted me for years. Elira had been to the capital a handful of times, but not nearly as much as I did when I would come to sell the spoils of my hunts.
Balius patiently waited where I had left him, dejectedly laying on the ground, still tied up next to my fathers stand. He spotted us approaching, and expectedly, he looked angry as ever.
"Hey there buddy," I said, approaching gingerly, a sack of carrots held out in front of me.
Balius stood, but didn't meet my gaze, instead holding his head up high as if to say, you're gonna have to do better than that. I stepped closer, holding up a single carrot to his nose, letting him smell it. Balius paused for a moment, seemingly wondering what to do next, before chomping greedily on the snack.
"I know I know, I'm sorry for leaving you here, please, take these carrots as a- woah!" I yelped as he pushed his head deeper into my sack, eating as if he would never be fed again.
Elira laughed, patting Balius alongside his long snout as I prepared our things to set out back for Stonewick. I reached underneath the market stand, feeling for the locked compartment below. I slipped the key out from my pocket and fiddled with the lock, getting it open with a violent twist. I quickly brought my hand inside feeling for the large, smooth coin I hoped would still be in there.
At last, I felt it, holding it up into the sky to admire its beauty before quickly slipping the small fortune back into my pocket. A golden galleon. Enough money to feed both mine and Elira's family for months at least.
The journey back held little in the way of excitement. Both me and Elira continued to reminisce about our past, Balius and her family's horse both trotting alongside each other. But just a few minutes' ride away from Stonewick, we suddenly noticed a loud commotion stirring from the west.
"What is that?" Elira questioned. Sounds of stampeding footsteps could be heard, like a herd of deer running from a wolf.
"I'm not sure, but let's check it out." As I spoke I moved forward, sitting at the front of the wagon, "Balius, c'mon!" I commanded, and he bolted into action, transitioning from a leisurely trot to a full gallop.
The scene in the village could only be described as a warzone. Floods of villagers entered through the gates, causing traffic jams at the western and southern entrances. Those who had already found their way inside seemed to be seeking refuge. I watched as the familiar Stonewick residents I knew so well allowed these newcomers into their homes.
Some were damp from the legs down, and others were completely drenched, as if they had gone for a dip in the ocean while fully clothed. Some still coughed up water, while others were carried in on the backs of their families, lifeless and unmoving. Others limped, or held injured arms and body parts, broken and bleeding.
"What in god's name…" Elira spoke, before being interrupted by the presence of her father, frantically waving his arms.
"There you are Elira, Renric," He greeted us both, but was still clearly shaken from whatever was taking place. "There has been a flash flood in Kemmerick! Its residents have flocked to the surrounding villages, and many have come here to Stonewick seeking refuge! Come Elira, we must make room for as many as we can!" He grabbed her arm, nodding to me as they hurriedly moved away towards their house.
I turned, sprinting over to my house, spotting a family of four walking aimlessly near the village center along the way.
"Over here I called," waving my arms. "We have space!"
"Oh thank you sir!" The mother gratefully cried out, carrying one child in her arms, the other being pulled along by the father, a grim look on his face.
I led them into the house, my mother was standing, nervously stroking her hair as I approached. I enveloped her in a quick embrace.
"I'll explain later." I whispered, hopefully reassuringly, though I knew she was probably still worried. I had never found the time to properly explain my absence the night before.
"Here I called out," making room for the unconscious boy on a deer hide blanket by the fire. "Set him down here."
The mother let the boy down as the father and eldest son both closed in, creating a small semi circle around the boy.
Quickly, I leapt into action, placing my hands above the boy's chest and pumping at a steady pace. Every so often I brought my lips to his mouth, breathing in twice before resuming chest compressions. My father had taught me this motion, in case a life ever needed to be saved. Back then I never imagined having to actually utilize that knowledge.
The boy however did not move, still, and I quickly questioned his parents about what had happened in Kemmerick.
"We were just on the outskirts of the village, picking berries with Varek," she gestured to the elder son, a boy around the age of ten, at the fathers side. "When suddenly a flash of water came roaring from the hillside…" She paused, tears welling up in her eyes.
The father continued in her place, "Lioren was still in the village when it happened. We found him, unconscious in the water, and brought him here as quickly as we could." He finished with a somber tone, as if he had already built up the resolve to face the fact that his youngest son would soon be gone.
"Let me try something." I muttered, my hope slowly fading. I would do everything in my power to help this boy, no matter what the cost.
I placed a hand above his torso, closing my eyes and feeling for the water I knew lay somewhere within his body. I focused hard, imagining my hands shrinking down to hold the water physically as I guided it up and out of his body through his throat and then his mouth. The whispers of the Veil murmured as I tried to concentrate, nearly breaking my focus, but I steadied my heart, thinking only about the water and the boy's body.
I opened my eyes, watching as the water quickly sputtered and flowed out of his mouth. The gazes of the family, as well as my mother, seemed to widen in shock, as they watched the supernatural sight before them.
We all waited in silence, breathlessly watching the boy for any movement.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, the boy coughed and sputtered the remaining water from his body, turning over to let it out onto the floor.
"Oh Lioren!" The mother leapt forward, hugging the boy in a tight embrace. Tears still streamed down from her eyes, now both from sadness and relief.
"Thank you, sir, or rather, boy…" The father stumbled over his words, seemingly unsure of my true age. "I don't know how you did it, and frankly I don't much care. You saved him. We are forever in your debt." He finished with a grave gratitude, and I could tell he meant every word.
"It's alright, now if you'll excuse me, make yourselves comfortable. You are free to stay as long as you need." I got up, shooting my mother a look. She stared back knowingly, before sighing and taking a seat in her rocking chair.
"Be careful, Renric." She warned in a careful, pleading tone.
"I will mother." I gave her a light smile as I stepped out of the house.
For some odd reason, something about this situation seemed wrong. It was not entirely outlandish for Kemmerick to experience a flood, although one as devastating as this one seemed to be would be odd, it is not unheard of. Kemmerick is situated in the bottom of a valley afterall.
The issue was, late spring and early summer would be the most likely seasons for a flood to occur, but it was nearing the beginning of winter, and there had been no rainfall for days.
Something is wrong, I thought to myself, yet it was almost like a question still forming within my subconsciousness. However, almost simultaneously I felt a tug at the back of my mind, whispers, repeating the thought back to me. Like an echo reverberating throughout my skull.
Something is wrong.
Something is wrong.
Something is wrong.
I hurriedly mounted Balius, I knew that the ride to Kemmerick if done on horseback at an urgent pace would only take fifteen minutes at most.
Something is wrong, I, or perhaps the Veil, repeated once again, as I rode off towards the neighboring village.