Last time on Sunblighted:
As Tev, the mysterious Canthi lookalike, guides Gefrol and a passed-out Lih through the forest, Gefrol is confident that Lih has made this better future possible, and that he can help Lih fix the world.
When Tev asked for Gefrol’s unconditional assistance, claiming that he is The God of the Winds of Change and the subject of a prophecy, he refused, telling her that he only serves Lih, his master.
The common room is not particularly special. There is a long-aged bar facing the entrance, with a swinging door to a backroom, possibly a kitchen. Lines of bottles and glasses are neatly organized behind what I would assume to be where someone would stand and serve me food and drink for coin. But, as it is early morning, the owner must still be asleep. Tev points to a plush wolf pelt in front of the hearth.
“Lay him there,” she says, her tense jaw leaking worry into her words. “Some heat will do him good.” She walks through the swinging door and disappears into the kitchen. An arrangement of chairs and tables surrounds the hearth. Empty bronze candle holders sit squarely in the center of said tables, daintily presenting melted wicks from a long day of use. I lay Lih down on the soft furs, not before removing the weapons from his belt and back, putting them to the side.
The creak of the swinging door breaks my concentration as Tev walks through with a bundle of sticks, some flint, and a steel dagger. “Rainy day today,” she says, laying the wood down into the coals. “Taking in strangers this early would not seem out of the ordinary.” She swiftly brings the dagger down against the flint, marking the blade with black and releasing a spark that catches on the wood. Soon, it starts to crackle, and the glow begins to radiate through the room. Lih stops laboring through each breath, but he remains asleep.
“Feeling better?” Tev turns to me, eyeing the spear’s long, curved nail head and its protruding straight guards. It blinks a tint of orange in the flickering fire, but it stays cold. “Maybe this will show you that I am not your enemy.”
“But, you have yet to prove to me that you are an ally …” Even while my eyes stay on Lih, I know Tev has already reached for the short sword behind her cloak. It truly is human nature to resist change. I smirk as an idea forms in my head. I turn to the girl, her hands sitting in her lap, as if oblivious to her own bloodlust. “A test!” A thunder clap strikes the earth as I swiftly rise to my feet. “Let him rest—”
She rises to meet me. “But–”
“Feed him! Answer his questions! If you can, then I may be of service to you as well.” I wag my index finger with a sly smile, baiting a wicked grin and smoldering glare out of her. Finally, some personality. “He will have many, so try to keep up.” I turn around and walk to the door, but pivot fast on my foot to stand right behind her, looking down from on high. “I will know if you harm him.”
SNAP
Time stopped for me again. The fire froze mid-combustion, and the room’s breath stood still. I walked out of the door into—
SNAP
the rain. It comes down like bricks. I squat down on the earth, in front of the Inn, breathing heavily. In, and out. In, and out.
Trying to remember the day before Lih summoned me by happenstance only leaves me with a headache. I woke up with a script in my mind. Frustration forces me to get up and observe my surroundings. All I know is how to reset this world, and all I feel is a desire to bring about change.
Wandering the elevations of this tucked-away village, I see homes glow from candles and hearths, marking the villagers’ arrival to consciousness, while those who left earlier come running back into their homes. They know where their homes are, despite them all looking the same to me. I stand there for a moment more, unsure of my own feelings. They have lived here for generations.
The rain starts to come down harder, and while my clothes begin to soak, my skin stays dry. I do not feel cold. Nor do I feel warmth. The world has rejected me. I exist, but I am ignored, a feeling worse than complete intangibility. Wanting something so badly, so badly that I would do anything, and I mean anything, to get it, but being unable to do it on my own, it crushes me. Like my value is determined by a factor disconnected from my desire to accomplish, and it is actively retracting from my own efforts.
It still bothers me, what the girl said in the woods. “Some prophecy cannot lead the world to change,” I mutter as I walk down the empty streets to a circular crossroads of sorts. Cobblestone paths slick with rain flow down to a moat surrounding that imposing stone building with the towers, while the surrounding thinner avenues gently guide the rainwater towards the main road. I march down to the looming building, passing houses that seem to get older and more worn the lower I go. Steps become less sporadic, but steeper than the many shallow ledges from the uppermost parts of the village.
A sturdy wooden ramp functions as a bridge across the moat. Walking above the water lets me see that the stone building is much less majestic up close. The stone walls are lined with paths marked by the years of rainfall, and mossy vines have seemingly grown into the walls, failing to be cut off from anywhere directly above the ground on which the walls are built. The gathered rainwater spreads through the moat and out to multiple dug-out pathways that are much more precise than the circular current. With the waters moving more to the left than the right, the moat does not make for the most precise form of irrigation.
This feels repurposed. I think as I step on this lonely building’s territory. Secrets remade to be hidden in plain sight. I raise my hand to knock on the door—
“These days, travellers just go to the Inn for shelter.” I turn to hear the aged, high-pitched voice coming from a frail old man, looking up to face me. His body swallowed by a faded blue cloak, the man strokes his pointy white beard while taking measured steps, each pace marked by the supporting tap of his twisted wooden staff against the stone path. “I was going to offer services, but if you want me to walk you to the Inn beforehand…” as he mulls over his thoughts, I see my reflection in his grey eyes. “Well, I would not mind a change of pace!”
Suddenly, I start to shiver. The old man perks up again. “Actually, let us head into the temple first to dry you off.” He walks past me and slides a key into the door while I hug my torso. “Standing outside so long in the rain and only now you get cold? You young folk always seem to amaze me.” The squeaking of the hinges brings my eyes to look into the unlit room beyond the walls. “Come on, get in here! I will fetch some candles to warm you up.” He walks through the door as I hold it open before it closes on him, ignoring this new sensation that pricks at every part of my body. He turns back to me, squinting, maybe even smiling under that beard. “Oh, what a gentleman! You remind me of myself when I was younger. Ho ho!” He laughs and steps deeper into the temple, as he called it.
I shiver while letting the door close behind me, my sensations overloading my thoughts. I can barely walk past the doorway as one question comes out on top of the others: Why am I here?
—fire burns through my flesh. The night drags me into the woods, and I see nothing but the corpses of my home being torn apart by massive wolves—erfls—whatever they are, mouths full of gore. Standing atop the mound of corpses is the Shade, grinning wildly. Holding my spear high in victory, it screams as it drives my weapon down with fury on the broken body of an innocent girl—
“Canthi!” I cry out, flinging my arm out to grasp her shoulders, but no one is there. In fact, I look around my surroundings, it seems like an inn, alright, but there is something strange about it. A constant drumming slaps against the walls. I rise slowly, feeling the warmth of the pelt on my feet, brushing my habit off my torso, and go to stare out the window—
“So this is the man who captured the attention of a god.” A terse voice spits out. I turn to where the voice came from, and see—
“No,” she sighs, rolling her eyes. “I am not Canthi. But, stay, sit, and eat,” she says as she moves closer before dragging a chair out from the closest table with one hand, the other staying behind her back. “And I may tell you what you want to know.”
End of Chapter 7
Author’s note: That snow storm was a real doozy! Gives me extra time to write at home while I’m definitely not avoiding packing or shoveling snow … 😛 Anyways! I’m very happy with how this one turned out, once again thanks to my editor for suggesting we go back to Lih at the end. The previous chapters are available on the “Tales from the Empty Notebook” page at brandeishoot.com/author/mgmail-com/.
See you next time!
-T.E.N
