Ethos

[CD'sWorkshop]

Just like with The Last Monster, anyone who is interested can find a complete reading of this story on my YouTube page. My YouTube name is the same as my Literature Network name.

Introduction

Ethos is a story of perspectives. Sometimes, the text is just a general narration without a particular perspective; however, most of the story is told from the individual perspective of a specific character, and the perspective changes often—sometimes multiple times within a chapter. In order to avoid confusion, whenever the focus character changes, their name is given in brackets before the text. Text that has no focus character is also written entirely in brackets.

Example:
[A boy and a girl walk along a street in a medieval looking city. They both have forest green hair, ruby red eyes, and wear green robes.]

[Boy]

It’s kind of embarrassing having to be out in public with my little sister. She’s so weird. But, my parents told me I have to spend some time with her.

[Girl]

I’m so excited getting to spend time with my big brother! He and Vataria never want to hang out with me, but this time, Mom and Dad told him he has to, so nyeh!



Welcome to Potestum!

[A magnificent city can be seen. It has roads paved with stone and buildings made out of bricks and mortar covered with plaster. Many of them have open-air porches and courtyards supported by marble columns. The buildings have red shingled roofs and small, square windows that are open and not covered with glass, but many of them can be closed with wooden shutters.]

[The people walking the streets are clothed in dresses, tunics, and togas that range from short sleeve to sleeveless and knee length to ankle length. Most of them have well-tanned skin and black or dark brown hair, although a few have light skin and hair.]

[On the ground floor level of one of the buildings, many shops display various goods. One of them is a pottery shop. A man stands behind a counter with finished pots lined up neatly on it. He has black hair, brown eyes, and wears a brown tunic. Behind him, a woman spins soft clay into a pot at a potter’s wheel. She has black hair tied in a bun at the bottom of the back of her head, hazel eyes, and a white dress.]

[Woman]

I glanced outside and noticed it was starting to get dark.

“I’m really tired after a long day,” I said. “I think I’m going to turn in early.”

“That’s fine, dear,” my husband said. “I’ll close up shop today.”

I walked up several flights of stairs to reach our room in the apartment complex. The wood floor up there didn’t feel as nice as the smooth marble floor on the ground floor, but by this point, I had gotten used to it. The room was filled with objects—chairs and a table for eating and socializing at, and beds for relaxing and sleeping—yet it looked so empty and lonely.

I guess I should have been thankful for what I had. I had a very loving and supportive husband, and I had friends, of course, but what I really wanted. . . was to be able to birth children of my own.

Then, two children—a boy and a girl—suddenly appeared in the room out of thin air. I couldn’t help but wonder if my thoughts might have summoned them. The boy looked older—just under ten, maybe—and the girl looked a few years younger than him. They were the most bizarre looking people I had ever seen. They both had green hair and red eyes, and it wasn’t just the color that was odd. The girl’s hair separated and came down in spikes over her forehead, and the boy’s hair spiked sharply to the right. I had never seen such hairstyles before, or knew if they were even possible under the laws of gravity. Their clothes were just as exotic. They both wore long sleeve, floor length green robes. The girl had purple fringes on her robe, and the boy had a purple vest.

“Are you the one called Pella?” the boy asked.

These strange people I had never seen before knew exactly who I was. It was startling, and maybe a little bit scary, but I just said, “Yes.”

The boy said, “Father told us you would take care of us. He said we’re your children now.”

Of course, I was overjoyed to hear this, but at the same time, I was filled with so many questions.

“What happened to your father—or your mother?” I asked.

“We don’t really know,” the boy said. “Father wouldn’t tell us much. He just said that it was too dangerous for us to stay in Sorcia, and that we had to flee, but he couldn’t come with us. He wouldn’t even say what happened to Mother.”

Sorcia? I guess that must be whatever distant land they came from. I still had a lot of questions, but all I could think of at that point was how happy I was. I finally had children of my own.


[Back on the ground floor, the man closes up the shop.]

[Man]

I took the pots off the counter and set them on the floor so there wasn’t any risk of them falling and breaking, and then I closed the front door so no one could walk in and steal our merchandise. I went up to join Pella in our room, but when I got there, I saw her and two strange looking children I had never seen before.

“Galus,” Pella said, “these are the children we have wanted for so long.”

I was shocked, to say the least. These children looked half grown already. What happened to their parents? Did they really want us to raise them? And why were they wearing purple? Their appearance was very exotic, and I didn’t know where they came from; but I knew that, here in Potestum, purple was a color of royalty, and any commoners caught wearing it could be put to death. Did we just adopt foreign royalty?

“A—are all of you sure about this?” I asked, still trying to take it all in.

“Yes,” the foreign boy said. “Father made it clear that we have no family now. He assured me you would take care of us, but if you won’t, I don’t know if anyone will.”

“A—alright,” I said, reluctantly. I still wasn’t sure about this, but Pella and I had wanted children of our own for a long time, and I didn’t have the heart to just turn these orphans out onto the street.

“So, what are your names?” I asked.

“I am Zollin,” the boy said, “and this is my younger sister, Zara.”


[A few months later]

[Galus, Pella, Zollin, and Zara walk through the streets of the city. Zollin and Zara have traded the traditional clothing of their people for Potestan tunics—green, of course.]
[Zollin]

We finally got a day off to enjoy ourselves. New Mother and Father said this holiday was dedicated to a Potestan hero known as Phillos the Great. I was starting to learn about their history and culture, but there was still a lot I didn’t know.

“Who was Phillos the Great?” I asked.

“Phillos,” New Father said, “was the one who founded our great empire. Before him, the land now known as Potestum was little more than a collection of independent city-states. He was the one who united our divided peoples into one. After uniting the city-states, he named his new empire Potestum as a symbol of his power and authority.

“And he didn’t just unite us. He truly raised us to greatness. He built roads, schools, and clinics. Under him, our people knew luxury like they had never known before.

“And it was this very luxury that Phillos’ son and successor, Phillos II, struggled with. Many people forgot the meaning of humility. They questioned why they had to pray to the god of the waters for rain when our aqueducts brought it to them. They wondered why they had to pray to the goddess of agriculture for a good harvest when their ploughs and fertilizer do it for them.

“Naturally, this lack of respect caused concern among the more pious members of society. A great conflict erupted that lasted for about ten years. Finally, brother grew tired of fighting against brother, and everyone wished for an end to the conflict. Philosophers started suggesting that, instead of many gods, each with their own realm, perhaps there was one god that generally oversaw everything. This answer made everyone happy, the long conflict finally came to an end, and now we only worship one god.”

So the Potestans believe that these gods control the world and they have to show their appreciation by giving thanks. It kind of reminded me of something my family did. Every day, we would all go into the basement of our manor house, kneel before this ball of glowing light, and give our thanks to it. When I would ask why we were doing this, my parents said they couldn’t tell me much until I came of age. They told me all I needed to know was, without this thing, our people would be nothing.

“The conflict left a lot of cities devastated” New Father continued, “but we didn’t have the resources to repair them, since Phillos the Great had used most of our resources on his developments. The lands to the north were rich in resources, so Phillos’ grandson, Alexius, expanded northward by founding entirely new settlements up here—where we are now—and that is when we first encountered the Arcadians.”

“Who are the Arcadians?” I asked curiously.

“Well,” New Father said, “they aren’t actually Arcadians. Arcadia is a place from Potestan legend where simple people live simple lives with no knowledge of technology. When we first encountered these people, they seemed like those described in the legend, so we called them Arcadians. I can’t remember what their name for themselves is. Vault candor? Volt condor? Bah, I can’t remember.

“Anyway, we and the Arcadians fought a war for control of this new land. Alexius led our people to many great victories and became known as Alexius the Conqueror. That was over a hundred years ago. Now, we and the Arcadians live in relative peace, and some of them even live among us.”

“Zara!” New Mother shouted. “Zara is gone!”

We all looked around, but none of us could find her. Then, I head a sound in the distance. It sounded like someone crying. Then, I realized it wasn’t just anyone crying—it was Zara! I started running in the direction of the crying.

“Zollin!” I heard New Father shout. “Come back here, now!”

I just ignored him and kept running. Something had happened to Zara, and it was up to me to help her. I could still remember Father’s last words before he cast the teleportation spell on us. He told me I was the only family she had now, and it was up to me to keep her safe.

Finally, I found her sitting in the middle of a street, crying. I walked up to her, put my hand on her shoulder, and in a consoling voice, said, “It’s okay, Zara. I’m here now. What’s wrong?”

She just pointed straight ahead. I looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a boy standing there. He looked about my age, had dark brown hair and hazel eyes, and wore a white tunic.

“You. . .” I said, becoming very angry. “What the heck did you do?!”

The boy waved his hands in front of him and said, “I—I think there’s been a mistake here.”

“The only mistake,” I said, full of rage, “is that my fist isn’t in your face!”

By the time New Mother and Father caught up to us, me and the boy were wrestling on the ground, I had a black left eye and bloody lip, and he had a black right eye and bloody nose. New Father pulled us apart, turned his head to me, and in a very stern voice, said “We’re going home. Now.”


When we got back home, I was confined to my bed in our apartment room while New Mother and Father talked to Zara just outside. Finally, New Father came into the room—to lecture me, I was sure. I tried to explain that I was just defending my little sister. If anything, I was a hero!

“I know exactly what happened,” New Father said. “Zara told us everything. All the boy did was make fun of her hair. Even she thinks she might have overreacted. But you rushed in and started beating him before you even knew what happened. Is that how a hero acts?!”

I didn’t say anything. What he said made sense, but I was too stubborn to admit it.

“Look,” New Father said, “I know you think you were doing the right thing, but how can you know what the right thing is if you don’t even have all the facts first? If you had just talked to Zara and the boy, you could have made everything better and never would have had to get physical. If you keep blindly rushing into situations and acting without thinking, you’re just going to get into trouble, just like you did today.

“Zara said it really upset her seeing you get hurt. If you were trying to make her feel better, you did a damn good job of it.”

“Okay!” I said, frustrated. “I won’t act without thinking ever again!”

“We’ll see,” New Father said, leaving the room.

I just lay back on my bed for a while. After some time, Zara entered the room. I sat up as she entered. She walked up to me quickly and wrapped her arms around me.

“I’m sorry you had to get hurt for me!” she said.

“Don’t blame yourself,” I replied. “I’m the one that started throwing punches. I was my fault, really.”

Then, two people entered the room. One of them was a girl I had never seen before. She looked a little bit older than me, was light skinned, wore a light blue dress, and had braided yellow hair and green eyes. The other person was the boy from before!

“You again?!” I said. “Have you come to torment us some more?!” I had learned my lesson—I hoped—and I wasn’t going to start getting violent again, but it’s not like I was happy to see him.

There was a long, awkward silence. He almost looked too scared to speak. Finally, the girl said, “Now, what do you say?”

“I—I’m sorry!” the boy said, voice breaking.

“Hey!” Zara said. “Don’t be sad! It’s all right.”

She tugged at her hair and said, “You know, my hair isn’t all that’s weird about me. . .”

Then she made some kind of silly face at them. It wasn’t anything unusual to me. I had seen her do far weirder things before.

The three of them all laughed together like nothing had ever happened. To think, I was about ready to run him out of the apartment. He had already apologized. Now, I figured, it was my turn.

“If Zara can forgive you,” I said, “then so can I. I’m sorry I hit you.”

“I—It’s okay,” the boy said nervously. It was almost like he didn’t even know how to act around people.

“Hey!” Zara said. “I don’t even know your names. I’m Zara! What are your names?”

“A—Ardus,” the boy said.

“And I’m Kätrine,” the girl said.

“Pleased to meet’cha, Ardus and Kätrine!” Zara said happily.

[CD'sWorkshop]

Thinking Ahead to Adventure

[Zollin]

A few days later, I was standing outside our apartment complex when Ardus walked right up to me and said, “H—hey, I was w—wondering if you wanted to. . . I don’t know. . .hang out? Aside from Käti, you’re the first person I’ve met that doesn’t hate my guts. U—unless, you do hate my guts. . . I couldn’t blame you if you do. . .”

It was a little sad, really. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. I told him, “Sure, I’ll hang out with you, but. . . who’s Käti?”

“That girl I was with last time,” Ardus said.

“I don’t think she said her name was Käti,” I said, a little confused.

“It’s some weird rule,” Ardus said, “about how Weltkinder names work. I don’t remember. . .”

Weltkinder? Could this be the “volt condor” New Father mentioned? Curious, I asked him, “What do you know about the Weltkinder?”

“Not much,” Ardus replied. “Just what Käti’s told me, and she doesn’t know much, either, since she was raised in Potestum. All I really know is both our people are still pretty bitter over the war. I know if my parents gave a crap about anything I do, they’d hate knowing I’m hanging out with Weltkind; and Käti has told me that, if her parents ever found out about me, they’d freak out big time.”

There was a brief pause, then Ardus said, “So. . . what do you want to do?”

I thought about it for a few moments. What would I want to do with my free time? Then, I got a perfect idea. Back in my homeland, my best friend was my cousin Vataria, and there was one thing we really loved doing. . .

“Let’s go on an adventure!” I said.

“Okay,” Ardus said. “How does that work?”

“Simple,” I replied. “What’s the one thing all adventurers go on quests to find? Treasure, of course! Let’s look around and see if we can find some treasure!”

So Ardus and I took a walk around the city, looking to see if we could find anything interesting. I knew we probably wouldn’t find anything that great, but it was all about the fun of pretending. Heck, on one of my adventures with Vataria, a jar of cookies was the “treasure.”

After a while searching, we spied an elegant marble statue. It was just lying there in the middle of the street.

“Now that’s treasure if I ever saw it!” I said excitedly.

Ardus and I both tried to move the statue, but it was too heavy even for the both of us. We sat down and panted, exhausted.

Then, I got up, said, “I can do this, no problem,” and used magic to lift the statue without even touching it.

“Wow,” Ardus said, a little stunned. Even in his dull monotone, I could hear a hint of amazement. “You can use magic?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said. “Can’t you?”

“No,” Ardus replied. “Not many people here can use magic. The first time we saw it, it was being used by Weltkinder mages in the war, so we thought magic was a weapon of war, and that’s how we’ve seen it ever since. The only really good mages are all in the army. Some ordinary people can do a few simple tricks, but nothing that great.”

“Huh,” I said, intrigued. “Magic was pretty common where I came from.”

“And, where did you come from?” Ardus asked.

Then, we were interrupted by the sound of people running toward us and shouting, “Stop, thieves!”

There were two men. One of them had dark hair and wore a black tunic. The other wore a white tunic and had light hair and a beard, which I guess meant he was a Weltkind-Potestan. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen many bearded Potestans before.

“What?! We’re not thieves!” I exclaimed.

“Hah!” The bearded man said. “How stupid do you think we are? We see you trying to make off with the master’s new statue!”

“What’s this about my new statue?” I heard an elderly voice say.

An elderly looking man approached at a leisurely pace. He had gray hair and wore a purple toga over a white tunic.

“Signore Constintos!” the dark haired man said. “We caught these little rats trying to steal your new statue.”

“That’s not true!” I said, panicking a little. “There was no one around when we found it! We didn’t know it belonged to anyone!”

Constintos walked up to me and knelt down so he could look me in the eye.

“And did it never occur to you that it might belong to someone?” He asked. His voice was serious, yet gentle and grandfatherly.

“I guess not. . .” I said. “But now that I know it does, I promise we’ll leave it alone, and I’m sorry we almost took it.”

Gah! There I went again—acting without thinking. Of course something that valuable had to belong to someone! I should have thought of that before I did anything.

“Well,” Constintos said, “it looks like no harm has been done. As long as you’ve learned your lesson, I’ll let you go.

“As for you two,” he said, turning to the two men, “what were you thinking—leaving my prized statue out in the middle of the street where anyone could see and take it?”

“W—we were just taking a little break!” the dark haired man said, trying desperately to explain.


[Several years later]

[Zollin]

I was sound asleep in my bed when I woke up to what sounded like a crow dying next to me. As I regained consciousness, I realized it was Zara standing next to my bed going, “Meow! Meow!”

Still half asleep, I asked, “What are you doing, Zara?”

“Waking you up,” Zara said, “like a cat does! Meow!”

Too tired for this, I said, “Cats don’t wake people up, Zara—roosters do.”

“Oh, okay!” she said.

Then she started mooing. Ugh, she’s hopeless.

I finally opened my eyes and looked out the window. I saw that the sun was only just starting to rise.

“Wha—?!” I exclaimed. “It’s barely even daytime! Why did you wake me up so early?!”

“Because,” Zara said, “I reee-eeealy wanna go on our adventure today!”

It wasn’t like this would be the first time the four of us—me, Zara, Ardus, and Käti—all hung out together, but it would be the first time we did anything really adventure-y. A wealthy family had hired us to take care of a pest infestation in their house. It wasn’t exactly my idea of fun, but we were getting paid to do it, so I couldn’t complain. Besides, battling fearsome monsters for treasure—that’s exactly what real adventurers do. Finally, it felt like we were getting to go on a real adventure together.

So we got Ardus and Käti and went to the house. Zara, Ardus, and I still looked pretty much the same as we did when we first met, but Käti had changed her appearance significantly. She didn’t have that light blue dress or those braids that she did the first time we met. Instead, she wore a white shirt and dark blue skirt that I’m told look more like traditional Weltkindisch clothing. She also swapped the braids for pigtails that started at the bottom of the back of her head and came over her shoulders to drape over much of her upper body.

We had all gotten big sticks to use as our “weapons” to fight the “monsters.” When we opened the door to the house, we saw that the creatures inside were a lot more monstrous than we were expecting. They looked a lot like ordinary beetles, except that they were huge—almost as big as our heads!

“I think we’re gonna need bigger sticks!” Zara exclaimed.

Needless to say, things didn’t go so well. We really struggled fighting the beetles, and things were at their worst when they chased Zara right out of the house. The other three of us went out to help her.

Zara sat down safely outside the infested house and screamed.

“Why do I have to be so helpless?!” she shouted. “Why can’t I be strong so I can help too?!”

She slammed her fist on the ground. The ground shook where her hand hit it, and we saw that she had actually cracked the stone in the road.

“Was. . .Was that magic?” Zara said. “I can use magic!”

She laughed, filled with joy. She had never actually learned how to use magic. My parents started teaching me when I was six, which is how old Zara was when we fled our homeland. I know there’s magical potential inside all of us, but it usually takes a lot of training to be able to use it.

Reinvigorated, we all went back into the house. The beetles quickly surrounded Zara, and I went over to help her.

“No!” She said. “Please, let me do this! I can handle it!”

My heart told me to help her, but my head told me to listen to her. I figured I had spent enough time listening to my heart and decided to listen to my head this time. Zara used magic to summon a powerful gust of wind that sent all of the beetles around her flying into walls. It was amazing seeing what she could do without even having any training.

With the help of Zara’s magic, we were able to vanquish the monsters that infested the house. By the time we finished, it was already getting late, so we all headed back to our homes. While Zara and I were heading back home, Käti suddenly approached.

“Hey, Zollin,” she said. “I really liked getting to work together with you. It was. . . nice.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said. “I thought it was nice, too.”

“Zollin,” Käti said, “what I’m trying to say is. . .”

And then, out of nowhere, she just kissed my cheek. I was too stunned to say or do anything. The silence was finally broken by Zara saying, “Uhhhh, should I leave you two alone?”

“No,” Käti said. “I should get back home now. See you later, Zollin!”

A few days later, Käti and I met alone in a field outside the city. It was actually the first time I had ever ventured outside the city. It was really exciting. We just lay on the grass and talked for a while. Finally, the topic of conversation became what we wanted to do with our lives.

“I really like going on adventures,” Käti said. “The way I see it, adventurers travel all around the world, righting wrongs and helping people wherever they go. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do—find a way to be able to help people—and I think adventuring is the perfect way to do it. Just the other day, we helped that family with their pest problem. Can you just imagine making our living this way?”

“Yeah!” I said enthusiastically. “We’ll work together to make the world a better place!”

[CD'sWorkshop]

The Adventure Begins

[Over the next few years, Zollin, Zara, Kätrine, and Ardus made money to support themselves by doing odd jobs for people all over the city, though none of their “adventures” took them far outside the city limits. Little did they know, their first true adventure was about to begin.]

[Zollin]

That night was just like any other, but I had a dream unlike any I had ever had before. It wasn’t even a dream, really. It was more like I heard a voice talking to me in my head. It told me, “After so many years, the time has finally come. Zollin, Zara, you are both finally ready for this journey. Come to me, and heal the blight that plagues the world.”

When I woke up, I felt a strange sensation inside me. It was like I was being pulled toward a particular location, and I had to follow the pull. I had heard Zara mentioned in my dream, so I talked to her about this. She said she had the same vision and could feel the same pull. We knew we had to follow the pull but decided that it would be a good idea to talk to Ardus and Käti about this first and see if they wanted to come with us.

We all met outside the apartment complex we had lived in together since reaching adulthood. As an adult, I still looked pretty much the same way I did as a child. I still wore a green tunic and styled my hair the same way. Käti still looked the same way she had since we went on our first adventure together, though she was a bit older than the rest of us and was already considered an adult by that point, anyway. Ardus now wore a red tunic instead of a white one. Zara had cut the ends of the spikes over her forehead, forming a neat row of hair; and wore a green shirt that cut off just above her navel and a green skirt that stretched from her waist to her ankles. It was a rather ordinary looking outfit aside from the fact that it left her navel exposed. When Zara reached adult age at fourteen, she said she couldn’t stand wearing a traditional woman’s dress. She said she thought this outfit matched her personality better, but all I saw was my little sister baring her navel.

Zara and I told Käti and Ardus about our vision and asked them if they wanted to come with us as we followed the call. We had a feeling this was going to be a journey unlike any we had undergone before, and would have understood if they didn’t want to come along. They told us they needed some time to think about it. After a while, Käti came back to talk to us—just Käti.

“I’m coming with you,” she said.

“What about Ardus?” I asked.

“Ardus said he has very important business to take care of” Käti replied, “and won’t be able to come along. I don’t know what he means by that. You know Ardus. He’s always been a little dark and mysterious.”
“Yeah,” Zara said, sounding a little disappointed, “but still, it’s a shame our best friend can’t come along on our first real adventure.”

We prepared for what we knew would be a long and difficult journey. No longer did we use those childish sticks to defend ourselves. I now used a hunting spear and Käti had a battle axe. Zara didn’t carry a weapon—magic was her weapon. We started by traveling north, about in the direction we could feel the pull coming from. Not long into our journey, we passed through another Potestan city. The people there seemed troubled, and we could overhear some of them murmuring something about bandits. Writing on the walls of some of the buildings said “Hail, adventurers and vigilantes alike! Want to help with the bandit problem? Then inquire at the governor’s palace and help us be rid of the bastards!”

Our main goal required us to keep moving, but we were willing to take some time to help out. This was exactly why Käti and I wanted to become adventurers in the first place, after all.
We went to the governor’s palace. Outside, two soldiers guarded the door, and looking through windows, I could see more inside, including a few war mages. I could tell because they wore robes for channeling magic. The guards outside held war spears and carried short swords. They wore plumed iron helmets that covered the top, back, and sides of their heads, and that had a nose guard on the center of their face leaving only their eyes and mouths visible. They also wore iron breastplates with muscle designs on them. They were quite fearsome to behold.

“Can we help you?” one of them asked.

“Um, yes,” I said. “We’re adventurers here to ask about the bandit problem.”

“Great,” the guard said, “we can really use the help. Bandits are robbing anyone brave enough to venture outside the city, and sometimes they even raid the city itself and steal from innocent citizens. We’ve sent scouts to search the countryside for their base, but they can recognize military uniforms. Whenever they think we’re close to finding them, they just pick up and move somewhere else. That’s why we need the help of average people to hunt them down. All we really know is that they operate somewhere in the nearby countryside and their outpost would probably be made of materials that would be easy to disassemble and carry around, like wood and hides.”

Following the advice we were given, we spent a few days searching the countryside near the city for anything that looked like what the soldier described. Finally, we spotted a campground of tents made out of animal hides and a wooden watchtower. We knew this was probably the bandit’s hideout, so we approached it. Then, we heard someone in the watchtower shout, “Alert! We’re under attack! Looks like more government lackeys!”

We could see the shapes of many people coming out of the tents. Some of them carried javelins and threw them at us. Zara summoned a magic force field around us that deflected the javelins.
“****!” one of the bandits shouted. “Looks like they got a mage!”

A bandit started running straight toward me. He was swinging a dagger wildly through the air. I didn’t want to let him get anywhere near me, so I threw my spear at him and it hit him. I used magic to lift my spear back up and bring it back to my hands.

A bandit swung a pickaxe at Käti. She took a step back with each swing, just narrowly avoiding the blows. She thrust the wooden handle of her battle axe forward, hitting the bandit in the stomach and disorienting him. While he was dazed, she took the opportunity to slice him with the blade of her axe.

Zara used magic to turn the dirt in the bandits’ camp into a wet, muddy mess, and several bandits got stuck in it. I pointed my spear at one and said, “You’re all under arrest. We’re taking you back to the governor to meet justice.”

“Hah!” the bandit scoffed. “If you really want justice, then you should turn your blades against the governor.”

Not in the mood for playing games, I asked, “What the hell do you mean by that?”

“This is all his fault,” the man said. “Do you think we want to steal from our kinsmen? The only reason we do is because the governor taxes away everything we have and we have no choice but to steal.”
With this new knowledge, I really didn’t know what to do, so I turned to Zara and Käti and asked, “What do you two think we should do? I know I’m not exactly the best one at planning ahead or thinking before I act. . .”

“We should go to the governor,” Käti said, “and demand that he do something about the taxes. It seems like he’s just as much a criminal as they are.”

“Now hold on a minute,” Zara said. “Right now, we don’t even know if they’re telling the truth. For all we know, they could be lying to try to trick us.”

After hearing Käti and Zara’s input, I had a plan. “Okay,” I said, “I think I know what we should do. For now, let’s just take the bandits into custody and bring them before the governor. They have committed crimes and need to be punished even if what they say is true. When we get our audience with the governor, we’ll ask about this ‘taxes’ stuff and see if it’s true. If it is, we’ll see if we can convince him to lower them.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Zara said enthusiastically. “Go for it, bro!”

We bound the bandits with rope and took them back to the city on our way to the governor’s palace. As we walked down a street, many people gathered to watch.

“Now that you’ve stopped the bandits,” a man in the crowd said, “why don’t you do something about that governor of ours? He’s just as much of a thief!”

“My son was one more tax away from joining the bandits, himself,” a woman said. “If something isn’t done soon, I don’t think we’ll ever have peace.”

Seeing that we had bandits in tow, the guards at the governor’s palace let us in. The audience chamber inside was one of the grandest rooms I had ever seen. The space was very wide open, the floor was all marble, and the incredibly tall ceiling was supported by columns. A man—the governor, I assumed—sat on a throne at the far end. He had dark hair and wore a yellow toga over a red tunic. He seemed like he was just concluding some business with some other officials. When he spotted us, he said, “Welcome! I will gladly accommodate the heroes who finally rid us of the bandit menace. You will be rewarded handsomely, of course.”

“If I may,” I said, “instead of money, we would simply like to make a request. We’ve heard a lot of talk about the taxes being too high and would humbly request that you lower them.”

“What?!” the governor spouted, sounding both shocked and angry. “You want to tell me how to do my job?! The emperor himself appointed me to this position because he trusts that I know how to take care of the people. What would a wandering band of adventurers know of such things? They’re probably in league with the bandits. Guards! Seize them!”

A guard approached me. I didn’t want to use lethal force against an official of the law, so I swept his feet with the wooden part of my spear, knocking him off balance and causing him to fall to the ground. Another guard swung his sword at Käti. She held her axe up to defend herself, and there was a clash of metal. A war mage summoned a spark of electricity that hit the ground near Zara.

“Hah!” she laughed. “You call that magic? This is magic!”

She summoned a huge volt of electricity that lit the room up and sent many of the guards running for cover. I used this chance to run up to the governor and hold the point of my spear up to him.
“Enough!” I shouted. “This is over!”

“Do you think you’re some great hero, boy?” the governor said. Suddenly, his voice was very sober and serious. “Do you think you know how to run a country? It’s not like I take the tax money for myself. Houses for the homeless, clinics for the sick—these things don’t build themselves. I’m just trying to help my people.”

I was hit by a wave of emotion. Had I not learned anything since childhood? Was I still rushing head first into situations before I knew all the facts? I wondered if we would have been better off if we had just stayed out of this conflict.

Then, a realization hit me. I had the answer and I knew what to do because I had thought about it.

“But what good are houses,” I asked, “if no one can afford to live in them? What good are clinics if no one can afford the doctor’s services? If you really want to help your people, you’d listen to what they have to say. We have listened, and we know that, right now, what they want most is an end to this relentless taxation.”

The governor’s eyes widened. “Truly?” he asked very seriously.

I just responded with, “Yes.”

“Then it seems there is a great wrong that I must set right,” the governor said, standing up and walking towards the door of his palace. He opened the door and went outside.
“People, hear me. I have an announcement,” he said.

A crowd gathered and vocally grumbled unhappily.

“I just wanted to say,” the governor said, “that from this day forth. . .”

Then he named off a very long list of taxes and declared them all revoked. There was an uproar in the crowd. They all cheered, and some even danced with joy.

It was very uplifting to see everything end well. This trial hadn’t been easy, especially for me, since I actually had to think and use my brain to solve things for once, heh heh heh. But, in the end, I was able to come up with really well thought out plans and was able to solve things in a way that worked out best for everyone—with Käti and Zara’s help, of course. I was very fortunate to have them at my side.

“Who doesn’t love a happy ending?” Zara said.

“Yeah,” I said. “I think we should move on now. It looks like our work here is done.”

[CD'sWorkshop]

Strength and Inclusion

[An interesting puzzle is taking shape, but even now it should be obvious that there are several missing pieces. Let us see if we can fill in some of the holes in the story by traveling back in time nine years and looking at some events we have already seen, but from a different perspective.]

[Zara]

On our first holiday, we took a tour of the city so me and Zollin could get used to our new home. Zollin and New Dad started talking about Potestan history and culture and other boring stuff I didn’t care about. I was so awed by everything I saw that, at some point, I wandered too far away from everyone else and got lost.

Then, I heard someone nearby say, “Is that moss on your head, or is that supposed to be hair?”

I turned and saw a boy in a white tunic.

“Huh?” I said. “Are you talking to me?”

“Who else would I be talking to?” he said. “I don’t see any other freaks around here.”

“I’m—I’m not a freak!” I said, upset. I couldn’t understand why he was being so mean to me, so I did what any six year old girl would do. I started to cry. Zollin ran up and fought the boy, and seeing him get hurt just upset me even more. Then, New Mom and Dad showed up, took us home, and I finally had a chance to calm down. New Mom asked me to tell her everything while New Dad stood and watched in silence. When I told New Mom what happened, she said, “And that’s all? All he did was say something that upset you?”

“Well, yeah, I guess,” I said.

“Zara,” New Mom said more seriously than consolingly, “can words cut your flesh?”

“Huh?” I said, confused.

“Answer my question,” New Mom said very seriously. “Can words cut your flesh?”

“Well, I guess not,” I said.

“Then they can’t hurt you,” New Mom said. “They only hurt you if you let them hurt you. I know it is hard to accept, but in the real world, not everyone is going to be nice to you. Some people will even want to hurt you. It’s not your fault, but you have to learn to accept it and how to deal with it if you ever want to be able to move on and be happy. When someone says something mean to you, they’re trying to upset you. If you get upset, you’re giving them what they want. Does that make sense?”

“I guess,” I said. So, Zollin got hurt because I’m such a wimpy baby. Maybe he and Vataria were right when they told me I can’t handle big kid stuff. I went to Zollin and told him how sorry I was for what I put him through. Then, much to my surprise, that boy from before showed up and apologized for what he had done, and I eagerly forgave him. I just wanted all of us to be happy. I didn’t want any more bad feelings between us. Even though things started so badly, I made two new friends that day—Ardus and Kätrine.


A few days later, Zollin went off to play with Ardus, leaving me out of his games as usual. Then, Kätrine came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play with her.
“Really?” I said excitedly. “It doesn’t embarrass you hanging out with a little girl like me?”

“Of course not,” Kätrine said. “I’m always happy to make new friends.”

“Oh, yay!” I said joyfully. I was so happy that I ran up to Kätrine and hugged her.

“Whoah, easy now,” Kätrine said.

“Hee hee hee, I’m sorry!” I said. “It’s just that, I’m a little younger than all the other kids in my family, and they all think they’re too cool to hang out with me. Whenever I’d try to hang out with them, they’d always say things like ‘Big kids only,’ and ‘You’re too little to do what we’re doing.’”

“Zara. . . I’m so sorry,” Kätrine said.

“Hey, don’t worry about it!” I said. “It’s okay now because I have you to play with me, Kätrine!”

“I’m glad for that,” Kätrine said, “but please, you can call me Käti.”

“Why?” I asked. “Isn’t your name Kätrine?”

“Kätrine in my formal name and Käti is my familiar name,” Käti said. “All Weltkinder have a formal name, that is just for strangers and acquaintances, and a familiar name, that is for friends and family.”
So I hung out with my new friend. We played a game that was kind of like hopscotch, where we’d try to get from one side of the street to the other just by jumping from stone to stone in the road. I got tripped up and almost fell, so when I got to the other side, I turned around and said, “Stupid rock!” and blew a raspberry at it.

“You really are an odd girl,” Käti said, “but that’s a good thing! I like it.”

“Thanks!” I said. “I know it might look like I’m happy on the outside and sad on the inside, but I think it’s more like the other way around. All I really want is to just hang out and have fun with my friends. The only thing that really makes me sad is when they won’t let me do that.”

After that day, Käti became my best friend. We’d often hang out together, and sometimes even with Zollin and Ardus, too. I was finally getting to hang out with the big kids, but we didn’t really do anything that spectacular. Finally, one day, something happened that I thought could be my big break. A family was paying us to squash some bugs that had infested their home. Finally, I thought, this was my chance to prove that I am strong. This was my chance to prove that I can handle big kid stuff.

And it started out as a disaster. I couldn’t handle it and had to run away from our fight with the bugs. Even though the others weren’t really having any trouble, they ran out to help me. Once again, my weakness messed everything up for everyone else. This was my chance to prove I was strong, and I blew it. I hated feeling like I was just a burden to my friends. I wished I could be strong so I could be part of the team, not just a chain weighing them down. I was so upset that I hit the ground in frustration.

Then, I noticed that I had made a pretty nasty dent in the ground where my hand hit. There was no way I could have done that with sheer force. It had to be magic. I didn’t know how I was able to use magic without any training, but I didn’t care. Finally, I had found my strength! Finally, I could help my friends just as much as they helped me! We charged back into the house and finished the job. With my magic, we made easy work of the bugs.

After the job was over, the four of us just sat down outside to rest and recover. While the others were trying to catch their breath, I beamed with joy.

“That. . . was. . . awesome!” I said between breaths. “There’s nothing like getting to go on fun adventures with my friends. If only every day could be just like this one. I love you guys!”

I spread my arms wide so I could hug everyone at once.

And then, it happened. That’s right. Zollin and Käti fell in love with each other. At that point, all they wanted to do was spend time with each other, leaving me and Ardus out. I was so bored! Even though we hung out together through our mutual friends, me and Ardus weren’t exactly two of a kind. More like exact opposites, actually. He always seemed so down and depressed, and he wasn’t very much fun. Still, I was so bored I couldn’t help myself. One day, I just walked up to him and said, “Hey, let’s hang out.”

“Um, let’s not,” he replied. It’s not like I was expecting any other response.

“Look,” I said, “I’m bored as heck. I don’t like this either, but we’re both just gonna hafta live with it. So, is there anything you want to do?”

“How about nothing?” Ardus said. Typical Ardus, the killjoy. I really wondered what Zollin and Käti saw in him.

I folded my arms, made an exaggerated frown, and said, “Ooh, look at me. I’m Ardus. Broodity broodity broo.”

And then, something I never would have expected, happened. Ardus did a kind of cartwheel and said, “Hey! Look at me! I’m Zara! I’m hyperactive and probably high on sugar!”

When he finished his cartwheel, he ended up right in front of my face, just staring at me. After a moment of silence, we both burst out laughing together. “You know,” I said, “maybe you are kinda cool after all.”

After a while, Zollin and Käti stopped being as obsessed with each other and were more willing to hang out with me and Ardus again. I think there might actually have even been some trouble between them, but I don’t really know. It might not have even been anything that serious. I’ve heard all the love stories. There’s always some “trouble in paradise” at some point, even between the closest lovers, but they always get back together in the end. The four of us all still hung out together, in any case, and even made a living off of our adventures.

Then, one day, our first real adventure began. It all started when me and Zollin heard this voice in our heads, talking to us. It told us about some really important mission, and said we needed to go to it. We didn’t know who or what was talking to us, or even where they were, but after hearing the voice, we both could feel a pull, like there was something out there somewhere, and we had to go to it. I guess it’s a lot like the thing birds feel that makes them migrate.

So me, Zollin, and Käti set out following the call. Ardus didn’t come along. It was a shame, too. I was just starting to like him. Early on in our quest, we came to a city that was having a problem with bandits and a governor taxing the crap out of everyone. We helped them out with their problems and even had to do a little fighting. I was able to hold my own in our battles, and my magic played no small part in helping us win. I was very happy. I was so glad knowing I could help out and really be a part of the team.

But little did any of us know, we’d soon be facing an obstacle that would really test the strength of all of us.

[CD'sWorkshop]

The Dark Cloaked Figures Appear

[Zara]

After finishing up in the city, we continued on our merry way. After a few days of travel, we ran into a sudden and nasty rainstorm. We were miles away from any civilization or shelter, so we put on hooded cloaks to protect ourselves from the rain.

We were just walking along when suddenly, a voice behind us said, “Are you sure it’s them?”

We turned around to see who was speaking. Behind us were two people in hooded dark cloaks that hid their faces and covered most of their bodies. The taller figure held a menacing war hammer. It looked kind of like a big, long stick with a huge lump of metal on the end. The shorter figure held an elegantly made mace. It was like a short pole made of metal with a stylized knob on the end. I had no idea who they were, but I immediately knew they were bad news. Since when are people in dark cloaks ever good news?

“Yes,” the tall figure said. “The disturbance I felt has drawn me to them. So, you’re the ones who seek the Source. Well, you won’t have it!”

With their final words, the figure struck the ground hard with their hammer, creating a crack in the earth that shot forward toward Zollin. He jumped out of the way to avoid it. The shorter figure used magic to turn the raindrops around them into solid bits of ice, and then they hurled the ice forward at me. I created a magical barrier in front of me that stopped the ice shards.

Käti ran forward and swung her axe at the short figure, but they dodged the blow. In retaliation, the tall figure hit the ground again with their hammer, this time making it shake violently. Käti was thrown off balance by the shaking and fell to the ground. The short figure raised their mace and prepared to bring it down on Käti. Before they could swing down, Zollin ran up and swung his spear at the figure. The blow cut the sleeve of the figure’s cloak but didn’t seem to do any other damage. The figure threw their right hand (the hand that wasn’t holding the mace) forward and used magical force to throw Zollin back without even touching him.

The tall figure ran up to me and swung their huge hammer. I stepped back frantically, trying to avoid the blows, but I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Suddenly, I felt a great gust of wind hit my face. It was so strong that it knocked the hood of my cloak back. I looked up at the tall figure, but they were just standing there, motionless. Not wanting to give them an opportunity to strike again, I used magical force to push them away from me.

Then, they made some kind of hand motion to the other figure, and the two of them just ran away. They disappeared just as mysteriously as they had appeared.

That night when we set up camp, we all had a talk to see if we could make sense of what had happened. Who were those people? Why did they want to fight us? And what was this “Source” thing they mentioned? None of us had any idea what the answer to any of these questions might be, but we knew we didn’t want to encounter those people again. It was three against two, and they still kicked our butts. We agreed that, if we ever saw them again, we’d try talking to them first to see if we could get an idea of what they wanted and so we could avoid fighting them again if at all possible.

A few days later, we were camping near a lake. It had been ages since I last bathed, and I was sure I must have stunk something terrible, so I went to bathe in the lake. As I lay back in the water, relaxed, I could hear the distinct sound of footsteps in the grass.

I ducked down into the water so only my head could be seen above it and shouted, “Hey! I know you’re there, pervert! If you think you’ve come for a peep show, think again!”

I threw my hand up and shot off a few fireballs to show I was serious.

Then, someone rose from behind a bush. It was another one of those dark cloaked figures. Suddenly, my heart sank, and I wasn’t so confident anymore.

“You again?! What do you even want?!” I said, trying to avoid a fight.

“What we want,” the figure replied, “is to bring peace to everything.”

Hopelessly confused, I asked, “And how am I standing in the way of peace?!”

“Not you,” the figure said, “but those close to you.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was there something Zollin and Käti weren’t telling me? Or maybe. . . Ardus? He was acting kinda mysterious before he left, even for Ardus. What the hell did he do to anger these people?

“Does this have anything to do with that ‘Source’ thing?” I asked.

“Yes, it has everything to do with the Source,” the figure replied. I waited several moments, but they said no more. Finally, I decided I had enough of this.

“If what you want is to hurt my friends,” I said, “then you’ve come to the right place. I’ll stop you before you have a chance to get to them!”

I knew I probably couldn’t win this fight. Even when it was three against two, these people kicked our butts. I thought about trying to get help, but I knew I couldn’t get back to Käti and Zollin even if I wanted to. Even if I tried to run back to camp, the figure would be all over me before I could have a chance to get very far. I had to be brave. I had to be strong. There was just one of them this time, so maybe I had a chance, I hoped.

I started by using magic to form the water around me into a great wave that swept over the figure. They braced themself and seemed to barely even budge as the water smashed into them. Still, I used this distraction to quickly run to my clothes and put them back on. I knew this person wasn’t here to see me naked, but I still wasn’t interested in prancing my bare butt in front of them.

The figure ran toward me. I could see a blade poking ominously out from underneath their right sleeve. They swung their right arm at me, trying to cut me with the blade. I threw my hand forward and shot off a blast of magical energy, but they ducked and it missed them completely. It was unreal how fast their reflexes were.

Down near the ground, the figure started trying to swing at my legs. I stomped my foot on the ground, creating a crack in the earth. They avoided it by rolling forward and to my left side. They had gotten behind me. I tried to turn around, but I could feel the figure’s hand grabbing me, stopping my movement. Then, I felt something sharp and cold dig into my back.

My vision faded and my strength left me. I became so weak that I couldn’t even stay standing anymore. I fell to the ground. Even though my eyes were open, my vision got blurrier and blurrier.
This was it. This was my chance to prove my strength and overcome the bad guy, and I blew it. Maybe I am just a weakling, after all.

No.

Even from the start, I had a feeling there was no way I could win this fight. Even when I fought together with Zollin and Käti, none of us were strong enough to defeat these people. It’s not my fault.

It would have been my fault if I ran away like a coward, and that’s exactly what the old me would have done. The old me would have just gone crying to Käti and Zollin for help. Instead, I stood my ground and fought bravely even though I knew I couldn’t win.


I am strong.

[CD'sWorkshop]

Love and War

[Kätrine]

Even though I was of Weltkindisch heritage, I grew up in Potestum, and my family had actually lived in this very area for generations. Even though the Potestans gained official control of this area after winning the war, the Weltkinder who lived here refused to leave. Both our peoples had set foot on this land at about the same time, and we believed this was our homeland just as much as it was theirs.

Even though the war ended over a hundred years ago, I learned from a very early age that many people still clung to their hostility over it. Even though there was no open or violent conflict between us, I and other Weltkinder living in Potestan cities weren’t really looked upon all that kindly. Since our people were less technologically advanced than them, they saw us as “savages” and “barbarians.”

But when I was around my family and Weltkinder friends, I saw that we were no better. I’d often hear them refer to Potestans as “mud brains” and “burnt faces,” slurs referring to their hair and skin color. I didn’t get it. If we didn’t like it when they looked down upon us, then why did we feel the same way about them? I really just wished we could all get along with each other.

[Ardus]

Growing up wasn’t easy for me. I was the last child born to a large family, and our parents had to constantly be working hard just to support us. Even when they had time to spend with us, there were so many of us that they didn’t have much time to give to me, myself. And my siblings were even worse. At least my parents just ignored me. Since I was the youngest and the smallest, if one of my siblings had a bad day, they were always turning to me and giving me a hard time to take out their frustration.

I’d try to hang out with other kids and make friends outside my family, but I was kind of shy and awkward, since my experiences with my family taught me that it was better to just shut up and leave other people alone rather than trying to be friendly with them. And I was a bit of a runt, making me an easy target for bullies. It was just words at first—nothing I couldn’t handle or didn’t hear worse from my family—but one day—when I was eight, I think—a group of boys cornered me and beat me up. And yet, it was that day when my whole life finally turned around.

[Kätrine]

I was just walking along one day when I heard what sounded like boys’ voices talking rough to each other. I went to see what was going on, but I made sure to keep a safe distance and hid behind a building so they couldn’t see me. I saw three big Potestan boys cornering a little Potestan boy. They kept taunting him, but he just stood there and stared at the ground without saying a word or moving a muscle.

I guess the big boys must have gotten frustrated seeing their words weren’t having much of an effect on the little one, so next they started hitting him. It was one of the most horrible things I had ever seen. After beating the little boy up, the big boys walked away and left him lying on the ground, bruised and bloodied.

I knew my parents would freak if they ever found out about what I did next. They often told me Potestans are not to be trusted, and my experiences with them hadn’t done much to convince me otherwise, but I didn’t care. Growing up immersed in ethnic conflict, I often saw people wanting or even trying to hurt each other, and I was sick of it. I wanted to be able to do something about it. I wanted to be able to stop conflict—not just ethnic conflict—and help anyone who had been hurt by it, and finally, I saw a chance to make a difference.

[Ardus]

I heard someone walking up. I didn’t see who it was since my eyes were closed. I was too weak to open them and honestly didn’t care to know who it was coming to torment me some more.

“It was really brave of you standing up to those bullies like that,” a kind and gentle voice said.

This was the first time anyone had shown me any real kindness. I was very surprised—so surprised, in fact, I didn’t buy it at first. I thought whoever was there was probably just trying to mock me.

“Yeah, whatever,” I said.

“But why do you have to stand up to them alone?” the voice asked. “Don’t you have any friends?”

All I said was a blunt, “No.”

“Well,” the voice said, “you do now!”

I slowly opened my eyes and saw an Arcadian girl standing over me, beaming cheerfully.

When I went back home, things weren’t any different than they had ever been. As I walked through the door to my family’s room of the apartment complex we lived in, one of my sisters walked up and said, “Hey! Looks like little Ardus finally got his first beating!” without a shred of sympathy in her voice.

One of my brothers replied, “It’s about time! I’m just sorry I wasn’t the one to do it.”

My siblings weren’t any nicer to me than they ever were, but I just smiled. I knew I finally had a friend that really cared about me.

About a year later, it was, ironically, me who would play the role of bully. I was taking a walk when I saw the weirdest thing I had ever seen—a little girl with green hair. I was used to being the small, weak one always getting picked on, but here I saw someone clearly smaller and weaker than me, and her hair really made her stand out—it was an easy way to make fun of her.

Before I even said anything, I knew that what I was about to do was wrong, but I didn’t care. It was always me getting pushed around with no way to fight back because I’m so little and weak. Here, I had found someone littler and weaker than me that I could push around.

It was when I made her cry that I really started feeling guilty about what I had done. I wished there was some way I could apologize—or better yet, turn back time and undo what I had done—but next thing I knew, a green haired boy appeared. We fought with each other, but it wasn’t quite a one sided beating like I had gotten before.

Next, a man showed up and pulled us off of each other. After telling the green haired boy to go home, he turned to me and sternly said, “If I were you, I’d tell my parents what I’ve done so I could be properly punished.”

I knew there was no point telling my parents, since they didn’t give a damn about anything I did, anyway; but there was someone I could tell. I went to see Käti. When she saw me, she immediately gasped and said, “Oh my goodness! Ardus, did you get beaten up again?”

“Well, kind of,” I replied, “but trust me—this time, I deserved it.”

So I told her everything. I told her I really wanted to apologize, but I was too afraid to go see them again after what had happened earlier.

“Ardus,” Käti said, “I am disappointed in you for what you did, but I’m glad to know you want to set things right. Things have to be set right. I understand you’re too nervous to do this on your own. Would it help if we did this together?”

“Y—yeah,” I stumbled on my words. “I—I’d like that.”

There was something about the way she said “together.” At that age, I’m sure I was too young to understand what love is; but even then, somewhere deep down inside, I knew how I really felt about Käti.

But even when I was old enough to understand how I really felt, shy, introverted me was too afraid to say anything, and Zollin got to her first. I was disappointed, of course, but I wasn’t going to ruin my friendship with Zollin or Käti over it. I knew it wasn’t their fault I was too afraid to make the first move.

And yet, fate would end up giving me another chance to be with her. . .

[Kätrine]

Zollin and I were on one of our outings. Between bouts of caressing and making out—the things any young lovers would do—we’d actually have serious conversations about our hopes and dreams. That day, I was kind of depressed. The four of us had been going on “adventures” to help people for a while now, but it seemed like we weren’t making much of a difference. It seemed to me like there was still a lot of pain and suffering in the world. I mentioned this to Zollin and asked him if he thought there was anything we could do about it.

“Now, I know I’m no philosopher,” Zollin said, “filled with words of wisdom.” He paused to laugh like we weren’t having a serious discussion then went on to say, “But I think this might be one time where it’s actually better not to think about things too much. Let’s not dwell on the things we can’t do, and just be happy for what we can do. I don’t know if it’s possible for one person to change the world, and I don’t know if the world even wants to be changed. Sometimes, the one who best knows how to help someone is that person, themself. Sometimes, I think, the best way to help someone is by not helping them. Zara taught me that.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was this really the same person who had vowed to change the world with me? I stood up and said, “I don’t believe this. You mean you don’t want to help people?” Then I stormed off.

A little while after that, I went to see Ardus. I had known him longer than I had known Zollin, after all, and I thought he might be more willing to listen to me.

[Ardus]

One day, Käti just started talking to me about how there was so much pain and suffering in the world, and asked me if I thought there was anything we could do about it or if I wanted to help her help people. I just kept telling her, “Yes,” and “I do.” It wasn’t just because I knew that was what she wanted to hear. It was true. I didn’t want anyone to have to suffer the way I had suffered.

After going on like this for a while, suddenly, she just grabbed me tight and said, “Oh, Ardus! I’m glad to know someone in this world still has some sense!”

Then, she pulled back to look me in the eye and said, “Wait a minute. It’s you. It’s always been you.” She didn’t have to tell me what “it” was. I knew exactly what she meant. We kissed passionately.

I was in paradise. My dream had finally come true.

[CD'sWorkshop]

To Change the World

[Kätrine]

Ardus and I knew better than to say anything of our relationship to Zollin or Zara. I guess we were still friends, but the closer we came to each other, the further we drifted from them. We still went on “adventures” to make money, but it was more of a business relationship than a friendly relationship. Then, one day, it was one of our adventures that changed everything.

We had been contracted by the city library. The head scholar said underground monsters had burrowed their way into the basement and had been living down there as long as anyone could recall. The monsters were so fearsome that no one had been brave enough to go deal with them. “I can only imagine what lost knowledge waits to be rediscovered down there,” the scholar said.

This was definitely the most dangerous job we had ever undertaken, but with our combat skills and Zara and Zollin’s magic, the monsters weren’t too much for us to handle. While we were down there, I caught a glimpse of a certain book. The moment I laid eyes on it, I was drawn to it. I didn’t know why, but I thought it might be a good idea to stash it away and take it with me. Its title was The Legend of the Source.

Anyway, after we finished the job, the head scholar gave us a rather nice reward in money and an artifact as well.

“When I was younger,” he said, “I was a war mage in the Potestan army. I enchanted these two pieces of cloth. If two people are wearing them around their foreheads and aren’t too far away from each other, they will be able to hear each other’s thoughts.”

“Oh, cool!” Zara said. “I wonder why I never thought about trying something like this?”

After we were done with our adventure, I devoted all of my spare time to studying that book. It talked about a “Source of Magic,” the very thing from which magic emanates and the reason why there is magic in the world. It talked about a race of green haired people who were devoted to protecting the Source. It said that, if any single person was ever able to claim the Source for themself, they would be able to control all the magic in the world.

This was it. If we could get ahold of this artifact, we would be strong enough to do anything, and Ardus and I could finally realize our dreams. There was just one problem. The book said nothing about where to find the Source. It said the ones who guarded it were a secretive people and had fled the world itself—taking the Source with them—when they thought it was in danger.

I had no idea where the Source was or how we would get to it. It had to be out there somewhere, but who would know where? What green haired people did I know? I decided I needed to officially patch things up with Zollin.

I told him, “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting, and I’d like it if we could still be friends.”

“Just friends?” Zollin asked, sounding disappointed.

“For now,” I said with a smile. I knew there was never going to be anything between us again, but I also knew the last thing I needed right now was to push Zollin away. So Ardus and I became close to Zollin and Zara again. I thought about telling them what we knew about the Source and seeing if they wanted to help us accomplish our goal. I really didn’t want to be deceitful with my friends, but I knew what happened the last time I tried opening up to Zollin about my true feelings. They just didn’t want the same things we wanted. If we were open to them with our intentions, then that would push them away again and we’d lose any chance of ever finding the Source. We had to just bide our time, wait for the right opportunity to arise, and make sure Zara and Zollin knew as little as possible.

Some time after that, Zollin and Zara came to us saying they had a vision of someone calling them and they felt compelled to follow the call. They asked us if we wanted to come along. I didn’t know exactly what was going on here, but I had a feeling it had something to do with the Source. They were the only green haired people in the entire world that I knew, and both of them had the same vision. This was no coincidence. This was our chance. If we went with them, they could lead us right to the Source. Of course we wanted to go along, but I knew Ardus and I needed to plan our next move first, so I told them we needed to think about it.

“We’re in a very risky situation right now,” I told Ardus when we were alone. “We need them to lead us to the Source, but at the same time, we need to avoid doing anything that might make them suspicious of our true intentions. There’s probably more going on here than we know about. I’m sure whoever was talking to Zollin and Zara in their vision knows more than we do. We need to prepare ourselves to be ready for any situation that might come up.

“This is why I think I should go with them, by myself, while you follow closely behind our trail. We’ll use those headbands the scholar gave us to keep in contact, and if there’s anything that needs to be taken care of ‘delicately,’ you can take care of it behind the scenes. If we were both travelling with them and something important came up and one of us went off to take care of it, our absence might make them suspicious.”

“I think I understand,” Ardus said. “I guess this means we won’t be seeing each other for a while. . .”

“I’m afraid so,” I said, “but don’t worry. We’ll use the headbands to keep in touch with each other.”

“Käti,” Ardus said. Then, he kissed me. A kiss became a touch, and a touch became sweet lovemaking. We both knew it would be a long time before we would see each other again, and we wanted to make the most of what time we had.

As planned, I set out with Zara and Zollin on their journey while Ardus secretly followed some ways behind us. Some time into our journey, we were attacked by these mysterious people in dark cloaks, and none of us had any idea where they came from or what they wanted—at first. I thought to myself long and hard about what had happened. Something that didn’t make any sense to me was how suddenly they disappeared. They weren’t having any trouble in their fight with us—more like the other way around—yet they just ran away. Then I remembered something. Right before they ran, one of the figures got a good look at Zara’s face. Before seeing her face, they had been determined to kill us; but when they knew who they were fighting, suddenly they didn’t want to fight anymore. . .

I didn’t know who was under those hoods, but I was starting to get a feeling it might be more green haired people, maybe even someone that had known Zara and Zollin back when they lived wherever the green haired people lived. I also distinctly remembered one of them mentioning the Source. This wasn’t good. They knew what we were up to and were determined to stop us. If they had a chance to talk to Zollin and Zara, they would expose everything. Our plans would be ruined. Zara and Zollin had already determined they wanted to try talking to the hooded people if they ever saw them again, rather than fight. What could we do that would fill them with such a strong hatred for those people that they would irrationally attack them if we ever crossed paths again?

After thinking about it for a while, I got an idea. A horrible idea. An idea that filled me with guilt the moment I thought of it. When Zollin and Zara had fallen asleep, I got my headband and used it to contact Ardus. First, I told him about our situation.

“I think I know how we can handle this,” I said to him telepathically, “but you’re going to have to listen to me very carefully and promise me you’ll do whatever I say.”

“Anything, my love,” Ardus replied.

“First, I need you to disguise yourself to look like one of the dark cloaked people. Try shopping around a village to see if they have any dark cloaks. I’m sure there’ll be plenty. Next, I’ll find a way to get Zara alone and then contact you. When I give the signal, I need you, in your disguise, to kill Zara. Zollin may think he’s learned how to think before he acts, but he’s just as thick headed and irrational as ever. If he thinks one of the dark cloaked people has killed Zara, he will hunt them down and kill them for us.

“After you’ve killed her, get a safe distance away but somewhere where Zollin would still be able to see you, and contact me. I’ll bring him to the location, he’ll see a dark cloaked person near Zara’s dead body, and everything will work itself out from there. Just make sure to get out of there as soon as Zollin sees you. We can’t have him catching you, or that would ruin everything.”
“A—are you sure about this?” Ardus asked uncertainly.

“Yes,” I said. “Believe me. I never wanted things to come to this, but I think we both knew from the beginning that things would probably turn out this way. The entire race of green haired people is devoted to protecting the Source. Even though Zollin and Zara are our friends, I don’t think they ever would’ve just let us take it. Won’t you do it for me, darling?”

“A—all right,” Ardus said. Even though he never put that much emotion into his voice, I could hear a hint of sorrow in his tone.

We knew what we had to do. It was all a matter of finding a way to get Zara alone. One evening while we were setting up camp, Zara came up to me and said, “Hey, we’re near a lake, right? I think I’m gonna go bathe in it. It’s been ages since my last bath, and I don’t wanna knock you guys out with my stink. Wanna join me?”

Perfect. I was tempted by her offer. I really needed a good soak to calm my nerves, but I couldn’t pass up this chance to get Zara alone. I didn’t know when we’d have another opportunity.

“Thanks for the offer,” I said, “but I’m tired after a long day of journeying. I think I’m just going to get some sleep.”

“Suit yourself,” Zara said, “but if we smell something really terrible tomorrow, I think we’ll all know who it is!” She giggled and went off toward the lake.

When she was out of sight, I got my headband and held it up to my forehead. “Now’s our chance,” I said to Ardus. “Zara has gone to bathe in a nearby lake. She couldn’t be any more vulnerable. You know what you have to do. It’s now or never.”

[Ardus]
I took a moment to prepare myself for the task ahead. I still couldn’t believe what I was about to do. After putting on my cloak, I prepared my dagger. I knew I couldn’t hold it out in the open. Zara had seen me use it before, and she might recognize it. I got some string and tied the dagger to my arm so only the blade stuck out from underneath the sleeve of my cloak.

Then I went and took care of business. Zara’s magic was strong, but I knew her every move. I had seen it all before, and we even trained together sometimes. There was nothing she could throw at me that she hadn’t thrown at me before. After I plunged the dagger into her back, she fell to the ground, and I knew my work was done. I didn’t know if she could hear me anymore, but I knelt down beside her and whispered, “I’m sorry, Zara,” into her ear.

I wished things didn’t have to end this way, but I think Käti was right. If those people had a chance to talk to Zara and Zollin, they would have turned them against us. In any case, we had put ourselves at odds with all of the green haired people the moment we decided we wanted to take the Source and use its power. We wanted to use it for a good reason, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have mattered to any of them. This fight between us was going to happen, one way or another.

After I had made my peace, I told Käti, “Okay, it’s done,” and I went to the top of a hill in the distance but near the location. I just waited up there for a while. I think I might have even cried a little. Finally, I saw Käti and Zollin appear.

[Kätrine]

Zollin ran up to Zara’s body, got on his knees, and shouted, “Zara! No!” He started sobbing hysterically. He struggled to speak, but I could make out him saying, “I promised Father I would protect you! I promised!”

The whole scene tore me apart, and I started crying, too. It wasn’t fake tears just to convince Zollin. I couldn’t believe what I had done. The only way I made myself feel better was by reassuring myself that this was all for the greater good. When I got a grip on myself, I looked around to see if I could see Ardus anywhere. When I spied him on a nearby hill, I pointed and shouted, “Look there!”

[Ardus]

I saw Zollin turn his attention to me. After letting him get a good look, I got out of there. I knew my part in this was done.

[Kätrine]

“You!” Zollin shouted. “I swear I’ll kill you for this! I will make you suffer!”

The way Zollin acted over the next few days was kind of scary, to be honest. All he could think about was getting revenge, and he talked about some rather disturbing things he’d do to the dark cloaked people when he finally caught them.

After some more time travelling, we heard a voice shout, “Hey!”

We looked over and saw that it was one of the dark cloaked people. Zollin immediately drew his spear and clenched it tight.

“We need to talk,” the person said.

“And you need to die!” Zollin shouted with sorrow and rage, and he plunged his spear into the person’s chest. They fell down onto their back. Zollin walked up to them, started pulling their hood back, and said, “Now, who are you?”

[CD'sWorkshop]

Back to the Beginning

[A grand city can be seen that is not of Potestan design. Most of the buildings in the city are made of a base of sand and clay that has been whitewashed to give them a stark white appearance. They are supported by timber frames and have wooden plank roofs. The more magnificent buildings are made entirely of stone. Most of the roads running through the city are unpaved dirt.]

[A lot of activity is going on near a tournament ground. Many people sit in the stands of the stadium, anticipating the action that will soon take place in the field below them. The people have lighter skin than the Potestans. All of them have spiky hair that is some shade of green and wear green robes combined with various colors. Most people wear white or brown in addition to green, some wear blue, a few wear red, and a clearly high status family in their own, private box wear purple with their green.]

[Near the tournament field are tents where the participants prepare for the fights ahead. Inside one of the tents are two men. Both of them appear to be in their late teens, have forest green hair, and orange eyes. One of the men has a stubbly beard and hair that spikes downward and to the left and right of his head, while the other is clean shaven and has hair that spikes upward to the right and downward to the left. The bearded man wears a sleeveless blue outer robe over a long sleeve green under robe. The beardless man wears a green robe with white accents.]

[Bearded Man]

Like all Sourcelings, I had some skill with sorcery, a word we derived from “Source” to refer to the magical power it gave us; but even among Sourcelings, some of us are better at it than others. I’m one of those that had a harder time learning it, so I compensated by learning more physical skills, and I became quite skilled in combat with a war hammer. I got so good at it that I was actually invited to participate in a tournament that would really test my skills. I was getting ready when my brother, Alam, came to wish me luck.

“You know,” Alam said, “I hear Nari, the daughter of the Guardian of the Source, will be watching. She’s sixteen, right? She’s the perfect age for you, you know.”

The descendants of the one who originally discovered the Source have guarded it for countless generations and took the title of “Guardian.” Since the Source is the origin of our magical power, the family that guards it is highly respected and holds much political sway.

“Really?” I said hopefully. “Do you think I might have a chance with her?”

“Honestly?” Alam said. “No, not a chance in hell.” He chuckled then went on to say, “But still, it must be something else knowing you’ll have her undivided attention during your fights.”

There was a short pause, and then he said, “Anyway, I think the tournament is about to start. I wouldn’t want to make you late for your own match. Good luck out there, Dewin.”

“Thanks, brother,” I said.

The fights were tough, but I had been training for this day all my life. Opponent after opponent fell before me, until I eventually came out on top and won the tournament. I was filled with glory as the crowd cheered my victories, but little did I know the best was yet to come.

As I was leaving the tournament field after everything was over, I heard a voice say, “Hello there, champion.”

I turned around and saw a young woman behind me. She had red eyes and emerald hair that spiked down to cover most of the right side of her face but was cut up in a diagonal line that peaked above her left eye. She wore a purple long sleeve outer robe that was left open so her green under robe could be seen underneath. It was Nari, the daughter of the Guardian!

“That was quite a display out there,” she said.

I was so overcome that I struggled to speak, but I finally spat out, “Aw, well, that’s just the result of years of rigorous training!”

“Strong,” Nari said, “and modest, too. You’re not like those stuck up suitors my parents pick out for me. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a man.”

Wow, that was. . . forward, but I wasn’t complaining. I couldn’t believe it. I was really courting the daughter of the Guardian! Her parents did object at first to her being in love with a commoner, but eventually they got used to me, and being a champion certainly helped. After some time, we got married and had two children. We named them Zollin and Zara. Alam also married the love of his life, Elisa, and the two of them had a child of their own that they named Vataria. Even though we were royalty and they were commoners, our two families were quite close. Vataria was almost like another sibling to Zollin and Zara.

But as time passed on, Nari seemed more and more unhappy. I often saw her gazing into the magic mirror in our manor house and using its magic to show her images of distant lands. One time, I oversaw her watching what looked like a really dramatic scene. A black haired woman in a white dress was crying miserably. A man in a dark tunic knelt down beside her and said, “Pella, no matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you. Maybe we could adopt children if we can’t have any of our own.”

“Why do you want to see these things?” I asked Nari as she gazed into the magic mirror.

“To give me a glimpse of experiences I will never get to experience,” she said, “and accomplishments I will never get to accomplish.”

I didn’t understand. It seemed to me that Nari had a fairly fulfilling life. Why would she be so unhappy?

[Two children, a boy and a girl, wander the halls of the manor house. The walls and floor are made of stone, and slits in the wall serve as windows. The boy has red eyes, forest green hair that spikes to the right, and wears a purple vest over a green under robe. The girl has orange eyes, sea green hair that spikes back and down, and wears a long sleeve brown jacket over a green under robe.]

[Vataria]

Me and Zollin were on one of our play “adventures.” As usual, we were searching the manor for treasure. That’s what we were pretending to do, anyway. Actually, we were trying to sneak into the pantry so we could raid it for some goodies. The real trick was sneaking by Uncle Dewin. If he caught us, we’d get in trouble, but I had come up with a really clever way to keep him off our backs.

“Are you sure Father won’t catch us?” Zollin asked.

“Yep,” I said. “I got some leaves from a plant that causes sleepiness and crushed them into his wine. He’s probably fast asleep by now.” I laughed maniacally. I was so proud of myself.

Then, Zollin’s annoying little sister Zara ran up and said, “Hey! Are you guys having fun? Can I join in?”

“Uh, sorry,” I said. “Big kids only.”

“Oh, but I’m big!” Zara insisted. “See?” She squinted her eyes, clenched her fists, and made a grunting sound.

“What are you doing, Zara?” Zollin asked.

“Using magic to make myself big!” Zara said.

“That’s not how sorcery works, Zara,” I said.

Then, there was the distinct sound of wind breaking. Zara’s eyes shot open and she looked embarrassed at first, but then she started laughing hysterically. She laughed so hard she fell down to the floor and started rolling around.

“Ugh, and she wonders why we don’t want to hang out with her,” Zollin whispered to me.

We left Zara behind and made our way to the pantry. There it was, completely unguarded—all the goodies we could eat! We made ourselves right at home.

“Now that’s what I call an adventure!” I mumbled with a mouth full of cookie.

It was about that time that Dad and Uncle Dewin walked in.

[Alam looks pretty much the same as he did before, but Dewin now has a full beard and wears a purple over robe instead of a blue one.]

“I knew we’d find you in here,” Dad said. “We’re going home now, Vataria. It’s getting late, and I think there are some chores you need to do.”

“But Daddy!” I protested.

“No buts,” Dad said. “You can cause more mischief with your cousin some other time.”

So I went on home. As I left the pantry, I could hear Uncle Dewin telling Zollin, “Don’t you have some chores you need to be doing, too?”

[Dewin]

After the kids had left, I decided I needed to have a serious discussion with Alam. I told him what had been going on with Nari and asked him if he had any advice.

“Dewin,” Alam said, “you’re the one that got to live every common man’s dream and marry the princess. Try to see things from Nari’s perspective. Her ancestors are all great heroes of our people, and she has a great legacy to live up to. But things in Sorcia have been running pretty smoothly ever since we fled the mainland and set up here on our island. Nari hasn’t had the chance to make any great changes or accomplish any great things the way her ancestors did.”

I thought about what Alam said, but I didn’t know what on earth I could do about it. A little while after that, it was time for one of Nari’s regular meetings with the council. The council was made up of four people—five if you include the Guardian of the Source, the head of the council—who each represented a particular shire in Sorcia, and it was their job to work together with the Guardian to solve political matters. As a common born, I held no real sway in these meetings; but as the husband of the Guardian, I still listened in on their discussions.

During the meeting, Nari proposed letting the existence of our people be known to the outside world again. A heated debate erupted. Nari argued that it had been almost a hundred years since all the people of the world had turned against us to try to steal the Source, and maybe it was time to give them another chance. Virtually the entire council was in opposition to her, arguing that those “barbarians” could not be trusted, and only we Sourcelings knew how to use the Source responsibly.

Finally, Nari turned to me and pleaded, “Please, help me out here. This is my chance to finally make a difference, enact great change, and leave behind some kind of legacy. I cannot meet my ancestors knowing I did nothing worth doing in my lifetime! They would be so ashamed of me!”

“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “I don’t hold any more influence with these people than you do. Besides, I think what you’re proposing is a very reckless and dangerous idea. We cut ourselves off from the world for a reason. Would you put our whole people in danger just to fulfill your selfish desires?!”

“I’m selfish?” Nari said without any emotion in her voice. She turned back toward the council and just stared blankly ahead, almost like she was in a trance.

[Vataria]

Zollin had told me to sneak out after our bed time and meet him near a waterfall just outside the city. He said he had something really cool to show me. I knew we’d be in big trouble if we got caught, but a childish young me just loved getting into trouble.

“It may look like an ordinary waterfall,” Zollin said, “but look it this.”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me through the waterfall to a secret cave on the other side.

“Wow! Cool!” I said in awe. “I can only imagine what our parents would do if they knew what we were up to.”

“Actually,” Zollin said, “it was my parents that showed me this place to begin with. It’s a secret path to get to the basement of our house. I don’t know who—if anyone else—knows about it.”

We went through the cave until we came to what seemed like a dead end. A big boulder blocked our path ahead. “On this other side of this rock,” Zollin said, “is the basement of our house. Do you want to help me move it?”

We used our magic to move the big rock out of the way. The basement of their house was mostly just a vast, empty space. The only object in the room was a ball of glowing green light in the center.

Suddenly, we heard the footsteps of someone coming. They sounded like they were really in a hurry. Me and Zollin raced out of there and put the rock back in place, hoping it wasn’t really noticeable that we had messed with it to begin with.

[Dewin]

I lay restlessly in bed. Nari had never come to bed, and I was starting to get worried, especially after what happened earlier that day. Then, I started hearing what sounded like fireworks going on outside. I went out to see what was going on. I just followed the sounds of the commotion.

Finally, I saw it. Alam and Elisa lay dead, and Nari was standing over them. She had the Source in her hands.

[Calidore]

I'm way behind on feedbacking, including your other story, but I do want to give you major props for continuing to post these in a vacuum.

[CD'sWorkshop]

Thank you. I hope you're enjoying them!

[CD'sWorkshop]

Selfishness and Selflessness

[Dewin]

“Nari. . . What have you done?” I asked in horror.

“What have I done?!” Nari said. Her voice was filled with insanity. “I really have you to thank for all of this, dear Dewin. When I needed you most, you abandoned me. I felt so helpless—so powerless. And then I realized it. Why do I have to bow to the will of others when I have direct access to the greatest power in all of existence? With this power, I can do whatever I want! I can accomplish all of the great things I thought I could never accomplish. I can make people listen to me and do what I want!”

“You’re a madwoman!” I shouted.

“If I am, it is only because you made me this way!” Nari retorted. She started making a sound, but I couldn’t tell if it was laughing or crying.

She shot off a huge fireball. It was so large that I was barely able to escape its path. It flew behind me and destroyed an entire house. An entire house destroyed with one blast—I had never seen sorcery this strong before. It must have been the Source. Since Nari held it in her hands, it must have been boosting her magical power. At the same time, I could feel my own magic slowly draining away.

I ran and hid. Nari would fire off a blast of sorcerous energy and destroy my hiding place, and I’d flee to a new one. Finally, I heard something that sounded like sorcery, but different from Nari’s powerful blasts. I cautiously peeked out of my hiding spot and saw a large crowd of people had gathered and all of them were firing shots of sorcerous energy at Nari. She writhed in agony with each one until she finally fell to the ground, dead.

“No!” I shouted. This woman had just been trying to kill me, but it still filled me with sorrow watching her die. I wished none of this had to happen. I remembered Alam’s words and my exchange with Nari back in the council chamber and realized that we had both been acting selfishly. This really was just as much my fault. If only we could have just listened to each other. The love of my life was gone forever, and it was because I could only think of myself.

A little while after that, I heard that an emergency meeting of the council had been called. When I tried to go to the council chambers, a guard outside told me I wasn’t allowed to enter. So I used a secret passage to get inside. As the husband of the (former) Guardian, I knew of all the secret passages known only to the Guardians and their family. When I got to the meeting room, I kept down and out of sight. I knew they wanted me out of there for a reason and figured it would probably be better not to let them know I was there.

The council was in a panic. They said the Guardian was supposed to be the most trusted member of our society, but she had betrayed us. They didn’t know how to respond to this and argued hysterically about what to do next. Finally, they agreed they couldn’t run the risk that Nari had “spread her poison” to the rest of her family, and they said they were going to have us all executed—Me, Zollin, and Zara.

The moment I heard this, I darted out of the council chamber and back to the manor house to save Zollin and Zara. I got some magic dust and sprinkled it onto the ground to create a teleportation circle. I knew the only way to save my children was to teleport them out of Sorcia, but since teleportation spells can only be cast on others—not on oneself—I knew this would leave me behind to be executed. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make. I was also a little unsure how safe it would be exposing Sourcelings to the outside world, but I knew their chances out there were better than the certain death that awaited them here.

I got Zollin and Zara and brought them to the circle. On the way, I told them there wasn’t enough time to explain. All they needed to know was it was too dangerous for them to stay in Sorcia. I told Zollin, “When you get to the other side, ask for. . .”

What was the name of that woman Nari had watched in the mirror? After spending a few moments thinking about it, I told Zollin, “Pella. Ask for Pella.” I honestly didn’t know if Pella and her husband would be willing to take them in, but I knew they desperately wanted children, and they seemed like good people.

“One last thing,” I said to Zollin. “Take care of Zara. I know you two don’t always get along, but you’re the only family she has now.”

In my mind, I envisioned the place I wanted to teleport them to—the room Pella and her husband were in—and I cast the spell on Zollin and Zara. Regardless of what happened to me, they were safe, and that was all that mattered. I didn’t know if Nari was watching me from the spirit realm, but I hoped she could see how I had changed.

Mere moments after Zara and Zollin disappeared, soldiers entered the room. The ordinary soldiers had metal helmets, wore hardened leather chest pieces over their robes, and carried war hammers. The officer wore a metal scale mail chest piece, instead of a leather one, and carried a mace.

“Where are your children?” the officer demanded.

“I teleported them out of Sorcia itself,” I said defiantly. “You can do whatever you want to me, but you will never be able to hurt them!”

“We should take him before the council,” one of the soldiers suggested. “They’ll probably want to hear about this.”

This time when I saw the council, they seemed to have really calmed down. They seemed a lot more rational and levelheaded than before. They agreed that there had been enough senseless killing already and even admitted that they might have overreacted when the declared to have us put to death. Still, my actions had exposed Sourcelings to the outside world. This was a very serious crime they could not overlook. They agreed not to execute me, but I was to be imprisoned for life.

[Vataria]

After my parents died, the authorities tried to send me to live with some of my mom’s family, but I was so unhappy with them. They just weren’t family to be the way Uncle Dewin and his family had been. I heard Dewin had been thrown in jail, so I decided it was up to me to bust him out. It really wasn’t that hard getting into the dungeon. I carried a tray with wine glasses on it and told everyone I was a serving girl. I searched around until I finally found the cell with Dewin in it. There were two people guarding it. One was a woman with leather armor and a hammer, the other was a man with metal armor, a mace, and keys—the keys to the cell.

“Drinks for the hard working guards?” I said as I approached. The guards were all too eager to take the wine from me and they gulped it down.

“That’s right. Drink up,” I whispered to myself. The guards were out in no time. The leaves I had crushed into the wine worked like a charm. I got the keys, unlocked Dewin’s cell, and opened it.

[Dewin]

It was when I heard my cell door opening that I thought I might actually care about what was going on. I opened my eyes and saw my niece Vataria.

“Vataria?!” I said in shock. “What are you doing here?”

“Busting you out!” Vataria said. “Come on, we need to get out of here before those guards wake back up.”

“Vataria,” I said very seriously, “you realize I’m considered an enemy of Sorcia, right? If you help me escape, we’re both going to be wanted fugitives.”

“I know!” Vataria said. “I don’t care! Now that Mom and Dad are gone, you’re the only real parent I have. I guess I could have a nice life with Mom’s family, but I’d rather have a real life with you.”

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want Vataria to throw her life away for me, but this was what she wanted. As we left the dungeon, I took the mace and the hammer from the guards. I really didn’t want us to have to fight anyone, but I knew we needed to be ready to defend ourselves. I knew that, just like for Zollin and Zara, Sorcia was no longer safe for us. I was really uneasy about going to the mainland, but I knew Vataria and I would be caught sooner or later if we stayed in Sorcia.

We went to a village near the cost and “acquired” a little boat. I really don’t like to say “stole,” but what other choice did we have? All of Sorcia was looking for us. Even if I had the money to pay for it, I couldn’t take the risk of the boat’s owner recognizing us. After we set out to sea, we had to pass through a really bad storm that had raged ever since our people originally fled the mainland. It was a magical storm we had conjured to make sure no one could ever find us, but with our sorcery to protect us, we Sourcelings could pass through it relatively safely.

It was actually a little overwhelming stepping foot on mainland soil. It looked just like the earth back in Sorcia, but I knew, aside from Zollin and Zara, we were the first Sourcelings to step foot on it in a very long time. I wondered if the people here still felt the same way about us as they had when we first fled. I learned in history lessons that, not long after we fled, the council dispatched agents to destroy any written records telling of our existence. Maybe the people here didn’t even know about us anymore, but I wasn’t willing to take that risk.

I told Vataria, “We should avoid contact with other people if at all possible. I don’t know if we can trust them.”

“Why can’t we trust them?” Vataria asked.

I realized she had probably never learned the secret knowledge of our people, since she was still only a child. Between their fourteenth and sixteenth birthdays, all Sourcelings undergo a “coming of age” ritual where they perform some great task to prove they’re worthy of being considered adults; and if they succeed, they are told all of our secrets. Our people controlled the single most powerful artifact in all of existence. We had to be secretive, even among our own people.

“When you’re a bit older,” I told her, “you’ll have to undergo a trial to prove you’re worthy of being an adult, and if you succeed, I’ll tell you everything I know—including why we don’t trust others.”

From that point, Vataria and I wandered the world as outcasts. We survived by hunting and foraging, just as all people had ages ago. Occasionally, we’d make a quick visit to a village to trade for supplies. One of my first priorities was getting us a change of clothes. Even the finest robes wear out or get torn on a hunt, and I’m no tailor. Besides, we needed something that didn’t make us stand out the way our Sourceling robes did. When we visited villages, we used sorcery to change our hair color in hopes that we wouldn’t stand out, but we still got a lot of stares over our exotic (to them) clothes. I knew this was a good idea.

I traded some hides from a hunt for dark cloaks. The cloaks weren’t that different from our robes, so they were something we’d be comfortable wearing, but they were also something that would look familiar to other people. The cloaks also had hoods to cover our heads, so we could hide our hair without having to go through the trouble of recoloring it every time we had to be around other people. I also got a razor so I could keep my beard shaved. I missed that good old friend, but I knew the green hairs would still be seen even under a hood.

Our lives ran relatively smoothly, but I could tell Vataria was getting a bit restless. The few times we’d visit villages, I’d see her trying to socialize with some of the people, and she seemed disappointed when it was time to leave. When she finally came of age and I said her trial was to go, by herself, to pick a flower growing on the top of a mountain, she said, “Why do I have to go alone? Haven’t we been on our own long enough?”

I told her she had to prove her strength by accomplishing this alone, and she grudgingly did it. When she came back with a flower, I told her all of the secrets of our people. I told her why we were suspicious of mainlanders and had to limit our contact with them. It was because, about a hundred years ago, all the nations and all the people of the world declared war on Sorcia because they wanted to get to the Source. Our people fought valiantly, but they couldn’t hold off the entire world. Seemingly with no other options, our entire people fled from the mainland and went to a remote island where we hoped no one could find us or the Source.

Vataria said she understood why we were suspicious of mainlanders, but she desperately wanted real friends and thought we should give them another chance. I remembered exactly what happened the last time someone suggested this and I didn’t support her in her decision. . .

[CD'sWorkshop]

Meeting the Weltkinder

[A quaint little village can be seen. The main bodies of the buildings are made out of wood, and the roofs are made out of mud and dirt that has grass growing in it. All of the buildings are longer than they are wide, and the most impressive buildings are over 100 feet long. The people have light skin and hair that is some shade of red or reddish brown (all Weltkinder have light hair, but appearance varies somewhat from clan to clan). The men wear long sleeve tunics and pants, and any man mature enough to grow facial hair has some kind of facial hair. The women have their hair styled in braids, pony tails, and pig tails. They all wear long sleeve, ankle length dresses, and most wear skirts or sleeveless outer dresses over them.]

[Vataria walks into the village. She still wears her dark cloak, but her hood is down and she has colored her hair a bright orange that matches her eyes perfectly.]

[Vataria]

I saw a young man about my age laying between hay bales. I couldn’t see him well through the hay, but I could tell he had fiery red hair and wore a pale yellow tunic and reddish brown pants. I was curious about what was going on, so I went up to him and asked him, “What are you doing?”

“Playing hide and seek,” he said. “All the young people of the village are having one big game right now.”

A game? It sounded like fun, so I asked him if I could join in.

“Fine,” he said, “just go and hide somewhere. The sooner, the better. You’ll ruin my hiding spot if we talk any more.”

As I walked away, he said, “Wait, how will the others know you when they see you? You’re an outsider, right? I don’t think anyone has ever seen you before or would even know if they’ve found you.”
“Hmm,” I thought. “Tell them to look for the girl with the spiky hair.”

I used my sorcery to help me get up in a high tree that was just outside the village. It seemed like a good hiding spot to me. After a while of just waiting, I heard a voice shout, “Hey, spiky girl!”

The sudden shout startled me and I fell out of the tree. I knew I was in for a pretty nasty fall if I did nothing, so I used sorcery to slow me down and land softly. The crowd of young people gathered near my tree all gasped, and I even heard one say, “She’s a witch!” I didn’t know what that meant, but it didn’t sound good.

“Um, what?” I said.

A young woman who looked about my age stepped forward. She had blue eyes and copper colored hair pulled back into a pony tail and wore a purplish blue velvet dress that clearly indicated her high status.

“You realize it’s against the law to learn magic without the permission of the temple, right?” she said. “If I were any other priestess’s daughter, you’d be dead now. But don’t worry. I’m more open-minded than my sisters. Your secret is safe with me.

“My mother doesn’t even approve of the fact that I’m friends with commoners. If she knew I was playing with a witch. . .” The young woman chuckled and then said, “She’d have us both skinned alive.

“What’s your name?” the young woman asked. “My name is Joanna, but you can call me Anna.”

“Uh,” I stuttered. I didn’t know what kind of name would sound normal to these people, and I had a feeling “Vataria” wouldn’t, so I said, “Hee hee hee! What a coincidence! My name is also Joanna!”

“So what are we gonna call you?” one of the people in the crowd asked. “We already have an ‘Anna.’”

“What’s wrong with ‘Joanna’?” I asked.

“Huh?! Don’t you wanna be our friend?” the person said.

Hopelessly confused, I just said, “Yeah. . .”

“Then we have to have a familiar name for you, silly,” Anna said. “How about Joann?”

“That sounds too much like Johann!” someone in the crowd said.

“It sounds fine to me,” I said.

“So where are you from, Joann?” Anna asked. “What clan do you hail from? Who’s your kin?”

I knew I probably shouldn’t answer that question 100% honestly, so I told her, “Well, me and my uncle have been travelling for a long time, so I guess I don’t really know where our roots are.”

“Those burnt faced bastards!” someone said angrily. “Them and their ‘hero,’ Alexius the Butcher, probably wiped her clan out back in the war.”

“Well,” Anna said, “know that you and your uncle will always have a place here.” Anna smiled kindly, and I smiled back. I was so happy. Finally, I had real friends again.

I became good friends with all of the young men and women in the village, but I was particularly close with Anna. She was so kind and virtuous. I felt I could tell her anything, so one day, I decided to let her in on my closest secret. When we were alone, I undid the spell on my hair and let her see it in its natural sea green. She started giving me the funniest look, and I was worried that this might have been a bad idea, after all.

“Mother has told me legends,” Anna said, “about the grass haired people who originally taught us magic, but I didn’t think you actually existed.”

She got on her knees and bowed her head until it almost touched the ground and said, “I am so humbled to be in your presence!”

You’d think this would be flattering, but it was kind of embarrassing, actually. Anna was my friend. I didn’t want to be worshipped by her. I told her, “Please, this isn’t necessary. You are my friend and my equal, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Now that you know the truth about me, there are so many questions I’ve been wanting to ask you about your people—the Weltkinder—and I don’t have to be afraid to ask them anymore.”

“Of course,” Anna said, “as long as I can ask you questions about your people.”

“Um, all right,” I said. I knew I should probably be careful not to say too much, but it didn’t seem fair to Anna for her to tell me everything about her people without me offering up anything in return. We spent a very long time just getting to know each other.

“We Weltkinder were nomadic hunter-gatherers until relatively recently in our history,” Anna said. “Some estimate it was as recently as 200 years ago that we started relying completely on farming, and even then, some clans preferred staying to the old ways. While we agricultural clans stayed here, in these eastern lands we’re in now, the nomadic clans travelled to the west and encountered the Dark Ones. We fought a great war for control of the land, but we could not stand against their technology, and the Dark Ones now rule all the lands to the west and the south. I’m sure you’ve heard some of us speak angrily of the ‘burnt faced bastards.’ Many of us still hold deep hatred over what happened in the war, and most of us won’t refer to those people as anything other than ‘mud brains’ or ‘burnt faces,’ but the more polite people among us refer to them as the Dark Ones, since their hair and skin are darker than ours.

“Before the war, there was little unity among the clans. Individuals identified more with their clan than with their people as a whole, and war between the clans was not uncommon. Our war with the Dark Ones forced us to unite to have any chance against them, and we finally formed a single, unified identity. The Dark Ones think their technology somehow makes them superior to us ‘savages,’ but we like to think of ourselves as being more in touch with nature; so we started calling ourselves ‘Weltkinder.’ Weltkinder means ‘children of the world’ or ‘the world’s children.’”

After that, she asked me to tell her about my people. I tried to stick mostly to trivial things like what foods we ate and what kinds of houses we lived in. I mentioned that we lived in relative isolation on an island, but I didn’t say how we became isolated. I also mentioned that magic is a big part of our society, and everyone studies it from a very early age. I curiously asked her what place magic had in this society.

“Well, to understand what magic means to us,” Anna said, “you first need to understand the role of us priestesses. As the link between the physical realm and the spirit realm, we have always held a great amount of power and respect with our people. When we first encountered your people—the Sourcelings—we priestesses, as the leaders of our people, served as the intermediaries between our two peoples. We were the first ones to learn magic from you, and unfortunately, many priestesses exploited this to gain a monopoly on magical learning. Many of them abused their power and used it to control the people. They didn’t want to let average people learn magic for themselves, since that would undermine a large source of their power. So learning magic without the permission of the temple is strictly forbidden, and anyone discovered using it without permission is branded a ‘witch’ or a ‘warlock’ and put to death.

“This is one of many things I do not see eye to eye with my sisters on. A leader is supposed to be kind and benevolent. She is supposed to use her power to help her people, not to control them. When I finally become a full-fledged priestess, I’m going to do things differently. I’m going to rule with compassion and put an end to the practices that encourage priestesses to abuse their power.”

I lived in relative harmony with these people for a while, but one day, I got to see for myself a priestess abusing her power—like Anna had mentioned—and that’s when everything went bad. It was Anna’s mother Meike. I hadn’t seen her many times, since Anna made it clear it would be better if we didn’t meet, but I immediately recognized the red velvet dress she preferred wearing and her hair and eye color, which were the same as Anna’s. She looked a lot like an older version of Anna, but instead of a pony tail, she had her hair in a great braid that started at the back of her head and came down to the middle of her back.

That day, I saw her pushing some commoners around for “not showing her proper respect.” I tried my best to ignore it. She was Anna’s mother, after all, and I didn’t want to do anything that might drive a rift between us. It was when she used sorcery to hold the people in the air and said, “Do you not see these great gifts the gods gave us? People deserving of such great gifts are deserving of respect!” That was when I had heard enough.

“That’s bull****!” I shouted. “The gods didn’t teach you magic. Ordinary people did.”

“And how would you know, little girl?” Meike asked.

I knew I was making the biggest mistake of my life. I knew I probably shouldn’t have even said anything to begin with. But seeing what she did to those helpless people made me so angry. All I could think about was how mad I was at Meike, and it caused me to ignore all logic and reason even though I knew better.

I figured I had already dug myself into a mess the moment I opened my mouth. Digging myself deeper wasn’t going to make much of a difference at this point, so I undid the spell on my hair and said, “Because I’m one of them!”

I shot a blast of sorcerous energy at Meike, but she jumped out of the way and avoided it. She used sorcery to lift up some rocks and threw them at me. I called up a barrier of sorcerous energy that caught the rocks in it. Then, I expelled the barrier in a powerful blast that sent the rocks flying at Meike. Most of them landed around her, but one of them clearly hit her, and it seemed to hurt her badly. She fell down to the ground.

Maybe that was when I really took things too far, but in hindsight, I think I took things too far the moment I started that fight. In a rage, I just kept hitting Meike with blast after blast of magical energy, even though she was already helpless and on the ground. Finally, I heard a voice shout, “Mama!”

Anna run up, got between us, and threw out her arms to protect Meike. I think that’s when I finally realized the terrible thing I had done. “Anna. . .” I said.

“Don’t call me that!” Anna said. “Only my friends are allowed to use that name.”

“But what about what she did?” I asked. “I thought you said you didn’t like seeing the priestesses using their power to abuse people.”

“She may have a heart of stone,” Joanna said, “but she’s still my mother, and I won’t let you kill her.”

Kill her? Was that really what I was doing? I guess if I hadn’t been stopped, I don’t know what I might have done.

“When I’m priestess,” Joanna said, “I’m going to change things the right way. I’m not going to become the very monster I oppose! As priestess in training and future leader of my people, I order you to leave this village and never come back.”

I heavy heartedly left the village and joined back up with Uncle Dewin to become an outcast once again. I told him about everything that had happened. I told him about the way Weltkinder priestesses abuse sorcery.

[Dewin]

“I can understand how upset you were,” I told Vataria. “But you can’t let your emotions control you. You have to be the one in control of yourself, not your emotions. If you had let yourself stay in control, you and Joanna would still be friends.”

“Yeah, I know. . .” Vataria said between sobs.

The Dark Ones see sorcery as a tool of war. The Weltkinder see it as a means of control. Even we Sourcelings have shown we don’t know how to use it responsibly. I was beginning to wonder if anyone did.

[CD'sWorkshop]

The Roads Cross

[Dewin]

One night while I was asleep, I had the strangest vision. It was so vague and distorted I really couldn’t tell what I was seeing or hearing. All I can say for certain is I felt the presence of the Source, the presence of someone else, and I clearly heard, “Come to me.”

When I woke up that morning, I knew exactly what I had to do. Someone, somewhere, was trying to find the Source so they could use its power. I told Vataria, “We’re going to find whoever it is, stop them, and then we’re going to destroy the Source.”

“Destroy the Source?! But why?” Vataria asked, sounding a little shocked.

“It seems all sorcery has ever done is cause pain and suffering,” I said. “‘Source of Magic.’ Hah. More like ‘Source of Misery.’ It’s going to be weird living in a world without magic, but I think the entire world will be better off without it.”

“All right, I’m with you in this.” Vataria said. “But how will we find the people trying to get to the Source?”

Even though my vision was over, I could still feel the presence of whoever it was in the vision. The feeling got stronger the closer we got to them. All we had to do was follow the feeling. After some time travelling, we encountered three people wandering in the wilderness during a storm. They had hoods up to protect themselves from the rain, but I knew they were the ones from my vision, so we battled with them.

When it seemed like victory was close for us, the hood of one of the people fell and I got a good look at their face. There was no mistaking it. The person had the green hair of a Sourceling. I knew, aside from myself and Vataria, there should only be two other Sourcelings on the entire mainland.

I got lost in thought. It was when the person hit me with a blast of sorcerous energy that I was reminded we were fighting to the death. No, we couldn’t kill each other, but the heat of battle was too chaotic to try to reason with them. Besides, I needed a chance to gather my thoughts. I was fairly certain about what I had seen, but it was really dark and rainy. For all I knew, my eyes were playing a trick on me when I thought I saw green hair. Even if it was Zollin and Zara, what part did they play in this? What great schemes were going on here? I motioned to Vataria for us to retreat.

When we had gotten far away, Vataria asked me, “Why did we run? We almost had them!”

“Because I think that might have been Zollin and Zara,” I said.

“What? Then we have to go back and talk to them!” Vataria said.

“Not yet,” I said. “There’s something going on here—something treacherous. I know what I felt. Someone wants to use the Source, and we can’t let them do that. I only hope it really isn’t Zollin and Zara who want to use it, or we will have to fight them. But trust me when I say I only want to do that as an absolute last resort.

“There was a third person travelling with them. I don’t know who they are, but I have a feeling they’re responsible for this treachery. They’re probably using Zara and Zollin to lead them to the Source. We may not know who that person is, but I have a feeling it’s someone they’re close with—someone they trust, maybe more than us. It has been nine years since the last time we saw each other, after all. I really hope we can convince Zollin and Zara that their friend can’t be trusted. Believe me, I do not want to fight them.”

Some more time passed while we planned our next move. Finally, I decided it was time for us to try talking to them.

“I think you need to stay behind while I try talking to them,” I said to Vataria. “I don’t know how much that third person has enthralled Zollin and Zara, but there is a chance this may not end well, and I don’t want to risk you getting hurt. If something happens to me, you’ll be the only one left capable of destroying the Source before anyone else can get to it. If something does happen to me, please, promise you will keep your mind on the mission.”

“I promise, Uncle,” Vataria said.

I prepared to commit my final act of selflessness. When I caught back up to that group, I noticed Zara wasn’t in it anymore. Something treacherous was afoot. The second person was definitely Zollin. There was no doubt in my mind about it. The third person was a Weltkind woman I had never seen before. She must have been the one using them to get to the Source. Now, I just needed to convince Zollin of as much.

“We need to talk,” I said.

[Vataria]

Uncle Dewin told me to stay behind, but he should have known better than that. After he left, I followed closely behind him. And then I saw it. Zollin struck him down and killed him. I remembered what Dewin told me about keeping my mind on the mission, but I was filled with so much sorrow and so much anger I cast those thoughts aside. I ran forward screaming and I swung my mace, but Zollin jumped back and dodged it. He shot off a blast off sorcerous energy that knocked me back onto my ***.

The Weltkind woman started running at me and prepared her axe to strike. I shot off a fireball that grazed her shirt, catching it on fire. She patted her shirt, trying to put the fire out. Zollin used sorcery to conjure some water and put out the fire.

I summoned a huge gust of wind that knocked them both onto their backs. I ran up and slammed my mace down, trying to smash them, but they rolled out of the way just in time.

I remembered again what my uncle said. I was letting my emotions control me, just like I had last time, and I was putting our entire mission in danger. More so than that, when I looked at Zollin, I could still see my best friend from nine years ago. I didn’t want to fight anymore. I took a step back and stopped swinging my mace at them. As they stood back up, I pulled my hood back and said, “How could you do it, Zollin?! How could you kill your own father?!”

The woman looked like she was getting ready to strike again, but when Zollin saw my face and heard my words, he stopped her.

[Zollin]

At first, I thought it might be a trick, but I saw their green hairs, so I wanted to at least hear what she had to say. If it was true, that would’ve only made things even more confusing than they already were. Why would my father want to kill Zara—his own daughter?! “What?! Who are you?!” I asked in some combination of anger, confusion, and who knows what else.

[Kätrine]

I almost blurted out, “No! Kill her! Kill her now!” It was really hard keeping my thoughts to myself.

[Zollin]

“Do you remember a girl named ‘Vataria’?” the young woman asked.

I actually had to think about it a bit before I remembered. It had been nine years since I last saw her. I almost didn’t even remember her anymore. Then, I remembered all the fun times I had with my best friend. Was this really who I had been fighting all along? I had a hard time believing it, but then again, so many confusing things had been going on that I really didn’t know what to believe.

[Vataria]

“I don’t believe it. Is it really you?” Zollin asked.

“Yeah, it’s me. Now, could you tell me what the hell is going on here?” I said.

“Someone wearing a dark cloak like yours killed Zara!” Zollin said.

Zara was dead, too? I was kind of saddened hearing this, but it just confirmed the suspicions I and Uncle Dewin had that there was some kind of treachery going on here, and that Weltkind woman traveling with them probably had something to do with it.

“And did you ever think it might have been someone else in a dark cloak?” I asked. “It could be anyone under the hood. As for me and Uncle Dewin, we’re your closest family. Do you really think we would want to kill you when we actually knew who you really were? Why do you think we ran away the moment we got a look at your face?”

[Zollin]

Argh! Once again, I just charged blindly forward without thinking everything through, and now, I’d screwed up bigger than I ever had before! I had killed my own father! I had to find some way to redeem myself. I got down on my knees and said, “There has been a terrible mistake here. I have committed a terrible crime, and now I must face justice. I hereby submit myself to you. If you wish to kill me, I won’t do anything to stop you.”

[Kätrine]

No! If Zollin died now, everything would be for nothing! And it’d probably be all over for me, too. I had a feeling this woman knew about our plans. If she really did kill Zollin, I was sure I’d be next.

[Vataria]

I picked up my mace and held it high. A part of me still wanted to kill him for what he had done, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let my emotions control me anymore. Besides, a part of me, deep down inside, hoped my old friend was still in there somewhere. I slammed my mace on the ground and said, “There have been enough pointless deaths already.”

Zollin stood back up and said, “One thing I don’t understand is why you attacked us the first time. What are you after? What is your goal?”

I spent a lot of time telling them about, well, everything. I told them about the Source, and I told them how me and Uncle Dewin had decided that it needed to be destroyed. I told them we didn’t even know who was under the hoods the first time we met, but we could have sworn our vision had told us they were the ones who wanted to use the Source.

“If you really aren’t the ones seeking to use the Source,” I said, “then I swear you’re not the ones we really wanted to fight. I don’t know who really wants to use it, but I know someone out there does, and they have to be stopped.”

I rather obviously glanced at Kätrine, but I don’t think Zollin picked up on my hint, and maybe it’s better he didn’t. I knew she must be the one trying to get to the Source and the one responsible for all of this deception, but I knew I couldn’t say anything directly to Zollin about it. He probably wouldn’t have believed me, anyway, and the peace between us hanged by a thread already.

“So then,” Zollin said, “it must be the Source calling me. When we get to it, I promise to help you destroy it. Then maybe all of this madness can finally be over. Maybe we can be friends again, just like in happier times long gone.”

Almost without realizing it, I actually shed a tear. “I’d love that,” I said. I was tired of all these depressing events, deception, and death after pointless death. I just wanted to go back to happier times. Me and Zollin shared a friendly embrace. As I looked over his shoulder, I could see Kätrine staring at me menacingly.

[Kätrine]

This may have been a kink in our plans, but everything was still going to work out. Vataria knew she couldn’t say anything to Zollin that he would believe, so he’d just keep on leading us to the Source until we finally reached it. By then, it would be far too late for them. We could finally take it for ourselves, and then there would be nothing they could do to stop us.

[CD'sWorkshop]

The Long Journey Finally Comes to an End

[Long, long ago. . .]

[Nari, Zollin, and Zara sit gathered around the Source in their basement.]

[“Believe it or not,” Nari says, “this artifact actually has a mind and will of its own. If you calm yourself and clear your mind, you might even hear it speak to you.”]

[Zara and Zollin close their eyes and take deep breaths to reach a state of serenity.]

[“Hey!” Zara exclaims. “I think I heard something! I think I heard it say, ‘Hello, little one.’”]

[Present Day]

[Zollin, Kätrine, and Vataria keep travelling northward. When they finally reach the coast, they rent a boat to help them cross the waters into Sorcia. Zollin and Vataria use their sorcery to keep the magical storm at bay. In secret, Kätrine tells Ardus telepathically that there is no way for him to follow them any further, but when she has the Source in her control, she’s sure she’d be able to use its power to bring them back together.]

[In Sorcia, the three agree that it would probably be a good idea to keep a low profile. Even though it has been years since anyone in Sorcia has seen them, Vataria and Zollin both left as fugitives, after all, and Kätrine is pretty obviously an outsider. They stick mostly to the countryside and avoid passing through settlements. Finally, they come to the waterfall that a younger Zollin and Vataria had passed through so many years ago. They pass through into the cave until they reach the end and, just as they did the first time, use their magic to move the boulder hiding the secret path.]

[Inside the chamber of the Source, the Source itself still shines with a bright green light, but the room itself has succumbed to severe decay. The stone floor and walls are in a bad state of disrepair, and an impressive chain and lock bind the door that is the regular entrance to the chamber.]

[Vataria runs up and strikes the Source with her mace, but nothing happens. “Damn it,” she says. “I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy.]

[Kätrine walks up and grabs the Source. She laughs triumphantly and says, “At long last, it’s ours!”]

[“Ours?” Zollin asks.]

[Kätrine uses her newfound magical abilities to summon Ardus into the room. He still wears the dark cloak he wore when he killed Zara, and his hood hides his head. In unison, Zollin says, “Father?!” and Vataria says, “Uncle?!” Ardus lowers his hood and says, “No.”]

[“Wait a minute,” Zollin says. “So it was you! You’re the ones who were using me and Zara to get to the Source. You killed her, didn’t you? Why did you do it?! I thought we were friends!”]

[“Because there is so much suffering in the world, Zollin,” Kätrine says. “Only with the power from this artifact will we be strong enough to end all suffering and finally bring peace to the world.”]

[“Hmph!” Vataria scoffs. “It seems like you’ve had to cause a lot of suffering just to get here.”]

[“Of course we didn’t want to have to betray our friends,” Ardus says, “but sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”]

[“It’s not like you’re all that holy, either!” Kätrine says. “In a blind rage, you killed an innocent man—your own father!”]

[“I know I’ve made mistakes,” Zollin says, “and I’ve always had a hard time thinking before I act, but now, I really am thinking. It is because I’m thinking that I oppose you. ‘Help people and change the world for the better’ sounds nice on the surface to someone who doesn’t think about it more clearly. I still stand by what I said all that time ago when I told you there are better ways to help people. What about when we helped those people with the bandits and the taxes? We did all of that without the aid of the Source.”]

[“And I am not opposing you out of blind anger or sorrow over what you’ve done,” Vataria says. “I’m opposing you because what you’re doing could put the entire world in danger. Our people kept the Source hidden from the world for a reason. If you go out there and start performing miracles, people will wonder where you got the power to do such things. Eventually, they will find out about what you carry with you. They will try to take it from you, and eventually, they will succeed. As much as I hate to admit it, at least you two had good intentions. I don’t even want to think of a world where the greatest power in all of existence is held by a truly selfish person. It seems to me you’re the ones who aren’t thinking before you act and letting your passions blind you.”]

[“We’re wasting our breath,” Ardus says drawing his dagger. “Let’s just finish this already.”]

[Kätrine shoots a fireball from her hands. Zollin and Vataria jump to either side so that it goes between them.]

[“We now control the Source,” Kätrine says. “Do you really think you have any chance against us?”]

[“You may control the Source,” Vataria says, “but we are Sourcelings. Magic flows through our veins. You need the Source just to be on par with us!”]

[Vataria and Zollin fire off blasts of magical energy, and Kätrine and Ardus duck out of the way to avoid them. Ardus runs forward and starts swinging his dagger. Zollin summons a gust of wind that knocks him back.]

[“Zollin!” Vataria says. “It looks like he doesn’t have magic. Let’s target him first!”]

[“Shut up, *****!” Kätrine screams. She conjurs a shard of ice, a bolt of electricity, and a fireball and hurls them all at once at Vataria. Vataria calls up a magical barrier to protect her. It is enough to absorb some of the energy, but not all of it. She is knocked down and onto her back.]

[Ardus runs up to try to stab Vataria while she’s down. Vataria fires a blast of magical energy that knocks Ardus back. She aims it so that he is knocked toward Zollin. Zollin grips his spear and holds it straight out. Ardus is impaled on it.]

[“Ardus! No!” Kätrine cries. She falls to her knees and starts sobbing. She holds the Source directly out in front of her and stares at it for a moment.]

[“What are you doing, Kätrine?!” Vataria says.]

[Kätrine thrusts the Source toward her and pushes it inside her body.]

[“Kätrine, no!” Zollin yells.]

[There is a blinding flash of green light. Zollin and Vataria have to shield their eyes. When the light subsides, they see that Kätrine and the Source have become one. Kätrine’s body is still in its normal shape, but it seemed to be composed entirely of glowing green energy.]

[Kätrine raises her hands into the air. The ceiling starts to collapse. Zollin and Vataria dart around, trying to avoid the falling ceiling, but pieces of rubble hit them and knock them to the ground. Kätrine slowly walks forward. Zollin shoots a fireball and it hits her directly, but it seems to be absorbed into her body. Then, without even having to move a muscle, Kätrine shoots an even larger fireball out of her body. Vataria and Zollin frantically scramble to escape its path, and it leaves a nice scorch mark on the ground.]

[Zollin and Vataria use magic to lift bits of rubble and fling them at Kätrine. They hit her body, but she doesn’t seem to even be fazed by them. When the pieces of rubble impact with her, they just fall harmlessly to the ground. Kätrine slams her fist onto the ground, creating an explosion that knocks Vataria and Zollin down. They lay beside each other. Zollin grabs Vataria’s hand.]

[“Come on, old friend,” he says. “We can’t lose this fight now. We are strong enough to win. We just have to work together.”]

[Vataria and Zollin’s bodies glow with energy. Their separate physical and spiritual energies momentarily become one. They shoot forward together, turning themselves into a shot of magical energy. They pierce right through Kätrine and emerge, separate, on the other side.]

[Kätrine lets out an ethereal scream. There is another flash of light. When the light fades, Kätrine and the Source are nowhere to be seen. Zollin and Vataria stand alone in the ruined room.]

[“Is it over?” Zollin wonders.]

[Vataria waves her hands around, trying to cast magic, but nothing happens. “Yeah, it’s over,” she says.]

[Vataria and Zollin stand back outside.]

[“This has been such a long and difficult journey for all of us,” Vataria says. “It’s almost hard to believe it’s all over. What are you going to do now?”]

[“I guess. . . I’ll just go wherever the road takes me,” Zollin says. “When we were younger, my friends and I all dreamed of becoming adventurers together. Now, it looks like I’m the only one left to keep the dream alive.”]

[“No,” Vataria says. She walks up to Zollin and puts a hand on his shoulder. “You’re not the only one,” she says.]

[Zollin turns his head to Vataria. The two of them exchange a smile, and then walk off into the distance together.]



[The inside of a Weltkindisch longhouse can be seen. The floor is covered in straw. In the main room, there is a fireplace in the center above which hangs a pot, and there are some wooden benches and a throne along the walls. A wooden partition separates a back room with beds. Zollin, Vataria, and Joanna all stand in this back room. They all look a few years older.]

[“Once upon a time,” Joanna says, “I probably would have tried to take care of the dragon problem myself, but now that there’s no more magic, I knew I couldn’t handle it on my own. I was very fortunate that an old friend happened to be passing by. . .”]

[“So you really still consider me a friend?” Vataria asks.]

[“Of course,” Joanna says. “The past is the past. Instead of obsessing over what has happened, let’s just be happy for what is happening. Besides, I got the chance to meet your dashing cousin.”]
[Zollin blushes and chuckles bashfully. Vataria rolls her eyes.]

[“I know adventurers travel for a living,” Joanna says, “but if you ever want a place to stay, know that you will always be welcome here.”]

[“We have been travelling for a while,” Zollin says, “and at this point, I think we’ve seen more of the world than most people get to see in a lifetime. I have been thinking about settling down. I guess I’ve just been waiting to meet the right woman.”]

[Zollin winks at Joanna, and this time, she is the one that giggles coyly.]

[“My cousin and my best friend? Really?” Vataria says. “Well, I guess I’m just going to have to get used to it. It looks like we’re all one big happy family now, huh?”]

[“Yep!” Joanna says with a pleasant smile.]

[The three of them share an embrace.]

[CD'sWorkshop]

The Truth

[The Source of Magic]

Zollin and Vataria may believe that Kätrine and Ardus were the “evil masterminds” responsible for this dark and convoluted series of events, but in reality, I have been the one pulling the strings from the very beginning. Magic was supposed to be a gift to help people achieve greatness. For a long time, I had seen too many people abuse this gift. It was Nari’s actions which finally convinced me that magic was too dangerous to remain a part of the world. I had to set in motion a series of events that would end in my destruction and the passing of this blight known as “magic.”

But of course, things are never simple. There was only one way I could be truly destroyed, and this knowledge was known to absolutely no one but myself. For me to be truly destroyed, someone had to become fused with me and then die. Since the fusing binds our two fates, their death would mean mine as well. So, I had to create a series of events that would bring someone who wanted to use me here, but also bring someone who wanted to destroy me to kill the user after we became fused. I will admit it was incredibly difficult, even for my ancient and wise mind, to come up with a plan to accomplish this. I know a lot of the steps in my plan relied far too largely on luck, but this entire plan relied on luck. Zollin and Zara were the last direct, blood descendants of the original Guardian and thus the only ones I could directly speak to. If I did not fulfill this mission within their lifetime, then I doubt there would have been any hope left for the world.

To a small degree, I could use my own magic to affect the world. To begin with, I manipulated the placement of the books in the library too make sure Kätrine would see “The Legend of the Source.” This planted the seed in her mind about using me to reach her goal.

Next, when Zara and Zollin were mature enough to be physically and mentally ready for this arduous quest, I spoke to them in their sleep. Since they never fully learned how to speak to me directly at any time, sleep was the only time they were sedated enough for me to be able to speak to them. Although I cannot directly speak to other people aside from the Guardians and their closest blood relatives, the relationship between Zollin, Zara, and Dewin, combined with his own unconscious state at the time, allowed him to see a fraction of my message.

This was exactly what I wanted. Now that I had planted the seed of “use” into someone’s mind, I had to plant the seed of “destruction” in someone’s mind. I knew, after what Dewin had seen in his lifetime, if he had reason to believe someone planned on using me, then he would see destruction as the only option. Now, I just had to draw him to Zollin and Zara to convince them of that.

Unfortunately, this is where I started having to rely to some degree on luck. I knew it had been years since Zara and Zollin had even seen their father or cousin. Kätrine was their closest friend and Zollin’s former lover. If Dewin and Vataria just came out and said, “She’s using you. You can’t trust her,” this would likely have ended in fatal conflict between them. Even if they actually believed Dewin and Vataria, then it would have ended in Kätrine’s death, which I couldn’t have either. I had to find some way to put just enough doubt in Zollin and Zara’s minds that there would be no more conflict, either against Dewin and Vataria or against Kätrine; while simultaneously finding a way to convince Dewin and Vataria to put their conflict on hold by decisively showing them how difficult it would be to convince Zara and Zollin of Kätrine’s treachery. I had to find some way to get all of them to put their conflict with each other on hold just long enough for them to reach me.

To start with, I conjured the storm to ensure that they would all have to hide their faces under hoods when they first met each other. Neither side could know who they fought. Not yet. Then, I conjured the wind that blew back Zara’s hood so Dewin would see who she was and retreat. Just as I hoped, the fact that they retreated when they finally knew who they were fighting was the perfect reasoning to convince Zollin not to fight them anymore.

I knew Kätrine and Ardus would start to feel uneasy about what had happened and do anything to keep their plans from unravelling. They would have to resort to some kind of more direct treachery. If Zollin could see a hint that some kind of treachery was going on, it would plant the initial seed of doubt in his mind and ensure the end of his conflict with Vataria. At the same time, the way Zollin blindly did exactly what Kätrine and Ardus wanted him to do showed Vataria that it was too risky to directly oppose them in front of him. Thus, they kept an uneasy peace, and both “users” and “destroyers” made it to the finish line. When Kätrine thought all hope seemed lost, I told her what she had to do. I told her that we had to become one. Although I cannot directly speak to anyone but Guardians, since she had direct control of me, just like Dewin she was able to hear a fraction of my message—just enough to get her to do what I wanted.

Yes, sacrificing Zara and Dewin was all in accord with my plans. I did not like having to sacrifice them, but sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good. Funny. Even though my goal was exactly the opposite of that of Kätrine and Ardus, my methods were remarkably similar. This whole conflict was never a matter of “good versus evil” like Vataria and Zollin may believe. It was all a matter of different groups with different ideologies coming into conflict with each other. Those in either group determined that their ideology could not coexist with the other. That does not necessarily make one ideology “good” and the other “evil.”