Convergence

Gnome

The pull to my demon heritage was strong—part of me wanted to participate in Morgan's death—but the pull of the witch had become stronger. I made up my mind that my main need was to learn control over my magic, my good magic. I regretted ever wanting my demon powers in the first place.

I wandered around. Enjoying such beauty was hard with the weight of the past in my heart. The magical world looked like a real fairy tale land with farms and rolling hills as far as the eye could see. The skies were filled with creatures I once thought only came from the imagination of others like dragons and griffins. I found a spot under a perfect weeping willow to just sit and think.

As I cried under the tree, other creatures came around to investigate. A small creature I knew from a storybook to be a gnome approached me. It was a strange thing to see something I thought didn't exist. He looked just like the garden gnome statues I had seen in many yards across town. With his red, pointed hat he was about a foot tall and had on a blue tunic, light brown pants, and little dark brown shoes that all appeared to be handmade. If it were Christmas time I could easily imagine him as Santa Claus with his round face and rosy cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" The gnome's voice didn't sound small. If anything I heard him quite well, as if he was my size and sitting right next to me.

"Just found out some really awful stuff."

"Are you sad to be fae?"

"What? No, why would you think that?"

"I saw you." His voice turned slightly sinister. "I saw you with the faerie. I saw you try to kill her."

"I didn't... I mean I didn't mean to."

"We all saw you enter with the demon. You brought The Dark King, Azazel, back from the dead to kill us."

"No way, I didn't even know who he was until recently. He was hiding until I got older."

The little gnome hopped closer and reached up. I heard a few gasps from the surrounding crowd of creatures. "Your hand, please."

I placed my hand next to him and he grabbed my finger. I felt a strange tingling sensation in my hand like a numb feeling. It lasted only a few moments and then it was gone.

"You are of Howe."

All the creatures gasped.

"Yes, I am."

"But you are also demon from The Dark King."

I let out a huge sigh. "You're telling me things I already know."

He squeezed his eyebrows together and narrowed his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm just really upset right now and you aren't helping."

"But I can help you. We can all help our queen but we will not help our enemy."

"Your queen?"

By now the amount of gathering creatures had turned into a downright mob gawking at me and more little gnomes, both male and female in different colors, were at his side in support.

"I will train you in the ways of Howe," said the gnome.

"How could you possibly know I need training?"

He smiled. "Gnomes know many things. We see all sorts of things. We are everywhere, always talking, always listening. We will gladly help you if you renounce the demon path you have chosen to follow."

I wiped my face in my hands. "I already have."

"Then we shall begin."

I nodded. "What should I call you?"

He looked around and talked quickly with his fellow gnome buddies until they came to a decision. "You can call me Tyler."

I laughed to myself. "Was David taken?"

He turned his head to the side. "If it is a name you prefer...."

"No, just an inside joke. Tyler is fine. When I was younger, I wrote stories about a gnome named Tyler, but he was much smaller than you are."

He nodded. "Yes, this is why we picked this name."

"So you don't have an actual name?"

"We know who we are. That's all that is important."

"But if you're trying to refer to a certain gnome for some reason to someone else, how do you go about doing that?"

"If you give us a chance to show you all that you need to know, you will soon understand our ways."

"Okay." I took in a deep breath. "So what do I need to do?"

"I need for you to calm your mind."

"Azazel always wanted me to calm my mind. How do I know that you aren't like him or trying to get into his good graces or something?"

Tyler shook his head. "He asked this of you because it is how to control all power. A rampant heart brings with it rampant energy. A calm heart brings with it control of the world around it. A calm heart is hard to find when the mind cannot focus. And a mind cannot focus if it is not calm."

"Okay, okay." I held out my hands to him. "I'll do it if you stop talking like that."

I closed my eyes in an attempt to quiet down my thoughts. It was hard to do at first with all the confusion and anger and sadness I was feeling. I noticed the sound of water from a nearby river and focused on its rippling. After a few moments, all that was angry inside of me had calmed down and I could feel both energies converge into each other and ripple smoothly throughout my body.

"Yes," said Tyler. "Just like that. Now we can truly begin."