Kid Quest

Orlan's Trial: Bones

Orlan awoke to the cold of the stone floor, disoriented and confused. He sat up as he came to his senses. A drop of water fell from the ceiling into a small puddle, creating a small sound, and Orlan was aware again. He took in his surroundings, a large stone room with bars in a window, and bars for one of the walls and the door.

A cell.

In the corner, a small puddle of water was slowly collecting more from a crack in the ceiling, the entire scene being illuminated by the moonlight as it poured in through the window.

Orlan stood, and simultaneously a man appeared outside the cell door, as if from shadow. He wore a priest's outfit, and sported a strange symbol on his chest. He was short and lean, grey of hair, and very wrinkly. Orlan thought he might fly away using his cheeks.

"TRESPASSER! HEATHEN!" He screamed as he slammed his hands into the bars, rattling the entire cell wall, and his own cheeks. The chattering noise echoed in Orlan's ears as he covered them, attempting in vain to muffle the sound."YOU SHALL PAY!"

"Now, now, Jayms. Don't get temperamental. We've yet to hear the boy's account of things." Another man, taller, with a hand on the priest's shoulder, appeared next to him. He was muscular, formal, black haired and pointy eared. An elf.

"So kid. Do you remember who we are?" The elf asked, glaring, unblinking, peering at Orlan through oval shaped spectacles, with green daggers for eyes. Orlan could only shake his head.

"See, Jayms. The boy can't even remember who we are, and who can blame him after that fall? All the way down from the sky itself. I mean, what an entrance kid." The elf had a strangely sinister smile on his face as he said this, but Orlan couldn't quite place why he felt that way about it.

"C'mon kid, we'll help you remember." The elf opened the cell, which had been unlocked, and gestured for Orlan to follow. They walked for a time, through barred halls and stone corridors, until they came to another room. Painted white, larger than the first by no small measure, with a large creature chained to the far side of the room.

"See, my friend here," the elf spoke, gesturing to the creature, which snarled and huffed at them, steam bursting from its nostrils with each breath, "my friend can smell lies. When you lie, you give off an odor that my friend, trickle, here can smell from so far away....well, I'm sure your little kid head couldn't count that high anyway. Just talk to me while he looks at you, it won't take long."

Orlan felt his feet leave the ground as he was lifted onto a stool. Sitting on the stool, which was much taller than normal, Orlan now reached a slightly unstable 6'2". Then, another voice came.

"Young, human, full of spirit!" The voice boomed, "You are in the presence of he, of I, who is without form. I exist in all things, in all times, in all places. I know you. Orlan, of a small town, of another world. You have come here unwillingly, and have need of a way home. I can help you, if you so choose. In return I ask only one thing." Orlan felt each word, thunderous and purposeful, shake his very core, his heart nearly beating in time with the voice's inflection, his sternum vibrating at an uncomfortable rate.

"What thing?" he asked, his voice shaking almost as much as his chest. At first he believed the voice to be coming from the creature, or perhaps the elf, but as he looked around he found that they were both suddenly immobile, as if the world itself had stopped. The voice was most assuredly coming from everywhere.

"Defeat the lich. His power grows even now, as I give you this knowledge. He seeks to destroy everything, everyone, to consume all that exists and recreate what he sees fit. You must stop him." The voice called.

Orlan thought for a moment. Perhaps he did need help, especially if the creature in the corner was for what Orlan assumed he was, devouring him after the interrogation.

"Y-yes, I accept." Orlan called to the disembodied voice.

"You, who have travelled far from home. You who sees the world in wonder and yet venture into the terrifying unknown with such glee. I shall grant you a small portion of my power, use it to free yourself from your captors. I can only hope for you to fulfill our bargain." There was a brief moment of silence, a pause as though Orlan were being given a choice, but it felt different.

"I-" he started, but was cut off by the loud roar of the creature in the room.

"Now," the elf spoke once more, the mysterious voice now gone, "where were you before you came here?"

"I was at the playground." Orlan replied now aware of his surroundings. The statement confused the elf who looked at the creature, which in turn gave a heavy bow.

"So, how did you get here then?" The elf asked, his voice filled now with confusion and suspicion, as apposed to the sinister nature it originally emanated.

"I fell through a hole.......in the playground." Orlan spoke softly, but the elf seemed to understand. There was a brief pause as the elf contemplated Orlan's answers. The creature seemed to believe Orlan, but the elf didn't look convinced.

In a single swift motion, Orlan was lifted up and thrown across the room at the creature. It had been the priest, with his flabby cheeks and his unreasonable hatred for Orlan.

"I KNEW HE WAS A DEMON!!" He screamed as Orlan's back struck the wall just next to the creature, which didn't react. "WE MUST BURN HIM!!! DROWN HIM!!! WITCH TRIIIAA--" The priest's rantings and ravings were cut short, and the priest collapsed, unconscious from a strike to the head. Orlan rose from the ground to a sitting position, just in time to see a tall skeleton towering over the priest's unconscious body, holding nothing but an old shoe.

The elf, frozen in shock, half reached for his shortsword, which rested in a scabbard on a small table at his side, stopping only briefly before grabbing the sword and running out of the room.

The skeleton dropped the shoe it used on the priest and reached a hand out to Orlan, who hesitantly grasped the fleshless digits and allowed the skeleton to pull him to his feet. It said nothing, staring at Orlan with empty sockets and chattering joints.

"Hi," Orlan said, waving at the skeleton. His mind rattled as he watched the living bones, attempting and failing to understand the situation, "I'll call you, Rattles."

The skeleton, Rattles, gave a noisy bow, and the two left the room with Rattles guarding Orlan's back.