The Arkanist

The Dream

The Dream

Aera heard the keys around Aeris’ neck sing as he walked toward her.

         She closed the book, and started scribbling down randomly in her catalogue book, keeping her eyes off his. The old man set down his small candle, the golden flame small as a flake of snow. The Archives were darker than before, and the rows of shelves vanished into shadow, while the ceiling, however high it was, could not be seen, even its intricate candelabra’s, beaded with black wax candles. Only the round wood table was alit, the flame in the center flushed red as blood. Aera heard it roar and growl in the eerie quiet.

         Aeris sat down. “Dark things that lurk in the shadows outside, my boy.” He sat hunched, the keys resting in a heap on the stone floor. “Very dark, very sinister, and very dangerous.” He paused, his eyes squinting. “Tell me, dear boy, do you believe in the arcane?”

         “No,” said Aera. She heard it echo. She remembered when she gave the same response to Ollor when he asked.

         Aeris did not move. “As what I thought. For most of my long life, I never believed in such superstitions, such supernatural ideas. How could I? I was a man of knowledge, and wisdom, reason, and truth. I would never agree to something that was just a theory, a rogue speculation to amuse the mind. I had heard rumors, whispers of a fear in the north, a supernatural power at work, dwelling in the shadows, lurking here and there. But, always, where was the proof? Where was the evidence? These things the rangers would return with were just words, and words are simply just wind, as is known. Clearly, such things could not exist. They were myth, long dead, from a time where magic ruled. But now, of course, magic is dead, and so too are the beings of magic.” He looked at the red flame. “I was wrong.”

         Aeris studied the golden tail of flame as it rose. Aera remained silent. “I saw the eyes, blue as burning sapphires, blazing through the black like fire, like the moon does the sky. I did not see its body, for it remained cloaked in heavy shadow. I felt my heart stutter to a halt, and the air grow chill and cold. The ground frosted into a sheet of ice and the winds howled fierce. My skin drained grey as stone, and my bones went rigid. The moon crept behind a smoky black cloud, and the world was black as pitch, save for those two beaming blue eyes. It was like a nightmare.”

         Aera stared at the man.

         “I had traveled north, towards the Gap of Varrin,” said Aeris, calming. “I had been sent as a guide with a large troupe of rangers who would be heading off into Vorae. I was to be the cartographer, drawling maps, and routes to take up through the gap, so they could pass unseen, and on the easiest of roads. On the night of their departure, I was walking back to my camp, when I saw the beast, stalking in the night. It approached, the ash distorting its figure, but before it attacked me, it stepped back, growling. I had done something, he obviously did not like. To this day, I have not the clue what it was, but it made the beast vanish into the black.

         “I knew then I had my proof,” said Aeris. “I knew then the books were true, the notes written by rangers along the margins. The Vvag fights on no side of war, only its own, but if the Oppressive One, should join his forces with theirs, it does not matter how many soldiers we have to fight, the realm will fall deeper than it already has. That is the reason, we rangers travel into Vorae, to persuade the rulers of the lands, the Nordhs and the Vaelish, for the Ilmari have already joined the Oppressive One, to fight with us, and bring their Vvag’s for it is the old Vvar, the first men to walk the frozen wastes, who held sway over the creatures. Nobody does now, and nobody will ever, for they are a band of rogue beasts, killing all who treads their path. The northmen often times hunt them, butchering them and using their shadowy fur as cloaks and hoods, and their eyes, they use as ritual stones, to praise their gods.” He looked hard at Aera now. “It could be our only hope in securing a foothold in this war, this war of shadow, death and ash. We must reach the far reaches of the world before the Oppressive One. That much is essential, and he already has a start on us.”