Black Crystal Part 1 - The Origin

Chapter One ~ The Warning Bell

November 1st, 1809.

Rogue Mountains, Grants Pass, Oregon Province.

The bell of a temple in the center of the village began to ring early in the morning. It was ringing earlier than usual. As any sensible person might also think, young Garen Leonhart knew this meant trouble. He was already awake before the bell even rang, but something must have been off. They wouldn't ring it this early for no reason, Garen thought to himself. He ran across the cobblestone streets of the quiet village, watching as people started emerging from their houses with oil lamps in hand. No one noticed him. Who would pay any attention to a poor, dirty orphan boy anyway? All people noticed of him was his long, brown hair flying about in the wind, and his tattered and oversized clothing.

"Are you bloody joking!?" an old englishman shouted, waving his fist at the temple. "Curse our religious leaders... do they really think the best way to bring us to God is to wake us at the crack a' dawn!? Curse them! Disestablishmentarianism is the way of the future, my friends!"

"Would you shut up!?" a younger man shouted. "That's a warning bell... there must be in danger near the village."

Garen didn't hear anything else from that conversation, as he passed them with great haste, but the words of the younger man worried him. A warning bell... Garen thought to himself. Is there really something wrong? He headed to the temple at the center of the village. One of the clerics from the temple guarded the front door, trying to calm the disgruntled mob of people attempting to enter the temple, but Garen caught his attention. "Lucius!" he exclaimed. The cleric, Lucius, looked at Garen with panicked green eyes that practically glowed and quickly pulled him out of the crowd and into the temple, locking the door. "Lucius, what is going on? Did Peter ring the bell by accident?"

"I'm afraid he wasn't up to his usual antics," Lucius panted, as if he were exhausted. "This time, it's real." Garen gave him a confused glance.

"What do you mean?"

"Demons!" Lucius hissed, shaking Garen by the shoulders. "Creatures of Hell, monsters, the spawn of Satan himself!" Lucius backed off and gasped as if he were shocked to hear himself utter Satan's name aloud, before speaking again in a more hushed tone. "They walk the earth, my child, and we have witnessed their terror firsthand. Go meet with Peter and the gang; they'll tell you all about it."

Garen raised an eyebrow. "Well, why can't you tell—"

"I-I'm busy." And with that, Lucius hastily exit the temple's front doors and continued to consult the disgruntled mob outside. Garen turned towards the empty halls of the temple. Aside from the sound of the bell atop the temple's tower, the halls were silent.

Are they in the tower? Garen thought to himself. He immediately started running across the hall, the marble floor cold on his feet with each step. He hastily ascended a long stairway, skipping three or four steps with every bound, every jump, every quick step. He was just fast enough to reach the top before daybreak. The closer Garen got to the top of the tower, he began to hear the familiar sound of other boys and girls around his age, shouting and hollering. They weren't doing so to create chaos like usual, however. It sounded like they were afraid. Garen finally approached the entrance to the top of the tower and burst through the door. The children in the tower were running amok after ringing the massive bell above the village. A tall, skinny young man with a blemished face full of zits and scars, who looked to be the oldest in the group, hurried towards Garen and shoved him.

"Where the hell have you been!?" he hissed, trying to make sure none of the other children heard them. "We've been worried sick!"

"Nice to see you too, Peter," Garen scoffed, shoving the young man back. "Can you please explain why you're ringing this bell? And why is Lucius in so much of a panic?" The tall, awkward, zit-faced young man, Peter, looked back at the hollering children for a moment and bent down, placing a hand on Garen's back as they walked away.

"The Princess is here in the village," Peter whispered. "Lucius and the Bishop found her last night, asleep in the middle of the forest. When they approached her, they were attacked by demons. Creatures of unidentifiable shape, made of black smoke, with eyes that glow as red as the blood that runs through your veins."

"Hey, back up a bit!" Garen shoved Peter's hand away and looked at him with a concerned expression. "You mean Princess Lenora from the Capital!?"

"Shh!" Peter quickly covered Garen's mouth and looked around at the children, making sure none of the children heard Garen. After a moment, he aggressively took his hand off of Garen's mouth and continued to speak quietly. "Dammit, keep your voice down! The Bishop said we cannot tell anybody. The whole village would be in an uproar, knowing that royal blood is here." Peter looked down at the mob of people surrounding the temple below the tower. "God knows how many brigands are here in the village, more than willing to do terrible things for whatever reasons... We must keep this a secret." Garen looked around and made sure no one was listening to them.

"Well, where is she now?"

"It's better to show you than to tell you." Peter walked towards the door Garen entered through and opened it. "Come on."