The Complexity of Humanity | Prequel

Whispers of the Ritual | Chapter 2

It was clear to the three wizards that continuing on with their plan required more people. Magic was powerful, but three wizards weren't able to take on hundreds, maybe thousands, of soldiers. Pete and Patrick attempted to talk with other members of the camp, considering they knew them better than Dallon did. Their efforts seemed to be unsuccessful.

"I don't know why they're acting like this," Pete sighed. "The choice should be easy. It's always been the wizards versus the Kingdom."

Patrick, on the other hand, seemed sympathetic. "It's a hard decision to make, Pete," he reminded him. "Some of them have more at stake."

"Like what?" Pete rolled his eyes. "Family members? I guarantee that most of the family they originally had are dead."

"Friends," Patrick answered, softly. "If you hadn't joined in for this, I wouldn't have either."

Pete's annoyance faded away. "Oh," he replied, quieter. "Yeah... That makes more sense."

Dallon took that argument at face value. If friendship really was holding some people back, like Patrick hypothesized, then perhaps getting just a couple more people could persuade even more to join in? If their friends join in, they would feel more pressure to also join.

"I'll try to talk to someone else," Dallon offered. "Who'd you guys talk to?"

"Alex and Jack," Patrick answered. "They might ease into it. They just seemed afraid."

An idea popped into his mind. "Patrick," he spoke slowly. "This might seem unorthodox, but have you considered using that power of yours to your advantage?"

A conflicted expression crossed Patrick's face. "What, just peek into what they're feeling? Isn't that wrong?"

"This is war," Pete interrupted, placing a reassuring hand on Patrick's shoulder. "There are no boundaries."

Pete then turned to face Dallon. "We'll try talking to them again later," he promised, but Patrick had already stood up, leaving their small group. "Or not," he joked.

Dallon chuckled, before his mind cleared and focused on more of his plans. The recruitment process might take long, but he needed to think about what was going to happen after. Once they have the numbers, what would they do?

There has to be some sort of strategy involved. Of course, taking Litraxia by surprise should help, but many blindsides like that have still gone astray. He frowned, as he kept thinking.

"I feel like I should tell you this now," Pete suddenly spoke up. Dallon's eyes flickered over to him, seeing the serious expression on his face. Dallon urged him to continue. "I know you're thinking Patrick's a weak link."

Dallon didn't bother to deny it. It was true that he thought that; between the three of them, Patrick seemed to be the most emotional. Normally, being emotional isn't a bad thing, but when it comes to war... "You don't need to stick up for him."

"I don't think you understand," Pete insisted. He was eerily calm, no longer appearing as a joker. "I think it's important for you to know that he'll always be my first priority."

Dallon already knew they were close. It had been fairly obvious to him when they met, but he didn't realize how far it seemed to go. "I understand," he replied. If Ryan were still alive, he would've said the same thing. Ryan had been a priority to him as well, but he wasn't able to persuade him to stay away from Litraxia. He wasn't able to keep him alive.

Caring seemed like a disadvantage. A nuisance, even.

"If you keep him alive, there shouldn't be any problems," Pete stated, keeping his tone light. "He keeps me right."

He couldn't promise anything. "I'll try my best."

Pete seemed appeased by this.

Pete left shortly after, leaving Dallon to himself. He knew he wanted to set up a training session soon. It was imperative that he fully understands his followers skills. Knowing this, he decided to go talk to someone else in the camp for the moment.

He stumbled onto a witch who was by herself, staring out into the distance. "Hello," he greeted.

Her eyes met his. "Oh, it's you," she said. "I've heard from the others, what you're trying to do."

"Well," Dallon prompted, "what do you think?"

"I don't think I'll be helpful to you," she immediately said. "I'm not very powerful on my own. But I can offer you information..."

Information, huh? Dallon grinned, trying to appear as easygoing. "Like what?"

"I'm not sure how many rumors you pay attention to," the witch said. "But I would think you've heard about the Urie's."

And Dallon had. The Urie's were decently powerful, though that's not what they were known for. They were known for their death, and it had been told that they died performing a ritual. Though there were many guesses about the ritual, Dallon wasn't sure anyone knew the truth.

But the witch's brown eyes held wisdom and knowledge, and when she spoke her truth, Dallon felt convinced. "I see things, sometimes," she explained. "And I believe I've seen the outcome of that ritual."

Dallon listened, enraptured. "Please, go on, Miss..." he trailed off, realizing he didn't know her name.

"You can call me Melanie," she replied, grinning slightly. "I saw their son."

"Their son?" Dallon's words sounded disbelieving. He had never heard the Urie's had a son. But even if that were true, why did they need a ritual? "Surely, they could've just had him normally."

"Maybe," Melanie agreed. "I think they wanted more than just a son. They wanted a weapon, and gave up their lives for it."

Melanie recalled how she had seen him. Her Sight, as she called it, wasn't something she could control. She had seen him, though he had only been a child back then, around ten or so. He was alone, which had perplexed her. Nothing had perplexed her more than the aura around him.

"I'd never felt anything like it," she sighed. "His magic... there was so much of it."

"He could be useful, if he's powerful," Dallon noted to himself. "But if he's a child, he can't fight."

"I Saw him years ago," Melanie reminded him, frowning. "He's reached adulthood, by now."

Melanie lamented that she couldn't tell him much else, not even knowing the boy's first name. He was just happy he got anything at all out of it.

The boy was an interesting lead.

Later, when Dallon shared this information with the other two wizards, the two were in disbelief. "So, we're going after him?" Pete questioned.

"Not exactly," Dallon replied. "I think it might be valuable if we could find him, but I'm not sure we will. It'll just be something extra we do on the side."

Patrick seemed thoughtful. "I'd heard about the Urie's before," he said. "Heard they were vengeful against Litraxia, would've done anything to get rid of them."

They sounded like people Dallon would've wanted to recruit. Strong feelings of resentment against the enemy was critical for the army. "Perhaps the son is the key," he added.

Power was everything, and if the Urie boy has it, then Dallon just might need to find him.