Chapter 12

Osric’s eyes fluttered open, his vision slowly coming into focus. Above him, the concerned faces of Talia and Rowan peered down, both looking worried.

“Osric! Thank the gods, you’re awake,” Talia said, her voice filled with relief, her hand resting on his shoulder as she knelt beside him.

“What happened?” Osric asked, his words slightly slurred as he tried to sit up.

His head was pounding, and his body felt like it had been trampled by a herd of wild horses.

Rowan reached down and helped pull him to his feet, saying, “You touched that ... whatever it was. There was this sudden burst of light, and you were thrown back. You’ve been unconscious for a few minutes.”

Osric looked around, his eyes searching for the shimmering rift, but it was nowhere to be seen. The forest looked like a forest; there was no hint of the magic that had filled the air.

“Osric, what happened? What did you see?” Talia asked.

Osric tried to think how to explain it. The images he had seen were still vivid in his mind, like a dream that refused to fade upon waking, but it was so far outside of what he knew, it was hard to put into words.

“I saw ... I saw the tendrils the Sage talked about. The threads of magic. They were everywhere, like a vast web stretching across the world.”

“Really?” Talia said in an awed voice.

“That isn’t all. I saw an ancient battle between two giant armies in front of this massive temple, with mages among them using terrible spells, causing all kinds of destruction. Then, I saw a mage who was standing in the midst of the battle, his hands raised to the sky. He was chanting something, and even through the tear, I could feel the power he was gathering. It made my hair stand on end. There was a blinding flash of light, and the ground began to shake, and it was like he was splitting the world open, creating a vast chasm that swallowed everything in its path. It swallowed the entire temple whole.”

“By the gods ... that’s ... that’s incredible.”

“I know. That isn’t all that I saw, though. Then the vision shifted to a small hut, like we have in Eldham or they have in Silham. There was a man reading these old books, and I could kind of see over his shoulder. Some of them, I think, mentioned the battle I saw, or at least had pictures that kind of looked like the battle, although not exactly the same. He also had some maps that had names of places from here and now. Farvale, Greenwood ... even Aeloria and the great city. I’m not sure, but it felt very recent, or like something that was happening now.”

“We didn’t see anything,” Talia said. “Just a shimmering light inside the tear, and then you were thrown back and it closed all in a bright flash. Do you think it was the gods directing you?”

“I don’t know, maybe. The Sage did say they’d already been guiding us and the point was to make contact. Although if it was a message, I’m not sure what it was trying to tell me.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” a somewhat flustered Rowan said. “But could someone tell me what’s going on here? What was that thing in the air? And what are you two talking about with gods and visions?”

Osric and Talia exchanged a glance and then Osric said, “We’re on a kind of ... quest.”

“What do you mean, a quest?”

“It’s really hard to explain, but I’ll try. You deserve an explanation,” Osric said. “What you saw was a tear in a magic barrier that surrounds the world, separating us from other ... I don’t know, realities or types of existence. I’m still not very clear on that. That barrier, which is called the Veil, prevents stuff from those other places getting into our world, but it’s weakening and starting to tear, allowing stuff to come through. It’s apparently where webscuttlers and some of the other monstrous things come from and why they’re showing up more often. What we were told was that the more people use magic, or maybe the more they use magic in the wrong way, the more it damages the Veil, these little bits of damage adding up over time until they become huge holes.”

“Osric found a ring,” Talia added, picking up the explanation. “It was sent from a very long time ago, a time before even the founding of Aeloria, through one of those tears into our time, and that ring led us to this document that was apparently written way back, a long time ago. We can’t read it yet, but we think it has warnings about these tears and maybe a way to fix them.”

Osric looked at Talia and could see that she was purposefully avoiding mentioning the Calaphium by name, which was probably wise. They’d had a lot more time to adjust to this information and had been in the middle of a magical woodland being told by a man who’d saved their lives, and they’d both still been shocked. He couldn’t imagine what this information would do to someone else.

“A message from the past? How ... how is that possible?”

“We don’t know, we only know what we were told,” Osric said.

“Told by whom?”

“We went into Avendell, where a druid who lives there and ... I guess is in charge, told us about everything we’d seen and what was happening, and about the Veil and the tears. He told us about the damage to the Veil and warned us if it continued, it could mean the end of our world.”

“You’re from Avendell?” Rowan said, awe and a little fear in his voice.

“No. We’re from a small village northeast of here called Eldham,” Talia said. “We ended up there after finding the ring and half of the document.”

“How is that possible? No one goes past the border of the magic forest. There’s a barrier that prevents it.”

“The druid, he’s called the Sage, sent people ... creatures to collect us and bring us to him,” Talia said. “We’re glad he did, since there were some men trying to kill us at that moment, and they saved our lives.”

“The men who tried to kill us, they wanted the ring and the document,” Osric added. “They’ve come after us several times now, trying to get their hands on both. We found the first piece of the document in a hidden vault, and those men were guarding it. It’s clear they’ll stop at nothing to get what we have.”

“We appreciate your offer to accompany us, Rowan, we really do. But perhaps it’s best if we part ways here. What we’re doing, it’s too dangerous to ask anyone else to be involved. I’m sorry we got you mixed up in it this far.”

For a moment, Rowan didn’t say anything. He only looked at them, down to Cinder, and over to where the tear in the Veil had been.

Finally, he said, “I don’t fully understand all of this, I’ll admit, but what I saw here today, that tear in the air, the power emanating from it ... I believe you. I believe this is important. As a Ranger and a follower of Wyndra, it’s my duty to protect nature and its wilds. If what you’re saying is true, if the world itself is at risk, then the forests I love are in danger, too. I can’t stand by and do nothing.”

Osric started to protest, but Rowan held up a hand. “Besides, if these people are as dangerous as you say, and they were guarding the first piece of the document, they might be guarding the next one, too. You could use the help.”

“He’s got a point,” Talia said. “We barely made it out of that keep alive, and that was with just two of them. If there are more...”

Osric looked at her and then back to Rowan.

“Alright. We’d be glad to have you with us, Rowan. Thank you.”

“So what do we do now?” Osric said, turning to Talia. “That vision ... it wasn’t exactly a map or a set of instructions. I know the Sage said their messages could be cryptic, but I have no idea what to make of that.”

“You said the man you saw, the one in the hut, seemed to be from our time, right? Not from the ancient battle?”

“Yes, that’s the impression I got. And the hut itself, it looked more like something you’d find here in the forest, or at least more like the huts in our village than the buildings in Wolfridge. But there was nothing in the hut with him that gave any indication where it was. The Great Forest is a big place.”

“If it’s something connected to magic and located in the forest, I think I know who we could ask for help,” Talia said.

“But is that safe? Going back to Eldham? What if the Brethren are there, waiting for us?”

“Who?” Rowan asked. “And where? You two are losing me again.”

“The Brethren are the ones who’ve been chasing us, trying to get their hands on the ring and the document we found,” Osric explained. “They’re dangerous, and they seem to have eyes and ears everywhere. After I found the ring, they came to Eldham, our village, and tried to kill me and take it. It’s what started this whole thing for us. There’s an elder in the village who taught Talia her magic. She’s wise and powerful and was once a member of the Conclave of Magic, although I don’t think she is anymore. She knows magic and has lived in the forest for a very long time. If anyone might have an idea about where to look, it’s her. But going back there is very risky.”

“Osric, we don’t have any other leads right now,” Talia said. “The only other option is to go back to Avendell, but that feels like backtracking. We need to keep moving forward, and Elder Miriam is our best chance at doing that.”

Osric looked into her eyes. He didn’t like it. He didn’t want to put Elder Miriam or anyone else in the village in danger, but Talia was right. They had no other leads, and Elder Miriam was the only person he could think of who might know what to do.

“Alright,” he said at last, his shoulders slumping in resignation. “We’ll go back to Eldham and talk to Elder Miriam. But we’ll need to be careful, and we can’t stay long. The longer we’re there, the greater the risk of being discovered.”

“Good. It will be nice to go home again, if even for a little bit.”

Osric didn’t say anything. He agreed, but the entire idea was so risky, it worried him.

As they passed the post that Osric always thought of as being the edge of the Eldham, a strange feeling passed over him. In many ways, most ways, the village looked much the same as it always had, with the same buildings, the same smells, and the same sounds that he’d spent his entire life around.

And yet, somehow, it felt different. Smaller, almost insignificant compared to the wonders and horrors they had witnessed over the past days. Osric felt a strange combination of nostalgia and detachment, even though they’d been gone less than a week. It felt more like when they’d first walked into Silham, familiar but different, instead of the village where he’d spent his whole life.

“It’s odd, isn’t it?” he said. “Coming back after everything we’ve been through. It feels like a lifetime has passed, but here, it’s as if nothing has changed at all.”

“I know what you mean,” Talia said. “This was my entire world. Now, it seems so ... small.”

They made their way through the village, occasionally having people they knew calling out hellos, like they hadn’t even realized they’d been gone. Everyone had just ... carried on with their daily routines.

Reaching Elder Miriam’s cottage, Talia knocked and waited. Osric could see her gripping and releasing the sides of her skirt, something she’d done since they were kids whenever she was worried or nervous. The door opened revealing a distracted Elder Miriam, who froze in her tracks for a moment, her mouth hanging open as she realized who was in front of her.

“Talia! Osric!” she cried, pulling first Talia, then Osric, into her cottage, holding them in a tight embrace. “I’ve been worried sick about you both. When you didn’t return, I feared the worst.”

Talia returned the hug fiercely, burying her face in the old woman’s shoulder as Rowan and Cinder entered behind them, the Ranger quietly shutting the door.

“I’m sorry, Miriam. I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just ... Osric ran into me on the road, and he was being chased by these people, and I ... I had to help him,” Talia said, pulling back from the elder. “I used my magic, Elder Miriam. I hurt someone. I ... I killed someone. Several people. They were trying to hurt Osric ... and me. I tried...”

A single tear escaped, trailing down her cheek. Elder Miriam reached up, gently wiping it away with her thumb.

“Oh, my dear child. You did what you had to do. Magic is a gift, a tool to protect those we care about. That’s why I taught you, so you could defend yourself and others.”

Talia nodded, sniffling. She gestured to Rowan, who had been standing respectfully to the side.

“This is Rowan. We met him on the road. He’s been helping us, protecting us on our journey.”

Rowan stepped forward, bowing his head. “It’s an honor to meet you, Elder Miriam. But I must confess, it is Talia and Osric who have been protecting me. They saved my life, in fact.”

“Then I owe you my thanks, Ranger Rowan,” Miriam said. “For being there for them, whatever the circumstances.”

“There’s something you should know, about magic,” Talia said.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve learned so much. After we left Eldham, we traveled to Avendell. Inside of it, beyond the boundary. There, we met a powerful druid known as the Sage.”

Miriam’s eyes widened, her hands clasping together. “You went inside Avendell? I’ve ... I’ve never heard of anyone doing that. And you met the Sage?”

“You know who he is?” Osric asked, surprised once again by how much the elder knew.

“I’ve heard tales of a group of druids living inside the boundary, but I thought them to be just a myth. I’m not aware of anyone getting through the boundary to actually confirm it, and wrote it off as tales mages like to tell to impress each other.”

“You can get through the barrier, if the Veilguard lets you,” Osric said.

“The Veilguard?”

“Let me back up,” Talia said. “There’s so much to tell you. The Sage told us incredible things, things about magic. He told us our world is surrounded by a barrier, created by the gods, or maybe created at the same time as the gods. He called it the Veil and he said it protects our reality from other realities, keeping our world separate and safe. He told us that when we use magic, we’re actually manipulating pieces of the Veil, drawing upon its energy. The weaving is actually manipulating pieces, threads, of the Veil.”

“Really?” Miriam said. “How would you prove such a thing, though...?”

“It might be easier, and scarier, than you think,” Talia said. “Not only can we manipulate the Veil, but we can damage it. The Sage explained that certain types of magic, like enchanting objects or summoning entities, actually tear pieces from the Veil. Over time, these tears have weakened the barrier, allowing creatures to slip through from other realms.”

“Ohh,” Miriam said.

He could see her trying to absorb everything. They were making huge proclamations with very little in the way of detail, but she didn’t question the truth of it, or doubt them.