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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Marrakt
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Life in Edhel was a simple one. It had been countless centuries since the days of the powerful sorcerors who had founded the village. In those days, Edhel was a small, but prosperous community of farmers.

Most of the villagers had never travelled beyond the borders of Edhel. Had they, they would have seen relics of a world long gone. Another time, another age. Rusted, metallic skeletons embedded into the soiled earth. Their painted majesty providing a vision of an age of flying machines and deadly weapons. These relics were dotted around the landscape, providing a picture into a world that once was, but could never be again.

These days, this new Edhel was build on the skeletal ruins of the old one. A village of hard working people with one Inn, Edhel was a gathering of hard working farmer folk.

The sorcerors were long gone, and their lineage was now reviled. History had been revised and altered. Where once they were a line of heroes and their courage the thing of legend, things had changed. In these dark times, sorcerors and, indeed, all magic wielding folk were seen as cowardly, villainous, power-hungry despots. Twisted creatures of darkness who had struck out to conquer the world. This revisionism triggered by their association with the thing that had come to lay waste to most of the known world.

Magic.

Once, a number of centuries ago, wielders of magic walked the lands openly. Divine and Arcane magic alike was used to make the world a better place. But over the roll of years though, something happened. It started as a strange, subtle twisting of the magic. When a wizard used their ability to create light, for example, the light was tainted by dark shadows, flickering and burning in the air. That subtle manifestation gradually expanded, until the magic was twisted and altered in ways beyond the wielders control. This random, bizarre manifestation led to magic and magic wielders being barred from the major cities across the land.

Then, one day, the Plague appeared.

It began through use of magic, spreading from wielder to the next. It twisted their physical bodies as it had their magic, destroying their humanity. What began as a plague carried by magic wielders quickly spread through the rest of civilisation. Despite every possible effort, there was no containing it. In a matter of months, humanity had been devastated, and the twisted, dead bodies of the plague's victims lay broken and rotting across the land. Civilisation was reduced to ash and dust. Those that survived the effects of the plague were twisted into hideous mutants. Their minds shattered, they were reduced to base, murderous killers. They scavenged the ruined wastelands in search of victims to feed their insatiable bloodlust.

Ansolera was dying.

Over the two centuries since, small pockets of civilisation sprung up once more. The survivors of the apocalypse coming together to try and rebuild some small semblance of the lives that they once had.
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He pushes through thick brush and scrub. Panting heavily, the man runs forward. He has been running for so long now that he can barely remember a life doing otherwise. Overhead, the blue sky is obscured by the treetops surrounding him. The tops of the great oak trees block the sun from shining down on him. Around him, he is surrounded by dark, impenetrable shadow. As he runs, he glances behind him.

Nothing but the dark, shrouded woodland trail that he has been fleeing down.

His lungs burn as he gasps in short lungfuls of air. And then, sudden pain, shooting up and down his leg. Wincing, the man falls to his knees, sprawling onto the dirt track. Rolling onto his back, he raises his hands up to ward off the attack that he is sure is about to come.

The attack that never does fall.

He is alone. Around him, the woodlands are silent. There is not even the sound of birds chirping to keep him company on his panicked flight.

Merrill. My name is Merrill.

Closing his eyes, he takes in deep lungfuls of air. His name was Merrill, and for three years now, he had been running for his life. For three years, he had been surviving in this barren wasteland of a life that was once meaningful. Running from his the shadows who wished him dead. Around him, his body ached, sending small needles of pain lancing up and through him. Blood trickled from innumerable cuts and scratches. Grunting, Merrill slowly climbs to his feet, ignoring the burning agony in his left leg. Right now, his need was more immediate than running from the shadowy figures that chased him. Right now, he simply needed to survive.

Merrill had seen terrible, terrible things with his own eyes. Ghostly whispers, and terrible, twisted beings who hunted him for what he knew. Dark shadows who could take form with taloned claw and sharp fang to rend and tear flesh from bone and heart from chest. Limping over, Merrill picked up his oaken shortbow, and shrugged his backpack onto his shoulders.

He had to survive.

Turning, he limped onwards, unable to put weight on his wounded leg.

"I am Merrill and I will live. I am Merrill and I will live. I am Merrill and I will live. I am Merrill and I will live. I am Merrill and I will live."

It became his chorus. His mantra. As he took one pained step after the next, the words became more than a litany to him. They became his only link to reality. As the hours continued to pass, and as Merrill continued to breathe and survive, the chant warded off the terrible, hallucinatory images that threatened to destroy him. Terrible, screaming banshees leapt at him from the shadows, conjured up by his own fractured mind. They looked to devour his heart, destroy his soul.

Finally the vegetation and the foliage began to recede. Finally, was this never-ending nightmare due to end?

Merrill came forth. He came forth into the light of the sun, beating down on him. Sun. Finally, was this terrible nightmare about to end?

The road angled down gently, leading to a collection of simple thatched huts. It was no more than a dwelling, yet to Merrill’s tortured eyes, it was the most beautiful sight imaginable. Limping slowly to the collection of thatched huts, Merrill saw the people going about their daily business, blissfully unaware of the fact that their lives were about to be turned upside down. They turned to regard him with widened eyes.

He held out a shaking hand, and his whispered voice carried forth, "Help......me....."

He could not see who it was he has asked. His grasping hand reached out to them, and then he collapsed, unconscious to the floor.
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It had seemed to be just another day for Callie. She had followed the same schedule as always...

Wake up.
Go to the market.
Do some chores.
And when evening comes, go to the Antsy Anklebiter to work.

One would think that the banality of the same schedule every day would be enough of a security for Callie. But she still found herself on edge. She could feel it. She could feel whatever magic plagued her grow stronger, desperate to reveal itself to the world. She just couldn't risk it, and there were only so many times where she can lock herself in a room...

However, this evening proved to be different than every other night.

As Callie headed for the tavern, she stopped when she heard whispers. Feeling a cold sweat, she at first wondered if something caused by her magic had happened, but when she looked to the source, she found that it was something, or rather, someone else. And they were really close to her.

A boy around her age...and he was hurt!

He reached out a shaking hand to her and whispered a plea for help before he fell unconscious. Acting quickly, Callie tried to lift the boy. She noticed that the others were still watching and whispering to each other, and she called "Everyone, please help! Can't you see he's hurt? Someone, please help me get him to the Antsy Anklebiter! We need a healer!"

At Callie's call, everyone around her acted. A taller man helped Callie lift the boy, while another rushed to go and get the healer. The tall man, Guy, told her, "It's alright. He's gonna be alright, Cal," as they walked him to the tavern.

As they entered, Bruenor turned to them and asked "Hm? Callie? Guy? What's going on?"
"A boy collapsed in the middle of town, we need a bed for him. A healer is going to come by and check on him,"

Not needing to be told twice, Bruenor opened the door, in the back room and said "Here! Use this one!"
"Thank you, Bruenor," Callie thanked him quickly before hurriedly getting the boy into the back room and onto the comfortable bed.
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He walks in shadow. Around him, he cannot see where he stands. All he sees are the dark, flickering shadows as they twist and writhe in the black night. The shadows twist and writhe as they reach out inky black tentacles to engulf him. They slither and swirl on the floor, and from all around him. They come for him. They desire him. His warm, life-giving blood.

You are here fated one. You are the one who will give us life, and give us shape once more.

The first snakes towards him. It reaches out for his ankle. Stepping back, Merrill circles around as they come at him from all sides. He draws his sword, pointing it towards the thick shadows as they reach out towards him...... Slashing at the dark as the first of the shadows begins to crawl up his leg, his sword cuts through the shadow. It slices through tendrils of black, but they reform instantly.

His weapon is ineffectual.

Throwing it away to one side in frustration, Merrill screams as the first tendril touches his skin, turning his skin blue....

***

Lying on the bed in the inn, as the healer tends to his wound, Merrill suddenly thrashes and convulses. He wakes, opening his mouth, screaming.....

"The dark. It comes. It comes. It feeds. It will devour all of us."

His head jerks backwards and his mouth opens as a rasping, terrible scream emanates. And then, he collapses once more, unconscious.

***

The shadows are all about him. Where they touch him, he feels his skin turn to ice. Merrill screams......and he screams until his screams turn into a quiet, pained sob. Slumping forward to his knees, Merrill’s eyes turn to the ground as the shadows rise, over him. Over his head.

He looks up, seeing them coalesce like a tidal wave over him.....about to engulf him.

"So now it comes......Death."

***

He thrashes again, and his right hand shoots out, grabbing Callie’s wrist in his own as she stands watching the healer treat him.

He grips her tightly, and his head turns to her. His eyes are hollow. They are completely white. His mouth opens, and even though he cannot see, he speaks.

"So now it comes......Death."

Then he shudders, and suddenly Merrill coughs, blood streaming from his mouth. He retreats inside himself once more.

***

Merrill reaches into his pocket, defeated. In his hand, he clasps a small, round object. And then, finally, his jaw jutting up in defiance, his brown eyes stare clear. "LET ME SEE YOU IN MY LIGHT CREATURE!"

Holding his clenched fist out, inside it a bright, white light gleams. The shadow plunges and......stops. Hesitating. Merrill feels it. It is afraid. Smiling grimly, he stands, and he slowly opens his fist.

An explosion of bright light. The dark gives a strangled hiss, and it suddenly fades, disintegrating against the power of the light. The clearing morphs. It becomes one with the light, joining with it. The shadows cannot resist it. And then it is gone. Merrill is alone, in a wooded clearing. Around him, nothing but silence. A deep, impenetrable silence. Yet, he knows he is not alone.

There is another here.

Another who would do him harm.

Except..............

She comes. A ghostly, white wraith against the moonlit night. A shimmering, alabaster angel framed against the pale moonlight. A faint, feminine voice floats echoes around the gloom, echoing inside his mind. A formless, featureless spirit. Her name, her face, and her memories lost to the netherworld.

Would you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?

He is not afraid anymore. He knows who she is. Merrill faces the spirit, his destiny, face on.

"I would dance with fate. I would dance this dance for eternity, spirit."

She reaches out, and she touches his face.

And so you shall.

The ghostly echo forms in his mind. The girl turns, and she separates into tiny, minute fragments. These fragments drift up into the sky, floating upwards, ever upwards until they stop. They form pale, bright stars, twinkling in and out of existence at a second's notice.

And then he hears the low growl behind him. Turning, Merrill sees the great silver wolf step into the clearing. He sees its eyes glow red. And he knows his death is upon him.

***

His sits up, the white's dissipating from his eyes. His brown eyes shine clear now as he blinks, looking around him. Feeling contact on his right side, Merrill glances over, realising that he is grasping onto something.....somebody. Looking over, he sees the auburn haired girl and he suddenly lets go, blinking again.

"I...ahh....I am sorry milady."
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At first everything is calm as the healer arrives and checks on the strange boy who stumbled upon their small village. It is with great relief that the healer had found that he had not been touched by any of the undead, but all four in the inn reacted with fear when the boy suddenly convulsed and he screamed.

"What's happening to him, Freya?!"
"I do not know...!"

He fell unconscious once more, and there was a quiet that fell around them. Freya commanded, "I'm going to get some medicine. Bruenor, heat up some water and food, Guy help me to my cottage. Callie, dear, please watch over the young man,"

After everyone was given their orders, they hurried off. She drew closer to the boy, but what she didn't expect was his hand to lash out and grab her wrist. She gasped and tried to pull her hand free, but his grip was too strong. She looked up at the boy to see his eyes were open and stark white.

So now it comes...Death

The boys words seemed to ring eerily in Callie's ears. What did that mean?! What was wrong with him? Did...he think he was going to die?

Then he sits up and coughs. The white clouds disappeared fro his eyes and he seemed more aware of his surroundings. After he apologized and let go of her, she answered "Er....It's-It's fine. You weren't aware..."

There was no doubt about it. He had magic, but what kind of magic was that? To cloud the eyes and make him unaware of his actions and surroundings? Why did she have a bad feeling from those words...?

She then asked "What happened? How'd you get hurt?"
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She was there.

He knew it as soon as he let go of her hand. She was in the dream, standing at the edges of his consciousness.

What happened? How'd you get hurt?

Merrill went quiet for a moment. How would he put this? Something was coming.......something very dark, and she would be caught up in it. The signs were obvious. They couldn’t have been more obvious if they had tried.

You will have to leave your home.

And suddenly, Merrill felt old......so very old. He was tired of all this. Of having this burden on him. Of being the one to see what no one else wanted to see......which meant that he had to do what no one else wanted to do. He was eighteen, and he didn’t want this life thrust on him, the life that meant he couldn’t have a normal childhood, lead a normal life.

And worst of all, as he looked to Callie, if his last vision were true, he was about to ruin someone else’s life.

His eyes went down, noting the numerous scars and cuts that laced his body.

”I fell....” he blurted out. ”From a tree.”

It was ludicrous. It sounded ludicrous.

You are a terrible liar.

Sighing, he slumped back down in the bed, thoroughly drained, and not just from the flight. He looked to the girl again, and inwardly, he felt sorrow for what was about to happen.

I’m sorry girl, for what will soon be thrust upon you. I wish there was another way.....

But there wasn’t. His visions always came true.

There was one thing that troubled him more than anything. He wasn’t sure whether she was standing with him, or against him.

He hoped he wouldn’t have to kill her......
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Callie raised an eyebrow at his answer. His answer sounded ludicrous, and she can see that he knows it. She sighed and she told him, "You are going to have to be much more honest than that when the others come back. But I get it if you don't want to talk about it,"

She knew the topic was important to learn, but she shouldn't press it. She figured that Freya might be able to get an answer out from him.

Sighing, Callie decided to pull up a chair as she and the boy waited for Bruenor, Guy, and Freya to come back. She asked the boy, trying to make friendly small talk despite her quiet and reserved nature, "So....what's your name?"
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Merrill looked to her for a moment. He didn’t answer straight away, almost as if he was carefully weighing up his options and the pro’s and cons of giving her his name. In actuality, that was exactly what he was doing.

”Merrill,” he finally answered slowly, looking at her as if he had just given away a large part of his existence.

”And you are?” he asked in turn.

Once Callie had decided whether or not to give her his name, Merrill continued, signing softly.

”I cannot stay here, do you understand,” he said now, looking at her with a desperate look. For all of the world he did not look his young years at that point.....

.....he looked like he had seen terrible terrible things and had the world on his shoulders.

”I......I don’t expect you to understand, but I will need to leave soon. But first.....”

How can I possibly explain that I will not be the only one who leaves here?

Sighing again, he closed his eyes.

”.........first I will need to show you something.”

***

Far, far away, in a small, ice-encrusted grotto, something ancient stirred. From high above, the snow rained down from the heavens. Neverending swirls of snow blew all around in beautiful circular patterns. All around, as far as the eye could see, all there was was a neverending plateau of snow, and of ice. A white carpet that stretched across for an entire eternity. An all-encompassing winter wasteland. No explorers, no adventurers came here to this frozen paradise. To do so would have cost them their very lives. In the sky above, blackness ruled over the world below. This blackness was punctuated by small, individual twinkling stars.

This was a giant frozen, icy tomb. It was never daylight here, here in the furthest reaching, most extreme corner of the world. There was only ever night, eternal, everlasting darkness reigning supreme over the world and its cowering servants far below. The only creatures that roamed here were mindless, feral beings that existed only for the bloodlust that consumed them so. Yet these savage, primal creatures were not the worst things that roamed these savage wastes. Worse things dwelt here. Things that no sane, mortal being would ever want to lay eyes on.

Here, in this frozen world, there were deadly secrets that lay entombed under the sheets of ice that lay across its surface. It was here, in the icy grotto that something crawled into existence, wakened by events elsewhere. It was here, under the watchful gaze of the silver moon that an ancient, whispered sigh was heard by all who lived in this frozen world. Creature, spirit and all bowed their heads at its sound, offering their complete obeisance.

For their master had returned.

It was one such creature that stood in the center of this grotto. Leathery, gray wings were folded across its chest. Taloned hands jutted out underneath the leathery flaps of its skin. Red eyes glowed, reflecting off the moon's light. Around this creature, there was a slight movement. To those who were not sensitively attuned to the atmosphere around them, they would not have noticed anything. To those who were, they would have seen it. The shadows flitting around the creature grew darker and deeper. The already frigid air grew colder still. But most of all, the aura around the area carried with it a tinge of darkness and dread.

Faint whisps of shadow formed in front of the creature, becoming opaque before fading into insubstantiality. Fragments of nothing -- or perhaps something? Yet the winged creature bowed to one knee as the ghostly whispers of a voice echoed around it.

"Maleficence, first of mine and last to live, you were always my most loyal servant."

The creature's red eyes glowed ever brighter as it raised its head. "I serve, as always. What is your will?"

The shadows swirled. They were nowhere -- they were everywhere.

"It has begun. They have begun to tap into their power. They must fulfil their destinies. The dark dreamer has awakened."

An audible crack echoed around the clearing.

The winged figure stands. It snaps its head from side to side, watching the ghostly essence flicker in and out of existence around him. The voice echoes forth once more.

"Go to Edhel. Destroy it. Do this for me, Maleficence."

It bows his head.

"Your will be done."

Snapping its head upwards, it unfurls its wings. Gazing to the sky, it flies once more, heading southwards. The creatures of the arctic vale prostate themselves at its passing, paying homage to its magnificence.

It flies for blood.

It flies to kill.
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Callie answered his request for her name, "My name is Callie,"

When he said that he needed to leave, Callie looked confused, and she answered his question, "No, I don't understand. Does this have something to do with your wounds?" She had a sinking feeling that she knew why, but she didn't want to believe it. It had to be something else. There had to be another reason why he looked like he had the world on his shoulders.

She then pointed out "Besides! How can you go anywhere? You're hurt and in need of healing!"

She blinked when he said that he didn't expect her to understand. She raised an eyebrow when he said that he needed to show her something, she asked confusedly, "O...kay? What is it you wanted to show me?"
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Merrill exhales softly. Closing his eyes for a moment, he lies there, not speaking. I wish I could say, he thought to himself. I would give anything.....anything in the world to be free off this burden, just for a few small minutes. To share this....with someone who understood. I would do anything for that.

Opening his eyes, he looks to her. Taking in her features, her hair, her eyes, he committed them to his memory. Inside he felt torn.

I have to ruin your life. I’m sorry.

How could he ever.....ever hope to explain that? Finally, he smiles.

”Callie,” he says softly, turning the name around in his mind. ”It is a strong name.”

Sighing again, he closes his eyes.

”No.....not my wounds. I cannot stay anywhere for too long. It is too dangerous. Not since.....”

His voice trails off and he says no more. How long had it been now? Three years since he had had any semblance of a home. It had not been long after he had been turned out that the shadows first started to chase him. Merrill had found to his cost that it was not possible for him to stay anywhere. No matter where he went or who he turned to, they would be dead soon after talking to him. At the start, he had believed himself bereft of hope or purpose, always doomed to flit from one place to another, journeying from village to village, never really belonging anywhere.

It was then that the visions had started. Strange visions that he could not quite explain. Visions of a young person, about his age. They were born with a great power inside of themselves, one that they did not know of. This person, they were fated to do battle with an ancient evil, long thought forgotten in the world. And so Merrill found a purpose. Going from place to place, always hiding, always fleeing from the dark shadows that chased him, always looking out for the one who was chosen with this power.

Now, after three years, he believed he had found her. But.......first he needed to be sure.

And I do not know yet which side she will stand on. Swallowing, he pushes the thought to one side. There would be time for that later.

”My wounds are not so bad,” his eyes continue to look to her as he speaks. ”Will you meet me outside the village at sundown tonight? Will you trust me?”

Looking to her intently, Merrill waits for her answer.
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Callie nodded in thanks to his comment about her name. When he said that it wasn't his wounds and stated that it was just that he couldn't stay for long, she wanted to ask why.

When he mentioned that his wounds weren't that bad, Callie once again pointed out, "Not that bad?! You passed out when you got to Edhel! That says otherwise," Then he asked her to meet with him outside the village at sundown tonight.

A part of her felt like she should. But she had no reason! This seems weird, and she had a terrible feeling about it all. Against her better judgment and to satisfy her curiosity, she sighed, "Alright. But you still need to let the others heal you,"
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Merrill merely smiled in response. It was a very ghost-like expression he closes his eyes.

”You have a deal Callie.”

Nothing more than that was said as he settled back, laying his head down. Soon the healer, Freya returned, as did Bruenor with the food and water that had been heated.....

***

The sun was setting over Edhel, bathing the village within its hues of orange and purple. It was a beautiful cacophony of colours that marked the end of the day. As most of the villagers were retiring to their homes for the night, Merrill was doing just the opposite. It was against the wishes of the healer Freya that he had struggled out of bed despite his injuries.

He couldn’t stay here, that he knew. And, if his suspicions were true, he wasn’t leaving the village alone that night.

Arriving at the designated meeting spot just at the edge of the village, Merrill was sitting when she arrived. His eyes were staring off into the distance, fixated. It was as if he was looking at something that only he could see....

His eyes still staring off into the distance as she arrived, that ghost-like smile crossed his face once more.

”Come with me,” he simply said as he stood and began to walk.

It was an hour they walked, Merrill limping the entirety of the journey. As they did so, the sun continued to fall as the onset of night came, walking through the forest that surrounded the village first of all, before reaching green fields on the other side. Eventually they arrived at the object that had caught Merrill’s interest on the way in.

A large, metallic structure was "embedded" into the ground, its rear pointing upwards into the air. Walking over to it slowly, Merrill ran his hand over the painted white surface. It had been eaten away by rust, it's corroded surface rotted away, and various holes piercing it's metallic exoskeleton. It was not possible to see the interior of this object, suspended as it was high up into the air. Merrill circled the object slowly.

”What do you think it was? What it was used for? What stories could it tell us?” he asked, as much to himself as Callie.

”A remnant of a time long past.....” had he known the word or had any concept of what it was, he would have known that this thing, once, long ago, had been an aeroplane.

Looking back to Callie, he smiled that strange, ghostlike smile once more. Soon, he would know if she was the one he had come here to find....
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Callie was relieved to hear that he would accept the medical attention, and it didn't take long for Freya, Bruenor, and Guy to come back with the food, water, and supplies needed to tend to the man.

Other than that, the rest of the day seemed to progress normally, until the sundown. With the news that Merrill had been had walked out of the Antsy Anklebiter against Freya's wishes, she told the healer she would go get him, and headed off to meet him. Maybe she can convince him to come back to the Antsy Anklebiter after he's done showing her whatever it is he wants to show her...

It didn't take long for Callie to reach where Merrill was waiting for her. She noticed that he was staring off into the distance, and she couldn't help but wonder what he was looking at specifically. She raised an eyebrow when he told her to come with him, and she followed him. His limp did concern her. There was a reason why Freya wanted him to stay to rest after all...

He led her to a strange metallic ruin that stuck up from the ground. She didn't have answers for Merrill, so she could only answer him, "I don't know..."

She looked at the ruin, unaware of how he smiled when he looked at her. She then commented, "Well, the only way to figure out what stories it has to tell us is by looking inside..." She then looked around, and after brushing some of the vines away, she found a door.

She grabbed the hand, and tried to pull. Once...twice...it wouldn't budge. Setting her mind to the stubborn door, she tried to open the door for a third time. However, in the middle of her attempt, she realized that she felt magic course through her once more. But it wasn't a surge like before, it was more like...she was using magic to help her. And with that magic, she was able to pry the door open.

She looked back to Merrill, and she came up with an excuse quickly, "Rusty...I guess the metal finally gave in..."

She then clambered into the ruin to see what they could find.
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”Yes. Yes I guess it did,” Merrill said with that strange, ghostlike smile. ”You’re stronger than you look Callie.”

Beyond the door, as he steps in, he can see nothing but dust, shadow and cobwebs. Looking to Callie, who stood just before him, he nods.

"Shall we uncover its secrets together?"

Merrill takes a step forward. The smell of rot and mildew hits him full on as he enters the compartment. Seeing the vague outlines of what appear to be small, rectangular inanimate objects on either side of him, with a small passageway down the middle, he suddenly stops. Turning to Callie, his expression is grave now.

"What you are about to see......nobody else can know. Just......trust me. Please?"

His eyes meet hers, pleading, and then he turns away from her.

Merrill reaches into his pocket. Bringing it back out, he holds out his hand to her, fist clenched.

He opens it slowly. In the palm of his hand, a small globe of light floats just above his fingers. With a wistful expression, he watches the light globe suddenly rise and float above the palm of his hand. Merrill closes his eyes.

"Light our path, little one." The light suddenly darts forward, bobbing and weaving, illuminating the compartment that they stood in.

On either side of them, what were once leather bound seats lay, rotted and torn. The smell of dampness and rot came from them. On the once-painted floor were dark splotches. Next to his foot, a spider the size of a coin scuttled past him, running back into the shadows that it had come out of. Smiling, Merrill takes a step forward, stepping down the angled passageway.

He takes a look back to Callie. "Well? Shall we see what secrets the bottom of this holds?"

Without waiting for a response, he takes a slow, cautious step downwards, hand reaching out to touch either side of the seats to steady himself.
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Callie honestly couldn't tell if Merrill bought her excuse or not. She rubbed the back of her head when he said that she was stronger than she looked. She led the way in and Merrill had followed her in.

When he asked, she nodded and answered, somewhat jokingly to ease her own tension, "Sure...I mean, it's not like there's going to be treasure in here,"

After opening that door, she could feel it. The magic she worked so hard to suppress. There was now more of a chance that it will act and surge on its own in front of this guy now.

She watches as Merrill takes a step forward and she noticed how his expression turned grave when he turned to face her. She raised an eyebrow and she answered, "O...kay? I won't tell a soul," Even if she wasn't sure about Merrill, she was a woman of her word. She wasn't going to tell anyone.

She watched as he pulled out a small orb of light from his pocket and it came to life, rising and floating above his palm. It seemed to obey Merrill when he told the light to light their path. Callie looked back to Merrill after it moved ahead of them. Before she could answer his question, he had already started descending further down into the darkness.

Against every fiber of her being telling her to leave, she decided to follow him anyways. As she did, she asked "Hey, wait a minute! What is that light? And what do the secrets here have to do with what you wanted to show me?"

Callie was so confused. And she had a feeling that she won't get her answers until they found the secrets of this contraption.
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”Its called a Will O’the Wisp. Its a creature from the old world Callie. I have to be careful about who I show it to as anyone who did not understand magic would destroy it the moment they saw it, believing it to be a plague-bringer. We have travelled together for a couple of years now, and he has always lit my path in the darkness. In turn, I protect him from those who would do him harm.”

Merrill did not answer her other question as he carefully threaded his way down the metallic passageway, covering his nose and mouth with his hand from the smell of mildew that permeated the air here. He walked carefully, treading carefully over certain parts of the strange metallic chamber that seemed particularly rotted.

Finally, following their slow and painstaking progress, the two of them reached the bottom of the cabin. With a small smile, Merrill gestured for Callie to come over near to him. He showed her some strange looking items on the floor. Merrill picked up one, a strange rectangular object of a material and texture that he had never seen before. He bent it slightly, a look of curiosity forming on his face as he watched the light from the Will O’the Wisp dance and refract on its polished surface.

"What do you think this was used for?" he didn't really expect an answer to the question, but he whispered one anyway as he passed it over to Callie.

Then, he took a second object, his eyes lighting up in fascination as he opened what looked to be a corroded metal box. The hinges squeaked slightly, angry from the sudden, harsh movement, and he looked at the cracked glass within. Placing a hand on the surface, he touched it, tapping the glass several times before passing his fingers down on the square, rubbery shapes on the bottom slab. Placing pressure on them, he pushed them down gently before closing it down again. This too he placed gently next to Callie.

Finally, he took a plastic, knife shaped object, turning it around in his hands, marvelling at how feather-light it felt in his hands, if not particularly sturdy. He placed it gently on the floor, next to the other objects.

"What stories I bet these objects tell. I wish I knew more about them."

He gestured finally towards the door at the very end of the metallic corridor. Walking up to it, he turned his head and placed his ear to the door, almost as if listening for a sound.

Nothing.

Not that he expected to hear anything. Making a fist, Merrill rapped on the surface of the door lightly. It let off a hollow thunk, indicating that there was another chamber beyond it. Reaching out slowly, tentatively, he pushed the door handle down, trying to open it.

Nothing.

Stepping back, he surveyed the door, before looking to Callie.

"I cannot open it alone, but perhaps with your help....."

Placing his hand over the lock again, Merrill stood there with his back to her.

"I need you to trust me Callie. Place your hand over mine. Think of a tune in your head, and begin to hum to it. I will do the same, but I need you to join your voice with mine."

Closing his eyes, he began to hum softly. The globe of light hovered near him as he did so.
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Callie was glad that she got an answer regarding the light, but she was a little annoyed that she didn't get an answer to her second question. However, the Will O' the Wisp did bring up more questions. How did Merrill know what this was? Why was he not afraid of it?

The questions were mounting and all of them seemed to have the same answer, which set Callie on edge. She didn't want to believe it, but the answer made sense. Still, she was not about to just leave on suspicion alone.

She followed him and his Will O' the Wisp down, following his footsteps and being careful of where she stepped. She stopped when Merrill did and she looked at the rectangular object when he picked it up. She didn't have an answer. She simply tilted her head in wonder. What was it used for? Then there was a square object that opened and had strange nodes and other features. Then there was a knife like object.

She didn't really know how to answer his comment about how he wished he knew more about them. She commented "It's too bad there doesn't seem to be a journal around..."

She then looked to the final door that Merrill gestured to, and she approached it. She watched as he listened before rapping on it. Then he tried to open it, but it didn't work. She raised an eyebrow when he said that he needed her help, and she became even more confused when he gave her the strange directions on how she could help.

She commented as she walked forwards, "I don't know how that's going to help, but ok..." She then placed her hand over his. Her hand was warm and she took a silent moment to try and think of a tune. Honestly, she also wondered how this was going to work. Chances are that the two of them are going to think of two different tunes...

But again, she said she would help. So she started humming to a tune that came to her mind just as he began to hum softly.
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She placed her hand over his own. Merrill, eyes closed, started to hum. And as Callie hummed, her own voice joined is. The strangest thing seemed to happen. Although there two tunes were different, the sound of their voices seemed to meld and join with each other. Two distinctly separate tunes became one whole sound. Something changed in the atmosphere around them. The heady, damp sensation of decay began to dissipate slightly.

For the briefest of seconds, it seemed to Callie almost as if this ruined structure......it was calling to her. It was imploring her.

It has been too long young one. You are the key. We open only at your wish.

A loud click echoed around them. The little globe of light bobbed up and down, almost as if it was excited....almost as if the two of them were about to open the door to a different world.....a different reality. And for Callie in particular, that was exactly what was about to happen. With a small smile, Merrill reached down, opening it. In the light reflected from the Will o’the Wisp, the faint outline of scars could be seen traced across his slightly tanned skin.

”I could not open the locked door Callie, but you could,” Merrill’s voice was low, almost as if he didn’t want to disturb the sanctity of this place. ”But you could......you opened a door without a key.”

There could be no doubt. She was the one.

Merrill stepped forwards. ”......at least without a key that can be seen.”

The compartment beyond was in even more of a state of disrepair than the one they had left. At the front was what appeared to be some sort of desk.....and on that desk sat.......metal? Lots of metal, some with long, thin lines trailing down them onto the floor. This metal, there were large orange splotches on the surface where it looked like the metal had corroded. In front of the desk were two large chairs, on which two shadowy forms sat in front of, their forms slumped over the metal.

”Callie.....what you are about to see will change things, forever. But it is necessary for what is to come.”

Stepping forwards, he lay a hand on the shoulder on one of the forms. He looked back to her.

”Are you ready?”
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Callie immediately noticed how the atmosphere around them seemed to have changed. She felt it. This structure was....calling to her? She could almost hear a voice saying that they only open at her wish.

...What?

A loud click echoed and the Will O' the Wisp was bouncing excitedly. There was this feeling that she was about to step into something unknown. That her life was going to change drastically once she stepped through. She watched as Merrill opened the door and stepped through, and he mentioned that only she could have opened the door with an unseen key.

This was definitely screaming magic now. Callie was ready to bolt if she needed to. But for now, she stepped through the door, and into the small cramped compartment, where two figures sat. She raised an eyebrow at his words. She didn't like this. But she needed to stay calm. She can't afford having her magic surge...and yet, it seemed like this guy already knew that she had magic.

When he asked if she was ready, she answered skeptically, "No, but it doesn't look like I have a choice, do I?"
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Merrill shook his head softly. ”I don’t think any of us ever have that when fate comes for us. I.....”

He shook his head, never finishing the sentence. Slowly, Merrill turns the seat round.

The corpse that was on the seat was in an advanced state of decay. Whoever it was had once been human, butnthat humanness had long since disintegrated with the passage of time. Now there was nothing but bones. The man, or woman, whatever they were, stared at Callie and Merrill with two gaping and empty eye sockets. It’s lower jaw was snapped off, leaving the upper jaw and row of teeth only. The grotesque sight was completed when a centipede crawled out of its empty left eye socket and dropped to the floor.

”I’m sorry to show you this Callie, but it was this I needed you to see,”

Reaching slowly into the tattered and torn blue shirt that the skeleton was wearing, his hand went slowly into its pocket. He winced as his hand touched....things that he likely did not want to know what they were. Finally, he brought something out. It was a thin, black rectangular object. There were large, hair-line fractures running across its surface.

Looking to her, Merrill started to pass the object over, ”Here,” he said softly. ”Tell me it’s......”

The night sky outside the window suddenly exploded into flames in the distance. Merrill looked back as orange fire illuminated the night sky.

It came from where Edhel was......
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