Hope

Irwyn looked at the deer again, a good two days into his journey through the forest path. It sat on a clearing, staring directly at him as its majestic antlers towered to the skies. He was not very sure how deers worked but he was relatively certain that they were not supposed to usually have ivory crowns that looked larger than their entire torsos. Now if that was all, Irwyn would have just considered it a curiosity. An exceptional specimen. The problem was that he had already done that, half an hour earlier.

The scenery looked far too familiar. So did the massive deer. But he was pretty sure the path had not circled in any way. There was no connection along the way and except for the clearing nothing really looked all that familiar. Well, it was a forest so a bit familiar, but not strikingly so like the deer.

He took off his backpack to consult the map. It would be dusk in a few hours and that would make it only harder to get unstuck if he was in a loop. The issue was that Irwyn was really not used to forest trekking. He had lived in a city his whole life. He would probably genuinely freeze in the night if he couldn’t literally conjure up a flame. He had more than enough supplies thanks to Old Crow; though at the expense of everything else. The backpack of mostly food and water should last him for more than long enough but getting lost would cost him time and as someone on the run that was not ideal. The sooner he got to Drathsol, the better.

With no better option, Irwyn marked the tree he was standing next to with a quick scorched X clearly visible from the dirt path he trod and moved on. The trees surrounded him again. Same-ish but different. The path was overgrown and in obvious disuse, to the point Irwyn had to burn a way through a small thicket or two. That only supported that he was not going in circles as those would not have regrown. The path wound all around, never quite straight, so he could not tell what exact direction he was going or where he actually really was.

Then Irwyn came upon the same clearing again. The same striking deer with far too overgrown antlers, the same stare it gave him. At that point, Irwyn obviously felt that it was strange. However, he was leery about coming closer to investigate. He felt no magic from anywhere in the area. So if this was mundane, he had nothing to really worry about; maybe someone had placed identical statues around for some reason? Not like Irwyn could tell from that distance. And if it was magical, well, after his last experience, Irwyn knew better than to approach a caster he could not feel any hint of magic from. He looked around for his scorch mark on the nearby trees, did not find it, and moved on, ready to react to a possible magic strike that did not come.

He headed into the woods and 30 minutes later, Irwyn was pretty sure almost exactly, the deer stood there in that damn clearing. Not sure what else to try, Irwyn walked the next section far, far slower, however, after roughly the same amount of time the deer appeared again. At that point, it was getting dark. After some hesitation, Irwyn decided to deal with whatever was going on in the morning. He headed further down the path and paused after roughly 15 minutes, setting up camp on a particularly long stretch of the road with no immediate corners the deer’s clearing could appear behind after a misstep.

He set up a small campsite, which meant a dry patch to put his sleeping bag on and some leaves to cover his backpack next to the base of a tree. Old Crow had warned him about scavenging animals in the night though Irwyn was not sure what better solutions there were for that. Then, after some consideration, he opted to erect soft barriers of semi-transparent light around himself. They did not exactly shine, however, they were definitely well visible in the night. On the other hand, the foliage was quite thick and the stars bright so it would not be too bad. He would try to keep it going as he slept, something that he never could do in the past. However, ever since the vision the artifact, or whatever it was, had invoked during the heist he had experienced significant improvements in many facets of magic. Maintaining limited magic while he slept was one of them, even though it left him significantly more tired the next morning. Still no luck with enchanting, unfortunately. But in all honesty, he did not yet have the time to properly explore his new limits, just some surface-level experiments.

Sighing, he went to sleep, believing that he would at least be shaken awake if his light barriers were breached.

Well, he was clearly wrong about that point. Irwyn was not sure what woke him up, however, it was still deep in the night. His barriers and campfire were gone. So were the trees of the thicket around him. And so were the very stars above, everything had gone pitch black. The only thing that allowed him to see was the light that he summoned from his fingertips.

But it was dim. Smothered. He saw only grass and grass as far as his light could illuminate; that and the stump of the tree where he had hidden his backpack, the leaves covering it strangely out of place. Irwyn stared at it for a few moments and then picked it up. Without supplies, it would be difficult to make the rest of the journey and if whatever awaited him could not be overcome with magic he could abandon the pack then; if it even could be outrun in that case.

He set out, darkness and grass all that engulfed him. No flowers. He finally realised after a full minute of walking. It was just tall grass and nothing else. He wanted to reach the tree line again but after good 10 minutes of walking straight forward, there was still no hint of it.

At that point he had run a bit thin of patience, suppressing the creeping uncertainty. He felt not the slightest hint of magic. So he decided to give himself a bit more light to see. It channeled through his arm, so familiar, as it rose up in what was supposed to be a piercing glow. Instead, it barely illuminated a few extra meters.

At that point, Irwyn was basically sure whatever the darkness was, it was magical despite his inability to sense it. And he knew full well that Darkness was distinctly a lesser manifestation of the Void while he was on the run from a magelord household of infamous Void casters. He reinforced his decision that being low profile was probably futile and it would be better to see whatever was happening.

If normal magical light did not work, he would make it pierce. That intention spread through Irwyn and his spellwork. For a split second, it was day again. Irwyn saw the trees and flowers beneath his feet. Though he would have expected it closer, the treeline was quite distant in all directions. And for a split moment he also spotted that majestic deer, with the crown of antlers that defied expectation. Still sitting on its clearing. Staring directly at Irwyn, because they now shared that patch of tree-less land.

Then the dark retook hold. Irwyn was flung back into the plain of endless grass.

“What do you want?” Irwyn half yelled, feeling his heart accelerating. Someone or something was doing this. And now that he thought about it, they probably weren’t a Blackburg agent. “I saw you. Come here and we can talk. Or guide me to you if you so prefer,” but there was no response.

With no other option, Irwyn kept walking. He tried to pierce with his light again but it did nothing that time. He walked for at least a full hour, dread welling up slowly with every step. Just as he was considering that maybe he should just stand in place, there was finally a change. A ruined building suddenly towered before him, half sundered remnants of architecture Irwyn did not recognise. Well, his sample size was not particularly large to begin with. It was fascinating but well... hollow. Old walls of degraded stone, supports that were crumbling and not really holding anything up anymore, the clear yet still completely black skies revealed by the missing roof.

When Irwyn entered his field of view expanded, no longer quite as suppressed. Ever more proof that something was consciously guiding him here because his light was stopped exactly where the holes in the ruins were. At least he could see the whole structure. Not that there was much beyond what he could tell from outside. It took him a moment of staring at the monotone walls to notice the anomaly. At the far end, and he thought it was no coincidence that it was as far away from him as possible, there was writing on the wall. 3 symbols that looked nothing like any language Irwyn had ever seen. Clearly, he was meant to approach.

“So a young one comes! And just in time!” a booming voice sounded right behind Irwyn who flinched. He had not noticed any movement, much less any magic but behind him now stood a form. That of a deer with those gargantuan antlers. Except it was changed. Its eyes now distinctly glowed with emerald green while the form was different too. It unnerved Irwyn and it took him a moment to realise why. Because the deer was now leaner, the teeth had gained slight sharp tips no herbivore would need, its very legs had been strained like a spring, prepared to pounce. That not the appearance of a deer but that of a predator dressed as one, down to the most minute details. Irwyn could not imagine who would possibly manufacture such except nature itself.

“What do you want from me?” Irwyn stepped away warily, ready to fight back immediately. Not that he gave himself good odds. Or any odds for that manner. He still could not feel any magic. And the last time he could not feel the magic from someone had taught him a lot about humility and futility.

“It is fortuitous that a child of men comes at such a time!” the voice was booming and echoed, even though the place full of holes should probably not allow for such acoustics. “For it is thee who is here. Brought by fate, demanded by the time of need. You come into my domain when a duty is required! For herein lies sealed a He. A kin to the first one forsaken and forgotten. One forsaken from death itself! But alas, the seal I have kept wavers. It grumbles and strains and crumbles. Had you come any later than tonight it would have broken free to the dismay of all that yet live. So fulfill thy duty: Rewrite the words of the seal before you. BY A MORTAL SOUL, IN MORTAL BLOOD!”

“BY A MORTAL SOUL, IN MORTAL BLOOD!” the last sentence echoed, but not quite. It was as though the voice spoke it not once but a thousand times over in the same moment and then let it defuse as countless echoes in a cave, which they were certainly not in. The part about ‘fated’ was also slightly jarring in context because, well, it would be difficult for him to follow the instructions.

“I apologize,” Irwyn started carefully. “But I do not believe I can fulfill what you demand of me.”

“WHAT?” It exclaimed with a hint of fury. “Is a little pain so precious to you? That you would doom yourself, this entire nation, and perhaps the whole realm just to avoid a bit of discomfort? Are you truly so small and petty, one of fate?!”

“Please do not misunderstand. It is not that I am fundamentally unwilling. It is just that I am fundamentally unable to do as you ask of me.”

“What do you mean?” the deer looked at him and Irwyn was pretty sure he saw befuddlement replace some of that predatory tension. “A child could do this.”

“I think it is easier if I show you,” Irwyn sighed and put down his backpack, deciding to demonstrate with ink rather than his blood. The deer, whatever it really was, let him rummage through it until he found a pen. Thankfully, the Old Crow had packed one without realising it would be useless. Then Irwyn approached the wall with the 3 symbols and copied the leftmost one. Or at least tried to. He genuinely did his best, trying to get down the shape in one long stroke. It was also very simple, 1 central straight line intercepted by two more straight lines roughly through the middle. However, when the pen moved away what remained was nothing alike. The image was disrupted, twisted into strange shapes his hand could not have physically produced. There were gaps at places he did not lift up the pen and doubled lines despite him only ever moving forward. All in all, it was so wrong that it was straight up implausible.

“Do that again…” the deer apparently agreed because even the echo and deepness of the voice disappeared. It was suddenly much more humanoid, Irwyn would wager even female. His original attempt just vanished with no trace of any magic. Not complaining Irwyn did. The result was both different and the same. It was still nothing alike the symbol, however, it was also wrong in many different ways than the first try.

“Unbelievable,” she muttered, and the voice distinctly belonged to a woman. The deer approached to investigate Irwyn’s drawing from up close, forcing Irwyn himself to basically jump out of the way of the oversized antlers, almost stumbling to the ground. “Oh, sorry,” the deer absentmindedly apologized, seemingly not acknowledging the complete 180 in its demeanor. Then the massive antlers just vanished. They did not fall off or shrink back. One blink Irwyn saw them, the next they were not there anymore. He also realised that the stars were back and he could see the thickets beyond the ruins.

“Alright, you have to explain to me how you did that,” the deer turned to Irwyn, borderline casual, which really did not go well with the stature of a slightly deformed ancient beast.

“I am not exactly ‘doing’ that. It just kind of happens,” Irwyn admitted. “But first, was there not some great evil about to be unleashed?”

“Forget about that, this is WAY more interesting,” the deers just dismissed Irwyn’s concerns. Considering the complete lack of urgency in those words, Irwyn figured the situation had been significantly exaggerated to him just before. “Alright, EVERYONE, GET IN HERE! You need to see this!” Irwyn felt the magic in those words deep in his core. Which was strange because he still felt no other magic from the deer.

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that,” the deer said, seemingly knowing what he was thinking. “Like this and that aaaaand, you should be fine now,” as she spoke the world opened up to Irwyn again. The magic was suddenly obvious to notice. It was very well controlled, however, nowhere near invisible, taking on the vibrancy Irwyn associated with Life/Vitality. In fact, it enveloped Irwyn from every direction to the point it was absolutely ridiculous he had not noticed even a hint of it until that very moment. How had she done that?

“Well, you are really, really perceptive for a human but you are still completely reliant on your body of flesh to tell your soul what is happening. At your level, all the information has to go through your brain when it wants in or out. All I need to do is convince your head that you feel nothing and then there is no practical difference.”

“Can you read what I am thinking? I do not think that was Soul/Mind magic.”

“Nah, she can’t,” it was actually another voice that answered. Irwyn turned around and saw… a massive soap bubble. Big enough to fit his whole torso. It did not have a mouth but the voice came from within. “Howdy, chuckaboo. You got a Name yet?”

“No I don’t,” the deer scoffed back.

“So imma gonna keep calling you keeps. Anyway, young dude, what she does is that she manages to perceive all those wack bodily functions stuff you less magical beings seem to be intrinsically reliant on. Human brains are hella complex but when you spent the due quantity of time observing how they tick just looking real good starts to suggestionize what's up.”

“The ‘due quantity of time’ she mentions…” another new voice spoke, this time it was a relatively small shrubbery with large roses sticking out of it that had grown out of the stone ground. “...is more like ‘several mortal lifespans’ than ‘several years’. Hey, keeps, you got that Name yet?”

“You know well damn I don’t. Stop asking!” the deer snapped back a bit, though it seemed in good humour based on the tone. But what did Irwyn know?

“What’s the commotion up about?” a big carp swam through the air. “Oh, hey keeps, you got a…”

“Shut up,” the deer interrupted. “I will get it eventually and then I will be the one laughing at the rest of you for not even trying!”

“Sure keeps, whatever you say,” a massive sunflower with a stem thicker than Irwyn’s arms walked in, and the logistic of that very human-like movement were not actually happening; despite the telling swaying it actually just hovered. “Anyway, this better be really interesting. It’s been a while since someone called like this,” and indeed, more strange creatures or things kept appearing. A rock with a face, a monkey with 16 arms, a leaf the size of a table and many, many others. Before Irwyn knew it, it was an entire audience. A party. A fair.

“Alright, sisters!” the deer spoke. “I am genuinely confused about what I had witnessed today so maybe some of you can explain. Show them what you showed me, human!”