“Hello?”
The voice haunting and eerily familiar startled me so much
that I almost fell backwards. Turning to face the voice I was surprised to see
someone not so much taller than 4 feet yet homely looking. The dwarf looked
like he had seen many things, been on many adventures which some seemed to have
left their marks on his rough hands and face. He was dressed in a drab brown
work suit, goggles hanging around his neck, and a strangely looking axe over his
shoulder, it looked like a cross between a pick axe and a woodcutting one.
“Well now you look like a curious fellow,” the stranger
bluntly spoke. “Where do you come from, there is nothing out here but desert
and the occasional…dwelling. Your kind does not simply survive out here easily.”
“I seem to be lost sir, I went through the door, and the
next thing I knew I ended up here. Wherever here is. I really don’t know what
is going on. My name is Desmond, and you are?”
“Calminaion, 9th commander of the Dwarven Scouts.
Pleasure to meet you, Desmond you said. Hmm that name sounds familiar. Well
either way you said you came through a door and you are here. I wonder…”
“What is it? You don’t seem to find it strange that I came
through a doorway and then I turned up in the desert…” Thinking to myself I
could hardly believe it myself, it seemed as though the life that I once was
living was just a dream and this place with the thick hot air and the piercing
sun was somehow more alive. It felt as though the lands themselves were
breathing in the heat and living like some kind of animal. And here I was
talking to this dwarf, a DWARF, this is
the thing of fairy tails and yet it doesn’t feel out of place, back home I
would have thought I was crazy, maybe I was and this was just a delusional
dream. But it feels so real, so tangible that I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve
been here before. But How?
“Come Boy, I fear we are not alone and it is not safe to
stay here much longer. There is a man I think you should meet. If you really
did come through a door into this world then HE is the one you must speak to.
HE has the answers to your questions I believe. Come now let us go.” With that
he turned and started walking towards the mountains. Without hesitation I picked
up my bag, took a look back at the door, which it seemed I was the only one who
could see it, and as I started following Calminaion it seemed as though the
door slowly began to fade into nothingness.
It seemed like we walked for an eternity, the mountains
slowly growing closer and bigger more ominous than I had originally thought.
They seemed to have this haze that never left them, even with the heat of the
sun it seemed as though a fog was attached and part of the range. The dwarf
spoke a little along the way, speaking of his home Galandryll, his family the
Ironaxen, and this world Asperion as it is called. He said that the desert used
to be a great forest filled with trees of all kinds, rivers as blue as sapphire,
and lakes as cool as snow. But in ages past a traveler came and with him came
destruction. The dwarves contrary to the belief and myth that I knew in my
world, funny I refer to home as my
world, were actually great woodcutters and craftsmen, not miners, but when the “Great
Destructor” came things changed, the dwarves created scouting clans, created
large underground Cities, mined all through the world that they lived. Stone
became their wood, and from that they created a new civilization for themselves
from the ashes of the destroyed world that used to have so much life.
“Don’t worry boy, you look tired, but we are almost there
just a little farther.”
“Where is it that you’re taking me?”
“The seer, he is the one who knows more about everything
than anybody. He is a good old friend of mine and it so happens that when I ran
into you, I was on my way to meet with him to discuss another matter. It seems
that the stars of fate have crossed and linked our meeting.”
“Hmm, a seer. And I guess so. Look there is something that
has been bothering me from the start.”
“Speak your mind boy.”
“Did you see the door when we met? It was ten feet from me
but as we started this journey when I looked back it seemed to have faded and
then disappeared from the spot.”
“There was no door, boy. But as I thought You are, Unique.
The Seer will be able to answer your questions better than I, and here we are
Fryllandrial, Home of the Seer.”
Fryllandrial, a strange but fitting name for the place we
came upon. Before us was a great tree which seemed to span endlessly into the
sky, shrouded by the strange mists that clung to the mountain, In the tree were
multiple houses and patios bridges connecting one to another, all around the
tree. The tree itself was a strange one in itself, the bark had a dull gold
glow eminating from its dark brown bark. The leaves were as large as my hand,
and were a strange combination of greens, blues, and oranges. This gave the
tree a look as though its leaves were on fire glowing gold with oranges and
blues that swayed with the light breeze. This place felt like a place out of
time, separate from the happenings and the events of the world it was located
in.
This place is special
you best not disturb the peace.
The thought popped into my head out of nowhere, I knew it
was not my voice or the voice I heard before, this one was deep, it felt as
though it penetrated deep into my being. Piercing through the darkness and
crevices of my mind, searching it seemed to find something lost, hidden,
terrible.
You are special boy.
The darkness seems to not have noticed you yet, nor realized what power you
hold deep within your soul. You may enter.
“Greetings friends, I’m sorry about the search, but these
days I cannot tolerate any of the darkness in this place.”
Standing before us was a man or being I’m not quite sure how
to describe Him, He seemed to tower over me and Calminaion by a good three feet
or more with a long white beard that was as long as he was tall. His eyes were
a strange sight, instead of round pupils his looked as though two ovals were
overlapped one on top of another creating a strange shape that had strange
colors glowing around them, his eyes were such a sight that I could barely turn
my gaze.
“Come friends we have much to discuss, and you seem weary
from your journey. I have refreshments already prepared in the living room.
Follow me.”
“Seer, He knew we were coming since we first met.”
Calminaion said as he gave me a slight nudge and a chuckle.
The Seer walked into a doorway and led us up a flight of
stairs that wrapped around the trunk of the tree and it went up and up into the
air until we came upon a platform that appeared to hold a great study, with
plush chairs, three to be exact, and on the walls books stacked onto shelves as
high as the ceiling.
“Here Desmond, take this seat, We have much to discuss.”
“Wait how did you..?”
“Seer, remember He sees everything knows everything that has
happened and some of what is to happen.” Calminaion bluntly muttered.
“My name is Fryll, and son you seem to be an important
individual to what is to happen. For one who came through the door, you seem to
not know much about what drew you to us here.”
“Well yes, I don’t understand anything that has happened,
one second I’m flipping through this book, the next a doorway appears as it is
being drawn into the book by some unknown force, I can’t pull myself away from
it and then open the door and the next thing I know I’m in the middle of a
desert. Yes, this makes sense and I should understand everything already.” I
knew it was a bit harsh but after walking hours and the mystery of my plight
had finally hit the wall and now I wanted answers.
“A book you say, hmm. They had one too I wonder if it made…”
His voice trailed off as he closed his eyes as if he were thinking and trying
to grasp onto a distant memory of a chance meeting long before. Then suddenly
his eyes snapped open, full of fire, full of mystery, full of intrigue. “YOU! You.
You. How can it be, its been an eternity and yet you are only a boy. They came…”
Again his voice trailed off. “I’m sorry but I was gravely mistaken as to who
you ARE my boy, it appears that there is hope for us after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is that you my boy are special, a rare
individual indeed. You are a Cerediron,
a world builder. You can make words with a pen and a paper. The door is your
gateway to those worlds. You are an orphan I take it, you never met your
parents, you don’t know what happened to them. Well they were the last of the
Cerediron and fled from the darkness. But in you I see something greater than
the power they held.”
“Wait you knew my parents, what happened to them, where are
they, I’m a Cerediron!” The words came stumbling out of my mouth, but as I was
speaking the words the world around me started to spin, and slowly everything
faded to black. When everything was gone a voice spoke to my mind.
Sleep, your journey is
beginning; you will find your answers. Sleep.
The words hung in my mind, and then ever peacefully I accepted
the darkness and slept.
