Unmarked

Slithertrunk

The door to Osiris' office was tall and made of thick oak. There were no windows, so I couldn't see any of the room as I twisted the iron doorknob. As I walked in, I saw Osiris leaning over his desk, a quill in hand. It's scratching against the parchment made an almost soothing noise that seemed to echo in his small office. There were four windows, two on the back wall, and two on the right. They were draped with stained white curtains that were blowing in the fresh air that rushed through the window.

The walls were covered in memorabilia of different adventures I presumed he and my father had gone on. Above his desk was what looked to be the head of a boar and that of a cow's mixed together. It was also about the size of the desk Osiris was sitting at. It was a deep blood red color, rage still flaring in its eyes, which made it seem in an almost alive state. There was a battered, beaten, and rusty sword leaning in the corner. Its golden handle gleamed in the sunlight, despite the layer of dust it was coated with.

"Ah, Cosmo. I didn't see you there. Come in, come in." Osiris welcomed, gesturing his hands toward himself. I walked in and he added: "Close the door behind you," I did so, and pulled up a chair to the other side of his desk.

"Donovan invited me to join the rebellion," I said, out of nowhere.

"He did? I presume you're still thinking of an answer?" Osiris asked as he evened out the parchment against the desk and placed it in one of the drawers by his knee.

"Yes, although I was planning on just heading back to Oase. I wanted to blend in, maybe even be able to live the rest of my life there." I said, hopefully.

"Yes, Cosmo... about that." Osiris' voice trailed off as if he did not have the heart to tell me what was about to come.

"What's wrong?" I asked, confused.

"Cosmo... you were out for so long... so much happened." Osiris' eyes watered but refused to cry.

"Just tell me what happened. Tell me everything." I said.

"As soon as you left, the knowledge of a nation appeared in every newspaper you could find. They call themselves Andi's followers. Andi is the god of mind, and they proclaim that he gave them the gift of technology. They haven't said it yet, but we all know they plan to overthrow the king. A war was bound to happen. Oase was in a panic." Osiris told.

"The world's in the chamberpot..." I said, randomly quoting Osiris.

'Yes, yes it is." Osiris raised an eyebrow and smiled a bit. He then continued his story: "After we settled down a bit, we got another word in the newspapers shipped to us overseas. 'Saisho was taken by the Followers of Andi', they said. I grouped up with the rest of our regiment. They threw down a map of the region and pointed to Oase. As you know, Oase is an island dead center of our region with two mainlands about 25 miles away each. The commander, Jack, said we had nothing to worry about. The rebellion was small at this point; there was no way that they would have ships that were strong enough and enough food to withstand a journey like that. The town settled down."

"Good. Can't wait to get back to that practice range." I said, excited. Osiris sighed and continued.

"In the next few days, a headline caught my eye. "City of Undurr taken by Andi's Followers.' If you know what Undurr looks like, It's not a small place. They have a more substantial army than Saisho, and they are around half the size of O'Jahnz. Fortunately, Undurr was at the opposite edge of the mainland, all the way across the mainland. We appeared okay for then." Osiris said. There was a pause and he continued. "At the end of that very week, just two days later, there was another big headline. It was the talk of the streets, so I picked up one to check it out. 'Yet again, another city falls to the hands of Andi's Followers. People grieve the loss of Rexalynn.'"