Entanglement of the Dark

Two

"The ones about the woman with magical hands, the man with golden eyes, and the other dreams like when you told me that a fire had started in the next village over."

"And the fire did start a few days later-"

"Precisely," he sat up in his chair taking another puff of his pipe.

"Your grandmother was a conjurer," he said.

"Mother's-"

"No," he shook his head roughly. "On your father's side. I do not have much information, but I do know that she had been very powerful. I do not know what part she played when she dropped your father off here before The Great Banishing, as many of them were dying at the hands of Seci- the vile man, but she never came back."

Her grandfather waited while she processed and then continued. "I waited for a long time for your father to develop powers, even hoped for it, as The Grey Death was with us already and people needed a Conjurer. Evil was still alive and well at that time, contained yes, but only a bridge cross away."

"And he never did," Julian summarized.

"No, he never did." He grandfather stood up. He had once been a tall and handsome man, deeply browned by the sun from working on a farm. Now he was huddled over, skinny, and his deep brown skin had lost the golden glow of the sun's kiss and turned to worn leather. "The woman did not give me her name, and I took care of her son as she asked me too, even let him marry my only child, but he never developed the powers she said he should have. But you have shown the sight of a Conjurer."

"Did she say anything else?" Julian already knew her dreams and her nightmares had a tendency to come true. It was one of the reasons her grandfather asked her not to share them with anyone but him. He had been watching her.

"She told me that when a child of magical lineage is born, to dip them in the river before taking them to the elder stones and pray to the Gods to watch over them and guide them." His voice was shaking. "I took you from your little cradle and I dipped your small body in the water on a crisp spring night. Once you told me about the fire, I knew that it had worked. It had skipped your father, but it had not skipped over you."

He recited by memory what he had been told.

"Dip them in a river's bed,

Wash them clean - be born again

Take them back to the elder stones,

Magic there will begin to form.

Accept the power at their will,

Under the moonlights glow they fill.

"I dipped you in the river, I took you to the elder stones, and I let you bathe in the moonlight as I prayed." He smiled. "You glowed."

"And then what happened?" Julian sat on the edge of her chair.

"And then it stopped. I put you in a blanket and took you home." He shook his head and glanced around. "You continued to have your visions and not much else as time went on. I did not know much then but what I do know now, I can feel it in my old bones, is that if they take Roane and cross The Glass, you need to protect them."

"At all costs-"

"As much as it takes," he confirmed.

Until it takes me. Julian thought to herself. "Have the others shown anything?"

He shook his head once again. "But I did to them the same as I did to you just in case. I do not think I missed any signs from them. If you contain magic it will eventually show itself. You will be able to guide the powers if they develop anything as well. I am sorry, there is no more known information I can give you. It was believed that all conjurers are gone, save for the son of the greatest darkness this land has ever known, and all of the scrolls were destroyed. You must keep it to yourself. For the man across The Glass, it would be valuable information and you will not know who will help you or who will harm you for him."

"Yes, Papa."

"You will need to take my horse when they leave. Do not take the same roads as them. Your parents will never let you leave, and your brother will surely die."

"I understand," the images of her brother, dying in their home, was enough to make her ill. "But if I cannot go with them, how will I cross?"

Her grandfather paused as if he were thinking over his own idea. "There is land between here and there with the smallest amount of distance between the river. If you jump in and swim as soon as the group begins to cross, you could have a chance to make it before the creatures can decide which soul to take."

"Mine or one of those crossing the bridge."

"You will have to be quick," he urged her. "You will not be able to get a second chance if you have to face one of those water demons alone. And you will have to avoid the Vidarr."

Julian had not thought about the Vidarr, the protectors of the surrounding forest that stood between those wanting to go across and come back from crossing The Glass. They would stop her if they caught her trying to jump in the water. Some Vidarr would accept bribes for those trying to cross while others would turn you away. She nodded.

"I will come to check on your brother later," her grandfather coughed again. "I feel a bit tired and do not think I would be able to handle the sadness at the moment."

Julian understood. She was young and healthy and even she could barely tolerate the horrors of The Grey Death. She left without another word into the woods. She decided she would not tell her sister about the conversation and instead ran through fake conversations she would state instead if Edyleise inquired about her visit further. She did not go home, she instead wandered to a grassy plain where she could be alone with the wind and sky and laid down. She watched as the sun rode across the sky and sent thoughts to the Estus, the God of the wind, sun, and sky.

What must it be like? She thought to him. To ride the sun across the world and to see all the land below like a giant bird.

It would be nice to be so far away from the world and its problems. She imagined herself riding the sun and closed her eyes. She tried to think of peaceful thoughts before her mind switched to the conversation with her grandfather.