Through the usual way of things, Snooze and Halgflim (you may have forgotten that was her full first name) gathered together Hal’s traveling supplies and her Zuzu, and made their tenacious trek out of the Village of Gens. They rode hard to the south, attempting to put as much distance between themselves and any intrepid pursuers as was physically possible. 

 

At daybreak, they pulled to the side of the road and rested for a brief time. They had both been up all day and night, and though Snooze didn’t seem to be fatigued (she was a god, and even despite that, she had been sleeping for an untold number of years), Hal was in due need of a bit of rest. So, they settled down so that Hal could get a brief reprieve. Snooze spent that time contemplating her situation, and of course her next move. It was a high-risk strategy, but also had the promise of wonderful value if what she speculated were to pass without a hitch. 

 

Hal rose after a few short hours, and the two of them ate a quick meal of jerkied meat and something akin to a dry cracker before setting out on the road again. Snooze had surreptitiously been eating only small portions of her own rations, as she did not need to eat in her Avatar form, but also didn’t want to raise suspicion to Hal that she was anything other than a strange-looking denizen of the natural world. 

 

During this respite, Snooze learned a bit more about her companion and her origins.

 

Halgflim okka Fuose was from a tiny hamlet in the south called V’Ly. The youngest child of six to a pair of aging parents, their family was quite impoverished, and Hal sought to change that. She was indeed quite young, one year previous, at the age of thirteen, she had left her home to join up with the ranks of the Wulket’s Bosk Dagala Shood--translated to: Fine Ranger Force--a group aligned with the traditional guardianship of the more rural territories of the realm. She’d not been martial when she’d arrived, though it became apparent early on that she was a fair hand with a blade, and was soon distinguished enough to be called upon by the Ylykfar, a premiere regimen that operated out of a place called Kraet Village. 

 

Out on scouting patrol, her group encountered members of the Ranger Force who were fleeing from something called the “Rekvahn.” They were injured and couldn’t continue on, and so it was given to Hal to carry the message of warning to the Village of Gens, where some of the high-ups were stationed.

 

That was where Snooze had encountered her, and so she was able to piece together a bit more as to the puzzle of the nature of Hal.

 

They continued on through the day, carefully skirting around villages and towns of varying sizes--much to Snooze’s grief. She wanted very much to leap from the back of the Zuzu and hurl herself into exploration of each new settlement, but was forced to rein herself in. She knew that once she was back in her rightful place in the god plane she could spend as much time as she liked examining the curious cultures and structures of the world, but for now that just wouldn’t do. She had other business within a frustrating limited timetable to attend to, and so they traveled onward, plodding along the roads and as the evening began to show signs of its arrival, so did rain. But by nightfall, the storm had abated again and the clouds moved away, revealing a clear path to the unbroken night sky.  Snooze also found that they had arrived in an area that she was very much familiar with.

 

“So little has changed!” the god exclaimed, staring with wide-eyed wonder at the Great Crater of Oopsie-daisy, a name she, of course, had coined. 

 

It was a massive crevice in the rocky hills of the more southerly portion of the landmass, formed early on in the world when Snooze and Meat had been playing what was essentially a game of “space snake.” She had cultivated a massive chunk of ice that she allowed to zip through the vacuum of space, gathering more strategically-placed debris (from the initial formation of the planet) into its “tail” as it moved. One of the tiniest portions had been loosed as Snooze had guided the ice serpent around a turn very near to the planet (what Snooze had delightfully described to the Book of Leaf as a “sick drift”) and before she could stop it, what had essentially become a speeding meteor hit the landmass with a great force, chucking up all manner of destruction in the area. Though, as luck would have it, no lifeforms were harmed in the making of such an ill-conceived game, as the territory had a peculiar property.

 

“The stench of the Uuk is strong here,” Hal said, pinning her nose with her fingertips.

 

Sulfur.

 

The Great Crater of Oopsie-daisy was affixed in a nigh-uninhabitable terrain for living life (at least, the type to dwell in her world) because of the tremendous amount of sulfur it contained. The incredible natural storm that had occurred early on in the world’s history had scattered the sulfur far and wide, but a vast majority of the stuff had come to rest deep in the soil of this spot. Neither flora, nor fauna had taken hold in the stretch where the mineral was most prevalent, and had made the place all but a desert of rock and stink. The Ngak had called the land, Uuku Raga, which meant “rotten water,” because the rivers and streams throughout the roughly sixty miles all burbled with poison, killing anything that drank from its waters. 

 

Snooze nodded.

 

“Yeah, this is pretty much the worst thing I’ve ever smelled, and I was in a sewer once,” Snooze said.

 

Hal scowled.

 

“Yes, I recall,” she said matter-of-factly. “That was this morning. I was also present if you’ll fit to remember.”

 

Snooze nodded sheepishly, though she did not clarify she had meant a different situation from her old life, when she had spent the night trapped inside the tank of a portable toilet at a music festival after one of her plastic bangles had slipped off of her wrist and into the murky water. She shouldn’t have tried to retrieve it, but she did try, and suffered quite ungraciously for it after learning forward too far and tumbling in. It wasn’t until the next day when the event staff were cleaning up that they had found her, pulling her out of the muck and were forced to spray the disgusting film off of her with a hose.

 

But hey--she’d gotten her bracelet back.

 

“Look,” Hal commanded, pointing up at the high cliffs above the Crater. Snooze did as she was bid, and saw that her companion had found an aberration.  A structure not unlike a large, bleak and black tower loomed above them. It was tall, that much was obvious, even from below, and made of materials so dark that had there been no moon, Snooze thought she’d have missed it.

 

“Is that… where the Rekvahn lives?” Snooze asked.

 

“The scouts we encountered indicated that the creature dwelt in a dark spire or obelisk in the Poison Wastes above the Fury of the Gods.”

 

“Seems pretty generic,” Snooze said, and before Hal could respond to her statement, she interrupted.

 

“Did you say, Fury of the Gods?”

 

Hal nodded.

 

“Aye, are you unaware of its lore? It is quite infamous.”

 

Snooze shook her head.

 

“Uh, no, I’m from… far away. Hadn’t heard of it until now. What’s the scoop?”

 

Hal rolled her eyes but seemed to understand the strange words her companion uttered, and she cast a hand to the massive hole in the earth.

 

“It is said that when the creators formed the world, they saw that most of what they had wrought from the heavens was good and wholesome. However, this place was created by Kekai, the Sinister Trickster, a place of toxic instability, where no troweled field could take hold, and the beasts of the land avoided. The gods grew angry and wanted to destroy it, but Kekai was resourceful, and bid the other gods to target himself instead, and they sent a grievous rain of projectiles from the heavens where he stood. Kekai was able to rescue all but the area he inhabited, and with their arsenal depleted, the gods could not send any more terror his way, and so he won out.”

 

Snooze stared at her.

 

“And you… believe that?”

 

Hal nodded.

 

“I’ve no justification for the contrary. It is written in the tomes that this is the truth, as was given to the first acolytes by the gods. I do not think that I know more than any god.”

 

You might be surprised. Snooze thought.

 

“You wouldn't happen to be one of those… uh… Guild members, would you?” Snooze asked. “Of the Unspecial Zealots, or whatever?”

 

“You speak of the Ordinary Orthodoxy?” Hal spit, her nose wrinkling in disgust. “Of course not! Those heathens bring their own brand of blasphemy to the shores of scholarship, professing there is only one creator above all others, and that this world is but one of many. Surely you don’t think I am so foolish?”

 

Snooze was surprised at the vitriol billowing out of her partner, and held up placating hands.

 

“No, I uh, was just making sure,” she said carefully. “Damn Guildies, ruining this fair land with their completely inaccurate philosophy on the inner workings of a multi-faceted existence of countless moving parts and unknowable value.”

 

Hal blinked at her.

 

“Right you are,” she said.

 

“So, you’re pretty religious, then?” Snooze asked. 

 

“Not in the slightest,” Hal explained. “But, some things are logical beyond comparison. Those of that ilk are just ignorant to the traditions that we have founded our entire lineage upon, and if it weren’t for the Wulk’s husband having become a recent and ardent supporter, they’d find no foothold in all of Mert.”

 

They decided to set up for the night, pitching a small shelter under an outcropping of rock below the cliffs. Hal attempted to start a fire, but was having difficulties finding suitably dry pieces of kindling, so Snooze offered to continue speaking with her to rescue her from her frustrations.

 

“So the Wulk’s husband has begun believing in the Guild’s accounts of how the world works?” She asked.

 

Hal didn’t look up as she was fixated on a particularly stubborn piece of wood that wasn’t taking to flame with her flint and tinder, but she did respond.

 

“I do not understand his motivations precisely, or whether or not he is a dyed-in-the-geff believer,” Hal said. “But, the talk is that he has entertained them beyond what would be considered simple politeness, and allowed them domain to begin their proselytizing inside the confines of settlements, something no other temple has been allowed to do.”

 

“Where did they come from, the Guild?” Snooze asked.

 

Hal snapped the stick in half and tried to light the drier insides. 

 

“They claim to hail from Hadaly,” she explained. “Which only makes sense considering their lot are right-crazy in their own right. They were formerly waging a never-ending war against us, abridging their fleets to ravage the coasts, and even making numerous failed attempts to marry within the Wulkery itself.”

 

Wulkery is pretty self-explanatory, Snooze thought. The Wulk’s family.

 

“So they were your enemies?” Snooze asked. “What changed?”

 

“The Ordinance of the Unkept,” Hal said through gritted teeth. She looked up quizzically at Snooze.

 

“You don’t know any of this? From just how far away do you come?”

 

“Really far away,” Snooze said. “Practically a whole other world.”

 

Hal nodded.

 

“I had a cousin who had gone off over the Horizon’s Passage,” she said. “He was a bit of a braggart, and reckoned he’d seek to explore the unknown parts of the world, and make a fortune that way. Last we had heard, he made it as far as Suln g’Sek before dropping out of existence.”

 

“Do you have any idea what happened to him?” Snooze asked.

 

“Most like, he either got himself killed or found some wench to sire fat babes upon and lost interest in his wayfaring lifestyle. That was a touch before my time, though, and this all comes second-hand from my father, so perhaps there’s more to the story.”

 

I have a feeling a lot more than these stories come from her father. Snooze thought. She found it wholly unique that Hal, at the young age of fourteen had developed all of her opinions on religion and international relations on her own. Though, she thought that she’d been surprised before, so she could very well be a world-class commentary on the social structure of her day.

 

“Are you from near thereabouts?” Hal asked her.

 

“I can’t be certain. You might have a different name for it than I do,” Snooze lied. “I’m from the Spicy Village, a little out-of-the-way place where hardly anyone lives.”

 

“Spesi,” Hal said, much like Jors all those years ago. “It has a nice sound to it. What sort of place is Spesi?”

 

Snooze smiled, thinking about all the adventures she’d engaged in on the god plane with Book and Meat by her side.

 

“Oh, it’s wonderful,” she said. “You’re free to do as you wish, and encouraged to do so. Well, most of the time.”

 

She recalled quite strongly the time that the Book had very seriously advised against her express desire to ride the its pedestal like a surfboard through the sky while keeping it aloft with her Air spell. It was, as she continually reminded him over the years since, a huge bummer.

 

Hal smiled. 

 

“It sounds lovely,” she said, finally dropping her flint with disgust. Snooze, not wanting to spoil her mood further, decided to help a little. She lifted her hand slightly and activated her Fire ability, sending a tiny little ember of flame into the gathered kindling. The spark took, and a very quickly, a tiny blaze began at at the base of the sticks. Hal started in surprise, snapping forward and began blowing lightly on the tongues of fire as they grew.

 

“Wow, great job!” Snooze exclaimed.

 

Hal nodded.

 

“It appears all of my toiling was not in vain,” she said.

 

“Guess not,” Snooze said, a secret smile plastered to her face.

 

The two of them set to supping, with Snooze pulling her magician’s act of hardly consuming any of it, and before long, Hal fell asleep. While Snooze still wasn’t bound to the traditional methods of biological necessity, she did think that the particular spot she rested in was quite cozy--despite the smell. She thought vaguely as to the nature of lighting a fire in a sulfur-heavy environment, but as neither of them had burst into flames, she thought that perhaps they would be safe for now. Some method of chemistry she’d set into motion in this world seemed to be different than her old life, at least. She also pondered as to how it was possible to breathe with ease the noxious fumes in the area, but once again, she relegated that to something she either would never understand or would be explained to her in due time.

 

How right she was, but as to which remains to be seen.

 

--

 

Fairly late into the evening, as Snooze was in the middle of composing a song in her head called “Dr. Lava Hawk,” she heard a noise.

 

It startled her, and she sat upright and raised her hands, preparing to blast any intruder with a tiny flame or a strand of ivy if they so much as dared to get within her radius. 

 

The god looked over at Hal, and saw that she was still asleep. She didn’t blame her, they had been awake for almost two days since she'd met her on the road, and the poor girl had only had a few hours of sleep since. Snooze carefully rose, looking around in the darkness for any sign of a person or animal that could have made a noise in what had been an extremely quiet evening so far.

 

It didn’t take long.

 

From nearly fifty feet away, a shape slid into view from the darkness. They were heavily cowled, face obscured, and dressed in a dark cloak that reached the ground. As they moved, it gave Snooze the impression of floating, and that supremely unnerved her.

 

This must be the Rekvahn. Though, that look is a bit stereotypical. 

 

The shape continued forward, until it stopped about twenty feet from where Snooze stood, pale hands beneath the billowing sleeves catching the light of the moon and making them glow eerily.

 

“Are you here to see me?” The specter asked. 

 

It was a male voice, and had a wispy hiss as though he had laryngitis. Snooze decided that showing her trepidation was not the best course of action--she was a god after all! So she crossed her arms confidently and nodded once to confirm.

 

“Ah, that is most fortunate,” the man said, still not moving any further. “I love to entertain guests.”

 

“You are the Rekvahn?” Snooze asked, willing her voice to sound as gruff as she’d made it in the Blade Gullet.

 

“I am Rekvahn,” he specified.

 

“Odd name to have,” Snooze said suspiciously. “Hippy parents?”

 

“I gave myself this name,” Rekvahn said. “Whether or not my parents were of a wider frame is irrelevant, as is their original name for me. I have been Rekvahn for far longer than I was called anything other than that.”

 

“Okay,” Snooze said. His manner was stranger than his appearance, but it made her less afraid in general. Plus, the hilarious misunderstanding of “hippy” was enough to make her think that maybe he was a tad bit literal.

 

“So, Rekvahn,” Snooze said. “Can I call you Rekky?” She would have chosen “Vahn,” but that brought up memories of a childhood tormenter that used to sneak up at her table in the cafeteria and take bites out of her sandwich. She had complained numerous times to the staff, but they had insisted that until they were able to capture him and put him back in his cage in the kindergarten classroom, they’d be unable to punish him for his furry misdeeds.

 

“You may not--” Rekvahn started, but Snooze cut him off.

 

“Anyway, Rekky, I am here for a specific purpose.” Snooze stated. “I’m not here to fight you or try and scare you off, though, so don’t get any ideas. I am on a fact finding mission.”

 

“Very well,” Rekvahn said.

 

“What is it that you’ve done to rile up these people so much? You must be a pretty bad dude from the amount of grief you’re causing.”

 

Rekvahn chuckled, a cracking hiss  like sand over broken glass.

 

“I suppose they might find what I do to be most uncouth, but I assure you, I participate in nothing vile or unseemly.”

 

“So, what do you do then?” Snooze asked, relaxing her stance a little considering the man was being so forthcoming with his answers.

 

“I use the gifts I have procured over a long tenure to bring about restructuring and reconditioning, and fit to work properly again.”

 

“So, I’m going to assume that you don’t mean you fix and flip old Victorian mansions on the property circuit…” Snooze said. “Are you bringing people back from the dead?”

 

Rekvahn didn’t say anything at first, but somehow seemed to be regarding Snooze with curiosity. She wasn’t even sure if he could see through his Galacatic Emperor-like costume hood, but she thought it was best to play it safe. Finally, he spoke.

 

“It is true, though that is not all I do. I am interested to know, though, why you have come to seek me out if not to attempt to destroy me?”

 

“People try to destroy you? Even with this whole, “sorcerer duke of ultimate evil” vibe you’ve got going on?”

 

Rekvahn nodded.

 

“Try being the operative word,” he clarified. “They never seem to be equipped with the necessary capabilities required to bring me down. Poor things.”

 

“What sort of ‘capabilities’ would one need to necessitate in order to put you in the dirt?” Snooze asked.

 

“Why, I suppose anything short of one of the gods themselves would be unable to surmount a suitable offense.”

 

Snooze chuckled.

 

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that then,” she said. “Listen, as I said, I have no interest in duking it out with you. I’m here for information, and possibly a favor.”

 

“A favor?” Rekvahn asked, his voice breaking into mirth. He laughed harder at that, almost as if he thought it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.

 

“Alright, it’s not that funny,” Snooze said. “Just hear me out, and then you can go back to your super mysterious lair and listen to goth techno, or whatever.”

 

“You speak so strangely,” Rekvahn said, and Snooze caught the hint of a smile beneath his hood. “It is intriguing. Go ahead and speak your peace, Brug, though I do not promise you that I will answer.”

 

Snooze took a deep breath, looking once more at Hal who was still asleep, before turning back to the necromancer.

 

“I want you to bring someone back for me.”