Just as Elise had promised they did stop to eat, but it wasn’t until they had travelled many miles that they eventually stopped. Theo seemed glad for the break and he was just as happy to take the weight off his feet as he was to eat some food. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed to him that he wasn’t used to travelling these sorts of distances on foot. The break turned out to be short lived, Elise was keen to get back on the move as soon as they had finished eating.

“Are you ready to move?” Elise asked.

“Yes.”

“Just so you know, we won’t be stopping again, not until we reach the evening campsite.”

“You have a place in mind?”

“Yeah, somewhere I know that we’ll be safe.”

“How long will it take us to walk there?”

“Well that depends on how fast we walk.”

Elise had answered him with a little but knowing smile. It wasn’t lost on him, he was well aware that he was the one slowing them both down.

“Okay then let’s not hang about. Lead the way!” Theo replied jumping to his feet, trying to look enthusiastic.

“That’s the spirit.” She laughed. “But try not to waste too much energy, we have a very long walk ahead of us.”

The pair set off once again. Just like the first leg of their journey Elise was setting a hard pace for Theo to follow, even if he had already become a little accustomed to it. Despite this, he was trying his best to keep up with her. He knew that it was for his benefit that they were keeping this sort of pace, if Elise wanted to, she could leave at any moment. The only reason that she was still out here at all was because she had decided to take Theo under her protection. Knowing this he tried his best not to show any sign of discomfort and didn’t complain at all. Hour after hour passed as the pair walked, only stopping occasionally to take on water. As the night finally fell, they briefly came to a halt whilst Elise rummaged around in her bag for something. After some searching, she produced two stones from her bag.

“Here use this.” She said passing Theo one of the stones.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a glow stone.”

She held the stone in her hand and just as the name suggested it began to glow with a dim but pure white light. It wasn’t a lot, but it was more than enough to find your way in the dark. Theo decided to copy Elise’s movements and placed the stone she had given him in his right hand hoping for it to produce the same light. He waited for a moment, but nothing happened…

“Um, how do I make it glow?” He asked her looking a little confused.

“Oh right, I keep forgetting you have no memory. I suppose even something as simple as this is a mystery to you.”

“It is.”

“You just need to let a small part of your Pneuma flow from your hand and into the stone, then it will glow.”

“Ah that sounds simple enough…” He looked down and the stone in his hand and waited for a few seconds, but the stone was still refusing to glow. “And how would I go about doing that?”

“I suppose I’ll really have to start at the beginning with you. Just imagine the air flowing into your lungs and around your body. Once you have a strong mental image of that simply try pushing a small amount of that energy from your hand into the stone.”

He followed her instruction and stared at the stone he held expectantly waiting for it to glow. The glow never came.

“This stone doesn’t seem to be working!” He complained.

Elise chuckled.

“It looks as if it’ll take you some practice before you can master it. For now, just follow me closely and keep practicing what I told you. If we’re lucky perhaps you will have got the hang of it by the time, we reach our destination.”

“I’ll keep trying.”

Stones in hand they set off again. This time Theo had to closely follow Elise, trying to stay in her footsteps and keeping to the path her stone illuminated. Walking through the dark woods following the light from someone that was always a few steps ahead wasn’t an easy task for him and all the while he was trying to make his own stone glow. A couple of hours passed as they walked, Theo had been deep in concentration the entire time, he was close to giving up when something suddenly clicked and the stone he held began to shine.

“It’s working!” He exclaimed.

Elise turned see if he really had managed it.

“It is. Well done, you’ve taken the first step to becoming a Pneuma user!”

“This is only the first step?” Theo asked sounding a little disappointed.

“And it only gets harder.”

“Looks like I’m not remotely cut out for this sort of thing.”

“I wouldn’t get too disheartened. I was expecting you to take longer than that to manage it.”

 “But I can’t believe it took me so long and it still feels like I don’t know how I’m getting it to work.”

“You’ll just have to keep it up. You’ll soon become used to this sort of technique.”

Now Theo had finally managed to get his stone to glow, it became much easier for him to pick his way through the roots and stones that littered the forest floor. Keeping up with Elise had become that much more doable. The trek continued long into the night, another couple of hours passed when they reached a large hill and the path started to climb. As they made their way up, a pair of pillars started to loom out of the darkness up the path ahead.

“What’s that?” Theo asked pointing at the pillars.

“Those are the gate posts, the entrance markers to our destination.”

With the end of their journey now in sight they both picked up the pace. Elise passed in between the two gateposts, but as soon as Theo tried to follow in her footsteps, he was stopped dead in his tracks by some invisible force.

“I-I can’t move!” He yelped.

“Ah, sorry about that. I’d forgotten about that feature of the gateway; it has been a while since someone new has passed by. Please, come on in.”

As soon as she invited him in the force subsided and he was able to pass the stones.

“What was that?”

“The boundary stones that surround this place won’t let a person through their protective field unless they are invited in by the owner, me. Once you’ve been invited in you can come and go as you please.”

“Almost of like a force field.”

“A force what?”

“Um… Something that acts like an invisible shield, not that I’d know how.”

“Interesting, I’ve never heard that word before. Where’d you pick it up?”

“I have no idea. It just came to me when we were talking, just like my name did earlier. I have no memory of how I know it, sorry.”

“Don’t worry yourself. I just thought for a moment you were regaining some of your memories.”

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

“Well not to worry, it’s still early days.”

“Yeah, I just hope they all come back…” Theo fell silent for a moment before changing the subject. “Anyway, the gateway is really impressive. Just how does that work?”

“That’s something that even I don’t know as the owner. Their secrets have been lost to the mists of time. Unfortunately, I only know how to make use of them.”

“I see, well it’s still pretty impressive.”

“Thanks.”

“When you said you were the owner of this place, do you mean we’ve already reached your home?”

“Yes, everything from here onwards is my property. If we keep heading up the hill, you’ll soon see my house.”

“I thought it was going to take at least another day?”

“It was, but then I made you walk all day and night! Now we’re here, so you can rest easy, you’ll be safe from now on.”

“That’s good to hear.” The relief in his voice was clear.

Even with Elise as company he had still been uneasy and on edge the entire time they had been travelling. He never wanted to see those creatures again, he could still picture the three of them bearing down on him as he swung the blade to defend himself the previous night. It was a memory he wanted to forget. The pair walked on up the hill past the gateway, they were now on a well-kept gravel pathway. Just as Elise had said it wasn’t long before they could make out her dwelling as the rooves of the buildings started to come into view. From the distance it looked like a small settlement, there were four houses that Theo could make out on the approach. Before long they were stood outside the closest house. They had barely been there for a moment before the door of the furthest house up the street flung open and a figure came running out. Theo immediately reached for the blade that Elise had given him as it was still at his hip.

“It’s okay Theo, they’re a friend.” Elise reassured him.

“Lady Elise! You’ve returned.” The new face called out as they ran down the hill to great them.

Theo relaxed as he could make out who was running down the hill to meet them. It was a young woman, they appeared to be in her early twenties, but after finding out how much older Elise was than his expectations, he put up off making any judgement this time.

“Of course, I have. I was only gone for a few days, there wasn’t any need for you to have worried.” Elise answered the girl.

“I know, but when you didn’t return in the evening as you’d said, I couldn’t help but be a little concerned.”

“Well I’m back now.”

The girl finally noticing that Elise wasn’t alone turned her attention towards Theo.

“Oh, and who is this?” The girl asked, giving Theo a questioning look.

“This is Theo. He’s the reason I was late returning. He needed rescuing from a pack of Rasenclaw in the woods. I found him on my way back.”

“I knew there’d been trouble. I suppose you couldn’t just leave someone to their fate out there, but why’ve you brought him back with you?”

“Because he has nowhere else to go.”

“Nowhere else to go… Can’t he just go back to where he came from?”

“That isn’t possible and anyway, I’ve decided to take him in.”

“Oh, Lady Elise. You can’t just keep on picking up strays like this… Just who is he anyway?”

“He’s Theo.”

“I mean where is he from and why was he out in the middle of nowhere needing saving?”

“I’ve no idea.”

“Didn’t you ask?”

“Of course, I did, but He isn’t in a position to tell us anything about himself. It seems that he has lost all of his memories.”

“Lost all of his memories? Are you being serious?”

“Yes.”

“And you believe him?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Is there anything to back his story up?”

“I can tell he isn’t lying to me. Isn’t that enough?”

The girl put her hands in her face and shook her head.

“It’s very suspicious is what it is, but I suppose we have to give him the benefit of the doubt. If you didn’t do that then where would I be now.”

“Good… Well Theo, it looks like she’s accepted you, well sort of. The girl over there is called List, forgive her if she sounded a little curt, she’s just very protective of me.”

“Right, of course. I don’t blame her, I guess from her perspective I must seem very suspicious. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you List.”

“You too. Just remember, don’t betray her trust and we’ll get along just fine.” List answered with a look that sent a shiver down Theo’s spine.

“I-I won’t. I promise.”

“Good.”

“Well, well isn’t that great you’re both getting along so well already.” Interrupted Elise. “I hate to ask seeing as it’s so late, but would you be able to get a room ready for Theo? I think as soon as I sit down, I won’t be able to move again.”

“Of course, Lady Elise.”

List ran off into the nearest house at Elise’s request.

“Come, follow me.”

Elise waved for Theo to follow her and the pair walked into the same house List had just gone into. As soon as they got inside Elise pulled up a chair and slung herself down.

“Ah that’s better!” She sighed. “Go on grab yourself a seat.”

“Sure.”

Theo did just as Elise suggested and pulled out another seat from under the kitchen table, then sat himself down. Once seated he realised just how tired he was. Having been walking since the crack of dawn and only having had a few hours of sleep the previous night, he was more than happy to finally be able to take the weight off his feet. They had only been sat for minute when List reappeared from upstairs.

“The room is ready for you.” She announced.

“Thanks.” Theo answered.

 “Well now that’s sorted, I’m going to take my leave and head to bed. Feel free to help yourself to any food or drink you want Theo.”

“Lady Elise, you’re going right to bed?” List asked abruptly.

“I am...”

“When was the last time you ate?”

“Well we had some lunch on the way here.”

“You haven’t eaten since then!?”

“Well…”

“That settles it. You wait there, I’ll go and fetch the Ithlong stew I’ve got left over.”

“R-right.” Elise could sense there was no room for argument.

“What about you Theo, would you like some?” List asked turning to him.

“This might sound but like a bit of silly question, but what is Ithlong stew?” Theo asked.

“Well it’s basically just cuts of Ithlong breast stewed up in the pot with veggies.”

“Right… What’s an Ithlong?”

“You know the small things with feathers and beaks? Where eggs come from.” List hadn’t meant it to sound that way, but her response to Theo sounded a little patronising.

“List!” Called out Elise attempting to prompt List.

“Oh right, your memories. Um, well you must be hungry. Why don’t you start out just trying a little and see if you like it? I promise it’s tasty.” List added realising her mistake.

“Sure, thanks I will.”

List left the kitchen once again, this time she headed outside. Theo was left to assume that this was because the stew was in her own home in one of the other buildings. A minute or two passed before she returned with a large stew pot held in her hands. She placed it down on the table in between Theo and Elise then lifted off the lid. A pleasant and strangely familiar smell to Theo wafted out of the pot. List rustled around in a cupboard and the side of the room before producing three bowls that she proceeded to lay out on the table. Next, she took some cutlery from a nearby drawer and placed them next to the bowls. As soon as she was finished, she pulled up a chair and joined the other two at the table.

“So, you’re joining us as well?” Asked Elise.

“Yes.” She answered blushing a little. “I haven’t eaten since lunchtime either. I’m afraid to say that when you still hadn’t returned by nightfall this evening I really began to worry, and I lost all my appetite. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course, not!”

“Good, then pass me your bowls please both of you.”

They both did as List asked and waited patiently while she ladled out the stew for them. Theo’s mouth had begun to water in anticipation of a meal, the lunch earlier had only been a light affair and he had walked many miles since last eating. Finally, List had finished serving and the bowls of stew sat in front of them all, ready to be eaten.

“Go ahead dig in.” List encouraged

Neither Theo nor Elise needed any further encouragement and did exactly as List had suggested. Just as the aroma from the stew had been familiar to Theo, the taste from the meat was instantly recognisable to him.

“This tastes just like chicken! Is Ithlong a type of Chicken?” He asked.

Both Elise and List froze from eating and stared at him in confusion for a moment until Elise broke the silence by asking.

“What do you mean by Chicken? I’ve never heard that word before.”

“You know, it’s a common type of bird. I would describe it in much the same way that List described the Ithlong. You must have at least heard the name before surely? It’s a very common type of poultry.”

“What on earth are you talking about? Bird, poultry, I’ve never heard anyone use those words before either.” List cut in.

“Me either, but perhaps Theo has come from much further afield than we guessed at first. They must be familiar words in his region…” Elise looked a little concerned as she spoke.

“I guess, but…” Theo tried to explain further but was cut off by Elise.

“Let’s just accept it that he has tried Ithlong before and he’s happy with your cooking.” Elise glanced at him as she spoke, and he took the hint.

“It really is good.” Theo answered quickly changing the subject.

“Really?”

“Yes, delicious. Is there a secret to the recipe?”

“It’s a family recipe, but I guess I wouldn’t mind showing you sometime if you were interested?”

“Please do.”

After that little episode, the three of them ate their meal without further incident. Once they had finished List collected up the bowls and left them in the sink for cleaning the next day. It was now far too late to being doing anything like that. It had to already be the early hours of the morning and all anyone wanted now was to go to bed. As soon as she had finished Elise excused herself and went upstairs.

“List, can you show Theo to his room?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks… Oh and Theo, we have a lot to look into and discuss tomorrow. I’ll come and find you once I’m ready.”

“O-okay.

There was a serious tone to Elise’s voice, and Theo had to wonder what she meant, but now was not the time to ask. He would find out soon enough anyway.

“Goodnight both of you.”

With that she left them both in the kitchen.

“Come on then. I’ll show you to your room.” List said whilst fighting off a yawn.

“Thanks.”

List led Theo to a staircase that joined onto the other wing of the house. The stairs were narrow, old and warped, so Theo had to watch his step as he followed List up the dimly lit staircase. Once upstairs she showed him to a room at the far end of the landing corridor.

“This is the guest room. I’ve prepared everything so you should be all set, but if you need anything just come and find me. I’m in the house next door. Oh, and I meant in the morning.”

“Thanks List. I’m sure I’ll be fine with what you’ve prepared. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of interrupting your rest.”

“Okay. Well, I expect I will see you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight list.”

Once List left, Theo entered the guest room. It was only illuminated by the small glow stone that Elise had given him on their journey here. It was dim, but it was more than enough for him to find his way to the bed and undress. Dotted around the room were a few items attached to the wall, they looked like they were set there to provide illumination, not that he had any idea how to work them. He would have to wait until the morning to ask Elise along with everything else. He got out of his clothes and slid into the bed. It was everything he had been waiting for. He had no way of knowing how long it had been since he had slept in a real bed, all he knew was it had been at least two nights and probably longer. The bed was soft and comfortable, he pulled the warm duvet over himself and almost immediately fell asleep.

He awoke the next day, what he assumed was still the morning. He guessed he had at least slept past the morning chorus. He couldn’t hear any sounds coming from the rest of the house, so he decided to get up and see if anyone else was around. He threw on his clothes that were strewn over the floor and after a quick freshening up in the attached bathroom he headed downstairs. As he made his way down, he begun to make out the sounds of life coming from the kitchen, accompanied by a pleasant smell wafting up the stairs.

“Ah, you’re up! I was going to wake you in a bit. Elise said you would probably be up soon, so I’ve started cooking some breakfast.” List announced once she had noticed his arrival in the kitchen.

“You didn’t have to, but Hmm smells lovely. What is it?”

To him it smelled just like eggs and bacon, but after the night before and the scene he caused by saying something seemingly strange, he didn’t want to make assumptions and draw a suspicious look from List. She turned and looked at him with slight surprise at first.

“Oh, right sorry the amnesia… It’s just eggs and bacon.”

“Bacon, where is that from?”

“It comes from pigs, just like ham, but I suppose that doesn’t help you much. I do hope you start remembering soon, it could become tiring if every little thing needs to be explained.”

It was just as Theo had begun to speculate to himself. Some memories that were triggered seemed to be correct, but he had no way of knowing which without checking with someone else. “List was right this could become tiresome.” Theo thought to himself.  He started to wonder if whatever had caused his amnesia had further reaching cognitive implications than were initially noticeable.

 “Right, of course. Sorry if this gets on your nerves, it must be a pain to have explain even the simple things.” Theo apologised.

“No, no, please don’t worry. I meant more for you. I don’t find it annoying at all!” List showed her cute side as she became a little flustered and tried to reassure Theo.

He smiled.

“Few, well that’s a relief, but do let me know if, you know, I do become irritating at all.”

She laughed a little at his response.

“Yeah, I’ll let you know.”

List turned back and continued cooking away at the stove. Theo took his cue and sat down at the table, where list had already laid out the plates and cutlery. He didn’t have to wait long before it was ready to eat. It seemed he really had woken up at just the right time. List dished up the eggs and bacon a long with a couple of slices of rustic looking bread before sitting down and joining him at the table.

“Isn’t Elise joining us?” Theo asked List as she sat down.

“It doesn’t look like it. She said she might have returned by the time you were up, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“She’s already left on another trip?!”

“I know, I thought the same thing myself. She said she had something important she wanted to discuss with one of her old friends. I tried to talk her out of it, but whatever she’s going to see them about, she decided it was too important to wait. Don’t worry I’m sure she’s going to be back later today.”

“I see well just so long as she’s okay. I have nothing else to do today other than to wait for her to return anyway. Does this sort of thing happen much?”

“It does. She often goes out on urgent business. I guess it’s part of the job, but this morning she was clearly in a hurry… But don’t worry, if something bad was up she would have said something.”

“Right, sure. Well did she mention what it was about at all?”

“No, she didn’t, not a word.”

“I guess we’ll both have to wait for her to return to find out.”

“We will.”

They both continued to eat their breakfast, (he found out later that it was actually closer to lunch). By the time they had finished eating and tidied away there was still no sign of Elise’s return. List was busy with her usual duties, but she had just enough time to show him around the small settlement. Apart from Elise’s house there were three smaller houses in there. The closest one was where List lived, the other two were currently empty. List told him that they used to be occupied by students of Elise, but it had been a long time since they had been lived in. She said that they had been empty for the entire time that she had lived here. He remembered that Elise had told him herself that it had been many years since she had taken on a student. He wondered just what it was that she taught. After she had shown him the houses, he was quickly shown around the animal enclosures. There were a few Ithlong wandering here and there (He was told that they only put them away at night). There was an enclosure with a few pigs and across the way there was a large open field with a few of what he guessed were cows dotted about here and there.

“And that’s about it for your tour.”

“Who looks after all the animals?”

“That would be me mostly, but Elise helps out as well when she has the time. I suppose if you end up staying here for any length of time you will have to pitch in as well.”

“I wouldn’t have the first idea of how to help.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll show you the ropes. But you can relax for now, I’m not going to start making you help right now.”

“Thanks.”

“Well I need to get back to work. Feel free to roam about and do as you please while you wait for Elise, within reason of course! There’s just one thing she was insistent on before she left.”

“What was it?”

“Whatever you do don’t pass the entrance gates or the boundary wall surrounding this place. I’m not sure why exactly, but she said that you were the type of person who just attracted trouble and I that I was to not let you out at all costs!”

He thought back to everything that had happened since He’d met Elise. He couldn’t fault her for giving List those instructions. As far as his memories stretched back, he had only attracted trouble to himself, and her.

“That won’t be a problem. I’ve no intention of heading out there alone. I know that I’m safe in here!” And he meant it.

“Good. It would be a pain if I had to watch over you. In that case I’ll get back to it. If Elise isn’t back by the evening, I’ll come and find you once I need a hand with the dinner.”

“Okay.”

With nothing else to do while he waited, Theo decided to walk the perimeter of the boundary wall. It was a beautiful day, so he had no objection to being outside. The entire settlement was situated on a flat plateau, in the side of the large hill they climbed the night before. The wall seemed to follow the very edge of this all the way around, except for where the land begun to rise once again. Here the wall was further in from the edge of the plateau, enough so that it wasn’t easily compromised by the higher elevation of the hill behind. As he followed the wall’s route round, he decided to take a better look at it. Even from a distance he got the sense that the structure was ancient in origin. At first glance it appeared as if the stones were roughly hewn and laid into place haphazardly, but as he got closer the skill in which these stones were laid became apparent. There was no visible gap in between each stone, and they were all perfectly aligned with their connecting stones. Whoever had laid this wall was clearly an expert at their craft. Continuing to inspect the wall, he discovered something else, something much more unexpected. What had at first glance appeared to be wear marks across the surface of the stones, upon closer inspection turned out to be writing of some kind. A strange runic like script that covered the surface of every stone that he checked. He had never seen anything like it. He leant in even closer to inspect the writing, as he touched the stone closest to him there was a loud zap. The next thing he knew was that he had been thrown onto his backside and was now laying on the floor.

“Erg ouch.” He groaned.

Pain pulsed through his entire body as he tried to move. He finally managed to pull himself up and back to a sitting position after flailing about on the floor for some time. Touching the wall seemed to have been a bad idea. It was as if he had been given a jolt of electricity from it, much like a powerful electric fence. After a few minutes sat there he got over the initial shock from the wall and stood up. He was still intrigued by the wall’s ancient mystery, but the powerful shock had thoroughly discouraged him from investigating any further, at least for today. He brushed himself off and headed slowly back towards the houses to wait for Elise’s return. He had got about halfway across the first field when a voice called out from above.

“Theo!”

He looked up to see Elise making her way down to him.

“Elise! You’re back.”

“Yep and I was just about to come looking for you, but you’ve saved me the trouble.”

She glided slowly down from the sky and gracefully touched down on the ground in front of him.

“I was a little surprised to find out you’d already left again this morning while I was still asleep.”

“There were some things that I absolutely needed to check out and there was no time to waste. Now that I’m back we need to check something else, so come with me.” Elise took Theo by the hand and Led him towards her house.