“He landed in our midst and there was a flash of light. All of a sudden, I couldn’t move. He looked at all of us from within his shadowy cloak and waved his hand. There was another flash of light and then I blacked out. When I came to, I was the only one left in the castle… I had no idea where everyone went or what happened to them…”

There was a prolonged silence and George couldn’t help it. “That’s it?”

“Yes. It is a horrible way to end the story, I know. But I can’t continue something I have no knowledge of.”

George was rather disgruntled. It was a very anticlimactic way of ending his tale. It was almost as bad as “And then I woke up and realized that it was all a dream…” he let his dissatisfaction show but he did not comment about it. He understood about waking up to a world that had changed after opening his eyes, with no recollection of what happened. And with him, it was usually surrounded by bodies and total destruction.

Zander watched as the man in front of him pull a face but keep his peace. He was grateful. When he had regained his consciousness and found that everyone, both friend and foe, had disappeared, he had been lost. He had searched high and low and was further frightened when even the towns had been empty. Not a single corpse or survivor was to be seen; not a single remnant of human activity remained. It was as if they had been spirited away. He staggered around, forgetting hunger and thirst as he combed every inch of the town and castle. Not a breath remained.

He then wanted to rush to Andreios and that was when he realized the horses were gone. There was no livestock left. There were animals around, but they were mostly wild game in the forest and fish in the streams and lakes… Everything else had disappeared. Any living thing that had been touched by man vanished. The pets in the home, the crops in the field… gone.

There was the Schied though. The Schied were left behind. He lost count of how many of these creatures he had killed in his mad journey towards Andreios. By horse or carriage, the journey would take nearly a month, depending on the weather. On foot, perhaps three times as long. He walked till his feet bled, his face became gaunt as he neglected to eat or sleep, only stopping to rest when his body could no longer bear the torture and collapsed. Every village, every town he passed by, he stopped; searching high and low, hoping to catch sight of a living person. Not a shadow could be seen nor a whisper could be heard.

And every time his too weary body forced him to stop, the dreams would haunt him. Vague images of a young man with dark hair, Aida’s sad ghost, Aiden’s bewilderment turning into anger, the mad looks on Gerrald and Leopald’s face. And ghostly words in the dark. They always started the same; slow and steady footsteps before the crunch of glass underfoot and then they would come to a stop before a voice he didn’t recognize would speak.

“Are you sure of this?”

“I will finish what he started.”

“You can’t absorb too much. You’ll turn into one.”

“His gifts will keep me sane and purified.”

“The miasma is thick. But the sky has shattered so you can’t see it. This poison will kill you. Look at how it has affected all of them.”

“Then seal them all away. As long as they sleep, they can’t breathe in the poison.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“I’m ready to accept any price. I’m not strong enough, like you’ve said.”

“... This will be the last time I help you.”

“I thank you.”

“This isn’t what he wanted. He gave you those to keep you safe... Happy.”

“I can’t smile when he isn’t here. He selfishly decided to shoulder everything. He deserves to be beaten up.”

“I agree but I won’t help you with that one. He already showed up at my place half dead. I don’t want to have to nurse him back to health again.”

“Take me to him.”

“I can’t and I won’t. When he sealed the exit, all those from this world cannot pass through.”

“Then I’ll find another way. When my task here is done, I’ll go to him.”

“It won’t be easy or painless to pass through an exit from a world with a broken sky.”

“I still have to try. If I follow the shadows back to where they’re banished, I should be able to find an exit.”

“That is a good idea but when the stone turns black or the leaves wither, that will be when your protection ends. Never let it get that way.”

“Can I purify them?”

“It will be hard. The poison is too much.”

“If when I go to another world?”

“It might work, but you must be careful not to let the poison affect that world, the guardians of the worlds don’t take happily to those who upset the balance.”

“What happens then?”

“It depends. Some will destroy you, some will curse you or banish you to a barren world but the price will be heavy. And the world that cannot be saved will either be destroyed or abandoned.”

“Like mine?”

“I did not want to abandon it. Blame your foolhardy brother for pulling a stupid move like that.”

“What will you do to him?”

“I won’t kill if that’s what you’re worried about. He has been punished to five hundred years of servitude and I’ve sealed most of his memories.”

“We don’t live that long, even with magic”

“Time flows differently in my domain.”

“Why did you seal away his memories?”

“To forget is not the punishment. It is when he remembers and realizes what he has done that is torment. He is young, the both of you are. He will understand at the end of his enslavement. By then, the guilt will crush him.”

There was an intake of breath.

“You will kill him!”

“So find a way before the end of his enslavement. Make him remember before it is too late.”

“Is this our punishment?”

“In a way. Your mother was foolish as well. To bind her soul to the rift opening, did she think she was invincible? Those spells were forbidden for a reason. So I have no choice to punish this whole family of fools.”

“What are you planning to do to my father and mother?”

“Your father will be undying. He will wander and watch over this empty world alone.”

Another gasp.

“He will go mad!”

“It is not called a punishment for nothing. Meanwhile, for your mother’s punishment: for every injury you suffer, she will feel it tenfold. She is naught but an incorporeal soul, unable to move. If the burden is too much, she will dissipate, unable to reincarnate. If you absorb too much miasma and the amulets are unable to protect you anymore, then she too will become one with the shadows. All the good that she was remembered for will be nothing but dust in the wind.”

Silence. Then…

“Will you unseal my father’s memories of him?”

“Not all of it. The agony of trying to remember his son’s name while he tries to sleep at night will be the thorn he can see but cannot remove.”

“You’re being very arbitrary on this.”

“I like variety in my punishments. Your brother will stay where he is for now but will not remember until it is time to set him free… that is his punishment. Your father will have hazy memories and wander the world alone. If he goes mad then he was just that weak. Your mother will see what you see, feel what you feel but is unable to speak or move. Unable to encourage you when you are at your lowest, unable to appear before your father if he happens to wander to her. Invisible to the whole family. And you, you will have the punishment of knowing what happened to your family and how much time you have left. Feel your powerlessness and gnash your teeth at your reckless brother who will laugh and live happily for the next five hundred years. You will also be undying of course. No point if you die before the end. This is your punishment.”

“You’re a cruel man, Master.”

“I do what I must.”

Zander could hear the rustle of cloak.

“It is done. Aside from your father, everyone else has been sealed. You have five hundred years. If you fail, you will have no home to return to.”

“I will not fail. Keep my useless brother alive for me. I’ll be the one to kill him.”

“If you insist. May the light guide you”

“And may the light keep the shadows at bay”

Footsteps, the rustling of clothes and then… silence…

This was what Zander would wake up to. And he realized that to an extent, what the voice said was true. He was undying. He would collapse when the hunger and fatigue was too much but he would wake up again, much later, feeling energized. If he thought about it, how many times had he ‘died’? To push his body and mind to the utter limit, slowly going mad as he desperately tried to find someone, anyone. So he stopped, and calmed himself down. He realized after a while that the one the stranger was speaking to was his son, Aiden. But who was Aiden’s brother? Did he have another son? Why didn’t he recall?

But they slowly came back; in dreams, in recollections when he was thinking of something. It was especially true when he returned to the castle and saw the horress tree that his wife had planted. This had been planted for his eldest son, not Aiden. But… what was the name of his son? He tried, again and again to remember. Some records were there, like the black and red flag with the four winged falcon; they were the colours of the troops that his son led. But there was no mention of his name anywhere. Even on Aida’s gravestone… the words ‘beloved mother of    and Aiden’ were carved there but where the name of his elder son was supposed to be was nothing but a patch of smooth stone; as if the name had never been carved into it in the first place. Zander raged and despaired; raged that even the final resting place of his beloved wife had been tampered with and despaired that his final hope of finding his son’s name was gone.

No, that wasn’t true. Aida’s bones rested in her grave but her soul was where the rift used to be. So Zander made a journey back to that final battleground. In hopes that she could give him a clue to who his son was. It took some time but at last, he made it. Aside from the precious magic core and scales, the rest of the dragon carcasses had been left untouched. They had nothing that could cut through the bones then and everyone had been so jubilant in their victory that they agreed to return for the rest another time. But now… all he could see were the skeletons of the dragons, solid but weathered. The area was now a lush field, covered with flowers, as if poison had never tainted the land. Never made it barren and lifeless. How much time had passed? He searched but he could not find a trace of his beloved wife, not even when he called and cried. There was nothing save the silent stillness. Even the wind did not bother to respond. When he remembered that this was his wife’s punishment, he cried even harder. She could be standing in front of him but he couldn’t see nor hear her…

He sat in the field for a long time. Staring at nothing while he spoke of inconsequential matters. How handsome Aiden had been when he was about to get married, how hard his eldest son had trained to be ready for the final battle with the Schied, how much older Declan and Kaellan had been when they attended Aiden’s would be wedding… it was the ramblings and musings of a man who had lost everything but was desperately trying to find peace and solace. And one day, he found it. He felt a calm he had not felt in ages and smiled. He finally rose from his seat where the vines had grown over him and the birds that had treated him like a stone statue took off in shock. He looked at the beautiful flowers that his Aida so loved and smiled another smile. Then, he kissed his wedding ring and walked away.