Zalan threw himself out of bed and stomped his way to the door exiting the guild, manic frenzy in all of his movements. Rep, his close friend and guide in this world, hesitantly got out of his own cot, extremely concerned by Zalan’s sudden behavior. Zalan paced for a few seconds, then stormed toward the guild’s exit. Rep rushed across the room and tugged at Zalan’s tunic, just as Zalan was about to throw open the door.
“What are you doing?” Rep asked carefully, uncertain where Zalan’s mind had ventured.
“You said we should go visit Madam Hikma. Let’s go visit,” Zalan replied quickly, throwing Rep’s hand off of his clothes.
“But it is so late. She does not take people into her building at this hour,” Rep said.
“We’ll surprise her!” Zalan said, trying to play off a warm smile. It looked unhinged.
“Maybe we can sleep on the idea and discuss this tomorrow?”
“Why wait? It won’t be a surprise if we go during regular hours,” Zalan slammed into the door, banging it open and briskly making his way to Madam Hikma’s home.
“Zalan, wait! You are not thinking straight!” Rep said, chasing after him.
Zalan’s mind felt perfectly clear at that moment. It was so easy to put together. Madam Hikma betrayed him. Not just Zalan, but him and his friends. He asked her for sincere advice on how to escape this new realm with fantastical Artifacts and Elemental Powers. He was told that he would find an Artifact called the Homeseeker to take him home if he went through a castle filled with monsters and topped by an Elemental Dragon.
Fran, one of his companions, sacrificed herself to save him and his friends so that Zalan could go home to the real world instead of this new, arthurian reality. But Madam Hikma had sent him to collect an Artifact that just teleported him to another point in the realm, instead of back to reality. She was supposed to be a legendary woman of wisdom that had answers for everyone, but she led Zalan and his friends astray.
The necessary response was clear. He needed to make sure she suffered consequences.
The evening was young in the town of Oriton, many shops still open and people milling about. Zalan shoved past them all with fire in his eyes for his one destination. All the while Rep kept up with him and was desperately trying to hold him back.
“Zalan, it has been a very long journey. Not even hours since we defeated the Elemental Dragon. We should rest before we continue,” Rep pleaded.
“I’m not tired,” Zalan said, continuing unabated.
“Well, then, perhaps we can at least discuss why you are so eager to see Madam Hikma immediately,” Rep said.
“You were the one to suggest we go see her, why are you suddenly against it?” Zalan said.
“Because you are acting strangely!” Rep said, tugging powerfully on Zalan’s clothes and bringing him to a stop.
Zalan wheeled around at him with a death stare. Rep looked away for a moment, then brought himself to stare back with equal intensity.
“Zalan, we should go back home and rest. You will think differently of this tomorrow,” Rep pleaded.
Zalan knew they were close to Madam Hikma’s place now. He could be there in a minute. He grit his teeth, trying to think of something quick to say in order to get Rep off his back. He was still gripping to the Artifact that Madam Hikma had sent them out to find. The Homeseeker.
“I just want to thank her for her advice and show that we succeeded,” Zalan said, raising the Homeseeker in display.
“That can wait until tomorrow,” Rep said pointedly.
They continued the staredown for a few more seconds. The energy in Zalan was only escalating for every moment he remained standing, his face almost fuming with rage. He was trembling with adrenaline. Rep was biting the inside of his lip. Even a few passersby in the village stopped to look at the spectacle of the two young men looking like they were ready for a fight, an intensity in the air between them.
“Fine!” Zalan barked sharply. “We’ll come here first thing in the morning.”
“Good,” Rep said, his features and shoulders relaxing in relief.
“Let’s go,” Zalan sighed, pressing the button atop the Homeseeker. It activated. Anyone holding on to it in a few seconds would be warped back home, instantaneously.
“What are you doing?” Rep asked, stunned.
“We have an Artifact. Might as well use it, right? Grab on before we warp away,” Zalan said.
“We are only a few minutes from home. There are limited uses to Artifacts. This is a waste, Zalan,” Rep sighed, reluctantly placing his hand on the Artifact.
They began glowing a dark black as the Artifact powered up to send them back to their guild, Journey House. Zalan waited impatiently, tapping his foot multiple times within every second that passed. Rep watched his friend in concern, trying to think of a way to talk to him in a way that would calm him down that evening. The Homeseeker reached the zenith of its charge, the Artifact just about to teleport them away.
Zalan shoved the Artifact into Rep’s stomach and let go.
Rep looked down at the Artifact in his hands in the moment that Zalan stopped glowing, completely disconnected from the Artifact. Rep didn’t even have a full second to react. His eyes went from confused to wide with dismay in an instant.
“Zalan!” Rep tried to say something before he blinked out of existence with a loud pop, warped straight back to the guild.
Zalan turned on his heel and ran to Madam Hikma’s house, ignoring the several questions he was getting from the surrounding villagers. Zalan felt his power of Elemental Lightning flexing through his fingers as he approached the building. He was almost blind in his ambition of revenge. No, not revenge, but justice, he told himself. He felt incredibly focused on the one task ahead of him. The building stood waiting. Isolated. The regular line of people that stood in front of the building must have left to come back in the morning. Zalan was glad he didn’t take Rep’s advice to wait.
He banged against the door loudly. He didn’t wait a full five seconds before he smacked his hand against it again, putting some real strength behind his knock by emitting tiny shocks of lightning as he made contact. The wooden door cracked slightly under his fist, a black mark where he struck. It felt good to see something of Hikma’s crumbling under him. He was glad to know that at Level 4 he could have some real change on the world around him.
“Open up, I need to talk to you,” Zalan said loudly.
Heads turned in his direction from villagers passing by. They looked a little concerned. But mostly scared.
“Open up!” Zalan demanded, another crack appearing in the wooden entrance.
“No one is home!” a passing villager called, looking very annoyed at all the noise Zalan was making.
“How do you know?” Zalan spun around to glare at them.
“The building is vacant overnight. Otherwise the line would never die down. The Madam needs her sleep,” she replied.
Zalan’s eyes narrowed at the villager. His impatience caused his inner fire to want to engulf this newcomer. Zalan clenched his fists, a small line of electricity running through his knuckles. He took a step toward the villager who took a hesitant, fearful step away from Zalan.
“Zalan!” Rep’s voice could be heard at a distance.
Zalan unclenched his fists and stopped his forward motion.
“Zalan!” Rep called again.
The villager that had spoken with Zalan quickly backed up, keeping a wary gaze on Zalan as she fled the area. Rep arrived, breathing heavily after running at full speed.
“Zalan, please. Let us go home,” Rep requested.
Zalan grit his teeth and gave one last look at Madam Hikma’s building. He sighed out of his teeth. He was so close, but couldn’t do anything. She would still be around to talk to people in the morning. There would be no justice.
“What time does she start letting people in?” Zalan asked.
“Can we just go home?” Rep pleaded, still panting.
“Answer my question,” Zalan demanded.
“After sunrise! We can discuss it further in the morning,” Rep said, waving his hand at Zalan to try and get him to leave the area.
Again, Zalan glared at Madam Hikma’s building.
“Fine, but I’m coming back here first thing in the morning,” Zalan swore.
“We will discuss that in the morning. Perhaps we can think of better ideas,” Rep said, clearly trying to keep Zalan away from here.
“I’m coming back. Whether you’re with me or not doesn’t matter,” Zalan said self-assuredly.
“Indeed,” Rep said, agreeing quickly.
He was struggling, trying to say whatever it took to get Zalan to leave. He was hopeful when Zalan finally broke away from his staredown with the building.
“Let’s go,” Zalan said, leading the way back to Journey House. Rep heaved a sigh of relief and rushed to catch up with Zalan.
On the way to the guild, with the sun leveling low on the horizon, Rep tried to talk to Zalan. Zalan heard the words, but didn’t process any of it. He was determined to go home and sleep. No, not “home.” This realm and all within it wasn’t home. He could never see this place as his home. Since using the Homeseeker, he hated everything about this other world. He was determined to carry this energy with him to the next morning and see Madam Hikma with the same ferocious sense of righteousness. If he couldn’t return to his own world, he would make everything right in this realm.
Rep was desperate to find a way to calm down his friend. After being warped back into the guild by way of the Homeseeker, he knew that Zalan was much worse off than he seemed. Zalan had snapped and Rep feared that the only way he could stop him was to fight him. But Rep was only Level 5 where Zalan had reached Level 4. There wasn’t enough of a gap between them for Rep to be confident to overpower him. He didn’t want to hurt his friend. But he didn’t want Zalan doing anything he regretted.
They entered the guild, Zalan not having replied to a word that Rep said. Zalan walked over to his cot and laid himself down. Again, Rep tried to make conversation, anything to get Zalan’s mind on something new. But Zalan quickly fell asleep with a deep scowl on his face. Rep rested his head on his pillow, too distraught to sleep. He didn’t know what to say to Zalan in the morning. But something needed to be said. He was so nervous. If he couldn’t get control of the situation, Zalan might do something heinous. Rep could see it on his face, even as he slept. Something egregious was brewing under the surface of Zalan’s heart.
