by KJ Harlow
“You’re… alive?”
“No, my name’s Rard,” he chuckled. The werejaguar was old. By the look of his long silvery whiskers and hunchback, he could have been even older than Keizen. His eyes were grey and milky in consistency. Cal waved his hand in front of Rard’s face. No response. “What is a human doing in town then, hm?”
Cal sighed. “I don’t know. He admitted to destroying Gresshia. You should come back with–”
“I wasn’t talking about that him,” Rard said, clearing his throat. “I was talking about you.”
Cal took a step back. “I’m not a…” How had he known? Was he also a player?
Rard chuckled again. “I take it you’re here for something?” Cal explained the situation, omitting the parts about how he was playing a game called ValorVale.
“Lucentleaf…” He turned around and pottered in the back of his shop, shifting jars around on shelves, opening creaky boxes and shutting them again.
“Lucentleaf.” He emerged from the back holding a tray with both hands. In the middle of the tray was a shimmering leaf. Its veins pulsed with light, Cal picked it up with his thumb and forefinger gingerly. It was transparent, the fibre of the leaf unbelievably thin.
Let me heal you…
Its voice was so quiet. Like a lit match during a flood, it could be snuffed out if Cal wasn’t careful. He flipped open his bag and gently placed it in. He examined it in his bag, just to make sure it was still there:
Lucentleaf
A rare leaf imbued with light from the four moons for a complete cycle each, lucentleaf can lift curses, dispel confusion, act as an antidote to the most powerful poisons, rapidly heal fatal attacks and completely restore HP and provide a boost to all stats for an entire moonshift.
Cal breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Rard. How much do I owe you?”
Rard waved his hand airily. “It’s on the house.” Cal laughed nervously. He didn’t know what he felt more uncomfortable with: not paying the medicine man for his wares, or the out-of-place phrasing. “Actually there is one thing… I would like to feel your face.” Cal hesitated. This little, old werejaguar couldn’t possibly hurt him, right?
Cal moved toward the counter. He got down on one knee and slowly moved his face toward the wizened werejaguar. Sensing him coming forward, Rard extended his wrinkled hands towards Cal’s face. His clammy hands explored his face, lightly gripping then touching his tusks, then running over the squarish contours of his cheekbones and chin.
“A human in an orc’s body then.”
“How did you know that I’m a human?”
“You speak like a human – and a polite one at that.”
Cal chuckled. Polite was not a word that was often used to describe him, though in comparison to the likes of Hector, Cal was simply charming.
“Thank you again for the lucentleaf. Did you want to come back to Rawdriad with us? I’m not sure there’s anyone left–”
The doors to the Rard’s shop snapped open with a bang. “Did you find it?”
Cal squinted at Kai’s silhouette in the doorway. “Yeah, Rard here gave it to me.”
Kai stepped in, closing the door behind him. “There’s a survivor? Where is he?”
“Right here…” Cal turned around. The old werejaguar was nowhere to be seen. Cal peeked over the counter to see if he had fallen over. He would have looked into the backroom, but he couldn’t fit through it.
“Now’s no time to be smoking skyweed.” Kai said, a sly smile on his face. “You found some in here, didn’t you?”
“There was an old werejaguar in here, I promise. Yea high.”
“Yeah, but not higher than you.”
Cal turned away from the snickering werejaguar. He placed both hands on the counter and craned his neck in, looking into every nook and cranny.
“Kai? Callahan?”
Cal had been so focused trying to find the mystery Werejaguar that he hadn’t even heard the chime from Kai’s amulet.
“We found the lucentleaf!” Kai said triumphantly.
There was a silence that grew more disconcerting as each moment passed.
“Grandmother, what’s the matter?”
“Come back to Rawdriad. There is much to tell you.”
10
Visions & A Prophecy
20,155th Cycle
2-Flulia
By the time they got back to Rawdriad, the Water Moon Flulia was already in her cycle. Rain sparkling like light-infused crystals had fallen for most of the trip back home, ranging from a dull drizzle to an insistent shower. Cal and Kai only stopped to rest twice: once when they had left the valley and one more time when they were at the entrance to the forest.
Keizen hadn’t told them what happened; she didn’t need to. The tone in her voice nursed a terrible foreboding. Cal and Kai didn’t talk to one another, not even when they fought all manner of beasts that had come out to get their fill of skywater on the way back.
They saw another stonecritter about half the size of the first one. Kai stood aside, arms crossed as Cal flipped this one and defeated it on his own. There was a horde of a dozen direwasps travelling towards Rawdriad. Kai tested out Fireball, managing to wipe out half the horde before they used their weapons to finish off the rest. Kai didn’t celebrate the kills. “We need to get back,” he said, letting Cal hurriedly clean up the loot that the creatures left behind.
Water slid down the surfboard-sized leaves, dampening the floor of the forest. Moisture clung to the air and bugs chirped all around them.
“Who goes there?” Arth, the sentry said. “Oh Kai, you’re back.” He glanced at Cal but didn’t otherwise acknowledge him.
“Open the gates,” Kai said tiredly.
Arth opened his maw and closed it again, his eyes darting to Cal. He returned to his station and started turning the crank. Seconds later, the gates had ground open. “Welcome back to Rawdriad Village.”
It was much like the first time they had brought Cal into the village: werejaguars stopped what they were doing to stare at them walking through the main thoroughfare. Only this time, there was a pregnant silence that seemed to weigh heavier and heavier as more eyes fell on the pair. This only made Kai accelerate towards the taller building with turrets at the back of the village. Cal let Kai rush ahead, bearing the judgement of the villagers himself.
He eventually made it to the steps leading up to the home of the chief. The two bodyguards reflexively crossed their spears as Cal tried to enter. He stood there, looking one and then the other. They refused to look him in the eye.
“Let him in,” Kai’s command pierced the silence. The two guards uncrossed their spears.
There was no guide this time. Cal followed the path based on his rough memory of the layout. Guards stationed at each door leered at him as he passed. He found his way to the large door that Gram had taken him through the first time. This time, the guards didn’t bar him entry. They pulled the sliding doors open and Cal walked through.
The gigantic sparkflame roared in the middle of the room. Any remaining rain dried up in seconds as Cal stepped towards it. Kai’s angry yells were punctuated with muted sobs from a room to the right. Cal hesitated. Should he go through and see what was going on?
Before he could decide, Kai stormed out. Seeing Cal, he rushed at him and floored him with a roundhouse punch into the side of his face. “That’s for interfering!” Kai roared. Straddling him, he delivered another blow with his other hand. “That’s for being slow!”
“Kai!” Keizen’s sharp voice halted Kai’s third blow. “Stop this right now!”
Kai’s fist clenched even tighter as he fought the urge to strike Cal again. He got off Cal, flung the doors to the foyer open and fumed out.
“And here I was thinking that we were starting to get along.” Cal slowly got to his feet, touching his face gingerly.
Keizen shuffled to his side, raising a hand Cal’s face. “We’ll get some chillroot for that,” she said.
The
muted sobbing continued in the other room. “Keizen, what’s happened?”
The elder stared up at Cal. He blinked and for a second, he thought that he saw the milky grey eyes of the Rard. “He died,” she said simply. “I did everything I could, but he couldn’t hold on.”
Cal turned slightly, staring into the fire. “When?”
“One moonshift before mid-Hyten.”
Cal had come to equate moonshifts to days. The moons moved quickly, but the way that everyone talked about them, this made the most sense.
“My condolences,” Cal said. No wonder Kai had been so upset. “I’m sorry, Keizen. Kai was right. There were days I slept in. Then I got caught in a flood on one-Hyten, then a chatterling stole your satchel, then–”
“Callahan,” Keizen said, moving toward the orc. “It’s not your fault. Even if you hadn’t turned up that day, that eryn would have still carried a poisoned blade. She still would have attacked Zkar with it.” She looked up at him, scarlet eyes open and bright. Cal searched them but couldn’t see any trace of blame hidden anywhere. Either she hid it really well or she truly believed what she said.
“I’ve got the lucentleaf,” Cal said lamely.
Keizen shook her head. “Lucentleaf is an amazing plant, but even it can’t bring back the dead.” Cal’s shoulders sagged. He had failed. They had gone out all the way to Gresshia for nothing. “We will talk later. I know you didn’t know him, but you should pay your respects to Zkar.” Keizen gestured towards the room where the sobbing came from. “Remember: this isn’t your fault. None of it is.” She shuffled out of the room and into the foyer, the doors sliding shut behind her.
Cal exhaled slowly. He hadn’t seen Zkar since the day that Laish fought with him. He didn’t even know who he was, and yet… Cal walked away from the fire and towards the sobbing. The voice sounded somewhat familiar. How many werejaguars had come by to say their farewells? Would his body have been preserved or left to the ravages of nature? Cal shook the thoughts out of his head.
He rounded the corner and entered the room the sobbing came from. Gram was kneeling on the ground, her face buried into Zkar’s side. His blue, spotted fur, so similar to Kai’s had started turning white at the tips. His body was still completely in-tact; he looked like he was asleep.
Gram turned around. Her pupils were dilated, fur around her face matted with tears.
“I’m sorry, I’ll just wait outside.”
“Cal.” She swallowed and exhaled slowly. “You’re back.”
He hesitated then walked into the room. “Yeah.” He stood there, not knowing what to do. Joining Gram on the floor felt too intimate. He stood a few feet away, looking between Gram and Zkar.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” It sounded pathetic, but he didn’t know what else to say.
Gram bowed her head. “We were betrothed.”
Cal hadn’t really read since his 10th birthday. He was hospitalised most of that year and had spent it in hospital devouring epic fantasy. He couldn’t afford video games, so he borrowed books from the hospital’s library instead. So they were going to be married.
“I see.”
Gram rose, wiping away her tears and smoothing her tear-stained fur out. “I was by his side the moment you and Kai left.” Cal didn’t know what to say. That didn’t make him feel great, but he wasn’t going to make the conversation about him. To have been ordered to babysit someone who was involved with the death of your fiancé, an orc no less…
“It’s not your fault, you know,” Gram said, her yellow eyes shining.
“Keizen said the same thing.”
“That’s because it’s true.” Gram took a step towards Cal. Her eyes trailed down his body, resting on the armour she had given him. “Kai tells me that you managed to find the lucentleaf.” Cal nodded. “May I see it?”
Cal opened the satchel. He reached in, found the cell containing the magical plant and plucked it out. It shimmered, casting a faint white light with each pulse through its veins.
“You should take it,” Cal said. Gram took the Lucentleaf, cupping it in her hands. “If only we had come back sooner…” if only I hadn’t slept in so much…
She handed the leaf back to him, shaking her head.
“Cal, do you know what Elder Keizen’s role is in Rawdriad Village?” Gram asked. The light from the lucentleaf danced on the tips of Gram’s fur. For a moment, Cal got lost looking at her. Even in sadness she looked beautiful.
“She’s the interim leader, I guess.”
“You could say that, yes. She is our leader but she isn’t the chief. That role can only be taken by a male. It’s passed down through bloodline first. If there isn’t a son in the bloodline or if for some other reason there are no other suitable males, there is a process we use to elect the next eligible Chief.”
“I guess that means that Kai will be chief, then.”
Gram paused. “Yes and no.” Seeing Cal’s raised eyebrow, she continued. “Elder Keizen is our seer. She predicts things that will happen before they happen.”
“OK…” Cal said slowly. “Does that mean that she predicted that I would come and mess up your lives?”
Gram chuckled, brightness momentarily coming back to her face. “She predicted that a wandering soul would enter our village, yes.”
“But that isn’t why you wanted to tell me that Keizen was your seer, right?”
Gram fell silent. Good work, dipshit. “Cal, she already knew that Zkar was going to die before you and Kai came back.”
Cal took a step back. “What?”
“That’s right.” Keizen stepped into the room through the door at the other end of the room.
“Elder.” Gram dipped her head and raised her hand in a closed fist.
“Gram, go and rest now. You need your energy to prepare for the ritual next moonshift.”
Her breath caught in her throat but she nodded. “Yes, elder.” Gram turned and rested her hand on Cal’s shoulder. It was hotter than Cal expected. He flinched away before he could stop himself, which made Gram do the same.
“Sorry,” they said in unison. Gram looked away and left the room.
“Callahan.” Keizen was at the other side of the room but her voice was still clear.
“Keizen. I-I’m sorry…”
“Whatever for?” She slowly made her way across the floor towards him. “You completed your mission.”
Cal had grown so used to ignoring the cross in the top right, he barely noticed it even when it alerted him to a new notification.
Mission Complete!
Mission I: Lucentleaf Beyond The Forest – SUCCESS!
+9,000 Repute Points with Rawdriad Werejaguars.
Gong!
You have moved from Intruder to Ally: “We will fight by your side.”
Cal knew that he had successfully completed the mission based on the terms, but he still couldn’t help but feel that it was a hollow victory.
“Everything that Gram said is correct. I am the seer of Rawdriad Village.”
“If you knew that Zkar was going to die, why send us to Gresshia in the first place?”
Keizen heaved a great sigh. “Come with me.”
He followed the Elder back to the throne room. The sparkfire greeted them with a crackle. “I sent you to Gresshia for a couple of reasons. Firstly, telling the future is not clear. They’re like dreams. Sometimes you see one thing, but it’s really a symbol for something else.” Cal stayed silent as Keizen collected her thoughts. “I’ve been having a recurring vision recently.”
“What do you see?” Cal said.
A small smile crept onto Keizen’s face. She turned to the fire. From a small pouch she abruptly flung something grainy into it. It shimmered green before disappearing into the flames. Keizen put her hands behind her back, staring into the fire.
“Oracleseed. It’s been passed down from generation to generation of werejaguar seers,” Keizen explained. “Throwing it onto the Prime Sparkfire allows you see visions of what’s t
o come. I know how to grow it the plant, but even I don’t know where it gets its visions from.”
There were put there by ValorVale’s story writers. Nothing happened for quite some time then suddenly there was a loud pop and the sparkflames started burning black.
Then from the depths of the flame, a white ember emerged. It started off as a speck in the middle before it grew. After a few moments, Cal realized that it was taking the shape of someone walking towards them. It was too hard to tell what it was. Human? Orc? Once it grew to Cal’s height, it stopped. It stood there, staring at Keizen, unmoving. A gap where the mouth would be started moving silently, black flames emerging.
“What’s it saying?”
Keizen was silent for a while as she listened to the vision speak. Then, she lended her voice to it:
Fear not, for the son of the forest is safe in my care;
He will lead the feline race out of the darkness.
Neither blade nor craft can defeat me.
If I perish, lament not, for I will be reborn within half a moonshift.
Only the hands of the Urath can remove me from this world, and my own.
My purpose is to save Terrafaytum before the Slumbering Catastrophe awakens.
This is my mission – and mine alone.
The white vision stood there, not speaking anymore. It shrunk until the black flames swallowed it whole. Then those too disappeared as the red, orange and purple sparkflames reappeared.
“What does it all mean?”
Keizen turned and looked up at the orc. “I think that vision was you, Callahan. You’re meant to take Kai under your mantle and teach him how to lead the werejaguars out of the darkness.”
Cal was silent. “Did Kai tell you that we found a human in Gresshia?” She nodded.
“This human, like me, was a player of this game, ValorVale, that your whole world exists in. I defeated him, but he’s going to respawn, just like I do.” Cal walked away from Keizen to the other side of the room. “I’m just a guy who works a boring customer support role. I answer the phone all day. I’m stuck in a wheelchair. The doctor gave me a year and a half tops to live. A friend gave me ValorVale for my birthday because it would allow me to experience walking. I…” Why the hell was he explaining himself to an NPC? She watched him intently, taking everything he said in.
