Tick, tock…tick, tock… The sluggish swing of the pendulum echoed through the mind. The ticking and tocking louder after each swing. The moment was hours, the hours days, time was at once frozen and traveling in a blur of light, a stream of colors that were moving at the slowest of pace. The young man sighed. His eyes closed, he was laying on a soft bed of fluff, listening. How long had it been he didn’t know, but he was tired of waiting. He sat up and opened his eyes. Before him was the cozy and busy room of an inventor. Where once had sat relics of another time and place, sawdust covered an old workbench. Gone were the clocks and devices with their mechanical gears. Gone the artifacts of eras and ages long past. All that was now here was the small fire in the fireplace and the single clock on the wall. The inventor was gone. “I was wondering how long you would be asleep.” “Mmm?” “Sorry to wake you up.” “You didn’t wake me, I wasn’t asleep…” “Arnin…I…” The young man smiled and chuckled softly. He was laying on an old rug. It was soft and fluffy, but also tattered and somewhat flattened. The rug lay before the stone fireplace, the most stable construct in the small room. His bed set on the far wall from the fireplace, covered in sheets both thinner and more tattered then the rug. Along the wall connecting the two opposed sides of the room was the old workbench. It was constructed by the one that used it for so many years. It had many cuts and nicks, signs of the old owner, and had splotches of paint all across its surface now covered with the dust of many years. Across from this was the open door to the small cabin, and the conical roof rose to a point overhead. Arnin shook his head. “My life is a dream in some respects, but I am not so lost.” He stood up and looked at his friend. “There is little left, all his last projects sold, only the emptiness you see is left, Pary. He…was all I had…” Pary didn’t know what he should say. He was usually such an enthusiastic fellow, if a bit reckless, but as a kind soul at heart, he felt a connection to Arnin no one else seemed to. “Well…you have me…and this place…” Pary looked around the room. It seemed as if Arnin hadn’t put an effort into cleaning it since his uncle’s death. The boy had been raised by his uncle and only living relative Thatish Josibrah, inventor of a thousand devices. Thatish was a strange old fellow himself. He built the small shack out in wide plane and did quite a bit of traveling in his youth. It was rumored he had gone as far as the great keep of Knoly and read of the great libraries there. Some even said that was where some of his inventions came from and that he had hidden a great library of his own, as well as treasures and relics, near his home. The old man himself had never bothered to refute such presumptions, unless it seemed to give the stories even more believability. He seemed to thrive on the notion of others that he was something not entirely of the world. He didn’t ever like outright lies, but people viewed him as a man of great mystery. For a time he went against such stories, but after many years, left them be. They didn’t seem to hamper the sales of his inventions to the nobles of Onkar, if anything, the tales spread his fame. He disliked being called a wizard though, or any such thing, saying he would have nothing to do with anything he didn’t have mastery over. His nephew, Arnin, was more of a quiet scholar who didn’t know much, something he openly stated whenever any words such as ‘learnd’ or ‘smarts’ were used in conjunction with his name. As a boy, Arnin would read whatever his uncle brought to him, but he seldom finished a single book before going to something else. As he matured, so did his intellect and attention span…but his uncle traveled less and less, bringing fewer new books and returning the ones he had borrowed. Finally, his uncle made his last journey. Thatish journeyed to the town of Hill to visit some old friends and sell a few of his things. Once there, he met two men in dark cloaks who had been asking about him and awaiting his arrival for days. Witnesses reported that the two asked something of Thatish in another tongue that no one in Hill had heard before or could recreate to tell others about. The two men threatened to destroy the city and drew great red blades from their cloaks, blades that could turn for red metal to a tongue of fire and back in an instant. Thatish and his old friend set themselves to fight the men with their wriggled old staves. Before they could fight though, a darkness swept into the city from the southern marshes. The people of the city fell to the darkness. In the morning they all woke to find the town unharmed, but the two old men and the two cloaked figures gone. The only traces left were Thatish’s cloak and his friends walking staff. Both were given to the crushed Arnin when he was informed of his foster father’s bravery and disappearance. The town of Hill held a ceremony commemorating the two brave men, though no one knew the name of Thatish’s friend. Nevertheless, the two were hailed as heroes for fighting off the darkness, but that did not fill the emptiness within Arnin at his uncle’s loss. For three months he had lived, no, existed, there was little life in him. His uncle had long been the only family he had, and other then Pary, his only close friend. Pary had been getting more and more worried about Arnin. He realized what a crushing blow this was for he had suffered a similar tragedy himself. But try as he might, he could think of nothing that would get Arnin’s mind off of his loss. The small cabin on the southernmost of the West Hills was now a place of despair, as was the soul of its new owner. “Arnin…it’s been three months since, well, you know. You need to-“ “Yes, I do…” “Arnin?” Arnin stood tall as he hadn’t in what seemed like ages. “Pary, I’ve been mourning a great loss for three long months now, haven’t I?” “Three months that have seemed more like ages, yes.” “I found something strange the day after I was given uncle’s cloak and the staff of his friend. The night, rather. I dreamt I was drifting in a great torrent, a flood that covered the world. Not I myself, mind you, but this whole house and this whole hill. In an instant there was a great jolt that threw me off and I fell into the sea. But it was not like Onkar lake or the Great Sea. It was as if the water wasn’t, if you take my meaning.” “The water wasn’t what? Water?” “Yes. It was as if it were merely thick air. I thought I would drown but instead I could breathe as well as I can right now. I then found not only was I not drowning, but I could move freely through the water. I was beneath the hill we’re atop right now, and I saw a room. I went up into this room and found it very bleak, but there was a hall leading from the room to the great rock at the base of the hill. A sudden jolt threw me into the rock, and it pushed open, allowing me back into the outside world. “When I woke from the dream, I saw a glow in this room, but the fire was out. The dream was so vivid, I had to see if it could be real. I donned uncle’s cloak and went to the great rock. Just as in the dream, it was pushed forward, revealing the path. I walked to the room I saw in my dream and found only two things: An orange gem, and that scroll on the table. The room was a mess though, it seemed someone had just left from there. When I returned to the outside, I heard the strangest sound that seemed at once both right next to me and far away, perhaps on the other side of the world.” “So what did the scroll say?” “Read it for yourself, my friend, I have already read it a dozen times…” Pary walked to the old table and took the rolled parchment. He unrolled it at the top and started reading: “I am always seeking for the right time to give this to you, my boy, but have yet to find the time best fitting. I am getting old and have less and less time in which to work, but I would to give you this message in person with my own mouth rather then have you read it on this paper. I have not yet found a good time to do it in, though. In the event I am now gone as you read this, I can only hope that the timing is prudent and this does not do any further harm to you. “Arnin, you have long been my son, but it was not so from your start. You believe true that we are relatives for we are through flesh and blood as well as spirit. But that I am your uncle is not exactly true, and that I am your only living relative is untrue as well. I always loved this place, on all my journeys I found none other as calm and quiet as this, veiled by dangerous marsh and deadly waters, this place is a haven to the outside world. Though the kingdoms of Onkar and Nodden fought in the past, they were now at peace, and in this hidden world was the keep of Knoly, the Library of the Wise. I can write little more save that your mother’s name was Adrael and that I am actually your father’s uncle. Through danger I was pressed to take you to the most secluded of places, and I chose my shack upon the southernmost of the West Hills in the kingdom of Onkar. Separated from the world outside, here you would be safe. The maps you have seen in Onkar City show only to the mountains. The people of Onkar and Nodden fear the sea, for it is treacherous with its many spiral pools and rocky passes, that is why the outside world is held at bay. The water also holds great fear for you, but did you know that in the wide world beyond us there are many that can grace the seas as if they were fish? I could at one time, something I should have taught you as well. The marshes to the south and the mountains have been crossed by few, myself included, for a thousand years, but those that leave seldom return, if they survive the trip at all. “All I can tell you to do is take my cloak and this note and travel to Knoly when you feel the time is right. On the back of this scroll I have written a map of this land. I wish you to wait until you feel ready to make the trip, but do not tarry forever. Even now, dark things move in this world, they are what caused our flight. I am sure your friend Pary would gladly accompany you, but I urge you caution, dark things travel in disguise, but the light always reveals them. Take care in whom you put your trust, though Pary is one that I know well. Also, take my staff. I cannot tell you right now why, but the scholars of Knoly will be able to tell you. “I am very proud of you, my great nephew. You have your father’s strength and your mother’s heart, a powerful combination if I ever saw one. Oh, one last thing. There is a special stone in this place, but not just anyone can see it. Take it with you wherever you travel, it is far more important then people may think. Now you know the truth, Arnin, do what you feel you should with it. Farewell.” “So, Pary, now you see. I have been mourning my loss, yet also contemplating my future.” “Knoly is surrounded by marsh, how are se supposed to get there?” “I’m not sure.” “It is also surrounded by…water…” “Yes, I know. But there is nothing here for me, everything is gone. I have decided that now is the time to travel to Knoly. I will stop in Wessing and see if I can discover a way there.” Arnin sighed yet smiled at the same time. “I am leaving tonight, Pary. I wanted to wait and tell you before I left.” “Wait, do you think I will let you go without me?” “Huh? Pary, I couldn’t ask-“ “You didn’t ask. I have nothing here that you don’t. I have no more reason to stay then you. I have wanted to travel for the longest time and now seems as good as any I could hope for.” “Pary.” “Arnin, at least let me go as far as Knoly with you, I have always wanted to see the great library your uncle told us of so many times. I’ll not have you give me any answer other then yes.” “Yes, you can stay here as I-“ “Oh no you don’t! I am going with you and that is final. I lost my family years ago and am as ready as you to go on. Don’t forget that your uncle took me in too, he was just as much my father as he was yours. I’m going with you and that’s all there is to it.” Arnin chuckled. “Okay, you win. To Knoly, but I won’t say any further.” Pary looked as if he had won a victory against a great beast. He was absolutely glowing as he looked at the map on the back side of the scroll and began talking with Arnin about their journey. Arnin too seemed more relaxed now that he wasn’t traveling alone. He also seemed happier now that he had someone to talk to. They would leave for Wessing after their evening meal and hopefully be there by the evening of the next day.