The town was small but charming. A mixed bag of halflings, elves, and dwarves. The inn was small but warm and cozy. Nessy and I found a table in the corner near a small stage.

  A performer sat on a stool at the center of the stage. She was drinking a bright blue fizzy drink. Must have been on break. She was lovely. High man, brown hair with a golden streak.

  Brax joined us holding two stouts and something milky for me.

  “You know the land, here to the free city?” Nessy asked Brax.

  Brax nodded while chugging his ale. He held up a finger while he finished. “Yes. Helps to have a scout. Which I suppose you have.”

  “Dangerous?” I asked.

  Brax nodded to me, while flagging down a barmaid and ordering another round. Then he drank Nessy’s. “More coming,” he said, with a burp.

  Nessy closed her eyes.

  “Used to be, you’d go through Black Sheep,” Brax said between hearty sips. “But Black Sheep is no more.”

  I shot a confused look to them both.

  “Ruins not far from here,” Nessy said to me. “Hopefully Alice turns up soon.”

  “Oop,” Brax grunted, nodding to the performer. “She’s about to start. This’ll be good.”

  The bard had a stringed instrument in her hands and was preparing to perform something. She glanced in our direction and smiled. I smiled back. Then she began playing her guitar. The room hushed to silence. A few nearby cheered for her. She smiled and bowed her head slightly to acknowledge them.

  “I walk along a brittle shore,” the bard sang. “Of scattered sands from tides no more.”

  I heard the sound of crashing waves. I eyed the music box. But it didn’t sound like the waves came from it. The sound of waves were all around us.

  “A hapless step cracks a speckled shell,” the bard continued. “of orange, maroon, and something pale.”

  Before the bard a floating shell appeared. It hovered in the air, twirled slowly, and sparkled.

  The bard grinned. “But then a funny thing occurred,” she paused. “As if by magic the water stirred.”

  Water appeared and formed a spiral around the shell like a typhoon.

  “A fog enveloped to form a haze, and from the depths, an ancient maze.”

  Suddenly the tavern was filled with thick mist. I could hardly see the bard through the fog. Then the shell spun rapidly and exploded into spinning fractals of light. I could swear I heard music. It was a feeling, a rush. I was entranced.

  “I swam until I met a wall,” the bard whispered. “Turned but then began to fall.”

  It felt as if the entire tavern was falling. The fog vanished as if we fell below it.

  “Time escaped me for a while,” she froze. I felt a chill and turned to Nessy and Brax. They were smiling. I rubbed my fingers together to prove to myself time wasn’t frozen.

  “A minute, an hour, perhaps a mile,” the bard said. Before her appeared a floating ball of light. “Until a glimmer caught my eye.”

  The blinding light collapsed into a small white ball.

  “A single pearl made me cry.”

  The pearl dropped on the floor and shattered into sand. The tavern returned to how it was before with it’s cozy lights and warmth. But the sand remained. The room erupted with applause. I stood and applauded her. Tears were in my eyes. Nessy and Brax were standing too.

  “Thank you,” the bard said.

  The tavern door slammed open. A man stumbled in and nearly fell onto the floor.

  “Maurice!” yelled the tavern keeper. “You’re not allowed in here.”

  “Get the guards,” called out one of the barmaids.

  “He’s a drunk,” I heard someone at the table next to us say.

  “Get him out!” a man sitting at the bar yelled. “Or I will.”

  “Hey!” a guard walked in. “I got it,” he reassured the tavern keeper.

  The drunkard laid motionless on the floor. The guard stepped out and called over someone, presumably another guard to help him drag the drunk out.

  “Anyway,” said Brax. “I’ve seen her before,” he nodded to the bard, who was now ordering a drink at the bar. “She tours the world.”

  “She knows magic?” I asked.

  “Aye,” Brax laughed. “She knows some illusions. You should talk to her.”

  “Do not,” Nessy said to me.

  “I had drinks with her once,” Brax continued. “It was just after she dropped out of Redrock University. I was a young lad then. She won’t remember. Oh but I remember. A real charmer! Go talk to her! Just don’t upset her,” he smirked. “Sorcery college,” he nodded to Nessy.

  A woman screamed near the tavern door.

  “He’s bleeding!” she yelled.

  I leaned over to see. There was blood on the ground under the drunkard who had barged in.

  “Out of the way,” yelled the tavern keeper. He rushed over to the drunkard.

  There was a lot of chatter and commotion. Many who had been seated at the bar or at tables were now standing to see.

  “Back up!” someone yelled.

  “He’s been— cut,” the tavern keeper shouted. “Guards!”

  “Time to go,” said Nessy.

  “Guards! Look at this cut,” cried out the tavern keeper.

  “Time to leave,” Brax said, chugging what remained of his second drink.

  “There,” Nessy said, eyeing the kitchen door.

  We followed her as she pushed through the gawking crowd. The kitchen staff paid us no mind and were preparing food like normal. We walked briskly past them towards an exit. We made it into a dark alleyway.

  “We need to leave this town,” said Nessy.

  “What?” said Brax. “It’s dark.”

  I heard a scream in the distance. Brax grabbed his axe.

  “What’s happening?” I asked Nessy.

  “I saw his wound.”

  “And?” asked Brax.

  Another scream, this one from a different direction, and much closer.

  “Come,” she grabbed my arm and walked us towards a shop with a light still on.

  “Glassworks,” Brax said, reading the sign.

  Nessy banged on the window.

  An old man from inside motioned for us to leave.

  Nessy banged hard, then walked around to the door and tried to open it. It was locked.

  The man cupped his hands, “Closed!”

  Nessy continued to bang on the door. I figured the glass would break but it was impressively strong.

  The man’s face turned red with anger. He rushed over and opened the door.

  “We are closed!” he shouted.

  “Where’s a silversmith?” Nessy asked.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Silver! Where can I find silver!”

  The man practically snarled at us. He shot a glance at Brax’s axe. “Way down there!” he motioned, “Way down! Go away!” Then he slammed the door and relocked it.

  “Time to run,” Nessy said. She grabbed me by the arm and we ran down the alleyway. The occasional screams continued. They were uncomfortably close by, seemingly one street over. Eventually we found the silversmith’s shop. The lights were off and the door was locked.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Get us in,” Nessy said to Brax.

  Without hesitating, Brax chopped down the door with his axe.

  “What are we doing?” I asked them both.

  Nessy rushed in and began digging through crates and boxes. Brax joined in too. As they dug around, a few people ran past the shop.

  “Shh,” Nessy hushed Brax.

  Another group ran by. One of them stopped and saw us. “Hey!” he called out to the others he was with. “In here” he yelled. All four came in.

  The four scurried in and hid in a corner inside the shop.

  Another few rushed by. One of them was wounded and limped. I stepped closer to the door to see. There was a trail of blood behind him. More screaming nearby.

  “What is it?” I called out to the others.

  No one replied. Nessy and Brax were using dull silver bars to hit and break open more crates.

  “Not sharp enough,” Brax said, kicking the crate and moving on to another one.

  A man in robes ran by, and glanced in. “Stay in there!” he yelled at us and continued running. He was running the opposite way of everyone else.

  “Harold,’ said one of the four.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “Harold,” the voice replied. “The shaman.”

  “He doesn’t stand a chance,” said Brax.

  “Better odds than we have,” said one of the four.

  “Cowards,” Brax grunted while pushing over a crate. Silver spoons poured out onto the floor.

  More screams. My hands were sweaty. I could feel my heartbeat everywhere. A beam of light hit one spoon just right, shining light into my eyes. I walked over to the spoon and picked it up.

  Brax glanced over.

  I stared at the spoon. I felt an itch. A belief I could pull light out from the spoon. I couldn’t explain it. But in that moment of fear, I pulled the light out. The spoon burst into white light.

  “Charlie,” Nessy whispered. She looked dumbfounded for once.

  The others slowly stood and walked towards me to get a better look.

  “Do that again,” said Nessy, “to Brax’s axe.”

  Brax looked at Nessy, then me. He walked over to me and held out his axe for me to hold. I raised my hands for him to stop walking. I looked into his axe and pulled the light out. It burst into light. It lit the room.

  “What are you?” asked one of the four.

  “Do it to mine,” said one of the other ones.

  “You have a sword?” Nessy said. She rushed over to him. “Give me that.”

  “No!” he argued. “I may need it!”

  “Give it to her,” I said. I still had the glowing spoon in my hand.

  He frowned and handed Nessy his sword. I gazed into it. A wave of nostalgia, dread, and vertigo overcame me. I felt as if I was falling. I dwelled within that sword for what felt like a minute. I pulled myself out and it engulfed in light.

  I was on the ground. Brax and Nessy helped me to my feet.

  “No!” Nessy cried out. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded and took a deep breath. I pulled away from them and stood up right.

  I saw flashes of light outside.

  “Stay here,” said Brax. He rushed out with his glowing axe. Nessy followed after him, holding her glowing sword. I followed too.

  The shaman was forming fire in his hands. He then threw it forward and a ball of fire soared down the road, exploding into a wall.

  “Missed,” Brax said.

  “Hey!” Nessy shouted. “How many are there?”

  The shaman looked over. His eyes widened and he rushed over to us.

  “Holy weapons!” he shouted. “How?” He looked at each of us. “How?” he asked again. “You,” he said, looking at me. “Can you do more?”

  “Yes.”

  “No,” said Nessy.

  The shaman turned away from us and ran down the streets away from the enemy. “Hey!” he shouted to someone. “Flag down patrol!”

  “Keep it down!” said Brax.

  The shaman ran back over to us. “We can’t kill it with normal weapons.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “But we can kill with holy weapons.”

  A group of six guards rushed over, each holding a short sword.

  “Holy light,” one of them said, eyeing Brax and Nessy’s holy weapons.

  Nessy gave her glowing sword to one of them and he charged down the dark alley.

  “Do mine?” a guard asked.

  I entered into his sword and pulled out light onto it. The guard dropped the sword in shock, and it fell to the earth. A different guard picked it up and ran off towards the enemy.

  “Mine next!” one of the guards said.

  I went into his sword and pulled out light from it too.

  “Hey,” Nessy said to me, with a worried look.

  Brax was no longer standing with us.

  “Where’s Brax?” I asked Nessy.

  “Thank you,” said the man whose sword I just enchanted. He turned and ran down the dark alley with his sword. There in the alley was Brax and the guard from earlier. They were fighting a beast.

  “Do mine,” said another guard, holding out his sword.

  “He’s done,” said Nessy.

  “One more?” the guard said. “They need my help.”

  “Charlie, no,” Nessy said. “You were unresponsive for five minutes that last time,” she said.

  I watched as the beast knocked one of the guards to the ground. His sword fell on the ground next to him. He wasn’t moving.

  “No!” cried out a nearby guard. He threw his sword to the ground and ran over. He picked up the enchanted sword from the ground and joined the fight.

  I looked at the sword held in front of me. I dove into it. I found the light deep inside it and grappled onto it. Oh, I felt my fingers like I never had before. Every little sensation of that touch. The light wouldn’t budge. And I could hear my exhaustion ring metallic. I saw auras of light where there had been darkness. My head pulsed in pain. I tasted iron. I tasted dirt. I breathed in sand. I felt so heavy. Like I was under water. I was stuck. I had pushed too hard.

  I let go of the light. As I fell away from it and things faded, I realized the light was my life. And it whisked away. Dim. I was heavy. I wasn’t breathing anymore.

  I tried everything. I tried looking up. There was nothing. I was nothing. I suspect during this time, I actually felt nothing at all. Like a rendering error, I fill the void with my best guess, and it’s all sorts of wrong. Because any description would be insufficient. It was a time of great nothing. And it felt like an eternity.

  It was the smell that came back first. Dirt. Smoky, sooting, wood smoke. I clung onto those smells like they were dear neighbors. I reached my hands over the fence, hoping they’d pull me over. Please. Bring more. Bring me back.

  Then it was the taste. You’ve never tasted nothing until you’ve died as I have. I tasted my spit again. I tasted my teeth.

  I could see. But not with my eyes. I could see from above me. People were all around. I was still on the street. I looked towards where the beast had been to find the corpses of four werewolves and at least a dozen men. I examined the corpses, hoping not to find Brax among them, then I soared over to my body. Beside me was Brax and Nessy.

  Had we won? I wondered.

  I could not talk.

  There was a white light coming into me. On the other end of it was the shaman. He was healing me, I realized.

  I closed my eyes.

  I woke some time later in bed. Nessy was asleep in a chair next to me. Beside me was another bed. Brax was in it.

  “Hey,” I moaned.

  Nessy woke up. “Charlie,” she whispered, standing over me.

  I smiled, I think.

  “You saved the town,” she whispered.

  Brax healed quickly. After two days and two nights, we were both sitting up and chatting most of the day.

  I learned all about his long ago adventures traveling across the shadelands. He recommended a full itinerary for once we arrived in Redrock. He had lived there for a century.

  There was a knock at the door. Nessy got up and opened it. It was the shaman.

  “How are they?” I heard him ask Nessy at the door.

  “Harold,” I heard Nessy say, “come see.”

  The shaman sat next to me where Nessy had been sitting. Nessy stood beside me on the opposite side.

  “You’re a hero, Charlie,” he said.

  I nodded with a slow blink of my eyes. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  “You have a rare gift,” he said. “Nessy tells me you’re headed to Redrock. Through the shadelands,” he glanced at Nessy with a judgemental look. “Take this.”

  He held out his hand. In his palm was a crystal hourglass on a golden chain.

  “When you are in danger, gaze into this hourglass,” he said. “I’ve seen you do it with the swords. Same principle.”

  “What happens?” I asked him.

  “For a single minute, your spirit and body will become hidden as sand within this hourglass.”

  I took the crystal hourglass from Harold and examined it in the light.

  “It’s to hide,” said the shaman, addressing Nessy. “It’ll buy him a minute.” He glanced at Brax. “How is he?”

  “Good,” Brax said, his eyes still closed.

  “Oh, you’re awake?” Harold said.

  “Thanks to you.”

  “Okay,” Harold nodded with a slight smile. “I wanted to thank you too, Brax.”

  Brax grunted.

  “He killed two of the four himself,” the shaman told me. He then turned to Nessy. “Give him this later, will you?” He handed Nessy a shiny green trinket of a clover. Nessy took it into her hands and examined it.

  “Maybe I’ll keep it,” Nessy grinned.

  Brax peeked with one eye.

  “It’s for good luck,” said Harold.

  Brax grunted.

  “I’ll let you two rest,” said Harold.

  “Thank you,” I said. I fastened the crystal hourglass around my neck.

  The next morning, we decided it was time to continue on our way. As we left, a guard recognized us and thanked us for helping save the town.

  “You saved lives,” he said solemnly. “We’ve been hunting those bastards for months. They’ve been eating kids in the woods. Didn’t expect them to turn up as they did.”

  “And how was that?”

  “Oh? Haven’t heard?” The guard took a deep breath and leaned up against the nearby wall to get comfortable. “Few days ago, four girls ran into town callin’ out for help.”

  “Four girls?” said Brax.

  “They were hollering about how their daddy had locked ‘em up in his basement.”

  Nessy stepped forward, “Wait a second—”

  “Now hold on,” the guard stood up from the wall. “Let me tell it,” he held up a finger. “Now they said he had himself an army of sprites and even a few basilisks. And that he was gonna come after ‘em. Mayor’s a good guy, but he can panic, you know. So he sent sent nearly our whole militia out to that rickety ol’ cabin. And while they was gone, the girls got their full moon. Had it not been for you,” he tapped me on the shirt, “this town would be Black Sheep. You’re a hero. And I hear you’re headed to Redrock. Now, I got a thing or two to say about that too.”

  “Hold on,” said Nessy. “Where’s Gentry?”

  “Gentry’s dead,” the guard said. “So’s his boys. When we showed up, they fought. So they lost.”

  “Wow,” I said.

  “Yep.”

  “So that’s the story?” asked Nessy. “That whole family. Wiped out.”

  “No story worth telling’s told in one sitting. We’re piecing together the full story now. Old man Lewie, the drunk, thinks he has memories of a wife at that cabin. Says she was a witch. Suspect that’s how the daughters lycanthropied. There was a time when those burlaps boys owned that forest. That changed one night. Wouldn’t you know it, was a full moon. Some of ‘em came here, all scratched and gnawed up. Swore on their lives, that night and til their dying day in prison, they were attacked by werewolves. Was that witch, Gentry’s old lady. She turned her girls into werwolves.”

  “Gentry mentioned a hat,” Nessy said. “Said the sprites stole it the other day.”

  The guard shrugged. “Where is he,” he glanced around. “Come,” he motioned to us.

  We followed the guard over to the tavern we had been at. Sitting outside on a wooden chair was the drunk that had fallen into the tavern the other night.

  “Hey, it’s you,” I said. “You okay? You were bleeding on the ground the other day.”

  Old man Lewie nodded with a slow blink and a tired smile. “Never better, thanks to Pap.”

  “Pap?” I asked the guard.

  “His dad. Passed away years ago. He’s a confused old man.”

  “I see you” Lewie said to me. He smiled. “I like this one.”

  “Hey Lewie,” said the guard. “Did Gentry’s old lady have a hat?”

  “A hat,” said Lewie. “Oh yes,” he nodded. “Warden’s. Spent all their contract money on it.”

  “Warden’s?” asked the guard.

  “Before your time, kid,” Lewie said to the guard. “Artifact shop, just over there,” he pointed down the street. “Ice cream shop now.”

  The guard smiled. “You never know with this guy.”

  “What’s the hat do?” asked Nessy.

  “Huh?” Lewie asked.

  “He didn’t hear you,” said the guard.

  “What does the hat do?” Nessy asked louder.

  “I’m not a hat expert, madame. But I used to go fishing with Warden’s girl. She tried to date me. Gave up on that, glad she did. She’d talk about it, til it was sold. She said it had death magic.”

  “Alright,” said the guard.

  “She tried it once,” Lewie continued. “Some bullies were acting up, you know. She had ‘em keeled over on the ground, just by willin’ it. She could make flowers wilt, lizards sick, people lethargic. Come to think of it, one of those bullies was Gentry’s boys, before he joined his dad out to the country.”

  “It’s getting late,” said Brax.

  “Alright, we’re heading out,” said Nessy.

  “Where? Oh, alright,” said Lewie.

  “Y’all be careful,” said the guard.

  A few others greeted us on our way out. I wasn’t sure which of us hated the attention the most. Outside of town, clouds covered the sky. There was rain pouring in the direction we were heading.

  “Let it all out,” said Brax. “I want it dry by the time we get there.”