The Forsaken Call

by Jamie Murray

  Meg found her face turning red again. "I'm sorry," she said. "No one's spoken so honestly to me before in a long time."

  "I think you're really special, Meg," said Jameson. "And I…I want to stay here. With you."

  "Until you get your memories back?" Meg said immediately.

  Jameson nodded. "Yes," he said. "If it's all right with you."

  "Of course it is," said Meg. "I want you to be comfortable and stay here as long as you need to."

  "Thank you," said Jameson. "I hope someday you'll let me repay you."

  Meg bit her lip and took a step towards him, then back again. Jameson only watched her make both those moves and waited for her to do something else before he responded. Finally, she gathered up all her courage and confidently walked right up to him, pulled him down to her level and kissed him.

  At first, he didn't react, but after a moment he kissed her back. Almost as soon as he started, she pulled away and turned away from him, hesitantly wiping her mouth.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "Let's just pretend I didn't do that, all right?"

  "Why?" Jameson asked.

  "I…it wasn't very appropriate," she said, rubbing her arms.

  Jameson put his hands on her shoulders and didn't say anything. "I meant why did you kiss me?"

  "I don't know why," she admitted sheepishly. "I just thought…it was stupid."

  "I don't think so," Jameson said.

  "It is stupid." Meg shook her head and faced him. "What if you have a wife somewhere? Or children even?"

  "Do I look old enough for that?" Jameson said.

  "Maybe," Meg said, throwing her hands in the air. "We don't know how old you are, after all."

  "Meg…" Jameson sighed. "Kissing you… it didn't feel wrong."

  "Jameson, look at yourself," she said, hugging herself and looking to the floor. "Aside from having no memory, you're perfect. If you don't have a wife, then you must have a fiancé. As soon as you remember, we'll both be hurt and ashamed and I don't want that to happen." She finally peered at him in the eyes and said finitely, "There has to be a woman you've just forgotten about."

  Jameson put his hand under her chin and kissed her cheek. Meg's heart raced as his lips made contact with her skin, but he pulled away from her and kept his eyes locked with hers. "I understand how you feel," he said. "And you're even kinder to think about what's right instead of what you want."

  She put her hand on the side of his face and smiled. "You make it so hard," she told him.

  He pulled her into a hug, and the two stayed like that for a long while, wanting more.

  5. Memories of the Forces

  Chapter 5

  In the middle of the night, Meg felt an inexplicable fear as she sat up straight in bed. She glanced across the room at Jameson lying in his bed, sleeping soundly. Quietly, she climbed out of her bed and crept over to him.

  He was lying to one side of the bed on his side with one arm stretched out, palm up. After a moment of contemplation, she leaned into the bed and laid her head on his arm. The weight woke him up, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Meg with tears in her eyes. Without saying a word, he lifted the blankets up and held her close to him until he could feel her crying quieting.

  When the morning rolled around, they were both jolted awake by a fearsome rumbling.

  "What was that?" Jameson asked, getting out of the bed as Meg sat up.

  "The Forces!" she exclaimed, clambering to her feet and rushing to a trunk for some clothes.

  "The Forces?" Jameson repeated, looking for an explanation.

  "It's uh—" Meg said absentmindedly as she searched for shoes. "It's…it's difficult to explain right now! We don't have time. We have to get someplace safe!"

  Jameson observed the haste and seriousness in Meg's attitude and then decided he should follow suit. He collected up a change of clothes and quickly dressed himself as he followed Meg down the stairs as the mysterious and distant rumbling continued.

  She took him outside and into the street where there were many people running around, frantically searching for one another and obviously trying to get away from a certain place that was near the market.

  "Has anyone sent for Baloric?" Meg called to a man passing by.

  The man stopped a moment and responded, "He was in town. We sent a boy to warn him of the Forces."

  "What's Baloric?" Jameson asked Meg.

  "Come on, Jameson," she said, taking his hand and pulling him in the direction where the people were rushing.

  Jameson looked back over his shoulder as he heard a loud crash, like the sound of something massive falling to the ground. He held his ground as Meg turned to him and tried to coax him into following her.

  "I'm going to go check it out," Jameson said.

  "Check it out?" Meg said, sounding outraged. "No! You can't!"

  "Why not?" Jameson asked.

  "Because you just can't!" Meg said. "It's too dangerous!"

  "I don't know what the Forces are," Jameson said. "So I want to find out."

  "No you don't!" Meg cried. "Come with me. I'll tell you all about them later!"

  Meg tried to pull him, but he refused to allow her to take him any further.

  "It feels like I should do this," Jameson said, taking both her hands and pulling her close to him.

  "Does it have something to do with your memories?" she asked.

  "It might," Jameson answered. "I have to find out."

  "Everyone has memories of the Forces," Meg said desperately. "They've killed so many people. If you go, you'll be killed."

  "I don't think I will," Jameson said as he let go of her hands.

  "Jameson!" she shouted to him as he dodged people to go against the crowd. Meg pushed her way after him, but fell to the ground when the earth shook again.

  Jameson almost fell as well, but he stayed on his feet as others around him collapsed. With nearly all the people in front of him out of the way, he could see something gigantic and peculiar off in the distance, but he could hardly make out a shape because of the dust created from a shattered building.

  Instead of following the rest of the recovering people, Jameson ran straight towards the beast. As he got closer, he almost wished he had followed Meg's advice because he was suddenly faced with an enormous creature with several long legs that were pointed at the end. When it stamped around the streets, it created large indentations as the spikes drove into the ground. Its head rose high into the air so it could see past the buildings that surrounded it, and with its massive tail, it swiped through another large building and leveled it.

  The debris flew into the air and sailed across the town, landing someplace far away, but causing a rumble Jameson could feel. He couldn't take his eyes off the creature, and thought maybe he should be terrified, but something inside him told him he was safe.

  The creature continued to lumber around, jerking its head back and forth as if it were searching for something. It had two green eyes that engulfed nearly its entire head or what it could claim was its face. Jameson watched it unknowingly crush a stand Meg had bought something from the day before, and thought it resembled something very much like an oversized bug.

  "The Forces…" he whispered to himself. He repeated its name again and again in his head, but it still wasn't familiar to him. Perhaps what Meg had said about everyone having memory of the Forces was correct and he was going too far, yet he couldn't help but think there was something much more significant about them than she thought.

  He caught sight of a large piece of wood lying on the ground. Without thinking, he picked it up and was just about to charge at the creature to do his best to attack it, when he was blown backwards by a strong gust of wind. The wind slammed against the Forces as well and knocked it to the ground, though Jameson slid considerably further than it did. His momentum stopped when he hit a stand and almost destroyed it, but he quickly scrambled to his feet to see what had caused the wind.

  However, because of the Forces' massive body, he cou
ld not see past it. As far as he knew, the wind was just a sudden and random strong gust that had had enough power to send the beast flying.

  Though, his guess was immediately refuted when the creature was suddenly raised high off the ground and then plummeted down again. Jameson could feel the wind almost lift him as well, but the repercussions of the monster's fall affected him more as he fell as well. The creature screamed with pain and flailed its pointed legs, but it was all in vain because within seconds, it began to turn to ash, crumbling as it moved, dissolving into a pile of dust.

  Jameson watched in disbelief as the enormous creature was reduced to nothing more than a dune. The wind picked up again, blowing the ash into the air and carrying it off into the sky. Jameson, distracted, watched the dust fly until it was out of sight, and then lowered his eyes to see a figure standing right where the dust had been.

  The person was too far away for Jameson to make out clearly, but he could tell the person was a man and he wore a heavy jacket despite the warm weather. Jameson ran into the street and hoped to signal to the man, but he had already turned away and started walking in the other direction. As he watched the man walk away, his voice became lost within him and he found he didn't have the courage to call out anymore.

  At a loss for anything else to do, he glanced back up at the sky and found there was no sign of the ash anywhere. He only stood in the middle of the street, watching the man disappear into the distance, and was interrupted when he felt two hands on his back. After a moment, the hands pulled him into a hug from behind, and though he could not see the person, he knew who it was.

  "Meg," he said quietly.

  "Jameson," she whispered back. "I was so afraid for you."

  "I'm sorry," Jameson answered.

  Meg didn't reply; she only held onto him for a long time, and then finally pulled away. He turned around to look at her and saw she had been crying.

  "You're filthy," she said, wiping her eyes.

  "There was dust and…" Jameson trailed off, unable to continue his sentence because he knew Meg wanted to say something else.

  "I was afraid you would be killed," she said.

  "I know," said Jameson.

  "I'm glad you're okay," Meg said. "But…next time… when I say it's too dangerous… will you listen to me?"

  "I'm sorry," said Jameson. "I will."

  Meg nodded and wiped her eyes again. "Come on," she said.

  She took his hand and pulled him along back to the shop. This time, he did not resist and allowed her to lead.

  "What are the Forces?" Jameson asked.

  "Did you see it?"

  "It was a giant creature," Jameson replied. "It looked like some kind of bug."

  "They look like that sometimes," Meg said. "They always look different though. Some take the form of people, some look like common animals, some are big, some are small, some are dumb and some are intelligent. It doesn't matter what they look like or how they act. They're all evil."

  "But what are they?" Jameson said.

  Meg took a deep breath. "They're the creatures that come from inside the Shrines."

  "The Shrines?"

  "The Shrines in each nation. Every nation has a shrine and ever since Lord Devin learned how to control and create the Forces, he has been able to rule all the nations."

  Jameson paused a few moments. "Did he learn this ten years ago?"

  "You remember?" Meg said hopefully.

  "No," Jameson said. "I just remember you saying a city called Ailyth was destroyed ten years ago."

  Meg nodded. "Yes," she said. "Remember the boy I told you about?"

  "Jameson?"

  "Yes, him," Meg said. "He was killed by the Forces. And so was my father, when I was still little."

  "I'm sorry," Jameson said.

  "I'm sure you've had some losses at the hands of the Forces as well," Meg said, swinging her hand a little bit and squeezing his tightly.

  "Who is Lord Devin?" Jameson pressed.

  "Well, he's the king," Meg said plainly. "By force. No one has seen him in a long time, though, because he shut himself in the castle he stole from the Ailyth royalty and placed a barrier around it. No one can get in to oppose him, and he just sends the Forces to do his dirty work."

  "So he doesn't even show his face after taking over the world?"

  "That's right. For the most part, we live our lives the same way as before he took it over, except now the Forces are free to destroy what they want and there is no one to protect us."

  "What about the man who destroyed the Forces?" Jameson asked.

  "Did you see him too?" Meg said.

  "I think so," Jameson replied. "He was wearing a black jacket and… he had light colored hair."

  Meg smiled and nodded. "Yes, that's Daigh Baloric," she said.

  "Does he have the ability to control wind?" Jameson said.

  "Yes," Meg answered. "That and so many other things. He's from Gislan, after all."

  She only received a confused expression from Jameson.

  "The Gislan are the people in the west," Meg explained as she pushed open the door to her shop and closed it behind them. "They aren't particularly well liked because their magic destroys nature and living things around them."

  "In order to use their magic they have to kill things?" Jameson clarified.

  "Basically," Meg said. "But Baloric is different. He is the only Gislan who can use his abilities without destroying anything. No one knows where he draws his energy from, but we are all thankful for it."

  "So he kills the Forces," Jameson said.

  "There isn't anyone else who can," Meg said. "There are people who can hold their own or even survive, but no one else we can really depend on."

  Jameson sat down on one of the tables and looked contemplative. Meg tried to remain occupied, but she couldn't help but notice how hard Jameson was thinking about the encounter he had just a few minutes earlier.

  "What is it?" she asked.

  "There's something about it," Jameson answered.

  "About what?" Meg said.

  "About the whole thing," Jameson said. "I mean, the Forces and Lord Devin but… especially Baloric. There's something about him…"

  "What do you mean by 'something'?" Meg asked. "Do you mean…you remember something?"

  "I'm not sure," Jameson said. "I mean, it's kind of like the garden thing. I just get this feeling about things, and I just got the same feeling about Baloric." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "But stronger."

  "You should talk to him."

  Jameson stopped and then almost laughed. "Talk to him? How?"

  "Well," Meg said, making a face. "You walk right up to him and you say, 'hey.' Then things take off from there."

  "You know what I mean," said Jameson.

  "I know, I know," Meg said. "But you shouldn't worry about. Baloric is a very kind person, as you can clearly see since he keeps us safe from the Forces."

  "I wouldn't know how to find him."

  "He has a house."

  "He does?"

  "Yes, right here in Market City."

  "Oh," said Jameson slowly.

  "Well, I hear he actually lives in Miner Town," Meg continued. "But he travels back and forth between the two nations to keep them both safe from the Forces. He came here so often and always refused payment for what he did. So, when he left one day, we built him a little home and had it all ready for him when he returned. He wouldn't show it, but I knew he was very grateful." Meg shook her head. "We were just lucky today that he was still in town. We never know when he's going to arrive or when he's going to leave."

  "What if he wasn't here?" Jameson asked.

  "We have a safe place we all go," Meg replied. "We go there and usually the Forces leave within a day. Then we come out, fix things up and go about our lives until it happens again."

  "That's no way to live."

  "I know," said Meg. "But there's nothing we can do. As long as Lord Devin is in power, he's going to let t
he Forces run around and do what they want."

  "Can't Baloric do something?"

  "No," Meg said. "Baloric is very strong and possesses a lot of power, but no one can even approach the castle without being ambushed by hundreds of Forces. Not even Baloric can face that many."

  "And, even if he could, he would still have to get rid of that barrier."