Warden's Path

by Heath Pfaff

  There was a surge of Will, though “surge” wasn’t the right word. I surged when I used my Will, but this was like an orchestra taking to song. Patterns of Will more intricate than anything I’d ever sensed sprang to life around Ghoul. The details of that pattern were impossible for me to fathom, to even begin to understand. If power could be wielded like art, this was the only example of that I’d ever seen. It made the manipulation of the doors seem a trivial thing. There were layers upon layers of perfectly crafted bits of Will, and they all wove together into a tapestry that I could barely look at.

  “Incredible . . . “ The word was ripped from my tongue. I couldn’t see anything. The world was white like a pure, violent light, and it seemed that my ears were full of sound. I fell to my knees, not crushed by Ghoul’s Will, but by the beauty of his creation, and then it stopped. Everything went black. There was a void after the absence of the masterpiece I’d just witnessed. Silence.

  I blinked and found tears running down my cheeks. I wiped them away as I stood back up and looked over to Ghoul.

  “That was . . . I didn’t know anything like that could exist.” I said, though the words fell flat as my eyes passed over the space Ghoul had been occupying and found it empty. I ran around the table, expecting to see him on the ground, but there was nothing.

  “Ghoul??” I called his name, suddenly frantic as I searched the room, but it wasn’t that large, and there was nothing there, at least no other person. He was gone.

  I turned back to the suit of armor, to Ori, and looked to the places where he’d touched the metal. The outlines of his hands were still there, faint red lines burned into the white armor. It moved. Ori moved. Ghoul was gone.

  It all seemed so obvious in that moment. He’d said he wouldn’t need his cloak anymore. He’d known he could only do this one time. The darkness had given life to the golems, it had put something into them, but the darkness was vastly powerful. To do this Ghoul had needed to find another source of power to fuel them. He’d chosen to take that from himself.

  The suit of armor sat up with a strange metallic whistle that I realized was the sound of a breath being taken in sharply. I tried to turn my focus back to what was happening right now. He’d known this would take everything from him. He’d known, and that was why he’d needed me to be here. It wasn’t just that I knew Ori, it was because he trusted me to take care of her after he was gone. I felt tears coming to my eyes. Everyone went away in the end. Everyone. I’d really thought Ghoul would outlast all of us. I’d wanted to believe he would.

  I forced the pain back down. Ori needed me now.

  “Ori?” I asked softly, hoping that the golem would recognize me, that she would still be there inside of the shell. What would I do now if she wasn’t? Ghoul was gone, and there would be no more help from him.

  It turned to me, expression unreadable on the cold metal visor. Two holes where the eyes would be were cut at sharp angles, giving them a frightening appearance, even in the relatively beautiful armor. Under that were the slotted gates that would normally cover someone’s mouth. Beneath it all I knew Ori’s eyes were actually bound inside, wrapped in their metal shell. How much would she feel? How much would she really be the person I’d once known.

  “What is happening, Lillin?” She asked in a voice that was still metallic, but no longer raspy and monstrous. It sounded almost like a human voice sounded, though played through a lute, but still somewhat like Ori had sounded before all of this.

  “You were . . . well, how much do you remember?” I asked, not certain how to explain the situation to her.

  She shook her head. “I remember . . . there was a long and terrible nightmare. I was trapped, and everything was agony. I was trapped inside . . . Blackened, it wasn’t a dream.” Her voice had gotten softer. “I was . . .” She lifted her metal hands, the intricate fingers of the golem coming up and into view. “I am a golem.” There was panic in her voice, rising horror.

  “Ori, listen to me.” I said, trying to get her to focus on my voice even as I buried the pain of losing Ghoul. “You were a golem, but now you’re something else, something with more freedom, something much closer to what you were before.”

  “Closer??” Her voice had a crack of anger to it, and she got off the table, pushing herself to her feet. She stood taller than me, though she had been close to my height in life. “I am a monster!” Her voice echoed in a hollow, terrible way as it rose in volume. “What part did you have in this? Why would you do this to me? I remember, you were there when that monster was cutting me apart and you did nothing!”

  Her words hit hard because they echoed my feelings in that moment. I had been desperate to help her, but in the end I couldn’t do anything. I hadn’t been strong enough.

  “I tried, Ori! I wasn’t a full Warden. I was a student who was faced with something horrible, and I tried to resist! There was nothing I could do. I have made it my life’s goal to strike back against the Warden’s for what they did to you! For what they did to Zark . . .” My voice faltered as painful memories flooded to the surface, stealing the words from my mouth.

  “Zarkov . . .” Ori’s voice was softer this time. “I remember now.” The rage seemed to have fled from her. “I buried him in the graveyard beyond the school. I knew you cared for him, so I made sure to mark his grave. Most are unmarked, but I used one of my metal hands to etch his name into the marker stone.” She sat back down on the table, shoulders slumped in defeat.

  “I’m sorry, Ori. I never wanted things to end up like this.” My voice lacked fight as well. “I wanted you to succeed. I always thought you would.”

  “I was caught out in a challenge.” She spoke in a resigned tone now. “I thought the girl I was with was my friend, but when it came time to return the door she cut my climbing rope and I fell. When I hit the bottom I knew I was broken inside, knew I couldn’t get back up. I was dying.” It was so strange to hear Ori’s voice again, even with its mild ringing and artificial tones. “I laid there a long time, unable to move my arms and legs without terrible pain, and then a golem came. It lifted me into the air and I thought I was saved. I thought it was taking me back to the school. I’d never been so happy to see one of those Blackened things, but it didn’t take me back to the school, at least not through a regular door.”

  A strange vibration had started up inside Ori, and I hesitantly came forward and put a hand on her metal shoulder. I wasn’t sure if she could feel it, or if my touch would do anything at all for her, but she did still as my fingers touched the cold shell in which she now resided.

  “I’m sorry, Ori. I tried so hard to stop what was happening, but I was powerless against Ghoul, and against the Wardens.” Now I was powerless against the King. No matter how strong I became, it felt like there was always someone stronger than me. Right now most of the Wardens could beat me, but it wouldn’t stay like that. I would get stronger. Ghoul had believed that I was strong for a reason, and to me that reason couldn’t be any more certain. I would change things. That reasoning became daunting in light of the King, and the fact that he was going to retrieve the eternal flame. It would make him into a monster.

  “We all are.” Ori said, her words slipping through the strands of my spiralling thoughts and bringing me back to the moment. “We can’t fight what they want, but there are worse things, Lillin.”

  The way she said that last part gave me pause. “Worse things?” I couldn’t help but ask, and I felt like I had when I’d first started training and Ori would tell me stories. All this time later, she still felt like a teacher to me, someone to admire, even if she was now very changed.

  “The darkness, it is alive and it crawls into your mind and eats away at you, ripping apart what you are a strand at a time, handfuls at a time. You can’t run from it, and it can’t be defeated. That was the worst part of being a golem. The pain of becoming one, the pain of existing as one, those things are terrible, but the horror that exists inside your mind, clouding every moment of your life, it’
s unbearable. I wanted to stop existing, but I couldn’t. I wanted to stop seeing the horrors that came to me whether I was awake or not. I thought I’d lost my mind entirely, but then I slipped into a quiet dream.” She let out a sigh that echoed through her shell.

  “Ghoul wanted to try and make amends.” I said, though I doubted that did anything to ease her hate of the man, and I could hardly blame her. It would be impossible for her to see that he was as much a slave to the Iron Will as we were. “He could only save one, and he chose you because he knew you were my friend.”

  “This is being saved?” She asked, lifting her hands in front of her and closing them, the white metal moving intricately together.

  “No, this is existing after being saved. He pulled your mind from the abyss of suffering, though I’m not sure if this was the right thing to do with it. Maybe he should have let you go, but Ori, I am happy to be able to speak to you again. I desperately need a friend.” I didn’t want to be alone anymore, and sometimes it felt like I was alone even when I was with Korva. Dreea had always made me feel safe and comfortable, and for a time I’d thought maybe Korva would be a close friend as well, but in the end she was just as afraid as the others.

  Ori was silent for a short time, clearly lost in thought. “It is good to hear your voice again, Lillin, but I don’t know if I can go on like I am. I don’t want to be this. I don’t think I’m strong enough to live in a shell for the rest of my existence. I can feel things, but they all seem far away. Sound is sharp and clear, but it echoes, and touch brings none of the warmth it did before.” She shook her head.

  “Life is sometimes pain and fear, Ori. It’s not always what we want, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness in places. You have to be willing to look, and you have to be willing to make the happiness you want. It won’t be handed to you. I’ve wanted to give up many times, but I can’t. I won’t give in while the Warden’s are doing to people what they’ve done to you, and what they’ve done to Zark. Until I die, I have to keep going, if not for myself, then in hope that I can help others.” The words flowed up through me, and when I heard them spoken, they almost seemed to have been spoken by someone far more mature and strong that I could ever hope to be. They were firm words, words of a person with a firm Will. How could they be mine?

  I also knew that I was asking a lot from her. Ori had suffered in ways I couldn’t imagine. Comparing my pain to hers wasn’t entirely fair, but I wanted to believe that I would always find the strength to keep trying no matter how bad things became.

  The slotted metal mask of the armor considered me, dark angular eyes boring into me. “You’ve changed, Lillin. You’re not the girl I shared a room with anymore. You’re stronger, and maybe just a little intimidating. You feel like a storm about to arrive.”

  Ori stretched then, seeming to expand as she shifted and spread her metal arms wide, rotating them and lifting them above her head. The range of motion was impressive, and they moved surprisingly quiet considering that everything was metal. She let out a sigh as her arms returned to her sides, gaze sliding back over me. “What do we do now?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but then noticed a letter laying on the table below where Ori would have been. It was neatly folded, and my name was on the outside.

  “What’s this?” I asked myself as I came forward and took it in hand. I unfolded the parchment and discovered two separate sheets. The first was hastily written, sloppy, and somehow I knew it had been written by Ghoul. It wasn’t just because it was in his shop, but because it sounded liked him. I could almost see his crooked smile as I read the words.

  Lillin,

  We got them! They would be furious with me, but now they haven’t the chance. I’ve left Ori in your care. The paper with this one is a final order from me, signed and sealed with my mark. It can be broken, but that would take process that I doubt they would be willing to undergo just now. If you cared for me, I’m sorry you might be hurting now, but know that I am content with having lived as long as I have. There are things I no longer wish to carry with me, and there are wrongs that can’t be righted, even if I had twice the time I’ve already lived. As grim as I may seem to you, I do not wish to live to see the world fade. Remember, Lillin, you are a Scout. You must go where others won’t, and see what others cannot. Be well, friend.

  The second letter was a signed and sealed official order of last intent. It gave Ori into my authority to do as I saw fit for her care and command. He even ordered my rank be shifted from trainee to line command, giving me leadership over up to a team of ten other Wardens. I knew about final orders. They were matters of honor for old Wardens who chose to let go of existence, requests that were almost always carried out as long as they were within reason, and could only be rescinded by a majority vote of a sitting council. I doubted that would be happening soon.

  “What does it say?” Ori asked.

  “It says that I’m a line commander, and you’re under my authority for now.” I answered. “Apparently Ghoul wanted to make certain that we would stay together for a time. I can’t imagine people will be happy. I’m not all that popular.” I admitted.

  To my surprise, Ori laughed. “You never really were. Trouble follows you like the sun chases the moon.”

  I grinned back at her. “Yeah, but now you’ll be following along too. You’d better get used to dealing with trouble. I imagine we’re going to find a great deal of it. The King already doesn't like me, and the world is falling apart just beyond this camp. I’d say we’re in for more than our share of difficulties.”

  “You made an enemy of the King?” Ori seemed surprised, and maybe concerned. It was hard to read her new voice, and impossible to gauge anything based on the blank expression of the suit of armor.

  “I suggested he was doing something foolish, so he made me strip down and dig a deep hole with my bare hands.” I said with a shrug.

  “You don’t talk out against the King, Lillin. That’s suicidal.” Ori pointed out the obvious.

  “Yes, I understand that now, but at the time I hoped he was a man of reason. It turns out he is actually a small child who throws tantrums if things don’t go exactly as he wants. We’re going to change that though. We’re going to change a lot of things.” I thought about that a moment and then added, “Assuming the world isn’t torn apart first.”

  Silence settled on us for a short time before Ori spoke again. “That darkness that is here is . . . “ She seemed at a loss for words. “When it came into this world fully I could feel it. It took a hold of me and the little bits of my control that remained were torn away from my grasp. Everything was a constantly shifting nightmare. The pain, the agony of existing inside the golem was nothing compared to the fear and madness of what came with the dark. I wasn’t sure when I was dreaming or if I was awake. I relived the moment of my fall over and over again, and worse. My uncle . . . “ She shook her head. She’d killed the man, thus earning her place as a deady. He’d been a foul creature, a rapist with no redeeming values, and he’d deserved the death she’d given him. I could only imagine how the twisting dark would use those old fears to its advantage.

  “The King intends to use Everburn to push the darkness back out of our world, but I don’t think it’s that easy. Arthos and I brought it here when he insisted upon bringing back an artifact from a world we traveled to. I don’t know what the artifact was, but it broke him, made him paranoid and delusional. I need to talk to him, to see if I can reason with him and steal the artifact back. I think returning it is the only hope we have of sending this madness back from where it came.” I hadn’t really thought this all out yet. Ghoul had thought sending the artifact would do little more than maybe earn us some more time, but I didn’t have any other ideas.

  I wasn’t certain how I was going to do the things I had in mind, especially if Arthos refused to help me. I couldn’t be sure that even with his help we would find our way back to the world we’d been in, but maybe slipping it into any other world would be
good enough. Maybe we could even send it further away, like we had with Everburn. There had to be something we could do.

  “Everburn seems like a good idea.” Ori said, sounding perhaps a bit hopeful.

  “It’s not. The eternal flame isn’t what they taught us about in school. I’ve learned more about it since I’ve become a full Warden. The flame changes those who get too close to it. It turned the Blackened into monsters that were almost as bad as those that they were fighting, and it changed the King as well. Now he’s going back for it, and it’s likely that he’ll come back far worse than the Blackened were. He’s more powerful than they were to begin with.” I kept my tone low, as though speaking loudly might invite reprisal from the King. I hated that I was afraid of the man. I didn’t want to feel that fear, but the fact that he could use me as he pleased and I couldn’t stop it, and wouldn’t even be aware that it was happening, that was terrifying.

  “Perhaps he is strong enough to control it this time?” Ori still seemed hopeful. “He has probably grown his power a great deal since all those years ago.”