Awaken

Garrick floats in the endlessness of the void, peaceful and quiet. He feels disconnected from everything. Anyone could grow paranoid and terrified of this, even Garrick normally would've, but to gain even a shred of serenity in the nightmares that constantly plague his mind is a godsend.

But peace is too good for Garrick. Life is cruel, and his bliss is snapped away too fast as if taunting him. A light appears in the expanse of black...no, not a light, a colour. It envelops the darkness, an orange colour consuming the Pitch black.

Friend? Foe?

The orange swells and pulsates, forming a silhouette of a body, Garrick's body.

Garrick attempts to move, but his body is weak and sluggish, a broken man with nothing to give.

The orange silhouette glides over to Garrick and envelops his body. He tries to writhe but can't move, his body screaming for air. Weakly clawing at the goo that covers his mouth but all in vain, his eyes grow heavy, tired and demanding sleep... and Garrick obliges.

"...Not yet!" His voice speaks to him within his mind. A deep-seated demand for survival, or perhaps Jarathus taking the form of his voice? The result is the same. He is brimming with energy, tearing, clawing, biting, scratching at the goo, anything to break free. What feels like an endless war bound to be lost, he is instead thrown forward at great speed, vision going blurry before coming to staring at a wooden ceiling.

Coughing and sputtering up the residue of the potion in the infirmary bed, His body was screaming in agony from the pain, the pain that sleeping subsided. Through the delirious, pained state, he sees someone out of the corner of his eye. Garrick is sure he has seen a smile, but on second look, her face remains the same angry visage he has known from Kyra.

"It actually worked...." Kyra says, surprised.

Garrick takes a deep breath, but it is cut short; a sharp pain in his chest cuts it dead in its tracks.

"You're an idiot for going into that cave." Kyra states annoyedly.

Garrick's memory rushes back to him as he realises what caused him to be in this condition. He struggles to sit up, but a hand from Kyra holds him down effortlessly, the pain in his chest excruciating from just a touch. Through laboured breath, he gets out a pained word.

"Mee..tle...mire."

"He's fine." Kyra calmly replies as she releases her hand.

"That's good... I need to...speak with him." Garrick quietly says.

"Then get walking. I'm gonna sleep now." Kyra takes her exit, leaving Garrick alone in the room.

Alone with his thoughts, thinking back to when he died in the Forest ambush, the event that sparked it all. He heard the words Primordial Artefact, Shadowed Ones, Dovruun, Zxeralaki, and Archnobles in his head, repeating over and over. He hoped to forget it all, move on, and claw back some normality in his life, but it doesn't seem possible anymore. He knows what must be done.

Painfully, Garrick pushes himself upright, slowly moving his legs over the side of the bed and standing up. The infirmary gown did a modest job covering him; the bandages did the rest.

He staggered out of the room, with pain coursing through his body. On the precipice of death to managing to walk unaided, Garrick's resolve has never been greater.

A nearby nurse sees Garrick struggling and rushes over to assist him.

"Please sit down, you really shouldn't-"

Garrick puts his hand up, signalling the nurse to stop talking.

"Thank you all for helping me, but I don't have time to rest. I'm looking for a Gnome called Meetlemire."

"Uh, room five. Meetlemire hasn't come out of his room much; his mood is very low currently." The nurse informs Garrick.

Garrick nods in affirmation and walks on.

Approaching the door marked with the number '5', Garrick notices a boot print in the centre of it and splintered wood on the door frame near the handle. Ignoring it, he decides to open the door.

Meetlemire is lying in bed, facing away from the door, toward the window. He turns his head and sees Garrick, his expression changing from sad to overjoyed, leaping from the bed and falling over but rushing back to his feet.

A happy expression from Garrick turns to worry as he realises Meetlemire is missing his arm.

"Your arm-" Meetlemire cuts off Garrick.

"That doesn't matter! You're okay!! That's what matters right now!!"

Meetlemire pulls on Garrick's arm, ushering him to sit on a chair. With great pain, he slowly lowers himself down.

"It's good to see you moving again; I have been worried sick that you would die because of me." A wave of sadness breaks through the joyous voice.

"Because of you? Last I checked, I decided to go into that cave. Don't blame yourself for my actions." Garrick quickly reassuring Meetlemire.

"I hope to see it that way someday, but I can't right now. It is my fault, plain and simple. If I was stronger, actually learned some magic, then I might've been able to do something; no, I COULD'VE done something." Meetlemire's tone of voice fired up, passionately speaking.

"Don't think like that; it doesn't help. Focus on what's ahead. Besides, I need to chat with you anyway; I'm gonna tell you what happened to me with these runes and how I found you." Garrick's tone of voice shifted to a more serious one.

"Oh, we should wait for Kyra then." Meetlemire peeps up.

"The tracker? Wait, why was she in my room when I woke up? How did I even get back here?" Questions sped through his brain.

"Kyra carried you back here. She seems serious a lot of the time, but she's a good person."

"Think we got different people in our heads. She's got her money from the reward, so we're done. We give it another day; then we head to Volmyr. I need to get there." Garrick says.

"If you're adamant about moving on, I'll follow, but we're in no condition to do so ourselves. We need a tracker to get us to Volmyr safely. Hmm, perhaps we might know someone." Meetlemire ponders sarcastically.

"If you can convince Kyra, then go for it. I'm gonna head back and get some rest. We leave tomorrow morning." Garrick replies, pretty confident she'll refuse.

"Excellent news, we can chat on the journey tomorrow then! I have a lot to talk about myself." Meetle adds.

Garrick nods slightly, then pushes himself back up to his feet, Meetlemire trying to assist but not offering much help.

"You're a good friend, Meetle. See ya tomorrow." Garrick smiles as he walks to the door.

"You too Garrick." Meetle says as Garrick leaves, closing the door carefully behind him.

"Okay, I may have lied. Kyra definitely won't want to help us. I need to think for a while and devise a plan." Meetle says to himself out loud.

Meetlemire spends the next few hours thinking but fails to devise a good reason to convince Kyra to join them. Frustratedly, he gets dressed and leaves the Infirmary.

The sun outside is bright, reducing the mud to dirt and making walking easy. He glances toward the stables, noticing he's missing a horse.

"Where's my horse?"

Thinking back to Kyra barging into his room, commanding she's borrowing it.

A sly smile works its way across Meetle's face.

"I think I may have a solution."

Meetlemire makes his way into the Ivory Duchess Inn.

"Hello, Krovar! I'm looking for Kyra, the tracker!" Meetlemire says heartily.

Krovar looks up.

"You're looking much better today. Room five." Krovar happily says.

Meetlemire walks over to the door and knocks, but no one answers. He hits it again, and it flies open; an angry Kyra stares him down, not saying a word.

A chill runs down Meetle's spine.

"I would like to hire you to guide me and Garrick to Volmyr." Meetle mustering all his courage to speak.

"I'm done with you two, nothing but trouble. I'm giving Garrick the courtesy of resting tonight, but first light, I'm dragging him to the Captain to get my reward." Kyra straightforwardly says.

"Oh, money...about that...what happened to my horse?" Meetle boldly asks.

Kyra's face drops.

"It isn't at the stables, so I assume something may have happened. Which is okay, but it would make sense for that person to perhaps pay for the destruction of property in the value of being a guide to reach a major city." Meetle is far more assertive than should be capable from him, especially toward Kyra.

"I hate you." Kyra replies while sighing. "Okay, I'll take you both to Volmyr, but that's It, no more after that."

His face beams with joy.

"Excellent news! We leave tomorrow morning after you've dragged Garrick to the barracks for the reward!"

Kyra doesn't reply and slams the door shut. A loud 'click' and thud are heard as she locks the door and slides the latch across.

Meetlemire takes a deep breath, his heart racing, surprised he held his nerve.

"I can't believe I did that. Well, anyway, busy day tomorrow, I'd better rest up for the journey ahead!"

End Chapter