The Witch, The Wizard, and The Out-Worlder

An Odd Servant, An Old Abode

Felix was as motionless as a statue, eyes glued to the shadows beyond the door. The sound of rattling wood was growing less sporadic and more rhythmic as it grew closer to the gap between the wall and door.

The shadows grew closer and closer to revealing their source. At last, the suspense was over, a wooden manikin-like form hobbled its way out of the darkness. What was most disturbing was the fact that it was without facial features, only a face-like shape made entirely of wood. Every individual piece of the being was separate, seemingly not held together by anything, yet the arms remained where they should be, as well as its legs, feet, body, hands and anything else. The rattling we were hearing was nothing more than the being moving around, and its limbs banging against each other. It was a life-sized marionette doll with no strings attached. What made it even more strange, was that it was hovering, not walking.

I stood, silenced by a mix of confusion and caution. I turned to Felix, of which was studying the form closely, his head twitching slightly as he watched. To my surprise, Lute became unattached to my leg and took to standing in front of me, he seemed to of overcame his fear, but not his curiosity.

"What do you suppose it wants?" I couldn't imagine it was here to hurt or in any way harm us, but it was still here for a reason, that much I was sure.

"My guess, we just met the help." Felix answered, though he was still fixated by the mass of moving wood with an intense curiosity.

We both stood there, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. The manikin lankly stood there, held up by, what would have to be magic. I couldn't see any other explanation inside the realm laws of the world I knew.

"Ozle, please show these three to the reception hall." The voice could be heard echoing up the hallway until it reached us. The voice sounded like a man's voice, though he seemed annoyed more than anything.

Within seconds of the command, the manikin began stumbling forward, arms swaying front and backwards with no rhythm. I wanted to stay, to not follow the voice or the manikin, but I knew it had to be the Out-Worlder, I had to follow if I ever wanted to return home.

"Are you ready to see the Out-worlder?" Felix asked me. We had yet to start following Ozle, remaining behind for a moment.

"This is the whole reason we came here, might as well get this over with." I had no other logical options, I had to speak to him, I had to go home. Without talking more about it, I started catching up to Ozle with a little speed walking.

I had nearly forgotten about Lute, who was not fast enough to keep up with us. I knelt down and extended my hands down to him, allowing him to jump into my palms so I could carry him. The softness of his coat was like carrying a cat, it was a familiar, pleasant feeling.

"Be prepared, we haven't heard the best stories about this man." Felix warned as he caught up to Ozle and I.

The towers hallway opened up into a large central area filled with all sorts of interesting things. More suits of armor adorned the walls within slight pockets, a red and gold laced area rug canvased a large portion of the gigantic room and a large chandelier hung above, housing dozens of lit candles. Straight ahead was a towering grand staircase leading up to a set of double doors. It would have been a treat to see the tower in its glory, when it wasn't so long neglected. From the ground floor, there were quite a few doors and subsequent hallways to follow, it would be all too easy to get lost.

"This place is huge." I stammered.

"We must not loiter or get distracted; it would seem our guide would be unforgiving of us." Not thinking, I had forgotten about Ozle. When I turned to find him, he was already halfway up the stairs.

"Wait!" I yelled as I jogged to gain some ground. Ozle was unyielding as he somehow pushed himself up the stairs with remarkable ease.

I followed as fast as I could, but the stairs were many and I was not accustomed to them. I lived in a two-story house, true, but the small flight of stairs was nothing when compared to this. Felix, however, blew past the stairs with no problem, gliding up like it was nothing. It was as if the stairs were entertaining for him, how I envied his cat like abilities right now. At least they weren't as bad as the stairs from before.

Once we reached the top, Ozle had just finished opening the double doors, revealing, yet another, large room. This new space was decorated much less, had a real minimalist feel to it. Within the new room was a long red and gold rug leading up to a small set of stairs that led up to a golden throne, there were about a dozen torches on either side of the rug, giving the throne a regal veil. The throne itself was lean, tall and mostly made of gold, with the exception of the red cushions and a few adornments. With the exception of this, there wasn't much else to the room, just cobble stone walls with a few sconces for lighting, a chandelier from above, and that was it.

On the throne sat a man, eying us attentively. He seemed young, maybe late twenties, his hair was a frazzled brown mess which matched his slouched posture. He was dressed rather homely as well, the only exception was his gold scepter with a large ruby embedded to the top that he clutched in his right hand. He didn't give off much of a majestic aura, even though he sat atop a throne.

"You must be the Out-Worlder." I said as we stopped halfway towards him. Taking the opportunity, Lute leapt from my hands and fluttered down to the ground, returning to be by my side.

"In the flesh." He smirked, though I had the feeling he wasn't thrilled about the title.