Entanglement of the Dark

Two

"Papa?" Julian called out as she opened the door into his small cottage.

"Here, Juli," Julian's grandfather called out with her pet name that only he used. He was sitting in his old comfy chair smoking a pipe next to the fireplace. He had not bothered to crack the window to let the smoke out. Julian suppressed a cough and sat down next to him in the adjacent chair. The fire was a bit too hot for her liking but her grandfather was small and need the extra heat. "I can hear the birds chirping. I was thinking about visiting the garden later, a pitty to miss a lovely day outside. Spring has just begun but it will not last forever."

"It is lovely outside," she tried to smile. "I went to the river early this morning."

"A bit of a trek to get there," he said, voice raspy, and smiled back at her. "And you probably did not even go fishing."

"I went to think," Julian's palms began to sweat.

"About?"

"Papa, something has happened." She bit her lip and watched him closely. Her grandfather observed her observing him and she decided to continue. "It's Roane, The Grey Death has chosen him."

"How many suns ago?"

"Two-"

"Two," he sighed. "He only has five left if he is lucky."

"I know," Julian's eyes welled up and she bit her lip again. "Papa, I came to ask for your advice. Father is requesting that Mother allow him to take Roane across The Glass to the Kingdom of Sec-"

"Don't say the name," her grandfather warned. "You give it power when you say it and trust me when I say that creature does not need more."

"Papa, he has been dead for a few years."

"No," he shook his head. "You do not understand. That amount of evil does not wain in a few years. That creature is still affecting our land despite The Great Banishing over forty years ago. Who do you think left The Grey Death? He requested it from Evrena herself and she provided."

Julian fought the urge to shake her head. The powerful Conjurer Seciliem could not have asked Evrena in person, she was a goddess. Evrena, the Goddess of Death and Destruction. Julian had heard that it was not Seciliem who had brought The Grey Death, or even a godess, but was caused by the sudden loss of magic to the land of Baya that it had relied on to sustain itself for hundreds of years. 

"As for crossing The Glass," he sighed. "They are parents, Juli. Something you will learn in your own time is that parents have a connection, a responsibility, to their young that will surpass any level of warning in order to save their child."

"You do not think they should go?"

"That is not for me to say," he began a coughing fit and Julian waited patiently for the fit to subside. Finally, he was able to speak again, his face a shard darker than before. "I know if it had been Gwynn, your mother, at the age of only fifteen I would have done it. I would have crossed The Glass a thousand times."

"As much as it took," Julian nodded.

"Or until it took me."

They sat quietly. Julian could tell her grandfather wanted to say something else to her so she sat in silence, waiting for him to speak. Minutes began to feel like hours.

"Juli, there is something that you need to know." Julian stared at him. "Do you remember when you were a little girl, and you used to tell me about the dreams that you had."

"Which ones?" Julian asked. She had so many dreams. Nightmares. She still did. Weird images and conversations between people she had never seen. An overactive imagination.