The wake began like any other for Sam, he woke up in the barn he had begun to call home, Sam got out of his hammock by throwing one leg over the right side of it then rolled landing on the floor and rudely awakening the nearby cat that had been sleeping on his stomach. Slowly raising his rear end and outstretching his forelimbs out in front of him then arching his back Sam stretched like a cat. The cat whose name was Tom skipped his own usual stretch, as he was more interested in a scratching noise coming from the corner of the barn. Sam stood up and made his way to the ladder and climbed down to the ground floor. Tom followed behind quickly with a small mouse in his mouth. Sam pet Bessie the horse on the nose, she was an old mare that was unusually fat for a horse she almost looked like she was carrying a bubble child all the time, though she was far too old to have a foal.

Sam had been living on the Colt Farm for two cycles, Farmer Colt owned five thousand luminares of land and let Sam and others live on the farm in exchange for work. Sam primarily worked on making a road that was intended to span the whole farm. This wake though he decided he would take the wake off and gather apples. Farmer Colt of course believed this was the only life you got and if those boys who worked for him wanted to enjoy a little bit of it then by all means they should, though when the time came everyone ought to do their share of the work. This method of management was why farmer Colt had been so successful. He was one of the largest landowners in his county. Sam had arrived at the apple trees with a burlap sack. He began to climb the largest tree at the head of the orchard when an apple the size of his head pegged him in the face.

Disembodied Voice: "Gotcha sucker." *playful laughter*

Sam fell from the tree and landed on his butt.

Sam: "Ed I am going to climb up that tree and knock you from your perch."

Ed: "I would like to see you try."

With that the trial had begun Sam making a quick pace up the massive tree and Ed throwing a barrage of oversized apples. A few made contact with Sam but knowing they were coming he was able to brace on to the tree to hold himself up. As he approached the branch Ed had been sitting on Ed panicked and decided to jump to avoid being thrown off. He had a rough landing and got a few scrapes and bruises but otherwise he was mostly unharmed. Sam, rather satisfied with himself, collected five apples filling his bag and made his way back down to the base of the tree.

Ed: "Are you leaving the farm too then Sam?"

Sam: "No I was just in the mood for some apples, why? Are you leaving?"

Ed: "I guess you haven't heard, considering you are on the farthest border of farmer Colts land though I would have thought he'd have sent someone down to let you know."

Sam stomped forward and fixed Ed with a hard stare.

Sam: "Out with it Ed you buffoon."

Ed: "A plague has fallen on the land the county has gone to war with three of our neighbors in a fight for food. It's a free for all, martial law has been declared and everyone is either running towards the fighting or running away from it but you can bet no one is staying where they are."

Sam paused for a moment to take it all in. He did not like the sound of any of that at all. But he would have no choice but to make a decision.

Sam: "Ed what are you going to do?"

Ed lowered his voice and his shoulders eased.

Ed: "Well I am going to paradise of course."

Sam: "What? We already live in Paradise."

Ed: "Not the county! The actual real paradise like the concept, travelers have spoke of the county to the South, there have been strange going ons but word is there was a wizard war and the winning side made a place with unlimited water, food, and no one has to work I guess the wizards all study or research, it's hard to get entry but if you do get in your set for life."

Sam: "Well that sounds better than going to fight, mind if I tag along I make good company and I can hold my own in a battle with bandits."

Ed: "Course you can come you are free folk aren't you, master of your own fate I couldn't stop you if I tried."

Sam: "I asked if you mind not if I was capable, you have some gall trying to correct me with how dumb you are."

Ed *laughing*: "I'm the one with gaul? well at any rate I planned on eating my fill then leaving."

They both proclaimed aloud "let's eat!" and feasted on the savory apples. As leep drew near Tom arrived, and climbed the tree that Sam and Ed had settled in to rest for the leep. Tom had a bloated belly, he had eaten his fill of field mice. Tom climbed to the large branch Sam was resting on and laid in his lap. Sam pet Tom with his back leaned against the bark of the great arbor. Tom was a welcome companion. Sam spoke to his cat of his plans to travel with Ed and asked him to come along. Tom nodded almost as if in acknowledgement of what Sam said. They both faded to sleep.

Sam woke up to Ed stepping on his head in his descent of the tree. Tom had already departed from Sam's lap, probably off warring against the lesser powers of the farm. Ed apologized for stepping on Sam but it was about time he woke up anyway, they would leave soon so they both topped off their sacks with Humungo apples (the name the people of Paradise county called the enormous fruit).

After reaching the base of the tree Sam noticed tracks in the dirt just around the dirt near the building roots,

Sam: "Looks like a band of horse mounted soldiers or merchants came through while we were sleeping and they must have been in a hurry."

Ed: "Let's travel with haste then I don't want to find out what was chasing them."

The path was a somewhat well traveled one but it was not lined with brick or rocks. Sam had a momentary thought that he might build on this road like he had done so many of the others on Colts farm. It passed as quickly as it had come. A new journey was ahead of him and while he might have chosen better company if he could, he was stuck with Ed. Upon examination of the tracks Ed announced there were likely six riders.

After a moment of silence from each of them Ed said "let's follow the tracks and see if we can gather more information on the party but keep your distance."

They began their journey following the exact path of the group ahead of them to give some semblance of hiding their own tracks. Sam thought on the fact that it was the perfect wake to start an adventure. Lum was bright in the sky and it looked like it would be a clear wake. The birds had begun their morning gathering of worms, bugs and berries. It was very peaceful. The two of them were well rested sleeping in the sticks was not at all uncommon for them and they both were as ready as they would ever be. The idea of the horsemen having been in a hurry became abundantly clear as the horsemen had left small trails of blood from where their spurs struck the horses and left a periodic trickle of blood.

After a few Lumers of silent travel between the two companions a small noise could be heard in the direction they were going. As they came closer Sam thought the noise sounded foreign unlike anything he could fully comprehend. Sam was an avid practitioner of the saying curiosity killed the cat, he of course was unaware of the second part of the saying "satisfaction brought it back."

Sam: "I don't really care to find out what that noise is."

Ed was the curious sort and wild images ran through his mind as to what fiendish thing could make such a sound.

Ed: "Whatever it is I have to see it, but you needn't worry I will observe from a safe distance."

Sam walked a short way off the path and hid in a large fairly inconspicuous looking bush.

Sam: "Well I will wait here, but not for very long so you had better make it quick."

Ed took off ahead traveling along the brush just off the road, so he would not be easily visible to the thing making the awful noise which seemed to be getting louder but he was sure it was just because he was getting closer. Once he was within viewing distance he gazed upon an old person rolling around in a mixture of mud and blood. The person was yelling in two voices, one of an older person and that other worldly, screeching noise. Ed watched for a Lumin and decided someone ought to help the man, and no one else was around so it would have to be him.

He slowly got out of the bush he had been hiding in, he took each very careful step as slowly as he could. He was only a few Lu from the writhing old person when he tripped on some invisible thing then fell into an invisible wet puddle of liquid. It was not the mud that was clinging to him as he lay for a moment but some unseen liquid. Ed wrinkled his nose at the scent of blood. He got on his hands and knees then noticed the noise had stopped. He brought his eyes to where the old person had been rolling. Now Ed saw a pair of feet, he raised his eyes following the feet to a pair of legs then a stomach, chest, neck, and stopping on the face of the old man. It was like no human expression he had ever seen, it was closer to a wolf's snarl. In place of eyes the old person had black pits. He was growling in the other worldly voice. Ed, now back on his feet, began to back away slowly. The old person raised his hand holding the open claw position and aiming at Ed's heart. Ed turned and ran back in Sam's direction. Ed could hear the old person beginning to chant

Old person *chanting*: "Eternal Dark, hear my call, if it is your will strike this child's heart and take what you desire."

The voice grew distant as Ed got farther away, Sam popped out of a bush he had been hiding in.

Sam: "What did you do!?"

Ed: "Nothing, he just started chanting some weird stuff about eternal darkness."

Sam: "Who."

Sam looked back and saw an old person walking toward them with a goofy smile on his face. Though he had heard the chanting from that weird voice it had stopped and only this old person to show for it.

Sam: "Ed it's only an old man."

Sam walked over to him.

Ed: "We need to run now!"

Sam walked over casually.

Sam: "Hello."

The old person gave an uninterested sweeping motion with his hand. Then a strong gust of wind picked Sam up and smashed him against a tree. Sam's back made contact first, he slid down the base then his butt hit the ground hard, he grunted and his eyes shut. Ed fell over on his butt as well only for him it was out of fear. He put both his hands up as if preparing to block any magic the old person could throw at him. Instead the eldritch voice once again began chanting.

Eldritch Voice: "Eternal Dark, you will hear my call! You will consume the one laying before me. I offer The Stone Of Abandon as offering to take the one before me I command it!"

The old person repeated this line as he pulled a purple stone out of a small bag attached to his waist. He raised the stone to the sky and an ominous tempest gathered from all sides leaving the eye of the storm directly above the trio. Ed was paralyzed with fear unsure of what to do even if he could bring himself to move. Lightning bolts began to strike the ground all around Ed, he brought his knees to his chest and buried his face in them bracing for what he feared would be his death. Ed's jaw tightened and his brow creased as he hunched small against the ground. Then the chanting came to a complete halt and a awful noise but one Ed could comprehend, furios screeching and yowling came from the direction of the old man, Ed raised his head and could see Tom tearing into the old man's face, apparently he had no passive defensive magic because Tom was quickly covered in blood, the pair of them were hissing, screeching, and yowling together now. The old person tried to rip Tom off his face but the cat had a firm grip and held tight. The tempest retreated, leaving the sky blue and Lum shining. To Ed's surprise the old person began walking backwards and tripped on a large rock behind him. He fell and hit his head on a much larger rock. His eyes shut and he fell unconscious.

Ed sat for a Lumin to take in all that had happened. Ed carried the bearing of the luckiest unlucky soul walking the surface. He ran over to Sam and put his hand over his mouth to see if he was still breathing. His breath was ragged but definitely there, the impact had done some internal damage, Ed was unsure of how much, he knew he would need to take Sam to a medicine person. Now that he confirmed Sam was still breathing it was time to deal with the old man. Tom was sitting next to the man's head. The cat was licking the blood from his paws in the typical feline fashion. Ed walked over and looked down at the man's face. He gasped in shock, the blood was gone and he didn't have a scratch on him. Ed had never met a wizard before. With his limited knowledge of magic folk he knew it must take a very powerful wizard to heal themselves while unconscious. Though all that was hearsay, could it maybe be possible that healing magic was easier than most folk had seemed to think?. The wizard was still breathing, Ed couldn't decide if that was good or bad. On one hand he had tried to kill them, on the other hand he was a living person and it wasn't Ed's place to take life. He took Sam's apples out of his sack. Placed the now empty sack over the wizard, removed the lace of his boots and tied the string around the wizards hands and feet. Ed did remember something about needing to use hand gestures in spells so that should do well enough for stopping his magic. Ed leaned the wizard up against the opposite side of the tree Sam was leaned up against.

Ed walked over to Tom and began petting him, after a few Lumins of this he scratched Ed on the forearm signifying the end of the petting he would tolerate. He decided now may be a good time to examine the contents of the bag on the wizard's waist. Tom walked off into the woods without a care in the world. Ed kneeled next to the unconscious wizard, he gripped either end of the relatively small bag and drew it open, it was too dark inside to see anything. Ed cautiously reached his left hand in the bag and gripped something soft but stiff. He pulled it out and it was a pair of leather shoes.

Just as soon as he had the shoes out of the bag he heard a noise coming from down the road in the direction they had come from that morning. He put the shoes in a satchel he wore around his right hip and dragged the wizard and Sam into a nearby bush to hide them from view. Ed rushed up the tree, climbing to a branch that blocked him from view of the road but allowed him to see out. A band of twelve horsemen came down the road at a galloping pace. Just as they hit the muddy section Ed and the wizard had fought in, their horses tripped on something, probably the same invisible thing that Ed himself fell victim to. The back four members of the twelve person group were able to stop in time but the other eight fell over each other and the horses quickly regained their footing and stepped just off the path close to where Sam and the wizard were hidden. Among the back four, one person rode a tan horse speckled with black spots. He was cloaked, his face obscured, wearing a backpack and holding a staff in his right hand.

He raised his staff.
Cloaked Figure: "Dispel."

A light flashed from the end of his staff, revealing the scene fully. Six horse and six mangled human bodies lay scattered across the ground, clad in red uniforms featuring chainmail at the joints and metal plates on broader surfaces. The newcomers wore similar attire but in yellow, distinguished by a different emblem. Whereas the uniforms of the deceased bore a sleeping raven symbol, those of the living featured a howling wolf.

Another of the back four, the apparent leader of the group, called something out to his men that Ed did not understand. They rapidly started getting on their horses. Ed was directly above one of the men getting on his horse. The man presented an opportune target, should fighting become unavoidable, yet the others would surely prove fatal to any lone aggressor. Judging by their garb they had four mages in the back, four archers ahead of them, two spear wielding warriors and two sword wielding warriors. You could tell the leadership of militias in the land by the colored pauldron on their right shoulder. High command typically wore gold and small group leaders wore silver. This one was wearing silver. The mage who used the spell called out to the other men shouting what sounded like an order in another language. The group continued down the path the direction they had already been heading, leaving behind the dead bodies.

Ed's hands trembled and his breath came in slow, steadying draws. This wake could have gone worse but it was shaping up to be one of the worst he had ever had. Ed worked on the Colt farm as a plow. He usually pushed an enchanted boulder buster in front of him and pulled a rake that divided the front row created by the boulder buster into six smaller rows. Others would later come and plant seeds in the furrows. He knew he had the strength to transport both bodies of Sam and the wizard. First he would need to make a gurney. Sam was the better craftsman of the two of them but Ed had spent enough time working with them to figure something out.

After some searching he was able to find two sticks that were straight and cylindrical enough to serve as an axel. Donut stones, ancient runes from some previous civilization were easy to find and came in standard sizes. They held no more magic but served well as wheels due to their unusual durability and shape, a circle with a hole in the center. Ed whittled the ends of each axel until they could almost fit through the center of the stones. Then forced the slightly oversized branch through the wheels getting them stuck on either end of the axel. For the platform the bodies would rest on he found vine leaves. They could be found on dying trees, like the trees the constricted they were enormous large enough to carry most adults. They also had vines that grew from one end to the other end of the leaf in random patterns. Normally the vine would go around the tree holding the leaves flat to the trunk or branch they were gripping. Due to the wild nature of the plant often you would get leaves that grew off other vines that did not touch any part of the tree but still had the looping vines beneath.

After some searching Ed found two leaves that had vine loops that were in the correct position for his need to wrap around the axel. He had to cut a wheel from each axel once he realized the vine loops were not large enough to go around them, then run the axel through the vine loops and attach a new wheel to the end of the axel. Ed wished Sam would wake up already. He did not like being called dumb by Sam but even he had to admit stupid mistakes like that wouldn't happen if Sam had been the one making the gurney's. Finally Sam took some vines without leaves and tied them to the opposite end of the leaf from the axel he was pulling, then around his shoulders so he could pull the Gurney. He placed Sam on this one. He found some straight branches and pierced them through the leaf he would be pushing. He placed the wizard on this one so he could keep an eye on him while they traveled.

*The species of Intearth do not produce bodily waste and have no need to go to the bathroom, all living creatures have some bit of magic inside them that helps their bodies digest all of whatever they consume. This is mostly an advantage over the waste methods of species from The Real Realm with one drawback. If a poison is consumed the body has no way of expelling it regurgitation is only known in a limited number of species and usually used as a weapon. For poison control magic is required or someone must consume another substance that alters the composition of the poison in the body.*

After around half the wake he was done crafting and ready to begin traveling again. He ate some of Sam's apples but his own sack of apples on the gurney with Sam then began carting the two down the same road the party had traveled earlier in the wake. By the time it was leep Tom had returned and laid upon Sam's chest who was still asleep. Ed put both of them down in the brush just off the path so they would be out of sight of any travelers. The land they were traveling to had a lower elevation and the further someone got the Lun the colder it was, Ed wanted a fire but thought better of it and went into a deep sleep as he always did after a hard wake of work.

*"Yum Bird" is a spherical animal that lacks appendages. "Bird" is used for any feathered creatures that fly in Intearth. In truth Yum Birds float, like most organisms their magic ability is highly specialized and serves the basic functions and the floating ability. The more magic the Yum Bird has the more robust and colorful their plumage. A Yum Bird completely out of magic has no feathers at all. To my knowledge essentially their only form of defense is to float out of reach of predators, They eat worms primarily and during the act of eating is usually when they are hunted.*

Ed awoke to the smell of breakfast being cooked. Sam was cooking disks of meat on a thin plate shaped strone [metal].

Ed: "Is that Yum Bird you cookin?"

Sam: "Sure is, we must be getting close to where that old witch lives, she was the one that set the birds loose on the land, or so says Jams."

Ed: "I didn't think it was safe to have a fire in case those soldiers came back or more came behind them."

Sam: "I thought the same at first, but go ahead and look around."

Ed took the half cooked piece of Yum Bird out of the pan with his bare hand and shoved it in his mouth.
Ed began to look around into the distance. There was a dark smog that surrounded them and made Lum look red.

Sam: "Those soldiers must be burning the town ahead, probably started a forest fire too."

Ed: "The whole county will be smoky for Spanths, did they really think that was going to help them find this guy?"

Sam: "The villagers probably did not cooperate with them, even if just saying no the wizard isn't here was enough to satisfy the soldiers, consider the general mental attitude of the people we know…"

Ed thought about it for a moment. The people Ed knew were stubborn to the core. The local culture was one of no snitches. If something got stolen and everyone but the sheriff saw it, not a soul would tell the sheriff. Ed knew the local culture was considered strange to most travelers. Often mishaps with neighboring counties would occur on communication problems alone. Colts farm was one of ten farms in the county and no one else could start a new one because of the stubborn farmers who refused to sell land. Regardless of potential gain in terms of money, it was standard practice to pass your land, possessions, servants down to your selected heir. The stubbornness of the locals would never let any of them break this tradition.

Ed: "I think know you mean, well I am glad we get to eat at least, did you try waking him up."

Sam: "I think he is going to need magical help to wake up, he stopped breathing at one point. He seemed peaceful when he was dead. But he began to glow red and his body jerked then he started breathing again. I think the noise he made is what woke you up."

Ed: "The county witch doesn't live too far from here, do you know the way?"

Sam: "Yea I finished a road from her castle to the North East corner of the farm a couple Cycles ago, she used to let me read the books in her library on my breaks. That's why I am so much smarter than you buddy."

Ed: "I guess the first thing to do is to get this guy some help then how long you think its going to take to get there."

Sam: "Its about a wakes travel from here if we set off soon we could get there before leep, I am not sure I want to help this guy though."

Ed: "How can you say that? The sick will always be helped in Paradise county, it says as much on the welcome sign at the south entrance."

Sam: "Remember I am not from here I just ended up here I'm not stubborn like you folk, I always thought that was stupid. People will get into a street brawl after a leep of drinking, then the guy that beat the other guy near to death takes him to the farm healer right after."

Ed: "You think its better to just leave them in the street to die then."

Sam: "If I was mad enough to beat someone near to death I have no interest in trying to get them help after."

Ed: "Well I am Paradise folk my family tree goes back to the first settlers here, We came from Lum that's why we have six toes and finger on each limb."

Sam: "You have six toes and fingers, cuz you are inbred, families ought not produce children together."

Ed: "There is no reason families cannot produce children together, they all share the soul, multiple siblings contribute some soul, they are just reuniting the pieces of the parent who split their souls to make the siblings in the first place."

Sam: "Have you ever heard of anywhere else where siblings produce children together?"

Ed: "Our people have been doing this from the beginning."

Sam: "Your people you mean, and I do not doubt that your people have been doing it ever since you arrived. In fact it's true that your ancestors came from Lum, In the witches castle I read a book about the arrival of people in a Stone vessel that carried them from their home through Lum then they crashed landed here and started Paradise, Which it apparently must have been in comparison to where they came from."

Ed: "What, is the book still there. That must belong to our people the witch shouldn't have it, can I read it."

Sam: "The book is there for sure but you don't know how to read Ed..."

Ed: "Well we will take it and you can read it to me on our journey,"

Sam: "Alright Ed you have persuaded me, in your own stupid way you had a good idea, grabbing some books for our journey, lets get this wizard to the witch."

Ed rather pleased with himself continued to eat Yum Bird slices. After they were done eating Sam put the fire out and they set off, leaving the road they had been traveling on behind, to walk through the farm land which had dirt paths that wound between sections of plants. About half way to the castle Sam stopped and raised his open palm to signal Ed to stop.

Ed: "What is it?"

Sam: "Sounds like a Gavulox"

*Gavulox are somewhat ox like in appearance and a hazard to farmers across Intearth, The have a magic specialization that allows them to manipulate dirt and rock, They can stick their horns into the earth and uproot a whole field in less than a Lumin, They also have sharp teeth and clawed feet instead of hooves, that help them when feeding on the farm animals. Their skin is scaled, they can grow to any size, they start out the size of cat.*

Ed: "How big is it?"

Sam: "I can't see it but from the sound its bigger than a cow"

Ed: "What can we do about it? Colt's dogs are all being kept near the Colt farm house to protect the Colt's, even if we had whistle to call them they wouldn't come"

Sam: "We don't need the dogs to kill the beast, we just need to get by the beast, let me think."

Sam sat still for a few Lumins before the earth beneath their feet began to move like waves of water. The crops they had been using as cover all fell over, the bull sized creature made eye contact with Sam and charged. Ed dropped the gurney and ran the opposite direction from Sam. The Gravelox covered the distance between itself and Sam in mere Lumends. Sam's face went pale, the mouth of the foul thing was wide open and about to clamp down on him, and like slow motion he let himself fall to the ground to avoid the mouth. The Gravelox got his arm though and just as soon as its jaws closed the arm was gone.

Sam rolled away, stood up and started running again. The Gravelox noticed at this moment the body sitting on the gurney. Graveloxen are known for being lazy and will not pass up an easy meal. It placed its horns into the earth and the ground beneath the gurney began to move in waves carrying the wizard to the Gravelox. It opened its mouth wide to let the whole body move into its mouth, As the Gravelox brought its jaws down on the torso of the wizard, the thing's head exploded.

The wizard didn't get by unscathed, bone shrapnel traveling at tremendous speed went through him like an arrow through a bed matt (typically cotton and fabric blood was pouring out of him creating a pool and he was raving mad again screaming and writhing on the ground.

Ed rushed to Sam's side tearing of his own shirt to make a turnakit then, leaving the unconscious Sam Ed rushed to the wizard. The wizards body began to sink into the pool of blood which was also beggining to drag down the Gravelox'= Ed grahhed tue arm of the raving person to pull him out of the pool but found the blood was like glue attaching him the the person and he took began to get pulled through the blood with the rest of everything else it touched. Ed was sy6=

The crimson pool expanded beneath them like a living thing, its surface rippling with patterns that hurt to observe directly. Where the Gravelox's remains touched the blood, the mixture began to hiss and bubble, releasing vapors that smelled of burnt copper and decay. Ed's boots sank deeper into what had once been solid earth, now transformed into something between liquid and flesh.

The wizard's screaming took on a rhythmic quality, each cry punctuated by a wet, tearing sound as bone fragments worked their way through his torso. His free hand clawed at the air above him, fingers tracing symbols that left brief trails of silver light before dissolving. Tom appeared at the edge of the blood pool, fur standing on end, golden eyes reflecting an intelligence that seemed far too knowing for a simple farm cat. The feline began to pace the perimeter, never stepping into the crimson mire but watching with the patience of a predator waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Sam woke up to a throbbing pain where his arm had been, the phantom sensation of fingers he could no longer move. The tourniquet Ed had fashioned held firm, though dark stains showed where blood had seeped through the fabric. Around him, the crimson pool had solidified into a crust that cracked like dried mud, revealing patches of normal earth beneath. The wizard lay motionless nearby, his breathing shallow but steady, the bone fragments having worked themselves out during whatever dark healing had taken place.

Tom sat washing his paws with deliberate precision, as if the chaos of the past Lumers had been nothing more than an afternoon hunt. The cat's golden eyes fixed on Sam with an expression that might have been satisfaction or judgment, though it was impossible to tell which.

Ed emerged from behind an overturned section of crops, his face pale and streaked with dirt. He carried Sam's fallen satchel in one hand and a peculiar fragment of what had once been the Gravelox's horn in the other. The horn piece pulsed with a faint inner light, casting shadows that moved independently of Ed's movements.

Ed: "The blood stopped pulling everything down when you woke up. I cannot say whether that means something good or something terrible."

Sam flexed the fingers that were no longer there, wincing as phantom pain shot through the empty space.

Ed watched his friend's face contort with each wave of phantom sensation, remembering stories the farm healers told about severed limbs. They claimed the missing parts didn't simply vanish, but became part of something larger, contributing their magic to the endless web that connected all things beneath the Spherve's surface. Some workers swore they could still feel their lost fingers during the deepest part of leep, reaching through soil and stone toward roots they would never touch again.

The wizard's eyelids fluttered, and Ed noticed that where each bone fragment had pierced his flesh, the wounds had sealed themselves with what looked like tiny doorways, perfectly round holes that seemed to lead somewhere else entirely. Through them, glimpses of distant caverns flickered like memories half-remembered, and a sound like rushing water echoed faintly from depths no one had ever measured.

The absence felt wrong in ways that went beyond physical loss. Where his arm had been severed, the magical essence that composed his being seemed frayed at the edges, like a tapestry with loose threads that might unravel further if disturbed. Sam had heard tales from other farm workers who had lost limbs to Graveloxen or farming accidents, some spoke of the severed parts continuing to exist somewhere, maintaining a connection across distance that manifested as phantom sensations. Others claimed their lost flesh had been absorbed into the earth itself, becoming part of the endless magical substrate that formed Intearth's foundation.

The tourniquet Ed had fashioned was already beginning to merge with Sam's remaining flesh, the fabric dissolving and reforming as his body's magic worked to seal the wound permanently. Within a few Lumers, there would be nothing left but smooth skin where his arm had been, as if he had emerged from his bubble that way. The thought brought neither comfort nor distress, it simply was, another adaptation to the dangerous world they inhabited. The wizard's breathing had steadied, but strange marks had appeared across his exposed skin where the bone fragments had penetrated, not scars, but symbols that seemed to shift and writhe when observed too closely. Ed crouched beside the crystallized blood pool, using a stick to prod at its surface. The material rang like glass when struck, yet underneath the translucent crust, darker shapes moved in slow, deliberate patterns.

Tom approached the unconscious wizard and sat precisely three paces away, tail twitching with an alertness that suggested the danger had not entirely passed. The cat's golden eyes never left the wizard's face, as if waiting for something specific to occur. The Gravelox horn fragment in Ed's hand grew warmer, its inner light pulsing in rhythm with the wizard's heartbeat.

Ed: "We need to get moving before whatever that thing was calling decides to answer. And Sam, your arm... we need to find that witch sooner rather than later."

The wizard's eyes fluttered open as Ed spoke, pupils dilated and unfocused. His lips moved soundlessly at first, then formed words in a language that made the air itself seem to recoil. The symbols on his skin pulsed brighter, and the crystallized blood beneath him began to crack with hairline fractures that spread outward like a spider's web.

Wizard: "The Stone... where is the Stone of Abandon?"

His voice carried both the frail rasp of age and something else entirely, a resonance that seemed to come from deep within the earth itself. Tom's fur stood completely on end, and the cat backed away three more paces, never breaking eye contact with the awakening figure. Ed instinctively gripped the Gravelox horn fragment tighter, its warmth now almost burning against his palm.

Sam studied the wizard's face with the careful attention of someone who had learned to read danger in the subtlest changes of expression. The man's features seemed to shift between two distinct appearances, one moment showing the weathered lines of advanced age, the next revealing skin that appeared almost translucent, as if something beneath was trying to surface. The symbols etched across his flesh pulsed in sequence, each mark lighting up for precisely three Lumends before dimming and passing the glow to the next.

Ed noticed that wherever the wizard's blood had touched the earth, small crystalline formations had begun to sprout like geometric flowers. They chimed softly when the wind passed through them, creating a haunting melody that seemed to resonate with the fragment of Gravelox horn still clutched in his hand. Tom's ears flattened against his skull, and the cat began to back away in a wide arc, never turning his golden eyes from the prone figure.

Sam: "Ed, we should bind his hands before he fully awakens. Whatever magic he carries, I don't want to face it again with only one arm."

The wizard's left eye opened fully while his right remained sealed shut, giving his face an unsettling asymmetry. When he turned toward Sam's voice, only that single dark orb tracked the movement, while the closed lid twitched as if something beneath was trying to push its way out. The symbols across his torso began to pulse faster, their light casting moving shadows that seemed to dance independently of their source.

Ed fumbled through the wizard's small bag with trembling fingers, pushing past the leather shoes to find something suitable for binding. His hand closed around what felt like a coil of rope, but when he pulled it into the light, the material appeared to be woven from hair, each strand a different color and thickness. The rope felt warm to the touch and seemed to writhe slightly in his grip, as if it retained some memory of the beings from which it had been taken.

Tom suddenly arched his back and hissed at something behind them, his gaze fixed on the crystallized blood pool. Within its translucent depths, the dark shapes that had been moving sluggishly now pressed upward against the surface, creating bulges that cracked the glass-like crust. One of the shapes had the distinct outline of a human hand, fingers spread wide as if reaching for the world above.

The wizard's right eye finally opened with an audible wet sound, revealing not the expected pupil but a swirling void that seemed to draw in the surrounding light. When he spoke again, his voice had gained a musical quality that made the crystalline formations sing in harmony with each word.

Wizard: "The Stone calls to its brothers beneath the surface. They have been waiting so long in the deep places, dreaming of reunion."

Ed noticed that the Gravelox horn fragment had begun to vibrate in his palm, its light now pulsing in perfect synchronization with the wizard's heartbeat. The hair rope in his other hand grew warmer, and he could swear he felt individual strands moving against his skin like tiny serpents testing the air. Tom's hackles remained raised as the cat's gaze shifted between the wizard and the blood pool, where more shapes were pressing upward with increasing urgency.

The hair rope suddenly contracted in Ed's grip, each strand pulling taut as if responding to some distant summons. Where it touched his skin, faint impressions appeared like temporary tattoos, showing fragments of faces he had never seen. The rope seemed to remember its previous owners, and their final moments flickered across Ed's palm in silent, ghostly images.

Sam watched the crystalline formations growing from the earth begin to resonate with a deeper tone, their chiming harmony now joined by vibrations that seemed to rise from far beneath the surface. The sound recalled the deep songs that miners sometimes reported hearing in the deepest shafts, melodies that predated any known civilization and spoke of vast chambers where ancient things still moved in patient circles.

Tom's ears swiveled toward the horizon, detecting something beyond human perception. The cat's golden eyes reflected not just Lum's light, but also the strange glow emanating from the wizard's symbols. For the first time since the encounter began, Tom took a step closer to the group rather than away, as if some greater threat now approached that made even the awakening wizard seem like the lesser danger.

A low tremor moved through the earth beneath them, distinct from the Gravelox disturbance that had come before. This one was rhythmic and deliberate, as if something very large and very unhurried was placing one foot in front of the other somewhere beneath the crust of soil and rock. The crystalline formations that had sprouted from the blood-touched earth all tilted in unison toward the north, like compass needles answering a new pole. The chiming they produced shifted from its haunting minor harmony into something flatter and more urgent.

Ed dropped the hair rope without meaning to. It hit the ground and lay still for a Lumend before beginning to move on its own, threading itself through the cracked crust of the dried blood pool with the slow purpose of a worm returning to dark soil. The Gravelox horn fragment in his other hand flared white, then went dark entirely, its inner light extinguished as though something had swallowed it. Ed opened his palm and stared at the fragment, which had gone cold and ordinary, nothing more than a piece of dead bone.

Sam rose to his feet with some difficulty, using his remaining arm against the earth to push himself upright. The phantom sensation in his missing limb intensified sharply, and the fingers that were no longer there curled into a fist. He turned to face the direction Tom was watching. Across the flattened remains of the farmland, where the Gravelox had churned the earth into long furrows, the soil at the far edge of the field had begun to dome upward in a slow, steady rise, the way bread swells above the rim of a pan, patient and inevitable.
Strones, what the locals think of as heavy duty stones but really they are refined metal pieces from a larger structure that are scattered across the surface in some areas.

The yelling Halls,
Sam and his party of adventures Open the door to a cacophony of noises. People traveling down the Halls in the thousands, making all kinds of noises, hoot, toddlers, singing, whistling. Noise making devices everything you could think of that would make noise. Someone at some point was probably using it in that Hall. The ancient beings whose power allowed the travelers to go through held back and writhing in agony at the noise.

Sam: "It seems a little cruel to those ancient things."

Guide: "It is not done intentionally to harm them though the harm is a benefit. It is simply their normal reaction to noise. It is painful for them, but there are certainly things that we can do that would be more painful. And never forget that if the noise was not made in this Hall, these things would be able to traverse again between our lands in the agonies they would not inflict on anyone. The individual suffering would be a thousand times that of what each one of them, accumulatively, are suffering now."

Among the furrows, several strones lay exposed where the Gravelox had torn the earth open, their surfaces too uniform and too lustrous for ordinary rock. The largest of them caught Lum's light and threw it back in a way that stone does not, a faint metallic gleam beneath cycles of accumulated grime. Neither Sam nor Ed spared them a second glance. There was no time.

The domed earth at the field's edge had risen to twice the height of a standing person and showed no sign of stopping. No sound accompanied its ascent, which was perhaps the worst thing about it. The Gravelox had announced itself with trembling and noise. Whatever pressed upward now did so in a silence so complete that even the crystalline formations had ceased their chiming. Tom sat at Sam's heel, motionless, every muscle in the small body coiled but unspent, as though the cat had made a calculation and was waiting for its conclusion to arrive.

The wizard turned his mismatched eyes toward the rising mound and drew a long, slow breath through his nose. The symbols across his skin stilled entirely, every one of them dark at once, the way a lantern goes dark when a hand cups the flame from all sides.

The mound crested and split. Not with violence, not with the explosive force the Gravelox had used, but with a slow, deliberate patience that was somehow worse. The soil peeled back in four directions like the petals of a flower opening at the end of a long season, and from beneath rose a column of strones, dozens of them, fused together into something that resembled a spine. Each piece was a different size yet they fit together with the precision of things that had been waiting underground for exactly this arrangement. They caught Lum's light the same way the scattered strones in the field did, that cold metallic gleam beneath the grime of uncounted Cycles, but together they gave off a low, resonant hum that Sam could feel in his back teeth and in the place where his arm was no longer.

The wizard pressed both palms flat against the cracked earth and spoke in a voice stripped of all its strangeness, flat and careful and deliberate as a person reading aloud something they do not yet understand.

Wizard: "It is not the Stone of Abandon that called them. It was the blood."

None of them moved. The column of fused strones stood at its full height, humming with that low resonance, and the four folded sections of earth held their open position as though the ground itself was waiting for an answer. Ed's eyes went from the column to the wizard, then back again. He took one step sideways, placing himself between the rising thing and Sam without appearing to have decided to do so.

Sam looked down at the dark crust of the blood pool, at the hair rope that had threaded itself into it and gone still, at the place where the Gravelox's remains had dissolved into the mixture. The phantom fingers on his missing arm flexed again, slow and involuntary, and the sensation this time ran all the way up past the stump and into his chest. He pressed his remaining hand flat over the tourniquet and held it there.

Sam: "Whose blood is doing the calling. Yours or mine."

The wizard did not look at him. The mismatched eyes stayed fixed on the column, watching the individual strones shift against one another with small, deliberate adjustments, settling into tighter configurations the way a person arranges themselves in a chair before a long conversation. When the wizard finally answered, the voice was quieter than it had been, and the flatness in it had taken on the quality of someone reporting a thing they very much wish were not true.

Ed looked sidelong at the wizard's hands, which had stilled entirely during this long silence. The fingers were calloused in patterns that did not match any farm work or common craft he had ever seen, deep grooves worn into the pads of certain fingers and nowhere else, the kind left by a tool used the same way for many Cycles without variation. The bag at the wizard's waist was closed again, though Ed had not seen him close it. The leather shoes he had pulled from its depths sat in the dirt nearby, small and dry and wholly unremarkable, sitting beside the very stone that had called down a tempest, as though the two objects were of equal weight and importance to whoever had packed that bag.

Wizard: "Both. And the Gravelox makes three. Blood calls to blood beneath the surface, and three sources together is enough to wake what remembers being whole."

The column of fused strones shuddered once, a single full-body tremor that passed through every piece of its assembled length, and then it was still again. From the open earth at its base, a thin vapor rose, not the acrid burn of the blood pool, but something older and cooler, the smell of caverns that have never known Lum's light, of deep wet stone and the particular darkness that exists so far beneath the surface that even the ambient magic of the world grows thin and strange. Sam's remaining hand tightened against the tourniquet. Tom pressed his small body against Sam's calf and stayed there.

Ed turned the dead Gravelox horn fragment over in his palm, studying the place where its light had gone out. The surface that had been warm moments before was now cold enough to pull heat from his fingers, and along its broken edge, a fine lattice of hairline fractures had appeared that had not been there before, spreading outward from the center the way ice cracks when something heavy stands upon it from below. He closed his fist around it and looked at the wizard.

Ed: "What does it want to be whole again."

The wizard's palms remained flat against the earth. The symbols across his skin stayed dark, every one of them, and the absence of their light made him look older than he had before, a thing worn down to its last useful shape. The column of fused strones made one small adjustment near its uppermost section, two pieces grinding against one another with a sound like a key turning in a lock that has not been opened in a very long time.

Wizard: "It does not want anything. Wanting is for things that remember themselves. What is down there does not remember. It only recognizes. Three sources of blood above its resting place, and it recognizes the pattern. The last time that pattern occurred, someone was trying to open the way between the deep vaults and the surface. It has been rising toward that pattern ever since. It does not know the ones who made it are long dead."

The vapor rising from the base of the column thickened as he spoke, pooling around the fused strones and spreading outward across the churned earth in a low, slow tide. Where it touched the scattered strones in the field, the ones the Gravelox had torn from the soil, each one produced a faint answering tone, brief and low, the way a bell sounds when a second bell nearby is struck. Tom did not move from Sam's calf. The wizard lifted one palm from the ground, turned it over, and studied the impression the cracked earth had left in the skin with the careful, unhurried attention of someone reading a message they expected and did not welcome.

Sam looked at Ed and Ed looked at Sam. The kind of look that passes between two people who have both arrived at the same conclusion and are each waiting for the other to say it first. Ed broke first, gesturing toward the domed earth with the hand that still held the dead horn fragment.

Ed: "If it only recognizes the pattern and not the people, then the pattern is the problem. So we stop being three sources of blood above its resting place."

The wizard turned the studied palm upward and held it out flat, as though weighing something invisible. The vapor curled around the extended fingers without touching them, parting the way water parts around a stone that has sat in a streambed long enough for the current to know its shape. The column of fused strones made no further adjustment. It stood in its eerie patience, the low hum of it pressing against the inside of the chest, felt more than heard, and the open earth at its base continued to breathe out that deep cold smell of lightless places and ancient wet rock. The wizard closed his fingers slowly and lowered his hand.

Wizard: "One of the three must move. Far enough that the pattern no longer holds its geometry. The thing below measures distance in ways that are not our ways, but distance still breaks the shape. The question is which of us can move fast enough, and which of us, in our present condition, cannot."

He did not look at Sam's missing arm when he said it.

Ed looked at Sam. Sam looked at the column. The column hummed its patient, subterranean hum and waited for the geometry of blood to resolve itself one way or another.

Sam got to his feet a second time, slower than the first, and turned his back on the column entirely. He looked south, in the direction of the witch's castle, in the direction of the road he had laid with his own hands two Cycles prior. He stood there for three full Lumins, long enough that Ed opened his mouth twice and closed it twice without producing any sound. Tom remained at Sam's heel, pressed against the calf, still as carved stone. Then Sam picked up his sack with his remaining hand, settled the strap across his shoulder, and began walking south at a steady pace, neither hurrying nor dawdling, the walk of someone who has made a decision and sees no further use in discussing it.

Behind him, at the edge of human perception, the hum of the fused strones dropped a single tone. Just one. Low and slow, the way a bell sounds when the thing striking it is already moving away.

Ed watched Sam's back until it became a fixed point against the pale farmland, steady and unhurried, and then he turned to the wizard. The column of fused strones had not moved, but its hum had changed in character, less a call and more a settling, the way a house beams groan and ease after a long cold leep gives way to warmth. The vapor at its base was thinning. Ed noticed that the crystalline formations nearest to the blood pool had gone quiet as well, their chiming done, each small geometric flower frosted over with a faint iridescent crust as though the magic that had sprouted them was now being drawn back down into the earth from which it had come.

The wizard rose from the ground in stages, one knee first, then the other, then upright, moving with the deliberate care of someone taking inventory of damage while appearing not to. The symbols across his skin remained dark. He brushed the cracked earth from his palms and looked south after Sam, then looked at Ed, and then looked at the strone column one final time with an expression that was not relief and was not fear but sat somewhere in the long flat country between the two.

Wizard: "The geometry is broken. It will sink back down. In a Spanth or two the field will not remember any of this, and neither will the thing below. It does not hold memories. Only patterns."

Ed looked at the dead horn fragment in his fist, then at the wizard, then at the path Sam had taken south. He pocketed the fragment, picked up his satchel from the dirt where he had dropped it, and followed Sam without another word. Tom fell into step at his heel for precisely four paces before accelerating ahead at a trot, tail high, already outpacing both of them toward whatever the witch's castle held.

The wizard followed last, and at no point did he move to catch up with the others. He kept a distance of perhaps thirty Lu, enough that his footsteps made no sound in company with theirs, enough that a person watching from a distance might have thought him a separate traveler coincidentally bound in the same direction. He had retrieved the leather shoes from the dirt and returned them to the bag at his waist without pausing, without examining them, with the automatic economy of someone restoring a familiar object to its familiar place. The Stone of Abandon he had not retrieved. It lay somewhere in the churned earth near the collapsed blood pool, and he did not look back toward it.

The farmland south of the Gravelox field was quieter than the land they had crossed that morning. The burning to the north had pushed the Yum Birds down to lower elevations, and several of them drifted in slow spherical clusters above the remaining rows of unharvested crops, their plumage catching Lum's reddened light and throwing it back in colors that had no right to exist in a field that had seen the morning it had. One of them, particularly round and bright with the deep amber plumage of a well-fed specimen, drifted to within arm's reach of Ed's shoulder and hung there for a time, feathers trembling in the faint updraft from the warm soil. Ed did not reach for it. He kept his eyes on Sam's back and his hand in his pocket around the dead horn fragment, and the Yum Bird eventually drifted upward and rejoined its cluster without incident.

The road Sam had laid with his own hands announced itself gradually, the way familiar things do after long absence. First the ground underfoot firmed and leveled, the soft farmland earth giving way to something more deliberate beneath the soil, a foundation of packed aggregate that Sam himself had tamped down over many Spanths. Then the first of the flat-laid strones appeared at the path's edge, set flush with the surrounding earth so that a cart wheel would not catch, placed by someone who had thought about cart wheels rather than simply about covering ground. Ed noticed his stride change as he stepped onto it, the unconscious adjustment a body makes when it stops fighting uneven terrain. Sam made no such adjustment. He had simply continued walking, the same pace, the same direction, and the road had come to meet him as though it had been waiting.

Ahead, where the land began its long shallow descent toward the southern boundary of Paradise County, the witch's castle resolved itself out of the haze of Lum's reddened afternoon light. It was not a tall structure, not the kind of castle built to be seen from a distance and feared. It was broad and low and old, its outer walls the color of the deep earth that surrounded it, and in several places the stone had taken on the same crystalline character as the formations that had sprouted from the blood pool, as though the castle and the land around it had arrived at some long accommodation over many Cycles. A single tower rose from the western corner, its upper apertures open to the air, and from one of them a lamp burned with a blue-white flame that owed nothing to transmuted coal. The road Sam had built ended at the castle's outer gate, and the gate was open.

Sam did not slow his pace at the gate. He passed through it the way a person passes through a door they have opened many times before, without ceremony, without looking up at the tower or the blue-white lamp or the open apertures through which the evening air moved in long, slow pulls. The road ended at a broad inner courtyard of fitted stone, and in the center of it, beside a low well whose rim had gone mossy with Cycles of disuse, a figure stood watching them arrive. She was not tall. She was not old in the way the wizard was old, not worn and eroded by time, but settled into herself the way certain trees are settled, dense and unhurried and difficult to imagine having ever been otherwise. Her robes were the grey-green of lichened rock, and she held nothing in her hands. She had been watching the gate for some time before they came through it.

She looked at Sam first, at the tourniquet and what was no longer below it, with the steady attention of someone assessing a problem they have already begun to solve. Then her gaze moved past Ed to the figure still thirty Lu behind them on the road, the wizard keeping his measured distance, and something shifted in her face, brief and controlled, the way a person's jaw tightens when they hear a name they had hoped not to hear again. She did not call out to him. She looked back at Sam.

Witch: "You built my road and now you come back along it with one arm and something old walking behind you. Come inside. The arm I can address before leep. The other matter will take longer."