Harlen stared up at the sky, one hand on the side of Marla, the family’s pig. With a puff of air, Harlen blew a strand of his black, curly hair away from his face. The vast dome of clouds above him looked no different from any other, an endless expanse of churning gray. Today, the sky seemed slightly darker than usual, though it may have just been Harlen’s imagination. He patted the pig, smiling.
“Alright, Mrs. Marla, let’s get you over to your home!”
Using all the strength that a young boy at ten could muster, he pushed Marla towards the pig pen located just outside the small cottage that Harlen lived in. Still smiling, he wandered over to the chicken coop, gathered the weaved basket hanging on a hook near the entrance, and began to get to work.
After a long time wrestling the eggs out of the clutches of the hens in the coop, Harlen wandered out with a basket of eggs and was absolutely covered in grime. He then looked up towards the sky, frowning slightly. In the amount of time that Harlen had been in the coop, the sky had gone from a light gray and dropped to a significantly darker shade. While Harlen knew he spent a large sum of time gathering eggs, Harlen knew that he hadn’t spent the entire morning and afternoon on such a simple task. Maybe a storm was about to start on the farm? Either way, he should let Mama and Papa know. He skipped over a fallen plank of wood, over to the entrance of the small wooden house that Harlen called home, waving to the various animals that belonged to his parent’s farm.
Harlen opened the door to the small kitchen, dropping the basket of eggs on the small circular table that marked the center of the room. Harlen looked around the room, surveying the well-worn cooking tools and the dusty cabinets. Humming, he walked over to one of the cabinets and opened up some of the jerky they had made a couple weeks before, tearing off a piece and chewing slowly. Once he finished his meal, Harlen looked around with a frown. His parents still hadn’t left their room. Placing both hands around his mouth, Harlen called.
“Ma! Pa! I got the eggs, like you asked!”
Harlen paused after that, waiting for a response. When none came, his eyes narrowed in confusion. He could’ve sworn that his parents were inside. They weren’t out on the farm, so they had to be here, right? Cautiously, Harlen walked over to the door that led to the bedroom, the only other room in the house. He didn’t want to walk in without permission, but he wanted to know if they were in there. For a moment, he stood by the door, thinking. Harlen then brightened as an ingenious plan entered his mind. He just had to ask if he could go in! With a smile, Harlen knocked on the door and said:
“Can I go inside?”
Truly, Harlen’s genius in sentence structure was outstanding.
“Just a moment!” A shaky, soft voice came from the other side of the door. The voice of Harlen’s mother was muffled by the door, but noticeable nonetheless. Almost instantly, alarm seeped itself into Harlen’s mind. Something was wrong. Though Harlen didn’t know the words to describe the reason why, he realized that the shakiness of Harlen’s mother’s voice was not supposed to be there. Just before the alarm inside him began to shift to panic, the door opened just enough to reveal his mother’s form. Harlen's mother was pale, with brown, curly hair falling just below her shoulders. Her complexion was pale in comparison to the darker tones of Harlen himself and his father, with freckles flecking her face. As she opened the door, she wore a smile on her face, but it wasn’t the warm, happy smile that often appeared on her face during a warm day on the farm, and it held none of its comfort. This smile was strained, forced, and the fakeness of the smile was enunciated by the trails of moisture marking her cheeks.
“Hey there, sweetie.” Again, the shakiness in her voice betrayed that there was something else going on, something past Harlen’s comprehension.
“Hi, ma. What’s wrong?” Harlen responded, curious.
“Hm? Oh.” Harlen’s mother wiped her face uselessly, succeeding only in spreading the moisture around. “N-nothing’s wrong, honey. There’s no need for you to worry.”
Harlen, in his ultimate wisdom, realized that his mother was lying. She looked distressed, like when Harlen had been first seen one of the pig’s slaughtered. So, Harlen took his mother’s shaky hands and did what she had done with him on that day.
He began to sing, in the off-tune way most children do.
“Above the sky, a guardian stands,
Always here to protect our lands
He helps in the night
So we can smile in the day
He makes sure we have somewhere to stay
Above the sky, the-” “No.” Harlen’s mother looked stern, almost angry. “N-no, no need to sing that little song, ok? Please just- don’t sing that.”
Harlen felt disappointment sink into his body. Had he done something wrong? Tears began to form in his eyes as he began to speak. “I-I’m sorry. I-” “Honey, honey, don’t cry.” She reached out a hand to caress Harlen’s cheek, that broken smile still on her face. She pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tightly. Even as she held him, Harlen could feel her shaking. “I’m here. You’re going to be ok.”
After a couple of seconds just standing there, Harlen’s mother seemed to regain her composure. She pulled away, then smiled. “Harlen, I’d like you to meet someone. They’re a good friend of ours, so be nice, okay?”
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Harlen sniffled. “Okay.”
Taking his hand, Harlen’s mother guided him over to the bedroom. Harlen’s father, usually stuck with a permanent smile on his bearded face and a laugh emanating from his belly, was completely serious. Not a hint of a smile formed on his face, and his eyes were steely. Without his usual mirth, his dark hair and bushy beard further hid his expression, and his large figure went from welcoming to imposing. Next to him stood a strange figure. The person was shorter than Harlen’s father, a couple inches below six feet, and completely obscured by a pitch black cloak that seemed to be made entirely out of raven’s feathers. As they turned, though Harlen couldn’t see their eyes, he got the feeling that they were watching him. Harlen involuntarily shivered under their gaze.
“Is this the one?” The figure said, pointing a gloved hand at Harlen.
“Yes.” His father said, with a single nod to Harlen. “Come here, boy.”
Harlen, growing increasingly concerned, walked over to his father. “Y-yes?”
The portly man’s large frame lowered itself to Harlen’s eye level. “This person here is going to lead you away for a little while. Be brave for me, alright?”
Harlen tried his best to put on his ‘brave face.’ “I’ll do it, Pa.”
“Thats my boy.” Harlen’s father patted Harlen’s shoulder once, then stood up and turned towards the figure. “Can we do it here, or…?”
The figure shook their head. “I’ll need open air in order to transport him safely at this distance.”
“Lets go outside, then.” Harlen’s father said, nodding towards the door.
As the group walked outside into the field that used to hold their home. In this moment, it felt cold. Empty. Lifeless. The shadows were visible, and the sky had darkened to the point that it was no longer natural. As Harlen looked up towards what used to be a dome of clouds, Harlen could only see the absolute darkness of a single silhouette. It felt like the entire world had been eclipsed by something much, much larger than Harlen could even hope to comprehend. Harlen grabbed his mother’s hand and squeezed. She squeezed back.
“We’re running out of time. Say your goodbyes now, while you still have the chance.”
Both of Harlen’s parents looked to him, his mother teary-eyed, his father cold. Both gathered him up in a hug. Though Harlen didn’t understand what was happening, tears began to leak from his eyes.
“We’ll be right after you.” Harlen’s mother said, the broken smile returning to her face. “Stay strong for us.”
The figure turned towards Harlen. “Time to go.” They raised an arm, revealing the folds of their feathered cloak. The shadows inside seemed to twist and turn with an inner life. “Come to me.”
Hesitantly, Harlen walked over to the mysterious figure. Without another word, they wrapped the cloak around Harlen, and he suddenly felt an intense tugging towards his very being, making him feel nauseous. When the cloak was pulled back, the two of them were somewhere entirely unfamiliar. It was still like his home, inhabited by a large amount of bright green trees covered in moss. An absolute, ringing silence replaced the normal sounds of the forest.
“Brace yourself. It’s not over yet.” Said the figure next to him. In the distance, a rumbling began, then a resounding boom ran through the air. The figure almost instantly held their cloak protectively in front of Harlen. For a couple of moments, absolute silence reigned again. Then the wind began to whistle by. As the wind picked up to a whirling roar, a blast of dust, debris, and material of all kinds slammed into the figure’s cloak with enough force that, without the cloak’s protection, the duo would have most likely been completely destroyed. As the dust settled and the barrage ceased, Harlen looked at the destruction around him. What had been, just a couple of seconds ago, a lush forest, was now a barren landscape of torn tree stumps and dunes of dust. Instinctively, Harlen clung to the figure’s side like an anchor, searching for some kind of comfort.
“W…what…I…What was that?” He said, stuttering in terror.
When the figure responded, they sounded almost resigned. “That…Is the Great Traveler. Or, the aftermath of it, anyway. Here, follow me.” The figure began to walk towards where the blast had come from.
Harlen followed.
It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go.
The two continued to walk for hours. Harlen had begun to process what had just happened, but it hadn’t quite sunk in. He knew about the Great Traveler, of course. The statue of stone that roamed the western continent, large enough that no force on earth can stop it. If that was what had been its footsteps…Harlen didn't want to think about it. They continued to walk. The silence did nothing but compound the shock of how his world had ended. Despite his aching legs, however, Harlen did not say a word. Eventually, the figure stopped, raising a hand. Harlen also stopped, snapping out of his daze. “Look.” they said, pointing out a hand.
In front of them was…nothing. A truly massive crevasse stretched out for miles, and a sharp cliff face marked the edge of the hole, and it was so deep that it was difficult to see the bottom of the wound in the earth. This was the massive, gaping footprint of a creature beyond all comprehension. The Great Traveler's foot had found its mark. It all clicked, then. Harlen fell to his knees, staring at the crater that had once been his home. Tears fell freely from his cheeks, and numbness spread through his senses. As minutes passed staring out into the void, something new began to awaken inside Harlen, something deep, primal, and burning.
Rage.
“I…” Harlen clenched his hands, tears blurring his vision. “I hate him.”
The figure, seemingly startled, turned from his vigil to the young boy shaking with rage by their side. “What?”
“The Great Traveler. I hate him. I…I swear I’ll…” Harlen’s expression turned to a snarl. “I’ll kill him.”
The figure paused, then sighed. “You can't. Not yet, at least.” Then, they turned towards Harlen, their already severe tone turning to a much more serious one.
“Are you sure?”
Harlen blinked, surprised for a moment. “What?”
“I said are you sure. What you want to do…It isn’t easy.”
Harlen turned towards the figure, stepping up and staring at the cloak in what he could only assume to be dead in the eye. “Yes. I, Harlen Itona, swear upon my life and honor, that I will kill the Great Traveler.”
The figure paused, then nodded. Then, they disappeared in a puff of feathers and wispy shadows. Stunned for a moment, Harlen felt the finality of the oath he had just made.
He didn’t regret it.
Not one bit.
As time passed by, the figure returned, this time with a flask. Leaning down, he handed the flask to Harlen. “Take this. Keep it safe. Once you are strong enough, the seal on it will open, and then, you should drink it. In the meantime, get away from here. Try to find somewhere to stay. Once you can drink this, find others who share your mission. Something like this cannot be done alone.”
Harlen felt reality begin to sink in. “H-how am I going to find somewhere to stay? I don’t have any money. My parents…” Tears began to fall again at the thought of his parents.
The figure stood straighter, then handed him a sack of clinking coins. Harlen opened them up. Inside the sack was a variety of silver, copper, and most importantly, golden coins, small and branded with a sunburst on the side- Imperial Brands. This amount of coinage would equal nearly an entire life savings worth of money, and could set some people for life. As he began to count the wealth given to him, Harlen looked up to thank the stranger that had saved his life-
Only to find nothing but clouds of dust.
The stranger was gone, and he was alone. Nothing left of the ruins of his old life, and with a single mission in this next one:
Harlen was going to kill the Great Traveler.