I came back to consciousness in my own bed. I was wearing clothes made of silk and there was a platter of steaming food to my right. However, I hadn’t woken up by normal terms although I wish I had. Sadly, things never happened the way they were supposed to in this strange world they called the Refuge.

My lustful dream from before had come true. Deborah was in bed with me, only she wasn’t in bed with me the way I would have liked it. Sure she was on top of me and sure we were close enough to kiss but I doubted that was why she was here.

In her right hand was a cold dagger that she had placed on my neck. The blade had a sharp curve to it rather than being perfectly straight. It also looked nothing like the weapons that were forged around here. It looked… dirty.

“How did you know?” she snarled, her white canines showing through her rose pink lips.

“How did I know what?” I asked, my voice a bit raspy from lack of talk.

The blade pushed deeper into my skin. Not enough to draw blood, not yet, but enough that I could feel the sharpness and the potential of the blade.

“Don’t you play with me, Ira. I don’t like you and I don’t trust you. I know you had something to do with this. I just know it.”

I pulled my hands out of the sheets and held them out in a very innocent way, “Listen, Deborah, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. If you could just-“

“You tried to kill Lord Nagheed. Or at least, you had a part in it. Otherwise, how else would you have known? But why go back on your own plan? Why?”

This was the first time I had hoped for Gauss or even Judge Samuel to budge themselves into my room without permission. I never thought I’d see the day in which I actually wished to see either of those men. Perhaps they could talk some sense into this crazy girl. My dreams of wanting her ever to be in my bed again were tossed right out the window… If I had a window that was.

“I swear by the grace of the Almighty I do not know what you’re talking about.”

“Pray,” she demanded.

“What?”

“I said pray!” she yelled. “Pray to the Almighty that you're innocent and maybe I'll believe you.”

Praying didn’t seem like a bad idea at all, not with the circumstance I was in at the moment. Part of me wanted to tell her that bad guys didn’t care about lying through prayer to the Almighty but that would only make my situation worse. And so I started to pray.

My prayer was genuine. I asked to not be killed, there on my bed by the dirty dagger. I thanked him for the life he had given me. I thanked him for an amazing father and for sustaining my life up until this point. I asked him for guidance. I asked him for wisdom. And… I asked him for answers.

Slowly, Deborah’s blade was pulled back from my throat. Oddly, I had forgotten about the dagger, losing myself completely in my prayer. I went from my own words to those verses my father had taught me so long ago. I found peace in them. For once, I’d forgotten about the horns. I’d forgotten about the severed body part that had fallen by my face the night before. And I’d forgotten about Gauss and the torture he'd put me through.

“You can stop now,” she said, now standing by the door. She tossed the dagger on top of the bed. “I don’t know how you knew…” Her eyes peered at me through tight lids. “But you saved Nagheed from assassination.”

She slammed the door behind her leaving me as I often felt in this place of Refuge. Confused. Lonely. A bit scared.

A knocking came a few minutes later.

“Oh, Almighty, who is it now!” I yelled.

The door opened and Samuel let himself in. He wasn’t smiling like the way he was the night I’d met him. The first thing I noticed was that one of his white eyebrows had been singed off from the dinner explosion.

“I didn’t do it,” I said, leaning up in bed. “I swear it.”

Samuel shut his eyes and shook his head. “I know you didn’t, boy. Trust me. The Almighty has brought you into the lives of us here at the Refuge for a different reason entirely. Besides, look at you!” he gestured towards me. “Not in the least the assassin type! The horns are a dead giveaway! You couldn’t even hide behind a couch with those monstrosities sticking out!”

The old man slapped his knee, laughing at his own joke. I wasn’t going to laugh, I really wasn’t, but I couldn’t help but chuckle. It’s not that the joke was funny, but I couldn’t help find the position I was in to be a little humorous. I mean… what the hell? Couldn’t I just go home?

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“We have a lot to talk about today, Ira,” Samuel said, wiping away a tear. “I know I shouldn’t be laughing but I just can’t help but make light out of a… very bad situation.”

“Bad is an understatement, you realize that right? A human died last night.”

“Oh, I know,” agreed Samuel. “Awful thing, really. But! Look at the bright side.”

“What bright side?” I asked, squinting one eye at him.

Samuel crossed the room, lifting his tattered robe above his knees so he could sit on the bed next to me. I scooted further away.

“Someone was going to die last night. At least it was the soon to be murderer and not Lord Nagheed,” he said. “If you weren’t the talk of the Refuge before, you are now! These people think you did that on purpose! Like you of all people knew about the assassination attempt! You’re about as dumb as a box of rocks, boy! Oblivious!”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, sorry, you’re not dumb. Just ignorant. But I’m gonna fix that!”

Samuel brandished a handful of spheres and I crawled away as fast as I could when my eye caught the red one.

“Get that thing away from me! You’ll kill us all!”

“Hush, boy! Stop bein a wuss!” He pointed a finger at me. “Now listen here.” He pointed down to the blue orb. “I know you must be familiar with this one or else you would be here at all. See, this one allows you to walk and see through walls! Not all walls, mind you. Any wall that is less than three and a half feet thick will work but anything thicker and you’ll merely break your nose!”

Samuel extended his palm with the blue sphere on top of it, wanting me to pick it up. I hesitated a moment but he was right, I knew this one was harmless. I picked it up and gazed through it.

“Wow,” I said, “It really works…”

“Of course it does! You calling me a liar?”

I ignored him and looked at the dark hallway now tinted with a light watery blue. I could faintly see the wall I was seeing through but it was mostly transparent. I looked to the room behind me. It was a dusty looking space with furniture covered in old raggedy blankets with piles of books laying on the ground.

I moved to look at the bedroom in front of me and-

“Careful now! You don’t want to look over-“

Deborah was there. Her shiny curves were the first thing that caught my eye. So shiny from the bath water that fell from her hair to her shoulders, to her soft looking hips. She pulled her hands back and rung her hair out, her medium sized breasts liftings slightly. She was looking straight at me but didn’t seem to know I was there. Watching.

I gulped as Samuel snatched the orb away from me. He smacked me hard on top of the head.

“What the hell is wrong with you, boy! You’re a priest for Almighty’s sake!”

“Suh… Sorry,” words not forming properly in my head. My pants didn’t fit properly any longer.

“Whatever you saw I don’t want to know. Judging from your open mouth I assume it was the wrong idea giving you the blue spheres. I’ll be taking those with me, thank you very much. Now!” he said, snapping his fingers. “For the white sphere.”

Samuel stood up and slammed the sphere into the ground. White smoke filled the room in a puff of light followed by a translucent orb that formed around him in a wide circle.

“A shield!” he exclaimed, his voice altered in an alien way as it passed through the white barrier. It too, just like the wall, had a watery texture. “These are great for so many situations!”

“Shouldn’t we be doing this outside?” I asked him. “Seems dangerous.”

“Nonsense,” Samuel said, walking out of the shield. “Now, for the green sphere.” He tossed the green ball to me, my demonic hand snatching it easily out of the air. “You can do this one.”

“What do I do with it?” I asked, studying the small sphere in my hand. The dancing smoke inside its glass like shell was almost hypnotizing.

The white orb melted silently away behind Samuel. “Crush it in your hand!”

“No, I’m alright. You do it.”

“You’re such a wuss,” Samuel said, putting his hands on his hips. “Grow a pair and crush the ball. Come on, we don’t have all day. I’m not supposed to be here, yeah know.”

“You’re not?”

“No… Adino was supposed to speak to you first but I’m really no good at doing what I’m told. Never was! Now, that I’m older, I can always blame it on my age! Ha! Now, no more questions. Let’s see this white sphere’s alchemy in action.”

Samuel clasped both hands together and bounced on his knees excitedly. He sure was an eccentric one.

I sighed and popped the white sphere. It took more strength then I’d expected and wondered how much I must have leaned on the red sphere to have popped it.

A white smoke covered my body. It formed small tiny beaks and poked at my body lightly as if it was searching for something.

“What- what is this?” I asked, the white smoke tapping me in the head by one of its hundreds of beaks.

“Why, that’s the healing sphere! The smoke is looking for anything it can heal! This sphere can mean the difference between life or death in a bad situation, although, admittedly, it can’t heal the worst of wounds, but it’s still pretty handy.”

“What can it not heal?” I asked, watching the white smoke dissipate into the air, giving up its search. My leg wound had healed on its own while I slept, courtesy of satan’s blood. At least it was good for something besides ruining my life.

“Oh yeah know, just what you’d expect. Can’t bring back severed body parts, smashed heads, crushed genitals, you know, stuff like that. But! It can do an amazing job with slash wounds and the common cold!”

A small trail of the smoke floated back to me and entered my head through my nose. A sudden rush of energy filled my body making me feel as though I’d just drank three cups of coffee. I grew goosebumps on my arms.

“That’s nice,” I cooed, shivering a little bit.

“Isn’t it?” asked Samuel dreamily, watching the white smoke drift away.

Again, the door knocked.

Samuel leaped off of my bed as fast as possible, losing the top part of his hair in the process. He picked up his white wig and placed it back on his head, his eyes wide with fear.

“Tomorrow, we focus on the power of the red sphere! And remember, I was never here!” he hissed, pulling out a blue orb and rushing towards the opposite wall.

“No, that’s-“ I tried to warn him, but Samuel entered Deborah’s room. A loud scream followed right afterward.

Adino let himself in. He peered at the wall Samuel had just left through then looked back at me with a puzzled expression.

I shrugged at him. Just another day in the Refuge.