Boaz
Boaz flashes his wrist at Amias with a smirk examining the surprised expression that falls across the cleric’s face tinged with a hint of confusion, it was clear the other didn’t know what he was looking at but was surprised none the less.
“500?” Amias asks, “What does it mean?” Boaz places his hand back on the medical cot.
“The number of demons one must defeat to exit the tower of wynd.” The man replies.
“You really did go to the tower.” Amias says to himself, “You really saw master Gaius-“a litany of questions spill from Amias’ lips each one longer than the last, Boaz cannot begin answering even one of them.
“He told me to tell you to stop searching for him.” The Stranger on the bed says. “That you, Amias, should never go to the tower of wynd. That was his request.”
“That can’t be.” Amias protests, “He can’t have meant that, not after all the time I’ve spent searching for him.” The cleric’s eyes soften. “When you saw him, was he doing well?”
“On his 200th, if I recall, it is no easy feat to beat 500 demons. Surely you must know that.” Amias glares.
“I do.”
“Once you enter the tower you must make a trade. After that you cannot leave until you’ve defeated 500 demons, simple enough. Too many have perished in the tower. It’s best to not go searching for such a thing.”
A harsh sound leaves Amias' throat.
“You’re really going to say that, after telling me the man I’ve been searching for, for 6 years is waiting for me at the tower.”
It was Boaz’s turn to glare.
“He’s not waiting for you.”
“He would want me to find him.” Amias says, pacing around the room restlessly. “If I know Master Gaius, he wouldn’t want me to abandon him!”
“6 years in that tower would change a man, the desperation on his face would put anyone off going into the tower. Heed his warning young one. Do not go to wynd.”
“Why should I listen to the words of a stranger? I know him better than you do.”
“You know the man who left you behind, not the man I met in wynd. Not the desperate man, no. The man who without weapons would claw out the eyes of his enemies. You knew a teacher; I know a killer.”
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Amias clenches his fist, trying desperately to conceal his rage. Boaz was wrong, his master would never. Not Gaius, the teacher who taught him how to heal, who taught him that all life was sacred under the eyes of the holy one, even demons.
He wouldn’t betray his beliefs like that. And if Boaz was once a cleric from the temple of Edain, surely he would know that too. The two stare at each other in silence, Boaz heaves a sigh from his heavy chest, turning his head to stare out the open window of the room.
A light breeze rustles the curtain as it blows through, releasing the tension from their shoulders just for a moment. It’s then that Amias sees a tired man, a broken man.
The scars and calluses on Boaz’s only hand capture his attention suddenly as he stares at it. Amias can see the deep grooves and ridges of the seemingly unending scars upon his flesh, he takes his eyes over to the stump that was once another arm.
The healers had wrapped it up now but from the contours of the bandages Amias knew it had been torn off. Possibly ripped off by some kind of foul creature. And now he saw that Boaz meant to warn him, not out of malice.
“Why do you think people go to the tower Amias?”
“I can’t say.” The cleric replies.
“Why do you think your master went to wynd?”
Amias stares down at his cleric uniform, crossing his arms in front of himself he looks away from Boaz and towards the window.
“To prove his faith to the holy one.”
Boaz chuckles.
“Maybe you do know something about the man I met in that tower.” Boaz says resting his back comfortably against the cot. “I’ve never know a cleric to enter the tower for riches, for fame or anything like that. It’s always one thing.” He mutters. “I was like that too, I regret all the years I could never get back. I find myself thinking I should return, that there is nothing for me here now.”
“Why?”
“I did not first walk to the temple after my escape Amias, to my home I first went. My siblings long since perished, my friends all but forgotten.” Pained eyes turn to Amias.
“Where did the time go? I keep asking myself, a 100 years before I reached 500 and for what? To speak upon what I endured in the tower is to blaspheme against the holy one. His eye is ever watchful but there is one place it does not reach.”
A chill runs up Amias’ spine, if Master Anok was in the room with them Boaz would be charged for heresy.
“I have to find him.” Amias says lowly but with conviction.
“He may not be alive by the time you reach the highest level.” Boaz says in warning once again.
“Then I have to hurry, don’t I?”
The injured man on the cot exhales in pity.
“I’ll bring him back.” Amias declares to his audience of one. “On the holy one I swear it.”
“I cannot change your mind, so I will say this. To even see your master again would be a miracle.”
“I believe in miracles.” Amias says. Boaz laughs, short and amused.
“I can see that. You know you remind me a bit of Gaius.” He admits. “I see where you get it from.”
Amias beams at Boaz’s words, happy that on some level the other man approved of his quest.
“Now sit down and I will tell you all I know of the tower of wynd.”