The next two months were nothing but a routine of work, sleep, train, and repeat. Pepper’s schedule kept him so busy that he and his mom didn’t have time to argue. His dad had to message him one night to ask for a family dinner to be placed on his schedule.

He couldn’t believe that he and Andrea had already been going steady for six months. His community service commitment felt more like he and Andrea were practically living together. They were spending more time together working at the Equine Sanctuary than if they had been working 9–5 jobs. It was back-breaking work, but Pepper didn’t mind it.

There were random water gun fights and other pranks he and Andrea would get into. They were even able to get Eli to join in, but the sanctuary owner reserved herself to very select days when she would partake in the practical jokes. Overall, the experience wasn’t bad, and Pepper was grateful he had been assigned this corrective measure rather than one of the other options the judge could have gone with.

Pepper arrived at the main office and knocked on the doorframe. Eli was leaning back in her chair with her cowgirl boots propped up on her desk. “Well, hey there, stranger. Come on in,” she said with a smile.

“Hey, Eli, I saw on the message board in the barn you wanted to see me,” Pepper started, entering and taking a seat across from her. He noticed the pastel-colored cover of the small book she had been reading. “Any good?” he asked and nodded towards the book.

“Poems from war. A collection of reflections,” she said and placed the book off to the side of the desk. “Well, Mr. Walker, the day has finally come.” Eli opened a desk drawer and retrieved a manila folder. She opened it and started to flip through the multitude of pages it contained. Her thumb began to smash down in rapid succession on her retractable pen while she searched for the specific areas on the pages where she needed to sign.

“It’s crazy how quick the six months has gone by,” Pepper said softly.

Eli’s eyes widened and she pressed her lips together. “I know! I swear I was just talking to my niece last week and then saw a picture of her from earlier this year. She used to be this cute little thing that would scamper around my mom’s kitchen; now she’s a beanstalk taller than me!”

Pepper tried to contain his laughter. The petite rancher always had overly dramatic facial expressions that he found humorous. “Life happens, Eli.”

“Well, sometimes life isn’t fair, Pepper.” Eli turned her hands inwards and pointed to herself. “Why couldn’t I be gifted with beanstalk height? What did I do to offend God in my early years to be stuck with this these short stubby legs?”

“Your legs aren’t stubby,” Pepper replied.

“Fine, maybe not stubby, but they are still certainly short, and let me tell you, that niece of mine is going to be a menace to her mom. She already got her sassy attitude and…” Eli shivered in her chair. “If you think I’m handful, trust me… that girl is going to be a mustang ain’t nobody going to get a handle on.”

Eli finished signing a few more boxes on the paperwork and then closed the folder in front of her. She placed it to one side and folded her arms. “Well, Mr. Walker, you only have one final thing to do and your community service is done.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Oh, what exactly is that?”

“Tell me, what did you learn from your time here at the Equine Sanctuary?”

Pepper slid down slightly in his chair and shifted his eyes to the floor. He had not really thought about anything of that nature up to this point. The one thing he tried to remove from the equation was Andrea.

He sat there for a few minutes and was surprised that Eli patiently waited for him to finally come to a conclusion. “Wounds don’t heal… or at least they don’t seem to.”

A surprised look formed on her face. “Really? How so?”

“The scars may cover up the injury, but the wounds run far deeper than that. The pain and suffering that many of our visitors went through… it’s still there. It stays with them. They’re still battling demons every day—the ones who stick with them in their thoughts and visit them in their dreams.

“I now see how much suffering many of these people are going through… and the tears only show you a small portion of what is going on underneath the surface. I know for the veterans I have seen come and visit here… it makes me appreciate them more. The things they did, went through, gave up…” Pepper’s eyes slowly made their way back to Eli and the two gazed at one another. “I’m glad I was able to spend time making sure this sanctuary was available for them to come and just be present within the moment.”

She smiled and Pepper could see her eyes starting to water, but she held back the tears, refusing to let any more emotion show itself. “I’m glad you’ve come to realize those things.”

Pepper stood up and reached his hand across the desk. Eli stood too and accepted his handshake. “Thanks for building this place and allowing me to come and be a part of it,” Pepper said.

“You’re welcome. Thanks for being willing to give it a chance and for having an open heart while you spent time with us.” She smiled.

Pepper began to walk out but stopped himself in the doorway. He turned back and faced Eli. “The sanctuary… the title isn’t just meant for horses, is it?”

Eli placed her hands on her hips and looked out the window. She glanced out over the ranch for a brief moment and then turned back towards him. “It’s a sanctuary for all who need to escape this life, world… and it’ll be a sanctuary for you too, should you ever need it.”

***

“Mr. Brewer? It’s me—Pepper,” he called out in warning, poking his head through the front door. Andrea and her dad had warned him to always loudly announce himself when entering their home. Pepper had seen firsthand how bad Austin could get when he was startled by Pepper trying to swing by unannounced or unexpected.

“Mr. Brewer… you okay?” He took the first few steps into the house and gently closed the door behind him. “Andrea asked me to swing by on my way from the sanctuary and check on you.” But the only noise Pepper heard was his footsteps on the wooden floor.

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The eerie silence sent a chill down his spine. Pepper started to move through the first floor, to which Andrea’s dad had been confined over the past month. His pain was now at the point where he was practically bedridden apart from using his motorized cart.

Please… don’t let this be what I think it is, Pepper asked internally of the gods as he slowly worked his way around the house. He finally turned a corner and headed towards the back room they used as an office and reading room. His eyes focused on the motorized chair that sat there lifelessly.

Pepper walked into the room and found Austin sitting frozen stiff. Austin’s head was reared backwards, and his mouth partially opened. “Mr. Brewer? Mr. Brewer, it’s me—Pepper. Wake up.” No, no, no, no… please, not like this… Andrea doesn’t need this. Pepper walked over and reached out to grab Austin’s wrist and check for a pulse.

His fingers latched around the frail arm.

“Rawr!” Austin said and jostled to life. His hands reached up and clawed at Pepper.

“AHHH!” Pepper screamed at the top of his lungs. He reared backwards, his feet tripping over each other, and went crashing down onto a small coffee table directly behind him. The piece of furniture collapsed and all that remained was Pepper’s body draped over broken pieces as if he was a giant pancake.

Austin was now coughing uncontrollably, his gasps mixed with a dark laugh of pure delight.

Pepper reached up and grabbed hold of his chest. He let his hand rest there for a few seconds before he moved slightly south and checked. That was close, he told himself and then brought his hand back up to his rapidly beating heart. “You almost made me piss my pants, Austin!”

The terrifying joke caused him to call his girlfriend’s father by his first name for the very first time. Austin was finally able to catch his breath long enough to mutter in his crackly voice, “I still got it.”

Pepper lifted his head. “Still got it? What the… That was messed up, Austin! I seriously thought you were gone and was dreading the phone call I was gonna have to make to Andrea.” Pepper lowered his head back down. That was when the sharp, jagged pieces of broken particle board made themselves even more present to him.

His body recalibrated itself and informed him that his position was not a pleasant one. He quickly rolled onto his side and grabbed his lower back, which had taken the brunt of the impact. “Oww… I’m not sorry about the coffee table. You deserve that mess after what you did.”

A guttural chuckle sprang from Austin. “Worth it.”

“I’m pretty sure I sprained something back there,” Pepper muttered, making his way to his feet. He stretched and let out a few moans as he did so.

“Wussie… that was nothing. In one battle I was sent hurtling down four flights of stairs in an apartment building while the whole front half was sheared off by a demonic vassar beam.”

“What’s a …” Pepper paused and realized he didn’t really care to know. “You know what… forget it.” He shuffled over to a small recliner chair in the corner and took a seat.

“Help yourself,” Austin said in a crusty but sarcastic tone.

“Maybe I will. What are you gonna do about it, play dead again?”

Austin started to laugh, which led to another round of dry coughs. “Maybe I will.”

“Yeah? Well, now I’m on to you. I’ll just throw ice cold water on you next time. See how that works out for you.”

“You little brat.”

“Don’t give me that. You did way worse to your buddies while you were in the military,” Pepper countered.

Austin continued to cough as his laugh made him suffer more. “I can’t argue with you on that. You would have gotten along with a lot of my buddies back then. A few of them were very similar to you.”

There was a slight pause while Pepper let his heart finally get back to its natural restful state. “What were you doing back here anyways?”

“I was reading… took a nap… and decided to sift through a few old items from the Rift Wars days.”

“Oh yeah?” Pepper paused and shifted his eyes from side to side as he worked to recall the last time he’d seen his dad go through his old military items. “I don’t remember ever seeing my dad go through his military stuff. I actually don’t know where he keeps it now that I think about it.”

“I don’t doubt him. This is the first time I’ve looked at it since being trapped in this chair.” Austin shifted as best as he could. He coughed and looked over at Pepper with a slight nod. “You ever see scortanic—up close, that is?”

Pepper slowly looked over at Austin. He could feel his mouth drop open. “You have scortanic?”

“I have all three of the demonic metals—scortanic, infernacassium, and void plexium.” Austin lifted his right hand and there, dangling down from three separate chains, were three clear capsules. Each one was filled with a different shard of demonic alloy.

“You serious?”

Austin coughed and the capsules dipped slightly. “Well, I wouldn’t be holding these things up for you if I wasn’t. What are you, slow? Get over here and take them before my arm falls off.” Pepper sprang up out of the chair and practically lunged for the three necklaces. “I see your back has recovered nicely,” Austin added as Pepper took the items out of his grip.

Pepper rolled his eyes and then gazed at each of the small shards that were now in the palm of his hand. “Which one is this one?” he asked, pointing to the first capsule.

“That is the void plexium,” Austin muttered. “I only remember their names, but I can’t tell you much about their different properties or what’s so special about them. What I can say is that they hurt like hell.”

“How did you even get these?”

“Well, they were gifted to me by the enemy. Each of those shards was pulled out of my body during surgery. Hence how I am able to say that they hurt like hell. I would recommend you avoid having demonic shrapnel get into you. Hell, any shrapnel for that matter.”

Pepper shook his head at the sarcastic conversation, but he still couldn’t take his gaze away from the three items. The void plexium was a dark crystal-like shard. He moved the three capsules up to the window and pointed them directly at the sun, but the void plexium made him feel like it was absorbing the light.

“Take that into the bathroom, turn out the light and see what happens,” Austin instructed.

Pepper darted to the bathroom, and once the door was closed, he saw a faint green glow appear. “Yo! This is so cool, Mr. B,” he called out. Pepper returned after a minute spent in the room, mesmerized by the small passive effect.

He lifted up the second capsule. “Okay, what about this one?”

Austin leaned slightly forward and squinted to ensure he knew which one Pepper was pointing to. “That would be the infernacassium—a red metal which seems to be similar to a graphene compound. But again, what little bit of information I learned all those years ago now escapes me.”

The red metal had what Pepper believed were scorch marks along the edges. It looked like it had once been a square piece but had been twisted and distorted. His guess was that it was caused by some kind of explosion, but he couldn’t be sure.

“So the final one is scortanic?”

“That’s correct. Better known as the bones of the damned. That piece came within an inch of severing my aorta.” Austin pulled at his shirt’s neckline with a shaking hand, exposing a scar roughly six inches long that ran down his chest. “That was the thing that almost took me out.”

“This stuff has to be worth quite a few Flex, even if they are only small amounts.”

“Pshh, ain’t no more valuable than my life, Pep.” Austin paused, then looked at him. “You know what. You keep them.”

Pepper’s mouth had already been open wide in amazement, but now he felt like his jaw had punched through the floor and was carving its way towards the center of the earth. “I… uhh, Mr. Brewer, I can’t accept this. This is… this needs to stay in the family. Andrea should inherit this, not—”

Austin raised his hand and dismissed his statements. “They are mine to give away. They’re a gift to you. I don’t know if they are of any luck, but maybe they’ll bring you a little luck on your path of becoming a Statue King.”

Pepper chuckled. “Golem Master.”

“Same thing.” Austin waved his hand in exaggeration and then pulled a small lap pillow over his stomach. “Like I said, Pep… those are now yours. I hope you can enjoy having them.”

“Thank you, Mr. Brewer. I really, really appreciate this.”