Leo and Heidi
Black Forest, Germany
Leo walked down the dark corridor back to the small room he first discovered before coming down. He could hear that Heidi and Seb had put down whatever artifacts they were holding and followed him closely behind, murmuring something between themselves.
For Leo, finding the journal meant more than Heidi and Seb could understand. All his life, he wanted answers to two mysterious questions - was magic real, and something more about his family.
From early childhood, Leo thought that he was alone. Growing up in the countryside meant he did not have many other human beings around his age. Other children were at the nearby farms, but he rarely met them. And when he did meet them, he always saw that they were different from him. Dumb even, by his own account.
His only actual friends were the farm's animals. From the only cow, they had down to the most petite chicks brought in from the market to be grown into large hens. Even the rooster that attacked him once in a while to establish who the boss was counted as his friend.
That led Leo to grow up as a loner. One who did not know what or who friends were, and one who did not know what it meant to have parents in his life. Not that it bothered Leo. At least until he went to the school in the capital.
The journal was, in a way, hope for Leo. A hope that he was not abandoned to fate as a child who had done nothing wrong. That he did have a family somewhere out there. It proved that magic was real, and he was connected to it. After all, Heidi and her father believed he would be a mage if he managed to form this core.
As it was now, Leo had not manifested anything that would make him think that magic was real in him. Sure, it seemed that individuals out there defied the common understanding he had held for so many years, but to this day, he was the same old Leo. One chasing a false dream in a world he does not fully understand.
Based on what the Aer clan members told him, he did not have to chase that dream anymore. He had other priorities - to form a core and be able to defend himself from the Church that was chasing him for reasons he did not understand fully.
His musings were interrupted as Heidi caught up to him and called, “Wait up!”
“Sorry,” Leo said and slowed down a bit. “I got a bit frustrated digging through all those artifacts. They do not help me to get away from the Church, do they? I thought that this journal would give me more insights. Especially if I am related to this Alea Monti.”
“Your grandparents never told you about your relatives or parents?” she asked.
“No, grandma always went silent at the mention of my father. Never answered any questions I raised as a kid and never told me a single detail. As for my mother, grandpa was more forthcoming and sometimes talked about her childhood and how she also grew up in similar circumstances as I did. On the same farm.”
“Oh, you are a country boy?” she asked jokingly.
“Yea, that is where my roots are, though I spent most of my life in the city. That is also how I met Evan. In the city, I mean, when we moved there. We will not be able to go back to things as they were, will we?” he asked.
“No, unfortunately not. At least for some time until we figure all of this out,” she answered as both arrived at the stairs leading down from the cabin's first floor. “You will have to get stronger, Leo. A lot stronger.”
Leo paused before the stairs and asked, “But you will help me, right?”
Heidi looked him in the eye and said, “I will try. Both Seb and I will. But you have to understand that we do not have the resources nor knowledge the clan Aer could provide just a few days ago. You will have to discover much of the stuff on your own now. We just do not know much about free mages.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Heidi got up right after him, and they went to the cozy armchairs next to the fireplace to sit down and look at the journal. Sitting down, Leo put the book on his knees and said, “Let's try to find something useful in this thing then?”
“Sure, though, could you please read out loud?” she asked.
“No problem. We will not wait for Seb to join us?”
“No, he said he would go back and catalog the items in the basement. He trusts that we will tell him the important bits.”
“Sure,” Leo shrugged and opened one of the entries.
- - -
March 21st, 1480
Today I celebrate my fiftieth birthday. It is sad that Inca can’t make it to our annual gathering and sent only an owl with a letter of best wishes and a word of caution regarding the Church that is building now in our little town.
Much has changed over the years. The shifters have been seen moving from the eastern lands to the forest, making themselves my new neighbors. I will have to see that I meet this new chieftain and make his acquaintance.
The Conclave reports that the number of people seeking our ailments is growing daily. Something must be wrong in the villages and cities where commoners live. It is the worst in the pagan lands. It is as if the Church poses as the beacon for prosperity while all of us know that it is not so.
Instead of celebrating, I will work on new enchantments with my friends from the Conclave. We hope to create something that will help preserve our homes for longer. I am tired of replacing the wood every once in a while. If we are successful, I can imagine what it would do for the commoners who cannot afford to fix their homes.
One can only dream.
- - -
“Shifters?” Leo asked Heidi, looking up from the journal. “As in werewolves?”
Heidi looked at him for a second and said, facepalming, “Oh, I did not tell you? Yes. All manner of shifters exist. Sure, there are fewer of them, but they are still around.”
“Damn, so all those stories about werewolves? Like the Bedburg wolf, is he real?” he asked.
“Sure! Peter Stubbe is a well-known pack leader. He managed to survive the middle ages, if you can imagine,” Heidi responded.
“Oh, we will talk about this more for sure,” Leo said seriously, understanding how much more of the supernatural world he had to uncover. “Let me check another entry.”
- - -
April 3rd, 1485
Something is afoot in the Conclave. Some of our brothers and sisters have decided that the cause we represent at the Conclave is not for them, and they have established their own clans. I hope nothing wrong will come of it, as we are already too fractured before the Church.
Further, some of our Conclave members have seen curious merchant activities in the cities. They are buying more and more homes. Even the smallest of shacks is something they are interested in.
Maybe that is why more of the commoners have recently fled the cities. Have been doing so for the past five years.
On the other hand, the fleeing commoners have discovered many more mysterious illnesses. Few in the Conclave have proposed that something is happening within the Church as they are not performing so many of their ‘miracles.’
Our members are overwhelmed here in the countryside by the number of people seeking treatment. The high price charged by the Church as this tenth share of commoner’s monthly wages is too much for the average man. Not that the Church is seeking to offer its services for free after all these years.
Though it is worrying that those who stay in the cities are flocking to the Church like bees after honey.
- - -
“It is curious what she wrote,” Heidi said, fetching a blanket from the top of the chair she was sitting on.
“What is?” Leo asked.
“Conclave members building their clans,” it is as if there was some driving force to divide the Conclave.
“And the illnesses people encounter when fleeing the cities to the countryside where no Church is present? What do you make of that?” Leo asked, curious how Heidi viewed it, given her education.
“I find it hard to believe that it was a coincidence. The Church was too open and vocal back in the day when they found something they did not like. Can you check the next few entries? Maybe she will describe some more findings related to that?” Heidi urged Leo.
“Sure, let me check,” he responded and turned the pages over.