Adelfried

A searing jolt of pain shot through Adelfried's left eye and straight into his brain. A series of jarring images hammered his mind in quick succession. First there was a blistering field of yellow and green sulfur guarded by a creature with thick scales. This was followed by bubbling pools of red lava and then a pit covered in glowing green spikes. He looked down on an immense and forbidding stone maze. An overwhelming sense of chaos followed by a clutter of images that ran through his head too fast to comprehend. Next, he was in an empty grey void. That is when he felt the sad presence again. It was a feminine one filled with longing and fatigue, and it materialized into the faded face of a woman covered in spots that bled black ink. An anguish emanated from the woman that wrapped around his mind like an icy blanket. There was a weaker scared presence. It was terrified and screamed as much as it could in its feeble state, that was Federico. It had to be. It called out, “go back! Before—” The voice was extinguished by a final sinister presence that spread out covering the feminine presence, Federico, and now Adelfried. It was like a mind virus trying to inject its vile venom into his very thoughts. It was soaking his soul with its malicious imprint, and it terrified Adelfried more than anything he had ever experienced before.

He fought back against the wretchedness with every bit of will he had. But his struggle only succeeded in making it suddenly aware of him. It redoubled its effort to absorb him. The more he fought, the more it started to devour him. Adelfried was losing control. He was going to be absorbed. As the last bit of his consciousness was being consumed by the cancerous contagion, the feminine presence broke through sending it retreating momentarily. But in Adelfried’s weakened state he couldn’t leave, he wanted to run or hide or simply break the connection, but he had no willpower left. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. The evil turned back. It strengthened itself. It was coming for him. This was it, the end.

And then, he was free.

Federico shrieked in agony as he fell backwards unconscious. Adelfried crashed down on top of Jim. He had been pulling him free by means of a towel wrapped around his waist.

Jim threw Adelfried off him, outraged. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Ying who had been pulling on Federico’s waist was now pinned under him. “Can someone please get this sweaty sack of hair off me?”

Jim helped free Ying from under Federico’s limp body before stomping back over to Adelfried who was still sitting on the ground in shock trying to understand everything he had just experienced. Jim stood over him snapping his fingers which caused Adelfried to blink. He felt Jim’s fingers open his eyes. “Hey, look at me. Follow my finger.” Jim moved his finger from side to side as Adelfried tracked it with his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I was…uh…” Adelfried started but couldn’t get his thoughts together. Jim hoisted him up on his feet and after staggering for a second Adelfried found his balance.

“What is your name? Where are we?” Jim persisted.

“Uh yeah I’m fine, I’m Adelfried.” He closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hands.

“Where are we?”

“Huh?”

Jim shook Adelfried. “Where are we?”

“In a pyramid in Egypt and I’m fine, everything is—”

“He’s fine,” Jim said, still obviously furious looking back at Ying. “He’s fine. Sure, he’s fine. He’s an asshole risking all of us getting stuck here, but he’s fine, just great.” In a flash, Jim turned and punched Adelfried in the face knocking him onto the ground. “What’s wrong with you?” Jim screamed. “My family matters too, you selfish bastard!”

“Jim!” Ying yelled. “This doesn’t help. Okay he was being a pigheaded idiot, but like it or not we are in this together.”

“Are we?” Jim yelled, still seething.

Adelfried sat on the ground rubbing his cheek. Damn Jim was strong. That hurt. Jim stood over him fuming.

Adelfried looked up at him. “Would you not have done the same thing? Would you not have tried in hopes of seeing your family again?”

Jim’s hands balled into fists as if he were about to hit Adelfried again. But instead he took a few steps back and yelled, “not if it meant putting your family at risk!”

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Again, Jim was right. He was being selfish and what he did was wrong. The uncomfortable feeling of guilt overtook him. These people took him in and what had he done but betrayed them in the end. Was he even worthy of their friendship? Adelfried bent his knees and rested his head on them looking down at the ground. He didn't want to look him in the eye. "You are right…I was a pigheaded idiot and…that was foolish and I’m sorry…” He didn’t know what else to say. What could he say?

No one said anything for a long time. Jim paced around the room trying to calm down, hopefully. Adelfried stayed on the floor, still numb and hurting, because of what he had done. He didn’t know how to move forward.

Ying finally broke the silence. “Do you at least know where she is now?”

“Yes,” Adelfried said, quietly. Even sharing this made him feel even more guilty. “The Danakil Depression. It is not far from here, actually, which is why I think the connection was so intense.” He put a hand up towards Jim who hesitated before giving him a hand up. “It wasn’t right to do that…please, Jim. Forgive me.” Jim refused to look at him before continuing his pacing. No. He couldn't have this dispute linger further. He had to push. “Jim…are we resolved?”

“Fine,” Jim huffed in frustration. “But don’t forget, when you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.” Jim slapped him on the shoulder before walking off to go sit on the couch.

“Is that a parable?"

“Nope, just a reminder, don’t you ever put my family in danger.”

Jim’s words hurt. He had done that and even hearing it said like made him feel so much lesser than before. Hopefully he could make this right. “Then I have some good news,” Adelfried said trying to inject a little hope into the room. “During my uh…hug, I think I understand what is happening with Federico. Something or someone powerful has invaded Sahir’s mind, and he was caught up in the middle of it somehow. I think this is the madness everyone talks about. But now that I know what to expect, I should be able to free her, when we find her.”

Jim eyed Adelfried, full of suspicion. “Okay but what does that get us?”

“Think about it. If I help free her from this bewitchment, she will be willing to help us all get home. Remember Nathaniel said wizards can teleport. She could teleport us back to your house in an instant.”

“Assuming she isn’t evil or out to get us,” Jim retorted, heading over to the buffet which hadn’t been cleared yet. He grabbed a doughnut and took a bite. Good. Sweets usually cheered Jim up.

“No, she helped me. She is not an evil presence, if anything, she seemed kind.”

Jim finished chewing his bite. “Not to sound like a broken record, but that sounds risky as hell.”

“I swear to you on Minna and Leyna’s life, I will do exactly as you say from here onward. If you say go back, we go back. I will not put you or your family below mine. But please, consider the opportunity we have here.”

Jim took another bite of his doughnut and chewed while pondering what Adelfried's words. After swallowing he said, “okay fine, but then let’s be honest…you don’t need us. You only needed us to keep the Root safe and it’s at home, hidden underground. You have powers and you don’t need a guide to the modern world anymore. I mean, we are more in your world now than our own at this point.” He paused before taking another bite. “You’re better off without having us tag along, right?”

“It is not about your powers, it…” Adelfried stopped as Jim’s words sunk in. He was a little taken aback, for the first time since the day he met the family, he felt perhaps he really was nothing more to them other than a burden. But it made sense. They had a normal life turned upside down since they had met. Perhaps it was best that he ventured on alone at this point, but it didn’t feel right. He couldn’t imagine doing it without them.

Adelfried swallowed. His throat was parched. "And I know my actions do not show it, but I do value your counsel…but perhaps I can go on without you…I do not want to burden you further. You have all done so much for me already.” His eyes fell to the floor unsure of what to say. Was this really it? Were they going to go their own way?

Ying let out an annoyed huff. “You two are being ridiculous, so I’ll make it easy. Yes, he dumped his problems on us. Yes, we wouldn’t be running for our lives if it wasn’t for him, but we’re all friends now, right? And like it or not, Adelfried is part of the family now.” She kissed Jim on the cheek. “He doesn’t know his limits and without you keeping him balanced he’ll end up dead in a ditch somewhere, or maybe insane like poor Federico here. That’s your job, Captain Worry, and I’m glad you do your job well. And if we do this together, we have a chance of getting him and us home. Now, can we go swimming already? I want this hairy sweat off of me, I’ve already pulled off at least three black hairs that don’t belong to me.”

Adelfried looked away uncomfortably. “What she said.”

Jim shrugged. “Fine. Then how do we even get to this dumb depression?”

“Oh, wait,” Ying said, as she darted off to the bedroom and returned with a stack of pamphlets. “Check these out.” She thumbed through them until she found a bright red and green one. “Danakil Depression Tours, travel by wire to the land of sulfur and fire.”

Jim shook his head. “Seriously?”

“Kind of seems like it is meant to be.” Ying smiled. “Just think of it like a forced vacation. The kids are safe for now, so we might as well enjoy ourselves, right? And who is to say this isn’t the fastest way home? Nathaniel did say wizards can teleport.”

“What does it say?” Jim said, frowning. “Details, give me details so I can be the overly cautious voice of reason and say why this is a bad idea.”

Ying started to scan through the pamphlet looking for any logistics. She flipped it over. “Let’s see…trips leave weekly…lunch provided…see exotic animals…oh, and check this out, private tours available. Oh, and you’ll love this, the contact person is someone we already know…Baba.”

“Fine!” Jim said, throwing his hands in the air. “We take the tour and see what we can find, but if I say we leave, we leave. No questions asked, right?” Jim turned to Adelfried and Ying like an angry parent to his children.

They both nodded.

Jim pointed to the phone on the side table. “The phone is over there, Adelfried, you set it up, Ying and I are going swimming.”