~o0o~

"I will accept any physics mumbo jumbo," said Quaraun to no one.

Quaraun standing in a meadow, next to a stream, and a little ways from civilization. In the distance he could see a spire of smoke rising into the sky.

"This is your journey," Quaraun said as he watched the smoke drift skywards and mingle with the clouds.

A wolf walked up to Quaraun.

"What are you doing?" it asked.

"Seeing how many times I can say 'I don't know'" Quaraun said still watching the spiral of smoke mingling with the clouds.

"Well what do you want to do?"

Quaraun looked around as the smoke made its way into the sky.

"I haven't the faintest idea. What do you think I should do?"

The wolf looked around as well.

"I feel that I am on a path in the forest of information," Quaraun said. "And every new thing that I find is a new idea, a new story line, that could take me anywhere. There are two paths up ahead. I don't know which to take. I thought if I watched the smoke up there, the wind would blow it one way or the other and I would go on the path of that direction, but the smoke just goes ever upward."

"What do you think the choices in life are?"

Quaraun frowned, than said: "This is an adventure. This is your adventure. Your life is your adventure. My life is my adventure. Today our paths cross and become a single adventure. Who knows what adventure I will encounter tomorrow."

The wolf stared at Quaraun.

"Do you have any idea what you're saying? You're either a crazy elf or a genius."

"I'm talking to a wolf. Wolves can not talk. Either I have gone insane and thus I AM a crazy Elf or I have discovered a way to communicate with animals, in which case I am a genius. Or perhaps, you are dead and I am just a Necromancer talking to a ghost that chooses the form of a wolf."

The wolf gave Quaraun a sideways look.

"I think that you might be on to something. I have been called worse names by much worse people. I will let you make that diagnosis."

"Well than. Enjoy it."

"Enjoy what?"

"Your life," Quaraun said. "Or your death. Which ever it may be."

"I wasn't planning on dying. You think the Humans will just let you waltz in and take their homelands?"

"Probably not."

"You are a weirdo, you know that, right?"

"I've been called worse."

"A weirdo in a pink dress."

"I like pink."

The wolf ran off into the forest.

Quaraun laughed as he finished cleaning his blade and tossed it into his pack.

"I will accept any physics mumbo jumbo," said Quaraun to no one. "As long as it gets me more information. How long do you think I have been doing this for?"

He began walking.

"I don't know," said a voice.

"Hello?" Quaraun looked around but saw no one. "Who is there?"

"You know you can trust me."

"Can I?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then, who are you?"

"I am the one who hides in plain sight."

Quaraun frowned. "Yes, I have no interesting people who hide in plain sight. Good dy!" Quaraun pulled out a book and began flipping through it's pages, searching for something

"What are you reading?" The voice inquired.

"Are you still here?"

"I am. What are you reading?"

"A Practical Introduction To The Use of Crystals and Stones In The Four Branches of Crystalomancy," Quaraun said, reading the words on the cover.

"I see," said the voice. "Well, you've already got my attention, so I guess I will tell you my name. I am Farshaun, and it is good to meet you."

"But I haven't meet you. I see you no where. Who are you? What do you look like? To me you are nothing but a disembodied voice and if I can't see you, than I have no interest in you, no matter you're interest in me."

"Well, I suppose you're right about that. I am Farshaun, but you may call me Farshaun. I am a Druid, and have been for many years."

"Farshaun is exactly the same as Farshaun."

"You are quite right."

Quaraun closed the book.

"You are quite the elusive man, Farshaun, but I suppose I will get over that when I meet you. When will I meet you and when you say you are a Druid, what exactly does that mean? I've met many Druids and they never agree on what exactly a Druid it."

"Oh, you are going to meet me soon. In fact, you are meeting me right now."

"I am? How?" Quaraun asked with a little bit of anxiety in his voice. "Where are you? I still don't see you?"

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Farshaun laughed. "You will meet me in the heart of the Faerie Forest. There, you will see me with your own eyes, and then you can judge for yourself who I am."

"So you are a Druid who lives in a Faerie Forest?" Quaraun asked.

"I am," Farshaun said.

"And I'm supposed to trust you?"

"But of course."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I am the Druid who has the FeyStones. I also know where the Faerie Stones are hidden, and I will use those FaeStones to help you get home to ElfLand."

"ElfLand? Are you mad? There is no such place. Besides, I am the last Elf. All the other Elves are dead. There is no place for me to go home too. The world is my home now. I sleep in a tent on the side of the road, in a new village, a new forest, every night"

"Yes, there is. There is a Faerie Stone in the Elven ruins of the old abandoned city of Silva. You will see it when you meet me. You can go home then."

"I have no desire to go 'home'. I already told you, I live on the open road. I am a silk merchant and a vagabond wizard for hire. I travel wherever the road takes me. And 'home', is never a place it takes me because I live in a tent. I live out of my pack. My home is on my back."

"I see. Well, I hope you are satisfied with your decision to meet me somewhere, because I must be going. Good luck in your journey, friend."

"You can't just leave!" Quaraun shouted, worried the bodiless voice was already gone. He was lonely and enjoyed the company of someone to talk to. Even a strange voice with no body, that might possibly have been just an imaginary voice in his head for all he knew. "You've not yet told me how to find you. I don't even begin to know where to look for you."

Farshaun chuckled. "I will be found if you are looking for me. Go to the Elven ruins and look for the Silken Lady. She will guide you to me."

"What Elven ruins? Where? I know of no Elven Ruins in the area. And who is the Silken Lady? How will I know her?"

"You will know her, because she is you. Good bye."

Quaraun didn't understand what the strange disembodied voice meant when it said "she is you".

"I am confused and I have no reason to seek out the Druid or the Silken Lady or the Elven Ruins in the Faerie Forest. And I have no need for Faerie Stones of travelling to ElfLand. What a bother. And none of it helped me to decide what path to take."

The Faerie King is a tyrant most foul, a bane upon humanity, and an affront to all that is good. Were he a hero, this is who Quaraun would be meant to slay. Quaraun however, was not a hero. He was not the one to slay the Faerie King. He had no wish to do so. In fact, he had nothing but endless, undying love for the evil King of the Faeries. Quaraun would play a different role. He would be the one to put a stop to the human scourge. He would be the one to save Lich King from Hell. If only he could figure out how. BoomFuzzy was dead. BoomFuzzy was now a Lich.

It hurt like the worst possible way. But he wasn't alone in this quest, no he was not alone at all, and he felt as though he finally understood what being alive means. He suddenly realized he'd never known happiness before. His mind raced with possibilities and his spirits soared, and as he walked down the road towards Faerie City, he decided that maybe he had found his future. Maybe he really would make things better for the world.

Maybe he really was just a crazy wizard.

"I have been sick," Quaraun said to himself. "Perhaps both the wold and Farshaun were just hallucinations. Fever images. I seem to able to only communicate properly with animals and ghosts those under the influence of drugs, drinks, or other forms of mind-altering substances. I... oh dear. Perhaps I am going crazy. I must have a brain fever, except I have no brain."

A few days later, Quaraun found himself sitting in a small scullery of an isolated farmhouse, being served a hot meal, by the farmer's wife.

"How do you like your eggs Benedict, Mr. Quaraun?"

"Not very well, Mrs. Hightower. And it's just Quaraun. No Mister."

Mrs. Hightower smiled. "I can fix that."

She set down the plate before him and took out the spatula. "Now we just wait for the cheese to melt..."

"That was fast."

"I've made enough to feed the entire town."

"I can see that."

"They are better than what you will find any place."

Quaraun smiled. "I wouldn't dream of trying anything less."

The door opened and two men appeared in the doorway, both in long dark cloaks with black hoods drawn down and their faces covered. They were dressed in black leather jackets and black pants with knee-length boots.

Their swords were strapped across their backs. Both men held bows and arrows ready in their hands. They both wore daggers, which they hid under their coats, and both carried wicked looking knives on belts and inside boot tops. The shorter one spoke.

"What's going on here? Momma! Who is this man! He's one of them, isn't he? Look at his ears. He ain't no Human!"

Both Quaraun and Mrs. Hightower stood up straight.

"Nothing to worry about, son. We were merely having a little dinner and conversation."

Both men's faces were concealed behind the masks of black leather. One of them looked around suspiciously. He then turned to Mrs. Hightower.

"Do you have anyone else here tonight?"

"No, why would there be anyone here? Why do you ask? You're frightening me. What's going on?"

"There is something wrong here," the second son replied. "I thought everyone who lived here was dead."

"Dead?" Mrs. Hightower repeated. Her face became pale and her eyes grew wide.

"You heard me? You died with Pa, years ago."

"I'm... dead?" Mrs. Hightower looked like she would faint.

"What did you say?" Quaraun asked.

"Who are you? What are you doing with Ma?"

"I... I'm Quaraun. I saw the light on and asked if she had any food to spare. I've been walking for days with no food. I decided to hide out in this little village until I could recover from a massive virus that nearly killed me."

"You're sick?"

"I was..."

"You got the plague?"

"No..."

"How do you know?"

"It's not the plague. I just need a place to rest and sleep for a few days, is all. Your mother..."

"Ma! You go back to your room. You know you aren't supposed to talk to strangers."

"There is something wrong here," Quaraun said.

"Someone killed everybody here in the village. I think it was the Fae."

"Are all three of you dead?"

"Yes! This is a ghost town. We are all ghosts. So how did you see us?"

"I'm a Necromancer?"

"What? You mean one of those guys who raises corpses up as monsters?"

"No. I can see dead people and talk to them. I often can't tell if a person is dead or alive or if any one else can see them or not. I end up talking to dead people in a crowd of living people, who can't see the dead, so they think I'm a crazy old coot talking to himself. It's rather embarrassing. But who killed you? And when?"

"The Fae."

"The Fae?"

Quaraun asked.

"We saw their shadows when we arrived and we followed them to see what they were up to. As they walked away, we followed them, until they reached the ruins of this ancient Elven ruin near the Elven Ruins. The building was still standing, except for the walls that had collapsed and the ground covered in moss that had grown over the stones. The Fae attacked the building. They killed all the humans inside. Then the rest ran after them, and fought back, trying to destroy whatever was left of the building. After the fighting, we managed to escape and fled into Faerie, where I met you. There wasn't anybody else. So you're the first real living people I've seen since coming here. I hope you can give me some kind of direction or guidance to find the Silken Lady so I can go back to my home, and I won't be alone anymore. I have always hated the Faeries, ever since I was born."

Quaraun and the woman looked at each other, puzzled.

Quaraun said. "And you're sure all these deaths are real? That everything we have experienced together is real?"

"Yes, yes, of course. The things we witnessed were real. Now I need to find the Silken Lady and kill her so I can go home."

"I don't understand," Quaraun said to the woman.

Before Quaraun could say any more, they all vanished.

"Ghosts," Quaraun whispered. "They were all ghosts. I've been seeing more and more of them lately.