CHAPTER 4

When Champ came too he was no longer in town at 5 Points. Nowhere near the laughing families, or surrounded by delicious scents. He was in the middle of the ironwood forest in the dead of night. The moon, luckily a full one, illuminated the evergreen pines and the lush grass beneath him. He turned his head and before him, protruding from the side of the mountain face was a beautifully hewn entrance to some kind of cave. Two beautiful pillars intricately carved into the mountain itself towered over Champ. Resting along the tops of the pillars, also carved in outstanding detail was a banner that read,

-Heed its call and seek what it speaks. Beware those who no longer hear it or those who refuse to listen. Those who seek are no longer found. Hear its call, seek what it speaks.-

These delicate words, etched into this ancient stone, in, what felt more than an ancient place, seemed to almost call out to Champ and draw him in. Sweat covered his whole body and he glistened faintly in the moonlight that poured in from the thick tree coverage above. Champ took one step forward absentmindedly and the whistle turned from a grating shriek to the most beautiful choir he’s ever heard for that brief moment. Tears crept to the corners of Champ's eyes as the choir turned to a lulling hum. His mind flooded with wonderful memories of his youth, spending time with his family and friends, birthdays of years past, and dreams he had long forgotten.

“Oh beautiful sound, how I wish I could replicate you,” Champ said in a pained whisper.

To him, he believed he was only thinking this.

“How I wish I could mirror your hymns to those around me and take away their pain and worry. How I long to nurture the earth with your song”

A thought crept into Champ's mind as he said this, one not entirely his own. He realized in some way, that this sound was the earth, the energy, all energy, it is the beam of creation that flows through all things. The Brand.

Memories of Champ's professor and classroom filled the very forefront of his mind. The voice of Mr. Pyran, Champs professor, echoed over and over. His thoughts whisked away to the magical abilities he's always daydreamed of, the reverence and respect that he could garner for his family, and the adventures he could be sent on.

Champ, having finished with his epiphany, tears in his eyes, stepped towards the mouth of the cave again. The soft sound of the grass beneath his leather boots changed into steady thuds upon the hard cavernous floor. The moonlight began to fade from Champ's vision as he was greeted with the darkness deeper in the cave. The smell of fresh air gave way to a dank almost musty smell as the boy stepped further into the unknown.

Hello? Champ called out not entirely hoping for a reply in this darkness

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An echo of his voice carried on the walls of the pitch-black cave.

“What am I doing, where am I? How far from Parish am I?” fear began to creep into Champ's mind. After having walked a while in this cave, Champ wiped the last few tears away from his eyes, stopped, and turned his head back to the cave entrance trying to gauge how far he had walked in. Champ's heart began to beat fast and his stomach dropped as he looked and saw nothing but darkness.

All he could see was a few feet in front of him due to his eyes adjusting to the cavern interior. He whipped his head back to the original direction he was headed and darkness remained. Champ began to feel panicked and weak again.

“This is all too much to be going through, I should be at home with my mother and father, I should be with my dog passing him some scraps from my plate when my parents aren’t looking, I shouldn’t be here!" He let out a faint whimper and began to cry again. But still, he marched onward.

Champ's eyes burned with the stinging pain of crying too much, his chest ached from the heavy breathing, and his feet were nothing more than homes to blisters. He’s walked for what felt like hours upon hours. Maybe it's been days. Maybe even a year. The concept of time had left him. He hunkered down and sat against the wall of the cave, arms resting on his knees and his head hung down. His shaky breath and stifled sobs echoed into the empty expanse of darkness surrounding him, and the darkness called back.

He heard it, that soothing voice, that choir, once more. His head peered up and in the distance, he saw a faint light. He got up, lightning quick, and began to run as fast as he could towards it, heart pounding in his chest and his lungs just about to burst. He noticed however that the faint light in the distance wasn’t getting closer and Champ had to stop and catch his breath. He looked up and the light had gone. Champ repeated this cruel cycle for what felt like an eternity. Complete darkness and hope emerge with the sound of the choir once more.

Something inside Champ broke that night. Whether it was his patience, his hope, his psyche, or something else entirely.

“Why won't you come to me, why do you taunt me here in this shroud of misery? I want to go home! You call me and beckon me and take me from my family! Here I am, see me very well. For I can't see you, you coward! You thief! You’ve stolen my heart, and my will, and cast it to the beasts! You mock me here in your halls and seal my fate, so I'll mock you and your fate!

At this moment Champ fell back on the one thing that had been present in his life. One thing he had been good at, is copying sounds. He opened his mouth and resonated with the choir and as he did the glow in the distance grew brighter and brighter and a light began to emanate from his mouth. Light began to glow and fill all around him illuminating the walls and floor of the cave. The shadows shrunk back and for a moment, a split second he saw something besides the cave where the void once was, and then his vision went white. His senses were nothing at that moment he couldn't describe it any other way than just white. In his mind champ thought

“Home... please, away from these halls of discourse”

When Champ came to, he was lying face down. His nose was immediately assaulted by the smells of wet loamy earth, and the feeling of cool patches of grass. Champ slowly raised his head and before him to his disbelief, he was in front of his home. The full moon shone down on him, and the cave and whistle gone.