Unfinished Journeys
All things come to an end.
At least, so Captain Vhim hoped as he stood alone upon the beach, staring out unseeingly at the blood red sun which hung perpetually above him. He had tried in vain to keep track of how long had passed since he had been stranded upon the shoal, alone, and had ultimately given up the attempt. Had it been weeks? Months? Years?
He had no way of knowing for certain, and was almost grateful for it, as it made it the loss of food, water, and most of all, human companionship, more bearable for not knowing how long it had been since he had truly experienced those things. Indeed, it had been so long since he had heard another human voice spoken that, when he did hear one coming from behind him, he at first believed himself to be hallucinating.
“Captain Vhim,” he heard a voice said sternly. Slowly, the skeleton of a man stood up and turned. To his astonishment, he saw a figure wearing a broad hat holding a deck of cards in his hands which he shuffled endlessly standing atop the ridge of the sandy shoal. “Do you want to leave this island?” he asked at last.
“I…,” Captain Vhim began, his voice cracking from disuse. He licked his parched lips, then said feebly, “I can’t.”
“That’s not what I asked,” the figure responded. “I asked, did you want to?”
Captain Vhim shook his head, ignoring the pains in his neck from disuse as he did so. “Of course.”
The figure drew a specific card from their deck, focused on it for a moment, then said, “Take my hand.”
Captain Vhim reached out a gaunt hand which the figure grasped, and they both vanished in a sudden flash of light. At last, the scarlet shores were truly empty.
***
Captain Vhim blinked his eyes, looking around in amazement. “Where…are we?”
Captain Vhim and his mysterious rescuer stood in a large chamber, every surface of which appeared to be made of brightly colored tiles, all etched with strange designs Captain Vhim thought he could just barely recognize. The tiles glowed with garish blues and blacks and reds which made Vhim’s eyes water. Standing in the room besides the two of them were a young, haunted looking boy and a girl about his age who clung tightly to his arm, as well as a weary looking fellow wearing clothes almost as tattered as Captain Vhim’s own.
“This is my ‘house of cards,’ as I call it,” Vhim’s rescuer said.
Captain Vhim couldn’t help but smile at that. “Clever. You know, I’m quite the skilled card player myself. We must play a game sometime.”
“Yes,” his rescuer said absently. “Ah, I believe introductions are in order. You may call me the Spell-slinger. This is Dreamer and his friend, Sharp. The surly looking fellow besides them is named Sigar.”
Captain Vhim nodded his hellos to each of them, who responded with nods of their own.
“If I may be so bold as to ask, Sir, why have you brought us all here?” Dreamer said softly, clearly awed. “The last thing I knew, Sharp and I were standing on a balcony looking out at…the palace…and then we found ourselves here.” He looked around, then said, “I’ve never seen a room like this before.”
“That’s because we aren’t in your palace anymore,” the Spell-Slinger said. Dreamer and Sharp’s eyes both widened at that.
“So, it was possible, after all,” Sharp whispered.
The Spell-Slinger nodded. “And, as for why I brought you all here…across your vastly different worlds and backgrounds, you four have something in common. All of you sacrificed much and fought hard, only to fall. There was…another, I was supposed to save, but I arrived too late to rescue him. You four, however, I can offer a second chance. If you are willing, there is another who needs our help, and in so doing, you may yet earn a happy ending to your tales.”
“Another?” Sharp asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.
“How do I know this whole thing isn’t a fool’s quest?” Sigar said, crossing his arms. “You pulled me from my vessel, just as we were about to reach heaven! I need to get back there and-”
“I saved your life,” the Spell-Slinger interrupted bluntly. “The lich killed your entire crew, shortly after I drew you here. The lich himself was disposed of, but…”
Sigar looked down at the ground, stunned into silence. Captain Vhim put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I know how you must feel. I would have, in fact, did do everything I could for my crew,” he said sympathetically. Sigar nodded, his face blank.
The Spell-Slinger continued, “There is a place, both beyond and within all of your respective worlds, known as Eternity’s Forest. As the crossroads for more worlds than even I can count, it is of upmost importance that it be protected. There were supposed to be four guardians watching it, but alas, only one still stands. Now, a danger is festering in the forest which he cannot defeat by himself, and so it falls to us, if you are willing, to aid him.”
“And why should we?” Sigar asked pointedly. “What do we stand to gain? Is there any reward for helping?”
“No,” the Spell-Slinger said, “Save for the satisfaction that you will have saved many, many lives.”
“I will go,” Captain Vhim said. “Anything would be better than slowly rotting on that accursed island.”
After a brief, hushed discussion with Sharp, Dreamer said, “We will go as well.”
They all looked to Sigar, who grimaced and after a brief hesitation said, “Fine, I can tell which way the wind blows. I’ll join you, although I will have it known that I think this madness.”
The Spell-Slinger smiled. “Very well, then. Let us go; we have little time to waste.”
As Captain Vhim had seen him do before, he drew a card from his deck, and with a flourish and a flash of light they all disappeared.
***
The five of them found themselves standing on a dirt path which wound through a densely wooded forest, the bright light of a mid-summer’s day seeping down and saturating the air around them. As the others stood there, Dreamer and Sharp gazed around in amazement, awed smiles lighting up their faces.
“It’s real,” Dreamer said as tears ran down his dirt-stained cheeks. “There really is something beyond the palace.”
“I…I never thought it existed,” Sharp said, shading her eyes against the sun’s rays. “It’s so wonderful, yet also painful, to look at.”
“Isn’t it?” Dreamer agreed wistfully. “It’s better than I ever imagined it could be.”
“Hey, we didn’t come here just for the two of you to gawk,” Sigar snapped.
“Sigar, while blunt, is correct,” the Spell-Slinger said. “We must find the Autumn Knight, and quickly.”
“The Autumn Knight?” Captain Vhim said curiously. “Who is he, and what exactly are we even here to fight?”
In answer to his question, they all heard a rumbling off in the distance, which turned into an incessant, metallic roaring which grew louder and louder with each passing moment. While they stood there in dumbfounded amazement, an enormous mechanical abomination, unlike anything any of them had ever seen, came into view. It looked like a colossal mantis made of steel, twice as tall as a human, its pincers a pair of mighty blades that mowed through every tree in their path as its spindly arms, which ended in razor sharp claws, shoved stray trunks out of its way with surprising strength. The machine left a trail of mangled devastation in its wake as it cut past them efficiently and effortlessly. The thing ignored them completely and was gone as abruptly as it appeared.
The five of them stood there, quietly stunned, until the Spell-Slinger said, “That, and its kin, are what we must fight. The Harvesters will stop at nothing until they have consumed all of Eternity’s Forest. Come along, we’re wasting time.” He stalked away, the others trailing behind him. Although all parts of the forest looked the same to Captain Vhim and the others, guided by the Spell-Slinger’s inexplicable yet precise knowledge as they were, they quickly found the correct path to the Autumn Knight.
The journey was long and arduous, although the unchanging nature of the light in the forest made it difficult to tell exactly how long of a journey. Captain Vhim found it highly ironic that he had escaped from one timeless realm only to find himself in another, although he had to admit that this was a far more pleasant place to look at and dwell in. Dreamer and Sharp strayed ahead of the rest of their group, mouths perpetually open in joyous amazement as they basked in each new wonder they witnessed. Sigar trailed at the back of their group, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings and saying nothing. They spotted several more of the great insectoid Harvesters along their journey but were always ignored in turn. Although Dreamer and Sharp wanted to spring into action, the Spell-Slinger bade them wait, at least until they had met with the Autumn Knight. At last, they reached a narrow valley between two ridges, almost completely overshadowed by a pair of fallen logs which crossed above it in a neat “x” formation. In this valley, squatting over a tiny campfire with a well-polished sword laying across one knee, was a man dressed in a suit of armor. As soon as they approached, he jumped to his feet, sword at the ready in his hands.
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“Halt!” the Autumn Knight said, his tone stern but weary. “Who approaches the guardian of Eternity’s Forest?”
“Allies,” the Spell-Slinger said shortly.
The Autumn Knight tilted his head to once side. “What do you mean, stranger?”
The Spell-Slinger shuffled the deck he always clutched in his hands as he said, “My friends and I have come to aid you in your battle with the Harvesters.”
“Help would be welcome; grim machines they are, and every one of them as deadly as a score of men,” the Autumn Knight said bitterly. “I have fought hard to keep them out of these woods, but…,” He gestured around, defeat evident in his posture. “You can see the results of my struggles for yourselves.”
“All is not yet lost,” the Spell-Slinger assured him. “After all, we’re here.”
“Without weapons?” the Autumn Knight said doubtfully. “Aside from that pack of cards you clutch so tightly, I don’t see you nor any of your friends carrying anything even remotely useful.”
“A temporary obstacle at best,” the Spell-Slinger said. “I believe your fallen comrades, the knights of Spring, Summer, and Winter, all possessed weapons of high quality, did they not?”
The Autumn Knight considered this. “Aye, that they did.” His helmet creaked as he turned to look the Spell-Slinger directly in the eyes. “Do you realize what you are asking of these folks? Do they?”
The Spell-Slinger smiled and turned to the others. “What do you folks say to picking up the aforementioned weapons and fighting alongside the Autumn Knight?”
“To protect this beautiful place? I’d do anything,” Dreamer said.
“As would I,” Sharp agreed.
“It’s what we came here to do, isn’t it?” Sigar added gruffly.
Captain Vhim said nothing, simply nodding his agreement with the others.
“Very well,” the Autumn Knight said. “Come along. I buried those weapons with my comrades, but with this forest’s properties, they shouldn’t be aged in the least. Then, once you’re armed, I can take you to the nearest of those horrid machines’ nests. We’ll strike them at their very heart. After that, come what may.”
The others voiced their agreement, and they set off, towards what would be for some of them their final battle.
***
They all crouched along the rim of an enormous crater, peering at the bustling activity within. There were a half-dozen of the strange mechanical beings, chittering to each other in an unknown language as they busily stacked the logs they had harvested in a neat pile at the center of the crater.
Sharp, baffled, asked, “What do they need all that wood for?”
“No one knows,” the Autumn Knight said. “They simply take all the wood they can and neatly slice their way through anyone who tries to stop them. There are other craters like this, dotted around the forest. They come down in great meteors.”
“Otherworldly invaders,” Sigar whispered. The former tribe leader held the massive warhammer of the Winter Knight in one hand, as comfortably as if it had been made especially for him.
“Why don’t we just go down there, bash in their heads right now? We have the element of surprise,” Dreamer, who had split the Spring Knight’s share of knives between himself and Sharp, asked eagerly.
“It’s not that easy,” the Autumn Knight warned the others. “They are as fast as they are vicious. If they get those mandibles into you, you are as good as dead.”
Captain Vhim held the Summer Knight’s newly repaired spear against his chest as he stared on, hopelessness in his eyes. “Then how are we supposed to defeat these monsters?”
“By evening the odds,” the Spell-Slinger said, reaching into one sleeve before melodramatically revealing another playing card, this one already glowing with a faint amber light. “I think you’ll like this trick.” He flicked his fingers, and the card disappeared. At the same instant, a loud wailing started up from the opposite end of the crater, which drew three of the Harvesters off to investigate it.
“Now we attack,” the Spell-Slinger told them. As one they leaped over the crater’s rim and down into the pit below, landing practically atop of the three remaining machines. Sigar swung his hammer at the head of the nearest of the Harvesters, denting the metal hulk slightly, as Dreamer and Sharp slashed at its metal chest with their knives, cutting through and damaging the vulnerable machinery within, causing it to flail about wildly before going still. The Autumn Knight and Captain Vhim attacked another, striking it from both sides with their sword and spear while the Spell-Slinger drew a card and sent it hurtling towards the machine’s head. The card passed through the metal neck and lopped the head neatly off, which fell besides the rest of the machine as it toppled over.
The third machine reacted to their sudden attack by pausing, its enormous insectile head tilted upwards, before a strange sound like a great metal spring being rewound came from within it. The Harvester then darted forward with unbelievable speed, lashing out with its spindly arm and slashing through Dreamer’s shoulder, leaving him with three long, jagged cuts. The sheer force of the blow sent him hurtling against the crater wall and left him momentarily stunned. In the blink of an eye, it spun and struck at Sharp as well, pinning her to the ground with one claw as it raised the other to behead her. Sigar leaped forward, bellowing as he did so, swinging his hammer; however, the machine reacted with its other arm, striking Sigar and knocking him to the side before he could stop it.
“What do we do?” Captain Vhim asked, breathless, looking to the Spell-Slinger in dismay. The Spell-Slinger didn’t answer, but instead ran forward, sliding beneath the machine’s legs before jumping upright again to stand between it and where Sharp had fallen. Time seemed to slow to a crawl for an agonizing moment while the machine finished its strike, plunging its claw-like fingers directly through the Spell-Slinger’s chest. The Spell-Slinger’s eyes widened, then he smiled slightly, saying, “I’ve still got one more card up my sleeve.” His hands shook even as he twisted them cleanly to reveal a card tucked between two fingers, which started to glow with a brilliant violet light. The others shielded their eyes and looking away, save for Dreamer. Eyes closed, he ran over and, grabbing Sharp where she had fallen, carried her out of the expanding globe of light. There was a thunderous crash, and, when they all looked, there remained nothing but a smoldering skeleton, a melted puddle of metal, and a pristine deck of playing cards.
“What…,” Dreamer started to ask, before he was interrupted by a high-pitched metallic chittering. They all knew what that meant and saw to their horror the remaining three Harvesters rapidly approaching them, seeking to defend their nest.
“We’re doomed,” Sigar said bluntly.
“That doesn’t change the fact that we’ll keep fighting as long as we can,” the Autumn Knight said. “Follow me.”
The five of them stood firm, waiting the coming onslaught of the great machines. As the first Harvester approached them, Dreamer and Sharp threw the last of their knives at the bulbous glass eyes set on either side of its head. The machine dodged, weaving around each of the projectiles, but while it was distracted Sigar swung his hammer at one of its legs, snapping the thin pole of metal in two. The machine emitted a sound like two gears grinding each other down into nothing as it wobbled back and forth atop its one remaining leg. The Autumn Knight plunged his sword into its chest, and, with a final screech, the machine fell. The remaining harvesters retreated then until they were just out of the reach of any of their weapons, carefully studying their opponents for any openings or sign of weakness. While all of this was happening, Captain Vhim suddenly walked over to where the Spell-Slinger’s deck of cards had fallen and, curious, kneeled to pick them up. He studied the cards intently, drawing several from the deck and looking carefully at the patterns drawn upon them in turn.
“Vhim!” Sigar bellowed. “What are you doing?” His attention was drawn away from the captain an instant later when one of the remaining harvesters lashed out at him with its claws, bringing them down towards his shoulder. The Autumn Knight, leaping in front of him, parried the blows with his sword, but realized too late that was exactly what the harvester had wanted him to do. While he was occupied, the second harvester then struck from the side, hitting the Autumn Knight with enough force to send him tumbling to the ground with a shattered arm. Clutching his now useless sword, the Autumn Knight looked up at the two harvesters, who encircled Sigar, who bellowed in rage even as he swung wildly at them. The Autumn Knight wanted to close his eyes and look away from what he knew would come next, but found himself unable to do so. Then he heard Captain Vhim speak.
“As I said before, I’m pretty good when it comes to cards.”
Captain Vhim held the deck in his hand, smoothly drawing two cards from it and holding them up for the others to see. A faint emerald light sparkled around the cards, before he hurled them in the direction of the harvesters who stood there. The cards passed through the harvesters as if they were intangible, then vanished in twin puffs of green smoke.
Sigar laughed. “And what was that supposed to do, exactly?”
A low grinding sound came from the harvesters, which teetered back and forth, before they each fell apart, split cleanly in two by Captain Vhim’s attacks.
Captain Vhim smiled triumphantly. “That.”
Having vanquished the last of the machines, the five of them gathered around the Spell-Slinger’s corpse. They stood there in silence for a moment, before the Autumn Knight said softly, “He will be given a proper burial, as all true warriors deserve.” He looked up at the others. “Thank you for aiding me. I could never have defeated these machines alone. Where will you go now?”
“That is the question,” Dreamer said. He looked to Sharp, but she seemed just as lost as he did. “There’s nothing for us back at the palace.”
“Or for me on that cursed island,” Captain Vhim said.
“Or for me in the twilight lands,” Sigar added.
The Autumn Knight nodded his head slowly. “There are more nests of these machines throughout the forest, and I could use your help, friends. This forest needs three additional guardians; those positions have been vacant for far too long.” He gestured to the hammer which Sigar carried. “That once belonged to the Winter Knight.”
“Then the Winter Knight I shall be,” Sigar said.
Pointing to Captain Vhim, he said, “Those knives were the Spring Knight’s.”
Sharp spoke up, saying, “I will take that position, if you will have me.”
The Autumn Knight turned to Captain Vhim, who shook his head. “No, I will not take the role of Summer Knight, no matter how much you ask me to.”
“I suppose that makes me the Summer Knight, then,” Dreamer said, as Captain Vhim passed him the spear he had been carrying.
The Autumn Knight nodded. “And the Four Seasons are complete once more.” He turned his attention to Captain Vhim. “Where will you head, then?”
Captain Vhim smiled. “Wherever the shuffle of the deck takes me. Protecting this forest is a noble goal, but I’ve been spent too long in one place for my liking already. Travel has always been in my blood.”
The Autumn Knight accepted that, and turning back to the others, said, “Come, there is much for us to do. I must train you all in the proper use of your weapons and in the ways through Eternity’s Forest.” They all said their goodbyes to Captain Vhim, who waved to them as their group of four marched away, leaving him alone in the desolate crater. He looked down at the cards in his hand and smiled sadly.
“Time to see what other worlds are out there,” he said, drawing a card at random from the center of the deck. And, in a blink, he was gone.
All things come to an end.
But after the end, nothing remains except to begin again.