Kaiser strolled through the Barbush Forest. It was just east of the middle ground of the Menzen Continent, close enough to gain view of the rocky mountains and at the bottom of the Bremen cliffside. As he trudged through the forest, the memories of what transpired on the Bremen cliffside still haunted him. Thoughts of Gaston filled his mind with helpless fury. Even ten years later, he had not rid himself of the thoughts.

The forest’s trees were several times taller than Kaiser himself and their thick orange leaves formed a canopy that blocked out the sky and much of its sunlight. Small patches of light illuminated the smooth dirt trail that had been woven in the forest. Along it, cobbled walls with lanterns were left, driving out the forest floor’s darkness from the path Kaiser walked.

In just a few minutes, he neared the edge of the forest. There, at the exit glowing with sunlight stood a man dressed in all black. He had a dirty face and untrimmed stubble. A peculiar purple scarf, untainted by the dirt and grime on him, was wrapped around his neck. Winter was nearing on the Menzen continent.

Kaiser approached the man and offered him a handshake. The man agreed. He eyed Kaiser and Kaiser eyed the man. Kaiser’s hair was thin, straw like, and a paler shade of brown. His skin was pale as it was when he was a child, and his beady brown eyes were half-closed from the journey he had been on thus far. He wore a white buttoned shirt with an unbuttoned waist length brown jacket. On the back was the symbol of the deity Henril, a white jagged cross which met with an inverted cross below it. Together, the opposing symbols existed in peace. Now that he was closer, Kaiser could see the man dressed in all black wore the outfit of a gentleman. He had on a white buttoned shirt with a grey vest and a long purple overcoat. He was even younger than Kaiser was, but his face was tired and his eyes, tired and sagging, were half-obscured by a poorly stitched newsboy cap with patches of its tweed cloth sewn over. He had a tall lanky stature and spoke in a hoarse voice.

“How’re the lamps looking down there?” The lanky man inquired.

“They’re fine. Are you the lamplighter of Barbush?”

“Why, yes. What can I do for you, sir? Ah, I nearly forgot; my name is Faldo. To the east of the Bremen cliffside, the Barbush forest, and at the east end of the Barbush forest is where the Barbush hamlet lies. They started reconstruction months ago.”

Kaiser reached into his coat pocket and tipped Faldo a silver coin. His face was ecstatic. “For your trouble. I know lamplighting is dangerous, especially after the war. Too many thieves take your kind for easy loot.”

“Thank you, good sir. It is not my job to do so, but you’ve shown me such goodness, I feel as if it would only be normal for me to assist you.”

“Assist me with what?”

“Well, sir, ever since the war ended nine years ago, Draux took hold of the eastern side of Menzen, yes? In the peace treaties, the king of Glascaign signed that they would hand over all land just east of the Bremen cliffside. You do intend on walking to the hamlet of Barbush, right?”

“Indeed. Barbush is only half a mile’s walk out from this forest, right? The exit is just ahead. I’ve already walked most of this mile-wide passage. Again, thank you. I did not know Barbush had stationed a lamplighter in this forest.”

“Much obliged, sir. I must ask you though, are you Glascanian?”

Kaiser was silent for a moment before answering. “Yes.”

“I see, I see. Trust me, I wish no ill will towards Glascaign. But, the hamlet of Barbush is now under Drauxian control. I see your tan brown coat, how it stops at the waist, and its two pure white crosses emblazoned on the back of it. Are these the marks of Wiegraf the White?” The lamplighter began to pace around in excitement. Though, there was a tinge of worry in his voice as he made each inquiry.

“Well, marks of the religious order. Why do you ask me these questions?”

“Sir, they are for your safety above all. Priests and clerics seldom travel far from their homes. And, forgive me if I am assuming too much, but you being Glascanian and bearing the religious markings on that coat, could you be a church militant?”

Kaiser began to walk towards the forest’s exit. He beckoned for the lamplighter to follow him, tossing him another coin of silver. The leaves crunched as the stocky boots of Kaiser and the hardened shoes of Faldo crushed them. Kaiser knew that the time was near the point at which the sun would begin to set, that Faldo would soon return to Barbush anyways.

“I’m no church soldier. I’m just a man passing through,” Kaiser said as the two emerged from the forest’s carved exit.

Now, the two viewed the vast green plains. In the middle, woven through any trees or boulders in the way, was a beaten dirt path with shut lamps. In the far distance, Kaiser spied the silhouettes of buildings. Barbush was indeed close. Just a ten minute walk continuing east as Kaiser had been doing would lead him and Faldo to the hamlet. The two talked at length for those ten minutes. Faldo told Kaiser that he had come from the Feldberg mountains. His village was situated at the base of the mountains. They were the same mountains one could view when looking out from the Bremen cliffside. Faldo detailed how there was little hunting to be done in the mountains themselves. He and his family, the Werners, fished off the coastline that jutted off the east side of the Feldberg mountains. Indeed, it was the only real way for them to hunt as, peculiarly, their home was situated on the east side of the mountains on the coast. It made their fishing trade lucrative, Faldo said, though the trips up and down the mountain just to reach other villages at the western base were at least a half-day’s endeavor. But, for their house being on the east side of the mountains, it was spared from the Drauxian incursion. The east side of the Feldberg mountains, or anywhere on the eastern coastline, was one of the few universally neutral territories on the continent of Menzen.

The minutes quickly passed. Through Faldo, Kaiser now knew at least twenty different ways to spear, gut, and clean a fish. He also learned how to properly oil his appliances and how to not get the oil on himself. Of course, he already knew how to oil something. Faldo didn’t know it yet, but Kaiser always made sure to keep his well-maintained snub nose revolver on him in one of his coat’s inner pockets.

Before Faldo could finish explaining his thirty-fifth method for serving up a freshly caught fish, they had already arrived at Barbush. There was no sign to tell visitors the name of the squalid place. In fact, it could barely even be called a hamlet. It was more just three rows of five buildings. There were seven houses in total, and five of them had no candlelight in them. The buildings were crudely crafted and fit for only a single person, possibly two, to live in them. Their wood was cracked and soft and there wasn’t a bit of paint aside from hastily drawn words:

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For the ultimate heaven,

In which the taker is the dominating soul,

Send a great flame to cleanse the land of evil,

Let the hands of man be the price.

“Just what is this?” Faldo inquired as he examined the text. The lamplighter tried to touch the white words but Kaiser gestured for him to stop.

“I think I know. . .” Kaiser said as he read, then re-read the text. “I remember studying a prayer like this once.”

“Prayer? As-in a sermon? Just utterances—Er, forgive me, sir. I do not mean to demean.”

“No, that’s all they are. They’re just words. What they do is what’s special. I recall that this verse in particular conjures flames.”

Faldo had a look of concern on his face. He quickly got away from the text on the house.

“You should be a bit farther, no?” Faldo asked Kaiser.

“Why would I want to?” Kaiser said as he tried to feel out the material of the text.

“You said that that verse makes fire, right? I don’t know what form of magic that might be, but doesn’t that mean there’s a chance. . .” Faldo thought of what to say.

“To burn me? It can’t. I’m feeling it now, and this text was drawn with paint. Priests normally use chalk. Plus, the words are pretty sloppily painted. A skilled priest always makes sure his work’s clean as can be. Besides, these kinds of things only work if there’s a circle to encompass the text. Plus, you’d need some holy symbols. A sword will do. A rosary can work too. For some reason, even using food works to help get things going.”

“You’re really knowledgeable about this, aren’t you, sir?”

“Thanks for the compliment. Really, you learn it from your first year in the church. I’m a graduate. Pretty young too. It’d be embarrassing if I didn’t know about it, right?”

“I agree with you, sir. Now, regarding the town, I apologize for its sorry state. I suppose my memory’s rather unreliable regarding most things. Plenty of sleepless nights will do that.” Faldo shuddered a bit as he recalled the first time he had to endure a full night of lamplighting the trails to the hamlet. “Here, want me to show you my cottage?”

Kaiser shook his head. “Oh, that would be generous of you. But, would you really want to? I’ve heard about how irritable you. . . Pardon me for asking, but what were you again?”

“Me? It’s a bit of a long explanation, really.”

Kaiser turned to look eastward. Beyond the squalid hamlet’s mess of houses and a singular larger building where all the beaten paths in the settlement converged into a grander peasant’s road, the Felden Mountains were staring down at him with their misty peaks even at such a great distance. To reach the foot of the mountains, to go past the Drauxian City of Zetige, would be to journey through the other half of the continent. Tired and weary from just traveling a small fraction of the land, Kaiser began to consider Faldo’s offer.

“Go on. I’ve got until sundown for explanations. I think that’d be in just a few—”

Kaiser hushed himself and gestured for Faldo to not make a sound. A faint sound of footsteps began to grow. After a few seconds, they began to rapidly increase in volume. The footsteps were coming from the west of Faldo and Kaiser, echoing from one of the alleys in between two rows of crude houses. After listening in for a minute, the steps were no longer steps. They were clearly a march. Kaiser ran to the side of the house they were standing next to. Without being told to, Faldo followed.

Crouched at the side of the house, Faldo and Kaiser leaned against its rugged wood wall. The frailty of the structure didn’t dissuade Faldo from being curious enough to prop himself against it even more as he peaked out from it.

“What are you doing?” Kaiser asked as he reached into his coat.

“Hiding, just as you are, sir.”

Kaiser pulled out a small snub nosed revolver. He reached into one of his pockets and procured six bullets which he slowly and carefully loaded into the gun. It was a gun as large as if not slightly smaller than his hand. He had hoped to avoid keeping it loaded. The stress of carrying a prepared weapon on his person weighed on him. He put the revolver back into his coat and slowly peaked over Faldo.

“And why are you hiding?”

“Because of my origin. I’m not a convict. But, I cannot tolerate what the Draux are doing. Ever since that war started and ended, I must say, they’ve done a poor job with their new territory. Just look at Barbush,” Faldo whispered over to Kaiser.

Kaiser and Faldo got a nearly full picture of the scene. There was a barrel partially obscuring their view, though it would also obscure the view of their audience of marching Drauxian soldiers, clad in their dull gold uniforms and led by a fair-skinned man with a deeply scarred face. He easily towered over the dozen-large squad of soldiers. They were headed in the opposite direction of Kaiser and Faldo, towards the end of the hamlet where one of its unmarked buildings, the largest of the town, lay, and they marched through the main square betwixt the rows of houses.

“A squad and their lieutenant. . . Tell me, Faldo, why do you think they’re here?”

“I have no idea, sir.”

“Do you know why anyone might be headed to that abandoned building in the back of town? The big one that’s better constructed than the rest of the hamlet.”

“You mean the new church? I must admit, with no intent to offend, but it is still rather poor. It’s all but abandoned except for the priest inside. He’s a disgruntled man, Hektor is. But, from the rare times priests and clerics do travel to Barbush, he’s more up for a warm welcome.”

“Secrets of the trade,” Kaiser said as he got up from crouching and out of hiding altogether now that the platoon and the lieutenant were gone from the hamlet square. “After what was done to them in the war, priests are practically one large brotherhood. Though, I suppose I wouldn’t be in that brotherhood. I only joined the clerical order five years after the war ended.”

“I don’t believe you will cause any trouble for Hektor, sir. He is a man of fellowship. Shall we carry on?” Faldo asked as he gestured for Kaiser to pass him before Faldo himself would move along.

“You should lead the way, Faldo. I’m in such a mood to keep flipping you coins, especially if you would show me the proper way to navigate this place. Would five silvions be enough?” Kaiser reached into one of his coat pockets.

“Five!? Really, sir? I would have to accept such a generous offer. Really, Barbush is easy enough to navigate. There aren’t too many locals. Maybe ten people in total live here, though there’s always people traveling to and fro this hamlet.”

“Yes, I do mean five.”

Kaiser reached out with the coins balled up in his hand. Faldo slowly extended his palm out, to which Kaiser gave him the five silver coins. Faldo pocketed them as he had the rest and looked onward with enthusiasm. “Right this way, sir,” the lamplighter said as his gait, now brisk and full of an odd sort of new bravery, began to make distance between him and Kaiser who still walked at what would now be a pace too slow.

“It’s the least I could do, for what trouble you might get into,” Kaiser muttered once Faldo gained enough distance.