Mirage Part One

Mirage Part One

Kyle



Chapter 1


Kyle walked along the sidewalk, his backpack bouncing jovially behind him. He was not whistling, humming, skipping or talking. There was no one to talk to and nobody to hear him. Beyond that, he felt no need to express himself in body, only in mind.

As the sixteen-year-old boy walked across the street towards Henry Snyder High School, a car drove by him, hitting a deep puddle on the wet road. Kyle stopped and watched the geyser of shimmering spray. Time itself seemed to slow for a moment. He analyzed the particles of water and formed a picture in his mind. The particles joined together suddenly in the middle of the air. For a split second, stars appeared in the mist. They gleamed and flickered merrily, dancing like tiny flames. Then it was gone again as the water splashed down into the street.

He smiled with satisfaction and began walking again, ignoring his wet clothing. He loved Creating. He enjoyed making things appear out of thin air or build Lego structures using just his mind. The pieces would fit together as he pleased, rising into the shapes of skyscrapers, houses and cars, formed at his bidding in a heartbeat. He used to think that other people could see his creations, but none of them had. Except one. When he was five years old, there was a little girl his own age who could see the things he made. In fact, she could make them too. Casey was his best of friend, the only true friend that he had.

Now, Kyle didn't have friends. Casey moved away when he was seven and he never saw her again. There were people that he said ‘Hi' to when he entered the school, or ran with at PE, but none of them were really his friends. He heard them sometimes talking behind his back, telling other people that he was strange. Every time that happened, he thought about Casey and wished he could have another friend like her.

When he passed the park, he saw the usual pile of rotting leaves off to the side of the sidewalk. As he passed it, it moved. The leaves lifted into the air and reformed into an odd looking creature. It could have been a dragon, a wolf or a cat, depending on how you looked at it, but Kyle was the only who looked at, because he was the only one who could see it. To him, it was a friend. He called it Kaltag. Kaltag always walked him to school, the loyal beast that he was. Kyle had given the creature its own personality. Kaltag did things on his own, as if another person in Kyle's head was controlling him.

The leaf-made beast stood up out of his pile and trotted along to catch up with his master. He barked at Kyle, telling him to slow down. The bark wasn't like a dog's but rather more like a cross between a dog bark and the meow of a cat. It sounded funny to Kyle, but it was his friend and he didn't dare make fun of him. Especially with those claws of his.

That was another thing: Kyle could feel pain inflicted by his lifelike creations. Sometimes they got out of control and they hurt him, like the imaginary fire he was playing with a couple of years previous.

Still, he Created, off and on.

Kyle felt Kaltag jump up onto his shoulders from behind, like a witch's cat. There was nobody watching, so the boy reached up and ran his fingers over the beast's back, like petting a cat. Kaltag purred softly.

The school was just ahead. Kal jumped off of his perch and opened his wings. The individual leaves fitted together into a patchwork of what looked like birds feathers. The leaves fluttered as they caught air. The creature glided down into the street. A car came around the bend and hit Kaltag the instant his claws touch the asphalt. The leaves scattered everywhere and the car drove past. Kaltag came back together on the other side. He shook his head sharply and all the loose pieces of his body fitted neatly back into place, like a dog shaking water out of its fur. Then Kaltag ran to catch up with Kyle again.

"Kyle?" A girl stepped in beside him. Kya, a friend of his. The thing was, he was the only person who could see her.

"Hello Kya." Kyle responded. She always appeared when he was bored or alone. Her yellow hair drifted down to her shoulders and her blue eyes smiled gently at him. She wore a white dress and silver necklace.

They talked for a time while Kaltag trotted along behind them. Kyle loved his friend. She was the only person who could see his creations the way that he did. She was the only person around who truly knew what went on inside his head.

When they made it to school, Kya stopped with Kaltag outside the door.

"I'll see you after school." She told him.

Kyle almost responded, but he realized that there were other people around. Kya and the little leaf creature vanished when his eyes left them, for what he saw he could only be as long as his eyes could see them.

Kyle made it to the front doors and was dragged into school by the rush of students. They jostled and pushed him through the doors. They scattered in every which direction, hurrying to get to their rooms before the bell rang.

Kyle walked toward the eleventh grade hall. A girl his own age named Carol came and walked beside him. "Hi, Kyle." She was real, unlike Kya.

He turned and smiled. "Hi, Carol."

"How did you get so wet?" She laughed.

He looked down at himself, a little embarrassed. "I was walking across the street and... I got distracted. A car came by and you know how wet it is." He knew it made people feel uncomfortable whenever he mentioned ‘Creating' around them.

"Mr. Bennet is going to love that." She commented sarcastically.

Kyle responded "Yeah... Well, I'll see you later. I'll going to the library after school." He turned and stopped in front of his locker.

"Me too, see ya then." She continued down the hall to her own class.

He crouched down and unlocked his locker. He put in the books from his backpack and replaced them with his Spanish textbooks. He closed the door and closed the lock.

As he stood up he felt his books knocked out of his hands. He turned to see who it was, but he couldn't tell with all the other students walking by. Frustrated, he bent down and collected his things. That was another thing about this place. There weren't a lot of people skipping grades, so only he and Carol were the same ages. Everyone else was a year to a year and a half older than them. He was small, too, which didn't help matters much.



At the end of the day, He went to the library, just as he had said. He came here a lot after school, just to read and research. He sat down in a comfortable, large chair. In his hands was a thick fantasy book. It was the third book in his favorite series, The Chronicles of Magic. Here, Maultrex, the mother of a race of dreaded monsters and the Ancient Dragon, Eltwist, were fighting for dominance. Elt was far larger though, so Kyle figured that he would win. It would cause problems for the antagonist and the protagonist, however, if he won. Eltwist was truly neither good nor bad. It was merely his duty to destroy the thing that both characters were after.

"Hi." Carol came by and sat down next to him.

Kyle felt her sit down and looked up. "Oh, hi Carol."

"What are you reading?"

Kyle told her. She laughed. "That' one of my favorite books. Do you like it so far?"

"You do? Have you finished it?"

Carol nodded. "I can't wait for the last book to come out. I wish I could say more, but it would ruin the ending for you."

"Then we'll talk about something else." He checked the page number and closed the book. "Are you going to the dance on Friday night?"

Carol nodded. "Marcos asked me yesterday. Who are you taking?"

Kyle coughed nervously. "Still looking."

The last three girls he had asked had all turned him down flat. He was still having trouble making friends. It was the first time in his life the he actually cared about making friends, so he didn't have a lot of them at the moment.

He was disappointed that Carol already had someone. He'd hoped to be able to ask her. She was pretty, funny and the only real friend he had. There was no one else he could really ask.

They talked for a while longer and then they went home. Kyle had the book with him and read along the way.

Kya came and talked to him a while. "So, did you ask her?"

"You know I did."

She laughed. "Yeah, I do." She kissed him on the cheek and went silent. Kyle knew the kiss wasn't real. It was made merely from a wish that he had someone that could love him. Kya was that wish, made subconsciously from what he most wanted. A friend that loved him.

They went silent and Kyle read, while Kya listed to his thoughts so that she could feel what he did. In a sense, they were both the some person reading at the same time. In fact, that's exactly what it was.

The antagonist was running from Eltwist. The ancient Dragon was right on his heels. The beast was easily seventy feet tall and had a head the size of a small house. Fire gushed from his mouth and the main character jump behind a large rock. The air around him was scorching hot. Kyle was feeling what the character was feeling. He threw up a magic shield to protect himself from the flames.

The fire stopped pouring past and he stood up and ran for the woods. The trees were all just piles of cinder by now, smoldering on the ground. But, far in the distance was a line a fresh, green, untouched trees.

Then a long, dark shadow fell over him and he saw Eltwist drop from the sky, right in front of him.

Thump!

The instant the Dragon's claws touched the ground, Kyle was a wrenched back to reality. He wasn't watching where he was going and a car came around the corner just as he stepped into the street.

He hardly had time to look up before he was tossed to the ground, struck head on at forty miles and hour.

His head hit the ground and the book slipped from his fingers. The terrified eyes of the driver were imprinted in his memory. Marcos had never been so frightened.

His car came to a screeching halt and he jumped out. He ran to the front of the car and saw Kyle sprawled out on the ground. His arms and face were scratched up pretty bad, but he was more worried about the blood on the pavement under the boy's head.

Kyle felt the searing pain in his skull and knew that he was hurt bad. He watched as Marcos dug out his cell phone and punched in three numbers.

911, obviously. Kyle thought. He notice that Kya wasn't there anymore. That was what happened when he got distracted by something in the real world. His creations all vanished and he was alone.

There were flashing lights as the ambulance and police cars arrived.

It was the last thing that Kyle saw.



Chapter 2



Kyle's parent's stood up as the doctor entered the waiting room.

"Please follow me." He told them. They followed him into the hall.

Kyle's dark haired mother asked urgently. "Is he alright?"

The doctor hesitated. It was very bad news. "He isn't dead. In fact, he's I fair health except for two things;" He lead them into a hospital room and put up some CAT scan readings. He pointed to the back of Kyle's head. The mother gasped.

"The skull was fractured and we believe that there is the possibility that a tumor could form. We thought we got the bits of gravel out, but right here there is still something stuck. This happened only eight hours ago, but something has already formed. He hit his head pretty bad and think that..." He paused and faced them squarely. "A tumor may be forming there. It shouldn't be cancerous, but it would still cause problems."

Kyle's mother was crying openly now. The father looked gravely at the photos. "You said there were two things."

The surgeon swallowed hard. "He's in a comma."

*                    *                    *

Keil sat bolt upright, awake in an instant. Where was he? He sat on a small, soft cot in the middle of a bare room with white wallpaper and soft, cream-colored carpet. On him was a clean hospital garment, but he was no longer in the hospital. In fact, he no longer even remembered the accident. All he knew was that he did not recognize his surroundings.

He stood up and felt the soft, thick floor beneath his toes. It felt so real. But was it?

"Hello."

Keil turned slowly around and saw a girl standing there. She had not been there before. He had not heard her enter. It was as if she had simply appeared there. He noticed that she seemed familiar, though he did not believe he had ever met her before.

"Hello." Keil responded. He was not surprised by her appearance, though he should have been. He simply accepted this new reality that people could appear out of thin air. It did not seem strange to him. Nothing did. Nothing was normal. Therefore, there was nothing that could be considered strange.

The girl with the blond hair smiled and stepped toward him. "What's your name?"

"Keil." He responded. "What's yours?"

The girl smiled brighter than before.

"My name is Kya."

*                    *                    *

Kyle's mother and father stared down at their sleeping boy. It seemed like nothing could be wrong with someone lying so peacefully as he was. His eyelids quivered for a moment, as if he was trying to awake again, but he did not. Life support equipment was scattered all across the room, monitors beeping and flashing, showing new readings with every heartbeat.

"Is he going to wake up any time soon?" mother asked.

The doctor sighed. "Usually, only if they want to. If a patient's moral is low to the point that he feels there is nothing to live for, than he probably won't live for it."

"Do you think that we will ever get to speak with him again?"

"There is that possibility. Oftentimes, someone in a coma will wake up for a brief time. Likely enough to talk with them for a few moments. You may get that chance with your son."

*                    *                    *

"Where am I?" Keil asked.

Kya smiled. "You are in a land called Tresgar, a land across the seas of Malshẽar."

"What am I doing here?"

"You were found in the woods. You were barely alive."

"Who am I, exactly?"

The girl gave him a sad look. "Well, we were hoping that you could tell us. You aren't like the others."

"Others? Do you mean the other people who live here?"

Kya nodded. "We are a small country in a wilderness many hundred miles from the next closest Kingdom. We are being operated under a tyranny. The leader of our Kingdom is called Hezron, a lion, but a snake. He has great power, as well." She looked uncomfortable for a moment. "He can make things... happen." She added haltingly. "We have never known power of this kind before. He can cause things to simply appear from thin air and make people do what he tells them to."

Keil looked uncertain. "How is that possible? That's like... Magic, isn't it?"

Kya looked bitter for a moment. "Magic, yes. Possible, no. This man is hardly thity years of age. It is inconceivable that he could have such knowledge and ability at his disposal. It is one of the things that some many fear him so much. But it is also part of why some people hate him. He has abused hs power more than once."

"I take it that you don't like this leader much. Aren't you speaking treason?"

"Yes, but that is not an issue while you are here. Here, you may speak freely about your views without being heard and reported."

Keil sat up straighter, intrigued. "So this is some kind of rebel outpost?"

"Yes, that is a rather crude way of putting it. We have been operating here and growing in numbers until the day comes when we may be able to fight back. That time has come and we want you to help us."

"How? I can't wield a sword or shoot a bow and arrow. How could I be of any use to you?"

Kya gave him a cryptic smile. You'll find you are capable of more things than you think."

"Such as..."

Kya watched him for a moment, as if measuring him up for some difficult task ahead of them. "Come with me." She told him.

They left the room and walked outside. Keil was impressed to see that they had actually been in a rather large stone building, like a small castle or a plantation of some kind. As Keil walked behind the girl, he noticed that they were in a courtyard or garden of some kind, but any plants that had been there were now gone. It seemed that some had cut them away to make room. Now the ground was covered in soft, lush green grass. It felt like a thick carpet under his bare feet.

In the courtyard there was set up what appeared to be an archer range on one end and a dueling ring on the other. There were a few men occupying the archery stands and what seemed to be a teacher and a student practicing swordplay with wooden foils in the ring. Kya led him there, just as the lesson was ending. The swordplay master was leaving the ring, mopping his brow with a damp towel.

"Torus, I was wondering if you could help our young friend here."

Torus looked up at her and Keil. Keil smiled nervously. I need help? He thought.

"We need to borrow a couple of your foils and a little of your time." Kya gave him a charming smile. "You have a new student. He would like to fence with you for a while."

I would?

*                    *                    *

At the hospital, Kyle's heart rate was being recorded on one of the monitors. One of the nurses watched it in concern. The patient's heart was starting to beat faster than it should have.

*                    *                    *

Keil felt the foil pressed into his hands. Kya gave him a charming smile. "You'll be okay, I promise."

She turned to the teacher. "He's a well-trained swordsman, don't go easy on him or you may regret it." She lied.

Keil stared at her, shocked. "What are you telling him? I've never held a blade in my life."

"Don't be so modest, Keil." Kya said. "You don't need to be modest around Torus. You probably won't have any trouble beating him." She lied again.

Keil saw the look on Torus's face and realized that she was goading him. Torus wasn't about to let it go. He obviously trusted her over him.

Oh, great... Keil groaned. He's gonna kill me...

*                    *                    *

"Dr, his heart rate is increasing rapidly." The nurse called. The Dr left the parents and went to the monitor. She was right. What was going on? It was as if their patient was in some mortal trouble. But he was laying a bed, completely asleep.

He looked back at the monitor. "We should keep as eye on it and see if it abates. If it  gets worse than tell me."

*                    *                    *

The duel was beginning. Of course, Torus still didn't believe his claim about not having ever held a sword before. Kya stood off to the side of the ring. "Come on Keil, you can do it. Show some courage."

Torus extended his blade. Keil had seen Olympic fencing. He figured that the rules were going to be fairly similar. He reached out and touched the tip of his opponent's blade.

Clang!

The teacher struck out suddenly. Keil only barely managed to block against it. Apparently, Torus had decided to start the fight. Torus attacked again and Keil had to duck. Then he backed away, holding his foil in both hands

Okay, Keil, you can do this, he told himself. Just don't get killed in the process.

Keil felt Tor's blade come at his again and blocked once more. Then again, and again, and again. He began to anticipate what the other was going to do next. Using what knowledge he had thus far gained, he started to drive Torus back, away from the edge of the ring. He knew that to cross the edge was to forfeit. On second thought, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.

He decided against it however. He figured he was doing okay for the moment. Slowly, he began to realize that Kya had been right. It was as if some hidden talent inside of him was kicking into gear, the ice of forgetfulness melting away to reveal a new reality. He began fighting harder. He began fighting better. Now Torus was starting to back down a little, but it was still clear that he was a much better swordsman.

Then He did something that he wasn't expecting. The teacher lunged out, apparently to test Keil's blocking abilities. Keil didn't know how to block this. The foil was heading for his face. He put up his hand to protect his eyes and hoped that the sword would stop before it struck.

*                    *                    *

"Dr! He's starting to panic again."

The Dr strode over. "What's the problem?"

"I don't know, but he seems to think that he's in mortal danger."

The Dr looked over at the patient, lying peacefully, dreaming. The doctor began to wonder silently. Dreaming what?

*                    *                    *

Torus simply vanished. There was a flash of light and Torus appeared somewhere else. The trainer found himself swinging at thin air. He stopped when he realized that Keil was no longer there. In confusion, he glanced around until he saw Keil again. He was very clearly perplexed.

"Very good." Kya whispered, almost reverently.

Keil dropped his foil in shock and backed away. "What happened?"

Kya took Keil's arm. "Come on, I need to show you something else." The trainer stared after them, his train of thought several miles behind schedule.

Chapter 3

Keil stared down the shaft, carefully gauging the distance between the target and where he stood. He did the pre-draw, careful not to let his arm shake at all. After a moment or two, he drew the shaft all the way back across his cheek, aimed, and fired. It thudded into the painted cloth cover and the head buried itself deep into the bale of hay. The yellow. It was his fifth bull's eye in a row. What made it even more impressive was that it was a 25 yard shot and that he was only a beginner.

Taking off his arm guard and sliding his bow into the rack. A boy at the other end collected the arrows from the target.

Kya stood by, at the edge of the arena. "Well," She said as he walked over to her. "That was impressive. Only two days of practice, too."

He wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "Really? I thought that twenty-five yards was kinda wimpy."

"It is, but I bet that you could make a fifty yard bull's eye."

There was a pause as Keil sat down on a stone bench. He pulled the leather sleeve off of his arm as he thought. "Kya, I've been wondering. How did you know that I could do those things?"

"What things?" She asked, sitting next to him.

"Well, it seemed like you had been expecting me to use that portal charm on Torus. You also didn't seem surprised when I shot my first arrow. The instructor told me that not many first-timers hit the target on their first shot."

Kya shrugged. "Let's just say that I saw your potential. The rest of it is a little hard to believe."

"Magic was a concept that I found difficult to accept. I'm sure that this won't be much different." He said confidently. "Would it have anything to do with your lack of willingness to explain he origin of my power?"

Kya shook her head. "Please, you wouldn't understand. It would be far too much to take in all at once. Just believe me when I tell you that it's better not knowing."

She stood up and began to walk away before Keil could ask anymore questions. Still, mystified, He stood up and walked inside. There was something strange about this rebel compound, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Kya also seemed different.

However, the one thing that bothered him the most was his Magical abilities. He had been trained by the wizard over the past two days. He had helped Keil over that period of time and trained him to better control his abilities. The strange thing, though, was his strange affinity that nobody would explain. He would have expected it to take years just to learn the most simple of spells, and yet he had done a complicated charm without even realizing he had done it.

They spoke of this leader of theirs with terrible power that he shouldn't have. They didn't call Keil's power terrible though, though he shouldn't have had it.

It was too simple, too effortless. He was scared of what it might imply.

*                    *                    *

Nicodemus held Keil's arm up, showing him the way to position himself for a more powerful spell. The apprentice wore his usual gray gown, typical to wizards. He found it odd that they trained most of these young people in only one or two traits, but they were teaching him Roaming, Swordplay, Magic and Archery all at once. They even touched on battle tactics once or twice. It wasn't usual. Then again, he wasn't usual. He felt like they were expecting him to do something big, bigger than he wanted or needed. Something secret.

The kindly old man let go of Keil's arm. "Now try it."

Effortlessly, Keil followed through the normal procedure for accessing a spell. The power he called upon came suddenly and in great amounts, he thrust it forward. Blue lightning struck forward from his palms and sank into the likeness of an enemy soldier. The fiery blue energy shot through it, leaving a smoldering, melted rim of a large hole in the center of the target's chest. It melted nearly the entire breastplate portion and the energy continued to craw over the surface, moving like blue lava, slowly consuming the rest of the suit of armor. Keil didn't want to think of the screams of whatever soldier he might have to do it to. He couldn't imagine dying in such a way.

"Well done!" The Wizard praised him. Keil slowly lowered his arms, almost hurt emotionally at the thought of Magical warfare. It was a dark new concept for him.

"Nicodemus."

The Wizard looked up from his wilted, aged lesson book. "Yes?"

"Why do we fight?"

The Wizard looked at him, giving him a strange, but curious look. "We fight for our freedom."

"But why can't we search for it in another way? Why must people die all for one man's wrongdoings?"

Nicodemus looked saddened. "I suppose that it is because we must defend ourselves. Is there even another way to fight back, but to try to protect those who cannot do so themselves?"
"But then why must we fight them back? Is there no other way? Must we sacrifice so many lives for something that may or may not succeed? Who's to say that the next King to come along won't be worse?"

The Wizard smiled. "He won't be worse, believe me." He said confidently.

"But then why don't other people leave him? Couldn't you just start another Kingdom of you own, outside of his rule? Then the others wouldn't to die, would they?"

"Perhaps, but perhaps not." Nicodemus responded. "Hezron has to power to make them come back."

"You're seeking to destroy evil, friend. We both know it doesn't work that way, but they don't. The only way to destroy evil is to forsake it."

"Yes, you are wise." The Wizard told him. "I see that you are of a great heart."

"Why don't they stop? Can't they see that to fight is to feed? War can only bring pain. It will not solve their problems. Why do we help them fight when all it does is fuel the fire?"

The old man gave a resigning sigh. "They just don't understand."

"Then why do you help them?"

The Wizard put a gentle hand on his young friend's arm. "Someday, I hope that you can understand that as well. I hope that perhaps one day, You can lead these people on to better understanding. Perhaps the next generation will turn out better." The man's face turned hard. "But no one can fight alone. For now, this is the best way I know how to fight the Evil in Tresgar. After all, no one can make a decision for anyone else, nor can he force others to accept truth, no matter how powerful they might be."

*                    *                    *

"Keil!"

Keil, who was in the process of packing his equipment, turned to see Kya running towards him. For the first time, she wasn't wearing her usual dress. In fact, she was wearing a travel tunic and boots. Over her shoulder was a sack.

"I take it that you're leaving. Where to?" Keil asked.

"Where doesn't matter, but you're leaving too." Kya responded.

Stunned, he looked at her hard. "Then I think ‘where' would matter." He wasn't sure what else to say. It was strange that he would be getting moved from the base when he had been here so short a time.

"No, because you're not coming with me. You're going with Rameus and Simeon. There are a few others going as well."

"Why on earth are they sending me away? I didn't even know that they trusted me yet. I've only been here for about a week."

"They trust you more than you think. After all, I might be young, but I'm still part of the Council and I trust you and they trust me. You have that much to your benefit."

"I'm touched, really I am, but I still don't-"

"They're sending you to the woods. They want you to spy on an outpost at the edge of the woods nearest to the City. There, you will receive further instruction on what you need to do."

"What is it? You look worried."

"I am, but I am not a liberty to discuss what the assignment is. I thought that it wouldn't come from a few more weeks at least, as did the rest of the council, but it looks like we may need to move quickly. Just remember everything that you were taught here. All of it has bee I preparation for this job. Also, keep confident. Without confidence you cannot win."

There was silence. "So you came to me to tell me that? Why didn't you just send a messenger boy?" Keil asked, trying to root out her purpose for coming to him. He actually felt slightly hurt that she hadn't come for a better reason.

"Well, there was another reason." She looked around for a moment, making sure that nobody was looking. Then she looked at him, a desperate look in her eyes. "There has been a secret held from you. You have power beyond what any of us first expected. Do not hesitate to use it when necessary."

"I take it that you aren't going to tell me what that is supposed to mean?"

"You can make anything happen, hardly with any effort. All you have to do is imagine it and it happens, just like what you did to Torus the first day that you came here. You have the same power that Hezron possesses."

Keil thought this new information through. "Wait, so I'm pretty much all-powerful, but you never told me."

"The rest of the council felt it might be dangerous, but I did not believe that to be so. Just keep wisdom foremost in your actions and you will be fine. The reason I couldn't tell you until now is because there were others around. I'm sorry you had to wait this long."

"On the contrary," Someone behind Kya spoke. "It was perfect timing in my own opinion." Nicodemus dropped the invisibility spell and he appeared about five feet behind Kya. In his arms was a wooden box.

"Nicodemus!" Kya scolded. "You shouldn't scare me like that. I though you were a member of the council for a moment."

"Who's to say I'm not? And besides, how many Council members do you know who can do an invisibility spell?" He asked, humor seeping into his voice.

"True enough, but I didn't intend for this to turn into a convention. What if somebody found out?"

"They won't." The Wizard gave Keil a secret wink. He knew what that meant. "Beyond that, I wish to see the lad off, myself. It is not a sin, is it? After all, you had to find you own excuse to see him one last time, didn't you?" He said this to Kya almost accusingly.

Kya blushed. "I just wanted to tell him." She said defensively, crossing her arms.

The old man turned back to Keil. "Boy, you soon may risk a great deal, your life included. Be wise. Also, take this." He passed the box into Keil's hands.

Keil opened the polished lid and found inside, resting on silk and satin, a stone dagger. He looked at his friends grimly. "I take it that this is no ordinary mission. Why do I need this?"

"It is the Stone Dagger."

"Great name." Keil said sarcastically.

The Wizard ignored the bitter response and went on. "It kills at a single touch from the blade. However, It can only be used once so be careful how you choose to use it."

"I already know what it is, but why do I need it? This is an artifact from the library. I doubt that you had permission to take it."

"I did not require permission from our leaders. The blade comes with the prophecy that it would someday slay evil and save our Kingdom. Thus, it maker, and it one true owner, gave me the right to steal it."

"So you want me to save the world, and you expect me to use a stone knife to do it." Keil said dryly. "And yet, you refuse to tell me why, how or when. What on earth is so important about me? Why do you expect so much from someone who you only met a week ago. I received this mission about five minutes ago and now I feel like you are all sayng that impending doom lays on the horizon and that I must now save the world or the blood of millions will rest on my head."

"Effectively, yes. That is what we are saying."

"Isn't that a bit to put on a fellow?"

"I bid you my farewell. There is nothing more that I can do for you. At least remember my gift."

Keil regretted his rudeness immediately. He understood that he had hurt his friend's feelings. However, before he could apologize, the Wizard was gone again.

"Keil." Kya sounded small and humble, standing there, waiting.

"Now you're going to say goodbye too, but you still aren't going to give me any advice."

"You've received better advice than you think. Just try to listen and remember."

"I will." Keil turned and walked away, deciding that it was best that he start packing. He had a long journey ahead.

*                    *                    *

Keil slept fitfully for the first part of the night, dreaming of nothing in particular and thinking of nothing important. After two days in the woods, learning to survive, to sleep on a goose-down bed was like resting in heaven. His important position at the rebel base gave him special privileges, he had been told. However, he had yet to learn what this ‘position' was.

Then, sometime near dawn, he awoke. Or so it had seemed.

He found himself lying on a short, thin mattress with a stiff interior. His head rested on a pillow that he also did not find to be very comfortable either.

Then he heard mechanical beeping and light poured into his half-opened eyes, giving him a headache. He tried to life his arms, but found that they wouldn't move. He saw rubber tubes connected to needles, which stuck into his arms, injecting some kind of fluid.

Where am I? He asked himself drowsily. He heard someone talking to him, but he didn't understand what they were saying. He turned and saw the face of a young girl sitting by him. Her expression was both mournful and excited. Tears streaked her cheeks, but a smile shone through the clouds of despair. He knew there was something different about her. It was as if she were more real than anyone he ever knew. More real than Kya, Torus or even himself. He also saw an emotion that he didn't recognize, like every tie he had seen something similar, it was just a fake.

Who is she? He wondered.

She was talking, but his ears didn't hear. The gears of reality didn't quite turn all the way over in his mind and they froze fast once more. Then he was gone again. Silently, he drifted back into his deep, endless sleep.

*                    *                    *

The next day, he awoke early in the morning, just as the stars in the heavens were fading and the sun was reining full dominion over the sky. He heard the men outside in the hallway patrolling as regular and the smells of cooking found its way through the door and to him, where he lay.

He lay back and tried hard to remember. He remembered a face, like from a dream, but that was it. Was it from a dream? The remnants of the night's experience wafted farther and farther from reached as he came to a full awareness of his surroundings. Eventually, even the memory that anything had happened drifted away and he was back in his own world once more. To him, it was like any other morning, except for that he had a duty that he needed to fulfill. He had to travel to the edge of the woods and meet with the others who would be in charge of him. There, he would have his assignment handed to him.

He abandoned his bed and picked up his light travel sack with the Stone Dagger, a compass, food, clothing and some twine inside. It was all that he needed out there, considering his ‘Roaming' lessons. Roaming was the basics of wilderness survival and he knew the rules by heart.

He put on his travel clothing (A raiment made from pieces of leather armor and a couple extra layers of soft cloth intended to keep one warm at night and colored brown as autumn leaves for camouflage. The layers were separable form hot weather) and stepped out of his room, the same one that he had woken up inside several days before, the day that he had met Kya and learned of his future here at the compound.

He stepped into the hall and made his way to the kitchen. He ate and then left to find his travel companions. Rameus and Simeon were waiting for him at the front gate. Rameus was about thirty years of age, coarse-haired, dirty and heavily muscled. He was Keil's one-time Roaming instructor. Simeon was Keil's own age, young and bright. He was a swordplay apprentice that was supposed to go with him. There was some reason or other that Keil was sure that he would never find out about, but either way, it was good to have a friend going with him. He had trained with Simeon the last couple of days and knew that he would be a great asset to the journey.

Keil grinned as he approached. He extended his arm and they clasped arms. "It's good to have you with us." Simeon said.

"You too." Keil responded.

*                    *                    *

Hezron stood from his throne and paced the floor angrily. They had found the boy. He hated himself for his failure to hide the child away. He knew that he must destroy this liability immediately. He turned to the attendant at the door.

"Rawson, go find the court Wizard. Tell him... tell him to bring me Megolith. He has a job to do."

*                    *                    *

Keil and his friends wandered through the woods, following the path to the second rebel base, a small encampment on the edge of the woods. Simeon walked ahead, scouting the path for signs of anything unusual. This was a secret operation and they didn't want anything going wrong. It could spell disaster for the entire rebellion.

Rameus walked ahead of Keil and Keil hiked doggedly on behind, leaning on his walking staff and wishing that he hadn't been required to bring two swords, three daggers, bow and arrows along with his other equipment. The extra weight was slowly becoming noticeable.

"Why don't you two have to carry more? I have enough weaponry here for a whole armada."

"I had to give you Simeon's extra things so that he could move more quickly."

"What about you? Why can't you carry some of this?"

"I must be free to fight, in case of an attack."

"Easy for you to say. What am I supposed to do? Sit back let myself get eaten. Remember that I have to survive too." He pulled the pack up higher on his shoulders. He suspected that Rameus was just teaching again. He probably felt that his skinny arms didn't fit the bill. Actually, he was right, but he figured there would be lunch break soon, so he didn't care.

He walked on, unaware of the creature lurking in the tall brush behind him, off the path and out of sight.

Several minutes later, they still hadn't taken a break and Keil's arms were starting to suffer.

"Hold up, let's take a short break." He called to Rameus. Simeon was too far ahead to hear.

"No, we can't. We need to wait until noon." The wilderness instructor informed him.

"Isn't is noon already?" Keil didn't moan groan or complain because he knew what Rameus thought of that kind of thing.

"Not yet."

Keil groaned and came to a stumbling halt. "Too bad." He responded rebelliously. "I can't walk another step." He figured that being straight forward was better than complaining, even if it was to Rameus.

The instructor turned on Keil as he sat down. "Stand up, now. You're being an idiot. Rebellion against a superior is not permitted."

"No kidding? Well, we are a rebellion after all." He took out a sandwich and took a bite.

Then Rameus's voice changed. "Keil, move!" He shouted.

Keil missed the panic in his voice. "I'm eating." He took another bite.

"Keil, move now!" He drew his sword. Keil didn't miss the sense of danger that suddenly filled the air. H heard something large, moving toward him rapidly. Instinctively, he leapt to the side, out of the way of danger. He felt the ground shake as a gaping, fanged head sank into the earth where he had been standing.

The giant snake shook the dirt out of its mouth, angry. The head itself was at least four feet long. The body itself looked to be about a hundred feet long, if not more. Its dull, black body coiled up as the creature sensed that it had missed its prey. He turned to face Rameus just as the man reached the monster.

Megolith opened his tooth-lined mouth and hissed, sounding more like a challenge than a warning to stay away.

Rameus did not back away, in fact, he dove right at the beast. The snake reared back, dodging the sword as it sliced the air. Then he struck forward like lightning, taking the opening that the swing had left. Rameus felt the hundreds of teeth clench onto his arm and cried out in shock and pain. Blood flowed freely from the horrible wound.

The snake took the opportunity and rammed its head into the soldier's chest, the man toppled backwards, losing his sword in the process.

"Hey, you!"

The monster cocked its head at Keil, standing about ten yards away. It saw the taunt bowstring and the shaft aimed at its head. It sensed danger and lunged forward.

Keil fired the arrow, but it clanked off of the hardened scales of the horrible beast's head, barely missing the vital spot between the eyes.

Keil felt himself grabbed by the shoulder by a mouthful of teeth and then thrown to the ground. Tears streamed down from his eyes as he treid to fight back the urge to scream in pain. He looked up and saw the monster's yellow eyes, glaring down at him. Then the mouth opened again and the creature struck.

Then something stepped in the way. There was the flash of cold steal and Rameus's sword wounded Megolith's eye. Megolith screamed its deathly scream, like the sound of metal grinding metal.

Rameus dragged Keil onto his feet as the snake started to thrash back and forth. Its long tail flailed back and forth, crashing it the sides of tress, splintering the bark and crushing plants.

"Go!" Rameus shouted into the boy's ear over the din. The wailing monster continued its painful screaming. Keil and Rameus ran as quickly as they could, seeking to get as far away from the predator as they could.




    This is the first of the three pats to "Mirage". If you are interested in reading more, click on my profile name and go to my portfolio.
    The story gets even better as you go.