Barley Lightfoot wasn't scared of anything. Not of large chasms in the ground. Not of horrific beings dead set on ending him. Not of random creaks heard on the stairs. Nothing.
Except for one thing.
He was scared for his brother.
When his father passed away, he was forced to grow up fast and hold back his tears. Ian is practically his son, he was the one he'd sworn to protect and raise. He couldn't imagine the most precious thing in his life being taken away from him.
His brotherly instincts kicked in once he saw him backed into a corner...and he began to protect him more than usual. He took a stab in the back for him.
And it only got worse once he saw him floating lifelessly underwater. He did everything he could to resuscitate him.
And that same night...Ian came down with a deadly illness. And it's taking over him faster than it did his father.
Both brothers haven't had the greatest couple of weeks.
Each and every day, they've been looking out for each other, making sure the other wasn't hurt.
The world's been out to get them.
And Barley had always been good about keeping his guard up.
Ian never had to do that.
But going on a quest and nearly setting the whole town on fire made them a target.
2 months ago Barley was just a regular elf painting minis and looking for a job and supporting his little brother. He never would've dreamed that two months later he and his sick brother would be taken hostage by a strange man with some horrific intentions.
But that's what he was doing today, having reality sit at his doorstep.
It didn't take long after he opened his eyes for the older Lightfoot to realize he wasn't next to his brother near the lake anymore.
He was now in a dark, damp, smelly room, with his arms chained to a wall and his mouth covered with tape.
He can't see Ian anywhere. Now panicking, he pulls at and shakes the chains, hoping they would break. Hyperventilating and sweating profusely, he only wishes he could yell for his brother. The only thing that runs through his mind is what could possibly be happening to the poor wizard. Not what would happen to himself, or who brought them here. He doesn't want anything more in the world than to break out of here and make sure he's okay.
After minutes of struggling, he gives up and sulks on the tile floor.
Tears start rolling down his face as he continues to let out angry breaths.
Whoever took them here was going to get the worst of it.
Not too much later, Barley hears faint footsteps heading towards him. He tries to see in the dark as his eyes have adjusted, but he still can't make out anything. Suddenly, he feels the tape holding his mouth closed get ripped off, causing him to grunt from the pain.
A light appears from the figure's staff, and Barley can now see him clearly; a blue elf with a fresh scratch on his cheek, including a few scars. He'd found Wilden's staff.
"What did you do to my brother? WHERE IS HE?" Barley immediately yells.
The dark figure snickers.
"In another room," he answers. "He woke up a bit early, and...I will say he got a bit feisty with me. A bit too feisty..."
"He jumped on me and clawed at me before I could get him tied up...luckily I managed," he continues. "It took everything within me to not just kill him right there, but I had to let nature take its course."
The expression on Barley's face quickly changed, as he was now wondering what he would mean by that.
"Nature...take its course? Do you mean..."
"Well, isn't it obvious at this point? That illness he's had...I gave it to him."
The burly elf clenches his fists, as he wanted so badly to break out of the chains and snap the man in half.
"How...why, why would you possibly want to do that?" he roars.
"Well, let's start from the beginning..." the tall elf starts. "My older brother found out he was a wizard pretty early on, and in such a rarity, I also ended up with the gift. However...I was much less powerful. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get anything to work.
"It was so aggravating, watching him have all this power to himself. Then he left, taking his staff with him. I was tired of him having so much more power, that I devised a plan. I read up on so many old spellbooks and ventured out to look for ones that have been lost, in order to find out how to infect him with a sickness that would transfer his power into me. After years and years, I was finally able to get him...but once he died, I vanished into thin air.
"I was trapped in some hell world for years and years until I was suddenly...brought back. I was in the middle of New Mushroomton, wearing the same clothes I was, in the same area I was. I was confused, for sure; I didn't know why I was back. I couldn't find a staff anywhere, so I never knew if I had my brother's powers or not. But a day passed, and I saw a giant stone dragon ransacking the school, and your little brother losing his staff in the ocean...I quickly climbed down the boulders and grabbed it as it floated near the shore. And then I saw your father upon the cliff...and I figured...the only reason I could've been brought back to life...is that my brother was brought back to life."
Barley's stomach drops. He catches his breath when he realizes he'd been holding his breath through the unnamed elf's talking.
"Wait...you mean...your brother...is our..."
The pieces begin mending together in his head. The nightmare. The vivid memories he'd been getting...
He then recalls looking at old photos with his mother...
Around the time Dad got sick, he disappeared to who knows where and we haven't had contact with him since.
Then the burly elf gasps upon suddenly regaining a lost memory.
Sweat drips down his head as he starts hyperventilating again and he begins to feel nauseous.
This is Uncle Frildar.
"Well? Finish the sentence boy, you've almost got it."
Barley shuts his eyes tightly, struggling in the chains, doing whatever he could to escape.
He couldn't stop himself from reliving the memory again...it plays back so crystal clear as if it just now happened...
It was the summer of 2004. Things were looking great. Barley was only three months away from seeing his baby brother for the first time, and his third birthday was coming up quickly.
Nothing seemed wrong. Everything felt like it was just fine.
But everything changed on one July afternoon.
Barley now remembers it clearly: he was being held by his mother and taken into the kitchen, where the two were going to make a batch of cookies together. Wilden was right near him, and once Barley was put down on the floor he crawled over to tap on his feet.
They were laughing together...until their front door was broken in.
Laurel hid with Barley behind the barstools. Wilden could barely make it, as he was suddenly pushed to the floor by Uncle Frildar.
"DADDY!" the poor boy yelled.
Frildar held him to the ground and performed a spell on him, causing him to fall asleep. He then shot a beam towards the three of them, and Barley fell asleep himself, along with Laurel.
Not too much later, they all wake up on the kitchen floor, not remembering a thing that happened.
They couldn't think of why they were on the kitchen floor and asleep...other than the fact that none of them slept well last night.
Since they weren't able to deduce why this was, they got off the floor and got back to making their cookies...
And soon after...Wilden wasn't feeling so great...
The teen shivers, trying to hold back tears.
Frildar had wiped he and his family's memories clean, and that's why Laurel couldn't remember why he suddenly lost contact with them.
"Now, I kept holding the staff closely, wondering if it would keep me from disappearing again if he ever did," the elf continues. "And when he faded away, I didn't...and then I finally had his power..."
Rage built up within the burly elf. With all his might, he lets out a piercing yell as he rips off the chains. He quickly gets on his feet and charges towards his uncle, grabbing him by his shirt and pinning him against the wall. His father's staff flings across the room.
Barley has a great deal of strength, good enough to keep the near-middle-aged elf against the wall.
"LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO OUR FAMILY! YOU EXPECT ME TO SIT HERE AND LET YOU KEEP TEARING US APART?"
"...I never finished speaking," he grunts in response.
"I DON'T CARE WHAT MORE YOU HAVE TO SAY, ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS WHY YOU FEEL THE NEED TO TAKE POWER FROM OTHERS!"
The elf snickers again.
"...After I gained your father's powers, I found out that you possessed no power at all. I kept training religiously and devised many plans to get you two on my radar. I learned shapeshifting, many other kinds of magic, and became different characters. I created the goblin that ripped your brother to shreds. The elf from behind your brother's school, the wizard who dueled with him...those were my plans...and with the latter...I was able to give him the sickness-"
Barley wouldn't let him finish the sentence before he tightened his grip.
"Those were YOU?" he hisses, more tears streaming down his face. "You did all of THAT? Just to make all of that power for YOURSELF and take him away from me?"
"Oh, Barley, your brother's power isn't being transferred into me...it's being transferred into you."
His heart drops after hearing that statement. That's why the staff glowed when he grabbed it under the water.
"Me and you...we could be powerful together...imagine all the power we could gain-" "NO!"
Barley's rage grows even more as he grabs the other elf's throat and throws him onto the ground as hard as he could. He steps on his chest and bends down, looking him right in the eyes.
"I'm NOT the wizard, I was NEVER meant to be the wizard! I love my brother the way he is, I'm here to help him," the burly elf scolds. "Now give me that gem, or we're gonna have a problem."
His uncle reaches his arm outward, and the staff floats from the other side of the room and into his hand.
"You've made a grave mistake," he then says. "You don't seem to have a staff on you at the moment."
Barley gasps and he quickly makes a dash out of the room. Frildar gets back on his feet and sends a magic shockwave towards the other elf, causing him to trip on his feet. Luckily, Barley is a very fast runner and isn't hurt by it, and he gets back up and runs down the hallway of the seemingly abandoned building. Frildar keeps sending shockwaves and other magic traps, but he outruns all of them.
He keeps checking in all of the rooms, which were small offices, and no sign of Ian in any of them. All the doors have nametags on them, none of which he recognizes.
But at the end of the hallway, he comes across a door that makes him stop in his tracks - Wilden Lightfoot, Accountant.
He opens the door, hoping for the best...