Toys in the Attic
He just stood there. That stranger at my door.
"Why have you invaded my sanctuary?" I demanded. What can I say? I like the privacy I had when that stupid street-rat wasn't screwing with my plans of world domination and I wasn't about to give it up for some fair-haired foreigner in strange clothes. For one thing, his pants were too tight and his tunic too short.
"I'm looking for some things that belong to me," was what that...boy had for an answer. Come to think of it, he didn't seem that much younger than me. He even had traces of a beard growing.
"Really?" I answered, skeptically. As if the Citadel had ever housed his kind. Then again, it was huge. I haven't even been in the attic yet. "And what makes you believe that I would help you instead of, oh say, flaying you alive and sending you back to your lands in a sarcophagus?"
"Because I think you'll like what I have and if you help me, I'll give it to you." Just then he pulled out an...amulet, I believe. Two snakes adorned it, one of silver color, the other gold. "It's Auryn."
"I've never heard of it."
"Well, of course. It's from different world than this one. It grants its owner wishes."
"Big deal," I scoffed, getting ready to warm up my gauntlet. "If I wanted my wishes granted, I would have snatched a genie by now."
"It's not limited to just three." Having heard that, my interest was regained and target practice was put on hiatus.
"Oh, and you are just going to...give it to me...if I help you find what you're looking for?"
The foreigner nodded, tucking the Auryn back into his shirt. "When you help me."
I couldn't believe this guy! He was so confident that I was going to help him and not just kill him for his Auryn right there.
"Because I know you will, Mozenrath," he added. The moment he said my name, my brain froze. The utter disgust for his gall was in my head as soon as it defrosted. How can he assume to know me when I have just met him?
A thought then occurred to me. That stupid street rat and his genie were torturing me. Odds are that this fair-haired boy was that genie, though this was rather...uncharacteristically reckless even for him. My thoughts went to the Crystal of Ix and came back with a plan. If this boy was indeed Aladdin's genie in disguise, I could just say the word and have him in my possession by dinnertime. If not, I'm open for interesting conversation pieces in the Main Hall.
However, the magic alarms didn't pick him up until after I saw him. Perhaps he was just some bolder-than-your-average-thief, looking to make a name for himself by stealing from the Lord of the Land of the Black Sand. Perhaps this Auryn was a fake.
"You don't believe me," the boy stated. "Well, if you feel that I'm trying to con you, then I won't give it to you then. Either way, I know you'll help me."
"Wait just one Gomorrah minute!" I exclaimed. "I don't break my back for anyone, so don't make that assumption. All I want is proof that what you say is true and I will be the judge of whether or not I will assist you."
The boy smiled as he pulled out the Auryn once more.
"I wish that this man would help me."
It glowed.
"All right," I said, my tone softened all of the sudden, "I will assist you, Mister..."
"Jon."
"Jon, then." What in the name of that is dark and impure did I say?! However, it became clear to me that the Auryn had power. This interruption proved to be...interesting.
----
I'm going to blast the mamluk in charge of cleaning a new one, I thought as Jon and I trudge up the cobweb-strewn stairwell to the attic, a blue mage light leading the way. Yes, I could care less how clean the Citadel is. In fact, its distressed look added to its ominous aura that I treasure, but as the cobwebs became plastered to my face as I approached the attic door, well, let's just say my patience was running thin. Adding to my annoyance, Jon didn't have a single strand on his body. Of course, he was walking right behind me the whole time, while I got the brunt of the webs, along my front.
The mage light glowed brightly as we finally loomed towards the door, covered with webs as was I. It's difficult for metal to rust in the desert, but the hinges and the handle were blacker than the sands. Odds were that not even Destane has been up here. I pushed against the door, spiders crawling down, disturbed from their hiding places. The hinges groaned, irritating my ears.
The mage light shot through the gap, illuminating the room. Thin enough, I squeezed through. I looked around, waiting for Jon. It didn't seem that much different from all the other attics on this earth- webs (I responded to with utter loathing), dust a shade lighter than that familiar sand, feathers and uh, remains of past occupants (not all end up as mamluks), and countless items lost to time 'til now. Jon walked past me and headed straight for the various drab chests that were scattered in this room.
"What are we supposed to be looking for?" I asked. I looked in a chest. To my disappointment, it was just sand. A mound was formed in a corner.
"I'm not sure, actually," Jon replied, picking up a box. Shells of beetles tumbled out. "I suppose if we find anything, it'll come to me."
I wanted to beat his head in with a blunt scimitar when I heard that. However, the allure of the Auryn be stilled my urge to lash out at that moment. My hand sunk into the sand, feeling an odd shape. It was rather soft and comfortable, compared to the sand. I pulled it out and inspected at my discovery.
It was a doll of an odd creature, gray and that of a narrow snout. My hand felt its little triangle fin upon its back. I recognized this creature from Cretan vases, decorated with this animal.
"Darwin," I heard Jon say. He reached towards "Darwin" and cradled it as if it was an infant. "I liked this one. Imagine how hard it was to get it the first time around, but it was definitely worth it."
I looked at "Darwin" curiously and then at Jon. The Auryn was in sight, dangling from his neck. I reached for it, but a sudden jerk by Jon denied me.
"Well, is that it then, Jon?" I asked, my teeth clenching. That stupid trinket was tempting me and this boy has no idea.
"No, just...two more, I think," he answered, breaking his focus from "Darwin". "Keep looking."
I frowned, but I reminded myself of the Crystal and the plan. I merely smiled and continued my search for...Allah knows what.
I must have looked through some thirty chests, in every possible corner there was in that place. I was so mind-numbingly bored; I didn't bother to yell when I tripped over a rope. I picked it up, ready to throw it across the room. Until I got to look at it. It was of a peculiar composition, not like hemp or hair. It was stiffer.
"Strange thing, isn't it," Jon said to me, now carrying one of the small wooden boxes. I looked up to him, still holding the rope. He reached for it, his hand gliding over its smooth and stiff surface. "I've done it only a year ago and I still don't know why I did it or if it was worth it."
What was he going on about? I stood up, legs shaking slightly.
"What did you do one year ago?" I asked, handing the rope to him. My legs were all of the sudden felt like jelly. I leaned against a chest for support.
"It doesn't really matter," he took the rope from me and placed it into the box, "I've forgotten it, so it probably wasn't worth reminding. Shall we head back down?"
"So, you're done then?"
"Up here, I am."
"So I have fulfilled my part. I can only expect that you fulfill yours." The Auryn shimmered brighter. It was going to be mine soon.
"No, not yet." My lower jaw dropped. That ungrateful wretch! I sacrificed time I could have spent planning just to play scavenger hunt with that foreigner and he tells me "not yet"? Furious, my good hand shot towards his neck, the Auryn still in sight.
What happened next, well, I'm still dumbstruck. My hand went right through his neck. No, I didn't kill him. It was more like going through early morning fog.
"So, my secret's out," Jon said, unbothered that my hand was still poking through him.
"So, you're a ghost then?" I asked, retracting my hand. So much the "genie theory".
Jon nodded. "It's a strange feeling, knowing you can touch others, but can't be touched back. When I went home, Mom walked right through me and I knew it then."
"Spare me the sentimentality," I hissed. "I let you into my home and indulged your whim. I helped you find your missing...pieces at the expense of my privacy and possibly my own safety. I did it so I can get that trinket around your neck, not to have some heart-to-heart with a lost soul!"
"I knew that."
"And another thing, you called me by name and told me that you knew me!"
"Because I do and you are very much a part of me as what's in this box."
I stood there, at a loss of words. I was a part of him? He walked past me, the cobwebs not rustling as he moved through them. Almost mindlessly, I followed.
----
"I'm sorry I frightened you," Jon said at the front door. The whole time we walked back downstairs, I kept thinking about what he said. But that's absolutely ridiculous. I can't automatically accept the word of a stranger. I'm not some cog in a machine.
"What else do you expect from me?" I asked.
"I need something to take back." I hid my gloved hand behind my back. Jon smiled.
"No, I will not let you part with that."
I drew my hand back out, though not completely reassured. I then reached into my belt pouch and pulled out an ankh, about as rusted as the hinges of the attic door.
"Will this do?"
Jon nodded. As I dropped the ankh into his hand, it glowed. He wrapped his fingers around it and a moment later, he revealed its newly transfigured form. It was of the same smoothness of the rope, though its rectangle form and that tiny caricatured head upon it baffled me.
"I used to collect these all the time," he said, lifting the head and a small rectangular piece popped out from its "neck". "Want some?"
I refused. Smiling, he then reached to the Auryn and pulled it off, leaving the cord around his neck.
"Do with it what you will." He placed it in my hand. I smirked, the Auryn and the power that goes with it finally in my grasp.
"There is one more thing you should know about it." Terrific, as always there was a catch. "For every wish you make, you lose a memory. Once you lose all of them, there will be no more wishes. That is the price of those who are not of its land."
"I understand." Total BS, but it worked. Jon turned to the door, lifting the handle and pulling it open.
"Maybe we will meet again, Mozenrath," he said, disappearing behind the door.
"Maybe," I answered, still looking at the Auryn. And maybe I'll start wearing a fez and go around saving the day. I looked up and Jon was gone. I looked out the door.
No footprints.
I shut the door, my focus back on the Auryn. All this power and I still can't believe he just gave it away. Nevertheless, what to do with it first was the big question. I stared at it, thinking of what I would wish for, how easy it had been. But things are rarely easy.
And what of Jon said, losing a memory for each wish made? So? The past made no difference. No, that's not it. My past is what drives me, gives me a purpose. A goal without a reason is pointless.
I walked to my library and placed the Auryn on a shelf. "One day..." I said as I walked away.
I still don't know why I did it or if it was worth it.
The End?
For Jonathan Brandis, Steven Thomas, and all who lose their sense of purpose and those who help them get it back...
Disclaimer: I don't own Mozenrath, the Auryn (The Neverending Story), Darwin (seaQuest) or Jonathan Brandis.