Creatures of the Land

7 Years ago…

Before any sign of first light, and before the warmth of day could sweep over the chill of night: that was the only acceptable time to be out experimenting - at least, that was the case for the Sage of Dark Eco.

Hunched over a pile of kindling and tinder, Gol struck two rocks together. They were icy in his palms, and produced nothing but an irritable clicking noise that echoed throughout the dense woodlands.

He let out a low grumble. How hard was it to start a fire? At first, he wanted it to test out its reaction with Dark Eco, as it was an experiment that he'd been meaning to conduct for quite a while now. But with the cool nip of the early morning air not letting up, the fire would be nice for some much needed warmth. He was exposing more skin to the wind than necessary, as the wide cuffed sleeves of his favourite blue coat were rolled up to his elbows. The thin wraps on his feet did little to help either.

After a few painful minutes, a tiny spark flashed, and a speck of orange grew before Gol's blue eyes. Soft crackles started up as he fanned, and soon enough, a small fire flickered. Gol let out a sigh and rubbed his numb hands close to the flames. Once he'd regained feeling in them, one hand went fishing into a pouch on his leather kidney belt. He gently pulled out a small metal tube. Inside, he could feel a tiny cluster of Dark Eco pulsating. It was taken from the last of his supply of Dark Eco - the result of months and months of searching. It took a great deal of effort to convince himself that sparing some for this experiment would be worth it - no matter the result.

With the lid removed, Gol edged closer to the pit, tipping the tube ever so slightly. Violet sparks jumped out, and an almost gaseous sphere - no larger than a bead - dripped off the rim and fell into the flames.

At once the small fire snapped to a deep purple, and began hissing like a jungle snake. Gol took a few steps back, pocketing the tube of Eco, and watched as the fire shrank rapidly. It seemed as if it was going to vanish completely when a flash of white light seared his eyes. The air soared in temperature. Through the white blobs plaguing his vision, he could see the pit begin to belch. Flames then leapt in all directions, spitting out a shower of black and purple sparks.

Gol stumbled backwards to the ground. He threw his arms around his head and rolled onto his chest in an effort to shield his face from the onslaught. Sizzling and popping sounds rang in his ears. The sweat that trickled out of every pore in his body soothed the little nips the sparks took at his exposed skin.

The hiss of the fire quietened down, and he snuck a glance from underneath his arm. Purple embers gently floated around like snow. The pit itself was reduced to nothing but a black, smouldering pile of ash. A couple of the trees nearest also bore a stray patch or two of singed bark. Gol pulled himself to his feet. To anyone else, the scene would have been an alarming sight. But to him, his first reaction was to let out a delighted laugh.

So that's what happens when fire and Dark Eco react together.

xxx

Some time had passed before Gol came to a clearing. He found himself on a bluff overlooking a small valley, shaped eons ago by the river that ran straight through the middle. Its river banks were peppered with numerous wooden huts that had smoke trickling from a few of the chimneys. It meant that the villagers were already up and about, getting ready to fall into their daily routines.

This little slice of civilization was Steephead Village: his home.

His eyes drifted away from the huts to the opposite cliff-face, just before where the valley flattened out into a wide plain. There, he could see his and Maia's hut, nestled within a shallow cave a few feet up. Just to the right of it was a teleport gate, giving the cave's interior a slight blue glow. The hut was the only one imbedded in the cliff, and a narrow snaking path was the only way up to it. No smoke came from the chimney that stuck out at an angle away from the wall of rock, meaning that Maia was already awake and absent.

Of course she was.

Gol's gaze floated over to the plains. In the distance, an ancient Precursor citadel loomed, dwarfing even the mountain range that was behind it. Its metallic shine from the sun, which was just breaking over the horizon, was almost blinding. That was where Maia was most likely headed. When they first moved to this village a year ago, they explored the outside of the citadel together, seeing no visible entrance. Undeterred, Maia continued her search alone. Most days she'd leave at sunrise, and come back just after sunset, when activity in the village had died down considerably. He wasn't a fool. The timing was by design.

Gol found the set of stairs that led down to the village. They were carved steeply and narrowly into the side of the cliff-face, so care had to be taken while climbing them. The sun was now just barely over the summit opposite, so he slowed his descent further and held up a hand to shield his watering eyes from the early morning rays. It definitely wasn't the best time to be coming down these steps.

A few wary glances were cast in Gol's direction as he made his way through the village. The experience was nothing new, and as usual, no one said a word to him. However, he did hear a few audible gasps. That was new.

He kept his head low, weaving between huts and keeping a brisk pace. It had become a habit to lose himself in his thoughts and ignore their stares. But as he did, he caught a glimpse of his soot-covered hands and sleeves.

Ah. His frazzled and dirty appearance. Perhaps he should have returned sooner when no one was awake, or at the very least, found a stream to clean himself up.

Blood rushed to his cheeks as his thoughts ran off without him. Just imagine what the people who saw him were thinking. By midday, he was sure that there'd be whispers of the Acherons emerging from their secret cave in the forest, where they hid away cooking up little –

A sigh escaped his lips. He was beginning to sound like Maia.

Gol finally reached the rocky pathway that led up to his home. But the welcoming sight was disrupted by a thin young man that stood at the entrance to the hut, armed with nothing but a wooden cane. Gol's eyes instinctively travelled down from the cane to the man's right leg. It was covered in thick bandages and sported a tourniquet just below the knee.

Sunken eyes looked up as Gol approached.

"Gol Acheron?"

Gol nodded, now holding his gaze.

"I need your help."

"Please, come inside," Gol said, gesturing to the doorway. There was no point in asking for a name - they never gave it, no matter how politely he'd ask.

Hesitantly, the man edged into the hut, eyes darting everywhere - as if something would spring out and grab him. Gol restrained from rolling his eyes as he followed him in. Without fail, every single person who set foot in his home did something similar. What were they expecting, exactly? Torture devices, cages, and chains? The main room was the place where he conducted some of his research and consultations, and the only things it was furnished with was a bookshelf, a table and two chairs, and workbenches covered in metal scraps, drawings of Precursor structures, tools, papers, and vials. Empty metal canisters, that had once been their limited supply of Dark Eco, were also stacked against the wall near a door. This door led to a secondary, smaller room that served as their private quarters. Maia had insisted on doors for both rooms, but Gol would only relent to having a door to their living space. If these people were to trust them, and wanted to seek their help, an open doorway was always a welcome sight. On top of that, no secrets were ever kept in a room without a door.

So what else did he have to do to ease their wariness?

Gol took a seat at his workbench, and nodded towards the chair closest to the entrance.

"Take a seat."

The man took forever to sit on the chair he was directed to. When he was comfortable enough, he bent down to grab the loose end of the bandage just before his knee. Slowly, he unravelled it layer by layer, going down the leg and revealing milky white skin. Blackened veins bulged out, creating a webbed pattern around his calf. Finally, he got down to the ankle, but winced and stopped.

The anticipation was killing Gol. He couldn't remember if he'd taken a breath or not since the first of the bandage peeled away.

The man steeled himself, and continued. The bandage's colour quickly changed from white to crimson, and yet, he showed no signs of stopping. How small was this man's foot?

Gol shot up from his chair when the top of the man's foot finally appeared - or what was left of it. The last of the bandages fell to the floor, and all that could be distinguished were bits of gooey black flesh and charred bone.

"Dark Eco did this?" were the first words that spilled out of Gol's mouth.

He received an incredulous look from the man - like Gol had sprouted a second head.

Quickly recomposing himself, Gol dragged his own chair toward the man and gave it a pat. "Place your foot up here."

As the man did what he was told, Gol hurried back over to his workbench and grabbed a magnifying glass. He didn't need it to examine the skin that was still intact above his ankle. It was obviously an extreme case of Dark Eco poisoning, caused only when the body hadn't absorbed it correctly. Luckily, it had been halted by the tourniquet before it could creep further up his body and worm its way into his heart…

"Do you have Green Eco to treat the infection above your foot?"

The man grunted in affirmation.

Gol made his way back, and crouched to examine the foot itself. An acidic odour filled his nostrils.

"Fascinating," Gol remarked. Exposure to a Dark Eco cluster couldn't possibly have done this. He let his hand glide over the injury to check for any residual Eco, but felt nothing.

"Fascinating? It looks like burnt Yakkow meat!" the man cried, gesturing wildly to his foot.

"My apologies," Gol said with a tilt of his head. Where should he start? There were so many questions to ask. "What did the Dark Eco look like?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I only ask because the Eco has eaten all the way down to the bone. A rather… unusual reaction, for coming into contact with a small Eco cluster."

In all honesty, he had never seen such damage by Dark Eco before in his life – and he thought himself well accustomed to most of its varying effects. The slight discolouration of his skin and scar count on his arms were a testament to that.

"It was liquid - like a puddle. I had no idea what it was until I pulled out my foot! There were a whole bunch of these puddles, too. "

"Really?" Gol looked up at him. Condensed liquid forming at the surface? Now the man himself was starting to get interesting. "Where was this?"

"Misty Island."

Gol pursed his lips together. That was an island far down south if he recalled correctly.

"Well? Can you fix my foot? That's what I came here for, after all," the man said irritably, snapping the Dark Sage out of his thoughts.

Gol struggled to stop his eyebrows from shooting up to his receding hairline. "There's nothing really that I can do for you," he admitted with a sigh. "Perhaps you should seek the Green Sage's help."

"He directed me to you!" What was left of the man's foot slid off the chair and entangled itself amongst the bloody bandages.

So, the damage was irreparable. Perhaps he needed to pay Samos a visit. His village was also near Misty Island from what he could remember…

"I'm sorry," Gol finally said. He meant it, too. The man was young, and his movements had been reduced to nothing but a hobble – a hobble that was meant for men much older than him. But Gol's sympathies didn't matter to the man. It never mattered to anyone what he thought after his usefulness had expired.

The chair groaned on the floorboards. The man stood up and stormed – or angrily hobbled – out of the hut. The bandages clung to his blackened flesh and trailed behind him. He yelled all sorts of profanities at the top of his lungs - some directed at the sky, and some directed at Gol, before vanishing through the teleport gate.

Gol massaged the bridge of his nose, placing the magnifying glass back on top of the workbench.

Sadly, this wasn't the worst consultation he'd had.

xxx

The sun was well on its way to returning back to the horizon when the floorboards near the hut's entrance creaked. Gol spun around on his chair. Maia would be overjoyed to hear about his discovery of Misty Island's supposed concentrated liquid Eco deposits. But it wasn't his sister that stood in the doorway. It was a boy that Gol figured was no older than 10. His mop of brown hair and tattered clothes that could be swum in were at odds with his soft, but grubby face. His purple eyes briefly met the bookshelf at the far side of the room, before hovering over Gol.

"Hello, little one. Can I help you?"

The scruffy boy said nothing, and cast a wary glance over his shoulder, back out to the village.

"Are you lost?" Gol asked, rising from his chair and inching his way over.

The boy blinked, and took a few hasty steps back. His hands folded into one another as he did.

Gol would have let the boy backpedal out the door, but a blotchy discolouration on his thin wrist caught the Sage's eye. Against sun-kissed skin it stood out as red-raw. It didn't appear to be a Dark Eco burn, and no one else was at the doorway to indicate that this was a consultation.

"Wait." Gol pointed to his wrist. "Is that sore? Did you want me to fix it?" Perhaps he had some spare Green Eco lying around somewhere.

The boy's eyes immediately fell to his feet, and his hands slinked into his oversized sleeves.

Gol stroked his goatee. Maybe it was better to ease the boy's nerves, and then try asking again. But how would he achieve that? By entertaining him? He had no doubt that the room would be quite boring to a child.

The boy resumed his slow retreat, eyes fluttering over the bookshelf one last time before disappearing out the door.

And that's when it hit him.

"Wait! Did you want to explore?"

Miraculously, the boy's head popped back in.

"Well, go on then," Gol continued, gesturing back towards the bookshelf. "I saw you looking at it."

The boy held his gaze, unsure.

"Go pick a book," Gol prompted with a smile.

The boy gradually made his way over to the bookshelf, throwing glances at Gol as he did. And each time, Gol would nod eagerly. When the boy finally reached the bookshelf, he glossed over each spine thoughtfully. Keeping his distance, Gol tried to study the boy, making sure that there weren't any other marks. Was it a bruise? An infection?

Satisfied in finding no other markings, Gol allowed his gaze to drift to the bookshelf. He and Maia had accumulated a wealth of knowledge over the years, and they considered the bookshelf to be their prized possession. It had everything: books on language, experimentation, Eco, and Precursor history, to name a few. There were even a couple that he and Maia had authored.

The boy's fingers paused at one book, and snaked upwards to grip the top of it. He then turned his attention back to Gol. From the way his eyes shone, it was as if he was silently asking for permission.

Gol gave a nod, and the boy spun back around to pry the book from its home. Flipping page after page, his brows gradually furrowed and the bridge of his nose pinched. Mistaking this expression as a sign of concentration, Gol's smile returned.

"If you enjoy exploring, then books are the perfect way to do so without ever leaving the comfort of your own home."

It appeared that Gol's words had gone in one ear and out the other. With a pout, the boy snapped the book shut, startling Gol. He then placed it back where it belonged.

Gol spotted the title of the replaced book, Geology and Landforms, and realisation dawned on him.

"Ah, perhaps you're looking for a different kind of book?"

The boy looked up at him with a puzzled expression. Gol took this as his chance to come closer. He stopped next to the boy, and searched the bookshelf for something appropriate. When he found a potential candidate, Gol reached up on his tip-toes to pull out a book that looked as if it were about to crumble to dust.

"You're looking for stories where heroes go on an adventure and have a happy ending, aren't you?"

The boy merely blinked in response.

"Unfortunately, you won't find books like that here. No happy endings - just the pursuit of knowledge. But, I think you'll like this one." Gol knelt down to be eye-level with the boy. "This was my favourite when I was your age."

The boy's hands inched out, and Gol gave the book over. The title, Creatures of the Land, caused the boy's eyes to light up, and he hastily flipped open the cover to read the first page.

"With all the sketches, I think you'll find it rather enjoyable," said Gol.

For a moment, all was silent. The boy turned page after page, each picture more captivating to him than the last. As he did this, Gol examined the discolouration on the boy's skin closely. It was definitely a bruise. Was that why he was a bit jumpy? Had someone -

The boy suddenly recoiled, almost dropping the book. Gol had thought he'd startled the boy somehow until he spotted the sketches. A dozen or so filled up the two pages. Eyes were the first thing he was drawn to, and he couldn't tear his own away from them. From fish, to snakes, to hulking beasts with unkempt fur, 'Lurkers' was the aptly-named title at the top of the page. Not surprisingly, little to no description was provided for each creature.

"It's okay," Gol said, bending down to hold the book steady in the boy's arms. "They're only drawings."

The boy's watery eyes stayed locked onto Gol's.

"They're like the monsters in the books you read, aren't they? The ones who hurt people?"

The boy nodded hastily.

"You have nothing to worry about. That's where the monsters will stay." Gol took the book from him and closed it. "On the pages of books."

The boy reached out for the book with a whimper as Gol went to place it back on the shelf. Hearing this, he stopped and looked at the boy with an eyebrow raised.

"You want to keep reading?"

He received a firm nod.

"Well… Would you like me to read to you instead?" Gol asked, kneeling down.

Another nod.

Opening it again, Gol flipped to a different section of the book - one that wasn't so frightening. Perhaps the section of different birds would keep the boy's spirits up.

In a voice as entertaining as he could muster, Gol began to read aloud, making his own comments and observations as he went. All the while, the boy hung on every word the Dark Sage spoke.

"Ah, and finally… Seagulls. I'm sure you know what they are… A nuisance, for one."

The boy gave him a quizzical look.

"If you're not careful, they can steal your food," Gol elaborated, waggling a finger.

That comment was rewarded with something between a snort and a giggle.

Gol feigned offence. "You'll laugh now, but when a gull swoops down to take your food..."

Poorly imitating a gull's squawk, he snapped the book shut. The boy squealed with laughter, and Gol smiled.

When the boy finally quietened down, Gol handed the book over. Before he could open his mouth to speak, the boy was already sliding it back onto the shelf. Gol quickly jumped in to stop him, making sure that the book was back in the boy's hands. "It's yours now. Just promise me that you'll stay away from the monster section."

The pure joy on the boy's face made Gol feel as if he'd been sucked into the past - like he was watching a younger version of himself receive that very same book. And for one precious moment, all the worries of the world fell away from him.

The boy opened his mouth to reply, but the voice Gol heard could not have originated from him, as it was deep and gravelly.

"Hazen!"

Gol jumped to his feet. A rough, older-looking man with quite a large sack slung over his back stood at the doorway. His eyes turned to slits as he promptly dumped his sack. Gol's lean build was dwarfed by the man's stockiness, and he came charging like an angry Yakkow.

"Ah, you must be his father," said Gol, extending a wobbly hand.

"What've ya done to him?" The man bypassed the handshake and thrust a hairy hand at Gol's chest.

The shove sent Gol reeling.

"He do anythin' to ya?" the man asked, towering over Hazen. Strangely, he sounded more accusing than concerned.

"I - I beg your pardon?" Gol stuttered, regaining his footing and maintaining his newly gained distance.

Hazen, who stood as still as a statue, clung to his new book for dear life as the man knelt down in front of him. He roughly pulled Hazen this way and that, checking him over.

"He's perfectly fine," Gol managed despite his mouth becoming quite dry. "He just -"

The man was suddenly inches away from Gol. The smell of rotten eggs radiated from his breath as he spoke. "Stay right away from my son. Ya hear?"

"I -"

"I won't have him be turned into a freak o' nature by some evil Sage!"

Gol blinked.

Did these people honestly think that he'd do that? And to a child, no less..?

The man's ferocity was now directed at his son. "We're goin'. We got a long trek ahead've us, boy."

And with that, the man snatched his wincing son by his wrist - his bruised wrist. As he dragged Hazen out of the hut and picked up the heavy sack, the book dislodged, and hit the floor with a loud thunk. Hazen looked back at it, then at Gol's frozen form, before vanishing through the doorway.

Once he'd regained his composure, Gol went over to pick it up, and dusted off the peeling cover. While he did, he peered out the doorway. The man passed Hazen a small rucksack filled to the brim and whispered viciously into his ear. They then took off, with Hazen struggling to keep up, and picked their way down the rocky pathway to the village.

Looking back down at the forgotten book, Gol felt a twinge in his chest.

That poor boy… He didn't even have a chance to tend to that bruise.

Increasingly aware of the few villagers that were now staring up at the hut, Gol slunk back into the depths of the room. This time, he couldn't stop himself from imagining the new rumour that would most certainly be running rife through the village by the time darkness had fallen:

That the Dark Sage kidnaps and experiments on children.

A/N: Hey everyone, thank you so much for reading! Hope you've all enjoyed it - I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)