The Beginning After

The setting sun peeked through the runewood mountains, casting long shadows across the ground. Cedric sat on a stump, carving elementary enchantments into neatly cut and thin runewood tablets handed to him by Isabel, who was sitting on another stump beside him. He fell into a rhythm, lost in his intricate engravings, driven by the metronome of Oswald’s axe striking the trunk of a runewood tree a couple of metres away. He was finishing an enchantment when something started to feel slightly off. Cedric thought for a moment, then realized that the periodic thumps of Oswald’s axe had stopped. Isabel, however, was still cutting away at the quartered pieces of log that sat in a pile near Oswald.

“Are you sure we don’t have enough tablets yet?”said Oswald.

Isabel turned her head towards Cedric, who caught sight of the motion in his peripheral vision.

“One more log at least, we have to get home with our baskets full—you can thank Elder Simmons for that.”

Oswald, bent over with his hands on his knees, let out a tired sigh.

“Right, but we’re leaving here before sundown, okay?”

Isabel and Cedric both nodded in agreement.

The rhythmic chops continued, and Cedric fell back into his world of minute engravings and swirling patterns. He repeated the mantras of Elder Simmons in his head, letting his familiar voice guide his hands. It still didn’t seem right to him how he suddenly went mad. One morning, he was found hiding in his cellar, rambling on in utter incoherence about the horror of beaches and faces in trees. Three nights before, his wife died of a mysterious illness. Most people had assumed that he was simply terribly grief-stricken and let him be. But Cedric knew his former master well, and he was not the person who would go mad from grief alone. Then, on the morning when he, Isabel, and Oswald were departing for the runewood mountains, Elder Simmons yelled out to him from the crowd of villagers that were seeing them off.

“Cedric! Beware of the caves and holes! You mustn’t go, you must stay here! Away from that cursed chamber!”

Another cry then emanated from the crowd and interrupted his speech.

“Simmons! Get back here, stop scaring the kid.”

Elder Simmons’caretaker waded through the crowd and pulled him away. Cedric stood at the village entrance with Isabel and Oswald, now visibly shaken.

He then remembered how Isabel looked up at him after and met his gaze for a moment with those dark green eyes.

“Never mind him, Cedric. He’s just having another one of his outbursts again.”

Cedric focused back to the present and realized he had messed up the enchantment he had been carving. He cursed himself. He couldn’t be getting distracted this easily—now that Elder Simmons was incapable of creating runes from runewood, he was the only mage in the village who could.

“Isabel, do you have another tablet ready?”he asked, trying to hide the sheepishness in his voice.

“Yes, just give me a couple of seconds,”she replied.

Cedric then set the tablet he was holding down in a pile beside his basket and under some leaves, where Isabel couldn’t see them.

The sky began to show a streaking blend of orange and purple as Cedric finished carving the last tablet. Oswald shouldered his filled basket and started to wrap his axe.

“This is looking like our largest haul yet,”he said.

Cedric began to pack his carving tools and fill his own basket.

“Sure is.”

“Let’s get moving, though. I would rather spend less time in the dark,”said Isabel

“Agreed,”said Oswald.

The three of them started down the mountainside and back towards the village. Isabel led the way and tracked their path from the morning with expert efficiency. Cedric followed closely behind her, and Oswald strayed a bit further back, often getting distracted by the sight of songbirds and small treehoppers before running to catch up with them. They had made it down to the river valley that encircled the runewood mountains and stopped for a short moment to catch their breath. Cedric sat down on a fallen log just shy of the river bed, and Oswald and Isabel joined him. The sun had now started to dip below the horizon, and aligned with the flowing river, illuminating the ripples in the water under a cascade of colours, as the sky above them blended into a deep black.

“Do you ever think that we’ll leave the village one day?”asked Cedric, breaking the silence.

“Don’t think I will,”replied Oswald. “What is the village going to do without me?”

“What are we supposed to do with you?”responded Isabel, giggling as Oswald gave her a shove

“No, but truthfully, I don’t think there’s much for me out there. I feel like I would just be lost in the grand cities.”

“Well, I think I could maybe be a tracker for the Imperial Guard,”said Isabel.

“Come on now, we all know that’s suicide,”responded Oswald

“Not if you’re good at it,”said Isabel

“I don’t care how good you are at spotting footprints. You have to be mad to willingly risk your life like that.”

Isabel furrowed her eyebrows, but let Oswald have his minute victory and changed the subject.

“What about you, Cedric?”

“I think I’ll stay for a while, at least until David is old enough for me to teach. After that, though, I might look at some of the academies.”

“Cedric Henderson, mage extraordinaire,”said Oswald. “Maybe we’ll all see you standing next to Archmage Monfort at the next Day of Unity.”

“I’ll make sure to announce you when I see you in the crowd,”replied Cedric.

“And me too,”said Isabel.

“Oh no, there’s no need for that, she’ll be somewhere under some leaves sniffing a week-old rag in the outer forests,”said Oswald.

Isabel punched Oswald’s shoulder as he and Cedric both laughed.

“In the meantime, I can look forward to seeing this view every week,”said Cedric, looking down at the glistening soft orange light that danced atop the river.

“It’s beautiful indeed,”said Isabel.

“More or less than Cedric’s artisan-crafted runes that we’re carrying on our backs right now?”asked Oswald.

“A close second,”replied Isabel.

Cedric avoided her gaze but smiled.

“Thanks.”

The three of them sat in silence for a while again, watching the sunset as a cool breeze emanated from the mountains behind them. Cedric could start to feel the warmth from Isabel sitting closely next to him, and thought that he could get used to evenings like these.

“Well, shall we get going?”said Oswald.

“Yes, follow me,”said Isabel, standing up off the log.

Cedric and Oswald slowly stood up after her, and they continued along the riverbed.

“How much farther until the crossing?”asked Cedric.

“Just a few more minutes,”replied Isabel. “After we cross, we’ll be back in the forest, and it’s going to be dark.”

“Are you going to need someone to guard you against the night creatures as you track in the dark?”asked Oswald.

Isabel scoffed at him. “There are no dangerous night creatures in this forest. Although there could be ancient spirits lurking”

Oswald threw his hands up. “Can’t deal with those for you, but thankfully, we have our local mage Cedric here to ward them off.”

“Well, many mages dispute the fact that spirits even exist,”said Cedric.

“Hmph. Too bad then,”replied Isabel, and she continued forward from Oswald and Cedric.

Oswald clapped Cedric’s shoulder and whispered, “That was supposed to be your cue.”

Cedric thought for a split second, then suddenly felt like a complete fool. He cleared his throat and sputtered, “But if spirits did exist, then many known enchantments could work to suppress them.”

“I would feel a lot safer with someone who could cast those enchantments then,”Isabel called out. Oswald pushed Cedric forward as he went to join Isabel. He didn’t catch it in the dark, but as he approached her side, she was smiling ear to ear.

The forest soon turned dark as the three of them took out their lanterns. They stuck closer together now, and Oswald limited his frequent wandering in fear of losing Isabel and Cedric in the dark. The chirping of crickets could now be heard along with the creaking of their lantern handles as they swayed back and forth. The stars shone brightly above them, and the full moon cast a gentle glow on the forest floor.

“So, how do you know if you’re tracking the right prints in the ground?”asked Oswald.

Isabel, still focused on the path in front of her, replied, “There’s no other large prints here other than ours.”

Oswald stopped and pointed to a spot on the ground.

“Ok, what’s this then?”

Isabel started to turn her head towards Oswald behind her. “It’s probably just the dent from an upturned rock that a —”She suddenly froze in fear. Cedric then turned his head around, too and saw the glowing yellow eyes and glinting teeth of the creature slowly approaching Oswald from behind.

Time started to feel like it was slowing down. He yelled out to Oswald.

Oswald turned around just as the creature pounced, knocking him to the ground. He managed to grab his wrapped axe, hilted on his hip, and thrust it up at the mouth of the creature. It bit down and tried to rip the axe out of Oswald’s hands. Oswald held on tightly while kicking at the creature's body. It finally gave one violent shake of its head and let go of the axe, sending Oswald flying through bushes into the dark.

The creature then turned its body towards Cedric and Isabel. Cedric stood in front of Isabel and took his basket off his back, dropping his lantern. The creature snarled and charged at him as Cedric hurled his basket at the creature’s head. It struck its nose and broke, sending rune tablets scattering across the forest floor. The impact shook the creature and caused its path to veer to the left, sending its hind side barreling into Cedric’s chest. He saw the stars above streak into a long blur as he was whipped to the ground. Cedric struggled to lift his head up and groped around on the ground, latching onto a rune tablet next to his knee. Even in the dark, he could read the carved engravings with his fingers. As his vision cleared, he saw the open jaws of the creature above his throat before the creature suddenly reeled back into the darkness as a long stick was driven into its eye. He looked to his side and saw Isabel above him, brandishing the stick and holding out her hand to him.

Cedric reached out with his other arm, but then spotted the creature out of the corner of his eye, now charging towards Isabel. Without much thought, he leaped in front of her as the creature opened its jaws once more and thrust the rune tablet into its mouth. The creature bit down and consumed the tablet whole, almost taking Cedric’s fingers with it. He wasted no time and spoke the enchantment in his mind.

Combust.

The tablet flashed a bright blue from within the creature’s mouth, illuminating its bared teeth for a split second before bursting into flames.

The creature let out a pained howl and stumbled back, the flames now consuming its head. It tried to run away before collapsing dead shortly after, with its mouth agape and the smouldering tablet between its teeth.

Cedric lay on the floor, breathing heavily. He propped himself up on one arm and looked up at Isabel.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,”she responded, her eyes still wide. “Are you?”

Cedric looked at both his hands before taking Isabel’s arm as she helped him up from the floor.

“Yeah, I think so.”

They stood together for a moment, then realized that Oswald was still missing. Isabel called out in a shaky voice.

“Oswald!”

They heard a faint rustling come from the bushes. Cedric ran towards it and saw Oswald crawling, covered in twigs and leaves. He quickly went to his side and helped him up.

“You okay?”

Oswald let out a long breath and bent over with his hands on his knees.

“Should be.”

“You’re bleeding,”said Cedric

Oswald looked down at the jagged cuts across his shirt.

“They’re just shallow scratches, don’t worry.”

Isabel caught up to Cedric and gasped upon seeing Oswald. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off.

“I’m okay, alright?”said Oswald.

The three of them stood in silence, catching their breaths as the shock from the sudden attack settled.

“What the hell was that?”asked Oswald, breaking the silence.

“A nightstalker,”replied Isabel. “This shouldn’t be possible, though. They shouldn’t be here. No one has ever spotted one in these forests before. I’m sorry, I thought that—”

Oswald put his hand on her shoulder.

“They’re here, and that’s what we’re dealing with now.”

“What do we do then?”asked Cedric.

“We have to hide,”responded Isabel. “They usually travel in groups; it’s likely that if there’s one, there’s more out there. They’ll be inactive by sunrise.”

“Okay, so where do we go?”asked Oswald.

“The caves by the river crossing. We can hole ourselves in there,”replied Isabel.

“Elder Simmons warned me about caves before we set out,”said Cedric, almost in a whisper.

“I wish you didn’t remember that,”said Oswald.

“We don’t have much of a choice, Cedric,”said Isabel.

Cedric looked at her apprehensively.

“I don’t have a good feeling about it either now, but I agree,”said Oswald.

“Okay, you’re right,”said Cedric, after a short pause. “Let’s go then.”

Isabel and Oswald both nodded.

“We should leave our lanterns behind,”said Isabel suddenly.

“What?”said Oswald.

“Nightstalkers have extremely sharp vision. They can see our lanterns in the forest long before they’re able to hear or smell us.”

“We’ll be completely blind then,”

“I can navigate in the dark. You trust me, right?”

Oswald looked at Cedric.

“We do.”

“Forget the rune tablets, too. We need to be fast.”

“Wait, let me take a few, they could be useful,”said Cedric.

Isabel nodded, remembering how they just survived their last encounter, and let Cedric dig around for a moment in their baskets. He felt the familiar engravings that he had carved just hours ago and chose several tablets to keep with him, storing them in a pouch he kept by his side.

The three of them then headed off into the night, with Cedric and Oswald following closely behind Isabel, trying to remain as quiet as possible.

Cedric could feel his heart pounding with every step as he scurried through the trees behind Isabel. As they could start to hear the gentle flow of water over the scattered rocks at the river crossing, they stopped.

“The caves should be just up ahead. We need to cut down some pine shrubs so we can mask our scent from the entrance,”said Isabel.

“On it,”replied Oswald, unwrapping his axe and getting to work.

Cedric stood by with Isabel and helped to collect the shrubs that Oswald was cutting. He was partway through a swing when a chilling howl pierced the air. They all stood still as more howls could be heard joining in.

“Forget it, just run!”Isabel said in a panicked voice.

Oswald and Cedric wasted no time and took off alongside her. Cedric glanced behind his shoulder for a second and spotted multiple sets of glowing yellow eyes in the distance.

“There’s a pack of them behind us!”he yelled.

“Just keep going, we’re close!”responded Isabel.

Cedric kept closely behind Isabel as she ducked into a small rocky opening in the ground that led to a large cavern. He quickly climbed down with her, followed by Oswald. The three of them turned to face the entrance as Oswald readied his axe. A nightstalker leaped through the opening, and Oswald struck it on the head, sending it tumbling down onto him. Isabel and Cedric rushed over to help Oswald roll the dead nightstalker off of him. As they pushed against its body, Isabel yelled out.

“Cedric!”

Cedric looked up and saw three more nightstalkers charging towards the cave entrance. He stopped pushing at the dead nightstalker and reached for one of the rune tablets that he carried with him, quickly placing it on the ground. The three nightstalkers had made it to the entrance of the cave and were already leaping towards them. Isabel looked up again for a split second and saw the open jaws and outstretched claws of the nighstalkers as her mind captured the terrifying snapshot in time like a final image before the end. Cedric had his eyes closed in absolute concentration.

Impede.

The engraving on the rune tablet suddenly glowed a bright blue as an invisible barrier expanded from it, encircling the three of them. The charging nightstalkers were stopped dead in their tracks, frozen in the air in front of the invisible wall.

Oswald had now freed himself with the help of Isabel and looked in awe at the nightstalkers held in a stasis in the air. He suddenly heard a rattling noise and looked at the ground, where the rune tablet was now beginning to violently shake.

Cedric still had his eyes closed. He gritted his teeth as he tried to stabilize the output. The nightstalkers, still suspended in the air, were pushing harder against the barrier. The rune tablet started to glow brighter as the rattling grew even more aggressive. A claw of one of the nightstalkers started to pierce through. Cedric knew he couldn’t contain the enchantment. He felt for another rune that he carried with him and yelled out to warn Isabel and Oswald.

“Get behind me!”

They quickly backed up as Cedric let the energy of the enchantment overwhelm the rune tablet. He shifted his concentration as he went to grab another tablet. He spoke a new enchantment.

Protect.

The rune tablet on the ground emitted a blinding flash of light as it exploded, sending the three of them flying backwards towards the jagged cave walls. A thin barrier around them formed, absorbing the impact, and then quickly dissipating as they all fell to the ground. Cedric felt his ears ringing and tried to pick himself up. His vision doubled as he saw the stones on the cave ground start moving in circles. He started to hear a faint noise prevail over the ringing, which began to get clearer each time it was repeated.

“Cedric! Can you hear me?”

Cedric managed to look up as his vision converged onto Oswald’s and Isabel’s concerned faces.

“Yeah, are you two okay?”

“Are you okay?”responded Oswald.

“I think so,”said Cedric as he tried to move his right arm out to Oswald, but then realized that Isabel was already holding his hand. Oswald took his other hand, and the two of them helped him up. He looked towards Isabel. The cave was almost pitch black, but he thought he saw something strange in Isabel’s face. Was she blushing? Oswald then interrupted his thoughts.

“You sure you’re okay?”

Cedric looked down at himself. Nothing felt sprained or broken, although his head still felt like a swirling mess.

“I’m fine,”he replied

“What just happened?”

“I couldn’t contain the barrier enchantment from overwhelming the rune tablet. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. At least we’re safe from the nightstalkers now.”

Cedric then noticed that the entire cave entrance had collapsed, crushing the nightstalkers who were charging in and sealing them off from the outside forest.

“How are we going to get out of here in the morning?”

“We’ll figure that out right now. Do you have any enchantments that could move these stones away from the entrance?”

Cedric shook his head.

“The best I can do is to try overwhelming another tablet again, but that might just make things worse.”

“Do you know if this cave has another entrance, Isabel?”asked Oswald.

“It might, but I don’t know how deep we’ll have to go to find it. The caves here should all be connected in one large system, but no one’s ever tried to map every passage.”

“Do you think everyone else will come find us tomorrow?”asked Cedric.

“Even if they did, I don’t think anyone can move these stones.”

“What if they do go out to search for us and stay in the forest until nightfall?”said Oswald. “They’ll also be prey for the nightstalkers.”

“You’re right. We can’t just sit here and hope for rescue,”said Isabel.

“Okay, then we search for another entrance to this cave,”said Cedric.

He reached into the pouch on his side for another tablet, not feeling for any specific engravings this time—any tablet would do. He spoke the enchantment.

Illuminate.

The engravings on the tablet glowed a bright blue as always, now amplified even further. Light filled the cavern they were standing in and revealed several small passageways deeper into the cave.

Isabel looked at the glowing tablet in wonder.

“You really should be in the academies,”she said.

Cedric felt himself get flushed for a moment.

“Thanks, but I have to concentrate to maintain the enchantment. I’m going to need one of you to guide me,”replied Cedric.

Oswald turned to Isabel.

“Do you know where to start?”

“Yes, follow me,”

Cedric held the glowing tablet out as the three of them descended down into the dark.

They navigated through twisting passages until coming upon another large cavern. The light from the rune tablet reflected off of strange growths jutting out from the cave walls. Cedric looked closer and saw that it was some form of fungus.

“Kyriteshrooms!”said Isabel. “They only grow near the surface because they need fresh, flowing air. We should be close.”

“So which way forward now?”asked Oswald, already exploring the ends of the cavern.

“I think we should stay here until the morning,”replied Isabel.

“So we can still keep away from the nightstalkers?”asked Cedric.

Isabel nodded.

“These Kyriteshrooms can mask our scent.”

“How do we tell when it’s morning then?”asked Oswald.

“Cedric, can you extinguish the light for a moment?”said Isabel.

Cedric let the enchantment on the rune tablet die, and the bright blue glow slowly faded. As the cavern plunged into darkness, there was a faint, dull light that could be seen in the distance.

“Yes!”exclaimed Isabel, still being careful to keep her voice down. “We can see the moonlight creeping in—there has to be an exit just ahead.”

Oswald let out a sigh of relief.

“I think we should try to get some sleep in here,”said Isabel.

“One of us still should be awake to stand guard,”said Oswald. “Just in case.”

“We can take turns then.”

“I’ll start. You and Cedric look terribly exhausted right now.”

“What about the light? I can’t keep it up while I’m asleep,”said Cedric.

“I think it's better if we keep it off just to be safe anyway. If I hear anything strange, I’ll just wake you two up, alright?”replied Oswald.

Cedric nodded and went to sit down next to Isabel, who had already found a flat section of wall to lean against. He let his head rest on the rocky wall and closed his eyes. After a couple of minutes of silence, he heard Isabel speak, barely above a whisper.

“Thanks for staying close to me.”

Cedric kept his eyes closed, but responded.

“If I weren’t next to you these past hours, I would be dead right now.”

“I could say the same.”

A couple more minutes passed, and Cedric felt his heart flutter as he suddenly decided he was going to tell Isabel what he’d been wanting to say for a long time.

“Isabel…”

He heard no response.

Cedric opened his eyes and realized that Isabel was leaning her head on his shoulder and had already fallen fast asleep. He smiled and thought to himself, when we get back to the village, I’ll tell her.

He then closed his eyes again and fell asleep too.

Cedric woke up feeling sore. He tried stretching his neck and accidentally jostled Isabel, who he realized was still leaning on his shoulder. She began to wake up, too and slowly moved her head off of him. Cedric rubbed his eyes and saw sunlight streaming into the cavern and Oswald still standing in front of him.

“I thought we were supposed to take turns,”said Cedric

“Well, you two just looked too comfortable there, and the strange light show on the cave walls definitely kept me up,”replied Oswald.

“Light show?”

Oswald pointed to a series of glowing engravings on the cave wall that seemed to shift and fade in and out.

“That’s incredible,”said Cedric.

“Do you know what it is?”

“It could be residual energy from some exceptionally old runewood,”said Cedric. I’m going to go see what’s outside.”

Isabel sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“I’ll come too.”

Cedric walked towards the entrance with Isabel behind him, as Oswald knelt down to wrap his axe.

As Cedric ducked underneath the passageway leading towards the outside, he suddenly heard a rumbling as the sound of rocks falling echoed through the cave before collapsing to the ground. Cedric got up and brushed himself off. Did he slip? He then felt a rush of adrenaline surge through him as he turned around to see that the passage behind him was now blocked off. He had a terrible thought. Isabel was behind him.

“Isabel!”he yelled out.

There wasn’t a response. Cedric started to panic. There had to be another way around the collapsed rubble. He scanned desperately across the cave walls and spotted a small opening in the side. Without thinking, he climbed into it and followed it to another passage, where he saw Isabel kneeling down. Relief filled him, but was suddenly replaced by dread once more as he saw Oswald’s body next to her, crushed underneath several large stones. Cedric tried running to her side, but was inexplicably held back, as if there was an invisible barrier.

“Isabel!”he yelled again. Oh god, please tell me Oswald isn’t dead. “I’m trying to come through! Can you tell if he’s breathing?”

She didn’t respond to him as Cedric kept trying to push against whatever was holding him back.

Then, Oswald ran into the passage and stopped next to Isabel.

A sense of horror filled Cedric as he took a closer look at the face of the body underneath the rubble.

It was him.

He then heard a voice behind him.

“Cedric.”

Cedric turned around and saw a cloaked man, with a long hood hiding their face in shadows.

“Who are you?”Cedric stammered.

“I know this all may seem strange, but understand that while I can try to answer your questions, our time here is limited.”

“Who are you?”Cedric repeated.

“I am you,”the cloaked man responded. “As I am all who will traverse this world”

“Where are we?”

“We are in a stasis of sorts, a small moment of transition where your soul has no place yet.”

“The glowing cave walls. It was a cavern. This—this was exactly what Elder Simmons warned me about.”

“Yes, you are observant. Elder Simmons naively tried to unleash soul magic before he fully understood it. He was bombarded with the lives of us all, spread across time, including yours. He lived many deaths at once. He saw your fate.”

“What do you mean us all?”

“I have said it before. I am you, as you are me, and we will be all those who have been born and will be born. You may not remember it yet, but we have been here many times before, and we have a greater purpose to fulfill once we reach the beginning after.”

“What is the beginning after?”

The cloaked figure began to fade away.

“I’m afraid we cannot stay here any longer. But do not worry. This is far from the end, and some things tend to transcend time.”

“What does that mean? Hey! Put me back! I can’t leave them like this!”

The clocked figure vanished. The cave walls started to collapse inward, and a blanketing void consumed Cedric.

***

Christopher woke up. He felt strangely tense but couldn’t exactly put his finger on why. He then realized that he hadn’t heard his alarm and picked up his phone in a panic.

10:48

He cursed himself and leapt out of bed to get ready for the day. He was supposed to meet with Jonathan and Hazel at eleven, and this was a special day for him.

He sped through his morning routine and bolted down his apartment stairs, not bothering to wait for the notoriously slow elevator. He managed to make it to the meeting spot at a punctual three minutes late.

The three of them headed out to their favourite Korean restaurant and took a shortcut through the community park.

Jonathan then convincingly took out his phone and pretended to see an urgent message.

“Hey, sorry guys, but I just received a message from my dad. The car broke down for the third time this week, I gotta be there to help him.”

As he left, he gave Christopher a subtle wink.

Christopher and Hazel continued together through the park. As they started to reach the boardwalk across the pond, Christopher looked forward and readied himself.

“Hazel, I’ve always wanted to tell you…”

He was interrupted when he suddenly felt Hazel hold his hand.

“I know,”

Hazel looked up at Christopher’s face, amused at his sudden bewilderment, with a gentle smile that danced across her dark green eyes.