He sits cross-legged, his piercing blue eyes staring straight into mine. He is telling an unknown legend. A folklore story. A story to save the world, he says. I listen.
“...this gem has the power to destroy anything and everything. All you have to do is point it at whatever you wish to be taken out of existence. And it will.” He stops abruptly and looks at me to see if I am listening. With as much confidence that I can muster up, I nod, looking him in the eyes, and force a wavering smile.
He nods at me and then continues. “But, you must be careful. It is only a one-time use, so it is important to choose wisely.”
Before the man has time to say anything else, an unfamiliar family walks by the tattered tent, as the shocked mother glances in and starts when she sees me, a young girl, listening to the tales of a “madman,” as everyone calls him.
She scolds sharply, “What are you doing, young lady? Get out of there now before the man fills your head with lies! Didn’t your mother teach you anything?” She grunts as her husband pulls her away and they continue walking, even though the mother continuously looks back at the tent.
I stare at them, then look back at the unaware old man to see what he thinks of the situation. Shocked, I scoot backward and try to keep my distance when I see his keen, icy-blue eyes sharply stare straight ahead, unnaturally bright against his papery, pale skin, while his pupils rapidly contract and then dilate to focus on what seemed like nothingness, thinking. As I watched him, I could see his spidery fingers quickly twitch like a rabbit’s whiskers smelling food, and his uncared fingernails are thickly lined with grime. Meanwhile, his knobbly, wrinkled arms and legs look like, at any moment, they could snap in two. His bones, shapeless and seemingly emaciated, violently protrude out of the loose skin that is sagging limply like all people have at the age of 100 or more.
Keeping my eyes on him, I think back to the stories that I heard gossipy people say of this old man. Somebody once said that when he came to the mountains, he was being carried by two hunters that found him sprawled on the ground a few miles away from the rickety entrance of the mountain. Although the hunters said that he was unconscious, the man was murmuring and occasionally bolting upright to shout something, and then he would become limp again.
A monster, I think. No, never mind. A sorcerer of sorts.
But I push that reasoning away, shaking my head to clear it.
To break the silence, I ask, “Where is the gem?”
He pauses for a few seconds to gather his thoughts, and continues, “The gem is hidden in the wizard’s quarters, which is known as the Eclipse. No one knows where it is or has ever seen it. Oh, they hear plenty about it. Everyone does...because people talk. Humankind cannot help it. But around here, no one dares to talk about it.” He pauses again. Then, in a low voice - although I am sure that no one is listening - he whispers, “because of the Imperium and all. Oh, here-” he leans toward me saying, “-here…we must help it.”
I lean backward as he leans towards me, but I understand.
The Imperium.
The Imperium is the careless government ruling over us. The Imperium is most feared because of its selfishness and cruelty toward its people, and it is controlled by the “leader,” who is always called the Excellensor. They are always the same. Their character, as is the name: cruel, temperamental, jealous, overindulgent, discontent, and tyrant, just to name a few.
The first Excellensor - Warren Hawthorne - was actually a good man and intended for the unknown mountain to only be a secure prison and a reliable safe-keeping place for treasures, not a slum-like village. But he made an impulsive and hasty decision when it came time to find an heir, choosing a greedy, merciless man. The brutal ruler that came after Hawthorne was constantly searching for other hopeless kingdoms to raid, more vulnerable empires to steal from, and a variety of abundant livestock to take. 400 kingdoms the new Excellensor raided, 378 palaces he stole from, and he took a million animals to raise and provide for his own empire.
And, as more started ruling, the numbers of wealth and conquests increased, as did the population. Most were unsure prisoners that were taken from other cities, but others willingly decided to join, knowing that the empire they were about to go into was one that had become known for its wealth. However, others only heard about the power and wealth and did not think of the consequences of those two-edged treasures. Rarely, a man with power and wealth is kind, but the new, hopeful citizens found this out too late.
Today’s Excellensor’s towers loom over the city, a constant reminder of the dungeons belowground just waiting to be fed their next desperate victims, and he knows that its massiveness will bring immediate fear to all who lays their eyes on it. He proudly showcases his staggering display of wealth and power with his overindulgent palace gardens and courtyards excessively filled with marble statues and legions of perfectly cultivated orchards, flowers, and water fountains chaotically dispersed to display his stocking luxury.
The man continues to talk for hours while I sit there, uncertain.
When he finishes talking, I say, “Well, sir, I should get-” I stop, surprised, when the man holds his hand for me to stop talking.
I watch as he stands up on groaning legs. Shakily, he hobbles over to a rusted, brown chest with a crooked lid. He opens the lid, pulling out a metal oval piece, a pendant with a petal of a dried bellflower pressed onto the center of it, and he also takes out a map, yellowed and wrinkled with age. The exotic pendant has graceful engravings and swirls etched into the stone, which looks like it was made from the precious metals of palladium and iron.
Peeking behind the dried bellflower, I see that it is somehow stuck to a circle in the middle of the pendant. The only part of the pendant that doesn’t have print on it.
The old man doesn’t say anything, but I know what it is. Proof. Proof that what he’s saying is true.
But still doubting, I stare at it and then stand up. “How can I believe you?”
“Eclipse. Where you are going is a place called Eclipse.” He pauses and looks at me, hesitating. I know he was wondering if he should tell me or not. But he says, “Did I tell you of the story of the wizard that the Excellensor took captive?”372Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFAMt3VEJH
I shake my head.
“The wizard became the advisor and healer in Hawthorne’s palace. He was well-respected. But when Hawthorne chose the next Excellensor, he chose a bad man. The man was jealous and feared anyone who was better than him, unlike Hawthorne who embraced whoever he knew could help, without any doubts of who he was befriending. He was like that. Anyways, the wizard knew that the new Excellensor was jealous, so he ran off to the woods and built Eclipse. However, the Excellensor found rumors that he was still alive and he sent men out to get rid of the wizard because he was fearful of what he could do and was jealous. When they found him, they took him captive. They burned down Eclipse and captured the wizard. However, the wizard escaped. That wizard escaped because...well, wizards have certain powers so they can escape almost anything. Anything.”
I nod again, a thought forming in the back of my mind, but I am not sure so I let him talk.
He begins to walk toward me, slowly. “How do you think I have that pendant, miss? How do you think I have the map? How do you think I know the story of the gem, Eclipse, and the wizard? Hm?”
He looks at me and he says, “ I am Divinos. A wizard.”
Oh, great. So he is a wizard.
Without another word, I reach for the frayed paper, and he hands it over to me. I look up at him and he looks at me. I feel his eyes bore into my head like they can see everything that I am feeling and thinking.
He already knows that, at the end of this, I will go. He doesn’t even ask; I don’t even say. But he knows and so do I.
Looking at me one last time, he nods approvingly. “Now, go. Go save the world."
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