Chapter 1
"Lorn!" Rondi barked, angrily marching past.
"You think she knows?" Chespar said, whispering into Lorn's ear as the two watched Rondi pass by, hidden from view by a tree.
"Probably," Lorn replied, looking for a way out as Rondi sniffed at the air, her pointy ears pricking up. "Yup," he sighed as she changed direction and began walking his way. "Hard to fool a dog's nose."
Chespar let out a squeak as Lorn abandoned stealth and took off running, the fieldmouse clinging to his neck. Lorn barely paid him any attention. Chespar hardly weighed anything, and often rode around on Lorn's shoulders as he went around town. Of course, it helped that Chespar wasn't much more than a foot tall. Bigger than a feral mouse, certainly, but a feral mouse couldn't talk and didn't spend all its time walking around on two feet.
Actually, sometimes Lorn thought Chespar had more in common with him than he did a fieldmouse. Besides the little guy's size, Chespar was built more like a human than any mouse. He just happened to have a coat of soft, gold-brown fur, a long, thin tail, and perpetually growing incisors. But then, a similar argument could be made about anybody in town except Lorn himself. He was the only individual who didn't have some sort of animal counterpart. He'd never even seen another human , though they were admittedly rather rare. He had heard there were cities where humans were practically the only creatures to be found, but he wasn't really interested in finding one.
Rondi, however, seemed intent on finding him, taking off after Lorn almost as soon as he started running. Worse, she was fast, steadily closing the gap between them until Lorn suddenly dashed into Beth's house, the cow looking up in surprise as Lorn flashed her a grin and waved before dashing out the back. The angry bellow that followed him made Lorn smile as Rondi's irritated voice mixed with Beth's own. The two had never got along very well, which now gave Lorn a moment to get away. Unfortunately, Beth's house didn't offer many options, so Lorn chose the simplest one and started running once more.
Everything seemed to be going well until something wrapped around Lorn's legs, sending him and Chespar tumbling to the ground. The fieldmouse recovered quickly, rolling to his feet and scampering off on his own. Lorn threw him a glare as he tried to untangle his feet, but Rondi was there before he could free himself.
"A bolas?" he asked, finally getting the weighted ropes loose. "That's a bit much, isn't it?"
"Saves the effort of chasing you through every house in town," Rondi countered, offering a paw to help drag Lorn to his feet. "Honestly, you can be a lot of trouble, you know that?" She shook her head and sighed. "Now, don't you think you're getting a bit old to be shirking your duties?"
"'Shirking?"' Lorn asked, chuckling. "Who says that anymore? And I finished all that stuff already anyway."
"Gilead tells me you haven't been in the field all week," Rondi countered.
"You mean the one he gets upset over if anyone but the bunnies mess with? And the harvest isn't due until tomorrow anyway."
"Wasn't," Rondi said. "There's a storm due tomorrow, so the harvest is today. Which you'd know if you weren't running around causing trouble with Chespar."
"What, you'd prefer I left him to get into trouble on his own?" Lorn chuckled and glanced off in the direction the mouse had ran to. Rondi gave a snort at the thought, making Lorn grin. "Better I'm around to keep out of more trouble, huh?"
"Hmph, that still doesn't mean you aren't needed elsewhere," Rondi said, snatching her bolas up and stowing it away. "The harvest is due and that spoiled mouse can wait. His father's already waiting for us."
Lorn sighed, but nodded and started walking towards the fields. "Think Chespar will manifest soon?"
"He's about the right age," Rondi said. "But just because his father has the skill doesn't mean he will."
"Well, yea," Lorn answered, shrugging. "It does tend to run in families though, doesn't it? And wasn't his mother gifted as well?"
"If Chespar is going to manifest, well know soon enough. Until then, no sense worrying about it." Rondi's tone implied the topic was over, making Lorn sign.
"Alright." Up ahead, the fields came into view. A small sea of wheat, swaying in the wind. Hidden somewhere inside, Lorn knew, was Chespar's father, Tsivar, the mouse who, oddly enough, brought the entire community together thanks to one, important skill.
Lorn paused, staring at the sea of grain for a moment. Then, he saw it. The flashes of green light and currents of wind that rippled in different patterns from the rest of the field. From this far away, Lorn couldn't immediately see what he knew was happening. Still, his imagination let him see the plants growing faster, weeks seemingly going by in minutes as Tsivar's magic encouraged their early growth.
The entire thing was very organized, years of practice giving everyone their own part to play in what had become something like an intricate dance. Lorn and Rondi made their way down to take their own places, every able bodied member working to harvest the fields before the same magic that helped it grow made the wheat start to decay.
By the time they'd finished, the sun was setting and those who hadn't helped the harvest were bringing a small feast of cakes and pies. A giant pot of vegetable stew, courtesy of the family of rabbits that worked the gardens appeared, and bowls were passed around. Rondi and Lorn stayed for a time before making their way back to their own home. As practically the only individuals in there community who weren't vegetarians, they preferred to eat apart from everyone else.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, dark clouds covering the sky promising a heavy storm. Lorn watched the lights flashing on the horizon and whistled. "Guess the news was right," he muttered. "That's coming in hard. Hope it doesn't flood."
"It might, but at least it won't ruin the harvest now," Rondi said. "Better get everything cleaned up now. I'm going out."
Lorn sighed and nodded as Rondi grabbed her dagger and walked out the door, her path lit by a lantern that quickly turned her into little more than a glowing blob before vanishing into the night. As the towns protector, Rondi took her job seriously, and had proven herself countless times in the past. She claimed she was a sheepdog, and certainly looked the part, but Lorn liked to joke that she had a bit of wolf in her blood because of how fierce she could be.
As it was, shed be out in the storm for a while, returning only when she had to. Theirs was a dangerous world after all, and the night was full of creatures that would be all too happy to find their dinner in somebody's home. Many wouldn't even be overly inconvenienced by the storm either.
Lorn had finished cleaning up and was getting read to go to bed when somebody started knocking on the door. By now, the storm was nearly breaking over him, the thunder a regular boom in the air, which meant whoever was at the door had an urgent problem. Worried, Lorn grabbed one of Rondi's knives and cracked the door only to fling it open a moment later when he looked down to see Tsivar soaked and shaking.
"I-is Chespar here?" the mouse stammered as Lorn stepped aside to let him pass. "Nobody has seen him." Tsivar shook himself, then began compulsively combing his fur, obviously a wreck. He was normally more composed, though Lorn couldn't recall seeing him during a storm before.
"No?" Lorn replied hesitantly, glancing out into the night. "I haven't seen him since before the harvest. He hasn't shown up at home?"
Tsivar shook his head, nose twitching. "He snuck in and took some bread while we were at the harvest, but then he ran off somewhere and hasn't come back!"
"Damn it all." Lorn grabbed his cloak.
"What is it?" Tsivar asked, somehow looking more worried after Lorn's outburst.
"I know where he is. We didn't know about the storm, and he thought we'd be getting into trouble." Lorn grumbled and grabbed the spare lantern. "If Rondi shows up, tell her I'll be back soon."
"Wh-where are you going?"
Lorn paused at the door to look at the terrified mouse. "To find Chespar." Thunder boomed as the door shut and, as if to laugh at him, the storm chose that moment to break. Lorn grunted and marched off into the mess, praying everything would turn out alright.
---
The storm was practically alive, battering and bashing Lorn with wind and water. His lantern barely helped, its light stretching only a few feet from him as the tiny flame flickered and danced inside it, under a constant threat of vanishing and plunging Lorn into the dark. It was a difficult journey, the darkness turning a familiar walk into something menacing and treacherous.
A flash of lightning sent a crack of thunder rattling the air, the burst of light revealing a group of wind sprites, living creatures formed entirely out of air, dancing through the storm. They were often difficult to see, their bodies revealed only when they picked something up, and their shapes constantly swirled and twisted about. Fortunately, they were mostly harmless, so Lorn ignored them and continued on his way, pulling his cloak tighter and wondering if he'd ever be dry again.
Up ahead, the ravine he was looking for began to appear. Lorn and Chespar often came here looking to pass time or to hide out when things got a bit too tense back in town. They were the only ones who ever came this way, the path hidden if you didn't know what to look for, so it meant nobody else would know to check here. Ordinarily, a perfect scenario, but now it meant Lorn couldn't expect anyone would come lookin for him.
"Chespar! Lorn yelled, struggling to get his voice out over the storm as he stumbled forward. Thunder replied with a boom, a nearby tree splitting apart, one side smoldering. Lorn cursed, then yelled out again, waving his lantern in the air.
In the distance, a light answered him. Flickering and weak, it didn't look like it would last long, so Lorn began running towards it, yelling for his friend. Before he got there, Lorn stumbled and cried out, tumbling over himself into the mud. His hands, long since numb from the chill, lost its grip on the lantern, sending it flying out into the night only to crash and shatter over the ground, its light vanishing and sending Lorn into utter darkness.
Shivering and cursing the storm, Lorn struggled to his feet only to cry out and stagger as a searing pain ran up his leg. Gritting his teeth, Lorn stood back up and tested his foot. It held, but he wouldn't be moving quickly anymore.
Nearby, Lorn saw the glow and started limping towards it. "Chespar!" he called again, wincing each time he put weight on his foot.
"Lorn!" came the squeaky, terrified reply, making Lorn pause. The sound had come from a different direction than the light.
"Chespar, I'm coming," Lorn yelled, turning from the light. The squeaky voice yelled back, and Lorn adjusted his path. "You alright buddy?"
"Th-there's something out there," the mouse yelled back. He was close though, it was just too dark for Lorn to see him.
"It'll be alright," Lorn answered, moving steadily towards the voice while keeping his eyes on the glow, which he could see now wasn't quite natural. Worse, it looked like it was moving. "Just kept calm and stay where you are. I'll be right there."
Something tackled his leg, making Lorn jump and reach for his knife before he realized who it was climbing up his chest, claws clutching at his tunic. "Or, just scare the hell out of me in the dark," Lorn muttered, hugging the shivering mouse tight against him.
"I-I'm so sorry," Chespar said, sobbing.
"Shh," Lorn replied. "We don't want to help that thing find us, right?" Chespar shivered, but didn't say anything, so Lorn looked around. The flickering light was gone, the night once more impenetrable. Lorn wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. As it was, he wasn't sure where to go. He'd completely lost his bearings, and was, for all intents, lost in the middle of a storm.
A flash of lightning reminded him that he could just stand around, though it also made Chespar jump with the crack of thunder. Lorn patted the lump under his cloak and, knife held ready in his hand, picked a direction and started walking. At this point, Lorn had given up on trying to get back to his house, instead seeking somewhere he and Chespar could wait out the rain.
The light appeared ahead of him again, a flickering beacon of hope. Lorn paused, then moved away from it, grinning when it pulsed rapidly and vanished once more. It reappeared a moment later, but Lorn ignored it an continued walking. When it showed up in front of him, he turned slightly and carried on. Whatever it was, it never appeared close to Lorn, only ever shining in the distance.
Eventually, the light gave up on him, and Lorn continued on his way, relieved. Then, suddenly, a flaming skull was grinning right in front of him, causing Lorn to slash at the apparition and jump back. The knife passed through the will-o-wisp uselessly, but the sudden weight on his injured ankle caused Lorn's leg to buckle, sending him falling and sliding down the edge of the ravine. He hadn't realized how close to it he'd gotten, and it was all he could do to keep from crushing his friend as he rolled.
"You alright?" Lorn asked once he came to a stop, looking up to where the will-o-wisp was floating in the air. The thing had played him. Normally harmless, will-o-wisp liked to trick lost travellers by pretending to be lanterns in the distance. They would wait just past some hazard, like a cliff or bog, then feast on the fear and terror the traveller felt when they were trapped in what typically became their death. This one, once Lorn stopped playing its game, changed tactics, guiding him right to the edge of the ravine, where it was nothing to send him over the edge.
Chespar said something, but Lorn missed it over a new sound, a low rumbling coming from a distance. Scrambling up, and crying out as his foot threatened to collapse under him once more, Lorn tried to climb back up the ravine's side, but the rain slick mud didn't gives him any purchase, and he slid right back to where he'd started. Meanwhile, the rumbling became more of a roar as water began flooding down the ravine, the river having finally burst its banks and the ravine becoming an early release valve, itself formed by a dam meant to redirect the river's path.
Lorn held Chespar close as the water hit them hard, knocking them over and tumbling them both end over end. Desperately, Lorn tried to break free of the current, but simply didn't have the strength. Gasping and fighting to live, he felt like his whole body was burning as he reached out, just trying to find something solid as his vision lit up with spots before fading to black.
