After a fitful night of sleep, Lance eventually roused himself from his poor slumber to a gleam of sunlight shining right directly on his face. He realized he’d slept past his intended waking hour and jolted out of bed so quickly it caused a dizzy spell. Hastily he threw on his outfit from yesterday after his morning grooming and gobbled up the sandwich made from breakfast leftovers that Abigail left for him on his nightstand.

With warm food in his belly and time to differentiate between slumber and consciousness, some of his disorientation dissipated. He still felt severely sleep-deprived but a quick cup of coffee on his way out the door would amend that. Creeping down the grand staircase, he stumbled into the kitchen where Abigail was washing dishes from this morning. Sadly the kettle was empty, so he filled it with fresh water and sat at the dining table while he waited for the water to boil.

“Your father asked for me to inform you that he was sorry for missing you this morning. Oh, and that he had something to give you tonight when he came home, so don’t be staying out too late,” Abigail announced over the sounds of scrubbing and sloshing water in the sink.

Lance merely grunted an affirmation as he stared at the kettle with his mug ready with coffee grounds in hand. She peeked back to look at him, but he didn’t notice with his attention honed on the simmering kettle.

“You look terrible, Master Lance. I know you came in before sundown, you didn’t sneak out to play with the boys at midnight did you?” Abigail inquired, not sounding terribly invested in the answer. She had been quick to accept he was an adult about to be married and had next to no interests in parenting a grown man.

“Hm? Oh, no, I just couldn’t sleep is all. Just a lot on my mind, you know,” he said as he sprang up when the kettle started whistling.

“Getting married is a big deal, especially at your young age. Most men wait until they’re close to thirty before settling down, preferring to sow their oats in the prime of their life you know. But you’ve always been a well-behaved young man in my eyes, so it doesn’t surprise me you’d be interested in settling down and starting a family,” she said with a lilt in her voice.

“Right, yeah. Hard to not think about that of course.” Lance had been thinking almost about anything else but that. The event of marriage itself didn’t frighten him, nor did the idea of committing himself to one person until either of them died sound anything but ideal. It was just all the other things wrapped up in the occasion that he was anxious over. Among other things that were filling him with dread.

Lance took a deep gulp of his coffee. It was piping hot, but he was too eager to head out for the day to be patient with the temperature. The hot liquid scalded his tongue and throat, but really he appreciated it helped ground him to reality instead of his thoughts continuously making him drift away.

He winced as he downed the last gulp then stood up from his chair to leave the house. After offering a brief farewell to Abigail, he picked up a satchel by the door and headed directly in the direction of Thane’s home.

Knocking thrice with the ornate door knocker he stood back and waited before being greeted at the door by an elderly woman who was Thane’s grandmother.

“Oh Lance, I’m sorry you made a trip out here for nothing but Thane stayed over at Orwen’s last night. If you’d like you can wait here, I’ve got a pie cooling on the windowsill if you’d like some,” she offered with a warm and caring smile.

He shook his head. “No thank you ma’am, I just wanted to say hello since I was in the neighborhood. Have a good day then,” he stated quickly as he abruptly turned around before the kind old woman could lure him in to her cozy abode.

“If you insist,” she chuckled. “Hope to see you at the carnival next week, I’ll be selling my knitting this year as usual. Will you be in the play again this year?”

“Uh, probably not. Other things have taken priority lately, so I haven’t been practicing at all. Someone else will have to play the hero this year,” he confessed with a crooked smile. Surprisingly, even to him, acting in the stage play every year since he was fifteen had been something he looked forward to annually. Initially, he was afraid that nepotism was what secured him in the role. Fortunately, after a couple of years of performances, he actually became rather confident in being a lead actor.

Shortly after departing the neighborhood Lance resolved to having to visit the marketplace on his own. His home as well as his friends both resided within North Clock Town, so he would have to make his way to the western district to reach the market.

As Lance was distracted reviewing his plan of action, a young man bumped into him. This stranger bumped into him hard enough to make him stumble and nearly fall over. The stranger had his head hung low and was stumbling, more than likely in a drunken stupor. Lance frowned, but he was not the confrontational type for situations like this.

“You might want to be careful buddy, pickpockets love taking advantage of people like you,” he warned in a stern tone.

“Huh? Wha-” The stranger lifted his head, and Lance immediately recognized it was just the man he’d been looking for this morning.

“What are you doing out here so early in the morning and completely cropsick?” Lance grabbed Thane to help steady him, only to realize he really wasn’t stumbling all that badly despite blatantly ramming into him moments prior. “I thought you were at Orwen’s house? At least that’s what your grandma told me.”

Thane took a deep breath and let out sigh so blissful it was honestly sickening to hear. “Well, a guy shouldn’t kiss and tell but…” Thane dragged out the word before settling into a fit of laughter. Lance knew exactly what had happened now, and it was something about Thane he despised when he was in spells like this.

“Alright, fess up, what’s her name?” Lance questioned with little patience to spare.

“Daphne, ya know, the girl from the Treasure Chest game shop?” Thane replied with a goofy grin.

“That terrible flirt? Won’t she ask out just about any man she finds attractive that visits the shop? Pretty sure she’s hit on me several times as well,” Lance countered after letting once realizing Thane was stable on his own.

Thane offered him a sour face. “There’s nothing wrong with any of that. She told me she’d never noticed how good-looking I am before and after seeing how big my muscles are.” Thane offered a theatrical flex to emphasize his point. “She invited me to help with harvesting from her garden.”

“And how’d that go?” Lance genuinely didn’t want to know, but he felt he should be supportive as his friend in these matters.

“Well,” he stopped as his face went tomato red, “a lot more than gardening happened.”

“I imagined that much. Remind me again, how much older is that woman than you?” Lance asked in an effort to tease the man for his choice in women.

“Eight years and stop changing the subject,” Thane answered bluntly. “I, well-” At this point he pulled Lance by the collar so he could get his mouth as close to his ear as possible.

“I touched boobs, Lance. It was awesome,” Thane whispered hotly in his ear as Lance could hear the giddiness in his voice return.

Lance loved Thane like a brother, but the boy really could lose his mind over any woman that would give him the time of day. At times he felt envious of his ease to feel passionate about another person. As well as how quickly he would get over it, when the spark was eventually snuffed out.

“That’s- I’m- good for you, pal,” Lance struggled with an appropriate response to his friend's exuberance. Thane prepared to move past him and head home, but Lance put a hand on his shoulder stopping his movement.

“Now, given that you’re in a good mood and your grandma isn’t expecting you home anytime soon would you be interested in helping me out?” He may have felt awkward about this whole exchange, but he’d be damned if he didn’t try capitalizing on his own anguish.

“Yeah? Well, depends on what it is but you know I’ve always got your back,” Thane proclaimed as he bumped a clenched fist to his chest.

Lance nodded in gratitude. “I’m heading over to the marketplace to see if I can follow up on some medicine leads I’ve picked up the last few weeks. Given I'll probably end up going to the back alley market, I thought it’d be nice having someone else capable in a fight with me."

Thane grinned with great pride. “You want backup in a fight? Oh hell yeah, you came to the right guy.”

“I knew I could count on you.”

Given that by this point it was late morning the market was bustling with throngs of housewives and elderly getting first pick of what was on display. Shouts from the fishmongers as they tried selling off their freshly caught fish from the western lakes boomed loudly over the din of commerce. His father had put harsher tariffs on imported goods, so the selection was lackluster. This created the atmosphere of today, with shouting matches and constant undercutting of their competitors to draw customers.

Many others were selling off the remnants of their stock on a steep clearance which came in the form of primarily textiles and supplies for different crafts. When the carnival arrived many merchants altered their entire shop and charged exorbitant prices to take advantage of the travelers and inebriated locals.

Medicinal goods weren’t exactly hot commodities at this time, aside from those that were used in the creation of cosmetics and other luxury goods. Both Lance and his friend took glances at each stall as they passed it. This attracted attention from locals who knew Lance by his parentage and the boys avoided each inviting look that wanted to talk. Since his engagement was announced, many maidens within the town had started flirting with him. He assumed it was because he wasn’t “available” anymore that made them wish to pursue him, but that wasn’t a concept he really understood.

Slinking off to the side in a nearby alley, Lance glanced into the darkness to see the torchlight flickering around the bend. Reaching into his satchel he produced two daggers, handing one off to Thane and holstering his own with the waistband of his trousers.

“I’d prefer not having to use these, but it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Lance stated. His eyes keenly focused on the deep darkness of the alleyway. Thane merely nodded and imitated his placement.

The back alley market was not exactly an illegal market set up mere yards away from the main road, but it was considered poorly monitored by the city guard. All the real estate in this section was owned by the Valerio family, so they were in charge of protecting and managing the properties. It was obviously their scheme to allow trading of otherwise illicit goods in Clock Town, given their organization was based in Ikana. However, there was very little the mayor could do about the situation. So it continued to be permitted to exist.

Entering into the seedy underbelly of Termina always came with a certain amount of risk. If were robbed, injured, or even killed there wouldn’t be much of an investigation into the crime unless you were someone of significance. Lance hated to throw around his family status, but he hoped that would dissuade someone from trying to mug him here.

Immediately upon stepping into this area was where he saw a majority of the diversity that the main market lacked. Deku, gorons, and zora were all present here. Even some foreign races Lance had no familiarity with were all present here and making business. None of the market goers paid the pair any mind and seemed to be content to carry out their business, despite the fact nervous humans were present.

Soon after this observation they were approached by a rather tall reptilian creature walking on its hind legs. The creature appeared intelligent and in no way outwardly aggressive, so Lance resisted his instinct to rest a hand on his dagger.

“Welcome to the Shadow Market boys,” the reptile spoke in a heavy accent from a language that used many guttural noises in its syllables. Their S’s also hissed as they spoke, which Lance had to resist laughing at for coming off as extremely stereotypical of a talking lizard.

“Hello, um-” Lance paused, not sure how to address this individual.

“Oh we don’t exchange names here; you must be new. Unsurprising, typically the humans I meet at the corner are lost or on a dare. Are you boys either of those?”The lizard eyed them both individually and simultaneously, each eyeball able to move independently.

“No, actually, I’m looking for a medicine vendor; a doctor would be great as well.”

“Hmm,” the lizard paused as they raised a hand to scratch their chin in thought. “I’m uncertain of that, but you might find some luck at the other end of the alley.”

The lizard offered what Lance assumed to be a grin of sorts. It was toothy and with the lack of lips it looked more like they were baring their fangs. The squint of their eyes assured him it was indeed supposed to be kind.

“Thank you. Come on then.”He waved his hand to usher Thane in with him, whose face was pensive during the entire interaction.

As they passed through the crowds of people who varied in all manners of shapes and sizes, their presence had begun to draw attention. It wasn’t as if they were the only humans here, on the contrary about half of the people in this back alley were human. They, however, were new and were unvetted by the regulars here. At least, that was the story he was going with.

At the end of the alley, there wasn’t very much to be seen as it was mostly barren aside from filth and general refuse. One thing did stick out to him, and that happened to be an illuminated stall with a proprietor covered in a deep purple robe. This robe obscured any possible idenfiable features that Lance might been able to see otherwise. The only confirmation this person was a 'person' was the low iridescence of red eyes under their cowl. There also appeared to be legs hanging over their tall chair that kicked back and forth much in the same way a child would.

Lance approached and Thane did as well reluctantly. The red eyes looked up at him, but said nothing. A light from one of their many jars appeared to float out of its container and hover down closer to Lance’s body. He was so taken by its ethereal glow that his entire body jolted when the purple figure slammed a staff they were holding in their hands onto the cobblestone causing the light to float back up to its container.

“You might want to back up sonny. The poes have taken a liking to you. I’ve only got them so well-trained; I can’t promise what could happen if you get too close again,” the voice beneath the cowl cackled with malicious glee. From the voice this person sounded like an old crone, but Lance still couldn’t be certain and dared not assume.

He did just as they asked and took a couple generous steps back. “I noticed your stall was at the end here but I’m not certain I know what your wares are.”

The figure chuckled again. “You’ve already met the poes I keep in my company, but they’re not for sale. I’m a collector of them, you see. At my age one needs a hobby to occupy the time. If anything you could consider me a trader of intangible goods. Rumors, secrets, or perhaps even just handy knowledge. You boys look like you came here with something specific in mind,” the figure crooned as the eyes squinted to indicate a smile.

“I don’t trust this lady, Lance. We should get out of here,” Thane whispered in his ear with a panicked voice. He pointedly ignored him.

“I’m looking for information about some rumors. Rumors related to a supposed all-powerful curative. Would you happen to know anything about it?”

“My information comes at a price, sonny. What will you offer me in exchange?”

“Name me your price, and you can bill it to my estate,” he offered in turn with little confidence.

Their red eyes narrowed as the cowl shook from side to side. “No, no, not money you fool. I trade in information, can’t you hear?”

“Well, how am I supposed to offer something of equal value if I don’t know what kind of answer you’re going to give me?” Lance retorted with frustration.

“Your ideas of equivalency don’t align with mine. You’re young; youngsters are full of rumors and secrets. Come, whisper into my ear the most tantalizing piece of knowledge you possess young man. I’ll judge if it’s a fair trade,” they said with another chilling cackle.

“Lance, please, I’m begging you. Just leave and forget about her,” Thane whispered so loudly into his ear that his voice sounded hoarse. Lance merely smiled and patted his kind friend on the shoulder, appreciating his worry but heeding none of the warning all the while.

He stepped forward, this time moving quickly past the reach of the contained poe, and leaning down to the side of the cowl to whisper his secret.

The robed figure cackled, slamming their staff onto the cobblestone and wildly kicking their feet.

“Yes, yes! That is a fitting exchange sonny,” they proclaimed with glee as Lance took his large steps back and narrowly escaped the wisp of the poe once more.

“The answer to your question is that yes, I do know of the toadstool said to cure all illness. It lies within the heart of the Forest of Many Names. It won’t, however, heal your mother’s affliction,” they said with a deafening laugh. The staff slammed into the cobblestone again, and all at once the poes were released from their containers and now diving towards Lance.

Immediately Lance grabbed his friend by the arm sleeve and started dragging him away before they both broke into a full sprint. Their shouts of terror caused many of the passerby to shift to the sides of the alley to let them through. Strangely, those around the fleeing boys paid no mind to the poe souls soaring through the air.

Pushing and shoving through the crowd elicited many growls, grunts, and grumbles from the patrons of the alley. Eventually, the pair approached an immovable wall of bodies. No matter how much they tried to force their way the bodies wouldn’t move. Looking behind them, Lance saw the spirits still flying quickly towards them. In this same glance he also noticed a side alley that didn’t have anybody blocking the path.

“Come on, we have to run that way,” he shouted as he pivoted on his heels and sprinted to the narrow opening that led into darkness. Not sparing a moment to look behind him to check on his friend, he could hear his footsteps keeping pace with him a couple of meters behind.

Rounding the corner at the end, they were greeted with a solid stone wall and no climbable surfaces in sight. The two were cornered.

Seeing was hardly possible in this dark crevice, but fortunately with his limited vision he could determine Thane’s placement. Lance was a couple of steps ahead of him, a barely visible silver gleam was held in his hands before him. Knives wouldn't do anything to spirits, but he understood the other man's desire to fight until his last breath.

As Lance drew his own dagger, both boys could hear the sound of steps heading down the alley they were located in. The light that accompanied the poes was not present, but they wouldn’t spare a sigh of relief until they were safely out of this situation.

It was still difficult to see, but Lance could determine that several humanoid shapes were rounding the corner. They were much larger than either Thane or himself. Lance could also pick up on an unsettling click of their feet as it met with the stone floor. This indicated they were not anything human.

All at once white teeth shone in the darkness as the creatures smiled to reveal their razor sharp fangs and mouths the size of their heads. One of the mouths laughed, but Lance could not determine who.

“You humans look awfully out of place here. Did you get separated from Mommy and Daddy?” One of the mouths sneered, and Lance heard a chorus of knuckles cracking as the bodies approached.

“If you want money, I can give you however much you want,” Lance announced with a false bravado.

The group chuckled darkly. “Normally that would be the right answer, but not this time kid. You’re the mayor’s kid, huh? You might be too pampered to know this, but your daddy has made life even harder for us. Some of his incited flock decided to start persecuting my people,” the voice in the front growled pointedly at Lance.

“I-” He was guilted into silence and couldn’t begin to defend himself or even respond. Lance stood still as could be and uttered nary a single word.

The mouth in the front disappeared as his head turned, grunting an instruction he couldn’t understand. Suddenly bodies stepped forward and grasped at Thane then they began to drag him away.

Thane cried out in fear and began swinging his blade at the offending hands. He may have sliced a few, but in the end it didn’t matter as the sound of metal striking stone reverberated in the alleyway. The sounds of struggle persisted for a few moments more until Thane’s knees landed on the floor.

Crack.

One of the monsters, after forcing Thane to kneel, yanked his arm out straight and fractured the elbow with a swift strike by his hand. Thane screamed in agony, and then it went eerily silent.

Lance persisted to be frozen in place, unable to act to defend his friend or even to try to run away. He felt the full brunt of acknowledging his cowardice all in this moment, probably one of the last moments he would experience in his life.

The large figure that addressed him turned back to face him, a fact he only knew still by the return of the bright smile.

“Now that he’s taken care of, back to whom I’m really interested in,” the voice spoke with glee.

He walked over, and Lance still was unable to move. This appeared to bore the creature, whose smile turned downwards into a frown. Otherwise, he offered no indication of displeasure.

Quicker than he could react to on a good day, a large hand was grasped around his throat and lifted him up slowly off the ground. Lance tried to hold his breath to prevent having it all wrenched out of him immediately

“Your people killed my children. Innocent children. My youngest couldn’t even speak yet,” the figure muttered dismally. “It’s only fitting I kill the child of the one who was responsible.”

With his face so close Lance was able to identify his attacker was undoubtedly inhuman. The monster's eyes were grotesquely yellow, and his nose was that of a hog. Gasps were slipping from Lance's lungs, despite his best efforts.

“I think I’ll traipse your body in front of city hall as a message to all of your politicians. As much as I would love tearing you apart, I’ll have to at least leave your body mostly intact,” he added with amusement. “I’ll have fun tearing you down slowly all the while, little human.”

Perhaps it was a final act of desperation; maybe Lance finally found the will to resist. There stood a good chance it was just pure oxygen deprivation that caused him to lose all of his innate fears. No matter what it was, Lance had found his resolve at this very moment. He raised the hand clasping the dagger and stabbed it deeply into the arm of the bestial man holding him aloft.

The creature groaned in pain, but otherwise his grip didn’t let up. His eyes squinted in fury and the hand holding Lance reeled back before throwing him as hard as could be.

Crack.

Lance’s head collided with the stone wall, and he was gone in an instant.

It was early morning and the sun had yet to rise over Clock Town. Lance sprang forward out of his slumber covered in a sheen of sweat. The back of his head was in pure agony, and out of instinct his hand reached back to touch the center of the pain. When his hand pulled back, he fully expected it to be covered in blood. That was not the case, however, nor did he feel a wound there.

He began taking shallow, rapid inhalations as a panic overtook him. His body was jumping out of bed before he could fully grasp what he was doing and began finding yesterday’s day clothes to get dressed.

Before anyone else in the house was stirring, not even the servants, Lance was sprinting down the staircase while donning his coat and scarf. Grabbing his satchel, something he could remember himself explicitly doing the day prior, he scrambled out the door and over to the stables.

Lance felt a brief stir of guilt as he awakened his horse who was sleeping peacefully in a pile of fresh straw and covered with a quilted blanket. The beast could feel his rider’s distress as Lance beckoned him and allowed himself to be geared up without much protest. A handful of oats also helped in sweetening the deal.

As the first stream of sunlight began tearing through the fog of night Lance was already galloping out of town passing by dozing night guards. He was not fully conscious of where he was going, all he knew was that he couldn’t be here anymore. Friends died because of him, he couldn’t be a risk to them. There was no denying any longer that those were dreams, these deaths were a reality.

It was no surprise to him when his mind focused back on the task at hand that he was galloping right for the Southern Swamp.