“I see you are finally with us. I apologise for your sudden transition, I gather it can be quite disorientating, but unfortunately in this case I cannot help. Time is not on our side, it would seem. The monstrosity is upon us. The beast is at the very gates of Vermuila. Time as all but ran out.” A vibrant voice resounded from behind me as I sat.

I turned, still resting on the grass, still distracted by the events that had just played out. It felt very much like a dream, in the way one jumps from one random location to another. Events that do not link directly somehow play out in a chronological order, but logically make no sense. Unlike a dream that fades on waking, however, these memories were vivid. The emotions, raw and on the surface, burrowing down to form a scar in my sole that will never fully heal.

My eyes widened and my thoughts disappeared on the subject, as I succumbed to the nonsense of it all. In front of me now towering the height of two men stood a giant of dark green. He had long black hair brushed straight down to the centre of his back. Blazing green eyes that seemed to swirl like a bowl of hot Ingas metal.

He wore a leather tunic strapped at the shoulder and waist. His arms and legs uncovered, showing off his oversized physic. The muscles in his arms bulged under the skin, as if edging their way to rip through at any moment. Black markings patterned his skin with geometrical shapes, that emphasised his toned physique.

“Greetings young one. I am Villas of Vermuila, welcome to my home. Please take a moment to gather your thoughts. Not to long mind you, we have a lot to discuss and as I have said, time is not on our side. A few moments, though, can be justified.” Villas said, displaying a smile that melted away at my confusion.

I took in several large breaths, instantly feeling better, as the fresh air flowed through me, no burning or strain, but easily and instinctively as any living creature would. I played through the recent events in my head, the fight in the backstreets on the way to the barracks, the complete destruction of Allensmore, Benack and his family. No matter how I interpreted them the one thing was clear, I had died. Stil I needed confirmation, I needed proof; I needed someone to tell me the fact.

I rose, dusting down my arms and chest to straighten out the fabric of my top. Looked up at Villas and asked the only relevant question anybody in my situation needed to ask.

“Am I dead?”

Villas smiled, took a step back and picked a small flower of yellow and blue from a small patch of dirt running along the side of the field.

“Very good, we can proceed. To answer your question, no you are not dead but it would also be wrong for me to say you are alive in the sense you know. Take this flower, for instance.”

Villas held the flower out at arm's length. It looked fragile in his huge green hands. He tilted it one way and another, watching to see if I was paying attention.

“Just like this flower, I have severed it from the roots, its vital life support system no longer able to sustain it. Some would say I have killed it. Yet?”

Villas blew on the flower, releasing a thousand tiny yellow spores that filled the air and drifted out. A few fell to the ground around me while the rest disappeared off into the distance, swirling around in all directions as they went.

“The flower goes on, parts of it still live, new roots will form and provide life once again, so shall you. A transition if you like from one life to another. Your roots are not completely severed though, only redirected, reshaped to renew.”

“Benack, Jezzary, little Kelsey are they, all right.” I asked, remembering the devastation that surrounded me recently.

“I am afraid they are no more. What you saw in the vision happened. The world you knew consumed. All life extinguished by a monstrous force that I am afraid to say I drastically underestimated. Mine, my brothers and sisters millennium long plans laid to dust in the time it takes a butterfly to flap her wings.”

Villas’s face grew sombre, his wild green eyes seemed to dim as he let the remains of the flower float to the ground.

My stomach tightened into knots, Kelsey playing in the corner of Benack’s shops played in my mind and the silent scream she had shouted for Jezzary as Benack ripped her from her arms.

A distant rumble filled the air, not as loud and thunderous as on the streets of Allensmore. This was quiet and less concerning. It snapped Villas from his reverie and he looked around, staring off into the distance behind him.

I looked in his direction and could see on the very limits of my sight, the lush green colour fading and turning into a dark brown as if this place was turning from summer autumn in the blink of an eye. The sky was darkening as well, the bright blue turning into a cold grey.

“It seems we have even less time. Please walk with me. I have much to tell you, we still have some time. I can hold on for a while yet.” Villas said holding one hand out to gesture we walk away from whatever was heading our way.

There was urgency in his voice, I have heard it in many a man, yet Villas did not show it. Standing patiently still, waiting for me to respond and move before he did. I nodded and headed in the direction he showed. Villas following a footstep behind.

“What did this, who could harness such a power to destroy a world?” I finally said, as the distant rumbling dulled. A thousand questions were all racing around my mind, but witnessing such destruction filled me with a dread I just could not shake. I needed to know more.

“I do not know what it is for certain, but I have my suspicions. The universe has a balance, what most see as chaotic is really a harmony of motions playing out that are so vast they can not see the simple symmetry. Since the dawn of time, this has played out in a melody of the truest balance.

“Over 200 millennia ago we first felt the universe weep as this balance tipped for the first time, and it has kept on tipping ever since. A monstrous force awoke in a faraway place, devouring entire worlds. Ending all life and thus increasing its own. Once it had consumed all it could in its own region, it headed over to ours.

“We had thought to stop it by creating something as monstrous as itself, an abomination of our own power. A forbidden practise that if carried out, might itself bring the end to all life as we know it. Yet my brother thought differently and betrayed us all to stay his own execution.”

“You said you had your suspicions.” I asked, wanting to know more about this life destroying entity. Even a suspicion may hold a glimmer of truth it.

“I may have been wrong, but it was my choice to make and for the whole of it I believe life on Vermuila was a good one to have.” Villas replied walking over to a river and bending down to wave his hand in the water.

“I said I am Villas of Vermuila, but it is just as true to say Vermuila of Villas. Life is not a gift, but power. Given generously on some and not so on others. I along with others were the former and have roamed the cosmos since the dawn of creation.

“Spending some of that power, our life force, we created more, we created worlds to fill an empty universe. I created Vermuila from myself and life thrived here, you yourself. I choose not to share this knowledge, more I activity hid this and the implications away from the people of Vermuila. It is strange how so many will choose death for just a glimpse of power.

“I believe the monstrosity was just like I was, but gave his world the secrets of the gods. It is not too hard to believe one of his children grew to challenge him. To take his power for his own and set out looking for more.”

“So if its here, how do we stop it. How do we save everyone?”

“I do not believe we can, but Viggas believed you might hold something that can sway the tide.”

“Viggas, the old man from the back alley?”

“My last Outrider, he gave his life so you could stand before me now. He saw something in you, that I must admit is intriguing.”

“There must be some mistake, I was near death before I stepped in to help your friend. I have nothing to stand against a force that can destroy worlds, that can kill Gods.”

“Do you see this river, this is all the life that runs through Vermuila it has run for hundreds of thousands of years. You see how it forks up ahead into a handful of small streams. All but two of them dry out. One is my own. It will run on forever, getting smaller and smaller as the eons pass. The other is you. It runs and pools as a stone blocks the way. I intend to remove that stone.

“The stone is my doing, I blocked everyone on Vermuila from the powers of the gods. It is just too risky, I have seen others in worlds far away that would willingly throw themselves onto a fire, to obtain more, yet they rarely did. You managed even weighed down by my hand, by that stone to wield such a power.”

“Villas, I tell you now you have the wrong man, I am sorry. I have no power in me, I barely had any life left in me. Your outrider picked incorrectly.”

The low rumbling started in the air again, Villas got back to his feet, letting the water drip from his hand slowly back into the river.

“Let's keep on walking shall we. We do not have to far to go, but still have a lot to discuss.”

Villas never waited for me to move this time, but took the lead and started walking along the bank of the river. I ran to keep up.

This all sounded as crazy as? Well, as it sounded. But I was here, and I could not deny what I was seeing. I was certain Viggas had made a mistake; I had been nothing special in my life. Ok, I’d had a good life by all means, but nothing special or out of the ordinary.

The only miraculous thing in my life was Myia, my beautiful Myia. If anyone was special, it was her. The sun shone brighter when she was about; the air felt fresher and the world a better place.

“Villas, are you sure Viggas didn’t make a mistake? There is nothing special about myself. The only thing in all my life that I would call special was Myia.”

“Tell me about her, tell me what made this Myia so special.”

A lump formed in my throat at the thought of describing my deceased wife. If she was here, I would have hidden that fact from her as I always did. I’d never let her see me for anything else but a strong man that would lay his life down for her.

“Myia was remarkable. She would light up any room she walked into. So kind and caring. She thought everyone was the same. She thought everyone was nice and lovely and to her everyone was. No one ever spoke an ill word about her, everyone loved her.”

“Interesting and why do you think that is?”

I stopped walking and looked up at Villas. He raised his eyebrows in a gesture of enlightenment, but I didn’t know what he was getting at.

“Well, she was just that caring that everybody liked her. A true genuine sole.”

“What just because she cared, every person who she ever came into contact with liked her. Not one person would speak ill of her, no jealousy from a friend, no envy from a relative, nothing?”

“I know it's hard to believe, but it is the truth. If you had met her, you would have felt the warmth yourself.”

“No, it's not hard to believe. In fact, I know what you are saying to be true. What I am asking is why? Why everybody she met, felt this way. May it have been someone close by changing the world around her as she moved through it.”

I stared blankly at Villas, unsure on the point he was trying to make.

“It was you. Even with my stone, my will bear down upon you. You broke through to harness a small portion of your life to make Myia’s better. Even Viggas could not manage such a feat.”

“I...I..” I stumbled for words, still not fully understanding if Villas was trying to compliment me or diminish Myia’s life.

“I do not mean to take anything away from Myia. She was a kind and generous person. I liked her very much. But it was your unknowing actions that caught Viggas’s attention, and so now you are here. Either your affection, devotion or love towards Myia tore down a wall that should not have broken. Let you harness your own life force and change the world around you.”

“So what do you want me to do, think this monstrosity away, believe that it is a pleasant person?”

Villius laughed, his head lolling backwards as his tunic stretched across his chest. His muscles tensed as his chest rose and fell.

“If only it was that simple, no I am afraid not. My time is soon at an end, but yours is just beginning. You first must grow, you must learn to harness the power of life and direct…”

Villas fell to his knees, stopping mid-sentence. His green colour turning to a shade of grey as he clenched his hands into fists the size of my head. His body convulsed, then stiffened as he tried to control himself.

“No! Quick into the river, let it carry you downstream, I will remove the stone, hurry.” Villas said, his smooth, rich voice now more like an echo off a damp cavern wall.

The brown of rotting autumn came rushing towards us both, the grass decaying as if a fire raged. Villus grabbed my arm, his massive hand warping around my forearm easily and pulled me close to himself.

“We are out of time, now go. Don’t waste this chance, my last gift to the last of my children.” Villas said before throwing me into the river.

“I may not be alone in my doing, others will have made their own plans. Be careful, grow and learn. Seek my Iliad, when you are ready.” Villas said as he pushed me off away from the river bank.

I watched back as the river carried me down stream; the decay spreading over Villus and encasing him in a tomb of brown steel. The river freezing and cracking into grey dust as it spread to catch me up.

The river forked, and I jolted right, smaller and narrower, but with more current I sped down the twisting off shoot, heading towards a pool blocked by a large boulder. Villus hadn’t removed it. He hadn’t had time. The mouth of the river opened into the pool and I shot through, sinking under the water. I floated there, motionless, as the light above went dark, and the water chilled.

I swam back up to the surface when a force pulled me forward; I spun around as it dragged me, debris and rocks raced past me as I gained speed. I tried to kick harder, waving my hands to propel me to the surface, but I couldn’t tell if I was going up on down. A small stone caught my shoulder, spinning me faster, as I hit something hard and blacked out.