Tuulin

Tuulin’s feet dragged across the ground as he trudged through the mud. It pulled at him as he tried to keep himself moving forward, audibly popping as he pulled his feet out. He reached out and pushed a collection of vines out of his way as the swamp croaked at him.

“I can see why the Malnix wouldn’t dare come here,” he muttered as he shook his foot free. “Far too wet; nothing here would burn.”

He stepped up onto solid ground again with a sigh as he pulled his cloak closer to himself, shivering a little bit as a humid yet chilly breeze blew down from the mountains above. Onwards he traveled, squinting to see through the fog.

“Is this what’s become of you, Tuulin?” A deep voice growled at him.

Tuulin stood up straight and began to look around. “Are you honestly still here?”

“I see your plan didn’t work out,” the voice continued.

“Oh, keep your musings to yourself,” Tuulin spat as he kept walking. “I don’t need you or your obsessive impulses.”

“We are partners, Tuulin. You know you cannot do this alone. You are only one side of the leadership coin.”

“You are dead. There is nothing you can do to help me now.” Tuulin replied. “And even if you were still living, after what happened last time, I am not too keen on working together again.”

The airy voice sounded long and drawn out as it responded. “We were estranged by this new world; we both obsessed over things that we could not reach, and it tore us apart,” the voice explained. “Now, humbled by our defeats, perhaps we can try again.”

Tuulin did not even blink as he kept his pace. “The difference between you and I is that your era has ended. I have yet to see the end of mine. There are grander things to worry about than a broken kingdom.”

“You may be right… however, you already know you are in over your head,” the voice taunted. “You are trying to move a mountain with a toothpick.”

“What, and you think you can succeed where I have failed?”

“Not at all, but you have no nation to wield as your tool…” The voice paused for a moment. “However, there is one who may still be capable of that, and it is not who either of us expected it to be. You have sensed it; he has returned.”

Tuulin stopped as he clenched his fist. “Back from the dead, yes. But he was denied the throne for a reason. The people of Muurin will not accept a king who cries in the face of danger.”

There was a deep, echoed chuckle as the voice grew louder. “Maybe so, yet he is in the presence of the few that could reignite the fires of his family's legacy. And that princess… she could be the light that illuminates the darkness that clouds his vision of his destiny.”

Tuulin narrowed his eyes. “You think him capable of magic to rival his elder brother?”

“I remember it so clearly; the burning passion in his desire for understanding, and the revolution of enlightenment he spread across the land prior to his death,” the voice continued. “I was so proud of that boy…”

Tuulin slammed his fist against the tree. “That revolution was my doing!” he exclaimed. “I was the one who showed him the secrets of Agra’neer. I was the reason who possessed such an intimate understanding of the Realm of Magic!”

“Perhaps so, yet he still managed to exceed your capabilities. What’s more, you lacked the charisma to win the people to your side not once, but now twice. Even now this defeat has forced you to flee from your people as their loyalty shifts.” The voice laughed again. “My eldest son took your experience and wisdom and used it to harness a magic that even the Keepers could only dream of, and all while becoming the greatest king Muurin had ever seen.”

“He is gone now, and his intellect with him,” Tuulin replied, walking forward again. “Whatever he discovered that lead to his demise, I will find it myself and tear the threads of magic asunder.”

“Is that what drives you then? Vengeance against magic?” the voice whispered.

“And how is it you plan to achieve such a catastrophe?” A lady’s voice suddenly interrupted Tuulin before he could say anything.

A warm light washed over him as he gasped in surprise, shielding his eyes. He stumbled backwards as a gust of wind buffeted him.

“Who goes there-!” Tuulin called again as he placed one hand to his belt to draw his sword.

“The one you have been seeking, foreigner.” A lady clothed in light stepped out from the fog. Her hair was the colour of lavender, and it flowed and trailed behind her, waving like magic. She was clothed in a prismatic gown that sparkled as her sleeves floated behind her.

Tuulin lowered his hands from his face, his eyes shifting from anger to wonder and fascination. “Harmony…?”

“I am she,” the lady responded as she walked barefoot across the ground. She stirred up no mud or dirt as she passed, the light fading away as she stopped before him. She was about the same height, and her expression was soft, yet neutral. Her eyes shimmered a bright golden hue as she looked upon the Arden man.

“Now you decide to appear,” Tuulin whispered. “After a year of conflict... after I spent so long searching for you.”

“I operate on my own time, Tuulin,” she replied calmly.

“Why now do you reveal yourself?” Tuulin said as he stood his ground. “Do I finally have your attention?”

“I’ve come to ask you a question.” Harmony began to walk a circle around Tuulin. “You are attempting to reach someone, yet it is not the prince of your people, nor is it me. You seek to go further. What do you truly seek?”

Tuulin’s curious gaze was quickly replaced with confusion and a sense of distress. “Something tells me you already know,” Tuulin said.

“Humor me,” Harmony responded as she turned around, sitting down on a fallen tree.

“Who is it that you serve?”

Harmony only stared back. “You know who I serve. He has tasked me to watch over this land.”

“But your role goes so far beyond Alarulin. You are more than the first Keeper, I know it to be true.”

Harmony looked right back at him, her expression unchanging. Tuulin took this as a sign to continue. “Do you not know who you are? Who you could be?”

“I am assured in my destiny and purpose,” Harmony said back. “I do not need to be lectured on my role in creation.”

Tuulin clenched his teeth. “You truly do not realize, do you…?” Tuulin felt his anger rising. “Can you not see the grander scheme of The Circle? There was a time when you were meant for so much more! Yet now, you settle for being no more than… than magic’s pet!”

He was interrupted as Harmony suddenly stood up, light erupting from her eyes. Tuulin suddenly found himself tumbling backwards. He was slammed into a tree, coughing as he was pinned. Despite the fury in Harmony’s expression, her voice came out calm.

“Do not speak to me, foreigner, as though I am above my Father,” she said. “I have lived through 500 years of conflict and been forced to destroy that which I once loved. I have watched the children of others - and my own - fall to the very arrogance I instilled within them.” Harmony slowly approached Tuulin as he remained pinned. “I am no God, nor will I ever have any right to be. This I learned the hard way, Tuulin of the broken realm, as did your prized pupil.”

With that, Tuulin was abruptly dropped from the tree. He collapsed to the ground, coughing a bit as he quickly pulled himself to his feet. Harmony turned around and made her way back to the fallen tree, her gown trailing behind her as she did so.

Tuulin stared at her in a mixture of anguish and pain. “What has become of you?”

Harmony looked over her shoulder. “Whoever it is you believe I am...” She turned around to face him. “I am not she.”

Tuulin caught his breath, his mouth hanging open in hesitation as his hands clenched into a fist.

Harmony gave him the slightest smile. “Don’t go seeking what you’ve already found, Tuulin. No matter how much you hate Him or deny Him, it does not change the fact He has a purpose for you, much like He does for me, the Keepers, the princesses, and the newfound prince.”

With that, Harmony stepped back into the fog, before disappearing. The light faded and the warmth with it as Tuulin was left shaking.

The voice returned. “Hmph, touchy… yet wonderfully insightful.”

“Shut up, Mennic,” Tuulin spat, beginning to trudge through the dark swamp again as he wiped his face free of a stray tear. “You cannot even begin to fathom what Truth has taken from me.”

END OF PART 3