Branu heard something exclaim in the gloom. A shout of fright, worry. The voice spoke, but It was not the one he expected.

“Ava!”

No, it couldn’t be…

Leaves rustled as something moved urgently towards him. A light appeared, strong, white and blinding. A small sun cut into the night with a million shining razors. Branches, vines and creepers stood unswaying and unmoving in it’s light, looking petrified, as though stunned at the intrusion.

Everything around Branu was suddenly revealed, except for one thing - the figure that held the light aloft. A human form, wreathed in shadow. It was as though a portion of the darkness around him had broken away in the shape of a man and come alive.

Branu uttered some incomprehensible sounds of disbelief as the silhouette reached him and crouched down. The shadow melted, dripping from the surface of the figure, as though it were paint being washed away in the rain, revealing Vinthan’s concerned face. The youth knelt next to his father, his eyes tired, worried and afraid.

“Ava, what are you doing?” he asked, his voice incredulous.

“Vinthan,” Branu whispered wearily, “how…”

Vinthan picked up the fallen torch, re-lit it and stuck it into the ground. His bright Touch-light went out.

“Are you injured? Where does it hurt?” he asked

Branu waved towards his knees, speechless in puzzlement. Vinthan pressed his right palm to one of the knees. With his left hand, he started drawing shapes in the air. Immediately, the pain in Branu’s knees was replaced by a dull numbness.

Vinthan spoke quietly.

“I awoke and you were gone. I followed your tracks and found you on the mountain path. I didn’t want to be seen, so I used Light-casting to hide myself.”

Even in his state of fatigue, Branu felt a twinge of awe. Light-casting, the Touch of manipulating light itself, was an uncommon one. Even the rare few who were blessed with it at birth only used it to produce a few simple effects. For someone not born with it to become this adept, even use it to hide in the shadows as Vinthan had… his son was truly a prodigy.

Vinthan continued, “I spent quite a bit of time hiding our tracks to make it harder for anyone to follow. I kept falling behind in spite of your slow pace.

“I lost you for a bit when you entered the forest, but it wasn’t hard to locate you. I simply had to follow your constant bellowing.”

He smiled a little saying that, something Branu had not seen in a long time.

“What is this madness, Ava?”

Branu looked hurt. “I thought they would come… I hoped they would remember… “

Vinthan shook his head reproachfully.

“At first I thought you were going to find a place up in the Oldforest for us to hide in,” he said, “You are one of the few that knows this area well, and I thought maybe you had some secret place where we could be safe.”

Vinthan looked around the murky forest. “I don’t know why I was holding on that one last hope. I didn’t realise what you were planning was… this ridiculous!”

He laughed gently. “I would never have imagined you to believe in children’s stories Ava. You, who used to mock the others in the village for their superstitions…”

Branu stuttered, at a loss for how to explain. “I’ve seen them son, many years ago,” he tried weakly, “They owe me a favour. I thought they would come…”

Vinthan sighed and shook his head again. But when he looked at his father, Branu noticed the strange moistness in his son’s eyes.

“You really meant what you said didn’t you.”

“What do you mean?” asked Branu.

Vinthan looked down, hiding his eyes, and moved his palms to Branu’s other knee, numbing the pain there.

“You said you would give up your soul for me.”

Branu looked deeply at the young man kneeling beside him.

“You are my son,” he said simply.

Vinthan was quiet for a moment, and then looked at him with a soft expression. He paused, opening and closing his mouth, trying to say something. When he spoke, it was in a choking, restrained voice.

“At least we are here together for a while.” Vinthan’s face was solemn. “Journeying up the mountain, I’ve had some time to think. Something about watching you being your stubborn old self, trudging up that trail like you used to…

“Maybe you were right Ava. I should have stayed here, in the village. I believed myself better than everyone else, I thought I could do as I wished merely because I was smarter, stronger…”

He withdrew his palms and clenched them into fists.

“I don’t want to run any longer. I’m tired.

“I will face them - face my own consequences. I know they will find me here too, I have tried taking refuge in the wild before. But maybe there is a chance for you still Ava, they may not connect you to me. I will do what I can to conceal you...”

His voice dropped. “But for me, there is no more hope.”

Branu reached out for his son’s arm.

“I’m sorry, my child. I wish I had never let you leave. I should have held onto you, but I wasn’t able to stop you. Maybe If I had been more understanding of your desires, more flexible, you would have come back to me sooner...”

Vinthan laughed gently. “I suppose some things stay the same. Feeling like I was being held back was why I left Ava.”

His tone softened even more. “But it wasn’t your fault. I was… different back then. Selfish, arrogant. I understand now why you wanted me to stay, even if I didn’t agree with it. And... I should have returned long ago. I always thought you hated me for leaving… I have been a fool. I hope you can forgive me.

He looked up with a grim expression. “At least I will be able to redeem myself a little before the end, before they find us. I will protect you.”

Branu was not sure what to say. Some things indeed stayed the same; he was as lost for words as ever.

However, a spark awoke in his memories. Before they find us, Vinthan had said.

“Wait, son. Are you quite sure these people can track us all the way to this forest?”

Vinthan nodded firmly. “Whatever I did to cover our steps will only slow them down. They will be here sooner or later.”

“Then there is something else we can try…”

Branu pushed himself up on his feet, wincing at the pain. He recalled, from long, long ago, how his encounter at the temple had ended.

If you speak of this place, there will be consequences.

They didn’t want this place to be found either.Branu waved Vinthan’s protestations down, and screamed into the night.

“Masters, Keepers, have you been listening? Heed me now, for your own sakes!

“We are followed, and our Touch-traces already lead here! They will come seeking us, leaving nothing unturned for their revenge, not even your forest. Your domain will no longer be inviolate!”

Branu gasped and panted, as he laughed at the irony of it.

“Do you hear me? Only by protecting us can you protect yourselves! I beseech you again, hold to your word, or we will all perish together!”

He waited for a minute, while Vinthan clicked his tongue in annoyance. The forest was as still as ever.

It was subtle at first, like the prick of some long forgotten memory. A gentle rumbling entered the world, permeating the air, soaking their skin, invading their heads. Leaves rustled as though in an absent breeze. The feeling had no point of origin - it seemed to come from everywhere at once, like air itself was quaking.

As it had many years ago, the voice spoke, hollow and echoing, like from a deep chasm.

What have you brought Curse Bringers? What follows you to our home?

Branu sank once again to his knees as his bones rattled. Somehow, he found the courage to speak.

“We intended no harm!”, he said quickly, “I only want to protect my son, and I am prepared to pay the price!”

He cleared his throat.

“Long ago, I aided one of your young, when it was lost and helpless. In return, I was pledged your protection should I need it. I pray to you for it now, in my time of need.

“If what the legends say are true, you can wipe all traces of a person’s Touch from the world.

My son is being pursued, and needs a way to hide. I humbly beg you, clear the world of both our Touches so he may never be found! This way you will have nothing to fear, for none will be able to follow him here!”

Branu bowed down and prostrated on the ground, touching his head to the forest floor.

“For this, if you require payment, take my soul! Keep your promise!”

“Ava, no!” Vinthan protested.

The rumbling had kept up all the while, a background ominousness to their speech.

No promises were made. We remember you, who gave shelter to one of our kind, but the one who spoke then does not speak for all of us.

Between the trees, in the shadows within the shadows, Branu spied something enormous moving. A rolling of smooth, rounded shapes, like boulders carved by river waters. It shook the tree tops as it moved. Branches dozens of feet high swayed as they were brushed aside.

The silence was the most unnerving part. There was no whoosh of movement, cracking of wood, or even a whisper of the leaves. Sound was absent, as though Branu was completely deaf to its movement.

It spoke again. No... spoke seemed wrong. A voice simply appeared in his ears. It could have been from next to him, or from a mile away.

And yet… the one whom you sheltered that night, the one to whom you lent your warmth... was I.

Branu’s world spun as he tried to recall the tiny being he had held in its palms, somehow compare it against this titan within the trees, and utterly failed.

You are fortunate I am here. Not all our kind are so charitable as to entertain this conversation.

Vinthan recovered some movement and thrust himself in front of Branu. “Do not take his soul!” he shouted, “I am the one who has brought this, take mine instead!”

There was a pause - an instant where the reverberations wavered. Something new filled the air around them. Somehow, there was a distinctness of identity to it - If the creature in the trees spoke of depths, abyssal and dark, the newcomer sang of thunder, crashing and crackling in the distance.

So eager, they are both! This bodes considering… what say you sister?

The wind howled like a screaming gale, and yet not a single leaf shifted. The response came like a whisper magnified a thousand-fold, and a third voice joined the fray.

They are foolish, ignorant and evil like all of them, and they bring more desolation with them. We should end their lives now!

The air boomed.

No!

The figure from the shadows boomed the single word like avalanches, rockslides and mountains crashing down.

This I will not allow. He showed me kindness once, however small, and I will see it repaid.

The wind’s whisper retreated, as though chided.

There was a hazy calmness to thunder as it crackled now.

Indeed, young one… and they offer their minds so willingly! Valuable, very valuable...

For a while, the depths, the thunder and the winds sounded together in the air. Branu could not tell if they were silent, or conversing in a way far, far beyond him. And then, they came together in some impossible harmony before leaving the world drenched in deafening silence.

The creature beyond the trees sounded its dark voice.

It seems you have pressed our hand in this matter with your foolish intrusion. Out of sympathy for your past, your lives are spared. And as to your pursuers, we will grant what you ask - in a way. We can forever hide your traces, but there is a price.

“You won’t take his soul!” Vinthan stood up with his fists clenched, looking both frightened and brave at once.

The winds shifted and screamed.

Silence, fool, Curse Bringer, Poisoner! Your stories have no meaning to us , we care not for your souls. What blood commands do you possess?

Branu stammered, “You-you mean our Touches? I have heat, only heat but I am old and my Touch is strong!”

Mmm uni-directional thermal control... yes, interesting enough… and you, young one?

“I - I have learnt a great deal. I know several forms of Strength, Light, Water, Air and Heat. Take it all. I want none of it,” he spat.

The voices sank and rose again, each in its distinct flavour but in unison. If they were human, one might have said they drew a breath of excitement.

Yes! Yes! whispered the wind This we can use! This we can decode!

Vinthan spoke again, hesitantly, “The price you spoke of… what is it?”

Your access of course. We need your sequences, your signatures from your blood… but to decode it, understand it, we need to also inspect your minds, taste… mmmm…. How your neurological system has evolved, shaped by your… physiology.

“And this will erase our Touch-signatures, make us untraceable?”

More than that, much more. Destroying your signature means… disruption, disconnection, disentanglement… the portion of your mind with which you reach into the world will be lost. Do you understand the toll now?

Vinthan whispered some complex technical terms that meant nothing to Branu.

“What do they mean?” he asked

Vinthan smiled.

“So the stories are true… I know what they are speaking of Ava. There are said to be ways, ancient ways that are lost now, with which one’s Touch itself may be destroyed. It means the Touch-Tellers can never find me, for they will have nothing to trace.

“It means I will become Untouched - at best. If things go wrong, I will lose my mind, maybe more.”

He looked to the creature in the shadows, and bit his lips. “Do I have your word that you will take only my Touch, and not my soul? I will survive?”

The thunder crackled impatiently.

Keep your foolish legends to yourself human. We have naught to do with your souls. As to your life - we make no assurances as to how your mind, or your body will react to the procedure. Your chances are entirely up to your own fortitude.

“So be it. I will go first.” Vinthan stepped closer to the shadows.

“Son…” whispered Branu, “I will do it. Let me pay the price instead.”

Vinthan shook his head. “You don’t understand Ava… that’s not how the Omnexus works. Either of us can be Touch-traced here, so it has to be us both. But at least I can go first. That way, if I don’t... if it doesn’t work, you have a chance to run. Get away from here and hide.”

He laughed without mirth.

“All my life, I placed myself above everyone else because of my talents. It didn’t matter in the end. I can either be strong, powerful, and fall, or lose that power and… take my chances. If I don’t make it… well I was dead anyway.” He spoke to the voices again. “I accept the price.”

Your acceptance was not an option you were given. The moment you told us of the destruction you bring to this forest, your choice was made. To protect ourselves, we would have taken this measure… or more... either way.

The gigantic figure in the shadows moved a little closer, still bathed in its odd silence. Something extended towards Vinthan - muddy, knobbled roots like that of a fallen tree. Each root ended in branches of minute, sparkling threads.

An image flashed in Branu’s head, a babe he had once held in his palms, and its fingertips of delicate tendrils.

Approach.

Vinthan took a few steps towards the roots. The roots snaked slowly towards Vinthan, wrapping around his arms and his head - and pierced his skin. He cried out in the sharp agony and fell.

Branu screamed and hobbled to his son, almost falling over himself in his urgency. He cradled his unconscious son. The roots withdrew from Vinthan, leaving miniscule punctures on his arms, and crept towards Branu.

The old man hardly noticed their invasion. A pinch on his neck, a brief flash of dizzying darkness, and all was as it was once again, with Vinthan lying unwaking in his arms.

It is done, the creature spoke, We have your sequences.

Vinthan blinked awake, and mumbled in slurred speech.

The path you took to this place has been cleared. Take it and go back the way you came, for you will not find it again. Now leave.

The last utterance was a rolling growl. Abruptly, the undercurrents of all three voices disappeared from the air, leaving the forest in an eerie silence.

Branu rocked his son back and forth and wept.

“I’m fine Ava. I am only slightly dizzy,” Vintha mumbled

“Oh my dear boy, what have they done to you!” Branu wailed.

“I have only lost my Touch Ava, not anything else,” Vinthan whispered hoarsely, “And that strength to keep my own mind, I received from you.”

He sat up looking nauseated, but managed a weak smile.

“How do you feel?” Branu asked in between sobs.

“Like... I’ve lost a limb I didn’t know I had. It feels strange, like the world is somehow shrunken, and crowded…like some truth I knew has been forgotten.”

He turned to his father, and tried to stand up with his help.

“Where do we go from here, Ava? How do we survive without our Touches? We cannot return to the village yet. They may not trace us, but they can still search with their eyes.”

Branu patted his son’s back.

“I’ve told you before, my son,” he said, “Are my own arms not strong enough to carry us both? I know this place well. When I was younger, my heat was never reliable, and I learnt to live here well enough without it.

“We will stay here, the old temple will welcome us awhile. Hopefully your friends won’t think of searching this far up the mountain, and there are enough places to hide here. And then… I’m not sure.”

Vinthan looked into the distance. His eyes were blurry and watery. It could have been the physical ordeal, it could have been something else.

“I have travelled a bit Ava,” he said, “There are villages where Untouched live. Those that were cast out by their own, and could not find a home elsewhere. I have been to one such place. The people there were… happy. As happy as we were when we were younger.”

“Then we will go together, if they will have us. Whatever we have made of our lives, let us at least spend the rest making up for our errors.”

Vinthan nodded wearily. He picked up the torch he had stuck in the ground. Somehow, it was still alive, and its fire burnt bright.

They clung to each other for support and walked out of the darkness.