For all the open sky I see,

Nothing more appeared,

Nothing heaven sent.

I question where heaven may be,

It seems to me so weird,

That no mater where I went,

The choice of mine was key,

To walk away or cry a tear,

To find a heaven for myself.

Author

..................Column Break..................Over the next week myself and Mari take some odd jobs around the town. It seems that Oliver and a group of men in purple cloaks are everywhere. One constantly avoids us and the other seems to be trying to hinder us in the name of chivalry and love. Unfortunately, Oliver is well connected and popular. Mari and I are either being asked to accept his advances or harassed by jealous and starry-eyed women. Our room has been pre-payed for the foreseeable future and no-one seems willing to let us leave the city walls. We could just sneak out, but I don't want to break any laws and risk being hunted again. I also want to know what is going on with the men in cloaks.

We have taken to delivery quests as they not only give us a reason to leave suddenly but also allows us to find information on Oliver and our mysterious lord. Suoh seems to find the whole situation hilarious. "A prodigious merchant in love seems more dangerous than a kraken!" He says grinning on the day he leaves.

It turns out Oliver got rich because he had a friend who became a mage and discovered a cheaper way to make magical preservation devices. He bought up as much of the materials required for the device as possible and when the discovery went public he made a huge amount selling the materials. He now owns several warehouses in the city with the devices and sells out of season or exotic goods that became unavailable months ago. He sells spare space in the devices to various merchants. Due to being born and based in this area and having come from a poor but respectable background he has become a folk hero for the people here.

As the week ends I try to pay our innkeeper for the extension on our stay but we are vehemently refused. "Oliver has more than payed for any extension." She states. The next day Mari runs off to play with a young girl who I remember is the daughter of a blacksmith as I go off to look for something to do. I scan over the request board and see a strange one that requests fresh meat, nightshade and a number of other equally strange and suspicious things. Even though the request is given by an anonymous person I recognise the address as the same one that gave the cloaks request.

Within hours I have all the requested items thanks to Suoh and indirectly Oliver and am standing at the door of the mansion. I knock thrice, and the lord's son opens the door. "I have the delivery." I tell him and he nods. "My father said I am not allowed to disturb him but that your delivery should go straight to him, so I guess you should go alone. I will go back to my books." He sighs gesturing to a door as he walks away and disappears around a corner. This family is strange.

I approach the door and hear voices through it. "You idiot. You posted the request on the board. How is that discreet?" The voice is whispered but too filled with anger to be quiet. The noble I talked to replies. "The request was anonymous, and I do plenty of strange things anyway. This will not affect the ritual." I don't risk waiting any longer as the box in my arms is heavy. I knock on the door and announce the delivery.

I feel like the noble I mentioned is the best chance of getting to the bottom of the group's activities. I have the perfect excuse for him lined up already. "I am sorry to interrupt," I say as I walk into the room "but it seems your friend here is preparing for a dark themed feast for the upcoming full moon and this high quality beef must get to the freezer's as soon as possible. I ensured it was stored separately from the nightshade decorations for you my lord." He seems slightly bewildered as his companion's nod to verify the story. I am given the cost of the request and directions to the larder. As I leave I hear them let out a collective sigh. I finally reach the larder, put down the box and notice a strange door. I walk up to the door and step through it. I may as well explore a little.

The door leads down some stairs to a secret passage and I realise how I have been evaded all this time. I walk down the dusty corridor until I reach a large room with a complex pentagram on the floor and passages leaving in all directions. This may have been the hub of an old sewer system. A small hole can be seen in the celling and directly above an alter. Light would only hit the alter on the solstice. I shake my head. There is another time the light would strike it. In two nights time the moon will be at its highest. The ritual will occur an hour after sunset two days hence.

I may have also used the time it took to walk here and the incredibly specific deadline on the quest to come to the same conclusion. I need to find another way here and the best I can think of is to look down another passage. I pick the one that I estimate heads in the direction of the inn and start walking. The passage ends up in a small shop in the slums. The sleepy accountant doesn't even react as I walk out of the wrong door and fixes me with an annoyed glare. "If you don't want a loan from the shark gang, leave." I am surprised they have any customers but with the interest they charge I don't think it matters that no-one who isn't desperate comes here. I apply for the smallest possible loan of five coppers. I need an excuse to come back.

The next two days are relatively lazy although Oliver seems to be trying harder than before. Mari has been enjoying her time playing with the blacksmiths daughter I have also enjoyed relaxing during the day and conversing with various people. At the end of the days I walk down to the loan shark and pay back my silver. I leave through the other door and stroll down the corridor. I cover myself in illusion to hide. I am late for the start of the ritual but only by a little bit. The large room is filled with chanting. 5 people stand on the corners of the pentagon as a 6th stands over the alter. Blood from the meat flows along the ritual circle. The sluggish liquid seems to glow slightly like lava as it fills the indents. The chanting raises in volume. The purple cloaks look surprisingly earie despite them appearing comical in any other situation.

Slowly the moonlight creeps from the wall of the room to it’s centre. Eventually it hits the very edge of the alter. A swirling maelstrom of magical energy condenses in the centre of the room and everything shakes slightly. The chanting raises to a crescendo and instantly is cut off. The cultists around the edge of the circle collapse simultaneously and a portal is ripped open to reveal a plain of ash and fire covered with pieces of mist and bordered by a wide, slow moving river. Strange creatures wander the plains. “Behold the daemon realm!” cries the cultist to the silent room. Tears of blood fall from his face. I recognise the place. It is no realm of daemons but of Apophis a serpent god of chaos and death. That is a doorway to the heavens. A way back home.

A creature approaches the portal. This is bad. I can’t let Apophis or any from that domain into the world of the mortals. It would cause death and pain even if it doesn’t call its brothers. I step into the room and the cultist turns. “You are my first sacrifice. Take her my daemon.” He cries. The creature crushes him to the ground as it comes through. “Those fallen to Apophis will not pass by me.” I cry. Foxfire flows through the room and the beast screams on contact with the flames. It jumps towards me but is tossed back through the portal and left broken on the other side. I stand in a cocoon of blue flames.

I don’t have long to make the choice I have left unmade for centuries should I stay within the world of the gods or the mortals. I think back to my family with their playful kindness and Inari who helps countless people. I also think of those I befriended there. The sleepy god of sheep and the rivalry with Hermes and the silent spirits that flow through the place. I also picture the bad. The arrogance of the gods. The bitter rivalry and constant conflicts. The friends and family killed by the whims of gods.

I then think of the mortal realm: The little villages I watched over before they burned in the war, the captain, the merchants and travellers that shared stories on the road, the dwarfs that I drank with in the rusty boar and Mari. In either case I am not needed and in both I am wanted. I do have the letter. However, that is no more than an arbitrary goal to be dropped or delayed at my convenience. None would be the wiser. I almost think it is funny that the last words of a dying man to his brother has become no more than an arbitrary goal. I shake my head. I guess I should read the letter. I had only not out of professional courtesy.

Another beast of bone and scales jumps at the portal. I casually stop it mid stride with one hand and turn it to ash with blue fire. I unfold the letter from my pocket.

Dear brother,

I hear you are doing well in the pursuit of the magical arts and will soon become strong. You have made your family proud. Please remember us always but don’t sacrifice anything on our account. Know that we respect any decision you make. I heard you were homesick but ask that you stay where you have the greatest potential for happiness.

I regret to inform you that Gosu died due to a blow to the head a few weeks ago. I know you didn’t like him much but please try to respect him in death.

I hear you plan to become a journeyman after your education is complete. Wandering the world sounds like fun. Watch out for goblins though. There are countless people out there with countless stories. I hope you tell me the best of them and make many friends on the way.

It would be awesome if you become a famous mage so I can brag about my little brother. Don’t worry if you can’t.

The letter isn’t signed and was probably never finished.

I think back to the captains parting words “The wind may blow but the set of the sails and the fire in the heart chooses where you go.” I also recall the departure from the caravan.

““All things come to an end.” I say. “Better to let it end now or we may want it to last forever.”” I have made my choice.

Get out of my head.