A guard walked atop the town wall on his patrol. It was late into the night, well past curfew, and his surroundings were only dimly lit by the light of the moon.

He looked eastward across the fields, where a small shadow scuttled around just outside a dense forest, when another, much larger shadow launched out from the trees’ cover and killed the critter in a single bite.

The beast’s eyes glowed a faint red as it vaguely looked in the direction of the walls, before carrying its prey into the forest. Not an unusual occurrence. You would see such scenes regularly from atop the walls, particularly at night. And yet it always unnerved the guard.

From time to time, the beasts would approach the walls, looking for a way in. And these were the times when the guards were scared for their lives.

The walls were believed to be impenetrable, and with a height of over ten meters, nothing would get over them easily. But it would happen. And when it did, a single guard would rarely stand a chance.

While the guard was still looking at the forest, he was startled by a noise. However, it hadn’t come from outside the wall, but from within town. He looked around and saw a shadow zigzag through the small pathways between residences.

The guard quickly reported the incident to his superior, before returning to his patrol. A team of guards was assembled to check the area where the shadow had been seen, as well as the area it had been headed towards. However, they came up empty; the shadow was gone.

***

Mother hadn’t been mad for long. While I had paid almost ten times the normal price for a tomato, it was still just one tomato. To my surprise, she was more mad at Miles than me.

While everyone is susceptible to being tricked by Charmers, Adults are expected to be more resistant to them. With the Calling ritual came not only knowledge, but also a sense of life experience. My mother hadn’t fully considered the consequences of the failed ritual. Though she figured that Miles would at least keep an eye on me, should I attempt to do something stupid.

“‘How was I supposed to know how much a tomato costs...?’” came his reply to my mother questioning him, which she could hardly argue against. Miles still knew very little about this world, and certainly nothing about the prices of fruits and vegetables. Although I wasn’t sure he really would’ve cared, seeing how fixated he was on getting another test subject.

With a sigh, my mother had given us a rundown of what we could expect everyday items to cost and what kinds of tricks merchants typically tried to pull. She was thorough, and Miles promised her that he would pay attention from now on. However, I decided to stay away from that part of town if I could avoid it. Who knows what might happen next time.

Like most mornings, I was currently on my way to the water source. Unlike most mornings, a little girl was hopping beside me. She lived in the neighborhood and once a week I would help with their family’s laundry, when her big sister had to go to work early. Riala was a sweet girl that would go up to anyone and strike up a conversation. I had barely known her when she came over one day, while I was doing laundry. She asked me straight up whether I would help her, a bright smile on her face. I couldn’t imagine anyone ever saying no to her.

“Tomar, why did you cuddle with the water source?” she asked on the way. “Sis called you a weirdo.”

That’s hard to explain... I thought. I hoped she’d just forget about what had happened, but apparently I had been mistaken. “‘What do you think?’” Miles and I said. Maybe she would come up with a reasonable explanation for what she had seen herself.

Riala tilted her head this way and that, thinking it over. “Dunno,” she said with a light frown.

I would have to be careful what I told people, but I was suddenly very curious what her reaction to the truth would be. What would I think if someone told me?

“Can you keep a secret?” I asked her.

“Of course!” came her immediate response, accompanied with a smile.

‘Uh, Tomar?’ Miles tried to interject, but I ignored him.

I told Riala that I was researching the water sources. That I was trying to figure out how they worked. Drawing sigils was something many kids would do when they were younger, even though it was frowned upon. Especially by the priests. Messing around with the water sources on the other hand was illegal. They were a vital resource and if they were to be damaged, entire areas of the town might suddenly be without easy access to fresh water.

I thought she would probably soon go to school at the temple, meet other kids, and learn about the sigils. And then, maybe, try drawing them herself. Not that it would do anything. Surprisingly, she had done so already. “I drew it on the wall at our house, but nothing happened! I hate getting up early to do laundry,” she said, displeased.

Riala’s parents weren’t alive anymore. Her mother had been a colleague of my father’s and died the same night he did. Her father had died of an unknown illness only a few months ago. Since then, her sister, Zara, had taken care of her alone. She had subsequently started getting Riala used to the daily chores she would become responsible for.

“Can you make us a water source?” she asked with hopeful eyes.

“Not yet,” I said, “but maybe soon.”

“Yay!” she exclaimed.

I sounded more confident than I really was. And I didn’t think that it had been a good idea to tell anyone. Why had I told her?

“Uhm, Riala?”

“Hm?” she said, tilting her head.

“Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Of course not, promise!”

She was just a little girl. I convinced myself that it would be fine. But why had I suddenly been so careless?

***

‘You think that was a good idea?’ Miles asked after I had gotten Riala back home.

“I don’t.”

‘You did it though.’

“You think I didn’t notice?”

I was in a bad mood about my slipup. However, Riala’s reaction stuck with me. She was overjoyed by the possibility of having a water source to her own. That would probably be the reaction of most people. No trugging to the square early in the morning. No long wait times just because you got there too late. It would be a dream come true.

A knock on the front door broke the ensuing silence in the house. The cause of the knock was a guard in dark light armor and silver chainmail, a spear in hand.

“Morning,” he said curtly. “There was an incident last night and we’re questioning the citizens, making sure everyone is okay. Also, we would appreciate any information you may have, should you have seen or heard anything.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“There was a suspicious sighting. That is all we can confirm at this time.”

I hadn’t noticed anything. Nor had Mother or Riala mentioned anything. My response made the guard sigh. If he was questioning everyone in this part of town, he had probably been at it for a while already. And he had a way to go yet.

“Alright,” he said. “Have a good day. And if you do notice anything, please report it at a guard station.”

“Of course,” I said. I wished him a good day in return and closed the door. “Hey, Miles. You’re awake at night, right? Did you hear anything?”

‘There were noises last night, but it sounded like guards,’ he said.

That was probably when they had initially been looking into the incident. I hoped there wasn’t a beast in town. According to the stories though, in the past, the beasts had gone straight for the first humans they saw. They didn’t try to hide.

Through a window I could see the guard walk over to our neighbors and I resumed my chores. “If I had gotten a Fighter Calling, I could protect people,” I said to no one in particular.

‘Unsatisfied, are we?’ Miles responded.

“I didn’t mean it like that. But—”

‘Yea, yea. I know what you mean,’ he said. ‘Would that have been so great though? Honorable, maybe, but you’d be putting your life on the line every day.’

He was right that the job was dangerous. But the town could use more Fighters. My father and Riala’s mother had died because there hadn’t been enough guards on patrol. It had taken minutes until they arrived at the scene. I didn’t necessarily wish to be a guard, but if I had become one, maybe I could’ve made a difference. Not to mention that guards were paid quite well for their services.

Later that day I saw the guard make his way back in the direction of the main street. He had apparently finished his round. I struck up a conversation with him, but he hadn’t learned anything new. The incident would most likely be declared resolved for the moment, under the assumption that someone had been outside past curfew. This wouldn’t go unpunished if you were caught, but it was primarily about protecting the citizens. If you were to surprise a guard in the middle of the night, they might think you a beast and accidentally injure or even kill you. Worse, you might encounter a beast, should one make it into town.

Beasts were apparently rarely seen near town during the day. It was only in the late afternoon that they would start approaching the walls. Maybe to hide in the darkness.

The news of this incident had already made the rounds when my mother came home. She had heard all about it from customers and passersby. As she had done so often after Father died, she made me promise not to leave the house at night.

“I won’t, mom,” I assured her.

That evening, I had trouble concentrating on my book, the “History of Alarna.” It wasn’t exactly a page-turner, but I found it interesting nonetheless. The first settlers had come here in search of a new water source, when the one in their previous village had stopped working. What they found was not only one water source, but several, relatively close to each other. That had made this area ideal for a settlement that could keep growing.

Another discovery that had excited them was the ritual platform. The second “divine instrument” in recorded history, after the water sources. It’s function was quickly discovered after people tried placing stones on it, and it essentially became the basis for our society.

Instead of this history, which might be of actual use to me, I was thinking about Omega. What we had tried so far and how we were running out of options. Until I had an idea, while my eyelids were already growing heavy and my eyes began to close.