After just two days of work, I had my first day off. On the last day of the week, most people would not have to go to work. Most stores and the market were also closed by their owners. Everybody relaxed, spent time with their family, and recharged for the next week to come. Not that I needed it after just two days, I thought with a smile.

For the first time in a while, at least consciously, I made my way to the water source in the morning. I wasn’t quite as early as usual and a few people were already there, going about their day. I waved at Zara and Riala in the distance and walked up to the water source. However, as I got closer, and looked at the script, I froze a little. Memories of that morning became vivid in my mind again and I had a hard time stepping closer to the cube.

‘Are you okay?’ Miles asked.

I nodded and slowly stepped closer to fill my tub with water. I’m fine, I told myself. Everything’s fine. Suddenly I was startled by someone dropping their bucket, and I almost fell to the floor in panic. E-everything’s fine... I told myself again as I picked up the tub and walked over to a free spot.

‘I guess it will take a few more days,’ Miles said.

“Hmhm,” I agreed.

‘It will get easier,’ Miles said compassionately. ‘Your new routine is good for you. And in time we’ll be able to resume our experiments.’

I froze again. What did he just say? ... Resume the experiments?

“What do you mean?” I said with a quiet, quivering voice.

Miles was silent, as if he had been surprised by my question.

“We won’t do any more experiments!” I said.

‘Tomar, I—’

“Are you insane? Mother died! She is dead! Because of these stupid experiments! I don’t care if we can have the water sources make it rain or whatever, I’m never going to sneak out to a water source again!”

‘Please listen,’ Miles said. ‘I’m terribly sorry for what happened. But nobody could’ve anticipated that! How often do beasts appear within the walls? Once every few years? It’s not actually that dangerous. And it’s the only way for us to figure out how to get me out of here!’

‘Get me out of here.’ Of course, I thought. He was still stuck inside my mind. An unwilling passenger. Unable to do anything. Had I gotten so used to him in this short amount of time that I had forgotten our situation? Or maybe I didn’t want to remember? He was still looking for a way out. And when he left, I would be...

“... I’m sorry, Miles. I just can’t do it anymore. Maybe... in a few years, when I—”

‘A few years!? You want to keep me prisoner in here!?’

“Of course not! I... I...”

We sat there in silence for a minute while life was going on around us. There were some children playing, some people getting water or doing their laundry; it was a weird scene with me in the middle. Crestfallen and unmoving.

‘Do what you must,’ Miles finally said.

“Really? It’s okay?” I asked carefully, but no response came. Except for a mild headache. Of course it’s not okay.

I felt a rift open between us, but I pushed the feeling away. It will be fine, I thought to myself and went about my day. I washed my clothes, briefly talked with the girls, ate lunch, and eventually leaned back to enjoy a book while relaxing at home.

***

The “History of Alarna” spoke about how the neighboring town to the west, Cerus, had started out as an extension of Alarna. A stone mining camp. Our settlement had been a great place to live, but not many stones could be found around here. The area around Cerus on the other hand was rich in stones, but a lot more rough to live in. With increasing demand for blue and white stones, the importance of the mining camp rose and when they found a ritual platform there, the foreman, Cerus Balart, declared independence and became the town’s first mayor. The control over the stone supply allowed him to broker favorable deals with the Alarna leadership and the two towns came to terms with the new status quo. Cerus would deliver stones, while Alarna supplied the mining town with other necessities that were difficult to find there.

I’ve always wondered why there weren’t more people reading such books. It was so interesting to learn more about where we came from and how this place had come to be. And this was also knowledge you wouldn’t get with any Calling but the Ruler one. Funnily enough, the book also spoke about how that Calling hadn’t been called “Ruler” in the beginning.

For the most part, the first people that stepped onto the ritual platform after it had been discovered received common Callings. Fighters, with their remarkable strength, Handiworkers, gifted at creating things, and Researchers, who impressed with their intellect.

A Calling that came later appeared much less impressive at first. It was called “Waysider” by the settlers, and the person who had received it was a young woman. She appeared clever, cunning even, and she had become stronger than an average human. She was also more intelligent, dexterous, and charming, and she had received knowledge about the world nobody had known before. However, she couldn’t compare to dedicated Callings in any single category. At a time when people were beginning to receive super-human strength and intellect, someone who was only above average was belittled.

People’s perception changed when the young woman gathered a following around her, brought the Fighters under her control, and crowned herself the first ruler of this settlement, Queen Alarna Ragar. She set plans in motion that would shape the town for centuries to come, and it was eventually renamed Alarna, in her honor.

Another particularly interesting chapter was the one about Mad Ones. Ever since the discovery of the ritual platform, there had been only ten recorded instances of them in this town, and the last one had been hundreds of years ago. They appeared to have been more prevalent in the past.

The book included an account of the first time a Mad One had shown itself. A middle-aged man had stepped onto the ritual platform and almost immediately clutched his head in pain. He screamed and pleated for someone to make the voices stop. He had also screamed words nobody understood as he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily and hitting the ritual platform with his bare hands. In an attempt to stop him, both from hurting himself and from damaging the platform, other citizens tried to pin him to the ground. However, the man managed to stay on top for several minutes. He injured and even killed several people, until more capable Fighters arrived and managed to put him down.

After this event, a group of citizens took it upon themselves to oversee the rituals and to protect others from those who were deemed unworthy of receiving Callings by the gods. To them, nobody who was worthy would ever become insane. Nobody favored by the gods would lash out against their fellow settlers after receiving such a blessing. All who did, had to be stopped by any means necessary. For the sake of humanity.

Unfortunately, the book didn’t contain a lot of details and also didn’t go further back than the founding of the settlement. It didn’t speak much about where these “divine instruments” came from, how the water sources were first discovered, or whether there had ever been any research on the scripts. Of course, if it was all god-given, maybe that was all the explanation we needed. The gods willed it and we graciously accepted. However, if that was the case, why did the water sources and the ritual platforms have to be discovered? Why didn’t the gods just hand them to us? I knew I would be thankful if a god came and put a water source in my backyard. Maybe I would even worship them, which they did appear to enjoy. Why then?

***

I closed my book as it got darker and I started preparing dinner. In an attempt to find a compromise with Miles, I started talking about our theories again, even if we couldn’t act on them. He had always been happy when we talked about Omega, and I felt it was the one big thing we had bonded over a little. It also wasn’t as if I had suddenly stopped being curious altogether. If we ever found a safe way to work on this again, I would certainly be interested. Even if it might take years.

“Hey, Miles. About the stones... I was thinking. The scripts don’t define what the mana should turn into, right? What if the stones do that?”

He was silent. Maybe he was still mad, or maybe he was thinking about what I had said. It seemed like a good theory to me. As far as I understood the script, all it did was push mana out of the cube and run a conversion. It didn’t define the form the mana was supposed to take, however. One possibility was that that’s just the only thing a script could produce. However, the ritual platforms used stones as well and their function was entirely different. It was also unlikely that the stones were just some kind of resource these tools needed, because it seemed unnecessary to have more than one color in that case.

As I was thinking this theory over, Miles eventually did respond. ‘I’ve been considering that as well. But it’s not like we’d be able to test it. Even under different circumstances.’

He is still mad. But I didn’t want to give up. “The stone is the input, right? Could the script be activated without one?”

‘No,’ Miles said with a light sigh, ‘the input is the trigger for the script.’

We continued for a while, but even though Miles appeared less cold as the discussion went on, I was sure it wouldn’t be this easy to have him come around. Yet I was hopeful. If we could find a way to live together, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for him. And maybe, one day, we might find a safe way to get him out.

***

The towns’ four guard captains sat in a room and discussed the recent increase in suspicious sightings. “Almost every day my guards report seeing shadows run around the city at night! They’re unnerved, we need to put a stop to it!” one said. “Quite right. I don’t know what’s going on among the citizens, but the amount of activity we’re seeing is highly unusual,” another said.

For the past two weeks there had been sightings, but every time the guards went to investigate, the shadows were already gone. Initially, the first thought on anyone’s minds had been beasts, but there had been no attacks. And even after one beast had appeared and then subsequently been killed, the sightings continued. The simplest explanation for the lack of attacks was that one or more citizens were running around town at night. However, most common guards weren’t exactly the rational kind. They were unnerved enough as is, with the constant threat of beasts looming over their heads, trying to get on the inside of the walls. When shadows now suddenly moved around town in the dark of night as well, that was a little too much. Especially when these shadows were never caught and would seemingly disappear into nothing.

“I understand your concerns,” the captain of the eastern guard station said, “but do you have any actual suggestions? You know very well that we don’t have the manpower to monitor the entire town.”

“As most reports come from the eastern side,” the northern captain said, “don’t you think it an overstatement to speak of the entire town? Maybe only one of us here needs to finally get up and do something.”

“I would agree with the sentiment, Lera,” the southern captain said. “It is your district and enforcing the curfew is part of your job. I didn’t think you this incapable.”

“Maybe we can wait until we know more before we start pointing fingers,” Captain Lera said. “The people might as well be coming from your districts and just come over because they enjoy mine so much more.”

Two captains chuckled, while the last one grimaced. There was a constant rivalry among the guard captains and they rarely saw eye-to-eye. Only when the time to fight came, would they stand side-by-side. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who you asked, there hadn’t been any threats dangerous enough to warrant the combined strength of the entire Alarna military in years.

“I will make a concession,” Captain Lera said. “I will increase patrols in the areas where the shadows were reported to appear the most. With any luck, we might catch someone who can tell us more about what they’re doing and where they’re coming from.”

All of the guards accepted and continued on to the enjoyable part of the evening. Getting drunk and arguing with each other.