"Hey kid, do you want to play a game?" Andrew asked as he took a beef skewer from above the raging fire and threw more wood into it. The duo decided to set up camp for the night in a nearby forest, and were eating some meat that Andrew had bought at a town before going to get Caspian.
"For…bonding purposes, seeing as we're going to be living with each other from now on" he added as he ripped off a piece of meat from the skewer and scarfed it down.
"Sure" Caspian answered as he laid down on the log he was using as a bench.
"Here's the rules: Firstly, we each ask each other one question at a time. Secondly, if you don't want to answer a question, then you can say "strike" and we will skip the question. Lastly, we each have 3 strikes, but if either one of us uses all 3 strikes, then the game is over" Andrew said as Caspian listened intently.
"I'll let you go first," said Andrew with a smile.
"Alright then. Why did you buy me out of slavery?" Caspian asked, staring into Andrews brown eyes.
"Hahaha" Andrew laughed with a grin plastered on his face. "Well, it's because I'd like to start a family, even an unconventional one. Since I am hopeless with women, adoption is the only way really." he chuckled as he finished the remainder of the meat on the skewer and threw the stick into the fire.
"My turn" he grinned as he too leaned back on his respective log.
"So, where did you learn to play the violin? Or rather, who taught you?" asked Andrew.
"My father," Caspian quickly answered, looking at the ground.
It's a sensitive topic for the kid, thought Andrew as he noticed the change in Caspian's mood.
"So um, it's your turn now" Andrew laughed, trying to lighten the mood.
"So why are you as hopeless with women as you say? You are attractive as far as I can tell. Don't tell me you are not interested in women?" Caspian said with a smirk to a flustered Andrew.
"Well, I will be definitely skipping that one" he answered, surprised at what Caspian had said, yet thankful that he was looking more lively now. Children can be so cruel, he thought as he looked up into the night sky.
"So, how did you end up at the orphanage in the first place? What about your fami-" "Strike" Caspian coldly said as he cut Andrew off.
What had this kid been through to be so sensitive about it? Andrew wondered. Most slave children carried scars from being torn from their families, but this felt different. This wasn't just trauma, it was something deeper.
"It's getting pretty late, we should get some sleep." Andrew said as he pulled out 2 sleeping bags from his trench coat and handed one to Caspian. Even though the game hadn't ended, they would have plenty of time to talk tomorrow, seeing as their destination was a few days worth of traveling away.
"How much can you store in your trench coat. First meat and now sleeping bags?" Caspian asked skeptically.
"Haha that is courtesy of my friend Beatrice." Andrew answered as he snuggled into his sleeping bag and looked up at the stars.
"But how, even an expert seamstress couldn't just add carrying capacity to your clothing." Caspian protested.
"Hey kid, have you ever heard of magic?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah in those children's novels with fairies" Caspian answered.
"No, real magic" Andrew said wistfully.
"Huh?!" asked a shocked Caspian as he sat up and looked Andrew in the eye.
"Your joking right? Magic is fictional! It can't possibly exist" Caspian protested.
"I think not" Andrew said, sitting up as well.
"Do you want to see something magical?" Andrew grinned as he extended his hand and turned his palm towards the sky.
As soon as he did this, a hole in the night sky began to open, a sliver of the sun's light peeking through the blanket of darkness to shine on Andrew's palm. "What!" exclaimed a shocked Caspian as he looked up at the sky, then down at Andrew's palm in amazement.
A calm Andrew put a finger to his lips, signaling Caspian's silence.
"Now watch this" he whispered as the light on his palm began to clump together into a sphere of light. The sphere began to spin, faster and faster, eventually growing larger and larger, then erupting into a blinding light.
Caspian saw nothing but blinding white. The light was overwhelming. Was he dead? he wondered. Was this heaven? Slowly, the glare faded, revealing a small figure made entirely of light dancing in Andrew's palm.
The tiny man sprinted up Andrew's arm, dove into his hair, slid back down, and flipped neatly into his left hand. Then, with a playful leap, it landed on Caspian's shoulder, scurried up his head, slid down his arm, and vaulted back into Andrew's palm, finishing its strange acrobatics.
"Pretty cool right?" boasted a proud Andrew as Caspian sat in shock.
He'd never seen anything like this before. This was the type of thing that he had only read in books, and now the sun incarnate was reclining on Andrew's arm.
"It's certainly...interesting" said a bewildered Caspian.
"How rude" a tiny voice said.
"Huh?" asked Caspian as he looked around, searching for who said that.
"Down here!" yelled the tiny man sitting on Andrew's arm.
"Y-you said that?" asked Caspian, confused.
"Do you see any other tiny sun puppet around?" asked the tiny man annoyed.
"I was saying how rude of you to merely call me interesting! The nerve of this kid, am I right Andrew?" asked the tiny man, looking up at Andrew for confirmation, but Andrew only shrugged.
"It's his first time seeing magic, cut the kid some slack" Andrew asked.
"Since you are but a naive little boy, I shall allow your impudence for now. However beware that the great Camael shall strike you down if you continue this rude behavior young man!" Camael said as he wagged his finger at Caspian in disappointment.
"What's so great about you anyway? Just seems like you're a little toy that Andrew made." Caspian said as he picked Camael up from Andrew's palm with 2 fingers and began to toss him up and down.
"AHHH! STOP IT! LET ME DOWN!" Camael screamed while struggling in the air.
Finally after a few seconds of Camael's "torture", Caspian put him back on Andrew's hand, to which he immediately vomited after touching stable ground.
"Why in the world did you make me so damn small Andrew?" yelled Camael as he kicked Andrew's arm with his tiny legs.
"Because I am quite tired, and it was just a demonstration" Andrew said as he soothed Camael.
"Demonstration my ass" muttered Camael as he jumped off Andrew's arm to rest on a tiny stick.
"Isn't it a little past your bedtime kid?" Camael said with an annoyed sigh.
"Yeah kid he's right, we should get some sleep. We're going to be on the road for a long time tomorrow." Andrew said as he laid his head down.
"Where are we going?" asked Caspian as he too laid his head down.
"We're going to Nimerath, the city of riches"
Later that night
Caspian cracked his eyes open and gazed up at the night sky. Its usual starry shimmer had vanished, replaced by a churning sea of inky black, swirling overhead like smoke in water. He'd risen for a drink, but when he glanced around to ask Andrew for some water, both he and Camael were nowhere to be found.
They probably we're at the lake themselves, he thought, justifying their disappearance as mere coincidence. Can Camael even drink, or eat? He is made of the sun, so maybe he just needs some sunlight as food, he wondered as he made his way to a nearby lake.
However, even at the lake, Andrew and Camael were nowhere to be found. And it wasn't just their sudden disappearance that unsettled him, it was the silence. Normally, there would be the occasional car on the road; perhaps not often, given how impoverished this part of the country was.
But still, there should've been something: footsteps on the worn paths, birdsong, the rustling of leaves stirred by the wind. There was nothing, not even when his stepped on a brittle leaf. When it cracked it made no sound.
"Andrew! Camael! Where are you?!" he shouted.
At least my voice still works, he thought, slightly reassured. But it doesn't seem like I can reach them from here. He knelt by the lake and dipped his hands into the water. For now, let me at least get a drink, he mused, cupping his hands and bringing the water to his lips. It tasted plain, yet refreshing, especially after going days without a single drop.
"Tasty right?" a mysterious voice asked.
"Andrew? Camael? Is that you?" Caspian shouted into the forest.
"Have you not been taught any manners? It's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you" the voice said, now behind Caspian. He turned around to see a large black glob of what appeared to be ink levitating inches above the lake.
"Who, no, rather what the hell are you?" Caspian asked, utterly bewildered by what stood before him.
"A-and where are Andrew and Camael?" he shouted, his voice cracking with urgency. Had this thing taken them? No, probably not. Andrew never struck him as someone who could be overpowered so easily.
"Follow me," the dark mass replied, its voice like oil sliding over glass, as it began to drift from the surface of the lake. Its gooey, amorphous body twisted and reformed, slowly shifting into something vaguely human.
The blob began gliding back toward the campsite, its movements eerily fluid. As it reached the edge, it extended a hand, and with a snap of its fingers, a golden silhouette shimmered into view of Andrew and Camael, both resting peacefully. With another snap, the image vanished.
"Happy now?" the creature asked, clearly irritated.
"Yes," Caspian replied, exhaling with relief. At least they were safe.
"So... what are you doing here? And where are we?" he asked cautiously.
"Well, to answer your second question—we're in your dream," the creature said. "Your first question... is a bit more complicated."
"How can we be in my dream?" Caspian asked, confused. In all the books he'd read and stories he'd heard, he'd never encountered anything like this.
"I see... you haven't been informed," the creature murmured, settling into a seated position with an odd sort of grace.
"Informed about what?" Caspian asked, lowering himself to sit as well.
"Here, take some tea," the creature offered.
With a wave of its hand and a sharp snap of its fingers, two steaming cups of tea appeared—one in its oddly-shaped hand, and the other now resting in Caspian's. Of all the things Caspian had imagined himself doing in life, having a tea party with an ink monster wasn't one of them.
"Tell me," the creature said, lifting its cup, "have you been sick these past few months?"
"How do you know that?" Caspian asked, his expression tightening, the relief quickly giving way to suspicion.
"And... have you been falling unconscious recently?" the creature continued, its tone calm but unyielding.
Caspian said nothing. His silence, and the way his gaze dropped to the tea in his hands, spoke for him.
"Maybe this will jog your memory" the creature said.
Its dark, inky form began to shimmer as the blackness slowly faded, revealing the warm tones of human skin. The shape shifted with measured precision as its limbs took form, posture aligning until it resembled the figure of a woman, composed and still.
A short black dress with an embroidered symbol of a giant scaled blue serpent emerged with her, its fabric catching no light, as though retaining a trace of the shadow that had shaped her. Her presence was quiet yet commanding, an eerie grace radiating from a being sculpted out of darkness.
"Do you remembe—" she began, but her words were cut short as Caspian seized her throat and slammed her against the tree with blinding speed. His sharp nails dug into the neck as it began to bleed, yet his force was unrelenting.
"Who the hell sent you?" he demanded, his eyes burning with fury. "I'll kill you right here, right now. Speak woman!"
"Ezra," she rasped, barely managing the word through the pressure of his grip.
At the sound of that name, Caspian froze. Then, without a word, he released her, letting her collapse to the ground, gasping for breath.
"What does he want?" he asked, his back now turned to her, voice lower but no less tense.
"He asked me to deliver a message," she said hoarsely, still recovering from the assault.
"Then speak," Caspian snapped, irritated.
"Remember your mission," she said at last. "Kill Andrew Grayson."