Chapter 1

As a child, Eldric could not imagine himself as anything other than a burden, destined for starvation and the streets. He reached this understanding repeatedly, and only when he reached adulthood did he reconsider. Before that, he had no concept of a future; he dreamed only of the present, and believed that his condition was everlasting. For him, and the adults around him, potential was a gift Eldric was not fortunate enough to be born with. Perhaps it seemed easier that way. You cannot waste what is not valuable. It was fact, not just his opinion, that he did not have an easy childhood, and for that reason — among others — he was shaped into a person of unusual qualities. But before that, his earliest memories consisted of living with his aunt.

Eldric’s parents died before his third year. He knew little about them except that they were nothing special. His father was a day labourer, and his pay compared closer to a serf than a journeyman. Upon their deaths, Eldric lived with his mother’s brother and wife, but only a year later, his mother’s brother died. Already financially challenged, Eldric’s living conditions only devolved. Unable to properly feed and clothe her own many children, let alone another, Eldric grew up hungry and cold.

It was during his sixth year that he was put to work. His aunt, Agnes, lived on a small farm and there was lots to do for a young boy. That day was in the off-season on the farm; no planting or harvesting, but still plenty of work. He woke with the sun and spent the morning feeding the livestock. Like yesterday, and the day before, he would not receive breakfast until he was done his work. By early afternoon, he felt faint, but continued his task of bailing hay. This week had been especially hard for Agnes. Taxes were due, and the task of bailing the hay for the Ruler’s men to claim fell upon Eldric. His muscles ached, but he knew that if Agnes caught him stalling it would ensure rough beratement, albeit not lashes. He was grateful she rarely hit him, and that was only when he hid.

The hay was coarse on his skin, and the dust got in his nose and mouth making him cough and sweat like a sick pig. His arms groaned with each handful of hay. His arms had shrunk considerably, and he’d already become skinnier then before. Compared to his cousins, he was the runt. Agnes’s distaste trickled down to her children, and unlike her, they had little restraint. Sometimes, on days that were particularly mundane, they would throw rocks, or pick him up and toss him from the rafters of the barn into the hay piles. Other times they would form a circle around him, and whenever he attempted to get up and escape they’d push him back into the centre. When he was a year younger he sprained an ankle. He couldn’t stand without assistance and it took a full month to heal. The first week, every time Eldric saw Agnes she was in tears. At first, Eldric thought she had some remnants of motherly pity towards him, but she pitied only the lost labour.

His arms scratched at the hay. He crushed it down and bound it. Pausing to catch his breath he became light headed. It was almost afternoon and he had yet to have a sip of water. He reached out to lean against the wall of the barn, but his hand slipped. He fell to the ground and closed his eyes. After what felt like a moment, but was closer to half an hour, Agnes was there. She picked him up by the pits of his arms and gave him some water. He blinked his eyes open and stared at her face. Her eyes were stern, but Eldric thought he could see a glimmer of remorse.

"What am I going to do with you, Eldric?" She asked. Eldric stared back at her. She stood back up and rubbed her forehead. Letting out a deep sigh, she told him to get back up. Eldric struggle for a moment, but Agnes grabbed his arm and lifted him to his feet. She urged him back towards the hay and he continued to bale.

After he sprained his ankle, his cousins were more careful in their torment. Older, and more creative, they used words to taunt him. They called him unlovable, a burden, and other cruel words they’d picked up from adults. Of everything they said, what hurt him the most was when they said he would never account to anything. Something about that sentiment battled against his very soul. He wished nothing more than to prove them wrong, but standing up to them was impossible. Every act of rebellion was faced with an onslaught of labour as punishment from Agnes, and as his torment grew, so did his anger and resentment.

When he was eleven, the anger that had once driven him was gone. He spent his childhood serving Agnes, and with every passing year with no change, the less Eldric believed it possible. For a few years, especially during the winter, Eldric developed a habit of seclusion. When he wasn’t working, he was alone. Agnes called him strange, but he saw it a different way; he saw himself as a philosopher. When he was alone with his thoughts, both working and not, he contemplated life. His favourite subject was the never-ending. On days that were particularly hard he thought about his never-ending servitude, or his lack of future. Other times he thought about Agnes.

For years, she had been the closest thing to a mother to him. Of course, Eldric knew little of what that meant. Agnes was not motherly, not towards her own children, and definitely not towards him. At night Eldric would overhear her crying. She cried often, especially when Eldric was younger. Sometimes she would talk about his uncle, but that just devolved into more tears. Whenever she did talk about his uncle, she always had that same look on her; a look Eldric only understood when he sprained his ankle.

When he was on his twelfth year, Agnes ordered him to head to the closest village and sell a pig. It was his eldest cousin who would always travel to trade livestock, but for reasons unknown to Eldric, it was up to him today. He had only left Agnes’s farm a handful of times, but with clear direction and a path he could find the way. Eldric started north towards West Parthyle, dragging the pig behind him with a lead. West Parthyle was a small city, but the closest. It had a market where farmers would trade goods, and was the primary attraction of the city. Farmers flocked from the Union of Antheros, Sternia, and infrequently traders from the other side of the Feparian Spine.

It took him the morning, but by early afternoon he had arrived. The market spread across the entire village. It was the peak season, and booths had spread much further than the paved ground. Impromptu streets appeared in the paths around the stalls, all thick with packed mud. Each stall had white and coloured woollen tops and nailed together wooden boards, four to eight people working behind, bartering and haggling with each passing trader. The market was full with sounds of animals, people bustling, hagglers yelling prices, and small boys running through the streets. Tugging on the lead, Eldric carved a path through the packed streets. The smell of mud and unwashed bodies radiated through the spring air, but was lessened with smells of hot bread, beeswax candles, and lavender.

Through the crowd, Eldric spotted the booth. He pushed through the crowd and approached the closest of five workers chopping and selling ham. Eldric straightened his back and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, I’d like to sell a pig. I’ve been sent by Agnes," Eldric introduced, lowering his voice an octave.

"Agnes, eh?" The man glanced over at the pig. "I can cut you a deal." He exited from behind the booth and squatted down to the pig. He examined from back to front. Carefully, he lifted a finger to the eye of the pig. Pulling the eyelid up, he frowned.

"This pig is sick. It’s not safe to eat. Sorry kid, no deal." Eldric shakes his head.

"Sir, you don’t understand. It can’t be sick. I was told I would be able to sell it to you!"

"Sorry kid." The man stood up and returned behind the booth. Eldric stammered, but the man was already beginning a conversation with another customer. Agnes’s words ringed in Eldric’s head. If he can’t sell this pig, he would not be welcome back home.

Eldric yanked the lead and turned back. Continuing his way through the market, he spent the afternoon talking to each vendor that so much as looked at ham or pigs. With each, it was the same story — sick pig, no deal. One vendor took pity and offered him two dozen eggs. As evening set in, the day market vendors begun to close up shop. As the sun set, Eldric was sitting with his back against a tree a hundred meters from where the night market was being set up. Tears rolled down his face. He was supposed to sell the pig and use a portion for food and boarding for the night, but it was too late. His stomach grumbled. He ate his small portion of food on the walk here, and that was hours ago. Eldric stood. During the course of his life he had never stolen, due to both fear of the consequences and the lack of opportunity.

The sun had set, and the shadows covered enough ground for Eldric to sneak. He tiptoed towards the night market. Lit lanterns hung from each stall, now rid of produce and crafts and replaced with knickknacks, herbs, and strange liquids in odd shaped glass bottles. The paths were packed with cloaked figures, and the haggling was all in whispers. Eldric pressed his body against the back side of the closest, keeping out of the lantern light. There was a small bag on the ground a meter away. He reached out, glancing up to ensure no one noticed. Carefully pulling his arm back, he retrieved the bag. Like a cat, he reversed, step by step until he was out of ear shot.

He opened the drawstring of the bag. Inside was a handful of empty glass bottles, a bronze ring, a stone disk, and a candle. Nothing edible. Eldric threw the bag to the ground and kicked it. He wanted to yell, but he could still be overheard. Clutching his stomach he trudged back to the tree where his sick pig lounged. Upon arrival, the pig was gone. Eldric ran and examined the lead that was tied to the tree. It was cut.

If it were winter, he would have frozen overnight. In the morning he arose early, his body aching from the cold grass he slept on. With nothing to his name, he traipsed home. By afternoon he was on the brink of collapse. Shaking like a leaf, he opened the door to the farm house and stepped in. Agnes appeared immediately from the kitchen. He explained what had happened as best as he could, but Agnes wouldn’t hear a word of it. She ripped off her apron and threw it against the wall.

"You idiot boy! How could you have been so stupid. You’ll pay for this." Eldric took a step back. She had never threatened him before. Her eyes were blazing, and she glanced down at her hand. In it was the knife she was using for dinner preparation. Eldric turned around and leaped out the door, but Agnes caught him by the collar mid-jump. She threw him to the ground and stepped over him.

"I’m going to kill you, you feckless piece of—"

"Mother!" She paused, the knife poised at Eldric’s face. He looked up. Standing by the stairs was his eldest cousin.

"Peter! I… I didn’t see you there." She stepped off of him and lowered her knife. She reasserted herself, and cleared her throat. "I want you to take him outside. He will be spending the night in the barn until I know what to do with him."

Eldric looked up at her. "Please, I haven’t eaten, I’m so thirsty." Agnes shot a look at him and he shut up. Peter picked him up and carried him outside. He would have struggled, but he didn’t have the energy. Peter dropped him in the barn.

"I’m sorry." Peter left.

That night, a strange man came to the farm. Eldric watched through a crack in the barn as Agnes greeted him, and the two stood outside talking.

"I couldn’t do it. He’s not my kid — hell, he’s not even related to me. In any case, this is better; for him, for you, and for me."

"So, do we have a deal?"

"We have yet to agree on terms. You promised, he would live in a household, no mining, and definitely no military. In return, you’d cover our taxes this term."

"He’s only a boy, skinny at that. I can’t cover your taxes, but I could help. I’ll take him tomorrow morning." Agnes paused, then shook his hand.

That night, Eldric ran away from home. No luck in West Parthyle, he set course for a bigger target, Union of Antheros. U.O.A. was tied for the second largest city in the Feparian Peninsula, and Eldric hoped it could provide. The walk took him two days. The first night he stumbled until collapse. He drank from a river and picked berries and mushrooms along the way, sustaining him enough to continue walking. By the time he arrived in the city, he was desperate for a proper meal. As he walked down an alley searching for scraps of food, or even someone to mug, his legs gave out and he collapsed.

He awoke to the back room of an apothecary. He was lying, stomach up, on a table, a large, late middle aged man sitting beside him. He had a jug of water and scraps of bread. Eldric sat up, and the man presented the food. Eldric devoured the bread, and took large gulps of water. By the next day, his condition had greatly improved. He talked to the man, who introduced himself as Shopkeeper Thomas. His hair was grey and he had a large belly. Stout, and a little dowdy, he had a stern face adorned with a thick grey moustache that obscured half his face. He owned the apothecary, and on his daily walk noticed Eldric collapsed, and rejuvenated him. As recompense, Eldric would work for Shopkeeper Thomas until he repaid his debt. Eldric agreed on the spot, and begun work immediately.

During Eldric’s thirteenth year, a customer at the apothecary caught his eye. Working at the apothecary was a hard life, but easy on his body. During the day he would attract customers, stock shelves, take inventory, and if Shopkeeper Thomas was away, handle purchases. At night he slept in the back room on the floor. There was no fire or insulation other than the stone walls, but he had a ragged blanket. When he was awake he was working, and when the sun set he was sleeping. Every few weeks he would get a day off and wander the city, but that was the extent of his freedom. Shopkeeper Thomas was a strict master, but compared to manual labour under Agnes, Eldric was content.

That day, Shopkeeper Thomas was on his morning walk and Eldric lounged behind the counter of the shop, scratching grime off an empty glass medicine bottle. The door to the apothecary opened with the chime of the bell. Glancing up, Eldric noticed the man to be dissimilar to the average customer. He was tall, but only in perception, and his skin was pale like milk. He had little fat on his body, but was by no means frail. The man took each step with grace and manner of an older man, without looking a day over thirty. What struck Eldric was the man’s eyes. They looked cold like ice, but all Eldric saw was their potential to burn.

"Excuse me, young fellow. I am looking for a tincture of valerian and henbane. Fetch it." Eldric nodded to the man and turned to fetch the ingredients. After rummaging through the shelves, Eldric found the henbane in a minuscule glass tube at the back of the bottom shelf. As he worked, the hairs on the back of his neck stood. The eyes of the stranger bore on him, and despite the temperature of the shop, Eldric felt a chill. He prepared the tincture and presented it to the man.

"Thank you," The man said, and without another word, the man dropped a handful of coins on the counter and turned to leave. Eldric was still unaccustomed to the coins of the big city, but he could tell the man payed much more then the tincture was worth. Before the stranger left, Eldric spoke out.

"Sir, something is off with you. What is it?" The stranger turned and an icy thin smile crossed the man’s face.

"You’re quite right, boy. Then again, I could say the same to you." The stranger took a step into the shop. Eldric swallowed.

"Something is off with me? I’m like any other, you on the other hand…" Eldric’s eyes narrowed. "The moment you walked in, I felt a chill. Every word you speak sounds like dangerous lull, or words to a song I can’t quite hear or remember. Your steps are too precise. Your body stays perfectly still. These are not qualities of a normal man."

"I’ll let you in on a secret, since you were so observant. It is true that I am not like you, but, you are not like them. Not many would notice my… inhuman qualities, let alone be daring enough to verbalize them to a stranger. A word of advice — the next time you meet someone like me, no matter if you are with others, or, like now, alone, keep your observations to yourself. Others like me are not so forgiving." In a blink, the man was gone. The door didn’t move, and the bell didn’t ring.

In the months following, Eldric attempted to forget about his strange encounter. His life continued at the apothecary, but as seasons changed and winter hit, business slowed. The city was suffering from economic downturn, and fewer people had money to spend on remedies. This day was a few weeks before the start of Eldric’s fourteenth year, and it started like any other.

Eldric awoke on the floor of the apothecary back room chilled to the bone. His hands were gripped around his loose blanket that barely covered his body. Getting up, he washed his face with water in a bucket. He looked at his reflection in the murky water. He had gained weight in the past year, but his face still looked gaunt. He put on his clothes and opened shop, crunching on a fragment of stale bread for breakfast. By late morning, Shopkeeper Thomas woke and arrived at the shop, clutching his forehead. Complaining of a terrible headache, he made an excuse and lumbered into the back room.

Business was slow, and by afternoon only a couple of customers had come by. Eldric, bored out of his mind, glanced out the window. The sky was alight with perfect fluttering snowflakes. The street was covered in a fresh layer of snow, the first of the year. His eyes lit up. He rushed to the window to get a better look. Children played and twirled in the street. Some where making snow angels, throwing snowballs, or slipping and sliding on the wet stone. The streets were flooded with people, old and young, all enjoying the first snowfall of the year. Eldric ran to the back where Shopkeeper Thomas was mincing sage.

"Shopkeeper! It’s snowing!" Eldric yelled.

Shopkeeper Thomas grunted. "Look at that, just like last year."

"Sir, please let me go outside. I want to go see the snow."

"You have work to do here." Shopkeeper Thomas didn’t look up from his sage.

"Please? I haven’t had a day off in weeks, and there are kids outside — people my own age." Eldric, holding his breath, looked wide-eyed towards Shopkeeper Thomas, who looked up at him.

"It’s just snow, and you’re staying put."

"It’s not just snow, it’s cause for celebration! What about those stories you used to tell me about when you were a kid. You said that every year you went to the festival of the first snowfall, and ate chocolate, wore big mitts, and danced in the street. Please, just this once?"

Shopkeeper Thomas pursed his lips. "That was a long time ago, and the snow is no cause for celebration. It’s winter, business slows, people freeze, and herbs stop growing. Any celebration is folly. You’re staying here and doing your job, and that’s the last I’ll hear about this."

Eldric returned to standing behind the counter, but the rest of the afternoon his eyes kept drifting to the window. Night fell, and the annual celebrations begun. Every year on the first snowfall, the Union of Antheros held parties and gathered in the streets, and this year was no different. At night, Shopkeeper Thomas went home, giving Eldric strict orders to stay indoors. With nothing left to do, Eldric went to bed early. He wrapped the blanket around himself and held it tight, but it couldn’t dispel the cold.

At midnight, Eldric was awoken with a slam of the shop door. He heard loud footsteps and slurred grumbles. Eldric rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stood up, peering into the next room. The sound of rummaging and clinking of glass bottles came from the front room.

"Sir?!" Eldric called out to no response. He wandered into the main room and saw Shopkeeper Thomas, struggling to stand, running his hand through the bottles in the hidden compartment under the shop counter. He grabbed one with an amber coloured liquid inside, and rose to full height. He turned and lumbered off, tripping and bouncing off the door, then pawing at the handle until it let loose the door and spilled him onto the street. Eldric strode up behind him.

"What are you doing, how much have you had?" Shopkeeper Thomas rolled over, and hobbled to his feet. He raised an eyebrow at Eldric and hiccuped.

"Oh this? It just… helps me sleep." Eldric shot him a disgusted look.

"It looks to me an awful lot like celebrations. Celebrations that you said were folly."

"Don’t be like this. Go back to bed, kid, isn’t it past your bedtime?" He said, pointing the bottle at Eldric, who shoved it aside.

"You’ve been lying this whole time? You’re out here drinking while I had to spent the day bored half to death waiting for customers?"

"Listen kid, I’m teaching you a lesson," Shopkeeper Thomas growled. "This snow is fucked, winter is fucked. The whole world is fucked! And with so much, so fucked up, why can’t I be as well? You’re young, you still kept a little hope about this world. It’s best now for everyone if you get over it, just like me."

Eldric gritted his teeth, and yanked the bottle out of Shopkeeper Thomas’s hands. "I’d rather die than be a sad and bitter old man like you! You just want me to be miserable—" Before Eldric could finish his sentence, Shopkeeper Thomas hit Eldric across the face. He crashed into the door-frame and collapsed to the street, the bottle smashing against the stone. He lay crumpled on the ground, catching his breath, Shopkeeper Thomas’s footsteps heading into the distance.

Near the beginning of his fourteenth year, Eldric once again saw the strange man. That day, Shopkeeper Thomas was out, and it was Eldric at the counter serving customers. Mid-afternoon his attention was diverted by a procession marching down the main road. Wandering to the window, he saw a group of men bearing swords, shouting, and following a wagon pulled through the snow by two horses. Kneeling on the bed of the wagon was the stranger, a circle of salt and wolf’s bane surrounding him. His hands were shackled and his shoulders and neck chained down to the wagon. His clothing and hair were drenched and beginning to freeze, as if a bucket of water had been tossed onto him. The chains and shackles bit into his skin, even without the man struggling. His expression was filled with displeasure, but also noble acceptance, like being knight being sent to war.

The procession turned, and as it travelled down the street and out of Eldric’s view the crowd grew. With Shopkeeper Thomas out, Eldric was alone in the empty store. Recalling the last encounter with the stranger, his curiosity got the better of him. He jumped over the counter and out the door. He bolted after the group of men and joined the procession.

Whispers filled the air.

"Is he really one of them?"

"I can’t believe they caught it!"

"What are they going to do?"

The horses took a turn, and in a few minutes they had arrived in the centre square, opposite the town hall. The wagon stopped and men hurried out of the town hall carrying large logs and kindling. The crowd continued with whispers of speculation, the mass growing in size and excitement. The logs were piled together, and in a few minutes a pyre was assembled. Eldric shoved his way to the the front of crowd, stopping before the stranger. They made eye contact, and the stranger recognized him at once. He broke his gaze, and raised his head to the sky.

"What is all this? Why are they trying to burn you?" Eldric asked. The stranger didn’t respond. "Who are you? What are you?!"

"Quiet," The stranger spat, still not turning his head. "If they see us talking, they’ll think you’re one of me."

"One of you?" Eldric said, leaning closer towards the man. The stranger turned and stared into Eldric with burning eyes of ice.

"Like me, a vampire."

Before Eldric could respond, one of the burly men with swords shoved Eldric away and seized the stranger by the collar. The man had a long scar on the side of his face, and his head was shaved. He had a large spherical head on top of an even larger body.

"Tell me, who is your master!" The scarred man yelled at the stranger, spit flying out of his mouth. The stranger did not move.

"Mordecai. We know about him," The scarred man continued. "Tell us everything you know, and we’ll spare you." The stranger turned to meet his eyes.

"No one builds a pyre to spare a man."

The scarred man released him, and he dropped back to his knees with a thud. He turned and walked off. His men grabbed the stranger by the chains, dragging him off the wagon to the pyre. They fastened him with rope to the central log and shooed the crowd back. An older man from the town hall stepped in front of the pyre and spread his hands.

"Our brave men have captured a scourge of the streets, a monster, a bloodsucker, and a menace to our way of life. His very existence is a plague upon our society, and he must be purged! We know not of his cruelty, of the people he has fed upon! We know not of his malevolent and controlling nature! We know not of his filth because he is not like us!" Eldric looked around. The crowd was quiet, and the man’s voice boomed throughout the entire square. The stranger looked forward, his face stern and composed. Nearby, a man was prepared with a bundle of tinder and a light.

"We are the good people of the Union of Antheros, and these creatures of the night are pests we must be rid of. I praise the brave men who tracked down this foul predator and reduced him to prey! They have completed a great service in defending our land, and they deserve our gratitude. I tell you now as we light the pyre, there is not a more deserving and disparate creature to face the flames."

The pyre erupted with flames, and the stranger begun to cough. The flames caught, and smoke continued to billow from the pyre. The stranger writhed in his bindings, and the sound of desperate shaking and pulling of chains filled the square. As the flames grew and consumed him, he let a scream of agony before falling silent and limp. The flames burned high, and the smell of burnt flesh reached Eldric’s nose.

"It is done. Today, we are one step closer to safety. Tonight, embrace your wives and children. Hold them close and love them dear, for tomorrow, another like him may arrive."

Eldric walked slowly back to the shop. The scream of the stranger still rang in his ears and the silhouette of his corpse was plastered on the inside of his eyelids. He had heard rumours about vampires from his cousins, but he had thought they were just tales intended to scare him. He knew Agnes did not believe they existed, just like the rest of his cousin’s fantastical stories of wizards, and magical schools. He reached the store and stepped through the open door.

Inside was a disaster. Broken bottles littered the ground and herbs and remedies were thrown about. Eldric rushed behind the counter. All the coins were stolen as well as some of Shopkeeper Thomas’s elixirs. Beginning to panic, Eldric rushed for the broom and began to furiously sweep.

This is not going to be like last time.

He kept glancing at the door while he tidied. He took inventory of everything missing as he cleaned, and the damage was severe. They were missing many of their preserved herbs, and a handful of bottles of their most potent medicines. Eldric exited the shop to dump the broken glass, and across the street he spotted Shopkeeper Thomas. Eldric chucked the glass to the gutter and dashed inside. He locked the door and ran around the front room picking up every fallen bottle, drying each spill and rearranging inventory to replace the broken and stolen bottles.

There was a banging at the door, and Eldric turned to see Shopkeeper Thomas gesturing at the door. Eldric jumped over and unlocked it. Shopkeeper Thomas entered and looked around. He shrugged and walked to the backroom. Eldric took a deep sigh.

That evening, after the shop had closed, Eldric was combining an extract when he was called to the front room. He entered, hovering in the doorway. The room was filled with the dull roar of a blizzard raging against the front of the store. The room was lit with a handful of hanging oil lanterns, and the light barely travelled ten steps outside the front window. Shopkeeper Thomas was standing behind the counter frowning.

"Step closer and listen, son. I don’t want to hear excuses. I know what you did." Eldric froze, he tried to speak, but it came out in stammers.

"Where did you stash it? If you give me back what you stole, every can be alright." Shadows crossed Shopkeeper Thomas’s face, obscuring his eyes and giving his stern visage a look of danger.

"Sir, it’s not like that! I promise, I didn’t steal anything. I left the store, it was only for ten minutes. When I came back, the store was ransacked! I should have told you." Eldric got on his knees and pleaded before Shopkeeper Thomas. He looked away and pursed his lips. Taking a deep sigh, he responded.

"This is what I was afraid of. Your childish ineptitude has cost me too much. I knew it was foolish and emotional of me to have kept you. I never had any children of my own, and I thought…" Shopkeeper Thomas grabbed his face in his hands. "It doesn’t matter now."

"What are you saying? Shopkeeper, you can’t!" Eldric cried. Tears ran down his face as he clasped his hands. "What are you going to do to me!?"

"What I should have done when I first met you — left you in the streets." With a gruff hand, Shopkeeper Thomas grabbed him by the back of his shirt and lifted him. He dragged Eldric to the door and opened it with a shove. A tear ran down Shopkeeper Thomas’s cheek as he threw Eldric out onto the street. The snow blasted Eldric’s face and body. The blizzard raged on, drips of water accumulated on his lashes as he gripped his sides for warmth. The door to the apothecary slammed shut, and with a clunk the door locked. Eldric looked back through the window at Shopkeeper Thomas, who looked back a final time before walking away.

Tears streaming down his face, Eldric ran to the door and banged as hard as he could. He smashed his fist against the door repeatedly, then the window, until finally he collapsed to the ground sobbing. No response from inside. He sat in the cold and damp snow. The cold bit into his skin like a dagger, and his fingers were stiff. Eldric wanted to get up, but the energy just wasn’t there. He crawled forward and sat, his back against the shop wall, holding his legs tight to his chest. He rocked back and forth until he couldn’t feel his fingers; until he couldn’t feel anything.

"Are you planning on dying out here?" Eldric looked up. Standing before him was a wizard.