Two
Stranger

SIX YEARS PASSED slowly in the monastery, where not only did the boy, Iliayne, fail to live up to his heritage, but indeed became an exemplary student of God. Attentive, and quick to please, Iliayne found to his delight, that the Brotherhood gave him all the peace and knowledge he had been deprived of in the first ten years of his life. When taught to read, he consumed books on every subject, awed by the worlds created and explained within the text. His brilliant ability to absorb and memorize what was taught to him the first time explained sped him though his studies and work, so that at the age of sixteen he had already been allotted the freedom to wander as he pleased within the monastery walls.

It was on a particularly warm day that Iliayne found himself unsupervised just inside the outermost wall.

The warmth of the early spring day exhilarated him after such a long winter, a noxious sort of glee that dimmed his senses, caused him to stray into the fringes. He let his fingers trail nonchalantly across the wall as he walked, feeling the warm hum of the ever-present machinations that kept the monastery at peace. Or so it was thought. He was left oblivious of the uneasy stillness that permeated the yards, failed to notice the swift, light footsteps that trailed him, nor the faint scent of carrion in the air. How unheard of any invader was! The walls were set to sense any newcomers...The stranger had, in fact, followed Iliayne for more than an hour before the boy noticed. He gave a sharp yell of surprise as the albino man descended on him.

“Silence boy, if you know what’s good for you.” The figure was wrapped around him before Iliayne could blink, with just a single finger pressed painfully to his throat. Gasping for air, Iliayne tried to flail, only causing the grip to tighten. The white face crinkled into a grin. “Let’s not dawdle here. There are many important people who would simply love to have a little chat with you, so it might be a shame if you died. What say we go for a walk?” Iliayne was helpless against the inhuman strength of the man who compelled him onward, and although the pressure on his throat was lessened, the finger hovered lightly on the skin as a threat of what would happen if he so much as whimpered.

A spasm of hope emerged as they approached the monastery wall. Surely the Brothers would notice this man and captive scaling a ten-foot wall! There were sensors and tripwires, alarms that alerted the Brotherhood to raids and danger...but the closer they came, the more his heart sank. Inches from the wall, the stranger's presence should have certainly triggered some sort of alarm by now? And yet it was with a renewed horror that Iliayne realized that the man was not relenting his pace, even this close, no preparations to climb—

He suppressed a shriek as they walked headlong into the wall, fearing the consequence more. There was no sickening jolt or pain, only a swift gust of air, and when he dared open his eyes they had cleared the wall, alarms and all. Panic struck him, his body moving beyond his volition from the sheer horror of what he knew to be impossible... “I thought I told you—“

Before he could blink, or move, or think, a sharp pain invaded his skull and pierced his consciousness. It was all so fast...He felt the man in his mind, his intent, his malice, his power and losing consciousness Iliayne could not even begin to fathom how. The world spun into darkness, his last thoughts fleeting...

Not for the first time in his life did he wonder if he was about to die.