***
"Dekor."
Dekor rolled onto his side. The voice whispered again.
"Dekor, awaken."
There was urgency in its tone. Dekor woke with a start, his face pressed against a huge boulder. Jumping to his feet, he looked around for the source of the voice, eyes wide open.
"Do not be afraid."
Dekor's heart thumped in his chest.
"Wh... who are you?" Dekor spun around searching; the voice seemed to be all around him. Pressing his back to the rock, he drew his dagger. He took a sharp breath, his heart pounding in his chest, then he stole a glance around the sides of the boulder. He could see nothing as the sun had yet to rise over the mountains.
"I am that I am. I am the One." Dekor froze, his mouth suddenly dry. He looked down at the dagger he held in his hand. "Your hunters are closing in. They will find you today if you do not hearken to my words."
"What shall I do? I can fight." Dekor sat on the cold ground, his mind a whir of possibilities.
"You may outrun the soldier, but the darkling will overcome you.
"So they sent only two to hunt me down? They could not think me to be such a threat if that is all they sent after me. So much for the great honor of being the youngest battlemage," he sighed. "Even now, a warlock, I still mean little to the mage guild."
"You do not know what hunts you. The darkling could lay waste to a great many by herself. She does not need sleep or rest. She has crossed the mountains in a single night and even now is following your path." Dekor put his face in his hands. "Do not lose heart. I have plans for you Dekor; plans for your future, a hope for your people."
"What use can I be? Only yesterday I was asked who I worshipped and I did not say you. Now you have shown yourself to me! What am I to believe?"
Dekor forced himself to stand. He looked out toward the west where he knew the village of Elms lay shrouded in mist. Dekor watched in silence as the mist rose from the earth, all across Meregith for as far as he could see, a rippling veil hiding him within its gossamer breath.
"Look up," the voice spoke again. The mountains tops became a cauldron, boiling over with dense vapors spilling onto the sleeping land below. "Make haste," urged the One.
Dekor felt as though someone had grabbed his tunic and was pulling him along. He stumbled, as if fighting to keep pace with his own feet. Rocks and boulders rumbled aside, creating a clear path for him. Dekor could feel the pleasant fire of excitement rising within him. He laughed, arms pumping at his sides as he ran along the pathway.
"My breath is upon you." The mountain mists billowed about Dekor in a silent avalanche, engulfing him in their ethereal embrace. Dekor stumbled, tripping over his own feet. No longer able to see the way ahead he began to fear, becoming aware of the sounds behind. He looked behind him but could see nothing, only hear the sound of tumbling, rolling rocks filled his ears. Turning back was no longer an option. Dekor groaned, "I can't see," and fell forward, raising his arms to protect his face from the inevitable impact with the rocks.
"Why do you fear?"
Dekor took his hands from his face opening his eyes and gasped. He was floating with his face inches from the ground.
"I could not see." Dekor climbed to his feet shaking slightly.
"Trust me. I will do nothing that will harm you."
"Why are you helping me? I have done nothing for you." Dekor swallowed then let out a long breath. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he began to walk along the path.
"You sought me, so I have come."
Dekor looked up his hands held out. "When did I seek you?" he scoffed.
"When you were first shown the flame. You desired the inner fire."
"But that is for the Holy," Dekor objected. "I am a warlock, not holy. I could never do all that stuff that the Holy Order do." Images of Arrborn played across his mind.
"Do not confuse religious for holy. I have no place in the heart of the religious. Why don't you try the inner fire?" Sensing the joyful mischief, a friendly challenge, in the voice of the One, Dekor was reminded of Arrborn.
Dekor stood still, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. "Inner fire," he said to himself. Dekor closed his eyes trying to picture how it would look. His hands glowed red, then yellow, orange; colors came and went, party lights fading through every hue and color he could imagine until he exhausted everything.
"Stop trying and just do..." The voice of the One trailed off.
Dekor thrust out his hands. White light burst from them, the flames unfurling into wings. Fiery arms lifted him off his feet. He was running, running in the air, drawn effortlessly through the mist. He could hear the rocks grumbling as the rushing winds thrust them aside. Faster and faster he flew in a perfectly straight line until at last Dekor burst from the mist and stood alone, the soft ground of the wetlands beneath his feet. Laughing breathlessly, he drank in the sights, sounds, and smells of the rivers, grasses, reeds, insects, and aquatic life. Behind him, the mountains were revealed once more as the morning sun evaporated the mists into memory.
Dekor closed his eyes, sensing the new world around him. The musty smell of decomposing plants blended with grasses and ferns, stirring in the breeze. He had learned about the wildlife inhabiting the wetlands and was not about to rush into its gaping jaws. Rivers teemed with fish and insects abounded, crawling over reeds, skating across the water, and burrowing beneath his feet. Birds flew, swooping down to drink water, wheeling back into the air, whistling shrilly at the new day. Larger creatures, predators, lurked on the periphery of his senses, powerful, old and cunning, as ancient as the lands themselves.
As Dekor edged forward into the cold water, his feet stirred up the black mud in swirling eddies. It drifted like dark clouds in the lazy current. Fish fry darted around his feet, feasting on the sudden abundance of food stirred from the boggy depths. Dekor left the meadows of Meregith behind him and set out cautiously into the heart of the wetlands.