The Wanderer
Online Literary Magazine
January 2016
An Introduction
Noctem: World of Night
Submitted by Silas Stephen
At the very edge of the universe like a blotch of spilled ink, lies a world, where there is perpetual night under a darkened sun. Only in the Second Age of Darkness, The inhabitants of Noctem have never seen light, but have evolved to use inksight, allowing them to see the shadows of dark. The denizens of Noctem have colonized the known world into three huge cities; The Great City of Noctis, The Black Ridges, and Shadow Valley. All of them just names on a map. Yet behind each name lie a hundred tales, tales that have been written down on ancient tablets or passed from generation to generation. What follows is but one of these tales.
Nova Prima, a 4th year at the Night Academy, was late for weapons training yet again, this being the third time in this week alone. He dodged through the thickening crowds trying to take the fastest route to the Night Academy on the western side of The Great City of Notis. Judging by the darkness of the shadows he guessed that he was about 5 minutes late, sighing Nova increased his speed. An old man looking as if the gods were ready to claim him, cried out in alarm as Nova rushed past knocking over his vending cart. Hurriedly righting the cart and paying for damages Nova continued his race against the shadows trying to reach his destination before the gates were closed. Realizing that he wouldn’t make it in time, he prayed that Saga was on gate duty. Saga a 4th year at the academy, was notoriously known for closing the gates late.
Finally, after he felt like his legs would quit, he turned the corner onto a stony path he knew would lead to Night Academy. He heard the crank of the rusty gate in the distance and began to increase his speed. With the gate in sight he began calling out to the gate keeper to hold the gate open a little longer. Startled, Saga looked up to see Nova pounding down the path. He strained to hold the gate just long enough for Nova to slide underneath. Gasping, Nova collapsed to the ground. After catching his breath, he said thanks to Saga, flipping him a black coin and began running to Weapons Hall.
Slipping into the group of 4th years listening intently as Master Tagon, the duel wield instructor talked, Nova hoped he had slipped in unnoticed, but it wasn’t to be. For even as he struggled through the edge of the group, he heard his name called though just a whisper he knew it was from Master Tagon. Realizing that receiving punishment for being late was inevitable. Nova moved to the front of the class of 4th years, his heart pounding like a caged animal trying to escape, his hands as cold as a dead man’s.
“Nova, this is not your first nor your second day being late” whispered Master Tagon, “but this is your third time, is it not?”
“Yes, Master,” Nova replied, his mind still fighting the urge to run.
“You know of the punishment for those who have a certain disregard for coming to class on time.”
“Yes, Master,” Nova replied anticipating what was to come.
“Oh, but of course you do. This is not your first time receiving this punishment, and I’m guessing not your last..
Nova would have to face his class of 35 in seven, five vs one rounds. Any classmates he failed to dispatch would determine the number of strokes he would get. Little did they know that the reason for Nova’s consistent lateness was because of the advanced training he was receiving from Master Livan, the previous captain of the Shadow Guard. His lateness was an elaborate plan to get placed in an advanced class. The classed cheered wildly as they ran to the practice arena, as this was their favorite part of Weapons training. Nova went to the weapons rack and selected two wooden duel wields before walking to center of the field and turning to face his class.
“Octavious, Ajax, Askarii, Clancy, and Laran, choose your weapons and stand facing Nova,” whispered Master Tagon. They did as they were told, waiting for the gong that would signal the start of the round. Nova cleared his mind, and began focusing on the task at hand.
“BONG!” The gong sounded loudly, leaving a resounding echo in the air. First came Laran wielding a spear. Laran lunged with an attack that he thought would end the game, but was shocked when he felt no resistance. With no resistance he flew forward carried by the momentum of his thrust. Nova brought his sword down on his collarbone hearing a distinct crack and scream. Without looking back Nova advanced on the rest. He whipped through them like wind through weeds, the boys after falling, crawling away nursing their wounds. Though this was the first round and he knew there were better boys in the class. He couldn’t help feeling cocky it was just too easy.
After five rounds of constant combat Nova was tired but proud, for he was the first one to ever complete the challenge. He heard clapping and only then began noticing the crowd that had grown around the arena. Word had spread like wildfire after he finished his third round against his classmates. Various classes of students ranging from year 1-6 had come to see the duel wielding savage fight.
“Nova,” Master Taloni said as he called him over to the side. “How would you like to be placed in the advanced class?” Nova didn’t take a second to think, responding with a yes. “You start tomorrow. Are you ready?”
“Oh, but of course,” replied Nova. He would not be late again.
Chapter One of The Unknown Lives of the First Deva
Submitted by Ian Campbell
I am a god. I can create, destroy, and give new life to the world. I am an evil and vengeful god, but I am also beautiful. I am full of greed, anger, sadness, happiness, charity, and forgiveness. You can touch me and see me, but beware the danger of presenting yourself to me. I may destroy you or keep you based on whether or not I want to. I am a curse and a blessing, and I am the human race, or at least a representative. My first given mortal name was Adam, and it was given to me by a man named An Chead. He is neither mortal nor immortal.
I have been the best and worst embodiments of the Earth’s history. I am myth and legend, warrior and squire, king of kings, and gods worshipped by millions. This is the story of my adventures and quests. You will learn much about how the world functions and why things happen, and the gods for which so many have died. I hope that you glean wisdom from this story, and that it makes you a better person. I cannot make you understand the pain and joy of my lives, or why I committed atrocities beyond belief, but I need you to trust me. If you don’t trust me, my lives will have been for nothing, and the secrets of history will be lost with the Fade.
The Fade is when the spirit no longer exists in the middle plane, or Earth as you know it. The reason I’m Fading is because after billions of years I have nearly reached Foirfe, or nirvana. An Chead could not perfect me at first, so at each interval between my rebirths he would slightly mold my soul to try and perfect it. I am now at my last life, and soon I will die. This is why I am telling you the story of my lives. We will only focus on the more memorable lives, starting at my time with the animals when I was Adam.
I lived for twenty-five years of bliss in the Garden of Eden. Then An Chead created the woman, Eve, that would be my downfall. She was of temptation and led me down the path of sin when she taught me the art of lovemaking. It was a test I had failed and as a result, An Chead was furious. He saw I was flawed and cast me out of his courtyard until I could show that I was repentant. I lived for many more years while raising children I knew should not be born. They were disfigured and apelike. I reached out to An Chead and was told that over time the sons and daughters of my descendants would become wiser and more physically normal. He did this in order to have more time to perfect me. My second significant life was that of King Hammurabi.
As Hammurabi, I became much wiser and created a code based on equal trade. An Chead disapproved of this and for the rest of my life, I pondered how I had gone wrong with my life. I discovered it was that I should not mold the world to my liking, but should instead let An Chead do the work of making the world a better place. This made me wiser while in purgatory, but An Chead determined if my knowledge would come with me while in mortal form. This made my lives much harder, but I knew he was doing it for my benefit. I deviated from the path of perfection a few times, and those times were catastrophic. The first time I did this I was known as Vlad the Impaler. I wanted to kill many of An Chead’s creations in the most horrible of ways. This was also when I discovered I could use magic in mortal form. I did many horrible things those years, and I still regret it. That still did not stop me from making another move against An Chead later on.
The closest An Chead ever went in his goal to achieve world peace was when he made me into Alexander The Great. I was intelligent, logical, strong, and courageous. No one that stood in my way stood after I had dealt with them. I had one weakness, though, and that was a type of nectar that kept me alive in that lifetime. I was able to choose the liquid that kept me alive, and in my ignorance I chose wrongly. The one that I chose was wine. At the age of thirty-two, I died from alcohol poisoning, and after that An Chead renovated my soul for the better. Although he made my next body less intelligent, wise, strong, and violent.
In the next section of my story I will tell you about the most disconcerting and painful experience of my lives; when I became multiple men in the same span of time. My instincts clashed with one another, my minds became hazy, memories mixed and I was close to insanity. An Chead did not change the scatter of minds that was my torture, no matter how much I begged. When I become stronger in the afterlife, I may attempt to ask him about it if I believe my powers to be adequate enough so that I will not be destroyed for my informality.
The next notable man that I became was Mahatma Gandhi, and he was delusional. As Gandhi I believed An Chead should be worshipped as my god. My goal was peace so that An Chead would come down from the heavens and bless our efforts with a new, perfect world. I think An Chead wanted me to know that I was controlled, but I believe he realized his mistake when twenty years after Gandhi was born, Hitler came along. That racist, elitist man helped and hindered my development by sending me back to the barbarity of Vlad. The two biggest words that come to mind when I think back to the 1940’s are hypocrisy and necromancy. I was attempting to create world peace and destroy An Chead at the same time. The army of undead I was amassing to destroy An Chead’s beloved world was near completion, and if not for the Holy Crusaders, I would have succeeded.