Zack woke up staring into bright yellow glowing eyes. Zack yelped in fear as he launched himself away from the eyes. He looked around in panic as he tried to make sense of what was going on. After a moment he realized it was the smaller of the giant sloth creatures. It was sitting on the floor looking out of place inside the cabin. It was staring at him. Zack looked out the window and saw the other two giant sloth creatures relaxing on the patio looking out over the lake. The moon was just over the horizon shining brightly across the lake.

  Zack chuckled as he thought, this is a scenic picture minus the two giant creatures photobombing it.

  After a moment he was able to get his wits about him he thought, how did I get here? The last thing I remember was getting to Vinstra and the town was on fire.

  Zack’s head was still cloudy, and he was having a hard time focusing. He remembered there being some sort of champion. He thought, was it a champion?

  He felt as though he used magic again but could not remember anything afterwards. Zack swore in frustration. He could not get his brain to focus on the memory. Every time he almost had the memory it slipped past his mental grasp.

  The sloth creature slowly got up and moved closer to Zack. It reached its hand out to Zack’s face. Almost as if it was asking permission to touch him. Zack remembered this was how they communicated. He leaned forward until the creature’s hand was against his face.

  He instantly felt the connection. The creature looked into his eyes. Zack felt an instant sense of peace come over him. The creature then reached out mentally asked, “Are you healthy?”

  Zack understood from the shared emotions that the creature was asking him if he was ok.

  Zack responded by thinking, “my body feels fine, but I am very confused.”

  The creature nodded in understanding. It asked, “Do you have a question?”

  Zack laughed as he thought, “so many questions.”

  The creature did not seem to understand Zack’s tone. Zack thought, “I am just very confused, confused how I got here. Confused where I had been.”

  Then with some embarrassment he asked, “how did you end up here?”

  The creature nodded again. He asked Zack to step outside. Zack moved to the porch and greeted the other two.

  As they all touched his face he asked, “May I know your names?”

  They seemed to smile and the biggest one replied, “You can call me Saygen.” He then pointed to the next largest and said, “This is my life partner, Cyanne. And our offspring who is not yet named. You can call him Kogeen which is what you would call a child in our language.”

  Zack smiled and bowed in greeting to each of them. Saygen could sennse Zack’s question and thought, “We do not take names until the maturing. At that point we choose a name for ourselves.”

  Zack’s mind went into overdrive with so many questions. He had to shake his head and focus on the task at hand. Saygen and Cyanne seemed to be amused by Zack’s jumbled thoughts.

  Zack cleared his mind and then asked, “How did I get here.”

  Saygen answered, “you mean tonight?”

  Zack responded, “um yeah, let’s start there.”

  Saygen took a moment as if collecting his thoughts. He looked at Zack and thought, “We found you face down outside your cabin about five hours ago. I touched your head and sensed over exertion. You must have used a significant amount of magic as you were unconscious. We thought it best if Kogeen took you inside and we waited for you to wake up.”

  Zack looked back at Saygen with an embarrassed smile, “Thank you for tending to me. I am having a hard time remembering how I arrived back at the cabin. The last thing I remember was visiting Paxton and then going to Vinstra. I saw it was on fire. After that I don’t remember much.”

  Saygen nodded and didn’t say anything. He looked back at Cyanne.

  Cyanne then spoke mentally to him for the first time, “as Saygen said, you appeared to have used a significant amount of magic. I am not sure what you actually did to arrive back at the cabin. However, when a person uses magic without discipline or a clear mind, the magic user can suffer problems, focus is important for your own safety.”

  Saygen then shook his head at Cyanne and thought, “It is not our place to speak of magic with you. We saw you were in need and helped. We are always happy to help a friend in need. I would advise you to speak with Wizard Paxton.”

  The three of them smiled at Zack and let go of him. They got up and lazily walked into the forest. Zack sat there and stared at them until he realized he was sitting on his deck in the middle of the night. This gave him the heeby-geebies and he hustled back into the cabin.

  Zack locked the cabin up and went to bed. The next morning, he woke up refreshed and happy to have had a dreamless sleep. As he drank his morning coffee Zack pondered the previous night. He was still struggling piece together the events after he arrived in Vinstra until he woke up with Kogeen staring at him. Every time he thought about it the memories would slip out of his mind.

  Zack thought, fuckity fuck, I am going to have to see that damn wizard again, aren’t I? Aaarrgghh, it drives me crazy that the only person, place, or thing that seems to know what is going on in my life is a 5,000-year-old wizard.”

  Zack drained his coffee, grabbed his stuff, and headed up the mountain. When he entered the now familiar room, he found Paxton sitting at the center table.

  Paxton looked up, “Back so soon, I am a bit surprised to see you today.”

  Zack, feeling petulant responded, “I thought wizards knew everything?”

  Paxton snorted, “we know a lot of things when we are paying attention. You are not the only concern I have right now in this world.”

  As Paxton finished his sentence one of his people came in with a note and a vial of liquid.

  Zack looked at the person whispering in Paxton’s ear and asked, “Do you have servants, maybe employees or apprentices?”

  Paxton dismissed the other person and absent mindedly answered, “yes.”

  Paxton then turned to Zack and said, “I know understand why you are here. Had a big night after you left the castle yesterday? To be clear when I say yesterday, I am of course referring to your sense of time.”

  Zack nodded, “Yeah I cannot remember what happened after I arrived in Visntra yesterday.”

  Paxton nodded and asked, “What do you remember?”

  Zack said, “I remember you giving me the whole time to be a hero speech and me flatly rejecting the idea. I left and as I approached my cabin, I saw parts of Vinstra were on fire. Thankfully no dragons this time. I went into the valley to investigate the fire. I vaguely remember something about a champion of the queen. I have a sense that I used magic. The next thing I remember is waking up in my cabin with Kogeen staring at me.”

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  Paxton inhaled quickly, “You had a Kogeen in your cabin? Must have been a very young Kogeen.”

  Zack responded, “Yeah, its parents were on the patio waiting for me to wake up. Wait, you know what a Kogeen is?”

  Paxton replied, “Of course I do. They are the highest form of magical creature in the forest. There is a great debate as to ‘how’ sentient they are. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt they are one hundred percent sentient. They just care very little for the affairs of humans. They seem to live like wild animals. However, I think it is because that is all they need.”

  Zack nodded, “They seemed nice to me when we communicated.”

  Paxton stopped in his tracks, “When you say communicated, what exactly do you mean?”

  Zack replied, “Two times now they touched my face and communicated with me through thoughts. They are very kind creatures.”

  Paxton whistled, “Wow, back in my day people would have thought you blessed by the forest. Communicating with a Megarium is a rare and high honor.”

  Paxton tapped the table in thought, “Do you know why they communicated with you?

  Zack said, “They told me they appreciated my killing the giant glowing red eyed creature. The second time I saw them the large one Saygen had been injured by another one. I saw its corpse in the trees. Somehow, I knew the glowing red gem I retrieved from the big red eyed monster’s corpse would help him. I gave it to him, it healed him.”

  Paxton replied, “The big red eyed creature you refer to was probably a Ignis Daemonium. Most people call it a fire demon of the forest.”

  Paxton nodded and said, “Well from what I know of Megarium, you just made a friend for life.”

  Zack replied, “That is pretty cool, I guess. Explains why they were watching over me. Saygen said they found me passed out outside my cabin. They had Kogeen take me inside and watch over me until I woke up.”

  Paxton replied with a gleam in his eyes, “You are a lucky man, usually only wizards can communicate with a Megarium.”

  Zack shot him a look. But before he could retort Paxton spoke up again. “I may know what happened to your during your brief bought of amnesia.” He held up the glass vial with a metallic purple liquid undulating in the bottle. My assistant brought this to me as soon as it was ready.

  Zach asked, no small amount of snark, “What is it? Some sort of truth telling potion? Maybe a conjure memories potion?

  Paxton looked at him like he was an idiot, “No it is the record of what happened in the town.” He shook his head and under his breath he chuffed as he murmured, “conjure memory potion, like we are amateurs here.”

  “In a liquid bottle?” Zack looked around for anything remotely close to a computer.

  Paxton sighed and said, “Would you like to watch what happened yesterday in Vinstra?”

  Paxton reached into a drawer and pulled out a long scroll. It was three feet by five feet. He unrolled it across the table and poured the contents of the liquid across the scroll. Despite being enough liquid to cover the scroll and spill all over the table. The liquid did not seep off the scroll. After a moment the liquid turned clear.

  Zack leaned over and looked at the scroll. The scroll was blue. It looked like water when viewed from high above. Zack asked, “How does this work?”

  As if answering his question, the scroll came to life. At first the scroll looked like a computer screen, then the picture rose from the screen. It was a three-dimensional rendering of the side of Paxton’s mountain.

  Zack’s eyes went wide as he took in the display. Paxton giggled to himself as he watched Zack’s amazement.

  Paxton motioned at the scroll and picture started moving. Zac could see himself leaving the cave.

  He thought, man do I looked pissed off.

  Paxton moved his fingers and the scene fast forwarded to the moment Zack entered the town square. Zack saw a giant man menacingly talk to a peasant from the village.

  Paxton raised his hand up and suddenly you could hear what Torgorth was saying. “… slayer of dragons and champion of Queen Aadici. You can be assured if I am called, there will be destruction in my wake. Tell me Riccoli, do you share in the lie about the wizard killing the duke and his men?”

  Paxton paused the scroll, it left Torgorth talking mid-sentence with a frozen menacing grin on his face.

  Paxton said, “I am guessing this is the champion you were referring to.”

  Zack still marveling at the three-dimensional image said, “yeah that would make sense.”

  Zack moved around the scroll to look at it from different angles, “This is simply amazing. I can see everything.”

  Paxton started the scroll again. Torgorth punch right through the face of Riccoli. Zack winced, he felt that same anger boil up in him. He also recognized he was viewing moments he could not previously remember. As each moment unfurled in the scroll he the memories came racing back.

  Zack watched in horror as Torgorth had his men continue burning the village and round up people. Paxton turn the volume of the scroll up when Zack approached Torgorth in the middle of the square.

  Zack noticed in the scroll he started to have a faint purple glow about him. The angrier he got the stronger the glow became.

  Paxton stared in wide eyed anticipation as the events played out on the scroll.

  Zack saw himself raise his hand as if he wanted a high five. Torgorth breathed in as he was about to yell something. Zack clenched his fist and Torgorth ceased to exist. His body and armor imploded to a small ball of blood and metal.

  Zack turned around and threw up. He heaved everywhere. Tears running down his face. He threw up until all he had left were violent dry heaving. Paxton paused the scroll and stared at Zack.

  There was a long silence as Zack lied on the floor with tears running down his face.

  Finally, Zack looked up at Paxton. “What the hell is wrong with me? How or at least why do I keep doing that?”

  Paxton just stared at Zack and shook his head. “This is remarkable.” Seemingly not reading the moment very well. “What you did there was simply remarkable.”

  Zack shouted back, “remarkable? What the fuck, I just reduced some dude to a ball of metal and blood. I killed someone, again.”

  Paxton caught on, “oh yes, a dreadful business. However, you also saved those people from the certain death they would have received at his hands. I think the villagers would consider this a win.”

  Zack replied in desperation, “I do not want to have wins like this. What bothers me the most is remembering how I felt when I did it. The cold certainty that my will could not be stopped. My anger took over and I lost control.”

  Paxton gave a kind smile and said, “Yes, that is how magic works for a wizard. I don’t say that to taunt you, only to remind you of who you are now.”

  Zack looked away frustrated with the situation. “I don’t care who you think I am. I don’t want to be that person. This is not what I would have thought doing magic would be like. I don’t want to be a champion or hero. I just want to go home.”

  Paxton sighed and said, “I am not so sure that it true.”

  Zack sneered at him and said, “How would you know? You are not me.”

  Paxton gave another kind smile, “True, true, but I think you are not at peace with yourself. While killing is horrifying, you are not wantonly killing others. You are saving others from being killed. That is an important distinction.”

  Zack replied icily, “People are dying, doesn’t matter why I did it, I still killed people.”

  Paxton shot back, “I think the people of Vinstra would disagree with you. I think they see you not as a murderer, but as a hero! Let us watch the rest of the scroll.”

  Zack scoffed at Paxton but turned to watch the scroll.

  Paxton moved his hand again and the scroll started up.

  Zack watched with incredulous look on his face as the scene played out. He began to shake with frustration as the final scene displayed on the scroll:

  Zack said, “Tell me Captain, do you have any doubt that I am in complete control of this situation?”

  The captain hesitated and then conceded, “I have no doubt you are in control.”

  Zack replied, “Good, nice to see a man with an ability to understand his circumstances. Here is what is going to happen. You and your men are going to leave Vinstra and never ever return here. You are going to tell your superiors what you saw and learned here today. Finally, you are going to deliver a message to them from me.”

  Zack paused and watched Captain Montange take in and process his words. “Can you do this in exchange for you and your men’s lives?

  Captain Montange stood a little straighter and responded crisply, “Yes sir, what is your message for the queen?”

  Zack pondered for a moment and replied. “The village of Vinstra and the surrounding land within 25 miles are under my protection. If the crown and nobles respect that boundary we will never have to meet. If they do not, we will meet, and it shall not be pleasant. I want you to tell the queen in clear and concise detail what happened to her champion Torgorth. ”

  Zack looked to the people of Vinstra, “I am sure someone here has the armor and weapons of the Duke of Shoreland. I would like it returned to the captain before he leaves.”

  A man in the crowd spoke up, “Give me one second my lord and I shall retrieve the armor and weapons.

  Before the man left Zack addressed him again, “I am not your lord, I am not your grace, I am not a noble, I am Zack. That is all you ever need to call me.”

  The man stumbled through his reply and finally said. “Yes sir.”

  Zack then turned to Captain Montange, “Do you agree to these terms and agree to deliver my message to the crown and its nobles?”

  The captain said, “Yes sir.”

  A few moments later a few men returned with the duke’s armor and weapons. Zack watched as the soldiers of Shoreland made their way out of the village. After they were out of the village Zack waved his hand and the fires across the village simultaneously went out. There was no smoke or heat, it just vanished as if it there was never a fire.

  Zack looked at the people and said, “Rebuild your village. I will be back.”

  Zack looked up at the mountain and vanished.

  Zack threw up again.