The waves had been calm and the sky had been bright when Kalvin first boarded Fever Dream two weeks ago.

  Now the fog seemed endless beneath the night sky and the waves roared as they tried to pull the ship down under, so violent Kalvin had to hold onto one of the nearby poles to steady himself. The smell of seawater was suffocating and he couldn’t feel his fingers from the cold.

  “You think this is bad?” The sorcerer behind him called over the howling wind, also gripping the pole. “They’re supposed to be ten times worse.”

  Kalvin looked to the sorcerer, Pyke. He’d gotten to know the man pretty well over the past two weeks. He knew how loud he snored, how much he ate, how little he tolerated sobriety.

  And he knew how powerful of an elemental sorcerer he was, so this being the best he could do was a horrifying thought.

  “I feel like the breeze will push me over the railing if I so much as sneeze.”

  Pyke shrugged. “That’s what it’s designed to do.”

  “How much further?”

  “The charms don’t feel like they stretch for much longer. Half an hour, maybe.”

  “God, couldn’t they have just paused the damn charms?”

  “You should ask him,” Pyke said, waving a hand at someone across the ship.

  Seconds later, a tan-skinned figure emerged from the fog, grabbing onto the pole beside theirs.

  Nevan.

  Their captain, and the other sorcerer he’d come to know- or at least tried to. Where Pyke was loud and indulgent, Nevan was quiet and reserved. All he really knew about the man was that he was a wright sorcerer, and if not for his ship, this trip would’ve taken over a month.

  “We’re almost there,” he yelled, much to Kalvin’s relief. He had a Koravi accent- the kingdom they’d departed from. “I suggest you start getting ready!”

  “Why don’t they just pause the charms?”

  Nevan took a deep breath. “Who knows? My guess is they think it’s too risky.”

  “Risky?” Pyke snorted. “The darn place is in the middle of nowhere!”

  A sudden cry stole their attention, and they all looked out towards the sea where the wind began to rage in a fit, the mist clearing ever so slightly.

  And just beyond, the dim outline of an island came into view, a gigantic, dark fortress lying in its wake.

  ???.??????

  Fortunately, the area around the dock was much calmer- and the fortress much clearer.

  It had to be the size of the castle back in Dorlinard, Kalvin’s own kingdom who knows how many miles away. He’d only been there once for a job, but he was sure of it.

  From what he’d seen aboard the ship, the fortress almost filled the entire length of the island and it’s multiple sprawling towers almost reached the clouds. The more he stared at it, the more he realized how wrong he was- it wasn’t the size of the royal castle, it was much, much larger. Especially since this wasn’t even the half of it.

  And the aura here…

  The concept of something inorganic having aura was taken about as seriously as star signs, but even Kalvin had to admit there was something in the air. Energy, emotion, you name it. The rough winds were gone but he still had a hard time breathing, and as much as the colossal fortress was an astonishing sight, it also made his heart pulse.

  What he could sense, if he focused hard enough, was the aura emanating from a large group of people inside it, perhaps anywhere from two hundred to a thousand of them. He’d have to get closer to be sure.

  He could feel it from the four distant guards watching them at the dock, at least.

  Kalvin couldn’t tear his eyes away from the fortress as he disembarked the ship, saying goodbye to the only three people he had human any contact with for the past two weeks.

  Mostly Pyke, since Nevan and his assistant looked like they were about to vomit.

  “Let me know once you’re back in the city,” he was saying. “We can go out for a drink or two.”

  It was dark, only the light of the full moon overhead and a few nearby torches allowing Kalvin to see his beady eyes.

  “My treat,” he added with a look to the fortress behind Kalvin. “Since it looks like you’ll need it.”

  He reached for his pouch, but Pyke stopped him.

  “There’s no need for that, they paid us well above the normal rates. Save it for the taverns.”

  "Fine, but since you're so set on paying, I insist we go to this specific one right across from my place. The owner's a hundred years old and has no idea what the market rate for a beer is," Kalvin said. "You like pastries?"

  "Nah, but my daughters love that crap."

  He smiled. "There's a bakery right next to me that makes great apple pie. You should bring some back for your family."

  "Heh, you've got yourself a deal."

  And with that, Kalvin watched them board the ship and sail back towards the wall of mist that seemed to encircle the island.

  At least now he knew why the two sailors did this job even though the place seemed to scare the shit out of them.

  “Welcome.”

  Kalvin whirled around with a start.

  “Forgive me,” the woman before him said, adjusting her rectangular glasses. She was dressed in a long, dark robe with the patch of the alliance sewn into one side of her chest and a black, shiny badge hanging on the other. Her dark hair was tied. “I figured you sensed me.”

  “I’m not Orion,” he joked.

  The woman stared at him.

  Damn it, too soon?

  Or maybe she just doesn’t have a sense of humor.

  “Sorry, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in days. What I meant was that my aura sensing isn’t the best.” He reached a hand out. “I’m Kalvin.”

  “Yvaine, we spoke on the phone and you met with my assistant,” she said, shaking it. “Well, I wish I could say it’ll be better soon, Kalvin, but who knows how long this will take.”

  She gestured for him to follow as she headed towards the path leading up to the hill the fortress sat upon, lined with more torches.

  Kalvin fell into step beside her, indeed sensing the woman’s aura after a moment of focus. “Right, but if you had to guess?”

  “If all goes well, then maybe only a week,” she replied. “But you and I both know it isn’t wise to rely on things going well when it comes to him.”

  “So if things go badly, then?”

  “Then you’ll be here for the rest of your life.”

  Kalvin paled.

  The woman turned to him with a straight face. “I’m joking, of course.”

  “Of course…”

  “Like I said, we don’t expect the best case scenario, but if no progress is being made for multiple weeks then you’ll be let go.”

  “And if I want to leave before then?”

  “You certainly wouldn’t be the first.”

  Kalvin eyed her. “Just how many mediums have you contacted before me, exactly?”

  “Ninety-six.”

  “How many accepted the job?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “How many made it past a single week?”

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  “Zero.”

  Silence fell until Kalvin finally said, “That’s…reassuring.”

  And speak of the devil, or rather an angel sent from the heavens itself- just up ahead was a giant statue of the five legendary heroes that gave their lives to bring in a newfound age of peace and prosperity, Orion shining front and center.

  Both him and Yvaine paused before the statues and studied them in a silence that seemed to last forever before Kalvin finally asked, “Was it true, about him and Kylara?”

  Yvaine looked to the statue of a girl beside Orion. “I wouldn’t know.”

  “I suppose it’d be better if it wasn’t, right?”

  “Maybe, but even then…what happened to them all was still a tragedy.”

  He didn’t know what else to do but nod.

  “Gods,” she sighed. “I don’t know what we would have done without him.”

  “I’m sure there’d be someone else. Another Orion.”

  Yvaine glanced at him. “You think so?”

  Kalvin continued to stare into the stone carvings of his eyes. It almost seemed as though they were looking back. “Did you meet him? Before…”

  “Yes, once.” Her face softened. “He was remarkable. You’d walk into a room and just feel his presence. And when he met me, a mere lowly intern at The Alliance, it felt like he gave every ounce of his attention to what I said. It felt like he saw me.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard similar stories.”

  “And you believe people with power like that are in great abundance?”

  “No, it certainly takes someone special- but Orion wasn’t born that way. He sought his own strength.”

  Yvaine nodded. “I’ve heard of the stories. A frail, poor boy on the outskirts of some desolate village who managed to get into a sorcerer’s school, only to discover he was the weakest one there. And yet, after many years of honing his skills, he became the Orion we all know and love today.”

  Kalvin looked down at his hands and back at the statue. “True power comes to those who reject the weakness within them.”

  “Yes, I suppose any one of the heroes could’ve risen to the occasion.”

  “No, the rest of them were prodigies from the beginning, they never understood what it meant to be invisible, to be weak.”

  She gave him a puzzled look. “Who, then?”

  “Someone you’ve never heard of before, someone you wouldn’t expect even if you had.”

  “You sound like a wise man,” she said after a moment.

  Yet wisdom wasn’t enough, Kalvin thought as he looked away from Orion’s eyes.

  As they resumed their walk, Yvaine continued, “Well, as you can imagine, finding someone like you is already a tiresome endeavor. Finding someone willing to come here has been nigh impossible. We’re running out of known mediums, not to mention we don’t have the luxury of time.”

  “But,” she continued. “As you’ve seen, we’re willing to compensate handsomely for the effort.”

  Kalvin nodded. The money was indeed a lot- enough to buy an island of his own and still have some left over for an army. Not that he needed either. Perhaps he’d get a nicer place, one in the center of the capital. Perhaps he can even befriend the king himself.

  “Is that why you accepted the job?”

  “Why else?”

  The entrance to the fortress suddenly came into view as they reached the peak of the hill, multiple guards standing watch all around them.

  And in the center of the clearing was another statue- this one of a man in a soldier’s uniform. Kalvin didn’t recognize it.

  “That’s General Alabaster,” Yvaine explained as they approached the statue. “He was one of the leaders of The Alliance before he tragically lost his life.”

  A whisper suddenly cleaved the air, the words so quiet Kalvin barely heard them as he whipped his head around for the source.

  But it was only them and the guards in the clearing, the latter as still and quiet as the statue itself.

  They paused before it in another moment of silence- Kalvin reading the words on a small plaque carved into the stone as the whispers grew in volume.

  Here lies Norton Alabaster…

  As he went down the list of all his military achievements, two more voices joined the first- sounding as though they came from the ground below. Kalvin's eyes widened as they darted from one guard to another.

  “He’s buried here?”

  Yvaine noticed the shock in his face. “Yes, one of his final requests. Is there a problem?”

  “Can you really not hear them?”

  “Hear what?”

  “There are…voices.”

  She gave him a concerned look.

  “They call it death perception,” he explained, studying the plaque. “It’s something you can’t really learn, at least not easily. But people born with a high sense of it are more attuned to certain things pertaining to the dead- like the corpse of the man beneath us.”

  “I’m aware of it. That’s why there are so few mediums, right? You typically need good death perception to be one.”

  “Right. And a very rare side effect of having high death perception is hearing a voice emerge from a particularly powerful body’s remains.”

  “Pardon, I still don’t understand?”

  Kalvin looked to her, the whispers still brushing against his ears. “Hearing one is already a once in a lifetime occurrence, but there are only two cases in which someone would hear multiple. One, there are actually multiple ashes or corpses nearby, like at a graveyard. And two- the remains belonged to someone who has taken so many lives that fragments of those spirits were rooted into theirs, unable to escape.”

  Yvaine seemed to think for a second. “That makes sense, General Alabaster was at the forefront of our defense against the undead army. He was a powerful fighter.”

  “I see. I apologize for scaring you,” he said as they continued on to the fortress’s entrance. “It’s my first time seeing the phenomena in person. You must’ve thought I went insane.”

  “Not at all. I am surprised, however. None of the other mediums said anything about it.”

  “Has his spirit ever been contacted by one?”

  “Yes, the death was sudden and hit his family hard. I was there and he…it was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It didn’t even look like the general.”

  Kalvin nodded. “Spirits can take on any form they choose. I rarely see them as they were during death- they either appear as a younger version of themselves or something else entirely.”

  “Really? I never knew.”

  “Once, I contacted a murderer who got off on scaring his victims. He appeared to me as a great monster. Another time, I contacted a wealthy, narcissistic businessman. He appeared to me as a god.”

  “That’s interesting. The general was mostly just himself, but he seemed younger, taller, stronger, more handsome, even.”

  “Most people want to be perceived as the best, most powerful version of themselves.”

  “I suppose that makes sense.”

  As they approached the fortress, the whispers became dimmer before fading out entirely. Two of the guards opened the giant doors and they stepped inside what looked to be a lobby.

  The lobby of some kind of mysterious research facility, that is.

  Still, he couldn’t help but admire the grand room, even more heavily guarded than the entrance and a lot brighter than the exterior, as they approached a front desk beside the only other door.

  “Hello!” The man behind it, wearing the same robes Yvaine, greeted cheerfully. “How may I assist you?”

  “He needs to be checked in and given an onyx pass,” Yvaine answered.

  Kalvin gave her a look of puzzlement as the man behind the desk said, “I’ll need to see both your ID’s.”

  He reached into his pouch and withdrew his official sorcerer license, Yvaine doing the same. They handed them to the man along with her tag.

  The man then conjured his wand and pressed the tip to the documents one by one. It lit up before returning back to normal after each spell, likely an identification one to ensure the documents weren’t forged. “Great! Do you two consent to me performing a lie detection spell on the both of you?”

  They nodded and he turned to Yvaine first, reaching over the desk to place the tip of his wand against her forehead. It lit up as it touched her skin.

  “What is your full name?”

  “Yvaine Ambler.”

  “When were you born?”

  “On the summer solstice of the nine hundredth year.”

  “What is your occupation?”

  “Magic researcher.”

  “To whom are you employed?”

  “The Alliance.”

  “What business do you have on the island today?”

  “To accompany a contractor to his post.”

  “Do you have any ulterior motives or intentions that benefit any enemy of The Alliance?”

  “No."

  “Do you have any weapons or other harmful tools, including any of magical origin, on your person?”

  “No.”

  “Have you fully informed the contractor of his compensation, the job description, the job’s liabilities, and his rights among any other pertinent details?”

  “Yes.”

  He held up a piece of parchment with lots of paragraphs and bullet points. Kalvin recognized it as his contract for his job. “Did you send a letter containing the exact information found here to the contractor?”

  “Yes.”

  The man then put down the parchment and placed the wand against Kalvin’s own forehead, repeating the same questions as the tip lit up once more.

  “What is your full name?”

  “Kalvin Will Ballard.”

  “When were you born?”

  “Three weeks before the winter solstice of the nine hundredth and fifth year.”

  “What is your occupation?”

  “Certified Medium.”

  “To whom are you employed?”

  “I’m a freelancer, but currently The Alliance.”

  “What business do you have on the island today?”

  “I’m here to work, to contact a spirit of the dead.”

  He could’ve sworn the man’s breath hitched the slightest bit.

  “Do you have any weapons or other harmful tools, including any of magical origin, on your person?”

  “No.”

  “Do you believe you’ve been fully informed of your compensation, the job description, the job’s liabilities, and your rights among any other pertinent details?”

  “Yes.”

  He held up the parchment again. “Were you sent a letter containing the exact information found here?”

  “Yes.”

  Kalvin expected the man to withdraw his wand after the final question, but he instead asked,

  “Have you experienced any major depression, suicidal ideation, or desire to harm yourself or others within the past year?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Has both your employer and a third-party mental health professional signed off on you taking this job?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you believe you are emotionally stable enough to handle this job?”

  “Yes.”

  The man smiled. “That’ll be all.”

  He handed back their things along with a badge of Kalvin’s own, just as dark as hers but matte instead of glassy. He then slid the piece of parchment across the desk. “Just sign here. Take as much time as you need to read it over.”

  With a cursory glance to ensure it really was the same contract he had gotten, Kalvin signed his name and thanked the receptionist.

  Yvaine walked over to the door beside him and held up her badge, waiting for the click that signaled it’d become unlocked before opening it.

  Just how many wards are in this place?

  “God, do you have to do that every time?” Kalvin asked once it was closed and Yvaine was leading him down a big, ivory hall.

  She shrugged. “You get used to it.”

  He clipped the badge onto his chest. “And this, is it the onyx pass?”

  “Indeed. The color refers to your level of clearance, or in practical terms, how far down you can go. It’s matte because it only lasts twenty-four hours.”

  “Shouldn’t I get a permanent one if I’ll be here for weeks?”

  For the first time, she smiled. “I like your attitude, but we’ll get to that when it’s necessary.”

  “Right, so what now, then?”

  “I’ll show you to your room, let you settle in and get some sleep, then tomorrow we will-“

  “I can start now.”

  Yvaine raised a brow. “Are you sure? You just spent the last two weeks at sea.”

  “If that’s fine with you, that is. You said it yourself- I’m not going to be getting any sleep for a while anyhow.”

  “I suppose the team isn’t off for the next few hours,” she said, looking up in thought. “But it’s not exactly procedure to have you jump into this straight away.”

  “Weren’t you the one who said we don’t have the luxury of time?”

  She gave him a tentative look. “I suppose I did…”

  Kalvin returned it with a hopeful one. Several moments passed.

  “Fine,” she finally sighed. “I’ll contact the team and let them know.”

  ???.??????

  An hour later, Kalvin was standing at a door, using every ounce of self control he had to not bash his head against it.

  It’s a good thing he already did the lie detection test.

  He’d spent the last sixty minutes crossing hall after hall and descending staircase after staircase across the entire fortress to end up here, having to show his badge to so many doors he thought his eyes would start bleeding if he had to see another one (he’d counted thirty-one in total).

  But this was it.

  The final few halls they’d crossed were entirely made of stone, as was the great door before them.

  “There’s no way you do this every day without losing your sanity.”

  “Who said I haven’t already?”

  Oh, now she’s in a joking mood.

  He watched Yvaine hold up her badge to the door, which was flanked by four guards, one last time before they entered a dark, humongous room on a seemingly endless bridge that stretched out before them, joining all the others that zigzagged from the top to the bottom.

  Everywhere Kalvin looked, stacks upon stacks of cells greeted him, all the way from below to above, neither of which had a visible end. And the guards…there had to be at least a hundred of them sprawled across the entire room. Most were standing still, but some patrolled the bridges.

  Voidhall Prison.

  He followed Yvaine across it as he studied the still, empty cells they passed. It was quiet, almost too quiet. The silence seemed to linger in the air like it knew it didn’t belong.

  Because just a few months ago, this room was filled with the screams of the world’s most haunted, decrepit creatures.

  Only those who committed the worst of crimes ended up here- only those with life sentences or death penalties, and certainly no friends or family that would be willing to make the trek for visits. Those who take the most enjoyment in the screams of innocents end up here, where their own will never be heard past the thick walls of the fortress again.

  At least they used to, now the prison had been emptied to make room for one, singular inmate that was worse than them all.

  “What did you do with them?”

  “New prisons were built all over the world to handle the relocation,” Yvaine said ahead of him.

  “How many?”

  “Five thousand inmates, ten prisons.”

  “Sounds expensive.”

  “You have no idea.”

  He paused. “Is it really all…necessary?”

  Yvaine peered at him over her shoulder as they passed a patrolling guard. “You don’t think it is?”

  “It just all seems a little…overkill, no offense.”

  She looked back. “It’s fine. I’ve met some who share your viewpoint.”

  “And what’s yours?”

  “Mine?”

  “Your viewpoint, I mean.”

  “Hmmm, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry, right? I’d rather waste millions of shillings than millions of lives.”

  “Of course, but how long will it last? Sure, for now it’s only been what, four months? But what happens when decades pass and you’re still here, living the same days over and over again to no end? What happens when you’ve wasted your life for someone else’s fear?”

  “I guess I never really thought about it that way,” she admitted. “Are you saying you wouldn’t do the same if you were me?”

  Kalvin thought about it for a moment. “No, but I’d be willing to waste my life for something I really believed in or in order to save someone else. Because then it wouldn’t be a waste.”

  Several seconds passed before Yvaine finally said, “You might just need that shiny badge yet.”