The Vandraren Short Stories:
The Vandraren Halloween Story (2021)

by Arwan

It was nighttime. I stood outside in the cold, waiting for Tamina to sneak out. Slowly, I looked around, trying to focus my eyes on the silently moving shadows around me. The wind whistled gently through the remaining leaves on the trees surrounding me, causing them to rustle and shiver. It seemed as if the world was freezing. Except for the cold it could have been a very lovely night, though. The stars above me shone brightly and down here on the earth the Halloween decoration just nearly managed to outshine them. Alas, this particular night could never be lovely. It was the night of October 31. It was Halloween. 

While I waited for Tamina, I unfolded the little note we had received from our headquarters a few days ago, informing us that we had to go on a special mission – a Halloween mission. I sighed. It would have been nice to know at least where we actually had to go.

“Hey. Are you ready?” suddenly a familiar voice behind me asked. I turned around and saw Tamina approaching me, dressed in a thick coat. She looked at me anxiously.

„No, not really,“ I admitted with a sigh and and put the note away. “You?”

She shook her head. “Actually, it’s kind of creepy,” she then admitted. “Have you heard anything about where our mission will take place?”

I was just about saying no, as I suddenly felt queasy. While Tamina had spoken, I had taken her hand in order to comfort her, but now my whole arm started to tingle. In the distance, I could hear the chimes announcing midnight had come. And suddenly the world around me faded. I had no clue where we were travelling, but it was far away. Very far away.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a very odd place. I appeared to be standing on a field, and in the distance I barely managed to spot a ridge. Yet everything I saw looked ... strange. The knee-high grass seemed to be withered. Even the air appeared to be still. At least I couldn’t detect the slightest hint of a breeze. Just as if I had accidentally toppled into a still life. Everything felt so ... dead. Where was I? I couldn’t even clearly identify, whether it was day or night.  With an odd twilight surrounding me, it seemed neither fully dark nor bright. This obscure half-light painted everything in gray. Had I at first thought this had to do with my sudden arrival, I now slowly began to realize how this impression intensified the longer I was here.

Then I noticed that Tamina had vanished. She had come here with me – but where was she? My hand that had held hers barely a moment ago was empty now. Quickly I looked around, but failed to spot her. “Tamina?” I called out and got scared, as I heard my voice only as if through thick cotton wool.  “Tamina, where are you?”

No answer. By then, I had really gotten worried and seriously considered just walking off into a random direction, as I all of a sudden heard someone groan. There, close to a rock I hadn’t noticed before, something moved! I approached it cautiously. The strange sound got louder. What was this? This groaning sounded so animal ... so less humanly. It really gave me the creeps. As I finally was close enough to glimpse around the rock, I flinched and stopped. Then I had fully worked out the scenery in front of me and began to move again. Hidden in the grass lay Tamina, obviously semiconscious.

I reached for her and gently touched her shoulder. “Tamina?” I whispered. “What’s wrong with you? Can you hear me?”

She groaned again, but her eyes remained firmly closed. I cautiously shook her again and she flinched. Then she shivered as if she was freezing. A moment later, she eventually opened her eyes and looked at me.

Maybe it was simply due to the twilight, but as I looked back into her eyes, I too flinched, for her eyes weren’t of the warm, brown color I knew; no, they were dark, almost black, and they were cold. As cold as ice.

“Tamina, please, say something,” I pleaded. “Can I help you?”

Abruptly, my young companion sat up, causing me to literally topple and ruggedly land on the dusty floor. She stared at me and sneered. “What is supposed to be wrong with me?” she asked and her voice made my blood run cold. “And why do you think you could help me?” A sardonic laugh followed. With that, a long strand of hair fell into her face. Without a second glance Tamina reached for one of my daggers – when had we transformed into our mission outfit? I flinched. Petrified with horror I had to watch how she lifted the dagger close to her face, before she cut the strand off without hesitation. My gaze followed it as it slowly fell down onto the earth. What the hell was going on here?

“Tamina, are you feeling unwell? Have you hurt your head?” I started anew, but Tamina only sneered.

“Believe me, I never felt better!” She got up and I too quickly got back to my feet. Something about this whole situation seemed odd. And I didn’t even know, where we actually were at all. But as long as Tamina behaved so strange, I really hadn’t the nerve to pay a closer look.

“Finally, I started to see things clear,” I heard my companion’s voice again, but she too sounded odd. “The stupid, little girl eventually opened her eyes,” she then hissed. “Stupid, little, Tamina, who doesn’t notice when she is being mocked, who always forgives everything, who never defends herself and who is so needy. Why don’t you just admit, that you see me this way, too. Just like everyone else. So silly. So worthless.” She cattily grinned at me, while I only managed to stare at her speechlessly. 

“But,” Tamina continued and made my horror grow with every word, “that’s over now. Stupid little Tamina is dead.”

By then I was close to losing my own temper and so I barked back, “What the hell are you talking about? That’s just not true! And you know that!” But my words seemed to have no effect at all; it probably would have been more effective to shout at a wall instead. I slowly tried to approach her, for I was well aware of that she still had one of my daggers.

Tamina probably suspected what I was up to, for she raised her arms and screamed, “Stay away! I don’t need anyone or anything! You don’t want me in your life, so I don’t want you in mine either!”  

Those last words hurt. I mean, we were a team! I had no idea, what could possibly have enraged my young companion like that. It was, as if she had been possessed by an undead before I had found her. While Tamina spoke, I also had the feeling as if the sky around us was rapidly darkening, just as if she was gathering a storm with her anger.

While I desperately tried to find a way out of this mess, Tamina again started abusing my dagger and cut long strands out of her hair. In this very moment I completely lost it – I quickly stepped forward, attempting to take the dagger out of her hand. But as if an unknown power had taken control of her, she all of a sudden raised her hand, so that the blade cut deeply and painfully though my forearm. I was so shocked, that I staggered back. My mind raced. Had Tamina really done that?

Involuntarily, I looked up into the sky for an instant – yet now, there were thick, black storm clouds hanging above me, and in the distance I could spot the first thunderbolts. Still an absolute silence was surrounding us. And it was probably this very impression that made me lose my anger. A different emotion welled up in me – I hadn’t felt it for so long anymore that it took me a moment to realize what it was. Fear. From deep down within me, where it had been sleeping, it crept up through my entire body until it had made every single nerve tract tingling. My breath came out heavily and if I still had had a heartbeat, it would probably have started racing too. 

But way more important was Tamina. I really needed to find out what was wrong with my young companion, who had started with my dagger on her hair again. I turned towards her in the attempt to console her, as she all of a sudden started to whine. Loudly and desperately. Just as if she had been slapped. Then again. Again, as if she was in pain. By then, she was standing side-face to me and I saw, how her lips had started to move manically, like she was muttering under her breath. Although it was perfectly silent around us, I struggled to understand her words. Some bits I nonetheless meant to decipher. “No ... Please ... What ... done to you?” In the blink of an eye, Tamina desisted from cutting her hair and instead started to move in a strange circular course. In this very moment, she probably wasn't even aware of that I was still there at all.

It was just by then that I realized the odd feeling on my forearm – the skin around the cut felt somehow wet, as if I had put my arm under flowing water. I looked down and saw how a thin stream of a dark – in this half-light almost black – liquid ran out of the cut. I needed a moment to understand that I was bleeding. How was that possible? I was a Vandraren! I was invulnerable, and yet Tamina had just cut me like ... I didn’t know. My mind raced, while I watched the stream that slowly, yet alarmingly constantly, emerged my arm.

“Tamina?” I asked with weak voice and she turned fully back to me. She watched me with those ice-cold eyes. Who the hell was this stranger in front of me and what had they done to my Tamina?

My companion slowly approached me and my fear turned to genuine panic, as I saw how she again raised the dagger. She wouldn’t ... Petrified with horror I had to watch Tamina aiming into my direction with the dagger. Only moments before her attack, some remaining survival instincts made me break out my own wand and turn it into a sword. I didn’t mean to hurt Tamina, but I had to defend myself!

I had barely managed to block her attack, when she already leapt aside and went for the next assault. In addition, an inferno broke loose around us. Thunderbolts flashed and illuminated the scenery around us for a few milliseconds, before everything went dark again. The brute intensity of each thunderbolt made the following darkness feel even darker, and I had trouble staying focused. But the most frightening was the absolute stillness with that this force of nature was raging around us. Not a single sound was to be heard and had I closed my eyes, I would have thought that nothing of this was actually really happening.

Again our weapons met and again I only barely managed to dodge the attack. I took a deep breath and moved sideways. Since when did I feel so utterly exhausted? Was that because of the cut, from which I was still bleeding? I hadn’t felt this vulnerable anymore since ... I didn’t know. And I really hadn’t had the time to engross those thoughts now, for Tamina was about attacking me again. She now was flailing at me like a berserk and I felt my own strength fading with every blow. I desperately searched for a way out, but I just couldn’t see any.

Instead, a different feeling welled up in me: hopelessness. I had never felt so hopeless in my whole existence as a Vandraren before and treacherous thoughts came to my mind: Why are you still fighting? Where’s the sense in that? Why this endless strife, this endless search for ... what? Why do you exist?

Those thoughts distracted me even more and eventually it happened – I was too slow and stumbled. Like in slow-motion I had to watch, how the grass around me suddenly grew high up in the air – until my body crashed down onto the ground. I by then lay on my back and could only watch the dagger coming closer and closer. For the very last time. Make it stop, I thought and closed my eyes.

A loud detonation sounded. It was the first real sound since our arrival and that probably shocked me more than everything else that had happened here. Nonetheless, I remained on the ground with my eyes firmly closed, still waiting for the end.

“It’s an odd place, this other-world,” I suddenly heard a strange voice and flinched. Finally I forced myself to open my eyes again and looked around.

A man looking vaguely familiar approached me. When he was only a few feet away, he stopped. It took me a moment, but then I picked myself up. At the same time I noticed that Tamina suddenly was standing several feet away from me. Stopped dead in motion, she stared blankly into space. The hand holding the dagger was still raised like in mid-attack.

“What have you done to her?” I barked at the stranger, who by then had come up to me and stood next to me. I felt so certain that I knew him, but I couldn’t relate voice and face. 

“I? Nothing. At least nothing to her in particular. I stopped time for everybody except you and me, so that we can have a quiet talk, Arwan Llewellyn. I’ve got some information you desperately might want.” 

“Where do you know my name from? Who are you?” I replied, in order to make any sense of this conversation. The longer I tried to focus on his face, the more it seemed to shift and fade. But when I looked past him instead, he seemed to materialize again.

“Well, honestly, I’m a little disappointed. Actually, we just met not that long ago. And I was the one who made your wand. And her’s.” He slightly nodded into Tamina’s direction.

Inadvertently, my gaze must have followed his nod, and when I turned back to the stranger, his shape had stopped blurring. “Merlin?” I asked weakly. “I would never have known it was you. Your voice ... is so ... different.” Where was his normal gibberish about yoga? 

“Merlin, son of Merlin, if you don’t mind,” my counterpart replied, “and as I already said, here in this other-world everything is a little different. Things here are not what you expect them to be.”

It took me a moment to understand the meaning of his words. “The other-world? Like in some of those old myths?”

“Yes ... and no”, Merlin said calmly, for he obviously felt my confusion. “The worlds in those old myths bear some resemblance to this place, but they will never be able to depict it in its full extend. Everyone experiences this world a little differently, and thus everyone also reacts a little differently to it. Look at me. The old, grumpy wizard suddenly becomes an obviously powerful being.”

“You just stopped time,” I stammered and glanced back to Tamina, who definitely had not moved in the meantime.

“Oh that. Yeah, that was me,” Merlin, son of Merlin replied. “Remember that, when we meet for the next time, Arwan Llewellyn: You can’t survive as long as I did by only babbling some gibberish about warranties for wands and stuff. There’s more to us than meets the eye. And this brings me to the reason, why I am here. And why you are here. Tonight is Halloween, or whatever modern people call this night. Tonight, the borders between our worlds blur. Tonight, we all make borderline experiences – some more consciously, others less. And see, what this other-world brings us: I am the mighty wizard I once was again and you, the invulnerable Vandraren ...”

“I am vulnerable,” I whispered. After a moment of silence I added, “and I’m afraid. I’m so ... desperate.” I took a deep breath. “Tamina cut me with my own dagger. Why has she done that?” I tried not to pay attention to the rapidly growing puddle of my own blood on the dry ground in front of me, and instead I desperately looked at my companion. “What is with wrong her? Has she been possessed by an undead?” 

“Yes ... and no,” replied Merlin, son of Merlin again calmly. “She is being possessed, but not by some random undead. Listen closely. Did you hear, what she said?”

I sighed. “She accused me I wouldn’t take her seriously. That nobody would take her seriously. Because she’s such a sweet-natured girl and ... she spoke of herself as weak. But that’s not true! How can I help her?”

Merlin locked eyes with me. “You can’t help her. As I said, it’s not some random undead that tortures her. It’s her own demons. Tamina obviously in secret is very worried about that she isn’t self-confident enough or that she puts up with everything, or maybe she has experienced one or another situation after that she felt very bad and that now still hurt her. But you can’t help her. She has to learn on her own, how to deal with her weakness.”

“She told me several times that she didn’t feel self-confident enough,” I admitted guiltily. I should have ...” Well, I honestly had no clue, what I should have. “But I can’t just stand by and watch her die!" I objected desperately.

“If you survive this, just be there for her,” Merlin continued. “Such a disenchanting experience can be painful, but pretty much everybody experiences it sooner or later. Additionally, Tamina currently is in an exceptional situation – she is bound between two completely different lives. On the one hand, there’s her regularly daily routine. On the other hand, she’s a ghostwarrior. Imagine it like a coin spinning around its own axis. One day, she will have to make a decision. Just like the coin, that inevitably will tilt to one side. And when this day comes ... Be there for her and especially: Save her from stupid ideas. We really don’t want her doing herself any harm in this fragile condition. And make her go see a hairdresser. I honestly don’t know what she was thinking.”

I couldn’t suppress a brief sarcastic grin, before I lost heart again and my fear returned. “I? How am I supposed to do that? Maybe you by chance noticed that I currently got problems of my own?” That was the moment I truly panicked, and I almost screamed: “Why? Why does all of this happen? Look at me Merlin, I’m a wreck! How am I supposed to be a help to anyone?”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “You should ...”

I interrupted him. From one moment to the next my fear was replaced by something else. Fury. Fury was better. “If you want to present me with some stupid motivation non-sense – forget it! I’m fighting. I’m fighting every single day! But now I ask myself: Why? You know what, Merlin, I’m sick of this. I’m so tired of fighting! I just don’t want anymore! Just for once I want some peace and quiet, without that danger, without all those missions, just without everything! For once, I just want to be. And honestly, in this very moment, I don’t even want that!”

After I finished, Merlin, son of the goddamn fu***** Merlin, seemed to sigh, before he seriously had the nerve to smile at me, as if I was just a stupid little boy. “Don’t worry,” he replied, “I certainly won’t do that. And you know why? Because I really don’t care. And if you have the feeling of lacking a purpose in your life then for god’s sake go and find yourself one. Plant some flowers. Watch birds. Or try and count the windows on some random skyscraper.”

By now Merlin was making fun of me. He was framing me, wasn’t he?

“Just a little bit,” Merlin, son of Merlin, replied with a smile and with horror I understood, that he obviously must have read my thoughts, while I for the first time fully realized that I had no clue of his.

Merlin continued, “I can’t and I won’t tell you what you should do now. But I can give you some food for thoughts. Reflect on your life. Your past. The things you did – the good and the bad. Try to think primarily of the good, as we know that our brain likes to focus on the bad things all on its own. And now go on to the present. Think of the people in your life. Every single one. Do they mean anything to you? Are they important to you? And if there’s just one single human being for whom you could answer those questions with a yes, then for god’s sake – fight. No matter, how long it will take and how hard it will be – fight. Be there for those who are important to you and they might be there for you as well – if you let them.”

Merlin, son of Merlin, paused. In that single moment, so many conflicting emotions ran through me.  A part of me still wanted to shout at him, another part wanted to run away screaming and again another wanted to lie down onto the ground in fetal curl with closed eyes. So I just remained where I was. Then I took a deep breath and asked Merlin – remembering his last comment before I had completely lost it, “You said something about a disenchanting experience? A decision, Tamina will have to make?” After a moment, a different thought struck me, “And you said, if we survive this ... How do you mean that?”

Merlin gave a slight cough and finally answered, “Tamina learns nothing more or less than that every human being, no matter how sweet-natured or gentle, does have a dark side in them. That demands more attention. That demands to defend oneself, when you feel treated unfairly. And that’s absolutely okay. But I fear that your young friend has suppressed all those emotions for too long. Why, only she can tell you. But that has unbalanced herself. The effect probably is also being increased by this other-world. Additionally, Tamina virtually leads two lives. Both confront her with different expectations. She won’t be able to stand this forever. One day she will have to make a decision. And you, Arwan Llewellyn, may have way more influence on that decision than you dare to imagine. Your only chance is, to work past this barrier of fury and despair to get her back. And – and this brings me on to your next question – do all this, before you bleed to death.”

He slightly nodded down towards my forearm and only then I realized how much blood I already must have lost. Where did that all come from? I felt how I got dizzy.

“I have to leave you now, but I wish you and your companion all the best and I really hope we will meet again in a different world.”

“Merlin,” I called out, “wait!” But my hand, with that I had tried to hold him, only went through spooky, cold mist. Startled, I stopped. “Are you actually here at all?” I then asked and Merlin giggled.

“Who knows,” he replied, “for this is one of the other-worlds. Maybe I was only here in your imagination.” And with those words the mist in front of me dissolved into nothing.

At one go, just as if you had poked a soap bubble, I took note of my environment again. Tamina! I stumbled to her, but I felt so dizzy, and after a few steps my legs gave in. This came as no surprise considering the vast lake of my own blood around me. All of a sudden I began to shiver with cold. Nonetheless I tried to reach my companion – on my knees now, drawing an impressive trail of blood behind me.

But at the same time I noticed something else – it felt, as if Merlin’s magic also had destroyed the dead silence around us. Luckily, the thunderstorm seemed heave come to an end as well; at least I couldn’t see any thunderbolts anymore. But instead I heard something; it sounded like a quiet, undefinably melody that slowly started to play in the distance. But I definitely didn’t have any time for that now.

“Tamina,” I tried to call her, but I felt how weak I was and my voice was hoarse. I had nearly reached my companion, but she still stared blankly into space. Did she notice me at all? Despite my constitution I heard the melody growing louder, but I still couldn’t identify it. And then the chant began. Ghostly voices danced around me and captivated me. Although I didn’t understand a single word of it, I couldn’t turn a deaf ear. Louder and louder it sounded around me, until I couldn’t focus on anything else anymore. Then, a word – LA?

I finally managed to turn back to Tamina. Tamina, please, I desperately thought.

All of a sudden she spun around and saw me. “Arwan,” she cried and also went down to her knees. When I looked into her eyes, they were wide with shock, but I also noticed with relief that at least a bit of the former warmth had returned to them. Tamina now glanced at the trail of blood behind me and screamed anew. Her gaze followed her arm and recognized the dagger in her hand, that obviously too was red with my blood. She screamed for a third time and threw the weapon away. “Oh my god Arwan, did I do that? I didn’t want this! How could this ...?” she stammered, but I interrupted her.

“Tamina,” I whispered, because I couldn’t do any more, “we have to get out of here. Please.” The melody had by then increased to a concert-like level, just as if it deliberately wanted to distract us. Meanwhile there were a few words to be heard, and they seemed to repeat in an infinite loop.

“... IA --- ALLE--- ...”

Tamina flinched. “But how?” she then cried and I saw, how the cold returned to her eyes. My little companion seemed to downright fight against herself. The melody rang in my ears, making every coherent thought impossible.

“„... LU ... --- IA --- ALLE ... ”

I by then was at the end of my rope, and so I only whispered while my senses faded, “Tamina, please, fury ... good but ... let go ... for now ...” My eyes fell shut and I struggled to open them again. Intuitively I knew my next blink would be my last.

A last, thundering drumbeat sounded and nearly made me lose my focus completely.

With all of my remaining strength I locked eyes with my companion. I still noticed a rest of the cold, but I also saw determination. For a moment her eyes shone as brightly as I knew them. I kept my eyes locked with her so that I barely noticed how the horizon suddenly took on a life of its own and started to roll up like an old carpet. Or maybe I was just hallucinating.

The melody too rebelled for a last time; at least that was how it felt to me. “... IA --- ALLE --- LU ... --- ALLE --- LU --- IA ... ”

I closed my eyes and the darkness engulfed me.

It were the chimes that woke me again. Far in the distance and so hushed that I first thought them to be only an imagination, I heard them sound. After the third stroke I really started listening. After the fifth I started to believe they really were there and I didn’t just imagine them. After the eighth I became aware of my body and my surrounding. After the tenth I felt somebody shaking me and shouting my name. After the twelfth I opened my eyes.

I obviously lay in Tamina’s garden, exactly where we had been before our mission had brought us away. I glanced around and saw Tamina next to me, with tears in her eyes. “Oh Arwan, wake up, please,” she desperately screamed I shook me again.

“All right, I’m awake,” I replied still a little dizzy and sat up. Apparently no time had passed since our departure, at least considering the clock I had just heard. That was odd, for it felt as if we had been in that other-world for an eternity and ... I looked down on my forearm. I saw a little white scar, but that had obviously healed and didn’t look fresh at all. With relief I realized that it had stopped bleeding.

“How are you?” I therefore asked my companion, who still sat next to me, still crying.

“Oh my god Arwan, I feared you wouldn’t wake up anymore! I really didn’t want to hurt you and ... I don’t know, there was so much fury in me, so much hate ... It was terrible.”

“And all that is still there,” I replied and again thought of Merlin’s words. Then I remembered all the emotions I had felt. The fear. The hopelessness. The feeling of being so utterly vulnerable. After a moment I freed myself from those thoughts and got up. Then I reached down and took Tamina’s hand. “Come along,” I said and she looked at me hesitantly.

“Where ...?,” she was about to ask as she grabbed my hand, but then I already had translokalized us.

We stood high upon a cliff line. Beneath us the sea roared, but up here it barely sounded like a hushed rumbling. I turned around to Tamina, who stood next to me and looked out into the darkness.

“Shout,” I said and she flinched.

“Sorry?” she replied confused.

“You already understood me well enough,” I said and added a little softer, “I had a very odd conversation with Merlin, son of Merlin, who told me that – in order to prevent this from happening again – you need to develop a healthier relation to your negative emotions. Therefore we at first need to get rid of the entire burden you already carry around with you. That’s why: Shout!”

Tamina still glanced at me a little confused. “How? I mean, I can’t just wail about in the dead of night like a maniac ...”

I only raised an eyebrow and replied, “Don’t worry, within a radius of several miles there’s no other living human being around. So, will you shout now or do I have to start?”

She again shot an irritated glance at me, but then she took a deep breath. It began as a hushed, shy tone, which I could barely distinguish from the waves beneath us. But then it quickly got louder and on its peak I just wished I could block my ears. Finally it faded and ended in a long whimpering sound, until Tamina finally broke down. I caught her and noticed that she again had started to cry. Then I cautiously sat her down and sat next to her, so that we could look at each other. Tamina seemed to be broken.

“Better?” I asked and she nodded hesitantly.

“Better,” she replied with a weak smile.

We sat together for a long time and looked out at the sea.

Again the memory of what we just had experienced came back to my mind. Had we actually experienced that? I flinched. And what Merlin had said ...

Tamina visibly pulled herself together and looked at me critically. “What has actually happened with you on our mission? You too behaved odd, but I can barely remember any of it and I only recall how angry I was...”

I sighed and searched for words. Finally I answered, “I was scared.” I had to force the words out; I would never have voiced them voluntarily. “Not only you, Tamina, had to fight your own demons.” I paused for a moment and looked back to the sea. Then I continued, “I haven’t felt this vulnerable for a long time. As if the slightest breath of wind could blow me down. But at the same time I felt so obsolete. Actually, I don’t have any words for it. And I really don’t want to moan about ...”

Tamina interrupted me. “That’s not moaning. You rescued me so often, and to be honest I would like to be there for you as well. If you let me! We are a team, for god’s sake!" Quieter, she added, "You know, actually I kind of a little bit somehow whatever care for you.” She took a deep breath. “Damn it. I really like you a lot. Do with that information whatever you want.” She turned away but I still could see that again she was biting back tears.

This brought back the odd conversation with Merlin again, stronger than before.

Tamina seemed to have noticed my worries, and glanced at me doubtfully, as she asked: “Is there anything else I should know?”

I sighed. Then I replied: “Merlin said something about a decision you will have to make. But I think, that’s still far away and you don’t need to worry about it now.”

Tamina looked at me desperately. “Arwan. I already made my decision long ago. My coin has tilted long ago. But no matter what Merlin says, this has no any influence on what is currently going on around me. I’m a victim of my own circumstances, like all of us. At least I thought I’d read that somewhere. But the thing is, no matter which life I would like to lead, I can’t just quit the other and never look back.”

I swallowed hard. “Can I by any means help you?” I then asked anew. Considering the rebuff I had received earlier, that was such a stupid question.

A critically glance. A long pause followed. “Get me out of here,” my companion whispered, so low, that I nearly overheard it. “Make it stop. Make them stop, before they finally have destroyed me.” She got back up again and I too jumped back to my feet.

We stood there on the cliff line for a while and looked out to the sea. It was a strangely calming and stirring sight at once.

“Actually, it’s brave to admit a weakness,” I finally said trying to understand this confusing conversation.

Tamina replied, “That’s no bravery, Arwan. That’s black despair. Believe me, if I saw a different way out of all this, I would walk it.”

What the hell were we talking about?

“I would like to know what it feels like. Just once,” Tamina added after a while. She turned around to me and locked eyes with me.

Confused, I glanced back. “What would you like to know?”

“What it feels like. To hear other people’s thoughts.”

I glanced at her for another moment and then looked back to the sea. “Why?” I eventually asked.

Tamina sighed. Then she admitted, “I never really know what people around me truly think. What they think of me. Whether they really like me just because of myself.”

“And would it change any of your feelings for them, if you knew?”

After that, Tamina remained silent. It became a long silence.

“What shall we do now?”, Tamina finally asked, obviously trying to change topic. “Actually, I could do with some distraction.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Is there anything you would especially like to do?”

Tamina shook her head.

“What about music?” I added. Flinching, I thought of the ghostly melody I had heard in the other-world, and therefore quickly continued. „That mostly helps me to calm down. Or ...” I thought for a moment until another idea struck me. It was a little mad, but hey, it was Halloween. So I continued, “Or we sneak to this Halloween market not far away. They always got some live-music and stage funny contests like whittling jack-o’-lanterns and stuff. You’ll certainly find some distraction there.”

Tamina grinned. “Okay, let’s do this! But speaking of it, we don’t have any costumes ...”

I smiled at her mischievously. That really shouldn’t be a problem.

A few minutes later we entered the market – in full mission clothing, by the way. Although it was already past midnight, still a lot of people were there. At the entrance, I had cast a short spell so they wouldn’t look too closely at Tamina’s age and there were we. Our “costumes” probably helped as well. My companion smiled at me and I was relieved to see her eyes shining warmly again. And honestly, I also was pretty relieved that I had survived this adventure. Before we had come here, I had insisted on cautiously scratching my arm with my dagger, but luckily nothing had happened and our experiences now seemed more like a bad dream. But they weren’t. I never would forget anymore what I had felt. But I would deal with it on another day.

We walked across the market. Obviously a music act must have ended only minutes ago. Suddenly, a crowd was all around us, people were trying to get another drink (pumpkin juice, pumpkin sherbet, or pumpkin beer, served in orange cups in the shape of pumpkins with a creepy face on them) or just to get to the next showplace. Then there was a little gap in the crowd and I was already about pulling Tamina towards it, as I suddenly felt her stopping.

I looked at her. She obviously stared at someone a few feet away. As I followed her gaze, I noticed that this said person stared back to Tamina as well. “Arwan,” she whispered, still locking eyes with the stranger in front of us, “do you see this stranger there? That’s the one, who saved me from Jaropolk and Ke’Indra, when they were chasing me, back in my hometown.” Her voice got still a little bit lower and a little more frightened. “The one, who saw that I can perform magic.”