Everything was perfect. The full moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating the dark woods with a silvery blue hue. Caspar went down to one knee and carefully laid down a handkerchief. He smoothed it out over the grass and squinted to make sure he didn’t smudge any of the markings. Unable to see so well, he pulled a candle out of his back pocket and muttered a quick spell to spark it to life. “There,” He said to himself as he lowered the candle to see better. Satisfied that everything was perfectly fine, he leaned back a bit and smiled to himself. “The moon is in place. The spell is ready. Let’s make magic!” He rubbed his hands eagerly as he rose.
The apprentice wove a spell around the handkerchief and the moon responded as it grew brighter than usual. The Goddess of the moon was aware of the spell that was being woven around her lunar blessing. A bringer of inspiration and imagination, the lunar magic teased and played with the handkerchief until the spell was complete! Each marking glowed so brightly that the handkerchief disappeared in a burst of flames. The markings soon scorched the grass as they continued to glow even more bright.
“Wh….” Caspar took a few steps back.
The markings exploded and sent the apprentice flying backwards. With a soft groan, he lifted his head and his eyes widened at what he saw. A young man was standing where the markings once were. The moon pulsed bright as the sun in the night sky as it shone down on this new stranger. With a final pulse, the moon dimmed to its former state and all returned to its dark silvery-blue hue.
Without warning, the young man bolted off into the darkness and disappeared. Fear welled up within the frightened apprentice. It was clear that his spell had worked but something in the back of his mind was screaming that he had screwed it up as usual. Finally his mouth worked. “Wait! Come back!” Caspar took off after the conjured stranger.
The forest was brought to a hush as all unseen ears swiveled and cocked towards the sounds of footsteps rushing through dried leaves.
“Come on! Slow down! Please! I don’t mean any harm!” Caspar cried out again. With a leap, he tackled the stranger and they both went crashing down to the forest floor.
“Get off me!”
Quite exasperated, Caspar shouted, “Just relax! I’m not going to hurt you!” When the stranger beneath him calmed, he sighed and slowly sat up. “What’s your name?”
The stranger turned his head, allowing the moonlight to illuminate his face.
A bolt of coldness ran down Caspar’s spine. There was something frighteningly familiar about this young man. It was as if…
The stranger slowly sat up and moved back a few feet. After dusting off his shirt, he looked at Caspar again. “Where am I?”
“Four Winds Crossing.”
“F- what?”
“Four Winds Crossing.” Caspar repeated slowly, still trying to figure out who this man was!
“Wait, what?” The young man slowly stood.
