"A rider on a horse panting races to reach a particular location as bricks fall around him. He skillfully uses his horse to dodge them, and finally brings the horse to a stop, the animal neighing as they come to a halt."
Redman Games
Chapter 1: Boy?
The dream begins in red and shadow. A girl drenched in blood kneels over someone lying still. Her hands shake as she slaps his face, screaming words that never quite form. The scene twists—edges blur, colors bleed, the world turns nightmarish and wrong.
Then everything snaps.
A boy jolts awake in a narrow bed, gasping, heart hammering against his ribs.
"You're awake!" A rough voice cuts through the haze. A man stands over him, eyes wide with relief. "Mage! Get in here!!!"
The door bursts open. A woman in flowing robes that look almost like a nun's habit rushes inside, followed by a girl
about the boy's age. They lean over him, checking his eyes. The boy shrinks back, frightened and disoriented.
Suddenly a black cat launches itself onto the boy's head with perfect timing.
"Meow!"
"Lord Rick, come here!" The girl lunges after the cat, arms outstretched.
"Liora, focus right now," the woman says sharply.
"Sorry, Mage Matra," Liora mutters, cheeks pink, still trying to scoop up the cat.
A soft breeze slips through the open window, lifting strands of Liora's hair. For a moment she looks almost luminous against the dim stone room. The boy stares, unable to look away.
Who is that…?
Mage Matra and Liora leave quietly. The man drags a wooden chair across the floor—its legs screeching against the stone—and sits beside the bed.
"Remember anything?" he asks.
The boy shakes his head.
"Nothing at all?"
Another shake.
"Name?"
The boy tries to speak. His voice comes out thin and cracked. "No…"
"Hmm. You can't go around without a name. Let me think…" The man rubs his chin. "Hmmmm… I'll call you Boy."
The boy blinks. "What's… your… name?"
The man grins. "You can talk! Call me Dren."
Boy looks at him, confused. "Do you know who I am?"
Dren's expression darkens. "Do not burden your mind with it. What is lost to do not return so easily." He leans forward. "Just learn to get yourself back on your feet. In a month's time, I'll come back for you."
"Why?"
Dren only stands and leaves without answering.
Three weeks later.
Boy races through the massive castle halls, laughing, jumping over low benches, touching tapestries, exploring every shadowed corner like the world is new. In his excitement he collides hard with a mage carrying a stack of plates. They crash to the floor.
"Watch where you're going, demon!!!"
As he reached out to help the mage, she slapped him hard. The sharp sound echoed through the room.
Dot's expression flickered with shock, but then he smiled faintly and said, "I messed up again. Sorry."
At that moment, Liora burst in from the hallway. She struck the mage's hand away and grabbed the boy by the arm, dragging him toward the door.
"You didn't have to slap him," Liora snapped at the mage, her voice tight with anger.
Still fuming, she pulled the boy down the corridor toward his chambers.
The mage stumbles back, startled.
Later, in his small chamber, Boy sits cross-legged on the floor with an open book. Liora sits beside him, patient.
"The… Glyf—Gylfa—ginning…"
"It's Gylfaginning," Liora corrects, her tone precise.
"Gil-va-gin-ning."
"Gylfaginning," he repeats, slower this time, testing each syllable like it might bite.
Liora's gaze lingers on the book a second too long.
The boy looked at her.
"Are you mad at me?"
"Yes, I am," Liora snapped.
"When will you learn to stand up for yourself?" she continued, her voice sharp. "People will keep picking on you if you don't. Trust me—I know exactly how that feels."
She abruptly lifted her book and pressed it against her face, hiding behind the pages as if to shut out the world—and him
She then raises her book peaking at the boy.
"Im sorry."
"I like when you show how your feeling." the boy says
She smiles. "Have you seen Lord Rick anywhere?"
"No."
"He must be hiding again."
Liora flips a page in her own book. Boy watches her.
"You've been reading that same book ever since I met you. Why?"
Liora's eyes light up. She sits straighter. "I want to be a mage—not just any mage.A great mage, respected in all the realms."
Boy claps enthusiastically. "Impressive!!"
Liora laughs and gives a dramatic bow.
"First I have to awaken my mark" My magic is useless without it.
"I'm sure you will" boy says..
"Have you thought about what you want to do?" she asks.
Boy looks down at his hands. After a long pause: "I hardly remember my name. What's the point? All I have are frequent dreams I can't recall."
"All I know is what you've told me—about how I came back from the dead."
Liora closes her book. "Then… I'll give you a name better than what Ser Idiot gave you."
"I actually like the name."
"You like 'Boy'? Really?" She rolls her eyes. "You're an idiot. I'll give you a better one: Ser Dot the Risen."
"Dot?"
"Okay, it's settled." She grins. "Now think more about using this second chance you have."
"Second chance, huh…"
Liora's voice softens. "I don't know much… but I know this: some people would gladly take your place just to be with the one's they love again." Her fingers tighten around the small necklace at her throat.
Boy stares, speechless.
"Without a doubt, I believe you're here for a reason, just keep living Dot". Liora says softly
A loud bell rings through the castle—time for the mages' evening prayer.
"I have to go," Liora says quietly. "Talk later."
She slips out.
Later, Boy finds Lord Rick crouched in a corner, fur puffed, eyes wide.
"Meow!"
"There you are, Lord Rick. What's wrong? Why do you look so scared?"
In the grand prayer hall, twenty mages kneel before a tall stone statue. Liora pushes the heavy door open too hard—it booms. Heads turn, then snap back forward.
She tiptoes in.
A harsh whisper: "Where were you, Liora?"
"I was—"
"Kneel."
"Yes, ma'am."
Mage Jeze leans closer. "I can't keep having your back, girl. You come late to duties required of mages… and you spend all your time bonding with that demon."
Liora stands abruptly, shoving Jeze's hand away. The movement draws every eye.
Mage Jeze: "You've changed"..
"What's the problem?" Mage Martha calls from the front.
Liora turns and walks out without a word.
"The demon has sought for your soul, girl," someone mutters.
Mage Martha's voice cracks like a whip. "Respect yourselves, sisters! I won't take this disrespect in this Holy place again!"
"Yes, ma'am."
Later the same day
Outside under the stars, Liora walks beside Mage Martha, carrying a bucket of water from the well.
"What's wrong?" Martha asked.
"Nothing," Liora replied.
"Your making that face again."
"What face."Liora answers
Then mage Martha looks at her, then Liora exhales.
Liora then responds.
"Why do you all hate him, yet still take him in?"
"A mage's duty is to the realm—to protect it from harm. We had to break custom to bring him here. For the good of the realm. Martha sighs
"The realm. Mages use that as an excuse to feel less guilty".Liora looks up sternly
" Times have changed Liora, greater evil approaches from the darkness, evil sort to end this world. You say we hate him some might think that but we don't . None of the sisters truly do. They just… put most of the blame and anger on him. Because of our experiences."
"Experiences really?"Liora exhales
"Yes." Martha glances at her. "We've all gone through worse in our lives—so have you. You really have a good heart, Liora. That's why you'll make a strong Völva one day."
Liora smiles faintly.
Then the alarm bell rings—wild, frantic.
"What's happening?"
Martha's face hardens. "Go. Wake the boy and bring him to my chambers now."
Liora runs.
In the darkness of sleep, the same bloody girl appears again, shaking someone who won't wake. Boy jerks awake to find Liora shaking him in real life.
"Liora? What's happening?"
The bell screams. Screams and running footsteps echo from the halls.
"Follow me! Grab Lord Rick!"
"Meow!"
They sprint down the corridor—and stop cold.
Mages lie everywhere, blood pooling on the stone. Liora drops to her knees beside Mage Martha, who is barely breathing. With trembling fingers, Martha presses a small key into Liora's hand.
Liora's eyes fill with tears.
They turn a corner and freeze.
A monstrous two-faced dog stands in the hallway, blood dripping from both maws, four hungry eyes locked on them.
"What is that?!"
"Run, Dot!!!"
More of the demon dogs appear, snarling. Liora thrusts her hands forward.
"Knýta!"
A wave of force slams the creatures back.
Dot thinks: Liora is amazing…
He snatches a fallen staff and swings wildly at one of the dogs.
"Quick—in here!"
They duck into a side chamber. An invisible barrier shimmers as the dogs crash against it, unable to pass.
"We need to find a way out of this realm," Liora pants. "This enchantment won't hold forever."
Inside the protected room, Liora notices stacks of books and a study note which She opens. Ancient Greek letters stare back to see mage Martha's handwriting and her key consistently writing about what's to come the prophecy.
Η Άνοδος του Κάτω Κόσμου Μονάρχη
(Ī Ándos tou Kátō Kósmou Monárchi)
(The Rise of the Infernal Monarch.. .)
Liora's thoughts race.
"I can't understand this words".
Then she finds an unsealed letter dating almost a month ago a plea.
Text: The Allting orders his death..
Only this was visible till Liora went down.
Another was sent 2 days ago
Requesting Mage Martha to turn her self and the boy for disobedience to the council.
Liora thoughts race
What is this…
A deafening bang. The barrier cracks. The door collapses in a cloud of smoke.
Vines erupt from the shadows and wrap around Dot, dragging him forward.
"Ahhh!"
Liora slashes the vines with a spear she found. "Dot, are you okay?"
"I think so…"
"Stay behind me!"
A shape forms in the smoke—face wrong, eyes too far apart, mouth twisting in impossible ways.
A dying mage staggers in and hurls a glowing spear. It sinks deep into the demon.
"Run!!"
The demon rips the spear out and flings it back. The mage's body tears in half, Liora and Dot manage to escape.
The creature sniffs the air, blind to them for now.
Dot and Liora bolt, Dot clutching the terrified cat. They reach the castle's edge—beyond lies a dark forest and an invisible wall shimmering faintly.
"Why are you stopping? That thing is coming!"
"This is the end barrier—between the physical world and this realm. We have to find a breach or break through to escape."
"How do we do that?"
Behind them the ground explodes.
The demon rises from the earth.
Eyes red in fury
Close on their faces—pure terror.
To be continued