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. . . Hard rocky ground.  At first she was disoriented, her head spinning like a bicycle wheel, then she gained her bearings, took in her surroundings.  Where exactly was she?
    
She hadn’t a single idea.
    
In the far distance the twin towers of Enchantus stood, hazy like a mirage.  Okay, so she was in the countryside somewhere, which she’d seen while traveling up the elevator of the Enchantus tower. 
    
The stone ground was a muddy yellow color, a layer of dirt and dusty lying on it, like a skin.  She was surrounded by green bushes with red dots that she thought were some sort of berry, as well as some lush green and purple trees.  Then she saw the boy who was almost a man.  He was an even five feet in height, broad shoulders, a laborer for most of his life, by the looks of him.  He was turned away from her, so she couldn’t see what he looked like.
    
Kyra took a hesitant step forward and then said: “Hello?”

*

Doci slowly turned around and looked at Kyra for the first time.  He was shocked at first by her striking beauty; he had seen his fair share of girls, but they all appeared plain compared to the sight of this girl who was almost a woman.
    
“Who are you?” he asked.
    
“I am . . . I mean, my name is Kyra,” she replied.
    
Doci’s look didn’t change.
    
“So you are the Chosen One, as written in the Scriptures.”
    
“And you are . . . the Guide,” she said.  How she knew was beyond her.  The thought had just formed in her mind, becoming part of her knowledge.
    
“What are you staring at?” she asked, wondering if something was wrong with her.  She stared right back at him, and noticed that he had crystal blue eyes.
    
What is it?” she asked again, a little annoyed now.
    
Doci, discovering he had been caught, turned to look at one of the berry bushes, his face turning pink. 

“And you are?” she said

Then a lightning bolt exploded out of thin air and sliced a nearby tree in half, straight through its trunk.  Half the trunk groaned like an old sinking ship and fell towards them.
    
Kyra looked and stared, her mouth hanging open.  Doci immediately spotted the oncoming danger and reacted with automatic instinct.  He threw himself at Kyra in a swooping gesture.  Kyra felt herself picked up and thrown through the air.  Images of Robin Hood and Tarzan flooded through her mind, as she landed fully on the ground, Doci covering her protectively.
    
The tree crashed about a foot away from them, showering them with leaves, some dead and brown, some live and green.
    
“My name’s Doci,” he replied, out of breath, and staring into her eyes.  Kyra looked into his.
    
They both smiled at each other.

    
Demto watched Doci and Kyra from his crystal ball.  His “trick” had worked wonders, breaking the invisible social wall that existed between them.  He stepped away from the ball and thought about Jolus the Malignant and the duo’s ongoing quest.  He knew that tricks like the lightning he’d just made would certainly not work against the King of Evil, but he hoped that Kyra would have a lot more than simple magic tricks to fight Jolus, once she reached him.  She had quite a distance to travel before she faced him.  She had the skills already, she just needed to understand how to apply them – whether it was with a sword, spear, or spells.  He had confidence in her, and he knew that Doci would help her however he could.  He sat in his comfortable chair, swirled his robes around him and began thinking about Jolus the Malignant: not for the first time, and not the last.
    
    
As Doci picked himself up, he offered his hand to Kyra, who took it.  What made him jump to her rescue?  He’d never done anything so heroic before.  So why now?
    
Was he beginning to understand his role as the Guide, to become the person, the Chosen One’s protector.  But he also felt something for Kyra, like they shared something unique, apart from being the two chosen to save the fate of Aisis Lip.  He almost felt like he already knew her, somehow.  Her face didn’t look familiar at all, but there was something about that look in her eyes.  It felt like whatever was inside Kyra, whatever was driving her to carry out her quest was something he could comprehend.  He’d had similar feelings ever since he was born; he’d just never understood them.  Now he did.
    
Kyra dusted herself down and faced him.
    
“So, Doci, do you know which way to go?” she said.
    
He looked at her, wondering why she was asking him this question.  Sure, he was the Guide, but that didn’t mean . . .
    
“No,” he replied and then realized that wasn’t true. “Yes, I do,” he quickly followed.
    
Somehow he did.  He didn’t know how, he just did.  He guessed it was one of those things.  Like the Scriptures.
    
Kyra studied the confused frown on his brow and then watched it clear.  He was going through some sort of change also.
    
“Well, shall we go?” she said.
    
Yes,” he said, with confidence this time.
    
Without thinking, or asking, he took her hand and they began walking up the path.
    
Kyra was at first a little shocked – she had never held a boy’s hand before – but this somehow felt right.

    
Quark couldn’t stay still, constantly moving, twitching, and twisting, squealing like something possessed, tearing at the chains that held it.  They continued to chafe at its wrists and ankles, making it angrier.
    
The King of the Death Castle walked up to the creature, his fetid breath making Quark grimace.
    
“I said I had a job for you,” he growled.
    
“Yesss, Masster,” the creature responded. 
    
“I want you to find the Chosen One.  She goes by the name of Kyra.  I want you to find her, kill her, and bring back her corpse, understand?”
    
“Yesss,” was its reply.
    
“There is another with her,” Jolus the Malignant continued.  “He is her guide, but he is but a boy, just as she is but a girl; neither of them know how to defend themselves.  They will make easy prey for you.  You can do what you want with him, I care only about the girl.”
    
A sickly grin formed on Quark’s distorted face.
    
“Very well, now, go!” Jolus the Malignant ordered.  He clicked his fingers and the chains snapped open and fell from him.  He was free. 

Quark jumped wildly and then caught its master’s angry glare.  It hopped towards the window, just a hole in the wall.  It looked back one last time at its master.
    
Fly my pretty, fly . . . , it heard in its mind.
    
It jumped from the ledge, letting its hidden wings open to their full span of nine feet.  It hovered for a short while, honed in on Kyra’s location with its sonar sense.  Before it was the lands around Jolus the Malignant’s lair.  It was very high up and could barely see the dead creatures strewn out below, rotting in the sun; there were so many of then: failed experiments, experiments who’d tried to escape, even a few Ewlaps who sought freedom across the blasted lands; they’d all failed.  Quark took flight, its giant wings of skin flapping awkwardly, wastelands of the dead passing below him.

    
Demto awoke quickly from a troubled nightmare.  He lifted up his hand to his face, and in the dim light of dawn could see that his palm was covered with sweat, while his hand was shaking as if he were sick.  He hadn’t had a nightmare in eons, not since the Bloody War. 

Jolus the Malignant had released one of his accursed creatures, Demto could feel it; the wizard also realized that he would be useless and powerless against it.  Kyra was in trouble, he had to warn her.

The sun has just risen, beginning to cast its warm beams upon the cold land.  The two had been awake for about an hour.  They’d spent last night at a friend’s house.  Originally, they’d not been friends, they’d been total strangers, but as soon as the owners answered the door and looked upon Kyra and Doci, with the hope in their eyes, and once the young boy and girl gave their names, they’d acted as if they’d always known them.  This was a great honor for them, and they’d been hoping for this ever since they’d heard about the arrival of the Chosen One.

Word traveled fast through the Kingdom of Enchantus, and legend and prophesy traveled faster.  The people knew well of the Chosen One that would come to Aisis Lip to help them.  They also knew of the Guide who would lead her to Jolus the Malignant.  And shortly after the grand celebration of the Chosen One’s arrival, they knew she and her guide would begin their quest shortly after.  So they prepared their houses, their families, and themselves for the slim possibility that the Chosen One and the Guide would stop at their particular humble abode to eat, drink and rest for the night.  They had a long and tiring quest ahead of them, they would need rest.  So the people of Enchantus readied for some very special guests.  They waited and hoped, and now Heb and Rola had been rewarded.

They’d immediately been welcomed into the home like long lost family members.  Their coats and items taken, while they were escorted to the living room where a giant fire roared on the hearth.  Kyra and Doci were soon warm again and relished the feel of a warm home and a kind family.

In little time, dinner was announced and they sat down to a delicious meal of roast chicken, mashed potatoes and jugs of thick gravy.

“So, where are you headed?” Heb asked, even though both Kyra and Doci knew full well that he, as well as Rola, knew exactly where they were going.  Everyone knew where they were going; Kyra was willing to bet that even Jolus the Malignant was aware that the Chosen One was on her way to stop his takeover of Aisis Lip, which didn’t make her feel worse, for a change, now that she’d thought of it.  Nevertheless, Doci went with it.

“We’re headed, as I’m sure you two know, to Jolus the Malignant’s lair.  I’m the Guide, and it is my job to lead Kyra, the Chosen One, there.  And then, somehow, I’m not real sure yet, we’re going to stop him from taking over Aisis Lip.  He didn’t succeed before, and even though Aisis Lip is now defenseless, he’s not going to succeed this time either.  Because the Chosen One has arrived.”

Kyra didn’t say anything, but just smiled nervously.  Doci continued his eating, while Hep and Rola looked at each other.

“And how is it that you,” Hep said staring at Doci, “know the way to Jolus the Malignant’s kingdom.  Have you been there before?  Surely not.  Then how can you possibly know they way.”

Doci looked at Heb for a moment, then at Rola, then to Kyra, smiled, and then back to Heb.

“If you had asked me that question the day before yesterday, when I didn’t know I was to be the Chosen One’s Guide, and that this was a job I had been destined to do since the day I was born - since I had been born with this.”  He held us his hand and showed them all the birth mark.  He made sure they all saw it, especially Kyra, since she was the one who really needed to believe in him.  If he didn’t prove to her that he would take her to where she wanted to go and help her in any way he could, there would be no point in the two of them continuing on their quest.

“But since then, now that I have met Kyra, everything has changed.  Kyra asked me that same exact question yesterday when we were about to begin our journey.  At first I’d had simply no idea of where this place could be, having only worked on a farm all my life in the Valley of the Altar, and just didn’t believe any of it.  But when my father told me about the Scriptures and the prophecy he’d known since he was my age.  Well, I realized that it’d all been planned that way.  The Chosen One had come from another world” – as he said this, Kyra became visibly uncomfortable, which no one noticed except Doci – “And that I was to be her Guide and then yesterday I met her.  She asked me that question: ‘What way do we go?’ and at first I just looked at her with confusion and some annoyance, for how could I possibly know something like that, when she was the one from another world, and surely the person who would know something about anything.  I mean, she had just magicked herself out of thin air – one minute she wasn’t there, and the next she was.  Surely she was the one who would know what to do and where to go.

“But when I searched my mind with little intention of finding anything, in a recess I found the answer just waiting for me, and I told Kyra that I knew.  And that wasn’t the only thing I found in that recess.  There were more answers waiting there, and while most didn’t make any sense to me, I just knew that they were simply waiting for me when I would ask the right question, or someone else would ask me one of the questions that those answers exist for.

“And now we are here.  Why d you ask?  Have you any information or advice you could offer us?” Doci asked.

For some reason, this seemed to wake up some distant memory in Kyra’s head.  She couldn’t quite pinpoint it.  In her mind she saw a book, though the cover was bare – no title, author, or illustration.  And there was a specific point in the book, she could tell is was really long, more than a thousand pages, when the group of characters in the book were also on some quest – where to and what for, she had no idea – and upon being rescued by some magical character they’d sought help from him, and he’d proceeded to relay all these details and comments about what perils they might face in the future, and how they could be steered clear of it.  So perhaps now, she was hoping that Heb would have his own ideas and advice for them.

Doci and Kyra watched Heb anxiously, knowing that anything he and Rola could provide them with would be useful.

Heb looked at them and smiled sadly.

“Much like you Doci, I have never left this farm, and know very little about the outside world.  You will see in the morning, when the sun is up, that there is little to our way of life here.  We tend to the small number of cattle we have, we tend to our two sheep and one pig, and we make sure the vegetables grow.  There are lots of hills around us and very few people.  Why, I only go to Enchantus about once a month, and to the palace I’ve only been once in my life.  So, no, I have nothing to really say to you except . . . we wish you the best of luck, and fare you well.”

Doci looked to Rola expectantly, and soon Kyra joined him.

She smiled also.

“I have even less to tell you Chosen Folk.  Like Heb, I was brought up and taught to be a farmer, helping where I could, and working with what I knew.  That’s the way it has been done in these parts for a very long time, and that’s the way it will continue to be done.  I’m a farmer.  I met Heb at the market.  He was a farmer.  We knew what we had in common and we were soon married.  And this is how we expected our lives to be spent: together, on a farm, and we like it that way.  Eventually we’ll have children and they’ll become farmers like us.  Sometimes we hear stories at the market: some are lies or just stories, and some are stories that will come true.  You are proof of that.  That’s why we were expecting you.  And that’s why, once you leave, our lives will return to normal.  As I said: we like it that way.  But if you fail, and Jolus the Malignant takes control, it will all change.

“I’ve hardly ever left the surrounding countryside, and have never gone to Enchantus, much less the palace.  But I can tell you something: your quest will be long and hard.  The lair of Jolus the Malignant is very far from here, for I was told stories of it when I was a child.  My mother used these threats to put fear in us so we wouldn’t disobey.  There was one my mother would threaten us with most often.” 

Here Rola’s voice changed and Kyra imagined what her mother must have looked like.

“This was told when we were really naughty.  She would say that if you do bad things then Jolus the Malignant will come for you, not to kill you, but to make you one of his minions.  You will belong to him, and then he will become strong again and that will be the end of all Aisis Lip, and the end of Enchantus.  And it worked every time.  We were always very fearful whenever there was a knock at the door that Jolus the Malignant would be standing there, ready and waiting for us: all sharp teeth and evil eyes.

“Aye, it is very far away, so do not expect to get there soon.  And you will be much challenged along the way.  Aye, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t got a whole army ready for ya.  That’s what me mam used to tell me, that that horrible Jolus the Malignant would make creatures from the mud and muck of the earth, creatures that he would send out to hunt and kill, and there was no hope.  It would be the quickest way to get us to bed, or get us to do something she wanted.

“So that’s what I have to say to you: beware and be on the lookout.  If you were both ordinary folk, I would give you no hope and expect you soon dead and our future doomed.  But you Doci, have been prophesized to be the Chosen One’s Guide, so there must be something in you that will give you a chance and ability over any other ordinary folk.  By the way you have already displayed some hidden knowledge that you had no idea existed, tells me that I have faith in you, and while it may seem risky and perhaps impossible now, and in the near future, bleak, I have hope and am sure you will succeed.

“And you Kyra, why you are certainly not ordinary in any way.  You are the Chosen One, who has been destined to come to Aisis Lip from another world at a specific point in time when this world is destined to succeed of fail and only you will be able to save us.  I have just as much hope in you my child, for you are really our only hope.  Should you fail, we shall all know that you did your best.”

Kyra looked at Rola aghast, certainly not happy with this observation.  Doci was just about to say something when the old woman cut him off.

“But you will not fail, because it has been written in the Scriptures and has been foretold for millennia that you would come from another world and save us all from Jolus the Malignant.  And I know you will smite him once and for all.  Before, in the Bloody War, he was stopped, but now you will stop him for good, by ending his life, for it is something you must do, for only then will you rid this world of all the hate, anger and misery that has ever existed in Aisis Lip, for all eternity.  We shall live in happiness and joy.  But kill him you must.  This is my advice to you.”

After this, Kyra wasn’t sure which outcome she liked better.  If she fled into the distant lands of Aisis Lip and doomed everyone to horror and enslavement, she could keep running.  She’d make sure Jolus the Malignant would never find her.  Maybe Doci could help, making sure they were always one or two steps ahead of him.

But she knew in her heart that she couldn’t do this.  There was too much at stake.  Too many lives.  And after all she’d done in what little time she’d been here; she was even starting to believe that she was who everyone said she was.  That she had it in her to stand up to Jolus the Malignant, with Doci at her side, and actually stop him.  No, kill him, as Rola said.  That was the only way she would be certain.

Kyra and Doci left Heb and Rola’s house strangers no longer, but friends with a long quest before them that would bring them all the closer together. 

There were just two people: a young girl and a young boy.

They stopped just a little way along the path that Doci had chosen.  They’d gone far enough, after saying goodbye to Heb and Rola, and the husband and wife had gone back inside their home.  And now the two stood there wondering exactly what to do next.  It was here that the crucial decision would be made.  Many choices had already been made: Kyra’s going with Marie, her training with Demto, her passing through the vortex; Doci’s going with his father, letting the old man leave, and then the two of them beginning on the path, not to mention starting to walk that morning, after all they had been told.  They would have to make many more decisions if they intended to reach their destination: overcoming the obstacles and hurdles they knew they would face, and to continue going, without giving up, because they had a job to do; to reach the distant lands, then the castle, and then to actually face Jolus the Malignant, to somehow stop him.  A thought entered Kyra’s head at this point: would Doci, after reaching the castle and Jolus the Malignant, turn tail and head back home.  He had no reason to stay.  He wasn’t the Chosen One after all; he had no powers.  Apart from knowing the way, which did require some sort of ability, he hadn’t exhibited any further magical abilities.  He would be a sitting duck against Jolus the Malignant.
    
Kyra thought about what she would do if she were in his place.  It would be suicide.  She’d be out of there in a flash.

She looked at Doci as this thought trailed off.

He looked at her at the same time, smiled and shook his head.

“No Kyra,” he said, “I will not leave you.  I vow, from this moment on, I’ll always been at your side, through thick and thin.  And if I’m not, I’ll certainly not be far behind.  I‘ll be right beside you when we take on Jolus the Malignant, and I’ll be right beside you when he falls to the ground, dead.”

He took her hand in his.

“I promise.”

Kyra was a little shocked at having her hand held by Doci – it was really the first boy’s hand she’d ever held; her brother didn’t really count.  Kyra had never had a boyfriend before.  Sure, there’d been guys she’d had crushes on, but she’d never been able to work up enough courage to do anything about them.  She’d made a pledge to herself that come senior year, she would ask a guy out; but senior year had never come.
    
Instead, she was now holding the hand of a boy she knew very little about, but was prophesied to be by her side and lead her to Jolus the Malignant.  And with this thought in mind, Kyra couldn’t help but feel better, both about herself and about embarking on this quest together.  Holding Doci’s hand made her realize that yes, he was here with her, and they were in this together and two was better than one any day.
    
They didn’t talk at first, enjoying the feel of the fresh air on their faces, the light breeze rustling their clothes, the sweet smells of trees, grasses and nature, and the sound of their feet walking along the gravel path.  It was relaxing, like taking a walk, except their walk was headed in a very specific direction.
    
Doci looked at Kyra and smiled, and then asked: “So where do you live?”
    
And after that there was rarely a moment when they weren’t talking the rest of the day, as Kyra unloaded her entire story from the sunbathing on the beach until now (avoiding what she couldn’t remember), and after that she heard Doci’s story, from the day of his birth, through his life on the farm in the Valley of the Altar.
    
“My life was pretty ordinary until yesterday, when my father told me about the quest I had to fulfill with you, and what the true meaning of my strange birthmark was.”
    
Doci showed Kyra the birthmark again, and she wondered if she had an unusual birthmark somewhere on her, but figured someone would have told her by now.  As far as she knew, she was blemish free.
    
“I always figured I’d spend the rest of my life in the Valley of the Altar,” Doci continued.  “Farming with my family, taking the produce to the market each week, and getting to know the people of the valley and not much outside it.  I’ve been only once outside of the valley, and that was for Queen Anita’s coronation.”
    
Kyra looked at Doci with awe.
    
“You saw Queen Anita’s coronation?” she asked.
    
“Well, I was only five at the time, but I do remember it pretty well.”
    
“Please tell me about it,” she said.  “I was only there for a short while and know very little of Enchantus’s history, and very little about Queen Anita’s too.”
    
“Well, it’s a good thing I remember it so well, even though I was very young.  It was a really grand and special occasion, which is probably why I remember it so well.  Queen Anita’s father had been the king before, King Arthur, though I remember nothing about his reign - before I was born - but I do know that he was a very respected king, and a lot of alignments were made between Enchantus and the other kingdoms of Aisis Lip.  Unfortunately, the big kingdoms like Enchantus are on the other side of this great landmass, and it requires traveling great distances to communicate with them.  There is some trade, but again, due to the distance, not much.  Queen Anita’s mother died when the queen was very young, and I don’t remember her name, my father never told me, but just twelve years ago, the king visibly began to weaken and become ill.  Soon he was confined to a bed and medicine men from all of Aisis Lip came to help him in any way they could, but no cure could be found.  Shortly after he died and Queen Anita, who then became queen, ordered an autopsy on the king.  She demanded to know what had killed him.  The medicine men found large growths inside his body in most of his major organs.  They had seen minor cases of this affliction before, but never something so widespread.
    
“The king was laid to rest and then a few days later there was the coronation of Queen Anita.  Everyone in the kingdom seemed to be there and I’d never seen so many people in one place at one time.  The coronation took place in the morning and we all watched the queen be crowned and stand at the food of Enchantus palace, bow to us all and then she entered the palace.  The rest of the day was one of feast and celebration, and the best food I ever had.”
    
“Wow,” Kyra replied.  “I wonder if there will be a similar celebration if we best Jolus the Malignant?”
    
He looked at her.  “Are you kidding?  If we kill Jolus the Malignant, once we return we’ll be heroes.  Well, we sort of are already, but if we succeed, we’ll not be forgotten, and probably go into the history books.  And if that day comes, I bet it will be a better day than the coronation.”
    
A few hours later, a short distance from the road, Kyra saw a river.  Well, actually she’d heard it first and followed the sound to find a rushing river nearby.  She washed her face and drunk from the cool water and filled their bladders.  They had a quick lunch from their supplies and soon continued along the road.    

When twilight approached, they found an open spot off to the side of the road and while Kyra set about making a fire, Doci went hunting with his rudimentary bow.  He’d had it since he was young and had become an excellent archer, at least for hunting.  Within a short while he returned with a rabbit that he’d already skinned and cleaned.
    
As night fell, they had roasted rabbit with some vegetables they’d found along the way.  They laid out the thick blankets that were to be their beds, close to each other for protection, but not too close, under a big oak.