That night, Amos leaned out his second-storey window. Leila had made him another cup of tea to help with his sleep issues. He held the mug in both hands, running his thumb over a chip on the rim. The tea went cold long ago, but Amos drank it anyway.
The loose leaves settled on the bottom once the liquid was gone. He smirked at the shape they made - a star, surrounded by flecks of herbs.
Wonder what those scammy fortune tellers in my old world would have to say about this.
He sighed and put the cup down gently on the sill. His hands now free, he leaned further out to let the cool evening air caress his face. He closed his eyes and stayed there for a while, content.
Shanty...
Who are they really? I never learned their real name. Or even saw their face!
What did that strange person mean when they said they sent the letter to me? It appeared on my window - what kind of postman does that?
Amos opened his eyes and looked up to the sky. It was a clear night.
Then again, they did seem to have some kind of magic in that staff.
Shanty claimed to be from a place called Avidia Institute. The owner of the Pisces seal with twelve stars...
He turned his attention to the stars. The clear nights made stargazing much easier than back home, even for one with an amateur knowledge of constellations. It seemed to Amos that the sky was almost the same. All the major constellations he knew remained, though he was sure they would have different names here.
Does Shanty actually know Yakob? Or were they after him for other reasons? They didn't sound so sure about that school project...
And who comes all the way out to a farm in the middle of nowhere for a project?
Maybe they have something to do with the Trenmir - an extension of the empire. Then again, they seemed to be mocking the Trenmir when they spoke about the Drai. They were too blasé about the insanity...
Amos searched the skies for his own star sign - Cancer. As he did so, he noticed two bright stars that didn't exist in his old world. The brightest stars were usually planets. Amos thought the planetary arrangement in this universe might be different than what he knew.
Another question for Yakob.
He spotted the Cancer constellation. It was the dimmest of all twelve, the subtlest. It almost looked like it didn't belong among their ranks.
Amos recalled a theory of the Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato: that the Cancer constellation was the 'Gate of Men'. Platonic philosophy asserted the constellation was the portal through which human souls descended from the heavens and were incarnated on Earth.
Shanty said the Drai are regular people changed by an eclipse. Can anyone become a Drai? How are they changed? Do they actually become insane or was that a Trenmir talking point?
Should I become a Drai? Should I listen to the letter? Should I watch for the eclipse?
Amos sighed, taking the mug back in his hands. The star of leaves met his gaze blankly.
Questions beget questions.
Amos turned to go take the mug back downstairs before bed. With his back to the open window, he felt a prickling sensation run up his spine. His ears twitched.
A faint noise carried itself upon the wind to meet him.
Screams?
He rushed back to the window and paused, listening.
There! Someone's definitely screaming for help!
Amos ran downstairs immediately, feet clomping heavily on each wooden step. He went straight to the door, then stopped with his hand on the handle.
I'd better take a weapon. Just in case...
He turned and threw open the entrance to the storeroom. Tools hung on metal hooks all along the walls. Weeds that Leila deemed worthy were laid out on racks for drying. They would be moved into the sunlight during the day. There was a stack of buckets in the corner.
Amos scanned the tools hanging on the walls and selected a sharp-looking pitchfork. He hefted it in both hands, feeling the balance - not that he knew how to use a weapon of any sort. It felt good, though, testing its capabilities with an air of confidence.
He went back to the central room of the house to find Leila standing by the door with her arms crossed. "You drink your tea, hon?" she asked.
"Yes," Amos said simply.
"Not tired yet?"
"No..."
"And where do you think you're going with a pitchfork when it's pitch black?"
"I heard someone screaming, Lei- Mum! I need to go investigate!"
"Oh, screaming, really? Out here? On our farm?"
"'s going on?" Kien walked into the room, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
Amos didn't want to explain himself a second time. He stormed over to the other side of the room where the large window lay behind the kitchen. He undid the latch swiftly and threw open the shutters, letting in a burst of night air.
"Uh, what?" Kien said, looking to his wife for an explanation.
"Listen!" Amos said.
To their credit, they did. They listened to the wind dancing in the leaves, crickets chirping in the dirt, the occasional owl hooting from its roost, and the scurrying feet of some rodent or another.
Then, faintly - oh, so faintly - came the screams.
"Oh," Leila said. Kien's eyes widened. He was awake now. He went into the storeroom himself and exited a moment later with a metal, sharp-edged shovel and a flammable torch. He handed the rusty shovel to Leila, whose eyes were filled with concern.
"You coming with me?" Kien asked Amos.
Amos nodded and tightened his grip on his pitchfork. Kien took a firesteel and a piece of flint from the kitchen and began striking them together, throwing sparks onto the torch between his knees. After three tries, it lit. He took back his shovel from Leila.
"Lead the way, Mister Muscles," Kien said to Amos, then turning to his wife, "Lock the windows and doors until we get back. Stay in the room and don't light any candles. Love ya." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then the father and son were out of the house and into the night.
In the darkness of the new moon, the flaming torch provided a small circle of flickering light. The oppressive ink pushed in around them, seemingly amplified by the contrast of the bright torch. The light meant that their eyes wouldn't adjust to see more effectively in the night. Essentially, Amos and Kien were blinded to anything outside of the range of their torch.
"Better this than nothing," Kien shrugged and started forward in the direction of the screaming. It had stopped now, and didn't come again.
Kien and Amos moved quickly. They ran through the animal pens, disturbing the demon chickens in their coop. They ran across the fields where they tripped over seedlings and furrows in the dirt. All the while, their 'weapons' were held at the ready and their torch held high.
Eventually, the pair came to a stop in front of an ominous tree line. The torchlight seemed unable to penetrate into the wood.
Look at me... Stay away from where?
"The forest..." Amos said out loud.
Kien nodded.
"We shouldn't..." Amos began to object to entering.
Shanty's mask - that eerie clay with the twin ouroboros - danced before his mind's eye.
"That's where the screaming came from," Kien looked at his son with compassion, "You can go back, it's okay. I'll go by myself."
"No," Amos shook his head, "I'm alright. Let's go."