“A Wayward? I have never heard of this profession before. Besides, brother Tarvan was in the Border Patrol.” As I spoke, I remembered my older brother and Cal spoke about within the Border Patrol there were different specialties within it. Of course, there would be professions I wouldn’t know of. I really need to stop speaking before I get my thoughts in order. Now Councilman Jorgonzilrye will have an even worse opinion of me.

“Child,” here we go I thought, “Tarvan was the finest Wayward this village has produced.” Not what I expected, I thought I would get a lecture on the intricacies of specializations and professions, everyone never passes up the chance to show off their intelligence over another. Just wait for it, it will come. “Tarvan showed excellent judgment, very knowledgeable, a wonderful ambassador and even better at trans-”.

Cutting him off I asked “Ambassador? There is nothing outside the boundaries that aren’t dying a slow death. Are there other safe zones from the toxic air?” Before he could speak, I kept bombarding him with questions. “Is it not toxic? Is that why the twisted were out there? Or do they also have the cure like our Guard has? Do the-” Now it was his turn to cut me off.

“Child, all in time. What you need to know now is that Tarvan was very special. So special that I am willing to come out of retirement for him.” Retirement, not many within the village are able to get to retirement. Usually for the elderly the lessening of their workload was done, but they would keep an advisory position within their professions. Retirements were only given to those who sacrificed dearly for their community. “As you know, when your father passed away Tarvan became lost, and more intrigued with the world around him.” This of course was known to me. Often, he would dream of leaving the village, but of course he would not. Well, until now that is. “He was racked with grief and was not thinking clearly. To my surprise I found this boy no older than 12 outside the boundary. He ju-” I interrupted him yet again.

“You found brother beyond the boundaries when he was a child?!”

A flash of annoyance crossed his face, but quickly passed. “Yes, this was your brother. To my surprise not only was he out there, but he had thrived. The Twisted you saw out there? He was able to best one. No training, no con-”.

“He fought one?! As a child?!” Everything was sounding like a fool’s tale. A child standing up to a being that made the air around it fears it. How is that even possible? Looking at the elder withered individual I can see now that he was starting to lose his patience with all the interruptions. “Sorry Councilman Jorgonzilrye, at your pleasure please continue.”

With a nod of satisfaction he continued, “This boy, of no older than 12 was miles away from the end of the dead zone when I came across him, he-” As I cut him off again, I instantly regretted it.

“What dead zone?”

“Girl, interrupt me one more time before I can finish a sentence or a thought, and I'll have the laborers have you for a week.” The laborers had the worst jobs in the village, not deciding on a profession, criminals, or being denied of their choices until the age of 20, they do the dirtiest of jobs and the rest of the professions acquire their services when they don’t want to deal with the mess.

“Sorry councilman Jorgonzilrye, I will refrain from doing it further. I just have so many questions and you keep telling me things that goes against all we have learned.”

“No excuses just do better. For what you have learned, a lot of it is true. Some lack some details while others are not true at all. Only the Border Patrol knows the truth of things, and even then, not many know more than the average citizen. In time, you shall know more as well. I am getting ahead of myself anyhow; I have not even confirmed a few things from you. One of those, are you still trying to reach Tarvan?”

What kind of question was that? My brother who has given me so much, who practically raised me when mother Kirri passed away. Even when he gives me a hard time and aggravates me at times, he only does it because of his love for me. He is just hurting now, losing his daughter and wife in that awful fire, he is just not thinking straight. “Of course, he believes he has nothing to live for here. I want to prove that wrong to him.”

“Child, he does not think that. He might have left hastily and not in the best state of minds, but those are not the driving forces for his actions.” This time I did keep my mouth shut. “As you are aware, there was a fire that burned five houses to the ground, family and all.” I nod as he continues, “These were to cover up what actually transpired. The ones to cover it up, were myself, Tarvan and others within the Border Patrol.”

Anger flared within me, my nephew, my sister-in-law. “What do you mean? You saying my brother has a hand in what happened that night?”

“Girl, let me finish. Outside the boundaries, there many living things. Not just creatures or vegetations, but also people. People from lands so far you would not be able to comprehend at this time. Just know that we are not alone. I spoke that your brother was kind of an ambassador, right? On one of his trips, he met a certain group. This group followed him without his realizing it. They were targeting him but failed. Instead, they killed helpless citizens in the process. Tarvan, I both agreed that if Last Hope learned of this, the tranquility we have been building here as a community for hundreds of years would crumble. Knowledge has been suppressed and changed to help keep this village not only safe, but alive.” He waited for me to digest it; I knew this. So, I took the opportunity to really think before speaking this time. This was life altering information, and not many would even consider this.

“Why? Why is it so important to not talk about the outside?” Let's start with the obvious question first. We can always get into the finer details later.

“That question is harder to answer than most, but I shall simplify it as best as I can for now. You know about how names are not given until our first profession correct?”

Nodding I said “Yes, of course, it is because before we found Last Hope children would die all the time to the toxic air. The air would affect them first because they were so young. As time went on the adults started getting sick and when the Originals was beginning to face annihilation, they found this place. In remembrance and honor of the Originals we keep the tradition of not naming a child until they knew the child would survive. Instead of the physical sense of surviving, we now use it in regard to being able to survive in a professional sense.”

“Yes, that is partly the truth. The air is not actually toxic as you found out with your limited time out there. Instead, there is a force however that can warp the body and mind. Tapping into this, individuals can come to gain great power, but at a cost. Children as they get older are unable to do this safely, but they still tend to do it. Pushing past their limits they become twisted, deformed and most of all, enter a state of madness.” I am very confused, but I had not dared to interrupt him. His earlier warning still echoing in my head. “Before the Originals found this place, only one and ten children would survive until adulthood, because the parents would have to put them down like a rabid animal. If not, they would kill anything around them.”

He paused, and I took the opportunity to fit in a remark. “But they are only children, would they not be easy to stop? Makes no sense how a child can pose such a threat to an adult.” Truly this was puzzling.

“Size does matter, but so does other factors. Factors we shall soon speak on when we work our way to the border, and I can show you. For now, know that the children were for all tense and purposes, a whirlwind of death and destruction if left unchecked. The Originals chose to let both this information and others die with the passage of time for the safety of their children and those who come after. At this moment, we are the largest congregation of people in one area of this world that I am aware of. I have traveled far and wide, nearly 9000, that is how many we have in our lovely abode. Wish to take a gander how many other civilizations has in one community?” I shook my head; I had not even realized we had that many. Most of the land within the boundaries were for farming and grazing. Little was for living quarters. “Under 1000. That was the highest I have seen out of any group. Too many internal strife due to this force I speak of. Too many blood prices that need to be paid or altered state of minds seeking battle and glory. Enough of this for now, I shall show you. Ge up, we got a ways to travel to get back to the boundary.”

“What, what are you going to show me?” I almost did not want to hear the question. This was way too much information all at once. Things that go against everything I thought as a fact. I was scared, scared to get close to anywhere where the Twisted dwell. Scared of what I will from this old man. Scared he was telling the truth. I was just scared.

Looking at me gently and a good amount of pride “I will show you the power of Transmutation.”