Haven's Addiction

The rest of the day was actually a lot of fun. The bag Fenton gave me contained 100 gold coins, which Mazzy informed me was very generous. We went for a meal after leaving the shop for Mazzy, myself, and the driver of the coach. We went to a very lavish and expensive restaurant for the cost of only one gold coin, and I got 4 silver coins back as change. Now I could see why she was so astounded at the amount of a down payment Fenton gave for the currency exchange.

The rest of the day was spent riding the coach around New Haven City, seeing all the sights. We took all day driving around without even getting out of the coach, while only stopping for refreshments. That is just how many landmarks there were for us to see. Well, for me to see anyway. Much like with the dollar bills, they were so used to seeing them that it was business as usual.

It came as no surprise that the largest, most extravagant, and beautiful buildings in the city were churches; not very different from our own world. Although these churches were each devoted to a different god. Each time we went by a temple, Mazzy would tell me about the god depicted there and went into a long speech about what that god represented and how their worshipers followed the deity.

The religions in Haven are a lot different than my world. Their gods are worshiped more like actual people than an unseen entity that knows all and sees all. It isn’t all that different from my world before monotheism became popular. When I have seen people talking about their deities in this world it has been with a faith and conviction far more intense than I have ever seen at home. The people here are more in touch with those they worship.

I think it is because there are so many different gods here to choose from. Back on Earth there are really only a few main religions. While there were different churches with different beliefs, they were really all just offshoots of the same few religions that worshiped the same god, but in a slightly different way than the others. Their religion is kind of backwards from ours. At home people go to church to find their faith, but here people head to the church of their choice with their beliefs already in hand. Mazzy went to the church of Nethoril, who is the goddess of agriculture and fertility. While Brendt, our coachmen, went to the church of Eezma, who was the god of travelers and good fortune.

When I think about it, they really aren’t all that different. We have several saints and angels that look after agriculture, safe travel, fertility, and so forth. We may worship one all mighty god, but we pray to a particular saint when we want to be blessed on a certain task. Here they just worship the saint directly as a god. I should have listened to my wife after the years of hounding at me that we should go to church after all. Perhaps if I did I would have a better understanding of religion, and may have been able to understand this world better.

The most beautiful place in the entire city was an enormous courtyard in the center of the town known as The Courtyard of Champions. I immediately recognized the name as being that of the place Drognaus said they found me. The courtyard was far bigger than any stadium I have ever seen. The wide open space of it was like having Central Park in the middle of the city. The area was a memorial of sorts to those who had founded the world of Haven. As soon as the carriage pulled up to it, I nearly lost my breath. Not just from the sheer magnitude of it, but the immediate recognition.

When I first stepped out of the carriage my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There were 14 statues in the main courtyard. 12 of them were in a perfect circle that surrounded the other two, facing them. Of the two statues in the center, there was a man and a dragon. The statue of the man was surprisingly small. Mazzy informed me that all of the statues were made with the most explicit detail, and were absolutely authentic. The founders who erected the statues didn’t want to portray them incorrectly as being larger than life figures, and instead chose to make the statues in their commemoration to be the exact same height, dimensions, and features as the benefactors themselves; right down to every scar and blemish. As huge as the dragons were, I didn’t think it would be possible to make them larger than life.

The statue of the man was only about six feet tall. It rose a few feet taller because he was standing on a pedestal. The pedestal was necessary, otherwise the statue would have been vastly overshadowed by the one next to it. It already was, but at least the pedestal made him look less like an ant. In his right hand he held a sword out to his side with a glowing blade. It looked to be made of crystal with some form of light source inside to make it glow with constantly shifting colors that changed about every five minutes. His left hand was held out in front of him palm out like he was signaling to stop. The odd thing is that his fingers were apart in a V shape which, is the same hand signal that Spock uses when he says “Live long and prosper.”

What was really awe inspiring was the dragon next to him. The dragon statue looked to be made of solid gold with what looked like purple gems inlayed with the scales throughout. It glittered in the afternoon sun with its own radiance so bright that it almost seemed divine. It stood on all four legs with the wings outspread into the air and the head held high with the mouth open.

The other 12 dragon statues around them were each sitting reverently with their wings draped at their sides. Each of the twelve dragons were of a different color and material. There was a red one, a green one, a white one, a jet black one, and a blue one that all looked to be made of a polished stone of their color. There were four that looked to be made of metal with gold, silver, copper, and bronze respectively. The other three statues were made from a kind of stone with more than one color to them with a primary color and a secondary color that was mixed in with swirls or specks throughout, like they were made of granite or some other kind of mixed stone. There was a black one with gray, a brown one with streaks of white, and a swirl of black that seemed to be made of crystallized smoke.

The statues were absolutely fantastic. The attention to detail was incredible. When you looked at them closely you could even see the individual scales that were carved into it. They looked so realistic that you expected them to start walking around at any moment. But it wasn’t the attention to detail that captivated me the most. It was their size. They were abso-fucking-lutely enormous. Words can not describe how incredibly huge these things were. I had never seen anything like it. Each one of the dragons were bigger than my three story house. Their heads alone were the size of a short bus, and the wingspan of the golden dragon in the center looked to be as wide as an international airliner. For the first time since arriving in this world I truly couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“Yes, they really are that large,” Mazzy said beside me. “Everyone has a hard time believing it if they haven’t seen one in person. They aren’t all that big though. They continually grow as they age. These dragon champions were great wyrms, the very oldest of dragon kind.”

“So, they don’t get any bigger than that?” My eyes were still wide.

“No, these dragons depict the largest of the species. It’s kind of misleading to dragonkind. It is quite rare for a dragon to reach that age, and when they do they tend to be secretive and are rarely encountered except by those in their clan.”

“How large are they at birth? Is it anywhere near this big?”

“Not nearly. They are born about the size of the horses pulling our carriage.”

I whistled in astonishment. “That’s a big baby. That had to leave stretch marks. Breast feeding must be a bitch, especially if they are a biter.” Mazzy gave me a dirty look at that remark. “What?”

She rolled her eyes and tried to ignore what I said.

“You seem to know a lot about dragons.”

“Of course. I work for one.”

That night when we finally settled down and found our way back to the place Fenton arranged for us to bed down for the night, we were getting pretty tired. The ‘Guest House’ as he called it was really something to behold. It wasn’t an executive suite, it was it’s own house. It was an absolute gorgeous place styled kind of like a villa. It was made of stone that looked like it was molded into, instead of bricks. The building had its own courtyard surrounding it, which was protected by a tall stone fence that enclosed the entire property. Right when the carriage first pulled in there was a beautiful bubbling fountain in the center of the courtyard, and I remember thinking to myself ‘the suite must be in this upscale hotel’. When we were personally greeted and brought inside by the servants I realized that the suite Was the hotel. Up until then I was a bit leery about the whole transaction with Fenton, but the place was so beautiful that I was looking forward to conducting further transactions.

We were immediately led to a spacious dining room where a meal was already prepared. It was a gourmet meal for Mazzy and myself that came in five separate courses, and I have never had such fabulous food in all of my life. While it was similar to any other meal I’ve eaten, it was unlike anything I had ever experienced. There were meats, cheeses, breads, fruits, vegetables, and spices galore, blended into various concoctions. I could tell what type of food it was, but not what kind. It’s obvious when meat is meat or when a vegetable is a vegetable, but not a single one of them was familiar to me.

The meal was actually a lot of fun, although it felt kind of awkward with just the two of us eating at a long dining table that could serve at least 25 people. Mazzy and I talked up a storm throughout the meal. I can see why several course meals used to be popular. It gives people the opportunity to talk among themselves, have a few bites, and then talk some more. Despite her serious demeanor most of the time, Mazzy was quite the funny lady, and she had a lot of stories to tell. On looking at her it was easy to forget that she was actually in her 50’s, and had experienced more in life than me. She didn’t seem to be that bothered by it because, as she pointed out, it happens all the time. I guess you would need to have a sense of humor when you have that sort of prejudice hanging over you daily.

After everything I experienced so far in the day, sitting down and talking with Mazzy had been the most convincing; aside from the dragon statues of course, nothing could trump that. A part of me still tried to remain a conspiracy theorist that this was all an elaborate psychological experiment to see if I could be convinced I was in a magical world. It was the passion with which Mazzy spoke when she talked of things that were obviously not of my world that spoke mountains. The look in her eye as she talked was something that couldn’t have been faked.

After dinner we were led to our rooms for the night. The servants escorting us to our rooms were both female, as were all of the servants I saw since arriving at the property. Not only were they all female, but they were all attractive human looking females, and the uniforms they wore had a particular flair for showing off their sex appeal. I wondered if I happened to be female that when I arrived here all of the servants would instead be male and dressed as Chippendale dancers. This place was offered as a way to butter up potentially prosperous clients, and any way to make them happy would be willingly provided.

I was escorted to my room by a lovely young woman named Magda. She was a very petite, charming young lady with a sweet aura of innocence about her. However I could also tell that if I were to ask her to do something for me she would willingly oblige without any hesitation, no matter how intimate the request. She very subtly hinted that such requests would certainly be granted, but was professional enough not to mention it outright. Another one of Fentons ‘perks’ for his upscale clients.

The bedroom was just as elegant as the rest of the building, and was the size of the main floor of my house. A huge four poster bed dominating one side of the room with sheer lace cascading down all of the sides. Elegant furniture adorned the room with carvings and statues along the walls, and paintings hanging from them. On one side of the room, a set of double doors led to a private patio and lavishly maintained garden outside. After Magda left I stumbled over to the bed. Apparently whatever kind of drinks they served with the meal were alcoholic because my head was spinning. I managed to kick my shoes off and collapsed on the bed. I think I may have ripped the lace off on one side when I went down, but couldn’t really recall. I was absolutely exhausted. I didn’t even bother to take my clothes off, and was out cold as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The next thing I remember was a sweet voice softly speaking to me in the groggy haze of daylight. “Good morning sir. I trust you slept well? Breakfast is ready to be served whenever you are available.”

It took me a moment to focus and realize that it was the voice of the servant Magda. At first I thought that maybe it was my wife, and that I was back home again. Wishful thinking. The royal bedroom surrounding me confirmed that I was still in this confounded world apart from her, which instantly put me in a foul mood. I blurted out a profanity and buried my head back into the pillow.

“Just give me a few minutes. I am not much of a morning person,” I grumbled out loud to nobody in particular. Soon after, I heard Magda quietly leave the room, and minutes later Mazzy appeared.

“Low tolerance to treek wine, are we?” she chuckled. For an older person she behaved a lot like a kid sometimes.

“You know what? There was once a time when I had a sense of humor. I was a happy person. I had a loving wife, a thriving business, lot of friends, and a nice house. Then one day it was all lost to me in an instant with the possibility that I would never see my old life ever again and that all of those I love were likely to be nothing more than smoldering carcasses.” I sat up in bed, frustrated and angry. “Ooh, and the best part is that it was all of a few days ago. So if I am a little irritable in the mornings, please forgive me.” I am a grumpy pain in the ass in the mornings. I am even more irritable when I wake up without my wife next to me. In twelve years of marriage I can count the number of times we haven’t woken up next to each other on one hand. Starting my day in her presence has been the rock that kept me grounded and made me successful. Waking up in this place only reminded me that there were likely to be many more days for me to wake up and she wouldn’t be there. I was in a really pissy mood and needed a hug.

Suddenly something bright red brushed into my face. I jumped up out of bed like a rocket and started pawing at my face trying to shoo whatever it was away. Just what I needed, being harassed by some unknown freaky animal. I just hoped it wasn’t a bug, whatever it was. I Hate bugs. Surprisingly, Mazzy wasn’t laughing at me. I guess after my little rant she thought I was losing it, and about to have a psychotic episode.

“Did you just see that?” I frantically looked around the room.

“See what?” she said cautiously.

“Some red thing just buzzed me. Don’t look at me like that, I felt it too.”

Then I heard a twitter behind me. I turned around to see a little bird perched on the headboard of the bed. It looked like a canary, except for its cardinal red feathers. It stood there on the headboard looking at me, and then twittered again. Then another bird flew over to it and perched itself right next to the first one. The second bird looked very similar, except that it was all blue. Both birds remained on their perch staring at me and then let out a simultaneous twitter.

“Twittle birds,” Mazzy said. “That is fortunate.”

“Twittle birds?” I asked as I turned and looked at Mazzy. As if to confirm this, both birds chirped in sync.

“They are specially trained birds that are let loose about the realm by the Mage and Psion academies. They can detect potential in a person’s abilities so that the academies can recruit students.”

“What abilities do they detect?”

“The red ones can sense if a person has untapped potential in the magical arts, and the blue ones can sense if a person has untapped potential in the psionic arts.”

“What, like magic spells and psychic abilities?”

“Exactly. They have an innate sense for it. The birds are nocturnal and fly about the realm until they detect someone with latent potential, and then stay by that person until morning. The next night they fly about until they find another latent. The more birds that flock together, the greater the potential the person has. It is quite rare for an individual to possess innate magic and psionic talents. You should consider yourself quite fortunate, even if it is only one bird each.”

“So, one bird isn’t such a good thing?”

“It’s certainly nothing to scoff at. A lot of people don’t even have that. While some can learn magic, even if they don’t have latent potential, it is more difficult for them to do so. Although, there has been a more frequent occurrence of it in present years; a sign of a change in the times, I suppose. These days the birds usually only appear on the morning of a child’s birth, or to a newcomer to the realm, like yourself. Once a person has been detected, the birds don’t come to them a second time. I don’t know how they are aware of it. I guess once a person is aware of their potential it is no longer latent, even if they don’t tap into it.”

“So what do I do now?” I was so confused.

“You go to the academy of the appropriate color, both of them in your case, and get evaluated. There are ways to untap your potential in both fields, but whether you choose to advance your abilities further after that is entirely up to you. Untapping latent potential is very easy, I hear. Although using those abilities once they are revealed can take years of study and devotion.”

“Ugh, this is really too much,” I grumbled. This wasn’t news I needed. It was more aggravating than fascinating. Sure there is the possibility that I could learn to be a true magician, but I didn’t have years to study it. If there was some way to impart that magical knowledge instantly, I would have been all for it. But I didn’t have that luxury.

At that moment Magda came in the bedroom pushing a cart of covered trays that she declared was our breakfast. I caught a whiff of it right away, and it smelled fabulous. “Would you like your meal here, or shall I take it out on the veranda?”

I looked over at the birds and they chirped at me, once again in unison, which was really creepy. Magic and psychic abilities. Images of Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker ran through my head, both of whom were too whiny for my taste to be associated with. I really needed some fresh air. This world continued to get more and more stressful. The thought of potentially having super powers was overwhelming, and made my head hurt.

“Just leave it here and we will take it outside to eat,” I said as I rubbed my temples.

After Magda left the room I looked over at the birds who chirped at me in unison again. They were getting creepy, and I wanted nothing more than to get away from them.

“So how many birds usually appear for people that are now known to have a talent?” I asked Mazzy as I started to wheel the cart towards the double doors that led to the veranda outside.

“I have a few friends who are now skilled mages and they had about six of the red birds on the day of their birth. I hear that the current head of the Magi academy had 49 birds appear at her bedside after arriving in Haven. I don’t really know any psions, so I couldn’t say for sure. I figure it would be about the same.”

“Am I obligated to get tested to see if I have any powers?” As we neared the doors I could see that one of them was open a crack. This must have been how the birds got in. I vaguely remember Magda opening the door the night before to let in some fresh air, or maybe with the ulterior motive of letting in any feathered friends that might arrive in the night. That much wouldn’t surprise me with Fenton involved.

“There is no obligation. It is merely a service to provide people with possibilities. Even if you only have a small amount of potential it may be worth inquiring. From what I hear the process of unlocking one’s potential is quite enlightening, even if you don’t pursue it any further.”

“I think I am going to pass for now. I never even knew that magic and psychic abilities really existed until yesterday, so the idea that I might have those powers is kind of overwhelming. It’s hard enough to deal with the fact that I am now in an entirely new world, and that my home and everyone I know may have been completely destroyed as it is. Maybe later when I have more time to let it sink in.”

Mazzy pushed the doors open for me and I pushed the cart out onto the veranda. Both of us stopped cold in our tracks, neither knowing what to say or do. Before us were hundreds upon hundreds of red and blue birds perched on anything available. The table, chairs, fence, and most of the ground were all obscured in a sea of red and blue feathers. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of motionless beady black eyes were staring at me. All of the birds stood there silently and completely motionless as if ready to pounce at the slightest provocation. It was like the final disturbing scene in Hitchcock’s The Birds.

Then they all let out a resounding CHIRP in complete unison with such mass of volume that made the windows rattle. I was officially freaked out, and may have peed myself a little.

In the same state of complete awe Mazzy said, “I think we will need to get you evaluated very soon.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.”