A Land of Fire. Morgan Rice

uncle,” she said. “He loves you very much. He always has. And Alistair, too.”

      Thor pondered it all, overwhelmed.

      His brow furrowed as he thought of something.

      “But for me, it’s different,” Thor said. “I don’t quite feel as you. I feel more of an attachment to place than you. I can’t travel to other worlds as freely as Argon.”

      “That is because you are half human,” she replied.

      Thor thought about that.

      “I am here now, in this castle, in my home,” he said. “This is my home, is it not?”

      “Yes,” she replied. “It is. Your true home. As much as any home you have in the world. Yet Druids are not as attached to the concept of home.”

      “So if I wanted to stay here, to live here, I could?” Thor asked.

      His mother shook her head.

      “No,” she said. “Because your time here, in the Land of the Druids, is finite. Your arriving here was destined – yet you can only visit the Land of the Druids once. When you leave, you can never return again. This place, this castle, everything you see and know here, this place of your dreams that you have seen for so many years, it will all be gone. Like a river that cannot be stepped in twice.”

      “And you?” Thor asked, suddenly afraid.

      His mother shook her head sweetly.

      “You shall not see me again, either. Not like this. Yet I will always be with you.”

      Thor was crestfallen at the thought.

      “But I don’t understand,” Thor said. “I finally found you. I finally found this place, my home. And now you are telling me it is just for this once?”

      His mother sighed.

      “A warrior’s home is out in the world,” she said. “It is your duty to be out there, to assist others, to defend others – and to be become, always, a better warrior. You can always become better. Warriors are not meant to sit in one place – especially not a warrior with a great destiny such as yours. You will encounter great things in your life: great castles, great cities, great peoples. Yet you must not cling to anything. Life is a great tide, and you must allow it to take you where it will.”

      Thor furrowed his brow, trying to understand. It was so much to take in at once.

      “I always thought that, once I found you, my greatest quest would be finished.”

      She smiled back at him.

      “That is the nature of life,” she replied. “We are given great quests, or we choose them for ourselves, and we set out to achieve them. We never truly imagine we can achieve them – and yet, somehow, we do. Once we do, once one quest is complete, somehow we expect our lives to be over. But our lives are just beginning. Climbing one peak is a great accomplishment in itself – yet it also leads to another, greater, peak. Achieving one quest enables you to embark on another, greater, quest.”

      Thor looked at her, surprised.

      “That’s right,” she said, reading his mind. “Your finding me will lead you now to another – greater – quest.”

      “What other quest can there be?” Thor asked. “What can be greater than finding you?”

      She smiled back, her eyes filled with wisdom.

      “You cannot even begin to imagine the quests that lay ahead of you,” she said. “Some people in life are born with just one quest. Some people, none. But you – Thorgrin – have been born with a destiny of twelve quests.”

      “Twelve?” Thor repeated, flabbergasted.

      She nodded.

      “The Destiny Sword was one. You achieved that marvelously. Finding me was another. You have achieved two of them. You have ten more to go, ten quests even greater than those two.”

      “Ten more?” he asked. “Greater? How is it possible?”

      “Let me show you,” she said, as she came up beside him and draped an arm around him and led him gently down the corridor. She led him through a shining sapphire door, and into a room made entirely of sapphires, sparkling green.

      Thor’s mother led him across the room to a huge, arched window made of crystal. Thor stood beside her and reached up and placed a palm on the crystal, sensing he needed to, and as he did, the two windowpanes gently opened.

      Thor looked out at the ocean, a sweeping panorama from here, covered in a blinding haze and fog, a white light bouncing off of everything, making it seem as if they were perched atop heaven itself.

      “Look out,” she said. “Tell me what you see.”

      Thor looked out, and at first he saw nothing but ocean and white haze. Soon, though, the haze turned brighter, the ocean began to disappear, and images began to flash before him.

      The first thing Thor saw was his son, Guwayne, out at sea, floating on a small boat.

      Thor’s heart raced in panic.

      “Guwayne,” he said. “Is it true?”

      “Even now he is lost at sea,” she said. “He needs you. Finding him will be one of the great quests of your life.”

      As Thor watched Guwayne floating away, he felt an urgency to leave this place at once, to race to the ocean.

      “I must go to him – now!”

      His mother laid a calming hand on his wrist.

      “See what else you have to see,” she said.

      Thor looked out and saw Gwendolyn and her people; they sat huddled on a rocky island and braced themselves as a wall of dragons descended from the sky, blanketing them. He saw a wall of flame, bodies on fire, people screaming in agony.

      Thor’s heart pounded with urgency.

      “Gwendolyn,” Thor cried. “I must go to her.”

      His mother nodded.

      “She needs you, Thorgrin. They all need you – and they also need a new home.”

      As Thor continued to watch, he saw the landscape transform, and he saw the entire Ring devastated, a blackened landscape, Romulus’s million men covering every inch of it.

      “The Ring,” he said, horrified. “It is no more.”

      Thor felt a burning desire to race from here and rescue them all right now.

      His mother reached out and closed the window panes, and he turned and faced her.

      “Those are just some of the quests that lay before you,” she said. “Your child needs you, Gwendolyn needs you, your people need you – and beyond that, you will need to prepare for the day when you shall become King.”

      Thor’s eyes opened wide.

      “I? King?”

      His mother nodded.

      “It is your destiny, Thorgrin. You are the last hope. It is you who must become King of the Druids.”

      “King of the Druids?” he asked, trying to comprehend. “But… I don’t understand. I thought I was in the Land of the Druids.”

      “The Druids do not live here anymore,” his mother explained. “We are a nation in exile. They live now in a distant kingdom, in the far reaches of the Empire, and they are in great danger. You are destined to become their King. They need you, and you need them. Collectively, your power will be needed to battle the greatest power ever known to us. A threat far greater than the dragons.”

      Thor stared back, wondering.

      “I’m so confused, Mother,” he admitted.

      “That is because your training is incomplete. You have advanced greatly, but you haven’t even begun to reach the levels you will need to become a great warrior. You will meet powerful new teachers who will guide you, who will bring you to