‘You must want what you want, more than anything else. Let the need, the greed for it consume you, and your powers will grow, and as that becomes your only focus, the trappings of the world melt away…’

-The Wyzard, Carven, teaching his Apprentice

There was no sun that ever rose over the surface of the Durmul Expanse; only the odd glowing moon and the twinkling of stars offered heavenly light. Genesis could walk faster than anyone Nell knew - and he wasn’t a slow walker himself. Together they made excellent time, crossing varied terrain on their way to the pit Nell had seen in his vision, and the statue at the bottom that held piece one of three that would get the Hell Gate working for them.

It was probably the oddest thing Nell had ever found himself doing up to this point in his life, but from everything that he had been told, he didn’t feel like he had much of a choice.

Still, as they walked on and on, he wished Ha’dun could have landed closer to their destination.

He forced himself to reason that the ship and Genesis had decided on this course for a purpose, and it hadn’t been because the ship was just an evil snotty ass!

Nell followed Genesis down a sandy path and they descended through trees and bushes before walking out into a wide, dried out, sandy riverbed. Nell stared in wonder when he saw a great mansion, mostly white with brown trimming, standing three levels tall before him. A sign hung outside the main door, and creaked in the wind. The sign had a large overflowing flagon on it, and writing under it that Nell could not read.

Through the large front windows on the main floor – that flanked the dark wooden door – Nell and Genesis could see a host of strange beings within, all drinking and carrying on, and behind the bar at the back of the room a large, pink and purple creature – sort of like a jellyfish, though much bigger, and with a wide mouth, but no eyes. It floated back and forth, its many tentacles serving drinks to the patrons.

Nell turned to Genesis, and she to him.

‘Did you know about this place?’ Nell wondered.

Genesis, looking as surprised as he felt, shook her head.

‘Bazagree, that’s simply foolish, and foolish it simply is,’ came a voice, from the left. Nell and Genesis turned to look, and they saw two strange beings moving up the riverbed, clearly going toward the pub.

The one who was speaking, looked the strangest of the two; a round head, with small eyes, a wide nose, and a small mouth, his top lip over hanging the lower, and a bump of a chin. He was moving across the ground on many, many little legs. Atop the creature’s head was a shell, that didn’t look terribly dissimilar to the curling one on the back of his companion.

The first being’s companion was giant snail in almost every way, though he had a long, gaunt, Human-like face, and wore a monocle over one eye and half a pair of glasses over the other.

‘Foolish you say, Dalodop, but I’ll hear nothing of it, the Codon told me so, and so he told me!’

The head with a shell on top rolled his little beady black eyes and his big, fat ears – that Nell hadn’t noticed first off – twitched irritably. ‘You listen too keenly to that old fool, and too keenly is how you listen.’

‘Oh, do I, well-’ the one called Bazagree stopped suddenly when he glanced over at Nell and Genesis.

Dalolop turned his whole body to look and his eyes bulged a little. ‘Oh my stars,’ he gasped.

‘I told you! Just as Codon said, man and a woman by the pub! Just as Codon said it, as he said it, yes!’ And so the one called Bazagree – the snail with the long Human-like face – hastened toward Nell and Genesis, his companion trailing behind.

‘Good evening to you both,’ Bazagree offered, bowing his head slightly to Genesis and Nell. ‘I was expecting you this evening.’

‘Expecting us?’ Nell wondered.

‘Indeed, indeed,’ Bazagree said.

‘He was expecting you, and expecting you he was,’ Dalodop affirmed, sounding a little out of sorts.

‘It is so,’ Bazagree said, ‘the Codon told me to look out for a man and a woman by the pub this evening, and here you are.’

‘Why did he tell you this?’ Nell wondered.

‘You ask a lot of questions on your own,’ Dalodop said, raising a brow. ‘There are two of you are there not…? Let the woman speak too, I’m sure she has a mind as well, and surely a mind she has.’

Genesis looked uncomfortably at the ground and bit her bottom lip.

‘Drat you, Dalodop, don’t you hear a word I say?’ Bazagree scolded. ‘I told you, and so I told you, that the girl has no voice, or so Codon said.’

Genesis quickly looked at the aliens and blinked in surprise.

‘Who is this Codon?’ Nell asked seriously, and with a note of force in his voice.

Both Bazagree and Dalodop looked up at him.

‘Oh, well,’ Bazagree started, ‘he’s the wise one, who lives in the rock.’

Genesis cocked an eyebrow.

‘In the rock?’ Nell questioned, equally as confused.

‘We shall show you,’ Bazagree offered helpfully.

‘No, no, no,’ Dalodop said. ‘To the pub I was going and to the pub I shall go. If you, Bazagree, want to be all over the world tonight, then so you shall on your own accord and good riddance I say to you, but as for me… I want a tall beer.’ He nodded his entire body curtly and rotated, before scurrying toward the pub.

‘Good evening to you,’ Bazagree called after his friend, and then, beaming, he turned back to Nell and Genesis. ‘Shall we go?’ he asked.

Nell couldn’t deny his curiosity, but he knew they had an important task to get done, and they couldn’t be getting sidetracked. He turned to Genesis.

‘Have you heard of this Codon before?’ he asked.

Genesis looked truly confused. Ha’dun had said she was very, very smart, and knew much about the worlds of the Universe; to have something like this happen must have been a concern for her, and on the first stage of their mission too.

‘Should we go?’ Nell wondered.

‘Erm, if it will help, the Codon said that he could get you the piece you seek… whatever that means. I was to inquire about it, but by the time I remembered – halfway home – I decided it wasn’t all that important after all.’ He looked thoughtful and offered, ‘Though, in retrospect, it may have helped you a little.’

Nell and Genesis were looking at each other with truly intrigued expressions, but Nell could see in Genesis’s eyes that she was concerned too.

‘Trap?’ Nell mouthed.

Genesis gave a slight shrug.

‘He will be most pleased to see you,’ Bazagree put in.

‘Do we go?’ Nell put to Genesis.

She hesitated, thinking it over, glanced at Bazagree, who just beamed at her, and then looked back at Nell and nodded once.

Nell turned to Bazagree. ‘Okay, lead the way.’

Bazagree bobbed his head, smiling. Then he turned around and started back up the dried riverbed. With an air of caution about them, Nell and Genesis followed, but they both kept their hands by their swords.

Who knew what new dangers lay ahead… and their journey was far from over.

END OF PART II