The Afterworld Saga — 9
Chapter Nine: The Imposter
The Imposter
Standing on the cliff just below the mark, he wondered before taking a leap — “Is this how I find eternity? I want to come back. I still want to.” — Ch 8
Nicolaus Brickenden could scarce remember his given name before being initiated as the old Sorcerer’s apprentice many years previous, and though forgetting one’s self was as much a requirement of a Sorcerer’s job as it was a side effect of it, he was put right off balance by the sudden return of his mortal life dancing before him in vibrant detail as he stood on the precipice of Uncertainty itself.
While the rest of the world, Above and Below, seemed to be holding its collective breath, he was about to plunge into the Expanse of the Unknown separating the Before and After; thus, this was a most inconvenient time to be caught in the paralyzing grip of self doubt. The Sorcerer mentally wrestled the vision before him to no avail.
It was as though a scroll of lambskin, wrinkled and imminently decaying, was slowly unfurling to tell the story of someone else’s life, but, in fact, he realized with a start, it was his own forgotten life.
He saw himself as a boy living in modest comfort with two hard working but common folk he assumed were his mum and dad, and there was another boy, too, his twin brother, Copernicus. His brother, was a wise, courageous and nimble youth, and oh, how Nicolaus loved him — but envy threatened to pull his mouth into a jealous grimace too. His twin was everything he was not.
Just then his brother’s piercing yet, gentle eyes appeared before him, coaxing (or taunting?) him to take his last step and leap into the expanse. The girl’s lifeless body tugged his robe against his neck as it threatened to slide off his shoulder. He readjusted her and spread his feet wider to stabilize himself. Then the scroll darkened and told of his brother’s tragic death and the Sorcerer’s fateful visit to his family’s home exactly one year later. He’d come to fetch Copernicus, the boy he’d seen in his visions, the one who would fulfill his foretold destiny by taking his rightful place as the next Sorcerer.
When the shrunken, yet powerful old man clad in dark flowing robes first began trolling the hamlets in search of the young acolyte from his visions, he rapped his staff against the Brickenden’s loosely latched door with startling insistence, convinced his successor, though still a boy, be inside the humble shelter. The wood planks covering the arched doorway rattled, and the hardware, what there was of it, clanged and chattered with a note of fateful urgency.
“Yes?” the dowdy woman mumbled as she slowly pulled the door toward her.
In front of her stood the imposing dark figure of a man. Though a dark hood shrouded his head and cast his features in shadow, Nicolaus’ mother caught the flash of pale lavender in his searing stare, the immediate recognition struck her like a bolt of lightening causing her to bow her head in deference to the powerful magician.
“Your son, where is he?” the Sorcerer asked, dispensing with any preliminary niceties.
“My son? Why, he is out back tending the chickens, good sir,” she answers with the leaden voice of a woman weighted with the passions of grief.
Having been robbed by the gods of her brightest and most promising son, and it being obvious to her the Sorcerer had not heard of Copernicus’ tragic death, the woman begins to tremble.
She would be blamed, punished for allowing such horror to befall her family. Though her remaining boy could easily pass for his brother, surely this all powerful man would know Nicolaus could not possibly be Copernicus. He had none of his twin brother’s nimbleness of spirit or depth of courage. Alas, she loved Nicolaus and though he was a good lad, he was not destined for greatness. He was common. The Sorcerer would inevitably see this, wouldn’t he?
“What is the matter with thee, woman?” the Sorcerer’s voice booms with impatience.
“Go in haste! Bring the boy to me this instant! His destiny is upon all of us and he must begin his tutelage at once to take his place as the Great Sorcerer and Guardian of the door between worlds.”
The woman quickly removed herself from the dark portal of her home leaving the door ajar behind her.
The Sorcerer stepped inside unbidden to wait. Looking around the one room dwelling he noticed the mirror upon the far wall was draped with a tattered black cloth. He recognized the sign of mourning. Undeterred and interested only in leaving with his new apprentice, when the woman returned pushing Nicolaus ahead of her into the dimly lit room, the Sorcerer quickly scanned his face and was satisfied he’d been rewarded with the charge he’d been sent forth to retrieve.
“Come, lad. We have a long journey ahead of us, we leave at first light,” the Sorcerer said, taking Nicolaus by the arm and leading him from the home and the people he would only visit in his dreams thereafter.
“Do you have a name, boy?” the Sorcerer shouted over his shoulder to the boy behind him clinging to his robes as if he might fall straight off the horse’s rump as they gallop through the Forest of the Lost.
The boy remembered how his mother quickly ushered him from his chores back to their house for the Sorcerer’s inspection. All the while begging him in low whispers to never again speak of his twin brother or admit to another living soul his own true identity.
“Lives will depend on you,” she hissed and pushed him through their door.
With only the slightest hesitation, Nicolaus answered the Sorcerer, “I am called Copernicus.”
S Lynn Knight, 2017
Editor’s Note: This is a great back story for our new protagonist. Great chapter S Lynn Knight! At the moment we don’t have anyone scheduled to write chapter 10. Do we have any last minute volunteers? If any of you would like to jump in and write chapter 10 let us know. The due date is May 19th.
??? — Chapter 10 May 19
Kevin M. Schenk May 26 ; ch11
Joshua Valdivia — June 2 ; ch12
C. Allen Exline ; June 9 ch13
Si — June 16; ch14
Rhiannon D’Averc — June 23 ; ch15
Raine D. — June 30 ; ch16
Tobi Amos-July 7 ; ch17
Ashley Khue Pham July 14 ; ch18
Leo Charles M. — July 21 ch19
