Origins

“I have made these lands my home for two decades without my sight,” the man said. “Every tree, every rock, I know from memory. Men do not pass this way. Not anymore. They have all gone west, or south. The rest were taken by the Blight.”

“You are alone?” Samuel asked.

The man nodded. “I am. If you do not believe me, there is nothing I can say to convince you.” He gestured to a spot near the fire. “May I sit? These knees are not what they used to be.”

Samuel paused, unsure. “You may sit. Be warned; we are watching you.”

“There is no need to fear,” the man said. “I simply take food where I can find it, and sleep where I can get it. I am the Wanderer.”

Samuel nodded toward Makara. She grimaced, and found a bowl and a spoon for the old man. She ladled some stew in — two healthy scoops. Samuel eyed her. She scowled, and ladled another small scoop in. Satisfied, Samuel nodded again. Makara handed the old man the stew.

Somehow, he knew it was there, because he reached out and took it.

“It’s hot,” he said, with a smile. “Good, for a cold night like this.”

Everyone watched the old man. Anna was wary and had a hand on her blade the entire time. I didn’t blame her. Personally, I didn’t think the old man was any harm. I just wondered what he was doing here, and how he survived in the wild without his eyesight.

The old man ate several mouthfuls. He did not seem to mind that it was near scalding.

“Who are you?” Samuel asked. “What brings you to our cave?”

The old man chuckled. “Your cave?”

Samuel frowned. “Well…maybe it is yours. I don’t know.”

“Nothing is anybody’s,” the old man said. “Not anymore. In the Old World, they had mountains of paper deciding who owned what. All that is irrelevant. In the Old World, I owned much of this land here, by Mount Elden. I was a very rich man. But I suppose you do not care about that, either.”

“I hope you don’t mind us staying here,” Samuel said.

“Oh, no. I welcome visitors. It’s been so long since anyone has been out this way. I stay away from the city. For a long time, there were people there, even after the Rock fell. They are all gone — either dead, or relocated to the south. I was the only one who stayed.”

“Relocated?” I asked. “By who? Where?”

“By the Novans,” the old man said. “I have talked to their kind before. A group passed this way, about a month ago. Asking about Bunkers.”

“Novans,” Samuel said. “How many?”

“There were six or so,” the old man said. “They are long gone, into the Great Blight. Who knows what became of them?”

We all looked at each other. As long as it was not our Bunker, Bunker One, there was no problem. But hadn’t Marcus said that was on the top of their list?

There was no way to know for sure without asking the man. I didn’t think Samuel would want to give that away. Not yet, anyway.

“Why did you stay when everyone else left?” Anna asked.

“This is my home. And I am far too old for moving. Here I have stayed ever since Dark Day. The government would not let me into Bunker 88, in the mountain. So I made my own bunker. That was long, long ago. Thirty years ago. I would have been fifty.”

“What is your name?” I asked.

The man smiled. “I don’t remember what it was people called me. I am different. I have been preserved for a purpose. I have seen you coming.”

“But…you can’t see,” I pointed out helpfully.

The man took another bite of stew. He was slowing down, and the bowl was nearly drained.

“This is what I do remember. My family and I survived for nearly a year in my underground bunker. It was a horrible experience. We ended up coming out a year after. My wife, two daughters, and their husbands, and two children. That was 2031. Those days were bad.”

The man did not speak for a while. He finished eating.

“I remember watching the sky every night since Ragnarok first became visible. It grew and grew, redder and brighter each night. It is a strange thing to watch your own death approach you, and not do anything about it. You cannot imagine the terror of those times. ‘The Dark Decade’ does not even begin to describe it. It’s a wonder the world didn’t blow itself up with nuclear war before Dark Day.”

“And you have lived out here for all this time?” I asked.

“More or less,” the man said. “But I have wandered many places — north, south, west, and east. I am the Wanderer.”

“How do you survive?” Samuel asked. “No weapon, no vision…and forgive me for saying, but you’re old.”

The Wanderer chuckled. “Yes. I am old. Too old for this world, that is for sure. But I have another kind of vision. A vision of the mind, that allows me to see what needs to be seen; even things that are not visible, such as thought and intent.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It was not always this way,” the man said. “But I have an inner feeling that I have learned to trust, and it directs me in the right way. Just as it directed me here, to this cave. Go to the cave, it said. I did not question. I went. Maybe it is God. Maybe it is something else. It is there, all the same.”

“That makes no sense,” Makara said.

Samuel held a hand up. “And you are alone?”

The Wanderer gave a single nod. “I have been alone for years. This land is empty. Not even the Raiders come this far. There is no reason. This is the eastern fringe of the Boundless, and beyond that is the Great Blight — where no man goes. I lived in the east, for a time. Now, the Blight is a wall, and east and west will never speak again — unless one were to stop the Blights.”

We all looked at each other. This man pinpointed our exact mission, without even knowing us.

He smiled in satisfaction. “Do you believe?”

“How do you know the reason we have come?” Samuel asked.

“I know many things — Samuel.”

Everyone gasped. I wasn’t convinced. He could have overheard someone saying the name, if he had been hiding outside for a while.

“Are you some type of mind reader?” Lisa asked. “I have heard of such things.”

“I am the only one I know of,” the Wanderer said. “With my mind, I see many things that are hidden. If I look into your eyes, I can see your fate.”

I was skeptical. “A mind reader, and a prophet. Can you tell us if we will succeed?”

The old man didn’t say anything to that. “No, I cannot tell you that. No one can. But I can tell you what you must do lest you certainly fail.”

That got everyone’s attention. Everyone waited for the Wanderer to speak.

“What must we do?” Samuel asked.

“Everyone’s individual part is different,” the Wanderer said. “And I must tell you each in turn. After I have told you, you cannot tell any other person, or it all falls apart.”

“Clearly,” I said.

Everyone looked at me, urging me to be respectful. It was hard. I wasn’t buying it.

The Wanderer paid me no heed, however. It was a bit irritating. Instead, he turned to Lisa.

“Lisa.”

She jumped when he said her name.

“You first.”

The Wanderer stood, and Lisa looked up at him.

“Now?”

“Yes. Yours is short, but important.”

Lisa walked over to the Wanderer. Fear was in her eyes, even if she hid it well in her composure.