The Haze

Mother says we should never get too close to it, but parents are all like that. Tommy's mom says the exact same thing. The Haze is dangerous, they say. Dark things lurk out there. It's just waiting for you to wander into it and then Snap.

But it's not true. Tommy and I threw rocks into it, and the haze puffed slightly as it accepted them. Later, we tried using sticks, both of us pushing against them until they pierced the skin of the haze and disappeared into nothingness, and then pulling until the end came back. The stick was always unharmed, though it was cold to the touch. If something was lurking there, we would have seen it. The fact is that the haze doesn't want us. You have to throw a rock as hard as you can before it'll disappear, and it took both of us to get the stick to pierce the skin.

One thing that's fun to do is to throw yourself against it. It feels almost like a sheet made of ash. It'll stop you, and push you back. Tommy and I did that all day once, taking turns sprinting towards it and throwing ourselves upside down into it. We stopped when Tommy's mom caught us. She freaked out.

She's different than my mom. My mom grew up in Old Town, and didn't ever touch the haze, play with it. Tommy's mom, though, grew up near the haze, and she learned all about it.

The haze, she said, is where the Distant City ends. There is nothing beyond it, and the haze is just a barrier that keeps us safe and alive. It's designed to protect the whole of the city, so it will accept things that are pushed hard into it, because the shield would sooner be pierced than risk failing. Apparently, if it failed, we'd all be thrown into the nothingness.

Tommy isn't so sure. He has seen men in suits who are able to enter and leave the haze at will. He's tried to tell his mom, but she doesn't listen to him. He wants us to follow them, and discover what really is on the other side.

I don't know what to believe, so I'm leaving you this note. If I come back safely, you can just ignore it. I'll know by then what's on the other side.

But if I don't come back, please don't come after me. It's possible Tommy's mom is right, and if she is, I think we'll be dead.

I won't want to be dead, but I do want to see what's on the other side. Wish me luck.

--Roger Ian Post, Age 10

The Murder

"Do I know you?" The RPF's voice barked out from his yellow hooded raincoat. The storm was making a mess of the light, so the question may not have been as sarcastic and hostile as it sounded. I smiled politely.

"Just the guy who found the body," I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder. The Cop nodded, shaking free a small spray of water from his head, and looked at his clipboard. A small attractor burned blue, and water that would have fallen on the board collected there instead. It was an expensive trick, but useful on days like this.

He scanned down the page with his finger, then said, "Greyson?"

"That's me," I said. "Thomas Greyson, man of no real importance."

The cop grunted at that. He made a mark on his clipboard, flipped to a new page, then said, "Alright, so what happened?"

"My," I paused and looked over at Rynna, who was leaning against the lamppost looking board. She was dressed in tailored elven explorers garb, which consisted a customized leather jumpsuit and black shoes. She had more pockets on that then a peacock has tail-feathers. Most of them had knives. Words continued to fail me, and when I finally grasped at something, I knew it was a poor choice. "My date and I were walking home from the movies, when we came upon two individuals fighting in the street. I had her wait while I rushed forward to stop them. As I approached, the first gentlemen ran, and the second," I said pointing to the corpse, "Collapsed. I tried to administer first aid, and Rynna called you guys."

The cop wrote this down with quick strokes, then said, "What's your full name?"

"Thomas Greyson," I said.

"And your occupation?"

I stopped, cleared my throat. "I'm unemployed."

"Really?" The cop said quietly. "Unemployed." I shrugged. There was an uncomfortable pause, then he said. "So what did you do?"

"I was mostly recently working for the Harbo Guard Service," I said. "But that was a few years ago. Before I came into money."

"Money?" He perked up.

"Do you want me to describe the individual?" I asked.

"Maybe in a moment," The cop said. "Let's talk about the money. Where did it come from?"

"My uncle," I said. "He worked some plantations up in Arana, and split them among my cousins and I. I sold mine off."

He looked at me. I looked back. I was lying and we both knew it, however there was a chance he'd let it go.

It was a small chance, apparently. "Good land up in Arana," He said, making a mark with his notebook. "Lots of grain."

I shrugged. "I'm not much of a farmer," I said.

"So what are you?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I could see Rynna getting inpatient. "I'm the guy who saw someone commit murder," I said. "You remember the murder, don't you?"

The cop glanced at the body, then grinned at me. "Doesn't look like he's going anywhere."

Rynna pushed herself off the lamppost and began to walk over.

"Look, officer," I said, making one last ditch effort before Rynna arrived. Things had a tendency to get worse when she got involved. "I think the man who ran was a member of the Rothi Crime Syndicate. I'm reasonably confident that this was a hit."

"Oh are you?" He said, crossing his arms. Rynna moved to stand behind him, but his attention was focused squarely on me. "And how would you know anything about the Rothi Crime Syndicate?"

It was too late. "Look, just be gentle," I said, looking right at the cop.

He laughed. "I'm just asking you some-"

There was a thump, audible over the sound of the rain falling. And the cop collapsed. Rynna looked at me, holding the knife backwards so that its weighted hilt made contact with the back of his skull. "Gentle enough?" She said.

I shook my head, then bent down and ripped the cop's sheet from the clipboard. Then for added measure, I took his wallet and and gems, including the attractor. Freed from it's focus, the gem darkened and water started dotting the remaining pages on the clip-board. I tucked it all away and stood. "Shall we go?" I asked.

"About time," Rynna said. "Why did you bother calling them in anyways?"

I shook my head as we began to walk off. It was difficult to explain to Rynna, a child born and raised in the Etherrealm, knowing everything of the Distant City and little beyond. "I'll tell you about it later."

We walked into the rain, the silence between us heavy.