The tiny village of Irving sat in near the northern woods. It was a small community that was not shown on any maps, tucked away in a small pocket of the world. Only one sign mentioned it, it was a rough beaten up sign just off the only road that lead to Irving.

I reread the sign, and checked my map, and Irving wasn’t on there. People in Humboldt told me there are small farms and villages not shown on any maps, but signs would lead me to where I would go. As I traveled along this road, I made a note of the villages on my own map, but this town of Irving was different in two ways: Other towns that didn’t appear on any maps had a few signs that revealed their location, and no other town had a powerful source of magic emanating from it.

I headed north towards Irving, and noticed the road had become unused for quite some time. Grass had began to grow in the wheel tracks of wagons and caravans that might made their mark in the ground previously. But no matter, maybe they haven’t had any reason to have visitors.

As I approached the town, I felt a powerful wave of magic hit me. It wasn’t an attack, but more like a warning: I’m here, be careful. I entered the town and was greeted by a guard, an older gentleman by the name of Henry who welcomed me to Irving.

“We don’t have a regular inn, like other towns,” he said. “But rather, we have rooms for rent in a few houses occupied by families. If you would like to stay, the Grimble, the Rose and the West family all have rooms available to rent. They will provide you with lodging and food if you wish to pay for it, that is.”

“Thank you,” I told him. “My name’s Syric and…” I stopped myself mid-sentence. Something caught my eye. A young girl, was playing in the middle of the square with other children. Her magical aura was unlike anything I ever seen before, simply incredible. She was a vessel of raw magical power. But the energy was spilling out of her, unchecked and wild, and to be honest it frightened me a bit. “Oh, as I was saying, where could I find these houses?”

Henry pointed out the houses and told me they usually have names on a sign by their houses for travelers. As I walked towards these homes, others from the village greeted me and said hi. I sat in the town square to rest and relax and watch this young child, to investigate her just a bit without drawing any attention.

As I rested from my journey, a young woman sat next to me. She introduced herself as Fiona Rose and said that Henry tipped her off that a traveler had come to Irving and would require lodging.

“Henry always tips me off when a guest enters Irving. He is my brother-in-law’s father,” she said smiling. I introduced myself as a cartographer of sorts, someone who enjoys visiting smaller towns not on maps and was intrigued by Irving.

“We like not being on maps. Not that we don’t like travelers and guests, but too often we get people who come here and are disappointed because we don’t offer as much as other places. So map makers only started to put towns that have full inns and stores on maps. Since we don’t have one, we stopped appearing on maps. But we get the stray guest or guests from time to time. Mostly those who get lost, trapped in bad weather, or just curious people like you Mr. Syric,” she smiled.

We heard a child crying. Fiona stood up and rushed towards the injured child: The magical vessel. She brought her back to rest on the bench.

“This is my little girl, Aeli,” she said. Aeli did not say anything, she simply sniffed and held her injured and scrapped knee.

“I have a bandage if you would like,” I said as I pulled out a small piece of cloth. After a quick clean up, Aeli ran back to play with her friends. But something was off.

The children she played with were not the same ones that were there at the start. None of the children were blonde when I first sat down, and now two of them are. Did two leave and two new children come to play? I didn’t notice but I was sure they are not the same.

Fiona offered me a reasonable rate for the room. I gladly accepted.

That night at dinner, we discussed the history of Irving. It was once a lumber community and would send wagons full of oak and pine to Humboldt. But then the war happened and a lot of the young men in Irving went off and never returned. Fiona’s husband was one of them, along with many of the lumberjacks. He left before Aeli was born and she got word of his death when Aeli was five. The war ended just last year.

I thanked Fiona for dinner and went to my small room on the second floor. The magical energy now was more focused in one location, it wasn’t spilling out and flying in the air. It was bottled up in Aeli. She must be asleep. I wandered the town around midnight. All the lights in town were extinguished, no one was in the streets, and everything was eerily quiet. As I walked around town, I felt a twig snap under my foot. Upon closer inspection, I realized it wasn’t a twig, but rather an arrow.

No. It can’t be. I rushed to the nearest house. The sign on the outside said Grimble. The dark of night made it difficult to see, but I saw the truth on closer inspection. The door was open, the latch and lock broken. No one was inside. There were rotten food in the kitchen. No one lived here for quite a while. The house was ransacked. I checked two other houses and they were similar.

I had to know more. I spent the next week getting to know Aeli and Fiona some more.

“Aeli, your favorite food is your mother’s pot roast and potatoes, correct?” I asked her one day on the way to the store.

“Yes, it is so good,” she replied.

“We’ve had it for seven days in a row,” I said.

“Oh.”

“Aeli…you are creating this illusion of this town, aren’t you? The war came here and…” I said.

“They…they killed everyone…” she said.

“Aeli, I can take you to someplace where they can help you get better and teach you how to use your magic,” I said. “They will help with your pain and support you.”

“Can’t you do it?” she asked. “Can’t we stay here and do it. I don’t…I don’t want to leave. I can’t. I can’t leave. I can’t leave everyone. They all need me…” she said, with tears falling down her face.

“We can stay a little longer, but…eventually we need to go. For your own health,” I said.

She nodded. We continued our walk to the store to pick up dinner that she would create from nothing.

This power is unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed before. I hope I can help her.