He was young when he first heard the call, he was not sure of the exact time or his exact age, it was a long time ago. He remembers the events with perfect clarity however, the irony of evil is that good is easily forgotten. He knew it happened in the summertime, that means that school had probably ended, but the festival of the guild trials which marked the end of summer had not yet taken place.

The village where he had grown up was a simple farming community, barely a thousand people. Although technology was a common sight, so were butterflies, trees, birds and rabbits. Technology was a rare sight in a person's house, some had ground-cars which, they used as part of their work, and most people had fusion stoves. A hearth in the centre of the house which provided both heating and a cooking fire, and powered the lights, but produced no smoke. Several young couples could nota afford those old houses, they lived with a wood burner instead of the high tech. It did the same job pretty much. Other than that he could not think of any other technological device he had seen growing up, not in a house at any rate. Outside in the fields that was a different story. Each field held at least one of the giant clusters of elongated glass bubbles that people called 'automated crofters'. These things bobbed around at their own pace. As a child he had always thought them similar to clouds, they dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see, even from windsbough hill.

The job of farmer, even though the planet of 'Home' was an agricultural world was never an option for a young boy graduating from school. The nobility of House Alecto operated the land and the sea as a single conglomerate farm. It was clear from the occasional noble visits that they traded and exchanged the automated crofter's at some level but, it was not visible to the villagers. That is not to say that the common folk had nothing to do, in fact there were dozens of roles for a young boy when he completed school; butcher, baker, grocer, storekeeper, mason, carpenter, thatcher, teacher, to name but a few. The one which every boy dreamed of however was artisan. The artisan's were all free men, men of the guild, they had a large guild house in the town centre where they all met and discussed important events. They were a cut above the common folk because they knew the secrets of the technology. Only the best and the brightest fifteen or sixteen year old was selected for training in the secret arts of the automated crofter's and the other technological devices that were used on the farms.

He left the butcher's shop. The air was fresh and clean, he had a full sack of shopping for his mum but he decided to take the long route home. Past the duck pond. He found his friends at the shore, hiding in the reeds. He stashed the heavy sack at the roadside and crept forwards to join them.
"Hush", Dimitri said as he reached them, "We've seen that witch again."
"Yeh", said Orlov "she's been out talking to the ducks, whispering she was."
He was hooked, the trio had been convinced the spinster that lived in the old shack was a witch for as long as they could remember. "Wow, so you guys saw her cast a spell", he said
"That's what it was right enough." interjected Dimitri, "She was sat whispering in tongues over their on that old rock. That's what she must'av been doing. Casting a spell."

The woman in question came out of her shack with a basket under her arm. She left it on the grass and walked back into the house. The boys crouched in the reeds so she could not see them.
"See, I bet these ducks are going to fly up now and take those things into the pond. They'll wash them for her I bet." predicted Orlov

The trio huddled again. After a little while the woman came back out of her house, she was carrying a length of coiled plastic rope.
"By the pancreator she's on to us! She going to use that rope to tie us up, then she's going to chop us up and make make us into pies!" said Orlov, suddendly leaping up he shouted over his shoulder "Run for your lives!"
The other two were not far behind him.

His mum was skeptical at the excuse. He was pulled, by his ear back to the duck pond. The sack was not there. His mum did not let go. She marched him up to the crone's door. He wriggled free, which hurt his ear even more, just as the door opened. He froze in abject terror at the sight of the woman in the doorway.
"Hello Mrs Gill, I'm sorry to bother you." his mum opened, "I'm afraid my son was playing on the shore of your duck pond. He was supposed to be bringing our food home, but it seems his game got too exciting for him to remember his chores."
The two women glowered at him disapprovingly. He wanted to explain that it was not a game, that they were doing a real service and it was for the good of the town. But, somehow under that gaze of his mother's the words did not come out like that.
"erm" he managed after a pause.
"Oh, that's alright Gillian." the spinster answered "I found your shopping under an old root", she turned and went over to her kitchen table.
"I bet she was going to steal the sack, if we hadn't come back .. ow" his mum had clipped him around the ear
"You are lucky that Mrs Gill found our food at all, how was she to know who it belonged too" his mum snapped back in a whisper
mrs Gill returned to the door carrying a canvas bag, "I'm afraid that the bottom of the sack had gotten a little wet, and the bread was at the bottom, ruined. I hope you don't mind, but I had some home cooked loaf left over from yesterday. I know it's not fresh .. "
"Oh, Mrs Gill. Thank you so much, that is very kind." he knew when his mother was embarrassed, he knew he had been the cause. He felt rotten.
On the way home he said "I bet she's done something to the bread, stolen ours and given us her leftovers .. ow"
His mum interrupted him again. She yelled at him. Quite a lot, and several times that evening. At some point she explained that Mrs Gill's husband had been killed in the Vuldrok wars, and that was why she lived alone. He did not get any supper at all that night, let alone yesterdays bread. When his dad came home, he got the belt and was sent to bed. As he slept in the rafters above the family table this was a pretty severe punishment indeed.

The next morning he was sent to Mrs Gills house with a bunch of flowers. He gave the message as his mother had sent it, thanking her for being such a good neighbour. Mrs Gill then said "Oh dear, why you are such a young gentleman, I am just sorry that the bread was so old."
"salright, I din't get none anyway" he said
"Wh .. oh never mind, look I have some just baked if you're hungry?" With that she invited him inside .. the lair
She really had made a tray of fresh rolls, the smell enticed his feet inside before his brain could stop them.
As it turns out they were not poisoned or stuffed with mashed up slugs or even coated in horsefly vomit. They were a smell and a taste that he still remembers every now and then, if for some reason he feels a little lost or just needs a little reminder of a happier time.

Later that day Dimitri and Orlov were waiting for him at the old well. Another of their childhood haunts.
"What's this about you spragging us up to your ole lady, huh?" started Orlov
"Wha' the hell" he started, but Dimitri pushed him
"Yeh, and you've been inside that witches house too haven't yuh.", Dimitri accused, "I saw ya go in .. with flowers"
Orlov laughed, they were at the age when girls were starting to register, they knew some of the rituals, not necessarily what they all meant, but enough that this simple thing caused embarrassment.
"Shut your mouth Orlov." he warned, mostly embarrassed that he had not thought the gesture might seem romantic until now. He cursed his mother for causing that part of this argument, but shoved Orlov with both hands, deflecting his anger to the here and now.
"ooh, look at the big man." Dimitri antagonised, "Hey Orlov, are you going to let the little weed push you over?"
Orlov looked angry "Nobody pushes me!" he yelled, and shoved the boy back as hard as he could

The boy stumbled when the back of his heal clipped the edge of the old well. Then toppled. Orlov could see what was happening and started to reach out to save him, but was too slow.

*splash*

The old slimey water was deep. He grabbed on to the side and yelled up. Dimitri looked down,
"Ha, look at you." Dimitri chided cruely, "maybe your mom will come and help you. Me and Orlov have a burning to watch."
He spluttered, treading water and hanging on for his life at the edge of the stinking pool. "Don't be daft, she's not really a witch. It's just a game"
"Is not, we saw her casting a spell on the ducks, and now she's cast a spell on you. This is for your own good. We'll come back and get you out when its over." Shouted Orlov before turning and leaving
Dimitri had an evil grin on his face "Maybe" he said
"Are you crazy, nobody's going to listen to two kids tell them mrs Gill is a witch." he shouted up at them, partially curious what they thought they were going to do, but panicking that they were going to leave him at the bottom of the well. "Look, just get a rope. Orlov! Hey up there, get me a rope will ya! Guys?"
It took him quite a while before he realised that his two friends had actually left him alone at the bottom of a well.

He shouted for a long time, but nobody came. The sky started to darken in the mid afternoon, he could see the change. The water by this time was freezing cold and had soaked through to his core. He started to lose consciousness.

He dreamed of his body floating above the well, then of the town. In an alleyway somewhere in the village centre he saw Dimitri with a manic grin on his face. He pulled out a match and struck it. When it sparked, it sparked shadow, not flame. Quickly his point of view panned out and upwards. He looked down on where Dimitri had been and there he saw a dark cloud spilling out from the alleyway, between the storehouse and the grocers. He saw a villager nearby, going about their business like nothing had happened. But the cloud was growing, it spilled over them and they were lost from sight. Tendrils erupted from the cloud touching other villagers, some ignored it and allowed the cloud to consume them without complaint, others reacted with anger and struck out at those nearby. He soared higher and could see further. The cloud looked like a great shadow sweeping across the landscape, it seemed to spread faster along the roads, and clustered around the villages and towns but it grew and spread relentlessly. Pan out further, he looked down from high up in the sky. The shadow spreads like a rash accross the planet. Soon the planet is covered. Turn to the sun. The red sun. It darkens. The black is there too. The light goes out. The system is black. There is nothing. The camera spins to the jumpgate. It zooms in. The jumpgate is emitting a dim light. From this vantage point the star system can be seen. It is a dead system. There is no light from the sun. From here he can hear a whispering. The whispering grows. It builds. Louder and louder it builds until it is a cacophony of a billion voices. He realises that the voices are the people, lost in the darkness of the dead system. Behind him as close as can be, breathing down his neck he hears a voice. It is not his own. "This system belongs to the darkness now" the voice says.

He starts awake, opens his mouth and breaths in water. He has sunk! He kicks down with his feet, and up. He bangs his head on something solid and instantly realises that the back of his head has hit the side of the well. He spins and using his arms and legs he climbs. He controls his breath, his body demands that he cough. He knows that he must not. He knows that a single cough will kill him. His lungs burn, his arms slip and slide against the walls of the well. He knows that he must remain calm, so he prays. He prays not for rescue, but for calm. He is rewarded, the adrenaline that was killing him subsides and he find s a handhold. He pulls and starts to rise, he realises that his lungs still have some air in them but that he has lost buoyancy. A second away from death his head emerges from water and he starts to cough. He coughs and splutters for an age, but he is eventually able to replace the water with air. He looks up and he can see that the sky has turned a little darker, it was mid afternoon.

He tries to yell again. This time a face appears at the top of the well. It was father Johan, the village priest. The old man shouted down and rushed away. He gone gone only for a couple of minutes, then a rope came down. The boy grabbed it and put the loop over his own head. He pulled hard twice, and started to lift. With the assistance he managed to climb the slippery sides of the well.

The old priest started a fire and wrapped a blanket around him. He forced a strong liquor down the boys throat, it eased the pain from the coughing, but burned in a different way. The old man had a way of making the boys confess their sins, and this time was no exception. The boy explained the silly game, and the claims they had made up. The priest was concerned. He explained that games of that nature could lead to belief and he explained that belief can be an incredibly strong force, it can grant feats of willpower beyond the normal mortal realms. This prompted the boy to tell the old priest about his dream, and the climb out of the water from the bottom of the well.

The priest became very interested in this tale, but he stopped the discussion after a little while.
"We should go to the guild hall, if those two boys are going to accuse a member of my parish I should be there" the priest said, standing up.

The pair rode on the priests horse drawn trap right up to the guild hall, where sure enough a full trial was in progress.

It turned out that Dimitri and Orlov had not just accused mrs Gill of being a witch, but their parents had got behind them. Dimitri's father was an Artisan, and so the freemen of the town had gathered to discuss the evidence. Non-guild villagers, including Mrs Gill had not been invited.

Father Johan seemed to command the room. He was not a guild member, but it seemed they did not dare to keep him out. He spoke calmly and with reason, he quoted litany from the law and scripture from all of the gospels. By the end there was no meeting, it was a surmon and the freemen of the village were all listening, their heads bowed in shame.

The old priest had not just saved a woman from a painful accusation, he had taught the towns leaders a lesson. And when he was done they all thanked him.

The next day Dimitri and Orlov could not sit down. The boy watched them from a distance, he decided that he did not want to play with them any more.

The apprenticeship did not officially begin for several more years, but that was the summer where it really began. After school and after temple the boy either studied the gospels, or learned the arts of debate and oratory from the old priest.

He knew he had found his true calling.