The canyon's filled with dense fog blocking my view, but it's definitely a very long way down, and the walls look much too steep to climb.
It's the Guardian's Tower. So close, yet so far away.
I'd love to have a look at what's down there.
If I only knew what was on the other side, perhaps I'd be able to find a way to get across.
It's the Well of Making.
It's some kind of conical sandstone structure, reaching about a third of the way to the base of the tower.
Foreboding clouds.
Crow told me that, below the fog, there is Nothing...the absence of all matter and being.
It's my faithful friend Crow.
He's got his beak full of water from the Well of Making.
He's already got a beak full of water.
I don't see any point in wasting the water on the tower.
Without knowing what's down there, I don't see how that's gonna work.
Oh...
That's something, all right. But...what?
Where's Crow?
Crow? Crow! Crow!
Oh, please, let him be all right, wherever he is.
Finally! I thought I'd never make it here.
Oh, great. There's a large canyon circling the tower, and there doesn't seem to be any way across.
Not while he's got his beak full of water. He'll spray it all over the place.
So that's the end of that. Funny, I feel almost...melancholy. Despite everything that's happened, I'm actually gonna miss this...this adventure.
After all, what am I doing now? Going back to school? Live like nothing has happened, like I'm just a...a normal person?
Well, it's a long way home. I'll figure it out before I get there. Wherever "there" is...
Crow?
What? What? What? What? What-what-what?
It worked!
Jeez, lady, would you stop it with that infernal music? I'm here already.
(spits water out)
Sorry, but I couldn't hold it any longer.
Hey, April, wait up! Where you going? Wait! Don't leave me heeeere!
Yeah, what did happen?
I used magic to, uh, magically transport you here.
I need your help.
You're asking me? I was just, um, helping this cute little sparrow with her new nest up in Riverwood...next thing I know, there's a blue light, and then...
I thought for sure I'd been shot by a hunter's arrow, and that you were an angel. Then I had a look around the place. This ain't heaven.
I mean...this ain't heaven, is it?
I should've known. Swirling blue lights never did anybody any good, that's for sure. And that cute little sparrow, she's gonna be so upset when she wakes up and...uh... (coughs)
Hey, when did you learn to do magic?
I picked it up on the way here. Listen, I need you to help me out.
You need my help? With what?
Sure it is, Crow, and I'm the archangel April.
Of course not, you dimwitted bird.
This is the realm of the Guardian of the Balance.
Sweet! Are there any other birds in heaven, hmmm? Are there? Are there? Pretty ones?
We got all the dodos you could ever want.
Ah, that's great, that's-- Dodos? Dodos? You gotta be kidding me. Oh, I see, you are kidding me.
Dimwitted? I'll give you dimwitted! Just once I'd like to...hey, if I'm so damn dimwitted, then why did you bring me here? Ah-hah!
Really? Then what the heck are we doing here, huh? Can you open one of those blue thingies and send us back?
Not until I'm done here.
So what do you need me for, then? Please, just make a blue thingy and let me go home.
Ha, ha. Very funny. Why the heck did you bring me here, to have a good laugh at my expense?
I need to find a way across this canyon, and into that tower over there.
Why don't you just flap your wings and fly, then?
Anyways, when did you ever need my help? Oh sure, you brought me along, let me do your dirty work once in a while...but come on, you could've done just as well on your own.
I mean, you just left me high and dry at the end there, didn't you? Just upped and left without a word of goodbye.
I didn't mean to leave you like that, Crow. But you couldn't come with me.
Oh sure, use me then leave me. Don't worry, I know how that works. I'm not half as innocent as you seem to think. But I thought we were friends!
Crow, we are friends. Good friends.
That why you gave me the name "Crow"? Oh, I thought it was nice, all right. Real ring to it. Until I found out what a crow actually is, over there in Stark.
Crow--
Right. Crow. The sneakiest, dirtiest, most despised bird there is. They're like flying rats. You even have something called a scarecrow to chase us off with, don't you?
I mean, crows are so stupid, they're scared off by straw people dressed in rags? And that's the name you come up with? Crow. Bah!
Ah-hah-hah-hah-hah! That's funny, I kill myself. "Flap your wings and fly". Oh, baby, that's a zinger! I gotta write that one down somewhere. "Flap your wings and fly"...ah, jeez...
That's not--
No! No excuses. I can't...bear it...oh, the pain. The pain! That's all I am to you, a flying fleabag? I'm sorry, I can't bear to look at you anymore. I gotta fly.
Stay! And shut up! I--
- but, you--
- gave you that name because of a cartoon character I loved when I was a kid. His name was Crowboy.
Crowboy?
He was the star of a series of what we call animated cartoons. It's like puppet theater that you can watch on a...a...canvas, or a screen.
Puppet...theater? I love...puppet theater.
Crowboy was just the coolest bird there ever was. He was a crow and a cowboy, and he had a hat, and a lasso, and an albatross called Old Whitey that he rode on.
He had an albatross? His own albatross?
And every week he'd come to a new town where the bad guys were making life tough for everybody else, and he'd sort it out, like a real hero.
He was a hero? Crowboy?
So that's why I called you Crow. I figured, you're not a cowboy, so it'll be just Crow. And besides, I think crows are cool.
Oh...damn! Damn, damn, damn it! Me and my big beak! I couldn't keep it shut, could I? I had to say something stupid! I'm so stupid! Stupid!
It was a misunderstanding, Crow. It could've happened to anybody. Even good friends. Especially good friends.
Yeah... Yeah, but...but...I'm so stupid!
Are you gonna keep beating yourself up, or are you gonna help me? Time's running short.
Of course I'm gonna help you! Anything for you, April! Just tell old Crow what to do, and he'll do it. Like that! I can be a hero, too, just like Crowboy.
Okay, let me think...
Hello, old friend.
April? What the heck...what happened?
Any idea what we should do?
You're asking me? Me? You're actually asking me? For advice? Me?
Don't see nobody else around, do you?
I don't perform well when I'm put on the spot like this, you know. But...okay, I'm thinking...I got wings. If you need some flying done, I'm your man-- Bird. I'm your bird.
Any idea what we should do?
Well...I got wings, and you don't. If there's flying involved, I should be the one to do it.
What happened to you after I left?
I just flew around for a bit. Would you believe it, I actually went back to Marcuria harbor to find the old man again, see what he was up to...
I kinda miss him. I mean, I hate him, and I hope his hair falls out, but...we were together for twenty years, you know? And there were good days...
...well, one at least. One good day.
What's going on in Arcadia now?
Don't you know? There's a great, big war going on, that's what. The Tyren are rising against the nations of the Northlands, and Marcuria has been evacuated.
A lot of people are getting killed, and it looks like the Tyren might win this time around. They got this huge, swirling, chaotic-looking magical weapon on their side.
Ah...not anymore they don't.
Really? Well, then maybe our guys do stand a chance after all. It was looking bleak there for a second, believe you me.
I was even considering brushing up on my Tyren...ian. Or whatever it is those barbarians speak. Sounds like a bunch of guttural rubbish to me. Like, arrraarrgh, rrrarr. Not particularly refined.
Do you know what happened to my friends?
Your friends? Sorry. Oh, wait, I think...that Venar you've been talking to...Abnaxus? I think I saw him heading north at a great speed.
And Mr Westhouse was kind enough to share a cup of whiskey with me when I went to ask him if he'd seen you. Good stuff. Bad, bad hangover.
Other than that, I don't know. Sorry.
Thanks, Crow.
Anytime, babe. I mean, ma'am. Miss. April! April.
Thanks, Crow.
Yup!
Anyways, he was gone. Not a trace left of him. Either he drowned, or he got out of town with the rest of them.
Crow, I need you to fly down into the canyon to see what's below the fog.
Into the...canyon? Below the fog?
Are you scared?
I didn't say that! It's just...well, fog clings to my feathers, and...and...
Crowboy would do it. But he'd be careful not to get hurt, and he'd come right back up again if he saw anything remotely dangerous.
Of course. Okay, hold tight, I'll be back soon.
Would Crowboy do it?
Crow, I need you to fly down into the canyon again.
Again? But there's literally nothing down there! Okay, okay, I'll do it.
So what did you see, Crow? What was below the fog?
You're not gonna believe me.
What?
I told you. You're not gonna believe me.
Just tell me what you saw.
Nothing.
Nothing? As in nothing out of the ordinary?
No, as in nothing at all. The absence of anything. Below the fog, there was nothing. It was terrifying.
Until you've seen what nothing looks like, you won't be able to fully appreciate something, anything at all. I used to hate this blue sand. I mean -- blue sand? What the heck?
Now, though, I love it! It's sand, and it's blue! It's something! Not like that...nothing down there. It was freaky.
So I guess there's no way I can climb down, cross over, and climb up on the other side?
You'll fall into the nothing. I'm telling you, I don't think even time passes down there. You'd be falling through nothing forever.
Damn.
Did anything change down there?
Still nothing. Nothing at all.
Crow, can you fly across the canyon to the base of the tower?
Can a chick lay eggs? Well, I know you can't, but... Yeah! I can do that.
Um, what was it you wanted me to do again?
Just fly across the canyon and see if you can find any weird buttons or levers or something like that.
What for?
There must be a way to cross this canyon, and maybe there's a magical bridge that needs to be activated. I don't know, Crow, just fly across and check it out, okay?
Will do. Hang on. What am I saying? Of course you'll hang on. It's not as if you have any other choice.
Crow, I need you to fly across to the tower again.
But I was already there! I didn't find nothing.
Just have another look, okay?
All right, all right.
What did you find?
No bridge, that's for sure. But there's a well on the other side, on top of that conical sandstone staircase right below the tower.
That's got to be the Well of Making.
Maybe it can make us a bridge, then? Ah-hah-hah-hah! Oh, I kill! I kill!
You're easily amused, Crow.
My brain's one tenth the size of yours, so what do you want from me?
But maybe you got a point. Maybe the Well of Making can help us somehow.
It was only a joke, April.
I know, but still...
It looked magical. It had that no-good, stay-the-heck-away blue shimmer to it. So I didn't fly any closer. Who knows where I'd end up.
Did you find anything new?
Nope. There's nothing there, except for that magical well thingy.
Crow, I want you to get me some water from the Well of Making.
What? Are you crazy? How am I supposed to carry water back from...
Oh, no. Nonono. There's no way I'm doing that.
Come on, Crow. Your beak is perfect for the purpose. I don't need a lot of water, and all you have to do is make sure you don't swallow.
Hey! Magic's got its upsides, I'm sure. I mean, where would social welfare be without magic? But magic water in my beak? No way! What if I did swallow?
If I'm lucky, I'll just explode or something. If not...I've heard stories, April, and none of them are very nice. Magic's not a toy! Nor is it a food, and it certainly doesn't belong in my beak!
Please. Time's running short, and the Balance is at stake. You have got to help me, Crow. Don't you want to be a hero?
Hero? Sure. Stooge? Not.
Ah, curses and damnation and all things mean and ugly...fine! I'll put my life on the line, tempt fate, and risk a certain and painful death by magical poisoning...if!
If what?
If you'll promise to pluck my fleas for the next...year.
One year? So honor and glory mean nothing to you?
Not as much as a good flea plucking, no.
Okay. Deal. Now -- fly!
Yikes!
Crow, we need some more water from the Well of Making.
Of course we do. And who's gonna have to go get it? Crow! Who else?
How did it go?
Ood. Ow, ott oo oo aun ee oo oo?
What do I want you to do? I can't take the water, so you're gonna have to do whatever it is we need done with it.
Owey, uh oo ebbe uhwy uh, kah ahm ahbad oo allow ee.
Okay, let me think about it for a second...
You okay?
Eh. Uhwy uh!
Okay, let's see, where can we use the water?
I got an idea, Crow.
Ah?
You said there was nothing down there, right? The absence of anything.
Aah.
The water in your mouth is magical water from the Well of Making.
Ooo.
So what if we add the magic of making to nothing? What happens then?
Uh...
Something, right?
Eh...aah.
Something's better than nothing. Fly down there and spit the water out on top of the nothing, then get out quickly. Something will happen, I'm sure of it...
I'm just not sure what exactly.
Ee? Oh, owey.
Crow, can you check out the tower for me?
What, all of it? It's huge!
Just see if there's any way to get in. From here, it looks pretty impenetrable.
I don't much like things that float in the air, unless they got wings. But I'll do my best.
Crow, can you check out the tower for me again?
Seriously? I told you it's sealed tight. As far as I can tell, there's no way to get in.
Please.
You say that like you really mean it. Back in a jiffy.
Nope.
Nope what?
Nothing. I can't see how you're gonna get into that tower. It's sealed tight.
Damn.
And?
Still nothing.
Damn.
