text: Whini ng, Sunny pawed at the door while Julian shuffled around the hallway gathering things and putting on his coat. He had the leash and the ball but knew he was forgetting something. Sunny whined louder with growing anticipation, becoming so distracting that Julian gave up and opened the door to the cold autumn night. It had been a hard transition from summer; Julian had started the final year of his degree in architecture - requiring a lot of his time and attention - and Sunny was having trouble adjusting. Knowing it was hard on Sunny, Julian had promised that their evening walks would never be compromised. Tonight, however, it had been pushed back a few hours, and they were both upset at each other. Julian had been busy frantically repairing the complex 18 th Century farmhouse maquette that Sunny, feeling particularly bitter that day, had chewed to bits. Julian plodded along grumpily as Sunny tugged excitedly at the leash. He was a classic golden retriever aside from an unusual covering of white fur on his paws that imitated little boots, especially now as he plowed through a large puddle in the base of the track to their favourite park. With the most unfortunate timing, Julian bent down and unclasped the leash from Sunny's collar just as he began shaking off the excess water. His shaggy coat functioned like a drenched mop, showering Julian in a spray of filthy puddle. The little rascal then bounded off, disappearing up the track while Julian slowly trailed behind, groaning and wiping his eyes. The day had been long and exhausting; the crisp night air biting at Julian’s face was the only thing really keeping him awake. Eventually he emerged between the tree-lined rim of the park and flopped down on the grass with a yawn. It was wet with dew, but he was too tired to care. Sunny was nowhere to be seen on the field. Julian figured he must be in the bushes somewhere, either marking his territory or sniffing out someone else's. "C'mere boy! Sunnyyyyy!" He called, throwing the ball as he did so. It was all part of their usual routine - Sunny would always come running from somewhere, and they'd play fetch until they both got too hungry and bored and wanted to go home. But Sunny didn't come. "Here Sunny!!! Come on boy!!!" Julian called again, a little louder this time. After a few minutes passed, he stood back up, deciding to wander closer to the bushes in case Sunny couldn't hear him or was distracted by a hedgehog or something. "Sunnnyyyyyy, here boy! Sunshine! Come here Sunny!" He continued calling him as he wandered along the edge of the park and peered into the bushes, knowing he would shine like his namesake in this leafy darkness. Julian was starting to get concerned. Panic was creeping up into his chest and he tried to push it down by yelling louder. "SUNNY! SUNNYYYY!!!" He couldn't whistle with his fingers but tried anyway, hoping that the skill would come to him in his time of need. It didn't. The park was embedded in the town belt; it wasn't quite a forest, but it was dense and dark enough to get lost in unless you had a light, which, after frantic rummaging through his pockets, Julian realized he didn't. That was what he’d forgotten - his keys. They were at home, sitting uselessly on the kitchen counter with his mini torch keychain attached. Julian was locked out in the cold with no dog. He started biting his nails, simultaneously willing Sunny to come back, and trying to figure out what to do if he didn't. In the midst of the dilemma, a warm yellow light appeared in the near distance, catching Julian's attention. It came from the observatory on the hill overlooking the park, only a minute or two away. Julian decided to go up there and ask for help, his brisk pace breaking into a run that left him breathless when he got to the door. Still panting, he knocked urgently on the heavy steel. It was loud and obtrusive but conjured no answer. He knocked again, and, having now caught his breath, called out to them. "Hello? Is anyone here? I need help!" He stepped back and looked up at the light in the window, his supposed beacon. A shadow passed over it, then the light went out. "What?" Julian whispered, confused, and feeling a little pissed off now. "HEY! I know someone's in there! Please help me!!! My dog is lost! I need help to find him!" He knocked on the door again, longer and even louder this time, determined not to be ignored. After a minute or so, Julian heard footsteps approaching the door. Slowly, it opened - but only by a crack. It was too small for Julian to see through, but from the other side came the voice of a man obviously grizzled by the commotion. "The observatory is NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Stop all this fuss and make your way off the premises sir, or we'll call the authorities." He started to close the door but Julian grabbed it quickly and swung it fully open. "Look man, I'm sorry to disturb you but I really need help finding my dog, even if I could just borrow a torch or something? It’s so dark I can't see anything and I'm really worried, please." Startled by Julian's persistence, the man froze, unable to respond. Once he stopped his incessant begging, Julian too, was stuck for words. The man was cloaked in a golden silk hooded robe embroidered with thousands of different scenes of human history - wars, kings, queens, voyages, crimes, births, deaths - it appeared to showcase a timeline of every important moment throughout humanity. The room behind him was also gold, carpeted in a seamless velvet from floor to ceiling. Everything was illuminated by a single candle that the man gripped, still in shock as he stared at Julian with wide, blank eyes. It was all very strange and uncomfortable, but Julian needed help. "Um, I'm really sorry for barging in like this man. I can see you're obviously busy, but if I could just borrow a torch or a candle or whatever to find my dog, that would be amazing... and I'd bring it right back!" There was something very unsettling about this man and the room and the deadly stillness. Julian started to get a nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach; something felt wrong here, off, dark. Very slowly, as if he were moving through thick liquid, the man placed the candle in a holder fixed to the wall beside him. There was a sudden shift that could be felt within the man's movements. he no longer seemed awkward, rather there was an eerie calmness emanating from him now; an unsettling composure that made Julian feel vulnerable and unsafe. The man reached inside his robe and, as he bored into Julian's eyes with his sinister stare, pulled out a gun. Julian's blood ran cold. "We gave you every chance to turn away and go back to where you came from... but you couldn't take a hint, could you boy?" Fear engulfed Julian's entire body: his knees started buckling and beads of sweat trembled down his forehead as he stuttered and pleaded for his life. The man remained unmoved, expressionless as he stepped toward Julian and struck a blow to the side of his head. His body went limp. *** A metallic gold room slowly came into focus, accompanied by a sharp pain in the side of his head. Julian moaned as he made an attempt to reach up and cradle his wounded temple - but his arms wouldn’t move. Confused, he looked down. To his complete horror, Julian found himself bound to a chair with cable ties. He tried pulling again and again, panicking and swearing; unaware that he was surrounded by ten figures shrouded in identical golden robes. Suddenly his forehead was met with a cool sensation, causing him to stiffen. He looked up. Still faint from the blow, Julian thought he must be dreaming: the golden wall of figures towering over him appeared rather mystical, almost soothing, like a collective of guardian angels. But this haze was abruptly cleared by grave reality, as the cool sensation Julian felt now materialized before him - it was the man from the door holding the gun to his head. "Does anyone know you're here?" His voice was deep and threatening. "No, no, I swear. I don't even know where I am, I don't know anything! I swear I don't know anything and I won't do anything please let me go please, you don't have to do this." Julian felt hot tears starting to stream down his face; he was completely helpless, trapped. “Don’t bother lying to us boy, we know you didn’t come here on your own. Now, TELL US,” the man pulled his finger back on the trigger, “WHO SENT YOU HERE?” “NO ONE DID! NOBODY I SWEAR!!! I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON I JUST WANTED TO FIND MY DOG YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!!!” Julian began sobbing uncontrollably. The man sighed. “Alright, get it together you sniveling idiot. You’re going to tell us who you work for, one way or another... and you’re running out of time to do it the easy way. SO YOU BETTER START THINKING BOY OR-” The man with the gun was cut off mid-threat as one of the other figures stepped forward, gently interrupting in a calm, soft-spoken voice. “Now, now, Bromine, maybe we ought to give this young man the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he really was simply looking for his dog, and we have acted defensively in haste.” A glance passed between the two men. It was quick, but it contained an unspoken understanding, and had the weight of something sinister within it. Julian didn’t notice this though; he was just bubbling over with relief, never so grateful to be heard in all his life. “Yes! Yes! Oh, thank you, thank you sir, thank you for believing me! I promise I won’t say anything about this to anyone ever I’ll just find my dog and go straight home and forget all about it!” Bromine glared at him from under his hood. “You’re not going ANYWHERE, boy. Not till you drop the bloody act and start telling us the truth.” The other man, smiling, tutted and shook his head at Bromine, then knelt down before Julian on one knee. In a relaxed, friendly manner, he rested his elbow atop his knee and leaned his cheek against the back of his hand, looking directly into Julian’s eyes. “You must forgive Bromine; he has been betrayed before and doesn’t trust newcomers easily. Now, tell me son, where did you lose your dog?” The way this man addressed him made Julian feel almost childlike. He felt the panic starting to subside, his heart slowing to a more normal pace, able to breathe again. “I lost him in the park just down the hill - I think he ran into the woods maybe; I don’t know where else he could have gone. Usually he runs off for a bit but always comes back after I call him, but I was calling for ages and he didn’t come so I’m really worried... I’m scared he’s run away or maybe he’s hurt.” Julian started to cry again as he voiced his fears out loud. He wished more than anything that he hadn’t been so grumpy with him that day. It felt as though this whole nightmare was his own fault - if he’d just forgiven Sunny, if they just went for a walk at the usual time, maybe none of this would have happened. Sunny only ruined his work because he was jealous, after all. Julian was lucky to have a dog that loved him that much, he realized that now. He could see how dark life was without Sunny. The man patted him on the arm gently. “It’s alright son, we’ll find him. So, he’s a golden retriever; does he have any distinguishable features?” Julian told him the basic stats of Sunny’s height, weight, and age. The man maintained his calm demeanor, nodding along like a dad or a teacher. But as Julian described Sunny’s paws - how they looked like little white boots - the man’s eyes slowly widened, and a darkness fell over his face. The room, which was already silent, somehow grew even more so. Julian suddenly felt nauseous; he knew something he said was wrong, and any hope he had of getting out of here had completely vanished. Bromine, trembling, slowly knelt beside the man and spoke to him in a shrill, hoarse whisper. “Phosphorus, what he claims surely cannot be true. He is a meagre boy, an outsider... The Golden One would never grace someone so unworthy with his presence.” Through his panic, Bromine had exposed the façade of his severe, threatening disposition; he now appeared weak and on edge, the gun not so intimidating in his loose grip. As though they had traded roles, Phosphorus stood up, grabbed Julian by the collar of his shirt, and slammed him against the wall. “Now, you listen to me, boy. No one outside these walls knows of The Golden One. The Golden One is the divine leader of The Elemental Brotherhood of The Periodic Order. Centuries, CENTURIES we have awaited for the prophecy of the Golden One’s arrival to be fulfilled,” Phosphorus pulled his hood right down over his face, displaying an embroidered picture of Sunny circled by an iridescent glow, “the prophecy that destines our brotherhood to serve the righteous will of the one true leader; the immortal ruler who will grant us eternal life, and each our own wing of the golden palace.” Phosphorus lifted his hood back up and pressed his face close into Julian’s, leaving the tips of their noses only a hair-width apart. His breath was hot and stale. “If the Golden One has chosen you to guide us to Him, then be it so. But if your words are false, if The Golden One does not recognize you as an Elemental Brother, your life ends tonight.” Phosphorus let go his grip of Julian’s collar, dropping him to the floor. Bromine stepped forward and cut the cable ties around his wrists. Julian bolted out of the chair toward the door - but was held back by a firm hand on his shoulder. It was Phosphorus, digging his nails deep into his skin. “I really hope we can find your doggy.” *** Julian thought he would feel immense relief once he was back out in the crisp night air, but the madmen who followed him - laden with pillar candles and guns - were definitely keeping him tense. They reached the edge of the park. The men stood behind Julian in a semicircle, forming a human barricade while he gazed hopelessly into the blackness of the forest. “Well, go ahead boy... make The Golden One appear.” Julian took a deep breath and closed his eyes, willing with all his might for Sunny to come running out, tail wagging, happy as a lamb. “SUNNY! HERE BOY! SUNNNYYYYY!!!” The seconds that followed were agonizing; it felt like an age passed by. Having lost all hope, Julian was preparing himself for death when, suddenly, a faint glow appeared in the woods. At first he thought he was seeing things, hallucinating from fear - but then, sure enough, out of the woods came Sunny. Julian had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life; darling Sunny, his very own little ray of sunshine, casting light all over the horrible night and the scary men around them. They ran toward each other. As Sunny knocked Julian down and licked him all over his face, the brotherhood fell to their knees and began chanting in unison. “Oh Golden One, Mighty Golden One, we are your brothers, we are your home...” Taking this chance to escape, Julian sprinted across the park with Sunny at his heels. The brotherhood cried out in unified anger, and as Julian reached the track on the other side, he heard them fire shots into the air. They were being hunted. Adrenaline kicked in, and Julian made it home in less than a minute. There was considerable distance between him and the brotherhood - but, as he fumbled around in his pockets, Julian realized for the second time that night that he’d forgotten his keys. His body filled with dread. Their footsteps were getting louder; they were rounding the street corner, only seconds away. Julian looked around desperately for somewhere to hide while Sunny whimpered, pawing at the door. Then it hit - Sunny’s doghouse! Around the side of the house, half lodged into the hedge, was a doghouse Julian had built in the first year of his undergraduate degree. Sunny had never used it because it was too small and cramped, but tonight, it looked no different to a five-star hotel, and they jammed themselves in. Julian, ever so slightly, pulled back the flap and peered out to the street. The men were wandering up and down the road in search for them, only metres away. Then, two doors up, a porchlight turned on. The brotherhood suddenly stopped in their tracks. For a second, they were torn - The Golden One was so close, but maintaining secrecy was their ultimate priority. Within moments, they vanished from the street. Julian let out a long, deep sigh of relief. Although he knew he was still in danger and that he really ought to keep running, all the built-up stress and tension of the night suddenly caught up to him and, exhausted, he fell asleep with Sunny in the doghouse - vowing never to lose him again.