Orien Battles The Fog-Devils

by Bryan Paul

Orien Sage lives alone and struggles to earn his pay at a small dessert shop. To keep him company he has only his poetry verses on the beauty of the changing seasons of his home and of the beauty in the ladies he meets, which he can ever get close to. He is quickly taken with his new apprentice, Noli, but finds that she already has taken companionship. Noli soon breaks from her companion, but a wealthy and charming heir named Serj wins her over before Orien can. Orien befriends Serj and although he enables him to have his poetry bound in books and sold in a local shop, Serj neglects Noli, who takes ill and is brought to a medic house. Orien longs to step in and be her hero and help her find courage, but his own bottled up emotions cause him to be prey to a dangerous force and in order to find harmony, for his sake, and for the sake of those around him, he must face his fog-devil.