Efrain regarded the youths that teetered precariously over the edge, despite the other girls’ clear reservations.

“You two sound like you’ll get on well,” said Efrain dryly, “but, in case I wasn’t being clear with my dramatics, don’t swim down there. That’s asking for trouble I don’t think I have the tools to solve.”

Naia approached him from the side, asking him to lead the way.

“Alright, come on, you four. We have distance to cover,” Efrain said as he lead his mount away.

From behind he heard Aya ask who Claralelle was, and she responded with a characteristically forward response. She joined him at his side as they stepped across the roots and off the outcrop. Even though he couldn’t see it, Efrain knew that the entrance they had come through had closed and was quickly becoming indistinguishable from the surrounding wall.

“Is this your first time on the Green Road?” said Claralelle.

“No,” Efrain said, “but the chances I get to walk it are few and far between.”

“Really?” she said, “I love it here. So full of life.”

“And motion,” Efrain said, “Want to bet on who goes first?”

“Too late for that,” Innie chimed in, flicking her tail in the direction of the following soldiers.

Efrain turned to see that indeed, some of their eyes were indeed glazing over.

“Wow! That was quick,” said Claralelle, Efrain pulling her back before she went to poke at them.

“They’re trying to resist the flow,” he said, “not surprising.”

To them, there must’ve been something timeless about the place - five steps could feel like an hour, and a mile could pass in moments. Efrain remembered the sensation of his first time on the Green Road, where he once looked back and wondered how he’d put dozens of bridges behind him in mere minutes.

“Claralelle, if you wouldn’t mind keeping course,” he said, to her emphatic nodding.

“Where are you going?” Innie said.

“I’m going to check something out.”

Efrain allowed himself to drift back through the lines, looking at the blank faces of the trudging soldiers. A handful still seemed to possess some awareness, shaking their head as if to get rid of flies. The paladins seemed to be even worse off, slapping their wrists and stamping their feet. Their resistance was futile, but they were going to typically try and brute force it anyway.

Then he got to the children, who seemed no worse off than anyone else.

Aya’s eyes were fluttering as he fell into step beside her.

“It’s getting to you isn’t it?” he said, and like that, her vision snapped back into focus.

“What?” she said as she shook her head.

“Look at the others,” he said, “closely.”

She did, some muted measure of alarm flickering in her eyes.

“What’s happening to us?”

“You are a branch in a great river of magic,” he said, “swirling around, being tossed this way and that. Your senses of time and space are being distorted. Have you heard stories about people going into woods and coming out months later, then swearing it’d only been days or a week?”

Aya nodded, but her expression screwed up - her memory might be getting a bit fuzzy.

“Most are just because humans are bad at gauging time,” he chuckled, “but every-so-often, it’s because they stumble into a place like this. Somewhere where this world’s magic runs fast and deep.”

“But- But where?” she began to say, “where does it…?”

“Don’t resist the flow,” he said, “that’s the key. You don’t have the strength to resist the river. But you do have enough to keep yourself upright.”

He raised a foot to show her and gently grabbed his ankle.

“Imagine a weight tied around your leg. Not enough to sink you, but just enough that it keeps you bobbing upright.”

Her face scrunched up as she attempted to do something, but evidently was ineffective. In response, she furrowed her brow and her face grew red.

“Best not try to force it. Let it flow,” Efrain said, “a basic principle of magic.”

He watched closely as she tried to simultaneously relax and force it at the same time. An amateur mistake, but if she could summon some flow of magic, that would be enough to examine. Once more her face got red, and she started holding her breath.

“You don’t have to-”

A small, audible pop occurred as a shiver ran up her spine. When Aya looked around, her eyes seemed less murky, her steps a little more sure.

“Oh,” Efrain said.

“Did I just use magic?” she said, looking down at her feet and finding that nothing had changed.

“Remarkable,” he whispered, “Yes, er…. A minor enough application, nothing more, but yes, you did. Most people wouldn’t be able to get that on their first try.”

“Can I do more?”

“I wouldn’t try here,” Efrain said, “magic can do unpredictable things in places like this.”

“But I just did it,” Aya said, “I’m a mage.”

She seemed less than pleased at the prospect.

“Most people can be. They’re just never taught how,” he said quickly, trying to reassure her, “the legends go that once, long ago, most if not all people used magic to some degree.”

She was silent as they rounded a grassy knurl onto another bridge.

“What happened to it then? If magic was so common.”

Efrain shrugged.

“You could attribute most of that to the church of Angorrah. The empire is a place of learning, and magic used to be one of its faculties. I think I was taught there, for a time. But, things turned ugly some centuries ago.”

“You think you were taught there?” she said, cocking her head.

Damn, Efrain thought, I said too much.

“I’ve lived quite a long life,” Efrain said, “I don’t remember much about where I came from.”

It sounded natural enough, which made sense because it was mostly true.

“Sounds lonely,” Aya said, kicking at the vines.

“I’m the kind that likes their own company,” Efrain said.

“Is that really true?” she said, looking back at him.

For a moment, her eyes, dark as they were, seemed a richer, deeper blue.

“Is it really that important?” he said, looking away across the span of the bridges, watching as new ones formed around them as old ones withered away.

“I guess not,” she said, “what’s that?”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Efrain looked ahead, and found that the convoy had stopped. Far ahead, something stood at end, where the bridge passed into a circular arch of lichen-covered rocks dripping with vines.

“I don’t know, but we shouldn’t have stopped,” he said.

Efrain and Aya pushed their way to the front as the soldiers began to look around aimlessly. They shouldn’t have stopped, nothing would dare contradict the authority of the pourjava issuing passage. He found Innie standing in front, fire licking up her fur as she seemed poised to fight or run. Ahead of her, standing under the arch, was… something. Something that Efrain could not understand at first, nor had any knowledge of.

Its basic body shape was that of an immense deer or elk, but that’s where the similarity ended. Wrapping its long hoved forelimbs were human like arms, hugging the exposed muscles like great trunks. Its neck was a twisted, smashed construction of multiple bodies, some human-like, other animal, with limbs paralleling off extending into a series of grotesque fleshy antlers. At Efrain’s emergence from the group, those antlers unrolled, revealing sheets of muscle and sinew studded with dozens of glaring eyes.

“Innie, what the fuck is that?”

“Efrain. Shut up. Now.”

The entire Green Road seemed to contract as the thing roared.

[YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED]

It’s Tema’tek was harsh and loud - all the cruelty of knives dragged over stone combined with a roar of an waterfall. So forceful was the rush of magic that emanated from it, Efrain was almost bowled over.

[Query. What does that mean? ~] he managed to say, so disoriented he forgot to use emotional complements.

[YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THE GATES]

[Query. Why? ~]

[YOU HAVE BEEN BARRED]

Efrain’s head was so racked with the magic he put a hand on Tykhon to steady himself. To his surprise, he found that all three children were close to him, as well as Naia, still blinking as he tried to shake the effect of the Green Road.

“What is happening?” he said, “what is that?”

“I have no idea,” Efrain said as he pulled himself straight.

[Statement. We have been given permission by the rot god. We have offered tribute. Let us pass. Demanding.]

[THE ENDFLOWER IS OVERRULED. YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED.]

The children repeated variations of the same question as Naia, which didn’t help much with Efrain’s headache.

[Query. What should we do? Respect] Efrain said, trying to clench his teeth to stop them buzzing.

[RETURN TO THE EARTH]

The vines lashing the bride to the arch began to unravel themselves. Several of the more aware soldiers began a cry of alarm as the edge crept closer towards them. Efrain thought furiously as the roots disconnected with the rock. The thing wasn’t interested in preserving or honouring the agreement he had with the pourjava. On top of that, it seemed like its authority of the Green Road superseded the rot god’s as well.

Not the group, but individuals, he thought, but who, who has been barred?

Not him or Innie, they were of the forest, sort of, and both had travelled the Green Road before. Tykhon was just a beast, and the rank and file soldiers were… rank and file. For that matter, what kind of sin would bar one from the Green Road of all places? Naia perhaps? The paladins? But none of them had offered any insult that he knew of. And wouldn’t the pourjava rebuff them if they weren’t accepted on the road?

Unless.

Unless… there was something else that he didn’t know about.

He recalled the words of the pourjava as he left, and standing up, he said, as firmly with as much confidence as he could:

[Statement. We have the First Seed. Confidence.]

The vines stopped detaching as the thing seemed to shudder, its eyes blinking in an unnerving sequence. For a little while, there was silence as magic began to ebb and flow throughout the cavern.

[THE FIRST SEED IS HERE.]

At that moment, all across the cavern walls, millions of insects fell into an unearthly silence and turned black, shining eyes towards them. If Efrain had a bladder, it would most likely be emptied by now.

[THIS IS UNKNOWN.]

The thing lept the gap with ease, padding towards them as the men shied away. It towered above Efrain as the countless eyeballs examined the group.

[THE PROGENITOR CANNOT BE FOUND, THUS IS GONE. THE PETAL PRINCE CANNOT BE FOUND, THUS IS GONE. THE TOWER CANNOT BE FOUND, THUS IS GONE.]

Its neck unfurled like a flower to reveal something dark and shiny at its core. Efrain’s thoughts were already being blasted away, but he could recognize the shape of a human skull. Obsidian black, swirling with golden designs, its empty sockets glowing with points of powerful light. Such was the immensity of the magic that others were beginning to fall to their knees and vomit, some outright fainting.

[THE MAKER CANNOT BE FOUND, THUS IS GONE. THE CHILD CANNOT BE FOUND, THUS IS GONE. NONE OF THE BROTHERHOOD CAN BE FOUND, THUS ARE GONE. THE OTHERS OPTIONS ARE BARRED AND THUS GONE. THE CRADLE CANNOT BE FOUND, THUS IS GONE.]

The thing paused, seeming to consider whatever predicament it found..

[THERE ARE NONE REMAINING. THE COVENANT DOES NOT PROVIDE FOR THIS. YOU MUST RETURN TO THE SOURCE.]

It turned, and padding away under the arch, vanished into the green. Naia tried to rise up, and stumbled back to his knees.

“Wha-” is all that came out before the vine rotted away under their feet.

The screams of men and horses echoed out into the cavern as they plummeted into the cold waters below.

The river hit like a cold kick to the face, Efrain immediately feeling the seal of his clothes breaking. An explosion of bubbles drifted towards the surface as he sank deeper and deeper into the blue.

Fucking-, he thought, things just won’t go right for me will they?

It wasn’t like he was in any immediate danger - oxygen wasn’t something he required, unlike the rest of the flailing shadows with him.

However… Efrain thought as he twisted his body to look down at the gloom below him, the massive roots of the trees fading into the blackness. Climbing up was going to be very inconvenient and very slow. He began to paddle as best he could, towards one of the large roots that lined the fjord.

Most of the men dressed in heavy armour were struggling to get towards the surface. Several of them had already sunk well past Efrain, pulling off plate as they kicked and struggled. Efrain finally managed to grab the root and clung to it as he surveyed the situation.

He somehow doubted the creature above had wanted to drown them, but it might not understand the limits of human physiology. Most of the troop had managed to make it to the surface - they were swimming surprisingly well. Efrain figured that made sense; most of them seemed to be from port cities.

A few, however… he thought as he watched some of the figures below fall further.

Well, if I can keep them alive, this might be the thing that saves my hide, if we survive this, he thought as he let himself slide down the root. Within a few moments, he had reached the first one, some younger woman whose eyes were bulging with panic. Efrain reached out and grabbed her, yanking her toward the root.

She did what might be expected at a strange touch, and flailed, but Efrain had already prepared for this. Magic pulsed as he imagined a stream of bubbles exiting his fingers. His memory flowed into intent, charging the water with his disappointment at being thwarted again and again.

A fountain of bubbles exploded from both his hands. One he punched the woman with, forcing the air out of her lungs, and seized her face with the other as a larger chamber formed. The first breath panicked, but the following seemed to calm down.

That’s the nice thing about soldiers, Efrain thought as a measure of calm returned to her, they’re used to rough treatment.

He gestured up towards the surface, allowing her to look and reorient herself. She nodded, and scrambled up the root.

One down, Efrain thought, where are the others?

He looked down into the shadows of the waters, and for a moment was struck with utter confusion. It almost seemed as if they were… moving.

Efrain’s heart dropped to somewhere around his knees when he realised that something massive was indeed twisting its way towards them from the depths of the Waters. He could see the shine as skin or scales reflected the light from the surface, layers of spines and fins drifting through the water in eerie silence.

Efrain felt the water begin to suck and pull at him, the green light above flickering as waves disturbed its passage. As Efrain clung for dear life, he heard the river rise to a roar as the waters rushed past him. His fingers gouged marks in the surface of the roots as he was pried loose by the pressure and sent spiralling into the gloom.

A terrible panic gripped him as he watched the roots pass by at an ever increasing speed, blurring as he ripped past them. He was certain he would be smashed against one as he careened along. Until, finally, he was flung out, sailing into open air, plummeting downwards. Managing to catch a glimpse of the opening, all green light and foaming waters, and realised that they’d just washed over the lip of a waterfall.

The whisper of the air and the roar of the pounding water filled his head as smashed into darkness.

And then nothing.

He woke up, staring into the light.

Wait, woke up?

That wasn’t right.

Efrain sat up, looking around him - he found himself on a lonely stretch of white sand, surrounded by sparkling blue waters that stretched off into the darkness. Oddly, there was no apparent opening or light source that cast the light. He was alone, seemingly stranded in his wet clothes. Sighing, he dusted off his body and gave up as the sand clung to him.

“Hello?” he called out, getting no response, not even an echo.

If they were still underground, and it seemed they were, the cave must’ve been large indeed. He wondered why he’d been the only one to wash up on this tiny island, and remained whole despite his unconsciousness. There was little to no magic in this place, wherever it was.

“Hello?” he called out again, louder, and still without response, “is anyone out there?”

There was a sound, something almost akin to foot falls, and yet, there was nothing but water around. In the distance, something dark and implacable slowly moved towards him. It stopped at the foot of the island - a perfect circle of clear, still water, not moving with the little waves around them. Efrain looked at his own reflection in that water, and found the tearful face of his mask, moving, and speaking to him.

“I am here,” said his reflection.

“Who or what am I speaking to?” he said, kneeling down as he inspected the patch, “why have you brought us here?”

“I am the Source,” it said in his own voice, “that place where rivers begin, to trace their paths.”

Efrain sat and thought on that for a moment as he considered what to ask next.

“And why am I here?”

“You were here because the guardian sent you to me.”

“Because of the covenant?”

“It cannot truly make its own decisions. It is not like you. Not free.”

Efrain reached down to touch the water. His fingers met his own, and sunk into the fluid, not even making it ripple.

“And you can?”

“I am the source. My waters feed the Road. My terms made the covenant.”

“Why were we barred from the Road? Why were we sent to you?” he said.

“The guardian recognized a contradiction that it was unable to reconcile. Hence it referred back to the first term, and thus sent you to me.”

“Okay, okay,” Efrain said, “I need to ask better questions.”

The ‘source’ waited patiently as he formulated his question.

“What is this covenant?”

“The terms of the covenant are only relevant to the participants, and to the guardian.”

“So you’re not going to answer me.”

“No.”

“What about the others, the ones that came with me? Are they alive?”

“Yes. For now.”

“What does that mean?”

“They will be talking with the true body.”

“So, what, am I speaking to an ‘appendage’?”

“That is a simple, but accurate understanding.”

“That would explain the lack of personality,” Efrain snorted as he sat on the sand and began to pick at his clothes, trying to establish the circuitry. They may have been waterproof, but they were not designed to be fully submerged for extended periods. He sat there for a while, occasionally glancing back at the silent still water. He was almost done setting up a drying spell when he released that it was gone.

“Is that it?”

“No.”

The voice proved enough to send Efrain back into the water. From the darkness beyond, something walked slowly across the surface, perfectly flat, save where it was drawn up into a swirling mass. The silhouette was effectively human, punctuated by branches and stones, and by more exotic objects like bones, scraps of paintings, brass chains. The creature, whatever it was, stopped before Efrain and looked down at him.

“I guess I have the honour of addressing the ‘true body’?” he said.

“You do.”

“I don’t suppose I can ask you about the terms of the covenant, then?”

The thing paused as it regarded him, and Efrain was struck with the horrible feeling that his bones might soon be added to the torrent.

“You’ve been marked as well. But it’s different. Older.”

“What?” he said, “what are you talking about?”

“I have no interest in answering any more questions. Either way, a deal has been struck. You have been granted passage from here with your companions.”

A fold in the water rose, circling around Efrain’s waist as it pulled him into the lake.

“Now hold on a second-”.

He was held, half submerged in the depths, the creature seemingly considering him.

“You remind me of the last one who came here. Lost, alone, and yet, so curious. You choose this half-life, intentionally.”

“I couldn’t say,” Efrain said, trying to struggle against coils of water, and finding them solid.

“You choose to forget,” it said, “you wanted to cast the past away. And now, you’re beginning to remember through… them.”

There was surprise in the voice at whatever revelation it had stumbled across.

“They were right. The roots go deep. Too deep for me, if only… if only… oh, it doesn’t matter. You want the truth, Efrain?”

How does it know my name? What is going on? Efrain thought.

“I am the River. I am the Source. I run throughout the world. Every story finds its way into my depths. You wish to know your own? Follow those you deem ‘children’. You’ll find your answers there, with them.”

With that, Efrain was pulled underneath the surface, and carried away into the dark.