Out of all the potions, other than the ice essence one which had reminded me of an unflavored slushy, this was the only one that gave me a flash-back of things I’ve drunk or smelled in real-life. I’ve tried healthy smoothie drinks and grass juice as an adult. Additionally, I’ve smelled a few different poisons in the pursuit of eradicating ant colonies and weeds in my mother’s garden when I was a child.

This potion tasted like a terrible blend of all that and more! Gagging at the aftertaste following the quick swallow, I felt I had grown too complacent with the non-flavored elemental stone potions.

As happened with all the prior potions, my core energies stimulated and enhanced the strength and intensity of the potion and nature energies now ripping at the inside of my stomach.

Hunching over in abdominal pain I felt like my innards were about to burst. Then as waves of nausea swept over me, I saw purple lines in a creepy web like pattern form from my abdomen outward. My bare chest looked like a crazy artist’s rendition of what a spider’s web on Halloween would form into.

Along those lines of web, I felt a terrible burning sensation, as if touched by fire and acid. My fingers and bare toes began to swell up into abominations three times their original size.

That was all I saw and felt before my mind was drawn into the signature vision I had experienced for all the prior elements.

Opening my eyes, I beheld a sight that frankly surprised me. Standing right in front of me, was the same evergreen tree I had been stopped by when experiencing my very first vision in this world. This vision from my very first visit within my master’s garden.

From that first mental abduction into the obscuring and dark expanse of nature, I recalled with clarity how something had shone through the darkness. That hidden light had allowed me to see and travel along the open path which then led to the evergreen. At that point, I had placed my hand on the trunk of the tree and subsequently been ejected from the vision.

Now I was back again in front of the same tree, except for a couple of differences. One, the light which had shown through before from above was no longer seen. Instead, it came from within me as if I was the illuminating torch by which to travel. Two, I was filled with an instinctual intent to follow through from where I had fallen short before. As such, my hand raised up and pressed against the evergreen.

Hard bark which had resisted my touch before, became soft and malleable. Pressing harder and following through with my body, I felt the last bit of resistance disappear as the tree became nothing more than a permeable haze in front of me.

Striding forth, I passed the obscuring view of the now incorporeal tree, and stepped into a new expanse. A vibrant garden of natural growth shone forth from before me. Pausing to take in this new view, I saw what could easily be taken as a naturalistic arborist’s dream. Littered among it there appeared to be numerous pathways strewn about within the garden. Along each of those paths there were many different types of plant life from the lowest of green and brown moss, to towering trees blocking out the upper canopy.

Nearest to me and looking far less traveled, I saw a path where the variety ranged from the softest and most comfortable looking fuzzy green plants to the most violent of purple plants which sported an array of deadly looking spines. From those spines a noxious fluid dripped, leaving the ground upon which they fell blackened and bereft of any other life.

Some of the more distant paths appeared to emphasize the more peaceful vegetation, promising a relaxing and invigorating journey. Others were fraught with the dangerous and poisonous variety of plants and shrooms. From my perspective it appears that I had a choice of where to travel.

Did I want to tread the larger and well-traveled paths which were lined with attractive and vibrant life? Those paths appeared to promise to aid me in better understanding the healing herbs that would benefit the sick and afflicted. I was almost drawn to walk there, but I wanted to know what the other paths had to offer.

The darker and poisonous paths promised to offer pain and death to my foes. It was a kind of proclivity and sensitivity to finding that which was destructive in nature. It also offered a form of resistance to its poisons if successfully traversed. As that path might be suited to someone following the ideals of a master assassin, it was not for me.

Then, the path closest to me appeared to whisper. It promised an understanding of both healing and poison, as it was filled with both on opposite sides of its less tread ground. This struck a kind of poetic tone within me. As in life, we cannot always have beds of roses to fall into, as the thorns will still prick the skin. So too can we not take the easy path of plucking a nearby sweet poison in order to end the torment we must face. For even if the poison itself is painless, the empty space we leave behind will be painfully felt by those that know and love us, even if only distantly and in their quiet ways.

Poison and healing should walk hand in hand to compliment the trials that we face in life. And so, with my convictions made, I shall do the same. Stepping onto the path which was thin and crowded tightly by the surrounding brush, I did not shy from the pricking thorns to my right, nor did I over-emphasize the comforting solace offered by the left. Instead, holding my hands equally out to the side, I let my hands brush against the plants on the wayside as I tread this chosen path.

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Thorns, burrs, and other vicious tools by which to harm and cut, stabbed into me, dripping their poisons into my open wounds on my right hand. The left, filled with an ambience of healing and solace brought comfort and reinforcing peace to my other hand.

My body strode forth with necrotic veins flowing up my right arm even as healing energies progressed up my left. Despite the pain experienced and solace offered, I refused to shy from or lean to one side more than the other. Instead, I walked firmly down the middle path accepting the reality from both sides.

As I continued, I heard a different whisper than before. From the left, I heard soft soothing words which promised a freedom from burdens and numbing from pain as I faded into a blissful sleep from which I feared I would not wake. From the right, I heard secrets of hard truths and of great deeds done by those that suffered, persevered, and lived through their pain.

Upon hearing both of those promises, my left side grew numb, wanting to simply lay down, while my right side was hit by a new surge of pain which made me flinch back, almost into the complete embrace of the calming healing herbs of the left. Reaching for my core to strengthen my resolve, I felt the tendrils of energy shiver gently through me. It was far from what I experienced in reality, but it was enough to boost my resolve as I forcefully thrust my right hand back into that thorny thicket on my right. Trudging on with renewed determination I continued to walk the middle path.

It wasn’t long after, that I came to an end in this opposing path. In front of me, at its exit was another tree whose appearance I could not reference as it was so bizarre. As if patterning or reflecting itself against my chosen path, the right side of it was filled with purple and black veins as well as wicked thorns, while the left side was verdant green and soft with mesmerizing and gently swaying fronds.

This time, instead of using a single hand like I did for the first tree, I raised up both hands to press against the corresponding side in which they were baptized. My right hand which was covered in thick callouses and scars crisscrossing and stabbing across its entire surface held the appearance of strength won through great tribulation. But with that strength and scar tissue it had become stiff and rigid, unable to bend with use. My left hand was unblemished and pristine, but felt shrunken and fragile.

Pushing them both against the tree, I felt the previously steel hard thorns break under the pressure of my right hand while the left began to ache with the effort and strength I demanded from it to fulfill its roll.

I believe what this path was trying to teach me, is that there is good to both sides, but that leaning too much into one can be detrimental or destructive to one’s goals and life. We needed both comforting healing and painful adversity in proper balance to live correctly.

Even as that thought crossed my mind, I watched in surprise as both of my hands began to change. Energies which saturated them individually began to bleed out and spread to the other. Scars which near covered the entirety of the right hand began to fade and become smooth as new healthy tissue grew out amidst the soothing energy. The left hand experienced a rush of prickling pain causing it to spasm several times in agonal discomfort. That spasming however, appeared to strengthen and aid it in making a stronger grip upon the bark of the tree.

While some scars and rigidity still marred the surface of the right hand and the left was still a bit weaker than the right, there was a much greater unity and potential for industry with both working together in harmony.

My vision and the surroundings began to fade as I stood there at the tree gazing at both of my hands.

.

.

.

Coming to, I was again sitting on the cold hard ground. My gaze drawn and fixated on the most vegetatively dense part of Victoria’s garden. I could not see into the depths of the foliage as night had already fallen, but I knew that where I was looking was the greatest gathering of natural energy, and where the majority of the many tiny denizens who lived in her garden slept.

I could feel their many tiny eyes on me for those that could see, and then I felt something shift in my own eyes. It was like the shadow I had assimilated before swept up to my eyes and something permeated into them.

Instantly the darkness was not so obscuring to me. I was able to discern the outlines of the various leaves and branches among the denser foliage. Many of the creatures themselves became more noticeable as I aimed my new focus about. It only lasted for a short while before I felt the beginnings of eye strain and I attempted to will the shadow away from my own eyes.

I was surprised as it simply followed my intent and returned to its slumber within my core. With its withdraw, shadows returned to obscure the brief view I had of the garden and its occupants.

Victoria and Gertrude had broken out a board game of sorts amidst my trial. I honestly had no idea how long it had lasted, but they both seemed very invested in the game. I did additionally notice that their placement was a bit further away from me than I recall.

Standing up to greet them, I was stopped short by the brisk call of my teacher. “Hold it there!” She called out to me. “You reek to the high heavens! Before you come any closer to us, you need to get washed up in the outdoor shower. You know where it is.” She said nodding in the direction of the enclosed shower.

So much for the soft-hearted master I saw and was embraced by before. Maybe she was far more confident in my survival this time and didn’t feel the need to carry the emotional burden of worrying about me.

Feeling somewhat conflicted at seeing her quick return to baseline, I silently mourned the loss of that brief outward display of angelic and loving concern from my master.

To be honest, I had felt more troubled at the possibility that her earlier display would change the dynamic of our relationship in irreparable ways. I had grown far too used to the stern, yet mischievous side of her, only punctuated by secretive acts of kindness, and flashes of righteous wrath.

That was just who she was.

Feeling oddly mollified, I trudged off towards the stone enclosure, which hopefully held adequate cleaning supplies to do the job. I tightly suppressed a small grin and chuckle as I shook my head in bemusement.

I hadn’t needed to use this outdoor shower since my odorous return from the sewers many weeks ago. However, with my current state being stained with a thin layer of sticky black and purulent substance, I was reminded somewhat of last night when I woke up tangled in my sheets smelling like what I imagined a troll’s outhouse to be. My nose felt obstructed for which I believed I should be incredibly grateful.

Now that I was more aware of it, taking in even the smallest of breaths through my mouth had me almost dry heaving at my own scent. ‘How in the world could I have not noticed this before?!’ The thought ran through my head as I rushed to get the high-pressure water running over my face to provide some relief from my own self.

It took a while to scrub myself clean enough to feel safe in leaving the shower, but I got the job done. Making my way over to the two friends while dripping myself dry due to a lack of towels, I hovered over them for a moment as I watched their game play.

Looking somewhat like chess, it had a checkered board and several various kinds of monsters, beasts, and even plants. Victoria’s side was predominantly filled with various plants and yet she also had an array of large white behemoth creatures that reminded me of Yeti’s in fantasy lore.

Gertrude’s side appeared to be a large mishmash of different elemental creatures. Most of them were a variation of turtles, lizards, and serpents. However, there were a few other creatures whose origins I did not recognize. I don’t know if it was a requirement to play regarding the elements one was partial to, or if this what just something they purposely chose.

I truly wanted to watch the game play as they glared at each other across the board like arch enemies, but my eyes were already closing on me and my body was demanding sleep after the harrowing day I had. Bidding them a regretful good night, I grabbed a quick snack from the kitchen and went to bed.

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