Vision obscured by tears, Caelyn screamed, “Leslie!”

It had taken Leslie. It had taken Leslie instead of her. Leslie had saved her.

Why?

Theresa knelt down in front of her and patted her firmly on the back. “Stand up now.”

She did not want to. She just wanted to lay there in the mud until the ground swallowed her. Theresa had been correct—she was pathetic. While the shadow approached her, she laid there unable to do anything. Because of her weakness, Leslie was gone.

“Fine, stay there then.” Theresa stood back up and stepped out of Caelyn’s view. “We will probably all be staying here tonight anyways. Take the night to let your tears out. You better be ready to continue walking by tomorrow or we’ll leave you behind.”

Sniffling, she wiped her eyes on her drenched sleeve. Leslie had moved to save her, yet she could not move to save herself. She was useless, just as Theresa had said. Maybe she would just stay here and let herself be eaten by the beasts in the forest. Then, she would finally be of some use. Leslie, why did Leslie have to die to save her? Why did Leslie, whose skills helped all of them survive until now, die to save this useless girl?

“It appears that it had came while I was wandering in the forest,” Lucis said in his usual calm tone of voice, followed by the sound of splashes from him stepping through the brook. “What a pity, it is. I had wanted to see it for myself. Well, there is always next time.” He stepped into Caelyn’s view, his shoes dark with water. “I have to say, Leslie is a friend of well intent. I do wish I could have such a friend, though I am well enough without one.”

His hand rested gently on her back. “Now, stop laying so close to the ground. Rise. You are not a rock or a puddle in the mud. Rise. Stand. The sun is shining in the sky, clear as the sea you so yearn to see. Rise and reach towards the peak of this world. You may not see it now, dear Caelyn, but I assure you—one day, you will ascend and Leslie sacrifice will not be for naught. But none of that could happen if you do not rise.” His hand left her back, and he wandered off away to who knew where.

Lucis’ words meant nothing to her. They were meaningless. She could not rise. She could not stand. The sea Lucis claimed she yearned for was just a gray murk in her mind. How could she ascend if she could not even move to save herself. Lucis, as usual, was just saying nonsense. Did he not have any feelings? Leslie was dead, and he was still as nonchalant as before. Oliver was right to be suspicious of him. Wait, had he not disappeared when the shadow appeared? Had he not appeared when the shadow disappeared? Perhaps there was truth in Oliver’s words. Why, if Cain and the others had believed Oliver, then maybe none of this would have happened. Leslie would still be alive.

Caelyn laid there, unaware of the passing of time. Her eyes never closed for any length of time, but it felt as though she was asleep. The thoughts in her mind mixed and flowed without order and eventually faded away from her memory. When she woke up from these dreams, the forest was dark, the sky was black, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Not even the moon shone.

She laid there, staring into the darkness. A wind swept through the forest, making the leaves whisper like lost spirits. Shivering, Caelyn let out a long breath, which whistled through her teeth, joining the ghostly chorus.

A shadow came into view, tall and looming. Slowly, it crept towards them, the tendrils it had for arms and legs flowing and grabbing onto the branches and trunks. It had returned, the shadow had returned to take her. Caelyn gasped and tried to wiggle back away from it. Her breathes quickened, and so did her heartbeat. Everyone around her, seemingly unaware of the enormity crawling towards them, kept on snoring, a sound that resembled the melancholy whistle of wind.

She opened her mouth and screamed.

“Caelyn,” said Theresa, “what’s wrong?”

Caelyn blinked. The shadow was gone, replaced by the typical darkness of night. She had seen it, she was sure of it. But no trace of it remained. Was it all just a vision?

In a whisper, she replied, “Nothing, just nightmares.”

“Nightmares…” Theresa sighed. “You know what? I can’t sleep after you woke me up. Dawn is coming soon, I’ll keep watch with you.”

Caelyn groaned, rolling on her back to stare at the deep blue sky. No slivers of fire could be seen mixed into that great sea—dawn was still far away.

What was this place? This island where shadows took on ghostly forms, walking among the trees and, with jaws as dark as the bottom of the deepest sea, devouring the helpless and the brave alike. Oh Leslie, she should not have died. Why did she not flee, past the brook and towards the mountains? It made no sense, none of this made any sense. What was even happening? Where did the shadow take Leslie?

“I cannot sleep either,” said Courtney with a yawn. “Not because of you,” she hurriedly added, “I am also having nightmares.”

Though Caelyn could not see the girl, she could only assume that Courtney was tugging at that pendant. Her eyes widened as she pushed herself upright and raised her wrist. What if the mud dirtied her ribbon? But, seeing as it still glowed with that soft light, she breathed a sigh of relief. What was she thinking? Nothing could possibly taint the ribbon Father gave her.

Courtney approached her and, as the girl sat down on the moist ground, said, “Caelyn, when I was searching for food, I found a shallow lake upstream. When the sky is more lit, we could go there if you want so you can clean yourself up. Alright?”

“Let us go now.” Caelyn rose, stumbling into a tree. “Let us not allow the rising and setting of the sun determine our actions.”

Theresa, who sat against a nearby tree, said in a slightly annoyed tone, “Go, no one will follow you. We will not leave until the two of you return.” Then, she added in a whisper, “I’ll make sure of it.”

The two girls, holding each other’s hand so neither of them would wander off into the forest and get lost, left the camp behind. Alongside them, the water sang, with clarity as sharp as glass, of its journey through the forest. Amidst the branches and leaves, the early birds flapped their soft wings and spoke in musical voices. Caelyn took a deep breath to calm her heart. The cool air was sweet with the fragrance of earth and living water. Yet, none of these gems of nature uplifted her sunken heart. On the contrary, they reminded her of Leslie.

“Why did Leslie have to die to save me?” asked Caelyn, turning her head towards Courtney. “Why did she have to stand in front of me and let herself be taken by that shadow? Why did she not run away?”

Courtney gave her pendant a hard pull. “I do not know. I myself could not even move.”

“Same for me… I haven’t thought about that. How could she move?” Caelyn let out a sigh, slowly to make sure the other girl did not hear.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

So, it was not only her who could not move.

“I had thought about it for the entirety of the night, but I have yet to find an answer. To answer such a question, you need to answer another—why could we not move? Was it because the air itself became heavy or was it because we became so weak that even the air could make us collapse. Who knows? I wish to ask them.” Putting an arm out in front of Caelyn, Courtney stopped. “We are here.”

Beside them, where the brook had been, was a small lake, its surface unblemished by ripples or waves. In the dark, Caelyn could not see how deep it was, but it did not matter to her anyways. She sat down a particularly large, flat rock and started taking her clothes off, putting them in a pile next to her. They were unrecognizable, more like mud-balls than dirty clothes. She could not wash them in the lake, unless she wanted to be walking around soaking wet until they were dry.

“What should I do with my dirty clothes?” asked Caelyn.

Courtney replied, “I will think of something. Give your clothes to be. Go, take a swim and relax.”

“What about you?”

“No, no, no. I will keep watch, er, of any dangers that may come… so you can have peace of mind.”

“Are you certain? A bath sure is nice after many days of walking under the sun and sleeping on the ground.”

“Perhaps later, after you are finished. Do not worry about me.”

Caelyn shrugged and stepped into the water, which was cold but she was used to the water’s chill. “If you say so.”

She first washed the rather bothersome mud from her waist-length hair. Perhaps later, she should cut her hair shorter, though using what she did not know. Usually, she had her hair around shoulder length, maybe a bit longer. Though, the past year had made her hair quite wild and long.

With a sigh, she raised her ribbon-adorned wrist and sadly smiled at the memento. She remembered the first time Father had cut her hair, the day he brought her home from the orphanage, and every time since then. Closing her eyes, she swam towards the center of the lake.

“Run! You must survive!” she remembered Father saying as that intruder broke through the door. “Leave me!”

She had jumped out of the window, leaving Father behind. The entire night, she ran and ran. Only when dawn came did she turn around and ran back to her home. When she had returned, Father were gone, not a single trace of him, or the intruder, remained. She remembered collapsing on the floor of her shattered house, screaming at the sky with tears in her eyes.

Now, that shadow had taken Leslie away, and Caelyn could do nothing to save her.

“Caelyn!” Courtney shouted from shore, “you’re going too far!”

She opened her eyes and slowed down. The shore was only a couple of strokes away. Sighing, she swam back to where she came, where Courtney was waiting. What if something happened to Courtney? Or Theresa? Or everyone else? She shook those thoughts away. No, they would meet the man with golden eyes before shadow could take anyone else.

As Caelyn trudged back to shore and laid down on the large, flat rock, Courtney came to her side and put down a folded pile of clean clothes before draping a long towel over her body.

“Where did you get these?” asked Caelyn, staring at the clean cloths.

Courtney crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “I always have a second set of clothes sewn into my current ones, including a towel.”

With eyes wide with awe, Caelyn asked, “What else do you have?”

“Nothing else.” Courtney shrugged. “Well, I do have a small blade sewn into my sleeve, but it is not useful for anything.”

“Really? Can I borrow it?”

“For what?”

Caelyn pointed to her newly cleaned hair.

“Ah, it might work.” Courtney pulled out a small blade around the length and width of two fingers pressed together and passed it to her.

Her hand shaking, she cut of chunks of her hair, tossing it into the water, until it was somewhat level at her shoulders. She sighed—her work was dirt compared to Father’s—but at least it was better than having a river of hair flowing down her back in the heat of the sun and the chill of the earth.

As Caelyn returned the blade to Courtney, the generous girl clapped her hands together with a grin on her face. “It looks wonderful.”

“If you say so.” After drying herself, Caelyn put on the fresh clothes and, with a grin on her face, stretched out her arms and took a deep breath of air. “These are nice, very soft, and they fit me quite well. Thank you so much, Courtney.” She looked down and saw a pair of clean shoes waiting for her. “Where did these shoes come from?” asked Caelyn, raising an eyebrow.

“These? They are mine. I just cleaned them.”

Caelyn’s eyes widened as she saw what was on Courtney’s feet. “No, no, I cannot accept these. Give me back my shoes.”

“It is fine. I did not like them anyways.”

“Are you sure?” Caelyn looked at the girl with a pained expression on her face. “I feel like…”

Courtney shook her head. “It is fine. Please, accept them, I beg of you.”

With no other choice, Caelyn slipped her feet into Courtney’s shoes. They fit her, though not as well as the clothes. “Are you certain?”

“Yes, I am. Now, let us not waste any time and return back to camp. The first blooms of dawn are beginning to appear.”

The sky was already scarlet by the time they reached camp. Everyone seemed restless to continue on the path. Theresa, with a scowled on her face, said, “What took you two so long? And Caelyn, why does your hair look as though a horse had chewed on it? Never mind, let us not waste any more time.”

And so, they crossed the brook and continued deeper into the forest. Charlotte and Caelyn walked together. Courtney, who was rubbing the pendant as if trying to polish it, followed behind them.

“Oliver was telling the truth,” said Charlotte. “I can’t believe it. Ghosts do exist!”

Caelyn remained silent.

“Oh, no! We did such horrible things to him when he was just trying to help.” She shook her head. “And Leslie, I can’t believe that ghost took Leslie! She-She died to save you, Caelyn.” A tear rolled down her face, painting a dark spot on her shirt. “And you almost died. It is so frightening that such things exist.”

The trees opened up, revealing the fair sky above. Before them was a ditch in the shape of near-perfect circle. The path ended there. A strange tree stood at the center. Upon closer examination, it appeared as though a tree had grown around some stone pillar. The tree’s gnarled bark and crooked branches showed its deep age. Its leaves were sparse, the couple that remained could be counted on their fingers. But the damage of time was not all it suffered. Deep scratched covered the tree, and chunks from the wood and stone were missing. Parts of the bark were blackened as if burned. Something, or someone, had attacked it, though with little success in destroying it.

“What is this tree?” Charlotte asked. “What happened to it?”

Lucis jumped into the ditch, strolling towards the tree. “Can you not see? It is a shrine, a living relic. Why else would the people of the village put this at the end of the path? Even after such attacks, it stands tall and mighty but alone. It is pitiable to see such a beautiful spirit endure so much without appreciation. Come now.” Looking over his shoulder, he gave a knowing nod—to who, Caelyn did not know. “Let us take a moment to stand beneath this deity and believe in it. It has endured both age and attack yet, though forlorn, still stands. Is it lesser than us? No, for it is greater.” He waited, eyes moving from side to side. But no one came forth.

Behind Caelyn, Courtney whimpered, pulling on her chain. “What does he mean?”

“Oh, you are not going to come? Very well, as long as you believe in your heart.” Lucis knelt down, facing the tree. “How long you have stood, I do not know. But, I do know that your spirit is unbreakable. Though you appear to be wretched, your wood is not tainted with rot. I believe that once you stood unblemished, the epitome of all that is divine. But you have stood for so long in the same old place and seen so many empires rise and fall. Anyone would be weary after so long, with your only believer being yourself. Perhaps one day, you can find your peace. But for now, stand tall. I believe that you can.”

Lucis stood back up, bowing his head, before retreated to the edge of the ditch. As he turned around and hopped back up. Water began flowing from that cracks of the tree’s base, filling the ditch in a matter of moments. When the sunlight hit it, it appeared to glow with some golden light.

“What did you do?” asked Courtney, biting down on her pendant.

He shrugged. “I do not know what we did but believe.”

Charlotte said, “I suppose anything is possible on this island.”

All Caelyn could do was stare at the miraculous water. Her heart throbbed in some strange rhythm. Tears flowed down from her eyes, but she did not know why. Falling to her knees, she shifted her gaze to the ribbon tied around her wrist. Father… Leslie… Did they believe in her as well? Was that why they died to save her? If they believed in her, why should she not believe in herself? Theresa was right, she was pathetic. She was pathetic because she did not believe in her own self. This tree, with no believers other than itself, stood even after such suffering. If she could believe in herself, then no one else had to die for belief in her. She rose, wiping the tears away, and strolled back to where Lucis and Courtney talked. A strange feeling stirred in her heart. She decided that Father and Leslie had not wasted their lives on her.

She had.