Varik opened his eyes. Then promptly shut them again. That wasn’t real. Couldn’t possibly be. Looked nothing like a cave or the forest. Touching a plant doesn’t transport you to a massive tree made entirely of fire floating in a blue mist. Humans weren’t involved in any magic, only the monsters and plants were meant to have it. That’s what the Makers had intended. Right?

Once again lost in his own head, Varik reopened his eyes without thinking, and promptly forgot about his thoughts. He floated in a void of blue mist with a tree the size of a mountain drifting in front of him. It was made of fire, but it wasn’t homogenous. The trunk mimicked mundane fire in shape and color, but the branches varied. One branch was golden and shone so bright it hurt his eyes. Another was dark red and the flames barely flickered. One repulsed him for some reason, a deep black that seemed more miasma than fire. The more he looked, the more the tree interested him. He still didn’t know what had happened but it obviously had something to do with plants and fire.

One branch stood out the most. The branch had light blue flame that formed full images. A ghostly fox ran across the branch, then a human threw a spear. It seemed to represent everything he longed for, freedom, life, and beauty. As he thought about it that branch flickered, then started to grow something. As he watched, a fruit grew from the branches. It shifted as well, but never left the branch. One second it would be large and round, another it was minute and covered in spines. He figured that he wasn’t randomly transported here and there was a reason the thing magically grew. Plus he’d already caught on fire and been fine so he reached out and grabbed the fruit. After doing it he realized he hadn’t been in reach of it a second ago.

In his hands the fruit was remarkably physical for being made of fire. It was warm and soft as his sleeping furs during winter nights. Since he only knew one thing to do with fruits, he took a bite. It had no taste, instead when he put it near his mouth the whole thing flowed into him, settling in his chest like a second heart. He could feel it burning in there, but it was strangely comforting instead of concerning.

Almost immediately after consuming the fruit he was sucked into the tree, his vision filling with fire. Then Varik opened his eyes, laid beside the sapling like nothing had happened. He could still feel the warmth in his chest though. He continued lying there for a second, trying to process what just happened. He needed to make sense of it, fit it into the world he knew. Finally he gave up, stood up, and looked at the sapling. It had a new branch, but was made of a light blue flame like the one from the tree. He didn’t bother trying to think about that, and numbly began to walk back to the cave. It was a miracle he made it, as he was far from alert, and probably not as silent as he should have been either. Only when familiar hunger pangs struck him did he remember why he was out here. However, he had left his makeshift spear behind and knew that if he tried to hunt anything right now he would just be killed. He would need to return after getting his head situated. Another rest without food would be painful for his family, but they wouldn’t die tonight.

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It was twilight when he made it back to the cave. He almost passed Jok without pushing the boulder back before remembering and turning around. Jok looked at him and asked,

“No luck?”

“I didn’t get to hunt. There was a sapling and fire and… I don’t know what happened.” Varik replied

Jok raised his brows and said “Well at least you're alive I guess. Go talk to your mother, she has a surprise for you.”

A surprise? The last surprise he had gotten was when they told him he would have a baby brother. This took his mind off the strangeness of the fruit in his chest and he walked along the cavern with his hand along the wall. He heard someone else as he walked so he stopped to let them pass before continuing. It was Yon, who thanked him before passing. As he walked he realized that while the cave usually depressed him, after the weirdness it was comforting to be somewhere he knew what was happening. With that and the surprise on his mind, he calmed down some more.

He reached his family’s section of the cave and slapped his hand to announce his arrival. His mother promptly scolded him.

“You snuck away to hunt without talking to me? So soon after checking our traps that beast could have been hanging around the entrance still! Not to mention breaking the most important rule of never leaving the cave alone. If I wasn’t so happy you're still alive I’d kill you right now!”

There went his hope that Jok hadn’t said anything to her.

“I thought you wouldn’t let me go.” he said weakly.

“I wouldn’t let you go alone that’s for sure.” Salyn’s voice softened. “I care just as much as you do Varik. I know we would have needed to go.”

“Would have?” Varik questioned, hoping to change the subject.

“When I went to get Dack Nyssa gave me some of those edible roots they found a couple days ago. She said she could tell from my face she knew what had happened. They don’t have much, but she said that we needed what they have more right now.” Without Varik’s father they barely scraped by. His traps had temporarily bettered their situation but they still basically relied on luck. Still, giving food to another family almost never happened. They all lived in hunger so food was the ultimate commodity, and all would hoard it if they could. Giving it up meant you were weaker on hunts and in pain all the time. Not to mention the sheer appeal food had when you were constantly hungry.

“I-I can’t believe they would do that.” Varik said

“I don’t know that we deserve it, but I couldn’t say no.” Salyn replied. “Anyway, as always you can have a little before you rest, but we save the rest for Dack and the next time we check the traps. It isn’t much.”