The ground was an earthy brown, as it always has.
The sky was covered by a perpetual blanket of grey clouds, as it's always been.
And at the entrance to the Omoshiro village, beyond the earth wall and its bony spikes, those coming of age were being sent into hell, as was tradition.
“Alright young warriors, it is time for your first and only Trial, go out and bring back a sacrifice worthy of the Tree of Life!” shouted a bulky, middle aged man, with an extremely deep voice.
*bang* *bang*
Boris was a scrawny youth, with black hair and a weak physique. He was wearing the leather armour given to him by the elders, like everybody else lined up at the entrance of the village.
*bang* *bang*
As the sound of deafening war drums started beating at the entrance to the village, young Boris was looking at the forest ahead of him with great fear. This was, after all, the deadliest place he knew of. The only place, in fact, that was outside the village, and therefore outside of the protection of the Tree of Life.
“Remember, the one that brings the biggest game shall be given the opportunity to learn the mystical arts of mana, while the rest of you will be made official warriors.” said the same deep voice. “Now go!”
*bang* *bang*
Out of the 10 youths gathered at the entrance to the village, most started sprinting towards the depths of the forest, although their footwork somehow managed to cancel most of the noise made by their mad dash.
Those that remained, did so due to their fear, or in Boris’ case, due to being out of breath. He, unlike everyone else in the village, had a weak heart. So walking here with all the hunting gear given to him by the village was quite the challenge.
As he caught his breath, and was ready to sprint, or at least walk in a speedy manner; he took one last glance at the others who were still hanging back. It was only two of them, to be precise, two girls with scarlet hair.
“Twins! You know what awaits back in the village. It is better to die trying, than to die waiting for death.” shouted Boris, his voice trying to stay calm, yet failing to do so.
“After all, if we don’t bring a sacrifice, we will be made into one. Good luck, you two.” muttered Boris under his breath, as he broke into a high paced stroll.
The forest, made entirely of dead tree trunks, was slowly taking up his field of view as he left the village behind, as well as the sea of wood stumps surrounding it.
He didn’t have the stamina to do it for long though, running out of breath mere minutes later.
‘Fuck me and my weak heart!’ screamed Boris into the depths of his mind.
He took a quick break leaning onto one of the trunks that seemed stable enough not to fall.
‘I’ve *huff*, I've never left the village before. But this looks basically the same! Same blackened dead trees, same dirt floor, same eternally grey skies, nothing’s changed!’ though Boris, exasperated by the monotony of the world.
He tried to keep the hope alive, but he knew, deep down, that there would be no difference. After all, the adults in the village go out to hunt every day, and not one of them has found anything outside of this never ending forest.
‘But that’s not what I should be thinking about right now. I should try my best to survive, so that one day I might live to see a place that looks different, and perhaps less gloomy.’ he thought.
With his conviction somewhat steeled, he started walking towards the only way he could go, forwards.
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And so the first hour went, with Boris slowly making his way through the field of dark brown and blackened woods. His mind wandering more than it should, but his eyes vigilantly scanning his surroundings.
But no matter how vigilant he was, it was never going to be enough, and it never could be. For hunting beasts was never a safe endeavour. All he could do was try his best, and hope for the best.
‘At least they gave me a spear and leather armour, so I should be fine against weaker beasts. But if I run into an abomination, then I’m as good as dead.’
*rustle*
The muffled sound of leaves moving could be heard nearby.
‘Huh? What the hell is that sound!?’ Boris asked himself, very puzzled by the strange sound he’s never heard of before.
And as he approached slowly, his curiosity getting the better of him, he found a bunch of purple leaves on the ground, all attached to some thin, black branches. A bush, if you will.
“AH! A plant!” he almost shouted, but managed to rein in his voice halfway through.
Boris promptly backed away, the plant shooting a thorny spike upwards, right from where his feet used to be. With his face only a few inches away from the thorny roots, Boris took a deep breath.
*sigh*
‘Good thing I backed up in time, otherwise things would’ve ended up real bad for me.’
As he was studying the plant, the root that almost impaled him went back down into the ground, leaving behind not even a trace of its existence.
And so, Boris found the first two beasts since the start of the Trial. One was the plant, and the other one was trapped inside of it.
*squeal* *rustle*
A small, grey furred rodent could be seen inside of the plant’s main body, although just barely. It was struggling, no doubt, but it was futile. The plant was slowly beeding it dry and using the red liquid to empower itself.
With the beast losing a lot of blood, and therefore its strength, it was quite clear that the purple bush would come out victorious.
‘But you have fought valiantly, little beast, though it’s a shame I won’t be able to bring you back to the village.’
----------------------------------------
And so the first two hours of the Trial went, with Boris leaving the plant and walking around some more. He wasn’t crazy enough to fight a plant with his puny bone spear.
In the 2 hours he’s been here, nothing really changed. The sky was still grey, though of a slightly lighter tone. The ground was still a dry brown, and the trees just as numerous. At least he was able to carve some marks on them, so that he may find his way back.
‘No doubt some of the other guys forgot about that. Hopefully they all make it back in one piece.’
*pit* *pat*
Boris froze on the spot, having heard footsteps, very steady sounding footsteps.
‘Either a human, or a bi-pedal beast. But none of the others would be stupid enough to take a stroll without masking their sounds.’
*pit* *pat*
‘It’s coming from my left.’
*pit* *pat*
Boris turned his head slowly in order to get a better look, and he stopped the moment his sight made contact with the source of the footsteps.
‘A Malakey!!!’ he thought, shocked.
Soon, Boris stopped his breathing, and attempted his best not to move a singular muscle.
The Malakey looked like a giant, oily black torso with dark shades of purple, and had two almost human looking legs. It was about 5 metres tall, and surprisingly nimble for its size.
And this abomination was, in fact, not just a dangerous abomination, but one of the most deadly creatures you may have the misfortune of running into.
This was undoubtedly due to their mighty tough hide and astounding speed.
But it lacked in the senses department, with no eyes or nose to speak of, the only way for it to detect its prey was through sound. And although the ears of the Malakey were located inside of its torso, they were somehow able to hear much better than humans and most other beasts.
‘I should consider myself lucky that it’s not walking this way. If it were to bump into me, I would no doubt become its lunch snack.’
After a few more minutes, the sound of the Malakey disappeared, vanishing from the area.
*huff*
Boris collapsed on the spot, exhausted by the fact that he had to hold his breath, while not moving a muscle, for a good few minutes there.
Afterwards, he went back to searching, though doing so in the opposite direction of the Malakey. After all, who knew if he would get lucky again, better not risk it.
‘Tempting fate is the best way to court death, or so the elders said.’
----------------------------------------
The forest was silent, no wind except for a light summer breeze, no sound but the sound of his dull steps, no warmth except the warmth of the blood flowing through his veins.
*Bang*
*Clash*
And then, the forest was no longer silent, for Boris could hear fighting in the vicinity.
Boris quickly made his way towards the sound, his peripheral vision filled with trees zooming by.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
After a short while (he was already out of breath), he found it, the sight of the clash. It was taking place inside of a sizable clearing in the woods.
It was a fight consisting of a young woman with short golden hair, wearing armour made of beast bones rather than hide.
She was fighting what looked to be a boar of great agility, and surprising strength for its extremely short stature, which barely reached the knees of the woman.
‘Not good, she’s blonde! Better get out before anything happens to me.’
And so, Boris strode away.
This time making sure to be extra silent, just in case.
After all, the only village to have blonde people was part of the Todtec tribe. Which, due to being the biggest tribe in the region, had both the capabilities and ambition to expand into the neighbouring villages, which consisted entirely of the Omoshiro village.
This obviously scared the tribe elders, who didn’t wish to be attacked by the only tribe that was close enough to mount an invasion on their settlement.
As such, after much negotiation, the two tribes signed a treaty, which very clearly stated that neither tribe shall interfere nor step foot in each other's hunting grounds.
Well, this was the Omoshiro tribe’s hunting grounds.
So it was quite clear to Boris, who spent way too much time listening to his elders talking, that this was a declaration of war.
And if war broke out, then Boris would most certainly have to warn the elders, and do so before everybody participating in the Trial died.
‘I doubt anyone else, much less me, is going to get out of here alive. But I got to, at the very least, try.’
----------------------------------------
A short while later.
Boris came back to the scene of the clash between the woman and the boar.
This wasn’t because he wanted to be back here, but because he saw what happened to the others who tried to run back into the village.
Or at least he saw what remained of them, mere blood stains and scraps of armour in the dirt.
No doubt they were killed.
And even if it wasn’t the Todtec people, Boris still didn’t wish to come face to face with whatever killed all of his … acquaintances. He didn’t really know any of them that well, what with him never being able to join their training sessions or playing games, so he couldn’t really call them friends. But their deaths still weighed on his mind.
Not to mention the beasts that were likely to come once they smelled the blood in the area.
‘Better in the eye of the storm then next to it.’ though Boris, as another one of his elders’ quotes entered his mind.
So coming back here was not the worst of ideas. Although there was a decent chance of encountering that woman again, or someone else from her tribe, so he still had to be careful.
‘Maybe she dropped some amazing piece of equipment, or left the carcass behind.’ fantasised Boris.
But as he takes a peek while hiding behind a tree, he sees that both the boar and the blonde lady were there. Though neither of them were moving, and both sat in decently sized pools of blood.
So, cautiously, Boris approaches her with the flat side of his spear.
*poke*
“Ughh…” she mumbles, probably delirious.
“You okay?” he whispers, taking a step back.
*flop*
Her body, which was upright before, skids off the tree and falls sideways onto the earth.
As she falls, her back is exposed, and thus allowing Boris to see a giant gaping wound there, most likely coming from the tusks of the boar.
“I’m… I’m gonna take the boar ma’am, if that works with you?”
No response.
“I am going to take that as a yes.”
Boris approaches the tiny boar.
*poke*
“You can never be too sure.” he mumbles.
He then proceeded to slowly, but skilfully, disembowel the boar of its mana sac using the sturdy bone dagger given to him by the elders.
He then stores the mana sac, which looks like a small black sphere, into his leather pouch and starts making his way back to the plant he met a few hours back.
----------------------------------------
“Ahhh!”
Boris hears a distant scream after a few minutes of walking. And based off of its direction, that being right behind him, told him everything he needed to know.
‘Someone found her body, and they're probably not too happy about it.’
Boris began to increase his pace, even if it was essentially a bonafide speed walk.
‘But every bit counts.’ he encouraged himself.
Half-way there, Boris had to stop and take a short rest. Speed walking was still draining, even if it was a lot easier than sprinting.
But to his horror, a Malakey passed by him once again.
‘Must’ve passed by its territory again.’ he realised, as it was most definitely the same one he met earlier in the day. After all, deadly abominations didn’t grow on trees, at least as far as he knew.
But after staying still for a short while, the Malakey thankfully disappears. Boris now ready to continue his journey, stands up.
However, that is when he sees it, or rather, him.
-You bastard of the Omoshiro village! I swear I will gut you alive in front of all your family to see, then sacrifice your corpse to the Goddess!- a young man signed using his hands as soon as Boris looked at him, afraid of the Malakey hearing him.
He had blond hair and white bone armour, with his facial features resembling the blonde woman quite well.
-I didn’t do nothing man, no need for all that! You can just take the boar if you want, but there’s really no need for you to gut me alive.- pleaded Boris back with his hands, also afraid of the Malakey coming back.
The blonde man looked back at the clearing, then at Boris, then smirked and said -So what if you did nothing? It is by the order of the Elder Sorcerer himself that we put any Omoshiros we find to rest. After all, you have angered the Goddess, and you shall pay dearly for your sins.- signed the blond man back.
-That’s in the past. We’ve already paid the price for Shambra’s mistake!- tried to reason with Boris.
-A mistake, yes. A simple slip of the mind, maybe. But the fact that you people are capable of greeding after Goddess’s gift should be more than enough reason to send you her way. At least that way you can repent in the afterlife.-
Throughout the conversation, the blond man has been taking slow, but measured steps towards Boris.
-That’s… that’s a bit extreme!-
-Half of your village died because that blasphemer thought herself above the Tree of life, above the Goddess. All of you heathens, deserve death!-
He then lunged forward, having gotten close enough to stab Boris with his spear.
“Fuck you then!!!” shouted Boris at the top of his lungs as he dodged sideways.
The man in white armour quickly stabbed his spear again, this time towards Boris’ face, trying to end the fight before the Malakey came back.
However, to his surprise, the scrawny youth managed to dodge the attack again, this time by falling down onto his back. His hands resting behind his neck, as if he was here to rest after a hard day of work.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” asked the stranger in a loud whisper.
*pit* *pat* *pit* *pat*
Then they both froze on the spot, although Boris was prepared already.
The Malakey from earlier most definitely dashed in here as soon as it heard the screaming. Quite scary how it only took it merely a couple seconds to get here.
However, while the Malakey did get here due to the loud noise, it wasn’t able to precisely pin-point the location of the scream, so it started walking around the area, searching.
And while Boris could wait, the blonde man, who was standing up holding his spear, couldn’t hold out that long.
In the end, however, he managed to last long enough for the Malakey to lose interest.
But Boris, seeing the Malakey positioned right behind his would-be killer, decided to bring the abomination back.
“See ya.” he whispered quite loudly, loud enough for the Malakey to hear.
And so it rushed back.
Due to its closer proximity, it was able to more accurately pinpoint the source of the sound this time. And so it dashed straight towards the sound, until it collided with the blond man a few moments later.
Before he got flung by it, however, in his last moments before meeting the Goddess, he dropped his spear with the pointy bit aiming towards the cause of his death, towards the Omoshiro bastard. A look of defiance in his eyes even as his life extinguished.
And it hit.
As the man's body was flung across the forest, Boris’ thigh now had a bone spear sticking out of it.
After that, Boris got front row seats to the Malakey having its meal. Though he couldn’t quite see any of it due to his angle, and he also had to concentrate on being quiet with a spear sticking out of his leg.
But he heard it, and that was enough for his imagination to scare the crap out of him.
Safe to say, it was too gruesome to describe in this (definitely not) family friendly novel.
Luckily, Malakeys have small bellies, so it was full after devouring a whole adult male. Meaning that it was now going towards its nest, wherever that may be, to digest the meal.
Although he survived, Boris was still bleeding, and he had to stop it before he lost any more blood.
He clumsily, and sluggishly, put pressure on the wound using his leather pouch. He thankfully didn't have to cut it up, since its shape allowed it to be turned into an impromptu bandage, but it still meant he had to wrap the pouch around his wound.
Meaning he now had to carry the dangerous mana sac with his bare hands.
But there wasn’t much he could do about that. So he took the spear out, and covered it with the leather stripes, which were barely enough to cover his wound two times over, and stood up.
Safe to say, the wound was only barely stopped. But he had to thank the blond man for that.
If he actually put some effort into stabbing him instead of letting gravity do the work, it would’ve been a much deeper, and possibly deadly, wound.
----------------------------------------
And so he walked, his right foot dragging behind his other leg. It was exhausting, having lost all that blood, and having been in this forest for a good five hours by now, if he was counting right.
Without food or water available until the Trial was over, it was safe to say he was completely drained.
But he trudged on, slowly but surely, with a dagger in his right hand and a mana sac in his left.
He had to leave his spear behind, together with the Todtec guy's spear. But he only needed his dagger for his plan to work, so it wasn't really a loss, though the elders might scold him when he got back.
The mana sac, he observed now that he had to hold it, was incredibly smooth to the touch. It looked black and rough like the boar’s fur, but it felt as soft as Salk fruit skin.
Truly fascinating, yet he hoped it wasn’t as weak as Salk fruit skin, for he didn’t want to meet the Goddess quite yet.
And as he arrived onto the edge of another small clearing, he saw the purple bush.
This time he couldn’t hear any squealing, so the rodent had more than likely succumbed to its injuries already.
Boris took a step back, made sure he was out of range of the plant, and started scavenging the area for some sturdy stick.
After some time, he presumed there were enough sticks gathered here, and since he didn’t want to stay in this place more than he had to, he started working.
He ripped off pieces of his leather armour, carved them into tiny strips, and started knotting the sticks together.
By the end of it, he had one reaaaally long stick, long enough to reach the bush without having to go near it.
But now came the hard part, attaching the mana sac onto the end of the Big Stick (as he dubbed it). It was a delicate process that could potentially end with him and all his human bits scattered across the dirt floor.
So he had to be careful.
After a stressful few minutes, the mana sac was attached to the end of the Big Stick, and Boris was safely on the other end of said stick.
‘I hope you don’t snap on me buddy. You just gotta last a few more seconds. Just gotta make it to that plant over there, okay?’
Safe to say, Boris might’ve lost a bit too much blood, but if it worked then he wouldn’t mind talking with a few sticks.
*ta-thumb*
This was it, the moment that was going to determine whether he lives or dies in this cursed forest.
*drip*
Sweat starts accumulating and falling off of his face. With his weak body being weakened even further by exhaustion, it wasn’t easy.
*ta-thump*
The mana sac slowly made its way to the bush.
*ta-thumb* *ta-thumb*
And Boris drops it, with the sac landing right on top of the bush.
*BOOM*
A loud explosion follows as the purple bush stabs the sac with its sharp thorns. Followed by dancing blue flames that attach themselves to the wriggling plant and all of its roots, which came out of the ground in order to stomp out the fire.
The plant, seeing that stomping didn’t work, uproots itself and starts running into a different part of the forest.
Safe to say, Boris has set a good chunk of the forest aflame. With the help of the bush running around and spreading the flames, of course.
‘That should attract beasts, abominations, and humans alike. After all, humans don’t want their home burnt down. Abominations want to eat said humans. And beasts are too scared to know what to do, so they will run around and attack anything that gets in their way, adding to the chaos.’
Then, Boris starts walking the other way, knowing that in order to make it out alive he’ll have to take a massive detour before bee lining it to the village.
----------------------------------------
‘Finally!’
As the sky darkens, with night being a few hours away, Boris finally sees the village gate in front of him merely a few minutes walk from where he stands.
It was a long Trial, to say the least, and all he wanted to do was get back home and sleep.
However, when he was half-way there, this time dragging both his feet on the ground, he heard a voice speaking behind him.
It was the high-pitched, shrill and hoarse voice of a young woman, though her words weren't as pleasant.
“You Omoshiro bastard! I saw Markus chasing you, what’d you do to him!?” she shouted, caring very little about how close she was to the enemy camp.
“He got eaten.” he replied matter-of-factly, still making his way towards the village gate without turning around.
“So you killed him and fed him to the beasts?” she asked quite pointedly, her spear out and ready to strike if needed, but without moving towards Boris.
“A Malakey got him.”
“Impossible! We were all trained to sit like statues. You must’ve done something to him!”
She arches her arm backwards.
Boris, meanwhile, speeds up his pace and gives her a quick glance, not wanting to get killed after coming this far.
“Not so fast, you coward!”
She then throws her spear towards him.
*Crash*
He proceeds to leap to the side, barely dodging the spear thrown at him.
I would’ve been quite a sight, if he didn’t fall onto the floor right after.
Thankfully, it seemed she didn’t have anything else to throw at him.
“I’ll get you one day, you Omoshiro bastard! Don’t die until then!” she shouted from behind the tree line, dashing back into the forest right after, presumably scared of having to fight the whole village by herself.
Boris, meanwhile, started crawling towards the village gate, barely registering her words.
He didn’t have the strength to get back up, but he had the will to keep on moving.
And so he did.
Crawling his way to safety.