“Is this it?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, he’s sure!”

Ellis threw down the flowered stem and rolled his eyes.

The trio had made good distance over the roads and managed to arrive at the forest’s edge before noontime. Telhari had given them some dried meat for lunch and insisted that they continue onward without stopping. The terrain was starting to slope upwards, albeit gently, and they would need to keep pushing onward if they were hoping to find the herbs before sundown.

“Please get back on the horse, Ellis. We should go a bit further before we stop.”

Ellis groaned as he hopped back into his saddle.

“How do you know where they are?” Mary asked.

“I don’t,” Telhari admitted. “Not definitively.”

“What!?” Ellis blurted out.

“But,” Telhari cut in, “There are several herbal plants and mushrooms that are known to grow in this climate and terrain. They prefer certain soil and are more easily found deep in the forests, at an elevation.”

Ellis wanted to complain more but he held himself back. If it was for his uncle’s benefit, then he would just have to endure.

The trio continued further into the forest for another hour or so. Over time, the trees became tall and broad trunked, with towering canopies and long, hanging branches. The terrain leveled out and there was a sweetness that hung in the air. It was gradually becoming more and more difficult for the horses to walk through the crowded underbrush.

Eventually, Telhari slowly brought his horse to a standstill.

“Telhari?”

He looked around him, as if listening for something.

“Let us continue on foot.”

Ellis and Mary looked at each other but did not protest.

Once the horses had been secured, Ellis and Mary followed Telhari deeper into the woods.

“Will we be able to find them again?” Ellis asked.

Telhari nodded.

He seemed focused on something, but he would not say what.

Ellis looked into the surroundings brush, attempting to see what it was that Telhari was so sensing.

Was there something special about the trees? They were certainly tall, but he couldn’t see anything particularly interesting about them.

Was it the ground? It seemed soft and full of lush grass, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Maybe it was something else?

Ellis tried his best to relax and open his senses. Many times before he had felt the strange sensation in his body— the feeling of being near magic. He didn’t really know what magic was, but he was sure he would know it if he felt it.

He tried to quiet his mind.

At first all he could think of were his uncle’s wounds. Then, his mind jumped to the cause of those wounds— Telhari and Perry’s duel. Ellis felt his breathing quicken and his body start to become tense as he began to remember what it was like to watch them cut into each other. He tried to avert his attention, focusing on his training, but soon, all he could think of were his frustrations at being beaten by the wooden training post. Quieting his mind was like trying to grab at fruit flies— dizzying and frustrating.

Ellis slapped the side of his head.

“What’s wrong?” Mary asked.

“Nothin’…”

Ellis stared at Telhari’s back, watching him continue on in silence.

He decided to try again.

If he couldn’t get his mind to stop focusing on thoughts, then he could at least try and direct that focus to something else.

Ellis tried to pay attention to the forest: the crunching of the leaves and grass beneath his feet; the call of the birds in the branches above; the feeling of the air on his skin; the warmth of the sun as it passed between gaps in the tree cover and the return to coolness as he stepped once again beneath the canopy. He focused on the shifting of his weight with each step. The natural ebb and flow of his arms. The way his body tingled slightly with every breath in, and the way it pulsed with every breath out. He focused on the way the world seemed to open up before him as his vision widened— able to focus on everything and nothing at the same time. His body seemed to be moving on its own now; caught in a rhythmic flow that moved him effortlessly through the forest, drawn to the feeling of—

That’s it!

Ellis’ heart jumped with excitement.

But just as he became aware of it, it faded from him, and in a split second he was back in the waking world. He was Ellis, walking through the woods with Mary and Telhari, searching for herbs. However, for that brief moment, he had felt something strange pulling at him. He felt as if he could almost give it a name; but it was like waking from a dream. Images that were once held so clearly, quickly fade into nothing, leaving only a faint notion that they had ever even existed.

Ellis hung his head in frustration, staring at the ground.

“Oof!”

He was startled as he bumped into Telhari. Ellis hadn’t noticed that he had stopped walking.

“What is it?”

“Ellis, look!” Mary said, pointing into the trees.

He moved from behind Telhari and looked ahead with surprise.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

There was a large piece of chiseled stone nestled into the earth. It seemed impossibly old, weathered with brown and gray, and covered in vines.

“Interesting…”

Telhari walked up to the stone and examined it.

Ellis studied it; up close it didn’t seem to be very spectacular.

Telhari stepped back and examined the surrounding area. Littered along the ground and tracing a circular path were other pieces of stone, obscured by the underbrush such that they could easily have been missed. This particular piece just happened to be too large to conceal.

“It seems to have been part of a wall,” Telhari said finally.

“A wall? Like part a building?” Mary asked.

“I am not sure. Shall we find out?”

The group passed the large stone and continued ahead.

There it is again!

Ellis looked around him. It was unmistakable— this was the feeling from before. But it seemed like it was moving: lingering just out of his reach, and every time he turned for it, it disappeared and reappeared elsewhere. It wasn’t quite magic though, or at least not of the same kind that Telhari used. But it was similar.

As they walked further ahead, they could spot more ruined structures, covered now by dirt and vegetation. They all seemed to be oriented in a radial pattern, converging at a point a few hundred feet in the distance. Ellis was so focused on scanning the stone ruins that he didn’t notice what was right below him.

“Woah!”

Ellis suddenly tripped on something and fell forward. He put out his hands and landed hard on his knee.

“Shit, that hurt…”

Ellis rubbed his knee a few times until he realized something. He shot up suddenly and hopped back a few paces.

He had tripped on a stone platform.

It was nestled into the earth, like a coin that had fallen and was pressed into the dirt by someone’s boot. It must have had a diameter of over fifteen feet and there were eroded plinths at nine regular intervals around the perimeter of the platform.

How long had it been there?

“Look!” Mary said as she knelt down to brush the dirt and leaves away. “There is some kind of design carved into it!”

Telhari stepped carefully onto the platform and walked around the perimeter, studying the carvings. There seemed to be a unique carving directly in front of each of the nine plinths.

“Hmm.”

“What is it?” Ellis asked. “Some kind of language?”

Telhari shook his head.

“I am not sure. If it is a language, I do not know it.” He continued to study the platform, tracing the carvings with his eyes and following them to a tenth, central design that was unlike the others. He approached it one step at a time until he was right above it. “This place…seems to have been a temple of some kind.”

“A temple?” Mary asked, looking around. “Temple for what?”

“I do not know,” Telhari admitted. “But it certainly was a special place, at one point in time.”

“How do you know?” Ellis asked.

“I can feel it.”

Telhari walked to the edge and hopped off the platform.

“What is it now?” Ellis asked him.

“We picked a fine spot for our detour,” he said playfully.

Telhari squatted down next to a fallen stone column and plucked a hand full of mushrooms from the soft, dark soil.

“Will that help?” Mary asked as she jogged over. “Should we look for more?”

Telhari nodded and placed what he had found in a cloth bag.

“You two can look for more of these…I will continue to look for anything else that can be useful.”

The three of them split up and continued to search.

After a half hour or so, Telhari called them over to see a strange looking plant with a hard stem and a purple flower made up of many needle-shaped petals. This was another useful herb.

With the image of those two plants in his mind, Ellis jogged off into a different section of the grounds to continue looking. He walked over fallen branches and ancient roots until he saw more of the ruined wall appear in the tree line. He headed toward the collapsed stones and followed their path while keeping an eye on the ground. As he walked, Ellis came across a few different plants, but he wasn’t convinced that any of them were useful. He didn’t want to get the wrong herb, or worse yet, grab something poisonous.

Ellis continued wandering, plucking a few mushrooms and keeping them in his pocket to show Telhari later. Soon, he became bored with his search and considered heading back, but he couldn’t get a certain thought out of his head…

If Telhari could sense something special in the temple ruins that drew him towards it, then maybe Ellis had sensed the same thing?

The thought that he might have the same skill as Telhari made him excited. He decided to try sensing it once again. This time, Ellis found a break in the stone wall, one which was only a foot or two off the ground and relatively level. He plopped himself down onto the stone and immediately its coolness sent a chill up his spine. He adjusted himself and stared ahead into the forest. He tried to focus on the same sensations as before: the wind, the air, the birds. He then focused on his own body. The feel of his breath: the way it seemed to move his entire body in a subtle way. For some reason, his eyelids began to feel heavy, like they were being pulled shut— begging to be closed. He decided to oblige, allowing his world to be swallowed by darkness.

But it wasn’t dark. Or rather, not in the way he was used to.

His mind’s eye was alive with a mirage of lights, like rippling waves on the river. He felt his head swim as images tried to form, coalescing into shuddering masses before collapsing once again into a glowing mist. He tried to focus on the images, to coax them into being, into something he could identify. But as he looked deeper and deeper into the wild void of his mind, a pair of bright blue eyes appeared in the darkness and he was startled.

Ellis opened his eyes and was blinded by the sunlight shining into the forest. He blinked a few times and looked around him. There, in the distance, was a doe. It stood there, poised with its neck turned toward him. It was watching him.

Ellis stood up slowly and kept his distance from it.

It was just a deer, right?

“Ellis!?”

He heard Mary’s voice calling to him in the distance.

How long had he been gone?

Ellis looked up into the sky and saw the orange glow of the afternoon sun.

The branches snapped and cracked as Mary and Telhari came through the brush.

“There you are,” she said. “We were calling to you for a while, what were you doing?”

“I was just…” Ellis stuttered as he looked around for the doe.

But it was gone.

Telhari scanned the tree line.

“Is there something wrong, Ellis?”

He shook his head.

“No, I just…took a nap. So, I’m a little sleepy.”

“You took a nap!?” Mary cried as she punched Ellis in the shoulder. “It was your idea to come!”

“Hey!” he protested. “I helped!” Ellis reached down into his bag, pulled out the mushrooms he had found, and held them up victorious.

Telhari reached for them, but Mary snatched them away first.

“Hmph! These aren’t even the right ones.”

Ellis scratched his head.

“Are you sure? They look the same.”

Mary handed them to Telhari. He looked carefully at them and hesitated.

“Well, they aren’t exactly medicinal…”

Ellis hung his head.

“Oh.”

“However,” Telhari spoke up, “These are very tasty if you cook them right. Perhaps we could pick some more for dinner?”

“Yeah!” Mary said as she pulled at his arm. “Ellis, show us where you found them.”

The two walked back a few yards until Ellis pointed out the patch of mushrooms he had found growing in the shade of the stone wall.

Telhari hung back and let the two of them pick the mushrooms together. Mary knew exactly what to say to hurt Ellis, but she also seemed to be the one best able to cheer him up.

As he watched the two of them, Telhari heard a branch snap from behind him. He turned his head to see a doe scurry off into the brush. He thought nothing of it, turning back to Ellis and Mary as they laughed together while pulling mushrooms from the dirt.