Hearing just those few words liberated Morchel. He had to hold it in the whole time, to not upset his brother. But having shed tears at this age embarrassed him. It was a pot of mixed feelings that took over at that moment.

He felt that he could finally look past all that took place over the past few weeks.

He didn’t hold any grudges, not even at that golden-eyed man. He was just thankful that he was alive and that he was not alone. But having cried bothered him a bit, no, a lot.

‘Ughh! I know crying is a given now, but why in front of these strangers? At least that lady wasn’t here. Did she see me? Wait, why I am so concerned about that? Thank god, that runt wasn’t here too.’

A teenage mind has priorities that some may consider unnatural, but awkwardness is inherent to a person of this age.

Just when he was dealing with this complex set of emotions, a familiar rough voice called out to him.

“So you're one of us now, eh?” He said with a faint smile plastered on his face. “I have heard about these incidents, but this is my first time encountering one.”

His well-spoken speech turned a bit informal. Morchel didn’t mind it. In fact, he preferred this more than the flowery talk. Morchel asked.

“What do you mean by that? So I am like God-blessed or something? I just ate a weird mushroom, though.”

And to this, Max just chuckled. He turned his head to look at the unimpressed Morchel, bearing a frown. He quickly stopped laughing and cleared his throat to explain.

“Ahem! We aren’t allowed to share everything, not unless you’re one of us, but If you’re willing to join us, then maybe you’ll learn more then.”

“But for now, I’ll try to explain some things to you. At least, just the bare minimum.”

“As a person who spent a good portion of your life in this rural countryside. You should know the beasts that occasionally threaten the village, right?”

Even though it seemed unrelated, Morchel replied straightaway.

“Yeah, and every time, we had to request a Pandit. They would come and do their thing, but I always thought of it to be something like purification. Like the rituals that would be performed during festivals.”

Max shook his head.

“Not quite. We have to kill those monsters. In a sense, they are our eternal enemies. But after the repeated efforts of our ancestors, they are only held to the rural parts of our nation.”

With crossed arms, he proceeded to ignore the monsters and continued. “Well... we are known as Pandits to the public, but within our community, we are called Holders.”

Noticing the growing confusion of Morchel, he thought for a bit and resumed, “Think of your body as two parts. One the soul, the other the physical body.”

He then posed a question, “Normally, one would think that the body can only hold one soul, right? But what if it can hold more than one? And it could hold foreign entities?”

He then proceeded to answer his question, much to the disappointment of Morchel.

“That is, in essence, what a Holder is.”

Morchel took a while to process this information. Max, in the meantime, praised his mentor for the easy explanation he gave a long time. Max had been waiting for quite some time to share this with others. He wanted to be looked up to, just like his Mentor.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Morchel then inquired.

“What about those monsters, then? How do they relate to this?”

Max, without hesitation, replied.

“Sorry, can’t say.”

Morchel felt disappointed, but Max had already mentioned that he couldn't share everything before initiating the conversation. So he backed out, but then he had another question.

“So I’m a Holder of that weird mushroom, now?”

“Exactly... Perhaps even of a Great Mushroom.” Max responded with a soft chuckle. Max wanted to soften the mood a bit, but it might have backfired. He was oblivious to this, of course.

Morchel held a stone face to disguise the frustration. He held the thing in low regard, but it being pointed out, did not bode well with him. But it didn’t matter in the end. He was alive.

The conversation was yet to be over, though. Flint and the female Pandit also came back in. They were going to be briefed on what came next. It lasted a while longer as the shadows too grew in length.

***

Later that evening, Morchel rummaged around the house. He was looking for a container or box of sorts.

He was told that would be departing tomorrow. Hence, he wanted to take with him his parents’ remains. He wanted to hold on to their ashes. A keepsake of sorts.

“There!” he said as he locked onto a pair of small bronze boxes. They were about the size of his palms.

‘Should be big enough.’

He opened them in haste. Inside them were small jewels and golden jewelry. ‘I’ll need these too. I can use it for money when we begin our new lives.’

He took another cloth bag he had ready and poured them into it.

The bronze boxes had tiny imperfections littered all over their surfaces. But this helped differentiate them.

He then walked over to the place where he had cremated his parents. There was not a lot of it left. The skeletons remained, but the ashes were blown across the valley by the passing winds.

He scooped up the leftover ashes and transferred it to the cases. The breeze refused to part with ashes. Dust blew in the wind as he scooped up even more to compensate for it.

At last, he was done with collecting the remains.

With a rusted shovel he had brought along, he then began to dig up a hole of reasonable depth. He placed the bones in there with great care and respect. He covered up the hole right after he was done.

The time to leave the village was not too far away.

A new life, a whole new opportunity.

‘My dreams aren’t too big. I just want to be happy. I want to leave behind the past few weeks of torment here in the Valley of the Sun.’

Morchel would seem too quick to move on.

But he wasn't. He just came too in terms with it. He would miss his parents for probably his whole life, and so would Flint.

Nevertheless, he wanted to walk past what befell him.

But what he wasn’t yet aware of was that it was just the beginning of what would come to pass.

Turning back to his home, with the two bronze boxes in hand, he caught sight of his brother. He was peeking at from a distance, unsure of approaching Morchel.

The tense air around Morchel faded. He shot a gentle smile at Flint and caught up to him.

“Let’s go back, runt! Should be supper soon.”

He winced and said. “Not a RUNT! I’ll be taller than you one day. Just watch.”

Morchel couldn’t help but pray for this to last.

“Let’s hope so, kid...” he didn’t retort like he once used to.

The sun was beginning to set once again. When they got near the cottage, they could smell a comforting aroma wafting through the air. It was time for dinner.

The Pandits were kind enough to share their food with the brothers as well.

Asius was cooking up a tasty-looking stew from smoked meat. Morchel, looking to socialize, got closer to him and asked.

“Is that venison? I have only tried it a couple of times.”

Keeping his hood and mask on, the giant nodded slightly. He put out another question in an attempt to know more.

“Say, Mister, what kind of Holder are you?”

Asius turned his head in an instant, and without saying a word, he held his hands across his mouth while swaying his head sideways.

Max chimed in at that moment to clarify, as Morchel was puzzled.

“He can’t speak.”

Morchel couldn’t resist asking why. “Why not?”

“Scars of a past battle. Asius doesn’t like letting people know. So let’s just forget this, shall we?” Even his hoarse sounded gentle at that moment.

Morchel didn’t pursue it further.

After a while, Asius held up a thumb to inform that the stew was ready. The sizeable pot in his hands looked tiny in his hands as he carried it in. Everyone gathered around the pot with bowls in their hands to get served. The Pandits carried their own utensils.

Sahera, who was missing until this moment, arrived right on time for dinner with a bowl in her hand as well. Asius served everyone, making sure everyone got a piece or two of meat. As a gesture of kindness, he even gave the brothers extra pieces.

Morchel got to witness his gentle smile, even through his mask.

Even though the stew was very simple, consisting of only smoked meat and water. Asius has seasoned it very well. Morchel could pick out the cinnamon, cardamom, and generous amounts of black pepper.

Since food was hard to come by in recent times, he was starving. He devoured the stew within a matter of moments. Without hesitating, he got seconds.

It was peaceful right now, and he hoped it would stay that way.