Virgil stood strong beside his lord, at least that’s how he hoped he looked. When he suggested aligning with the other races, he had never meant the feral gradine. How was he supposed to convince the flaming hounds to join their cause? Could they even speak or reason? It took all his strength not to let out a tired sigh.

“Exalted Lord is your heart truly set on the gradine? I believe there are others who would more readily heed your call.” Virgil whispered his doubts once more. The small hope that they might turn back was soon dashed by Hokron’s answer.

“When it comes to carnage, none can match the cambians but the gradine. I plan to harness this carnage and rain it down upon humanity’s foes.”

Their conversation was soon interrupted as a gigantic hound left his burrow and came into view. Its body was covered in flame, the heat of which could melt iron and turn flesh to cinder in seconds. With a sweeping glance all of humanity’s envoy were paralyzed in fear.

Pleased with the results of its entrance the hound began to trot over to its easy prey. Its good mood was quickly brought to an end when three humans began to move. The hound let out a roar that made the surrounding mountains go still. Once again, the three paid the hound no mind preferring to argue amongst themselves as the one in the center began to strip away his armor.

“Father, please reconsider. Charging a beast whose very fur can melt the strongest of metals is far from a wise decision.” Virgil could only look on with amazement as Hokron stripped himself of his ornamental armor and forced it into the scholar’s hands. Only, once the armor was neatly set aside and Hokron was wearing naught but his trousers and boots did Hokron reply to his son.

“Lato listen well for I shall gift you a lesson. During a negotiation if one party insists on showing their might through martial strength it is best to return in kind.”

Hokron lightly stretched and cracked his neck before kicking off the ground and flying towards the hound. The gradine was not even able to let out a yelp of surprise before a fist full of remnant divinity smashed down upon the top off its head. The gradine was crushed down into the dirt its flames nearly extinguished by the wind that came off from the punch. Hokron one handedly, picked the hound off the ground and raised its head up to meet his eye. After a moment of contemplation Hokron gave off a satisfied nod.

“This is a position more fitting for negotiations. I do like this hound’s spirit. I suppose I shall give it a name. Riding up the Tolside peaks on a flaming hound should make the frost witch more agreeable.”

“My exalted Lord have you lost all sense?! You wish to meet the frost witch in a time like? After recently using your divinity no less?” Virgil lost all composure at the proposition. It would take him nearly ten solstice to explain everything wrong about the proposal. Hokron simply ignored the irate scholar choosing instead to focus on his newly appointed steed.

“Hear this gradine for you are beast no longer. From now until the end of days, you are Indryll.”

***

My mind had gone numb what felt like hours ago. Having to listen to the ravings of Myrica for any extended period of time should be considered a form of torture. It may have been slightly better if she would even give me the chance to respond to her constant questions. For someone who claims to have lived since the beginning of time itself she seemed to be completely devoid of common sense. Not to mention her constant cheery and upbeat attitude seemed to be made with the direct intention to get on the nerves of everyone who hears it.

Was this what it feels like to deal with one of those cheery little sister characters?

The ancient tree didn’t help either, he rarely ever spoke and when he did it was never in a language I could understand. The trip was truly a trial of patience taking nearly all my strength to stay calm and not lash out at the only people keeping me from being turned into a trophy. How far was the center of the forest anyway? Sure, the ancient treant moved slowly but each step must cover thousands of feet.

“Okay were here! Welcome to my home!” I ignored the voice on principle and continued to stare straight up into the starless sky.

It was only when the treant began to dangle me a few thousand feet above the ground that I start to truly pay attention to Myrica and my surroundings. The center if the forest was just as bland and dead as anywhere else. The monotony only broken up by a single white charred tree. Before I could make the educated guess that the white tree was Myrica I was unceremoniously dropped.

My fall was broken by tree after tree. There tearing branches only seemed to worsen the pain and not actually help break my fall at all. With a sudden crash I was flattened against the ground once again. I was soon greeted by the familiar sight and smell of a small campfire. It took me a while but eventually I was able to raise myself to my feet and meet the eyes of my guide.

“How great it is that the half-wit lives, how great my worry was that your life might so soon be deprived, though I suppose I would sooner see you in gyves.” The Poet delivered his rhyme with the utmost confidence.

He looked upon me, the ancient tree, and Myrica as if he had recited one of the greatest literary works this world had ever heard. Not one of us had the strength to respond. We sat in an awful silence for quite some time before Myrica finally broke down.

“That was AWFUL! Why? Why did you become a poet? The world has enough evil in it without your poetry!” I was amazed that Myrica could so perfectly give words to my thoughts as I stared at the fully armored disappointment before me.

“Anyways I brought your friend, _____. Is he really taking the trials? He really must be a piece of work if Lato sent him all the way to the beginning. Hey ______ why aren’t you talking? Are you mad that I made fun of your poetry I’m sorry it was just really bad! Hey ______. Wait a minute…. DID YOU CAST UNSPEAKING ON ME!?!” Myrica’s voice was soon turned to silence and I could only look onto the Poet in surprise.

“I apologize but Myrica has very little respect for the traditions of mortals and I find I can only handle her in short bursts.” the Poet said as he gave a light nod. “I assume your journey wasn’t too perilous?”

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“Yeah…. Hey, she said you cast something on her, can you use magic?” My excitement at the possibility of witnessing magic drowned out the stupidity of the question. The Poet simply sat silently for a while before responding. “I am knowledgeable in some of the magic arts.”

Of course, the guy who wears full plate armor, never shows his face, silences all mentions of his name, and has a magic dagger, can use magic. By his reluctance to admit the fact that he’s a motherfucking sorcerer I can only assume magic is gonna turn out to be some weird taboo in this world. Another pillar of fantasy ruined by this shitty world.

“Now that we have wasted enough time, I suppose we should keep going. Without too many further mistakes we should be able to meet up with a caravan that shall aid us in our trip up the mountain.” The Poet rose to his feet and kicked out his fire before making a few motions.

“You shall need Myrica’s blessing to cross the remainder of the forest so I shall release her tongue. The blessing ritual is supposed to be a sacred and personal thing but Myrica has never been a stickler for tradition. It will be up to you to convince her.” With a final wave of his hand Myrica’s rambling came back to life.

“…. YOU BEST WISH YOU NEVER COME TO THIS FOREST AGAIN YOU TIN COVERED SHITHEAD! I’LL MURDER YOU AND RIP Your… Oh I can talk again.” Myrica took a few moments rest before continuing. “I’m sorry for yelling _____ I won’t actually hurt you I promise…. I’m sorry.” Her voice was no more than a whisper as she muttered her apology. I took advantage of her moment of vocal weakness to finally ask for her blessing.

“Myrica, if you could please bless me so I can leave the forest safely I would really appreciate it.” The piercing silence that followed did not bode well. I stared at the white tree in silence. It seemed to be frozen in time. A beacon of stillness never daring to move. It was covered in burns, gashes, and stripped bark. Finally the spirit responded.

“I’m sorry but I can’t give you my blessing so could you please leave.” Myrica said it with such rapidness that all the words seemed to string togethor. I opened my mouth to respond but was instantly interrupted.

“PLEASE! Please, just please leave! I promise I won’t hold it against you. I mean I’ve never held a grudge in my life. Not even when the cambians invaded the forest and tried to burn me. I know it’s embarrassing and stuff, but could you please just leave and forget about everything. I mean I’ve already forgotten about it. See, I don’t even remember what I’ve forgotten about….. Please leave.”

I was hit by a sense of whiplash as her once sisterly cheery voice was now that of an apologetic small child.

“Ok, ok I’m sorry this blessing is probably a bigger deal than what I thought. Can you at least explain what the blessing is and how it works?”

“No, I probably shouldn’t. I mean It doesn’t matter cause your gonna leave right?” Myrica sheepishly replied.

“My life depends on this. Any information you could give me will be much appreciated. Maybe we can figure a way out that doesn’t hurt either of us.” I tried to hide my frustration. Of course the ritual is going to be stupidly hard to get. Come on, I just have to act kind and supportive. Like your talking to a puppy.

“Ok, well basically during the ritual our lives become linked. It’s a really important thing for spirits and can only be done a few times in our life. I only have the one blessing left and I can’t give it to you so I’m really sorry.”

“How do you link your life with someone else?” I asked.

“Basically, I just have to give a bit of my life span over to the other person.”

No way.

“Oh, the process has been described as giving away someone’s life force or vitality before, if that helps you understand.” She kept rambling on and trying her best to explain the process but I wasn’t listening.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

My heart dropped in my chest. She wasn’t ever going to agree to give me the blessing, the last of her lifespan. I was going to have to take it. My eyes couldn’t help but wander over to the bone dagger. To take the blessing all I would have to do would be stab Myrica and drain her dry. It was an action I had done a number of times but now I couldn’t even take the first few steps forward.

I never liked Myrica. Hell, just a few minutes ago I was celebrating when she was silenced by magic. However, she saved my life. She was one of the few things in this world that hadn’t immediately fucked me over. Could I really take advantage of her kindness? My musings were soon interrupted by a soft but firm reminder from the Poet.

“Lato believes that both the excess and defect of every virtue is a vice. In his mind there is such a thing as being too kind. When Myrica refused to help humanity in its battle against the cambians due to her pacifism, the prince declared her as vicious and banished her to the outer kingdoms. Her kindness became her vice.”

Fuck off.

No way am I doing this. I have to drain the lifeforce from someone just because they were to kind. Just because they don’t agree with the asshole prince’s views.

“I’m sorry for asking Myrica you don’t need to give me your blessing.” The words were delivered in the most lifeless voice I could muster.

“It’s ok I’m sorry I can’t help you but look on the bright-side! You can stay here in the center of the forest. Here nobody gets hurt, no one is mean and there is no suffering. You can live here with me and the other treants! We can live here in peace and forget about all the suffering in Utradem.”

Oh God why did I let her keep talking. I feel like I’m a kid who was just asked to kill his puppy. Fuck.

“Is there really no way to leave the forest without your blessing?” I asked hoping that maybe I might be able to fight my way out or have the ancient treant carry me out.

“No, everyone who enters the forest needs my blessing to get out. It’s the reason the prince put the first trial in the forest.”

The only way to leave is to drain her. I stood there lost in my thoughts.

“I don’t know her that well."

“Plus, she was pretty annoying and it’s not like anyone can die in this world anyway.”

“It’s not my fault it’s all because of Lato, he’s forcing me to do this.”

My knuckles went white as my grip around the dagger tightened. I stared once more into the starless sky and prayed there was a way out. Some way I could get around this. No answer came.

“Myrica,” The words left my mouth before I fully understood what I was doing.

“You’ve never held a grudge, right?” The response was instantaneous in her normal soft and cheery voice.

“Of course, so you don’t need to feel bad about asking about the blessing!”

I started to walk towards her. Each step seemed to take all my effort.

“Is something wrong?” When I was finally within arm’s reach of the white tree I saw it softly pulse when Myrica spoke. I readied the dagger and jabbed it in between a soft portion of her ripped bark.

“I’m sorry.”

I drained her.

“Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”

My savior, the spirit whose only fault was kindness. I drained her. Her screams echoed throughout the forest her once soft and comforting voice was now ravaged and hurt.

“Why? Why? Please stop!”

The words only made it all the worse. I did everything I could to ignore them. She isn’t the only one I’ve drained, and she won’t be the last. So, I honestly couldn’t understand why it hurt so bad. The vitality that flowed into me was no different then the last few times I had drained someone. The ecstasy of life refilling my veins, the pleasure my body felt showing no reflection of my internal struggles. I kept making excuses. Blaming the prince, the world, it was either me or her there was no other option.

They were just that though, excuses.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew this was wrong. I knew that there were other options, I didn’t have to continue on the Path. I could’ve stayed, I could have convinced her to willingly grant it to me after getting to know her. Instead I took the easy way out. I stared at the ground waiting for her soft glow to run out. All the way to the end she kept begging me to stop saying she would forgive me. All the way until her light was stomped out.

Here I was complaining about there being no kindness in the world. Yet, I was the one who helped kill it.