My mind tried to find an explanation for the mountain of death towering above me. It was twice, no thrice, as big as any of the hellhounds I’d seen giants keep as pets. With haunches wider than My Titan’s entire torso. It’s mouth grinned and I took several more steps back until suddenly I felt something soft pillow against my back.
Oh. Right. The SMALLER Gloom.
The Gloom… no… the Gloaming—Titans and Giants it was as big as the entire Cursed Wood—whatever it was, its grin grew wider as its golden eyes sparkled. My blood froze in my veins as its mouth opened slowly. Wider. Wider.
Booming laughter struck. My bones rattled. Something wet dripped onto my shoulder as my left ear went silent.
”Elder,” the soft voice was muffled in my right ear and something pressed against my left shoulder with a tug. Wet roughness caught my left ear and hair. The feeling came again and again.
“Apologies, little one,” the deep voice rattled me but more gently than it had before.
”There is an Accord,” the deep voice continued as the enormous feline lips moved with unnatural grace to form words, “between the Canini, Crocodae, Delphinidae, Juggantini, Hominidae, Lamnidae, Smilidontini, Titanidae, and Others.” In this Accord trials are laid out to guarantee safe passage through their spheres. Of this only one matters to you, small one. The trial of the Simildontini. The Trial of First Blood.”
The tugging my shoulder stopped and ear and hair stopped. I felt soft, sinuous movement and an enormous paw pulled me down with the inevitability of death. My hand moved to brace my fall and vanished into white fluff as gently as a whisper. Was— Was I— My mind cracked in new places as the Elder continued.
“As it suggests the Trial of First Blood is simple. At the edge of the Gloaming lies the Heartseeker Wood. A single wound in this place, or so much as a broken twig, is enough for the wood itself to feast upon your bones. I oversee the Whispers who patrol this wood. They watch over intruders and are instructed not to attack unless the intruder makes a noise. One may pass the Trial of First Blood Unbloodied by passing though our domain without making a sound.
“And then there are the Blooded,” the Elder leaned down and its gold eyes grew larger. Dinner plates grew into golden mirrors the size of shields, then larger. My reflection in there golden mirror was haggard, but the Gloom that held me fast looked endlessly entertained.
”in every Trial a Whisper is the Proctor overseeing the ordeal. Upon the first sound they are to attack. When they kill their charge they earn the name Silence. They must earn this many nine times to have competed their Trial of Silence. That is unimportant except in this, beside you is Whisper of the Eighth Silence.
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“To survive as a Bloodied means to have endured First Blood, evading death by fang, claw, and root. It is a great honor that bestows privilege. Your Whisper will travel by your side, as your companion, and… you may speak as you pass through our lands.”
”It is uncommon for one to survive being Bloodied by even a Whisper of the First Silence. This one tells me that as she drove her claws into your side you anticipated her fatal blow and counter-attacked as she drove you to the ground?”
I don’t know when the Whisper started purring but when it stopped at the end of the Elder’s words the absence left me feeling raw, naked even. The Whisper moved its paw off of me and nudged me forward with its nose.
”Show,” it murmured to me, delighted.
As I rose on unsteady feet, I was fairly certain the Gloom didn’t stop to talk with their meals before they ate them. I winced as my wound tugged at the cloth clotted into it, but I turned. As it saw my back the Elder let out a sharp intake of breath.
”The Homind drew her essence blade through her own shoulder to strike you? Then competed the Trial with two injuries?”
”Indeed,” the mark across the Whisper’s nose made its expression look somehow even more satisfied.
“Little one, did you hear or sense any approach before the Whisper struck you?”
The Whisper watched me in anticipation. Fear clutched my heart. I turned my head and the Gloom Elder looming above me waited patiently as death. The sound of my heart pounded in my ears as the silence grew longer. Two sets of golden eyes bore down into me.
”I—“ the word felt coarse in my throat and I coughed into my hand, terrified as I saw two flecks of blood. I could have survived all of that and two Gloom besides to be killed when the forest ate me because of a cough?
The pair of golden eyes looked almost, confused as I erupted into laughter at the absurdity of it all. It echoed past me into the trees and suddenly another dozen sets of golden eyes were upon us.
”A Hominade?!”
”The Elder?”
”Isn’t that the Eighth—“
”Wh—“
”Silence.”
The Elder’s word bore through the gathered Whispers and my laughter teetered off nervously. The silence grew longer again as the Elder waited, staring at me. I felt fourteen sets of golden eyes peering at me.
I wiped my hand off on my leg and took a breath.
”I didn’t hear anything, didn’t… didn’t see anything. The… The Whisper struck like ice breaking as I crossed a frozen lake. Sharp, sudden,” I breathed. It had been so long since I’d spoken. I took another breath and continued, “It struck so hard I was outside of myself and the world slowed. I didn’t realize I was bleeding until I felt my skin grow wet. When I couldn’t hear my heart pounding in my ears I remembered something kids used to play. I.. I saw myself from the outside, felt where the claws had caught me and knew I was going to die. I didn’t have time so I reached into my chest, grabbed my blade, and pushed it out of my back to stop from being bitten across the back of my neck like some rabbit or mouse!”
I stopped there, looking down at feet. My outrage and fear and horror spent. Numb. All around me I heard a strange clicking. I looked up and all around me fourteen sets of gold eyes gleamed in delight as they tapped their claws gently into the ground in quiet applause.