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“So you just woke up here, in the forest? Fell asleep all safe and sound in your bed, and then woke up on the dirt. That right?”
“Right.”
Trevor sat with his legs crossed, sipping from a small waterskin Onda had offered, as the man stood leaning against a tree. His throat had been parched and burning, though with the pain through his body, and the fear chilling his mind, he had hardly even noticed during the night.
“...Did you notice anything nearby, when you woke up? Any particular landmarks you could make out, maybe?”
“Um, no. Just… well, just the fairy.”
“Fairy?”
The man suddenly seemed apprehensive now, stepping closer to Trevor, even as the boy rubbed at his now clean shoulder, though the skin was discolored and the shirt was torn around the area.
“Yeah, a fairy. It said it’s name was Kelby, and it was what injured me.”
As soon as that name left his lips, as soon as he spoke the word Kelby, the huntsman in front of him tensed. His shoulders rose, his back curled, a shadow passed across his face.
“Kelby, huh? I know that little freak. It’s a real nasty one, to meet when all alone in the wild.”
Trevor swallowed, almost wanting to take a step back as the comforting man turned threatening.
“Well, I killed it, if that helps…”
“No, it doesn’t. Kelby is a spirit, meaning it never really dies.” The man’s words were quiet, far more gentle than they had been before, even while soothing the injured boy. “You can kill them in body, sure, but they always come back from some dark hole, eventually.”
“...What?”
Onda stared at Trevor, his eyes holding something back.
“You’re new here, so I’ll explain things simple. These mountains are wild places- magic places. Spirits like that Kelby are everywhere, some are kind and gentle, to be sure, but many are not.”
Onda shook his head suddenly, sighing as he stared upwards and around, surveying the nearby trees with an experienced focus.
“Listen, Trevor- you keep your head on straight. People come to these parts for the riches of the land, or the fulfilling life, but they lose themselves. I’ll bring you to civilization- it’s the least I can do- but I won’t be holding your hand or staying for long, I have my own life to lead.”
The boy nodded, standing up beside the man with a grunt, shrugging his shoulders tenderly, still wincing at phantom pains.
“Are we going already?”
“Yes.”
. . . . . . . . . .
The sun rose across the sky, Trevor could make it out clearly, rays cutting through the trees above and lighting the entire forest ablaze, vibrant emerald leaves shining gloriously in the late morning. A thousand stars of light surrounded them in the trees, so much greater than the stars of the night sky, barely made out during his mad run through the forest, after waking from his injuries.
“Keep up, kid. Let’s try and keep a good pace going, we’ve got a journey between us and the city.”
The larger man had looked behind, over his shoulder to Trevor, who had been slowing around ten paces behind. The trees crowded between them, cutting off line of sight with the boroughs of leaves weighing down into arches over their heads. It was like they stood within an enormous palace of jade walls and ceilings.
“...Right, sorry.”
He had to stop getting so distracted. He quickened his steps even as he winced at the pain in his legs.
He had never been one of the active kids in school, even before cloistering himself away from interactions. He was skinny, with thin arms and legs, a drawn, sickly kind of face; his mother had always told him to eat more, but it never seemed to help. He wasn’t the kind of person who could force himself to eat, or to work when needed. He didn’t have the mindset, back in that tiny apartment.
Now, though, he didn’t have much of a choice.
“Onda, how far away is the city, exactly?”
The older man quirked his lip before answering, eyes shifting down to look at his shorter companion.
“It would take me ‘bout two or three days to get back, on foot, but with you in tow the trip might take about two weeks.”
“...Oh.”
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“It’s alright, I’m used to traveling these forests, traveling on foot. You’re definitely a city kid.” The man smirked, “You’ll be a bit toughened up by the time we get there, I’m sure.”
They soon lapsed into silence again, Trevor’s breath coming quickly, feeling the pumping of blood in his chest, even beneath the sound of the bugs orbiting them, and the wind rushing through the leaves.
The small animals, those strange, silver creatures, the creatures that followed by their feet and jumped between the branches, seemed even more common than the previous day, where Trevor had explored alone. Onda noticed, his eyes catching on the tiny beings that chittered between themselves.
“Don’t pay them mind- the critters are friendly out here, where the trappers and the hunters don’t come. At least, not many do.”
The man brushed absentmindedly at the fine furs stitched into his clothing.
“Luckily, these fellows don’t care what I do to their larger cousins- they’re smart enough to know I won’t grab them, since they’re too small to be of worth.”
Trevor could only nod at the man’s speech, too out of breath to respond. The air in that magic forest was so rich, it felt like every one breath he took rejuvenated him, but the pace Onda set was harsh. If the two of them walked through the city at that rate, they would catch looks for how fast they went, almost at a half-jog than a hiking pace. Trevor didn’t mind it, though. He wanted out of this strange place as soon as possible, even if it only meant arriving in some unfamiliar city, filled with people as strange as this man he now traveled with.
He wondered, briefly, where this magical forest was in relation to everything he knew.
Was he transported to some hidden alcove of the world, sheltered from all modern knowledge, only accessible to people like this strange hunter? There was an entire city nearby, was that city populated with magical people as well?
And if it was not so simple, if this place was even farther separate from his normal world than he would think, was it even possible to go back home?
There was not much time for him to think, though, as tiring as the journey had become.
Trevor and the man ahead of him walked in silence, but it was not a thoughtful kind of quiet. The boy panted harshly, the small critters that watched them chittering among themselves, and the bugs overhead buzzing loudly. The two travelers were never disturbed, they were never stopped, even as the earth surged beneath their feet, steepening as they rose over hills, or streams cut through the forest that they stepped over carefully.
Onda instructed him as they passed each obstacle, pointing where to step to pass over unstable ground, always moving first, guiding the boy’s steps as they crossed through the forest. It was a strange kind of guidance that formed, something so unfamiliar to him, but Thomas did not find it unpleasant. He liked speaking with the older man, even if their words were quiet and direct.
Questions popped through his mind, as to what this place really was, and how he fit into it all, how he managed to find himself in this terrible, beautiful dreamscape. He wondered if his mother was worried for him, or if time had even passed back home at all.
They soon began to climb, the ground growing ever steeper beneath their feet as they hiked up, and up, past the trees and the streams, over the wind, leaving the bugs and the small creatures of the woods behind, though the emerald green trees never left.
Eventually, they crested a small rise, large boulders and rocks emerging from the soft dirt beneath their feet and the trees fell away from a small clearing, overlooking the forest, overlooking the frontier.
His eyes climbed up, from that small clearing, to the field of emerald green that spread out before him, to the mountains that climbed just miles away into the sky far above his head, the vista that spread out before him, numbing his mind with its beauty. It was alien to him, that kind of nature.
“That mountain directly ahead is Strider Peak.” Onda pointed ahead, to the base of the towering body emerging from the forest ahead of them.
The boy didn’t respond. His eyes were caught on the sight before him, the bright blue sky above, laying over the entire forest of gems that spread below, all the way to that same mountain ahead. And the peak itself took away his breath, it was so enormous, rising from the ground like some great wall of an ancient, divine city, sitting just on the other side of the horizon. Its base was covered in those beautiful emerald trees, but as it rose higher, only rock remained, its summit so high it could barely even be seen from where the two stood.
He wondered, for a brief moment, if the sight from this small vantage point over the forest was so incredible, how the view from the very top must be.
What must it be like, to stand at the peak, looking down over this strange land filled with magic and danger?
One would feel like a god.
Onda followed his eyes, the man’s own dark gaze resting on the summit so far above the pair.
“At the very top, where you can just about make out above us, is a temple to the sun, tended by the small set of priests who live there. It is, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful place on the frontier.”
“I can’t imagine.”
“I’m sure you can’t! But we’re certainly not going to attempt the climb now- it’s much too dangerous, the spirits love to congregate on the mountain- something about it attracts them.”
“...I see.”
It made sense, to him. And the boy had no idea why that sudden impulse had risen, tempting him to think of attempting such a stupid climb, one that would surely take days or even weeks for a person like him to do.
But he did wonder what that sight would be like, to be called the most beautiful place in this entire wonderland.
“Alright, boy, let’s stop for a rest here, admire the view for a moment or two, and then get going again, what do you think?”
“Sure.”
But it seemed like that day had caught up with him, because by the time Onda had risen from his seat on some nearby rock, by the time the man turned with expectation in his eyes and a question on his breath, the boy was lying down on the ground.
“Oi! Trevor, we need to make some progress, today, boy.”
The strain had seemed to hit him all at once, as he rested, admiring the view of the frontier in its entirety. His legs burned, and his chest was heaving- he had never, not in his entire life, experienced so much strain in a single twenty-four hours.
“...I’m sorry… I just need, five more minutes, please?”
“No.” The man’s voice was firm, even as he stared at the boy, lain before him. “You need to breathe, Trevor. Breathing brings the world into you, don’t you understand? You must go on for far longer than this if you want to make it to the city, let alone back to your home, wherever that is.”
“I don’t understand!”
Onda stepped closer, staring at the boy with a strange look in his eyes, one that searched for something deep in his younger companion.
“I don’t understand what this place is! If you don’t even know where- if you don’t even know what New York Fucking City is, how am I ever going to get back?”
“Don’t be a coward, Trevor.”
The sun glared down on the two of them, drying the mud from the boy’s aching feet even as it burnt his pale skin red.
“Get up and start moving. We only have so much light in the day before the sun falls behind the mountains, you understand? We won’t be wasting any more time.”
The boy raised his head up, catching the gaze that was focused on him. Onda was looking at him, focused on something deep inside him that he could not understand. But whatever it was, under the scrutiny of the strange man, it began to rise up.
He got his feet underneath him, reaching a hand to Onda as he was pulled upwards, stumbling slightly, but standing.
“I’m sorry. …Thank you.”
“Of course.”
They started moving again, slowly, but steady.
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