Chapter 14 - A Trial of Wisdom

The third Trial was also in a forest. This one less vegetated than the first. It was a forest of pine trees. Dried and light-brown pine needles littered the forest floor. The ground was soft, but not entirely muddy. It had rained recently, the night sky still thick with dark clouds. The smell of wet soil entered Kiali's nose. She instantly drew her knives without sparing a second for observation. Before her lay the prints of her most hated enemy. Wolves. Not just a single track. The ground was full with paw prints. Over a dozen wolves by the looks of it. A full pack.

Kiali then took note of her surroundings while waiting for Ny'Danis to issue commands. Nothing but pine trees, each one spaced out a few feet from another. Pine were rare in the Papillion Forest. The climate was not ideal for them. Kiali didn't like them anyway. She found them to be ghastly. Trees without leaves at all times of the year. As if they were stuck at the end of the fading period for eternity.

"The forest is overrun by wolves. Not a single prey remains for them to feed upon."

She waited for more. Moments passed. The hollow voice did not return. There were no commands issued. Kiali scratched her head. It sounded like another survival test. But the Forest Deity hadn't explicitly stated 'survive' as she had during the second Trial. Wolves howled in the distance. Kiali didn't bother thinking. Ny'Danis would not send her daughters to a predator infested woodland just to be passive. Whatever the test was, it most certainly involved killing wolves.

And killing wolves was what Kiali was best at.

Her lips thinned. They spread wide and formed a wicked grin, revealing a perfect set of teeth. Perhaps it is a Trial to conquer one's fear. She feared wolves. But that didn't mean she'd run from them. Kiali slit her own finger with her knife, drawing blood. She let a drop fall to the dried needles before her feet. The scent of blood would bring the animals on in droves. It wasn't long before more howls sounded —now much closer than before.

Kiali heard a low, throaty growl behind her. She turned to find a pair of round yellow eyes fixated in a hungering stare. The large wolf bared its fangs as it approached, one slow paw before the other, no attempts made in hiding its bloodlust. It slowly stepped out of the shadows, sounding a vicious snarl. Spittle dribbled down its open jaws. It looked as if it'd gone rabid. Its actions showed no signs of stealth. Rather, it stunk of desperation. Its limbs were terribly thin. Ribs were pressed up against its skin. A sorry sight. Kiali almost felt bad.

The wolf charged at what it assumed was prey. Unbeknownst to it, it was only leaping into the jaws of death. Into a greater predator's embrace. Its frail legs looked to be dragging its body as if they were poorly constructed support beams. Its initial lunge was easily dodged. Pain entered its torso as sharp objects pierced through the gaps between ribs. Red came out in small streams. That was all it took to fell the starved beast. It lay down flat on its belly, panting for air.

Kiali knelt before the creature. Its eyelids drooped. The yellow behind them seemed to beg for mercy. For care. It filled her with disgust. She gagged, reminded of her own weakness in the past.

A Silver Tail wolf slowly stepped towards Kiali. She trembled, bow in hand, backing away one step at a time. She couldn't nock her arrow. Continued to fumble it until it fell out of her hands. Kiali's eyes went wide in horror as the yellow eyed beast, taller than her, snarled as she bent to pick up the fallen arrow. It bent its legs, preparing to lunge. Kiali tried grabbing an arrow from her quiver but her arms refused to move. Her knees buckled and she fell before the predator, a hopeless child isolated and doomed. Her heart drummed. Her eyes watered. She kicked with her feet, backing up against a tree, whimpering. Something trickled out from between her legs.

The Silver Tail opened its jaws to bark, revealing a hideous pair of fangs. Its putrid breath caused the girl of ten to choke. An arrow flew into its exposed mouth. And it died. Died before it could kill the child.

Kiali blinked, her jaw hanging open as she breathed through her own mouth. She was surprised to find herself sitting on her rear, sweating profusely. Just a memory. A terrible and humiliating memory.

She looked at the fresh blood rolling down the edge of her white bone knife. Her eyes turned to the beast laying before her. Kiali clenched her teeth, face twisting in rage. She held her knife before the wolf's eye for it to see. "This is your blood. Had I not moved, it would be your fangs that were red rather than my knife. You will have no mercy from me. Just as you would have shown me none the moment your tongue tasted my flesh." She plunged a knife into the beast's neck. Then she twisted it. It was unnecessarily cruel. But memories from years past overshadowed any semblance of compassion. She hated that memory. Tried her best to forget it. But time and again, it plagued her nights, stealing her sleep like a malicious thief.

She rent the knife. The wolf made a sound similar to that of choking. Kiali let it lay there as it helplessly bled out.

More howls surrounded her. Some far off. Others close by. Many pairs of eyes peered through the shadows of the pines. Their silhouettes became visible as they slowly stepped towards Kiali. She screamed, causing the animals to pause, for even predators felt fear. She charged toward her foes before they could close in on her. Two starved wolves jumped at her from both sides. She ducked down, letting them clash with each other. Kiali spun and flashed her hands forward, the edges of her knives finding tendons within the thin limbs of her prey. The now disabled wolves whimpered, crawling slower than a turtle.

A large alpha wolf stepped into the fray. This one was not starved, but its constant drooling was indication enough of its hunger. Kiali crouched low, preparing for the inevitable rush. It never came. The alpha male bent over the carcass of the first wolf she'd killed and sank its jaws into the skinny creature.

Kiali watched the heinous deed unfold before her eyes. Watched as the savage beast devoured brethren. Alpha males were known to eat their children even, if need drove them. This particular male had remained uncontested, given its lean figure. Kiali made her way towards the wolf. It looked up at her and snarled, blood dripping from its snout. It barked when she stepped closer. It was protecting its easily earned meal rather than fighting for one that would require more effort. Kiali thrust with her hand, cutting the wolf's nose. "Your opponent is me!" she cried.

The wolf attacked her then. It tackled her to the ground, mouth wide open, red spittle dripping down its jaw. Its sharp claws dug into her shoulders. It spread its mouth further apart, threatening to devour the entirety of her face. She plunged a knife into its heart. The nasty snarl turned into a whimper. Kiali pushed the beast off of her and removed the knife. She let out a heavy exhale, half coughing while doing so. The wolf's breath was putrid enough to make her nauseous. She checked over her wounds. They weren't particularly deep.

She moved on, slaughtering the starved beasts that attacked her. The nature of this Trial still wasn't clear. But she planned to kill every wolf within the forest.

***

Sar'tara bent down to inspect the tracks pressed into the soft soil. She idly picked up a pine needle and rolled it in her fingers. The tracks were fairly fresh. The wolf pack that had passed through hadn't gotten very far. Ny'Danis' command was somewhat confusing. But a certainty still remained. Completing a Trial was not possible when dead. Thus, it was likely that she would need to kill wolves. Starved wolves that would attack anything at sight.

Sar'tara observed her surroundings. A pale full moon hung alone in the sky, clouds as thick as smoke surrounding it. This plane was not Illusterra. Else there would have been three moons. The temperature wasn't ideal. Colder than what Sar'tara preferred much like the second Trial. There was not a single normal tree in sight. A forest of only pines. She wasn't fond of them, much like most of her sisters. They made no sound when a breeze passed by. There was no soft rustling of leaves brushing against each other. Nothing to remind her that she was in a forest. Just an eerie silence, like those during the cold days of evernight. It made her feel lonely.

That wasn't all there was to hate about pine trees. Their sharp needles made them difficult to climb and take refuge in from a powerful predator.

Or a pack of predators.

Wolves howled. Sar'tara's heartrate increased. She didn't want to admit to being afraid. She'd never feared wolves. But here, in unknown territory, fear came to her as naturally as walking on her legs. She wondered if the wolves had picked up her scent.

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With little choice left to her, Sar'tara began climbing a nearby tree. She flinched every time a sharp point pricked her skin, causing her to nearly fall off multiple times. Constant howling that sounded ever closer each time forced her to try and go higher than she was comfortable with. A few needles drew blood. She endured the pain.

The scent of her blood gave away her exact location. A dozen wolves surrounded the tree. They barked and snarled, scratching at the trunk and glaring up at her. It was going to be a long night. Sar'tara wasn't confident in her ability to handle so many beasts at one time. She balanced herself on a branch and slowly nocked an arrow on her bow. Pine branches weren't the thickest of things. They bent with every slight movement. But there was no sign of it giving out completely. Sar'tara swallowed hard. She had thirty arrows. The forest was overrun with predators. Thirty would not be enough. Aiming through the branches was proving a difficult task. She drew back the bowstring, lining up her arrow tip with that of a wolf head. She couldn't afford to have a single wasted arrow either.

The wolves suddenly stopped barking. They moved around in hesitation, some whimpering and backing off altogether. Sar'tara paused. The only time predators backed off was when an even greater threat was near. That greater threat came in the form of alpha males. The wolves surrounding the tree were terribly thin and desperate for food. The slowly approaching alphas showed no signs of famine from what Sar'tara could make of them in the dark of night. Males were known to resort to cannibalism if the need was great enough.

What ensued was a short lived scramble for survival and supremacy. Some of the starved creatures fled. Others backed up against the tree and tried fighting against their cannibal brethren, but to no avail. Soon, all that was left was three alphas sitting around the pine tree, feasting on what was essentially skin and bone.

Sar'tara breathed a sigh of relief. This would give her a moment's respite and an opportunity to seek the true meaning of the Trial. She did not believe slaughtering starving animals only was what Ny'Danis had in mind for the Trial. The beasts below were solely focused on their meal. Sar'tara made quick work of the stationary targets and slowly made her way down the tree. An all too familiar smell entered her nose. She rubbed her temples, forcing the image of a corpse ridden Selharr village out of her head.

Sar'tara cringed as she knelt down and smeared wolf blood over herself. It would help mask her scent. The only beasts daring enough to attack her would be alphas and there usually weren't many of them. Nor were they known to hunt together.

Sar'tara strapped her bow to her back again and instead drew her knives. She looked around at the carcasses that lay before her. The creatures were starved to the point of having the outlines of their bones showing through their skin. "At least they're not Silver Tails," she muttered.

Ny'Danis had told stories of Silver Tail wolves that roamed open plains and small woodlands. They were said to be as big as a person, each paw about a foot in length and width.

She continued along through the pine trees, keeping her eyes peeled for any strange sights. Though, even with her hawk like vision, there was only so far she could see in the dark. Constant howls sounded in the distance. They didn't appear to get closer which was a relief. Far off in a clearing, Sar'tara spotted a large stone with a caved in section. Silver light reflected off of the stone, giving the surroundings a dim illumination. She thought to take refuge there by lighting a fire. Wolves feared fire and it would help her last the night.

Only that wasn't to be.

Sar'tara's place of refuge turned out to be the opposite. A wolf den. One where a lone mother was breast feeding four pups. She was terribly thin and the pups consistently whined in hunger. She had nothing to feed them. Nothing until Sar'tara made herself visible to them.

***

Kiali stared at the thin mother wolf. Her gaze flickered to the children and their beady eyes and tiny limbs. They flickered back to the mother, who snarled at Kiali's bloodstained figure. Her grip around her knife handles tightened. Their edges were waning with all the flesh and sinew they had bit into during the night. The mother wolf barked at her with its ever cautious approach. It was testing to see if Kiali would back away in fear. Not only was she a potential threat to the pups, but she was also potential food, for the thin mother had little milk to offer her children.

Kiali bent her legs and let her bloodlust ooze out. She directed her hatred towards the mother wolf. All wolves needed to die. Their conditions didn't matter. It was inconsequential to Kiali. She had no reason to care or offer compassion to predatory animals. Not when they were trying to kill her. The mother wolf, seeing Kiali readying herself to fight, hesitated. She needed to feed her children, but she also needed to be with her children. She knew that getting into a fight and potentially dying would leave the pups to fend for themselves. It would result in their inevitable death. She sat down and bowed her head in submission.

Kiali looked the mother wolf in her eyes. She saw her own reflection within them. Her own fear. She recognized the wolf's fear. Absorbed it, and took pride knowing that she had caused it. For Kiali, who had been afraid of wolves all her life, this was a moment of triumph.

She lunged forth and slew the animal then and there. She stood over it, puffing out her chest and looking down as if she were a despot queen staring down a scraping servant. The pups nervously approached their limp mother and whimpered as they nudged the carcass with their snouts.

Kiali looked down at them. Imagined what they would become if left alive. Imagined herself sixteen years ago, back against the tree, body shivering in fear as a hungry Silver Tail crept toward her. One of the pups looked up at her, a withered and defeated look set on its face and beady black eyes begging for help. Kiali scowled at it. A drop of blood rolled down the edge of one of her knives. The sound of it touching the ground echoed in her ears. All wolves must die!

***

Sar'tara shuffled back slightly, exposing her hesitation to the mother wolf. The starved beast snarled more viciously. It was kill or be killed. But the pups… She'd only glanced at them once. She refused to look at them again. But their eyes and their fluffy tails… The look of fear and curiosity alike set in their wholesome faces… Sar'tara couldn't get that image out of her head. A mother and her children… She wanted to leave them alone. But it didn't seem like the mother would give her the opportunity. With every small shuffle backwards, the wolf took a full step forward.

The mother entered into lunging distance. Its jaws would soon be aimed at Sar'tara's throat. But the predator wasn't confident. Little leaping strength remained in those stalky limbs. It gave Sar'tara the opportunity to prepare. To bend her knees low and hold her knives before her face. The mother finally jumped in. But it was already too close to the huntress. The moment it opened its jaws, Sar'tara's hand flashed forth and impaled the wolf through the upper part of its mouth, the tip of the bone knife protruding through the beast's skull. It was firmly stuck there.

Sar'tara had a hard time pulling her knife out. When she finally had, she approached the den where the pups sat. They backed up against the stone formation, quaking in fear. Sar'tara stared at them long and hard. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced back the tears that threatened to burst out. There were still occasional howls off in the distance.

The pups needed to die.

Their mother was gone. There was no one left to fend for them. Nothing left to bring them food. No food for them to even eat. Left alone, they'd either suffer a torturous death to starvation, or they would find themselves in the jaws of an alpha. Even if they did manage to grow up somehow, their future remained bleak. They would likely remain skin and bone just like their mother and be forced to live a grueling life that animals need not suffer. The balance of the forest was broken. Predators numbered greater than prey. Balance needed to be restored.

Sar'tara knelt down. One by one, she slit the pup's throats, giving them as painless a death as she could. Her heart felt heavy. "Forgive me," she whispered in the ear of the last one. It squirmed around in her hand, its barely developed claws scratching her thighs as she clutched its soft furry body and then dragged her knife across the neck as quickly as she could manage.

The white gate back to the grove opened up after that. Sar'tara stared at the pine needle filled ground for a while, watching her tears fall. She then stood and entered into the gate just in time to see a gate closing behind Kiali. Her sister had just returned as well.

Sar'tara checked her knives. There was no blood on them. None on herself either. No trace of the alternate plane remained. None but that of her heavy heart and a guilty conscience threatening to tear it apart.

"Well done to the both of you on completing the Trial," Ny'Danis said. "The final test is to be conducted without allowing a moment's respite." The deity outstretched her arms and two white gates opened once more.

"But Mother, will you not tell us the purpose behind that Trial?" Sar'tara cried.

"I will explain everything once you have passed the final Trial. I am happy. You've both made it this far. The next Trial is not so physically demanding. Please enter the gates at once."

But… The Trial had been deemed complete when the pups had been killed. Sar'tara looked down as another gate formed before her. The Trial required cruelty on her part to prevent the further suffering of the wolf pups. But knowing that didn't change the ache in her chest. She turned to face the gate into the final Trial.

***

The two huntresses entered at their Mother's command. Ny'Danis let out a sigh of sorrow. She touched her eyes, wiping away their corners. Her created daughters stared at her. Their hushed voices echoing through the grove.

"Mother is sad."

"Yes. Very sad."

"Why is she sad?"

"Is it another prediction?"

"Should we ask her?"

"No. When Mother is sad, she likes to be left alone."

That wasn't true. Ny'Danis did not prefer solitude. But there was no one to understand her worries. No one she could open her heart to. Any that once existed were now gone and forgotten from Illusterra. She was the last ancient being left in the world. The last living memory from the world's beginning. From its re-beginning after the War of Ashes.

Ny'Danis wept. It wasn't because she was lonely. She had shed plenty of tears for such a cause. She wept because of a prediction. Sar'tara had passed the Trial of Wisdom. At its very end, she'd realized the nature of the Trial, though unknowingly. It was to restore balance to the forest. To recognize that sometimes, cruelty is a necessity. To see beyond just what lay before her.

Kiali, on the other hand, had not passed the Trial. She had killed the wolf pups, thus fulfilling the conditions of completing the Trial. But she killed them out of hatred. Not out of wisdom. It would create a lasting impact on her heart. One that she would come to realize in the next Trial. Which would ultimately result in her failure. Then consequently, her death.

Should I stop her?

Once again, the Forest Deity found herself repeating that timeless conversation in her own head.