Miko:

The place he called a false garden was quite beautiful. Of all the places we have traveled through, it was not dreadful, hot, wet, or cold; it was nice. I removed my shoes and crossed the meadow to enjoy the soft, comforting grass. The stone tablets from earlier were close enough now for me to get a good look at. They were obsidian black with chalk-white letters and had clearly been weathered by time and storms. In a few spots where a tablet would be expected stood only a chipped stump. The others weren’t in great shape either, but the letters were mostly visible on the few that remained standing. I began to read the first tablet aloud.

Aerth: Of the ground, all rise or connect. We stone our hearts, lest the whole world shake.

I continued to the next obsidian tablet that stood a head taller than me.

Agni: Of the fire, warmth and flames secure us. Take care of thy flame, all suffer if it wanes.

Without me hearing, Maleki had appeared behind and was listening to my deciphering. “These must be in order with the trials.”

Aeros: Of the winds, the breeze that divides.

A large crack ripped through the last line.

Aqua: Of the water, the streams that guide. Their rage-“

It cut off short, a small section of the rock entirely missing near the middle.

Ankh: Of life, the blessed healing light. Be a seer for the blind.

“What was the purpose of these? Why show them to us now?” I turned around, asking. Maleki raised his shoulders without an answer.

The end tablet was cracked in half, with crumbled bits around the base. The only words that could be made out were “Anhi:————shadows————cling.”

Several tablet stumps appeared, and then a final one stood at knee height, sliced clean through that looked seared at the top with three words etched into the vibrant black stone. “The Primevil lurk.”

“What do you think that means?” Maleki asked.

“I’m not sure. The word is misspelled, so it has a different connotation here.”

“Connuh-what? He questioned.

“It’s like context, but there’s not enough information since the tablet is incomplete, so it doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Oh.” He stopped momentarily as his face struggled to wear the usual expression of determination. “We….need to continue on.”

“Just one night here! Please? It’s getting dark, and I want to explore some more.”

“I...What about your sickness? “He sighed.

“I’m getting better!” I said convincingly as he eyed me and blinked. “I’m serious. When I first woke up, I could only move one arm and a leg, and I couldn’t hear, but over the last two weeks, my hearing and an arm have come back. You don’t have to worry about me now.”

He glanced at me, taking my words in like I did when inspecting the berries for poison.

“Brother, come on — you owe me!”

“Fine,” Maleki grunted with crossed arms.

I spent the rest of the daylight inspecting the berries and collecting them into a bag to take with us. Despite the tablets and the tree, there wasn’t much besides grass and leaves. Honestly, I hadn’t expected to find anything else important — I just needed a break after the constant galavanting around the dense brush, sharp twigs, and thick limbs. Now that Maleki is here, I can relax a little. I thought whilst falling asleep in the lush mossy grass.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Pain erupted in my side, and I shot up out of my sleep. Maleki stood over me, both pupils in his eyes larger than normal. “Wake up!” He yelled as he arched his foot back to kick me.

“I’m awake,” I responded loudly to Maleki, Nomen standing nearby.

My brother’s breaths were shallow. “I tried waking you up for five minutes!” He said in exasperation.

“What are you talking about?” I demanded. “I know I usually fight you a little, but you don’t have to be so-“

“No! I tried everything, Miko. You were limp until I kicked you.”

I felt at my side. So that’s why I’m in pain. “It’s okay! I’m up now. My body was just tired, and then I ate a bunch of those healing berries.

He eyed me.

“I’ll be more careful…sorry….” I responded, which was enough to appease him for the time being.

My shoes slipped back on reluctantly. They had been tattered and worn because of that miserable walk through the jungle, but it was time to leave, and I couldn’t argue for more time after sleeping so hard. Nomen was heading with us this time, though he warned he would be following at the end of the pack, per usual. The opening ahead of us showed that there was still more crowded forest to crawl through. How much farther we had in this trial was a mystery, and Nomen was always careful not to share pertinent information. That didn’t worry me right now for some reason; I felt better than I ever had. If we stayed here longer, maybe the curse would be healed. I started regaining motor function in the left side of my body well before the berries, so there’s something else happening here; Maleki was recovering slowly, too. That almost guarantees that the life trials effects have been on us well before the berries.

“I really am getting better,” I said to my brother as I swept through the limbs, swinging both my discs now and cutting far more efficiently. “You just have to trust me. I’m not gonna let you tow me around forever.”

He kept his eyes forward on the web of trees. “I do trust you, Miko.” His thoughts trailed as he attempted to regain them. “…it...it is this place I do not trust. While it improves you, I feel weaker than ever. It is…difficult to describe because the feeling leaves me so quickly, but my mind slips like feet on wet stone.”

“The end of this forest has to be approaching soon, right?” I said to Maleki, with my head turned slightly to Nomen to try and get him to confirm, but he wasn’t paying attention. “To show you how much better I have gotten, I’ll climb this tree and see if the end is in sight.”

With a reluctant nod, he waved me off to let me find a tree, watching to see if I had improved as much as claimed. Climbing trees was too difficult with only two limbs, so we stopped trying when the illness worsened, but now I have the chance to prove to him that I was getting better. Fortunately, this wasn’t the first tree I had climbed since getting better, so I didn’t look awkward or slow. These trees were easy to climb. The only downside was having to squeeze in between branches that wove around one another uncomfortably. Once I reached the top of the tree and stood straight enough to see out, a chill rose down my spine, similar to looking down from a high-up place. Arbor Majikae. We had seen it earlier, but the angle changed everything. A massive tree peered through clouds in the distance, towering above everything around us, much like the mountain had before. We were so close. “The tree line is a day or two journey,” I yelled to Nomen and Maleki.

Maleki patted me on the back with a smile on his face, congratulating me on completing what we thought was impossible not too long ago. That smile; I had not seen it in a while. Now we can do all the things we had planned as kids. For the first time since I found him in the forest, we talked while we moved our weapons with swift cutting motions. His memory wavered a few times, but for the next five hours, our conversation was about what we would do once we reached The Garden of Need and then after. We had come too far to turn around, so we wanted to try and reach it even if I was getting better, but I wasn’t sure what was next. Now that I had most of my movement back, we could travel the continent or find our parents. We hadn’t talked about them in a while, and the idea of searching for them was always second to healing me — even with my brother’s optimism, which felt unreachable for the both of us, so we always ignored the other problems that scratched away at us. After the walk, we retired next to the stream and prepared our spots next to a fire that Maleki had quickly made. Those days of sleeping alone in the lonesome dark of the forest were over now.

Sleep whisked me away, and I roamed the world of my mind, slipping between familiar places. Then, the maze of memories ended, and red light covered my closed eyelids. A voice reached out to me, but it felt too far away. No, it was close, but I couldn’t speak back; my mouth felt dry and closed tight at the lips.

“Miko?” The voice muttered.

“Miko?” The faceless voice was my brother, shaking me by the shoulders.

“Miko!” Maleki kicked at me, attempting to wake me. I felt the blow, but I did not recoil. My body refused me.

Time passed so differently in this state, but the voice rang out once more in the dark shell of my head.

“Miko, please?” My brother sobbed. The weight of his head buried into my chest as tears fell.

I don’t understand. I’m right here… What’s wrong with me?