Maleki:

My head pounded when I woke, but I was alive or somewhere in between. I could barely move these days. Exhaustion filled me daily before I even stood, yet here I was standing again. Before today, I had no materials for a fire, so we both had survived on the berries despite my reluctance to eat them. However, there were only so many, and feeding anything complicated to Miko would be impossible, so any remaining berries would need to go to him. With these feathers, I can make a fire and cook whatever meat lies within. Taste wasn’t a concept anymore, but if there was anything nutritious in this Strix, I might eat it raw. My body desperately needed protein to feed my screaming muscles and hopefully lessen the pain in my wounds.

The fire only burned for long enough to cook the meat inside the scaly chest, leaving me in an unlit cold field with five or six handfuls of cooked meat. After feeding Miko his daily berry, I ate the dark red meat. I closed my eyes in acceptance of the first real victory I’d had in months; while small, it kept me motivated enough to wake the following day feeling slightly less miserable.

That brief glimpse of hope dissipated after a week of walking and eating all my food. The burning sensation that cooked up a throbbing headache never disappeared after eating the food and destroyed any hope that the trials’ effects would just be me being hungry for an authentic meal. If I stood in one place for too long to catch my breath or close my eyes from the glaring sun, it was essentially sealing my fate for the day and causing me to fall forward or stumble backward until I woke a few hours later.

After ten suns passed, another Strix appeared, looking more confident than the last. Unfortunately, that meant I had gotten even weaker since the last time, and the meal was a slight lapse from the harsh world before me. I ignored the pain that lagged my limbs and slowed me despite a long day’s haul and fought the bastardly beast until we both sat across each other with blood swimming down our stomachs. While I had walked away as the victor, the Stix had still landed a decently sized cut that grazed my stomach in a horizontal line with my belly button. Nomen was not here to wrap the wound, and I only had enough gauze to cover my torso twice, so this would only hold the skin together at best. There wouldn’t be enough to replace or wrap any wounds after this since it was our last roll.

Being too afraid to accept the condition I was in, my eyes averted my body. I forced myself to look, to know what I was capable of. A large gash in my upper right chest was scabbed at the sides but open to the air. Air sliced into the ravine-like cuts in my back — These were the worst wounds; It was best that I could not see them. My shoulders were bruised, a deep purple-black that spread down my back like mold. My forearms and calves stung from hundreds of small cuts that I had gained from the sharp vine forest of the last trial. I had gained many cuts during that trial, which healed on their own but reappeared due to this trial’s effects that squeezed previous injuries up to the surface. The worst of the tiny cuts were gained from carrying Miko through the outer edge of the dense jungle, which was made more difficult by having less range of movement with my scythe. My soles and palms blistered and ached from the scorching dirt — they were there, but I could not feel them as strongly as I once did. Dried blood crusted over most of my wounds, caking my skin like mud on a horse’s hooves. I looked away from my body, rejecting the state of it so that, once again, I could pick my brother up and continue.

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I had walked for twelve suns before the first glimmer of hope caught my eyes. A massive wall stood tall and far into the distance. There was little to make out from this far away, but in my heart, I knew this was The Garden. It had to be. This site was similar to one I had seen before — a month into the journey of this trial when I turned to look at the previous. If this was an accurate estimation, I still had another month of walking, carrying, and fighting. There was no more of that left in me. I shake and shiver in my sleep from the terrors that face me during the day and the bitter cold that steals my heat during the night. There is no escape from this place.

One more week, please, I thought to myself.

A few days later, the third Strix appeared to challenge me. It, too, had failed but left a nasty open cut on the side of my lower leg that showed a white layer of flesh underneath the skin.

One more day, please, I begged the sky.

I stopped counting the days after I passed out from dragging Miko as far as I could. Counting the suns was a consistency that reminded me of my progress and that the rest of the world was still moving despite this torturous journey, but my consciousness faded frequently. On several occasions, I had woken up and found myself carrying or dragging Miko by his armpits.

“Wake up. Just show me a sign that you are still there, Miko,” I whimpered.

Thinking took too much energy, so my body limped along in spite of my weakened mind in order to get Miko to The Garden. The nights were no longer cold. I did not willingly lay down to rest anymore; my body forced that all on its own.

How much longer can I bear this? I screamed internally as I shook Miko’s shoulders.

The fourth Strix lay still at my feet. I did not remember killing it. What was I becoming? These brief bits of sanity left me analyzing how much of me I had paid to get this far. I pushed the thoughts away to let my subconscious mind take over in a slow, limping fashion. Whatever remains of me doesn’t matter so long as Miko gets healed. That was my promise; I won’t break it.

The Garden was so close now, but my pace was significantly lower in this thrall-like state. If I wanted to make it, I had to be awake for the rest of this.

One more step, I panted with lips too dry to form words.

I can’t feel my legs. At this point, I’m not sure they are there, and I’m too afraid to look down and check. Miko’s weight over my shoulders had become my own at this point. Every fall, every tumble, and every step we made, we made together. There were no more trees ahead of me, just The Garden’s mighty walls.

Let tomorrow be my last sun awake, but I will make it there, I demanded inside myself.

I counted every step as my pain-filled body begged me to stop — to fail for a moment would be giving up on this whole journey and every miserable step I had made before. That wouldn’t happen. Seven thousand steps brought me close enough to feel The Garden’s atmosphere. Even being outside of it, you could tell. This place was different — everything Nomen claimed it to be and more.

Just a few more steps, I thought.

Miko lay limp over my right shoulder as I fell to one knee, ten steps away from the carved-out section of the wall that looked man-made. Imperfectly cut but with vines and grass that grew into the opening. A painfully slow breath left my lungs as I took the last remaining conscious breaths I could muster.

One more step.

One. more. step.

One…more…step….

My hands caught the sides of the walls as I got once a single glancing look into The Garden. Beyond me was a sanctuary filled with trees of every colour, shaded by the mightiest towering tree to which no story could do justice. If any place could heal my brother, it was this one.

My eyelids rolled back, and I felt myself fall into the vine-covered hill within The Garden’s walls. Good luck, Miko.