Miko:
I awoke on my back in a field of clovers, thick grass, and large, soft leaves. Behind me, to my left and right, a curved wall made of branches and trees blocked the view of the rest of the area. In front of me lay a massive nest of unimaginably large trees with branches that stretched far and abundantly, with limbs that didn’t even weigh down back to the ground. Every colour of leaf and fruit could be seen from where I was lying, and there was much more to be seen, presuming the wall was a circle. What I was seeing was probably only a sliver of this paradise. However, I couldn’t move any of my limbs. Only my eyes were allowed to wander the beautiful fields that lie before me. “Maleki, are you seeing this? We finally made it. This must be The Garden!” I said aloud. There was no response to my call. Only the trees acknowledged my presence as the breeze blew against their mighty limbs. The trees mocked me. “Maleki?” I said, louder this time. Again, there was no response. I yelled my brother’s name louder, hoping he had wandered off to inspect the area, but a minute passed, with myself being the only one to observe it. A few footsteps could be heard, so I called out, “Maleki? Nomen?” I questioned aloud.
“Yes?” Nomen replied in that same familiar monotone voice of his.
“Where…where is Maleki?” I pleaded.
“It would be easier to show you.” He walked over to me and pushed on my back so I could see behind me.
As my body turned, my heart felt like a fist had grabbed it and squeezed. This isn’t right. That’s not how this is supposed to be. Maleki...My brother’s body lay almost lifeless before me. His chest barely showed any sign of breathing, but my eyes could pick it up after watching desperately. There were no catastrophic injuries I could see. He had cuts and bruises all about his body, some fresh that I had not seen before and others I had witnessed him gain, but there was something else very wrong with him. “Maleki? Wake up.” I called out to him. My arms wouldn’t work, but I pushed hard internally at more core, begging it to try and move just a little so that maybe I could nudge him awake. My efforts were to no avail, as my whole body was a coffin for my eyes and soul at this point.
Nomen found a spot between us, his knee pointing to the sky while his other leg rested nonchalantly on the ground — a pose not befitting of him. “He is alive,” He said assuredly. “Albeit rather immobile. You can relate, yes? I predict this condition will not change.”
“What happened? He was perfectly fine the last time I was awake.” Something was clouding my mind; I couldn’t remember much from our last trial, the memories dwelling right below the surface.
“That was three long months ago, Miko.” The way he spoke was unlike him. Melancholy had stolen that unreachable side of him we had seen along this journey. “A lot has happened while you were asleep — the journey, as I promised before we left — is difficult even when the self is a priority. Not only did your brother enter The Garden with his own body, but he brought you here as well. His strength and mind were continuously challenged constantly throughout the journey here, and yet here he lies impossibly in front of us. Truly miraculous that despite all odds, his single goal kept him moving forward.” He paused as his eyes glanced across mine with commiseration. “Be grateful he granted you this gift with his last step.”
“Grateful? What’s wrong with my brother?” I yelled, panicking in my immobile state. “Wake up, Maleki!” I yelled desperately.
“Your brother cannot wake,” Nomen said monotone, restricted from emotion. “Maleki’s body has been broken beyond repair — months of challenging hikes, dreadful swimming, and difficult climbing. An arduous journey before the trials themselves come into play, and to top it off, your limp body had to be carried all this way. Through sheer force of will, Maleki was able to surpass his physical and mental limitations to arrive at your destination. He has reaped the consequences of quickening the journey. He was afraid of what could come if he did not bring you here as fast as possible, and his decision was made at that calculation of risk.”
“I thought The Garden was supposed to heal us, Nomen? Is he going to get better?” I demanded in a bewildered state.
“Possibly, although unlikely. It will be a very long time if he ever wakes up, and he will be in the same position you are in right now. Stationary and in pain for many long years.” His voice trailed as his empathy waned, “…And who knows what his mental state would be? He sacrificed much to focus on his only goal.”
This can’t be possible. We were supposed to get here and figure everything out together. I’m supposed to be the weak one. I have to fix this somehow…Who am I kidding? I can’t even move; I’m barely in better shape than he is. Months of sleep have left my body in pain, and my limbs feel foreign. “What’s even the point of this damned place? I thought this was supposed to be a haven for the sick.”
“This is The Garden of Need.” He gestured wide with his hands, apathetic to his surroundings. Nomen’s voice sounded like a city guard repeating the same old lines they have been tasked with, “You will not tire here, nor hunger so long as you obey the rules of The Garden of Need. In exchange for good health and stamina, all that is asked in return is that no creatures are harmed within this oasis and that, above all things, you must never eat the fruit that grows on The Tree of Majik.”
“So it doesn’t heal us? What? We just won’t get worse?” I demanded with a shout.
“Correct. A stasis is shelled around you, preventing your illness from worsening, but it does not cure you. The disease or illness is stopped at its current state, yet if you step a single foot outside the walls of this oasis, your body will take off where it left.”
We traveled all the way here so that I could stay here forever, I thought to myself. “That fruit that grows on the tree we are forbidden from eating; why can’t we eat it?”
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“It corrupts the majikal blood inside you.” He replied with confidence, eyes blazing.
“I don’t have any majikal blood. Someone’s eaten it before, right? What happened to them?” I asked impatiently.
Nomen picked me up by the armpits with minimal effort and carried me over to a tree where I could view Maleki and the doors to The Garden. He sat a few steps away from me and began to speak, “Let me tell you a story, and I hope it will impart some valuable knowledge of The Garden and its inhabitants.”
The Garden in its’ current form changed in front of me, my brother’s body fading as the new environment overlapped him. This was surely taking place in my mind, as it was similar to the feeling of the riddle when we first started this journey. In an instant, we moved to another position towards the middle of the circular wall, and before us stood the bottom roots of a tree that reached far into the sky, thousands of times taller than the tallest tree I’d ever seen.
Nomen explained in his normal, unbothered tone, “This is a Leviathan Tree — the oldest tree in all of Paradisus Necessitatis. From Chaos, the first beings were created here. They were crafted perfectly in balance to enjoy the creator’s many gifts, this world being one of them. They could eat from all but one of the trees: Arbor Majikae — The Tree of Majik.” The tree magnificently stood before us in this old vision. Its branches were healthier and covered a wider area. The biggest difference was the tree’s veins, which held eight distinct colors flowing up the tree’s dark brown bark, far beyond my sight. He continued, “There were nine primordial entities that lived under the shade of the leviathan. They had no concept of hunger, as their bodies did not require food, nor a concept of taste, as they had never eaten. Their bodies did not tire; their stamina was limitless, so they had no concept of sleep. Despite the clear waters that existed, they did not thirst as they had never thought to drink of them. So long as they innocently occupied The Garden, all would be provided. They would need for nothing.” He ended his story, plumping down onto a part of the giant root around us.
“Great story, but what’s the point?” I asked brazenly.” You wouldn’t waste breath on words without a purpose.”
Nomen sighed, “Impatience leads to negligence, Miko. It would be smart for you to remember this in the future. There is information in the way someone tells a story, as well as in the way they choose to tell it, which details they choose to share, and how they decide to paint them. You can always ask questions afterward to decipher the truth.”
He scolded me with his eyes for my insincere attitude. “You have a point….please continue.” I would have raised my arms in acknowledgment of my mistake if it were possible.
“There was freedom to do as they pleased, but they were offered the same ruleset as you were. Enjoy the gifts of The Garden, but do not eat from the fruit of Arbor Majikae. They were enchanted with that single rule, and their freedom enabled their curiosity. However, the task of eating the fruit seemed difficult, and when even the thought of eating the fruit would be brought up, some of the group would dissent. As time passed, the gifts of The Garden were no longer treated as divinely and were normalized as just a part of their existence. After more time passed, the primordials grew curious about what existed outside of the walls, and one of them questioned why there would be walls if they were free, and the first seed of doubt was sown. To hide their activities from their creator — they went to the darkest side of The Garden, where the tree’s limbs cast a warm shadow and made a hole in the wall.” We shifted back to our original location, but the time was still clearly not our own. “This is where your brother carried you in. Where — in the thought that what they were doing was mischievous or sinful, they created the butterfly effect that would lead to the true sin: the harvesting of Arbor Majikae.”
My mind was racing with questions, but I delicately prioritized the important ones for Nomen’s sake. “So, why did they eat the fruit, and what happened to them after?”
“When they left The Garden of Need, for the first time, they experienced hunger and thirst and saw their own blood. In the beginning, they were pleased with the feelings since they were new and exotic. However, for the first time in their lives, they felt fear. Fear of what is to come, or fear of the consequences of the hole in this wall they made.” Silhouettes of the primordials twisted and turned around me as the space around us followed their perspective. “Perhaps, in preparation for that fear and to protect the things they had begun to covet, they decided to return to The Garden. They believed that if they ate the forbidden fruit, it would permanently give them the gifts that were provided previously. So, they strode back through the hole in the wall they had created and began the ascent up the Leviathan Tree. Climbing up, each for different motives, they collectively broke the only rule provided to them, and they ate the Malum Elementorum. They were granted strength, durability, and healing beyond what they could have ever imagined, permanently.” The tree’s colored veins that twisted in and out of the bark started to dissipate slowly, and the vision twisted to our time, but over to the perspective of the tree, where only purple and green colored veins wrapped around the tree. “Our dear Arbor Majikae suffered from their pillaging, and the sanctity of The Garden was disparaged. Not only were they granted the previous gifts, but they also stole the majik that fuels our world. Great calamities formed all over and continue to affect our entire planet due to their theft; hurricanes the size of continents, tornadoes that stretch far into the sky, and Volcanoes that shoot ash far and wide. The primordials were banished from The Garden and cursed by Chaos themself for corrupting their creation.”
I scoffed, “All that just to say it will heal Maleki and me?”
“You are correct in that Malum Elementorum grants healing properties, but I cannot even predict the outcome of removing the last two fruits of the tree. This tree is necessary to the planet’s life cycle — losing it would cause untold catastrophes.”
“I truly don’t care about what happens to the rest of the world. As long as Maleki is still alive, that’s all that matters.”
His eyes were locked with mine this time as the vision of the past and present faded back to our original location. “The primordials were terribly cursed, Miko. Be careful you do not cast yourself and Maleki into a future that you together cannot share or one that he might not desire.”
I sighed, sliding my eyes away from his, “I’m hearing ya, but it won’t matter. If that fruit will heal Maleki, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“That is unfortunate to hear, but I serve The Garden of Need and cannot move against it. I hope you make the best choice for you and your brother. I have shared all the information I can with you so that you can make the best decision.” Nomen stepped away from me indecisively, disheartened by my choice.
My body ached, and I couldn’t adjust out of the upright position he had left me in. I tried to move, but not even a finger or toe would shift. “Nomen?” I asked aloud. “One last thing. That’s not your name, right? We only called you that cause it sounded funny. What is it really?”
His demeanor lightened, “Correct, that is the name you gave me, but that is not my true name.”
Pain soared through my body, but I spoke through it, “Before you go, then. So I don’t forget when this is all said and done, and I’m cursed to oblivion. What name should I remember?”
He turned his back to me, his harp still sitting gently in his backstrap. “My true name, the first given to me, is Khronos,” I swore I didn’t blink, but he had vanished before me — leaving only wisps of green energy behind to fizzle away.