I open the door to my family’s cabin and see my mother sitting on the kitchen counter bandaging her leg. The fact she is here means she was successful in her struggle against her nemesis, the monster boar Dargot, who roams the western wood. The same boar that my father had to rescue me from but escaped my father’s wrath as he had to tend to me. Now my mother attempts to face it whenever it comes too close to the northern wood, as she prefers the boar remain the western wood. I don’t know entirely why she hasn’t killed it, but I think maybe she admires the beast in some strange way.

“Dargot got you, didn’t he?” I ask as I go to inspect the wound.

My mother winces as I undo her sloppy work on her leg, “I thought I had him cornered, but looks like I was the one cornered instead. Your father is out there right now tracking down the beast. Ouch! be a tad more careful.”

“That’s good, maybe father will kill that dastard once and for all,” I say shuddering, “I still have nightmares about that monster.”

My mother pats my head as I treat a large gash on her leg, “I know Skath that you still fear that boar, but that beast is just too strong... It has been around for ages, and maybe the only way it’ll leave this world will be with the passage of time.”

I go and get some ointments from my stash of medicines and continue my work on her leg until I feel satisfied. Her leg is now neatly bandaged and treated in a way that she won’t be in pain at least until my father returns to fully heal her with his magics.

My mother tries to put weight on her leg and stumbles. I offer my shoulder to her to balance on as she hobbles to my father’s chair. I hear her grunt as she sits gingerly on the soft pelts, and I go and grab a chair from the kitchen table so that she can prop up her leg.

“Skath, I know healing is women’s work, but you do it so well. You sure you have dangly bits between your legs,” my mother says laughing in-between winces as I prop her leg up.

“Mom, we’ve discussed this before. Healing is a passion of mine, and I don’t think that it should be just women’s work. You of all people should know how much work I put into it. Anyway, are you going to be all right until father gets home?” I ask walking over to the pantry to grab her some bread and cheese, which she accepts as quickly as I can get the plate to her.

“This thing! Bah, the damned creature merely grazed me. I’ll be fine, and where do you think you are running off to? You get home after going missing and are already off again. Sit boy and take a load off,” chuckles my mother slapping her leg to have her almost reflexively curse in pain.

“I’m working on something for Argentum,” I say knowing that to a certain extent it is the truth, “and I won’t be able to be around as much as either of us would like.”

“Oh… I guess your father finally buckled, didn’t he,” says my mother her once boisterousness now replaced with a more somber melancholy, “I’ve been telling him for years that the trials were too much for you, but he always had faith in you. It’s nice to know that Argentum is taking you somewhere where you will be able to live a long life free of my people’s traditions.”

“He did offer to take me,” I admit sitting next to her, “but instead I made a deal where I would be able to forge my own way out of Unadeam. The price was steep, but I will be able to save Uzuri before I am called to fulfill my debt.”

“Skath, I think it is time for you to stop it. Please, just stop it. Just get out of Unadeam and live. Leave that girl where she is, so peace can remain,” says my mother biting her lip, “In fact, I forbid you from trying to free that girl again. At first, I let you do what you wished, because I thought it was cute that you had a friend, especially a lady friend, but now this has to stop. Wasn’t being strung up enough to get you to stop.”

“Why? Why must a girl suffer?” I ask stepping away from her, “who is Uzuri, and why is she tied to wars, teratolion, and you?”

“Maybe telling you is the only way to get you to just leave her alone,” says my mother with a sigh while shaking her head, “I can’t lie to you, you are my baby boy after all. I knew that one day even with your best efforts the village would unveil its hand to you, and you’d start asking questions. I just thought that there would be more time.”

“Dad refused to tell me anything. All he’s told me is that he said he made a promise with you to not harm the village,” I say kneeling at my mother’s feet, “how does Uzuri protect the village? What happened that makes her something of scorn and significance? How would freeing her bring oblivion to the village?”

“Please, one question at a time! Ugh, your father must have thought it was for me to tell you, but still told you more than I would have liked,” says my mother placing her hand on my head, “you weren’t alive during the time where it was like Martog was going to swallow us whole.”

“The people of Unadeam and the teratolion were at war, weren’t they?” I ask putting my hand upon my mother’s leg.

My mother adjusts herself in her chair and continues, “Yes. Holes in the walls that had long been abandoned and silent suddenly sprang to life. What we thought were demons of hell spilled into the valley. My people fought for our lives and tried to force them back into their mountain halls, but with more mouths vying for sustenance in the valley, food became more and more scarce. It truly looked like the goddess had abandoned us. Only the strongest among us were permitted to create the next generation, and the weak were sent as fodder to die on the front lines.”

“Was this the origin of the trials?” I ask, somehow connecting the trials of Martog to the sending of the weak to fight as meat shields against what the village perceived as a demonic threat.

My mother nodded and continued, “I was born in a time when the greatness of my people had disappeared, and we were pushed back to where the village stands today. The matriarchs thought by making our final bastion an offering to the goddess, somehow, we would be protected. Then it happened! The black wall one day came alive as a fist made of its surface slammed into the ground. A few battles waged after that miracle, but suddenly the demons of the wall stopped attacking. The high matriarch my mother saw only one explanation, the once unbalanced population of men and woman had come into balance once more. Men being Martog born when out of balance with the goddess born, must be a signal of sin from the goddess, and from that moment onward the trials of Martog and the Amolacrimae were put in place.”

“What really happened the day the wall slammed its fist?” I ask guessing at what could have changed, and knowing that the only way something like that could have happened was, “that day was the day father arrived in the valley wasn’t it?”

My mother chuckles heartily and says, “I’m glad you grew up smart and not just another meat head. Yes, your father arrived that day, and seeing our plight took pity on us. He was kin with the teratolion, who we at that time thought were Martog’s demons.”

“It seems like the teratolion were trying to claim the valley for themselves, why stop at the behest of dad?” I ask walking over to the pantry and getting myself a snack.

“Eat as much as you can boy, soon the sweet flavor of food won’t pass your lips,” says my grandfather to which I was about to respond only to hear him interrupt, “I’m in your head, so don’t respond to me aloud.”

“You can just talk to me whenever? Do you just live in my head now?” I think, my hands frozen in place.

“Yes, and no. Just grab your food, as I want to learn more of my children of the earth and my beloved son,” says the voice of my grandfather.

“Skath, are you, all right? You’ve been standing there with your hands hovering over the honey jar for quite some time,” says my mother staring at me in bewilderment.

“Sorry, I got lost in thought for a second,” I say retrieving my materials for a sandwich, “what was it that you were saying?”

“Your father has a way with the beasts,” says my mother shrugging her shoulders, “they apparently honor him and owe him their allegiance. I don’t entirely know why, but he was able to convince them to leave my people alone and claim the western wood as their share of the valley.”

“But that isn’t the end of the story, is it? Gareth told me the teratolion do not leave their holes now, which means that somehow, they were repelled from the western wood,” I say eating my sandwich and sitting at the table.

My mother nods and raises an eyebrow clearly surprised at how much I know, “you are more your father than Unadeamy, which is probably a good thing, but yes the story is not yet finished. Whenever the village has a change of doctrine, it is as if it has always existed, so though the trials were new, they were seen as an ancient part of our history. That didn’t sit all that well with me, as surely the goddess would be consistent in her revelation. Men and women once equal in divine birth right were now disparately separate. Everyday what I was brought up to believe was altered and changed by my mother until the religion that I knew was gone.”

“So, men at one point were believed to have souls the same as women?” I ask, thinking that Gareth might want to know the answer to this question.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Again, my mother again just nodded and continued her story, “I was in line to become high matriarch, and was my mother’s attendant, yet I didn’t believe anything of what my mother preached. The village seemed a bit too willingly change their memories for what she told them, but I couldn’t. My only solace was wandering the woods where I met your father.”

“And the love story commences! I think I’ve heard it enough times to know the details,” I say smiling, “you found dad and he was stand offish until you wore him down. Eventually you developed a friendship that would blossom into love. The part I didn’t know until recently, is you nominated him during your Amolacrimae forcing the hand of the high matriarch who I’m assuming wasn’t prepared for his presence. He competed for your hand during the trials, and you two ran off into the woods and I was born a short while later.”

My mother shakes her head and gives a little sigh before responding, “You are close, as we didn’t live here originally. Your father revealed that it was he that was defending us from the teratolion, and I thinking that would convince the village to accept him, also nominated him as my husband. I was so naïve, your father thought my plan was flawed, but out of love for me he followed it. The village was wary of outsiders because of the teratolion and when he revealed himself to be a great conjuror during the trials, my mother attempted to preach to her people that he was the reason the demons attacked, as it was the hand of the goddess that delivered them. Your father not one to be outdone by gods took the village into the western wood and the people were stunned to see the teratolion bow to him, and with a wave of his hand created what would become the holy of holies for my people, the site of atonement. He revealed himself as the hand of the goddess, no one could deny him now, except my stubborn mother.”

“So, even with father creating the site of atonement, the high matriarch still banished you two?” I ask, walking back to sit by my mother.

“Not quite, our banishment came later, as your father was too cunning for the village. He made the holy of holies in teratolion lands specifically because my mother would have to beg his permission to travel safely to worship at the feet of her goddess,” explains my mother, “no we were accepted by the village, but not permitted to live within its walls. That hut that I use sometimes to dry meat and as a rest stop before returning home from hunts, was once our family home.”

“I didn’t realize that that hut at one point was going to be our home” I say now regretting not at least stopping by to get a better look at it in the past.

“It was a fixer-upper and all we really needed given that it was just me and your father. Then again, I got knocked up so fast that we both knew we should have dreamed a little bigger with our first home,” she says resting her hand on my head, “it felt like I had the best of both worlds. I was free of the religion of my mother and able to visit friends and family, while living with the man I loved who made the world so magical to live in.”

“Could we speed the story along to where Uzuri, comes in, as sure this fleshes out your love story a bit more, but I know Gehenna is a key player in all of this as he is Uzuri’s father,” I say growing impatient with my mother’s nostalgic ramblings.

“Never live by a lover spurned Skath. Well, he was more a stalker really. Gehenna thought that like all the rest of the village I would suck his nob just because he magnificently graced us all with his perfect form,” my mother says, her hand on my head clenches as she talks about Gehenna, “He believed our children would be superior to all the rest of the village, and that they would be strong and after a few generations, the goddess would grant our offspring the chance to purge the demons of the western wood. I hated him! I’m not just my womb! I like walking in the woods, hunting like the men, and hate sewing and healing work! Why did I have to be condemned to be his whore when the goddess that gave him some power over me mercurially swayed to whatever my mother wanted! I did everything in my power to resist my mother and the Amolacrimae for several years, but Gehenna was primed to usurp my will and had my mother’s blessing.”

“My hatred for that man grows with each thing I learn about him,” I say moving my mother’s hand from my head as her nails were beginning to dig into my scalp.

“It gets worse Skath, so much worse,” my mother says running her hand down her face, “Gareth attempted to force my hand by also going through the trials with your father. He figured that a scrawny man like him would never be able to contend against his natural greatness. He got his ass thoroughly beaten, as your father returned with a boar to rival Dargot and didn’t cheat by sating his thirst by drinking boar blood. The boar that Gehenna brought back was barely a juvenile. However, in Gehenna’s jealousy and anger, and in his knowing he couldn’t have me, he demanded my sister to be his bride, and from what I learned from her tears Gareth isn’t a child of love.”

“He forced her?” I gasp, looking into my mother’s watery eyes.

She wipes her eyes and steels herself for the rest of her tale, “Gehenna wasn’t satisfied, even with becoming village chief after successfully completing the trials of Martog. He wanted to prove that we didn’t need a lich of Martog to protect us. The peace your father brought was a peace that he couldn’t accept. After securing a potential heir, he began to observe the teratolion. For a season he stalked them and discovered a possible weakness in their culture that he could exploit. In the dead of night long ago, he kidnapped the teratolion king’s only daughter of his long dead and beloved wife. He did vile things to that poor woman all so he could obtain what he desired.”

My eyes widen as the details of Uzuri’s conception like foul sludge ooze into my ears and mind. I feel physically ill as I had no idea that the teratolion hole was this deep.

“He held Uzuri’s mother in a secret prison,” my mother continues her body trembling as I think she is as troubled as I am just reiterating the story, “Your father searched desperately for the king’s daughter, as the king had thought she was stolen by a rival teratolion kingdom, due to some false evidence Gehenna had planted. Your father was gone for months knowing that his service kept both me and now you who was forming in my belly safe. You were born while your father was away, and Gareth was born shortly after. Uzuri, unknown to all of us was born in a dirty cell.”

My breathing grows heavier, as I remember Gehenna’s threat to me if I were to interfere further. What horrible things would he do to me, as now I know he is more than capable of fulfilling his promise in a way that I could probably not even come close to imagining.

“Once Uzuri was born, Gehenna was ready,” my mother continues tears now rolling down her face, “He summoned the king of the teratolion, and boasted his leverage. The king was so furious he was ready to destroy every last one of us. Gehenna slit the throat of the king’s only daughter right in front of his eyes. The king of the teratolion fell to his knees in sorrow, swearing vengeance, but then Gehenna revealed his trump card. Uzuri, still an infant, was revealed to be the daughter of the King’s only family and Gehenna held her by her leg in front of the King’s eyes a knife digging into her soft flesh. The king, knowing his daughter’s scent knew that the baby was indeed blood of his blood, and in despair agreed to anything Gehenna would ask of him if he would just spare the child. Gareth made the king swear to vacate the valley, but he would keep Uzuri as insurance that the teratolion would be true to the king’s word.”

“So, Uzuri is kept away from the world in that room, because she is seen as demon spawn and a sin to be hidden from the village? She keeps them safe from the teratolion, as their king wouldn’t dare bring harm upon his own family,” I say all the answers finally coming together.

My mother nods and shakes her head in succession to my confusion, “When your father returned, the high matriarch finally had a way to be rid of us. She declared that the actions of Gehenna were justified by the goddess as she granted him a female child, a sign from her that Gehenna was the true savior of the village. Though, she also declared that Uzuri had to be ‘sealed’ for the village’s sake both physically and in memory.”

“It’s the high matriarch who condemned Uzuri to that fate,” I say running a hand through my hair, “and that is why the village knows of her and refuses to acknowledge her.”

My mother nods again and continues, “Your father and I on the other hand brought a baby boy into the world which is the semblance of Martog. We were labeled sinners. Your father furious with what he had learned from the king, and with my mother’s judgment wanted to have vengeance, but I convinced him to promise me not to harm my family. It was with Gehenna that he should be angry as he acted of his own accord. I also reasoned with him that if he did do anything Gehenna might harm Uzuri which in turn may bring the wrath of the teratolion upon the village. Out of love for me he complied, but he couldn’t call himself teratolion kin anymore. He told the teratolion that they could decide what to do with the village as he no longer granted them his protection, but he couldn’t help them anymore.”

“That monster,” is all I can bring myself to say, my mind and body are overcome by the emotions brought on by that horrible story.

“Gehenna’s people see him as a hero that made the horrible, but necessary decisions to free them from not just the teratolion, but your father,” my mother says biting her lip, clearly disgusted that she is trying to defend such a despicable creature, “if one person suffers and it means that everyone else prospers, what evil is done is outdone by the good done to the many, or at least that is how Gehenna and the village justify themselves.”

“Then, if I were to do good by one and evil by many does that outweigh any good, I could possibly do?” I ask getting up from the ground and pacing the cabin. The fresh movement of blood helps to cool my head.

“I don’t know Skath. I just want all of my family to be safe and given that they turned away from your father’s gift, this is the only way for them to be protected. You didn’t live through what I did. Every day not knowing if someone you knew or loved was going to come back covered by a blood drenched cloth on a stretcher, and seeing boys younger than you sent out to ward off the tide of claws one more day. These memories plague me,” my mother says burying her face in her hands, “I’d never wish that on the entire village again. On Gehenna yes, but do the villagers deserve to be punished for sins that that man thrust upon them? For sins they have no choice but to accept, as those sins preserve their lives?”

“Gareth seems to think that they will deserve what they get,” I say more in a muttered whisper as if saying it to myself than my mother.

“Skath, rarely is there a true ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ when making decisions in life, but there are always consequences,” says my mother getting up and then hobbling behind me to embrace me, “At the end of the day I guess the question you must ask yourself is if you can live with yourself, especially considering what is to come given your prior decisions. You may be labeled a villain or a hero by others, but they will be looking at you from the outside. Only you know what is inside and you will be taking what you let in everywhere you go.”

“I just want to save her, and I thought that was good enough,” I say my head hanging low, “I thought that they would praise me for saving her, that I’d be accepted and avoid a certain death. Now, I just… I just don’t know… I still want to rescue Uzuri as I feel that is right, but I feel torn knowing that doing one good deed may inadvertently bring suffering upon not only those that could be deserving, but also upon those that have no idea that they live in Uzuri’s embrace.”

“I never wished this on you,” says my mother clenching me harder to herself, “I thought that you’d never get even close to rescuing her. I thought that you’d be with your totalion family members, safe and far away from worries that have plagued you for far too long. Though, a mother’s wishes don’t seem to be ever granted. Whatever you decide, know I love you, but please be sure that you’ll be able to live with whatever comes, as it will be you who will have to bear that, no one else but you.”