“What are you doing,” I ask as he strokes and rubs on
another tree.
“Markings. There’s markings that’ll lead us through the
woods so we can avoid climbing the mountain.”
“Just say you don’t know where we’re going.”
“I know where we’re going. I know several ways to get there.
I was preparing for this trip before I met you. I’ve already made plans. If you
had planned things, your friend might be here still.”
“I thought you said you wanted me to clear my mind, and here
you are rubbing sand in my open wound.”
“It’s your fault the metaphorical wound still hurts. You
could have accepted it, bandaged it, and moved on. You could have just ignored
it and pressed forward fueled by determination. Instead, you’re sitting on the
battlefield staring at the wound asking how could this happen. You know why it
happened, you know how it happened, and you’re still sitting there in disbelief,”
he nods at the tree and starts walking.
“This isn’t a battlefield. In case you didn’t notice,
there’s nobody trying to kill us out here. We’re just wandering through the
woods while you measure trees.”
“Physical pain, emotional pain, it’s all the same.”
“It’s not the same at all.”
Mask ignores me like he didn’t hear what I just said and
starts to climb over a small hill made up of rocks. He reaches the top and
looks down at me, waiting for me to climb. I start the climb; my fingers keep
getting caught between the rocks. A rock beneath my foot slips and I feel the
same sense of panic I did jumping off the train. The impact never comes, but
I’m afraid to open my eyes.
“I can’t keep holding you, climb up,” Mask yells through
gritted teeth, while gripping my arm.
I finally make it to the top and climb to my knees. “Thank
you.”
“Emotional pain and physical pain are the same. Physical
pain is the sign that something has gone wrong. It’s why when I overload your
body with pain, it shuts down. It can’t figure out what went wrong. Emotional
pain is the same, it’s a sign that something has gone wrong. If you leave
either one untreated for too long, it’ll kill you.”
Mask starts to examine another tree, “what are you looking
for,” I ask.
“Come look,” he points out a circle with lines extending
from it. Inside the circle is an arrow pointing to the right. “The circle is
the sun, the arrow points towards the Sun Temple.”
“What’s the Sun Temple.”
“The sorcerer’s home. There used to be a whole city up
there, but most people fled after the sun’s light was blocked out.”
“You sure seem to know a lot.”
“I told you, research.”
We keep following the symbols and I keep trying to take my
mind off Levi. We’re heading upwards at a slow pace, but he’s sure this isn’t
the actual mountain, just a hill leading to the mountain. It seems like we’ve
been out here forever, slipping in mud and squeezing through tightly planted
trees. Even with my magic and the flashlights, I can’t see much of anything out
here, it’s just that dark. Darker than anything I’ve ever seen. I can’t even
tell how close we are to the mountain because the treetops are so thick I can’t
see past them.
“We’re here,” Mask says as we approach a cave.
“It’s a cave.”
“A path, to the temple, a short cut.”
“Short cut,” I follow him in.
“In the past, many aspiring sorcerers would take a
pilgrimage to the top. There’s a path that takes 5 days before you reach the
infinite stairway.”
“Infinite stairway?”
“Really it’s closer to 10,000 stairs. The town around the
temple was built by people who made the pilgrimage but became discouraged when
they reached the stairs. Rather than climb and chase the dream of being true
sorcerers they settled there.”
“Did you study a book or something? How do you-,” I lose my
train of thought spotting a large creature I’ve never seen.
The creature lets out a roar that makes me want to run, but
I’m frozen. I can’t move as it stands tall on it’s hind legs. The fur across
it’s body is patchy in places. In other places body parts seem to be missing or
attached from other creatures. It roars again, but my legs still won’t move.
Even being able to see a complete 360 degrees, I don’t know where Mask has
gone. The creature roars one last time before it comes down on all four. The
hind legs, large, brown fury and sturdy, the front legs look thinner, feline
like with stripes. It rushes towards me.
“Throw a knife you idiot,” I hear mask call out.
I panic and throw knife after knife. Each one piercing the
flesh of the beast, sticking out, but never bringing it down. I mange to land
knives in each of the six eyes, but it still approaches without hesitation. I
grip the combat knives, preparing for a fight, because I can’t outrun it. A
gunshot rings out, echoing in the cave. Another roar, I launch a combat knife
through it’s mouth and down it’s throat. It stands up and roars again,
strained, a painful roar. It falls over to it’s back, flailing.
“Cut the throw and finish it off,” Mask says as he
approaches.
“What is this?”
“A chimera. Some sorcerers make them for defense. They’re
made out of different kinds of animals, held together by magic.”
“That’s sick.”
“There’s more sick stuff the closer we get to the top.”
I kneel on the creatures chest, and run my knife across it’s
throat as hard as I can. Blood squirts out and lands on my face. I almost
vomit, but hold it together. Mask and I begin to pull my knives from it once it
has taken it’s last breaths. I should have left with Levi.
