The Birds and the Trees… Also the Fish

Is killing a person and killing a sapient monster so different? I think it is. I mean, maybe it shouldn’t be, but it’s easier to treat things that are different from us as lesser. It also helps if the monster was trying to kill you first. So, don’t get too down over what happened, Robin.

. . . . .

Orion took a drink from his cupped hands, a smile making its way onto his face. He sighed happily and emptied them then ran his damp palms over his face, scrubbing away some of the dirt and sweat from the past day or two.

He’d finally managed the spell, though it wasn’t through the breathing meditation. That took far too long to be an effective way of learning a new spell. Luckily, Graham hadn’t taken the scripture with him, so Orion was able to make use of circulation to speed up the spellcasting process.

It’d also had the pleasant side effect of soothing the burns on his arm. The redness had almost completely receded, and the pain was negligible. “I never realized how useful Qi could be. If I had, maybe I would’ve listened to mom when she told me to become a Seeker.” He frowned, narrowing his eyes. “No. That’s not true.”

His mother was the sort that didn’t accomplish her dreams, so she pinned them all on her kid. Him, since he was an only child. Her adamant demand that he become a Seeker had only pushed him away from that course of action. If it weren’t a matter of life and death, he still wouldn’t be one.

He snorted and stood. There wasn’t any point thinking about this more. He’d do what he had to to survive, even if it meant falling in line with her aims. With any luck, he could play off his disappearance as a secret vacation or something and leave her none the wiser.

He reached into his pocket and toyed with the ancient coin. “I should be so lucky. Chances are, she finds out and never stops bothering me about it.”

He clicked his tongue and picked up the scripture, shoving it in an inside pocket. He set his shoulders and approached the last—unopened—door. “Let’s go.”

Sweat poured down Graham’s face and arms as he pulled himself up the wall. He paused to look for a place to hold, spotting a crack as wide as a finger. He lodged his fingers in it, grimacing as the rough surface of the stone rubbed against already raw skin. Climbing was not fun.

What’s worse is that circulation really didn’t help with it. Climbing was a time-consuming activity and circulation only lasted for a short time, no more than a minute. Not to mention, it left him stiff and sore afterward. Two things you definitely don’t want to be while hanging fifteen meters high on a cliff face. So, he was forced to scale the wall with only his own, natural, strength. Which wasn’t much.

He grit his teeth and found a new hold for his other hand, then pulled himself up, his feet finding purchase on old handholds. He hugged the wall for a second, trying to catch his breath. This was by far the most strenuous activity he’d ever undertaken. Fighting a second panther would be preferable. Hell, bring in that fucking bear! He could totally handle the bear, now!

He looked up. The top was in sight. His heart thumped. “I could make that if I circulated.” It was maybe ten feet above. With the strength circulation gave him, he could make that leap. It was a bit risky, as he’d have to get a good hold on the edge before he fell back down, but the chance to be done with this endeavor right now? It was a risk worth taking.

He found a good position for the jump that would let him launch himself most effectively. Then, he drew in energy. The ache from the climb faded and his raw hands healed up. He grinned and set his arms and legs. He jumped. And overshot it. By a lot. Passing over the edge he needed to grab, he floated in the air for a second before falling down. Past the cliff and to the hard, rocky ground.

“Shit!” He smacked into the ground at high speed and bounced a few times, ending up on his head against the wall. He groaned and slouched over on his side, rubbing his back gingerly. “Fuck! I thought I was gonna die!” But he was mostly uninjured. Maybe he’d have a sore back for a while. The energy faded, but his back didn’t hurt any more than before. Of course, the ache came back. Though, this probably wasn’t the same ache he’d gained from climbing. It was more likely the ache he experienced after circulating.

He pushed himself up. “So, circulating can protect me from impacts, huh? Neat.” He craned his neck up. “God dammit! Now, I have to do it over.” Why did he have to try his luck? He was so close! If he’d just taken it slow, he’d be past this fucking wall and on to the next part of this fucking tower.

He cradled his head in his hands. “It’s gonna be a long fucking climb.”

Robin’s eyes fluttered open to the light of a sconce overhead. Near that was something brown, hovering over her. The bottom of a desk. “Oh. I must’ve fallen asleep.” Her mind flashed through what happened before. The Imposter. The chase. The murder she’d committed. Her face screwed up in anguish and she covered her eyes.

For a few minutes, she did her best to hold back her sobs and calm down. What was done was done, but she’d have to live with it. And that wasn’t proving to be easy. Maybe time would help. Maybe.

Still, laying there and feeling sorry for herself wouldn’t accomplish anything. Presumably, now that she’d killed the imposter, she should be able to leave. Right? That’s what should happen, right? She bit her finger. “What if it doesn’t, though? What if killing him isn’t what I was supposed to do?” Wouldn’t that mean she’d committed a horrible crime in vain? That his death was pointless?

She shook her head and used the desk to pull herself up. She almost headed straight for the doors without looking back, but she couldn’t help herself. She looked. And what she found was not a man. She screamed and jumped back behind the desk, holding a hand over her pumping heart.

“What was that?!” she thought. “He… it… I don’t know what it is, but he didn’t look like that before!” She peeked her head over the counter and observed the motionless creature. It was coal black and had spindly limbs. Its body looked like a thumb, because it had no discernable neck, and a bony tail coiled out from its rear. It had no eyes, no ears, no mouth, nothing that made it seem even slightly human.

Her stomach turned and she crouched back down, covering her mouth. “What the hell is that thing?!” She wanted to erase the image from her mind. Had the imposter actually looked like that under his disguise? Had she… hugged that disgusting creature?! She nearly hurled.

Forcing herself to stand, she walked past with her eyes averted. Strangely, she was grateful it wasn’t human. She’d still killed something, but it hadn’t been a person. That was comforting. To a degree. She made a beeline for the first door where she’d seen the light under the door. It was open. She followed the path and came to another door, which she opened.

It led to a stairwell, spiraling down. There was another door next to hers and a dial on the wall between them. Her eyes widened. “I’m back where I started!” she thought.

With a click, the dial popped open. Robin jumped back, holding her arms in front of her to protect herself. Nothing happened. Within the dial’s casing was a mirror. Words appeared on the sleek glass. “Oh, right. The reward… Let’s see…”

It was between the Bestiary and the Apothecary’s Primer. They were both still there, so Graham or Orion hadn’t completed a different room before her. The corner of her mouth twitched up. “I… I guess I didn’t do too badly?” It was an awful trial, but she’d done it. Pride swelled in her chest, though it was tempered by the memory of strangling that creature to death.

She furrowed her brow. “That creature… would it be in the Bestiary? I kinda want to know what it was.” Maybe creatures of that species were all irredeemably evil and it deserved to die? Wouldn’t that be great? Well, not great, because then there’d be a species of horrible creatures roaming the world, but it’d do wonders for her peace of mind.

Still, the parasitic vine was the more pressing concern. She picked the Primer. The glass broke and she squeaked, covering her face. She peeked through her fingers and saw that there was a little cubby behind the broken glass. Within was a book with a green leather cover. It was about as thick as a pencil.

She slid her hand into a sleeve to knock fragments of glass out of the way then grabbed the book. Apothecary’s Primer was emblazoned on it in gold letters. She took a deep breath and tucked it into a pocket, heading down the stairs. She kept an eye out for traps… just in case.

Graham’s hand reached up over the edge of the wall. Then, the other. He got his elbow over the edge and pulled himself up, collapsing once he was safe atop it. His face and clothes were drenched with sweat and his hands worn raw once more.

It was hotter up here than at the bottom of the cliff. He turned his head, taking in a great pit of fire several meters down the path. “Oh, dear God.” He took a moment to circulate to help him recover. When the energy poured in, he stood easily and went to investigate this new challenge.

There wasn’t much to investigate. It was a pit with fire billowing up from it. Very hot, and the fire prevented him from seeing how long it was. How to cross it? There had to be a way. Graham pried some of the green gems out of the wall before circulation ran out, building up a little pile. The energy faded, leaving him stiff and aching. But he’d grown used to that.

He did some stretches to work out the stiffness and picked up one of the gems, tossing it through the fire. He heard a clink as it hit the ground, but it sounded lower than it should. “It must’ve fallen into the pit. I’ll have to throw farther.” He tried again, then again, before it sounded in the right place. He’d estimate the gap at four or five meters.

His face paled. “Do they want me to… jump?” That’s just ridiculous! There’d be no way to avoid burns if he jumped through those flames. Maybe there was a way to put it out? After searching for a while, he found a faint line engraved into the wall. It was just a bit too uniform to be natural.

“Maybe if I follow it, I’ll find a way to shut the fire off?” That was… if the fire could be shut off. Maybe they really wanted him to burn to a crisp. What if this game was just an elaborate death trap for their amusement? He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. The goal is still the same. Survive and get the fuck out of here.”

One end of the line led into the fire pit, while the other led back to the entrance where he’d climbed up. Near the cliff’s edge, he saw the line curve out to the other side of the shaft, ending in a circle with a strange symbol inside. Graham’s face fell. “Am I going to have to climb over there?” It would be much more difficult than climbing up here had been. It wasn’t a vertical incline, it was an overhang. He’d have to do something even pros had trouble with.

He bit his lip. “I don’t think I can do it. I’ll fall. What happens if I can’t circulate while falling? I’ll go splat on the ground!” How the hell was he supposed to reach that mark?!

Orion rolled back his sleeve to look at the message on his arm. Keep your wits about you. They can save you from unnecessary trouble, it read. Orion sighed and walked up the stairs. The room he came to at the top was floored with large tiles in a grid. Each tile had a picture on it; a bird, a tree, or a fish.

“Some kind of puzzle?” he thought. Were there any clues nearby? He looked around, but the black, stone walls were blank. He counted out the rows and columns; ten wide by twenty tall. The placement of each picture seemed random.

He frowned and approached a tree tile, placing a foot on it. He kept his weight on his back foot so he could jump back if he needed to.

The tile lit up, accompanied by others in branching paths of green, like the branches of a tree. Orion’s eyes narrowed. “Is it showing the paths I can take?” Only three of the branches reached the other side. And what of the tiles that didn’t light up? What if he stepped on them?

He took a step back and tried a fish tile. As soon as he stepped on it, it sank into the ground, deeper than his height. He furrowed his brow. “Why’d it do that? It doesn’t seem like a trap. There doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous down there.” After a short while, it raised back up. He stepped on it again, backing up as it sunk once more. “There’s got to be a reason for that.” Maybe he’d find out when he tried the bird tile?

He approached a bird tile and stepped on it. It sprang up, launching him spinning backward in the air. He fell on his back a few meters from the tile puzzle, gasping for breath. “Damn! Knocked the wind out of me!” He beat his chest a few times, coughing.

His eyes narrowed at the bird tile that had sunk back to its original position. “So, that launches me into the air. What the hell is that good for?” He huffed and went back to the tree tile, memorizing the path that showed up. “I just have to follow this and be aware of what tile I’m stepping on.”

He jumped to the closest one, another tree tile. The path stayed lit, but the tile behind went dark. The tile was wide enough to stand on with both feet, so he didn’t have to balance himself on one foot.

The next closest on the path was a bird tile. He decided not to take that one. There was another branching path with a fish tile, which seemed much more amenable. He hopped to it and let it sink into the ground. After a minute, it rose back up. However, the path was no longer lit. He wasn’t standing on a tree tile. “Which was the next on this path?” He narrowed his eyes. “I think it was that tree tile.”

It was two up and one to the left from his current tile. It’d be a bit of a leap, but he could probably make it. He leapt and landed on the tile, but it glowed red. Orion’s heart clenched up and he rolled to the next tile, a fish. It quickly sunk into the ground as arrows pierced the air overhead. A staccato of clinks rang out as the arrows sank into the wall on the other side.

Orion grasped the chest of his robe, his breath shallow. “Alright. That’s what the fish is for. And I need to keep a better eye on the proper path. Mistakes are met with traps.” And, chances are, the bird was for reaching tiles you normally wouldn’t be able to. Though, it seemed unnecessarily risky. What if it didn’t launch you in the direction you wanted to go?

Orion’s tile rose back into place. He jumped back to the previous tree tile and took some time to memorize a good path. One that didn’t require he use any bird tiles. It just wasn’t a chance he wanted to take. Maybe if he had his shield to block the arrows… of course, Graham had given it to Robin. Which was fine. He understood that she needed it before. Just, for a guy that got so upset when Orion wanted one of the fruit, he had few qualms about giving something of Orion’s away.

“That’s just how people are,” he thought. “They do what’s convenient for them. Even me. Being bitter about it won’t help anyone. We need to work together to survive.” The path firmly engraved in his mind, he began the arduous task of traversing it, doing his best to not make any fatal blunders.

When he came to a part of the path that was too far to jump normally, he simply pulled out the scripture and circulated. With the power of Qi, he was able to jump significantly farther. And it allowed him to avoid the risky bird tiles. Those were probably there in case you opened this room before receiving the scripture. At least, that’s what he thought.

He triggered a few more traps; one where the tile he landed on fell into a bottomless pit, another that sprayed fire at him, and one that was a bird tile in disguise, launching him to the left and off the path he’d memorized. He dealt with the first two rather easily, thanks to being keenly aware of nearby fish tiles. The third was luck. He’d landed right on a tree tile, which glowed green and showed him a different path that he could follow.

And, finally, he made it past the puzzle. Then, he went to the next room.