The sun rose over a dim horizon. A soft breeze swayed branches of the trees above. Marti crouched near a bush, adorned with berries of crimson red. Dew dripped off their small teardrop-shaped bodies, causing them to sparkle in the morning light. He methodically took in the sights, sounds, and smells around him. A fiery orb rising from purple plains, filling the land with warmth. The indigo desert melded into the dense pine forest at the foot of the hill he rested upon. Behind him, the hill climbed sharply up and then abruptly flattened at the top to form a mesa. He closed his eyes, and heard the calls of songbirds, the grass, trees, and shrubbery swishing with the wind in a gentle dance. He inhaled through his nose. The sweet smell of wonderasa pines filled his nostrils. The scent reminded him of just a few days prior, when his family had gathered around a plate of butterscotch cobbler for dessert. Before his journey began. Their cheery laughter and the delectable taste of the sticky cobbler, abruptly cut short.
As soon as he was warm, he was cold. The light around him, replaced by darkness. In front of his face, his breath turned to a fine mist. Out of the abyss, a huge shape faded into view. A mesa dotted with trees and adorned with massive rocks. It would surely take a person at least an hour to walk from end to end. A black bird with a belly of white and a stripe across its wing landed on a branch near him.
"Go forth. They are calling." The bird's voice was booming, ancient. It produced a tone that rung through Marti's entire body. It took everything he could muster not to freeze out of sheer terror.
"What's going on? Who are they?" Marti asked frantically. "Are you talking?" The bird eyed him. Its gaze pierced his soul.
"I am merely a familiar, sent with a message. Go forth. At the edge of violet, stone rises to meet the sky. Upon the hallowed mesa of thunder rests your fate. They are calling." The familiar spoke again. Before Marti could reply, the bird let out a caw that shook the heavens. Thunder cracked and rumbled, as an incredible flash of lightning struck the mesa.
"Marti? Are you okay?" The soothing, familiar voice of his mother was full of concern. Marti opened his eyes. He shot up, adrenaline rushing through his veins. Through the window, he glimpsed a black bird fly away.
"Are you alright?" his younger sister echoed their mother.
"I'm... fine." Marti looked at them. "I just had the strangest dream. A bird spoke to me, telling me that my 'fate' rested upon a 'hallowed mesa of thunder'." His tone was filled with disbelief. He barely even believed what just happened himself. His mother and sister looked at him for a second. Then, the floor creaked as his father stepped into the room.
"The bird who spoke to you. Did it have a name? Maybe a title?" Marti's father asked him, in a stern tone.
"Yes... it, it did. It claimed to be a familiar. Why do you ask?" Marti replied, the question catching him off guard. His father knelt down and helped his son up.
"In my studies of the deities, I've seen mentions of similar events. We must go to the shrine. There, the elder will help you understand." His father walked over and opened the door.
"Hold on. Understand what?" Marti looked at him, their eyes locked.
"My son, you've just had a vision from the goddess of nature."
The snap of a twig brought Marti back to reality. He whipped around, startled, and stood face to face with an animal he'd never seen before.
"Woah!" Marti stumbled backward, as the creature leaped in the opposite direction, stopping just several foot-lengths away. The creature looked odd. Alike young horses back at Marti's home, yet also strikingly similar to pronghorns he had seen galloping across the planes. The legs of the animal were toned, with hooves that were flat but split in the middle. The head of the creature was horse-shaped, with large ears protruding to the sides, and what looked like horns growing from the top of the skull. Its hide was tan and its tail very short. The two stared at each other for a moment, before the visitor galloped away, leaping through the thick forest with ease.
Marti took a deep breath. His mother always told him to keep a clear head. "Don't ever space out in unfamiliar territory again." He thought to himself. His father always stressed the importance of situational awareness. Next time the creature who finds him might not be so passive. Quickly but calmly, Marti picked crimson berries from the bush he had crouched next to earlier. Eating a few, he saved the rest in a small cloth sack from his backpack. Marti thought about how the deer had caught him completely off-guard and within arms reach. If it were a predator, he'd surely be dead. The thought terrified him for a moment, before it presented him with an idea. He picked up some small rocks and placed them in another sack. He attached it to his belt with string. This time, something else would be the one distracted.
Marti continued up the side of the mesa from his dream. Supposedly, his "fate" awaited him on top, according to the familiar of a goddess. It was an extremely vague way to put things. He wondered about the secrets this mesa hid. Perhaps he was chosen by the goddess to worship her as a monk or carry out a divine task. Hopefully not, he thought. Marti would despise being reduced to a servant, no matter how transcendent the master. From the bottom of his heart, he hoped she would send him on an adventure to far away lands. His entire life he gazed toward the mountains, dotted with trees and circled by clouds, their mystery allowing his imagination to run wild. That same life, he had been restricted to his village. Doomed to a sedentary life inside the suffocating village walls. Now, his wish had finally come true. Already he was in unfamiliar, untamed lands. Their mysticism and beauty intoxicated him.
Nearing the flat top of the rocky formation, Marti held his breath. A steep, almost vertical incline of jagged rock stood between him and his goal. It towered above him, easily five times taller than the trees surrounding him. The stone, a silent guardian of the wondrous plateau, reminded him of those adobe walls that trapped him within his village. Residents always told him of the danger outside the walls. The terrifying creatures who wanted nothing but to tear his flesh from his bones. The wild savages devoid of any and all empathy, craving flesh. "You don't want to go to the mountains. They're a horrific place full of monsters." They said. The walls certainly served a purpose. But at what cost? What is a life behind closed doors, without wonder, excitement or liberty? A pity, he thought. Now, he'd finally have a chance to scale them.
"Ha. Those walls trapped me. These keep me out." Spurred by spite of his elders, Marti strided straight towards the base of the cliff. He bent his neck, peering up at the cliff face, the top now invisible. An inkling of fear tugged at Marti's heart. "Pity the goddess couldn't have built some stairs."
He pushed off with his legs and reached up, as high as he could.
Finding grip, he moved his opposite foot up the wall.
Thrusting himself upwards again, he reached higher.
Then, he wedged his foot into the stone.
A delicate movement, like a rehearsed dance.
Push, grab, step.
Each inch farther from the ground was an inch closer to the top.
Impatient, Marti reached a little too high.
His hand slipped, dust flew from the hold.
The stone his feet were upon broke from the wall, plummeting down countless feet before slamming on the ground and rolling off the hill.
He clung on with his other hand, harder than he had ever clung before.
His hand began sliding off the hold.
Marti's eyes darted around, desperately searching for another place to cling to.
"Somewhere, anywhere, please!"
His heart raced, his hand was slipping!
Then, he saw it, just below him was his only chance.
He had to drop down, and catch himself. Risky, to say the least.
"I have no other options!"
As his hand slipped, and he fell down, he kicked his feet out, driving his upper body toward the cliff.
"Now!"
He caught the crack in the wall, and his feet came flying forward.
Bending his knees and arching his back, he used the tension from pushing off the wall to hold onto the crack.
He had narrowly avoided an unfortunate, early end to his journey.
"Seriously. Why couldn't she have made some stairs?"
Marti took a deep breath, and began his dance with the wall again.
Then, before he even knew it, Marti pulled himself over a ledge, and stood atop the sentinels of the mesa. He turned around and looked out upon the lands in awe. From here, his travels revealed themselves. The plains extended on beyond his vision. Their scale took his breath away. His village a collection of small dots, its people like ants. A view far more breathtaking than he could ever imagine. The triumph surfaced words of his father from a pool of memories. He heard them as if they were spoken aloud:
"Unfamiliar berries may be dangerous. But they might be even more delicious." Shortly after, he was inflicted with food poisoning. Turns out eating mysterious berries is not the wisest thing to do, but the lesson was clear.
Marti rested for a moment, remarking upon the incredible view and his journey so far. Despite the villagers pessimistic views, he had yet to run into any untold horrors thirsty for blood and ravenous for flesh. He took a sip from his gourd, and looked toward the middle of the mesa. This was the place his vision had led him to. Marti took a moment to collect himself, then stood and turned towards the center of the mesa.
He looked into the dark, imposing forest. As he peered deeper, it seemed to grow thicker. It would surely be hard to traverse, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. As he started forward, a familiar black bird with a striped wing landed on a branch above his head.
"Long you travel. Finished, your journey is not." Once again, the bird's speech resonated within Marti. He looked at the bird, waiting for him to continue. "Long you have traveled to arrive here. Yet finished, your journey is not."
"Looks pretty finished to me, crow. I've already climbed atop the oh-so-hallowed mesa." Marti smirked.
"Ahead lies a trial. They are calling." The familiar's speech vibrated through Marti's bones.
"What form of trial? There's nothing upon this mesa I cannot handle." Marti proclaimed, high off the triumph over the sentinel stones and eager to face a new challenge.
"Ahead lies a trial. Within this forest beings of flesh stalk. To devour yours, they seek. Close to you they pretend to be, but nearby is all they are. They are calling." The black bird eyed Marti, waiting for a response.
"Wait. You've guided me to a forest full of flesh-eating monsters?" Marti's smirk disappeared from his face. The bird simply nodded in reply. "Is the goddess within the forest?" he asked. Once again, the bird nodded. "What does 'close to you they pretend to be, but nearby they certainly are' mean?" Marti pondered, hoping the bird would elaborate.
"Your senses betray you. Your instincts you must trust." The bird said. "Good Fortune." A caw rang out as the familiar opened its wings and flew away.
Marti gazed once again to the deep recesses of the forest. Now, it seemed different. The shadows crept beneath the trees, threatening to swallow the ground whole. Movement teased at the edges of his vision, and he felt a tingling within his chest. What in the world was in this forest? A thought began festering in his mind. What if the villagers were right? What if he should have never come here? He thought about the security of the walls, and the comfort of his childhood home. Perhaps the goddess was wrong to choose him. Then, a small ember within his heart glowed.
"I was chosen. Whatever it takes to overcome this challenge, must be inside of me." Marti closed his eyes. He remembered his family, his home. The determination of his mother, his sister's kindness, and his father's obligation to help in any way he can. He had made it this far, and he would overcome whatever obstacle stood in his way next. "For them," Marti thought, "I will rise to any challenge." He stepped into the forest, cautious but confident in himself. He remembered the soft voice of his mother. How she would call his name when she had finished preparing dinner, although it was usually just a bit before. He hated the waiting for it to actually be finished.
"Marti! Come Here!" His mother shouted. Marti would run to the kitchen, ready to scarf down whatever she had prepared.
Wait a second.
That's not right.
"That wasn't in my head..." Marti thought.
"Marti!" She called again.
Strange, booming footsteps, soft and far off resounded in the thicket.
"What is my mother doing here?"
The booming grew louder.
Thoughts rushed through his head, he remembered what the familiar had said.
"Close to you... but nearby... they are calling..."
The footsteps grew close, resounding in Marti's ears.
That's when he realized.
He rushed over to the nearby stump of a tree, hiding among the roots.
The creature, stepped closer, and suddenly stopped.
It's head, affixed with large, circular eyes, beams shining from them, red as blood, lit the forest with a terrifying glow. It's head swayed as it turned, a gaze that seemed to turn even the trees still. Then, it's mouth opened.
"Marti, don't keep me waiting!"
Thus, the trial had begun.