"You...prom….to…pro….me….."
"I'm….sorry...…"
Arlo saw an expanse darkness surround him like it was alive, it then consumed him. he saw nothing, he felt nothing, but he heard something.
"Wak.. u.."
He then felt something pressing down on him, he felt his body sway.
'My lips feel so dry'
"Wake… p.."
'Who's voice is that? Why do I feel so weak? Where am I? Why is it so hot? Who keeps on pushing me? Why am I here? Just let me rest please.'
"Wake up"
The voice grew louder, with the energy he had left Arlo slowly opened his tired eyes thinking he was dead, but what he saw was a expanse blue sky and a beaming sun. He had so many questions but first he had to know where he exactly was.
"Your finally awake, here have some of this it will help you recover your strength "
Said the man, who was currently towering over him, he then snatched a bag from his waist opened its lid and then started to bend down. He put his right hand under Arlo's head and lifted it up gently, holding the bag in his left hand he moved it near Arlo's mouth and then slowly started pouring it into his mouth. Each drop of the unknown liquid was heavenly it made Arlo feel alive again, the liquid swam throughout his body reaching every muscle. It felt as if it was alive, this unknown substance which the man was pouring most definitely had healing properties to it. Arlo slowly regained his senses and was able to move his body, seeing Arlo's body start to move the man moved his hand downwards and pushed forward helping Arlo to sit up.
Without hesitation, Arlo looked around intensely so that he could understand where he exactly was. Where had makutu placed him? After processing his surroundings for a bit he was able to make an easy guess as to where he was.
Arlo had woken up in a desert, the sand stretched in every direction for who knows how long. Normally this amount of light would make his eyes hurt because of the eye disorder he had, but to his surprise it didn't have much affect nor did they hurt unless he was directly staring at the beaming sun.
"Get up follower, paradise is drawing near. You mustn't give up now"
Said the man who had helped him.
With a annoyed sigh Arlo mustered up every strength in his feeble body and gradually stood up.
He blinked a couple of times to get the sand out of his eyes, then started to glare intensely to his surroundings hoping to find something other than sand, but after a while his hopes died down.
A voice came from behind him
"Hurry up"
Arlo turned his body 180 degrees, his eyes were met with the backs of 12 people. 10 of those people were wearing all white from their shoulders to ankles, and they all strangely had an imprint of the moon on their backs but every moon was a different colour. Arlo then looked at himself for a couple seconds, he too was wearing all white which covered his shoulders down to his ankles. This meant that he mostly likely had an imprint of the moon on his back as well
"Sorry, im coming"
Said Arlo in a soft quite voice, he didn't want to waste any energy so replying loudly was out of the question.
He quickly began to walk in the direction of the other twelve people. The heat was very uncomfortable to Arlo but still somewhat bearable. After a while he caught up with the others and started to walk along with them.
As they walked through the desert, Arlo throughly looked at everyone in the group and using all the information he had, he was able to guess as to what kind of situation he was currently in. Including himself their were 11 people who were wearing all white and had an imprint of the moon on their backs, the other two were wearing white armor which looked like it was made out of metal. They both had a black sword in their hands and one of them carried a spear on his back, they both were also carrying a couple brown sacks.The only logical reason as to why they were here was to protect the rest of the group from any monster that came their way. They both looked intimidating and scary, the guy carrying a sword and spear had broad shoulders and brown hair, the other guy was a bit more taller and leaner with dirty blond hair.
The man who had previously helped him said words like "follower" and "paradise is drawing near". This made Arlo believe that they were headed towards a holy or religious place, something like a temple but what kind of temple would still be intact after facing such harsh conditions. Were they travelling through this desert because 'paradise' was in the middle of it or was it for another reason? Eleven people were wearing all white and two were dressed in armor from head to toe carrying weapons, this sudden thought made him realise that he was on a pilgrimage.
'A pilgrimage?'
This sudden assumption would answer why 11 people were wearing such bizarre and vulnerable clothing. It also helped answer why they were traversing through a desert, this holy place must be situated in the desert because that's were most holy places were….. in the middle of nowhere.
This assumption also led to various questions like which entity or being was he a follower of? Did all these people worship the same being? As Arlo tried to think for an answer to all the questions he had in his mind a loud voice spoke
"Everyone stop, we will rest here for sometime"
Hearing this, a large smile appeared on Arlo's face, all he wanted right now was to rest, eat something fulfilling and maybe have some of that special liquid which he had drank before.
"Gather around"
Said another person.
Without hesitation Arlo happily walked towards him and sat down on the sand, the others followed his lead. The eleven people wearing white clothing, formed a circle and the other two sat somewhere else as if they were a disturbance, this made Arlo make a face full of confusion but only for a bit, he didn't really have the energy to care about such irrelevant things all he wanted was tasty food.
A man who looked to be in his fourties placed down a large white cloth in the middle of the circle they had made, he then walked away and picked up a brown sack, whilst walking back he untied the rope on the top of the sack. The man stopped right over the cloth and turned the sack upside down, Arlo was drooling as he thought about all the tasty things that might come out the sack
'It has to be meat or something really tasty'
Arlo was over the moon because he would finally be eating something after walking for hours with a empty stomach, what came out the sack made his mind go blank.
What came out of the sack wasn't meat nor anything tasty. It was pieces of stale bread.
'Wha…what! After walking for so long, my reward is a piece of bread'
Arlo looked visibly annoyed and displeased with the outcome
'We are on a pilgrimage yet they are treating us like slaves'
Arlo was so agitated that he wanted to meet the person who had gathered the rations for this important journey and have a word with him. He glared at the pieces of bread for a couple seconds then stretched his hand to pick a piece, he was mad but still extremely hungry so he stopped thinking and sunk his teeth into the hard piece of bread.
A trick he had learned was, if you place a small piece of bread on your tongue and cover it with saliva, after letting it rest for a bit the bread would turn sweet. When he usually ate bread he would do this exact thing, but right now he was in no mood to wait for it to turn sweet. Whilst shoving the bread in his mouth he thought of his own life, If he was to pass this trial and evolve how would this impact his life? Would his life take a 180? Would he be able to live in the city or at least have enough food so that he didn't have to starve? Thinking about all of this made him have a sudden thought which left him dumbfounded.
'What is my purpose in this trial?'
From what he had heard a trial would have a purpose. The person who was being trialed had a purpose that they had to achieve like a purpose to survive a great monster or a purpose to achieve an object. So then what was his purpose in this trial? Why had makutu created this situation? What was he being tested for?
His first thought was the pilgrimage, the makutu was trying to see if Arlo possessed the will power and determination to reach 'paradise' without scumming to the gruesome desert. He wanted to believe that he was right but it couldn't have been so simple, their had to be some twist to it. What was he missing?
He thought as hard as he could to try and find some answers, maybe he had missed something or had been to ignorant to think it was relevant to his current situation, but nothing came to mind. Arlo could do nothing but sigh, frustrated by the many questions looming inside his head, he started to look around again, for any clues which could help him find the missing piece in the puzzle .
After looking around the desert for a while, his eyes landed on the two protectors, they seemed so mysterious to him and also very dangerous. Whilst walking through the desert he had wondered why eleven people who had been walking for who knows how long had been given only two people to protect them, and this wasn't any normal journey, this was a pilgrimage to a holy place. Why had their not been more people to protect them, were the two protectors simply so strong that they didn't need anymore help?
Noticing Arlo's gaze the two protectors looked back at him, Arlo was immediately startled. Their eyes pierced through him, he could feel that the eyes which were glaring at him hid many complicated emotions, but it seemed as if they weren't just looking at him, no they weren't. Those eyes were looking at him and also everyone in the circle with the same unknown emotions. Their intense gaze made Arlo uncomfortable so he immediately looked back at the bread in his hand.
"They are scary"
Arlo mumbled quietly under his breath.
When will this trial end? He angrily thought. How much longer would he have to walk? Thinking about the long distance he might have to walk, popped a question in his head.
'Why was the worst thing in this trial the long journey?'
He sat still thinking about the question that had just popped in his head.
Only one thing came to mind
'Where were the monsters?'
Not once, since he had woken up here had they been attacked by a monster.
Had they fought monsters before and now by luck ever since he had woken up here they never encountered a monster. It just couldn't be right, none of their clothes looked ripped or dirty and neither was Arlo a lucky person so their had to be a reason as to why. All these questions frustrated Arlo a lot, so he did the best thing he could.
He looked at the women sitting next to him, she had green eyes, long brown hair, clear skin, and seemed to be quiet young. Arlo didn't want to waste any time, so without hesitation he asked the women
"What is the reason you are here?"
The woman flinched a bit, then slowly looked up at him. It clearly looked that she was quite uncomfortable with the question, a sadden expression appeared on her face, or was it more of a scared look? Arlo couldn't really tell. Her mouth moved but nothing came out, it seemed as if she didn't want to answer.
With a long pause, she looked away from him and said in a soft quite voice
"To seek forgiveness"