Chapter 14: A Marking Scar

Maleki:

I awoke fully bandaged. Sweat rolled down my head, colliding with dried, crusted blood that stuck my clothes to my body. I leaned forward, grunting deep in my chest from the pain. Exhaling, the wounds I had endured from that foul creature became more prevalent. Five gashes through my back, a scar that will start many a story in the future. A deep cut in my right chest, opening up my breast and slicing the top part of my upper right bicep, and a single scratch across my left arm. The worst of it seemed to be in my chest, but thankfully, on the opposite side of my heart. My lungs filled with air, meaning nothing had been punctured, but I placed my hand over the area and instantly recoiled from the pain. Sitting somewhat straight, I had fallen asleep on my knees. They were numb and hurt, but I was too afraid to move and put myself in more pain.

“Brother?” A familiar voice uttered.

Miko. Last I remember, he had screamed in a way I had never heard before. Everything in me turned inside out when I heard it, but that brute wouldn’t let me out of sight.

“Miko, what happened? How did you open the room and turn off the fire?” I asked, grabbing my side in pain.

He leaned forward. Bandages covered both his legs and arms, but they were thickest right above his knees in his lower thigh. Miko must have noticed me staring because he pulled his partly burned-up pants to his upper thigh to reveal some of the un-bandaged damage.

“First-degree burns in the best spots, third-degree in the worst.”

“I’m sorry, Miko...I should have beaten the Aeternae faster.” My voice let out in despair. “Do you feel better than you look?”

“I look better than you, dummy, and it’ll heal. Not sure I’ll ever get leg hair now, but I didn’t really want it anyways. My arms and legs are mostly just skin-level burns. The worst part is a ring around my left leg right about here.” He pointed to the meat of his thigh that was tightly bandaged several times over. “Nomen cleaned the wounds already. That was the worst part. Surprised you didn’t wake from those screams or that I didn’t wake something else up, too.”

“My scars will be way cooler than yours.” I joked, grabbing my shoulder to laugh through the pain.

He laughed, too, until his face settled to a more serious one. “You can’t do everything by yourself, ya know? I’m the sick one, not you.”

“You’re my brother. Protecting you is my job.” I responded.

“I can do things. That fire hurt so damn bad, but it proved to me that I belong here. That I deserve to make it to the end.”

“You’re right, and I understand, but I won’t change. So long as I am breathing, I will step first into danger before you. This isn’t the place to prove yourself. There are real consequences.”

“You think I don’t know that? Do you think I want to be carried around? Let me help you when I can.”

“What you did today was enough, Miko. We just have to get you healed, and then you have all the time in the world to catch up to me.” That seemed to settle his mind, or perhaps he stayed quiet not to push the conversation further. Even brothers cannot tell sometimes.

Out of the corner of my eye came walking Nomen. “Enjoy my handiwork? To answer your previous question, that is one of the reasons why I am here.”

“I apologize for the rude comment. This was more than I deserved.”

“You might find a few of your bandages wrapped tighter as payment for your words.” He laughed oddly. “I jest. This, among a few other items, is what I am here to assist with. I will not, however, act in your immediate favour during combat or trials. Medical treatment posthaste excluded.”

“Thank you, Nomen. We owe you.”

“Null. Do not make such promises. There is naught but a few that ever live to complete them.”

“You might feel inclined to move, to begin your journey even. Might I recommend a single night’s rest before such efforts recommence?”

I looked over to Miko. He looked tired, weary with worry for my sake, and in pain from his burns. My wounds ached down to the bone. “We’ll sleep through tonight or today. Whatever it is. We have to get back at it after that.”

There were no arguments from Nomen as usual, and Miko certainly wasn’t in any shape to do so. We slept uncomfortably. Minus Nomen, we slept without blankets or bedding. The stone was plenty flat, and our bags made quick pillows, but the room was still warm despite the levels returning to normal. I’m not sure how long I was out, but the crick in my neck told me it must have been a while. I scratched my head, wincing in pain as I reached my hand up to the sky. I’m right-handed, so I did it without thinking. Until this heals, that might be difficult to get used to. There wouldn’t be any advanced climbing any time soon.

Miko was out cold, as usual. My body didn’t have the strength for patience, and we needed to get moving, or else some other creature finds us sleeping. “Wake up, Miko!” I said with a soft couple of taps at his ribs. He stirred, fighting my request, but a few less gentle taps to the ribs made the decision to wake up a little easier to make. Nomen practically sleeps with one eye open because as soon as I wake up, he moves along at my speed and swiftly packs up his bag and belongings. “So what is it, legs or arms today?”

“Just the legs today. Are you going to be able to carry me?”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“Couldn’t we only move on days when my legs work?”

“Nomen said this place makes us weaker. It drains our stamina so that we get exhausted quicker. Every extra day we stay here doing nothing is a waste. We risk the whole journey if we aren’t moving every waking minute.”

He didn’t argue back, probably didn’t have the energy to, but he certainly didn’t seem happy with the concluding results. What I said must anger him or make him feel useless, but If I rest for too long, I may not get back up.

I walked over to Miko and situated our bags, then placed one knee on the ground with my other leg bending down to support the rest of my weight over my foot. Miko grabbed my shoulders and pulled with all his strength to drag himself up my back. “Agh.” I ground my teeth together to fight the pain as I stood tall, bracing Miko up piggyback style. The weight was bearable, not as much as before, but carrying him was something I was used to, so there was no surprise there.

There wasn’t much contemplation to be done after slaying the Aeternae, considering I passed out almost immediately. That was the first time I had taken the life of an animal. Regret is not the right word, but I wished there was another option. Death is not a topic I am unfamiliar with since we live on a farm. Animals are raised and eaten; such is the way of life. Although there is much less compassion in killing an animal, you did not raise and care for. I never enjoyed it on the farm and certainly didn’t here. Grandpa always took care of the slaughter, and I preferred not to be around when it happened. Grandmother and Miko were never around for it either, but I had a sneaking suspicion Miko was rather indifferent.

I followed the blood-dripped trail to the opposing side of the room, where the exit was. The beast had limped to a corridor, slumping down on a pallet, entering its final rest. It lay still in front of me, mine and Miko’s weapons still embedded in the body. Surprisingly, there was no harboring of hatred towards the thing. We fought out of survival, and I won, yet I despised myself while looking at it. Miko’s blade came cleanly out of the ribcage, which I wiped against a cloth before tossing it back into his bag. My own blade did not remove so easily. A sawlike motion had to be performed at the base of the skull, below the bone-like crown. After several repeated movements of the blade sliding against the surface, the scythe finally came undone, pulling out of the thick muscle tissue and tough gray skin.

Grandpa taught me to care for a blade, so I wiped it clean as best as possible with what I had. If not, the blood crusts up, preventing the edge from cutting properly. However, the scythe is not a weapon intended for battle, and Grandpa never talked about conflict or war. He despised them like how I loathed the death of the beast. His hands never forged a single weapon in my lifetime. The forge at our farm knew the shape of tools, those of farmers or gardeners. Father’s combat lessons stopped when he left, so my skills never developed further. I knew the scythe, its weight, and how it swung, but we aren’t taught to swing a scythe with malice or intent to kill.

Every sweep is intended to hover ever so slightly above the ground. Precision like that takes some time to develop, and at first, your shoulders aren’t used to the motion, so you tire easily. That didn’t affect me anymore, but I had never been trained to use the scythe so maliciously, and I’m not sure either of them would have known how to teach that to me. Tools are the weapons of revolutions of desperation. They are not refined as arts of war. I enjoyed the scythe, though, even as a weapon if it had to be. The appearance of carrying it might cause people to underestimate me or look past me altogether. That’s an advantage all on its own. I could probably just use a spear or a polearm, but the scythe has both the cutting power of a heavy axe and the range of a stave. Either way, I must improve my technique; getting caught could cost me a fight. The scythe was also an excellent makeshift walking stick, so I used it to prop up myself and the extra weight I was carrying around, which relieved a little bit of the pain in my back.

We left the chamber, taking our first step out of the room, past the Aeternae, and out of the room we could have easily died in had we made other choices or stepped wrong. There was something invigorating about that thought. A tunnel stretched out before us, rising in elevation and winding into a bend that blocked further view. Every step pinched my lower spine, but I was careful not to grunt out in pain or exhale too deeply to avoid worrying Miko. Instead, I gritted my back teeth and kept my breath in my chest. The upward slope of the tunnel didn’t make the walk any more manageable because it forced me to stretch forward with my knee more than I was ready for.

Nomen trailed behind us, reserved as usual. There was a mystery to him, but I think that’s partly due to how plain and ordinary he is. Rarely does he show any enthusiasm, his clothes are fair and slightly tattered, and his demeanor is proper. When he stood, his back was straight, like a soldier or some kind of royal. Even when he slept, his body looked more like a corpse than someone alive; his fingers interlocked and lay between his chest and stomach. Minus the lack of snoring, he seems more akin to Grandpa than Miko. Oftentimes I’ll catch my little brother rolled up into a ball like a billipede, with his knees tucked up to his chin and his arms gripping his shins. After only an hour of walking, I had become winded from the extra weight. I picked back up three times, each time returning to my feet and walking even less than before. Typically, I could walk several hours before my pace slowed to a crawl. I reached for air after setting Miko down, and my lungs filled with deep, stinging breaths. Nomen said this place would sap the strength out of my bones, but this feels different, like my lungs are fighting for air, and what little air they get is thin at best. How high up are we? Constantly being on the move and carrying Miko keeps me warm, but now that I’m noticing it, the temperature has dropped significantly. That last room provided my skin with enough warmth to last a while, but it was wearing off, and the air was getting cold. There must be an exit above us, and the sooner we can get off this mountain, the better.

I was exhausted, but there was no time for me to be. I somehow brought myself back to my feet and got Miko back into place. He seemed worried, but either my eyes gave him the answer before he asked, or he was too afraid to say anything. After sluggishly repositioning myself, I grounded my feet down and continued through the tunnel. Being careful with my breaths, I focused on each one, which helped me keep moving but also conserved my energy. This method seemed to be working because I could walk further than last time without getting winded. As I exhaled, my breaths became visible before me and dissipated into nothing, drifting like a smokestack’s puffs of air. Cold stone and pale ice filled the end of the tunnel in a bright shimmer of light. From here, the exit looked like a portal to a new dimension. However, as it grew closer, the mystical effect disappeared, and in its place was a field of snow-covered ground and bulbous gray stones that seemed to be perfectly egg-shaped. Some of the rocks were even rounded into shapes with oval bodies.

A chill rose through my ankles and climbed through my sleeves, removing every sliver of warmth I had saved up. Any part of my body that had begged for cold in that fiery tomb now pleaded for me to turn around and seek the comfort of the well-lit tunnels. Despite that, my clothes stuck to my skin from the continued build-up of sweat, and I still haven’t had a chance to clean the beast’s blood or my own blood off me yet. The ending lip of the cave was tighter and forced me to grab the rough rock walls and slightly bend my knees to fit through. One last slightly warm breath of air and the fresh, thin atmosphere lulled me in with a step. The peak of the mountain was head ahead of us. We still had some climbing to get up there, but the connecting stones were made into actual steps while the flatter sections were left to their natural shape. The sky was dark, a deep gray at the sides of a funnel the size of all of Quavoris but almost black at the center of the swirl. We had seen weather back on the farm, all kinds and sizes, but this was something more, an unnatural storm.

There were no paths down the mountain near the opening of the tunnel. Igneous rock had hardened forever ago, spilling down the sides of this mountain and creating misshapen ridges that were too steep and bulb-like to climb down. Even at my best, without Miko on my back, my ankles would slip eventually and cause me to tumble to my death. We would need to find a better path, which meant climbing further up the mountain. This storm was dangerous, but it was our only path forward to find a way down. We made our way to the stone-carved stairs and stepped through — every step up was a shooting pain in my spine — the soreness retreating with every forced stretch of my ligaments. This terrain repeated several times where natural flat rock formations would meet a proper stairway. Every fifty feet of height gained caused the temperature to drop; either that or the wind speed increased the chill that scraped my skin. After too long, we were near the mountain’s peak, and the sky hastened us to retreat. If I hadn’t had all this extra weight weighing me down, the sky likely would’ve swept me away as the idle winds flew past, piercing through my clothes and frosting their outer layer of thread. Now, I was thankful for the blood crusted around my wounds, protecting me from the icy air.

We had kept conversation to a minimum to not waste air, and every time we talked, it seemed to slow my pace until my lungs recuperated. From this height, the air was even thinner than in the tunnel, and the sweeping winds didn’t seem to help push the remaining air into my lungs any faster. Even now, I felt like I had to force every particle of oxygen through strained gulps.

If it gets any colder up here, I’m afraid my sweat will freeze, but that doesn’t scare me nearly as much as the stormy void above me. Pure black at the core, with tendrils of dark gray that swirled around the edge like a galaxy in the night sky. This place terrified me. Not the height of this mountain, where all the surrounding lands blur out of existence, or the icy winds that chill down to the marrow and make my clothes feel like paper. It was the night sky, an endless void that usually feels so unfathomably far. However, on the continent’s tallest mountain, standing underneath this deep dark funnel, I feel as though our entire journey could be whisked away in a violent thrust of wind. My foot stepped against the last of six steps that led onto the highest peak of the mountain. As I breached the final piece of the staircase, a flat white stone field lay before me, covered in a light spread of snow. Miko’s eyes could be felt over my shoulder as he scanned the mounds of stone stacked against the exterior. On a typical peak, the air would have swirled in the middle before sliding down the mountain and extending deep into the valleys below. Yet here, the rock formations formed walls against the edges, like a bowl.

With a sidestep, I angled my neck to look at Nomen behind us. He was expressionless, but his demeanor showed he was not going any further. This area must be our next trial.