A Perilous Adventure

There was a land devoid of life.

In its emptiness is also a vastness of noiseless space.

For millennia, this has been the case with this barren terrain.

Then, one day, a storm brewed and ravaged the place, hitting the land with both thunder and rain and laying waste to what was for a long time had been a tranquil place, with nothing in it.

The chaos brought forth by the event lasted for a long while, spanning tens of thousand of years of non-stop turmoil to the land.

But in its wake, life began.

In the mud, the first few among the Giants—at least, that is how they were known—came to be, rising as the gargantuan creatures that tower over everything around them.

Big and muscular, the Giants could boast of unparalleled strength within the land, though at the time, the presence of other creatures remained oblivious to them.

From their perspective, there were only their kind.

But even with the existence of other creatures, their jaw-dropping stature can easily overwhelm and overpower any other creature and conquer any territory they set their gaze in.

Some among the early Giants even thought that that was indeed their destiny.

Yet, with a land as wide and varied as their eyes can see, everything is up for the taking with no one to compete.

Meanwhile, in a different place, beings with two arms and four legs arose from a deep slumber, still wet by the rains—as if newborns—that partially gave them life.

Centaurs, as they call themselves, have eventually established themselves to be nomads, moving from one place to another.

Essentially freedom-loving, no Centaur has ever remained in a single place for most of their lifetime.

The only time that a Centaur would stop moving is when they are old enough to retire their old bones.

Through the power of their wandering spirit and fiery curiosity, no other creatures knew the lay of the land like themselves.

However, these are just a few of the many critters that were born because of the event.

In its transformation, the land that was once alien to sound and movement has become a place that thrives in them, unceasingly and abundantly.

This land—though known by many names by its diverse natives—was known mostly as Ganad.

#

Credited for establishing the very first map of Ganad—or at least, part of it—the Elder Centaurs have always warned their young of not straying too far when wandering the land.

The elders are aware that there is such a thing as wandering too far, even among themselves who prided in outrunning any other beings on land.

Yes, throughout time, the Centaurs have been active witnesses to how their small space in Ganad has transformed from a place of relative nothingness to a place of abundance, especially life.

From birds to animals of various terrains and from plants to trees, they understand that these are other forms of life, separate from them.

While they learned to cohabitate with these other critters, they survive and thrive eating only plants.

Yet, the elders were never explicit in what the warning truly meant—

Among the inexperienced, it was just that, a warning, or rather a restriction imposed on them to prevent them from reaching places farther than their usual reach.

Some are fearful of the warnings that they dread every thought of getting past certain lines.

Yet, somehow, there also remain the unwavering ones who are instead given more to their curiosity rather than their fear.

#

There was once a time when a group of young Centaurs began wandering the far corners of the land they called home as Aegon—

A small stretch of land in the Northeast that is known largely for being flat but teeming with greenery, including towering trees that oftentimes serve as shade among the horse-people populace.

Many say that the trees in this land are as old as the ancient Centaurs themselves.

Comprised of five young human-stallions who called each other friends, one acted as a leader among the group by sheer virtue of age.

The eldest among the group, a Centaur by the name of Draxion, took the lead as he and his friends—Thalorion, Caelorn, Bronteskar, and Aerion—ventured places like they always would.

While known for following orders, Draxion, to say the least, can be defiant at times.

Sometimes, when opportunity arises, he likes to push boundaries—doing exactly the opposite of what was instructed to him.

“Well, if no one is getting harmed, then it is well worth trying, right?” he said to himself.

In retrospect, the five-member group was never put into trouble with their lead, so how could this journey be any different?

But while his friends respect his authority as the leader, with him being the eldest Centaur of the group, it typically takes a group decision whether to follow his whims or not.

When it counts, Caelorn, the second oldest member of the group, often serves as the second brain, oftentimes speaking on behalf of the three younger members.

So, when a decision was made over something, you can bet that there is a harmonious agreement among the members of the team.

One of those moments happened when the group decided to go beyond what they normally traveled on foot, not knowing what lay beyond.

#

The elders have always spoken of a line that every Centaur in the tribe should not cross.

Many who have heard of the warning know this line as the row of thick and large trees that no Centaur has ever dared cross.

The elders simply spoke of it as a dead end with nothing going beyond it.

From the outset, it might seem true, with the trees seemingly—and eerily—evenly placed, that no Centaur can enter easily.

A small creature, like a rodent, can, maybe, but never a Centaur, with its lower part the size of a horse.

Yet, if there is something about this seeming dead-end that the mind can perceive, it is that there is something ominous emanating from it.

If dark is the perfect illustration of what ominous is, then the dead-end’s seeming absence of light coming from the other side does suggest it.

But there is no hindrance to a group of deeply curious young Centaurs that persistence cannot overcome.

In their case, it took weeks of group effort chopping down trees, in a bid to open a path for the discovery of what lies on the other side.

For weeks, the team has been sneaking on the border carrying lamps as a source of illumination, chopping down trees in a straight direction.

It has been an exhausting ordeal, but with every tree fallen down comes a chance for the light to enter and illuminate an otherwise dark place, which brings joy to each member of the group.

There is no counting how many trees they have chopped throughout the weeks they have been at it.

However, if there is one thing that was made obvious, it is that the trees within what seems to be a forest also happen to be natively jet black themselves, which only became apparent as light finally touches on them.

They are not gloomy because of the absence of light in the area, but rather simply are.

The group has already been chopping the last tree to what they assume is an entrance to another side of the world, unawares—one which the elders themselves may not have known, or so they thought.

So, when the last tree fell, what opened was an entrance to just yet another dark side of the world, to everyone’s surprise.

“What is this?” asked the friends, seemingly in unison.

Looking at it, everything about the place does seem like a shade.

The young Centaurs know, however, that it is daytime still, as the open spaces of the forest remain lighted.

Only from a place with so much light can that be.

Or perhaps, a hundred lamps all lighting the place can, but where are they even going to get that many for their secretive act?

Notwithstanding, the group pressed on.

#

Stepping into the other side of the border feels like walking into a new territory at night.

While yes, everything about the place is dark, there is still a sense of brightness that gives you, at least, some visual clarity of the terrain.

Instinctively, that perception led the five members to look skyward.

And their suspicion is right—there is indeed a moon bright enough to shed some light in the immensity of the shady domain.

But how can this new area be on a different time cycle when it is just a stretch of land away from their homeland?

For the quintet, seeing the disparity is truly bizarre, and one that they could not completely describe.

Especially so, for a place they do not even have a name for, which they are only conveniently referring to as the “dark place”.

“Dark place”—yeah, it could not get any clearer and more depicting than that.

Further exploration into the place showed more than just a difference in the level of lighting in the place—while Aegon is known for a place thriving with various forms of life, the “dark place” is quite the contrast.

Although there are visible trees, most of them are largely leafless and are just shells of their former selves.

And while there are some trees that still “live,” at least from the outset that seems to be the case, they seem sketchy enough to even be called trees.

In place of birds, the sky is littered with bats—made obvious by the shape of their wings and the sound they produce—that seem to encircle the area, non-stop.

No one in the group knows whether this sort of flying creature serves a special purpose for doing just that,t or is just as free as the birds they knew back in their hometown—

But to them, they are just the same flying animal, just a different set of wings and echo.

Worse still is, perhaps, the presence of bones in places, as if there had been animals in this area once, but are now just remnants in it.

But the more pressing question still is, perhaps, who is killing these animals, to begin with?

Unsurprisingly, each of the five members of the group’s jaw dropped at every sight of it.

One can only surmise about the extent of this carnage, considering the enormity of the land, which only gets darker the farther you look at it.

#

Still taking the lead, Draxion led the team further into the land in a bid to make sense of their discovery.

Their newfound finding has been generally ominous, so far—but that is, maybe, quite expected for a place that did not have much light, has strange foliage, and a presence of death pretty much everywhere.

Exhausted from the undertaking, one of the young Centaurs asked for a rest.

“Wait... Can we not all take a rest first? I’m tired...” said Bronteskar, whose name quite literally says “Thunder hooves,” born from the family’s reputation as among the fastest runners of the clan.

“Yeah, I’m feeling weary myself,” said Aerion, the “Wind rider” as his name implies, chosen especially for his love of running the grassy fields, as fast as the wind.

Not stating the contrary, Thalorion—whose name means “Of the ancient forest,” given by the family’s special role in protecting Aegon’s thick and highly-guarded woodland—said, “Oh, you, guys, too?”

Listening to the younger members' plea, Caelorn—known for his angelic features and soothing voice, whose name also means “Sky-born”—presented the case to Draxion, the leader, whose name means “Fierce guardian”.

“All right, let us take a rest here for a while. I, too, am feeling quite spent, after all,” Draxion said to the group, with a degree of magnanimity.

To not only calm their now-tensed bodies but also to clear the worries off their minds in a bid to continue the uncertain journey ahead, the group spent each other’s company in relative silence.

Then, all of a sudden, a large growl can be heard from afar—

GROWL!!!

“What was that?!” said each member, almost in unison.

Sweat was clearly forming on their brows, with some of the members visibly shaken by the intensity of the volume.

For these young Centaurs, there has never been a louder sound than that one they have just heard, making even the strongest of thunder in Aegon’s history seemingly less audible in comparison.

As soon as the event happened, Draxion’s defiance—and waywardness—kicked in.

Standing up from a sitting position, following a time of rest, the group’s leader headed straight to where the sound came from, causing the others to panic and follow suit.