Chapter 14: "Lagoon over the Skyward Veil"

Days after, we crossed the frontier of The Fringe Cities. We found ourselves about two nights’ walk from The Abyss of the Forsaken Faiths.

In the heart of a millenary forest, gigantic trees rose to thumping heights. The thicket of their treetops filtered the sunlight, piercing the humidity of the air with golden rays, creating an ethereal ambience alongside a light mist, the product of the foliage and the overflow of life.

“Look, there are houses embedded in their trunks. Why have they built in a place this high?! Could it be that there are monsters on the ground and that’s why they remain in the heights?” Zera asked, excited.

“The only thing I know is that we arrived in Elythos.”

The houses are conjoined by a system of hanging bridges, rope stairs, and meandering platforms between one level and another. Don’t they find it complicated to live like that?

“Why don’t you better ask them?” I said, pointing at a family in the distance. They were travelling between the different floors of the place using a wooden elevator, sustained by pulleys. “On the way, let’s find accommodation: I’m not thinking of sleeping outdoors tonight.”

“Hooray!”

After climbing an infinity of stairs, passing from tree to tree, and asking some villagers, we arrived at a lodging. A young couple attended us. Both had their faces painted with green and carried a reel of rope on their waists.

They are pretty eccentric.

“Good morning,” Zera greeted. “We would like to stay here for a night.”

It’s not my thing to talk to strangers, so I’ll let her procure two beds.

I remained on the doorframe, watching how they used ropes to jump from one branch to another.

During their chat, a kid appeared.

“Mom, there’s no honey anymore. I want more bread with honey!”

“We told you not to leave your room, Kui,” his father scolded, his voice shaky. “During daytime you have to stay there, it’s for your own good.”

He sounds scared. Maybe I could use that to my advantage…

“Why do you lock him up?” I said, trying to get information.

What I said sounded worse than I intended it to be. Maybe I should have tried to express myself in another way… They must think I’m threatening them…

“You misunderstood us.” The father replied. “Over the village falls a gruesome curse: once a month, a fog descends as fast as the sun sets and kidnaps the younger ones.”

“Kui is the last child here.” The mother added, downcast. “We are certain that tonight, that thing will take him away.”

Both were heartbroken; their faces didn’t hide their anguish.

It’s the perfect chance to benefit from them.

“We can try to help them, isn’t that right, Darek?” said Zera, as kind as always.

“In exchange, you’ll let us stay without having to spend a coin,” I answered.

Zera glared at me with a fuming face: she hated when I took advantage of others. However, they accepted without complaint.

When we left our things in the bedchamber, they told us in detail what had happened, and we left immediately to investigate.

The wood crunched with every step, as if it were about to give in at any moment. It would be a fall of hundreds of meters.

The sun set as we roamed the forest, walking over intricate roads, never-ending paths, and climbing the trees.

“And how did you end up with your parents, Zera? After all, you are accompanying a future god-killer just to find them,” I inquired, trying to know her more.

“Wonderfully! Or well, that was before: the last time I saw them was when I was a child. Always by my side… if work allowed it. Now, I’ve forgotten their faces.”

“What do you mean?” On our left, some young men competed to see which was the farthest branch they could hang from.

“That I don’t remember them. My memories about them are diffuse. Every time I think about them, I feel that something fogs my memories and keeps me from seeing them clearly. That’s why I want to find them, to clarify my childhood.”

She didn’t say she wanted to find them to be a family again or to be happy. It’s more like she sounded as if she had pending accounts with them… But it’s Zera, not a girl who holds grudges against people. Then why…?

While walking along one of the thicker trunks, we found an abandoned house: the straw ceiling was sunken, the clay walls had serious cracks, and some wooden planks were missing.

“You told me they worked as itinerant sellers, hadn’t you?”

“Yes, and they also offered street performances,” she answered sharply and moved away from me in a way unbefitting of her.

In the middle of a bridge, we looked down. On the dome of one of the elevators, scattered across the village, birds fed on the fruit that the villagers had left for them.

“Zera, why don’t you remember your childhood?”

Even I can remember mine from my past life, and that was thirty years ago. I died at sixteen and reincarnated in this world eighteen years ago.

“It’s not that I don’t remember, it’s that I don’t make the effort. When I think about my past, my head hurts and my stomach flips.”

“Then why do you want to meet them?” I pressed on, confused.

It’s illogical. Just thinking about them causes her discomfort… and yet she wants to find them? Why doesn’t she stay away from what harms her?

“I don’t know. I miss them, and I know that I was happy with them. But at the same time… I feel my mind lies to me, hides something from me, and I can’t live with this doubt.” She stopped to glance at the little birdhouses on the lantern posts at the corners. “Seeing that child, and his family protecting him… a bitter taste came to my mouth.”

What does she feel? Nostalgia? Resentment? Envy, perhaps?

Two young men passed by our side, bragging about the Chuuhuyals they had hunted in the morning.

“They caused me doubt, but I’m not sure about what,” she concluded.

At that moment, two figures entered one of the branches of an old tree, just about to collapse. Zera started running after them, desperate, without giving an explanation. I ran after her.

What’s gotten into her all of a sudden?

We jumped from branch to branch frantically, using the abandoned ropes we found around. The tree leaves formed veils that prevented us from seeing clearly. I felt violent pinches all over my body: it was the attrition with the foliage.

“What’s gotten into you, Zera?”

“They were my parents! I swear I saw them! They are around,” she answered, rejoicing.

She climbed a bindweed of violet plants and fused into a tree crown. When I got inside and brushed the leaves away from my face, I marveled at the landscape.

I’d never thought I’d reach the top of a tree that surpassed the clouds with such thumping majesty.

Around it, other colossal plants broke through the white mantle below us.

The sky was clear, with a blue so sharp I had never seen before: the purity of nature in this place had no comparison.

Above the treetops, guarded like a secret, rested a lagoon of pristine waters that perfectly reflected the horizon. Zera, without thinking twice, submerged herself into the heart of that place. Meanwhile, my gaze got lost in the distance.

It had been minutes—why wasn’t she out yet?

Slowly, I waded into the water. The temperature was just right, and a supernatural peace surrounded it.

Why do I have to do this? Who sends her to take a dip? What a nuisance…

Once at the center, a kelp brushed against my leg.

“You weren’t here before,” I muttered to myself.

Then it tangled around my legs, making me lose my balance. The leaves supporting the lagoon gave way, and I sank into its depths.

What the hell? What’s going on? Why can’t I see anything? What is this feeling? I’m sinking… but I’m not drowning?

My head felt suffocated, my body turned heavy. I tried with all my strength to breathe. Nonetheless, I didn’t need it, as if I were inside a magical bubble.

Something made me spin around, like a whirlpool.

What’s this? A watercourse? The lagoon was small and tranquil; it’s impossible that it’s a watercourse!

I struggled, trying to reach the surface, but it was in vain: the water slipped through my hands; I couldn’t get any leverage. I had fallen into its trap.

I’m feeling light again! What the hell is going on?

Then I understood: I had been engulfed by the lagoon. Everything looked light blue, with bubbles floating everywhere.

Where am I? Is… this the same place? The tree cups remained where I had been before, but the sky had acquired a reddish, sinister tone. It was as if I had fallen into a crooked reflection of the world, hidden beneath the water’s surface.

A thick mist with a putrid odor hovered over the water.

Zera had disappeared.