The First Trial

Once we had all stepped foot into the fog, the doors behind us closed on their own. The area in front of us was dark. I couldn’t see more than half a foot in front of me—the fog was that thick. It would be easy to get lost here. What kind of trial would this be? My earlier courage and sense of action were wavering. Did the kings and other spirits expect a human to clear a trial when he has no magical powers like them? No training? They told me to go; and go I did, but I have no skills for any kind of trial—I’m just a paper-pushing office worker. Right now, all I want to do is go home.

“Uh, so, d-do we walk forward until the trial begins?” I asked.

“No one has been here before, so neither her Ladyship nor I know anything about it.”

“Ha, right, yeah that makes sense. Well... stay close, so we don’t get separated.”

The stretch of endless blackness from the entrance to infinity was swallowing each sound hungrily, growing fatter with each step that echoed. There was no difference in left or right in the trial and progress was as foreign a concept as this entire world was to me. A clammy layer of sweat formed between my skin and clothes while my breath got short and eyes blurry. I stopped.

“Marisa? Luna? Are you guys still here?” I called out.

Lips moved, vocal chords contracted, and the mind registered sound, but the ears didn’t. The two of them were behind me, so they should have heard me, yet I got no response. I looked and they weren't there. I waved the torch around without care looking for them, rushing to and fro. They were gone. No amount of heading in one direction or the other made a damn difference in finding those two.

I slowed my pace breath and picked a direction that best resembled going deeper into the cave. There was a force in the distance that I could sense. I had nothing to base this on, but it was a gut instinct that the chosen direction was the right one. Wandering aimlessly wasn’t going to find Luna and Marisa, but decisive action was a better alternative. The fog began to lessen and lighten in shade, no longer pitch black but some shade of grey.

In the middle of the cave, if there was such a thing as the middle in an endless chamber, stood a red couch and on the couch lay a woman with a red and white robe. Her face was obscured by the fog.

“Hello?”

Whether the fog was still devouring all sound, I couldn’t tell. I approached her and got as close as appropriate, but her face was still unseen. Neither a wave of the torch nor my hand incited reaction. I reached out and touched her shoulder, giving it a shake, but the woman didn’t respond. A second shake: nothing. This woman showed no reaction to any action I did. Perhaps it wasn’t a woman, but a doll. My hand ventured up to the nape of the neck, below the localized mask of fog that shrouded the face. The face that was not far from my hand. A slight movement and I would be able to feel it. I went for it.

Hands reached out and grabbed me, pulling me into an embrace on the sofa that threatened to smother me. The hug was warm and motherly, soft. Blood rushed all throughout my body. New senses I was never aware of became known for the first time. I struggled in the embrace, trying in vain to free myself. The torch had fallen down to the floor but I could still see the vague shape of the head. The fog surrounding it cleared and the embrace turned to ice. Marisa was looking back at me.

“Wha—? Marisa?”

She didn’t respond. Even if she couldn’t hear, she would have seen my mouth move. Blank and neutral, that was how my words were answered. I summoned my strength and pushed back against Marisa, freeing myself.

“Marisa, what are you doing? I thought I lost you. Where’s Luna?”

She continued to lay on the sofa unconcerned with my being. Then she turned her head and pointed with her left hand off to some distant point. What was there, I didn’t know, for I couldn’t see anything in that direction, yet for her to mindlessly and suddenly perform an action was strange. I walked around the sofa while Marisa held her hand steady. The sofa had no compartment where a puppeteer could be hiding.

“Am I supposed to go that way?” I asked.

Marisa had been uncommunicative since we had started journeying together. She wouldn’t change her mind and become non-verbal. The torch at my feet flickered, reflecting small portions of light in the surrounding fog. I bent down and reached for the torch, staying still for a moment as my mind fumbled to grasp a memory at its perimeter. Not just a memory but a concept woven with ideas and form. With my free hand, I touched the ground, accumulating what moisture from it as I could. I stuck out my tongue and licked my fingers. The moisture had a nauseating sweet acrid taste. I looked over at Marisa as she lay on the sofa. She gave off no blue hue or any kind of aura.

I grabbed the hand of the fake Marisa and pulled her off the couch, which she complied with easily. Her face was close to mine, every detail visible. I intently studied the fake Marisa's face, comparing it with my memory of the real Marisa’s. It was different enough where the contours of the cheeks weren’t at the same angle or the nose’s nostrils were slightly enlarged. It was an imperfect imitation—a reflection of an imperfect memory. It was a doll.

Such a situation begged the question of where the real Marisa went. The trial had left a fake Marisa doll here for a reason, and I was meant to find it. The cave, the trial, and the doll were an inseparable whole. I racked my brain for why the trial had shown me Marisa. She was first introduced as a high priestess, a role she took or was forced to take seriously, but her actions since the start of the journey showed a different side of her. If the Marisa doll was a high priestess, it was missing the headpiece that adorns one, or any items of significance. The doll was too bare with only a red and white robe. Taking a step to the side, I scanned the sofa for it or any other religious tool that a high priestess needs, but none were there.

“Who was that woman I saw you with this morning? Was she your mother?”

The doll turned its head and blinked once. Was the fog weak enough it could it hear me?

“Hello, hello, hello,” I said, faking an echo. “Do you know where Luna and the real you are? I need to find them and then a divine object that should be in here somewhere.”

Silence. A jester telling a joke that flops. Words had no effect, so I switched to hand gestures. I indicated I was looking for spirits. The doll held up its left hand and pointed forward again.

“I need to go that way?” I said, pointing to myself then to where the doll had pointed.

The doll nodded. Communication! I grabbed its right hand and dragged it with me as I headed off. When the fog shrouding the way didn’t change, I stopped walking. A fantastical idea came over me. I let go of the doll’s hand and held the torch with both hands. Rolling waves, swelling tides that ebbed and flowed, this was how the sea of fog lay before me and answered my command. I moved my hands apart, splitting the fog in half to reveal a path in the darkness. Ahead of us was a creature on the ground, curled up and small. When I got near it, I could see it was Luna.

“Hey, Luna, wake up. It’s me, Ferdinand,” I said, gently shaking Luna awake.

“Oh... Ferdinand, where... what happened?”

“I don’t know, we got separated in the fog at the beginning.”

“Ah, I see her Ladyship is safe with you... No, who is that!?” Luna said, puffing out her fur to stand on end.

“Relax, it’s a doll I found. It can help us. Somehow. I’m not entirely sure how it works but it led me to you.”

“Hmm, I’m wary of any object found in this cave. These are powers beyond our comprehension. What a trial.”

“You’re telling me. I still don’t understand what’s going on. Can you sense anything in this cave?”

“If you mean, can I sense her Ladyship or the object we seek, then no,” Luna said, closing her eyes. “I’m not a clairvoyant, and even if I were, this fog is dulling my senses.”

I turned to the doll and said, “That’s one companion found. Locate the other. Show us the way to Marisa.”

And again the doll pointed in a direction, to a near or far off place where we needed to go.

“This fog has some property that silences us. It would be best if you stuck close and held onto the doll’s robe,” I said to Luna.

“I have a better idea.”

She slinked behind me and then darted up my back, her claws pricking me as she climbed up. I led the doll by the hand as I went off with Luna on my shoulder to find our lost companion, Marisa. The parted fog retreated back to us, grey and opaque.