Journeys in the Dark

The cave was darker than anything I had ever experienced before. The darkness was causing my brain to go haywire. At times, I thought I could see the outline of my hands as they groped the side of the cave walls, guiding me ever deeper into the bowels of the mountain. It had been some time since the first trial, and I once again found myself alone. Was this fate that I would end up taking each trial by myself?

My progress through the cave was slow, stumbling and falling left and right. The sword I had received I used as a cane to guide to me, keeping the sheath on so as to not damage the blade.

Plip plip plip

I heard droplets of water falling in the darkness as I advanced. The wall I had been using as a crutch started to bend outward. I wasn’t sure of the layout, but because there was more of an echo it told me that I should be in an open area. I followed the sound of the falling water. I bent down and tested the pool. It wasn’t too shallow so I took a sip of water. It was refreshing. I removed my gloves, cupped my hands, and splashed my face; when I opened my eyes, I was no longer in the cave, instead, I was back in my world on the streets of an unfamiliar but old city with cobblestone paths and oil streetlamps. A strange film of sepia clung over my eyes, colouring the world a brownish orange. I had no reason to believe what I was seeing or know where I was, but my gut told me I was on the set of a detective movie.

A finely dressed gentleman approached me and began to speak, but no sound came from his mouth. The world went black, and then a flash of words appeared, not in front of my eyes, but on my eyes:

Third victim this week.
Have you any inclination as to
how the murder was committed?

I blinked and I was back in the cave. I splashed my face again with the water. This time I was atop a snowy mountain peak. A blizzard raged around me, and on my side was an axe buried in the snow. I pulled the axe out of the snow and swung it overhead. For each revolution, the axe grew bigger and bigger, becoming colossal and unwieldy. The mountain seemed to shrink until I felt like a giant, lording over a tiny realm. I swung the axe at the top of the mountain, cleaving a clean portion off the top. But my swing was too forceful, and the momentum carried me off the mountain, flying through the air.

Before I hit the earth, I shot up with a start, like I had just dreamt I was falling. I was back in the cave, back in the darkness. In the distance, a faint light started to dance with the cave’s walls. Small and distant though it was, it grew in sharpness and precision as a spirit guided it towards me.

“Be careful not to take a third trip. It’s unlikely you’ll return,” said a mysterious voice from behind the light.

“Trip? What do you mean? Who are you?”

“You’re an inquisitive soul, aren’t you? I’m Dirgg, humble spirit of this cave. That water you so hurriedly touched infects the eyes and shows visions of strange lands.”

The strange spirit had shuffled close enough I could see him. He wore a long cloak from head to toe, and had ghastly white eyes. He was blind.

“Too many trips and you’ll be unable to differentiate the make-believe from the real. I’m sure you have many questions—as do I—but would you not prefer to join me in my humble abode? It’s more comfy than the hard stone ground here.”

I followed the mysterious spirit Dirgg back to his residence. It was indeed humble, almost ascetic. He offered me a stool, which I gladly accepted, setting down my backpack for the first time in quite a while. He moved about his home with such familiarity you’d hardly think he was blind. The light that he had guided before was kept inside a lantern. If I focused enough, I could make out a small six-sided star contained inside the lantern.

Dirgg came and sat next to me and said, “So, I told you my name, what is yours?”

“Oh, I’m Ferdinand...”

“Ferdinand? Just Ferdinand?”

“Yes, just Ferdinand.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. You never can be too careful in this world. ‘How did you know I was here?’ I can hear you say. Well, it’s not every day that a human soul wanders into my home. Quite a powerful thing it is.”

“You... you can sense my soul?”

“Oh yes, with quite some ease too. Any spirit that’s well attuned with the world can notice such, shall we say, anomalies. But tell me, Ferdinand, what’s brought you here?”

I told him the events that had led me to where I was and the trial assigned to me.

“So little Arvi wants you to slay Boreas, does he? Well, I can’t blame him. This land was once the sylph’s.”

“Do you think you can help me?”

“Me? Bah, I’m blind as bat. I’m afraid I’d be less than useless in a fight,” he said. He then leaned forward as if he sensed my disappointment. “But not all hope is lost. You have powerful companions with you, and the Hierophant’s Grail.”

“Could you locate them using your spirit powers?”

Dirgg roared with laughter at my request, nearly falling off his own stool.

“Forgive me. No, ‘spirit powers’ don’t quite work like that. I will lead you to the exit though. From there, the rest of the trial is in your hands. It wouldn’t befit our world’s hero to have too much help, now would it?”

“This world’s hero, huh? I didn’t ask for this, I just want to go home.”

“And go home you will.”

“I will? When? How?”

“Relax, boy. You will. As for when or how, I can’t say. Such answers aren’t yet revealed to me. We all have our parts to play in the world, and mine right now is to guide you out of this cave.”

“Oh, Drigg, one quick question: what was the deal with that water? How was I able to see such strange visions?”

“This world is mysterious and I don’t have an answer for you. Although, what I have learned is that what the water shows you are visions of yourself.”

“Visions of myself?”

That didn’t explain anything. What part of me was a detective on a movie set or a giant swinging an axe atop a mountain?

“Do not worry, your visions are personal, and in time will make themselves understood. The veil of consciousness will be pulled back and only the unconscious will remain. In that moment, you will have your answer. Now, I believe we’ve spent enough time here. Let’s go.”