Chapter 5

"Gah!" Riley jolted awake on the couch. Examining the room frantically, he grabbed at the cushions to confirm his place in reality.

The night had passed, and the light of morning peeked in through the cracks of the plastic blinds. Looking to his side, Abel had gone, leaving in his place dozens of pages of notes and scribbles that Riley recognized as an attempt to decipher the tome. Picking up one page, he examined the script.

"The Druid works alongside Nature, and not against it, for they are the Masters of Succession." He muttered to himself, reading it over. "They must observe the world through hungry eyes before satiating themselves in design. They must see the tree for its collection of leaves and roots and bark, not simply for the fruit it bears. They must allow the ecosystem opportunity for evolution, for any stagnant system is doomed to wither and die—"

The door to the front of the apartment slammed, jarring Riley and catching his attention. Abel entered the room with an uncooked bagel in his mouth, unaware of Riley as he tossed his key to the counter. Humming to himself, he took a bite out of the bagel and continued forward.

"That's blasphemy," Riley scoffed.

"Shit—" Abel jumped, speaking through the food in his mouth. "When did you wake up?"

"Just a few minutes ago. What's this?"

Holding up the page to Abel, Riley watched as his friend frowned and took hold of the sheet.

"I thought if I wrote down the scribbles, it would jog something." He said as he swallowed the dry bite of bagel and shook his head. "But nothing."

"Scribbles? No, I'm talking about that—I don't know—shitty poem? We are Druids working with nature, and we are the Masters of Success—or some nonsense."

"Did you hit that lettuce when you woke up?" Abel handed the page back and pointed to the book. "There's nothing here but scratches of that made-up language you were speaking last night. I copied it from that page there—"

Riley stared down at the book and examined the letters. He rubbed at his eyes and read the words once again.

"What—the actually—fuck." Riley said as he held the book to Abel. "It's in English now."

Abel leaned in, examining the book for a moment before standing up and narrowing his eyes.

"Nope, still fucking scribbles, man. That settles it—" Abel released a defeated sigh as he took another bite from the side of the bagel and sat on the couch. "Only you can read that book, bud."

"What do you mean?" Riley asked as he took the tome back.

"I mean, after you got all zonked out tracing that pattern, I stayed up the rest of the night trying to make heads or tails of it. I even went and made a Druid in League Wars and power-levelled. I saw those trees and read the text—"

"And?"

"And you're the only one." Abel looked over to Riley, his eyes revealing both disappointment and happiness. "But hey, yarr' a Druid, Riley! And it looks like I'm your ruggedly handsome normie sidekick."

Riley looked down at the tome he held and examined the words. His thumb was beside one word in particular that stuck out to him. Succeed.

"Did you get to the tree with the word succeed?" Riley asked as his dream came rushing back to him.

"Yeah."

"What does it want me to succeed at?" He continued, his hands waving wildly in the air as he talked. "Like, a puzzle or something? How do I succeed without knowing what the challenge is?"

"I don't know. I just unlocked vine whip in the game—did you unlock that, in like, real life?"

"Did you learn any words for it?"

"No..." Abel grumbled as he took a bite out of his bagel. "But there was this small bird on a branch. A finch, maybe? I don't know—"

Riley looked down at the table and the notes that Abel had jotted down. Another note caught his eye as he reached over and picked it up. It was an artful sketch of a tree with a moon traced into the canopy.

"Where did you see this?" Riley gasped.

"I just...drew it? Well, I went out to enjoy some of that cabbage patch in the parking lot and saw the moon coming up and—"

"The parking lot?" Riley interrupted. "We have a balcony, though."

"Well, I, uhh—" Abel rubbed at his arm. "I was looking for that apple seedling I hucked. I thought if I could find it, maybe—anyways. So yeah, I saw the moon, came back up, drew the tree with the moon because...yeah, it was cool. Why?"

Riley stopped and thought of what to say next. He could feel his friend's stare burning into the side of his head as he waited for the answer.

"I've had some pretty vivid dreams the last two nights." He stood up and walked away from the seat as he thought about the darkness. "An abyssal void that consumed everything. Echoing screams. A tree with a moon in the canopy."

"Whoa, freaky," Abel replied. "Like this tree and moon?"

"Not a crescent moon—a full one—but yes, very similar."

"Achekayoo'emefoh'efyouwhy—sacrifice." The voice spoke in his mind. Riley shivered as a chill raced along his spine, and the hairs over his body stood.

Abel stared at Riley, having seen the whole event transpire. He stepped closer, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder before opening his mouth to say, "Share with the class."

"The voice—"

"The book voice?" Abel cut in.

"Yeah. It said...sacrifice."

Riley watched as Abel's face slackened and the hairs stood on his body. With wide eyes and mouth agape, he moved a single step back.

"Just so we're clear...I'm not a virgin, so I don't count," He half-joked with his hands up. "Right?"

With a laugh, Riley reached out and pushed at Abel's shoulder. "I don't think you'd be a pleasing sacrifice. Too lean."

"You're goddamn right I am," Abel said proudly, taking a final big bite of bagel and clapping his hands. "Speaking of lean. You have nothing to eat in your house—"

"Yeah, I need groceries."

"Well, it's Saturday, and the stores are open, so let's go get-you-some and have a friendly chat about sacrifice, Silence of the Rams."

"Sure—but I need to shower first," Riley said, giving himself a sniff and recoiling from his stench. "Ouff. And I need to shit. I haven't used the bathroom in, like, over a day."

"Okay—well—hurry it up, Druid," Abel said as he walked towards the balcony. "I'll be outside enjoying some herbs."

"Kay. Just a minute."

Riley moved away from Abel with a grumble as he cautiously made his way into the bedroom. Inspecting it thoroughly before entering, he felt confident that there was no darkness to consume him this time through. Flipping the switch in the bathroom resulted in a flash from above the mirror, bathing the space in white light. Riley released a sigh of relief as he quickly closed the door and proceeded to prepare himself for the day.

Rushing through his usual morning routine, he emerged from the bathroom in a towel and found himself a new outfit. He stepped into a pair of baggy khaki shorts and lifted a green short-sleeve shirt over his head. Once he was fully clothed, he raised the blinds and knocked on the patio window for Abel to join him once more indoors. As the door opened and closed in the other room, Riley pulled a pair of sandals he rarely wore from under the bed and slipped his feet into them.

"Hey, bud, you ready to—" Abel started, but stopped as Riley joined him in the main space of the apartment. "Oh, hey there, Magical Messiah, thanks for joining us. I haven't seen Riley, but—"

"That bad?" Riley asked as he looked down at his outfit.

"I mean, it looks like you're searching for twelve other friends to go down to the splash pad with. Get them to watch you walk on puddles before a big barbecue. So if that was your inspiration, it looks great!"

Riley crossed his arms and smacked his lips, to which Abel returned with a hearty laugh. Approaching, the friend slapped a hand to Riley's chest. "I'm just busting ya—let's get going."

Grabbing the keys, Riley and Abel made their way downstairs towards the car. Exiting into the morning light, Riley was immediately hit with the oppressive heat of the day. He could feel the asphalt baking beneath his feet as he made his way to the vehicle.

"Ugh, this heat," Riley remarked. "How hot is it going to be today?"

"Eh, it's not that bad. No worse than any other day this week." Abel replied. "It's only going to be hot-as-hell today. Next week is when we reach the hotter-than-fuck temperatures."

As Riley entered the car, he quickly buckled himself in. Turning the keys, the engine sputtered to life with a slight cough. As he rolled down the windows, Riley backed the vehicle out of his parking spot. With a stroke of luck, as he raced his way to the strip mall across from his work, he hit every green light and found the perfect parking spot.

"I'll swing into Lux'mart and take advantage of some of those daily low values," Riley said as he turned the car off. Looking in his mirror, he eyed the giant blue billboard of the store behind him. Adjusting his gaze, he looked out his door and saw the heaving of painted signs in the distant ChargeCo parking lot.

"Sacrifice." The voice whispered to him.

"Achekayoo'emefoh'efyouwhy." Riley whispered instinctively in reply before unbuckling and exiting the car in the direction of the protestors.

"Bless you—" Abel responded automatically before realizing Riley wasn't listening. "Hey, where're ya going?"

"The protestors." Riley turned back, gripping the door tightly. "I have to talk to the protestors."

Slamming the door shut, Riley began to briskly walk away to the muffled yell of Abel, "Why don't you just drive there?!" But he didn't stop as he rushed across two parking lots, passing between the cars parked above the radiating asphalt.

"Hey!" Riley called out once he was close enough to read the climate change signs and confirm he wasn't accidentally approaching an anti-vax rally. "Hey, you—um, protestors. I have a question."

A collection of heads—the most diverse Riley had ever seen united in a cause—turned to look at him as he rushed forward frantically. The majority turned their attention back to the discussion underway by the rest of the group. Still, one smiling face with a shaved head stepped out and approached.

"Hi," The soft, welcoming voice of the woman contrasted with the lively discussion behind. "I'm Hanna. Can I help you?"

"Hi, umm—" Riley stopped a few feet away, suddenly aware of where he was and the questions he lacked. In a panic, he blurted the first thing that came to his mind. "How do you know?"

"What?" She replied with a curious smile.

"How do you know climate change is real?" Riley asked and watched as several heads turned once more in his direction. He began to panic. "Not that—not that I don't believe in it. I just—just, you know, how would you explain it..."

"Umm—" Hanna pursed her lips before revealing a small smile once more. "Well, to begin, ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that humans are causing this current climate crisis and Holocene extinction."

"Yeah, but..." Riley looked from Hanna to the group behind her with a confused look. "I remember hearing that the planet goes through warming and cooling periods. And there have been tons of mass extinctions before. So this is normal, right?"

A single laugh erupted from the group behind Riley, catching his attention. He looked at the curious onlookers. A few eyed him judgmentally, and the rest sympathetically. Hanna raised her hand as she looked back at the group, flashing them a look of her own.

"Let's not be rude," She said before turning back to Riley. "You are correct. The Earth does warm and cool over time—usually over several thousand to millions of years. The last time the Earth was this warm was about fifty-five million years ago. At the peak of this event, one point seven billion metric tons of carbon were released into the atmosphere every year for an estimated four thousand years. This affected the climate for over two hundred thousand years. Relate that to twenty-fourteen, where we were emitting nine-point-eight billion metric tons annually. Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been releasing carbon at an unsustainable rate, changing the climate over two hundred years instead of four thousand."

A few voices muttered agreement in the background as Hanna inspected Riley's face.

"But how is that—humans couldn't do that..." Riley denied as the numbers rolled around in his mind. "But that's like...the big companies, right?"

"Yeah, fuck capitalism!" A voice cried out, and a few others joined in as an unimpressed Hanna focused her attention on Riley.

"Yes, large companies and government activities, through activities such as fossil fuel use and war, do contribute more to global emissions than many developing nations. But don't let that fool you from the fact that we still need the populations of developed countries to adjust their consumption habits. It's not just gas emissions. It's about overconsumption, biodiversity loss, and soil degradation as well."

"Consumption habits? Like, what? Give up meat?" Riley asked as he stared into the grey eyes of Hanna. "I-I don't think I can."

"We all say that at first." She laughed, reaching out and touching his arm. "We're so quick to see it as a sacrifice. When really it's more like minimalization."

"Sacrifice." The voice whispered once more to him, and he felt his eyes widen. He felt a knot grow in his stomach, twisting and writhing like a sapling in his palm.

"Sacrifice?" Riley said in a panic and watched as Hanna's face shifted into worry.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. It's more—"

"Excuse me." Riley interrupted as nausea overwhelmed him.

Turning, he made eye contact with Abel, who had finally caught up to him. Riley didn't wait to explain, pealing away down the side of the ChargeCo. Finding cover behind a concrete divider separating the loading bays, he took a knee. With heavy heaves, he proceeded to expel the bile of his stomach.

"Dude, you okay?" Abel asked as he rounded the corner and approached slowly.

"No, I..." Riley panicked as he looked up at his friend. Bile and saliva hung from his quivering lips. "I think I have to go vegan."

"What?" Abel laughed in reply. "Why would you need to do that?"

Fighting the bile, Riley muttered the little Druidic he had learned. With open hands, the tome landed in his grip, which he quickly lifted to Abel.

"Achekayoo'emefoh'efyouwhy." He said between dry heaves. "Sacrifice."

Looking past Abel, a figure caught Riley's attention. He shifted to see the shocked face of Hanna looking between him and the book he had magically summoned.