The Trinity

The cave didn’t look any different from a regular cave in Yav.

The rocks were cold, overgrown with moss. Droplets of water fell from the dark ceiling.

Zduhach stood face to face with a young man, his fiery red hair and beard faintly shining in the dark cave.

Dragomir eyed another man, much older. His silver hair and gray beard could tell century-old stories.

Milena’s encounter was the weirdest, to say the least. The one she encountered was a baby, not even a year old. Yet the baby was at her eye level.

But they had one thing in common. Each of them wore a blindfold.

The three entities started circling the bohatiers.

Only then did they realize that the heads… were floating. And missing bodies.

“Something very weird is going on!” Dragomir took a step back.

“Another of your old acquaintances?” Zduhach took a step back as well until they were almost back-to-back, tracking the floating heads.

“No, never seen this one!” Dragomir said.

“I think I saw the red-haired one near the Golden Egg!” Milena pointed at the young man’s face.

“Does that confirm he’s a god?” Zduhach asked. “Or rather…” He reached for an arrow. “…my prey?”

The heads then flew away, disappearing from their sight for a couple of seconds.

But then… footsteps.

Something was coming their way.

A single beam of light shone down from the ceiling, illuminating the red-haired man. He finally had a body. But the two additional heads, an old man’s to his right and a baby’s to his left, were quite a spectacle.

“What are you?” Milena wondered.

The man… or rather, men… untied the blindfold covering the redhead’s eyes.

“We are the God of Time. Our name is Triglav. Triglav, the Trinity, as the people of Yav call us.” Then all of the heads bowed. “Pleased to meet you.”

“God of Time?” That got Milena’s attention. “My name is Milena, the..." She hesitated for a moment. "...the bohatier.” She took out her pocket watch and showed it to the god. “Are you the owner of this?”

“We are not,” the Trinity replied.

“Then who-?” Before Milena finished her question, Dragomir cut in.

“Do you know anything about the Golden Egg?” he asked.

“We cannot say.”

Zduhach snapped. “Can I shoot him?!”

“We cannot sa-“

“Shut up!” Zduhach aimed his arrow at the god’s red head.

The cave had neither an entrance nor an exit. Even the ceiling emitting the light appeared to be closed off.

“How can we get out of here?” Milena asked.

“We cannot say.”

The bohatiers sat atop some of the larger rocks. As they tried to figure out how to escape, or make the god give them a proper answer, Milena’s head began to sway. She barely kept her eyes open.

“Milena, you’ve got to sleep.” Dragomir moved closer to her. “We’ll figure something out. This guy doesn’t seem dangerous. He’s just annoying.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m fine. I don’t want to forget about you.”

Zduhach tapped his foot against the rocky ground. “Aaah! How long are we gonna be stuck here?!”

“Until you pass the trial.” The Trinity unexpectedly answered.

The three of them snapped their heads toward the god.

“So you can actually talk properly!” Zduhach pointed an accusatory finger at Triglav. “What’s this trial about?”

“We cannot say.”

“Curse you, you stupid baby-red-old fart!” The half-god turned away.

Dragomir stood up. “I think I get it!”

“Huh?” Milena’s confusion was written all over her face.

“Let’s test it! How old are you?” Dragomir asked the god.

“We lost count after the first five hundred years.”

“What color is your beard?”

“We cannot say.”

“How long have we been here with you?”

“For about two thousand eight hundred and twenty seconds.”

“Where is the Golden Egg?”

“We cannot say.”

“What are you trying to accomplish, Debilmir?”

“It’s quite simple. This three-headed bastard only answers time-related questions.”

“But he answered who he was before,” Zduhach tilted his head.

“I think I understand now, too. He can talk about himself because he’s the God of Time.” Milena yawned.

“Hmm, time-related… time-related...” Zduhach tapped his foot against the ground again. “Can you see the future?”

“We can.”

“Will I succeed in my quest to kill the gods?”

“We cannot say.”

Dragomir then joined in. “Can the old man head talk about the future to us?”

“No, Triglav of the Past cannot talk about future. Triglav of the Future knows about the times yet to come.”

“So that baby head represents the future…” Milena deduced.

“We want to talk to the future head!” Zduhach pointed at it.

“Questions about the future are your reward for conquering the past.”

“Alright then, let’s conquer the past, I guess,” Dragomir blurted out without a second thought.

The Trinity tied the blindfold around the Triglav of the Present’s eyes. In the distance, something living took shape in the darkness.

A pair of red eyes lit up and moved closer.

A pitch-black horse, missing its hooves, hovered above the ground and moved closer.

The Trinity took off the blindfold from the eyes of Triglav of the Past. The old head spoke for the first time. “Ride the Steed of Before.”

Dragomir stepped forward as the others followed.

The horse reared, making the bohatiers jerk back.

“Only one of you shall ride the Steed of Before. The one who accepted the trial.”

Milena and Zduhach glared at Dragomir.

“Ugh, I guess it’s up to me.” Dragomir carefully approached the animal. He reached a hand toward its head and gently stroked it to make sure it wouldn’t attack. “Good… good boy.”

“The Steed of Before is a mare.”

Dragomir’s cheeks reddened. “Weren’t you supposed to talk only about time?!”

“Triglav of the Past is not bound by the same rules as Triglav of the Present.”

“Good. Then what about that trial? How do I pass?”

“By saving the dushe of someone you once cared about.”

“What?” Dragomir froze. “What does that mean?”

“You shall see. But should you fail, your dusha will be lost forever.”

The bohatier gulped. But then he jumped onto the horse, gently patting her neck.

“Dragomir!” Milena called out. “Be careful!”

Zduhach placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. He’s the boss, right?”

“Let the bohatier conquer the past, Steed of Before!” Triglav’s voice boomed throughout the cave.

The horse neighed.

And then she ran.

She ran in circles around the bohatiers and the god. The more she ran, the more the darkness faded. She ran until the black mare vanished completely, and Dragomir disappeared along with her.

***

The flame was burning. It emitted pleasant warmth. But it stood still. The sky lacked the usual source of light.

And the aroma of something tasty floated in the air.

Dragomir’s gaze wandered until it found two sausages, perfectly grilled, laying on the Little Table.

“Zduhach…? Milena? Did you prepare this?”

“Are you hallucinating?” A man’s voice answered.

But it wasn’t Zduhach’s.

It had been a long time. Five long years since he had heard that voice.

“I know we’ve been in Prav for some time now, but don’t you go crazy on me now that we’re so close to our goal, partner!”

Dragomir’s mouth went dry. He could barely breathe. A cold bead of sweat trickled down his face.

The man added firewood to the hearth. His hair was long and chestnut-colored. Everybody could immediately tell that this man took care of himself.

Not a single scar decorated his hands or face.

The cape he wore looked comfortable. One could be jealous of such expensive-looking cloth, not to mention the three golden rings on the fingers of his left hand.

“L-… Levoslav…!”

Chapter 23: END