Chapter Eight: A Quiet Meal
Written by Ethan
After stepping through the portal, Ja and Kaia found themselves in yet another cave. The ceiling and ground were covered in stalagmites and stalactites, making it feel like they were standing in the mouth of a horrible beast. Several enormous humanoid skeletons were laid out on the ground of the cavern, only adding to the fear that the two had once again stumbled into a world full of terror.
“This is not what I asked for,” Ja said to the mirror. “Take us somewhere safe.” He spoke with authority, but his words somehow didn’t feel as strong as they had when he was in the body of the Blood Summoner.
The mirror began to buzz to life but quickly stopped, just as it did when Ja had made his last vague command.
“The mirror honored your previous request,” replied the tongue. “You did not ask for safety; you asked for a world without men like the Blood Summoner. The mirror’s power is not unlimited. You must wait.”
“How long?” Ja asked in frustration.
“As long as it takes.”
He looked to Kaia, who merely shrugged and began walking towards the source of light outside.
“We should take a look around,” she said.
“I’d rather wait in here with the giant skeletons.”
“Yeah, well you might end up waiting with whatever turned them into skeletons, too.” She pointed to the opening at the far end of the cavern. “Come on, we’ve made it this far.”
Kaia reached out to Ja, inviting him to join her. As he took her hand, feelings of shame suddenly tore through his mind. He’d felt so strong as the Blood Summoner, making decisions with confidence and facing challenges without needing constant reassurance from his companion. During those months in Orn, Ja had forgotten just how much Kaia had pushed him during the perilous first days of their journey. Her sheer will to survive had been strong enough to make even the worst situations seem manageable. And now she was a great hunter, even better equipped to deal with whatever new dangers came their way. Ja’s body felt a little older and stronger since his time in Orn, but any real power he gained living as the Blood Summoner had only been temporary.
The two cautiously walked towards the mouth of the cavern, careful not to disturb the massive corpses that lay upon the ground. Based on the scattered remains, the former owners of the skeletons were at least a head or two taller than Torv - who was at least a head or two taller than them - and much wider at the shoulders. Each of the skulls had dull blue stones placed within the eye sockets and the limbs were strung with thin strands of rope that appeared to keep the whole skeleton intact, as if they had been prepared for some kind of ceremony. With beings like this around, it was no wonder men like the Blood Summoner didn’t exist here. They would have been exterminated the second they attempted to impose any sort of authority over the giants of these lands.
Ja and Kaia exited the cavern to find themselves at the base of a crude set of stairs leading up into a thick patch of fog that swirled menacingly above. Each individual step was as high as their waists, roughly hewn from slabs of granite that would have taken great strength or ingenuity to transport. If they decided to ascend these stairs, they’d be climbing up them - not walking.
Just as it had been in the ravine in the Putrid Coast, there was only one direction for Ja and Kaia to go. Sheer, craggy cliffs fell away on either side of stairway, though neither dared peek over the edge to see just how far down they went.
“This is already starting to feel bad,” Kaia stated plainly as she glanced up at the long and daunting path.
Ja started to nod in agreement but stopped himself. He couldn’t continue to let Kaia be the sole source of bravery in the pair.
“It doesn’t look too far,” he said as he clumsily pulled himself up onto the first step.
Kaia nodded and followed him up the stairs, careful to stay in the center, as there was nothing to stop a deadly fall if they stumbled too close to the sides. Fortunately, the stairs were wide as well as tall, so some of the duo’s anxiety dissipated as they climbed up into the swirling fog. After the first twenty steps, Kaia decided Ja was moving too slowly and went on ahead of him at her own pace.
Lifting his body up again and again, stair after stair, Ja’s mind was filled with images of what might be lying in wait for them at the top. Was it even possible for this place to be worse than the others they had visited? His body began to tremble as he recalled their experiences escaping from tentacle monsters, darkness cults, and a world filled with gargantuan diseased animals. Ja had been rightfully scared in those situations, but never overcome with fear; the adrenaline always allowed him to push forward. The events had happened in such quick succession that Ja had almost grown used to those panicked moments of terrible discovery. He couldn’t help but wonder if his long, comfortable months as the Blood Summoner had softened his ability to cope with the unexpected.
“You ok?” Kaia called down, noticing her companions' silence and slow pace.
She’d been concerned about Ja ever since he’d changed bodies with the Blood Summoner, hoping that his time spent with so much power hadn’t altered his sensibilities. He seemed distant now that he was back in his own body, and when he spoke, it was like he was struggling to keep something from spilling out. Perhaps he missed the power…perhaps he felt like he had made the wrong decision back in Orn.
“I’m fine,” he said brusquely.
“Ok. I’m just worried about you.”
“Don’t be,” he shot back, “I’m fine.”
What Ja felt was confidence came across as something quite different to Kaia. She was becoming more and more troubled by his short responses and relative silence. Throughout their time together, she’d come to rely on his intelligence and inquisitive spirit. Kaia was plenty capable on her own, but she didn’t think the same way Ja did. Looking back, his solutions to the menagerie of weird problems they’d encountered had kept them alive. The skills she had developed since her exile were only really useful when faced with conventional concerns, and their journey together was anything but.
Not wanting to push him further, Kaia quietly continued the task of ascending the stone staircase, stopping every once in a while to listen for signs of danger ahead. With the swirling fog getting ever thicker the further they climbed, she decided to use a trick she had learned from the hunters in Orn. She stopped and reached out in front of her, slowly moving her hands across the stone stairs until her mind created a picture of them. Kaia took a deep breath through her nose and slowly let it out between pursed lips, then repeated. She closed her eyes, moving the focus away from her other senses and honing in on her hearing.
“What’s wrong?” Ja asked, finally catching up. Kaia raised her hand and he understood that she was asking for silence.
After several deep, meditative breaths, Kaia opened her eyes and peered down the staircase, trying to see past the impenetrable fog.
“What is it?” Ja whispered.
“I heard a sound coming from behind us. It had the rhythm of someone walking, but it rattled with every step.”
“Did someone else come through the portal?” Ja asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe--”
Before she could finish, Ja’s eyes widened and he grabbed her hand tightly.
“I hear it now too,” he said. “It's coming up the stairs.”
They both began to inch backwards, not wanting to turn their backs on whatever was approaching from below. Then they could make out an enormous dark shape moving up through the fog, the rattling growing louder and louder as it climbed the stairs with ease. Not interested in waiting around, Kaia darted up the next step, but Ja was frozen in place. As she reached down to grab for him, their pursuer emerged from the fog and came into view.
Before them stood one of the enormous skeletons from the cave, its frame so wide that its arms hung over the edge of the stairs. The blue stones in its eyes, once dull, now shone brightly as it lumbered up one final step, then stopped and leaned over the top of them, its hinged jaw erratically opening and closing as if to consume them.
“Hello!” said the skeleton. The sound was hollow and distant and its jaw flapped up and down as if trying to align its movements with the word it was saying.
Ja and Kaia shot each other puzzled looks, unsure whether to dash up the steps or wait and give the corpse time to explain itself.
“Don’t stop now!” the skeleton said, as if reading their minds. “You’re almost at the top. Come on, let me help you.”
With that, the skeletal giant effortlessly picked Ja and Kaia up, tucked them under its arms, and continued lumbering up the stairs. They stood petrified as the creature reached down and grabbed them and then stayed motionless as it carried them. Because of the way they were being held, Ja and Kaia found themselves dangling over the precipice below, introducing a new fear to the already-frightening situation. Kaia immediately closed her eyes, as staring down the ledge made her feel sick to her stomach. But the skeleton’s grip was firm and its long legs moved them up the stairs at a brisk pace. After a journey that felt much longer than it actually took, the skeleton stopped and gently lowered the two humans down onto the ground.
“We are here,” the skeleton said as if trying to convince them to open their eyes.
When they did, they found themselves in a scenario that felt utterly contradictory. On one hand, they were now surrounded by a number of gargantuan skeletons, each similar to the one that had carried them up the stairs, waiting around idly as if they had been expecting the visitors’ arrival. But around them, the frightening group was standing in the most beautiful setting Ja and Kaia had ever seen. It was a plateau on top of the world; an island floating in a sea of puffy white clouds, contrasted by a soft purple sky at dawn. It was perfectly warm and the air was fresh with just the right amount of moisture. The green grass at their feet was soft like the hair of a newborn baby, caressing the skin between their toes as Ja and Kaia shuffled back and forth in both excitement and unease.
The skeletons stared at the humans inquisitively before the one who had carried them up the stairs made a sound like it had come to a realization.
“They are from Orn,” it said to the group.
The other skeletons glanced at one another and muttered indecipherable words as if confused.
“It is a place of final death,” the skeleton clarified.
Hearing that, the group nodded and the muttering took on a more understanding tone.
“Are you sure they’re safe, Doro?” asked a shorter skeleton with only one arm.
“Yes,” Doro responded confidently. “They are quite small and the items they possess are mostly passive. The mirror does pose a risk, though it appears inert for the time being.”
“We should take them to the Descendants,” said another skeleton.
Kaia shot Ja yet another confused look, unsure if they should willingly go along with the living skeletons. Though he had tried to play it cool and confident before, his face was stricken with fear now and his hands were visibly shaking as he watched the giant skeletons talk amongst themselves.
“Do you mean to harm us?” Kaia blurted out. Ja looked over and gave her the hand signals, Can you understand them? She nodded, indicating that these creatures could in fact speak their language.
“Harm you?” the one-armed skeleton repeated in a frustrated tone. “If we wished to harm you, Doro would have thrown you from the cliff when you arrived.”
“Yes,” Doro said, “I lie amongst the true dead and wait for visitors from the portal chamber. It’s the only place where people like you can move in and out of this world, and I am its guard. I'm a pretty good judge of character. If a visitor seems good, I let them be. If they seem bad, I push them off the steps.”
“But, you followed us,” Ja responded. “Were you going to push us off?”
Doro cocked his head to one side, then the other, and slowly lowered it as if ashamed. The one-armed skeleton responded instead.
“Few harness the power you have with that mirror, and those who do almost always use it for their own gain. Doro’s rebirth in death was a result of such an individual. Doro was far too young to endure the path so early.”
“This is why I am the one to throw intruders from the cliffs!” Doro exclaimed, his words brimming with a combination of pride and anger. The skeleton faced Ja and softened its tone. “But as I watched you trying to get up the stairs, it was like watching a young child, and I felt sorry for you. Your companion moved quickly and confidently, but you looked very frightened. You didn’t appear to be intruders, but people in need of help. So I helped!”
Ja blushed as the skeletons all nodded in unison about Doro’s decision and it made the young man feel even more insecure than he had before. He couldn’t understand how the skeleton could have possibly seen those things looking up at him from the bottom of the stairs, but Ja had indeed been racked with fear and doubt the entire time he had climbed. What exactly could this skeleton see through those blue stones?
“I must get back to my work and you must meet with the descendants,” said Doro. “You will find more comfort there than you will here.” Doro turned to the one-armed skeleton. “Ony here will show you the way.”
“Come now, children of Orn,” said Ony, motioning with its single intact arm. “If we hurry, we can make it before the evening meal.”
The three moved away from the edge of the great sky plateau and began to walk towards a forest in the distance. As they did, the other skeletons moved to the top of the staircase and sat down cross-legged in a semicircle, forming a barrier between the steps and the surrounding land. Doro meandered back down the stairs, but not before turning and giving them a friendly wave.
Ony walked ahead of Ja and Kaia as they made their way towards the forest, and though it didn’t seem like the skeleton was moving particularly fast, its gait was several times longer than theirs. The humans did their best to hurry behind, but Ja soon began to tire. While his body had grown in size and strength back in Orn, being stuck at the bottom of a pit for so long had done nothing to increase his stamina. He was struggling now far more than he had been climbing the stairs, while Kaia was able to mostly keep up.
“Please hurry,” Ony said, noticing that Ja was falling behind.
“He’s trying,” Kaia shot back. “Your legs are very long and, well, do walking skeletons even get tired?”
Ony stopped and walked directly over to Kaia.
“You have a problem with the undead?” the skeleton growled, looming over her.
“I didn’t mean that,” Kaia stammered. “It’s just--”
Ony cut her off. “We know how your people treat the deceased. You bury them in the ground or set them alight, never once thinking about what’s right for them. Had my kin done the same to me, I’d have existed for only a small fragment of my hundred thousand moons.”
“Our people believe that once you die, you leave your body and return to the spirit world,” Ja interjected.
“That’s preposterous. How can you prepare yourself for the spirit world in such a short time? So many mistakes to amend, so many generations of descendants to look over and protect. Death is so selfish in your worlds; it's no wonder so few of you actually make it to the destination you believe you’re meant to find.”
“What do you mean?” Ja asked.
“There is more than one place for souls to go. Pray you never see the alternatives.”
With that, Ony turned and continued walking, with Ja and Kaia still scampering to keep up.
After a short time passing through pleasant meadows and softly rolling hills, the three came to the edge of the forest. Each tree was several times larger than even the evergreens in Torv’s world and each bore multi-colored fruit as large as Ja and Kaia’s torsos. Strangely, outside of the soft sound of blowing wind, there were no sounds to be heard: no birds, no insects, nothing. Even after walking for some time, neither Ja nor Kaia saw another lifeform or otherwise outside of Ony. Despite its undeniable beauty, this world felt unnaturally static.
Ja thought to inquire about the observation but he could tell Ony was already annoyed. The skeleton seemed to harbor a deep distrust for outsiders, and Ja already knew that he was seen as a threat because of the mirror. Not wanting to further frustrate their guide, he decided it was best to keep quiet.
Eventually, the three arrived in a clearing in the forest surrounded by large totems. Each was composed of brightly-painted pieces of wood with large skulls situated on the top. One of the skulls turned and spoke as they approached.
“Hello, Ony. I see you’ve brought visitors.”
“Yes,” Ony responded curtly. “Hopefully not for long.”
In the middle of the clearing was a tall, sloping mound covered in grass with a gaping entryway in the front. The edges of the opening were adorned with more of the colorful wood seen on the totems, as well as bone fragments and brightly-colored stones. On the top of the mound stood a monolith made of the same stone as the stairs. Inlaid within the granite were more skulls, even larger than those possessed by the skeletons they’d encountered so far.
In front of the mound, a group of fully-fleshed and living giants sat around a smoldering fire, speaking an unknown language. Ja strained to hear, but for some reason the tongue did not translate for him.
“Your artifacts won’t work here,” Ony stated, as if reading Ja’s mind. “The totems dispel their powers. It is a precaution; a lesson learned from the past.”
“How will we speak to them?” Ja asked.
“The same way you’ve spoken with me - in your native tongue. The Descendants know the languages of all of our friends… and enemies.”
Ony, Ja, and Kaia walked over to the group and stood outside the semicircle formed by the Descendants' bodies. Even Torv would have looked small compared to the gargantuan individuals that sat before them. They looked similar to the humans of Ja and Kaia’s world, but their skin was much lighter and their bodies were rotund and soft. Even in the best of times, there simply wasn’t enough food in Orn for anyone to have grown this portly. The highest-ranking elders looked emaciated compared to these people; Ja and Kaia looked more like the skeleton who had guided them to this village than its inhabitants.
Ony held up its hand to stop the two humans, then continued to the center of the group and began to speak with the largest of the Descendants, seated in the center. The giant listened intently, then looked over at Ja and Kaia and motioned for them to come forward.
Before they could take a step, Ony held out a bony hand to stop them once again and returned to speak to them.
“It is of the utmost importance that you follow the ritual correctly,” said the skeleton.
“Ritual?” asked Ja.
“Yes, it's very simple. You will sit and have a quiet meal with the Descendants, our people’s most valuable thinkers and scribes. Once complete, they will address you directly, but do not speak until that time comes.”
“That's all?” Kaia asked.
“That’s all. Simply eat in silence. Our people believe that there is much about character that can be learned from a meal.”
“Fine with me,” said Kaia, her eyes lighting up. “I got pretty hungry from climbing up all those steps.”
“Please, follow me, and do not speak until formally addressed.”
As Ony guided them into the middle of the semicircle, each Descendant looked on curiously. Despite their size, they didn’t seem dangerous, but Ja and Kaia stayed on edge nonetheless. Ony hadn’t even asked them to leave their spears behind before sitting, so obviously the small humans weren’t seen as much of a threat. These Descendants could overpower them in an instant if they wanted.
As Ja took a seat amongst his strange new hosts, he found himself not so much scared but filled with nervous excitement. He had expected to find yet another group of ruffians, built for survival and content to live with limited intellects, but he could see that the Descendants were different. This gathering might be like the times Ja had spent conversing with the elders in Orn while he was under the guise of the Blood Summoner. Those days philosophizing and talking were some of the happiest of Ja’s life. Ony had said these people were this world’s greatest thinkers, and now Ja had the opportunity to sit amongst them and talk about the many mysteries of this world and likely others, without fear that his physical abilities would be on display and used as a meter of his worth. All he had to do first was enjoy a simple meal in silence.
Ja did his best to sit upright and give off an air of sophisticated dignity, despite the many hits his confidence had taken earlier in the day. He glanced over to Kaia, signaling for her to do the same. She cocked her head, confused at what he was asking, then finally followed suit with a roll of her eyes.
Kaia was happy to see a bit of brightness re-enter Ja, but her previous concerns hadn’t gone away. In fact, she wasn’t sure that their current situation was going to do anything to help. These Descendants appeared to possess powers not unlike the Blood Summoner or the grey-haired man, powers she feared Ja was starting to crave.
The Descendant seated in the center snapped her fingers and another group of skeletons made their way from the forest, each carrying a piece of the giant fruit Ja and Kaia had noticed on their way in. These skeletons were far smaller than the ones on the plateau, roughly the size of an adult in Orn, but thicker and sturdier. Their movements were also clumsier than the skeletons guarding the stairs, almost childlike in nature. The shambling undead carrying the food walked to each individual in the circle and laid out a piece of the massive fruit in front of them, then began to cut it into pieces with knives the size of spears. Ja and Kaia were not served first, and the giants who were began to eat before the humans had even been given their portions. It was clear, at least to Ja, that while they were guests at this ritual, they were not particularly honored guests.
As he watched the others being served, Ja caught a hint of something rank, an aroma that made the air of the Putrid Coast seem like a fresh spring breeze by comparison. He looked over to Kaia and could see plainly by the look on her face that she could smell it too.
Not knowing where it came from, Kaia shrugged it off, assuming one of the Descendants had flatulence, which based on their size, would likely be pungent and expansive. When the smell didn’t dissipate but instead grew stronger, both Ja and Kaia became deeply unsure of how this important ritual meal was going to play out.
Eventually, one of the skeletons serving the group stopped in front of Ja and Kaia and plopped down a piece of the oversized fruit, then quickly sliced it into large pieces. As soon as the flesh was split in front of them, the stench magnified tenfold, causing them to gag and instinctively reel away from their place setting before catching themselves and scooting carefully back.
Looking up, they noticed the eyes of the Descendants were upon them, anticipating their new guests' first bite of a food that was clearly a delicacy in this world. The Descendants seemed to be savoring every bite of the noxious fruit.
Ja began to sweat as he reached down and plucked a piece up with his hand and brought it to his mouth, smiling politely and tipping his head as if to thank his hosts. The closer the fruit got, the more disgusting it smelled, and he began to feel his stomach gurgle and turn. In general, it didn’t take much to make Ja vomit. In his short friendship with Kaia, he had already thrown up several times in front of her. It was a wonder he had made it this far already without retching - the smell was so overwhelming now that it felt like it was seeping into his other senses.
He was mortified at the thought of ruining the meal and dishonoring the Descendants simply because of his weak stomach. Of course he wanted to sit and speak with these people at length and learn about this strange and alluring new world, but he was much more worried about what might happen to the two of them if they showed disrespect at the meal. Ja had to tough it out, not just for his own sake but for Kaia’s as well.
The sound of vomiting pulled Ja from his thought process. He turned to Kaia and saw that she had thrown up all over the ground and fruit in front of her before she had even taken a single bite.
Kaia looked up and saw every giant sitting around the fire staring directly at her, food unchewed in open mouths. This forest was already unnaturally silent, but now the silence was deafening. She looked down in shame at her pile of vomit, then back up to meet the eyes of the Descendants. In little more than a whisper, Kaia inadvertently muttered:
“Sorry.”
In an instant, the gathering of giants descended into chaos. The leader of the village began to shout angrily in her language, pointing to Ja and Kaia and then off into the forest beyond, eyes bugging out so far it seemed they’d pop out onto the ground. Ja and Kaia quickly jumped to their feet and began to desperately apologize, but it was clear there was nothing they could say that could possibly atone for defiling the ritual.
Ony rushed to their side and motioned for the tiny humans to follow, which they did without hesitation. With its one arm outstretched behind them, the skeleton led Ja and Kaia away from the fire, out of the village, and past the totems, muttering angrily as they walked. Once they had made it down the trail a way, the skeleton began to chide them, jaw clattering violently as it spoke.
“You idiots. All you had to do was eat and be silent, and you couldn’t do either. The council has banned you from these lands.” Ony pointed off into the distance. “Go to where you came from and never come back. If you do, the guardians will see to your demise.”
“But we can’t,” Ja said desperately. “We’re running from there.”
“Then you are running from here now, as well. Go!” Ony stepped towards them in a menacing fashion.
Ja and Kaia turned and ran through the woods, uninterested in learning what Ony would do to them if they stayed. As they moved through the trees, Ja pulled out the mirror and began to speak to it, asking it to open a new portal, but nothing happened. The tongue did not speak up and give him any guidance.
“What's wrong?” Kaia asked.
“The mirror doesn't work,” he replied in frustration. “The totems must still be affecting it.”
“Then we have to go back to the stairs, to the chamber where we arrived.”
“Without the mirror, I’m not sure we can make a portal appear.” His eyes narrowed and he glared at her. “I can’t believe what you did back there.”
“What I did?” Kaia blurted, stopping in her tracks. “What did you expect me to do? Didn’t you feel sick too?”
“Yes! But I was working on pushing through it. We could have done it if you had tried harder.”
“Tried harder?” she gasped. “That ‘ritual’ was impossible, Ja; I think that may have been the point. You’re smart. You should be able to see that.”
Ja saw how disappointed she looked at him then and all of the anger drained out of him. “We could have learned so much from them. Gained more--”
“More what? More power? Was your time as the Blood Summoner not enough for you?”
“I didn’t say that,” Ja said defiantly, though he realized she was probably right. He paused. “It was the only time I felt as useful as you.”
Kaia’s anger flushed from her face as well. She finally understood why Ja had been acting so strangely.
“Ja, of course you're useful. You think in ways I just can’t. Sometimes, I feel bad that I don’t understand the things you can, but the reason we’ve survived together is because we have different skills, not because we’re exactly the same.”
Ja smiled softly, but wasn’t entirely convinced. They started running again and Kaia remained always out in front, keeping a pace Ja simply couldn’t match. His lungs burned. Once again, Ja became awkwardly aware of his own body. In world after world where physicality reigned supreme, he was always going to lag behind.
The sound of heavy footsteps and rattling bones caught their attention as one of the giant skeletons emerged from the woods. Both Ja and Kaia screamed out, fearful that Ony had sent one of its kin back to kill them.
“Do not be afraid, friends,” said the familiar voice of Doro. “I mean you no harm.”
“What do you want?” Kaia asked with a trembling voice.
“I want to help. And in return, you can help me.”
“How?” asked Ja.
“I will take you to a place clear of the totem’s power, and you will bring me to the world of the one who took my flesh.”
The hulking skeleton turned and motioned to an overgrown trail they hadn't noticed on their way in. Doro started down the path, and not seeing another option, Ja and Kaia followed close behind.
FATE INDEX:
1. Nothing happens when something is supposed to happen
2. Character loses one of their senses
3. Protagonist finds a source of healing/resurrection
4. Acquiring a new object has catastrophic consequences
5. People begin to question their belief system
6. An obscure side character suddenly gets a crucial role in the story
7. Traditional gender roles are switched
8. Social faux pas has serious consequences
9. The inevitable end is actually a rebirth
10. A member of the community who was heavily relied upon disappears
11. Discovery of higher technology
12. Monotony is broken
13. Character has portentous visions of a world they don’t recognize
14. A bond is formed with an unexpected pet
15. Too many cooks in the kitchen
16. Bodily functions begin to cause eerie physical changes
17. The call is coming from inside the house
18. Ghost story
19. A dam breaks creating massive flooding
20. Cat eat food
Outcomes Used:
1. Nothing happens when something is supposed to happen
8. Social faux pas has serious consequences
Added outcomes:
Messiah-like figure attempts to remake society
(thanks to Jamie)
Character finds a large egg of unknown origin
(thanks to Sarah)
