Raulin's Oath

Arietta struggled to breathe, a weight pressing down on her lungs. Every little sound, from the rustling of bushes to the wind in the trees, was off. When she closed her eyes, the spiders traced her skin, threatening to pierce her with their fangs. Arietta shuddered, forcefully pushing out a breath. Jerry took notice, eyes turning to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder firmly to separate it from the light needles of spider legs.

“You okay?” he asked softly, so that only she had heard him. It was different than the sarcastic banter that she was used to. She winced.

“My skin is still crawling; something feels… wrong,” she said, and that sense of being watched still bit into the back of her mind.

“We are safe now. You don’t have to worry about it; I’ll protect you,” he offered, that bravado coming back full force. She wasn’t sure why, but that… that bothered her. She knew they both had nightmares, she knew they both were vulnerable right now, so why was he all of a sudden acting like he had everything together?

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like you did that so well last time.” More venom seeped into her voice than she had expected, and his eyes darkened for a moment.

“Hey,” he said forcefully, and her eyebrows lifted at his tone, “I made the best out of a bad situation. It’s not like you had any better ideas.”

“It wasn’t like you had any ideas either; you went out there, threw your dagger and froze,” she retorted. Neither acknowledged the nervous whinnies, their argument’s volume rising until…

“Arietta!” Grandpa Gus shouted, gaining her attention. To her horror, when her eyes flicked towards where his voice came from, there was nothing. Her eyebrows furrowed, like daggers preparing to crash. Suddenly their argument ceased completely, was forgotten, and she grabbed at his cloak to steady herself. There were no trees, no herd to be seen…

“Where… where did it all go?” Jerry’s voice had lost all of its fire. Before she could reply, a voice sounded from all around them.

“You have entered the One’s domain and have bested two of my guardians. Safe passage through my domain comes with a substantial cost. The One has chosen you to represent your group. You may choose safe passage for yourselves only, or you can save your traveling partners if you complete a challenge. None have passed this challenge, as I can trust none to tread my forest with peace in their hearts, but I assure you that the trials are fair. Should you succeed in the challenge, One will grant you and your traveling party safe passage and you will gain a powerful ally. However, should you fail, One will consume you and all who travel with you. Do you accept the challenge, or will you choose safe passage for yourselves only?” Its voice was the night sky, never-ending and dark. It was the depths of the ocean, drowning them in fear. It held the beginning and the end and long-lost secrets that had the power to abandon the listener to insanity. The children eyed each other nervously, knowing what they must do.

Simultaneously, they stated, “We accept,” and while they could not see the thing that was all around them, yet nowhere, its toothy grin spread wide.

In a blink, Arietta and Jerry were in a room with no windows or doors. In the center of the room stood a table with two large jars of liquid and two containers of different sizes with strange markings on them. Directly across from them, there was a fireplace with a fire heating a cauldron. The One began speaking as a tablet appeared on the table with a quill and the markings on the jars swirled until the larger of the empty jars had five dots and the smaller had three.

“The first test is a test of the mind. A potion you will mix and brew, with four cubits red and seven blue. Mix it true you’re on your way, but mix it false and you’re here to stay.”

With the message delivered, the room filled with a silence so complete that Ari’s ears almost ached for sound. She turned to Jerry and he appeared to be talking to her, yet the silence remained complete. She pointed to her ears and shook her head. Jerry looked at her quizzically, so Ari clapped her hands as hard as she could. No sound transferred through the room, so Arietta pointed to the quill and paper on the table, picked up the writing utensil, and wrote down the message delivered from the One.

The two largest containers had changed, with one now red and the other blue. Ari pointed to the caldron and motioned for Jerry to bring it to the table. Jerry lugged the caldron over and set it down. He motioned for the quill and began writing.

“I have two questions. Do the dots on the jars stand for the number of cubits that each one holds? How do we measure seven cubits and two cubits using those jars?”

Ari shrugged and began examining each of the containers, trying to see if there were any clues that they had missed. As she was doing this, an hourglass appeared on the table and turned so that the white sand began to sift through the small opening, piling up in the lower half. A pit opened in Ari’s stomach, as she knew that all of their lives depended upon their ability to mix this potion.

Ari motioned for the paper. She began by recording a three and a five. She then added them together, as it would be easy to fill each jar, then dump them into the caldron. Jerry motioned for the quill and wrote, “Then pour half of it out!” Ari shook her head and pointed to the phrase mix it true. Then took the quill and wrote “It has to be exact!” Then she subtracted three from five. That didn’t work either. She tossed the quill back on the table and strode away from the table in frustration. They were running out of time! How could she measure exactly seven cubits and exactly four cubits?

She looked at Jerry, who looked totally defeated. His head was in his hands and she saw that he had been writing on the paper. It simply said, “I hate math.” As she read those words, the answer rushed into her mind. She looked at the hourglass and frantically grabbed the five-cubit jar and filled it from the red pitcher. Next, she poured from that jar into the three-cubit jar. Once it was full, she then dumped the leftover liquid from the five cubit jar into the caldron and then wrote two cubits red. She quickly repeated the process. She smacked Jerry on the arm and motioned for him to put the caldron over the flames as she began the same process with the blue liquid. She emptied the three-cubit jar on the floor so that she could use it to store the two cubits left in the five-cubit jar, then she quickly filled the five-cubit jar from the blue pitcher and emptied both into the caldron. Jerry stirred the concoction as it began to simmer. As the potions boiled, she watched in horror as Jerry collapsed to the floor. She bent down, shaking Jerry to wake him. As she did, everything went black.

Arietta sat up sometime later with her head spinning circles atop her neck. Jerry moved nearby and she sighed in relief as he said, “Sleeping beauty is finally waking up!”

“Jerry, I can’t see anything!”

“It is pitch dark in here. Do you think we passed the first test?”

“Either that or we are both dead and have to spend an eternity together… I really hope we passed the test!” Ari stood and stretched, being careful not to step on Jerry as she did so. It wasn’t hot or cold, and there was no breeze. She yelled, “Hello!” and listened for an echo.

“I already tried that while you were out. It’s like there is nothing but ground, and there’s no wind. I have no idea what we are supposed to be doing here.”

The One’s voice boomed in the inky darkness. “The second test in the Challenge is a test of the heart. Terror waits at every turn; stray from the path and you will burn.”

Ari looked to where she thought Jerry stood. “What do you think that means?”

Jerry mumbled that he had no clue. As she strained to make sense of her surroundings, the one thing that stood out from the darkness was an iridescent trail. She gazed down where her feet met that path and she couldn’t even see her feet, but she saw the path beneath them. “I think that we are supposed to walk this way.” Groping through the black, she grabbed Jerry’s shoulder, causing him to yelp. She walked her hand down his arm to his palm, explaining that it was her and that she figured it’d be best to stick together.

They held hands and walked down the mysterious golden path. “What do you think it means by ‘terror waits at every turn?’” Jerry said.

“I think that is pretty self-explanatory.” Ari did not like the look or the feel of this test. There was a dreamlike nature that she noticed in both of them. The only thing she knew to do was to keep putting one foot in front of the other and see where it led her. Whatever awaited them, they would face it together, and that gave her the strength to continue.

***

Gustoff examined Arietta and Jerry as they lay motionless in the fallen leaves. They had left Adeline’s territory yesterday and had been keeping a slow and steady pace. They set up camp on the second day when a coldness had surrounded them. The two children were in some kind of deep trance. He had tried everything that he knew of to wake them up. He found that his magic did not work in this area, so he had asked Raulin if he could carry the children so that they could continue their journey. If they could get out of this mist, then the children would come out of the trance. That had been two days ago. It seemed that even when walking due west, they ended up circling back to the camp. Gustoff furrowed his brow and looked to Raulin with concern etched deeply into his face.

“Raulin, what do you make of this?”

Raulin shook his head. “There is old magic in the air. It appears that these children are the key. Our fate seems to be tied to theirs. We will have to wait until the entity that has a hold of us shows its intentions.”

Raulin then instructed the herd to make camp, knowing now that it would do no good to keep walking in circles. The two children were made as comfortable as possible while Gustoff and Raulin stood watch and waited for the entity to show itself.

***

“Jerry, where are you?” Arietta asked quietly. He’d let go of her hand, not paying attention.

“Right here,” he said, and her head swiveled towards the sound. She reached out, and he jumped with a yelp as her hand connected softly with his face. “Ari!” he exclaimed, laughing a bit. She worked her hand down his arm so as to not lose him and linked arms with him.

“Okay, let’s see if your heart is strong enough to pass the test,” she said sarcastically, and he sighed heavily.

“One foot after the next, that’s all we have to do. Don’t step off the path or I’ll ring your neck before the scary monster gets to you,” he retorted. To this she simply smiled, a change in her features that was impossible for him to notice at the moment. “Hey,” he said softly, and her attention turned to him. “Whatever happens… Whatever we see, know it’s going to be okay. We’ll stick it out, so far we have, right?” She mumbled a small yes, and they continued their walk. The path glowed a soft gold, and suddenly, the straight line they had been walking forked. The gentle comfort they’d found in that moment twisted into something more horrific.

“Terror waits at every turn,” she murmured softly, and she closed her eyes. Next to her, Jerry whimpered. “Let’s go…” She thought it over, then decided, “Let’s go right.” He mumbled his agreement, and they headed right. Suddenly, light flooded the path, and they could see everything, and it took all of the restraint Arietta could muster not to shriek, for a mutilated Nurse Ratchet stared into her soul. Jerry’s face held the same expression of terror, but something told her deep within that he likely saw a different individual staring back at him. The Nurse’s legs were far too long, face suddenly oblong, and a gruesome smile dripped off of his face, pooling on the path.

The voice of a demon assaulted her ears as that maniacal smile widened. “You seem to have arrived early for our next session.” His head swayed to the side, and he fell to the floor, skittering towards her. “First the legs,” he purred, pushing her over. He took the leg into his mighty paws and snapped it with ease. She screeched, the sound echoing, and writhed in agony.

“Don’t you hurt her!” Jerry roared, furious, launching himself at the demon. She bawled, rolling on the floor, and watched the nurse produce a belt out of nowhere. Jerry’s breath seemed to be snatched from him, but he forced steady inhales and exhales, shaking his head. “You’re not real.” His whisper cut through the air, and the demon thing laughed.

It sniffed the air deeply, and suddenly it was no longer a malformed Nurse Ratchet, but a great spider. “You do not fool me, child; I smell your fear, and I must say it is quite delicious.” Jerry’s face didn’t seem to change at the beast’s shift, and she wondered if the two shared the same vision. The thing wielded the belt as a whip, and it struck the boy across the cheek. A hot, angry welt rose as he fought back tears. He knelt next to her and lifted her up. She made a small noise at the shift in position for her leg, but he hauled one of her arms over his shoulder, providing support. He forced her to a sprint, running as fast as the pair could manage, and finally, everything faded back to that blissful dark and golden glow.

“What--what did you see?” She tripped over her words, pain overcoming everything.

“I saw my father.” His voice was grim, and she decided not to say any more, to let him continue if he wished. “I was the one that found him after he hung himself with his belt.” He took a breath. “I was six.” She squeezed his arm.

“I’m so sorry.” It was the only thing she could force out.

“You know, that’s what everyone says.”

“Well, I mean it. You shouldn’t have had to go through that, especially so young.” He tensed.

“I did, though. I did go through it.” His voice was stone, no longer seeming quite so afraid, just cold.

She shifted uncomfortably. A light rustling in the darkness echoed, but still they soldiered on. Arietta’s leg throbbed in tune with her racing heart. She squeezed her eyes closed and gritted her teeth as they continued down the path.

“The first trial was difficult, but you will surely find, as the challenge progresses, you may lose your mind.” The One’s voice had a rich vibrato hiss that haunted its words. A chuckle filled the chamber, and its presence dissipated into the darkness.

As those words had the time to replay in her head, and the support of Jerry’s shoulder vanished, and she yelped as her full weight was distributed to both legs. She nearly dropped but quickly shifted her weight to her good leg. The path curved ahead of her, and rather than taking a moment to collect herself before moving forward, she made the turn without hesitation.

“Jerry?” There was no answer, only dead silence. Hands dragged down her face, tickling her throat, and then the path disappeared. Hands of shadow, cold and unforgiving, ran over her. There was a deep pit in her stomach, and she groaned. A sense of hopelessness coursed through her, and that unbearable ache that she faced day to day on Earth hit her full force, sweeping her off of her feet.

You never told them what you were willing to risk to feel nothing, did you? Something had intruded into the darkest depths of her mind, using her memories to taunt her. They never realized how far that little girl would go to stop the pain. She squeezed her eyes shut, the darkness so consuming that she felt as though it wouldn’t be too bad surrendering to it and fading into the void. Why was such a meek child sent to a world full of wonder and horror? Only the bravest of warriors cross into these lands, and yet they pulled a whimpering, insolent child through the gates. Are you capable of anything other than crying and moaning, child? the cruel voices asked her, and suddenly she couldn’t remember. She couldn’t remember any of her abilities, any of the things she took pride in. The only pictures in her mind were those cold hands and her whimpering, pathetic self. Through the fog of despair, a voice roared, and it had the element of warmth. It combatted those cold hands, and it cut through the never-ending night.

“Fight it, Arietta! They tell lies!” Jerry, she thought, shaking her head. The pain lessened, as his voice seemed to extinguish the majority of it. He will hate you; he is only using you. He doesn’t want you to succeed. He will betray you. He will take away everything that you love. The voices shivered in the void.

“Shut up. Every word out of your vile mouth is a lie,” she snarled, and the voices laughed. You wish they were lies, yet every word we have spoken is the truth. She told herself she wouldn’t listen anymore, and so she did not. Crawling through the darkness, hoping desperately she would move past these hateful entities, she shielded her eyes as once more the room glowed. She must have made another turn without realizing it. “Jerry?” But Jerry was still nowhere to be seen. With a shudder, she pondered the possibility of him failing the previous turn and hoped desperately that he hadn’t wandered from the path.

“Your second tribulation is nearly through; face the truth, the challenge lies within you.” Arietta’s face dropped, and she was suddenly not so sure she was ready to face what lay ahead of her, certain she didn’t want to face it alone. Still, on her hands and knees she crawled. On the path in front of her lay a puddle, the golden glow of the room reflecting from it and casting diamonds and stars against the walls. The puddle didn’t seem inherently evil, and yet it did not seem purely good either. As most things in the world were, it was a mix of the two, sitting firmly in shades of gray. Her instincts told her to circle far around it, to not look into its gleaming reflection, and yet somewhere deeper within her she knew she needed to seek the truth.

She dragged herself closer, inch by inch, her body and mind battling for dominance, but when she reached the looking glass, it was far too late. Shards of memories were the pools, confirming everything she hated about herself, confirming the possibilities of failure, of a life in which the only ground she moved was the ground they dug to dispose of her corpse. Images of a future family who would leave her, and a miserable life spent alone shone back at her. The memories contained her greatest sins, her worst faults, and the monster she knew she would always be, and yet… There was more. There was so much more than the pitiful excuse that many of the memories painted her to be. There was light within the darkness, beauty in the repulsive, and as she stared into that painful puddle, she learned something new. She learned to love. She saw herself in its most sickening form, saw everything she hated about herself confirmed, and yet still she came to peace with it. She learned while staring into the looking glass to love herself as she truly was. While she first hated it and felt like screaming into the puddle that it wasn’t true, the longer she stared, the more acceptance bred in her soul.

The mood of the room changed, disdain and frustration lighting a fire in her soul, and its grim frown spreading on the back of her neck. “A deal is a deal; this challenge is complete. Reunite with your companion and face your final feat,” the One growled into her ear, and she sighed in relief as Jerry’s wonderfully familiar face appeared next to her.

“Are you okay?” she asked as he helped her up. Her knees and hands were scraped and bloody, something she hadn’t noticed until that moment.

“For now, yes. You?” A stranger could’ve told him he wasn’t looking well. The warmth seeped from his face, and he looked positively dead.

“For now, yes,” she parroted, and the ghost of a smile graced his face, the most she would be able to get out of him in this tortured world. It was a relief not having to face this last challenge alone, and while she wasn’t sure she would be able to continue the torture, she braved on, for the herd and for her Grandpa Gus. It was their only option.

The two marched onward, hand in hand, with gaunt faces and dried blood covering their legs and arms from various scrapes. They limped towards the final challenge that would prove to be the most difficult. The path forked ahead, giving them one last direction to choose for their final destination. The voice boomed overhead as they approached this fork in the road.

The final test is a test of honor. No passage comes free of cost; one of your group must be lost.

Arietta screamed into the void, “We’ve done everything that you have asked! The deal was that if we chose to complete the challenge, we would be able to save everyone in our group. This is not what we agreed to!”

No passage comes free of cost; one of your group must be lost. YOU MUST CHOOSE.

Arietta and Jerry collapsed to the ground, exhausted both physically and mentally from the Challenge. Ari looked to Jerry. “How can we just choose someone from our group? I thought that we could save them all. I don’t think I can do this.”

Jerry sat for a moment with a pensive look on his face. “Easy, we choose the oldest of the group. The one who proves to be the weakest. We are almost through the forest, but there will surely be other trials along the way. Plus, from what I hear, the dragons have declared open war on everyone. The older, weaker of the group will not be able to give much help in the war. Who is the oldest?”

A grim, yet determined expression spread across her face. She knew of only one way that she could choose and live with her choice. This was one of the hardest things that she has ever had to do, but this decision felt right to her. With her mind made up, Arietta leaned into Jerry and kissed him on the cheek. “Could you please tell Grandpa Gus that I love him?” With that she limped forward and said, “I have made my choice, Demon. Do your worst!”

What started as a low roar built steadily to an ear-piercing scream. Arietta put her hands over her ears as tears slid down her face. The scream built in intensity until it was all that remained. Arietta’s vision faded to inky blackness, and following that came total silence. Everything hurt as someone turned her over onto her back. Her eyes opened to a dazzling white light, which was blotted out by a huge face. There was a muffled sound followed by a cool damp cloth stripping dirt off of her face. Grandpa Gus looked down at her from above. Her guardian angel had arrived.

Gustoff looked down at his precious granddaughter. There were trails of dried blood from her ears that dripped into her hair. He gently cleaned her face and then picked her up to place her on Raulin’s back, while the boy, Jerry, was on Dimitri’s rusty red back. Gus looked to Raulin to lead the herd. “We must leave this evil place. I believe that the spell has been broken, but we must go now.”

With that being said, the herd continued the long trek through the forest, wondering what horror they would face at the next turn. Arietta looked down at her leg, which had been ruined by the reincarnation of Nurse Rachet. She pulled it up to get a better look at her injuries.

“Wow, I really thought that my leg was broken!” Arietta was amazed to find that her leg, though aching, was fully functional and that the injuries that she had sustained were injuries of the mind, not the body.