Axe [Discontinued]

Truth Trials

"So he wants me to do a...challenge?" 

"It looks like it. Ugh, I can't believe I got you into this," Fawn moaned, throwing herself in a hammock.

After The Chief had left us for his bedroom, Twigs had escorted us(escorted us as in shoved us) into Fawn's room. It was quite spacious for a bedroom; filled with leaf books, fur carpets, drawings of...humans, and a beautifully made hammock. Luckily, she had a spare one for me to sleep on. We hadn't spoken a word afterward until I had blurted out my curiosity about the challenge.

"Wait—what's wrong? Do you know about the challenge?" Fawn turned her back to me. 

"Yes and no, it's complicated,"

There was a moment of silence. Fawn got up, beginning to head for the door.

"I'm going to get us some supper...Twigs hopefully cooked up something worthwhile. We can talk about this later," She turned her back to me. Without realizing it, my legs sprung out of my own hammock. I'd had enough of Fawn's unwillingness to explain things.

"Let's talk about this now!" She rolled her eyes at me but hesitated to open the door.

Finally, she sighed, "Fine. You win. I'll tell you about the Truth Trials," Her hand which had been extending towards the door abandoned its position and Fawn receded to her hammock. The moon's twilight shone from a nearby window, reflecting off our faces to give a slight glow to the scenery.  I sat back down, glad she hadn't blown up at my stubbornness.

"The Truth Trials," she began, "are, as my father explained already, a series of four challenges that test your character. They have been an ancient tradition of my people given to newcomers, and over the years, have shown the best and the worst of them.

"There are ten pillars of the trials created by the Ancients. Five that represent good characteristics; Trustfulness, Loyalty, Honesty, Perseverance, and Forgiveness. Five that represent bad characteristics; Resentfulness, Foolishness, Weak-Willingness, Dishonesty, and Distrustfulness. 

"In every challenge, The Chief and two judges will rate what of these traits you have displayed the most of. Two traits will be picked; your goal is to gain two good characteristics which will give you the chance to earn some sort of aid in future challenges. If you earn one that is good and bad, however, you are not affected. But, if you are shown to have displayed two bad characteristics, you will be given a mark. Once you have two marks, you have lost...and are banned from the Eltree forever."

Banned from the Eltree forever... The words couldn't leave my head. There were worse things, of course; but to me, it was the worse of anything. When I had first stepped into Balbis, I had been astounded by the place一I couldn't go back to the farm now. If my family didn't love me anymore, who would I talk to? Back home, I had been seen as a wimp, a loser. I didn't have any friends. But here, I had Fawn; someone who cared about me, who stood up for me. She was the person I myself, would do anything for. And I wouldn't leave, not now.

"Um...Thomas?"

"What...?"

 "You kind of zoned out there for a second,"

"Mhm? Oh...sorry," Thomas' face blushed and he looked away from Fawn.

"No, don't be sorry, it's my fault," Fawn said hastily, "I shouldn't have mentioned that last part about the challenge...just one more thing for you to worry about," She got out of her hammock again. "I'm still gonna see if Twigs left anything for us to eat. I'll be back in a minute," she added, and with that, Fawn left the room.

My eyes drifted to the window and I let myself slump back on my hammock. For a moment I just stood there staring blankly through the frame.

This 'Truth Trials' is going to show just how much of a wretched human I am, I thought miserably. 

Ha! You say that like it's a bad thing, My conscience laughed unexpectedly. My eyebrows lowered, pulling together as if I was scorning an invisible person for bothering me.

Because it is , I replied, And you popping in at random doesn't help.

Oh, you know you love me. Besides, I am  you after all...or at least your reckless side you take so dear to lock deep inside you...yes...that's right...

Ugh, you make me sound like some impulsive, insecure lunatic,

Maybe you are? But, again, who says that had to be a bad thing?

"The rest of the world," I muttered, thrusting a leather-sewn pillow around my ears. If I had to be completely honest, ever since what had happened to my father I had felt a little 'out of it'. There had even been a few times I had pinched myself since my arrival in Balbis, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I pinched myself again. Nope.

Just then, the bedroom door burst open, revealing a disheveled Fawn carrying a wooden serving dish of food.

"I made it!" she cried, a wide grin spreading across her face. "He chased me the whole way back here! Told me, 'It's not ready you scumbag, where have your manners gone?' and 'I told you not to take it, I only finished one!'. Twigs can be really something...but you'll get used to him, I sure have..."

Fawn's sudden positive attitude made it hard for me to resist smiling.

"You really think I'm going to win, don't you?" I said as she started to hand me a plate of deer meat and berries. 

"What? No, I never said that...you haven't even gone through one of the challenges yet!"

"Well," I began, "from the way you said I'll get used to Twigs, it sure sounded like it."

Fawn laughed. "Oh, come off it, Thomas, and eat! The first challenge of the Trials is tomorrow and it's late."

We ate a course of meat and fruit along with a grape drink Fawn said was called "Fructum", named after an elf chief who was known for growing beautiful fruit gardens. In the drink, there had also been a spike plant floating at the top of Fawn's. 

"It's a Spila," she had said, "We often put them in Fructum to add a little more sweetness to the drink, funny you don't have any,"

After we had finished our food, we began to swap stories of our homelands. Apparently, it hadn't been the first time she had tackled Twigs. I told her about the animals at my family's farm, which seemed to interest her a lot, and how my father used a machine called a gun to hunt for food. 

When she had started to tell me about her tribe's history, and the beginning of the Eltree, I started to drift into my thoughts about what I would have to do for the challenge the next day. There were so many things I didn't know about Fawn's world, which meant there were so many things I wasn't prepared for. 

"...And that's why we can't be seen by humans. Ugh...I don't feel that great, Thomas. Maybe Twigs was right about the food not being ready. I'm going to bed, alright?" 

I pulled myself from my train of thoughts to look at Fawn. She was right; she didn't look too good. 

"Yeah, goodnight...Fawn," 

"Goodnight," She tried to muster a smile, then pulled a fur blanket over her.

When she looked like she had fallen asleep, I covered myself in my own blanket. I stared at the stone ceiling with exhaustion. I couldn't sleep, even though I knew I needed it. 

It wasn't until I had untruthfully assured my conscience that there was nothing to worry about the day to come that I could finally close my eyes. But as I drifted off into my dreams, I still knew deep down, I was soon about to show the elves what a fool I really was. And surely, that would never do me good. Ever.

Authors Note~ Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to star it if you liked it or give constructive feedback! See you in the next chapter. (Coming Soon!)