Fade To Black, The Curseborn Saga, Book 1

Chapter 13 - Neverend Forest

The two moons lit up their path as Caim and Storm walked through Neverend. The old trees seemed to regard the hidden trail with a feeling of respect, as their branches never crossed before it. Sunken rocks and bits of grass laid flat after so many cycles of the boys passing over them.

"Na, Storm," said Caim, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"What's a myth? Like, how do you become one?"

"Really, Caim?" Storm sighed. "You baffle me sometimes. A myth is just an old story, you know, like Night and Day, or how we're supposed to descend from dragons. They're nice to hear, but they aren't real. The old man was just messing around with us. And I have no idea how to become one. Good luck with that."

"No way!" Caim shot back defensively. "You're just saying that because you want to become the Dragon King before me! And, if myths aren't real, then where did the stories come from?"

Storm smirked. "From someone's imagination? Who knows? But believe whatever you want, Caim. Whatever helps you sleep at night. Besides, didn't he say that the Dragon King is more like a presence? A being that watches over us? 'The one who rides upon the backs of Night and Day', right? I mean, it may just be me, but I think it's meant to be taken more metaphorically, maybe for the gods themselves?"

"Meta—what? No," Caim said, shaking his head. "He said . . ." Caim scratched his head and smiled. "I forgot. But he said something about being born during times of chaos, whatever that means."

"I think he may have just been playing with your imagination." Storm spent a couple seconds pondering if the old man was hinting at the great wars being an actual time of chaos.

"So, can I hold it now?" Caim asked, losing the subject like wind through his fingers. "The magic gem? I promise I won't lose it! I swear, I swear, I swear!"

"No," said Storm, passing around a bend in the trees. He came to a sudden stop.

"Na, Caim," said Storm, "you know that weird feeling when you feel like you've been someplace before, or are seeing something exactly the same as it once was, but for the second time?"

Caim stopped. "What?"

Storm rolled his index finger and his thumb together, thinking. "I'm not really explaining it right, but I think the saying for it in the old language is, 'vel'ar seeth', which roughly translates to 'already seen'."

"Oh, yeah," said Caim, placing his hands on his hips. "I just felt that! Right back there! Did you feel it too? Maybe it's a new power!"

Storm looked at his brother long and hard. "That's so strange you say that, because I just had the same thing happen to me. And no," he laughed. "I don't think it's a new power."

"So, can I hold the stone now?" Caim held out his hand.

Storm rolled his eyes, then continued walking. "Caim, what do you think that feeling means? Do you think it means we've lived this exact moment before?"

Caim looked up to the roof of trees. "You mean that we've already lived this life once?"

"Something like that," mused Storm. "I sometimes wonder if we are born to do something, and that if we were unable to accomplish whatever it was, we are forced to relive that same life over and over again, until we get it right."

"No," Caim replied. "I don't think so . . . Nothing's perfect, right?"

"Then why the feeling of vel'ar seeth?"