Even Mountains Fall

The Mountain

The cold of the Mountain is different than the cold of the Valley. In the Valley, the cold you feel is on your face. You feel it in your toes and in your fingers and on the tip of your nose. In the Mountain, it went much deeper. There, you feel it deep in your bones and your muscles. It goes into your skull, into your brain, into your soul. The cold didn't stop at your toes but engulfed your foot, traversed the bones of your legs, took a break in your groin and the devoured your stomach. All of that to say, I was cold. From the few who had failed to climb the mountain, I knew that it takes a full week to climb. On the first day, Ledto taught me an ancient song of the companions. It went like this;

"Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now. I found a peanut just now. It was rotten, it was rotten, It was rotten just now. found a peanut, it was rotten just now. Ate it anyway, ate it anyway, ate in anyway just now. Found a peanut, it was rotten, ate it anyway just now. Just died, dust died, I died just now. Ate a rotten peanut, I died just now."

It then repeats, and repeats, and repeats making it perfect for a long walk. On the second day, the world started to change. The air became crisper, the snow became brighter, the world, in general, became sharper and more real. On either side of the trail, there were hundreds upon thousands of animal tracks. The strange thing was, I could hear hundreds upon thousands of voices talking and whispering.

"Come on, let's keep going," Ledto said calmly staring directly into my eyes. It was a scary intense "move or you are DEAD" type of stare.

"But what is this place? And stop looking at me like that, it's weird and kinda scary." I replied and started to move. If you looked into the shadows hard enough you could see others with their Companions. Some were making camp, some were injesting potions, some were casting spells, and some were doing things that no one should see or do (you can leave your mind in the gutter for that image).

"It's the Telud forest," Ledto replied walking ahead of me. I tried to avoid the shades but sometimes I couldn't. When I passed through, I could see their brain and organ and everything. If I was to rate the experience I would put it at a two out of ten,

"Yeah, but what is it?" I asked

"A forest where whoever passes through is recorded as a shade. " Suddenly a shade of a girl my age rushed up to me. She grabbed my shoulders and looked me deep in the eyes with her blue and gold speckled ones.

Very calmly she said, "Run," grabbed my hand and started to sprint like mad. Of course, her hand passed through mine but then I heard thunderous footsteps. Not looking behind me, I scampered after her like a rabbit. Ledto was flying above us. When I hazarded a look back I saw the most terrible beasts. Imagine a shaved bear, actually, here is a shaved bear.

Now put a pair of ape arms on it, also shaved. Finally, make it nine feet tall and have three of them chasing you making a screeching, growling, roar that would turn blood solid and bones liquid. After that, I didn't care who I ran through. Every time a Beast touched a shade, it disappeared in a whiff of smoke. We ran for at least an hour without stop and my lungs were about to burn through my chest and my legs were going to dissolve into jelly.

All of a sudden the air seemed to turn into a gel. The shade/girl and I slugged through it while Ledto ran straight through. The Beasts hit it like a brick wall. The first one was knocked out and the others stopped before hitting it. They sneered at us and lumbered away. Once I realized that we were safe, I collapsed on the ground in the fetal position. Ledto tried to get me up but the muscles in my legs would not and could not work. I lay there for half an hour.

"Thanks." Said the shade/girl with a dash of tenderness. She looked more real and had a scent of familiarity. She was tall with toned muscles and an amber tan to her skin. Her features were prominent but not harsh with a high brow, a pointed nose, and sharp cheekbones. It was a face that had seen truly terrible things, faced them with hope, and masked that with a perpetual smile. Her Auburn hair cascaded like a knotted waterfall down her back in a disorganized mess. Her dress of leaves was haphazardly sewn together and indicated she was not new to the forest.

"For what?" I asked with genuine confusion.

"For getting me out of the forest. I missed being able to feel things." Her head was bowed as she said this in genuine gratefulness.

"So then you are not a shade?" I was intrigued more than confused. The Shades in the forest seemed to essentially be recording of the people as they passed through and yet she was sentient and very much not a recording.

"When I first entered the wood, I was like you, but much younger. I had been chased all my life wild animals but once I realized I couldn't be hurt in the wood, I stayed and eventually became a shade. You don't remember me?" If you could have seen her face you could have seen the pure hope in it. A hope that made my next sentence unbearable to say.

"No, Should I?"

"I really hoped so. I guess it's been too long I was very young back then. My name is Beze, since you don't remember." The hope in her face was gone and was replaced with thinly veiled disappointment. Ledto entered our little scene with some fish on his wings as he maneuvered awkwardly through the forest.

"Thanks, Led, I'll start a fire." I was glad for his interruption. It is terrifying, facing the idea of comforting somebody you don't know for something you didn't know you did.

"Is that your Companion?" Beze asked, her face lighting up as she rushed over to him.

"Yeah, his name is Ledto. How about you two start to prepare the fish while I work on that fire," Beze looked at my confused, "Ledto will show you what to do." With that, I started to gather wood while Ledto taught Beze how to prepare a fish.

Within an hour we had a happy domestic scene around the fire. Within another half an hour, dinner was done and Beze turned to me and asked, "Do you know any stories? I remember you used to tell them to me."

"Oh, um..." I rummaged through my pack to find the book I had brought, "Here we go," I flipped to my favorite myth and started to tell it.

Companions are some of the greatest mysteries known to us. It is said that when Bedole created the world, He had no companion and was lonely. He created humans but they were too focused on survival to make good company. He then created Himself a Companion out of all the animals He had created previously, including humans. This Companion was such a great comfort and friend for Bedole that He let every human have one too. However, He made sure that each one was much less powerful and interesting than His.

"Mmmm, that was one of my favorites." With that, she looked me in the eyes and for a moment and only a moment I recognized them but then it was gone and she stood up, walked to some softish ground and fell asleep. I took the first guard and spent that time trying to figure out who this girl was and why she seemed to recognize me. Most of all, though, I tried to figure out where the path was and how to get back on it.