“It’s wet.”

  “I know.”

  “And slippery.”

  “I know that also.”

  “How long do we have to walk?”

  “Until we know we are safe in each direction.” Nessar replied tiredly.

  “My legs hurt.” Liryas whined and stomped his feet.

  “So, crawl.” The constant complaining of Liryas started to irritate Nessar so much so that he began to reply to his brother indifferently, even though he could feel his limbs grow weary also.

  “Yiwu will surely be back by now.”

  “Most probably yes.”

  “I hope Rahul and Gohola are safe.” Said Liryas. Nessar exhaled but looked at his brother with a sense of pity.

  “I am sure they are safe and with Taik by now.” They walked in silence for a while.

  “But how long in each direction?”

  “I do not know, Liryas, if you wish to do something that will be useful, count how many steps it will take in each direction until we stumble into something.”

  “But we have been walking for tens of thousands of steps now and I have not counted.”

  “So, start now.” Nessar exhaled. Despite the tiresome ramblings of his younger brother there was a feeling of elation whilst traversing the great green north that made Nessar feel more alive than ever before and somehow more complicated. In the desert it felt as if all he had to worry was the next step, he was going to take but then Iragur suddenly appeared and then there was no more night or day and then the great green north, which was pleasant and a good place, but it added complexity to life that felt somehow wrong with a strange undertow of discomfort that he could not quite place.

  “Iragur is getting smaller now Nessar, there is less and less light.” Liryas screeched.

  Then the monsters came and the winged Imtasha stung Gohola and they were one less and no knowledge or sign if he was even still alive. Then the terrifying stranger Taik, who seemed a friend but there was something ominous about him which again Nessar could not quite place. It seemed as if the more he experienced the less he knew and understood about the world around him. It unnerved him and made every step directed in a yet stranger place that much heavier. Iragur was getting smaller, it was almost pitch black but there was a white dot away in the distance, perhaps a moon, somewhere where they still have a night and day.

  “I can see that brother, let us walk for now and if we find a place that offers shelter from the open space we can rest there for a while.” He responded somewhat absently.

  Then Rahul went after Gohola and they were again one less, at least if Gohola was to die he would not die alone in the desert but accompanied. A bleak shadow of consolation. Only then did they find the great green north. The air here felt different than in the desert, somewhat lighter, somehow almost sentient. Now in the dark Nessar could slowly feel as his eyes adjusted to the dark and he could differentiate shadows and edges and he could feel, the slight sweet sting of the tall dry grass and he could hear the gnawing of the great beasts that did not pay much attention to them and only chewed slowly and every now and again roared into the empty black sky. And there was water, there were ponds and rivers that they passed, and they walked alongside the river edge and they could see their own faces reflecting in the mirror of the water.

  “Nessar! There!” Liryas suddenly spoke and pointed into the distance. Nessar frowned and squinted and finally noticed in the distance a tall hill that broke off suddenly into nothingness and below it a hole in the side of the rock. They changed course and started walking towards it in silence and bending their knees so as not to frighten the great beasts if they made a louder sound. They made their way towards the hill and they walked gently across a narrow strip of land dividing the hill and a pond below it. Nessar could feel a calmness wash over him now and his breath was lighter again. They entered the cave and checked to see if it was indeed empty but at the back wall of the cave there was a hole half their size and they could put their hand in it and not feel the end and a cold air came from it, seeming as if a dark sucking tunnel, further into the ground and into the darkness was to swallow them if they dared enter. Liryas must have been extremely tired because he has not spoken in a longer time. Or perhaps he was thinking about something he did not want to share with Nessar. They decided to stay near the entrance, and they sat watching the water and beasts in silence until the sun in a great distance came back up and made the world lighter again. The night passed quickly, and light entered the cave uncovering its walls. Nessar got up ready to leave feeling that his body was somewhat rested and in annoyance he swatted a small flying animal out of his face. Liryas however stepped back and went deeper into the cave and started studying its walls that were now revealed to hold strange pictures of some figures, that appeared small and to be cave-dwellers and they were engaging in battle with a larger race of man, thick and tall and two headed followed by more pictures of the cave-dwellers fleeing and surrounded with strange symbols and sigils that appeared as if burned into stone.

  ?Who do you think lives here?” Liryas asked.

  ?Whoever it is they don’t live here anymore. I wonder where they are.” Nessar pointed to the two-headed man pictured holding fire. Possible danger.

  ?One hundred thousand steps.” Liryas spoke quietly. Nessar looked at him. He did not suppose that his brother would seriously count steps and yet… It was useful information. Hundred thousand steps north of the settlement was a cave.

  ?Let us go brother.” Nessar went out of the cave and passed the narrow road along the pond and around the hill to continue straight north again.

  ?It’s windy.”

  ?Good, let it be windy then” Nessar felt calm and at peace and only wondered if they were to encounter the two-headed people and if they were truly as hostile as the cave paintings portrayed them to be.

  ?Are you not afraid the wind will bring creatures?”

  ?No, not here, I do not think.” Everything seemed to flow peacefully here and Nessar was less unnerved than yesterday. Ponds of strange swimming creatures and small flying ones above the surface of the water made him calm.

  ?Look Nessar.” Liryas pointed to something in the horizon. There seemed to be some white geometrical shapes collected all in one place that seemed like some kind of rubble. They went on towards it and when they got closer, they ascertained that it was rubble indeed. White stone fallen over itself and only one wall left and all of it entangled in vine and flowers purple and yellow that climbed taller and taller. There was nothing to be learned of it, only ruins of what used to be, nothing more, nothing less, so they kept on going. Along the same road the path in some places was filled in with stones, clearly man-made and there were poles along the road, but they did not know what the poles could be for. Later along the road was an enclosure with a wooden fence around a larger area of grass and there were some mangled, black bones by the fence and some in the middle and the flying things flew around the bones in circles. Nessar came closer and saw in the distance a white figure moving indistinctly near where the fence and the woods met.

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  ?Stranger!” Liryas yelled out and the figure flinched and saw the two standing in the road and the stranger ran quickly into the woods before they could even discern what he looked like. Liryas tried to chase after him but Nessar grabbed him.

  ?He does not wish to be seen Liryas, perhaps it is best we do not make ourselves seen as well.” And so, they went off the path and closer to the woods and they walked on forward constantly looking both ways, to the road to see what lied ahead and to the woods to see what may hide within them. They walked in silence and soon they encountered in their path wooden stakes and fences and more white rubble swallowed by vines and flowers alike and they grew larger and denser now, some no more than a dozen steps away from each other and some with two walls and even some with three. They decided to get back on the trail and investigate the strange buildings but there was no sign of anything that could help the decipher who lived there, no paintings, no signs, nothing except rubble. And yet about a hundred steps along the stony path there was a building seemingly whole, not destroyed and not swallowed by flora but shining white and decorated with spikes upward and spirals in the edges. They walked towards it as if in a trance and in silence staring at its gleaming aura against a dark tall forest. Nessar walked a beat behind and suddenly grabbed Liryas by the neck and pulled him closer.

  ?Hey!” Liryas tried protesting but Nessar put his hand over his mouth and pulled him to the ground and he himself too kneeled and took a step back and only let go of Liryas once he too noticed before them standing a great manticore, a creature of enormous size, with the torso of a lion except for his mane which was cut and his back feet were hooved and with a scorpions tale ending with a dark violet stinger and he had great black wings that rested atop his curved back and one of his eyes was white and blind. He was gently digging in the earth almost as if bored and murmuring to himself as such

  ?God does not smile at us, he is frowning, left then right, things come at night, convert or die, the heroes of fury and the champion’s glory…” and he dug in the earth and again spoke

  ?Things in the water, secrets and then something away and away, herons and sparrows, somewhere, somewhen” and he dug in the earth more.

  ?The sons of Iragur.” The beast turned around and faced the brothers that sat at the ground frozen in fear watching the beast in silence.

  ?Go ahead. Ask whatever comes to mind.” The beast walked in a half circle and stood directly before them, shielding the strange white building.

  ?How do you know us?” Liryas squeaked.

  ?When you came into the great green north you noticed some other beings.” His voice hummed and buzzed. Liryas nodded but Nessar watched the beast with distrust.

  ?And some other beings noticed you.” The manticore said. Liryas looked at Nessar.

  ?We are sons of Eish, not sons of Iragur.” Nessar corrected the creature.

  ?So you are, forgive me sons of Eish. I am not all knowing, I only relay onto others what I hear… sometimes rumors, sometimes sightings, often only whispers in the wind. Tell me sons of Eish, do you too hear the cracking of bones, the blood gushing and bellowing of man?”

  The brothers stood in silence.

  ?Perhaps my hearing has sharpened throughout the centuries.” The beast spoke and dug a little hole in the ground before him.

  ?What is your name? What God do you serve?” Nessar straightened himself seeing that the beast was rather calm and willing to speak to them.

  “I am Forlom. I do not serve any God anymore, for the one that I pledged loyalty to was murdered, his name was Seph.” The beast said in a calm deep voice.

  “We wish you well Forlom.” Liryas said and took a step forward towards the manticore but Nessar grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back again.

  “What happened to your God?” Nessar kept inquiring.

  “He was killed by one of the champions of Orrendal, the Hunter of Heathens they called him, he is also the one that blinded me. Only by the grace of the last breath of Seph was I saved and so was our temple.” The beast sighed quietly.

  “I am now to protect the temple of all that may come.”

  “And what comes?” Nessar kept on interrogating the creature but it seemed not greatly offended by the stranger’s distrust and only tilted his head and looked around lazily.

  “What brings you here?” Forlom asked instead.

  “We came to see where it’s safe.” Liryas spoke.

  “Nowhere is it safe.” He claimed

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Anywhere you venture out from here there are Gods more powerful than you can imagine, small sons of Eish.” He looked at them with pity.

  “And so, what they are more powerful? Is that not good? That means they will have more possibilities to help us.” Liryas spoke.

  “Dear child, since when does power equate kindness?” The creature laughed dryly and bitterly. Liryas and Nessar looked at each other confused but did not speak a word out loud. The creature saw this and spoke

  “What is true for one man will be blasphemy to a kingdom. Kindness is a privilege of the weak.”

  They both frowned now, even more confused. The beast walked up closer to them so that his low voice now hummed and vibrated in the air between them.

  “You should count yourself lucky, sons of Eish that your God is a weak God. I have seen men torn apart by those who claimed the status of perfection. You asked where can you go where it is safe? I suggest you come back to where you came from. If you were lucky enough to find a bit of green land in the north that has not been yet salted, smoldered, burned, ravaged and sanctified then you are lucky. But not so lucky to avoid what comes when you venture too far out.”

  “At least tell us what awaits out there, so we know what to expect and what to tell the good God Eish.” Nessar demanded and the beast nodded.

  “You stopped to rest in a cave on your way here. There you saw signs of other kinds of man. There were diggings of molemen. They are a frightful people, dwelling underground and rarely ever make themselves known. They have been chased out before from the caves to go deeper and lower by the Gardosians. They were scared too, of the night and creatures that roamed, but stronger and willing to fight the molemen and for a while they were strong and many here in the north, but they went East and never returned. Perhaps to grow stronger. Perhaps to be smothered. But in the East, there is a silence that is unlike any other place and I have no trust for it. I would advise you not to test it.”

  “So, we will not go further East” Nessar confirmed firmly while Liryas let his eyes venture out somewhere behind the trees.

  “Instead, we shall go beyond the forest and deeper into the North”

  “Deeper North? You go far enough north people mad as dogs walk aimlessly and murmur the strangest things to themselves and weep uncontrollably and the land dries out and it is flat and the further you go the pyramids grow greater and greater until you are lost forever. You said that powerful Gods would have more power to help you? Go further North and see how powerful Gods exercise their blood right, their brute force in tyranny and the torture of their own people.”

  ?Why would Gods be cruel to their own followers?” Liryas gasped.

  ?Why? Why not?”

  “Have they no conscience?”

  ?Conscience, son of Eish is fear of consequence for transgression. What consequence could there possibly be to a God? What transgression if the only law there is, is their own? What fear?” The beast asked. The sons could not answer.

  “So, we shall not venture too far North either. The only way to go is West.” Nessar sighed

  “Perhaps you can go only slightly into the West. There are good creatures there but trust not too easily for there are cities there of man whose character I cannot vouch for and far enough you will go, and you will surely run into them. Those wretched ones that rid this village of hope and life. You beware.” The sons hanged their heads.

  “Good sons of Eish, trust in my scars and in the massacre of the town of Seph that it is in your best interest to not venture too far out from your comfortable village. You are frail little things and ought to treat the world like a spider in a warm house. Make not yourself known, unless you wish to be stepped on.” The beast opened his wings and stretched them in the low hanging sun and his shadow grew on the white temple’s wall only for the creature to lay its wings down again.

  “Can we see you as a friend Forlom the Manticore?” Liryas asked suddenly, it seemed to have surprised not only Nessar but also the beast.

  “Yes, you may sons of Eish. Be now on your way.” And so, they bowed down to the Manticore and left the same way they came.

  “Three hundred thousand steps.” Liryas said to Nessar as they walked

  through the white rubble of a town of a fallen God and further towards the unknown