Hectic/Aa tried to reason with you all. Begged for you all to stop. To listen. Just one more day he asked. But it didn't matter. You all had decided enough was enough. Someone had to go. Everyone would get a larger cut, so why not cull the weak. So you chose Hectic/Aa. You decided upon him like locusts on a stalk. When all was said and done, he was bloody, but alive. He couldn't walk though. He could barely stand. You all needed to get him away as soon as possible, so you found a river. With all the rain, the river swelled. You all agreed he
fell
in. Lost to the currents. Crushed against the rocks. And so, Hectic/Aa was gone.
---
After Hectic/Aa fell into the river, the downpour had increased. Wind whipped the drops into your faces, stinging your skin. Only the deepest parts of the caves protected you from the maelstrom outside. One of you decided to build a fire. All the others were thankful for that thought. The days of rain soaked you to your burns. If it hadn't been for this cave, you all would be outside under some tree waiting to be crushed by a falling branch. For some of you, that seemed like a fitting end to this whole ordeal.
Transport the chest from Chordan to the palace. Your job seemed easy enough when you first embarked on the journey. It was anything but easy. After only a few hours in the Queen's wood, the rain started. And it hadn't stopped. Some days the rain was light, some days the rain was heavy. In the beginning, you prayed for no rain. Now, you prayed for less rain or for one part of your body to remain dry. That made the chest all the more confusing. Two people could pick it up in Chordan. Now it took four. Had the water seeped into its wood? No... actually the water fell off the chest surprisingly well like it was covered in oil or made from duck's feathers.
Your hellish trek through the mud and rain only made the chest that much more alluring. No one could have opened it while you were asleep. Your party wasn't given the key to open it. There were no scratch marks or scuff marks indicating someone pried it open. You firmly believed that it could not be opened. Yet, why had it gotten heavier? That question's flame paled in comparison another. Why on Gaia's green earth was it
dry
? Everything you owned was wet. The wagon cover had quickly shown it was not capable of protecting your clothes or supplies from the unrelenting rain. That should have meant the chest too.
When you found the cave next to the river, you all cried from happiness. You cried even more when you found several dry logs in the back of the cave. That meant fire. That meant warmth. That meant
home
. Later that evening you all were sitting around the fire, staring into its dancing flames. Light flickered among the stalagmites and cave walls. A soft smoke billowed from the fire itself.
"Is it magic," one intrepid person asked.
The question hung for what seemed like hours. No one replied to the question. Barely anyone acknowledged the question had even been asked. You all continued to stare at the fire. Most of you were half dressed so that your clothes would dry. Even if your clothes provided a single moment of relief in the rain, this would all be worth it.
"No. Why do you think that," someone finally replied.
"It's gotten heavier since we started. That doesn't make any sense."
"That's because we have gotten weaker," a third person stated.
That made sense. How long had you been on this trek? Surviving off dried trout, forest nuts, and the occasional squirrel had made you leaner. Had it made you weaker, though? You couldn't tell.
Some of you began to prepare for bed. Others remained seated upright staring in the fire trying to decipher its mysterious movements. One of these individuals asked a question. The question that had been burning in your minds, burning more intensely than even the cave fire.
"What's in it?"
---
It was his own fault. He set things in motion by speaking of the unspeakable. Why had he asked that question? Was he a Queen's spy, waiting to turn us all in at the palace? You couldn't know for sure. But now that he was gone... you all needed that answer. Each of you took turns swinging the axe at the chest. All were unsuccessful at even so much as scratching the dark brown wood. One burly man even asked if that was native wood. No one had known the answer. It didn't matter. It
was
strong wood. If you all hadn't wasted hours trying to crack it open like a tree nut, you never would have known your task had been attempted. The wood was unblemished. Neither a scratch, nor splinter could be found. Finally, one of you had an idea. Drop it from the cliff overlooking the cave. This was a good idea. You all had wanted to make sure everyone was present when you dropped the chest, lest someone in the cave grab its contents and run into the god forsaken wood, to be lost forever.
When the chest fell, its impact shook the cliff. Stones behind you on the cliff rattled and smoke erupted from the chest with a gush of air. You all raced down the cliff side pushing one another to be the first one to see what was in side. You all were so excited that you didn't even notice the rain had stopped. Oddly, the locks and levers on the chest were still intake, but an edge of the chest had directly impacted the ground splintering into hundreds of twigs. You could see a dark red cloth covered the inside of the chest. None of you had ever seen a cloth this red. None of you had ever felt a cloth this soft. One of you cut into it and pulled out a royal, gold pillow. All this work for a pillow? Someone else ripped the pillow open to find nothing but chicken feathers. No. There had to be something else in the chest.
You reached your hand in and felt it. Cold, circular, with protrusions? It was a
crown
. The most beautiful crown any of you had ever seen. The metal was as smooth as ice, rising and falling beautifully into the protrusions holding the gems. Oh, the gems. So many gems. Some large, some small. Some you had never even seen before. Some captured the sunlight itself. Some even showed your own reflection from a thousand different angles.
Darkness.
---
When you woke up, the air was heavy and filled with a slightly purple smoke. You could smell the faint scent of apples and lavender. Had you stumbled into a fruit grove? You don't remember seeing any fruit on the trees when you found the cave. Never mind that, though. It was hard to
breathe
, like a small child was pushing all the air out of your lungs. You all looked at one another and then immediately towards the chest. The crown was still there lying on the ground. From what you all could see, the fall had not damaged it. But what had happened? Why were you all just waking up? One by one, you decided to wear the crown. To feel regal. To feel
powerful
.
---
Wake up!
You immediately open your eyes and flail around on the ground searching for that voice. Where had that voice come from? It was so clear and so loud. It sounded like a child right next to you. You look around, but you don't see much. There's no one next to you, not that you can see much. You cannot see more than a few feet in front of you. The smoke swirls in the air and reminds you of the webs your gran used to spin. About the desert magi and their mystical incense.
Why do you remember smoke? Did the fire burn the forest? No, that can't be it. This smoke doesn't have that acrid sting. It smells like flowers. It flows through your nose and fills your lungs. You don't cough. Your eyes don't water. You actually
enjoy
the smoke. You call out for your fellow travelers. You hear some ruffling around you and some shapes begin to move behind the purple-white veil. You swat at the smoke to clear the air.
That's when you notice your hand.
It's smaller. Your skin is different color too. You yourself are purple-white. You check the rest of your body. All purple-white. Have hair, though it is longer than you remember. And it's silver. It was black before.
