Tribal Instinct - CH 5: Trap them in the Well of Memories

I. “He called me here, at the crossroads of worlds, so I came.”

The soul stepped over the border of the Forest of Darkness. A path she had taken before. She entered the realm of mirrors.

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

Voices called all around. 

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

Many and many with each step, echoing whispers.

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

It was the same voice every time, but it didn’t come from the same source.

“She’s Frozen Forest!”

One of them spoke.

“She’s Frozen Forest!”

“She’s Frozen Forest!”

It started to spread around.

“Frozen Forest!”

“Frozen Forest!”

They all kept shouting her name.

“Frozen Forest!”

“Frozen Forest!”

It became as loud as a thousand voices screaming, but they were all whispering. The mare kept walking through the realm of mirrors, ignoring the voices, unbothered by them, as if she was used to it.

Inside the cave, it was quiet. Mossy Peak was looking into the pond. She then turned to see Frozen Forest walk in. They smiled when their eyes met.

“It’s been a while, Frozen Forest.”

“We all return eventually, don’t we? He called me here, at the crossroads of worlds, so I came.”

* * *

II.“It’s gonna be worse than True Death.”

King Pine looked down through her eyes.

“Incompetent King. He can’t even see it right in front of him. They all revealed themselves in front of us, yet he is still unable to tell.”

“Was it a mistake not to kill him back then?”

“Who else could lead the Tribe in this battle? He’s a bad choice, selfish and devoted to none but himself. He has no loyalty. But the rest of the tribe are all morons. I just wish he would listen to us. If only this moment came a few centuries ago… the age of the great kings has set.”

“What are we going to do about the outcasts that stole the prisoner?”

“They are already on their way, moving faster than the Tribe could ever. But they have no guidance, they desperately await for a sign from the divine.”

He paused. The other five spirits waited for him to continue quietly. His eyes passed slowly over each one of them. 

Brook, the scorpion warrior, frowned and looked away.

“Such a great warrior…” Pine thought. 

Quick Mouse, with his big eyes, taking that who dared to look inside to a world unknown, one who no one could comprehend or understand. 

“Is it kindness that you show, or something else? If it were kindness, then why would you choose to walk this path with us?” Pine wondered in his mind.

He almost didn’t notice Small Pebble, the fish warrior trying to sneak away, flowing like water away from them.

“I wonder what even drives you… it’s hard to put my faith in the likes of you, even after all this time.” 

Roc, his right paw, standing tall and mighty in front of him.

“What would I even do without you?”

Lastly, his eyes fell onto Bluebell, the small healer, her eyes empty, staring into space.

“So much have they disappointed you… losing all faith in your own life’s purpose… how can your soul ever find peace?”

Having finished thinking about all of them, he turned away, ready to give his order.

“Bluebell, my dear, lure them into the Crosswords of Worlds. Make them think of you as a sign from the Stars - but trap their minds in a Well of Memories.”

*

“Mossy Peak, my daughter.” Bluebell spoke, walking in the Realm of Mirrors. Mossy Peak turned her head.

“So are you my mother?” She asked.

“I am.”

“Is it you who gave shape to my egg?”

“We all are your parents. You must not question anything more. You are the children of the First Warriors.”

“So is it. I thought that after two thousand years you would have a new answer for me.”

“Long time no see.” Bluebell smiled.

“Why are you here, mother?”

“I need to use the Well of Mirrors.”

“After you didn’t even allow me to walk into the heaven you haven built, you have the nerve to ask me for this?” Mossy Peak spoke, with a cold, calm, voice.

“You better pick your side, Mossy Peak. The losing side will face true death - no souls will be left of them.”

“Then I’ll side with the winning side.”

“In that case, may I use the Well of Mirrors?”

“You may. But be careful, if you are on your way to lose, I’ll be the one to push you in. It’s gonna be worse than True Death.”

* * *

III.  “I bet she can’t even see the moon.”

The five of them opened their eyes at the sound of bushes moving around them. Their blood froze at the sight of what stood in front of them.

They all got up in a rush, stumbling around. All around them there were warriors of the tribe, surrounding them. Star Seeker’s hoof hit a pot, which fell onto the fire, putting it out.

“Come Star Seeker, run!” Owl Fluffs shouted, and then proceeded to drag him away from the fireplace. 

Forest Fang shot a ray of magic through a group of warriors blocking their way. Some dodged, jumping out of the way, while some got hit and fell down. Didn’t matter, there was now a path for them to escape through. They all ran through, while Owl Fluffs dragged Star Seeker after her. He still couldn’t understand what he was doing there. Why was he caught up in this? Why were they risking their life for him?

“They’re off to kill me!” Star Seeker shouted, hit by the realization. How pitiful would it be for him to die while not even knowing who his parents were!

Haru was struck by a maniacal laugh. “They’re off to kill you!”

She seemed happy about that.

Suddenly, a ray of magic hit a tree above them, which fell and blocked their way. They turned to circle around it, but their path was blocked by more warriors.

A magic ray wiped them out from in front of them. It had the shape of a wolf. 

“A sphirix?? Who has the power to manifest their sphirix like that?” Star Seeker stared terrified. No grifix in the Village other than the queen had the power to do that. Turning a sphirix solid and visible required way more magic than a grifix could produce in a week. No way one could do it for more than a blink of an eye! And yet there it was, the wolf, sitting right in front of him.

Jadeite stepped up in front of them, him and the sphirix looking like one. The other grifix around him didn’t look surprised, as if they had seen that many times before, as if it wasn’t a big deal. Only the warriors hesitated for a moment at the sight of the spirit animal.

“They’re monsters.” Star Seeker thought. “This is the end of the Village. They’ll end us all.”

*

Eventually, they escaped using some magic portals created by Owl Fluffs. She turned out to have a very powerful magic as well, creating such portals in an instant was impossible for the common grifix. They buried their smell with rotten leaves and dirt and washed away the magic tracks. The tribe warriors lost them. At nightfall, Star Seeker went a few feet away from the fire they all stood around. He stared at the moon. Big, white, strange. It reminded him of many grifix: Selenara’s coat, white as the new moon. The grifix he was in a cage with, it felt as if she was just as far as the moon was from him. The tribe king’s eyes, they had the color of the full moon, blue, scary. The same color he could see in what others called his sphirix. 

He looked around. It wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Why?” He wondered. Every grifix should have their sphirix by their side, or at least that’s what he knew to be normal. Why could he see his so rarely? He felt lonely. The moon accentuated his loneliness. He left in order to find his parents but he only found stuff to be more afraid off.

He shouldn’t have listened to that water spirit. What does she even know? She lives at the bottom of a muddy swamp, what can she even see through all that mud?

“I bet she can’t even see the moon.” He mumbled to himself.

* * *

IV. “What if they are the enemy?”

He heard footsteps in the bushes in front of him. Lowering his gaze from the moon, he saw a deer standing in front of him, made of magic, the same color as his. 

“Who are you?” Star Seeker asked the deer.

“Come on Star Seeker, you know that, I’m your sphirix, I am you.”

“Why aren’t you like the other sphirix?”

“Why must I be? I’m different. Cause you’re special.”

Star Seeker felt a stroke of anger through his chest.

“Bullshit. There’s nothing special about me. I’m just like the others. And even if I would be special, that’s not the reason you keep leaving me for. You just say that so I leave you alone and stop bugging you with this question. I won’t buy it anymore.”

The sphirix stood silent for a moment.

“How are you going to get back to the village? The warriors chased you away from your old magic tracks. Do you think you can find them?”

“Couldn’t you do something as well? Others’ sphirix help them, fight for them. I can barely use my magic when you’re gone. How am I even supposed to find my way back like this? Plus all of this is just your fault! It’s you that refuses to tell me anything about my parents. That’s why I left. At least hand a helping hoof.”

“Sigh… you’re right. Though I cannot reveal who your parents are, I should at least take responsibility for this. I’ll help you get back.”

After a long pause, the deer looked at the grifix behind him. The four other grifix were sitting around a campfire, quiet.

“What do you think about them?” He asked.

“What do you wanna get at?” Star Seeker replied, too annoyed to try to interpret the question.

“Sigh… you never had any friends… I think that maybe…”

“You show up once in a blue moon and start giving me advice about how I should live my life?!” Star Seeker interrupted him. “You never cared about me. Your duty as my sphirix is to live by me, to be my first friend! Yet you are acting like you are another being than me! And now you dare tell me about how I can’t make friends?! Why can’t you try to be my friend, if you’re so concerned about this? It was your one duty in this life!”

“…Star Seeker?” He heard a voice behind him.

“Of course… a grifix fighting with their sphirix is unnatural…” he remembered. The deer in front of him was already gone. He turned to see Owl Fluffs, who came to check on him.

“Are you alright?” She asked kindly.

“Yes.” He replied coldly.

Why were they so concerned about him? Why did they try so hard to take him back to the village? They didn’t even know him. He was scared of them. They were all insane. And they were all more powerful than the grifix in the Village. Was it really ok to take them to the village? Assuming he could find a way back… “What if they’ll destroy the village? What if they are the enemy?”

* * *

V. “We all share the same home, the Everfree Village.”

Star Seeker got back to the campfire and sat down looking quietly at the fire. Owl Fluffs sat near him and looked at the group of grifix. The atmosphere was dense and awkward. It was in her nature to try and cheer them up, or at least break the ice.

“So… uh… how are we gonna find the Village now? We ran a long way, and I even used some magic portals to help us escape the Warriors… instant magic portals have no accuracy, I have no idea where we are.”

“We’re likely not very far, probably in the same forest. Instant portals are limited to magic areals defined by the energy of certain habitats.” Forest Fang answered, chewing on a sparrow he roasted.

“Yes, but still, the forest we were in was very big. And it’s not hard to get lost in a forest like this, even if you are walking. Regardless of how close we are, we are quite unlikely to find our way back to our original trail. And even if we do… the Tribe will most probably be there, ahead of us. We must find a way to get to the Village from where we are now, and make it there faster than them.”

“I can help with that”

A voice echoed in Jadeite’s mind. He lifted his eyes and looked around. None of the others seemed to hear it. “A ghost”, he thought. 

He saw her behind Owl Fluffs, who was sitting in front of him across the fire. She had the same unusual feeling as Star Seeker, as if she was different from them. The way she pronounced the words sounded almost the same as him. She wore accessories unusual to the tribe. Her green mane was wild and her stature imposing. She was not one of the usual spirits he saw. Among the thousands he had lied his eyes upon, she was unlike any of them. And that scared him. She gave off such an unfamiliar feeling.

He looked around and realized: for the first time in years he saw no spirits around, none other than her. He panicked. He got up and backed from the fire. He looked nervously around.

“Where are they? Why are they gone?!” He always wished them to be gone, but this wasn’t right. It’s not like he stopped seeing them - they were simply gone, and that was against the law of nature.

“It’s futile to look for them. You’re out of their territory.” She spoke.

“Wh- what do you mean?”

“You never left the spiritual space of the Tribe, did you? This must be scary to you. That place is so full of ghosts, yet here it is deserted. But that’s just how it is. Since the First Warriors closed the heavens, all souls have been trapped in that spiritual space. They call it the Forest of Shadows. But here it’s different. Unless if it’s made of pure evil, a soul can ascend to the stars and be free. Evil spirits are tied to this forest. Forever.”

Jadeite took one step back. If only evil spirits resided there… that made her an evil spirit.

“…Or so they say. None can say who is truly evil. But even the evil ones here have something in common. We all share the same home, the Everfree Village.”

* * *

Ah, how interesting the acts of the mortals unravel!

As if there’s not a single thought in their brains!

They must not know what is about to come.

How can they be so oblivious to the world around them?

Such an entertaining thing to watch!

And the dead are no different! Just look at them:

The butterfly has finally left the tower,

Yet she takes no action for herself!

She trusts blindly those around her.

But her own daughter is planning her demise!

Ah, how exhilarating!