❝The path out of town forks two ways. What sort of places do they seem to lead to? Which does your hero take, and why?
❞[words: 573
// featuring:
Suresh, Dhanna, & Zamir]
An electric stench clung onto the morning's air, stark and stinging the noses of the brothers. It was heavy and thick, as if a chunk of it could've been carved out from the sky. Zamir lamely lifted a paw, slicing a jagged claw through the air like he could see the source of potent odor that pricked at their lungs.
But it was not just a smell that surrounded them, it was a restless rattling in their bones, a hungry and gruesome destruction, an unexplainable and painful heat. It was the sinister force. The plague. The darkness.
It was greedily feeding off of them, tempted by youngest two brothers, favoring their youth as if it were its sweet dessert. It stole everything its black hands could grab ahold of, their energy, their will, their purpose. It was beginning to tear them apart.
But the boys would not slow, even though the invisible pressure slowly began to swell around them, within them. They would not let it. Could not let it. KaloKairi depended on them. The brothers would let their kingdom's hope and belief blossom within their chests for as long as it could, pushing out the darkness that tried to infest them.
They came to a fork in the road and stopped, the buzzing still present like a persistent parasite. There was a sign planted into the dirt, scratched and weather worn. The writing was illegible. Plants, although mostly dead, overran both trails, slithering over and through the ground. Trees shivered, blocking out the tainted daylight. Their white branches swung from above, like a scarecrow's lifeless body, threatening to snap and crash down to earth. The paths were identical, like mirrored copies of each other. It couldn't be said where they'd lead, or what untold secrets would lie beneath the decay.
There was, however, one difference between the paths. It just couldn't been seen. It was felt. The brothers all felt it, and without having to speak out loud they knew each other could feel it too. The feeling couldn't be described, no, there wasn't a word for the teasing relief that tugged at them, pulling them towards the left path. The left path, it was placid but eerie, which made it almost beautiful, in a way, almost made it glow there. It was undeniable, the brothers would take the left path. It felt safer, more sure of itself. Like the digging heat and pain and weight was softened into nothing, into a sweet breath of fresh air.
It reminded them of their sister, who calmly waited for them at home, with her warm hugs and long fur that wrapped around you like a blanket of flowers and kisses and butterflies. It made them think of home, of what it used to be. Of what it could be again. In fact, now the path seemed to change before their eyes. It was an illusion, of course, but a delightful and welcomed one. The left path seemed prettier now, like everything was perfect there.
Suresh took the first step forward, realizing they'd all been frozen. His brothers quickly followed, happy to bathe in the aura of the left path, of its promises of light and magic.
Of course, who really knew where that path led? To new lands? To the wind element crystal?
Or maybe, to an alluring and cleverly disguised danger, eager for an unsuspecting group of Kalons to fall into its trap?
