"How long have we been walking?"
Two boys make their way through the forest.
"Eric, could you complain a little less? You've been doing this since... well, since we started walking."
"At least tell me why."
"Why what?"
"Because we walked all this way!"
"Obviously, to find a safe place where we could establish some sort of base."
Eric glared at the other boy, then sighed.
"Obvious things, coming from the great Sergei..."
They walked in silence, but it clearly bothered Eric.
"Could we at least talk about something as we head into the unknown?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Sergei replied, his voice bored.
"I don't know... like, what were you doing before you were kidnapped by the gods?"
Sergei stopped, seemingly lost in thought. Eric stopped too, curious about the answer.
"No, I'm not answering. Change the question."
"Oh, come on! After all that silence and suspense, you're not even going to answer!?"
Sergei continued walking as if nothing had happened, while Eric stared at him, annoyed.
"Good! If you don't tell your story... I'll tell mine!"
"No one asked you..."
"So, ever since I was a child..." Eric stopped mid-sentence, bumping into Sergei.
"Oh, we're here. You can continue this interesting story next time." Sergei said with a smug smile before continuing.
"Remember which of us has a weapon!" Eric shouted, following his companion. Sergei ignored him.
"Wow."
The thick wall of logs suddenly parted, revealing a vast clearing carved deep in the forest. Not a single shrub, not a stray root: just bare earth and silence, broken only by the imposing presence of the tree at its center.
It was not only tall—its crown almost brushed the clouds tinted by the setting sun—but massive, with a trunk so broad they could have walked around it for minutes. The bark, marked by time, radiated an ancient aura, and the long shadows cast by the fading light enveloped it like a cloak.
Eric and Sergei slowed their pace, their eyes fixed on the titanic figure of wood and leaves.
After a long moment of silent contemplation, they moved again.
Sergei scanned the area cautiously.
"It looks like no one's around." he murmured, his voice almost lost in the eerie stillness.
When they reached the wooden colossus, something caught their attention: the trunk, immense and ancient, was not intact. A dark opening, as tall as a man, gaped in its surface. A breath of cool, moist air filtered through, carrying the pungent smell of rotting wood and deep earth.
Eric stood at the entrance for a moment, peering into the darkness. Then he took a step forward, and the sharp snap of a twig under his foot broke the silence.
The moment he crossed the threshold, he was swallowed by a suffocating darkness. The echo of his footsteps bounced off the interior walls, revealing the immensity of the cavity.
"It's huge..."
"It really is..."
Sergei also peered inside curiously before stepping out again, noticing that the sun had almost set.
"Let's light a fire."
"Yes." Eric replied, emerging from the darkness.
[A few moments later]
The two boys were sitting in front of a campfire, eating some meat.
"Luckily, we managed to hunt a rabbit." Sergei said contentedly, taking a bite.
"True, although this whole thing still bothers me."
"Do you mean to kill?"
"Yes... even if it's an animal, taking someone's life is terrible."
Sergei glanced at Eric's dejected face.
"Try to get used to it. I've told you a hundred times already: we're avoiding fighting for now, but sooner or later we won't be able to anymore."
"And I've told you a hundred times that I'll get used to it. When the crucial moment comes, I'll be ready." Eric replied with a determination that took Sergei by surprise.
"Good..."
After another brief silence, Eric's mind drifted elsewhere.
"Sergei, can I ask you a question?"
"Can I stop you?"
"I think it's a rather trivial question, but for some reason, these last four days, we've never discussed it."
Sergei looked at him.
"You want to know which deity I serve, right?"
"Exactly. I just find it strange that the topic has never been discussed."
"True."
Sergei took another bite of meat while Eric waited for an answer that never came. Eric tilted his head slightly, an eyebrow raised, a wry smile on his lips.
"You're not even going to answer that question, are you?"
"Exactly." Sergei replied immediately.
Eric brought a hand to his face, as if to suppress his irritation.
"Okay, then let's hear your argument this time."
"I think it could cause problems for our alliance."
"Why would it if..."
"If we served the same deity, our alliance would be strengthened. That's what you were about to say, right?"
"Exactly... but apparently not for you."
"Suppose we reveal our deities to each other. As you might imagine, there are two possibilities: the first, and more likely, is that we don't serve the same deity; the second, and less likely, is that we do. Now, which of these possibilities do you think is the negative one?"
"Obviously the first."
"No. The answer is both."
Eric frowned, puzzled by the answer.
"So you're saying there's no upside to sharing the deity we serve?"
"And I'll explain why. In the first case, I think you've figured it out yourself, the downside is that we'd be enemies from the start and wouldn't trust each other. The second case has to do with the rules and the followers' intentions."
"What do these things have to do with it?"
"Ugh... do I really have to explain everything to you?"
Eric got a little irritated.
"Sorry I can't keep up with your war theory lectures!"
"I'll keep it brief, so even an elementary school kid could understand. Bragi said something important about the powers we can unlock. There's a secondary way to activate them: being the last survivor of your group and killing 100 people. With these two factors, we skip the step imposed by the Supreme God of completing our personal objective."
Eric's eyes widened slightly, and for a moment, his gaze sharpened.
"I see! When you said intentions, you meant there's a possibility someone might want to kill their teammates in an attempt to gain the secret power!"
"Exactly. So your little brain is still working."
Eric took offense again at that remark.
"Ultimately, either way, we wouldn't trust each other." Sergei said, standing up.
"If you put it that way, then I can easily do without it."
Eric finished eating and lay down on the grass to relax a bit.
Sergei grabbed a stick and some fabric from a shirt he was carrying, which Eric noticed.
"Is that the shirt of the guy we found dead?"
"Yes."
Sergei tied the fabric to the end of the stick, then lit it over the campfire, creating a torch.
"Try not to burn the tree." Eric said, half-jokingly.
Sergei entered the tree and tried to see what was inside. He immediately noticed the words carved into the wooden walls.
"Shit..."
"What did you see?"
Sergei tried to decipher the writing, but it was in a language he didn't know. After a moment, he went back outside, turning off the flashlight.
"We're leaving again tomorrow."
At those words, Eric began to despair.
"No! Again?"
"We have to. There are words carved into the inside walls of the tree."
"Really? What kind of writing?"
"I don't know. I can't tell if it's a human language or something else. But whoever wrote it could be back soon, and we don't know how many there might be. Or worse, it could be a mythical creature."
Eric grew worried.
"No mythical creatures, thanks. We'll leave tomorrow morning."
Sergei returned to the tree.
"I'm glad you figured out the situation. So, will you be taking first watch tonight?"
Eric, still lying there, jumped up.
"Huh? What?"
"Don't worry, I'll relieve you halfway through the night. For now, goodnight to me!"
Sergei instantly fell asleep in the darkness.
Apparently, we don't even need to know our deities to disagree...
Eric brought his divine weapon closer.
Eric's divine weapon was a scythe, made of a shiny gray metal, crisscrossed with thin geometric carvings reminiscent of ancient symbols and mysterious patterns. The sharp, curved blade fitted onto a slender yet sturdy shaft, exuding an aura of silent power.
"It's going to be a long night..."