When the light vanished, there was a lone figure standing at the mouth of the cave, which I was very sure had not been there before.
The tree carrying me very gently set me to my feet in front of the lone figure, and he took off his hood to reveal the first thing that would astonish me about him.
Darwin looked nothing close to what I had imagined he would be. In fact, he had the face of a ten year old boy while being far taller, tall enough to have been six feet.
"We have been waiting for you," he spoke, his voice surprisingly baritone. "Come in and see the rest of the Five Elves."
With so much authority that overrode every question I had to ask, I followed him into the cave, only remembering the tree that had kept me safe as I slept in its branches and asked my loads of questions a bit too late.
I turned to wave goodbye, but there was nothing there.
"Erimlin The Tree has returned to where he stood." Darwin told me without turning back, almost as though he had read my mind. "His work with you is finished."
Immediately, there was a familiar feeling of loss deep in my chest.
I liked Erimlin The Tree, I found.
On and on Darwin led, deeper into the cave, and the deeper we went, the darker it became, until the only light that guided us was an orb that glowed blue from the head of his staff. Behind him, I followed, disheartened with everything I felt here. There was no brightness, or the sight of beautiful leaves brushing against each other, or even the companionship I had found with the Tree.
Here, there was only cold silence, permeated only by the sound of water dripping from the roof of the cave and its echoes. And for some time, I thought it was getting louder.
"You have not eaten all day. The Tree has done well to make you forget your hunger."
I could not have agreed more. How I had gone an entire day without feeling hungry still surprised me.
All of a sudden, he stopped, and I was forced to do the same. "Drink," he commanded, and when I looked at him again he was holding his staff from the bottom. At the top, the orb glowed near the ground to show me a spring of water flowing from a stone.
I had a million excuses to give. I was only used to drinking bottled water whose purity I was assured of in my time. To drink water flowing from a hole in the rocks was something I was sure I had never done.
"If you knew that the water you look upon with such disdain is one that at a point in time was the thing that half the men on earth desired to pass through their throats, you would drink and never stop drinking."
I paused to look at the water, and the way it glowed blue while reflecting the orb made me want to drink it. The imminent dryness in my throat was not also helping, so I got on my knees and put my mouth to the water, drawing it in.
The first thing that hit me about it was that it was refreshingly cold.
The next was that it did not have the tastelessness akin to water, but rather reminded me of some sweet refreshing drink I could not immediately remember. It tasted nostalgic too, like something I used to drink in my childhood.
"Is this water?" I questioned, lifting my head from the source.
"When men said water is life, this was the water they first thought about. It makes you taste exactly what your heart wants to have a taste of, and can fill your stomach for days on end."
"I should get a container, then—"
"No. It only has its power when it flows from the source. If you take it out, it becomes ordinary water, and then turns bitter."
Saddened by this, I drank some more and rose to my feet. The idea of hunger or thirst seemed far from me, and I felt even stronger as Darwin continued to lead.
We had gone even deeper into the cave, and I could see roots coming out from the rocks, almost forming a kind of curtain so thick I wondered how Darwin planned to cut his way through as we approached it..
Alas, there was no need to. As Darwin went close, the roots gave way of their own accord and we passed, walking into a space so large it seemed endless. Somewhere in the middle of that space was a large, bright light.
"He is here." Darwin announced, and his voice echoed about.
The light burst all around at the sound of his voice and then faded away. In the end, all that remained was a fire.
"Bring him. Let him come here and see what path Fate has chosen for him." A voice spoke, and Darwin led me forward. Together we went, and I could make out the faces of four men around the fire, each of them holding a staff like Darwin's.
The only difference was in the colours of the orbs atop them.
"Wait here." Darwin told me when we were close to the fire, and went to join them, so that they sat and joined their staffs to form a pentagon around the fire. As soon as they formed this shape, the fire blazed even brighter.
"Nothing ever happens for no reason. You found the book because you are the One. You came here because you are the One. You stand here because you are the one." They all spoke in unison, five different voices, of different tones, saying the very same words.
"Me?" I asked, shielding my eyes as the fire burned even brighter.
One of them threw a heap of ash onto the fire, and it blazed and burnt as though something combustible had been poured on it. Even the flames burned high, so high it was as tall as Erimlin The Tree.
"Look in the fire." They told me.
I looked at it, and saw nothing but the flying sparks and blue flame.
"Look again."
I squinted even harder, and then I saw nothing that I had not seen before.
"Look, boy, and see what fate awaits you in the Everlasting Fire."
I looked into the fire one more time, and I saw an image glow amongst the flames. My jaw dropped open as out of the flames, the form of my face stared back at me.