SYSTEM HARVEST

Numb. All around.

Deep into my bones; the only sensation - or lack thereof - was numbness. My right side lay hidden in the colorless ground. I tried to move, to feel my limbs buried in Yesi’s surface, but I couldn’t detect where my body ended and where the thick snow began. The ringing in my ears was beginning to fade. I jolted awake, to the sound of the shrieking breeze. Then all at once, I remembered where I was, and why I was here.

That better be just the wind…

My frozen eyelids cracked apart, and loosened up. A dim band of purple was hung beyond me, stretching high and low. It was tattered on one side, like a piece of old cloth, weathered by struggle and age. When I arced my face up off of the ground to adjust my view, I realized I was staring at the horizon. It was dotted with sharp mountains. Their unified silhouette - cast against the pale warning of nightfall. Eventually I found the strength to stand. Whatever blood left inside of me, began to thaw out as my legs flexed once more. My back straightened.

How long was I asleep?

Behind me was a spread of grey slithering and snaking impressions in the ground. They lead to an epicenter of ice chunks, most of which definitely would have killed me. About 30 meters above the mess was the slope I fell from. Its sparkly form glistened in the evening. A wall of ice surrounded me on all sides, all except for the west, where a split in the cavern allowed for me to watch the changing heavens.

This can’t be. After all this? Just to fall through into this pit? I’m trapped. I won’t escape.

I brush the snow off my pauldrons. The action leaves traces of white embedded into the 31 lines I’ve carved into the armor. One for each full day of my trial, from dawn to dawn. Thanks to being unconscious -for who knows how long- I had no way of really knowing how close I was to returning to the paradise-garden-home on the surface world the Shavah Garden. Surrounded by a glimmering crystal hedge, this sacred place was the home of the Shavah Coalition, and of Seekers and Casters alike.

Is today the final day? I wondered.

It was the way of the Shavah Coalition, to test all Shavah Seekers with a 33 day trial on the surface of Yesi. Such was the path of anyone who desired to become a Shavah Caster: a protector of the planet according to the wisdom of the Allway.

Tanuk had already completed his trial, and had gone on to stand amongst the ranks of the Casters. I remember the day of his return, when my brother emerged through the manifold chamber at the garden’s Eastern wall. He returned with the appearance of a dead man, and embraced me with a cruel stench. Yet his spirit, somehow, could not have been more alive.

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“Tanuk! My brother!” I said, pushing past the elders and sprinting towards the dark manifold. His sunken eyes locked onto mine. He clung to me, in silence. The chainmail on his face was still half frozen from the unforgiving cold of Yesi’s wilderness.

“You made it back! I thought - I thought you wouldn’t.” I said to Tanuk.

“I thought the same Riyah. And I almost believed it.” My brother’s voice was different. He spoke with a malnourished rasp. He retrieved something from under his black cloak, and placed it within my hand. It was a heap of broken slate metal, the remainder of Tanuk’s slate blades. Shavah seekers were forbidden to take any supplies with them during their trial, all except for their armor and two slate blades for protection. I stared in disbelief at the brokenness.

“Slate metal is virtually unbreakable. Tanuk what happened? I looked and from the tips of his fingers to his knuckles, the flesh of my brother’s digits was black as shadow, and shriveled as a corpse.Their new color is the result of surviving the trial. Though they appear ruined, they are now stronger than ever before.

“It’s okay.” My brother reassured me. “My hands still work.”

“I don’t understand. How did you survive?” I asked in awe.

Tanuk lifted his head and said in a near whisper: “The Allway directs.”

All around, the elders and the Shavah Casters who rescued Tanuk from the land beyond, placed three fingers over their chests, and shouted in unison: “The Allway directs!”

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I stared up along the walls of my frozen prison.

“So how then, are you directing me?” I said aloud. Hoping the Allway heard me. He was said to be the living presence of goodness, peace, and light that roamed the planet’s surface. But all I have ever encountered here was…trouble.

Wait! Right there. I heard it. It was above and beyond me. A long, ebbing shriek that pierced the dead air.

It’s tracking me… And I’m trapped. Yes, you are trapped. I thought.

I perform a ridiculous spin as I search for weapons, but fail to produce them. They must be buried in the snowy mess, lost to the chaos when I fell. I searched frantically. My eyes darted ‘round and ‘round the pit- which suddenly felt as if the walls were slowly encroaching from every side.

Judging by the duration and reverb of the animal’s cry, I estimate it to be at minimum 400 meters away. Soon and very soon the beast could descend on me - an immobile, defenseless prey. I am vulnerable.

It will find you. It will kill you. I said to myself.

I have to find my slate blades -to be ready to defend myself against the invisible danger closing in on me. I trudged over to the West and poked my head out through the gaping hole. Open air was below me for about 50 meters before hitting a blanket of dense flurry. Whatever lay below the harsh cloud was a mystery. I was beginning to make sense of my environment. I lay within an icy cleft along the ridge of a massive cliff. Only a fool would come here by choice. I must’ve been running. Must’ve been driven by the beast to this forsaken place. By accident I stepped into a weak point in the ice, concealed by a fresh snowstorm, resulting in my fall. A true Shavah Caster wouldn’t have let that happen.

You’re such a fool. I told myself.

Why then, hasn’t it found me yet? The creature had an entire day to crawl down to me and feast on its well earned meal. I heard it again. A long, aching cry of a wild creature of Yesi. It was as if the shrill of the creature dropped into this place with me, and tapped my spine. That horrible sound latched onto me, twisting and turning each bone along my back in playful terror. It worked its way up and into my skull.

I made another glance upward toward the slope. There in the corner of my eye was a movement I was just barely able to detect: a grizzly shadow propped up somewhere on the land above me, darting away from my vision. That’s when I saw the first slate blade. It was stuck into the wall of ice, jutting out subtly from its surroundings like a forgotten tombstone. But the grave misfortune: it was 10 meters high. I could climb the avalanche pile to close about half the distance, but I would need to do my best to scale the wall. Then it dawned on me, that by retrieving the slate blade, I would also be closing the distance between me, and it.

I paused for a moment, bracing myself against the suffocating walls that trapped me. The proud drumming of my heart grew louder. Think, think, think! What would Tanuk do?

Your brother had greater faith than you. You are a doubter. I told myself.

I saw only two options. The first option: climb, retrieve the slate blade, and slay the beast - or…

There came the shrill again.

Rise! Ready yourself for the kill! I thought.

Suddenly, the murky black form revealed itself against the evening sky. The menace was a tall, lanky creature, with pointed features, covered in dark and matted fur. It gazed on me with lidless dark eyes that searched through me, piercing the protection of my armor, straight to my swelling heart which was approaching failure. I squinted in horror, as I watched its leathery mouth separate, revealing double rows of teeth designed to rip and tear. It howled in excitement as talon-like fingers groped the edges of the walls. Here it comes. My adversary.

I turned, and nearly fell doing so. I moved to reach the open side of the cleft. Quickly I passed through the craggy opening, and though I fought every nagging instinct to stay put, I leapt into the unknown.

Option two.

The wind screamed against my exposed face. My arms flailed in panic. I reached for the cliff’s rocky surface. Eventually my hand caught hold of a protruding feature, and a sudden jolt went through my whole skeleton as my left arm extended beyond what it could bare. A shout of agony escaped my mouth as my shoulder dislocated. I struggled to brace myself against the biting rock wall, digging the heel of my boots into its side, and begging the Allway for mercy.

“Okay..okay.. Ahhhh! Okay. I can’t see anything! ” I said aloud to nobody.

Nothing was visible beyond my arm’s reach. Everything under my feet was a colorless flurry. Obviously I hung in between layers of atmos right where the change in pressure traps cooler, thicker moisture fields. A fall here, and I may be a cruel decoration on a slender ice spire, or spattered against a plane of shale. I didn’t have long. My arms began to buckle. I try to steady myself but it's to no avail. The high winds continued to punish my efforts. I turned to shield my face - though I’m sure it is already frost burned. My tattered hood danced around my neck, wishing to join the wind. That’s when I noticed the snow… it moved rather strangely. Instead of darting past me in straight lines, each flake wavered and twirled together. The snow particles were dropping with a graceful tapper, then briefly rising before falling again. They were swirling as a bat would in search for… land. This place wasn’t just a change in pressure. It was the boundary of a low riding snow storm. Which possibly meant…

There is only one way to test my theory. I let go of the wall.

A gush of salty air filled my nose before I splashed into the colorless water. My flesh was shocked. Instantly my muscles began to contract in protest of swimming through the biting current. I’ve heard rumors of lakes and rivers on the surface world. The elders consider them a good omen from the Allway. But at this moment, with all the thrashing about in soiled clothes and soaked armor, all I could do was mutter curses to myself.

Eventually I reached something like a shore. I worked to feel my way around. Every sense of mine was dulled, except touch. I used my hands and began to interpret what was ice, what was snow, what was water, what were my clothes, and what was my flesh. With the onslaught of nightfall, all I had to rely on was the lightless form of my environment. It was in this depraved twilight that I asked - begged - the Allway for the end of the trial. Or even the end of me.

“What is this all for?” I said out loud as my teeth chattered. The suffering had gone on long enough. It was time for my reward.

Stillness. Black. Flowing water. I heard echoes of falling rocks from far away. I then heard Tanuk.

Tanuk?

I jolted upright at the sound of my brother’s voice.

“Brother? Hey!” I shouted into my dark expanse. It seemed, against all probabilities, that Tanuk was speaking to me from the shoreline. I could hear his boots march through the gravel. He was talking like a child - like a strange babble just shy of actual words I should be able to interpret! I called out to him again. Nothing. But the sound of his bizarre chatter grew closer. He was closing in on me, slowly and steadily, to the point where I could hear the flesh of his mouth rattle off strange muffled noises into the air. I couldn’t see beyond my nose. But I slowly reached my good arm toward the voice.

The babble stopped. A glowing orange torch appeared, casting warm light on both our faces. Tanuk materialized before me. His dura-knit scarf concealed most of his face, but those eyes were unmistakable.

“Tanuk! Oh - am I glad to see you. I was beginning to think my rescue would never come. I’m ready for this to be over.” I said as I sprang to my feet. “Take us home. I haven’t eaten in days and I need -” He cut me off.

“You’re not finished here Riyah.” Tanuk said with an unflinching expression. This is not your 33rd night.” His voice was low and concealed by the scarf.

“What do you mean - why are you here then?” I asked him.

“We have been watching you. The coalition has concluded that for you to stay in this wilderness is to go beyond all wisdom. You cannot continue the trial.” He said calmly.

“I don’t… I don’t understand. You’re letting me return before my time is complete?” I’m bewildered. He thinks I’m weak.

“This is what is best for you. Your arm needs attention. Your clothes and armor are ruined. Hypothermia will finish you off faster than starvation. You are not fit for this.” Tanuk began to step away from me.

I watched his back as his glowing torch escaped my presence. Part of me wanted to erupt in anger, then I remembered my silent prayers just moments ago.

This is what you asked for. Just go. I think to myself.

I walked to catch up to him. I struggle to manage my balance. My steps had no point of reference other than the dim nub of my brother’s torch, which was a few yards ahead of me at this point. I was beginning to heave.

“Wait brother. P-please.” I paused to catch my breath. “Hey- I can't keep up.”

Why wasn’t he waiting for me? I kept a mental note of how far I was from the icy water to my left. I didn't dare to fall into that again. I kept on trudging, desperately trying to figure out where Tanuk was leading me.

We walked for some time. Perhaps a quarter hour or so. My sluggish body stammering meters behind the ghostly silhouette of my indifferent sibling. He answered none of my calls or any of my petitions to slow down.

CRACK!

I glanced down to the sound of some kind of branch or root breaking beneath my feet, but couldn’t identify anything.

“We have arrived, my brother. Within the garden is your reward. Come - the elder casters await you.” He said, gesturing with his free hand toward the quartz fortress. It was the fabled home of the Shavah Coalition.

Finally, your well deserved reward. I thought to myself.

“It’s more beautiful than I ever could’ve imagined.”

A colossal prism of quartz stood before us. A warm golden light that shot through the transparent tower walls and illuminated my cold, swollen face.

“Come. Complete your trial my brother.” Said Tanuk as he waved me down the path. “Join the sacred Shavah coalition as the Allway’s own image.”

I stopped walking. Curious at my brother's words.

“Tanuk - I did not complete the trial. So why then am I being rewarded? Grace is not appropriate here, especially when it was in the coalition’s wisdom to rescue me early.”

My brother turned to face me.

“Ahhh! Riyah. Your question is noble. But you worry for nothing. The 33 day trial was never about completion, but instead it was a test of the magnitude of your effort. No man can fulfill what the coalition requires. I tell you the truth: I did not last 33 days in the wilderness either. But know this: if it were up to my spirit - I would’ve remained for a century if necessary. The flesh is weak my brother. Obedience was never required of you. So follow me, and receive your reward.”

I paused for a moment. Mulling over his words to me. A gulf swelled within my heart as I worked the courage to mutter: “No. I cannot follow you.”

He didn’t like that. I thought.

Tanuk glared at me in confusion.

“Don’t be a fool, Ryiah. You have nothing to prove. Come as you are and join us while the Yanto-Wing waits.”

“I cannot receive this. It’s not right to join the coalition without fulfilling what they have asked of me.” I told Tanuk plainly.

“Oh - oh I see your faulty thinking now. You have assumed you can earn your title of Shavah Caster through your works in the wilderness. See brother, nobody among the coalition deserves their place. Every guardian has been tested by their heart, and every heart has been found pure despite many not fulfilling the great test asked of them. You, however, have suffered more than any other Shavah Seeker before you. You have shown to be strong my brother, but do not trust in your own strength Riyah. You can ease up. You can take the gift with no fault held against you.”

“But… I can press on. I know I can Tanuk. How much longer do I have to go?”

My stomach turned. This was not the virtuous brother I knew who kept his word- who was acquainted with struggle, and stood for character no matter the cost. Everything Tanuk spoke at this moment sounded well and pleasing when heard in isolation - but when the phrases were combined, his message became dishonest and twisted. 

Tanuk I affirm I have nothing to prove to anyone - in the sense of my worth. Failing the trial does not prove me of less worth than you, nor does completing it show me more worthy than a man who has never been tested. Yet who are we to give a word in agreement except in expectation to fulfill what we have said? The trial does not prove worth. It proves character. Unless I have completed the trial, I refuse to wear the sacred armor of a Shavah Caster. Indeed I would be wearing it falsely - just as you wear it falsely."

Tanuk stared. Unmoving, and silent. He approached me slowly, and dropped the torch onto the ground, revealing the unmistakable form of a human skull. It hit me- the crackling sound of my steps, the snap of a ‘branch’ just moments prior. We stood in a field of bones.

Pain spread from my abdomen. My adrenaline was heightened as I became more aware of the deceptive trick of the enemy. And those thoughts I held so closely as my own…

What do you mean? You are losing your mind. Said the whispering enemy scratching at the base of my brain.

No. I am not losing my mind. You are simply trespassing in it. I said in response to my unwelcomed guest.

Clarity rushed through me: a startling realization that every anxious thought which sifted my heart throughout this trial did not originate from within me, but beyond me. For weeks I have been played as an instrument in the hands of evil, and I called that discord of sound ‘normal’ and indeed believed it to be part of me. It is written that on Yesi there are two powers which roam the surface world. I believe I have just discovered the maleficent one; that power of darkness and deception is known as ‘The Whisper.’

Tanuk - or more accurately - the form of Tanuk lowered the scarf around his face, revealing a familiar leathery mouth lined with two rows of teeth.

“I pity those who trust in what they cannot see. You will perish, right where you stand!”

Tanuk produced a slate blade - wait - I recognize that one. It’s the blade I lost in the avalanche!

He charged toward me, his mouth spreading beyond a natural capacity, and he dropped to all fours.

I jolted awake, exactly in the same spot on the beach just hours prior when I fell into slumber. I hardly had time to process the fact it was morning before the Night Crier came crashing down on me. That persistent creature had followed me all the way down the mountainside and along the shore.

I stopped its jaws using my gauntlet. Its bite slowly deformed the metal around my wrist. I writhed in pain. The creature seemed to enjoy my suffering. In a frenzied dance I rolled the beast to its side enough to attack it with my free boot. Jab after jab I did not hold back in bruising its grizzly side. With a howl it loosened its bite, and I stammered backward.

The blessed Allway had brought forth light to the shoreline, and for the first time in what seemed like eternity, I could see my path before me. I ran with everything left in me, refusing to look back at my enemy, though I knew I didn’t have long. This was no natural creature. Night Criers are supposed to be nocturnal. Its unrelenting will and determination to find me across the surface world- even as dawn approached indicated something more sinister was manipulating what should otherwise be a typical wild beast.

The creature’s stride resumed, and I heard each of its steps. I trudged onward, looking for my escape. I could keep running along the coast, or try and lose the creature in the water - but another cold shock could be the last thing I ever feel. I looked and looked, and could not find a way of survival that made sense. My heart raced as I felt the reach of death grip me. I had seconds before the beast closed in again.

I slowed my breathing, kneeled, and shut my eyes.

Help me. For I cannot see the truth. I prayed.

And as my eyelids parted, I saw my lost slate blade. Just a stone’s throw away on the shore at the boundary of water and stone. I sprinted with all my might to rescue what was lost. It was my last defense.

Just as I reached my weapon, the night crier tore into my legs with its vicious claws. I screamed in agony as my flesh shredded. I spun in a desperate attempt to break free, but it made matters worse. Crimson stripes painted the rocks under both of us.

Though half of my body was pinned and destroyed, the other half was free.

As the Night Crier’s mouth flared open once more, I plunged my blade straight into the roof of its mouth with all my strength. At first the wounded enemy thought it worth intimidating me one final time, it gripped tighter on my legs and crushed my bones. It shrieked with such furry my ears drums began to rupture. But my hands remained fixed on the blade, and my blade remained fixed within the mouth of death, though I knew I lay dying too.

After a long moment of anguish and toil, the Night Crier loosened its grip. Its eyes went cold, and its insidious screaming faded to nothing at all.

I caught my breath

Curiously, the blade within my hand began to crackle and glow white hot. Tendrils of energy coiled around its sharp metallic surface. Instinctively, I withdrew it from the beast’s mouth, but upon doing so, the blade shattered into a dozen pieces.

It wasn’t long before the Yanto-Wing pierced the morning clouds, and ushered fresh light onto the shore. It was a curious sight for all, no doubt. For here lay the corpse of a supernatural beast, the body of a dying man, and the remnants of an unbreakable blade.

I worked to gather the fragments of the slate blade. They would be a testament to Allway's presence in the wilderness, just as Tanuk had experienced during his trial.

The Yanto-Wing landed with a graceful hum a hundred meters from me. A handful of robed figures emerged from under the craft. Tanuk, the authentic Tanuk, removed his hood and ran out from the group.

I couldn’t stand to meet him. He called to me, but I could not answer. Indeed I had no strength. All I could do was weep at his return. He stooped to embrace me: cold, soaked, broken and bloody. I strained to wrap my arm around him, I stretched out fingers upon his back which now looked much like his: dark, withered, but fortified by the trial.

“Good to see you - Shavah Caster.” Said Tanuk.