Yiwu took the sapling from the good God Eish and went on forward towards the direction from which they came from what must have been a few days before and as he walked, he felt a pain in his chest that he had left his brothers and his God and that he was now left alone, but took comfort knowing it would be only days before they are all hopefully reunited. He thought about the sound of the river and smiled to himself. Even though he only experienced the great green north for a short while there was something in that green beauty that made him feel more alive than ever and sharper, smarter, more acute. He felt also a sadness and worry that he was to find the way back to Taik all by himself and all that he had as company was the rather cold love of the God above Iragur. It was a dim light at the end of the tunnel. Yiwu walked forward until the great green north was no longer on the horizon behind him, but he turned around to see it for a last time so often that by the time it was out of his sight he did not know if he was still on the right way to the watcher Taik. He caressed the sapling lightly and walked forward, nonetheless. The desert drew on and the dunes that they passed when they went from the watcher Taik to the great green north were now flattened and Yiwu thought that perhaps they have been scattered by the wind but as he walked on, he realized that when turned around and lost sight of the green north it was no longer behind him but to the side and so Yiwu thought to himself that he must have took wrong course and turned more West as he walked. Yiwu still walked with a smile to uphold himself in spirit but as he went on forward again, he thought and tried to remember, when the sandstorm came did the God Eish say that they were to turn east or west? They were to go north but to escape the storm they turned and Yiwu could not remember which direction they took, what’s more he could not remember which way they walked while caught in the storm or where did they turn after. All that time Yiwu was wondering and trying to remember the directions he suddenly stopped and looked around him and exhaled as he realized he had been lost. He was alone in the desert with naught but his sapling. He put his head down and walked on nonetheless as if hoping that by pretending his realization never took place it would actually make him be found, but to no avail. Yiwu walked forward and with every step he noticed that his legs grew weary unlike ever before and that his shoulders also dropped and even his head hung down in the desert. As he walked on, he noticed suddenly a change in the air - in that there was none, no breeze, no wind and even the air seemed heavy and so did his step, even more than before. Yiwu put his head down and forced forward but the more he stepped the greater force it took and soon he put his foot up and felt that he could not put it down again. With the last of his forces he managed only to raise his head for the first time in a long time and he saw a great near-empty field with but a dozen people somewhere small in the distance also hung in space and looking up into the sky and so Yiwu also turned his sight into the sky and revealed to him was a great beast of the sea - an enormous whale, significantly closer and bigger than Iragur, and he saw that the beast also hanged unmoved high up in the sky. Yiwu shuddered at the sight and suddenly heard a voice, smooth and large that seemed to be coming from the inside of his head and the voice spoke such onto him:

  ?Present yourself stranger.” The voice rang in his head and seemed as if echoing.

  “Have you come to play against the mighty God Vidya?” The voice was deep and sounded blue like the river in the great green north. Yiwu spoke in his head back to the voice:

  ?I do not know the mighty God Vidya, nor have I come to play any games.” and the voice answered:

  ?If not then why are you here?” It sounded as if the voice was swimming inside his head side to side and ear to ear.

  ?I have come a long way from under the one above and am son to the good God Eish, we are man of the desert but traversed and moved into the great Green North by the guide of the watcher Taik and we promised onto him a sapling and so I went on into the desert but lost my way and when I came to these parts my body froze just beneath you.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  And the mighty God Vidya answered:

  ?There is no God but the mighty Vidya, son of false-God Eish.” Yiwu frowned in his thought only as his face was immobilized.

  “You propose a curious game, but a risky one, who is this watcher Taik that he deserves the gift of your sapling? You say you serve some pretend God, but it is for the watcher Taik that you bring sacrifice. It seems that the false-God Eish comes after the mysterious watcher Taik. So, you are a servant to both and even to the non-God you bring gifts and yet you come to me empty handed?”

  ?Mighty God Vidya, this is no game - I am to give this sapling to the watcher Taik by orders of my father and creator the good God Eish for he has turned the sun into the one above and so he was in debt to the watcher.” Yiwu desperately attempted to explain and Vidya answered:

  ?Again, you insist on calling Eish a God and yet it seems you are in servitude of both, is this the nature of your game? Am I to guess who is your master?” Yiwu spoke again:

  ?I am not playing any game and the God Eish is the only one I am in servitude to” He could not show his dissatisfaction with the way the God Vidya challenged him, but she must have sensed it in his voice for she replied:

  ?You speak in anger, perhaps it is no game after all, but then again you must have seen in distance those frozen in my presence who all have traversed from far and all with dire flames of ambition of besting the mighty Vidya”

  ?Mighty Vidya, I have not seen the travelers as in my tiresome journey I’ve hanged my head and only watched my feet dragging across the desert” Yiwu promised.

  ?Yes, I can see, for all the good you speak of the false-god Eish, he failed to teach you to sleep, now you are exhausted for the wind of the great green north was put into your body and now you will begin to resemble man” the voice claimed

  ?I have not seen that the good God Eish need sleep, nor any of my brothers” Yiwu protested.

  ?You are tired my child, so very tired, perhaps we can play a game for your sleep” The voice in his head proposed and even though Yiwu did not know what the God Vidya meant by sleep, the word itself sounded to him sweet and beckoning. He hesitated.

  ?And if I lose?”

  ?I will give you as many chances as you want in as many games as you want, until you win” The voice of Vidya nearly sang in his head as if trying to tempt him. He hesitated again. His head felt heavy on his neck and his eyelids felt like curtains held up by weak strings ready to give in at any moment. He looked at the mighty whale frozen in the desert sky.

  ?Great and mighty Vidya could you tell me; amongst your many players how many have ever won?” The Mighty Vidya did not answer.

  ?I will not play with you Vidya for your might is greater than mine and my sole mission is to get this sapling to the watcher Taik and find my brothers and not to lay in rest” Yiwu felt relieved he declined but the voice was displeased, it buzzed in his head and the Erystu felt his skull rattle.

  “And yet not far from now you will against your better judgement not refuse to lay to rest and there will be no wiser among you - and despite not having ill intent you will not bring happiness to your people and then you will not lay to rest”

  “I do not know whether to believe your prophecy oh mighty Vidya, but I thank you for your attention and words” Yiwu spoke carefully, taking great precaution to speak as kindly as possible as it was clear the might of Vidya was enough to snuff him right there and then.

  “This is not my prophecy Yiwu, son of false-god Eish - it is one of the players.”

  “One of the players tells fortunes?” Yiwu asked confused.

  “No, we are playing false prophecies” The voice calmed down again and only hummed and Yiwu could breathe again in relief.

  “And he said I would refuse to lay to rest?”

  “No, he said you would not refuse indeed - but he is losing”

  “I don’t understand” Yiwu admitted.

  “You need not to understand, walk towards whatever your destiny may be now, son of false-God Eish.” And Yiwu felt the force back into his bones and he could once again move, he looked at Vidya one more time and spoke with an inexplicable feeling of yearning.

  “Will I ever see you again?” He asked, to his own surprise.

  “No. Walk now” the voice responded and Yiwu looked across the solemn quiet desert floor and in the distance scattered a dozen players and he shuddered but turned his back and walked away from the mighty God Vidya.