Caesura
Charis galloped back to her group after they had finished taking out a few goblins. She pulled her arrows out of the goblin skulls as she walked past them. As she stowed them in her quiver, she looked to Sir Albern with a smile. “You’re doing quite well with that wooden sword. I’m impressed.”
He shrugged and put the sword back into its sheath. “But of course, what else would you expect?” He walked past her and continued up the path. Forsythia and Charis looked to each other and rolled their eyes before following the knight.
Before they could get much further, another creature descended upon them. Charis readied her bow, waiting for it to get closer. As it landed, Charis almost let loose an arrow until it yelled, “STOP!”
All three adventurers were taken by surprise and lowered their weapons. The winged creature approached them slowly. Now that he had stepped into the light, they could see that the creature had the body of a man, but the head, wings and feet of an eagle.
“Thank you. Now travelers,” he turned his attention to each of them, one at a time, “what business do you have on MountAdamas?”
Sir Albern immediately stepped forward, and spoke in a confident voice. “We come seeking the great wizard, Gobba. We require his assistance to rid Minden of an evil presence.”
“Oh?” The eagle creature laughed. “Such a noble purpose! However, you should know that this mountain can see evil intent, even behind noble purpose. Many impure travelers have been lost to the labyrinth of this mountain.”
“Labyrinth?” Forsythia peeked her head out from behind Charis. “I thought there was only one path to the top! Dangerous, of course, but not confusing…”
The eagle man shook his head. “For the pure of heart, there is one path. For those with evil intent, many paths appear, all of them leading to a terrible death.”
Now it was Charis that stepped forward. “We should have no trouble then. We seek to destroy evil; we do not hold it in our hearts.” She looked back to her companions. “Let us press on.”
The creature spread his wings, blocking Charis’s path. “If this is true, you would not object to taking a simple test.” He reached into his satchel and pulled out three black diamonds. “These stones are taken from the heart of MountAdamas. Turn them over in your hands three times, and they will reveal the secrets held in your own hearts.”
Charis snatched the diamonds from his hand and passed one to Forsythia and one to Albern. She closed her eyes and held her own diamond close to her heart. She turned the stone once, and thought of her father and how desperately she wanted to see his face again. She turned the stone a second time and her tribe came to mind. She wanted to see them as well, but above all else she wanted them to be safe. Charis turned the diamond one last time and thought of the dark clouds that hung over the land. Her truest desire was to protect everyone in Minden.
Before Charis could look at her own diamond, she saw that Forsythia had already revealed hers. The diamond, once black, was now almost white, clouded with spirals of yellow. The tiny elf looked up to the eagle man, wondering what this meant. “You are neither pure nor evil. Your death is not certain, but success will be difficult.” Forsythia nodded and looked down at her diamond again.
Charis nervously opened her hands to reveal a brilliantly white diamond. She gasped, overtaken by its beauty. Even the creature was surprised. “Never before has anyone had such a pure heart. You will find your way to Gobba the Great easily.” Now Charis, Forsythia and the eagle creature looked at Sir Albern.
The knight proudly held up his diamond but recoiled when he saw it. The diamond was a deep bloody red. All three of them turned towards the creature that only shook his head.
