《Changing Air》 Change Change is inevitable. It listens to no one and can occur at any moment, nobody knows what change will bring. Fortune? Fufillment? Failure? Or something that turns your world upside down. A tea table and a chair resided in the corner of a empty room, right next to it was a opened window which allowed for some light illuminated by the moon to enter the room, opposite the table layed a young boy with pale skin and jet black hair. The boy had a eye disorder called Aniridia which made his eyes look completely black, the condition also made his eyes sensitive to light which was the reason he normally went outside at night. He layed their looking at the moon, for some reason it looked extra bright to him today. after glaring at the it for a couple more seconds he looked down at the object he was holding in his palm. It was a small unopened bottle of orange juice, ever since a kid he had enjoyed drinking orange juice, he didn''t get many chances to drink it but whenever he had one he would always savour every moment. With a grim expression clearly written all over his face he placed his other hand on the lid of the bottle and twisted it slowly. Placing the lid on the floor he raised the bottle to his lips and took a sip. He tried to not drink all of it at once, savouring the orange juice was something he wanted to do, not cause he was extremely thirsty but because it could mostly likely be the last thing he consumed, so this mission was extremely important to him. After a while he sighed and placed the empty bottle next to the lid and then started to glare at the moon again, but this time he saw eleven moons and a dark red sky. He immediately tensed up, not knowing the events which were about to transpire scared him to the core. "The makutu is starting to take place" He said with a trembling voice, Arlo was contempt with the fact he might die but deep down he still feared it. He didn''t have anything precious nor a reason to live so why was he so scared of death. Arlo was conflicted with himself, will death be the end of everything or just the beginning? Two weeks ago, Arlo started feeling a build up of pressure in his head and his vision would start to blur from time to time. At first he thought this pain would subside and go away as quickly as it came, but to his surprise it didn''t stop and it only grew stronger, after a while he started hearing a voice in his head. It repeatedly said: "You will bloom" His suspicion of carrying makutu which he had tried to deny was immediately confirmed when he heard the voice in his head for the first time. A kid from the border who carried makutu, having no knowledge of the basics of fighting and survival was destined to die from its gruesome trial. If his life was to come to an end would he be satisfied with the life he had lived? would he be happy during his last moments or be filled with immense regret? After learning that he would soon bloom, at night Arlo headed out wearing black trousers which were a bit torn allowing some of his knees to be exposed he also wore a black jumper and a grey t-shirt underneath it. He walked through the empty and quite street looking up at the glamorous night sky, walking from the outer border to the inner border would take some time so he had brought a small bar of chocolate to make the journey a bit sweet. Chocolate in the outer border was scarce but so were a lot of things, Arlo liked to hoard things he thought were special and chocolate to him was one of those things but because he had little time left he didn''t want to just let it rot so he had brought it with him. He took small bites to fully experience the sweet goodness and would also let some it melt on his tongue to savour it as much as he could. '' So good '' He thought as he approached an officer who was in his late twenties with brown hair and eyes. He had tan skin, a chizzled jawline and broad shoulders, people who looked at him for the first time would be intimidated by his build but he was actually a kind man. Arlo had met him only a handful amount of times as he usually didn''t go to the inner border, however even though they had talked for only a couple of times he could tell that he was a genuine person who took pride in his work. "Hello Mr William, how''s the work going?" Arlo said with a soft voice, he felt easy around him so making conversation wasn''t that difficult. The office looked at Alro and then with a smile appearing on his face " Not to bad just the usual, but what brings you here Arlo?" He said with a hint of confusion appearing on his face. Normally people from the outer border would come to the inner border for rations and a bit of money if they were lucky, so seeing Arlo today even though rations had been given out a couple days prior confused the man With a bit of hesitation Arlo saidReading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. "I came here to say that I carry the makutu, I''ve experienced it''s symptoms for a couple days now" The officer became still like a statue for a bit after he heard what Arlo had said. "Ar..are you sure it''s makutu" He said with a trembling voice. Anyone who failed the trial presented by makutu would turn into a hideous monster and start causing destruction, destroying anything in its path. Which was the reason why people who carried makutu were feared, the chance they might turn into a powerful monster wasn''t that high but just the idea they might become one scared them. A couple decades ago a thick mysterious grey fog consumed parts of the world, with the fog came Makutu. Humans look at makutu as a outwardly entity which puts young men and women through a trial to see if they are capable enough to evolve. This sudden change made the world go Into chaos. Having no knowledge of the fog or makutu led to the death of hundreds of millions of people throughout the world, and even more people were forced into a life of poverty and misery. The world had to adapt to change and it did, but it was of minimal effort. Mostly all regions in the world which were inhabited had three sections to it. The city was the first and mostly definitely the best place to live, in the city lived the rich, government individuals, evolved humans, people with meaningful jobs - like teachers, doctors , lawyers etc - and a couple others who were important in maintaining the city. The city itself is surround by large metal walls, the reason behind is so monsters can''t enter the city, but everybody knew that it was just an excuse. The real reason was to have a concrete division between the more fortunate and the less. The second section is the inner border, people who live outside the city but near the metal walls are residents of the inner border. Most people live their because of the rations that are given out and the protection that''s set in place. The third section is the outer border, people who dislike interacting with others or those who enjoy spending time alone live in the outer border, however it''s also the most dangerous section. Whoever lives outside the city and has any possibility of carrying makutu is told to go to the outer border, so that if they ever become a monster they won''t put lots of people in danger and destroy important infrastructure. "Yes I''m sure of it. I hear voices saying I''m ready to bloom" Arlo said, the officer looked at him with a sadden expression on his face " When did the symptoms start?" Scratching his head Arlo thoughtfully said "I started feeling pressure in my head a couple days ago, but I started hearing voices when I woke up this morning" The officer looked up at the night sky for a couple seconds, then with a sigh he looked at Arlo "If you started hearing voices today then in two weeks the trial will happen. I''ll tell the government so that they deploy someone if anything goes wrong during your trial" Arlo nodded "Thank you I appreciate it, that''s all I had to say so I''m going to take my leave" Arlo twisted his body and started to head back until he heard the officer say " Wait Arlo" The officer walked towards him then he moved his right hand into the right side pocket of his pants and pulled out a bottle of orange "Take this Arlo, it''s not much but it''s better than nothing" Arlo looked at him then with a with a smile he took the bottle. " Thank you" With the bottle in his hand and a smile on his face he walked back to the outer border. Now two weeks later the trial was starting to take place. The eleven moons looked exactly the same except the fact they were each a different colour. Even though Arlo should have been terrified he found looking at the multiple moons thrilling. After staring at the moons for some time he stood up and with a satisfied pace walked towards the open window. Arlo''s body was still in the empty room, but his soul was in between a place that no one knew. His soul wasn''t on earth nor was it in the trial, it was at the boundary between the two. Arlo kept walking till he got near the window, what he saw made him shiver. It was a massive body of water which kept on going for as far as his eyes could see. The body of water had small waves crashing into each another but except from that it was quite still. Arlo was wondering were it began and were it ended, just what kind of place was this. People thought of the makutu as an outwardly entity, but was it really? Arlo knew the basics of what happened with people who carried the makutu, with his knowledge he thought of it as more like a game. The makutu was a game and he was more like a character in it, so if his assumption was write then who had made this game? Who had made makutu? Well Arlo could have been wrong but their wasn''t enough known about this weird entity to know. As he kept pondering with himself he heard a sudden sound, forgetting his thoughts he looked at the direction where he heard the sound, which made him look up at the red sky. With a focused look he tried analyse the sky to see if anything was out of place, he gazed at every part of the sky that his eyes could see to find out what made that sound. After a while his eyes landed on a certain part of the sky which was right next to one of the eleven moons. His eyes widened with fear "It''s a¡­a crack" A crack had appeared in the sky, as if reality itself was being torn apart. With a wide mouth he kept looking at the sky with more cracks appearing on it every second, until he heard a horrible sound coming from the tea table next to him. It sounded like a piece of chalk being scraped on a board, such a excruciating sound that it made him put his fingers in his ears. Looking at the table made him realise that something or someone was trying to write something on it. The boundary Arlo was currently in, was crumbling a little more every second. This place was the boundary between earth and the place his trial was about to take place, which meant that he would start losing his consciousness because the boundary was being torn apart. Looking back at the sky, Arlo was able to see that the small crack now stretched for miles on end. Suddenly he started to feel weak, his mind was starting to shut down. "The trial is beginning" Arlo weakly said. Before he fully went unconscious he looked back at the tea table to see if whatever was etched into made any sense. He glared at the table, their were only three words ingrained onto the wooden table. As he started blacking out, he read [Never trust perfection] Paradise They all shortened the gap between each another, and started to slowly walked towards the large trees. Compared to the trees they all looked like weak tiny ants. It looked as if the trees reached all the way up to heaven, and each branch stretched for at least 50 meters. ''What a daunting place'' Arlo thought They were approaching ''paradise'' but to him it seemed like he was walking to his death. The trees were too big, its branches were too big, he felt weak, vulnerable, and pathetic compared to it. To Arlo the trees were giving off an aura of death, yet this made Arlo even more curious about ''paradise''. For now, all he could see was large trees, moss on the ground and at the bottom of the trees, overgrown vines and lots of flowers. The group lingered just outside ''paradise'' ''Why have we stopped?'' Arlo was confused as to why they weren''t walking, they had been standing still in the same place for quite a while now. He was going to ask Sasha, but just then sounds of rustling leaves came from above. Glancing above, Arlo saw a large figure hiding in the shadows, its eyes were piercing through him, a sudden wave of fear coursed through his entire body. The monster kept glaring at them, not moving a single inch. It was the protector of ''paradise''. ''Wow, It''s judging us to see if we have any ill intent towards ''paradise'', but how can it tell if we do or don''t? Is it able to understand our emotions or read our minds?'' Many questions came to his mind but not a single answer. "Don''t worry everybody, we are followers it won''t harm us" Yelled the man, his voice was eccentric..a bit to eccentric. With that they continued walking and finally entered ''paradise''. The Overgrown vines kept blocking their path, so they would momentarily stop and let one of the two protectors to slash it. As they kept walking deeper and deeper, Sasha''s started to panick, her hands were violently shaking and she was breathing very heavily. She seemed to be on the verge of collapsing right their. "Sasha, are you okay? You are trembling a lot, is anything worrying you?" She glanced at him for a moment, then kept staring at the ground, her mouth was shaking whilst she muttered "It doesn''t matter Arlo, we can''t do anything about it anymore" Her response sounded very ominous ''Can''t do anything anymore? Huh'' Arlo curiously thought, to him, her response sounded like they were in very deep trouble which they couldn''t escape. "If we get our self in trouble, I''ll definitely find a way, so don''t worry to much Sasha" He quite confidently said, the situation didn''t look too dire to him, so he was quite confident in himself. They had already reached ''paradise'' so their pilgrimage was basically over, which also meant that this trial was going to end. What could possibly go wrong in such a short amount of time. She smiled a bit "Thanks Arlo, I feel better now" Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! With a smile on his face as well , they continued to walk through the trees at a slow pace. The journey was coming to a close, which made Arlo happy and also a bit sad because the friend he had made will soon disappear. Arlo didn''t have many friends in the real world, so knowing that Sasha will disappear, made his heart ache a bit. ''I gotta cherish every moment'' He thought The trial in itself hadn''t been too bad for Arlo, his luck for once had been good. Arlo was lost in thought, wondering about everything that had happened to him during his trial. At the start he was ready for the worst, but this whole thing hadn''t been that awful, just really tiresome. One thing that was constantly bothering him was his purpose in this trial, he had no clue as to why makutu had created this situation. What was he meant to do here? "We are here, Arlo" Said Sasha in quite a panicked tone, Arlo glanced at her for moment before looking in front of him. He saw a vast open space, with green grass and a couple flowers blooming from the ground. This open space was shaped like a circle, with a pond in its center and next to it was a rectangular brick block which was coming out of the ground and it was also strangely covered in blood. "I guess we are" Arlo said with a faint smile on his face, Sasha glanced at him with a sadden face, then she looked ahead "If we get ourself in trouble, you will protect me right Arlo?" Arlo found her behaviour very suspicious, but they were so close to finishing this trial, so it didn''t really matter what he said "Yes Sasha, I will" A while later she softly said "You promise?" With a smile on his face, he confidently said "Yes Sasha, I promise I''ll protect you" Hearing this made a small smile appear on her face "Thank you" Arlo was acting quite confident because he knew that this trial was going to end. Their was no reason to be scared, this trial was 99 percent done anyway, so showing off by saying he would protect her wasn''t going to be hard. Seeing the finish line made Arlo start to wonder about the change that will occur to his body. He was going to evolve which would result in him gaining a power. This made Arlo really excited, he wished for some really cool power like controlling fire or being able to fly. Whilst he was pondering, the group continued to walk to the centre of the open space. The pond was a beautiful blue colour and reflected the sky perfectly, however the block next to it started to look creeper the closer they got to it. As Arlo looked around,he couldn''t help himself but feel something strange, he couldn''t tell what this feeling was. It was a bizarre sensation, something he hadn''t felt before. It made him become really panicked and paranoid. ''What is this?, why do I feel so weird?'' Arlo was starting to get restless, so he started looking around, hoping to find some clues. Nothing helped him, untill he layed his eyes on the still pond. Looking at the magnificent bluish pond, made Arlo feel a sense of...¡­..d¨¦j¨¤-vu. He felt like he had visited this place before, but that wouldn''t be possible as this was his first time being here, but was it really? The pond felt familiar to him, it was like he had been embraced by it before. This whole situation felt oddly familiar, the rectangular block was also starting to feel familiar. It started to feel like he had visited this place many times, but oddly enough this was his first time being here. ''What is this strange feeling?'' His senses were going off, it felt like his mind was collapsing from the sudden realisation he had gotten. The darkness that had consumed him at the very start, must have been the pond he was staring at, that''s why it felt so familiar. The pond must have some kind of time travel powers, which allowed Arlo to go back to the beginning of the trial, and start again. It all felt really familiar, so then how many times had he sunk to bottom of this pond and started all over again. Just how many times had he reached ''paradise'' before? But, it was all just so bizzare Arlo had managed to realise that he had done this before, which also meant that in his past cycles he had also realised this phenomenon. So why was it that he continued to jump into the depths of this pond? What had forced him to continue to repeat the same cycle all over again? This d¨¦j¨¤-vu led to him remembering a conversation he had previously "You promised to protect me Arlo" "I''m sorry Sasha" This was all so strange to him, Arlo hadn''t said he wasn''t sorry to Sasha, yet it felt like he had before. His eyes slowly widened The conversation he was remembering must have been from the past cycles He was unable to keep his promise to her, which meant that she had died. Arlo quickly started to look around for any monsters that were hiding among the trees. Their was no movement and he couldn''t see any vicious monsters. ''Then, who attacks us?'' As Arlo pondered, Sasha quickly walked towards him in a panicked manner, she stopped right infront of him As quietly as possible she said "Arlo help me, I don''t want to die" His heart skipped a beat ''Die, how does she know she''s going to die?'' Before Arlo could respond to her The tall, blond hair protector dropped the brown sacks he was carrying, raised the black sword which he was holding in his right hand and yelled "Everyone gather around" He then took a big breath in and exhaled slowly What he said next made every hair on Arlo''s body to stand up "The sacrificial offerings will begin" Trial "You...prom¡­.to¡­pro¡­.me¡­.." "I''m¡­.sorry...¡­" Arlo saw an expanse darkness surround him like it was alive, it then consumed him. he saw nothing, he felt nothing, but he heard something. "Wak.. u.." He then felt something pressing down on him, he felt his body sway. ''My lips feel so dry'' "Wake¡­ p.." ''Who''s voice is that? Why do I feel so weak? Where am I? Why is it so hot? Who keeps on pushing me? Why am I here? Just let me rest please.'' "Wake up" The voice grew louder, with the energy he had left Arlo slowly opened his tired eyes thinking he was dead, but what he saw was a expanse blue sky and a beaming sun. He had so many questions but first he had to know where he exactly was. "Your finally awake, here have some of this it will help you recover your strength " Said the man, who was currently towering over him, he then snatched a bag from his waist opened its lid and then started to bend down. He put his right hand under Arlo''s head and lifted it up gently, holding the bag in his left hand he moved it near Arlo''s mouth and then slowly started pouring it into his mouth. Each drop of the unknown liquid was heavenly it made Arlo feel alive again, the liquid swam throughout his body reaching every muscle. It felt as if it was alive, this unknown substance which the man was pouring most definitely had healing properties to it. Arlo slowly regained his senses and was able to move his body, seeing Arlo''s body start to move the man moved his hand downwards and pushed forward helping Arlo to sit up. Without hesitation, Arlo looked around intensely so that he could understand where he exactly was. Where had makutu placed him? After processing his surroundings for a bit he was able to make an easy guess as to where he was. Arlo had woken up in a desert, the sand stretched in every direction for who knows how long. Normally this amount of light would make his eyes hurt because of the eye disorder he had, but to his surprise it didn''t have much affect nor did they hurt unless he was directly staring at the beaming sun. "Get up follower, paradise is drawing near. You mustn''t give up now" Said the man who had helped him. With a annoyed sigh Arlo mustered up every strength in his feeble body and gradually stood up. He blinked a couple of times to get the sand out of his eyes, then started to glare intensely to his surroundings hoping to find something other than sand, but after a while his hopes died down. A voice came from behind him "Hurry up" Arlo turned his body 180 degrees, his eyes were met with the backs of 12 people. 10 of those people were wearing all white from their shoulders to ankles, and they all strangely had an imprint of the moon on their backs but every moon was a different colour. Arlo then looked at himself for a couple seconds, he too was wearing all white which covered his shoulders down to his ankles. This meant that he mostly likely had an imprint of the moon on his back as well "Sorry, im coming" Said Arlo in a soft quite voice, he didn''t want to waste any energy so replying loudly was out of the question. He quickly began to walk in the direction of the other twelve people. The heat was very uncomfortable to Arlo but still somewhat bearable. After a while he caught up with the others and started to walk along with them. As they walked through the desert, Arlo throughly looked at everyone in the group and using all the information he had, he was able to guess as to what kind of situation he was currently in. Including himself their were 11 people who were wearing all white and had an imprint of the moon on their backs, the other two were wearing white armor which looked like it was made out of metal. They both had a black sword in their hands and one of them carried a spear on his back, they both were also carrying a couple brown sacks.The only logical reason as to why they were here was to protect the rest of the group from any monster that came their way. They both looked intimidating and scary, the guy carrying a sword and spear had broad shoulders and brown hair, the other guy was a bit more taller and leaner with dirty blond hair. The man who had previously helped him said words like "follower" and "paradise is drawing near". This made Arlo believe that they were headed towards a holy or religious place, something like a temple but what kind of temple would still be intact after facing such harsh conditions. Were they travelling through this desert because ''paradise'' was in the middle of it or was it for another reason? Eleven people were wearing all white and two were dressed in armor from head to toe carrying weapons, this sudden thought made him realise that he was on a pilgrimage.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ''A pilgrimage?'' This sudden assumption would answer why 11 people were wearing such bizarre and vulnerable clothing. It also helped answer why they were traversing through a desert, this holy place must be situated in the desert because that''s were most holy places were¡­.. in the middle of nowhere. This assumption also led to various questions like which entity or being was he a follower of? Did all these people worship the same being? As Arlo tried to think for an answer to all the questions he had in his mind a loud voice spoke "Everyone stop, we will rest here for sometime" Hearing this, a large smile appeared on Arlo''s face, all he wanted right now was to rest, eat something fulfilling and maybe have some of that special liquid which he had drank before. "Gather around" Said another person. Without hesitation Arlo happily walked towards him and sat down on the sand, the others followed his lead. The eleven people wearing white clothing, formed a circle and the other two sat somewhere else as if they were a disturbance, this made Arlo make a face full of confusion but only for a bit, he didn''t really have the energy to care about such irrelevant things all he wanted was tasty food. A man who looked to be in his fourties placed down a large white cloth in the middle of the circle they had made, he then walked away and picked up a brown sack, whilst walking back he untied the rope on the top of the sack. The man stopped right over the cloth and turned the sack upside down, Arlo was drooling as he thought about all the tasty things that might come out the sack ''It has to be meat or something really tasty'' Arlo was over the moon because he would finally be eating something after walking for hours with a empty stomach, what came out the sack made his mind go blank. What came out of the sack wasn''t meat nor anything tasty. It was pieces of stale bread. ''Wha¡­what! After walking for so long, my reward is a piece of bread'' Arlo looked visibly annoyed and displeased with the outcome ''We are on a pilgrimage yet they are treating us like slaves'' Arlo was so agitated that he wanted to meet the person who had gathered the rations for this important journey and have a word with him. He glared at the pieces of bread for a couple seconds then stretched his hand to pick a piece, he was mad but still extremely hungry so he stopped thinking and sunk his teeth into the hard piece of bread. A trick he had learned was, if you place a small piece of bread on your tongue and cover it with saliva, after letting it rest for a bit the bread would turn sweet. When he usually ate bread he would do this exact thing, but right now he was in no mood to wait for it to turn sweet. Whilst shoving the bread in his mouth he thought of his own life, If he was to pass this trial and evolve how would this impact his life? Would his life take a 180? Would he be able to live in the city or at least have enough food so that he didn''t have to starve? Thinking about all of this made him have a sudden thought which left him dumbfounded. ''What is my purpose in this trial?'' From what he had heard a trial would have a purpose. The person who was being trialed had a purpose that they had to achieve like a purpose to survive a great monster or a purpose to achieve an object. So then what was his purpose in this trial? Why had makutu created this situation? What was he being tested for? His first thought was the pilgrimage, the makutu was trying to see if Arlo possessed the will power and determination to reach ''paradise'' without scumming to the gruesome desert. He wanted to believe that he was right but it couldn''t have been so simple, their had to be some twist to it. What was he missing? He thought as hard as he could to try and find some answers, maybe he had missed something or had been to ignorant to think it was relevant to his current situation, but nothing came to mind. Arlo could do nothing but sigh, frustrated by the many questions looming inside his head, he started to look around again, for any clues which could help him find the missing piece in the puzzle . After looking around the desert for a while, his eyes landed on the two protectors, they seemed so mysterious to him and also very dangerous. Whilst walking through the desert he had wondered why eleven people who had been walking for who knows how long had been given only two people to protect them, and this wasn''t any normal journey, this was a pilgrimage to a holy place. Why had their not been more people to protect them, were the two protectors simply so strong that they didn''t need anymore help? Noticing Arlo''s gaze the two protectors looked back at him, Arlo was immediately startled. Their eyes pierced through him, he could feel that the eyes which were glaring at him hid many complicated emotions, but it seemed as if they weren''t just looking at him, no they weren''t. Those eyes were looking at him and also everyone in the circle with the same unknown emotions. Their intense gaze made Arlo uncomfortable so he immediately looked back at the bread in his hand. "They are scary" Arlo mumbled quietly under his breath. When will this trial end? He angrily thought. How much longer would he have to walk? Thinking about the long distance he might have to walk, popped a question in his head. ''Why was the worst thing in this trial the long journey?'' He sat still thinking about the question that had just popped in his head. Only one thing came to mind ''Where were the monsters?'' Not once, since he had woken up here had they been attacked by a monster. Had they fought monsters before and now by luck ever since he had woken up here they never encountered a monster. It just couldn''t be right, none of their clothes looked ripped or dirty and neither was Arlo a lucky person so their had to be a reason as to why. All these questions frustrated Arlo a lot, so he did the best thing he could. He looked at the women sitting next to him, she had green eyes, long brown hair, clear skin, and seemed to be quiet young. Arlo didn''t want to waste any time, so without hesitation he asked the women "What is the reason you are here?" The woman flinched a bit, then slowly looked up at him. It clearly looked that she was quite uncomfortable with the question, a sadden expression appeared on her face, or was it more of a scared look? Arlo couldn''t really tell. Her mouth moved but nothing came out, it seemed as if she didn''t want to answer. With a long pause, she looked away from him and said in a soft quite voice "To seek forgiveness" His own luck The way she answered his question sent chilles down his back ''To seek forgiveness'' He confusingly thought People would travel long distances to get to a holy place, so that they could repent for their sins and have a new chance in life. It was similar to being reborn, people would willingly go through such difficult lengths to complete their pilgrimage and be free from the sins they had committed previously. So then why was she so uncomfortable about the whole thing, what kind of horrible sin had she committed to give off such a reaction. Arlo was perplexed, he could never see the woman commit such a major sin but as they said "never judge a book by its cover". Did that mean everyone who was wearing white clothing had committed a heinous crime and had embarked on this journey to ''paradise'' for forgiveness, this made Arlo wonder the crimes everyone had committed and mostly importantly what kind of crime had the body he was currently in had committed. He didn''t ponder about it too much, as he was in no mood to make any more assumptions or else he would just fry his brain even more. Arlo didn''t ask her anymore questions because he might make her feel even more uncomfortable, so they both sat their in silence. Until a man from the circle stood up with a bag in his right hand and a bright smile on his face, he said "I''ll pass this bag around, so please take a sip from it and gain your strength. We only have one day of walking left until we reach paradise" Arlo had thought quite a bit of what this ''paradise'' would look like exactly, some could say he was quite excited to see it. Their was also the possibility the trial would end when he reached it, so it was basically taking out two birds with one stone. Pleased with what he had heard, Arlo glanced at the woman next to him wondering if she would be excited, but a clear expression of fear was written all over her face, her hands were also slightly shaking. ''That''s not good'' He momentarily thought Right now he was exhausted both physically and mentally, so he didn''t think to much about the reaction the woman gave. All his focus was on the brown bag that was being passed around, he patiently waited until the bag made its way around to him. Then with a sigh, he took a big sip. ''Heavenly'' It felt so refreshing, his muscles stopped aching and his mind felt more clearer. With a satisfied expression he passed the bag to the woman next to him. Now that he felt a bit more alive it was finally time to check his stats. The makutu gave powers to humans that passed its trials. Passing the first trial bestowed them with a power which required some kind of energy to use, however people also had three natural abilities that they were able to see during their trial, these abilities took affect the moment they began the trial. Even though Arlo didn''t have a power as of yet, he was still eager to see his natural abilities. He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes and thought to himself ''Makutu bloom'' With that, he slowly opened his eyes and saw text in front of him, it displayed. Name - Arlo Title - ? Soul - ? Identity - ? Natural abilities - Untold fragment - [Forgotten beings created everything, yet they were consumed by everything else. As a gift they left you with something special, which over time became a very small part of a ??? ] Good luck - [ Your luck is similar to flipping a coin] Unusual eyes - [ A long time ago, a blind man walked until they rewarded him with a new pair of eyes. His eyes could see things that most couldn''t. You also possess those sacred eyes.] Power - ? Weakness - ? Tools - ? Guards - ? ??? - ? ??? - ? Arlo looked at the text very thoroughly, he analysed each bit carefully to not miss out on anything important. He continued to look at it for another minute and then just sighed. ''So stupid'' He frustratedly thought Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. He wished to have some really cool natural abilities like having the blood of a powerful entity, but what he got, left him in a sour mood. He tried to gather up all his thoughts and came to a conclusion for each of his abilities ''Soooo¡­ let me get this straight. Some beings gave me a gift a long time ago which turned into a very small part of something i don''t know,...¡­ what a useless ability.'' ''I also possess special eyes which can see things that others can''t, and my luck is¡­.bipolar?'' The latter two abilities were quite good, especially the one that gave him special eyes because its affect was already occurring. Arlo was born with an eye disorder called Aniridia, which had made his eyes very sensitive to light. As a result of this, it had forced him to only venture out at night. But now he was more than capable enough to see during the day without his eyes hurting. It was indeed a good ability, however this wasn''t the full capability of his special eyes. Arlo knew that this was just a small taste of what his eyes could really do. For humans to fully grasp their natural abilities they had to go through more trials and evolve further so that their bodies were capable of handling it. He was quite pleased with his two abilities, however he did have some questions regarding each of his abilities. His first question was how makutu had named his ability. "Good luck" was a unusual name Arlo thought. Was their really a reason to add "Good", it didn''t help him better understand his ability, however What it did do was confuse him even more. At first glance it seemed he had good luck, but after reading its description, it was more like in situations he would either be lucky or unlucky. To Arlo it seemed that the name of the ability was a trick to make him confused. His second question was aimed at the description of the untold fragment ability, more precisely its first sentance. What thing had consumed those beings. The more he thought of an answer, the more his head hurt, so he decided to entirely scrap the question. His other question was concerning the blind man, it said that he had walked till he was rewarded a pair of eyes. The confusing part was that it looked like he did so little to receive such a reward, all he did was walk yet that was enough for they to give him a reward. Arlo didn''t buy it, their had to be more to this story than just that, maybe he had slain a powerful monster or saved a bunch of people. As he thought about the blind man and the possible heroic things he might have done, a voice came from infront of him "Followers, we will continue to rest for another twenty minutes and then continue our journey" Arlo glanced at the man with curiosity, it seemed as if the man was the leader of this group or someone who really wanted to finish this journey and reach ''paradise'', maybe he was both. Arlo''s mind was all over the place, so to calm himself down he glared at the desert for the next twenty so minutes with a empty head. Then he got up and stretched as much as he could. With a heavy sigh, he waited for everyone else to get up and then started walking in the same direction as everyone else. The journey ahead made him pale a bit, but it wasn''t exactly that bad. He was wearing white clothing which was light and he wasn''t even carrying anything. The people who actually had it hard were the two protectors. They were wearing heavy metal armor, carrying weapons and also carrying multiple brown sacks which mostly contained food for the group. It was surprising that they had been able to hold their own for this long, it actually made Arlo respect them a bit. As Arlo walked with the group, he would occasionally look around the desert. It was way too peaceful and quiet for him. Except for the sand and his own group he saw nothing else in the desert, no lizards, snakes or spiders hiding in the sand. "Strangely peaceful" He muttered quietly Whilst walking he pulled up his stats once again and glared at them. Most of his stats were useless as they all had question marks next to them, but with a refreshed mind, he could possibly think of some answers to the mystery''s that surround his abilities. He first pondered about the word ''untold''. Did the makutu purposely not want to disclose the kind of fragment it was or did it simply not know. Putting his hand on his chin, he thought ''Is it really possible for the makutu to not know the name of the fragment'' He immediately thought of the question as stupid. Arlo had always assumed that makutu knew everything, so the chance that it didn''t know something was actually quite creepy. Then his mind wandered of and started to think about his luck ability. ''Can you really call that a ability?'' He asked himself It wasn''t as if he was the only person who had luck. Babies born in a city could be called lucky or a person with a really high iq could be called lucky. What Arlo was trying to get to was, didn''t everyone have this so called ability. People''s luck was already random, you would either be lucky or unlucky, so then why had he been given this ability. Would his luck be the same as before or will this ability of his change it. Whenever Arlo thought to himself, he would always have more questions to answer than before he had started. The group continued to walk through the lifeless desert, until a person who was ahead of Arlo fell face felt on the sand. Everyone instantly stopped walking, the man next to him bent down and turned him over, he then repeatedly shook him until he became responsive. The man then snatched the brown bag from his waist and poured the unknown substant into his mouth, after a while the fallen man stood up. Then the group started to walk again. Arlo tried to process what just happened, and thought to himself ''Is that what happened to me?'' Arlo had woken up laying on top of the sand. Whilst his soul was in the boundary, did the person he was currently possessing simply faint from the heat and at that moment Arlo''s own soul had been put in the man''s body. It wasn''t a bad guess, but unfortunately the makutu was extremely mysterious. Arlo had no clue how the makutu operated, he did know that this trial was created by makutu, but was this trial completely made up from scratch or was it based off something that took place a long time ago somewhere else. ''What a stupid game'' Arlo thought This whole situation was a mess and the unbearable heat was killing his mood every second. The sun had made the sand really hot, and the only thing separating his feet from it were slippers which looked to be made from thin leather. So every step he took made his feet burn a little. He also didn''t have a hood to protect his face and head from the beaming sun. The conditions in the desert were truly horrible, his lips were starting to dry up and he was already covered in sweat. ''Oh my, I wish the sun would just disappear'' He angrily thought to himself Those words echoed in his mind until he had a drastic realisation, he momentarily froze in place and his mouth widened to a shape of a circle, why hadn''t he realised it sooner.