We started running down the path that would eventually lead us to the first intersection all over again. I asked Myriam why we didn’t just backtrack to the last intersection where we took the wrong turn and she said they had already tried it and the path changed to an endless straight line. I didn’t want to waste time voicing my doubts, not in this situation, so I just followed her as we pressed on.

“Give me the chest you’re carrying,” I said, as we ran past the third split on the road. “We’ll be faster.”

“Take it!” she said, surprising me, as I thought she would stubbornly refuse to give in. “Let’s go.”

“Do you have any ideas where he might be?” I asked, worried that it would be impossible to find him in the magical mess that this forest was.

“We’ll keep going until we reach the big junction where we stopped,” she replied, without slowing down at all. “He might still be trying to reach the end of the forest, so we’ll wait there.”

***

It didn’t take us long to reach the end of the road, or rather the end of the path that we were sure was correct. The seven-pointed intersection was in front of us, but there was no sign of Kai.

“What if he went on and got the right path?” I asked, thinking that even if remote, there was a chance this might have happened.

“We’ll wait here for some time,” she started, laying out her plan. “Roughly, for the duration it would take him to reach this point if he just took a wrong turn a couple minutes ago. If he doesn’t show up, we’ll continue to find the correct path ourselves. If there’s another split ahead of us, we will do the same thing there.”

“That sounds like a plan,” I said and placed the chest behind a tree by the side of the road.

A punch on my shoulder-blade brought me right back to reality. I looked up to see an angry Myriam glaring at me.

“You should have kept your mouth shut,” she said angrily. “He must have already felt bad about the death of Galad. Those people from the Order probably killed him because we stole one of the books from the monastery. Kai distracted him while I stole it from their library.”

“What does that have to do with me?” I said, genuinely confused.

“You don’t know him,” she replied, with a look of determination in her eyes. “He might not look like it, but he’s hurting. We lived with Galad for some time, and he died because of us. And then you come and tell him all these things about what happened in Nara.”

“What happened in Nara,” I retorted angrily, “is what HE did to Nara. You were there. How can you take his side?”

“Because I know, damn it,” she shouted. “I know it wasn’t him. The Divine has taken root inside of him. For some reason, Its Essence is trapped in him and It is doing all these terrible things. Not Kai!”

“Even so, you think by lying to him, you’re protecting him?” I asked almost mockingly.

“You’re damn right I am,” she hissed at me. “I am the last thing he has, and I will do whatever I can to protect him until we get that beast out of him.”

“Then why don’t you just let us help you?” I asked.

“Adel, we grew up together,” she said in a much quieter tone. “You were my best friend, but things have changed. We’ve changed. The last time I put my trust in people, we were captured and beaten half to death. I cannot afford to bring Kai into a similar situation again. You might not be working with the Order, but I’m pretty sure the Order followed you here. If they get to him, they will extract The Divine Essence by killing him and toss his lifeless body to the wolves.”

“That’s why we came to—” I tried to explain, but she would have none of it.

“I’ve found an old ritual the Order doesn’t know about,” she continued explaining, “or doesn’t care about. In the book from the monastery. Adel, this ritual will extract The Divine from him without killing him.”

At that point, I thought I heard a faint thump somewhere to our left and raised my hand to silence Myriam.

Again. A very faint thump could be heard from a dark patch between the trees to the left of the path we were standing on.

Another one. I pointed toward the dark spot to indicate where we needed to go and moved forward, my silent boots masking my steps perfectly from whatever was making this sound.

Another thump. Actually, now that I was closer, I recognized an additional sound just before the thump. It sounded like fabric being ripped.

I figured out that the sound was coming from behind a tree. I silently jumped around it just in time to see what was making the noise. Kai was squatted there, his back against the tree, and a dagger in his hands. He had both of his hands on its pommel and the blade was turned toward him.

I barely managed to register the holes in his robes before he plunged the dagger into his stomach. By the look of it, he had done this tens, maybe hundreds of times before I reached him. As soon as he pulled the dagger out, I saw a very faint golden glow at the point where his dagger had punctured him, and the wound closed immediately without leaving any trace of blood.

Myriam was now standing next to me and as soon as Kai moved to stab himself again, she threw herself on him, the force of her body disarming him.

“No, no, no, no, no,” she said, as she cradled the golden boy in her arms. “You don’t want this.”

Kai raised his head and faced me, rivers of tears flowing from his eyes. His look was one of absolute desperation and even though his exterior was that of the golden monster who killed my parents, I couldn’t help but see beneath it—see the boy I grew up with and had sparring sessions with.

“I can’t end the pain, Adel,” he said, and burst into a fit of sobs in Myriam’s embrace.

She tightened her hold around him and moved him back and forth just as a mother would do with her child, all the while looking furious with me.

I clenched my fist and would have punched my fate if I could. Why couldn’t it be like in the stories? I wanted to beat the villain and get my revenge for the heinous things he’d done. But Kai was no villain. He was as much a victim as everyone else. Perhaps even more so, because he had to live with the consequences of what he had unwillingly done.

I’d come here to understand what had happened and get some closure, secretly hoping that Kai and I would have a showdown. I’d kept all this anger inside, just so I could release it upon him, but to no avail. If there was someone to blame for all of this, it was the being that we’d thought of as our benefactor through the millennia.

Myriam stood up, still holding Kai by the waist, and led him back toward the tree behind which I had placed the chest. I could do nothing more than follow them, speechless, and be on the lookout. Myriam opened the chest and both of them stepped into it and then started descending. I knew the chest must have been enchanted since it was the only thing she was carrying, but I still marveled at it.

I wasn’t going to enter the chest with them, however, I did take a peek inside as they went down the stairs. I couldn’t see much from where I was standing but I did notice quite a long staircase with handrails leading down to an open and illuminated space. Not much of the inside was visible to me apart from a seemingly long table with piles of books on it.

I spent the next five minutes listening for any sounds and watching for any movement between the trees. The priests from the Order had to make their appearance at some point, no matter how lost they were in the enchanted forest. Yet I saw no sign of them until I heard Myriam’s hasty footsteps walking up the staircase of the chest. She sprung out of it and launched herself on me, pushing me back with both hands.

“Do you think this kid,” she said, pointing back into the chest, “did all of that in Nara?”

“I didn’t know, Myriam,” I replied.

“But you had to unleash all this venom on someone, right?” she asked, and pushed me back even harder.

“We’ve been through nine hells to reach this place and restore The Divine,” I said in my defense, though I knew it wouldn’t stand.

“So have we!” she shouted, but her final push didn’t carry much force. “So have we…”

For a few moments, we just stood there, both looking at each other’s feet.

“I’m truly sorry I left you back in Nara,” she said, not taking her eyes off of the ground, “but now you see why I did it.”

I didn’t say anything, but instead just looked at her with a puzzled expression. I still wasn’t sure why she never asked for my help.

“Adel,” she continued, now looking me dead in the eye, “if even you couldn’t forgive him, nobody would.”

I thought about what she said and how I kept the rage piling up in me, waiting for a confrontation that now would likely never happen—because Kai was not the enemy.

“I do forgive him,” I said, in an unwavering voice.

“But…” she muttered, confused, “all those things you said.”

“I was hurting, and I wanted to hurt the one who caused all this,” I confessed. “But I know now that it’s not Kai. He’s just a pawn like we all are. Pawns in the games of gods.”

Myriam didn’t respond, but simply stared at me. I was certain that she was surprised by my change of heart, but she didn’t show it. A still determination was drawn on her face once more.

“I believe you, Myriam,” I continued. “I’ll help you carry out your plan. Not for Kai, because I still cannot forget what he did, even if he isn’t at fault. I’ll do it for you. I believe in you.”

“I… I trust you, Adel,” she said, her voice almost too quiet for me to hear. “I’m scared of it, but I trust you.”

I wasn’t sure what might have happened to completely cripple her ability to trust people, but now was not the time to ask her about it. I wanted her to be sure of my loyalty. I unsheathed my two swords as I fell down on one knee and presented them both to her.

“I vow to you,” I said, as I lowered my head below the level of my swords, “that as long as I have legs, I will run by your side. As long as I have hands, I will swing these swords by your side. And as long as I have a heartbeat, I will fight by your side. Until I die by your side.”