Propagate: A survival litrpg

Day 106

"So anyways this girl with a huge chest walks in,"

"You have my attention."

"Uh huh. And I go to ring her up right? Business as usual, then when I give her the go ahead to pay, she fishes her card out from between her tits! And not even from the shoulder or anything, I mean it was buried in there!"

"Ugh, that's so gross."

"Right?!?"

"So unsanitary… did you.. You know?"

".....I thought about it. But I resisted! I really needed that job. But it didn't matter in the end cause I got fired three weeks later anyways. If I had known at the time I totally would have gone for it."

"Why'd ya get fired?"

"Well- Ah, story for another time."

I stood up and stretched. By this point, it was more of a habit than a bid of comfort. My joints still cracked despite the body wide upgrades, but they weren't accompanied by any bonus feeling. The sound is just a natural part of any body. Air being pushed out from between the joints, I think.

Three days passed since I had initially woken up from my coma. After we acquired Gnosis, we had begun our aimless trek towards civilization. However, there were some caveats.

I looked toward the large silver cart to my far left. Gnosis, despite our efforts, had yet to wake up. We've had to drag him around on this admittedly well constructed cart Oldren made out of his last scraps of materials. Nothing fancy like springs, but six wheels and a large silver platform absolutely covered in scrawl in the form of runes.

It held up quite well considering Gnosis' multi-ton mass. It was decently easy, though not effortless, to pull it along with us. I mostly pulled it, taking a break occasionally. Though we needed all three of us when we came to an incline.

We had just finished our lunch break, the last dregs of Oldren's supply of dried meat. Tonight, we hunt!

"Max, when are you gonna do your thing?"

"Uhh, I think I'll have a better chance when it's more windy out. There'll be a wind strom in around four hours, so I'll wait for that."

I slipped into the slot behind the handle for the large cart, and began pushing. It took a second but once I got the ball rolling, the whole thing became easier to push. Thanks in part to something called an 'Acceleration Rune'. I should ask Oldren to teach me enchanting one of these days.

"Didn't you mention that some enchantments need elemental mana to work? How come this one runs off of regular mana? You'd think it'd need wind." Oldren hummed. "Well, only the more advanced runes really need Eleweave. Sure, those acceleration runes would work way better with wind mana, but at the end of the day, they don't need it for a small boost."

"Think about it like this, you could feed an engine raw oil, and it would work (I think), but it would run much better on regular gas, right?"

"Pretty sure that's not how that works. But I get what you're saying."

"What kind of runes require elemental mana? Give me some examples."

"Hmm… Well, most of the ones off the top of my head would need space mana. Stuff like antigravity, and anything involving spatial storage." Lily perked up at the mention of space related magic. I know she feels bad that she can't use her main element, but I'm in the same boat. Actually, I can't use any magic. At all.

We had talked previously about turning Lily's ratty backpack into a spatial storage device. Unfortunately, they seem to be mana hungry, forcing Lily to feed them constantly. It wouldn't be very difficult for an accomplished mage, but Lily isn't anywhere near that level yet.

"How come none of these runes need to be constantly charged?"

"It's like magic. Some spells only need to be charged before firing, while others need to be constantly fueled while in activation. Simpler runes tend to only need to be charged once, while the more complex ones need mana flowing into their channels at all times to actually do anything. It's not just about consumption, some actually need flow to work."

"So, could you theoretically feed already spent mana back into the flow to make the enchantment?"

"Not really. The enchantments still need mana to function, no matter how small. Besides, unnaturally aspected mana dissipates over time. It's why permanent spells aren't possible."

"What about sources? Do they count as unnatural?"

"I think primal sources are natural, while the others degrade even faster than regular man-made mana. And remember, when I say degrade I don't mean they turn back into pure mana, just that the strings are unmade."

"So is there just a bunch of un-stringed mana wafting around in the air?"

"I believe so. That's kinda in the realm of magic theory though, and the blokes at the bar don't usually discuss that sort of thing."

"I see. Very interesting."

Hours passed before the wind storm blew in. It was relatively light, and even sometimes helped push the cart along. This storm didn't seem to contain the usual malevolent will I'd encountered with other storms. I'm still scarred from that first big storm.

Not literally though, the hole in my foot disappeared once I woke up. Interestingly, fast healing seems to just skip the scarring process entirely.

We parked the trailer in a large copse of trees closely grown together. Lily and Oldren took shelter near a cluster of rock slabs, whilst I took stock of the nearby meditation spots. The path we had been traveling on met a steep incline. It was directly next to that in a small dip that we set our refuge.

This left a decently sized bald spot sticking up out of the earth. I clambered up, and sat with my legs crossed. I entered the meditation position that I had recently mastered. I set my hands and closed my eyes.

I tapped into [Forecast], simultaneously pulling up the skill's description as I did so.

<[Forecast]- You become closer with the sky. Your ability to predict storms, hear and smell, and tell the time increases. Your eyes can pierce through mist. Once per week, you may perform the Ritual of the Sky, allowing you to gain future insight about any event you wish.>

I have no clue how this ability works. I tried it once yesterday but… it didn't go very well. First, I clicked on the Ritual of the Sky part of the description. Nothing. I sighed. Not unexpected, but still annoying.

Next, I tried diving into the skill's code. I gathered some energy and shot a large javelin of iridescence into the skill vault. Should I try- no, I'll leave that for another day. I stabbed the spear into [Forecast] until my point of view was shoved into the skill box. I looked around the incomprehensible symbols, letters, and script free floating around the warm abyss, but found absolutely nothing.

No sort of key or anything. Well, it was a long shot in the first place. There's no way the system would hide a function like that. Time for a more primal approach. This time, I tore my focus out of my body and projected my mind outwards.

I narrowed my focus to the wind and the storm swirling around. It's temperature, it's speed. I dove deeper, becoming one with the gale until my body was nothing but a nimbus. Until the secrets of the wind flew through my ears and out like a gushing river.

I didn't feel anything click, nor did I feel like I was really doing anything new. Like diving into a pool. All I managed to do was dive closer to the bottom. I didn't do any flips. Regardless, I tried to impart my will on the sky.

Once my mind felt like it was detached from my body, flowing free like a flag, still tied down to something stronger, did I try to speak into the gale. What does the future hold?

Black smoke exploded from the ends of the jet stream, making the area of consciousness a pool of dark ink in less than a second. Gray smoke wafted in. I shifted into images. It depicted a man, and a few behind it, floating in the sky.

Then, there were four other pillars below it, one a big lump. The higher ones glowed red, the one in the middle glowing white while the others much dimmer. Suddenly, the four were surrounded by hundreds of small, frail gray pillars, and the red ones went up in smoke.

All of those pillars, even the three and the rock, ventured to a place. They got to the gates, and then became one with the city of grey. It flashed red, before it flattened into a bloody pancake. Four shapes squeezed out from the pool of red, slightly bloodied in places.

They limped onward, before a figure descended from the sky. Despites its sword shape, I could still denote it as the visage of a person. Wings extended from the sword, widening into a daunting screen that shoved down the four small pillars of grey.

One in the middle grew to massive proportions. It grew one massive grey wing, and cut down the winged sword. The shock wave from the attack was so powerful, that it blew down the other two regular pillars as well, the bolder diffusing into formless but not dispersed mist.

Everything dropped away, except the still elongated grey pillar. There was no directional change, yet, it felt like it was looking at me. The beam turned a bloody crimson as a huge wave of the same color expanded out of it, eating up the entire space.

When the color began leeching into my own vision, I freaked out, prematurely ending the ritual and rocketing my consciousness back into my body like a catapult. My head tipped straight into the ground, cracking my skull against a rock beneath me.

I groaned and lifted myself up. I rubbed the sand out of my cracked skull as the cave-in very quickly filled out. When I pulled my hand back my fingers were lightly covered in blood. My neck felt cold as my bloodied hair rubbed against my neck.

"Ugh." I rubbed the blood against the ground and rushed back to the group. I sat down and described the visions as best as I could.

"So those four pillars are totally us right?" Oldren said.

"For sure." I answered. I'd had the same thought, though, it was pretty obvious.

"Max, do you remember which direction the city was in?" Lily asked. My eyes went wide.

"Wait, you're a genius!" I ran through the whole scene in my head again. Looking at where I sat and the direction I faced, versus where the city had appeared in my vision. I pointed right across the road, at an angle to the right. "There!"

"Then there we go! Sucks we have to ditch the main path though."

"Eh, I'm sure we'll find another trail soon."

-

The next day, at the ass crack of dawn, we were still traveling. We had unanimously decided against sleeping that night. Since both of them were abusing my stat related skills, we honestly weren't even that tired even with the extra luggage.

Deciding to test out my sleep related skills, we walked on throughout the night. I had already pulled all nighters many times before, and Oldren wasn't really a stamina based lifeform in the first place, (though [Journeyman] still works on him for some reason), leaving only Lily in need of support.

Even though she didn't need to sleep, it's such an ingrained habit to sleep when tired, that she found herself struggling to stay awake despite having plenty of stamina. Anytime I'd pull an all-nighter back home, I'd always crash around noon. It's about… 5am right now? The sun isn't even up yet. We'll see how well she handles it when the time comes.

I looked over at her. She was hunched, eyes focused on the road rapidly blinking her eyes as they started to close. Her hair dropped down over her face, making her appear in desperate need of some coffee.

Now I feel bad. Is she… not using the skills? She shouldn't look so terrible. I stopped in place. As soon as the sound of the wheels turning ceased, Oldren looked back. Lily just kept walking, like a zombie.

"Lily!" I announced without yelling. "We're taking a break. Get over here." She sighed and walked over. I parked the cart and sat against a tree parked right against the road, surrounded by a ring of dense grass.

I patted the ground next to me. She rubbed her eyes and wiped the messy hair out of her face. She sat down in the designated area, then immediately tilted her head onto my shoulders, her eyes glued shut the entire time.

I felt her body lose tension all at once as she melted immediately into sleep. I smiled softly, but quickly wiped the emotion off my face when I remembered Oldren existed. I looked up to his smug expression.

"What?" I said quietly.

"Hehehe, it's just, you guys are so cute together!" He said, a little quieter than me. I scowled.

"Oldren…"

"So, when's the wedding?"

"Top ten facts Oldren doesn't know: #1: The age of consent is 18"

"You know, the concept of consent isn't a thing here."

Well it was a thing back home. I thought. "I'm sure any isekaid Japanese folk will appreciate that fact, but I do not. I have something strange and elusive called morals. You should pick up a few."

"I know you don't have any 'drive'," I continued, "But you've at least retained the knowledge of ethics right?"

"Hehe, you know I'm joking right?" He resigned.

"I would hope so."

"I have to say, though." I glared at him distrustfully. He smiled in response. "It is genuinely heart warming how close you guys are." I smiled and looked back at her. "It is nice to have someone to lean against, and vice versa."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"You know, you could lean on me sometimes." He said, straightfaced.

"Don't I?" I asked, confused.

"Sometimes, but whenever something happens, you run to Lily first. Isn't that a bit strange?"

"..You're right. But I can't help it."

…

"..Oldren, are we friends?"

"We are." He said after a moment. Not one spent in thought, but more of a natural passing of time.

"That's good."

I opened my mouth to say something else, but the words died in my throat. I smashed my head against the tree and tried to fall asleep.

A few hours later, a beam of sunlight wormed its way between my eyelids. I didn't get a wink of sleep. I nudged Lily awake and got up.

Oldren acknowledged me with a hand whilst still focusing on his status. He waved his fingers around, seemingly drawing something.

"What are you doing?"

"Just making some designs. I spent the last two hours or so making some new blueprints, I just started working on your armor."

"How so?"

"I'm focusing on ease of use with this upgrade. When I first made it I intended on you never taking it off, I see now that that was a dumb decision. It'll protect you a bit less, but it should be much easier to remove and last much longer."

"Can you make it so it's easy to equip too?"

"Yeah… I'm gonna need a couple weeks. I think I need to redesign it from the ground up."

"Do you have the stuff you need for it?"

He sighed. "Making anything decent will have to wait until I get some quality materials. My gacha only gives me small amounts of interesting stuff. The only large amounts of materials I've gotten have been stone, wood, glass and other such things. One time I got twenty cubic meters of sea water."

"Wow, that's terrible… How exactly does your Sub-System work?"

"Every day, I get a ticket. If I spend a week's worth at once, I'll get an extra reward. The more I pull without getting highly rated materials, the more of a separate currency I get to spend on the items themselves. Theoretically, the system says the more I get trash the more higher rarities will appear but…"

"You say theoretically for a reason huh?"

"Exactly."

"Are you pulling for anything specific?"

"No. I'll take what I can get. I do keep eyeing the ten cubic centimetres of Gridlock though.."

"It's one of the best materials in existence. The stuff gods use." He continued.

"And the thing is, fancy stuff is appearing more often in the gacha.. I just never get it!"

"The best thing I've ever gotten was the vulcan core, and that wasn't even a material I could process…"

"The what?"

"Ah, right. You see-"

We set off whilst continuing the conversation. Oldren told me everything there is to know about his Sub-System, and even how his skills work. Like the shattering of a dam, he suddenly felt the need to tell me every detail of his class and skills.

Not that I minded at all. Eventually, Lily even pitched in about some random factoids bestowed upon her by her system. All really interesting fragments of world building, but nothing I'd call ground breaking.

Once the sky had only the slightest pink blemishes remaining from dawn, we made it past a small patch of hills and back into probably the hundredth forest. Are there no oceans in this world? Or is Oldren's garbage luck contagious?

Suddenly, Lily, who was leading the pack for a change, froze. I reflexively reached out with all of my senses, but discovered nothing. Not even the wind spoke of anything more than pedantic mutterings.

"Lily? What's-"

"Shh!"

Oh?

I shut my mouth and went quiet. A minute passed as she whipped her head around, looking for something. She grew more and more agitated over time, as she failed to find what she was looking for.

"What's wrong?" I asked, after sufficient time had passed.

She looked upset. "...I don't know. It's like this weird buzzing coming from somewhere. It's like the sky is getting all…. Wibbly wobbly."

I grimaced. I've heard time described that way. Is a time traveler gonna appear suddenly?

Oldren sighed and started moving forward. I gave him an incredulous look.

Max -> Oldren

Max 7:04 am

What in the heavens do you think you're doing?

Oldren 7:04 am

She's clearly out of her mind.

Let's just move on.

Max 7:04 am

Oh come on, have a little faith.

You trust when I say I've sensed something.

Oldren 7:04 am

Yeah? Well that's cause your you

Max 7:04 am

What is that supposed to mean?

Whatever.

Who says I'm the only one allowed to have esoteric senses?

Oldren 7:05 am

Buddy, you're clearly the main character.

Max 7:05 am

Bruh

I can't be the main character.

I'm not Asian.

Or a pedophile

Oldren 7:05 am

That last part is a little up in the air

Max 7:05 am

I should beat you into the fucking ground.

Wait shut up something is happening.

True to my text, some weird shit was going down. Lily was transfixed on a point in space that had now begun freaking out. Reality itself flexed and twisted for a moment, before it squeezed into a small black circle.

Dark blue winds began to wind out of it as that area in space began to shiver. Suddenly everything sucked into a single point, and with another reality bending twist, the entire area glitched before something appeared there.

Max 7:07 am

Well speak of the devil.

A bundle of floating bipeds. I'd say humans, but that'd be slightly inaccurate. Quite possibly the most copy and pasted looking isekai cringelord appeared floating in the sky, coupled with the stupid black trench coat and half dozen scantily dressed women (and children, of course).

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. God it's too early for this.

"Uhhhh, can I help you!?" I called up at them.

The jap in the middle looks surprised at the sound of my voice. He looks down and smiles. He puts his hand on the back of his head and starts rubbing up and down in a 'I did a thing!' type gesture. I've never seen someone with a more punchable face.

I squeezed my hand. I should be cautious though. One wrong move and he might splice my atoms and cause an explosion big enough to erase everything in a ten mile radius. Seriously. If this guy is as stereotypical as he looks, chances are he has some overpowered ability to curb stomp us with.

"Oh wow! To think I'd stumble on a group so soon!" The much younger than I anticipated boy announced. His harem swooned at his voice, his power and… Mystique? "So, guys, I have this- well, I have… Hm. I need to do this- this thing. But I have another thing to do that's just slightly, slightly more important that I must take care of!" Muffled brown nosing continued. Though I was too starstruck by the events to listen to their floundering.

He scratched his head sheepishly. The gesture screamed fake, but somehow his oblivious expression made it believable. "Hehe, I figured maybe this was the universe's way of telling me to delegate. So I know this is kinda a lot but!" He clapped his hands together and bowed forward ninety degrees.

"You'd be doing me a huge favor!" His company of slave girls began fawning over him even more violently, throwing themselves all over him. I heard one say 'Master please you mustn't lower yourself to-' which made me violently cringe.

"Uh- Fuck no-" I said, but the words fell on deaf ears. Strange, considering my voice was loud enough to scare birds off branches in the surrounding forest.

"What's-" Oldren attempted to say, following up my rebuttal, before being rudely and unapologetically cut off. "Anyways, I gotta go!" Oldren tried in vain to restart his complaints, but the boy mercilessly steamrolled over his words regardless. "-Saving the world stuff, just another Tuesday for me!" He snapped his fingers and struck a pose so self-satisfied that I felt embarrassed on his behalf.

The space around me began to rupture. Hundreds of weak signals began to appear in my vitaeception. The kid, probably around my age, somehow, then did the weird two finger salute, and vanished in folding space along with his entourage.

The forest was then consumed by stunned silence… For about five seconds. While the three of us remained frozen, the surrounding area soon erupted in cries of distress. Wordlessly, I walked over to the nearest new life sign to discover what exactly that fool had in store for us.

While internally raging, I aggressively shoved aside a wall of plants, showing a heartbreaking scene. A girl. Dull red hair, brown eyes, a small, victorian form contained in wretched scraps of cloth with a heavy and rusted collar around her neck.

She shivered, and we locked eyes. Muted despair gave rise to immense panic as she froze. Tears streamed down her face as her pupils dilated and she made herself even smaller, hiding deeper into the brush.

< Afflicted condition: Fear >

I clicked my tongue, rage rapidly replaced by compassion. Shit. I'm just scaring her. Yet despite her curling deeper into the brush, she refused to break eye contact. She didn't even blink. A realization came to mind. I snapped my head sideways, forcefully terminating the connection. The child took the opportunity to scamper away.

So it was me. This is really bad.

I walked back over to Lily and Oldren, who were awaiting my return for information. "According to my senses, there are around two hundred children within the vicinity. And they're all terrified, dressed in rags, and donning collars. At least, if all of them are the same as the girl I just encountered."

Oldren's eyes widened. "Wait. Did you say collars? Like slave collars?!?!"

"Maybe? Probably. I wouldn't know." He looked shaken at the news. 'What's wrong? Slavery is an isekai staple!' I almost said, but even I'm not that insensitive. He's clearly distraught by this information, for whatever reason. I mean, sure, slavery bad, but he shouldn't be this messed up from just the mention of it.

"Okay. Ummmm… Lily, can you take Oldren and go gather all the kids? I think I'll have to sit this one out."

"Why?" She asked. "Apparently, I'm terrifying." I answered.

"Ah." She nodded understandingly. She rushed off in the opposite direction I went. I knelt down near Oldren's level. He seemed to be having a panic attack. "Are you okay?" He looked up at me, his lights flickering.

"I- Yeah. I-I'll go help Lily… You should give it another shot." He wandered off towards that side of the forest. I sighed and walked over to my side. Now how should I go about doing this? My eyes drifted to the canopy above the cluster of kids. "Hm. That might work." I thought out loud to myself.

***

We huddled together. We bristled as harsh winds brushed over our backs. Even at midday, it seemed, from the light filtering through the tree tops, the cold permeated relentlessly.

But now it was better than before. At least, now, we could feel the warm caress of sunlight across our skins. Though the winds tore through the gaps in our scraps of burlap, at least it was no longer dark.

At least the ground was no longer dirt, pooled puddles of stagnant water sitting atop chipping and decade old stone. At least every movement was no longer accompanied by the sounds of chains clattering on the stone, but plants being crushed between our legs.

Though other sounds still remained. Whimpers. Cries. Pain and fear. In the future, present, and past. We had no intention of paying attention to our new surroundings. We did what we knew. Hide. Though nowhere we may lie, at least the screams down the hall will no longer haunt us at night.

No longer must we watch silently, hands concealing our icy breath as blood spills through the darkness and flutters past the bars, spilling into the deep grooves in the stone and enchanting the bricks with a scarlet gleam.

I opened my eyes. I wiped my arm across my face attempting to clear the foreign sun from my irises. I blinked rapidly, daring to relax my malnourished frame and let my legs settle against the grass.

My eyes widened in fear. Voices. They spoke in the distance, from beyond the wall of flora. Then the crushing of grass beneath heavy set feet. The voice sounded closer, merely a few ___ away. The words were foreign. A tongue I had heard before but did not understand, though a few ears perked at the familiar sound.

It was a strange sound. So unfamiliar, yet radiating a sense of divine normalcy we hadn't experienced. It was deep, profound. And then, it vanished. Along with every trace of its existence, the most narrow scraping of wood following the faint trail left behind.

And then we were alone again. The sounds of the forest resumed. The voices of resentment and despair began to linger in the surroundings once more. I scooted away from the mass of my familiars. A dozen other children, about a fifth of them boys scattered intermittently among the countless girls.

They bore deeper scars. The bloodier ones, yet, they were the ones who hugged the others close. The ones who watched the towering bushes with suspicious abandon. Surely kept for labor or war, I had thought a long time ago. The whisper of some emotion attached to the sentiment, long washed away by all encompassing apathy.

I was the courageous one. The one who stepped up first when the decorated boy, 'Ikito' he'd called himself, led the way from the cells. I took the first steps, braved the dank banister with my own bare feet. Blazing the way for the souls behind me.

I have to be brave. I would tell myself. It did little to stave off the pain. The hunger. To endure the torment. The shackles. The screams from the adjacent cell, knowing you were next. Hoping that salvation would come and losing that hope every day. Every punishment, every scream, growing weaker, and weaker, till the cavern home to the spark became too moist with the shadow of death to produce even the slightest glimmer of light.

Ikito herded us into a dome of earth. The depths moaned as stone grew and encased us within. The darkness, the black, made its way back. It wormed into each of us, eating away at what little remained. It was crushing.

___'s passed. The all encompassing shadows twisted. We gave in. Our eyes bloodied from a trance of chaos, before light drove away the shadows. It stung our eyes, scattered us apart. I had a thought. All I've had was the thought, the hope of light. But when we finally held it in our hands, it scorched us. Burned our fingertips.

What is there to hope for now?

The tree beside me shivered. My heart sank. As fear permeated my body, I looked upwards. A man, crouched on a low branch. Watching. Searching. Silver plates decorated his legs, as thick as the branch he crouched upon.

My breath caught in my throat. I looked into his eyes. Only for a moment, a single instant.

Voids.

Like the shadows I remembered. Virulent black twisting like the teeth of a ____. Yellow points piercing like sharpened lumbar stones. Energy crackled as the whirlpools stretched out, encompassing my vision. I couldn't look away, didn't dare to entertain the thought. Tears pooled at my eyes as my body froze, shivering like frost marred stone seconds from shattering into dust.

And then the energy vanished. With a sharp expression from the man, he pulled his own arm over his eyes, breaking the spell and allowing me to reel backwards. The children reacted similarly, lurching back collectively like a basket of perplexed snakes.

Plant life lurched. I kept my eyes closed as a variety of sounds played around me. When the physical force never came, the hands closing around limbs and tremoring bone, did I dare open my eyes.

The man hopped back down onto the ground. He quickly folded his legs into a crossed position, and presented a large fruit with a glossy, hard shell. He splayed out several large leaves like playing cards, something I'd seen the keepers play on occasion.

He pinned the fruit between both of his hands. He pressed into it and ripped into the outer shell by crushing inwards with his fingers. He tore a chunk off, and discarded it. He dug into the inner part, ignoring the shell.

He crushed it up with one hand. As he did so, we became enamored in the process. The juices and pulp of the fruit became stringy and sticky. The man shook his hand, and the orange pulp only gooped down slightly.

He nodded in satisfaction. Then, he collected the leaves and began painting the fruit paste in line along the edges of the leaves. He stuck one leaf on the end, and continued until he had a chain of six. He put the leaf strip to his face, muttering in unknown emotion.

He added more leaves to the blanket, creating two rows of almost the same length. Out of fruit juice, he dug into the fruit cavity once again and continued the process. By this point, all of us were watching, and not with batted breath but… curiosity.

He tested the viscosity of the liquid again by waving his fingers. Satisfied, he began liberally spreading the liquid on the leaf towel. He looked up, actively trying not to make eye contact, smushed his moderately long hair as far away from his eyes, and smashed the leaf fold against his face.

He patted it against his face, ensuring it was on properly. Then, he turned to us, and smiled. He sat with us for a long time. Soon, he began conversing with the few that recognized his language. Short answers in small bursts soon became full conversations.

The children, the boys, girls, and even the large man, beamed at this development. The man stood up, his titanic shadow casting us in darkness. Despite his newfound lack of sight, he seemed to detect our discomfort somehow, and stepped into a position that curved the shadow away from us.

He went to put his hand against the tree, missed, stumbled, and had to catch himself to avoid falling on his face. A few of the boys giggled. It was an innocent thing, but it filled us with so much life.

The mood of our little group brightened magnificently, and some of the children even followed the man and stood up. Soon, the entire group was standing, the boys helping the weakest of us stand tall.

The man nodded, pleased. He pointed outwards, to the direction he was facing and past the wall of hedges. He began moving, slowly as he tripped over every root and rock. But as he walked, he became more steady. More resolute. Though he continued to trip and embarrass himself I felt… a wisp of courage.

I stepped up in front of the group. I stood between us and the man.

And I….

Took a step forward.