Previously: Chapter 98: Forbidden Knowledge
Thistlethorn
Thistlethorn reflects upon the shard now embedded in her head. She sits by herself trying to focus on it, wanting to find a way or a hint at how to unlock it, but it keeps itself separated from her. She wanders around the grove in frustration, eventually settling down after hearing from Penny that Morgan has been in touch, confirming that the swords of Lord Falric and Lord Vaelen have been destroyed.
As night comes close with the departure of the fireflies in the grove, Thistlethorn decides to settle down for the night, wanting to prepare herself for an excursion outside of the grove in order to get closer to her god, so that he may be able to help her unlock the secrets of the shard. She lies down in a quiet part of the grove along with Berry, Argus and Ira, falling asleep looking at the stars.
In the middle of the night, Thistlethorn hears footfalls sneaking up to her. She opens her eyes, finding the familiar figure of Faunus she’s seen once before, during her trial. He looks down at her while leaning on his staff, then gestures for her to follow. She tries to sneak away, but Berry stirs, asking where she is going, clearly not noticing Faunus standing nearby. Thistlethorn assures him that she’ll be right back.
Faunus leads Thistlethorn to the edge of the grove, where they can speak privately. He tells her that he has felt her urgency of unlocking the shard, and since he has a personal interest in seeing her succeed, asks what she is willing to do to achieve her goal. Thistlethorn says that she is willing to do anything in order to succeed. Faunus looks at her, contemplating, then accepts her words. “So be it.”
He puts his thumb on her forehead, touching the shard that is hidden from view, showing her a vision of a tree standing on a lone hill, surrounded by mountains, with mists in the distance. The vision ends, but she now has a destination ahead. He then places his palm on her head, causing Thistlethorn to black out.
She wakes up the next morning, only indicated by the presence of fireflies around, and people preparing for breakfast. Thistlethorn knows what she must do, so she spends some time preparing to leave. First she joins Arrowroot in preparing breakfast, catching up with her, saying that she has to go away but she hopes she won’t be gone long. After breakfast she lets Brónach know, asking him to let the party know what happened if she somehow does not return. He promises, wishing her good luck, and good travels.
Thistlethorn then goes to a quiet part of the grove, away from most prying eyes, making sure to travel alone. She finds a fitting tree, then casts transport via plants, stepping through to the other side.
The Trial
As she steps through, Thistlethorn sees a valley hidden among a mountain chain, with a dense forest filled with fog ahead of her. Two standing stones, that clearly look placed there, mark the beginning of a path into the fog. She takes in the sight, and then begins walking towards the entrance of what appears to be a foggy maze.
When she gets closer she sees the standing stones are inscribed with many different runes and symbols, some of which she recognizes from those her tribe uses, particularly the symbol for luck. As soon as she steps through the stones she collapses to the ground, not unconscious, but drained of power, as her eyes begin to become cloudy, making it difficult for her to see. She realizes quickly that this is part of the trial she has been sent to bond to the shard, so she gets back on her feet, composes herself, and then steps into the fog.
After spending a few minutes walking into the fog, following the path, making sure not to go into the denser parts, she comes across a crossroads, where the path leads left, right or straight ahead. She tries to look around for some kind of indication of which path is correct. As she stares, she thinks she can see the wind lightly blowing in one direction. She decides to take a chance, following it.
This leads to yet another waypoint, which leads to another. Each time she has to use her perceptive abilities to discover which path is the correct one. She falters a few times, walking in the wrong direction, which causes the fog to consume her completely, causing her great mental stress, and then placing her back at the entrance of the maze. She can feel that she isn’t alone however, as she can hear footsteps in the fog, hitting branches and snapping twigs lying on the ground. At one point, she sees the outline of a massive figure, at least 30 feet tall, walking past her. She gives it a bow of reverence, hoping that it won’t harm her.
After spending most of the day walking through the fog filled valley, she comes to a dead tree lying in the middle of the path. She looks around, having a hard time finding any indication of where to go. Gently placing her hand on the tree itself, Thistlethorn feels that there is no life left, so she uses her heartwood staff to bring a small hint of growth into it, causing the tree to, for a moment, live a bit more.
Thistlethorn asks the tree which direction is the right one, but the toll of death is hard, and the tree cannot clearly remember which path it is, but it at least knows which path it isn’t. This leaves Thistlethorn the choice of moving right or left. She takes a chance on a direction, soon after finding herself consumed by the fog, being placed back at the beginning of the maze.
She sits down, reflecting on the task in front of her, considering taking a rest and try again the next day, as the fog has caused her to use a lot of her resources already, but being fearful that the path might change, she decides to push herself further, even though she has spent most of the day walking already.
As she reaches the tree again after a few more hours, she takes the other path, finding it to be the correct one. She pushes herself, feeling her legs turn to jelly, but she still is resolute to finish this today. Eventually, the fog begins to clear, not completely, but enough to let her see her environment. In front of her is another valley that goes deep down with steep edges, around a natural platform, connected to the foggy forest by a fallen stone.
She feels the presence of something divine, so she carefully trudges forward, looking around for any sign of danger. She soon notices that she is not alone, as a massive hooded spectre walks toward her from the edge of the platform. The tall, towering figure looks down at her with glowing white eyes, the only discernible part underneath the hood. It speaks in a croaked, old tongue.
“You are the Witness, yet you see nothing. Do you truly know what is real?”
Thistlethorn tries to be confident, saying that she hopes she does. The figure responds with “Then let us see.”
The shadowy hooded figure splits up into four identical copies, all flanking around Thistlethorn. She uses her shard to act first, realizing that she has to find the true figure in order to defeat it. She tries to discern one of them at random, finding it to be different than the other four, so she focuses her attention on it, summoning a moonbeam.
The moonbeam does its magic, wounding the creature, causing the copies to disappear. It swipes at Thistlethorn, causing her psychic damage, but she makes sure to use cure wounds and healing words to keep herself standing. After a few seconds of being blasted by the moonbeam, the figure shifts again, this time summoning four copies, one more than before, as they flank Thistlethorn again. She tries to discern which one is the true figure, but is having a hard time, and can feel that when she attacks a duplicate it causes her great pain, so she must be careful.
Thinking quickly, Thistlethorn summons a boar from the bag of tricks, sending it at one of the figures. It appears to be a duplicate, causing it to disappear at the cost of disintegrating the boar. She has a hard time figuring out which creature is the correct one, and as they keep striking at her with their claws, she feels that she is overwhelmed. In an act of desperation, she places out the unicorn totem, giving her some extra healing, while at the same time helping her find the correct creature, which she then moves the moonbeam onto, hurting it further. The other duplicates disappear, and then 5 more appear, six in total.
Thistlethorn summons a giant badger from the bag of tricks, who helps out by attacking random figures, and actually surviving the psychic recoil. Thistlethorn tries to discern which one is real, narrowing it down to two figures, finally finding the right one when the badger gets a good bite in. She sends the moonbeam on top of it, pommeling it with strikes, until it summons one last duplicate. This one is harder to discern, but Thistlethorn manages to pierce through the deception, as her and the badger finishes the figure off with a final blast from the moonbeam.
The figure snaps its fingers and the moonbeam vanishes. It stands in front of Thistlethorn, looking down at her. She sees no mouth, but hears its voice once more.
“You see the truth where others turn away… and now, you will never look away again.”
She feels the shard heat up, but not enough to damage her. She bows to the figure, which bows back, as the fog begins to creep up to her and the badger, who looks at Thistlethorn, concerned. They are both consumed by the fog, and find themselves by the entrance. Thistlethorn thanks the badger for the help, with it being quite nervous about where they are, but is happy that it managed to help.
As she steps through the stone entrance, she feels her vision return to her, and she can see the world a lot more clearly than she did before. The badger looks up at her, remarking that her eyes have changed, growing more intense, almost glowing. She walks over to the forest's edge, feeling the texture of the bark and the leaf beneath her fingers, noticing more of the colors than she did before.
She looks over at the tree she came from, but she is overcome by curiosity, as she wants to see where she is. The stars are in the wrong place in the sky, but she cannot discern how far away she is. She decides instead to wild shape into a giant eagle to get a better view from above, seeing the top of the mountains above her. The badger climbs onto her back, as they take to the skies.
When they reach the top of the mountain, she sees a massive valley beneath her, with a large lake that runs out into an ocean. A massive city lies to what appears to be south of her current location, and another, smaller one, lies next to another lake to the north. This is no place she recognizes, but she realizes that this is clearly not in Rexendell.
Her urge to explore is strong, but her will to go home is stronger, so she flies herself and the badger down to the valley they came from, and summons another portal in the tree, leading back to the grove, where her friends are waiting for her.