Chapter 14

Dressed in tight blue overalls, Pell and Revina braced the ice cold night as they rode on their horses to the Hill of Doom where the Great Wizard and Prince Mamadu had hypnotized the Oracle and held her hostage. The air was very still but very cold, the blank sky filled with stars as the moon light shimmered through the trees on to their paths as they climbed upon hills and descended upon slopes and planes and hills.

The Hill of Doom was located seven miles from Donerien City to the south west of the Capital, and to the East of the Royal City, a town for all the royal families who retired or weren't direct descendants of the throne. The roads leading to the Hill of Doom were horse paths that had started disappearing since not so many people visited the Great Wizard after he had been banished from the palace. People deemed visiting him or consulting him as an insult to their Emperor who they all respected and worshipped as their god.

On either sides of the paths that led to the Hill of Doom were big stones that looked like huge giants from a distance, some sparkling bright while some dulled as if painted in black or cursed by the dark magic. Trees that scattered a long the paths seemed to follow you when you journeyed this path at dusk or dawn but at night, when the towns were a sleep, the trees stood still, sleeping the night away, except when their peace was disturbed by the trotting of a horse. The trees would whistle in the air like angry owls and bend towards the paths to try to stop the horses from moving further into the Hill, breaking branches onto the paths and sometimes even whole trees fell on the horses. The gigantic stones would stand on the paths like giant beasts, spitting fire and arrowing at whatever or whoever was coming, seemingly responding to the cries of the trees.

To reach the Hill of Doom one didn't just need to be courageous but to have the ability to overcome the greatest fears in their lives. All the happenings here were never real. They were illusions magnified by the fears in the hearts and souls of those who walked along these paths, especially at night. If one's courage wasn't big enough to overcome their fears, the illusions would become a reality and the trees would wrap them into their trunks and make them part of the trees. Others would be arrowed by the giant stones and would become anything their fears shaped into. But if one overcame one's fears, the paths would remain clear up to the Hill where the Great Wizard resided, living under a huge cave with rocks curved into seats and beds, warm enough to keep out cold even during winter.

Being a non-resident, Revina was immune to the magic of illusion. In fact, Revina was immune to any kind of magic in Dalawa empire. Unfortunately, Pell didn't share the same immunity with Revina. Despite being a goddess, Pell was still vulnerable to the magic of illusion, the only magic that could affect her. In most of her journeys to the Hill of Doom, she had taken someone along with her, fighting the magic through them. She had the power to defeat the magic but she couldn't fight it on her own. Even though the magic couldn't kill her, it could incapacitate and immobilise her for years. She knew about the magic of illusion but chose to hide it from Revina, putting Revina in front of her to shield her from the magic.

However, when they neared the Hill, Pell's path started tilting as if the earth was falling over. Her horse started jumping in the air while making painful sounds as if it saw a monster or it was in pain. The trees whistled eerily, extending their branches to the path to block Pell from moving further. The dull stones stood over her like she was a toy while her path started to disappear, turning into a well of blood. Her mind stopped as she lost sight of Revina, her body becoming heavier as they galloped towards the well of blood. Something urged her to stop the horse while another urged her on.

The horse edged closer and closer to the well as Pell's world started rotating in an imperfect circle, overwhelming her with dizziness. She rested her head on the back of the horse, her body tiring and tiring. The horse slowed it's pace when it reached much closer, halting for a moment at the shore of the well before starting a slow but steady plunge into the blood, going deeper and deeper until it could keep its head up no more, immersing Pell entirely into the well of blood.

Revina who had continued her journey without noticing anything, reached a cross-road, one path heading straight, one turning East while another turned West. She stopped in anticipation of instructions from Pell who was the one giving directions all along. But there was silence, Pell didn't offer any directions. Revina looked back. The night behind her was quieter than normal, darker and more forested than a head of her and there was no sign of Pell or her horse. She shuddered in profound panick when she called out to Pell and received no response except for her own echo, dreading to forge forward and fearing to go back and look for her. She eventually decided against moving into the nowheres of the forest and dismounted from her horse, tethered it to a tree and decided despite the frightened frame of her mind to go back in search of Pell. She was certain she couldn't be farther from her.

As she walked back, the night cleared and the forest thinned. The more she walked the more it cleared and the more she regained her confidence and courage until she found Pell. Pell was holding on to her horse, her nose hard-pressed onto the horse's back, visibly suffocating. Revina rushed to her and pushed her upwards, lifting her head from the back of the horse. Pell was sweating all over, her tight clothes becoming slippery with sweats. She looked exhausted and worn-out as if she had been running from a dangerous beast, her chest groaning instead of pumping. She looked lost as if in a deep slumber despite her state, her eyes closed so peacefully Revina thought she was actually taking a nap while having a bad dream.

"Pell," Revina called while shaking her to her wake her up. But Pell remained as she was, not hearing or not caring. Revina kept calling and shaking her but still, Pell's state changed not, as if she had chosen to remain that way and refusing to wake up. Then Revina looked at the horse and realized that the horse was suffocating too, it's nose hard-pressed against a tree and it's breath slowing down. The horse, just like Pell, showed no signs of struggle, as if it had willingly agreed to suffocate itself to its death.

Revina held the horse by the neck and pushed it's nose away from the tree. The horse gulped huge breaths of air and trotted as if it were awakened from a deep sleep. Just then, Pell came around, widening her eyes as if trying to capture all that surrounded her in one glance. She too gulped for air just like her horse, panting heavily like a dog that had just chased a tricky hare without success. She stretched her hands towards Revina who helped her dismount the horse. She lay on the grass next to her horse, holding on to her chest as if monitoring the thumping of her heart.

"What happened Pell?" Revina asked, shocked with what she just saw. Pell didn't answer. She just kept on gulping for air as if she wasn't getting enough of it or as if she wanted to hoard it for future emergencies like this one. She sat upright and pulled her legs to her breasts and held on to them for a while, trying to bond with her body once again. She closed her eyes and for a moment Revina thought she was heading back to slumber land or whatever land she just came from, rushing to her to wake her up before she totally drifted away again.

Pell shook her head and pushed Revina away when Revina held her by the shoulders, trying to raise her up. She needed to concentrate her energy to fully recover from the shock she just woke up from. The magic of illusion had tapped into her two worst fears and despite all her attempts to overcome them using Revina, she just couldn't do it. She learnt in the process that Revina constituted her second fear and as such, she couldn't fight the magic through her.

Her first fear was being chased away by Lord Parafon, her father. She had promised to leave Dalawa empire forever after helping Malin kill Prince Mamadu but she only did that to please her father. She had come to Dalawa after she had her father's distress and decided to save him from dying of old age were Mamadu to be killed without the Oracle. But when she arrived in Dalawa and learnt of everything that was happening, she felt home, felt affection towards Malin, Revina and Jonathan as if they were her family. She didn't want to go back and leave the empire. She loved her father, always did. She had hoped for his forgiveness for a long time. She was secretly hoping that by the end of everything and seeing how helpful she had been, her father would finally forgive her and let her decide whether to stay or leave in which case she would choose to stay without thinking twice. But for her father to forget how she had formerly betrayed him and let her stay just like that was a gamble she could not bank on. And she didn't blame him. She just wished he could forgive her.

Her second fear was hazy, not very clear but very strong. Somehow, she felt affection towards Malin, the kind of affection she felt not Revina or Jonathan. She couldn't tell whether she had fallen in love with him or whether it was a feeling of great friendship. Either way, Revina stood on her way for both of them. She had noticed how lovingly Revina and Malin looked at each other and despite the fact that they hadn't openly declared their feelings to each other, they were both deeply in love with each other. She didn't know how much that feeling was going to affect her until the magic started to control her. Then she realized she couldn't fight through Revina because she was an element in her fears.