“So I’m some kind of bad guy?” I asked.

“No. The god you’re the Child of doesn’t define your personality or your character, like I told you, the god you’re “assigned” to just gives you a fraction of his powers.”

I looked at her, but suddenly, out of the ground, dark green vines popped up and they were coming towards me at high speeds, like moles digging through the ground.

“Is this you!?” I yelled.

“No, it isn’t!” she shouted back.

All the animals around the meadow ran away into the dark forest, and the fox hid between Ivy’s legs, who was now standing up, as she departed from me. I looked back at my feet and the plant was about to reach for one of my legs.

“I think the plants are attacking you since you burned part of their habitat.” Ivy said calmly.

“How can you be so calm in this situation?” I asked, worried.

I rose from my sitting position, and the vines barely missed me. I reached for my daggers so I could cut the vines in pieces, but when I took two steps back, I tripped over something and landed with my back on the hard bark of the tree behind me. While this was happening, I heard a faint “I don’t know” in the background, but I was too focused on nature attacking me to even acknowledge it.

“Didn’t you heal it or something-” my voice cut off.

A few seconds after I first noticed the plants coming towards me I was strapped to a tree with my hands and torso tied, with no way to escape. I looked at Ivy, who was still standing there, looking at what happened with widened eyes.

She relaxed and said in a disappointed tone:

“Okay, it was me…” 

I looked at her again. My legs were stretched on the ground, with the grass tickling me.

“Why didn’t you use your daggers?” she asked while sitting down on her new formed, very comfortable chair –which was my lap–.

“I don’t know. I think I just didn’t have enough time to process what was happening. At one point, I wanted to grab one of them, but I tripped.” I replied.

“To be honest, I’m surprised you aren’t in awe because of me “attacking you”.”

“Yeah, you could say I had a guess it was you, but I wasn’t sure.” I responded. “Also, these straps are kind of uncomfortable, mind letting me go?”

“Hmm, nope.” she said as she made a hand gesture, releasing me from the ties.

She got up and laid back down on the grass. I realized that on her hand was an engagement ring with an emerald on it.

“You have a husband?” I asked.

She froze for a second.

“I can’t answer that…” She replied as her eyes watered up.

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

A flying sound could be heard and Ivy looked up. It was Harlem, who was again, half sleeping while flying seamlessly through the air.

“Ivy, do I really have to look after y’all?” he started. “I’ve been looking for you two for half an hour.”

The girl wiped her tears with her black blouse and asked Harlem if he could take us back to where we needed to go. He sighed and snapped his fingers, raising us on a big, invisible platform. 

“The headmaster called us.” Harlem told Ivy.

“Who’s the headmaster?” I asked.

“The headmaster is a kind of leader for us, to say it like that. He gives us missions to complete and rewards us.”

The boy turned around and said that this is going to be my first mission. His eyes glowed and a slight smile could be observed on his face. 

“Wait wait wait, so… I’m part of your guild or something now?” I asked, curiously.

“Something like that.” Harlem replied as he turned back around.

A few seconds after this, Harlem snapped his fingers and he let us fall. Vines rushed down Ivy’s arm and formed a squishy platform we could land on, made out of leaves.

“This is so cool!” I said.

Ivy smiled a little, but turned her head so I couldn’t see it. In front of us was an old wooden cabin that looked nothing more than what it was, an abandoned house in the woods.

“Come on, go through the door, it won’t eat you.” Harlem told me.

I put my hand on the rough, wooden door, which squeaked when I pushed it. Inside was a mess. Thrown paper and ripped books were on the ground. The paper was yellow and the books were dusty. I could tell this place wasn’t visited in a long time. I picked one of the books up and wiped the dust with my finger. The book was garnet colored and it had big, white text in the middle. It read “Being One with a God”. I supposed it meant finding your god and maybe… connecting with it?

I took it with me, keeping it in my hand. There were dark spots in the settled dust, which formed footsteps. They headed forth, eventually turning left after the first threshold, connecting the entrance to the main hallway. I followed the footsteps, strongly gripping the dusty book. On the left there was a closed door with a round handle. I brushed my right palm against the hard door, before placing it on the handle. I waited a few moments. God knew what or who hid in that room, behind the door…

“Oh come on, Ark! Just open the damn door!” Harlem shouted as he pushed me aside and opened the door.