Walter opened his eyes to an all white sky. No sun, no cloud, just white as far as the eye could see. He looked down to a ground dark as night. It was so dark he could not see his feet. The contrast was too much for both his eyes and senses."Is this still the west side forest?" he asked himself out loud.
Soon he recalled that D"huile should be near, but nothing could be seen for a while. He started walking in this world. The air was still and the ground was firm. He had first thought he would fall, being unable to see the ground and all, but he did not. He found himself walking for miles before he spotted something that looked like a tree from afar. It was the only thing he had seen in this odd world since he opened his eyes.
He walked faster, till he was close enough to see branches. He did not notice when he had gotten to the edge of the plain, nor did he even notice it was the edge at all. The tree was dark as night, one would not even call it a tree at all, if not for the branch-like form before Walter"s eyes.
He suddenly heard cracking sounds from the tree, and surely enough, it sounded like the cracking of dry wood. Soon he noticed the was not falling, It was turning. To face him? Walter thought. There is a front and back side?
The sound stopped and Walter stared at the now still tree with such concentration, he was afraid to blink. But when his eyes watered a the direct stare, he blinked.
Walter opened his eyes to big black and white eyes staring at him. He was scared out of his mind, he almost fell from the edge. The same edge he had not noticed he was standing on had become a mountain peak and he was trapped on all sides. How did he get here? He returned his attention to the eyes staring into his. The eye b.a.l.l.s were as white as snow and the pupil as dark as the tree itself. He wanted to speak to it, but thought he would look mad talking to a tree.
"You would in fact, look mad." a voice answered in his head.
"Who?...you?" Walter asked the tree.
"You have come for the Valchana fruit. Are you aware how many have died where you stand?" the voice said and Walter looked down to notice that the mountain peak was not dark as it was before. It was instead, soaked and dripping with blood.
"You are the guardian of the emperor"s shed, I"d a.s.sume."
"Yes, but this information will do you no good."
"Then you must know that it"s Xhup, chief of the tree people that sends them here."
"It is still they that hand me their lives the moment they step in here."
"You are the guardian of the emperor"s shed, that means you are waiting for the one that will come and take the inheritance. The chief of the tree people will open the testing grounds from me if he gets the fruit; you should be okay with this."
"You think I don"t know those tree people or whatever they wished be called, have been opening the entrance to let people in for their personal gain? I have already opened the testing grounds this year. Him opening it without my consent does nothing for anybody. If I don"t open it for anyone, you will never enter the real testing grounds."
"I have come because I can get the inheritance. Will you turn away the same person you have probably been waiting for?"
"Turn away? Ha! Killing you is what I will do. Many have failed, what makes you think you will not?" the voice in his head said in scorn.
"Because I don"t have a choice. You don"t scare me, nor does what lies inside. I"m more afraid of surviving without that inheritance." Walter said and the voice was silent for a while.
"You are not afraid of death then? Even after many have died inside? Why? Tell me your secret, young man." the voice seemed fascinated.
"Death? There are many things scarier than death." Walter said thoughtfully.
"What?"
"Fear. There is nothing scarier than fear itself. I have stared into the eyes of fear and her eyes are colder than her snow white hair." Walter said solemnly.