Terra Incognita Book one: The Abyss
Chapter Nine
Eager to get away from the massive, foreboding forest behind him, he took the stairs leading down as fast as he could. His feet hit stone after stone, never faltering until he reached the bottom where he had trouble stopping. Once again out of breath, he found it hard to swallow with his throat dry from breathing in so deep. He wanted to rest for a moment, but something urged him forward. The entrance to the garden was another archway, but instead of stone, this time it was actual trees, intertwined at the top. Each one had different colors and characteristics, but both seemed to be a part of the other.
Stepping through into the garden, he couldn’t help but notice a thick haze of glistening pollen that hung in the air. Much to Ben’s surprise, he was welcomed by an abundance of tame animals that all approached at the same time. There were all different types of species living together, co-existing in harmony. Each docile creature came forward, compelling him to caress their bodies with gestures of endearment, pushing up against him, and rubbing their heads against his hands. He became lost in a sea of love and affection. Each animal appreciated his attention so much that they wouldn’t leave him alone. Fighting the pressure to stay with them, Ben forced himself to push through, toward the center.
They followed him, desperate for his attention, through the dense foliage, across creeks and streams, and finally they stopped as he came to the center. Pushing a limb thick with leaves to the side, he saw a tall mound with stone stairs that led up to where the two massive trees were. A flat field of short green grass that looked manicured surrounded the mound. As he stepped out onto it, he felt a noticeable difference in the temperature. The sun heated this spot, leaving it a comfortable temperature that reminded him of mid-spring.
Taking the steps one by one, Ben found himself standing on a stone floor, looking up at the overhanging coverage of leaves and limbs. Just inside his reach a cluster of fruit dangled from both trees. One was a jumbled-up bunch of red berries that seemed to be conjoined and the other reminded him of a soft apple. He examined both, not sure which one to take. He reached up to touch the cluster of berries but stopped at the sudden sound of a hissing voice.
“I wouldn’t do that unless you want to end up like him,” said a snake as it slithered its way through the branches of both trees. Its arrow-shaped head and sharp, pointed fangs gave Ben reason to be cautious, but still, he decided to listen.
“Him?” Ben asked.
“HIM!” the snake replied, pointing its tail towards the other side of the hill. There on the ground, at the bottom of the hill was a skeleton. Its wide-open jaw hinted at a screaming agony that left Ben chilled despite the temperate weather.
“What happened?” Ben asked.
“That’s another story for another day. Just let it be known that in choosing the wrong fruit, you could face grave consequences.” It sneered at him. Ben wasn’t amused by the snake’s sense of charm, and he threw up a defiant face in return. The snake only grinned in response.
“How do I know which to pick?” Ben asked.
“You don’t know where you are, do you?” it asked, slithering ever closer.
“I’m not sure I follow,” Ben said. The snake laughed at this, looking surprised by the boy’s ignorance.
“Eden, my boy. You stand on hallowed ground,” it said.
“Eden?” Ben said, shocked by the revelation. “Like, the bible Eden?”
“The one, the same,” it said, darting its tongue into Ben’s ear. He batted it away.
“Watch it, boy! You don’t know who you are dealing with.” The snake, rearing back, showed its fangs.
“If this is Eden, then I have an idea who you are, but who would that make him…?” Ben remarked. The snake gave only a devious grin in response, but Ben knew what it meant.
“The tree of life and the tree of knowledge,” Ben said, after taking a sip from his water skin. He wiped the sweat from his brow and stood there for an eternity, trying to figure out what to do next. Like a chess player calculating his strategy, he examined all moves he could make. “Jarvis said the fruit was for an experiment on pushing the boundaries of our mind. That must be the tree of knowledge, but how do I figure out which is which?”
“Hmm, quite a predicament,” the snake hissed. “You could always ask me for help, you know?” As it spoke, it moved closer to Ben, sliding down the tree. Its weight bore down on the thin limbs, causing them to sag.
“I know I can’t trust you because you are a known liar,” Ben said. The cold, stern tone in his voice didn’t faze the reptile.
“A liar?” it replied. “What could I possibly gain from lying to you? As a matter of fact, I’m much more truthful than most would believe. It’s just that the truths I peddle are in fact too much for most to handle. Their fragile little egos shatter under the weight of my knowledge. And temptations merely come from showing others the futility of their lives and actions.”
Ben felt the weight of the snake’s words, but shrugged them off for the moment. “Tell me about the tree of life,” he said, feeling a growing heat on his head and neck.
“Yes, smart; discern the clues and decide based on your best judgment. The tree of life is just that, a tree with the power over life itself. One of the two forbidden trees, its pollen gave those around it extended life and health. Some even say it grants immortality. Its fruit, however, is a different story completely.”
“Please explain,” Ben said, his curiosity piqued. He even found himself stepping closer to hear the snake better.
“Death is a natural part of life. The fruit of the tree of life grants instant life to the dead and instant death to the living. It was forbidden because it would undo all of his work.”
“His? You mean God?” Ben asked, wiping the sweat from his head again.
“The tree of knowledge,” it said, ignoring his question, “changes the way the mind perceives the world, allowing man to understand things he never thought possible. Being in the presence of its pollen has the lasting effect of elation and contentment, but to eat the fruit…”
“The fruit?” Ben asked.
“Will change your perception forever. You know, there is one thing you could try since you don’t know which to take,” the snake said as if the idea had just struck him.
“Why is it so hot?” Ben asked, fanning himself.
“You stand in his presence,” the snake said, looking up. Ben followed his gaze and saw the massive sun beating down on him. “That is why I sit in the shade, away from his judgment.”
“God?” Ben asked, shading his eyes with his hand as he looked up.
“Why don’t you test the fruit’s effects on our friend down there? See what happens before you make a decision you may regret,” the snake said, avoiding Bens question again. He pointed his beady eyes down toward the skeleton, trying his best to direct Ben’s attention.
“Yeah...that’s not a bad idea,” Ben said, forgetting himself. With the anointed shawl that Jarvis had given him in his hand he reached up and grabbed a berry cluster and pulled. Standing over the skeleton, he squished the berries until their juice flowed from his grip and into the gaping maw of the dead man before them.
“Yes…” the snake hissed as the red fluid, like blood, poured down, splashing upon the mouth, covering the teeth with its crimson fluid. Ben stood there for a moment waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. Content on his answer, he started back up to the tree to grab another bundle to take back to Jarvis. The snake, with its gaze transfixed on the skeleton, backed up the tree and away from Ben, who then turned just in time to watch as the body started to reform itself. Sinew stitched back to bone and muscle formed from that as fibers twisted up and condensed. It was like watching a corpse decay backwards, but Ben couldn’t turn away. Horrified by the grotesque nature of what he was seeing, he released a single tear as he stood there stunned. He knew then that he had committed a horrible act that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
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sp; It took less than two minutes for the man to take the first breath of his new life. Ben overheard the snake behind him say, “Adam,” in a low, hushed tone as if in awe. The man’s body writhed in agony as he tore into a renewed existence. The first sound out of his mouth was a cry of pain that assaulted Ben’s ears. The groan pulled at him, tearing apart his resolve. The snake and Ben both watched as the sky turned dark as thick clouds rolled off the horizon. Adam’s first action was to grasp his stomach in pain.
The snake chuckled to himself and said, “You’ve really pissed off the wrong person.”
As the man started to become coherent, Ben happened to see the burning sword of the angel off in the distance. It made its way through the thick foliage of Eden, hacking a pathway as it did.
“Where am I?” Adam asked, speaking his first words.
“There’s no time. Come with me,” Ben said, still looking over his shoulder. He couldn’t explain his next actions, but the boy felt responsible for the man’s new life and out of some sense of youthful naivety, wanted nothing more than to preserve it. They were now both in danger as their angelic enemy bore down on them.
“I want to stay here,” Adam said, giving into the fate before him.
“Please, just come on,” Ben said, pulling his arm. With reluctance, the first man complied with an outstretched arm.
“You’ve raised an abomination in his garden,” the snake said with glee. Ben didn’t bother looking at the snake; instead, he helped the naked man to his feet and gave him the shawl to cover up with. With a quick jump, the boy found himself back on the mound, staring up at the fruit he needed. He pulled the apple-like thing from its place and held it fast as he returned to the ground below, running as fast as he could.
Grabbing his hand, Ben pulled Adam along just as the angel appeared from the thicket. The man, unsure in his footing, stumbled behind Ben as the trees began to collapse to the ground. Their leaves and fruit turned brown with decay and started to fall. The limbs popped and groaned. All around them, stuff started crashing down, forcing them to dodge their way through. The brush around them withered and decayed into a liquid-like substance that dripped to the ground.
The angel passed the mound, chasing after Ben. The snake pointed its tail and said, “They went that way.” The angel didn’t turn or acknowledge the legless creature, but instead stayed its course. It used its sword to cut through the falling debris, never slowing as it followed. Ben and Adam watched as the animals all disintegrated into piles of ash. If he had a moment to think about it, Ben would have felt responsible for their deaths. With a stitch in his side that only got worse, he ran, pulling Adam with him.
Finally breaking through the thick garden, Ben tumbled blindly over a hill and stumbled into a pit. With a splash, they were both submerged in a thick oppressive substance that was impossible to swim in. The black sludge weighed their bodies down and filled Ben’s mouth with a disgusting taste. Trying to hold up Adam and himself, he opened his eyes and looked upon a horror that was worse than a flaming sword, or the angel attached to it.
Ben couldn’t contain his fright as a multitude of human corpses floating in the slimy bog came into view. Some of the figures looked identical, with only some minor flaws and inconsistencies in their appearance, while others were so badly decayed they were nothing but skeletons. In that instant he realized that the males all looked like Adam. He panicked and tried to get away from the pit, but the bodies shifted, pulling him deeper into the thick mire that their decomposition had created. Floundering in the black muck, he struggled to keep his head up above the surface so he wouldn't suffocate. He fought with desperation until a hand caught hold of his and pulled him up and out of the scum.
Adam had managed to climb out of the scum and had pulled Ben to safety. He lay on the hot sand for a moment and listened to the mumbling insanity of his savior. Adam sat there crying into his hands, talking about the women in the pit. In his stupor, he kept saying the name Eve throughout his incoherent blubbering. It took Ben a second to realize it, but the man was talking about his lost love, and how they had been separated. With his body covered in the decayed slime, and in no hurry to explain the situation to him, Ben planted himself on the ground, too exhausted for emotion, too exhausted to care about anything but the ruby red treasure of the fruit in his hand. He lay there in the darkness for a while looking up at the crowed sky covered in stars. The smell that covered him was so repugnant that he gagged with each breath until he finally started vomiting.
Over time, his strength returned and he lifted his head up to look around. The terrain that was once Eden had turned into a desolate wasteland of dark sand and tall windblown dunes. He took one good look at himself and then at Adam and broke down. The tears wouldn't stop flowing as he lay there on the warm sand, bawling his eyes out. Suddenly, the sobs turned into screams and he found himself yelling at the sky with his hands raised in defiance until his lungs gave out. After a few moments, he dropped back down and passed out, exhausted.