A True Heart's Test: Chapter 2 – Absolute or False

Chapter 2 – Absolute or False

A blindly light subsides as I get through the portal to reveal a beautiful forest of flowers and wildlife.

“Huh. I thought we’d be in some kind of training place that will bring out my heart’s Absolute ability,” I say.

“Adivino did say that’d we experience events that will teach you. Maybe we’re supposed to see how other people get their Heart Absolute ability so you can learn from them?” Eleazar suggests.

“I see how that could help, but still, how will we know what events to follow? Who are we going to follow and what exactly am I supposed to learn? This place looks and smells like a peaceful beautiful paradise.”

“Yeah, but something about it doesn’t feel right.”

“I think you’re just imagining things.”

The sound of people moving draws our attention to a squad of knights that are moving through the forest. They must’ve not seen us because we’re in the shadows of the trees and a fair distance away.

One of them looks around and then says, “Captain, shouldn’t we look for Lionel? He’s not here.”

“If he’s not here with us, he must’ve been enraptured by a trick of the witch in this forest. Simpleton couldn’t even follow the order of staying close by us. The rest of you better stay close. We’ll search for his corpse after our hunt is complete.”

“Yes, sir,” the knights say before moving on.

“Huh. There’s a witch in this forest. Sounds like a fairy tale you tell children,” I say.

“That’s because fairy tales, like all fiction, are inspired by real life with some being based on more real things than others,” Eleazar says.

“Right, and I’m assuming you still believe in the monsters under your bed that give you sleep paralysis and try to drag you under when you’re awake when you’re not supposed to.”

“I still believe that.”

“Of course you do.”

Eleazar and I hear the sound of someone running in armor from behind us and turn around to see a young man in armor with the symbol of a royal blue sheep crest on his chest, which is the same symbol the other knights had.

“Have you seen-” the boy says before I cut him off by saying, “Your knight friends who’ve abandoned you? Yes, we have.”

“They haven’t abandoned me! They would never.”

“I’m sorry, but your captain told them to. You must be Lionel. My name is Eleazar,” Eleazar says.

“So, you must be telling the truth, if you’ve heard my name. Yes, my name is Lionel. Nice to meet you Eleazar. I can’t believe my friends would leave me behind.”

“They said you must’ve been enraptured by the witch of this forest. Are you okay? Were you under some kind of spell?”

“No, I wasn’t. I was just distracted by the beauty of the forest as if it spoke to me like it usually does.”

“So, you were enraptured,” I say.

“I guess you could say so since the witch made the forest and I do love nature. Don’t you? The beauty of nature is so alluring that I could stare at and talk to it all day.”

“You do that a lot, Cornelia,” Eleazar mentions.

“I don’t do the speaking to the forest part.” What kind of weirdos do that anyway? “You better get back to your so-called friends, Lionel.”

“I can’t do that and leave you, civilians, alone without protection. I’ll escort you out of the forest before rejoining my squad.”

“I’m afraid that we can’t do that,” I say, “The Absolute led us here so I can get my Heart Absolute ability.”

“Oh, really? That’s amazing! I wish I had my heart’s Absolute ability. In that way, I could help more people.”

Eleazar says, “Well, you can help us by helping us get to your friends. Cornelia is meant to view some event here to help her and she may have to witness you and your friends defeating this witch.”

“Okay! Let’s do that!” As Lionel accompanies us while we walk in the direction of his squad, he asks us, “What do you guys do?”

“I help teleport people around the world,” Eleazar says.

“That explains those fancy robes of yours. What about you, Cornelia?”

“Nothing good. I just work in community service.”

“I did that before I became a knight and even after becoming a soldier, I had to be the cleaning guy for everything at the base since I didn’t do so good in my exams to become a knight. In retrospect, I feel like I should’ve stayed a community service member.”

“You’re stupid for thinking that.”

“I know.” Huh. I didn’t expect him to agree with me. “I should trust the Absolute where it takes me because it is the Absolute after. It’s literally the truth and doesn’t lie to me, right?”

“Right, I’m sure you’ll eventually become a great knight. You just started out after all,” Eleazar says.

“You’re right. Thanks, Eleazar and Cornelia.”

What did I say that was encouraging for him? Whatever. We continue through the forest and as we adventure forward, the forest grows and changes ahead of us with pretty plants and flowers and smells directing us to go in certain directions.

“Should we follow the way that’s being presented to us? Maybe the witch is trying to guide us to the knights?” I suggest.

“No, because the witch is conceited,” Lionel says, “This power of hers isn’t natural nor is she being her true self. I doubt she is a nice person.”

“Why’s that? We haven’t been attacked and this place looks beautiful.”

“Being conceited doesn’t make you a good person because you choose to become something that isn’t you and you put yourself above the Absolute because you think you know better than truth itself. How can anyone that’s like that be good?”

I guess that makes sense. We were taught in school that by the end of our lives our hearts will be judged on how closely they resemble the Absolute since all hearts are made in the image of it and all hearts yearn to be what they were meant to be whether they acknowledge it or not. Hearts become conceited when they reject the Absolute or willfully ignore the call to learn the truth about themselves and the reality of the world around us. If a heart is blackened by conceit, it is tossed away to be forgotten, but if a heart closely resembles the Absolute, it will be cleaned of stain before being forever remembered and join the many hearts gathered in the Absolute to live forever happily in its love. Of course, I’ve tried to be what the Absolute wants me to be though I don’t really know why some people who are viewed as conceited are viewed as bad since they are trying to be what they believe to be themselves and this forest doesn’t look like it’s the home of an evil witch.

After going in our own direction for a while, we find the knights who seem to be on edge and it seems like one or two of their number is missing.

“Captain!” Lionel says.

“Lionel, be careful you, idiot!” the captain says.

“I am, sir!”

“Obviously not since you brought civilians deeper into this forest.”

“They’re here because of the Absolute and Cornelia here needs to witness something to get her Heart Absolute ability.”

“Okay, whatever, there’s nothing we can do to get them out of the forest now. Just keep your eyes open. Two of our knights disappeared even though they were close to us. Since you managed to make your way back, we’re hoping they’ll find their way back as well.”

“I hope they’ll find their way back too, sir.”

“Shut up and form up!”

“Yes, sir! Come on, Cornelia and Eleazar. We’ll protect you.”

As we get in the middle of the squad of knights who move forward with their backs to us, we hear a woman’s voice echo in the forest. She says, “Beware, all trespassers. Leave me in peace or suffer the consequences.”

Soon after, two sets of broken knight armor fly at us with presumably the wearers following behind them. They scream in terror in their damaged clothes as they run away from us and tell us to run with them out of the forest because of the witch. Maybe they have the right idea.

“We won’t run away from you, witch. You’ll pay for your conceited behavior, your thievery, and the many lives you’ve taken,” Lionel bravely says.

“You should leave with your friends, boy. I’ll spare you for your appreciation of my garden. Take the offer.”

“No! I am duty bound to bring you to justice.”

“Then you will soon regret not accepting my mercy.”

The trees of the forest suddenly have thorns growing around them and husks made of thorns that look like soldiers with swords and spears rise from the ground to attack us. Lionel and the knights try fighting these forest soldiers; however, they are unable to put them down since the forest soldiers keep moving even when their heads and legs are cut off, and the parts that are cut off are replaced by thorns that come from the ground. In a desperate attempt to kill one of these soldiers, the captain repeatedly slashes it apart until it’s all destroyed. This would’ve inspired the rest of the knights to do the same, but he is dragged away screaming into the forest by a large bush of thorns.

As everyone scatters, Lionel says, “We must stand together! Stop running away!”

Unfortunately for us, the knights run away together and are now ignored by the forest knights for some reason. Eleazar tries to make a portal but is unable to and confirms it by saying so. What am I supposed to do now? Is my Heart Absolute ability going to appear now? Come on! Appear already! This would be the perfect opportunity for it. It would be storybook if it does and the answer to my prayers that I’ve been waiting for. We’re surrounded by the forest soldiers now with no way out and Lionel is exhausted and injured from the fighting. My Heart Absolute ability just has to appear now!

Lionel is knocked to the ground and struggles to get up. He says, “No! I’m not going to let anyone else under my protection die.”

As Lionel slams his sword down defiantly, all the forest soldiers stop moving, which saves him from almost being killed by them. Something has changed about him. My eyes feel like they’re telling me this, but I’m not sure what it is. Could it be possible? Lionel holds out his hand and flowers appear on the bodies of the forest soldier and they all back away as he holds out his hands. No way…

“It’s not possible,” I hear the witch’s voice echo in the forest.

“My heart’s inner ability has awoken thanks to the Absolute. It’s over for you now that I am able to control the forest. Give up and submit yourself to justice,” Lionel says.

“There is no such thing as justice. That is why I do what I do. This isn’t over yet. Not while my heart still gives me power over a portion of the forest you don’t control.”

“Come on, Eleazar and Cornelia. I’ll protect you as we move forward,” Lionel says.

More forest soldiers with flowers on them form around us that act as our guards. The forest around us also changes as the thorns around the trees retract back into the ground.

“I’m so glad that you got your Heart Absolute ability, Lionel,” Eleazar says.

“I am too, especially since I needed it now more than ever to protect you guys. We’re not too far from the witch now. The forest tells me so,” Lionel says.

How come I wasn’t the one to get the ability to control plants in the forest? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that Lionel got his Heart Absolute ability in time to save us, but still. Oh, and now the wildlife in the forest, the squirrels, birds, rabbits, and deer are here to help us too. Why not? I’m assuming Lionel getting this ability is something I was supposed to see. So, what am I exactly supposed to take away from this? Well, this isn’t over yet, so the answer should be becoming clearer soon.

With Lionel, Eleazar and I finally come across the witch with a small squad of her own forest soldiers behind her. She doesn’t look like the ugly witch I imagined her to be. Instead, she looks to be a young woman about my age dressed in gold, black, and green grass and flowers with a crown made of black and gold plants. The only part of her that looks like what I imagined is the black heart-shaped hole in her chest, her black and green eyes, and her crown because the conceited are said to always crown themselves with whatever type of crown they feel they deserve.

“Let go of your control of the forest. Can’t you hear its cries of pain as it tries to escape your grasp?” Lionel says.

“I don’t hear it. Besides, control of the forest is a power I rightly deserve after all the suffering I’ve been through and the charity I provide,” the witch says.

“What charity do you provide? You attack the Church dedicated to the Absolute and everyone who enters your forest.”

“I’ve only attacked those who’ve wronged me and those who will harm me and those I love. What your leaders haven’t told you was that I sought the Church’s help to save my dying family, but even after so many years of serving them as a gardener and house cleaner, they wouldn’t take care of my family because I couldn’t afford the bills for their constant care. I had to rely on becoming a witch and being so-called conceited to give them a home out here and the care they needed until they peacefully died.”

For some reason, Lionel kneels down and the grass reaches out from the ground and wraps around his hands. More grass from behind him reaches up and around his eyes.

“What are you doing?” I ask him.

“They’re buried here, right?” Lionel asks the witch.

“Yes, is nature telling you this?”

“It is.”

“Then you must also be able to speak to their souls. They’ll tell you how much they love me and how I was right to do what I was doing.” An odd silence fills the air while Lionel looks surprised and worried. “Well, am I right?”

“No. They feel cold…I can hardly hear their voices.”

“What?”

“They’re in the Land of the Forgotten where all lies and falsehoods reside. You made their hearts conceited like yours, didn’t you?”

“They agreed what I did was right. I punished those who wronged us, took what was rightfully ours, and protected us from people who would want to hurt us for doing so.”

“It doesn’t matter if you were wronged. You still turned their hearts into conceited, false ones and because of that, they’ll suffer for all eternity.”

“No, that can’t be true! They talk to me from time to time to tell me how happy they are!”

“Those must be the vainglory, demons in the image of your family talking to you. They were the ones who helped make your heart conceited and the same ones who made the hearts of those in the Church who wronged you conceited as well. If you continue as you are, you’ll join them and your family in the Land of the Forgotten.”

“No, no, no! You’re lying and you’ll pay for that!”

The two armies of forest soldiers and their leaders clash. While this is happening, roots come up from the ground and surround us, which have presumably come from Lionel. I can see Lionel and the witch fighting and yelling things at each other but can’t exactly hear what they’re saying in all this fighting. Eventually, the dust settles with Lionel being the victor and the witch at the end of his blade.

“I know what it’s like to fail those who you want to protect. When my brother and I were out hunting, I failed to protect him. Instead, I ran away and left him to be food for the wolves. I’ve also failed my squad and the civilians I was tasked with protecting on multiple occasions. I feel like a failure because of those I’ve lost even if I was still victorious in the end.”

“Why are you telling me this? Why not just kill me and be done with your mission?”

“Because I’ve felt the torturing cold of the Land of the Forgotten and I want to protect you from that horrible fate.”

“Protect me? You don’t have a reason to do that. What kind of knight doesn’t kill a witch like me?”

“One that wants to protect rather than kill. As far as I’m concerned, killing is a last resort option and I don’t ever want to kill anyone from now on, especially with what I’ve felt from the Land of the Forgotten and now that my Heart Absolute will allow me to take people in alive.”

“Even so, I’m a conceited witch. There’s no hope for me to change.”

“Of course you can. Everyone is capable of redemption since we all make mistakes. Trust me, I should know. I’ll help you change if you let me.”

Looking at him with a puzzled look, the witch pushes Lionel's blade away from her throat and then says, “Okay, fine. I believe you. Take me in.”

“I will, but first, let me erase this façade you’ve created and give back the forest its natural beauty.”

As he says this, Lionel puts his hand on the ground and the beautiful forest around us decays and dies but then is quickly replaced by a somehow more beautiful forest than the previous one that overtakes it and fills it with more plant life and even more varieties of wildlife teeming in it. Seeing this stuns the witch and her appearance changes to something more humble as she is now wearing a simple dress made of grass and her crown is gone. It looks to me that she’s no longer conceited. Eleazar screams in joyous excitement and hugs me because of the occasion while I look in awe as to what Lionel managed to do.

“Amazing…” the witch says.

“Now, are you ready to go?” Lionel asks.

“Yes.”

“Hold on, guys. I’ll make this journey quicker for you,” Eleazar says before making a portal.

This portal leads us to a simple small city with a castle in the center and walls around it like most cities that I’ve heard of. People in the streets are shocked by our sudden appearance and it seems like the guards in the city are even more shocked to see Lionel taking in the witch by himself.

As we watch them talk to the guards, Eleazar puts his hand on my shoulder and then says, “Ah, don’t you love happy endings?”

“This isn’t the end for them. It’s just the beginning of a new struggle. Lionel will probably fight more because of his Heart Absolute ability and the witch will have to serve time in jail,” I say.

“Don’t be so cynical. I’m sure things will be for the better for both of them.”

“Sure.”

Lionel and the witch turn around to us.

“Thanks for everything, Eleazar and Cornelia,” Lionel says.

“Thank you for protecting us and congratulations on a job well done,” Eleazar says.

“It’s my pleasure. I hope we see each other again someday.”

“Me too.”

“Cornelia is it?” the witch asks me.

“Yes?” I say.

“I recognize the look on your face. I’ve had it my entire life and know how you feel just by looking at you. Don’t take the same path I did or else you might end up hurting those you love.”

“Sure. Thanks for the advice.”

Thanks, but no thanks. There’s no one I really love so there’s no chance of me doing what she said. The two then say their goodbyes before walking away from us.

“So, what have you learned?” Eleazar asks me.

“Nothing in particular other than I’d like to have a similar ability to Lionel’s,” I say.

“Oh, come on. There was a lot to learn from what we witnessed even though they were reminders of things we learned in school.”

“Well, do you want to take a rest before we go to the next place?”

“No, I want to keep going.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

There was hardly anything for me to learn from that besides what I already knew about Absolute and conceited hearts. Maybe it’ll all make sense when I’ve seen everything I need to. Now more than ever I’m anxious to get my Heart Absolute ability. Eleazar forms a portal and we head off to our next destination.