Sitting in that empty room, waiting for the Makutu to take his soul to the trial, he couldn't help himself but think about death.
The same question kept roaming around his mind. Was this the end for him? Would he be able to survive or was this how his life was meant to end?
He was quite complacent with the idea of his own death, he had gradually accepted that he would certainly die in the trial. However, that complacency flipped the moment he was transported to that awful desert.
Thinking he was ready to die and him being in a situation where he could actually die was completely different. That realisation crushed every thought to do with him accepting death, it was the main reason for why he did all those things in his trial.
The reason why he endured the harsh climate during the walk in the desert, the gruesome journey to 'Paradise', why he struggled so much against the two men and used the protector of 'Paradise' to kill them in the end.
He could have given up at any moment in his journey, but he didn't. The persistant struggle throughout the trial made him understand his desperation. Arlo wasn't really scared of death...well maybe a little bit, but it wasn't the main reason for him to keep pushing forward.
It wasnt the fear of death which had allowed Arlo to continue to persist on even when faced with unimaginable obstacles but his immense desire to live.
Dying young was quite common if you lived outside the cities, most people's lives were seemed as meaningless. Their was basically no hope for you, if you were unfortunately born or somehow ended up outside the city.
Nothing worthwhile awaited you except from death.
It had made Arlo believe that he deserved to die, it was the only thing his meaningless life could accomplish, he was meant to be consumed by death.
A kid from the outer border wasn't meant to achieve anything extraordinary, their life was meant to be miserable and full of sorrow, patiently awaiting for death to creep in.
Arlo was suffocated by such thoughts, his yearning to live was mighty but so was the weight of death being right beside him.
The trial was meant to be the place where Arlo should have died, his life was over the moment he woke up in that awful desert. And yet his heart couldn't bear the thought of him dying.
Living a life of regret wasn't the way Arlo wanted to die. He wanted to do something meaningful with his life, it didn't matter to him if it was something really grand which would impact the whole world or something so small that only one person would feel its effect, if it made Arlo happy then he would see it as something meaningful.
With the hunger to live, Arlo survived the first trial, he then underwent training in the institution and was now finally in the Fallen world. Sitting inside a hole placed in a tree, which overlooked the sky and everything beneath it.
He had gone through so much in the past few months, his life had flipped very drastically, thankfully though he was still alive and healthy.
Yet now sitting alone in a tree he was conflicted with himself. Yes, he had survived the first trial and begun his life anew, but did he deserve this new life?
He hoped to live a life of accomplishment, a life where he could aim for things he wanted to do, a life which didn't dictate how he should live just because of the place he was from, a life of freedom…..A life full of choices.
Arlo wanted it, yet he thought he didn't deserve it. He had left the outer border, but his mentality was still the same. He still looked at himself as worthless and someone who was not deserving of anything.
He spoke softly, slowly and with a questioning tone, it almost felt like Arlo was hoping somebody was out there who would hear him and reply back.
"Am I worthy enough to dream?"
Unfortunately for him, only the crying night sky spoke back.
His voice was drowned by the weeping sky, but the conflict inside of him raged on. He wanted many things, yet thought of himself as too worthless to achieve anything.
His biggest enemy wasn't the place he was currently stuck in or the Fallen world or even the Makutu. No, his biggest enemy, his greatest opposition, the person who wanted to see him fall the most was nobody else but...… Himself.
All that propaganda had led Arlo to view himself as human dirt who shouldn't achieve anything in life. His struggles were meaningless because his life was meant to wither away without any worth clinging on to it.
He was conflicted with himself, but…..wasn't that a good thing? Arlo's mind was full of despair towards himself, he didn't think he was worthy of anything, the negativity was overwhelming. However….he wasn't drowning in it.
Conflict was a good thing, it was a sign of hope because it meant that Arlo hadn't given up on himself. He still wished to do things even though it went against the ideologies he had grown up with.
Arlo didn't want to be controlled by others, he wanted to make his own choices. Even if he was just a kid from the border, Arlo didn't want that to stop him from living the life he wanted.
He had risked his own life and survived the Makutu's first trial, nobody else had helped him. So it wasn't right for anyone else to tell him how to live his life.
Harbouring negative thoughts from the past was not the right thing to do, this was a second chance for a good life, so the right thing to do was to forget about the past and the unknown future. His biggest priority was the present, the moments he was currently living through.
It was time for Arlo to stop letting the past define the person he was and was going to be. It was his life, nobody but his.
He was the one in control of his own life, the decisions and choices he would make from here own out will be a hundred percent his because…..
He was a free man
Nothing was holding him back, no propaganda or pressure by society would shackle him from living the life he wanted.
"I don't want to feel regret in the future, so I have to change now"
He softly said, whilst watching the shining Moon in the night sky.
It made him think about something else.
Were Seer and Luna also here? Could they have also been thrown into this part of the Fallen world? Were they also experiencing the aggressive down pour of rain and the bright rays of the moon that stood empoweringly up in the sky.
"Connected by light, separated by distance"
The rain continued untill the morning dawn, the Sun had made it stop.
Arlo didn't know when or how it happened but he somewhere along the night he had fallen asleep and was woken up the by the bright rays of the shining sun.
He blinked a couple times, widely opened his mouth and yawned. With a bit of struggle he managed to get out of the hole and stretched his body as much as he could.
His tongue ventured around his dry crackled lips to provide moisture, and his stomach quietly growled.
"I need to find drinkable water and some tasty food"
His only option was to venture inwards and leave the place he was currently at.
The sun looked to be in its prime, so it was mostly likely early morning. Arlo had a long day ahead of him, and getting it started as quick as possible would be the best for him.
However, he didn't what kind of dangerous monsters he might face, so he had to summon his sword.
His eyes were sparkling, his lips were curling up a bit and he was full of excitement.
He extended his right arm, and in his mind he said the name of the sword.
'Black blade'
A small piece of light appeared above his hand, then it continued to grow and grow untill it took the form of a sword, when the light became the shape of a sword it started to gain a black colour which spread throughout.
It devoured the bright light and when it did a sword appeared ,which then fell into Arlo's palm.
It was quite a generic sword at first glance, nothing suspicious sticked out about it. The handle, the shape and its size made Arlo to believe that it was a one hand sword.
He gripped the handle tightly, made the tip of the sword point up at the sky, then cleanly slashed downwards. Arlo did that a couple more times to get used to the sword.
"I like it"
He nodded with satisfaction.
The blade was fully black and so was its handle. However, Arlo was able to notice that at the very end of the handle something was ingrained into it.
He had not the slightest clue as what it could mean but it was still interesting to look.
He thought about it, untill he heard a very familiar sound.
"Grrrrrrr"
The sound of his stomach begging for food.
"I have to find food soon or else imma gonna stare to death"
Arlo might have been undermining the time he had left before he started to death, but he was still really hungry.
Before leaving and adventuring inwards, he saw something which catched his attention.
Near the top of the hole he had slept in, their was a ingrained marking. He hadn't noticed before because of how dark it was but right now it was clearly visibly to him. The marking was….
A crescent moon with a zigzag line through it.
"What?"
It was a simple drawing, but that wasn't the thing that confused Arlo.
Who had drawn that there? Was the biggest question in his mind.
He wanted to think about it a bit more, but there wasn't really anything to ponder about. Even though the drawing was there, he had no clue about what it could mean and there was simply no leads. So rationalising an answer was out of the question.
The drawing hadn't given him new information but it had inspired him to do something.
Arlo lifted his sword and pointed the tip toward the tree, he then started to vertically pierce it.
"Finished"
Arlo had taken inspiration from the drawing and had ingrained something into the tree.
It was a simple three words, but held a lot of sentimental value to him.
[Arlo was here]