The walk back to the village after that horrific scene was slow and tiring for Patrick. His face dirty and twisted into a sickened expression after the sight he just beheld, he could hardly remember what he was thinking as he eventually found his way back to the very tree he came out of. By the entrance was Hatch, who was continuing his whittling, but immediately came to the young man's side as he saw him approaching. He didn't hesitate to ask what happened, where Cornell went, why Patrick looked so horrible, and through all these questions Patrick just had a look of shock.
His mind, almost as if it were against his will, continued to replay his memories of Cornell's death over and over again in his mind. He remembered everything about it. The screams, the sound of the woman's incoming footsteps, the scent and taste of the dirt that lifted into the air in response to her movements, the sickening crunch of Cornell's bones and organs... it was all permanently etched into his mind. He couldn't take it. He hated it, remembering all these details. The look of Cornell's teary face, the angelic smile of the woman after having snuffed out an innocent life beneath her sole, he just wished it would all disappear...
For Elizabeth, her memory of the ‘bug' she just killed, and the other she left behind, quickly faded from her memory as she just went on to take in the environment. It was a very clear and sunny day today, a far-cry from the horrible rain that was coming down a few days ago. As she stepped over an exposed tree root, she felt the soft cracking of a stick under her shoe, making her giggle a bit at the sensation. She continued her walk, looking about the grassy fields and trees surrounding her. It reminded her a lot of her childhood.
The thought of her past prompted her to stop for a second and lean back against a nearby tree. After sitting down, she looked up, seeing the waving leaves above her. The moving shadows they casted along her face, and the various trails of light that peeked inbetween them, set her in a trance. It was just like that day seven years ago...
She closed her eyes, feeling the wind in her hair as the voice of her mother came back to her, still clear in my mind.
‘You're rather curious, aren't you?' Her mother had given a lighthearted chuckle to a thirteen-year-old Elizabeth, who watched her picking flowers from the shade. The young Elizabeth had her arms neatly folded around her legs, watching her mother do her work and looking about the grassy field.
‘Why do you like working at the flower shop so much?' The young girl asked, tilting her head. She knew her mother as someone who sold flowers ever since she was little, but she never really stopped to think why her mother would want such a seemingly boring job.
Her mother wiped the dirt off her dress as she stood back up, basket filled with freshly picked flowers in her arm, as she turned to face her daughter with a sweet smile. ‘Why, flowers are very special to the country of Bellith!' She said with a voice filled with pride. She walked over and sat next to her. ‘Elizabeth, you've learned of Goddess Bell in school, didn't you?'
The girl nodded as she started drawing in the dirt with her finger. ‘She's the eldest of the Three Sisters...' She trailed off for a second, remembering the exact stories told to her by her father and the town priest. ‘She's the Goddess of Nature, and the creator of all life.'
The mother nodded. ‘Yes, that's why flowers are so important to the people here, and why selling plants is such an important job! We have a strong attachment to nature, and as such we use flowers to indicate many different emotions!' As she spoke, she started digging through the various flowers she had picked on their hike through the forest, showing to Elizabeth the various different flowers they use. ‘Red roses, as you know, indicate love. Violets represent death, as their purple hue we believe to resemble the hair of Aisha, the Goddess of Death. So what does it mean if you show person both a red rose, and a violet?'
Elizabeth thought for a second, before speaking. ‘It means your love is dying out?' She was sharp enough to pick up on these sorts of things, though she found the answer to be pretty basic.
Regardless, her mother was satisfied. ‘Yes! More specifically, sending both of these is something one sends to their lover to say they don't love them anymore...A somber thing, but you understand yes?' Elizabeth nodded, and her mother continued. ‘When you give people flowers, it allows them to communicate feelings to others they wouldn't know how to put into words. These are only two flowers, and there are various more out there that hold different meanings, as well as many other ways to combine the flowers' meanings. If you want to know why I love selling these flowers...' She leaned into her daughter and put her arm around her shoulders. ‘...It's because it makes me feel more connected to people. That's why I love my job.'
The young Elizabeth didn't say anything else to her mother that day, she just thought over her words. She always was a shy one, and didn't always know how to talk to people. Never really growing up with many friends, she just found her own ways to entertain herself, like reading books, or accompanying her mother on walks. After hearing this, though, she was having second thoughts. Could a life as simple as selling flowers help her know people better?
As this thought came to the Elizabeth of present day, she opened her eyes, mulling over these thoughts as her memory of that conversation ended. "Connect with people, huh?" She spoke thoughtfully to herself, thinking about why her father wouldn't talk to her. Frustrated at the thought, she sighed and hugged her legs. "I miss you, mom..."
After being snapped out of his trance, Patrick made sure to explain everything that had happened during his trip with Cornell to Hatch. The usually jovial man had a grim look about him as he listened, taking in every word with an understanding nod. Afterwards, he guided Patrick back to his cabin over in the far side of town.
On the bed Patrick slept in earlier in the morning were some books that Hatch bought from a local librarian, hoping to inform the young man about the town's history and workings. "The old doc gave me these books for free." He explained. "Thought it'd be helpful to let you know the place better..." The bearded gentleman scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to really handle talking to someone who's been through so much trauma. "Look kid, I...I'm going to tell Cornell's family about what happened." He shook his head. "Don't feel like you have to come along, you've got your own shit going on. Just read...or not. Up to you." Patrick didn't say anything after sitting down on the bed. He just stared at the books in silence. "Well...I'll be seeing you then." Hatch said before closing the door behind him.
It took about a minute of sitting in that silent room before Patrick decided to pick up that book. He didn't know why he wanted to read them this very moment, it wasn't like he was in a particular mood to. Perhaps he just wanted a reason to be distracted by something other than the grizzly scene he had witnessed.
As he read a book titled ‘The Curse of Man and Giants', he was coming to understand the ordeal of the village he found himself in. It seemed based on a true story, though he wasn't sure how much of it was true or mythical.
"Hundreds of years ago, a village known as Graham sat in the middle of a mountainous valley, separated from the outside world with only their own customs and resources to lean on. Still, the valley they lived in was rich with water, animals, and game, and they lived a life of peaceful isolation from the rest of the world. One day, however, the leader of this village, no longer to be named, committed a sin grave enough o anger the Goddess of Nature, Bell."
Patrick read a little bit on this Goddess that the book mentioned. Apparently she was meant to be the most powerful of this world's pantheon of gods and goddesses, and was the eldest of ‘Three Sisters' who were said to be the pantheon's greatest.
"The Goddess, finding the man to be one who saw other humans as nothing but ‘lowly animals', decided to punish him and the village in its entirety by putting them at the bottom of this world's food chain, to let them know what it truly is like to be a ‘lowly animal'. There is much we don't know of about the actions of our ancestors, but the words of the goddess persists throughout history: ‘Let it be known, mortals,' the Goddess says, ‘those who angered me shall know what it is to be lowly bugs. We shall instill in humanity a ‘blind spot of the mind' and as such you shall be regarded merely as insects in human clothing!'."
Patrick paused for a brief second, finding himself fuming with anger. He wasn't sure how true this story was, but it was to be believed, he couldn't help but look to such a goddess with furious rage. These people, as well as himself, were forced to endure this because of some man many years ago? It seemed ludicrous! Regardless, he continued reading.
"These enigmatic words of ‘blind spot of the mind' were no mere jest. Throughout the history of our kind's survival, there have been attempts to communicate with the giants we hide from now, only to be met with either severe cruelty or chilling apathy. Humanity, we found, incapable of understanding the words of us smaller men. Further, any signs of human engineering, as our kind is fully capable of, is invisible to the human mind. It would appear that the goddess, perhaps with the aid of her youngest sister Cathel, Goddess of Intellect, disabled the human ability to recognize us. Such is our historic curse and punishment. The Curse of Man and Giants."
With that, the story concluded, leaving Patrick with many questions. It answered the history behind why the Tiny race is incapable of communicating with humanity, but why would the goddess go this far? For punishment? No, this could only be seen as unjust cruelty. Flashes of Cornell's crying face as he was snuffed out by the beautiful human who crossed their path continued to dash through Patrick's thoughts, making him bite his lower lip in contempt. He gripped the book before him, with only one thought in his mind: "If I could kill this goddess, I would."