Journey Of A Legend

"..."

Hearing what Russ just said to him Greg didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Go and cross the bridge, but good luck getting to the other side in one piece? What was this, some kind of bad joke? If someone said something like this to him he would have just simply laugh and walk away but this time was different. Unfortunately, he couldn't go anywhere else.

"Is there something special about this bridge that I should be aware of?", asked Greg from Russ as he turned his gaze at the black bridge before him.

"Well, maybe it won't be a problem to tell you, so here it is. This bridge is called the Bridge of Blessings and Curses."

"Blessings and Curses? That's quite a mysterious name.", said Greg quietly to Russ as he tried to figure out why it was called like this.

"Yes, it is. However I don't want to spoil anything beforehand, so just go and see it yourself why it is called like that. But remember one thing. You need to be careful about how you behave there."

With a frown, Greg didn't really understand what that could mean, but still, he just nodded and started to walk toward the bridge.

"Be careful I don't feel anything good about that bridge.", said Alice in a quiet voice in Greg's mind.

With a nod, he started to walk closer to the bridge, but suddenly he noticed that the ash black surface of the bridge was a masterpiece in itself.

There were a lot of things carved into the black wood from common animals through ancient beasts to unidentified beings that represented unknown creatures.

However, every carving had something in common. All of them had a mysterious power coming from them that made them feel a kind of alive. The more one watched it the more it felt like they were not carvings but real living creatures.

"Strange...", thought Greg in an instant as he looked at the different carvings on the bridge's surface.

While he looked at them with curiosity, he finally stepped on the bridge, but the moment he did the sixth sense ability of his turned on in an instant, making his whole body extremely numb.

The feeling wasn't like in the past because at that time it was just a small tingling sensation at the back of his neck, but this time was totally different. Each and every part of his body turned suddenly weak, making him feel that he could fall to the ground in any given second.

"What is happening?", thought Greg and put his guard up in an instant.

Looking here and there he tried to figure out what was happening, but no matter where he looked at there was nothing he could see to make him feel this scared.

As time ticket by second after second, he turned his head back to ask Russ what was happening, but when he saw what waited behind him made his eyes widen in an instant.

The beginning of the bridge that should be only a few inches away from his back this time could be nowhere to be seen.

What he could see was a neverending ash-black bridge which end only disappeared at the horizon in the distance. No vast green field, no Russ and masked man, no animals and beasts, and nothing else that should be in front of him at the moment.

Turning his gaze back to the other side of the bridge Greg saw that the other side of the bridge was the same that he saw a second ago before him. A neverending bridge with only a vast lake under its surface.

As he was trying to figure out what was happening with him now, suddenly the lake below the bridge started to bubble gently, while steam started to fly high up into the air, making Greg to turn his head in that direction.

Watching as more and more steam started to fly high up into the air with more bubbles appearing on the surface of the lake, Greg knew that something really bad was going on, so he decided to run, but just as he stepped forward a huge hand broke out from the water.

*BAM!*

With a loud bang, the hand fell onto the huge bridge making the whole object to shake like crazy in an instant. The hand that represented a kind of humanish yet beastish look, made Greg feel that whatever it was he needed to get out from here as soon as possible.

However just as he wanted to turn around and run in the other direction another limb broke out from the lake, but this time it was an insanely huge wing that was releasing an ash black smoke from its feathers from time to time.

Seeing that there was nowhere to run Greg stopped moving and waited to see what will happen while small drops of sweat started to appear on his forehead.

"Human!"

*TREMBLE!!*

*BOOM!*

With a loud sound, the lake's surface exploded, making the bridge and Greg to be covered in an insane amount of water in an instant.

While struggling against the powerful tsunami like flow that could smash him right off the bridge, suddenly an enormous creature with a size of several hundreds of meters emerged out from the water and looked at Greg with an ice cold expression.

Its head and face represented a huge squid with several huge tentacles swinging here and there from his chin while from behind his back another 9 heads with insanely huge necks emerged from the water each representing a different creature's head.

As Greg watched this sight that could easily make him think that he was dreaming, the creature suddenly started to talk in a very deep and scary tone.

"Human! Answer my question right and I will give you a blessing for life. Answer my question wrong and I will curse you for thousands of years."

Hearing this Greg was surprised, but now instantly understood why the bridge was called like that.

"Bridge of Blessings and Curses. Answer a question and you get one of them. Interesting."

Thinking about this Greg suddenly remembered back what Russ's warning was.

"Be careful about how I behave... So I need to be extremely polite. Well before a creature like this, it's definitely not surprising. Only a person without a brain would try to act arrogant before something like that."

As he thought about this he put his left fist into his right palm and after raising it before his chest he said, "Please."

The creature seeing Greg's behavior nodded slightly and with a satisfied grunt, he started to talk.

"I'm the one who looks back but can't see thee. You saw me where I never was and where I could not be and yet within that very place my face you often see. What am I?"

Greg listening to the riddle from the creature started to think like crazy.

"..."

Greg looked up at the creature as he repeated the puzzle inside his head one after another, but no matter how he tried to think, he couldn't find a logical answer.

While he was thinking hard to find an answer, suddenly Alice's voice sounded in his head, "Look into the water."

"?"

Not understanding why she said that Greg looked at the huge lake below the bridge and asked, "Why?"

"Just do it and you will know it.", said Alice calmly to Greg.

With a nod, Greg looked at the gigantic creature before him, but after seeing it was not moving an inch but simply looking at him with a sharp glare, he gulped down his saliva and walked to the side of the bridge.

Arriving at the edge of the bridge, Greg looked down at the water below him, but even like this, he didn't see anything that could help him with the riddle.

"Why did I need to look at the water? There is nothing there except of my... Wait a minute."

"Can you see it now?", asked Alice in a somewhat interested tone.

"I...", thinking about the riddle and the thing he saw in the water, Greg turned his gaze back at the creature and after thinking for a while he said with a confident look, "I think the answer should be my reflection, right?"

The creature hearing Greg's answer straightened its humongous body and with a loud grunt, it started to talk.

"You are correct. The answer is indeed reflection. A thing that not only tells you the truth but sometimes magical lies too. A phenomenon that can show you much more than you thought and also things that you never wanted to know. A reflection can be just as mysterious as simple."

As the creature said this, it raised its massive hand that was blocking Greg's way and with a gentle motion, it put the end of its gigantic finger onto his forehead.

While Greg looked at this with huge sweat drops flowing down on his cheek, the creature's nail started to release an ash black light, making Greg's body to be covered with that glow in an instant.

"Now then, I shall give you your reward for the right answer."

And the moment it said this...

*Tremble!!!*