It was morning, I think. The sky a deep purple behind scattered clouds. My parents sat round the fire, a kettle set on top. LoPa was cutting mushrooms.

  Mother said, “Will it work?”

  HoPa’s jaw was tight, “Only First Mother prepares the brew.”

  LoPa snorted, “No she doesn’t. Besides, hers is a different brew. It’s stronger, for one thing. These little mushrooms won’t be anything like that. It’ll just twist the world into a more beautiful state.”

  He put the chopped-up mushrooms into a bowl, then put on the fire glove and lifted the kettle full of boiling water. Pouring the water from the lip of the kettle into the bowl, steam blossomed into his face, but he didn’t pull away. After the bowl was filled, he set the kettle back onto the fire.

  “Now we wait.”

  “How long?” Mother was smiling.

  LoPa shrugged and HoPa giggled, said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve Journeyed.”

  Mother said, “How did you know how to brew this?”

  LoPa’s eyebrows bounced up and down while he smiled, “There’s much to your great forest that you barely understand. The god’s leaves used for the clan’s brew isn’t the only thing in the forest to let you escape into waking dreams. But this is different. You won’t Journey. Not really. You’ll be here, but everything will be slightly different. More beautiful. Simpler.”

  HoPa raised an eyebrow, “You’ve done this before?”

  LoPa’s smile spread wide, “I had to test it. I’ve been wandering the forest for years with you two and you only thought I was tasting the plants and mushrooms for fun? I harvested these a while ago and dried them out.”

  Mother leaned into HoPa, who sat beside her, “Our little Dain is full of mysteries.” She saw me by the door then and said, “Little Lu, where are your brothers?”

  “Sleeping.”

  She whispered to my fathers and I came closer to hear. They all nodded and she said, “You and your brothers will have today to yourselves. No work or anything like that. Sound good?”

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  I smiled and bit my lip.

  “Come here, Lu.”

  I ran to her and she scooped me up in her arms, nuzzling her face into my neck, tickling me. She handed me to HoPa who put me down and said, “Go wake your brothers. Beat them in Audra and I’ll give you a surprise.”

  My eyes went wide, and I ran back home as LoPa strained the mushroom tea into three saucers that they drank from.

  Akmuo and Medis were yawning and rolling awake.

  “No work today!” I couldn’t help from shouting. “We can play all day!”

  Akmuo lay back down, “A full day of sleep!”

  Medis laughed and stepped over him to the door. I pulled on Akmuo, “Get up!”

  He pretended to be asleep, snoring. Even when I opened his eyes with my fingers and shouted his name, he just kept sleeping.

  Medis laughed behind me and I turned to him, “He won’t get up!” I laughed because Medis did.

  “Sit on him,” Medis giggled.

  Akmuo kept snoring but a smile crept over his face. I sat on his stomach, coming down with all my weight, and he groaned, and twisted out from under me.

  “You’re heavy, Lulu.”

  Then we were running into the purple day. Our parents were finishing another drought of their mushroom tea. We ran past them. Running through the trees. Running to the river and splashing through the water. We came back home to get our sets to play Audra. Our parents still sat round the fire. LoPa kept yawning, repeatedly. HoPa was stretching his mouth wide, his eyes serious. He opened his mouth as if trying to fit something we couldn’t see inside of it. Mother stared up into the trees, her head bouncing to music only she heard.

  “What’s up with them?” Akmuo said.

  Medis shrugged and grabbed his stones. We all did, then walked to the top of our home to play Audra in the garden, being careful not to disturb any plants.

  LoPa pulled out his lute, still yawning over and over again, and began playing. His music was aimless. They wandered without melody. He changed the tuning on several of the strings and the sound was somewhat grating. But he laughed at it and then HoPa and mother were laughing. Mother rolled to the ground and kept rolling, her smile so full of joy. She rubbed the dirt on her body, then got naked and rubbed it all over.

  I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Only listened to their giggling and the weird music LoPa folded into the air.

  It was a weird day. One I wouldn’t understand till years later when I took the god’s brew for the first time and went on my first Journey. Sliding away from my body, from myself. Surrounded by visions—we’ll get there.

  But it was funny, watching them. They behaved like the people I had come to know, but everything was slightly askew. They were fascinated by leaves and the wind, by the movement of their bodies and the sounds their mouths made.

  I lost every game of Audra until I stopped playing. I just watched my parents at play until they prepared dinner. Their behavior back to normal. Sort of.

  The Trinity Divide - A LITRPG Mystery Thriller

  ??THE TRINITY DIVIDE

  ? WHAT TO EXPECT: ?

  ? LitRPG with stat progression and ability unlocks

  ? Weak to Strong (starts Level 1, learns through survival)

  ? Fast-paced noir mystery with frequent combat

  ? MC + bound companions (angel and demon literally on his shoulders)

  ? Hard magic - wards cost blood, abilities drain health

  ? 1920s Prohibition setting meets theological horror

  ? Both Heaven and Hell are antagonists

  ? No harem, slow-burn romance