Stage Six : Trials
Trials - Through a series of small acts Kev learns some big lessons
Checkout the journey so far…
The path continued to wind through the forest and as Kev pushed forward it seemed like the sun was being swallowed as the light slowly faded. Brill had scampered off ahead leaving Kev to follow along when as and he was ready. Despite continually trudging forward it had been a while since he’d seen Brill and he began to worry that he might be getting lost.
Ahead Kev spied a squirrel struggling with an acorn and wondered if he could offer a biscuit in exchange for some direction. Kev stepped forward on to a twig and it cracked with the weight of decision. The squirrel he’d been coaxing darted off, its precious acorn clutched tight.
“Sorry!” Kev called after it. “I was just trying to help.”
He sighed and trudged on, boots squelching in soft moss. He had, so far, reunited two arguing hedgehogs, retrieved a stolen hat from an irate crow, and delivered a crumpled letter to a grumpy tree that insisted on reading it aloud in rhyme.
None of it felt particularly heroic.
“I thought there’d be more dragons,” he muttered sitting for a while to rest.
Suddenly Kev noticed Brill, trotting back towards him with his usual leafy poise. Brill raised an eyebrow. “Not all monsters breathe fire. Some just leave hurt feelings behind. Or forget to listen.”
Kev scratched his head. “Yeah, but it’s not exactly sword-swinging stuff, is it?”
“No,” said Brill. “It’s harder.”
Together they reached a clearing where a group of rabbits were arguing over who got to keep a feather they’d found. Kev crouched, tried his best to mediate, and ended up giving away his lucky sock as a compromise.
Later, as he watched the rabbits hop off in harmony, he slumped against a stump. “I miss alphabetising my biscuit tins,” he grumbled.
“You’re doing fine,” Brill said gently. “Every kindness echoes.”
Kev didn’t feel very echoey. He felt muddy, scratched, and oddly emotional after an elderly badger had thanked him with a song about turnips. He wasn’t sure how many more small challenges he could handle.
As night fell, Kev sat beside a dwindling fire, Brill curled nearby like a mossy cat. Doubt curled around his thoughts like mist.
Was he even helping? Was he just… bumbling about?
But as the fire cracked, he remembered the squirrel who had dropped the acorn near him after darting off. A quiet thank-you. The smile from the tree after its poem was heard. The hug from the hedgehogs.
It wasn’t the kind of heroism that got turned into songs.
But maybe it was the kind people actually needed.
He stared into the embers.
“I still don’t know what I’m doing,” he admitted.
“That’s all right,” Brill murmured. “It means you’re paying attention.”
🛠 Story-Craft Note: Road of Trials
This chapter represents the classic “Road of Trials” stage from the Hero’s Journey—where the protagonist is tested, not by grand monsters, but by small, cumulative obstacles. Each one challenges Kev’s assumptions about what a hero should do versus what a hero should be. He starts to learn that real strength comes from patience, emotional resilience, and showing up, especially when it’s hard.
Takeaway for storytellers:
Positioned just after Crossing the Threshold, this stage marks the beginning of Kev’s transformation. The world is different now. There’s no going back to the biscuits. Only forward, one awkward act of kindness at a time.
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