Chapter 3:

The Rose Garden

Oddment


In the humble village of Reqin, a young man worked tirelessly in the rice paddy. Every day he was either harvesting or preparing for the next harvest. No matter what kind of work he was doing, he was always in a rush. There was never a day where he didn't finish his work before sundown. Whenever his work was done, he immediately left the village. 

It had nearly been a year since he'd discovered it. A hidden garden just across the field by his village. The garden was filled with beautiful roses of many colors. The sweet aroma of flowers drifted through the air as the young man stepped inside. The rows upon rows of pristine roses never ceased to amaze him. However, he didn't come here to gaze at flowers. 

A girl came out from behind a row of flowers. Her beauty made the roses around her look like weeds. She had a slender figure with kind eyes that were reminiscent of amethyst. Carrying herself with the grace and elegance one would expect from a queen. Her most striking feature, however, was her scarlet red hair. 

She smiled and greeted the young man, “Ayuan, how nice to see you again.”

Ayuan first met her when he discovered the garden. Anytime he would visit before sunset, she would be there tending to the flowers. She was quite shy at first, but over time she came to appreciate his company. Their interactions were usually brief and she didn’t talk much about herself. Nevertheless, Ayuan couldn’t help but fall for her. 

“Nice to see you too, Kaihu,” Ayuan replied with his own greeting. 

“How was the rice?”

“Boring as usual. Have the flowers been treating you well?”

"One of the yellow roses was growing a little overconfident. Don't worry though, I made sure to cut it down a peg." 

"If flowers were like a gorgeous painting, then rice is like a dull canvas."

"I think a blank canvas is much more interesting than a painting. A painting can and will only be of one thing. Sure, it may be pretty, but it no longer has possibilities. On the other hand, a canvas can be filled with anything in the world. It is not rooted in one idea, it has limitless potential." 

"The only thing the rice has potential for is food and hard work," Ayuan said as he let out a laugh. After a moment of silence, Ayuan's face turned serious. "Actually, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" Kaihu said with a look of concern.

"I'm in l-"

"These flowers smell great." 

The pair turned to their new visitor. His large hat blocked any view of his face. On his back was a large wooden box, and he carried a golden walking stick. 

"I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" the man said apologetically. 

"No, nothing at all. I was actually just leaving. I work early tomorrow and need my sleep," Ayuan said, turning to leave. 

"Wait don't go. It's not even sundown yet," Kaihu protested. 

"I'll see you tomorrow."

Ayuan left the garden. Leaving Kaihu alone with the traveler. 

Kaihu's voice took on a cold tone. "How did you find this place?"

"I seem to have gotten lost and happened to end up here." the man said, feigning ignorance. 

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"My name is Sojou. I am but a mere traveler. Who was that young man earlier? He seemed nice."

"Leave him out of this." 

"Are you planning on telling him then? Telling him why you can't leave this garden? Why you're starting to fade away?" Sojou pointed to her transparent hand. 

"That's none of your business."

"We'll see about that. I'll be in the village for a couple of days if you need me." Sojou said as he left the garden. 

Now alone, Kaihu grasped her fading hand, looking distraught. The sun dropped below the horizon while her tears fell on rose petals. 

The next day, Ayuan came to the garden as usual. Kaihu greeted him, but this time she remained behind a row of flowers. Ayuan could only see the top of her face peeking over the plants. 

"Listen, about yesterday-"

Kaihu interrupted, "There's something important I have to tell you."

"Go ahead," Ayuan said, getting a little excited. 

"There's a reason that you never see me in the village. Why I'm always here tending to the roses."

"I was going to ask about that sometime. What's the reason?"

"I'm not normal like you. I never had a mother or a father. I hardly remember anything about my creation." 

"Creation? What do you mean?" Ayuan moved around the row of flowers to face her. "What's happening to you!?" Her entire body was almost completely transparent. Ayuan rushed to her side, worried. 

"This body of mine isn't the real me. It seems my time with you is almost up." Kaihu collapsed into Ayuan's arms. In her hands, she held a crystal-like cube. "Give this to the traveler. He may be the only hope I have of seeing you again."

Ayuan took the cube with tears streaming down his face. "Don't leave me, please." 

"Ayuan I lo-" Kaihu's words were cut short as she faded away. 

Ayuan clutched the cube and cried alone in the garden. Eventually, he calmed down and headed back to the village. Reqin was rather small, even for a village. It didn't take long to find the traveler. He had set up camp on the outskirts near one of the rice paddies. Ayuan found him sitting by a weak fire roasting food. 

Sojou noticed him approach and grabbed a stick with some meat on it. "You want some?" He said with a mouth half full of meat. 

Ayuan held up his hand, "I'm good, thank you."

"Well, if you aren't here for meat, what are you here for?"

Ayuan handed him the cube. "Do you know anything about this?"

Sojou took the cube and inspected it. " Ah, I remember now, you were the young man at the garden last night. I don't think I introduced myself yet. My name is Sojou. What's yours?"

"I'm Ayuan, but that doesn't matter right now. Please, tell me if you know anything about that cube. Kaihu gave it to me before she..." 

"Disappeared? 

"How'd you-" 

"This Kaihu girl. How long have you known her? Around a year or so?"

"Yeah, we first met almost a year ago. Why?"

"Ok, what I'm about to tell you might be hard to believe." 

"I just had someone vanish into thin air in front of me. I think I'm pretty open to believing things at this point." 

"Fair enough." Sojou held up the cube, "This cube right here is Kaihu." 

"You mean she's trapped in it or something, right?"

"No. This is what's called an artificial soul. It and many others were created by an ancient civilization long ago. However, the exact details of its creation aren't important right now. All you need to know is that these cubes are capable of projecting a near physical body. In most ways, these bodies are identical to a human's. They can think and act the same way we do although, they can't move far from their soul. The main difference between them and humans is the way they obtain energy. 

Humans get their energy through food. Thus,  they must constantly eat to keep moving. On the other hand, artificial souls don't need to eat, drink or even sleep. Instead, they take energy from Veshoa itself. We call this kind of energy Essence since it comes from the very essence of all life on Veshoa. Artificial souls draw in this energy over long periods of time in a dormant state. After using all of their energy, they have to return to this state until they have enough energy to function."

"This is a lot to take in. From what I understand, Kaihu disappeared to gather more energy. Then after a while, she'll be back to normal."

"That's the gist of it. However, there's one thing you don't understand. Gathering more essence takes longer than just a while. Depending on how dense the area is with it, the process could take up to hundreds of years. This soul of hers wasn't built to be used for long stretches of time. She must've used up all of her reserves just to talk with you regularly."

"So I did this to her?" Ayuan said, crestfallen.

"Kaihu did it to herself. She knew what was going to happen to her, but she continued to do it anyway."

"Is there anything I can do? I don't want to wait my whole life for her to maybe come back."

"There is something that will speed up the process considerably. Do you know how I said that depending on the area, it might take longer? Well, the opposite is also true. There are places called Essence Wells that naturally have a much higher density of life energy. If we can get Kaihu to one of these wells, then it may only take a day for her to wake up."

"Do you know of one of these places?"

"There happens to be one about a day's walk north of here. I can take you there."

"Great! let's go!" 

"You'll need your rest for this journey. Go get some sleep first, then, we'll leave in the morning." Sojou handed him the cube. "You should take this. I don't want to be responsible for someone else's girlfriend." 

Ayuan's face grew red. "She's not my girlfriend. We're just good friends that's all."

"Whatever you say." 

Early the next morning,  Ayuan came to Sojou's camp. Eager to start the journey, Ayuan went into his tent to wake him up. He slept with his hat on top of his face. As Ayuan tried to take it off Sojou pulled it back down.

"Ugh, just let me sleep a little longer." 

"No. You said we'd leave in the morning, and it's morning so let's go."

"Alright. Just get out of my tent so I can get ready." 

Ayuan did as he said and waited outside the tent. It didn't take long for Sojou to emerge from the tent. He was now wearing different robes that had a colorful pattern. Otherwise, he still had his hat, box, and walking stick. 

"Just follow me and try to keep up." 

Ayuan didn't think much of the physical exertion of such a journey. His body had been trained by years of hard work, after all. At first, they just traveled through fields and grasslands. As time went on, the terrain became hilly and difficult to traverse. By the halfway point, his legs were more exhausted than they had ever been. On the other hand, Sojou continued to keep the same pace without breaking a sweat. 

"Can I use that walking stick of yours? I think I need it a lot more than you do." Ayuan asked, out of breath. 

"Absolutely not." 

"Can we at least take a break then?"

"It doesn't seem like we've walked all that far, but I guess we can stop for a bit."

They found a large flat rock to sit on. Sojou got food and water for both of them out of his box. 

"So, Ayuan, what is it that you like about Kaihu?"

"She's always diligent when taking care of the flowers. I love the way her lavender eyes almost sparkle when she's happy. Most of all, I love her beautiful red hair."

Sojou chuckled. 

"What? Did I say something funny?"

Sojou lifted his hat, showing Ayuan his hair. "Do you think I'm beautiful?" He said sarcastically. 

The color of Ayuan's face almost matched Sojou's hair. "Shut up. You look better with the hat on."

Sojou laughed, putting his hat back on. After they finished their food, they continued the journey. It wasn't until the night that Sojou spotted their destination. It was a massive tree standing atop a hill. Ayuan had never seen anything like it. Once they got closer, they could see vines the width of regular trees climbing up it. Most of the tree's trunk was green with either vines or moss. Its canopy of leaves and branches could hide the entire hill if it were to fall over. The roots dominated the ground of the hill, weaving in and out of the soil. 

Even in the dead of night, Ayuan could see perfectly well on the hill. He looked down and noticed that the entire area was giving off a soft, purple glow. The ground also emitted a comforting warmth. "Where's this light coming from?"

"This light is the Essence. Normally it's too faint for anyone to see. In high concentrations though, it becomes bright enough for the human eye to perceive it."

"So with this, Kaihu can come back?"

"Yes, we just have to wait." 

Ayuan set down the crystalline cube near the base of the tree. He sat down in front of it and waited for something to happen. Meanwhile, Sojou set up camp and got ready to sleep. 

"She won't wake up till tomorrow. You might as well fall asleep. It'll make the wait seem shorter."

Ayuan laid down next to the cube and tried to sleep. However, the thought of sleeping next to Kaihu kept him up until he moved farther away. When the sun rose the next morning, Ayuan awoke to the sight of Kaihu's face over him. Thinking it was a dream, he rubbed his eyes and looked again. She was still standing there. He bolted upright and hugged her as tears of joy filled his eyes. 

"Kaihu you're back!"

She remained silent. 

"What's wrong?" Ayuan asked, breaking the embrace. 

"You know what I am, yet, you're still happy to see me?"

"I don't care what you are. All I know is that I love you." 

"I love you too." She leaned over and kissed him as tears ran down her face. 

"Well, I think this is my cue to leave," Sojou said after watching the whole affair. 

"Thank you for everything," Ayuan said. 

"Just remember the way back to the village when you return. You'll have to make this trip once a year from now if you want to keep seeing each other." 

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you." Kaihu apologized, bowing her head.

"It's nothing. I just came here because it was on the way to my next stop. Not everything's about you, you know." Sojou waved the couple goodbye as he left for his next destination. 

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