Vision of a Distant Spring

And let it be a sign for you,

Hold it close and let it guide you.

It is the oath here sworn by you,

A narrow path that shall lead you.

Laridel's Lament, stanza 21

Kenta Kimura found himself in a beautiful spring forest. The sakura blossoms flew by in the crisp, warm wind. The air filled Kenta's lungs with an almost cuddly tickle. The sun trickled above the horizon, filling the forest with a faint amber glow. The sables danced and darted their way across the ground. The birds sang such wonderful melodies, echoing and ringing off the trees, creating a seemingly infinite chorus. The forest was his ideal of beauty.

Kenta turned to his left and began strolling through the forest. A short distance from where he started was a babbling brook, flowing with crystal clear water, teeming with life.

Kenta took another breath. He wanted to cherish every little moment here, just him and his own little world.

But something was off, and he knew it.

He could hear it, creeping faintly in the distance. He had been here before.

The wind, once sweet and warm, quickly turned bitter and frosty. The sun suddenly reversed its direction, setting where and when it should have been rising. The leaves, once a vibrant green, quickly withered away and fell by the wayside in a torrent of decay. The forest itself had turned silent and bleak in a matter of moments. The babbling brook had become a well of sludge, oozing and bubbling who knows what, but it certainly was not water.

Kenta's heart sank as he could only bear witness to the once beautiful forest quickly die and rot away before him. Even the trees, once strong and tall, gave way like mere twigs. Several trees nearly fell on top of Kenta as he struggled now to escape the horror of it all.

But there was no escape. The darkness had now completely enveloped Kenta as he tried to run. He tried to go somewhere, anywhere, but it was no use. There was nowhere to go.

The ground itself cracked, bucked, and shook as he tried to escape.

He began to fall.

February 22nd - Wakkanai, Hokkaido

Kenta awoke safe in his bed. It was yet another nightmare; Kenta had been experiencing a lot of them lately. He groaned at the fact that he had that nightmare again. It could have been the twentieth, thirtieth, or even the fiftieth time he had that nightmare. He had lost count a while ago. Not even the warmth of being under the covers could comfort him.

It was a chilly Sunday morning. The sun had just barely crept over the fluffy white horizon. The city of Wakkanai in the Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan was home to Kenta and roughly thirty thousand neighbors. Deep snow drifts covered the streets and the nearby hills. It was still the depths of winter there, but that did not stop the residents of this quiet fishing city from getting ready for spring. Magic was in the air, quite literally, as the people snapped spells left and right as part of their daily routines. Most people knew at least very basic spells.

Kenta, too, knew a few basic spells. At fourteen years old, he was just beginning his own magical journey.

“Boundary Release,” Kenta said quietly as he went to slip outside. Each natural magic spell was uttered as a simple five-syllable incantation, spoken in English, though nobody was sure why. Even the people who knew of a world before magic could not know why it had to be this way. It just was.

As Kenta walked through the snowy streets of Wakkanai, he could hear children, probably no older than nine, whipping around fake wands and tossing out fake spells at each other.

“Channel Fireball!”

“Heavenly Defense!”

“No way! I cast Magical Missile!”

“Ah! You got me!”

“Don't worry, I got you! Shining Aura Pulse!”

Kenta reasoned that those fake spells would make excellent practice for when those children would discover magic for real. But for now, it was all just play.

As he continued further, the city folk were heard muttering amongst themselves. Talk of missing children and trees falling out of place at random filled the air.

Eventually, Kenta made his way out of the city. A local park was his favorite spot to relax on Sunday mornings. Here, the hills allowed Kenta to look over the city and out into the frozen ocean. He picked out his favorite Japanese black pine and sat under its fractured shade. The cold never bothered him all that much, even at a bitter -9°C. It allowed him to just focus on his thoughts. No better spot in all of Hokkaido would have helped him clear his mind.

He had sat there for perhaps half an hour when someone shouted, “Uhhh… a little help here?”

Kenta heard a girl's voice shout from about ten meters above him. He traced the sound of the voice up the tree to find a girl hugging a tree branch as if her life depended on it.

“You okay up there?” Kenta asked the girl. He then noticed some unusual features on the girl: she had a tail and what appeared to be cat ears sprouting out the top of her fluffy blue hair. She wore a wide hat that barely concealed said hair.

“Do I look okay to you?!” the girl snapped.

“Alright, let me give you a hand.” Kenta began to climb up the tree to reach the girl. It was a rough climb due to not having many branches to use as footholds, but Kenta managed to reach the girl with only a little effort. “So, how did you end up all the way up here?”

“Long story…”

But before she could answer any further, the pine tree began to shed all of its needles, at the speed and severity shown in Kenta's nightmares.

“What's going on?!” Kenta asked.

In no time, the tree gave way and fell on its side, taking Kenta and the cat girl down with it.

“Fluffy Spring Cushion!” Kenta shouted right as the tree landed on the ground. Both he and the mystery girl were unharmed by the impact.

As they picked themselves up off the grass, the cat girl gave Kenta a very simple “Thanks…” before heading off towards the city. Kenta hardly noticed, instead fully absorbing himself in studying the fallen pine tree.

“That shouldn't be possible,” Kenta said to himself. “That was one of the strongest, healthiest trees in the city, and it just… died…” Kenta snapped his fingers. “Just like that.”

The girl turned around to observe the tree as well. “Don't tell me it's already here, too…”

Kenta turned to face her. “What's already here?”

With a flat, stern expression, the girl plainly said, “The Gloom…”