Spirit Forest

The next day, at the Temple, Bing walked to Haru’s room. He knocked on his door, asking if he was in there. Haru opened the door and saw Bing in front of his room.

“Haru, can I ask you a favour?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

Haru was a bit confused. The two of them never really talked to each other, so he was feeling a bit awkward.

“Would you like to accompany me somewhere?”

Since he was free that day, Haru accepted his offer and came with him.

The two of them went outside the Temple. Bing asked Haru to help him carry some stuff of his, including a basket of flowers. Meanwhile, Bing carried something in his bag. Haru did not know what the flowers were for, but he also didn’t ask Bing anything about it.

After following Bing’s lead, the two arrived at a forest outside of the capital. They entered the forest together.

Bing led Haru under a big tree. There, Bing pulled a jar of water from his bag. He then poured the water on the ground, under the tree. Bing also took the basket that Haru carried. He took the flowers and scattered it under that tree. Haru was just standing there, watching him.

Haru just realised what Bing was doing. He was visiting someone’s grave. Haru just stood there in silence.

“This is where my parents are buried. Would you like to pray with me?”

Bing asked Haru if he wanted to pray together with him. Haru accepted and he prayed together with him.

Haru closed his eyes. Suddenly, a vine from the tree reached out to his lap. Haru then went into his subconscious and his mind traveled somewhere.

My parents were explorers. My father was a botanist and my mother was a zoologist. They liked to discover new species of animals and plants, so they traveled a lot. One day, they encountered each other here, in Hupo State’s Spirit Forest. They then fell in love and got married afterwards.

Before I was born, they traveled all around the world, discovering new places with new species of flora and fauna. Out of all the places they’d been, they decided to settle here, in this forest. They’d always liked nature, so they decided to live as close as possible to it. They then made a home here, just the two of them.

A few years later, I was born. They raised me in this forest, with all the survival skills and knowledge they had passed down to me. Since my parents taught me everything from a very young age, I didn’t go to school. I didn’t have any human friends, only animal friends whom I cared for. This forest had become my home.

I remembered the time when my parents took me under this tree and told me their stories of venturing the world together. They always recorded every detail of their adventure in their journal and read it to me when I was small. I always got excited every time they read their stories to me, because that was the time I could see the sparkle in their eyes, filled with excitement. I always wondered how it would feel to have such an adventure and kept wondering if they would ever bring me with them to another adventure.

Under that tree, my parents gave me an egg. It was quite a large egg, the size of a pillow. They never told me what was inside of it, only told me to take great care of it. Once it hatched, they told me that it would be my best friend. I kept waiting for it to hatch every day, trying every way possible to make it hatch without harming it.

Sadly, my days of happiness did not last long. On a certain night during nevea when I was 14, a giant spirit came to our house and attacked us. It was a gigantic spirit floating in the sky, with the shape of a star. My parents immediately took me outside to take refuge from the attack. Turned out, it was an angry Divine Spirit. It rained my house with meteors, destroying it and everything inside it in an instant.

My parents immediately took me away with them, running away from the spirit. They also brought the egg that they gave me and told me to carry it on my own. They brought me under the tree, and told me to stay there. Meanwhile, they went to the spirit to fight it, trying to kill it in order to protect me.

I waited for them, but they never returned. Instead, the spirit came to the tree, coming for me. I was so scared. I didn’t know what happened to my parents and I was scared of what was going to happen to me. Suddenly, while I was crying out of fear of my life, my tears dripped on the egg and made a crack on it. The egg then finally hatched.

That was the time when Dentou was born. It hatched on my lap, under this tree. After the spirit saw me with Dentou, the spirit left and spared me. I hugged Dentou tightly, as he saved me from the spirit. He then licked my tears, somewhat telling me to stop crying.

After the spirit was gone, I went to search for my parents. When I found them, they were lying on the ground, dead. The spirit killed them.

I carried them under the tree while crying even harder. Dentou helped me carry my father while I carried my mother. Dentou then helped me dig out some land to bury my parents. We then buried my parents together.

After I was done crying, I returned to my house which had turned into a wreck because of the spirit. I searched for anything meaningful. I found a necklace with a photo of the three of us together and wore it. I also found a case containing my parents’ savings.

Since the forest reminded me of my parents’ death, I decided to leave and move to the city. I decided that I was gonna enlist in the academy, to avenge the spirit when I encountered it again.