Only They Know Where It Will Take Us

We had to get going soon, but telling this story all over again, especially to a person who had never heard it, felt amazing, invigorating even. But still, time was short and there's a bad feeling that's setting in the longer we sit here.

"So...?"

"So, what?"

"Why is this the first and last time that this could happen? You would think that it would be offered to every human that crosses that plane. Just to be fair."

"Do you hear how you sound? Letting people come back to life when they've already experienced hundreds of years of living, maybe longer, who knows."

"You seriously mean to believe that people used to live thousands of years at a time, even hundreds is unbelievable."

Shrugging my shoulders, "It's a fable, what do you expect? And who knows. It's interesting to think about at the very least.  Like what if people lived that long and them doing so was directly contributed to the diet they were consuming and the prosperous attitude there was among them because of their ability to live in the now and not be preoccupied by the past or the future."

"You can't say that for certain, that no problems or thoughts of that matter never came about. It's arrogant to think so."

 "I certainly can, and I don't think it's arrogant, only an assessment and a natural conclusion. What would have brought upon these thoughts? Nobody starved, no one not had a house, everyone had time to spend. Things were in order to help the society function, not the consolidation of power. It's completely different. No one worried about dying because there was a cure to whatever they could have died from, in fact no one even reached that point. The only things that were problems were things that would be problems no matter where you go, what time you lived in or dimension you found yourself in."

"Like?"

"Like, I don't know, hurricanes, weather, actual death. But the way it was looked upon was different because if the Gods gave us a cure to anything, surely when we die, it must be even better than this. My grandmother told me a motto they lived by was 'Only they know where it'll take us.' It was a very pious society."

"It's no different to how it is now."

"Skeptic aren't you, ha. I don't blame you but there was actual proof, not purely blind faith that things will be better in the next lifetime, but because there was proof by the Gods that they were loved in this lifetime, by having a cure to whatever." 

"Hmm. What are we doing in Sendai again?"

"The reason why I'm telling you this story. You need to know it so you can inform yourself and decide what you're going to do."

"I have a choice now? Wow, how nice of you. Why do you make it sound so dangerous?"

"...so back to the story. This human was the first one to actually have the blood of the Gods, therefore making them a God by proxy too."

"A demi-god"

"Yes, that's how we would see it, but as I said, Gods don't distinguish by amount or anything like that. A God is a God, no matter how you slice it, huhhh, if only humans could be like that sometimes, so accepting. But after 30 days, the human regained consciousness in the human realm."

"So he chose to live?"

"They chose to live, yes. It's curious because in all of the stories I've read, none of them put any restrictions or stipulations on what the human could or couldn't do. Which to me, sounds dangerous."

"Yeah, like what if all people on Earth became Gods, there wouldn't be too much of a distinction between realms, no? Even going beyond that...I don't know it's scary to think about."

Laughter was the only thing that escaped me. "That was the only thing, the caveat to being immortal. It was a choice. A choice between living or dying and for the first human, they had the choice of living and being immortal on Earth and dying if they ever reneged on that. But the following ones, weren't so lucky."

He looked confused, sitting up on bed a little more attentively. "So the human chose to live. The first thing they did was look up at the tree and give it a hug, it's where the term tree hugger comes from-"

"Really?"

"No. But-"

"I didn't think you were the type to joke."

"I'm not, but I do. Everyone's capable of making a joke. But seriously, it was the first thing they did. They grabbed all of the seeds in piles and piles, embracing all of them. They went back to their house, the local city where they lived, and screamed out about this tree that can cure you from death. This was the first mistake they made. Now it wasn't wrong to share something so magnificent to the world, but the people they told didn't recognize them a-"

"Why not? What do you mean?"

"This is why this person was the only one who was offered this chance to be reborn in the way that they came back. There were no stipulations. This human could choose the age to be brought back to, their most ideal self. If they wanted to age, they could. If they didn't want to, they didn't have to. If life got monotonous, they could pass on. If they wanted to fly, it was possible. This person had no bounds to reality, only the ones that they placed upon themselves."

"They chose to be the age they were when they first found the tree, 25 years old. This human was hundreds of years old when they died. You can put it into perspective that they had spent hundreds of years looking after the tree, tending to it, being around and caring for it. Hoping that they could plant even one tree that could be a friend to the tree. It moved the tree to save their life when they passed on."

"People thought this young person was ridiculous and out of their mind to say that there was a tree that could cure life itself. Even so, what would be the point in living forever if already life had been satisfactory? Also keep in mind, 25 would be like an infant telling us there’s monsters under the bed. It’s hardly believable.”

“Ageism still existed, ha, not so perfect, eh?”

“Never said so.” Checking my watch, “Anyways, we should get going. Time’s ticking.”

“What time? Why are you in such a rush?”

“…” I looked at it again. He really should know. The true ending of the story. "No one truly believed this person, so what resulted was that this human kept doing extraordinary things right amongst their fellow townsman's eyes, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, gliding in the sky, dying and coming back to life. It had passed some time before they realized that they were boundless. They had become a God and there was no limit to what they could do. This human had lamented over the fact that they had no one to share this with, or anyone who would believe them, which I find strange, because if there were fruit that cured all diseases and any internal problem, why couldn't it exist? Anyway-"

"Well, how I see it, people got comfortable. It became normal, living for hundreds of years and not feeling pain. I imagine people were numb."

"Me too. But to get back to the story, they lamented over this fact of being alone with all this power until someone saw them. Jumping across rooftops as they usually did, a man who lived in the same town, saw them. Shortly after witnessing it to be true exactly what the demi-god, we'll call them, had said, the man began to follow them."

"Day in and day out, he became curious of their whereabouts and their endeavors, always seemingly able to escape the sight of the man. This person had no family, friends, relatives or anyone that could even verify their existence as times. It was almost as if he truly was an invisible God."

"But he or the demi-god for the sake of the story, was actually alive, like a human, no?"

"No, oh, yeah, definitely. It's more of an expression and a testament to his, I don't want to say, nothingness, but his eternal loneliness and pursuit."

"Of what?" He asked me with curious eyes, still laying on the bed next to me. The man knows boundaries, he's owed that much, at least. Low bar, I know. 

"Who knows, hmph. But this was days and days, and days turned into months, and years had passed until finally he did it, the man that is. He too bore witness to the tree. There was a portal that opened up, glimmering almost like the inside of a bubble, that the demi-god walked through and grabbing on the back of their clothes, the man fell inside.

'Where is this?' The man had said, out loud to himself.

Turning around, 'Who are you?' the demi-god had asked.

'Shin. I've been following you for years it seems like..."Looking around, the man could only marvel of the sight of all the seeds sprawled against the ground. That's all there was. In the distance, the tree stood meters high, with fruit the size of boulders growing out of it. 

'Oh..." the demi-god trailed off, 'I thought I had been forgotten for a second.'

'What's your name and what is this place? Is this the place you've been coming to all these years, when I could never follow you?'

'I don't know much about that, but I don't know how long I've been coming here. A name? I don't have one.'

"You don't have a name, what do you mean? Everyone has a name. And surely, you can give me a range, a number, something.' The man found it strange that not only did this person not have a name, but no sense of anything.

'I don't. I don't remember it if I had one at least.' Pausing to look around, the demi-god sported a sad look. 'There's been no one for years, and not a single tree can grow.'

'What about that one? It's massive. I've never seen anything like it.'

'And you never will.'

It sounded strange to hear that and to the man, he couldn't help but wonder why. If you observed-

"Wait, wait, wait." Ridge stopped me, "I thought you said people experienced no pain? Why-"

Smiling to that, "Let me finish and you'll understand why, I promise."

It sounded strange to hear that and to the man, he couldn't help but wonder why. If you observed them, doing the things that this person, or whoever he was, the man thought, could do, it was amazing. He was boundless. 'You can walk through portals, fly, do all sorts of things but yet you choose to come here? In such an empty land filled with seeds. Who are you?'

'I don't know. I've wondered that for many years. Every foreign land I go to, every street I walk, every person I see feels alien and all of them ask me who I am.  But to me, I wonder who they are and why is it that they don't feel the things that I do.'

'Like what?'

'Emptiness.'

'What does that mean?'

The demi-god laughed uncontrollably. The man didn't believe he had said something funny, but the demi-god could only laugh.

Once he stopped laughing, the same look returned to his face. Doing their daily routine, the demi-god walked upon the hill made of seeds to reach the bottom of the tree. Saying nothing, the man willingly followed.

'Woah, it's amazing.'

"It is, isn't? Even through all its amazingness, not a single one of these seeds can become trees.'

'What do you mean, how do you know that for certain?'

"Look around. There isn't a single sign of life. No animals, plants, nothing. Only air due to the tree. I've taken handfuls of these seeds across my lifetime, to various places, climates, vegetation, all to no avail. They can't grow.'

'But there's fruit! I see them. So do you. If it can grow that, surely another tree from these fruit seeds could do something!'

'Hmph, maybe so. You do so. Take one seed and come back to me in one year. If you do that and are able to gain even a single sprout, I will show you true secret of this tree.'

'The true secret? And what do you mean, that's all? A single sprout? That should only take days. How will you know a year has passed if you don't even know who you are?' The man asked, trying to maintain his excitement. This was strange. Ever since stepping foot into this strange land, he had felt things he had never felt before, that he didn't know possible to feel. Another thought came to him. 

How much time had passed since being in here and why has this person looked the same across the years?

Crouching down to sit with their back leaned up against the tree, the demi-god said nothing for a moment and opened their hand. 'By this.'

'By what?' the man asked confusingly.

'By the time a single seed falls into the palm of my hand, I will know.'

'Okay...'

'You don't believe it to be so?'

'No, it's not that, but yes. Why are you doing all this and what do you gain from all this?

'Nothing. I'm just curious and bored.'

With that being said, the man appeared back in the town market with a single seed attached to the palm of his hand. The town was bustling with noise as if nothing had happened, so he immediately went to his house and dug up a plot of land. 

Over the course of months, he had seen nothing. He went to the best farmers in the town, gained the best materials, watered it and kept it in sunlight for the entire day. Day in and day out, with not a single sign of life. He traveled to neighboring cities, took advice from anyone who could help, but after seeing this seed not grow, they all told them it was the seed. Or the land, or his skills, or the wrong season. It is what it is, they said. Move on and accept it. There was always a reason and none of them were any that he believed. 

More months had passed by and after mixing up tactics and strategies, one day, he sat down next to the plot of land and took a break. Looking at it rather fondly, he remembered the conversation he had with the demi-god and the feelings that he had felt, how meeting them changed him. He remembered that too often or maybe his entire life he saw people with the same expression and how it was so different to the one wore by that strange person he had followed for all those years. Maybe he expected more, maybe too much. But he wanted to know that feeling. 

'I hope you grow, seed, because you deserve to live.' He whispered to the tree, falling asleep next to the plot of land.

The demi-god hadn't moved from their position since the day they met that man, who for the first time in a long time, made them think something different. They had encountered many people in their lifetime, of all walks, all wanting to know who they were. What did they do, but most importantly, just look at them and wonder why they looked that way. Like they were the alien. There wasn't much they could remember about the past, nor did they really wonder about the future, even if they knew it. They had become too preoccupied by the fact that there was something important that happened to them. Something that felt tangible, but unreal. Something they couldn't remember or predict. The demi-god had tried almost anything you could, so in that respect, it was interesting to see someone who still believed. 

Upon sitting atop of the landfill of seeds, they looked up, feeling the weight of something come down. Time moved slower near the tree and by the time anything fell from the top reached the bottom, the majority of what it was, dissipated. It was more like a reminisce of a seed, a particle of dust almost. But by the air being so thin and limited gravity around, it was noticeable. The entire time the demi-god sat under the tree with their palm facing upwards, not even moving a muscle. Slowly, the air became a little heavier, heavier, and heavier, until the weight of a feather scraped the inside of their hand.

Walking around in the town square, there were men that sheathed swords in their clothing, market stands full of fruit, children that ran ahead of their mothers on the dirt walkways, just as they remembered it. The time had come for the demi-god to present themself to the man, and to witness the correctness of what they had told him. It can't grow. The demi-god didn't need to know where the man lived, nor where he was from, only by focusing their energy could they pick up where he was. It felt high, so the demi-god took one step in the air, releasing some of their gravitational pull and started to jump through the holes in the atmosphere, appearing like a stone path. Coursing through the sky and looking down, they passed birds, rooftops, trees that bore fruit and started to feel. It was overwhelming, and it hurt. 

Foot hole after another, they jumped in the air, letting the wind pass their face until the distance between the man and the demi-god began to synchronize closer and closer. But they noticed something. Beyond the curve of a mountain, out of the view of someone human, there was something yellow. Picking up pace, their jumping turned into flying, releasing all of their energy to make themselves light, but dense enough to gain speed. It was yellow, shining bright around the corner of the mountain, exactly where the energy of the man was. Reaching the end of the mountain, right below the dip, was a tree full of yellow fruit. It stood meters high, enough to see it from kilometers away, even as a human. Not nearly as big as the tree he knew so well, but large enough to know it was out of the ordinary. Touching one of the fruits, it felt bumpy and smooth at the same time. Peeling it with the thumb of their hand, they tasted it and closed their eyes and suckered their lips immediately from the flavor of it. It wasn't sweet like the ones they had known. Enamored with the taste, the demi-god looked up and to their surprise, the man was right there, sleeping on one of the branches. 

'What are you doing up here?' the demi-god directed towards the man. 'And how did you find this tree?'

"Mmm, uh, mmmm, yeah.' 

'That's not an answer. Would you like me to repeat my question? Where did you find this tree?'

'What are you talking about, mmmmm. I'm at my house." Slowly waking up, the man realized it was them. The person they were just thinking about.

'Wait! It's you! What are you doing here?! It's, ah, I don't know. You were right. I tried everything. I went to farmers, friends, did everything I could think of, and it could never grow. I wish I could've given you something.' The man rambled, losing track of thought.

The demi-god sat down. In awe of the tree, it was them who couldn't contain their excitement. 'What is this fruit? I've never seen them before. And what is this tree? I've asked you several times.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Look down.'

As the man did, he almost tripped over the edge, the demi-god grabbing him back. "What, I, WHERE ARE WE?! We're millions of kilometers in the sky, fruit? What are you talking about?!?! Where did you take me?!'

'It's where I found you. You were sleeping in this tree, exactly right where you are standing. Where did you find this tree? I keep asking. I've been to every part of this world. There isn't a way I would miss something like this. Here.' The demi-god tossed the man one of the fruits.

'What is this?'

'Your guess is as good as mine. You found the tree. You tell me what it is.'

'I don't know.'

'What do you mean you don't know? You were sitting in it. How do you not know?'

'Because I don't. The last thing I remember is that I was sleeping on the ground, next to my house where I plotted that seed and...'Mid-sentence, the man looked across the landscape. There was nothing but a mountain and trees for kilometers. "...well, at least I thought I was.

'Where's the seed I gave you?'

'It should be at my house, under the plot where I left it.'

'Let's go.'

'How are we going to get there? Do you even know where I live? Wh-'

Grabbing the man, the demi-god put him on his back, released his gravitational pull again, and started to fly.

Reaching the house of the man, they settled down around the back where the man kept his garden. The man, looking frantically around the area, started digging up the ground with his hands.

'What's wrong?'

'I can't find it.'

'Find what?'

'The seed, of course. I can't find it. I plotted right here. I even left a marker in the ground where it was.' The man replied, continuing to dig.

'Maybe you forgot where it was placed.'

Looking at the demi-god erroneously, 'No. That isn't possible. I've been here every day since I don't know how long. Can you help? Since you're standing there. What?'

The demi-god couldn't believe it. With a blank face, they stood there. Thinking about the time they woke up in the strange field full of seeds. 'You say you don't remember anything except falling asleep?'

'Yes!' he shouted back, while digging.

Picking him up again, the man flew on the back of the demi-god once again, who for the first time ever, had a smile on their face.

When they reached the tree that bore the strange yellow fruit once again, this time, they went to the bottom. Looking around, the demi-god bursted into laughter. There were seeds all around. A small pile of seeds enclosed the trunk of the tree, filling the area with hundreds of seeds, but the branches were low enough to grab. And they were hanging with the yellow fruit.

'You did it. I can't believe it.'

'What?'

"You haven't realized that this is the tree you planted?

'No way. It's huge. It must've been growing for 1000s of years. You only gave me a year and I assume it has passed being that you are here. And how do you know?'

'Look at all these seeds. Only a tree that stems from that tree could ever do something like this. Did you try the fruit from this tree?'

'No, wh-'

Stuffing it in the man's mouth, he too had a strong reaction. "UGH! It's bitter, who would eat this?!'

'Hahahaha, I think it tastes great.' The demi-god remarked, smiling. The man wondered what made them smile so much. It was an amazing tree, sure, but there were many things in life like that. It wasn't reserved to one thing.

'Are you sure this is the tree I planted.'

"Yup, I'm sure." The demi-god replied, eating fruit after fruit. 'Ok, a deal is a deal.'

'What?'

'I'm going to show you the secret to this tree.'

Opening up the portal with their hand, the demi-god walked through the border, grabbing the man along with him. They returned back into the land full of seeds and straightaway, headed towards the tree. The demi-god braced themself and pulled a single piece of the bark back. Red veins flowed through the tree, upwards and downwards, free flowing like a river. All of the veins, as varied as they were, moved like tributaries headed towards the same ocean, regardless of direction.

'I don't know much about myself or who I was, even still, but this was the first thing that I saw when I woke up. This.' They pointed.

'I'm certain that this is what saved my life.'

'Saved your life? What do you mean?'

'I don't know, I just remember or feel like it did. There are two things that are certain. One, is that humans are incapable of feeling. When you came here, you started to understand what I was feeling. You may have not understood the word I used, but the weight, the pressure and the denseness of what I was saying you felt, no?'

'I remember. I haven't been the same since.'

'And two, humans can't grow.'

'That's not true.'

'How so?'

'We age, become old. So does everything in our world. There's a natural cycle for everything and we're taught that way and more importantly, we see it manifest in our lives.'

'Sure, but does it change. It doesn't grow to be something else, only repeat. I've come to understand that, suffering or feelings are the only way to grow. We need to feel something in order for us to want to do more. You've seen the people in life. Content. It's not a bad thing, but it's not interesting either. They don't want anything except to be content. They don't dream, want anything, have curiosity. But you do. You came to this realm of nothingness and felt what it means to feel. The irony of life.'

'What are you talking about?'

The demi-god smiled. Picking up 5 seeds from the ground, they placed them gently in the man's hand. Running a finger through the inside of the tree, they placed it on the skin of the man. 'Humans need to change. Something in this world is missing and thanks to you, I've regained hope and found the path to make certain that it happens. Mental anguish, gravitational pull, physical ailment, deafness, blindness, and most importantly, emotional distress. Humans will suffer through these going forward and you're going to make it happen.'

'What? Why would I do that? I'm-what? Emotional distress?'

'In 30 days' time of this realm, you will wake up and not remember anything about this, me, or anything to do with the tree or the one you planted. Only that you have a mission to plant 5 more in different parts of the world, containing each one of these 6 qualities of suffering and spend your days helping humanity through this change. Thanks to you, I know who I am and why I came here. It was to meet you.'

'I don't understand, why? Why make us suffer? I don't want to be responsible for that.'

'You will. It's so you can grow, that's all there is to it. The Gods took away our ability to grow that came from their inability to live with their guilt. I want to return to that time where we suffer so we can realize that the thing we look towards to sky to find, is within all of us.'

The man began to get sleepy and fade out of consciousness, but the man still had something left to be asked.

'Shin?'

'Yes? That's the first time you calle-ahhhhh, ugh, I'm sleepy. You called me by name.'

'Didn't even realize to be honest. I have to thank you. I can finally move on. But if you could name the tree, the type of fruit that came from it based on what you saw, what would you name it?

Thinking about it for a second, the man smiled and said 'Yuzu.'

The demi-god, puzzled, asked the man, 'Why that? Does it have any significance?'

'No, but I feel it will sometime later.'

***