Chapter 16: Into The Forest
Cole sneaks out of the NGP base with Justice to find The Enlightened Ones in the forest. Their hope is to talk to Ktroll, who might be able to help discover what’s hiding in Cole.
Justice calls for her stewards to fetch her the black gloves and blindfold. She puts them on while instructing the girls, “You may leave us. In fact, I won’t be in need of your services for a while. I’ll send word once you should come back.” Neither of them say anything. Instead they simply leave out the front door as instructed, though with a confused look.
Cole questions also with a confused expression, “Why send them away?”
“What we are about to do needs to remain a secret. They can’t know of our plans. They can’t know of The Enlightened Ones. I do trust them, but I don’t trust other Ultras and their powers.”
“Are you saying you are keeping them in a need to know basis because another Ultra can read their mind or something?”
“Exactly. Even Blazer and the boys have never been to The Enlightened Ones location. We just can’t have the risk of exposure.”
“But they have the cross. Doesn’t that mean you can trust them?”
“Yes it means I can trust them, but we have to be very careful with all the different types of powers. Even I don’t know every Ultras power at the NGP. We don’t know who can read minds or sense things. We don’t know the extent of their powers or limitations. We don’t even know where their allegiances lie.”
“I can see this has been a pretty tricky game.”
“It has. The only reason we’ve made it as far as we have is because we have a secret weapon. Arch. His ability to predict has allowed us to play the long game.”
“I haven’t really met him. I’ve seen him at the base for a moment.”
“That’s probably by design. He won’t let you, not until the time is right. He’s cautious not to expose our efforts. Now, the sun is starting to go down. It’s time we head out.”
“How are we going to get past the guards? I’m sure they will be watching especially after I snuck out.”
“Arch and I have been here even since before Death’s arrival. We have some tricks up our sleeves. We’ve been watching the whole thing slowly play out. He has a plan to drain the swamp so to speak. You see this red carpet, lift it up. Underneath there’s a secret door to a tunnel. Once we're inside make sure to close the door so the carpet covers the entrance.”
Cole carefully guides Justice into the secret tunnel then closes the door just as asked. He speaks in a hushed voice, “I can’t see anything at all.”
“Take my hand. I’ll be able to guide us in here.”
Justice leads the way continuing to speak, “In fact it’s perfect that you didn’t receive the mark. We haven’t been willing to take anyone into the forest with one. We’re not sure if that would allow Death to track us. I’m taking a risk just by taking you there. But now things are accelerating forward. If we're going to stay in front of these things we’re going to have to start taking risks.”
A few minutes later they see the dim light at the end of the tunnel. They pass through thick vines concealing the exit. They arrive outside, past the fence opposite to where the guarded gate is. The day has ended leaving the last few minutes of the iconic colorful sunset behind the mountain range. They quickly navigate to the cover of the forest before the security lights kick on. At first Cole thought it would be difficult guiding Justice. Though he soon realizes she doesn’t need as much help as he thought since she has the ability to see through his eyes.
“What’s it like seeing through my eyes?” he asks.
“It’s kinda like playing a video game, seeing yourself in a third person view.”
The duo travel deeper inside the forest until it becomes difficult for Cole to manage. He stops speaking to Justice, “Ok, it’s getting really dark now. Even if you can see through my eyes this will be hard for us to navigate through the plants. Wait just a moment while I clear the way with some wind blades.”
“No!” she cries, though still only just above a whisper.
“It’s ok I’ve done this before with my wind ability.”
“It’s very important that we don’t harm anything in the forest.”
“What?! Even if something attacks us? I have to protect us. I’ve seen this forest, it can be aggressive.”
“If you want to reach The Enlightened Ones you have to trust me.”
“This doesn’t feel right.”
“Just, trust me. It must be natural. You have to feel the forest, become one with it.”
“Feel the forest?”
“Correct, this is part of becoming an Enlightened One. Now, we are going to sit next to this tree, and just wait. We’re going to close our eyes and meditate. The forest will sense our intent, and it will help guide us.”
Cole sits next to the tree closing his eyes.
“Be still. Just breathe.” whispers Justice.
Cole sits quietly for a few minutes. Though he can’t help it he has to check to make sure nothing is sneaking up on them. The forest has started it’s natural nighttime state where the trees and plants glow.
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“No peeking! Just keep your eyes closed.” she says.
“I, I wasn’t peeking.”
“I can see through your eyes Cole. I know when you’re peeking. Just be still, close your eyes, and surrender yourself to the forest.”
Surrender to the mutated killer forest, oh boy I’ll try.
After some moments Cole begins to feel the groove of the meditation. His hearing becomes heightened. The sounds of the forest start to present itself to him. Animals passing by, insects buzzing. The sounds of the insects get louder to the point Cole once again has to peek. It seems the forest has become brighter the more still they become.
“Cooole.” scolds Justice like a mother having to repeat herself.
Again Cole relaxes back into a meditative state, for how long he couldn’t say. He begins to realize that this is actually quite comfortable. Just the simple act of relaxing under a tree. The air is cool. His mind starts to wander in no particular direction. The backs of his eyelids slowly grow brighter producing shapeless colors. He can sense that Justice has stood up. He opens his eyes. To his surprise the forest has grown much brighter. The biolumnocity has increased tenfold from his experience last time. Not just light, but the intricate pulsating patterns they produce. The pulses flow through the plants like veins pumping energy. He can’t help but gasp, “It’s so beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like I’m watching the Matrix!”
“It is quite beautiful through your eyes. I like the way you view the world.”
“Huh? You mean you wouldn’t see the same thing through someone else's eyes?”
“It’s hard to explain in the literal sense, but yes, everyone has a different view of what they see. If you grew up your whole life knowing that something was blue, and someone else saw a different color, how would you ever know you both saw the same color? You would both be able to recognize it, but would never be able to verify you are seeing the same thing. How could you describe the color blue? Or another way of thinking about it. If we had no eyes then we would be unaware of the existence of color. What if we are missing an entire aspect of everything simply because we do not have the oran to detect it?”
“You’re blowing my mind. I can only imagine what you have seen.”
“Ok step one in finding The Enlightened Ones. Enter the night forest. Check. Step two, become one with the forest communicating your intent. Check. Step three? Take a look at the plants. Tell me what you see. Notice anything special?”
“Well obviously they are glowing.”
“Yes, what else?”
“Well this time round they are brighter and pulsating more.”
“That’s right. Have you noticed how they are pulsating?”
Cole gets close to a vine examining the visible flow of energy. He can’t quite figure out what point she’s trying to make. He steps back pondering. Soon he notices the larger picture of the forest. The canopy, the grass, the glowing butterflies, all of them have a pulsating pattern flowing to one spot. He follows the collective flow to a nearby jumbo red mushroom. It stands as tall as Cole’s knees. Its cap is covered in circles pulsating between green and blue. Justice speaks, “And now we have tapped into the flow of the forest. Step three, follow the red mushrooms. As you can see if you didn’t know these tricks there’s no way anyone could have known where to go.”
Cole follows the pulsating flow to discover another large mushroom far off in the distance. He leads Justice through the path finding it amazing that by navigating from one mushroom to the next his path is easy. The path is well lit leading them to a mountainous range. There’s no thick brush, and no harassment from any plants or animals. Cole finds this walk to be quite exhilarating. It’s visually stunning, and the air is comfortable.
I could find myself doing this all the time. Maybe the forest isn’t so bad afterall.
Unfortunately with the thought he jinxed himself. He spies two monster sized eyes reflecting in the forest.
“Look at that.” he whispers to Justice.
“It’s ok, just keep moving.”
Cole continues while glancing back. Each time he looks away he discovers that the eyes have moved much closer.
“I think we’re being hunted.” he says in a loud whisper.
“Don’t move.” she rebuttals.
“What do you mean don’t move? We have to run!”
“Dooon’t, move. Trust the forest, remember?”
Cole stands still staring at the eyes. They are huge, green, floating in the air. They don’t move as long as he’s watching. An irresistible itch comes over his leg. He can’t help but scratch it for a second. He glances up to see the creature has moved within striking distance. It nestles down behind a bush ready to attack. An enormous black panther pounces at Justice. It’s easily the size of a greyhound bus. It’s speed is so great that it stuns Cole. He goes to shoot a wind blade but is stopped by Justice jumping onto him.
“Noo!” she screams.
“What are you doing?!”
“Just look.”
“At what?!”
“He isn’t here to attack us. He was just playing.”
“Just playing?!”
Justice scratches under the chin of the cat, “This is Mojo. A protector of The Enlightened Ones. He belongs to the mountain.”
Mojo purrs from the chin scratches then rolls to his back.
“He’s actually such a lovable creature, aren’t you Mojo.”
The cat replies with a hearty roar.
“Apparently you know this cat. You could have given me a bit of warning you know!” says Cole, annoyed.
“Now that we’ve found Mojo it means we’ve arrived. It’s time for the next step.”
“I’m ready!” replies Cole excitedly.
“We have to give sacrifice to the mountain.”
Cole’s expression changes on a dime, “I don’t like how that sounds.”
“No nothing like that. We’re going to make camp here tonight. I’ll wait here with Mojo while you go collect food and place it here next to the mountain. We need lots of food, and drink. Like a bus load of food. Look for anything that looks like fruit, protein, and mushrooms, lots of mushrooms. The mountain especially likes those. Whatever you can find will do. We are going to have a feast tonight!”
“I can do that, but wasn’t the whole point of this, to ‘become one with the forest’? I mean I don’t want to anger the forest.”
“You will definitely be the hunter. Though, this is all part of the circle of life. The forest can sense your intentions. You are not here to destroy the balance. You are here to feed the mountain, the protector of the forest. It’s one of the most noble things you could do.”
I can’t gather a bus load of fruits and animals without having the forest come after me… Not only that but this task sounds like it will take forever...
“Justice, are you saying all I need to do is produce enough food for the sacrifice? Does it have to be gathered from the forest?”
“Hmm, no? I’m not exactly sure I understand the question.”
Cole reaches into his pocket pulling out his power crystals. He finds the yellow one showing it to Justice, “Death gave me this crystal. He said it will grant me the ability to create matter. I’ve been itching to try one of these and see how it works. What if I create a butt load of food from before The Event? Pizza, beer, twinkies, bacon, milk, whatever we want! We could have a whole buffett?!”
“If that’s how you want to use your osmosis crystal I’m definitely not going to stop you. I haven’t had a good meal like that in ages.”
“If you could have anything right now, what would it be?”
“A bowl of Apple Jacks in whole milk!”
“Your wish is my command.”
Cole squeezes the crystal in his hand. He remembers back to when he was first learning how to control his wind ability, trying to hone in on that feeling. He closes his eyes picturing what it would look like to have a full buffet of anything he could ever want. He meticulously pictures every item. His memories of his life flash before his eyes, memories of every perfect meal he’d ever had. Whole tables of everything he could think of materialize out of the ground. Tables of assorted chinese, mexican, italian, japanese, Apple Jacks, even Snoop Dogg’s asian chicken recipe appeared.
Justice calls out, “Cole it smells so good! Open your eyes, I want to see!”
Cole opens his eyes. He has definitely done it. He created a feast worthy of the mountain. Even Mojo has happily discovered monster sized portions of cooked fish. The look on Justice's face is pure pleasure as she eats Apple Jacks with her right hand, and burnt almond fudge ice cream in her left.
“Cole, you have to try this!”
“No way I’m too busy dipping my french fries in this chocolate frosty.”
Justice, Cole, and Mojo stuffed themselves releasing their inner fat kid. The night couldn’t have ended on a better note. The glow of the forest was relaxing, and the air was just a little cold. They quickly became sleepy, finding they could snuggle into Mojo’s soft fur.
“Thank you Justice.” says Cole yawning.
“You’re thanking me? I should be thanking you!”
“No, you showed me that this place doesn’t have to be that bad. Since I got here, well, it’s just been a hundred miles an hour.”
“Well life is what you make of it I suppose.”
Each of them falls into a deep food coma. Mojo begins to purr, adding a comforting massage effect to the sleep. A few times through the night Cole would wake up to hear a loud rumbling noise coming from the mountain. It almost sounded like an engine being turned on and off every minute or so. Maybe even an intensely loud effect of snoring. Though he found Mojo didn’t mind it, and if Mojo wasn’t interested, then he was too tired to do anything about it.