Forests, valleys, canyons, all manner of scenery passes by as Mephis traverses the rugged landscape. Sometimes he senses something behind us and turns around. Since my basket is on his back, I can’t see who he faces, but the fights are always short and brutal. Even while protecting a child, this man is reliable. He travels at an insane speed, fighting with a savagery that shocks our pursuers, but I’m never harmed. At some point, I even fall into an exhausted sleep. Babies really can fall asleep while doing anything…
Only later, when I awaken with a cry, does Mephis stop to feed me from a bottle of milk.
“Shh…many things are listening right now.” His demonic red eyes stare into the shadows warily. The sun set while I was sleeping and now it’s nighttime. Part of me understands not to disobey this man’s orders. “So quiet. You’re a good kid. Lian should be proud. I hope she made it out…”
“…?” My expression turns into questioning as I gulp down the sweet milk from the bottle he holds over my mouth. Mephis looks confused underneath his pointy black hat.
“It’s like you already understand me. But that’s impossible.” He sighs, stowing the bottle away once I stop sucking. “You’re too young. Maybe I just want someone to talk to. Either way, sorry to say this…but you’re going to have to grow up fast, kid. Hold on-”
*Shuuu*
Our trip continues in that manner. Though we travel far for countless days and nights, the bottles of milk which Mephis produces always taste cold and fresh. Sometimes I wonder how he manages to keep the milk cold when we haven’t stopped anywhere. But then my brain gets sleepy and I end up dozing again. Mephis walks smoothly, I barely feel each step, but a baby shouldn’t be subjected to such hard travel after birth.
As the days pass, the crazy scenery changes and the verdant trees and colorful leaves shift into sickly, foliage, and then empty branches. The weather grows warmer, until Mephis has to remove the blanket from my sweaty body. For some time now, there hasn’t been a single ambush. My savior plops down beside my basket with a weary sigh. It is the first time I’ve seen him stop, besides to feed me, or regain his breath.
“Made it…” He says with a raspy voice as he brings the bottle to my mouth. My curious eyes find his while I suckle. He grins, “Wondering where we are, kid? Well, welcome to the Dead Forest. My home. Yours now too…I guess.”
“…?” I put on a curious expression and he takes the bottle away.
“Damn, when you make a face like that, it’s like I’m talking to a grown kid already.” He puts my basket in his lap and leans his back against a tree trunk with one hand on his sword. “Man, I need to sleep too. Do me a favor and make some noise if bad guys come, okay?” Mephis closes his eyes. “Look at me…talking to a baby as if he can understand. I’m already losing it. Lian, you should’ve found someone else…”
*Snore*
Mephis’s head tips over. The shadow of his pointy hat falls over me, pleasantly blocking the setting sun. For some reason, the light in the Dead Forest feels weak. It’s not bright enough, like the sun itself has begun to age and fail. Still, for a baby, it’s very warm and the shade from Mephis’s hat is nice. Lying there comfortably in my basket, I watch Mephis snooze. A couple hours pass, or maybe it’s longer than that. My sense of time is all messed up. Things take longer when you’re young and I get tired quickly. Though I doubt Mephis seriously expected me to keep watch, I do my best to keep an eye on our surroundings-
*Flicker*
Something odd happens. It’s been so long since I experienced it, that at first, I don’t understand what it is.
This…I’m seeing two things at once. I remember this…
Is this the future?
*Swoosh*
In the corner of my vision, an arrow comes out of nowhere and buries itself into my neck. Red splashes everywhere and I let out a piercing wail-
“Waaah!”
Before the present can catch up, Mephis wakes up. His demonic red eyes snap open as his sword slithers out like lightning. Cutting down the incoming arrow before it gets close, he scans our surroundings. Exhaustion creeps over me as the future I saw changes. This new body of mine can’t handle seeing both future and present at once. My vision grows blurry and I feel like I’m going to fall asleep as Mephis slings me over his back and charges the unseen assassins. Wind rushes by, and I se blood splashing in the air. Then things become quiet again as Mephis sprints away. “Damn. That could’ve been bad. They really followed me into the Dead Forest? If you hadn’t woken me up…” Mephis glances at me on his back, but my eyelids are already closing. “Wait…you warned me. How’d you know they were there?”
“…”
His question goes unanswered as I fall asleep. Mephis’s footsteps are my favorite lullaby. So long as we’re moving, I know I’m safe. He’ll protect me no matter what. This world…it seems very dangerous…
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
But I have the best protector.
#
Monsters…
Is this real?
From the very beginning I’ve been carried on Mephis’s back when he goes into battle so I have been unable to see what exactly he is fighting or how. After we truly cross into the Dead Forest, the assassins cease to appear. That doesn’t mean that this place is safe though. Instead of the people who chased us from my mother, now monsters begin to appear. That is what my previous self would see them as. Previous self? Right, there was something like that…I have to remember that. I’m…reincarnated…right?
Regardless of past lives, to me, these creatures are monsters. Though I am introduced to them from an incredibly young age, I don’t think it is possible for a human being to see these terrifying beasts and not consider them monsters. Scary…so scary! Once the fear begins to take over, my ability to think rationally greatly decreases. I curl up into my basket and pull the blankets over me tight as something lunges out of the shadows-
*Toc*
Mephis steps forward in front of me. His black robes flutter around him, giving him this illusory, wraith-like appearance as he appears with blistering speed. The creature attacked me right as he stepped away to use the bathroom. It must have been hiding in the trees, slithering closer every time he looked somewhere else. Our enemy resembles a snake, but it is ginormous. Maybe 10-20 meters in length, it would easily break records on Earth. In terms of thickness and girth, it is as wide as two men across, an absolute beast, with translucent, emerald-green scales that shift colors to create a sparkling mirage as it blends into the dying landscape. However, despite the snake’s size, Mephis shows absolutely no fear.
Without hesitation he rushes forwards and leaps into the sky. A splotch of red color appears on his sword though neither he nor the snake have struck yet. For an ephemeral moment, the two are locked in an epic painting. One warrior high in the sky, sword poised like a man-made fang. A titanic snake gaping its jaws wide, hissing as it prepares to lunge forwards and pluck him out of the air.
*Shing*
I can’t follow what happens with my eyes. One second they are about to meet, the next their paths have already diverged. All I know is that a second later, this fearsome beast of legend…falls to the ground with great gouts of blood spurting from its neck. Mephis returns to me, his breathing heavy, but acting as if this is entirely normal. Perhaps for him, it is.
Strong…stronger than I imagined!
My estimation of this man goes up even higher. As does my fear, a little bit. To slay a beast like that, Mephis must be an even greater monster. It may just be the light, but as he picks up my basket, his red eyes flash brighter than usual, as if his bloodlust has yet to be sated. However, when he starts walking his footsteps are smooth and unhurried. He carries me off on his back and I’m barely jostled. It seems I am not the only one who is a little bit disturbed by the composure of his traveling companion. He whispers under his breath, so quiet, that I’m not sure if I hear him right. It sounds a little like he says-
“You…are you really a child? What kind of baby sees a Gem Snake and doesn’t cry?”
It seems I’m drawing suspicion. Perhaps I should act a little more child-like? Wait, what am I even thinking?
Bits of the old me, mix with the new me, as the weeks go by. Eventually, Mephis brings us to a residence in the Dead Forest. He has a sort of makeshift home carved out of the trunk of a giant dead tree. The door is so thick that even the monsters in this place cannot penetrate it easily. There, we stay for some time to let me recover from the travel. I’m still a baby after all. Occasionally, he disappears with his pack, to go restock on milk for me. I am not sure where he goes to get it, but the days pass by quickly as I spend most of my time napping. Oftentimes, Mephis comes back when I am sleeping and I wake up to find that he has returned. Tucking his head onto his pillow, he lies down on the small bed to rest inside the tree. Though he takes his pointy hat off when sleeping, he always keeps his sword nearby. It is during the times when he is not here, or when he is dreaming, that I practice my talent. That is to say, I work on looking into the future. You might wonder how I do that while lying in a basket…
It’s simple.
I predict whether or not Mephis will snore on his next breath. Or if he’s gone, I focus on the wind outside or some sound from the forest and try to guess when it will come next. Unfortunately, this process is exhausting. Was it always this difficult? After peeking ahead for merely a split second, I immediately fell asleep the first time I tried to see into the future. It seems that if I overstrain myself, that is the likely result right now. My body shuts down and immediately enters recovery mode. However, I have little else to do, so when I wake up, I always try to peer into the future again. This knocks me out and the cycle continues.
Wake up.
Will he snore?
Yes, he will!
*Snoooreee*
Succe-
My head thuds back down into the basket and I’m right back off to dreamland until next time. Over a series of attempts, days and weeks, I begin to get a handle on how to turn my ability on or off. And using it for just a split second no longer puts me to sleep. Instead, I gain the ability to hold onto the future simultaneously for a few moments at a time. I’ll call this ability…Foresight. It’s a far cry from before, when I always saw what would happen before it did. But I’m improving.
Sometimes I remember bits of my past life, or the memories come to me in my dreams. I always wake up confused, and one-time Mephis even sees some tears building in my eyes. He looks away, but I get the feeling he is disappointed when I do not let the salty drops spill out. Apparently, children who do not cry are weird. If there is one thing I was good at in my last life…it was hiding how different I was. I should make more of an effort to seem like a normal baby. I’m not entirely sure how long we stay in that little hollowed out room in the tree trunk, but it is quite a while. By the end of our time there, Mephis is already feeding me soft fruits which I do not recognize, and bits of meat. Once I am capable of subsisting without milk, and I’ve almost grown too large for him to carry me in the basket, he suddenly decides to leave.
“Ehh…sorry about this, but now that I don’t need to stay near the village for your milk, it will be safer if we go deeper into the forest.” Mephis explains to me while picking up my basket and placing me on the usual spot behind his back. It has been a while since he has taken me outside, though he does sometimes do that to give me a chance to see the world. He speaks to me over his shoulder, “Those bastards have proven that they are willing to enter the Dead Forest. Eventually, they’ll find this place if we stay too close to the village. Understand?”
I make a tiny nod which could be construed as just something babies do sometimes. This makes Mephis frown as he tries to figure out whether or not I actually understand what he’s saying.
“Not even a one-year-old, yet he seems so intelligent. Lian…what kind of kid did you bring into this world?” He shakes his head and looks over his shoulder at me while opening the door to the tree trunk. “Well, I suppose I am the one who told you to grow up fast. I can’t really blame you for following my orders now, can I?” Unfiltered light, which doesn’t come from the holes carved in the ceiling of the hut, streams into my eyes. Squinting, I peer into the future for just a second, not long enough to make me sleep, but enough to check for ambushes as we leave our tree and enter the Dead Forest. No evil awaits us and I let the future fade away.