Chapter 17 - End of the Dream

Bao Bei arrived in no time at all in their spider web den, inside the Multicolor Leaf Forest. For her, traveling this distance was child's play.

When she entered, she carefully put Hei, Xing, and Ye to the ground while they were still unconscious due to the exhaustion and the turmoil of emotions received this night. All three of them were also breathing heavily due to their injuries. While not life-threatening, the injuries received weren’t at all light.

At this point, Bao Bei sank to the ground while inwardly sighed with relief. Her anger had subsided, but now she was in the grip of a mad fear never felt before.

Although she had managed to save them in the end, she had run the risk of losing her children forever, even though she had promised to protect them.

Despite all her preparations for every possible situation, due to a moment of fatigue and inattention, she had almost lost the only reasons of life left to her.

If she really lost them, what would she do? What would she have left? What reason would she have to stay alive?

Probably she would take revenge by scattering death and destruction everywhere until she would be killed by someone or would simply run out of power like a candle that eventually goes out after being wholly consumed.

However, the sight of her three cubs managed to calm her down after a while.

‘It's okay. Nothing is lost yet. This time I took a big risk, but it won't happen again, I won't let my cubs fall into such danger while I'm still alive.’ Bao Bei promised to herself as she began to think about how to act from now on.

The massacre that occurred was too big compared to the previous incident. It was probable that Leaf City would mobilize all its strength, no, perhaps the army of the Forest Kingdom would come personally. They would surely investigate the surroundings and push themselves into the heart of the forest. So staying there was no longer an option.

They had to leave the house that she had built personally and that for 12 years had hosted her family, guaranteeing them a sweet harmony and a safe place to rest.

With a broken heart, she began to collect the spider web that made the house. After a while, it came down, and Bao Bei started making the spider web into thin pieces, scattering the fragments in the night wind.

Thus, there remained no trace of their beautiful home in the heart of the forest. Only three small bodies huddled on the ground, and the various crudely made objects gave some clue that there was something there before, but soon after, those objects also disappeared entering the pocket dimension of Bao Bei.

At that point, only Hei, Xing, and Ye remained while they were still asleep. Lifting them gently, Bao Bei then prepared to leave the place that she had called home for 12 years.

***

Leaf Village, Nightmare of the Massacre’s aftermaths

Nightmare of the Massacre, so it was called the incident that had involved the villagers of Leaf Village and a large group of bandits famous throughout the kingdom.

The forces of the nearby Leaf City had set out on the night of the massacre after noticing intense undulations of spirit power. Since it was their duty to protect the surrounding territory in the king's place, the family in charge of the city immediately sent various units that arrived in the morning at dawn.

Upon their arrival, what they discovered was a gruesome sight. Hundreds and hundreds of men had killed themselves by digging the flesh on their necks and faces with their own nails. There was no doubt that they had suffered long before they took their last breath. There were some corpses dead by swords’ strikes or burnt by the flames, but they were a more ordinary sight than the spectacle offered by the body of the bandits.

With the stench that permeated those bodies, they made their way into the now almost wholly destroyed village, coming finally to the square. There, they discovered the survivors who were much more numerous than what the soldiers expected in the first place. Indeed, after seeing the condition of the bodies outside, they thought that there would be an even more obscene and disgusting spectacle inside. So they started questioning the inhabitants about what had happened.

What they discovered caused them to remain dumbfounded: they didn't know if the inhabitants were serious or were making fun of them. But since each of the respondents replied with the same version, unless it was a mass joke, they had to conclude that it was the truth. Furthermore, there were the bandits' corpses to verify that story. The various soldiers present, therefore, immediately reported alerting Leaf City.

As Bao Bei predicted, this incident would then make its way around the entire kingdom, alerting the capital that it would later invite their forces to sift the surroundings and the interior of the forest finding nothing but that could match the description of the beast.

Later, the spider would become a sacred animal revered by those who lived in the villages to protect them from the assaults of those who came to damage their homes.

***

Village Chief’s house, Leaf Village

Immediately after Bao Bei had left, Lei Bai had gathered the village chief, and the most authoritative exponents still alive. While causing absolute bewilderment because of the request for an immediate meeting, they accepted because they had seen Bai talk to the spider who had come to save them and wanted to ask him about it.

Bao Bai, therefore, began to tell him that Hei was indeed the son of a great expert beast tamer and that spider was none other than the spirit beast of Hei's father. However, Hei's father didn't like being seen, so he only sent his spirit beast to clean the bandits up. Since they didn’t personally know powerful people with whom to make a comparison, they concluded that it was nothing strange that behavior.

Although Bao Bei had told him not to reveal Hei's origins, she implicitly told him to find a plausible excuse to explain this story to the inhabitants. Lei Bai, who was a discerning person, understood immediately and formulated this story using the same theories already possessed by the inhabitants.

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Then he added that Hei's father had given them a purse with spirit cores to sell to get funds for rebuilding the village. At that news, those present burst into tears of joy as they had thought they would have to face months and months of difficulty to recover.

However, Lei Bai revealed to them the condition for which they had been given a similar grace: they shouldn’t mention anything about Hei and his elusive father; they should only say that it was the work of a spirit beast that had then vanished into thin air.

The inhabitants were a little struck by the condition but accepted without problems: running into the wrath of an expert who could tame such a beast was suicide; only an idiot would do it. Moreover, if now they could have hopes to repair the village immediately, it was only thanks to this expert.

Then Bao Bei also told them of the idea received to collect the weapons and various objects of the bandits. Although it was gruesome to rummage in corpses, it was also true that by doing so, they would have more money to compensate the families with victims in this tragedy. Therefore, the men with the strongest tempers took on this task while the others began to remove the rubble and extinguish the fire. The women and the elderly, on the other hand, started to help the injured ones and set up places to sleep near the square.

Lei Bai for his contribution was excused from the various tasks and was sent to the village chief’s house to let Lei Lei rest inside. Her condition wasn’t severe, but it was better to sleep in a comfortable bed to recover immediately.

Shortly before dawn and therefore the arrival of the forces of Leaf City, she woke up. At her side, she found her father sitting sleeping; he had remained close to her all night. With a pang of pain in her face, she touched it, thinking about what had happened as she looked around.

Noticing her movements, Lei Bai awoke with a start. As soon as he saw her, he burst into tears of happiness and embraced her forcefully. It took several minutes before he calmed down and freed his daughter from his embrace.

"Dad, stop, I'm fine. Instead, how are the others? What happened? And the bandits? Hei instead? Xing and Ye?”

"It's all right. It's all over now. You don't have to worry about it. Everything will be fine now. "

At that point, Lei Bai told her daughter about what happened after they both passed out. Thanks to the other inhabitants' stories, he had discovered how Hei had fought for them and how he had almost died. Knowing this, Lei Lei’s eyes burst into tears. In her mind, she could see Hei's body being brutally beaten, and yet he would stand up to defend them.

Lei Bai then went on with the arrival of Bao Bei and what happened next. Obviously, to his daughter, he didn’t omit anything, and he revealed everything to her, including Hei's origins.

Listening to this, she was surprised but then smiled as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Thus the mystery that enveloped Hei was finally revealed to her. But later, she became sad again, hearing the words of farewell he had left for her to his father.

"Lei, are you all right? I know you are sad because of Hei- "

"No, it's okay. After all, I knew it would happen. It was only a matter of time. Don't worry, I'm fine. I just need a little rest. You go out with the others; the village needs you. "

"Are you sure? If you need me, you know that you come first. I almost risked losing you even though I swore to protect you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. "

"I'm fine. Nothing will happen to me here. Other people need your help more than me now. "

With a determined look, she finally convinced her father to go outside, and then, she burst into tears.

The disgust at the corpses' sight, the sadness at the burning houses' sight, the fear of seeing her, and her father almost killed, knowing that Hei had fought for them, and he would no longer be there after having been with her for so many years. All this tumult of emotions exploded, flowing in the tears that ran down her cheeks.

It took a long time before she could calm down. Her emotions had finally subsided, and she could, therefore, rethink the final words spoken by Hei.

I’ll never forget you

The promise she had asked him to make, but he hadn't been able to do it in the grass area where the forget-me-nots were.

Go ahead with your life

Although it was easy in words, how could one go on with one's life when one lost a loved one. Even if he wasn't dead, who knows when she could see him again.

With a resolute expression, however, she decided to respect Hei's request as he had done with hers.

'All right. I will do as you wish, I will continue my studies and become a doctor. I will help the people in the village and those who need care. One day, who knows, maybe sooner than you think, I'll see you again. That day I will show you how much I have grown and my progress. I hope you won't get into trouble until then, and you'll be fine.’

With a silent promise at the dawn of the new day and her new life without Hei, Lei Lei prepared to travel the path she had chosen.

***

An unknown forest somewhere in the territory of the Leaf Kingdom.

After traveling a distance that she deemed sufficient for the moment, Bao Bei took refuge in a small forest nearby for a little break, waiting for her children to wake up.

Fortunately, the Forest Kingdom hadn’t by chance this name: it had, in fact, a vast number of forests scattered throughout its territory.

After building a temporary shelter, she crouched next to her still unconscious cubs. However, soon after, she got up because she noticed small noises coming from them. With great joy, she saw Hei open his eyes, followed by Ye and Xing shortly after that. Their bodies were still weak, so they remained lying on the ground.

'How are you? Don't move; you haven't recovered yet. It is better for now that you lie while resting.’

“Lei Lei? Lei Bai? The inhabitants and the bandits? What happened, mother?”

‘It's okay, Hei, don't worry. I saved the inhabitants and cleaned up the bandits. Lei Lei and Lei Bai are fine. You even talked to him before you fainted, don't you remember?’

'Yeah... right. Now I remember. I wasn't able to protect Ye and Xing as mother had asked me. I haven't been strong enough,’

‘No, it's our fault that we are too weak. We slowed you down, big brother.’ The two little spirit animals responded together.

To this, Bao Bei couldn’t help but emit a small noise like a sigh. So she prepared to cheer up her cubs.

‘No, it's my fault. As a mother, it is my duty to protect you, but I didn't do it properly. Don't worry; such a thing will never happen again. I will not allow you to be hurt.’

"No, it isn't mother's fault. We are the ones who are too weak, but this will not happen again. We will train and become stronger. So trust us. Let us face dangers and adversities; only in this way, we could really become stronger. Train us to improve our fighting skills. "

At Hei's request, Bao Bei's eight eyes lit up: his response revealed the fighting spirit inside him. Ye and Xing were also determined to become stronger.

‘All right, but if you are in a situation where there is no hope, I will help you. But in other cases, you will do it yourselves. There are several things to discuss now. I told you that I would tell you about it when you would awaken your spirit power, and now the time has come. But before this Hei- ’

"I know, it's no longer possible to go to the Leaf Village. If we go, we will endanger the people there. I already said goodbye to Lei Lei and Lei Bai, so there is nothing left to do. Do you know, mother? These five years seemed like a long beautiful dream. However, now that dawn has arrived, it is also time to wake up. I don't know when I can see them again, but for now, I have to continue on my way. But it's okay because even so, they stay here with me in my heart. Besides, I'm not alone, as long as I have you and Xing and Ye by my side, I could never feel alone. "

‘My good son, this was nothing but a starting point. From now on, many obstacles will be waiting for you, but I will be close to you anyway to help you. Don't worry about anything now, rest. When you wake up, we will start planning our new future.’

Hei and his two little sisters went back to sleep while Bao Bei covered them with soft silk to protect them from the cold. Her eight eyes rested on the rising sun that began to illuminate the earth. From today onwards, their new life would start.