Chapter 5
-An Opportunity to do Right is One to Suffer For-
----------------------------------------
Words and words, without end or start; my eyes scan the pages of the book as I carefully rest it against the wooden baluster near me. I read while I lay on my sides in the middle of the bifurcation landing of the staircase, the most comfortable option I found. Around me, only three sounds resonate: one coming from the chandelier on the ceiling moving as gasps of wind uninvitedly come to say hello to the library through an open window, another from the wood creaking from time to time as I move to another position to try once again to focus, and the last one is quieter, nearly impossible to notice when focused: the footsteps of the silver maid as she dances around the library with her duster, making sure not a single spot atop or behind the books on the bookshelves goes unnoticed as she provides her divine justice against anything that dares to dirty the surface of this place. Now that I think about it, Milesian has been away for some time now, or at least it seems in my bored mind.
Like the maid, I swipe my thoughts away and try giving in to my studies one more time in hopes of learning something useful—something I can do to repay at least a bit of Milesian's kindness. Impatiently, I travel between pages in search of anything that makes sense for me to do, and that might not cause something to be destroyed like it did before with the fae. Abruptly, my hands stop atop Milesian's copy of Ayla's diary, which hides itself in the shadow of the pile of books I stacked, most still untouched.
"She did say I seemed to have a strange connection with the magical creatures." I ponder with myself in a low mutter as my fingers caress the leather cover of the diary. I raise it to my lap amidst the movement I do to sit up instead of keeping laid down. The idea renews some of my energy, and so I use it to search more thoroughly; maybe I can find a creature that can, like the woo, be domesticated and provide some material for Milesian's medicine.
One thing I notice at first as my fingertips glide across the first page where Ayla's signature rests is that there is one page stuck in another, so as gently as I can, I manage to separate both, revealing four different symbols on the hidden page of the book. A sun, a snow globe, a blooming flower, and a pumpkin; at the bottom of each is written a season and a page number to guide me to reach each. As some of the meaning behind the symbols comes to me, I guide myself to the summer beings part of the diary, more specifically to the page right before the one I've read about the woo.
'Across time, witches were associated with many animals; Greeks and Romans believed witches could turn themselves into owls, and in this form, they would come to suck the blood of babies; but in reality, no witch was ever recorded to do that; instead, many stories indicate that in old times, they would bond with lost owls that couldn't find their way on the heavy winter, deep in the forest. They helped those creatures survive in exchange for their assistance in the hunt for live materials in the forest, such as insects or small rodents.
Cats, too, are often associated with witches; some feared them and thought they indicated the presence of evil or that they were the Devil himself, as often they were found as companions of witches in the old times. In truthfulness, during the black plague, most common women, mourning their partner's death that happened on the battlefield or to the plague, would take in wild cats from the street and care for them to help in the healing process of their broken hearts, as the loyal cats would in return catch any mouse that would dare to try making their human family sick.
And the last one that is associated with witches is the rabbit. According to folklore in the United Kingdom, witches can transform into rabbits and hares, and in many cultures, they are seen as harbingers of both good and bad luck. They are often found as companions of those who have a heart filled with curiosity and lust for adventure; they make great companions in the winter, especially as some rabbits can grow to great sizes.
These three animals are the most common type to be seen as companions to both mages and witches alike. Unlike magical beasts that need to be tamed, companions need only to be summoned; they are your spiritual guide, a being connected to your soul according to your real persona. There are different types, but in this diary, I'll only document magical beasts; maybe the next will be about companions as I resume my travels.'
After reading this part, I start to question if perhaps that is why Ayla wanted to give me the next copy of her diary. I focus my eyes once again and jump to the page after the woo's description, seeing a sketch of a creature resembling a rat-like thing with three round horns on its head, one small on the forehead, and two on either side of the triangle formation. Its body reminds me more of a cow, having four cylinder-shaped legs and a tail half its size with some fluff on its end. On the sketch, its name is indicated: The Little Prince.
'Only today I was able to spot a specimen of it, as it rarely makes itself known in the wilds. I questioned Brigitte about what she could inform me regarding the creature, and I had to pay the price for the information. My savings were almost all spent by her in the bar today just to get it; who knew a woman her size could chug down three full-size beers in thirty seconds.
What she informed me was that there isn't much registered about it, as expected, even though I truly wanted to satiate my curiosity soon. The creature is rare to find, but at least the money spent was worth it, as Brigitte took me to the location where she last saw it, giving me a moment I'll never forget. It too was informed to me that the little prince in theory, supported only by a weak analysis made by a non-trustworthy source, can be of help to synthesize magical matter, allowing one to produce higher quality medicine with the use of fewer materials thanks to the creature's roots as a forest dweller, but most in this area find the effort to be much compared to the little reward, so I guess I'll follow up and do the same for now; maybe when my travels end I can try researching more about it.'
At the end of the page, words are written in red with a more refined lettering, reminding me of the words in Milesian's letter. 'Location: Deep forest near the library, across the river on a small patch of grass between twin trees whose roots entangle over the grass.'
Wait, did Milesian find one nearby? The words seem more like a reminder to me, so there is a chance she wanted to do as she did with the topah and bring it here to the garden. Finally, this is something I can try to do that can help her somewhat, even more keeping in mind what the diary said about the help the creature can provide with whatever means synthesizes magical matter.
Quickly, I rise to my feet and, in a big hug, take as much of the heavy pile of books with me as I can while climbing up the stairs, being careful to balance myself to avoid falling in the process and facing a future not so desirable. Upon reaching the coffee table, I carefully place the pile atop the surface to forget about it and move to grab my backpack that is unmoved and just waiting for me on the sewed couch, only to, in my unthinking movement, hit my knee on the edge of the furniture, making the books all slide off and find their final rest in the four corners of the table. The pain climbs up my spine, causing me to hold on to a groan as I quickly rub my knee. I take a moment to breathe and calm myself off my nerves before, finally, holding on to my backpack, stuffing the diary in it, and throwing it over my shoulder as I place my arms through the shoulder straps.
In one single movement, I adjust the straps while paying attention to my surroundings to make sure Loa is still occupied with cleaning; I can't risk her stopping me from going out. For a moment, I don't spot her, and by instinct, I let out a relieved sigh, thinking she must have gotten to another part of the library where she can't spot me, but in my mindless walk towards the exit door, I overlook her standing there as I collide my body with her shoulder. It stuns me only for a moment as I guide my eyes to meet hers, finding her crossed arms and an expression full of suspicion.
"Uhm... Hi, Loa," Not a great start, as I find myself unable to not stutter and try to hide my nervousness behind a smile that was supposed to be calm, but it comes out awkward. She taps her feet rhythmically against the floor as if waiting for me to explain myself, and so I do. "I'm just going out to take a bit of fresh air, give my head some rest... and all."
By the way the silver maid eyes me, I can tell she didn't fall for that; I can't exactly risk telling her what I'm going to do, especially as Milesian ordered me to stay here till she came back and probably asked her to look after me, but I can tell a half-truth.
I sigh, relaxing and attempting the best serious face I can produce at the moment, which isn't that hard to be sincere, only somewhat difficult when Loa keeps looking at me with her glowing eyes as if she could spot the truth a mile away. "Look, I'm not all okay right now; my head is kinda messy, and I think a walk around would help to cheer me up, that's all."
She doesn't budge, as expected; she only gazes at me, arms still crossed tightly against her chest, making parts of her Victorian maid uniform to become wrinkled. But I keep my eyes on hers regardless, attempting just a bit more to make her budge, and that, surprisingly, seems to do the trick.
Loa sighs herself and gestures for me to wait a moment, and so I do, even if confused for a few seconds as I watch her take the stairs down and disappear into the kitchen. It passes through my head that maybe this could be the perfect moment to leave; at least this way, nobody would be able to hold her responsible for what I'm about to do. The thought itself takes all the window of opportunity to do so, as, just like she promised, the maid returns, holding in her hand something metallic.
At the moment, I turn to say something but am unable to do so as she takes one of my hands and places the object in it, dragging out of me a shiver at the sudden coldness it possesses. On a closer inspection, I notice it is a filled metal canteen bottle. Confused, I look once again at the maid, only to find permeating her face a small and delicate smile—one that manages to leave me stunned even more than the bump from before that is only broken as she bows her head and, like nothing happened, turns her back to me and resumes her work, picking up her duster resting on the librarian's desk.
She doesn't even give me the chance to thank her, but I'll do better, succeeding in finding the little prince and making this not a waste of both our time and her kindness. With a quick nod of my head to reassure myself, I push open the library's door and leave the protection it provides to explore the unknown forest.
On the outside, I lose no time starting my walk towards the river, as the only hint I have to discover where this deep forest lies is the keywords from before. While doing so, I also allow myself to look around the garden, almost dancing to not accidentally step on a flower, which in the end makes me spot the topah doing as it was doing when I first saw it, watering the plants further from the river. The small elephant trumpets happily as it works; I use the sound it's making to try walking to the other side of the river without calling its attention. Even if it would be fun to give the little thing some love, I still need to keep my focus on the gold pot.
The river walls in this part are not so close to each other, making the corridor somewhat thin but still proposing some challenge to jump to the other side, so I take a moment to really think through my options. I could either attempt the jump or walk down the river's path and see if I find a safer way to cross. Remembering the scene from before in the library, as I failed to make a sneaky exit, I determine that today isn't my day to be doing these stunts, so instead I lock in the safer option and start walking beside the river, watching as the sunlight reflects on the running water, revealing some fish swimming against the current to keep on going towards whatever is their goal, with too the reflection of my face as I lean in to look at them and it stares at me back.
More and more, I start descending the hill behind the library, being attentive not to slip in some wet mud or anything like that. In my vision, the forest seems to thicken as I further dare to dwell and explore its secrets, with some parts shadowed and neglected by sunlight by the heavy foliage of some more bulky trees. Birds fly from the grass blades as I walk past them, revealing in between the plants a different and more non-magical fauna, composed of frogs jumping from one side of the river to the waters as I approach, squirrels with their long tails running to rest atop the trees and staring at me curiously, and some colorful butterflies flying around, one even stopping at my shoulder for a moment as it almost collides with me on its path.
It's a breath of fresh air to be away for a moment from one world and delve into another. The forest was always a second home to me, from the nights I ran away from the orphanage and used the trees as guides to find my secret hideout composed of an old blanket and some sticks that held it up, where I would hide myself and draw until late in the fragile and wrinkled pages of my sketchbook, to the days the nuns would take us to explore the park, where I would always find myself away from the other kids, studying and chasing anything that I considered cute, making it a subject worth my time and attention.
My thoughts flow easily as they are accompanied by the sounds of the living beings around me; yet, something, a shadow mirrored on the waters of the busy river, calls upon me, beckoning me ever closer to other memories hidden beneath walls I so carefully built with time. I ignore the calling, massaging the underpart of my eyes to uncurse them from the sting so familiar to me.
From the waters of the river, I guide myself up further until I reach an area with rocks peaking from underneath the waters, like pillars that extended themselves to provide for those who wish to cross, having a flat shape atop just on point to be able to step on them and not fall; perfect for me to use. The first one, though, rests a jump distance from me, so to get started, I'll need to jump and not miss, or else I'll get my backpack wet and all that is inside—something I can't afford.
Stolen novel; please report.
There's no time like the present, so with that in mind, I take two steps back and start reassuring myself; after all, there's no way this can go wrong, right? My shoes print the dirt as I carefully sprint forward, holding on to my backpack straps so that, just in case I fail, I can try throwing it back to safety.
The wind rushes against my face as my feet leave the ground at the perfect speed. My heartbeat reminds me once again of the adrenaline that makes me feel alive. The jump lasts only a second, and once I find myself hitting the soles of my shoes on the rock and balancing myself, it feels like a weight was taken out of my shoulders. Now, with all that rest being to move forward, I start doing so, extending my legs to reach the next rock, and so on.
I keep my eyes on the rocks while I move, only stopping once or twice to look around—something that pays off. Almost hard to notice, resembling a sphere of water reflecting the sunlight, creatures swim mindlessly from side to side, some splashing water on the others, and the rest floating around, seemingly enjoying the river's current. In my curiosity, I take out Ayla's diary and start searching for what this could be; with the tip of my fingers quickly, the pages are turned, stopping only as I notice a fact I hadn't before about the diary going further in. Of all the pages that make it, the grand majority are, truly, tales of Ayla's travels, with only some reserved for creatures, making it wrong my previous thought that it was filled with all the types of creatures, even if it still holds information about many others.
My search brings no result, as it seems this creature was not documented by Ayla. In truth, no creature that lives in the waters seems to have been from all I can see in the first thirty pages, so in the span of the moment, I decide to do it myself. I return the diary to my backpack and grab, in its place, my sketchbook and pencil so I can study the little creatures.
It isn't the most comfortable of places to sit, as the rock is, well, a rock, but it at least gives me the opportunity to rest without getting myself wet. Practiced movements take me over as I start to sketch the creatures, and surprisingly, they are very easy to draw given their simple shapes.
They have head ferns like an axolot, the strange smile and eyes of one too, but with a body shape more round and small, a round tail at the end of their body, and four tiny legs that they use to wiggle around and swim. In my deep concentration, I miss one of them swimming in my direction and staring at my face. Still, once I finally give the little creature attention, it gulps air and produces a hiccup-slimy sound that, at first, is strange, but looking at the little dumb face of the creature starts sounding funny. It manages to drag a laugh out of me, and so I extend my hand to it to see what the creature will do.
"Are you a friend?" I ask in a high-pitched tone like one would speak to a domestic animal.
For a few seconds, it does nothing, making me tilt my head curious; as I deduce, it may not be able to get out of the water, but before I move my hand away completely, it jumps to the center of my palm. It bounces like gelatin, which makes the creature's dot-like eyes dislocate to the sides of its body before returning to their original position.
I put my sketchbook on my lap and cross my legs so I can give the creature all of my attention. "So, friend, what is it exactly you do?"
In response to my question, the creature reforms its body, making it upside down on my hand; it wiggles its legs super fast. 'So, like I thought, it doesn't understand me.'
Nodding my head, I reach my fingertip to the creature's belly and slowly rub it, dragging out of it more hiccups that, for now, I'll assume serve to show that it's happy. After some seconds of that, I place it on my knee where it makes itself comfortable as I return my gaze to the sketchbook, putting the information of its description like Ayla's notes and ending up with a similar product, only missing a name.
I scratch my head, thinking of the best options. "It needs to be something that makes sense. Maybe Squishy? No, it doesn't exactly feel like a name for a species. Gloop? Wait, Glob!" With a smile on my face, I turn to the little creature. "What do you think? Do you like the name Glob?" The glob tilts its head like I did and only keeps its smile before making that same sound. "I'll take it as a yes, then."
With that out of the way, I place the name atop the sketch and feel somewhat satisfied. The glob starts to move towards the river, climbing down my knee as its form seems to lose its consistency, so to help it out, I cup my hands together and grab some water before pouring some around it to see if it helps. Interestingly, the water disappears almost instantly as the creature sucks it from the surface by extending its form flat to get as much area as it can, regaining its previous full, happy form, and so it takes one last look at me with the two dots that are its eyes before jumping back at the water and going back to the other globs.
I rise to my feet, dusting off my pants and storing my sketchbook on the backpack; readying myself to continue on. At least I've learned something from this; perhaps I can continue Ayla's diary, I can't lie, it is fun to document these creatures.
Jumping off the last rock, I stand on the other side of the river, staring at the dark forest in front of me as the wind provides me with a bad feeling. Even so, I push on into the unknown. The path is an attack on my anxious mind as the familiar sound of the river is replaced by silence, a silence so dense that I swear I can almost see it. My eyes swim around every corner they can, though with just a little sunlight around me, it unravels to be harder than expected, so for now I focus part of my brain on finding the 'twin trees' that should be the holder of my objective.
How can a forest be so quiet? No birds sing their sweet melodies to calm me, no insects make themselves visible on the trees or grass, and there is nothing roaming around to make a sound in the bushes; at least there's no indication to believe the contrary. To calm myself from my paranoia, I hold on to my backpack straps so I can keep myself grounded on what is actually happening instead of what can happen.
The moment I close my eyes to take in a deep breath, I forget to stop walking, so it spooks me less when I find myself tripping on something.
*Thumph*
"Agh!" A groan leaves me as my body comes into collision with the firm ground, leaving an echoing vibration in my head as a result.
Using my hands as support, I sit up and look at myself to see the damage; there are some light scratches on my arm, but the fall didn't cause much more than that, so that's a win. More, I gaze around to see what I tripped onto: roots crawling over the dirt and overlapping in a tight hug, coming from trees the exact shape and size, so close together that the space in between both resembles a passage without a door.
Light finds its way to the spot I am sitting on, bathing bright yellow flowers that bloom quietly amidst the shadows surrounding the rest of the premises. Upon a more careful analysis of my surroundings, I spot a small creature hiding in between the flowers, only daring a look from the safety of where it is. The creature is obviously scared by the way its little body expands and deflates while hyperventilating. I manage to compose myself quickly, seeing that I'll have to calm the creature or risk it running away.
"Hey, it's okay; I'm not here to hurt you." I attempt to move closer by extending myself further with my back, avoiding getting up, and, in the middle of the task, I watch it move slightly away from me in fear. Learning that, I place my hands atop my knees and cross my legs, giving it a warm smile. "If you don't want me to get close, that's fine too." I feel like an idiot to attempt to talk to it, but even so, I need to give it a shot. "My name's Noma, and you're probably wondering why I intruded here in your spot. Well, I wanted to take you with me... Now that I'm saying that out loud, it sure sounds bad. I don't want to forcefully take you from your place; I'm just kinda out of options."
My eyes fall to my lap as my mind questions itself about what we are doing here. "You see, I'm scared too, even if I don't want to admit it." I hug my knees closer to my chest, resting my head on the surface it provides. "These last days were really something on my mind, and I'm not sure the choices I've made were the right ones; I mean, I always dreamed of being free; that is why I left in the first place; but now, I think I'm messing people's lives as a consequence of this 'freedom'."
...
The track of time is lost to me as my eyes stay locked onto the flowers in front of me in an attempt to fight off the battle that starts in my head, but it all is interrupted as the flowers move, bringing my attention back to reality. The little prince makes its approach, smelling the air and staring at my face; it squeaks like it's trying to talk, but in the end, I can't understand. I think the creature notices; somehow, its eyes communicate to me that it is thinking, or at least it seems to be.
But the moment is interrupted for both of us as, from the silence of the forest, a growl comes to life, close enough to be worrisome.
"Dumb...Child." The once growls turn into a voice, a voice very familiar as it's literally mine. It seems to mimic words I already said before in my life, as they come out like a recording playing specific parts. "To...return...without...your...lady."
Red eyes make themselves noticeable in the darkness, and a body made of black goey liquid further invades the spot; so similar to the thing that first hunted me in the forest when I first got here that all I can do is assume that it is. As its impossible teeth come into view, the little prince squeaks in fear and jumps to me, hiding in between the strands of my hair that extend themselves like vines on my shoulder.
"What do you want from me?" I ask, my adrenaline so high that it, against my will, comes as a scream.
"...Leave."
"I will; you don't need to worry about that." I take a step backward without daring to take my eyes off the beast.
It growls loudly, stopping me mid-step. "Leave...creature...here..."
As the creature corrects itself, I look at it and shake my head. "No, I can't just-"
My words are interrupted as it loses no time leaping forward, its goal being to bite my leg. So in an instinctive move, I raise my leg and let it come down on its snout, feeling the slimey substance that composes it splash on the flowers below. I learned from my lesson last time, so with the little time I'm given before it reshapes, I use the advantage to run.
The forest proves once more that it does not want me to see anything, as even when I try following the path from before, it challenges me further, especially when I keep getting scratched by branches and can't avoid tripping once in a while. I keep on running, feeling the muscle on my leg burn, begging me to stop—one wish I can't risk granting.
In the path, I see a light, an indication that I'm about to leave this place; at the same time, the growls return and approach with an unthinkable speed, closing in on me in no time. I reach the light, but instead of being met with the river from before, I find myself having to force my body to stop running, almost sliding off a great height as the information down on me. "How? I didn't change directions, did I?"
The fall in front of me isn't just a straight way down; it's curved, and then it leads to a bunch of treetops. Not exactly a good idea to fall, as I can't see myself getting out of that alive.
Once again, the growling approaches without end, and the countdown begins for me to make a choice, as even if I tried to go back now, the hard-to-navigate forest would swallow me whole. There's no way I could fight the thing, and even if I could, I would just be able to buy some time before the inevitable destiny of being mangled alive came.
In a quick movement, I throw my backpack to the ground and use my winter coat to fluff the insides as best I can, and with that done, I extend my palm to the little prince. "Come on, you'll be safer inside."
At my words, it reluctantly jumps to my palm and enters my backpack, so I wrap it in the coat and leave a space for it to breathe. "Just stay there, okay? I'll get us out of this, I promise." That's all the words I can muster to calm the creature before closing the backpack and wearing it once again, only now inverted so the back part stays in the front.
I dare a glance down the cliff, gulping down all the courage I have before kneeling and placing my hands on the edge, lowering myself as much as I can, so maybe I'll slide down instead of rolling and falling. This way, at least, I'll have some control over the speed and where I'll land.
Pain rushes down me as the beast manages to get a good bite of my hand, forcing me to let go of the edge a little too early. The time to scream isn't given to me as my back hits the sliding surface in a matter of seconds, and so it starts my descent.
Rocks peaking out the side of the cliff cut through parts of my pants to reach my legs, sinking into my flesh and ripping parts off as the gravity still doesn't let go of me. Some roots that too make themselves presentable from the cliff come to view at the perfect moment. With my unlucky spree, I end up missing the grab and keep on falling, watching as the cliff starts to end in my view. As a last effort before giving up and accepting that, this time, I ran out of the luck I so rely on with my bad plans, I attempt to grab one root as it just comes into view, managing to do so in the exchange of my shoulder as the speed and descent managed to almost dislocate it.
I hold on to the pain and force myself to tank it all, gritting my teeth and letting gravity force my head down so my eyes are locked on the trees. They appear further than they really are in my mind, that's for sure. With the seconds I have before my strength finally runs out, I find a spot more suited for me to land on, and so my hand gives up.
My back hits one branch, and then another, and so on until the pain becomes too much and I pass out, only managing to, in the seconds before, make sure I'll fall on my back and keep the creature in my backpack alive—the only thing that matters now.
----------------------------------------