“Long time ago, the was only one world. However, the world split into two. Human was rejected from one of the world and-“The girl stopped her reading midsentence because she was interrupted by a boy who was panicking about moving to and fro in the room taking books and papers into a table.
“Cendy! Let’s leave the loafing to culinary department students and help me with our research.” The boy looked like he had lost a bit of his sanity. Though his clothing was neat and tidy, his hair was messy, and his eyes were red with eye bags underneath them.
“Oh come on Hal, take it easy. We still have a month more before the next discussion and revision with the professor.”
“This is an investigative research. Even if the university did not set a time for it, if others find the answer to our research problem and publish it before us then our report will lose some of its value.”
Both of them are currently in an empty lab. The girl was sitting while leaning on a wall with a relaxed posture while reading a novel. Meanwhile, the boy finally sat across her after moving around, he put a stack of books near his left hand while his right hand busily checking the checklist in front of him. Between them were strips of paper with various colors with a name on them and a brown envelope.
“Seriously, this is all your fault. I left you to do a discussion and revision with the professor for once, and our paper suddenly changed from easy research and development of ‘Improving the Crops Quality in Tim-Tim Village’ into ‘Investigative Research on the Cause of Declining Crops Quality in Tim-Tim Village’!? Our research already progressed enough to know that the cause was the bad water quality, we can just make a water treatment plan for the village and everything will be done. But no! Because the research objective was changed, now we have to figure out why the quality of water in the area is bad. Not to mention that Tim-Tim Village is located not far from where Tim-Tim River and Pearl River met. And Pearl River is a mainstem of many tributaries! Now gonna need to know the cause of the declining water quality of a mainstem river with many tributaries. Left tributaries… right tributaries… not to mention… which river…headwater...bacterial… chemical…national holidays…
The rambling goes on, and as the movement of his hands increased so were the speed of his speech, it just took a few moments from a clear conversation into mixed words salad that caused even the most astute listener to be unable to discern a word. Cendy let out a long sigh and set her novel down. She took a checklist from the table and as she moved her hand to take the colorful strips of paper, she was interrupted.
“Oh! I am already done with the preliminaries result of the tributaries from Tim-Tim Village to Mother Spring nature reserve.”
“So what should I do then?”
“You can read the more detailed report from the lab for me instead, it’s in the envelope. I have to say, from the preliminary strip test, things mostly look fine except the Tim-Tim River and Pearl River, maybe? So I only sent samples from those two rivers to be analyzed further.”
“What with the ‘maybe’?”
“Honestly, these strip test results are too general but the only ones that gave weird results were from those two rivers. Just read the report and see if it is worth investigating.”
The girl opened the envelopes and both of them began to do their work in silence for a while.
“Say, Hal. You are right about this. There is some minor chemical contamination in Tim-Tim River and a minor biological contamination on Pearl River”
“Ugh, just our luck. Pearl River headwater is in the Mother Spring nature reserve, it’s a protected area with a difficult entry permit. I took a Pearl River sample from near the edge of the protected area, if there is a problem then it must come from the inside of it.”
“Oh about that, I already took care of it.”
“What?”
“When the research objective was changed, I raised the possibility with the professor that perhaps the cause of the trouble was located in the protected area. So I had him help me to get entry permits for two for just in case moment.”
“I don’t know about this. Should we just make a report and submit it to the Ecological Department dean and leave it to them? We should just focus on the chemical contamination in Tim-Tim River”
“Then our research will lose its value because we made others do half of the research question for us. Didn’t you say it yourself if others publish the answer to our research problem, then our research will lose some of its value?”
“Ugh, this gives me a headache. Why were you even agreed to change the objective of our research?”
“Think about it, if the university deemed our research is good enough to be published for public archive, they will give us extra credits. From what I’ve heard, the investigative research method gets easier approval than other methods because of the difficulty of data gathering.”
“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me that. If this gets more complicated than it already is, I will beg the professor to change our research objective back to what it was before.”
“Let’s talk about that after we check the spring. How about we check it on Monday next week? Monday until Wednesday next week will be national holidays, so we won’t be in a hurry to go back to the university and can stay overnight around the area just in case we need further study.”
“Let’s go to the spring on Saturday, I want 3 days of naps during the holiday instead of the field works. Even if it is the weekend, as long as we have the right paperwork then we should be allowed to enter.”
“Okay then, let's meet up at the front entrance of our university on Saturday morning. Don’t forget to bring a few stuff for an outdoor trip, the spring is located after around one and a half hours of walk from the nearest entrance.”
“Ugh! Seriously!? You gotta be kidding me. I hate field works.”
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That same week, Saturday morning. On a train ride to the Spring area.
“Alexandria island, the island of education. The island was an unassuming island not too far away from one of the mainland. For centuries, the people have always relied on the abundant forest bounty and the rich freshwater ecosystem. However, around three hundred years ago the age of exploration began. Alexandria which lay at the edge of a mainland became an important location to interact with other mainlands. Knowledge from other places came together and shaped Alexandria into the island we know today. The island was divided into four areas. The northern large bay is the Social Science district which holds most of the social branches faculties. The western highland is the Formal Science district where many of the formal science faculties were located. The hilly and shallow beach of the southern area is the Applied Science district, many of the faculties built there were those that dealt with applied science. The eastern forest and wetland is the Natural Science district where most natural sciences departments were established. "
“Seriously, Hal. Do you need to explain all of that in the planning chapter?”
“Who knows. It might be good for the readers to know the state of the island to determine whether our research has a bias or not.”
“You can just explain that the crop quality in Tim-Tim Village, which is located around where Tim-Tim River and Pearl River meet, is declining. The Water from Tim-Tim's chemical component is out of the ordinary while the water from Pearl's biological component is not as usual. So we are now trying to figure out what causing the biological and chemical component to be out of the ordinary.”
“I still think explaining all about the island will make a good introductory chapter. Besides, it adds to the total words count.”
Both of them are currently inside a train on their way to the Spring area. They chose a car with a table in between seats because they wanted to review a little bit of their work, but that also means they have to share the table with two other seats.
“Say Cendy, do you think it’s weird that Mother Spring is located in the Social District?”
“What so strange about it?”
“It’s located a little bit to the southeast end of Social District, just a stone's throw away from Natural District. Why doesn’t it belong to Natural District? Feels more fitting for the source of the most important river on the island to be in the Natural than Social?”
“Perhaps because they want to divide the area more equally?”
“Flimsy analysis. The natural district is already noticeably bigger than the rest and the Formal district is the smallest.”
Suddenly, the old couple in front of them took an interest in their conversation and joined in.
“Oho ho a curious one aren’t ya?” said the old man.
“Oh my, you are not locals aren’t you?” the old woman joined in the conversation.
“No. I came from Moon Archipelago four years ago to study ecology. My friend here, Cendy, also came from Moon Archipelago but moved here with her family around eight years ago.”
“Students heh? We’ve got all of them all over the island. They usually only care about the subject of their studies. You, young ones, should really try to see more of how one piece of information intertwines with others.”
“Don’t tease them too much. Anyway, have you ever heard about the legend of how this island was settled?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Well, long ago it was said that this island was barren and allowed no one to live here. However, our ancestors fled from a war on the mainland and had no choice but to settle here. Back then it was said that there was nothing on the island, there was no river or forest. The ancestors searched for freshwater but they barely found any. Until one day, a mother desperate to find water for her children ventured into the mountains. The woman never came back. The people searched for her but they never found her. However, as the ancestors went down from the mountains they suddenly saw a river coming from between the mountains. Despite the river source being located closer to the northern side, the river did not go to the northern bay. Instead, it went to the west where it was blocked by the western mountain which made the river go south. On the southern side, the river was blocked by the hilly area on the south and went to the east. On the east, the river was blocked by another mountain and it went north until it entered the ocean through the Door Bay. The river gave life to the island, and the water brought care for us just like a mother cares for her children. That is why the spring was named Mother Spring. And the people named the river Pearl River because the clear rippling water reflects the sunlight like thousands of pearls.” The old woman fished her story with a serene look on her face.
Hearing her story, her husband decided to interrupt.
“No, no, you got it wrong. It was named Mother Spring because the missing woman became the spring, and it was named Pearl River because the river flow is similar to the shape of a mollusk shell which has a mother of pearl as the inner layer.”
“How do you know that the woman became a spring? Also, a snail doesn’t have a pearl.” The old woman answered back.
“Then where was the woman gone off to? And mother of pearl is not a pearl.”
Cendy and Hal suddenly got a front-row seat of bickering between an old married couple and weren’t sure of whether they should interrupt or not.
“Umm… excuse me?” Hal braved himself to interrupt the disagreement that was not going anywhere.
Just as fast as it started, the argument suddenly stopped. The old couple who stared daggers at each other seconds ago were now facing the young students in front of them. The woman clapped her hand cheerfully to change the atmosphere and asked the students with a smile.
“Now, do you know why Mother Spring is a part of the Social District instead of the Natural District?”
Cendy and Hal merely looked at each other and hum in unison.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Ummmm…..”
“Creation myth.” Said the old man. “You really should tell them that the culture of Alexandria revolved around the rivers before you asked them that question.” He said while facing his wife.
“I was about to do that if you did not interrupt me.”
Sensing another argument brewing, Hal quickly interrupted before it began.
“So because of the importance of the spring in Alexandria culture, it was decided that it became a part of Social District than Natural?”
“Yes.” Said the old man. “In fact a few days from now we will have one such festival.”
“The one where people put animal and vegetable products on a small boat then drown them?” Asked Cendy.
“Yes, that is the one.” The old woman answered. “It was a way to give the river what they were given to us, as a thank for the fertile land the Peal River as well as its tributary and distributary brought into the island.”
The train slowed down and the old couple prepared themselves to leave.
“This is our stop. We better get going. If you young ‘uns ever go to Mother Spring, you must remember to pay respect to the forest and springs when you entered the area.”
With that, the old couple moved away to the exit and left Cendy and Hal.
“Pay respect to the forest and spring? How do you do that?”
“Probably the usual ‘take nothing leave only footprint’ like it was instructed in our usual field trip,” Cendy answered nonchalantly with a yawn.
“Hal, what are you about to do for the rest of the train ride?”
“Huh? I think I am just going to finish the introductory chapter outline.”
“I feel sleepy. I am going to take a nap. Wake me up when we're almost there.”
“Okay.”
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“Huff! Huff! Wheeze! You said… it … was one… and a half hours of walking distance! You did not say that the trail climbed up a hill! This is more of a hike than a walk.”
“Huff… for the records… I did not know that we had to climb this much.”
“The problem is less on stamina but more on the fact that my knees feel like they are about to give up.” Hal moved to a rock near the trail and sat on it while straightening his feet.
“Such is the fate of people age 18 and above.” Cendy moved to a rock near Hal and also took a seat. “We should take a rest for a bit. It might also be a good idea to reapply our insect repellent.”
“Yeah, the mosquitos are gigantic. Oh! It seems like you got a bird poop on your straw hat.”
“Straw hat kinda handy huh? Even in a forest canopy, it protects our head from something.”
“Tell me about it. Do you know Ella? Our year, class H. When she was doing an arboreal ecology field trip in the southern forest, a snake actually attacked her from above but thankfully it bit her hat instead.” Hal recalled a story he had heard while applying an insect repellent.
“They must have accidentally startled the snake. They usually avoid a large group of humans.” Cendy commented while opening her bag, trying to find something in it.
“Do you think a big hungry snake will try to eat a human?”
“Why would an animal want to eat us? We are bony, take too much effort to digest, and tasted of stupidity.” Cendy finally found an insect-repellent bottle inside her bag and started to use it.
“Yeah. Even in Moon Archipelago, they said that a shark will spit us out if they know they are biting a human. We are unworthy to be eaten by them.”
Both of them spent some time applying their insect repellent and drinking some water while giving their feet some time to rest. While the slope was actually not very steep, one will feel tired after more than an hour of hike on such terrain. Even if both Cendy and Hal are used to many field works, such a hike in a hot and humid rainforest will tire them up faster than usual.
“Let’s move on. Our objective is not just reaching the spring. We might have to walk along the river to find out what’s wrong with it.” Hal stood up while holding a tree branch in his hand.
“Wait, where did you get that?”
“Oh, this tree branch? I found it just now near this rock. This will come in handy if we encounter another slope.”
“Help me find one too. I don’t want to put too much burden on my legs bones, otherwise, I might have to use a walking stick all the time.”
And so they spent quite some time finding woods for their makeshift hiking poles. The forest around the area where they rested was covered by many large trees, leaving no sunlight to touch the ground. But the forest canopy near the trail still allows sunlight to occasionally pass through. After finding suitable woods, they continued on their way.
“Why can’t the forest trail be just a straight line? It turned and curved, increasing our walking distance.” Hal started to complain again after walking for some time.
“I guess whoever made the trail still has respect for the forest. It chose stable ground while still avoiding areas with denser canopy. If the forest trail is straight then it will disrupt or even have to cut some of the large trees, pass through uneven ground, and not to mention it probably need some stairs to be built for the steeper area.”
“At least our way back will be less tiring.”
“Quit your complaining. We’ve made it to the spring area already.”
Not far further in front of the trail, there was a clear pool of water. The water gently bubbled and the sunlight was dancing on the water surface. The sunlight gave the illusion that something sparkling was in the water.
“So this is the Mother Spring? Looking at a river source always feels unreal, such a small pool can create such a big river.” Hal sat down on the edge of the pool, looking at the water that was pouring out of the spring.
“Actually there are multiple springs around the area. Also, Pearl River has lots of tributaries, it’s not that this single spring could create enough water for such a big river.”
“Huh, you sure know a lot about this area. Wait, hold on. Multiple springs? Are we going to visit all of them?”
“No need to, I was thinking of checking the lake where the springs converge.”
“Let’s do this and get it over with.”
Both of them walked along the stream. The sounds of the birds and the water made the walk became more enjoyable that they forgot how tired they were a few minutes ago.
“Ugh, what is that smell? I feel like smelling it from a while ago and it's getting stronger.” Hal covered his nose with his hand.
“Smells like something is rotting?”
“There is no large animal here right?”
“There shouldn’t be one?”
“Then what kind of decomposing thing that can give this much smell in such a large area?”
Both of them looked confusedly at each other.
“If it is a dead small animal, shouldn’t the forest scavengers take care of it before it rots? Unless…” Cendy ran forward through the trail.
“Wait, hold on. We should approach this more carefully. And be careful, don’t run!” Hal tried to go after Cendy but he doesn’t want to injure himself running carelessly while they were in a forest so his speed was lower than Cendy’s.
“Found it!” Cendy said from further away on the trail.
“Could you approach things more carefully!? What if it is a dangerous thing?” Hal finally caught up.
Cendy was off the trail and in front of her there was a large red flower, around one meter across. The flower has large five petals and multiple white dots on them.
“Holy mother! A corpse flower at its peak smell. Yeah no, I did not come here for this and the smell feels like it trying to punch my brain through my nose.”
“Suits yourself. I want to study this for a bit. If you go further down the trail, you should find the lake soon.”
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Ugh does that girl even have a nose? I am just gonna move away from that flower and see the lake. The sooner we finished our business here, the sooner I get to rest. Also, we better hurry, the guard sternly reminded us that we must get out of here before dusk.
“Hmm, is it me, or is the smell actually getting stronger here.”
I couldn’t see the stream after it went through a thick canopy about fifty meters back but the trail should lead to a small lake where the streams met. At the end of the canopy, a truly breathtaking scene unfolded before me.
“found it.” I instinctively murmured.
There were numerous dead fish on the river's surface. So much that the water's surface was practically filled with floating decomposing fish.
“Ugh, another torture for my nose. By the looks of things, it seems like the cliff on the other side of the lake fell off and reducing the depth of the lake. Not only that, there was a heat wave recently. Shallow water and heat reduce the amount of oxygen the lake water can hold. The fish died en masse because there wasn’t enough oxygen in the water to support them. There were so many of them that even the animals that eat fish cannot consume it all. The rotting fish must be why the Pearl River biological component got out of hand, the bacteria from the decomposing fish. We better move fast and alert the Ecological Department about this.”
But first, I need a sample of the water. Taking my dropper bottle from the bag, I opened it and held my breath as I moved closer to the lake shore. After taking some water with the dropper and putting it in the bottle I moved away as far as I could and took a breath, still had the smell of dead fish.
Well, now we know why the water of Pearl River had biological contamination. And why it did not affect villages other than Tim-Tim. The Tributaries must dilute the amount of bacteria in the river the further they flow downstream. Tim-Tim was the first village from here, which is why it affected them more profoundly compared to the rest. Wait, I almost forgot that we also had chemical contamination in the Tim-Tim River. This is such a headache.
“Hey, Cendy! You will not believe what I just found.” As I walked, I arrived at the place where the corpse flower was.
But Cendy wasn’t there.
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Where could she have gone off to?
I’ve lost count of how my times I went running around between the spring and the lake. She should have known that we must not go anywhere off the trail. There was no trace of her. She was carrying a big bag so there was no way she could move away that far in such as short time. After I found out that she wasn’t at the corpse flower site I dropped my bag and ran toward the lake, thinking that I might have missed her when I was walking deep in thought. But there was no one there. Then I ran toward the spring thinking that she probably waited for me there but there was no one at the spring either. There was no sign of struggle around the flower, wherever she went off to she must go there on her own feet.
What should I do? I spent so much time back and forth and before I knew it the sun was beginning to set. Was there something that caught Cendy’s attention and she went off the trail? But If that what was happened, then why wasn't she be back on the trail after a few hours. Could she be in trouble?
I was back around the spring again. I decided to move my bag to the spring, seems like a much better choice than putting it on the forest trail or near the lake. The sky already showed its orange hue. We were not prepared to stay in a forest during the night.
Should I go back to the gate and get help I wonder? Wait, she didn’t go back without me, didn’t she?
As I took my bag and prepared to go back to the gate I felt like I saw someone with long hair wearing orange clothes darting through the trees outside of the trail. It was just like the clothes Cendy was wearing. Just when I was about to step out of the trail to check it, a voice suddenly yelled at me.
“What are you doing!” A girl holding a lantern came out of creeping foxglove bushes around the trees near the spring.
Between my tiredness and surprise, I couldn’t manage to say anything.
“You shouldn’t go out of the trail. Didn’t the gate guard tell you that? And you should be out of here before the sun is set.”
“I am so sorry. I think my friend got lost in the forest. I thought I saw her just now.” I hastily gave out an explanation because it felt like I was suddenly being interrogated. Wait, hold on. Something was not right.
“Wait. Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“I am here because the guards are worried. A guard saw two persons enter the forest but none of the guards saw anyone get out even though it was almost sunset. There is not much time before the sun is set, follow me.” The girl circled around the yellow-flowered bushes and went off the trail.
So much for not going out of the trail.
But because I had no source of light, it will be bad if I didn’t manage to get out of the forest before sunset, so my only hope was to follow her. To my surprise, there was actually a trail behind the flower bushes.
“While I was passing by, a guard told me that there were two students who entered the forest to check on Mother Spring, but they haven’t got out yet. So they asked me to check on the spring, and here I am finding one of the students about to chase something off the trail.” The girl kept walking and gave an explanation while sounding annoyed.
“Wait, where are we going.”
“Huh? Wait a minute, is that a teakwood branch? Don’t tell me, you went in from the eastern entrance? If you don’t go off the trail, then you can only get it on the trail from the eastern entrance.”
“Um, yes. Isn’t that the shortest path here?”
“Short my butt. From the map, sure. The path there is rather steep, you’ll need two and a half hours to get here. The northern entrance terrain is gentler than the eastern one, it took less than two hours from here to there.”
We kept walking and before long the sun was actually set. The only source of light was the lantern that the girl was holding. Yet somehow, from the distance, there was also a light that looked like it came out of a window.
“We ran out of time, I guess you have to stay at grandma’s house tonight.” The girl said after stopping for a moment and giving a look at the forest around us. The night insects already started their nightly chorus.
“Wait a house? In here?”
“My grandma is the custodian of this forest. I was out shopping when the northern entrance guard told me to check for you and your friend. I guess the eastern guard must have informed the northern guard about it.”
As we got closer the rest of the window with the light showed up. It was a cabin in a clearing near the trail. It was a one-story cabin that seemed could fit in a family of five with ease, there was also a bicycle on the front porch.
“Grandma, I am home.” The girl said as she knocked on the door before she opened it.
As I got inside, the first room was a spacious room with a table and chairs. There was also a loom in there. From one of the doors deeper in the house, there was a brighter light than the candle in the first room, the light showed a shadow of a person moving around. From there, a woman came out of the room. She looked young for someone with a grandchild that seemed to be around my age.
“My oh my. Are you lost dear? You should stay here for the night. The forest is a dangerous place during the night. Don’t worry, you won’t be a bother. Nawa here already told me that we will be having an extra for dinner tonight.”
As the woman said that, the girl hurriedly closed the door behind me.