[Tell me... Do you know how you got here?] A cold voice sounded in Bran Ai's mind shaking his sub-conscious.

'...What? Who... are you?' Bran Ai gained a semblance of waking.

[Do you remember your father? Do you know how he died?]

'...father? What do you mean?' this question not asking about his father but of what a father was.

[A father, a mother, both one in the same]

'The same?' Bran Ai thought, had he seen a father before? His mother... What was a mother?

[He like your mother who birthed you was a parent to you, he who lives only in the shadow of your memory died before you could even remember his voice] the voice sounded tired.

'A parent... How? Did he die I mean' He couldn't quite understand the meaning of parent's even if he knew what they were.

A shadow appeared in his mind subtlety distinguishable from the darkness in the form of a man.

[For you, he went out after laboring all day to find you food]

The shadow changed depicting a valley as a figure walked along the edge of a narrow path, with little room to maneuver the figure was cautious only for a loose rock to knock him off balance.

The figure fell down a ravine hitting several rocks on the way down forcefully bending his back until he hit the ground. Unable to get back up the person tried to look up at the sky finding himself unable to move even him neck.

'His eyes are still moving... He's not dead yet' Bran Ai felt disconnected from this man, a father... What was that for him?

[Yes. He would live another five days before succumbing to dehydration, a slow but peaceful end] an air of longing could be heard in the voice.

'Dying isn't good! Even if I do not know him, he must have been afraid'

[Do you remember how your mother died?] Not caring for Bran Ai's response the voice moved on.

'Mother?...yes' He wasn't sure if the woman he remembered was his mother but maybe this was as close as it would get for him.

An image of a skinny woman took the place of the man's shadow.

[Sickly, dirty, barely able to stand, tell me did she die with happy?]

'No, she died because she fed me. She-' Bran Ai was giving a response based on pure recollection, his emotions fluctuating.

[She died to feed you. She died to give you a chance, a chance to grow like she and your father did] the voice noticed the change.

The shadow of a woman cared for a baby in her arms until the baby fell asleep, putting him down in a hay bed she walked away. Time passed as the baby awoke finding itself alone, as he cried out for attention several hours passed before she came back with a small loaf of bread and milk.

This scene repeated over many days with each passing moment the woman getting weaker and weaker while the baby now a child finally stood on their own.

The woman looked at the child with wonder unwilling to leave just this once, cradling him in her arms one last time she would never leave again.

The child slept soundly in her arms but eventually the peace was broken and he awoke. Watching as she looked down on him fondly, he shifted his body freeing himself from her arms as he pushed on her shoulders in an attempt to play with her yet no matter how much he shook her she did move.

Eventually her body would fall onto the ground eyes still open with no trace of motion. The boy not knowing what to do cried, panicked, clung to her clothes as he knew nothing else.

The days passed as maggots ate their way out of her body, the boy stayed by her side watching not knowing what to do or where to go.

[A difficult thing for a child to understand, death that is. This was the first memory you made clear enough to recollect]

'NO! It's a nightmare' Bran Ai did not want to believe this was real, it couldn't be!

[A nightmare? Is that why you have forgotten the name you were given?]

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'No I-' A name? Did he have one?

[You grew poor, your mother grew poor, your father as well was a poor man yet even they would have been proud of a child, enough to give them a name]

'...why? why tell me this?'

[Do you want to die like this?]

'...' No one wants to die... Right?

[Do you wish for better parents? A better life? A rich life?]

'No I... I- maybe I just want a better life'

[What do you mean by better? Better meals? Better clothes? Better home? Better parents?]

"No!"

A muffled voice tried to cry out.

[You climbed the mountain on the words of a madman, you walked for days to get to an unknown place and now as you have achieved your goal have you acquired that better life?]

'I... No, no I haven't' he hadn't even started living.

[Then why are you sitting still? Do you wish to die like them? After all they have given up for you?] The voice was chilling, it didn't feel human.

'I can't move'

[Can't? You say that you wish to live, a so called better life. Yet you cannot move? how can it be possible to achieve this better life like so?]

'...I don't -'

[Tell me, does your aspiration of a good life end here? Are a few berries and some meager soup all you desire?]

'No, I want more. I want to be more than just this!'

[Then wake up, a dream cannot achieve a goal!] Thunder struck Bran Ai's mind.

[Wake up Bran Ai!] A white flash replaced the surrounding darkness quickly fading away.

Bran Ai opened his eyes to darkness, no light pierced the cocoon made of vines. He could not properly feel his arms or legs, the blood flow being partially cut off due to how his body had been rolled into a ball.

He started to squirm inside the vine cocoon, his arms and legs were bound tight yet enough moisture had seeped into the cocoon allowing for him to slip in-between vines.

Layer after layer his body freed itself from the vines encapsulating him, his blood flowing through his limbs freely once more restoring a sense of feeling to his bound limbs. His arm and legs tingled as the nerves in his body activated again only to be overwhelmed as the blood flow forced its way into even the smallest of pathways.

Bran Ai felt pain, his body pulsed for a minute before relaxing once more. Taking heavy breaths he took a moment to regain strength, allowing himself to take in the situation.

'My eyesight is still covered, I don't feel my feet on the ground and my hands can't reach anything either. If I manage to get myself free will I fall to the ground? If so how far down will I fall?'

Not knowing what had happened or how much time had passed after the flower captured him, he could only guess his surroundings based on what he could remember.

'The flower was pretty tall, almost twice as tall as an adult'

He knew that at best he might fall several feet down possibly knocking the air out of his lungs, while at worst he might land wrong breaking whatever limbs he lands on.

Taking a deep breath 'Ok, I am prepared for a fall now' He twisted around his legs trying to get them free while his arms attempted to free his face.

He pushed the vines up above his chin finding himself unable to push them any further.

'Guess they are too tangled, need to free some of my body first so I can push myself out' Pushing vines and twisting limbs he freed most of his body finally pulling his head out from the bundle that held him hostage.

Light blinded his eyes instantly causing him to squint his eyes while his hands attempted to block out the sun. The sudden action caused the vines to shift turning him upside down before dropping him headfirst to the ground.

With no time to react Bran Ai landed with a thud.

"Ah! That hurt"

Bran Ai picked himself up adjusting his eyes as the surroundings became clear to him.

'What happened here!?'

Grass tall as a man covered the land, the berry bushes in the surroundings had disappeared leaving only an open grassland surrounded by the forest.

Bugs squirmed on the ground Bran Ai had fallen atop picking up the dirt like a blender bringing it back into a flat ground that could not be differentiated from its surroundings.

Feeling the ground shift under him Bran Ai moved aside only for his feet to sink a few inches into the ground forcing him to stumble.

'What, what's going on?! Oh what happened to my feet?'

He looked at the top of his feet seeing no scars while the coloration had a healthy look to it.

Looking at the bottom of one of his feet the scars had healed completely leaving him shocked.

A pinch on the side of his other foot snapped him out of his daze.

'Ah! so many bugs'

The new holes made by his steps revealed the ground to be made of mostly insect carcasses while only the top layer was true dirt.

No sign of the dead tree's could be seen from Bran Ai's location and even the direction from which he came from was hidden from sight, he had no idea which way to go.

'I can't stay here it is too dangerous, too weird!'

Bran Ai walked to the near-most tree in an attempt to get a higher vantage point with each step he picked up all sorts of insects, carcasses and wet grass that clung to his feet.

'This should be good enough'

He took a look around only to see several dried out trees covered in foliage, the path from which he came hidden under layers of plants not seen on the 'night' he came here.

'Which way do I go? The first day I came the forest was basically empty, now it's filled with a bunch of grass and plants I've never seen'

He tried to think about which trees he had seen before being trapped, each of the roots and trunks looked almost the same in his eyes hardly a distinguishing feature among them.

'This one looks familiar, so does this... Didn't I mark all of these ealier?'

Seeing no other choice, he choose a direction and walked for a few minutes trying to avoid walking on the ground as much as possible.

'No it's not this way, the air feels cooler here then I remember'

He walked back to the flowers original position once more.

'That's right! The stem of the flower is a bit pointed, I remember it pointing in the same direction I came from, maybe it still is!'

Looking at the stem for a moment trying to make sure of his assumption rather then waste more energy on a pointless venture he decided to simply take a leap of faith.

'Haaa in the end I will just have to take a chance, I'm not that deep inside the forest anyway right?'

twenty minutes later a young boy exited the forest the same way he entered covered in leaves, bugs & dirt Bran Ai made his way back to the underground building.

"Wonder how long I was gone"