Ch. 7 Lexuie's Wood

This is a continuation of The Apocalypse Saga

For the other chapters in TAS, click here

For more stories in the world of Astra outside of TAS, click here

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“This is… odd” Lady Vey’s voice echoed off the deep brown bark of the forest that Seijun stood at the mouth of.

“What is?” he asked, staring into the darkening abyss. He tried to find where his line of sight ended and the forest gave itself over to darkness, but instead he found where the tree line blurred into an overlapping solid wall of forest. It seemed foreign and strange in a way he had never thought of a forest before.

“This forest… it seems ancient, but I don’t know it.” Vey, Seijun’s newfound spiritual ancestor, mused without making herself corporeal.

“So, it must be.” Seijun responded, pacing in the calf deep grass.

“But that’s the problem. There was no record of a forest being here to my knowledge in my lifetime or any time beyond that. In fact, I think there was a trading post here. As far as I know, it should still be here. Navia’s Guardhouse, I believe it was called. The most important trading post in this hemisphere of Astra, and yet…”

“You don’t know of it?”

“Perhaps not… but look over there, a sign!” Slightly further down the path, deeper into the forest was indeed an old sign. From the distance they were, neither of them could make out what was on it, so Seijun took long strides forward to get a closer look.

The air was cool in the dew-kissed early morning, and Seijun’s light footsteps padded in a soft rhythm against the wet earth.

“It smells so sweet here. So pure.” Seijun said to Vey. Lady Vey ignored him,

“Perhaps I’m thinking of the wrong location… maybe I’ve gotten myself all turned around…”

“We’ve been traveling together for over a week and you’ve yet to be turned around a single time, auntie. You know the land better than the living.”

“It’s never too late to make a mistake.” She answered. “I’m no stranger to mistakes, I won’t hide from it.”

“Well, let’s traverse the forest. If we’re fortunate, we’ll find answers on the other side.”

“Yes lets - oh… oh this is interesting…” As they came into view of the sign, Vey went silent. She unraveled from the ribbon and stood next to Seijun as she studied the sign. Seijun tried to study it as well but found he couldn’t decipher the words. Even though he recognized the letters, the words meant nothing to him. He did notice though that there was a path behind the sign leading into the forest.

“What does it say?” he asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. I’m not familiar with this local dialect, but that word there at the bottom…” There were two lines of text. What appeared to be two words in large print centered across the board, and beneath it, smaller print. A sentence. “... the third word in the sentence appears to be ‘Navia.’ And that word there on the first line is a name I think followed by ‘wood’. Or at least a rough translation of wood. Maybe forest. This is much too large to be a wood by the traditional sense. It’s clearly a forest. A grand one at that. I wonder…”

“You mean Navia, the goddess?” Seijun asked, recentering the discussion.

“Yes, that one. Have you ever heard a human with such a name after all? Ha, the gall! It would explain the Guardhouse disappearing if this was one of her forests. Somehow she sprouted up this forest maybe. I suppose that would clear up our confusion.”

“Are her forests often safe to traverse?”

“All forests are Navia’s forests - she is the goddess of the wilds after all - but special forests under Navia’s protection are often the purest places on Astra. Any alterations were by her choice alone. That there’s a path through this forest at all tells me that perhaps it will be safe to traverse.” Vey concluded. She seemed confident enough to Seijun. He shrugged and began to step forward, “Oh!” She proclaimed with a start, “Wipe your feet off before you enter. Praise to Navia.” She said with an uneasy smile before her form dissipated into the air and found safe shelter in the sword’s sheath. Seijun took a deep breath,

“It would be safer to fully read this sign before moving forward, but without the ability to -”

“Forward is the only path, nephew.” Seijun nodded and took a step past the sign. Immediately, a strong energy overtook the air, as though he passed through a thick membrane and into the silent forest.

Often in the Valley, he thrived on the life that thrived around him in the natural world that was his home, but here in the forest there seemed to be no life. All but the wind was still. Seijun took a deep breath in then out. His body tingled and he felt something on his neck that made him twitch with discomfort.

“We shouldn’t be here…” He whispered.

“Forward. It is -”

“The only path, I know but -”

“- but we have a mission. We must move forward.”

“Auntie, you cannot feel what I’m feeling.”

“Is it fear?” She said in an accusatory voice that shamed Seijun.

“Yes, but a healthy one. I don’t belong here. We don’t belong here.”

“Then we will move quickly, won’t we?” Seijun sighed in defeat. Yet uncertainty gripped him all the same. He trusted his ancestor. She was all he had left in this world, but this didn’t seem right. Still, he had to trust her. The Five sent her for a reason after all. Yet as they walked on, he realized he was right to trust himself over her.

The roiling mountainside that Seijun found himself climbing to traverse the forest consumed all, and the deafening silence burned deep into his ears. He found himself asking Vey questions so as not to find himself becoming lost in the darkness of the silence. The sun beamed down from a clear sky onto the ethereal world. It left a beauty mark upon Astra where each ray danced. At first it was beautiful, welcoming and calm, and though he was afraid, he took comfort in knowing this was a gift of the gods. A beautiful work of art. Then he started thinking about how odd it was that it didn’t look like the rest of the wasteland he had seen. Was this place protected like his home was, or was there something else at play?

As time passed, Seijun began to notice strange discrepancies in the terrain. Footprints that seemed to stop abruptly. More than once, he saw a large cat’s pawprints in the earth only for them to disperse into a dense patch of mud. Worse yet, the trees had eyes.

Too many times to count, from the corner of his eye, he saw a notch in one of the many thick ancient trees roll open into a pulsating tender green eye. It blinked away tears and followed him with an intense curiosity that gave him chills. At first, he turned to these notches with curiosity and fear, but when he met them, they were just what they were: notches. He wasn’t sure what petrified him more, that they weren’t there when he turned to them, or that as he traveled deeper and deeper into the endless forest, more and more were opening and watching. Following. Is this how death would come? At the unyielding eyes of this divine forest? He wasn’t so sure. It didn’t seem hostile. Not in a traditional sense. He wondered if maybe it was pure curiosity. Maybe it didn’t understand the world which it had become a part of. Maybe it was trying to understand.

But a powerful creature’s curiosity can crush an insect. He remembered stories in his youth of powerful creatures that had sensors in their mouths. That they would bite foreign entities to figure out what they were, and if it wasn’t important they would let it go. By that point a person would be dead. He wondered how long it would be until the very mouth of the forest floor opened up and devoured him.

The path he walked was littered with jagged rocks that cut into the soft clay land. He found himself balancing upon the tips of the rocks at first, but he slowly began to think of the trail as the gums of a beast and the rocks as the untended to teeth. The thought invaded his mind in such a way that he found himself walking to the left of the trail on the dense forest floor, sidestepping trees, larger rock formations and spindly sharp berry bushes. He wouldn’t dare step within the creature’s jaws again.

The forest grew denser as he began the trek into a steep winding incline. He could feel the gentle ache in his calves that came with the rise in altitude, and he dug his toes in to push harder. He was considering the top of the little mountain a halfway point, and he hoped he could only make it to the other side safely. Vey had continued telling him stories of the old days. Stories of his family’s prestige in a time long past. Stories of the last champion of the Five. Stories that Seijun tried to listen to, but found himself distracted.

He caught another green-eyed notch looking at him, and instead of looking at it, he whispered, “What do you want from me?” His mouth had become so dry that it ached out of a broken squealing throat. The notch blinked, hesitated, then closed once more, returning to a lifeless notch.

“Who are you speaking to, nephew?” Vey demanded.

“The trees. They’re alive, auntie.”

“I’ve seen no such thing.” She let out a light laugh that reassured him in a way.

“Maybe it’s all in my head…” he coughed out.

“You need water.” Vey said with a tinge of concern. Seijun nodded. He stopped for the first time since they entered the forest and began fidgeting with a small pack he kept at his waist with a small number of rations. He had what little fruit and dried meat he had gotten from the small fishing village of Sunai a few days east of the forest while trading with them. He also had a small water pack, but as he opened it, the water expelled itself as vapor into the air. He stared in disbelief.

“This forest is trying to kill me.”

“If you had better control over your abilities as champion, I’d encourage you to draw water from the very air… but this is a holy place of another goddess, and we don’t want to make a mistake here. We can try later.”

“If there is a later.” He reached for a collection of broadberries and suckled on them. They had enough water to keep him hydrated until he made it out of the cursed forest. Once he was satisfied, Seijun continued up the mountain at a faster pace than before.

“I find it odd. I’m more than certain this mountain wasn’t here before.” Vey said, disregarding Seijun’s fears.

“I’m more worried about surviving than the terrain.” Seijun replied as he trekked up the mountain.

“Nonsense, you love learning about terrain!”

“The dead fear no death.” Seijun whispered to himself.

“If my wayfinding is correct, I’m certain that the trading post originated right where the center base of this mountain is. Therefore, maybe the very tip of the mountain itself will hold Navia’s guardhouse.” As the name of the goddess leaked from the spirit’s lips, the air grew tense, and every eye in the forest snapped to a much more focused attention. A look of contempt. A look of fear. A look of pain. A shudder overtook the entire forest, and a large scream could be heard from distant hollows, echoing off rocks and edges of unseen paths. Seijun froze. His first instinct was to hide. Find a place to collect his thoughts before moving forward. Something had triggered a negative feeling in the forest. Something upset it. How do you hide when everything around you is the enemy?

Seijun broke into a dead sprint.

“Nephew! What’s come over you?”

“Survival.” He heaved out as he sprinted forward on panicking legs and a petrified body. Vey shouted at him to stop, to think clearly, to act as a warrior, but he did not listen. He sprinted as a guttural howl was let out of the crags and breaks in the ground all around him and deeper into the forest on all sides. Seijun ran on boundless adrenaline until he was nearly at the top of the mountain. The forest went quiet as he stumbled to a stop at a fork in the trail.

“What, a fork I-”

“Clear your mind. Like the water, we flow, and like the water we will find the way to our own ocean. Now, a deep breath in…” Vey guided him in the most soothing tone a politician could muster. Seijun obliged. “Hold… hold… hold… and out…” Seijun released a deep breath and the air around him softened. He almost felt a calming effect. Almost. It couldn’t change the eyes of the forest’s never-ending gaze.

“Which way, auntie?” He asked in a shaky, but much calmer voice.

“The path to the left appears to clearly take us further to the top.” Seijun looked.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” He began to walk that way but stopped when he heard something. A scream in the distance. As if the wind was yelling, “Wait!”

“For what?” He called back. There was no response, but the wind pushed him in the direction of the path to the right. Seijun stumbled as the gust threw him that way but kept his footing. “The forest wants us to go that way.” He said to Vey.

“Well, the forest knows nothing of our divine mission!” Vey replied, impatience in her voice.

“Maybe we’d do well not to upset the forest. I believe it has the upper hand. We should listen to it for the sake of survival.”

“Bah! Go on then. Not like I can stop you. Goodness, I would’ve thought growing up in a forest, a different forest wouldn’t scare you so. Oh well, I’m only a little disappointed, nephew.”

“Please, auntie, trust me. I don’t think you can see what I see – what I hear. What I feel.” Seijun took a deep breath and followed the wind. At his acquiescence it became a gentle breeze. The ground was soft and as he entered the other side of the fork, the terrain became wrought. The spindling thorns of the berry bushes had become more invasive on the narrow path and the stench of rotten honey lingered in the air.

“That smell…”

“The smell of loss.” Lady Vey said with sorrow.

“You can smell it too?”

“Some smells invade the senses even across realms. Not all, but some. Grief is one. I know it well.”

“It’s the first thing I’ve perceived here that you have too.” Seijun remarked.

“It isn’t even a place I knew. That’s the strange thing about it. When I was sent on this divine mission, I was tasked with knowing as much as the Five deemed necessary. Why wouldn’t this be necessary? This place eludes me. Like I’m not welcome here. But you are. Maybe it’s because I’m no longer of Astra. I knew that certain people wouldn’t be able to perceive me, but for me not perceive a forest… that doesn’t make sense at all.”

Seijun continued down the trail, avoiding thorn bushes and dancing around vines. When obstructions like the vines were too dense, they appeared to move from his way. The forest was helping him now in a way that he hadn’t expected before. The air became cool across the trail, and soon he found a break in the trees. The first he ever saw. A grassy trail wider than any he had been on cut through the forest like a scythe and continued onward across the mountain. Across the way from the scar in the forest was a different terrain entirely. Knee high dry yellow grass and the swift scent of a cool spring day trailed across the forest from the other side.

“A whole different terrain…” Seijun said with a gasp. He coughed and his throat began to clear. The air was less dense here. Less oppressive. Gentle. Seijun was still dehydrated, but he wasn’t suffocating under fear or pressure.

“How fascinating,” Vey began, “this is the terrain that I was expecting. Not a forest, but a grassy plain.”

Millions of eyes watched as he crossed the scarred threshold to the terrain. Millions of cracks and crevices held their breath. The air grew still, and the sky swallowed up the darkness, leaving only a ray of light gazing down upon a break in the grass. Two tree stumps perfectly spaced with an old, charred fire pit between them. An arrangement of large round rocks clung around the circle holding in a long-extinguished flame’s remains.

“This was where they met.”

“And who is this ‘they’ of which you speak?” Vey asked.

“I – I don’t know.” Seijun tried to think of where the idea had come from and he realized he couldn’t pin it down in his own mind. Instead he let the words flow more, “But its a place of significance. I can feel power coursing through it. This is where all the power of the forest originated.”

“A place of power then? I don’t feel it. What makes you so sure?” Vey asked.

“I can feel it. The forest kept it here - kept the terrain. Kept this camp here. This place must matter. It has to.”

Seijun took a step toward the fireplace, but a feeling overcame him. A deep longing. It felt like desire. Devotion. Love. He shuddered at the feeling. Love was a scarring feeling since he lost his family. His people. Seijun shook his head, “What are you doing?” He called up to the forest, but here it was silent.

Vey reached out to Seijun. Tried to question him, see what was happening, but it was as though a divide lifted between them, and she couldn’t reach him. Vey let out an exasperated sigh, “I see it now.”

Seijun was overtaken by a powerful force. Vines curled up his ankles and guided him to one of the stumps. His body came to rest, his leg crossed one over the other, and as he settled into the position of a character he wasn’t familiar with, the terrain shifted.

The sun became clearer, the forest which obscured it before was gone, and the mountain disappeared. In the distance where the mountain once stood, he could barely make out the form of a bustling building. The grass was so high now, that once he sat on the stump, he couldn’t see much around him.

Seijun had stumbled into a memory outside of his own, and the forest guided him through it. Looking across, the fire had erupted into a marvelous orange heat. A natural fire that fed off old dry wood and soured plants. On the other side, a beautiful woman. No, not a woman.

The titan-like goddess took the form of a woman. Her hair was made up of thick dreaded vines, and her body was a collection of blossoming flowers and worn-down bark, as though the ocean itself had lapped and weathered the wood, creating a soft skin out of the trees themselves.

“Navia, my love.” A voice that wasn’t Seijun’s blurted from his mouth. The voice was sweet, but tired. A soured air of exhaustion, as though the honeyed lips had been beaten into submission by life itself. Such was the way of the world. The voice whispered deep inside him.

“My love…” Navia said. As she parted her lips, a mist of pollen departed her rose lips with each slithering word. “Something has happened.” She spoke with sadness. Seijun couldn’t place it, and it made him nervous. Anxious even. Had he done something wrong?

“What is it?”

“Dearest, you know you are the roots to my tree.”

“Of course! I’m anything you want me to be. I can be your roots. Your canopy. Your lean-to in the cold rain. Anything, love, anything.” Seijun felt the words pouring from his lips, and they meant the world to him. He loved Navia and needed her more than anything.

“Then I need you to do something for me.” Navia looked pained. He had never seen a god look in such a way, nor had he seen a lover look that way either. He had a brief shock of reality when he recalled that he - Seijun - never had a lover.

“Anything. Anything at all, my -”

“Hush, darling.” Navia stood from her seat across the fire. She lifted a hand, and the fire burned away to ash as vines grew to consume the oxygen around it.

She stepped across the warm coals and leaned down towards him. Her fingers wrapped around his jaw - as though his mask wasn’t there at all - and leaned in to kiss him. He recognized the scent from wild nights before, but more importantly, he recognized it from the very opening of the forest. It was the first thing he smelled when he entered.

“It won’t hurt for long… and you will be mine forever.” Navia whispered.

Seijun was ripped back to reality as he fell backwards off the stump and down onto the dried grass. There was no goddess. The mountain was still there. It was a vision. “A dream.” He gasped out.

“A dream? Nephew what are you talking about?”

“I saw something. A vision of some sort, or a dream or… I don’t know. Somebody was trying to tell me something.”

“Who? There’s no one here except -”

“She had nothing to tell you.” A voice interrupted from the forest. “She just wanted to feel it again.” Seijun snapped to attention. He looked across the tree line on the other side of the scar upon the land but saw nothing. No one.

“Feel what again?” Seijun asked the hidden voice. Unnerve quivered out, but at least there was a voice here. Someone who could answer his calls.

From the highs of the forest canopy dropped a woman. She was decorated vines and flowers all strung together into cloth. Greenery was draped about her body and shoulders. Her skin was rough from time spent outside, but it still radiated a dazzling deep blueish white like that of a milky swirling nebula. Her face flashed patches without pigment, and her eyes were oddly dotted with the colors of the forest. She was a xella woman. Seijun had heard legends of them but had never seen one before. They were the chosen people of the goddess of the cosmos, but it appeared this one served another.

“Stranger,” the woman began in the rocky voice of someone who hadn’t spoken to another in a long time, “I believe you’re lost. Can you not read?”

“I can read.” Seijun responded.

“Yes, he can read with no trouble at all, he is oddly clever for his foolish behavior!” Vey snapped defensively. Seijun paused and looked over to her now present ribbonous form at his side.

“Are you unwell?” The woman asked, ignoring Vey. Seijun began to think that much like how his aunt couldn’t see the strange happenings in the forest, maybe this woman couldn’t see her either.

“I’m well, thank you. I’m not from here. I couldn’t read the dialect, I’m sorry for trespassing. I’m just trying to get through the forest, but this place, it lives with such a -” The woman lifted her hand,

“I’ve heard it all before.” She answered with a laugh. “I am the guardian of this forest. Come, I’ll escort you out. Which way are you going?”

“Over the mountain. Away from Sunai.”

“Oh, you’re coming from that little village?” She asked.

“Yes. I had business there, but now I’m continuing on my journey.”

“Then let me make this more spiritual part of your journey over with. Come. Away from this sacred place.”

The guardian led Seijun away from the tall yellow grass and back into the forest. The eyes still followed, but they were less curious. It seemed more idle. As if they knew all they needed to. The guardian was in charge now, and Seijun was being shepherded to safety. Away from the forest. But first he had to go through the rest of it.

They padded through the forest peacefully. “This is Lynx run.” The guardian mused as she walked forward. “Long before old Lex was here, this place was rife with Lynx bigger than any wolf or creature of the likes. They padded about with sharpened fangs and curious eyes. Today, there are no lynx left… there’s not much of anything left. Just Lex and I.”

“A sullen duty you have taken on.” Seijun answered.

“A protector, much like yourself.” Vey interjected. Seijun wanted to answer, but he didn’t want to look mad to the guardian, so he let out a grunt. It appeared that Vey took the hint and for the rest of the conversation only responded with affirming curiosity.

“Well, I didn’t have a choice. A person from my village is chosen whenever the next dies. Our goddess demands it.”

“And your people guard this forest?”

“That’s how it started,” The guardian said, “but Lex can handle herself. Nearly had you hanging by a tree before you listened to her, I bet.”

“What?”

“Lex can be violent sometimes. We started off protecting her - my people did. Now, we protect the fools who dare to enter. Lex uses them as a conduit. Uses you. Makes fools of the afraid and lost. Feeds off of them. Not for any reason other than to get what she wants… what other choice does she have?” The guardian gave a weak smile. Seijun was unsettled by everything she said and gave a long pause.

“Lex is the forest?” He asked. There was a shudder beneath his feet.

“You got it in one. You are walking through Lexuie’s wood. The living forest of nature’s forgotten love. A sacred place to people of the goddess - whose name will not be spoken before you open your mouth - as this was a place of great love and further still power.”

“This a place of power? You were right…” Veyeni interjected. “You didn’t know it, but you were right.” Seijun nodded,

“So this is a place of power?” The guardian nodded. “What does that mean?”

“Never heard of one? They can be many things. A place that’s special to a god. A place with inherent power. A place that is important to the very world of Astra… or another world entirely. I’ve even heard of places created by the very will of a collective people. Places of power are as diverse as objects of power. The important thing is that they harness a grand power that we must respect and be wary of. Just as you must be towards our Lex. She’s a fickle lady, she.”

“Lexuie was a woman who fell for a goddess?”

“Not exactly… we don’t actually know the gender of Lex. I like to think Lexuie was a woman, and she hasn’t stopped me from saying so, so I call Lex ‘her’. You call Lexuie whatever you please. Trust me, if she doesn’t like it, she’ll let you know.”

“But more importantly, there was love between the two?” Seijun questioned, astonished.

“Love between those beyond and mortals isn’t that uncommon in history. This is just one of the much sadder tales. Actually, most tales of divine love are sad. Anyway, Lexuie was turned into this very forest. The goddess said it was for protection, but…”

“But?”

“Well, no one can be certain of that.”

“What do your people believe?”

“It was forbidden amongst the twins – She of the wilds and Cairo of the fields - to fall in love. Commitment could only be between family and the land. To fall in love was to commit a grave sin in the eyes of each other. But the wildland’s goddess fell for the devotion of Lex. She was loving in her devotion and did all the goddess asked of her. They snuck away into the plains beyond the guard post and met at a sacred altar of flame. The place where you shared in one of Lex’s visions.”

“Have you ever experienced a vision of Lexuie?” Seijun asked.

“No. She’s not permitted to touch me. I am a servant of the goddess, not Lex. Though, if we’re being honest, my devotion is stronger to her. I’m beyond her reach though. She knows I am here to care for her in a way though.” As she spoke, the guardian ran her hands along a nearby tree, being certain not to place her hand into the knot, but instead gently swirling around it before moving on.

The trek up the mountain wasn’t as difficult as it had felt before. It was calming to have a lonely storyteller by Seijun’s side. He enjoyed the company of others and wasn’t interested in the solitude he encountered when he wasn’t interacting with strangers on the road. Though Vey was good company, it was nice to diversify his connections. He hoped she understood, even in silence. They made it to the peak of the mountain in no time at all, and Seijun took in the moment. The air had changed, but otherwise it wasn’t too different from the rest of the forest. Halfway there.

“This is indeed a holy place.” Vey announced, her voice in awe. “A place of power.” Seijun grunted in agreement before they began the descent back down.

“So, Cairo doesn’t know about the forest at all?” Seijun asked.

“As far as the legends go, no. We don’t know if he knows anything but… it isn’t impossible. At this point it would matter very little. Lex is nature. The goddess is allowed to love nature, plus… well…” The guardian brought her voice low and leaned in very close to Seijun. The air grew still as the forest held its breath to try and listen. Seijun just barely made out the guardian’s soft voice announce, “She doesn’t visit anymore.” Seijun looked around the forest and felt sadness for it.

“Who knows what their life could’ve been if not for intervention from the divine.” Seijun pondered out loud. His sorrow carried across the grounds, and he felt an acknowledgement in the air.

“I think she wonders that often.” The guardian said with a sigh, “but alas… what more can we do for her other than keep her pleased?”

“How do you do that?”

“Tell her stories of my people, tend to her overgrowths, sing songs, dance in the rain so the flickering leaves can dance with me. In the winter during the aurora festival, I decorate her full of color, and the people of my village cover her tree line with vibrant ribbons and bows. We once even had a Child of Koh stranger drape her in solar lights! Oh, what a winter that was. Lex loves the aurora festival. I think it reminds her of the joys of love. She deserves happiness after all. Anything to make her breath a little easier.

“You are a great servant of nature.” Seijun said as he looked at her with a smile that she couldn’t see through his mask.

“As I was born to be. But more than anything, I am a servant to Lexuie. I couldn’t imagine tending to a forest without her heart. Without her essence, it would be a lonely place.”

“I was a protector of my forest in a way.”

“Oh? And why did you leave?”

“To make things right again. My home was destroyed. We were sworn to protect a Tome that kept the universe in balance. It has fallen to a vile dimension walking deity. Our valley village was destroyed. I am the only one left.”

“I’m so sorry… that sounds terrible.” The guardian said, hurt and sympathy creeping into her voice. She shook her head and gave a resolute nod, “But you appear strong and willing - strong enough that Lex used you as a conduit and it didn’t drive you completely mad - so I think you must be up to this!” Seijun gave her a smile. His eyes glistened in the sunlight that broke through the trees,

“Thank you.”

“There’s a village not far from here. For a little coin or barter if you have something worthwhile, they’ll give you room and board. There’s a social club too – acts like a tavern if you’re into that sort of thing.”

“Is it your home village?” Seijun asked as they finally broke the tree line for the first time. The sun was going down. Odd, it must’ve taken all day. Upwards of 14 hours. Perhaps a little less. He was exhausted, and yet the end of the journey felt like it took so little time that it gave him a little more hope.

“It isn’t. Mine is to the east of here. Far to the other side of the forest… but this is a neighbor. They are respectful of the lands and its travelers. Be mindful though. I’ve heard stories from messengers that cultists of the moon god wander these roads at night. Stories tell they’ve been getting aggressive. Trying to take over towns. I can only hope they haven’t made it this far. Tread carefully and respectfully, friend.” The guardian warned. Seijun nodded,

“Thank you for your guidance.” He turned from her to the forest, “And thank you for this journey.” He brought up his fist and gently thudded his chest plate as he bowed to the land. The forest obliged, and for the first time, he met one of the forest’s many eyes’ head on. There was nothing left to say, but they shared a knowing stare.

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Thank you so much for reading! This chapter was originally supposed to be cut from the final version posted on substack, but this is one of my favorite chapters and I just couldn’t stand to cut it out. And so here we are!

This has some lovely visual inspiration, so allow me to share! This story is inspired by a place called Lynn Run in Western Pennsylvania. It’s one of my favorite hiking spots and a specific hike on a trail to a place called Wolf Rock (pictured at the opening of the chapter) originally motivated this chapter. And lastly, a very strange little campsite that my mind got a little creative way inspired by the core mythology of the land. This little spot was on a trail near Wolf Rock called Lynx Trail if I remember correctly. Gosh, I haven’t been in years. Maybe I should plan a hiking trip soon.

Thank you again for reading! The coming months are looking pretty busy! I’ve been wanting to release the next episode of Marrow Chronicle for a while, and I finally thing I have a good period to do so. There’s a few other things coming down the tube in the next couple months. My first ever book publication is coming next month (a short story in an anthology) and I want to post a discussion about that story and what it means to me. I also will finally get my discussion of Absolution out, and it’s looking like before the end of February, we will make it to chapter 11 of TAS! We are moving along, and I am loving it! I hope you are too!

Anyway, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Please consider subscribing if you haven’t already, and if you have the ability and the inclination, drop a tip! I’m in the market for new glasses, so I can confirm it will go to a good cause!

See you next week for chapter 8: Entwined