Author's note: by now, this chapter gave me a lot of pain and a crap ton of research to get this ONE CHAPTER done. It's generally a way of experimenting of writing a story within a story. It's quite a challenge where you have to write another legend that will have an influence to the plot of the story. Think of what you do on catching the regi trio in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
Uhh … ohhh. Wh- … where … am I? This place is … so green. Lighter above. Dark below. Why am I here? It feels … cool and windy to my left. “Celena? Mien Rin?”. Nothing. Its … too quiet. The wind stays warm. I feel like I need to go somewhere. But where should I go?
*sching* … *sching* … *sching*
“Huh?” something tells me … is it … follow me? It tones like … chimes that … so … … otherworldly. I decided to follow it. Throughout my journey, or this kind of walk wherever I am right now, it felt like an eternity. Wherever I go, I kept hearing different noises in almost every direction. I hear gallops below me. I heard steam on my left. While I follow the steam I heard … charcoal being burned ahead. I followed on. I hear … drops of water behind me. The more I move on, I hear … stones … clanking … or was it … dropped to the ground. Even further … the winds began getting strong. Not the kind of strong to push me away.
“Are the winds … wailing?” Suddenly, the sky just turns blue green and the winds went down with ease.
“What’s happening here? Why am I … here?” I ask myself.
*Two wind blowing once again.*
“Hello there. My child.” I feel like something … or someone lay a hand on my right shoulder. “Are you lost?” I just could not speak. Its voice was so … tranquil. Caring perhaps. “I’ll give you wisdom along the way … if you do so follow me.” As I turned around, I’m in awe.
I couldn't do anything to my sister and neither much to her baby. I have to take her child into account so that little Jireh won’t be too infected by the sorrow happening to her. Still … I can’t easily forget … how she reacted to what happened way back at Akiko’s Farm.
“Milady! Stand back! Let me check on him first! Miss Sanipela, assist me here!” I immediately checked for a pulse hoping that Lucas would still be alive. But when I touched his chest, something felt cold. But I felt that light pulse. I felt quiet and … cried a tear out. Jireh’s and Celena’s cries did not help me focus at all. As if I’m losing one of my best friends that I can call at times … brother.
As I wept a bit more, Verdio began carrying him to his shoulder. “Do wanna save him? We still got a chance if you two get yourselves moving!” I looked at my little sister as I see the inevitable … she was in conflict with herself. I heard only one word from both mom and son.
“Lu … cas.”
“Pa … pa …”
I felt … powerless. I … failed on my role badly.
It is the first time I ride this steam train, like I have the time to admire this place. A pen and notebook are my everyday tools for writing my experiences. “Heh. Last night, I met this young boy. A boy still seeking answers. Through the night, his voice calls out from his soul. Was it fear he emanates? Concern? Uncertainty? All of it revolves about his mate and child. The next day, answers he dug are merely butterfly ashes. A hollow he was. An adult without resolution. I helped him to man up. I deserve the credit. An assault from his denial. Followed by a woeful woman and child. Also an aunt admitting herself to her sibling’s and friend’s burdens.” Hearing the door open, the eldest of the three along with the child of the young couple. “No need to shy like a cocoon.”
An uncommon tivanian trait. Poor lady. Only herself makes her world go against and with the stars. “May I … stay here with you? I felt like … reading.”
I nod at her.
Looking at her book relieves me back nostalgia. “Would you read the story for me?” as she nods back, I thanked her. Hopefully relieving both of us from … the Tanabata couple’s agony.
The Emerald land of Herbardam
An origin tells a tale of happenings. Emerald Land is also part of the thread of life. The land was once the aftermath of the seafloor’s uprising. What was once the hottest of Vitandes melting veins turned to a newborn sea. Thousands of years coral life bloom. All it took to meet an untimely demise would be crystals of the frozen space. An Ice Age resonated at the land. Amidst the cold, the corals remained shining and visible. Far to the south, a couple emerges to seek a new home. A young man Numolap (Nula) and a young woman Tichipala (Chipa) find themselves a plain dead tree to rest.
“Chipa. Can you still keep up?” Being the survivalist of the two knows what deems required and dangerous, even in times of famine and emptiness.
“I dunno. Are we close to finding food Nula?” Sensing her tiredness gave him the same feeling of dread. Days they’ve been trying to find whatever necessities they could find are intensifying.
“I’m afraid none as of yet. Is there anything nearby that you can sense?” he asked.
“I’ll try.” Try as Chipa does her best, food in the barren wasteland was all for naught. A breeze blew through them. “Nula … did you felt that?”
“Felt what? It’s only wind. That’s it.” It’s just wind he felt, wondering what his wife looking at.
“I think. I just think … I felt something … over there.” As she raised a hand, she felt that wind again. “Northwest.”
“Nula, I think I saw something over there. Could you check it for me?” he placed Chipa to rest for a while. Climbing up the tree made him felt a bit cooler. That is … a small dot of moving shadow in a field of crystal blue. As he looked further, he found a surprise of a potentially green life.
“Sweetheart! We just may be lucky!”
With him back on brown floor, he carries his wife to this unknown greenery. “You found something love?”
“I believe so.” He always loved a moment of accomplishment from either of them. A kiss is a peacemaker’s element of rooming out the brownest of weeds. Walking through the new direction, he felt his feet walking to much more comfortable dirt unlike the sand of thirst. The closer both of them felt, the grassier it is to tap the ground. As they go ahead further, they saw that the field ahead of them was covered in crystal colored ice. It wasn’t long a man of elder age make a provoking entrance, staff made of wood at hand.
…
“Stay away.” What … was he thinking?
“But we are here for shelter.” Just the moment she changes, I change too
“Both of us are seeking a home to start a family.” Radiating cold eyes from
this man … it shivers both of us to the bone.
“Hmmmm … had you sent me these nomads my Goddess?” is he talking to himself. “I understand.”
“Sir-.”
“Chipa. Hold it.”
“I believe my time is almost up. Terra Gubat!”
…
Below their feet, two roots wrap themselves at the couple as the glacial floor stats to melt; hugging the couple together. They couldn’t explain what was happening. As a follower of Feli, he will do his duty to protect the land. “You two have invaded my privacy and my sacred ground. I would have spared you two if you did not cross my glacial line. I’d only let you have the ground of dessert and grass. Seems I was wrong about you two. Right now, you two will carry my creed, procreate every tree and every flora of this dead land. Thus, my time neared its time to return to the stars. You two will be my servants for many millennia.” The inevitable comes when the young couple screamed in pain.
All the couple could admit was their love to each other through their last kiss; letting their sorrowful and joyful tears water the path of their untimely demise. Their true love merged them as the one Mother Genesis Tree.
Then everything through the frozen ocean melted to water. All of the corals turned to Flora of many form, expanding territories unlike any other. Trees reach the height of mountains. Flowers blooms a thousand colors of a thousand galaxies. Fruits and veggies sprout through the remains of the once dead seafloor.
All the old man said is ‘live life to the fullest’.
That is how the Emerald Land was born.
“Such a beautiful lady like you needs to find inspiration from the old man in my novel. Looking through your eyes and hearing your voice … you are placing the challenges to your sister and friend. Lend them a hand not to make them puppets … but to make them decisions for themselves.” As I closed, the curtain of my place, just as Mien Rin opened the door, I gave her thanks.
All that’s left is a thousand more questions.
“I will find you someday … my sister.”
Chapter 17: Hidden Anima 2
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