𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃、𝗆𝗂𝗒𝖺𝗓𝖺𝗐𝖺 𝗄𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗂

꒱.✧ 運命 ;; beneath the earth

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Kenji's heart sank as soon as your hands covered your ears in panic, continuously hitting them hoping that you would hear them just like how you hit a radio back to its senses. But the boy forces you to stop, intervening with his hands slipping between your arms and your head, successfully grabbing both hands down to the ground.

And it was as if nature planned, the rain poured down on you. You cried.

"They're angry with me!" You yelled back to Kenji. The ground that both of you were standing on collapsed. The soil started to devour your feet but you refused to back down. You lifted your legs, didn't care if your slippers drowned in the mud, leaving you completely barefoot.

A lightning flashed before you and Kenji. It hit the tallest tree, and your ears picked up the sound of a heavy tree trunk after the thunder fell it down. It didn't take long before it rolled down the mountain; like a comb brushing a messy hair, the forest - especially those thin trees - were tamed on the ground. The water coming down from the mountain started to pile up, with little to no roots holding them back, the soil is bound to lose control.

You couldn't believe about what's happening. But you just have to suck it up and act before the entire village could wipe out in a blink of an eye. You and Kenji come up with an abrupt task.

You told your friend that you'll go down to warn the villagers to evacuate while Kenji will find a way to redirect the water flow away from the houses. It was dark and cold. You can barely see the bright hair of Kenji's yet his eyes shone to you, like a star in a sea of darkness.

Before you split up, you held his hand, laughing as if you had gone mad. "Kenji, you should smile. Think of it as some work that makes you happy."

Kenji stared at you before he did what you told him to do. Like the sun that was forbidden to frown by the moon. He had his lips reach his ears, and yelled his loudest voice, his positivity would be able to serve you as a reassurance that he is alive for as long as you hear him as he navigates his way through the storm.

Tonight, he is the king of the forest. No rain would be able to kill his fire. No wind would be able to bend him down to his knees. With his strong body, he is free of desires. Never get angry. He shall always smile quietly. If he must go east to nurse a sick child, he will do so. If you want him to go to the west to bear the sheaves of rice, he will do so. You can tell him to go south to cheer up a dying man just so he can rest in peace. Or do you want him to go north for him to tell everyone to set aside their troubles?

To him, being a king means you serve the people. And that you, in a role of his confidant, is tasked to guide him what he can do to his people. Kenji must do everything to redirect the flood away because this is the only way to avoid that frightening landside that is threatening his land. There is no such thing as impossible.

You couldn't feel your feet anymore. You were sliding down the mud to get down as fast as you could. Sure, you hit a few hard rocks here and there, you even have wounds on your legs but you still keep running down the hill.

The clouds stirred their strongest wind all over the forest. You could hear the tree leaves sway in both directions. Deep down, you wished the spirits would call back to you. Why is it that you can't hear them anymore? Were they so angry that they still didn't want to talk to you or have you lost your ability?

Soon, your shoulder got caught up from a sharp branch, ceasing your momentum down to zero. You look up, squinting your eyes through the rain droplets, you saw tree branch holding up your shirt as if it was trying to stop you for further movement.

You tried yanking it out. But before your shirt loses its grip from the branch, the soil below you slides down far below, making both of your feet dangling above in the air. Your heart races in panic. The branch you were trying to persuade has now become your only savior from the sudden landslide. You could only pray that the tree would remain strong through its roots.

Your ears still hearing Kenji's voice from afar, you breathe unsteadily as the cold forcibly reaches down your throat, exhaling a shiver along with your body who's shaking beneath the tree. You keep praying in your heart. Reaching your hand out to the heavens, hoping it would extend another to lift you up. You wished Kenji would spot you and dragged you like a piece of wood as if it was nothing.

But alas, the branch broke, releasing you in surprise as your breath hitched. In a few stumbles, you could still feel your body rolling down, hitting a few tree trunks. They didn't hurt at first. But before you knew it, you were laying down with your back pressed on a fallen log. A warm liquid ran down your neck. You couldn't tell if it was rain water or your own blood.

You tried your best to stay alive. Your eyes are still squinting beyond the mountain, fighting the tiredness that lulls you into sleep. During your last minutes, you heard another thunderclap across the skies.

There were tree logs wheeling down your way. But the forest embraced you with its soil, drowning you in mud, burying you alive under the forest. The spirits think this was the best way than to have a tree crushed you alive. In a way, this is how they save you.

Strangely, before you lost your breath, Kenji's voice remained the loudest in your head.