II. The Impact of Her

~ Thirty-Four ~

We had walked for quite some time now.

All I saw were endless miles of trees and everything that was green. But, suddenly, we arrived at a place that I thought only existed in myths. Those tales that were told to us to make us sleep.

"And we have arrived," the woman said as she struck her staff onto the grass-covered ground. "The heart of the forest."

I slowly stepped forward. My mouth hung open in disbelief from what I was seeing.

Faint sunlight shone through the leaves from the towering trees. Different flowers surrounded us. To our right was a small waterfall with a narrow river that cascaded past us. Even more birds sang in the air. I was about to walk further when the woman stopped me, grabbing me by my shoulder.

"What's the matter?" I asked as I was brought back from my sense of wonder.

"Have you ever been in this kind of environment? The kind of surrounding where everything is too beautiful, it is beyond belief?" she asked.

As a matter of fact, no. Why?" I replied.

She stuck her staff deep into the ground and walked towards me. She grabbed my right hand, put her hand on it and uttered a straight incantation, "Ledoras Flirante Lin. Ledoras Flirante Lin. Ledoras Flirante Lin."

With her eyes still closed and her hand on mine, the wind blew in my direction. It almost swept me away. I could hear the enchantment within the wind as it swirled around me. After a while, the wind stopped and the lady let go of my hand.

"What did you do to me?" I asked as I looked down onto my hand.

"A stranger such as yourself is highly unprotected in this sort of environment. Like I mentioned before, this place can play different tricks on your mind," she replied as she returned to her staff. She turned to my direction and continued, "Everybody has their own wants and needs. This forest can put your wants, your inner-most desires right in front of you. This is the reason why not everyone who enters is able to return to their families."

She added, "The incantation that I put in your hands will help you find what you're looking for a lot faster. It will also protect you from any tricks that this forest can do to you."

I looked back onto my hand and saw nothing different with it. I didn't know if I should even believe this woman with her words. She was, after all, the keeper of the forest. She could be doing this to get rid of me. She could have done the same to everyone who had been here.

Suddenly, she grabbed my hand and pulled me into a wide, open space. There were different sorts of plants, ranging from the smallest kinds to the absolutely big ones. "This is where the ledoras plant is usually found. However, the forest will create a way to deceive you. You have to look very carefully. Trust your instincts on what you believe is the correct plant."

I knelt down and crawled on the ground, carefully scanning every plant that I came across with. Then, a plant that resembled the description of ledoras appeared right before me. I was about to reach out for it. But, for some reason, I stopped. The more I thought about it, it was too convenient for a legendary plant to simply show itself.

I raised my hands and scanned the entire area. Then, my eyes landed on a small waterfall to my right. I squinted my eyes and there, I saw another plant that fit the description given by the Medicine King.

I took another look at the plant in front of me. But I still stood up and headed for the plant by the waterfall. I made my way to the waterfall, crossing a bridge made out of two tree trunks, covered with algae.

The plant was right at the bottom pool of the waterfall. It grew into a very simple shrub on a stone wall. I reached out to touch it, only to be stopped by the lady again. She grabbed my wrist, which made me turn to look at her.