Fly Until You See The Light

Forest - Chapter 7

«Ojtaro, why don't you listen to me?!».

«Because it's not useful! We're not gonna solve this if you don't listen to me too! I did it for too much time».

Teth sighs. She seems really exhausted... But it could also be a deception, knowing her.

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Sentinekka remembers running into a tree, then another, and another, and then ending up in a cave. It is small, cold.

Despite this, it is perfect for hiding.

A small river flows around the land, recognizable by an islet or two of stone and mud. There is a Spirit there. A woman with medium length hair and traditional men's clothing.

Sentinekka mulls over what she should do. She could free the Spirit, but Ojtaro could see her and find her right away.

She looks at the shining silhouette with narrowed eyes. Something is strange about her: she seems to be unhappy, she has a sad expression and her hands are on her chest. She needs help.

Sentinekka swallows and brings her candle closer to the creature, which lights up and begins her memories.

That cave wasn't so empty once: it was a mine! And the Spirit worked there, she was a miner.

«Everything seemed to be so normal... I wonder what happened» the little girl whispers, intrigued. She wanders the cave with her flame in her cold hands, while she studies the memory.

Then, a terrible thing happened that day, the day the memory was decided.

Sentinekka observes stones falling on one of the miner's companions, who turns and remains motionless with the other colleagues.

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«Listen, we could fix this» Ojtaro starts. «I would like to respect you, Elder, but you must reciprocate the behavior. I am one of you all, I was created from Megabird's feathers to bring Light back to the seventh realm, and I would do it now if I had the desire to... But I do not feel like being one of you. Also, you all never gave me the chance to introduce myself to other Children and have connections with them: why? Something must have happened, and I want to know about it. Is it about the Prince Alef?».

The curiosity is too much, he can't control it. He's still a Child, despite the fact that he's surely more experienced, but at least he thinks of himself as such.

Something must have happened. How did the sweet Prince become like this, create eternal Darkness in his realm, previously a thriving capital? How did he give life to the corrupted world they're all living in nowadays?

Daleth never told him about Alef. Strange, since the Prince was his adopted son. Now there are many unknown things. Reasons, events, old traditions that went into the past and remained there forever.

«Don't say his name. He is not worthy of being called that» Teth rebels. Ah, right. That stupid rule: don't talk about Alef, Alef was cruel and ruthless and blah blah blah. All nonsense, for him. They shouldn't do this. The Elders are afraid to mention the Prince, but Ojtaro is not scared at all.

Ojtaro sighs. He knows he looks a lot like the Forest Elder in that moment. After all, he was born there.

«Beyond that, do you have anything else to add?».

«Yes. I would love to not explain the reason you cannot have friends like that girl».

«Oh, come on, I cannot live in this hell!».