The White Chronicle

Chapter 11 - When your heart falters

A man was walking alone on an empty road and his attention is lost in his thought. He is thinking where he should go next and what to eat. It's been two days since he has a proper meal and all he got to get him by was the fruits he managed to pick along the way.

He didn't notice that the sky got dark and the wind got colder. So much he was thinking that he lost track of where he was going. When he comes to his sense is when his stomach growled and the rained poured hard.

The road was nowhere to be found and noticed that he is standing on a cliff overseeing the mountain and the forest bellow him. Among the bushes near the cliff, a hissing noise is heard. The bushes moved and alerted the man. A huge snake came from the bushes and started to speak.

"Why do you reject me? We are here for you. For your flesh and soul is one with mine."

"Why are you here? Leave me alone. I have given you freedom from my servitude."

"But that bond is eternal. You cannot server it. It is forever."

"I do not wish to return. I am an exile." The man replies to the snake. He ignores it's plead and continues to move forward.

The snake is agitated and demands him to come back to his old ways. The snake refuses to leave man alone and bare its fangs.

He readies himself and reaches for his katana but before his hand can reach it, a snake leapt and started to wrap itself around him.

The snake was fast, long and large. It manages to wrap his arm and started to constrict his movement. He wrestled the large snake and tries his best to break free.

"Why do you want me to come back? I am a wanted man! I want to be alone." he yells as he wrestles with the snake. With the rain, he lost his footing and fell. The last moment on his mind if this is the way he will die. Dying from not seeing the woman he loves.

He felt cold but at the same time he feels warmth on his sides. He hears a man and a woman talking. When his eyes open, he sees an old man cleaning some clothes while humming to him. He panics as he doesn't want anyone to know his location. He tries to move his body but all he feels is pain. Like needles piecing his lungs and his back. He groans in pain and stumbles on his feet – trying his best to stand up.

"Woah! Slow down there young man. You don't you to collapse again don't we?" the old man says as he approaches the man and helping him back to bed.

"No! No, I'm sorry but I should be here. I need to be . . . "

But before the man can say anything he sees the old jumping towards him. He noticed that the old man lost his left leg. The old man reaches him and pushed him back to bed and laughs.

"Come now. Your body can't. Listen to what your body says. It can't move and you need some rest young man. Now before we continue, you can just call me Ojisan. Now take a rest."

The old man assures him that he is safe but the young man struggles to stand up.

"Ojisan, thank you but please let me leave I just want to . . ."

Ojisan grips his shoulder and looked the man at his eyes. The man felt that Ojisan knew his face. The man is afraid. He thought that Ojisan knows who he is and will sell his head to the King for money.

"Who am I to stop you but who are you to able to stand up in such a state. Be my guest young man, free yourself from my bed, out of my house and into the forest till you reach the mountains. Escape to your destiny"

Ojisan laughs and released the man from his grip. He returned to washing his clothes.

"Mountain? Forest? Where am I? What district is this?" the man asked and Ojisan replied that this is nowhere. Nobody is here except for him and his hut. No one rules this place but the nature that conquered the lands of its beauty.