The Choice of Umoanjah Useshen

The All-Seeing Forest

Umoanjah was in complete silence. The first thing he saw after waking up from his peaceful slumber was a forest like he'd never seen before. It was so strange to him that he believed that he somehow landed on a completely different planet. No one was there, but he was constantly turning around to find signs of another being's life. Usually, he wouldn't be that worried about it. However, this time it seemed that the forest had a heartbeat. What was ringing in his ears, or at least what he thought was ringing in his ears was loud and powerful, wrathful and sorrowful. It was singing a song in the name of a thousand tormented souls, sounding as if it was singing to him, and him only. Its words he couldn't recognize, nor the language they were being sung in, yet a sense of fear was awakened in him. The forest carved that it desired silence and loneliness and that he was not welcome at all in his head. He didn't dare to go away, though, not even when the trees opened their venomous mouths and started to hiss at him.

The reason for that was that there was an eccentric beauty to the forest. The leaves that were falling from the trees were golden, kissing the ground with grace and passion. Melted white crystals were dropping from the sky like rain, leaving traces of their purity after them. Trees could barely count as trees as he knew them. Their silver branches were about as slender as a spider's web, leaning towards him slowly and eerily, staring at the ground in shame instead of standing tall and haughty above all. They appeared to have no life, much like a withered flower. Whatever sucked their essence must have been dangerous, at least according to his world's standards.

Much to his bad luck, the more he looked, there was more gloominess in the woods. Ice and night have arrived, holding hands like two true lovers, two halves of the same cruel heart. They were prideful, believing the ground to be undeserving of their touch, so they avoided it like the plague. Instead, they aimed for nature and beyond. Even the stars shivered and succumbed to them, allowing themselves to become something entirely new, melted diamond rings beaten like eggs, but they haven't lost their fairness. While flying, a white bird of an alien species was frozen right in front of him, not moving in time nor space. The trees crept towards him not more. Excluding him, only the ground below him was spared. It all looked like a mighty landscape, dark and alluring at the same time. It made him want to know more.

"Oh, grandiose forest! I am sorry to disturb your peace, but I didn't come here out of my free will. What you may find disappointing is that I'm not planning on leaving, but it's in my blood, you know? To explore, to learn, to examine. I am not a coward. I've never left an unknown place running away from it in fear, and it will never end. Hear my voice and my prayers! If I can't go home, I won't until I find a way. Until then, I beg you to spare my life so we can get to know each other better. I know not what the manners and morals of the inhabitants of this world are, but you'll help me find that out.

Perhaps I'll even discover why your planet is nowhere to be found on the maps that today's advanced technology allows me to access. It is weird, isn't it, how such a notable place can't be found anywhere on them? Cartographers only leave out locations so small that no one has ever heard of them unless this one has way more secrets than I could ever imagine. I know how you must feel, though. A stranger walks into your homeland without an invitation, ruining your quiet and peaceful day. He asks to know as much as he can about you and your friends and foes without ever being allowed to do so. I understand if you're mad. I understand if you want me to leave. Heck, I understand if you want to kill me. I felt every single bit of your negative emotions, and they screamed at me like the burning of an entire country. I have no clue what happened to you, and I'm not going to ask. If that happened to me, I wouldn't want that either, whatever that may be. Of course, I don't desire to die, but I can see potential reasons why you would want me deceased. I can't help you nor myself, but I can find another place to reside until I find a way to return home" was not what Umoanjah said, but what the trees could hear.

They seemed fluttered by what they discovered about him from his thoughts. A red flower was given to him by the shrivelled branches. It shone like the brightest ruby, yet it was as cold as ice. While smiling at the trees, he put the gift in his pocket, and he assumed that they were pleased by that reaction of his, for they did not move, nor could a sound be heard from the inside of their souls. Then, a crow flapped its wings to announce it was there all along, which he didn't notice beforehand. It stared at him with no emotion in its lifeless blue eyes whatsoever while sitting on a branch on his left side. He gave it a stern look, waiting for it to do something. It spread its wings like a butterfly and flew away.

Tenseness drank all of the blood from his veins once again. He could hear the trees' angry conversation amongst themselves. It allowed him to conclude that the crow had done something terrible to them. He did what he believed was the most sensible thing he could do and took his phone out of his other pocket, turning it on instantly. After he pressed a few buttons of different colours, the bird was hit by the electricity that came from his phone and fell onto the ground, appearing to be dead, or at least unconscious. It soothed the trees so much that he could sense their innocent-looking smile which had some hidden hate behind it. That didn't stop him from pressing a yellow button, which caused a cage to appear out of thin air and fall just in the right place, trapping the bird successfully. He laughed, and, while he was laughing, the red flower miraculously found a way to fall down below, and the trees didn't say a word. It made him leave out a deep sigh.

"That bird is an omen of evil", he said to himself, getting no answer.