Arin cocked his head back, enabling light and shadow to undulate across his skin. The pennyroyal was abuzz with bees, some of which whizzed past Arin's ear. The minty aroma of the pennyroyal filled Arin's nostrils as he inhaled the humid air and kept on strolling, enjoying the soft sound of his feet sliding through the rustling, shrivelled leaves, and creaking branches.
Arin continued walking, looking down, carefully avoiding the knobby roots underfoot, and when he looked up, he found himself beneath the enormous canopy of trees gently soughing with the wind, their strong branches and thick, lush green leaves covering him in no time at all, leaving him utterly flabbergasted.
After what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, Arin turned around, thinking he'd traversed too deep into the forest. He looked at the map carefully and realized he was close to the indicated spot within the forest, but something didn't feel right, as if he were walking down the same trail over and over again.
The only thing Arin could hear was a calming melody erupting from a nearby tree where a bird had found its abode. The canopies provided a small window into the dreary weather, which intensified the hues of green.
A while later, Arin sat down on a nearby paved rock, knackered from his adventures, and sighed, thinking that the forest was considerably larger than he had thought it would be after exploring it.
Sitting quietly, Arin inhaled the humid air, which was rich with tales to tell. As the sun began its descent in the sky, he noticed the clouds gyrating above him. Arin was aware that he needed to return before evening, but he was befuddled since he had no idea of the way out and felt lost like a child surrounded by endless trees.
Determined to find a way out, Arin looked hither and thither, but still, all he saw were trees arranged in a maze-like pattern across the forest. Just as he was about to lose heart, he heard the howling sound again and proceeded to investigate.
After following the gradual increase of the howling sound, Arin ended up in front of a linn, from where the sound faded away. He then drank the water from the linn to quench his thirst after scrutinizing it and determining that it was clean and devoid of dirt.
"Why are you here, human boy?", a deafening voice reverberated in Arin's eardrums, making him feel apprehensive.
"Who are you, and what are you doing inside this forest?" Arin yelled for a response.
"Who I am doesn't matter," the voice responded, "but if you want an answer regarding what I'm doing here, state your name, though there's no guarantee that I'll tell you the true reason."
"My name is Arin, and I'm an eighteen-year-old boy exploring this forest all alone. I'm lost, so I'd appreciate it if you could show up and assist me in getting out of here," said Arin, not giving a damn about the hidden treasure at all as he was getting late, which would upset his beloved mother.
"I'm sorry, but I can't expose myself in front of you; you shouldn't have ventured so deep inside this forest, so you need to leave right now," replied the unknown voice.
"I don't know the way out; please assist me to get out of this forest. I will repay your kindness whenever you need it," said Arin with assertion.
"This isn't a question of kindness; it's a question of sanity," stated the mysterious voice.
"What exactly do you mean by sanity? I don't get it!" Arin screamed as he was frightened, assuming that maybe he was conversing with a phantom haunting the forest.
"By sanity, I mean I'm an existence that you humans will forever find difficult to fathom; therefore, it's best for both of us if we don't chew over it."
"If you are not human, tell me one thing without minding: are you a spectre, by any chance?" Arin posed this question hastily to allay his inner suspicion.
"Time will tell; you'll figure it out soon enough cause I sense ample glory within you, but you are unaware of it, "uttered the voice.
"Are you probably an elderly man spouting poppycock?" Arin asked impatiently, as his patience was wearing thin.
"Now that's impolite of you," the disappointed voice continued, "I'm complimenting you, so instead of appreciating the fact you're badmouthing me, no wonder goodness is dying out of this world."
"Please accept my sincerest apology for slandering you; I appreciate the laudation, but could you perhaps aid me in getting out of this dreadful forest? I'd really love that since it's almost evening, and I really want to be able to keep my words as I stated to my mother," Arin pleaded.
"OK, I'll assist you; however, promise me that after you're out, you'll never return to this forest until something unexpected occurs, which I believe will occur soon enough."
"Deal, you got it, but I believe nothing bad will occur, and to be honest, your words don't make any sense to me."
"All I can say is that only time will tell, and spoiler alert: I'm never wrong."
"We'll see how things go," replied Arin with a giggle.
A few seconds later, a golden light shone on Arin's face, and he saw a shadowy fox figure for a fleeting time before gradually losing consciousness.
Later, when Arin became half conscious, he slowly opened his eyes and discovered himself lying outside of the grassy hill forest on his mother Erina's lap, and beside her was a throng of men who had huddled all around her, probably to stare at him while his mother was sprinkling water on his phiz in an attempt to rouse him up.
"What are you doing here, mother...?" asked Arin, slurring in a jumbled manner due to being in a half-awaken state.
After Arin spoke up, being half awake, his mother grabbed him gently and held him captive in her arms, tears cascading down her cheeks as she tried to speak but couldn't because she was crying.
Seeing his mother like this, Arin was also moved to tears upon regaining full consciousness and yelled out with a sobbing voice, "Sorry, mother, I swear I won't do it again!"
When his mother heard his heartfelt apology, she fought back her tears to kiss him on the forehead and stated, "Promise me that you won't do such things again while I'm still living."
"I swear I'll keep my word, mother, so never ever mention that you're going to die," Arin said somberly while looking at his haggard mother with affection and wiping her tears from her flushed red cheeks.
"OK, I'm not going to, and that's a pinky promise," Arin's mother said, holding out her pinky.
Arin cemented the bargain by wrapping his mother's pinky around his.
After signing the pinky pledge, they both burst out laughing, sparking envy among the witnesses, especially Lilia, who was happy thinking that Arin had finally left the life of her beloved one when, in fact, he hadn't.
Mr. Derek chuckled as he said, "It appears the frenzied rummage was worthwhile."
Arin's mother tenderly caressed Arin's hair and replied, "Yes, it was."
Afterwards, Arin and his mother returned to their home, while the rest of the crowd left to resume their activities in their respective places.
Arin's mother lit the flambeau attached to the wall of the house just before the sun was about to set in the vermillion sky, which happened after a few hours of their arrival at home.
Arin spent the whole night before dinner peering out the window, looking at the moon, as his brain was buzzing with the question of what the mystery creature in the forest was and what it was doing there.
Arin's mother noticed him racking his brains while staring out the window and asked affectionately if there was anything bothering him.
"No, mom, it's nothing," Arin said as he sat silently to eat his meal with his mother.
"Let me tell you something, my son: the world can be vile at times, but we have each other to help us overcome any challenges," Arin's mother said softly, grasping his left hand and gazing at him in the eyes while he was slurping down the simmering stew.
Slurp! Slurp!
"No, mama, nothing's bugging me," Arin assured his mother as he rose from the table, withdrawing his hand after finishing his dinner, and walked towards his room to tuck himself into bed.
While Arin was putting himself into bed, his mother sat there and stared at him with a wistful smile, which Arin could tell but didn't say anything.
Even though Arin wasn't speaking, his mother was still talking about certain things, but the last thing she mentioned before getting up from the table and hitting the sack was, "Always remember this son, only love has the power to change fate."
While listening to his mother talk, Arin shut his eyes at some point as drowsiness overcame him and he fell asleep.
The next day, something awful happened that Arin had not expected: their cow, Riley, died at the age of eighteen. Arin was heartbroken. He knew it would happen somewhen, but he didn't expect it to happen this soon, so he built a tomb for his best friend, accepting the fiendish reality with a heavy heart, and bade his goodbyes after glimpsing Riley one final time before burying him.
Arin's mother consoled him, but he was so dejected that he sat near the cemetery and spent the majority of his time there crying quietly.
Riley was his one and only friend in this entire universe because the other kids detested him and shunned his company. The main reason for all of this hatred being thrown at him was due to him being slightly different from the rest of the kids and not knowing who his father was, which made him out of the norm among all.
As a result, all the other kids of Arin's age always laughed at him by calling him a bastard or born out of wedlock whenever they saw him, which made Arin distance himself from all of them, leaving him all alone and isolated with no one else to share the load of pain and happiness except Riley without being judged or made fun of. Lamentably, that refuge is now gone forever.
Arin's mother came to check on him twice, but when she didn't show up after the afternoon, Arin felt concerned for her and left the cemetery to find her whereabouts.
Arin began to search everywhere but couldn't find his mother, so he assumed she was at home and rushed to check. As he entered his house, he found his mother seated in the chair, her head ducked.
"Mom? Are you asleep?" asked Arin as he was thinking of approaching to check.
Hush!
Upon getting no response, Arin quietly walked closer to the chair in which his mother was seated and tried to take a peek at her sleeping face. When he did, he noticed that her visage was pale with an alarming amount of blood gushing out of her mouth, which made him dart back a few steps in disbelief and terror.
Arin couldn't believe what he saw, and tears started streaming down his cheeks uncontrollably, creating a rivulet while the once sharply defined world dissolved into a hazy blur around him, mirroring the shattered clarity of his emotions.
At first, Arin whimpered in shock, but immediately afterward, he wailed and blubbered loudly like a child for his traumatic loss, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.
Among those people, Mr. Derek was the first to arrive hastily, followed by Lilia, who, after witnessing her beloved one dead, couldn't help but rush towards Arin to punch him in the face, imagining that he had murdered his own mother.
Luckily, people on the scene intercepted Lilia and held her captive, pinning her down.
The news of his mother's death quickly spread like wildfire, and many more people arrived, all with the same question: "How did it happen?"
Arin, on the other hand, was too stunned to respond as he was unable to cope with the magnitude of the loss, leaving him disoriented and lost in the desolation.
Due to that, he ran off from his house, rubbing the tears from his bleary eyes, and was headed towards the forest of the grassy hill because he couldn't answer the questions of anyone as he needed some alone time to accept the truth that both his mother and best friend had died on the same day, leaving him all by himself in this cruel world with no one else to turn to.
"I knew it! You were born for greatness," the unidentified voice whispered quietly, "but you will encounter and bear unfathomable pain, which will follow you till the day you die, boy."
"Who exactly are you? I'm intrigued to know what kind of flapdoodle you're talking about, and what's up with me being amazing but wrapped up in misery? Please show yourself!" begged Arin politely.
"Fine, I'll reveal myself since you asked so nicely, but don't be aghast when you see me."
"I can assure you that I won't, so please show yourself already," Arin replied confidently.
"Very well, here goes nothing."
In a split second, Arin's oceanic eyes were suddenly blinded by a golden, dazzling light that flashed in front of them, prompting him to close them and afterwards open them later, just to be confounded upon discovering the entity in front of him was a talking, beauteous white and blue-coloured, unidentified four-legged creature with big sets of ferocious claws on each leg instead of a human, which he had never seen before. However, the precipitate deaths of two of his loved ones on the same day made him believe his eyes.
"Is this what you meant when you referred to sanity earlier? What the heck are you?" Arin asked with his cakehole gaping open, seeing the oversized beast.
The beast in front of Arin licked one of its paws and replied, "Yeah, that's exactly what I meant. I knew outright that you wouldn't be able to identify what sort of creature I am, but regardless, let me make it clear to you: I'm a divine fox."
Arin fell silent and gawked at the majestic four-legged creature, identifying itself as a fox, for a considerable amount of time as he spotted several tiny sparks of flashing lights, seemingly lightning that he used to witness in the sky during heavy rainstorms, and to his surprise, they were all strewn across its whole body, which looked mesmerising and enthralling to him.
"Ahem!, I assumed you wouldn't return because you promised to your mother that you'd never come back here and yet you came," said the fox to avoid being stared at.
"I know I did, but she's not here anymore, and there's nowhere else I'd rather be to avoid questioning than here in the woods, where no one would dare to step in," replied Arin as he came to his senses and stopped admiring.
"Are you a believer in God?."
"Why did you suddenly ask that instead of comforting me?."
"Just be honest with me."
"I do, but I don't always because I don't feel safe."
"Unsafe?, what exactly do you mean by unsafe?," questioned the fox waiting curiously for Arin's reply.
"Let me be, you wouldn't get it,"answered Arin with a saddened voice.
"Would you tell me if I said I knew who killed your mother?".
"Who was the perpetrator? ,I'd appreciate it if you could tell me who the murderer is," shouted Arin, his voice deafening.
"I know who did it; It was.... Lilia, who offered your mother a deadly drink concocted from toxic flowers that can be found on flower fields right beside the forest."
"But why would she do something like that?, she preferred my mother's company to that of anyone else," inquired Arin, who couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"I don't know, I'll leave it up to you to figure it out but tell me one thing, do you feel obligated to kill her because she killed your mother?".
"No, I don't; I'm not a killer. My mother taught me to forgive instead of harbouring grudges. All I want to know is why she did this."
"Trust me, it's not her goof because she didn't do it deliberately; she was duped by a god-hater."
"What exactly do you mean by a god-hater?" questioned Arin.
"It's someone who despises the gods and loathes their existence."
"I know what god-hater means; all I'm asking is why would a god-despiser do this to my mother; what did she do to anger him or her?" asked Arin with a gloomy expression.
"Nothing. She was as pure as sunlight breaking through storm clouds. I suppose it's probably because the god-hater intended for you to feel embittered towards his or her action."
With a pained expression on his face, Arin murmured, "What good would it do him or her to make me detest him or her?"
"I don't know anything beyond this, and I can't tell for sure what I myself don't know. There's no use in brooding over further on this matter."
"Then, how are you so sure that my enemy is a god-despiser?" asked Arin, appearing baffled.
"Because I felt the presence of a certain god's power in effect for a few seconds and then it vanished," the fox responded, his voice deep.
"But how can someone who despises the gods possess their divine power? What you're saying sounds absolutely nuts and impossible, because, as far as I know, the power of the gods is beyond the reach of any mortal, let alone the person who harbors hatred towards them. So, how is it even possible for the hater to have the power of God's?" Arin wondered, his mind doubtful.
"The power of gods is attainable, and I'll tell you later how it can be attained; however, since I myself am not sure why the god-hater has access to God's power I'll try my best to help you figure it out. Furthermore, I have decided on one thing: for now, I'll shelve the question I asked you about what makes you feel unsafe when you think about the gods for later," said the fox, sounding unequivocal.
"I appreciate your patience and understanding in deferring the question for later, but I have come to realize something, which is that I must be the one to uncover the truth. Despite this, I can't help but seem to find myself in a quandary about what I'm going to do now," said Arin, who was feeling down.
"For now, I'd advise you to go confront that woman named Lilia and ask her flat out if she gave your mom anything to drink," replied the fox with an advising voice.
"Okay, I understand. But how can I find my way out of this forest?" asked Arin, trying to think of a quick and efficient way to navigate through the forest without losing his way.
"I believe you have a jewel that your mother gave you on your birthday before she died, so use it to escape from this forest," replied the fox calmly.
Arin withdrew the bijou from his pockets and, to his amazement, it was shining.
"The stone of the bijou will only shine if you're walking on the right route to get outside the forest of this hill, and remember that, no matter what, the gods are always watching over, so they'll surely punish the one guilty."
"I hope so, what are you going to do about yourself?."
"For the time being, I'm going to stay inside the stone of the bijou and utilize it as a vessel," the fox remarked as its body entered the bijou in the blink of an eye.
"Okay, go ahead and do whatever you want," Arin replied, and he began to move onward, delicately holding the bijou in his hand.
Unlike the previous time, Arin was able to easily exit the woodland this time by observing the glow of the bijou's stone and dashed to his house at once without wasting a second, where he found Lilia bemoaning, embracing his mother's dead body and not letting anybody else touch it, despite the fact that her mauve dress was smeared with blood. Regardless of the questions posed by others, Arin ignored them and approached Lilia to ask her flat out whether she had prepared anything for his mother to drink or not.
"I did. The red Rilonis flowers stored for a year with water and then presented as a drink should have made her fall madly in love with me after drinking it, just like I saw in my dream, but instead, she is dead now, leaving me behind."
"What are you saying, you're a woman, and yet you've fallen in love with my mother?"
"I'm sorry to everyone that I didn't tell anyone that I'm homosexual, but I loved his mother Erina more than anyone else, and yet she died taking care of an imbecile brat like him, even though he wasn't her biological kid!" Lilia finally blurted out the truth, which she and others had been hiding for ages.
"What do you mean by saying I'm not her biological child?" questioned Arin, as his mind was boggled after hearing this.
Mr. Derek yelled out loud, "Shut up, Lilia! You've said more than enough."
"No, Mr. Derek, I'm fazed. I'd like to know," insisted Arin.
"You were luckily discovered floating in the moana in a balsa when you were spotted and later taken up by a man who was your pseudo mother's father," said Lilia sniveling.
Arin sank to his genu as soon as he heard this, feeling as if the very fabric of his entire being had been torn apart after the hidden truth was ultimately revealed to him by Lilia due to her callous comments. His brain reeled in emotional turmoil while the universe that revolved around him splintered into oblivion.
"She would have led a lovely life married to a man with two or three children if she hadn't met you, or better if she would have appreciated and accepted the love I had for her," spoke Lilia with a voice filled with plaintive ruth.
Arin was grateful, not sad, that he had such a wonderful mother who painstakingly took such good care of him, although she was not his biological mother. His heart was laden with the rue that he lied to her the last time they spoke, and if he could, he would do anything to get back to that moment, even if it required killing a man or two.
"You were jettisoned, you cretinous brat, but she gave you a life that you didn't deserve by nursing and mollycoddling you; yet see how things turned out for her; it's all your fault, you good-for-nothing bastard," said Lilia plangently, her words spilling out in a bitter jeremiad while she displayed a grimace of repugnance.
"It's all my fault, so tell me, who told you to concoct a drink out of poisoned flowers by preserving it for a year to satisfy your homosexual desires by having my foster mother fall in love with you, which is nothing more than an unscrupulous act?" yelled Arin in a fuming voice after he got to his feet.
"You dumb callow brat, what do you know about love? I loved her with all my heart and held out hope that one day we would be unified, but it never happened in the end as destiny weaved a different tale. The love potion I have made for her is an unforeseen issue; it's not my fault because I was unaware that the flowers were noxious, so shut up!" Lilia spoke querulously, as if she were releasing all of her pent-up frustrations.
"It's an unintended scenario...all right!? I accept that I don't know anything about love, but who the heck sees the ingredients for a love potion created with toxic flowers in their dreams and brews it for someone to drink without scrutinizing whether it's safe or not?" said Arin, being apoplectic at Lilia's folly.
Lilia screamed out loud with a rue-filled voice, "It's not my fault!" and stormed out of the house, tears streaming down her flushed red cheeks.
Arin flumped on the floor, his face laden with woebegone as he lingered over his mother's lifeless body.
Being solaced by others, Arin's heart felt light, washing away all the dark thoughts that had been plaguing him. Eventually, he buried his mother's soulless body nearby Riley's tomb, which was next to his adoptive beloved grandpa's grave, unaware of the bijou as to who gave it or the truth behind his own identity, and cut himself off from the rest of the world by closing the main door of the house and talking to no one.
Inside the house, Arin slouched against the wall beside the main door with a straight back, mourning the emptiness of once-known warmth replaced by the chilling and seemingly eternal embrace of loss.
All the windows were shut. The people that were still present outside endeavoured to talk with him through the door and windows with the best intentions, but upon failing to do so, they eventually decided to leave him be and left one by one, bearing a sense of perturbation.
Mr. Derek, the last voice Arin heard after everyone had left, stated tenderly, "We love you, Arin, because you're one of us, and I believe you know that full well."
Amidst the quiet, Arin mumbled his disillusionment at the empty moon.
Shortly after an hour of Mr. Derek's departure, time ticked by, and the night was at hand.
Arin was dozing off, staring at the lugubrious moon with bleak eyes through a hollow hole in the house ceiling, but nearly right away his consciousness slid into the sweet embrace of darkness, drifting into a tranquil slumber.
While he was sleeping, an unknown, strident male voice clouded his entire mind in his dream and repeatedly kept saying, "Everyone shall perish! Everyone shall perish! The death of everyone is my birthday present for you! The death of everyone is my birthday present for you!"
Arin was stirred awake at midnight in fright with a sweaty, quivering body after having this premonitory oneiric and at once rushed outside to check whether everyone was alive or not.
Feeling a sense of inexplicable gut-wrenching twitchiness, Arin meticulously searched through more than forty homes, only to be devastated by the chilling consternation that everyone in his populace had died, proving that his ominous dream was not a false warning as it dawned exactly as foretold. As for the mass killing, it was undoubtedly the unknown male voice he heard in his dream that envisaged and orchestrated this bloody massacre, although the motive behind mercilessly killing so many people in an instant remains ambiguous to him.
Moreover, despite his best efforts, the most laughable part is that Arin was unable to come up with a plausible explanation for how they all died abruptly because, as far as he could tell, none of the exposed outer body parts, such as the arms or legs, showed any signs of injury, which he figured upon close inspection of a few male and female bodies. It was as if they were accursed with eternal slumber.
Thereafter, Arin decided to remain calm and organize his thoughts for the time being instead of panicking, but with each passing second, he felt like he was slowly turning into a deranged person as an eldritch feeling crept upon him.
Among all those feelings, the most intricate part for him was accepting the harrowing, nightmarish reality that he was the lone survivor among the one thousand fifty-five people who were undeniably alive just a few moments ago.