The Grass is Always Greener
There was a time when I believed that my life was lack luster. I had a handsome and powerful husband, a loving two year old son, and I had just been promoted to a Special Jonin sorceress. I had trust in my comrades but always worried that I was never good enough, or that others would always be better, do better, than me. However, I know now never to give trust as easily as I did before. I know never to underestimate myself. Especially when I have a reason to live.
I was apart of the Evergreen Alchemy Guild and as such, I was expected to bring in mid-tier potion recipes every few weeks. Taking care of a son was always a hassle, but it was part of this job we call life. It did get in the way with Guild work every now and then but I wouldn't have traded it for the world.
As I worked on figuring out a new potion involving Blade Grass, I was mortified to know that my son had set all of my extra clippings on fire. My son is going to be a great fire mage, I know, but at that time I wished he were a water wizard. By the time I could put out the fire, it was too late. My work had been cut short and I only had a few more days before I needed to turn in a recipe.
I was frustrated. I had spent the past two weeks researching Blade Grass and it's properties. I had bought some seeds from an alchemy dealer in Esperanza City and used them to harvest my own Blade Grass. However, I didn't have anymore seeds and the dealer in Esperanza told me it took at least a week to get a hold of seeds of any kind. It was looking as if I were shit out of luck.
That's when things really went downhill. On a day where I needed to be at the guild, my husband was called to Malycio City all the way in Vale! He had been studying to become a teacher at Arc Nueva High and apparently he had accomplished his dream. He was needed there to finish up some paperwork. We would be moving from the Saevitum to Malycio within the month.
The point is that I was stuck at home with my baby. I wasn't as bothered as one would think, but I needed to bring in as much money as possible from the guild to help with the move. Sucking it up, I took my son with me to work that day, which was one of the worst mistakes of my life.
The Evergreen Alchemy Guild was based in the outcropping between the Forest Path and Ravenous Jungle. We had a hidden estate there hidden with powerful charms and illusion spells. I don't know if it is still there or not.
Digressing, I entered the guild hall and immediately made a beeline for the sundries line. Unfortunately, Guild Master Serene was in that day. She took one look at me and my baby and knew something was up. Serene was a very kind woman, though a bit eccentric. I would believe she was related to the young girl who owns the beach house. What's her name? Mila? Something like that.
Serene was kind enough to listen to what I had to say and my reasons for bringing my child in to the guild. When she listened to my tales of the burning Blade Grass fiasco, she laughed and told me there was a recently discovered meadow just beyond the Forest Path. She was even kind enough to watch my child while I searched.
So I took to the main road through the Forest Path and ended up finding a small path just at the exit towards Mylania Harbor. I was surprised that such a path existed and was so well hidden in such a well traveled place like the Forest Path to begin with. Either way, I ventured onto the path and found myself descending heavily, almost as if I were scaling down a mountain side. I knew I was getting closer to the ocean due to the humid air. It was no longer a forest, but a Jungle. I feared it was just as dangerous as the Ravenous Jungle, and to an extent, I was correct. The minute my descent into the jungle stopped, and I stood along the edge of a heavily forested river, I knew something was wrong. The water was a slight crimson, as was some of the foliage. Darker hues of green had a red tint that made the area look slightly haunting.
My senses kicked up and jumped back just as vines shot out of the water, covered in pond scum. They stabbed into the ground right in front of me and then swiftly entered back into the water. That wasn't the end of it. I backed up into a tree and my danger senses kicked up again as I felt the bark moving against my back. I immediately rolled forward and did a backflip over the river. The tree, as I saw, had a dark and twisted grin, with hollowed holes as its eye sockets. As I flipped through the air, the vines from the river shot up at me again. I took out a kunai and slashed them, grimacing at how much like steel they felt. Living plants that were that strong? It had to be some sort of spell. No jutsu was concentrated or precise enough to give plants sentient life. Ki was used to control them directly, not this!
Thinking about it wasn't going to help me though. The moment I landed, more and more trees, shrubs, and plant like creatures began to swarm me. There were too many for me to fight and my only hope was to escape deeper within this Living Jungle. Even as a special jonin magician, this place was overwhelming. I ran for hours. It was dark by the time I reached a clearing. It was on a cliff edge, the closes plant life being over sixty meters out in every direction. Below me, at the bottom of the cliff was a beach. The ocean was right there. I knew if I could scale down the cliff, I'd be able to take the beach to Mylania Harbor, or at least the graveyard. However, before I could move an inch, I felt something impact the back of my neck. I fell unconscious shortly after.
I don't know how long I was out. It was still dark when I awoke. I was in so much pain, but I remembered where I was immediately. I sat up and looked around, only to find that I was in a tree house. There was nothing inside of the tree house, and it was barely big enough to fit me and another person.
I figured someone must have brought me here, in loo of something, seeing as the plants didn't seem to be the hospitable type. Would I be surprised when I found a little girl, looking to be about six years old entering the tree. She had bright red hair and doe like eyes. She held great magical power within her, I could sense. Enough to be a chunin by the feels, but to survive within this forest, I knew she was a Special Jonin without a doubt.
“I'm sorry I knocked you out! You would've fallen for that illusion if I didn't!”
“Illusion?” I asked.
“Yes. The cliffside you made it too. It was an illusion cast by the plants. You would have walked right into a nest of Vore Plumes.”
I shivered at that thought. When had they cast an illusion? Was it on me? Was it on the forest? The little girl seemed to know what I was thinking and smiled sadly.
“It's a combination of small magic combined together and debilitating toxins. Like from the Ravenous Jungle.”
That explained it. The plants were magical, but not to the point where I would be able to tell. They all had little magical power, but could cast simultaneously. It was like having hundreds of Genin casting the same jutsu. It would overwhelm even a Jonin. Add the toxins in the air, which I'm not immune to, and you had one inescapable problem for someone like me...
“What are you doing here?”
I tried to ask to prevent myself from falling into despair. If I thought about it too much, I would truly realize that I was probably stuck here...
“I got stuck here too.”
The little girl sat down on the opposite side of the tree house and began to draw a spell circle in the air with just her finger. I knew it. She was a powerful spell caster if she could use rune magic with just her finger. Not only that, but the rune she made also utilized conjuring magic. She literally made a full course meal out of thin air. Between us sat potatoes, greens, turkey, salad, and even pie. My stomach grumbled and I decided it best to leave the conversation until after I sated my hunger.
After the very filling meal, the girl had a bigger smile on her face than I had ever seem. She was too happy and for a moment I forgot where I was.
“How long have you been here? Have you tried to escape?”
She nodded. “I've been here for about twenty years.” She called with a finger to her chin. “I tried to escape for the first five years, but I wasn't strong enough. So instead, I decided to live here! Most of the plants are really nice once you get to know them!”
“Wait, so are you powerful enough now?” I asked. My mind was focused more on getting out than her saying she had been there for twenty years.
“Maybe, but this is my home now!”
“I can't stay here...” At that moment I realized I had never even known the girls name. She noticed again and smiled.
“Arri!”
“I can't stay here Arri. I have a child and husband that I must go home too...” My eyes widened at my words. “My son...”
How could I have forgotten that I left him with Serene? WAIT!
At that moment I realized everything...or at least, part of it. If Serene knew about this place...if she had been here before...she knew. She knew this place was dangerous yet she sent me anyway!
She sent me to die!
“Um, I can help you get out then. But will you come visit me sometimes?” Arri asked, on her hands and knees right in front of me. I hadn't even seen her move, I was so deep in thought. Her doe like eyes shined in the moonlight and I found myself suddenly worried for this little girl.
“Arri...how old are you?”
“I'm thirty-two!” She called happily again. “I'm a fairy, so we live really long!”
“A fairy??”
A fairy? Fairies were said to have gone extinct a long time ago after the Magna Arcanum War. But here was a fairy right in front of me, and one so young too! She was still a child by fairy standards! That meant there were more out there, her parents included!
“Arri, don't your parents miss you?”
The smile she wore faded. I could see tears enter her eyes as she leaned back. “No...my parents were eaten by Vore Plumes twenty years ago.”
My heart sank. Up until recently I had always thought my life perfect. However, that day showed me how very wrong I was. I use the term the Grass is always Greener a lot when I think about how much more people had than me. But never before did I truly think that my grass was so much greener than anothers. My life was far from perfect, but before that moment, it had been far from horrendous as well.
“Arri, you may like this place, but I can't come back. So why don't you come with me? We can leave this place together. You can meet my son! You two will be good friends!”
“But I like it here. You might like it too if you give it a chance! Mommy and Daddy are here...” She trailed off as more tears entered her eyes and I understood what was happening. I stroked Arri's cheek and smiled at her. I pulled her into a hug.
“Arri...your mommy and daddy are not here. They are in you. Inside your heart, whether you stay here or not. You don't need to be here to constantly be reminded of them. Come with me, please, and live beyond the memories of your parents.”
“But...but...” She tried to speak but her sobs prevented it. She cried into my chest for the next ten minutes.
I knew we would not be able to leave that night. Arri would need her rest. So instead, I decided to start documenting what was happening. Everything you've read up until now was written right here in this Living Jungle. I will continue to write when I get the chance. If I die, and this is all you find, then please look into the accounts of my tale. If you are strong enough to survive this place, take Arri far from here. Protect her. And if you believe in retribution, find my son. Find him and kill everyone in that Guild.
--From the Living Jungle, Shion Harada
