The Forsidian People

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I don't know how many times I looked back at the boat on the shore. Master even got tired of reminding me that there was nothing to worry about. I kind of regretted having joined this exploration. Everything was completely opposite to what I had imagined at that time.

The ruins of a city from the primordial era, hearing that I immediately agreed to Master's invitation. What crossed my mind at that time was an ancient ruin that stretched out and held many puzzles. That hope was immediately dashed as soon as our small boat docked. There was nothing on the entire island except for the ruins of buildings filled with trees, rather than calling it the ruins of a city from an ancient civilization, it would be more appropriate to call it a ghost island.

"Thank God we made it before dark. Nou, clear the area around there, we will camp and start exploring tomorrow."

The area pointed by the Master was a clearing near a staircase. Up there, there were the remains of a building that looked like a gate. Of course, the stairs and the gate were almost shapeless. The surface was covered in thick mossy tree roots, it was very clear that no one had visited here for quite some time.

The sun was almost setting when we finished setting up the tent and lighting the campfire. While waiting for me to finish preparing dinner, the Master would busy himself with reading a book as usual.

"This is the target of this exploration, you are very lucky Nou ... because you have the opportunity to see ancient artifacts at your age now."

I looked at the page of the book that the Master pointed to, at a glance I knew, what was in the picture was something extraordinary. Hearth of the forest, an orb that held the soul of the elder guardian of the forest.

"Why is something like that left here?" I asked.

In response to my statement, the Master just laughed out loud. Ah, it seems like I asked something stupid.

“The existence of this island itself is a top secret, only the high-ranking officials of the empire know its exact location.”
“Will it be okay?” I asked worriedly.
“There’s nothing to worry about, this exploration is officially under the orders of the Emperor. That’s all you need to know, any other details might hurt your conscience.”

Hearing that I immediately lost my appetite, who knows what the imperial people will do with the orb. As far as I know, the elder guardian of the forest is something that can be said to be the embodiment of disaster. An absolute existence that can level a city in an instant.

"Just think that the empire wants to keep the hearth of the forest in a safe place, so that it won't be used by the wrong people," Master said.

Of course he immediately knew what was bothering me, and I also understood that it was all pure nonsense. However, it would be better to think of it that way. A little lie to calm myself down, rather than thinking about things that were beyond my ability.

After finishing cleaning up the tableware, Master told me to go to sleep first while he kept watch for the first half of the night.

He was a good person, at least to me. I still had a hard time accepting the fact that my life would be this comfortable. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I was one of the luckiest people in the world. Normally, children bought from the slave market only ended up as tools or live bait in beast hunts. While I miraculously ended up as an assistant to a famous explorer, even having the opportunity to learn to read and write. A year of living with him couldn't even be compared to all the time I had spent in my entire life.

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"Are you awake?" Master asked, just as I had just opened my eyes. "Stay still, don't do anything. Just pretend they don't exist."

I covered my mouth with both hands, around the tent there were too many humanoid creatures. Their bodies were rather short, more or less the same as my height. Leaf green in color, eyes green like emeralds. Looks bright because of the reflection from the campfire.

“They are Forsidians, the inhabitants of this island. As long as we don’t provoke or damage the trees, they will only observe. Oh yeah, reading will help you to reduce boredom.”

I immediately grabbed the book that was left lying near the campfire. Just as I suspected, the book contained notes about this island, as well as the route to get to where the hearth of the forest was kept.

The Forsidians around seemed to be whispering to each other, I didn’t know what they were muttering. Their voices were too foreign compared to normal human voices. It sounded like the sound of tree branches rubbing against each other when hit by the wind. I tried to ignore them, then returned to focusing on Master’s notes.

Just reading in the notebook made me feel tired. The route we had to take tomorrow morning would definitely be difficult. The hearth of the forest was kept in the center of the ruins, precisely a former temple on a hill. Even if the path was a stone staircase like in cities in general, with such a distance it would definitely be very draining. Moreover, the path that we would later pass was completely covered in mossy tree roots.

Shortly before sunrise, the Forsidian people around the tent gradually left. I don't know the exact reason, but it seems like they are nocturnal.

After breakfast, we immediately rushed to follow the route written in the notebook. I slipped several times, besides the slippery road, the rubble of buildings on the right and left of the road repeatedly caught my attention so that I lost focus.

"Nou, we will take a short break."

Without waiting for an answer, Master immediately entered one of the buildings that was still intact. Of course, the building was intact because it had been repaired. It was clearly visible from its familiar architecture.

"You don't think that this is the first exploration here that I have done, right? Sigh ... I don't know whether to be happy or sad, this is the last time I visit here. After devoting years of time, mapping the location, finding out how to activate the rune seal and so on. Do you think the results of all that will be worth it?"

I just kept quiet, his statement just now seemed like it didn't need an answer. For a moment, Master seemed like a different person. His blank gaze made me a little scared.

“Come here, Nou… this is my last visit. Wouldn’t it be rude if I didn’t greet my friends?” Master asked as he stepped into another room. Curious about what he meant by ‘friends’, I immediately followed Master. When I got there, my knees immediately went weak. What he called friends were pieces of human bones scattered in a magic circle. In the middle, a blood-red crystal stone glowed as if waiting to be picked up.

The blood-red crystal fell, not because of its weight but because it somehow resonated with the birthmark on my shoulder. My head immediately buzzed as soon as it touched the crystal, followed by various very dark emotions.

"It seems too heavy for you, let me carry it to the temple up there," said Master while stroking my shoulder.

We continued our journey, climbing the slippery stairs one by one, until we finally reached the top. The ruins of the remaining buildings in the upper area looked a little different from the remains of the buildings we saw on the right and left of the stairs. They were bigger, maybe the upper and lower areas used to be for people with different strata.

"What's wrong?" asked Master because I suddenly stopped.

"They look angry, did we do something wrong?" I replied while looking at the Forsidian people who were watching us among the ruins.

"Just ignore them, they've always been like that since the first time I visited here."

I continued walking following the designated route. Seeing the remains of civilization around me made me wonder about what it was like when this civilization was at its peak. That primordial era was a long time ago, around hundreds of thousands of years ago. But look at the layout of the city that can be seen from the remaining ruins, the streets and stone stairs that are still sturdy even though they are entangled with tree roots.

"We finally arrived, that's where the hearth of the forest is kept," said Master while looking at the ruins of the building with several stone pillars still standing in front of it.

There was a warm feeling that was hard to explain when I saw the orb that was called the heart of the forest. It felt like coming home after traveling far for a long time.

"Wait a minute, stay there, don't approach the orb," asked Master while stepping near the altar where the hearth of the forest was placed. I don't know what for, but Master started drawing a magic circle a few steps beside the altar.

"Nou, immediately go up to the altar and take the orb when I give the signal."

I just nodded in agreement, while the Master placed the blood-red crystal in the middle of the magic circle he had drawn earlier. A few moments later the wind blew from all directions, then the crystal in the middle of the circle lit up brightly. My head buzzed again, just like when I touched the crystal before. At the same time, there was a scream from outside followed by footsteps. It sounded like they were screaming in anger, could it be that the dark emotions emitted from the crystal reached outside?

"Nou, now!"

I immediately ran as hard as I could, my focus only on the green crystal ball on the altar. Ignoring my dizzy head and my vision slowly blurring. Strangely, the closer I got to the altar, all the uncomfortable feelings slowly disappeared. The birthmark on my shoulder lit up, emitting the same light as the orb in front of me.

As soon as I touched the orb on the altar, the ground shook violently and tree roots grew so quickly here and there, forming walls around us. I don't know what happened out there, but the screams of anger had turned into screams of pain and fear. The sound of footsteps could be heard moving away, the Forsidian people seemed to be running away from something.

“Throw it here!” Master ordered.

Without thinking, I immediately took it and threw it towards Master. Right when the orb was taken, my legs immediately stiffened and could not be moved.

Master immediately tore the teleportation scroll once the orb was in his hand. He tore the scroll while looking at me, the same look as when someone threw out trash.

Pain slowly spread from my leg, when I turned to check it, slowly the skin on my leg turned into tree roots. A few moments later the birthmark on my shoulder lit up brightly, my heart beat faster as time went by accompanied by incredible pain. It felt so painful, like one by one my ribs were breaking and the skin on my left chest was being torn apart.

When the pain disappeared, I found my heart lying on the altar. My heart was still beating there, enveloped in a thin green light along with my body slowly disintegrating into a green glowing powder, then gathering in my heart and slowly it turned into the round object that I had thrown earlier.

Somehow but my consciousness still continued to survive, it felt like floating up because slowly the ruins of the temple building looked smaller. Then a few moments later, everything slowly went dark.

In the midst of that darkness, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of trees being cut down. I don't know for sure how much time had passed. The only thing that was certain was, every time I heard the sound of a tree falling I felt an uncontrollable anger.

When the darkness disappeared, the first thing that came into view was a stretch of degraded forest. Logs were stacked, some were being transported one by one to the wood processing plant. On top of a hill, a large and magnificent city stood. A barren city, because almost all the trees on the island had been cut down.

Time continued to pass without me being able to understand, I seemed to have lost my form, floating above the barren city. One day, two days, a week, two weeks, time continued to pass until I forgot how many years had passed. Every day, they continued to cut down trees without replanting them. One day the last tree on the island was cut down, at the same time the ground shook, people panicked.

In the middle of the former forest, a bright green orb floated. Underneath it, tree roots spread, slowly covering the orb and forming a very large wooden statue.

The elder guardian of the forest, a figure believed to be the incarnation of the will of the forest now stood outside the city walls. The giant roared loudly, each roar releasing a strong wind and whatever was hit by the wind slowly turned green. Grass, bushes and even trees grew at an inexplicable speed.

Every time the guardian stomped his feet on the ground, the entire island shook, tree roots grew everywhere and destroyed every building on it. In just an instant, the magnificent city was reduced to rubble.

No one survived the tragedy except for a small child with a birthmark on his shoulder. A mark that was exactly the same as my birthmark.

The child walked to the remains of the temple building, then sat on the altar of offerings. What happened next, of course, was exactly the same as what happened to me. The child's heart became a green orb, a heart of the forest. While the scattered children's corpses rose mysteriously, their skin slowly turned green, as did their eyes.