Chapter 2 The Cruel World (1)

Surround the green valley is the wide grown trees that embrace the whole place. The rays of the sun barely make it into the herbs garden, however it's fully grown and healthy despite a bit of sunlight. 

The spirtual energy in the area is enough for it to replenish and grow in a good shape.

Furthermore, the boy stood there with expression of reluctant to part, his expression complex as he scan the garden as if it's for the last time. Throughout his life, the herbs garden is his source to have a bit of realization of what's the feeling of home and how's ordinary is not mediocre. It is natural that he feel the needs of seeing them before his departure.

The sister saw this all, yet the smile broke in her lip. It appear in an instant and vanish just like a ghost of the past. Seeing Eterfinite reluctant to part with this herb garden, she pluck them and said, “Our home outside has the wide backyard, brother! The soil is in a good qulatity, so plant this herbs there and don't think of missing this place for a while!”

Eterfinite has expression of disbelieving. However, he only fell to silence; shock cover his pale face. He try to open his mouth to say something, but he can only ponder a bit of it and sigh defeatedly.

“Go down the path straight after the entrance,” now as they continue heading to the path of the exit, she halted and said those words. 

Eterfinite face fill with confussion. “Sister?”

She bit her lips to supress the tremble of it. “I can't go through the exit with you, you know. You can do it yourself, brother, so that you have your path ahead of you!” 

“O-okay...” He is about to demand but only said the word without blinking. He thought it's natural, so he is thankful he know this process and can only wave his hand for a farewell.

Truth, he don't even know what to do after this. His sister have said something but he's unaware of the means of it. Just like someone is waiting to receive him. Thus, how he dress right now is a kind of rules to follow.

“We have to exchange clothes,” he reminded of how it even happened. “And from now on, you have to use this and forget your old robes! Also, here,” she throw the jade into the air and safely landed in his palm. His attention wasn't at all in the jade but to the robes she's talking about. However he thought about it, there's no difference to the old and the new. Except for the color that blinded him, which he keep to himself.

“That's contain the location of our ancestral house, brother,” she said while her eyes on the jade. Eterfinite nodded, finally his attention turn to the jade and ponder a bit of time the mystery in it.

Times passes, Eterfinite barely see the bottom of the trail down the mountaintop. It's a steep trail, however he don't even feel the needs to be cautious. As he further away from the Green Valley, he can felt the connection of it with him to dim, as if it becoming far away. 

The winds easily and gently gives him the feeling of balance, yet his mind daze and he felt the needs to turn about. And he has no way to fear the height that he don't even understand about, so the feeling of unknown to him is quite a bother.

In his back is the bag of holding, though the winds harshly blows, it didn't seem to be affected. He store there the robes his sister almost thrown out but he hardly and secretly found. Also, the books he couldn't leave without and other stuff he remember to be as important as his life stored there. There's a feeling that he couldn't just leave without, and these thing is a part of it, as if the very purpose of his life.

Then there's the herbs his sister pluck without mercy...

He sigh to the thought of it, gently brush his fingertips to the herbs. There's a hole beside the trail and he take a rest for a while and looking pitiful to the herbs before store them back in his bag of holding. Though feel weird upon looking the herbs as if those are the corpse that just died, he try very hard to understand and sigh when realization hit him. 

Cross-legged, he clear his mind as the time passes. However, he can't just understand a bit. Can this herb really be alive once again?

Why his sister pluck it that way? 

The moment his sister pluck those herbs replay in his mind from time to time. His heart freezing, feeling the confussion he can't just abandon. It's as if a lump he can't just cough in one try or gulp to lessen the feeling of hustle in his throat. That is the replaying merciless scene, yet he can't feel the need to think bad about his sister. So he supress the thought and clear his mind for good.

“There's no way sister heartlessly murder my herbs without thinking the consequence,” he thought. “What she said might be the revival of my herbs once I located the ancestral house!”

Looking behind, he hardly see the Green Valley he left behind. He has his doubt if it's for the better but he's filled with a feeling that new to him. After pondering everything, he comes with decision to mapped his way to the ancestral house. The jade his twin sister given him contain the area hundred kilometer away from this mountain. It is half detailed map, only pointed the ancestral house without the means of pointing out more the safest path to this location.

Yet, Eterfinite doesn't think deeply about it. He don't have an ounce of expression at this point. He stood and look at the endless darkness, as if the end of it lies the hope, the ancestral house his sister mention. 

It was at this point that the cry of the wind can be heard. Below the steep terrain is the arising dark fog that devour everything in the area. The trees withered, not even the grass is left behind after the dark fog slowly rise to the Mountaintop. 

Eterfinite look at the scene with unbothere expression. For unknown reason though, he felt the bang in his heart, as if it is being beaten up. That's after the withered trees turn into ashes, leaving the trail with the presence of death.

He try to approach it with his expression of complexity, while his voice begging, “S-stop...” 

The winds that harshly blows all this time...suddenly gently press him to a halt. An intensifying aura grown into the area, stopping for the maintime the death cause of the dark fog. Accompany of it is the presence gently embracing the shock boy of no expression, distorted the dark fog to pass by without causing the area and all liviving things to dried out.