Chapter 28: Arc 2.17

-Break-

Φ Ever since Maple went to talk with her father, she has started to fit in more in the village. She now speaks to all the other villagers and gets along with her dad. Sequoia has also continued to teach Maple about the outside world.

Due to all this Maple is almost always smiling now, which warms my heart. But the best part is that she is a lot nicer to me. Though if there is one thing that has been bothering me, it is her and Orb.

Due to the chief removing the ban on outside knowledge, she has also talked with Orb a lot. He has shared all his knowledge with her, and they have grown closer. This was great for me at first, my two friends were also becoming friends, I couldn’t ask for anything better. That was what I thought, but recently, I have been bothered since they seem to be hanging out more often.

They have also recently been showing off some bizarre behaviour, and when I have gone up to them to ask them what’s going on, they start to freak out and try to end the conversation as quickly as possible, then run off.

It's been bothering me so much, I have been sitting just trying to figure out what’s happening with them.

“Willow, you ok?”

“Oh, Aea, I am fine.”

“But you’re looking rather gloomy.”

“Well, I have a lot on my mind.”

Sitting beside me, she says, “Well, I have some time.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping for the end-of-the-year banquet? And I am pretty sure we’re behind.”

Sweat starts trickling down Aea’s face, but she soon turns stone-faced and says, “Sometimes adults need to take a break. You will understand when your older, Willow.”

“So, you ran away due to being too lazy.”

“It was too hard, that psychopath Pine is working us all to the bone, especially me. I tell you; she has had it out for me ever since I was her student. And while I am taking this abuse, we have to help Cole look for special ingredients he needs from around the village; it’s too much. I am a delicate maiden. I need to take a break every once in a while!”

“The last time we went hunting, didn’t you snap spercera neck with your bare hands,” I mumble under my breath.

“What was that.”

“Nothing.”

“Ok then, so tell me about what’s bothering you.”

“It’s just that, I think Maple and Orb have been getting close.”

“I see.”

“I have found them sneaking around throughout the day and late at night, then when they come back; their clothes are all ruffled.”

“Go on.”

“And when I asked them about all their strange behaviour, they start to panic and make up excuses, so I don’t know what to do.”

“Ok, Willow, I think I have figured out what’s happening.”

“You have what it is?”

Then, full of confidence and energy, Aea says to me, “It’s a love affair. Those two have been seeing each other behind your back.”

“HUH!”

“Willow, it’s obvious, they have been seeing each other secretly and getting into unquestionable things.”

“All three of us are only fourteen.”

“My parents are only fourteen years older than me, Willow. Think about it. They have been sneaking around behind your back because Orb knows that you like Maple.”

“How would he know that.”

“Willow everybody knows that, it isn’t hard to figure out. It must have happened when Orb saved you guys from the king. Her womanly urges must have activated, and the fact they live together must have accelerated her feelings of a forbidden romance between the girl who is forced to stay in the village and the man who will soon leave the village. How salacious.”

“Ehhh, but they have only known each other for a short period, and Orb is my friend.”

“That makes it all the better for them. The feeling of immorality will make their passions burn all the hotter when they fuc-“

“AEA, SO THIS IS WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN!”

“Crap, it’s Pine,” Aea says as she starts running, but in mere seconds, Pine is in front of her. Well, that is expected from the woman once called the lighting warrior.

Pine grabs Aea and starts Dragging her; “Let me go, you witch.”

“Shut your mouth! To think you would have the guts to take a break, I am making you work for another hour every second you were here.”

“Nooo, why is it always me you pick on.”

“I am trying to discipline you, since you lack all forms of it. Willow don’t listen to a word this incest had said. She loves to be dramatic.”

As Aea is being dragged away, she starts crying and says, “You called me an insect.”

“I simply stated a fact, if you want to be something more than that, just work hard,” With those words from Pine, they were out of range for me to hear them.

I shouldn’t have thought much about what Aea said, but I can’t stop thinking about it. There is no way they could be doing horrible things behind my back, right? Panicking, I let out a scream and say, “I need to find out what they are doing tonight.”

-Break-

A good way away from Maples’s house, I see her and Orb leave in the middle of the night as always, with both of them carrying bags. Then I see them go out into the forest. So that’s where they have been going. This is a good sign they can’t do anything unquestionable in the snow but wait, Orb is immune to the cold, so the snow is no different from a bed to him.

So, I slowly start following them. I can’t let Orb hear me or smell me. If he does, he will be able to lose me. So I go in the same direction, following the footprints they left in the snow. I follow all of them, but part ways through, I see another set of prints a good bit off from here. Does this mean someone other than those two is going out, or maybe they were planted there to distract followers?

I ignore the other footprints and continue until I reach a marker; I use it to transport. I follow their footprints slower than I did before, since I don’t know how far ahead they are. I eventually hear their voices.

I hide behind a tree a listen to them talk to each other.

“Orb, take it out.”

“No need to be in a rush. Let’s take it in slow.”

“If my dad wakes up and sees where not back, he won’t be happy.”

“Don’t worry about that. Due to you behaving yourself, he has lost the source of most of his stress. He can sleep peacefully.”

“Well, you’re right, but before we start, let me have a taste.”

Hearing these words, I can't sit still anymore. I run forward and say, “I can't believe you guys would be doing such things here,” as I arrive in front of them, I see Maple eating a giant slab of meat, and the king of the forest is lying behind both of them.

Seeing the king, I let out an enormous scream. I then see the king’s feather pointing at me.

“Willow, the 2^nd stop that,” Orb says as he hits the king on the head, and following Orb’s instructions, the king lowers its feathers back to a stationary position.

I walk up to Orb and say, “What is all this.”

Orb Looks at Maple as if they’re trying to formulate a strategy with their eyes. He then tells me, “Willow, you’re dreaming. Go to bed.”

“Do you think I would fall for that!” As I say this, feeling a presence behind me, I duck and see Maple fall in front of me. “Did you both just try to attack me?”

“No, we didn’t. You attacked yourself. This is your dream.”

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Fed up with this lame excuse, I walk up to Orb and kick him in the balls, which causes him to fall to the ground. “Now, do you want to explain what is going on, or do you want to get hit again.”

“Ok, ok, I will explain. You see, one day, while I was testing out my legacy, I heard a bunch of animals fighting, so I rushed over to see a bunch of atlas eaters trying to kill the king, and due to my undying hatred for atlas eaters, I had to kill them.

I found out that the king never fully healed from his encounter with us and was vulnerable, so being the good person I am, I took it upon myself to nurse him back to health. Maple eventually found out I was sneaking out of the house and came to help me.”

“I see, but that doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me what you guys were doing.”

“Well, this king almost killed you, so we thought it would be sort of weird to ask you to care for it.” Maple tells me.

“But the king is extremely hostile. It is hazardous for you guys to just hang around him he tried to kill us for no reason.”

“Well, at first, the king was hostile, but over time he came to like us, and he was trying to kill you guys because he is lonely. He happens to be the last of his race, and you and Maple were shamelessly flirting in front of him; of course, he would be mad, look at this face It wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Wait, how do you even know about that,” I say

“Oh, the King told me.”

“What are you talking about, Orb? Are you saying the king spoke to you?”

“No, he wrote of the floor with his nail in the Saviours song. The king is quite intelligent. He told me he was jealous, but now that we’re his friends everything is all right, he won’t do anything.”

“Yeah, Willow, the 2^nd won’t hurt anyone. Look at its cute face,” Maple says.

As I look at the beast’s face, I think to myself, how can this thing ever be considered cute by anyone? “Why have you guys been calling the king Willow the 2^nd.”

Maple has an embarrassed look on her face. Orb says, “Maple and I thought we should name the king something that makes us happy, so we chose Willow since you fit the bill. It was either that or meat.”

“That’s nice, but I don’t want a beast such as this to have the same name as me,” as I say this, the king behind me spits on me, covering my whole body in its saliva. “WHAT THE HELL!”

“Willow the 2^nd bad boy, now we have to go and take Willow the 1^st back to the village to have a bath.” Let’s go, guys.

As we walk back, Maple and Orb wave goodbye to the king, who waves back at them. Then I say, “Let me in next time so we can all spend time together.”

“Sorry, I was just trying to be thoughtful.”

“Well, you suck at that. In less than a month, you plan to leave, so I want to spend as much time with you as possible, avoiding me isn’t being thoughtful.”

“Sorry, Willow, I didn’t know it bothered you so much.”

“Of course, it does, you are my best friend.”

“So are you. Let’s spend my last few days in the village having fun,” as those words leave Orb’s mouth; Maple starts staring daggers into Orb.

“Hey Maple, I can feel your stare, so could you stop doing it so intensely,” Orb says.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“So that you know, Maple, I don’t plan to take Willow with me or anything.”

“Why would you tell me it’s none of my business.”

“Can the both of you stop arguing? If this is about Orb and me hanging out, you can join, Maple.”

Orb excitedly says, “Ok, then let us three spend my last few days here having as much fun as possible.”

“Yeah, let’s do that”, Maple says while picking up snow.

“Maple, what are you doing.”

“Well, we need to cover up our footsteps.”

“Oh, don’t forget to cover up the other footsteps as well.”

“What other footsteps.”

“The ones just that led in another direction.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Very funny well, we will see them when we return.” So, as we return to where I saw the second set of footsteps, we see they are all covered up, “They were right here.”

“You sure you’re not losing it, Willow.”

“No, I am not Maple. Orb, do you smell anything.”

“Well, I smell traces of the meal we ate today, but that would be on everyone’s body, so someone must just be coming out here for fun. We are out this late it wouldn’t surprise me if someone else were as well.”

And just like with those words, we headed back to the village. Every day from then on, we played with Willow the 2^nd, and I can say he is a good boy though almost every single time we left to go into the forest, Orb kept picking up strange scents every time, even right until the night of the banquet.

-Break-

Φ “Throughout this year, we have gained skills, character, and even strengthened our hearts. This year has been bountiful, so let us give thanks by enjoying ourselves with all our hearts. Now let us eat and drink our hearts outlet the end of the year banquet! Hooray!”

As the banquet begins, Sequoia notices the two children at his side looking rather sad. “Orb, Maple, what’s wrong with the both of you.”

“It is just that we miss Willow.”

“Well, then call him over here,” as I say this, I look over at Willow, who also looks sad.

“Wrong Willow dad. Why can’t we be with our good boy today.”

“Is there another Willow in this village?”

“Don’t worry about it, Sequoia. It’s of no matter.”

“Well, I don’t know about this whole Willow situation, but I can say one thing doesn’t the food tastes delicious? Give it a try.”

“Ok, dad, I will give it a bit.”

“I will too,” so both Maple and Orb take a bite of Coles’s cooking. They start feasting while saying, “Delicious” with their mouths stuffed.

“It is amazing, dad,” Maple says as she devours the food. She and Orb's energy infects everyone around them, and the banquet starts going. Everyone is enjoying themselves a lot. As I stare at this site, I remember why I love this place so much.

Φ That was so delicious that I don’t even remember what I was sad about. I say, fully satisfied with the meal; I need to thank Cole.”

I see Cole behind me talking to himself. As I use my hearing, I listen in and hear him say, “It’s time.”

Cole then goes up and walks in front of everyone and says, “Chief would it be ok for me to give an address to everyone.”

“Go ahead, Cole. You made such a delicious meal. Say what you want.”

As the chief says this, I suddenly start feeling weak and drowsy; that’s weird.

“Everyone, thank you for everything you have done for me. You have all helped me strengthen my spirit, and for that, thank you.”

As Cole says this, I realise he has all the strange smells I have smelled, are on him. I didn’t notice before due to the fact, he has reeked of food because of his cooking every time I have seen them as of late.

“Now, goodnight and goodbye forever, everyone.” And with those words, I see everyone one by one collapse, with me going down last.

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