Rebirth : Rise of the Phoenix

(#20)Beauty in the Green Heart

I then turned to my front. To my horror, the sight I saw in front of my eyes were, a group of bears eyeing us carnivorously.

"Wh-what a-are w-w-we sup-pposed to d-do?" I asked, my voice shivering with unmasked fear.

"One thing is sure." Kyle said. "We cant run." I said. "Whoa, you are surprising me with each passing minute. Even though you are this scared, you can still think logically." He said.

"Why are you complimenting me in such a dire situation?" I asked. "Sorry. I was just astonished." He said. "Do you have a plan?" I asked.

"Not at the moment." He said.

"Then five minutes later?!" I asked, my voice raising a bit much. He laughed.

The bears got close to us.

Biting all my fear, I got off the horse.

"Look my dear animals. One thing that I have learned from my long life, not really, is that violence only give rise to another violence." I said and all the animals looked at me with growing curiosity.

"An eye for an eye is never true. We have to learn to forgive and forget. You may be thinking that you are an animal and I am a human, but we all are living beings."

"We never know that when you may depend on me and when I may depend on you. So, never jump to conclusions." And then all hell began to lose.

"You know jumping to conclusions is the act of an idiot. They think that they can just tell anything and everything will happen according to it and give no head to the undecidable future." I started rambling.

"Future like I said is undecidable. You can never know when things may change and you will be like in which part of hell am I in?"

"Hell is a place where people do bad deeds go."

"People who do bad deed will go to hell."

"Sometimes, hell can be considered as the undecidable future that we have in front of us."

"And some don't just pay and head to it and that they can ramble anything."

"And then will jump into baseless conclusions. You see know might just never know when I will need you or you will need me. So we can just avoid violence." There, I stopped rambling.

There was complete silence.

"Uh... Kyle, where am I?" I asked. "Back to where you started." He said. "So soon?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, yes. I had been looking forward to a big chain." He said.

Suddenly huge laughter erupted from behind us. We both turned. The bears were laughing. And the weirdest thing is that, their laugh was so ... human?

"Don't stare at us like that kid, we are humans." The one looking oldest among them removed their mask, followed by the others.

"Come, follow us." He said leading us to the inner part of the forest.

"We will explain everything. Alright, Lass?" The oldest man asked me and I nodded.

We followed them with Kyle leading the horse. Behind the thick leaved forest was a small village.

They then brought us to the front of a house where there were tables and chairs laid in front. A lady brought drinks and light snacks.

"Child, this is a small village in the heart of a forest. Before you only limited people has come here." The oldest began explaining.

"Is this the same village that is being told about in the book, Beauty in the Green Heart by Neville Shair?" I asked. "Yes." Kyle replied.

"Yes. Now, we don't have any relationship with the outside world. Few of our children have travelled to the outside world and even fewer managed to make a living there."

"The reason we disguise ourselves as bears is for the travelers to get scared and run. But if they think before they act, they will be welcomed." He said.

"You mean like, Only the Worthy can Enter?" I asked. "Exactly. I am actually liking her, you know." The Old Man said to Kyle and he simply smiled.

"What about money?" I asked.

"We don't need money." He said. "Then how do you live?" I asked.

"All of us work in the field, all of us eat from the field. On special occasions, we eat meat. That's it." He said.

"That's nice." I said. "After all, money and corruption is a package that one can't avoid." I said.

"Exactly." He said. "And, you can't stay here for too long. If it turns really dark, you might find it hard to return home." He said and we both nodded.

Then a man came out of one of the huts and gave us both each a torch. "Only one is enough. Kyle will be riding the horse." I said and they nodded.

They then gave us one and kept the other one with them.

"It was really nice able to communicate with you. Hope we meet again in good times." I said.

"I am never going to get bored over telling this. I really like your wits, lass." The Old Man said.

I then got up. "I have a really good feeling that this village will become a role model one day." I said.

"I really hope your forsightness is true." The Old Man said.

"It is not my forsightness, but your hard work." I said and they all smiled. "Our village will always be open to you." The Old Man said.

"I really hope that you don't regret that." I said and we all had a good laugh.

"Farewell, my children." The Old Man said and we smiled at them. "We will see soon." I said. "Hope so, child." I said.

We then soon departed.

"So... when were you going to tell me that?" I asked. "What?" He was confused. "That it was part of your plan." I said.

"What do you mean?" He asked and averted his eyes away from mine.

"You think I am that of a stupid. First of all, you were not at all scared when you saw the bears. That's when I first got suspicious. And all of them talked with you like you were a part of them."

"Don't try to fool me." I said. "Yes, Madam." He said and we chit-chatted the whole way back.

When we got back to the mansion, Belle and Father was waiting for us.

When I got off the carriage, the both came to me, with worried looks on their faces.

"Are you alright, Ana?" Father asked. "My Lady, you are not hurt, are you?" She asked.

"I am fine. We are just a few minutes later, right. I am quite fine." I said.

"Well then, I will be leaving." Kyle said.

He then came close to me. "I still don't understand how you work though." He said.

"You said it yourself. I am not your usual cup of tea." I said, smiling. 

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Last updated on 14-8-2020