“So…. Can you tell me the cool story? Please, Please, Please, Please?”
Ling-Xo looks over to see his grandson glaring at him with eyes similar to a street rat begging for his next meal.
Ling-Xo contemplated and then reluctantly said
“Alright, I will tell the story. Just know I haven’t thought of this adventure much, so I might stumble quite a bit in order to get every detail. My old brain isn’t as fast as it used to be”
Ling-Xo chuckles as the fire crackles, and as he starts to retell his great adventure Xou creeps into his sleeping bag.
The Beginning
A small hill lies above a large open pasture that is just outside of the city limits. A young teen, Ling-Xo, sits beneath a willow tree as he practices his tracing skills on old maps that his father had sketched over the years. The cold autumn breezes rustle through the dangling leaves and cascade down into the pasture. It is partly cloudy and looks like it might rain soon so Ling-Xo after finishing a major portion of the map, decides it would be best to head back home. Along his way home Ling-Xo takes a familiar path that he and his best friend Lee would travel occasionally. It was the best way back to the village as it cut straight through the major forest that surrounds the town known as Nan Kai. While Ling-Xo made his way back, he hears a loud snap directly behind him, as if someone was following him and accidentally stepped on a fallen branch. Ling-Xo turns around rapidly and yells,
“Who’s there? I will let u know that I’m a trained warrior!”
Ling-Xo begins to enter a fighting stance and the stillness in the atmosphere is broken by a loud laugh from above. Ling-Xo looks up to see his friend Lee sitting perched upon a branch of one of the surrounding oak trees. Lee is a highly trained hunter and warrior who easily descends the tree and stands in front of his friend. Lee says,
“Geez, why are you so paranoid sometimes?”
Ling-Xo responds,
“Well maybe if you didn’t sneak up on me, I would not have freaked out!”
The two laugh, give each other a hug and talk about what they have been up to all day. Lee shows off the massive amount of the game that he had caught while out practicing his hunting skills. Currently, Lee, like Ling-Xo, is apprenticing under his father where he learns all aspects of hunting and foraging. While the two speak as they head to the village, Lee talks about how weird it is seeing so many animals out in the woods recently. Then he brings up that while he was out, he found this interesting rock along the forest floor. Lee pulled it out of his pocket and it was a beautiful stone that emitted a dazzling purple shimmer and was shrouded in an iridescent exterior. The two have never seen anything like it, but they thought it was cool and a great find to keep.
The Village
Once the two had reached the village there seemed to be some commotion in the center of town by the marketplace. Ling-Xo told Lee,
“We should go see what’s going on!”
Lee agrees and they head for the large crowd. One man is standing on what seems to be multiple wooden crates. He shouts,
“The town's miners took an expedition today and we found a large cavern full of crystals to mine. We will finally be able to pay for better buildings and become a more prominent town for trading!”
Lee and Ling-Xo noticed that these crystals were almost identical to the ones that Lee had found earlier in the day. All of the crystals had a signature iridescent shine but were meshed with different colors. Once the man stopped speaking the crowd cheered in an uproar, and the people immediately decided to throw a party as these crystals meant better lives for most of the town's families. The boys thought nothing of it and just continued home for supper. The town celebrated late into the night but the party was interrupted by a loud sound at the city gates.
The Spirits
Ling-Xo bolted out of his bed that he had been in as he was deep asleep before his home shook from the loud sound in the town.
Ling-Xo immediately ran to his window to see if he could see what was making such a noise in the town but did not see much as a building blocked his view of the front gates. After getting dressed Ling-Xo ran over to the town center to see where all of the commotions were coming from. Running through the streets eventually the town center was just out of sight, and once Ling-Xo turned the corner, he saw a crowd of people near the front gate. Once he got closer to the crowd, Lee ran over and said,
“Hey! Did you hear the large sound too? I came running over to check it out.”
Ling-Xo responded,
“Yeah, I was sleeping but came to see what the noise was about.”
The two while talking, see a figure approaching the village entrance. The figure entered the village and before the crowd stood a 16-foot deer. Its antlers were twisting with vines and it was adorned with a silvery-white coat and its eyes were a deep blue. As the figure got closer, the ground started to cover with grass and an arrangement of other types of flora. The creature was stunning and Ling-Xo was too stunned to speak, but one of the villagers asked the creature.
“Creature, were you the one who caused the incident at the front gates?”
The creature responded with,
“I am, Cerine and I am the spirit of the forest and all of its inhabitants. Your village has been over poaching and the creatures of the forest suffer. As well you have destroyed the living cavern that we spirits call home. In doing so you have disrupted the balance of the forest and I will not stand for such an atrocious act. The only reason that the forests became more plentiful was from the spirits working in harmony to help both the flora and fauna of this region. From this day forward, I will send a fog through the forest that will make it impossible to trade in mass quantities as you pride yourself in, and I will restrict you from your precious hunting escapades!”
The villagers pleaded with the spirit but nothing would convince the spirit. Lee stepped forward and said,
“Oh great forest spirit, Cerine. I would like to apologize for the overhunting recently. With our town making a living on trading goods and the tons of animals in the forest. We thought it was a gift and a sign of a bountiful season. We never knew it was due to the work of the spirits.”
Cerine understood this child's genuine response but stated,
“It seems you care for the forest and this land but that does not excuse the actions that have occurred.”
Lee says,
“I am sorry for what has happened but just like the other creatures of the forest, we live here as well. We will do anything to fix this situation!”
Cerine replies,
“Your heart seems pure, but I have my doubts. Ever since harmonic convergence, spirits have entered this world once again and I settled into what used to be my old home, which was destroyed. I will lift the fog if the cavern is restored and the spiritual energy is renewed and cleansed to the region. In order for this to occur, you must seek out the spiritual advisor of life and bring a pure piece of spiritual energy.”
Lee states,
“I will do whatever it takes!”
Ling-Xo walks over to Lee and says,
“We will do it, I can help. I’m sorry for the disrespect we have done to your home, spirit, I will do whatever I can!”
Cerine sees the bond shared and true intentions to fix the situation, they state
“I will give you a piece of advice to help for your kind words. Go to the place that was touched by spirits and has grown to connect the world through its roots. Only time will tell if your actions can reflect your words.”
Cerine parted with these words and left into the forest fading into the moon-illuminated night. A great fog rolled over as Cerine disappeared and just as the spirit foretold, it had come to pass.
The Plan
Ling-Xo told Lee that while they can’t do anything until tomorrow, it would probably be best to try and figure out what place the spirit was talking about. Lee suggested possibly going and asking a village leader or going to the town archive, but it was rather late so Ling-Xo suggested asking his father, as his dad was a famous cartographer and had journeyed to many nations but mainly locations in the Earth Kingdom. As the two enter Ling-Xo’s home, they see Ling-Xo’s father sitting at their table with one of the village elders. Ling-Xo’s dad looks over and says,
“It seems there is another adventure to follow!”
Lee shouts,
“You HEARD?!?!?”
Ling-Xo’s dad says,
“Yes I heard, and I think I have an idea of the place the spirit hinted at, we don’t have much time.”
Lee and Ling-Xo walk over and sit down at the table while Ling-Xo’s father explains the situation.
“The spirit has made it clear that we must find a spot where the spirits grew a plant that has roots connecting the world. Based on literature and the stature that this species would need to be, I suggest the best place to look would be the Great Banyan Tree of the Foggy Swamp Tribe that is located at the western side of a peninsula in the south-west portion of the Earth Kingdom. It would be about a week-long trip to get to the spot and back on an eel hound.”
They made plans to travel for the Foggy Swamp Tribe the following morning and packed until they found their rations suitable. The town all helped in getting supplies and prepared the three eel hounds so they could leave early.
The Journey
Once the sun rose, Ling-Xo and his father went to Lee’s home to head towards the eel hound stables. The three set out early that morning and over the course of three days finally made it to the border of the Foggy Swamp Tribe. Throughout the last three days, Lee continued his hunting skills while catching meals here and there, and also focusing on his daily sword training. While Lee was senselessly hitting trees with a sword, Ling-Xo and his father practiced working on mapping out the regions and new species that they ran into along their journey.
As they slowly traversed through the swamp, they eventually ran into a member of the Foggy Swamp Tribe. Once they explained their story to the swampie, they showed them to the swamp palace where the Swamp Chief resided. Ling-Xo’s father explained the situation and the warning from the spirit that they have received. The Chief arranged for the tribe’s Oracle to meet with the three once they had gotten some rest. Once they all rested after a long journey they were alerted that the Oracle had finished with their spiritual journey and could see them now. As they were led to the Great Banyan Tree, they all were astounded by just how much larger the base of the tree was compared to their own bodies. As they reached the base, they were led into a crevice on the side of the tree that was covered with vines. Inside was an empty space that seemed to have naturally formed when the tree grew. In the middle of the room was an old man that sat in a meditative state. Lee walked up and tapped the man's shoulder, as soon as his hand made contact with the man's skin, the man grabbed Lee’s hand. This made Lee let out a yell and the old man broke out into laughter.
“What’s you issue old man!” Lee says.
“Sorry if I scared you, thought it would be funny to see u scream.” replies the old man.
“I am the Oracle of the tribe, I commune with Ziran, the spirit that lives within the Great Banyan Tree. Through Ziran, I can meditate on all aspects of our world from life and death to the water and earth beneath our feet. I have heard you have upset a spirit and I would love to see what I can do to help.”
The Oracle ponders the situation, after the story is relayed to him by Ling-Xo. He then walks around thinking of a solution, and he comes back to the center of the room and begins to meditate. After a while passes, he stands up and says
“Alright so it seems you need to heal the grounds of the land, more specifically the place that the spirits live in, as it is most likely a place of great spiritual energy. Around the world we have places that allow for others to have a greater connection to the spirit world. Due to this fact, these places have higher activity of spiritual energy and in turn spirits are drawn to these locations. Purifying and healing this cavern you speak of, should hopefully fix your situation.”
Ling-Xo responds with “Hopefully fix, this is our village…we have to save it. The spirit lead us to you.”
The oracle quickly says “Well hey, this is the work of the spirits, it’s not an exact science. I think I do have something that could help your area though.” he continues with, “Once a year the spiritual leaders of the tribe, lead by myself go to this room and the Great Banyan Tree grants us it’s sap. This sap is known to cure any and all ailments. In fact that ritual just happens to be tonight under the full moon.”
As fate has obviously brought the three here for a reason they wait until nightfall to attend the ceremony in order to obtain some banyan tree sap. The ceremony begins and the oracle is surrounded by his followers, they give offerings to the spirits and thank them for their many blessings of harvest and good health. When the prayers have been finished along with a cleansing ritual, they bend the vines around the room and the vines begin to glow a bright golden hue. The tree then starts to illuminate through the vines the sides of the tree and this travels to the top where finally all of the leaves shine with the same golden color. The color begins to fade and inside the room, a small stream of golden liquid comes pouring out of an opening. This is collected into several bottles to be used throughout the year in times of infertile lands and crises. The oracle brings a small vile to the travelers and says,
“I am so sorry we could not give more, this sap is crucial to our tribe and must be conserved, but I believe this will be enough to help your situation. I wish you all luck and may the spirits bless you.”
The Solution
He handed over the vile to Ling-Xo’s father and the three-pack up and head to their village. After three long days returning home from the Foggy Swamp Tribe, the three have hopes that this sap will be the solution they are looking for, after so much time away. The fog that covered the forest was as thick and impossible to traverse as it was when they left for the first time. The village was still distraught from the curse the spirit had placed on the forest but was overjoyed when they saw Lee, Ling-Xo, and Ling-Xo’s father. The three asked every miner to gather up the crystals that they had excavated days prior and show them to the cavern. The group left the village but due to the fog, it was nightfall when they arrived at the entrance to the crystal cavern. Once they approached the crystal cavern, the damage to the interior of the cave was extensive. They called for the great spirit Cerine and upon entering the cavern Cerine showed themself. As stunning and graceful as ever the spirit said
“Hello Lee and Ling-Xo, I hope you both have journeyed to make amends as you said you would?”
Lee replies quickly with, “YES your grace, your oh holy spiritualness!” Ling-Xo nudged him to shut up and proceeded to say “Cerine, we have ventured as you requested and obtained a spiritual offering that is said to heal anything it comes in contact with.”
Cerine says “So you have brought the sap from the tree that Ziran inhabits. I thank you for your dedication to the spirits.” They nod their head and then say “Step forward and pour the sap in the middle of the cavern.”
Ling-Xo walks to the middle of the cavern and pours the sap from the Great Banyan Tree. As it hits the ground it begins to seep into the soil. Ling-Xo goes back over to Lee and once he turns around, a sapling sprouts from the soil. The sapling then slowly grows into a large cherry blossom tree, and as it buds the ground beneath their feet begins to fill with grass and other flora similar to the ground when Cerine walked into the town on the first night. Simultaneously the crystals that the miners excavated from the walls began to hover and reposition to their original place. The cherry blossom tree then blooms and the whole cave illuminates with beautiful and iridescent light as it refracts off of the crystals that line the walls.
Cerine steps towards Lee, Ling-Xo, and Ling-Xo’s father and says,
“You three have my thanks and I truly know that your hearts are pure. Due to your bravery and loyalty, I will bless your land for generations to come, but you must always respect the land and never over hunt as you have in the past. While animals are sustenance as well as crops, they also share and live on the land just like you all. Respect the resources you are bestowed, and always show compassion in all aspects of life.”
From that moment on, the fog lifted and the harvest each year after gave more food than needed. The small town of Nan Kai became known as one of the biggest trading towns in the whole Earth Kingdom. The town villagers named the cave where Cerine and the spirits of the forest resided, The Great Cavern of Cerine. Festivals and other offerings have been given to the spirits for their generosity and kindness. Lee and Ling-Xo always visited the cavern and many of the village residents became friends with the spirits as well.
The Fire
Ling-Xo says “The greatest harmony can be achieved by the smallest gesture of kindness.”
As the story ended Xou drifted off to sleep, cuddled up in his sleeping bag. Ling-Xo put out the fire and the two fell asleep under the stars right outside of that very cavern that started that whole adventure.
END
