a-Shjar

a-Shjar is a lush, green, thriving forest. There are birds tweeting, and chipmunks running; owls hooting, and ants scurrying. The trees are tall, immensely tall, tall enough that the entire canopy feels like a lifetime away. And the sunlight filters through, ever so slightly, it barely reaches the ground. There are rocks to sit on littered along, but no caves. Trees have enormous roots, some bursting through the ground, like the legs of a giant, they need to be climbed over if one wishes to get to the other side. There is no river or lake, but there are flowers that shoot out of the ground, an imitation of the Hadiqah a-Sahri a mile away.
But it isn't the beauty of this forest that makes it special. No. What makes this unlike any other forest anyone has ever been in is the water underneath the soil, the water of al-Nahr, which gives a-Shjar a specialty - it brings out the truth in anyone who passes through it. It makes people honest, and makes them reveal their innermost desires, regrets, guilt. It can kill someone - someone with the weight of the world on their shoulders, or a burden to great to bear - they wouldn't survive this forest. The forest will swallow them, and never reveal its exit. No, it wants them to face the truth, face themselves, otherwise they are bound to continue wandering the trees for eternity.

Alternative Name(s)

Forest of Truth

Type

Forest