Emptiness

Chapter 2(a)

Solum couldn’t believe his luck. He knew he should leave before anyone noticed, but he could not seem to believe his luck because he was never lucky.

Never ever….

Because he was Vabeo’s favourite toy, but he didn’t want to admire his luck and get caught during that. He should just call it a fluke and hurry up.

His mother was quite angry with him even now, so he was given a shirt with many holes, punishing him even now. The torn shirt of his was no use as he could not wear it. The rainy season had started, and it was pretty chilly. But never to Solum anyway. The cold has never bothered him. So, he transformed his torn shirt into a bag of sorts and filled whatever he could get away without being noticed. Like a cup of rice taken from a rice bag, no one would notice that.

But, he cannot steal much as his family was already suffering.

He had been foolish to be caught by that teacher, and the village they lived in wasn’t kind to them already. After that incident, he was under strict watch. No one wanted a repeat of that as it was rainy season, and they cannot just venture out to food in the forest.

But not to Solum.

Nothing stopped him; not even nature stopped him if he wanted something. And that is to leave this house for a while.

He knew that his mother wouldn’t bother with his disappearance for a while. So he usually went out like this. He will disappear for few days, and none would say anything as he returned with medicinal herbs and fruits that the people in Garbage were not allowed to buy. And in the rainy season, none would fault him for this.

So, with his makeshift bag, he grabbed some ration of food and slowly moved away from his mattress while his family slept peacefully, without any worries.

Just because none minded his absence for a few days didn’t mean that he was allowed freedom. It has been a month of him in confinement with bare minimum food that kept him alive and torn shirt people thought would make him tremble in the cold. None knew that he was never bothered by chillness. But, he had lost weight.

The people who were made to watch him by the head of the Garbage left a week as they cannot spare men during this period overseeing a single child. But, he didn’t escape as he didn’t want the people to think he had gone to revisit the school.

He cannot wait for any more than this.

He grabbed his two other shirts and his things that needed to stay away for a week and walked away silently.

He closed the door without any sound and crept away from there with the help of darkness.

On his way, he grabbed shirts from a shop; nope, he didn’t pick the lock and steal it, nope, he did not.

Okay, okay. He did steal it. But, what if he stole from the shopkeeper who threw a stick at him when that teacher brought him home to complain?

So what?

He didn’t like to let go of things that quickly. Hate burned in him at the injustice done to him just as much as the desire for freedom from this society did.

Solum left the shop and walked towards the way to the forest, looking above and thanking Della and Niten, who provided light during the night from the sky..

So, it’s Della and Niten revolving around Vabeo because of the protection it offered from the light God Mercos.

What stupidity was this?

He couldn’t control the snicker when the teacher said this during the class that he had been eavesdropping.

Well, that did him good as he was confined for a month. He shook his head at his own stupidity and wandered off to the path he was very familiar with.

The forest looked so ominous and deadly that no one would dare to enter and that too by crossing the Garbage of the village. Who would want to enter the Garbage, Solum thought, with a sneer. It was not as if they were all a disease.

His blood boiled at the thought of it….

Mercos had finally set as if the star had gone to sleep, sheathing the planet Vabeo in darkness. And the place Solum has entered was called Dark forest.

Dark forest.

Sometimes people lacked creativity; Solum chuckled at his thoughts. He felt good to laugh again, and the ribs didn’t hurt. Every wound of his had healed. It was nice to walk without a limp, to eat without his throat hurting, and to lay back without back pain.

Though the forest might seem dangerous to many, it only welcomed Solum. He had never been afraid to enter the woods ever since he had first visited here. People, in general, were more dangerous than this forest.

He, thankfully, didn’t forget to wear his footwear. The stones and thorns would hurt him if he walked barefoot all the way to his destination.

He decided to move forward, not wanting to waste time waiting here thinking about inane things.

Solum worked his way along the narrow trail among the enormous trees that seemed to reach the sky if you looked up. The wet leaves of the bushes brushed against his thighs since it was drizzling an hour before.

After a few distances, he walked off the trail onto a familiar path he had walked multiple times. He had taken his small knife and gripped it tightly in case of an emergency. Every beauty hides the dangers lurking beneath it. Likewise, this forest had dangerous creatures. Solum wasn’t a fool nor optimistic to believe that everything would be good in his way.

But still, he cannot help but admire the forest in the night, even with a patchy sky and the light from Della and Niten and the numerous stars seen only in glimpses through the tall and broad trees that seemed to hide the sky as much as it can with its branches.

Petrichor – The smell of soil - was more vital than ever due to the rainfall, and he inhaled it, getting addicted to it every second as he walked.

Living in the Garbage was nothing compared to this forest. It was magical in its own way. It would take your breath away.

Just a few more meters, and he was already seeing it from this far.

A faint glow, but as he walked nearer, it slowly morphed into a mind-blowing Egav filled world.

There…

Right there…

The night-flowers…

That grew only in the deep of the forest…

There are many kinds of night-flower plants. As the name indicates, these plants’ flowers only blossomed in the darkness of night.

As he secretly learned from the teacher all these days by staying hidden, it was that some plants had Egav that used it to have properties like healing and glowing in the dark.

But, here, there were only two kinds of night-flower plants.

Raccia – the plant that can only be found in the dark forest. No one will ever move past without admiring it. The flowers bloomed in the night, emitting a strange bluish light that guided the living things in the night.

Redtug – Another plant with flowers as big as the sunflowers, emitting a reddish glow around it and the flowers had veins in the sides that tugged at any living being nearby. So the name, Redtug.

The area before him was filled with these two plants, mesmerizing him with its beauty. He cannot waste any time admiring its beauty. He had to walk a few miles more. The predators will be lurking around, and he cannot waste any time here.

It had been more than three months since he visited that place.

So, apologizing mentally to the plants, and plucked some of the flowers so that they will provide light on his way.

He didn’t use any fire before, not wanting to draw anyone’s attention from afar the village. But, now he was deep inside the forest that the light from the two moons wasn’t enough as the trees on the inside would only be even taller.

He patted the plants in apology and moved toward his destination, feeling bad about plucking the beautiful flowers from the plant it belonged to.

He loved these flowers. He always wanted to take them back home and plant some, but they wouldn’t grow in that kind of soil, and even if they did, the lowlife class wasn’t allowed to own anything that had Egav.

The dry leaves were damp and didn’t make any sound under his feet, which he was thankful for. And after a few times, it became easy to walk through this forest at night.

The grass and weeds grew thicker as he walked even deeper into the forest. Three or four hours must have passed, and he could feel his feet aching. No matter what, he was nothing but a ten-year-old who could only walk much.

Every one of the lowlife class grew up fast. They had to if they want to survive. And, he wasn’t an exception to that.

His birthday had passed in his confinement, not that anyone cared anyway.

The sound of his breathing was intimidating to him, not more than the sound of the forest. Snapping twigs under his feet, the brush of leaves and bushes against his pants, the yipping and howling sounds of the animals, and the chirps of faraway birds could drive anyone away, even if the forest was beautiful. He would be a liar if he said that he wasn’t terrified a little.

But, this forest held something that was dear to his heart more than anything else.

As he grew nearer to his destination, he could feel happiness rising in him like always, and the hate, sorrow, anger, loneliness he had over the past three months disappeared. He didn’t even feel the burn of the scratches that thorns had made on his skin.

He couldn’t help but grin widely at the sight of the tall pine trees. It was a marker of a sort to the destination behind this group of trees that hid it from onlookers view if one even dared to wander this far.

The scent of pine needles overwhelmed him, making him feel relaxed, easing his tension off the shoulder. As he walked past it, the lower small branches brushed against him as if welcoming him with caresses. Some birds fluttered high, chirping and flapping their wings as if excited by his presence.

As he exited the pine tree area, he couldn’t help but laugh aloud in glee.

Just a few meters in front of him.

Finally…

Finally, he reached here…

Home…

This was more home than the one he lived.

It was nothing but a log house, built with the help of an axe and knife for months to make this resemble somewhat like a house. It was only a few feet in height as he cannot build it more than that, but it was home.

It had a slopping single-gable wooden roof and one small window. The roof of the cabin was partially covered with vegetation, giving it camouflage amid the greeneries. He didn’t want to take any kind of risks with his home. He spent too much time hiding this place and making it safe.

There were tiny plants that had medicinal values planted by him carefully years before near the wooden house in case of emergencies.

A figure barraged into him, hugging him tightly, startling enough to drop the flowers he held along with his bag.

He hugged back, lifting him off, and twirled around, laughing aloud in happiness he cannot contain.

“Iri.”

But Iri was not happy, it seemed. Iri quickly pushed him away from the hug and started to pound his chest with his tiny fist.

Solum knew that he was at fault for not visiting Iri, but what could he do?

He was confined, but maybe, he should have escaped. However, that would only make people suspicious, and they might try to follow his trail.

He fell back by the force of that anger, and Iri landed on him. The soil was muddy, and the shirt he picked to wear after putting off his old worn shirt was now dirty. But he didn’t mind.

He hugged Iri back, calming him down, accepting the anger..

He could take the anger but not the tears.

Oh no.. Never the tears from his Iri.

“Iri. I am here, see? I know it was my fault for not visiting you this many days. I am sorry. I can take all your anger and even the beatings but don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”

Iri sniffled, and he can’t even see Iri clearly in the dim light as the night flower he dropped was far away, and the cloud has hidden the moons, making the forest dark.

“Please, Iri..”

“Okay, Solum. I won’t.”

Iri sniffed a little before turning his face away from him.

“But I am angry with you. So I don’t want to speak to you, Solum.”

Damn. He can’t even see Iri’s cute pout.

“I know. I know. I am at fault. Forgive me, Iri.”

“Hmph.”

“Okay, okay. You can be angry later. Now let me see my Iri. It had been so long since I last saw you.”

Iri giggled when Solum tickled him and quickly got up, not wanting to be tickled anymore.

How cruel of the darkness.

As he picked the night flowers, the light from the moons streamed through the trees as if the cloud heard his complaints.

There, under the moonlight, he finally met the one he had come here for.

Pale skin that seemed to glow with happiness under the dim light, making you wonder if he was a night flower that glowed in the darkness.

Eyes unlike any other he had seen. His right eye a blue one, glowing like the Ricca flower, and his left one, red like the Redtug. Eyes that made you captive and speechless.

His smile could make anyone to smile along with him.

A year or two younger than him, but he had a heart bigger than Solum.

“Hey Solum, look, look. This time, it grew even longer.”

The most prominent feature of Iri, two horns were growing from both sides of Iri’s head, making him look like an otherworldly being. Iri pointed at his horns and explained happily about how it grew an inch more.

There stood the source of his happiness, Iri with mesmerizing eyes, his two horns, under the moonlight, glowing with joy at seeing him.

Finally, Solum felt that he was home after so long.