“Being surrounded by nature sure feels different. It’s nice and refreshing. Can’t believe I’m not allowed to just enter this place without phapha’s permission.”
Tujitou walked around with the basket in his hand admiring the beauty of nature surrounding him. The sounds produced by the distant water stream, the wind and the animals brought him tranquility.
“I’ve been walking for a while now. I wonder where Alexander would’ve put his camp down. Phapha told him to stay on the outskirts, so he shouldn’t have gone that far in. Hmm.”
Tujitou started to recall the time Tsander told them the basics of deciding where to put camp down.
“Now boys, there are 4 fundamental things you need in order to survive in the wild. 3 of them you need to look for. Those are water, food and shelter. So where do you think the best places are for these 3 things?”
“A cave?”, Tujitou said as he yawned.
“Not a bad answer, but that wouldn’t work in the Lygis. That cave will most likely have monsters in it and killing all of them would bring too much unwanted attention. So what do you think Alexander?”
“Seeing how in the Lygis there’s always danger around the corner, it would be best to stay somewhere not many people would normally go to. If we’re talking about a forest then it would be near water, but not near a large body of water like a river or a lake. Someplace simpler like near a stream. Animals always gather where there’s fresh water so the stream will also provide food. Now for shelter, it would be best to stay between the trees. No, on top of the trees. You’re less likely to be spotted, so it should also be safer. The only problem with that is that you’ll have to sleep uncomfortably by tying yourself to the trunk of the tree. I think that’s it.”
“Waw Alex, you sure you’ve never gone camping before?” Tujitou said with a stunned face.
“You couldn’t have said it any better son. You only forgot one little detail. To move around as much as possible. In the Lygis there’s always the possibility of being hunted by someone or something. And the longer you stay in one place the more tracks you leave behind for others to find.”
“Makes sense. So phapha what’s the 4th thing?”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that Tuj. After all, it’s something you lack a lot of”, Alexander said as he tousled Tujitou’s hair.
“Even in my flashbacks, he teases me. At least now I know where he could be. I heard a stream near here somewhere, so I just need to go there and find his tracks.”
It didn’t take long before Tujitou arrived at the stream of water. He made sure to look around to see if it was safe to approach the stream.
“Man I sure am thirsty”, Tujitou put the basket down and walked up to the stream to drink some water.
“Aaaah that sure is refreshing. I still don’t see what’s so dangerous”, *Thud* suddenly Tujitou felt something splatter on his back. He quickly turned around and saw the corpse of a leopard. You could only see half of the leopard’s bloody face, the rest of his face was scattered all around it.
“What are you doing here Tujitou?”
Tujitou looked to his right and saw Alexander playing with a few pebbles in his hand as he sat on a branch of a tree.
“Alex?”, Tujitou was confused about what had happened. He looked back at the leopard and shivers ran through his spine. He had figured out that the leopard must have wanted to attack him and that if Alexander weren’t there he would’ve been in grave danger.
“Tujitou!”, Alexander shouted as he dropped from off of the tree and walked towards Tujitou.
“I’ll ask you one more time. Why are you here?”, even though Alexander had asked this question in a calm tone, Tujitou knew he was angry when he saw the cold stare he gave.
“I-I-I-I was I was uuh”, Tujitou couldn’t gather his words as Alexander stood in front of him. Tujitou had always known Alexander as a kind, loving and intelligent brother, but never before had he seen him angry. Again Tujitou was thrown into an unfamiliar situation. He was in fear of this never-before-seen side of Alexander. Tujitou couldn’t look Alexander in the eyes so he looked around. As he looked around his eyes brightened when he saw the basket he had brought. He quickly grabbed it into his hands.
“Here. I brought you something to eat.”
“I killed an innocent animal because of you”, Alexander said with a cold stare.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Sigh”, Alexander placed his hands on Tujitou’s head and said: “make sure to at least take responsibility of the corpse.”
“I will.”
“And make sure to apologize to them later too.”
“Them?”
“You’ll understand later. So what did you bring for me to eat?”
“You’re favorite. Lasagna”, he said with a smile on his face.
Alexander’s mood immediately lightened up. He took the basket Tujitou brought and took a big whiff of it.
“Aaah there’s nothing better than lasagna to satiate my hunger”, Alexander opened the basket. He had a look of confusion when he saw what was inside.
“Why are there only two pieces left in the bowl?”
“Oh, I got hungry on the way over here. So I ate the rest and left 2 pieces so we could each eat one together.”
“Each he says”, Alexander started laughing.
“Well, I guess it’s better than having nothing. Come on. I know someplace nice we can go eat this.”
“Sure. Hold on”, Tujitou walked back to go and pick up the corpse.
After about 10 minutes they arrived at a lake in the Roshigi forest. Tujitou was amazed by the scenery. It was a small lake surrounded by many trees and a variety of flowers. In the middle of the lake stood a 30-meter sakura tree which covered almost all of the lake.
“Pretty sure phapha was going to be the one to do this, but it seems like my job now. Tuj, I’d like to welcome you to one of the three great wonders of the Roshigi forest. The lake of life.”
Tujitou looked around still not believing that such a beautiful place could exist on earth. There were many animals gathered at this place. A place where prey and predator lived in harmony. Just living next to one another as if one never even hunted the other.
“The reason this place is called the tree of life is because of that tree you see over there. It’s called a sakura tree. It’s the biggest sakura tree that exists on earth. Nobody knows how it came into existence, but the thing we do know is that it creates a safe zone.”
“A safe zone?”
“An area where violence doesn’t exist. The tree gives off an aura that instills tranquility into us. Everything under this tree does not become hostile. That’s why you’re able to see that”, Alexander pointed to a rabbit sleeping on top of a tiger.
“There isn’t any place better in this forest to enjoy a piece of lasagna”, they sat down on the ground.
“I know phapha didn’t ask you to bring me this. Nor would he allow you to come here alone. So what happened that made you come and visit me here?”
“Can’t I miss my own brother?”, Tujitou said jokingly.
“Tuj,” as Alexander called out his name he just looked at Tujitou. He knew that it wasn’t a lie, but he also knew that it wasn’t the complete truth.
“Guess there’s no one who knows you better than a loving brother huh?”, Alexander smiled as Tujitou said this.
Tujitou then told Alexander about everything that had happened the day before at the market. He told him about the people involved and the way he felt. Alexander patiently and quietly listened to his little brother. After Tujitou had told him everything, Alexander took a minute to gather his thoughts.
“You can’t save everyone. It’s a simple quote that’s very direct. No matter what you do, it’s impossible to save everyone and everything”, As he told Tujitou this he looked at him.
“Tuj do you know why I’m going to the Lygis?”
“To find your real parents?”
“Well yeah, but not entirely. That’s just like a sidequest to my main adventure. My main goal in the Lygis is to become The King.”
“The King? As in The King of the Lygis?
“Yes, because becoming the king of the Lygis enables you to make the impossible possible.
I want to save everyone Tuj. To right all the wrongs and get rid of all the evil that exists. That’s my goal in life. Imagine little brother. Everywhere you went would look like this, the lake of life. Wouldn’t that be a sight to see?”
Tujitou looked around and his eyes sparkled just like a kid who tasted sweets for the first time. Tujitou couldn’t even imagine such a beautiful world. He then looked at Alexander and couldn’t do anything but admire him even more now.
“I also want to live in a world like that.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it happen. For now, I’m just happy the old lady was able to save you. Come on now, I do believe we have a leopard’s corpse to take care of.”
“Coming”, Tujitou got up and followed Alexander.
“You know Tuj. For me to achieve my dream I’ll need 2 things. To become the strongest and someone that I trust by my side. You mind helping me with the second one.”
“Don’t worry, you can count on me. I’ll become so strong that no one will be able to even touch you.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
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