The Meadow

I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy my time being here very much anymore. It's been some time. We are not alone here. I hope not only in a bad sense. I think. This valley is not what it seems. Hidden beneath all this beautiful landscape and absolutely stunning pictures of nature you see all around yourself, there is definitely something else.

Sometimes there is just that momentary feeling of being watched or the spike of fear. I often feel myself having goosebumps or the sudden urge to turn around to check if there's something behind me. It remembers me of the feeling when you turn the lights off in a basement, and then turn to walk up the stairs into safety while knowing the darkness is behind you seemingly trying to scare you, or just about ready to grab you and pull you back into the abyss of darkness.

No I am not overreacting. Even Ishi knows of this but just ignores it. The feelings stop or lessen considerably when I'm with Ishi. Shame he just forgets me when I'm not making a sound near him, or he remembers that he needs to feed me.

It all started a few days after arriving here. Gradually getting worse until Ishi left for a few hours once. After he came back it became less but never went away. It doesn't concern Ishi and nothing really happened until now so i guess I don't have to worry.

After we arrived we walked slowly thru the forest and meadows, along a small creek that had absolutely crystal clear water. We stopped for a few minutes to drink and refill his water bottles. It tasted fresh beyond belief. You could practically taste the mountain in it, full of minerals and just the right temperature for a nice cold water in the evening sun.

After following the creek to a large clearing that span wide before us, we arrived at a small shrine. It looked just as I would imagine a traditional Japanese shrine to look. It was small but still big enough to have a spacious interior. It didn't have the classic shrine gate, but it had a spacious stone veranda. Not big enough to be a courtyard but bigger than a normal veranda.

As we neared the skillfully crafted building I noticed carvings of signs along the floor and building. It looked like runes but if one looked closer it were again just like the signs I saw before inside the mountain. Just this time I didn't get any feelings from them.

There were small artistic stone statues around making the place look just a bit more regal. Along those I also could see signs carved into the stone though a little more concealed, as to not taint the artistic value of the piece.

Stepping to the entrance I just noticed it didn't posses a door. A nice smooth wooden archway allowed us into the building. I marveled at the interior architecture, I knew how traditional Japanese architecture was built and this certainly looked very impressive. Every nook and cranny perfectly fit together having seemingly molded into place.

Looking around the room Ishi sighted, this would be our home for now I guess. The Furniture was equally of masterful craftsmanship. This room served as a dining and chill area as well as having three big chests at the side and a big solid table. I guess this would be a nice place to drink tea when I'm grown up.

Going further into the next room that was only barred with a smooth curtain, one could see two beds and closets on the opposite side of the small room. Also small but just big enough to comfortably be around.

Ishi began with setting me down on the right bed and his duffel bag on top of the left to unpack it. The Bed was soft enough but I definitely didn't sink into it. Still better than to sleep tied to some mans torso I guess.

After he was finished he carried me back to the living area, and set me down again on top of a couch looking thing, that was more of a bench with big pillows. Again beautifully crafted. I wondered how he got all this stuff here. This place is in the middle of nowhere. Maybe he kidnapped some craftsman and forced him into slave labor until disposing him to not let this location known.

Ishi placed his storage papers onto the table and began sorting thru the stuff he looted from the bandits. Various weapons and small armor parts of well enough craftsmanship were lied around the table. Sadly I couldn't really see anything though.

After sorting thru the stuff and putting them into two different scrolls again he turned to me, looking like he was thinking about something. Coming to me and again binding me into a Dad carry whit some cloth, we set out again.

Walking around the area picking fruits and berries was a pretty nice experience. I saw berries that i never saw before and fruits looking slightly different than I remembered. Still marveling around at the scenery we walked back after filling a few containers with water.

There was another curtain in the house that lead into a small storage cabinet. Storing almost everything and only taking a bit back out, we walked through the only door in the room, to arrive at an outside cooking area. You couldn't see all this from the other side.

Ishi set me down again onto a small leather sitting area. He began to cook, or he began to prepare food. It was less cooking and more preparing. He cooked some water on top of a stovetop that worked without electricity. I guess it worked with Chakra or something. There were signs on top the cooking plate but I wasn't sure.

Grinding down berries and fruits into paste and giving it into the cooking water he added a bit of what looked like sugar and stirred. After some time cooking it was finished and Ishi let It cool down.

I was pretty surprised by his Idea to cook something like that. I was honestly already waiting for the meat-fruit paste again. Well I await great things of you from now on Ishi!

After this great meal I was finally happily fed since the breast milk of my mother. The sun was still in it's process of it setting, but it wasn't long until it would be night time.

The first evening in my new home was really peaceful and truly beautiful. The tiredness finally caught up to me. Today's process involving my Chakra and the constant travelling the last few weeks would be way to much for a normal infant. I could actually barely hold on to be somewhat fit until now.

Now that I was at the destination and safe for now I could relax. I fell asleep on the leather sitting area while Ishi made himself a meal and washed up. At some point he must have carried me back into my bed. I slept well that day.

The following days were very chill. Ishi allowed me to crawl on the stone courtyard and the clearing around the shrine. Or he just didn't care, he never said anything. I didn't go past the trees or very far from Ishi. I was still very slow and quickly tired when crawling.

I often rested on the grass in the clearing and just plopped down when I didn't have any energy anymore. It was normal short grass and a lot of moss growing in between. Meaning it was a perfect soft lawn for me.

I especially liked the big single tree on the clearing standing a bit on the side, looking like a thick walnut tree. It gave me a good feeling and the moss at its roots was extra soft. I fall asleep there sometimes.

After a few days after arriving it started with the weirdness. I had the feeling that I really didn't wanna walk past the trees now. I ignored it at first, but it got worse when I though I was being watched from the forest.

It wasn't much of a problem at first but it still unnerved me. Ishi wasn't concerned and it was just a feeling now. It got concerning when I thought the surrounding area got darker when I was being watched. It went away quickly but it was there, I was sure.

It got to the point when I would only go to the tree or hang around Ishi that was always in the hammock hanging hear the entrance of the shrine house.

In all this time I tried getting better at my crawling and trying to do something with the Chakra inside of me. I knew it was there and sometimes I could feel a glimpse of it, but I wasn't able to actually interact with it. I felt more at peace when near the tree, but I didn't ave any success.

The day came when Ishi left for some time. It got so bad that it wasn't so bright around anymore, You could still see everything the same as before, but it just wasn't a good feeling. It seemed even Ishi was disturbed by it in his hammock.

He just suddenly grumbled and went on his way after taking some things out of one of the chests. I couldn't see what, but he looked a bit pissed when walking away. He didn't even look at me before leaving. I also never saw any emotion on his face before.

It almost all went away with him leaving, after a few hours of peace, he came back. Threw some things back into the chest and went into his hammock again. I really wanted to know what was going on, but I couldn't just ask him.

After that the darkness never really came back, but the feeling to not go far into the trees was still there. It felt like it had gotten some respect and not intruding into our clearing. Ishi also hasn't taken me with him for food foraging again.

I got a little more at peace around here now and spent even more time at the tree. It was fine this way fore now. The soothing feeling of this valley came back and the darkness felt like it didn't want to overstep it's bounderies now.

PS: please read the Author notes after every chapter. I write all the current information about writing in there.