Chapter 13: Cherry Blossom Lake

As the trees rustled in the morning breeze, the sound of birds chirping and the smell of fresh air followed Ara as he set out to the hidden temple in the mountains south-east of him.

Ara began to walk waving at his sister, Ara was nervous yet excited his heart was all over the place he just wanted to run as fast as he could, but Ara knew he had to control himself for the road ahead.

as some time passed by *rumble* *rumble* Ara's stomach began to talk to him, creating little vibrations making Ara hungry.

Ara kept walking until he came across an amazing scene of a big long lake at the foot of a mountain with a few types of animals drinking from its clear glistening water, seeing the many types of fish with your own eyes seeing all the scales shine in the sunlight under the water.

he found shade under a big old cherry blossom tree, leaves as chalk pink as a beautiful sunset in its early stage.

"ahhh what a relaxing life this is... surrounded by a beautiful lake, animals around me and a gorgeous scene of cherry blossom trees guarding the animals with a cool breeze keeping the body temperature down." Ara was loving it.

Ara grabbed his food cloth and brought out one of the rice balls his sister had cooked the day before for him, "it's a good job I have these on me or else I'd end up killing these animals to feed myself, but I'd destroy the tranquil scenery with blood painting the ground with the remains of these wild animals so juicy and tender" Ara's eyes lit up with the thought of fresh meat being cooked over an open fire, the taste of smoked meat glazed with some honey and herbs along with some of the local vegetation like mushrooms and mint leaves.

Ara fantasised about food for a while until he fell asleep under the cool breeze withing the group of leaves of the cherry blossom.

a few hours past *Aaaahhhh* *splash* the sound of a person splashing into the water from a high distance as they screamed frantically woke Ara in a dazed panic, Ara jolted upright rubbed his eyes and rushed out from under the cherry blossom tree to see where the scream had come from, but from even a distance he wished he didn't have to see what he saw.

a gang stood halfway up on one of the mountains foot on a ledge overhanging the lake, there were streams of blood curdling around fresh bodies, the gangs of people are butchering some innocent people and throwing them into the lake like a sacrifice.

"Hey we have a watcher young master" one of the members of the gang spoke to what seemed to be the leader, "Well don't just stand there and tell me, go chase after him, kill him I want his head back no one is to be left alive!" the leader of the gang spoke.

"Eh...? they're after me for watching... I wouldn't want tickets to their play if they ever made one." Ara began to run as he got chased by a small number of the gang.

Ara was at a safe distance to hide away from the small number of people that was chasing after Ara, he hid inside a little open space under a tree.

As Ara got himself into a small predicament, he began to panic a little as he's never been out of his home or school.

Ara waited for a few hours before making a move to see if the coast was clear, he got up from the open space of the tree and began to look around and stretch, "Oh my that feels good *Click* aaahhh that's the spot" Ara was relieved of clicking his body and stretching his muscles again as his body was becoming numb with being in the same place.

After that Ara travelled for no more than an hour before coming across a slight fog and the feeling of being watched.

Ara put on a brave face and carried on walking, "this is a little creepy, it feels like something in the mist itself is watching me" Ara closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he felt a little hot and mild-tempered, he began to focus on his surroundings when suddenly he smelt a strange aroma coming from in the distance, it smelt weird and strange, like someone had rubbed an old dusty book.