15: Uncaring Forest

The three kids, Oenhi, Mizuke and Mimya were travelling once again far east. Denying the touch of any rivers, and reach into the lands of trees.

The children were beginning to enter the eerie presence of the Grigore forest.

Oenhi, Mizuke, and Mimya cautiously stepped into the foreboding darkness of the thick forest. Towering trees loomed overhead, their branches intertwining to create an canopy that obscured the skies in some sections. The air became dense with an stillness, and the trio advanced, guided only by beams of sunlight filtering through the dense foliage.

"This place is amazing!" Oenhi yelled out in the crowd of bushes.

Mizuke expressing fright and tripped on himself, saying, "How is this amazing Oenhi?'

Oenhi, displaying the grace of a seasoned sportswoman, effortlessly leaped from tree to tree, landing on each branch and limb with flawless precision. She then looked down at the two and said. "Its just like that short cut back at my home, but way bigger!"

"Stick together, Sarahliza told me about this place. The Grigore forest is a dangerous forest lurking with man-eating animals all over." Mimya explained.

Oenhi landed on a stomp, she looked back at her with confidence. "What's a bunch of animals gonna do to us, we have super powers." Oenhi said.

Hearing this, Mimya stepped on a twig which broke, saying, "Arcane can only get us so far without Maja."

"Waja?" Oenhi asked, thinking she made a grammar mistake.

"Not Waja. Remember when we first started our journey in the valleys and I told you waja was originally something else?" Mimya asked.

Oenhi tried to remember this, recalling the conversation. Then it clicked into her head saying, "Ooooh. Yeah, what was that?".

Mizuke looked at the two, bewildered at what they're talking about. Yet, this conversation involving an origin for waja interested the boy.

"Maja is that original thing." Mimya stated, while picking up a rock on the ground.

She pressed her fingers around it, followed with a faint blue hue to manifest around her hand. Only for her to crush the rock easily, shocking both Oenhi and Mizuke.

"How did you do that? As hard as rocks be, you had to exert a lot of pressure to crush it with your bare hands." Mizuke stated with a face of astonishment.

"What's Maja?" Oenhi asked.

"Maja, it's a spiritual energy, created by your soul. In essence, it's your spiritual defensive mechanism to protect you from possession." Mimya stated, as she flap her hand around to get rid of the rock pieces.

"Interesting, but if it's for defence, how did you break that rock? That's likely offensive." Mizuke pointed out.

"That's true Miz, but it can be used in other ways. As you said, offensive. Maja also amplifies the body enhancing one's strength and endurance, allowing people to fight with more extremely high damage output." Mimya explained further.

"That sounds cool, how can I get it?" Oenhi asked, while poking her head at Mimya.

Mimya looked towards the girl and stated, "you already have maja. Everyone does, or at least have the ability to produce it. Your souls create it like a product, but normally it's dormant. Like many people go without knowing they have the ability to become super heroes."

Oenhi was thrown away by this information, as Mizuke thought maja would be useful in their arsenal against wraiths.

Mizuke started an brainstorm, then declared it, "So once someone becomes a wraith, the maja is converted into waja? Gaining different properties and abilities".

Mimya looked at him with aw, being impressed that he stated a fact. "I dunno how you got that right, but that's true. Which is why I said Waja was an originally something else. Which is Maja." Mimya replied.

"So you said I do have it, so how do I use this for super strength, I'd love to kick with more power!" Oenhi yelled in the forest.

"I- don't think yelling in a dark forest is a good idea Oenhi-" Mizuke recommended, allowing his fears of the dark to take him.

Mimya supported this and told Oenhi to quite down. "Well, this isn't the time or place to learn how to make Maja resonate with your body, but just know it automatically adjusts your body whenever you train your body." Mimya concluded to them.

"Does Maja and Arcane relate though?" Mizuke asked.

"They're not the same thing, but they fall into the same category of study. Which is Thaumaturgy. The ways of the supernatural" Mimya replied.

"Ways of the supernatural..." Mizuke said to himself.

Shrieking noises could be heard as rustling littered around them in the bushes, this set off Mizuke who latched onto the two girls.

"Hey hands off!" Oenhi ordered Mizuke.

Mimya on the other hand, placed her fingers into a gun point. Knowing the dangers of the Grigore forest and the predators that'd try to kill them.

"Get ready for anything guys." Mimya notified.

From the concealment of the bushes emerged a looming, shadowy figure. Mimya swiftly unleashed arcane projectiles, yet the enigmatic entity seemed unfazed by the mystical assault. Tanking it effortlessly, it darted towards a tree, colliding with it, rending through the trunk with an unsettling force.

Only for this shadow to stumble down a hill, decorated by more trees below.

"Huh? The heck was that?" Oenhi said with interest.

"A monster!? We gotta get outta here-" Mizuke demanded with fear in his eyes.

"Nuh uh, I'ma beat it's shins up!" Oenhi declared while running towards it's predicament.

Mimya saw her and yelled, "Oenhi what're you- come back!". With Mizuke sighing at her decision.

Oenhi jumped down the hill, being cushioned by bushes. She didn't take long to crawl out of it, only for her eye to widen at what she saw.

An ominous, hulking creature on two legs, cloaked in a shaggy hide, its eyes fill with life, with menacing tusks protruding from either side of its snout. Obsidian hues ran up the top of it's head to the tip of it's tail, emanating an unsettling aura of aggression towards something.

This was because of what stood In front of the beast. A boy with sandy-coloured hair, yellow eyes, and attire that seems to mirror a jagged, unkempt style. Looking furiously at the monster.

Oenhi thought they both were at conflict, but she couldn't understand how could a mere boy like him stand against a monster that big. This led her to think that he must need help.

The beast was in fact a massive two legged boar like creature, which ran at the boy to ram him. Only for it's head to be met with Oenhi's foot, impressively, with enough force to disorientate the animal.

In the process she landed in front of the boy, smiling with optimism saying, "Don't worry kid, I'll save you-" Her message was interrupted by the boy.

"Who the heck are you calling a kid?"

Oenhi was startled by the sudden burst and recalled that she herself was a child. The information made her smile regardless.

"That'd be you." Oenhi replied.

"Take a look in the mirror, get outta my way I'm trying to fight here." The boy argued.

Oenhi was confused, he was fighting that boar. Without arcane or Maja, how could he be taking on such a massive boar? She wondered to herself.

"That's insane, the thing would turn you into meat with those horns thing on it's head." Oenhi deployed.

"So you're saying I'm weak?" The boy asked, with anger building up in him.

Oenhi backed up with a worrisome smile, "Who put you in boiling pan- I wasn't saying you're weak, but I-", the girl said being interrupted once again.

What interrupted her was the boy's hand clenched, soaring towards her to punch her in the face.