The Holy Apple

    When I first opened my eyes, there was only the corpse of my old man ahead of me.

I couldn't understand my body at first. As the old man once said though, I look like an apple which is a kind of fruit. But I have two little legs and paws along with the face of a cat, which is a kind of animal.

Above me, there was a giant dead tree. An apple tree, in fact. I was a strange fruit that once fell from this tree, to its own lairs. And there I spent years, to somehow gain all my senses and organs. 

I looked around, and it was all new to me. All that I knew about the world was from the stories the old man told me. So I assumed the place I was at to be a forest, which is an area with lots of trees, I think.

There were lots of trees here too, thanks to which there was hardly any light. From the stories of old man, I initially expected for the 'sun' which is a giant ball of fire to blind me with its tremendous light. However, it was all dark. The trees were blocking all the sunlight.

I gazed over all the other things around me. Indeed, the tree that was above me was the biggest thing I could see. The tree was my mother, to be true, as said my old man. Oh, and him. My only friend who stayed by all these years. I couldn't see him alive. This is unfortunate.

I then tried to move as I raised my legs. I took my first step thus, then another and another. Easily, I came out of the lair of my mother tree which was filled with all kinds of roots and mysterious vines. I was then standing right before the head of my friend, old man. I touched his head which was, if I am not wrong, called 'hair' and that was all white.

His face was full of a thing called wrinkle. And he showed obvious regret in his blue eyes.

Before my friend died, he told me something. He said his greatest regret was crying over the dead. He used to say that he spent too much time in it. In the end, he wasted away his whole life to accompany me. A strange apple, and died.

I have not the slightest idea as to why he did that, however. I don't know why would he sacrifice everything to give me some time. I wonder if he even knew if I was alive or not.

The irony, I don't even know who I am. Right, who am I?

In any case, the truth be told, I know why my friend died. It was me, he died because of me. Although the old man informed me about this beforehand, that evil spirits or demons or something similar are getting crowded in this forest, only more as every day passes by.

In the end, an evil spirit came to the old man, and killed him, ironically just a few hours before I regained my senses of sight. Perhaps, it was intentional, I can't say. In any case, the entity was I, who attracted those spirits. But I don't regret anything. It was not my fault. But I do feel bad. I hope he could see me in the end.

Contemplating about these, I came out of my mother's lair, where I felt strangely unsafe. It was as though anything could harm me now. It was 'fear', I understood. The old man told me that there are many predators who live in the forest. If I am not cautious, I will get eaten. When that happens, one dies. That means one will lose their soul, making one permanently unconscious. But the old man told me there is something called an afterlife after this life. And I believe in his words.

I wondered initially, should I seek out the spirit who killed my old man? I gave up on that thought. I felt there was no need for this. He was already dead after all. Apparently the dead can never come back. But yet, I looked around for the third time since I had woken up, that was to find any spirit. In his last days, old man emphasized a lot on the fact that the population of spirits are rising here in the forest, thanks to me.

But what is so special about me? I did not yet know.

In the dark forest, I walked slowly in search of a life. I found some too, like rabbits, small insects, and a deer that ran away just as it saw me. Thankfully I did not need to wait for too long for a spirit. It scared me as it randomly jumped up from a bush.

Made of greyish and firm-looking bones, and not a hint of blood or flesh, I believed they were called skeletons. It had fiery eyes though, which was the only thing that bore proof of its life. These spirits are different from animals in the sense that it has already died once. Or perhaps, they are the offsprings of the dead ones. But their soul did not leave their consciousness. They are also called ghosts for that reason.

But what happened later was strange to me. Well, everything seemed strange to me as I was seeing anything for the first time.

The skeleton moved itself making sounds of bones hitting into each other to appear right in front of me. It was much taller and obviously stronger than me. But then it slowly bowed down on its knees. Lowering it's head, it acknowledged me for something.

As per old man's stories, I knew this was an expression of respect or honour.

I was reasonably astonished and asked then, and those were my first words.

"Do you know me?"

The skeleton opened its crackling mouth and revealed its white teeth. Then uttered, stopping once in a while,

"You.. Are. The gr..eat.. King.. Of Astagha… Fores..rest."