Chapter 74

A smile was plastered on my face while I looked at the innumerable mass of beasts looking at me from a distance. Their eyes were mostly blank, but some showed some signs of sentience and I could almost feel the predatory impulses that they were directing towards me.

And yet, they didn't dare take another step towards the great forest I was currently in. Thousand-year old trees towered over me, blocking almost completely the rays of the sun from shining through their foliage.

A span of land with no vegetation growing for over a hundred metres separated the forest from the rest of the Lostlands. It was like a scar in the landscape, a stretch of barren earth between two very different verdant areas.

It had been a few days since the improper game of tag had started. I had been roaming among the trees without a proper destination, hoping to find what I had been looking for, while the impolite inhabitants had tried to eat me.

I had received some wounds here and there, but thanks to the accumulated biomass I had recovered quickly and I had continued running without stopping.

The moment I had traversed the boundary separating the forest, which should have been known as the Garden of The Green, every single beast had stopped its chase.

It was ingrained in their very essence that this was a place they did not belong to. Although they were just a little bit more than mere automatons, they were still replicas of living things and for this reason they were inhabited by rudimentary survival instincts.

Or at least so it appeared to me, as they behaved as if that was true. This was apparent from the fact that they didn't follow me where I was, a place where mana density was lower than the one inside Perimetres; and even the omnipresent ether itself seemed to have been filtered from the air and even from the soil by these peculiar trees.

At this very moment I was in fact quite ecstatic. The air was crisp and clear. It wasn't viscous like usual and breathing came easy. It brought to my mind memories of a past when inhaling wasn't accompanied by the now too familiar sense of heaviness and fatigue.

I could feel the soft dirt between the toes of my bare feet. After experiencing only dust and hard stone, many times covered in my own blood, it was a pleasant change of pace.

Nevertheless, every single hair on my body was raised. I felt something observing me from every direction, studying my every move. Whatever was watching me was making sure I knew I was an intruder and, although I didn't specifically feel hostility coming from the observer, I didn't feel welcomed either. I was an intruder and intruders weren't appreciated.

This invisible guardian was most likely whatever was keeping the numerous beasts at bay, but I wasn't going to let it stop me. I had a purpose that had driven me here and I would accomplish it. Nevertheless, I planned to take my time doing that.

The air was like a drug and I was getting addicted. I knew I would eventually get accustomed to the new atmosphere and the euphoria would soon wear off. For this reason I didn't want to rush things. I wanted to enjoy this experience to the fullest.

I roamed around aimlessly, strolling through the forest and jumping from a tree to the next, taking advantage of the density of the vegetation to work out and learn how to move quickly in three dimensions, although the main reason for doing so was that I found it highly amusing.

I even went around hitting some of the plants with my mace and I found out that although most of them were weeds or mana-plants, there were some who were genuine trees, made of real wood.

Every time I damaged one of these, I felt a stinging sensation on the back of my head, a warning not to do it anymore. After a few times I determined it to be wiser to stop mistreating the plants.

Although I knew of the possibility of finding actual biological life inside of the Garden, it still surprised me nonetheless. After having seen the wastelands, it seemed impossible for life to flourish outside of the Perimeters, but the Garden was the exception to this rule.

After all, this place was directly related to the long-dead Legion of The Green, whose vitality and love for nature was so strong it manifested in an aura which overflowed from the body and purified the surrounding environment, making it possible for life to exist in the mana-ravaged world.

Even now that they were long dead, the imprint The Green had left on the world had manifested itself in the birth of weeds capable of carrying on the duty of keeping their old home safe from danger.

After all, the true nature of mana was exactly to realise aims, purposes and desires. A Legion wants would carve themselves in the fabric of the world, being them at its peak.

Nevertheless the plants inhabiting the Garden were not indigenous. The planet's biosphere had been wiped out during the first age of the world, so every living being had to be imported from elsewhere.

Although many of the plants were identical to the now extinct native ones, there were a few here and there donning unusual foliages and colours. One which caught my eye was a tree characterised by a deep crimson bark, a streamlined trunk and long branches covered in leaves of autumn colours, from which hung a few white fruits resembling pears. I tried tasting one, but I immediately spit it as it had the same flavour of the log of wood I had briefly munched on after recovering from the surgery.

I wandered through the forest for a few days, enjoying the air and the sightseeing. I bathed in the few streams I found and sunbathed in the glades, laying down in the middle of the tall grass and among the flowers.

Unfortunately, as I expected, my body soon adapted to the new conditions and addiction settled in. The flowers didn't interest me anymore and I completely ignored the grass and the trees.

My mind returned to my original objective: finding the Garden, reporting to Jonah, organising an expedition and splitting the profit between the two of us. The first thing to do was to find an exit from the Garden. I had strayed around for too long in an altered state of mind and I had lost my way.

I concentrated hard, trying to recall the steps I had taken from my departure from the Delta to the place I was in now. I couldn't visualise them perfectly, but I still tried to follow them back to the best of my abilities.

After a few hours of march I stopped moving. I stood listening, trying to decipher the faint sounds reaching my ears from far away. Immediately afterwards I rushed through the forest towards the source of the noise. The closer I got, the more distinct the shouts became.