The Forest of Blue Hope
Was the forest I was seeing a hallucination born of the alcohol? Or was it nothing more than a mirage—the kind that had led countless adventurers to their deaths?
"No. It's there. It's definitely there. I can feel it."
A forest. A blue forest.
I could tell that a green wood stood out there, utterly at odds with the barren plains around me. A forest was a place overflowing with life, wasn't it? Bounding mountain beasts and chattering birds, fragrant blossoms and trees that offered cool shade. The earth that gave them a home. The clear springs that slaked their thirst.
I have to get there.
The forest planted a hope in my chest every bit as blue as its own color. So long as I had that hope, I could endure the thirst, the hunger, the blisters on my feet. To reach it, I planted those same legs that had been so busy all day back onto the ground. And I started walking.
After walking for a long while, even my swollen legs felt lighter than they had before the swelling set in.
Just that far. If I can just make it that far, I'll live.
So I walked. I walked without noticing the moon and stars that had lit my way vanishing, without noticing the cold night ending and dawn arriving, without noticing the sun I had come to hate climbing into the sky once more. I just kept walking.
I can't rest. If I rest here, I'll collapse. I won't get up again.
The truth was, I didn't particularly want to rest. Even as my entire body ached, I could feel myself drawing closer to my destination. The trees that had been a blur grew sharp. I could smell the forest. I could hear the sound of spring water. The forest wind touched my skin.
Well—aside from the trees coming into focus, the rest might have been my imagination. But I was getting closer. So I kept walking.
After a certain distance, something else began to register.
The sensation in my feet had changed.
When I focused on the feel of my soles against the ground, something far softer began to come through. Everything I had been treading on until now had been one of two things: mud, sticky and mixed with rain, or crumbly sand that water drained through in an instant. What I was stepping on now was neither of those. This was different. This was soil. Soft, springy earth.
And just like that, I arrived at the forest.
"Hoh. I wasn't seeing things after all."
Soil made from rotting leaves, and the trees growing from it once more. Birds nesting in those trees, making their lives there. I could see them with my own eyes. I could feel the rough texture of the bark under my fingers. This was a real forest.
"Still—how can there just be a forest sitting smack in the middle of a wasteland like this?"
It was strange, but it didn't particularly matter. I wasn't in a position to worry about that kind of thing right now. The fact that plants were growing here meant there was water—there might even be groundwater, or a spring. What I needed most right now was clean water.
Why? Because I'd been wasting an enormous amount of bodily fluid for a while now. The sweat I'd poured out on the way here was one thing, but the bigger problem was—
"Bleeegh!"
The vomit that kept rising up at all hours, without warning. Whether the problem was that stuff I'd diluted and drunk under the pretense of alcohol, or the muddy water I'd mixed in to dilute it, something was seriously wrong with that damned improvised cocktail. Or maybe it was just a hangover?
"Hah, hah—bleeeegh! Why did I even drink that... was I out of my mind for a second?"
Ugh. My esophagus was stinging, probably from throwing up again. I'd been told that stuff was genuinely bad for you...
"I have to find water, no matter what."
But was there some method for this? Was I supposed to grab a wooden stick and start dowsing for a water vein like I'd seen in the old days?
"Hmm... couldn't I just head toward wherever the grass is thicker?"
That wasn't entirely nonsense. Places with more water would have bigger trees and more grass, wouldn't they? And there was something I'd been keeping an eye on for a while. Over there, at the center of the forest, I could see enormous trees. Those were the kind that grew in tropical climates—the sort you'd see in documentaries about the Amazon. How were they here? Trees like that needed an enormous amount of water to grow. Did it rain that much in this place?
As I began to properly enter the forest, I left markers along the way—tying red string around branches, that sort of thing. I could get lost, so even if it took extra time, I had to do this properly.
The deeper I went, the greater my suspicions grew. Namely, the moss on the rocks and trees, growing thicker and thicker. Lots of moss meant it rained fairly often—but could rain fall only at the center of the forest? That couldn't be it.
This forest isn't natural. Either some kind of magic is involved, or someone made this place.
Still, it didn't matter. Magic or not, I had to find water first—and if people had made it, I could ask them for help, couldn't I? If this was a trap, that would be a different story.
In any case, the closer I got to the heart of the forest, the denser the moss, the grass, and the trees became. Eventually there were trees nearly twice as thick as my own body, making it hard even to push forward.
"Ah, I'm stuck! Shit! One, two, one, two, one, two!"
Hah. I finally squeezed through.
What kind of place is this, exactly?
Once I emerged from between the trees, there was a clearing. Unlike the dense woods surrounding it, this spot had been neatly emptied out. If the forest were a person, this would be the crown of its head.
"Ah. So this must be the heart of the forest."
The trees were arranged in a circle, too—it looked like a place maintained by human hands.
Private land, maybe?
And there was something else that seized my eyes.
"A spring! It's a spring! Clear water!"
Right in the very center of the clearing was something like a secluded mountain spring. The kind from the old fairy tale of the golden axe and the silver axe. I was about to run over and drink from it when I hesitated for a moment.
Is it safe to drink this? There's no poison in it, right?
Nothing to lose at this point.
Alright. Let's go.
And then I gulped down the water like a madman. I had no idea water could taste this good. It was downright sweet. This was nice. It felt like I was sobering up. The esophagus that had been burning from all the vomiting settled down, and my stomach eased a little. At least it didn't seem to be poisoned. Not the kind of poison that would kill you on the spot, anyway.
"Hah..."
Now that I'd had some water, the sleep I'd missed last night came crashing down on me.
"Maybe I'll just close my eyes for a bit... no. I don't even know what's in this place. Just sleeping here would be dangerous."
I needed to wake myself up. I'd splash some water on my face. I went to the spring and threw the cold spring water over my face. That helped a little.
"Huh?"
Just now, when I was washing my face—did I see something? I checked the spring again. It was just an ordinary spring.
Something was definitely reflected in there... my face? Ah. I can just look directly.
I dunked my head into the spring water up to the neck and opened my eyes.
Hmm. Nothing much. Just a fairly deep spring? I must have been seeing things.
And as I tried to pull my head back out of the spring, something inside it grabbed hold of me and yanked.
"Wh-what! Blub! Blub! Help—"
And just like that, I was sucked into the spring.
"Hah!"
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the clearing I'd been in. What? I was sure I'd been pulled into the spring. Had I passed out?
Something's wrong with this place. I need to get out of this forest.
I started heading back the way I'd come. It was the same path I'd taken on the way in. And yet...
"The markers. Where did all the markers go?"
Every marker I'd left on the way in had vanished.
What the hell? I definitely tied red ribbons here...
Had I gotten lost? No. I remembered this far clearly. However similar the trees looked, I could tell this much.
If I haven't gotten lost... then someone deliberately untied them?
For now, I decided to get out of the forest. No matter which direction I went, if I just walked in a straight line, the forest would have to end. That was the mindset I walked with—but the forest didn't end. It definitely hadn't been this large when I'd seen it from the outside. No—it hadn't even been half this size.
Where the hell was I? Was I trapped in this forest?
Growing uneasy, I did something stupid: I started running. Wasn't that the simplest thing a frightened person could do? Running away. I didn't even know what I was running from, but the running itself was psychological. Running gives you the feeling that you're fleeing from danger.
Until you slam into something, that is.
"Gah!"
I took a fair amount of damage myself, but whatever I'd collided with snapped clean in two. A wooden stick with an arrow attached to it.
"This is a signpost. There's a village nearby! Damn it, why did I have to break it!"
I searched the area desperately and found another signpost. One sign pointed to the next. That one led to another. Following them, I eventually found myself looking at—
"A village.... That's it! I'm alive! I'm going to make it!"
Tears of relief streaming down my face, I headed toward the village entrance.
"Kh-hhk, kh-hhhk..."
"Oppa?"
A voice I thought I'd never hear again.
"Lily?"
"Oppa! Is it really you?"
A girl came running toward me and threw her arms around me. This was what I'd needed.
"Oppa, it's okay. I... I kept waiting at the village entrance, just in case you might come back. I'm glad I did."
"Kh-hhk. Lily, I thought I'd never see you again. Never."
"You're back, so that's all that matters. Everything's okay now."
"Ah—Clotine and Maisha?"
"They went out with the villagers to look for you. They should be back soon."
"Th-they were together. Thank god."
I paused the hug for a moment and looked into Lily's deep eyes.
"Lily, where is this? Is this the village we were trying to reach? And what was that forest?"
"When I woke up, I was with Maisha unni and Clotine unni. We must have been swept along and ended up stopping in the same place. Oppa, how did you even find the spring?"
"The spring?"
"The spring. Didn't you come through there too?"
So that was it. From what Lily was saying, this seemed to be a hidden world on the other side of the spring I'd found. That explained why the tree markers had vanished, and why the signposts had appeared.
"Lily, I need to get to the village now. I need treatment, and I need some sleep."
"Ah, to the village..."
"What's wrong?"
Lily looked at me with worried eyes.
"Oppa, no matter what you see in that village, you can't be shocked. Promise me."
"What on earth..."
"Alright."
Having made that promise, Lily and I headed toward the village.