"Elder!!" Rayen ran through the branches. They were big enough that he didn't need to pay attention to where he was stepping. But he had to be careful, if he were to fall from such height it could be fatal. Even if he ran, he couldn't outrun the four beasts, and they won't let him escape. They climbed the nearby branches, then pounced and scratched him.

It would be his end if this continued. 'I need to attack as well.' He saw a ferret climbing up. He paid close attention to his every movement. As soon as it jumped of the branch. He stepped back. The ferret passed in front of him, missing him completely. This was his chance. Rayen quickly took it and threw it away using its own force against it. Yet, the seconds he stood there gave a chance to the other ferrets to catch up. They all scratched and bit him. He went on a frenzy of punches and slashes, until, finally, they let go. This wasn't the end though, the three beasts kept chasing him, waiting for a better chance.

'There. If I go there I should be able to lose them for some time.' He ran to an area were branches crossed over like a labyrinth. The ferret who fell went back up and joined the party once again, or maybe it was a new ferret, he couldn't tell. Once he had reached the labyrinth, Rayen changed his trajectory from left to right, up and down. The ferrets couldn't keep up and lost sight of him, but a few seconds later, they saw him and pursued him once again. He kept doing it, but it didn't matter how many times he did it, the ferrets always found him. He couldn't escape from them.

He reached for his pouch and took out an herb. He hated this herb. It was an herb that, when crushed, emitted a terrible smell. 'With this they should leave.' He crushed it and threw it at them. The results weren't what he had expected. The ferrets kept attacking him. Not only that, but now he couldn't lose them for even a second. They could always get his position because of the strong stink.

"Cough cough" It was hard for him to breathe. "This is disgusting." He wiped his hand with his clothes, but that only made the smell stick to his clothes.

*Baam* A ferret's hard head collided with his back. The leather vest greatly reduced the impact, but he lost his balance. He was falling. He pressed his knife into the branch and thrust with both hands. He slowly stopped to a halt. The four ferrets went to his hands and started bitting. Thankfully, he was wearing leather gloves, so he didn't felt a thing. He swung and dropped onto another branch. "That was close. Staying on the branches is too dangerous." He saw a place without trees and ran there.

'I can't beat them, the only way is to find the Elder.' Rayen kept running until he was at the barren land. There were no buildings here, nor grass, nor trees. The ground was orange instead of the usual red. The four beasts were still behind him. A person appeared in front of him. It wasn't the Elder, it was Takuya.

"Hello Rayen." He looked at the beasts that followed Rayen. Once they saw his eyes, their bodies shook, their instincts told them that if they didn't leave now, they wouldn't survive. They scattered. Rayen saw his eyes as well. His eyes were strange. They had something in them. Rayen couldn't tell what it was. They looked just like usual, yet, somehow, different.

"Takuya? Where had you been?" Rayen sat down, he was tired and finally safe.

"In the forest, just like you." Takuya had a strange smile.

"How did you did that?"

"Hahahaha. Those beasts are the weakest, it's understandable that they will cover in the presence of someone strong."

"Uh? Are you okay? Did you find something to awaken?"

"I'm okay, Rayen, don't worry about me. Actually, I'm better than ever. And no, but I won't need to awaken anymore."

"Eh? Why not?"

"I have found my path. My own path that will lead to unparalleled strength. Now any of those little beasts won't dare to oppose me."

"Your path?"

"Yes, my path. What I should follow. The things I have to do to become strong. Now I know them. There is no reason to awaken. It is impossible for me anyway."

"Why is it impossible? Were the tales wrong? I've heard of it happening a lot of times to people with a capability of 0 or 1. Even if you're a 3, it should still be possible."

"They weren't wrong, now I understand it. Those who awoke had power sleeping in them. That's why they could awaken. But I'm different. I don't have a sleeping power. I have to look for power in... a different way."

"Power isn't everything. But if you are happy with the path you found, then it's okay. I still need to find something to help my grandma. Did you encounter anything like that?"

"No, Rayen. I don't think something like that can be found here. Yet this place holds many secrets. Keep looking, you may find it."

"I see..."

Takuya looked at the sky and opened his arms. "Ahh... I will be leaving first. Goodbye, Rayen. It was nice meeting you."

"Uh? Wait!"

Takuya's body flashed and he disappeared.

"Strange..." Rayen looked around. Takuya was nowhere to be seen. He saw a strange building at the distance. He hadn't noticed it before, since it was inside Dokenra. The building was too strange. That tree was harder than steel. So how could a building be built inside it? Unlike the other buildings that were simple, this one had some weird decorations carved on it. Decorations which didn't made sense unless you were a rakuya. And that wasn't the only difference with the other buildings. It had a stone door, while he hadn't seen anything made of stone here before.

He got closer to look at it. There were no ferrets nearby. The strange building was closed. There were markings on the stone door. They didn't looked like the ones in the decorations. He couldn't tell what they were. When Rayen touched it, the door collapsed. "Hum..." He went inside. It looked like a temple. He had never been in one before, there were no temples on the village or the city, but he did read about them.

Inside the temple there were stone statues, a rakuya corpse on a throne and paintings. The statues were of rakuyas with their spirits. When alive, rakuyas always had their spirits with them. Only after dead will the spirits leave them, like Senku did. The paintings formed a story that Rayen knew. On the top was the Dokenra, from which a piece of wood fell, the wood morphed into a girl, a doll. The doll wasn't alive, it couldn't move, until the spirits came and fused with it. Then it came to life, as a rakuya.

"I understand that the rakuyas come from the holy tree and need spirits to live. But where do the spirits come from? A rakuya needs her spirit to live, but they aren't their spirits. Their spirits have a live of their own. They are one yet separate." But the paintings didn't provide any answers.

Other paintings pictured different types of spirits, flame spirits, leaf spirits, wood spirits, among many others, all dancing around a group of rakuyas at a forest.

He looked at the throne. The corpse there was different than the others he saw. Not only was it complete, but the rakuya itself had a body different than the rest. It was taller, dressed with a robe of plants. It looked more human than the others, yet you could see she was made of wood as well.

Rayen got closer to the corpse and touched her. Its skin was rough. He grabbed the robe. "It looks like no human should be able to use it. But I may be able to sell it." He pulled it, but he couldn't take it away. When he moved it, the corpse moved as well. It was fixed to her, as if it was a part of her. Anyway, he couldn't use it. So he left it there.

He noticed an object on her arm. Rayen grabbed her arm to see what it was. The arm was unexpectedly weak and it crumbled when touched. The object fell to the ground. It was a badge. A badge with a symbol of a giant tree, which looked exactly like Dokenra would look if it wasn't withering. There was a small circle inside a bigger circle in the middle of the tree.

"I may be able to sell it." Rayen took it. It felt like lava entering his hand. The badge shined and started crawling into him. Sinking inside his hand. "Wagh." Rayen fell back. He took his arm, his hand hurt, he wanted to stop it, but he had no way of doing it. The sight frightened him. The badge slowly entering his hand, as if it was made of water. Burning its way through until it finally disappeared. "What... just..." He wanted to puke, but he couldn't think straight. His head moved from side to side until it fell and he passed out.

When he woke up, he was all alone in the familiar forest. He stood up. It all felt like a dream, like he never went to the Rakuya Forest. But the scratches on his arms and clothes showed that it hadn't been a dream. He looked at his hand, the badge wasn't there, neither was any scar.

"Takuya!" He shouted, but there was no answer. 'Did he went home? He should be fine anyway. He said he found his power or whatever.' He could get some herbs, but he decided not to. He was exhausted and had a headache, so he went back home. Sadly, he couldn't find any rare herb on the forest. It seems that this trip was a lost.

His grandma was outside, sweeping the floor.

"Grandma, I'm back."

"You are back?! It doesn't matter how much money do you offer me, I will never sell it!" She pointed at him with the broom. "Shoo shoo." She hit him with it.

"Grandma, I will sleep a bit. I'm really tired..."

She nodded twice. "You want to steal it? It doesn't matter how much you look for it, you will never find it!" She keep sweeping.

He jumped on the bed and fell asleep.

At the afternoon, he woke up at the sound of someone slamming the door and a woman's screams.

"Ugh?" He went to see what was happening.

"The pizza I ordered is here." His grandma smiled and opened the door. Lena, Takuya's mother, was there.

'What's a pizza?' This was the first time he heard that word. Grandma liked to invent words.

"Where is my pizza?"

"Rayen? Are you there?!" She seemed nervous and angry at the same time. She completely ignored grandma, it was pointless to talk to her.

"Uh? What happened?" Rayen said.

"Don't tell me you don't know? Takuya is missing! He went with you to the forest, and now he is nowhere to be seen. Where is he?! What have you done to him?!"

She tried to enter the house, but grandma blocked her. "You didn't have enough today? You already searched the entire house! I told you. No matter how much you look for it, you will never find it."

'That was me though...' Rayen thought.

"Get away, you crazy woman." She pushed grandma to the side, making her fall to the ground.

Rayen ran to her side. "Grandma! Are you okay?"

"Grandma? I'm not that old yet!" She stood up as if nothing happened.

Rayen stared at Lena. "I went to the forest with him, but then he shined and disappeared! I don't know where he is. I thought he came back on his own."

"Pff... Bullshit, do you want me to believe that he was kidnapped by aliens? If you are gonna make up a story, at least make it more believable."

"That's the truth!"

"You... Fine, let's see the Elder. If you did anything to Takuya, I will make you pay for it."

When they approached the simple hut, a deep voice from the inside said "Enter".

They went inside and saw the Elder with his eyes closed sitting crosslegged. There were incenses at his side, on top the books.

He opened his eyes. "What happened?"

"That woman tried to steal my canary!" Grandma pointed at Lena. "But I will never let her! She won't take it away."

"Takuya disappeared!" Lena shouted interrupting grandma. "He went to the forest together with him." She pointed at Rayen. "Now he came back alone saying that my son mysteriously disappeared in front of his eyes."

"I see... Tell me what happened in the forest, young man."

Rayen nodded and recounted a slightly modified version of what had really happened, from the morning until he came back. He omitted the medicine, meeting the Elder and getting the badge obviously.

"Hum... A red forest... That must be the Rakuya Forest." He nodded.

"You will believe his lies?" Lena said. "The Rakuya Forest is just a fairytale. It doesn't exist."

"He isn't lying. It truly exists. The last Elder told me stories about the Rakuya Forest before. I saw it in person as well."

"Then where is Takuya? We need to find him!"

"Once you leave the Rakuya's Forest, you always end up in the forest. Let's go to the forest, Takuya must be there, somewhere. The sooner we find him, the better. It's already late." He took out a lantern and gave it to Lena.

"Let's go." She ran to the forest.

As they got near the forest, the Elder moved his hand and a ball of green light appeared. It illuminated even more than the lantern. "Sorry, I only got one lantern." Rayen and his grandma grouped together with him, while Lena went in another direction.

"Takuya!!! Takuya!!!" They all shouted while looking for him.

Rayen got close to the Elder and spoke so that only he could listen. "What could have happened to Takuya?"

"I don't know. I don't know how could he leave without my assistance. But I also don't know how you did it."

"I told you, I lost my consciousness and woke up at the forest. I also don't know how it happened."

"But Takuya did it while awake and in front of you. Did he do something special?"

"He looked at the sky and opened his hands. Only that. But he was strange all the time."

"Hum..."

A long time passed, yet he still didn't appear.

Grandma got in the way and stopped Rayen and the Elder. "It's enough." She said almost crying. "I'm thankful that you looked him for me. But it's enough. He is a grown up rabbit anyway. I'm sure he will live a happy life in the forest and find a rabbit wife with whom he will make little rabbits."

"What we are looking for it's not a rabbit, it's..."

"Takuya!!!" Lena screamed. They all ran to where the shout came. There, near a small river, Lena had Takuya in her arms and was continuously shaking him while calling. "Takuya, Takuya." There was no blood or visible injury. His sword and shield were on the ground. When she heard them closing, she stared at Rayen as if wanting to tear him apart. "It was you..."