Quest of Sakar

Sakar was lost in the forest. He remembered how he got lost in the Unpassable Forest back at his home. Near the village he lived for three years, there was a forest that no one managed to pass through.

When Sakar opened his eyes to the world, the first thing he saw was a blue shining lake in a huge forest. Later he learned its name, the Unpassable Forest. The rulers of the land he lived on even used that forest to punish criminals. Banishing them to the forest. No one met a person who has managed to return from it after they entered. There were even legends about the day one comes out of it is the day of big change and the person who comes will become the ruler of the world. Of course, all those stories were nonsense. But the first thing Sakar remembers in his life was that forest. He looked like someone ten years old back then. But he didn't know when he was born. Nobody knew...

Sakar felt nostalgia, being lost in a forest again. He was thinking about how many years he lived. He was fifteen right now. Five years have passed, three being in the village.

He snapped out of his nostalgic feelings when he realized the sun was setting down.

It was getting darker. He saw a bright spot ahead and went to check it. There was a sleeping shining bear. Shining bears would shine shade blue at night. They have strong physic and they are fast. During the day, their furs turn into black. They are dangerous creatures during spring and summer because they attack everything that moves during their mating session. Sakar decided to leave quickly. Even he knew how dangerous they were with their super strength and sharp claws.

When he was retreating slowly with the hope of not waking the bear, he accidentally dropped to the ground. On the ground, there was a pack of the sound flower. Sound flowers make loud sounds to scare animals and humans when they are touched. They immediately made sounds of explosions. The sound was so loud, his ears bled, despite him closing his ears.

Sakar was thinking about the bear and he muttered to himself; "I think I f*cked myself up really good.". He made a fireball instantly, standing ready to throw it where the bear is. Sound flowers stopped mimicking the sound of an explosion. Sakar heard another loud roar not as much as the flowers but a roar of a bear. He was ready to strike at any moment. The shining bear was in sight. It looked angry. When it saw Sakar it ran toward him.

Sakar threw the fireball without even thinking. He forgot that he was in a forest and fireball could create a forest fire. The fireball hit the face of the bear directly, it didn't avoid it and was still running after it got hit, unharmed. Sakar realized that he can't fight that creature, the only way out was to flee as fast as he can so he ran with all his might.

To scare the bear Sakar threw fireballs to the sound flowers. He was running to a place he didn't know. It didn't matter though, he didn't know where he was in the forest anyway. Randomly running, touching sound flowers he comes across, on purpose. The bear was so near to him but couldn't catch him yet.

The direction Sakar was running to was somewhat strange. On the way, it felt like life was diminishing. There was less life as he advanced. The trees got dryer, the grass turned yellow, animals, even bugs got scarce as he went in this direction. He reached a place even the grass ceased to exist. Bear suddenly stopped. Sakar realized that and also stopped. They looked at each other like two lovers that couldn't meet because their families didn't let them. He thought about the reason the bear stopped but he was so exhausted, the thing that occupied his mind most was to rest.

Bear turned its back and left slowly. Sakar didn't understand why it left. 'It must be afraid of how amazing I am!' was the sentence crossed his mind. Even he knew, he was spewing bullshit.

After he rested enough, he began to move to the direction of the dead land. The earth itself seemed dead as he got to deeper in that dead land. As he moved life decreased. The sun was about to set so it got darker every second. He made a fire in his hand to use as a torch.

He saw a cottage and became happy at the moment. Finally, a shelter to spend the night. He had a smiling face when a person shouted loudly.

Man: "LEAVE!"

It was an old man. Sakar went to the front of the door.

Sakar: "I just need a place to spend the night."

Old man: "Outside is safer than my house, so leave."

Sakar: "How could it be? There are no monsters inside."

Old man: "I said 'leave'."

Sakar: "I will sleep in front of the door if you don't take me in."

The old man didn't reply. There were footsteps instead. He opened the door and faced Sakar. He was really an old man. An old man that kept his prime physic.

Sakar: "I am Sakar. You?"

Old man: "My name brings me bad memories. I would prefer not to utter it."

Sakar: "Will you take me inside?"

The old man was a little bit surprised. He was checking like he was his crush.

Sakar: "What are you looking at?"

Old man: "Where is your soul?"

Sakar: "What? Soul? What are you speaking about?"

Old man: "Normally anything that comes close to me would lose their souls slowly. They would be withering without even realizing the reason."

Sakar: "So is this the reason this place is devoid of life?"

Old man: "Yes, I am cursed by the stars. My body absorbs the lifespan of other things and adds their remaining days to mine. A shitty life... But your lifespan. It is like, there is not any."

Sakar: "My teacher told me that people are blessed by the stars, not cursed. I don't understand the things you say other than that. But it is a cool ability."

Old man: "It may seem like a blessing at first sight. Even I thought the same. But when you take the life of your loved ones, it becomes unbearable... I even tried to kill myself many times, it just doesn't work."

Sakar: "You said that I didn't have a soul so will you take me in now?"

Old man: "OK, come in."