Chapter 83: A man longing for his home.

The enchanted forest may be filled with dangers, but it has also brought me unexpected friendships. – Gaspar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, Gaspar who was been kidnapped and has been missing for the past two months can be seen stirring a huge pot with a suspicious liquid inside. With no one to stop him from doing the extreme, he has now returned from doing his old habit, which is cooking dark cuisine. By using all the available ingredients he forages around him, whether it's edible or not no one knows. And as he stirs the ladle on the old pot, blackish smoke can be seen rising out from it in the shape of a skull, with bits of unknown things floating on the surface of its purplish liquid. In this place, Gaspar has all the freedom to cook anything he wants without anyone saying something to stop him. In fact, the magic beasts in this place love his craftsmanship, and thanks to this he was able to unleash all of his talents. It's been two months since he was kidnapped, and his life has never been the same since then. But despite the kidnapping part he actually lives his life fairly well this past two months. Gaspar can still remember everything that happens on the day of his kidnapping, The magic beasts that kidnapped him had traveled for several hours before stopping in the dense part of the forest, hidden in plain sight, this is also where he found the remains of a ruined village. At first, he was scared for his dear life because he thought that the giant black cat wanted to eat him whole, but he eventually learn that it only wanted him to cook its own food, and this is how he spend the entire two months of his life in this place. But when Gaspar first arrives in this village at first he doesn't notice the presence of houses, he doesn't even know that there was a hidden village in this place. Because it was hidden carefully at the top of the tree, and they were also covered in thick vines and leaves, making them almost impossible to see below the ground. It was only when he was looking for a place to release his dam that he found something bizarre in one of the tree trunks. It was woodcraft of stairs engraved on the thick body of its trunk leading to the top of its branches. And following this path led him to discover the existence of this hidden village inside the enchanted forest. All of the houses in this village are constructed above ground, using the big tree around them as their own foundation pillar. Some built their houses inside of the tree itself, and others built it on the top of its branch. But all of them have one thing in common, and that is they were all abandoned. And as he walked through the abandoned houses, Gaspar couldn't help feeling a sense of sadness and mystery filling his heart. The houses were filled with thick layers of dust, covering every surface and piece of furniture. The dust seemed to have accumulated over many years, undisturbed by human hands. The furniture inside the houses was old and worn, with signs of wear and tear. Some of the chairs were broken and the tables were scratched and chipped. It was clear that the village had not been inhabited for a long time. Despite the accumulation of dust and the dilapidated state of the furniture, Gaspar couldn't shake the feeling that the houses in this village had once been filled with life and joy. He wondered about the stories of the people who had lived there, and what had caused them to leave their homes behind. As he explored the abandoned houses, Gaspar couldn't help but feel a sense of longing for a place he had never known. He yearned for the sense of community and belonging that must have once existed in this hidden village as It was such a strange and unique place, unlike anything he had ever seen before. However, many questions remain stuck in the back of his mind. Who built this village? Who lives here before? And what happened to this place? This are the question that is hard to find an answer to as there is no one to ask. But Gaspar is certain about one thing, and that is this village is not the work of human beings. As no human would dare to build something like this, especially inside the enchanted forest which is a place full of danger. As he continued to explore the abandoned houses, Gaspar couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity about the history of the village. He searched through the houses, hoping to find some clues or evidence of the people who had once inhabited the village. At last, after spending several days of searching and rummaging Gaspar finally found some clues. As he rummaged through the old, dusty furniture, Gaspar came across a small wooden chest hidden in the corner of one of the houses. He opened the chest and found a collection of old papers and scrolls inside. Excited by this discovery Gaspar immediately examined the papers, hoping to find some information about this village but to his dismay, Gaspar couldn't even read any single text from this scrolls as their text is far too different from what he knows. But still, he didn't give up. He carefully unrolled every scroll on the chest until he reach the bottom of it and came across a golden tube-like container with intricate carvings on its body. Inside this golden container is a special canvas made out of unknown material with a painting drawn upon it. It depicted the painting of a man with pointed ears, standing alone in a forest clearing. "It was an elf," Gaspar muttered in his short breath. The elf in the painting was holding a paintbrush and a palette and was surrounded by a colorful array of paint. The elf was drawn with a serene expression as if lost in the act of creating. The painting was full of detail and color, with each brushstroke carefully rendered to create a sense of depth and movement. Gaspar was immediately mesmerized by the beauty of the painting, and he couldn't help but wonder about the artist who had created it. "This is incredible. Elf really exists, and this place is one of their old settlement." As he put the painting back in its golden container and hid it in his bag. "I wonder what happens to them?, No one has ever seen them for thousands of years." Gaspar sighed as he clean up the other scroll littering the floor. Even though he can't read any of it's text, Gaspar knows that each one of this scrolls is an important clue to uncovering the secrets behind their disappearance from this continent. Gaspar couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. He had hoped that this scrolls would provide him with some answers, but it seemed that they were written in a language he could not understand, and it also just makes him question a lot of things. He was planning to continue his adventure in this mysterious village, but his exploration was cut short by a huge rambling, as the forest floor shakes because of the flood of many creatures running in one direction leading to the exit of the enchanted forest. Gaspar quickly gathered up his things and rushed out of the abandoned house, trying to figure out what was happening. As he emerged from the old house, he saw a mass of magic beasts running passed below him, all heading in the same direction. His heart racing with excitement and fear. He had never seen anything like this before, and he had no idea what was causing it. He ran as fast as he could, dodging branches and leaping over logs. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Gaspar burst out of the top of the huge tree. He stumbled to a stop, panting and sweating, and looked around in amazement. He was standing at the edge of one of the branches looking down at the vast forest land. And in the distance he finally saw the reason for their restlessness, it's a thick cloud of greyish mist invading the enchanted forest. Yup, that's right. It's the same mist/fog that surrounds the Beaufort territory, and it seems like it finally managed to breakthrough through to their defense made out of the giant wall of thorny vines. This event happen just a few days after he was kidnapped by that giant black cat. The thick cloud of mist eventually stopped on its track just a dozen of miles away from the old village, and it seems like there was a huge confrontation going on in that place. With thousands upon thousands of magic beasts fighting against an unknown force. He stood there, processing everything that was happening when suddenly, he heard a growl behind him. It was the huge cat that kidnapped him into this place. After not seeing this beast for several days it has finally appeared once again. But the black mist surrounding its body has now become stronger compared to before. It's entire body is now almost covered by the black mist as it reaches its neck just a few spaces away from its huge head. "I-It's you! y-your back." Gaspar said upon seeing it approach him closed. With a low growl in its throat, the giant black cat spewed out several unknown ingredients from its mouth, gesturing him to take it using one of its front paws. And with a bewildered face Gaspar immediately asks. "Are you saying that you wanted me to take all of this this, to cook this for you?" He said in astonishment. He never thought that this beasts had kidnapped him for this kind of reason. *Growl* The huge cat replied with a low growl as it watches him pick up all the ingredients covered with its saliva. "I might need to clean this first, but I'm not sure if I could get it done. You know this is my first time seeing all of this ingredients. I don't even know how to cook this things to make them taste good." Gaspar explains calmly as he cautiously collects all the ingredients in the ground. later that day, Gaspar managed to cook a large meal out of those ingredients, but the side effects also multiplied by several times as even him who has a strong stomach needs to spend his night in the grass not far away expelling all of it out of his guts. But the giant cat seems to be satisfied with his craftsmanship because he managed to tame down the black mist covering its body by a lot. Unknown to him the giant cat also suffered terribly under his hands expelling all the foreign bodies out of its system including the parasitic mist that surrounds its body. With a trembling paw it walks towards him in an elegant posture as it has given him another magic fruit as a reward for his service. Gaspar was happy to receive the gift but he didn't immediately consume it because he already knows the value of this thing. He was just glad that he was able to help this beast but he didn't know that it was also the start if his suffering. Because later that day a dozen more magic beasts has approach him with the same intent to ask him to cook them something using the ingredients they bought with them. Gaspar was oblivious to the fact, that the food he is cooking has some kind of detoxification effects to this magic beasts, removing all the parasites that are trying to invade their body. It was this reason why they all approach him in flocks as he was the only person who can help them eliminate the black fog around their body. In this two months, Gaspar has done the impossible, amassing a large number of treasures he got as a reward from the magic beast by creating the most toxic food ever known to man. The smoke coming out from his old pot is even enough to remove the greyish fog in a small area killing all of the parasites within it. Gaspar himself is aware that the food he is cooking is no longer safe for human consumption as it can even knock him down with a simple taste of it. Thanks to this he now has a certain resistance to some poison as his body has already built up its own tolerance for it. But nothing can beat the magic beasts in this area as they are directly consuming the food he cooks every day to expel all the foreign materials from their body. Using his poisonous food as a cure for this parasitic problem. This is how he spent most of his time in this forest for the past two months, cooking for almost half the day non-stop in order to help them detoxify the parasites in their body. From this Gaspar knows that something wrong is going on outside the forest and he only hopes that Florentine city could survive this disaster.