Chapter 1
Melody walked through the path in the forest leading to the lake of serenity where Neiremni the water nymph resided. It was said she would grant wishes to those who sacrificed an object of emotional value, and well, she had a wish to make, things she wished to forget. The centaur lady looked at the silver ring she carried on her hand and sighed.
As she contemplated the decision she had made, she saw a creature ahead of her in the same road. It seemed to be a humanoid, but made of plants and vines, carrying a wooden cane. It walked quite slowly like an old man would do. By its side there was a karpos, animals that looked like fruits and were born from the trees of the Sagittarius castle. His was a pineapple dog that was quite excited skipping as it walked. Curious to know what he was, after all she didn’t know of any species that were like him, she approached him saying:
“Good afternoon sir! Going to the lake of serenity?”
“ Yes, I am” he replied “Well, close to it I guess, you?”
“Yes, I have...things I wish to forget…” the lady answered as she squeezed her right hand
They both walked in silence for a few seconds until Melody decided to ask:
“Would you like a ride? You don’t seem very heavy, I could carry you to the lake. We centaurs are pretty sturdy, you know?”
“I’d really appreciate it, thank you very much “ he said picking up the little pineapple
The lady helped the old plant man on her back, and they resumed walking.
“If you don’t mind me asking... What are you?” She asked “I’ve never seen something like you before, not like I’ve traveled much anyways…”
“Well, it’s normal you don’t know” he answered “There is nothing like me after all, because I’m the only one of my kind.”
“What happened… to your kind?” the girl asked
“Nothing my dear” he replied with a chuckle “I am the first of my kind, that’s all. How I became like this, well... it’s a long story”.
“Well we have a long way ahead…” She said “If you don’t mind telling me I am quite curious”.
“If you wish to listen” he said “I’d be glad”
He cleared his throat something that felt weird to the girl, it made her imagine how human was he inside his plant crust, but she didn’t ask, she was already being nosy enough.
“It all started after the war, you may not have heard much about it. It happened like a thousand years ago after all, and we have been in peace since then.” he started ” But I remember, I was there, and I fought the war with bravery and strength…”
“ You have a thousand years?” Melody asked skeptic of his claim. She was starting to think the man was just plain crazy.
“I do” he said “It may be a bit hard to believe, but keep up with me. I promise it’ll make sense in time.”
“If you say so…” the girl replied
“Where was I? Oh, yes! The war.” he started again “I fought the War as an Archer, a holy Archer nonetheless, under our angel Sagittarius. I lost many body parts in the war: my eye, my legs, my arm. Sagittarius was kind enough to replace my missing parts for plants. Except for my missing eye... I myself can’t think of a way to make a plant or wood eyeball either, so I suppose that was the reason...”
“Don’t tell me he replaced your members bit by bit, is until you just became a plant?” She asked.
“No, no ! He turned me like this at the end of the war! As a reward for my service.” he explained “I remember him saying ‘Vernon, my son, you fought well and served me with loyalty for your entire life. I’ll give you a long life so you can do what you couldn’t until now, go out, explore the world, fall in love, you deserve it.’ And so I did. I lived my thousand years of life and made every single minute count.”
“So that’s how you lived for so long…” the girl said, still a little incredulous “I can’t even imagine how would it be to live for so long, and outlive all the people I love… even though there would still be so much time to live and do all things I’ve always wished to do.”
“Well, getting attached to people, is hard at first, because of the pain that surges once you lose them... Sometimes I wished I could just forget them so the pain would go away. And for a while I was alone, so I wouldn’t be hurt, but at some point I realized, that meeting those people was worth it, despite the all the pain. Then I just started to surround myself with people again and countless fruit animals.” He looked at the little pineapple in his lap. “The memories I shared with those people always made pain of someday losing them worth it.”
“That’s a nice thought” the girl said looking once more to her right hand “Thank you...”
“You’re welcome” he said “But now I’m old and rusty and there isn’t much to do anymore! I can barely move…”
The centaur girl noticed how close they were to the lake, they were about to arrive to their destinations. Looking at him, he really had a hard time walking, she decided it wouldn’t hurt to take him all the way to wherever he needed to be.
“Well since it’s hard to walk” she said “Would you like me to drop you off wherever you’re going? If it’s not too far from the lake, I wouldn’t mind. The nymph will still be there when I come back.”
“I’d be glad” he said “Thank you”
Once they arrived at the lake he started to instruct her on the way to a little glade past the lake. It was really close, she took only a few minutes to walk them there.
“So this is the place?” She asked still curious, it was a pretty place, but what could the plant man be doing here?
“Yes” the man said getting out of her back slowly
As soon as he reached the floor he picked his pineapple dog and handed him to the girl. “If it’s not too much to ask, you already helped me a lot” he asked “Would you take care of my buddy for me? It cannot go where I’m going.”
“Wait what are you going to do?” she started but the man did not respond, he was already walking to the center of the Glade.
Once he arrived, he fixed his roots into the ground and a bright light shone. The lady covered her eyes and the pineapple turned its face towards her body trying to avoid the blinding light. When it dissipated, she saw a big tree, one so big it probably was a thousand years old. From the tree, seven seeds fell, and from each one of them a being similar to the plant man grew in the ground. They each had their own differences, some were large and bulky, others, small and frail, some were more delicate like flowers, and others sturdy like trees.
All of them got around the tree and prayed underneath it, as the centaur girl stood there, watching the weird scene. Once they were finished with their prayers, they all walked towards the path melody came from. One of them, the last one, a delicate looking flower lady, came up to Melody to say:
“My father requested me to tell you this: ‘Thank you for listening, and please take care of Buddy for me, he is a good pineapple dog.’”
As the plant girl was about to leave through the path, the centaur girl asked:
“Wait, where will you all go?”
“Live” she said “I’ll travel the world and enjoy life, make good memories with good people and then, when I’m old, I’ll plant myself somewhere to rest and more of our kind will be born.”
After that answer the plant girl left through the path, leaving the centaur girl alone in the presence of the giant tree. The girl looked at the tree and then at her hand one more time...she sighed and said:
“Come on buddy! Let’s go home”.
