THE FOREST

“We are reporting to you from the village of Tensana. The last place the missing tourist group was seen alive”. The reporter let his monotonous voice deliver the looming peril of the situation to his listeners. Darren Wontrell, a top researcher at the national museum was one of them. Considering that he was at work and was much dedicated to researching ancient practices and the science behind them, it was a highly unusual situation. All the same, he was watching this documentary with enough intensity to melt on the holographic face of the reporter.

“No local is dumb enough to go deep into the Tanden forest and most city folks listen to us when they are told not to go too far in. Even our bravest men don’t step into the Tanden mountain range. Even if they were given trillion denrans. That flock of tourists went away without giving a speck of thought to our words! They laughed at us! Those bumbling idiots didn’t have the brains to note that our families have been here for generations and we are bound to know about the forest more than they ever will.” This was the rant offered by one of the village elders in response to the reporter’s question of whether the tourists were warned about the forest.

“Why is the forest so forbidden? especially the mountain range you speak of.”

“Because no one has ever come back. Unless paradise is hidden under that tiger’s mouth they all seem to have died long ago.” a woman grunted unsettled by all the cameras surrounding her shop front.

“Are these villagers? How come there was no news about it.”

“Because they happened decades ago.” the woman snapped.

“Decades? No one has gone past the mountain range within these years?”

The previous elder took pity on this ignorant reporter and decided to share his infinite knowledge of woods. “This Forest is a mighty place. The outskirts give us plenty to survive. We never needed to go near the range much less step into it. Only men who have confused idiocy with bravery have done it. Sad to say I was one of those, idiots, too. One day many years ago I stepped into the forest with my gun and my overconfidence. I vowed to myself that I would defeat the mighty mountain range but I could only go as far as the foot of the range. The mountains were towering over me and the howling wind threw showers of rock. The mountains were steep and covered with loosening rocks that it was impossible to climb. As dumb as I was I had enough sense not to go a step further.”

“Do you think that the Gaznian tourists fell victim to that devilish nature of the range?”

“If then their bodies would remain near the foot of the range. At least a small indication. Their clothes or baggage, not all would be eaten by dogs and foxes.” A young man interrupted the interview.

“In your opinion what happened to the missing tourists?”

“The myth happened.” Said the young man before he resumed his journey with a satisfied grin on his face. Probably due to the incredulous look sported by the reporter.

“The myth?!”

The reporter’s infuriating question was answered with a tired sigh before the verbal response from the elderly man. He was getting tired of this inquisitive yet seemingly stupid reporter.

“The myth is that the Janzacca people live there.”

“Janzacca people lived long before all we know today. Before the nation of Pentona was divided into cities, it had forests all over the place. Not just this one. They were colonies of humans who were said to have nature magic. Disappeared around the industrial revolution as we destroyed every bit of forest except for this chunk.” He added pointing towards the great Tanden forest.

“So Jansica people lived in this forest.”

“No, they were spread throughout our nation. Lived anywhere that had a sizeable forest. They were very peaceful and social, for they all welcomed and housed our ancestors till they burned off the forests and killed them.” A young woman answered with a distinct lack of village dialect.

The reporter, sensing city-level brains from her quickly abandoned the party of two at the shop front and devoted his utmost dedication to the newcomer.

“You seem to be knowledgeable in this area Ms. Could you tell us your name, your information sources, and how you are related to the village?”

“ I’m Terana Nozgen. I’m a Ph.D. student at LWU and my research is on myths and the truths behind them. I have been researching Janzacca people since this March as the myth was ingrained in my childhood. There isn’t much information about the Janzacca people. It’s hard to say whether any records were destroyed or existed at all. The latter was highly likely because the Janzacca people are mostly portrayed as uneducated tribes in many folklores.”

“Would you mind giving us a summary of the information you gained?”

“Well, they mainly say that Janzacians refuse to build anything that could harm nature. Only using a minimum of fire and metal. the could control nature, nature magic as we call it. They are vague about the potential of Janzacians but it’s obvious that they had more influence the nature. Some say they could manipulate elements and live forces alike. Conjure thunderstorms and make trees crawl over the earth. That sort of thing. Some say they could only conjure pleasant weather by wish but whatever they say about their powers, all the stories only lead to one power source. It’s a crystal. The size and the color change from story to story but it has the same power. It gives indestructible power to its holder. Whoever owns it can rule over the world as the crystal will shield them from any obstacle including death.”

“Thank you very much for your input in this matter Ms. Nozgen, we bid you a good day.” the reporter beamed as he silently thanked her for the obvious rise of view ship for his documentaries.

“From wild animals to unforgiving nature to otherworldly forces, the mystery behind lost tourists is one to solve. Is it a hungry pack of tigers? or a landslide? or is it the curses of the ancient magical tribe? Tune in next week to dig deeper into the mystery.”

“What the hell, Darren? How are you listening to this useless crap? I thought you were better than this.” Kyle whined as he turned off the holographic image of the channel logo.”

“Anyone would think that you are my mom. Not my assistant.”

“I feel sorry for your parents. They had to do this without any pay while paying to raise you. That must have been so hard.” Kyle muttered, his dramatic nature flaring up. He got hit by the TV dice as a reply. “what the hell are you doing? These are expensive.”

“Why do you hate these documentaries so much?”

“ Those channels will publish anything for the sake of views and those villagers just want their five minutes of fame.”

“But that one was useful for us!!”

“How? Don’t tell me it’s because of the Janzacca people. Darren, you are getting paid to find real history not to run around some stupid myth. Do you think there’s a bunch of tree people in the Tanden forest that can move trees and cook up a thunderstorm... Get a grip dude.”

“All I’m saying is it’s true that the Janzacca people lived on earth. There’s enough proof of it. I only came across it last month. They are mentioned in national history records. They won’t put it there if they weren’t sure. I don’t know if they had any special powers or just a tribe of peaceful people but I know they existed and were massacred.”

“They are in the records? THE RECORDS? The same ones we read for weeks just until last month? How come we never came across anything about it then?”

“It’s in the confidential file. If it’s leaked somehow, everyone in this building would be arrested. They don’t want people to know about Janzacca. Don’t want to give the people the unheeded stress of being related to such barbarians.”

“So the records say that there was a tribe of NATURE LOVERS who may or may not have dabbled in NATURE VOODOO and they were massacred by our ancestors for being too friendly. aaand the government hides it because they don’t want people to feel bad about it. Makes a lot of sense.” Kyle grimaced as all this new information was deemed too much for his brain to process and now was threatening to get eject through his forehead.

“If you don’t believe me just check for yourself.” Darren threw his pass at Kyle which would let him into the history section of national records.

“But it’s too bright in there. They only cared about the senior professors when they set up the brightness at that level.” Kyle whined while throwing the pass back at Darren.

“You know you can change the brightness right?”

“WHAAATT??!! REALLY?? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THAT? Well, the record rooms are too far away ill just have to believe you. Where are you going by the way lunch is in thirty minutes.”

“I need to go and talk to Dr. Reznik and a certain Ph.D. student from LWU.” Darren closed the door before Kyle could process anything he said and sauntered towards the office of Dr. Reznick, head researcher, and his mentor.

The chilled air from the air conditioners and the soothing hum of the messenger bots ensued a bit of calmness to Darren’s mind. Why was he so nervous? His last research was a huge success and Dr. Reznick had cultivated such an adoration towards Darren and awarded him with an office of his own. Yet Darren found himself succumbing to his nerves as he was sweating in the way too-cool temperature. He was going to ask to research the Janzacca people. In the secrecy of course. For he didn’t want the wrath of the senate or any prying eyes from his glory. He gathered all his nerves and a shaky breath before knocking on the grand faux wood door.

Darren was greeted with a rough voice that was smothered down after recognizing him.

“Dr. Wontrell what are you doing here? so close to the lunch too.”

“I’m sorry sir this is about the records I was given access to last week.”

“What about them?” The voice was now too cautious to betray emotion.

“I want to research more about them. In the secrecy of course.” Darren added forgetting the cautious voice he had adopted from his superior earlier.

“Let me guess! You saw the documentary about the missing tourists earlier.”

Darren was too stunned at his superior’s mind-reading capabilities to answer.

“What do you want to do exactly? To interview the villagers or that student? How can you even verify anything you learn? I don’t see how this will be anything but a waste of time.”

“No sir I want to go into the forest and search for the tribe. yes, I know it sounds like a suicide mission and a waste of time and money but all the myths lead to the Tanden forest. you could say it’s because that’s the only existing forest and all but what if there’s some truth in it? That forest is indestructible. Even the missiles failed to destroy it. At least a part of it. It’s avoided by the airways too. Ridleys did everything they could to destroy that forest but failed. There has to be something about it.”

“I didn't know you worked part-time as a conspiracy theorist dr. Wontrell.”

“Sir, please! You know there’s something unusual about it and Janzacca could be a reason for it.”

“Even if there’s anything unusual about the forest, it’s not your place to research it. You are a history major Dr. Wontrell is not a science major. Please remember before you get sidetracked again.”

“Sir, you gave me access to those confidential files because you hoped I’ll add more information to them. Even if there’s not a soul in the Tanden forest we’ll know of that after this trip. We could rebuff all the myths and start with a fresh mind.”

The air conditioners in the rooms seemed to be malfunctioning, for the temperature had dipped past the comfort and was approaching the numbing cold. At least it was true for Darren who developed a cruel urge to use the restroom as Dr. Reznick stared at him for a solid minute.

“You won’t drop this until I permit you right? Fine, you have my permission to research it bu-“

“Oh, thank you so much, sir! I’m sure I’ll return with enough information to not disappoint you.”

“As I was saying Dr. Wontrell, the office won’t be able to fund this project not only because I think it’s useless but as you said it will have to be confidential.”

“But sir how can I”

“You can report to me after you find a sponsor and a suitable team. Good day to you Dr. Wontrell! And excuse me I have lunch plans to attend.” With that, Dr. Reznick strode out of his room with his usual briskness. Darren could only stare at him as he silently mourned his rotten luck.

On the one hand, he wasn’t banned from carrying out his research. Only made it nearly impossible. He couldn’t advertise the need for a sponsor as he couldn’t reveal the research cause. He could only pray for the beings above to throw a deal of sponsorship at him. Right now he was mourning about it to Kyle, a rare moment in their friendship dynamic. Kyle was unusually quiet, an even rarer event in his life.

“Why aren’t you saying anything Kyle? Am I that hopeless? Am I hopeless enough to finally shut you up? who am I kidding? I’m done for. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to find a sponsor and lose my office too. Just after I remodeled it too.”

“Damn! You are annoying when you whine. No, you are not hopeless enough to shut me up. I think we can get ourselves a sponsor.

“We have a potential sponsor?? What do you mean and why the hell couldn’t you say this before I spiraled down a universe of self-pity.”

“You didn’t give me a chance! You don’t even stop to breathe when you are having a meltdown. Anyways back to our would-be sponsor. I’m pretty sure he’ll fund us but I don’t know if he’ll keep it shut and I don’t think you’ll like him or his terms.”

“Me not liking whomever it is shouldn’t be a problem. I feel like I would kiss whomever it is.”

“Ok, gold digger!” Kyle snorted as he tapped on a global video message from the front table.

“Good morning, members of Pentona research center! I have decided to extend my charity toward the well-being of our nation. Therefore I’m willing to sponsor any research regarding the Tanden forest. If you are interested, I’m willing to meet you in person to discuss further, including my conditions.”

The words should have been enough to calm Darren into peaceful slumber but the voice that delivered these lines did nothing. It was the voice of a sickly sweet business connoisseur. Marlem Ridley.