Roku was leisurely walking in the streets with big steps; he had no care about anything other than food when someone suddenly covered his eyes and asked while giggling, "Who am I?"
Ruko was startled before he laughed: "Who could it be other than you, Sophia?"
"Ahh!!" Sophia did a defeated stance. Ruko guessed too fast; she rested her arm around Roku's shoulder before asking curiously, "How did you find out so quickly?"
Roku looked at Sophia worriedly: "Sophia, I could guess it's you because of your voice."
"What!" Sophia thought deeply before forgetting about it, trying to remember why she came here: "What was it? What was it... Oh, we are meeting at the Golden Forest Temple today; don't be late like always!
Saying this, Sophia took off: "Haha, and I will be the first one! "
Seeing Sophia run off, Roku smiled lightly before turning has gaze towards a big forest covering half of a mountain.
The forest was golden in color, and it gave off a domineering feeling. The trees were different in size, from the lowest reaching 100 feet to reaching up to 200 feet. A common thing among every one of them was their leaves; they were all golden. Roku always wanted to know how this forest got a golden color, but he never got a definitive answer that could satisfy him.
Most of them said that it was because of a great battle that took place in here during the Great War period, somehow changing the environment entirely; the others talked about the forest containing an ancient tree named the Ancient Willow Tree or a regional golden crow pissing while flying.
But none of this has been proven to this day, keeping it a mystery on how it got its color. Ruko has already arrived in front of the golden forest temple. While thinking of the origin of this forest, the temple wasn't all that impressive looking compared to the whole forest, but it had a beautiful appearance.
The temple was just a tree with a the name carved in it: Ancient Destiny, king, holder of fate. Ancient destiny God was one of the most influential people in the world, but no one knew what he looked like. People who looked at him were never able to meet his eyes; the only thing they were able to see was the clothes that he wore. Each piece of clothing that he wore was recorded in the textbook.
"Roku! Come here, quick, I found something."
Roku followed the voice; far away there were 3 people calling him. One looked tall and skinny with an average face; he had long hair that reached down to his waist with wings that covered his back,he was named Swin. Another person was called Dekon; he was short and bulky. The last one was Sophia.
Roku quickly ran towards them and asked excitedly, "What did you find? The origin of this forest, the ancient willow tree? " Roku still had the golden forest in his mind; that's how beautiful and majestic this forest was. Anyone that came here would never feel like leaving.
"No, not that, but I found a cave in this area when I was helping my father chop down these trees, but I couldn't go in as my father was done with his work and was about to leave," Swin told Roku with a proud face. Even though he said that he was helping his father chop down the trees, he definitely came here with his father to play around, but no one said anything about this.
Roku was overjoyed when he heard that Swin found a cave and threw the matter of the golden forest at the back of his head.
Caves were rare in Wing Hamlet, and it was even rarer for the golden forest to have one. These kids, who had never seen a cave before, got excited. The cave had many mysteries, but the wealth it could bring was immense too; there could be a cosmic ore hidden inside. But these 4 kids didn't care about wealth; they just wanted to see how the cave looked and all the cool things it stored. Not wanting to stay here any longer, they quickly went on their journey to explore this cave.
No one dared to run rashly in this forest, as there were many animals or even beasts living in here, but their density has been going down after the Wing Hamlet was formed, killing any harmful animals and beasts that could threaten their safety.
The four were chatting along the way when Swin suddenly stopped: "What's the matter, Swin?" Dekon asked.
"There is a golden-horned deer family in front of us; let's wait for them to leave first," Swin told everyone before walking back slowly.
Ruko saw 3 golden-horned deer in front of him; one was big, reaching 15 ft in height. Their eyes were vertical with a golden glow that captivated anyone that looked at it. Their horns were majestic and spread out far beyond, with their body muscles bulging even while standing, head lowered to take in the energy from grass or tree leaves and help these beast-like animals function properly.
The other was the same, but it was 17 ft tall with the elegance of a goddess, the most eye-catching feature being its eyes that were golden in color with a mix of black, while the third was a 5 ft golden fawn. It had a cute appearance, as it didn't have a horn yet. It looked docile and harmless, but anyone that goes near it to pet this cule little fawn would be a fool.
The golden -horned deer looked monstrous compared to this 4. Roku and the others were tiny, reaching only 4 ft tall, but no one can blame them; they were just at the age of 9, with Swin being the only one at age 10.
The golden-horned deer suddenly stopped eating when he saw four figursaw far away, it's muscles looked like it could pop out any moment but it slowly stopped when it saw those tiny 4 creature's slowly go back and climb the trees. Seeing this The male golden-horned deer slowly started again, but it didn't take its eyes off the four.After 1 hour, all three of them stopped eating and went off who knows where.
Roku and others seeing this quickly climbed down from this humongous tree, slowly walking towards their destination, finally reaching the cave Swin had seen in the morning.
They slowly went inside the cave, first being Swin and Dekon being the last one.
Roku looked around this cave; there was moss everywhere he looked with some long grass and flowers. They were also golden in color. Not only that, there were even small little insects living inside here; some danced from flower to flower, some were sleeping upside down on top of the cave,while some were even flying around him.
As they kept on going deep in the cave, the grass became denser and longer. Nearing the end, they found a small hole; some were hesitant on whether they should keep on going or return now, as they had already seen enough of the cave and it was starting to get dark as well.
Suddenly they heard a faint noise; it was a sad weeping noise. Hearing this, Roku got curious, but he didn't move and waited for Swin's instruction, as he was the eldest and wisest in this group. All three of them looked at Swin.
What should I do? What should I do? It's starting to get dark, but if we don't see what is making that noise, then they might come here alone. Hmm... This noise doesn't sound like it's from a wild animal or a beast; it's probably just a little animal that unfortunately got injured in this cave. Even if it's an adult animal, I would be able to protect these three with the help of this archect my father gave me.
"Alright, we will only see what it is from far away only for a second before going back; it's starting to get dark."Swin quickly instructed everyone before taking the lead; all three of them, hearing this excitedly followed behind him.
The sound became louder the closer they got. After a minute or two they finally found who was making all this noise in the cave: a little wolf. The wolf's size was small; it was still a baby. It had a cute face, black eyes, and a fluffy tail. It was black in color with golden stripes in some areas. One of its back legs was broken, bleeding profusely. Sensing some unknown creature looking at him, it started growling out loud and barking at them.
Roku was taken aback when he saw this creature; it was his first time seeing it, and even the other three had no idea what this creature was. After seeing its miserable state, all four of them let their guard down, walking towards this little wolf.
All four of them surrounded this little wolf; the little wolf sensed that he was in danger and quickly tried to get up.
Swin, dashed towards the wolf with his dagger out. The little wolf finally got up and tried to run to the left side, but Roku was already there guarding that side. It looked to the right; Dekon was guarding that place too.
The little wolf felt helpless, seeing that he was already surrounded on all three sides, but it did not give up. Even though it was still a child, it had already been polished with the help of the harsh nature of this world.
It lunged towards Swin with all its might, but a huge force suddenly pulled it from the back.
Sophia caught the little wolf's tail, slamming it down before putting her hands in its muzzle, not letting it open it mouth again.
Roku and Dekon both caught the little wolf's leg, successfully capturing this injured little wolf.
Swin looked at the little wolf's eyes with his dagger still in his hand before looking at the wound in its leg. He quickly inspected it: "The wound is still fresh. I can definitely stop this bleeding, but it will only work for a while before it starts to bleed again. I can't heal the wound completely right now with the herbs I have."
"So, there's no way to help this wolf?" Roku still insisted on helping this little wolf.
"There is, but I have to bring this wolf with me; my father can definitely heal it completely." Swin took out his herbs while looking at the wolf's eyes.
Swin quickly started adding herbs one after another, eventually stopping the bleeding of the wound: "Stay vigilant when you stop holding this wolf; we should run as fast as possible," Swin warned before holding a dagger again.
Everyone had a serious expression; they ran without looking back.
***
Laughter could be heard everywhere they went; they had gone through a lot today, making it one of their most treasured memories. In the future every time Roku thinks of his time in Wing village, he will remember this event, reminiscing about this day's adventure that only lasted for 10 or so hours.
They didn't forget to be wary of their surroundings even while running back.
"Roku, come here."
Roku stopped after hearing this; it sounded like his mother was calling him. He slowly looked back. There was a huge figure, 10 ft tall with an elegant body; she wore a beautiful dress and had beautiful wings behind her back. It was Roku's mother. But something was different about her than the usual self Roku used to see; all the dress was golden in color, her eyes were golden as well, and she wore different beautiful gemstones on her dress, her ears, and her head.
"Mother?" Roku was shocked seeing her mother here.
"Come here Roku, I want to show you something."
Roku didn't think much of the dress and jewels after looking at them for a while; he was just about to turn back and ask her what she wanted to show him when someone again called him.
"Roku, What are you doing? It's getting late already; run quicker." Swin called out loudly to Roku after seeing him stop so suddenly.
Hearing swin word Everyone turned around looked at Roku.
Roku was startled when he heard this: "But my mother—" Roku stopped midway when he looked at the direction his mom was at.
There was no one.
Swin had a serious expression when he heard this: "Roku, come here right now."
Roku got scared when he saw his mother wasn't there anymore and went near swin.
Swin called everyone near him while putting his hand in his pocket, staying vigilant. He checked everyone's condition and finally started running back to the hamlet, checking all three of them from time to time.