I kept holding the letter in my hands for a while.
Questions kept coming to me.
Should I open it?
Is there any reason to open it?
My grandfather's words echoed in my head.
Especially the part when he said:
"If you want to know more about beauty..."
Didn't he already tell me everything about it?
Was there beauty he hadn't told me about?
I kept holding the letter, torn, until sleep overtook me.
Suddenly, I found myself standing near the fire, with my grandfather cooking meat before me.
I looked at his face… and saw it had no features.
This is a dream.
I hadn't looked much at his face… maybe I had already forgotten it.
Suddenly, he asked me:
"Faril… how do you see this world?"
I looked at him directly and said:
**"Ugly… very ugly…
Ugly to the point I believe the place you told me about, called hell, is far more beautiful than this."**
He stayed silent for a short while, then asked me another question:
"What is something beautiful in your eyes?"
His question shocked me.
I stayed silent.
I didn't know how to answer.
He had always told me about beautiful things, but he never told me what exactly made them beautiful.
After a long silence, he said:
"I'm sorry, my boy. I told you about beauty, but never told you what it truly is… I was always bad at teaching."
I was about to ask him what beauty was.
But suddenly, faliz creatures appeared out of nowhere, surrounding us in huge numbers.
My grandfather looked at me and said:
"Beauty is something wonderful, my boy… I hope you get to know more about it."
Then the creatures lunged at him all at once, tearing his body into pieces.
Before I could scream from the horror, I found myself awake.
There was a faliz on my face.
I smacked it hard and shoved it away, terrified.
I didn't understand why I was scared.
I had killed many faliz and eaten them with my grandfather.
They had always been naive creatures… multiplying quickly, easy to hunt, and not even trying to run away.
Why did my mind picture them this way?
I felt something in my hand, and when I looked, I saw the letter still there.
I stared at it for a while.
The word "beauty" in my grandfather's voice kept echoing in my head.
I decided to give in to my curiosity and finally open it.
It wasn't really a letter in the literal sense.
It was more like a large cloth filled with writing.
It said:
**"Faril, if you are reading this letter, that means I haven't returned, and your grandfather has passed away. You must have grown older. I don't know much about you, and you likely don't know much about me either.
Don't worry, I won't speak too long. I just wanted to tell you where I've been all this time…"**
For some reason, my hand was trembling as I read the letter.
Is this what they call excitement?
I continued reading despite the trembling:
**"I was on a journey, searching for a place called Faril. Yes, the same as your name. Or should I say, I named you after it.
There were rumors of this place — they called it the Oasis. A place untouched by the Catastrophe… a place like paradise.
I decided to leave you with your grandfather so I could search for it with some other survivors.
I know this sounds selfish and foolish, but I want you, my son, to search for it too.
If I failed… maybe you can succeed, and see that place… see Faril's Oasis."**
That was the end of the letter.
I put it down on the ground, and the only thought that filled my head was:
"Great… my father's an idiot."
Why would he risk his life for a rumor?
Why didn't he take me and my grandfather with him?
And what about my mother?
I wished I had never opened that stupid letter.
It was just a disappointment.
Did my father think I was as foolish as him?
I won't risk my life for a rumor.
This life is enough for me, I don't need any oas—...
But before I could finish my thought, I found something else in the box.
It looked like a black thread, with black petals attached to it.
I looked closer…
And realized… this… this!...
This is a flower.
To be continued…
Next chapter: I'm an Idiot