©Marty O Woolery/SinisterGoth1977/Gothica Darkness 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or modified in any form, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Prologue:
It is another extremely nice day in the quiet mountain village located in the Yakeishi area. I have lived on this mountain with my family the whole of my life. I have known no other life and have never even thought about leaving the valley I have grown to love. The days are pleasant with just a cool crisp breeze blowing through as I have once again been sent to gather some medicinal herbs from nearby the local river by the village alchemist. The alchemist was basically the village doctor to a lesser extent. The summer months have just now left us with the crisp fall breeze continuing to blow through. With the surplus stocks now beginning to run low, there would not be enough to last much longer, let alone to make it even part way through the winter months. Therefore, supplies were a much-needed reality right now. With two of us dealing with the alchemy, I was volunteered to go and re-up the supplies. There have been a few village members that have come down with bad colds. Trying to find the herbs to make sure no one gets sicker has been a daily battle. With fall practically here already, most of the immediate area has been cleared safely of all its usable items within the marked trees. With the alchemists encouraging, I have already spent most of the morning getting permission from the head elder to go past the comfort areas that have been marked to get the medicine that is much needed. After about half an hour of discussing it with the head elder, I was finally granted the permission needed to head toward the creek nearby that was just on the other side of our marks. As I am heading out of the marked edged limit hesitantly, I then happen to spot my childhood friend fishing from the nearby creek with a small rock shrine that is dedicated to the fox spirit of the mountain. Just as I am about to pass him completely, thinking I might have been stealthy, he finally notices me and sits his pole down asking what I am up to now.
Kaido Enoch: "So what are you out here searching for today? You do realize you have gone past the normal boundary edge now, right?"
Kaida Endo: "Collecting some more herbs for the sick villagers. I got permission to head further up the creek to look for more. Care to come with me? I could really use the help. Besides, I really did not want to go alone anyway. It is further out then I am used to. Anyway, you already know the immediate area has been picked clean."
Kaido Enoch: (Looking at me with a big smile on his face…) "You got it. I would not have let you go alone anyway. You know that."
Kaida Endo: (Reaching up, I softly punched his shoulder with a smirk on my face…) "I know that. But it never hurts not to assume too much, you know."
Kaido Enoch: (With a raised eyebrow and a smirk of his own, he snickered at me…) "And what is it that you would be assuming? No one goes past these marked trees alone ever."
Kaida Endo: (Looking back at him, I just shrugged my shoulders as I had already won the argument with the head elder…) "Well this is one of the rare times. I spent half an hour arguing with the head elder letting him know we were in desperate need. He finally caved in and here we are. So do not lecture me on the tree markings."
Kaido Enoch: (He raised his hands as if to say I surrender as he gave me a mocking smirk…) "Fine, fine, you win this argument. I should have known you would have gotten the proper permission, the stickler for rules you are. Let us get to it then."
Smiling brightly, he swiftly packs up his pole in his pack and starts walking with me. After a few long hours pass by we had managed to gather up plenty of herbs and we even managed to find a patch of wild berries. Thankfully, the fall frosts had not hit this section of the mountain just yet. Plus, we went ahead and did some fishing while we were near the mouth of the falls. We both figured it was the perfect opportunity to gather dinner while we made sure the medical herbs were being gathered up. With so much here, we made sure to mark it on the map to let the town alchemist know. The town alchemist was basically considered an important person, in charge of the village members overall health. I had been apprenticing under him for at least six years now. Since the age of twelve, I have spent all my free time learning what I can from him. My mother was my motivation for bugging the alchemist to let me learn in the first place. Her constitution had been going downhill for a few years and I wanted to help her the most. After all, I was the only one in the village even looking at carrying on the duties of the village healer so to speak. Only I seemed to be interested in keeping the alchemist's duties a top priority, how else would everyone in the village stay healthy?
Kaido Enoch: (Turning to me with a large smile…) "I am so extremely glad we were able to locate a good patch."
Kaida Endo: (I nodded my head back in agreement, after all, some of the herbs are hard to find…) "I know. I am so relieved. We will have enough medicine for at least four months. Let us look around a bit more just in case we find some more. We could always use it."
Kaido Enoch: (Shaking his head to me as well…) "Your right. More is always better. We'll look around for another half hour or so."
Kaida Endo: "Sure thing, let's do it."
After half an hour was passed, we packed everything up making sure nothing would fall out. Nodding in satisfaction, we double checked the map marking this area as a still usable spot for the much-needed herbs. Smiling at each other, we checked out gear and made our way back to the village lightly hunting along the way. We finally manage to get back to the village around dusk. I then gave a final wave goodbye to my friend who is happy with the food we caught along the way. Now we should all have a good feast tonight. We had managed to catch several rabbits and a small deer. Our families always seem to have fun when we eat together. I blushed every time my siblings gave me any stares regarding me and my friend. I guess they liked the thought of Kaido and Kaida as a married couple. Pushing the thought to the side, I returned to the alchemist's shop with my load of herbs and begin taking out the items needed to start mixing. My mentor returns with a huge smile on his face happy with the haul I have brought back. Praising me, he almost immediately takes half the stacks and begins the process of making the medicines needed. As he was prepping his part of the stack, I took a few moments to show him the map that I marked that had the large quantity of herbs he would need to make sure and get within the next few weeks. It is a lot of work to process the medicines out from the fresh ingredients, but it is one I enjoy helping with. Or else it would take far to long for one person alone to process. I finished up that evening at the alchemist's shop, he actually sent me home forcibly.
Or I would have stayed all night helping him prep the medicine for the villagers that were in immediate need of it. Things went this way for a few days, constantly making up batches of prepped medicine mixes to be made into tinctures. I even joked about him getting a secondary apprentice eventually to help collect the extra ingredients. But then, several days later, some of our best scouts had come running back with disturbing news for the village chief. We insisted on patching them up before they headed out to make their report. One of them had run so blindly on the way here that they tore their arm open and did not even realize it. The other had a gash going along his leg that was bleeding pretty badly. I wondered how they were even standing at this point.