Chereads / Veritas et Inanitas / Chapter 2 - Fifth of Forest

Chapter 2 - Fifth of Forest

"He he he, time for some fun", laughs out a little girl. She has green hair and eyes and her clothes seem to be made out of woven leaves. She is standing on a hill overlooking a city. The girl raises her hands and chants what sounds like a magic spell, "Row Rupt Prau Ils!!!"

As the girl completes the chant, the ground starts to shake. Plants starts growing all over the city. A great panic starts occurring, all the while the girl stands above them enjoying her work.

After a while, the growth is so great, that in the tallest of buildings, trees grow big enough to breach the ceiling. An ancient forest has grown in a day. The people of the city are in a state of shock, now that the original panic is gone. The city is in total chaos and the law is starting to break down.

After watching the scene a little more, the girl decides to see her handy work up close. As she walks towards the city she runs into people fleeing in the other direction. An older gentleman sees her walking towards the city and tries to stop her by saying, "If you're heading towards the city I would suggest you turn around young lady."

The girl shakes her head and replies respectfully, "No need to worry about me sir, I have seen what is going on from the top of the hill over there, but I can assure you that I will be fine." Seeing the girl being so polite, he asks, "What is your name? Do you have family in the the city? If so I can have my son help you look for them."

The girl getting a little bored of this conversation answers, "Remember this well! My name is Ceres! I am the strongest of my kind! I was born from nature, so nature is family! The situation in the city seemed fun that is why I came! I don't need nobody's help in a little forest!" As she says this she is making a grand pose like some sort of hero.

The older gentleman, a little frightened by the display of Ceres, calmly says, "My name is Mr. Sain. My son is a police officer in the city. Please, if you run into any trouble, go to him for help. His name is Hiro." And with that he waves goodbye and starts walking back towards the group he was in.

"Hmph, I'll show him. I need no help from anyone.", Ceres whines to herself.

Ceres then continues into the city. As she walks in, it is instantly apparent that a massive fight happened recently. Blood is all over the street and there are bits of dead bodies of both humans and large animals of some kind.

"Ah, they killed my cute little kitty. I was gonna play with him.", she wines, while looking at one of the corpses, "Oh well I guess I will have to find another one."

Ceres then starts moving through the city looking for another cat to play with. Along the way, she sees a few humans with plant like growths all over their body. Ceres even sees one with a tree growing out of it. "Oh my, its beautiful!", she exclaims.

Ceres looks up at the large tree in front of her and decides to climb it. As she starts to climb up the tree she hears a voice calling her from below, "Hey, what are you doing. It's dangerous up there. Come back down here."

Ceres looks down at the one who called out to her. She sees a tall looking man, in what she assumes to be a police uniform. Ceres calls back down, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be Hiro Sain would you?"

The man a little startled, replies shakily, "Yes, that is my name. Why do you ask? Do I know you?" Seeing his reaction Ceres starts laughing and jumps down to him. "I like you hehe. You have the best expressions.", she says jokingly. Ceres reaches up and touches his face, while saying, "I met your father on the way in. He told me about you. He said you could protect me. But it seems like I will be the one to protect you."

"Huh", is the only thing Hiro can say before she shoves him aside. What he sees next will change him forever. Hiro sees a large cat jump out from the shadows and pounce on the little girl he just met. The tiger size cat then proceeds to tear the girl to shreds, but surprisingly there is no blood.

"Hahaha!!!", comes psychotic laughter. The girl Hiro presumed dead regrows right in front of him. She looks back at him and poses while saying, "Remember this moment. I will show you the power of the Apex of the Forest. My name is Ceres. Let's have some fun." Ceres then proceeds to punch the cat right in the face sending it flying.

The cat gets back up obviously injured and charges in for another attack. Ceres responds by chanting, "Row Sit Ece". After that, a large root sprouts up from the ground and strikes out at the cat, piercing it all the way through. As the cat falls Ceres celebrates by jumping up and down and shouting, "I did it! I did it!"

Hiro, finally coming back to his senses, walks up to her and pats her on the head. "Good job, thanks for saving me", he says as raises her up in the air. Ceres replies proudly, "You're welcome, I told you I would save you."

"You did, didn't you.", Hiro says with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, can you tell me how you did that?", Hiro asks Ceres. She replies, "Of course. I can use the words of the forest to make it bend to my will."

"I see, so that chant was words of the forest. Interesting, it is like I have been transported into a storybook filled with monsters and magic.", Hiro says with a faraway look in his eyes.

Ceres then jumps out of his arms and starts to walk away. Hiro stops her by asking her, "Do you want to help me? There are lots of survivors in need of help and I think you could help them." Ceres stops a thinks for a bit, then asks him an important question, "What if I told you that I was the one who caused all this to happen?"

This question causes Hiro to stop smiling. He then replies angrily, "I would be furious. Do you know how many people died!? Do you know all the suffering this caused!?"

Ceres, already knowing this would be his reaction, says with a slight frown on her face, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to test my powers." Seeing the girl in front of him sad makes Hiro calm down a little and he says, "If you help me save those who are left and you promise me that you will never do this again, I will forgive you."

Ceres, with her smile coming back, cheerfully responds by saying, "Of course I will help. I really did not mean to hurt so many people." After coming to their agreement Hiro and Ceres shake hands and walk off towards where the other survivors are hiding.

End Report

"When did this forest get here?", a man says from the driver seat of an armored truck. The large woman hanging off the side just laughs. As they get closer, they run into a mass exodus of people leaving the city.

An old man waves them over and seems a little concerned. Seeing this, the man driving pulls over too ask what's wrong. Before he can even get the words out of his mouth, the old man says, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

The woman drops down from the truck and walks towards the old man. The woman sees a younger man in the old man's eyes and knows what's going on. She then asks, "Is your son still alive?"

Surprisingly the old man smiles and laughs as if that question was a joke. He looks up at the woman that towers over him and replies while still laughing, "If that girl found him and didn't fight him, there is no harm that can come to him."

The woman takes this answer and jumps back onto the side of the truck. She comments as they start to drive away, "You don't need to worry about us, but rather that girl."

And as they pull down the road the old man just shakes his head at another warning falling on deaf ears.